As he was making the plan, Zephyr realised the world and the power system it had was very similar to the one he used in the game. The forgotten memories, buried deep within his mind, were resurfacing, allowing him to catch a glimpse of the world's reality.
Reality, while not pretty or kind, helped him evaluate his options.
'The goal of the game was simple. Gather power, kill bosses, save NPCs, and win at the end. If possible, you can spend extra time unravelling the hundreds of puzzles and mysteries hidden across the game world.'
'In the game, in the beginning, you would die hundreds of times mastering spells, gathering knowledge and being skilled at using them. And for a mage, knowledge and experience itself were strength.'
'Playing the game and dying a lot makes you better at handling what the game world throws at you.'
'Finally, you would win by excelling at everything.'
"The goals were pretty straight and intuitive," Zephyr muttered as he flicked the fountain pen.
A droplet of ink bulged at the tip, ready to spray out.
"However, this time, I don't have the luxury of doing everything like that. Death might be permanent. I can't risk it with my usual play style."
As he was thinking aloud, he suddenly paused.
The word play style rang inside his mind again.
Why was he saying that?
Despite the world sharing similarities, it was really not a game. After all, the game was a simple 2D simulation, whereas this was 3D life. So, death should be permanent, and each one of his actions should have dire consequences.
So, the word 'play style, ' he said, made him unknowingly frown.
It was not the right word to describe what he was about to do.
Still, Zephyr decided to approach it as if he were playing a game, making plans.
'Usually, I explore and take all the risks I can while I play.'
'That playstyle wouldn't work anymore.'
'I need to be a hundred times more cautious. After all, in this world, everything and anything can kill me.'
Zephyr, as he was, possessed zero strength on the scale of ten. There was literally no mage weaker than him.
Why?
Because he was a defective mage.
What does defective mean?
In this world, every mage forms their core in their early teens. Zephyr was someone with the absolute mana control as a trait, a stupidly great trait and had also awakened his core when he was just thirteen, the earliest possible for a mage. He was considered a once-in-a-century talent until they verified the size of the core.
The core, Zephyr, the genius with excellent prospects known to almost all in the Storm Tower, was a defective one.
Typically, a newly formed core was supposed to be a sphere ten centimetres wide floating in the mage's mindscape. Depending on the individual's talent, it can be slightly larger or smaller.
But Zephyr's was just one centimetre wide.
It was a core too small to be considered even one.
It could barely hold any mana in it.
Besides mana storage, the biggest reason it is called defective is because of the surface area it had and the amount of runes that could be inscribed on it.
Usually, as soon as the core is formed, the mage is given a mana-gathering spell to be etched on the core.
This spell contained dozens of runic letters that had to be carefully inscribed on the core through a meditative process.
However, because of Zephyr's core being too small, he couldn't inscribe the mana gathering spell on it. This crippling his ability to gather mana from the atmosphere. Which means, he wouldn't be able to grow his core, nor would he be able to cast spells normally.
So, could such a mage be called a mage at all?
Simply put, he couldn't.
But to save face, the Storm Tower gave him the title of the mage, banishing him to the outskirts of the kingdom.
They kept him out of sight and out of mind, hiding him far away because of shame.
After all, they had once considered him a once-in-a-century genius…as someone who could change the fate of the world. But nothing like that happened. In fact, the exact opposite occurred, embarrassing the senior mages who once praised him.
Immediately, all of them, the same people who seemingly supported him, scorned Zephyr and kicked him away.
That's how the defective mage, Zephyr, ended up in a fishing village, far away from the capital of the kingdom, making a living as a storm keeper.
The job of the storm keeper was simple. They had to use the magic instrument given by the tower to predict the weather, specifically if there would be a storm.
Even though Zephyr was a defective mage, it was still within his abilities. So, he continued working to make a living.
'Ah! A genius that fell from grace. Scorned by everyone. Fated to become a villain of the generation that could kill the main character.'
Zephyr supported his chin and thought under the crystal lamp.
'But his greatest weakness had later transformed into his greatest strength. The evil organisation could turn him into a chimaera because of that.'
Zephyr thought about what was going to happen.
According to the lore tablets, Zephyr would be captured by an evil organisation that does magic experiments and turns him into a human-demon chimaera.
And the reason he could be turned into a chimaera was because of his trait, absolute magic control.
'Absolute magic control allows the person to cast any spell as long as he has mana. Secondly, the lesser-known feature of this trait was the ability to turn foreign mana docile.'
'Not many know of the second feature because there existed few in history with the same trait.'
'It would have been a stupidly overpowered ability if used properly.'
Zephyr mumbled while looking at the scribbles he made.
The only person with a similar trait was the main character of the world, the Hero Aster, with the trait of max elemental affinity.
Zephyr was among the most talented when considering the trait alone.
'But luck was not on his side.'
'Unfortunately, the core he formed was a defective one. Because of the weak core, he couldn't fully utilise his trait. And this resulted in him being captured by the evil organisation.'
'After that, they experimented on his body for years, finally turning him into a perfect chimaera.'
'A half-man, half-monster being with seven body parts and demonic cores.'
'Because of the absolute mana control trait, the conflicting mana didn't destroy his body. And, because of the small core he had, they could overpower his mana core by implanting other cores, making him stronger while also destroying his ability to reason.'
'In a way, the evil organisation perfectly used him and turned him into a villain.'
'That is supposed to be my future if they capture me.'
Zephyr leaned back on the chair.
After thinking up to that point, he had to take a break. The future was too bleak. He couldn't see any immediate solution to the problem.
'What did I learn from the experiments the evil organisation conducted?' Zephyr asked himself.
Then he thought for a while and began to find his own answers.
'To quickly grow in strength, I can implant cores of beasts and demonic creatures. This will solve the mana quantity problem. But…'
It was a big, huge, large 'BUT'. After all, the price he would have to pay was sanity.
If he were willing to be insane, Zephyr could do the same and become strong, really fast.
Then, he wouldn't have to fear anyone anymore.
Even the hero, at his peak, would struggle to defeat him.
However, was being strong worth it?
Would power without sanity really help him?
Zephyr didn't think so.
Immediately, he abandoned the idea.