Andar knew that he had lived a relatively selfish life, he never communicated with anyone outside his close group of friends and his master, Mira was the only one who was his confidante, and up till now, he had never checked his communication device which should hold millions of messages by now.
His master, Jonathan Melbrooks, most likely gave his life so that Andar might live. A Rank 4 Mage going against the wishes of an Arch mage was ridiculous, and Andar never truly appreciated how much his master would have been sacrificing for him at that time, still, he was a Mage, and he was rational, he knew he could not change anything at his level of power, no matter how much he would like to do so.
It was this careful dance between risk and doing what was right that ordered all his actions, and he had to look at this present situation in the same way.
Was it worth the risk?
This was the reason he did not check his communication device all this while, knowing that if he knew his master was alive and contacting him, it would most likely be nothing but a trap.
There was always a reason to push this matter aside, he was too weak, he lacked experience, and he had a purpose beyond him, which was set by his creator, his life was not his own, and he could not jeopardize the plans of his creator with personal needs.
All these excuses fell flat when he was given his freedom by his creator, and his choices were now his own. He was free to make his choice, no matter how much he wished that those choices were not so monumental in scope.
'This is the price for my power and talents, where others would decide on minor concerns, I get to decide the fate of the universe.'
For months he had been stuck in a rut, deliberating on his path forward, and he had finally made the decision to chase after his creator, allowing himself nine years to become an Arch mage, a feat that would take all his time, and inevitably mean that he was abandoning everyone else as chased after power, even Mira.
Previously he wanted to keep a close group of friends around him that would support him and rise together with him, but he soon knew that the weight of talent supersedes all manner of bonds. The Limit Breakers could not keep up with him and their uses to him were minimal, soon to be useless and instead he would be the one supporting them.
Mira had promise, she was a Spirit Body with a Heavenly Fate Meditation Art, the chance for her to become an Arch mage was nearly assured, yet he knew that no matter how talented Mira was as a Mage, it would be impossible for her to become a Rank 9 Mage in nine years like him.
When he reaches that level of power, Andar would inevitably leave her far behind and journey deeper into the universe to discover more powers and unlock more secrets in the universe.
Merely seven hours ago, his decision had been clear, he would leave them all behind, as he chased after power, Mira would not remain behind for long, her perseverance would be tested, but he knew she would chase after him, it was not hard to find her figure standing beside her siblings, she appeared to be in shock, but Andar was grateful that she was not injured.
The girl who took her place would not kill the child of an Arch mage without credible reasons. He idly wondered what her name was, this strange girl who was wielding the power of the Supreme Meditation Art that was supposed to be his. The Watcher had taken her away when she left.
If he had been bitter about the poss of this power to the Supreme World, then the victory over the girl helped him to lay much of that anger to the side.
It was time for him to make a decision. If he chooses to take the path of his Tower Master then there is a chance that Mira would survive, she was talented enough that she might be selected for the twelve positions of survivors, but that would mean the death of anyone else.
He had nearly killed himself when he strived to reach the hand of the Chained God during the process of selecting his Meditation Art, his stubbornness has led to him gaining the favor of his Tower Master and therefore was bestowed the Endless Vault, and he also gained Gray Will.
He had done all that because he wanted to be worthy of the new life given to him. This was just a single life… his own.
How then was he expected to atone for the billions of lives that would be paid just for him to live?
Perhaps if he had lived for trillions of years, then his mindset would be different, but at this moment he was just in his thirties, he had lived a sheltered life and technically, he had never taken a single life.
How could he survive on the blood of billions? The weight of all these lives would crush him to pieces. Andar was not like a mortal whose mind could not fathom what it meant for billions of lives to be paid for the sake of your own.
A mortal could live their entire life only meeting ten thousand people at most, they could not even imagine what a crowd of a million would look like, or even a billion.
Even if they could not understand what it meant to live the experiences of all those people, they could never understand the full weight all those endless lives carried.
Andar had no problem in visualizing trillions, his Spirit was powerful and he could understand all their lives and its significance, no matter how small.
Andar was unable to hide behind the shield of ignorance, the weight of this blood was heavy and he understood it.
Andar had lived a selfish life, but Rowan had shown him something powerful when he gave him the freedom to decide his fate. He was aware of his potential, and he knew how valuable he could become in the future, only a Rank 1 Mage, yet he was getting the attention of Tower Masters.
However, his creator, after giving him all this invaluable gifts, sought not to control him, but to give him freedom. How rare was this?
"If you want to make enemies, try changing something." These were Rowan words to him. This was the weight of the sacrifice that he was sure no other powerful being in existence would make.
'If my creator can be so selfless, how can I, the creation become selfless as well? Besides, I intend to chase after him, if I choose to flee to the Supreme World, I would lose out on many opportunities that I might never have the chance to find again.'
This thought finalized his decision, not just the idea of saving billions of lives if he succeeded, he would be able to potentially rally a great number of resources from the entire Magus Civilization and boost his levels far more quickly than he expected.
He needed to unlock more of his Endless Vault and locate sources of vitality for the evolution of his body, with the entire treasures of the Magus Civilization pouring into him, he could become a Rank 9 Mage far more quickly than he anticipated, leaving him time to hone his talents and gather more power.
'I can do it… I can carry the Will of this Universe.'
Suddenly all the fear that was wreaking havoc in his head vanished, his decision had been made and he would be fighting for the souls of every Mage in this universe.
With all the new revelations, Andar suddenly paused as he went through what the Watcher just told him about Silas Black, and suddenly he no longer felt that his concern was enough as a new wave of fear surged through his spine.
The pieces had been there before him all these while and his distracted mind did not put it together until he was settled and the realization hit him with the force of a hurricane.
The Watcher had said…
'…Your Tower Master was lucky when he found the Chained God roaming outside the universe and he killed him, acquiring the Nemesis Stone.'
