The Stargazer

by Nikostar A

  Steven quickly left the luxurious hotel and made his way to one of the Exil's hideout. "It is too late now... We are already attached to them. It might be even worse if we turn against the Five Oceans Palace. These old folks have control over all the marine territories. Even the UN and the other organizations have to lower their heads if they want access to the sea."

  ***

  At the same time, the two old men stood up and left the meeting room of the hotel. They went back to the presidential suite while carefully hiding their identities.

  "Grandpa! You are back! Where did you go?"

  As soon as they entered the suite, the two elders were greeted by a cute little girl. The six-year-old child ran carefreely toward the first elder. Her ponytails danced behind her as she ran. She jumped in the arms of the first elder, splashing the chocolate cake she was holding in her left hand on the mage robe of the elder.

  However, the elder did not get angry. He laughed as he hugged his granddaughter, "Sophie, don't run around like that. Did you miss grandpa?"

  "Yes! Where did you go?" cheerfully exclaimed the little girl. She then realized that she stained the mage robe of her grandfather and quickly retracted her hand.

  "Don't worry about it. I went to talk to a customer. Your cake is ruined now. Let me order another one for you." The first elder smiled and placed Sophie on the ground.

  At that moment, the theme song of a popular cartoon came from the adjacent room. Sophie cheered as she rushed to watch tv.

  "Sorry about that. Children will always be messy. She is so cute and innocent, my little Sophie is really an angel," said the first elder as he smiled to the other old man.

  The latter lightly laughed, "Don't worry. I hope that one day my sons will also give me a few grandchildren to play with."

  The two old men got rid of their mage robe and sat down on the couch.

  "What do you think of Alexander? Will the Exil be enough to capture him?"

  "I doubt it but there is nothing we can do. We cannot make any move on Earth and if the other organizations capture him first, they will never hand him over. The best we can do is to suppress the news to the other forces but I doubt it will be effective. With their news channels, they should already be aware that Alexander possesses an Elemental Body."

  The first elder sighed, "An elemental body... An extremely rare mutation that morphs the mage's spirit circuits to specialize in a certain type of magic. Out of one million mages, only one would have an elemental body. We got the information early when we saw the video of him using the [Wrath of the Northern Sea] but now, I believe all the other forces also know about it."

  "I don't get it though. Why did you insist on capturing him? Are you angry that he somehow knows the Extreme Spell of the Northern Palace? Even if we manage to get our hand on him, he will never swear allegiance to the Five Oceans Palace. Nurturing him will be extremely risky as he can just defect to the other forces at any time," curiously said the second elder.

  "You are not wrong. For so long, the Five Oceans Palace has never been considered a major force of Loha, simply because we lacked talents with elemental bodies. Recruiting Alexander is indeed risky but that is not my plan. Have a look at this." The first elder let out a calm smile as he took out an old dusty scroll from his spatial ring.

  The second elder opened the scroll as his eyes widened, "What is this? Transplantation of an elemental body? You want to steal Alexander's elemental body?"

  "Exactly! His body clearly amplifies all water-type spells which is very convenient for our Palace. Since we cannot take the risk in nurturing Alexander, we can simply transfer his gift to one of our trusted members. The other elders are still unaware of this and don't even know the existence of the scroll. I hope that you can keep it a secret."

  "What? Then... Is that the reason why you brought Sophie here? My friend, you never lacked ambition. As I owe you my life, I will give you a hand but I would like to make a request. If we find another elemental body, I would like to make use of your scroll."

  Chapter 48: Arrival at Maputo

  In a busy train station, Alexander smiled at the girl at the counter, "Hello, I would like to purchase a ticket for Maputo."

  "Of course, please swipe your card or your phone please."

  "I am sorry, I forgot them at home and I am in a hurry. I can only pay in cash."

  "No problem. Here is your ticket," politely said the girl with a smile. Internally, she sneered, "Old man, are you trying to show off your cash or are you already senile to the point that you forgot the two essential items of daily life?"

  Alexander politely took the train ticket as swiftly made his way to the platform. He let out a sigh of relief; nobody had found him yet. The journey to the train station had been long and draining. Fortunately, the hardest part was already over. Purchasing the train ticket was the riskiest part of Alexander's journey.

  Nowadays, few people used Cash to pay for services. Although it was still accepted, most people would use credit cards or their phones to pay. Alexander knew he would attract the stares of the crowd by using real money but doing so would save him a few days of travel and reduce the risk of being found.

  With the advanced security devices the UN had at its disposition, it would be extremely easy to find him in normal circumstances. Mozambique had developed considerably since the rift appeared, most of their small towns had turned into modern cities. Although they looked peaceful and defenseless, Alexander knew cameras and drones were constantly monitoring the cities.

  To avoid being detected by the face recognition software of the security system, Alexander had to constantly activate [Suns, the Illusionist] and create an illusion around him. Star energy was easy to use but when activated for prolonged periods of time, it could be very taxing on the stargazer.

  Unfortunately, it was the only way Alexander managed to sneak into the train station without being detected. He could not use elemental magic in a public space. The use of magic was forbidden; with all the sensors hidden in the city, he would be immediately found if he did so.

  Alexander walked into the train and sat in an empty train wagon. His current appearance was that of an old man but he would not be able to maintain the illusion for too long.

  "Finally, I should not have been found yet. The train journey should be quite smooth but who knows what will happen once I reach Maputo. Going into the rift won't be easy. I can trick cameras and people by changing my appearance but nobody can enter the rift without permission."

  Alexander leaned in his seat and slowly put on his hood. He hid his facial features and hands before deactivating the illusion. As the star energy left Alexander's body, he started to relax. The journey had been stressful but for the rest of the journey, he should be safe.

  A few minutes later, the gates of the train slowly closed as the nearby officer loudly whistled. The train wagon was still relatively empty as it was early in the morning.

  Alexander looked through the window as the city disappeared. "Three hours and ten stops. I should rest but cannot sleep. I must not lower my guard even if the environment looks safe."

  Before boarding the train, Alexander had already checked the news. Without a surprise, he had already been labeled as a dangerous criminal by the international police. There was a huge bounty on his head; the UN was sparing no efforts in trying to find him. Alexander's life changed drastically overnight.

  He wondered what was his mother's reaction when she saw the news. Unfortunately, Alexander would not have the opportunity to explain himself any time soon.

  The one good outcome of this situation was that Alexander actually managed to get his hand on two ancient relics. Yes, two ancients relics.

  In addition to the petrified eye, Alexander managed to obtain a second relic afterward by pure luck. In his Space, Alexander noticed that his X-Driver was no longer working. It was the first time he was bringing it inside the space. As the X-Driver was connected to the academy's network, they would have immediately detect
ed something suspicious if the signal was cut, even if it was just for one second.

  Even, the head of the discipline department's X-Driver was also no longer working. When he later returned to Earth, Alexander noticed that the X-Drivers were still not working. From that, he determined that something must happen to the electronic devices once they entered the Space.

  Alexander's goal was to reach the coast of Mozambique as quickly as possible. He already knew the island was moving North but if he waited for too long to return to Earth, then he would simply reappear over an empty ocean without knowing the direction to the North.

  Therefore, Alexander simply decided to return to Earth a few minutes after his meal. As he did not waste too much time on his food, when he reappeared, Alexander expected to use his new location and compare it with the discipline department's location to determine where was the North.

  However, when Alexander returned to Earth, he did not expect to find himself in a familiar room. To his surprise, Alexander reappeared in the middle of the Crafting Department. The timing could not have been more perfect. The entire department was empty; with the whole academy been on high alert, all the students were asked to return to their room while the instructors carefully patrolled the island in search of Alexander.

  The latter did not care about the details. He knew exactly where the crafting department was located and easily determined which direction to take to go back to the mainland. When he was about to return to his space, Alexander noticed a faint glint in the corner of his eyes.

  To his surprise, it was the shiny crown placed on the pedestal. It was the ancient relic that was brought a few weeks ago and was deemed to be a useless decoration. Nobody wanted it; the scientists could not extract any useful information from them and the higher-ups of the academy had no use for it. If they took the crown for themselves, they would be immediately excluded when the next ancient relic would be brought to the academy. As a result, the crown was left in the Crafting Department to allow interested students to learn from it.

  Alexander did not know the effects of the crown but he was different from the others. Alexander knew of the existence of the other path of powers. The crown might be completely useless to elemental mages and stargazers but to others, it could be a real treasure. Even if Alexander could not use it, he quickly sent it into his space as it might be used for trades in the future.

  With the crown being stored in his pocket dimension, Alexander quickly returned to his space just in time to avoid the stream of instructors that stormed the room after discovering him.

  Alexander waited an entire day before once again leaving the Space. He was careful to use [Ianto, the Mariner] to create some waves and to surf back to the coast. Alexander refrained himself from using magic like [Fly]. Not only would it cost him some of his mana, but it would also make him more detectable by the UN.

  The constellations like the Mariner and the Storm Crafter were more subtle but they needed Alexander's full attention. The Mariner allowed Alexander to control the sea to some extent but that did not mean that the could not drown if he was not careful. A mariner was someone who spent a lot of time on the sea but that did not make them immune to its dangers.

  Whenever he was tired, Alexander would simply return to his Space to rest. The journey was quite smooth as he could easily avoid being detected. Alexander had enough food and water to survive for a whole week but it only took him two days to reach the coast. Along the way, he met a few fishermen and briefly chatted with them to confirm that he was indeed heading to Mozambique.

  ***

  The train slowly started to fill up as it stopped at the different stations. In a particular train wagon, Alexander was motionlessly leaning against a window. On the outside, he looked like an old man who fell asleep while watching the landscape. The thick coat he was wearing to hide his features did not look out of place.

  As the temperature was slowly dropping outside, it was normal for an old man to wear thicker clothes than the average population. At some point, a pregnant woman walked in an sat next to Alexander. The latter kindly smiled but did not say anything.

  Soon, Alexander arrived at Maputo's train station, the capital of Mozambique and the closest city to the rift. He slowly got off the train, fitting his image as an old man and made his way to the exit.

  There, Alexander was immediately blinded by the bright flashing lights. The city had changed a lot after the appearance of the rift. There was a giant billboard outside the train station, covered with ads. Sellers and hustlers were everywhere, shouting to attract the attention of the travelers.

  Alexander smiled and quietly moved to a quieter area. He did not remember much of this place. The only time he came here in his past life was when he had to go to Loha.

  "What is the next step now? I should look for a place to rest. Going through the rift is not going to be easy," said Alexander to himself. He absentmindedly walked across the street while planning his the next course of action.

  The rift was a heavily guarded area. It was completely useless to try to use magic there. There were several sensors scattered all over the place and several defensive layers of Aimantite were also set up in case Loha ever tried to invade Earth.

  Furthermore, spells like [Invisibility] were completely useless. The spell allowed the mages to stop the reflection of light on their bodies but it only worked for the visible wavelength range. Modern cameras could capture a much wider range of wavelengths, including Infrareds and UVs. One of the constellations, [Holly, the Smuggler], had a similar effect. Alexander could easily hide from the naked eye but he could not escape modern technology.

  It was why Alexander resorted to using [Suns, the Illusionist] to sneakily travel to Maputo. The constellation manipulated the reflected wavelengths of light, allowing him to create illusions. The Illusionist was not limited to the visible spectrum and could control a much wider range of wavelengths. The cameras would pick up the same images and would also see the illusions.

  As long as he was on Earth, Alexander was in danger. He needed to quickly go to Loha but it was easier said than done.

  Alexander was still rummaging through his brain to find a solution when suddenly, he saw a long black limo drive past him. The luxurious car attracted Alexander's attention. Cars were rare, let alone a limo.

  The vast majority of the population usually used public transports to move around. Nowadays, cars were mostly bought to show off one's status; with the massive taxes to encourage people to be more environment-friendly, owning a car could be extremely expensive.

  Alexander's eyes followed the car. It continued to drive for a few seconds before it started to slow down. The car turned and entered a nearby yard before stopping in front of the large doors of the building.

  Alexander continued to walk forward to get a better view. No matter who it was, the owner of the limo was someone with a decent amount of influence. He sneakily used the hand seals of [Jagur, the Observer], allowing him to get a better view of the car.

  "D*mn... He must be really rich. He does not even use an AI to drive his car but hired a real driver? That guy is filthy rich," exclaimed Alexander as he looked at the front door being opened. A lanky man swiftly jumped out of the driver seat and bowed as he opened the door of the limo.

  A pretty young woman stepped out of the limo. She was blushing profusely as she hurriedly tried to button up her blouse. Before she could hide anything, a middle-aged Asian man stepped out and slapped her from behind. The young woman almost tripped but managed to avoid the catastrophe. However, her hands moved in the process, ripping off a few buttons off her blouse.

  Alexander blushed when he saw the scene. Although she did not do it on purpose, the young woman ended up flashing her breasts in the process. Fortunately, the street was not very busy and the people nearby did not seem to have noticed.

  Alexander continued to watch as the middle-aged man laughed as he spoke to the woman. Alexander had some knowledge of lips reading but he failed to un
derstand what the man was saying.

  The woman looked ashamed and angry but she did not retort. Instead, she quietly fixed her attire up and followed behind the middle-aged man who was already walking toward the building. The woman's legs were trembling. Her steps were shaky and uncertain; it was clear that she was not used to the high stiletto heels she was wearing.

  Alexander looked at the departing silhouettes of the man and the woman. He then turned his attention back on the driver who had already closed the door behind his employer and was making his way back to the driver's seat.

  As he watched the scene, a crazy plan started to take shape inside Alexander's mind.

  Chapter 49: Bigger fish than expected

  Bryan happily whistled as he got out of the driver seat. Life was good, Bryan enjoyed his job. He was the personal driver of one of the richest men of Tokyo, Takeshi Kitano. Although Bryan had been officially employed for a whole year, he had only actually driven for his boss for less than a month.