Chapter 4: Fett’s Autobiography, Author: Titanium Bear
Fett’s Autobiography Author: Titanium Bear
My name is Ben Fett, born into one of the wizard families of Bud. Wizards should be frail, but my family is tall and strong because our ancestors were warriors who came here as protectors of wizards, and only began studying magic after they arrived in Bud. This has been used by other wizards as proof of the superiority of wizards over warriors. Therefore, the Fett family crest uses a fierce but intelligent brown bear as the symbol. Though family members don’t appear wizardly on the surface, their magical abilities are very strong. Otherwise, my family would not be called the sixth-ranking wizard family of Bud.
Bud is a land of wizards, where wizards are only interested in studying magic, unlike the necromancers of Madara who are obsessed with territory and power. Though both places have excellent wizards, for Bud wizards, magic is the entirety of life, and they like it and apply it everywhere. They also study all knowledge to research and utilize magic better. Construct creatures are thus made, requiring not only magic but also craftsmanship and metallurgical knowledge to create one. So, Bud wizards can also be considered polymaths. Apart from studying and utilizing magic, Bud wizards rarely dwell on other aspects. Bud wizards don’t engage in scheming among themselves; public magic exchanges occur frequently. Wizards don’t withhold teachings from their students because wizards who withhold teachings would be ridiculed by their peers for relying on such practices to maintain their position. Even when there are differences in cognition, Bud wizards validate their theories with facts rather than pointless arguments. Because these wizards only strive in magic, all of them are very powerful, monstrous in the eyes of ordinary people.
However, the commoners living around these ‘monsters’ are the happiest in all of Vaunte. These wizards find other matters to be a bother, so they keep the taxes light due to the bother of heavy taxation, since they are not in need of the money. During famine years, wizards will use magic to alter the weather to mitigate the calamity, or in cases where it cannot be helped, they will waive the taxes and assist the disaster victims. This is because most wizards are averse to troubles, as too many deaths would cause more trouble. Moreover, Bud wizards consider themselves higher than the “ordinary noble lords who don’t know magic.” If the people in their territory cannot live peacefully, that wizard would be ridiculed by peers for being worse than an ordinary noble who doesn’t know magic. Of course, there are many kind wizards, my family included.
Wizard children from Bud grow up surrounded by books. Wizard families in Bud have an enormous library, filled with a variety of books. Their parents are busy researching spells, sometimes even forgetting they have children, and spend little time with them. However, these parents rarely discourage their children and accept their differing opinions. Moreover, these children have nothing else to do except focus on learning magic, so Bud produces plenty of young talents in wizardry. I am one of them and, due to family heritage, obtained the title of Junior Wizard of Bud at the age of eighteen—a title others usually achieve in their twenties or thirties.
Actually, the reason I obtained the wizard title so quickly was due to the help of my magic pet bat. A wizard must have a good mental state to make breakthroughs in magic, just as a warrior can’t practice the sword with a high fever. Thus, a wizard needs good rest. My bat helps drive away mosquitoes at night, allowing me to sleep well, and thus maintain good spiritual condition. Therefore, my magical level has advanced greatly.
So, as I attained the title of wizard, I would now embark on the traditional continental adventure of my family. A wizard who hasn’t faced life-and-death trials can never achieve a high proficiency in magic. Additionally, since I hadn’t left home for almost a decade, I was quite excited about the adventure. My parents halted their research and focused on preparing the items for my adventure.
The adventure items were readied, including the family’s traditional steel staff that transforms into a spear. There is a mechanism on the rod where a press turns the flower-shaped decorative items at the staff’s head into a spearhead, covering the gem that enhances spells inside. A three-meter-tall customized gargoyle that resembles my favorite dragon, with immense strength that fully enables it to carry me while flying. A three-meter iron man guard, holding a tower shield and a greatsword, slow-moving but having magic on its legs to double its speed temporarily (iron men usually carry no weapons since wizards know no swordsmanship and hence cannot teach it to automata, but there are some in my family who are part-time magic knights). There’s a small puppet dragon used as a steed, similar in appearance to a lizard, with a genuine leather saddle on its back and a covered compartment with a window to keep it protected and dry from the elements, allowing a person to lie down comfortably within. It’s essentially like a carriage with four legs, a head, and a tail, making it useful in all weather and still enabling me to watch the scenery. These creations have intelligence, so there’s no worry about letting them act independently. There are also several emergency magic jewelry pieces, a heap of miscellaneous daily necessities, and, of course, the necessities are all kept in a spatial pocket.
A few days later, I set out in new robes with a pocket holding my pet bat, which keeps the mosquitoes away even outside. But from the start, things went awry. I and my three construct followers entered the family’s teleportation magic array, intending to travel to a nearby city. Instead, I was teleported into a forest. To determine the issue, I checked the three constructs, discovering that the puppet dragon’s magic interfered with the teleportation array. Thus, I was delivered to an unfamiliar place. Fortunately, it was clear I hadn’t crossed planes. It must have been a mistake by my busy parents while manufacturing the puppet dragon. I corrected the problem on the puppet dragon. Given the beauty of the forest, I decided to begin my adventure here.
I walked through the forest for a day, and though I knew I hadn’t lost my way as my compass pointed correctly, I still couldn’t make it out. Though I knew it would take more than a day to traverse such a great forest, this was my first long journey, and I was quite frightened. As twilight fell, I could only light a campfire to keep warm. The fire did offer warmth, and I gradually fell asleep. However, I was awakened in the middle of the night. Upon waking, I saw a bear grappling with my three guards. I watched curiously as the bear was clever enough to evade their attacks. Suddenly, the bear broke free of my guards and lunged at me. I couldn’t evade in time, and it bit into my arm, causing intense pain that spread throughout my body. I soon lost consciousness.
When I woke up, it was already the next morning. The pain had subsided, but I felt different. All my senses were sharper, and I could clearly hear sounds from dozens of meters away. My nearsightedness was gone, and the previously heavy metal staff felt lighter. As I wondered why, a man dressed as a hunter emerged from the forest. He claimed he was the bear who had bitten me and proved it by removing his clothes and transforming into a half man, half bear creature. To my amazement, he informed me that by biting me, he had made me a werebear. He also mentioned that the werewolves parents use across all Vaunte to scare children belonged to our kind. Through deeper conversations, I learned this man’s name is Alan, from Erluin, and his profession is ranger. I also understood that most werefolk are kind, though a few evil individuals have tarnished our reputation, making us the villains in folklore. Most werefolk, when they lose their internal conflict with the wild beast during the full moon, transform into animal form and infect others, though driven by their primal urges. Werefolk do not prefer to increase their numbers this way and avoid people during the full moon to prevent bites. Alan met me, however, because I had gotten lost in the forest. In summary, I was very unlucky. However, Alan said to compensate for what happened, he would teach me how to control the strength of werefolk. With no other options, I agreed to follow Alan’s teaching.
Thus, for the next month, I dedicated myself to Alan’s teachings. Alan was an excellent teacher, teaching me how to utilize the power of werefolk, as well as how to recognize plants and animals, how to interact with animals, and how to survive in the wild, all methods of coexistence with nature. I also learned that werebears could transform into human form, bear form, and werebear form, and communicate with bears. I possessed a rare partial transformation ability among werefolk, changing only part of my body. Alan also introduced me to his bear friends, and together, we devised a more efficient way to steal honey from bees. I would practice wrestling bears all day to control the strength of werefolk. Nonetheless, peaceful days soon ended. Through the reconnaissance of my bat, I discovered a necromancer leading a group of skeletons wandering aimlessly in the forest. Although I learned from Alan that I was near the boundary between Erluin and Madara, using the map Alan gave me I was sure I had been active only on the Erluin side. It must be the greedy undead of Madara invading Erluin. Unexpectedly, I was caught up in a war.
However, given the situation, even if I had no relation to Erluin, the necromancer certainly wouldn’t leave me alone. Therefore, I called for Alan and my three construct followers along with several bear friends to devise a plan to eliminate this necromancer. The plan was for me to act as bait to draw the necromancer’s attention, then the others come to surround and kill the necromancer and his army. The plan proceeded smoothly, though that mage questioned me after chaining my hands. With the strength of the werefolk, I quickly turned into a bear claws and cut the rope. The necromancer was killed by my bear’s palm, not by magic because at the time I could not control my physical form to use magic. Later, through experimentation, I understood. If the enemy is within my reach, my animal nature takes control of my body and enters a melee state, during which I cannot use magic. However, I cannot change this. At such times, if I use my rationality to stop the animal nature, the enemy would have too much preparation time. But given my great strength, opponents wouldn’t expect a wizard to engage in close combat. We gained a lot of spoils in this elimination, including some magical jewelry, black magic books, and the necromancer’s diary, from which we learned that Madara indeed invaded Erluin. However, this guy was lost in the forest when he reached here. Alan gave me the necromancer’s belongings and gave me a magical necklace. The pendant of the necklace was a bear tooth that Alan had changed and enchanted by his druid friend, allowing one daily use of the animal communication spell. Then I bid farewell to Alan and set off towards the inland of Erluin.
On the journey, I counted the belongings of the necromancer. However, I was most interested in the black magic books, which included all black magic techniques, from beginner to advanced. Driven by my thirst for knowledge, I wanted to study the black magic within. But I hesitated. While the study of black magic is not forbidden in Bud because Bud wizards are all research enthusiasts, they would even steal Martha’s skirt to study, let alone black magic. The Bud government even set up a black magic research institute, where they could only use animals for experiments. However, the only outcome of this institute was that the researchers never wanted to eat meat again. Jokes circulated that when Bud’s government had financial difficulties, all its officials would be sent to this institute to visit, saving at least half the food expenses. But my family had never researched black magic, so if I did, I might face the risk of being chased by my father. However, soon I succumbed to my thirst for knowledge and curiosity, studying black magic as I rode on the puppet dragon.
However, while studying black magic, I remembered a device I had self-made. It was a small black hemisphere of unremarkable metal, only the size of an egg, which was invented by a Bud wizard studying black magic. This invention received the highest achievement award. Similar to the phylactery of a lich, it can be used in necromancy and can store souls. After storing a soul, the device can then be implanted in a construct or undead creature, allowing the stored soul free control of the linked body, and can be easily removed and installed in another body, creating what is known as a construct phylactery device, which resulted in the emergence of construct liches. The wizard himself was one such construct lich. Moreover, this device is actually a six-legged construct scarab, which can run but only see, cannot speak, and has no hands, so the soul within cannot use magic unless that soul has the necessary feats to perform spell effects without components and silently or gesturally.
I couldn’t be sure if the construct phylactery I made would work, and it still needed to be enchanted with black magic to finalize it. So to kill time and experiment with the newly learned black magic, I completed the construct phylactery. However, I’d likely never use it myself. But it seemed Martha wanted to joke with me, as I thought exactly that while sitting on the puppet dragon when an Erluin flying dragon knight crashed and fell before me, his body pierced by countless arrows and nearly like a porcupine. I rushed toward the man, who, despite being covered in blood, sat up forcibly and thrust an iron tube into my hands, asking me to deliver it to an Erluin officer before fainting. He was clearly a scout; I realized his fate was sealed. Even though I had restorative holy water, it couldn’t save him, his heart pierced by three arrows. Sure enough, he died moments later. His flying dragon, a distant relative of the dragon kind (similar in appearance but smaller, cannot emit dragon’s breath and lacks intelligence), was in similar condition but slightly larger in size, so the arrows caused less damage, allowing it to live a bit longer. But from its eyes, I could see its anger and desire for revenge over its master’s death, a display of genuine emotion that could leave a deep impression on any being. Helpless, I could only watch this noble creature die the same way as its master. As I stood at a loss, I noticed the construct phylactery still in my hands, and a bold idea came to mind. Perhaps I could resurrect the flying dragon as an undead being. But what form should it take? Considering my current level of black magic, I could only summon skeletons and zombies. Zombies were ruled out; the flying dragon was a speed-oriented warrior, and becoming a zombie would make it slower. Skeletons were better, as while they may appear thinner, their defense against arrows increased, and they became stronger through dark purification.
Using the animal communication spell from my necklace, I explained my idea to the flying dragon, which immediately agreed, as it only cared about avenging its master and was willing to sacrifice everything for that. First, I stored the dragon’s soul into the construct phylactery, resurrected its body into a skeleton dragon, and then placed the construct phylactery into the dragon’s skull bone. Fortunately, the device worked, and the flying dragon quickly retook control of its body. While this all sounds simple, it put me through a tremendous mental ordeal. It was the first time I had transferred a soul and resurrected such a large creature, requiring me to drink two bottles of magical elixir to quickly restore my mana to complete the process. These elixirs were expensive and tasted vile to the point where wizards joked, “Drinking one magical elixir saves one meal.” I definitely couldn’t eat anything tomorrow because of the compounded effects of the two bottles.
As I dealt with the vile taste, the skeleton dragon was already digging a grave for its master. I regained my spirits, calling my three construct followers to help with the burial, and I even used magic to create a tombstone for the knight. Soon, however, I had to dig up the body again. I used black magic to preserve it, wrapped it in cloth, and tied it onto my puppet dragon because I suddenly thought it would be inappropriate to bury the knight this way. I should deliver his body to his family or compatriots. Then I spent a day thoroughly dark-curing the skeleton dragon, who informed me of what happened. He and his knight had been too unlucky, dispatched to investigate the enemy, resting by a riverside clearing, not knowing that a necromancer leading a squad of skeleton archers had been resting in the nearby forest. They were caught off guard with their arrows, barely managing to escape. To avenge the dragon, I would have to fight the undead again. However, given that I had already defeated one necromancer, a necromancer-led undead force would pose no challenge, and thus I set out the next morning.
Ben Fett’s Butterfly Effect
The reason posterity honors Ben Fett as a Great Sage is not because of his great contributions to magic but because the butterfly effect he triggered led Bud to truly prosper.
Ben Fett’s creation of the bear automaton received the highest achievement award. Fett revealed the secret of his success was that he himself was a werebear. This secret led the Bud government to decide to grant werefolk Bud citizenship, attracting werefolk to Bud, to let some wizards become werefolk and create better beast automata.
The Holy Sanctuaries were furious upon hearing that the Bud Academy intended to grant werefolk citizenship, severing diplomatic relations.
Large numbers of werefolk flooded into Bud, discovering the vast forests for living, and finding the wizard lords quite gentle. The peaceful life pleased the werefolk, who had long been treated like rats. However, soon wizards began to ask werefolk to bite them. The werefolk initially thought the wizards were mad but, upon learning the reasons, they complied with the requests of the wizards.
Werefolk also disliked power and scheming. Their beastly nature made them easy to satisfy. Like Bud wizards, they spent time on self-cultivation. Compared to the wizards’ solo efforts, the werefolk emphasized cooperation. Most werefolk were mercenaries, excelling in military studies. Among the werefolk, rat folk were mainly rogues, and due to their physical advantages, they earned the title of the best scouts and assassins. Boar folk were the strongest barbarians (good at charges), werewolves were the best warriors and archers (good at the steady advance of infantry formations with excellent coordination capabilities), tiger folk and bear folk mostly served as warriors, with some being rangers and druids (skilled in individual and squad combat).
However, Bud wizards had poor combat abilities, as they disliked military studies. Despite having the best wizards and powerful automata armies, they did not understand coordination. After the werefolk arrived, they identified issues with Bud’s army and helped the Bud wizards establish a strong army. The Bud wizards recognized that the werefolk were better at military affairs and thus handed over the military authority to the werefolk. As such, Bud established a powerful army consisting of werefolk, artificial constructs, and wizards, allowing the werefolk to gain respect and begin accepting volunteers into their ranks.
After the Holy Sanctuaries and Madara undead forces engaged in a large-scale war, Bud strengthened black magic research, ordering all wizards to either study or at least understand black magic. The werefolk also began targeted training against the undead army.
When the Holy Sanctuaries were defeated by Madara (after the protagonist’s arrival), they, despite having severed diplomatic relations, sought assistance from the Academy, who knew the principle of “when your lip is gone, your teeth will feel the cold.” The Academy sent a powerful expeditionary force into the Holy Sanctuaries’ territory to confront Madara.
In the battle, Madara found their tactics against the Holy Sanctuaries’ army ineffective against the combination of werefolk, constructs and wizards. First, the werefolk in combat considered “whether the fight was satisfying” before anything else. They became more ferocious when injured, their beastly nature making them feel no fear in battle, so lower-level necromancers’ decay spells had little effect. Moreover, the werefolk were stronger than skeletons, capable of breaking one with a single attack. Werefolk also weren’t afraid of darkness, and necromancers’ darkness spells could not fool their keen noses. The scene unfolded with werefolk overwhelming the skeletons, and the necromancers’ efforts were in vain as they only caused minor wounds. In the blink of an eye, several werefolk reached the necromancer, who found their power comparable and tried to flee with darkness spells but failed due to their keen noses, resulting in the necromancers being cut to pieces. As werefolk disrupted Madara’s formation, the wizards controlled the automata forces to press forward. The necromancers fell short in magical combat against Bud wizards, and the automata immune to black magic wreaked havoc among the undead. After a fierce battle, the undead army retreated with heavy losses.
However, what truly terrified the enemy in battle were the rat folk. That very night, after the battle, Madara’s high command gathered to discuss countermeasures against Bud’s expedition force. Rat folk equipped with Bud wizards’ specially made magical daggers (small or large, with holy magic that countered undead) infiltrated Madara’s camp through rat burrows after transforming into rats. That night, numerous Madara officers were assassinated. More shockingly, the rat folk similarly infiltrated the territories of the Black Lords of Madara through rat holes, killing a few Black Lords. Thus, Madara’s massive army abandoned the mindless undead fodder and fled back.
Following this, Madara initiated a large-scale extermination of rats, resulting in failure despite no loss of soldiers but the death of several generals. Black Lords even resorted to steel floors, completely revamping their castles. They required guards when they rested for their peace of mind. Thus, the phrase spread across the lands: to be Bud’s enemy, one must succeed in exterminating rats.
