I begin walking forward, and the ice in front of me shatters in the form of a tunnel around me, allowing me to walk unhampered. To most observers, it would look as if his spell is breaking itself just to allow my passage, rather than something I am doing.
This is reinforced by the fact that it was ice conjured by someone more powerful than me, and so shouldn't be within my ability to simply manipulate or break.
James and Jacob are both gasping for breath, their chests heaving as they try to recover from the fight.
"We fought for fourteen minutes and nineteen seconds," I say once I reach them. "The two of you cast enough spells to completely wipe yourselves out, even factoring in the Mana you recovered. I have only used around 400 Mana for the entire battle."
They both stare at me, eyes wide in shock.
"Another thing to remember," I say. "Is to conserve your Mana when possible. Casting extra spells is fine if it helps, but don't waste your Mana. If you know the spell isn't going to affect the outcome of the fight, don't cast it."
"How," Jacob gasps. "How did you stop my spell? It should have kept going for another fifty feet!"
"How did you cancel my [Flame Vortex]es?" James asks.
"I am the real Saint of Fire," I say, using air magics to carry my voice throughout the shrine's general area. "A Mythical-Tier mage who defeated the Great Demon King by sacrificing his life. In my time, I was also known as the Saint of Magic."
The frauds both drop to the ground, lying on their backs. Judging by their expressions, I haven't quite humbled them, but I've also figured out what's going on here. This pretending-to-be-us thing wasn't entirely their fault. Chances are, they misread some signs that were entirely innocent.
"Reveal yourself, Boraniavos," I order.
Motes of reddish-orange light andothers of bluish-white light begin to drift up from the ground. The motes float up a couple of feet, then begin to swirl together in a vortex over six feet in height.
As everyone watches, the lights begin to glow brighter and bright. Ice crystals begin to form in the air, fire dancing between them, before the translucent form of a young man appears, glowing faintly as he floats in the air.
He's about 5'9" if actually standing straight, though his knees are bent a little, his right foot lifted up behind him more than his left. He has his arms bent and lifted up a little, fingers curled a little but not quite in fists. The position makes it seem like he's mid-jump at the moment, though he's floating in place.
Just like most spirits, Boraniavos has no clothes on, though I've seen him wearing armor made entirely out of ice in the past. Without it, his entire body is on display, from his pale, slender build to his sizable dick.
Boraniavos has pale (if translucent) skin, bluish-white hair, and reddish-orange eyes. Bracelets and anklets of fire and ice slowly rotate around his wrists and ankles, a necklace made of fiery strands with beads of ice and an amulet of both hangs around his neck, and a burning halo of ice floats above his head.
"Hiya, Caleb!" The spirit does a flip in the air after greeting me. "I was surprised to hear that you were resurrected! And even more, that the gods don't know how!"
"What are you doing?"
The two frauds are staring up at the spirit, eyes wide in a mixture of shock and confusion. The spirit's words echo slightly through the shrine's space, so the audience is now staring in even more confusion than they were when it appeared.
"No one was playing at my shrine!" Boraniavos answers. "So I found some young men to bring here! Of course, I had to pick ones like you and Kyron, so I looked for a gay fire mage and a gay ice warrior! And to keep true to the two of you, I made sure they had big dicks, too! Then I brought them here! I wasn't expecting them to think they were the two of you, though! They were kind of assholes, but I wasn't really sure how to ask them to stop pretending, so-"
"I get the idea," I hold up a hand, stopping spirit's ramble.
Boraniavos loves having people around to play with. He's able to leave this area for short periods of time, but it weakens him to stay out for too long. As an ancient spirit, he's also exceptionally powerful – the last time I saw him, he wasn't able to give himself a human form yet. Now, he's powerful enough to not just have a human form, but to not have traits of his old animal form on it.
The Shrine of the Frozen Flames was mostly made out of boredom, but also to create something people would come to, so that the wolf (that was his preferred form) had people to play with. My guess is that he was bolstering the speed of these two a little bit, and led them to finding those amulets, so that they could become powerful enough for him to play with properly.
"Remove the touch of your essence from them," I tell him.
"But-"
"Those amulets were never meant for humans to use," I tell him. "That's why I changed their descriptions to not mention what they could do. It's also preventing them from really learning and using their other element."
"Aw…"
Boraniavos gestures towards both of the frauds, fingers splayed as he kicks his feet out. Motes of light drift up from the center of their chests, bluish-white ones from Jacob and reddish-orange ones from James. They flow into the spirit, who glows brighter for a few moments before returning to his normal glow.
"Can we play a game?" Boraniavos flies closer to me as the two frauds sit up, rubbing their chests where the motes flew out of. "I want to play Tag!"
"As you can tell," I say. "I'm much too weak for Tag with you right now."
"How about Hide-and-Seek?" Boraniavos does another flip in the air.
"I'm sure these two men would be more than happy to play with you," I indicate the pair of frauds. "Just as soon as they yield the battle viziniaz."
"You haven't beaten us yet," Jacob says, though the arrogance from before is gone from his voice. "And you haven't proven you're the Sage of Fire."
"What are you talking about?" Boraniavos asks him, then flies through me before pressing himself against me from behind, arms wrapped around me in a hug. "This is the Sage of Fire! I already said that, you silly boy! You think that just because you found some of his artifacts and had a gift for the elements of him and Ky, you two are their reincarnations? Hah! There's no such thing as reincarnation outside of stories!"
"And-and-and what are you?" James asks. "How are you solid and not at the same time?"
"Corporeal and non-corporeal," I say. "Boraniavos is a fire-ice spirit, and I made this shrine for him a thousand years ago."
"Yup!" Boraniavos says. "Well, he was mostly bored, and I'm sad that Kyron didn't let him put the proper tops to those pillars, but I'm super happy that I got statues of them! After they were looted while I was napping one day, I went and found a new sculptor and modeled their forms for him, so that I could have a new pair!"
Well, that explains how a sculptor I didn't know was able to do our bodies properly. I'd just assumed that he based it off of several others he'd seen before. The possibility of Boraniavos actually taking on our forms for it didn't cross my mind at all.
"Just because you're a strangely-skilled mage," James says. "That doesn't mean you're right. How do we know that that's not-"
I extend my arms forward, aiming my palms at them. Immediately, they begin gasping for breath, and are very quickly rendered unconscious. Once they've lost consciousness, I nod, then call out to the audience.
"As I have rendered my opponents unconscious," I say. "I have now won the battle viziniaz. Ky, I'd like my clothes back now."
Kyron approaches me first, and the pair of frauds come to as their victims are approaching. Immediately, the two young men scramble to their feet and start leveling accusations at me. It seems I didn't humble them as much as I thought I had. Since I know the outcome of things now, I ignore them in favor of dressing.
Once the men with their belongings arrive, both of the frauds grab the amulets and yank them on, then grab their weapons. Frost begins to form on the sword as fire swirls around the crystal at the top of the staff… and the frauds have expressions of shock and confusion on their faces.
"What happened to the amulets?" Jacob demands of me. "What did you do?"
"What makes you think I had anything to do with that?"
"You cursed them to make them weaken us!" James accuses.
"They won't give it up, will they?" Kyron asks.
"It's fine," I say. "They were running on the high of having others worship them for long enough, Ky. It's only natural they'd try to recover from their slip ups."
I point at the amulet around James's neck.
[Amulet of Secret Flames] Grade: Moderate This beautiful teardrop amulet has been adorned by a large jewel cut from crystallized fire and studded with tiny jewels around it. Crafted by a master, there are few works which could compare to its beauty.
"Might want to look at that thing's description again," I tell James. "It's not what you thought."
James frowns, but examines the amulet.
[Sorrow of the Fire Spirits] Grade: Mythical Stored Mana: 836,452 This beautiful teardrop amulet was crafted by a master, set with a large jewel cut from crystallized fire and studded with tiny jewels around it. To those who hold spirit magic, it can store up to 100,000 Mana, which can be drawn from to supply up to 90% of the Mana of a spell. All spells cast in this way possess 50% more Magic.
"Wh-wh-what did you do?" James angrily demands. "What kind of trick is this?"
"It's not a trick, you silly boys!" Boraniavos laughs as he flies around the four of us in a circle, the townsfolk backing up a little to avoid the hyper spirit. "Caleb made those amulets for me a thousand years ago, but edited their descriptions so that people wouldn't be able to tell what they could do! The only reason you could use them was because I put some of my essence in you! A touch of my fire essence for you, and a touch of my ice essence for the other!"
"Edited… descriptions?" Jacob asks. "What are you taking about?"
"It's something that the creator of an item can do," I say. "If they know how. I simply reset the descriptions on both of those back to their defaults, so that they'll yield their true information now."
I'm even able to alter whether or not they show stored Mana or remaining uses.
"Now, Boraniavos," I look at the spirit, who's giggling at the befuddled expressions on the frauds. "You also gave them those swords, and you let them believe they were our reincarnations because you didn't know how to let them know they weren't. That was inappropriate, and you should have shut down that notion faster. They could still grow strong enough for you to play with without believing they're us."
"I'm sorry," Boraniavos looks down, the flames of his jewelry weakening some.
"You just wanted someone to pay with," Kyron tells him. "We understand that, and that you knew they were training harder because of this perceived threat they came up with in their minds to prove the delusion you let them develop."
"As punishment for that," I say. "You need to help them learn proper spellcasting. It was easy to see that they have raw talent, but their actual training is lacking. It appears that the people of today don't know tricks that were common to any experienced warrior or mage a thousand years ago. Had even one of them known proper raw Mana manipulation basics, I would not have won this fight on my own. Considering they're Level 200 Moderate-Tiers, that's an absolute disgrace upon whoever taught them. It is now your duty to correct the deficiencies in their skills, especially since you are responsible for part of it."
"The accelerated growth they received in fire and ice magics," Kyron says. "As a result of your essence being within them allowed them to learn magics faster, but not necessarily properly. They're essentially raw gems that have received some polishing, but no cuts. Jacob has decent talent in martial arts and using warrior spells, but it's still raw and unrefined."
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
"I'd normally be happy to stay around and teach," I tell Boraniavos. "But fixing those issues will take months, maybe even years. They need a proper teacher who will be here long enough. If we come across someone suitable, I'll see if they want to come out this way. Otherwise, it's your job to do this. Understand?"
"How strict do I have to be?" Boraniavos asks.
He's a spirit of fun and mischief.
"Teach them how you want," I tell him. "That's up to you. If that means turning all of the training into a game, then do that."
"Awesome!" He kicks out his legs and thrusts up his arms as he floats back a moment from the movement. "Lots of fun times ahead!"
"Yes," I hold my right index finger up and to the side, the [Ice Spear] shot at me by Jacob stopping. He and James had moved back some, and thought I was too distracted by the conversation with the spirit to notice his casting. "Jacob, the battle is over. You have lost. Stop trying to save face. You are not the reincarnation of the Saint of Frost."
I flick my finger up, and the spear flips over and turns to face him. I poke my finger forward, and the [Ice Spear] shoots at him, stopping a hair's breadth away from the space between his eyes.
"H-h-how?" He asks. "I still had control over it! And then it just disappeared!"
"Silly boys!" Boraniavos flies a few yards to the right for a moment before shifting one back to the left. "The Sage of Fire is the most skilled mage in all the world! As a Mythical-Tier, he also has access to all four elements, and he's quite skilled in all of them! You have to be, to succeed in advancing to the Mythical-Tier! It's why only three people have ever survived the Trial! Even with his skills weakened from his resurrection, the Saint of Magic can still take over someone else's magic! And you're just a little warrior, not even a mage!"
"Hello, Luzcavis."
"Hello again, Caleb," the God of Water says, and everyone looks over to find him seated upon his throne. "It has been a thousand years since we last spoke."
The God of Water sits upon a throne made of greenish-blue stone that has some slight tone deviations, creating a subtle wave-like pattern. Pearlescent markings create various images around it, some of which are just Luzcavis, some of which are various sea creatures. The cushions to his throne are pearl-white, slightly pearlescent, themselves.
The God of Water himself is about 5'8", with a slender build, pitch-black hair, and blue-green eyes with a touch of grey. His dick's about as big as mine, and there are a few bluish-green markings on his body, forming nearly rune-like patterns. Only a few, and most of them are on his chest and upper sides.
The frauds wouldn't dare accuse him of being an illusion or trick created by us. No, everyone would know if this was a fraud, as the gods always smite those who pretend to be them or who fake an appearance.
Besides, the gods all have a divine aura that fills the air around them. I'm kind of used to it, but normal people are put in awe of the gods as a result. That's why pretty much everyone starts staring.
"You timed that greeting just so that it would happen the moment he arrived," Kyron says. "I really want to know how you're able to sense their arrivals."
"It is not a trick you could ever learn," Luzcavis informs him. "Without learning a certain fragment of the Truth, and one which does not yield itself easily. Caleb has attempted to teach it to you before, but the Truth refuses to allow him."
"I got hit by an avalanche the last time I tried," I inform my husband.
"You mean the time you 'Hey, I've got something I want to teach you!' six seconds before a sudden avalanche happened, and then when you popped out of the snow, went 'never mind'! That avalanche?"
"Yup!"
"Caleb," Luzcavis's tone makes me look at him in slight worry. "Did you not promise Ryzavin that you would no longer use that trick against humans?"
He's referring to my removal of the Mana from their spells.
The icy wave wasn't moving through momentum, but was actually being generated as it 'advanced'. That's why there's ice from the part where it stopped all the way back to here, where it began – because it was just making new ice as it "moved forward". The moment I removed the Mana from it, there was no longer any fuel to keep making new ice.
Until a spell is 'completed', the Mana within it helps support its strength. The sudden loss of all of the Mana within the spell – from the end to the start – not only prevented it from finishing the strength of the ice, but also weakened it. That's why I was able to treat it like normal ice and break it using a mixture of [Water Manipulation] and [Air Manipulation].
As for the [Flame Vortex]es, those are fueled by Mana. Fire needs some sort of fuel to burn, whether it's a more mundane fuel or Mana, it doesn't matter. The moment I removed the Mana from the vortexes, they no longer had any fuel to keep burning. That's why those simply died.
With the [Ice Spear], it was already fully-created, but Jacob was using the common method of still maintaining the spell. That allows one to continue controlling it for cheaper than just using [Water Manipulation] would have. It also enabled me to remove his Mana from the spell.
At that point, anyone could take control over it using [Water Manipulation], and that's exactly what I did.
The art of raw Mana manipulation is the trick Kyron and I are using to keep our bodies warm. More specifically, I've imbued my Mana with the element of fire while he's imbued his with the element of ice, and we're cycling it through our body. It's an extremely low-cost manipulation of our Mana. My version of it keeps my body warm, while his version of it wards against the cold.
It's also something anyone with either of those elements were taught a thousand years ago, by the time they reached Level 100 as a Minor-Tier, or Level 50 if born to a higher Tier. While knowing how to affect Mana not one's own isn't really something most people can do, just knowing that trick tends to shift the way a person casts a spell.
Which would make it extremely difficult and Mana-expensive for me to remove their Mana from a spell. It also told me that their ability to manipulate their Mana more efficiently for spells was even worse than mine was immediately following my resurrection.
I derived this trick of removing the Mana from spells after the trick I use to deal with dragon's fire. Actual dragon's fire consumes any Mana it comes into contact with in order to continue to fuel itself. This makes it cheaper for a dragon to cast, while still using the dragon's Magic for its strength. As for the distance it travels, that just depends on the propulsion behind the flames, sort of like [Flamethrow] – which requires us to actively fuel the entire spell's cost on our own.
I simply remove the Mana from the air in front of me as fast as it replenishes, which leaves no Mana for the spell to consume. No Mana means no fuel, and that means no fire. After the first time I decided to try using it in a fight, Ryzavin showed up and asked me not to do that again.
"Well, I figure being dead for a thousand years means I can!" I tell Luzcavis. "Besides, they were imbued with spirit energy and they were pretending to be us. So I figure that also lets me do it!" How come you guys let people pretend to be frauds of us?"
"We normally send several warnings," Luzcavis tells me. "Signs that they are fakes and that death will come to them, should they continue to falsely claim to be the greatest heroes this world has ever known and might possibly ever known. Should they continue, then Ryzavin and I send death their way. Two years is our limit."
The God of Water frowns a little as he looks at these two frauds.
"Somehow, they escaped our notice," Luzcavis states in our old language. "It is a curious situation we were not aware of until you were informed of them by Nozvinel. Tyzlevir asked us to not intervene or act until the two of you acted.
"Should you have lost the fight," Luzcavis says. "Ryzavin was fully-prepared to come down here and humble them. Tyzlevir was taking bets on how long it would take for them to give up and put all of their remaining Mana into spells."
"And now, you're here to reprimand me for doing something I wasn't told I couldn't do!" I grin at him. "Just that I promised I wouldn't do… before dying a thousand years ago!"
The God of Water just sighs in response to that.
"The God of Death just won that bet," he mutters, before clearing his throat. "Caleb, please do not use that unless it is absolutely necessary."
"I would have died if those spells hit me."
"We'll give it a pass this time," Luzcavis tells me. "It would have been better for you to grow a little bit stronger before coming here, to allow you to better-deal with this."
He turns his attention to the crowd, which is currently staring in shock, awe, and mild confusion. There are around two hundred people here, with more having arrived during the match.
"These two young men," Luzcavis gestures toward Kyron and me while speaking in the local language once more. "Are the real Sage of Fire and Saint of Frost. They have returned from death to walk this world once more, sharing their knowledge and wisdom to it. There is no such thing as reincarnation outside of stories.
"These two young men," he gestures towards James and Jacob. "Were delusional fools intent on milking the false claims they came up with to explain gifts given to them by a local spirit who wanted nothing more than people to play with.
"It has pained us gods to see," he continues. "Frauds making claim to their heroic names and tainting their image, even if among just a few people. Tyzlevir has been merciful about this in the past, but has decreed it to be no more. From now on, we will no longer grant two years' grace to repent and turn back. From this moment forth, all those pretending to be Caleb and Kyron will be dealt with by divine power – if our children the spirits don't deal with them first."
"I'm allowed to now?" Boraniavos does a flip before flying over to the god, wrapping his arms around him and kissing him on the cheek. "Thanks, Dad!"
All spirits of intelligence are "children" of the gods – that is, spirits born from their essence. Boraniavos was born of the essence of both Luzcavis and Ryzavin, which is why he has two elements. Though I have no evidence of it, I do suspect he has a little bit more of their essence than most local-bound spirits usually have. There may also be a touch of essence from Adzamvi, the God of Life, in him, too.
Luzcavis looks at the pair of frauds.
"Caleb is a Mythical-Tier mage," the god says. "But was reset in Level upon his resurrection. The only reason you managed to harm him is because he decided to come here instead of going through another Dungeon to get stronger first. Even at Level 50, he could whup your ass into oblivion. Your fighting was shameful, especially for people who have two elements yet only used one. My son's essence might have influenced you a little, but that is still no excuse. You also came up with the lie on your own and knew what you were doing the entire time. You have a long road to retribution ahead of you."
So it was entirely deliberate? I guess Boraniavos and I were wrong in that they actually believed it from the 'signs' he accidentally gave them.
Luzcavis gives me a slight nod.
"Oh!" I say. "Now that you're done, I was wondering-"
"You may not have a sample of my blood."
"I wasn't going to ask that!"
"Really?" He raises an eyebrow in disbelief. "Then what were you going to ask, Caleb?"
"Do gods regenerate if they're wounded and lose body parts?" I ask. "Can you even be wounded?"
"Gods can harm other gods," Luzcavis says. "And yes, we can regenerate lost body parts. It takes but a few moments to do so."
"Oh, cool! Can I have a finger?"
Luzcavis vanishes as Kyron thumps me in the back of the head.
"What?" I ask. "I wasn't asking him for a sample of blood!"
"Maybe not," Kyron says. "But you were asking so that you could get the blood from the finger."
"Well, yeah," I shrug. "And by the way, just because I find him more attractive than you, that doesn't mean I don't still find you stunning."
"I know," Kyron kisses me, then looks at the pair of frauds. "So it wasn't an accident, but deliberate. That makes things even worse, and explains why you weren't fully humbled by the battle. I suppose it would have been better had Caleb run the-"
The frauds take off running, escaping the area. Boraniavos watches them as they flee, then giggles as he looks at me.
"I stole my amulets back," he holds them up, and I laugh. "And they didn't even get dressed yet! Ha! They ran away butt-naked! And Dad's currently in town telling everyone that they're frauds, so they're going to get shunned from there by the time they arrive!"
"Well, at least they left the weapon behind," I say. "I'd have hated for them to keep having them now that I know they were intentionally doing it. If it were an honest delusion caused by Niav's support to get friends to play with, I wouldn't have had an issue with them continuing to use them."
"You'd have taught them more proper magic," Kyron says. "I'd have been willing to teach Jacob a little bit more proper warrior techniques. He was extremely amateur, relying on his talent more than anything."
"Can I have the sword and staff?" I ask the men holding those. "They were crafted by me a thousand years ago, and I'd rather them be in the hands of someone worthy of using them rather than stored away or given to some random person."
The men hand me the weapons, and I put them away in my ring. It's easy to tell that the people here are more than a little confused.
"I think we should stay here," I tell Kyron. "At least a few days, just to help them out. Something tells me they might need it."
"Yeah," Kyron says.
"Oh!" Boraniavos exclaims, bouncing a little. "Just remembered something, Caleb! I found this the other century and have been keeping it safe! Be right back!"
Boraniavos bursts into bluish-white and reddish-orange motes of light, which fade away. Kyron mutters something about how this is probably going to be something completely random and probably mundane. We wait for the spirits' return, anyway, and he comes back in his human form, from further up the mountain, carrying… carrying…
"Is that what I think it is?" Kyron asks as the spirit draws closer.
Gripped in the spirit's hands is a staff. Purple crystal etchings cover it, its grip black leather with five leather cords hanging from it. Each cord has a different bead-and-feather setup, matching a different element. One is fire, one is water, one is earth, and one is air. The fifth cord has purple beads and purple crystal beads on it, with purple feathers held in place by the beads.
Atop the staff are four claws instead of a normal elemental representative to hold the crystal, each claw black with purple crystal accents. Held by the claw is a dark purple, fist-sized crystal. Instead of crystal etching solution where the crystal is fixed to the top of the staff, there are a series of smaller elemental crystals, one of each element between each claw.
I can tell even without inspecting it that this is definitely what I think it is, but I call up its information anyway.
Novabodos, the Celestial Storm Grade: Celestial Stored Mana: 0 This ultimate staff was crafted by an expert among expert spellsmiths from the branch of a celestial oak tree. Over time, its high quality and ultimate power created a new Item Grade: Celestial. All magics channeled through this staff cost 20% less Mana and possess 100% more Magic. 10% of the Mana cost of all spells cast through this staff is stored within it. At a cost of 100,000 Stored Mana, the spell [Celestial Storm] may be cast at 1,000 Magic. Fear those who have unlocked the secrets of magic, for they are the ones who know best the way to break the rules.
This is… this is my ultimate creation! And it looks like there actually is another Item Grade now, as a result of this staff. Are my other higher-than-Mythical items not high enough to qualify for it, then? Or have things like Durazmakis and Durazvokir actually been updated to this?
"I didn't think it was right," Boraniavos tells me. "Just leaving it out for some random person to find, so I stuck it in a safe place and kept it safe! I never thought you'd actually show up, but… here!"
I accept my staff from him and channel Mana into it, every single crystal in it beginning to glow. When I let go of the staff, it moves around by my thoughts alone, the crystals continuing to glow thanks to the magic running through it. The enchantments within it allow me to treat it like any element for the purposes of moving it around. Any of the elemental manipulation techniques will allow me to do this, though I'm using [Fire Manipulation] at the moment.
After playing with my staff for a few minutes, I summon it back to my hand and send it into my ring. This isn't a staff I'll use in battle very often, especially since it will greatly hamper my Experience gains.
I doubt I'll ever use [Celestial Storm] again, I designed the four-elemental spell for dealing with the Great Demon Army. It's a massive area spell that destroys nearly everything for miles around. We actually had to call a retreat before I cast it, so that we could avoid harming our allies.
"Thanks, Boraniavos," I tell him. "Now, since those two ran away, let's discuss what's going to happen."