Chapter 2: A thing called magic:
Part 1:
I have been feeling a strange presence since last night. It felt like something powerful just appeared in the mountains to the north of the city.
More importantly I could feel its gaze, it was directed here.
I was stuck contemplating whether to confront it now or later.
It would be better to have a fun battle. Using my existing skills and powers was a no go.
Training my magic skills would be a way better idea. Mastering a new power to defeat a strong foe would be fun.
Now how do I raise my nonexistent magic skills?
I read tons of theory about magic but I still had no idea on how to actually use it.
Reading a book and doing it or real are two different things.
Nevertheless hard work will never fail you.
I sat in lotus position and entered a meditative state.
Going by what was written first you had to control your mana. Using either a magic circle or a chant or both you use your internal mana externally.
Doing this normally would take forever. I barely had any talent in the use of magic.
“Time to cheat.”
A dark mist like substance began to pour out of my body. It enveloped the area around, creating a pitch black space with no light yet you could see perfectly inside. This space was also larger then what it appears from the outside.
In here I can train properly.
First off I should decide how I'll use magic and what type to learn.
For use I'll go with extreme offence with moderate support.
Type was a harder question to answer.
Following an already created system didn't suit me.
I would rather create my own system that layers on top of my preexisting power.
As of now I can only use two types of magic. Both are forbidden and lost for different reasons.
It was an instant execution for me if anyone untrustworthy found out about them.
Actually I had a third type it already surpassed the bounds of being magic so it was not included.
My two magic's were creation magic and soul magic.
Creation magic was creating anything I desired as long as it met the requirements first. A bypass would be gather material needed to create the object. Also once something has been created, and if it's not extremely powerful, it can be reproduced indefinitely at no cost. Naturally there was something that could not be created no matter how powerful the spell was.
Soul magic was the system of magic governing souls. My usage of could be considered the most vile and evil. Magic was mainly used to resurrect the souls of the dead. My usage was to trap the dead and drain their souls of power. This was measure to completely kill my enemies and make full use of their deaths. I used the raw power in their souls to fuel my creation magic to create more powerful stuff.
The third power was more special them both of these.
It was originally supposed to be dimensional magic, yet it evolved to an unprecedented level.
This space was entirely separate world created with dimensional power, yet such a thing I supposed to be impossible.
The act of creating a world is something only a large group of gods or an omnipotent god could do. Yet this went beyond that. It created a world in an entirely different dimension.
In this world I could set all the rules. It was manipulated only with my thoughts. In here only will was omnipotent. I could control all concepts of the world, making it an ideal place to train.
I drastically sped up the time in here compared to the outside. Even a mere hour outside would equal days in here.
It sure was nostalgic being in here.
I would train in here after every mission and it made the best storage space.
A lot of my past belonging were in here.
I gathered my scattered thoughts as began to concentrate again.
I was going to use a rather unorthodox method to start using mana.
I read somewhere in a book that some creature form a core of mana inside of themselves. A mana core is like an invisible organ. It regulates the flow of your mana and makes magic easier to use. The reason everyone didn't do this was the method to create mana core was lost in the past.
I didn't know the method as well but since I'm here it doesn't matter anyway.
“Creation magic: mana core.”
I whispered softly.
I could feel the power drain out of my body. It all gathered before and formed a large boulder size blue orb.
“Crystallize.”
At my command the orb turned into a solid blue crystal.
Crystallization of mana was another lost art. It was first used by artists but researcher found an even better use for it. With a way to turn mana physical and solid many new uses were discovered.
A crystallized mana core was more powerful than an ordinary one. It could store vast amount of pure mana at once and amplified the power and control over it. It was also now possible to create multiple cores. These cores could be used to fully restore mana in battle, allowing you to fight longer.
Normally I would have to wait for mana to regenerate before I could create another one but not in here.
“Creation magic: crystal mana core x13.”
This was limit for now, I needed a better understanding to create more cores.
With a thirteen cores I could probably fight for months without running out of mana.
Now to take it a step further.
I changed each mana core to represent an element.
Fires, water, earth, wind, ice, lightning, dark, light and neutral were the main elements I was using.
For secondary elements there was metal, nature and poison.
Each core was represented by the colour of the element. The thirteenth the core was for backup power, so it wasn't altered.
“Now for even more cheating!”
Between creating magic circles or using chants neither sat well with me. So I went with voiceless magic with the magic circle being created in my mind.
Chants were left for special techniques. Magic circles as well will be for special moves.
Now for designing spells... the more destructive the better! I never liked attacks that only targeted a single person. AOE's were not efficient enough either. The best would a hybrid that could change at will.
Burst was created with that principle in mind. An attack that could hit a single person with the force of many or hit many with the full force of one attack.
Using concepts would help do it after as well.
My personal magic would not using magic to create a phenomenon from the area but altering reality to create the spell.
I just needed to create the spell, and then practice for a long time and then move on to the next one.
Of my experiment was a success I would begin adding magic to all my powers and techniques.
[Takemikazuchi] was one example. It did not fulfill the full form of the god it was named after.
The move only incorporated the lightning part of the god.
Form 1 was the lighting in the sky, hence moving on air.
Form 2 was the harnessing the speed of lighting which was fourteen times faster than my top speed.
Form 3 was a thunderstorm. Gelsemium swords from for 2 would strike like lightning at any foe.
With magic I could expand the number of forms and enhance the existing ones.
It would be most helpful to the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu I created.
The main focus of the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu was the annihilation of large number of enemies.
This effect was delivered mainly through body manipulation.
An example would azure hell which changed my hands into claws. At its full form azure hell created indestructible claws coated in finales the burnt the target from the inside out. It also provided mid ranged attacks that could easily take down a squad of soldiers.
The Kurogane shomatsu-ryu: was a style that rested at the peak of martial prowess. It was complete formless style with infinite attack variations, body modifications and could be used with any weapon.
Adding magic to it will evolve it to the next level.
My belief was that you could never have enough weapons but high quality weapons were the best.
It was truly needed now because using my top skills would bring to many disadvantages to me.
I was going to reforge myself.
My resurrection still bothers me but it could be placed on the back burner for now. Getting stronger was my current goal.
I was also in need of new equipment.
My best weapon was currently sealed. I needed several replacements.
Luckily I had the mana cores!
For this needed new cores.
I moved the existing thirteen cores into my hands and ate them.
According to the history I read about dragons, dragons ate their mana cores to have them permanently affect their bodies. This method could only be use once. Mana cores ingested after this would have no effect.
With all thirteen mana cores safely ingested I created the next batch.
My method of forging equipment would probably get me lynched by any passionate blacksmith.
I teleported over to the large hearth I have here.
Luckily there was still a decant amount of metal left over.
I changed all mana cores to the metal element and had the float over the hearth.
Next I gathered the metals and tossed them inside the hearth.
Now for the main task.
“Creation magic: sword.”
The molten metal flew up the mana cores, creating a fourteenth sphere.
“Combine.”
All the floating spheres became one, yet stayed the same size.
Now I just thought of the details of my ideal sword.
The blade length should be two meters, the hilt would be around thirty centimetres. A normal shaped guard would be fine. All extra material would be used to reinforce durability.
With the basic shape done I moved into finer details.
I have do this carefully I don't want a repeat of what I did last time.
“Enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant, enchant…”
I follows the sword with as many enchantments as possible.
I put an enchantment on every layer of the metal, on the hilt, guard and designs.
Weapons in this world also had a ranking system. Low, average, high. Magic, rare, unique, ancient, artifact, legendary, phantasmal and divine.
My average looking longs word was on par with an ancient level weapon.
Though once again majority of the enchantments were for durability. My sword breaking rate was extremely high.
Especially with the Kurogane shomatsu-ryu. A normal sword would snap in half after one attack.
“Analyze.”
I activated the game like feature added to the
Mugen. Durability: 100,000,000/100,000,000
An invincible sword capable of changing forms. Has an unknown power sealed inside.
Effects:
-Almost impossible to damage.
-Never rusts or corrodes
-Blade is forever sharp
-Can morph into other types of swords
- Great power rests within.
When I examined the sword I was happy it met my expectations.
This sword would last a long time.
Oh? There was more material here.
I opt together the remaining stuff and began my next project.
Items for Yrilssa and Mira.
After several days of work I got back to my training.
Part 2:
I finished my training in time for breakfast.
I began at the early morning around 3:00am and finished around 9:00am. In a mere six hours I trained for an unbelievable amount of time. By my estimate around thirteen years passed in there.
It took that long for my talentless self to produce results.
I took a short shower before taking a seat at the table.
Today was Mira's turn to cook. She was the one who wanted to do a rotation to avoid eating the same things every day. It was also a way to pick at Yrilssa's lack of cooking skill.
With me and Yrilssa seated Mira was about to bring out the meal but was interrupted knocking on the door.
Yrilssa moved to answer but I told her I'll do it. I wanted to her to help set food and start eating without me.
When opened the door I was greeted by a group of fully armoured men.
With a single glance I could why they were here. It was for a truly petty reason carrying hopes that even gods can't fulfill.
The world felt like it was in slow motion as the man in the fanciest armour began to draw his axe.
I decided to observe a little while longer.
In the worst case scenario I'll rip his head off.
“You are under arrest for the crime of lèse-majesté.”
Now this was something I wasn't expecting.
I don't remember insulting anyone important lately.
“In addition to the murder of a large amount of people in an abandoned lab.”
The captain said impatiently.
They found that place? I was meaning to go back there for a while now.
The captain took my silence for resistance and attacked.
I let out a tired sigh and slapped away the axe.
“I refuse.”
The guards drew their weapons surrounding me with raised shields.
“Take your bullshit allegations and leave before I make you leave.”
Thinking I was off guard the captain charged at me.
“Earth shackles.”
Chains shot out from the ground and restrained him.
Without holding back I slap away the arm trying to grab me.
The arm flew of sending blood flying everywhere.
“Flames.”
His wound was devoured by flames, sealing the wound in expanse for immense pain. Cauterize
“Take your men and leave, I am giving you ten seconds.”
I said as I grabbed his head. An unpleasant cracking sound was heard by everyone in the area.
I tossed away the captain before he wet himself.
All the guard stared me frozen to the spot.
“You have three seconds left.”
I displayed my seriousness with a fireball forming in my right hand.
“3…”
All of them flinched.
“2…”
They tried to move but were frozen with fear.
“1…”
I lifted up my hand.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
They scream as they push each other away as they ran for their lives.
It was utter mayhem as a group of guards knocked each other to floor, frantically running away.
“Problem solved.”
With more flames I turned the severed arm to ash and evaporated all the blood.
When I went inside Yrilssa and Mira were giving me a strange look.
“Onii-san what happened outside, there was a lot of screaming?”
Yrilssa didn't ask, she probably heard everything.
“Some retards came by, causing some trouble. They pushed some false charges on me and tried to arrest me that was until I persuaded them.”
Mira contained herself from exploding in anger. Mira would have probably hunted down those guards if we weren't eating right mow. She silently passed me plate and I began my breakfast.
Done eating we decided it was time to do our first quest.
But before that we needed to prepare our equipment.
I bought a cheap sheath to hold my new sword.
Yrilssa and Mira bought some potions.
“Shin-kun where did you get that sword?”
Yrilssa asks brimming with curiosity. She could probably sense the weird mana around it.
“I made it.”
“I didn't know that you blacksmithing and such a high level one at that.”
“Hmph! Onii-san knows everything.”
Mira proudly declared as if it was her own achievement.
“By the way I made stuff both of you.”
I presented Yrilssa a blue crystal like long bow.
For Mira there was a not a weapon but a bracelet.
“Yrilssa the bow you have can transform to both medium and short bows. It augments your water, ice and wind magic. There is no need for arrows since it creates them from mana. Also there are several other features you can discover yourself.”
“Thank you Shin-kun this was more then I could ever ask for!”
Yrilssa excitedly began to check out her new bow.
“Now Mira I made you a bracelet since you don't have a proper fighting style yet. Think of it as a booster, it increase all your capabilities in exchange for all your stamina. In your current state it will last for two minutes tops, but the stronger you get the greater the effects. Also as you grow it will evolve with your growth and specialize on your strengths.”
“Thank you onii-san!”
Mira smiled happily as she put on the bracelet.
Their equipment was overpowered so I thought they would hinder their growth. So I decided to add a hidden feature into the bow and bracelet.
The greatest feature of these items was self evolution.
With an application of soul magic I could make the weapon grow along with the users.
Each item passively brought out their full potential and increased it. But in exchange the durability had a special condition to it.
When they would reach a plateau in their growth the items would break.
In the past I used thing like this, since as a weak human I needed power to defeat my non human foes.
Once they reach the peak these weapons would become meaningless, both would be able to achieve the same effect with normal equipment.
There were also penalties in each time but I'll keep quiet about them.
With everything taken care of we took a quest to investigate a disturbance in the northern mountains. If any danger was spotted we had to exterminate it.
Since we lacked numbers we joined up with another group taking the quest as well.
While Yrilssa was negotiating the terms of cooperation I spotted something interesting in the corner of my vision.
The group of guards from earlier were back.
This time with more people.
They quickly spotted me and all thirty men surrounded me with drawn weapons.
Their leader was not the idiotic captain from earlier. Instead a man dressed in fancy armour that had too many decorations was the leader.
“Kurogane Shin you are under arrest for defiling Lady Yrilssa Swordsith and the murder of a group of researchers!”
His voice echoed throughout the room.
“Grabbing a hold of her weakness and threatening her to do this and that. Lady Yrilssa Swordsith we will save you!!!!”
He shouted again, rallying the nearby adventurers.
“He is Horito-san's murderer!”
“There was no way Horito-san accepted a death match against him!”
“He used cheap tricks to kill our mentor!”
Rallying with the guards was a group of bald man that screamed the word monk at you.
Everyone else just watched in anticipation.
“Should I handle them?”
I asked Yrilssa who looked troubled by what was said.
“No. Please let me take care of this Shin-kun.”
She was so enthusiastic about I let her do it.
She lifted up her bow and aimed at the leader of the guards.
“Please leave me and Shin-kun alone or you will regret it.”
All expression vanished from her face, her icy tone sent a chill down their spines.
“But Lady Swordsith that man, he…he…”
Before he could explode in anger Yrilssa reacted.
An arrow passed by the man's head, nearly killing him.
“I see you have no intention of repenting.”
Instead of an arrow a blue ball formed on her bow string.
“This is punishment for bad mouthing my Shin-kun.”
When she let go of the bow strong thirty arrows shot out. Each pierced a limb on each guard.
Before the monk could react she already fired her second shot.
Arrows of ice shot into their legs, causing them all to fall to ground.
“Never appear before me or Shin-kun if you value your lives.”
Her icy voice was accompanied by sixty arrows waiting to be released.
See all the man frantically nod their heads she sat back down beside me.
Yrilssa acted as if nothing happened and began clinging to me again smiling happily.
The other party whom she was negotiating accept her demand with a pale face, once the deal was done he swiftly fled.
“Remind me to avoid pissing you off in the future.”
I said to Yrilssa who was smiling like an angel.
“Silly Shin-kun, it already certain I will get angry with you. Please try not die.”
I could only smile wryly in response.
My future will be filled peril.
Part 3:
After buying a carriage for travel we headed north.
It would take a couple of days to make the trip. The other party cooperating with decided to take a different route and meet us at the base of the mountain.
I got nice relaxing trip with two beauties clinging to me.
With the abundance of spare time we had, I began to train Yrilssa and Mira.
I gave Yrilssa tips on archery, Mira was given basic exercises to build her foundation.
It was a nice relaxing trip without a single fatality so far.
Mira was fast asleep behind me.
Yrilssa simply leaned against admiring the view of the scenery.
“Sometimes I wonder if this is all a dream.”
Yrilssa muttered while looking away from me.
“So I am a figment of your imagination?”
“No! There is no way that is possible! Shin-kun never say that again.”
Her anger over such a slight issue was cute.
Not good… I don't think I can hold back any longer.
I have to take it slow. Not too fast. Now that I remember that method still existed.
I grinned evilly thinking about it.
I did have a way to exploit our situation.
“Yrilssa there something I want to give you.”
“Another item?”
“No, something along those lines but still different.”
“I don't get it but sure, if it's something from you I will accept wholeheartedly.”
“I'll apologize in advance since it'll be intense.”
“Intense?”
I proceeded to kiss Yrilssa silently. No, it could not be described as that gentle. I forcefully sealed her lips.
"Ah...mmm. Shin-kun…"
She mumbled with unfocused eyes.
She's making it harder to stop.
I savagely drew Yrilssa into my arms, leaning forward all the way.
I pressed my lips on her soft and inviting lips.
A violent kiss.
Beneath my lips, hers were trembling.
This small movement further excited me.
Gasping for air Yrilssa's lips tried to separate, but I didn't allow it.
Opening my mouth wider I completely sealed her lips.
She was already panting yet I was nowhere near done yet.
She tried to stop and breath but nevertheless she didn't even rest my kiss.
Instead she began to take the initiative. She passionately kissed me, with an intoxicated expression.
I forced my tongue into her mouth, taking our intensity tithe next level.
“Mmmhmm… Shin-kun… don't… mmmhmm…”
Yrilssa tried to start pleading but that just let loose the restraints even more.
Drunk on passion we kissed nonstop. Holding each other tightly our intoxication grew more and more.
Our hearts were racing like horses.
My gift began to enter her body.
My gift joined flowed through, truly connecting us.
There was slight indication that she noticed but kissing took her attention again.
I wanted to speak and tell her now but this was more important.
Both of we're panting heavily. We weren't as bold as before, only gently kissing.
Lightly kissing we slightly rested ourselves.
This time Yrilssa's flame was rekindled.
Forcing her tongue inside she began our intense kissing.
Letting or her lips I but her earlobe lightly licking it. Her ears were really sensitive.
Her usual attitude was becoming strange.
Yrilssa embraced me even tighter than before.
Her breasts were pressed against me.
Entrusting the weight of her body to me and leaning on me.
The entirety of her voluptuous bosom was felt on my chest. It was an extremely intimate embrace.
Her sweltering body was supple with her excellent skin.
My hand ran down her back, enjoying the sensation of her entire body.
“Shin-kun… stop… I can't… Ah~”
Yrilssa released her seductive moan that she was trying to suppress.
Her mind went blank with pleasure completely drunk in happiness.
Gazing into one another eyes, with loving smiles we kissed again.
Intimately embracing, our tongues were entangled as we exchanged an endless amount of kisses.
Her intoxication flowed into me and mine flowed into hers.
Yrilssa's feelings were thoroughly transmitted to me and vice versa mine were sent to her.
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I gently held her sweat moisten skin, savouring the exceptionally tender sensation.
Yrilssa tearfully smiled as she was drowned in happiness.
Overcome by her tears I stole her lips again.
When I released her lips Yrilssa collapsed, completely exhausted.
“Shin-kun that was too intense...”
Yrilssa muttered as she rested her head in my lap.
Her breathing slowly became more composed.
“I'm glad you liked it, but that was only part of it.”
I gazed back at Mira-chan who was still asleep.
When I looked back at her, her ruby eyes were staring at me with mixed emotions.
“You're not going to give a gift to Mira, are you?”
“Mira is too young right now.”
“But if you don't that child's heart will be hurt.”
“It's better than her being wiped out of existence.”
Based on this conjecture Yrilssa and Mira probably came to some kind of agreement to not steal the march on one another.
It was a way to keep me and them happy.
“Listen carefully to what I am going to tell you.”
Yrilssa nodded with determination in her eyes.
“What I gave you was access to my one of original power called
I took a small break to let it all sink in.
“This power literally ties our soul together. From now on you are forever mine, in life and death.”
Her reaction to this was far from normal.
She found it romantic. A man forcefully sealing the fate of the woman he lives with his own.
My obsession was accepted peacefully.
Once in the past I was asked why I turned out this way. I could only answer “20 millennia of solitude does that to you”.
“Then without further ado, I invite you into my world.”
Our surrounding was instantly stripped void of any colour, replaced with endless darkness.
“I'll leave the secrets of this place with you.”
Yrilssa nodded without as much surprise as expected her to have.
Her mind set changed to, “if it's Shin-kun anything is possible.”
Somewhere between that Yrilssa's impressions of me began to warp.
It was along the lines of bottomless obedience.
With our tryst finished we turned back to check on Mira, surprisingly she was still asleep.
Breathing a sigh of relief we cleaned up.
With everything taken care of Yrilssa sat down in my lap and fell asleep.
I gazed at Mira's sleeping back.
“Wait till your older, try your hardest to endure.”
I whispered to Mira who twitched slightly.
Our future will be filled with carnage.
Part 4:
With both girls asleep I sat on top of carriage, bathing in the moonlight.
It was another sleepless night for me.
Once in a while I had a night like this.
In nights like this I always felt strange.
My mind was swamped with something like a reoccurring dream, yet whenever it happened I was awake.
In times like this I had one solution, and the world supplied it to me.
Our carriage was surrounded. I could feel the presence of about a hundred humanoid figures.
Focusing my senses I could feel that even more of them were on the way.
“Looks like we just walked into an ambush.”
I smiled evilly as I set a barrier around the carriage.
“All of you are now my lab rats.”
I said to the humanoid ice lizard things that came into sight.
In the end I couldn't learn true chantless magic, but I got to the point I only needed to say the spell name to use it.
“True heavens lightning strike.”
An original AOE spell that dropped powerful bolts of black lightning down from the sky.
Black lightning struck everything in a large area around the carriage. Utterly annihilating the ice lizards' frontline.
More ice lizards poured out of the forest, unfazed by the death of the first wave.
“Chaos fireball barrage.”
Fireballs with a tinge of black in them slammed the enemy lines like artillery.
Chaos fireball was my basic level fire spell, yet it had the power of the highest tier of intermediate level fire magic.
Now to step up the experiment to the next level.
“Chaos fireball barrage. Fuujin's razor.”
From my left another barrage of fireballs fired. From the right wind blades invisible to the naked eye spilt everything in two.
Fuujin's razor was my advanced level wind technique that solely focused on power. Its main focus was cutting everything apart. I thought of it as an invisible sword that was very, very long.
“Consecutive casting check.”
Now for something harder.
In my left hand I gathered wind, in my right I fathered flames.
“Fusion magic: Aerial doom.”
Combining the two I shot out unimaginably hot winds.
A wave of annihilation spread out with the carriage as the epicentre.
Everything not in the barrier was instantly burned to a crisp, turning everything into cinders.
“10, 20, 30… 35 meters. A good range for now.”
The power of this spell was extremely high but the so was the consumption.
“Melding spells together check.”
Now all that was left was an efficiency test of my remaining magics.
With my primary goal, checking the effectiveness, complete I used the rest of spells without restraint.
“Hydro surge. Air mine sphere. Shadow immolation. Hyper ray. Forest's torment.”
I used a spell from each remaining element except ice in rapid succession.
Hydro surge shot heavy streams of water from below.
Air mine sphere created a flying stone above that shot spear like rounds at anything in a ten meter radius of the carriage.
Shadow immolation caused shadows devour their owners.
Hyper ray shot a condensed beam of light at enemies.
Forest's torment prevented retreat by creating a wall of roots behind the last of the ice lizards.
Magic was absolutely devastating. Even in unskilled hands it could deal a lot of damage.
With this experiment I figured out my biggest problem. My conversion rate was off. I spent too much mana on each attack. At least it was problem that more training could solve.
Also now I can finish my specialization in each element. I wanted to master magic itself not an individual element. Thus I created specialization system for myself.
Normally that would mean I would pick on element and raise it and only it.
My specialization was choosing what type of magic I wanted to use with each element.
Though some feature would be shared I would have a specific function for each element.
Fire would focus on versatility. From area of effect to illusions, I was going to make fire magic usable in every solution.
Water would be for preventing advances, keeping enemies at bay. Mostly spells to stop attacks and movement.
Wind would specialize in invisible attacks, disruption, recon and assassination.
Earth would be an offensive defence, providing defence with attacks was the primary use.
Ice would be extreme precision, to the point of effecting molecules. These were going to be the spells that had the most control on them.
Lightning was going to be about precision area of effect attacks that carried high power.
Light would be about condensing light and creating beams based on the stars.
Dark would specialize in shadow magic and manipulating darkness itself.
Nature would be in charge of illusions, deception, traps and ambushes.
“
With my verbal command it activated incomparably faster than last time.
Procrastinating would prove to be deadly in the future.
Also with my specializations decided I needed to alter the mana cores I devoured.
Aside from the boosts provided by the mana cores, they increased your handling of the elements. It gave you an indefinite increase on control over elements and severely reduced casting time. By altering them I could focus them to better use the elements in the ways I want.
Due to test results from my spells I wanted try a non magical experiment.
In the past I briefly researched aura and ki but could never use them practically, at least not until now.
If I could master this one of my ultimate goal could be reached.
The complete upgrade of Kurogane shomatsu-ryu, bringing it to unprecedented levels. Hopefully removing all the conditions for using my full power in the process.
Before this could happen I need more skills, more magic, more knowledge…
I wanted research more about race specific magic, lost magic and especially forbidden magic.
Expanding the power of my soul magic, improving the limit of my creation magic and creating new application of my dimensional magic was something I wanted to achieve.
First I decided to focus on raising all pouts of current magic abilities.
When thought about it, the idea to create summonable elemental came to mind. Creating weapons trained the elemental mastery, using mana increased my overall magic skills, summoning it levelled up my summoner class, using it increased my skill with the weapon in question, plus creating them had the added benefit of possibly upgrading all future equipment made by me.
The original op equipment I created was made from a mix of my three major magics. If I could do this it could further refine the process, increasing the possibilities.
I acted upon my though right away.
I started with fire. Corresponding to my choice with element I needed to make a versatile weapon that could be used in all situations.
Naturally the sword came to mind. The base model was going to be a one handed sword but like my other equipment I was going to give it the ability to morph.
I gathered mana in hands and created a ball of fire.
And now the long gruelling process began.
Countless hours pass by as I manipulate the flames slowly working out every detail of sword.
Halfway through I decided to give life to the blade, turning my idea to into spirit weapon creation. Except the spirit was replaced with a soul hence turning it into spirit soul weapon creation.
The product was beautifully created masterpiece of sword burning in golden flames.
Now to add the finishing touches.
I placed a freshly created condensed fire mana core into the hilt.
[Typhous] was the name of the sword.
Now moving onto water. Unlike with flames water was meant to keep the enemies at bay, which meant a weapon with powerful knock back power, thus water was going to be a mace.
Just like with the sword it took a long time for the masterpiece pike to be created. Around the head was an illusion of a stream of never ending water, as dark as the oceans.
The mace was named [Thalassa].
Wind was going to be a rather special dagger. Since I was using this spirit for covert ops it required special modification.
At the end of the hilt of dagger was a long chain that wrapped around my hand.
The dagger was named [Eos].
Earth was set to become a shield that was an abomination to all armour crafters.
The tower shield was curved like a ball, in a semi circle shape. On the face of the awhile were massive spikes.
The shield was named [Gaia].
Ice was next on the list and the weapon with most precision plus power combo was the bow.
The lustrous ice on the bow absorbed all light around it glowing in an eerie black colour.
The bow was named [Khione].
The choice of weapon for lightning was unorthodox, in fact is not an actual weapon. It was a robe but an incorporeal.
Made from stitching together lightning, its colour was strangely white. It looked liked like a shroud of white mist with hundreds of currents running through it.
I named it [Aethier].
Light was easier to use since I already had the perfect image in mind. The weapon of choice was a spear.
The shining red spear measured around two meters long. It gave a heavenly feeling.
I named the spear [Hemera].
Dark was going to easy as well, since the weapon I chose for that was a kusarigama.
The actual product was hard to see since they were obscured by a dark aura that was constantly gushing out of it.
I named it [Nyx].
And now finally there was nature. This was the one that took the most time and thought. The spirit soul of weapon of nature magic was going to be a flute.
I named the flute [Fysis].
This was the only spirit soul weapon that did not contain any metal. As the wind passed through it let out a pleasant sound.
With mana cores planted in every weapon I finished the production.
I contemplated whether to give them egos and humanoid body as well but abstained from the idea. Having one living, breathing, talking weapon was enough for me.
Besides I don't want to incur her wrath, for now at least.
And I don't want remake them once I turn them into girls. No, there was no option to make them male. Never in hell will I do that.
After painstakingly creating a back door to the spirit world I left the
Renewing the barrier around the carriage I drifted into sleep.
Part 5:
A couple days pass we continue our travelling.
The encounter rate with the ice lizards increased as we got closer to the mountain. There were so many encounters that we got delayed for a couple of days.
This time around I didn't get to battle. I simply spent my time instructing Yrilssa and Mira.
Based on my observation Mira had no aptitude with mana, so she was better of using ki instead. Her affinity, when tested, was pretty high.
Seeing her growth in this field I presented her a freshly created weapon that was compatible with her, which turned out be a mace.
With a new weapon her training was coming along nicely, the constant battles really helped grow her skills.
Soon she will reach intermediate rank in mace mastery.
"Did you see that onii-san?!!I defeated it without help this time."
Mira was ecstatic with her results as she another ice lizard's skull open.
Petting her head I said "good job!"
Yrilssa was acting calm with her achievements but secretly was burning with jealousy towards Mira's straight forwardness.
When our eyes met she swiftly looked, blushing furiously. Memories of that night probably remerged again.
It was a nice relaxing time, but still this was taking way too long.
A part of me wanted to use some dangerous techniques to speed up this journey but doing so will reveal too many of hidden cards.
I kept a lot of useful things hidden in anticipation of future problems.
Hmm... As I thought about killing time I remembered a certain issue that bothered me. It was something I have been meaning to ask Yrilssa for a while now.
"Yrilssa why did you suddenly turn so subservient to me?"
"Eh?"
Surprisingly she was shocked with my question.
"Shin-kun are you by any chance unaware of it?"
I simply nodded in confirmation causing her to take another hit.
"Shin-kun let me give you a history lesson about the spirit elves."
It was what happened when the spirit elves got their freedom with deaths embrace and inheritance.
The freed spirit elves began to search for their origins. With a lot of research they found a shocking revelation.
Their origin was connected with the ancient gods and the legendary dragon kings.
Unlike the previous misconceptions that were spread they now had proof that the dragon kings and a part in their creations.
When they approached the dragons and explained their plight they were given protection by all dragon kings.
From that point on it was spread that harming the spirit elves would incur the wrath of the dragons.
Though the protection wasn't absolute it allowed the creation an actual city owned by spirit elves.
This was why Yrilssa was free to become an adventurer without worry of her family coming after her.
From this point on dragons and elves formed a more formal master - servant relationship.
"I understand but what does that have to do with me... wait... you don't mean-"
"Yes, Shin-kun you are part dragon."
That was a lot to take in all at once.
Somehow I became part dragon.
Was this constantly thinking of dragons in martial arts?
If my guess was correct this change had to do with my resurrection, but was not all. There was something more to this. Something I just can't see yet.
It was sinister feeling that spooked me a little, heck I even wanted to devour it with [fate eater's] true power.
Who knew my life would change so much. From human to some kind of soul devouring dimensional demon and now to some unknown creature that is part dragon.
More importantly if I am part dragon, then what are the other parts?
This just had to happen when I had that annoying reoccurring dream I keep forgetting.
"Can you guys give me a minute to think about this?"
With their permission I sat alone on top of the carriage, regaining my calm.
To take my mind off things I decoded to check current status. I did spend some time tweaking with it ever since I got it from the guild.
"Status."
Name: Kurogane Shin
Age: 18
Gender: Male
Race: ??? part dragon.
Class: Omni
—
Warrior:
Sword mastery: Intermediate
Axe mastery: Intermediate
Spear mastery: Intermediate
Mace mastery: Intermediate
Shield mastery: Intermediate
—
Magician:
Fire magic: Advanced
Water magic: Advanced
Earth magic: Advanced
Wind magic: Advanced
Ice magic: Advanced
Lightning magic: Advanced
Light magic: Advanced
Dark magic: Advanced
Nature magic: Advanced
Neutral magic: Advanced
—
Healer:
Healing magic: beginner
Cure/detoxification magic: beginner
Barrier magic: Advanced
Holy magic: Intermediate
—
Fighter:
Unarmed combat mastery: Advanced
Ki mastery: Intermediate
Fortitude: beginner
—
Assassin:
Dagger mastery: beginner
Stealth: Intermediate
Alchemy: beginner
—
Summoner:
Spirit summoning: Intermediate
Beast summoning: beginner
Material summoning: Intermediate
—
Archer:
Short bow mastery: beginner
Bow mastery: beginner
Longbow mastery: beginner
Crossbow mastery: beginner
—
Very few of classes had any advancements due to utter lack of use. Especially the sword. My actual skill was beyond what was displayed but it won't advance since I barely use it. Even Mugen was only used once. All focus was on my magic skills.
"Techniques."
This was the separate menu that I created to catalog my skills, powers and spells. It was to get rid of the need to memorize all of them.
-
Powers:
Takemikazuchi
Amaterasu
Susano-o
Tsukuyomi
All creator
Soul magic
Skills:
Kurogane shomatsu-ryu:
Absolution field
Azure hell
Burst
Earth slayer
Lightning step
Sky slayer
Void fist
Void step
Secret technique: True dragon rampage
Ultimate technique: Wrath of the chaotic overlord
Magic:
Kurogane magic system (tentative name)
Aerial doom
Air mine sphere
Chaos fireball
Forest's torment
Hydro surge
Hyper ray
Shadow immolation
True heavens lighting strike
-
I still needed to fill the magic and skill slots with the rest of my techniques and spells.
Inventing and improving killing techniques was really relaxing.
When ever I was confused I would review my techniques and possibly make new ones.
I guess I can accept it now. I've become half dragon.
Do I get dragon power along with it?
“Meh, I'll figure it out as things go along.”
With my thoughts sorted out I went back inside the carriage.
In there I was hit by another surprise attack by Yrilssa.
“From now on I will call you master!”
“Why?!”
What is happening to this girl?
“You are my master and that is that!”
This was the first time I've seen her being so stubborn.
“Do you really have to do this?”
I tried to changed her mind one last time.
“Of course I do! If I leave it like this who knows when some other woman would try to cling to this position!”
“What position?”
Was this another thing about dragon-elf relationships?
“Only one elf can serve a dragon at a time, this is the law made by the dragon kings. So if I leave position open some other elf we will try to get closer to you. When an elf serves a dragon it either as a caretaker or a lover. So as you are my master and no other female elves may approach you!”
It made started to make sense now but still bothered me.
“Do you really gave to call me master all the time?”
“Yes! If I don't who knows who might misunderstand our relationship!”
“Then what is our relationship now?”
“It's… um… me…and… master……”
She finally lost her boldness and turned meek.
“Master is……”
Yrilssa mumbled incoherently.
“So it's your preference.”
“No! I…I'm not……………yes.”
She gave up pretty fast.
I wanted to tease her about, but let it go. I did the same thing to Mira once and she didn't speak to me for a whole day.
“Fine… I'll allow it.”
Yrilssa immediately brightened up and gave my smile brighter than a thousand suns.
Mira was also strangely happy. Probably because she also fought for her position. The hostility between the two girls lessened.
Seeing them happy like this helped me resolve a certain issue.
When we get back to town I will interrogate those fake guards. I needed the location of the place I woke up in.
Once I get back there I will thoroughly investigate my revival.
And if it leads down the path I think it will, I'll destroy all obstacles.
“Be it gods or devils, nothing shall stand in my way.”
I whispered to myself.
I changed my mind set to face the upcoming trial. I slowly began to tear off the mask I made and revert back to my true persona.
Upholding the name of the
Part 6:
The beast atop the mountain had fully emerged from the dimensional fissure.
The ice beast was a primordial, a lesser primordial to be exact.
It was a beast that existed since the beginning of time. They were the precursors to the elemental lords and the gods, and there were also their greatest enemy.
For millennia their existence was forgotten, but now they began to reemerge.
The primordial race was sealed due to the cooperation between all races and all gods.
That very seal was damaged during the great war and now the primordial make their return.
Their vanguard was lesser ice primordial Arctis, accompanied by countless numbers of his spawns, the ice lizards.
Arctis was a large ice lizard that resembled a dragon. Unlike his spawns he was not bipedal. If you wanted to specific Arctis is more like a four legged Tyrannosaurus rex then a dragon. Unlike the peanut brained dinosaur, Arctis was fairly intelligent.
That was why he was confused.
The source of power he noticed in the city had now arrived at the mountain. What grabbed his attention even more was the strange presence beside it.
Arctis shifted his attention beside him.
A humanoid figure was standing before him.
“Arctis-sama I am glad your return has been well.”
The man greeted him gracefully. On his back were ash gray wings.
"Stop the formalities and inform of the purpose of your visit."
He looked disgusted at the man, who smiling frivolously.
"My master just wanted to make sure nothing went wrong, so he sent me as an observer. If you do well you might even get rewarded."
Arctis merely grunted at the man before turning away.
With a loud roar all of his spawns assembled.
His army numbered over 3,000.
Arctis had made his decision.
At dawn they'll strike, first taking down the source of power and then the city.
He needed to pave the way for the primordial's return.
Arctis was going to be the opening act.
The next great war as coming...