NOVEL WEB 21. Pandora’s Act
Pandora's Actor PoV:
~Currently, I am on the verge of achieving the primary goal of infiltrating Kamar-Taj, for my destination is near.~ Pandora's Actor announced with a dramatic bow, albeit only within his head. After all, he was in disguise right now.
Performing such disguise was second nature to him. He was created by the supreme being Momonga to master the craft of disguise to the highest extent, whether in appearance or acting. He won't ruin the impression he was trying to give by adding his own personal preferences to it.
This was an important mission handed down by the supreme one herself. The stakes were very high. As he had read the comics, he knew what sort of power these sorcerers of Kamar-Taj held and so, fear was inevitable. Of course, it was not fear of his own well-being but that of not accomplishing this task.
He had already experienced the loss of his creator and could definitely not experience the loss of the last supreme being as well. Especially as she was the one who stayed behind with his creator until the final moments of YGGDRASIL and the supreme being his creator protected. The mission was destined to be completed.
Before leaving Nazarick, lady White had handed a world item to him along with the other guardians as well. It was called the 'mystical keystone'. A pendant like object with a single glowing keystone at the front. It had the ability to improve disguises and illusions, prevent others from seeing through these disguises, blocking fate scrying among other things. It was an auxiliary world item but with potent effects that were especially useful in this case.
Lady white also used her 'Administrator skill' which is a power that NPC's such as I could never truly fathom, but can be understood in the simplest terms as the rightful authority of god. She disguised the world item as an ordinary pendant while also applying the skill to yours truly, in order to make me seem like the normal human I am disguising myself to be. This preparation cannot be called overkill due to the plethora of threats, abilities and methods present in this multiverse.
Having reviewed the information about Earth and the multiverse, Pandora's Actor already had an idea of the sort of disguise to perform. Firstly, the karma. While lady White had instructed him to disguise as a positive karma human, she did not specify what the karma should be. A karma of positive 500 could raise suspicions. After all, a random human having a karma synonymous with the concept of 'good' is not very likely. That is not to say that it is not possible, but rather the possibility would be low.
The background of his disguise was going to be of a more humble background, though not very poor. Disguising as someone influential would lead to having more holes in his story. He did not want that. He wanted his performance to be seamless. A background of a moderately wealthy scholar or philosopher would be acceptable. One with little to no influence.
Since the Triumvirate were composed of famous thinkers, perhaps playing a scholarly background would be an act more appealing to them. Chances of this happening are certainly low, but it is these tiny details that separate a performance from mediocre to great.
With that said, the karma could be set to 300 or 350 making a character with about the same karma as Sebas. The impression given would be that of a positive, kind and helpful person with potential for keeping the world safe even at the cost of his own well-being. Ultimately, that is what the wizards of Kamar-Taj were looking for. Someone who could take up the duty of protecting the world from mystical threats.
In order to perfect the act, he even took pointers from Sebas about the actions a positive karma being would take in given situations. A questionnaire if you will. Truth be told, with the design that lord Momonga had created Pandora's Actor, he might not have needed to walk this extra mile, but he needed his act to be perfect in front of whatever godly beings were watching. In the end, he himself was not a positive karma heteromorph. Even with his disguise abilities, there were bound to be some details that would deviate from the actions someone like Sebas might take.
He will go with the name Gandalf and will be a minor intellectual. He got this name from hearing the discussions of lady White with lord Momonga about a wise and powerful wizard in an unknown realm known as middle earth.
He actually wanted to simply go with the name Pandora and disguise as a man of Greek ethnicity, but he did not know if there was any way of tracking his true origins via his true name. Having a background as unknown as possible would be better.
Upon discussing his plans and ideas with Demiurge and the guardian overseer Albedo, they came upon the conclusion that merely gaining knowledge of magic and mystical arts from Kamar-Taj was not enough.
They had already decided to offer up the multiverse to the spider goddess though they had not announced their plans to the rest of the denizens of Nazarick.
Since this was the case, those sorcerers were bound to be pesky roadblocks in lady White's path to glory. The Vishanti and by extension, the sorcerer supreme had full autonomy over the actions of the sorcerers. While the Vishanti were more difficult to deal with, there were multiple options to deal with the sorcerer supreme.
The sorcerer supreme is a title held by those elected as successors by the current sorcerer supreme or those who defeat the current sorcerer supreme in combat. This was how Caius would become sorcerer supreme in the year 400 BCE, which was next year. He would defeat the Triumvirate.
As mentioned earlier, there were multiple options that could be taken from here on out. He could use knowledge he has obtained from the grand library about the disciplines of philosophy, science or mathematics to interest the triumvirate or use slivers of knowledge about YGGDRASIL's magic to show his potential as a sorcerer and have them appoint him as a successor for 'discovering' a new brand of magic.
There were positives and negatives to this. It would be a safer path for the future but having YGGDRASIL's knowledge spread would potentially hazardous. He would also be challenged by Caius before he had the opportunity to learn the mystic arts in this case.
Another option would be to defeat the triumvirate and Caius myself and assume the position of sorcerer supreme. While this is a option with lesser unknowns there are equally high chances of defeat in battle as well.
The last option would be to somehow control Caius and have him defeat the triumvirate to become sorcerer supreme, while he and by extension, lady White will be the ones pulling strings from the shadows. He could also slowly spread control over Kamar-Taj and have new sorcerer supreme's appointed in power whenever Nazarick required. Everything would be under Nazarick's control but asserting this dominion would be insanely difficult. It was also unknown if he would have the perfect opportunity to control Caius.
Which path should be chosen would be decided by Pandora's Actor upon actually witnessing the situation. And that brings us to the present.
A tall and lean man with white hair and white beard could be seen walking past the vast snowy mountains of the Himalayas in the background. This scholar exuded an air of quiet gravitas. His eyes, pools of wisdom and inquiry, held an almost ethereal gleam that hinted at the vast landscapes of thought traversed within the confines of his mind. The noble brow, furrowed in contemplation, served as a testament to the profound questions he had dared to ask and the intricate webs of philosophy he had woven.
His attire, a simple yet dignified robe in hues reminiscent of earth and sky, mirrored the modesty that belied the vast reservoir of knowledge he held. Around his neck, a pendant bearing the symbol of Athena, goddess of wisdom, hung as both a token of reverence and a beacon of his chosen path (A disguise for the world item). An item obtained from his journey through Greece. A well-worn scroll rested in his hand.
This was the image that Pandora's Actor had finally decided upon as he stood near the location of Kamar-Taj. An image that would be recorded in the annals of history as a testament to the enduring power of the human intellect and the profound beauty of the philosophical journey. Or rather an intricately woven scam.