A new chapter

"Why do you look like you just saw a ghost? You are disappointed that you did not manage to destroy my clothes? Don't be too hard on yourself, I made these myself so it is normal that you can't destroy it. But don't worry, I'll keep my promise since I'm satisfied with your attack" Vee said to the beast while giving it a thumbs up and an approving smile.

'What. In. The. Hell. Is. This. Person?! He's out of point here but he's not wrong either'

The beast thought to itself while still staring at Vee with a shocked expression.

Vee's next words though, woke it up from its daze but it did not have time to react.

"Now it's my turn to attack!" Vee said before summoning his purple magic universes and connecting them.

"Lightning punishment!"

The beast was unable to react and the next thing it knew were huge purple lightning bolts falling from the sky in rapid succession all around it, it was soon covered in a torrent of lightning bolts that even Vee would not be able to see through unless he uses a vision ability which he did not bother to.

Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!

Within the ferocious rain of lightning, the beast was roaring in pain as the lightning bolts pressed it to the ground. It was not even able to move a limb, all it could do was roar in pain while feeling its body getting blasted to flesh particles.

"Damnit, curse you human!!"

Was the last thing it voiced out before a lightning bolt landed on its head and blasted it to pieces, the rest of its body soon followed before the end of the lightning punishment.

What was left was shattered earth, scorched pieces of meat, and blood stains all over the place.

" TKS! It could not even survive a weak spell, I haven't even touched it yet" Vee shook his head in dissatisfaction before turning back to walk to the northern continent. He could have flown back or just flashed a couple of times but he decided to walk just in case he would meet anything that would catch his interest or let him stretch.

...

Vee reached the northern continent after days of walking, he did not find anything that caught his interest or a way to stretch his limbs as he had wished because every single beast he ran into during his walk fled the very instance they felt his presence and he did not even find it enjoyable to go after them. He could only focus on his journey home.

Vee met five people the moment he stepped out of the black forest, his gaze turned soft and compassionate when he spotted the five.

The five of them quietly sat at the entrance of the black forest with their eyes closed as they quietly absorbed mana from the surroundings, one could feel the mana around them was dozens of times more than other places and a low-ranking mage sitting beside them at the moment to cultivate would experience what having abundant mana felt like.

There were four men and a woman in this group of five and all of them had exquisite appearances and dignified bearing even when they were simply sitting on the floor with their eyes closed.

The only woman in the group slowly opened her eyes which were as pretty as a jade, her eyes locked with a pair of crystal-like white eyes staring right back at her. A bright smile blossomed on the face of the woman as her eyes brightened with excitement, she quickly got up and ran towards the white-haired young man who was walking out of the black forest with calm steps.

"Master!" She called out in a joyous voice and jumped at Vee, locking him in a hug while giggling playfully.

Vee did not berate her childish action even when she ruffled his clothes and messed up his hair with her fingers, his face had a gentle smile instead as he gently rubbed her hair while she clung to his back like a backpack and her head resting on his shoulder.

"You should stop acting like this every time you see me. You aren't that kid I raised anymore, try acting more like the mature woman that you have become. Do you want people to come after your master after seeing how you behave around me?" Vee chuckled playfully as he took his fingers from her hair.

The woman stuck out her tongue cutely at his words.

" What does that matter? I'll deal with anyone who troubles the master and stay by the master's side forever" she declared confidently without thinking twice and they both laughed.

She was not wrong to say she would deal with anyone who troubled Vee and that was because she was one of the three Divine mages under Vee and they were the only divine mages in the entire world.

They were also the reason why he was not too bored because they always made lots of noise and behaved like mischievous kids when around Vee.

" Aya! Would you come down? Master just returned from cultivating and must be tired, let him rest" one of the four men sighed and berated the woman with a serious expression. All of them had already gotten up by now and were now standing around Vee.

"Bleh! Do you think I don't know your plan? You want me to come down so you can piggyback master, shu, go away" The woman didn't want to hear any of it and showed her tongue to the man who had berated her.

"Alright, you caught me. But don't be stingy, switch with me already" the man cried out and tried pulling the woman off of Vee's back but she refused to bulge and stuck to Vee strongly like a starfish.

"What are you kids babbling about, so noisy" Another one voiced out and suddenly floated into the air and free falling in front of Vee, he would not get hurt even if he increased the height of his fall but Vee still caught him before he could reach the ground.

"Hey, no fair!"

"Yeah, that's cheating"

"Master, drop him, let him fall, and break his neck!"

The other three began to protest at the shameless move of the man and soon all five of them began to bicker amongst themselves.

"Alright, alright, I'm not carrying anyone then. You lots should go away" Vee suddenly voiced out and released a bit of energy that pushed them away before taking off into the sky, but there was still someone on his back even after he told everyone to go away. The woman stuck out her tongue at the others in a provocative way as Vee flew into the sky with her.

"No fair, master is taking sides"

"Wait for me, why take her instead? She's annoying!"

"It can't be helped, she is the youngest so master can dote on her"

They all said one thing or the other before chasing after Vee as they all returned to his castle.

...…..

Twenty thousand years later.

Six figures stood outside the door of a grand castle in silence, the atmosphere was heavy as everyone had either a guilty or disappointed expression on their faces.

These six people were none other than the white-haired Vee and his five students, the grand castle behind the five used to belong to Vee but he had not been here in ages.

Thousands of years ago, he had successfully merged his one hundred magic universes into a single black hole, thereby becoming the first mage to ever step into the Transcended rank and earning himself the strongest mage on the entire planet of Edrichrio.

Well, the title of the strongest was already his ever since he stepped into the Divine mage rank but this time was different. He had finally stepped into the Transcended mage rank, reaching the highest rank in the mage path. He already realized that he could no longer improve no matter what he did so he concluded that this was the pinnacle of magic.

He was happy after reaching the top but the joy did not last long because what came along with the title of the strongest was not something he had expected…loneliness.

Everyone now feared him as unlike when he was a Divine mage, there were others of the same rank as him even though those were still his students. But now that he became a Transcended mage, his power was literally off the roof and everyone, the whole world feared him. Even his beloved students who gave him a sense of warmth before his breakthrough were now distant and behaved cautiously around him after thousands of years. Vee suddenly felt that it was meaningless to be the strongest.

His students no longer dared to spar with him, calamity rank magic beasts died before he could even crack his knuckles, and no one wanted to be in his presence because just being close to him pressured them.

Vee stared at the five people in front of him who used to be very close to him with indifferent eyes. He could feel the uneasiness and reverence in them but did not know if he should be glad or angry about it.

"Even after thousands of years, my feelings for you have never changed. Then why? Why do you all have those looks in your eyes?" Vee questions, his voice riddled with pain and curiosity.

"We are sorry, master"

The five of them lowered their heads and said in unison, their tone was very distant and respectful compared to how they used to talk to him a long time ago.

Vee's eyes flashed with a strange light and his brows knitted together in a frown, his eyes moved from one face to another before stopping on the face of the only woman in the group of five.

"I still remember you promising to stay with me, did that change also? Why are you suddenly afraid of me as well?" He asked.

The woman, feeling his gaze on her, lowered her head further without saying anything.

"Forget it, you lots are currently the strongest of all the Divine rank mages in the world. I hope you look after yourself" Vee said before turning back and slowly drifting into the sky, in the direction of the black forest.

Then men all looked at his back as he drifted away in the sky with sad faces while the woman silently sobbed without raising her head, the ground beneath her would grow flowers whenever her tears fell to the ground; this was because she was a plant mage at the Divine mage rank and a strong one at that.

…..

Deep within the black forest, Vee easily located the spot where he had formed his one hundredth magic universe twenty thousand years ago. Even though so much time had passed, his residual energy still lingered around the place and had not completely cleared out.

The same could not be said for where he had battled that beast back then since the place had already returned to normal after so much time had passed and not a single sign of the exchange was left.

But that was not why he was here though.

"I wonder how it felt being weak and living like an ordinary person back then, my memories of those times have become clouded," Vee thought to himself as he wandered the black forest without any direction in mind.

He had met a few beasts but they all fled the instant they noticed him.

His eyes suddenly light up as a thought came to his mind. Vee decided to leave the northern continent and go somewhere far to experience living like an ordinary person, of course, he would hide his strength and stay away from trouble.

"But I'll have to do something to make sure my students don't come looking for me in the future if they step into the Transcended rank in the future, though I doubt they would" Vee laughed a sad laugh as he thought about how he had brought them up.

"Nah, I'll just start a new chapter and try to forget everything" Vee shook his head as his eyes turned purple the next second.

A gigantic black hole that was dozens of kilometers wide suddenly appeared above the black forest, its power was so ferocious that every single person in the northern continent could feel it and many of them recognized the cause of the black hole instantly.

The next moment….

BOOM!!!!

A shocking explosion happened within the huge black hole, causing it to shatter to pieces and the shockwave of the explosion spread to every part of the northern continent. The entire black forest which was over a thousand kilometers was almost destroyed by the explosion and a lot of magic beasts got blasted to pieces.

"Master?!"

A group of people who had also sensed this rushed over to see what had happened, they were not the only ones as other people also came to see as well.

They later found the lifeless body of a white-haired young man in the middle of a barren land that had once been the heart of the black forest.

That day became a dark date in the history of the northern continent because it was the day they lost their strongest mage.

...…

Meanwhile, somewhere in the southern continent, a young man with long white hair stared down on the whole continent from the sky.

"Now, where should I go?" he muttered to himself with a contemplating look on his face.