2 Chapter 2: Daemon Realm
Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I own nothing.
Chapter 2:
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- Felix -
I woke up with a jolt.
"Hmm, you're up it seems." A voice said from beside me. "You don't seem to be poisoned anymore, so that's good. I didn't want to have to go ask another daemon to heal you, who knows what they would have asked for."
I looked to my side to see a black-haired male sitting on a chair next to me.
He had red skin and horns coming out of his head, his face was quite humanoid though unlike the rest of the demons.
He's also able to speak, maybe another reincarnation? No, better not to get my hopes up; that other demon was also able to talk, I should be careful.
My body was feeling much better now, so I got up and prepared to fend off any attacks he sends my way just in case.
"Rest, the poison was flushed out of your system, and your evolution mostly healed you of your injuries, but you still need some time to get back to peak condition."
I stared at him as I processed his words, evolution? Can demons evolve?
What did I evolve into?
I do feel a lot stronger than I previously was.
I clench my fists and can feel how much stronger I've gotten physically, multiple times even, and magicule-wise I have multiple times more than previously.
If evolving can make this big of a difference, who knows what else it can do?
Could I regain my old physical looks by evolving?
Taking a closer look at my body I notice quite a few changes, my body shape is far more human in stature. I touch my face and it feels far more human-shaped rather than the animal head I had previously, though I do still have my horns.
I also feel my ears changed, they are more pointy, almost elf-like.
My arms are longer than natural and I still have goat legs, but I can't get the happy grin off my face. Maybe one more evolution and I will get an even more humanoid look?
"Ah yes, you did look quite different before your evolution, Lesser Daemons often look the most demonic in their base forms, while the higher you evolve the more humanoid your looks become."
I temporarily push his words to the back of my mind, "Who are you?"
He raised his arms in the air to show that he meant no harm, "I mean no harm. I'm like you, an otherworlder reincarnated as a Daemon."
An otherworlder?
And there are others like me?
"Excuse me, but why did you decide to help me?" I couldn't help but ask, it never hurt to be cautious.
"Simple curiosity, I have never run into another reincarnated Daemon before, it doesn't hurt to have someone similar to me to talk to, I was also curious about your Unique Skill."
I looked at him warily, how did he know I had a Unique Skill, does he have one as well?
"Eh, don't look at me like that boy, almost all otherworlders have a Unique Skill that they gain when crossing over worlds."
"I see, thank you for answering, how did you end up finding me?"
"I was chasing after those Lesser Daemons you were fighting after they failed to ambush me, came upon you fighting them off and decided to watch and help out if it seemed like you couldn't handle it, though it seems like that wasn't necessary."
There is that name again Lesser Daemon, am I one of them, or rather was I one of them?
Answer. Correct, Host evolved from a Lesser Daemon into a Greater Daemon.
That voice! Who is it?
Answer. It is the effect of your Unique Skill, Cursed Sage.
Cursed Sage? Are you the evolution of Sage?
Affirmative.
I decide to talk to my skill later once I have some time alone.
The man started to walk out of the room, "Get some rest, you need it if you want to fully recover."
I decide to heed his words for now and close my eyes and think.
What can you do Cursed Sage?
Answer. Sub Skills include Thought Acceleration, Analytical Appraisal, Parallel Operation, Chant Annulment, All of Creation, and Program.
Hmm I see, Though Acceleration is a skill I had access to with Sage only a much weaker version than what I now have access to.
This version accelerates my thoughts by an astounding rate of 1000x.
Analytical Appraisal will pair perfectly with Studious One as it allows me to analyze and appraise a target allowing me to easily fulfill Studious One's requirements for copying skills.
Parallel Operation allows me the ability to detach my analysis of phenomena from my thoughts.
Basically it allows me to analyze something and fight or converse at the same time.
Chant Annulment allows me to use any magic that I learn without the required chant.
All of Creation allows me to comprehend anything as long as I have a basic understanding of it and it is perceivable to me, this will also pair quite well with Studious One.
Program allows me to program one thing for my subconscious to keep track of, basically I can use this to automate Infinity so it can always be active now that I have enough magicules to keep it running.
I can also allow Cursed Sage to pilot my body allowing it access to all my abilities. While in this state Cursed Sage can perfectly analyze the situation and follow the best course of action.
In a fight this would be like it attacking at the perfect nanosecond, defending at the perfect nanosecond, etc. As long as there is a way to win, Cursed Sage will be able to achieve it.
Overall this will be a big help to my abilities, hopefully with this I can copy skills much more easily.
Unique Skill: Isolate has been analyzed.
Unique Skill: Isolate gained.
Huh? Where did that come from?
Answer. Host is currently in an isolated dimension created by Unique Skill: Isolate, Isolate was analyzed and copied using Studious One.
I see, this must be that man's Unique Skill, I will have to figure out what to do now that I have copied his skill.
I closed my eyes and decided to sleep as I was still mentally exhausted. If this man wanted to hurt me he would have done it long before I woke up.
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I woke up after a few hours had passed.
I look around and notice that the man isn't here, he must have gone out for something.
I get up and take this time to look around, the room itself is quite comfortable looking, it has everything you need, a bed, a couch, some cabinets.
As I am walking around I see what you can call a gap in space form, sort of like a portal and watch the man walk through and take a seat on the couch.
Unique Skill: Spatial Severing Analyzed.
Unique Skill: Spatial Severing Gained.
He must have used that to teleport here, interesting, the skill will definitely be useful.
The skill allows me to basically sever space, I can use it to sever the space between two locations allowing me to teleport, I can also use this to directly cut space apart and cut through barriers quite easily. I can basically cut through almost anything using this skill as long as I have enough magicules to power it.
I focus back on the man and see him make a gesture to the seat across from him, understanding what he wants I take a seat.
"So what do you want to do from now on? There aren't a lot out there like us, let alone in the Daemon Realm."
There is that term again, the Daemon Realm, might as well get as much information as I can.
"Before I make a decision could you explain to me what the Daemon Realm is exactly? Is it a place for the damned to get tortured? And what about that term you used earlier, Lesser Daemon?"
"Ah yes, you haven't met any other intelligent Daemons have you? Well the Daemon Realm is as it sounds, a realm for Daemons to reside in."
That doesn't explain all that much, but it is enough for now.
"Is there a way to get out of here?" I ask, probably the most important question, I am getting sick and tired of wandering around with no place to go. This guy said that there are others like us out there, other reincarnators, maybe there are cities out there with civilization.
"There's only one way out of here, by getting summoned to the Material Realm and occupying a body."
"If you don't mind, could you explain all the common knowledge about this world?" Hopefully he doesn't ask for payment as I am not sure what I can give that he can't already get himself.
"Hmm, I will on one condition." Fuck, hopefully it isn't anything too big.
"Tell me about the world you came from."
Huh, that wasn't what I was expecting.
I agree and that's the start of our friendship of sorts.
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It's been a few months since I met the Old Man, it's been an eventful few months. I learned a lot about the new world I find myself in along with some other things.
Traveling with the Old Man has been enjoyable, I needed some time to just relax instead of worrying about other daemons and the world I find myself in.
After I told the Old Man most of my story he talked about himself.
He was from the United States, and he was summoned during relatively peaceful times for his world. He said technology was starting to spread all around the world. When he was 19 years old he died to a bunch of thugs that were high on some drugs. Presumably all they wanted was his money, likely to buy their next high but things got out of hand and they beat the Old Man to death.
Pretty gruesome.
I theorize that we get Unique Skills based on our will power and desires. We influence the world around us with powerful desires that turn into Unique Skills. When I reincarnated I was lamenting that all my effort and hardwork had gone to waste so I got Studious One, an ability that allows me to essentially copy others' works to make up for all that I had lost.
Whereas the old man likely got Isolate, he was scared, just wanted to feel safe, somewhere he couldn't be hurt anymore and his wish was granted. He got a skill that allows him to protect himself from the world around him.
Skills are truly something amazing.
What other sort of skills are out there? Considering each Unique Skill is you know, Unique there are endless possibilities.
Maybe there is a skill out there that allows for world travel?
I also learned a lot about the Daemon Realm which is a lot more complicated than I thought it would be. The Daemon Realm is a spiritual world, so there are no physical elements. I myself don't have a physical body, my current body is made up of magicules.
There are other realms out there like Material Worlds that have no Spiritual elements which means no supernatural energy. Then there are Demi-Material Worlds out there like the world of Jujutsu Kaisen which contain both physical and spiritual elements. We Daemons are primarily summoned to a Demi-Material world, but due to not having a physical body we can't survive long up there. If we want to stay we need to find a body to possess which is where my Intrinsic Skill Spiritual Possession comes in.
Daemons can be summoned by anyone as long as they have enough power to summon us, oftentimes we are summoned to do tasks for our summoners for a cost, whether it is to kill someone or even destroy kingdoms in some cases. In return we can ask for whatever price we feel our service is worth.
Souls are by far the most desired for Daemons as when we consume someone's soul we gain all their skills and a significant power boost, if the soul is strong enough we can even evolve.
Evolution is something all daemons desire as life in the Daemon Realm is harsh, if you are weaker than someone then you are screwed if they want to harm you. The ranks go from Lesser Daemon, Greater Daemon, then finally, Arch Daemon. There might be more ranks but the Old Man was only aware of those three.
Lesser Daemons are the mindless beasts that I have been killing, they generally have an animal like head and lower half. They boast enough power to destroy a village if left unchecked. They have the iconic traits of Daemons like wings, claws, a tail, and some horns.
After that are Greater Daemons like myself and the Old Man, we have a more humanoid appearance, we still have wings, horns, and claws but we can choose to hide them. We still do have some animal traits, like I myself still have goat like legs and my arms are unnaturally long but according to the Old Man that's normal. The higher up in the totem pole you are the more human you look. Greater Daemons are capable of destroying entire cities, it's hard to believe that I can do that. Greater Daemons also have a solid ego allowing them to converse and interact with others. The Lesser Daemon that almost killed me was likely on the verge of evolving into a Greater Daemon.
Greater Daemons also have a specific color lineage based on their personality traits, each color lineage has a progenitor, each a complete monster that can wipe the floor with any challengers no matter the numbers or rank.
The next evolution is Arch Daemon. They are incredibly strong, according to the Old Man, each wields enough power to destroy a country at minimum. According to the Old Man Arch Daemons possess an almost completely human form, the only non-human features they have are the claws, wings and horns all daemons have but they can just hide them.
It was quite humbling to realize how powerless I am in front of the truly strong beings out there.
Arch Daemons also generally have their own territories though they are less territories and more like playgrounds. They generally just do whatever they want in their territories, whether that is slaughtering other daemons, causing mass destruction for no real reason or just keeping to themselves.
There isn't really any sort of society in the Daemon Realm, the only rule is every man for themselves. You can tell how much strength matters down here.
Thankfully the Arch Daemon that rules the area we are in right now is relatively peaceful as long as they aren't disturbed.
Arch Daemons just like Greater Daemons also belong to a specific color lineage.
There are seven colors, Red, generally prideful daemons are part of this lineage, Yellow, I am not sure what traits you must have to be part of this lineage as I only know what the Old Man told me. Green belongs to daemons who are generally calculating and always weighing the costs and benefits of a decision. Blue daemons value order, they don't particularly like complete anarchy which surprised me as you know, they are daemons. Purple daemons enjoy seeing others struggle or in pain, especially if they overcome their struggles and come out stronger for it. Then there is White, I don't really know anything about them unfortunately, something I will need to rectify at some point. Then finally Black, my and the Old Man's lineage, these daemons generally don't fit into any other category, they are the weirdos who can't be predicted based on their color.
You can tell what lineage someone is a part of by observing them, sometimes their hair color will match their lineage, other times it will be their sclera or other features.
Now there are seven primordials, each belonging to a specific color. They each have names but they are more like titles. There is Rogue who is the Primordial of Red, he hasn't been in the Daemon Realm for thousands of years, he was summoned and never came back. Then there is Vert and Bleu the Primordials of Green and Blue respectively who followed after Rogue as they were his servants.
Talk about a complete monster to be able to have two other primordials as servants.
Then there is Jaune, the Primordial of Yellow, Violet the Primordial of Purple, Blanc the Primordial of White, and finally my own primordial, Noir the Primordial of Black.
Each of the Primordials were born before anything existed, they have been around since before heaven and earth were even thought of.
Each one of them has likely forgotten more magical knowledge than most Arch Daemons will ever hear of.
I have a long way to go to truly be considered strong in this world.
I have made some progress in that pursuit, after some time I told the Old Man about my ability to copy skills. It might have been a stupid choice but it was the one I felt was right. I didn't feel good sneakily copying the Old Man's skills behind his back and that decision proved to be the correct one.
The Old Man laughed when I told him as he said that I needed all the help I could get if I wanted to accomplish my dream and that I shouldn't be worried as it is my own unique ability, not using it for a reason such as that is the height of stupidity. Looking back at it I agree, I guess I just didn't want to lose the one person I can consider a friend after so long.
I did also tell him that I wanted to explore other worlds, go on an adventure.
He said that I needed more than just being able to copy skills to accomplish my dream, I needed knowledge, technique.
After he found out about my skill he started teaching me magic upon my request, and boy was I thankful I asked, there are so many different types of arts out there that I hadn't even thought of.
Arts are basically anything performed without the use of skills like martial arts and magic. You can use skills to make arts however. Generally magic performed through an art is weaker than magic used through a skill.
Knowing all this I was eager to learn.
He started by teaching me the basics, elemental magic.
Now there are five basic elements, Fire, Water, Wind, Space, and Earth, each is strong and weak to a specific element.
Not sure where the Time element is as that is usually paired with Space.
Normally you need to use a chant to use magic, but thanks to Cursed Sage's subskill Chant Annulment I don't have that requirement.
I already had a pretty good grasp over elemental magic, that along with Cursed Sage and Studious One made it quite easy to learn elemental magic.
After that he told me about Spirit Magic, Magic that borrows the power of spirits. With Spirit Magic you essentially borrow the power of the spirit using a small amount of your own energy as a catalyst.
I wasn't able to learn any Spirit Magic as the Old Man didn't know any.
There were a few other magics that I was able to copy but don't see myself using, like Illusion Magic, Light Magic which rather than something that harms evil creatures is more literal, it is used to illuminate your surroundings.
There were however a few magics that did interest me.
The first of which was Summoning Magic, it is a type of magic that focuses on summoning a being from another plane of reality. It requires mastery of spatial magic to perform, and while I wouldn't say I am anywhere close to mastering it I do have three Unique Skills that heavily involve the spatial element.
It is primarily used to summon daemons from the Demon Realm, and can even be used to summon elementals, a type of spirit and monsters. The thing that got me hooked though was the last thing it is known for.
Summoning otherworlders.
It requires a massive amount of magicules but it is possible to summon people from other worlds with this magic. This got me thinking, if it can summon someone from another world, is there a way it can be used to send someone to another world?
Of course if I could, I don't plan to do it immediately, who knows what world I could be sent to, who knows I might just be sent to the void and die a horrible death.
It obviously needs testing but it does give me hope that I can venture to other worlds.
A few more useful magics are Creation Magic and Optical Magic. Optical Magic basically enhances my vision as if I was looking through binoculars while the only Creation Magic spell I have learned so far is Create Golem. It allows me to make a golem as long as I have the materials allowing me to have easy workers whenever I get to the Demi-Material Realm.
I can also use it to create a body I can inhabit.
Onto my more defensive magic I learned Barrier Magic, it is one of the most interesting kinds of magic I have learned about simply due to all of its variations. I was even able to learn a skill, Extra Skill: Ranged Barrier which allows me to cast a barrier up to one hundred meters that can be imbued with any one of my resistances, for example I could imbue my Thermal Fluctuation Resistance into the barrier basically making all spells that involve changing the temperature useless.
The Old Man also showed me some other more useful barrier magic's starting with Magic Barrier, it can protect the caster and their comrades from incoming magic, not something I really need seeing as I have other abilities that can deal with magic but useful nonetheless.
The next barrier is the Anti-Shock Area, this barrier reduces up to 99% of all physical damage in the barrier up to a certain limit.
Quite useful if you ask me.
Now the most shocking one was the Anti-Magic Area, as the name sounds it prevents all casting of magic inside the barrier. It basically prevents the world's natural laws from being overwritten in the barrier, and overwriting the world's natural laws is basically what skills and magic do.
It does cost quite a significant amount of magicules to put up, but still one of the most broken magics I've heard of.
Due to the nature of an Anti-Magic Area it can even prevent skills like my Lightning Manipulation from being used.
Some skills and abilities can be used in the barrier like Magic Sense as it is not twisting the laws of nature, it simply interacts with light and sound waves to calculate visual and auditory information.
The Old Man was able to learn about it when he was summoned to the Demi-Material Realm. He helped some adventurers survive against a monster they stood no chance against for all the magical knowledge they possessed, which while not much he did learn the Anti-Magic Area spell..
I wasn't able to practice this as it would make me powerless as I don't have a physical form, I am a being purely made out of magicules. Though whenever I get a physical body it will be a fun magic to use.
Just imagine this in a world like Fairy Tail, or High School DxD. What can even Sirzechs Lucifer do when he can't even use his Power of Destruction.
Barrier Magic is definitely one of my favorites due to its sheer potential.
After all, if an Anti-Magic Barrier can exist then who knows what other absurd types of barriers you can make?
I was also able to learn a few debuff and buff spells, if you've ever played an mmo you know how useful debuffs and buffs can be. Starting with Drain Power which allows you to drain the physical strength of an enemy, along with Slowing Magic which allows you to reduce the momentum of a target, this will be quite useful against opponents who are faster than me.
For buffs I learned spells that can boost my strength, agility, and durability. While these buffs won't help me fight against an opponent I am outmatched against, they will be useful in giving me an edge against challenging opponents that I am capable of defeating.
Gravity Magic is another magic I am learning. I was able to learn a few basic applications of it like increasing pressure, decreasing pressure, and flying.
I gained a Common Skill for mastering flying using Gravity Magic called Gravity Flight.
It allows me to float in the air naturally without the use of my wings or magicules through making use of the natural gravity waves.
Since it doesn't manipulate the natural laws of the world, I can even use it in an Anti-Magic Area.
Hopefully with enough practice I can gain a skill that allows me to manipulate gravity much more freely, and assuming that it interacts with gravity the same way as Gravity Flight I should also be able to use it in an Anti-Magic Area.
Maybe I can even pull a Madara and bring a meteor down, he made that shit a fad.
One of the most destructive magics I've learned is Nuclear Magic. It's basically the practice of manipulating incredibly dense balls of black flames called abyss cores capable of interfering with spiritrons.
Spiritrons are basically the building blocks of spiritual energies, including magicules. Think of it like this, spiritrons are the atoms while magicules are the molecules. Spiritrons are the smallest particle of any spiritual energy, a single magicule is made of multiple spiritrons.
There are a few variations of Nuclear Magic, but I was only able to learn two, Nuclear Cannon and Nuclear Flame. Nuclear Cannon is basically just a heat ray that can completely destroy a target, while Nuclear Flame is an AoE thermonuclear explosion.
The Old Man said there was tons of other magic out there, he was only able to learn what he did after centuries of being a daemon.
I'm looking forward to developing some new forms of barrier magic and nuclear magic, both seem to be incredibly useful and it sounds fun making my own spells.
I was also able to learn something similar to presence concealment, it allows me to conceal the aura I'm always leaking so to someone's senses it'll feel like I'm not there, using this I can make others think I'm weaker than I actually am.
Battlewill is something else I am learning about, it's basically a family of Arts that use the natural Aura all living beings have.
Using Battlewill you can perform powerful physical attacks alongside things that resemble magic.
Since Battlewill isn't any sort of magic or ability that affects the natural laws it can be used in an Anti-Magic Barrier.
I was able to learn a few different applications of Battlewill, the first being Airflight.
When used in combination with my wings, and Gravity Flight it enhances my speed significantly.
Aura Shield is another application, it basically makes a large defensive shield in front of me that can block both magical and physical attacks.
There are a few other variations I want to learn but am holding off on for now as they are mostly sword arts, and seeing as I don't truly know how to properly use a sword I thought I should wait until I learn.
Along with all the Arts the Old Man taught me I was also able to learn a few skills he thought would be useful.
Starting with the Common Skill: Body Armor, it basically allows me to form a shell-like substance harder than steel around my body to act as an armor. I can also use it on individual body parts if I desire. It isn't the most broken skill but it's useful.
The next skill I picked up was the Extra Skill: Spatial Storage, it basically allows me to store things away in a subspace of sorts. It likely isn't going to see much use until I get out of the Daemon Realm seeing as it's a Spiritual World.
Spatial Motion is another Extra Skill I copied, it allows me instantaneous travel by linking two points in space together with a gate and stabilizing it. The only requirements are that I either had to have been to the location I want to teleport to or know its coordinates.
It does take quite a large amount of magicules to use though.
The last Extra Skill I was able to learn was Thought Communication.
It basically allows me to telepathically communicate with multiple people.
I was also able to take Limitless to the next level using Cursed Sage.
I did something similar to what Gojo Satoru did, using Program I was able to make Cursed Sage discern an object's danger level based on the strength of its magicules, its mass, velocity, and its shape, and depending on those factors it will or will not allow something through Infinity.
This allows me to keep Limitless almost perpetually active with minimal magicule usage.
I also don't need to worry about my brain being fried as Cursed Sage is the one doing most of the work.
What an amazing skill it is.
Along with this I have also developed a habit to keep magic sense on at all times. It barely uses up any magicules.
Hopefully with this I won't be caught off guard like last time.
I have also been working on using Limitless in more creative ways. Limitless at its core allows the user to manipulate and distort space at will. Blue, Red and Purple are just different applications of this ability.
I am already able to do short distance teleportation so I tried something a bit more difficult, something I call Distance Reduction.
The concept was for me to reduce the distance between two targets, if I was able to learn this I would be able to effectively strike someone from a distance away.
Unfortunately I wasn't able to learn this just yet, it seemed such advanced use of spatial manipulation was beyond me for now so I tried something a bit easier.
I tried pinching space as if it was rubber, then pulled it back and released it. It generated an absurd amount of force, to the point that it can easily wipe out entire groups of Lesser Daemons.
Using this concept I was able to come up with a few other interesting ways to use Spatial Manipulation, like distorting the space in a certain area and then releasing it to shatter whatever it can reach.
Spatial Manipulation can do some absurd things, all it needs is a bit of creativity, thankfully I have the anime from my first life to lean on.
Who knows, maybe I can make something similar to Kamui.
Hollow Purple was another ability of Limitless I was finally able to get down.
Hollow Purple is basically a fusion of Blue and Red, a fusion of convergence and divergence that collides both infinites to generate imaginary mass.
When something is touched by Hollow Purple it is essentially erased from reality, using this technique I could wipe out a few cities in a single attack.
The only downside is the absurd cost of magicules required to use it, almost one third of my total magicule capacity which is a lot.
Along with all the abilities I learned, the Old Man also taught me a lot about the world itself.
Starting with Demon Lords and Heroes.
Demon Lords are each incredibly strong monsters that rule a territory of some sort.
Each officially recognized Demon Lord is part of the Demon Lord Council.
The members change over time, according to the Old Man the last time he was summoned the members were Guy Crimson, the leader of the Demon Lord Council as well as the Primordial of Red, Millim Nava, Ramiris the Fairy Queen, these three are known as the Ancient Demon Lords. They were the first to ever hold the title of Demon Lord. The rest of the Demon Lords are Dagruel a Giant, Dino a Fallen Angel, Roy Valentine the King of Vampires, Kazalim, Carrion a Lycanthrope, basically a beast man, Frey Queen of Harpies, and Clayman.
All of the Demon Lords are named monsters, names aren't as simple as they were in my previous life.
The only way to describe it is that for monsters names have power in this world.
In order to name a monster you generally need to be significantly stronger than the person you want to name, sometimes you can even lose a significant amount of your power if you aren't strong enough.
Naming someone forms a connection between the namer and the named, whether that is as master and servant, friend and friend, sibling and sibling, etc.
When a monster is named they also generally get a large power boost, sometimes even evolving and gaining new skills.
Presumably if I was named I would likely evolve into an Arch Daemon.
Heroes are basically people who are revered by others due to their heroic deeds. The Old Man didn't know much else about them.
There were a few places I wanted to visit like The Armed Nation of Dwargon, and Sorcerer's Dynasty Sarion, a nation of elves.
The world is extremely vast, before I even attempt to travel to other worlds I want to see this world a bit more.
There are all sorts of monsters and demi-humans out there, Dragons, Daemons, Angels, Spirits, Vampires, Dwarves, Elves, Orcs, Goblins, Ogres, Giants, basically all types of fantasy creatures.
Certain races are stronger or weaker against each other.
For example Daemons are strong against Angels, Angels are strong against Spirits, and Spirits are strong against Daemons.
I feel a Thought Communication and answer it.
'Oye brat, get over here, time to teach you some real swordsmanship, it's embarrassing watching you swing a blade around.'
'Yeah yeah.'
Well, time to learn some swordsmanship I guess.
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I put my sword away as I sit down and catch my breath.
It's been a little while since the Old Man started teaching me swordsmanship, and man was he tough on me.
Even with my enhanced stamina I am exhausted.
"You've gotten better, I'm no longer embarrassed whenever I see you swinging around a sword at the very least."
"Buzz off Old Man."
"Yeah yeah, I'm gonna go get some rest."
"Alright."
Sigh with that over with I can finally relax a bit.
The Old Man might be hard on me but I know it's for my own good.
The world out there is treacherous.
The Old Man wants to teach me all he can before we eventually part ways. He has his own goals and dreams and can't always be with me, I can tell the time we separate is approaching.
He wants to find somewhere to settle down, live in peace until he dies.
It might be a rather simple dream but I can respect it.
At least all this training wasn't for nothing, I can use a sword pretty well now and I'll only get better with time.
The style of swordsmanship the Old Man taught me is something a friend of his taught him.
It's called the Hazy Style or the Hazy Lifestream Style.
The Old Man said that his friend was a reincarnation similar to us, though he comes from the world that us daemons get summoned to rather than the modern world like me and the Old Man.
The Hazy Style is a family of sword arts that use aura centric techniques designed to fight monsters.
So far the Old Man said that I'm quite advanced with the Hazy Style but that I have a long way to go before truly being considered a master of it.
That didn't discourage me, it only did the opposite, I was astounded at how far you can take swordsmanship.
The things the Old Man was able to do with a blade were incredible. Even then he said he isn't as good as his friend and he has been practicing for centuries.
I was able to learn a few different applications of Battlewill that are meant to be used with swordsmanship.
Aura Slash is one of the most basic Battlewill techniques, you basically launch your aura outwards from your weapon as a projectile. It may be basic but it's still deadly.
The next thing I worked on was Aura Sword, basically the user coats their weapon in Aura using Modelwill which boosts the durability and damage of the weapon drastically.
Modelwill is another technique that focuses on making constructs out of Aura, it can even be used to contain objects, magic, and skills.
I still have a long way to go with both magic and swordsmanship, but I am looking forward to my progress.
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As I fly back to the cabin we have been staying at I ponder what else I can do to get stronger.
I was able to evolve Ranged Barrier into Multilayer Barrier, it basically allows me to create multiple barriers, each having a different resistance so I can make one large barrier with multiple resistances.
The skill evolved when I decided to try making multiple Ranged Barriers with different resistances.
This won't be enough though.
I still need to get stronger, I'm still the Old Man's lesser when it comes to swordsmanship though my magical ability far outstrips his due to Cursed Sage and all my other Unique Skills.
As I arrive and walk through the door I notice that the Old Man isn't here.
Odd, he said that he was going to go out today but that he should be back.
As I look around I notice a letter sitting on the table.
I approach the table and a bad feeling starts to form in the pit of my stomach.
He wouldn't.
Would he?
I read the note and set it down on the table.
The Old Man left.
He said that he taught me everything he could and that it was time for him to leave and let me grow on my own.
He said that we would meet again and that I shouldn't slack on my swordsmanship.
Sigh, I knew the time was coming but seriously, leaving a note?
What the fuck man.
I can't even go after him since he is long gone by now.
I decide to take some rest to process everything.
I fly back as I dodge a magicule coated fist, wondering why this keeps happening to me.
"Gah, get over here, is running all you can do?"
It's been a few weeks since the Old Man left. I don't know exactly how long as I don't have a way to tell time, but ever since then I have been running into other daemons like crazy.
It seems like they were afraid of two Greater Daemons so they didn't attack earlier, but the moment they saw an opportunity they struck.
Thankfully it hasn't been that difficult, I alone am capable of fighting off multiple Greater Daemons so it hasn't been that bad.
Can't complain too much about getting some more combat experience.
I decide to end the fight here.
I point my right hand toward the Greater Daemon as I charge up Blue, most Greater Daemons can be dealt with using a single Blue.
"Blue"
I watch as the Greater Daemon tries to fly out of the way but I don't let him as I use spatial manipulation to hold him in place.
Sure I could easily finish him off in a multitude of ways but I like using my more spatially focused skills.
Something about them just calls out to me.
I watch as the Greater Daemon is compressed into nothingness.
Well that's that.
It's been a boring few weeks, I've mostly just been following a routine consisting of fighting and training, not much else to do around here.
I need something to push me in order to evolve.
I'm not sure when I will find a Greater Daemon that can challenge me and fuck fighting an Arch Daemon, those guys would absolutely destroy me.
It seems my only hope for evolution is getting summoned.
I do have a plan to stay in the Demi-Material world for whenever I get summoned.
I can use Creation Magic to make a Golem in the form of a skeleton to possess.
It likely won't be very high tier but it will at least prevent me from running out of magicules to sustain myself.
I just have to play the waiting game to put my plan in action.
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Over the next few days I continue to follow my routine, I decide to focus more on training as that will give me more benefits.
Fights have started to become less and less rewarding, Greater Daemons are quite rare after all.
Once I finished off the initial wave of Greater Daemons they almost stopped appearing entirely.
They likely fled thinking they couldn't beat me so all I am left with is the weak Lesser Daemons.
I lay down on my bed after training.
That's when something happened.
I felt a tugging sort of sensation.
That could only mean one thing.
A Summoning!
….
I could feel the summoner's call for aid and am forcefully pulled along.
Being summoned is a unique sensation.
All of a sudden I appear in a forest of some kind.
I notice a pale looking boy staring at me with hope.
That's when I notice an aura approaching, something strong.
I quickly move out of the way as I sense an attack coming.
Thankfully I successfully evade, unfortunately my summoner was not as fortunate.
I look towards the attacker wondering what it is.
I quickly dodge an incoming wave of fire internally thanking myself for always having Magic Sense active.
A Dragon.
I'm fighting a fucking Dragon.
Well, this isn't part of the plan.
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Beta Reader: @LuluViBritania (FF.N, SB, WN and QQ)/-LuluViB|99th Britannian Emperor(Discord)
Author's Note:
Hopefully this chapter helped some people understand the world a little bit more, I know it was basically a training montage but bear with me, we will get some more action a little later on.
World travel is something that will likely be included though not totally sure yet.
Thanks for reading, hopefully this chapter didn't bore some of you too much.
Support me or read ahead on: https://www.p@treon.com/theogbasilisk
