5 Best Friends Forever (or until I get him to leave me alone)
Sitting opposite Azazel, Governor General of the Grigori, one of the strongest Fallen, if not the strongest, I spend a moment complaining in my head.
Just once I would like a normal day, where I spend my time happily grinding without any ridiculous visitors showing up and bothering me. Mittelt serves me some tea extremely cautiously as she keeps her eyes on the living armour staring back at her as she approaches. The only person who isn't feeling awkward is Azazel himself who looks perfectly happy sipping away at his tea.
"Are you planning on telling me what's going on any time soon? I have school soon." I ask getting annoyed at his amused staring. Why can't people just leave me alone?
"You don't need to worry about that, I called in sick for you." he responds happily. Of course he did, why wouldn't he?
"I don't think you're allowed to do that..."
"It's fine, I'm a doctor so I can write sick notes, or I was a doctor, I think my licence expired a hundred years ago, but it still counts for something." he responds again, still entirely too amused.
"Fine, if I don't need to go to school can you please explain what's going on? This is not the house I fell asleep in." I ask reluctantly.
"It technically is, I just made some upgrades while you slept, as thanks for sparing my idiot underlings. It's still your house, it's just a bit bigger now. You're welcome!" he explained like that made any sense.
"How did you even- no wait, I don't want to know. How am I supposed to explain why my regular boring two story house has turned into a mansion? Wait, what happened to my neighbours houses? And where is my dad?" I ask noticing more things wrong with this picture as I think about it, this mansion spreads over the property next door, on both sides.
"Your neighbours all moved out, they got quite the deal for their homes, and your father won a all expenses paid holiday in the Bahamas, so he'll be busy for the next few years, so it's all fine." he continues. "Don't worry, I put up a little tiny barrier so regular people won't notice anything out of the ordinary, you're on your own for the little devil heiresses though. Did you know that you're a really heavy sleeper? You happily snoozed away while my people built your new house."
...I'm not that bad, I think I'd wake up if someone built a building around me.
"Moving on, what do you want?" I ask, hoping to get to the point so he can go away.
"Nothing, I'm just here to thank you, that's all." he lies through his teeth with a smile.
"So, no job offers? Or threats on my life? That's how this usually goes." I ask doubtfully.
"Threats? No nothing like that, if you want a job I'll happily hire you though."
"I'll pass..." I say dryly.
"I thought as much, but it's fine. Anyway, you already know Mittelt here, when I told her about your new house she happily volunteered to be your first maid!" he says, I look over at the scared Fallen who is practically trembling as my Living Armour follows her around with a gauntlet on it's sword, my Armours are pretty protective, and it looks like they remember her.
"Happily volunteered? Are you sure about that?" I ask amused.
"Well, not happily, and really she was volunteered but yes. Honestly, she and the others are all being punished a bit for disobeying orders, sometimes you have to punish your dumb underlings or they don't learn from their mistakes. This is hers. But I suppose you don't have to worry about that, your friend there seems rather loyal." he says watching my Living Armour glare at Mittelt, I send out an order for it to return to me, standing behind my seat.
"My undead are good at taking orders, true." I respond.
"So, how does that work? I can feel it has a soul in it, and an old one at that, did you bind it to the armour? Where did you even get the armour?" he asks, this is actually a far nicer conversation than yesterdays.
"Basically, the soul was a knight before his death, and the armour is magical, it changes as he gets stronger, growing with him." I answer seeing no reason not to answer.
"Hmm, interesting. Anyway as I was saying since you had this big house I thought you'd need a maid to take care of it for you, you do seem to have a thing for maids after all." he says casually as I try not to react, that was not a idle comment, and I really don't like what that implies.
"Oh don't worry, your secret safe with me. Telling Sirzechs wouldn't end well for anyone, besides more than a few of my Fallen brethren lost their lives to him during the Great War, so I have no reason to help him. Like I said, no threats from me, I just have some questions that's all." he says amusedly, I really don't think Azazel knowing about Grayfia is going to end well, but seriously what the fuck can I do about it? He's a Tier 4 Level 99, lower than Sirzechs but still out of my league. My Rep with him is a 5, which is still very low, even if it isn't negative, apparently it would be a 15 if he wasn't getting a -10 due to Enemy of Perverts, which is annoying but at least it's positive, he doesn't dislike me.
"Ask away." I respond, I'm not sure if he'd tell Sirzechs if I didn't but I'm not taking that chance. On the bright side he really doesn't seem to have anything against me.
"Wonderful, first question, how did you steal that Sacred Gear?" he asks, starting off strong huh? I doubt I could convince the guy who knows more about sacred gears than anyone else that I didn't steal it. Maybe I should try pure truth? It's unbelievable enough after all.
"I killed a guy, then I got it as a reward." I respond.
"Whatever gave it to you did a terrible job, in most cases, the Sacred Gear is bound to the users very soul, they're almost inseparable, at least not without killing the user, yours however might as well have been attached to your soul with a string, can you even use it like that?" he asks, going from laid back to serious, he's knows a lot more than me about this so I might as well take his word for it, it would explain how a certain asshole dragon is stopping me from using it.
"No, I could use it once, but it woke up Ddraig, and now he won't let me use his power any more, it's useless to me." I answer truthfully, getting an ally like Azazel could be a nice shield against the devils, hell if he had shown up before Sirzechs I might have even accepted his job offer, but I can't go back on my word to Grayfia now, not without her coming for my life.
To be honest I think she is going to try and kill me after the rating game anyway, but I have time to power level before then, or to find a way out of this mess. With the benefit of hindsight molesting her wasn't my best move, nor was mouthing off at Sirzechs, even if it was satisfying. I'm just sick of Devils trying to control me, but losing my temper was a mistake, still I've done it now, I have to work with it.
"Then would you like to trade it? I can make you a new artificial Sacred Gear for you, and you can be rid of your useless one." he offers, that... is a very good deal, even if the Artificial Sacred Gear isn't as strong as Boosted Gear it can still be more useful than this trash.
"What would the new Sacred Gear do? And would the process hurt me?" I ask seriously, yeah Azazel could have definitely recruited me if he got here first.
"What do you want it to do? I can design one for you easily enough. And no, Boosted Gear isn't attached to you properly so it can be removed easily enough." he explains easily.
What would I want it to do? I have the ability to get just about any skill through the classes, so what would I want for it? Maybe something to nullify other peoples powers? I don't think that's in any of my classes skill sets after all. And being able to disable my opponents powers could be very helpful. Besides, if I don't have Boosted Gear then Vali will have no reason to bother me, honestly this thing is more trouble than it is worth, if I could use it that would be different, but now it's just a useless lure that is drawing strong people to me. It's like Issei is getting his revenge from beyond the grave.
"If you can make one that nullifies other peoples power then I'll trade you Boosted Gear for it." I say, accepting his offer.
+5 Reputation with Azazel
"Nullification? I'll see what I can do, I doubt it'll take too long. Next question, how are you travelling through Dimensions? You have traces of dimensional magic on you, but I can't work out two things, one, how you are going through dimensions and two, where you are even going." he asks, his brow furrowed in thought.
"You said there were traces? Can you tell how recent they are?" I ask, he could be talking about my arrival in this world but I don't think that's it.
"Of course, the most recent was last night, before your little rendezvous." he replies instantly, in other words, my dungeon delving. What to say? Eh, fuck it, being honest has worked so far, might as well keep it up.
"I was going into a tiny alternate dimension to fight an army of creepy pseudo-angels to gain power and loot. It made more sense before I said it out loud." I say, contemplating for a moment the weirdness that is my life.
"Show me." he says after a moment of staring at me, trying to work out if I was being serious or not. Sure, why not, this can only end well, being reckless is apparently my thing now.
Azazel added to your Party
Mittelt added to your Party
"Sure, why not." I respond creating the dungeon again as all three of us are teleported into it. This is not how I saw today going, but I need an ally, and Azazel seems like a good choice. Mittelt is shocked by location change, but Azazel isn't even mildly surprised as he looks around the starting area.
"You have no idea what you just did, do you?" Azazel asks amusedly. "It can wait, it seems we have company, if you don't mind I'll play with these ones." he says as he casually walks towards the angels between him and the gate, I stop Mittelt as she tries to follow him.
"They are no match for him, but they could actually threaten you." I say, blocking her with my arm. She might be ten levels higher than the trash mobs, but the mini boss is stronger than her.
"But- ok." she says quietly, I was expecting more argument, but I guess I did completely crush her and the others, maybe she's leant some humility. Or she's scared of me, one of the two.
It goes without saying that the angels get slaughtered instantly, even the 'mini boss' gets casually one-shotted by Azazel as he calmly walks down the path annihilating everything that approaches him with a light spear.
"So, do they get stronger? Or is this it?" he asks cheerfully.
"After that gate they all get stronger, there's another gate after this one that I haven't been through yet, so yes. Oh, and if we idle around for too long the dungeon will send waves of increasingly strong foes after us, if we spend too long here I suspect even you would start having trouble." I answer, I don't think there is a upper limit on the waves, so even a ridiculously strong guy like Azazel would probably get overwhelmed eventually. Unfortunately I don't seem to be getting any exp for this, a shame but not unexpected, as much as I'd love to let Azazel massacre his way through the Dungeon while I take a nap or something it looks like things won't be this easy for me.
"Interesting, is that the loot you mentioned?" he asks gesturing at the chest that appeared after he killed the boss. Walking over I open it, a card and a ring.
Ring of Fallen Light
Increases the damage of Fallen Angels Light Spears by 25%
Summon Unlock Card – Kid Gil (3* Archer)
Adds [Kid Gil (3* Archer)] to Summon Servant
Missing Pre-Requisite Skill
"Yes, the card only I can use, it will give me another summon, when I get the right skill for it. The ring is enchanted, it gives Fallen Angels a 25% boost to damage for their Light Spears." I answer, give Azazel a 25% damage boost? Possibly the ability to find out how it works and reproduce it for his men? Sorry Heaven and Devils, my bad. Tossing it over to him he catches it inspecting it with a serious expression for once. Slipping it on he made a new light spear, it even glows brighter than his last one.
+10 Reputation with Azazel
"You know Kuro, I think you and me are going to be the best of friends." Azazel says grinning as he pushes the gate open and walks through with me and Mittelt following behind him, I summon my Living Armours to guard Mittelt as Azazel starts rampaging, I'm at a level where this area is not really a major threat but Mittelt is underleveled for this area and I'd rather not get Azazel's underling killed after making progress with him.
+5 Affection with Mittelt
But if she thinks I'm protecting her for her own sake I'll take the free affection for it.
- Later -
Honestly today has been ridiculous. I'm back home after about 3 hours, and I didn't even get a single level with Azazel just massacring everything the moment it arrived, it's one thing to see the level difference on a stat screen, it's something else entirely to see them in action. If I thought him I'd have a light spear through my heart before I could even start a spell, I have a long way to go.
On the table between us is a pile of loot, I've taken all the cards since no one else can use them, as well as 2 Gacha Tokens and a heart crystal, but Azazel is keeping the rest. The Game is messing with me I think, every piece of equipment has a requirement for the users race to be Fallen Angel, so it's all useless to me. And I've spent the last half an hour observing the gear and telling him the effect as he writes it all down. Most of the effects are kinda pointless for me anyway, a boosted resistance against light, bonus to light damage, stuff like that. Nothing that would be useful to me.
I knew he was a bit of a mad scientist, but after gear started dropping he started hunting for them with a scary look on his face, we even went into the next area but by the time I caught up Azazel had already beaten the bosses, it's for the best since the next area is around my own level. Mittelt would definitely die in one hit there if we actually had to fight the enemies there.
Seriously though, Azazel is OP Pls Nerf.
Levelling wise this has been a waste but it's still worth it, if only for the boosted rep with Azazel.
"As I was saying earlier, you really don't know what you are doing do you?" Azazel asks back to being amused again, he is either a good actor or he's insane and emotionally unstable, I'm still not sure which.
"Not particularly, I use the spell then the dungeons appear." I reply, I don't really know the specifics after all.
"It's far more than that, you are quite literally making your own dimension, even if it's a small one, and you're even making living beings to fill it. Even if you can't control it that's still a ridiculous ability. Can you make other types of dungeons?" he asks going serious again.
"No, not yet anyway, I have to unlock them I think, but I don't know how to do that." I answer, I'm not the one making them, that's the game.
"Well, this has been fun, and profitable. Are you sure you don't want a job? All you'll have to do is open the dungeons, we'll do all the work." Azazel offers.
"Tempting, but I'll pass." I say, turning him down. It really is and maybe if he had asked before Sirzechs and Grayfia showed up I'd go for it, but now I have a rating game to fight. Maybe afterwards, or not. I don't particularly want to let that many people into the Dungeons, this was an exception to get an OP Fallen who happens to lead his entire race to like me.
"I thought as much, anyway I do have some Governor things to do today so I must take my leave, Mittelt you're staying here obviously." Azazel says putting all the loot into his coat pocket, I guess I'm not the only one with the ability to store things away, and rising. Finally I can get some alone time, if I ignore the maid, who is definitely not a spy. I'm not stupid enough to accuse Azazel of spying on me directly, I've already pissed off Sirzechs, and I definitely pissed off Grayfia, lets not add a third overpowered enemy to the list.
Saying his goodbyes he leaves me alone with my new maid.
"So, how did you end up with this job?" I ask amused, she's no threat to me after all. Though I think I'll sleep with some of my Living Armours in my bedroom with me, just to be safe.
"Lord Azazel was... not pleased with our actions. Raynare told him that I offered to serve you in exchange for my life hoping that he'd punish me for treason and let her off lightly, he didn't, and she's under heavy watch for now. But Lord Azazel decided that my punishment should be to keep to my offer, you didn't kill me, so I should serve you as a punishment for trying to kill you." she explained quickly.
I'm at a surprisingly high 15 Affection and 20 Obedience with her at the moment. I was expecting a decent Obedience since she's clearly scared off me, but the Affection is a surprise. I was expecting it to be in the negatives but this is nice.
"You know you don't need to be afraid of me right? I won't attack you unless you give me a reason to." I say calmly.
"I- I'll make sure to never give you a reason Sir." she replies quietly, still a little fear is not bad, it'll keep her from causing trouble.
I have 7 new cards to check, and I want to use my Gacha Tokens and Heart Crystal, but I'll deal with them tonight
"I have only one other question for you... do you play chess?" I ask seriously.
Mittelt, you don't know it, but you are an essential, but entirely replaceable, part in my plan to power up.
- That Night -
The game patched itself after I started grinding chess matches, so it can only trigger the perk once per day. That's bullshit frankly, but I got 4 wins in before it fixed itself, so that's an extra 20 INT. I thought it was too easy, but I can still get 5 INT a day from it so I guess it still has it's uses. That's the problem with a self updating game, even if I find an exploit I have very limited time to use it before it gets 'patched'.
At least with Mittelt here I can make her play me once a day even if she is a very slow player, a single game with her could take ages when she spends ten minutes choosing her move. She's off cleaning, which is actually pretty hilarious when I consider it, a Fallen Angel is currently dusting my shelves.
I've used my heart crystal to increase Grayfia's Affection by 10, which puts it at... -30. She doesn't seem to like me... too bad, so sad. I get the feeling it's going to drop even further if I'm honest, but what ever. At least now it can't fall below -90.
While I was playing chess I was thinking about my next moves, plot wise Asia should be next, but I don't know if she would still be coming, story wise I think I would have about three days until she would arrive, but I don't have protagonist luck to just wander into her like Issei did. So I've done a little experimenting, one of my potential summons are the Scheming Spirits, they aren't combat capable at all, they're essentially spies, each summon gets me six, and Mittelt can't see them, I checked.
I had 8 free summons available so I went a bit overboard and used four of them, getting 24 Scheming Spirits, four lurk around my new mansion, watching it for me, and keeping an eye on Mittelt until she has a higher obedience stat, the other 20 I've sent out into Kuoh, to search for anything interesting, if Asia shows up, they'll find her. One of the was permanently stationed at the old church, which was abandoned completely now, if Asia goes there, I'll know.
I don't know if the Devils can see them, but I've ordered the spirits to flee if they are noticed, I'll deal with the consequences afterwards.
Another slight experiment I have tried is testing the barrier that prevents regular humans from noticing anything unusual about my home, I had a Bayrok lurk on the roof while I played chess, and no one noticed the creepy archer, he wasn't even trying to hide. As long as they stay on the property humans ignore them, which is great because now my home has all my Bayrok's on guard duty, the Devils will notice them, but that's fine. I'm allowed to protect my own home after all. My Living Armours have positioned themselves around the Mansion, going 'inactive', with their glow gone they look like decorations, anyone who attacks here will be in for an unpleasant surprise. My Totenhund's are protecting the garden from intruders as well, so my home is decently guarded in the event of an attack. Of course the one most likely to attack me is Grayfia, and she would slaughter them, but maybe they can buy me some time to flee.
Amusingly enough Mittelt's fear went right back up after she realised that she's surrounded by undead, I got +10 obedience just from that. I guess it makes sense, you don't want to disobey the guy who could have you killed in an instant.
Realistically anyone who is a threat to me could definitely get past my minion guards, but I still feel safer with my house being protected by my undead.
Sitting on my bed I have my cards I got from Azazel's rampage in front of me, finally taking a moment to check them out.
Summon Unlock Card – Kuriboh
Adds [Kuriboh] to Summon Demon
Missing Pre-Requisite Skill
Summon Unlock Card – Bonehilda
Adds [Bonehilda] to Create Undead
Summon Unlock Card – Archfiend Soldier
Adds [Archfiend Soldier] to Summon Demon
Missing Pre-Requisite Skill
Summon Unlock Card – Artoria Pendragon (5* Saber)
Adds [Artoria Pendragon (5* Saber)] to Summon Servant
Missing Pre-Requisite Skill
Artoria? As in Saber? The main character from Fate? That... is potentially useful, she's overpowered as well but if I can summon her I'll have command seals right? We probably won't get along, I'm no wannabe hero after all.
Out of the cards, I can only use Bonehilda at the moment, and I'm not to sure how useful a skeleton maid will be for me. She has zero combat abilities, she's just a maid after all.
If everything goes like I think it will my next major 'plot' fight will be against Riser and his Peerage, I suppose I'll have Rias's Peerage helping but I can't count on them for anything, I should expect to have to do all the work myself, and I have to give Riser credit, he is strong.
Probably Tier 2, maybe level 40-60. Even if he is Tier 2, which would essentially make him twice as strong as someone else with at his level, I can still beat him, if I can find a way to stop his regenerative abilities. And his fire. He's a one trick pony after all, just burning people while regenerating from any damage, if I can negate his fire and Regen he would fall easily.
I even have an idea on how to stop his Regen.
[Ray of Enfeeblement] (Active)
200 MP to cast
Causes Targets to become weak and sickly, preventing SP and HP recovery until lifted
This won't do it, at least I don't think so, it seems to just work on natural recovery, not healing magic, but I can upgrade it, and I can afford the 10x MP cost.
[Ray of Enfeeblement] (+1) (Active)
2000 MP to cast
Causes Targets to become feeble and sickly, preventing HP and SP recovery from all sources until lifted by the Necromancer
That's more like it, it's going to cost half my current MP, but I can just take away his ability to heal completely, of course that doesn't help me against his fire magic.
But I do have an idea about how to deal with that.
The game apparently updated again, adding a new class type, Production.
It has Alchemist, Engineer, Blacksmith, Runesmith, Scribe and Artificer as the currently available classes.
Going back to my actual gaming days, I used to focus on these sorts of skills, after all you could generally make better gear yourself than you could find in the game. I'm sure I could find a way to resist fire. If RPGs taught me anything it's that crafting is broken, and the fastest way to get overpowered.
From the choices Engineer, Scribe and Blacksmith won't give me what I want. But Alchemist, Runesmith and Artificer might just do it.
If Skyrim is to be believed you can make potions of Resist Fire, so Alchemist might be my best bet, Runesmith is more for enchanting armour and weapons... I think? And Artificer is for making magical artifacts. They all sound useful of course, but Alchemist seems like my best choice. Potions are always useful, and I won't have to change my gear since my Robes and Amulet are already powerful.
[Alchemist] - LVL 01/50 [00%]
Gain 5 INT per level.
[Create Potion] (Active)
200 MP per potion made
Create a potion from your recipe list
New Recipes Available – Health Potion, Mana Potion, Stamina Potion
It only has half the stat gain of regular classes, and only goes to 50, unlike my other classes which go to 100, but it still has it's uses. Creating potions is expensive MP wise, but I don't seem to actually need ingredients. Or the Game is gathering them like it does the corpses for my Necromancy. Opening 'Recipe List' I check the most important one, the Mana Potion
Mana Potion Recipe
Allows the creation of Mana Potions
Requirements – 2 Ingredients with the [Restore Mana] Effect
Restores [Alchemist Class Level]% MP when drunk.
At the moment that is useless, 1% MP is nothing after all, but at max level Alchemist it would restore 50% which is far more, especially since it will restore more and more the higher my MP becomes. The ingredients are a problem, but I'm sure I'll find them eventually
Ingredients added to Gacha
Ingredients added to Dungeon Chest Drops
So now I just need to grind it up, along with my Necromancer Class and I'll be ready for Riser, more or less.
Crafting System initiated, Summoning Class Skills will now require the necessary ingredients
If you couldn't tell, I'm not getting you the parts for your necromancy any more, better grab a shovel, you have grave robbing to do
Shit. I suppose I'll just have to deal with this from now on, as annoying as it is.
Hey, I could have made you do this from the start, deal with it
Fair, but it's still another inconvenience. Looking through my undead I wince at some of the requirements, where am I supposed to find an elephant corpses for Mammoth Graveyard? Or a Giant Insectoid Corpse? It's a problem until I find a consistent reliable source of corpses. No point complaining about it though, I highly doubt the game is going to change it back. The spirits require souls, of which I have 200 stored in my towers, so at least have that going for me. But I want physical minions not spiritual.
Now, last thing to deal with is my two Gacha tokens, two free items for nothing. Time to spin, last time I got a broken Naruto ability, so it should at least be something nice.
Excalibur Ruler
'Borrowed' from some guy called Arthur
Grants it's wielder the power to manipulate anything they wish
Companion Gem – Skarlet
Summons Skarlet to become a Companion
Game, I'm trying not to piss any more powerful people off, and you just stole an Excalibur. The Strongest Excalibur if I'm remembering things right.
It'll be fine, the Church and the baby Pendragon can go suck a dick
Wonderful. I've pissed of the Hero Faction, who work for the Khaos Brigade and the Church in one move. Why did you think this was a good idea?
It's not a good idea, but it is a funny one
Great, that's just brilliant. Well whatever, I couldn't return it anyway, how would I even explain that? So it can go in my inventory until I know what I want to do with it. As long as I don't use it no one will ever know I even have it.
The Gem is interesting though, also dangerous, I only know one series that has Scarlet spelt with a K, Mortal Kombat. Making the Skarlet the quite literally bloodthirsty ninja/mage from the later games.
I remember her, she's Shao Kahns apprentice I think, and that makes her dangerous. I vaguely remember the comic series she was in, and I do remember her being a power hungry blood drinking psychopath, and do I really want a psychopath following me around? For now, it can go in my inventory, once I'm stronger I'll summon her, just to be safe. Mortal Kombat is a weird world, with massively different power levels, there's gods, immortals and then there's a police officer with a gun, and they all fight each other. I can't work out how strong Skarlet will be before I summon her, she could be weaker than me, or she could be ridiculous, and I have enough ridiculous people around me, thank you very much.
It's Friday tomorrow, so I can spend the weekend gathering my strength. But I have been taking things too easily, I don't even really need sleep any more, I can't remember the last time I felt physically tired, even if I do get mentally worn out, yet I still waste hours every night sleeping, when I could grind instead. If I had to guess I have maybe a month max before the Riser Rating Game, story wise it goes Asia, Familiar Forest, Riser. And Riser gives Rias time to prepare, which gives me time to prepare.
Realistically I am not preparing for Riser, I'm preparing for Grayfia to try and kill me afterwards.
And since me life is on the line I don't have time to take things so easily, so I'll spend the nights grinding away. My power increasing will attract more and more attention, but I can't risk going slowly.
It's going to be a long night.
- Next Day -
Alchemist hit level 25, and all it took was a night of work, physically I am fine, mentally I am drained, it looks like I can't just skip nights without any consequences unfortunately, maybe I'll skip sleep once every two days?
My intelligence has hit 350, 5 INT per level isn't as much as Necromancer gives, but it still adds up quickly, I have 7k MP and 29 free summon spots, which I haven't used yet since I don't have the corpses required yet. I got a new perk when I hit 250 INT.
[Lord of Mana]
Once per day your MP will refill completely after it hits 0
Spells cost 10% less MP
Useful, lowered MP costs means more spells and that's always good. I also got some new skills, but nothing that useful just yet.
[Resist Poison (Novice)] (Passive)
Reduces Poison Damage by 10%
[Herbology Proficiency (Novice)] (Passive)
Gain the knowledge to grow and harvest simple plants
[Create Poison] (Active)
200 MP per poison made
Create a poison from your recipe list
New Recipes – Damage Health, Damage Mana, Damage Stamina
[Resist Poison (Apprentice)] (Passive)
Reduces Poison Damage by 25%
It's nice, but not what I need, not just yet. Almost all the loot I found was crafting ingredients, unfortunately the angels corpses vanish shortly after their deaths, making them useless for my necromancy, I need new dungeons, but I don't know how to get them just yet. I got another Fate Servant card for Phantom of the Opera, but I can't use it yet obviously. I've noticed whenever something new gets added to the chests it's practically all I will find for a while.
Blue Mountain Flower – Ingredient
Effect – Restore Health
Effect – ?
Elves Ear – Ingredient
Effect – Restore Mana
Effect – ?
Fire Salts – Ingredient
Effect – ?
Effect – Restore Mana
Dragon's Tongue
Effect – ?
Effect – ?
The list goes on and on with plenty of random Ingredients, and I recognise them all, since they've just been ripped from Skyrim, which actually gives me hope, since Fire Salts are a part of the Resist Fire potion, as is Dragon's Tongue and Elves Ear, I think. If I had more time I might plant them and use my new Herbology Skills and try mass producing them, but I don't have the time to spend farming, I need a minion who can do it for me, I just don't know where to find one, I'll have to rely on drops for now, unfortunately. Once the rating game and Grayfia have been dealt with I can spend some time improving my resources.
But for now it's back to school. As I head downstairs I see Mittelt already up and cleaning, honestly she isn't very good at it, but I'll give her credit for trying.
"Good Morning S-Sir. I wasn't sure when you would be up for breakfast so I haven't started it yet..." she says quickly bowing, she really is scared off me, but that's fine.
"I don't actually need food so it's fine, I'm heading off to school now, so I won't be back until this evening at the earliest." I say, as I go to leave I can see her hesitating to speak. "What is it?"
"So-Sorry, I was just wondering why you waste your time at a human school? Isn't it beneath you?" she asks hesitantly, honestly she isn't completely wrong.
"I don't feel like dealing with the consequences and attention from skipping, besides both the Devil Kings there are trying to recruit me, if I don;t go there they'll just bother me here instead, at least there they have limited time to annoy me with their attempts." I answer, if I stopped going they would probably show up here daily, and I don't want that, I can handle them at school, but this is my home and I'm sick of people showing up like they own the place, I can let Azazel off because really he only benefited me, even if he is definitely spying on me. "Anyway, I have to get going if I don't want to be late, see you later." I say as I head out.
+1 Affection with Mittelt
"Goodbye, Sir." she replies quickly.
It doesn't take me long to get to the school, I am unnaturally fast now, I actually have to be careful, normal everyday humans don't have 67 DEX, so I need to pace myself to not draw more attention, I give Sona a wave as I enter as she stands by the school gate, getting one back.
-x-X-x-X-x-
How the hell had he managed to increase his magic power again? She might have stronger magic than him, but at this rate she'd soon be surpassed. Sona had always been smart, but she couldn't even begin to understand his power growth, there was nothing natural about it, instead of a slow progression like other people it seemed to jump massively, only to stop again. He had to be doing something to force his magic to grow in this unnatural way, perhaps a ritual? Or was it related to his Necromancy, could he be taking power from the dead?
The important question isn't how was he doing it, it was if it could be used on other people? Could she and her Peerage profit from this method? She didn't know, but she intended to find out, after all at the rate he was growing she wouldn't be able to reincarnate him soon, he'd simply be too strong for her, or Rias for that matter. Not that Rias would have noticed that fact yet, she was never the best at thinking ahead. If she couldn't have him join her then she could at least make a deal to get his assistance in powering up her Peerage.
It'd probably be easier as well, since he wouldn't be serving her, just making a deal, so she wouldn't have to deal with his clear dislike of working under people.
Now, how to bring it up with Tsubaki without her using this to tease her over him. Again. Her Queen was having far too much fun with this.
-x-X-x-X-x-
+2 Affection with Sona Sitri
Huh? What did I even... eh fuck it, I'll take some free affection. How do people even be unpopular? I keep getting affection without doing anything.
+2 Affection with Rias Gremory
Wait, what? Looking around I see her watching me from one of the upper floor windows, do devils have nothing better to do than stand around and stare at me? Giving her a wave as well I walk into the school building. Class time.
- Later -
350 INT makes classes stupidly easy, I tried installing a chess app on my phone to play in hopes of getting my daily game in, the Game complimented me for trying, then told me to get fucked. I still played the app though, the teacher tried to stop me but I just stared at her until she ran away, I almost forgot but I have the Killer title still equipped which causes fear in weaker people, like for instance a teacher. As I was wondering why some people don't seem to be affected, like the Kendo girls and Aika, the game told me that it excludes possible romance targets, so at least I don't have to unequip it. Most of the school is still scared of me though, but that means they don't bother me and that's just perfect. Besides they should fear me, honestly most of them are useless, but at least they could make good undead right? The more the perverted duo glare at me, the more I think they could make good zombies. Maybe they know that since the moment I looked at them the both paled and looked away from me.
My life would be so much easier if everyone just fucked off and left me alone, then I could level in peace, nice and safe without the constant interruptions and threats. But I've realised something, the Game seems to like giving me trouble, I already had a slight suspicion with how things were going, but the fact that it stole Excalibur Ruler and gave it to me has confirmed it for me, the Game won't let me have a quiet life. Even if I hadn't taken Boosted Gear, fled this city and lived like a hermit I'd probably end up wandering into Ophis, or something equally ridiculous.
If you'd prefer you can go back to being dead.
Point taken. But the fact remains, I can't rely on people leaving me alone, no matter what I do I should expect trouble.
You're the protagonist of this game, what kind of protagonist lives a quiet life?
It's hard to argue with the thing giving me power, even if it's fucking me over in the process, especially when it's quite literally in my head. I'm in this Game now, and unfortunately my choices are to win, or die.
Spoiler Alert, if you get past Riser and survive Grayfia, you'll be heading off to another world for a while, and that place will be easier.
Probably.
You're just filling me with confidence here game, but I'll take it. I have no intention of dying anytime soon.
If it makes you feel better you're doing better than the last guy.
Thanks? Also what happened to this 'Last Guy'?
He started in the Dark Souls world, with no respawns.
He got stabbed to death the moment he left his cell, on the bright side he did make some funny noises while he died.
Maybe this start isn't that bad... How many times have you done this?
You're the Eighth Gamer, 2 through 7 all died.
Number Two did ok, for a while but he got it into his head that he was a chosen hero, and tried to defeat the evil First Gamer.
It didn't end well.
But really, what did he think would happen taking on someone with literally infinite HP and MP?
For a moment I get a vision of a smirking teen sitting in a throne looking down at a crippled warrior, missing his arms and legs.
Now that I think about it, the First killed Five of the Eight.
Coincidentally all five had positive Alignment, strange right?
Seven Died immediately like a little bitch.
So now there's just you and him.
Wonderful. I'll add the first to the long list of people I never want to meet. Taking the hint, I need to keep my alignment at Evil, I have no desire to attract this First Gamer, Infinite HP? What kind of bullshit power is that? Is he hacking? Did someone give him the cheat codes? I'm not going to try fighting the multiverses most successful killer of gamers.
As I am thinking at my desk Katase and Murayama approach me again.
"Hey, Kuro! We were just heading to Club, do you want to come with us today?" Katase asks slightly shyly. Hmm, do I have time? I should have about a month to prepare for the Rating Game, so I can afford a few hours every so often, I want to keep grinding the affection for the rewards after all, I don't know what they are yet, but I want them, and teenage girls are fickle, if I turn them down too often they could hold a grudge over it. I need to grind, but I still have enough time.
"Sure, I have time today." I say getting out of my seat.
+2 Affection with Katase
+1 Affection with Murayama
We quickly arrive at the gym, as we enter Katase rushes ahead and grabs something from the changing room, before running back.
"Since you said you'd come back I got you an outfit so you could take part, the changing room are empty so you can get changed first." she says quickly, taking the uniform I look at it, it's my size... how did she know my size? I can fit in anything due to the equipment menu, but it's still a bit weird, no need to call her out on it though. Thanking her, I move to the changing room, I don't want to use the equipment screen at school, even in private, so I get changed normally for once.
As I strip from my uniform and place it in a locker I get a weird feeling of being watched from behind, it doesn't take long for me to realise that the window the perverts use is right behind me, if it's those two idiots I'm killing them both and turning them into undead slaves. I don't care if I get seen naked, but they are annoying.
Turning quickly I make eye contact with Aika Kiryuu who is watching me change. Crossing my arms I stare at her blankly for a moment, before her face vanishes from the window, I can hear her footsteps growing quieter as she leaves. Unsurprisingly, girls can be perverts as well.
+5 Affection with Aika Kiryuu
What a strange girl. She's pretty hot though, so I don't mind her spying on me, especially since she apparently enjoyed the view.
Putting the kendo uniform on I head back to the gym, and wait while the girls get changed. There's already a match going on, so I watch the pair of girls spar, my apprentice sword proficiency comes into play, as my mind points out the mistakes they make, and how I could exploit them in a fight.
They are novices, really my power is unfair, I'm already better with swords than these girls who spend all this time practising. Honestly Apprentice is a understatement, I know a lot about swords, far more than I have any right to, if I'm honest. Other's would have to train for years to get to where I reached in days. As the girls return Murayama pulls me into a spar. This should be interesting at least.
- Later -
I am an idiot. That's the conclusion I have come to, as I am surrounded by excited girls. I beat everyone who challenged me, easily. Of course I did, my proficiency is higher, and my stats are way better. But they weren't last time I was here, I gave some bullshit about learning things quickly and they actually believed me. I pull myself out of the group and go to get changed.
+5 Affection with Katase
+5 Affection with Murayama
+10 Reputation with Kuoh Kendo Club
Isn't affection a little bit too easy to get? Is it my CHA stat? It's only at 32, so it isn't that good, at least compared to devils.
"You really should consider joining, it would be a shame to let your talents go to waste." Katase says as I leave.
"I get bored easily, a single club would make me lose interest to fast, this way I can still enjoy when I do visit. It's better this way." I bullshit, I just don't want to be part of any club, that's all. I don't like having responsibilities, I'll just come and go as I please. Taking a chance, I give Katase a quick hug, she freezes for a moment, before she hugs me back. Pressing her face against my shoulder.
+10 Affection with Katase
…seriously? Teenagers are way too easy.
"I'll make sure to visit again, goodbye for now." I say prying myself free.
"Please do, see you Monday!" she says before she runs back to Murayama. As they start gossiping I escape, I made good progress for just a couple of hours. Honestly if I really wanted to I could probably get Katase's affection ridiculously high easily, but I have more important things to focus on, I need to survive Grayfia and Riser first, I can focus on other things afterwards.
"You weren't that good before, you weren't that fast either." Kiba says from besides the door as I walk out.
"Do you have nothing better to do than spy on me?" I ask mildly annoyed, I hadn't noticed him watching me again.
"Not really, you're good with that sword, better than you were. Did the dead teach you than as well?" he asks quickly. I consider telling him fuck off, before suppressing that urge, I should at least try and play nice for now.
"You wouldn't believe how many souls of dead knights there are lying around for anyone to grab." I say, not really answering his question.
"We definitely need to spar sometime, but I'm pretty busy at the moment, I'll see you around Kuro." Kiba says heading off, not that fucking busy if you can spend your time spying on me.
+5 Reputation with Yuuto Kiba
Yay. I'm so popular.
But now I want to head home, I'm exhausted mentally. Turns out skipping sleep is a bad idea even if my body doesn't get tired. Maybe an early night for me, just get home and sleep. Wait, no I need to get my daily chess game in first.
Despite my rapidly increasing tiredness I get home fast, naturally the moment I do I force Mittelt to play a game of chess with me.
"So, what do you do while I'm out?" I ask to pass the time while she thinks about her move, it always takes her far too long. We have been playing for about half an hour, but I've almost won.
"I clean, occasionally I take a break to eat, but I mostly just clean the mansion..." Mittelt says, I see the spirit behind her nod, confirming her words.
"You should take more breaks, there's no need to work that hard. Find a hobby or something to pass the time." I say putting her into checkmate. I could see six ways to beat her, INT is a broken stat for things like this.
"...don't I have to work hard so you don't kill me, and bring me back as a undead slave?" she asks hesitantly. Why the fuck would I do that? How would I explain that to Azazel? Oh that maid you left? She's right over there, she's the small skeleton. Yeah, no thanks.
"No, I'll only kill you if you turn on me, not if you take a break from cleaning. Seriously, get a hobby or something, working all the time isn't good for you. It's been a long day for me, so I am going to bed, don't stay up too late." I answer, I should get some corpses and make a Bonehilda or two, take some of the work of Mittelt's shoulders, overworking is a problem after all.
+5 Affection with Mittelt
+5 Obedience with Mittelt
"Of course Sir, I will. Goodnight." she says, her smile has grown less hesitant now. Even if she is a spy, I think this is better. I just have to increase her obedience until she's more loyal to me than to Azazel, and then her spying won't be a problem, besides what could she see that she could be a problem? He already knows about Grayfia, and the Dungeons.
Heading up to my room I strip my uniform off and throw it into a pile, practically throwing myself into my bed in just my boxers, it's a warm day anyway. I absolutely should not skip sleep, not if this exhaustion is the result.
I love sleep, a lot. So it's only normal that I would be upset when I got woken up late at night by someone's insistent shaking. Opening my eyes I glare at my assailant before staring in confusion at her.
"Look, I get it, I'm irresistible but you should at least wait a bit longer before you come crawling back to me." I say, amused once my brain had caught up.
-10 Affection with Grayfia Lucifuge
OK, fine. It wasn't the best move. But it's her fault for interrupting my sleep.
- Bonus Scene – Things start going downhill -
"What do you mean you 'lost' Excalibur Ruler?" Cao Cao asked, unamused.
"I didn't lose it, it was stolen, I don't know how or why, but someone managed to infiltrate our base and take it." Arthur responded frowning.
"It goes without saying that this is unacceptable. Georg, work with Arthur and Le Fay and find the Excalibur, then deal with the thief." Cao Cao ordered.
-x-X-x-X-x-
"I've told you time and again Riser, I will not marry you." Rias said angrily.
Before Riser could respond Grayfia interrupted him,
"My Master expected that this would happen and planned out a course of action just in case." Grayfia said calmly, gaining both Devils attention.
"Course of action? What do you mean, Grayfia?" Rias asked, grasping at the chance of escaping her engagement.
"He suggests that if you can't settle this by normal means, you two are to determine this via a Rating Game." Grayfia explained, before Riser burst into laughter.
"Surely you aren't serious? Rias only has four peerage members, and one of them can't even leave. Four inexperienced devils against my full peerage? Why even waste time with such an unwinnable battle?" Riser asked amused once he calmed himself, paying no heed to the angered expression on Rias and her Peerage's faces.
"I accept, I'll take even the slimiest chance to get free from scum like you, Riser." Rias replied angrily.
"Very well, I'll happily crush your little group, I'd give you time to train, but it won't make a difference. This Sunday will be fine." Riser asked irritated.
"Sunday, but it's Friday night..." Rias replied, suddenly worried.
"If you haven't trained enough by now, it won't help if I give you more time, this isn't a fight you can win. Let's just get it over with already so you can stop playing school girl and come back to the Underworld as my wife."
"I'd rather die, but you shouldn't look down on my precious family, we will beat you. Then this idiotic arrangement can be cancelled and you can go away and never bother me again." Rias said angrily. If she'd been paying attention, instead of glaring at Riser, she might have noticed the look of conflict on Grayfia's face, but Rias and Riser were too focused on each other.
'Rias doesn't stand a chance, and I am out of time. I had hoped to find a way out of this, but I will have to go back to that bastard, maybe even tonight.'
-x-X-x-X-x-
Someone was using Dimensional Magic. She didn't know who, but she could feel it, tiny dimensions being created and destroyed. How? And why? After a moment she decided it didn't matter, all that mattered was whether they could be any use to her in getting that loud dragon out of her home. All she cared about was getting her silence back, nothing else mattered.
After some thought she sent for that annoying cat, she was too loud, but at least she was useful. If she sends her to bring them not only will she get the strange magic user, she won't have to hear the cat for a while.
People are just too loud.
-x-X-x-X-x-
Looking out of the plane window, Asia wondered if this was the right thing to do? Joining the Fallen seemed wrong, but really what choice did she even have? Tomorrow morning she'd reach Kuoh and join Raynare, after that, she didn't know what would happen. It was in God's hands now, she could only wait and see.
- Bonus Scene – Written by Zweig, edited by me -
"Hmm, Interesting."
Ajuka Beelzebub looked at the small orb like device on his desk with Intrigue.
After hearing about a curious incident with a new Longinus user called Kuro Shi and some Fallen he had decided to investigate him a bit. Necromancy was incredibly rare branch of magic after all, he couldn't think of any devils who could use it.
His observation magic had managed to uncover quite a few interesting things about the young Necromancer.
The perhaps most interesting part was that he most likely did not belong in this world. His analytical devices had caught several Magical and Faith based particles which were completely unlike any type of magic which existed in this world, along with traces of divinity, but he'd never felt this gods presence before, it had a strange mixture of both lust and death, but there were no gods that matched it, certainly not any as strong as the one who's presence was left on the necromancer.
Not to mention the traces of dimensional travel surrounding him, dimensional magic really wasn't that hard if he was honest, but the only place it really went was to the dimensional gap, and going there never ends well for anyone. Ophis doesn't like intruders after all.
Thanks to his Observation magic he had seen that rather interesting incident where his friend Sirzechs wife debased herself to convince Kuro Shi to join little Rias Peerage. That brought up some interesting ramifications as clearly she was manipulated to some extent by whatever deity was using the Necromancer. Likely Sirzechs as well, otherwise the necromancer almost certainly be dead from his arrogance, but why would a god so powerful bother with all this? And perhaps more importantly what would it do if someone interfered?
As a friend of Sirzechs he should at least warn them but in all honesty his friendship with Sirzechs while still strong had deteriorated somewhat over the years.
Honestly of all the new Satans he liked actually Serafall the best. Behind her childish mask was a Genius in Politics who was the only equal to Zekram Bael in that Field. While politics were not of interest to him, he could certainly respect her skill in them.
But the other two Satans? Falbium was a good Strategist sure but his laziness had resulted in the formerly strong Military which existed after the Civil war to quickly become corrupted and diminished. At least a fourth was on the pay-roll of the Old Satan Faction and another fourth were nothing but Thugs employed by the Nobles for incidents like with Kuroka where they had sent dozens of Devils after her to essentially die for nothing, throwing themselves into an unwinnable fight. She was an SS-Class for a reason, regular thugs couldn't hope to even scratch her.
Sirzechs was actually even worse than Falbium in some regards. He had respected his friend back in the Civil War when he had been a powerful Leader who would take no shit from anyone and who had no problems with ignoring Politics when they inconvenienced him. Nowadays Sirzechs was while still just as powerful but not nearly as in control.
His desire for peace and protective attitude had caused untold damage to the Devils. The Nobles manipulated him on various small matters and he would just let them to 'keep the peace', his sister had grown up be to a spoiled brat who regularly insulted the Phenex Clan, worsening relationships with them, and he even caused problems for the other Satans like when he had allowed the Nobles to slaughter the less then two-hundred Nekoshou left in the Underworld outside of the ones in the Fallen territory who worked for the Grigori. He could have stopped that, the old Sirzechs would have done so easily, instead he just passively watched, only saving a single girl who he gave to his sister.
It had cost Serafall an extremely large amount of political capital to smooth things over with Yasaka and Sun Wukong as they both had taken heavy offence to their fellow Youkais fate, even after Serafall's attempts relations with the Youkai were at an all time low.
Sirzechs was a great wartime leader, but despite his desire for peace he really wasn't that good at being peaceful.
So, should he risk angering whatever god was playing games and warn Sirzechs or not?
Choose your path
[Armageddon Thy Name is Game]
You spoil my fun
Kuro Dies, quickly
You Die, painfully
Your world is wiped from existence
I have to find another toy and another world to play with
[Silence is Golden]
You keep your mouth shut and mind your own fucking business
Kuro keeps amusing me
You and your pathetic little world get to survive
I don't have to put in the effort of finding a new toy
Feeling the pressure of a being far stronger than him looming over him, he let out a sigh. Sometimes it's entirely too troublesome to be smart, ignorance really could be bliss.
