Chapter 11
Chapter 11
This dungeon was a special kind of hell, me and my army of summons along with a few undead orks are cutting our way through a seemingly unending green tide, I was getting through this damned place this time, I don't know why the game thought it would be funny to fill the tier five greenskin dungeon with warhammer 40k orks but this is just ridiculous, to give a little background it's currently Sunday night and I'm trying to clear what I hope to be the final tier in the greenskin line of dungeons, in the tier four dungeon I killed off the so called warchief who ended up being a powerful ogre battlemage.
That fight is like a sweet tender mercy compared to this I mean seriously all the other dungeons have been pretty standard fantasy but now I'm suddenly thrust into 40k of all places, I'm currently on a massive space hulk that's positively infested with orks, I have to put my thoughts on hold as another wave crashes into my defensive line and all I hear are the deafening screams and the sounds of fighting, I quickly take to the air using flight magic and start raining down a barrage of elemental spells killing many before flying back down as a hail of bullets sails past where I just was, a group of orks break through the line and let out a war cry as they charge at me with a wide variety of crude weapons.
I conjure up three mana blade that begin to rapidly spin around me as I switch the staff of magnus to my left hand while drawing the enchanted elven sword hanging around my waist, before they reach me I reach out with my telekinesis and send one of the bigger orks flying end over end through the air and he dies as his flying body is snapped up by a looming spectral dragon then I deposit five more swords on the ground from my inventory and pick them up with telekinesis and as I activate my sacred gear ethereal copies of all my weapons appear floating in the air, I feel a surge of adrenaline as I rush into the fray with my beyond superhuman speed boosted even further by a haste spell, I become a blender cleanly slicing apart any ork dumb enough to get too close.
In the few seconds it takes me to dispatch that group of orks my army has been largely smashed to pieces not for lack of trying though my summons and undead gave far better than they got but we just don't have the seemingly infinite numbers the orks do not to mention that as more time passes here the more often stronger ork variants spawn I go to start summoning reinforcements but the staff doesn't respond looks like it's out of mana and I'm almost tapped out myself I need to get out of here before a warboss spawns, I click my tongue before I stuff all the nearby ork corpses in inventory and use the escape instant dungeon skill to vanish and reappear back in my bedroom in my mansion in Kuoh, I immediately open my quest log and character menu to go over my progress.
Mastery over mana (Tier 1)
Description: You have reached 100/100 in your mana manipulation proficiency now its time to take it to the next level
Objectives:
Cast 10,000 Spells, Current Progress 234/10,000
Kill or destroy 5000 Creatures with magic, Current progress 153/5000
Create 25 new spells, Current Progress 3/25
Rewards: Legendary Mana Manipulation
Damn I have a long way to go but I really want to see what legendary mana manipulation gives me, I let out a sigh as I flick my hair back, running away from a fight doesn't sit well with me but I'm not about to risk dying again just to satisfy my ego, I immediately hop into an empty dungeon and bring out the eye of magnus and use it to fully recharge the staff before I put it back, I was worried I would have a hard time recharging this thing since I'm not nearly stupid enough to bring out the eye in Kuoh I bet Serafall and Sirzechs would be knocking on my door within the hour if I did that, luckily the game provided my with an easy solution so I don't have to worry, I leave the empty dungeon and unequip my battle gear and head to the shower.
I could just cast my cleaning spell but after spending a few months roughing it in Skyrim I've come to really miss running water and electricity, as the hot water runs across my body I let out a sigh of contentment, these past few days I've been grinding like a man possessed but as I pull up my character sheet to look over my newly acquired perks and abilities.
Name: Tavin Lancaster (Archmage)
Race: Human (Dragonborn)
Level: 60
HP: 2880 + 200 (120 + 50 per minute)
MP: 4800 + 1000 (1092 + 1592 every 10 seconds)
SP: 2640 (120 + 50 every 10 seconds)
Strength: 120
Dexterity: 120
Endurance: 120 (24 HP & 22 SP per point) (1 HP & SP Regen per point)
Intelligence: 160 (30 MP per point)
Wisdom: 156 (7 Mana Regen per point)
Charisma: 90
Luck: 87
Points: 0
Credits: 50
Dragon Souls: 0
[Sacred Gears]
[Echo Chamber]
When the owner activates this gear it will automatically create echo copies of their weapons and attacks, when active it will passively consume mana and double the cost of spells
[New Perks]
New perk Added for 100 WIS (Mana Factory)
+ 3 MP regen per point of WIS
New Perk Added for 75 STR (Unassailable)
Your muscles and bones are supernaturally dense and all physical damage you take is reduced by half of your STR rounded down
New Perk Added for 100 STR (Pillar of Might)
Your STR bonus is doubled when it comes to melee attacks
New Perk Added for 75 DEX (Feline Agility)
You always land on your feet and all fall damage is reduced by half
New Perk Added for 100 DEX (Assassin's Grace)
You skill and finesse in battle has reached supernatural levels, DEX bonus for attacks is doubled
New Perk Added for 75 END (Regenerator tier 1)
Your body has reached a supernatural level of fitness cause you to heal far faster than a normal person, +50 HP & SP regen per minute
New Perk Added for 100 END (Relentless Endurance)
Your stamina and vitality are both supernatural once per day you can force a END check to succeed, + 2 HP and SP per point of END
New Perk Added for 75 CHA (Flawless Appearance)
Your body is like a beautiful work of art completely without flaws, even people who hate you have to admit your a 10/10
New Perk Added for 50 LCK (Brutal Critical)
All critical hit now deal three times normal damage as opposed to two
New Perk Added for 75 LCK (Lady Luck's Favor)
Whenever you have to make a stat check for any reason there is a 1/10 chance that it will automatically succeed no matter what
[New Powers]
(Translocation)
The user can instantly switch places with their summons at will
(Mana Sense)
You have become so in tune with the feeling of mana that you have picked up the innate ability to detect it, you can sense any source of mana with INT feet of you
(Metamagic)
Your almost perfect control over your mana allows you to alter the properties of your spells as you wish for additional MP cost
[New Skills]
New Skill Created (Fly)
The user grants a person the ability to fly for up to INT minutes, a person's max flying speed is INT/2 miles per hour
New Skill Created (Stunning Strike)
When you hit with a melee attack you can release a pulse of disruptive mana into the targets body in order to stun them
Scales with STR and DEX
New skill Created (Create undead)
The user completely overwhelms a corpse with necrotic magic transforming it into a undead creature under the user's command, you can only control INT/5 undead at a time, if you go over this limit any new undead will not be controlled, some undead will require a specific type of corpse
All Undead are tier 2
Undead known (Zombie,Skeleton,Ghoul,Death knight,Skeletal dragon,Wraith)
New Skill Created (Necrotic Ray)
The user fires a blackish purple beam from their hand which causes living matter to rot and decay, interferes with healing
Scales with INT
New Skill Created (Hunger Mist)
The user sends out a rapidly spreading black mist from their palm which deals poison and necrotic damage, the user recovers a small amount of HP proportional to the damage caused by the mist
Scales with INT
I finish cleaning and drying myself before I equip some casual clothes, just a tee shirt and some sweatpants, my wardrobe is basically empty now since I just put everything in my inventory because it's more convenient, I debate for a moment about whether or not I should boot up my PC and play some games but I ultimately decide that even if I don't need to sleep I probably should every once in a while so I throw myself onto my big comfy bed and I pass out shortly after.
[Line break]
I'm woken up by the sunlight coming through my blinds and shining down on my face, I grunt and pull the covers over my face and turn away, for a few moments I contemplate missing my first day of school before I sigh and throw the covers off me and get out of bed, it turns out that even though the game eliminates the feeling of exhaustion it's still annoying to drag myself out of bed in the morning, checking the time I realize that I still have about a hour before I have to be at school so I make and eat a simple breakfast and play some games on my phone until I need to leave.
When it's time I cast clean on myself and equip my school uniform before I head out the door, luckily my letter of enrollment came with directions because without it I probably would have gotten lost, as I'm walking along the sidewalk I spot three boys headed in the same direction, normally this wouldn't be anything worth acknowledging but I recognize them.
Name: Matsuda, Three size scouter
Race: Human
Strength: 4
Dexterity: 4
Endurance: 3
Intelligence: 7
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 3
Luck: 3
Name: Motohama, perverted baldy
Race: Human
Strength: 6
Dexterity: 5
Endurance: 6
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 3
Charisma: 4
Luck: 5
Name: Issei Hyoudou, Future harem king
Race: Human
Strength: 5
Dexterity: 5
Endurance: 5
Intelligence: 4
Wisdom: 4
Charisma: 4
Luck: 20
I guess you'd have to be pretty lucky to be born with the boosted gear also future harem king? Not on my watch, I'm still a ways behind them and I'm pretty sure they have no idea I'm here, I could kill them all with a single spell, of course I can't really do that without drawing attention to myself but still Issei has one of the most busted items in this entire world and I want it but I need to think this through, first off my goal is to get the boosted gear and even if I'm willing to risk drawing the devil's attention by killing Issei I don't have a way to extract it, as I ultimately decide to leave I walk away with a smirk on my face and the beginnings of a plan forming in my head, maybe I can kill two birds with one stone.
I arrive at the school gates around five minutes early and I spy the devil heiress I'm supposed to meet standing to one side of the gate, Sona is a stern looking yet beautiful girl, she's quite a bit shorter than me and she's dressed in the standard Kuoh academy uniform for girls and slightly rounded glasses adorn her face, she has short neck length black hair done in a bob cut, she has a slender frame and a modest bust, as I approach the gate she seems to notice me as she begins waving me over and I quickly make my way over to her.
+7 Affection with Sona Sitri for (First Impressions)
"Are you miss Shitori by any chance?" I ask in perfect Japanese, a perk of my background which I figured out, I also gained some hazy memories about living in this world.
"I am indeed, and you must by Mr Lancaster correct?" She says in a polite and professional tone.
"Yes that's right, it's good to meet you." I say while stepping forward and extending my hand, as she goes to take my hand I relax my mana suppression a little so some of my power can leak out while simultaneously using observe on her.
Name: Sona Sitri
Race: Pure blood devil
Strength: 37
Dexterity: 44
Endurance: 41
Intelligence: 71
Wisdom: 62
Charisma: 55
Luck: 47
Affection: 7
Thoughts about you: You're intriguing
She's pretty strong but she's still weaker than me which means Rias is probably weaker than me as well since I don't remember any large power gap between them which means that there shouldn't be any real threats in Kuoh at the moment I don't know how strong Riser is suppose to be beyond being vaguely stronger than Rias but with the instant dungeon's help I should be able to beat him, I realize that my thoughts are wandering so I quickly refocus on Sona.
She shows no outward reaction beyond tensing up for a moment and a slight widening of her eyes, after introductions are over Sona takes me on a short tour of the school showing me where all my classes are and at the end we're standing outside my homeroom, "this is our last stop your teacher is already expecting you so you just need to go in and introduce yourself" I simply give her a nod in acknowledgement "I have some student council business I need to attend to so I'll look forward to seeing you around."
As I watch her depart I wonder if I've peeked her interest, I know that the two heiresses like to recruit people with magical potential and I was leaking mana the whole time we were walking and she definitely noticed, if I'm anywhere close to the canon timeline then maybe she's prioritizing Rias but there's no way to say for sure, still I'm not even sure I want to be recruited or if I even can since my stats are higher than hers.
Anyways I've spent enough time thinking about this so I knock on the door and wait until the teacher tells me to come in, once I open the door and step inside I immediately scan the classroom and see a few familiar faces namely the perverted trio, the two kendo girls Murayama and Katase along with Aika Kiryuu, before I even have a chance to say anything Issei jumps out of his seat and points at me before shouting " What the hell another damned pretty boy! Things are already bad enough with Kiba here."
The teacher, an average looking middle aged woman is quick to silence Iessi, after he returns to his seat the teacher prompts me to introduce myself so I move in front of the board and say hello everyone my name is Tavin Lancaster I transferred here from America I want to get along with you so please take care of me," while putting on my best smile, the reaction of the class is pretty mixed with the girls blushing ans whispering amongst themselves which I have to thank my high charisma stat for and a lot but not all of the boy grumbling and complaining.
After the excitement dies down the teacher assigns me a seat which is next to Aika and somewhat close to the perverted trio, once I'm seated and the teacher starts teaching again I look at the reputation notifications I got.
+ 2 Affection with Aika Kiryuu for (First Impressions)
+ 30 Affection with Aika Kiryuu for "large penis"
+ 7 Affection with Murayama for (First Impressions)
+ 5 Affection with Katase for (First Impressions)
I close the game messages not even bothering to read about the perverted trio's rep changes since I already know that they don't like me and I don't intend to expend the effort needed to change that, the class itself was pretty uneventful with my obscenely high INT stat trivializing everything, so I just let my mind wander for a bit the teacher calls on me a few times testing to see if I'm paying attention but I always answer her questions correctly so eventually she leaves me alone.
The rest of class passes by uneventfully and after it's over I'm positively swarmed by the girls in class and they start asking about where I'm from if I plan to join any clubs and if I'm single, my first instinct was to politely excuse myself an leave quickly but I hold myself back a good reputation can be useful even in a low stakes place like high school so I politely answer their questions and make small talk, a lot of their questions are personal and my background only gives me so much information so I have to make up a bunch of stuff.
Eventually the barrage of personal questions comes to an end, the only thing interesting that comes from it is an offer from Katase and Murayama to come check out the kendo club after I mentioned that I practiced martial arts before I transferred as an excuse to explain my physique, I agree to stop by after school which earns me a small amount of a
affection with both of them, I also mention that I use to play chess mostly as a test to see if it gets back to Sona and to see if it gets some kind of a reaction out of her.
My first school day passes mostly without incident though I do notice a few members of the student council subtly spying on me and as school lets out I make my way to a secluded area and make sure I'm alone before I summon one of my new undead a specter, which is a relatively weak ghostly undead that costs one soul to create, I order it to follow Issei and I watch as it's form fades from view and I sense it leaves, I don't know when Raynare will approach Issei it could be tomorrow or a month from now but I don't need him getting killed unexpectedly.
With that business out of the way I make my way over to the kendo building and head inside, as soon as I enter I hear the sound of wood striking wood and I see Murayama and Katase in the middle of a heated spar, they clash back and forth several times as I sit back and watch, their swordplay and footwork are actually rather impressive for their stats even if it seems like they're moving in slow motion to me, after about a minute Katase falls for a feint allowing Murayama to hit her side which ends the match.
Shortly after they finish and they remove their protective gear Katase notices me and waves me over, as I walk over I take a moment to really look them over and I can definitely tell that this is basically a hentai world these two are largely unimportant side characters and they're still hotter than pretty much all the women I knew in my previous life, Murayama and Katase both have toned athletic bodies from their active lifestyles and while Murayama has lager breast Katase's ass more than make up the difference, Murayama's face is framed by long brown hair done up in a ponytail in stark contrast to Katase's short pink hair.
Once I'm standing in front of them Murayama speaks up, "oh Tavin I'm glad you could make it, I hope you didn't have to wait very long we were in the middle of a practice match." Katase says while taking a deep breath to calm her breathing back down.
"It was no trouble at all I basically just walked in, still those were some pretty smooth moves out there." Their eyes seem to light up at the praise as small blushes form on their faces, I use my metamagic to cast arouse on both of them with no outward indications, not full power but just enough to cause their blushes to deepen a bit.
+5 Affection with Murayama and Katase for complimenting their abilities
With that both of them are above twenty affection pretty solid for only knowing them for a few hours.
"Allow us to reintroduce ourselves I'm Murayama the captain of the kendo club and this is Katase the vice captain I know you said that you had some experience with martial arts so would you like to spar with me?"
New Quest Added (A Friendly Spar)
Description: You have been challenged to a kendo spar by Murayama, this could be a good opportunity to impress her so long as you don't reveal too much.
Objective: Defeat Murayama in the spar
Bonus objective: Don't cheat or reveal anything supernatural or superhuman
Rewards: Increased Affection with Murayama and Katase
Bonus Rewards: Gotcha token ×1
I had considered throwing the match on purpose to avoid standing out too much but now that there's quest rewards on the line I have to win, "well since you offered I'd be happy to give it a try" I say with a confidant grin slowly spreading across my face.
After I agree I'm lead to a changing room and left alone, it's takes me a while to find a kendo uniform in my size and I struggle to put it on for about a minute before I realize I can just equip it so after I do that I head back out into the main room and catch a wooden practice sword that Katase throws to me before Murayama starts going over the rules, basically every clean hit is one point and every time someone scores a point we return to our starting positions and the winner is the one who gets the best of three rounds.
The first round is actually pretty interesting, not because it's close or anything it couldn't be what with my vastly superior stats and my swordsmanship proficiency which improved by leaps and bounds during my two day grind no the actual reason it's interesting is because this is the first time I've had to hold back my physical strength, Skyrim is a fantasy world so there was no need to hold back but now I'm having to pull my punches and it's a lot more difficult then I thought it would be.
Murayama and I go back and forth with me easily blocking all of her strikes and me being hesitant to actually attack, eventually I see an opening and I hit her as lightly as possible on her right shoulder which causes her to let out a little yelp end the first round, as we walk back to are starting positions I notice her rubbing the spot where I hit her, it looks like I still used to much power I have to be more carful or I'll fail the quest.
I am immediately put on the defensive at the start of the next round and I can now tell that she was holding back before, she's being much more aggressive this time around and it's getting harder to fend her off with out getting into superhuman territory, I guess her proficiency must be close to mine or even higher, after almost two minutes of me just barely keeping her at bay she throw a feint which would have caught me off guard if I didn't see her use that same move on Katase earlier so when her sword come for my side I catch it with mine and we lock blades.
As we're standing there with her pushing against me with all her might I realize something, this whole match I've just been matching her strength but how strong is she really? I mean back in Skyrim the highest physical stat I saw in an unaugmented human was twenty and anytime I saw one higher than that there was always some kind of magic involved and a quick observe reveals that her strength is only a seven so I should easily be able to overpower her without revealing anything so I step forward and shove her back leveraging my superior size and strength to knock her off balance and mess up her footing which gives me the opening I need to deal the final blow and finish the match.
Quest Completed (A Friendly Spar)
Description: You have been challenged to a kendo spar by Murayama, this could be a good opportunity to impress her so long as you don't reveal too much.
Objective: Defeat Murayama in the spar
Bonus objective: Don't cheat or reveal anything supernatural or superhuman
Rewards: Increased Affection with Murayama and Katase
Bonus Rewards: Gotcha token ×1
By the time the match is over several of the other kendo girls have gathered around and I could hear cheers coming from the crowd during our final exchange, unfortunately I think I may have put just a bit too much strength behind that last attack because Murayama fell backwards onto her butt, I quickly put down the practice sword and go over to her "hey sorry about that you're not hurt are you?" I say while kneeling down and placing a hand on her shoulder and subtly casting arouse on her.
As I stare down at her face I can see the blush spread across her face even as she's panting in exhaustion, " I-I I'm fine, sorry for making you worry" she stammers out as I stand back up and offer her my hand which she gladly accepts as I help her get back on her feet, at that moment Katase runs up to us.
"That was amazing! Are you sure you're a beginner!" Katase shouts enthusiastically, practically bouncing up and down with excitement, I get a sudden urge to pat her head and her face turns scarlet as stroke her pink hair, interestingly enough I see a look of jealousy cross Murayama's face out of the corner of my eye for just a moment, I take my hand out of Katase's hair, "I've never tried kendo before but I do have some martial arts training under my belt so it's not that impressive," I say intentionally downplaying my skill.
This time Murayama spoke up "are you kidding? That was some of the best swordplay I've ever seen if you've never done kendo before then you have to be some kind of prodigy, if you're interested we'd love to have you join our club."
I gave her offer some thought, on the one hand joining would be an easy path forward with these two but on the other hand I imagine I'll be quite busy in the near future what with Asia the fallen and Riser to deal with and that's just in the short term still there's no need to rush and make a decision on the spot "hmm it's seems like a good especially if I get to spend more time with girls as good looking as you two but I don't know what my schedule will be like so can I decide later?"
The hopeful looks on their faces seem to dim a bit as I don't immediately accept but they are quickly replaced with blushes at my compliment, honestly if my mental stats weren't so high I probably would have missed the transition, "That's totally understandable my offer is always open so I hope you'll join up." Murayama says with a radiant smile on her face, I simply nod at her before Katase asks "so will you be staying for the rest of practice or are you heading out?"
I consider just leaving now but I don't really have anything especially important to do today since I've had my fill of grinding for the time being and my ghosts will let me know if anything happens with Iessi so I end up staying for the whole remaining hour of practice, I don't fight anymore but I am able to score Murayama's and Katase's numbers as well as a small amount of affection with them which actually earned me a perk.
New Perk Added for 50 affection with Murayama (Blade Buddies)
Affection grows faster with swordswomen
Eventually practice end and we all go our separate ways and as I'm going through town on my way back home I come across a certain abandoned church, Asia isn't in Kuoh yet but I wonder if Raynare and her crew have moved in yet, it wouldn't hurt to scope out the opposition, I consider sending another spirit ahead but I quickly scratch that idea since if Raynare is there I'll be sending an undead into a den of exorcists which probably wouldn't end well so I create a new skill.
New Skill Created (Arcane Eye)
The user creates a magical floating sensor that takes the form of an ethereal glowing eye which is only visible to the user and creatures that can see invisible objects, the eye can pass through solid objects.
Satisfied with the new spell I immediately put it to use creating the eye above my head and I send it through the walls of the church as I cover one of my eyes and start to look through the arcane eye, I don't see anything out of the ordinary on the first floor just a standard trashed church with pews broken and scattered around and a few shattered stain glass windows certainly not any sexy fallen angels or any sacred gear stealing relic so I send my eye down through the alter to the secret second floor, after sending the eye through all the rooms I can confirm that the church has no one inside it.
Satisfied with my surveillance I prepare to leave when an idea suddenly comes to me, the fallen will definitely set up shop here so it might be in my best interest to leave a few surprises in here for them a maniacal grin spreading across my face as I turn and walk up the steps to the church proper and head inside.
[Sona POV]
As I move my knight across the board capturing one of Tsubaki's pawns as I lean back in my chair "Tavin, the new student what can you tell me about him?"
"Well lets see, his transfer papers say he came from some expensive private school in America apparently his family is quite wealthy and well connected but with no known connection to the supernatural, he's make quite a few waves today some of our less reserved female students have all ready started to call him the Prince of Kuoh, why? Are you interested in recruiting him?"
I let out a sigh as I threaten Tsubaki's bishop with my rook "I hope I won't have to discipline these 'less reserved female students' I have enough trouble on my hands dealing with the perverted trio and I wasn't asking for myself you know as well as I do the situation Rias is in," Tsubaki's Knight takes out my bishop but she leaves herself open so I advance my pawn and promote it into a queen, "and that's checkmate."
Still maybe it wouldn't hurt to invite him up here for a game.