Heir of Synthesis: The World Mage

[Major Morale Boost detected from a significant audience]

[+4,000 GP]

Priam read the System message, a satisfied gleam flashing through his eyes. Right after that, another floating window appeared before him.

[An ally’s Loyalty has increased]

[Dandara Growlyn] [Loyalty: Extremely High+ (UP)]

[+2,000 GP]

’It went up two levels at once? Again?’ Priam raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised.

He glanced toward the stands and found Dandara staring straight at him. At that moment, he noticed a dangerous, unfamiliar glint in her eyes—something he felt he’d seen before, but couldn’t quite place.

Letting out a quiet snort, he decided to ignore it for now. Then he turned toward Validar, who was still standing there frozen.

”Please collect your trash properly and get out,” Priam said leisurely, with an irritatingly calm tone. ”Oh, and don’t forget to send the payment from our bet. An Elder Leader of your stature wouldn’t go back on his word, right? Anyway, thanks for everything!”

Priam thanked him from the bottom of his heart. After all, it wasn’t every day that generous people showed up at his doorstep to hand him prizes for free.

Snapping out of her shock, Mishnar took a deep breath and activated her emblem.

The space in front of her distorted, and several figures emerged from a spatial rift.

It was the Branch’s team of healers. The moment they saw the destroyed arena and the bodies lying everywhere, they panicked and immediately rushed over to treat the ten disciples.

However, only a few seconds after examining the victims, the healers were stunned.

The injuries were surprisingly superficial. Just broken bones and wounds caused by wind blades—injuries that could be completely healed within minutes.

After hearing the report, both Mishnar and Validar were even more shocked.

That meant Priam’s control over his own power was nothing short of surgical.

He wasn’t just a brute.

In barely two minutes, all ten disciples were already back on their feet, though still staggering.

Validar remained completely silent. His face was covered by a cold, gloomy expression. With a single nod, the ten young disciples dragged themselves over to stand behind him.

The old man looked at Priam one last time before letting out a dry snort.

”I admit defeat. I’m leaving.”

Without waiting for a reply, Validar turned around and strode away from the arena, heading straight for the teleportation inscription.

Priam let out a slow breath.

That Elder Leader might have been an arrogant asshole, but he wasn’t completely irrational. If he had been the kind of blind idiot who only listened to his own ego, he would’ve never been revered as an undefeated veteran of impossible wars.

After witnessing Priam’s overwhelming strength, Validar knew when to swallow his pride.

Priam had proven he had the right to be arrogant.

Silence.

The dust settled, and the commotion finally came to an end.

Priam looked up at Mishnar.

”Elder Leader, I need to have a private conversation with you. It’s important.”

Mishnar gave a slight nod. Then she looked toward the stunned crowd in the stands.

”Everyone is dismissed. Return to your duties.”

The disciples gave Priam one last long look—a mixture of respect, fear, and fascination—before they slowly began leaving the arena.

Mishnar floated down to the center of the rubble. With a casual wave of her hand, the space around the two of them folded in on itself, swallowing them whole.

Two seconds later, Priam found himself inside a luxurious, secluded room.

He let out a sigh of relief, finally relaxing his shoulders.

Mishnar dropped heavily into an armchair, looked at Priam, then gestured toward the chair across from her with her chin.

Priam walked over calmly and sat down.

”So... you managed to come back,” Mishnar finally broke the silence, her voice filled with curiosity. ”Much faster than I expected.”

Although she knew that exile planet wouldn’t be enough to kill Priam, she’d expected it to take him at least half a year to find a way back.

”What did you want to tell me?”

Priam looked the Elder Leader straight in the eyes.

”It’s an extremely serious matter, but I need to explain the context first.”

He started from the beginning, describing how he’d been thrown into that desolate desert and how, purely by chance, he’d discovered something utterly unbelievable.

The moment the words *Sacred Flame of Nature* left Priam’s mouth, Mishnar’s upright posture completely collapsed.

The woman’s expression froze in utter shock.

”What?! Say that again!” Her voice shot up several octaves, completely losing its composure.

Priam repeated it, word for word, in a calm voice.

The 11th Outer Branch was directly responsible for overseeing that exile planet. If the sect discovered that a legendary treasure of that magnitude had existed under their jurisdiction, it would be the equivalent of receiving a divine blessing straight from the heavens.

How was that even possible?

She simply couldn’t process it.

”If you want, you can go to the desert yourself later and check the remains...” Priam murmured.

”The remains?” Mishnar blinked in confusion.

Priam nodded and continued his story. He explained that he had only recognized the treasure because he’d read about it in an old compendium before, but he knew it was far too dangerous to absorb. So he decided to head south...

...only to be ambushed by a disciple from their own sect.

The atmosphere in the room instantly turned heavy. Mishnar’s expression darkened at once.

Without wasting any time, Priam pulled the dead disciple’s identification emblem out of his spatial ring and slid it across the table, presenting undeniable proof of the attack.

”I got lucky. I managed to kill him by luring the Corrupted Beasts in the area... I still don’t know how I made it out alive.”

It was, of course, only half the truth. He would never reveal that he could approach the Sacred Flame of Nature unnoticed or that he had used it to execute his attacker.

Mishnar thought she had already heard enough absurd things for one day, but her mind was nowhere near ready for what came next.

Priam pulled out another artifact—the ancient device that had allowed him to freely navigate among the Inscription Pillars. He explained that he had decided to remain on the planet longer because he had discovered an unbelievable amount of valuable resources scattered throughout the place.

Mishnar was left speechless by the level of risk he had taken. Still, everything he had obtained by risking his own life rightfully belonged to him.

”And then...” Priam paused dramatically. ”I stumbled across some very strange traces of corruption buried underground. While I was desperately running from a high-level Corrupted Beast, I ended up falling into a hidden underground structure.”

”There... I found something I’d only ever heard about before: a Corrupted Heart.”

Mishnar’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

The name echoed through the room like a curse. She obviously knew exactly what it was. She stared at Priam in complete disbelief. Had this boy really found something that even the most experienced Sages had never been able to locate?

”Well... I realized it was the source of all the corruption on that planet,” Priam continued, scratching the back of his head casually. ”So... I managed to move it without triggering any traps. Then I used the Sacred Flame of Nature to purify it completely.”

The Elder Leader was even more stunned.

The Sacred Flame of Nature... that legendary, priceless treasure had been consumed and lost forever?!

But after thinking for a moment, she realized it made perfect sense.

Even if Priam had returned to the sect and revealed the Corrupted Heart’s location, no ordinary Mage or Sage would ever be capable of dealing with corruption on that scale. The Main Sect would inevitably have chosen the exact same method to destroy it.

After all, a Corrupted Heart was an incredibly unstable and terrifying time bomb. At any moment, it could unleash a catastrophic disaster that not even the greatest Sage would be able to contain. Trying to seal it or transport it would be suicidal.

Since a treasure capable of purifying it had been right there, using it had been the best possible choice.

Priam gave an awkward little smile.

”So... now that I’ve told you everything, I guess I’ve made a pretty huge contribution to the sect, right?”

Mishnar stared at him for several moments before finally nodding.

”Without a doubt. In the past, that planet produced the largest amount of high-grade resources every year for the Main Sect. By eliminating the source of the corruption and reclaiming the planet... in the long run, the scale of your contribution is simply immeasurable.”

Priam smiled, satisfied.

”Great. I’d like to use the weight of that contribution to make a request.”

Mishnar’s expression immediately shifted, curiosity filling her eyes.

Priam looked a little nervous.

”Elder Leader... please don’t get startled or do anything rash, okay?”

She nodded.

He took a deep breath and waved his hand.

”!”

Before anything had even fully materialized, Mishnar’s eyes widened. An icy light and an overwhelming killing intent burst out of her body.

She recognized it instantly.

It was unmistakably the aura of a Primordial Chaos Beast!

Priam opened his palm, and a tiny green ethereal flame appeared above it.

The little creature trembled, clearly terrified by Mishnar’s murderous aura. Panicking, it quickly slid across Priam’s hand and hid behind his neck, shaking.

”Don’t be shy... Elder Leader isn’t going to hurt you,” Priam said gently, trying to comfort her.

”Priam... what the hell is the meaning of this?!” Mishnar’s voice dropped into a dangerously low tone.

Priam sighed and looked her straight in the eyes.

”Elder Leader, do you know about my race? The Vancularis?”

She shook her head.

Without wasting any time, Priam explained the power of his bloodline, detailing the Vancularis’ innate abilities related to absolute soul contracts. Then he carefully picked up his tiny companion with both hands and held her out in front of him.

”You can examine her soul. My spiritual mark is engraved deep within it. That proves she’s my contracted partner. This contract is absolutely unbreakable. Its level is on par with an absolute slave contract,” he said solemnly.

”I found her while she was still inside an egg, in a demonic universe within the Mortal Plane. Back then... I couldn’t bring myself to kill her. So I formed a soul contract with her and kept her with me until now. During my exile, she finally hatched.”

”She’s just a newborn. She knows nothing about the world and can’t be blamed for the atrocities committed by her race. Our contract is absolute. I guarantee with my own life that she can’t harm anyone unless I order it or know about it. That’s why... I want to keep her with me officially. I want the sect to approve her presence.”

Mishnar remained silent, unsure of what to think.

A Primordial Chaos Beast turned into a soul-bound servant? Was something like that even theoretically possible?

However, every high-level Mage in the Divine Plane knew that, behind the scenes, there were certain Primordial Chaos Beasts that acted peacefully or served as diplomats and spies.

Although the two great races were mortal enemies, both were protected by their respective Sovereigns and had been born from the same universe. Despite their ancient hatred, coexistence wasn’t completely impossible under extraordinary circumstances.

And here stood a newborn, with a soul mark as obvious as daylight...

Mishnar let out a long sigh, and her killing intent finally faded away.

”I’ll report everything to the Main Sect. I can’t guarantee what their final decision will be. But for now, since she’s only a newborn, you have permission to take care of her.”

Priam nodded in relief.

”Thank you. One more thing... does the sect have any knowledge about shapeshifting or techniques that could help me teach her? She’s a somewhat spiritual lifeform.”

Mishnar rested a hand on her chin, thinking for a few moments.

”I believe... yes, we do. Long ago, our sect had a spiritual humanoid race among its members that left behind some very specialized techniques. Nobody uses that kind of knowledge anymore, so it’s considered ’useless.’ Almost every branch still keeps it in their libraries, just in case some hybrid beast without a complete humanoid form ever needs to study it. But we’ve never had a half-beast Mage powerful enough... let alone someone in your situation.”

With a wave of her hand, the space before Mishnar rippled like the surface of a lake. She reached into the spatial rift and pulled something out.

An ancient translucent Jade Slip appeared in her palm, and she handed it to Priam.

”I don’t know how useful it’ll be, but that ancient race had mastered the art of shapeshifting. You might find something worthwhile in there.”