19 Chapter 19: Operation Starting

(Ughh, I'm getting lazy af. I am in no mood to write in the latter half because I cannot write it in one go and have to pause, resume, pause, resume while at work. Sorry if it's bad on the other half.)

Without noticing, the seventh day had arrived. I had made substantial progress with the Piece after finishing creating the explosive device.

"How do you feel now, Tanya?"

"Wonderful! My mana pool literally just tripled after upgrading to Queen Piece." Tanya replied while feeling giddy from the recent power up.

"Try casting a spell now."

She nodded and cast Passive Shell. The results were honestly surprising even for me who created and enchanted the Piece myself. The defensive barrier is as strong as the Active one. I wonder how much her offensive spells will be upgraded. Not just her magic were upgraded, even her overall physical state was upgraded to double from previous. And the most important part, she can now graduate from the independent Operation Orb to cast spells since her body has a pseudo magic circuit granted by the Queen Piece.

Thanks to the abundance of souls on the battlefield, I can go all out on experimenting and not holding back from wasting tens of thousands of souls to achieve greater progress. But, it seems Being X also caught wind of my action. He sent hundreds of mechanical angels to retrieve the souls on the battlefield and lead them back to the afterlife instead of letting the natural process take place. I still managed to grab around a hundred thousand of the souls and have half of it left, stored in the Ghost King Blade.

"I think that's enough data gathering for now. Let's return and prepare for the operation." I said to Tanya. She nodded and followed behind me as we left the training ground.

———

"Charlotte, I have been wanting to ask you this question for a while now." Visha said to Charlotte who sat in front of her while they were having their lunches.

Both of them had been accompanying each other whenever Ray went off with Tanya to do something without them. Also as fellow adjutant and the only female in the unit excluding Tanya, technically as Charlotte only tag along instead of a part of the unit. They naturally befriend each other.

"Sure, go ahead." Charlotte said before taking another spoonful of boiled potatoes and the rarely available meat stew that is only available this time because tomorrow is their big day. They needed to be well fed and rested as preparation for the mission.

"I heard rumors…" Visha hesitated a bit while playing with her meal but quickly strengthened her resolve and asked anyway.

"I heard rumors that… you and Sir Ray have… relationship with each other. Is that true?" Visha asked and didn't notice the sudden drop of mood visibly on Charlotte's face.

"Where did you hear that?" Charlotte asked with her appetite suddenly gone.

"Well… I… I..!" Visha almost squeaked when the previously normal looking friend of hers suddenly looked weak and gloomy. In her mind she said. 'I knew it, something definitely is not right between her and the Colonel.'

Charlotte immediately stood up and brought her food tray away and left the cafeteria. She also quickly stood up and followed her friend. She is not going to stand in silence when her friend is in trouble.

"Charlotte! Wait for me!" She called and chased after her.

They soon stopped at the courtyard and Visha saw Charlotte collapsed to her knees in one of the hidden corners between the large wooden crates filled with artillery ammunition that were going to be transported soon.

There Charlotte sobbed silently, as if too afraid, or rather, too ashamed of herself to even let out her bottled up emotions. Not knowing what to do and guilty for Charlotte's current state, Visha squatted next to her and gently caressed Charlotte like her mother would when she is sad.

They spent the next ten minutes behind the large crate in silence. Until Charlotte finally calmed down and huddled up next to Visha, seeking the comforting feeling her friend provided.

None of them talk as Visha is afraid she would cause her friend to tear up again. But Charlotte actually was the one that broke the silence.

"I… *hick* I betrayed his trust. *Hick* I.. He.. He was- *hick* sick that day and fainted. He was defenseless and I.. I don't know what came over me and forced myself on him." Charlotte confessed and Visha couldn't believe what she just heard. She took a moment to check if her head heard it wrong.

"You did what?" Visha asked back with expression of sheer disbelief and shock.

After confirming what she heard was correct, Visha sat back in silence and thought back to what she just heard.

According to Charlotte, not only she assaulted her superior, sexually and during moments of weakness while he is recuperating from some kind of accident. She also assaulted a minor if the Colonel's age is the same as the Major since they are twins. That's three offenses right there and enough to get her executed, especially the assaulting her superior, one. In the best case scenario, she is dishonorably discharged from the military with a criminal record.

Looking at Visha's reaction, Charlotte becomes even sadder that she is going to lose her only friend. But at the core, it's self-loathing. She hated herself that she considered taking the quick way out if not for her master still seeking her out. Although as nothing but a tool of relief. He no longer called her by her nickname, he now addressed her formally by her military rank then name. He didn't even acknowledge her as a person anymore in his cold whenever he looked at her.

He usually finds her at the dead of night. When he takes a break from his research or task he is doing. He always put a leash on her neck as if to cement her position in his eyes as the pet instead of human. The pleasure came from it did nothing but to haunt her with the regret of her mistake. The only thing that gives her the slightest peace of mind is the abuse he inflicted on her.

She seeks out the physical abuse because it makes her think she is paying for the mistake she did to her master. Even if it means choking her numerous times to the brink of asphyxiation or being whipped until her skin cracked and bleeds. She accepted it all with happiness. Even so, her master continues to treat her harsher than before. Yesterday, he wouldn't even utter her name anymore or even look at her unless necessary.

"Oh, crap! It's time to assemble for the briefing!" Visha suddenly wakes Charlotte from her thoughts.

"Uh… don't worry. I still don't know much about the situation. But my mom always tells me if I make a mistake, I have to apologize to the person. Maybe you should do just that and probably he will forgive you?" Visha answered unsurely because the mistake Charlotte made isn't exactly something small that can easily be forgiven or at all.

"Anyway, let's return before we are late." Visha said to escape this awkward situation.

(Ray PoV)

Both Tanya and I almost reached the buildings and arrived at the courtyard leading to the main entrance. By chance, we stumbled upon both our adjutants, all four having the same destination. We walked together in awkward silence as two pairs of eyes staring at my back.

'Nope, those puppy eyes are not gonna work on me. I'm immune to the worldly temptation called cuteness!' I chant the mantra on repeat in my heart because, lately. I found it harder and harder to be angry at Charlotte considering she really regretted her action. But, this is her punishment and I'm not gonna budge. Lest she think I am easily forgiving and step over my head again in the future.

I continued to make small talk with Tanya to distract myself until we reached our barrack.

———

"Great, everyone has arrived." The Colonel nodded when both Tanya and I arrived in the conference room. "Let's get the briefing started."

The other commanding officers, minor to major ones, nodded in agreement and took their seat across the table with a large map depicting the region where the Empire, Francois Republic, Albion Kingdom and Legadonia Entente Alliance are located.

"According to the plan proposed by Colonel Ray, the defensive line had been withdrawn two days ago as the first part of the operation. We also scattered the explosive devices supplied by Colonel Ray himself, that is the newly introduced, experimental timed explosive device, all over the retreat positions that are set to explode in exactly 12 hours from now."

"So far, everyone follows? Any questions?" But seeing none raise their hand or voicing their thoughts, the Colonel nodded and continued because he trusted his subordinates are excellent one that will never stay silent if they didn't understand.

"Good. Next, would be the third phase, the mobilization part that is still commencing as we speak. The mechanized division and armored division are currently moving behind the enemy's line as we speak and stay hidden until the explosion signals the start of the fourth phase of the operation."

"For the third phase of the operation, in another five hours, the Argent and her Aerial Mage Wing by the lead of Colonel Ray, will infiltrate far behind the enemy's line to cripple their fortified stronghold along with their command chain and communication."

"After the fourth phase commenced, our main forces will converge on the trapped and crippled enemy forces in the trenches. Then we will sweep forward until we take over the entire Rhine Front off the Francois Republican soldiers. Meanwhile the 203th Aerial Mage Wing will act as commando Wing to push forward to Paris and cripple their high value military and government infrastructure while the 3rd and 4th Aviation, carrying the 205-207th Assault Mage Battalions will reinforce the 203th Wing on preliminary assault on Paris with our mechanized and armored division will help capturing and secure the enemy's capital."

"Any questions?" The Colonel asked but everyone was busy digesting the information and discussing their part in the plans. So, he gave them some time before continuing.

After a few minutes, someone raised his hand and asked a question.

"Forgive me for my brazen question, sir. I am aware of Colonel Ray and the Argent's capability as an assault mage. However, I must ask if it's wise to let just a single Wing push forward alone into the enemy's stronghold after participating in two consecutive battles."

"I also have a similar question, sir." Several officers raised their hands to forward the question.

Normally, this kind of situation would be dissatisfied officers trying to stop someone from hogging all the achievements. But in this case, no one wants to be the group that charges heads on into the enemy's capital that normally would be the most fortified and heavily defended area. Instead, they are genuinely worried about the Operation and the fatigue from battling three times in a row will lower the combat ability of Tanya's Wing.

"Unfortunately, whether we can do it or not, we must carry it out regardless. There isn't anymore Aerial Mage Wing or Battalion to spare that is capable of taking over the task. If only we have the support from the Grand Army, but they are unfortunately sent ro reinforce the Norden defense."

Then the Colonel looked over at me and Tanya.

"A heavy responsibility you must bear, but as I said. There isn't any more capable unit that can take over the task. I apologize for putting such a heavy burden on the shoulders of the both of you." The Colonel said before sighing.

"No worries sir, we will definitely carry out the mission without fail. For the glory of the Fatherland." Tanya immediately jumped from her seat with enthusiasm and saluted.

Although she might look very enthusiastic to serve the Empire, we both know we are doing this just for our survival. If the tree we are taking the shed on was cutted down, there will be nothing left that can shield us from the heat of the sun.

"I will be depending on you to bring the good news, Major." The Colonel nodded before handing out documents containing the finer details of the Operation to us and allowing us to be dismissed after that.

I didn't stay for long and left immediately after taking the documents for me.

It's been quite some time since I last opened my status screen and distributed the stats I got from the level ups. I went to a hard to reach corner of the repurposed medieval fortress and finally took a look at the mess I made with my status screen.

———

Status

[Name: Rayark

Age: 10

Alignment: Neutral Evil (New)

Level: 92 (44%)

Main Class: Battle Mage

Support Class: Commander

Title: Expert Magus, Knight of the Realm, Incarnate of Evil

HP: 2330

HP Regen: 180 HP/Min

MP: 20,260

MP Regen: 732 MP/Min

———

STR: 34.5

VIT: 92

AGI: 51.25

DEX: 69

INT: 207.2

WIS: 182

LUK: 29

———

Stat Point: 0

Abilities:

Fiction Adaptation LV -

Mana Manipulation LV 53/-

Pseudo Reactor Core LV 42/60

Alteration LV 30/50

Combat Mastery LV 34/40

Tracing LV 50/50

Supernatural Physique LV 30/50

Pickpocket LV 25/30

Enhanced Mind LV 39/50

Time Alter LV 14/50

Tri Formation Array LV 22/50

Soul Manipulation LV 20/30

Dimension Tear LV 17/20

Dimension Shift LV 23/50

Future Calculation LV 23/50

Soul Defiler LV 42/- (New)

+1 lvl per 1000 soul defiled

+Increase offensive spiritual ability

+Ability

Mass Murderer LV 16/- (New)

+1 lvl per 1000 beings of the same species killed.

+Advantage when attacking species, 'human'.

Sadist LV 4/30 (New)

•Improve ability to induce sexual gratification by inflicting pain and humiliation.

Mental Degradation LV 12/30 (New)

•Reduce mental faculties (=mind defense)

Spiritual Enslavement LV 15/50 (New)

•Wielding one's own strong Will to assert dominance over other spiritual beings until they succumbed to your Will.

Cognitive Manipulation LV 10/30 (New)

•Ability to manipulate everything under category, 'Cognition'.

———

??? Series

??? Lust LV ?/?

??? Greed LV ?/?

??? Pride LV ?/?

———

All I can say is just… Wow. I didn't really keep counting after the first few thousand people I killed. The same with the soul. It's neat the system was considerate to give me a glorified score counter to keep track of the numbers.

After that were new abilities that were very closely related to spirituality. I thought all this time I was finally getting some progress on Soul Manipulation, but it turns out it was the doing of the new ability, Spiritual Enslavement. As for Mental Degradation and Cognitive Manipulation… On second thought, I better keep it to myself.

Then the last set of abilities. I have absolutely no idea what their effects were but one thing for sure it's the blessing and it's closely tied to the concept of seven sins. As if being branded with Evil alignment and literally called as Incarnate of Evil isn't enough Evil on my resume.

I get the Lust and Greed part. But since when did I show myself in a prideful manner to deserve this?

Anyway, not only my stats have grown leaps and bounds that my mana pool is literally 5 times greater than Tanya. I also got several new useful skills despite how they paint me with the image of evil villains. Like, couldn't the system give a better name than Mass Murderer? Maybe something like… Great Slayer or something. At least it doesn't sound straight evil like Mass Murderer or Soul Butcher.

Finally, the last bit of improvement is the new class and alignment. The Battle Mage is basically giving me improvement on my magus aspect in battle like faster casting, buffing the power of my spell, faster regeneration in battle etc. The Commander class improves my ability to lead and the strength of people that I lead.

Then the alignment I honestly am not sure. All it says is alignment reflects the value of my Karma. Bad or not, I am not sure since the system has no idea about it either. All it says is that karma affects my future. When I ask Future Calculation what is the chance for my karma to fuck over my future, the answer is glitched numbers. The Future Calculation cannot provide an answer. Then I asked again what is the chance my fate will cause my defeat to Being X, the answer is 0%.

I choose to not think too much about it. I have a mission to complete shortly after this. Having my focus distracted by this topic isn't the best thing to do.

"*Sigh* I wonder how long I have to put up with this. A bad start, a world that gives no opportunity to grow stronger and to maximize the advantage of my system." I lay against the wall again and look up to the sky.

To be honest, I am already capable of traversing out of this universe and hopefully entering another. But I just cannot guarantee I can arrive unscathed because we all know what lives outside the universes. Of course I am speaking about the eldritch god. Not exactly the level of Azathoth, the Nuclear Chaos but still that can kill Being X effortlessly or any gods within most normal universes.

How am I so sure about this? Well, remember who created Ray Elliot and the whole story that he is confined, in the first place?

Yeah… that's why.

"How has it never surprised me? I always the one fucking over myself, deliberately or not. Haiz… Fuck my life."

"If only I get to start in Danmachi or something. With the dungeon, I'll probably already achieve way more and better than what I did in this world."

Like seriously, after a year of time. I still didn't have a specialized set of abilities that could define a particular combat style or even my Job Class. All that I have is good against people of this world because I outclassed them. But if pitted against enemies of my own level, I doubt I would have an easy time defeating them like I did now.

My current set of abilities is a mix between a mage, marksman and melee combatant. My combat style is like Archer Emiya due to me mimicking him. I have no clearly defined combat style that I favored. I can fight in melee and ranged just like Archer Emiya. I'm not sure if this is a good thing or bad. Because unlike him, I have no ultimate ability or sure kill technique like Unlimited Blade Works that can help him overcome strong enemies.

You see now, why I worried too much about my own future and hesitation to be brave and just jump to a better world to have better opportunities in growing further. Instead, I stayed and remained patient and grew bit by bit. Taking all the time I have with my baby steps.

Finished with my ranting, I take a look at my pocket watch. "Two more hours…" I said but still leaning on the wall instead of returning to prepare.

"Hm… the quality of my new abilities is quite good. I wonder what I can get from them." I wondered while thinking if it's a good idea to try gambling with my luck to get better ability.

But paused when I thought of something. Why not ask Future Calculation how much of my potential I am actually using to know how much I left unused.

Well, the result was shocking to say the least. Because, the answer turned out to be only 38.62%. Only 38% of my potential is actually used. Where are the rest of the 60+% hiding?

After some guessing, I used my last question on Future Calculation to ask if the potential was actually the abilities that I can but didn't obtain.

Yes, you heard it correctly. Abilities that are within my reach but I didn't bother to obtain because I didn't have uses for them and because I rather focus on what is in my hand than busy hoarding lots of skills and ending up with none of them leveled.

There are just too many abilities that I can simply obtain simply by doing an action. For example now, I used my mana to change my mind slightly in a non harmful way.

*Ding*

[Requirements fulfilled, ability 'Mind Manipulation' obtained.]

Mind Manipulation LV 1/30 (Novice)

•Ability to manipulate the mind.

Just as simple as that and like before, I worried about having too many abilities on my plate that it overfilled.

So, I can instead just merge them all. If the merge fails, can't I just keep remaking them and keep merging until I succeed? Not like the system is stopping me from remaking abilities that I already had before. I can in fact recreate abilities that I once had if the previous one was destroyed. I tested it before, trying to merge Dimension Tear with Dimension Shift, Hoping to create the ability to traverse between Dimension only for it to fail and destroyed the Dimension Tear skill that I later easily recreate by tearing the space and time again with large amounts of mana.

Perhaps only abilities that are unique and I am unable to create then I might be careful to merge when it has a low success rate.

With new ideas in mind and the feeling of laziness to return early and forced to brief the troops, I start to create not all abilities I can but those that I thought would be useful.

Two hours later…

[Soul Manipulation+Spiritual Enslavement+Hypnosis+Mind Manipulation+Cognitive Manipulation+Mental Degradation> Spiritual Subjugation]

[Sword Mastery+Spear Mastery+Bow Mastery+Axe Ma…+…+...+...> Multi-Arms Mastery]

[+??? Wrath]

[Sword Technique+Spear Technique+Bow Technique+Axe Te…+…+...+...> Multi-Arms Martial Technique]

[Combat Mastery + Multi-Arms Mastery + Multi-Arms Martial Technique > Omni Arms Mastery]

[Magic Defense Up + Energy Dispersion Barrier + Passive Energy Barrier > Magic Resistance

[Intuition + Premonition + Instinct + Future Divination > Precognition]

This is what I could achieve in these two hours. I was actually terrified of what I just discovered. There was no doubt about it. Two hours of constant creating abilities and merging them with varied probability of success. I soon realized it after I successfully merged my first ability. This is no doubt an rng, dopamine farming activity and salt mine. Not too different from the Gachas I am used to. Although there is no premium currency needed, my time and effort is considered as one which is being spent to ro- merge ability until it successfully coughs up an ability I wanted.

But anyway, time is up and I need to report to duty immediately before hopping on planes with the rest of the 203th Aerial Mage Wing units

—————

(To make this clear, Omni-Arms Mastery Ray don't immediately be a ultimate Grandmaster that descent from mountain after 1 thousands year of training. he will start from basic but when he level one weapon proficiency, all other lv up too due to the ability. it just makes everything less time consuming.

Magic Resistance isn't op by any mean. it don't immune to magic, only reduce the power behind the attack but if enemies use too little mana behind the attack then the spell dissolve before hitting him, not immune.

Precog is your usual precog when something bad gonna happen, ray can see up to 10 seconds ahead of him. of coz if enemy too stronk, he see lesser future or none at all.

Spiritual Subjugation is to dominate enemy or any spiritual beings, objects. To make it easier unlike baser form, spiritual Enslavement. the Spiritual Subjugation offer advantage of literally shredding enemies soul and will to weaken it and then throw poke- i mean, enslaving their soul and dominate their will. Don't work on someone with stronger will than him. Willpower stats is VIT+INT+WIS. The mental Fortitude)

———

Status

[Name: Rayark

Age: 10

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Level: 92 (44%)

Main Class: Battle Mage

Support Class: Commander

Title: Expert Magus, Knight of the Realm, Demon of the East

HP: 2330 (1 VIT= 10HP, Base 200 & 5/Lvl)

HP Regen: 180 HP/Min (1 VIT= 1HP/M)

MP: 20,260 (1 WIS= 5MP, Base 150)

MP Regen: 732 MP/Min (1 Wis 1MP/M)

———

STR: 30+15% = 34.5

VIT: 80+15% = 92

AGI: 50+15% = 51.25

DEX: 60+15% = 69

INT: 148+40% = 207.2

WIS: 130+40% = 182

LUK: 29

———

Stat Point: 0

Abilities:

Fiction Adaptation LV -

Mana Manipulation LV 53/- (Supreme)

Pseudo Reactor Core LV 42/60 (Supreme) [+7]

Alteration LV 30/50 (GrandMaster) [+6]

Tracing LV 50/50 (Supreme) [+5]

Supernatural Physique LV 30/50 (GrandMaster) [+5]

Pickpocket LV 25/30 (Master)

Enhanced Mind LV 39/50 (GrandMaster) [+5]

Time Alter LV 14/50 (Adept)

Tri Formation Array LV 22/50 (Master) [+5]

Dimension Tear LV 17/20 (Adept) [+13]

Dimension Shift LV 23/50 (Master) [+16]

Future Calculation LV 23/50

(Master)

Soul Butcher LV 9/-

Mass Murderer LV 6/-

Sadist LV 1/30 (Novice)

Spiritual Subjugation LV 1/80 (Novice) (New)

Omni Arms Mastery 1/90 (Novice) (New)

Precognition 1/70 (Novice) (New)

Magic Resistance 1/80 (Novice) (New)

Psychokinesis LV 1/50 (Novice) (New)

———

??? Series

??? Lust LV ?/? ?

??? Greed LV ?/??

??? Pride LV ?/??

??? Wrath LV ??/?? (New)

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