"I have a dream!"
"I dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low; the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together."
—These words weren't spoken by Waver, but by the famous civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., a great man destined to ascend to the Throne of Heroes, in his speech "I Have a Dream."
Like Dr. King, Waver also had a dream when he was young—a dream to surpass his professor, the Clock Tower's most brilliant genius, Lord El-Melloi Archibald. He wanted to prove himself to his once-disparaging mentor by outshining him.
Today, the two have reconciled, each acknowledging the other's path and accomplishments. Waver now knows that with his talent and abilities, it's impossible to surpass Kenneth, who stands at the pinnacle of modern magi. However, Waver is not one to give up easily. Inspired by the philosophy of the Atlas Institute, he found a way to achieve his goal indirectly.
—There's no need for me to become the strongest because the strongest will be created by my own hands!
I may not have the ability to surpass you, but I can teach someone who will.
This is Waver's strategy. He has worked tirelessly toward this goal, and after ten years, he has finally made decisive progress.
Kenneth was a prodigy, renowned for earning the title of Child Prodigy after achieving a Pride rank as a teenager. In the world of magecraft, where progress depends on accumulation, falling behind in the early stages means falling behind forever. To surpass Kenneth, one must start from a young age. Most of the students in the El-Melloi Classroom are teenagers for this very reason.
However, when it comes to magecraft, Kenneth is almost perfect, possessing the highest level of talent, resources, and diligence. Even with the right path, surpassing him is no easy task. Ten years have passed, and although many students have graduated from the classroom, some even reaching the Pride rank, none have done so as early as Kenneth, who achieved it in his teens.
That is, until yesterday, when the classroom's longest-standing student, Svin Glascheit, passed the Pride evaluation at the age of fifteen.
"Ah... finally... finally someone... one of my students... reached that level..."
The excitement of seeing his dream fulfilled and the overwhelming pride in his student made Waver let loose for the first time in a long while.
He not only treated everyone to a party out of his pocket but also drank alongside his students. In the UK, as long as a guardian is present, children can start drinking at age five.
As it turned out, the most petite among them, Reines, managed to outdrink everyone. According to rumors, Waver's drinking capacity is average, while Reines can drink ten times as much as him.
Even after returning to his dorm, Waver still felt unsatisfied. He took out some of his finest liquor and continued drinking alone.
Unlike the wine at the party, this was a rare treasure from the Macedonian region of northern Greece, a special drink Waver had gone to great lengths to acquire. He only brought it out on special occasions, using it as a way to report to the King who resides on the Throne of Heroes, until he eventually passed out drunk.
As the saying goes, "Pride comes before a fall."
On the day after Waver thought he had reached the peak, tragedy struck.
As usual, he opened the safe to check if everything was still there—well, partly to show off to "him"—but to his horror, the relic was gone.
The safe was intact, and there were no signs of intrusion in the office. If not for the envelope left in place of the relic, Waver might have suspected he had removed it himself in a drunken stupor.
"An envelope? What kind of envelope?"
"This one," Waver said as he handed it to Shinji.
The envelope was styled after ancient Western European traditions. The paper was crystal-clear, sealed with bright red wax, and stamped with a seal featuring a wheel and an eye, reminiscent of the recent Castle Adra incident. However, that incident had been completely resolved, so the seal was likely just a magical symbol.
When they opened the envelope, they found an equally exquisite invitation inside. The letter was written in elegant, flowing script, inviting the recipient to a banquet, urging them to overcome all obstacles to attend. At the end of the letter was the name of the sender—Mystic Eyes Collection Train.
"Mystic Eyes Collection Train..."
Shinji returned the invitation to its envelope and handed it back to Waver, a faint gleam of understanding flashing in his lowered eyes.
So, it's finally happening.
Shinji was no stranger to Mystic Eyes. Touko, Reines, Arcueid, Fujino, Shiki, and Tohno were all Mystic Eye bearers. Among them, the last three possessed eyes so rare that they were enough to earn a Sealing Designation.
The Mystic Eyes Collection Train, as the name suggests, is a train that collects various types of Mystic Eyes and travels through the forests of Europe. Each year, it exhibits a new batch of Mystic Eyes and hosts an auction where the Mystic Eyes are put up for sale.
Mystic Eyes grant various abilities and are a symbol of the rare and the powerful. Many desire to own Mystic Eyes and are willing to pay exorbitant prices for them.
In addition to auctions, the train also deals in buying Mystic Eyes. However, using Mystic Eyes comes with a price. The rarer and more powerful the Mystic Eyes, the harder they are to control.
Take Tohno and Shiki, for example. When their Mystic Eyes first awakened, they had difficulty adjusting to the fragmented world they saw. Tohno's mental state gradually deteriorated, and Shiki even had the impulse to blind herself. If not for the intervention of Aoko and Touko, both might have already succumbed to the side effects of their Mystic Eyes, either turning into monsters or meeting their demise.
Tohno and Shiki were fortunate, but not every Mystic Eye bearer is as lucky. Some successfully control their Mystic Eyes, turning them into assets. Others, unable to bear the strange new world, see removing their Mystic Eyes as the best option—especially if they can sell them for a high price.
With buyers and sellers in place, a market emerged, and the Mystic Eyes Collection Train became the most exclusive marketplace for this commodity.
The reason it's considered the highest-end is because of its unique technology—risk-free removal and implantation.
Eyes are among the most complex organs in the human body, and Mystic Eyes are even more so. The higher the rank of the Mystic Eyes, the harder it is to operate on them. Even the ancient and powerful Clock Tower cannot guarantee absolute success.
But the Mystic Eyes Collection Train can. Since its inception, the train has maintained a 100% success rate in both removal and implantation, with no failures. For both buyers and sellers, this makes the train a savior of sorts, attracting many covetous eyes, including those of the two largest factions within the Clock Tower—Barthomeloi and Trambelio.
Given that the train has managed to grow its business despite all these greedy eyes, it's clear how dangerous and formidable it is.