[Chapter:3][Growth, and a Goal.]_Lord Of The Spells

‘….dangerous….this man is dangerous….’

Overseer #1z12|9ë3§4 mutters to himself, gulping, despite him being a Demi-God negating his need for food, water, air, or any form of sustenance. And he couldn’t help it, for no matter how he views it, his sister’s, Priority Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5’s report is far, far too frightening. The two of them, siblings, together decided to entrust themselves to The System, and have within but years of contribution have risen to quite the great positions. Yet all this time, Overseer #1z12|9ë3§4, formerly a light elf named Jordan, has been able to keep his last bit of dignity as a big brother by maintaining an extremely small yet noticeable lead of contributions points as compared to his sister. It really isn’t much, truth be told, it was merely a way of the two siblings engaging in light rivalry. Now, however, his sister wasn’t merely leading, but had already become the highest authority just below The System and The System. The reason for that, is quite simple, really.

Back when he had first detected Zenith’s appearance into Gogam, Jordan was honestly worried that it was the Abyss making a large scale invasion. After all, when all was said and done, the Abyss was a region where a gigantic proportion of the thoughts and emotions of living beings r the multiverse, a number nearing uncountable, accumulate, merging and fusing together with the vast amounts of mana in the region, constantly giving birth to tens of millions of foul monsters. And the Abyss’ hive mind, while focused more on brutal and ruthless extermination of life rather than on conversation with the Sentient Race, possesses much greater intellect than what those of the Sentient Race could possibly hope to come to possess.

And what had made him further mortified was his sheer inability at detecting this being’s trace, especially after he had sensed the horrifying amount of mana that the entity, whoever or whatever it was, released when it first entered through the fabrics of space and time. Just the sheer density of the entity’s mana made him, a Demi-God, a combat oriented Overseer, nearly suffocate, again, despite his lack of need for air. Not to mention, the overly absurd quantity of mana which simply defied all common sense. The Overseer had always been proud of his combat prowess, as opposed to his sister’s intellect. But even so, his mental stats were all nearing the four digits. Yet when his intelligence, at the lower 1,000s, allowed him to calculate just on what magnitude the entity’s magical stats were, he simply couldn’t believe it. Or perhaps it is more appropriate to say, he didn’t dare believe it.

Over 21 digits! Both density and capacity of over 21 digits! Over a hundred quintillion!

Indeed, just staring at the mortifying number before him, the Overseer felt like he was looking at the end of Gogam instead. That 21 digit number, starting with a 1 and followed by a 7, ending with a 0 which he would have much preferred to have been the first several digits instead, made him, for the first time in his life, both as a famous Elf ranger and as a Demi-God Overseer, feel despair, and helplessness. Incapability of even beginning to compare himself to an entity he could only call, a monstrosity.

Yet it was in that moment, when had gritted his teeth, clenched his resolve, and had determined to throw caution to the dogs and ascertain for himself whether his beloved world, one he had been protecting and managing for almost three decades from within the shadows now, had a future, or whether it would simply be annihilated, no, obliterated, without a moment’s notice, by this near untraceable entity, another horrifying realisation that made Jordan only more frightened, as he realised the implication of the entity’s control over its ridiculously absurd quantity of mana, which seemed to by itself already border the 22nd digit, that he had sensed a slight, near negligible disturbance in one of Gogam’s Dungeons, a disturbance he would have neglected, especially so in the current situation when he was fearing for his world’s existence, had it not suddenly occurred to him that this particular Dungeon, Koarleina, had only recently been raided by a combined effort of several mortal beings of the small kingdom of Visigoth and one of its larger Cities, the City of Wisdom and Adventurers Sofia.

And by a turn of fate, something that might be likened to a miracle, Jordan had been reading a report on the successful raid of the 51st floor of this Dungeon. Why, then, was he sensing a disturbance in a floor which was quite clearly a level below that, the 52nd floor? And why is he also, to his utter shock, sensing a single presence? Who was it, that was brave enough to enter the 52nd floor of a 216 floor, correction, 217 floor Dungeon, alone?

And yet, when he, curbing his anxiety over the entity and its intentions, looked into this presence, he had nearly fallen from the sky, his mana flow interrupted, and his mind halting for but a split second, as he realised who exactly it was.

And then he saw it. Time, flowing back, as the entity, with all its monstrous power, weakened, slowly yet surely turning into a more manageable mortal being, before attaining the body of a mortal human, seemingly in it’s teens. No longer possessing it’s terrifying powers, Jordan was supposed to be delighted that the entity he had been scared of not too long ago was now nothing more than a bug. Yet that only served to terrify him, far more than when he had witnessed the entity’s overwhelming magical strength.

For Time, was a branch of magic which even The System had never gained a proper grip over. And yet here it was, a mere mortal who had seemingly lost nearly all of it’s prowess, using a skill that would in all honesty be considered nothing more than an illusion by most, if not all, had Jordan not witnessed by himself the being growing weaker and weaker, until the very moment it’s mana was no longer pulsated around it’s body, denying him access to it’s status.

((Zenith Zero))

((Race:Human))

((Age:16(?????????????????????????)))

((Sex:Male))

((Class:Apprentice Spell Caster:Lv-1/10))

((Class Details:Unknown))

((Age:16(?????????????????????????)))

((Physical Age:16 years(Earth) (5,875 days, 141,003 hours)(Universal) ))

((Mental Age:16 hears(Earth) (5,875 days, 141,003 hours)(Universal) ))

((Magical Age:16 years(Earth) (5,875 days, 141,003 hours)(Universal) ))

((System specified age:Error! Subject in question is under integration with The System!))

((Soul Specified Age:Error! Unable to analyse soul! Unable to analyse soul structure!))

((....Overseer #1z12|9ë3§4 designated ‘Jordan’, respond to The System’s call....))

‘!! Y-yes! Sir System!’

Jordan was utterly gobsmacked when he, who had been speechlessly reading through the results of him trying to access the entity’s status, heard the all too familiar voice in his head. The same, mechanical voice, seemingly without a trace of emotions, yet one that commanded more than just his life and existence, one that commanded his eternal servitude. The voice he had for the first and also the last time heard when he had pledged himself, along with his sister, to the cause of The System, and The System had designated them to their respective positions.

((....Overseer #1z12|9ë3§4 designated ‘Jordan’, have you in any form, method, or manner, done any action that may result in bringing upon the displeasure of that’s esteemed being? Other than utterly disrespectfully scanning the mail which pray they would not feel offended towards?))

‘……..no……..sir System….’

It was completely unintentional, but his respect had lessened noticeably. Or perhaps he should say, he no longer found the voice within his mind to demand as much respect as it seemed to. For indeed, unlike his first time, he had heard it quite clearly this time. The voice he had dreamed of hearing once more every single day since his ascension to an Overseer, the voice that brought to his mind and heart a sense of overbearing respect, of admiration, and most importantly, of purpose, that the owner of that voice was a being that had been born for the sole and noble purpose of assisting the survival of Sentient Life, that voice he had held sacred, was tinged in fear, a fear so great, so unconcealed, and so frantic, that he could make it out despite only hearing the voice once before in his life. A fear, that soon brought to his attention the implication of the message, ((System specified age:Error! Subject in question is under integration with The System!)).

‘Oh my System!’

((....Overseer #1z12|9ë3§4 designated ‘Jordan’, your sibling Priority Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5 ‘Undesignated’ had been assigned a new target, correct? That assignment is hereby annulled. Priority Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5 ‘Undesignated’ is hereby assigned to that esteemed entity. Priority Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5 ‘Undesignated’ ‘s contribution value will be held on stand by,. Priority Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5 ‘Undesignated’ ‘s clearance Ismail’s henceforth raised to level:10. Relay this message to Priority Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5. And be warned, Overseer #1z12|9ë3§4 designated ‘Jordan’, it would be in the good interests of the Multiverse to not bring about the displeasure of that esteemed entity. It would be well advised to not interfere with the esteemed entity’s actions....That is all.))

What followed next, was an unnerving silence, and The System, fear still apparent in its tone, spoke to him

And that was the last that Jordan had heard from The System, through a voice that was positively filled, not merely tinged, with terror, unspeakable, unfathomable terror, one that had caused him to stare at the entity, this time with a hint of confusion hidden within his own veil of fear.

And now, looking at the report before him, he could feel his fear growing, astronomically so.

‘This man….is far too dangerous….yet I cannot interfere, else the consequences would be....’

___________________________________________________________________________

“Finally!”

Zenith shouted in relief, as he gazes at the, in lack of appropriate vocabulary, stupidly large and mindbogglingly complex spell matrix before him, a grin bordering silliness and insanity sported by his thin, dry lips.

“Eleven years! Eleven fucking long years! God! Devil! That was the most excruciating phase of learning I have ever experienced!”

With a slight delay, serving as its inability to properly respond to the utterly ridiculous situation that has somehow become a reality, Guideline #1z12|9ë3§5, named by Zenith as Alice, his dearest companion, coughs slightly.

((*cough*….c-Congratulations to User for attaining the (Ancient Grimoire of Time).))

“Thank you, Alice! Couldn’t have done it without you! Really.”

Zenith laughs, a pure, unbridled laugh, as he basks in the glow of the golden spell matrix before him, the glory that he had succeeded in creating after eleven long years of painstaking effort.

Looking at his status, something he had by now become accustomed to, he couldn’t help but grin.

((User Parameter Display(Status)))

User ID:[Zenith Zero]

User Priority:[Grade-9]

Race:[Human] Age:[16(+9.04(Earth(25.04)), +11(Gogam(19.48 + 11 = 30.48) years] Sex:[Male]

Primary Class:[Apprentice Spell Caster:Lv-1/10]

HP:1,700/1,700(10 + .5*VIT) HP Recovery:5.1(.001 + .001*VIT + .002*N.REC) /second

MP:32,000/32,000(0 + .5*CAP + .25*AFF) MP Recovery:58.0(.001 + .001*M.REC + .001*AFF) /second

SP:2,197/2,200(10 + .5*END + .25*VIT) SP Recovery:3.6(.001 + .001*END + .001*N.REC) /second

((Stats))

Strength:1,500 Intelligence:2,000 Mana Density:17,000

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Endurance:1,700 Wisdom:2,000 Mana Recovery:21,000

Vitality:1,400 Willpower:4,000 Mana Capacity:46,000

Agility:1,600 Dexterity:3,00 Mana Perception:21,000

Control:1,900 Focus:5,000 Mana Manipulation:49,000

Charm:1,600 Luck:8 Mana Affinity:36,000

Life:??? Natural Recovery:1,800

((Skills))

((Spells))

“Oh….my….goodness….it took me forever to get that damned thing….still, it’s nice to finally see my ‘Recollection’ as a spell rather than a skill….hehe.”

Looking at his status that was literally and figuratively better than his old one by exactly a hundred times in terms of his body, a little more than two hundred and three hundred time in terms of his mind, and a precise 1,000 times in terms of magic, Zenith couldn’t help but chuckle.

“Still, to think increasing my stats without levelling up will actually directly raise my priority from 6 to 8, I’m surprise-oh! My priority increased to 9. Is that because I finally got the last of the Ancient Grimoires?”

No longer a sixteen year old, Zenith is now a man in his mid twenties, sporting long and disheveled hair, a fair, muscular, and yet filthy, dirty body, a long and messy beard, bloodshot eyes with bags that quite literally made him look like a panda, a row of formerly white teeth now a light shade of yellow, and a general appearance that would put a professional beggar to shame.

“Let’s test this out, shall we?....((Recollection)).”

The moment he utters that word, the golden spell matrix before him, floating gently in the air, instantly brightens, and seemingly having woken up from a long, long slumber, ravenously begins feasting at his now much larger reserves of mana. And yet, a skill that would have barely taken him several hundreds of MP had sucked out of him in the form of a spell nearly 20,000 MP, as it finally began twisting reality, or perhaps the flow of time, obeying his will, and making his mana obey its own.

‘….!’

Unable to speak, Zenith widens his eyes in astonishment and, mostly, excitement, as he feels his body, that of a dirty twenty five year old, change to that of the one with which he had first arrived in this strange, and as he now sees it, fabulous, world. His muscles move, his bones shorten, his skin regresses, his cells reverse in growth, those cells that had once died coming back to life, before reaching a stage where they had yet to be born, all the while his muscles, his mind, and his mana remaining within his, stable as a rock.

As the effects of the spell end, Zenith closes his eyes and takes a long, deep breath, before looking at his body once more.

A familiar sight, though one that he had never thought he would see again.

‘This….is my appearance from when I was thirteen years old….but to this world, where a year constitutes ten months, each month having exactly 30 days, I would be considered a 16 year old….and as for my stats….heh. Of course it worked. Hehe.’

((User Parameter Display(Status)))

User ID:[Zenith Zero]

User Priority:[Grade-9]

Race:[Human] Age:[16 years(4,800 days)(Gogam)] Sex:[Male]

Primary Class:[Apprentice Spell Caster:Lv-1/10]

HP:1,700/1,700 HP Recovery:5.1 /second

MP:11,851/32,000 MP Recovery:58.0 /second

SP:2,200/2,200 SP Recovery:3.6 /second

That was all he needed to see, to know that he had succeeded, splendidly. His age had returned, to one even before the actual age he had initially set, yet his stats had remained. In other words, Zenith had succeeded in completely controlling his spell ((Recollection)), a feat that he had once concluded impossible back on Earth.

“Dungeons….are incredible. I think I know what my next research topic is going to be.”

Zenith mutters to himself, as well as to his companion, Alice, as he chuckles lightly. Indeed, it was only the existence of the Dungeon, or perhaps, the existence of the Dungeon Safe Room, where in space was expanded and time accelerated, that Zenith could manage to barely, barely get a hold of the Ancient Grimoires of Space and Time. Had it not been the fact that those within this Dungeon Safe Room experienced a flow of time vastly different from those outside, Zenith would have most undoubtedly failed to achieve the success he had now achieved in a period of time as short as eleven years, now a period which to him seemed even shorter, considering that, with his current mana regeneration rate, it would take him roughly 340 seconds, a little less than six minutes, to turn back those eleven years of time, and without losing a single moment’s effort at that.

‘But man was that tough….especially as a sixteen year old….how hard it was, restricting my own personality….’

For eleven long years, nine by terms of Earth, Zenith had struggled, immensely, in trying to attain mastery over the Ancient Grimoires. The Elemental Grimoires, he had, with little difficulty, mastered completely, by The System’s standards anyway. Although he himself is of the opinion that a spell is never, ever perfect, that there is always room for improvement, he let his practice die down after he hit his limit regardless of his thoughts. The Arcane Grimoires proved to be more, effort needing. While he had initially wanted to raise them to level:10 as well, it was then that he discovered, or perhaps, informed, of the Dungeon Safe Room’s Space and Time manipulating functions. And from then, for a lot of, lot of time, he had primarily focused on the five Ancient Grimoires.

He had initially thought that, regardless of how difficult it may be, he would nonetheless learn the level:1 skill in a few months, but, well, he couldn’t be more wrong, really.

A whole four years. In Earth’s terms, a whopping three years and three odd months. That was how long it took Zenith to get a hold of the Arcane Grimoires of Holiness and Necromancy. And the rest of the time, completely spent in trying to understand Souls, Space, and Time.

Now do not be mistaken, Zenith is in no way a slow learner. On the contrary, it is this growth of his that completely terrified The System to the point where it wouldn’t even directly approach him, afraid of incurring his displeasure. A growth that could only be described as, monstrous. A so-called Prodigious Genius would perhaps hang himself from shame should they be compared with Zenith. Why? A very simple reason, though a little bit of history must be know for that to be explained.

Let us take, for starters, a part of the information that Zenith had obtained when his Priority had increased to 8. The Multiverse is vast, so vast, that even the number of worlds are not known, let alone the number of life forms. And most importantly, mana fills the multiverse. And as Zenith had mentioned before, Mana is similar to amoeba in the fact that it multiplies in but a moment to several tens of times its previous quantity, sometimes even hundreds. And this ever increasing amount of mana pushes the yet to be found boundaries of the Multiverse outward, into the depths of whatever space it is that lies outside the boundaries of the Multiverse, constantly enlarging it. And this mana, which is constantly increasing in quantity, flows through certain pathways, random to all that cannot begin to comprehend the significance of the principle of Chaos. And sometimes, random bits of thoughts, of emotions, happen to clog these channels. Now in most cases, even if these thoughts and emotions come across these channels, the would quickly pass right through, undisturbed, but in some rare cases, in what might to most seem to be nothing more than a fortunate, or perhaps, an unfortunate coincidence, mana rushes through the channel right as the bits and pieces of thoughts and emotions block the channel.

The result? Monsters. And in even rarer cases, when souls, rather than merely thoughts and emotions, drift within these channels, Dungeon Cores. And the Abyss is, quite literally, a region of space at the very centre of the spherically expanding Multiverse, the region where the most number of mana channels exist. A single bit of thought caused these multitude of mana channels to be blocked simultaneously, resulting in the attraction of even more thoughts, emotions, and even souls, thought unlike in other cases, the souls that reach the Abyss would be ripped to pieces of thoughts by the massive currents of mana. And in time, the region of expanding space, a region where unfathomably powerful monsters slumber, a region that came to be dreaded as the Abyss, formed.

Now one must realise, that there are a few basic Laws in the Multiverse, Laws that only those with astronomical amounts of mana can bend or defy, a amount of mana that not even the hive mind of the Abyss possesses. And one of these Laws, is the Law of Balance. And it is this Law that, in order to counter the rampaging monsters, created The System, and later The System, dividing it into two equal parts, the former acting as the impartial System that caters to the efforts of both Sentient and Monsters alike, and the latter serving as the Sentient Races’ version of the Abyss’ hive mind.

And by this, one might infer, that all three, the Abyss, The System, and The System, were all created, or perhaps, were born, a long, long, long time ago. So long ago, that just the year in a number would by itself seem quite, ridiculous.

And even so, neither the Abyss, nor The System, nor The System, were capable of attaining a grasp over the Time. True, they had attained a near perfect grasp over the nine elements, as well as the seven Arcanes, but only Zenith himself had achieved something that would normally be deemed impossible by, well, everyone.

And the reason for this, is quite simple, as mentioned before. Because Zenith Zero, the last of the Zeros, is talented. So talented, in fact, that his grandfather, the one who had taught him most of which he knows, sacrificed his own life force to make sure The System, that had grasped him and his fellow Sorcerers, wouldn’t get its clutches on Zenith.

“Ahh….how long has it been, Alice dear?”

((It has been 148 hours, a little more than six days, since User ha-))

“Freeze!”

Zenith suddenly shouts, causing Alice, who had taken the form of a small white box with text that appears like on a computer screen, to halt mid word.

“….what did I tell you to call me?”

((….Ze..Zenith… hehe~))

“Yes, Dear?”

With a cheeky grin that seemed to beg to be hit, Zenith asks his only companion, one whom he had come to love in the past eleven years. The white box turns to a light shade of pink, expressing her emotions, before text reappears on it, also in a slight shade of pink.

((R-right, so, it’s been a little more than six days since…you…have come to this world… Zenith.))

Zenith, looking at the light pink box, couldn’t help but clench his fists.

‘Just a little more! I just…need a little more! The day I get my hands on a crafting class, and level up the Arcane Grimoires of Body and Mind, and the Ancient Grimoire of Souls…I will definitely make you a body, Alice…definitely.’

For the first time in his life, Zenith had a goal. A selfish goal. Not once had he managed to find himself a goal that met his own needs, other than perhaps constantly increasing his body and mind and magical capabilities. Even his research on mortal lifespan increment, was something he had picked up for the sake of his old friend. And although he doesn’t have much of a clue yet, and he himself seems unable to do so, as long as Zenith finds someone else and makes them put a few stat points into Life, he would soon accomplish that as well.

Now, however, Zenith had his own, selfish goal, a goal of making a body for his dear lover. Well, not yet a true lover, since the other side had not yet given him a proper answer, but Zenith doesn’t care. Regardless of whether she accepts it or not, Zenith is in love with Alice, and he won’t leave her, even if she wants him to. After all, Zenith is no gentleman, nor is he someone who would be willing to let go of their love because the couldn’t bear to cause discomfort to their loved ones. No, Zenith is a self centred Sorcerer who wouldn’t hesitate to decimate nations to get what he wants, and make no mistake, Zenith is truly in love with Alice.

After all, when all is said and done, unlike Alice who at least had the chance of talking to her brother, Overseer Jordan, once a while, Zenith was stuck with her as his only companion, for eleven long years to boot. That, was more than enough time to foster feelings, wish to convey one’s feelings, indirectly convey one’s feelings, and even directly say them out loud, though Zenith somehow managed to skip the first three steps and went right to the fourth one in one go.

‘I love you, Alice….oh my God….I can’t believe I said it so simply!’

Thinking of it now, that was indeed quite, simple, thinks Zenith, but there is nothing to be done, and after all, Zenith is a simple man, although the spells he makes are almost as complex as a woman’s heart. Almost.

Well, neither Zenith nor Alice had managed to speak to each other properly for nearly a month after that, but that changed over time, time that the two had a lot of. And now, well, Zenith is happy, at least, seeing the progress he made, from being nothing more than a simple minded Spell Caster who blurted his feelings out without any form of flowery decorations, to someone with a level:7 smooth talking skill. And he is also happy, quite extremely might it be added, that Alice had opened up, even if only a little, to him, to the point where she was no longer speaking, or rather typing, like a mechanical bot.

Oh, by the way, Alice is the name Zenith had given her, since she said she no longer wanted to be called by the name of her previous life. Quite a cute name, no?

[Chapter:3][Growth, and a Goal.]

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