“Hah, hah, hah...Finally, finally am I done!”
Holding a warm golden flame atop my hand, I raise it straight upward in triumphant, striking a sweet fucking pose while I am at it.
Finally, after being stuck in that pillar of flame for who-know-how-long, I actually, actually, completed the spell.
[Purifying Flame Of The Moonlit NightRank: EX
Type: Primordial Magic
Description: The flame that lit up the moon, from the remnant of the sun’s light shining upon its surface. Symbolizing the truth which shines in the shadow, it has been the guardian of secrets for millenia, as the spark that burns for passion, story and truth.
As per the desire of the latest wielder, this flame has also tempered its heats, in exchange for even more control and supporting effect over the user.
Effect:
-Revealing the truth of all targets the flame touched.
-Apply healing and support effect to desired target, to ease the pain and burden.
- ??? (Required Unlock Condition: further understanding of the flame)
]
It doesn’t look like I am done with this yet, but that is a given. No way that plugged cloaca of a taco chilly wants to reveal everything to me unless I have “proven my worth” or whatever…
“Hiik!”
Oh right, Hifrit, I should stop talking to myself too much. Let's check the reward…
[Job Change Quest: Uncover the Primordial Miracle (Rank EX). Completed!]
[Completion Rank: B+]
[Calculating result…]
[EXP gained: 37,500,000 EXP]
[You have gained +8 points in all stat]
[You have gained some favorability with the Moonlit Flame. The Flame will listen to you once in a while.]
[You have gained the title [Primordial Teller].]
[Primordial Teller
Rank: EX
Description: Title gained by one who studies the story of the ancient primordial past, and dedicated to retold them anew. Much weight lay behind this prestigious role.
Effect:
- All stats + 5%
- When talking with NPC, you have an increased chance to discover new folklore and old tales.
- Increase chance of discovery when researching historical and mythological textbooks.
]
[Your job has successfully changed into [Storyteller]]
[Job: Storyteller
Rank: EX
Description:
“To be a storyteller, is to weave miracles into tales, and wreath new meaning into old lessons.”
A job from time forgotten, the proof of sapients being’s first miracle given to the universe, and the progenitor of primordial magic. Specialization in the studying and evocation of stories, one can manifest completely unique magic from the tales of yore and new.
Skill and Passive (short ver.):
- [Sensitivity to Story C]: Become more easily able to recognize any form of story in the environment
- [Magic Creation (Story) E]: Can create primordial magic at a rudimentary level.
- [Book of Tales A]: A book which automatically store every story you encounter. Essential tool for any storyteller.
- ??? (Unlocked upon leveling up)
]
Okay, everything here is quite good so far. The title does give out good effects, as expected, and so is the new job I get. I should take a closer look at them later, but so far the job has great potential.
The flame being bitchy is as expected as well, but what can you do…
(💢💢💢) (Moonlit Flame)
Suddenly, the flame I hold in my hand phoofed up angrily, threatening to burn my hand. Panicked, I turn off the spell immediately, and only then does the flame go away. Still feel an intense heat in the back of my hand though.
“Hii…” (Hifrit)
“...Yeah, I know, so stop giving me the glare.”
That aside, let's check the rest of the reward...uh, that’s it? Why don’t I see any more notifications?
Like, surely I should be the only one performing a Primordial Magic right, so why didn’t I see my name on the Hall Of Fame?
“Well, obviously because you aren’t the first one to do it of course, my disciple.”
Suddenly, the thick steel door behind me burst open with the force of a thundering gallop, as thick white smoke immediately filled the room. Behind the smoke, a silhouette of a majestic unicorn shines through in crackling light, her nostril spews out air like smokestacks, and her eyes of crystal blue glare deep into my guilty soul.
“Speaking of, you really have the gall to block your Master with horse-related trap, I see. Since when are you this cheeky in your secrecy?”
“...Tsk, and I have high hopes the 72 Dummy Virgin Trigram could stall your hooves for a while. I always thought you were sealing yourself every full moon for estrus-related reasons.”
“I’m a celibate virgin myself, you numbskull. At least do your research properly before making such a stupid bait!”
With a swift strike through the smoke, her great cane hit right at the top of my head, delivering me a sudden sharp pain and a giant boo-boo. Swiftly dodging out of the way beforehand, Hifrit landed on the shoulder of a tall lady emerging out, her black lustrous hair draping over her overly-decorated robe of stars and twinkle, and her blue eyes hidden behind a giant oversized nerd glasses.
My Master, Merlis The Grand Sage, and the helper of heroes since time immemorial... The fact that she is actually a unicorn of unfathomable magical prowess is something she hid and deeply scrubbed away from the annals of history for some reason.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
When I ask why, all I get is something about her true form being embarrassing to look at, before giving me a back-kick of a lifetime like a true Tsundere. In that sense only, she is quite Moe.
Anyway, ignoring my annoyed glare, the two of them proceed to talk with each other through some weird language I don’t know, presumably sharing what happened earlier.
“(Whispering) I see, I see...For even taking my trusted assistant to help with your dirty work, the fact that you can’t even take first place really is saying something. Haven’t I told you before that if you want something to be certain, you have to do it quickly?”
“Isn’t the saying to do it carefully instead...And she is my companion now, Master, so I can take her wherever I want, bleh.”
“(whispering some more) Mhm, and she said you really should act like it sometimes. Your performance has been nothing but embarrassment so far.”
“Will you two stop talking smack in front of my face already!? I’m still the one who successfully performed a Primordial Magic before you ever could, Master, so perhaps I should deserve some face.”
“...Performing it, huh?”
Whipping up all the remaining smoke into a sphere on the tip of her finger, she takes a look at it carefully, nodding as if confirming something. My guess, she is confirming the result of her analysts magic she spread out during her dramatic entrance, checking from the remnant of mana to the composition of the air and the records of object’s memory…
Is what she said to me, but to be honest I can’t even confirm half of what I am seeing here, even with my EX-ranked [Magic Mastery] skill. Master always said that I lack knowledge beyond what the book tells me, and it showed.
“...Really, if you call the absolute shoddiness you show me here the result of your “performance”, then my dirtscratch I draw casually would be considered a masterpiece. If I were here, I wouldn’t need to let myself explode 5 times in a roll like you do.”
“Tsk, no need to show me your geniusness… Thought you said you couldn’t use this sort of spell without knowing what Primordial Magic is beforehand, though.” Curiously, I asked her.
“Isn’t it obvious, that just means I know it already, though it’s relatively recent, I admit.” My Master casually answered “Didn’t I hint that at you earlier? You must be quite slow to find out.”
“...So you knew who stole the first place from me then, as expected. I knew you sealed yourself in meditation this early on for a reason.”
Hah, this happens again…More often than not, whenever I try something I thought no one had done before, I would come to the Hall of Fame only to find out otherwise, claiming first place. Like she said, I really don’t tend to do things fast enough to snatch the chance while it’s still available.
Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t any chance to take back the throne though...Though my skill in magic is still way below Master, I am confident that my mastery in magic is second to none among the players. Even if that bastard managed to luckily perform it before me, there is no way I wouldn’t be able to make a better one later on.
“(In fact, at best they can only perform a C-ranked primordial magic, considering how hard it is to complete mine…) So, Master must have known what that player’s name is right? There is no way you know of this without knowing their name after all…” I asked respectfully, donning my best business smile.
“Of course I know, you disrespectful brat… Before that though, how long do you think I would be able to [Formulate] that Primordial Magic of yours, had I been the one who got it?”
“? Mhm...Considering my experience with it, perhaps two weeks or so? The Moonlit flame is a real son of a bitch.”
“Make that one week. As expected, you’re always underestimating me by at least half measure.”
“Tsk, like I know, not like you ever show all of your prowess to me. What’s that half anything to do with my question though-”
“10 seconds.”
“… Huh?”
“That person you’re asking for… they have taken 10 seconds to [Formulate] their Primordial Magic, by my conservative estimation.”
“...You’re kidding, right?”
Before you cast a magic spell, you must first know of it. Hence, my master said the first step toward mastering any magic is to [Formulate] them; I,E, to successfully construct the structure of the spell within your mind into reality.
Beyond just memorizing the words in the grimoire or perfectly drawing the formation or thorough preparation of all the material, it’s the complete visualization and idealization of the spell itself, and only from there does you bring enough “proof” for the world to permit its execution from the manipulation of your own mana flow. While it’s easy to visualize the spell for simple phenomenons, the more complex and powerful the phenomenon you want to bring out, the more powerful and defined your concentration and imagination must be, and lacking accuracy in any sort of way would collapse the formulation before it’s even casted, failing the spell.
Moreover…
“Tell me you’re kidding...it’s Primordial Magic you know, the most tedious sort of magic I have ever learned and executed I ever have the pleasure to know. You tell me the magic that have taken a month of my life to even imagined properly only take them ten fucking seconds!?”
“I know, right? Could you even believe that it was a unique, never-before-seen original work as well?”
“PHFFF, WHAT!???”
Primordial Magic, is extremely annoying to perform.
It’s chant read like improv script note, it’s length is literally an entire Shakespear play, it’s really fickle and temperamental, it sometimes have really abstract requirement, and while you’re doing it you need to keep a precise image of not just any individual part in sequence, but the entire story in mind from start to end without falter. Even just formulating the spell in your head requires you to remember and deeply understand the story from as many angles as possible, then translating it into spellcraft.
In fact, it should just be straight up impossible to just come up with an entire original feature-length plot like that in less time than me finishing these sentences, so are they even human?
“Like, are you sure they’re actually a Player like me, instead of some sort of freak experiment escaping from the basement of a writer’s guild? No matter how ridiculous this world gets, this is just way too much to believe…”
“You think I’m the sort to lie about this? Give me a break… And if you think that was impossible, wait until you see the stuff they trigger just for that. It’s another headache on its own, that goddamn freak of the universe’s mystery…”
“...Oi, you sound like they have E.T hand or tentacle from space or something.”
“More than sure actually, I have proof. I don’t know where you get your example from though…”
Suddenly, a huge pile of papers appeared over my head and plopped straight down, burying me under the avalanche. Desperately fighting for my life beneath these tons and tons of paper notes filled with charts and scribbles, I barely dug myself out of the pile.
“Gah, fuck I got papercuts...What is all this?”
“Research notes, documenting all the stuff I saw during my excursion earlier, including the Primordial Magic that took your spot...And as my disciple, You are going to help Me studying all of this, as the only one among us who get to do it also.”
“Wait, studying this pile of mess? Don’t you know how hard it is to decipher all of your horsescratch!?”
“Ah, good point… Then you’re going to help me transcripting all of this as well. I know you have really neat handwriting, no?”
“Screw that, why would I-Ugh!?”
“Oh, I’m sorry, you think I was asking? Now come on, you also have to share to all of our research team the fruit of your little labor of love as well, we would reallly love some practical examples.”
“N-No, screw that, I don’t want to spend another all-night bender, nooooo!!!”
Helpless by the binding of papers that wrap around me like I’m a mummy, she happily dragged me on the ground into the portal behind her, where the hell of sleepless night and overly-zealous nutjob awaited for a week straight.
It was so severe, that even when I got out of my pod later on, I still couldn't feel my arms for quite a long while.