Skeletons disappear quite quickly, just as Aeonia promised, vanishing into thin air. Leaving behind nothing but dead servants of the Rampant Bloom, including the three cultists (their leader included) that they’ve carried into the entrance of the Dungeon.
Aeonia, once again just as promised, has entered the Dungeon but didn’t venture deeper than their unofficial guest room right beside the entrance. The cultists didn’t seem to bother destroying it, allowing her to sit on one of the chairs and wait there for the sun to set.
She was… kinda big. She fit, but barely. Yet, despite that, she seemed to feel no discomfort because of that. Being undead definitely had its perks.
Despite her nature as an outsider, she doesn’t seem to interfere with the assimilation of things on her Level. The ‘dot’ on the ‘minimap’ of the Dungeon representing her is yellow, instead of red for active hostiles, orange for intruders, green for their servants and blue for the creatures inhabiting the Dungeon.
It must be some sort of ‘allowed to enter’ designation.
I think so too
That’s good, since we can look through the L O O T
Let’s rebuild the Shrine of Saevius first, please.
Really?
Yes.
Ochako has some offerings for her new god, and I think that doing it after slaying a bunch of Bloom worshippers that destroyed his altar might offer us some… tangible benefits.
When you put it like that, it does sound like a good idea
fair
She can go and chop their heads off
Wait, what?
She isn’t going to take their heads off.
Just symbols of their cult, and even then not all of them as she’ll let us assimilate one.
Boooring.
…
Once Uraraka gathered up most of the symbols and the Shrine was restored (they’ve also resurrected Kirishima and Monoma by now, and Komori has already remanifested herself, not seeming to be very concerned by her recent death), she threw all of them bar one into the flames at his altar.
And immediately, something did occur.
There was a clear spike of Favour in the [Religion] bar, but Izuku only noticed that later. Because what initially brought his attention was the drop of blood that fell on Ochako’s head right after she threw the offerings into the fire.
She had the time to look up before she was absolutely soaked with a rain of blood that erupted from the ceiling, covering her entirely before she could react and then… disappearing without a trace?
“Uhm, what?!” Uraraka looks around, clearly as confused about what just happened as they all are. “What was that? What just happened?”
Wait for a second, I’ll check the system.
…
Oh.
Oh.
“Izuku?” Uraraka asks nervously. “I don’t like the ‘oh’. What’s going on?”
I think that Saevius really liked your offering. Probably because they’ve destroyed his shrine and you immediately punished them for it. And offered some of their stuff to him.
You leveled up and reclassed from [Barbarian Warrior, lvl 14] into [Barbarian Berserker, lvl 19].
You have a new [Ability] called the [Bloodrage].
The system classifies it as a completely new subcategory of [Abilities], titled [Theurgies], in its own subcategory named [Saevius].
Do you know what ‘theurgy’ means?
“Uhm, no?” Uraraka replies. This situation has really come out of the blue for her. “Ask Yaoyorozu-san, if someone knows the answer to that question, it’s her.”
Good point.
Yaoyorozu-san, can I ask you a question?
“Of course you can, Midoriya-kun.” Yaoyorozu replies. She has already returned to the 5th Level, and has just finished explaining what have happened in his absence to Kirishima. “What is it?”
Do you know what the word ‘theurgy’ means?
“In our old world? Yes.” Yaoyorozu once again proves to be a wellspring of knowledge. “It means divine magic. Magic that invokes power of one or more deities to cause some changes in a physical world. What brought that question?”
Saevius must have really liked Ochako’s offering, as she was given a new [Ability], which seems to be classified by the system as a theurgy.
“I keep forgetting just how much influence the gods have in this world.” Yaoyorozu sighs. It seems that Izuku wasn’t the only person who had problems processing that fact. “I’ll end up having to find one or more that I’ll find… agreeable, won’t I? Anyway, if Uraraka-san is still on the 1st Level, she should go ask Aeonia about it. She’ll likely know more.”
Oh, that’s a good point. Thank you.
Ochako, still there?
“Yes.” Ochako replies. Izuku found her standing in the corridor outside of the Saevius’ shrine, waiting for him to come back and give her some answers. “What did Yaoyorozu-san say?”
Theurgy is a Divine Magic.
Saevius must have really liked your sacrifice.
You should go ask Aeonia about it.
“O-oh, good point.” Uraraka responds, clearly startled by the revelation. And immediately moves to the room where Aeonia was waiting for evening to come.
***
“Theurgy?” Aeonia raises an eyebrow at that. She was still sitting by the table in the guest room by the Entrance. “How did that happen?”
“I, errr, I gave Saevius the stuff I took from the cultists we’ve killed as offerings.” Uraraka replies. “I think he might have liked it because they’ve just destroyed his shrine.”
“That sounds like something he would like, yes.” Aeonia agrees with her while shaking her head. “Vengeance isn’t a part of his domain, but he and his followers are often known to treat other people like they are treated in exchange. They repay loyalty with loyalty, friendship with friendship… and hostility with hostility. Great allies, but their feuds can last forever.”
Sounds like someone I know and love.
He is rewarded by a slight blush on Uraraka’s cheeks. She’s adorable when she reacts like this.
“The theurgy I got is called ‘Bloodrage’.” Uraraka replies. “Do you know anything about it? I don’t even know how to use it.”
“No.” Aeonia surprises them. “Don’t look at me like this. I know a lot, but most of it is very outdated. What I can tell you is what’s common to all theurgies. The combat ones cannot be used outside combat. There is no training them, there’s no wasting the blessing you received on something unimportant.”
Ah, so that’s why you can’t use it.
“I should probably explain the whole system to make things clear.” Aeonia suddenly says while faintly shaking her head. “Do you have a moment to listen to a lecture? I’ll try to keep it brief, I promise. And I think that it’ll help you a lot in the future, as it will concern some fundamental knowledge about this world.”
“Yes, please.” Uraraka nods quickly as Izuku makes a mental note to mention all of that to Yaoyorozu-san later.
“When it comes to mortals capable of wielding supernatural powers, there are four main types of them.” Aeonia then says. “Three of them are thaumaturgists. They are the martial artists, mages, and sorcerers. The second category are the theurgists that operate on a completely different paradigm to them all. Aside from rare exceptions, those four ways are mutually exclusive.”
They’ve never heard about ‘sorcerers’, and only learned about theurgies minutes ago, so it really sounds like an important talk to have to Izuku. Important and useful.
“Thaumaturgists all have a similar genesis.” Aeonia continues. “You take a mortal and expose them to a sufficient quantity of mana, making it flow into their body and having them consciously shape it in a particular way. This creates one of three outcomes: mana pathways, mana core or mana overflow.”
“Mana pathways are for martial artists and mana cores are for mages.” Uraraka replies. “We have those already.”
“Yes, you do.” Aeonia nods. She isn’t surprised by that, then again, she already saw them use both. “Mana pathways are created when mana is circulated through a mortal’s body. Making a mana flow through any living medium slowly lowers its resistance to mana, meaning that it’s possible to push more of it in and do so faster and easier. This allows a practitioner of martial arts to form mana nodes in their muscles, bones, skin and whatever else they need strengthened, and connect them with flowlines, both of which come together to form mana pathways. Martial artists spend as much time training their skills with wielding weapons as they are circulating mana through their pathways to make them stronger.”
So, murim-style martial arts
got it
Why are you here and why are you listening to lore exposition?
Because we might get something useful out of it, now shhh
“Martial arts techniques are different mana injection patterns leading to a desired outcome.” Aeonia continues. “Together with some guidance in the form of practical training. The amount of mana involved in that process is relatively small, however it’s very precisely dispersed through the body, making techniques rather cost-efficient. Usually your body is going to get exhausted before your mana will run out.”
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
“I think I follow it thus far.” Uraraka nods. “Thus far every new species we’ve got has had a different Martial Arts School. Are those exclusive to species?”
“In most cases, yes.” Aeonia replies. “It’s a matter of biological differences between species. Sufficiently similar ones can use each other’s martial arts, but it’ll usually make their techniques weaker. Any more questions?”
“No, please continue.” Uraraka replies quickly.
“Mages concentrate mana flowing into their body into a single, high density container, called the Mana Core.” Aeonia continues. “Then they draw energy from it to cause things to happen in the outside world. Since the Cores’ are small, the amount of energy that mages have access to is comparably small, but they tend to have best control when it comes to using mana outside of their own body.”
“So, they control the battlefield with relatively weak but precise spells, weakening their enemies and strengthening their allies.” Uraraka replies. And yes, that made sense to Izuku as well. That’s how Yaoyorozu fought.
“Yes.” Aeonia replies. “But make no mistake there: the more experienced mages can be immensely powerful. Just because a 9th Circle mage will lose in a duel against a martial artist of comparable renown and experience doesn’t mean that he won’t instantly stomp a slightly weaker martial artist. There’s also a less common subcategory called the spellblades, who use large numbers of strengthening spells on themselves which, alongside manipulating their surroundings with their spells allows them to match to martial artists in melee. Sometimes.”
“Makes sense.” Uraraka nods. “They simply all have their own unique specializations, and I’m fairly sure that mages excel at group fights. What’s that Circle thing, though?”
“There is a limit to how dense one can make their Core.” Aeonia replies. “Eventually all mages will reach that limit. When that happens, they have to dump a massive amount of mana into their cores, destabilizing it, and then withstanding the resulting core fracture and reshaping their core again, forcing it to become denser. This, in turn, means having much more mana at your disposal and thus being able to cast more powerful spells. This can happen nine times before a mortal will reach a highest density level that a mortal can hold.” She squints at Uraraka. “For context: your mage is a 1st Circle one, and so were the two cultists I killed. Their leader was a 2nd Circle one. And the average mage graduating from one of Grand Empire’s Collegiums is either a 3rd or a 4th Circle one.”
And suddenly Izuku feels very, very small. And can only wonder how much growth is ahead of them before they can challenge a certain Chosen One and attain their freedom.
“What’s the difference between White and Red Core?” Uraraka then asks another crucial question. “Aside from the color, that is.”
“That depends on the type of mana that they are built from.” Aeonia replies. “White Mana is the most common one among the regular mages out there, and means that your core is filled with the natural mana emanating from the World Engine. It has multiple colors and frequencies, and can be used for nearly all spells. Red Core is created when one taints their core with Red Mana which is the energy of the World Engine altered by the gods of the Nine Hordes. It cannot be used for all spells like the White Mana can, but will allow you to cast Wrath Magic spells with much greater power. We call such mages ‘shamans’, just as the cultists we’ve killed are called ‘witches’. Though all the mages using such ‘fallen’ mana are usually referred to as warlocks.”
“And the ones in the Breathless Tide?” Uraraka asks.
“Necromancers.” Aeonia replies. Yes, that was honestly to be expected. “And before you ask, one can taint their core by casting too many spells of the wrong type: for example, necromancers are created either willingly or not by casting magic of the Breathless Tide with a White Core too many times. It is possible to purify your core, but it’s not easy. Any more questions about that category?”
There were none, at least for now.
“The next category are sorcerers.” Aeonia continues. “They are born when one attempts to create a Mana Core but fails, or attempts to fracture their Mana Core but fails to reconstruct it. This forms a mana overflow, the mana rampaging freely through their body. When compared to mages, they have immense pools of mana at their disposal, as their entire bodies are their cores. But their control over the mana is minimal, and using magic can easily damage their bodies. On a battlefield they are destructive, with an average fire sorcerer capable of unleashing firestorms that would require a highest ranked mage to create. But they are nearly useless outside of that, and their defenses are meager as well.”
Makes sense and keeps things balanced I think
Huh?
It’s not unheard of for videogames to lose control of their mages and make them massively more powerful than warriors on higher levels, especially with high damage AoE attacks, all while being able to alter their environment and do other wacky hijinks with that
Linear Warriors, Quadratic Wizards it was called, I think
Here it’s split between mages and sorcerers
You either have AoE damage or the ability to influence your surroundings in a much subtler way
“Sorcerers are also often just trained that way, as they are useful.” Aeonia continues her lecture. “Questions about them?”
“No, please continue.” Uraraka replies after quickly consulting with them.
“Finally, we have theurgies.” Aeonia replies. “Here the borders get somewhat vague. For example: every casting of Wrath Magic theoretically invokes power of Saevius, just through the proxy of the mana that he tainted. However, there are also certain applications of supernatural power where instead of drawing upon this energy, you receive a more conscious boon from him. Such as what you clearly got.”
“So… it’s just a more unique Wrath Magic spell that I can cast without a Core?” Uraraka asks back. She doesn’t sound disappointed, but Izuku is ready to entertain a guess that she expected something fancier.
“Not quite.” Aeonia replies while shaking her head. “Theurgies are powerful and heavily intertwined with the souls of those that received them. Dungeons cannot manage them. Unless you consciously annoy Saevius, this theurgy will remain a part of you, regardless of the body that your soul is put in. Even if you switch to different body, the Bloodrage will remain a part of you, because it’s now part of your soul.”
Guess that unless we want her to become somewhat useless, and much weaker than she should be according to her level, she’s going to have to stay a melee fighter
I don’t see a problem with that.
She likes it that way.
“There is a downside to this, however: they are too powerful.” Aeonia continues. “Mortals can’t withstand them for long. As a result, theurgies are usually the most powerful among all the magical powers, but they have a time limit. If you manage to invoke that Bloodrage of yours, you’ll likely become immensely powerful for a short time before you’ll collapse, completely exhausted.” She lets Uraraka digest it for a moment before continuing. “On a positive note, they are a part of you. This power will forever remain useful to you, as it’ll grow stronger just as you do.”
Ooooh
Now that sounds pretty cool
It does.
“And it’s not exclusive with the martial arts?” Uraraka asks. “I thought that the four types of magic are mutually exclusive.”
“Spells, sorceries and martial arts are always mutually exclusive.” Aeonia replies. “Theurgy depends on the god in question. Theurgies of Saevius are compatible with all three disciplines of thaumaturgy. Nex, however, has no theurgies whatsoever, and Occasa’s theurgies are compatible only with spells. And the exarchs go into a completely different direction: their theurgies are much more common and available to the entirety of their priesthoods, but are powered up by soulflames, an altered state of their soul that can be described as a soul merged with a nascent mana core to become something else. On the other hand, it makes them unable to use all three types of thaumaturgy.” She shrugs. “Though I guess that their theurgies more than make up for it.”
Or, so more regular clerics/divine magic users
Makes sense
Yeah.
So, [Bloodrage] is something of a trump card, to be used when all else fails, as it can turn the tides of battle but will leave Ochako knocked out.
This just in
One For All is a theurgy
…
You can only cast it until you run out of bones, as they cannot withstand its power
I hate you.
The feeling’s mutual.
Also how lovely for you to say that All Might is a god.
What
I mean, I got it from him and I can’t withstand it, so if it’s theurgy then he has to be a god, right?
FUCK YOU
Eventually, you’ll see the light and worship All Might as your god and savior.
FUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOUFUCKYOU
***
Once they are done dealing out with the direct aftermath of Ochako gaining the attention of her god, the time has come for them to get that tasty loot.
And, to be honest, it was kind of disappointing, at least when compared to the immense number of creatures that they slew. However, they already got most of them, and none of them were daemons or shard spirits, so for the Dungeon, they were… almost worthless.
Almost.
They assimilated so much mass that they got some Residual Mana out of the process and could do the repairs a bit quicker.
They’ve unlocked two new species for their future servants. The first one was [Karadian Beastkin, Rabbit-Morph], which implied that the lone beastkin witch they slew was a Rabbit-Morph. But they lacked martial arts to give it to recreate Miruko (if Shigaraki would even agree to it).
Thus the only useful thing about Rabbit-Morphs was how it slightly expanded Midoriya’s repertoire when torturing Shigaraki was involved.
The other species they’ve unlocked was [Xylmade, Low Elf]. Which was so confusing to them that they had Uraraka ask Aeonia another question.
“Unfortunate beings.” Aeonia shakes her head when asked. “They don’t have any official name, ‘Low Elf’ is pretty close to being a slur, based on their contrast to the high elves. What it refers to is the result of two different elven subspecies interbreeding with each other. Or elves doing it with other xylmade species, like the ogres.”
… How bad is it?
“Very bad.” Aeonia replies when Uraraka relays the question. “They are sterile, often suffering from various birth defects. Elves usually stick to those of their own subspecies to avoid such beings being born.” She sighs. “They often get along better with humans than their own kin, because with humans they simply cannot have children at all. And for most of them, it’s better to not be born at all than to be born as a Low Elf.”
Needless to say, they don’t expect to ever get to use that particular species template, especially as it’s marked as mere 0.4 ETL. Rabbit-Morphs were at least 0.7, which was still slightly less than the morphs they already unlocked.
They unlocked the robes of the cultists, named [Robes of the Webmistress Family], with the last two words likely being the name of the cult.
As for the [Skills], they’ve unlocked [Dagger Proficiency I], [Herbalism [Vestiria] I], [Herbalism [Vestiria] III], [Basic Leatherworking I], [Basic Cooking I], [Basic Cooking III], [Basic Sewing I], [Basic Sewing II], [Basic Alchemy II], [Green Core I], [Green Core II], [North Vestirian Language, Written V], [Western Elven [Vestirian Dialect, Modern], Spoken VI], [Western Elven [Vestirian Dialect, Modern], Written VI], [Itavian, Spoken VI], [Itavian, Written VI], [Temperate Forest Survival I], [Temperate Forest Survival III] and…
Magic.
A surprising amount of magic.
[Filth Magic I] and [Filth Magic II]], meaning that they got their first second grade magic.
Most of that wasn’t going to be useful, and many were downscaled versions of skills that they already obtained from the beastkin. But there were exceptions. [Herbalism [Vestiria] III] and [Basic Cooking III], for example. An improved Alchemy, a completely new skill [Basic Sewing II], new language, improved [Temperate Forest Survival III]...
There would definitely be some improvements to their characters as they were right now.
As for the [Abilities] they’ve unlocked the following: [Guide the Flock], [Mother’s Embrace], [Combat Weaving], [Unleash the Swarm], [Lesser Carapace Armor], [Premature Birth], all of them requiring [Filth Magic I], so likely being taken from the regular cultists.
They also got [Broodmother], [Carapace Armor], [Borrow Eyes], [Incapacitating Spit] and [Piercing Touch], requiring [Filth Magic II].
They likely belonged to the cultist leader.
Solid half of those spells had names so weird that they weren’t even sure what they were about. Some were obvious, like the two versions of the [Carapace Armour], or the [Borrow Eyes] which was likely what the cultist leader used to monitor the vanguard. The rest?
Ugh.
We’re never giving those spells to anyone.
I have an idea.
?
Let’s give those spells… to Overhaul.
I…
I want to see him forced to fight other people by vomiting spiders at them
And I think you want that too
…
This… is tempting.
Ha!
But the answer’s still no.
He’ll probably just kill himself and that will be all. A waste of Residual Mana.
Gah.
I want to see that even once
He can kill himself later!
Still no.
Also, I think that Filth Magic requires you to be a woman to cast.
We can… change him
Please, no
Please do not change Overhaul’s gender just so that you can see him projectile vomit poisonous spiders at people for all eternity.
In fact, I forbid you from changing people’s genders for any reason that’s not their sovereign decision.
But
Just think about the possibilities!
I want to see female Dabi with a massive spider abdomen
We can have Chaos Witch Queelag in real life, Midoriya!
Albeit ugly.
I mean, she was already ugly, just waist down
And Dabi will be ugly waist up too
And on the inside
But still
Just think about it!
The sky’s the limit!
For once, we can and in fact we should go Plus Ultra!
You will not change Dabi’s gender and attach his upper half to a giant spider just to make Chaos Witch Queelag (whatever that is) into reality
Boohoo
I’ll at least be able to see how that’d look in reality in character editor
Btw.
I just picked that frog girl from your class and saw how she would look in a body of a Rabbit-Morph
And all I can say is TAKE THIS
Wha
Oh, that’s…
That’s definitely something.
Are you suffering?
No.
I’m just being extremely confused.
Damn it
I’ll get you next time
Good luck with that.