11 Morning Blues (3)
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He slowly made his way to the bathroom, closing the door gently behind him.
Like the bedroom, the bathroom was spacious and luxuriously furnished as well. White marble floors, a large shower that can fit five people, a modern style bathtub, and among other things.
Used to seeing such luxury in his first life and then now, Hadrian didn't even blink as he entered the master bathroom.
After heating up the water in the bathtub, he started to take off his pajamas, folding them neatly before leaving it in the hamper.
Hadrian slowly submerged his body in the pleasant heated water.
'Can't believe I would dream of that, of all things…' The cyan eyed Master mused with a frown. 'I certainly hope he's not haunting me or something.'
Hadrian sighed and closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the headrest of the bathtub.
Being reincarnated and sent over here by the astrals, it was a certainly different experience for him.
Even without hints, Hadrian already knew that the astral gods of Eos had something to do with his situation in this world, considering as they were the only beings in his world that has enough power to accomplish such a thing. In addition, the Astral Goddess of Death, Lady Etro, was quite known to be favorable to the Lucis Caelum family.
Ergo, Hadrian would not be so surprised if she and the other astrals gods had something to do with his reincarnation.
Still, he did wonder as to why they would do such a thing.
Having read myths and numerous tales of the astrals, Hadrian had come to a conclusion that they are beings that do not really understand mortals. Rarely do they ever show themselves to mortals and rarely do they even lend their help. When he was a child, his opinion had often gotten him scolded by his father for bearing doubts to the astrals in the past.
But, his narrow-minded view was simply based on an assumption from childhood.
When Hadrian grew older and went on a short journey to collect the royal weapons and increased the ring's power, he knew that there was more to the world than meets the eye.
After the Ring of Lucii had accepted him as the new King, Hadrian had gained a sort of awareness for the supernatural.
Sometimes, he would hear unknown voices with power, dream of things that might shape the future, and feel presences that he had never known were there before he wore the ring. Then, he met a being that looked like a human, who called herself 'Gentiana'.
Saud being had the appearance of a beautiful woman with long glossy black hair that flowed down her back like a straight river. She had a pale skin, tall (with the height of 5'7), and a body that was so well-proportioned and perfect that it can leave men gaping in shock and awe at her beauty.
Strangely enough, her eyes were closed, and yet every time she appeared to him, Hadrian always felt that she was looking at him even without actually seeing him.
She had introduced herself to him as the 'High Messenger' of the astral gods, and she often assisted him in his journey across Eos.
Through Gentiana, Hadrian's belief in the astral gods had solidified, and their actions that led to him being reincarnated in this world made him believe that they are benevolent beings.
On a side note, Hadrian was glad that the astrals had the foresight to seal the memories of his past life after he was sent here and was reincarnated.
His memories returned to him slowly as he grew older in this world. Hadrian had first thought that he was going crazy at that time, but as the pieces fell into place, so did his understanding of the current situation. It was a good thing on his part that he did not tell anyone in his family about any strange dreams that he had in the past.
Otherwise, he doubted that they would just leave the matter alone, especially a certain old Magician.
Also, it was a good thing that he was not yet fully conscious and aware of his situation at that time. It would be a nightmare for him if his mind had been in full maturity at such a young age. Or else, he would have had memories of the times when his mother, Lucia, breastfed him.
Hadrian shuddered at the thought.
'No. Just no…' He grimaced. 'Glad I don't remember that part of my life.'
The world he was born in was odd. It was familiar, yet unique at the same time.
Growing up in a household with ancient magical roots, it was something that he did not expect, let alone to be surrounded by loving parents and a grandparent.
If one were to ignore that they were Magi, Arin and Lucia are the best parents that any child can ask for.
They were attentive and caring, never the type to leave without letting him know that they were there for him always and would listen to his troubles if he has any.
While he only had a few memories of his father, Arin had still left an impression on Hadrian because they were good and positive memories.
As a father, Arin had done a good job in being one to Hadrian. He was calm, kind and patient with him, taking his time in teaching him about Magecraft. Often times, his mother would find the two of them exchanging theories and ideas regarding Magecraft either at lunch or dinner.
Sometimes, his grandfather would also be there with them, though it often ends in hilarity.
Whenever he was around Arin, Hadrian felt unburdened and free to be himself.
It felt as if the man has no expectations of him other than finding his own happiness in this world, and Hadrian supposed it was that side of his father that made him think of him fondly.
As for his mother, Lucia, she was nearly similar as Arin. She too was calm, kind and patient with him.
But, she was more open in showing her love for him as a mother. She would give him hugs, and always provide him some of her attention whenever she sees him around the castle.
As someone related to the old Magician, Lucia also had a habit of teasing the people who were close to her, including Hadrian.
His mother (in his life) would sometimes pinch his cheek or tweak his nose in jest, which would result with Hadrian giving her a glare that she only found adorable and a great incentive to tease him even more, much to Hadrian's slight annoyance.
His grandfather though… loving and caring, yet quite the prankster too.
In his first life, Hadrian never had a grandparent before. The ones in his first life had already passed away before he was even born, and Hadrian only got to know about them through his father, who would tell him stories about them when he and Astraea had been young.
Thus, it was a new experience for Hadrian to have one in this life.
Having Zelretch as a grandfather was quite a fun experience. But as a senior Magus, Zelretch can be seen as both a mentor and a wise advisor.
Unlike his parents, who were more gentle and firm in their approach in showing their care for him, his grandfather was different.
Most of the time, he can be doting, kind and caring. Other times, he was strict, firm and wise.
Sure, there was a mix of hilarity and silliness that would simply sneak its way in without warning beneath his grandfather's serious demeanor, but his vast knowledge and wealth of experience in the art of Magecraft and True Magic were truly something to behold. After witnessing it in person so many times, Hadrian had seen how his grandfather had earned the title of 'Wizard Marshall'.
Of course, it was also rather obvious that the old man has high expectations of him.
Fortunately, Hadrian had his own wealth of knowledge and experience to call upon to meet the old man's expectations, even if his family do not know about the origins of his 'ideas'.
He may have come from a world different from Eos, but magic was something that he has great knowledge of.
He grew up with it, after all, in both lifetimes. And as he grew up in this world, so does his knowledge and talent in magic.
His grandfather took great interest in his potential, even going as far as to assign two individuals to test him in different levels of Magecraft.
The first had been Lord El-Melloi II, who taught him the basic levels of Magecraft until his grandfather would told him to stop.
It hadn't been hard for Hadrian to learn the basics.
From what Hadrian understood, the utilization of a Magecraft must require the caster's magical energy, which was called Od in this world, and the belief in one's self to let it materialize into reality.
As a firm believer in the astrals and his familiarity with magic in his first life, Hadrian had no issues in learning the ways of Magecraft whatsoever, much to Lord El-Melloi II's astonishment.
The lessons did not last long. It took Hadrian less than a year to know every way and corner of the basics of Magecraft, but he would made it less if not for his former mentor's insistence to double check regarding everything that he had learned from him so far.
While amused, Hadrian indulged the long-haired professor by diligently and calmly taking to the older man's lessons till he was no longer worried about him.
Even though his former mentor scowls a lot, he was quite the softy inside, despite his usual grouchy appearance.
Once Lord El-Melloi II was satisfied with his progress, his grandfather had ended the basic lessons from there.
His grandfather then proceeded in upping the difficulty of his lessons by assigning Lady Lorelei of Barthomeloi house, the Vice Chairman and the other Wizard Marshall of the Clock Tower, to teach him the advance levels of Magecraft, which lasted longer than the basics for a year and a few months.
Lady Lorelei's lessons had been trickier than his former mentor's.
Her lessons were strict, on-point and she does not mess around. She had high expectations of him, and would often scold him whenever he was too slow to understand a formula that should be easy for his intellect to grasp in minutes. However, while she was strict with him, Hadrian can see that she was quite caring and kind on the inside.
'Like a porcupine...' He thought in amusement, lips twitching into a smile at the thought of his brown-haired female mentor. 'All prickly, but adorable on the inside.'
Of course, Hadrian would never say such a thing out loud regarding Lady Lorelei. That would simply earn him a quick punishment and then a harsh scolding next.
After the advance lessons with Lady Lorelei was done, his grandfather had issued a new challenge by telling Hadrian to do a self-study and create his own brand of Magecraft.
It had been difficult at first, due to the risks and he was literally diving into the unknown, but Hadrian was anything if not persistent.
Thanks to his determination and creativity, he had managed to create it from the various researches that he had taken interest in long ago. With the help of those researches, his father's research and his uncle's notes about the First True Magic combined together, Hadrian was able to make a unique brand of Magecraft that is closer to a True Magic.
It also helped that Hadrian had been inspired and drew significant influences from the spells and the magic system that he used in his first life.
'Void Magecraft', was the official name of it.
Considering as he designed it to support the First Magic, most of the spells that he made so far has intimate relations with the latter subjects.
In hindsight, it was probably the reason why he had been given the rank of 'Crown' by the high council of the Mage's Association, along with that infernal title 'Prince'.
Ironically, if one were to put the two together, they would be pronounced as 'Crown Prince', which was the irony of all ironies. It did not even helped make things better for him that one of his mentors has the title of 'Queen' of the Clock Tower, along with how the residents of the moonlit world would bow to him in greeting whenever they see him as if he was royalty in this world as well.
Sometimes, it made Hadrian wonder if Fate just likes to mess with him a lot.
'Speaking of a spell…'
Recalling a certain memory in his dream, Hadrian huffed to himself.
That particular dream had occurred only several months ago.
After he closed off the Moon and made it completely inaccessible to everyone, Hadrian had to make sure that there were no loose ends.
By diligently going through the records provided by the Moon Cell, he wanted to be sure if there was anything strange lingering in the Moon, just waiting to make itself known.
When he came by a certain info about the Far Side of the Moon, Hadrian went there and personally saw to it himself.
Unlike before, the transition to go from earth and to the inner side of the moon had been easy for him. It helped that the Moon Cell was compliant to his wishes, and that it had merged with his soul after the war was over. Thus, when Hadrian ordered it to make the Far Side appear like the Arena, his wish was followed to the letter and he had gotten himself a private training ground that day.
Since Hadrian was born in this world, he never really had the chance to explore the limits of his powers, to test whether his powers from the Lucis Caelum bloodline was still there.
Fortunately, when he was old enough, his small tests proved that his Lucian powers were still there with him, despite being reborn a second time.
Unfortunately, his new family did not exactly gave him much privacy when he had been young. His eccentric grandfather and his antics did not helped make things easy for him at all.
While Hadrian does love his new family and cherishes them greatly, there were some moments that he simply wish for them to give him a bit of privacy.
Thankfully, his parents understood, even without him telling them about it. They probably thought that he was going through some phase or something at that time, and didn't really think too deeply about giving him some privacy to explore the world, but Hadrian did not complain since the outcome did worked in his favor.
His grandfather though… the word 'doting' and 'noisy' comes to his mind.
Hadrian did not want to think unkindly of his grandfather, but honestly, the old man be unbearable sometimes.
So, when the Moon Cell made him a new 'Arena' to play with, Hadrian spent most of his time training in that place to his heart's content.
All of his pent up stress that he kept bottled up for fourteen years, he poured it all into his training and killing a bunch of dangerous programs that had been discarded as 'errors' by the Moon Cell.
Back then, Hadrian had worked hard to bring his body to the peak of its condition. Thanks to the divine essence within his blood, he was able to take several hits from large monsters the likes of a Behemoth, and still be alright to stand and fight.
After being reincarnated in this world, Hadrian had to start over.
Even now, his body was not yet up to the level that he had in his first life, but his weakness was slowly being overcome as the time goes by.
Of course, his visits there had to be done under the pretense of 'improving his research inside his private workshop'.
His retainers then, especially Arturia, were quite perceptive of his movements. They knew some of his powers, but they don't really know of its origins, including his family in this regard.
Arturia and a few of his retainers were the only ones who knew of it, but they knew not to speak a word of it unless Hadrian is the one to tell the others about the truth.
In regards to his trips to the inner side of the moon though, all of them were not aware of his 'trips'.
Therefore, he had to be extra careful in going there without arising suspicion from them.
(In the end, it didn't really mattered since he got found out by Arturia herself. She demanded him to take her as well whenever he goes there, and his other retainers jumped in the bandwagon too when they found out the truth from their arguments. From then on, Hadrian was accompanied by his retainers, so that they too can have some 'fun'.)
After training for a month there, Hadrian had reached the deepest part of the Arena, and that was where he found that guy.
The King of Heroes, Gilgamesh.
Or at least, it was the recorded version of the original that the Moon Cell had copied in its database.
Nevertheless, based on his findings, Hadrian knew that the being he met at the bottom of the Arena was closer to the original, if not the truest version of himself.
What went on in that place had nearly cost him his life, but what surprised Hadrian more was how that fight ended.
When Gilgamesh saw his weird sword breaking apart, he simply raised his hand and called their battle into a sudden halt, despite having been the one who started attacking Hadrian on sight.
It had stupefied Hadrian too, to have an all-out battle in his hands suddenly start and then stopped right when he was just about to end the guy.
During those moments, Hadrian concluded that he had met another weirdo in his second lifetime.
In his first lifetime, Hadrian had met a few weirdos during his travels around Eos. In this world though, Hadrian had met a lot of them, including among them was his opa and some of his friends.
(In some parts of the world and somewhere within the penthouse, several people sneezed at the same time.)
Admittedly though, the older blonde was a weirdo amongst weirdos, especially when Gilgamesh began spouting off about becoming his 'heir' and whatever nonsense.
Unable to find the urge to continue the fight, Hadrian simply agreed to whatever the man was asking, so that it can be over and done with.
What happened after that was a real blur, but from Hadrian's recollection, the older blonde appeared to be quite impressed with him and his abilities, despite being a mortal.
Then, he started calling him a 'Hero', someone worthy of inheriting all of the treasures that he had collected, and how he should rejoice for being the one to receive all of it.
Hadrian, on the other hand, merely showed his own enthusiasm by doing a fist pump in the air with a tired smile on his face.
Fortunately, the guy showed some restraint at his impudence, or he just outright ignored Hadrian's actions. Otherwise, the fight would start all over again, but on a different reason.
Then, Gilgamesh moved the conversation along and advised him to find the key that will be the door to all the treasures that he had kept hidden from the rest of the world.
When Hadrian asked him why, the blonde man simply answered him that it was his reward for amusing him too much.
After those parting words, Hadrian never saw him ever again. Also, now that he thought about it, the guy didn't even answered his question.
Anyways, it was as if the man outright vanish in his very eyes that day, which caused Hadrian to wonder whether he was actually real or merely an apparition in the system.
Frankly, Hadrian thinks that the King was just impressed with his spells, his weapons, his skills with the royal arms and his teleportation ability.
Based on what he found about Gilgamesh, the older blonde was the first Hero, who was widely acknowledged by mankind in this world. Due to his noble deeds and various accomplishments in the past, the people from all over the world in that era had lauded him as the 'Hero-King', Gilgamesh.
In addition, the weapons and items used and owned by other heroes in legends were literally once a part of his treasury.
Therefore, giving legitimacy that he can even be called as the 'Father of Heroes', considering as the meaning of the title 'Hero' had literally started with him.
During their fight, Hadrian had seen the fascination in Gilgamesh's eyes, which honestly annoyed him at first.
Also, when he turned the tables on him with one of his spells, 'Disintegration', and the 'Armiger', Hadrian saw the anger in his crimson eyes, but there was a new emotion that appeared: approval.
So, after reading the info and recalling his parting words, Hadrian began to understand him a little.
It was only a pity that the guy was arrogant and too egotistical to relate to, but after Gilgamesh had admitted defeated when he saw the damage on his peculiar sword appeared and grew the longer they fought, the arrogant behavior seemed to have toned down.
The words of encouragement and his generous parting gift had also helped in making a good impression upon Hadrian about the King.
After that encounter, Hadrian had to use the Moon Cell to find the key, seeing as relying on a normal search would bring him nowhere and waste his time.
Finding the key, Bab-ilu, had not been too difficult. It was displayed in one of the antique shops located in Iraq, just gathering dust there and being useless.
Needless to say, Hadrian bought the item and used it to open himself a portal that leads directly to the treasury.
From what he knows, many people had tried to find the treasury that Gilgamesh had left hidden in the world, and many of them failed.
What they did not know though, was that they need the key, a great amount of magical energy, and (most probably) the approval of the King to open the Gates of Babylon.
Being inside the treasury, it was quite a beautiful sight to behold.
All kinds of treasures were in plain sight, displayed there to be admired and hold for its new owner.
Rare gems the size of his fist, countless collections of weapons and items deemed worthy of being inside the treasury by the first King, a large ocean of golden treasures in all various shapes and sizes covered the floor, and many more.
It was one of the sights that Hadrian would remember for the rest of his life.
Of course, since the King had already given his permission, Hadrian had decided to use the Gate of Babylon as his main choice to use in a fight in case there is a need for him to.
Also, seeing as the King was literally his benefactor in that case, Hadrian thought it would be proper to at least call the guy one of his 'Lehrers', which was a title of respect that he always used to the ones that taught him and gave him the chance to increase his powers.
So far, only his grandfather, Lord El-Melloi II, and Lady Lorelei Barthomeloi had earned that respectful title from him.
But, after the generous gift that he received from the King of Heroes, Hadrian figured it was okay to add Gilgamesh into the list, weird as he may be.
After he returned to his workshop that day, Hadrian found that the weirdo King had literally passed on his abilities to him before he vanished to who knows where.
Interestingly, the Moon Cell had been kind enough to even notify him via thought and the 'PT' (Portable Terminal), which is a device that appears similar to a mobile device but highly advance in its functions, and it can change its size and shape according to his wishes.
The 'PT' even provides direct access to most of the Moon Cell's abilities, but like a Mystic Code, only Hadrian can use them exclusively without restrictions.
With most of the anomalies in the Moon gone, Hadrian was left with a simple Arena that he can play and train in with his retainers without worrying about the damages to their surroundings.
Speaking of gems and treasures, Hadrian wondered about what his two friends, Rin Tohsaka and Rani VIII, would say about his 'inheritance' from the weirdo King.
In particular, Hadrian would be more interested in what Rin's reaction would be if she were to see the gems that are in the treasury.
'She would probably go nuts for it. Jewel Magecraft is her thing, after all. Hmm, I wonder where those two are. Last I heard from them was about going to Russia or something. I couldn't quite understand what they were saying since Rin was arguing with that blonde girl and Rani was talking to me at the same time.'
Amused by the thought, Hadrian smiled in fondness as he opened his eyes and looked at the sun making its slow ascent to the sky.
"Well, wherever they are, it would be nice to see those two again. I hope they are okay..."
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