Theodore Miller

Theodore Miller, called Tao by those close to him, is the eldest son of the impoverished House Miller, which lost its count's title and all privileges a century ago. Dreaming of becoming a great mage, he persuaded his parents to send him to Bergen Academy, a branch of the Royal Academy, and became a paradox: on written exams he lost points on only three questions across all his years — even though no student was ever meant to score full marks — yet in practice he was hopeless. Born with scant magic power and almost no sensitivity to mana, in five years he could never cross from the 2nd to the 3rd Circle required to graduate, becoming an eternal repeat student — the only pupil in the academy's history to receive a repeat-course letter three times. The third letter was the last: one more year without a diploma meant a disgraceful expulsion.

The turning point comes in the library, his only refuge: there Tao accidentally touches a worn, nameless book, and a tongue lashes out of his left palm and swallows it. So awakens Gluttony — an ancient grimoire from the set of the Seven Sins, whose origin has been erased from every chronicle. The grimoire devours magical objects, but loves books most of all: the swallowed contents are instantly absorbed into the host's memory along with the spell and its author's very understanding. With the first book he eats, Tao masters "Lightning Strike," which had failed him hundreds of times. From that day the talentless failure becomes a mage who can absorb in a night what takes others a year — though under constant threat: if Gluttony is not fed in time, it begins to treat its host as food.

Cold, calculating and pragmatic, Tao coolly plans his moves and climbs the Circles faster than any genius. He graduates as a 4th-Circle mage by winning a prize at a Magic Society tournament, moves to the capital Mana-ville and joins the combat-oriented Red Tower of the Kingdom of Meltor, where Veronica becomes his mentor. He hires the mercenary Randolph, gains the companion Sylvia and the spirit Mithra — a fragment of the goddess Demeter — and step by step clears away the legacy of the Age of Myths: ancient gods, dragons and bearers of the other Sins. By the middle of the story he is already a master of the 7th Circle, whom the greatest ancient alchemist Paracelsus condescendingly grants is merely "good for his age."

The central war of his life is the struggle against the Empire of Andras — Meltor's northern military rival, secretly ruled for five hundred years by Invidia, the sin-grimoire of Envy masquerading as its emperor. On the Karul Plains Tao leads the combat squad Quatro, single-handedly slays a Sword of the Empire and wins fame as a hero, and in the bloody climax of the Northern War breaks through to the 8th Circle — at the cost of Blundell, Master of the Blue Tower, and nearly losing Veronica's soul. Invidia is defeated, a rightful emperor takes the Andras throne, and the two powers turn to a lasting peace. Later Tao uncovers the secret of sunken Atlantis — a refuge for the minor gods who could not survive Ragnarök — where he reforges Poseidon's true Trident and gains a fragment of his divinity.

By the finale Theodore reaches the 9th Circle — the highest rank and the last transcendent human of this world. Entering the Akashic Records to stop the fall of Wrath, he lets his soul be destroyed and reassembled, gaining "Harmonization" — the power to alter magic itself — and a fragment of Akasha's power. The grimoire, freed from an already-broken contract, demands he break the final, seventh seal and become omnipotent, but Tao refuses for the sake of his loved ones: "You are all my treasures." He is forced to fight the maddened Gluttony and banish it beyond the dimension as a friend-turned-foe, then single-handedly destroys a steel comet falling toward the world.

In the "Age of Peace" epilogue Theodore lives as a transcendent and effective immortal. Meltor is proclaimed a Magic Empire, King Kurt III becomes its first emperor, and Tao becomes Senior Tower Master and Imperial Guardian — head of the four great Towers and protector of the dimension, bearing the "Karma of the Guardian" for a thousand years to come. He founds magical engineering so that civilization can defend itself. He has three wives — Veronica, Sylvia and the elf Ellenoa — and two children: his daughter Adellia by Sylvia, a young ice prodigy and future Master of the Blue Tower, and his son Verus by Veronica. At the very end, realizing all that remains is to "live for today," he sits down to write an autobiography titled "The Book Eating Magician."

At the start of the story Tao is described as a gaunt young man with dark circles under his eyes — the marks of years spent studying almost without sleep. His face usually keeps a cool, withdrawn expression, and his dimmed eyes, "once full of dreams," betray the bleak reality of an eternal repeat student. He dresses modestly: the magic reagents his classmates drank like water were beyond his means.

His chief feature is hidden in his left palm: there lies the "mouth" of the grimoire Gluttony — a bottomless hole with teeth, lips and a long pink tongue that darts out to seize and swallow books. Tao must carefully hide this mark from the Towers, or they would simply "cut off his arm." As his power grows, the grimoire's red eyes also surface on the palm. By the epilogue, having become a transcendent, Theodore scarcely ages — his spirit and body have risen to the utmost limit, and he could go ten thousand years without sleep; his red hair and golden eyes are inherited by his son Verus.

Theodore is cold, calculating and pragmatic. Even as a failure he never complained about his poverty or fate, believing effort ought to be rewarded, and when he obtained the grimoire he did not panic but methodically analyzed the situation. In negotiations he is cunning: when hiring Randolph's band he deftly bought the rights to ancestral swords off the mercenary, effectively outmaneuvering him. His creed — "mages must always stay calm and composed" — is later adopted by his daughter Adellia.

Tao's driving force is an insatiable thirst for knowledge: his "genius brain" soaks up books like a sponge soaks water and never finds it a strain. It is precisely this trait that made Gluttony choose him — the grimoire notes that from constantly solving the hardest problems its Host's mind keeps developing without limit. The same hunger makes him deadly: he wins not through innate talent but through the sheer volume of knowledge he absorbs and flawless theoretical understanding.

Yet he is not unfeeling. His key choice in the finale — refusing omnipotence — is driven not by fear but by attachment to his loved ones: "You are all my treasures. I do not intend to change that priority, even if the whole world is under threat of destruction." He deliberately drags out his parting from Gluttony, though he could have ended the fight at once, out of pure attachment to his "friend." The birth of his daughter gives him, for the first time, a sense of absolute helplessness he had not felt even in his battle with Pride. In the epilogue, immortal and all-powerful, he arrives at a simple truth: one can only live for today.

Theodore's main power is the grimoire Gluttony, which opens as a toothed, tongued maw in his left palm. The grimoire devours magical objects (books best of all), and their contents along with the spell and its author's understanding are instantly absorbed into the host's memory. This offsets Tao's innate weakness: lacking sensitivity to mana, he wins through sheer volume of knowledge. Early on he even replenishes raw magic power by feeding the grimoire cheap cursed and defective artifacts from the black market.

As the story progresses, Gluttony grows through stages and the breaking of seals: by devouring ever more valuable prey — artifacts, cursed objects, ghostly undead, original books of the Age of Myths and even rival grimoires — Tao accumulates achievement points and amplifies the grimoire many times over. Functions unlock such as the "Hall of Fame" (a vault of the souls of the greatest mages, who can be awakened and consulted), "Synchronization" (merging with an author's mind — though bearers of divinity like Paracelsus may refuse), and the "Library." The crown of the system is the seventh seal, "Synchronization": breaking it would gather the grimoire's bodies, scattered across many dimensions, into a single sword able to seize Akasha's throne of omnipotence.

Tao himself possesses a phenomenal memory and analytical mind admired even by first-rate mages, and in battle he calculates his moves with a greatly accelerated consciousness. His arsenal includes the great spell Abraxas, the sealing techniques "Hand of Tathagata" and "Shackles of Yin and Yang," and elemental and combat magic of every Circle. By the finale he reaches the 9th Circle, enters the Akashic Records and gains "Harmonization" with a fragment of Akasha's power — the ability to alter magic itself, with which he restores the world's atmosphere in seven seconds and then single-handedly destroys a comet falling toward the planet. A 9th-Circle mage controls mana for several kilometers around and surpasses even the ancient gods.

Academy. After receiving his third repeat-course letter, Tao accidentally awakens Gluttony and in a single night masters magic that had eluded him for years. On a hint from professor Vince Heidel he finds a loophole in academy rules: a prize at a Magic Society tournament grants an early diploma. He joins the battle division, rises from the 3rd to the 4th Circle and wins a prize, defeating in the final the genius water-mage Sylvia Adrunkus, granddaughter of the Master of the Blue Tower.

Meltor and the Towers. Moving to the capital Mana-ville, Tao joins the Red Tower under Veronica, a half-dragon 8th-Circle mercenary who helps stabilize his unstable 5th Circle and teaches him the art of enchantment. He gathers companions — the mercenary Randolph, the companion Sylvia, the spirit Mithra — and untangles the legacy of the Age of Myths, encountering bearers of the other Sins, ancient alchemists like Paracelsus and Abe no Seimei, dragons and gods. By the 7th Circle he is a master whose rate of growth can be counted on one hand in Meltor's history.

War with Andras. First Tao intervenes in a civil war to stop Andras, slaying a Sword of the Empire with the great spell Abraxas, for which King Kurt III ennobles his family. Then, on the Karul Plains of the Northern War, he commands the squad Quatro and leads devastating raids. In the bloody climax it is revealed that for five hundred years the emperor of Andras has been Invidia — the sin-grimoire of Envy; fighting it, Tao breaks through to the 8th Circle, loses his teacher Blundell, saves Veronica's soul and finishes Invidia. The wars end in peace, and Andras and Meltor "pass into a new era."

Atlantis and the Age of Myths. Later Tao and the dragoness Aquilo enter sunken Atlantis — a refuge built by Poseidon for the minor gods who could not survive Ragnarok and degenerated into faceless false-gods. There he meets the maddened goddess Medusa, grants her peace and reassembles Poseidon's true Trident, gaining a fragment of his divinity. This is part of his long journey in the footsteps of the Age of Myths — its ancient gods, spirits and the Seven Sins.

Finale. To stop the fall of Wrath, Tao enters the Akashic Records: his soul is destroyed and reassembled, his contract with the grimoire is quietly severed, and he gains "Harmonization" and a fragment of Akasha, reaching the 9th Circle — the world's last transcendent. Gluttony, seeing the purpose of its existence within reach, demands he break the seventh seal and become omnipotent; Tao refuses for the sake of his loved ones, fights the maddened grimoire and banishes it beyond the dimension as a friend-turned-foe. He then single-handedly destroys a steel comet falling toward the world.

Age of Peace. In the epilogue Meltor becomes a Magic Empire under Emperor Kurt III, and Theodore becomes Senior Tower Master and Imperial Guardian, a protector of the dimension who spends about three months a year wandering to seal spatial rifts and hunt down the remaining sin-grimoires (only Greed survives). He founds magical engineering so civilization can defend itself. He has three wives — Veronica, Sylvia and the elf Ellenoa — and two children: his daughter Adellia (by Sylvia) and his son Verus (by Veronica). Immortal and all-powerful, he realizes all that remains is to "live for today," and sits down to write his autobiography, "The Book Eating Magician."