"The Paragon? Is that a good read?" I repeated in askance. Although I wasn't exactly someone who read a lot, the name sounded over the top.

Cispia nodded, "Yes, The Paragon. It is a short story, only less than a scroll long, but it is a friendly children's story for beginners. It is light-hearted and silly in its concept, so it is perfect for any beginner. It is one of the first books I read in this mansion, so I recommend it to you."

"Sure. Since you recommended it, then it must be good." I readily agreed because it was only a single papyrus scroll long, only less than 500 lines. By dinner, even if I am slow, I should be able to finish reading it.

Cispia smiled and walked to a corner of the study, picking up a yellowish, old-looking papyrus scroll from a shelf. The edges were a bit tattered, but it looked preserved enough for me to be able to read it.

She handed it to me and warned, "Be careful with the scroll. Although it is not so precious, it has some sentimental value to the mistress."

I carefully took the scroll and nodded, "Alright, I will be careful. Thank you."

Cispia nodded and left with a smile to pick a scroll for herself to read. In the meantime, I went to one of the tables in the study and sat down.

Under the light of the sun that trickled through the study's windows, I carefully opened the old scroll and began to read. 

 

 

 

 

 

Once upon a time, a young boy was living with his family in a village. His father was a builder, and his mother a tailor. The boy, like most obedient children, tried to learn his parent's craft.

Unfortunately, he discovered that he lacked the talent for building, and he was clumsy at tailoring. His other brothers and sisters excelled while he was left behind. However, the boy didn't give up on himself, so he begged his parents to get appraised. He did not expect to be a mage, but even being a warrior was fine, even the most mediocre one.

Alas, the appraisal showed that he had no talent for neither path. The boy was still not convinced. He found a renowned soothsayer and begged for three days and nights, enduring cold and hunger. Because of the boy's determination, the soothsayer decided to grant his wish.

Alas, again, the boy was destined to be disappointed. The boy had no talent whatsoever. He was a blank slate, one without talent. In this life, as the talentless third son of two poor villagers, he was destined for manual labor for the rest of his life.

However, the boy still didn't give up on himself as he proclaimed, "Even if I don't have a talent, so what? I will use my effort as my talent!"

And so, the untalented poor boy set out on a self-imposed quest to overcome his grim fate.

At first, he joined the village militia training. He trained as hard as he could without hurting his body permanently, but he never forgot his piety, both to his parents and to the gods.

Despite his lack of talent, the boy-turned-adult could defeat almost all of the adults in the village by the age of 18, all thanks to his hard work. Even the gods acknowledged his hard work and piety and gave him the apprentice warrior class, allowing him to train aura despite his lack of talent. His future was turning bright!

The man, now trained and equipped with basic gear he saved up for during these years, finally bade a final farewell to his parents and siblings. Adventure awaits!

On his first official quest, he set out to gather herbs. While he was picking herbs, he met an old man beset by goblins! A crude, nasty bunch. As a young, energetic, and righteous man, it was within his nature to help those in need. Without regard to himself, the young man charged at the loathsome beasts.

After slaying half of them, the other cowardly goblins scampered away, but the young man paid a heavy price. His knee shattered, and his left arm turned useless. He could not even do manual labor now, a joke of cruel lady fate, doomed to die from starvation.

The old man who the young man saved winced in grief at his savior's plight and asked, "What will you do now, young man? Your body is crippled. How about I introduce you to a peaceful job as a clerk? At least you can feed yourself."

However, the young man still vehemently fought this fate, proclaiming, "Even if my body shatters, my spirit is evermore!"

The old man he saved was moved by his unyielding spirit, so he gave some advice, "I heard that there is a witch down the river. Perhaps she can heal your limbs?"

The young man thanked the old man and limped out to find the witch. After a day and a night of enduring pain and peril, the young man found an old hut by the river.

When he finally managed to enter the hut, the first words he heard, sounding as ancient as a tree, were, "I have been expecting you, young man. I have seen your kindness and spirit, and I have decided to grant you a wish."

Inside the hut, sat an old, withered woman, skin as dry and wrinkly as bark. She asked in her ancient voice, "What do you seek, young man? Power? I can turn you into a king! Wealth? I can make you into the richest man in these lands! Strength? I can make you stronger than a hundred men! Women? I can make you the most popular man in the world! I won't even ask for a price. Just say the word, and it shall be yours."

The young man shook his head without hesitation and said, "None of such things, I just want to heal my limbs so I can continue on my quest."

The old witch was shocked, "You would give up free power, wealth, strength, and women, just so you can complete this so-called quest of yours? What is your quest?"

The young man smiled, "To defy the fate of my talent. I want to become what I will be through my effort! Receiving a shortcut is pointless. To me, the result doesn't matter. The way does."

The old witch was touched by the young man's determination, "Fine then. I shall heal your wounds, free of charge."

With a simple swish of her bony hand, the young man healed in an instant, fit and proper. He thanked the witch and was about to leave, but before he left, the witch stopped him and handed him a translucent vial filled with translucent liquid, "I said I shall grant you one wish. Have this Banshee Queen's Heartfelt Tear. It shall help in your quest. Seek the fairies in the southern glades. Perhaps there you can find a lead to your quest."

The young man thanked the witch before continuing on his impossible quest.

...

 

 

 

 

As I read the story, I couldn't help but change my facial expressions several times. Whenever the protagonist went somewhere, he was confronted with a temptation, and he was offered an item every time he refused. By the time he reached the end of his journey, he had gathered several ingredients, which he combined into a potion that gave him godly talent in everything. In other words, a Paragon. From there, it was just some fluff about his achievements, becoming a so-called god-emperor, beloved by all.

It is as Cispia described it. It is light-hearted and silly, full of plotholes of real life. Why would all those figures help a talentless man like this? For the goodness of his heart? For his purity of mind? For doing some menial task that just about anyone can do? BULLSHIT! The author of this story was just lazy with his story-telling! Anyone who had some common sense could tell the point of this story!

I couldn't help but voice out, "Isn't this just some colored recipe about this so-called Paragon Potion?! And what's up with these ingredients?! The hell is the essence of primordial chaos? How do you get an elder dragon's blood?! And how the heck do you get a 12 elemental spirit crystal?! A fairy queen's dust? Unicorn Gladelord's holy water? Enlightenment Fruit? Starfall Petal? The most ridiculous part is the 'God's Spark'! The crystallization of an actual god's divinity! Blatant hubris!!! What kind of sick joke is this?!"

"Yes, indeed. It does sound like a sick joke when you think about it, doesn't it?" A familiar voice sounded behind me.

I immediately stood up, turned around, and bowed my head, "Greetings, mistress!"

Cispia, who was also reading by the side, also went over and greeted, "Greetings, mistress."

Mistress Consentia stood in front of us, in all her beautiful splendor. She stared at me with her regular gentle smile, a hint of additional warmth in her gaze.

She turned to Cispia and said, "Cispia, can you please exit the room? I need to discuss something with little Mog."

Cispia was a little surprised, but she still bowed and complied, "Yes, mistress."

After exiting the room and closing the door, mistress Consentia waved her hand, and the glyphs on the door shined. She then turned to me and smiled gently.

"I remember the first time I read that stupid story. It was when I was 5, I believe? I found it by chance in a dark corner of my family's library. My naive self at that time believed this bogus, even tormenting my poor teachers about it. And yet..." She went to the table and carefully picked up the scroll.

"... When I started learning alchemy, I couldn't help but recall this same bogus, so I read it again. At that time, my reaction was the same as yours. What kind of sick joke is this? None of the ingredients inside this scroll can be found in this mortal world, especially a god spark. It is blasphemy, utter hubris! Tormented by dreams, I tried to search for the origins of this scroll. After searching in my family records, I found out that this scroll has some terrifying and ancient origins, predating the start of the holy era and even the age of strife. The contents were transferred over a dozen times, even turned into this silly children's story to hide it from unworthy eyes, but the core content never changed. Many have tried to recreate this potion with alternate ingredients, for even an inferior product is a godly potion that can create an unparalleled genius! However, they all failed, wasting incalculable amounts of resources, time, money, and even lives..."

As she spoke her strange monologue, I remained silent. For some reason, I felt a deep sense of melancholy in her voice. Also, when I heard her mention the word lives, I felt a small shiver run down my spine. The lives she mentioned were most likely that of slaves. Slaves like me.

"... Oh well, that was in the past. Changing the subject, I noticed that Cispia got a gift from you? Are you having plans on her?" A mischievous smile formed on her lips.

I quickly shook my head, "Nothing like that, mistress. I bought an apology gift for Livia, so I thought it would be best to buy Cispia a gift, too."

"Haha, how considerate of you. Did Faevyre advise you that?"

I was surprised, "How did you know?!"

The mistress shrugged, "She told me when we were interrogating those two eunuchs. Good job, by the way. We discovered an entire snake den thanks to you, so I was thinking of rewarding you for it. Oh, and speaking of which, Faevyre also told me you bought three gifts..."

As she said that, her eyes narrowed slightly, and a glint flashed in her eyes as if expecting something.

Seeing her gaze, I could only bitterly smile and pull out of my purse the blue ring I got from the catkin peddler and offered it to her.

"I got this ring from a peddler from the Sa'anite dessert. Please have it..."

The mistress's eyes widened when she saw the ring, "Bluinese stone! For how much did he sell it to you?!"

"I paid 6 silvers for it." I honestly said. It was technically 4, but I paid 50% extra.

The mistress shook her head, took the ring, and said with a pleasant smile, "You are incredibly lucky. The guy who sold it to you was ignorant of its worth, as only alchemists and rune carvers know it. It is worth ten gold coins based on its mass alone. When you consider the fact that it is shaped like a ring, the price jumps to 20 gold coins!¹500 silvers or $10,000 Thank you for the gift!"

I was shocked. A trinket I casually bought from a street vendor was worth so much! It was pure luck that I was able to get it for such a low price. As for feeling heartache for giving such a valuable gift? Such a thought didn't cross my mind. To begin with, I was not a debt slave who could buy his freedom, so money meant little to me now.

But then, I remembered that I got something extra from him. Perhaps, it was also special?

I pulled out the strange black thumb-sized rock I got from him and showed it to the mistress, "I got this stone from the vendor. He said that it is impossible to break or smelt and is immune to both magic and aura. Do you know what it is?"

Mistress Consentia's curiosity was piqued, "Oh, let me see."

She picked the stone from my hand and examined it. After a few seconds, her sky-blue eyes shone even brighter.

After ten seconds, the glow dimmed as she muttered, "Odd... It truly rejects mana..."

She then took out some sort of small bone carving knife from her pocket. It had dense runes covering its surface, the purpose of which was unknown.

The runes shone as the knife vibrated as she attempted scratching the surface of the rock with the blade point, but then -- 

SCREECH*

As if two pieces of metal were scraping against one another, sparks flew as a terrible noise sounded. I quickly covered my ears with my hands, but the mistress seemed unperturbed. I was honestly afraid that the library might catch on fire by the sparks, but they were extinguished after a small distance from the rock as if meeting a barrier. After ten seconds, she stopped to take a look at the rock.

I could see white powder covering the surface where the knife scratched, but other than that, the rock remained unscathed. The knife, on the other hand, was damaged, its blade point blunted. It was likely that this blade was now useless as a carving knife. The mistress, on the other hand, seemed unconcerned as she stared at the stone with rapt attention.

The mistress muttered, "Intriguing... Truly fascinating... It's even tougher than pure adamantium..."

She then stared at the ceiling as she continued to mutter in a daze, "Immune to mana and aura... An impossibly tough stone... Pure black color... Where have I heard about it...?"

After a few moments, her face furrowed as her voice got louder, "Wait. No way. Impossible!"

I watched silently as the mistress shot to her feet and paced, "Immune to mana and aura. Impossibly tough. Pitch black color. By Ximjun... I must verify!"

She then strode to a shelf in the corner of the library and picked up a scroll from a high shelf before going back and opening it on the table. I barely managed to read the title of the scroll, called "Of The Divine.".

The mistress combed through the scroll as if she already knew which page she needed, stopping on a particular page. She then pointed her finger as she read it silently. Her facial expression turned to shock, then more shock, and then intense joy! A zealous glint flashed in her eyes, making me wonder if it was still the calm and gentle mistress who I knew a few minutes ago standing before me.

Finally, she burst into laughter, "Hahahaha! Ximjun and Veona blessed me! Ximjun and Veona blessed me!!! I searched far and wide, wasting tens of thousands of silvers, and I couldn't find it, but here it is, in my hands at the very last moment! Hahahahaha!"

To say I wasn't frightened by her outburst would be a lie. Her reaction was similar to that of a regular person discovering a small treasure chest filled with 400 gold coins. However, the woman in front of me was a wealthy scion of the Fidelis family, one of the Lamarian empire's eight ruling families. Although finding a chest of gold would have made them happy, it wasn't enough to move them to such an exaggerated extent. I was worth 10,000 silver coins, or 400 gold coins. Unless it was a large chest filled with over 10,000 gold coins, I doubted that it could move her, and even then, I doubted that it could move her to such an extent.

At that thought, I could only wonder what this stone was, to agitate her like this.

While I was wondering about it, the mistress suddenly stopped laughing and stared at me... Lovingly? Adoringly? Or perhaps like a treasure? A moment later, something even more shocking happened.

She walked to me, cupped my cheeks with her delicate hands, and said, "Oh my dear, sweet, little Mog. You are my lucky charm!"

And then, she kissed my forehead deeply with her soft lips, making me feel tingly.