In the Purple Mage's Sage Tower.
"Finally!"
Faint purple colored runes and inscriptions were flickering on Ciri's hand. On the desk in front of her was a little block humanoid waving around the sword in his hand.
"What is this? A brick golem?"
Purple Mage closed the book in her hand as she looked at the first illusion created by her chief disciple Ciri.
"Those square shapes are called 'pixels.' This little guy is called Steve. Teacher, have you played Minecraft before? It's the latest game release on the magic network. This little guy is one of the characters in the game."
Controlling the faint purple rune inscriptions in her hand, Ciri created a whole new pixel 'zombie.' Soon, the two pixel characters started fighting.
Unfortunately, Ciri's illusion magic was not up to par. Her magic made the battle seem like a little girl holding two rag dolls and smacking them against one another.
"I had no idea there were games on the magic network."
Purple Mage did not have extended interactions with the magic network. Normally, she would only spend a little bit of time on the mage forum to check out whether there might be any new developments in Norland.
She was able to properly control her desire to use the magic network.
"In that case, you should check it out. I recommend you start from Super Mario. Ghosts 'n Goblins and Castlevania are too hard. Even now, I've not been able to complete them. After those, you can try out Minecraft."
Ciri immediately became spirited the moment games were mentioned. She arrived at Purple Mage's Sage Tower seven in the morning and has been listening to Purple Mage talk about illusion and mind systems magic theories the entire morning. She was so bored of listening to them that she was on the verge of falling asleep.
Fortunately, Ciri was truly gifted. Even though she finished listening to the basic theories in a drowsy state, she managed to successfully utilize the basic illusion magic by afternoon.
"Ciri, games are children's entertainment. You're already an adult, you shouldn't be wasting your time on games."
Purple Mage was not familiar with the games - 'Super Mario,' 'Ghosts 'n Goblins' and 'Castlevania' - that Ciri spoke of. However, she viewed the term 'games' as something childish, something that only children would interact with.
"The games on the magic network are not things that children play. Either way, we're on a break right now. Teacher, how about you give them a try with me?"
Ciri waved her hand and opened up her magic network interface. Apart from the basic apps, Ciri's desktop was filled with a whole bunch of game icons. A portion of those icons belonged to games Joshua had released to the magic network. The rest were games that were still not released.
Ciri would always be the first person to test out all the new games Joshua codes. The games would only be released onto the magic network after it was confirmed that there weren't any bugs.
Ciri had heard from Joshua that he planned to turn those games as merchandise for sale. Unfortunately, currency does not exist on the magic network yet. As such, games as merchandise were currently unachievable.
Besides that, there was one thing that Ciri felt completely unfathomable. Joshua had been addressing the pixel games, and even Minecraft, as 'small' games.
Because of this, Ciri has been anticipating what Joshua's so-called 'big' games would be like.
"Only for a short moment, Ciri."
Purple Mage did not refuse Ciri's invitation. She had been attempting to establish a favorable teacher-student relationship with Ciri the entire time. Thus, Ciri's invitation served as an excellent opportunity for her to close her distance with her student.
"In that case, let's start with 'Super Mario!'"
Ciri tapped open the icon on her desktop. Then, she handed an originium crystal game controller to Purple Mage.
"The rune inscriptions on this originium crystal are able to control the little guy on the screen. As for the rules of this game…"
Ciri began to coach Purple Mage on how to play Super Mario. The Sage was able to quickly learn how to operate the pixel game.
The novel magic network game managed to successfully attract her attention. She began to become fully focused on controlling the red hatted plumber as he dealt with the monsters on the map.
Unfortunately, the time where one was able to play games was always extremely short. A cough interrupted Purple Mage. The interruption caused her Mario to be eaten by a Piranha Plant.
"Who is it?" Purple Mage immediately raised his head. They were at the upper level of her Sage Tower. Should anyone enter her Sage Tower, she would be able to detect them immediately. However, this time around, she did not detect the intruder at all.
"It's me. I encountered a barrier while entering and accidentally erased it."
Joshua was standing at the entrance waving his hand in an embarrassed manner. After Purple Mage took Ciri as her disciple, she reinstalled the magic barrier and traps in the Sage Tower to ensure Ciri's safety.
Joshua took the honor of being the first demon to experience the might of the magic traps. Regretfully, before those traps could even reach him, they were all shattered by the special magic power possessed by the Chaos Demons.
"I… seemed to have disturbed you."
Joshua only came to the Sage Tower because Ciri sent him a message saying 'I'm free right now, you can come up.' Before that, he had been waiting downstairs for Purple Mage's lecture to end.
He never expected that he would encounter Purple Mage holding a 'controller' playing Super Mario. Furthermore, it seemed like she was surprised by his sudden appearance and ended up losing a life in the game.
"I was merely a bit surprised by your visit to my Sage Tower at such a time," Purple Mage placed down the game controller in a very natural manner. She looked to the Chaos Demon before her, "Joshua Annerlaude, did you come here personally because of the 'Sage Thought Forum?'"
"Eh… no, that's not it."
Joshua took a glance at Ciri seated beside Purple Mage. He never imagined that Ciri would drag Purple Mage into the abyss this quickly.
He was very surprised that an elderly person like Purple Mage would be interested in a game geared toward youths.
"Last time, I mentioned 'Avatar' to you," said Joshua, "The performers I invited are all ready now. The only thing left to do is to utilize your illusions to create the world called Pandora."
"The time and location… Norland is not a place suited for such large-scale illusions."
Purple Mage knew that her lifespan was nearing its end. Thus, she wanted to leave behind things in this world that would let others remember her by. For example… finding a successor to carry on her knowledge. Or perhaps… creating a movie that will forever circulate through this world with Joshua.
"The location… I've decided on the Demon Realm and Farucci for the time being. Some of the scenes will be filmed in Norland," said Joshua with a smile on his face.
After hearing those words from Joshua, Purple Mage was briefly silent.
"Joshua, I know that you're friendly toward humans. However, that does not mean that all demons view humans as friends. If I were to appear in the Demon Realm, I will immediately be viewed as a dangerous enemy and end up attracting some frightening existences." Purple Mage glanced at Joshua's palm. She knew that Joshua knew one such 'frightening existence.'
"About that… I seemed to not have made a full introduction of myself. Allow me to re-introduce myself."
As Joshua spoke, gray magic power began to gather around his body. The next moment, horns representing the Demon Realm appeared on his head.
"My name is Joshua Annerlaude. I am the Third Prince of the Demon Realm's Royal Family, the contractor of the Duke of Bones, one of the Four Dukes of the Demon Realm...."