Chapter 1: Magic Man

A lab whose form can be easily alternated via spells. The bedroom, bathroom, kitchen, living room and default lab room were its forms. A magic library witin the lab with a level above ground and countless levels below. And a mahogany desk and oak wood chair.

Despite its nondescript appearance as a shed, it was, in fact, a lab.

However, it was no ordinary lab.

It belonged to someone that was part of a group who could be classified as legendary scholars:

A mage.

And that said mage was now in his shed(lab), sitting on his oakwood chair at his mahogany desk... and muttering curses.

「Fuck!」

It resounded all across the room, and came from a young man clad in traditional magicians garments named Leo. He seemed to be quite distressed, as he was holding his head in his hands. He grit his teeth and looked up, revealing translucent red eyes, a well defined, eastern looking face, and short glossy black hair. Although frustrated, the mage in question didn't seem to intend to give up. In fact it was quite the opposite. It was his 80th attempt at this specific magic experiment, but with each try his results improved more and more. However, he was still just not there yet. He needed more trials.

「Shit... dragon's blood, elder newt, elf's tears, Yggdrasil springwater, pixie dust, sprite breath, phoenix feather..... what am I doing wrong?!」

No matter how much he pondered over it, he could only groan in frustration at the formulae. He knew he was the right ingredients- it was from an ancient scroll, after all- but he simply couldn't catalyze or get them to subsidize. It was an impossible, but simple problem: they had too much power.

In order for magic formulae to work, the sum of magic energy for all the reactants must be less than or equal to the individual parts of the solution. The remaining energy is used to stabilize and control the reaction. Therefore, minute calculations are required to ensure that the volatile ingredients can combine properly. But again, there was a simple, but impossible problem: the scroll he had obtained was smudged, and the order as well as the precise masses couldn't be deciphered. With the repeated experiments, Leo had managed to fill in the scrolls errors, but he still hadn't gotten the order right. There were millions of permutations[1], after all. Still, he persevered and worked.

「1 ml of dragons blood... gently mix it using a ether rod, add mana... pour in essence of pixie dust and wash with yggdrasil springwater + elf's tears solution.... gently guide precipates in a 1:4 ratio... and.... SHIT!」

He failed spectacularly. It was too much to ask for, really, calculating the specific orders based on mass and myus[2] of magic energy. Cruel. This is uimaginably cruel. Why would anyone make such a godforsaken recipe? Leo lamented ever comming across the scroll. He glanced at it, and it seemed to be laughing at him. He was suddenly filled with the desire to tear it apart. He was tempted to burn it, but he couldn't. It was something necessary for his ambitions, for his goals.

Since he was a snotty brat, becoming a mage had been his biggest desire. Once he became older, his goal changed. He wanted to become the peak of all mages, the strongest of them all. He wanted to become a Sage.

(I WILL become a Sage!) He thought firmly, a resolve filling his heart. It burned like a flame, like the Sun. And so he toiled, day and night, until he had caclulated 50 pages worth of equations and done over a 1000 experiments. And finally..... tears were starting to form in his eyes. After so much effort, blood, sweat, and tears, he was no closer than he was at the start.

「.....」

It could've been the wind, or perhaps his sleep demons, but the scroll was definitely laughing at him, giggling hysterically and rocking around.

Scroll: Ｏ(≧∇≦)Ｏ 🖕.

「....Σ(｀Д´　💢)」

「....Alright then....」

Humph! He stretched his body and hopped out of his chair, then grabbed his wand and shuffled away from the scroll.

「First, I will take a break, and then come back to try agai-」

He whirled around.

「IS THAT WHAT YOU THOUGHT I'D SAY, YOU PIECE OF SHIT?! DIE!! FIREBALL!!!!(x200 power)[3]」

A large wreath of flames spewed out of his wand, majestically forming an orb of fire that incinerated everything in its path(which was basically nothing, since everything was protected through magic) and engulfed the scroll in its mighty heat.

「Haa- Haa-」

He gasped for air, wheezing slightly, but he had a slightly satisfied grin. Since he had 50 pages worth of magically protected data, technically the scroll was just a reference page at this point. Therefore, he could roast the shit out of it for causing him suffering. There was no need to feel guilty. But this is an ancient magical scroll, you know? How could a puny fireball, even enhanced and condensed 200 times, win against it? After the flames stopped, it gently, like a feather, floated down onto Leo's head as if to spite him. His already twitching veins popped, and his face turned red. This, time with no magic, he grabbed the scroll off his head and tried biting it, tearing it, and even stomping on it in a childish fit of rage.

「AGGHHHHHHHHH!!!! THIS DAMN POTIONNNNN!!!!! FUCK! WHY THE FUCK IS IT SO DIFFICULT TO DOOOO??!?!?!!?!!」

This, and other similar spouts of curses, continued on for about 5 minutes. By then it was nighttime, and he was exhausted. Sighing, he used the magics [Clean] and [Assist], which cleaned his body(including teeth) and helped him change into pajamas, respectively. Just as he was about to go to sleep though, a light flashed. It was blindingly bright, like the radiance of a star. Squinting his eyes, he could see that it was coming from his work table. Or more accurately, the magic ingredients. At first Leo was confused, but then he paled.

(Oh shit... my latest experiment which I forgot to use!! The fireball must've forcibly congregated them into a potion similar to the recipe!)

An accident, a miraculous accident had occurred. He had finally gotten some results. However he was not happy. Why? Well, because of the fact that the solution was not the intended one he was to make and therefore had side effects. It was also because that very same potion was now leaking magic energy like crazy. If a potion is forcefully made, then that solution would be very reactive to any magic in the vicinity, thereby releasing its effects to the surroundings. Also, depending on the type of potion the recipe was originally for, a mixture of similar, but slightly different effects could be created. This was why Leo was so pale. It was because the potion he had been trying to create- was immortality. With immortality, he would have all the time in the world to research and practice magic. With this potion though, he could see that it's methods were different, though its purpose similar. That's right. It was an elixir of reincarnation. And it was random.

(Ah... shit.)

Leo barely thought of this before he was flooded with the light of reincarnation. After the light subsided, all that was left was his workshop.

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A/N:

[1] = Many permutations because some(ingredients) may be repeated

[2] = 1 myu : 1 kilowatt

[3] = 「(と言うと思ったのか,このかすやろ?! 死ね!!ファイアボール!!!!)」