Isandros blinked, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness around him. With his [Sense-UR] skill that was constantly activated, light and dark didn't impact his vision anymore, but considering that the inside of his bedroom which he had been in just a few seconds ago was quite brightly lit, it did take some getting used to. While getting his vision settled, he subconsciously--out of the habit of a lifetime, checked the mental map that [Sense-UR] had provided him. It seemed liked he had been teleported into a small cave, and a rather normal one at that; no dangerous monsters that had made it their lair, no lingering traces of death and black magic, and no bumbling idiot around trying to break his eardrums and calling him a monster.
Well, he thought absent-mindedly, turning around in a circle to get a clearer look at his surroundings, he supposed he should re-evaluate his definition of ‘dangerous’. After all, he had been awarded the title of [God] two times, no less, by the [System] after his last battle. Add that to the [God of Magic] title that she had...given him...he supposed that he was the most dangerous being around. As he was thinking, his eyes softened, and a feeling of sadness radiated from those electric blue eyes of his that had captured the hearts of so many women but had only ever looked at her.
Snapping out of his thoughts--even in his previous world, or perhaps because of his previous world, he had never been one to stand around feeling sorry for himself, further investigation revealed much to his delight that there was no one as well in the forest surrounding the cave that had a radius of about 3 diomels.
Good. It seems that there won't be anyone disturbing me for a while, at least until I sort out my--What? 3 diomels?
Isandros hurriedly checked his mental map again. There was no problem.
Thump. Isandros, who had been standing with no problems before, despite having just used an incredible amount of mana to cast a high ranked magic spell like the [Greater Teleportation] that had enabled him to travel to this world, suddenly sat down heavily. Despite his unchanging expression, that mind of his that had been declared brillant by almost anyone who knew him well was working furiously.
3 diomels...that’s equivalent to the size of a duchy in Vancia. A large duchy, at that. Yet there is not a single person in this forest, even though the beasts in here are all rather weak according to [Sense-UR]. Could it be that the inhabitants of this world are just amazingly weak? In that case, I should use [Greater Teleportation] again and travel to another world; a world full of weak people is no fun at all.
Of course, there could be another alternative--this world was simply so big that a forest of 3 diomels meant nothing to its inhabitants. In other words, the forest was empty was empty due to a lack of interest in it. It’s impossible for this world to not have some form of civilised beings--even though [Greater Teleportation] itself was an extremely advanced magic spell, because of my status as the [God of Magic], I was able to single-handedly use an advanced form of [Greater Teleportation]; one that allowed me to specify the conditions of the world I wanted to be teleported to. Given the description of the spell, the teleportation should not work if there wasn’t a world that could fulfill all my conditions.
Isandros wasn’t the sort of person to rush into things without thinking, and for a good reason too--he wouldn’t be alive right now if he hadn’t been cautious. After her funeral, as he was preparing to travel to another world, he had carefully thought about what type of world he wanted to be teleported to, and had listed down the conditions for [Greater Teleportation] as followed:
1. The world must have at least five different species of sentient and civilised beings.
This was because having only one ‘intelligent
species around would prove extremely boring, considering what his goals were.
2. The world must have magic at least as advanced as Atdea.
Atdea was the world he had previously been in, and in there magicians were something of a rarity. Isandros had been one of those magicians and had grown up used to the wonderful thing that was magic, plus now that he was the [God of Magic], it would seriously be inconvenient, and a huge bummer as well, if he was to lose all the magical abilities he had spent years perfecting.
3. The world must have abundant monsters of varying strengths which are non-intelligent beings and can be killed to obtain certain rewards. The people of that world must have a habit of killing such monsters.
This last condition for [Greater Teleportation] was not an idea he had thought of himself. In fact, the notion of monsters which could be used to train oneself against was an idea by an author who was famed for his creativity in Isandros’ country of Vancia in the world Atdea. This idea had resonated deeply with Isandros because of the circumstances of Atdea.
In Atdea, there was no such thing as monsters or dungeons or quests, which was why that book had been so popular in Atdea. After all, in a world where you usually fought or killed those of other races or kingdoms in wars in order to gain fighting experience, the notion that in another world, there were beings that existed which could be freely killed as long as you had the ability to was just plain shocking. Isandros had been unsure whether or not such a world even existed when he had stated out the conditions, but he was glad it did.
In his first few attempts at [Greater Teleportation], he had added another point: There must be a being in that world which is hard to kill. The attempt failed. In the next attempt, he had changed the wording to: There must be a being in that world which is slightly challenging to kill. The attempt failed again. After that, he had changed the wording from slightly challenging to a bit difficult, not very difficult, easy, very easy, extremely easy and finally to enough to provide me with a warm up. All attempts failed.
Thinking back, Isandros let out a rueful smile. Well, he supposed that was only to be expected, considering his three new titles: [God of Magic], [God of Victory] and [God of Combat]. He suspected the second title to be the one most at fault. When he had checked the description for the different titles, there was only one sentence under [God of Victory]: Allows the user to decide any and all victories and defeats.
The descriptions of the other titles were just as straightforward. [God of Magic] allowed him to use all magic and control all mana, and he would automatically learn any new magic spell that was created. [God of Combat] increased his combat ability and made him unable to lose in any fight.
And of course, he was immortal unless he decided to kill himself and be reincarnated.
Catching himself getting off topic, Isandros focused on his mental map. This time, he saw something that interested him.
On his mental map, all living things were represented by dots whose colours differed by species. Plants were generally marked green, but if they were carnivorous plants then there would be a smaller red circle inside the green dot. He himself was always marked with a star instead of a dot, while beasts were generally marked blue. Previously, because his mental map covered a huge area (it extended nearly 3 diomels in every direction), he had merely focused on blue dots in order to find out if there were a lot of beasts surrounding him, as well black-ringed dots that signified an intelligent race in order to find out if there were people around him.
However, now that he looked more carefully at his mental map, he discovered a colour that he had never seen before--red. There were many red-coloured dots of varying sizes.
Could these represent those so-called ‘monsters’? If that’s so, then it would be a good chance to see how they work when I leave the forest.
Well, whatever the case it is with this world, thought Isandros as he pushed himself off the ground and dusted his clothes, I’ll find out more information by meeting someone then by sitting here making guesses. But before that, I’ll need to sort out my things.
Thinking that, Isandros thought [Status] in his mind, and the blue translucent [Status] screen appeared in front of him. What he saw, however, made him stare, a slight frown creasing his forehead. None of the original stat names were shown. Instead of things like Magic Rank and Warrior Rank, there were things like Level, Experience needed, Wisdom, Strength, Luck, Fame and so on.
By tapping the names of the stats on the [Status] screen, he was able to get a description of the stats. It didn’t take Isandros very long to figure out what this was about.
Well, Isandros let out a small chuckle, This world is even more reliant on stats than Atdea is.
Back in Atdea, the two main stats that showed a person’s strength was their Magic Rank and Warrior Rank. The people with no affinity with magic or no combat ability at all were Rank 1. The higher the numerical value of the Rank, the more powerful the person was. Isandros had been a Rank 20 Warrior before he became a [God], so he supposed that was the limit for Ranks. Any furthur and the person would become a [God] as well.
Of course, becoming a Rank 20 was no easy feat. Before him, there were no predecessors--the highest had merely been Rank 13. Therefore, it was considered a miracle that there were two Rank 20s just in his generation alone. One of them was him, Isandros. The other was...her. Calandre. A Rank 20 mage, his fellow adventurer and his wife. She was beautiful, with hair golden like the sun that seemed to shine whenever she moved, but what drew people were her eyes. They were a strange colour, the shade you’d get if you had a dazzling rose pink with deep violet and just a flick of crimson red. The colours seemed to swirl inside her eyes without ever mixing, changing with her feelings. But stunning as her eyes were visually, that wasn’t what captivated people, men and women alike. She was one of those rare people who knew their goal, and could run full speed towards it for her entire life without ever hesitating or stopping. Some called her stupid, and some lauded praise upon it, but it was a determination you could see shining through those pupils of hers.
They were what first caught Isandros’ attention too. And as they grew closer, drawn together by the strength of each other that no one else had, and delighted that finally, there was someone who didn’t drag them down in a fight, they discovered that they were like a perfect match. Isandros remembered he had only been thirteen when they met, and she twelve, but they had fought and struggled and killed with each other for five long years, before she died on the day of her seventeenth birthday.
Isandros caught himself reminiscing about his past again. Really, this is the second time today. If I’m not careful, I might just turn into one of those old nobles at the royal court that do nothing but try to impress people by spinning long and endless tales of their heroic adventures. He steered his attention back to the [Status] screen in front of him with his stats.
Name:
Isandros
Job:
Freeloader
Level:
1
Experience needed:
100
Magic Power:
UR
Strength:
1 billion/UR
Intelligence:
UR
Defense:
1 billion/UR
Dexterity:
1 billion/UR
Charisma:
999 [MAX: 999]
Wisdom:
UR
Luck:
99 [MAX: 99]
Titles:
God of Magic
God of Victory
God of Combat
Isandros had already checked the definition of those stats once, but since he had just thought of a new theory, he decided to double check all the descriptions for his titles and stats again.
Level: Your level is a measure of your strength in this world of Landrea. Whenever you level up, your stats will increase accordingly (excluding luck and charisma). By levelling up, you will also gain 10 additional stat points, which you can choose to either put into your stats or use to Rank up your skills.
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Experience needed: How much more experience you require to level up. Experience can be gained by killing monsters or people.
Job: Your chosen occupation. Your class will also be reflected under here.
Magic power: Refers to the amount of mana you have. This stat is influenced by the stat Intelligence. As the [God of Magic], you can control all mana, even if they do not belong to you, therefore your magic power is considered Unranked (UR).
Strength: Refers to how physically strong you are. Strength decides how much weight you can carry and the damage caused by your melee attack. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Combat], you are forbidden from/ not able to lose in a fight, causing your Strength to increase whenever you are genuinely losing in a fight, therefore making it Unranked (UR). Under normal circumstances, your Strength is 1 billion. Your Strength is capped at 1 billion because the [System] has deemed it unnecessary to increase it.
Intelligence: A measure of how intelligent you are as well as your proficiency at problem-solving. Affects your Magic Power and your Magic regeneration rate, as well as your ability to learn things. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Magic], your intelligence is Unranked (UR).
Defense: A measure of how resilient you are. Defense ignores/decreases taken damage by a certain percentage. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Combat], you are forbidden from/ not able to lose in a fight, causing your Defense to increase whenever you are genuinely losing in a fight, therefore making it Unranked (UR). Under normal circumstances, your Defense is 1 billion. Your Defense is capped at 1 billion because the [System] has deemed it unnecessary to increase it.
Dexterity: A measure of your agility. It also affects your speed and accuracy, as well as the ability to dodge an opponent’s attack. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Combat], you are forbidden from/ not able to lose in a fight, causing your Dexterity to increase whenever you are genuinely losing in a fight, therefore making it Unranked (UR). Under normal circumstanes, your Dexterity is 1 billion. Your Dexterity is capped at 1 billion because the [System] has deemed it unnecessary to increase it.
Charisma: A measure of your social skill, charm and ability to attract and lead others. This stat can be affected by your physical appearance as well as your personality. As a [God], your Charisma will naturally be maxed.
Wisdom: Refers to your common sense, spirituality and ability to comprehend deep philosophical subjects. This stat affects the Rank of magic you can cast, the ability to communicate to mystical and worldly entities and discern others’ thoughts and feelings. It also affects your resistance against mental attacks as well as your mental strength. Wisdom can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Magic], your Wisdom is Unranked (UR).
Bonuses given due to high Wisdom: Ability to communicate with the [System] and with other beings of high [Wisdom].
Luck: A measure of your luck. As a [God], your luck will naturally be maxed.
[God of Magic]: This title is awarded to one who can perform a [God] Ranked Magic spell. Allows you to control all mana, use all attributes of magic and have knowledge of as well as the ability to cast all spells. Any new spell that has been invented in any world will also automatically be made known to you. All stats that affect magic will be increased automatically. Grants immortality until you wish to be reincarnated.
You can bless those whom you favor to give them outstanding talent in magic by increasing their WIS and INT stats.
To prevent conflict between [Gods], this title can only be possessed by one person at a time.
[God of Combat]: This title is awarded to one who:
Has never lost any fight
Is the greatest warrior in his/her world, and is equivalent to a Rank 20 warrior.
Has realised and mastered the complete stupidity that is war
Has maxed his/her charisma without the help of any [God] title
Will only turn to wars as the last method
Is not swayed by power
By possessing this title, you are neither allowed to nor have the ability to lose any war and fight that you take part in as long as it involves combat. In the case where you are truly unable to win the fight based on your current abilities, this title will increase all your stats dramatically to allow you win the fight. You will not feel any exhaustion due to a fight. The title also grants you immortality until you wish to die and be reincarnated.
You can bless people or entire armies to give them outstanding combat ability as well as increased stats in STR, DEF and DEX.
To prevent conflict amongst [Gods], this title can only be possessed by one person at a time.
[God of Victory]: Grants you the power to decide the victors in anything that can have a victor. The title also grants you immortality until you wish to die and be reincarnated.
You can bless people to increase their LUC and CHA stat by however much you want.
To prevent conflict amongst [Gods], this title can only be possessed by one person at a time.
This title is granted when:
1. The person in question has shown a remarkable lack of interest in meddling in others’ affairs and in causing cosmic wars.
2. The [System] has decided that you are already so overpowered you might as well get another title.
Isandros smiled wryly at that last one. He’d love to meet that [System] someday. It seemed to have a good sense of humor. But back to his stats; he had a pretty good guess what was going on in this world. Landrea, was it? Pretty nice name.
Apparently being a God gave a lot of perks, and one of them was crazy stats. He guessed the reason why physical combat stats were capped at 1 billion was because since they would rise whenever he got into a fix, there was no point in raising them beyond 1 billion. As for WIS and INT, because he in charge of magic itself, all stats that affected magic would naturally be Unranked. As for why STR, DEX and DEF did not become Unranked even though he was the [God of Combat], it was probably because fights didn’t just rely on your stats the way using magic did. You had to factor in things like fighting experience, training, fighting techniques, the ability to strategize and more.
One of the main difference between this new world of Landrea and his previous world of Atdea was their dependence on the [System]. Atdea was far less dependent on the [System] than Landrea, which had both pros and cons.
The good thing about being less dependent was that things like skills could be learnt ‘normally’--by practicing and using a skill over and over again, the skill’s Rank would naturally rise from Rank 1 to Rank 10, and finally to Unranked. However, from the information he had gathered from [Status] descriptions, in Landrea, skills could only Rank up if one put stat points into it. Isandros wasn’t sure how many stat points one would require to Rank up a skill, but considering that you could only gain ten stat points per level up, there was sure to be a limit on the number of skills and the proficiency of those skills for the people of Landrea, as compared to Atdea where you could learn as many skills as you wanted and Rank them up as much as you wanted to as long as you put in enough hard work.
The cons of being less reliant on the [System] was pretty clear; even though the people in Atdea had more skills, they still had a limit which was hard to surpass. For example, in Landrea, Person A would increase his strength by increasing his Level and putting his stat points into Strength. However, in Atdea, Person B would have to do physical training to toughen their body. But no matter how much one trained, they still would not be able surpass their physical limits. But that was different for Person A, who didn’t have limits because of the way the [System] worked in Landrea.
Isandros arrived at the conclusion that the people in this world would be much stronger than those in the other world, which made him very, very happy. After that, he finally remembered to check his [Inventory], and thankfully, all the items were still inside.
“Well then,” he muttered, closing his [Inventory], “I suppose I should go outside the cave now that everything’s settled. I know my stats have already been capped or are Unranked, but it’d be good to kill some monsters just to raise my level. Also, I’d need to find some way to keep by [Status] hidden, just in case people in this world have the [Analyse] skill as well. I don’t mind catching attention, but it’d be bad if they saw my [God] titles and started praying and worshipping me. Also, it’d be good to change my name. I wonder though, in this world, is there any way to change the name that is reflected in the [Status]?”
As he was scratching his head and mumbling to himself, Isandros suddenly thought of an idea.
“I declare war on the [Status]. I win this challenge if I can change my name on the [Status] to Azael Calandre, and I lose if I am unable to change it. By the power vested in me as the [God of Victory], I hereby decreed that I shall win this challenge.”
Immediately, the name on the [Status] screen changed to Azael Calandre.
“Well, I’m glad that worked. Being a [God] is pretty useful, huh?” As Isandros said that, he received a [System Message] saying:
User Asterkirzia Isandrosvasian Lendregar has successfully changed his name to Azael Calandre. The [System] congratulates him on finally getting rid of that monstrosity of a name, as well as choosing a very good replacement. As a reward for his good taste in names, the [System] grants Azael the title [The First Seraphim], and wishes him good luck in spreading the name of the Seraphims far and wide. Also, as an added bonus, the [System] will do Azael the favor of making sure no one, in this world or another, will be able to see his [Status] without his permission.
Lastly, the [System] wishes to convey to Azael that in the future, if he wishes to change his name, he should just activate the name change function by tapping on his name on the [Status] screen instead of sullying the [Gods’] name by declaring war on inanimate objects.
Now get out of that cave and do something interesting, you dumbass.
(Author Note: Azael means ‘Made of God’, and the [System Message] was referring to his titles of [God])
Isandros, or rather, Azael, checked what the [System Message] had said. Indeed, he could change his name using the [Status] screen, although it would consume a MP of 50 000.
"Well, the [System] went and did me the favor of solving one of my problems, so I suppose it's only good manners to do as she, or he, or whatever gender the [System] is, say, and get myself out of here."
Closing his [Status] with a wave of his hand, Azael walked towards the entrance of the cave. The moment he exited the cave, he was greeted by a gentle gust of wind that caused his long black hair that fell to his waist to fly up. Walking in the direction where he could see a bunch of red coloured dots gathered on his mental map, he admired the scenery around him. The trees in the forest were quite tall, sunlight shining through the gaps between clumps of branches leaves, dappling the forest floor with shades of green and brown. It wasn’t a strikingly beautiful scene by any means, but it made Azael wonder idly: How long has it been since I could just stroll along and enjoy the surroundings?
Yes, Azael though calmly, this time, he wasn’t going to fight wars or defend the people or be a hero. This time, he was going to do what they had always wanted to do but she had died before they could. He was going to live, and he was going to live happily, live enough for two people. She had given her life to keep his, and now he was going to live his life for them. For her, for himself, for the two of them, he was going to live.
He was going to have fun.