Rebirth of a Noble Magician

Chapter 1: The Death of the Great Wizard

Who would have thought that Evander Alastor, known as the God of the Arcane, would die not in the sand, but from a curse?

A dozen apprentices surrounded Evander before he died. Their eyes were filled with tears.

"Teacher! You promised me that after I became a court mage, you would tell me the secrets of the Void History!" A young girl in white robes cried, "You can't die! You promised!"

Evander stroked the young girl's hair with a smile on his face. She was his youngest and brightest apprentice.

Five years ago, Evander traveled through the endless desert in the west and passed by a village that had been destroyed by giant scorpions. Although the monsters seemed very weak to Evander, they were still strong enough to defeat the unarmed villagers.

The villagers were unable to subdue the monsters, and almost all of them perished in the scorpion's mouth. Only one little girl survived.

After seeing Evander avenge the villagers' deaths, the girl begins to follow the powerful wizard all the way.

Evander wanted to get rid of this burden, but the girl's resilient qualities caught his interest.

"What is your name?"

"Rhiannon."

They had been weathering the desert for three days. Evander had carried rations with him, but the girl had not taken in a drop of water. She relied entirely on her strong willpower to follow her goal.

"I saw them with my own eyes, you killed them with a wave of your hand, those giant scorpions!" She knelt before Evander, "Please! Teach me."

For Evander, this moment was one of the most precious memories of his short life. Accepting Liana was as if he had been given a noble mission.

Back then, he hunted demons everywhere. It was said that it was for the sake of rescuing all living beings, but in reality, it was to satisfy his desire to fight and curiosity. But after accepting Rianna as his apprentice, he decided to seriously teach a group of apprentices, hoping to cultivate them into the next generation of great magicians who would lead the world order. And right now, before these apprentices can build their careers, Evander, as their teacher, is about to leave them forever.

What is about to kill the God of Arcana is not just any disease, but a failed spell.

Evander has always been on a quest for immortality. From magical stones to prolong life, to forbidden spells to transfer souls, to sacrificial rituals from ancient times. Evander tried countless methods, but never succeeded. Due to the excessive misuse of mana, the power of arcane magic began to devour his soul. Now, at the age of fifty, he was about to meet his death.

Looking back on his life, Evander had some regrets. He had spent most of his life seeking treasure, adventuring, and pursuing excitement. Along the way, he ignored many sights along the way, and missed out on many worthwhile people and events. It wasn't until the last few years, or rather, after meeting Riana, that he realized what he really wanted to do.

A life that lacks warmth is meaningless, and an endless life equates to endless emptiness.

If Evander could go back in time and meet his younger self, he would tell him firmly: Let go of your hand, what you are pursuing is nothing but foolishness, futility, absurdity and unreachable. Cherish the present, those young lives are right in front of you, aren't they?

"Teacher!"

"Lord Evander!"

Amidst the cries of the apprentices, Evander's life force was rapidly disappearing. His mouth could no longer be opened, and his skin began to gradually peel away. In a short while, his body would disappear completely.

With what was left of his mana, he sent what he had to say into the minds of each apprentice.

"I regret that I cannot accompany you all on the road ahead. The war against demons is difficult, but I have faith in each one of you."

"Rhiannon," he said to the younger girl, "when I die, go to the Forbidden Tower and do my research. Those books I have written contain the secrets of the history of the Void. I have arranged for the gates of the Forbidden Tower to respond to your mana."

The young girl nodded, tears still dripping down her face.

All that was left of Evander now was his torso and head, everything else had turned to dust.

"Brooks." He said to the oldest apprentice.

"Teacher! I'm here." Brooks responded.

"I'm entrusting these youngsters to you. Please make sure you take care of them, especially Rhiannon. She's very impulsive ....."

"As you wish, Sensei." Brooks bit his lip as tears slid down his cheeks.

With that said, Evander slowly closed his eyes. In an instant, his head and torso turned into dust and dissipated into the air.

***

Evander never believed in the afterlife. To him, the gods were nothing more than aggregates of magical power, nothing more. But now, he was beginning to doubt his beliefs.

He should have been dead, but for some reason, his whole body was once again touched. The pain in his chest and knees visibly rattled his nerves, his mouth tasted a fresh flavor similar to blood, and his nose even smelled the aroma of burnt meat. What had happened?

Evander heard someone swearing.

"You f*****g, incompetent bastard!" A voice shouted grumpily.

"I told you to teach him a good lesson! Didn't tell you to kill him!"

The sound of fists striking flesh rang out, and the acrid stench of vomit filled the air.

"But ..... But boss! This little bastard is too arrogant! I was talking to him properly, and he actually spat in my face!"

"So?!"

The sound of wood being broken rang out.

"Tell me how I'm going to trade the body for ransom?

"Tell me!!!" The owner of the voices was filled with rage.

Based on these voices, Evander was trying to figure out the current situation.

"Maybe we can still bring him back to life? How about we are getting some magicians and asking them if they have any magic that can bring people back from the dead? Ahh! f**k! There are no wizards here, right? Not for a hundred miles!" The speaker seemed to have lost his mind.

A moment of silence followed, and Evander heard only heavy breathing. Every attempt he made to open his eyes ended in failure, the black cloth wrapped around his head completely blocking his vision.

"Boss, it's no use losing your temper. What do we do now?"

"Burn the bodies, we can't leave any evidence of Konoha. And then burn this damn house too!"

"But what about the ransom?"

"Didn't you hear what I just said? How can you ask for ransom on the basis of a corpse! Hurry up and burn the damn thing!"

Evander was confused by everything around him. He could be sure that he had died beside the apprentices. But now, he was actually kidnapped by some strangers?

At that moment, Evander felt a hand undoing the twine that bound him. His eyes were still blindfolded, but the ropes tied to his feet had been cut. Shortly after, he felt himself being lifted by two weaker guys one after the other.

"Wait ...... Boss."

"He ...... he's still alive!"

"You felt it too? There must be a pulse!"

Footsteps sounded in the room. Evander felt someone pressing on his neck to check for a pulse.

"The damn brat is alive! He's alive!" An unpleasantly loud cheer went up.

"Hurry! Water!"

The rags in Evander's mouth and the blindfold on his head were ripped off, and cold and fishy-smelling dirty water was splashed in his face without warning. He blinked three times, then spat out several mouthfuls of spittle mixed with blood.

It took him several seconds for his eyes to adjust to the light there. Looking around, he realized he was in a small cabin. There were two small torches hanging from the walls of the cabin, and wooden crates were stacked all over the place except for this empty space right in the middle.

Surrounding him were five grown men, the one in the middle constantly rubbing his chest. He stared at the confused-eyed Evander and grinned.

"Kid, so you're still alive." The man seemed to be very proud, "You made me worry for half a day for nothing!"

From the sound of his voice, this man should be the "Boss" they were talking about.

Evander initially thought that he would be a big and rude man. But to his surprise, the Boss was rather thin, with a long chin, beard, chest and arms covered with tattoos, and two small iron rings hanging on both sides of his nose.

It was quite an odd appearance.

"Talk!"

The Boss growled and swung his fist, and one of Evander's teeth fell out in response.

"Where am I? What's happening? Who are you guys?" Evander coughed three times before slowly speaking.

His mind was filled with countless question marks. Due to his misplaced consciousness, he completely ignored the surrounding pain.

"Good guy! Where are you playing 'Stupid Trifecta' for me?" The boss spat at Evander.

"If your father doesn't send the ransom soon, we'll chop off your fingers one by one."

Father? Evander was confused.

He decided to take care of the wounds on his body first. Although Evander had the experience of galloping along the battlefield in his youth and had long been accustomed to all sorts of pain, this time the sensation seemed unusually unpleasant, and his ability to close off his senses was much worse than before.

"It's freezing in here!" Evander grunted.

The twine tied to his hand suddenly burned on its own. Saying that it was burning was actually inaccurate, along with a flash of flame, the twine instantly snapped, and smoke continued to emanate from the break, as if it had been chopped off by a red-hot sharp blade.

Evander slowly got up, patted the dust on his clothes, and then shook his fingers. Several streaks of blue light flashed through the gaps between his skin and clothes. In the blink of an eye, the wounds on his body had completely healed.

The crowd hastily took several steps back at the sight. They had seen magic before, but none like this. No mage could heal these wounds in a few seconds.

"Where's the beard? Where did my beard go?"

Evander frowned, realizing that there was something strange about his body. It was impossible for his body to be so skinny and his skin to be so smooth. Of course, as an excellent Archmage, there was no way he could not have a beard.

Moreover, he was dressed too goldenly: on top, he wore a red shirt and a green waistcoat with ruffle-style patterns embroidered on the lined collar and sleeves, and underneath was a pair of golden ...... pajama trousers?

Whose body is this?

"I have a few questions for you, 'Boss'!" Evander snapped.

"You ..... Who are you?" The Boss stared at Evander for a moment, a chill creeping up his brain.

Evander's originally blank eyes had now become deep and full of killing intent, the eyes of a great magician who had once looked out of the corner of his eye.

"Who am I? That's exactly the question I'm asking!"