Quoting Trojan "Where's Derek? Must be sleeping..."
Reminded me of Derek the Magician, brother of Mandrake the Magician. Both went to the school of magic together, Mandrake followed the Kingdom path and Derek was lured to the Empire path of the Magic. Finally, Mandrake had to suck the magical knowledge (essence) out of Derek's mind (like sucking water out of a sponge).
.. and so we know now, what happened to Derek. Derek became a Project Manager instead of a magician and FrogBoss has hired him to guide Elemental to be more magical instead of AI Technical. It remains to be seen whether the Empire path of magic becomes more powerful under Derek's management..