A new path

Kai stared at the clock as the time trickled away.

Tick-Tock! Tick-Tock!

And the last one. With this ticking sound, now, even if he could use D-Mail, he wouldn't be able to undo the events related to the curse. Never.

This last ticking sound marked the end of the 5th day.

They had scarcely left the room in these last few days. Only Item-M had gone and returned with news and plans about which Kai couldn't have cared less. Something seemed dead inside him. Something he knew mattered much, despite not having it now.

Five days he had spent thinking, tossing and turning, and rejecting theories after theories. Yet, Kai couldn't find what he lacked that would count as the Will of a Scientist. Didn't he have all the knowledge? Hadn't he experimented before? Questions after questions kept birthing inside him, agreeing with him positively, and yet, he couldn't play the ACT.

A formless, lifeless, and emotionless Skill was judging him, and he could do nothing to argue for his case.

"You look like a girl who lost her maidenhood to the wrong man just before her wedding night, my lord," Petyr quipped, sitting on a chair. "Surely it's not all that bad. Look at what you've gained from all this."

Kai saw Item-M throwing a deep, nasty, and loathing stare at Petyr, but that she didn't retort meant she agreed with him. Even this did nothing to fill the emptiness of the pit in his stomach.

"Consider the knowledge about the Deep Ones," Petyr continued, smiling slyly. "You told us that the price of knowing about the Outer One was 1 billion Mission Credits, right? Then the price of knowing about Deep Ones could have been easily many times higher than that. One can't just disregard this. In my opinion, even this knowledge is enough to compensate for the curse."

These words meant nothing to Kai. He stared at the clock that had now gone beyond his reach, the ticking of its hands echoing in his mind in a never-ending cycle.

Petyr stood up. "Then we have 10 million Mission Credits," he said, pacing around the room. "The auction is coming up. And god knows you need your sabers, my lord. Why are you fixated on a wand, anyway? There must be tons of Contestants who had never been to the Harry Potter World and yet managed to ascend to the top floors with other means. Isn't a wand an external object? I thought you loathed such power in the perspective of the long term."

It was Item-M who answered. "It wouldn't have mattered before this much," she told them. "That man had sacrificed his blood to HIM and got the answer that our master has the highest affinity for the Harry Potter World. Yes, one can just look at other worlds as well. But there is a reason that worlds with the highest affinity exist for a Contestant. Not only are they more suited to a Contestant but also more rewarding in all possible ways. No one had just disregarded their Core Worlds after knowing about them. Much less needed to be said about the World with the Highest Affinity."

It wasn't the first time Kai was hearing these words. These words were like swords, their blades still sharp enough to cut him afresh, making him bleed.

"There is destiny between me and a wand," Kai said, for the first time in hours, making the other two snap their heads at him. "The first thing I associated with power after coming to the Primordial Tower was also a wand. People aren't foolish that they use wands. Item-M, you told me that even the ancient wizards had wands, right? Dumbledore and Voldemort, the two most famous and strongest wizards known to Contestants, have wands, right? Even that man, who could look down on everything with that Rinnegan of his, had a wand too. And my instincts tell me it wasn't some copy, either. Wands matter. Remember, my Glitch is to devour blood essences, not to do Wandless Magic."

The ticking of the clock was like the ebb and flow of oceanic waves, hitting rocky beaches.

Suddenly, Petyr laughed. "You are intelligent, my lord," he said, jesting, "but not old enough to have wisdom (-Kai stared at him with dead eyes-). In your mourning, you have even forgotten that you will not teleport into the Harry Potter World, but reincarnate. What do in-world characters have to do with the Contestant Blood Demon and his curse to never be chosen by true wands existing in their worlds? Nothing."

'This…' Kai's eyes shot open. Yes. What did Harry Potter have to do with him? What did Draco Malfoy have to do with him?

Even Item-M looked shaken by Petyr's words, her face beaming with brilliant rays of hope.

"Now that we can't do anything about the curse," Petyr said, returning to his seat, "I would counsel you to concentrate on the Tournament of Worth and the things we must do before your return to Random World, my lord. Why not go and have a girl? There must be quite a few brothels here, I hope. It would take your mind off these things. Not to mention that you look pathetic. You need some fresh air."

Kai smelled himself. He reeked. Petyr's words and this new hope had enlivened him, reviving his senses enough to remember the notification he and Item-M had received days ago.

[

Congratulations Contestant Kai Stormborn

You are eligible to be a Candidate for the Tournament of Worth

Do you want to register yourself?

]

And then, upon nodding mechanically, a new notification had come up.

[

You are now a Candidate for the Tournament of Worth

Candidate Id: Blood Demon

Further details will be shared three days before the commencement of the Tournament

]

Kai shook his head. The ticking of the clock persisted, but it soon ebbed away for good, leaving his mind open.

'Petyr is right,' he thought. 'I need some fresh air.'

"I am going out," he told them, standing up. "Item-M, stay here and look after the tank. Petyr, go back to the Book. I am taking Okabe with me."

Item-M nodded, looking concerned. Petyr bowed and disappeared right after. Kai took out the Book, took a deep breath, and opened the pages to the newest tale. As the Primordial Theater prepared the stage, the smoky veil parted, and Rintaro Okabe walked out, holding the flip mobile and wearing the same long white lab coat.

"Hahaha!" the lanky scientist burst out with a laugh. "I knew. I knew it all along. Only I can defy the advances of the organization. You did well to call me out, Mr. Storm. Where are we going? To the organization's HQ?"

"Come with me," Kai said, ignoring the nonsense.

He was still wearing the same shirt and pants in which he had arrived here, and when they walked out, the evening was just becoming night. A blue-gray sheet of cloud had covered the sky, and the wind was gentle but strong, carrying a humid, rainy touch with it. The street that had been deserted once now looked crowded to Kai. Carriages with a varying number of horses were running up and down the street, and there was the smell of soot and dust everywhere. The shops were still open, but Kai noticed a few were closed, their lights going out.

This must be some market hub, Kai reflected.

Life was brimming here, unconcerned to him, and unknown to everything.

Kai kept to one side of the road, Okabe following him, looking around, his hands in the pockets of his long coat. For long they walked, taking random turns, seeing ordinary and most irrelevant vistas. More lights kept going out of the shops, and by the time they felt they were lost, only a few were still glowing with pale yellow color.

Kai wasn't worried about someone recognizing Rintaro Okabe. It was nigh impossible to recognize a less known in-world character, especially when the idea of such characters walking in the Primordial Tower was nothing but absurd. He had forbidden Okabe to tell his name to others, though.

Suddenly, a tiny drop of water fell on his nose, making Kai look up. More drops followed the last and soon the pitter-patter of a drizzle took over all sounds.

"There!" Okabe cried, pointing in a direction, and ran off.

Kai cursed under his breath, keeping himself within the limit of 8 ft to him. Okabe stopped under the shade of a street-side stall, an old vendor preparing to wrap it all up for the day.

"It smells so good, Mr. Vendor!" Okabe exclaimed, peeking into the glassed sections of the stall.

The old man eyed the two of them in return. He was clean-shaven, bald, and thin, but did not look weak, and his eyes were blue. "Are you hungry as well, young man?" he asked, looking at Kai.

'Am I?' Kai asked himself and realized that the pit in his stomach that he had been feeling for so long could've been because of hunger too. 'Yes. I am. I am starving.'

He nodded.

"Well, I think, I can do something about it," the old man said, gently unwrapping the containers. "Let's see, we have some oysters, whelks, and cockles left to us. Some boiled and seasoned hot eels. What do you think? A serving for both of you?"

The light breeze had gained a chill and a few raindrops left their path, showering on Kai's face. He stepped closer to the stall, pulled Okabe back, who was trying to look into the rest of the containers and nodded again. "How much?" he asked, knowing well that all things needed MCs within the Primordial Tower.

The old man laughed. "No need," he told them. "I did some good business today. And it would've gone to waste, anyway." Steam was still rising off the cooked eels as the old man served them with a dash of vinegar.

"You are a good man," Okabe said, taking his plate. "But you must be careful of the organization."

Kai smiled.

He blew on the eel and took a bite, his hunger making it many times more delicious.

"So, you are a doctor?" the old man asked Okabe.

"Muahaha… Cough! Cough!" Okabe laughed and choked on the morsel, took a deep breath, paused, and only then continued as the old man looked at him oddly. "I am a mad scientist."

"Oh!" the old man laughingly exclaimed. "We are of the same kind then."

"How so?" Okabe asked, chewing on the eel.

"Well, it took me years to perfect the seasoning on the eels," the old man said, pointing at a jar. "But I am still practicing, young man. Whenever I think I have got the right one, I feel I can do it better. Many times I just scrapped the formula of my seasoning and started over. See, we are both scientists."

"Haha!" Okabe burst out in a fit of laughter. "You are right. Let me give you my lab coat. Wait."

"No, no." The old man firmly rejected, seeing Okabe taking off his long white coat.

For a few moments, they kept pushing the coat against each other, the drizzle still alive, but forgotten.

A tear trickled down Kai's cheek in silence.

The casual words of the old vendor rang in his mind repeatedly. It seemed he had walled himself and his thoughts, becoming overconfident and foolish unknowingly.

Those walls broke down now, one by one.

"From childhood, I was made to devour knowledge," he mumbled, jolting the other two out of their ensuing struggle. "Never did I care what my parents were doing in their labs, and what their lab coats meant. I saw my mother mulling over something day and night, smiling over a newly found idea, but then sulking over another. Never did I think that just knowledge wasn't enough to cover that gap."

Kai walked out onto the deserted street, letting the rain lick at his hair as much as it could. The tiny drops wetted his face, washing away his imagined ideals and superfluous thoughts. Behind him, Okabe and the old man listened, surprised but equally interested.

"I had mistakenly equated the knowledge that I have hoarded to me being a scientist," Kai told himself, a flame of an unknown, mysterious Will burning inside his heart. "No. A scientist isn't a scientist because he has knowledge or he could do feats that normal people could never think of attempting. A scientist is a scientist because of his Spirit."

He closed his eyes, remembering all the moments spent with his mother, seeing her rushing to note down an idea, or scratching away another. He remembered her addressing her team members, sharing her thoughts, and then spending weeks working with new formulas. And he remembered her failures as well, looking lost, but then teaching him with the same zeal, and returning to her lab, to her team with a new day and new smile.

At last, he remembered the old vendor's words.

"A Spirit that can be summed up in two words - Start Over…"

Kai proclaimed, opening his eyes, the drizzle becoming heavier.

"A Spirit that can be summed up in words - Make it anew…"

He turned around and looked at his audience.

"A Spirit that means one sentence - Failures are acceptable as long as one doesn't give up…"

Okabe laughed and the old man smiled along with him.

"So what if no true wand existing in the Random Worlds will never choose me," Kai said, his hazel eyes burning with a Will. "I will make my own. Wasn't there a time when the first person invented them? There is a start to all this, isn't there? Then I can do it as well."

Kai threw his hands out and now laughed, his voice even more maniacal than that of Okabe's.

"I will make a wand that this Multiverse has never seen. From mortals to gods, everyone will tremble at the sight of it. And if this path leads to failure…" he looked down, his eyes narrowing, his lips arching up in a demonic grin, "… then I will just start over."

Okabe nodded and threw his lab coat towards him, which Kai caught in the air, and donned over his shoulders.

When did his insight become a comprehension, Kai didn't know? But at this moment, he knew that if he were to use D-Mail, it would work.

Yet, Kai didn't want to anymore. This moment was too precious. He was drenched, hungry, and happy.

And hot, cooked eels were waiting for him.

Vol 3 - The Wandlore of the Yellow Warlock - BEGINS

**********

AN: If you want to read ahead, up to15 more chapters are availabel on Patre0n. Thank you.