One Hundred Years As An Extra
chapter-23

Chapter 23

In my previous life, I heard about the difficulties people faced while overcoming alcoholism. I was not prepared for the side effects of quitting drinking on Dalia’s body. It was terrible!

According to a medical book I had read at Acrab, the first step was to identify the root cause of the habit and the urge to turn to alcohol. But that was irrelevant to me because the real Dalia had disappeared, and I wasn’t really reliant on alcohol.

However, there was nothing I could do but suffer the withdrawal symptoms of this body. At first, the only symptom was my hands trembling. But I started throwing up whatever I ate. I felt anxious and I suffered from nightmares frequently. I hid everything from Kaichen, as much as I was able, in the duration of the trip but I doubted that I could hide it from him anymore.

I’m going to die while trying to stop drinking. D*mn you, Dalia! What the hell was so difficult that you had to become like this? As much as I cursed her, I sympathized with her. It must have been a horrible blow to Dalia, who lost both her parents overnight, and lost almost everything in the midst of the trauma. But it was my body now, and I am going crazy with this!

“Making a magical potion is dangerous. It might go terribly wrong if you are unable to awaken the magic while having no knowledge of medicine…,” Kaichen looked at me with a surprised face. “Did you learn those while you were trapped in the time magic?”

I didn’t mean to go red but Kaichen, the great Archmage, looking at me in wonder made me flustered. “I had a lot of time,” I said in response.

Kaichen still looked at me. He seemed to be thinking for a long while. “Did you also teach yourself magic?”

“Yes…,” I said, “But only the basics.” Perhaps he felt it was impressive for someone to teach themselves magic without a teacher. Not many attempted to learn magic without a mentor.

A mage would usually be on the look-out for anyone with the ability to awaken the magical power within them. Having found them, they would take a disciple. The journey would then begin for the teacher to teach their apprentice to awaken their magical power and gather the mana within their heart. There was no mage without a teacher. Nobody could ever awaken their mana by themselves. They always needed a teacher, a guide.

Nobody in the continent had ever succeeded in awakening their mana alone. Even someone as great as Kaichen had learnt from a teacher, Matabju. So, I, who had managed to awaken the mana all by myself, might seem very strange to him.

“Are you saying that you have awakened your mana by yourself?”

“With great difficulty, yes. But as I said, I had a lot of time on my hands.” Maybe it wasn’t completely impossible. Since I was able to do it.

I had been free and bored with plenty of time at my disposal. So, it hasn’t been difficult to awaken my mana after lots of studies. In the original novel, Julius had brought Matabju as a teacher to Kaichen. The event was described in very intricate detail. I had learnt to awaken my mana by copying Julius. It didn’t work at first, of course. But I had tried it relentlessly for ten years and I was finally, painstakingly, able to do it. I had placed my hopes on Kaichen to rescue Acrab from the time magic and had focused on building my own skills.

I had tried to train myself physically as well. I had even taken up a wooden sword to learn swordplay. But it didn’t matter even if I practiced for the whole day with blisters on my hand, the next day I would be where I had begun. My body would be back to its original state. Pushing myself physically had been fruitless, so eventually I gave up on it and focused on learning magic, instead. But to be eligible to be registered as a mage, I needed a teacher. It was mandatory. I chose Kaichen because I knew that he would come to Acrab to break the time magic.

“I have a favor to ask of you.”

“I don’t intend on doing you any favors.”

“Oh, come on! We will be living together here for god knows how long. Please do me this smallest of favors.” I walked to him and shortened the distance between us. I then got on my knees to plead. I had my moments of drama. “Please accept me as your disciple.”

“I don’t want to,” said Kaichen. He looked surprised but quickly regained his composure. I refused to get up. I was desperate to become a mage and have him teach me. I didn’t care about lofty ideals like my pride, for example.

“I beg you! Please! I would have learnt more magic by myself. But it is mandatory to have a teacher even just to register as a mage. I want you to be my teacher. Please!”

“There are many mages who want disciples. Find someone else.”

“But then they would think of me differently because I have already awakened my mana. I don’t want that!” Kaichen looked at me and said nothing.

“Think about it. If a student who is a beginner has already awakened their mana and knows the basics of magic, the teacher might not really accept it willingly. They might be jealous! They won’t teach me properly.”

“Compared to such mages, wouldn’t you, a genius of the century yourself, be the perfect fit for me? You won’t be jealous, and you already know my secret. You are the perfect teacher I could find!”

“That’s nonsense.”

“It’s true. You know it too.”

Kaichen, who received the surname ‘Tenebre’ from the magic tower, knew that better than anyone else. He averted my gaze pretending to look away. But I put my hands together and said, “I beg you. Please accept me as your disciple. I will try my hardest and do my best to learn everything from you. You won’t regret it, I promise.”