A week! It took a whole week just to make a spear that passed muster! Not that I am that slow of a learner, I managed to get a good looking spear by day two. But at that moment the professor from hell decided to update the requirements for my homework to include enchanting in the process.
I don’t know where it got a textbook on basic runework, but I want to have a word with the book store owner who set up shop in The Sea of Trees.
I understand that making Alice’s new body the best it can be is important but a girl deserves a break. Sadly this forest does not seem to have labor laws so I was not permitted a proper weekend.
I did manage to finally include some of the basic durability runes in the creation of my pointy stick spears. It was far from easy though. There is a limit on how detailed I can get with the designs of things at my current Class. The more I focused on getting the rune to look right and allow the mana through, the worse the design of the spear became.
However when all was said and done, I did quite enjoy the praise.
“Hmm. Quite impressive, I would have expected it to take at least a month. It seems I was right to choose you as the new Demon Lord.”
I grin quite a bit at that. Though I am still not very happy about the, becoming the Demon Lord against my will, thing.
Turning towards Lucadon, whom I have stopped calling “Professor Lucadon” out of spite, I ask the question I can see on Alice’s face.
“Does this mean I can start making her body now?”
The blurry shadowed figure takes a moment to think things over. Placing a hand to its nonexistent chin in contemplation.
“Well, I do believe we can start making one. However there is one more lesson that I believe will be crucial to the process. Even if you manage to create a functioning vessel for her, once she enters it she will no longer have access to the pathways in your mana core to project her little messages.”
I stiffen a bit. I hadn’t even thought of that. I just assumed that she would be able to speak like she always had after it had become such a natural part of my new life.
“So, what do I do?”
Alice and I lean in to hear what the shadowy terror masquerading as a kindly old professor has to say next. Alice has been keeping a diligent watch over everything I have been doing for the past week. Because this all pertains to the creation of her new body, she wants to know my exact capabilities in case she wants to make requests.
Smiling with a wicked grin that makes me feel like I am about to get a shitload more homework, the demon gives a painful answer.
“You are going to have to learn how to turn your light spells into their own runes!”
I just know this is going to take forever.
.
.
.
It has been about six months since I was murdered and brought back to life. Life is strange. I had found myself surrounded by a gluttonous plant, a creepy overbearing demon professor, and a cute tsundere type AI girl who just can’t keep her eyes off me.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[ I am only staring at you because you are making my body right now, don’t make it sound weird. ]
As I run my hand along her soft light brown arm I enjoy the glare she gives me while I make my mark on her.
[ Stop making it sound so dirty! I don’t want your pervy delusions anywhere near the thing I am going to be living in from now on. ]
As I revel in teasing my best friend, I finish up the runework on her arm. This one is for flexibility so that her movements won’t feel too stiff despite the wooden form. I have put a lot of runes on her body which forced me to build it bit by bit as I am incapable of doing such complicated work all at once.
Placing the finished wooden forearm down on the table alongside all the other pieces, I finally finish the project that I have been breaking my back over for a while now. It took me a whole month to figure out how to turn both my vision spell and message spell into a functional set of runes.
The biggest problem with runes is that they are not simple 2D shapes like I had been led to believe in all those isekai novels I had read. Runes are complex 3D shapes of interwoven pathways similar to the ones in mana cores, for obvious reasons. These pathways let one direct mana and shape it to affect the world around us.
The difference however, is that runes must be designed to function without the aspected mana that mana cores work with. While I can cast light magic quickly and cheaply due to my magic being aspected for light, A rune will have a much much harder time doing even something similar.
This resulted in me having to dumb down the spells quite a bit to prevent them from instantly draining her of mana. Right now the runes only let her see from the mana crystals embedded in her eyes. One for visible light, one for infrared. As for the runes I embedded in the head, they allow her to make little speech bubbles that float above her.
After getting approval from professor pain in the ass, I get to work assembling all the pieces.
Slotting the small wooden pieces together I see Alice looking on with a very expectant look. The doll does not look very pretty to be honest. I had to make the pieces quite small due to the limitations of my mana and Class. Right now, all put together, the doll is no bigger than one of those cabbage themed childrens toys.
I promised her I would make her a proper body once I was able, which is apparently something my Demon Lord title when mixed with my golemancy should make possible in the future. When that will happen is beyond me though.
Now comes the hard part. I have been practicing every second that I was not building the doll to do this.
Separating me and Alice safely.
I hold up a new mana core, a Class 1 core at about the same level as mine, and I begin shaping it. This all has to be done in one fluid process for the best results, so I focus all my attention on replicating the pathways that belong to Alice.
Her pathways are mixed with mine inside of my own core, so most of my time learning runes was spent deciphering not just my own spells but hers as well. I create a 3D map of light in front of me and use it to carve the pathways into the core. Once that is done, I hold the newly carved core up to the same vertebrae that my core is in and transfer Alice from my core to her own.
I feel the sweat pouring down my neck due to my nerves. Knowing that a mistake could do real damage to Alice right now.
Slowly, having finished the transfer I bring the core up to the back of the small neck on the doll. I run both the power of my golemancy spells and Demon Lord Title to merge everything together. The green cores begin to glow and I can feel my mana draining at a rapid pace. A torrent of mana, like a small hurricane, surrounds Alice’s new body. The small core eventually slides into place and the wood merges behind it, sealing it all together.
I wait with baited breath looking over my friend, hoping she is ok.
Finally, after the longest minute of both my lives, I see a little hand twitch. The doll’s eyes shift from a green glow to a soft blue one.
“Alice! Can you hear me? Are you ok?”
The tiny wooden doll twitches more and stretches its limbs. It fumbles for a second as it pushes itself up off the table. Staring down at its hands the doll, Alice, trembles.
[ Yes, I am ok. ]
[ It feels a bit weird… Ok, a lot weird. ]
[ Ha ha. I finally have my own body! Thank you Lua! ]
Stumbling over towards me, clearly still not used to the size and proportions of her new body, Alice looks up at me.
[ You are the best friend I could have ever asked for. Thank you. ]
I can tell that if her body was capable of it, she would be crying right now.
Before we can get any further in our tender moment, a clapping sound comes from the side.
“Well done! Well done! Now that you both have your own bodies, it is time to get your mana cores to the maximum purity and ascend!”
I glare at the demon. It is not news to either of us that it has not tact, especially after living with it for several months now. I had tried to teach the demon about personal space and things that should not be interrupted. It never went well, so I just gave up.
“Ugh, fine. How exactly are we supposed to do that without The System though?”
Smiling that always creepy smile the demon looms over our heads in what I now recognize as its love of being dramatic and nothing more.
“You will both learn how to dismantle and absorb the souls from the cores of powerful monsters to strengthen your mana cores at a speed that little System would never allow!”
Raising her little hand Alice asks a question that really should have been my first question as well.
[ Is this safe? ]
“Nope!”
Alice and I exchange glances and slump our shoulders.
I have a feeling this is going to hurt.