Adam lay sprawled atop a floating bookshelf, his gaze distant.
He had been thinking about his answer for almost a day.
A part of him burned with greed. The knowledge. The treasures. The countless resources Magus Mathias had gathered over his long lifetime. All of it within reach. All of it enough to make him unrivaled on this planet.
He wanted it.
Every last bit of it.
But another part of him felt something else…
Respect.
Mathias the Free had stood at the edge of a greater arcane path, yet he had chosen to turn back. He had not cared about advancing further. He had cared about the world that raised him. The soil that nurtured him. And the generations that would come long after him.
That resolve… was not something Adam could easily dismiss.
He heaved a long, helpless sigh and slowly sat up.
"Dragonshit…"
His lips curled into a smile.
Adam rose to his feet and softly called out, "Sir Joker."
