Chapter Ninety-two Origin

  "Semmel was originally a genius." The old magician's voice was low and distant, his eyes gazing out at the snowy expanse in front of him, the cold wind blowing up his whiskers, his eyes shining brightly...

  I first met Semel at the annual New Year's blessing ceremony in the temple. At that ceremony, all the dignitaries of the Imperial City were invited to attend, and the Emperor and the Pope jointly prayed to the gods, asking for blessings for this continent and for the prosperity of the Roland Empire. It was also at that year's ceremony that I first met Semel. At that time, she had just turned twenty, but was already recognized as the most talented astrologer in the Imperial City, and had even been appointed by His Majesty as a court astrologer the previous year.

  At that time, I had already obtained Aragon's magical inheritance and held a high position in the Magician Association. Nobody knew that one of the elders of the association was actually an archenemy of the temple. On the one hand, I secretly studied the magical knowledge left by Aragon, while on the other hand, I quietly searched for a suitable successor to inherit Aragon's magic. Because Aragon's magic was very profound and I was already nearly fifty years old at that time. In order to carry on Aragon's legacy, I had to find a suitable successor to pass on everything I knew and spread more seeds! Otherwise, if I were suddenly exposed or died one day, everything would be over.

  Finally, I chose Semmel.

  She is a genius, I have understood this from many aspects. Moreover, I quietly approached her and tested her several times. Her magical talent is also very good. Most importantly, her background is very clean.

  The occupation of astrologer has always been respected by people, but it doesn't have much status. Even fewer people would go to great lengths to win over an astrologer with no real power. The temple also didn't place much importance on this group of people. And Semel's family background was very ordinary, almost a blank slate.

  Finally, I quietly found her and made friends with her. I taught her some magic... You know, at that time, Semirhage had already proposed many interesting hypotheses about astrology, but those hypotheses were considered absurd by others... Haha. She was originally a girl full of absurd ideas. And I happened to cater to her ideas, so we got along very happily. In the end, she was inspired by me and came up with new ideas: "Why can't the power of the stars be a magical force?"

  By this time, Du Wei had already sighed.

  So it was. Saimel proposed that stellar power could also be applied to magic... This idea was actually inspired by the old magician.

  To satisfy her thirst for research, I accompanied her on a journey across the continent. We searched everywhere for precious materials. For example, the locations where historical records showed that stars had fallen from the sky, we would go to carefully investigate, and in the end, we found several precious stones, said to be fragments of stars that had fallen from the sky and landed on the ground.

  The years I spent traveling the continent with her were the happiest of my life. Semmel was a clever, understanding woman, and being with her made every day feel fresh!

  The old magician's voice was filled with boundless deep emotion, a point that perhaps even he himself had not noticed.

  。

  "What's next?" Du Wei asked in a low voice.

  "Then... we gradually perfected Semel's idea. In the end, we created what is called Stellar Magic." The old magician's tone was tinged with a hint of mocking: "Actually, those were all my tricks on her. What they call 'creation' was just the result of me intentionally or unintentionally giving her subtle hints in many details. Actually, I was just taking advantage of our discussions and research to gradually pass on Aragon's magical knowledge to her. And Aragon's magic is different from many magics on this continent, it completely inherited the devil's magical power, and has many differences with the existing magical system on this continent. With these inspirations, Semel finally made a breakthrough. She came up with that so-called Stellar Magic... Oh, I even helped her name it. Because the magical system she 'created' was actually Aragon's, so I didn't change the name at all, and directly used Aragon's magic to name it. Starry Sky Qi plus Stellar Magic, this was originally Aragon's reliance when he dominated the world. It's just that Semel had never heard of the name Stellar Magic, and thought it was a fitting name, so she accepted it."

  At this point, the old magician paused for a moment. A smile spread across his face, as if lost in some happy memories, with a gentle expression and warm eyes...

  "At that time... we got along very happily, she was like my good friend, and also seemed to be my apprentice. Being with her, it felt as if even I myself had become younger. The old magician shook his head, and then a hint of gloom flashed in his eyes: "But later on, I began to think that sooner or later I would have to tell her some things... all of Aragorn's secrets, everything, because she was the suitable successor I chose."

  "Did you say something?" Du Wei asked.

  "I... hesitated." The old magician's face showed a hint of struggle: "She was so happy... so simple, liking the simple, free and peaceful life... I suddenly regretted it too. Dragging such a happy and innocent woman into this complicated and heavy historical grudge is really a sin. So, I kept delaying and didn't say anything until... we returned to the Imperial Capital, until..."

  Du Wei's heart moved, as if he had thought of something.

  "After traveling outside for three years, we returned to the imperial capital. On a certain day that year, some strange phenomena appeared in the starry sky. His Majesty ordered the best astrologer to come and divine the meaning. At a court banquet later on, Semmel met Zach of House Rollin. Ah, young one, he was your great-great-grandfather, Zach-Rollin. He was then the youngest general in the Imperial Military Command."

  "What then?" Du Wei sighed bitterly.

  "Then?" The old magician's eyes revealed a cold, cruel glint that made Du Wei feel a chill. He sneered: "Then... who knows what kind of trick your great-great-grandfather used to deceive Saimel's heart? The two fell in love!"

  It was obvious that what flowed from the eyes of the old magician was a kind of jealousy! A kind of jealousy and resentment that flowed from deep within his heart!

  It can be confirmed that this old man has developed a special feeling towards Saiyuer, apart from friendship and mentorship!

  After that, things became much simpler:

  The old magician watched as the female genius he had cultivated with his own hands fell in love and then married into the prominent and wealthy Luo Lin family, becoming the wife of the youngest and most promising general in the Imperial Military Command, Zachary Luo Lin.

  On the one hand, he cannot tolerate his beloved woman falling into someone else's arms. On the other hand, how can the successor he cultivated be so devoted to another family? Wouldn't all the hard work of the past few years have been in vain?

  So, just before Semir married Zack, the old magician found Semir and they had a profound conversation once.

  The content of the conversation. The old magician didn't give a detailed account. However, Du Wei could infer two conclusions from the words and phrases.

  Firstly, the old magician must have revealed his inner affection for this near half-disciple female genius! And it's certain that Semel refused. In fact, Semel had never had any romantic feelings towards this man who was more than twice her age (according to the time's calculation). She always simply regarded the old magician as a like-minded good friend or a kind and gentle half-teacher half-friend. Nothing more. This made the old magician very heartbroken.

  Then, the sorrowful old wizard finally spoke out about his original intention of cultivating Semirhage: all the secrets of Aragorn's historical mystery!

  Unfortunately, regarding this point... the very individualistic Saymer also refused!

  "Her tone back then was really similar to yours, kid." The old magician's face looked haggard as he said in a low voice, "Do you still remember what you said to me two days ago? You said 'You are the strong ones of the continent, you are Holy Knights, you are magicians, but what does this have to do with me?' She probably said something similar back then."

  At that time, Semmel vehemently expressed his indignation.

  "What Aragon, gods, demons... what do they have to do with me? Let the gods and demons fight if they want, let them war! The temple, the imperial power, I have no interest in these things! I just want to live my own life! Why should I bear the burden of these historical relics that are already rotting away? Why should I get entangled in something that happened hundreds of years ago? I don't want to! Nor do I want to participate in this kind of thing! I have my freedom! I just want to live my own life! The life of Semel, not some inheritance from someone else!!"

  The result was that the old magician departed in a cloud of gloom. Semmel married into the Rolen family and lived happily ever after for several years.

  But a few years later, the old magician came again and secretly met with Semmel once.

  In those years, the old magician spent a lot of effort to get some secret documents, even many of them were secretly entered into the imperial palace to get the handwriting left by the founding emperor, and he even dared to sneak into the temple... multiple times!

  Finally, from numerous materials, a stunning message was pieced together. The stunning message made the old magician restless, he needed a powerful helper to complete something together, and reluctantly, he had to find Semmel, who was already a powerful magician.

  Although it had been many years since they last met, and although Semmel had clearly expressed his lack of interest in inheriting any legacy, he agreed to help out of respect for their past friendship and the old magician who had once taught him with such dedication.

  But just this once.

  It just so happened that this one time I helped out, a big deal ended up happening!