Kanbe Tokugawa was a normal high-schooler, with black hair and black eyes, if we take out the fact that he did kendo and was good enough to go to competitions, that was about to start attending a prestigious law school in order to become a prosecutor, but as fate would have it… Or what the young hero would know later on, just a very complex set of circumstances happening at the same time, he died in a grievous accident caused by a bad push from a man who had been caught red-handed while bothering a fellow law student.
The entire situation over Kanbe’s death in Earth was something really weird, since he was getting out from train in the subway station that was closest to the law school he was going to go in order to attend the first day of his first year in the law school. Only to see a middle-aged man getting too close with a female student of the law school, and clearly bothering her, which made Kanbe stand between the student and the offender trying to convince said offender to just give up and walk away.
This was because if the student went to court, the stigma of society for being involved in a case could very well dim the future of this female student.
Usually, people would have ignored this in order to avoid any situation like what happened that day… But Kanbe was way too righteous to do so, and hoped that some convincing alongside pressuring would make sure that the man changed his ways.
"Sir, no need to run away. Just walk away. We will not call out the police this time, but do not do this again. Next time, I am sure that the lady will be glad to call you out for what you did." Kanbe said as he raised his hands, to show he wasn't carrying any weapon, as he walked closer to the man.
"Lies! Is it wrong to try to get some more space in the subway just by getting closer to someone else!? We do that every single day, and no one is calling out the police!" The man said as he panicked and moved closer to the rails.
"Even when you are getting out just behind the lady, and trying to place your hand on her body? I don’t know what the court would say about that, especially if the victim certainly felt that." Kanbe said, in order to pressure the man into admitting his wrongdoing, as he kept closing the distance between him and the man.
These words from Kanbe shook the man, and literally had him shivering in fear, since in Japan… Going to court was literally asking to be found guilty, due to the amount of cases where those in court were found guilty which was close to 99%, and that didn’t only mean that the man would have to pay a fine… Being found guilty was something that in Japan was treated badly, due to the stigma that Japanese society had.
This alone made the man look around, trying to find if someone had called the police due to the ruckus they had caused, and he found a pair of officers going towards Kanbe.
But the appearance of the police after having been called out, which was a complete coincidence since no one had informed the police yet, made the man try to run away while pushing Kanbe away.
Yet, what happened next was that Kanbe almost fell to the rails of the train… And managed to avoid that fall by holding onto the offender’s arm with all of his strength. But as fate would have it, the offender slipped and so Kanbe and the man fell to the rails.
And that wasn’t all, as if it was preordained… A train arrived seconds after Kanbe and the man fell to the rails, going through both and killing both at the same time. No one understood what had just happened, but they knew the result.
And that would have been Kanbe’s life, if it wasn’t for a small chance he had obtained for reasons that were well-beyond what Kanbe could have expected… The next time that Kanbe opened his eyes, he found himself inside an infirmary filled with beds that had white sheets.
This infirmary looked quite medieval, with the walls made of stone, the floor was made with chiseled stone that had the emblem of a pure white orb, the tables were made of wood without any kind of varnish, the door was made of wood without any kind of varnish, and the beds had their mattresses stuffed with straw. Kanbe found it all way too medieval to be true, so he thought this was a dream… A really realistic dream.
Kanbe couldn’t understand anything about the situation, but that is when he found a nun looking at him with a smiling face. The young man couldn’t understand why, but he felt like that nun that was smiling at him was sizing him up… Which later on, months later, would learn that the nun herself was just admiring the hero’s body while having some thoughts of her own.
This nun was a tall woman, with long curly blonde hair, pale skin that looked like porcelain, blue eyes, and she was gorgeous in the eyes of Kanbe. The body of that nun was certainly a womanly figure, with the perfect three sizes, and the nun’s face would look good if it wasn’t for that cute smile that looked false. Even if Kanbe noticed that the nun was wearing makeup, since she was wearing red lipstick that was glossy, and had a fair bit of blush on her cheeks. It didn’t look heavy for the nun, but Kanbe couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that the lipstick was glossy… After all, Kanbe’s family was a family of policemen, prosecutors, lawyers, and soldiers and so Kanbe learned to focus on the small details.
This nun was wearing a really tight blue dress, enough tight to make sure to accentuate her body and it was clear that she was using a corset, a pair of blue stockings, alongside a pair of blue stiletto heels that would have between 12 and 15 centimeters of heel height. This nun walked near the young hero, and giggled, but Kanbe knew far better than to trust the nun… So he tried to fake that he was sleeping, which didn’t work out on the nun, who simply smiled widely once she saw that the hero had closed his eyes.
"Somewhat smart, somewhat… He sure is the hero… Well, not a complete failure. Even if prince David went to do this on his own, without David Senior’s approval. At least, the country will have a decent hero that can be trained. A shame I can’t help him see the light of Zerax… But orders are orders." The nun said as she smiled.
Kanbe did hear the nun’s words, and heard a pair of steps… Well, more like faked steps made by the nun to trick the hero into opening his eyes. And once Kanbe opened his eyes, believing he was safe, he knew that the nun had been waiting for him to slip up.
The nun giggled while moving away, trying to turn around and give the hero some privacy, which made Kanbe blush a bit while he got up since he wasn’t wearing anything.
Kanbe had a really trained body, with marked abs, chiseled muscles, short black hair and black eyes. The young hero tried out his body with some stretching, and he felt way stronger than before, as if something was helping him to become stronger.
"Welcome, esteemed hero. I am the recently appointed archbishop, Caroline. I know you must have tons of questions, but I can’t assist you further right now since that could endanger your sanity. Furthermore, I would suggest that you make sure you are okay, and then go to meet the king. But king David is in Crelens." Caroline said as she smiled at the hero.
"King David isn’t happy about this, I suppose. But I guess that nonetheless, he wants to see the fruits of his son’s labor." Kanbe said, trying to understand what was going on. 'If this is a dream, I need to find out how my brain imagined this. She's hot, but I don't think she's a holy woman…' Kanbe thought to himself as he looked at Caroline.
"Indeed, esteemed hero. Prince David was hasty in the summoning of the hero, or so the king believes, but if so… The summoning should have failed." Caroline explained calmly while looking at the hero.
Kanbe heard the word summoning, and couldn’t believe it. Now he was in another world, he could guess it since he didn’t know any King David nor Prince David, and the weird feeling that made him feel stronger was just like how the reincarnation mangas tend to go. That said, Kanbe was sure that he would be assisted to go back to his homeworld.
"Okay, I will go with you to see the king. Or so I suppose." Kanbe said. 'So we have two options. Option A: I am dead and I was summoned to this world as a hero. Option B: This is all a realistic dream just before my death, and once I wake up… If I ever wake up… I will be absolutely dead. I will think it's option A and hope I can go home.' Kanbe thought to himself as he considered the situation.
Caroline nodded, and gave Kanbe a white shirt alongside white underwear, blue shorts, and a pair of blue boots that were placed in a nearby chest for the hero to use.
"Then, you best get changed. Otherwise, a girl might fall for you…" Caroline said as she kept getting glances of the hero's body. 'He has a good body, big one too. Mhm~ I would love to have a meal with him~' Caroline thought to herself as she blushed a bit.
Kanbe blushed brightly, and changed quickly, while Caroline covered her face to play the sweet and naive nun role, but she made sure to be able to catch a glimpse or two of the hero.
After the hero had changed into the clothes that were given to him, Caroline smiled widely and started moving along while making sure the hero followed her, she had to be wary of anyone who would want to kill the hero. After all, the cult of Namika would be glad to be able to stop the hero right away, and so they’d assist the dark lord. The dark lord, the one who brings chaos, was a herald of Namika chosen to put chaos in the world and so the goddess of darkness could shape the world.
But that’s when Zerax, in all of his glorious light and grace, made the hero summoning ritual. It would summon a hero that could be trusted by everyone, and that would rally all the countries to deny the dark lord’s reign.
Caroline knew why Prince David had been harsh and ignored King David’s orders to not summon a hero. The oracles, those granted the abilities to see the future, foresaw the appearance of a dark lord that would turn any hero to ashes, and so Prince David thought that the best option was to summon a hero right away and train him.
The oracles prophecy said: ‘Once the unruly child gets the throne, he who laughs at morality and loves irony will become the dark lord. Fear his black flames, and their gluttonous nature, since they’ll scorch even the mightiest of heroes. Let this be known, since this fate won’t be easy to reverse, and only by learning the truth and uprooting his attempts to change the world will be the path towards quelling his endless wrath.’
That said, Kanbe was simply walking the hallways of the medical outpost which were made of oak wood, filled with glass windows that showed that Kanbe was in a small village filled with wheat fields like if it was a golden valley, and with an unusual amount of soldiers… Or so it seemed, since Kanbe didn't know how the soldiers of this world looked.
These soldiers were wearing crimson plate armors that had golden engravings that formed the emblem of a sun with a cross in its center, golden bowl-shaped helmets that only covered the upper part of the head with only a strap of leather to cover the sides of the head, and most of them were wielding pikes or spears, which were made of a material that looked like silver but was darker, yet they shone brightly.
Caroline noticed the look of Kanbe towards the soldiers and smiled, knowing that the hero was noticing quickly the differences between his previous world and this world.
"Esteemed hero, you have a keen eye. Those weapons are made of orichalcum, one of the metals of this land. Used for offensive equipment, these weapons can be improved with many enchantments, like enhanced edge and piercing boost, and can pierce steel like if it was butter." Caroline said, as she smiled widely, while walking alongside the hero.
"Oh, I see. And the armors are made of a similar metal, I suppose. Metallurgy in this world is quite advanced." Kanbe said, considering the equipment and appearance of the soldiers.
"The armors are made of mythril, the best defensive metal of this world, which can't be used for making chainmail since it needs a great surface to get the greatest durability and enchantment capability. Mythril is white, but these armors have been painted with enchanted salamander blood to grant more resistance to fire and poison and have golden engravings that hold enchantments of holy defense, which protects against dark element attacks, and regeneration to heal up the injured soldiers. This way, the amount of enchantments this armor can hold is 20. Between lightweight, to lower the weight of the armor making it only weight 2 kilos instead of 30 kilos, and enchantments to self repair the armor and defend the user better… These armors are capable of dealing with most monsters." Caroline explained calmly to the hero, as it was important for the country to have a knowledgeable hero.
Kanbe started pondering several things regarding mythril, since if the material needed a great surface, that would mean that it could be brittle in small amounts. But also, his curiosity was ignited due to the enchantments that Caroline had talked about, since those enchantments could be what could make his adventure an easy one or a sure path to death.
"So, those enchantments… How do they work?" Kanbe asked.
"Well, you need an enchanter to make the enchantments, but they are engravings made of mana that can grant different effects onto the armor. I don’t know exactly the process itself, but all kinds of materials can be enchanted, but the amount of the enchantments that can be placed, and their quality depends on the quality of the material and in case of pelts or any material that comes from an animal or a monster… The power of the monster, and the amount of mana it had." Caroline replied, while keeping her smile.
“And mythril is the best material for armors, right?” Kanbe asked, his curiosity guiding his mind to do that question.
“Indeed. Well, it has a weakness, though. It needs to touch the user’s body, in order to showcase the maximum enchantment effect. In short, you would wear at most a bodysuit made specifically for mythril armors below the armor.” Caroline replied while smirking.
Kanbe coughed while looking at Caroline with a dumbfounded face. The limit of mythril could be really embarrassing if the armor was turned invisible, and that alone made Kanbe feel like if he was forced to use it… It was his loss in terms of dignity and self-esteem. That said, the nun noticed Kanbe’s face and giggled mischievously, knowing a fact that would have Kanbe blushing.
“Some girls and boys do use really tight mythril armors for a mix of maximum defense and also charming potential. So it’s not a surprise to see mythril blacksmiths tired of dealing with youngsters.” Caroline said, before giggling mischievously once more.
Kanbe blushed brightly, knowing what Caroline was meaning, and decided to change the subject before the seemingly mischievous nun would do something that would get him embarrassed.
“So where am I? Even if I can’t know where in this world I am, at least knowing the place from where I started my hero duty would make good for some historians.” Kanbe said, as he started considering the fact that maybe he needed some sort of location. ‘I need to give her a proper reason as of why I want to know exactly where I am. I can trust her, or so it seems, but I should be careful nonetheless.’ Kanbe thought to himself.
Caroline looked at Kanbe with a suspicious look, like if she was surprised that Kanbe wasn’t geeking out due to being summoned as a hero, but she quickly made sure to hide that face so Kanbe wouldn’t notice.
“Well, esteemed hero, we are in the city of Argeares which is a day’s travel with a boat from the capital of Elstivia, the city known as Crelens. This city is known for their grand farming area, and its connection to a certain river. Prince David chose this city, since the king was born here, to ensure that the roots of the royal Elstivian family would be remembered in the history books. Also, some people say that Zerax said that doing the ritual here was his condition for bringing a hero with such short notice.” Caroline answered Kanbe’s question, while keeping a warm smile on her face. ‘He may be geeking out inside, or he’s just trying to adapt to this world quickly. I should keep an eye on him, just in case. We need him focused on his duty for now. The nobles will win enough time.’ Caroline thought to herself.
“How much time is needed for a summoning? And who is Zerax?” Kanbe asked, as he didn’t know much about this world.
“Usually a summoning of this caliber would take 6 years, but Prince David sped it up to just 6 months, yet by what a mage told me… Your status and body show promise worthy of a hero summoned with enough time for the ritual. “ Caroline replied, while smiling.
“Oh, that’s a relief. I thought I took ages to be summoned. But six months? Really?” Kanbe said, with a relieved face, which was clearly noticed by the archbishop.
“Oh yes, indeed. Six months preparing festivities for Lord Zerax, the god of light of this world, in this quaint town. We were ready for six years, but turns out that the holy mana density of this city was way above than the one in Quiarca, the original village of the oracles.” Caroline said, while smiling warmly, as she walked alongside the hero. ‘So he’s the overly responsible guy. Great, that opens so many ways to deal with him if required.’ Caroline thought to herself, clearly pleased with the hero.
Kanbe kept walking until he was near the front door of the building, pondering about what he had heard. Since Caroline said that Zerax was the god of light, and not the only god, he could logically assume that there was more than one god.
This could easily mean a ton more problems for his path towards returning to Earth. Not that he cared much, since one way or another… He’d make sure to return to Earth.
“I suppose that I should come out of this infirmary and start working. I don’t know how to get to Crelens, but well, I will make do with whatever I have. Not like I have much choice, and like my father says… Nothing will be done if you don’t take the first step!” Kanbe said, as he smiled. ‘Also, the sooner I get to see how this world works… The better. I wouldn’t like to spend too much time, and see any issues in my path back home.’ Kanbe thought to himself.
Caroline looked at the hero, reevaluating her opinion of him, seeing how dense the young here was and how naive he could be. Yes, in terms of status and body… Kanbe was a hero, but the mind wasn’t something to boast about, unlike other heroes like Matheus.
Yet, assisting the hero was her duty for now, and that meant she had to keep the hero busy for 24 hours until the boat that would transport the hero would arrive.
“Well, esteemed hero. I believe it would be best if you got used to this city and the world of Terra first. There are records that the summoned heroes tend to feel weirdly energetic once they are summoned to this world, since most of them come from worlds that do not hold mana. I fear that your energetic outlook of the situation might be caused due to that, and before you run out of energy due to the false feeling of being energized by mana… I suppose you should be taught, at least, some basic things for Terran people and a bit of manners.” Caroline said, while considering a few methods to win time for the hero to spend more time near the city. ‘24 hours until the boat arrives, I need to get him there in that amount of time. That means I need to win time, somehow.’ Caroline thought to herself.
Kanbe tilted his head, knowing what Caroline was saying but at the same time… Not understanding why he had to learn manners. He just felt energized and ready to take on the world, and while learning more could be useful… There was no time to lose if he wanted to return home as quickly as possible. But knowing the effects of mana could be far more important for his quest than going fast, so he decided to ask more questions and learn.
“So, what’s mana?” Kanbe asked, as he felt that understanding mana would be of vast importance.
Caroline smiled widely, her mission seemed to be far easier than she would have thought, since Kanbe was starting to be interested in mana, and so she could use that to win an hour or two of time with the theory and at least a week of time with the practical applications of mana.
“Mana is the energy of this world. In yours, you have only the basic energies of physics and the like… But in Terra, there’s one extra energy that enhances every single living being, which is mana. Mana appears from the naturally formed Mana field that were made once the gods released a massive amount of mana upon this world, to kickstart the evolutionary process of the many species of beings that lived in Terra. After centuries of letting that energy fuse with this world, the mana fields were made and these mana fields started producing mana itself with reactions using energy. The process is not entirely discovered, but its practical applications are widely known.” Caroline replied, while keeping her smile, and making sure to look at the hero’s eyes.
“I see. So I have mana, no?” Kanbe said, considering what Caroline had said.
Caroline nodded, while looking clearly interested in teaching Kanbe. She looked interested, but in fact she was doing this just to win time, so the king would not punish her for failing her mission of keeping Kanbe busy for an entire day.
"Well, yes. You breathed Terra’s air, so it must have entered your body. Mana tends to improve the growth of all living beings, and those who can’t handle that growth… Mutate and become monsters. There are many other ways to create monsters, but this one of the two natural ways of creating monsters… The other one being that mana affects corpses and other inorganic materia, and it ends up creating a mana core from which a monster or more than one can rise. The rest are just man-made processes, or the usage of skills like Create Minor Undead to make monsters." Caroline explained while walking along.
"Well, I feel really energetic, so it must be due to mana. That said, I suppose that not everyone has the same amount of mana." Kanbe said while smiling.
"Precisely, depending on the traits you may have, your genetics, and how you level up… You can have more mana or less mana. And yes, in this world… By absorbing the residual mana of defeated creatures, you can obtain what we call a level up. You absorb that residual mana and once you reach a threshold… Your body turns all that residual mana into a special energy that causes your body to improve. This process is called leveling up, the gods told us about that. And mainly we gained the ability to have a numerical representation of our abilities, skills, traits, and all… That ability is known as status. There are other benedictions from the gods, like inventory or recipe book. But not everyone gets the same, well unless in the case of leveling up, status window, skill window, and inventory." Caroline said while smiling.
Kanbe was feeling dizzy by all the information he had received right now, but he had to keep his mind going because otherwise… He’d be bedridden and probably would be forced by Caroline to stay in bed during an entire day, and that would be troublesome to say the least.
"Okay, never been a bright boy. But I more or less get the gist of it. And how do you use these benedictions?" Kanbe asked, while clutching his head, trying to withstand the headache he was having due to all the information.
"You only have to imagine a window that shows your power, or the skills you have learned, and say status window or skill window. For inventory, you need to imagine a window that could store all your items and say inventory. The gods were kind to leave it simple, and for leveling up you only need to use the status window and the skill window once you feel that you level up." Caroline said as she smiled widely. 'Maybe I can win all the time required with just explanations, while we leave the city the plan will take place.' Caroline thought to herself.
"I see. Sounds simple, and it could be really useful to master using these. But probably there are more ways to obtain residual mana. Am I right?" Kanbe said as he tried to use his logic.
Caroline looked impressed, since Kanbe had shown to have at least enough logic to understand what she had explained, even on a basic level… Usually, reincarnated people would need more than one explanation to understand it all… But this was good for the young archbishop, since that would speed up the explanation without being too tiresome or troubling for the hero. But also that would have its own problems as it meant that she wouldn't get enough time with the explanations, and that meant that she would have to find some activities for the hero.
"Being a tad bit too smart for your own good, but yes. Amongst the benedictions of the gods, we were granted the ability to issue and complete special missions known as quests. These quests can grant experience, items, and/or money… Up to how the quest is made, how the reward is set, and the difficulty of the quest. Sometimes, you may even get special skills that you wouldn’t be able to obtain normally. But well, for you… The best option would be to obtain quests that would make you fight monsters of your similar level and power. That way, you can obtain levels quickly and safely. But for that, you need to be used to wielding a weapon." Caroline replied.
Kanbe nodded, and remembered that he learned kendo and how to use a sword from his grandfather. Which was a relief, since that would make everything somewhat easier to learn, but also something that could easily attract all kinds of wrong attention.
"I was taught by my grandfather, but never fought a monster." Kanbe said, pondering about how much of use that would be. 'I don't think that kendo will be that good for western swords, but I will have to do what I can to get used to this world.' Kanbe thought to himself, as he pondered his own situation.
Caroline giggled, being relieved that the hero wasn’t the average civilian with no knowledge of how to fight, and knew what would be the best method of teaching Kanbe. A bit of practical classes never hurt anyone, or so Caroline believed. And for her own plan, that was the perfect chance.
"Well, no need to fret, esteemed hero. I will accompany you to a field that has been attacked by goblins and slimes lately. This way, you can get used to fighting against monsters without worrying. Also, you need equipment before going, so you will have to wait in your room for a long while." Caroline said with a wide smile.
Kanbe nodded silently, since he was nervous. He had never taken a life, and now he probably would have to do so on a daily basis in order to fulfill his quest and return home, which did create some doubts in Kanbe’s heart, but Kanbe knew that he had to go back to his world.
So with a determined face, he looked at Caroline, and got ready to speak his mind.
"Understood, but I would rather prefer to see the city. If I get used to how the people of Elstivia live, maybe that could assist me in my quest in the long term. That way, I wouldn’t need a chaperone all the time to deal with the menial tasks I could handle." Kanbe said with a determined face. 'If I want to return any time soon, I will have to adapt as quickly as possible.' Kanbe thought to himself, even when he felt fear for his own life as he would have to fight monsters.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
"Very well, but be careful. There are those who would prefer to kill you and gain a position of power for killing you." Caroline said as she kept her warm smile. 'If I am a bit lucky, I can get out of this mess by just being a chaperone. Otherwise, well, all for the future of the country.' Caroline thought to herself.
Kanbe gulped when he heard Caroline’s words, but didn’t back down. He knew he had to do this, and he wouldn’t stop until he was able to return with his family, which he held no doubts that would be worried about him.
And so, Caroline opened the front doors of the infirmary, and started walking outside said infirmary with Kanbe following her calmly.
***
In a far away place, specifically in a steep and dark cave, there were countless small green humanoid beings with long pointy ears, fanged teeth, claws, amber eyes with a black slit in their center, and curved legs who were wearing nothing more than rags to cover their bodies.
Most of them were carrying pickaxes, but a handful that seemed the leaders carried rusted and short swords while they roared and seemed to be bossing around the majority to make them mine for ores to be used for blacksmithing.
In the middle of the mining area, there were a handful of goblin females that used hammers and cotton clothing near anvils and were hammering the iron to make swords. While the swords made by these goblins should have been crude, they were masterfully done and enough to put a normal person in trouble. Those female goblins were blacksmithing goblins, not a species per se but a specialization of the goblin species towards the blacksmithing profession.
An individual was overseeing the entire operation, it seemed like a skeleton but wore a purple robe with a golden demon face pattern that covered their entire body and a pair of leather boots.
That individual was an Archlich, one of the most dangerous monster species on Terra, and seemed to be focused on mining the iron veins inside the cave, but it was going too slow. The undead planned on releasing the goblins once the goblins had enough proper weapons to specialize them to be goblin warriors, which could face the guard of Argeares and kill the supposedly summoned hero.
But the festivities of Zerax were over, and the hero was around. The Archlich knew that time was of the essence, and while usually he would create stronger monsters to attack cities… It was better to use goblins to prevent anyone with enough power to defeat powerful creatures and assist the hero. No sentient being would worry themselves by attacks of goblins, due to them being weak monsters that didn’t pay well even when they specialized, and were like rabbits in terms of breeding which made it easy to consider them as a natural monster plague.
Once the hero was dead, and the dark lord was truly awakened, the one that sponsored him and allowed him to become an Archlich would repay him for the services granted. Maybe even the dark lord would reward him for the duty, and hopefully acquire a high position amongst all the followers of the dark lord.
But the mining process was taking too long, and the crafting speed was lacking. The hero would leave soon, and the entire plan would become useless. Well, not fully useless. If the army destroyed Argeares, and the entire population was used to create more goblins, it would be possible to specialize a goblin to the goblin emperor specialization and a few would become strategists.
Even the soldiers could evolve themselves to warrior hobgoblins, which would lead to an army that could lead the entire country to ruin, and would become a monster army that could become a problem.
So, the speed of the entire process was annoying the undead. But he still had a secret weapon to use against the city, and it was a rather interesting monster. It sounded counterintuitive, but the undead had a dream in his soul and a plan. Which involved a massive lizard creature that did have a pair of leathery wings for arms, sharp talons, scaly skin, blue draconic eyes, and fanged teeth that was flying across the area to keep an eye on the entire area.
A wyvern like that would get everyone involved busy, and it was prey for the high ranking adventurers, but one of that size? That would have everyone running to kill it, or even capture it, since it had regenerative abilities.
While it was a pain for the archlich to sacrifice the wyvern for it, the hero needed to enter this cave first for his plan. That was until a grimoire of 16 centimeters height and 23 centimeters thickness, with a black cover that has metallic engravings on the edges, black pages, and the spine alongside a demonic metal face in the middle of the cover that floated near the archlich.
"Before you start planning on, you know… Sending that mutated wyvern to cause chaos. Why not hear me for a bit?" The book said while floating near the archlich. 'That lady Namika sent me here to prevent a massive leveling up of the hero means that this bastard is getting impatient. I must measure my words.' The book thought to himself.
"Explain yourself, before I blast you with my spells!" The archlich exclaimed, clearly angry by the intrusion.
The archlich was clearly angry, but also worried that if that weird grimoire had managed to locate him… Well, that the monster hunters would locate him. And that was always a mess. But the grimoire simply clacked, and dark chains bound the archlich in no time. It was just a split second, but it proved the power of the grimoire and a power that far surpassed an archlich.
"You shan’t blast me. If a dead dude could do that, then I would laugh upon myself. So… Hear me out. You only have to wait, the hero will come, and then you’ll murder him. Simple, clean, effective, and personal. Of course, I have someone already prepared to cover it up as a death by goblin shaman. Make sure to produce one to ensure that no one doubts the story." The book said, with an enraged tone in his voice. 'This insufferable fool, thinking he can do as he pleases. This is why I hate Archliches. Too arrogant, even if they lack a very important part of the body. If you are that powerful, at least take over a church of Zerax and turn it into a red-light district for a week!' The book thought to himself, while trying to hold his anger back.
The archlich had never felt such intensity from a spell, usually this kind of spell could be broken with enough mana. But the archlich, the monster species with the greatest amount of mana recovery and highest magic power, couldn’t break free from these chains. This made the undead fear that flying grimoire, and regret every threatening that grimoire.
"Who… Who are you?" The archlich asked, clearly scared of the book, as his bones rattled.
"I am Grimoire Noche. He who guides the dark lord. The assistant of the true right-hand man of Namika. My boss made a deal with someone who can drag around the hero, so don’t worry. You will be seeing him soon. Kill him, just as any foolish adventurer that comes here, and make that goblin shaman. If the hero dies right here, well… The dark lord will be absolutely impossible to defeat, and a new era for Terra will be written by his hand." Noche said, with a proud tone.
The archlich was frozen by the revelation that Noche had given him. The grimoire of the goddess of darkness had graced him, and he had been so foolish to attempt attacking the envoy of the goddess of darkness.
"Oh, my deepest apologies, Lord Noche! I… I was worried! Not only that, but I didn’t want the plan to fail! I may be a mere monster in the eyes of Lady Namika, may her darkness become eternal, but I am loyal to the dark lord and Lady Namika!" The archlich said, clearly scared of the repercussions for attacking Noche.
"Now you are just flattering me to not die. Nonetheless, you have one duty. Wait for the hero, send the goblin warriors at him. And then kill him without him noticing, in case the king uses a mentalist. If you do it well, that will be all you will ever need to do in order to be… I dunno. A dread archlich, maybe?" Noche said, as he pondered a few fun ideas. 'Archliches are greedy by nature, so I can always just tempt them with that greed. But this neat treat might be enough to keep him under wraps.' Noche thought to himself.
The archlich shivered in excitement, a specialization like the one that Noche had said was one that most monsters would kill to even have a chance to acquire that kind of specialization. And Noche was talking of it like it was just a cute treat to throw at a dog, which did annoy the archlich a bit, but at the same time that was a testament to Noche’s might.
"The goblins will need more time to become specialized goblins." The archlich said, clearly worried about the situation of his troops.
"You have a day or two to prepare for it. So make the blacksmith goblins start mass-producing swords, the materials will be arriving soon. Alongside the armors. But do send the ores you have acquired up to now, in order to cover up the timings and all." Noche said, with a tired tone. 'I am not a ledger book, not your micromanager. I am not here to micromanage.' Noche thought to himself, clearly getting tired of this sort of situation.
"I require the equipment first, before sending the ores." The archlich said, clearly worried about giving up the ores and not getting the materials.
"Yeah, hence why I told you to start mass-producing swords. We are running too on a tight schedule. Strength does not work against logistics. In an hour, I will send a few undead with iron bars." Noche said, deciding he had done enough.
"I see. Well, I will do as much as I can, Lord Noche, once I get the materials to start the process. May the darkness grant you a safe passage." The archlich said, calmly bowing down to Noche.
Noche simply chuckled and disappeared in a flash of bright blue energy, which was mana, leaving the archlich to deal with the plan of making sure that the goblins had iron swords that could be used against the hero.
The plan was going forward, and it seemed like he was not going to be stopped by a simple hero. But caution was always good, so Noche preferred to keep the wyvern here to avoid having a hero with a special skill somehow managing to defeat all the goblins and then kill the archlich even if that was impossible.
Kanbe status:
Race: Human
Gender: Male.
Age (True Age/Human standard age): 18
Height: 1 meter and 65 centimeters.
Likes: Pizza, good acts and fighting.
Dislikes: Injustice
Level: 1
STATS (Maximum of 1000):
HP: 30000/30000
MP: 15000/15000
STR: 100
VIT: 200
INT: 100
DEX: 200
AGI: 200
Magic affinity: Holy Magic.
Skill affinity: Magic, Warrior, Crafting, Enchanter, Guardian, Scout, Trap Master, Draconian knight, Charmer.
Skills:
Magician (Master):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Magic modification: Passive. The spells can be modified to give them new effects and change the way they are used.
Chantless: Passive. The minor spells will be automatically cast without even saying the name of the spell and the user only has to think in the spell and the adept spells only will have to be chanted entirely when using magic modification.
Holy Magic (Master):
Holy bullet: Active, 5 MP. The caster creates a bullet of holy magic. It is like a laser that will perforate anything.
Holy Heal: Active, 10 MP. The caster can heal an ally a 10% of their maximum HP.
Holy Lance: Active, 16 MP. The caster creates several spears made of holy light.
Holy Blade: Active, 22 MP. The caster can create a sword made of holy element and throw it or implant the holy element temporarily to the blade that the caster is using.
Holy Aura: Active, 30 MP. The caster implants the holy element in the armor he/she has and increases his/her defense a 20%.
Photon Laser: Active, 80 MP. The user shoots a laser of light that pierces through anything but can be redirected using mirrors.
Divine Salvation: Active, 1 MP. The user can dispel any effect like nothing had happened.
Lion's Heart: Active, 5 MP. The user can give bravery to the target and increase their resistance to fear and ailments a 50%.
Holy Empowering: Active, 0 MP. The user can add the holy element to anything. Pinnacle spell.
Basic Magic (Master):
Minor Analysis: Active, 1 MP. Allows the user to see the stats of the target. It can be tricked with false status skill.
False status: Active, 3 MP. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status.
Medium analyze: Active, 5 MP. Shows to the user the status and the personal data of the target. It can be tricked.
False data: Active, 15 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window and the skill window when they use analyze skills like Greater analyze or medium analyze.
Fly: Active, 8 mp/second. Allows the user to soar through the sky.
Greater analyze: Active, 10 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target. It can be tricked with false self.
Telepathy: Active, 12 mp/second. Allows the user to speak to the mind of the target.
False self: Active, 20 mp. Allows the user to change what others see when they see the status window, the skill window and even the name and gender that appears in the status window when they use analyze skills.
Teleport: Active, 15 mp. The user can make small teleports. Range of 1500 meters.
Full analyze: Active, 20 MP. Shows to the user everything of the target.
City Teleport: Active, 30 mp. The user can teleport to any city that the user has visited.
Charmer (Master):
Increased Charm: People of the opposite sex or those of the same sex interested in the same sex will be more attracted to the user.
Charmed Trust: Those who are charmed by the user will trust him/her totally.
Charming negotiations: The negotiations with the ones who can be charmed will be easier.
Irresistible: Those who may be interested in the user will lose any kind of restraint when they see him/her.
Archlich status:
Race: Undead.
Gender: Male.
Element: Dark.
Age (True Age/Human standard age): 1800
Height: 1 meter and 60 centimeters.
Likes: Power, ruling over weaker monsters, investigation, necromancy.
Dislikes: Not being able to eat.
Level: 60
STATS (Maximum of 1000):
HP: 30000/30000
MP: 55000/55000
STR: 1
VIT: 200
INT: 600
DEX: 200
AGI: 200
Magic affinity: Dark Magic, Wind Magic, Basic Magic, Ice Magic,
Skill affinity: Magician, Necromancer, Teleporter, Wizard, Dungeon Maker, Chef, Miner, Lumberjack.
Skills:
Archlich’s Arcane Wisdom: Increases the mana pool of the user by an amount equal to 50% of their health pool.
Archlich’s Powered Chanting: The user’s chanting speed is increased vastly, and their spell cooldown time is vastly reduced.
Expedite Magic: Allows the user to cast master level spells instantly, and their cooldown timers are decreased vastly.
Cinmos Blessing: The user has been blessed by the god of death, and so upon their creation they can acquire a skill tree for half the cost it would normally have.
Necromancer (Master):
Power of the dead: Increases the power of all of the undead that the user creates.
Pact of Darkness: The user can create demons and aberrations and reduces the cost of the creation skills of Necromancer.
Creation of Legends: The user can create named monsters and legendary monsters.
Create Master Minion: Active, 2 MP. Turns a corpse into a minion that will aid the user. It can create all kinds of heteromorphic, Ogroid and corrupted relics out of a corpse.
Create Master Undead: Active, 4 MP. Turns a corpse in an undead. Can create cursed souls, necrophages and specters.
Wall of bones: Active, 3 MP. Makes a wall made from bones.
Heart Grasp: Active, 10 MP. The user can grasp the heart of the target and crush it.
Ritual of Souls: Active, 8 MP. The user creates a magic circle that when it is activated will pull the souls of the dead from the reincarnation stream and be used as catalyst for undead creation.
Undeath Blessing: Active, 5 MP. The user can create cursed specters while dispelling an effect inflicted on him/her.
Create Master Fiend: Active, 20 MP. The user can create fiends out of a corpse. He/she can create imps and all other kinds of fiends.
Create Master Beast: Active, 20 MP. The user can create beasts and undead beasts out of a corpse. He/she can create barghest, chimeras, and all kinds of beasts.
Ritual of Life and Death: Active, 50 MP. The user creates a trap that will steal the life force of the ones who triggers it and that life force will produce any kind of minions
Drain Life: Active, 5 MP per second. The user can drain the life out of a target. The HP ratio is 2 HP gained per 1 HP drained.
Aura of Death: Active, 50 MP. The user charges an aura of death that will kill everyone with less intelligence and vitality than the user.
Putrefaction of the living: Active, 50 MP. The user launches a small ball of mana that will melt the body of the target slowly.
Dead Dome: Active, 85 MP. The user creates a dome made of ribs of 25 meters of diameter that will not allow anyone to escape.
Create Corpse: Active, 120 MP. The user can create a corpse with any kind of shape. Can create corpses of any race and status. Pinnacle skill of Necromancer.
Create Soul: Active, 120 MP. The user can create a soul with any kind of specifications. Since the soul holds the skills and the personality of the person, the user can put any skill he knows of and the personality he wants. The personality may be different a 12% of times. Pinnacle skill.
Wizard (Master):
Wizard's blessing: The user's magic skills are a 20% stronger.
Grand Magician's Regeneration: The mana regeneration base speed becomes 10 MP/second instead of 1MP/minute.
Wizard Channeling: The casting speed of the user's spells doubles.
Wizard Extra Chanting: The user can cast two times the amount of spells they should be able to.
Mana Bolt: Active, 1 MP. The user shoots a bolt made of mana, which can go through physical defenses but deals a rather small amount of damage. It can get stopped by barriers made by mana or by anti-magic fields.
Heavy Mana Bolt: Active, 10 MP. The user shoots a reinforced mana bolt that goes through physical defenses and deals a moderate amount of damage. It can pierce barriers.
Mana Decoy: Active, 25 MP. The user can leave a decoy made of mana, that is a foul mimicry of life, and gets eliminated rather quickly.
Mana Sound: Active, 100 MP. The user creates a clear sound in an area that is 300 meters away from the user. This sound acts as a diversion to lure the enemies away from the user.
Homing mana bolts: Active, 50 MP. The user can leave small clumps of mana that will be turned into mana bolts. These bolts will follow and try to hit anyone who gets in an area of 50 meters near the clump of mana. The bolts won't deal much damage, but these bolts slow down those they hit.
Enhanced Flesh: Active, 1000 MP. The user can enhance their body to block physical attacks easily and run fast for a moderate amount of time.
Mana Reparation: Active, 5000 MP. The user can repair any item to its optimal state.
Dungeon Maker (Master):
Monster Affinity: The user gains twice the mana recovery rate if they are near a monster.
Master of Dungeons: The user gains a 30% increase in all of their stats, for as long as they are inside a dungeon.
Monstrous synergy: The monsters inside a dungeon made by the user gain the ability to obtain boosts depending on which types of monsters there are in the dungeon.
Dungeon Creation: Active, 20 MP. The user can create the basic infrastructure of a dungeon, with the usage of several materials like mana cores, and use it to attract monsters inside it. The material requirements depend on the dungeon that is created, and there’s a mana maintenance fee.
Dungeon Trap Setting: Active, 15 MP. The user can set traps across the dungeon, even in the hallways, but it increases the mana maintenance fee of the dungeon. It uses materials, or already made traps.
Dungeon Room Creation: Active, 100 MP. The user can use materials to create new rooms inside the dungeon, effectively expanding it. This skill increases the mana maintenance fee.
Dungeon Shop: Active, 1 MP. The user can open the dungeon shop, a shop that uses the mana produced by the dungeon to produce items, monster spawners, and more.
Dungeon Repairing: Active, 50 MP/second. As long as the user is in the dungeon core room, they can use this skill to repair the entire dungeon.
Dungeon Revamping: Active, 12000 MP. Pinnacle skill. The user can kick out all the dungeon dwellers that aren’t living in the dungeon, and change the dungeon entirely.
Magician (Master):
Magic Knowledge: Passive. Allows the use of magic.
Magician's soul: Passive. All spells cast by the user are a 20% stronger.
Magic control: Passive. All spells are cast 10% faster. Some can even be used without chanting.
Magic modification: Passive. The spells can be modified to give them new effects and change the way they are used.
Chantless: Passive. The minor spells will be automatically cast without even saying the name of the spell and the user only has to think in the spell and the adept spells only will have to be chanted entirely when using magic modification.
Dark Magic:
Dark smoke: Active, 1 MP. The user shoots dark smoke to cover his whereabouts.
Curse: Active, 3 MP. The user curses the target and causes ailments like poison, blindness, and sleep.
Lethargy: Active, 5 MP. The user makes the target be slower and less powerful.
Greater curse: Active, 6 MP. The user curses the target and causes ailments like petrification, degradation (high-level poisoning that makes the body degrade until it breaks if it is not treated) and bleeding.
Dark Vision: Active, 1 MP. Grants the user the ability to see through darkness.
Dark Chains: Active, 10 MP. The user can create chains made of darkness that will stop the target.
Dark bullet: Active, 5 MP. The user shoots dark element bullets that will hurt and pierce the target.
Dark Embrace: Active, 20 MP. The user can curse the target and cause instant death. It takes a long time to make it work.
Dark Envoy: Active, 5 MP. The user creates a dark elemental who will deliver messages.
Dark eye: Active, 30 MP. It forces the enemy to do what the user orders.
Dark Aura: Pinnacle spell, 0 MP. The user can add the dark element to any other spell. Pinnacle spell.
Wind Magic:
Wind bullet: Active, 1 MP. The user shoots a bullet of concentrated wind that can pierce even iron.
Wind twister: Active, 5 MP. The user cast a tornado that sends everyone flying. It is shot from the user's hand.
Wind blade: Active, 10 MP. The user can either create a wind blade to cut the enemy or implant the wind element temporarily in a blade.
Wind improvement: Active, 12 MP. The user temporarily has an extra 30% AGI.
Wind Burst: Active, 15 MP. Makes a burst of wind that can push objects, but also pushes the caster in an opposite direction.
Wind Fang: Active, 20 MP. The caster makes a concentrated blade of wind that has even more cutting power than the wind blade in a sword.
Gale’s wings: Active, 35 MP. Pinnacle spell. Surround the body or an object with wind, allowing the user to control it and use it for other spells without wasting extra mana. Also makes the user a 50% faster.
Wind’s blessing: Pinnacle spell, 0 MP. The user can add the wind element to any other spell.
Ice magic (Master):
Ice Blade: Active, 5 MP. Allows the user to create an ice blade or to implant the ice element temporarily to the blade.
Ice burst: Active, 10 MP. The user throws a concentrated explosive ball of ice that will burst and freeze anyone close to it.
Icebolt: Active, 4 MP. The user shoots a bolt of ice that freezes upon touch.
Ice spear: Active, 12 MP. The user creates spears of ice to attack the enemy.
Ice Wall: Active, 20 MP. The user creates a defensive wall made of Ice.
Ice Trap: Active, 5 MP. The user makes an area that has mana embedded in it, if an opponent steps inside that area a burst of ice will freeze him/her.
Ice Age: Active, 400 MP. The user creates a powerful wave of ice that freezes those around the user. Range: 200 meters. Pinnacle spell.
Ice Requiem: Active, 100 MP. The user instantly freezes someone that he/she is touching with his hands, feet, or body. Pinnacle spell.
Teleporter (Master):
Mana Brain: The user acquires the capacity to hold a mana brain. The mana brain is an accumulation of mana that acts as a secondary brain of the size of a pea, that is inside the heart. Damage to the mana brain will cause a state of dizziness to the user, but it’ll nullify all the side effects of the mental fatigue as it runs all the subconscious thought. It’s said that the mana brain allows its users to learn twice as fast as they should be able.
Mana Fatigue Resistance: The user is more resistant to the side effects of using too much mana at once, allowing them to recover twice as fast as they should without this passive.
Spatial Resistance: The user is able to nullify teleports that affect them if they don’t want to be teleported.
Expansive Inventory: The inventory is twice as big as it should be.
Space Distortion: Active, 10 MP. The user can use this to nullify space magic that the user detects, as it distorts the space and nullifies the incoming space magic. It can be only activated as a counter.
Space Jump: Active, 5 MP. The user uses mana to jump at the speed of light to a location in a range of 50 meters.
Space Distortion Aura: Active, 15 MP. The user can create an armor that will send away projectiles, and nullify attempts of using space magic on the armor user, to themselves or an ally. This aura armor can only work for ten minutes, and can only nullify up to two space spells and withstand 300 attacks with projectiles.
Space Transaction: Active, 200 MP. The user can do a transaction between themselves or an ally and any space of similar size they have knowledge of. Fair warning: If the user doesn’t calculate well, the target may end up fused to a wall and unable to escape.
Mass Teleport: Active, 3000 MP. A mass teleportation that takes anything in a range of 100 meters, and sends it to another place. Takes both inanimate objects and people, so it’s way more taxing than any other teleport.
Mass Space Transaction: Active, 5000 MP. A mass version of Space Transaction. Exchanges a space of a size equal to a range between 50 meters and 300 meters with another location. Takes everything. Pinnacle skill.
Hey, dear readers! Beat here, with a new story, and one I plan on placing in Wattpad (probably will be before this chapter).
The idea of publishing this story far earlier than expected is because I aim to participate in the Writhaton of Royal Road (RR for convenience sake), and so by the 15th of this month I have to release 25K words to be put in the list (that way I get more readers in RR, hopefully).
So, you can imagine the few issues I will be facing in the start of this published book. Either way, I hope you all enjoy this story!
Please do remember to vote properly (5 stars if you truly love it and etc. I don't start the mess of 1 star because it's not your thing) if you like this story, and comment if you want to, because that will help vastly and will be great.