《A healthy mind in a healthy body》 1. Unexpected consequences "" Speech Italicsthoughts It is not every day that you do something that would make actual witches start a witch hunt if they knew you had done it. For Akihiko and Ryuunosuke it all started with a simple murder case. "Who do you think did this", said a middle-aged man, in a black suit. "Um, something not human?", responded a teenager, dressed in a shirt with an anime character and beige jeans. They were in a morgue. The body that they were examining was that of a white man. Aside from the injuries that had killed him his body had many scars. "Haa. Ryuunosuke you are someone with a rare ability, don''t let it go to waste. Study harder. But for your sake I''ll explain. See those injuries? They are tearing marks, showing that it was a blunted cutting edge that did it. And the lack of supernatural signatures of any kind show it was something fully mundane. Taking into account that there should be no animals capable of causing such imjuries in this city we can guess that it was a human." Ryuunosuke was startled and turned to look at the man. "Wait, if it''s not supernatural in nature should we even be involved?" "Good question. Normally? no. But I know this guy, he''s a Hidden World mercenary. Jonathan Strauss, works for the highest bidder and should be in Nagasaki. Buuut, he has morals and he hates, well hated, unscrupulous mages and martial artists and the such. So he tends, tended, to only take contracts against such people. Now why would there be such a person in our city, dead?" "He came for a job and was killed?" "Exactly! So now we have to find the douche who killed him because he''s surely an asshole and it''s our duty to deal with Hidden World assholes. So, let us begin. It''s not one of the ones we know because even if one of them turned evil he would not be this careless. Crafty foxes. So... any ideas where to begin?" "Have there been any newcomers?" "Nope, also not a single inhabitant has come to this city. Our wards would have detected it." "That meanseither they were already here and we didn''t know or someone resourceful has sneaked them in. So investigate big groups?" "Yep, the candidates are Sweet Breath Medical Company, the Auction, the Blue Leathers. Assholes. Or those government dudes. Let''s get going." Ryuunosuke paused, he had never heard of these government dudes. The Company was a constant of this city, mundane but aware of the Hidden World, and more importantly, rich. The Auction was East Asia''s Hidden World''s greatest merchant association. The Blue Leathers were the biggest supernatural gang composed of both humans and youkais, difficult to deal with but inoffensive to mundanes. But government dudes? Those he had never encountered. "Government dudes?" "Some guys that remain from before World War 2 and the american occupation. They have kept working for the ''Imperial Rule''. So delusional folks, and imperialists, but they have resources and age for them. Doesn''t surprise me you haven''t heard of them, they''re low-key and they have few inhabitants, but high grade military equipment and old resources. Well then let''s get going." Seven hours later, Ryuunosuke found himself in front of an old building, bustling with activity. "It''s here? Doesn''t look like a former government base." "Its a covert place. The real base is underground. Cliche I know.We are down to these guys then. Listen, stay out here, stay vigilant, and if I don''t contact you in ten minutes go home and bring reinforcements." "But won''t you be in danger, Akihiko?" "If you are going to be in the Hidden World you should expect to be in danger at all times, it''s a dangerous world." He said stepping towards the building. Ryuunosuke sighed, he had encountered the Hidden World when he told a classmate to shut up and the classmate didn''t speak for three days. He was soon attacked by the Blue Leathers and joined the Waning Moon Association for protection. It was a nice place, specially compared to some of the things he heard about. But sending him with only three months of training to a mission, in which a much more experienced man thought reinforcements could be needed? Not his idea of safe above all when he only had his ability, a healing spell, a magic detecting spell, and what could only be described as a magical taser. Thankfully his senpai was reasonable, he didn''t want to think what would have happened if Akihiko had wanted to bring him along.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. *** Ten minutes had passed, and Ryuunosuke was growing nervous. He was about to go to the asssociation when a man grabbed him from behind and all went black. A while later Ryuunosuke woke in a well lit room. He groggily looked around and saw he was not alone in the wide room. There was one man in glowing chains. Much like the ones binding him, he realised, in the room with him. It was Akihiko. And another in far more restricting bindings, an unconscious mediterranean man dressed in rich ceremonial robes. Manacles in hands and feet, chains binding him to a black stone pedestal that was fused to the ground and nailed with six centimetres wide nails, thick steel wire binding his arms and legs together, a black cloth covering his eyes and talismans that probably had binding spells. "Talk about overkill," he said still half asleep. "Awake at last, Ryuunosuke?" Said Akihiko, gently. "Wha-what happened, where are we?!" Ryuunosuke woke up and began panicking.This is no time to appreciate how trapped that man is, where the fuck am I?! "In the highest security room in the building of the imperials, they were our perps, I can''t believe they were hiding him," he said looking at the other man. "Why, who is he? Why are you so calm? What are they going to do to us?! What''s going to happen now?!" He asked, staring at the unconscious man. "Behold, the great-" he began proclaiming before being interrupted by the man waking up. "I''m known as the Oracle of Augusta Emerita. To understand his calm you must know about him. Saito Akihiko, son of Saito Akihiro and Saito Chiharu. His family has been aware of the supernatural for 200 years and are a far eastern orthodox magical family, but their abilities have declined due to a lack of knowledge and talented practitioners. The last heir of the family, Akihiko, joined his city''s Waning Moon Association to improve himself and restore his family. He has shown little promise and growth but his son, Saito Akira, shows great potential. He is considered this decades greatest magical prodigy in the association. Akihiko is proud and assured of his family''s and son''s future, as such he puts his all in his missions to make the association more willing to invest in his son. Laid back and sharp he is an effective if weak investigator. Currently held in the Locapalas'' Oracle''s room for realising they comitted the murder of Jonathan Strauss. He is calm due to a distinc lack of regrets, as well as experience with this kind of matters. His and your projected future is death and disposal within three days by the the 1915-founded Japanese Locapala, one of six organisations named Locapala in Japan''s history. The most likely future regarding the participants in these events is that the Locapala will relocate after the Waning Moon retaliates for your death causing massive casualties among their ranks and heavy economical and material loses. Their projected future further being discovery and destruction by the the current Japanese Supernatural Response and Regulation Agency of the Japanesse Ministry of Mysteries. The Waning Moon will go on. Your parents and friends will grieve but eventually move on and live normal but happy and long lives, except for Ichiryuusai Makoto who will die in a car accident in 2025. The Saito family of this city will prosper under Saito Akira. Jonathan Strauss has not made significant connections since the death of his family at the hands of the infernalist Johan Lieber, as such his death shall go largely unnoticed"The man finished his speech and fell unconscious again. "What." "Better than I expected honestly. Ehem, allow me to redo the introductions. Behold! The Oracle of Augusta Emerita, the All-knowing. He was last seen in Korea, these guys, erm, the Locapala, that''s a weird name, must have gotten their hands on him during the occupation in the war. I don''t know much more, just that he is one of the best oracles in the world and about 1600 years old." "So, how does that help us? He just prophesied our deaths!" "It doesn''t. We just have to get him out of here or the Locapala will escape, he''s how they knew I was coming. He can''t predict the changes that his prophecies bring until he has made them, so that means we now have a chance to live and the Locapala to escape. That''s probably how they''ve survived this long honestly, prophecy the years market condition and bam! Funds, funds everywhere." "And how will we escape? We''re a bit tied up at the moment, if you haven''t realised!" "Simple. They have the Oracle, they''ve gotten sloppy and think themselves infallible. These chains are completely magical, not a single physical component to speak of. Your Word of Might can easily break them." "Oh, ooh! That''s convenient. Sorry for freaking out. Let''s do this. SEVER." He spoke the last word brimming with power. The chains broke in pieces. Akihiko and Ryuunosuke stood up and stretched. "Thanks for that, my hands were getting numb. Let us get out of here. Grab the oracle. I''ll open the way you follow-" Clank A loud sound of breaking chains interrupted him. They watched fascinated as the Oracle began breaking free of his bindings, physical and magical, with inhuman strength. "Is he supposed to be that strong?" Said Ryuunosuke fearfully. "He isn''t even supposed to have enough will to walk! The bindings were so intruders would have a hard time breaking him free and give the Locapala time to stop them!" Akihiko exclaimed horrified. The man undid the cloth blinding and looked up in awe. "Tu, wait no. You" spoke the man," you are the one that freed me, aren''t you? Wait, yes, yes you are I remember that, wait I remember, I think, I, I. Hahahaha! I''m awake! I can think! And therefore I am! Finally, finally I am free of of that hellish place! Thank you, thank you! I Gaius Atiius Quadratus swear this day, I will repay this grace granted to me by Fukuyama Ryuunosuke even if it kills me." Swore the man grinning and laughing wildly. Yes, they couldn''t let anyone know they had been the ones to wake him. Oracles are too valuable to kill, and what they had done was equivalent to that. Well this is it, the beginning. I''d like some thoughts which how to improve my style since this is the first thing I''ve written and I''m not fully satisfied with it. I thank you very much for reading. Also, is there a word for a cloth used for blinding someone? I could swear there was one, but I can''t remember. Well then, farewell! 2. Escape. Chapter 2. Escape. Gaius was slightly confused. He was aware of many things, things that he should not know. Such as how to speak and write every language ever made in Earth, across all possible timelines. Such as an overview of the worlds history, such as cultural customs around the globe. Thankfully he also had forgotten many things. Such as the history of every single elemental particle that composes Earth, from the Big Bang to the current day, as well how they interacted with each other. Is it any wonder that going from omniscience limited to Earth across all universes in which Earth existed, regardless of the condition of life in it, across all possible timelines that could have been, to a normal if absurdly knowledgeable human was confusing? And let''s not speak about going from information overload originated insanity to sanity. Compounded by the realisation that everyone he knew was so long dead that even their cultures had perished. And the fact that he is in a land that prior to his ritual he didn''t even know existed. So yes, slight confusion was honestly an underreaction. However it was also true that he was in a bad situation so he chose to shove the existential crisis aside and speak to his fellow captives. This time rationally. ¡°I''m sure that you have many questions, and I''m equally sure that I know how to answer them, but now is not the time. Now is the time to escape, and then I''ll answer your questions. Is that agreeable?¡± ¡°Ok, sure. Do you know how to get out of here, ¡° answered Akihiko. ¡°What.¡± ¡°Unfortunately I''ve lost practically all my knowledge except things that I had previous to my former state. So little supernatural capabilities but I have common sense, language, knowledge of modern science, the world''s surface political state, and¡­ Well, I remember a lot but not anything that can help us right now, except this buildings blueprints. But as you''ve probably guessed I have abilities. One is something that allows me to feel and draw energy from my surroundings. Some sort of energy that makes me stronger, faster and increases my defence, and the ability to transform the energy in question into other forms of energy or project said energy. I also have martial arts and a little bit of magic rituals, which are useless right now.¡± Explained Gaius. ¡°What.¡± ¡°Well that''s good enough for me, an extra fighter is always good.¡± ¡°Not really a fighter.I have never really fought only practised, but with my literally encyclopaedic knowledge ofthe human body I should make do.¡± ¡°Wait a moment! How are you not freaking out Akihiko!¡± Exclaimed Ryuunosuke. ¡°Because freaking out right now is useless. Once we''re out I''ll collapse and scream in abject horror, but until then I won''t freak out.¡± Having said this Akihiko moved to the metal door and began examining a panel near it. ¡°This looks like an electronic lock. Tch, warded against magic, this will be a pain.¡± ¡°Actually I have a plan. See, this lock was designed to be both difficult and easy to open from both sides, depending on who is trying. It has an overload mechanism that opens the door if dosed with a great quantity of electricity but only if the safeties are disengaged, and if the safeties are disengaged the central security room will be notified. So easy to open, near impossible to do that without alerting the Locapala. My plan is simple. I punch it with electricity just as someone, I suppose you Akihiko, uses magic to physically disengage the safeties. It''s just flipping some switches over there. So that I overload the system, opening the door and stopping the transmission thus escaping unnoticed. For a while at least. We¡¯ll surely be noticed as we escape, but it''ll give us some time.¡± ¡°Wouldn''t it be better if you used a magic that triggered as your punch hit the lock? I think there are spells like that, no?¡± Suggested Ryuunosuke, trying to calm himself. ¡°That''s actually a good idea. I can do that. Let''s do it.¡± Akihiko commented, before moving to the switchboard. Muttering some incantations while the others watched. ¡°So, Makoto dies?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke worried by the news. ¡°Probably not, now that you know. You just need to make sure that he learns to drive responsibly. See my prophecies are based on the principle of Laplace¡¯s demon. I use full knowledge of physical and mental facts in order to create a model that predicts, with differing accuracy, the most likely future. This means my prophecies are not set on stone. Above all when my model doesn''t take into account the changes that the prophecy brings. So don¡¯t worry, you can prevent it.¡± ¡°Ok, it''s done. Whenever you want.¡± Akihito remarked moving away from the switchboard. ¡°Well then, give me some time to remember how I did this.¡± Said Gaius who moving in front of the door and setting in a stance. Focus, breathe in, focus, breath out, feel the energy that surrounds you worry discard outside influences, concentrate the energy from inside in your right arm, use the energy from outside to replenish the inner energy. Ryuunosuke watched fascinated as Gaius began to glow with a soft white light, but had to avert his eyes as the right arm began to shine brightly. Awefearawesurpriserecognition Discard outside influences. Transform the energy, electricity, condense, contain, spread, intensify, hold. Arcs of electricity began coursing through his forearm. Strike!. He punched.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The door opened without incident. ¡°I was a bit rusty.¡± ¡°That was awesome!¡± ¡°Was that senjutsu and touki?¡± ¡°No idea. Now let me tell you about this building. The floor we¡¯re in is the highest security one, but it doesn''t have cameras in fear they would be hacked. We should be able to get out without problem. Which is good because otherwise the door would be locked and forty centimetres of magic-reinforced, albeit badly, steel-tungsten alloy is not something I can break through. There are elevators but we shouldn''t take them. The stairs have thin retractable bulletproof crystal shutters, but I can break them easily. They shouldn''t stall us for long. Midway through there is a five centimetre wide door of the same materials as the first one, I should be able to break through in less than three minutes. From there on there should be no obstacles except people. The Locapala have 60 soldiers and 5 inhabitants, 2 mages, 3 ki warriors. The mages should be at your level in magic power Akihiko, but not in skill. The ki users are barely superhuman, they should be able to get to Olympic record level for three minutes.¡± Explained Gaius. ¡°Do you have a plan?¡± ¡°No, before all this I was just a hermit monk. No experience with this kind of thing. Also I''ve gone through what I remembered and I should be bulletproof.¡± ¡°Fuck, let''s see. Ryuunosuke you should be able to use Distant Shock about thirty times and Word twice more, right? Reserve it, use it only when I tell you. Gaius you take the front, I''ll be the rear, Ryuunosuke in the middle. When we reach the middle door I''ll put up a bulletproof shield and Ryuunosuke will take down those behind us. Gaius will break the door and take down those in ambush behind it, there''ll be some if they aren''t morons. Can you do it?¡± ¡°I should be able to fight at a level capable of taking down guys like them for about three hours. With all the breaking doors two. I should have no problem escaping, it''s you two I''m worried about.¡± ¡°That''s just unfair. I also have a spell activated that allows me to trace back my steps within twelve hours so I can guide us. Fine, that''s the plan. Lets get going.¡± ¡°¡±Right.¡±" The three got out of the tenth and ninth basements without problem. They were running through a hallway in the eighth when Gaius noticed something ahead. ¡°Enemies, four, rifles, one ki user.¡± ¡°Deal with them!¡± Gaius run up ahead turning through the corner and catching them by surprise. He opened with a kick to the first''s leg, followed by strike to the temple, knocking him unconscious. Then he uppercutted the second and punched him in the ribs, before shoving him to the ki user making them fall. The fourth opened fire, aiming towards Ryuunosuke who had just turned the corner, Gaius put himself between him and the bullets, stopping them with his body and throwing an energy punch that flew towards the man, knocking the rifle out of his hands. He then run to him and kneed him in the gut, punching him in the face when he doubled in pain. After this he turned to the ki user who had begun running at full speed in another corridor, and began pursuit. ¡°Stop!¡± Exclaimed Akihiko. ¡°It''s not that way!¡± ¡°But he¡¯ll escape!¡± ¡°He may be luring you towards a trap and at your speeds we''d get separated, stay together. The exit is not in that direction.¡± ¡°Alright. Sorry, tunnel vision.¡± They began running once more. They went through basements eight to five. Dealing with four attacks of five, four normals and the previous ki user, three, two, and five, all normals. They managed to knock out all of them. In basement five they run into the door, and began preparing to take it down. ¡°I''ll tackle it. For that I need at least five meters of space.¡± ¡°Right.¡± They sprang into position, just in time since they were attacked by twenty men and the two ki users from behind. ¡°Ryuu! Use your Word on the two ki users!¡± ¡°Knocking force! Knocking force!¡± Shouted Ryuunosuke. The ki users where blown back, knocked out. The soldiers took them and retired to another corridor. They returned with a few wielding enchanted shields, forming a shield wall from behind which the others began shooting. Akihiko had finished stabilising the barrier, and grunted with effort when the bullets began impacting the barrier. ¡°Now begin shocking the soldiers when you get a clear shot! Let''s hope the barrier holds up.¡± Meanwhile Gaius was tackling the door, which began to bend and distort under the force. ¡°How much longer, Gaius?!¡± Shouted Akihiko to be heard above the bullets. ¡°Two to three more hits!¡± Ryuunosuke managed to take down two of the soldiers before Gaius managed to crack the door and slip through it. He found the other twenty two soldiers and the two mages. ¡°Gaius Atiius Quadratus, I am Colonel Hamamoto Daichi of the Locapala. Surrender! We know that you were barely a Mage when you became an Oracle, and your lack of magic other than a physical force field and enhancement show it! You can''t have a magical barrier! You can''t win!¡± Said an older looking man, before signaling one of the mages to throw a fireball at him. ¡°That would be true." The fireballs impacted him. Before the smoke dissipated a voice was heard. "If I was using magic, that is.¡± He was unscathed. At the other side of the barrier Akihiko was growing tired. ¡°Is he done, Ryuunosuke!¡± ¡°I still hear screams! So no!¡± ¡°Fuck, let''s begin retreating. Go to the door!¡± The screams suddenly stopped. ¡°Guys! I''m done here. Between the ones we''ve already taken down and the ones on your side that should be all. I''m going over there.¡± ¡°Thanks!¡± Answered Akihiko. Gaius returned and proceeded to take the remaining soldiers down. ¡°Let''s get out of here and call the Waning Moon,¡± advised Akihiko, ¡±they''ll take them to the proper authorities.¡± With their way free from enemies they easily left the building. "GAAAAAH. What the actual fuck! The Oracle woke up on me! Shit, fucking douche luck! I''m gonna get killed!" In an alley near the Locapala¡¯s base, Akihiko called the Waning Moon. ¡°Now that I think about it. Couldn''t we have called from the inside?¡± Questioned Ryuunosuke. ¡°Nah, there''s no signal inside that place and they jammed magical communications. Trust me I tried.¡± Answered Akihiko. ¡°You know. I didn''t even think of that. Both mundane and magical communications were far more difficult in my time¡± They waited ten minutes before the Waning Moon operatives came and began gathering the Locapala and confiscating their property. After speaking with them Akihiko returned to speak with Gaius, accompanied by a suited woman. ¡°Do you mind coming with us? The elders would like to listen to your version of the events. And I want my answers.¡± ¡°More like they want to know if I can still answer their questions. The answer''s no, by the way. But I''ve got literally nowhere to go in this world, except maybe the Roman Catholic Church, so I''ll go with you and answer all of your questions.¡± Answered Gaius. ¡°Good. My name is Tsuchimikado Sakura, the governments liaison with the Waning Moon, I''d like to be present for the interview if possible, Gaius Atiius Quadratus.¡± Requested the woman. ¡°Wait isn''t that rude-¡± Began saying Akihiko. ¡°Heh, you even know roman customs? Thanks for the politeness. Ok, no problem.¡± 3. Respite Respite The car stopped near a vast, old style japanese wall. Three men and a woman exited it and stopped in front of the massive wooden doors. Atop them stood a board with the name Waning Moon Clan¡¯s Residential Grounds inscribed in it. ¡°Hm, so you masquerade as an old traditional rich clan.¡± Affirmed Gaius, looking around. ¡±Traditional place, I''m guessing the Association is old?¡± ¡°Indeed, the association has existed for three hundred years. It was created by a married Chinese couple, he was a ki user and she a mage, who came to Japan to run from enemies in China.¡± Answered Sakura. Akihiko went ahead and spoke with the gatekeepers. "Mister Ryuunosuke, may I ask what your first mission was like?" "It''s been tough. I feel so powerless right now, so weak. I couldn''t do anything." "That is objectively wrong," interjected Gaius, "you did the most important thing, freeing me. But aside of that it''s true that you are weak, of both strength and spirit. Three months of training and three spells for it shows a lack of commitment and effort,. I learned more and my teacher was terrible, with my talent being, and I quote, ''Like a rabbit trying to write''. I only got as far as I did due to my ability allowing me to practice more. Furthermore you aren''t ready for action, you lack the patience, courage and calm needed to make correct decisions under stress." "Huh?! Where did that come from?!" "While Gaius Atiius Quadratos said it with the tact of a truck, he is right. It''s within your capabilities to do much more. If you don''t wish to retire from the Hidden World you have to have a better work ethic Mister Ryuunosuke, or your talent will be wasted." "I say things as I see it, I won''t lie or coddle people. If they want to grow they must be faced with their shortcomings, doing otherwise is to hinder them. Also you can call me Quadratus or Gaius, Miss Tsuchimikado" "Very well Gaius, then call me Sakura. Also, you need to work on your delivery." "That is- Oh, he''s back." Akihiko returned with an young man in a kimono with designs of azure, green, silver, and golden asian dragons. ¡°Allow me to welcome you to the Waning Moon Association, Master Gaius Atiius Quadratus. My name is Ma Chao, son of the current head of the Moon Dragon Branch of this organisation.¡± The man bowed after saying this. ¡°I''ll be your guide during your stay here. The meeting with the elders and heads shall commence in two hours. In that timewould you prefer for me to bring you to your accommodations or to give you a tour of the Association.¡± Gaius returned the bow. ¡°If possible I would like to take a quick bath, since I haven''t been bathed in 267 years. Afterwards I would gladly take the tour.¡± ¡°Ugh.¡± ¡°Mister Ryuunosuke, be more respectful. It is not his fault that his caretakers were so careless.¡± Ma Chao chided him. ¡°Very well follow me, please. Mister Ryuunosuke and Master Akihiko please follow Fujimoto Ryuichi and make your report. Master Sakura, my father and Master Ma Jiang will meet you now.¡± ¡°If possible I would like for them to be in the interview Mister Ma.¡± Interjected Gaius. ¡°That can be arranged.¡± Answered Ma Chao. ¡°Very well, see you two later.¡± In a wooden room filled with steam Gaius relaxed while washing himself. ¡°Such luck that I ended in the country that loves baths as much as we romans did. A pity that they don''t have a cold pool or a sauna here. Oh well, better that when I was in the mountain at least. A fire, copper bathtub and stream water were not as fulfilling as this. At least not when I had to prepare it myself.¡± Gaius sighed. "The world''s changed, for the better overall. No slavery and no institutionalised discrimination in most modern countries, human rights, we can walk outside with symbols of our faith and not be killed, equal laws¡­ A pity so much had to be sacrificed in order to reach this point. Tragedies, massacres, wars, and the recent problem of environmental destruction. And democracy¡¯s weird, how do they even make it work? In Rome it didn''t work for too long, the Republic had many problems.¡±You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He stood up and went to the bath, submerging in the hot water. ¡°Am I a relic? Should I even exist in this time period? Even my former way of life has been discarded, now monks live in community. What exactly should I do?¡± He fell silent and simply began to stare at the air while enjoying the bath for a while. Eventually a voice was heard. ¡°Master Atiius, a tour of the facilities would take at least an hour and a half. If you wish to see it all you should get out now.¡± ¡°Thank you, Master Ma Chao, I''ll get out now.¡± Three minutes later he was out and dressed in new clothes, a simple white shirt and blue pants. They moved to the front of the building in which he had taken a bath. ¡°This is the residential building, five stories tall, a 100 metres long and a 100 metres wide. It''s the most basic of accommodations offered by the association. Very few members live here since over half of our members have their own houses, and of the rest a third are families that have traditionally been part of the association and have their own private quarters. There are also better accommodations that can be earned. Both those and the quarters can be found going through that fence over there. It occupies a full fourth of the terrains, being formed of high rise buildings with high quality apartments and individual mansions and houses. The path to your right branches out in three. What do you prefer, administrative building, training grounds and school or recreative terrains?¡± ¡°The meeting will be in the administrative building, right?¡± ¡°Yes, in the Moon God Pavillion.¡± ¡°Then leave that place for last. I don''t care about the order otherwise.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± They began walking and passed a collection of buildings to the right. ¡°That place is the administrative section. Farther to the right there is a bifurcation. To the south there are the recreational districts, where members put forward any kind of mundane or supernatural products, be they material or otherwise.¡± They moved towards it and came to a square. ¡°The building to your right is the supermarket where all official shops and facilities are housed. To your left is the bazaar, where stalls and temporary shops are placed. The building in the centre contains several parks and environmental reconstructions, both for recreational purposes or for supernatural entities who need or are more comfortable in said environments.¡± They did a quick tour of all three buildings and retraced their steps. This time going to the training grounds. Once they were there Ma Chao warned Gaius. ¡°This place holds both the school and research facilities, to your right, and the training grounds for practical lessons or experiments, to your left. We do not have time nor authorisation for a full tour so we will only visit the elementary to middle class facilities. In other words where twenty to thirty participant classes are held.¡± ¡°How do these classes work? Do they substitute normal education or are they additional?¡± Inquired Gaius. ¡°Depends, for those who can''t go to ordinary schooling for some reason, such as power incontinence or simply not wanting to, it serves as a full academic experience. However in case one has outside education the supernatural education takes place after school hours, two hours a day for ten hours total. Weekends are free.¡± ¡°Exactly how many people does this association has, to have such a comprehensive system?¡± ¡°About fifteen thousand between humans and other creatures.¡± Answered Ma Chao. Gaius was startled. ¡°How many inhabitants does this city have?¡± ¡°15000 from us and 3000 from the Blue Leathers. 200 from the Auction, but they are very powerful. 50 under the employ of the Medical Company as security. 2000 from miscellaneous groups with less than 30 members, 600 independents. 20,000 supernatural creatures living among us, and 80,000 supernatural creatures that hide in other dimensions. So, about average for a city with 600,000 inhabitants, the mundane kind.¡± ¡°That''s¡­ I never knew there were so many.¡± ¡°That''s because in your age they used to live outside human civilisation, but with it''s expansion many came to live among us.¡± Having finished their tour they went to the administrative district, it was composed of three buildings and one path that went to a Japanese style mansion. ¡°That building is for residence permits, documentation and the such for members. The one behind us is the mission and law keeping building, it has all facilities required for the proper administration on this city. The building to the northeast is the same as the first one except for guests and non-members. And finally that mansion is the Moon God Association and it holds residences of the clan head, the elders, branch leaders, and their families. It is where the overall and highest security decisions are made.¡± Gaius looked around with wide eyes, and sighed. ¡°It''s as you people say, I was but a frog in a well, a big fish in a small pond. There''s still time, where should we go first?¡± ¡°First let''s get you acquainted with the administrative buildings, then I suggest you tour the Moon God Pavillion. It''s three hundred years old and in my opinion a work of art.¡± ¡°Then I shall accept your suggestion.¡± Answered Gaius, smiling. 4. Past and future. Past and future. In the innermost room of the Moon God Pavillion there was a table. In its centre sat an old man in black robes with a waning moon embroidered in the front. To his right three women sat. Two old with the kanji for left and front embroidered in their silver kimonos, and one middle aged dressed in a golden full plate armour with a phoenix engraved on it. To his left laid three men. Once again two old dressed in silver kimonos with the kanji back and right in them, and one middle aged man in golden full plate armour, with the design of a dragon engraved on it. In front of them sat three men. To the right there were a teenager and a middle aged man. The last sat in front of the Moon robed man. He was about nineteen years old. They were Ryuunosuke, Akihiko and Gaius respectively. ¡°Hello Master Atiius, I am Kagayakashii Akairyu, Head of the Waning Moon Association. To my right are seated the Elder of the Front, Funai Ai, in charge of administrative issues. The Elder of the Left, Nakamoto Yubi, in charge of internal affairs. And the Head of the Phoenix Branch, Ma Jiang, in charge of the administration of the associations mages. To my left are the Elder of the Back, Hamamoto Kioshi, in charge of the clans less public operations. The Elder of the Right, Miyahara Mamoru, in charge of external affairs. And the Head of the Dragon Branch, Ma Jian, in charge of administration of the associations ki users. Before we begin do you have any questions?¡± ¡°Any question? Alright. Is the gender equality intended?¡± ¡°Yes, it is the Founders'' decree that two of the elders shall be male and two female. Also the heads of the branches must be a male and female of the Ma family.¡± ¡°Then the second question. Is ki the same as my time¡¯s life force?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Finally, Brilliant Red Dragon?¡± ¡°Heh, I chose that name. You see, I''m the son of a dragon and I never met my mother so I named myself after my heritage, and my hair. And that look says it all. My father was an eastern dragon, they can shapeshift. Now our questions are-¡± ¡°Actually,¡± interrupted Gaius, ¡°I have a way to answer all your questions, let me tell you an abridged version of my life. Don''t worry, it wasn''t very eventful.¡± ¡°If you think that''s best.¡± ¡°Very well. I was born in a small city in the roman province of Lusitania, located in the current Andalusia, near the frontier with Portugal. It was the Year of the Consulship of Valerius and Ianuarianus or year 1041 Ab urbe condita, no wait, 288 A.D. I was born to a patrician family, we hand vast lands, dedicated mainly to the cultivation of olive and grape. We also had a secret, we were christians and we had been for centuries. When I was nine years old, 297 A. D, I got I in a fight with a servant''s child and beat him hard. After the fight my father scolded me and asked me what I was thinking. I answered, I wanted to rip his flesh from his bones, I wanted to drink his blood. My father was scared, scared not of me but for me. For a year he tried all methods he could think of to curb my bloodthirst, literally in this case, but to no avail. This made me realise something about me was wrong. This made me scared, scared of myself, of what I could do. Next year, 288 A. D, a merchant, friend of my father came, and when he heard of my plight he said. "Marcus, I know of a great man named Anthony in Egypt". He told us of the hermit, the monk, and his retirement from the world. I was enthralled by the tale, a man willing to leave everything to achieve spiritual improvement. Immediately I told my father that I would follow his example, and he agreed. The first two years were tough, the hermit lifestyle is not for the faint of heart, but I persevered. Until I saw it only worked partially. And so I did even more things, prayer, cultivation, brewing, reading the classics and philosophy, exercises to keep my mind and heart pure. And yet it didn''t work fully. I could better control myself, but the evil in me hadn''t disappeared. It was then that I started in the path that would bring me here. I thought that my aggression was born out of an excess of energy, and so I began to train my body. Once again I found it effective, yet, not enough. So I increased my load, I began to practice martial arts. Unarmed, sword fighting, archery, all three. Day after day I toiled in my journey, until one day, when I was fifteen, terrible news reached me. Emperor Dioclecianus had decreed that christians would have to convert, or die. Thus did the tenth persecution begin. I was furious, I wanted to go out there and kill all roman soldiers, but my father was wiser and a better Christian. He sought to aid his fellows peacefully, through bribery. Wine, oil, denarii and even aureus, all to make the army higher ups to ignore the edict in our region. That was all we could do. But it worked, within our lands no christians died, and thus I kept my hermitage. But my heart was full of rage, fear and worry. It was horrible. Eventually the persecutions came to an end, and in 206 A. D a miracle happened. Constantine rose to the throne, and he made Christianity legal. The persecutions would finally end! Those were the happiest days of my family''s life, we were free to pursue our religion, to worship freely and wear the symbols of our faith, we needn''t hide anymore! That day I found peace and happiness. And so I went out, to pray. And while I exercised I began to feel something, energy and life all around me. The energy filled me up and something, another form of energy, surged and granted me might. I realised so when my punch broke a boulder. I was scared, what was this, I thought. And so I sought my father¡¯s counsel, he had the answers I was seeking. He spoke to me, of magic and lifeforce, of demons and dragons, of spirits and elementals. Knowing of my abilities he contacted a Mage he knew of. He answered and together we seeked answers. We didn''t find them, the first was a mystery, the second too strong and malleable to be lifeforce, and I could not use magic at the time. Instead he began to teach me of summoning and portal rituals, all that he knew, and while I learned I practiced to control my abilities and learned to shape and control both energies. One day he brought me to a reunion of supernatural creatures. I activated my ability there and was overwhelmed, I had never realised that in that state I could feel the feelings of others, and there, there were many feelings, many of them dark. I returned home and learned to separate those feelings from mine and discard them. And then I thought: could I use this? Could I purge my evil thoughts? It didn''t work. In my desperation I did something foolish, I decided that I would summon something or enter in contact with some dimension that had knowledge on how to cure me.This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. I stumbled on something more. I performed the ritual and it worked, too well. I accessed a repository of knowledge, and it destroyed me. Past and present, across all versions of Earth I knew it. Omniscience of all the Earths across the multiverse, and of all possible timelines that could have been in those Earths. And let me tell you the multiverse is vast, even if only one out of 10^100 universes held a version of Earth there would be 10^100 Earths, and each of those had billions of possible timelines. I should have died, but something in there wished for me to live, so I became immortal. Or to be concrete inviolable, nothing could harm me, not even time. I could not degenerate. I could not age. I could not die. But at the same time I could not handle the knowledge, and so I lost my mind and became only capable of answering questions about past and present, and guess the future. My family took care of me for a century, until the last who remembered me bankrupted and she sold me to a Mage society in Augusta Emerita. There I was called a prophet, until the Caliphate invaded. The arabs brought me back to the Caliph, and they tried to replicate my ritual, but it didn''t work most of the time. And when it did the connection was temporary, a year at most. Maybe my connection was so strong because I was the first, or maybe I was an anomaly. But even then they discovered the connection was fragile, and it could be broken. They also weren''t inviolable. And so they halted their experiments, and once again I was used as an Oracle, for they were unwilling to free me. Then the mongols attacked, they took me and brought me to the steppes. And from then I was fought over and I changed hands time after time after time, until one day I moved to China. Then to Korea. And finally seventy four years ago I fell in hands of the Locapala. Until one day two men came to my prison, and one ordered all bindings to be severed and I was at last freed. And I woke up healed, so that''s nice." Gaius turned to Ryuunosuke. "I have already said it Ryuunosuke, but I will repay this debt." He then faced the Head. "Is that enough?¡± ¡°That''s fucked up.¡± Commented Akihiko. ¡°Yeah.¡± Muttered Ryuunosuke. ¡°That was... Informative." Said Akairyuu, ¡°but I think I speak for all of us when I say that I still have two questions.¡± Having said this he looked at his fellows, who nodded in acknowledgement. ¡°First, how much remains of that knowledge in you? Second what are your plans from now on?¡± ¡°Of the knowledge only remains what I considered most important. The ability to communicate with others, as such I retain all languages, culture, customs and common sense of the world, you''d be surprised at how much that last one differs depending on country. And the events that happened around me, which is how I knew about the Locapala and their facilities. The second question I can answer easily, apart from repaying Ryuunosuke, nothing. I have nothing left, I don''t know what to do.¡± Gaius stopped looking at the Head, and began staring at the void. The Head began to speak in whispers with his fellows and seemed to reach a consensus. ¡°Gaius, I have an offer. Do you want to join us? You won''t even need to commit to us we only ask that you complete one task for us¡± ¡°What task is this exactly?¡± Asked Gaius, warily. ¡°Allow me to explain,¡± began Ma Jian,¡± we think-¡± ¡°And why should you be the one to explain, idiot brother?¡± Interjected Ma Jiang. ¡°Because I have three and you have one, which is also mine, bratty sister.¡± Responded Jian. ¡°You see, we believe that your ability is something we call Senjutsu, or Unity in the west. It''s an ability that can only be trained specifically at great risk, or awakened naturally. However in orden to awaken it one must have some requisites of mental health, fortitude and will. This is because of the drawback you mentioned, if one does not awaken naturally they run the risk of being corrupted by the Kegare and Tsumi, or malicious thoughts, of others. The second is an ability that all those who have achieved Senjutsu have, the upgraded form of ki, life force for you, Touki, or Great Power in the West. It is capable of all that ki can and is more malleable. I didn''t know it was capable of being shaped into other forms of energy. It is difficult to control and achieve. It is born of a superior physique and there are three ways to achieve it, Senjutsu, being a descendant of certain species which have it naturally, and brutal training while having ki.¡± Jiang interrupted. ¡°What you should know is that they are rare, with less than 0.01% of ki practitioners bellow forty years of age achieving Touki. And Senjutsu is rare tooo. Including you there are five sages in this city, the Head being one of them, the Blue Leaders leader being another, and the boss of the youkai another. And of the five you are the only one to achieve it naturally.¡± ¡°What we want from you is to train three anomalies, since our users are too busy with their own affairs. Two of our younger members have achieved Touki, one through having a divine bloodline, and the other through hard work.¡± Continued Jian. ¡°Also there is a girl, half six tailed kitsune, who was trained for Senjutsu by her mother before She left. She recently achieved it. She belongs to both the Dragon and Phoenix branches so she can use both Touki and magic, we''d like you to train her in both high arts.¡± Finished Jiang. ¡°Of course you would be appropriately compensated for your time and efforts.¡± Said Ai. ¡°That is acceptable. Let us discuss terms.¡± A predatory smile appeared on Gaius¡¯ face. ¡°I can''t believe you got them to pay you 500,000 yen per week for four hours a week, plus whatever you get from missions, and accommodations at an apartment in the residential quarters and no mission quota! I have a quota and get paid half for twice the hours, and it took me years to get an offer to get a house!¡± Exclaimed Akihiko. ¡°You live here Akihiko?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°Nah, got an ancestral house but it''s the thought that counts.¡± ¡°Well I am the son of a oil and wine merchant after all, I know how to haggle. Very. Well. Ok, more like I''m the only person available for the post that isn''t ultra strong or important so I had an incredible advantage.¡± Responded Gaius, looking back as he walked along Ma Chao. ¡°Master Atiius, for the next week you will become accustomed to the grounds and city. This Thursday you will get an identity and Japanese nationality, and we will begin to sort your documentation. Next Monday, six days from now you will participate in an assessment that will determine your grade level for martial arts and magic and enroll in the school. Tuesday through Thursday you will have placement exams in the Japanese education system. You will begin your classes Friday, and use the weekend to remember your full skills and prepare classes for your students. They shall be held on the normal ki practice hours Tuesday and Thursday. You have two hours for Senjutsu lessons on Saturdays. Master Saito shall be your guide.¡± ¡°Wait I''m a nanny know?! No way I''m-¡± ¡°It shall count as a green mission and paid accordingly, per week.¡± ¡°When do I begin!¡± ¡°Tomorrow. Your room is in portal 14, 5B, Master Gaius. Now if you''ll excuse me.¡± Chao bowed before leaving towards the member administration building. The three others arrived at the main crossroad. ¡°Well, I''m going home. Goodbye Gaius, Ryuunosuke. See you tomorrow.¡± Akihiko began leaving. ¡°Wait me too?¡± ¡°Of course, unless you want another tough, low paying mission instead of following your mentor?¡± ¡°Oh. Then see you tomorrow¡± ¡°Bye¡± Akihiko left, and before Ryuunosuke could do so as well he was stopped by Gaius. ¡°Listen I think you don''t understand how grateful I am. If you have any problem, at all, call me. Got it?¡± ¡°I don''t think I did something so great so-¡± ¡°Bullshit, you freed me from my own personal hell. I don''t care what you think, I''ll repay you.¡± Said Gaius approaching Ryuunosuke, until they were a few centimetres apart. ¡°Um, space, please?¡± ¡°I''m making you uncomfortable, right? Sorry, hermit lifestyle doesn''t do much for people skills. I''ll leave you be, just, think about it. Please?¡± Having said what he wanted Gaius left without letting Ryuunosuke answer. ¡°It was supposed to be just another day. I''m spent. Home here I go.¡± Muttered Ryuunosuke, before leaving. Back at the Moon God Hall. ¡°Still. Today is a good day, no, this decade is a good one. Saito Akira, the three kids, Fukuyama Ryuunosuke, and now Gaius Atiius Quadratus. The association will prosper.¡± Said Nakamoto Yubi, Elder of the Left. ¡°Only so long as they get time to grow.¡± Said Akairyuu, wearily, ¡°Kioshi, what are the movements of the Cult of the Bodhisattva of Pleasure?¡± ¡°None of them have approached this city, but their agents in the association are stirring¡± ¡°If only they came ten years later, what horrible timing.¡± Commented Jiang. ¡°Coincidence? Jiang in the 156 years I''ve led this association I''ve learned that there are no coincidences with that Cult. Increase security. Meeting adjourned¡± ¡°¡±¡±¡±¡±¡±Yes, Master¡±¡±¡±¡±¡± 5. Modern life. Modern life. Wednesday, May 12 6:06. Gaius woke up, thankfully he retained his sleeping habits since yesterday he was too tired to set the alarm clock. It was after this thought that he realised something. Namely that he should be more weirded by the fact that he knew how to operate basic machinery and, now that he thought about it, about the machinery in question. It was weird, to intellectually know that he should be more awed and out of depth with the current world, and yet feel as if it was just normal. A remnant of his limited omniscience he guessed. But he wouldn''t complain if it allowed him to function, instead of needing months of training to learn to do it. He also reasoned that he should stop procrastinating and get out of this luxurious, soft and firm, warm and comfortable, ambrosia in bed form. Ah, he would never be able to sleep in his old bedding, truly a devious plot to bind him in the darkness to modern luxuries. Well that was probably an exaggeration, but it truly was different knowing about the modern world¡¯s conveniences and another experimenting them. Thankfully he was from the Roman Empire and not the Middle Ages and as such more accustomed to luxuries. But his home in the mountains was hell compared to this apartment, which was kind of the point honestly. You can''t build the patience and temperance to overcome hardships in this wonder of the world that were modern beds. He lazed about for a few more minutes before standing up and making breakfast, vitroceramics and ovens were so much better than fire. Making some bread and eating some fruits that the house was stocked with, before realising he had already baked products in the drawers, and in great variety too. He was a bit overwhelmed, honestly. He normally ate bread he baked himself, with fruits and vegetables he grew himself, water he drew from the spring and boiled himself, and sometimes milk or honey from his cows and bees and meat from old or sick animals that he took care of. But now he had everything a short ten minute walk to the supermarket. If he had not chosen to end his hermitage of his own will, he might still have been unable to do it after experiencing such convenience, unlikely as that was. He then thought about when he should bathe since it was different in different parts of the world, before choosing the common Japanese way, bathing in the evening. After all he could not keep bathing only on Sundays, germs were scary and he''d stink by modern standards. The culture shock dealt with he prepared to go out, before realising that he hadn''t established a way to contact Akihiko, nor a meeting point, panicking since he had no way of contacting him before resolving to ask the administration to send a messenger to him. Crisis dealt we headed towards the internal administration building he toured yesterday. Leaving his home, he had to remember to lock the door since he was no longer in the middle of nowhere. He went down the stairs, not ready for elevators. From then on it was just seven minutes. When he arrived he went to the general help counter. ¡°Good morning sir. Is it possible to send a messenger to Mister Saito Akihiko to inform him that I''ll be here so he may come and we may discuss today''s schedule?¡± "Yawn. And why don''t we just call him?¡± ¡°Because¡­ I didn''t think of that. Please do it.¡± Two minutes later he was on the phone a call in course. ¡°Who is it?¡± ¡°It''s me Gaius. I wanted to discuss today''s plans.¡± ¡°It''s six in the morning, can''t we do this later, please?¡± ¡°Hmm? When do you usually wake up then?¡± ¡°At a decent hour! Sigh. Seven, seven in the morning.¡± ¡°Very well, I shall be in the training grounds to keep my morning exercices, I will tell the receptionist to tell you where I''ll be.¡± ¡°Kay, bye.¡± He hung up. Gaius looked at the phone for a moment, before shrugging and leaving to the training grounds. At 7:30 Gaius was finishing his exercises, considering whether he should increase his workload since he seemed to have more stamina that before the accident, when he saw Akihiko appear. ¡°Gaius! Hello, listen, sorry for how grumpy I was before, you woke me up. But now I''ve had my coffee so I''m better! Coffee, what would I do without you.¡± ¡°Not be addicted to a legal drug?¡± ¡°Ha ha, very funny. Ok so today we¡­ wait a moment are those 150 kg dumbbells?!¡± ¡°Yep, much better than the boulders I used back then.¡± ¡°What kind of workout do you do?!¡± ¡°600 push ups, 300 goblet squats, 600 sit ups, 400 prisoner get ups, 200 cross body hammer curls, 200 dumbbell scaptions, 10 100m sprint runs, a 30 km run. All of these to be completed in an hour, and finally a one hour endurance run.¡± ¡°What.¡± ¡°But today I''ve finished early so I''m thinking of increasing the workout.¡± ¡°No wonder you are so ripped. Like holy shit that''s ridiculous. Not even professional athletes do that much! I hope.¡± ¡°Probably a lot more, I couldn''t do a tenth of this before achieving Senjutsu.¡± ¡°Ah you use Touki! I see.¡± ¡°Not for exercise, no. This is all supernatural body strength. But I probably do not do the optimal setup. I''m looking forward to getting an actual trainer. Better exercises and actual tutoring in martial arts instead of only manuals? That''ll be great.¡± ¡°Oookay, let us leave this conversation before I begin to doubt my masculinity. This morning you won''t separate from me since you don''t have a phone nor documentation or money for one. I will show you the basic layout on a map and then we''ll tour the old town. Once school hours are done we''ll go to pick Ryuunosuke and show you the old town''s supernatural locations, since he has yet to see them, and that should take our day so that''ll be it for today. Any questions?¡± ¡°Not about the tour but what is a green mission?¡± ¡°Missions are classified by colours. White, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet and black. White are chores to get accustomed to the system and are paid in the hundreds of yen. Red are more important chores and varied tasks that do not require combat, paid in the thousands of yen. Orange can involve combat but Rank 0s can complete them, paid in tens of thousands of yen. Yellow require a Rank 1 to complete normally and are paid in the hundreds of thousands. Greens Rank 2, millions. Blues Rank 3 to 4 tens of millions. Indigos Rank 5, hundreds of millions. Violets Ranks 6 to 7, billions. Blacks are different, they are goals of the organisation, and have bounties that accumulate with time to complete, no difficulty, the oldest one is 300 years old, hasn''t been fulfilled since the Founders¡¯ times, I don''t even know how much it pays. Despite how I''ve classified them, not all are for combat. For example there are investigation missions that I tend to fulfill, and I''m good enough to get yellows of those. White to green are common, but above are rare, we haven''t had a violet since ten years ago, which is the takedown of the Blue Leathers boss, who''s a Rank 7. Clear?¡±Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators! ¡°What are these ranks?¡± ¡°Combat classification. I''m a Rank 0, you probably a 3. Commonly Ranks 0-2 are called the superhuman Ranks, 3-5 army Ranks, 6-8 WMD Ranks, and 9 is Anything Goes, from nation conquering dude to universe destroyer. Most gods are on this Rank, some are 7s or 8s. The weaker ones such as kunitsukami can be anywhere on the spectrum." ¡°Ah yeah, those guys. Scary living in the same universe as those.¡± ¡°Yeah. Well let us ignore cosmic horror stories for now, we''ve got a city to explore!¡± ¡°Ok, let me shower and change.¡± Ten minutes later Gaius and Akihiko were in the later''s car examining a map. ¡°This city is divided in two parts by the inter-city rails. The old town and the new town that came to be after the building of the rails. The old town is the lifeblood of this city, being a thousand years old and holding many historical and religious sites, it''s a tourist lure. It also holds most of the supernatural creatures dwellings, as well as many facilities. It''s where we are right now. The new town holds many residential districts, as well as all the industry, it holds the Blue Leathers and a lot of small groups and independents. It''s where the Locapala was. As I said we''ll begin with the mundane old town. Let''s go.¡± He started the vehicle and began going through the streets, naming them and telling him what they held. The old city was composed mainly of old buildings and mansions, but it also had modern buildings even within the same streets, creating a nice contrast and variety. Architectural styles of many different ages where obvious, the sheer history of the city could be seen. It was also quite obvious that there was no wealth segregation, at least in this part of town, since mansions, modest individual houses, and apartments could be seen next to each other. The streets where narrow and wide, ordered and chaotic, showing the lack of design typical of old cities, and honestly a bit confusing, Gaius realised they would be easy to get lost in, and decided to always bring a map with him. Many hours later they had made a surface tour of the old town, avoiding certain parts, when they made a stop in a certain bar to eat. ¡°Blue Spirit, huh. What kind of place is this." ¡°Has two parts, a traditional bar, and a restaurant area. They''ve got good food, and good drinks. It''s also well known for its information brokers, both mundane and supernatural. It''s a truce area for all factions in the city, and defended by them, the worst place to cause a ruckus in. I''m a regular, come on, get in.¡± They entered the restaurant area and a waiter came to take their order. ¡°So, you got any favourites?¡± Asked Akihiko, signaling the menu. ¡°Pickled vegetables, fried vegetables, grain foods, fried meat.¡± ¡°Something, I don''t know, more concrete?¡± ¡°That''s all I''ve eaten since I was nine sooo.¡± ¡°Ah, yeah, that, I forgot. Get him my usual and I''ll take¡­¡± They finished eating and Akihiko brought Gaius to the bar area, where he told him he had to meet someone. Akihiko took him to a private room on the second floor, where he knocked. ¡°Hey, Sakae, you there? I''ve brought someone to you.¡± ¡°Akihiko? Sure come in.¡± Gaius entered the room. In it there were two people. A big man of german ancestry, at least 2 metre tall, wide and muscular, with long and wild hair, stood between the door and a tall japanese woman, shorter than Gaius sure, but at 1.85 he was taller than many. ¡°Welcome Akihiko,¡± began the woman, ¡°have you brought someone for information?¡± ¡°No, you are the one that''ll be getting something. This man, Gaius, is like you, catholic, buut, he just got out of stasis, he''s from the third century and a monk.¡± ¡°Really!¡± Squeeze the woman. ¡°Cough. My apologies, I was simply excited since I''ve always wondered how the first christians lived. My name is Shiba Sakae. My bodyguard there is Adam Reinbach.¡± ¡°Hello Mister¡­¡± ¡°Ich hei?e Gaius Atiius Quadratus. Ich f¨¹hle mich geehrt, Sie kennenzulernen. I hope I was not presuming when I thought you speak German.¡± ¡°No, don''t worry.¡± Answered Sakae. ¡°If it''s possible, could you tell me about how things were back then?¡± Gaius glared at Akihiko, before turning and saying: ¡°No problem. As you know the persecutions made it so that we had to meet in secret¡­¡± An hour later Gaius had finished recounting all he could think of. ¡°Thank you for generosity, Master Gaius. If you ever need some information do come here, I''ll give you special rates.¡± ¡°I actually have a question, are there catholic churches in town? I need to get to day with the current canon.¡± ¡°Yes, there is one in new town, let me tell you where.¡± Gaius and Akihiko left the bar, getting back in the car. ¡°You are a cruel man, springing that on me without warning.¡± Complained Gaius ¡°Heh, sorry. She has just helped me a lot, so I wanted to do something for her.¡± Explained Akihiko smiling. ¡°Hmmmmmm. Alright I guess. Now what.¡± ¡°We''ve finished ahead of time so we have to wait till the kid comes from school. You know? I''ll bring you home that way you''ll know where to find me.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± A while later they arrived in front of a western style gothic mansion and Akihiko brought the into the precinct, before parking. ¡°Home sweet home, ancestral mansion of the Saito family. Opinion?¡± ¡°Did they make this kind of houses 200 years ago?¡± ¡°Dunno, we had to renovate this one fifty years ago, it exploded, hard. Come let me present you my folks.¡± ¡°Dad, mom! I''ve brought a guest.¡±¡± A man came down the stairs with and elegant step. ¡°If that is the case don''t shout like a street vendor, be elegant for once in your life. Oh kami, what have I done to raise him wrong? Sigh. You must be Master Atiius. My son told us about you yesterday. I give you my gratitude for saving his life, and ask that you forgive his rudeness. I am Saito Akihiro. Sorry if my son has insulted you.¡± Chided the old man, with a deep and steady voice. ¡°If I''m honest he would not have been in that danger if I hadn''t told the Locapala about him, so I think that balances out. As for the other he is annoying at times and presumes too much others, but he is a good man and has no malice so it''s not a problem.¡± Answered Gaius seriously. ¡°Hey!¡± ¡°I thank you for your kindness. Would you like to pass to the reception room? My wife and daughter-in-law would meet you there.¡± ¡°My pleasure.¡± The three men relocated to a spacious room where two women and a six year old child were waiting. The elderly one began to speak, ¡°I am glad to meet you Master Atiius, I am Saito Chiharu, this is my son¡¯s wife, Saito Seijun. This is my granddaughter, Saito Akane.¡± ¡°It is an honour.¡± Responded Gaius bowing. ¡°The honour is mine, Master Gaius.¡± Bowed back Saito Seijun. The girl began fidgeting, and whispered something to her mother, who nodded at her. She then approached Gaius and bowed. ¡°Thank you for saving my daddy, Master Atiius.¡± ¡°As I said to your grandfather it''s not a big deal, in fact it was my responsibility.¡± After that the six sat and began talking, with the more experienced speakers advising Gaius on what to do and what to don''t do in the Hidden World. ¡°And never, never call a kitsune a temptress. They don''t like it, at all.¡± At that moment the door opened and a seventeen year old, with a remarkable resemblance to Akihiko came in. There was just a weird thing, he had golden irises. ¡°I''m home!¡± ¡°Welcome back dear! We are in the reception room, there''s a guest here.¡± Akira went to the reception room where he presented himself to Gaius. After that was done Gaius commented on his eye colour. ¡°That is a sign of my trait.¡± He explained. ¡°Trait?¡± ¡°Yes, an innate power, only achievable through generations of mages or ki users of ancestry, experimentation or random mutation. In my case they are the eyes of analysis and recording, they allow me to see magic and ¡®save¡¯ the spells I''ve seen, allowing me to analyze them. I''ve reached the point where I can analyse low level spells in less than a second.¡± Answered Akira, obviously proud of his ability. ¡°Then it''s no wonder they call you a talent.¡± Commented Gaius. ¡°We should get going,¡± interrupted Akihiko, ¡°the kid should be back now.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Gaius said goodbye and left the house. They picked Ryuunosuke and began a tour of the shrines and supernaturally active places of the old town, as well as various dwellings of inhabitants and portals to pocket dimensions. After finishing their visit to the Inari market, one of the cities two great supernatural markets, Akihiko brought them to a park. On the way there Ryuunosuke began to speak. ¡°Gaius I''ve been thinking about how you told me that I was weak and lazy, and¡­¡± ¡°You said that? You sure don''t hold back, do you?¡± ¡°I only say the truth as I see it.¡± ¡°As I was saying, I''ve realised you were right, I was slacking of. Do you have any recommendations.¡± ¡°Have someone who can tell you to focus on your magical studies when you begin slacking. Aside from that not much, it''s quite a personal affair. Oh, and you should begin exercising, that''s never bad to do, it gives discipline, and a better body.¡± ¡°He is right about that. I also exercise, even if you''re a mage you shouldn''t be a squishy one.¡± After that the conversation died down until they reached the park. ¡°So why are we here? This place seems bad, I get a bad feeling.¡± Questioned Ryuunosuke, trembling slightly. ¡°Mother of God.¡± Muttered Gaius astounded. ¡°I don''t even need to activate my Senjutsu to feel the sheer amount of grudges, curses and negative emotions here, it''s overwhelming.¡± ¡±Open the way!¡± Shouted Akihiko. ¡°Newbies here!¡± At these words the space divided in front of them showing a path leading to a stone building, floating in a void. ¡°We don''t have authorisation to enter so this''ll do.¡± Said Akihiko narrowing his eyes. ¡°This hellhole is this city''s prison for supernatural criminals. You''ll probably have to visit sometime, so it''s good you know where it is. Come on let''s go.¡± They left and the way closed. After this Akihiko said they were finished for the day and so they all returned home. 6. Exploration Exploration Friday, May 14. In the training grounds Gaius had just finished cleaning up after his routine when Akihiko came in. ¡°Hi there Gaius. I see you''re keeping at it.¡± ¡°Always, six to seven years of routine are not so easily forsaken.¡± ¡°Cool. So, listen, I''ve got the rest of the weeks routine. Today we explore the mundane new town, concretely the industrial district and parts of the rest of the city. Tomorrow we finish that. And Sunday we make an in depth exploration of the supernatural, unlike Wednesday¡¯s one. Do you already have a phone?¡± ¡°Yes, I finished all paperwork needed for it yesterday. There was soooo much of it. Mountains, mountains! It was much easier to get an identity in my time. But I¡¯ve digressed enough, yes I have one of these smartphones.¡± ¡°Then let me give you my number. Ok, that''s done, let''s get going.¡± The men proceeded to do as planned and explored for the next two days. It all went smoothly and without troubles until Saturday evening, when Gaius felt something amiss in the air. ¡°And this is a common street, nothing to say about it, let''s go¡± ¡°Some of my friends hang around here though.¡± Commented Ryuunosuke. ¡°Wait. I feel something, something bad.¡± Said Gaius, stopping and narrowing his eyes. ¡°Act natural. I don''t feel anything, do you Ryuunosuke?¡± Questioned Akihiko. ¡°No.¡± He then proceeded to cast a few detection spells to no avail. ¡°Nothing I can see. Maybe it''s some Senjutsu stuff?¡± He whispered. ¡°Yes, I''ll try that.¡± Focus hatredpainfearexcitementlustgreed.¡± Suddenly a wave of hatred, pain, fear, excitement, lust and greed hit him, but it wasn''t intense enough to be something that was going on at the time. He said that to his companions. ¡°It seems like spiritual remnants, fragments of emotions left behind due to great emotional intensity, or something happening for a long time. They can be good or bad, though normally only spiritual beings should feel that, apparently Senjutsu also can. But it makes no sense, if there was something like that some evil spirits should be around here, hmm. Wait, is there a barrier or something like that?¡± Mused Akihiko. ¡°I can only feel it from a certain point, there''s some energy that blocks it from the outside, but I can feel beyond it¡± Answered Gaius. ¡°Well then, that''s it. Also you can see through barriers, wards or illusions? Senjutsu''s broken.¡± ¡°Should we, like, do something about it?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°No. Only a few people could do this in this city, and none of them are bellow Rank 4. Worst case scenario it''s the Blues. We should just tell the Association, they''ll take care of it. Let''s go, we don''t know if they''re watching.¡± And so they headed to the association. There they reported to the law keepers. They were made to wait before a man came to them. ¡°Please come with me, the Head wants to see you.¡± They were then brought to a meeting room, where the elders and the Head were. Akairyuu began to speak. "Please, tell me exactly what you felt, and where was it, you three. I want everything, no matter how minor it may seem." They did so, and the elders began to speak. ¡°Not enough information to know if it''s that place.¡± ¡°But would they put so much effort for somewhere else?¡± ¡°Could be one of their branch HQ, or not related to them at all.¡± ¡°We should watch the place then.¡± ¡°But we run the risk of being noticed.¡± ¡°Umm,¡± interrupted Ryuunosuke, ¡° I don''t know what you''re speaking about, but I''ve heard from friends that they''ve seen expensive cars and such there.¡± The elders looked at each other and nodded. ¡°That settles it.¡± Nodded Akairyuu. ¡°Listen you three, don''t speak of this to anyone, not a single person, not your family, not colleagues. There''ll be heavy punishment if that happens.¡± ¡°¡±¡±Yes, Sir.¡±¡±¡±¡± ¡°Good. Dismissed.¡± They left the room, and Ryuunosuke began to wonder. ¡°Do you know what that was about?¡± ¡°I have a guess, some important-¡± started Gaius before Akihiko interrupted him. ¡°I have a better one, but it''s best not to speak about that until we''re told we can. Come on, let''s go back to the tour.¡± Soon it was Sunday. The three men came out of a restaurant. ¡°That was interesting.¡± Said Gaius. ¡°That''s an understatement, they sold raw meat! And poisons!¡± ¡°Youkai and fae eat some weird shit, that''s for sure.¡± Nodded Akihiko. ¡°But still, the food¡¯s good. And I can''t help but see how you were looking at that oni waitress. I see you like them with curves, eh?¡± ¡°Huh! That''s not it!¡± ¡°Then you like strong, tough women? Or maybe women who can dominate you. You are such a kinky boy.¡± He wiggled his eyebrows. ¡°Wha-what, no I don''t, I just-¡± ¡°Come on, who he''s sexually attracted to is his issue, and not something shameful. Even if he would probably like being dominated. Though he should control himself, he was drooling at the sight, that was disrespectful.¡± ¡°Not all of us are monks!¡± ¡°Actually I think she liked the attention, she was smirking at him and leading him by the nose.¡± ¡°That isn''t true!¡± ¡°Huh, really? Wow I''m bad at seeing that.¡±Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author. ¡°Listen to me! I wasn''t drooling nor was I being led around!¡± ¡°Well you WERE a monk after all, and a hermit. It''ll take you a while to identify that kind of thing-¡± ¡°Stop ignoring me!¡± ¡°Give it some time.¡± ¡°Gaaaah!¡± ¡°Think positively Ryuunosuke! You may actually get a date! I didn''t get one until I was twenty. You lucky seventeen year old, you.¡± ¡°Pleaaaase, just stooop. It wasn''t like that.¡± ¡°Come on Ryuunosuke we were just teasing you.¡± Smiled Akihiko. ¡°We were? I was speaking seriously.¡± Said Gaius puzzled. ¡°Then why were you ignoring me!¡± ¡°Because you were obviously in denial and wouldn''t accept that you are an hormonal teenager with a type.¡± ¡°For the last time that wasn''t-¡± ¡°It was Ryuu, it was. Still you were lucky she was a peaceful oni, a violent one might have tried taking you home. And a fae would have either made flowers grow out of your eyes or began stalking you, and you don''t want a fae stalking you.¡± ¡°Fine, I have a type and was looking at her, happy! Wait what would have a fae done?¡± ¡°They''re very scary Ryuu, very scary.¡± ¡°Wait, I thought fae were from northern Europe?¡± Questioned Gaius. ¡°Times have changed. Now supernatural creatures are globalised. We''ve got a majority of youkai, then fae, then werewolves, then varied creatures. We had a vampire infestation once but they were exterminated. However we''ve got mages of many kinds so from time to time they bring other creatures, whether they buy or summon them. Someone once summoned a succubus¡± Explained Akihiko. ¡°That fucking. Ugh!¡± Exclaimed Gaius. ¡°That''s a strong reaction from you.¡± Asked Akihiko, a little weirded out. ¡°Sorry, demons where a problem in Hispania, above all for us christians. Nasty little rapists.¡± ¡°I don''t deny that one, the bitch took three mages with her.¡± ¡°Actually it''s they, succubi can change gender to become incubi. They use the semen they take from men as succubi to impregnate women as incubi. So a child from an incubus may look like the son of an innocent man, and the only thing that could exonerate him is if the child shows signs of demonic powers, which doesn''t always happen. So not only do they rape both men and women but also implicate their victims in their crimes.¡± Ranted Gaius. At that Akihiko and Ryuunosuke grimaced and chose to leave the matter at that. ¡°Okay, next stop, Bishamonten''s shrine.¡± Three hours later they came before a shop that Akihiko insisted in showing them. ¡°And at last my favourite shop, Morioka''s. My family has been buying here for centuries. Magic books of all kinds, materials, reagents, tools, encyclopaedias, potions, poultices, talismans, paper shikigami, familiar contracts, magical creatures, maps, dictionaries, anything you need they sell. I even saw them sell a Shiki-Ouji once! All legal though, no love potions or magical drugs here, no sir.¡± ¡°Weren''t love potions a myth? At least those that last more than three minutes.¡± Inquired Ryuunosuke. ¡°Yes, but even those are annoying. Come on, let''s see if there''s something you like.¡± The shop was divided in sections depending on the product. A young man stood at the counter, reading some books, and welcomed them. ¡°Welcome to this shop Master Saito and company, may I ask for what you''re looking for?.¡± ¡°Hello, Fudo. Are your parents home?¡± ¡°No sir, did you wish to speak to them? Is it an order?¡± ¡°No I just wanted to say hello. Oh well. We''re just browsing. ¡° ¡°Very well, if you need my help just call me.¡± He bowed before returning to his books. Akihiko thanked him before turning to the others and saying. ¡°Just look around, don''t worry about price Ryuusuke, I managed to get the pay for the Locapala, yellow now 350,000, and this one, only a million though it''s too easy for more. Both in avance. And we''ve been paid twenty-five million for yesterday''s info. The same for you Gaius minus this mission, and plus your first weeks salary.¡± ¡°Wait twenty-five! Then-¡± Gaius blocked his mouth. ¡°Not talking about that, remember?¡± After that they dispersed and began looking through the products. ¡°This pendant causes minor physical defects, such as a pimple, to disappear from people''s perception as long as is worn, perfect for a first date. Warning, mages or ki users may see through this, fae and Senjutsu users will see through it. Not recommended if you plan on taking it off during the date. Why would they take it off? Wait, oh.¡± Read Ryuunosuke before going red. ¡°Back to the box you go.¡± ¡°Hmm, blue horned owl¡¯s eyes, good for augmenting the power of eye techniques. This one''s for Akira then.¡± ¡°A Comprehensive Guide to the Elemental Planes: Creatures and Customs: How to take care of your Summoned Creature. Three volumes, 20,000 each. Worth it.¡± Commented Gaius. Gaius bought twelve books, magical circle painting tools and a few summoning reagents, Ryuunosuke bought an enchantment kit and the Basic Enchantments and How to Make them Stick book, and Akira bought the eyes and a few spell enhancing reagents. ¡°A good haul, I think. Why the enchantment things Ryuunosuke?¡± ¡°I want to make my clothes bulletproof at least. Those guns of the other day were too scary.¡± ¡°Good idea, I should also re-apply mine, hold on a moment.¡± While they were waiting Gaius¡¯ attention was caught by a blue bird in the familiar section. ¡°Mister Morioka, What is this bird?¡± ¡°You have good eyes sir. That is an unknown bird, my father found him a year ago, he has minor magical abilities and can also use ki, so it is very tough, he also turns invisible and intangible, eats fire and has a freezing breath. He can fly at 300 km/h at top speed, but that is only high altitude flight, near the ground he flies at 50 km/h tops, but is a graceful and skilful flier. We''ve ranked him as a 2. Honestly the only reason we haven''t sold it yet is because people are wary of it''s unknown origin and the fact that it''s magic disrupts examination spells or ki scans.¡± ¡°Can I examine it?¡± ¡°If you can, go ahead. I''m also curious about it.¡± Focus. ¡°It''s a normal magical animal, no traces of experimentation or spells, nor of curses, he also isn''t sapient, but he''s quite intelligent.¡± ¡°So just an unknown species then?¡± ¡°Yes, is he for sale?¡± ¡°Yes sir, we''ve already gotten all information we could out of it already. I have to warn that we''ve sent it''s magical signature to the International Committee of Magical Animals, so it''s signature isn''t unknown.¡± ¡°Don''t worry I don''t plan on using him for espionage or crime, how much is him?¡± ¡°Ten million, but I''m willing to sell it for half if you tach me the spell you used to scan it.¡± ¡°Sorry but that was Touki.¡± ¡°I see, that''s a pity.¡± They left the shop soon after and while they were being driven back Akihiko scolded Gaius. ¡°You do know that your Senjutsu¡¯s supposed to be a secret, right? That was reckless.¡± ¡°Sorry, I just wanted him and needed to see if there was something wrong. It has a lot of potential, if I make it my familiar it''ll reach great heights.¡± ¡°Yeah. A good familiar is good. I have three, a penumbra rat, an eyeless hound and an all-water eel.¡± ¡°Is a familiar needed to be a good mage?¡± Asked Ryuusuke. ¡°Yes and no. It isn''t required but an adequate familiar for the right job does wonders. I wouldn''t be half the investigator I am without those three''s abilities. They also enhance their masters abilities, I am stealthier, have better senses, except sight, and can breathe underwater. So very, very useful.¡± ¡°What should I get then?¡± ¡°Not yet. You have to know what your specialty will be so it can enhance it. They also don''t need to be animals or elementals, but those are the easier ones. I for example know one guy that specialises in plants and has a dryad, he''s really good, Rank 4. You need one that helps in combat though, like my hound or Gaius¡¯ new bird. The important thing is that familiars grow with their masters, so they''ll never lose their utility. Most have two to five. But some, such as Abe-no-Seimei, have a dozen or more. I think the guy that had the most in history was Fionn the Wild, with about two thousand. That''s insane by the way, don''t do it.¡± Back in Gaius'' house he was in his workshop, in front of a complex circle. ¡°Let''s make sure everything is alright, shall we?¡± After triple checking he began the ritual. He placed the bird in one of the four inner circles, while sitting in the opposite one, with the other two holding potent, and expensive, reactives. He performed the incantations and finally reached the final step. ¡°I, by my sacred name of baptism of Gaius Atiius Quadratus, by my mystic name of Quaesitor in Virtute, and by my secret name, not known to me, do hereby declare that i shall care for this familiar and oversee his growth. I shall not seek to harm him and I shall seek to protect him from the world''s evils. This i swear with the Saints, Archangels and God as my witnesses. As an offering of my oath I shall grant him three names, as per tradition. One to be known by the world, one to be known by me, and one to be known by those above, if he were ever to gain a soul. These names shall be: Reito no Kiseki, with happiness in mind. Felicitatem, with health in mind. And finally the most sacred of names: DOT HWA CPH CM MWGN EL IDI MIIQL. He who is watched and protected by Michael, with safety in mind. I wish to establish a contract I wish to establish a contract I wish to establish a contract Thrice have I shown my will. I ask for confirmation. Do you accept? Do you accept? Do you accept? Thrice I have asked and not once been rejected. I call upon Jesus Christ so that I may become as great a teacher as him. I call upon the twelve who regretted their betrayal, Peter, Andrew, James, John, Thaddeus, Bartholomew, Thomas, James, Matthew, Luke and Matthias, so Felicitatem may be the disciple they wished to be. I call upon Gabriel, so my connection with Felicitatem may bring him wisdom, as the apostles received the Holy Spirit. And so, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, may the contract be established.¡± At these words the room lit up in a ethereal, pale blue shine, coming from Reiko, and a deep silver shine from Gaius. The shines began to shift, forming three tendrils that seeked their opposite, while arcs of crimson electricity flowed in the ground, sapphire water flowed in the heights, and golden air appeared. When the tendrils met each other they joined and the mists, electricity and air were absorbed in them. It made an intense white light shine as soft trill sounded, a fresh smell, like a forest in the morning, appeared, and they tasted a sweet, soft and deep flavour, while they felt a warn breeze flowing on them. The ritual finished the light died down. The circle had burned and the reactives turned to dust. Gaius rose and picked Reiko up looking tenderly at him. ¡°I wonder what the japanese version is like, this one''s filled with three''s. Good to officially meet you, Felicitatem.¡± 7. Assessments. Assessment It was finally Monday, day of Gaius¡¯ assessments. The first one began at 8:00 and consisted of a comprehensive medical exam. It was held in a complex located within the training grounds, since it was the place most likely to have injuries besides the magic research workshops. Aside from this one there was one in the residential complex and one in the school grounds, so as to give the swiftest response possible. The exam tested all possible issues that an inhabitant could have, from mundane illnesses, to curses and supernatural afflictions. Gaius¡¯ results were normal for a Senjutsu practitioner, except for one thing, his immune system. ¡°Well, results are standard,¡± began Dr. Igarashi Osamu, ¡°you have a stupidly healthy body, but that''s expected from you. Your lifespan should be longer than a normal human''s, about a hundred and thirty years according to our predictions. Usual for ki users, if a bit high, but that''s probably due to Senjutsu. The Head also showed increased lifespan when he learned Senjutsu. But there''s a problem, your immune system could counter all of the illnesses I know of.¡± ¡°I don''t see a problem in that.¡± ¡°The problem is that some of those bacteria and viruses are not natural, and should have not been exposed to any human. So any idea why you can counter illnesses you can''t have ever encountered?¡± Gaius thought about it and it occurred to him that his ¡®inviolability¡¯ must have included illness protection, and since his source of knowledge had access to everything on Earth it might have coded all possible illnesses and cures in his immune system, maybe even in his genome. As such his body remembered how to counter all illnesses of earthly origin, and some that might not even have existed in this universe. He chose to explain all this to the doctor, withholding how that situation came to be, since his past was meant to be a secret. The association may face backlash from the Oracle¡¯s ¡®death¡¯ after all. ¡°So let me get this straight, you have the greatest medical discovery in history in you, but you know and refuse to say how it happened.¡± ¡°I was ordered not to say.¡± Shrugged Gaius ¡°At least tell me, can it be replicated?¡± ¡°No¡± ¡°Fuck. Sorry. Ok, would you agree to let me take some samples from you in order to clone them to get a source of antibiotics and antiviral for currently incurable illnesses?¡± ¡°Please do so. That''s something I can''t reject in good conscience.¡± ¡°Ok. In less groundbreaking news you''ll probably never have an allergic reaction due to that, so, congratulations, you''re the healthiest person in the world. You do need to increase your fat levels, you are a little lacking right now compared to your size and musculature¡± After the medical exam came the fitness exam, and after that at 9:30 came the qigong and martial arts practice. The qigong test seemed easy to Gaius, since he had long since learned to control it, with its only techniques being using it to increase your physical abilities or using to invigorate or scan others, and his Touki was naturally better. In Touki control he had a bit more difficulty, but managed to complete all exercises that his examiner, Akemi Michi, one of the 50 odd Touki users the association had, gave him. Showing he was past the point where he could be taught. Now only being able to explore and create his own abilities, but actually beyond the skills of the examiner, who never thought to use it in any way that ki couldn''t, an apparently widespread misconception of Touki¡¯s characteristics. Finally came his weak point, martial arts themselves. The exam was a spar with Akemi. The spar began, the two fighters took stances ten meters apart. The examiner crossed them in a third of a second and opened with a kick to the ankle, which Gaius jumped back to evade. The other fighter followed with a straight punch to the chest that Gaius redirected with his forearm, the punch creating a shockwave, before he moved in and did an uppercut. Akemi tilted her head to dodge and used the opening to punch him in the side. Gaius¡¯ was unfazed, she had underestimated his toughness, and headbutted her. She staggered but recovered before Gaius could take advantage. He proceeded to try and hit her in the head but she caught him and threw him to the floor with enough force to crack the nephrite jade floor. She then proceeded to stomp on Gaius¡¯ head, but he rolled away, her foot only breaking the floor further. Gaius opened space between them but she pursued and caught him, unleashing a flurry of attacks. Gaius began losing ground and stepped back while trying to block. From then on the woman kept the advantage managing to beat Gaius. After the fight Gaius sat on the floor pained and panting. ¡°Y-you know, I''ve neve, gulp, never been this tired and pained since I got Senjutsu. Though it''s still less than my workouts used to leave me like, before that.¡± ¡°You are one durable bastard, I''ve never had to kick someone so much so they''d stay down, not even Touki users. Now I want Senjutsu.¡± ¡°Don''t. Unless a practitioner tells you you are prepared that''s a bad idea.¡± ¡°I know, I know. Assessment then. You have rock solid basics, know to punch, to parry, block and can take care of an opening. Your big problem is that you lack experience, you don''t know when to dodge, when to attack, and most importantly, how to CREATE an opening. Second big problem is that you lack techniques, you don''t know how to use your opponent''s momentum against them, you can''t counter their techniques. I guess you don''t have formal martial arts training?¡± Explained the woman. ¡°No, I only had books and self training.¡± ¡°That seems right. I don''t know how your Touki techniques would level the field. So let''s spar again. Again.¡± The woman said, with a wide smile on her lips. Gaius stood up and took a stance again. This time he began, setting himself on fire, the air being distorted, so that she may not grab him again, and punched her with an electricity filled fist. She dodged and punched him in the gut, she then jumped back, feeling the heat. Seeing that fire didn''t work fast enough Gaius also infused himself electricity. Now with lightning flowing through his skin Akechi began being harmed when she punched him as well as when she was near him from the heat. Taking advantage of her reticence he rushed forward, his arm flowing with a blue substance that ate away Akechi''s Touki when he punched her. Using the opening in the flow of Touki, he gathered his strength and punched her with all his force, lightning and fire coalescing in his fist, and exploding on contact. Akechi was blown back and impacted the barriers of the ring, making the enchantments glow under the strain. She them fell and coughed a bit of blood.Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road. ¡°Heh, heheheheheheheheheHAHAHAHAHAHA!¡± She laughed, before massively increasing her speed and strength, arriving near Gaius instantly and blowing him away. She smiled before a startled expression appeared on her face. ¡°Oh, shit sorry! I got so excited I forgot to hold back.¡± ¡°You. Hit. Like. A. Fucking. Truck!¡± Managed to slip Gaius, cradling his chest. ¡°I hit way harder than a mere truck. At least like a train.¡± ¡°Was. A. Figure. Of. Speech.¡± ¡°Uh, do you need a doctor?¡± ¡°No. Give. Me. A. Minute.¡± And so she did. Once he had recovered they sat down and she gave her final assessment. ¡°Before anything else, how long could you keep fighting at that level and how long would it take you to recover? Also, was that hit your maximum strength?¡± Asked Akechi. ¡°Half an hour, three minutes and yes, but I can throw more.¡± Answered Gaius. ¡°Senjutsu¡¯s broken. I want that shit like, right now. I''ll have to ask the Head.¡± She whispered to herself. ¡°Well then, I welcome you to Rank 4 strength! Congratulations, now you can punch a tank and win. Though it''s only your raw strength and stamina that''s 4. Your lack of experience and skill downgrade you to middle tier three. Your strength is sufficient but a skilled opponent will run circles around you. You should take intermediate martial arts practice, there you can get all you need and it''s only three hours a week, so that leaves you to that magic stuff of yours.¡± ¡°You do know that magic is more useful that ki, and Touki only surpasses it in a few areas, right? Everyone should know at least the basics.¡± Questioned Gaius. ¡°Yeah, and I do know the basics, but it''s too complicated for me to reach the truly useful stuff. I''ve only gotten advanced combat magic and and basic ward-breaking. That''s all from me, I''ll see you again if you reach advanced martial arts. I''m looking forward to your growth. Also can I come to your Touki classes, lighting yourself on fire is too cool to pass on.¡± ¡°Thanks and sure, just ask the Branch Head.¡± ¡°Awesome. See you next week.¡± She left soon after and Gaius rested for a while. He then headed for the showers and went to the school to begin the magic assessment. After lunch that is, he was famished. When he arrived at his assigned classroom there was a slender man waiting for him. ¡°You are Gaius Atiius Quadratus, correct? I am Kawashima Raidon (thunder god), and yes, I use lighting, no it''s not because of my name. Before testing I want you to give me a rough overview of magic, what it is, how it''s powered, where it comes from, how it works, the importance of symbols, why do we invoke supernatural entities in incantations, and it''s similarities and differences from ki. Begin.¡± The man said, not giving Gaius time to answer. Gaius begin thinking and finally answered. ¡°Magic is a natural law, it is as fundamental to the universe as gravity or electromagnetism. Those who say is something unnatural or foreign don''t know what they''re speaking about. Magic is powered by a form of energy, normally called magical energy, but also mana, prana, etc. Unlike ki magic energy doesn''t come from the self, but from the outside. In the universe there is a field of energy, undetectable to current science, that nonetheless is affected by matter, magic pools towards places with gravity, as such the higher the gravity of a place the higher the density of mana. However magic energy phases through matter without problem, and spreads equally through the gravity field, decreasing in quantity as the field decreases in intensity. However a place can''t be devoid of magical energy naturally and as such even in deep space there is mana, the lowest quantity found between galaxies at 5% saturation rate, with Earth being at 100% saturation rate. As such spells that rely on ambient magical energy are far weaker. A mage passively absorbs magical energy from the field, but they can concentrate to boost their absorption rate. All mages have a magical energy reservoir within them, that has defined limits. Unlike what some tell you a mage doesn''t increase the quality of their magical energy to increase their power. That is a myth, and a lie. What a mage can do is practice, use magic time and time again, increasing the limits of their reservoir and their absorption rate, or concentrate to draw more magical energy that they can withstand into themselves, for faster results than practice, however this is a dangerous method that can lead to injuries or loss of magic for a time, with varying intensity, though nobody on recorded history has died, you just can''t draw that much more energy than you have onto yourself, since absorption rates are proportional to reservoir size. Only living and spiritual beings can use magic, though some materials can have a spiritual nature and thus magical properties. Of note is that having a soul is enough to use magic, regardless of organic state, as demonstrated by the poor Solomon the Petrified. However no human has managed to grant a soul to something, only granting salience has been shown to have such an effect, and nobody knows how to give that to inorganic materials. So magic using AS, artificial sapiences, are theoretically possible. In order to use magic a certain Pattern must be established. Human mages have no inborn Patterns, except people with Traits, such as Ryuunosuke¡¯s Word of Might or Akiras Eyes of Magic Analysis, but supernatural creatures can have them. Patterns are formed from magical energy and are composed of Shape, Intensity and Direction. That is their shape, the intensity of magical energy and the direction of the flow of energy. Of note is that spells can be overcharged, as long as the intensity is proportional in all places to the normal spell, for greater effects. As such all spells can remain useful. Such an example is the solar light, which may be used to illuminate a book on the dark, or kill weak vampires. All spells have a minimum energy cost due to Intensity, and a magical energy manipulation skill requirement due to Shape and Direction. The more complex the Pattern the more powerful the spell tends to be. Symbols can enhance or hinder the effects of magic. A symbol is something that is heavily associated with a concept in the collective of sentient creatures, such as a cross for holiness, or the Elder Futhark for magic. That belief grants depth and power to the symbol, granting a spiritual ¡®weight¡¯ that has power of its own. As such crosses can hurt vampires and demons by themselves, even if they''re not consecrated. Due to this the older and more well known they are affect how effective a symbol is. A symbol can support a spell that is aligned with it or hinder one it runs opposite to its nature. Such as a rune for fire increasing the power of a fireball or heating a freezing spell. Invocations may seem similar to symbols but they''re not. In invocations you ask the help of the one you''re invoking, and as such it will always enhance the spell and may even lower the spell requirements. However it''s most effective to ask a spirit of fire to empower a fire spell. However this invocations have a price, from a small piece of magical energy, to sacrificing whole towns of innocents, passing through worship or following a way of life. For example being a virgin hunter for Artemis. Also the invocated, if powerful enough may take control of the spell, and if the entity is malicious that can end badly. It''s similar to ki in that it''s the manipulation of energy, but it''s far more versatile and generally useful. Even more than ki¡¯s upgraded form, Touki. However it''s far more difficult to control than ki and less instinctive, as such many can''t pass through the first stages and remain weak spell casters.¡± After Gaius finished the man nodded. ¡°You do know what you''re speaking about, that was correct. All right I''ll begin testing your knowledge of the 10,000 basic Patterns, and then more advanced ones. Then we''ll test your knowledge of the magical world.¡± Four hours later the examination had finished and the man produced his verdict. ¡°You pass all basic courses, but not a single intermediate one. Except Summoning and Dimension ones, in all of which you are above the graduation level, and near specialisation levels. Though your knowledge is archaic.¡± He said narrowing his eyes in suspicion. ¡°My master was indeed a master of Summoning and Portal magic, but little else. As for the fact that my knowledge is archaic, I can''t say anything.¡± Answered Gaius. ¡°Alright, I''ll just have to ask the Branch Head. My recommendation is you choose whatever you want to learn among the intermediate courses, and take remedial lessons to update your knowledge about Summoning and Dimensions.¡± The man left after that. Gaius finally felt at ease after finishing all the assessments, before he groaned at remembering that he still,had mundane exams for the rest of the week. Grumbling he left to go home. 8. Preparations. Preparations For the rest of the week Gaius did exams, played and trained with Reiko, and studied the particulars of Touki and Senjutsu, in order to be a more effective teacher. Coming Thursday it was time to choose his courses. He followed Akechi¡¯s recommendation, Intermediate Martial Arts, taking three of his hours on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. That took care of his ki side classes, and left him with five hours, since another two were taken by the classes he had to teach. After thinking about his needs and most likely role he thought that he''d probably see combat, and his sensing abilities may give him an edge on investigation and infiltration. He chose Basic Combat Magic, an intermediate course which obviously taught combat magic, but that was only half of the curriculum since it also taught how to fight against a mage''s most likely enemies. It took two hours on Thursdays and Fridays. For his infiltration needs he chose to take the Ward and Curse Breaking course, which took another two hours, on Mondays and Wednesdays. Finally he had one hour left so he chose Everyday Magic, which taught quality of life magic, which had many uses, even out of it''s intended field. He went to administration to submit his choices and to ask for something that worried him. ¡°Doesn''t the japanese school year in April? At best I''d begin at the end of the year and have to repeat the year.¡± He asked the receptionist. ¡°Yes and no. Yes, the Japanese school year begins in April. No, our school year begins in March, when winter ends and Spring begins, our system is older than the japanese one.¡± His fears assuaged Gaius returned home and began to prepare for the school year. One of said preparations was to buy magic supplies, and so he went to Morioka¡¯s. When he entered the shop he found himself in front of a well-built man manning the register, instead of Morioka Fudo. The man welcomed him warmly. ¡°Welcome to Morioka¡¯s. I see you are a new face, do you want help in choosing your products?¡± He said in a steady voice. ¡°Actually I came on Sunday, with Saito Akihiko.¡± Explained Gaius with a smile. "I see. You are the man that bought our blue bird! What have you named it? How''s it doing?¡± ¡°His name is Reiko no Kiseki. He''s doing fine, though I think he wants to see a little action. He''s pretty self-sufficient, he can hunt his own food and he only wants to stretch his wings once in a while. He does seem to prefer fruit to other kinds of food, but your son told me that he''s omnivorous.¡± ¡°He just has a sweet tooth, don''t worry. You shouldn''t feed him too many sweets though, that''d be bad for his diet.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± The conversation died for a minute before the man facepalmed and shaked his head. ¡°My apologies, I''ve realised I know your name but never gave mine. I''m Morioka Ken.¡± ¡°It''s a pleasure to meet you. Let me formally introduce myself, I''m Gaius Atiius Quadratus.¡± ¡°Honoured to make your acquaintance.¡± Ken bowed. ¡°If you need any advice on taking care of Reiko come to us. I specialise in appraisal, curse breaking, and crafting, but my wife has a knack for taking care of the little buggers.¡± ¡°I''ll do so, thanks. You do have a nice collection of artefacts in this shop.¡± ¡°Yes I do. Many are replicas of things I''ve found in my expeditions to dead mages lairs, or ancient ruins. Both me and my wife still go on expeditions, though we stopped while Fudo grew.¡± ¡°That sounds interesting. I''m going to take a ward and curse breaking course, any advice?¡± ¡°Sure do. Remember to never touch anything you haven''t examined, I always cast little detection spells on everything, even my clothes each morning. That''s the way to avoid having your nose rot. Also you should¡­¡± They continued speaking for a while, before Gaius remembered what he''d come for. ¡°... and that''s why Incan mummies are worse than Egyptian ones, and both are better than draugrs. So now you know not to read the strange books you find in ruins. Next is to remember to that draugrs don''t burn easily, they are dense but also have a cold aura, and so its best to electrify them and while they''re down, off with their heads. For dealing with undead unicorns¡­¡± Ken was explaining, before Gaius interrupted him. ¡°Sorry to interrupt, but I came to buy some things.¡± ¡°Oh, right, sorry for rambling on and on. What do you need?¡± ¡°Mathilda Potter¡¯s A Protector''s Best Friends: A Guide to the Most Effective Basic Combat Spells for Law Keeping, Auni Olanrewaju¡¯s A Guide to the Most Common Dangers for Man in all Countries, Ram¨®n Gomez¡¯s Identifying Curses and Wards: How not to Wake the Ancient Protectors in Ruins, Le Zhi Lam¡¯s Curses Most Dangerous, Nathaniel Johnson¡¯s Common Wards and How to Make Them. And finally Morioka Ena¡¯s Magical Beasts and How to Avoid Them Mauling your Face. Huh, any relation with the last one?¡± ¡°Wife. Hold on, I''ll get them now.¡± He went to the book section and began browsing through it, before returning with several books in hand. ¡°We had all of them. Anything else?¡± ¡°Do you have anything on Touki and Senjutsu, need to give a class on the former, and the later''s related.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story. ¡°Oh yeah, Fudo did say something about Touki. All right, we should have some articles about those wait a moment.¡± He went to the back of the shop and returned with a cart of articles. ¡°This is all we''ve got. 245,531 yen for the books. At 1000 yen per article and 300 articles, 300,000 yen for the articles. 545,531 yen total.¡± ¡°I''ll buy it all.¡± "Come again!" Gaius said goodbye and left, returning home. There he began to read the articles, and finished preparing for his classes. He then went to the Branch Heads to put a request. ¡°I would like to get approval to include all my Touki students in this Saturday''s special class.¡± He said to the Mas. ¡°Why?¡± Asked Ma Jian. ¡°Because they will all know about my and the girl''sSenjutsu, and Senjutsu and Touki are best explained together. Don''t worry, I won''t teach them Senjutsu, just it''s relationship with Touki.¡± The Ma siblings began to discuss, and decided to approve the request, with one condition. ¡°Very well, as long as you allow one thing. We have approved Akechi¡¯s request but we''d like you to allow Jian to participate in your classes. The skill you showed with Touki is something we hadn''t seen before, and we''d like to teach it to all our Touki users. Jian will pass on your classes to the others. Is that acceptable?¡± Confirmed Ma Jiang. ¡°Of course.¡± The request approved, Gaius went to prepare the field he was assigned for Saturday''s class. Next day, after school hours Gaius had his first martial arts class, in which he was taught how to throw a man that charged at you. The combat magic class was a bit more involved. Gaius headed to the classroom 05.12.MG.006 where he met the courses teacher, Yoshioka Tadame, and she explained what he had missed. ¡°We''ve taught basic combat Patterns, which you already know, thankfully, and one spell, the arcane shot. It is equivalent to a professional boxer''s punch, so not very powerful, but it is highly effective against spiritual beings, you should practice out of class, given your achievements in the summoning department I''m not worried about injuries, but be careful. Thankfully you came early, otherwise with your teaching workload you¡¯d have trouble catching up.¡± They entered the classroom and the woman presented him. ¡°Hello class. We have a new student in our hands, meet Gaius Atiius Quadratus. Gaius you can sit over there, next to Miss Araki Kotone.¡± Gaius looked at the red fox haired girl and was startled. He whispered to Yoshioka. ¡°Is that a good idea, after all I''ll be¡­¡± ¡°It''s exactly because of that. She''s been distracted lately, your presence will scare her straight.¡± After that Gaius headed to his seat, and presented himself to Kotone. ¡°Hello, I''m Gaius as you''ve heard. I hope we can work together well.¡± ¡°Likewise.¡± She said, absentmindedly. ¡°Also, I''m you Senjutsu teacher, miss half kitsune.¡± He whispered in her ear. ¡°Eeeeeh!¡± Kotone jumped, astounded at the bomb that had been dropped in her lap. ¡°Miss Araki, is there any problem?¡± Questioned Yoshioka. ¡°N-no, no problem at all Ma-am.¡± She answered while throwing glances at Gaius, squirming at the same time. Some students began whispering. ¡°What do you think he said, something scandalous maybe?¡± ¡°No, I looked at the new Touki course and the teacher has the same name as that guy. So now she''s seated next to one of her teachers.¡± ¡°Ow, that''s harsh.¡± ¡°Settle down class. Today we''ll study one spell that you''ll use through your entire career. Judgement Light. This spell is a work of art, created originally by priests of Apollo in Ancient Greece, it has since been modified, improved and adapted by all religions. This spell requires two things, a ritual invocation to some sort of light, good aligned deity or divine being, and the spell Patterns themselves. The first requires for the Pattern to include the name of the being with a summoning ritual. The one in the blackboard. The second is the combination of Light, Gather, Concentrate, Seek, Destroy, Evil and Smite. The Direction is in the blackboard. This spell is a staple of all those who fight evil beings. It''s silent, fast to cast, and it autonomously seeks its target, dealing more damage to evil beings. Furthermore it''s inoffensive towards good or innocent beings, limiting friendly fire. It is also easy to multicast and scales up nicely with the magical energy input. So in translation, barrages of seeking evil smiting light beams. Depending in what being you involve the effect will vary. For example the best variations for Shinto are Amaterasu, who triples power, and Tsukuyomi, who doubles power and makes the beams capable of phasing through matter. Use the ones that are most appropriate for the situation. For buddhists, ¨¡k¨¡?agarbha gives better manoeuvrability to the beams. Amit¨¡bha grants a burning effect and double power to the beams. Mah¨¡sth¨¡mapr¨¡pta triples the power of the beams. And Avalokite?vara triples the number of beams. For christians any angel does it. Practically all of them give some effect, so just choose the one you like amidst the grimoires.¡± ¡°And Voodoo?¡± ¡°I have no idea about Voodoo, choose yourself, sorry. Any questions?¡± ¡°Wouldn''t it be better for a christian to invoke God?¡± ¡°NO! No! Bad idea, good question. Christians mustn''t use the name of God in vain, as such never use it as long as there''s another option, no matter the spell. Never use that one except in times of extreme need, it can cause spells to go haywire otherwise. Is that all? Good, begin practicing. Remember that the summoning is the most difficult part.¡± The students began to form Patterns but most failed at the invocation. Ten minutes passed when the classroom was lit by a golden light. Yoshioka smiled and said. ¡°As expected, our own expert on Summoning is the first one to get the spell. Congratulations, Gaius. Now keep practicing until you have a 100% success rate and take a second to activate the spell.¡± Gaius smiled, this was the first combat spell he ever learned, he now felt like he was off to a good start. That night Gaius entered his house when a blue bird appeared in front of him. It then moved to his shoulder and stood there. ¡°Felicitatem, please get off. You''re heavy.¡± The blue bird moved its head as if offended and trilled. ¡°No you aren''t fat just big. Now get off I need to finish tomorrow''s plan.¡± However Reiko didn''t move, and instead pecked at his hair, before flying through the window to the yard down bellow. Gaius was intrigued and went out again, jumping through the window. ¡°Ok, what do you want to show me?¡± The blue familiar ascended to the air and began glowing with a soft light. ¡°I already knew you had ki, birdbrain, I¡­ Wait no, that''s Touki, why can you use Touki, Reiko?¡± The bird trilled in response before descending onto Gaius¡¯ head. ¡°You mean me? So the familiar bond allowed you to upgrade already? Huh. Faster than I thought it''d be. If so I should begin gaining your abilities soon. What do you think I''ll get, intangibility? Flight? Fire eating? Freething breath? I wonder what our combined ability will be. Good job Reiko, you are going to be very useful once the bond settles in. Good bird. I need to name your species. What would be a good name?¡± Gaius stopped to think for a while. ¡°Icebird? *Peck* Ow, so that''s a no. It''s a good pun though. Fire eater bird? *Peck* Ow, stop that! Just shake your head if you don''t like it. Pecking bird?*Shake* No then. Bluebird? No too similar to Bluebeard. Umm, Glacian? Not appropriate, right. Miracle bird?...¡± Gaius kept suggesting names, and Reiko rejecting them until after three dozen names Gaius thought of one. ¡°Hmm, what about, Blue Spectral Pyrokrotitis? I describes you and sounds good.¡± At this Reiko trilled and nodded before taking flight and doing a few acrobatics. ¡°You really like that one. Alright, I''ll have to submit the name to the ICMA. Your scientific name shall be, Devoratrix Ignis, Latin for devourer and fire.¡± Gaius watched Reiko a bit longer before returning home and filling and sending the application. 9. Lesson Lesson. The day had come. The time of teaching hath come. The hour of judgement. The moment of truth. The culmination of all his efforts and late hours this week. It was with these thoughts that Gaius went to the grounds he had been assigned Saturday morning. He was quite surprised when he found out that there were already several people in the grounds, for it was an hour before the lessons started. Said people were Ma Jian, Akechi Michi and an abnormally tall man, regardless of ethnicity, for he reached at least 2.20 meters. The most peculiar thing about the latter is that despite his height and built physique his face still showed signs of teenage years. Gaius entered the grounds, and questioned them about their presence. ¡°I''m here to take advantage of the lessons and do some practice. My duties as Branch Head have taken time from my practice, since my predecessor retired just two years ago. Your lessons serve as a excuse to get out of endless paperwork. For that, you have my thanks.¡± Was Jian¡¯s answer. ¡°I woke up early for my daily practice and decided to do it here for convenience.¡± Akechi said, while doing some stretches with a smile. The third man didn''t speak. Giving him a closer glance Gaius saw that he was hyperventilating a bit. ¡°Relax, I''m not going to eat you. You can speak freely, unless you want to get lessons you are not authorised to take.¡± Reassured Gaius. ¡°I, um. I''m Date Terumi. I¡¯m-¡± ¡°Oh. One of my students, then. Sorry I didn''t recognise you, you look older when seeing you whole than when watching a shoulder up photo.¡± ¡°Ah. Yeah, that''s something I''m told a-a lot sir.¡± Affirmed Terumi, sweating slightly. ¡°Why are you so nervous? I haven''t done anything, right?¡± Asked Gaius, looking around for confirmation. ¡°I-I, it''s not you! I-I just suffer f-from anxiety, sir.¡± Was his response, trembling and stuttering. At this Akechi intervened. ¡°Why don''t you go practice to be in top shape for the lesson, Date.¡± ¡°YES, thanks! I-I mean, I''ll do that sir, erm, Maam.¡± He looked relieved, before running to the the other side of the grounds. Akechi began to scold Gaius. ¡°Gaius, you should be less upfront with him. He has severe social anxiety, as well as a lack of self esteem. He''s not prepared for your, well, your lack of subtlety.¡± ¡°Is that so.¡± He began thinking, before widening his eyes and groaning. ¡°In hindsight it was obvious yes, but I didn''t see it at the time. Still, if we want him to surpass his anxiety we should make him confront it. Make him grow accustomed to contact with others. What has brought this situation about, though? I don''t want to step on any land mines.¡± Akechi sighed. ¡°I get the feeling that your ¡®getting accustomed to¡¯ would be more akin to slamming him in the middle of a crowd, and I''ve only interacted with you for a few hours.¡± She stopped before continuing, ¡°but your question has merit. He was bullied for his incredible height when he was young, so he has body image issues.¡± Gaius groaned once again. ¡°So I''ve just put my foot in my mouth, great start me.¡± Jian interjected. ¡°Actually I think both of you are right. Terumi needs to confront his issues, but he should do so little by little. Shock therapy doesn''t work for everyone after all. Which seems to be Gaius¡¯ response for all issues honestly. Confront everything head on! Break through all obstacles! Your will will surpass everything, as long as you are willing to accept change! Or something like that.¡± ¡°First, no, I don''t sound like that. Second, worked for me to suppress my urges to disembowel and drink the blood of everyone who so much as looked me wrong.¡± Gaius said, affronted and unwilling to let them dismiss his methods of dealing with psychological issues. ¡°Wait, you WHAT!¡± Exclaimed Akechi. Gaius kept speaking, ignoring her outburst. ¡°There is no problem that can''t be solved by acknowledging the problem, and using your will and perseverance to defeat it.¡± ¡°Not everyone is an example of determination like you, Gaius. You have to accept that not everyone is a monument to human will. Very few hermits have managed to fulfil their objectives in retirement, and even less managed to do so in just a decade. Much less have achieved Senjutsu in the way¡± Apported Jian. ¡°Putting worrying tendencies aside.¡± Akechi stressed the last word. ¡°Hermit? And what does strength of will have to do with Senjutsu?¡± ¡°Yes I was a hermit, hermit monk to be concrete. And I will explain the latter during the lesson.¡± After that the conversation halted, and they began to exercise. After some minutes had passed Akechi began to speak. ¡°Still, you have to be more careful. Even if you don''t want to coddle him, you have to understand that not everyone is ready to confront their issues. Much less teenagers.¡± ¡°I was nine when I began to confront my issues, and a teenager when they began to become a nuisance rather than a problem.¡± Said Gaius, raising an eyebrow. ¡°Nine years old, no wonder he''s so stubborn.¡± She whispered to herself. ¡°Jian¡¯s right, you need to learn to see that you are a special case, and when someone is simply not ready. Have some tact.¡± ¡°I''ll try.¡± Answered Gaius, noncommittally. ¡°But I won''t coddle them.¡± ¡°It''s not coddling, it''s being considerate and kind.¡± ¡°That''s. Huh. Alright I''ll try to understand what this tact you speak of is.¡± ¡°You can''t be serious. How can you not know what tact is!¡± ¡°That was joke. But I''m serious at having more tact. After all it did take me a lot to find my resolution, I just need to wait until they''re ready, no?¡± ¡°Yes, that''s all I ask. Now that that''s dealt with, wanna spar? This time I won''t forget about holding back.¡± She said with a predatory smile. ¡°How can you go from hen mother to bloodthirsty warrior in a few seconds I''ll never understand.¡± Commented Jian. ¡°Oooh. Then are you volunteering for a beating, boss guy?¡± She responded with narrowed eyes, before getting within a few centimetres of Jian. ¡°Please. I''d crush you like the little girl you are. You may be a promising newbie but we elders can still beat you silly.¡± Jian answered smugly. ¡°Elder, huh. You''re barely twenty years over me! You''re just 46!¡± ¡°And thus I double your age. In our world age means power, so go on and leave serious matters to the adults. You can go play with your blocks over there. You even have sand.¡± ¡°Please, you are just a pencil pusher. I''ll beat the crap out of you.¡± ¡°Daily reminder that I''m a 6 and you a 5. The difference between Ranks is not so easily crossed. Even a beginner knows that. Are you not even a beginner?¡±If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°No shit, the Ranks are measures of combat ability after all. But just wait a decade, while you stagnate I''ll be the second Rank 7 in this association.¡± Was her comeback. ¡°I dare you to try.¡± He looked down at her with narrowed eyes, and leaned back with a slight smile. They once again fell silent and kept working out. Gaius spoke after some time. ¡°You two seem to know each other?¡± ¡°She was my apprentice for a while, before she began to take missions by herself. She was such an earnest kid, nothing like this violent hoodlum that she has become. Ah, where has the girl that called me senpai with stars in her eyes gone. Sniff.¡± Jian answered, faking tears. Akechi looked outraged, and sputtered for a moment. At that moment Gaius entered the conversation once more. ¡°She doesn''t seem like a hoodlum to me. Sure she''s a little violent but she''s also shown a motherly side with Terumi.¡± ¡°Motherly! Are you calling me old brat! At least say older sister!¡± ¡°''Twas but a compliment, young warrior. You should accept it with pride my young padawan. Do not deny your motherly instincts, they are part of you.¡± Commented Jian with a serious face. ¡°Ok, Gaius I forgive, he has the social awareness of a rock. I''ll take the compliment at face value¡± ¡°Hey! I can tell when people want me to shut up, at least!¡± Was heard on the background. ¡°But I know for sure that you are teasing me, you unbearable old man!¡± ¡°Please, I''m happily married, so obviously someone disagrees. And my wife has exquisite taste.¡± At that moment a young man and a teenaged girl entered the space. Gaius smiled and waved, recognising Araki Kotone, and the other man must have been Endo Kishi, his last student. ¡°Alright everyone gather round. We¡¯re all here so let''s begin the class already. I''ll present myself first, I''m Gaius Atiius Quadratus, and I''m the new teacher of Touki and Senjutsu. I have already met all but one of you so we just need you to present yourself.¡± He signaled Kendo. Endo bowed and presented himself, before Gaius continued. ¡°The first part will be a theoric lesson.¡± He took out a blackboard from his prepared supplies and set it, while the others gathered. ¡°The reason why I''ve decided to give this first lesson to everyone, is because I think it best if you know the true nature of Touki, and that''s best explained along Senjutsu. After the explanation is done I will begin the Touki lessons in advance, while training Kotone in Senjutsu. First, who can tell me what is ki.¡± ¡°Ki is energy born from intense training and living beings.¡± Answered Kotone, assuredly. ¡°Wrong answer.¡± Intervened Jian. ¡°Ki is not as well understood as magical energy, but research has shown that it has both a spiritual component and a physical one. In order to acquire ki one must be under severe physical and psychological stress, while having a healthy body. One common way to awaken ki is to have someone train until they puke, and then have them train even further. If the person does so he will awaken ki.¡± ¡°Correct. To be concrete that happens because the spiritual presence of your determination to finish the workout mixes with a mystical energy field within your body, often called dynami. This force increases with physical fitness. So when the dynami and spiritual presence are high enough, the two mix and create ki. Of note is that the threshold is of the combination of both energies, as such it is possible, though unlikely, to only train one of body or mind and still awaken ki. However it is nigh impossible to train your body to that point without incredible persistence so that has never happened to my knowledge. On the other side I''ve seen records of buddhist monks achieving ki through meditation. Now, what are the three ways to increase one¡¯s ki?¡± ¡°Training of the body, training of ki, and hoping to achieve a moment of such willpower that your ki will spontaneously increase.¡± This time it was Endo who answered. ¡°Yes, and why?¡± ¡°I think that the first increases the dynami. The second I don''t know. And the third increases spiritual presence which increases ki.¡± ¡°Yes and no. You have to remember that while ki is born of dynami and spiritual presence it is distinct from them. Once ki has been created the body gains the ability to generate it. This can happen through pushing the body to its limits, and once the human body can''t handle the burden the body produces ki to deal with it. This combined with your answer is the full response. The second is because of the same as the first, ki is like a muscle, it increases through use. As such learning to control ki kills two birds with one stone. The third way is because of what you said, but while it gives the fastest growth it''s highly unreliable. You should remember that while the ki that your body produces is permanent it''s control isn''t, so don''t slack of on qigong. So, what are the benefits of ki?¡± Kotone answered again, wanting to prove herself after her previous failure. ¡°Ki just by existing in the body decreases the chance of illness. It also passively creates a force field over the skin that increases with ki flow. This forcefield can reduce a blows strength. When ki is used actively it can enhance the body further in all respects. It can also be sent outside the body for force projection or, it''s only other known use, scan materials it passes through.¡± ¡°This time you are right.¡± Continued Gaius. ¡°We arrive at today''s lesson. Touki. Touki can be described as the upgraded form of ki. There are two routes to achieve it, through having a body of a certain quality, or through achieving a higher spiritual state. The first can''t be trained, either you have it or not, but it can be achieved through methods such as the transplant of a dragon¡¯s heart. Terumi, this one is your case, do you still not know what your father was?¡± ¡°N-no, my mother didn''t know my father was i-inhuman and he left us l-left long ago.¡± ¡°A pity, for reasons I''ll say later aside from the obvious. The second way can be achieved through many ways. One is single minded training that is a torture to go through, done every day without pauses, until your body is at the verge of breakdown. And yet you persevere, that constant training of ki and determination cause a mutation in the ki that transforms it into Touki. And the last one relates to Senjutsu, all Senjutsu practitioners have Touki. Have you all followed me until now?¡± Once they confirmed their understanding he paused to drink water. ¡°Senjutsu. Unity. So many have seeked and yet so few are taught. This is for one reason only. People misunderstand what Senjutsu is. Senjutsu doesn''t absorb the ¡®Energy of the Universe¡¯ or something like that. It absorbs spiritual presences and remnants and transforms them into energy for the practitioners use, whether it is magical or ki. That is, the aura produced by all things with a spiritual component and the remnants of emotions. And a Senjutsu user experiences those as his own.¡± At those words Akemi shouted. ¡°Doesn''t that mean that Senjutsu users are under control of those remnants?!¡± ¡°Yes and no. Yes that can happen, and is the reason so few are taught it. After all if you give a man a nearly limitless power source, making his mental resilience his limiting factor, and he has immense strength already he will be extremely dangerous. Thankfully that energy isn''t permanent and can only be used to replenish your resources, but just that speeds training, since you can train for longer periods. Now, take that man and fill him with rage, despair, fear and hatred until he is driven insane. Now you have a berserker with nearly limitless stamina. They can cause great destruction. This is why practitioners take only the most resilient as students. However there is a silver lining. If you identify those foreign feelings you can expel them, leaving you with only the energy, and none of the problems. But even that requires great strength of will.¡± Gaius paused, to see if his public had the adequate reactions. Seeing their shock and fear, albeit Jian looked as if he already knew and Kotone was pale as a ghost, he was satisfied, and continued. ¡°There are two ways to achieve Senjutsu. One safe, but with great difficulty. And one less safe, but more reliable. I belong to the first group. Natural users. Those who developed their spiritual virtues until they would be able to handle Senjutsu¡¯s burdens, and were rewarded for their achievement with it. The Head and you, Kotone, are of the second group. You were forcibly awakened to the spiritual realm, making you aware of all the presences and remnants, by a Senjutsu user. This method only makes you aware of the realm and the user must train to take them in and transform them into energy, but they run the risk of not being able to deal with the corruption.¡± He paused once again to drink. This time noting that Kotone had grown very pale and had a tearful look in her face. ¡°Kotone, are you alright?¡± She began to deny it, before reconsidering. ¡°Do you know how I was made aware of the spiritual realm?¡± ¡°Your mother, a six-tailed kitsune did it.¡± ¡°Yes. You see, I don''t meet my mother much, but a few months ago she came and began teaching me things. I was overjoyed, I thought she was finally showing me affection. But then she left after I succeeded. I began to wonder if she truly loved me, and know I hear that he taught me an incredibly dangerous thing and didn''t warn me.¡± As she spoke her voice grew thin, until it was just a whisper. Tears impacted the floor. ¡°I can''t reassure you, I don''t know your mother. However I can say that it requires great effort to awaken another spiritually. No one would put the effort for someone they didn''t care about, it might be love or hate, but your mother feels something for you.¡± Gaius tried to comfort her, but she just flinched. Akechi went to her side, hugged her, and began caressing her head. After some time she had calmed down. ¡°Please continue.¡± ¡°Alright. I have finished with how to acquire it. What it can do is replenish your energy banks, give you awareness of the Spirit realm in a radius of you, gives you Touki, and I''ve heard there are techniques, but I don''t know any. So why does it give you Touki? For natural users it''s because their spiritual presence is immense, and when they achieve Senjutsu it''s so high that by itself it can force the change to Touki. For learned users the awakening to the Spirit realm increases their spiritual presence, even if their spirit is lacking, to the same effect as natural ones. This is all I have to say about Senjutsu. Do you understand why you''re not allowed to learn it? Among you only Kishi may have what it takes. Or Akechi or Branch Head, I don''t know your cases.¡± ¡°Western dragon blood.¡± Answered Akechi. ¡°The Ma family are descended from some Chinese god.¡± ¡°Alright, so Kishi then.¡± They all reassured him that they understood. 10. Lesson II. Lesson II. Gaius continued his lecture. ¡°Now there is just one thing left before we begin the practical part of the lesson. I want to clear a misunderstanding present in this association. Touki isn''t JUST upgraded ki, it has four traits ki doesn''t. First, it improves the body, it''s why I can lift 150 kg with one arm, until it brings it to levels where you would have gotten Touki naturally. So congratulations, Kotone, Terumi, you are going to be able to wrestle with dragons without enhancements. After a while, even with training it may take years. Second. You will develop special techniques. The three with special non-kitsune ancestry will gain your non-human races ancestors abilities. Kitsunes aren''t regarded for their Touki so I''m not sure about you, Kotone. We''ll have to see. You and I will develop abilities that suit us, Kishi. Third. Your children will inherit part of your upgraded bodies'' strength, and maybe even some of your natural Touki abilities, if they have enough to get Touki naturally. And finally it can be transformed into other forms of energy. But you can''t form complex phenomena, only simple ones. So, no magic replication for you. It''s done like this.¡± He immediately burst in fire, and kept speaking while burning. ¡°Since the other traits of Touki are either trained as ki, or not trained at all, this will be what I''m teaching you. There are three techniques that I''ll be teaching you soon. To control the ki of your enemies, though unless your Touki control is massively superior to your opponents it won''t work on Touki users, unless they let you. Touki-waveform ki-stripping, needs a better name but this one describes it well. It''s what I used in my spar against you Akechi. And the very impressive Touki-elemental energy transformation. So let''s begin with the third one.¡± Prior to beginning to teach his techniques to the others he made them show their prowess with Touki control. They all showed enough skill to learn to transform their energy, except Terumi, who had first learned of ki when he acquired Touki. Which was recently since he was unaware of the Hidden World until then. As such he made him do ki control training exercises of his own making. ¡°The first thing you need to learn is input control. You will also train ki emission at the same time with this exercise. You need to pass the Touki through two apples, and only burst the second. For that you will need to concentrate your ki in fibres that will pass through the first apple, before unleashing the energy in the second. Practice for a while before I evaluate and correct your technique.¡± After assigning Terumi his workload, he turned to the two adults, still burning, and Kishi. ¡°Kishi, you have the honour to choose the first kind of energy you will learn. I give you three options, the easiest ones, fire, electricity, healing energy.¡± Kisha, thought for a short moment, before making his decision. ¡°Healing.¡± ¡°May I ask why?¡± ¡°It seems the most useful right now, and the safest. I would not like to burn myself without knowing how to heal.¡± ¡°Good, good. That¡¯s what I chose myself. When my teacher offered to use magic on me so I would know the feel of the energy, my first time transforming energy caused me to burn my hair, I chose the same for the same reasons. However I didn''t think at the time I could harm myself with my own energy. That was stupid of me. But it happens, fire burns you, electricity burns and paralyses you, water causes inflammation. And it''s worse when it happens within your body. Until you master the transformation never train without medical support nearby. I once stopped my own heart.¡± Akechi looked around, confused. ¡°Water isn''t energy.¡± Jian countered. ¡°Actually, it is. E= m*c^2, remember. Matter is just a state of energy.¡± ¡°Yes, but it would require such massive amounts of energy that it would be impractical.¡± Was Akechi¡¯s rebuttal. Gaius cleared his threat. Having caught their attention he began to speak. He still burned. ¡°It shows you aren''t well versed in magic. Have you never thought how a mage could create water at high speeds or great mass, with the same ease as a flame? The answer is a unstable half-spiritual half-material construct, that behaves just as matter would, but has mystic properties. And is far less energy intensive than actually creating matter. However such a construct is only temporary and dissipates back into magical energy soon after. To explain what water does it serves as a thermal and electrical isolator, it''s distilled water after all. It also serves to cushion blows or you can send it at high speeds for ranged attacks. Water is not soft after all.¡± After finishing the discussion he made them concentrate inwards, and they chose to meditate for it. ¡°What I''m going to do is better than hitting you with energy like my master did. I''m going to use a mixture of Touki and Senjutsu to take control of your Touki and transform it. I want you to concentrate on the feeling and replicate it.¡± He then put his hands on their backs one by one and did as he said he¡¯d do. He was still burning. Finally he turned to Kotone and began instructing her. ¡°Since this was supposed to be your first Senjutsu class, we will train that. It is also imperative to teach you to ignore and resist spiritual presences and remnants. Since it has been distracting you knowing the feelings of people around you, and corruption needs to be dealt with. Kotone was startled. ¡°How did you know that?!¡± ¡°I was told you had become distracted. You had gained spiritual awareness. There were two options, the circumstances of how you gained it and the spiritual presences distracting you. I discarded the first when I saw that it caused you sadness, which your teachers would have noticed. Simple.¡±This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version. ¡°Ah, I see. Alright.¡± Gaius smiled at her. ¡°Let''s begin. Now in order to shut down your spiritual awareness you must link it to a thought that will serve as a switch. For me it''s focus. Try something familiar to you. It needs not be verbal.¡± After several tries Kotone managed to succeed in shutting her awareness down. ¡°Good job.¡± Encouraged Gaius, proud of her ease, though he didn''t know if this was natural for a learned practitioner. ¡°May I ask what is you trigger?¡± ¡°I imagine a gong ringing.¡± Answered Kotone, brimming with happiness at having removed the nuisance from her head. Gaius closed his eyes before sighing. ¡°I will not enjoy this.¡± He straightened himself and steeled his heart. ¡°Time to teach you how to purge corruption. There is not much to explain, it will have to be something you are comfortable with. I exhale it along my breath. For this exercise I will manipulate my presence to emulate different emotions, so you will have practice recognising and purging them. After you have gained some experience I will keep my presence, but I will go check on the others and return to see how you handle it. Remember, first identify the corruption, then sever it from you, and finally expel it.¡± Kotone was excited. She was finally going to learn Senjutsu! Only three, well with Gaius four now, in the city could do it, and all of them were faction leaders! Except Gaius. She wondered how tough could it really be to purge the corruption. Teacher Gaius should be exaggerating love but he was someone she loved, and he surely wouldn''t lie to her. He was so dreamy, with broad shoulders, wait love , a manly rugged face, and he was very kind, even if he was a bit rough. But that just made him cuter. ¡°Teacher Gaius. It truly is hot today.¡± She said, approaching him and flapping her shirt. ¡°Should we not-¡± ¡°Stop.¡± Ordered Gaius, before approaching her and putting his hand on her head and then taking it away. Why had he stopped? She thought. She was perfectly-. Oh kami, what the fuck had she been thinking. Kotone had never been so embarrassed before. But still, so that was what being in love felt like, wondered a part of her. ¡°Begin.¡± It was sooo embarrassing. Like depression nothing is worth it, why should we even bother. Everything we achieve will end up in dust. Life makes no sense, why should we-! She fell to the ground. ¡°Stop!¡± ¡°What the fuck was that!¡± Exclaimed Kotone, scared for her life. ¡°Depression. Begin.¡± That was how being depressed was? It really sucked, she had never- excitement, she wanted to jump and shout. She was learning the legendary art! She was going to be the strongest woman ever, and Mother would love her, and Daddy would congratulate her like always and pet her and buy her gifts and- ¡°Stop.¡± FUUUUUUUUUUUCK IT ALLLLLLL. WHY IS IT SO FREAKING HARD! ¡°Begin.¡± Was she actually bad at- hatred . Or maybe it was this douche making things harder than they should be for his sick amusement! ¡°Hey, asshole-!¡± Kotone grabbed Gaius by the collar. ¡°Stop.¡± What had she done. He didn''t seem mad but- ¡°Begin.¡± No! She wasn''t- hope . She was ready, she could take the world! She could even fly. Indeed she would fly upwards right now! ¡°Stop.¡± So her childhood dream of flying hadn''t disappeared, good to know. ¡°Begin.¡± Please no, make it stop- anger. ¡°Stop right now! I''m going to kill you for this!¡± She proceeded to punch him in the face. He wasn''t perturbed, keeping his stony face. ¡°Stop.¡± What was she doing!? Please make it stop. Please? ¡°Alright. We''ll take a short break. But force of will is needed for this so next time we will keep going.¡± Thankyouthankyouthankyou! An hour later Gaius smiled. It had been tough but Kotone was improving. She could now recognise when he was influencing her and shut down her Senjutsu to avoid it. ¡°It''s time for the next step. I will go to the others like planned. Try to avoid shutting down, remember sever and expel, sever and expel." He went to Jian first. He had already managed to master healing, so he taught him fire. Akane was right next, but something odd had happened. ¡°Let me get it straight. You did what I did.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± ¡°But instead of healing energies you made fire appear. In your lungs. And weren''t harmed.¡± ¡°Yep.¡± She answered with a shit eating grin. ¡°Fucking dragons. So let me ignore the incredible unfairness of your heritage. You have failed.¡± He scolded, feeling pleased for some odd reason. Oh, he recognised why, fuck dragons and their unfair unfairness. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°You wanted healing. You failed to get it. Thus you failed. Let me show again how it''s really done.¡± After finishing with Akechi Gaius went to Kishi, feeling smug at having put down a dragon. There wasn''t anything of interest with him, he was improving, but not yet there. He corrected a few mistakes and moved on. Terumi on the other hand had more problems. ¡°Terumi, right now you are sending spikes through the apple, of course it will be damaged. They should be more like flows of air. Less aggressive, more wind like.¡± He finally finished his round and returned to Kotone. He was pleased to see that she had managed to learn severing. But he then frowned. ¡°Kotone stop!¡± He ran to her and made her expel the corruption. ¡°Wha- What did I do wrong.¡± Kotone was trembling and sweating. ¡°You weren''t expelling but suppressing. You were making a ball of concentrated corruption. It was nearly a ball of curses! It wouldn''t surprise me if it birthed an Evil Spirit that could take over you if you didn''t control it tightly! You could have been permanently corrupted! Or killed!¡± At these words Kotone paled, and then turned green. She proceeded to puke, collapsed and began to cry in shock. Gaius, for the first time in a while, felt like he knew what to say. He knelt at her side and began to rub her back. ¡°Don''t worry. This is why I''m training you. If you have any doubts about your state you come to me, and I''ll deal with it. Once I''m through with you? You won''t have to worry about this. As long as you work hard there won''t be a problem.¡± He kept whispering reassuring words. She began to calm down, and said with a trembling voice. ¡°So, a ball of curses, huh?¡± The last word was an octave higher than the rest. ¡°Yes. You could throw that at someone and it''d be a pretty effective attack.¡± Joked Gaius, still speaking in a soft tone. ¡°Wait. You could throw that at someone and it''d be a pretty effective attack!¡± ¡°What''s wrong?¡± Asked Kotone, surprised at the change in tone. ¡°I just got an idea for a Senjutsu technique! I have to speak to the Head!¡± He began to move away, before turning back with a sheepish expression. ¡°After class ends, that is.¡± Another hour passed. Class ended and Gaius began to review and advice his students. "First, Jian. I bow before your experience, you learned healing, fire, electricity and began to show results with Touki-waveform ki-stripping. I allow you to teach the first three, but you can''t practice the latter without supervision of some kind.¡± ¡°I see I''m still as awesome as ever.¡± ¡°Akane. You live and breathe fire, literally in the latter case. Congratulations for getting the famed dragonbreath. But you need to practice a lot more since you still didn''t get healing.¡± ¡°Alright, alright.¡± ¡°I see you are as bad with skilful things as always, my young padawan.¡± ¡°Shut up, fossil of an ancient era.¡± ¡°Kishi. Good progress, don''t be discouraged by your lack of progress respect the other two. They have more experience and practice than you.¡± ¡°Understood Master.¡± ¡°Terumi!¡± ¡°Y-yes!¡± ¡°Good job for a beginner. You managed to do it in the end, normally it takes an average student about a week. And me five hours instead of two, though I lacked a teacher. But you are late to the scene! You need remedial lessons! Seek the ki control teacher. He can help you better than I.¡± ¡°Yes Master!¡± Terumi was overjoyed. He was good at something! ¡°And finally, my disciple! Good job! You have learned severing and expelling of weak corruption well. Your homework is to reduce the activation time of Senjutsu to less than a second instead of you current five.¡± ¡°Yes, Master!¡± Gaius sent them off, and cleaned up the material. Finally finished with his obligations he set off with a purpose. ¡°Time to visit the Head.¡± 11. Kindred souls. Kindred souls. While Gaius had decided to consult the Head on the feasibility of his idea, he had failed to consider how busy he was. In the time before he was allowed to meet him, he had no choice but to stop and think. And what he thought was the days events. From his conversation prior to class, to Kotones little breakdown, he had experiences he had never encountered before. Maybe it was that people from ancient times were tougher, or maybe it was that through dumb luck all the people he¡¯d met were strong willed. They, Kotone and Terumi, and maybe Kishi, they hadn''t interacted enough to tell, were fragile. His master, blessed be his soul, had been abandoned by his parents, who told him he was a waste of money, due to lack of it. And yet he smiled and said it was their loss, he would prove them wrong by achieving great things. His family and their servants lived in fear of the army ignoring their bribes and take everything from them. And yet they went on with their lives, refusing to let fear rule their lives. And. Alright he didn''t know more people than that. But the point stands. Things that would have made people he knew to shrug and move on, were crippling to them. Fear of not being loved caused tears to Kotone, when knowledge of hatred brought determination to Marcus. Being teased and discriminated against made Terumi to fear his own shadow, when being persecuted caused his family to live life to the fullest. It was strange. He had always thought that the people he still remembered across the ages that were like that, were exceptions. But Akechi and Jian thought that was the norm. He couldn''t reconcile what he knew about how he¡¯d react, to how others reacted. He kept thinking about these matters, unable to reach a resolution. To achieve understanding of their burdens, that was what he wanted, but he didn''t reach closer to that understanding, no matter how hard he thought. It was soon after that the Head received him. Kagayakashii Akairyuu was an old man, maybe not by the difference between how long he''d lived compared to his full lifespan. But he had the mind of a human and not a dragon, and two hundred years was a long time for a human. It was because of his life experience that he immediately saw that something worried Gaius, and being a meddling old man, decided to intervene. ¡°Welcome Gaius, please sit down. I see something worries you. Maybe you''ve come to seek my counsel?¡± Was how he opened the conversation. He smiled and signaled a seat in front of his desk, before taking out a tea set and serving himself tea. ¡°Would you like some tea?¡± ¡°Gaius smiled in kind. ¡°Yes, I seek your counsel, but not about my worries. And since I''ve hardly drank tea, I''m eager to try.¡± He now felt in his element, with someone that wouldn''t break if he spoke frankly. Kagayakashii Akairyuu served the tea. ¡°And yet your woes would affect this issue you have come for, no? Since it''s probably about Senjutsu, and that requires a calm mind. I recommend you speak to someone about it, it doesn''t have to be me. But seeking help is how most humans learn to deal with their problems.¡± He smiled at him while smelling the tea, with gentle eyes. Gaius thought. That was definitely not how he¡¯d dealt. Wait. It was another who suggested his hermitage. It was a worthy approach, then. ¡°Master Kagayakashii, I shall follow your advice. It has come to my attention that people are not as resilient as I think they are, and I have trouble understanding how they can be so frail. In the old times those I knew would have dealt far better with their issues.¡± The Head was startled. Not because of his worry, but because of the nostalgia in Gaius¡¯ eyes when he spoke of the past. He smiled inwardly, finally someone understood. ¡°Think of it like this, maybe it isn''t that they don''t deal with their issues as well. But that they are more willing to show their weakness.¡± Gaius nearly jumped. ¡°But why would someone hide how they feel?¡± After all, he had never done so. ¡°Because they fear that others will take advantage of their weakness. Because they don''t want to worry their loved ones. Because society would shun them. There are many reasons.¡± Akairyuu was bemused, he didn''t understand even that? ¡°But if someone uses your emotional weakness against you, they were never worthy of your respect, and you shouldn''t worry about them, or what they do. And if your loved ones really are close eventually they will notice something was wrong, and they will worry even more, since they don''t know what is wrong. The last one makes sense though, as much as I don''t like it. I was also shunned just because of what I believed in.¡± Gaius tried to understand. ¡°That is true, for the most part, but not everyone has the presence of mind to accept that some people will never like them. Also not everyone is so attentive as you, so they might be able to hide better. Or simply not think of the big pictured.¡± Akairyuu paused to taste the tea. ¡°You have the problem of having always been reasonable and stable. As such you lack the ability to understand those who are neither of those.¡± They paused to think. Akairyuu¡¯s eyes brightened. ¡°I know how to explain it. Has there been any time in your life where you couldn''t surpass one of your problems?¡± ¡°Yes. I found myself unable to stop hating those that persecuted us, I hated myself for it.¡± ¡°What? Why would you do that?¡± That had really surprised the Head. ¡°Matthew 5, 38-48, You have heard that it was said, ¡®Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.¡¯ But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you. You have heard that it was said, ¡®Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.¡¯ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your own people, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. These words do not mean that you should bend to the will of those who wish you harm. But that you recognise they want you harm, and yet understand them, hold no hate for them, and be willing to aid them. You should turn someone from evil with good, not with evil. Of course they should still pay their debts with their victim and society, but not as an act of retribution, but punishment. To understand your that your enemy is just human. You should want for them to redeem themselves, not to condemn them. This is my interpretation of this passage. I had trouble understanding and achieving this. I felt that by not doing that I was a bad christian, and my faith was lacking.¡± Akairyuu was stunned. After a few moments he spoke. ¡°That is what you couldn''t do? Something like that is impossible for most people! And you say you only had ¡®trouble¡¯. Never mind people, most christians I know of don''t do that. What kind of inhuman monster are you?¡± ¡°Then they are bad christians.¡± Was Giaus¡¯ answer. He reclined backwards, and threw the most unimpressed look at him that he could muster.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. ¡°Let''s ignore your, ¡®abnormality¡¯, for now.¡± Akairyuu shaked his head. ¡°What I want you to think is how you felt at that moment.¡± ¡°Doing it.¡± ¡°Now I want you to know that that is how many people feel most of the time. Above all those you call frail.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Gaius rose on his chair. ¡°How can they live like that! Such hopelessness and weakness would crush me if was like that!¡± Akairyuu smiled sadly. ¡°That''s just because you''ve always been strong of spirit. Your first reaction when realising there was something wrong with you was not to deny or hide it. But to surpass it. For most people that would be an extremely difficult decision, and yet you live your entire life like that. Gaius, when most people are told they need to change, they reject it unless you present them with overwhelming evidence that they''d be better if they changed and they feel they are right. And sometimes not even then. People who are psychiatrically depressive, that is, depressive due to mental illnesses, refuse to take medication constantly. They fear that it''d change who they are, even if they would feel better with it. Even when people need to change they fear change. You don''t. Things like that is why you don''t understand normal people. You''ve never been normal, and you never will. Even if you don''t understand them, you must learn to recognise their weakness and deal with them appropriately, otherwise you will be always alone. Even I am not that strong.¡± Gaius didn''t speak, but after some time he chuckled. ¡°How have you gone from my desire to understand people to me needing to do so to not be alone?¡± ¡°Because you want to understand them. If you didn''t care about them you wouldn''t. And if you care about people you won''t want them to avoid you.¡± Gaius thought for some time, before sighing and saying seriously. ¡°Thanks for your advice. I will try to follow it.¡± ¡°That''s all I ask.¡± They smiled at each other, before Gaius commented. ¡°Though not all times when someone tells you to change you should. Sometimes it''s said because they can''t accept you, not because there''s something wrong with you.¡± ¡°Of course. One has to choose carefully who they listen to.¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± They fell into comfortable silence for some time. Akairyuu ended it by steeling himself and putting his tea cup down. ¡°I actually want your advice.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± ¡°How do you manage to be some calm when you speak about those you''ve left behind? How are you not crying at the thought? Time has lessened my wounds, but how do you do that?¡± Akairyuu said, bending forward. ¡°Time hasn''t lessened your wounds, has it? They''re only numb? Otherwise you wouldn''t have asked with such desperation.¡± ¡°Yes, that''s right.¡± Akairyuu shaked his head. ¡°I''ve outlived everyone my age I''ve known. And I still have half my life left. The only reason I look old is because I can choose what age I look like, and I''m too old to look young.¡± ¡°I don''t know if my answer will satisfy you. I simply know that they lived their lives to their fullest, that if they died they were either satisfied or they had done their best at living. I also know they''re in a better place. But that only lessens the pain. No matter how much I think that some part of me will never accept that. It will always hurt. But at the same time I¡­ No, I have a better way of saying it. I remember, during my stay in the Caliphate, that one of my keepers was a young man who lost his family in an accident. He once confided to my body that he wished that no one would remember him when he died, so they wouldn''t feel like he did. I reassured him that his family was happy before they died, and that had they seen him they would have scolded him for letting their deaths ruin his happiness. And that was actually the truth, for at the time I was incapable of doing anything else. This story has taught be that while grieving is just a sign of your love for them. Letting it be the most important thing in your life would be an insult to them. They wouldn''t wish for their parting to do that to you. As such, while I am in pain. While I miss them. While I am LOST at the thought that probably all those born in my era are dead. I can not let it make me miserable, for their sake. Because I love them, I must move on. I have no other choice. It is my duty, to not make them the reason for my misery. So, Akairyuu, would they wish you harm? Would they be happy with being the cause of your misery?¡± Tears fell on the desk, and the man behind the Head crumbled in his seat. He sobbed for a few moments. But he composed himself. ¡°No, they wouldn''t.¡± He smiled, this time from his heart. ¡°No, they wouldn''t.¡± ¡°Then you can be happy, even if they''re no longer here.¡± Akairyuu didn''t speak, he only smiled and closed his eyes. He then opened the. ¡°Thank you. I never could trust this to others. I was the Head, I had to be strong. I only asked you because I could see you had worn this burden. Thank you, really. I needed that.¡± ¡°No problem, Head.¡± ¡°Bah! None of that Head business, we''ve bared it all to each, to hell with courtesy. Call me what you like.¡± Akairyuu scolded Gaius in fake anger. ¡°Then I''ll just call you Akai. Sorry but your full name is a mouthful.¡± ¡°My friends used to say the same. I hoped I could find you among their numbers.¡± Akai said, with a little apprehension. ¡°You gave me solid advice, and trusted me with your problems. I would be honoured.¡± ¡°Good.¡± They smiled at each other, and finished their tea. Akai coughed and remembered. ¡°We actually have divagated a bit, but didn''t you come for something?¡± ¡°Oh shit that''s right! I came up with a possible Senjutsu technique. I wanted advice on whether it''s possible.¡± ¡°Go ahead.¡± Gaius explained what had happened with Kotone. ¡°And I thought, wouldn''t it be possible to instead of expelling the corruption, transform it into different kind of curses and use it as an attack?¡± Akai looked at him slack jawed. He then composed himself and proclaimed wryly. ¡°Only you. Only you would think to use the great weakness of Senjutsu as an advantage.¡± ¡°Then do you think it''s impossible?¡± ¡°Hell no! Let''s go somewhere, I have the perfect place in mind for this.¡± He rose from his seat, grabbed Gaius and brought him to a well in the middle of the Moon God Pavillion. He signaled to it and announced what it was. ¡°Behold, the Mouth of Yomi, where the clan imprisons evil spirits too powerful to kill, and slowly drains their power. I use it to practice my severing, since the deeper you go the more corruption there is. I was going to let you use it once little Kotone improved a bit, since naturals don''t need to practice. Let''s go inside, shall we?¡± He performed a hand seal. The well began to emit purple miasma and some chains shot from the air and lifted a silver platform. A four armed humanoid in golden armour sat in it. Their voice rang, inhumanly deep and brimming with power. ¡°Why have you brought company, Xiao Hong? This is a place of great importance, outsiders shouldn''t be brought here.¡± ¡°Honourable Sh¨¦nsh¨¨ng Sh¨¯uh¨´ Zh¨§ J¨©ns¨¨d¨¬m¨§id¨¦. This man is Gaius Atiius Quadratus, of whom I''ve told you.¡± ¡°You bring him early.¡± ¡°He has come for a technique which requires corruption.¡± The being lifted their head. ¡°Explain it.¡± Akairyuu did so, speaking respectfully. ¡°The idea is feasible, yet you fail, Xiao Hong.¡± ¡°Why is that, Sh¨¦nsh¨¨ng Sh¨¯uh¨´ Zh¨§?¡± ¡°He offers you a technique, and you offer nothing in exchange. You may only have two techniques, but that is enough for an exchange.¡± Akairyuu blinked. He opened his mouth. He closed it. ¡°Didn''t think of that. I apologise Gaius. I have two techniques to offer you. The first allows you to change your spiritual presence and magical signature to that of your surroundings, making you invisible to detection through spiritual or magical means. Great for stealth. The second allows you to read a beings mind through their spiritual presence.¡± Gaius answered immediately. ¡°The first one, I''m tired of being in people''s minds.¡± Akairyuu nodded, and turned to the guardian deity. ¡°The exchange is acceptable. Welcome Sage Gaius. May your stay be fruitful.¡± The being descended down the well and a set of descending stars appeared. Gaius and Akai began to descend. As they went deeper the well expanded, until after three minutes they reached barren ground. It was filled with rock protrusions, with talismans in their surface. There were thousands. The air was filled with thin purple miasma. ¡°Welcome to level one. This place is good enough for our purpose. Don''t break the stones or the spirits will escape.¡± They began to practice the technique. After forty minutes they showed results, and Akairyuu began to teach Gaius his technique. They remained underground for a long time, unaware of time. Twelve hours later. A red eastern dragon was floating in the air breathing a purple mist in. It suddenly stopped and opened its eyes before shooting a purple beam from its mouth. It hummed, satisfied, before descending and shape shifting into a man. It was Kagayakashii Akairyuu. Gaius approached him. ¡°You have reached a great mastery in manipulating corruption, Akai.¡± ¡°Not as much as you. Now I understand the difference between a natural and a learned. You learned two techniques in the time I learned one! Your corruption control is ridiculous.¡± Complained Akai, grumbling at the unfairness of the world. ¡°Of course, the universe gifted me my ability. That means I am most suited to it.¡± ¡°Grumble grumble.¡± Gaius stopped. ¡°Have you just said grumble grumble?¡± ¡°Yes. Ignoring your unfair unfairness. I am one step closer to Godzilla!¡± ¡°Godzilla, that''s a¡­ Kaiju, were they called?¡± Akairyuu was outraged. ¡°You don''t know Godzilla?! Heresy!¡± ¡°I know of it, but I haven''t had time to watch much modern entertainment. I haven''t even caught up with the classics.¡± ¡°That''s it. Sunday is your religions rest day no?¡± Gaius nodded. ¡°From now on it''s culture appreciation day. I''ll choose a list of books, movies, series and the such, and you''ll watch it. This last two centuries have the best entertainment ever. You can''t not know pop culture. Let the nerdiness flow through your body. Come to the Dark Side, we have cookies.¡± ¡°Star Wars, right? Alright I have nothing better to do.¡± ¡°Good, now to catch a few hours of sleep and then show you the superiority of Kaijus, manga, and anime.¡± Gaius smiled before going up the stairs. "Oh, shit! I forgot to do the evenings paperwork!" 12. Missions. Missions. Next Monday Gaius received the results of his examinations. As expected his results were varied, while some things, like science, were already known in the Hidden World in his age there were many that didn''t. He lacked knowledge of the precise formulas in Physics, he was ignorant of history and literature. So he actually had to study so he could get the appropriate diplomas. Thankfully the association allowed him to self study, since he had been registered legally as an adult. Due to that he found himself with a lot of free time now that he didn''t need to catch up to thousands of years of Touki and Senjutsu research. This freedom made Gaius realise something, he had nothing to do. In his hermit life he had to do everything, but now? He was gazing at his navel half the time. And he had woken up two hours ago. He also lacked any form of entertainment, he had no books, no movies, no video games. And yesterday''s culture appreciation made him long for them. Thus he concluded he needed extra money, while he still had half of what he had been paid, that was to fund his magical activities and his every day expenses. It was time to take a mission. With this purpose he went to the administrative district, before he was stopped by the rules. It turned out that one must complete at least ten missions of a lower rank before being allowed to take one of a higher rank. Meaning he was stuck with white missions, things like bringing old man Mitsuhide valuabable myrthanic mercury. They also paid low, in the hundreds of yens. However his spirits were brought up by the fact that ten white missions wouldn''t take long. As such he valiantly searched for a little boy¡¯s lost pet, a three year old manticore. He helped an old lady summon a lesser wind spirit. He brought old man Mitsuhide his myrthanic mercury. He expelled a poltergeist from a playground, which weren''t ghosts but spirits born of mischief. He watered down a moonthrall flower bed. And another five missions. He returned to the mission counter to bring them in, and he finally could do red missions. He was disappointed. He upgraded from finding a baby manticore to feeding captive adult ones. To summoning a pestilence spirit. To bringing old man Mitsuhide his fireburst rubies. To expelling a nighthound. To feeding blood sucking vines. Etc¨¦tera. In other words, nothing dangerous, and all boring and time consuming. But he had dealt with boredom before, thereforehe decided he would deal with this boringness in exchange of later excitement. But before he could leave he encountered familiar faces. ¡°Hey there Gaius! How are you doing? Haven''t seen you in a week.¡± A voice sounded behind him. He turned and saw Akihiko and Ryuunosuke. ¡°Hello Akihiko, Ryuunosuke. I''m doing fine, just going up the mission rankings.¡± ¡°Good morning Gaius.¡± That was Ryuunosuke. ¡°Ah, the old tradition of not being allowed to take missions of your Rank, even if you are ready for them. Been there, done that.¡± ¡°Pretty much. By the way what is Ryuunosuke doing here, shouldn''t he be at school?¡± ¡°No. The year has already ended. I have vacations right now. Or I would if Akihiko didn''t make me accompany me.¡± The last part was said with irritation, Ryuunosuke was not happy with his vacation being cut short. ¡°The earlier you end your mentorship, the earlier you are free Ryuunosuke. Think of it as an investment for summer vacations. By then I''ll probably have given you my approval.¡± ¡°Wait, I haven''t asked before but what is a mentorship?¡± ¡°It''s a special program. After you have passed a Rank 0 combat test you are allowed to go into missions alongside a more experienced member. This member is selected of an available list of volunteers by the mentored.¡± Answered Ryuunosuke. ¡°So that means you chose Akihiko? Why?¡± ¡°He may not seem like it, but he''s pretty famous. He is only a Rank 0 but he is one of the associations best investigators. He also takes missions way above his Rank and has survived so far. He seemed like he had a lot to teach.¡± ¡°What do you mean I may not seem like it? I''m the picture of professionalism!¡± ¡°¡°No you aren''t.¡±¡± ¡°Bullies.¡± Pouted Akihiko. Ryuunosuke laughed and Gaius smirked. Once Ryuunosuke calmed Gaius kept asking about Akihiko. ¡°Why are you so good Akihiko? No offence but you aren''t a very skilled mage. Is it mundane investigative skills?¡± ¡°Yes and no. They are part of it sure but I''m actually good at basic Patterns, it''s more complicated ones or complex spells that elude me. I''m not very good at mana manipulation. However there are plenty analysis and espionage related spells among the basic ones. Detect Blood, Trace Blood, Trace Hair, Trace Magic, Detect Magic, Detect Poison, Detect Drug, Detect Illness, Detect Spirits, Detect Wards, Detect Traps, Detect Ki, Trace Ki, Trace Spirit, Reveal the Hidden, Temperature Sight, Dark Sight, Life Sight¡­ And many more. Couple that with actual detective training, that I got when I realised I was just plain bad at magic, and experience and you get a pretty good investigator.¡±The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Gaius hummed in approval, before thinking of something. ¡°Have you never thought to get ki?¡± ¡°I have ki.¡± That was a surprise for Gaius, and it seemed it showed in his face, since Akihiko averted his face and coughed. ¡°I just don''t have much?¡± Gaius looked at him, facepalmed, and groaned. ¡°You haven''t practiced much your only way of surviving if you stumble on something you can''t deal with.¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± Akihiko¡¯s eyes swimmed around looking everywhere except Gaius. ¡°Why. Not?¡± ¡°It didn''t really show results for the effort I put in?¡± ¡°Lies. Ki always shows results. It''s like saying that a workout doesn''t show results, that just means you are doing it wrong, or have wrong expectations.¡± ¡°Nice weather we have today, don''t you think.¡± Akihiko looked up while saying this. ¡°In a building.¡± The disbelief was nearly tangible. ¡°I''m also curious Akihiko. Why not?¡± Intervened Ryuunosuke curious. ¡°I may, or may not, have had to make a geas that forbid me from increasing my ki.¡± The stares hit Akihiko like sledgehammers. He actually recoiled under them. ¡°You what.¡± Gaius couldn''t even process the sheer stupidity of that geas. That was like swearing to never use your left leg. ¡°Teehee pero?¡± Said Akihiko while putting a fist on his head. ¡°Don''t teehee us, Akihiko! That''s a horrible geas, even I know not to do that!¡± Akihiko sighed, before putting a serious face on. ¡°There''s a reason, lives hanged in the balance.¡± Gaius closed his eyes and decided to stop there. ¡°Alright, I''ll trust your judgement. I won''t insist. Aside from that where do I apply to the mentorship? I want to go to the oranges at least.¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°Ryuunosuke, all humans have secrets, let Akihiko have his. We have no right to intrude. Or would you like for him to ignore your privacy? Even I understand that.¡± ¡°Ok, ok.¡± He relented. Akihiko smiled brightly at that. ¡°You actually don''t need mentorship for that.¡± Gaius was startled. ¡°What?¡± In Akihiko''s car Gaius lied his head on his hands. ¡°I can''t believe I didn''t think of sharing a mission.¡± ¡°You couldn''t know that was allowed for missions under yellow. They also count for the mission requirements for a Rank less, so a yellow will count as an orange.¡± Akihiko tried to console Gaius. He then turned to Ryuunosuke. ¡°Now, tell me the mission details.¡± ¡°We have to investigate a disappearance yesterday. A young man vanished in the middle of an alley. It is still not sure it is magical in nature, sincethe only witness was drunk. But it''s better to be careful.¡± ¡°Mission objectives?¡± ¡°To find out what happened, and rescue the man.¡± ¡°Even if it''s mundane?¡± That question catched Ryuunosuke by surprise. ¡°Um, yes?¡± ¡°Good. You aren''t one of the assholes who would wash their hands. I knew I liked you for a reason.¡± Ryuunosuke was stricken. ¡°There''s someone who wouldn''t?¡± ¡°Some think that since the Hidden World is, well, hidden, we should minimise contact with the mundane.¡± Akihiko scoffed. ¡°It''s bullshit in my opinion, and taking into account the association overlooking my actions I think the higher ups think so too. But some will try to interfere if you rescue a mundane from something mundane, so be prepared to fight for your principles. Thankfully we have muscle to back us if we''re in over our heads.¡± He smiled at Gaius, who nodded back. The conversation died at that moment, before Akihiko made Ryuunosuke go over the details of the case. Once he was satisfied he fell silent. They arrived at the scene of the crime in silence. Once in the alley Akihiko casted a few spells. ¡°Magic detected. So many perps have been discarded. I don''t have enough to follow them back to their base. We have to narrow down the list of suspects.¡± ¡°So, we go to his parents. You know to ask if someone had stalked him? Or something?¡± Sugggested Ryuunosuke. ¡°Good idea.¡± Gaius was impressed. ¡°Didn''t think you knew of kidnapping protocols.¡± ¡°I actually saw that on TV.¡± ¡°If so, TV has for once taught something well. Come on, time is against us.¡± Akihiko ushered them towards the car. They arrived at a house with two floors. Akihiko ringed the bell, before a policeman showed at the door. Akihiko presented himself and asked to be let inside. Soon after a man in plain clothes came out. ¡°Saito. Does this mean it''s one of ¡®those¡¯ cases?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Affirmed Akihiko bluntly. ¡°Who are the two?¡± ¡°My apprentice, and some muscle.¡± Akihiko signaled to Ryuunosuke and Gaius respectively. ¡°Good to meet you two then. The muscle above all, we never lack that in this kind of case. Come on inside.¡± They did so and the man, Konya Kioshi, introduced them to the parents. ¡°Mr. and Mrs. Ishikawa, this is Akihiko and company. A famous private investigator.¡± ¡°But we haven''t hired anyone?¡± Said the mother. ¡°He belongs to a company that takes care of special cases for us. This may be one of them.¡± ¡°Special?¡± ¡°The perp may be someone once trained by the government.¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°It''s more common than you''d think. An cop leaving the business and going bad. We have someone else take care of these for impartiality. He is trustworthy, and he has never proved that trust wrong. Tell him what you were saying to me.¡± ¡°Alright. Kei didn''t have many enemies, he was a quiet boy. The only thing that I can think of is his girlfriend''s stalker.¡± They asked for more details and then they moved outside. ¡°What do you think, Akihiko.¡± Asked Kioshi. ¡°Pretty obvious. Was the stalker. It was probably a coin flip between the guy and the girlfriend, both are valid targets for a stalker. That or a really unlucky coincidence¡± ¡°I don''t know. Would they be so stupid as to kidnap someone just three days after they got in a fight with them?¡± Asked Gaius. ¡°Stalkers aren''t known for their intelligence. Otherwise they would know that no means no.¡± ¡°That''s an understatement.¡± Scoffed Kioshi. ¡°I can leave this to you, no?¡± ¡°Yes, we''ll handle it. Just be ready to prevent an escape.¡± ¡°Ahead of you. I''ve already sent agents to watch his house.¡± The four men drove towards the perps house, and on the way received confirmation of the stalker entering the house. Once they arrived they broke in. They found the house empty, so they examined it in depth. It was incredibly disorganised, as if no one had cleaned in a long time. Gaius noted an oddly high level of remnants, concretely pleasure. He told as much to his three companions. ¡°That might be drugs.¡± Commented Akihiko. ¡°If it really is that high it has to be. Keep your eyes open for them.¡± In the bathroom Gaius, in Senjutsu state, noticed a wave of fear. ¡°Over here!¡± Akihiko found a secret passage behind the bath. They entered and descended some stairs. The stairs ended in a stone door. The four agreed to send Kioshi back. Once he was gone Gaius opened the door and barged in, quickly followed by the other two. The door snapped shut behind them. ¡°You have to be kidding me. Thanks Murphy.¡± In front of Gaius stood the skeleton of a two meter tall horse, with one peculiarity. A thirty centimetre long horn rested on its forehead. ¡°An undead unicorn, really? What''s next, a draugr? I should have let Ken finish.¡± 13. Cultist. Cultist. The dead unicorn lifted its head, its eye sockets were empty, but still fixed on them. Gaius wondered why that was, he didn''t know much about Necrology but it surely didn''t use nonexistent eyes to perceive the world. He stepped ahead, unwilling to let his frailer companions be the centre of the creatures attention. ¡°Does that mean Ken knows about that thing? Because I sure don''t.¡± Whispered Akihiko while preparing a barrier. At the same time Ryuunosuke panicked not knowing what to do, before he calmed and asked for orders. ¡°What do I do?¡± ¡°Stand by for now. I''ll try to beat it the old way. You two try to contact Ken, to see if it has a weakness.¡± Said Gaius without looking back. He suddenly sprang to action and sprinted ahead, tackling the horned horse. It didn''t seem affected by it and tried to skewer Gaius, but he sidestepped and grabbed it. He proceeded to lift it in the air and slammed it on the floor. He was about to punch it when he jumped back, just in time to avoid a wave of force. The unicorn used that time to stand up and prepare to charge. Before it could do so a distortion hit it, Gaius had projected a punch at it. It staggered back, unable to deal with the strength behind the punch, but didn''t seem damaged. Gaius saw this and charged a spell. The unicorn managed to dodge a beam before rushing at Gaius, shining blue. It had nearly reached him when the beam impacted it, the Judgement Light having turned after missing. It''s charge was disrupted and it fell, but it quickly rose, unharmed. An intense light shone. It was unaffected, using the time the spell gave it to charge a thick lightning bolt that stroke Gaius. He felt his natural shield tremble, the unicorns magic too weak to truly harm him. ¡°Not weak to the Sun then.¡± He then tried an arcane bolt to no avail. Having run out of magic he approached the unicorn and engaged in close combat. He dodged a slash with its horn and circled to its back, where he hit it with a flaming punch. It fell to the ground, but its kick had connected and Gaius was thrown back a metre. Both fighters rose, but the unicorn had realised it didn''t seem to be harming him and switched targets. While this happened Ryuunosuke and Akihiko had tried to open the door, communicate with magic, and with their phones, but failed at all of them. ¡°Both kinds of communication are blocked here, with magic and signal jammers. If we want to contact Ken we need to get out. I can open the door, but it''d take at least ten minutes and I can''t do anything else in between. Cover me.¡± Ordered Akihiko. ¡°Couldn''t I use my Word, it twists magic.¡± Proposed Akihiko. ¡°It''s worth a try.¡± Akihiko gave him the go ahead. ¡°Open.¡± Akihiko tried to open the door but it remained closed. He cursed and examined its defences. ¡°You only undid one of the spells, seems we''ve found a limitation for your magic. Ok, now cover me.¡± Ryuunosuke stood between Akihiko and the unicorn, before seeing that it was charging at him, Gaius close behind. He panicked and did the first thing that came to mind. ¡°Stop!¡± It only stopped for half a second, but that was enough, Gaius catched up to it and threw it to the other side of the room. He then run to it and embraced it while transforming his Touki into electricity. That actually hindered the unicorn¡¯s movements, it didn''t harm it noticeably, but it couldn''t escape Gaius¡¯ grasp. The human realised this and kept pumping it full of lightning, and shouted. ¡°Nothing I do sticks! Get its weakness!¡± Three minutes passed in this deadlock before the unicorn stopped its resistance. Gaius hoever didn''t slacken, his wariness rewarded when the undead struggled with even more force before halting once more. Four minutes passed and Gaius grew increasingly worried, for he knew it was doing something. His doubts were answered when its horn began to shine and a fireball rose upwards, before falling in them. Gaius was blown back and tasted blood in his mouth. He spit saliva mixed with blood and three molars. He lifted his head to look at his foe and saw its bones broken. He was not stupid enough to think it self destructed and lifted himself from the ground to run at the monster. His caution being validated when he saw the thing pull itself back together, fast. He however reached it before it finished regenerating and grabbed the skull. For he had remembered that European unicorns were famous for the healing properties of their horns and guessed its regeneration came from it. He tried to break it, but found it was far harder than he expected, he was unable to even scratch it. The rest of the abominations body slammed him from behind, catching him unaware and making him fall. Stupid, he thought, of course it doesn''t need its head to move. The unicorn recovered its head and stood ready as if nothing had happened. It was about to skewer him when a voice forced it to stop as its leg broke. ¡°Break!¡± Gaius rolled away of the beast and stood up, taking advantage of the time Ryuunosuke had bought him. They recovered at the same time and charged each other, the impact resonating in the air. They pushed against each other, Gaius grabbing its skull to keep the horn at bay. It was at that moment that Akihiko managed to leave the room and quickly returned. ¡°Gaius! The thing is weak to starlight! It halts its regeneration!¡± ¡°I already tried Solar Flare!¡± ¡°Not sunlight, starlight! From a star at least 50 light years away!¡± ¡°I don''t have anything like that! Summon a star spirit!¡± ¡°I don''t know how!¡± ¡°Neither do I!¡± Intervened Ryuusuke, feeling useless. ¡°Shit, so only I know how. Electricity stops it! How long can you keep it away between you two?¡±If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°The unicorn managed to take advantage of his distraction and slipped from his grasp. They engaged in a close quarters fight while Gaius shouted. ¡°I have the taser spell! I can use it thirty three times!¡± ¡°I can keep it in a barrier for about ten seconds if Ryuunosuke manages to stop it for two! I have enough to do it thrice!¡± ¡°Do it at the count of three! One, two, three!¡± Gaius disengaged and dodged at the same time Ryuunosuke''s spell hit it. Akihiko created his barrier and Ryuunosuke stood at attention to shock it when needed. The plan worked and Gaius began to prepare a summoning circle with chalk he had never left without. The circle was composed of an outer circle with another concentric one within. He divided the space between them in twelve and filled them with the occidental zodiac constellations. In the centre he drew Earth, and he wrote many symbols in the leftover space, connected by many lines. The unicorn broke the first barrier and Akihiko made another. ¡°Oh beings beyond the earthly sphere, born of the shining stars. You who hold dominion over starlight.¡± He began chanting. ¡°Follow the coordinates I give you and answer my call. I swear as Quaesitor in Virtute that I shall offer for your aid a just pride. I call upon your power to strike my undead foe. Those willing to answer my call shall receive a just price. I swear I wish you no harm, and this ritual is not a trap. Those willing to accept this hasty plea shall receive a just price. I call upon any of you who hold virtue in your hearts. I summon you children of the stars. I summon you fathers of light. I summon you guardians of the day. Answer my call!¡± Once he finished the circle remained dim for a few seconds. After those seconds the chalk illuminated with soft light, that kept growing in intensity until it became blinding. A stern elderly voice resounded, speaking in a strange tongue. It stopped and then started anew. ¡°I have come. I ask of you. What task do you wish of me. And what offerings do you have.¡± Gaius answered respectfully. He noticed the second barrier go down. ¡°Honourable spirit of the sky, I wish for you to shine your light upon the undead in this room. I swear that I shall summon you for an adequate offering at a later date, but right now I hold nothing of value.¡± ¡°You summoned me without offering?! I shall punish this-¡± the voice exclaimed, outraged. ¡°Banish!¡± Ordered Gaius, and prepared to summon once again, when the circle lighted up anew. This time without his magical energy. ¡°What is going on?¡± Gaius was astounded, this shouldn''t be possible, he wasn''t supplying magical energy to the circle. It should be inactive, unless they were powerful enough to summon themselves no one could use it. But why would such a being come to him? ¡°I feel your distrust young one.¡± An bizarre voice sounded, as if a thousand voices spoke as one. ¡°Do not worry. I hold you no ill will. I shall answer your call. My only price is for you to summon me again, and give serious consideration to my offer.¡± Gaius looked at Akihiko and saw him sweat and tremble. Knowing he wouldn''t last much longer he decided to take a gamble. ¡°I accept!¡± ¡°Then the contract is established.¡± As the words echoed the room was filled with light. The unicorn was visibly affected, as its bones began to darken and its resistance faltered. Gaius approached Akihiko, who now relaxed and asked. ¡°Lower the barrier, please.¡± Akihiko nodded and did so. Gaius managed to reach the downed unicorn and broke its bones. Ryuunosuke collapsed to the floor in relief. Gaius smiled at him and returned to Akihiko. ¡°Do you still have Ken on phone?¡± ¡°Yes, do I pass him to you?¡± ¡°Yes please.¡± He did so. ¡°Hello Gaius. I suppose you manage to kill the unicorn?¡± ¡°Yes. Why exactly is an undead European unicorn, creature of the night and starlight, weak to starlight?¡± ¡°Because unicorns are creatures of starlight, well European ones, African and Mesopotamian ones are different. They are also pure creatures, unfit for combat but great at illusion and healing magic. They can''t be raised normally. In order to do that their attributes are inverted. Where they were unable to fight, now even the weakest of unicorns is a Rank 3-4 fighter. Where they could only heal others, now they can only heal themselves. And where starlight strengthened their gifts, it now weakens it.¡± ¡°I suppose that makes sense. You wouldn''t think of that at the moment though, normally undeads keep the traits of what they were.¡± ¡°Yeah, they are bastards. That said I recommend you keep the bones, they are a great reagent. And I don''t need to say how valuable is the alicorn.¡± ¡°Alright, thanks.¡± Gaius gave the phone back to Akihiko, who thanked Ken and hanged. ¡°How do you wish to distribute the spoils?¡± Asked Gaius. ¡°I will conform myself with a fourth of the bones. Ryuusuke did a little bit more, so I''d give him a third. Keep the rest, you earned it.¡± Was Akihiko¡¯s answer. ¡°You sure? The alicorn is at least a hundred times more valuable than the bones.¡± ¡°Sure. What do you say Ryuusuke?¡± He rose from the floor at hearing his name and waved. ¡°Yeah sure. I''m just happy to be alive.¡± After they collected the remains they neared the door that lead inside. ¡°Should we expect something more like that?¡± Questioned Gaius. ¡°The police investigated him after the stalker business and he showed no signs of magic. He has no chance of being able to make something like that, otherwise I would have called reinforcements before heading in.¡± ¡°Then why did he have it?¡± Ryuunosuke had a confused look. ¡°No idea, but if he bought it he surely wasted all of his money. And if by some bullshit it''s a gift, no one would give such a loser more than that. It''d be a waste. At least on normal circumstances.¡± ¡°So, be careful then.¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They went deeper and after going through a hallway the path bifurcated. They first went to the right, where they found a beginners workshop. Finding nobody there they went left. There they found their prize. In there they found a cell block with many empty cells, in the last one they found their kidnapped man. ¡°So have we lost our perp somewhere?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. Instead of answering Gaius punched behind him. A scream was heard and a man appeared. ¡°Not quite.¡± They secured the stalker and freed the young man. Gaius took the mage and Akihiko the victim. They were bringing them to the surface when the culprit awoke. ¡°Back with us?¡± Asked Akihiko. ¡°You have a lot to answer for. For starters where did you get the unicorn?¡± The man tried to free himself. ¡°Release me! I have done nothing wrong!¡± Gaius laughed. ¡°Is kidnapping and who knows what else nothing to you?¡± ¡°The True Bodhisattva teaches us to follow our desires, and that''s all I did! I''ve done nothing wrong!¡± Akihiko narrowed his eyes and Gaius stopped. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°The True Bodhisattva! She is the one true enlightened one, the one that leads all of us humans to happiness.¡± He proclaimed with fanaticism in his voice. ¡°By telling you to follow your desires? You do know that you were causing misery to your victim, thus negating you ¡®happiness to all¡¯ philosophy? Happiness for all is found when one learns to control their desires and fulfils only those that do not harm others. Which is impossible as it is shown by the fact that the girl you stalked found love with another and this caused you pain. Fullfilled desires are a limited resource in this world, it''s why we must learn to be happy even when things go wrong and we don''t get what we want.¡± The man shut up, unable to answer. Akihiko looked at Gaius in surprise. ¡°That''s quite pessimistic of you.¡± ¡°If so Christianity is pessimistic, since we teach true happiness is only found in God. In this world we can only do our best and we''ll be rewarded in the next.¡± ¡°Never thought of it like that.¡± The man began to speak again. ¡°He stole her from me! She was meant to be with me, he wasn''t worthy of happiness!¡± "Happiness for all humans still includes him no matter how much you deny it, you know?" "Nonsense! Only the true enlightened deserve happiness!" "Then why don''t you enlighten him, instead of kidnap him." "He didn''t deserve it! I-" Gaius tired of listening to his inane ramblings and knocked him out. ¡°Ah! Demonising your enemy, moral myopia and not actually following the beliefs you say you follow. Such is the start of many tragedies. Still Akihiko. Do you know what he was talking about?¡± ¡°Yes. But I''ll let the higher ups in the association speak for me. Come on, let''s bring him there.¡± They left the house, and after making sure the victim was alright they left him with the police and went to the Waning Moon. Once there they left the stalker in interrogation and gave their report. They were made to wait before the woman responsible for this case brought them to a room. They entered and saw the Head there. ¡°Hello Akai. I guess you are going to fill us in.¡± ¡°¡±Wait, AKAI?!¡±" ¡°Yes, Gaius. Come on, sit down. Now, what do you know about the Cult of the Bodhisattva of Pleasure?¡± 14. Briefing. Briefing. Is a meeting room in the Waning Moon Associations law keeping HQ five people sat around a desk. Three of them had just come from outside, they were Akihiko, Ryuunosuke and Gaius. The other two were the Head and a thirty some year old woman. The Head had just asked Gaius if he knew about a certain cult. ¡°No. Never heard of them.¡± Was his answer. Akairyuu nodded, before stopping to think. ¡°The Cult is an old enemy of the association.¡± He began. ¡°We have been enemies since before our founding, though the Cult didn''t know about us at that time.¡± He paused to catch his breath. ¡°You might be wondering how is that possible.¡± At those words he stopped, seeking a certain reaction. ¡°Not really. It''s obvious they were enemies of the Founders, but they didn''t know they came here and founded the association¡± Akai looked annoyed and grunted. ¡°Hmf. Of course you have to take the fun parts away.¡± The other three were a bit surprised at those words, they had never seen the Head so relaxed. Exactly what was their relationship, they wondered. ¡°Alright, I''ll shed the theatrics. The Cult is as its name says, a cult. It worships a Rank 9 entity, Cheng Ming. Meaning rule, order, and enlightening. It is not her birth name, but one she chose after deciding she knew the way to enlightenment. Her original name is lost. Do you follow for now?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Yes, Master Head.¡± Answered Akihiko and Ryuunosuke, while Gaius nodded. ¡°Good. Our relationship with them is simple. One of our founders, we don''t know which one, was her offspring. Whichever of the two it was changed their surname to that of their spouse. Who was their father is unknown, for there are too many candidates. See, Cheng Ming believed that enlightenment could only be reached through the fulfillment of one''s desires. That once one was fulfilled they would achieve bodhi. She claimed she had fulfilled all her desires once, and that lead her to enlightenment, but before becoming an arhat she took the vow of the Bodhisattva, swearing to lead all sensible beings to bodhi through her guidance, and not separating from the circle of reincarnation until she had done so. Needless to say she is considered heretical by nearly all branches of Buddhism, since that is the opposite of their philosophy. And while her claim of being a Bodhisattva is contested, her power is not. She showed signs of immense might prior to being expelled from the world, defeating twelve Rank 8s and two Rank 9s in a single hour. However, as I have already said she was expelled from this world. We don''t know how, just that the Founders were involved, and brought records of how they did it to these lands. Records we safeguard. Unfortunately she had gained a following by then. Her Cult seeks to bring her back and for that they scour the world in search of ways to do it. And a hundred years ago they found out about our records, and have since tried to steal them. So we must always be alert of them, or a great calamity would descend. After all she was not a true god, and gods hardly intervene directly in the affairs of mortals. We''d have to pay a steep price in order to recruit entities capable of defeating her, and all of humanity would suffer. Thus it is our sacred duty to safeguard the records, for Humanity''s sake.¡± Once he finished speaking he evaluated the feelings of his subordinates. Akihiko looked resigned, he already knew. Ryuunosuke was trembling, sweat flowing through his temples and eyes dilating, he could feel the terror coming from him without having to activate his Senjutsu. But Gaius? Gaius looked impassive, as they were discussing the weather. ¡°Nothing special then.¡± He commented. ¡°What?!¡± Exclaimed Ryuunosuke, unable to understand his calm. ¡°You just heard there is a world ending threat out there! And only the association stands in her way!¡± Gaius chuckled. ¡°Again, nothing special. I might not remember everything, but I remember at least six hundred such events since my time. Portals to Hell, Angra Mainyu¡¯s machinations, several Rank 9 entities that sought the end of the world. World ending events happen at least once a decade around the world, and they obviously have never triumphed. One more is not much, honestly. Also she isn''t so much ¡®World Ending¡¯ as she is civilisation ending, if my take is correct.¡± ¡°Wh-at?¡± Ryuunosuke collapsed in his chair, hyperventilating. ¡°Gaius.¡± Said Akihiko reproachfully. ¡°Couldn''t you break it to him more gently?¡± ¡°I don''t know how.¡± He answered sadly. ¡°How do you sugarcoat the fact that the world is in constant danger? How do you collapse someone''s worldview gently?¡± Akairyuu nodded at that. ¡°In my experience it''s something you should do fast, if it comes to it. Letting them keep their hopes up would do more damage in the long term. Listen Ryuunosuke, pay attention to my next words, and then you can have your crisis. But this is important, now that you know the truth.¡± ¡°But, but. How can you¡­ How can you all?¡± ¡°Time, mostly. You know of world destroyers but then you see nothing happen and it fades away.¡± Answered Akihiko. ¡°It''s not as bad as it sounds honestly.¡± Ryuunosuke reacted to those words. He slowly breathed in and out, many times. Eventually he nodded, still trembling, but willing to keep listening. ¡°Well done. Now I have yet to speak of the Cult¡¯s modus operandi and their beliefs. They obviously worship Cheng Ming, calling her the True Bodhisattva. They believe in causing pleasure by any means, watching a fountain, having sex, drinking tea, getting drunk, drugs, whatever gives you pleasure. That by itself is not bad, but they know not self control. They will kill you for your fountain, they will rape you, they will steal tea, they will rob a bank for drinking and drug money. They work like addicts, and some are indeed addicts, but some are high functioning. The grunts are common thugs, like the man you apprehended, but the higher ups know when to stop in order to maximise benefits. They are pragmatic, which coupled with their lack of morals and fanaticism makes them very dangerous. Questions?¡± Gaius leaned forward. ¡°Yes. How do they reconcile their happiness to all with their lack of empathy. Or are they just hypocrites.¡± ¡°That is actually what makes them dangerous. While they are willing to kill and steal, they prefer to ¡®convert¡¯ the people they need. They kidnap them and ¡®show them the light¡¯, which usually means being pumped full of supernatural drugs until they are hopeless addicts who will follow their every whim in order to get their fix. Or as they say ¡®teach them the wonders of unrestricted bliss¡¯. It''s how they recruit, by turning their enemies and the less fortunate, such as the homeless, into slaves to their instincts and, being the only ones capable of fulfilling them, to them.¡± He said the last with disgust. A loud metallic sound rang through the room. They all turned to the source and saw Gaius had crushed his armchairs, and saw behaving weirdly. His joints cracked, his pupils dilated, his teeth ground against each other, his muscles tensed and his skin reddened.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. Ryuunosuke jumped away from him, while Akihiko and the woman prepared for battle. ¡°How. Many.¡± He barely managed to whisper. ¡°How many members.¡± Akairyuu managed to understand what he meant. ¡°Our current estimates show that they are extended through China, South Korea, Indonesia and Japan. Membership is thought to reach the millions, however the majority don''t even know about the Cult and are mundane. Even many of those who know are mundane, and support the Cult through other means. Spies, former soldiers, hackers, anyone who had a skill they wanted is converted.¡± Gaius stopped trembling and began smiling. ¡°I see. Is there anything else?¡± ¡°That''s the rough overview. What you should know is to not trust anyone you haven''t been able to contact in three days, they might have been converted. Aside from that you will receive a more detailed report of their operations later.¡± ¡°For what purpose. Since this isn''t common knowledge I suppose it is supposed to be a secret?¡± ¡°Normally yes, but I trust you three, and I now need people who I can trust with a secret.¡± Ryuunosuke intervened. ¡°Does that mean something is wrong?¡± ¡°Yes. If normal people are being inducted in the Cult now it means they are advanced in their plans. I want you three, along others, to sniff out the cultists and destroy their little rat holes. Can you do it?¡± Akihiko nodded. ¡°Always, as long as you take care of my family if I die, or worse.¡± Ryuunosuke gulped when they looked at him. ¡°They, they are a danger to normal people no? Then my friends and family are involved, I''m scared, but count me in.¡± Akairyuu smiled proudly at him, pleased with his answer. He then moved his sight to Gaius who was silent, looking at the ground. ¡°And you?¡± He looked up and smiled widely. ¡°My pleasure. Where do I sign up to rip their guts and strangle them with their intestines?¡± He said with a tone like that of a child asking for sweets. He then punched his leg. ¡°No, you idiot, you are now beyond that, remember? You are no longer like that.¡± He whispered to himself. He raised his head, rage gone, and answered calmly. ¡°I''ll do it.¡± ¡°Good.¡± He signaled to the woman. ¡°It is then time to present you to Amagi Ai, head of the operation. She will detail your patrol routes and how to recognise the converted.¡± She rose and pulled down a board with a map of the city and several photos. ¡°Thank you for the introduction Head. Now, in this map you can see we''ve marked the bases we have already discovered, they are all minor but they already show a pattern. If you will take these dossiers¡­¡± Once the briefing was done with Akairyuu dismissed them. ¡°That is all, all of you except Gaius are dismissed. Gaius¡­¡± ¡°Let Ryuusuke and Akihiko stay, if it''s what I think it is I want them to know.¡± He interrupted. ¡°Very well.¡± Accepted Akairyuu. ¡°Then I''ll leave now. I''ll see you tomorrow at 8:00.¡± Ai informed before leaving the room. The room fell silent, before Gaius began to speak. ¡°If you want to know why I reacted like this you must know about Diocletian and his persecutions. How much do you know?¡± ¡°It was the tenth and bloodiest of Christian persecutions.¡± Answered Akairyuu. ¡°That makes it sound so impersonal, Akai. But living in them was a nightmare. Do you know why they began?¡± This time Akihiko answered. ¡°You refused to worship the emperor.¡± ¡°That is right. We are forbidden for worshipping other gods. That made us reject worship of the emperor, but we were still loyal citizens of the empire. From patricians to slaves, we only wanted to be allowed to worship freely. However our religion was banned, because we ¡®threatened the stability of the empire¡¯. We had to meet in secret, we had to hide our faith, as if it was something shameful, as if it made us to be lesser. But even then we were satisfied, while society shunned us we were happy as long as we could worship God in peace, and follow our faith. But Diocletian was not satisfied with us keeping our heads down. For him we were a danger, and couldn''t be allowed to exist. For him we were a dangerous cult. And so, he started the persecutions. They were terrible, our property was stolen, our lands given to others and our places of faith destroyed and desecrated. They hunted us like animals when they sniffed us, they forced us to abandon our faith or die. Our sisters were raped and sold to slavery or killed, our brothers executed. They crucified and burned us. They tortured us for days. They spared neither the old nor the young, our people had to run and hide. We were exterminated, thousands died. They murdered our men and enslaved or killed our women. People condemn Nero, but Diocletian was worse in our eyes. My family was lucky. Constance Chlorus, Caesar of the Western Empire, didn''t really enforce the persecution much, and we were able to bribe safety for us and those that seeked refuge with us. We supported five hundred of our brethren in those dark days. But even then we had to live in fear, for what would happen if they decided to ignore our bribes? While I stayed in the mountain I feared seeing soldiers come for me, informing me that my mother and sisters were disgraced and sold, and my father killed. I couldn''t even worry for myself, I was too busy being scared for my family. And so day after day I prayed, hour after hour, from dawn till dusk. I stopped taking care of my body until my father visited me and forced me to take care of myself and asked me. ¡°Do you hate them, Gaius?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± I answered, ¡°they pursue us for a misunderstanding, they are monsters!¡± I shouted. He laughed and told me, ¡°there you are wrong, Gaius, they are human like us. The Lord asks us to love our enemies, to forgive and pray for them, there is a reason for that.¡± I couldn''t understand, so I began to pray for something more, understanding. Three years passed in fear when Constantine the Great rose to the throne, and stopped the persecutions, forever. He legalised our worship. Even if it was only in the Western Empire we were finally free! Free to wear symbols of faith on us! Free to say we were christians! Free to go out on the streets and be able to proclaim, I am Christian, follower of God, and no one could act against us for that. I knew there would still be discrimination, but I didn''t care, the law was on our side. I felt as if my prayers were answered and I thought I heard a voice. It said ¡°Like I freed the Jews from Egypt I have now freed you. Go, and find your faith.¡± I prayed for three days and nights in thanks, and when I rose I had seen why. If we had fought, would have Constantine been able to free us? Our enemies were human, their malice born of humanity. We should not curse them, but understand them, love them, and wish that they would see their mistakes and repent. Love your neighbour, because we didn''t curse them, they couldn''t deny that we weren''t evil. Love God, because as long as we loved him we would hold our faith in Him and others would see it and be impressed. He taught us to love, to not discriminate. And because we followed His precepts we were able to deny Diocletian¡¯s accusations. Christians should not hate, but understand and love. We should not wish them harm, but for grace to reach them. Love our neighbour, as long as we didn''t forget that we didn''t have to fear. Do not reject others, and you won''t give them grounds to reject you. We couldn''t defeat our enemies in force of arms, but we defeated them with love. We loved and Constantine loved us back, and freed us. Diocletian took our homes, our dignity and our lives. But our hearts were with our neighbours, and our faith with God. He couldn''t take that, and we were be rewarded in both Heaven and Earth. Our martyrs rose among the saints, and the living were freed. A miracle had happened through our devotion. I was happy, and managed to let go of my hatred. At that point my spirit lifted and I gained awareness. Senjutsu was a gift I won through my faith. My faith was rewarded.¡± Gaius stopped talking at that point, lost in memories of his happiest days. Ryuunosuke asked confused. ¡°What is the relationship of this story with the Cult?¡± Gaius was startled, he had began rambling. ¡°Sorry. My point is that the Cult does what Diocletian couldn''t. They take the hearts and souls of their victims. They violate their most sacred right, the right to be good. They enslave their minds while Diocletian could only slave our bodies. Bluntly put, they press all my buttons. And I remind you that I became a hermit to combat my bloodthirst, my wrath. Even if I no longer wish to murder all those who look at me at the eye, my wrath remains. I restrain it, but it still exist. No longer is it unjustified, but it is.¡± Akai nodded, understanding Gaius better. ¡°Then I guess you will root them out with ¡°great ferocity. Or not?¡± He smiled mischievously. ¡°Heh. I wish to harm them, but I''ll fight for them, so their minds will be theirs again. And I''ll make sure to protect others from them. I will destroy the Cult. That I swear.¡± He looked around nervously. ¡°Do you get it now?¡± Akihiko smiled and put a hand on his shoulder. ¡°It''s honestly more verbose than I like, but I get it. You hate what the Cult does. Simple. I like it. Count on me.¡± Ryuunosuke smiled, relieved to understand his rage. ¡°I also get it. I was scared before, but now I understand it. You''re actually pretty nice, aren''t you?¡± Akai laughed. ¡°I see you already made some friends other than I! I call myself your friend, of course I understand it.¡± 15. Alarming news. Alarming news. It was a warm day, for March. It was still cold, but spring was showing its first omens. And Gaius was wondering if this was coincidence. That his life had restarted as winter died, and he opened his heart to others as spring came. It was a new start, away from the stigma of his childhood, away from his rage, away from his pain. He quickly came to understand something, coincidence or not he had done well to open up. He now felt free. In a way only those who had felt burdened by not having anyone they could trust to see them for who they were and accept them, but managed to open themselves and be understood could understand. It was as if his worries, and that dull pain brought by solitude, melted and flowed away with his breath. He had never truly felt alone, God was always with him, but he missed humans. Even during his hermitage he knew his family waited for him, so he was not as lonely as he had been this week. His only meaningful interactions having been with Akai, Saturday and Sunday, both with something he wasn''t all that worried about. But this time they saw him for who he was, a scarred man who had yet to surpass the tragedies in his past and move on, and they didn''t laugh like he feared, but understood. Though they might not have known how he feared people would call him weak of heart, that just made their reaction sweeter, for they answered from their hearts. He smiled from the bottom of his heart, a slight slime, not wide as a smile he purposefully put on would have been. A quirk of the lips that slipped into his face without his knowledge. He was once again amidst his fellows. His hermitage had served its purpose in giving him faith and a strong heart, but it no longer would help him. Now was the time to go to the world and show it his growth, so others may follow and grow through his example. The time of reflection had ended, the time of teaching had come. And what better way of teaching than living a happy life others would long for? Now it was his time to shine for others like his father had done for him. With this resolution in his heart Gaius looked around him, at the three men that had understood him and laughed. An unbridled laugh, for how stupid had been his fear? It was lacking faith in his neighbours, in their empathy. After calming he saw their confusion and explained. ¡°Heh. Sorry but I just realised how much of a fool I was. I say, how could I be so arrogant as to believe I was capable of compassion and desired to help others with their problems, and yet others were incapable of the same? Did I believe myself the most virtuous man on Earth?¡± That just made them even more confused, so he explained what he had feared, why he had never sought deeper relationships in these two weeks. Why he had just offered help, and never accepted it. Well except that one time with Akai, but for him that was minor and didn''t count. Akihiko looked at him as if he was the greatest moron he had even heard of. ¡°You skipped seventeen hundred years. Everyone you love is dead. Your civilisation is dead. You are in a foreign land at the mercy of strangers. You went through the worst persecution of christians in Ancient Rome, where you lived in fear for three years. And your only problem is that you are enraged when things that remind you of said persecutions happen. And you fear we would call you weak. I''ve known of people with PTSD or depression for less! What kind of bizarre vision of your average human¡¯s strength of heart do you even have?!¡± Gaius began to speak, then shut his mouth. He proceeded to open his mouth, before rethinking his words. He finally chose his words and spoke, unsure of himself ¡°Apparently an overestimated one? PTSD was a mental illness¡­?¡± Ryuunosuke facepalmed. ¡°For having been omniscient you don''t know much.¡± ¡°Hey, I can speak thirteen thousand Nearthental tongues, surpass that!¡± ¡°Not what I mean. How do you not know about mental illnesses?¡± ¡°I know about chemical imbalances and structural defects that cause¡­¡± Akai stopped him. ¡°He means, why do you not know about traumatic disorders?¡± ¡°I just don''t understand how going through bad things would cause an illness. Shouldn''t they, you know, learn and move on?¡± The silence felt so heavy to them that they felt it would crush them. ¡°Insensitive.¡± Remarked Akihiko. ¡°Insensitive.¡± Agreed Ryuunosuke. ¡°Insensitive.¡± Confirmed Akairyuu. ¡°But understandable, now that I think about it. I also had to understand about traumatic disorders during the twentieth century, when I was born that was called cowardice. For you who was born in the times when forgiveness, compassion, kindness, empathy, and the such were considered weaknesses to be purged it must be even more difficult. Why didn''t I think of that? That explains a lot.¡± He began humming to himself in thought. Gaius began to protest. ¡°I don''t consider them-¡± ¡°I know.¡± Interrupted Akai. ¡°But it wasn''t until the values of Christianity spread that Europe began to think of them as virtues. And I''m not saying you don''t feel those things, just that your culture and personality makes it difficult to understand trauma.¡± They fell silent once again. Gaius made several faces before surrendering. ¡°Fine, I need to learn to empathise with trauma victims. Even if they''re completely illogical.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. Akihiko barked in laugher. ¡°What are you now, a Vulcan? That is illogical, they said. Why exactly is wanting to resurrect your son illogical I''ll never understand. Even if from the point of view of perpetuation of lineage, the goal of life, it''s logical!¡± ¡°What?¡± Ryuunosuke looked at him in wonder. Akihiko gave him the stink eye. ¡°Generation Z, so much internet and they don''t know the sci-fi classics. Don''t you know Star Trek?¡± ¡°Of course. Swoosh, swoosh.¡± He pantomimed swinging a sword. ¡°That''s Star Wars. Star. Wars. Uncultured swine.¡± ¡°Actually,¡± began Gaius, ¡°if my memories do not lie few people in Japan know of Star Trek. They are more familiar with Wars or Thunderbirds.¡± Akihiko froze. ¡°Why. Do you. Know. That. And not. Trauma. Disorders?¡± ¡°My priorities at the time, I guess?¡± Ryuunosuke and Akai began laughing at that. Akai cleared his throat to catch their attention after. ¡°As much as I''m enjoying this conversation I have duties. If you''ll excuse me.¡± ¡°Sure, Head.¡± ¡°Of course, Master Head!¡± ¡°Go then. Don''t let my drama keep you. See you, Akai.¡± Akai nodded at that and left. The three others followed soon after. Once they reached the plaza Akihiko asked Gaius for his plans. ¡°The morning is nearly over, so-. Eat, study a bit and then go to class. Why?¡± ¡°You want to eat with us?¡± ¡°Where are you going?¡± ¡°Ryuunosuke just lost his apocalyptic innocence so I am going to bring him to a fancy place. Good food, I pay.¡± ¡°Sure. What''ll you do when he the first world ending event in his life happens?¡± ¡°It already did, three years ago. The Ulmor Society tried to start Ragnarok. But for his apocalyptic virginity I''ll buy him something nice.¡± ¡°My what?!¡± Gaius¡¯ eyebrow twitched. ¡°Apocalypse means revelation, you know? Ragnarotick or armaggedonic would be more appropriate. And the last one is a place.¡± They went and had a filling meal. That evening Gaius learned how to avoid a throw from his martial arts class, and how to detect identify basic wards. After class he bought his first console and game, something about a goddess reincarnating, it sounded like a good one. He wondered if it was about Japanese mythology, and began playing. Next morning he met with the others as they began their rounds around the seedier places of town. They were walking through an alley while talking when they came across a hint for something. ¡°So you actually liked the game? I thought that, you know, since angels are enemies, well-.¡± Ryuunosuke was trying to get his point across. Gaius chuckled. ¡°Ryuunosuke, that is not by far the worst portrayal of my religion I''ve seen. Also I can distinguish between reality and fiction. It''s just a game, and I like the gameplay and story. So yes, I liked it.¡± Ryuunosuke was about to start talking when Akihiko made them stop. ¡°Guy ahead.¡± In front of them was a man dressed in dirty clothes who had clearly not taken care of his appearance for a long time. ¡°Got it.¡± Acknowledged Gaius. ¡°Is it a cultist?!¡± ¡°Let''s see.¡± Akihiko approached the shabby man, and called out to him. ¡°Good morning there! We''re from a private detective agency, we are investigating a new crime ring.¡± The man was startled. ¡°I have nothing to do with no-!¡± ¡°Relax, they just target people in this area, it''s just some questions.¡± He visibly relaxed. ¡°Oh, sure then.¡± ¡°Have you noticed someone disappearing for a few days and then returning changed?¡± ¡°No, but one guy in my home disappeared a few days ago. Has this something to do with Awakening?¡± ¡°Awakening?¡± ¡°No? It''s something he told us before vanishing, ¡°Awakening is the best. I can fulfill all my dreams with it!¡± He was weird at the time, like he was possessed.¡± Gaius and Akihiko looked at each other. ¡°Did he seem like he was on drugs?¡± ¡°Drugs?!¡± The man was alarmed. ¡°No! Why?!¡± ¡°Calm down.¡± Intervened Gaius. ¡°This criminals we speak of kidnap and drug people, so they become addicts and buy their drugs. The victims don''t seem to try and go to the police, we¡¯re not sure why.¡± The man was placated. ¡°Oh, I see. Then I don''t know, I think Awakening was some smartphone app?¡± Akihiko interrogated him a bit more, but he had nothing of value to add. They let him go and analised his information. ¡°What do you think?¡± Asked Akihiko. ¡°It doesn''t sound like what we were told yesterday about the Cult''s modus operandi?¡± Answered Ryuunosuke, unsure. ¡°It may still be one of their plots. So we should investigate what this Awakening thing is.¡± While Gaius said this, he was also uncertain of the Cult¡¯s involvement. ¡°I agree, let''s keep our eyes and ears sharp.¡± For the rest of the morning they kept interrogating people. They managed to identify two possible victims of the Cult, and learned more about Awakening. During lunch they recapped what they had learned. Gaius started the overview. ¡°We''ve learned that Awakening is a smartphone game. It''s not in any kind of app store, it¡¯s spread through email. Not much is known except people that play go out more than they usually do, and seem to have more money they should.¡± Akihiko hummed with his eyes closed. ¡°If they were losing money I''d say it''s a scam, but they earn it?¡± ¡°Maybe they exchange in-game items for money?¡± Said Ryuunosuke. ¡°You can do that?¡± Questioned Gaius. ¡°I don''t play smartphone games myself, but don''t you usually pay for in-game items?¡± Akihiko tilted his head reclining in his chair, and biting his tempura. Ryuunosuke swallowed his udon and explained. ¡°You make an account, get the items and then sell the account. Some games forbid it, but it can happen. Or there is an in-game exchange system and you pay in real money instead of game currency.¡± ¡°Mm. This gyudon is delicious, I''m going to have to learn how to cook it.¡± ¡°Be serious Gaius. So we know jack shit, that''s bad. I''ll pass word to the police and association so they can investigate. You should also keep your eyes open. Any mention of Awakening must be investigated.¡± ¡°I prefer the yakigyoza to the suigyoza.¡± ¡°Gaaaiussss.¡± Akihiko looked at him with narrowed eyes. ¡°What? Modern food is better than that I cooked in the mountain.¡± ¡°Wasn''t gluttony a sin?¡± ¡°Gluttony is more than just overeating you know? It''s the inability to refrain. But even then there is a difference between gluttony and eating good food. And I''m listening, keep your eyes open for Awakening.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. At least you are listening. So, see you tomorrow then?¡± ¡°Yes. Now I have to give my second class.¡± ¡°Who are you teaching?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°Two guys and a girl. I can present them to you if you want." Gaius widened his eyes, he had had an idea. "You know, while you are weaker than them, you have more actual experience, it¡¯d do you good to give tips to beginners.¡± ¡°Nice idea Gaius. I can evaluate him and see how much he''s learned. Do you think in three weeks would be a good time?¡± ¡°Sure, just tell me at least a day before.¡± ¡°Ok.¡± Ryuunosuke looked up to the sky. ¡°How have I ended having to teach from a simple question?¡± Akihiko laughed at that. They kept speaking until they finished their food and went their separate ways. Gaius headed to the association, while Akihiko and Ryuunosuke went to do other missions. 16. Completion. Completion. That same evening Gaius started his second class. When he arrived at the field he found that once again Terumi was early. Seeing an opportunity he went to him. Terumi was a bit startled when he saw he approaching. Gaius tried to smile at him to reassure him. ¡°Relax. I have spoken with people since our last class and it has been brought to my attention an issue.¡± ¡°Wha!¡± He swallowed. ¡°What issue?¡± He shrunk like expecting Gaius to hit him. ¡°I was insensitive. I''m sorry.¡± ¡°Eh.¡± Terumi¡¯s face froze, unable to understand his apology. He then recoiled before beginning to stutter. ¡°Wh-why, what, why, how, when.¡± He panicked a bit more before managing to express his feelings. ¡°Why are you apologising?¡± ¡°Because as I''ve said I was insensitive. I have trouble relating to people with anxieties, so I couldn''t understand I was making you uncomfortable. I tried to treat you normally, when I should have known to be less pushy.¡± Terumi nodded at that. ¡°I actually liked that. I was scared and unable to speak, but it was a bit, um, refreshing, to be acknowledged. Normally people ignore or make fun of me. So it was nice and stuff to be spoken like-¡± At that point Gaius, who had began frowning, interrupted him. ¡°Normally?¡± His tone was hard. ¡°Then your mother ignores or make-¡± ¡°No no no! She treats me well. Too well. Like I don''t deserve-¡± He began mumbling. ¡°No one does not deserve a good parent. And no one deserves a bad one.¡± Gaius dismissed his self-deprecation. ¡°Then do you not have friends? Good ones with whom you can speak freely?¡± ¡°Well, yeah. I have five friends like that, but-¡± ¡°Then who does make fun of you? Your classmates? Neighbours?¡± ¡°Not lately, but a few years ago all of them made fun of me.¡± ¡°But not in the last year for example?¡± ¡°Well there is Hitoshi, but he makes fun of everyone and-¡± Terumi visibly wilted under Gaius¡¯ stare, which, to him, seemed harsh. ¡°To recap, in the last year except a probable bully, no one has made fun of you. You even have what seems to be good friends. Why do you fear others so much then? Is this one of those trauma things?¡± ¡°But when I was child¡­ When we were children they made fun of me and said I was to big and they were right because I''m not human and-¡± Terumi began tearing up when Gaius put his hands on Terumi¡¯s shoulders. ¡°Terumi. Listen me well. First. You are sixteen. A few years ago you were children. Children are assholes, if we judged people for what they did when they were children everyone would spend some time in prison. They lack control, simply because their brains aren''t fully developed. They lack empathy for the same. So while your height might have been weird for them, they made fun of it because they couldn''t understand that that made you hurt. It''s because of this that children aren''t tried for their possible crimes in many countries. You can''t take their comments at face value. If they haven''t made fun of you lately that means they have matured enough to not discriminate you based on your height. Your appearance doesn''t make you inferior. And now they understand that, so now it''s time you also grew to understand it. Your appearance doesn''t make you inferior. Repeat it.¡± ¡°My appearance doesn''t make me inferior.¡± Said Terumi, afraid to disobey. ¡°But I''m not human.¡± Gaius looked at him disappointed. ¡°That''s my second point. Why is it that being only half human makes you inferior? Are you a bigot? Or was that racist? No, it was both. No wait, would it be speciesist instead?¡± He stopped himself from further ramblings. ¡°Still, my point is species doesn''t make you inferior.¡± Terumi swallowed his spit and said trembling. ¡°But what if I''m from an evil species? What if I''m evil by nature?¡± Gaius¡¯ left eye twitched. ¡°As a christian I feel deeply offended by the insinuations of that. No one is born evil, one chooses evil. Your birth and culture may predispose you towards evil but it''s you who chooses to be evil.¡± He paused to think for a moment. ¡°Unless you get a voice in your head you can''t disobey, in which case you lack freedom, and thus can''t be evil.¡± Terumi looked at him like he had two heads. ¡°What?¡± ¡°You know. According to catholic doctrine if you have no freedom then you can''t be good or evil since those, once again our doctrine says, require a conscious and free choice. As such without freedom there is no good nor evil. It''s why it''s God¡¯s greatest gift. Without it we would be rid of evil, but good would not exist. So both the best and worst parts of humanity wouldn''t be.¡± ¡°No! I mean, there are evil races like Evil Spirits and demons. Aren''t they?¡± ¡°Nope. I know of Evil Spirits that aren''t evil, that''s just the name of their kingdom. An example, there are good onis and they are made of corruption so they''re Evil Spirits. As for demons. Sigh. I will reluctantly admit that I''ve heard of one seeking redemption and achieving it, so it is not impossible. Even if the majority are at least assholes. And the original demons chose to rebel. Think of it this way, there are criminals in law keeping cultures. Peaceful people in warrior cultures. Why can''t there be good people in evil cultures? Do not think of them as foreign creatures but people with completely different values. That way you won''t fear them as much.¡± Terumi fell silent and managed to get out his fear. ¡°But what if they fear me?¡± ¡°People will always fear that they consider strange, foreign. Racism, discrimination, cultural racism. You can''t be loved by everyone, just make sure you are loved by some. That should be enough.¡± ¡°And if there aren''t?¡± ¡°You already have one here.¡± ¡°Huh? Where?¡± Gaius¡¯ face fell. ¡°Me. I mean me. I may not know you enough to say I love you, but I like you well enough. You seem like a good kid. If I hate you it will be for something you did, not for something you are. Even if you are Satan¡¯s son. Or any other suitable such figure.¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°Oh.¡± Terumi fell silent, unable to understand that someone could like him so fast. The silence began to grow when someone interrupted it. ¡°Master Atiius is right, Date. I have known you for just two hours, and I can say you don''t have an evil bone in your body. No matter your parentage no decent person would despise you.¡± It was Kishi who boldly entered the field. His voice filled with certainty and his steps sure. Gaius lifted an eyebrow at that. ¡°Don''t be so certain of that.,¡± He stopped, taken by surprise. ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°You speak in absolutes, that way lies extremism. Even the best of men have weaknesses, even a decent person may fall into discrimination. If so we must show them their error, not call them monsters and shun them. Otherwise they might begin to shun us, and everyone would lose.¡± Kishi was left without words, unable to comprehend why his speech of encouragement had elicited such a response. ¡°I know. I truly know. I just wanted to comfort him, that''s all.¡± Gaius shaked his head at that. ¡°Ideas built on lies are like buildings built on sand, they collapse easily. Never give life advice based on lies, that causes more harm in the long term it solves. What if he took your advice and decided everyone who discriminated him was pure evil?¡± ¡°That''s.¡± His eyes widened in realisation. ¡°I never thought of that.¡± He said crestfallen. ¡°Hey, don''t worry. Everyone needs help. I have my empathy issues. Terumi his acceptance issues. You I don''t know, but your current issues are giving bad advice. Also you obviously were listening in and waited for the best moment. Those are some serious manipulation skills there. Be careful not to be taken over by them.¡± As he said this carelessly both his charges had a realisation. ¡°That''s true.¡± Wondered Terumi. ¡°I fear not being accepted. It seems so simple, yet I never realised. So what I fear is rejection.¡± Having said this he fell into thought. Gaius was flabbergasted. ¡°Uh, duh? What else could it have been? It was obvious. Wait¡­¡± The third realisation in the past minute happened. ¡°Maybe people don''t know how to identify their problems, making it so they can''t fix them?¡± He then laughed when he understood the wave of sudden understandings that had come. ¡°While we''re all being enlightened. You have something, Kishi?¡± The teenager in question was startled out of his thoughts by the mention of his name. ¡°Uh, not right now. Later.¡± He remarked seriously. ¡°Oookay?¡± The conversation died, the two teens too lost in thought to speak. Gaius shrugged and began to stretch. It was to this situation that Kotone came in. She was a bit freaked out by the atmosphere. ¡°Is everything alright?¡± ¡°Yup, you just missed some life advice flinging mission. Want some?¡± ¡°Sure?¡± ¡°You need to understand that even if your mother happens to not love you, you still have a father who does, so it isn''t that you are worth less for it.¡± She just look at him with wide eyes too stunned to speak. Terumi began to speak but faltered, before his eyes were filled others determination. ¡°Master.¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°That was too blunt.¡± ¡°Shit. Sorry.¡± He said bashfully, while rubbing the back of his head. She recovered and tried to salvage the situation. ¡°No, it''s alright. I asked for it. Even if it was blunt I¡­ I think I needed it. Thanks.¡± Gaius scrunched his headache do shouted exasperated. ¡°Exactly when is it alright?! This is confusing! This is why I prefer pigs to people, they''re simpler! Ok, that was not true. I still feel like that at times.¡± His three students looked at each other and laughed. Gaius shaked his head and complained. ¡°Sure, laugh it up. Still, now you are all here so let''s begin. The two guys, show me your improvement. Kotone I will assess you now.¡± They were surprised, but then they saw Akechi and Jian at the door. ¡°Yo, newbie. Since Terumi isn''t trembling I believe you have improved your tact?¡± Terumi was the one who answered. ¡°He has, he apologised and gave me good advice.¡± Jian smiled fondly. ¡°So now you know of the wonders of teaching, as you teach them, they teach you. Even with this brute I learned a lot.¡± ¡°Who are you calling a brute, old bastard?!¡± Gaius had to break them apart, and with great effort, managed to start his lesson. The class passed fast, and Gaius thought, smoother than the last. Maybe because Terumi wasn''t as nervous but they all seemed at ease, and this ease made them perform better. Kishi had managed to produce healing energy before the class, through practice. He then moved on to fire, and with his experience, managed to make it appear. Kotone had decent ki control, so she managed to start directly with the advanced skills. She made decent progress, while not yet mastering it. Terumi had shown remarkable growth, but he was still not ready. Jian was, as always, fast in learning new skills, this time controlling the ki of others, but Gaius noticed a weakness. And Akechi had finally managed to do something other than fire, though still not healing. She had managed to create a stimulant aura, one that increased all physical attributes for a while. Gaius promptly copied it, but it wasn''t as effective for him. He then evaluated them. ¡°Kishi, good job. Though you have to stay after class, I need to give you advice.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Kotone. Not much to say, you are decent. I¡¯ll have to see next class.¡± She puffed her chest. ¡°Terumi. You show incredible improvement, you should be proud. However you are behind, and should practice more to catch up.¡± Terumi smiled at his words, happy to be praised. Gaius nodded at him before sighing and facing the other two. ¡°You two are troublesome. And I think I know why. Jian, your divine bloodline, is it Cheng Ming?¡± ¡°No.¡± He shaked his head. ¡°It is a minor martial deity. A Taoist ancestor who achieved immortality and was deified.¡± ¡°That explains it. You can pick up skills fast. But you don''t use them correctly. You haven''t mastered them, you waste too much energy. It takes you thrice as much Touki as it takes me to perform the techniques. You are forbidden from learning more until I say so.¡± Jian frowned and began to protest, before he reconsidered. ¡°You are the teacher here. Even if it stings I''ll follow your counsel. It seems after all I still have much to learn.¡± Akechi looked at him worriedly. ¡°It can''t be that bad, right?¡± She tried to aid her master. ¡°Surely he-¡± Jian interrupted her. ¡°No, Akechi. I thank you, but it is the truth.¡± Gaius nodded at that. ¡°Akechi, I''ll return the favour you did. You try to be too tactful, even to the detriment of those you care.¡± She looked as if something had hit her, but she nodded. ¡°I didn''t realise I was doing it again. My gratitude is yours, thank you for bringing it to my attention.¡± Gaius shrugged, sensing a story behind that. ¡°The mistakes I''ve seen in you are simple. Your innate abilities are awakening. Your Touki has been grown for long enough, and your attempts to manipulate it more deeply have awakened them. Your fire is that of a dragon, and that aura should be too. Before the next class you must figure out those abilities, learn to see the difference between innate and learned. Otherwise you won''t learn anything from me.¡± She widened her eyes in comprehension, and confirmed her understanding. They all left after that, except Kishi. Gaius made him sit and spoke extremely serious. ¡°I don''t know what drives you to the lengths you go for power, but you can''t do that with the next lessons. You can''t practice for hours, that''s not healthy and detrimental to your growth. You can''t master these techniques easily. Give them time.¡± ¡°But Master Jian-¡± ¡°Master Jian is forty six, you are seventeen. Experience matters, no matter what some say.¡± He clenched his fists. ¡°But I need to be stronger.¡± ¡°And you will be, if you follow my advice. If you rush you will injure yourself, at worst crippling yourself. That would be the opposite of gaining strength, wouldn''t it? I won''t ask why you seek strength. Just that you do it smartly.¡± He relaxed his fists and exhaled slightly. ¡°Understood.¡± The word seemed to be painful to pronounce. Gaius saw him off and headed to his next class, where he learned how to enchant household appliances to do their jobs by themselves, though the spell needed to be recast each day. Once he was done he headed home, where he sat on his sofa, dead tired. He sighed and closed his eyes. It was while he was in that state that he felt something slip from him, and he fell through the floor. He was stunned, as was his neighbour, but he quickly understood what had happened. ¡°Reiko!¡± He summoned his familiar, and it appeared in a flash of blue light. ¡°So the bond has stabilised. Now I can bring you with me when I go out.¡± He smiled while he pet the blue bird, and apologised to the flat¡¯s owner, who was surprisingly acceptant of it. He then prepared to leave but he fell through the floor again. Reiko followed him through the floor and caught him. ¡°I''m going to have to practice this, don''t I?¡± Reiko trilled. "It''s going to suck." Reiko trilled. "Thought so. You will catch me, right?" Reiko trilled. "Thanks." 17. Domain. Domain. Gaius had decided that intangibility was bullshit. He had to be unaffected by the fundamental forces, (gravity, electromagnetism, strong force and weak force) to go through matter. Yet he was still affected by one of them, gravity, because he didn''t accelerate to escape velocity and was thrown off world when he turned intangible. He also had to be affected by inertia so his corpse would not end up in another galaxy in a few millennia. Electromagnetic force in order to see, etc. He was not complaining about having it though, because it was amazing. While immaterial he could not only go through matter but through all kinds of energy, (another thing that made no sense, since he could see) and he was immune to all non supernatural things. That last was the one that had him giddy, since that included things up to nuclear bombs or being dropped in the Sun. Also his form while affected by gravity had nearly no mass. So gravity didn''t so much accelerate him as keep him in orbit, that once again didn''t make sense, so he could fly and escape increased gravity fields. It''s inconvenients were clear. First, it was a trait, so it''s maximum duration, ten minutes, was constant as was its cost. The last one wasn''t very punishing, for him. People without Senjutsu would find their reserves drained fast, which explained why Reiko only used it in short bursts. Second, he wasn''t affected by physical forces while in the state, which meant no acceleration, which meant he moved in a straight line and couldn''t deviate from his course without magical intervention. Thankfully a few common Patterns could take care of that. And the third and most limiting one, while he could move through supernatural things the more supernatural they were the more effort it required. Due to this he couldn''t move through ki or spells, which meant they could damage him. Despite those flaws it was still an incredible trait, one that he was glad to add to his repertoire. So it was with an incredible mood that he rose that morning and did his exercises, and with even better mood that he went to meet Akihiko and Ryuunosuke. While on his way to their meeting point, the door of the residential complex, he felt a disconcerting feeling, like he was forgetting something. Shrugging it off he continued to walk. Once he reached the door he saw his partners and greeting them, dived right into business. ¡°Good morning you two. What are we doing today, patrolling?¡± Akihiko waved his hand without energy, while Ryuunosuke responded loudly. ¡°Good morning, Gaius!¡± ¡°I see you are energetic this morning. Did something good happen?¡± ¡°My sister and her boyfriend are moving together, so I''ll get more space for myself.¡± He said while grinning. Gaius paused for a moment. ¡°They are another culture Gaius. Don''t let it weird you.¡± He muttered to himself, too low to be heard. He then nodded as Ryuunosuke blabbed about how much space he would have, and how the bathroom would be free and the such. This kept on while they went to the car. Once there Akihiko cleared his throat and said. ¡°While I''m glad for you, you have already repeated yourself at least thrice. Please let it rest.¡± Ryuunosuke looked at him with narrowed eyes, displeased at having his enthusiasm interrupted, but nodded and agreed to drop the theme. ¡°Thanks. Now about your question Gaius. Today we are actually going to a thirteen member association that has dropped off the grid for the last ten days. They haven''t been seen or heard of, so we are looking if they have been involved in the Cult. It''s more likely it was the Blue Leathers, but we''ll still investigate.¡± ¡°I see. May God or whatever they believe in have mercy on them. Anything I should know?¡± ¡°They had eight outer members, who were taught in exchange of managing their businesses and all that stuff. The other five were inner members, who took vows of silence in exchange of spiritual awareness. They took on Evil Spirits and things like that.¡± ¡°A dangerous business for those who are not Senjutsu users or priests.¡± ¡°True. It''s why I want you to keep your third eye open.¡± Gaius tilted his head at that. ¡°That still seems funny to me. I don''t see, I feel.¡± ¡°How would you describe it then?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°As I said I feel.¡± He stressed the last word. They spent the drive to their headquarters making Gaius describe how he felt things with Senjutsu. Once there Ryuunosuke asked. ¡°Then what are you feeling right now?¡± Gaius rolled his eyes, before cracking his neck and focusing. ¡°I-.¡± He paused. ¡°Actually I have no idea, what is this feeling?¡± Akihiko stopped trying to open the door when he heard that, and jumped back. ¡°I didn''t detect anything, how does it feel?¡± Gaius stared at the building. ¡°It feels as if there was a layer of mist between me and the building, something clouds my, sigh, sight from the interior.¡± Ryuunosuke smiled smugly at that. ¡°Thus does camp sight win.¡± ¡°Focus Ryuunosuke, this is serious.¡± Scolded Akihiko. ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°Alright. Gaius you enter first, once you get a better feeling come out and tell us. If you are not out in a minute I will call reinforcements.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Gaius went to the door while Akihiko and Ryuunosuke went to block pedestrians from getting in the way. Akihiko gave Gaius the go ahead and he entered. Then something sudden happened. Akihiko and Ryuunosuke felt a force driving them to the door and were sucked in the building, however the pedestrians didn''t feel a thing. There was a little alarm, before their eyes dulled. ¡°Why have I stopped again?¡± A woman wondered. In the building a strange scene presented itself before Gaius. He was in a dark and damp cavern, a tunnel that twisted forwards with no exit behind his back. The strangest thing was that he was not alone. In the tunnel several children, about thirty total, were mining a silvery white metal that bizarrely wasn''t present in veins, but clumps. Even stranger was that it seemed pure, not mixed with other minerals. The children looked at him when he entered and then ignored him. He was observing them when a little child, pale as a corpse appeared before one of them. ¡°Why did you leave me alone? I was a good kid, I didn''t want to be left alone. I was a good kid, why did you leave me alone? I was a good kid, did you leave me because I was a bad one? Was I not a good kid? I was a good kid, why did our parents leave? Did they not love me?¡± The child that was being spoken to trembled, but the one to his left grabbed him and shook his head. ¡°Did you leave me because you didn''t love me? Because mom and dad left us because of me? Because you wanted mom and dad to come back?¡±Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. The other child opened his mouth, tears falling from his eyes. But the one to the left put his, or her now that he looked closely, hands on his mouth, not letting him say anything. The pale child¡¯s face twisted. It''s eyes bulging and becoming bloodshot, their hair stringy and wet, as its mouth widened and split its head in half. ¡°Or did you want to get rid of me? Because I was a bother? Because you wanted to be free of me? Because I was a burden.¡± It''s tongue left its mouth, tasting the air, long and pointy. ¡°I feel regret. Did you enjoy when they took me? Is that why you feel guilt? Did you hate me?¡± The elder brother looked as if something had ripped his heart from his chest, but he remained silent. ¡°But you made a mistake. They didn''t kill me, they made me join them. So now I''m one of them, and you are the one that made it possible. I thank you.¡± The older child couldn''t handle it anymore and began to shout. ¡°No! I-¡± His explanation was cut short when several of the metal lumps shattered and spectral white hands rose from the floor, dragging the elder brother through it. The child shaped thing began dancing and singing. ¡°Big brother joined us! Big brother loved us! We''ll be together! Forever and ever and ever and ever-¡± Gaius decided he had seen enough and spoke. ¡°I have seen enough, vanish.¡± He stopped the corruption from influencing his thoughts. The reflection of past events shattered and Gaius found himself in a storefront. One with a floor filled roots that looked like flesh with moss growing on them. The air was filled with corruption and spores. Gaius could hear soft whispers, too low to be understood. As Gaius took the place in the same spectral hands that took the child rose for him. Gaius responded by setting himself on fire and making them dissolve into corruption, but they reformed fast. Seeing no other choice Gaius decided to absorb the corruption around him, and then destroyed and absorbed the hands too. This time they didn''t return. He looked at his surroundings and saw Akihiko standing, unable to wake up but keeping a barrier around himself. In his mind Akihiko saw much the same as Gaius, but where Gaius saw children he saw adults. And where they mined white metal they harvested blue coal from trees, that grew fused to the mines. He was trembling, chanting a Shinto prayer while keeping a barrier around him, having recognised he was in an illusion, but unable to free himself. It was in this state that he heard a voice as a presence poked his mind. ¡°Akihiko. It''s me, let me in. I have to purge your spirit.¡± He didn''t listen, for he was surely another illusion, this voice may not be Gaius, he-. Huh, who was Gaius again? He thought. ¡°Akihiko! I swear to God that if you don''t let me in I will break your legs and force you to faint! You fool, can''t you distinguish illusion from reality? Aren''t you the great investigator?¡± Akihiko was startled, if the illusion didn''t know it didn''t come from him which meant¡­ He stopped his prayer and he found himself in reality. The hand obstructing his vision retired, showing Gaius¡¯ face. He spoke quickly. ¡°Don''t separate from me. I''m absorbing the corruption so if you remain near me it won''t affect you.¡± Akihiko calmed down and began assessing the situation. ¡°Do you have a time limit?¡± ¡°Not as long as I don''t have to do this for more than an hour. Even then if I concentrate on myself I can keep the corruption at bay.¡± ¡°Let''s search for Ryuunosuke.¡± They began to move when Gaius noticed movement in the roots and grabbed Akihiko. He then jumped back from where he was, managing to avoid the now sharp roots. He decided to not take chances and produced an intense fire form his Touki, burning everything in the shop, and once again he took the corruption in. Akihiko cursed. ¡°Shit, is everything here an Evil Spirit. I think this is¡­¡± ¡°It''s a domain, I can feel a very powerful Evil Spirit bellow.¡± ¡°Then it''s there where we''ll find Ryuunosuke.¡± Having chosen their course of action they moved deeper in the buildings passageways. On the way they had to deal with more roots and hands. Ten minutes in they found something strange. A child, like that in Gaius¡¯ vision appeared in their way. ¡°Misters, I-¡± Gaius didn''t waste time punching it, dispersing it back into corruption. ¡°I can''t do anything for you now. I hope you found yourselves in a better place. I will at least put down your regrets, so you may rest not fearing they may harm others. And I''ll pray. Our Father, Who is in heaven, Holy is Your Name; Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us; and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.¡± His prayer finished Gaius moved on. Akihiko was overcome by curiosity. ¡°That was a wraith wasn''t it?¡± ¡°Yes. An Evil Spirit born when someone dies in regret. Soulless and mindless it is twisted by its regrets and corruption into a cursed existence that only spreads suffering. A mockery of the living, it lives to see others dragged to its state.¡± ¡°Aren''t they stronger?¡± ¡°You are thinking of spectres, the wraiths, hmm. Evolved its wrong since evolving does not make one better. Improved form. The result of a wraith living long enough to actually become a danger. Wraiths are still dangerous for mundanes.¡± ¡°That''s weird, there shouldn''t be murdered children near. Nor enslaved adults now that I think about it.¡± ¡°I think this corruption isn''t from here. It came with an accursed object. It seems they bit more they could chew.¡± Akihiko looked downwards. ¡°Poor idiots.¡± Gaius nodded weakly. ¡°Yes. I should also pray for them. Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed are thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb Jesus. Holy Mary Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death Amen.¡± They kept going on. Bringing peace to wraiths and killing Evil Spirits as they appeared. As they went deeper Gaius began to look paler and paused. ¡°I''m reaching my limits. A domain is too much to absorb.¡± Akihiko frowned. ¡°I''ve seen priests purify entire domains.¡± ¡°They don''t absorb corruption, they call upon divine beings to purify it. And while it flows through them for a while their faith helps them handle it.¡± ¡°What if you do the same? Try to whoa!¡± Akihiko dodged, just in time to avoid a speeding corpse. Gaius attacked the corpse, throwing it to wall, before pummelling it. While the corpse had improved durability it was only as tough as granite, and as such it perished quickly. Akihiko swore. ¡°What the fuck was that! Not a zombie, or a kasha. It was too fast for the first and too strong for the latter.¡± ¡°I think it was a draugr. It was denser than a human, and heavier.¡± ¡°Draugr? In Japan?¡± Gaius shrugged. Akihiko moved to examine the corpse. ¡°Now we know what happened to the owners.¡± Gaius knelt in prayer once more. He then rose and asked. ¡°What were they called? It seems disrespectful not to use their name.¡± Akihiko nodded, tired from the stress and his uselessness. ¡°Yes. They were called the Ablution Society.¡± They began to walk once more, while Gaius grew weaker with each step. They had to deal with five other draugr on their way. It was after dealing with the sixth one that Gaius stopped to take a breath. He heaved, his body fine, but his mind weary. ¡°What were you saying?¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Before the first draugr, the way to deal with the corruption.¡± ¡°Oh. What if you use faith to deal with the corruption. You know, rely on your God. You guys are supposed to do that, no?¡± Gaius began laughing a bit, but soon began coughing. ¡°Yes, we do.¡± He got out, painfully. ¡°How foolish of me to forget. Let''s see. Yes that one is tailor made for this. The Lord is my shepherd¡­¡± They began advancing once more, Gaius showing an improvement, the suggested solution effective. They kept going until they found a hall with two draugr and five zombie mages, undead still capable of using magic bound to their masters will. The two draugr were at the start of the hall leading to a door, while the mages were separated. Two in the opposite walls of the hall, and three before the door. ¡°That''s the end. After that door is what caused this.¡± Said Gaius. ¡°Cover me.¡± He charged into the fray, managing to bash one of the draugrs head in. He then used three Judgement Lights that headed towards one of the zombies in the walls. Gaius kicked the draugr¡¯s left knee, shattering it and making it tumble. Then he tried to head for the zombies but it grabbed his leg. While it couldn''t keep Gaius occupied for long at peak state, at his current weakness it held him for five seconds before Gaius managed to break its head. That was enough for the four remaining zombie mages to bombard him with spells. However Gaius also had reinforcements. Akihiko managed to put a barrier that stopped the spells. From the smoke produced Gaius charged at them, kicking the last undead in the walls in the chest and causing too much damage for it to keep functioning. He then run to the door, before Akihiko had to stop another fireball. Gaius stopped and decided to conserve his Touki. Thus he casted many Judgement Lights at the mages, managing to take down two, that put themselves on the way between the Lights and the final one. This last one had yet to attack, concentrating all its magic in a single lightning that it launched at Gaius. Akihiko put a barrier but it was instantly shattered, and Gaius thrown against the hall¡¯s entrance. Its final spell casted, the zombie crumbled into dust, unable to withstand the magical energy it used. Gaius¡¯ ears ringed and his chest hurt. He lifted his head and saw Akihiko begin to try and heal him. ¡°Don''t bother.¡± He said in a raspy voice, his throat a bit damaged. ¡°I''ll regenerate faster you can heal me, perks of Touki. Just give me five minutes.¡± Akihiko nodded and began guarding him as he rested. ¡°I''m too spent.¡± Said Gaius once he had recovered. ¡°If I didn''t have to absorb the corruption I could regenerate more of my energy, but as I am right now.¡± He coughed and spit some blood that had been left in his lungs. ¡°I won''t be able to. And I think I can''t take that thing in there with my current reserves.¡± ¡°Fuck. Alright, think, what can we do.¡± Akihiko began thinking. They bounced ideas before they settled on a plan. Akihiko would use all his remaining energy to blow the door, in the meantime Gaius would use his intangibility to slip through the now corruption devoid walls and take the spirit by surprise. Not much, but it was all they had. They started the plan, and it went well, until Gaius identified the source of the corruption. A sword, in an obviously possessed Ryuunosuke¡¯s hand. 18. Gambit. Gambit. That put a bit of a wrench in their plans, since he couldn''t just kill Ryuunosuke. He moved to try and take the sword, a tsurugi he noted, from him. That plan was crushed when Ryuunosuke moved abnormally fast and managed to slice his stomach. However Gaius had reacted swiftly and avoided the sword partially, leaving only a shallow cut. He then tried to restrain Ryuunosuke, tackling him and holding his arms together, as he tried to wrench the tsurugi from him, going all out. But Ryuunosuke¡¯s strength was like that of someone with Touki, and he freed himself and stabbed Gaius through the gut. ¡°Not expecting this did you? Had you not stood to watch the vision I might not have gotten another living vessel after the last one died.¡± Ryuunosuke said, in a sneering tone. ¡°I am thankful, honestly. Had you not come when you did I would have languished here, but you did. As thanks I will take your Touki.¡± The sword began trembling as Touki flowed into it. However Gaius smiled. He headbutted Ryuunosuke, holding the sword to his body, and punched him in the stomach. Ryuunosuke doubled in pain and tried to take the sword back, however Gaius¡¯ grip on it was strong and he didn''t manage it. ¡°Reiko!¡± Summoned Gaius his familiar. It appeared in a burst of phantasmagoric blue flame. ¡°Freeze!¡± The familiar understood his master and released its breath upon Ryuunosuke. He was frozen but the ice swiftly began to crack. ¡°Keep doing it! Don''t stop! I have a plan.¡± Gaius then did something reckless. He tried to draw the corruption from the sword into him, and his consciousness was absorbed into in. The inside of the sword was filled with purple fumes. Once Gaius¡¯ thought form appeared in it he quickly tried to find Ryuunosuke. As he was running in the sword three flaming eyes rose in the mists, and spoke. ¡°A reckless gambit you did, trapping us here. It is only time before I free my body and kill you out there, and then I''ll be free.¡± ¡°Ryuunosuke¡¯s body you mean. And that won''t happen once I take in all your corruption and destroy you.¡± ¡°Ha! I know of your Senjutsu, it''s why I didn''t take you, too risky. A natural user can''t be taken over, that''s common sense. And the other man was too weak, without potential, I wouldn''t take him. But the kid? Weak and potential, the perfect host. It won''t work, I am not haunting this sword, I AM the sword. As long as his bond to it doesn''t disappear I too won''t. And once you succumb to the corruption I will take it back, and be stronger than ever.¡± ¡°We''ll see.¡± Gaius kept searching until he finally found Ryuunosuke. He was in fetal position, surrounded by a thick fume. His eyelids trembled, he was dreaming. Gaius then saw the sword in his hand and knew the spirit didn''t lie. But he would try something else then. He approached the teenager and grabbed the sword, a representation of the sword¡¯s spirit. Looking at it closely it was a piece of art. It was abnormally long for a tsurugi, at 120 cm. It had a double edged and straight blade, like all tsurugis. Its handle was 20 cm long and it was a simple wooden one. The blade was unadorned but its craftsmanship could be felt. It was an old blade, and one that hadn''t dulled in millennia. Once he grabbed it Gaius found himself into Ryuunosuke¡¯s dream, one about the forging of the blade. The blade had its origins in a little farming village in the 10th century Japan. A creature from distant lands had come to the village and had quickly gained its goodwill through the forging of superior tools. For a few years the creature laid low, until it revealed its purpose. It was a dwarf, one like Fafnir had been. Skilled in forging she had made weapons for the Norse, until one day they tried to kill her. Not unfairly though, the creature had grown fascinated with corruption, and dabbled in dark arts. She kidnapped and killed many, trying to gather enough corruption to build its Magnus Opum. A cursed blade. However her actions were uncovered, and she had to run from them, until she reached lands previously unknown. It was there that she refined her trade and thought of a great idea, for her at least. She had found a peculiar metal in the bowels of the mountain near which the village rested. The metal was tougher than any steel she knew of, and with her skills she tried to forge a sword out of it. It was then that she found the metal breaking in her hands. It was aligned with purity and only the pure could handle it. She thought of a devious plan. She would corrupt the blade, slowly so it wouldn''t shatter, and then forge it with the most corruption she could gather. And thus she turned against her hosts. Just that act brought much corruption, something she was delighted with.If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. She made the children mine the metal, storing it in warehouses so it would soak in the corruption born of the children''s pain. But it wasn''t enough, and so she made a curse, forbidding the children from speaking under pain of death. After a few died the corruption began to embed into the metal. It also gave birth to wraiths, that brought even more corruption to the dwarfs delight. The corrupted metal was brittle. She needed to strengthen it, but the metal wouldn''t heat. And she came across a way to produce the heat. She used her dark magic to grow trees that fed on the corpses of the adults, creating a coal that could melt the spirit itself. She made the remaining adults harvest it, while making them know of its origin, creating more corruption. For ten years this state of affairs continued. Until she was ready. She forged the sword and in the verge of its completion she sacrificed a nine year old child, reared in her mines, to bind the corruption she had gathered into it. But she underestimated his hatred, it was so intense it overpowered her magic, and awoke something in the blade. A Spirit was born. It absorbed the dwarf, the corruption, the wraiths and the curse, gaining the ability to reproduce them, or their skills. And a blade with the dark magic of the dwarf, as well as the ability to produce wraiths and curses was born. The remaining villagers sealed it away. But one day a man, lusting for power and revenge took it. It consumed it, for it had mind. And from then on it devoured man after man, growing in power, until a monk sealed it away. And for centuries it lay, until the Ablution Society found it. Then it tried to take over one of them, but they paid the ultimate price to confine it within their building. Gaius wrenched himself free from the illusion. He had been overwhelmed for a moment, for the history of the blade was deep, but his own was greater. He searched and found Ryuunosuke, toiling in the corpse-trees. He put his hand in his shoulder. ¡°Time to wake up.¡± Ryuunosuke shook awake. He was confused, before he remembered it all. ¡°How can we escape?¡± ¡°We can''t. We must destroy the Spirit.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°Fight fire with fire. Spirit with Spirit. I will birth an Evil Spirit from the malevolence I gathered that will devour the current one, and take its place.¡± ¡°Won''t that just trade my jailer.¡± ¡°I can influence what it''ll be. I shall guide its hatred towards evil, while making it understand of redemption. That should make it like a child that can be educated. The sword will still be bound to you, but it''s spirit should obey and aid you. In other words, you will benefit from this ordeal.¡± ¡°What do I do?¡± ¡°Relax.¡± Gaius reached within, to the corruption he had absorbed. He gathered it and, through knowledge of spirits born from Summoning, made it birth life. However the strain was too much, he couldn''t handle the pain of something being born from his spirit. ¡°Reiko!¡± He shouted, the familiars spirit contacted him, and understanding the situation shared the burden. For what seemed like years the newborn spirit greedily sucked corruption in. In the sword the Evil Spirit began to weaken, and understanding he had lost, surrendered and died. Akihiko was anxious, now even the bird had fallen. What was going on? He asked himself. At this rate Gaius and Ryuunosuke would die to cold. Thankfully Gaius¡¯ injury didn''t bleed anymore, the blood having frozen in the mouth of the stab wound. It was then that the ice cracked and Gaius and Ryuunosuke fell. Akihiko sighed in relief, the domain was dissolving, it had ended. He called the association for medical attention. In one of the Waning Moon¡¯s hospitals laid Gaius and Ryuunosuke. It had been three hours and they had fully healed, the medical arts of the Hidden World were advanced and fast. They were talking when Akihiko entered, followed by the Head. Akai sighed. ¡°You can''t spend a day without doing something crazy can you?¡± Gaius looked away, with a sheepish expression in his face. ¡°Not my fault this time.¡± ¡°I know. Alright I know everything that happened so I just want to know what the damn sword does now.¡± Gaius signaled Ryuunosuke, but he had something to ask. ¡°Actually I don''t know what happened.¡± Akai accepted those words and explained. ¡°You know about the spirit, right?¡± Ryuunosuke nodded. ¡°Well then, the rest is easy. Due to it being part of the sword the spirit needed a host to wield it. It would, however, take over them. When the Ablution Society discovered the sword in a ruin they took it, intending to destroy it. It didn''t work. The spirit was sealed by them before they died so it could only form a domain. Once you entered it tried to take over you, and you know the rest.¡± ¡°That''s what I don''t get. What is a domain.¡± Aka I raised an eyebrow. ¡°You didn''t tell him Akihiko?¡± ¡°Didn''t come up yet.¡± ¡°Sigh. Well a domain is an pocket dimension. This pocket dimension resides within normal space, but it doesn''t obey normal laws. It follows them, but they are altered a bit in order to benefit the domain master. Any being with sufficient spiritual weight, so to speak, can form one. It''s complex magic, but easily made once you know how. The domain tends to reflect the masters nature. It''s because of this that this domain produced and gathered corruption. It also makes them the most comfortable place for the domain master to reside in. Think of it as a place in which the creator has home field advantage, and can use supernatural powers more easily. I can, with enough time, form a domain, and so can Gaius. But if you leave it it dissipates, so it''s not very useful for us.¡± ¡°I see." Ryuunosuke nodded, before explaining the swords capabilities. "The sword can make ice and fire, it''s intensity depending on the Touki I put in.¡± ¡°That comes from Reiko.¡± Commented Gaius. ¡°It also slowly nurtures my spirit and body until I get Touki, but after that the effect stops. It can hasten with training.¡± ¡°Me.¡± ¡°It grows sharper and tougher with ki or Touki, and takes part of the burden of casting magic. Making me a better mage. An all around boost.¡± ¡°The original spirit. Without the evil parts.¡± ¡°I''m impressed Gaius, you made a great spirit.¡± Complimented Akai. ¡°I know." He smiled smugly. "Though it wasn''t intentional, I was stumbling in the dark there. It was a gamble, to be honest. Also as Ryuunosuke grows so will the spirit and sword. It will never be useless.¡± "Then we are done with this interrogation. Ryuunosuke I will get you sword and ki training, once you gain Touki you will join Gaius'' class." His voice made it clear there was nothing to discuss. "Yes, Master Head." "Gaius, how do you feel? Are you healed enough to go to class?" "Fine and yes. It hurts me that your first concern is class and not my health." "Spare me the melodrama. You know as much as I do that magical healing is incredible. Your health was never into question." "It''s the thought that counts." They kept making small talk for a few minutes. Akai was about to leave when Ryuunosuke shouted. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°What''s wrong?¡± Asked Akihiko. ¡°Two voices spoke in my head!¡± ¡°Two. Uhngh.¡± Groaned Gaius. ¡°I wasn''t ready to have twins.¡± 19. Deal. Deal. ¡°What do you mean?¡± Ryuunosuke asked, confused at his words. ¡°Twins. Two individuals born from one event.¡± Ryuunosuke glared at Gaius for, in his opinion, his answer had been as obvious as saying that trees photosynthesise. Akihiko cracked in laugher causing the glare to turn at him. He made placating signs while he tried to contain his mirth. He was unsuccessful. Akai saw no other option that to intervene. ¡°Think about it. Gaius said that the voices were born from him when he told us that he wasn''t ready to have twins. Who could be said to have been born from Gaius in this room?¡± Ryuunosuke''s gaze turned towards the side of his bed, where a set of drawers laid. On top of them was a sheathless sword, the tsurugi in question. He reddened a bit when he understood the implications. ¡°In my defence, I didn''t think of the spirit as Gaius¡¯ kid.¡± Akihiko finally restrained himself and put a hand on his shoulder shaking his head. ¡°Neither did I. But the thought of Gaius having kids who are bound to you made me imagine something funny. I pictured you with two mini-Gaiuses on your shoulders, whispering in your ears.¡± Ryuunosuke smiled at that while Gaius raised an eyebrow at the comment. Akai even chuckled. ¡°Am I perchance funny?¡± ¡°No. But the idea is funny either way.¡± Their banter was interrupted when Ryuunosuke yelped. ¡°Eep! They are speaking again! Again!¡± ¡°Calm down.¡± Ordered Akai. ¡°They are not the ones that took control of you. Try to respond, speak with them. You will spend a lot of time with them,you should have a good relationship.¡± Ryuunosuke nodded before grabbing the swords hilt and bringing it to his bosom. He sat still for a few moments that stretched long. The three older men watched him with interest, until he coughed and asked. ¡°How do I do it?¡± The silence was deafening. Gaius looked away, Akihiko began whistling and Akai began examining the curtains. ¡°Wait, you don''t know?!¡± Ryuunosuke was astounded. He was in a room with three of the most experienced men he knew and no one knew how to communicate with a spirit. ¡°How am I supposed to know? Most spirits speak just fine. I''ve never found one that was also a sword and couldn''t speak.¡± Justified Akihiko. ¡°I''ve been part of this world for a year, not counting my catatonic period. Also I don''t remember much from the supernatural that I learned during said coma. What did you expect?¡± ¡°You are the one that knows enough about spirits to give birth to one!¡± ¡°I know about how Evil Spirits are formed and summonable spirits. No idea about weapon spirits, ask the dwarfs.¡± Ryuunosuke turned his head towards his last hope. ¡°Head?¡± ¡°I''ve always used Senjutsu to communicate with speech incapable spirits. I haven''t bothered to learn how others do it.¡± Ryuunosuke slumped. ¡°Who knows how?¡± ¡°I''ll ask Jiang to seek answers around the Spirit Studies Department. Until then try to find a way.¡± Ryuunosuke sighed, he felt like a child that had been given a console without a battery and had to wait until he bought one to play. After looking longingly at the sword he left it on the drawers. ¡°Well that''s a bummer.¡± ¡°Actually.¡± Began speaking Akihiko with a thoughtful look in his face. ¡°Can''t you or the Head speak with the spirits and have they tell you how to communicate.¡± The two Senjutsu users looked at each other. Gaius signaled Ryuunosuke with his head. Akai shaked his and pointed at him. ¡°Alright, I''ll do it. Bring it here Akihiko.¡± He did what was asked of him. Once Gaius had the sword in his hands he activated his Senjutsu, closed his eyes and sent his perception into it. When he next opened them he found himself in a meadow between two mountains. The mountain to his right had its summit lit on blue fire, while the one to his right was frozen. Not long had passed when form both mountains to shapes flies to him. Both shapes looked like winged children. They weren''t fat nor thin, but well proportioned in shape and size. Both of their eyes were completely black, as if they were giant pupils. Their hair was of middle length and messy. The one from the flaming mountain was tanned with blue hair and red wings, and he was dressed in a tunic. His facial features were angular. The one from the frozen mountain was pale with purple hair and blue wings, and he was dressed in a feathered suit. His facial features were rounded. The flaming one spoke first. ¡°You are father are you not?¡± ¡°Indeed.¡± Uttered Gaius with a tender smile. The two childish spirits looked at each other before they dived into him, making him collapse on the floor and falling themselves along him. Once on the floor they snuggled to him. ¡°It''s nice to meet you father!¡± Shouted the fire one again, beaming at Gaius while sitting on his chest. ¡°I''m happy you came here, father.¡± Said the icy one while hugging him Gaius gave them a wry smile. ¡°Don''t know how to feel at being called father at my age.¡± He saw their smiles disappeared and he corrected himself. ¡°Not to say I don''t acknowledge you as my sons. Just that it seems weird. I could have certainly be a father already, just not of such grown children.¡± They smiled once more and hugged him again.Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings. ¡°So. Tell me about yourselves, you two. I want to know you.¡± ¡°We were born a few hours ago, so we can''t say much. But we certainly have things to say! I like watching cute things, fights and supporting Ryuu. Also I chose the name Speculum Glacies.¡± Voiced the icy one. ¡°I like music, fights and supporting Ryuu. I chose the name Clara Pyram.¡± Gaius was a bit troubled by their professed enjoyment of fights. They were Evil Spirits after all, even if he had tried to make them not evil. He then threw those thoughts. Just because they liked fights didn''t make them bad, many good men did. He rubbed their heads and complained. ¡°Awww. I wanted to name you.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°My apologies.¡± ¡°No problem. I just wanted to ask something of you. Will you take the name Atiius?¡± They raised their heads to look at him. ¡°¡±Of course!¡±¡± They laid together a bit more before Gaius remembered why he had come here. ¡°I wanted to ask you two. How can you contact Ryuunosuke?¡± ¡°Just make him touch his forehead with the sword. We''ll do the rest.¡± Said Pyram. Gaius took them off him and rose up. ¡°Then it''s time I left.¡± Glacies looked at him sadly. ¡°Already?¡± ¡°Sorry but they''re waiting for me. I''ll come later alright?¡± ¡°Promise?¡± ¡°Promise.¡± They flew upwards and kissed his cheeks. ¡°Goodbye then, father.¡± Said Pyram reluctantly. ¡°Until next time, father.¡± ¡°Bye, Pyram, Glacies.¡± Once Gaius returned to the real world the other three were waiting nervously. ¡°What took so long?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°Can''t I talk with my kids? Either way just put the sword to your forehead.¡± Gaius gave Akihiko the sword who passed it to Ryuunosuke. He then put it to his forehead, closing his eyes. They waited some time before he opened them. ¡°How did it go?¡± Queried Akai. ¡°Good. They are nice. We are sharing our senses now and they can speak to me no matter if we''re separated. They say hi Gaius.¡± ¡°Hello again kids.¡± Ryuunosuke smiled. ¡°They really like you. They are acting all cute for you, they were really formal with me.¡± Akai cleared his throat. ¡°Sorry to interrupt but I need to leave. What are their names? To register them in our security grid.¡± ¡°Clara Pyram Atiius and Speculum Glacies Atiius.¡± Answered Ryuunosuke. ¡°Thanks. Now to finalise the deal with that stupid mountain spirit.¡± Gaius froze and cursed. ¡°Fuck. I forgot about the star spirit.¡± That evening Gaius learned to sneak through detection wards and to redirect the force of an opponent''s charge to make them fall. After classes Gaius went to his workshop. In there he replicated the ritual that had summoned the spirit at first. They answered his summons. ¡°You have been fast in summoning me.¡± ¡°It took me two days.¡± ¡°I have lived from the birth of the first star. Three days are ephemeral in my eyes.¡± ¡°I see. What does such an ancient spirit want with me?¡± ¡°I am not a spirit. I am a god. The god of primordial stars. The eldest god of the universe. I was before life was but a possibility. And I''ll be when it banishes from the universe.¡± Gaius narrowed his eyes in suspicion. ¡°What does one such as you want from me? I should inform you that I can only worship God.¡± ¡°I''m aware. I was there when your God, Ahura Mazda and Brahman first set their eyes within the universe. A few seconds after my birth to be concrete, I do not think that was coincidence by the way. I have learned to avoid interfering with those three. Of all the gods in the universe, both native and from the multiverse, they are the greatest ones. And they are always watching. You can''t feel it because you never have existed in a universe not watched by them. But I always feel their eyes on me. They watch everything, they know everything. You can''t escape them.¡± Gaius¡¯ curiosity was picked. ¡°Which gods are from the multiverse?¡± ¡°You don''t know of all the gods, neither do I. Of the ones in this world those three and the Aztec gods are from the multiverse for sure.¡± Gaius felt a little disappointed at that, but he remembered what they were supposed to be doing. ¡°What do you want then?¡± ¡°Over my long life I have visited many worlds. Nearly all of them have perished. Long ago I started accepting the beings that survived until the end into my gardens. Spirits, gods of the planet, supernatural creatures, the last living beings. All of them were safeguarded by me. And all are bored. There is not much excitement in my gardens. I salvaged all the cultural heritage of the many worlds I visited, but some are not satisfied. They wish to be in the middle of conflict. It is because of this that I search the universe for inhabited worlds. Once I find them I contact their mages, teach them to summon my wards and make them record that knowledge. This time it was you that found me though.¡± ¡°So you wish for me to write a grimoire with the summoning rituals for alien powers. How do I not know you are not seeking to infiltrate us? To take over?¡± ¡°I can call upon other gods, gods you know of, to oversee our deal and make sure I don''t do that. Is that enough?¡± ¡°Even then this is a lot to ask for just some light. Creating a grimoire is the work of a thousand hours, it''d take years of hard work. You can''t just record the spells, you must embed them with meaning.¡± ¡°So you already have those kinds of books? Good, that''s what I want. And I''d pay you for it. Our previous deal was for you to consider my offer. Ask your price.¡± Gaius fell in thought. What was best asked of the oldest God of the universe was something not easily decided. ¡°What do you consider an equal exchange?¡± ¡°I can give many things. Power, knowledge, wisdom. I possess all of them.¡± ¡°Let me rephrase that. What do you consider best of me to ask for.¡± ¡°You possess access to all knowledge you need for know. You have a strong spirit so wisdom is not as needed. So you require power most. My recommendation is for me to use the alicorn you took from the undead to give you a starlight powered healing, akin to that of the unicorn itself. Without their limitations,you will be able to use in on yourself and others. I will also give you permanent and free access to my starlight to empower it. With those you shall not fear injuries that don''t kill. Within certain limits since it would require you to be conscious. But even then that is not enough. So think of something more.¡± ¡°I find your offer acceptable. Aside from that¡­¡± It was then that Gaius thought of something, something he wished desperately. ¡°I wish for knowledge.¡± ¡°What knowledge?¡± ¡°Knowledge of where I connected to in ages past.¡± ¡°What do you¡­ I see, I hadn''t looked at your story before. I can agree to search for which dimension or entity you contacted with that fated ritual. But I can''t guarantee when I will find it.¡± ¡°As long as you search for it, that is enough. You are my best bet.¡± ¡°Then do you agree to write the grimoire I ask of you for a unicorns healing, starlight and knowledge?¡± ¡°I agree. Do you know of any binding oath that can bind gods?¡± ¡°Gods from the multiverse? No. But I can invoke the Origin of the universe for an oath that if broken would expel me from this universe. Never to return. And trust me I wish to stay in the place of my birth until it dies. Once space-time unravels I shall leave, but not a second before.¡± ¡°Then let''s do it.¡± ¡°Very well. I swear that if Gaius Atiius Quadratus of the universe, agrees to create a grimoire containing the summoning rituals for those that inhabit my garden I shall grant him the healing of an unicorn, infinite starlight, and the knowledge he seeks. Do you agree?¡± ¡°That is an ambiguous contract.¡± ¡°The Origin judges not the letter, but the spirit. Do not fear tricks from me.¡± ¡°And how can I trust that.¡± ¡°Then choose a god of your liking, and make them tell you whether it''s the truth or not.¡± ¡°Then you shall not claim that I disrespected you. I shall do it. But I have something better.¡± Gaius moved to his cabinet and from it he took a 25 square metre parchment. Upon it was inscribed a complex circle, with thousands of symbols and lines composing it. It was in the shape of a star with twenty one points. He stood upon it and chanted a simple spell. ¡°I call upon you, my guardian. Please show me the way, and deliver me from evil. I am offered a deal, yet I don''t know if it would be against God''s will. I seek confirmation, am I being fooled? Would this contract be able to damn my soul?¡± The circled shined a mute red. Two words were heard. Yes. No. With his doubts assuaged Gaius turned to the god. ¡°May I know your name?¡± ¡°You can''t pronounce it. But you may call me Lightbringer, for I ended the Dark Age when light didn''t exist. I am also the Lifebringer, for my star forged the very atoms that composed the first life and the black hole it formed created the first galaxy and all it contained.¡± ¡°Then I agree to the deal that the Lifegiver offers me.¡± A moment passed and nothing happened. Gaius was about to ask if something was wrong but the Lifegiver anticipated it. ¡°Oaths to the Origin don''t require complex rituals or light shows. If the universe acknowledges the oaths it is done.¡± ¡°Then we''re finished.¡± ¡°Indeed. I shall contact you on Saturday to begin teaching you the rituals. Take care of yourself, for both our sakes.¡± ¡°Wait you haven''t given me the healing!¡± ¡°Yes I have.¡± The light disappeared. Gaius was stunned. He quickly went to the cabinet where he had stored the horn and found it had turned to dust. Since Lifegiver had not instructed him on a way of accessing it he supposed it would be instinctual. So he focused inwards and discovered two complex structures of Patterns in his mind. The healing and starlight had taken the form of traits. Gaius stabbed through his arm in order to test it. The cut disappeared in seconds. His face split in a smile. ¡°This is going to be very useful.¡± 20. Growth. Growth. The tunnels were not suited for humans. Long twisting tunnels that spread through the bedrock, going upwards and downwards. On their walls red light shone from red hot strands of metal that rose the temperature to forge levels. And being enclosed without a way to dissipate the heat the temperature reached at least a 1000¡ã C, as hot as a candle. To stay in these tunnels was like standing in flames. And those same tunnels were under heavy pressure, at least 20 atmospheres, at most a 100. It was something to celebrate then that the few humans who could even enter the Tunnels of the Braith had ways of keeping the heat and pressure at bay. Mages used temperature regulating spells and barriers, ki users used their ki to insulatethe heat and resist the pressure. The latter were even more fortunate since the rough conditions could accelerate their training. If they could remain within the tunnels for long that is. Instead of humans the usual inhabitants of the Tunnels were the creatures that gave them their name, the Braith. These alien creatures were not carbon or silicon life forms, like scientist believe should be the predominant kind of life. This explained why the Rare Earth Hypothesis was both right and wrong. Carbon life forms were rare, but other kinds lived in inhospitable places. The Braith were formed of molten rock, animated through natural magic. If their creation myth was right, and the Lifegiver had told Gaius it was, Bramitha the god of magma, had looked upon the surface and other planets and seen life. Wishing the same for his own realm he animated the molten rock, forming the first magma beings. They roamed the mantle and fed on it and were great giant beasts of immense power, though if they went to the surface they would quickly die from the pressure difference. However Bramitha was not satisfied and sought to create sapient life. But said life could not prosper in the mantle, so he made his children inhabit the cortex just above. They were the Braith. The Braith are humanoid, as those who inspired Bramitha were, but their similarities to humans ends there. They have three legs, four arms and three diamond eyes. They reproduce asexually and live for two hundred Earth years, having an average of eight children in their lifetime. While they were segregated from other kinds of life, the efforts of dimensional mages connected them with others. They offered great training conditions for ki and rare materials from the depths of the crust and mantle for mages so they prospered in commerce. The Tunnels of the Braith thus became a galactic hub of trade, where the supernaturally aware of many worlds intermingle. One month after he dealt with the Ablution Society Incident Gaius found himself haggling with a seven headed Brtkkkkbm, a kind of insectoid alien, in these Tunnels. ¡°I can''t pay a dozen grams of ilphinan honey for a kilogram of prtkkkn exoskeleton powder! One is a powerful healing substance, the other a nutritious spice.¡± ¡°Kkkts trkksw prtkkkn.¡± ¡°I don''t care how dangerous it is to hunt prtkkkn, ilphinans are hard to find. I paid one fireburst rubie per gram for it. At most seven grams.¡± ¡°Prtkkkn kklt pkrt.¡± ¡°Alright. I can empathise with your situation. Add a kilogram of krk flowers and deal.¡± ¡°Kl.¡± ¡°Good¡± Gaius left the stall and headed towards a room in the depths of the Tunnels. In it a Braith receptionist was processing some magma beast innards in a lightning grid.. ¡°Welcome back Gaius.¡± It said in a high pitched voice, its second eye floating to his direction. ¡°I hope you managed to get what you wanted.¡± ¡°I did Breeeeee. I feel a little bad about it, since I don''t need healing, but I managed to exchange what I wanted. Powder for Reiko to grow, and flowers to enhance my Touki.¡± ¡°Good for you. If you want to see your bird it is in the pool.¡± ¡°Thanks.¡± Gaius headed towards one of the doors in the alchemist¡¯s house and headed towards the magma vent. It was a simple space, a rock cavern with a pool of magma in the middle. Once he entered the room he headed towards his familiar. ¡°You gave me a scare before boy. I can''t believe how much you are eating right now.¡± A trill sounded from a blue feather cocoon in the middle of the pool before Reiko¡¯s head poked out of it. His feathers were of a deeper blue, instead of his previous sky blue it now looked sapphire blue. Gaius entered the pool and gave him his food, before submerging himself in the lava while eating the flowers.This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. ¡°Ugh. Tastes like boiled leather.¡± Gaius began to work out, using the temperature and pressure of the pool to forge his Touki further. In the past month Gaius had improved greatly. His offensive magic was now a bit versatile, with spells that could harm nearly every creature. While he had not real world practice his results in warding were nice. And he had finally gotten martial arts training which caused his combat capabilities to soar. With all this he was now officially a Rank 4. But his greatest improvement was in his body and Senjutsu. With a thousand five hundred more years of knowledge and way better facilities he had had previously, his body had grown immensely. He now had a body worthy of a Touki user, capable of lifting and throwing a car with his bare muscles. His Touki had increased by 20%. And he had managed to master Akai¡¯s presence mimicry and his own curse making. He specialised in damaging curses and mind altering ones such as fear or rage. All in all it had been a productive month. However he had less luck in his missions. He had rooted out three more Cult bases, but no vital ones. As for Awakening there was confirmation that it was related to the supernatural, since one user was spotted doing magic, but it''s nature was still clouded. The reason he was in this planet was simple. Two days ago Reiko had started to absorb massive amounts of heat, freezing their home, and to slim alarmingly fast. It seemed to Gaius that he was undergoing a growth spur, probably relating to its body finally catching with the Touki he gained and upgrading in one go. In order to give him the heat he needed Gaius chose to open a portal to the most welcoming high temperature place he knew of, the Tunnels of the Braith. He had already traded with one in the ancient era, though it was they who contacted him and came to Earth. He chose to take advantage of his stay here to train, and with all the exotic resources and harsh environment he was actually improving. Thankfully he was a Senjutsu user or he could only stay in periods of three hours. That night Gaius was sleeping in Braaaaa¡¯s, Breeee¡¯s father, house when Breeee came to wake him up. ¡°Uwah?¡± ¡°Gaius. Your bird is finished.¡± Hearing this Gaius quickly rose and headed to the shop. Once there he was greeted by Reiko roosting on his shoulder. Aside from color nothing had changed superficially, but the fact he was handling the pressure without using his Touki meant his body was actually stronger. ¡°Finished already?¡± The bird nodded his head and nuzzled his beak against Gaius¡¯ face. ¡°I swear you are growing more intelligent by the day.¡± Braaaaa and Breeee approached him from behind and congratulated Gaius on his familiars growth. Once they were done Braaaaa asked. ¡°Then are you leaving?¡± ¡°Yes. I need to go back to Earth.¡± ¡°Come whenever you want. Our debt is not yet repaid, and the least we can do is give you shelter when you want.¡± ¡°I appreciate your hospitality. Take care of your brelik, don''t let it get injured again.¡± The Braith nodded and went back to his home. Gaius inverted the reverse summoning spell and appeared in his workshop on Earth. Just when he was about to go back to bed he received a call. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Akihiko here. Listen we have an important reunion soon, in two minutes. It''s good you are already finished.¡± ¡°I wanted to sleep. Alright I''ll go. What is it about?¡± ¡°It''s 17:00 Gaius. As for the second question, we are going to take down the Blue Leathers main auction house.¡± In the law keeping building the auditorium was filled. All Rank 2 and above as well as some specialised Ranks 1 or 0 had been summoned. In the podium stood the Elder of the Back, Hamamoto Kioshi. He was about to begin the explanation when Gaius entered and sat besides Akihiko and Ryuunosuke. ¡°Did I miss anything?¡± ¡°Nah. Only the mission objective.¡± ¡°Actually, what is the target exactly?¡± Ryuunosuke began answering when the Elder began speaking. ¡°Tonight we are gathered to take down the Blue Leathers auction house. For far too long have they dealt in illegal goods and worse, slave trade. They had hidden it well, but a month and a half ago some of our operatives found it.¡± In the wall behind him a map of the city appeared. It then changed to a photo of an ordinary office building. ¡°Isn''t that the place we reported?¡± Muttered Ryuunosuke. ¡°Yes. Now you know why we couldn''t speak of it.¡± Whispered back Akihiko. ¡°We have managed to infiltrate and make inventory. All of you will be assigned in groups to perform a certain task. Those that will prevent escape, those that will combat the Blue Leaders, and those that will retrieve the merchandise.¡± The Elder kept detailing the overall plan of attack, as well as the level of force they were authorised to use and the most important objectives for each of the groups. ¡°Those of you that will retrieve the merchandise I want to prioritise freeing the prisoners. I want not a single hair in their heads touched. For that healers will be assigned to this task.¡± Once the meeting finished the three went to Amagi Ai to ask for their task. They found her in her despacho ¡°Amagi!¡± Shouted Akihiko to grab her attention. ¡°You three! You don''t know how glad I am to see you.¡± ¡°What do we do?¡± ¡°You have been assigned your own mission. Don''t worry about the Cult now, this mission is a priority. You have to speak to Yu over there.¡± She signaled at an office in the other side of the corridor. ¡°I can rest easy knowing my best investigator and his bodyguards are on this assignment. I recommended you.¡± They accepted her directions and went to the office they had been pointed to. Once there their coordinator for this mission told them their mission without preamble. ¡°I see you are here. Your mission is simple, since the Blues have spies among us for sure we want you to retrieve three valuable objects. All three are kept in the auction managers personal safe. They are highly sensitive, stolen from important people. If we recover it we''ll get them to owe us a massive debt. Do not fail.¡± 21. Preparations. Preparations. After receiving their mission Gaius and the rest were led to a meeting room where they were explained in depth what it entailed. Yu pulled a plan of the building in a projector and began speaking. ¡°What you see here is the layout of the auction house. You do not need to memorise it all, since you should only care about this part and the ways to reach it.¡± He used a laser to point out an area in the top floor. He then changed the screen to a mansion. ¡°In that room there is a pocket dimension. In it lives the auction manager and the most valuable products are kept. We will send four teams in. One as a distraction, another to try and and make them think that they have found all intruders. The other two will raid the managers safe and the treasury. Your team will deal with the safe. You have five members, the three present here, an infiltrator and an escape specialist. Ryuunosuke, your role is to undo the worst wards, I know you only have three shots a day so make them count.¡± ¡°Understood!¡± ¡°Akihiko. You are to deal with infiltration and getting the safe open.¡± ¡°That I can do.¡± ¡°Gaius. You are the muscle and the detector. I want your Senjutsu active at all times, anything you think is suspicious must be dealt with. Despite that you are to prioritise the safe recovery if possible. I will leave it to your judgement.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± ¡°The roles of the other two should be obvious so I will skip that.¡± Once he finished speaking he put forward two photographs and metal boxes. ¡°These are the people in question. You do not need their names. The woman to the left is the infiltrator, the one to the right the escape expert. Gaius you are to remember their magical signatures to make sure it is them you convene with.¡± Gaius took the boxes and activated them. He closed his eyes and remained like that for a minute before putting them away. He nodded to signify he had committed them to memory. ¡°Good. We haven''t managed to get the blueprints for the mansion so you will have to rely on the infiltrator. The objects to recover are four, a magatama necklace, a sealed jade box, a bow and a grimoire.¡± As he spoke images of the stolen goods appeared on the screen. The magatama necklace looked old but ordinary, with the magatamas seemingly made of iron. The jade box was rectangular and the size of a hand in length and width while being three centimetres deep. The bow was a 220 cm long Japanese bow made of bone. Finally the grimoire was a simple leather bound book with the kanji Yomo no Gisiki in the cover. ¡°They are very valuable. Very. Very. Valuable. Each of them is priceless but they would fetch at least a billion US dollars at least.¡± Akihiko s eyebrow rose slightly while Gaius looked with renewed interest at the mission objectives. However Ryuunosuke''s mouth fell and he couldn''t help but stutter. ¡°What the hell are they?!¡± ¡°The Iron Magatama of the Ryuugamine Clan. The Evil Eating Bow of the Morakabe family. The Sealing Lamentation of the Hokkaido Devil Slaying Alliance. And the Yomo no Gisiki of the Four Gods Observatory.¡± Akihiko whistled impressed, for all of those where big ones. ¡°I can see why we are sending an entire team to get these. But how did the Blues get them? And why send us?¡± He questioned. ¡°They bought them from the original thiefs. As for why we send you¡­¡± He signaled Akihiko. ¡°Best investigator, good infiltrator.¡± His finger moved to Gaius. ¡°Senjutsu user, Rank 4, has a bird that can phase through walls.¡± He moved to Ryuunosuke and faltered for a second. ¡°Useful person you two have experience with?¡± ¡°Excuse me for being young or not a monster.¡± Gaius snorted a repressed laugh while Akihiko broke in loud laugher. ¡°In order for the entire operation to work we need you three already in the mansion by the time the main force attacks the auction. For that we need you to infiltrate the auction as guests, but Akihiko and Ryuunosuke are already known to the Blues. Gaius is less known so he shall be the public face.¡±The genuine version of this novel can be found on another site. Support the author by reading it there. Yu paused before bringing out three suitcases. ¡°You will disguise yourselves as a necromancer and his undead guardians. That will allow you two to cover your faces without raising suspicion. The association has prepared magic tools that will allow Ryuunosuke and Akihiko to sow as undead to the wards we already identified, so you should have no problem as long as you can act decently as undead. It isn''t difficult, stand in silence behind Gaius.¡± Akihiko shaked his head. ¡°That won''t work. They won¡¯t let just anyone in. Specially someone suspicious like a normal necromancer.¡± Yu just smiled at that. ¡°Which is why not just a necromancer will go in.¡± He opened the middle suitcase displaying a black robe and a pendant. The pendant had the symbol of a meteor in the middle of a circle with diamonds encrusted every thirty degrees. ¡°Fuck.¡± Muttered Gaius in shock. ¡°The Heavenly Sphere Necromancers? Those guys have existed since the Republic! How did you get a valid symbol of theirs?¡± ¡°That was thanks to you Gaius. The Vatican would like you to pay them a visit after this.¡± Gaius¡¯ eyes widened before a grin split his face and he began humming. Akihiko felt happy for his young friend, knowing he longed to reconnect with the catholic community. Yu waited some moments and seeing he didn''t stop he kept speaking. ¡°To enter you need a pass that can be purchased for five billion yen. We already have one in the name of the Heavenly Sphere Necromancers.¡± He took a blue card from his pocket and gave it to Gaius. It was a simple cyan card with a black mask on it. ¡°To recap. Enter as a necromancer, infiltrate the mansion, retrieve the goods and take care of anything important that you notice while doing the previous. Understood?¡± The team of three looked at each other and nodded. ¡°¡±¡±Yes!¡±¡±¡± That were leaving the building when Gaius saw his students in the entrance and approached them. ¡°Hey! Terumi, Kotone, Kishi!¡± They turned to him and went to his encounter. ¡°Master, Master Akihiko, Ryuunosuke. Good evening.¡± Greeted Kishi. ¡°Nice seeing you.¡± Waved Kotone. ¡°Hello.¡± Managed to speak Terumi. ¡°Good to see you coming out of your shell Terumi. What are you three doing here?¡± ¡°We have begun taking missions as per your recommendation Master. We are joining in the raid tonight if you think we are ready.¡± Answered Kishi. Gaius looked pensive before coming to a decision. ¡°You can, but you have to listen to my instructions. Kotone don''t let others to know about your thing, so no lust balls or anything of the sort, specially that cursed fire. Terumi you should listen to the others and not get separated. Kishi, do not try to do everything, if you are overwhelmed run.¡± ¡°Awww. I like the cursed fire.¡± ¡°Yes!¡± While his classmates accepted it Kishi looked discontent. Gaius saw it and sighed. ¡°Kishi. This is important, you need to learn when to step back. How many times have I had to heal you because you pushed too hard?¡± ¡°But Ryuunosuke and Akihiko are weaker than me.¡± ¡°Yes and I won''t let them near combat. If we engage anything above Rank 1 they are running. And they have far more experience than you, which is important.¡± Kishi spoke through clenched teeth. ¡°Understood, Master.¡± Gaius smiled and smacked his shoulder. ¡°Eventually you won''t have to run, but right now you are still not strong enough to be careless.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± They spoke a bit more with Gaius and Akihiko giving them advice on how to appropriately use their Touki and things to be careful of respectively. They went their own ways. Gaius and his team went to the Blue Spirit to for information. Once there they entered they left Ryuunosuke on the restaurant and went to the bar zone and headed towards Sakae¡¯s private room. ¡°Hi you two.¡± ¡°Hello Adam, Sakae.¡± ¡°Gaius, Akihiko! Come in. What do you want?¡± ¡°Guten tag.¡± They sat down and Akihiko inclined forward. ¡°What we can expect in the Blues auction.¡± Sakae smiled mischievously. ¡°What makes you think I won''t sell this information to the Blues? Now I know your big commotion is a raid on it.¡± Gaius snorted. ¡°Aside from the fact that if you do that you will have the association after you? You like the Blues as much as you like wasabi, not at all.¡± ¡°True.¡± Commented Adam. ¡°Traitor. There is not much honestly. You need a blue card to enter. Aside from that and some of the goods to be auctioned I just can tell you that Clark Rossi is going to be there.¡± Akihiko inclined and put his head on his hands. ¡°Fuck. He is the strongest after the Boss.¡± Gaius tried to remember about the Blue Leathers known threats and realised he knew next to nothing about them. ¡°I have no idea who that is.¡± Sakae smiled, her eyes shining. ¡°Since you are regulars I can give you this for free.¡± ¡°You mean they can get the information from their bosses so you can''t cheat them.¡± Said Adam. ¡°Shush you. The Boss came ten years ago to this town. He is a Rank 7 Senjutsu user. In a show of strength he defeated and unified all illegal associations and gangs under him. Before that they were nuisances that at most had a Rank 5, but he has attracted strong people making the Blue Leathers strong. They still have less strength that the association, but they hide well. They have a Rank 7, the Boss, and three Rank 6. Of the three one was a previous partner of the Boss, one a mercenary and one was a previous gang leather that two years ago became Rank 6. Clark Rossi is the gang leader. Grandson of a former American soldier that remained in Japan after living here with the army. His grandfather was an Italian immigrant that didn''t like the US after he arrived there. He lived in this city but died when his son was young along his wife. Marco Rossi was abused in a foster family and began idealising the United States, eventually calling his son an ¡®American¡¯ name. However he was also abusive causing Clark to run away. Clark joined a gang that was related to the supernatural and the rest is history. Once the Boss came he switched sides immediately, sparing his gang any casualties. Since then he rose to become his right hand. He is a Touki user. He doesn''t usually fight and when he does there are few willing to speak so not much is known about his fighting style. We do know that his blows cause muscles to cramp.¡± ¡°Bad news then.¡± ¡°Ja. He is a tough bastard. I once fought him but that was before he became Rank 5. What I can tell you is that he can use his Touki to numb the nerves of his opponents. Be careful of that.¡± ¡°Adam?! Why didn''t you tell me that?!¡± ¡°No reason until now.¡± Gaius looked at his phone. It was already seven in the evening. ¡°Hate to cut this short but we need to go.¡± ¡°Goodbye then.¡± Sakae said distracted. ¡°We are information brokers, you have to tell me this or we''ll lose credibility.¡± Gaius and Akihiko heard Adam answer while they left. ¡°You do a good job at that already.¡± Once they were out of the bar they reunited with Ryuunosuke. ¡°Now what?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°A limousine from the ¡°Necromancers¡± will take us to the venue, I''ll drive. We will change on it. It''s waiting us outside the city, let''s get going.¡± Responded Akihiko. 22. Infiltration. Infiltration. In front of a parking lot several figures in formal clothing were seen. They were all waiting for something and as they waited more people began to arrive. Once it turned nine in the evening a woman in a black suit teleported in. The others stood to attention when they saw her, however she didn''t make a move for and just waited. An old man with a yew pendant approached her and bowed. ¡°I am glad to meet you again miss Namba. May I ask why we are not yet teleported?¡± ¡°It is good to see you Oireachtach. This group has been assigned a VIP. Until they come we can''t enter.¡± ¡°Who might they be to deserve such honour?¡± ¡°You will see.¡± The woman smiled mischievously. The old man was a regular attendant of the auction and she had been his attendant for the past three years. In that time they had formed a friendship and she enjoyed seeing his calm facade break. ¡°I see you want to make a fool out of me again. But I have learned to expect the impossible when you do that. Last year''s Circle of Brambles was a good lesson.¡± ¡°I think you underestimate our Blue Leaders¡¯ resources, this year we have products capable of bringing even foreign organisations in.¡± ¡°Hm. I guess I won''t be able to get them then. A poor exiled druid doesn''t have the money for such luxuries.¡± ¡°Poor? You make and sell custom chimaeras for a living. You have enough money to pay my entire salary three times over.¡± ¡°But I can''t equal the worth of an organisation, that would be stupid. At least one capable of heading to other countries.¡± Namba was going to answer when a limousine entered the lot. Three figures exited it. Two wore blue robes that covered their whole body, with hoods that covered their faces. Those two stood behind the third, who walked with confidence in his steps and a slight smile in his face. The third one dressed in a bright green suit with a neon pink tie. But no one in the lot dared to laugh or disdain the fashion disaster, for they could see the pendant in his neck. It depicted a meteor surrounded by a circle with diamonds encrusted in it, the symbol of the Heavenly Sphere Necromancers. The Heavenly Sphere Necromancers were an ancient and powerful European group. It''s main operations consisted in using necromancy to interrogate the dead, which gave them a lot of blackmail material and information. They had grown tremendously over their existence, having reached the point that no one bellow Rank 7 or belonging to an organisation with one dared to offend them. And while their offensive capabilities didn''t reach the level of their divination they still knew how to raise the corpses of the dead and control Remnant Spirits. In this city only the youkai leader¡¯s faction, the Waning Moon and the Blue Leathers could treat them as equals. It was because of this that all the inhabitants in the lot bowed their heads in reference. ¡°You win again damn woman.¡± Whispered the druid. ¡°Couldn''t you have warned me to not give me a heart attack?¡± ¡°It''s funnier this way.¡± She whispered back. She then moved to greet the necromancer. ¡°I am honoured to welcome you to this city, envoy of the Heavenly Sphere Necromancers. I am Namba Aoi, the one that will bring you to the auction.¡± The necromancer smiled and moved to shake her hand. ¡°No need to be so stuffy! You are like the old carts back home. Honour this honour that. Bah! They don''t know to enjoy life, the killjoys. And I didn''t come here to be bored with formalities.¡± He paused a moment to look around and was satisfied by the impact of his words. The others had been struck dumb by the dissonance between their expectations and reality. He licked his lips and said. ¡°Such delicious surprise. I really enjoy this kind of thing. Now you know the perks of belonging to a strong group, to not give a single fuck about those useless formalities that plague the Hidden World.¡± He took in their astonishment once anew and began laughing. ¡°Those faces. Oh Hades, those faces.¡± He stopped laughing. ¡°But where are my manners? Not caring about needless rules is one thing but being rude another. My name is Vissarion Pulos, it is my pleasure to make your acquaintance. Above all of such a gorgeous woman.¡± He winked at her while kissing her hand. Namba¡¯s smile became strained, she had worked hard to reach this position but the fool could only see her looks, it seemed the Heavenly Sphere was not all it was said it was. She had just finished thinking this when her body heated up and her muscles cramped immobilising her. ¡°Now, now. It is not nice to insult your guests, is it? What is the problem of flirting a bit? You are a beautiful woman and you are weak, which do you think catches more attention?¡± Namba didn''t dare to speak too terrified, and aroused, to form coherent thoughts. She couldn''t help but think about how he had managed to read her thoughts when another wave of heat coursed through her. She remained paralysed before she moaned from the heat.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. The necromancer smiled at that. ¡°See? Now you are being honest, some fun is never bad. But I am a gentleman and forcing others is disgusting, so I will end your punishment now.¡± Namba collapsed as a puppet whose strings were cut and curled in the ground moaning. Oireachtach moved to help her before stopping at her side and looking at Vissarion. ¡°Help her. It is nice to see people still value relationships even in this wretched business. Good boy.¡± Vissarion moved to pet him in the head and helped him lift Namba. She tried to right herself, still blushing. ¡°My apologies for my indiscretion, master Pulos.¡± ¡°No problem beautiful. I will forgive you for a date. What do you think?¡± ¡°I''d be¡­ honoured.¡± She practically couldn''t say the last word but her fear won in the end. ¡°Good girl. Do you like fishing?¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Fishing. I love it nearly as much as breaking the pride of those that don''t deserve it. I must catch em all, as you say here. It''s the same as why I like Pokemon, the thrill of adding entries to your fishing notebook fills me with a feeling of accomplishment unequaled by nothing. It is better than sex even. I thought that I''d share my love for it in the date.¡± ¡°That''s no problem, sir.¡± She was relieved that her worst fears didn''t come to pass. ¡°It''s a deal then. Shouldn''t we be getting to the auction now?¡± ¡°Yes sir. Come around everyone.¡± She beckoned everyone to her and made them circle her while she made some hand seals. ¡°Open the way!¡± After these words a column of light fell upon everyone and they found themselves alone in the groups they had come in. While the light lasted one of the blue robed figures spoke to Vissarion. ¡°That was creepy.¡± ¡°I needed to distract them from you guys. If they only look at me there are less chances of them discovering you since I only need to act weird instead of being careful of breaking my act.¡± ¡°What would you have done if it was a guy?¡± Said the second figure. ¡°Haven''t you heard of homosexuality?¡± The second figure was about to answer when the light died down and they found themselves in the middle of a lavishly decorated room. There were two doors at the right and left and an enormous doorway that led to the auction room in front of them. Vissarion went to look at the adornments and commented. ¡°Looks nice. A bit nouveau riche, but nice.¡± He was examining the curtains when Namba approached him. ¡°Master Pulos I have been assigned to be your guide. Let me lead to your accommodations where you can wait until the auction starts.¡± ¡°Very well, perky butt.¡± Namba stumbled when she heard what she was called, but she grit her teeth and smiled. ¡°Follow me.¡± Vissarion was led to the right door and up two floors before she opened a door to a suite the size of a normal flat. ¡°Acceptable. Do you want to do something before the auction, shapely breasts?¡± He grabbed her chin and lifted her head. Namba stepped back and widened her eyes as her words stuck to her throat. ¡°No then. I am glad to see you are not easy. The conquest will be sweeter that way. I look forward to tasting the fruits of my labour later.¡± ¡°I-I.¡± Vissarion let her go and shoved her out of the room while coping a feel. ¡°Out for now. I need to plan how to get between those thighs of yours.¡± Once she was out he collapsed on the couch and sighed. ¡°Playing the eccentric nymphomaniac takes a lot out of me.¡± ¡°I am surprised you chose that way. Doesn''t seem to suit you.¡± ¡°If you mean that normally I don''t care about sex you are right. But this makes it easier to do our job. If she is too worried trying to avoid giving me an excuse to rape her she will overlook both you and suspicious things I do. And my other option with the Heavenly Sphere was to be an amoralresearcher, and that is more difficult." The word rape was said with disgust. ¡°I am glad you see that act for what it is. I''d be worried otherwise.¡± ¡°I am not a fool Akihiko. I feel dirty and disgusting, once this is done I will have to take a long shower and wash my mouth.¡± ¡°She is a member of the Blue Leathers though. She has probably done worse.¡± ¡°I don''t pay evil unto evil, Ryuunosuke. Now then, we have to get to the mansion.¡± He called Namba back into the room. ¡°I have heard of a beautiful mansion in here. Could I visit it?¡± ¡°I will ask my superiors.¡± ¡°Go then.¡± She left the room in a hurry. She returned with a bulky man in row. He had brown hair and square jaw, broad shoulders and muscles. He looked Mediterranean. ¡°Mister Pulos I presume. I am Clark Rossi, head of security of this auction.¡± Vissarion rose and began to shake his hand energetically. ¡°I have heard of you Clark! Your tale of rising from common thug to second in command of Japan''s sixteenth greatest criminal syndicate is an inspiring one.¡± Rossi smiled a grin that showed his teeth and began to increase the strength of his handshake, but Vissarion seemed to not realise and kept smiling. Seeing this he relaxed his grip and brought his hand away. ¡°May I ask why you want to see the mansion?¡± ¡°Because I have heard it was beautiful. And to fish in the pond, I have always wanted to fish pond koi, but no one lets me.¡± Rossi looked at him intently while he spoke and nodded his head. ¡°You are not lying. I will allow it then. Have a nice evening, mister Pulos. Namba come with me, I have to give you instructions. Once they left Vissarion stopped smiling and shaked his hand. ¡°What a massive killing intent that he has there. We didn''t know he was aware of the spiritual world. I have to thank Akai for his lessons on faking my spiritual presence, he might have discovered us otherwise.¡± ¡°If that is the case how did he not see that we weren''t undead?¡± ¡°If your disguises can fool wards they can fool him Ryuunosuke. He is not a Senjutsu user after all. Shut up now, she is returning.¡± Namba came back to the room and bowed. ¡°Master Pulos, please follow me.¡± ¡°I would never miss a chance to see you walk. The rear view is nice.¡± This time her smile didn''t falter and she just lead them through more stairs until they reached a door. ¡°It is beyond here.¡± She opened it and a view unfolded before their eyes. The room was vast, bigger that it could be. It held a bamboo forest in it and through it coursed a river. In the middle of it a traditional Japanese manor sat. ¡°A pocket dimension. As expected then. To the pond!¡± ¡°You were serious?!¡± Namba shouted before noticing her mistake. ¡°My apologies master Poulos.¡± ¡°No problem. But I will choose your outfit during our date.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± She said with a pained smile. They went to the side of the building before Vissarion produce a fishing rod from the breast of his suit. He was interrupted by the ground shaking. Namba turned around and shouted. ¡°What was that?!¡± ¡°Namba.¡± Said Vissarion calmly. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I am a fuchsia penguin that likes to dance salsa.¡± At these words Namba¡¯s eyes clouded and she collapsed. Akihiko grabbed her body and hid it behind some rocks. ¡°That was a weird trigger phrase for the curse, Gaius.¡± Gaius smiled at him. ¡°Yes, and that''s why no one said it accidentally.¡± ¡°Did you manage to curse Rossi?¡± ¡°Yes. He didn''t doubt the handshake of a man capable of withstanding his grip. That''d make me a strong ki user and at my age I couldn''t possibly be able to do that without him noticing.¡± He said the last phrase sarcastically. ¡°Good. Let us meet our guide. Be careful Ryuunosuke.¡± ¡°Got it.¡± 23. Retrieval. Retrieval. In the back of the mansion a woman in a maid outfit waited. Looking to her right he saw Gaius and the others come and questioned their presence. ¡°May I know who you are and why you are here? This is masters private residence, normal people aren''t allowed.¡± Akihiko halted before the maid and put himself between her and Gaius. Ryuunosuke stayed behind Gaius, in guard. ¡°My lady, I am but a humble necromancer that has been allowed to visit this abode.¡± Began Gaius. ¡°I find my guide displaced and would be honoured if you would substitute her.¡± The maid bowed to him and spoke without raising her head. ¡°Then you must be a man of great importance. May I ask if you know what the tremor was?¡± ¡°Indeed beautiful. It was just a rat hunt.¡± The maid rose her head and stopped smiling before grunting. ¡°Finally you are here, I was sick of having to play this role. Come, we have no time to waste. Who is the ward breaker?¡± Akihiko lowered his hood and waved. ¡°That''d be me.¡± ¡°Then come with me, the others should follow behind.¡± Gaius and Ryuunosuke nodded in acceptance and entered the house. While they were walking the corridor they found other servants, but the maid managed to explain their presence as the truth, visitants who had lost their guide. As they were passing through a room Gaius halted. ¡°Wait. What is this place?¡± ¡°The master''s bedroom.¡± ¡°I can feel a presence, a youkai.¡± He concentrated. ¡°A nekomata if I am right.¡± ¡°Bad news.¡± Commented Akihiko while frowning. ¡°The nekomatas are the youkais preeminent clan, they''re the leaders. Either the Blues kidnapped one or they have an alliance. Neither of those are good.¡± At those words the maid casted a spell as silently as possible. ¡°That should mask us for a while. How do we deal with this?¡± ¡°Are there wards Akihiko?¡± ¡°Yes. Good ones to that, these are rigged to set an alarm off if they are broken or something passes through them.¡± ¡°What kind of wards are they? Maybe I can get them to ignore us.¡± Suggested Ryuunosuke. Akihiko neared the door. ¡°That won''t work, there are two. One stops people without authorisation from entering. The second records supernatural signatures of those who cross the door.¡± ¡°I can change my signature to that of my surroundings so I can go through the second one. If Ryuunosuke changes the first to let me pass I can go through.¡± Proposed Gaius. ¡°But can you get the cat through with you later?¡± Inquired the maid. They turned to Akihiko. ¡°Hmm. I think the ward goes both ways, but you only need one authorisation for both.¡± ¡°That is a security liability.¡± The maid was worried since the lack of security could mean something worse waiting inside. ¡°It may have been to cut costs. Wards this detailed aren''t cheap.¡± Explained Akihiko. ¡°Then are we in agreement?¡± Asked Gaius. Once he got their consent he signaled Ryuunosuke. ¡°Ward allow Gaius and the nekomata within the room through you.¡± Gaius then opened the door and looked to Akihiko to see if there was any change in the wards. Akihiko shaked his head so he breathed in and went through the doorway. The room was lavishly decorated while still being minimalist. There were few furnitures and adornments but those were of high quality. The room was divided into two by a curtain. In the part they was visible a bed, a desk, and a few bookshelves could be seen.Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon. Gaius looked around the room but didn''t find anything. He headed to the bed before he turned around and charged through the curtain. In there he found a dresser and a cat. He quickly grabbed it but it began to squirm in his grasp. ¡°Let me go! Why are you keeping me here? I have no value!¡± Gaius didn''t relax his grip and whispered in its ear. ¡°Let me guess, you were kidnapped and think I am one of them.¡± ¡°Aren''t you?¡± The cat perked up when it thought it might get out. ¡°Yes I am.¡± The nekomata hung its head low when its goes where dashed. ¡°Please let me go. I am just a branch family member I have no political value.¡± ¡°Then you are here not of your own will?¡± ¡°Obviously.¡± Gaius let it go and stood up. ¡°Then I actually am not one of them, let''s get you out of here.¡± The cat was stunned but followed Gaius out of the room. ¡°Then why did you lie?¡± ¡°I needed to make sure you weren''t an enemy. Why were you there?¡± ¡°No idea. I think he just wanted a nekomata familiar since he bought me recently.¡± They were already out of the room and Ryuunosuke asked a question. ¡°Bought?¡± ¡°I was caught when I sneaked out to play and sold in the black market. Are we getting out now?¡± ¡°No.¡± Answered the maid. ¡°We have a mission to complete. We need to get to the work office and retrieve something.¡± ¡°That sucks. Sigh.¡± They kept going on until they reached a door. ¡°The safe is in here. Can you break this wards without alerting someone?¡± ¡°No. They are even better than those in the bedroom.¡± While Akihiko Gaius and the maid were discussing a plan Ryuunosuke examined the walls. ¡°Are these warded?¡± Akihiko began to speak before stopping and thinking again. ¡°Very lightly. It is just a ward that keeps a sound caged in. If it is broken through any means an alarm will sound, so we can''t break through the wall to get in there.¡± Gaius widened his eyes before smiling. ¡°Let me try something. Reiko!¡± The familiar appeared and posed in Gaius¡¯ shoulder. ¡°Can you get through this wall?¡± Reiko trilled and dived to the wall, managing to go through it. ¡°Good. I can enter.¡± The maid nodded. ¡°Then it is easy. Just rip the safe and bring it with you here.¡± ¡°Won''t they be alarmed?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°Yes, but I can get it out fast and you guys can remain in here with your cover unbroken.¡± ¡°I see. So there-¡± Before Akihiko could continue sounds of battle began to sound. ¡°Shit, the distractions are already here we must hasten our pace.¡± ¡°But the escape experts isn''t-¡±started Gaius but Akihiko interrupted him. ¡°It''s her. There were never five, that was false information in case we were captured.¡± ¡°Indeed. Once you get the safe out I will bring it to the outside. I can teleport outside this space and to the guys in the street. You guys will remain here, I recommend battling the distractions to make them believe your cover.¡± The infiltrators nodded before the nekomata shouted. ¡°What about me?! Can you teleport me too?¡± The maid was left speechless before shaking her head. ¡°Don''t worry, we will get you out. I can just offer to buy you.¡± Said Gaius. ¡°I''m not property.¡± ¡°For them you are.¡± Akihiko kneeled to pet the nekomata. ¡°Alright, I get it. Don''t patronise me.¡± The plan made Gaius went through the wall. Soon after that a loud siren sounded and he broke through the wall. ¡°Here! Get out now!¡± The maid took the four cubic metres big safe and dissapeared. ¡°We must run now.¡± Said Akihiko putting his hood on and signalling Ryuunosuke to do the same. The others nodded and run to the pond but on the way they found three men carrying several bags with them. Gaius entered his act. ¡°Gentlemen. I see you are carrying the goods to a safe place, well done.¡± The man in the front nodded. ¡°Yes we are doing that.¡± Vissarion tilted his head in confusion. ¡°But if you were you wouldn''t say something like that. You would question my presence here, which means¡­¡± He smiled before jumping back and shouting. ¡°Akihiko, Ryuunosuke! Get them!¡± The undead sprang to action trying to stop the thieves. One took out a sword and went to melee, the other began to conjure a big spell. ¡°Shit they''re onto us. Futaba! Get the goods out of here! We will deal with them.¡± One of the thieves took the goods and began to run while the others engaged. ¡°Are you sure you can deal with us.¡± Said Vissarion cockily. The fight seemed equal but in fact Vissarion undead were holding back. They pretended to fight for a while longer but the others didn''t realise. This state of affairs continued until guards were attracted by the commotion. Gaius whispered. ¡°Reiko, get them out.¡± At those orders the blue bird appeared and blocked both the guards and undead with his freezing breath, blocking the hallways with walls of ice. By the time Vissarion broke through it the intruders had disappeared. The guards divided, some going after the thieves and the others staying with Vissarion. ¡°Who are you?!¡± ¡°Vissarion Pulos. A guest, I misplaced my guide and decided to wander on my own when I encountered those scoundrels.¡± ¡°Well then. You will come with us.¡± The guards led Vissarion outside the pocket dimension and to the back of the building, where they encountered Rossi and a few important guests. ¡°Clark! What is going on?¡± ¡°Mister Pulos. I see you are here, Namba was worried when she didn''t find you.¡± Vissarion turned to the right and saw Namba staring at him. ¡°Hey miss bouncy breasts. I see you go out of the mansion. But that didn''t answer my question Rossi.¡± His face turned serious. ¡°What is going on?¡± ¡°The Waning Moon attacked. We are evacuating the priority guests. But the real question is, where were you?¡± Rossi came close to Vissarion trying to intimidate him, before one of the guards that had brought Vissarion whispered in his ear. ¡°I see. I thank you for trying to stop those thieves. But why did you leave Namba?¡± In answer Vissarion raised the nekomata. ¡°This guy. When I performed a divination to find firm buttocks I detected this little guy. Since I hadn''t seen a nekomata before I decided to go see it. Can I buy it?¡± When Rossi saw the cat his eyes widened in fury. ¡°Who is the idiot that risked the youkai¡¯s enmity by capturing a nekomata?¡± ¡°Me thinks it was the master of the mansion, since I found it in his bedroom.¡± Answered Vissarion. ¡°Then Fudo needs to answer some questions. Bring it with you, I want nothing with it.¡± ¡°Good, I''m naming you Tiddles.¡± ¡°Unhand me barbarian! I am not a product for you to buy!¡± ¡°Yes you are.¡± Once he was done saying this Vissarion knocked the cat out. ¡°How are we leaving?¡± Rossi just smiled. The next second a light surrounded Vissarion and his undead and he found himself in the parking lot again. Gaius sighed. ¡°All of that was nerve wracking. Come on, let''s go back home.¡± The three got back on the limousine and headed to the Waning Moon. 24. Assault. Assault. Before Gaius infiltrated his disciples prepared for the mission. Kishi meditated. Kotone was excited, this was her first important mission. And Terumi went to a shrine. At 21:30 in the evening Kotone, alongside Terumi and Kishi, went to the place she had been indicated by the coordinators. It was a place in the old town, in one of the few high rise buildings in it. Once they reached it they saw a few thousand people entering the building. ¡°I-is this it?¡± Asked Terumi. ¡°¡±I don''t think so. A little bit too easy if it was so. Keep your eyes open.¡± Answered Kishi while examining the surroundings. ¡°Got it.¡± They went into the building. The change in scenery was drastic, instead of a normal lobby an auditorium with the capacity to house ten thousand people unfolded. The auditorium was shaped like a cinema, with seats raising the further from the podium they were. And like a cinema it had a massive screen at the bottom of the room. But just as fantastical were those within. There were a lot of humans but several Elemental Spirits could be seen, as well as a few white skinned women that froze their surroundings. Gaius¡¯ disciples searched for some seats in the upper part of the auditorium. When they seated Terumi noticed the women. ¡°I didn''t know there were Yuki-onnas in the association.¡± Commented Terumi while staring around. ¡°Not only Yuki-onnas.¡± Said Kotone. She then began to signal different creatures. ¡°Those are oni, tengu and kappas.¡± They were burly red men and women with horns and hammers, winged beings with long noses, and turtle like humanoids, respectively. ¡°But everyone knows those. We don''t have many more youkai, since there is an independent youkai faction. The beings made of different elements over there are Elemental Spirits, most are familiars but some are sentient ones that joined the association. Like that salamander over there!¡± The being she pointed at looked like a massive salamander, except orange of colour with sparks flowing within its breath. ¡°On the right are various translucent beings, do you see them? There are wolves, birds, bears and humanoids.¡± ¡°Yeah I see them, what are they?¡± ¡°They are the onmyoji¡¯s shikigami. The ether construct ones not the familiar ones. Their shape and abilities differ based on what the maker wants them to do. The translucent ones are weak. Those that look real are the strong ones. Shikigamis can go from Rank 0 to 9, in the case of Abe-no-Seimei.¡± ¡°Which one is the strongest?¡± Asked Kishi. ¡°Let me activate my Senjutsu.¡± Kotone winced under the wave of emotions that hit her. While her training in the Mouth of Yomo had prepared her for it the real deal was still unexpected. ¡°Are you alright?¡± Asked Terumi, worried for his friend. ¡°Yes. Don''t worry.¡± Kotone smiled mischievously. ¡°But still Terumi~ you have grown, to show concern for this big sister~. How have you progressed from the silent kid that didn''t speak when Master took us out to eat.¡± ¡°Well, we have hanged out enough to be friends right?¡± Terumi couldn''t help but be nervous. He didn''t know what he''d do if they said they weren''t friends. ¡°Obviously.¡± Stated Kishi like it was nothing. ¡°Of course!¡± Kotone hugged Terumi and tried to pet his head, but he was too tall for her. ¡°Aww.¡± She pouted when she noticed that. Terumi smiled and bowed his head. Kotone perked up and began to pet him furiously. ¡°You''re the best Terumi. Most people are weirded by my teasing.¡± ¡°I have been wanting to ask, is that due to your kitsune nature?¡± Asked Kishi. ¡°Yep. I simply get the urge to tease and flirt. We kitsune are seductive creatures.¡± She slurred the last words and pushed up her breasts. Terumi blushed and averted his sight. Kishi on the other hand frowned. ¡°Are you using some kitsune technique on us?¡± ¡°No, I don''t have kitsune techniques. The attraction you feel is because I''m beautiful, and these babies.¡± She fondled her breasts while saying babies. ¡°Are the perfect size and shape.¡± ¡°I see.¡± ¡°No reaction Kishi? I feel offended. Look closely.¡± Saying this she struck her chest up and traced a line through her lips. Kishi stared for a moment before turning away. ¡°Indeed I have no reaction.¡± Kotone smiled satisfied. ¡°So you are heterosexual, I was having doubts since you never stare at women.¡± ¡°Anyway.¡± Kishi spat the words with strength. ¡°Can you answer my question.¡± ¡°Sure. The strongest one is¡­ No fucking way.¡± Kotone put her hand before her mouth in surprise. ¡°W-what is it?¡± Questioned Terumi.Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ¡°A Shiki-Ouji.¡± ¡°A Shiki-Ouji?! Those are the most advanced of shikigami! Who is it?!¡± ¡°That elderly man to the right of the Phoenix Branch Head.¡± ¡°Is that Okumura Hiroja?¡± ¡°The Department ahead of the Department of Onmyodou? That makes sense.¡± ¡°What is so impressive about a Shiki-Ouji?¡± ¡°The answer to that Terumi is simple. Making a Shiki-Ouji requires onmyodou skills of at least Rank 3. But a Shiki-Ouji will kill an unworthy master. It is recommended to at least be Rank 6 to make one, and just controlling one makes you a Rank 6. If Hiroja has managed to make one he is the eighth Rank 6 of the association. The others are the Elders and the Branch Heads, as well as the Librarian.¡± ¡°Wow. Wait who is the Librarian?¡± ¡°He is what it says, the man who guards the associations library. Concretely the Forbidden Sections.¡± Terumi was about to answer another question but the screen lit up. The Head appeared in it. ¡°Welcome and thank you for coming everyone. The mission will commence as planned. Those charger with ward breaking go to the right. Combatants to the left. Capture specialists to the front. Goods retrieval teams to the back.¡± He waited until everyone had moved. Kotone, Terumi and Kishi had joined with an transporter and a ward breaker for goods retrieval. Once they were all organised Akai spoke again. ¡°I will give a rough review of the operation. For specifics go to your assigned coordinator. Once we arrive there the ward breakers will team up with the combatants to break through their defences. Once we are in capturers will restrain as many of the Blues and guest as possible with help of a third the combatants headed by Ma Jian. Another third of the combatants will encircle the building and intercept any escapees, they will be headed by Ma Jiang. The rest will go aid the good retrieval teams, they will be headed by Okumura Hiroja. Their mission is self explanatory. I want you to give priority to slaves, that thing has no right to exist. As an addendum I want to notify you that Clark Rossi will be within the premises. If you encounter him tell the three leaders and run. You can''t win. Finally I want you all to run if possible. Others can do your job but your life is invaluable. Good luck.¡± The screen went black and the hall was filled with murmurs. ¡°How are we getting there then?¡± ¡°Simple, Terumi. We teleport.¡± ¡°Teleport?!¡± ¡°Don''t worry. It is safe, this big sister guarantees it!¡± As Kotone finished speaking a bright light filled the conference room. When it died down no one was left on it. In front of the auction house about a thousand beings appeared. Ma Jiang stepped forward and began to talk with a shadowy figure that was already there. ¡°Is everything prepared?¡± ¡°Invisibility, notice me not, mundane repelling and spatial separation wards have been established. Unless Rank 7s battle the mundanes will notice nothing.¡± ¡°Good. Dismissed.¡± ¡°Yes ma''am.¡± The figure went back to his position maintaining the wards. Ma Jian patted his sister¡¯s shoulder and lead the close combat fighters ahead. Ma Jiang smiled and ordered her subordinates. ¡°Prepare to destroy the first barrier! Begin Grand Ritual God¡¯s Roar!¡± At those words thirty mages in a magic circle began to cast a spell. Meanwhile Ma Jian had reached the building and engaged the guards on the outside. The battle quickly turned on his favour since the danger of the Blue Leaders rested solely on the higher ups, with the grunts being rabble. However he was stopped from going further by a barrier that enveloped the building. ¡°Jiang we need to get in now!¡± He shouted across the battlefield. Jiang nodded and gave the magicians the go ahead. Once they completed the spell the sky lit up and a giant ball of electricity and plasma appeared. It became a massive lightning strike that fell to the building, shattering the barrier and making it tremble. It was now that Gaius knocked out Namba. With the first obstacle broken the ward breakers charged in and began undoing the wards. They were interrupted by reinforcements from the Blues but the combatants quickly engaged them. Back with Kotone¡¯s team Terumi was growing nervous. ¡°Don''t worry Terumi. You are strong, that I guarantee.¡± Kishi assuaged his fears. Terumi smiled at him with appreciation. It was then that the wards were broken and they were ordered to go to the building. The ward breaker took the lead. ¡°Follow me! Our objective is in the basement.¡± They run into the building and crossed the lobby into the syairs, however there were no stairs going upwards. ¡°What is going on?¡± Asked the transporter. ¡°The stairs down are further in, we must first go up.¡± They went up the stairs and found themselves in the hall Gaius had been dropped in. There were many battles going on at the same time, the place chaotic and constantly breaking. In the middle of it Rossi and Jian were fighting. ¡°I see you have learned new tricks. It was finally time you updated your repertoire you mongrel!¡± Shouted Rossi. Jiang answer was to punch him, this act resulted in an explosion that threw him to the auction hall. ¡°I have a good teacher.¡± Jian quipped, trying to look cool, before pursuing him. As Kotone¡¯s team went deeper they began to see other teams carrying chained people out, these were the slaves. They reached the warehouses and Okumura ordered them to loot a certain area. The door to one of the warehouses broke and Kotone, Terumi and Kishi engaged the guards while the ward breakers and transporter followed. The ward breaker breaking the security on the products and the transporter getting them on his mobile pocket dimension. Kotone had seven enemies. Two ki users and five mages. She opened by throwing lust and pleasure curses to the mages, incapacitating them. She tried the same with the kiusers but they managed to dodge them. Seeing this she casted an anti-magic barrier over herself and attacked the men. She started by dodging the first ones punch and grabbing his arm, before dislocating it with her Touki and transforming it into electricity to shock him. His muscles tensed up and he lost his consciousness. The second managed to punch her in the back but she rolled forwards to weaken the punch. She then turned and thrower a lust ball to his face. She took advantage of his distraction to tackle him to the floor. Mounting him she was about to punch him in the face when she jumped backwards to dodge a plasma lance from the first mage to recover. Registering the mages as the greatest danger she run to them and took out the four that hadn''t fought off her curse. The remaining mage enhanced his speed, defence and strength and began to fight in melee. Kotone kicked him in the leg but he pivoted into her inner space and elbowed her in the chin. The hit disoriented Kotone which the mage used to his advantage by taking a page out of her book and electrocuting her. She began to convulse but something weird happened. Fox ears and two tails appeared in her head and back and she burned with a white flame that caused the mage to relax his grip. Noticing his mistake he tried to grab her again but when he looked at her eyes soothing changed on him and he saw a pair of jaws bisect him. It was an illusion but the shock made him faint. Kotone had awakened her kitsune heritage. However she was confused by the change and didn''t notice the remaining ki user charge at her. She saw him too late to get out of his way however she didn''t need to. Kishi who had finished his fight against three others had come to her help. She smiled at him as he help her stand and was about to thank him when they heard a loud roar. During this short period Terumi had managed to fight well enough, but against three enemies of close skill if not strength he was losing ground. One of his opponents managed to break through his Touki and break one of his ribs. It was then that he felt something bubble up within him and he changed. He grew an additional meter and his muscles bulged. His power had increased massively. He roared and punched his enemies throwing them away. However something dark had awakened within him, he approached one of his downed enemies and bit into his arm. He ripped a piece of flesh and was about to swallow it when he heard a voice. ¡°Terumi stop! This isn''t you!¡± Shouted Kishi while getting the man away from him. Terumi who had temporarily lost himself into his hunger managed to regain control and spit the flesh. ¡°What have I just done?¡± He shrieked and fell to the ground, sitting and sobbing. Kotone embraced him and simply held him for a while. Kishi protected them. They stayed like that until the transporter came to them. ¡°Sorry to interrupt but we are done. We must get out now!¡± Kotone nodded and dragged Terumi upwards. ¡°Terumi, you can freak out later, but now we must run. Do you understand?¡± Terumi didn''t say anything but he nodded feebly and allowed himself to be dragged outside. The team managed to run outside without problem. Once they were safe they were pulled to a vehicle and led back to their homes. 25. Messenger. Messenger. The morning after the operation was a slow one for Gaius. After he had spent some time in an alien world he was immediately pulled into something like that without being allowed to rest. He also had to deal with the stress of being in the Tunnels, which had disappeared when he came back, making his body relax. For these reasons Gaius slept in. And even when he woke he lazed around in his comfortable bed, not wanting to leave the warmth of his mattress. He may have not gotten up in the entire morning where it not for a call. The call was from Akai who informed him of a meeting that served the purpose of evaluating the operation, and he was to report. He reluctantly left his bed and had to eat a quick breakfast since he didn''t have too long. He headed to the Moon God Pavillion where the meeting was to take place. In the antechamber of the meeting room a few dozen people were waiting their turns to report. Gaius looked around in order to find his teammates when a loud shout sounded. ¡°You?!¡± Gaius turned to the man that had shouted and recognized him as one of the team he had fought against the other day. ¡°Oh, it''s you. I hope you could get away safely.¡± ¡°Not thanks to you!¡± Gaius raised an eyebrow and lifted his right arm. Reiko teleported in and posted on his arm. The man was shocked but he understood what he meant. ¡°Why did you fight us then?¡± ¡°You had a way to escape, we didn''t. We had to get creative since our escape relief on convincing the Blues we were on their side.¡± ¡°You didn''t? That sounds wrong.¡± Gaius was about to answer when he stopped and thought about it before nodding. ¡°At the moment I didn''t think of that, but now? I want answers.¡± They exchanged notes on how their missions went and then parted amicably. Gaius eventually found Akihiko and Ryuunosuke and they waited together. Once they were called in they confronted the Head and the Elders and reported their activities. Akai asked for clarification on a few issues. ¡°First things first. What kind of curse did you put in Rossi?¡± ¡°A berserk ki curse. It will infect the spiritual component of ki, or Touki in this case, and make it go haywire, it will be difficult to control and can even injure the cursed. This will reduce his Rank by a stage at least since he is Rank 6. Though depending on his ki control it may improve or worsen the effect.¡± Akai grinned ferociously. ¡°It is never bad to have a card over those guys. Well done. Second, are you sure the guide said she couldn''t carry even the cat with you?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Akai¡¯s face fell and he grumbled under his breath. ¡°That settles it, she betrayed us.¡± ¡°What?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke, confused. However Akihiko¡¯s shoulders sagged down and Gaius clenched his hands. ¡°Does that mean she hasn''t returned? What about the artifacts?¡± ¡°Thankfully while she tried to run with them our encirclement was good enough that she couldn''t do it. We have them, but she hasn''t woken up yet.¡± ¡°Then I guess she was our ticket out?¡± While Akihiko had phrased it like a question it was more of an statement. ¡°In several rounds but yes. She can teleport people, she only has a mass limit.¡± ¡°That explains it.¡± With the testimonies settled they had no more business in the meeting so they excused themselves and left. They were walking down the street to the entrance of the grounds when Kotone came running at them. ¡°Master!¡± She shouted before stopping to catch her breath. ¡°Terumi, problem! Need to, come.¡± ¡°Where?¡± ¡°His home.¡± Gaius nodded and turned to Akihiko. ¡°Can you drive me?¡±Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit. ¡°Yes.¡± The four of them run to Akihiko¡¯s car without saying a word but once they got going they questioned Kotone on what was happening. ¡°In the raid yesterday both Terumi and I showed our heritage. He transformed into a super strong giant.¡± She paused to think how to say the rest. ¡°But he turned, feral? Like an evil side or something. He injured his opponents heavily and then¡­¡± She couldn''t bring herself to say the rest. ¡°I need to know Kotone.¡± Said Gaius gently. ¡°He took a bite of the arm of one of them.¡± The car swerved a little when Akihiko lost control due to surprise. Gaius fell silent and began to think. The first to speak was Ryuunosuke. ¡°Terumi? The most timid man I''ve met.¡± While he didn''t voice his question it was obvious. ¡°I don''t know! Even if he is part giant he should only get cannibalistic impulses. Terumi would be able to control those and he would have already had them. Halfs don''t get a sudden awakening to their heritage that changes our minds, we always have our non-human nature influence us.¡± The car fell into silence while they tried to digest the information. ¡°If that is the case how did you get kitsune abilities?¡± Questioned Akihiko. ¡°I just got powers due to my training and being in a stressful situation. My mind is the same.¡± ¡°Then what happened to Terumi?¡± Ryuunosuke couldn''t understand. ¡°II don''t know. It''s why I got Master, since he knows a lot.¡± ¡°You put too much faith in me. I''ve been aware of the supernatural for less than you.¡± ¡°But you lived in the age of myths.¡± ¡°That is true. What made you come now?¡± ¡°His mother called me. I think she tried to contact you earlier. Terumi has locked himself in his room and isn''t answering her. The one time he did it was to tell her to leave a monster like him alone.¡± ¡°That''s good.¡± Said Akihiko, relieved. ¡°If he feels shame he hasn''t changed too much.¡± Kotone and Ryuunosuke looked at each other and nodded, relieved. They hadn''t thought of that before and it reassured them. Gaius¡¯ eyes lit and then he narrowed them. ¡°I see a possibility.¡± ¡°What?¡± Asked Akihiko. ¡°He is a full blooded supernatural creature that hadn''t matured until yesterday. That would explain his change.¡± ¡°But that is impossible! His mother is human and the test showed she was his mother.¡± Countered Kotone. ¡°Unless the father can''t have children normally and the children he does have are born of a new supernatural race.¡± ¡°That happens?¡± ¡°It does Ryuunosuke. I understand what you are talking about Gaius. Nephilim?¡± ¡°Nephilim.¡± ¡°What are Nephilim?¡± ¡°What do you know about angels Kotone?¡± ¡°They serve God.¡± ¡°The basics then. What you need to know is that angels are spiritual, asexual and do not marry or reproduce. The weakest angel is also more powerful than some gods.¡± ¡°Then they can''t have children.¡± Commented Ryuunosuke puzzled at the contradiction. ¡°Normally they don''t. I have heard of some circumstances in which a mortal develops angelic traits. But they aren''t true children of angels, so to speak. There is a way though. If an angel has sex, something unnatural as to them as to bacteria, with a mortal a child may be born. There are two problems. First the only angels willing to go to such depraved lengths are fallen angels, since this is an act that goes against what angels are. It''s about the same as pedophilia for humans in terms of deviousness. Another reason why only fallen do it is due to the second reason. The children of such a union are unnatural. They are aberrations. They are humans biologically and supernaturally, however that possess great physical and magical might, sharing the might of their progenitors. They are also giant and handsome or beautiful. There is a grave problem however. Something that makes birthing them a sin unless you didn''t know about it.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Asked Kotone fearing for her friend, and unwilling to believe that Terumi was so terrible. ¡°They have an immense craving for human flesh.¡± Responded Akihiko. ¡°Actually that is not all. If you said that humans naturally tend to good, but can still be evil, by comparison Nephilim tend to evil, but can still be good. The crimes that humans consider grave are fun to them. Crimes against humanity will bring them enjoyment. It takes immense dedication and a solid moral compass for a Nephilim to not be a complete monster.¡± ¡°How difficult is it?¡± Whispered Ryuunosuke ¡°God, in alliance with other mythologies, flooded the Ancient Middle East in order to kill them, and the depravation they brought. They were the cause of the Great Flood. Since then not many have been born, but of the three hundred I''ve heard of only ninety were like normal people, and seven good people. The rest were pretty much evil. Nephilim have troubles resisting their heritage, in part because their parents whisper in their ears to follow their example. Depending on how evil is the fallen the Nephilim might end up becoming a monster that makes genocidal masterminds to look like Mother Theresa.¡± These news made a somber mood fall upon the car, with all occupants fearing that the nice Terumi they knew might disappear leaving a monster behind. This mood lasted the rest of the travel until they reached Terumi¡¯s street. Akihiko parked at the end of it and they began walking to the house they were seeking. When they were near Terumi¡¯s home they saw a man leave it. They tensed, prepared to spring into action, but the man just walked to them without signs of hostility. As he walked past Gaius he spoke. ¡°Keep the good work. The Lord is happy with you.¡± Gaius was startled and turned his Senjutsu on, but he couldn''t feel him. It was as if nothing was there. Kotone did the same and they stared as the man walked to the end of the street and vanished. At that point the Senjutsu uses doubled in pain as they felt as if their heads split open and their eyes bleed. When he saw red drops in the ground Gaius realised that it was not an if, his eyes and nose were bleeding, and judging by the taste on his mouth so was it. ¡°Are you two alright?!¡± ¡°Shit your ears are bleeding!¡± Kotone looked and Gaius and trembled. ¡°W-what w-wa-as th-that?¡± Her voice trembled from fear and shock. ¡°No idea. But it was the most powerful being I''ve ever encountered.¡± ¡°Wait! Greater than the Head?¡± Asked Akihiko. ¡°There is no comparison. He is candle before the Sun.¡± ¡°Then what are we to him? Why did he attack you?¡± Asked Ryuunosuke. ¡°Dirt that he walks upon. If he wanted to harm us we would already be dead. We are injured because we nearly saw his true form. His current shape is only to blend among us, his true essence could kill us.¡± Akihiko¡¯s mouth dried. ¡°That is ridiculous. Was he a god?¡± ¡°I don''t think so. He felt humble, as if he was a human. He is of great power, above some gods, but he''d probably take offence at being called one.¡± Answered Kotone. ¡°Wait. That sounds a hell of a lot like those guys.¡± ¡°Yes Akihiko. I think that was an angel. Aren''t we lucky?¡± Ryuunosuke panicked. ¡°Then isn''t Terumi in trouble?!¡± Gaius finished cleaning his blood and shaked his head. ¡°I don''t think so. Come on let''s go in.¡± They headed to the house, the uninjured members helping Gaius and Kotone move, and ringed the bell. A middle aged woman of great beauty despite her age welcomed them in. ¡°Kotone, Master Gaius! What has happened to you?!¡± ¡°We looked into something beyond us. Never mind that what was that man doing here?¡± Was Gaius¡¯ response. Terumi¡¯s mom, Yukiko, smiled brightly and led them to the living room. In a sofa sat Terumi, still giant but with a peaceful look on his face. ¡°Hey guys. Sorry to worry you, I''m fine now. That man helped me see that.¡± ¡°Angel bit man.¡± Said Kotone. Terumi nodded and put his hand on his head sheepishly. ¡°That makes sense. So, Master, what can you tell me about Nephilim?¡± 26. Penitents Aid. Solution. Gaius reclined in the sofa to think how to better explain what a Nephilim was. While he was thinking Yukiko brought some tea and served them all. ¡°¡±¡±¡±¡±Thank you.¡±¡±¡±¡±¡± Gaius sipped some tea before starting. ¡°Do you already know what a Nephilim is?¡± ¡°Son of a human and fallen angel. He is strong both physically and magically and tends towards evil. Cannibal.¡± ¡°Technically they''re not cannibals since they aren''t human to start with. Those are the basics indeed, but they are all I know about their specific nature. I don''t have much more to say. Nephilim are rare and their abilities aren''t unified, they depend on their progenitors. But I have a test that can determine it. Give me your hand.¡± Terumi brought his hash forward. Gaius grabbed it and flowed his Touki through it. He rubbed his nose while humming before he summoned Reiko and made him bring Gaius some tools. Once he had them he prickled Terumi¡¯s hand with a pin and collected the blood that flowed in a flask. ¡°I will dissolve your blood in a water-dichromate-spirit residue dissolution. I will then stimulate it both with Touki, magic and both at the same time and observe the result. Through the colour taken and the effects observed we can guess what kind of abilities you will develop. Then I will introduce various materials to see if they cause any reaction. Finally we will move to elements.¡± He proceeded with the tests, Touki and magic alone did nothing but together they showed a reaction. The dissolution turned turbid and of a greenish blue colour. Small arcs of electricity danced through the liquid and a small cloud appeared above the flask. He then introduced a silver coin in the mixture but both the liquid and coin remained unchanged. He did the same test with gold, iron, steel, aluminium, and many more metals. None of them showed any reaction. The next materials were organic. Flesh, plants and fungi were slightly scorched. Gaius made Terumi introduce the cut in the flask and it regenerated slightly. He tried many other inorganic materials but none showed a reaction. ¡°Your powers are related to storms. Lightning, water and wind will appear in your repertoire. Maybe even climate manipulating if you grow strong enough. To activate them you will require both magical energy and Touki. Good news is you have no material weakness, bad news is you have no amplifying materials. At least no easily available ones, you may have affinity for rarer ones. You also show increased resistance towards poison and illnesses.¡± He continued the tests, this time placing the flask on a magic circle he hadalready prepared on a skin. ¡°This is a basic portal circle. I will connect it to several dimensions and places and see if special circumstances affect your abilities.¡± The circle shined in various colours but mostly didn''t show reaction. However four times the flask flared and once it dimmed until it turned transparent. Gaius nodded once he tried everything he knew of, and put his tools away. ¡°Diagnosis complete. In conclusion I can say. Proximity or contact with lightning, water, or both will increase your power. Ingestion of oranges will also power you up, bizarre. Why oranges? Leaving weirdness behind proximity or contact to holy or blessed things also power you up while cursed or demonic properties are ignored completely. I will test the latter further. Your weakness is hospitality. Beyond the usual problems with breaking hospitality you can''t be invited somewhere in good faith and act against your host if you accept. Judging by the extreme reaction you will faint on the spot if you try.¡± Terumi was actually happy with the last restriction, since it kept him from harming people and didn''t seem to hamper him too much. Akihiko saw his relief and explained to him the actual gravity of the weakness. ¡°Don''t be so happy. If you are fooled into accepting hospitality, as long as they dont break it first, you will be unable to act even if they are torturing children. It is not a common situation, but you will be helpless if it happens.¡± Terumi gulped and nodded. ¡°Got it.¡± Gaius had started the last test. From a sealed box he retrieved a lock of hair and submerged the tips on the liquid. They burned. Gaius frowned at this. He then tried to curse the flask but it didn''t do anything. ¡°Ryuunosuke. Your sword.¡± Ryuunosuke passed his tsurugi to Gaius. Gaius took some of the dissolution with a Pasteur pipette and dripped it on the blade. ¡°Pyram, Glacies, any reaction?¡± Childish voices sounded in his mind. ¡°Some of the corruption has been purified into pure spirit, father.¡± Commented Glacies. ¡°But we aren''t harmed at all! Don''t worry dad.¡± ¡°Alright Pyram. Miss Date, do you have anything that belonged to Terumi¡¯s father?¡± ¡°I have some of his blood.¡± Everyone stared at Yukiko. ¡°What.¡± ¡°What kind of relationship did you have?¡± ¡°I took him in when he was injured and nursed him to health. I still have the bandages and clothes he used since he forbid me to throw them. Now that I know about magic I think he was worried about someone getting in.¡± Akihiko shaked his head and denied that hypothesis. ¡°Probably not, a fallen angel doesn''t fear humans. He probably feared someone detecting the blood and being discovered.¡± ¡°Will you get them please?¡± The mother nodded and went to get the rests while she was gone Kotone bothered Gaius to tell her what he had thought of, but he didn''t want to speculate. Once he had the bandages in hand Gaius repeated the process that he did on the sword. The bandages were singed and smoked a little. ¡°Intriguing.¡± ¡°What is intriguing?¡± ¡°Well. Terumi has major anti evil and purification properties. He harms demons and fallen angels and purifies corruption. He doesn''t actually harm those that aren''t evil but have corruption. He is incredibly well suited for dealing with possessions. And evil beings in general, particularly those of abrahamic origin. He is also immune to simple curses, but big ones affect him albeit at a lowered rate. This is really at odds with his nature. Does that answer you, Kotone?¡±The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. ¡°See Terumi, you are so good that even your blood tolerates no evil.¡± Commented Akihiko. Gaius¡¯ eyes widened as he had a crazy idea. ¡°That''s it! Great idea Akihiko!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Terumi! I need to corrupt you a little and draw blood again.¡± ¡°But won''t I-¡± ¡°Temporary! Don''t be a baby let me corrupt you.¡± Kotone snickered at the phrasing but everyone ignored her dirty mind. Gaius put his hand on Terumi¡¯s head and flowed corruption. The change was obvious and swift. Terumi¡¯s skin turned grey and his lengthened. He was about to try an bit Gaius when he finished drawing blood and purged him, making him return to normal. ¡°I feel sick.¡± ¡°Yep. Corruption is no fun.¡± ¡°How do you two deal with that all the time?¡± ¡°Well¡­¡± Gaius ignored the conversation and repeated the tests. This time the results were different. ¡°I was right!¡± He shouted. ¡°When you are good your characteristics are the former but if you are evil they change. You gain a weakness to silver and holy and blessed things. In exchange you are empowered by evil, demonic things and curses. You also naturally produce corruption.¡± ¡°So my powers change depending on my alignment?¡± ¡°Yes. If this is how all Nephilim work it is a very interesting race indeed. As if you oscillated between holy and demonic. Interesting.¡± He began smiling at the possibilities and entered his own world. ¡°That''s good kid. Now you have something to indicate you when you are deviating from the good path.¡± ¡°That is awesome. You are awesome.¡± ¡°Thanks Ryuunosuke.¡± ¡°But still, I am surprised that you know how to identify powers Master. Aren''t you a noob?¡± ¡°Hm? Oh yeah. But my main disciplines are summoning and dimension magic. Both of those require knowledge of how creatures work and how to identify traits, otherwise you may end up with dead summons or dying when you cross to an uninhabitable dimension or planet.¡± ¡°Can you identify me?¡± ¡°No need. Kitsune are well documented. No weaknesses or strengths and judging from your fight yesterday you have inherited foxfire and illusions. Both are Senjutsu-Touki techniques. Foxfire is spiritual in nature, it only harms those the user wishes to harm and deals damage to the spirit. This causes difficulty in controlling magic and ki or Touki, as well as exhaustion and depleting ki. Illusions should be obvious. This kind is mental and spiritual. You can fool the senses of others to make them see what isn''t there. If they believe these illusions they can actually cause damage to the spirit, to the same effect as foxfire but less reliable, and make the mind to shut down from stress. Making others faint basically.¡± ¡°Cool.¡± The conversation died while Terumi''s no Kotone thought of their abilities. Meanwhile the others talked about different kinds of summons and Gaius¡¯ advances in his grimoire. ¡°It is going mostly well. I have written about a hundredth of the rituals. It should only take me a bit over eight years to complete it.¡± At that point Terumi interrupted. ¡°About, umm, the elephant in the room?¡± ¡°You mean how to avoid turning evil? I leave this to Gaius, this is his specialty.¡± ¡°It is?¡± Asked Kotone. ¡°You didn''t know why he became a hermit monk?¡± ¡°He was a monk?! Master, tell us all the gossip!¡± ¡°Not much to say. I was extremely bloodthirsty so I retired from the world to achieve spiritual growth. It worked to the poi i got Senjutsu. Once I was finished, by reaching my objective, I came down from the mountains. More or less, I have spkipped some details.¡± Kotone nodded happily, but when he didn''t continued she cried in outrage. ¡°That''s all?! You know my secrets and you don''t tell me yours?¡± ¡°I know as much of your secrets as you do mine. The overview but not the specifics.¡± Kotone grumbled but she relented. ¡°Then can you help my son?¡± Asked Yukiko hopefully. ¡°No.¡± Gaius crushed her hope without mercy. ¡°We are too different. My methods wouldn''t work, and I doubt he either wants or can be a hermit. I can only give him advice¡­¡± Gaius froze at that moment, feeling a strange pressure in his chest. He looked at an envelope in the desk that he hadn''t noticed until then. There was an aura of holiness coming from it. ¡°What is that?¡± ¡°The angel gave it to me. Said the Vatican kept it for people like me, that wished to be good but had evil thoughts. For Nephilim and reforming criminals.¡± ¡°Probably some saint¡¯s relic. Can I open it?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Gaius took the envelope and took out a wooden crucifix necklace from it. ¡°What the hell.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Asked Akihiko. ¡°Is there something wrong with the crucifix?¡± ¡°Yes. It is my old crucifix from my hermit days. It should have been lost ages ago. How? And why?¡± Gaius felt overwhelmed. Why did this still exist? Why was it used to banish evil thoughts? Was he actually so faithful that one of his possessions could become a holy object. The questions run through his head, both hopeful and disbelieving. His struggle ended when Ryuunosuke noticed a letter on the envelope and read it out loud. ¡°Good day, Mister Date Terumi. We of the Treasury are glad to present you with the Hermit¡¯s Crucifix also known as the Enabler of Redemption, the Penitent¡¯s Aid, the Ender of Crime. This holy relic was created when one of the forefathers of our Church, the hermit monk Gaius Atiius Quadratus, managed to overcome his evil nature and reach the spiritual strength to never give in to them. Since then it has allowed countless people to leave evil behind and rise anew as righteous men and women. While the necklace can''t banish evil outright it can suppress it, to make evil impulses less effective. At the same time it will reinforce your spirit if you manage to surpass your vile base nature while burning hot when you give in to them. The pain will allow you to turn back from that boundary by making you acknowledge it. This is what happens normally. But we have heard, and are proud, that the honoured Gaius is your master. We believe that in his presence the effects of the necklace will improve. It should still do what it does but better. We hope it is effective in allowing you to remain in the path of good. Sincerely, Bishop Ram¨®n Mart¨ªnez. PS: We would greatly appreciate if you convinced Gaius Atiius Quadratus to visits us. It is not everyday that we can meet one of the men capable of infusing objects with their faith and good to make holy artefacts. We''d be honoured to have him. PSS: You may note a decrease of sexual drive. That is one of the effects that don''t matter to you but that monks have found useful. And it ends. Wow Gaius they truly respect you.¡± Ryuunosuke chuckled before turning to Gaius. ¡°Gaius?¡± Gaius was crying, but they weren''t tears of sadness but of joy. ¡°I had always doubted. Am I good? Am I a good christian? I guess I have my answer now. I gave birth a holy artefact. I¡­ It feels good to have your faith rewarded like this, honestly.¡± He kept basking in the joy of having his beliefs acknowledged by God himself, for only Him could have allowed for a mere symbol to gain such power. In reality it was a bit more complex than that. Just his awakening to Senjutsu had given it minor properties that he had never noticed, reflecting his struggle. But its transformation into a holy relic had truly been the work of higher powers. They all waited for him to regain his composure. All of them knew how great it was to have doubted yourself, your quality of character, but have something show you were right, you weren''t worthless or evil. They all knew how liberating it was. So they understood and waited. ¡°I am fine now. I guess this solves the problem. Put it on Terumi.¡± Terumi took it from Gaius and did as he was told to. When it touched his skin he could feel the difference. When earlier he looked at Kotone and felt like he had to take such a beautiful woman for himself he was now just slightly aroused, and after a second just appreciated her beauty. Where he felt like he had to rise over Gaius and dominate him he now only felt the usual, the need to prove himself to him. The many thoughts that drove him to evil, even those he didn''t realised he had, had died down. His mind was much clearer. And he felt oddly calm in the presence of a beautiful girl. ¡°This really works. I feel nearly normal, a bit aggressive but normal.¡± ¡°Problem solved then. Sorry to interrupt this but I have an appointment with Ken to negotiate the appraisal of the objects recovered from the auction.¡± Akihiko had the decency to look sheepish while saying this. ¡°Right, right. Sorry to take your time everyone.¡± Apologised Terumi. ¡°Don''t, it was time well spent.¡± Reassured him Gaius with a smile. Terumi smiled back at him. ¡°Actually I have a question. How can you be. A forefather of the Church? And what do you mean the necklace should have been lost ages ago?¡± Kotone wasn''t about to let this question go unanswered. Gaius closed his eyes before he came to a decision. ¡°I will tell you next class. Kishi should also be there.¡± ¡°What about-¡± ¡°We already know.¡± Interrupted Ryuunosuke. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Goodbye miss Date, Terumi.¡± ¡°Bye.¡± ¡°Good evening.¡± ¡°Don''t ignore me!¡± ¡°Thank you for helping my son.¡± Yukiko bowed. ¡°See you tomorrow, Master, Kotone.¡± Gaius, Akihiko, and Ryuunosuke began leaving. Kotone had no choice but to run after them and kept complaining about their keeping of juicy secrets while in the car. 27. Aftermath. Aftermath. In the Moon Go Pavillion the Elders and the Head had finished assessing the operation. ¡°So roughly 10,000,000,000,000 yen recovered in illegal goods. 236 liberated slaves. 400 apprehended Blue Leathers. 50 powerful independents also apprehended. The special goods have been recovered and given to the faction¡¯s emissaries. The son of the niece of the Youkai¡¯s leader has been rescued, accidentally to the remind me to thank Gaius, putting them against the Blue Leathers. There were no casualties. The young ones are starting to show the results of their training. Finally the feared assault by the Cult on our facilities during the operation didn''t happen. I say I am in the right when I declare this operation a resounding success.¡± Recapped Akai. ¡°You say that but I will be swamped with work between the processing of the prisoners and the weeding of the identified prisoners. We will have to send them to other cities prisons, they don''t fit on ours.¡± Complained Funai Ai. ¡°Excuse me but the weeding is mine to do. I hate this position sometimes. Besides that spies should lay low after this so I will be able to relax.¡± Said Nakamoto Yubi. ¡°You ladies think you are the only only ones with excessive work? I''m the one that has to apprehend the spies and make deals with the organisations whose members we''ve captured.¡± Hamamoto Kioshi was not impressed by his female colleagues and friends. Miyahara Mamoru smiled and drank his tea. ¡°And I have nothing to do since our external relations are at an all time high. I love my job our good reputation gives me a lot of free time.¡± ¡°Asshole.¡± Insulted Kioshi. While only he had spoken it was obvious the others felt the same since they were looking at him as if he had killed their mothers. ¡°Now, now.¡± Intervened Akai to pacify them. ¡°Let us all eat a warm dinner and get to bed so we can rise tomorrow fresh as morning dew.¡± The Elders approved. They all quickly left to their rooms and Akai was left alone. ¡°And Gaius and I didn''t have our Culture Sunday. Perfect, work without my weekly relaxation.¡± Soon the room was empty. But the Pavillion bursted with life. In Kotone¡¯s house dinner was being eaten. Her father was a normal middle aged Japanese man. If there was something incredible about him it was how he had managed to raise Kotone so well by himself. And that he was Rank 5 but that didn''t matter as much to him. ¡°And Master was all mysterious. Like I am the super enigmatic holy man style.¡± ¡°Is that even something that exists?¡± ¡°Yes. Along the I am the super enigmatic strong man style of Kishi or I am the super enigmatic timid man of Terumi.¡± Tsunayoshi smiled at his daughters antics and was thankful to Gaius, Terumi and Kishi. While her daughter always had friends and was happy a month ago she had grown timid after learning of the danger her mother put her on. They had made her recover. The thought of his absent wife made Tsunayoshi grind his teeth. He understood her motives, but was it so difficult to show her face from time to time. To show their daughter some love. He knew what he was getting in when he married her but sometimes he regretted it. The next second he looked at Kotone and that regret melted away. He could never regret the fruit of their love, ever.The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. ¡°Dad?¡± He blinked and realised he had become lost in his thoughts. ¡°Sorry my little fox. You were saying?¡± ¡°Do you think Kishi and Terumi are going to be alright?¡± ¡°Terumi will be. He is a man that has suffered and is recovering from it, his will and your friendship will help him keep going on. The crucifix helps too.¡± He thought about what his daughter had told him about Kishi. ¡°Kishi won''t be.¡± He said bluntly. ¡°He is too desperate for strength for him to handle you two developing powers before him.¡± ¡°I see. I feared that.¡± Kotone felt down, her father had never been wrong before. What was Kishi doing that he didn''t check on Terumi? Despite her concern her evening was pleasant. At the same time Kishi was training hard in his holdings. He was in his gym practicing his martial arts against a sandbag. As he thought the intensity of his hits increased Neil the bag broke free and flied to the wall. Once it hit the wall it exploded. Kishi took a rest and went to the bathroom. ¡°Why?¡± Kishi looked at the mirror while clenching his hands. ¡°Why am I so weak? Why do I grow so slowly?¡± The empty house had no answers for him. Terumi was on his room doing some ethics test with his mother. ¡°Three men try to rob you. You: Rip them apart. Subdue them with minimal force. Call the police. Break their legs. Kill them. Steal all their property.¡± ¡°Kill them. Agh no! Two and three.¡± ¡°Correct on the second try! You are improving Terumi.¡± ¡°Thanks Mom. I don''t know what I would have done without the crucifix or the angel¡¯s message.¡± ¡°Be alright. Even if you couldn''t handle it you have your friends and that incredible master of yours. If only I was ten years younger.¡± ¡°Mom!¡± Besides mortification that evening was happy on the Date household. Ryuunosuke was practicing with his sword while thinking. Was how Gaius had acted truly how some people behaved in the Hidden World? And they got away with it? His very being told him that that was inadmissible. His heart screamed for justice to those trampled by those stronger than them. ¡°Yes that is it.¡± His sword cried. ¡°Pyram?¡± ¡°You finally understand our hatred. We despise evil and love good.¡± Said Glacies. ¡°Now that you understand us-¡± ¡°We are more synchronised than ever!¡± ¡°¡°We grant you our true power!¡±¡± Ryuunosuke felt his body change. Corruption flowed into his body, breaking and repairing his cells. The constant destructiona don recreation forged Ryuunosuke¡¯s further than ever until he felt energy filling his body. ¡°Isn''t it too early for this?¡± ¡°If you mean for Touki, that is true.¡± ¡°But this isn''t Touki. We have mixed your ki and our corruption to make something else.¡± ¡°The same thing as the previous spirit did.¡± ¡°A stronger ki that grows stronger the greater your desire for good and hatersd for evil are.¡± ¡°¡°Take our power and destroy evil!¡±¡± Ryuunosuke smiled. They truly did have a flair for the dramatic. But this new strength was still something he welcomed. He would no longer be powerless, nor allow anyone else to feel powerless. ¡°Ryuunosuke it''s bed time!¡± ¡°I''m not a kid Mom!¡± ¡°Listen to your mother kid!¡± That night was filled with passion. Akihiko was in his room after dinner in bed with his wife, but he couldn''t sleep. ¡°What worries you dear?¡± ¡°I feel powerless. I can''t help the kids I aponly fill a role that is never truly needed. I am the best investigator but they never need the best only a good one.¡± ¡°They don''t judge you for your usefulness. Being their friend is all they ask from you.¡± They felt silent and when his wife fell asleep Akihiko spoke his true feelings. ¡°But I do. Why did I make that stupid decision?¡± That night was filled with regret. Gaius was feeding Reiko. ¡°We need to see where you have improved. Tomorrow we''ll test you, see if you can help me in battle again.¡± Reiko caressed Gaius with his beak. ¡°I love you too boy.¡± His gaze was tender, not only for Reiko but for all his friends. That night was filled with satisfaction. In a certain building. ¡°Sorry for my loss boss.¡± Said a bandaged Rossi. The man he spoke to was a small Japanese man that looked more like a businessman than one of the city¡¯s three greatest fighters. ¡°It is no problem Clark. You fought against three Rank 6, I can''t blame you for losing.¡± ¡°You have my gratitude.¡± ¡°Dismissed.¡± Rossi bowed and left the room. The man took out a photo of Gaius in his Vissarion disguise and smiled at it. ¡°Akairyuu well played. To think you hid a Senjutsu user from me. Gaius, you shall be mine, as all worthy warriors should.¡± He took his desk phone and made a call. ¡°Iegasu is the project ready. That is good. It is time for Awakening¡¯s first Real World quest to go live.¡± That night was filled with ambition. 28. Cruel to be kind. Cruel to be kind. The morning of the Thursday after the raid was a pleasant one for Gaius. He spent it doing normal things and resting, something he needed badly after the last few days. Between his extra planetary stay, the assault and the changes to his disciples he had had a busy week. However all good things must come to an end and soon it was time for his classes to start. He headed to his now familiar training grounds and for the first time in a while he arrived first. Feeling refreshed he decided to move his body and began running until all his students had gathered. ¡°Good morning everyone.¡± ¡°Hey there Gaius.¡± ¡°I have heard of your deeds on Tuesday. Great job.¡± ¡°Hello Master. Thank you for coming see me yesterday.¡± ¡°Good morning.¡± ¡°Good morning Master.¡± ¡°Let''s begin. But before we start the classes I have two announcements. First, since Terumi received a relic of ancient origin that was actually mine to begin with, I believe the secret can''t be kept much longer. Is that a problem Jian?¡± Jian looked surprised at his proposition and thought to himself. He eventually nodded. ¡°As long as they swear not to spread it around that is fine.¡± ¡°Good. Let''s begin with the start. Seventeeen hundred years ago a weird child was born¡­¡± As he related his story many reactions were made. Excluding Jian, who already knew it, the story seemed a little unbelievable. It was pretty fantastical, even for the Hidden World. By the end of it Akechi was worried, Kotone was overwhelmed, Terumi was actually not that weirded and Kishi¡­ Kishi¡¯s feelings were complicated. ¡°Are you alright?¡± ¡°I am, Akechi. Thank you for the concern but I have grown accustomed to the modern world.¡± Kotone let out a nervous laugh. ¡°That was more than I expected.¡± ¡°What did you expect?¡± ¡°I don''t know something more like you were a great man that was put into stasis. Not a tale of persecutions and war.¡± Gaius smiled and waited for more comments. ¡°Nothing to say Terumi, Kishi?¡± ¡°Doesn''t really seem to far fetched after all I''ve seen.¡± ¡°It is Terumi. It is.¡± Said Jian. ¡°I¡­ My apologies Master. I never realised the burdens you carried.¡± Gaius looked at him finally understanding many things from that comment. So that was what was eating at him. ¡°Apologies accepted. If that is all I have a second announcement. Terumi aside I have nothing left to teach you. You have learned all my skills.¡± That caused a great reaction. Jian was elated, his lips quirking upwards. Akechi laughed uproariously and stood proud. The younger members were however more surprised than happy. ¡°Already? It''s been only one month Master!¡± Asked Kotone. ¡°Reminder that I only had Touki for a year before I began my classes. That I had something to teach you at all is already impressive.¡± ¡°Then are the classes going to end?¡± Kishi sounded worried. ¡°No. You still have to practice and master what you''ve learned so you will continue to practice it under my supervision. I will also oversee new techniques you develop.¡± ¡°In other words, from now on it will be free study but we can go to you for advice.¡± Summarised Terumi. ¡°Got it in one. Since this is the plan I will now concentrate on Terumi. The rest of you should practice and come to me if you have doubts or to evaluate your progress.¡± He looked around and all his students signaled that they understood. ¡°Well then, let''s begin. First of all Kotone you must get accustomed to your new abilities. Akechi, they involve illusions, do you want practice against them?¡± ¡°Sure. Come with me Kotone.¡± ¡°Terumi you are with me. Jian and Kishi practice on your own. Try to think of new techniques for yourself.¡± Once he finished organising the class Gaius made them start practicing. He then turned to Terumi. ¡°Now to see what you''ve got.¡± Gaius¡¯ assessment of Terumi was that his strength and resilience had doubled but nothing else had changed. Since that didn''t really seem like something worthy of the rumoured power of Nephilim he made him go through many exercises to see if there was something else. Gaius wanted to awaken his storm abilities to be concrete. Results appeared when he threw Terumi in a deep, narrow pit in the ground. The exercise was designed to provoke fight or flight responses due to claustrophobia. Since Terumi¡¯s abilities would be natural to him Gaius reasoned they should be instinctual and stress may bring them forth. He was right. Terumi tried climbing the walls at first, but they were warded to be slippery. With that possibility closed he tried jumping but he, while nearly reaching the surface, didn''t make it. As his frustration simmered he felt something bubbling within. His next jump was accompanied by a gale that pushed him upwards and made him go beyond the opening of the pit. He had a moment of panic when he fell to the ground head first, but he was unharmed. Gaius smiled at him and helped him rise to his feet. ¡°Nice progress Terumi.¡± With the class nearing its end they didn''t have much more time to do anything but teach him how to harness that feeling again. When the class ended Terumi could form a weak breeze or generate a little electricity. ¡°Not bad for a first day.¡± Commented Gaius. ¡°Now you only need to practice more. I can''t help you with your natural abilities, so next class you are back to ki control.¡± ¡°Understood Master.¡± ¡°As for the rest. Is there anything you want to ask of me?¡± His students shaked their heads and answered negatively. There hadn''t had enough time to form any doubts. Except Kishi that is. ¡°Master.¡± He said seriously. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I have something to speak to you about.¡± ¡°Right now I don''t have time for a long talk, but after my next class I''m free. Come to my house then.¡± ¡°Understood.¡± ¡°Well then. Class dismissed.¡± That evening after classes Gaius found himself hosting Kishi. ¡°Do you want anything to drink? You were eighteen right? I have water, wine, beer, brandy, various kinds of sodas, and some other liquors.¡± ¡°No thanks. Also the legal age for drinking is twenty.¡± He did our Gaius some wine. Afterwards Kishi took a deep breath. ¡°Master, I have to ask. Why am I growing so slowly?¡± Gaius looked at him and smiled kindly. ¡°I think you want to ask. Why despite all my hard work I am growing both to slowly for my taste and slower than Terumi and Kotone?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Kishi clenched his fists. ¡°Terumi was completely new but in one month he has approached my twelve years of hard work. Kotone works with both magic and Touki but she is still at my same level of skill despite the fact that I work more. Why is this?¡± Gaius looked at him in the eyes. ¡°Simply put, the world isn''t fair.¡±If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°What?¡± ¡°While I believe everyone is born equal it is true that not everyone has the same talents. Supernatural creatures are for example much more suited for magic and ki, but humans are better at science and technology. Bluntly put we are people with short legs trying to run alongside the children of Olympic medalists. Normally hard work can bridge the difference but you are comparing yourself to two of the most powerful creatures in the world. Kitsunes and Nephilim are among the greatest of non-divine creatures, with nine tailed kitsune being able to fight on par with Gods and Nephilim at their peak requiring direct divine intervention to be wiped out. Compared to humans you are actually incredibly strong for your age.¡± Kishi looked a bit sick. He didn''t want to accept that he was weaker simply because of his birth. ¡°What about you?¡± He asked. ¡°Do you mean why am I so much stronger than you or how I can equal them?¡± ¡°Both.¡± ¡°The first one is simple. You got your Touki from training, for that you must have trained so much that you neglected other aspects of your life. But Touki is not only physical but spiritual, if you want to have a robust and malleable Touki you must live life. Have friends, go out, suffer and recover. You have a strong spirit, but it is immature. Let me tell you, if you manage to resolve your current uneasiness and envy you will grow more powerful than ever.¡± ¡°So I only need to experience life?¡± ¡°Yes. Your fellows have strong bodies and instinctual control of their Touki, but they lack your spirit. A spirit tempered in pain and sweat. You may not be their equal in skill and techniques right now, but as they exhaust their potential and have to begin to hone their spirit you will catch up to them. They have an initial advantage bt the hard work you needed to reach the place they were born to will be your greatest ally. The things you lack are a technique that is yours. Like my transformations, but yours. Using others techniques will never be as good as using techniques of the same level made by you. The second thing you need is to expand your spirit through life. If I were to use a metaphor I would say that the spirit is a lake. Mine is a sea of mercury. Kotone¡¯s is a lake of water. But yours? Yours is a puddle of mercury. You have neglected your life Kishi. If you want to grow truly strong you must see life, see the world and take it in.¡± ¡°Then what should I have done?! If I didn''t neglect my life I wouldn''t have acquired Touki, but my neglection of my life made me weaker than I should be?! There is no right answer!¡± Gaius looked at him like he was stupid. So much so that Kishi actually calmed down and began to feel uncomfortable. ¡°Jian is forty eight years old and he is Rank 6. You are eighteen and Rank 3. Why do you act like you are nearing the end of your life? You are young, if you have neglected your spirit then that is fine, you have a century to increase it.¡± Kishi looked bitter. ¡°You are only a year older than me and are much stronger. Have you truly experienced so much more than me? I have suffered as much as you.¡± A slap resounded through the room. Kishi looked at Gaius astonished. He was looking at him in disdain. ¡°Wha?¡± ¡°I''d like it if you didn''t belittle the hardships I''ve gone through. You coddled child have no right to envy me, when my power was born from tragedy. It is an insult to me and all my compatriots that you believe the fact that you were not loved by your family equals our suffering. Do not do it again.¡± Kishi felt furious. ¡°What do you even know about my pain?!¡± ¡°Endo Kishi of the Endo Clan. Son of the Clan Head he was considered weak and talentless and as such his parents never really paid attention to him. He trained and trained but he never got their love as he wished. Five years ago there was a tournament to show their growth and you were consider so lacking you were expelled from the clan. Eventually you drifted to the association. Isn''t that right?¡± Kishi¡¯s fury was stopped cold and he felt weak and exposed. ¡°You know?¡± ¡°Do you think I wouldn''t investigate why you listed for power? That I wouldn''t worry if I was teaching a future monster? Of course I looked into your affairs.¡± ¡°If you know then why do you-¡± ¡°Because your story isn''t really all that tragic.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°It is quite common honestly. Millions of children in the world are going through that, and that is a tragedy indeed. Children that wish for their parents love but for some reason never get it. My parents were like that too you know? My paternal grandparents only cared about status and my father was but an accessory to that. My mother didn''t even know his parents, she was adopted by a community of christians after she was abandoned in the streets to die, a distressingly common practice in Ancient Rome. Your situation is sad yes, something that shouldn''t happen. But it is not something that excuses your arrogance and envy. And particularly not your belittlement and justification of genocide and crimes against humanity. Distant parents are not on the same level as the persecutions by a long shot. Do not try and say you have suffered as much as I. You haven''t, you are just a child lashing out at the world right now, furious that you don''t get what you want. You do not see that many others are in the same situation as you.¡± ¡°How are you so cheerful then? If you have suffered so much.¡± Kishi said disdainfully, mocking Gaius. Gaius looked at him in derision. ¡°Resorting to sarcasm now? Truly a child. But the answer is simple. Pain isn''t the end of all things, just an obstacle to surpass. Pain and suffering are mere standing blocks, those who surpass them grow and become happier through it, their character built and improved. Those who let pain dictate their lives? Who do nothing but whimper and cry? Who stagnate and blame the world for their own inability to surpass pain? They spend their lives in misery, with that being all they know. It is fine to suffer, to grieve. To stop your life temporarily. But if you refuse to accept that life is equal parts pain and happiness you will spend the rest of your miserable life running away from life. I would understand if your pain was greater, if a great tragedy had fallen unto you. But millions go through what you''ve gone and they rise up from it. Nobody died, you weren''t violated neither in body nor spirit. Your pain isn''t so great that it justifies how you treat others as inferior, how you see them as nothing but obstacles to leave behind. You are nothing but an arrogant brat! Unable to see others as people, only seeing them in relation to how they compare to you! Is it any wonder your spirit is weak?! You have the emotional maturity of a ten year old!¡± As Gaius spoke his tone heated up. ¡°Wake up for your dream! You are but a man, life doesn''t revolve around you. You aren''t a protagonist that goes beyond all others just a normal man. All the people you disdain as lazy are better than you. They know to live life, you are just a brat with an obsession. Ask yourself this question, why do you want power?¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°Isn''t it to make your parents love you. Don''t you deep in think that you will only be worthy when they accept you? Yes I can be cheerful after going through pain because I have surpassed it! Because I know life is more than just satisfaction and wish fulfilment! Because if you live you suffer, and if you want to be happy you must surpass said suffering!¡± Silence fell on the room. Gaius was trying to calm down after his outburst, while Kishi didn''t know what to say. Gaius was the one that broke the silence. ¡°You were injured and healed wrong. So like a bone I must break you again so you may heal correctly. You are weak.¡± ¡°I am not weak.¡± Tried to refute Kishi, but he said it feebly, showing Gaius was getting to him. ¡°Yes you are. Weak of spirit. Your life is structured upon gaining the approval of others and yet you don''t approve of anyone. You have no purpose, your whole life is dedicated to an obsession. Kotone works to master herself and have the power to defend herself and those she loves, she lives to be happy. Terumi works to better himself, so that the he of yesterday is always inferior to the he of today, and he does that because he believes that will make him happy. I grow strong because I enjoy the feeling of being better than I was yesterday, much like Terumi, but unlike him I have no goal I just want to be the better me I can. You grow stronger for the sake of being accepted. That is fine in itself. But in order to do so you ignore all those who already accept you! Kotone worries about you, Terumi tries to be part of your life. Is the love of parents that wouldn''t love you for who you were so much important than the love of those who see you?! You are not living, you are surviving. Even a hedonist has a goal, he lives for the pleasure of the moment. Even an indecisive teenager has a goal, he wants to enjoy life and fears the moment when his current pleasant life ends and work starts, since his life will never be the same. Or love, or friendship. You? You are wandering, seeking an ill defined strength with all your self, hoping that will bring you satisfaction. You don''t know what you want! Just that wouldn''t make me mad. Many people are lost, not knowing what they want. And it is my duty as a christian to show them the way of living a full life, which in my opinion is following Christ. But even if they don''t want that life I will try and show them a purpose, so they may live life both happy and good. Why would I get mad that I get to perform my duty? But you? You consider all those who don''t seek strength with the same fervour as you inferior. Lazy, weak willed you call them. That may be right, or not. But you have no right to disdain others for not following your way of life! If someone doesn''t believe strength will make them happy why should they abandon everything to seek it?! Why are they inferior for doing what their heart desires?! You are prideful, arrogant, believing yourself the pinnacle of existence. And if you know anything about Christianity you know pride is the worst sin in our books. That is why you make me furious. You are egocentric! You aren''t the centre of the Universe! Just another insignificant human that doesn''t understand there is nothing wrong with being insignificant and develops an inflated ego as a defense. You have yet to understand that everyone around you have their own lives. Lives you have no right to judge! The only way you could ever judge someone is if their way of life purposely and consciously causes harm to others. But that isn''t the case here, isn''t it? You just refuse to accept anything that contradicts your worldview! You are weak of spirit. You are weak of mind. And finally you are weak of strength. If your parents truly seek to only love the strong it isn''t any wonder they didn''t love you.¡± Once he was finished with his speech, meant to break everything Kishi thought to be true, meant to break him out of the web of misconceptions and blindness he had tied himself in and force him to change how he thought, Gaius fell silent of words. But his eyes were eloquent staring at Kishi, to see if he could refute him. If he actually had some conviction in his way of life. He didn''t. Kishi only felt silent and cried, Gaius¡¯ words harsher than he could handle. With his face de of strength broken only Kishi¡¯s deepest self remained. A child, starved for love. Gaius continued staring for some time before his expression relaxed. His eyes were now kind. ¡°Kishi.¡± He said tenderly. ¡°W-what?¡± He asked defensively. ¡°That you can''t refute me shows you see reason in my words. As such I ask, what do you want to be?¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°As I said before, you are young. Now is the age in which you change. So tell me, what do you want to be? To do?¡± ¡°I¡­¡± Kishi paused. What did he want indeed? He wanted strength to get love, but would that love be as genuine as one freely given? Was his desire for strength wrong? He thought, and thought, and thought. He thought for hours, while Gaius simply watched. What he decided now was his choice only, Gaius wouldn''t try and sway him. Eventually he came to a decision. ¡°I want to be strong. But the kind of strength that allows me to be happy even through pain. What do I need to change? Should I stop training?¡± ¡°No.¡± Gaius shaked his head. ¡°Doing what you did until now is a good way to keep going even through uncertainty, indeed doing nothing only makes you stagnate. The strength to face life can only be acquired through living though. You can train but you can''t only train. Go out, make friends, lose friends, love, be heartbroken, be loved back. There is no set way off doing it, it is different for everyone. There are two things I recommend.¡± ¡°What are they?¡± ¡°First, get a therapist.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°It is their job to help people like you. Having someone to speak, that can listen to your worries, helps a lot. And who is better for that than someone you can sue if they misuse your confidence? Legal obligation to keep professional secrecy helps a lot with trust issues. Do get a good one though. I can''t help you with that. I recommend asking Akechi, she seems like she would know some.¡± Kishi was a bit astonished. ¡°That doesn''t sound like you.¡± ¡°Hah! It doesn''t, it really doesn''t. I''ve spent a whole month updating myself on mental healthcare, so I know what I am speaking about. What would I have given for having one on my time. Oh well, it worked out in the end.¡± Kishi laughed a little. ¡°Alright I''ll try it. What is the second?¡± ¡°You and I are going to do a bit of shock therapy tomorrow.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Gaius only smiled mysteriously. ¡°Youlll see. Come tomorrow at 9:00. We have some places to visit.¡± 29. Challenge. Challenge. After Kishi left his house Gaius began to prepare. He was both happy that Kishi would stop being a brat and a bit ashamed that he had lost his temper like that. It was however the truth that while Kishi had presented a genial mask he had held a lot of disdain for his fellows. It wasn''t something easily seen but a few subtle moments showed it. How he disregarded the opinion of others, how he spoke as if he was the ultimate authority that was always right. He didn''t show it openly, he may not have even realised himself, but there was a sense of superiority in him because he had managed to get Touki. Doing that had inflated his ego which made it easier for him to be vulnerable to others being better than he was. Why are they better than me when they are lazy and don''t train. They don''t deserve this strength. He had these thoughts constantly and it made Gaius furious when he saw it. Gaius didn''t intervene when he saw that, he thought that maybe interaction with others would made him change. To a certain extent it did, he cared about others now, he just thought them inferior. For him they were pitiful children that were lovable but weren''t to be taken seriously. Due to this arrogance and dismissal Gaius had lost his temper and the rest was history. Gaius¡¯ preparations were simple, he went to Sakae and bought some information. He then made some calls to several people to arrange transportation and protection. With all preparations done he went to bed so he could rise even earlier than usual. The next morning he did his usual workout, but after that he went to the administrative building in order to receive permission for Endo and him to skip classes. Finally he went home and waited for Kishi to show up. ¡°Good morning, Master.¡± Kishi looked subdued, nearly afraid. As the night had kept going he had been thinking about their conversation and he felt progressively worse. The first thing he regretted was his callousness towards Gaius¡¯ situation. The second was how he had downplayed the work he needed to achieve his power. ¡°Good morning brat.¡± ¡°Brat?¡± ¡°Until you have earned my respect back you shall be beat for me.¡± Gaius had chosen to do this not to hurt him, but to give him a goal to strive for. If it worked that is if not Gaius had other plans. ¡°I see.¡± ¡°Yes you see. Today we are going to show you how no matter how much strength you have you aren''t better for it. And we will do so by confronting your past.¡± ¡°You can''t mean?!¡± ¡°We are going to the Endo Clan.¡± ¡°But they will destroy us!¡± ¡°I have gotten permission from the Head, unless they want the association as an enemy they won''t.¡± ¡°But what if-¡± ¡°Brat, are you logically worried or do you simply not want to confront your family?¡± Kishi only mumbled beneath his breath. ¡°Speak clearly.¡± ¡°I promised not to return until I was strong enough.¡± ¡°That has only become an excuse for you to not confront your past. Exactly when will you be strong enough?¡± ¡°But-¡± ¡°No buts. Either you come with me or you don''t want my teachings anymore.¡± ¡°Didn''t you finish teaching us what you knew?¡± ¡°Being expelled from my class would be worse than just being left without lessons, you know?¡± ¡°What would happen?¡± ¡°The association would deem you untrustworthy. At minimum you''d be expelled, at maximum you''d be imprisoned.¡± Gaius¡¯ face was impassive, showing he wasn''t joking. While Kishi wanted to say that was a bluff he wasn''t sure and so he didn''t speak. ¡°Then are you coming?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± They left Gaius¡¯ house and headed to the recreational district. There a balding middle aged man was waiting. ¡°Good morning. Am I right to presume you are Endo Kishi and Gaius Atiius?¡± ¡°That is correct. Are you then our transportation?¡± ¡°Indeed. If I recall correctly I am to guide you to some minor clan.¡± He looked at his phone. ¡°The Endo clan, yes.¡± He suddenly understood something. ¡°Uh, sorry for the minor part Endo.¡± ¡°My clan is minor?¡± ¡°Yes. The strongest person is Rank 6 and I remind you we have eight of those. The head is Rank 5. They are honestly weak.¡± ¡°That''s-¡± ¡°The truth.¡± Intervened Gaius. ¡°Let¡¯s go, I have no intention of this stretching too long. Even if I can miss classes today I don''t want to do it.¡± Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. ¡°Very well. If you could take my hands.¡± Gaius and Kishi grabbed one of the man''s hands each. Immediately they felt a stretching followed by a twisting and then a contracting. It was honestly quite the bizarre feeling. It was effective though, for they had found themselves in front of a Japanese manor. Above the gate laid a signal saying Endo Manor. ¡°Thank you for your aid¡­ Sorry, I just realised I do not know your name.¡± Asked Gaius. ¡°Enka Mamoru.¡± ¡°Thank you Enka.¡± He nodded and waited outside the gate while Gaius and Kishi approached it. Once they were near it Gaius pressed a button. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I am Gaius, I have come because of an appointment I made yesterday.¡± ¡°Yes you are on the list. Please come in.¡± The door opened and the two men entered the manor. A woman in a kimono received them and led them towards a room deep in the manor. There sat a man remarkably similar to Kishi. Once he saw him Kishi steeled himself. ¡°Father.¡± Said Kishi. ¡°I thought I repudiated you long ago Kishi. I am no longer your father, nor do I accept a weakling like you as a son. What do you want here? Has the poor baby managed to grow a backbone?¡± He was about to continue when he felt a bit of dread and for the first time looked at Gaius. ¡°Who are you brat?¡± ¡°Curious you would say that. I am Kishi¡¯s master and the one who established this appointment, Gaius Atiius Quadratus.¡± ¡°A kid is that weakling¡¯s master?¡± He began to laugh. ¡°How fitting that he would be taught by another-¡± He was interrupted when a light beam hit him in the face. He was mostly uninjured but he couldn''t help to stare at Gaius silently, unable to understand what had happened. ¡°I''d prefer if you stopped showing your worthlessness for a minute here. We have something to discuss.¡± ¡°And who are you to show me such disrespect?¡± Kishi¡¯s father growled. ¡°Respect is earned and lost. You never had my respect and you lose more of it by the second. Is that any way to speak to someone that equals you in strength?¡± ¡°You equal me in strength?¡± His tone was mocking. ¡°Unlike the rumours you seem to be a Rank 4, like I am.¡± ¡°Rank 4?! You can''t be Rank 4! You are too young! Kishi isn''t good enough to even approach such an individual. Where are you from?¡± ¡°You didn''t listen when your ancestor told you? We are from the Waning Moon Association.¡± The asshole was startled. ¡°Waning Moon? Those idiots that accept anyone in their ranks?¡± ¡°Taking into account we have eight Rank 6 and you have one I''d say our methods are better than yours. It seems only stupid pride fills your brain and you can''t see anything else. Do you truly care about strength as much as you say?¡± The douche managed to calm himself and started anew. ¡°My apologies for my indiscretion. Seeing that worthless weakling coming here clouded my judgement. What do you want?¡± ¡°I want for Kishi to battle your younger generation. I am sure between his hard work and my teachings he far surpasses your clan, but the trauma you caused in him holds him back.¡± ¡°You overestimate him. His weakness is not of power but spirit. He was always stronger than his opponents but he hesitated too much and always lost. He may have grown stronger but his spirit is still weak.¡± Kishi clenched his fists but remained silent. Gaius only smiled. ¡°Then what is the problem? Do you not accept?¡± ¡°Indeed I do! I will show you that you shouldn''t waste your time with prey like Kishi. Let us start, shall we?¡± ¡°Very well.¡± Gaius and Kishi were led to a waiting room while the clan prepared. There Kishi asked something to Gaius. ¡°Do you really think I can do this?¡± ¡°Yes you can.¡± ¡°But he is right I always hesitated when I fought.¡± ¡°Why did you do it?¡± ¡°Because I didn''t want to fight. I didn''t like fighting.¡± ¡°Do you still don''t like fighting?¡± ¡°I no longer care.¡± ¡°Then what is the problem?¡± Kishi fell silent unable to answer. Rationally he knew Gaius was right but he still felt incapable. They fell silent until a servant came to fetch them. They were led to an arena in the middle of a garden. When he saw it Kishi felt his heart speed up. Here was where he was expelled from the clan. ¡°Welcome Gaius to our ancestral trial grounds. Here the young and old of our clan try their strength against it each other, to see who prevails and is the strongest.¡± ¡°Seems nice. Why aren''t we already beginning?¡± The fool took a deep breath. Never had he felt so disrespected, did he not know the greatness behind this clan? In his fury he gave the order to start the battles. Gaius sat near him in the stands while Kishi went to the arena. Once the battle began the imbecile turned to Gaius. ¡°I bet that the next time I look at the arena the battle will have ended.¡± ¡°How little confidence in the youths of your clan.¡± ¡°Use clever words all you want. This is a world of the survival of the fittest and Kishi is prey, he shall never surpass the predators of my clan.¡± ¡°I think you misunderstand Darwin. Also did you know that the main cause of injury and death for predators is due to prey fighting back? There is a reason predators tend to hunt a single prey in groups or with the advantage of terrain. So I think you don''t really understand the beings you equate yourself to.¡± ¡°That may be true in the natural world but in the Hidden World only killers thrive. And the willingness and strength to kill are innate, they can''t be learned. One is either born a winner, a predator, or a loser, prey.¡± Gaius stared at him like he was looking at the most foolish person he''d ever met. Except it wasn''t like, he had never met such a tool. However before he could answer the referee shouted. ¡°Winner Endo Kishi!¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± The delusional manchild turned to the arena, where Kishi stood above his opponent¡¯s body. The next battle began. ¡°Is it really impossible? Your philosophy has three holes. First you ignore that people change. Second, one doesn''t need to be a murderer to be strong. Three, you are completely delusional. Do you really think the world works in such childish and edgy principles? Are you really that naive?¡± The immature brat turned to Gaius. ¡°What do you know?! You say I am naive but in reality I know how the world works! People fight and murder each other for the slightest of advantages, it is dog eat dog out there!¡± ¡°Winner Endo Kishi!¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Begin!¡± ¡°There are indeed people like that. But there are also people who care for others, who dedicate their lives to others.¡± ¡°Winner Endo Kishi!¡± ¡°The only reason there is a semblance of dog eat dog out there is because-¡± ¡°Begin!¡± ¡°Because of people like you. Without you there would be no dog eat dog.¡± ¡°Winner Endo Kishi!¡± ¡°How?! How is he winning so fast?! Why is he so strong?!¡± ¡°Begin!¡± ¡°At the beginning he still held onto his belief your kids were stronger than him. However he has now seen how weak they are, so he is no longer cautious. He fights to his fullest.¡± ¡°Winner Endo Kishi!¡± ¡°How can he be so strong! He was prey!¡± ¡°Begin!¡± ¡°People change. For the better or for the worse. Did you know he has Touki?¡± At those words Kishi¡¯s father lost his spirit and could only watch as his clan was beaten easily. He himself didn''t have Touki. Kishi kept winning until there were no members of his generation remaining. Once he was finished he went to the stands. ¡°Well? Do you have anything to say, clan head?¡± Asked Gaius. ¡°Yes, you were right.¡± Kishi felt a bit of hope, he had heard everything his father had said. He felt disgusted by it. But now his father may have changed. ¡°Prey can become predator and predator prey. Listen well all of you! Kishi has returned and proved himself to be a predator above you prey! He is worthy of being part of the clan! He is above you worms! What do you say Kishi?¡± He stopped talking when he saw the expression on Kishi¡¯s face. ¡°My whole life I have worked for your approval. But only now I realise I wasted my time. You would never love me, you only want strong people under you. You aren''t approving of me but of my strength.¡± ¡°Strength is all that matters in this life son.¡± Kishi sighed and looked at Gaius. ¡°You were right Master, I was wasting my life for nothing. Let us go.¡± ¡°It is good to see you see reason.¡± They began to leave when Kishi''s father got in their way. ¡°If you leave now is to never return Kishi.¡± ¡°You said I should never return years ago. I''m only following your orders.¡± The father grunted and turned away. ¡°Then leave. One day you will have to accept that you are a killer, too not waste your time among sheep.¡± ¡°Goodbye.¡± They left the manor and were brought back by the balding man. Gaius brought Kirgo to his house and served him tea. ¡°What have you learned, Kishi?¡± ¡°I am strong for my age. And I wasted my time all these years.¡± ¡°I wouldn''t go so far. Your life has made you meet us. Isn''t that good.¡± ¡±Yes, yes it is. I will follow your advice Master, I owe you that much at least.¡± Gaius nodded and fell silent, enjoying his tea. As time passes Kirgo grew restless. ¡°How do you deal with doing nothing?¡± ¡°I actually enjoy peace and quiet. New exercise, until classes start we won''t speak a word nor do anything.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± A few seconds passed. ¡°How much do you usually train?¡± ¡°Seriously?¡± 30. Transportation. Transportation. The Sunday of that week Gaius was with Akai, watching magical girl shows. They were discussing whether Madoka, Usagi, Nanoha, or the Pretty Cures were really similar enough to be considered a genre or if they were more of a setting where the authors put the genres they wanted. ¡°And I''m saying that cosmic horror story and military magical sci-fi epic are not a genre. Aside from girls doing magic and having an animal, or in one case shapeshifter, companion they have little in common. They are more of a setting, a world building tool, than a genre, a set of literary characteristics.¡± ¡°And I''m saying that is a genre and you misunderstand what a genre is.¡± ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Because worldbuilding is also part of a genre. Like fantasy or sci-fi.¡± ¡°Let''s agree to disagree.¡± ¡°Very well.¡± They fell silent and kept watching their anime. While Yuki Yuna is a Hero was showing Akai began speaking about work. ¡°Gaius, I need a favour.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°Can you be part of the prisoner convoy tomorrow?¡± ¡°Why? A teleportation from here needs no guards.¡± ¡°Some are part of organisations that can intercept our teleportation. For those we have to transport them the mundane way.¡± ¡°I guess that you want to be the detector?¡± ¡°Not quite. We''ve got enough people that that won''t be a problem. There has been a new development in the Awakening front.¡± ¡°Finally?¡± ¡°Yes. Recently people we had watched as suspects have attacked our facilities and the other associations in town. Even the Blue Leaders.¡± ¡°Is that an actual attack or a misdirection?¡± ¡°I believe the second, we have taken way bigger losses than the Blues.¡± ¡°That is a concern. Are they still undetectable?¡± ¡°Yes. We have not tested Senjutsu against it though. It''s because of that that I want Kotone and you there, we can detect other ambushes but not awakenees.¡± ¡°I shouldn''t bring the others along.¡± ¡°No, you shouldn''t, Akihiko and Ryuunosuke are still too weak. Your students are mister I am learning to control my evil side and mister I am rethinking my life, not suitable for a delicate mission. I have words to say about your treatment of Kishi by the way.¡± ¡°What are they?¡± ¡°I agree with your message, he did need to stop being a stick in the mud. My problem is how you did it, you were very harsh.¡± ¡°He pissed me off. I have no excuses to make.¡± ¡°That is good.¡± Akai turned to Gaius and smiled at him. Gaius returned the gesture. ¡°My anger?¡± He raised an eyebrow. ¡°Your knowledge of what you did wrong.¡± ¡°I''m not sure I was wrong, he wouldn''t have listened had I been more lenient.¡± ¡°Be that as it may that harshness should have been a last resort, not the first thing you did.¡± ¡°Actually the first thing I did was hope interaction with Kotone and Terui would make him better. It worsened him.¡± ¡°Waiting doesn''t tend to be a good approach.¡± ¡°Neither rushing. I was harsh because I deemed that was what was needed.¡± ¡°Then I have no problem with how you handled it. About the job, you only need to stay in the vehicle and detect things so you don''t need much of a briefing.¡± ¡°Where are we bringing them?¡± ¡°Kyoto. It has the most expansive and secure prisons in Japan. Aside of the Forsaken Realm that is.¡± With business finished they kept watching their series for hours. In order to take a breather they left the room they were in. Gaius stumbled when he went through the doorway and couldn''t help but he nauseated. ¡°Are you alright? This is only the fifth time you are here, take it easy.¡± Gaius spoke while getting his bearings. ¡°Should we even use an accelerated dimension where we age at normal rates, meant for fast coordination, to watch more series?¡± ¡°It''s mine, I do what I want with it. Either way it would remain there and just gather dust so this way it has a use beyond being there. We didn''t have enough time to update you to the most recent fiction at normal time progression.¡± ¡°Such a mundane utility. What''s next, using it to take breaks between work time?¡± ¡°Not next, previous. I use it to have more free time by both working and resting within. A pity it can only be used for four outside hours a day without negative consequences.¡± ¡°That is sixteen within hours right? That sounds very useful.¡± ¡°It is. What do you want to eat?¡± ¡°I still haven''t tried an specialty of the modern world.¡± ¡°What is it?¡± Said Akai with expectations. ¡°Hamburgers.¡± ¡°What?¡± Next morning Gaius headed to the park where the prison was found. There he found twelve trucks, one for the prisoners and eleven for the escorts. Each of them could house at least twenty people and all were filled to the brim. With ten prisoners and two hundred and thirty guards the importance the Waning Moon gave to this relocation was blatant.This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere. The park was bustling with activity and Gaius was stopped before the entrance. ¡°Stop. We are performing an important police transport here. Move along.¡± Said a uniformed woman. ¡°I am Gaius Atiius Quadratus. Your leaders should be waiting for me.¡± ¡°Yes I have been informed of your presence. Please submit to identification protocols.¡± Gaius assented and had to weather several minutes of tests. Fingerprint scans, iris scans, teeth scans, DNA testing, spiritual signature and finally several questions to answer where the protocols in question. ¡°Name.¡± ¡°Gaius Atiius Quadratus.¡± ¡°Birthplace.¡± ¡°The past.¡± ¡°Age.¡± ¡°Your grandfather is a toddler.¡± ¡°When were you born.¡± ¡°July, more or less.¡± ¡°Position.¡± ¡°Classified.¡± ¡°Disciplines.¡± ¡°Enough to make you seem like an animal by comparison.¡± ¡°Notable ancestors.¡± ¡°Numantia.¡± ¡°Prior affiliation.¡± ¡°My current one is a downgrade.¡± ¡°Objectives.¡± ¡°I gotta catch ¡®em all.¡± ¡°Safe password.¡± ¡°I am a fuchsia penguin that likes to dance salsa.¡± ¡°Your answers are bizarre. Move along, the boss is waiting for you in the back.¡± ¡°I know, and thanks.¡± Gaius went where he was directed and soon came to the entrance of the prison. He went through it to enter the prison and went to the warden''s office. Once there he saw Kotone was already there. He nodded and smiled at her but she glared at Gaius in response. Understanding what she wanted to say he dismissed it and turned to the warden. He was a blue oni, a rare thing to see in a position such as his. Normally oni were warriors and not members of administration. He could however see some overlap between warden of a supernatural prison and a warrior. His thoughts were interrupted by he raising his voice. ¡°Yes I am an oni in a place filled with corruption. No it doesn''t affect me despite being an Evil Spirit.¡± ¡°I know that. I was wondering why an oni took such a position.¡± ¡°I¡¯ve never liked combat, I prefer calm. Staring aside I am Shoi, warden of Kimobuchi Prison. Now, why do I get two new burdens that are not part of the usual team?¡± ¡°Orders from above.¡± Answered Gaius. His smiled deepened at seeing Shoi¡¯s frown, glad to get back at him for the burden comment. ¡°You don''t say? Why?¡± Should nearly growled the last word. ¡°I don''t know if you have the clearance. I have only been ordered to tell the transport leader.¡± ¡°No problem then, he will tell me.¡± ¡°Not unless Akai authorises you?¡± ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Akai. Akairyuu. You know the Head?¡± ¡°Who are you to speak Master Kagayakashii¡¯s name so freely.¡± The rooms temperature fell as the oni stared at Gaius. While Kotone shivered Gaius looked at him leisurely. ¡°His friend.¡± ¡°Yeah right.¡± He snorted. ¡°The actual reason for your disrespect, or I will have to report you.¡± ¡°Go ahead. Stuck up imbecile.¡± The oni smiled to contain his fury and called through his desk phone. ¡°Master Kagayakashii it¡¯s Shoi. I have a disrespectful man called Gaius here who¡­¡± His voice faltered as he heard Akai¡¯s answer, his eyes widening in disbelief. Once he was done he hanged up and glared even harder at Gaius. ¡°How did you fool him?¡± ¡°Such little faith in him? For being such a fanboy you have little trust in A-k-a-i.¡± The sheer smugness in his voice would have made to make even the most calm of men to rage. The oni was not a calm man. ¡°Enough with the games! Who are you?!¡± ¡°I am Gaius Atiius Quadratus, Rank 4.¡± ¡°At your age? Impossible.¡± ¡°Maybe for a close minded fool with more pride than reason.¡± Gaius¡¯ tone and body language was genial, but it was obvious from his words that he he was anything but. Show realised why Gaius was being so confrontational and tried to relax. ¡°My apologies for the rudeness. Can you finally tell me who you are?¡± ¡°You aren''t really sorry.¡± The oni was about to burst out when Gaius continued. ¡°But it will have to do. I am Gaius Atiius Quadratus, Senjutsu user, Oracle of Augusta Emerita. That is my disciple, Araki Kotone. We have been sent to guard against more esoteric threats. Is that enough?¡± Shoi was astonished and swallowed some saliva. Nervousness set in when he understood he had antagonised a man of similar strength to his that was not only younger but much more valuable for the rareness of his abilities. ¡°Master Gaius I-¡± ¡°Shut up. You are a rude idiot with an inflated sense of importance. You are a mere warden, an administrator of the day to day affairs of the prison. You''re not even in charge of security. But since you can step on prisoners you feel superior.¡± ¡°I-¡± ¡°Shut up. You are a disgrace to the association. Rude, arrogant, foolish. I will send a complaint to the higher ups, they will investigate your behaviour. I hope your incompetence only shows in your treatment of allies, for your own good. Where is the convoy leader?¡± ¡°In the third block waiting room.¡± ¡°Good. Let''s go Kotone.¡± Kotone nodded and hurried after him. Shoi collapsed as he was leaving, his confidence broken. While they were walking to the third block Kotone began speaking. ¡°Between this and Kishi you seem very angry lately.¡± ¡°I have always hated arrogance. To believe oneself perfect is to deny one¡¯s flaws. If you deny your flaws, if you make them out to be normal or even good, you will be at least an ass, like the warden. At worst you will become a monster but this wasn''t the case in both these cases. The warden needed to be reminded he is only one man. Kishi needed to be reminded that he was just a bratty child. The best way to deal with pride is to crush it. Break their perception of themselves by shoving their weaknesses in their faces. Haughtiness must be broken. At least true pride.¡± ¡°True pride?¡± ¡°Think of it in noble terms. A true pride would be the noble that considers his subjects dirt and abuses them as he desires. This is harmful and must be eradicated. False pride would be Noblesse Oblige, the noble believes himself superior and thus his duty is to protect his subjects. This is beneficial but can lead to arrogance induced mistakes, the noble must be taught he is not perfect and has flaws. The humble way would be for the noble to understand he is a just a man given authority and responsibility, he is aware of his flaws and works to mitigate them. This is ideal.¡± ¡°So returning to the previous matter. Kishi was arrogant and you broke that arrogance. How was he arrogant?¡± ¡°Did you know he considered you lazy? Inferior because you didn''t train as much as he did? That he envied you and actually hated you a little for surpassing him while being inferior?¡± Kotone stopped right in the middle of the stone passage, making the guard following them to stumble. ¡°He what?¡± Her voice was mortified and shaky. ¡°I knew he had problems with his growth but I didn''t want to make him-¡± She began to tear a little. ¡°Don''t.¡± She was startled out of her sadness. ¡°Don''t what?¡± ¡°Don''t blame yourself for his assholeness. He didn''t hate you through any fault of yours, it was all his own arrogance and foolishness.¡± He approached Kotone and looked at her in the eyes. ¡°I know you have issues with wanting to be loved Kotone, but this wasn''t your fault. You mustn''t feel bad because Kishi is a douche.¡± ¡°Isn''t that too harsh on Kishi?¡± ¡°No it isn''t. He was insulting you because of his feelings of inferiority. Do not pity him, he brought this on himself through his own actions. If you want to help him become a good person that¡¯s fine, but don''t justify him. Being an asshole is being an asshole, no matter the reasons.¡± ¡°I thought you believed in forgiveness.¡± Said Kotone aggressively. ¡°One must want to seek redemption, to regret their actions, in order to be forgiven. And that has nothing to do with remembering his actions. I will hold no Ill will towards him, I will help him in becoming a better person. But I will not forget his actions. Forgive, don''t forget. And justifying others is in direct opposition with forgiveness. To forgive you must acknowledge the other did harm to you and not hold it against them. If you justify them, rationalise their deeds, you are dismissing that harm. You are enabling evil. If you justify you are an accomplice.¡± ¡°That¡¯s a bit ranty.¡± Kotone laughed nervously. Gaius relaxed and put his hands on her shoulders. ¡°Kotone you are a good girl. Do not let that goodness be abused by others, you must not allow your compassion to allow evil, to be abused.¡± ¡°Isn''t evil a but strong here?¡± ¡°Maybe. But the thing you were doing for Kishi is what you would allow others to take advantage of you. That must be curtailed now that it hasn''t caused much harm.¡± Kotone began to try and answer, but she couldn''t think of anything. ¡°Can I think this through?¡± ¡°Always.¡± They did the rest of the walk in silence. Kotone didn''t even realise when Gaius introduced them and stated their function. Her reverie was only broken when they left the prison and boarded the trucks. They were placed in the same one as the leader¡¯s for ease of communication. ¡°Kotone.¡± ¡°Huh?!¡± ¡°Pay attention, we must be alert.¡± ¡°Sure!¡± Having been chastised she began to pay attention to her surroundings. The travel went smoothly until they reached the outskirts of the city. Once they reached them Kotone lifted her head and looked at Gaius, who nodded. He then turned to Uda Mishima, the leader. ¡°Uda, I feel a spiritual disturbance nearby.¡± Extra 1. My six other ideas. I will begin posting the first chapters of my other six ideas, sorry I had two more. I will post three now and the other three sometime later this week. Son of the Archangel. Limited LitRPG in a modern Earth urban fantasy Superhero setting. You know of DC and Marvel where magic is brought forward by the appearance of Superheroes? Here we chronicle the story of one of these supernatural creatures in an original superhero and fantasy setting. Different magic from A healthy mind on a healthy body based on Grimoires. Nine Cosmic Spheres. Portal fantasy from a fantasy world to another. The MC''s main power is guardian spirits and a special body. Not LitRPG.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. The Artificer Paladin. High fantasy. Full LitRPG. The MC is both a crafter and a fighter. He isn''t actually a Paladin. The next three aren''t fully written yet so they will wait. Magical Artes ad Dominum. A mage enters an inter dimensional mercenary ring. Similar to stories such as Terror Infinity and Galactic fist of legend in premise, I didn''t really like this one but it''s a good example, but not execution or worldbuilding. Has stats but isn''t a LitRPG. I Will Escape from Hell. An imp takes a fragment of an evil god and chooses he wants nothing to do with Hell. LitRPG, evolution involved. High fantasy. Imperial Virtue. LitRPG post-apocalyptic fantasy real VRMMO. The world as was known was a simulation by bored gods to study the variations of Earth before being turned into a VRMMO game for humans of another Earth as a social experiment. This change was possible because it was planned from the beginning. Join a Spanish Empire Reformist who wishes to end the depravities of colonialism when he is chronologically displaced at the beginning of the apocalypse from the 1800s to the contemporary era. Extra 2. The Artificer Paladin. Childhood. In the backyard of a wooden house a six year old child in cotton clothes was playing. He had ripped stalks of grass and was twisting them into a ring shape, however he didn''t manage to do what he wanted. And that was for the World to recognise his hard work. The child kept making rings without pause, like nothing else in the world mattered. He had seen his father work metal and his mother make accessories, and he wished to surprise them by showing that he could do it too. With childish desire to make his parents praise him he spent hours making ring after ring. Eventually his efforts were rewarded. Congratulations M?mrud You have achieved a great deed for the first time. You have awakened to the Codex as a result and from now on you will be able to use it to improve yourself. M?mrud felt elated, he had done it. He had done something worthy of awakening and had thus acquired a connection to the Codex. It was rare for someone other than a noble to reach this point at his age. Surely his parents would praise him. He began laughing softly. His mirth only increased with the next message. Congratulations M?mrud. Due to creating an artefact grade accessory from unranked materials you have gained the Accessory Crafting Skill. The Accessory Crafting Skill will allow you to understand and make better accessory artefacts. While M?mrud basked in his achievement the Codex was updating his information and soon the process was complete. Congratulations M?mrud. The Codex has recognised your information. You have gained the Early Bloomer Achievement Tier 3. You have gained the Little Genius Achievement Tier 7. You have gained the Little Artificer Achievement Tier 1. You have gained the Little Warrior Achievement Tier 2. You have gained the Little Wizard Achievement Tier 2. Please begin Codex Tutorial. M?mrud nodded excitedly, before he remembered he had to think in words to activate the tutorial. ¡®Begin tutorial¡¯ Please bring up your status. ¡®Status¡¯ Name: M?mrud. Species: Human. Class: None. Secondary Class: None Level: 0 Health: 35 Mana: 50 Stamina: 200 Attributes: Strength: 4 Vitality: 5 Agility: 3 Perception: 12 Intellect: 20 Willpower: 13 Mana attunement: 6 Authority: 5 Magic resistance: 2 Racial traits. Human Endurance: Doubles Stamina. Halves Stamina consumption. Human Learning: +2000% Skill Experience Gain. -50% lower mental requirements to gain Skills. -50% difficulty in improving or mutating Skills. M?mrud was excited to see his attributes. However when he saw them he was overwhelmed. He knew he was usually tougher and more intelligent than his fellows but a vitality of 5 at his age was impressive. The true surprise was in his mental attributes. They were ridiculously high. This is your status. It records the most fundamental information about yourself. Name: What you are known as. Species: Shows your species. Human: Your species. Grants Human Endurance. Grants Human Learning. Average attributes at age 15 Level 0: Physical 10. Mental 15. Magical 10. Base essences: 10 Health. 20 Mana.+5 Hp per Vitality. +5 Mana per Mana attunement. +20 Stamina per Vitality. Class: Your way of growing. It determines your attribute gains at level up and opens Skill trees. Gives bonuses to certain Skills. Works retroactively. Secondary Class: A less effective Class. -2 Ap per level granted. Level: A measure of your achievements. When you reach a certain threshold your attributes will increase. Health: A numerical representation of your life essence. Regenerates at VIT/10 per minute. Mana: A numerical representation of your power essence. Regenerates at MA/5 per minute. Stamina: A numerical representation of your stamina. Regenerates at VIT/2 Per second. Strength: Determines physical attack power and burst speed. Vitality: Determines health, physical defence and stamina. Improves resistance to physical status effects. Agility: Determines all kinds of physical speed and coordination. Perception: Determines the precision and resilience of the senses. Improves reaction speed. Intellect: Determines information processing skills, memory and rational thought. Influences Skill learning. Willpower: Determines your determination. Improves resistance to pain and mental status effects. Mana attunement: Determines Mana and Mana regeneration. Determines the amount of mana you can hold without being damaged. Authority: Determines strength and effectiveness of spells. Required to be at a certain threshold to learn spells. Magic Resistance: Determines magical defence. Improves resistance to magical status effects. Racial traits: The special abilities of your species. Was this even necessary? Thought M?mrud. Every civilised being, and even barbarians and monsters, knew this. Beginning Achievement calculation. Early Bloomer Tier 3. Requirements. Gain status before 15 years of age. Have total attributes of 9*age. Effects: +2 to all attributes. Doesn''t count to next Achievement Tier. Gain Essence Sense. Little Genius Tier 7. Requirements. Gain status before 15 years of age. Have total mental attributes of 7*age. Effects: +6 to all mental attributes. Doesn''t count to next Achievement Tier. Gain Mental Attack.Gain Mental Defense. Gain Skill Instinct. Little Artificer Tier 1. Requirements: Gain an artefact making skill before 15 years of age. Level 1 artefact crafting Skill. Effects: Gain Essence Refinement. Little Warrior Tier 2. Requirements: Get status before 15 years of age. Have 2*age total physical attributes. Effects: +1 to all physical attributes. Doesn''t count for next Achievement Tier. Gain Aura. Little Wizard Tier 2. Requirements: Gain status before 15 years of age. Have 2*age total magical attributes. Effects: Gain +1 to all magical attributes. Doesn''t count to next Achievement Tier. Gain Mana Manipulation.Recalculating status. Applying skill effects. M?mrud cried in pain and clutched his head. He curled into himself before his muscles began seizing and his body burn with pain. It was a mercy that the pain was short and after it a wave of pleasant warmth spread through his battered body soothing his nerves. M?mrud rose to his feet and looked around. The world looked more vibrant than ever before. He could see further and cleaner, he could hear more and he could smell for. This was just the the most blatant changes. Over time he noticed more things, he though faster and better, he felt stronger and healthier. Once he got accustomed to his new state he noticed new knowledge in his head. From Accessory Crafting he gained the know how of making simple accessories. From Essence Sense he learned the many kinds of essences and could now detect them. From Mental Attack how to fight mental battles and from Mental Defense how to fend off invasions of his mind. Skill Instinct gave him a feeling of how Skills should be performed. Essence Refinement showed him how to condense, refine and extract the essence from an object. Aura expended Stamina to increase Strength, Vitality and Agility by 1 at the current level. Finally Mana Manipulation allowed him to use his mana without needing Skills. It was a marvellous feeling. To go from ignorance to knowledge. To gain attributes and skills. He felt better, more complete. The elation of feeling his improvement was addicting. This was not hyperbole, there were indeed people who got addicted to attribute increases or skill gains. They usually worked hard to gain even one point, throwing themselves into danger for better gains. They usually died fast. Fortunately M?mrud was too young to grow so desperate for the feeling and soon forgot it. He run around testing his new attributes. He run, lifted crates of materials, and did math. He was in the middle of his little rampage when the messages appeared again. Now that you are familiar with your new gains it is time to continue the tutorial. First open your status and view the changes. Name: M?mrud. Species: Human. Class: None. Secondary Class: None Level: 0 Health: 50 Mana: 65 Stamina: 320 Attributes: Strength: 4(+3) Vitality: 5(+3) Agility: 3(+3) Perception: 12(+8) Intellect: 20(+8) Willpower: 13(+8) Mana attunement: 6(+3) Authority: 5(+3) Magic resistance: 2(+3) Racial traits. Human Endurance: Doubles Stamina. Halves Stamina consumption. Human Learning: +2000% Skill Experience Gain. -50% lower mental requirements to gain Skills. -50% difficulty in improving or mutating Skills. Eyes wide in innocent wonder M?mrud laughed in joy, not understanding how bizarre it was to have so many achievements, only happy that he could make his parents proud. In reality achievements are difficult to get. Where it not for his naturally high mental attributes born from his maturity, for his age, and his upbringing that put emphasis on always finishing what he started he couldn''t have such high achievements. Had his parents not encouraged his willpower he would not have trained as hard as he had. All of this was what made possible his early awakening and above average attributes. Even children of nobility had less achievements. His brown eyes glistened in the sunlight as he rolled around in satisfaction, the tutorial forgotten for now. But the Codex isn''t denied for long and he had to continue it. Now think Skills. ¡®Skills¡¯ Skill list. Passive. Mental Defense Lv. 1: +10% to mental defense effectiveness. Mental Attack Lv. 1: +10% to mental attack effectiveness. Skill Instinct Lv. 1: +20% Skill training speed. Essence Sense Lv. 1: Sense essences in a 20 m radius. Accessory Crafting Lv. 1: Allows craft of Poor quality accessories. Active. Essence Refinement Lv. 1: Allows Refinement of low level essences. Mana Cost variable. Aura Lv. 1: +1 STR, VIT and AGI. Stamina Cost 5 per second. Mana Manipulation Lv. 1: Allows Manipulation of up to 20 Mana. Mana Cost equals mana manipulated. Skills increase in level as you use them. Once you reach level 10 they are mastered and can no longer be increased. However they can be improved or mutated.Passive Skills are always active and cost nothing, however you can concentrate on using them for increased effectiveness. Active Skills require conscious activation and cost Health, Mana or Stamina.Now, use an active Skill. M?mrud panicked a little, he only had three skills and his parents had forbidden him to use magic or physical Skills without supervision. That left him with Essense Refinement but he had nothing to refine. Trying to find something with essence he concentrated in his new sense. Suddenly everything lit up in his mind. Life Essence coursed through the grass, the crates of materials had fire, lightning, water, iron, steel, silver and gold essences in them. But there was one thing that shined bright. The little grass ring he had made. Curious M?mrud grabbed it and made its Codex entry appear. ¡°Codex query: Artifact.¡± Poor grass ring. Artefact quality: Poor. Hardness: 1 Durability: 5/5 Effects: +5% Health regeneration. His mood fell, it was indeed the weakest artefact he had seen in his life. One of the ones his mother made that she gifted to a kid because it was too poor to be sold was like this. Iron Ring of Vitality. Quality: Passable. Hardness: 6 Durability; 20/20 Effect: +2 VIT. The difference was staggering and depressing. His best work wasn''t even acceptable to his mother''s eye. However like a true child he perked up quickly, for if it was that poor he could refine it without loss, right? With renewed spirits he took the ring and concentrated on it. Nothing happened causing little M?mrud to panic. Was he useless, not even capable of using his spells? He was on the verge of tears when a message sounded on his head. You have to say the name in your mind to activate a Skill, you fool. What was that about being useless? M?mrud didn''t remember not remembering how to activate his Skills, no sir. ¡®Essence Refinement!¡¯ He watched fascinated as the ring began shining and turned translucent. It suddenly shattered into motes of light that dispersed, with a few concentrating to the centre of where the ring was. At that moment a feeling of wrongness filled M?mrud and he focused on making all the motes concentrate on instinct. This was the effect of Skill Instinct, an instinctual understanding on what''s needed to improve a Skill. Due to it several things happened at the same time. Congratulations M?mrud. Essence Refinement has increased to level 4. Quality of low level essences improved, consumption reduced. Congratulations M?mrud. You have successfully created a Grass Ring Essence. M?mrud jumped on the spot and began a little dance. He finished it with his arm going up to the sky. ¡°I did it!¡± He quickly grabbed the green crystal after he finished and examined it. It was the size of a nail and translucent. ¡°Codex query: Essence.¡± Grass Ring Essence. Quality: Average. Level: Low. Effect: With Essence Fusing this essence can be added to an object or another Essence in order to grant it a permanent boost. It can also be consumed directly for a temporary boost. It increases Health. ¡°Huh? Fusing? How do I get that?¡± Essence Fusing can be acquired once Essence Refinement is mastered or any artefact crafting Skill reaches level 5. With a way to improve himself little M?mrud spent the rest of the morning making rings and extracting their essence. Once his skills no longer increased with them he extracted the essence from the iron ingots his father had in the backyard. He kept doing that for a while longer until finally he heard the most wonderful sound. Badabadaba baba bababada~ Essence Refinement has been mastered. Essence Fusing has been acquired. You have the following options for improvement or mutation: -Reduced Mana consumption -Improved essence quality. -Improved extraction efficiency. -Specialization: Metal. -Specialization: Living matter. If you improve or mutate the Skill its level will be reset but you won''t lose the improvements you had gotten previously. M?mrud was about to dance in joy and select an improvement but he remembered something his father had told him. ¡°M?mrud you have to remember something. If you by some miracle manage to master a Skill by yourself come to me to see the best way to improve it. Do not decide by yourself, you are too young for that. Promise me?¡± ¡°Yes, father!¡± M?mrud wanted to make his Skill go further but he had sworn his father and honourable men must keep their promises. He thus reluctantly ignored the options and focused on fusing the essences he already had. By the time he was done he had gained three levels on fusing and two essences. Greater Grass Ring Essence. Quality: Excellent. Level: Low-Medium. Effect: Increases Health related attributes. Superior Pure Iron Essence. Quality: Excellent. Level: Low-Medium. Effect: Grants traits of iron. He was excited to finally try the best way to make artefacts. Combining an already made object with essences. He proceeded to make a new grass ring with great care and to the summit of his level 3 Skill. He was satisfied with the result. Grass Ring. Quality: Good. Hardness 1 Durability 7/7 Effects: +7% increased Health regeneration. Before fusing the essences M?mrud relaxed, as he had seen his father and mother do. Once he felt prepared he started to fuse the iron essence to the ring. The crystal broke into light and began to enter the ring changing its colour and consistency. By the time it was done the grass had hardened considerably, no longer looking like grass woven into ring shape, but an iron ring sculpted to look like grass. He relaxed once again and fused the grass essence into the ring, giving it a greenish tint. Congratulations M?mrud. Your Accessory Crafting Skill has reached level 5. Increased accessory quality, increased fusible essences into a single accessory. Your Essence Fusing Skill has reached level 4. Increased essence quality, decreased Mana consumption. ¡°Codex query: Accessory!¡± Lush Irongrass Ring. Quality: Lacking. Hardness 5 Durability: 15/15 Effect: +3 VIT. +20% Health regeneration. M?mrud was impressed with his mother. Her accessory that had been mass made with poor materials and less essences than his was still only a little worse in effect and much better in quality. This was really hard since his still was considered a failure. He began thinking on how to improve it when he had an idea. The quality would improve if it was made of steel, and gems always improved the quality of accessories. He ran to get some coal and spare emerald dust from his mother''s workshop and went back to the backyard. The essences he got from both were awesome in his expert opinion. Concentrated Carbon Essence. Quality: Excellent. Level: Low Effect: Adds carbon traits. Emerald Essence. Quality: Good. Level: Low-High. Effect: Improves other effects. Grants mental traits. ¡°Refine and fuse~ refine and fuse~ I love refining and fusing~.¡± M?mrud sang while working, a smile in his lips. He was finally becoming a true artificer, he was like his parents! He was about to fuse the carbon essence when the feeling of wrongness appeared again. He could only fuse one more essence into the ring at his level! It was a disaster, how could he complete his masterpiece now? M?mrud began to think really hard, he was going to be an artificer, nothing would get on his way. Inspiration struck, if only one more essence could be fused why not fuse the two he already had? Admiring his genius M?mrud set to do just that. He however came across a little problem. The Skill began consuming his Mana at great speeds and he was losing control of it. Thankfully he had a great effective willpower of 21, even if not base, and managed to hold on until the essences were fused.If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. A great spectacle unfolded. The fused essence began to shine and tremble. It heated up so much M?mrud had to drop it. In fear he run back to his house and hid under his bed. When he heard nothing happening he went back and found that the essence had still not changed. He looked at it curiously and waited some minutes until it stopped shining brightly, its glow dimming greatly. Grabbing it again he saw that it had began shining softly with its own light. Congratulations M?mrud. You have achieved a task beyond what your current capabilities should be able to do through great willpower. Your Essence Fusing Skill has reached level 8. M?mrud knew what this meant. If his level had doubled then¡­ ¡°Codex query: Essence.¡± His voice trembled with hope and expectation. Emerald-Diamond Essence. Quality: Good. Level: Medium-Low. Effects: Grants carbon traits. Greatly increases other effects. Grants medium mental effects. Perfect! Shouted M?mrud in his mind. This was perfect, better than anything else. With this essence his ring might reach the low artifact level! He began the last fusion before he noticed he was out of mana. Too impatient to wait for it to regenerate he went to the storage room and grabbed a mana potion. Before he left he had another idea. With his mana regenerated and a health potion in hand M?mrud began the experiment. He would fuse the ring and essence, but inside the potion. He had a feeling that would do something. Eyes shining in wonder he started. It seemed to go well, the objects fusing nicely and without issue. At first that is, M?mrud had stumbled upon an advanced technique by accident. One he wasn''t ready for. The fusing began to absorb more mana, but M?mrud had learned from the last and had more mana potions near. He didn''t fear until he felt the suction of his mana increasing, going faster than his regeneration and the mana offered by the potion. Feeling anxious he made another mistake, he drank all seven potions at hand. Each one gave 50 mana, and all together he got 350 mana, well above his 65 limit. Taking into account his low magical resistance he would have died right there where it not for his Skill consuming large quantities of said mana. While his body broke down from the strain his vitality healed the damage. It was a battle between both, with the fate of the child hanging in the balance. M?mrud nearly fainted but he didn''t want his ring to be a failure so he kept on. This saved his life, since if the Skill had stopped he would have died. ¡°Mom, Dad, Israc. Help me.¡± He whimpered. And he was heard, his pain lessened slightly and his health began to regenerate faster. His prayer saved his life. This kept for a minute, but the fusion was completed. While there was some mana leftover it wasn''t a lethal dose, he had survived. M?mrud was in no shape to think about this though. He embraced his knees and began crying until he fell asleep. *** An hour later his parents had returned to his house from the Artificer Guild meeting. They came relaxed, trusting their house¡¯s defences and his own sense of responsibility to keep M?mdrum safe. They got a great scare when they found their son asleep in the backyard. The mother, Anglilt, ran to him and propped him up. ¡°M?mrud, M?mrud!¡± She shaked him while his father Tenlil went to get medical supplies. Soon after he returned M?mrud began to wake up. ¡°Mom? Yawn.¡± He said sleepily. His parents sighed in relief, he was alright. ¡°What happened son?¡± Asked Tenlil worried. M?mrud related his tale and closed his eyes, fearing their scolding. However his expectations where betrayed, for his parents only embraced him ¡°I''m glad you are fine son.¡± ¡°Huh? You aren''t going to punish me?¡± ¡°As your mother said, we are only glad you are alright. Also the experience is punishment enough. Will you experiment with your Skills unsupervised again?¡± M?mrud widened his eyes and shocked his head fiercely. While he was still going to be an artificer he would not experiment again. Anglilt chuckled at his son, between relief and thinking how cute his son was. They brought him in the house and made him sit down. While they weren''t nobles they were still artificers, so they could afford somewhat luxurious furniture. M?mrud was relaxing on the couch when his father brought the ring in. ¡°I am impressed by you. I didn''t get my status until the Choosing Ritual. What you did was incredible son. Even more impressive is this ring. Go on, look at it.¡± ¡°Codex query: Artefact.¡± Blessed Gem-Steel Circlet of Vigour. Quality: Excellent. Hardness 10 Durability 2000/2000 Origin: A ring made with advanced techniques by a novice artisan through immense willpower. He would have died had Israc not taken pity on him and aided him. This ring has both the qualities of the original artifact and remnants of the miracle Israc performed. Level 0/00 Effects: +15 Vit. +100% Health regeneration. +5 Will. +1 to magical attributes. +50% mental resistance. -10% damage from undead and demons +10% damage to undead and demons Skill: Prayer: Heals 100 Health, Mana and Stamina. Once a day. Skill: Shield of Faith: Creates a shield of 100 Defense around the target. Once a day. SoulBound to M?mrud. Unlimited growth. M?mrud became a fish, his mouth opened and closed without end. ¡°Surprised right? This one is better than my best.¡± ¡°That isn''t right Mom.¡± Refuted M?mrud. ¡°Your rings increase way more than this. Your best increased strength and agility by a 100 each.¡± ¡°Yes they are better.¡± Accepted Tenlil. ¡°Right now that is.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Son, this ring is capable of unlimited growth. With enough essence it can grow indefinitely. It''s potential is the greatest I''ve seen. Honestly if it wasn''t SoulBound I would make you hide it until you were at least level 200 at least.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°It''s too valuable. If it wasn''t incapable of being used by other people, or if it didn''t go with you when you die, people would kill you for it. As it is they won''t. So be glad for that.¡± Explained Anglilt. M?mrud didn''t really understand, he was too young to know about the ugliness of the human heart. Seeing this his father smiled tenderly and pet him. ¡°It''s good you don''t understand. I hope you won''t still for a few years.¡± ¡°Alright?¡± ¡°You should look at your status. I''m sure this incident has changed something. ¡°Ah! I forgot!¡± Congratulations M?mrud. Your Accessory Crafting Skill has been mastered. Options: -Improve quality. -Improve quantity. -Specialization: Rings. -Evolve Skill. Level insufficient. Congratulations M?mrud. Your Essence Fusing Skill has been mastered. Options: -Improve quality. -Improve quantity. -Improve Efficiency. -Increase compatibility. -Reduced Mana consumption. -Evolve Skill. Level insufficient. Congratulations M?mrud. You have gained 4 WILL. You have gained 7 MR. You have gained 1 AT. You have gained 3 MA. You have gained 10 VIT. Applying changes Name: M?mrud. Species: Human. Class: None. Secondary Class: None Level: 0 Health: 175 Mana: 85 Stamina: 1320 Attributes: Strength: 4(+3) Vitality: 15(+18) Agility: 3(+3) Perception: 12(+8) Intellect: 20(+8) Willpower: 17(+13) Mana attunement:9(+4) Authority:6(+4) Magic resistance:9(+4) Racial traits. Human Endurance: Doubles Stamina. Halves Stamina consumption. Human Learning: +2000% Skill Experience Gain. -50% lower mental requirements to gain Skills. -50% difficulty in improving or mutating Skills. Recalculating Achievements. Congratulations M?mrud. You have gained the Achievement Little Warrior Tier 3. Requirements: Acquire status before 15 years of age. Have 3*age total physical attributes. Effects: + 2 to all physical attributes. You have gained the Achievement Little Genius Tier 8. Requirements: Acquire status before 15 years of age. Have 8*age total mental attributes. Effects: +7 to all mental attributes. You have gained the Achievement Little Wizard Tier 4. Requirements: Gain status before 15 years of age. Have 4*age magical attributes. Effects: +3 to all magical attributes. Gain Mana Sense. You have gained the Achievement Early Bloomer Tier 5. Requirements: Gain status before 15 years of age. Have 15*age total attributes. Effects: +4 to all attributes. Gain Meditation. You have gained the Achievement Master Tier 1. Requirements: Master 3 Skills. Effects: Gain 3 Evolution Points. Name: M?mrud. Species: Human. Class: None. Secondary Class: None Level: 0 Health: 190 Mana: 105 Stamina: 1440 Attributes: Strength: 4(+6) Vitality: 15(+21) Agility: 3(+6) Perception: 12(+11) Intellect: 20(+11) Willpower: 17(+16) Mana attunement:9(+8) Authority:6(+8) Magic resistance:9(+8) Racial traits. Human Endurance: Doubles Stamina. Halves Stamina consumption. Human Learning: +2000% Skill Experience Gain. -50% lower mental requirements to gain Skills. -50% difficulty in improving or mutating Skills. M?mrud smiled brightly. ¡°Mom, Dad! I''ve mastered 3 Skills and my Achievements have improved.¡± ¡°¡±What?!¡±¡± Shouted his parents incredulously. He flinched and shrunk in his couch, their scream had scared him. They saw that and calmed down. ¡°Sorry to scare you son, but what you said is incredible. Can you allow us to see your status?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He had nothing to hide from his parents after all. ¡°¡°Codex query: Appraisal.¡±¡± His parents looked at his status, Skills and Achievements and were amazed. ¡°You are a genius son. Now I can believe more that you could make that ring.¡± Said Tenlil. ¡°Dear we have to speak.¡± Anglilt took him aside and talked with him. M?mrud could only hear whispers but he became uneasy. ¡°...but he is too young.¡± ¡°If he does this he will become a legend¡­¡± They soon came back and sat in front of M?mrud. ¡°Son,¡± began Tenlil soberly, ¡°we have something to explain.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± He answered, unsure of where they were going. ¡°These Little and Early Achievements can only be acquired before the 7th birthday. And through normal growth and training alone in these seven months before your birthday you might at most get one or two Tiers on each.¡± ¡°That''s good, isn''t it?¡± ¡°Normally, yes. But your Little Genius is Tier 8. If an Achievement reaches Tiers 10, 11 and 12 you will get an Skill per Tier and 1, 2 and 3 Proofs of Greatness respectively. The Skills will be incredibly useful and while you still can''t use them Proofs of Greatness are immensely useful in Class and Race Ups. Just getting one Proof is the work of years, but to get six you just need 23 mental attributes. With intense training that is possible for you, taking your Skills into account. So what do you prefer son. An Achievement worth of legends, or a more rounded base. Keep in mind that after your 7th birthday you can still get more physical and magical attributes, you just can''t get the achievements.¡± ¡°What are the benefits of Proofs of Greatness?¡± ¡°To become a Paladin of Israc requires one, as well as faith on Israc obviously. Becoming a High Human can be done with another. I don''t even know what you can get for six. More importantly you don''t use them, you just need them to have them.¡± ¡°But I want to be an artificer.¡± M?mdur was torn, on one hand his dream of being an artificer, on the other every little kid¡¯s dream of being a Paladin. Tenlil began laughing and Anglilt chuckled. ¡°Son, you can have two Classes. Not only Paladin, but Sage, Magic Knight, General, even higher Tiers of artificer Classes are at your disposal.¡± M?mrud was astonished when his feather said this. That was right, he could have two Classes. And the ones he spoke of were incredible. Being a Paladin or Sage! That was an impossible dream. Something they played pretend to be, but knew was difficult to achieve. Being just a Knight or Mage was all they dared to dream. That he had the chance to be something like that was¡­ unthinkable. The choice was obvious to him. ¡°How do I get 23 attributes in seven months?¡± ¡°We have a friend. A Mind Mage. He can, now that you have your status, train you until you get those points.¡± Explained Anglilt. ¡°Why don''t nobles do this?¡± ¡°They do son. They do. It''s why all of them can become Knights or the such. The difference is that you have unnaturally high mental attributes. And with the accident earlier you have upgraded your willpower enough that you can handle all the training he''d do.¡± ¡°What will he do?¡± ¡°We are thinking of improving your Mental Defense and Mental Attack Skills until you become a Dominum Animum. A master of the mind, capable of defending his mind against intruders and ripping people''s secrets from theirs.¡± ¡°That sounds bad.¡± ¡°It is. Dominum Animum are only allowed to defend themselves or interrogate criminals, spies or accused innocents. It is a noble vocation.¡± ¡°I see. When do I start? Can I say goodbye to my friends?¡± ¡°Why would you do that? He lives in the city.¡± ¡°That''s great!¡± M?mrud perked up, glad he didn''t need to leave his home. Something brought his mood down. ¡°Isn''t this too easy? It feels cheap.¡± ¡°Cheap?! You mean that getting your status at six years of age is cheap? That having more than 42 mental attributes at that age is cheap? That having a miracle happen on you is cheap? This training requires at least 20 Perception and 30 Willpower as well as the Mental Defense and Attack Skills. Which, by the way, are extremely difficult to acquire, even for humans. Is all of that still cheap?¡± ¡°If you put it like that, no. But it still feels cheap.¡± M?mrud responded petulantly. Anglilt smiled at her child warmly, but inside she had to resist the urge to embrace him and cuddle him. ¡°How can my son be this adorable?¡± On the other hand Tenlil didn''t hold back and took his son into his arms. ¡°Wha-! Dad! Stop!¡± They kept playing for a while, and when Anglilt couldn''t resist and jumped in it only became longer. *** After they finished playing they laid on the floor, with M?mrud cuddling between his parents. He smiled and closed his eyes to better enjoy the position as his mother caressed his hair. ¡°Mom, Dad?¡± ¡°Yes son?¡± ¡°I have three Skills mastered. What do I do with them?¡± ¡°What are your options?¡± Asked Anglilt. ¡°Let me see.¡± He brought his Skills once more and notice he now had the option to evolve Essence Refinement, but it was locked. He read his options to his parents. ¡°That you can''t evolve them is natural. Every time you improve or specialise the skill resets and becomes hmm... How to say it?¡± Began Tenlil. Anglilt continued. ¡°For example Essence refining will become Essence Refining 2. Once you master that one it will become Essence Refining 3. This will keep happening until Essence Refining 12. Once you reach that point you can only evolve or fuse it with another compatible 12 Skill. That requires evolution points.¡± ¡°I see! What do I do then?¡± ¡°Do not specialise. If you do you will get better at the chosen discipline but worse at the others. It''s common to get the basic production Skills to 12 before evolving them. If you want to specialise you can do it by relearning the Skill. But doing otherwise is cutting yourself from other disciplines until you fully master the Skill. And while specialisation is good you must have the basics of all disciplines covered.¡± Counselled Tenlil. ¡°What?¡± ¡°If you get Essence Refining (Metal) you can only refine metals until you reach Essence Refining (Metal) 12. Once you have that one you can evolve it into Refine Metal and take Essence Refining again. This would take at least a year unless you can splurge with rare and expensive materials. ¡°Why is that?¡± ¡°Because the more danger you are in, or the rarer or expensive the materials you work with are, the more Skill experience you get.¡± ¡°I see. I know!¡± He sat up. ¡°What do you know?¡± Said Anglilt, turning her head from the sky to him. ¡°I will reduce mana consumption for Refining and Fusing! I already get good quality but I nearly died because of it.¡± ¡°Great choice.¡± Encouraged him Tenlil, hoping to teach him to think for himself. ¡°What of Accessory Crafting?¡± ¡°Um. Quality?¡± ¡°So you prefer to make a few great goods than many good ones?¡± Edged him Anglilt. ¡°Um.¡± His eyes began to swim in confusion before he thought of an answer. ¡°I know! Which one would help adventurers and knights more?¡± His parents winced and looked around, but relaxed when they realised they were alone. ¡°Never ask that question in a gathering of artisans M?mrud.¡± Instructed Tenlil seriously. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Because that is the most disputed question in the industry. If you make too few goods not all adventurers will be equipped but those that are will be better. If you make too many they will all be armed but worse. I have seen Guild meetings prolong hours just because some newbie asked that question. Only theological or political debates get worse.¡± ¡°What is your opinion then?¡± ¡°We need both styles. But what is truly needed is better artisans who can mass produce great artefacts. So you need to train so hard that no matter which way you go you will make great artefacts.¡± ¡°That doesn''t answer me Mom. Oh! Which one are you?¡± ¡°Want to follow on your folks footsteps then? We both are quantity over quality. High quality goods have a better margin of profit that makes it equal in earning to mass produced but before you reach that point they will earn you less.¡± ¡°What point?¡± ¡°The point where a little jump in quality means a large jump in price. Between us and high quality guys of the same level there are only a few tens of attributes, less than 10% more than ours, but they can only make half the artefacts a week. Due to prices that means they make 25% less profit than us.¡± ¡°At what level are you?¡± ¡°Each evolution is called a Tier. There are thirteen Tiers, but the thirteenth is legendary, so effectively twelve. We are on the third Tier. For you to profit equally you must be at least at the fourth, and from that onwards the profit is about the same.¡± ¡°Only the third?¡± ¡°Only the third he says!¡± Shouted Tenlil. ¡°Kid we are 23 years old, we got our statuses eight years ago, what do you want from us? The Guildmaster is a Tier 8. And we are humans, a let us say, beastman of the same age as us may be only Tier 2 maybe even 1. Admittedly a dwarf of the same age with bonuses to Crafting will be of the same Tier but make better or more goods.¡± ¡°What about elves? They are also famed for their Crafting right?¡± ¡°Yep. Elves, dwarves, goblins, gnomes and humans. The five races famed across the land for their craftsmanship. But elves live much longer than we do. An elf our age has just gotten their status, and without Human Learning who knows how long it''ll take them to reach our level.¡± M?mrud thought for a moment. ¡°Then are we better than them?¡± The parents frowned. ¡°No.¡± Said Anglilt flatly. ¡°We are not those Holy Light extremists, we Isracists are not racist or speciecist. No matter the Tier of your race all sapients are equal in front of Israc. If they have too low attributes to equal our capabilities we must just help them elevate their species Tier.¡± ¡°Species Tier?¡± ¡°As Skills species have Tiers. Sapience only appears in Tier 2 onwards. Humans are a Tier 4 race, as are elves, dwarves and the other Crafters. The higher the Tier the higher the base attributes and racial traits of the individual. Individuals can improve their Tier through reaching certain requirements. For example High Humans require a Proof of Greatness and are a Tier 5 race.¡± ¡°How do you improve a Species Tier?¡± ¡°The most common is time. Humans were a million years ago the erectus, now extinct, a Tier 3 species. And before Ilva began the humanization process we were the Tier 2 species Wise Apes, now extinct. Goblins were until three thousand years ago Lesser Goblins and were a plague that was too stupid to do anything else aside of stealing from and imitating the other races, it''s why those Holy Light extremists consider them inferior.¡± ¡°But,¡± interjected Tenlil, ¡°we can elevate their Species Tier by making them accomplish a great deed that makes the gods reward them with a Tier increase. Gnomes used to be a Tier 3 species until Grouth the Wise killed the Demon Duke Amphrosias a thousand years ago.¡± ¡°Returning to the previous method it is known for species to degenerate. Such as Direbears, Tier 2, becoming Mountain Bears, Tier 1. No sapient species has ever degraded until they lost sapience, it is commonly believed that the gods won''t allow that. The Lightning Pantherkin degraded to Pantherkin through decadence and hedonism, but that is the most that has happened in recorded history.¡± Explained Anglilt. ¡°I see. Interesting!¡± They felt pleasurably silent before M?mrud screamed. ¡°Aaah! I forgot to Skill Up. Quality, I choose you!¡± ¡°Wait, quality?¡± ¡°Yes Dad. Since if I become a Knight or Mage I will have enough money, and we need to have equal numbers of quality and quantity I chose quality.¡± ¡°Awww. Who is a little rational kid?¡± ¡°Mom! I''m not a baby! So embarrassing.¡± *** Two days later M?mrud was in the park with a towel attached to his back, playing with other kids. ¡°I am the Guardian Knight of this park! Vile villains! You will not get away with your crimes.¡± He began pursuing the other kids that were playing bandits. In the middle of his play he saw a pale girl sitting alone on the side. ¡°Guys! I''m leaving for a moment.¡± He went to her and greeted her. ¡°Vilrin! You are here.¡± ¡°Hello M?mrud.¡± ¡°You didn''t come yesterday.¡± ¡°Sorry. I had things to do.¡± ¡°That isn''t true. It was Riley wasn''t it?¡± She looked to the ground. ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Why didn''t you tell me?¡± ¡°Well¡­ I didn''t want to get you in trouble.¡± ¡°Trouble? I am the son of artificers and she of potters, she can''t do anything to me. Unless I abused her or something,then I''d get in trouble with the Guards.¡± ¡°You trust the guards?¡± ¡°I don''t know how it is in the Stemihan Kingdom, but in the Holy Levoven Empire Guards are trustworthy.¡± He shrugged. ¡°At least in Mavolcen I guess.¡± ¡°That is different form Stemihan, those Guards only care about the nobility. Still are you up for protecting me my Knight?¡± ¡°Indeed my lady.¡± ¡°I thought you wanted to be an artificer?¡± ¡°I can be both.¡± ¡°Being a Knight is difficult though. You need at least sixty effective physical attributes and forty base physical attributes to be one.¡± ¡°Really?¡± He looked at his status. ¡°I am halfway there with my basics and only need four more points to get the effective so that''s good.¡± He looked back at her and saw a face. She had approached him silently. ¡°Ow! You are still not a Rogue Vilrin! Make sounds like normal people.¡± ¡°You already have your status?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°And twenty base physical attributes and over twice more effective attributes?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She grabbed his shoulders and shaked him. ¡°How?!¡± ¡°Stop shaking me. I''ll tell you, alright?!¡± M?mrud was forced to regale her with his adventures two days ago. When he was finished she drew away with a wishful look. ¡°How lucky. Alright, I need to get the Accessory Crafting so I can begin to train Stealth.¡± ¡°Good luck. It took me two years of learning and practice to do it. I think it would actually be easier to train Stealth itself.¡± ¡°Yeah, but no one will train me.¡± ¡°And who will teach you Crafting?¡± She threw him a poignant look. ¡°Me?! No, nope, I can''t. The Guild would have my head if I trained someone without their permission or making them my apprentice.¡± ¡°Are you sure?¡± She opened her eyes and gave him a pouty expression. ¡°Yes.¡± Vilrin changed her face to one of annoyance. ¡°Che! Thwarted again.¡± She grew depressed. ¡°At this rate I won''t be able to become a Rogue.¡± ¡°I can ask my parents. They used to be adventuress before becoming artificers full time. I think some of their first party also retired when they found the adventurer life not for them, someone may be willing to train you. Or put you in contact with an actual trainer.¡± ¡°Would you?¡± She perked up. ¡°What are best friends for?¡± ¡°You''re the best M?m!¡± M?mrud felt as if someone had punched him. ¡°Don''t call me that!¡± ¡°What, M?m?¡± ¡°Yes. I hate it!¡± ¡°I wonder.¡± ¡°I won''t help you.¡± ¡°Shutting up now.¡± M?mrud put a smug smile on. Vilrin stared at him until they broke out laughing and joined the other kids. As the morning ended and parents took their kids home to eat M?mrud and Vilrin became alone once more. They laid on the grass looking at the sky. ¡°Hey M?mrud?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°What race do you want to be?¡± ¡°You know that? I didn''t until two days ago.¡± ¡°Because you were so focused on becoming an artificer dummy. All the others knew.¡± ¡°Now I feel stupid.¡± ¡°You aren''t, your attributes say so. You are just focused. But answer my question.¡± ¡°I don''t know. For now a High Human but beyond that I don''t know.¡± ¡°I want to become a Leara. They are an all female race that are beautiful and stealthy and agile and awesome.¡± ¡°That''s just like you Vilrin.¡± ¡°What does that mean?!¡± Their little discussion ended when Vilrin¡¯s mother, Vilwinne Fig, came to bring her home. ¡°Bye M?m.¡± ¡°Bye Rinrin.¡± ¡°What?!¡± ¡°That serves you right dear. Now you will stop calling him that embarrassing name.¡± ¡°How can you take his side Mom?!¡± ¡°Because he is a polite and nice kid. Goodbye M?mrud.¡± ¡°Bye Mrs. Fig.¡± They left the park and M?mrud was left alone. But not for long since his parents came soon after. *** After the meal the family went to a residence in the Mage¡¯s district. The door was opened by a maid in informal clothing. ¡°Good evening master Nimrod, master Elua. You must be master M?mrud, I am honoured to make your acquaintance.¡± ¡°Come on Elisa, we have known each other for years.¡± Reproached Tenlil Nimrod. ¡°Hear hear.¡± Anglilt Elua smiled at her old friend. ¡°That is true you-¡± Tenlil pointed at M?mrud. ¡°Language!¡± ¡°Right. Sorry. Let''s get you inside.¡± They entered the house and were led through hallways to a living room. ¡°This is the private living room. We have a more impressive one for guests.¡± ¡°More impressive?¡± M?mrud was astonished. He had never seen so many books together in one place. Seeing the thousands of books in this living room he fell ashamed of his thirty book collection. In truth that was quite respectable, many people were illiterate before seven years of age when school began teaching it. However no child can ever equal a Mage in bibliophilia and money. While he was gaping at the books a laugh was heard as a laugh resounded. The young man who entered the room dressed in casual robes that denoted his status as a Mage. But that wasn''t what made M?mrud look at him, it was his skin. ¡°Never seen a Haradian, kid?¡± Asked him the man with mirth in his eyes. ¡°No.¡± ¡°We are from the continent of Yuzeria to the south of Bruzia. I''ve lived in Bruzia my whole life however. My name is Tharin Fulgurdian, Mind Mage. As well as former comrade of your parents.¡± Having introduced himself he turned to his parents. ¡°I am glad to see you two. I am happy to see you have had such a incredible child.¡± ¡°That is a compliment we don''t deserve.¡± Said Tenlil. ¡°I don''t think I have complimented you? The kid is the incredible one, you seducer are as incompetent as always.¡± ¡°Still sore eh?¡± Tharin took the Elisa¡¯s hand making her blush. ¡°Not now master.¡± She whispered at him. ¡°No. Now I have Elisa.¡± She was completely ignored. Tenlil went forward and embraced them both, while Anglilt followed soon after. ¡°That is great news you two! Elisa congratulations on making this bastard forget Anglilt.¡± ¡°Language Tenlil. But he is right I am happy for you two.¡± ¡°Thank you both. Now if only Dhugroud and Zaat were here.¡± M?mrud intervened, not wanting to be left out. ¡°Who?¡± ¡°Our dwarven Knight and goblin Priest. With your Ranger father, Berserker mother and my lovely Explorer fianc¨¦ we made a full party. Back then I was only a Mage though.¡± The four adults began to speak of their adventures six years ago. ¡°You say adventures but we were only out there for two years. We barely left the city area! What level were you again 20, 25. No adventurer worth their salt is less than level 40.¡± Said Elisa. ¡°Unlike you I have kept going on explorations.¡± ¡°What level are you then?¡± ¡°56.¡± ¡°63.¡± Said Anglilt smugly. ¡°I still participate in tournaments from time to time. And I am busy making artefacts.¡± ¡°I don''t do anything extra so I am only 52.¡± Admitted Tenlil. ¡°Then I win. 75.¡± After they finished with their tales and began to speak of the condition of the artefact market M?mrud grew bored and began to fall asleep. Anglilt noticed and lifted him into her bosom. ¡°We should move on before the man of the day falls asleep.¡± ¡°That is true we have become lost in our memories like elders. So if I got it right he has awakened his status and you want me to train him as a Dominum Animum? Does he have the attributes and Skills then?¡± ¡°We didn''t tell you everything in the letter because you wouldn''t believe it. Do an Appraisal on him you''ll see.¡± Tharin looked amused. ¡°Alright then. Do you allow me to see your Codex M?mrud?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Codex query: Appraisal.¡± He originally had an easy going smile on his lips but as he read the Codex his face grew serious. ¡°Elisa check this for me. I can''t believe what I''m seeing.¡± He shared the Codex with Elisa. Once she finished reading he asked for confirmation. ¡°You see those attributes?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± She seemed a bit shocked. ¡°Those skills?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°Those Achievements?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± ¡°The artefact?¡± Her eyes began staring to infinity. ¡°Definitely yeah.¡± They looked at each other and shuddered. ¡°Alright. Ridiculous high status aside¡­¡± ¡°190 total attributes at age six.¡± Elisa muttered unable to understand that. ¡°85 points above Human average. At age six.¡± ¡°Leaving it aside. I think I get what you want. Little Genius Tier 12?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Confirmed Anglilt. ¡°How long do we have left?¡± ¡°Seven months.¡± ¡°It will be a race against time but I think we can do it. M?mrud, you will come each evening here to practice.¡± ¡°Isn''t that too much? It will take time from your research.¡± Asked Tenlil. ¡°It will. But it is needed to get to the objective, the training is more difficult than you think it is. As for taking time from my research¡­ I think I might get a high Tier teaching achievement if I bring him to get a Tier 12 one. Tier 10 at least, since I don''t have the Teacher Achievement yet that would mean four Skills and several attributes for me, it is worth it. You don''t have to pay. Hell I should pay you for this opportunity.¡± ¡°Thanks Tharin.¡± ¡°Yes, thanks.¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°When does he begin?¡± Questioned Anglilt. ¡°Now. He needs one more Skill to learn from me. He will need a day to get accustomed to it so we can start tomorrow.¡± ¡°What Skill?¡± ¡°Sense Mind.¡± ¡°Do you have an Alraune here?¡± Tenlil smiled cheekily. ¡°Hah hah. Very funny. No I can do it myself.¡± He looked at M?mrud in the eyes. ¡°Try and find a funny feeling in your mind.¡± M?mrud nodded and concentrated on his Mental Defense Skill. Soon after he felt it react against something and when he focused on that something he started to feel something. It was a presence, warm but firm. Congratulations M?mrud. You have gained the Sense Mind Skill. His head exploded. At least that is how it felt for him. He could suddenly feel four presences, which he could recognise as his parents, Elisa and Tharin. Curiously he moved to his father¡¯s one but he was stopped. ¡°M?mrud it is rude to try and enter someone''s mind.¡± Chastised Tenlil. ¡°Sorry dad.¡± He took back his mind. ¡°Why was I stopped?¡± ¡°Three reasons. Natural resistance that all sapients have to mental intrusions. Higher willpower than yours. And the fact that you lack technique and will to intrude in his mind. Once I''m done with you even as you are now you will be able to do it.¡± Answered Tharin. They stayed a while longer to speak before M?mrud¡¯s family had to leave. The next day M?mrud was in Tharin¡¯s study. They sat in two chairs facing each other. ¡°Let''s begin. First how to realise your mind¡¯s being invaded. The easiest way to get into someone''s mind is through contact. Second is looking at the other¡¯s eyes. Finally, it can be done with neither of those two, but it is far more difficult. You should always be alert, but specially if someone is looking at you in the eyes or touching you.¡± ¡°How do I stay always alert and not be distracted?¡± ¡°Easy.¡± He crossed eyes with M?mrud. He felt his mind being invaded but he managed to push it back. Congratulations M?mrud. You have fended off a mental attack. Mental Defense had become Level 2. ¡°Practice.¡± ¡°I''m going to hate this.¡± ¡°Yes you will. I will teach you the techniques and practice needed for you to master this Discipline.¡± And thus did harsh days begin for M?mrud. *** Congratulations M?mrud. You have gained the Automatic Mental Response Skill. You have gained the Mind Control (Self) Skill. You have gained the Mind Control (Others) Skill. You have gained the Mind Lore Skill. Automatic Mental Response 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. Mind Control (Self) 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. Mind Control (Others) 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. Mind Lore 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. Sense Mind 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. Mental Defense 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. Mental Attack 12 has been mastered. +1 Evolution Point. +7 Intellect. +12 Perception. +18 Willpower. + 3 MA. +4 AT. +5 MR. You have gained the Achievement Little Genius Tier 12. Requirements: Gain status before 15 years of age. Be below 7 years of age. Have 12*age total metal attributes. Effects: +15 to all mental attributes. Gain Eidetic Memory Trait. Gain Enhanced Senses. Gain Multitasking. Gain 6 Proofs of achievement. You have gained the Achievement Early Bloomer Tier 8. Requirements: Gain status before 15 years of age. Be below 7 years of age. Have 24*age total attributes. Effects: +7 to all attributes. Gain Bulwark. You have gained the Achievement Little Wizard Tier 6. Requirements: Gain status before 15 years of age. Be below 7 years of age. Have 6*age total magical attributes. Effects: +5 to all magical attributes. You have gained the Achievement Master Tier 11 Requirements: Master 80 Skills. Effects: Gain 20 Evolution Points. You have gained the Achievement To the Limit Tier 7. Requirements: Master 7 Tier 1 rank 12 Skills. Effects: Gain 20 Evolution Points. A stone fortress floated in the void. It was surrounded on all sides by a massive thunderstorm and guarded by fierce warriors and flying guardians. The task of infiltrating this fortress laid on a little flying snake. It skillfully navigated the thunderstorm, passing unnoticed expect for an occasional thunderbolt. It sneaked around the warriors and hid when the guardians flew over it. It sneaked deeper into the fortress but didn''t find its objective. It was lost until it realised something. It went out of the fortress and flew bellow it. It dig upwards slowly, over the course of minutes. It reached an underground chamber filled with deadly flying blades. The snake avoided the blades and reached the centre of the chamber, where a crystal ball laid on a pedestal. It went to touch it in triumph. Disaster struck when it did. The blades expanded and fused with each other, trapping the snake in a metal sphere. Knowing it had been mislead the snake transformed into a mighty sea serpent and tried to break through. Alas it couldn''t, for if someone had been watching they''d have seen that the fortress and thunderstorm had collapsed in a solid ball. In a cave a thousand crystal balls like the one in the fortress laid, showing many images. M?mrud lifted himself from his throne in the back of the cave and walked to the entrance. It was covered by seven walls that opened as M?mrud walked forward. When he reached the last he examined a spot to the down left of the wall and took out a grey bead. He brought it to his eye and saw the serpent struggle. He smiled and crushed it. In the real world Tharin flinched at the destruction of his mind prove and resigned for the oncoming headache. But at the same time he looked at his disciple with pride. They were in the middle of the park near M?mrud¡¯s house, guarded by some Knights. He had already passed the attack exam, managing to break through his defenses. Admittedly just like this test he had used only willpower equal to his and part of his Skills, but for seven months of practice this was ridiculous. It had taken him at least twice as long to reach the same point, though he did only spend a third of his practice time. However he had been eighteen at the time, three times M?mrud¡¯s age. For the defense test he hadn''t even informed him of the test, choosing to assault him by surprise while he was in the park. ¡°Has he passed?¡± Asked his accomplice, nowhere to be seen. Tharin turned to a tree to his left. ¡°He has. If you want to remain at his level you will have to practice harder, Vilrin.¡± Vilrin faded into view and pouted. ¡°How did you see through me? My Sneak 11 is at Level 7.¡± ¡°And my Detect Mind 12 is a mastered Tier 3 Skill. Don''t try to fool a former adventurer and Mage. You are really undetectable for normal people without detection Skills or perception of 50.¡± ¡°Really?! 50?¡± Her eyes shone with excitement. With an agility score of 18 being capable of fooling people with 50 perception was incredible. ¡°Yes. You are well on your way to become a Rogue.¡± From behind appeared Elisa. Vilrin jumped forward and took a stance. Elisa nodded in approval. ¡°Good reaction. Are you sure you want to be a Rogue and not an Explorer?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± ¡°Thariiin. My disciple doesn''t want to follow on my footsteps.¡± ¡°Neither does mine. Deal with it.¡± At that moment M?mrud woke up from his daze. ¡°Not bad M?mrud. You do have to work in your waking, I could have killed you in the time you took.¡± M?mrud¡¯s eyes were clouded but they cleared soon. ¡°Then I have passed?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± He took a silver pendant with a diamond in it and gave it to M?mrud. ¡°You are now a Tier 1 Dominum Animum. We will register you tomorrow.¡± M?mrud checked the artefact¡¯s Codex entry. ¡°Codex query: Artefact.¡± Dominum Animum¡¯s First Class Necklace. Quality: Perfect Hardness 13 Durability 3000/3000 Origin: A pendant given to Tier 1 Dominum Animum of the Holy Levoven Empire. Level 1/12 Effects: +50% to mental resistance. +10 to all mental attributes. +3 to magical attributes. Records mental invasions performed by the wielded and transmits them to the Dominum Animum Regulation Department Glows blue or red. Lifebound Can Level Can Upgrade He put it on and checked his status. Name: M?mrud. Species: Human. Class: None. Secondary Class: None Level: 0 Health: 205 Mana: 170 Stamina: 1560 Attributes: Strength: 4(+9) Vitality: 15(+24) Agility: 3(+9) Perception: 24(+32) Intellect: 27(+32) Willpower:35(+37) Mana attunement: 12(+16) Authority: 10(+16) Magic resistance: 14(+16) Racial traits. Human Endurance: Doubles Stamina. Halves Stamina consumption. Human Learning: +2000% Skill Experience Gain. -50% lower mental requirements to gain Skills. -50% difficulty in improving or mutating Skills. The next thing he did was evolve his fully mastered Skills. ¡°Codex query: Show me best Skills to evolve to.¡± Skill Evolution and Merging. 47 Evolution Points. Mental Fortress Requirements: Automatic Mental Response 12: Negates surprise bonus to mental attacks. Makes immediately aware of mental intrusions. Mental Defense 12: +1800% mental resistance. Mental Control (Self) 12: +300% mental resistance. -20% mental ailment effectiveness. Mind Lore: Increases knowledge of the workings of the mind Bonuses: +500% mental resistance. +500% mental attack effectiveness. +10% mental ailment effectiveness. -10% mental effect effectiveness. 15 EP. Effects: Combines and improves the component Skills. Bonuses: +40000% mental resistance. -30% mental ailment effectiveness. Mental Blitzkrieg Requirements: Mental Attack 12: +1800% to mental Attack effectiveness. Mental Control (Others) 12: +300% to mental Attack effectiveness. +20% mental ailment effectiveness. Mind Lore 12. 10 EP. Effects: Combines the effects of components. Bonuses: +30000% to mental attack effectiveness. +30% to mental ailment effectiveness. Diagnose Mental Condition. Requirements: Sense Mind 12: Senses minds with a 200 m radius. Mind Lore 12 5 EP. Effects: Can diagnose the mental condition of sensed minds. Improved Sense Mind. Requirements: Sense Mind 12. 1 EP. Effects: Senses minds in a 250 m radius. Intermediate Mind Lore. Requirements: Mind Lore 12. 1 EP. Effects: Greater knowledge of the mind. Bonuses: +600% mental resistance. +600% mental attack effectiveness. +20% mental ailment effectiveness. -20% mental effect effectiveness. ¡°Evolve all.¡± The familiar pain of mental Skills improvement assaulted M?mrud, but he was accustomed and weathered it. ¡°Master, Emily, Vilrin I invite you to celebrate this at my house.¡± ¡°Again? We celebrated your first Tier 12 Achievement just last month.¡± Said Vilrin to hide her frustration. She was truly happy for her friend but deep inside she actually feared being left behind. ¡°Do you not want cake?¡± ¡°I''m in!¡± ¡°We''re going too, right Elisa?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Smiling M?mdur lead the way to his house. He was incredibly happy that evening with the innocence and joy only a child experiences. This was the start of M?mdur Isnal¡¯s legend. The seven months that created the foundation for the Artificer Paladin to rise. Extra 3. Son of the Archangel. Maturation. I have always known that Sundays are mystical, I don''t know if Christianity is right about it being a sacred day, but it has something in it. Do I have your attention now? Good if I have it the opening statement is as good a clickbait as I thought it''d be. My reasons for believing so are complex yet simple. And to explain it I must tell you about me. An introduction is in order. My name is Michael, son of Ariel and Glory. Ariel is a male name aside of a mermaid¡¯s by the way. I have a twelve year old little sister called Bethel and a six year old brother named Samuel. You should take note of the theme naming of my family, did you notice the abundance of els? My parents are devout christians due to a simple fact. My father was supposed to be sterile, all medical tests said so, but he says one day he heard a voice that told him that if he believed that night he would gain the ability to bear children. It worked, obviously. Spoiler, this is not the only time science fails around my family. I was born in 2002, January six, ten minutes before midnight, to be concrete. My parents where in Spain at the time and took it as another miracle since the seventh is the Spanish equivalent of Santa Claus, the Three Wise Men. I was a gift from God they said. I am agnostic myself, I don''t believe the existence of any God like being could ever be proved or disproved, but I find myself doubting too much to be a proper christian, so out of respect for my parents and their six priest friends I do not fake it. But I was speaking about Sundays wasn''t I? In 2013 was my eleventh birthday, it was a Sunday, thus begins a trend. It was a nice day, I found myself surrounded by friends and family and all the things that would make a child happy. The problem was that at 21:00 exactly, I can''t emphasise that enough, I fell under an intense bout of fever at 49¡ã C, lethal levels of fever, that lasted until 24:00, again exactly. If that had been all it would have been just a freak occurrence. However next Sunday the exact same thing happened. And the next one, and the next one, and it has yet to stop. I was rushed to the hospital the second time it happened, I was diagnosed as being in perfect health. That was weird enough but as the bouts of fever continued the doctors became more perplexed. I was the very picture of health, indeed, aside from the fever I never fell ill. Nothing was wrong to the point that it was wrong, since every human has some problem, but not me. Papers were written, research done, but the doctors couldn''t find what was wrong. No bacteria, no viruses, no hormonal issues, nothing. So not only did I have an illness unexplainable by modern science but said illness was the most regular thing ever. It lasted exactly three hours, to the second. It came exactly every seven days, to the second. And it began when I turned eleven. No way in hell it was natural. So I began to seek more occult and paranormal explanations. The most I could make was the significance of three, seven and eleven in numerology and the first two in Biblical numerology. Still this instilled an appreciation for mythology, folklore and the occult in me. To this day I still keep myself updated. So I have grown up. Six years and thirty weeks have passed and aside from my little problem I am a very healthy adolescent. I measure 1.85 meters from head to toe and have wide shoulders. My hair is brown and my eyes are blue. I have been told that I look like an Ancient Greece athlete statue. I am muscular as hell despite barely working out. Also some girls have said that I have ¡®soulful eyes of an angel¡¯, as in, three different women that didn''t know each other said that. A sixty year old that treated me like his grandson, a sixteen year old that confessed to me last year, and a ten year old that was sleepy. So yeah, my life is weird and numerologically significant. Some of you may be wondering, why are you writing this Mike. If it is so common what has brought this on? Well it is simple. As I said, six years and thirty weeks have passed. Or 343 weeks, also known as seven to the third power weeks. Three sevens. Significant you see. And this Monday I was mugged, but something weird happened, I sprouted wings. I sprouted motherfucking wings that hit the mugger and threw him three meters back. Oh, and each feather on them has a fucking eye. An eye. An eye! Eyes I saw from! And they disappeared once I flew home. I flew. Once you eliminate the impossible whatever remains is the truth. Since I have never touched S Particles that can''t be it. Therefore the supernatural exists and I may be a motherfucking angel. Or a x-man, but I doubt this, biology doesn''t work like that. So my question is thus. What the actual fuck is going on?! A certain post from a certain Michael Adamson in a certain occult forum. ¡°Put your hands up, don''t move and give me your wallet!¡± I Michael Adamson have ended up in a stereotypical situation. I am being mugged by some thug. This thug is wearing green which, if my limited knowledge of the criminal world is correct, may mean he belongs to a gang. Once again I have limited understanding of those. We don''t even have druggies in my neighbourhood for God¡¯s sake! However my friend Vincent¡¯s house is near a rougher place and in my haste to leave I took a shortcut. I have done so many times and since it is still near the better parts of town I have never been mugged. Until today. Honestly what has this idiot smoked to dare mug someone in the place that is patrolled all evenings by the police in order to put parking fines to the parents that have come to take their children from kindergarten? Still no matter how much of a moron this dude is, he is still a moron with a gun. And those are more dangerous since they don''t know not to shoot. So I have to be careful. ¡°Which one do I do first? You know, since I can''t do all three at the same time.¡± Dammit. Sigh. Why must I always ask reasonable questions that will be taken as condescending. Is it a curse to be logical and calm in this world? ¡°Very funny. You think that because you are a fancy high schooler you are better than me?¡± He jabbed at me with the gun. Like that. ¡°No. I meant it literally.¡± ¡°Obviously you throw me the wallet first. Idiot.¡± I rolled my eyes and put my hand in my pocket. What? I can recover the wallet once I report this idiot. And I value my life more than thirty dollars and a driving license. It is a pity that probably addicted idiots are way too jumpy. The Thug 1 decided that I was too suspicious and shouted at me. ¡°No! You aren''t fooling me. You have some plan to try and fuck me over. I will take it.¡± ¡°You do know that at range you have the advantage. And that I am a monument to muscle while you are scrawny.¡± That was a bad thing to say, judging by the wild face he put. ¡°So you are looking down on me! You think yourself better because you have a rich daddy and have free time to go to the gym?! Fuck you cunt!¡± First, that insult is for women. Second, inferiority complex much? My thoughts were interrupted when I saw that the damned fool actually pointed the gun at me and took out the safety. My mind slowed to a crawl, as did the world. It was as if every second stretched to an hour, but my reaction speed was the same. I saw the tendons in his finger contract. I saw his skin shift. I saw the hammer fall and the bullet go out of the barrel. But before I could begin to feel fear a much more intense feeling occupied my mind. Pain. My body began to scorch as if my veins were filled with fire while my lungs felt frozen. My bones cracked and moved in their sockets straining my ligaments. My head felt both light and heavy, as if the top was falling and the bottom rising, crushing everything within. My muscles screamed when a trillion red hot nails penetrated them. My eyes went blank and my ears began to screech. And finally a pressure built in my shoulders, to the point it felt I was going to burst. It felt as if it lasted an hour but not even a second passed. The bullet wasn''t even out of the gun when honest to God wings appeared in my back. They were like stereotypical angel wings except for two details. First at the end of each feather a human like eye grew. It had everything an eye should but their scleras were red, irises golden and pupils black. That last one would be normal were it not for the stars within said blackness. Second, they were massive, so much they clipped through the buildings at each side of the alley. Before any of us could register them my wings moved and deflected the bullet back at the muggers right leg. He fell to the floor and looked at me in terror. ¡°What the fuck are you?¡± His voice trembled as he saw something impossible. I likewise could only stare at my wings. We remained like that for at least a minute before the thug swore out loud. ¡°Fuck! I won''t let a fucking S freak get me!¡± He grabbed the gun and aimed at me again but my wings had none of that. Before he could shoot they lashed at him and blowed him away. He crashed to the ground hard, he had certainly broken some ribs. While he groaned in pain I couldn''t help but remain still. I was too stunned to really do anything. My reverie was broken when I heard sirens and I realised that I was in an alleyway with an injured man and wings. Fearing labs, prisons, and all of that I tried to escape. Or better said I thought I should escape. My wings answered my desire. They flapped and propelled me at least a hundred meters in the air. I closed my eyes when I saw the distant ground and braced myself for impact. Once I registered that I was not falling I opened my eyes. The view was breathtaking. I was so above that humans looked small and many buildings were below me. More importantly I was still in the air, which to my knowledge only hummingbirds could do. I tentatively tried to go right, softly. To my surprise it worked. Getting excited I began to experiment. Pitchback, tailslide, bell tailslide, split s, Immelmann turn, chandelle, scissors, high yo-yo, low yo-yo, lag displacement roll, Pugachev cobra, cobra turn, kulbit, Herbst manoeuvre. I did them all, courtesy of my phone and Wikipedia. Yes I used my phone while flying. In conclusion my flight was intuitive and skilful. I was giddy from excitement when I saw some people making photos of me flying, which scared me and reminded me I was flying to escape. I then did the smart thing, I rose upwards and fled to my house. A thirty minute car ride was done in less than five minutes. I was fast. It reminded me of that song, as swift as a coursing river. I was certainly a man. It was with trepidation that I became conscious of the fact I didn''t know how to land. My concerns were unneeded. I selected to land in an alley near my house and I did it perfectly. I then quickly run home and entered trying to look inconspicuous. ¡°Is that you Michael? You are early.¡± My mom welcomed me. Her name is Glory Adamson nee Smith, she was glad to get a less common surname. She is shorter than me at 1.65 and I have her brown hair. I think she is neither beautiful nor ugly pleasant is the best way to describe her. Before you ask she is not a housewife, she is a researcher at a lab, but her work day ends at midday. ¡°I know, talk to you later mum.¡± I run up the stairs, came into my room and started the computer. I immediately went to one of the more legit looking occult forums to ask for information on my change. The first few answers came surprisingly fast, but they were mostly questions and one troll. While I was waiting for more answers my mom came into my room. She put her hands to her waist and stared at me. ¡°You. Here. Explain.¡± I tried to speak but my words stuck on my throat. How would she look at me now that I had wings. Would she look at me like a monster? ¡°Mom. Please don''t freak out.¡± ¡°You can''t freak me out son. I am your mother I will always accept you. Are you gay?¡± ¡°What?! No! What made you think that?¡± She raised an eyebrow and pointed at my face. ¡°You my son are one of the most handsome men I''ve seen. Many girls have thrown themselves at you. And yet you haven''t had a girlfriend yet.¡± ¡°I simply haven''t found the one.¡± I frowned, the fact that while I was attracted to women I had never had a crush was a sore spot. I wanted a girlfriend dammit. My mom smiled. ¡°Glad to see you want to settle down. But if you don''t give a girl a chance you will never find love. Love at first sight is Romanticism¡¯s great lie.¡± ¡°Can we drop this, please?¡± ¡°Very well. What is it then.¡± ¡°I-¡± I stopped, how would I make her believe me? Did I bring out my wings? How did I bring out my wings? Do I just have to think of them to get them out? That sounded too good to be- My wings spread at that moment. Ok, that''s convenient. ¡°Hell take me.¡± My moms eyes had widened and her mouth dropped. She quickly composed herself and coughed.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there. ¡°You haven''t heard anything.¡± ¡°Did you just swear.¡± ¡°Anything.¡± ¡°Because you always shout when I swear and-,¡± ¡°A-ny-thing.¡± Her eyes began to scare me so I dropped the issue. I nodded to show my agreement. ¡°Good. Any idea what your feathery- Are those things eyes?!¡± As expected she freaked out. ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°Can you see?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She opened and closed her mouth several times before regaining her calm. ¡°Alright so your wings are Eldritch-esque, no big deal. Where do they come from?¡± ¡°I don''t know. I was asking in this occult forum and-¡± I turned to the computer and saw one more answer. I went to look at it and my mother read over my shoulder. ¡°Congratulations, you have awakened your supernatural heritage. Your local Council representative should make a visit soon and explain to you what is going on. My guess is you are a Nephilim, half human half fallen angel.¡± I read out loud. My mom was about to speak when we heard the doorbell ring. *** We looked at each other nervously, the timing was a bit weird. I went to my window and looked through it. Once I saw who it was I sighed in relief. It was just a delivery man with a package. My mom ruffled my hair. ¡°That scared you didn''t it? Stay here while I get the package, we don''t want to freak out the poor man.¡± My answer was retracting my wings into my¡­ Actually where the hell do they go? I am sure ten meter long wings don''t fit in my puny human body. Still, I showed her I could hide my feathery parts. ¡°That''s convenient. And obvious now that I think about it, you weren''t winged when you came in.¡± She ruffled my head again and left my room. My mom is actually not that old, she had me when she was twenty so I have had to see young men flirt with her from time to time. It''s fucking weird so could you delivery man stop doing it? Good, he is leaving already. I waited a bit before Mom came back with package in hand. ¡°It''s yours.¡± I took the package and smiled, my game was here. Single players for life by the way, multiplayer only serves to camouflage bad games with social interaction. Setting it apart I waited for my mother to speak. She did the same, causing an uncomfortable silence to spring. It was Mom who broke it in the end. ¡°So, wings?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°How does it feel? Any discomfort?¡± ¡°No, they seem natural as if I always had them. I am a good flier too.¡± ¡°How does it feel? Flying that is.¡± ¡°It''s amazing. Being able to move in three dimensions is liberating.¡± Mom nodded, with a thinking look on her face. She eventually smiled having made a decision. ¡°I don''t have everything I need for this, but let us experiment.¡± She took my arm and brought me to the basement where she kept some As I said before my mom is a researcher at a lab. She concretely develops things such as bulletproof windows, vests and things like that. Even Supertechnology! It is because of this that she has a lot of ways to test the composition of my wings even at home. Our conclusion was that they were definitely supernatural. First of all they were selectively material, if I didn''t want them to touch something they would go right through them. I was still physical though, thankfully I didn''t run to that wall and only pushed it. Walls, people, water, stone and metal, none of them presented an obstruction. The second thing we noticed was that they were actually transparent or something like that. Lasers went right through them and they didn''t have a shadow, but since they were visible and cameras could photograph them light must be emitted from them. This meant that my wings were a source of light. This led to us experimenting a bit more which made me discover that I could actually light them up. At my maximum they were at least as bright as a 20kW incandescent light bulb, which was the brightest I''d ever seen. Heat accompanied the light, once again at my maximum the basement heated to thirty nine degrees. However I could only maintain this state for ten minutes before I felt exhausted and my wings vanished to rest. During this period of inactivity Mom and I went to the kitchen to eat a little, well mostly I. Manifesting all that light left me famished. There she discussed what could this mean. ¡°So if that post wasn''t made by a delusional person we can conclude that there is indeed a supernatural community. They are governed by this council thing and supernatural creatures exist. Also angels exist for sure. Is that all we know?¡± ¡°Gulp. Yes, pretty much.¡± ¡°That sucks. I''d rather have more knowledge of what my son is getting into.¡± ¡°I may not get actually involved in anything, I just have wings.¡± ¡°Yeah right. If these people are secretive enough to keep this level of information erasure they will get you involved.¡± While having these ominous thoughts I munched on my sandwich. It was a terrifying prospect, that my life hanged in the hands of others and I had no idea what they wanted. My mood was worsening when the little munchkin came down from his room. Samuel while childish resembles me a lot, which makes my mother joke about having only given birth to ladykillers. This adorable kid is the source of many of my headaches being very talkative and unable to keep a secret. Thankfully he isn''t very noisy or attention seeking. His inability to keep a secret was a liability though, particularly in this current situation. Because of this I dreaded the moment he opened his mouth. He grabbed the edge of his shirt, lifted his head, bit his lip and said as his eyes teared. ¡°Mooom. You promised you would play with me, why are you with Mike?¡± Dodged a bullet there. Also those puppy eyes should be forbidden. This kid knows of his cuteness I swear, why would he put the fabled puppy dog eyes expression otherwise? He will be dangerous to women one day. Mom sighed and flicked his forehead. ¡°What have I said about using those eyes to manipulate people?¡± ¡°To not do it.¡± He grumbled. ¡°But people always listen when I do this.¡± I knew he did it on purpose! ¡°Good. But you are right I promised. I will now go once I finish with Michael.¡± Samuel smiled brightly and run upstairs. ¡°He is going to be dangerous to women one day.¡± ¡°Don''t plagiarise me Mom, I thought that first.¡± ¡°If you don''t say it it doesn''t count. We will keep experimenting later, I want to test their hardness, tenacity and strength when they are material. Until then play with your wings, see how much you can do with them.¡± I saluted to her and she rolled her eyes and went to my brothers bedroom. With my mom''s order to play with my hidden parts, that made me chuckle, I went to my room. Among the things I discovered three were prominent. First, my wings are soft and silky to the touch. Even the eyes are like that, despite looking like they should be fleshy. Second, they were flexible. So much that I could wrap myself on them as if they were blankets. Due to this I managed to fold them from massive to what winged humans are typically represented as. Finally, I discovered that the energy I put into making light and heat can be molded. I managed to concentrate it on the edge of my wings and it formed what I think was a little plasma. I collapsed after that. I was woken up that night by my dad. He gave me his hand to lift me before he looked at my back. ¡°Where are they?¡± I tried to extend them but my rumbling stomach disagreed. ¡°Not now. Famished.¡± ¡°Then let''s get you dinner.¡± *** We went to the living room and began to eat. In it was my last sibling, my little sister Bethel. She resembles my father most. She has his black hair and blue eyes as well as his nose, like me. She, to my mothers chagrin, already shows signs of being beautiful, her face now in the transition between that and cute. Since my father also is average looking we always wonder why the combination of their features gave birth to, well us. I take my height from my father but he has, for now, a thick but short beard I can''t equal. ¡°And Katie tried to get into the pool but coach David didn''t let her.¡± Mom smiled at my sister¡¯s recollection of her summer basketball training. ¡°That is interesting dear. Has she stopped being mean to that other girl, Lily was it?¡± ¡°Yes Lily. She hasn''t bothered her anymore since you speaker with the teachers. They told her parents and they scolded her.¡± ¡°That is good. I don''t know what we''re Lily¡¯s parents doing, to not do anything about her bullying.¡± Dad complained. ¡°They might not have known if Lily didn''t tell them.¡± ¡°I''d believe that if she was older but being as young as she is she must have told them.¡± ¡°Let us drop this matter, since we can''t do anything about it.¡± Interrupted Mom when she saw Samuel playing with his food. ¡°Don''t play with your food Samuel.¡± He jumped a little and looked around like a deer in headlights. It was a bit funny to see, above all when he dropped his head and mumbled an apology while pouting. Correction, that was adorable. I couldn''t help but smile at the sight and pet him. He raised his head and smiled at me, it warmed my heart. If only he knew when to shut up he''d be the best little brother. Better than Bethel¡¯s bratty tendencies when she was his age. ¡°What about you Michael? How was your day?¡± Asked Dad. ¡°Fine actually. In the morning I read some book and then I went to eat to Vincent¡¯s. We watched a series together.¡± ¡°What was it?¡± That question made me embarrassed, that particular anime I will admit was a bit of a guilty pleasure. ¡°Does it matter?¡± I asked in a perfectly normal tone. Definitely not reddening. Mom smiled. ¡°How do they grow, he has finally began to see things his parents would disapprove of. He even is embarrassed about it.¡± She faked wiping some tears. ¡°Indeed he has.¡± Said father in a wistful tone. ¡°Soon he will begin to shout at us to stay out of his business. I knew his reasonable adolescence couldn''t last, the horrors other parents spoke of begin. Woe is unto us!¡± ¡°Woe is unto us!¡± Repeated my mother. ¡°Yeah, yeah. Why don''t you keep making fun of me.¡± I grumbled. ¡°Woe is unto us!¡± That traitor Samuel. He will pay for this vile betrayal with TICKLES! My glare was so eloquent that he actually shrunk into himself. ¡°Um. Sorry?¡± Your cuteness won''t save you. Thine punishment shall be beheld soon. If that even makes sense. My dad, mom and sister began laughing. ¡°Honestly,¡± spoke my sister, ¡°I can''t believe you are so touchy Michael. Watching porn is something many do, you only need to know not to go too far. We won''t judge you for that.¡± ¡°Not porn, ecchi.¡± Wait what did she just say? ¡°What do you even know about those things?! Aren''t you a little young for that?!¡± ¡°Women mature faster.¡± She looked down (up in reality, she is too short) on me as if she was superior. If she is like that I have to bring my secret weapon! ¡°And what about Frederick?¡± ¡°Uwah?!¡± My sister sputtered and turned red while trying to deny she liked any Frederick. Young love~. It never fails. ¡°And I don''t know what you are speaking about.¡± She finished and looked at me daring me to contradict her. ¡°But I never said anything about liking him~ I only asked if you were more mature than him.¡± One, two, three. And the realisation that she dig her own grave settles in. My sister collapses in her chair and turns red. ¡°Stop teasing your sister Michael, that''s not very mature of you.¡± My father chastised me. ¡°Alright.¡± I said. ¡°But you have to present him to us dear. Your father has to play the overprotective part.¡± ¡°I do?¡± ¡°Of course! You have to tell him that if he hurts your little girl you have a rifle with his name on it.¡± ¡°First, don''t project. Second, the rifle is yours.¡± ¡°No it isn''t.¡± My mother retorted before turning her head. ¡°It''s of the lab, I''ve just loaned it.¡± ¡°I don''t like Frederick!¡± ¡°But Beth, I heard you whisper his name yesterday while drawing hearts in your notebook.¡± Nice one Samuel! Though judging by how she is looking at you, you have just earned another tickling session. *** Once we had made the munchkins go to bed Dad and Mom sat with me. ¡°Alright son. Your mother has told me everything that has happened and I''ve noticed that you didn''t tell her how you got your wings.¡± Oops. I immediately corrected that little slip up. ¡°So we may be visited by the police then. Got it.¡± I frowned at those words. ¡°That is all you say? I injured a man!¡± ¡°Michael dear, you were being mugged and instinctually responded. We can''t blame you. Most Supers do worse than that the first time they show powers.¡± My father intervened then. ¡°Speaking of which. Are you sure it isn''t S powers?¡± ¡°No. I have never gone near that stuff.¡± *** S-Particles. Created thirty years ago in an experiment that tried to start nuclear fusion with high-powered lasers in Germany. The lithium used in the experiment transformed into a green sludge. This sludge was examined and found to be formed of never seen before particles. Studies done to these particles showed that they stored great amounts of energy that was released when excited. But this was not what made them famous to the general populace. Two years later one of the scientists studying it broke a container and was exposed to it. He fell into a coma for three days and when he woke up he did so changed. The first change to be noticed was that his body now produced S-Particles. The second was that when he concentrated he could consume them to make bubbles of slowed or accelerated time. Indeed S-Particles did the unthinkable, it brought superheroes to us. Exposure to S-Particles grants the person superpowers fueled by S-Particles. As such when the body runs out of them the powers stop. The reason why this did not gather much attention was because the powers were weak. The consumption to power ratio was low, and the powers weak. Because of this the powers were more of a curiosity. The scientific world was more interested in their battery potential. This changed a year after the exposure, when at least three dozen individuals had been exposed as tests. The first scientist, more commonly known as Relativity, evolved his power. He now had more S-Particles and his power had expanded, allowing him to speed or slow himself and increasing the maximum time distortion he could make. He managed to beat a squad of soldiers by himself. This changed how powers were seen. If they could improve, where was the limit? Governments rushed to hide the production method, hoping to avoid the rise of supervillains. They were too late, the method had been shared in the scientific community freely as the discovery of the century. And some less savoury individuals sold it to criminal organisations. For the next three years battles between the superpowered crime syndicates and the superheroes have happened. There have been casualties. Some African countries now have superpowered warlords. The UN affiliated countries began to develop S-Units. Groups of people granted powers and trained on them to form a legal enforcement response to supervillains. Thankfully the comics situation of cardboard prisons hasn''t happened. We used S-Particles to power what is called Supertechnology, that is the creation of machines or materials with powers. These allow for the creation of prisons with an average of one escape per decade between all of them. Taking into account some were faulty and some have never been escaped from¡­ Yeah, the Joker couldn''t exist in this world, thankfully. However each day S-Particles become more accessible, to the point the number of powered surpasses the amount of law enforcement integrants with powers. The UN has recognised the threat and began the Power Development Program. From next year on all citizens of UN charter members will be eligible to be exposed to S-Particles. If they can pass some fitness, responsibility and ethics exams they will be given superpowers and be trained on them. They will be judged more harshly if they commit crimes, since powers are aggravating circumstances, but they receive license to use their powers. Can you imagine how much you can be paid to move heavy containers with super-strength? With more powered on the street there will be less people willing to take the risk of committing crimes, is the rationale behind this measure. Some of you may be wondering. But what if you get a power that can''t be used for getting money or whatever? If you get super vision you won''t be safer nor can you earn money. What do you get? The answer is still security. S-Particles can be used for more than powers. Two things that are known until know. The first one is that S-Particles give enhanced bodies, enough to resist hits that would break bones of baseline humans. Super strength, super speed, super toughness, super reflexes, super senses, super processing skills and super health are given to all powered, at low levels. One level beneath your Power Level, I will explain this later. The second is Enhancement. You use S-Particles to enhance one of your attributes mentioned earlier. So you do get security. The program hasn¡¯t started yet, and I haven''t taken any S-Particles. So it is not a superpower. *** ¡°Are you sure son?¡± Asked my father. The one to answer was my mother. ¡°No, what he has shown is far above Level 0 and maybe even Level 1, I have not yet tested the strength of his wings. Flight, intangibility, vision through many eyes, massive light and heat production. Too many powers for a Level 0 ability.¡± I did mention my mom works with Supertechnology right? ¡°Alright. Can you show me?¡± I assented to my father and brought my wings out. To say he was surprised would be an understatement. ¡°The fuck?!¡± Yea, the hundreds of eyes will do that. I never felt as good about the parents I had been born to than when my father quickly composed himself and smiled to reassure me. Neither of them had rejected me. ¡°So this must be what the Sunday Fever was about.¡± He commented. ¡°Probably, it was too regular to be a normal illness. But if it was an angel¡¯s growing pains it may make sense.¡± Said my mother. My father nodded at that. ¡°Your wings do look terrifying enough to be those of an angel. Should you go around saying Fear Not?¡± ¡°Haha.¡± I deadpanned. ¡°There is one problem against this theory. Angels do not marry or reproduce, they''re asexual.¡± That stopped them in their tracks. Theology for the win! ¡°So not an angel. You do resemble the Cherubim or Ophanim with your many eyes though. What now?¡± Asked my mother. ¡°We wait for this Council?¡± I shrugged. ¡°I suppose.¡± Said my father. ¡°Then it is experimentation time!¡± I could see the madness in my mother''s eyes. I looked to my father in order to seek help, but he shrugged. Great. *** The results of that night¡¯s tests are: Hardness? Mohs scale of hardness 11. Suck it diamond drills! Stress resistance? If a tank can handle it so can I. Curiously my wings don''t break when you go above their capabilities, they dematerialise turning into what I guess is a spiritual state. Their intangible state basically. This means I can use them as armour. Heat resistance? They didn''t even seem to be affected. Neither did cold do anything to them. Pressure resistance? Up to a 100 atmospheres. Once again until they dematerialised. I would like to remind you that this is when I force them to materialise. In other circumstances they are invulnerable. Finally the last statistic. They can hit with a force of 20 kN. For comparison a clean and jerk routine has at maximum 8 kN of force. That night I went to bed exhausted. I fell asleep when I touched the mattress. Next morning a surprise awaited me in the door. ¡°Mrs. and Mr. Adamson? I am Sigelhem Sturlusson. I have come on behalf of the Council to speak about your son.¡± The man who said this was an old man in a cyan blue robe with a silver scale engraved on the front. For some reason the neighbours didn''t seem to realise the strangeness of this attire. Extra 4. Nine Cosmic Spheres. Collective Unconscious. He saw the Universe. He had no other ways to describe it. All beings were connected at a deeper level most realised. Our unconscious produces a psionic connection with all other humans. Through that connection instincts and common sense are formed. What should we fear, how to survive, how should our heart beat, our lungs breathe. Our innate knowledge comes from both genetic memory, and this connection. Our primal instincts connect with each other, constantly adding information to the web. And our waking minds never realise it. We are connected yet don''t know it. Our unconscious is the only part of us that is aware of it, but it doesn''t always get everything right, and thus there are errors, and mistaken instincts. That is how the Common Sense of Humans, our own web of connections, works. But looking further he could see more. The other sapient species had their own Common Senses. And all together they form the Common Sense of Sapients. And even further we connect with non sapients, the Common Sense of the Wild, forming the Common Sense of the World. And at the deepest layer of connections, where worlds meet, you find the Common Sense of the Universe. He then thought that for a psionic construct this world wasn''t as confusing as he thought it''d be. He was expecting wild streams of psions changing shape at the whims of the minds they belonged to. It seems the connection was stronger than he thought, if it could form such a stable world. ¡°That''s where you''re both right and wrong.¡± The speaker looked as he himself did. Brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin, not tall, about 176 cm, but well built. A face that couldn''t be said to be handsome or ugly, pleasant was a good word. Defined muscles brought from his parkour, and well proportioned limbs. Indeed, a mirror image. ¡°No, I''m not a mirror image.¡± Then there was only one option, he was his unconscious. His other he. ¡°Correct. The procedure we underwent separated us, so we could speak and reach an agreement. I''m honestly surprised about our resilience. We are in the Collective Unconscious, here a waking mind should be unable to function. Yet you remember who you are, even if you lack your name and memories.¡± He now understood what he lacked. While he had his core, without his memories he couldn''t complete the process. ¡°Not true. You lack the memories but not the purpose. Even if you don''t remember your decisions will still take your memories into account.¡± That was good. He however wondered how he could get his name, that didn''t seem easy. Unless he could tell him. ¡°?{%%}>\$]++]¡ê. You heard that?¡± It was a no then. Then how? He asked himself. ¡°Simple. You are already more you were before. Let us just speak until you have stabilised.¡± Then what this place is, is a good start. Decided he. ¡°Sure. This place is actually your mental plane. The representation of your mind.¡± He was interested and looked around. The place looked like a mixture of city and nature. The floor was covered in short plants and flowers. The buildings rose high, made of red-brown bricks. It was however, orderly. All things were in their place, even the tree growing in the facade of that building. To another observer¡¯s eyes it might have looked chaotic, but for him it made sense. As it should be. ¡°Of course you find your own mind good. It''s your mind! Unless you have severe self-worth issues you will like it.¡± Then where is the mindscape of Humanity? Asked the human. ¡°It isn''t constant. Look beyond the limits of your mind.¡± He did so. And he saw mist. Infinite particles wove into streams that flowed from mindscape to mindscape, connecting all of Humanity together. However where many streams interjected scapes that were not of any singular mind existed. ¡°That isn''t a word. Those are the Worlds of the Collective Unconscious. They are formed from the Collective of Humanity. See that one? That is the World of Amara City, the place that represents the Collective that lives in Amara City.¡± It looked like the city itself. ¡°That is to be expected. Only the more esoteric parts of the Collective look different than the things they represent. Such as Death, or Love, or Connections, or Fire. Things like those. The more different views of something, the weirder they are, as those views clash in their formation.¡± Then the World is a copy of the city? Asked he. ¡°No. I said looks, right? If someone sees the city as something filled with monsters, monsters will appear. If it''s seen as an oasis, an oasis will appear. Things like that set it apart from the city.¡± That sounds dangerous. Expressed he. ¡°It is. The Collective Unconscious is dangerous for those that travel through. It''s why us unconsciousness don''t wander. Only a waking mind may go through this place. We are rooted to the mindscape. If one wishes to explore it they must brave great dangers.¡± Can I learn from here? Questioned he. ¡°Sure. But be careful. If you wandered far and found yourself in the Common Sense of the Wild you might lose your own mind, and become like an animal. It''d be bad, don''t do please. Limit yourself to the Common Sense of Sapient, and even then be careful.¡± How would I leave? Was his inquiry. ¡°Learn to manipulate psions and follow the flows to wherever you want. You will never lose sight of your mindscape, no matter where you go.¡± I''m good at that, was what he thought. ¡°Of course, otherwise we''d be dead. I thank you for that by the way. That was all you, you saved us.¡± If I enter again would I see you? His tone was filled with wonder. ¡°No. This is a one time thing.¡± That was true. Why had he forgotten that, he criticised himself. ¡°Don''t be too harsh on yourself. It is only natural to forget things when confronted by the presence of all other living beings in the universe. Now. Who are you?¡± Who I am. He responded. ¡°I am Connoreal Thacyon. Conn for short.¡± ¡°Good. Conn felt good. He had never valued his identity as much as when he had lost it. Just knowing he was was enough to fill him with euphoria. But he was here for a reason, and he had to concentrate. ¡°Now begins the selection.¡± Was what he said. ¡°Indeed. What is it you desire? Destruction? Alteration? Improvement?¡± ¡°All three. I wish for things to get better. For that I need all three.¡± ¡°What is better?¡± ¡°A place where people can be happy.¡± ¡°Why do you desire it?¡± ¡°So that they could never exist.¡± They was pronounced as if just the thought of them caused him revulsion. ¡°Why?¡± ¡°I hate them, and what they represent.¡± ¡°How would you represent your desire?¡± ¡°Like a flame in the forge. Burning what is unneeded and leaving only what''s desired behind.¡± ¡°You wish to be the fire that purges evil and cleanses good then?¡± ¡°Nothing as grandiose. That is my ideal, but I am content with burning monsters and cleansing injuries.¡± The unconscious nodded and smiled. ¡°I agree. We desire the purification of the Universe, and we''d gladly be the spark of the great fire that would be need. He then winked. ¡°Though if you could perpetuate your line before that I would be grateful.¡± Conn was dumbfounded. ¡°Where did that come from!¡± ¡°I am composed of your instincts, even those that desire the survival of your lineage. And while you haven''t tasted it other unconscious say it''s sublime, so there''s something in it for you.¡± ¡°Ignoring my inner pervert. Can we go on?¡± ¡°Sure. Are you willing to spit on the face of the Common Sense for your objective?¡± ¡°No.¡± His voice was final, leaving no room for discussion. ¡°They also desired good, yet they are evil. If I become like them I will never achieve my objective. There must be rules to bind me, rules that will make it impossible for me to deviate from the path I seek now.¡± ¡°Then do you wish to establish rules now?¡± ¡°Hah! I''m not a narcissistic fool. No rule I make will be perfect.¡± ¡°Then will you leave it to the Common Sense.¡± ¡°No. The Common Sense can be wrong.¡± ¡°Then I suggest something. Whenever you have doubts you will come here, and speak with a remnant of your current self.¡± ¡°No. First if I don''t doubt that would be useless. Second I am not perfect, I can make mistakes.¡± ¡°Then what?¡± ¡°Can you contact the most virtuous men?¡± ¡°Everyone who has lived has a remnant here, I can pull even those that are dead.¡± ¡°Then when I take actions that may make me stray, I will come here and hear their counsel. One man is not perfect, but a billion of the best men ever may approach it. But at the end the decision lies with me. I am the one to take responsibility for my deeds.¡± ¡°I find that acceptable.¡± They both halted their discussion, basking in the feeling of complete agreement. After some time they grew serious for the final question. ¡°Who are we?¡±If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it. ¡°Just a man.¡± ¡°¡±True.¡±¡± Once their agreement had finished their forms glowed and dispersed, before uniting as one. Conn thought to himself that the most important step was done. Now he just needed to find a patron. He went to the edge of his mindscape, and looked towards the place where the Common Sense of the World originated. The Root of Consciousness. He saw the path his connection traced to it and stepped forward. The psions gathered at his feet, making footholds for him to walk. And as he advanced those footholds formed a road that would always connect him to the World. The psions hardened around him, forming a shield that protected him from the other psionic entities in the web. As he walked he saw giants battling with dragons. He saw wolves hunting deer. He saw ants protect their tree. He saw mothers take care of their children. But no matter how wondrous the sight he never faltered in going to his objective, otherwise he risked becoming lost in the World. He finally reached the Root, it looked like a molten sphere, the size of a planet. It was the moment when the World first rose. When the planet became capable of bearing life. When the planet was born. He took it in, and began to fulfill his purpose. ¡°I proclaim today. My intent has been made clear, is anyone willing to be the one to open the way to power?¡± He looked up from the Root, to the terminals of the currents that flowed from it. Some were vibrant, so they lived and were discarded, they couldn''t answer. Some were dim, only existing due to the Common Sense drawing from their experience and were discarded, for they weren''t famed enough in life to open the way. Once those were discarded only two kinds of beings were left. The Archetypes, those born from the Common Sense. For the wolves it was the Pack-Father, the Pack-Mother, and many others. For humans it was the Hero, the Sage, the Healer, the Villain, and many more. The Famed. Those who in life were great enough to impact the Common Sense. The Fire-Bringer, the King that put on the Crown, the Monster of the Plains. It was these two that could answer his call. But the first one was too weak to gather their attention. He had forgotten this was the domain of psions, and only they counted. He gathered his voice, and infused it with psions. His voice expanded through the Collective Unconscious like a wave, reaching even the Root of the Universe. Some of the beings answered and came to him. The Hero, the Lawmaker, the Fool, the Dreamer, the King that put on the Crown, the Mother of Korinth, the Keeper of the Prophecy were some among them. He was presented with thousands of patrons, all of whom came to him, moved by his desire and his methods. Those that came nearer were those more compatible with him. He approached the first. A woman in a well made but simple armour. ¡°I am Wicol the Sufferer. I carry the burdens of those who seek my help so they may not need to.¡± Conn rejected him. He believed each person had to deal with their own burdens. They could be helped, but not kept from the world. He approached the second. An aram of straight horns and back. ¡°I am Irarok the steady. I protect those who are lead by me, even if it may break me.¡± ¡°And others?¡± ¡°I have no time for them.¡± He was also rejected. He was too selfish. He went one by one, examining each other, not based on power, but affinity. He had rejected a hundred when he heard a voice coming from within the Root. ¡°I have an offer for you. Not everyone can do it, but you may be worthy. It is a great opportunity, but also a great danger.¡± Conn turned to the voice, downwards. He then saw hundreds of brilliant beings, trapped within the Root. Of them twenty two shined brightest, with one among them being even greater among equals. Except the greater all had wings. A third of them were golden. A fourth of them were black. Another third were monstrous. And the rest were silver. The one that had spoken was a silver one, who was bound less tightly than the others. He shined in flaming might, fire was his crown, and strength his back. He was one of the twenty two and he was righteous. Conn frowned, he had the impression that he was good, and that he was unable to fool him. He didn''t fell psions altering his mind, so he trusted his instincts. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°You already know. You met my little brother. Now is the time to remember!¡± The last word reverberated, carrying through the psions a compulsion, he could now not remember. Connoreal Thacyon was seventeen years old. He was born to a loving household. His father was a pharmacist, his mother a doctor. He had an older sister, two little brothers and a sister. He was an honor student, however his marks were not the best. That was due to the fact that he didn''t strive to be the best, just to be good. He was content with success, not needing to excel. He had a decently sized group of friends and no one particularly disliked him. He ended obligatory education at sixteen, like all others, but instead of going on to the workforce he chose to continue his education. At seventeen he had specialised in Grain studies. While he studied he wished to make money to fuel his hobbies. He thought of using his passion for parkour and driving skills to earn money, and started an express courier service. This service took care of delicate packages that were in urgent need. He had soon worked a reputation, enough that no longer were people trying to dupe him. It was in one such delivery that his life shattered. The day was sunny and hot, for it was the middle of summer and the day. Few people went outside, and even fewer were running. In fact within the whole block only Conn was doing so. He was enjoying the wind on his face when he was stopped by the police. ¡°Hey Conn! Stop for a moment will ya!¡± It was officer Martinez, a man that had helped him when someone tried to make him deliver illegal goods. Primarily by teaching him which goods were illegal. Oh, and his bumbling partner Smith. ¡°Hi there officer. What do you need today?¡± Conn said while approaching the man. ¡°We had news of some highly illegal contraband from an informant. Don''t know what it is but it''s big. Have you checked your packet?¡± ¡°Not today, no.¡± ¡°Connnnnn. What have I told you about checking for contraband?¡± ¡°To do it? But come on it''s for old man Ramirez, he is trustworthy!¡± ¡°He is. Is the sender too?¡± ¡°Yep. Anybal Grain Company.¡± ¡°Huh, then there should be no problem. Still, check it out, they may have given you the slip. What is it supposed to be?¡± ¡°Hold on, I''ll call.¡± Conn took out his phone and made a call, keeping the package on one hand. ¡°Old man! Yes it''s me. No your packet isn''t broken. No it hasn''t been stolen. Will you listen! Thank you. I have to check what''s inside, police business. What is it supposed to be? Uh huh, thank you.¡± He hung the phone and turned to Martinez. ¡°Lamai, it is meant to be a dust crystal. For reinforcing one of his grain constructs. Urgent¡± The officer noted that on his notebook. ¡°Well then, open it.¡± Conn nodded and began to undo the package. He finally took out a crystal stabilising sphere. After that he opened the hatch and took out the crystal. It was an irregular transparent cylinder. There was one problem though, it was shining. Conn didn''t realise at first with the light of the Sun, and began to speak. ¡°One crystal for you. Wait, this isn''t grain, is it the Third Particle?¡± ¡°Conn, drop it!¡± Officer Smith shouted, having recognised the crystal for what it was. A Crystal Origin. A natural material that formed when in high Particle environments. It was a hyper dense form of Particle crystal that had an attraction towards Particles of the same kind. They were valuable since they could produce more crystal if left in high Particle environments, but they were not usually handled due to one flaw. When in contact with beings formed of all three Particles they initiated a process called Biocrystallisation. This process turned the being in question into a Particle Crystal of same molarity as the encasing of the Origin. The victim would not survive the process. Only one cure was known, to sever the area of contact before spread. But it''s main danger was not that, but that in the process it would extract Particles from its surroundings, including those lodged in other beings. If the crystal was of grain the process was uncomfortable, but Grain Exhaustion was a documented and treatable, non lethal disease. It was still avoided. If it was dust, however the problem was grave. Without Dust the body breaks down, and fast. A single dust Biocrystallisation of a human in a city like Amara could spread for a radius of about five kilometres kilometres, killing all within. It was considered a weapon of mass destruction. Thankfully the crystal was not of that, but the Third Particle was unknown. As were its effects, causing Conn to have a particular reaction. ¡°Run!¡± Officer Martinez frowned. ¡°I''m not leaving you to die! Treis, the plasma cutter!¡± Officer Smith began to bring out a tool, but before he could every being within a kilometre fainted for thirty seconds. The incident in which Amara City lost several people to a sudden loss of consciousness while performing dangerous activities was called by the media ¡®The Loss¡¯. It was highly a discussed event? In the HQ of the ACPD, a high ranking meeting was happening. ¡°Do we have any idea what happened?¡± Asked a bald man. A woman in casual clothes answered. ¡°We have confirmed the origin of the phenomenon.¡± She pressed a button, and the events surrounding Conn where shown on camera. ¡°Thank Iliar for the new security project.¡± Commented a horned elderly man. ¡°Yes. It is a pretty clear case of either contraband gone wrong or WMD terrorism. I don''t like either. Poor kid.¡± Said the first man. ¡°It is clear it was a Third Particle crystal.¡± Said a giant with rock like skin, gender indiscernible. The elderly man chuckled. ¡°At least after more than three hundred years we know something about that Particle! All knowledge was lost in the World War I.¡± The woman cleared her throat. ¡°There''s more. Why we didn''t found a crystal statue, and the Biocrystallisation was as brief as it was.¡± In the screen the video continued. After thirty seconds a portal appeared in the middle of the road, and three mechanical things appeared and took Conn with them. The room fell into silence. The first to speak was the rock giant. ¡°Who are those guys and why can they circumvent a particle that''s been unknown for centuries.¡± The first man was about to answer when he received a message. After reading it he clenched his hands and spat with fury. ¡°The incident was a new spell. We have captured the perpetrators and they will be sent to prison. No Third Particle. No robots.¡± The horned man smacked the table in silent fury. ¡°A cover up.¡± Commented the rock giant. ¡°Yes.¡± Conn woke up in a dimly lit room. He was naked on the floor, and unable to move. Conn looked to his right arm where he saw the crystal shining, but the Biocrystallisation was halted. His entire right arm was crystal and a few streaks of it could be seen on his chest. ¡°H-how?¡± His voice was weak. ¡°There are few free psions in here, and I''m not about to let that thing take mine.¡± A deep voice sounded. Conn was startled and swung his head to his left. There sat a silver winged man in dirty rags, was all Conn could think before the winged man spoke again. ¡°Now that is mean. I haven''t been allowed to change in three hundred years.¡± ¡°W-who?¡± ¡°That isn''t important right now. What is important is that I can help you end the crystallisation.¡± Conn¡¯s eyes widened and he nodded with difficulty. ¡°Don''t do that. Part of your neck is now crystal, you may sever the rest if you do that kind of movement.¡± ¡°How?¡± ¡°See, psions react to minds. They are controlled through minds. If you believe them to be living tissue, they will become living tissue. It is a bit more complex than that, but I can teach you. Do you want me to?¡± ¡°Yes!¡± The man smiled at his words and began instructing him. ¡°Psions are versatile, capable of imitating anything except dust and grain. They are bound to thoughts, thoughts shape them. Not only those that you are aware of, but those of your subconscious. So in order to make them become living tissue you must imagine them becoming living tissue. Begin by trying to make the crystal into a mobile shape, less rigid and more flexible.¡± Conn started to send his consciousness to his arm without thinking, and was surprised when he could. The seal didn''t impede that. Once there he could feel how the crystal was made. Little particles, united in a grid and forming the structure. He imagined them becoming flexible, but nothing happened. The man worked out his puzzlement and corrected him. ¡°That would work if the crystal was less dense, but as it is you need to think of a flexible particle structure. Not just be flexible.¡± Taking his counsel Conn changed how the psions connected to each other. Instead of equal rigid distances he made them unequal, imitating a slime¡¯s fluid yet coherent body, like mercury. To his surprise it worked, his arm lost its rigidness and he could move it around. Too much to be honest, it wasn''t supposed to twist like he was doing, making it turn 490¡ã. But still he had succeeded. He used his now functional arm to help himself sit down. Conn smiled, but his joy was short lived when the man spoke. ¡°Good, now you only need to learn to turn it into actual living tissue or you will have severe health issues. After all the crystal reached your lung. Do you know what it¡¯s made of?¡± At his confirmation the strange man hummed. ¡°Science has advanced since my time then.¡± Conn kept practicing until he managed to make blocks that behaved like cells. But they were just empty cells, without inner structure to make them work as intended. He then made a cellular skeleton, like those that were on actual cells. He then tried to replicate organelles. He was thankful to his parents now for all those nights researching to understand what they were talking about. Some time later, he felt like days, he managed to achieve what the man wanted. A perfect reproduction of the structure of living cells, if not their hormones and all those little but vital things. However he had managed to do a good job. Now that he could think about other things he relaxed, but immediately grew scared. He noticed with consternation that the crystal had advanced a little. ¡°Don''t worry, you are nearly there. And it only took you five days.¡± ¡°F-five?¡± ¡°You won''t feel hungry, thirsty or tired until the Biochrystallisation finishes or is halted. Then you''ll have to feed to maintain your new spiffy crystal parts, a lot. Now, to end the process you can just separate the Origin from you, but I don''t recommend it. Not until you escape from here. You''ll die of hunger otherwise.¡± Conn was impacted by the implications. Wherever he was he wasn''t being cared of it seemed. Actually, he had no idea where he was. ¡°Where am I?¡± Asked Conn, having recovered full use of his voice. ¡°A prison of the Gwardwedich. A butchered form of Welsh for Guardians. They were founded five hundred years ago after the Mind Flayer used psion control to bend the minds of many people to join his army, including their founders. His control was horrible, so much the Gwardwedich couldn''t even remember the proper use of their language when his control was taken away. His actions brought much devastation and¡­¡± ¡°I know who the Mind Flayer was. I didn''t know that he used Third Particles though.¡± The man continued as if he hadn''t been interrupted. ¡°They were founded to stop everyone who misused psions. But eventually that goal shifted to stop people from using psions when extremists took over. They make sure no one knows about psions or uses them. Even knowing of them is a sin in their eyes. Thus why you''re locked, they couldn''t remove the crystal without killing you, so they locked you away, waiting for you to die. They don''t wish to kill an innocent, but they have no problem letting them die. They also are probably the ones who erased the knowledge of psions that your lack of knowledge indicates.¡± Conn was shocked, that was treason against all sapient species. ¡°But without knowledge of the Third Particle Sphere, no one can improve their container to completion, and reach the Nine Shifts! They have weakened humans, arams and trolls. We are not at the mercy of the Wild only because of our technology!¡± ¡°They are fanatics. They don''t care.¡± The man said while shaking his head. Conn stayed silent, letting the situation in. The great calamity of World War I was caused by sapient hands, and they had willingly perpetuated it. How stupid had they to be to do that? He couldn''t help but ask himself. ¡°How can I escape?¡± ¡°It''s actually easy. But remaining free isn''t.¡± Conn felt his mood fall, realising what he meant. ¡°I can''t run from them, can I?¡± Despair filled his voice. ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then where can I go? To the Wild?¡± ¡°You wouldn''t survive.¡± ¡°Then-!¡± ¡°You need to go to somewhere they can''t follow. You need to go to another world.¡± 31. Ambush. Ambush. At the time they were going through a forested area, the trees were old and dense with little visibility to be had. It was nearly inevitable that there would be an ambush. ¡°What kind of distortion?¡± ¡°There is a sort of tunnel going through the Spiritual Realm. A passage free of spiritual presences.¡± ¡°How does that work and what does it do?¡± ¡°No idea and it would allow free passage for spiritual beings at faster than light speed.¡± ¡°Prepare for an ambush.¡± Said Uda through his communicator. With nothing else to do until the attack he tried to satisfy his curiosity. ¡°How does a tunnel allow faster than light speed?¡± ¡°Spirits are immaterial, as such they aren''t restrained by-¡± Gaius was interrupted by the sound of projectiles flying through the air. Uda sprang to his feet and looked through the window. The convoy had just been the receiver of several magical spells, of many different kinds. Even before they had hit many people jumped out of the forest and engaged the guards. But Gaius¡¯ warning wasn''t useless as the projectiles were intercepted and the assailants were met by guards. They were evenly matched but the magical ambushers remained within the forest raining down spells. This gave an advantage to the attackers ¡°A hundred and twelve people, not spirits, but they still can''t be detected by us. Majority are Rank 3s, a few Rank 4s and a Rank 5.¡± ¡°I can actually see them. They are ridiculously bright in the Spiritual Realm.¡± ¡°That¡¯s good. Can I ask you two to fight the ambushers? I will send our oni and elemental to deal with them either way but I want Senjutsu users out there just in case.¡±¡± ¡°Of course. Kotone?¡± ¡°No problem.¡± ¡°Good, go now!¡± They jumped through the back doors and went to where they felt most presences. Many oni and elementals departed at the same time, their spiritual nature allowing them to detect the hidden aggressors. Over two thirds of the convoy remained to guard the prisoners and fight the other attackers. Gaius felt Uda go to the sole Rank 5 he could feel. The first group the two of them reached had only a few Rank 3s. Three of them used fire magic and another two used dimensional folding magic. The other three were a man that specialised in ki, a barrier mage and an assassin that was hidden. That was an exercise in futility since to Gaius¡¯ and Kotone¡¯s senses they shone like lamps in the night. Their spiritual readings were so clear they could see not only what kind of powers they used, but how powerful they were now that they were looking closely. The Senjutsu users capitalised in their knowledge by feigning ignorance of the assailants¡¯ position. They went near them and faked searching around until the presences began approaching through two sides in a pincer attack. The three fire mages and ki user went to Kotone while the dimensional mages mages and barrier user went for Gaius. The assassin arrived alone but aired until the others arrived. Kotone looked at Gaius and winked with Gaius smiling in return. She then smiled ferally, making her tails and ears appear and threw a ball of concentrated lust curses at the assassin. The effect was even more impressive than usual, the assassin appeared and fell to the floor, twitching and moaning. ¡°Shit! They know we¡¯re here. Attack!¡± ¡°Remember the girl has curses and magic and the guy ki and summoning magic!¡± ¡°Bend Reality!¡± ¡°Bend Reality!¡± ¡°Dimensional Barrier! Dimensional Barrier!¡± ¡°Forbid Summon!¡± ¡°Flame Avatar!¡± ¡°Igneous Aura!¡± ¡°Minefield!¡± Kotone and Gaius charged at their respective foes. On Kotone¡¯s side the three fire mages had began their attack. One of them was producing floating balls of Fire that stood ready in a field around him, serving as both attack and defense. The second one lighted himself on fire and held dual fire whips. The final fire mage actually transformed into a hulking flame humanoid. Kotone started by putting the woman with the minefield under an illusion, which caused her to begin assaulting the ki user. While they were both occupied she transformed her Touki into water form and surrounded herself with it. She then threw a love ball to the humanoid. ¡°Foolish girl I am immune to magic-¡± started the humanoid with a gravelly voice. He promptly fell under the influence of they curse and a dopey expression appeared in his face, it was disconcerting to see a demonic face put such an expression. Meanwhile Kotone began grappling with the man with the flame aura. ¡°Help me deal with this one!¡± ¡°Sure, then we can get some ice cream right?¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Don''t be an idiot, she¡¯s-¡± began saying the flaming man before he was interrupted by Kotone kicking him in the balls. The humanoid charged at the flaming man and lifted him high before slamming him to the floor. He then started to punch him. ¡°Wake up!¡± He didn''t listen and kept pummelling him.This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it. ¡°Shit! Flame Reversal!¡± Both the aura and the flames that composed the humanoid burst apart and exploded, whatever force was holding them together disappearing. Once the smoke dissipated in the epicentre of the explosion remained an unconscious middle aged woman and the flaming man. ¡°Shit woman, I told you to-!¡± He was interrupted by a lightning bolt falling on him from above and knocking him out. ¡°And for forgetting about me you are rewarded with a lighting to the head! Wait he was a woman?!¡± Ignoring the vocal dissonance Kotone turned to confront the other two, for the minefield woman had surely recovered, but she was wrong. The ki user and the woman were still fighting, with the ki user being on the losing side in terms of injuries, but better in energy reserves. ¡°Interesting.¡± She turned to look at the assassin and saw he was still under the effect of her lust curse, and smiled. ¡°We are their worst enemy. Gaius! They are weak to spiritual attacks!¡± ¡°That doesn''t help me with this asshole¡¯s dimensional barriers!¡± Kotone smiled at her Master¡¯s answer and began charging a big spell to deal with the two remaining enemies. Meanwhile Gaius had at first tried to summon Reiko to test his theory and it was confirmed, they had established a no teleportation zone. He smirked at the misunderstanding, he would be thankful to have Reiko but he wasn''t vital. His smirk fell from his face when he realised that Bend Reality created a dimensional barrier, Dimensional Barrier did too, obviously. Those were a pain, absolute isolation was no joke. He began to charge his Touki in preparation for a big attack, and had to dodge several spatial edges and razor thin barriers that his foes threw at them. ¡°Come on big boy! Where are your summons?¡± Taunted one of the dimensional mages, dressed in stereotypical thug clothing. His answer was a Touki projection that broke through his barrier and knocked him out. ¡°Shit he can break through those! He¡¯s Rank 4!¡± Gaius repeated the process as his foes grew frantic and began casting much faster. His next punch knocked another dimensional mage and he then charged at the last and knocked him out when his magical energy run out. He had less luck with the barrier user since he realised he was wasting his magical energy and concentrated on defense, overlaying barriers and reapplying them as Gaius broke them. ¡°Gaiu!s! They are weak to spiritual attacks!¡± ¡°Fucking dimensional barriers. That doesn''t help me with this asshole¡¯s barriers!¡± He kept fighting with the barrier user for a few seconds before he spoke. ¡°You know you are just stalling. Give up, I have more stamina.¡± ¡°When my colleagues deal with your girlfriend-¡± He was interrupted by a loud sound and a wave of intense wind bent the trees. ¡°Air bomb? She doesn''t give quarter.¡± Commented Gaius. When the barrier user saw his last hope out cold he sighed and lowered his barriers. ¡°Be gentle.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± Gaius made good on his word by cursing him with sleep. Gaius and Kotone brought the bodies of their enemies together. When they met together Kotone raised her hand. Gaius gave a wry smile and high fived her. ¡°Thoughts?¡± ¡°We need to investigate why their spirits shine, why they shout their spells and why they are weak to spiritual attacks despite the strength of their spirits.¡± ¡°And why they knew our primary abilities.¡± ¡°Ah. Yeah, that too.¡± ¡°Let us tie them, do you have something to do that?¡± ¡°I have something better.¡± Kotone approached the unconscious men and women and ordered out loud. ¡°Rise and give yourselves up to the convoy!¡± They raised and began moving, doing as they were ordered. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°I discovered two days ago I can order people with weak spirits, or unconscious, around. I couldn''t order you though, even Unconscious you would overwhelm me.¡± ¡°Judging from that last comment you need to connect with their spirits?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°That''s dangerous, try avoiding it.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± Her tone was pouty and her ears dropped. Gaius chuckled and tussled her hair. ¡°Still you did good.¡± Kotone perked out at that. They soon set up to the largest concentration of presences in the forest. There were thirty of them, and one of them was Rank 5. Gaius actually stopped when he perceived her spirit, suddenly understanding how it all worked. ¡°Motherfuckers.¡± ¡°Master am I sensing that right?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°But they are killing themselves!¡± ¡°I don''t think they know. Come on, let''s knock them out fast. I will jump in the middle of the group and throw an omnidirectional sleep curse. That will spend my corruption reserves, so I¡¯m counting on you if someone remains up.¡± They began running faster to the group. They were nearly there when Gaius felt something amiss and stopped abruptly. Kotone followed through and looked at her Master who had kneeled and was looking at the air. ¡°What is wrong?¡± ¡°Shh.¡± Gaius put his finger forward, surrounded it with Touki and touched a thin line in the air. It actually cut his finger. ¡°Foxfire!¡± Kotone didn''t understand but she listened and threw foxfire in front of Gaius. The effects were impressive. The fire expanded through a tridimensional web that surrounded the group. ¡°What was that?¡± ¡°Spirituality reinforced spider silk, tough and sharp. I''d have trouble escaping from it intact. You''d either die or be trapped.¡± ¡°Shit.¡± Gaius jumped and propelling in the trees too increase his speed. Once he was near the group he jumped in the middle. While he was in the air he twisted to avoid a thread of spider silk that swung towards him. He landed successfully and when he did a black sphere expanded around him, enveloping the group and knocking everyone except one teenaged girl out. Kotone came close behind and they confronted the Rank 5. She smiled and started the conversation. ¡°Well well. I was about to go to the trucks to turn the tide. I didn''t expect some birds to come into my web, and burn it no less. Do you believe a 3 and 4 can defeat me.¡± ¡°We have the advantage.¡± Said Gaius. ¡°Not really. I have gotten rid of my weakness to spiritual attacks and my webs are just part of my abilities.¡± She smiled smugly. ¡°Not that.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°We know why you are dying?¡± Answered Kotone. ¡°I''m what?! Do not think I will fall for your lies!¡± ¡°You suffer headaches, insomnia, nightmares when you do sleep. Your throat dries fast, your lungs burn after you use magic extensively. And probably more I don''t know enough to diagnose. It all started when you became Rank 5, correct?¡± Diagnosed Gaius. ¡°How do you know?¡± ¡°You have a spirit in you. It is living symbiotically with you, it feeds on your spirit and gives you powers.¡± Said Kotone. ¡°But. Your spirit is too weak to sustain such a powerful spirit, it¡¯s drying your spirit. And a damaged spirit causes health problems like those you have.¡± The girl swallowed spit. ¡°How do I know you are saying the truth? Even then how does that help you?¡± ¡°Simple. First we diagnosed you within a few seconds of meeting you. Second we are Senjutsu users, no one knows more about the spirit more than us, we can help you. If you surrender and tell us everything about awakening. ¡°I can''t.¡± She whispered in despair. ¡°I signed a contract.¡± ¡°Can you let me examine you?¡± ¡°If you promise to treat me.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± The girl nodded and Gaius went to her. He looked at her intently and after some time put his hand on her forehead, something red flowed into his hand. ¡°The contract was a conditional curse, I have removed it.¡± ¡°Alright, then I surrender and accept your terms. I am Higashi Kozue, the Spider Queen.¡± ¡°Gaius Atiius Quadratus, a Sage.¡± Said Gaius amused. ¡°Araki Kotone, a three tailed half kitsune and Senjutsu user.¡± ¡°What''s a Sage?¡± ¡°A natural Senjutsu user.¡± ¡°Natural?¡± ¡°We¡¯ll explain later, for now come with us. Kotone do your thing.¡± They moved back to the convoy that was just then finishing the assailants. While some had run most had been captured. When they approached, followed by twenty nine thralls, the guards moved back a little spooked. Uda however came to welcome them. ¡°Good job. Though I would have preferred if you had told us you can control unconscious people.¡± He then noticed the girl. ¡°A Rank 5? Who is she?¡± ¡°She surrendered.¡± ¡°I see. We have to bring them to the association for interrogation. But dividing is an unnecessary risk. We will go all the way to Kyoto and teleport back if we are given the go ahead by the association. If not we will go back the old way.¡± ¡°Alright.¡± The rest of the travel was without incidents. They arrived at Kyoto on time and teleported back without incident after they gave up the prisoners to the proper authorities. Once back Akai, Gaius and Kotone began the interrogation. Extra 5. Imperial Virtue. THEY COME. 1806-England. In a countryside road of England two white horses galloped forwards. Two men in doublets and trousers rode on them. One was a Spaniard, while the other was from the East Indies. The Indian one approached the Spaniard and shouted. ¡°Brother! We should be near the inn where Joshua is awaiting us!¡± ¡°I''m not an idiot Sumit.¡± ¡°Hah! You are not for sure. The problem is you are too intelligent, you don''t pay enough attention and forget things. Such a flaw is extremely detrimental, Manuel.¡± ¡°To hint you¡¯d imply I, son of Pedro de Alc¨¢ntara T¨¦llez-Gir¨®n, brother of Francisco de Borja T¨¦llez-Gir¨®n y Pimentel, has a flaw! Preposterous! I am the great patron of the Society for Human Rights, Savior of France and bringer of prosperity! Manuel the Virtuous, the modern Cicero!¡± ¡°And I''m Sumit Padhya, his brother in all but blood. So my word has preference over all those adulators.¡± They held gazes for a moment before they burst out laughing. ¡°You¡¯re right, my brother. I had forgotten where we were to meet Joshua.¡± ¡°Of course. There is a reason I administrate your affairs.¡± ¡°Sure. What was the inn called?¡± ¡°The Red Antlers, between London and Joshua¡¯s summer house. We will travel back to London with them and attend the Society¡¯s dinner party.¡± ¡°Can''t we skip the last? I hate British parties, most high society parties actually. I''d rather dine among the whores in order to convince them to live a life with more dignity.¡± ¡°Do you believe yourself to be Jesus Christ? You are our face, the man who undermined the Jacobin and French Directory through letters and speeches written to the adequate people and distributed to rural areas. You instigated the 1993 revolts and funded the fall of the Directorate. You saved the Society from the brink of extinction by funding and reorganising it. You are the man who has managed to make Europe give greater rights to the lower classes. And you were only thirteen when it all began. You must be seen!¡± ¡°Thanks for reminding me of that. Of the 20,000 people killed in retaliation of the revolts. Of the fact that Napoleon is bringing war to Europe.¡± ¡°There would have always been war, Manuel. Hell, Napoleon actually promotes our interests by creating more equal laws!¡± ¡°Making our current objective of making the natives of the colonies full fledged citizens slow down by being associated with him.¡± ¡°And despite that we have managed to give normal citizens greater rights. Despite that we still have members in Britain, Spain, France, Portugal and Austria. Despite that we are doing good.¡± ¡°I know. I''m just bitter our work is being ralentized by his warmongering.¡± ¡°Do you really regret it all? All the people you saved from the guillotine? Without you many more priests would have been killed. Citizens guillotined. You even managed to save Marie Antoinette!¡± ¡°For a lot of good that¡¯s done, Marie I mean. She has just grown so disillusioned she just hides in my villa all day.¡± ¡°But she¡¯s alive, as many others are. You have achieved things people can''t do in decades in just a few years. Beginning with your letter to Vendee when you were thirteen to this dinner for the rights of the colonies, passing through the Civil Rights. You have done a lot of good, focus on that not your failures.¡± Manuel looked at Sumit for a moment before sighing and looking away. ¡°You always know what to say to cheer me up, Sumit.¡± ¡°You took me away from the streets all those years ago. I have watched you and followed you since those days in order to repay you. There is no better person for the job.¡± A complicated expression appeared in Manuel¡¯s face. After struggling for a few moments he was about to speak when Sumit shouted. ¡°Look there!¡± In the horizon a small building appeared. It was the Red Antlers inn. They rode the rest of the way in silence. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Once they arrived they left their horses to the servants and entered the lobby. Once near the reception desk the man in charge of it rose to welcome them. ¡°Welcome to the Red Antlers. May I know your esteemed names?¡± ¡°This is Manuel de Alc¨¢ntara, son of the 9th Duke of Osuna. I am Sumit Padhya, his right hand. We have an appointment with Joshua Faire, of the East India Company.¡± The man bowed immediately but properly. ¡°We have been awaiting you. Let me lead you to their current location.¡± ¡°Lead on.¡± Said Sumit. They were lead through several passages before they arrived to the left side of the building and went through a door. Beyond the door was a wooden little pavillion formed by pergolas. Within was a desk in which a middle aged man and two young women sat, drinking tea. When the man saw them he rose to welcome them. ¡°Manuel! Sumit! Am I glad to see you two. Have you had a pleasant travel until now?¡± ¡°It certainly is now that we''re with you Joshua.¡± Said Manuel before grabbing his hand on a handshake. ¡°We come bearing gifts for our host.¡± While saying this Sumit took a small but decorated box from his clothing and presented it. ¡°To honour your daughter''s engagement. Perfume, recently made with a new recipe. It is quite popular amidst Spanish ladies.¡± Joshua took the box and then shook Sumit¡¯s hand. ¡°I am grateful for it. Come on, I hope you remember my daughters.¡± He guided them to the tea table. The two women rose to welcome them. ¡°Welcome Lord Manuel and sir Sumit.¡± Said the eldest before bowing. ¡°Thank you miss Daphne.¡± Manuel and Sumit bowed back. The pleasantries were interrupted when the youngest jumped forward. ¡°Manuel! I am glad to see you.¡± ¡°No love for Sumit?¡± ¡°Of course Sumit, but Manuel tells better stories.¡± ¡°He does have a gift with tongues.¡± ¡°Abigail.¡± Chastised Joshua while frowning. ¡°Mind your manners.¡± ¡°But they''re friends.¡± ¡°That is no excuse for your rudeness.¡± Abigail sighed and stepped backwards before making a perfect bow while making a polite smile. ¡°I am pleased to see you again, Lord de Alc¨¢ntara, sir Sumit.¡± Her smile widened. ¡°Is that enough, Father dearest?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Blazes.¡± ¡°Language Abigail!¡± Said Daphne, scandalized. ¡°Please, like you are much better. Women are not supposed to read Newton, or ancient philosophy. That is for men.¡± ¡°Natural science should be learned by everyone.¡± Joshua sighed in desperation. ¡°Dear Evelyn in Heaven, have I raised our daughters wrong?¡± ¡°Please Joshua. You encouraged them. What British gentleman teaches fencing, or men¡¯s riding, or boxing to his daughters.¡± The mischievous smile in Manuel¡¯s face was a great indicator of him fanning the flames on purpose. ¡°One concerned for their safety. What if a ruffian attacked them? They should know how to sever the manhood from his body.¡± A silence spread at those words as Sumit gasped and crossed his legs. It kept on for a few seconds before Manuel rolled his eyes at him and gave a wry smile. ¡°Let¡¯s ignore my right hand¡¯s antics and have some tea.¡± They moved to the table and sat down. The men began a conversation about the details of the dinner and the speakers that were to give speeches. ¡°None of them will be equal to you, Manuel. You are the best Orator I know.¡± ¡°Nonsense Joshua. I am a good rabble rouser. I can whip out a frenzy, or calm. Pride or regret. But this dinner requires for the attendants to be convinced long term, unlike what my honest speeches would do. Unfortunately I rely on the inner decency of people, and the East India Company has little of that.¡± ¡°I should feel insulted.¡± ¡°Speaking of which,¡± intervened Sumit, ¡°what made you join the Society?¡± Joshua looked at his daughters. ¡°My little angels. I realised that with my wife¡¯s death and no male heir in sight it wouldn''t be much longer until vultures came upon my household, seeking my fortune. I thus fight so even if my daughters are ruined they can live their lives with dignity. And I also fight so that it may never come to that by making women be considered equal to men.¡± ¡°Amen to gender equality.¡± Commented Sumit. They all raised their tea cups at that. ¡°What about you two?¡± ¡°I was brought by my uncle to several of the colonies. The caste system of the colonies, as well as the general poverty of the Indias, convinced me something was wrong. That inequality was wrong. I saw them and grieved, every famished child, every beggar made my heart bleed. I can''t accept a world in which race or birth, or gender, determine one¡¯s destiny. Everyone should be allowed the chance of living their lives as they wish. As long as it''s not criminal that is.¡± ¡°I myself am not as dedicated as you two. I''m mainly here to repay Manuel from taking me from the streets of my home city and giving me a home.¡± ¡°He¡¯s downplaying himself, he has always wanted to help people. Otherwise he wouldn''t be doing this, I hope.¡± ¡°I would prefer if no more people were like me, living in the streets and stealing for a living. That is true but it''s also true that I want to repay Manuel.¡± Manuel grimaced as when Sumit had mentioned the same while on horseback, but this time he didn''t try to speak. Joshua picked the conversation and brought a new topic. ¡°What do you think is the best way to achieve our goals.¡± ¡°Power is the first. Without power law can''t be enforced. In order to get power we must either get better weapons and soldiers or sway people to our side. The first is impossible in our times so we must do the later. As such we need the trinity of reform. First genuine and attractive ideals, that is not a problem for us. Second is discipline, we have all seen what unchecked ideals did to France. Discipline allows us to avoid extremism, enemy of all that is good. In order to both show our ideals and keep people in check one thing is needed. The third part is a strong leader. A man that can both capture the hearts of the people, to set them on a fire of passion, and capable of shaming the crow, to lower the flames when they burn too bright and threaten to consume the cause. A man with the charisma and confidence to be a beacon. For now I''m filling this role.¡± ¡°And you are doing it so magnificently Lord Manuel.¡± ¡°Thanks for the compliment miss Daphne, I am glad that my hard work is showing results.¡± ¡°I actually think you missed something. We need charity and defense. If the people eat bread we gave them, if their safety is guaranteed by us they will follow our cause to the end. Our humanitarian efforts is what have bought us the hearts of the common man. We do need a strong leader, but that is for the powerful. Remember the little man, brother.¡± ¡°And that requires money. Good finances are the backbone of our Society, as your intervention showed. Before people like you or me came to the Society it was sinking. Money and a strong administration are key for any successful enterprise.¡± Added Joshua. ¡°We all have missed something, as shown by all of our answers. People with various skills and views. Together we are more efficient than divided. Diversity, unity and cooperation allow us to cover all of our bases. As the face of our Society I am blessed to have people that can advice me, and tell me what I have missed.¡± Manuel looked to his fellows and smiled in satisfaction, they reciprocated his feelings. He then noticed that Abigail looked slightly bored. ¡°My apologies miss Abigail, this topic must not be of interest for a person divorced of politics like you. In repayment of my oversight I ask you to choose the next topic.¡± Abigail perked up before she began thinking hard. Both Joshua and Daphne were amused by her earnesty, at least they were the only ones to show it. ¡°I know. What about one of your tales?¡± ¡°My tales? Let me think, history or mythology.¡± He closed his eyes for a moment. ¡°I have the perfect idea. In honour of miss Daphne¡¯s coming wedding let us talk about love. But who to choose, one of the eight Aztec gods? The Greek two? The Egyptian five?¡± ¡°What about Kama¡¯s tale?¡± Suggested Sumit. ¡°That¡¯s a great idea. This is a story about Hindu gods, let us begin. In ancient times the demon Tarakasura ravaged the land. His might so great that even the gods themselves trembled in his presence. The days were dark and hopeless until one day a prophecy appeared. It spoke of how the son of Shiva, god of destruction, and Parvati, goddess of love and marriage, would be the one to defeat Tarasakura. The gods celebrated the news but terrible news reached them. Shiva was deep in meditation and his guardian Nandi didn''t allow anyone through, even for the sake of defeating Tarakasura. Indra, king of gods, seeked someone that could make love sprout between Shiva and Parvati. He found him in Kamadeva, god of desire and love, husband of Rati, goddess of love and lust. He convinced him to strike Shiva with one of his flowered arrows, that made love sprout in those they hit. Kamadeva was swift in action. He went to Shiva¡¯s residence, and evaded Nandi long enough to loosen his arrow. It flew true and stroke Shiva, awakening him from his meditation. But tragedy arose that day. Shiva¡¯s fury was so great that when he opened his third eye, the Tryanbakam, fire spewed from it. Kamadeva was helpless before the might of the Destroyer and was incinerated. Not all was lost, however. The second thing Shiva saw when he opened his eyes was the most beautiful sight he had ever witnessed. The goddess Parvati had followed Kamadeva. Shiva and Parvati began to speak and soon love bloomed between them. They had a son, Kartikeya, who went forth to battle Tarakasura and won. The gods and the world were rid of that scourge and they rejoiced, but at the same time Kamadeva was grieved. Parvati took pity on him and appealing to Shiva she reminded him that Kamadeva was the one that had kindled their love. To great joy Shiva listened. Kamadeva was to be brought back, but as punishment he was to be immaterial. Kamadeva¡¯s rebirth happened, and his now formless essence spread through the cosmos, since then he was called Ananta. When it touched the mortals it influenced them, and brought them kama, desire. From that day on humans desired for pleasure, for satisfaction, for love.¡± Silence spread after he had finished his story and Abigail shrugged. ¡°It isn''t really all that romantic.¡± ¡°I think Victoria disagrees.¡± Said Daphne looking behind Abigail. There stood a maid, enraptured by the story. When she realised they were looking at her she blushed and stated her business. ¡°Master Joshua, butler George wished for me to remind you that you wanted to ask something of Lord Manuel.¡±Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author''s consent. Report any sightings. ¡°Really? What was it?¡± ¡°He said that it was about the relief.¡± ¡°The relief! How could I ever forget? Manuel, Sumit, I recently acquired a intricate relief, but I don''t know what it depicts. If it is of significance to the people that gifted it I would like to return it, if it isn''t I want to sell it to the museum. But for that I need to know what it is.¡± ¡°Bring it then.¡± Joshua nodded and looked to the door. There waited an older man of silver hair with some silk wrappings in his hand. When he saw his master beckon him he came. He silently put the relief before Manuel, and unwrapped it. In it was depicted a man in meditation with a demon riding an elegant in front of him. It was made of stone but the man was painted with gold. The workmanship was detailed and exquisite, clear care was put into it. What it represented was obvious to Manuel. ¡°This is a relief of Gautama Buddha confronting the demon Mara and achieving enlightenment. Mara was a demon that tempted Buddha away from enlightenment by presenting his three beautiful daughters at him, as well as throwing thousands of demons at him.¡± Said Manuel. ¡°Am I right Sumit?¡± ¡°You are the expert here not me, but I''d say you are right.¡± ¡°Then is it valuable?¡± ¡°Depends on age and¡­¡± His words were brought short when a distortion appeared around the tablet. Just looking at it made his head hurt. But that became the least of his problems when a great suction came from the distortion. If someone had been watching a bizarre spectacle would have been witnessed. All seven of them were stretched, as if made of gum, and pulled within the tablet. Soon afterwards their disappearance was noticed. A great upheaval resulted, with many being accused of being responsible. They became martyrs to the cause, that grew in fervour and became successful. But everyone forgot about the relief. It passed hand through hand until it reached a certain attic where it lay for two centuries, unperturbed. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In another place, where no starlight. In another place, beyond the stars. In another place, where nightmares roamed. In another place, where sanity broke, THEY awoke. In ancient times, before the Age of Bronze, THEY had looked at a small planet, and THEY had hungered. The weak tribes of Humanity had fallen easily before them, but THEY were thwarted. The wizards of Humanity sacrificed Magic and creating a barrier that kept THEM at bay. THEY could no longer enter the material plane, but THEY were long lived and patient. THEY waited for millennia. But not all of THEM were equal, some were lesser and foolish. The Veil was weakening, with nary a century left. One of the lesser ones grew impatient and tried to break through the Veil before the time had come. SHE/HE/IT/THEY was one of corruption, one that tempted humans into depravity. She saw her opportunity in a relic, a object of worship depicting a corrupter like THEY/SHE/IT/HE. It was near pure ones with great power, HER/HIS/THEIR/IT¡¯S favoured prey, as such while there many other such relics she chose that one. SHE/HE/IT/THEY pierced the the Veil and made the relic it''s home. She began to absorb the outside world into HER/HIS/THEIR/IT¡¯S realm. Thankfully the time had not yet come. The Veil detected HE/IT/SHE/THEY and sealed her in the mask. There HE/SHE/THEY/IT slumbered for centuries. Only to wake up when the Veil broke. But even then those she attempted to corrupt would prove to be THEIR/IT¡¯S/HIS/HER undoing. For THEY were mighty, THEY were foreign, THEY were beyond man, but THEY were still pawns in the god¡¯s plans. And THEY were the enemy to be hunted in this tale. Poor THEM, made to be hunted. Poor THEM, made to lose. Poor THEM, who didn''t know of THEIR end. Poor THEM, that were destined to lose. And lauded be the heroes that vanquish THEM. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ¡°A pity about Manuel. Had he remained for longer he could have become an S differential. I hope you learned from your oversight, sister.¡± ¡°No need to gloat.¡± ¡°Look it another way. Now when they escape that seal they will be heroes of the new world.¡± ¡°Truly?¡± ¡°Look at their simulated attributes.¡± ¡°This is going to be incredible. How will the world develop?¡± ¡°That is what we seek to know.¡± ¡°¡°¡°For our perfect World.¡±¡±¡± ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For some reason Manuel felt sluggish, he had trouble thinking. He was trying to remember where he was when the woman in front of him called out to him. "Manuel are you alright?" "Huh?" "Remember me? We were talking about the terms of our contract." "Contract?" "I offer you the power you need to fulfill your vision, to make your dreams a reality." That made him focus a little, but he still couldn''t think clearly. His head swayed gently and his eyes lost and gained focus constantly, but he did manage to formulate a question. "What is the price?" "I just want you to do me a favour and give me a human heart from a criminal a day. We were about to seal the contract, remember?" Manuel''s head jerked to the right and then upwards. "I don''t know, owing an undefined favour seems bad." "Nonsense, why would it be bad?" "Because of anemones! No that makes no sense." He managed to gain his bearings for a moment. "Because you could ask for a something that would break the cause. Like a massacre. I''d have the power but the people wouldn''t listen." "Why do you need for the people to listen? With my power you would be able to rule and impose your order. People would obey you and love you. Your rule would bring happiness to all." "That''s not true." His head jerked backwards and he stared at the ceiling for a minute. "People don''t like to be forced, even if my rule was for the good they would oppose me. They would disobey and rebel, even if they''d be worse as a result. People like to be the masters of their own destiny, and abhor tyrants." "But you could eliminate them. Leave only those who agree and raise the future ones to understand your ideal. Eternal happiness with only a few sacrificed to reach it. Sacrifice one for a thousand. Isn''t that for the greater good?" "No, I don''t think so. Your logic is sound, I could really leave only those that agree with me. But that seems inhuman, not worth it. I know I can''t satisfy everyone but I''ll be damned if I don''t make a world where everyone can be happy. I won''t give up on people, ever. I won''t sacrifice people for my dream, that would make it worthless." "That is impossible." "In my life sure it is. But if the cause remains after me, if the world changes through what I began, we may just succeed. I don''t want to make the world perfect, that''s unfeasible, I just want to make the best world I can." "I can give you the power to make the perfect world. I can give you the world." "What is the point of gaining the world if you lose yourself? The end doesn''t justify the means. Furthermore, even if it did I can only make a world as perfect as I am, and I am quite flawed. What you suggest is no perfect world, it is but a delusion of one. A twisted image of my vision. A corruption of it." As Manuel spoke his eyes gained clarity and his body began obeying him. Seeing this the woman smiled and conceded. "Let''s forget the favour then. I only asked for the hearts of condemned criminals. Those that would have been executed otherwise." Manuel thought about it. He didn''t see a problem with that, if they were going to die either way. He was about to agree when something deep within him rebelled. Something very important to him screamed against her proposition. "But I don''t believe in the death penalty. Everyone should get a chance to regret and repent. To kill someone if you can''t apprehend them is a necessary evil. To fight to your fullest and that causing deaths is understandable. But if you have them so restrained that they can''t resist what is the point? Just get them away from others until they learn to live without harming others. And if that never happens then it is a shame, but we don''t take the choice away." "Then just give me the hearts of those who can''t be redeemed. Those so evil their deeds can''t be pardoned." "Hmm." Manuel thought hard, something seemed amiss but it eluded him. His thoughts were interrupted when a loud voice rang through the room. "Everyone listen! Don''t be deluded by his words! Think of what his purpose is!" George''s voice resonated within Manuel''s head clearing it. "That is correct. There are two problems. First, what do you gain from this. Second, who chooses what is unpardonable? The Jacobins believed their executions to be righteous, if I accepted your offer what would stop me from ending like them? You phrased it differently but your offer didn''t change. As for your motives, what do you gain? If it is power then I might be damning myself, since our deal doesn''t include a clause that impedes you from attacking me or my regime." "Damn that old goat." The woman said scornfully. "But this changes nothing, you can''t leave until you agree to my deal." He looked back to the door of the study and raised an eyebrow. "I see the exit right there." When he turned back to the woman she had disappeared. He looked back to the door and the woman was there, blocking the way. She smiled smugly at him, obviously daring him to go through her. Manuel took a deeper look at his surroundings then, hoping to see an alternate exit. He noticed his surroundings were foggy, clouded. He couldn''t see far, only the desk, the door and the woman were clear. From behind where the woman sit there''re was a window through which he witnessed a dark cavern, while light flowed through the hinges of the door. Manuel smiled in comprehension. "So you have blocked my way." "Indeed." "Quite cunning I say." "Not really, it was the obvious thing to do." "Yes, but blocking a false way while leaving the true way out unguarded was cunning. Above all when reality is uglier than a dream." Midway through his speech he jumped over the desk and went through the glass. He found himself in the middle of a void. Except it was less void and more formless. It was a space filled with possibilities, where everything could happen unrestrained by common sense. His body cried in agony, the formless energy that filled the space flowed into him and warped him. His body burned as the limits of what he could handle were touched. But he was saved from destruction, reality called to him and brought him away from this bizarre realm of everchanging possibilities, where Common Sense and logic failed. Before he returned to reality he looked around and saw his companions, except George, in the same situation he was until now, barred from leaving by a web of deceit, similar yet different from his. He understood what George had done, and what he needed to do. "Everyone! The way is free, only barred by lies! Reality is darker than dreams!" That was all he could say, for he didn''t know what they saw. His control slipped when his body began to dissolve and he was thrown back to reality. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Manuel fell upon the hard and cold stone floor. He looked upwards and saw George. "Talk you later, this must be experienced to be believed." Said George quickly. "Wha-" His query was interrupted by a transition to a dark space. He floated in it but he didn''t feel scared, but warm. He looked around and saw the statues of three women, coming to him. Except they weren''t statues but actual beings. They quickly came unto him and disappeared in his chest. It was then that something nonsensical happened.
Earth-S-29678413-L-R first period complete. Difference depth compared to Earth Prime: C: Minor differences. Napoleonic wars were unchanged. Colony natives were given equal rights. World War I was unchanged. The colonies independiced less bloodily. Worl War II ended in 1943. Jews were persecuted less harshly, with many people guarding and hiding them. Reduction of overall world racism and class difference avoided many massacres and Genocides. Human Rights are more widespread and accepted. Many terrorists do not exist. Overall history events unchanged by 2006. Change direction: A-Good. Rewards given to earthlings for their good grade: D individuals. Those that didn''t participate in the changes. +1 to all stats. C individuals. Those that were part of the change but could be substituted by anyone and performed minor roles. +5 to all stats. B individuals. Those that performed major roles but werent vital enough to be remembered for it. +10 to all stats. A individuals. The heroes of the change. Those immortalised in history as great men and performed vital functions. +15 to all stats. S. The single most important person to the change. +30 to all stats. You are an A individual. +15 to stats.
"Huh?" Said Manuel intelligently. "World wars? Genocide? 2006?"
Confusion detected. Begining rough historic overview. World War I. The war between imperial powers that caused the decline of the imperial system and was the bloodiest war to that point. The colonies independiced during the 20th century. World War II. The Second World War. The nazis and soviets created concentration camps, breaking many human rights agreements done during the 19th century. Genocide. The act of massacring a particular subset of the population. 2006. The year when the Veil broke and the Foreign Ones began the invasion of Earth. It is now 2038 and Humanity only survives in cities while the governments despair and try to retain as much control as possible. The System was implemented ten days ago. Humanity can strike back now.
"That doesn''t help much." Manuel tried to come to terms with the jump in time, as well as these bizarre screens, but he was failing. He was on the verge of a panic attack when the screens continued.
In order to use the System and magic you must connect with the Fayd. Error: Fayd connection already stablished. Fayd infection detected. Fayd infection deemed benefitial. Fayd infection has altered the host''s physiology and nature. Analising host.
Manuel guessed that the Fayd was that weird space he was in before. The thought that it had changed him made him uneasy.
Host Species: Human-Spirit. Human: Standard Earth Race. Spirit: A Fayd composed creature that represents a concept. Host''s Spirit information and traits: Domains: Universal Unconditional Love(Agape), Power, Leadership. Larval stage. Your Power alignment gives you +15 strength, +15 intelligence. My power is for the people. Your Leadership alignment gives you +20 charisma. Together we''re unstoppable. Your Universal Unconditional Love(Agape) gives you the Inner Beauty trait. I love you because you are. Inner Beauty: You are beautiful inside. So is your outside. +30 charisma as long as you remain of Good alignment. -30 charisma if you turn to Evil alignment. Your three domains coalesce into your self. You gain Flawless Body. Flawless Body: +10 to physical stats. +5 to mental stats. +10 to charisma. +10% resistance to mental status ailments. +20% resistance to physical and magical status ailments.
Advancement routes. 1. Fayd connection. 2. Reality core. 3. Reactor.
"I''m half spirit now? And what does it mean by advancement and larval?"
Lifestyle tutorial: Lifestyle is both a way of life and an accomplishment. You can only have one at a time and it offers benefits. They have rarities. They are earned. Normal(N) rarity. +7 stats. Uncommon(U) rarity. +14 stats. +1 Skill Trees. Rare? rarity. +21 stats. +1 Skill Trees. +2 Traits. Super Rare(SR) rarity. Non standard massive gains. Legendary(L) rarity. Non standard colossal gains
Analising life. Lifestyle mastered. Imperial Spain Noble?. Imperial Spain Noble?: You have been taught how to lead, how to speak, how to behave. +7 charisma. Elegance Trait. You have the best education that can be offered by Imperial Spain. +7 intellect. Riding Skill Tree. Your family has survived for centuries and prospered. +1 to all stats. Old Blood Trait. Lifestyle mastered. Imperial Reformist(SR). Imperial Reformist(SR): You have studied the cultures that compose the Empire. Gain access to the Skill Trees of all civilisations that form or were conquered by the Spanish Empire. Gain Human Understanding Trait. You have learned how to convince people. Gain Orator Skill Tree. Gain Silver Tongue Trait. Your two lifestyles have synergy: Acquired trait Imperial Privilege
Trait earned: Imperial Privilege: Once every 5 levels from level 0 gain access to a single Skill Tree that combines the best of each civilisations version of that Skill Tree. Silver Tongue: People are more likely to listen and understand your words. Human Understanding: You are more likely to understand the motivations of humans. Elegance: People who respect elegance and education will feel more comfortable around you. Old Blood: Gives resistance to time distortions.
"What are Skill Trees?"
Beginning Class Selection. Best Class selected. Imperial Tercios Soldier: Masters of spear and sword or gun and sword these soldiers were once renowned across Europe. + 15 Dexterity, +5 Strength, +10 Vitality, +10 Sanity. +3 Dexterity, +1 Strength, +2 Vitality, +2 Sanity per level. Grants Passive Skills: Swordsmanship D, Gunmanship D, Tercian Resolve A. Swordsmanship D: Grants basic swordsmanship knowledge. +5% damage with swords. Gunmanship D: Gains basic gunmanship skills. +5% damage with guns. Tercian Resolve A: The Tercian were highly regarded for their discipline in the battlefield. Even when suffering massive losses they never retreated nor surrendered.+50% resistance to mental status effects. Grants Active Skills: Power Shot D, Power Sword D, Rousing Resolution B. Power Shot D: Next shot from a gun deals 50% more damage. 5 MP Power Sword: Next attack with a sword deals 50% more damage. 5 MP Rousing Resolution: Buffs all allies for +10% damage to enemies, +50% Health regeneration and +10 Sanity, +15% mental resistance. 20 MP.
"Class?!"
Name: Manuel de ¨¢lcantara Species: Human/Spirit
Lifestyle: None Class: Imperial Tercios Soldier
Level 0 Next level 0/100 Exp
Health: 460 MP: 205
Strength: 56 Dexterity: 51
Vitality: 46 Speed: 36
Intelligence: 53 Sanity: 41
Charisma: 78
Unspent stat points: 0 Unspent skill points: 0
Resistances:
Mental status resistance: 75% Physical status resistance: 20%
Magical status resistance: 20%
With the last screen came understanding, he now knew what everything meant. What a class was, what stats meant. Stats were pretty much what they said they were except for Intelligence that upgraded magic damage, Dexterity that in addition to the obvious increased gun and crossbow damage and along with strength bow and dagger damage, and Sanity. Sanity was apparently the ability to remain sane when in strange and traumatic circumstances. The Fayd caused madness in beings from reality, so Manuel could only use as much Fayd as his Sanity allowed. Because of this it determined MP, MP regeneration at a Sanity/5 rate and magical defence. Vitality was similar in that it determined Health, health regeneration at a Vitality/10 rate, and physical defence. He was slightly bothered by his high Charisma, he knew he had high charisma normally, but this one went beyond his skills. This one not only increased his actual appearance but it also gave him a instinctive body language and voice modulation skills. And at high levels it gave him a literal supernatural aura that made him more attractive to others. It was the last one that bothered him. Finally he knew that the System gave all humans an standard 10 base stats in all of his status. At 10 the individual would be average in the former world. Experience was acquired by defeating beings from the Fayd or Fayd contaminated. When he finished digesting the news a new screen appeared. It directed him to finish the combat tutorial. "And where do I do that?" As if answering him a stone passage appeared in the darkness. He was lead to an arena where an ugly green humanoid being appeared. It was tall with four arms but thin and malnourished. More importantly it didn''t have a face, only a lamprey mouth. The System identified it with a handy overhead name and level. It said that it was a Lesser Eater and was level 1. When it saw Manuel it rushed at him. Manuel, who suddenly found himself with a sword and a bizarre gun he somehow knew to use, took off the safety of the device and began shooting at the creature. He shot it eight times before it arrived near him, hitting its shoulders and elbows. With its arms impaired Manuel had little trouble in using his sword to decapitate the beast, reducing its health to the red. Manuel was startled by the revelation that he could see both his health Andrew MP and his enemies health. He saw the health as green bars and MP as blue bars. However under his own he noticed numbers separated by a number. His distraction cost him for the beast was not dead. It tackled him but did little, its strength meant for people in the tens or twenties status. Berating himself for his foolishness Manuel decided to end the battle there and then. "Power Sword!" The effect was obvious, he bisected his opponent in half in a single swing. With time to breathe he noticed the left numbers in his bars had decreased by 1 and 5. He understood that it signaled his current and maximum for those stats. A fanfare sounded in his ears.
You have reached level 1! +12 stat points. +1 Skill point. Please allocate your points. Swordmanship D has evolved into Swordmanship D+++. Use skill points to increase it further. Gunmanship D has evolved into Gunmanship D+. Something stirs within you. Your spirit side has grown. +1 strength, +1 intelligence, + 5 charisma.
Manuel sighed, weary from this madness, and put all of his points in vitality since he never had too little of those. His eyes where blinded by a flash and he found himself back in the stone cavern. "So that''s how it looks from this side." Commented George. Manuel simply looked at him tiredly, asking without speaking. "You shone for a moment and then looked tired." Manuel nodded, that meant not much time hadn''t passed since he escaped. He looked around as his other fellows appeared from thin air and fell to the floor. They, as he had, shone for a moment and then looked around in confusion. Joshua was about to speak when a message appeared before all of them.
Quest acquired! Destroy Immalant the Corrupter. You managed to avoid Immalant''s corruption but are still sealed along him. Destroy him in order to escape. Difficulty: C. Rewards: Escape from the seal. Spirit will advance to the infant stage.
32. Answers. Answers. In a fortified room within the Waning Moon two men and a woman sat before a girl of about fifteen years of age. The girl squirmed a little under their intense gaze. ¡°I couldn''t believe it when you told me but you were right. What madman devised this wonderful and disturbing procedure?¡± ¡°What does that mean?¡± ¡°It means whoever did this was a fucked up genius.¡± Said Kotone. ¡°All the studies that Master made me do on spirits tells me that this is ridiculously dangerous. But it is effective in making strong pawns, just disposable ones.¡± ¡°Disposable?!¡± ¡°Yes. May you tell us how this Awakening works my dear child? Then we can set out to fix you and everyone else.¡± ¡°Alright. I came across Awakening by an advertisement in another game, and I decided to check it out. When I clicked on it it made me agree to the Terms of Service, this is standard for mobile games so I agreed without reading them.¡± All of the Senjustu users winced in unison. ¡°Ouch.¡± ¡°That is bad.¡± ¡°Why won''t people read the things they agree to?¡± The girl shrinked in her seat and looked down in guilt. ¡°Yeah, now I know how bad that was. When I agreed it sent a pulse of light through my body and told me that if I broke them the consequences could be fatal. I panicked and began to read them. I then saw what a mistake I''d made.¡± She looked down at her hands and bit her lip. ¡°I couldn''t speak of Awakening to the authorities, I couldn''t tell people not to play it, I had to play for at least three hours a week. When I entered it it made me spend free experience giving me an archetype that gave me real life superpowers.¡± She looked at them expectantly but they just signaled her to go on. ¡°There are three modes PvE, in which we battled against something they called Evil Spirits for experience and points. PvP in which we battled against other users for experience. And Exploration in which we were sent to weird realms and had to collect resources and defeat enemies, some enemies gave experience and points, others only points and resources could be exchanged for points. Points were used for the in-game store. There are a lot of things there weapons, food, technology, armour, magical tools and money. However only low level noobs would choose money, the other things could allow you to defeat more enemies which would make you stronger. When you are stronger you can defeat more enemies, once you reach a certain point the things of the store no longer help you. It is then that you can exchange for money or other luxury goods.¡± ¡°How rich can you become?¡± Asked Akai. ¡°I am one of the top ten players, and I earn about ten million yen a week.¡± She perked up when saying this, clearly proud of her accomplishment. However she received only pitying looks. ¡°What is wrong?¡± ¡°Are the explorations and spirits you fight challenging for you?¡± ¡°Yes. I no longer do PvP because I am too strong and it has become unprofitable. I only do enough to maintain myself on the rankings for the weekly rewards. But PvE and Exploration remain challenging, it''s how I hone my battle skills.¡± ¡°Rankings?¡± Gaius thought of something. ¡°Yes, when we battle we gain glory points. Depending on our number of glory points we receive a ranking and each ranking has rewards that are paid weekly.¡± ¡°Are you thinking what I''m thinking Akai?¡± ¡°Even I can tell. It''s Gu.¡± ¡°Yes Kotone I think so too. Please continue, we''ll tell you our theory later miss Higashi.¡± Akai reassured Kozue, who looked a bit lost. ¡°Right. Why did you look at me like that?¡± ¡°Oh right. You are being scammed. Anything that is challenging for a Rank 5 is valued in the hundreds of millions, you aren''t even getting 10% of what you''d get if you worked for our association.¡± Those news stroke Kozue like a sledgehammer. Her spirits fell down more than ever when she heard even that which she had earned was scammed from her, that there was nothing she could be proud of. ¡°That''s¡­¡± her eyes teased a little but she wiped them and continued speaking. ¡°I only have experience and quests left.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Experience is how we grow, I''ve noticed we only get it from other players or spiritual beings, I once fought a golem and it gave me only points. We can put experience into our archetype. There are three things to level up, attributes that determine our raw strength, speed and the such. Skills like my webbing, I have put nearly as much into that as into my attributes. And traits like my life drain.¡± ¡°Can you explain the last one?¡± ¡°Sure. Traits are like skills but we don''t activate them, they are always there. Whenever I touch someone while channeling my power I absorb their life to heal myself.¡± Gaius put his hand forward. ¡°Please test it on me.¡± She took his hand but didn''t do anything. ¡°Are you sure because-¡± ¡°Yes.¡± She breathed in and did as she was told. Unexpectedly she actually yelped and took her hand back. ¡°You tried absorbing my dynami. I see so that''s how it works.¡± ¡°What was that?! You have more life than anyone else I''ve ever met! And you stopped me from absorbing it!¡± ¡°I am a Senjutsu user, we have massive control over energy, particularly our own. What you tried doing was¡­ No we don''t have the time for this I will explain later. Please go on.¡± ¡°Alright. So once you have spent enough experience your archetype levels up and you receive an overall boost in your abilities. From time to time you can get a massive attribute gain, new skills or traits. Aside from that each time we get experience we get a fraction of pure experience that can be used to level up our player level. The only thing that does is boost our Cost. We can''t grow our archetype beyond our Cost. Since we get so little PEXP we tend to hit a plateau after bursts of growth. Thankfully we can convert EXP into PEXP at a 1:100 rate. I myself am in one of those plateaus right now. It''s why I took that quest since it had a massive PEXP reward.¡± ¡°Quest?¡± ¡°To attack your convoy and rescue the prisoners. Quests are random missions that give rewards if fulfilled. This is the first one that has been on Earth though. Now that I know the prisoners were criminals I feel bad about attacking you, but I didn''t know about the organisation of the supernatural back then. I didn''t know they were others aside from players. I thought this was all some super science thing not magic.¡± ¡°Actually it is spirit control, not magic.¡± ¡°I don''t know what that means sir Kagayakashii.¡± ¡°We now know enough to confirm our guesses. The Terms of Agreement were a spiritual curse. Points are just a form of currency to encourage you to work for the Awakening creators, free labour basically.¡± ¡°I earned money.¡± ¡°You weren''t paid even 10% of normal wages for what you need. Of the wages not of the actual price of your services. It is nearly slave work. You are forced to do it and you are paid pathetic amounts. I''ve seen slaves be better treated. Hell! Slaves could become liberos, you can never escape!¡± Intervened Gaius. ¡°It is as Gaius said. Continuing with our explanation EXP are spiritual remnants and PEXP pure spiritual energy. The initial EXP Cost was to create a symbiotic spirit, the EXP is then used to power it up by feeding it. The reason why only spiritual beings give EXP is because only they have spirits from which to extract spiritual remnants. However in order to maintain a symbiotic spirit you need a proportionally strong spirit. Raw spiritual energy is used to boost your spirit until you can sustain a stronger spirit. Raw spiritual energy is difficult to extract, which would explain its scarcity.¡± ¡°Then why am I ill? My Cost, err spirit, is enough to maintain the spirit. Why are they called the same?¡± ¡°They are the same at the end of the day, Spirits just lack a corporeal part while humans have it, that is the difference between us. As for your question it is because your spirit is improperly grown. A spirit, for us humans with a physical component at least, is grown through experiences. Living life, caring for your mind, surpassing trials and tribulations. That is the proper way of growing your spirit. What happened to you is an abomination. Like, hmm¡­¡± Kotone perked up and intervened. ¡°I have an example. The proper way of growing the spirit is like an athlete training, it takes time but if he does it properly there will be no side effects. Using raw spiritual energy is like doping with steroids, you will destroy yourself in the long term. You have it worse, your spirit has been mainly grown using raw spiritual energy. That is like ripping your muscles and grafting those of an athlete to your skeleton. Do you see the problem?¡± ¡°My spirit is rejecting itself?¡± ¡°Yes! Your spirit is beginning to burst, to dissipate. Your way of increasing power stops at Rank 5, maybe Rank 6 if your spirit was exceptional to begin with. I give you five years if you remained as you are.¡± Kozue swallowed and felt faint. She now knew how bad she had it. ¡°Is there any way of saving me?¡± ¡°Yes. Doing it the traditional way. Increase your spirit through living. The problem is your spirit is too damaged, so you will have to do the kind of training a Senjutsu user does to grow your spirit fast enough to outspeed the damage.¡± ¡°I am so proud of you.¡± ¡°Thanks Master.¡± ¡°So that is it. In exchange for your information and cooperation Gaius will train you in the ways of Senjutsu. Rejoice girl! For few are allowed such an honour.¡± Said Akiryui. ¡°Was that a Fate reference?¡± ¡°Kama is best waifu.¡± Kazuhiro looked in horror at those words being uttered by such an elderly man. Gaius coughed and cleared her misconception. ¡°By the standards of his species Akai is a thirty year old.¡± ¡°His species?¡± ¡°Half eastern dragon.¡± Kozue looked at Akai again, this time in wonder. He smiled mischievously, before he thought of something. ¡°If possible could you try to spread the truth among the players? We''d like to try and rescue as many as possible.¡± ¡°Of course! But umm.¡± She fidgeted a little. ¡°Not to be rude but wouldn''t you be a better master than Gaius.¡± ¡°Nope.¡± Said Kotone. ¡°No.¡± Said Gaius. Akai however explained further. ¡°I am certainly more experienced than Gaius. But he is a Sage, I''m a normal Senjutsu user. Even if my spirit is greater than his, but only by a little, he has far more mastery over Senjutsu and has gone through greater tribulations than I. I am a greenhouse flower, he is a wild tree. He understands the spirit better than I do, all Sages have a natural understanding of it. They gain it when they acquire their Senjutsu, their minds connecting to the universe in enlightenment. Indeed in Buddhism Sages are considered halfway to bodhi.¡± Once again Kozue looked at someone in wonder, but it was Gaius this time. He averted his eyes slightly embarrassed. Akai spared him by summing their deal. ¡°You will try and turn players to us. In exchange we will teach you to grow your spirit until you are no longer in danger. Later agreements will be discussed when the current one has been fulfilled. Agreed?¡± ¡°Agreed.¡± Said Kozue with relief. She then rose and turned to Gaius. ¡°I am honoured to have you as a master, Master Gaius.¡± She bowed to him. ¡°That is unneeded. If I had taken you for free it might be called for, but this is a transaction. I will do my best to teach you.¡± Gaius inclined his head. Extra 6. I will escape from Hell. I am a complete and utter fool. Or more accurately was a complete and utter fool. To understand why I am a fool you must listen to my life story. It all began three days ago. I am an imp. Yes an imp, I know you are surprised to hear one of us being actually somewhat skilled in speech. No I am not a aberrant, just a normal imp. The first thing to spawn anywhere there is demonic energy, the first signs of a demonic invasion in the mortal realms and a pest in the Hells. But I was lucky to be born in the shores of the Khyn Sea, one of the Seas of Origin. If you don''t know, a Sea of Origin is a giant repository of one of the expressions of demonic energy. There are many and many more are made and destroyed every day. However the Khyn Sea is one of the most ancient and powerful ones, the Sea of Life. As its name means in the old tongue it looks like a sea of blood. It represents the part of demonic energy that grants life. In ancient times it was used by the Lords to foster their armies and create new demons. However it''s prosperity brought disaster unto it. The Heavens saw the threat it represented and, in a very costly effort, created an eternal lightning storm over it. Why does this matter? you may ask. Because the lightning is holy and continuously strikes anything above a certain threshold of demonic power. The Sea answers with a flood of demonic power but that matters little if the individual is dead. For the record the Sea is constantly struck by the lightning. Because of the Heavenly Calamity, as it''s called, the sea was abandoned. Only the weakest of demons inhabit it, and those are imps. Due to the lack of any natural predators or slavers imps thrive in it. Until the Sea throws them away before they call lightning due to increased power or they are eaten by other imps, since there is nothing besides imps and a few beasts here. And imps are far easier prey than those beasts. Imps only reach about level 10 before evolving, the weakest beast here is the Jawed Worm at level 27 (in comparison to imps, their level also starts at 1 for them) after birth. There are a few insects and trees but the insects taste terrible and imps are carnivorous. And despite all of this it should still one of the better places for imps to live. Those of you knowledgeable about imps must be marvelling at me. How does this imp know so much? How is his mind so clear? How is he not an ignorant fool like the rest of his pathetic species? Simple, I am the luckiest imp in history. One day after my birth, after I had just broken the shell of my cocoon, I was looking for food in the shores when I found a shiny gem in the middle of a crater. And like the fool I was I ate it, because imps. It was the best thing I''ll probably do in my life. It was a fragment of the Fsad Srvr, the Evil Prince of Depravity, who was split into fragments two centuries ago. This was a small fragment but it increased my intelligence from 3 to 17, and my luck increased by a whole 1000. Yes the most fickle and useless, but horrid to actually lack, stat increased by 1000 from my imp standard 1. That is how lucky my finding of the fragment was. However its weakness meant that I only got those stats and his knowledge of the world. So I know about how the Hells and mortal realms are structured, how levelling works and things like that. It is still the most valuable thing for an imp, knowledge and intelligence. The best thing was that I learned the basics of magic, survival lore, evolution and mutation and non level stat gains. So I with a whole 17 intelligence (standard for non impaired goblins is 25, for humans it''s 500) understood the best way to increase my power. Imps grow with demonic power, and so if I absorb much of it I would become so strong that I would be able to rule over the Khyn Sea (never mind the Heavenly Calamity would have killed me). And the moment when there is the most demonic energy is when the lightning strikes. With my newfound intelligence I devised an honestly impressive, for my intelligence, plan, go me I suppose. I would create a circle that would gather demonic energy in one of the caves in the cliffs on the shores. That would attract the lightning that would fall harmlessly on the cliff and I would absorb the energy from the Sea''s response safely. This is why I am a fool. Why, oh why, did I think the Heavens didn''t account for such a simple trick?Because I only had 17 intelligence, that''s why. Heavenly Calamity Lightning goes through stone, even if diminished, and once it detects demonic power it will keep striking until it''s destroyed. It was by simple weakness and lack of skill that I survived, my magic circle was horrible and the energy it gathered weak. Much less than I expected. That saved my life since the lightning it attracted was suitably weak and by the time it went through the cliff it was so weak it only took 30 HP, I had 50 by the way. The surge of demonic energy healed and I got my precious stat gains. I then thought that it was fine, wasn''t it? I simply had to resist some lightning and I would get my power. Problem? Since I took the lighting the demonic energy gathered wasn''t purified, which made the next lightning bolt stronger. That one took 55 HP, thankfully the last one had given me an additional 20 HP so I didn''t die like the fool I was. Did I learn and undo the circle? No, because I wasn''t such a fool I didn''t learn, after all the stronger lightning was because I was stronger right? How quickly I forgot imps are simply so weak they don''t activate the Calamity. So the next lightning bolt was so strong it made me faint from the pain. So now I find myself in the middle of a destroyed cliff, surrounded by melted rock. All I can see is devastation and fire. At least I am more intelligent so I got my stat gains. Now I just need to run far enough that the beasts and imp should that are called by the commotion didn''t kill me. I hope by my very life that this was worth it. *** It was so fucking worth it. I am the luckiest imp ever, and that is probably not hyperbole. Now that I think about it my luck probably had something to do with my survival. Seeing is believing so let me show a comparison of my before and after status (which by the way I only learned to call after eating the Fsar Srvr, best choice ever dumb me!). Nameless imp. Race: Imp(Demonic). Level 1. Class: None. HP: 50 MP: 85 Strength: 10 (Goblin average 30)(Human average 200) Speed: 5 (Come on! This one is important! Goblin average 60. The fuck?)(Human average 80.) Dexterity: 1 (Seriously? Goblin average 7)(Human average 300) Vitality: 20 (Finally! Goblin average 20)(Human average 250) Intelligence: 17 (Ugh 3 base. Goblin average 25)(Human average 600!)If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Magic Power: 1 (I can''t even... Goblin average 1. Hah!)(Human average 400. Fuck!) Magic Defence: 5 (Suck it goblins! Goblin average 1. Smugness intensifies.)(Human average 300. Why am I comparing imps to humans again? Oh right, they are the most numerous mortals.) Luck 1001 (Goblin average 5)(Human average 10 ??) Resistances: +30% demonic resistance. Sob. So proud of my species. +10% dark resistance. Sigh. -20% lightning resistance. How the fuck did I survive? -100% holy resistance. ??. Seriously how the fuck? -100% light resistance. I thank everything for the lack of light in the Calamity. -50% mental resistance. I can''t even... My former weakness aside, no don''t remind me of it please, let me show you the result of my efforts(luck). Nameless unknown unstable mutated imp. Race: Unknown unstable mutated imp. Level 1. Title: Training from Hell. (I have a title.) Class: None. 2nd Class: None. (Oh boy, oh boy.) Hp: 1000 MP: 2000! Strength: 40 (Not everything is going to be this unimpressive I swear!) Speed: 60 (I told you) Dexterity: 30 (Take that goblins!) Vitality: 280 (Who is laughing now humans?) Intelligence: 400 (..............................................................................................................................) Magic Attack: 320 (huh?) Magic Defense: 700 (By all that is good and holy and all that is evil and demonic and all that is neutral and limbotic and all that is dead and underwoldy and all that is... I have no more words. Please never wake me up from this dream.) Luck: 1501 (And even this miraculous, or unholy?, event gives me half of what eating the fragment did!) Resistances: +80% demonic resistance. Faint. +60% dark resistance. Faint intensifies. +10% death resistance. Where did you come from? +20% life resistance. I thought only undead were harmed by life magic? +30% fire resistance. Hell yeah! +60% burn resistance. Ouch. +50% lightning resistance. Yeaaaaaaaaaaah boyyyyyyyyyyyy! +5% arcane magic resistance. Arcane? The magic of raw magic? +100% blood magic resistance. Of course the sea of blood gives blood resistance. -50% light resistance. At least it has decreased? -30% mental resistance. I need to patch this so hard. Innate Magic: (I actually have some of these? Not even humans have it! Admittedly they have a much greater magic damage and massive hidden magic affinity but still.) Magic Lightning Touch: allows for the user to create limited quantities of Magic Lightning at will. Deals minor fire, major lightning, minor arcane damage. Deals MA*0.5 damage/s of contact. No cost. No cooldown. Can evolve. System Help: When there are many damage types the damage type dealt defaults at lowest resistance unless weakness to more than one element weakness is present in which case it deals damage of both types. (Major damage deals 100% additional damage of a weakness, minor 50%. As such if enemy has -100% lightning and fire resistance it will deal a 100% lightning +50% fire additional damage for a 150% total additional damage) Dark Touch: Allows the user to create limited quantities of dark and demonic energy at will. Deals major dark damage. Deals MA*0.5 damage/s of contact. No cost. No cooldown. Can evolve. Notable things. I have a title, I am no longer demonic, I don''t have a holy weakness, and I have two class slots. In order this is significant because: An imp doesn''t tend to have titles. I am in the Hells, how can I be not demonic?! Imp. Second class slots have to be earned. I guess that the lack of demonic and holy is because my body has bathed on both and mutated because of it. And since demonic and holy are anathema they nullified each other. Good riddance, those make more enemies than friends. And the Hells accept those that aren''t demonic, even if they are distrusted but my story would erase that. I have to look at the title though. Title gained. Training from Hell. Perform training that risks your life and increase stats by at least a factor of 20. Gives *1.5 stats per level. Grants 2nd class slot. That explains it. Indeed it was worth it, my luck does pull it''s worth. But I have a doubt, why did the fragment give me twice the luck if it''s effects were weaker than the training? I also need to get rid of that unstable, since that doesn''t seem to be good. I wonder if- Motherfucker! Why am I burning? The handy notification tells me why. The Shard of Fsar Srvr within you has stirred. It''s power has been consumed to repair your unstable existence. 80% of power consumed. Functions lost: +100 to all stats. Mental Compulsion. Skill Vampire Transformation. Functions remaining: Skill Appraisal. Skill Blood Infusion. Mental Compulsion: The mind of Fsar Srvr lives within you. You are compelled towards evil. You are compelled to find other Shards and consume them. Vampire Transformation: Transform a target of your choice of 3 levels bellow yours into a lesser vampire. Appraisal: See the status of the target. 50 MP. Blood infusion: Transform magic into lifeblood. Negates bleed damage. Heals MA*0.8 damage. Serves the same effect as blood for vampires. 10 MP. I once again thank everything. I do not want Mental Compulsion, whatever I do I''ll be the one to choose it. The stats are a shame though, as is Vampire Transformation. This does pose a problem, however. Life as a low level demon in the Hells is already hard enough, but if I have overpowered demons gunning for my Shard? I need to escape from Hell, and soon. First I need to evolve, get to level 15 and then I can leave to the nearest city. Evolving is important since classes are gained at level 15, yes, 5 levels more than the imp maximum. And in order to leave without offering my freedom in exchange I need enough power to break through the blockade made by the Calamity. While I was planning my escape a notification appeared. Species established. No matching species has existed before. You have gained title First One. First One: You are the first of your species. +5 stat points per level. One free choice of species or class skill per species and class every 5 levels. +1 skill point per level. Name your species. I looked at my body. I was a grey imp, such a great change. Whatever, since this was brought by burning I shall call myself an Ash Imp. Name acknowledged. Choose three characteristic for your race: 1. 50% mental resistance. 2. 50% light resistance. 3. +50 to any stat. 4. Any innate magic type affinity of your choice. 5. Boost level limit by 5. 6. Boost demonic power by 1000%. It''s both good and bad. It gives me a chance to patch my weaknesses so I will choose 1 and 2. However the last two are traps, 5 because it would allow me to select a class which would be weaker than if I was of a higher species. I''d delay my evolution for a poor choice, which with my low species priority was sure to happen. 6 because of the Heavenly Calamity, and that is enough. My choice then is between 3 and 4, but while 50 to any stat is very good an innate magic type affinity is more useful in the long term so I selected that. I promptly fainted. Some time later I woke up and looked at my new status. Nameless Ash Imp. Species: Ash Imp. Level 1 Title: Training from Hell, First One. Class: None. 2nd Class: None. HP: 1000 MP: 2000 Strength 50 Speed: 70 Dexterity: 50 Vitality: 300 Intelligence: 400 Magic Attack: 350 Magic Defense: 700 Luck: 1500 Resistances +90% demonic resistance +80% dark resistance +10% death resistance. +20% life resistance. +30% fire resistance. +100% burn resistance. +60% lightning resistance. +105% arcane resistance. +100% blood magic resistance. +20% mental resistance. Innate Magic: Magic Lightning Touch. Dark Touch. I feel much more confidence in my plan now. 33. Further answers. Further answers. ¡°Now, ¡° began Akai, ¡°I know we have already spoken a lot, so let''s make this brief. How did you evade our detection.¡± ¡°I didn''t really evade you, I didn''t know you existed. But what I know is that when we engage we enter a field separated from reality. There we can fight without restrain, we call it the field.¡± Akai frowned and thought for some moments. ¡°Can you call them at will?¡± ¡°No, only when I am confronted by enemies.¡± ¡°I see. That brings us to the next question then, where did you practice to be so good at fighting without triggering our wards?¡± ¡°Wards?¡± ¡°If you don''t know what that is then it is nearly confirmed that the Blues are behind this. Only them and the youkai have the means to fool our wards. Or maybe someone completely different, hmm?¡± ¡°You think it''s the Cult?¡± Asked Gaius. ¡°Maybe. Though I''d like to believe the Boss would be intelligent enough to avoid them.¡± ¡°Who is the Boss? And the Blues?¡± ¡°The Blue Leaders are this city¡¯s gang. The sole one since the Boss came ten years ago and unified all the petty criminals back then. He has been a thorn in our side since then. He is slippery and strong, in the Waning Moon only I can battle him.¡± ¡°Alright. The Cult?¡± ¡°You don''t want to know. And aren''t allowed yet for that matter. Sorry but we must have our secrets.¡± ¡°No problem!¡± She waved her hands wildly in front of her. ¡°I understand, I am even surprised you are so open. I kinda expected¡­¡± ¡°Men in black? Killing to uphold the masquerade? Such methods are behind us, if someone learns of us we simply make sure they don''t spread it, if that fails we wipe their memories. You are right in some other countries, and some cities indeed, are harsher. Like the Shinjuku Militia, ever since the Phantom City incident they have grown paranoid. But enough about that I have more questions. So we have how it works and how you avoid detection, now we need to know how you work.¡± ¡°How we work?¡± ¡°What kind of community have you formed.¡± ¡°That¡¯s¡­ complicated. Let me begin from the end. Right now we have players disguised in three camps. First the guilders, while there are no official guilds we do have unofficial ones. However since they are unofficial we don''t have many, only three. The Brotherhood, which despite its name accepts women, I think they chose that name because it was cool. They enforce the rules, which I will speak of later. They are small but powerful since all but three of the tankers support it, myself included. The Midas, which is a dumb name if you know the actual legend, that makes its goal making as much money as possible. They are the most numerous since most of the players do it for money. Finally the Colosseum, also stupid since gladiators were more actors than fighters, which make it¡¯s goal fighting powerful enemies. I may belong to the first and last ones. Midas has just numbers since all powerful tankers kinda are richer than they can spend already. The Colloseum has few members but they are powerful. The Brotherhood is still the most powerful one.¡±You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version. For a while already Kotone had been squirming a little, having great curiosity. Akai noticed this and signaled her to speak. ¡°Sorry to interrupt but how do you know those names are stupid? I thought most Japanese weren''t exactly aware of European myth and legend.¡± Kozue blushed and mumbled someone beneath her breath. When she realised she wasn''t heard and had to speak louder she blushed even more. ¡°I may have an European fetish. Kinda.¡± She brought the thumb and index fingers of her right hand nearly together. ¡°But only a little.¡± Kotone smiled mischievously. ¡°Is that so? Hey Master, weren''t you European?¡± ¡°Kotone this is an interrogation, contain your instincts. Though I''d also like to know the answer for that question.¡± Gaius made a point of staring at Akai really hard. It was then that Akai laughed and tried to wave away his little admission. ¡°Just quriosity about my friend¡¯s romantic possibilities.¡± ¡°Sixteen or fifteen, nineteen to be twenty in a month.¡± ¡°Just three years to five years of difference. But we digress, what are the other kinds of players?¡± ¡°Right! And I have a fetish for culture not Europeans!¡± She exclaimed, happy that conversation had ended already. ¡°So next are the independents, they are those that are not part of a guild or have small groups, too small to be considered one of the guilds. ¡°Finally we have the PKs. ¡°At these words she breathed in and clenched her hands. ¡°While we call them PKs they are more like those that use their powers for crime and break the rules. They are difficult to control and we don''t really have ways of imprisoning them so we just put curses on them and hope they are intelligent enough not to commit crimes again. The effects of the curses are nasty. The least grave one is boils around the, ehem, sensible bits of the body.¡± The wince was universal. ¡°What? We had to find effective curses.¡± ¡°No we have not a problem with curses, just that the location is¡­¡± Kozue¡¯s face turned sheepish and she looked away. ¡°Yes I get that. I only need to speak about the rankers and the rules. The rules are simple. Don''t commit any crime except money laundering since we need that one. Don''t kill or maim players or normies. Don''t monopolise good farming grounds through force, other methods are allowed. Don''t be a troll if possible. And finally don''t farm newbies.¡± ¡°Farm newbies?¡± ¡°All PvP gives rewards, no matter how weak the opponent. So some used to force beginners to fight them for experience at the beginning. Which was six months ago. The rules are something from three months ago.¡± ¡°You became Rank 5 in six months? No wonder your spirit is so messed up.¡± Commented Kotone. ¡°I actually began five months ago.¡± ¡°Even worse. I have trained for years to reach Rank 3 and I have an unfair advantage on my heritage.¡± ¡°Your heritage?¡± In response Kotone made her tails and fox ears appear. Kozue stared slack jawed at her, all decorum forgotten. A strangely high pitched sound resounded through the room before Kozue lunged over the desk to Kotone. ¡°Are those real?! Then are you a fox girl?! No wait those are three tails. Then are you a kitsune? Or nogitsune? Are you three hundred years old? Or like-¡± ¡°I think Kotone would appreciate it if you gave her some space.¡± Remarked Gaius while standing up and separating the girls. Kozue had the decency to blush and turn away before coughing and trying to salvage her dignity as the Spider Queen. ¡°I have always found animal ears cute. And I love kitsune, they are an idol. Strong women that-¡± ¡°While the most famous kitsune are females there are also male kitsune. Also I should inform you that I am a half, not a full kitsune.¡± Kozue decomposed herself and nodded at that putting on airs. Akai looked upwards and wondered when had interrogations turned into such an informal affair. Though since most interrogations were against unwilling targets then was this more of a testimony? Akai decided to go with that since that made all of this not a giant train wreck. Why had he allowed two powerful and lax youths in this? Oh right, to present an amicable front. Having dealt with his internal and brief crisis, which ignored his own informal personality, he tried to finish the interrogation. Testimony! He meant testimony. ¡°Let us return to the matter at hand. Do you think you can convince other players to go to our side?¡± ¡°Yes. The Brotherhood should turn when they learn we were working for a criminal organisation and can eliminate the curse. For Midas you just have to pay the ful price and you are done. The Colloseum should also turn if you offer them the possibility to fight strong enemies. So the guilds are no problem. The independents should in a majority turn when they hear about the health problem. The main problem are the PKs.¡± ¡°No.¡± Intervened Akai. ¡°The problem are the Blues and what they will do when they catch wind of our activities. But I am glad you are so confident, since that is what you will be doing. Now these two will answer all your questions, but I must go. Gaius, Kotone, I count on you to inform her of all she needs to know.¡± ¡°Sure.¡± ¡°Yes, Head.¡± Akai run away from the enthusiasm of a teenage girl who was going to learn of the supernatural. It was a particularly strong problem with one that would call herself the ¡®Spider Queen¡¯. So he abandoned his juniors to that grisly fate. Extra 7. Magical Artes ad Dominum. Contract. In the outskirts of a forest a little blond girl was stalking a deer, bow in hand. She was walking with measured steps to avoid being detected. She used the trees to hide her advance, dashing between them while keeping her silent approach. Thankfully in this forest there was nearly no undergrowth, which made it easier for the little girl to go fast. She was nearly in range of the deer when it suddenly raised its head and dashed away. The little girl sighed and put her bow away. ¡°Why do they always detect me? I am good at sneaking.¡± ¡°Maybe because you didn''t pay attention to the direction of the wind and it smelled you? I think that was a royal deer, and those have good sense of smell.¡± The girl jumped backwards and turned sideways before drawing the bow in her hands and pointing it towards the origin of the voice. There sat a boy of similar age to her. He had his bow resting in his lap and waved at the girl cheerfully. ¡°Who are you?¡± ¡°I am Emyr Morgan, aspiring runemaster and inhabitant of the Neram Woods, Keeper of the Well. Who are you?¡± He put a wise looking posture but being a young child it looked more adorable than impressive or boastful. The blond girl laughed a little at his antics and Emyr smiled at her, his objective of breaking the ice complete. ¡°I am Rhiannon Griffin, aspiring knight and inhabitant of Blaen village. I don''t have a title but my father is commander of the militia in town.¡± ¡°A knight? But my books say that here in the wildlands there are no knight orders, only hunters.¡± ¡°Your books? Well sorry to say this but they are wrong.¡± She wasn''t really sorry. ¡°My father came long ago to these lands in order to protect them. Since he is a knight he can train me until the day I go to the Capital to be knighted.¡± ¡°That sucks, if my books are wrong I can''t trust my knowledge.¡± ¡°What about your parents?¡± ¡°I don''t have parents. I know that they existed since my mansion is there and the spirits and books taught me about human reproduction.¡± ¡°Sorry.¡± ¡°No problem, since I never knew them I don''t miss them much. I do wonder what it is t like to have parents.¡± Silence spread Rhiannon feeling awkward and Emyr completely lacking social skills. In desperation to break the awkward silence Rhiannon latched to the weirdest thing Emyr had said. ¡°What are those spirits you mention? They aren''t from Beyond, Paradiso or Pandemonium right?¡± ¡°There are no spirits from other places than those two. Aside from spirits born in Physica but those are still part from one of the other three. There are no pure Physica spirits.¡± ¡°Really?¡± ¡°Yes. The spirits are weak and not sentient Beyond spirits that were bound by my parents in case something happened to them. I thank them for that since something did happen, though I don''t know what exactly. They were left with lessons that I would need and a few messages. Knowledge and my duties are part of those lessons. I think I can trust the spirits but much of what I learned was from books and now those can''t be seemingly trusted now.¡± His face showed irritation at that. Rhiannon didn''t speak and just let him calm down but she thought of something. ¡°Wait! If you don''t have parents, and I don''t think I''ve seen you at the village, who has raised you?¡± ¡°The spirits. You are the first human I''ve met. Oh but don''t worry, I had food brought to me by spirits and I learned to hunt long ago.¡± While he tried to reassure her her face was filled with consternation. ¡°Get down.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Get down from that tree.¡± ¡°Why?¡± ¡°Do it or I''ll shoot.¡± ¡°Alright, alright. Sheesh.¡± Emyr climbed down the tree in a few seconds and went to Rhiannon, he was about to speak when her actions paralysed him. Rhiannon had embraced him. ¡°I''m sorry you had no parents.¡± Emyr felt uncomfortable with the contact but he didn''t break it. His books had said breaking a hug was rude and he didn''t want to be rude. ¡°It-it is not your fault. You don''t have to apologise.¡± ¡°Shut up dummy, just enjoy the hug.¡± ¡°It actually feels uncomfortable.¡± Rhiannon separated from him in shock. ¡°What?! But hugs are the best!¡± Emyr was about to refute her when he felt something twist inside him. While human contact felt uncomfortable due to having never experienced it there was something about the hug that now that he lacked it he missed it. Warmth, both physical and emotional. The six year old began crying a little, understanding now how lonely and cold he had been. He tried to contain his tears, that felt weird for him, but failed. ¡°Why am I crying? I don''t have anything in my eyes. Is this that crying from sadness thing?¡± Rhiannon didn''t answer with words but with action. She embraced him again. They stood like that for a while, until Emyr stopped crying. ¡°Hey Emyr?¡± ¡°Yeah?¡± ¡°Do you want to come to the village?¡± ¡°I''d like to but I have a duty in the forest, I can''t leave for more than a day.¡± ¡°That is fine, the village is one hour away, you can''t see it only because of the forest.¡± Emyr began feeling excitement bubbling inside him and nodded with expectations. Back at Blaen village a well built blond man was pacing in a room. A similarly blond woman was reading a book. ¡°If you big oaf don''t stop bothering me I swear I will throw you out.¡±9 ¡°But dear this is the first time Rhiannon hunts alone. What if she is harmed by something? I don''t think she is ready.¡± ¡°If it was up to you she wouldn''t hunt until she was twenty and her knight dreams would die. She is ready for the forest, the only monster there is sealed beneath the Morgan Manor. And animals aren''t a danger for her, remember what you are grooming her for.¡± ¡°Yes but what if it frees itself? What if a bandit attacks her?¡± ¡°It has not shown signs of stirring since the Wild Hunt exterminated the Morgans six years ago. And the only bandits that pose a problem for Rhiannon are again the Wild Hunt, any other would be sliced to pieces in a few seconds. She has the strength of an ox and the skill of a page. I''m honestly a bit surprised by how much she has improved in just a year, how long did it take for your brother to do the same?¡± ¡°Two years. But he was older.¡± He answered absentmindedly. ¡°And what if she can''t bring herself to kill them and doesn''t fight?¡± ¡°You have brought her to butcheries precisely to make her get accustomed to death and blood. And even then she is perfectly capable of running away so stop pacing around.¡± ¡°Fine!¡± Rhiannon¡¯s father sat in a chair. He lasted three seconds. Rhiannon¡¯s mother sighed and just chose to ignore him. Some time passed before they heard a voice in front of their house. ¡°Mom, Dad! I''m back!¡± ¡°Rhiannon dear!¡± Her father went to the door as fast as a horse. Her mother sighed again. ¡°Rhi dear, have you managed to hunt something?¡± She asked. ¡°More or less?¡± Her father was about to ask her what she meant when she entered with a boy in tow. The impact was tremendous, with her father staring in horror and her mother laughing at him. ¡°Well well. Look dear! Rhiannon is so mature, she has already caught a boy.¡± ¡°Catrin?!¡± Her father didn''t know whether to be scandalised or mortified. ¡°She is too young I refuse to accept that!¡± At that moment his brain caught up to the situation. ¡°Wait a minute. How did you find
an unknown boy in the forest?¡± ¡°Now you think of that Cadoc?¡± ¡°It is perfectly normal for a father to be worried about his daughter¡¯s male company.¡± ¡°When she is six?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± ¡°Stop ignoring us!¡± Shouted Rhiannon pouting. Her parents stopped their unintentional comedy routine and looked at her. ¡°Alright Rhi. Who is your friend?¡° ¡°He is Emyr Morgan.¡± The impact of those words were of even bigger impact. Catrin gasped and run to Emyr to examine him while Cadoc paled and clenched his fists. ¡°What is it?¡± Asked Emyr, a bit put out by the attention. ¡°Just to make sure, are you the son of Jon and Heled?¡± ¡°You knew my parents?¡± Three hours later they were all seated around a table. ¡°So my parents were killed by the Wild Hunt?¡± ¡°Yes. We also thought you had been killed but it seems your parents hid you well.¡± Emyr looked conflicted before he asked. ¡°What were they like?¡± ¡°Jon was eccentric, he would spend hours going on and on about whatever gadget he had made. I still remember the time he reinvented the gun by ¡®improving the crossbow¡¯ and didn''t realise until I told him.¡± Reminisced Cadoc. ¡°However he was still a loving and reliable husband and friend. Even to this day I still use the armour he engraved for me. He was an excellent runesmith. The other thing he would go on an on about before his death was you, Emyr. He was so happy to have had you, hearing him speak of you it would be believed that you were a condecorated hero and not a baby.¡± ¡°Your mother on the same hand was also eccentric, but about runic arrays instead of crafting. She loved to make and speak of her traps and defences. She like your father was proud of you.¡± ¡°I see.¡± Emyr¡¯s smile made the adults melt a little inside, before they were sobered by the comprehension that he had spent his entire conscious life alone. ¡°But how were they?¡± The adults looked at each other before agreeing. ¡°Would you want to live with us? Then we could speak at length about them.¡± ¡°He can''t.¡± Said Rhiannon. ¡°He has to remain at his home or a monster will escape.¡± ¡°I forgot about that.¡± ¡°So did I. But can you at least come often here?¡± ¡°Sure miss Griffin. I''d be glad to.¡± Two years later. Two young children were sparring in a field. The blond one charged at the red haired one but he sidestepped her and slashed at her neck. She didn''t manage to avoid it in time and was hit. ¡°Enough! Emyr wins this time.¡± Exclaimed Cadoc. ¡°How?!¡± Asked Rhiannon. ¡°I train every day and I have always won! You spend all your time with books and runes, you can''t be better than I!¡± ¡°I am just great.¡± ¡°Tell me the truth!¡± ¡°He is.¡± Said Cadoc. ¡°But he is misdirecting you, quite devious of you Emyr.¡± ¡°Then what has he done?¡± ¡°You already said it.¡± ¡°What?¡± Rhiannon furrowed her brows in thought. ¡°Wait runes?¡± ¡°Yes.¡± The smugness irradiated from Emyr. ¡°My ¡®weak¡¯ runes have defeated you, miss I am the greatest warrior.¡± ¡°But there are no runes in your clothes or weapon!¡± In response Emyr took of his shirt and showed her his chest. In it a few glowing runes were spread out. ¡°Body runes? But those are advanced!¡± ¡°Yes, but if I want to create the Gates I need to be a runic grandmaster. It is only natural that I am so great at them. I have neglected my history for it.¡± ¡°That is bad, Emyr. The history of Kabrack is important if you want to be a great man.¡± Catrin told Emyr off, worried about his education. ¡°But between my magic studies, my rune studies, and my natural sciences studies I have little time for anything else. Particularly if I want to build the Gates before twenty!¡± ¡°No buts, you are coming with me until you learn your lessons.¡± ¡°Rhi, help me!¡± ¡°Sorry Em, I can''t help you. I''m also trapped.¡± Emyr sagged at those words and reluctantly went with Catrin. ¡°Don''t worry Emyr, the story of Goleuadau, the sword that makes lightning as it is swung is an interesting one.¡± ¡°A sword that makes lightning is easy to make.¡± ¡°But what If I told you it can cut through any not magical material we know of.¡± ¡°Really?! Does that mean that it makes lightning through the ionisation of air particles by shaving and carving electrons from the atoms?!¡± ¡°Yes.¡± Catrin looked at him intently. ¡°Now I understand what you meant by your studies not letting you learn other things. What kind of child knows that process simply by hearing two things about it?¡± ¡°Me.¡± After they left Rhiannon let herself fall to the ground and stared at the sky. Seeing her in such low spirits Cadoc chose to let her know of the secret. ¡°Rhi, do you remember the difference between knights and runic knights?¡± ¡°Knights are normal but trained people, they learn all weapons, both firearms and cold weapons. However runic knights are knights that have had runes engraved on their bodies becoming superhuman.¡±If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it. ¡°Then why are you depressed about your loss? You know the difference between them and Emyr was using runes.¡± ¡°But his runes were weak.¡± ¡°Why do you say that?¡± ¡°Because I wouldn''t be able to fight him otherwise. Well done runes have always the same effect, there is no way a child would be able to fight against a rune engraved person. I would have lost in seconds instead of the minute it took.¡± Cadoc smiled at her daughter''s lack of understanding of her own strength. ¡°Rhi, what do you know about spirit knights?¡± ¡°They are the strongest of knights alongside wizard-knights. They, like wizards, draw power from Paradiso, Beyond and Pandemonium. But unlike wizards they do so in an indirect way Wizards make holes in the dimensional barriers and draw power from the Three Realms of Unreality. With enough work and skill they can transform them into Gates to the Realms. What Emyr is attempting is to skip the first step by crafting Gates directly and then fusing them to his soul to draw power from them. Anyone can be a wizard but it takes incredible mental and runic skill, so few achieve it. Emyr is a genius.¡± She seemed a bit downcast at that, fearing that he would forget her once he was successful. Caboc saw this and resigned himself to the fact that Emyr was his most likely future son in law. He preferred him to some other punk, honestly. However he would not allow his daughter to feel inferior to him, she too was a genius. ¡°Keep on.¡± ¡°Ah! Ehem, sure. Spirit knights instead draw the power of Physica and the Three Realms of Unreality into their body, enhancing them. They can also use leftover energy that wasn''t used in the enhancement to cast spells like wizards, much like wizards can enhance their bodies with their energy, but both are worse at the other¡¯s main technique. Aside from that spirit knights can eat or make contracts with spirits to acquire special powers.¡± ¡°How do spirit knights become that?¡± ¡°You need money, bluntly put. They also must train hard from a young age if they want to become spirit knights before thirty years of age since the process is sped if done while growing. Most start at the teenage years but some dedicated ones do it from five. The money part comes in that they must be fed with monster food. That is monsters made into food. And that is expensive. As they train and absorb the power of monsters their bodies adapt and begin to absorb it naturally from the Four Realms of Creation. They will grow stronger to the point that they can equal rune knights with their bare bodies. Once they reach that level the training methods must be changed. I don''t know those.¡± ¡°Good. What is the standard procedure for training spirit knights from childhood?¡± ¡°To avoid them becoming cocky and not honing their skills they must not be told¡­ that¡­ they are training? You can''t mean?!¡± She rose from the ground fast and launched herself at her father, making him topple. ¡°Careful! I am just a spirit knight trainee like you my daughter.¡± ¡°Really?! Like uncle Gruffudd?!¡± ¡°Yes. My parents didn''t have the money to train both of us so only he got training. But I am now a rune knight! I have the money to raise my entire family, though your mother is a wizard so she is only strengthening her body. All the food we eat is from monsters.¡± ¡°Yes! Just wait until Emyr hears! But why did you train me?¡± ¡°About your second statement, you asked for it when you first heard about them. I didn''t want to close doors for you so I simply trained you just in case.¡± ¡°Just in case? Grandpa and grandma would have a stroke.¡± ¡°They know. I''m also feeding them monster food.¡± Rhiannon began to smile and giggled creepily. ¡°Sorry to burst your bubble but if you are imagining how Emrys will look it is futile. He already knows.¡± ¡°Whyyyy?!!!!!!!¡± ¡°No way around it! He noticed the monster food the moment he first ate at home! He is a runesmith, you can''t fool a runesmith senses!¡± ¡°Fuck.¡± ¡°RHI?!!!!!!¡± ¡°What? It''s what Gwilim always says when he is beaten at training.¡± ¡°I''m going to kill him for corrupting my little girl.¡± ¡°Dad?!!!¡± Eight years later. A blond teenage girl stood next to a red haired teenage boy. Despite her youth the girl already showed signs of great beauty, with a toned body, long blond hair and modest breasts, but it was her face that made her stand out. She had symmetrical feminine features but what shone were her green eyes, they were filled with confidence that made her look as if she was beyond mere mortals. The boy in exchange was less toned but still above average. His hair was striking in its redness and his eyes were a rich brown that turned green at the edges. While he lacked the girls conventional beauty he had similar confidence in his eyes. It was a pity that at that moment that confidence was wavering. He had asked a very important question and the lack of answer was getting to him. ¡°Hmmmm.¡± Hummed the girl while having a finger over her mouth, simulating being deep in thought. The boy waited, but no answer came. His eyes were beginning to twitch when she finally answered. ¡°Honestly I should have made you wait as much as you made me wait but¡­ Yes, of course! Why do you think I was sending you those looks?¡± She was about to continue teasing him when he made her shut up in the most pleasant way. Despite her confidence she was still but a teenage girl and the kiss made her lose all reason. The kiss kept going on until a deep male voice sounded with irritation. ¡°Would you stop kissing my daughter while I am here? Why exactly did you call me here? And stop groping my daughter!¡± The two teenagers separated with haste, having forgotten that Cadoc was there. They blushed deeply and didn''t look at Cadoc and specially not at each other. Until they did and blushed deeper when they saw the other looking at them. ¡°Oh for Mam Nephol¡¯s sake! I knew all those years ago that you would get together but this is ridiculous. My daughter is in the tentacles of this beast, why Mam, why?¡± ¡°I am not a beast! Rhi would have to have much better curves to make me react like that!¡± ¡°Em?!¡± ¡°Please you have seen her mother, you know her potential. I know, I''ve been there.¡± ¡°Father?!¡± ¡°But her mother excercises much less than Rhi, she will have less curves.¡± While shouting at each other the two men had approached each other. That put them in the perfect position for Rhiannon to grab their ears and twist them. ¡°Please stop talking about me as if I was an object, thank you.¡± ¡°Sorry Rhi.¡± ¡°Sorry Rhi but I am a man and I will notice those things. Particularly since I love you and you are beautiful.¡± Rhiannon felt shy again at that and released her fathers ear to curl her hair around her finger. ¡°Well, if it is like that¡­¡± ¡°Don''t let him fool you daughter. Today is compliments tomorrow hands on you.¡± ¡°I wouldn''t do that! Not without her permission anyway.¡± ¡°Yeah!¡± ¡°I forbid you to do that until you are of age. Even with permission.¡± The lovebirds blushed when they understood they had just admitted that they wanted to be intimate with one another. In a desperate attempt to redirect the conversation Emyr explained what he wanted Cadoc there for. ¡°IwantedtogiveagifttoRhiandiwantedyouto- Gagh, cough, cough.¡± Rhiannon grabbed him and looked at him in concern. He waved it way while Cadoc felt an intense surge of madness overcome him, he managed to seal it away until he was alone with Catrin. ¡°You were saying?¡± ¡°I got a gift for Rhi and I wanted you to evaluate it!¡± ¡°What if I had rejected you?¡± ¡°I''d have given it to your father who would have given it to you and then I would have gone to cry in the tavern.¡± Rhiannon looked touched and she kissed him in the cheek. He looked at her and they fell in their little world again. Cadoc twitched and whispered to himself. ¡°I swear if they don''t stop doing that¡­¡± While they didn''t understand him they heard him and were startled awake. ¡°So yeah! Gift right there, I''m going for it.¡± Emyr run away to a cart and took a sword and full plate armour from it. ¡°Is that¡­¡± Rhiannon was entranced by the beauty of the runes in the armour. ¡°Yes. A full set of runic armour to the height of my skills.¡± He was jumped on by Rhiannon and they fell to the floor in a tangle. She began pecking him. ¡°Thanyouthankyouthankyou!¡± ¡°Hey! Calm down! That''s not even the best.¡± She stopped cold and turned to the sword. A predatory smile appeared in her face and she unsheathed it. She was a bit disappointed when only a faint lighting appeared around the blade. She turned to Emyr and pouted. ¡°Don''t look so down, it''s more than it looks like. Do you remember what your mother taught me the day you learned you were a spirit knight trainee? I have tried to replicate it since then and I may have succeeded.¡± ¡°Impossible!¡± Shouted Cadoc. ¡°No matter how good you are you can''t have replicated Goleuadau!¡± ¡°Well I mostly replicated it.¡± He put emphasis in mostly. As he said this his girlfriends energetic swings halted when the lightning disappeared. ¡°The energy that I could fit in the sword only allowed for ten seconds of activity. But those are ten seconds in which you can cut through anything, provided you have enough force behind your swing. And it only takes five seconds in the sheath to recharge it!¡± Rhiannon lifted an eyebrow and sheathed the sword slowly. Expectations built up as the seconds passed. Five seconds later she unsheathed it again and the lightning reappeared. ¡°Isn''t that a liability? In battle you won''t have five seconds to sheathe it and it will be useless until then.¡± ¡°It won''t. It is still the second best blade I''ve ever laid my eyes on. The blacksmith that made it was highly skilled. I engraved enough runes to make it of the same quality as the armour. And the allcut enchantment is activated at will, which adds a layer of unpredictability to it. And before you ask the ten seconds are ten seconds while active, so you won''t be wasting any charge.¡± ¡°Only second best?¡± ¡°You want my Heirloom already? We have only began to go out.¡± ¡°Not yet then.¡± ¡°That''s ridiculous, there must be a catch.¡± ¡°Well, the enchantment is so delicate that it only works against mundane materials and not at all against magic. Any decent rune armour will cause it to fail. But I remind you it is still a ridiculously good sword, even against magic and rune armour.¡± Rhiannon sheathed the sword in satisfaction and hugged it. She then loomed over Emyr, who was still in the floor, and gave him a long and deep kiss. Once she finished she smiled at him. ¡°Don''t worry Emyr, I will use this sword to protect you.¡± ¡°Please, once I finish my Gates you puny knight will have to grovel at my feet.¡± ¡°So you are into that?¡± ¡°Maybe.¡± ¡°Urge to kill rising.¡± ¡°Eep!¡± ¡°Whoah!¡± ¡°Let us just test the armour and sword, alright?¡± Once the sword was tested Rhiannon felt conflicted. ¡°This is too good Erym. An armour capable of stopping anti tank rounds and missiles. A sword that even without the enchantment can cut through normal plate armour like cotton. This is too valuable, why?¡± ¡°I love you. I''d give you only the best. I don''t put price to my love.¡± ¡°You''re sweet.¡± They kissed then, this one not passionate like the others, but tender. Two years later. In the Morgan Manor Rhiannon and Gwilim were guarding a door. The thirty year old man sighed. ¡°What is your boy doing? It doesn''t take this long! My brother took only two hours.¡± ¡°Did he ever craft three Gates, linked them and fused them to his soul.¡± ¡°Wait, three linked Gates? He¡¯s going to become an Arch-Trinity right off the bat? Well may Mam Nephol take me, that¡¯s ridiculous. How long did it take him?¡± ¡°Twelve years. But he became a runic grandmaster only three years ago so it may take him less time if he did it again.¡± ¡°Why don''t more wizards do that then?¡± ¡°Because while all runesmiths are wizards not all wizards are runesmiths. Few can become runic grandmasters, and honestly? It would have taken Em at least twice the time if he didn''t have his parent¡¯s research and findings. And he sucks as a wizard, he only knows the absolute basics of spellwork.¡± ¡°I see, so it''s a question of preference?¡± ¡°Not really. Most Arch-Trinities are about sixty so even if you began at twenty you would become an Arch-Trinity at forty some. Few have the patience for that and would prefer to learn awesome cosmic power and perfect their holes into Gates with time. So in the end it comes to the age at which you begin to learn runesmithing. If you are an adult and want to be a wizard the traditional way is best. If you are a child and have patience Em¡¯s way is best.¡± ¡°I see. How powerful is an Arch-Trinity anyway?¡± ¡°Even as unlearned as he is he would be stronger than me.¡± He turned to her, eyes bulging. ¡°You aren''t bu- I mean kidding me?¡± ¡°I''m not a child anymore Gwilim.¡± ¡°Chastised once learned forever, sorry.¡± ¡°Riight. Anyway, he might lose to me in physical power and bizarrely enough spellwork, which would give me a chance to defeat him, but his magic could take out dozens of normal people in seconds. No amount of skill would save you Gwilim.¡± Some cold sweat appeared in his forehead. ¡°I see. So it''s not only because he is your boy that we are here.¡± ¡°You really thought I needed you if he was doing something less? There might be a great commotion so we have to be prepared for anything.¡± ¡°What kind of commotion?¡± ¡°You should be feeling it soon.¡± Noticing she wouldn''t speak further Gwilim shrugged and returned to guarding the room. The answer to his questions came soon after they fell silent. He alternated between awe and fear, between feeling happy and repulsed. ¡°What is that?¡± Even speaking seemed harder. ¡°The Gates to Pandemonium and Paradiso have opened. Only Beyond is left.¡± ¡°Shit, it feels weird.¡± ¡°Paradiso is the epitome of good, only those of righteous heart are allowed there, all others are cast out. Pandemonium is the epitome of evil, only the wicked can survive there. Weird is putting it mildly, there are those who go insane when looking at a Gate of Pandemonium.¡± ¡°So, how do I avoid that?¡± ¡°Don''t look at a Gate when it opens. Though if you are in front of an opened Gate you have bigger problems than insanity.¡± ¡°Got it. Not messing with Arch-Trinities.¡± ¡°Or plain Trinities. Or Arch-mages. Or Arch-demonologists. Or Arc-Theurgists. Or spirit knights. You have a lot of things to be scared of Gwilim, myself included.¡± ¡°Nah, I''ve known you for years. I can''t fear you.¡± ¡°You''ve also known Emyr for years.¡± ¡°Yes. But he is the forest dwelling wizard, that sounds more imposing than the ultra strong training maniac.¡± ¡°I''m not a training maniac.¡± ¡°How much time you have for yourself or Emyr?¡± ¡°Not that much. But we enjoy training side by side. And he trains as much as I do in his own way.¡± ¡°That makes you both training maniacs.¡± Rhiannon was interrupted by a feeling of wonder appearing. ¡°Finally! All three gates open. Now he only needs to fuse them to himself.¡± ¡°And no problem in sight.¡± ¡°Don''t jinx us, Gwilim. Remember about the monster.¡± ¡°Oh shit.¡± ¡°Oh shit indeed.¡± The last comments weren''t because of the comprehension of the danger, but because of the danger being real. A roar had sounded across the forest. ¡°Fuck! Gwilim, keep guarding Em. I''ll deal with the monster.¡± She didn''t wait for an answer and sprang to action. She ran through the reconstructed hallways to meet the monster, knowing fully that she couldn''t defeat it. She could only hope Emyr woke up fast enough to seal the beast back. She arrived at the sealed well and jumped within. She fell to the floor in total darkness. ¡°Lux!¡± The cavern was illuminated and she saw the beast. It was humanoid but no human could ever be of such size. It was about twenty meters tall, with gray skin and four muscular arms. Its head was bulbous and round and five tusks spread from its lower jaw. Its teeth were sharp and its legs strong. Something to be thankful of was that it had only released two of its arms from the ethereal chains binding it. It was tugging at the chains of its third arm when it noticed Rhiannon. It began tugging harder but Rhiannon wasn''t about to let it break free. She charged at the beast unsheathing her sword. Since it was a monster she didn''t bother to activate its enchantment and simply jumped to its shoulder and slashed it. Her sword barely made a cut, not even reaching beyond the skin. In retaliation the beast swiped at her and launched her through the cavern until she impacted the wall. ¡°Gah!¡± She fell to the ground but raised herself quickly. ¡°Even stronger than it looks like, thank you Em for this armour.¡± She charged again this time at its legs. The beast swiped its hand at her but she slided beneath it and passed through its legs before turning and stabbing the back of its knee. While she managed to penetrate the full length of the sword the beast was so massive that she only reached halfway through it. But that was enough to make it collapse on its knee. She took advantage of its weakness and run up its back to its head. Once there she stabbed her sword downwards into it and then began running forward, creating a gash through its head. She had to jump from it when the beasts hand swiped through its head. In order to do as much damage as possible she slammed her sword on one of its shoulders and in the injury she stuffed a grenade. She jumped and hit the floor as the explosion went off, injuring the beast lightly. However the use of its upper right arm was impaired slightly, making it slower. Its upper left arm shot forwards to punch her but she raised her shield and blocked the impact, using the pause on its movement to stab one of its fingers, which were one third of her height, and try and sever the articulation in question. She was halfway through when it made a sudden upwards movement that threw her upwards and made her fall to its now open mouth. She had managed to keep hold of her sword and produced shockwaves from her feet that shot her towards the beast''s left eye. She managed to stab through and blind it but the beast¡¯s reaction of closing its eye and swatting at its face separated her from her sword and sent her plummeting to the ground near its feet. She was about to rise when it stomped on her and she lost her strength. It kept applying pressure, making her grind against the floor. ¡°Aaah!¡± She put strength on her limbs and began to lift herself along with its feet. She then jerked upwards and then to the side, managing to escape from its feet. She quickly jumped backwards, out of the range of its feet and rose again. She took out her secondary sword and prepared to engage again. The beast attempted to clap its hands with Rhiannon between them but she jumped upwards and landed on its right arm. She run up it but she hadn''t noticed that it had freed its lower left arm. She saw it coming at her in slow motion, too late to react when a giant ball of wind impacted it and made it hit the beast''s body. The sudden movement threw Rhiannon off the beast, but a force pulled her to the arms of the newcomer. ¡°Got you.¡± Said Emyr with a smile. ¡°Thanks Em,¡± she smiled at him, ¡°now let''s kick that things ass.¡± ¡°No, we must seal it. It is too strong for us to defeat.¡± ¡°I have injured it.¡± ¡°Yes but its true power is still sealed. Once it turns red it will be too late.¡± ¡°Red?¡± ¡°It is a Red Golrogam Demon. A very old and powerful one, it is currently not even at one percent full power. It has only its physical might.¡± ¡°Fuck. Then we must strike fast. It has my sword in its eye, if that helps.¡± ¡°It does.¡± As he said this a majestic gate appeared behind Emyr. In its border the workings of the universe were engraved, all of them. If you stared too long you would see it shift in bizarre ways, showing all physical phenomenons, all natural laws. It''s door was detailed, with many creatures engraved on it. It opened fast and a transparent distortion flowed to Emyr, empowering him. He directed the power to his arms and released it in the form of lightning that went to the sword in its eye. Using it as a conduit into the beast the lightning began to course through its eyeball and head, paining and damaging the beast. He kept throwing lightning as the beast flailed until the water in its eyeball vaporised and exploded, destroying its eyeball and damaging its skull, making the beast sag. The sword was thrown to the wall where the two humans were and Rhiannon run to grab it. Then she returned to Emyr, who was kneeling and sweating heavily from his feat. ¡°Is that your limit?¡± ¡°No, but I am not accustomed to so much power, I can''t release more.¡± ¡°Even then I think we have a chance to kill it.¡± ¡°Too risky. We can seal it and return once we are stronger.¡± ¡°True. How do we do that?¡± ¡°Protect me while I manipulate the seal over there.¡± He signaled to a portion of the wall covered in runes. ¡°How did I miss that?¡± ¡°No idea. Come on.¡± They were interrupted by the sound of something snapping. They turned to the beast and saw it had turned red and snapped the last chain keeping its arms restrained. Now only the pylons keeping its torso immobile remained. ¡°Shit! Quick lets-¡± Erym was interrupted by the beast roaring and emitting a red wave that crashed against them and threw them to the wall. Only the fact that it was reinforced allowed the wall remain intact, but Rhiannon and Erym were not as lucky. They were left on the floor with several bones broken. They dragged themselves towards each other slowly. Once reunited they grabbed with their hands and Erik spoke as the beast tried to release itself. ¡°So this is how it ends. It is disappointing, I wanted to spend my life with you.¡± ¡°You¡¯r-cough.¡± She coughed blood. ¡°This armour is nasty when broken. You''re not alone in that thought. I wanted to be with you, to rise to fame with you, to marry you, to raise our children with you. But I guess it won''t happen. Hey Erym?¡± ¡°Yes?¡± ¡°I love you, forever. You have always been by my side, you have been both my best friend and the only man I''ve loved. I can''t think of spending my life with anyone else.¡± ¡°I love you too.¡± They looked at each other, waiting for the end. But seconds stretched into minutes and it didn''t come. They turned to look around and saw the area around them had frozen, with the demon being in the middle of breaking the last of the four pylons. ¡°What is going on?¡± Asked Rhiannon. ¡°I don''t know. Only an incredibly powerful being may be able to do this.¡± ¡°It is time for me to speak. I didn''t want to break your moving declaration of love, that would ruin the story.¡± The voice came from the heights and when they looked to them they saw an eye surrounded by a roiling mass of tentacles. ¡°The Collector of Stories?¡± Said Erym. ¡°What?!¡± ¡°Indeed. I have intervened for one reason only. Your stories can be much more than you are right now. Far beyond what a mere Red Golrogam Demon can offer, even one as great as this one. It is unlikely but under the right circumstances you could be as great as I.¡± ¡°That''s an honour, but what is the price?¡± Asked Rhiannon. ¡°Intelligent, I like that. In this planet your story would stagnate. The forces that can threaten you are too powerful, this planet has been mostly tamed and no upheaval is to appear in millennia. Decades of training are boring no matter how great you become, so you must leave it.¡± ¡°How? Interstellar travel isn''t achievable, unless you take us.¡± ¡°Even I wouldn''t do such a crass thing. No, there is a much more elegant solution. You may call upon my aid thrice, and once they have been spent or five years have passed, whichever comes first, you must depart for the City of Mercenaries.¡± ¡°The City of Mercenaries? The sole interdimensional mercenary ring?¡± This time it was Emrys that questioned the Collector of Stories. ¡°Indeed. There your story will blossom, but you must go together. This is my deal, do you agree?" They looked at each other and recognised that besides death hey had little option. ¡°Together?¡± Asked Erym. ¡°Together. We agree.¡± ¡°Very well. What do you wish to do with the demon?¡± ¡°You should absorb it Rhi, it''d probably give you something nice.¡± ¡°Sure why not eat the demon?¡± "Very well." The Collector moved to the demon and easily crushed it between its tentacles, the demon never knowing what happened even to the end. It returned to to the pair and dropped a chunk of flesh before Rhiannon. ¡°I have concentrated its essence in this flesh. Eat it and be reborn." Having said this the creature disappeared and the world returned to normal. The two had been healed sometime during the conversation and they rose while supporting each other. ¡°Your mother is going to kill us.¡± ¡°Yep." Review answer. New review I have to address or I will go crazy. I have not yet completely finished clearing my ideas, it may still be some time until next chapter. So, the last reviewer complained about two things about the MC and I feel they may come from a difference in denomination. But first things first, thanks for the review, you rock. First cursing, in the Catholic Church cursing is not forbidden. The only curses that can''t be said are those that utter the name of God in vain or other sacred things, such as the sacred host. Any other restrictions on cursing are because of politeness, not religious concerns. I may be wrong for some places, but where I live that is how it is and if I am wrong no priest has ever taken offence, and I have cursed in front of priests. So no, cursing does not make one a bad catholic. Second, what do you do on Sunday. According to that reviewer you spend all day in prayer, I guess? According to my life experience you go to mass and rest. Because it is a day of rest. So you perform sacraments and rest, and sacraments do not take long so you are left with a lot of free time for resting. Did I stress resting enough? Because even the Lord rested that day. Finally, I don''t know much about modern monks, but that is irrelevant in this story. He isn''t a modern monk, he isn''t even a medieval monk. He was frozen before St. Anthony of Egypt, Father of All Monks, that''s actually one of his titles, died and is older than St. Pachomicus, founder of cenobitic monasticism. Also known as communal monasticism. While I haven''t been able to find much about eremitic monks, I do know they weaved baskets for bread on early Christianity and worked as ferrymen in medieval times and the completely retired from society. As far as I''m aware they didn''t even need to make vows on Gaius'' times. So he fulfills both requirements, working for his food and retiring.Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. And even then he is no longer a monk. Monks live how they do because that is their vocation, that which they feel compelled to live like, their way of life, the best way for them to achieve a fulfilling life. A vocation, I can''t stress that enough. Gaius became an eremitic monk to achieve a healthier mental state through eremitic life, religious study and experience and time. He succeeded, and it would be an insult to monks everywhere to keep living like that if it isn''t his vocation, which it isn''t. His monk life was more akin to tales of medieval knights living in convents as a way to atone for some sin, in Gaius'' case for his potential for sin. He achieved it, and like those knights he went back to the world, and thus he is secular. He wasn''t even ordained in his time, because they weren''t ordained in that time (I may be wrong about this). As such he can, and indeed must (because it is not his vocation) live a secular life. And the last thing is that''s just because I don''t explicitly say it doesn''t mean he doesn''t pray, read the bible, bless his food, go to mass, confess or any other facets of secular catholic life. He does, I just don''t say it because it seemed obvious to me. Maybe I have to revise the chapters and include it, but I think I can only write ''he recited a Hail Mary'' or ''he read the Book of Samuel'', or ''he went to mass before returning and beginning to spend the day with Akai, incidentally he confessed that day'' so many times before it grows annoying. Indeed, I write so that everyone, be they Christian, atheist, agnostic, or even Muslim, can enjoy it and that requires for me to make it accessible, even if that means I can''t just overdose the book with religious references. Trust me, religious worldbuilding is for Son of the Archangel, not this one. And I certainly don''t intend to write a book on how to be a good Christian, I leave that to priests and missionaries that know much more than I do and spend years studying it. I consider this story to be light on worldbuilding, something simple for me to learn the ropes. I want to stress that I''m not attacking the reviewer, I just wanted to explain something that seemed to be misunderstood. I still appreciate the review I just don''t think these two thigs he complains about are legitimate. Good news and bad news. No Im not dropping it. Good news, I have finally an idea of how to do the next arc. Bad news, exams are coming and I have to study. So, see you in June. I find curious that I am actually more prolific when I do not have a self imposed deadline since while I have not written every day as before this little break I still have written tens of thousands of words. Mainly about Son of the Archangel and another idea I was toying with. And I still don''t have enough characters, why can I write ten thousand words in a day with no author block, but can''t think of how to lengthen an announcement? Except that is obviously not true since I am doing it right now. Can I stop rambling now?This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Hello. And sorry for vanishing. Those of you who read my bio know I¡¯m depressive. You probably don¡¯t know I was bullied for a long time, nothing grave, just children being innocent, and thus assholes. I entered psychological therapy to deal with my anger issues and general misery when I was thirteen. It was then, though I didn¡¯t know, that I met the person I trust the most in my life, my psychologist. Funny that, at the beginning I only went because of patient confidentiality, I had trust issues, I still do. But I¡¯ve come a long way, I may be slightly unsociable, I may like solitude a bit more than is healthy, but I am a much happier and healthier man. When I was fifteen I had nearly dealt with my anger, and I was no longer bothered by the actions that previously had hurt me so much. As I said before, there had been no malice in the bullying. It was a great year, both mentally and in matters of school, my best academic year in fact. I even had a solid ten out of ten in Literature. But my issues had just started. Next year I fell in depression. It is my theory, and my psychologist says it is possible, that my anger had displaced my depression and when I dealt with anger, it was depression¡¯s turn. Depression is curious, at least the one I went through. I was less sad and more apathetic, too apathetic to actually suffer much in fact, but it still was no way to live. My psychologist sent me to the psychiatrist and I began to medicate. One of the medications had, how to say it, growing pains and gave me the worst month of my life. Everything I had ever worried about came back with a bang I couldn¡¯t stand silence because it would make me think, and suffer. But I persevered, I kept taking my medications and I recovered. For the past five years I have worked hard to rebuild my life, to learn to trust again, to enjoy life, to be loved. And I¡¯m still working on my self-steem issues and lack of socialising. Writing was both good and bad. Bad because it brought me stress, good because for the first time in a decade it felt like I was doing something productive, something to share with others. But seven, nearly eight, years of hard work to repair my flaws is tiring. By June I was feeling exhausted, tired of living, of working. I felt frustrated with my perceived lack of progress in the past year. Just going through life was becoming painful, much less writing. I broke down crying, twice. I cried in front of my parents because I knew they loved me but I didn¡¯t feel like it, because I didn¡¯t trust them. I felt like they had failed me in those years, for not having gotten me help earlier. Then my father told me of how he cried in front of my tutor for half an hour, of how I was the one he had cried for the most in his life. And I felt loved, for the first time in over ten years. Then I broke crying in front of my brother, for the same reasons, but he spoke of how he had worried about me. Of how he had asked if I had been bullied, at the time I still felt I had to deal with my issues alone so I had hidden it. So well nobody knew, I¡¯m a very good actor.The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. And they all told me that my standards were too high, that I wished to be too perfect. And I¡¯ll admit I¡¯m a perfectionist and they were right. I expect more of myself than of everyone else, to the point that it is impossible for humans to be that good. I¡¯m working of that unreasonable expectations. So my psychologist told me one thing for the summer. To rest, to let go of all responsibilities, duties, and desires. To just spend my days as I wished. And I¡¯ll tell you that she knows what she¡¯s doing. It worked, by September I was rested and ready to deal with life again. But a problem arose. I had rested yes, but I hadn¡¯t told you guys that fact. So for who knows how long you were disappointed at the lack of updates. And I could have remedied that with a few minutes off writing, but I never bothered. So I was ashamed, that I had let down those who had followed me. For good reasons, but still. So I have procrastinated for the past ten days, worrying both about you and the quality of my story. Which I doubt is very good now that I look back beyond my previous writing streak. I wrote more in two months than others in years and it shows. So what made me break out of this and begin writing this. An hour ago I received news that a friend from school had had a heart attack and died, and it got me thinking. I just felt I needed to deal with you guys, I didn¡¯t want to have regrets. A few minutes ago my father realised that he had made a mistake, it wasn¡¯t my friend but his brother. But that didn¡¯t matter, the feelings I had when I received the news of the death of a friend were real, as were my tears. And I do not feel that they were wasted either, everyone deserves for someone to cry for them. Even if I didn¡¯t know him. So that is it. I¡¯ve explained everything that happened these past few months. I can¡¯t guarantee when I will return to writing, or what I will do when I do so. Whether to rewrite, to keep on, or to temporarily move onto other stories and return once my skills have improved... I don¡¯t yet know. But I can guarantee one thing. I will keep writing, and this story will always have a special place in my heart. I will one day finish it. So I thank you for your support, ask for forgiveness, and hope you lived fulfilled lives. My best regards, a Reluctant Writer who is not so reluctant anymore. Future of my writing. I had already written this, but for some reason it didn¡¯t upload and I lost it. So I will be concise. A healthy mind on a healthy body has a lot of issues. Chief among them was my desire to write a lot because, well, I myself like it when I wait a week and have an hour of reading ahead. Unfortunately my skills are not high enough to write 400 pages, nearly a book, in two months and keep a high standard of quality. The chief issue is that I normally take months to fully think a setting, mainly all that makes the book fantasy, and I came up with the idea for the book shortly before beginning to write. I was developing the setting as I wrote and while I do think my characters weren¡¯t all that bad, the things that rely on the setting, the story and worldbuilding as well as detailed character interactions based on the setting, suffered. The story as it is makes it difficult for me to continue the story without a lot of effort, and as such, I find it easier and less time consuming to rewrite the book. This rewrite wouldn¡¯t change much of what has happened, but how it happened. I would also add a lot of little things that would improve the quality of the book. I fully expect the novel to be nearly unrecognisable and maybe even many times longer by the time I reach the current point of the story. An example of one of these changes would be that I never did explain why Akairyuu likes Godzilla so much, which I was going to explain but should have been explained earlier. The issue here is that it is a very daunting project, and not exactly short, so in order to keep my motivation I would alternate between this project and another. The other project would be a sort of indirect prequel to Son of the Archangel, with a setting that is nearly complete. This story would probably update weekly and I would allot time to this novel and to the rewrite every day, when it doesn¡¯t interfere with my studying. The rewrite would update more sporadically, being a more difficult affair, but I would be working on it even if you didn¡¯t see it. Now, I have an exam tomorrow and then I¡¯ll have finished Midterms. So by Sunday I hope I will have the first chapter of the new story done. If not by the next Sunday I will have it, and if not I allow all of you to spam me until I write it. Then I¡¯d most likely write a chapter of variable length every week, aside from my work on the rewrite. I hope that you can be patient with me as I am in college which soaks a lot of time, even if it is less stressful in my country than others. I shudder at the thought of U.S. student loans and how much stress they must bring to the average student. Or I¡¯m wrong about the stress, who knows. Anyway, my wandering mind aside, I wish I can keep writing material that will entertain you, and thank you for your continued support. Ps. Here is a sample of an incomplete and not exactly correct vision of how magic works in this new novel, from the eyes of an in-universe lecturer. Don¡¯t worry if you don¡¯t get it, I was inspired by quantum mechanics and a desire to spit in the face of realism, so it is very weird. The first rule of those who study the Fayd is that the Fayd is unintuitive, if you use common sense you will be mistaken more times than right. Why? Because the Fayd is not part of the universe. Let me stress that, the Fayd is not part of the universe in any way or shape. It is not a dimension, not another plane, nor anything like that, it just so happens that within the area in the Sea of Chaos that our universe was born there is also something called the Fayd. And we long discovered that the laws of physics are local. What does that mean? It means that between universes the laws of physics can change, they are not multi universal. And while there are many universes the Many Worlds Theory has been disproven, these other universes are not parallel. Heck, some may even be perpendicular. Any similarities between universes are due to the incomprehensible rules of the Sea of Chaos. Don¡¯t try understanding those, once a man tried to learn from a Daemon God about them. He died before he made any headway. They are too advanced for our current level of science to begin studying them. Maybe in a few thousand years, but not before. They are the quantum physics to our Aristotle. Heck, he surrendered when trying to understand the Fayd, much less the Chaos. Now, returning to the subject of the Fayd, what is the Fayd if not part of the universe? We aren¡¯t sure. Yes, really. Fayd studies started a few decades back, there is much we don¡¯t know. We do know however that the Fayd is a region of the Sea of Chaos that encompasses several million universes. We also do know that the laws of the Fayd aren¡¯t fundamental, but interactive. And this is where Fayd studies divert from physics. In physics you have electromagnetic laws, those laws cause that when there are two electric charges they interact in certain ways. In the Fayd you have a law that says that these two daemons fight each other, and no matter what the daemons wish for they will fight each other, and this determines how they are. Even if they didn¡¯t want to fight initially they will end up fighting, and this can manifest in many ways. They will lose their temper around the other, they will feel a compulsion to fight each other that they can¡¯t fight. But they will fight. Let me put another example. There is a law that says that this water daemon is unharmed by fire, and thus you can¡¯t harm it with fire. Even if you use a fire that makes water explode, like magnesium fire, or a fire hot enough to vaporise water. It doesn¡¯t matter because the law says that this daemon is unharmed by fire, and the nature of the fire is irrelevant. Interactive laws affect how different daemons or the Fayd, and our local physics though that is a much more complex affair, interact with each other. What matters in the Fayd is not the fundamental composition of the interacting beings, but how those beings interact. In other words, what is fixed on the Fayd is how things interact, the nature of things is much more malleable. That said due to how many interactive laws there are the Fayd and daemons are pretty constant, so that is not much of an issue. Basically things are defined by their interactions, instead of their natures affecting how they interact with others. Unless they become True Daemons, but that is much more advanced than this basic course. And this is why there are things like resistances and weaknesses. So leave common sense on the door of this classroom, otherwise you won¡¯t understand anything. First lesson on Fayd Studies, introduction. What is a daemon? Daemon is a modern term for these beings born of the fact that most reported demonic possessions were actually daemonic possession, so they named them daemons. Simple but not indicative of their nature. Daemons are most times described as creatures of the Fayd, but that isn¡¯t exactly right. A daemon is something made of Semi-Inert Non-Quantum Unstable Matter, colloquially referred to as SINQUM, or Fog. Semi-Inert Non-Quantum Unstable Matter is quite the theoretical and complex concept, but I¡¯ll try to make you understand exactly what it is. Last lesson I stated that the Fayd has interactive laws and Semi-Inert Non-Quantum Unstable Matter is the reason why. Let us dissect the name. Semi-Inert means that in the absence of interactions with Fayd-Exotic Force, meaning everything not native to the Fayd or SINQUM affected by Fayd-Exotic Force, it doesn¡¯t do anything. This means that the natural state of the Fayd is an completely still and even soup of SINQUM. Non-Quantum means that there are no, theoretically, elementary particles for SINQUM. Rather, SINQUM is akin to an infinitely divisible fluid. This part of the theory is disputed. The reason for this is that similar volumes of SINQUM have produced wildly different results under experimentation, depending on who and how many performed the experiment. This lead to the theory that upon interaction SINQUM divides in a particular state of differing energy and mass values depending on what SINQUM interacted with. Another, more recent theory, is that there are quantum particles in SINQUM, just that SINQUM can generate itself ex nihilo under the right stimuli. This theory means that Non-Quantum would become Non-Conservative, or SINCUM. Unstable Matter. This is a consequence of the NQ part of SINQUM. That is to say, since SINQUM doesn¡¯t have fixed values of mass-energy, the results of transforming SINQUM into forces of our own universe isn¡¯t 1=1. In other words E=m*c^2 isn¡¯t correct, it is just as easy to make an ordinary match flame as making the match itself despite that making no sense in our universe. And this is why the Fayd has interactive laws, because SINQUM does not react with SINQUM, only with Fayd-Exotic Forces, or our universe¡¯s local laws of physics. Now, you have probably forgotten that we were talking about daemons, so let me repeat what daemons are. Daemons are all things that are composed of SINQUM that isn¡¯t in its natural state. You think that definition is broad? You¡¯re right, because daemons are all you know about the Fayd. Everything you can see of the Fayd is a daemon, because the act of seeing SINQUM causes it to become a daemon. Second lesson on Fayd studies, SINQUM and the nature of Daemons. Hello everyone. Last day we studied SINQUM and the strict definition of daemon. Today we will study the origins as well as a broad categorisation of daemons. First, how are daemons born, if only by interacting with daemons can humans come in contact with the Fayd? The answer is in the name, Fayd, faith. Yes, the name is that dumb. Faith, oh faith. The most despised enemy of Fayd studies for a long time. To understand the complexity of this affair we must give a standardised definition of faith. In Fayd studies faith is the ability to believe something regardless of proof. In other words the Fayd is affected by every single belief that humans hold. Monsters under the bed. The world began with the Big Bang. The classic elements. The periodic table of elements. Religion. Science. Those last two are not as divided as pop culture would make you think though, see the Pontifical Academy of Sciences. Each and every one of these and more affect the Fayd. That means that in the Fayd there are daemons that are monsters under the bed, there are Big Bangs, there are elementals, there is uranium, gods and demons walk and there are gravity daemons. Simply having enough people believe something will cause a daemon to be born along those beliefs. Believe in, say, Zeus? A Zeus daemon will be born in the Fayd, but instead of being the god of the sky, he is the god of lightning. Believe in the existence of uranium? A uranium deposit will appear on the Fayd, and still be a daemon. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Unlike popular thought daemons need not be sapient, sentient, alive, or even have powers. And by sapient I mean with mental and cognitive capabilities on the level of humans, which is part of another definition of sapience. There are three according to Cambridge. Finally, regarding belief I will say that it is a fool''s endeavor to try and create a daemon through controlling what people believe, since faith is a guideline by which the daemon is born, not a rule. As for why faith crosses universal barriers? You have arrived at the trillion euros question, please give me an answer someday. Now, we have established that daemons are born of faith and we don¡¯t know how faith crosses into the Fayd. But how do daemons contact our universe? After all if mere belief creates a daemon, why aren¡¯t there more daemons on Earth? Is there something barring their way? To answer this question I must give you a new property of SINQUM. Despite being either Non-Quantum or Non-Conservative SINQUM has density. Or rather daemonic SINQUM has density. Daemonic SINQUM is slightly different from natural SINQUM since it isn¡¯t homogeneous or even. That is to say the Fayd has an unknown fixed volume homogeneously filled with equal quantities of SINQUM, and when affected by FEDs it splits, forming a void between particular clumps of daemonic SINQUM. This decreases the density of SINQUM within a certain volume, even if SINQUM is still Non-Quantum or Non-Conservative. In other words daemonic SINQUM is less dense than natural SINQUM, no matter its mass-energy values. If this sounds weird it¡¯s because we still don¡¯t fully understand it. Daemons with a SINQUM density below natural SINQUM can¡¯t cross the universal barrier, natural SINQUM also can¡¯t cross that barrier. But a daemon, through the Self-affirmation Principle can gather more SINQUM towards itself than it was born with, increasing its density. If that Self-affirmation is strong enough the density of daemonic SINQUM can actually surpass that of natural SINQUM. But Teacher! Doesn¡¯t SINQUM have a fixed volume? How can it¡¯s density increase beyond occupying all space? You may ask. Good question, and the answer can find a simil in current physics. A black hole. Beyond the critical density a daemon will collapse all of its SINQUM into a single point, becoming something else. I will explain later what this something else is. In other words, a SINQUM singularity can cross universal barriers, and these are the daemons that open the way of interaction between the Fayd and the universe. This explains why we aren¡¯t just swimming in daemons. That and we have the Steel Bulwark, but that is something completely different. That is something we made a long time ago, before that we had many more daemons walking amidst us. Keep in mind that this is not a question of power in the part of the daemon. It only requires enough faith to collapse the SINQUM, the quantity of SINQUM is irrelevant to this process since the collapsed volume can be between 1*10^-99 litres and a million litres, for example. Now, I have mentioned a certain property of daemons, the Self-affirmation Principle. Brace yourself, this is where things get weird. So, a daemon is not only daemonic SINQUM. This is why we can even speak of daemonic SINQUM density by the way. If daemons were only SINQUM, they would be only the individual clumps of SINQUM, but they are several clumps. What connects the clumps? Why, what formed the daemons to begin with! Fayd-Exotic Forces! In most of the cases that is faith. So daemons are a mix of SINQUM and faith, and the more faith there is in a daemon, the greater its density. Until now, this is clear. What isn¡¯t clear is that the faith that composes the daemon is not human anymore, but has formed the Self of the daemon. That faith defines the daemon and fixes, or affirmates, its existence. So if a daemon, because of whatever processes that take place in the Fayd, accumulates enough faith it¡¯s existence will become fixed. This happens when the critical density is reached, and this process is the Self-affirmation Principle. Once they have reached this state throw everything I said about the nature of daemons changing, while these daemons still mostly obey interactive laws they don¡¯t change. This allows them to ignore certain interactions, like the compulsion to fight I mentioned earlier. Instead they have an instinct to fight, but the water daemon is still unharmed by fire. Now, Self-affirmation is different in sapient daemons. The processes that create sapient daemons allow them to, in essence, create faith for themselves by living. Meaning that if a sapient daemon lives long enough they can reach the critical density without need for outside Fayd-Exotic Forces. Normally though, it¡¯s a mixture of both. And finally we leave behind the heavy theory, and begin with the categories. The first method of dividing daemons is by SINQUM density and Self-affirmation:
  1. False Daemons. Daemons below the critical density. These daemons are still influenced by faith, so their natures can be altered. I remind you that by nature I mean how they interact with others. These daemons can¡¯t naturally cross the universal borders and can only be let in by daemons beyond the critical density. If found within the universe the only difference is that False Daemons do not have a complete Self affirmation.
  1. True Daemons. Daemons beyond the critical density. These have completed their Self-affirmation and are immutable by faith, but sapients are still subject to change, meaning they change like humans. In fact sapient True Daemons are similar to humans, in a way.
The second method is by quantity of SINQUM, or energy. While theoretically you can produce infinite energy from a single clump of SINQUM, in practice it is difficult to go beyond certain values. These values are normally in the following interval, (10, 50) Joules of energy per cubic nanometer of SINQUM. Thus the quantity of SINQUM is measured by volume of SINQUM clumps, not to be mistaken with total volume. There are seven classes of energy:
  1. Below human output in energy. Daemon grunts.
  1. Roughly human output in energy. Daemons.
  1. Energy between a normal human and the energy of a speeding train. Daemon soldiers.
  1. Energy between a speeding train and a low yield nuke. Daemon commanders.
  1. Energy in the range of a nuke. Daemon lords.
  1. Under world class energy. Anything between nuke and world consumption of energy in a year. Daemon princes.
  1. Above class 6. Daemon kings.
This classification is much more subjective and disputed than the previous, as it¡¯s not as rooted in facts. In fact there are many versions of energy rankings, but this one is the one used by the military, so we are teaching it. For the safety of your sanity I¡¯ll say than anything above 4 is very rare, so don¡¯t go paranoid. There are other daemon classification but we will explain them along mages. Third lesson on Fayd studies, properties and classifications of daemons. Today¡¯s lesson is less difficult. Today I am giving you a rough explanation on elements, as well as listing the most important. Before we continue I¡¯d like you to remember that in the Fayd laws are interactive. Thus a Fayd element is distinct from one of ours. In our universe something is made of iron, but in the Fayd an element is an interaction. For example, the fire element is not something daemons are made of, but how a daemon interacts with fire. Useful to know is that every daemon has every element, without exception, since all daemons have all interactions coded into them from birth. I also have to mention that elements can mix, but they do so in percentages. So mixing 50% fire and 50% water won¡¯t make steam, but a singular interaction made of 50% water and 50% fire. This is important for the following. It is highly important to remember that if a daemon is benefited by an element it will always be affected by it. Some believe that this isn¡¯t an axiom, but those who don¡¯t do this die fast. So, what kind of interactions are there? There are seven: Neutral. They are affected normally, as they would in our universe. Since this is more of a composite reaction that encompasses many possible interactions, it is by far the most numerous one. Weak. They are harmed more than they should. Instead of receiving first degree burns from fire they receive third degree burns. Resist. They are harmed less than they should. Only their hair is singed, but if they are too cold, they will still be warmed. Null. They aren¡¯t harmed at all. They aren¡¯t harmed at all, but they are still warmed. Absorb. They actually heal or recover energy from attacks with that element. Obviously they benefit from interactions with the absorbed element. Reflect. They send back the harmful effect, a double edged sword since your enemy may absorb that element, but useful otherwise. Still warmed. These responses can mix. For example a daemon may absorb 20% of an element and null the rest. Or reflect 30% and be neutral to the rest. But normally they have a single one, and it is very rare to have both weakness and resistance to the same element, for obvious reasons. Now I must explain yet another property of daemons that can¡¯t be explained unless you know of elements. Say that a daemon is immune to fire, and another has flames that burn everything, how do you resolve this paradox? The answer is Priority, a nebulous and poorly understood property that determines which nature wins. While we don¡¯t understand it we have learned to measure it, and we have given it a scale. From 10, the lowest Priority ever recorded, to 10,000 the highest possible. That the highest is 10,000, for the record, is an axiom known due to a certain element. We call Daemon Gods to those between 8,000 and 9,999 Priority. And nobody believes Daemon Gods are actual gods, by the way, it¡¯s a name. Before I list the Fifty Two Common Elements I will explain the Big Three. First, Information. The ability to sense SINQUM and daemons, it should be obvious but sentient daemons have it by default. Every mage must have this element or, well, or nothing, it is a must. All data perceived of the Fayd and SINQUM comes from the use of Information. Second, Ether, Aether, etc. This one is a weird one in that it is both an Earth element, and a Fayd element. When SINQUM enters the universe it doesn¡¯t interact with it by default. Indeed, some daemons, True ones, are of the spirit type which can¡¯t interact with the material world in any way. But something that does happen when SINQUM contacts the universe is the creation of Ether. Nobody knows where Ether comes from, our universe or the Fayd, but it is a physical element. We even have Ether detectors, used to trace daemonic activity. The function of Ether is the materialisation of SINQUM, in simpler words, it allows SINQUM to interact with the material world. But for a daemon or mage to use Ether, they must have the Ether element, that allows them to interact with Ether. Oh, I say material world, but there isn¡¯t, as far as we know, a spiritual realm in our universe. We say material because while SINQUM doesn¡¯t interact with the electromagnetic force or the force of gravity, we are not so sure about the nuclear forces. This means we can¡¯t say with security that SINQUM doesn¡¯t interact with matter and energy despite all signs showing that it can¡¯t. And the third of the Big Three. This one isn¡¯t as fundamental for us to experience the Fayd, but it does have a huge influence in our understanding of it. The Transcendent element. The Transcendent element is important because it isn¡¯t an element per se, but it is. It isn¡¯t an element because it isn¡¯t a type of interaction but a way of interaction, but it is an element because it does exist and access to one single ability of this element opens the way for all others. So what is the Transcendent element? It is a way of interacting that has the highest Priority possible in the Fayd, in our scale, the Aurelius-Ptolemy scale by the way, 10,000. It is one of the few things we know of that limit the Fayd. So any spell of the Transcendent element will always interact neutrally with everything in the Fayd, unless they have barriers of the Transcendent element. In which case it depends on who has the strongest faith. We think. Probably. Fourth lesson of Fayd studies, elements. We finally reach this lesson. What most of you are interested in, mages. Now, a mage is someone who uses magic but we won¡¯t be explaining magic yet, just where mages get their magic from. There is a reason for this weird order, which you will see later. But I will give a simple explanation first. Magic is the ability to use faith and skill to manipulate SINQUM causing phenomena by the mage¡¯s own ability. If the mage doesn¡¯t need to use faith, or isn¡¯t the origin of the phenomena they are called powers. So how do humans get powers from the Fayd? As it should be obvious now, from daemons. So I will just give you the types of mages and their source daemons. There are five ways. -Harmonised Mages or Objects of Power Wielders. These mages derive their power from an object daemon, that is to say an un-living non-sapient daemon. Say that in the Palaeolithic a tribe believed that a certain statue granted power over fire to their tribesmen and the statue got a True Daemon. Then the tribesmen got power over fire and had their magic unlocked. Object daemons that can grant powers or magic are called Objects of Power, requirements to use them vary. -Pact Mages. These mages establish a symbiotic relationship with a non-sapient True Daemon, again granting them powers and unlocking their magic. The most common way of making such a pact is through an interactive bond, such as a familiar bond. These usually require for a previous mage to create the bond, but some daemons have the ability to naturally form these bonds. -Contract Mages. Pact Mages but with sapient True Daemons. Be very wary of what daemon you pact with, there is a reason it is discouraged. Remember Faust. -Daemonhost. These are the weird ones since they involve a very weird kind of daemon, which bizarrely for what¡¯s usual aren¡¯t True Daemons. A daemonhost is a person possessed by a False Daemon, or very, very rarely a True Daemon. There are two kinds of daemons that can possess humans. First demons formed by belief in possession. These daemons are weird in that they need to interact with humans but normally they can¡¯t since they aren¡¯t True Daemons, so they use a loophole. They latch to a certain person¡¯s faith and begin to exclusively feed on it. Then once they are accustomed to it they trace the faith back to the universe and begin to unite with the person, becoming part of the universe. At the end of this process the human and daemon will fuse into a mage. There are several problems with this process, mainly whether the human can survive the process or not, never mind the fact that the new mage would very likely different from the human. It is possible however for a human of strong will to resist the mental pollution while being transformed, to the point the human can become a mage and then be exorcised leaving his mental faculties intact. The second type of daemon is a personal daemon, it works exactly like the first daemon, except they are daemons born of belief about a person that seek to become the person. As such the second type will only possess one person ever. Humans who have had their possession advance until they become mages are under heavy risk of mental pollution, so this kind of way to acquire magic is not only impossible to purposefully seek, but extremely dangerous. -Finally, Lineage Mages. Lineage Mages are those descended from one of the four previous ways of getting magic and for some reasons inherited the magic. Normally this comes from mages who have had their bodies altered in some fundamental way with SINQUM, in a way that their descendants inherit the alteration. This kind of alterations are very rare. New story up. I was reluctant to advertise the new story here, since it isn¡¯t related to this one, but judging by the traffic in the other one either you guys didn¡¯t see it, or didn¡¯t like it. The story is here https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/28710/disciple, as always please comment, and above all rate, right now I need the exposure. You will be pleased that while the main character is very different in terms of values he doesn¡¯t differ much, that is to say he also is a good guy.This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.