《Grey Eyes》 Chapter 1: A world reliant on [System] Isandros blinked, his eyes quickly adjusting to the darkness around him. With his [Sense-UR] skill that was constantly activated, light and dark didn''t impact his vision anymore, but considering that the inside of his bedroom which he had been in just a few seconds ago was quite brightly lit, it did take some getting used to. While getting his vision settled, he subconsciously--out of the habit of a lifetime, checked the mental map that [Sense-UR] had provided him. It seemed liked he had been teleported into a small cave, and a rather normal one at that; no dangerous monsters that had made it their lair, no lingering traces of death and black magic, and no bumbling idiot around trying to break his eardrums and calling him a monster. Well, he thought absent-mindedly, turning around in a circle to get a clearer look at his surroundings, he supposed he should re-evaluate his definition of ¡®dangerous¡¯. After all, he had been awarded the title of [God] two times, no less, by the [System] after his last battle. Add that to the [God of Magic] title that she had...given him...he supposed that he was the most dangerous being around. As he was thinking, his eyes softened, and a feeling of sadness radiated from those electric blue eyes of his that had captured the hearts of so many women but had only ever looked at her. Snapping out of his thoughts--even in his previous world, or perhaps because of his previous world, he had never been one to stand around feeling sorry for himself, further investigation revealed much to his delight that there was no one as well in the forest surrounding the cave that had a radius of about 3 diomels. Good. It seems that there won''t be anyone disturbing me for a while, at least until I sort out my--What? 3 diomels? Isandros hurriedly checked his mental map again. There was no problem. Thump. Isandros, who had been standing with no problems before, despite having just used an incredible amount of mana to cast a high ranked magic spell like the [Greater Teleportation] that had enabled him to travel to this world, suddenly sat down heavily. Despite his unchanging expression, that mind of his that had been declared brillant by almost anyone who knew him well was working furiously. 3 diomels...that¡¯s equivalent to the size of a duchy in Vancia. A large duchy, at that. Yet there is not a single person in this forest, even though the beasts in here are all rather weak according to [Sense-UR]. Could it be that the inhabitants of this world are just amazingly weak? In that case, I should use [Greater Teleportation] again and travel to another world; a world full of weak people is no fun at all. Of course, there could be another alternative--this world was simply so big that a forest of 3 diomels meant nothing to its inhabitants. In other words, the forest was empty was empty due to a lack of interest in it. It¡¯s impossible for this world to not have some form of civilised beings--even though [Greater Teleportation] itself was an extremely advanced magic spell, because of my status as the [God of Magic], I was able to single-handedly use an advanced form of [Greater Teleportation]; one that allowed me to specify the conditions of the world I wanted to be teleported to. Given the description of the spell, the teleportation should not work if there wasn¡¯t a world that could fulfill all my conditions. Isandros wasn¡¯t the sort of person to rush into things without thinking, and for a good reason too--he wouldn¡¯t be alive right now if he hadn¡¯t been cautious. After her funeral, as he was preparing to travel to another world, he had carefully thought about what type of world he wanted to be teleported to, and had listed down the conditions for [Greater Teleportation] as followed: 1. The world must have at least five different species of sentient and civilised beings. This was because having only one ¡®intelligent species around would prove extremely boring, considering what his goals were. 2. The world must have magic at least as advanced as Atdea. Atdea was the world he had previously been in, and in there magicians were something of a rarity. Isandros had been one of those magicians and had grown up used to the wonderful thing that was magic, plus now that he was the [God of Magic], it would seriously be inconvenient, and a huge bummer as well, if he was to lose all the magical abilities he had spent years perfecting. 3. The world must have abundant monsters of varying strengths which are non-intelligent beings and can be killed to obtain certain rewards. The people of that world must have a habit of killing such monsters. This last condition for [Greater Teleportation] was not an idea he had thought of himself. In fact, the notion of monsters which could be used to train oneself against was an idea by an author who was famed for his creativity in Isandros¡¯ country of Vancia in the world Atdea. This idea had resonated deeply with Isandros because of the circumstances of Atdea. In Atdea, there was no such thing as monsters or dungeons or quests, which was why that book had been so popular in Atdea. After all, in a world where you usually fought or killed those of other races or kingdoms in wars in order to gain fighting experience, the notion that in another world, there were beings that existed which could be freely killed as long as you had the ability to was just plain shocking. Isandros had been unsure whether or not such a world even existed when he had stated out the conditions, but he was glad it did. In his first few attempts at [Greater Teleportation], he had added another point: There must be a being in that world which is hard to kill. The attempt failed. In the next attempt, he had changed the wording to: There must be a being in that world which is slightly challenging to kill. The attempt failed again. After that, he had changed the wording from slightly challenging to a bit difficult, not very difficult, easy, very easy, extremely easy and finally to enough to provide me with a warm up. All attempts failed. Thinking back, Isandros let out a rueful smile. Well, he supposed that was only to be expected, considering his three new titles: [God of Magic], [God of Victory] and [God of Combat]. He suspected the second title to be the one most at fault. When he had checked the description for the different titles, there was only one sentence under [God of Victory]: Allows the user to decide any and all victories and defeats. The descriptions of the other titles were just as straightforward. [God of Magic] allowed him to use all magic and control all mana, and he would automatically learn any new magic spell that was created. [God of Combat] increased his combat ability and made him unable to lose in any fight. And of course, he was immortal unless he decided to kill himself and be reincarnated. Catching himself getting off topic, Isandros focused on his mental map. This time, he saw something that interested him. On his mental map, all living things were represented by dots whose colours differed by species. Plants were generally marked green, but if they were carnivorous plants then there would be a smaller red circle inside the green dot. He himself was always marked with a star instead of a dot, while beasts were generally marked blue. Previously, because his mental map covered a huge area (it extended nearly 3 diomels in every direction), he had merely focused on blue dots in order to find out if there were a lot of beasts surrounding him, as well black-ringed dots that signified an intelligent race in order to find out if there were people around him. However, now that he looked more carefully at his mental map, he discovered a colour that he had never seen before--red. There were many red-coloured dots of varying sizes. Could these represent those so-called ¡®monsters¡¯? If that¡¯s so, then it would be a good chance to see how they work when I leave the forest. Well, whatever the case it is with this world, thought Isandros as he pushed himself off the ground and dusted his clothes, I¡¯ll find out more information by meeting someone then by sitting here making guesses. But before that, I¡¯ll need to sort out my things. Thinking that, Isandros thought [Status] in his mind, and the blue translucent [Status] screen appeared in front of him. What he saw, however, made him stare, a slight frown creasing his forehead. None of the original stat names were shown. Instead of things like Magic Rank and Warrior Rank, there were things like Level, Experience needed, Wisdom, Strength, Luck, Fame and so on. By tapping the names of the stats on the [Status] screen, he was able to get a description of the stats. It didn¡¯t take Isandros very long to figure out what this was about. Well, Isandros let out a small chuckle, This world is even more reliant on stats than Atdea is. Back in Atdea, the two main stats that showed a person¡¯s strength was their Magic Rank and Warrior Rank. The people with no affinity with magic or no combat ability at all were Rank 1. The higher the numerical value of the Rank, the more powerful the person was. Isandros had been a Rank 20 Warrior before he became a [God], so he supposed that was the limit for Ranks. Any furthur and the person would become a [God] as well. Of course, becoming a Rank 20 was no easy feat. Before him, there were no predecessors--the highest had merely been Rank 13. Therefore, it was considered a miracle that there were two Rank 20s just in his generation alone. One of them was him, Isandros. The other was...her. Calandre. A Rank 20 mage, his fellow adventurer and his wife. She was beautiful, with hair golden like the sun that seemed to shine whenever she moved, but what drew people were her eyes. They were a strange colour, the shade you¡¯d get if you had a dazzling rose pink with deep violet and just a flick of crimson red. The colours seemed to swirl inside her eyes without ever mixing, changing with her feelings. But stunning as her eyes were visually, that wasn¡¯t what captivated people, men and women alike. She was one of those rare people who knew their goal, and could run full speed towards it for her entire life without ever hesitating or stopping. Some called her stupid, and some lauded praise upon it, but it was a determination you could see shining through those pupils of hers. They were what first caught Isandros¡¯ attention too. And as they grew closer, drawn together by the strength of each other that no one else had, and delighted that finally, there was someone who didn¡¯t drag them down in a fight, they discovered that they were like a perfect match. Isandros remembered he had only been thirteen when they met, and she twelve, but they had fought and struggled and killed with each other for five long years, before she died on the day of her seventeenth birthday. Isandros caught himself reminiscing about his past again. Really, this is the second time today. If I¡¯m not careful, I might just turn into one of those old nobles at the royal court that do nothing but try to impress people by spinning long and endless tales of their heroic adventures. He steered his attention back to the [Status] screen in front of him with his stats. Name: Isandros Job: Freeloader Level: 1 Experience needed: 100 Magic Power: UR Strength: 1 billion/UR Intelligence: UR Defense: 1 billion/UR Dexterity: 1 billion/UR Charisma: 999 [MAX: 999] Wisdom: UR Luck: 99 [MAX: 99] Titles: God of Magic God of Victory God of Combat Isandros had already checked the definition of those stats once, but since he had just thought of a new theory, he decided to double check all the descriptions for his titles and stats again. Level: Your level is a measure of your strength in this world of Landrea. Whenever you level up, your stats will increase accordingly (excluding luck and charisma). By levelling up, you will also gain 10 additional stat points, which you can choose to either put into your stats or use to Rank up your skills. Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. Experience needed: How much more experience you require to level up. Experience can be gained by killing monsters or people. Job: Your chosen occupation. Your class will also be reflected under here. Magic power: Refers to the amount of mana you have. This stat is influenced by the stat Intelligence. As the [God of Magic], you can control all mana, even if they do not belong to you, therefore your magic power is considered Unranked (UR). Strength: Refers to how physically strong you are. Strength decides how much weight you can carry and the damage caused by your melee attack. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Combat], you are forbidden from/ not able to lose in a fight, causing your Strength to increase whenever you are genuinely losing in a fight, therefore making it Unranked (UR). Under normal circumstances, your Strength is 1 billion. Your Strength is capped at 1 billion because the [System] has deemed it unnecessary to increase it. Intelligence: A measure of how intelligent you are as well as your proficiency at problem-solving. Affects your Magic Power and your Magic regeneration rate, as well as your ability to learn things. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Magic], your intelligence is Unranked (UR). Defense: A measure of how resilient you are. Defense ignores/decreases taken damage by a certain percentage. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Combat], you are forbidden from/ not able to lose in a fight, causing your Defense to increase whenever you are genuinely losing in a fight, therefore making it Unranked (UR). Under normal circumstances, your Defense is 1 billion. Your Defense is capped at 1 billion because the [System] has deemed it unnecessary to increase it. Dexterity: A measure of your agility. It also affects your speed and accuracy, as well as the ability to dodge an opponent¡¯s attack. This stat can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Combat], you are forbidden from/ not able to lose in a fight, causing your Dexterity to increase whenever you are genuinely losing in a fight, therefore making it Unranked (UR). Under normal circumstanes, your Dexterity is 1 billion. Your Dexterity is capped at 1 billion because the [System] has deemed it unnecessary to increase it. Charisma: A measure of your social skill, charm and ability to attract and lead others. This stat can be affected by your physical appearance as well as your personality. As a [God], your Charisma will naturally be maxed. Wisdom: Refers to your common sense, spirituality and ability to comprehend deep philosophical subjects. This stat affects the Rank of magic you can cast, the ability to communicate to mystical and worldly entities and discern others¡¯ thoughts and feelings. It also affects your resistance against mental attacks as well as your mental strength. Wisdom can be increased without levelling up. As the [God of Magic], your Wisdom is Unranked (UR). Bonuses given due to high Wisdom: Ability to communicate with the [System] and with other beings of high [Wisdom]. Luck: A measure of your luck. As a [God], your luck will naturally be maxed. [God of Magic]: This title is awarded to one who can perform a [God] Ranked Magic spell. Allows you to control all mana, use all attributes of magic and have knowledge of as well as the ability to cast all spells. Any new spell that has been invented in any world will also automatically be made known to you. All stats that affect magic will be increased automatically. Grants immortality until you wish to be reincarnated. You can bless those whom you favor to give them outstanding talent in magic by increasing their WIS and INT stats. To prevent conflict between [Gods], this title can only be possessed by one person at a time. [God of Combat]: This title is awarded to one who: Has never lost any fight Is the greatest warrior in his/her world, and is equivalent to a Rank 20 warrior. Has realised and mastered the complete stupidity that is war Has maxed his/her charisma without the help of any [God] title Will only turn to wars as the last method Is not swayed by power By possessing this title, you are neither allowed to nor have the ability to lose any war and fight that you take part in as long as it involves combat. In the case where you are truly unable to win the fight based on your current abilities, this title will increase all your stats dramatically to allow you win the fight. You will not feel any exhaustion due to a fight. The title also grants you immortality until you wish to die and be reincarnated. You can bless people or entire armies to give them outstanding combat ability as well as increased stats in STR, DEF and DEX. To prevent conflict amongst [Gods], this title can only be possessed by one person at a time. [God of Victory]: Grants you the power to decide the victors in anything that can have a victor. The title also grants you immortality until you wish to die and be reincarnated. You can bless people to increase their LUC and CHA stat by however much you want. To prevent conflict amongst [Gods], this title can only be possessed by one person at a time. This title is granted when: 1. The person in question has shown a remarkable lack of interest in meddling in others¡¯ affairs and in causing cosmic wars. 2. The [System] has decided that you are already so overpowered you might as well get another title. Isandros smiled wryly at that last one. He¡¯d love to meet that [System] someday. It seemed to have a good sense of humor. But back to his stats; he had a pretty good guess what was going on in this world. Landrea, was it? Pretty nice name. Apparently being a God gave a lot of perks, and one of them was crazy stats. He guessed the reason why physical combat stats were capped at 1 billion was because since they would rise whenever he got into a fix, there was no point in raising them beyond 1 billion. As for WIS and INT, because he in charge of magic itself, all stats that affected magic would naturally be Unranked. As for why STR, DEX and DEF did not become Unranked even though he was the [God of Combat], it was probably because fights didn¡¯t just rely on your stats the way using magic did. You had to factor in things like fighting experience, training, fighting techniques, the ability to strategize and more. One of the main difference between this new world of Landrea and his previous world of Atdea was their dependence on the [System]. Atdea was far less dependent on the [System] than Landrea, which had both pros and cons. The good thing about being less dependent was that things like skills could be learnt ¡®normally¡¯--by practicing and using a skill over and over again, the skill¡¯s Rank would naturally rise from Rank 1 to Rank 10, and finally to Unranked. However, from the information he had gathered from [Status] descriptions, in Landrea, skills could only Rank up if one put stat points into it. Isandros wasn¡¯t sure how many stat points one would require to Rank up a skill, but considering that you could only gain ten stat points per level up, there was sure to be a limit on the number of skills and the proficiency of those skills for the people of Landrea, as compared to Atdea where you could learn as many skills as you wanted and Rank them up as much as you wanted to as long as you put in enough hard work. The cons of being less reliant on the [System] was pretty clear; even though the people in Atdea had more skills, they still had a limit which was hard to surpass. For example, in Landrea, Person A would increase his strength by increasing his Level and putting his stat points into Strength. However, in Atdea, Person B would have to do physical training to toughen their body. But no matter how much one trained, they still would not be able surpass their physical limits. But that was different for Person A, who didn¡¯t have limits because of the way the [System] worked in Landrea. Isandros arrived at the conclusion that the people in this world would be much stronger than those in the other world, which made him very, very happy. After that, he finally remembered to check his [Inventory], and thankfully, all the items were still inside. ¡°Well then,¡± he muttered, closing his [Inventory], ¡°I suppose I should go outside the cave now that everything¡¯s settled. I know my stats have already been capped or are Unranked, but it¡¯d be good to kill some monsters just to raise my level. Also, I¡¯d need to find some way to keep by [Status] hidden, just in case people in this world have the [Analyse] skill as well. I don¡¯t mind catching attention, but it¡¯d be bad if they saw my [God] titles and started praying and worshipping me. Also, it¡¯d be good to change my name. I wonder though, in this world, is there any way to change the name that is reflected in the [Status]?¡± As he was scratching his head and mumbling to himself, Isandros suddenly thought of an idea. ¡°I declare war on the [Status]. I win this challenge if I can change my name on the [Status] to Azael Calandre, and I lose if I am unable to change it. By the power vested in me as the [God of Victory], I hereby decreed that I shall win this challenge.¡± Immediately, the name on the [Status] screen changed to Azael Calandre. ¡°Well, I¡¯m glad that worked. Being a [God] is pretty useful, huh?¡± As Isandros said that, he received a [System Message] saying: User Asterkirzia Isandrosvasian Lendregar has successfully changed his name to Azael Calandre. The [System] congratulates him on finally getting rid of that monstrosity of a name, as well as choosing a very good replacement. As a reward for his good taste in names, the [System] grants Azael the title [The First Seraphim], and wishes him good luck in spreading the name of the Seraphims far and wide. Also, as an added bonus, the [System] will do Azael the favor of making sure no one, in this world or another, will be able to see his [Status] without his permission. Lastly, the [System] wishes to convey to Azael that in the future, if he wishes to change his name, he should just activate the name change function by tapping on his name on the [Status] screen instead of sullying the [Gods¡¯] name by declaring war on inanimate objects. Now get out of that cave and do something interesting, you dumbass. (Author Note: Azael means ¡®Made of God¡¯, and the [System Message] was referring to his titles of [God]) Isandros, or rather, Azael, checked what the [System Message] had said. Indeed, he could change his name using the [Status] screen, although it would consume a MP of 50 000. "Well, the [System] went and did me the favor of solving one of my problems, so I suppose it''s only good manners to do as she, or he, or whatever gender the [System] is, say, and get myself out of here." Closing his [Status] with a wave of his hand, Azael walked towards the entrance of the cave. The moment he exited the cave, he was greeted by a gentle gust of wind that caused his long black hair that fell to his waist to fly up. Walking in the direction where he could see a bunch of red coloured dots gathered on his mental map, he admired the scenery around him. The trees in the forest were quite tall, sunlight shining through the gaps between clumps of branches leaves, dappling the forest floor with shades of green and brown. It wasn¡¯t a strikingly beautiful scene by any means, but it made Azael wonder idly: How long has it been since I could just stroll along and enjoy the surroundings? Yes, Azael though calmly, this time, he wasn¡¯t going to fight wars or defend the people or be a hero. This time, he was going to do what they had always wanted to do but she had died before they could. He was going to live, and he was going to live happily, live enough for two people. She had given her life to keep his, and now he was going to live his life for them. For her, for himself, for the two of them, he was going to live. He was going to have fun. Chapter 2: The start of something Chapter 2: The start of something The Aorghe, no wait, or was it Agheror?--Azael cursed silently in his mind, as he dodged the clumsy attacks of three monsters-whose-names-started-with-A, before killing all three of them by stabbing them right in their Core--the fist-sized jewel-like thing that came in all sorts of colours, depending on, according to the experiments he had carried out, the level of the monster it came from. The bodies of the monsters fell onto the soft mossy ground with a soft thump, the long, matted, brown fur that covered the monster whose primary distinction were their powerful legs spreading out around them. Previously, when he had first gotten the Core from dead monsters as loot, by using [Analyse-UR] on them (thankfully, after a thorough check, it seemed that not only [Sense-UR], but all his other skills as well had also been kept intact), Azael had found out that the Core was the source of the monster¡¯s life force. Besides that, the Core also served as a magic container of sorts, by storing the monster¡¯s mana in it. Also, when he had scrolled right down the information screen that had appeared when he used [Analyse-UR], he found an option [Use]. By tapping that option, another Screen had showed up, asking him to confirmed his choice. Out of curiosity to see what the Core did, he had tapped ¡®Yes¡¯, and his MP had immediately increased by 20. Well, thought Azael, as the bodies of the three monsters he had just killed turned into dozens of tiny blue transparent shards that spiraled two metres or so into the air before disappearing, I suppose it does make sense, seeing as the Core was what the monsters used to store their MP after all. But if all it does is regain my MP, then I¡¯d have no use for it. Azael opened his [Inventory] screen to look at the Cores that had automatically entered there when he had killed the monsters, his hand hesitating for a few seconds on the ¡®Delete¡¯ option. Since I can use Spatial magic to make my [Inventory] limitless, I might as well just keep them, he thought, busy pointing out the merits of not deleting those monster Cores. It didn¡¯t take long before Azael managed to convince himself that he wasn¡¯t hoarding those items--who knows, he might need them later. With a sigh, his hand dropped back down to his side, and he dismissed the screen with a thought. ¡°Still,¡± commented Azael, frowning with slight disappointment, his hands folded loosely in front of his chest while he calmly surveyed the clearing where he had been fighting the A-monsters, ¡°the skill of the monsters in this forest is really low. Well, given the way things work in this world, I suppose I should blame their Level for that. The average was around 25, was it not?¡± Taking in the fallen trees and dangling branches around him, as well as the clumps of soil and moss that had been kicked out of their original position, Azael couldn¡¯t help but let a flicker of disgust pass through those electric blue eyes of his. A sign of a passably good fighter was their ability to focus their strength and attack with pinpoint precision, thus minimising their movements. The monsters just now had clearly been unable of that, what with their jumping around, howling loudly and generally making sure that their surroundings were more injured than their opponent. Azael spared a quick glance at his Lenithium dagger, and was glad to note that the blood of the monsters had disappeared along with its body before sheathing it with a quick and smooth action that boasted of practice. Opening his [Status] to see that his level had risen to 5, he noted that his Experience needed showed 25/1600. 1600 huh? Considering that I¡¯m Level 5 and the Experience needed was 100 when I was Level 1, I suppose that means the Experience needed to Level up doubles with each Level. Azael let out a low whistle at that. With his INT, it didn¡¯t take him very long to do all the necessary calculations. This is crazy. This means that by just Level 25 you¡¯d need 1677721600 Experience to Level up again. ¡°Yo, [System].¡± Azael muttered, looking up at the soft violet sky streaked with occasional lines of white. A few Quartalis--a half-bird half-bat species that was quite common around this forest flew overhead, probably heading home for the day. Somewhere in his head, he registered that it was getting dark and he should probably start setting up camp. ¡°Mind explaining to me how the Experience thing works?¡± he continued. System Message: Go find your way to somewhere with people and ask someone. Azael raised an eyebrow at the screen that popped up showing the message. ¡°Well, Your Amazing Holiness, I am somewhere with people, and I am asking someone, but that someone happens a meanie who is refusing to answer me. Speaking of which, is there any way for me to talk to you without looking like a recluse mumbling away to himself? I¡¯m going to be around people soon, you know.¡± System Message: Fine. I¡¯ll just tell you this once, because I¡¯m so nice. In this world, people mainly level up by hunting monsters in dungeons, instead of going around killing them in the woods like you do. Dungeons are massive structures in which certain monsters inhabit, and the good thing about dungeons is that the monsters in them are respawnable, unlike the ones you just killed. Use your [Chat] function, idiot. ¡°Respawnable, huh?¡± Azael wondered to himself thoughtfully, his right hand cupping his chin. ¡°Well, that¡¯s certainly useful. They can just kill as many monsters as they want and there¡¯ll be enough leftovers for the rest of the world. Also, the monsters in the dungeon will be rather near each other, since it is an enclosed area after all, so unlike me, they won¡¯t have to go scampering around chasing down monsters. ¡°As for the second point she mentioned...¡± Azael¡¯s 1 billion INT¡¯s worth memory came into good use, for he had immediately remembered where he had seen the [Chat] function when he read the [System] message. Azael opened up his [Status], and as always, that translucent blue screen appeared immediately, displaying his information. At the top of the screen, there were several tabs, with the one saying [Status] being lit up and all the others a darker shade of blue. There were things like [Notifications], [Inventory], [Skills], [Social], [Options] and [Chat]. Tapping on the [Chat] tab, he was instantly shown the [Chat] interface, where there were three default [Chats] shown: [System], [World], and [Aeros]. Azael was a bit puzzled by the fact that three contacts were already listed, but he put it aside for the time being and pressed [System]. The screen changed its size to a smaller rectangular shape, and the screen was blank except for a small rectangular box at the bottom. By tapping on the box, a keyboard appeared. Azael thought for a moment, before typing: Morning, Temmy. A few seconds later, he heard a sound that sounded vaguely like a hammer striking an iron sword, and signified that he had received a message. System: It¡¯s the seventh hour of the night, you little boy. And who gave you permission to call me Temmy? Azael: Whatever. What¡¯s the [World] and [Aeros] chat for? System: The [World] chat is a feature found in a few worlds, including this one. Everyone in Landrea is born with the [World] chat, and it allows the user to send a message that everyone in this World can see, since everyone has the [World] chat. Azael: Really. What type of messages do they send that requires the entire world to know? System: From what my information says, it¡¯s mostly used to call powerful people together for subjugation whenever a high level monster is found outside a dungeon. Azael: With a chat like this, I¡¯m quite surprised it isn¡¯t misused by a whole bunch of idiots. System: You can use the [Analyse] skill on anyone who has sent something on a chat. Of course, as per normal for this skill, you won¡¯t be able to see a person¡¯s stats or level if they¡¯re much high than yours, but you¡¯d at least be able to get their name. Because high level monsters who aren¡¯t restrained by the boundaries of a dungeon are serious business, anyone who misuses this chat and causes others to miss a call for help will be severely dealt with. Azael: Interesting. What about the [Aeros] chat? System: If you have read the description for your WIS stat, you would have seen that a bonus for having high WIS would be the ability to communicate with me as well as other beings of high WIS. More specifically, this is a bonus only available to those who have passed the 50 million WIS mark. This is why you have both the [System] and [Aeros] chat as a default. And by the way, [Aeros] is an elder drakon that resides in another world, so don¡¯t disturb him for anything as foolish as questions about Landrea. Azael: Well, thanks for that. And back to my earliest question about the Experience needed to Level up. You haven¡¯t fully answered my question yet--there¡¯s still something else, is there not? System: I suppose high INT does have its use, if it can make even an idiot like you decently smart. You¡¯re right. Other than mass killing monsters to gain Experience, killing monsters whose Level is much higher than yours will also give you much more Experience than killing monsters of an equal or lower Level than yours. Azael smiled. She had put more thought into this than he¡¯d expected. However, there was one obvious flaw with this method. Azael: Nice idea. So in this world, the powerful people are either very hardworking or very brave. Or just very very rich and able to hire armies to capture and restrain monsters so that Mr. Moneybags can land the killing blow and gain Experience and Level. System: You haven¡¯t even had the chance to see what¡¯s society like in this world and you can already figure out that much. Well then, continue impressing me. What do you think I can do? Azael saw the message, and pressed his lips together to refrain from smiling. Right into the trap you go, my dear Temmy. Azael: Well, why don¡¯t you just come down here and tell them that those who do such a despicable thing will receive your wrath? A few minutes passed without a reply. Azael grinned and sat down on the ground, stretching his hands in front of him and letting out a yawn. Ding! System: Testing for information? Azael grinned. It was hard to fool an old lady. ¡°Maybe. Won¡¯t you do me a favor and just tell me already?¡± System: Yes, your hunch was right. I cannot directly interfere with any sentient being¡¯s lives, nor can I communicate with them unless their WIS reaches 50 million. ¡°And to make up for that, you created the [God] titles, didn¡¯t ya? You couldn¡¯t interfere, but that didn¡¯t mean you couldn¡¯t get others to interfere for you. So, when were you planning to break the news to me and start asking me to do your biddings?¡± System: This is where you are wrong. Yes, I had created the [God] titles with the intention of having them help me, but as I have said, I cannot take part in the affairs of any sentient living beings, which includes [Gods] as well. So, if you do not wish to help me, I cannot force you. Also, since the start of this Universe a few thousand years ago, there has not, on any of the hundreds of thousands of worlds I watch over, any cause for me to have to worry about intervening. You are more of a precaution than anything--a precaution I sincerely hope not to have to use. Still, the rate of advancement for the beings of the different worlds have shocked me. It has been but a few thousand years since your creation, but you have come up with ideas and inventions that have shocked even me. I am afraid that one day, ways would be found to make spells like [Greater Teleportation] commonplace, and people will travel between worlds as if it means nothing. When that happens, the footsteps of war follow closely, and soon, sooner than you think, I may have to enlist your help to prevent entire worlds from being devastated. But that is just one of the many, many paths that the future might take. And I say this once again, I cannot force you to do anything. Azael grinned, blue eyes lighting up, an idea flashing into his head. ¡°If I say yes,¡± he proposed, ¡°you¡¯ll have to let me customize those wings as I wish.¡± Earlier on, when he had checked the title [The First Seraphim], he had discovered that it granted him a pair of wings. Excitedly (who wouldn¡¯t be excited to have wings), he had pressed the option ¡®Equip¡¯, only to discover much to his disappointment and chagrin that the wings were leathery, with a design even worse-looking than those of a bat¡¯s, and were a brighter shade of pink than the flowers his mother loved to put in her hair. System: Why? I thought they looked wonderful! But fine, if you promise that you¡¯d do your best to prevent world wars from happening, I¡¯ll let you design a new pair of wings. Azael stared for a few seconds at the screen, before covering his face with his hands in disgust. ¡°God, Temmy,¡± he mumbled. ¡°I¡¯d love to see the clothes you have. On the other hand, maybe not. I do treasure my eyes.¡± System Message: User Azael Calandre has just received penalty [Being a jerk]. Effects of penalty: For the next three weeks, the user¡¯s hair will turn pink. Illusion or shapeshifting Magic as well as all attempts to remove the penalty will not work. **** After three weeks and one day, Azael finally deemed it safe to [Teleport] to the nearest village. In the three week¡¯s time, he had killed as many monsters as he dared without completely wiping out the monster population in the forest. According to Temmy (who had finally started speaking to him again after an entire week of coddling and sweet talking), monsters outside of dungeons increased their numbers by a method called replication. In other words, once every ten days or so, a replica of the monster will automatically appear, in whatever state the monster had been in. For example, if a six-legged monster had lost three of its legs when the time for replicating came, the replica created would also only have three legs. Azael thought it was useful information, almost worth the idea he had exchanged with Temmy for it. Following his conversation with her, while he had been contemplating for ways to get back onto her good side (he was just gonna stick to her from now on because she had told him she didn¡¯t have a gender), he had been reminded that he still hadn¡¯t thought of a solution to this world¡¯s problem of Mr. Moneybags getting powerful because of his bags of money. The solution he¡¯d come up with had been simple, so simple he almost couldn¡¯t believe she hadn¡¯t been able to come up with it herself until she had sheepishly admitted that she hadn¡¯t really placed a lot of thought into it. In short, his idea was that instead of awarding the Experience to whoever had landed the final blow, the Experience will be given to everyone who had participated in the fight based on how much damage they had done to the monster. Of course, there had been a few points that came up. For one, Temmy had raised up the topic of Parties, where six or less people could form a group in which the Experience gained would be divided equally amongst them. That was because not everyone took on an offensive role in a Party, so it would be unfair to give the Experience only to the attackers. It only took Azael and Temmy a few seconds to agree to let things remain the same for Parties. After they had sorted out all the knicks and knacks involved, Temmy had officially changed the way the [System] worked in Landrea as well as a few other worlds that were similar to Landrea in having monsters(she liked the idea a lot). Everyone in those worlds, including Azael, had received a System Message regarding the change. Later on, Temmy had told him (rather happily he might add) that there were quite a number of people displeased with the change and that there had even been a few idiots who tried to raise a riot against the [System]. They both had a good laugh at that. Azael took one last look at the cave behind him--it had been the first thing he saw in this world, as well as his shelter for a good few weeks. Turning back around, he activated [Teleport], and welcomed the sensation of tumbling and freefalling through endless darkness for what seemed like minutes but he knew was only less than a second¡¯s worth of time. Soon, the wave of black was replaced by the sight of rolling hills and the dark blue sea. With his [Enhanced Senses-UR], he could clearly make out the port town of Leis-heimer--lovely whitewashed buildings, well paved streets and a religious building right in the middle. Faintly, the sound of restless waves crashing against the shore could be discerned. Azael couldn¡¯t help but letting out a small chuckle--Leis-heimer, which wasn¡¯t even a very important port town, was about twice the size of all the capital cities back in Atdea. This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it. Azael turned his focus to the town watchtower, and after a few minutes of quiet observation was relieved to find they didn¡¯t seem to have noticed him. He was too far away to see if Leis-heimer was a human friendly town; Temmy had told him that because humans were the first sentient beings she had created, she had been so excited that she had spreaded the human race to all the worlds. Even after she had made other races and new worlds had appeared, she still made a point to create humans on every world under her control (which was every single world in existence) because they had been her first creations. However, there had been many worlds in which humans were viewed with hostility, and since Temmy had refused to tell him anything else (¡°It won¡¯t be any fun if I told you everything¡±), he had to be cautious just in case humans weren¡¯t allowed in this town and he ended up having to kill the entire squad of town guards. As he got closer to Leis-heimer, Azael was relieved to find out that it had a relatively large human population. His clothes were different from what the people wore, but one of the reasons Azael had chosen Leis-heimer was that it was a port town and people were less likely to raise eyebrows at strange-looking foreigners. Once he got into town, his first priority was to find a clothing store, followed by a trip to the weapons store to see if there were any new and interesting weapons he could pick up while he was in this world, and finally a short walk to the local bookstores to gain more information since Temmy was being clammy. Money wasn¡¯t a problem, thanks to Temmy. In his three weeks of ¡®confinement¡¯, out of sheer boredom, he had decided to read every single one of his [Notifications]. Once he got past the ones about the loot, Experience or Levels he had gained, he saw two notifications that interested him. Apparently, he had gained two blessings the moment he had arrived in Landrea, courtesy of Temmy. One of them was Unnatural Linguist, which allowed him to understand and speak all languages. Another was A Million Billion Bucks, which gave him unlimited money, in whatever currency he desired. According to Temmy, ¡°I can¡¯t interfere in the people¡¯s affairs, and that includes creating a physical body and walking around in it, as it would be a breach of the rules of my existence if I so as much as make eye contact with anyone. It¡¯s no fun watching people from afar, either, so I¡¯ll just have to resort to living a fulfilling life through you. And I don¡¯t plan on waiting a year for you to learn the language and earn money.¡± So now I¡¯m living for three people, Azael thought wryly to himself. Well, not that he could complain. After all, he had been planning to live life to the fullest even without her, so he didn¡¯t mind treating her as someone who was just along for the ride. And anyway, who would complain in the face of unlimited money? Azael looked around the town, and quickly located the entrance located nearest to him. The entire town was surrounded by a thick wall with archers and magicians positioned on top, as well as arched entrances at regular intervals to let people in. From what he could see, the entrances were guarded. He increased his speed, heading directly for the queue in front of the gate. As Azael joined the steady stream of people queuing up to enter the town, he felt dozens of heads turning to look at him. It took him a moment of confusion before he realised the cause of the attention. Azael cursed furiously in his heart, fifteen years¡¯ worth of training was the only thing keeping his expression neutral. Dammit, how could he have forgotten to change or at least mask the effects of his Charisma stat? Good job, Azael, he thought gloomily with just a tad bit of anger at himself. Now you¡¯re famous. Taking a covert glance around him, he noticed that young girls seemed particularly awestruck. Azael stiffened when he realised the cause of that, before railing off another mental storm of curses. Now I¡¯ve really done it. I even forgot to use illusion Magic on my eyes! What the heck was I thinking? Ding! A small screen appeared in front of him, displaying: You¡¯ve got a message! Azael tapped the small screen, and it expanded to the familiar sight of the [Chat] screen. System: Azael, change your [Chat] settings under [Option]. It was rare for Temmy to sound so serious. Hurriedly, Azael opened his [Option] screen, and scrolled right down to the section for the [Chat] settings. So this was what she meant, Azael thought, a feeling of gratitude blossoming in his chest. ¡°Thanks, Temmy,¡± he muttered as softly as he could, sure that she would be able to catch it. On his screen, the following options were shown: Chat settings: Show when you receive a new message?: Yes Allow messages from people not in your Contacts?: Yes ¡­ Quickly, he changed the second point from Yes to No--this would have saved him a lot of trouble. Just as he was about to close the screen, another option caught his eye. Notifications: Notify you when you receive a blessing?: No Ah, so that¡¯s why I wasn¡¯t informed about my Language and Money blessings. After turning on the option, Azael closed his screen and casually observed the guards at the gate. There were two of them in charge of checking a card that the citizens gave them--An identity card, huh? I¡¯ll just use psychic Magic on the guards and the people behind me, a few more who were simply standing guard around the entrance, as well as a few archers and two magicians positioned on the wall near them. They were all decently armoured, and the weakest amongst them was Level 50. Azael sighed mentally at that, before encouraging himself with the fact that he would soon be paying all the high-difficulty dungeons in this world a visit, which meant that his Level would quickly rise beyond its current amount of 11. Out of curiosity, he used [Analyse-UR], and discovered that all of the guards could use Magic. System: Hmm, now that I think about it, I suppose you are one of the most attractive humans I¡¯ve seen. No wonder you¡¯re attracting all the attention, huh? Azael groaned mentally, getting a bad feeling of premonition. The last thing he needed was for even Temmy to be harping on about his looks. He wasn¡¯t sure he could take it if jokes about his appearance was made day and night. Azael had always attracted the attention of the ladies (and quite a few men along with it). He had his father, the Captain of the Royal Guard and the King¡¯s Right Hand¡¯s rugged features, along with wide shoulders that narrowed down into slim hips, and he was tall, had always been tall, as a result of his father training him since young. That same training had also given him well defined muscles and a golden tan. He took after his mother, too; he¡¯d inherited her inky black hair, which he kept in a ponytail that reached his waist. Azael had considered cutting his hair a few times before, until Calandre had told him off-handedly one night that she liked his hair long. Needless to say, the thought of cutting his hair short had never crossed his mind again. He didn''t just get his mother¡¯s hair--he got her eyes, too, a stunning electric blue that seemed to glow faintly even in the day and even more brightly at night. Almost everyone who had saw his eyes in their original color, and not disguised by illusion magic, had been amazed, and he couldn''t blame them. When he was young, he loved to make up stories about Grimmauld, an ancestor of his mother who had struck a deal with the spirit of water and lightning and got his blue eyes as a result. Even now, after living for eighteen Werin-tides, sometimes he still wondered about his mother¡¯s ancestry. Really, that shade of blue as eyes was just unnatural. However, the main problem with those eyes weren''t how they looked (In fact, coupled with Azael and his mother¡¯s black hair, they actually made them look even more attractive). It was the way they made people feel. He remembered countless hours spent learning illusion Magic, because his mother had warned him that their eyes made people feel as if their soul was being laid bare and stripped apart for the two of them to read at leisure. ¡°Making people feel wary around you is never a good thing, no matter who or how powerful you become. Remember, it''s always better for people to have loose tongues in front of you than for them to be on guard.¡± Azael couldn¡¯t help the tinge of sadness that accompanied thinking about his mother; he had loved her, much more than he had his father, for the simple reason that he didn¡¯t share his belief that women shouldn¡¯t be smart. After all, the two most important women in Azael¡¯s life had, in all retrospect, he thought fondly, been much smarter than him. Just before he started on a memory trip that would end who knew where, a scene at the gates caught his attention. The guards were dealing with a small, petit woman in a dark purple dress that reminded him of the midnight sky, but what caught his attention wasn¡¯t her. It was the glowing, elaborately designed purple coloured circle floating in the air behind her. The circle was about his height in diameter, which was the normal size, meaning the woman was either not powerful enough to control her Magic circle, couldn¡¯t be bothered to keep her Magic signature a secret or just wanted to gain attention. Judging by how complex the Magic circle was, option one was probably out of the question. Back in Atdea, there were only two things that possessed Magic circles. One was a magician, and the other was high-ranking Magic spells. Every magician had a Magic signature which was unique to them, and a high-levelled magician would be able to show his Magic signature in the form of a Magic circle, called the Signature circle. Depending on how good the magician was, he might even be able to control the size and aura of the Signature circle. However, because Signature circles were a unique to each magician, usually, when they had to present their Signature circles as a form of identification, those who were capable of doing so would shrink the size of the Signature circle down so that the only person who could see it was the one doing the identifying. Therefore, Azael had been surprised when the magician in front had not chosen to do so; as the complexity of the Signature circle was affected by the magician¡¯s skill and power, judging by the elaborateness of the woman¡¯s Signature circle, she was certainly capable of shrinking down the Signature circle. As he watched, the crystal ball in one of the guard¡¯s hands started glowing with a multitude of colours, causing the people around him to start gasping in astonishment. Soon, murmurs spreaded throughout the queue, with quite a number of people yelling in excitement. He couldn¡¯t blame them; even he himself was quite surprised to have encountered a high-levelled magician so soon. The crystal ball was probably a Magic tool used to record Signature circles, and the colours that it glowed with represented the areas of Magic the magician was proficient in. There had been at least seven or eight colours swirling around the crystal ball, which was quite a rare sight. While it was normal for magicians to have quite a few affinities within Magic, the crystal ball would not record the affinities that the magician was only passably adept at. As the crystal ball dimmed, the guards bowed to the woman, and she was allowed into the town. As she gradually disappeared out of sight, the conversations of the people still queuing to get into town suddenly exploded in volume. Curious, and wanting to get more information, Azael used his [Enhanced Senses-UR] skill (which he always kept activated as a habit) to pick up on bits and pieces of conversations. ¡°She must be from the royal capital. Only a mage from the Althimes would be so powerful¡­¡± ¡°Did you see how young she was? She looked barely thirty!¡± ¡°What? So young? Impossible!¡± ¡°What do you think she came to Leis-heimers for? Is there something important happening here?¡± Althimes, huh? So that¡¯s the name of the capital of this kingdom, whose name I still don¡¯t know yet. Really, I¡¯ll need to get more information before I leave this town. There were a few other mages after that lady in purple who also used their Signature circles, and they provided Azael with the information he needed to get past the gate. When it was his turn, he simply used his [God of Magic]¡¯s ability to create a fake Signature circle as well as manipulate the crystal ball to only show two colours--both of which were technically impossible feats. ¡°Ah, Temmy,¡± he said, after he had successfully entered the town. ¡°Have I ever mentioned that I love you?¡± System: No you didn¡¯t. Azael: True. Only an idiot would ever say that to you. System Message£º User Azael Calandre has just received penalty [Being a Jerk]. Effects of penalty: For the next three weeks, the user¡¯s hair will turn pink. Illusion or shapeshifting Magic as well as all attempts to remove the penalty will not work. ¡°Damn you Temmy,¡± Azael scowled darkly, quickly retrieving a cloak from his [Inventory] and covering his hair. ¡°Damn you to the ends of this world.¡± Authors Note: Well hello dear readers! Just gonna clear up some things that I should have cleared up in the first chapter and forgot to. Updates: This story is just a little side project/hobby of mine, so updates will not be regular. I¡¯ll try to update it at least once a month? or so, might be faster or slower depending on whether I think the chapter is interesting to write. Not very responsible as a writer, I know, but then again I did start writing chapter one because I got bored in the middle of a lecture. So, more boring lectures= faster updates. Plot: I started writing this story without any plot in mind at all, not even a vague idea of what the first arc will be. In fact, I still don¡¯t have any idea what the first arc will be, so if you wish to see a particular thing happen, please comment, and I¡¯ll add it in if I like it. Heck, the only characters I¡¯ve even thought about was Azael and Calandre. System was just a spur-of-the-moment thing, and for now this story has no side characters. So, once again, if you want to see a particular character/a particular trait or personality or appearance appear in this story, message me or leave a comment! (Of course, I¡¯ll have to take in consideration the ¡®suitability¡¯ of your idea, which is rather ironic because I don¡¯t even know my story) Romance: Eh...maybe not for now. I¡¯ll continue branching out on Azael¡¯s past with Calandre, because I like her and I can¡¯t really be bothered right now to think up another love interest. I don¡¯t mind a harem, but I dislike female characters that are just there to be cute (more like annoying) and add romance, and if I have to add love interests they should be suitably strong in their own way + meaningful to the story, and not a total cotton-candy brain. And the same thing applies--if you want the potential love interest to look a certain way/have certain traits, just say so in the comments. (Of course, please make sure they fulfill the above conditions). Info-dump: Yep, I get it, I¡¯m practically throwing information at you and forcing it down your throat, and I will probably continue to do so for the next two chapters. After that, the ¡®introduction¡¯ part of this story will end, and the first arc will officially commence! I get that the story is rather boring right now--nothing even happens, other than info-dump, info-dump and more info-dump, YAY! (a bad/good habit of mine is to clear away all the world building in the first few chapters). Still, I urge you to stick with me through two more chapters. Language: I¡¯m not a grammer freak who checks the story three dozen times before posting it, and I don¡¯t have an editor, so I¡¯d be grateful if you could just comment regarding any errors you see. As for descriptive language, I understand that it¡¯s a bit lacking, just that it¡¯s hard to mix in descriptions amongst the pile of info-dumping currently occurring. Once I get the world building up and away, and MC actually starts doing something, I¡¯ll add in more descriptions of people, places, etc. Oh, and just to clarify, the sky is supposed to be purple. It is not a mistake. MC / Theme: If you haven¡¯t already figured it out, then lemme spell it out for ya. This is not a story where the MC will be running around getting stronger. This is not a story where the MC will be doing anything with a silver of semblance to running around getting stronger. This is a story where the MC will be running around beating the stuffing outta of everything, and having a fun and relaxing time while doing so. In other words, the MC is overpowered. Ridiculously overpowered. So ridiculously overpowered it¡¯s ridiculously ridiculous. Also, if you¡¯re looking for a hero-type MC who is kind and gentle and loving and generally resembles a mother hen, this is not the story for you. Well, that¡¯s about all. Please rate and review, it helps me get a better idea of what I need to work on :) Rvaen Extra Chapter: Olympia (A few hundred thousand years from the events of the story) ¡°Oh, come on,¡± Ceres, [Goddess of Nature], complained, throwing the cards in her hand onto the table with a pout. ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s not fair,¡± chimed in Drevor, [God of Art], as he tossed a pouch full of money at Croel, [Leader of the Gods] and [God of Fights]. ¡°Why do you always win?¡± he complained. Croel grinned, easily catching the money with one hand. ¡°Because I¡¯m just that amazing and unbeatable,¡± he bragged, not looking in the least ashamed. The other major [Gods] in the hall all let out a collective groan at that, even though they knew it was true; being the [God of Fights], he was granted the ability to raise one stat to 1 billion, and thus was unbeatable in a fight, and because of his intelligence (56 million), nearly unbeatable at games too. Well, unless he challenged the [God of Games], which, knowing Croel¡¯s personality, he never would. The minor [Gods] stood quietly, not daring to let out any expression similar to disagreement--it was common knowledge in Olympia, the world of the [Gods], that if they accidentally angered Croel, they were better off being reincarnated. Even though he was nice and cordial to the major [Gods], he was famous for looking down on the minor [Gods]. Actually, he was famous for looking down on everyone, just that he didn¡¯t show it so obviously in front of the other major [Gods]--after all, even if they couldn¡¯t beat him in a fight, they each had their respective domains which they ruled over, and were more than enough to cause him trouble for a lifetime (And for a [God], that was a long, long time). Bang! Heads whipped around towards the entrance of the [Palace of Souls]--the majestic and stunningly beautiful home of the major [Gods]--only to see that it was a black cloaked man who had slammed open the door. He was tall with broad shoulders, and from beneath the hood of his cloak drifted strands of inky black hair. If it wasn¡¯t for his stature, one would have easily assumed he was a woman from the fact that his hair reached his knees. A deathly silence followed his arrival, and dozens of eyes focused on him. Some bore expressions of pity, some of scorn, with the blonde in the middle having eyes that clearly conveyed his desire to stab a thousand daggers into him. Several heads visibly increased in height by a few centimeters (obviously the work of magic), eyes were rubbed before resuming their ogling, all the while maintaining the absolute silence in the room. Croel was the first to react, slamming his hand down on the table and standing up with a furious expression on his face. ¡°Who do you think you are, you little piece of shit? You dare slam open the door in my presence? ¡± A few sharp intakes of breath could be heard, and even the major [Gods] didn¡¯t dare to speak, for fear of steering the slightest bit of Croel¡¯s wrath towards them. As he stalked towards the cloaked man, the sea of [Gods] in front of him scrambled out of his way. Finally, when they were a scant few metres apart, Croel stopped, and, putting on his most intimidating voice, growled: ¡°I haven¡¯t seen around you before, Azael Calandre, and [System] didn¡¯t inform me about a major [God] being created today. A worthless little minor [God] like you who has just risen to Olympia dares to oppose me? Kneel and grovel for forgiveness, and maybe I¡¯ll consider not beating you into crap.¡± Croel¡¯s disgust caused many of the minor [Gods] behind him to remember similar events happening to them, and they clenched their fists. But what could they do? Croel was the [God of Fights], a title granted to someone who had one of his stats reach 1 billion, a feat that was almost impossible. His title also allowed him to immediately increase an additional stat to 1 billion--how could anyone win against him? The mysterious black cloaked man opened his mouth after a few seconds, his voice clear and calm with not a trace of fear showing. ¡°Croel Odin Menhit, two days ago you wiped out an entire country on the world of Anemiter because a young woman in that country refused to succumb to your advances,¡± he announced, his deep voice reverberating throughout the hall of the [Palace of Souls]. Despite the fact that it seemed like he came to take revenge on behalf of the country, his voice was calm as still water, with not even the slightest trace of anger in it. Eyes sweeping over the multitude of faces gathered behind Croel, Azael discovered that most of the [Gods] had very ugly looks on their faces. Evidently, they did not support Croel¡¯s decision. Thankfully, Azael thought with relief, they¡¯re not a bad lot. It would have been annoying if some of the most powerful beings in this Universe were a bunch of sadistic power-hungry people. Still, Azael couldn¡¯t help smiling slightly in amusement, as the table with poker cards on it drew his attention. Do they have nothing better to do? Maybe I should fix that. Nah, who cares. It¡¯s none of my business what they do. ¡°Oh, why, you have a lover that died, did you?¡± Azael unwillingly returned his focus to Croel¡¯s sneering face. Croel wasn¡¯t bad looking by any chance--sunshine golden hair and bright blue eyes with a face that could fool anyone into thinking he was a kind, charming prince--but Azael had a feeling that if his personality could be described it would resemble a rotting apple with worms crawling all over it. ¡°You poor thing,¡± continued the idiot in front of him, ¡°but today I¡¯ll make it right by getting rid of you as well!¡± Azael¡¯s eyes turned cold, and a formidable pressure exploded from him, causing a few dozen minor [Gods] to be thrown into the wall. Even the major [Gods], including Croel, were forced to stumble back a few steps before collapsing to the ground. ¡°Get rid of me, huh?¡± came the ice-cold voice from beneath the hood. ¡°I¡¯d be surprised if you could get a single scratch on me,¡± Azael continued, feeling a quiet anger welling up inside him. [Gods] couldn¡¯t die unless they wished to suicide, but Temmy had told him Croel had tortured multiple [Gods] who angered him until they could no longer bear the pain and killed themselves. To train tirelessly for their entire lives just to be able to gain the title of [God], only to be forced to take their own lives in the end, how could Azael not feel anger for them? The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Croel placed his hands beside him, and mustered all his strength, trying to stand up against the formidable pressure. The leichite tiles around him cracked, spidery lines crawling across the floor, but even then he was unable to lift himself up by the slightest. Croel felt a strong killing intent emitting from the man in front of him, and the ice-cold gaze he sensed that was focused on him made goosebumps raise. It was clear now to him that this man was obviously a major [God]--despite how he hadn¡¯t gotten a message from [System] informing him about a new major [God] rising--and a powerful one at that, he chose to believe that this was a fluke, that it was impossible for him to lose to this man in an actual fight. ¡°You...you dare!¡± he cried, outraged, his voice visibly getting high-pitched. ¡°Obviously I do,¡± Azael replied, reining in his anger so his voice was calm as always. ¡°It doesn¡¯t make a difference, but I¡¯ll give you fifteen minutes to prepare before we commence our fight in the [Soul Arena]. Don¡¯t pee your pants while waiting.¡± With that, a pair of wings so black they seemed to suck in all the light around them, highlighted with veins of brilliant gold and tipped with a flaming scarlet with talons as big as an adult¡¯s arm, grew from his back, and a second later, a gust of air was all that remained. ¡°You¡¯re going to lose, Croel,¡± a crystalline voice resembling wind chimes in the summer air called out, voice clear as day. Croel stood up uneasily, sweat rolling down his face, before scrambling around only to see a small faerie-like girl perched on the left arm of his throne. Her beautiful wings that seemed like they contained the stars themselves within fluttered gently, and she arrived in front of him, landing on the floor without making the slightest sound. ¡°Sys...system.¡± Croel croaked out respectfully, not sure how to phrase his words. ¡°Why...why would I lose? And why didn¡¯t you tell me a new major [God] has appeared?¡± Temmy¡¯s lips twisted into a wry smile, but there was not a trace of laughter in her eyes. In fact, Croel thought, a sick feeling in his stomach, it seemed like she was angry. ¡°How polite. I don¡¯t remember you being that way to my brother. And Croel,¡± she replied, voice soft but firm and slightly mocking, ¡°why would I suddenly inform you about the existence of a [God] who has been around for hundreds of thousands of years? As for why you would lose, your title [God of Fights] is modified after one of his titles. Regarding how much weaker it is after being modified, I¡¯ll let you experience that for yourself.¡± Leaving one last icy smile behind for the aghast Croel, she flew after Azael. ------------------------------------------- Author¡¯s Note: Okay yeah, so I got a little bored while writing Chapter 3, so I decided to switch to a scene that¡¯s been in my head for quite a while. As mentioned above, this happens hundreds of thousands of years after the events of Grey Eyes, and, as expected, things have changed quite a bit. Firstly, after a suggestion from Azael, Temmy decided that anyone who has one stat reach 70 million would automatically become a [God]. However, there¡¯s a difference in rank between different [Gods]. [Five Supreme Gods]: Instead of saying five major gods, it¡¯s actually more like five supreme god titles. These five titles are--[God of Magic], [God of Combat], [God of Victory], [God of Nature] and [God of Spirits]. Technically speaking, these titles are supposed to be possessed by five different people, who will then be called the [Five Supreme Gods], but because our dear little Azael alone has three of ¡®em the name is slightly misleading. I.E, there are actually only three supreme gods at most in existence. You can¡¯t blame the name-giver for that though. The [Gods] knew about the [Five Major Titles] because [System]/Temmy explained it to them, but they were not told that one person could only have one title. Neither were they told about whether the titles had been claimed yet. [Major Gods]: Gods apart from the [Five Supreme Gods] that had their own domains to rule over were known as [Major Gods]. They are significantly much more powerful than [Minor Gods], because their titles would grant them additional abilities related to their domains. For example, trees is a domain. The [God of Trees] would then be considered a [Major God]. All domains fall under one of the [Five Supreme Domains]--Victory, Magic, Combat, Spirit and Nature. Minor Gods: These are the people who achieved 70 million stat points in a particular stat, and thus achieved the title of [God]. However, they have not completed the necessary action to unlock a domain, thus they are considered [Minor Gods]. They usually serve under one of the [Major Gods]. Difference between Croel and Azael: Croel¡¯s title required him to reach one billion stat points in either STR, DEF and DEX to unlock. Azael¡¯s required him to be a Rank 20 warrior. And what¡¯s the amount of stat points that equates to a Rank 20 warrior? 1 billion points in STR, DEF and DEX. In other words, Croel has 1 billion stat points in two areas, while all three of Azael¡¯s combat stats are at 1 billion with the chance of increasing, along with unlimited INT and WIS. Also, Croel isn¡¯t even one of the [Five Supreme Gods]; he¡¯s just a [Major God]. Trivia about the world in the future.
  1. Because of the increasing numbers of people who have achieved [God] titles, the mortal races in most of the worlds have become aware of the fact that they could become [Gods] if they trained hard enough.
  2. Along with Temmy/System, Azael designed a plan where [Gods] could receive more or less power based on the amount of believers they have. This was to prevent the [Gods] from going on a rampage and killing millions of people just because they felt like it--after all, if you constantly did that, you would incur the hatred of the people and your power would decrease. It¡¯s entirely possible to become powerless if you have too many haters. The only one who isn¡¯t under this system is Azael, because he asked nicely and Temmy was in a good mood.
  3. Olympia is a world created by Azael using his magic. He built it as a welcoming gift for the [Gods] that came after him--he was the eldest, so it was only right for him to at least provide a place for them to stay if they grew tired of mortal affairs. Aside from Olympia, Azael created another world, named Eden. He and Temmy are the only two people allowed on that world, and whenever they see something that they like on their travels, they add it to Eden. Azael has commented many times that there isn¡¯t a single world that could compare to it.
Chapter 3: Leis-heimer Azael closed the thick red leather-bound book in front of him gently, pinching his forehead with his spare hand. Closing his eyes, he let out a tired sigh. It had been six hours since he had first brought the thick stack of information books on the table here and started reading, not to mention he had never been the scholarly type. I wonder what my tutors would think if they knew that I had spent six consecutive hours with books. I must have broken the personal record by three hours. After stretching his hands in front of him and bending his head from side to side to relieve the cricks in his neck, the black cloaked man sitting in a corner of the library stood up and sent the books back to the floating wooden collection tray with a simple Magic spell, before leaving the library with slow, confident strides. Once outside, Azael took a few moments to admire the pinkish-purple hue the evening sky, along with the four orbs hanging in the sky. One of them was the Sun of Landrea, called Culmine, which changed colours from yellow to blue along with the seasons. The other three were the glowing purple moons of Landrea, responsible for the purplish colour of its night sky. Even though it was only late evening, the moons could still be faintly seen--Aosen, Cen and Orphes, the subjects of many a passionate poet¡¯s song. Snapping out of his daze--there were things to be done--Azael headed off towards the market district. Earlier in the day, he had been there to purchase suitable clothing as well as to check out the weapons¡¯ store. Not because he was in any lack of weapons--he had stocked up on a great number of things (both useful and useless) in his [Inventory] before coming to this world, and of course, a nearly inexhaustible supply of finely crafted weapons was included. Instead, Azael had been interested to find out if the people of this world had come up with a weapon that did not exist in Atdea. Unfortunately, but as expected, no such weapon was found. It could hardly be considered a surprise--after all, no matter which world they were from, humans were humans. Unless there was a huge difference in their environment which required for specific tools, the things that they invented would naturally be similar. Of course, that did not mean Azael had come out of the weapons¡¯ shop empty handed. A few weapons made of metals and ores unknown to him had greatly caught his interest, and by the time he was leaving the shop owner had been richer by at least a few gold coins--enough to sustain his living for the rest of the year. He didn¡¯t get it easy, however. Temmy had decided that she wanted to try her hand at bargaining, and Azael had spent a good few hours in the morning being her mouthpiece. After he left the weapon¡¯s shop, Azael had spent another hour or so wandering the market district, buying all sorts of interesting trinkets (most of them at the behest of Temmy in exchange for turning his hair back to its normal colour) as well as trying out the delicacies of Leis-heimer. The day before, after he had finally entered the town, he had spent the entire remainder of the evening walking around town and updating his mental map; a map created by his [Sense-UR] skill after he had synthesized it with the [Mapmaking-UR] skill. In short, it allowed him to make a replica of any map he saw in his head, as well as note down things about different places on the mental map. Furthermore, because of the synthesization with [Sense-UR], on his mental map, the area within 4 diomels of him would be littered with different coloured dots representing different living beings. This ability was also why he was heading to the market district again; he had just remembered that he should probably buy a map of the kingdom and update his mental map. He was supposed to do so in the morning after visiting the weapon¡¯s shop, but it had totally slipped Azael¡¯s mind, and by the time he remembered he was already in the library. After inquiring around, he was informed that the best place to buy a map would actually be the Traders¡¯ Union, which mainly consisting of, well, traders. Because almost all the human merchants in Landrea were registered under the Traders¡¯ Union for ease of communication, the Union was understandably rich. Leis-heimer wasn¡¯t a very big town by any means, but it was quite a prominent port that mainly welcomed ships from southern Seyris, so it boasted a large Trader¡¯s Union building. After obtaining the directions, he successfully brought a map of the Kingdom of Lukia whose soil he was currently standing on, a dungeon map, a map of Amorpha, and detailed maps of the other two major human kingdoms--Seyris and Chravnen--in Landrea. He wasn¡¯t able to find a world map, however. Because Landrea was shaped as a cube, with different species occupying different sides and a high level required to pass through the Falls--the edges of the cube that separated the different sides from each other--it was only possible to get a map of Amorpha, the side of Landrea which humans resided on. After paying for his purchases, Azael quickly went back to his inn at the insistence of Temmy who wanted to try out the trinkets he had brought in the morning. On the way, he casually glanced at the maps, which was enough to add their information to his mental map. By the time he reached the inn, he had finished all the maps he had brought, but decided to store them in [Inventory] instead of discarding them because, who knew? He might suddenly get amnesia or something. System: You¡¯re hopeless. ¡°Not.¡± Azael replied obstinately, drawing the hood of his cloak even lower as he entered the inn. It was nearing dinner time, and most of the guests were coming down for dinner. He quickly located an empty table near the corner, before settling down and gruffly telling a passing waitress his order. Thankfully, because he had activated the skill [Unfriendly Aura], his CHA was reduced to 590; enough to attract no attention at all, since a CHA stat below 500 meant people would experience feelings of dislike just by his presence. System: You should make more friends. ¡°Too weak,¡± came the immediate reply. Indeed, after a quick sweep around with [Analyse-UR], he had discovered that even though Blue Lemon Point was supposed to be an adventurer¡¯s inn, there were no strong adventurers around. The highest levelled person here was around Level 150, and had stats around 1800. Ironically, he was also the innkeeper--a bearded, well muscled man whose head of greying hair betrayed his age. System: Well, I suppose that¡¯s not surprising. After all, high-levelled adventurers don¡¯t usually come to towns like this where there isn¡¯t a single high-ranking dungeon around. Speaking of which, which dungeon are you planning to clear first? ¡°Treitschgone. It¡¯s the closest SSS ranked dungeon. Were you the one who gave it such a horrendous name?¡± System: I couldn¡¯t be bothered to think up a good name for the dungeon, so I just pressed random letters on the keyboard. You should be glad it¡¯s even pronounceable. ¡°Irresponsible,¡± Azael replied half-heartedly, watching as the blonde waitress walked towards his table with two bowls of steaming food in her hands. He was fatigued, as anyone would be after memorising more than 7000 books in 6 hours, and wanted nothing more to finish his meal, take a long, hot shower and collapse bonelessly onto the bed. With any luck, there wouldn¡¯t be fleas. The glowing red numbers on the top right of his vision flashed suddenly, before increasing in value. That number represented the amount of HP he had left. According to the books he had memorised, getting tired or hungry would also decrease one¡¯s HP. Of course, that meant that people with high levels--and thus high HP--would be able to go many years without sleeping or hungry. Pa-dang! The waitress placed the food on his table, her long blonde hair drifting into his face as she bent over. Azael¡¯s stomach let out a low grumble at the mouth-watering smell of the food, and the waitress smiled, amusement shining in her eyes. ¡°Enjoy your meal,¡± she said, bowing slightly, one arm placed in front of her stomach, before walking away to attend to another customer. Azael happily complied. The inn was rather well furnished, with comfortable wooden chairs and sturdy tables. The walls were a soft yellow colour, and multi-colored lights running on Magic hung from wooden beams. Near the staircase to the rooms on the second floor, the innkeeper--a bearded, hearty old man with a loud voice and a cheerful demeanor--poured cups of ale skillfully. On the other side of the room, a bard was playing a musical instrument--the Jorgas, Temmy told him--and a bunch of half-drunk adventurers were singing along. Their voices were at best harmful to the ears, their tune horribly off and their rhythm practically nonexistent, but it created a comfortable atmosphere that Azael, along with a good many other adventurers, appreciated. The food didn¡¯t disappoint, either. He had asked for two bowls of seafood stew (he liked stews, and he loved seafood), and it was rich in content as well as amazingly delicious. The thick liquid went down his throat wonderfully, and the meat voluptuously tender. Azael made mental note to have one last meal at the Blue Lemon Point before setting off tomorrow. After finishing his meal without being disturbed by anyone, Azael headed to his room. Locking his doors and windows and setting up ten or so different Magic spells around him, he sat down on the bed and waited. It was an idea he had thought of earlier, and while Temmy had been slightly skeptical, she had immediately agreed to help. Soon, the space in front of him began to glow a shimmering blue. Tiny sparks of bright blue light--the colour reminded him of his eyes--began to appear, dancing and spinning in the air and engulfing the entire room in a soft blue light. As he watched, the sparks of light began to form a shape. A few seconds later, a dazzling golden light burst from the shape, forcing Azael to grimace and cover his eyes with his arm. After a while, as the light slowly subsided, he opened his eyes by just a crack, checking that it was safe, before removing his arm. In front of him floated a tiny faerie-like girl about half his height. She had pale, smooth white skin, along with dazzling green eyes that called up memories of trees and gemstones. Even though there was no wind in the room, soft white hair even longer than her body floated around her. She was garbed in a simple white dress with long billowy sleeves that were cut open at the shoulders and adorned with gold designs, with four translucent blue wings extending from her back. There were vein-like lines on her wings the colour of the sea, and if he had to make an approximate, were even bigger than the bed he was sitting on. Suddenly, her face scrunched up, and her lips started quivering. As Azael started to panick, a single tear rolled down her cheek. ¡°It...it worked...I¡¯m¡­¡± she choked out, fist clenching by her side. Dammit, she¡¯s crying! By Ambriel¡¯s crown, what do I do? Azael¡¯s mind was in a flurry; other than Calandre and his mother, he hadn¡¯t been close enough to any other woman to have to comfort them while they were crying, and Calandre had been the strongest mage in existence while his mother an assassin of the highest order. Even if he wracked his brain and squeezed his memory dry, Azael was sure the amount of times he had seen them cry could be counted with less than a hand. As the panic that usually followed when an inexperienced man had to comfort a crying woman kicked in, without thinking, he blurted out: ¡°Well hello, Temmy. I suppose your dress isn¡¯t that awful after all. Still, you¡¯re amazingly short for someone who has had a few thousand years to grow. Did you start shrinking because you got old or something?¡± Temmy stared at him for a few seconds, swollen red eyes filled with a multitude of emotions. Without warning, she pounced towards him, letting out a loud sob. Azael started at the sudden movement, instinctively moving to defend himself, before forcefully negating the Magic spell that he had just casted before it harmed her. He breathed a sigh of relief, turning his head to look at the young girl curled up on his lap. ¡°Dammit, woman, you are fast. At least give me a warning next time, will ya? I nearly fried you to a crisp,¡± he said half-heartedly, one hand stroking her hair, the other around her heaving shoulders. Minutes passed, and they remained in this position. Temmy¡¯s face was buried in his chest, but from time to time he could hear fragments of her voice. ¡°It worked...I¡¯m actually here¡­¡± After a while--how long had she cried for? Twenty, thirty minutes?--Temmy finally calmed down. Azael took a piece of cloth from his [Inventory], and gently wiped away her tears. ¡°Thank you,¡± she replied shyly, not daring to raise her face to look at him. Azael patted her head, before lifting her up by the waist and placing her beside him. Instinctively, she clung to his arm, uncertainty reflected in her eyes. Azael smiled encouragingly at her, before taking out all the things she had wanted him to buy earlier today and placing them on the bed. Temmy¡¯s lips lifted slightly--so slightly he couldn¡¯t have noticed it without [Enhanced Senses-UR], and mumbled another ¡°Thank you¡±. Noticing that tears were starting to well up again, Azael poked her cheek. ¡°Stop crying so much, Temmy. Don¡¯t you know you might become blind?¡± he teased gently. Temmy stared dazedly at him for a few a few seconds, before nodding vigorously and blinking her eyes furiously in response, trying her best to clear away the tears. Before turning her attention back to the things around her, she stuck out her tongue and made a face at him. Seeing that, Azael couldn¡¯t help but let loose a small chuckle. Because he didn¡¯t want to make her feel self-conscious by staring at her like some creep, he flopping back down onto the bed, hands behind his head. As the sound of Temmy¡¯s laughter drifted through the room, Azael couldn¡¯t help the feeling of fondness that welled up in his chest for her. This girl...she¡¯s like a sister I¡¯ve never had. He thought of how happy she had been when she had succeeded in coming to this world, and a wave of sympathy washed over him. When he had asked her about her home, she had told him that she first appeared, or, in terms he could understand, been ¡®born¡¯ in an area that she had dubbed The Void. The Void was a seemingly endless space that contained nothing but her. No air, no light, no mana--nothing. According to her, she had, multiple times, went to completely barren planets (which had their [System] altered so that they were completely inaccessible by anyone else) and tried to bring back things like rocks and water, but they had disappeared whenever she went back to The Void. The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. Because of the rules that bound her existence, she could not go anywhere where there was the slightest chance that she would be seen by mortal sentient beings or could interact with them. For example, if she wanted to appear in an empty desert thousands of diomels away from the nearest sentient being, it would not be possible, because there was a chance that someone might accidentally be loaded into a magic cannonball and spot her whilst flying overhead, or maybe a magician somewhere would botch up a [Teleport] spell. Of course, the chances of those things happening were very slim, but as long as the slightest chance of being spotted existed, Temmy would not be able to appear there. After hearing the rules binding her, Azael had come up with a plan to counter it; a plan so simple Temmy had almost refused to believe it would work. Unfortunately for her, for fortunately, depending on how one saw it, it did. Considering how happy she had been to appear in this world, Azael doubted she minded being proven wrong. His idea had merely been for him to set up Magic spells preventing others from seeing, hearing, smelling, sensing or entering the room. However, there was a catch to those spells--they were a proud invention of his, which he had named Absolute spells. Unlike traditional barrier spells, which normally withstood attacks until the magician ran out of mana, Absolute spells were special in that anyone whose WIS was lower than the caster would never be able to break past the spell, while the effects of the spell would be practically nonexistent to anyone whose WIS was higher than the caster, even if it was only by one point. Because of his title [God of Magic], it was impossible for anyone to break past the barrier spells he had set, which completely negated the chances of anyone seeing Temmy, thus allowing her to appear in this room. Sending another fond glance towards the little girl excitedly bouncing about on the bed, Azael couldn¡¯t help a feeling of wanting to help her rising in his chest. Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind--since they had just proven that it was not impossible for her to arrive in their world, it was possible that there were other loopholes regarding her existence. Before him, there was no way Temmy would be able to freely investigate those loopholes, since she couldn¡¯t use magic from within the Void, and he suspected she had practically given up on ever escaping out of it and thus hadn¡¯t placed much thought into this matter. However, now that he was here, he fully intended to find a way to ensure she could come travel freely as and when she wished. Is it possible, he mused thoughtfully, glancing at the elated girl on the bed, that she would be able to appear in front of other sentient beings as long as no one would be able to realise that she was the [System]? If that was the case, things would be a lot easier. All he had to do was to create a body for her before casting [Wandering Ghost] on her soul so that she would be able to choose which body she wished to occupy. Of course, to prevent people from suspecting her identity, he would have to enchant her body with an Absolute spell that prevented any form of curiosity about her as well as cause the automatic dispel of any form of investigative magic. Having decided that, he decided to leave the matter of having her design her new body for the next morning; she seemed to be having a lot of fun, and he didn¡¯t have the heart to disturb her. The next day, as per habit, Azael woke up just before the sun rose. Feeling a tight hold on his arm, he looked down to realize that Temmy was curled into him, her pale white hair spreading out behind her. Her face was unexpectedly gentle in her sleep, and Azael reached his hand up to softly stroke her head, a smile tugging on his lips, before gently prying her fingers off and leaving the bed, all the while taking cares not to wake her up. S Walking over to an armchair in the corner of the room, he noticed the trinkets he had brought for her the previous night carefully laid on the bed next to her. A few seconds, that last thought struck him with the force of a hammer. Those were probably the first things she''s ever gotten from someone. How long has she looked at the things of the mortals, wishing for a way to get them? Azael¡¯s mind flashed back to when he had first arrived to Landrea, a world where System messages existed. He thought of how Temmy had almost always immediately replied his questions, as if she had been constantly watching him. He thought of how hurt she had always been when he insulted her, even if he had done it jokingly, as if his opinion was what mattered most to her. He thought of all those thousands of years she had spent with no one to keep her company, of how lonely she must have been and how happy she must have felt when he became immortal. Azael felt a wave of tenderness over him, tenderness and fondness for this green-eyed faerie girl who was so much older than him and yet so much younger than him at the same time. I''m the first person she''s spoken to, huh? I wonder how much courage it took for her? As he mused, Temmy began stirring. After a while, her long eyelashes fluttered slightly, before revealing bright green eyes. A dazed and slightly confused look crossed her face, making her look extremely adorable. Looking around, it took a few seconds (and the presence of Azael) before she realised where she was. ¡°Morning,¡± Azael greeted, smiling warmly at her. Standing up, he strode over to the bed before settling himself down beside her. ¡°So,¡± he began in a conversational tone, ¡°I was just thinking for a bit last night, and I was wondering it would be possible for you to appear in the presence of others if there was no way for them to realise who you were.¡± Temmy¡¯s eyes widened immediately, and a silver of hope flickered across her face, those bright green orbs lighting up. The next instant, she quickly suppressed her emotions, murmuring cautiously, ¡°It might work.¡± ¡°Well then, let¡¯s try it out. I¡¯ll create a makeshift body for you first, before casting a soul transfer spell on you. I¡¯ve just invented this spell, so there will probably be unknown side effects. Not sure if they will apply to you, however.¡± Temmy nodded, biting her lips nervously. Her tiny hands clenched the material of her skirt tightly, and behind her her translucent blue wings fluttered slightly. Azael took one last look at her, making sure she was alright with it, before starting the creation of her makeshift body. Since they weren¡¯t sure if it would actually work, he didn¡¯t want to raise her hopes by asking her to design her new body, so he decided to make it based on her current look, except without the wings and normal coloured hair. Closing his eyes, Azael began drawing the mana out from him. Slowly, the surroundings began to fade away from him, as he submerged himself in the weaving of the spell. Swirls of golden words flew around him as per his will, gently settling down into their own position. As he continued to draw mana from within himself, his mind began to fill up with hundreds of thousands of mystical symbols, dancing and floating all around him, until in his mind appeared a gigantic, complex magic circle made up of countless small inscriptions. Even after all the words had found their place and the magic circle was completed, he continued to pour mana into it, watching as it began to glow brighter and brighter, before finally exploding in a massive burst of light. Slowly, Azael opened his eyes, greeted with the sight of success. Exhaling slowly, he wiped off the few drops of sweat that had appeared on his forehead. Even for the [God of Magic], the concentration involved in using [Creation Magic] was enormous. After a minute¡¯s rest, he enchanted it with the Absolute spell, before taking a step back of assess his work. ¡°Well, I suppose it¡¯s passable,¡± he commented. From the outside, while it did seem a bit weird compared to a normal body, because of the Absolute spell, no one would question it, and besides, he could always change it later on. ¡°So, I¡¯ll start the spell now. Relax a bit more, Temmy,¡± he encouraged, seeing her tense shoulders. Temmy let out a huge breath, her shoulders relaxing slightly, before indicating for him to start with a small nod of her head. Seeing that she was ready, Azael started on the spell. Compared to the [Creation Magic] spell earlier, something of this level was insignificant, and Azael completed it with a few flashy waves of his hands. Immediately after the spell was finished, Temmy¡¯s body disappeared. A few seconds later, the body he had just created blinked its eyes, and Azael felt a wave of relief rush over him, before a feeling of dread and immense tension replaced it. While it was successful thus far, the real test would be when he removed the Absolute barriers surrounding them. If they succeeded, Temmy¡¯s soul would be able to stay in this body. If they failed, however, she would be kicked back into the Void. Taking a step forward, he took Temmy¡¯s hand in his and gave her a reassuring squeeze. Their gazes met, anticipation and nervousness reflected in the other¡¯s eyes. A flash of determination shone in Temmy¡¯s eyes, just for a brief moment. Opening her mouth, she spoke, ¡°Azael. Remove the barriers.¡± Azael gave an almost imperceptible nod, and did exactly as he was told. The moment he removed the barriers, his breath caught, and he stared nervously at the body he had just created. Please, please, he chanted in his mind, come on, she deserves this. And just when the first silvers of disappointment crept into his heart, the person beside him turned her head slowly, her eyes rimmed with red. Authors Note: Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Didn¡¯t have any action at all, but I promise there will be some in the next one (he¡¯ll be conquering Treitschgone). New characters and guilds will be introduced as well (while the MCs will be Azael and Temmy for the most part, there will be a few side characters that will take up quite a bit of space as well). This is not gonna be a harem story, by the way, but there will be a female romantic interest coming in (but whether it¡¯ll be a two-sided love is yet to be decided). Oh, and a preview of the next chapter is below. Lukia, City of Winderson, Castle Winderson The hall was large and finely adorned, wealth and elegance displayed in every corner. Streams of golden light flowed through the tall glass windows, casting their gentle spell on the shining red and gold ornaments. It was a majestic sight, sure to strike awe and respect upon all who gazed at it; the glittering chandeliers dripping with luxury, the smooth red velvet that spoke of class and the huge pieces of sculptured hesonal depicting stunningly detailed phoenixes. A pure xenodite throne sat at the end of the room, its inky darkness a huge contrast on the otherwise brightly colored room. On it lay an indistinct shape which, from afar, seemed to be a pile of furs wrapped together in a bundle. However, upon going closer, a head of chocolate curls could be seen peeking out from the top of the bundle. A knock on the door of the Great Hall rang out, drawing the attention of the person on the throne. ¡°Come in,¡± a deep male voice responded, the slight tinge of childish innocence in it clashing against the shivers the coldness present in it gave people. Seconds later, the doors opened slightly to reveal a man in his thirties dressed neatly in crisp white. This was Reeve Essylt, second-in-command to the Lord of Winderson. Reeve walked briskly down the length of the velvet carpet, kneeling down when he was halfway across the room. ¡°My lord,¡± he addressed the man on the throne, fist over his heart. ¡°Erkarian¡¯s forces are moving.¡± A short pause ensued, tension palpable in the air. Reeve licked his lips nervously, before deciding to risk a glance at his master, eyes darting up quickly to assess his expression. Unluckily for him, their eyes met, and he instinctively lowered his gaze, a visible shudder running up his spine. The Lord of Winderson might be young--they had just celebrated his twenty-fourth winter--but he was about as scary as a person could be, despite the childish innocence he exuded. ¡°Where?¡± came the reply, the voice just as cold as ever. ¡°They¡¯re trying to enter Treitschgone, my lord.¡± ¡°Oh?¡± this time, a tinge of amusement could be detected. ¡°Don¡¯t they know that trying to enter any of the SSS ranked dungeons in the Winderson-Aracht area without the approval of the Flag of Winderson is the same as going against us?¡± Reeve lowered his head even more, trying to make himself seem as small and insignificant as possible. ¡°Erkarian¡­¡± the Lord continued musing. ¡°We leave them alone for a few years, and they start to think we¡¯re scared of them?¡± Reeve¡¯s every instinct screamed at him to run. ¡°Capture them alive. Tie the men naked to the gates of City-Treitschgone and whip them, give the women to our soldiers to enjoy themselves.¡± Please comment and review!