I enter the pharmacy. Stacy and Amy are working hard at crafting potions. Due to the fact that we are the ones who are selling to the merchant caravans that come to the village, the demand for the potions has increased and thus Stacy needed to work twice as much. Of course, the profits she makes are shared with me too since I am basically responsible for this.

I don’t think Stacy really cares about the money though because all of the profits she makes, she shares with the village chief as funds for the village’s growth. Thanks to that, a lot of ideas I had were implemented without a hitch.

Afterwards, I go to the village guards’ training site. They are training incredibly hard. Light, Luke and Kelvin also decided to join the guards. Well, based on their age, I guess it isn’t that uncommon for them to join.

The guards have all improved quite a lot from before. Both individually and as a unit. But I just wish there is a way to improve their strengths in a short span of time.

After training with the village guards, I return home. There are a lot of things I still have to do. Firstly, it is about my fight with the Silent Demon. A lot of his attacks could have been deadly for me because I couldn’t react in time. Of course, thanks to Ray, I barely avoided those attacks. The other thing I realised is that I had no form of defence. Yeah, I could protect myself with my own mana but I didn’t know any barrier techniques.

From the books I’ve collected, none of them had any barrier magic spells. Another thing was my offence. I was not a swordsman, which meant I didn’t have the necessary techniques to wield a sword. I have been fighting out of instinct without using any form or style. I need to learn swordsmanship.

I then start implementing a plan I’ve been putting off till now. That plan is to create a form of AI sentient life form. Of course, it’s not an AI but using Ray’s fragments and my spirit energy, I will be able to create something like it.

I name it Ariel for no particular reason but all in all, Ariel would serve as the new control. She would automatically do an action with a single thought from me. She is also created so that if anything is a threat, like if I fall under a sneak attack, a barrier will be deployed and the enemy will be detected with magic sense or by the direction of the trajectory of the attack in a split second.

There are other stuff she’s able to do but I won’t get to them now. The reason why I created her is because Ray is slow. Right now, Ray is more like the driver of a car. Just because he’s driving doesn’t mean no problem will arise. There might be a bump on the road that he doesn’t see or another car might drive off its lane to ours which he would react to a bit late.

But Ariel is different. Instead of the driver, she’s the car itself. In this case, she is my mindscape itself. She has complete control over my mindscape and she will use it for the betterment of my being. Ray will basically be the manager of the sort, responsible for giving orders in my place.

“Greetings Master, I am Ariel,” she says in a mellowed voice. “I am your personal sentient life form.”

“So, basically, I’m out of a job just because I didn’t sound like a chick?” Ray complains.

“No Master Ray, you are out of a job because you’re incompetent,” Ariel replies.

I laugh. Well, she is not wrong though.

“By the way Master, it’s already been over a week now since you visited the village. Gonz should have finished the work by now.”

“Oh, I forgot about that. I guess it’s useless having you in me Ray, if you can’t even remind me of these things.”

“Hmph, hey Ariel. I won’t lose.”

“Bring it on bitch.”

It seems these two will get along just fine. I then go to the village and arrive at Gonz’s shop.

“You’ve finally come. Come with me.”

I follow Gonz to the back room where he crafts his weapons. There they are. It seems he not only managed to fix them, but also made scabbards for them, one white with a lining of gold and one black with a lining of red.

“Beautiful. Stunningly beautiful,” these are the only words that came out of my mouth. They truly are.

“Hehe, I know but that beauty doesn’t mean anything if there isn’t any magic in them.”

“Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

I pick both swords up and weigh them in my hands.

“Hmm, you came after all, kid,” says Ashes cockily. “So, what big plans do you have to supply us with magical power?”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

Even though he doesn’t have a face or a mouth for that matter, Ashes’ cockiness always shines through in every word he utters.

“Quiet Ashes,” Saber says brashly. “Thanks child for having us fixed, and if you have any way to supply us with that magical power, we will be forever grateful and shall be your swords forever.”

I then smile lightly as I release my magical power onto them.

“No, stop child!” Saber exclaims. “If you give us your own magical power, you’ll be drained dry. We are heaven-grade weapons, which means we are like a bottomless pit when it comes to magic.”

Gonz also tries to stop me but I did not heed their warnings. As I pour my energy onto them, I can feel my magic draining out of me at an alarmingly fast rate. Of course, that only pushes me even further. After a few minutes, as both my mana and magical power are close to being drained, the overwhelming suction on me slowly dwindles until it stops.

I guess that means their magic is replenished, right?

“Unbelievable! To think you were able to completely replenish all that lost magic,” says Gonz, shocked at what he has just witnessed.

Saber and Ashes look way better than they did before, and I’m glad. Come to think of it, after sharing my power with them, I feel a connection with them. I’ve heard from them that when someone wields a heaven-grade weapon and that weapon recognises the wielder as their master, a bond between weapon and wielder will be born. And that bond will last until either the wielder dies or the weapon is destroyed.

I guess this is what they meant. Does this mean they have recognised me as their master?

I then go back home. After establishing a bond with Saber and Ashes, I feel like I have made a breakthrough. That breakthrough is with dark and light magic. So far, I haven’t been able to use either. I guess there is more to it than just spells. Another problem has been solved, thanks to them.

“Swordsmanship? I can teach you what I know,” Saber says after I told her about my problem.

“Wait, you can?”

“Of course. I am a sword that was wielded by the Light Hero after all. I can teach you his swordsmanship.”

“You don’t want to learn from her,” Ashes interjects.

“Why not?”

“Her master’s style focused on defence and swiftness. If you learn the Hero of Darkness’s swordsmanship, which is basically raw power itself, then you can even cleave a mountain into two.”

Saber and Ashes start arguing. I guess they each want someone to inherit their previous masters’ swordsmanships. From what I’ve heard from them, the Hero of Light was a calm-minded person. He always thought before he acted and thus his swordsmanship was smooth and calm.

Just because it was smooth and calm doesn’t mean it wasn’t deadly though. It is said that his enemies died without even knowing how they died. That just shows how swift and deadly his moves were. He named his swordsmanship, Gentle Ocean Style.

The Dark Hero on the other hand was the opposite. He was an impatient man who would jump into a duel without thinking. Just because he didn’t use his brain when it came to fighting doesn’t mean he was stupid. He had an instinct only a few possessed. An instinct meant for dueling and winning. His swordsmanship was rough and destructive. With every swing of his sword, the earth would quake as if fearing being slashed by him. He named his swordsmanship Dark Eclipse Style.

I guess Saber and Ashes take after their wielders. Saber is calm and rational while Ashes is aggressive and rebellious.

“I’ll learn both then.”

“Huh!”

It seems I shocked them. To tell the truth, I don’t really care about the Heroes or their beliefs. The only thing I care about is increasing my strength. Anything that helps me become even more powerful than I am, I will welcome it with open arms. Even if the devil himself offered me that power, I will gladly welcome it.

Thanks to Ariel, we were able to decipher the book much faster than the supposed time. I had predicted that it would take six months to decipher the book but it took only five.

The contents of the book are unreal. It contains magic spells and magic formulas I have never seen before. Records of alchemic recipes that I never would have guessed existed. This is a book of wisdom. Thanks to the book, I am able to learn new magic spells and more. It seems that not only did the book have knowledge of magic but it also has maps on it.

These maps were hidden and only after I poured magic into the book did it reveal them. There are five maps in total but the 5th one has a missing page, so it is incomplete. The rest however is clear as a day. I conclude that the maps have something to do with the history of the Draconic race. I plan to explore these maps when the time is right.

I’ve been visiting my gram all this time but every time I do, I always feel guilty. I have the means to heal her yet I haven’t. I wonder if she’ll be angry with me after all of this is over. The greenies are looking after her so that’s good. It seems they have grown stronger too, thanks to absorbing magic cores and the occasional lessons they get from Gaia.

I’ve also given them a task, along with Gaia, and that is for them to create a garden. Of course, this won’t be any ordinary garden. Since it will be taken care of by the Spirit King of Nature and creatures who are more connected to nature than anything else, I’m sure they’ll be able to raise wonderful crops and herbs.

This is to feed the people of this village since the number seems to be growing. Our village has reached the ears of many people who don’t have anywhere to go so we welcomed them. Of course, we don’t welcome people willy-nilly. We first check if that person will be of use or not. We also check if they are a threat or not.

So far, a lot of spies were caught trying to get in. I think they are bandits but as to why they keep coming to infiltrate the village, I don’t know. The village guards are strong enough to defend the village but if someone in the future who is stronger than them comes, then I don’t know what I will do, especially if I’m not around.

I should also find a solution for that. In the meantime, I trained myself both in magic and swordsmanship. Thanks to the Draconic book, I am also able to learn barrier magic which eliminates one of the problems I had. The only problem now is how to make myself immune to the demonic energy in the forest.

Weirdly enough, the Draconic book doesn’t have anything about Holy magic and Ray doesn’t seem to know any other holy magic spells besides the purification spell. I guess it’s impossible for now.

Four more months pass as I am training tirelessly every day. Now, the time has come; the time the seal of the Demon Lord to break.