Con-man instructions on how to live as a Noble

Silas felt dread crawling through his bones, reaching toward his brain, scorching his inner thoughts. He couldn’t think straight. He didn’t want to think at all.

He just wanted everything to stop.

"What kind of deal?" He yelled with a damaged throat. Blood oozed out from his mouth but he didn’t care. Pain. He could deal with that.

"Hehe." Thamior didn’t answer. Instead, he covered his mouth and chuckled, enjoying the miserable state Silas found himself in.

"Let me be clear, Viremont." Thamior composed himself, straightening up. He looked into Silas with unweaving eyes.

Perhaps, he was about to tell him the truth. Silas prepared, clenching his hands tightly into a fist.

He only looked at Thamior, ignoring the lifeless children. Their sights were unbearable to him.

"The crest is complete yet. This is the truth, I will reveal." Thamior said softly and paused, looking at the child beside him.

"But, that doesn’t mean I can’t use the crest. The incomplete crest is still a crest after all, I can use it like this. See their eyes, Viremont. They don’t have an ounce of life behind those cold eyes. They are gone."

Strangely, Silas felt relief wash over him. ’Good. Good.’ He muttered not knowing the reason.

Why? Why did he feel relief?

For that question, he would rather not answer. But to satisfy his inner mind, he would give himself an answer, Silas was not a good person.

"Because of that I can overwrite their mind to obey my will. You could say I complete the crest of mind control but that is not what I desire." Thamior waved his hand and a child came near him.

He patted the child’s head gently as if it was the most precious thing he could hold in the world.

He sighed. "Anyway, I don’t have any use for them. You can kill them."

"As if I want to kill." Silas replied. "What is your deal?"

"Too many ears and eyes in this room. How about you clear them first?" Thamior smiled, pointing at the children. He wanted him to kill the children. With the expression on his face, strangers would mistake him as a kind old man.

But Silas understood very well the dark twist behind the mask.

"No." Silas answered flatly.

’Can mind control crests only work for traumatized people? Is that why he is making me see this.’ Silas thought.

"I see. Well, this is your choice." Thamior sighed and snapped his finger. A cold and uncaring voice rang through the room.

"Kill yourself."

The children listened. They began struggling. Silas closed his eyes but the sound of their rustle sent his heart flying to the moon.

’Not done yet?’

The rustling didn’t stop.

Silas opened his eyes and saw the children crawling toward his direction, almost as if they were asking for death.

They were but it was due to Thamior’s order.

"Ha...ha.." Silas let out a murmur and lifted up his hand. "I will help you since I am a good guy."

A good guy and yet not a pure and virtuous one.

What a terrible way of living. He should have just died. He should just stay dead.

Many Tier 1 spells flew out from his palm, landing in their heads, piercing their brains, ending their miserable existence and killing a small part of him.

"Good job." Thamior said. "Now, let’s get a deal."

Silas stared at the old mage with nothing. Even anger was gone now. What remained inside was a cold logic he always carried when he assumed the role of a con-man and a pain.

"State your terms." He said.

Thamior smiled genuinely. "That is more like it. We can talk."

"Oh world, bring forth the heart of my soul upon this world." Thamior recited a chant in ancient dragon language.

The language held the power of nature and nature listened. Space around Thamior crumbled and started spreading around the world.

The expansion covered the entire room and Silas found himself standing on the white plane of existence.

The inner workings of the domain.

"I don’t have anything to show so, it is quite plain right?." Thamior said.

Silas looked around but didn’t find the old mage. But the voice definitely came from somewhere. No...it was everywhere.

Silas nodded, as he understood the nature of the untainted domain. Right now, Thamior was this domain itself.

With his knowledge about the game, Silas understood Thamior’s condition well.

His theory was a bit wrong. Thamior was not near death. He was completely dead, just prolonging his life by combining with the domain given by the world.

Because of his unique condition with the domain, he couldn’t paint the domain with his experience. That was why the domain was pure and untainted.

And that was why he couldn’t advance to seventh circle mage.

Silas looked around, gazing upon the domain.

"Speak of your deal." Silas asked.

"Yeah. Yeah. I will kill myself. That is the first thing you want right?"

Silas nodded without a pause. To be honest, he wanted more than that but he was satisfied with this.

"Alright, then. The first condition of the deal is that this domain vanished from the world. That is your proposal." Thamior slowly said.

Silas nodded, rubbing his arm, blood still dripping from his shoulder.

’Destroying domain is destroying oneself. It is the highest form of death.’ Silas thought, not understanding why Thamior agreed with that.

"What is your deal, Thamior?" Silas asked coldly.

The world shifted and morphed as if it was summoning something out of thin air.

A crest bigger than a mountain appeared in front of him. Silas stumbled back, marveling at the sight of a grand spell.

"This is..."

"Yes. A mind control crest. The perfect crest I managed to create."

"Huh? If this is a perfect crest than those children.."

"They were affected by a different crest so see. The crest you see right now, holds the information of my beings. I wanted to extend my life but I don’t want to do it normally. My talent in magecraft was low." Thamior explained.

"This crest represents me. That is the spell I create after gaining this domain. I thought it was perfect. If I could just imbue someone with this crest, I can take over the body."

"Haha... but the world didn’t allow such things. The body I reincarnated, immediately rejected me, as a result my body crumbled and I had to stay alive with this domain."

Silas didn’t interrupt the old mage long answer.

"In order to fulfill your proposal, I need you to take the crest inside you." Thamior said.

"That meant I died."

"Yes. Without a doubt, after all, the world didn’t allow my existence like this."

"Why should I do this? You must have a very good bait to convince me." Silas asked. He wasn’t a fan of dying but he could listen.

"Nothing but I will tell you a secret. My Family will find this crest and will continue to improve the crest. That meant more death. Do you want that?"

No. He didn’t want that. That was the only reason he came here risking everything.

"No."

"Yeah. Me too. But my reason is different from yours. I am not a good hearted person. I will make sure that you won’t die."

"So you will stay inside my mind without killing me. That is a gamble."

"A gamble which I am taking."

"And me."

"So want to take a deal? The domain me will die and be reborn as a new one. The one without the sin of the past. You can’t judge a child for the sin of his father. But if you still want to judge, I will make a change in our deal so that I will die with a thought inside your mind."

Silas went silent as his mind wandered across the possibilities.

Sure, the being that came from the crest is not the same as the old Thamior but they shared a mind. Even if he took the deal, he could still kill him.

And with the sixth circle mage inside his head, his advancement in the magecraft will be smooth.

"No. I refuse the deal." Silas said.