---13-year-old Deverick---

Life progressed as normal. Deverick published his first papers under WhiteAlias. A massive hit. With the sheer size of Nemesis, more people than ever are exposed to his works. Combining that with the fact that it is one of the few works at the time and the ideas introduced in it made people rethink how elements work, it's hard not to get attention.

On the topic of papers, PaperScholars gave in easier than they expected when Opus asked to purchase their database. When they heard that BlackJester was looking to make Nemesis a hub for specialist mages, they happily agreed. Taken back by their enthusiasm, Opus decided to ask them if they wanted to join the organization and help manage the paper section. This was how an acquisition plan turned into a merger between two platforms. When Deverick heard this, he was surprised at this decision. Whoever made this choice is definitely a wise person.

Think about it. From the options of submitting or getting crushed, the person in charge managed to carve out a way to join the winner's side. So much so that, other than losing their brand, there are no other demerits. They have now expanded many times their size in the course of a few months and their name is known by everyone.

At the time, he was curious about the decision maker, so Deverick decided to meet him in person. 20 minutes later, he is outside the headquarters of the former company. This speed was possible in Adnea because of the teleportation points distributed across the world by Waypoints, the global organization that specializes in spatial technology. 

Putting on a white jester mask and a cloak over his body, he activated his Shroud of Secrecy, designating his appearance as the target. To the outside world, he now appears to be a person wearing a white cloak and a jester mask. Nothing else about his features can be made determined.

He then walked in. A few people tried to stop him, but he just phased through them. A very advanced application of spatial magic. When this happened, the people stared in confusion at their hands. 

As he came to the CEO's office, he knocked gently on the door.

"Come in"

Deverick came in and locked the door. A man that appears to be in his fifties sat at the desk. When he saw the unusual attire of the intruder, his eyebrows jumped. Other than that, his face barely changed. Very experienced, Deverick rated him.

"Are you here to assassinate me? So my old life has finally come to an end."

"No. Why would anyone want to kill you?"

"Then why are you here?"

"Dubious statements aside, let me introduce myself. On Nemesis, I am known as WhiteJester."

Hearing this, the man's eyebrows jumped again. 

"The organization huh?"

"Yes. I was curious about you so I decided to meet you in person."

"I am flattered."

"Yes. Since you seem experienced, I wanted to see if you want a different position."

"Please elaborate."

"You know all the properties I have been buying in the last two years?"

"You want me to manage them?"

"To be exact, be in charge of coordinating the places so that they are ready for business."

"Sounds interesting, but what's in it for me or my company?"

"Well most of them are food places so you can get amazing meals made for you every day."

"Excuse me? You telling me you converted all your properties into a chain restaurant?"

"Not exactly a chain, but a brand that focuses on honing the craft, no matter the food."

"Anything else? That alone is not enough to convince me."

"They are spread out around the world and budget is most of what we earn."

"Ok, I'm in."

"Happy to work with you, ummm. You know, I never got your name."

The man laughed. "Otto."

"Well, happy to work with you Otto."

"Likewise."

 

---14-year-old Deverick---

A collection of amazing poems became viral in the last year. Composed by an anonymous writer, this series of poems took the network by storm. The main source of popularity is when multiple elders of the council came out and praised them. These are some of them:

"These are the most profound writings in the last 500 years."

"These poems point to the very essence of magic. Should anyone fully comprehend one of them, they will become an apex powerhouse."

"Whoever wrote these has reached the peak of magic theory."

"Amazing. So short, yet so meaningful."

"An aspiration for all mages."

And the most ridiculous one: "I thank thou transcendent being who hast blessed us, the ignorant ones, with thy revelation. To lead us out of darkness an into the boundless sea of knowledge an truth. To soothe oust confuzzled minds that hast lost da way. To define da path forward when we arst lost. To give us hope in despair of stagnation. For theis, I thank thee. For theis, I pray to thee."

When Deverick heard this, the corner of his mouth twitched. Like who even is this ancient fossil? Just how old is he that he still speaks in such an awkward dialect? And why did that seem like he was about to form a religion? No. Deverick was sure this old man just formed a religion around these texts, with the sole dedication to praying to this mysterious author.

What a mess this has become. Now he really regrets leaving those writings in his room. All of this started half a month ago when he was finishing up his research on magic theory. Over the course of it, he would occasionally write some poems around the theme of his research. The idea is that it summarizes the knowledge without having to deal with a long essay. This way, he can understand everything without spending too much time reading his documentation. A nifty way to cut down on the time he was spending on referencing his prior research. 

With the amount of works that has accumulated over the years, it took tens of seconds to find the paper, glimpse through the report, and get a refresher on the topic. A small amount of time for any normal person, but when you have to get information on hundreds of papers a day, it started to get tedious, even with Opus's help and his amazing memory.

So he had an idea that might help. Instead of reading the full report, he would summarize the contents in a short way that captures the essence of the paper. The actual paper can then be stored in the massive database for future readings. Now, the main thing that would come up is these shortened versions when he looks for a specific topic.

Deverick eventually settled on poems because they made him sound cultured and knowledgeable, despite having never taken a single lesson on literary arts. Just one of the things he missed when he decided to skip school for magic research.

On this day, Deverick was finishing his poems while Opus wrote up a formal report for each of the topics they researched in the past half a year. A daunting task for any normal human researcher. Deverick then put his pen down and held his arms up and pushed back. Ah, that hits the spot. He then moved both his arms from side to side, his torso following in the motion. *Pop pop* *Pop pop.*

As Deverick was stretching his stiff body, A knock came from his door. 

"Hey Deverick, it's dad. Come friends and I will be going on a camping trip in a few days. I was wondering if you want to join us."

A camping trip, huh? Would be a nice change of pace. "Sure. What do I need to prepare?"

"I figured you would agree so I packed everything for you."

"Cool. Thanks dad."

Faulkner laughed. "Come, tell me what you have been working on these years."

"Alright. Let me organize my desk first."

Deverick decided to take a break after years of research and spend some time with his family. Opus turned invisible and followed.

A few days after, Deverick and Faulkner left to enjoy their time in the wilderness, Sophia decided to personally clean Deverick's room. Since Deverick was very organized, there was not much she needed to do. She threw away some trash and gave his stuff a wipe-down. That's it. As she finished the desk, her eyes were caught by a stack of papers with very fancy-looking handwriting. Deverick's handwriting.

"I didn't know he practiced calligraphy," she thought to herself. "Most people type their stuff nowadays so such amazing calligraphy is rare to see."

"Let's see what he has written. I hope he won't mind."

She reached out and picked up the top paper.

 

A Glimpse into the Arcane

Lost in thought, an eternity.

A single look, extracted runes.

To single out, such unique parts.

What is magic, but rune symbols?

 

In chaos, they are born.

In order, they are formed.

In will, they are arranged.

And in mana, they are cast.

 

To chaos, they will return.

To order, they will break.

To will, they will shape.

And to mana, they will become.

 

Such a cycle, a foundation.

A single spell, endless possibilities.

 To divide it, a foolish action.

Yet why so common, in the life of a mage?

 

Sophia's eyes spun as she tried to wrap her head around what she read. Four stanzas, sixteen lines. A simple poem. Yet she has no idea what she just read. All she can make out is that it is about mages. And maybe spellcasting? 

"Oh well. I'm not going to think too deeply about it, but it sounds nice."

Sophia looked away from this paper and at the other papers in the pile. She picked them up and started looking through them. All of them are of the same standards. They are all poems that talk about some aspect of being a mage, simple, and very profound sounding. 

"I wonder why Deverick has these on the desk."

At first, Deverick wanted to keep his work away from the eyes of his parents, but when he realized that they are not academicians, he stopped bothering. If the works get found, he would shrug and move on. This though, did not mean he got careless. The important pieces of works are stored away nicely, so the works that are found are mostly the irrelevant ones. 

Coming to this realization, Sophia realized when Deverick wrote these, they are classified as not that important since they are not stored away. This means that he doesn't care if she saw them. 

"In fact, he might not care if the servants see them either. This implies he might not care if random strangers read them. Maybe it is intended for the general public? Yeah, that makes sense. So why did not publish them yet? If he wanted everyone to read it, he could have just asked the family and then everything would be easy.

Sophia continued this train of thought. "Oh! I get it. He must be embarrassed to use the family power to publish something so personal. Don't worry, Deverick. Mom will take care of that for you. Since you are so embarrassed by it, I won't put your name down as the author. It can stay anonymous until you feel that you can stand proud about it. Then we can get the publisher to announce your name."

Sophia then thought about which publisher she should contact for the task. It needs to be a trustworthy one because this task is important for the future of her child. Thinking about this question some more, she remembered something that briefly came up when she talked to her parents one time.

She decided to make a call,

"Hey Sophia, what's the occasion?"

"Hey dad, can you add 3rd brother Steve to the call? I want to discuss something with all 3 of us."

"Sure give me a moment."

"Hey Sophia, what happened?"

"Hey, Steve. I remember that mom mentioned something about you owning a publishing company a while back. Do you still have it?"

"I do, why?"

"I want to publish something"

"..."

"I meant something written by Deverick. But he's too embarrassed to ask for it so I decided to get it published for him. I want it anonymous as well."

"Sure. Send it over."

Sophia sent a copy of everything. After a few minutes of reading, Steve and her father gave their opinions.

"Honesty, I don't know what this is about, but it sounds cool."

"Same here. These seem pretty short. I can have them published in three days."

"Great. This would make a great surprise for Deverick when he comes back from his camping trip."

"..."

"..."

"You mean you never got his permission?"

"It's fine. What's the worst that could happen? The poems fail? That's why I ask for it to be anonymous. If something does happen, no one else needs to know about it. And if it becomes successful, I'm sure Deverick will be happy."