//Arc 2: Let's Try Dabbling With Magic!//
Year 20xx, the 2nd of February.
Only a day has passed after Shin moved to the Cardinal Priest's residence. No, saying it is only a residence is a huge understatement. It would be more apt to describe this place as a 'palace'.
Large rooms that has the size of a living room in a normal house, complete with a bed, a sofa, a bathroom, and a table to eat dinner. If you go outside, you will be greeted by towering columns and a grand red carpet that is laid in the middle of the needlessly large corridor.
The sheer size of this whole property can outmatch a whole football field alone. Now, one might ask, why is it so needlessly huge? Well, the answer to that lay on the owner of this place who had ordered the creation of this place from a long time ago.
The owner of this place is named as Vasco Strada. He is the person known by many as the 'Apex of Humanity'. Currently, he is one of the Cardinal Priests who are only second in rank to the Pope.
One might think that, being a priest and a high ranking Cardinal at that, isn't this man now the very picture of old age? Scrawny build, sickly and pale appearance, wrinkly skin, and a hunched back. But, one couldn't be any more wrong about their impression.
In the first place, priests of the Church couldn't earn as much as this man. Their life saving wouldn't be enough to build a majestic mansion that has the same size as a football field. Instead, this man known as the 'Apex of Humanity' have another profession besides being a priest. And that is, being an exorcist.
Trained under the Church, with him inserting his own training regime, the man called Vasco Strada gradually became stronger and stronger. As a result of these arduous training that doesn't only need talent but also a high perseverance, Vasco gained a very strong and muscular body that is 2 meters in height.
His hulking figure can put any body builders to shame. Paired with the two scars that formed a cross mark across his face, the old man is nothing short of intimidating. But, this intimidating man is currently watching a young boy around the age of 7 with cold sweats dripping down his forehead.
While watching the little boy, he had a serious but baffled expression on his face. Why? Well, that's most certainly because he was utterly shocked by the little boy's progress.
If in the past, he was dubbed as a genius by many in the arts of the sword, then this boy in front of him is nothing more than a monster in a human shape. If you call this boy a genius, then all the other kids who are dubbed as 'genius' by many would seem like a normal person in comparison to this boy's talent.
It should be said that what he asked the boy to do is nothing more than a task that no one can accomplish even though they have more than 10 years of training and experience under their belt. The task of hitting the target dummy a thousand times without missing isn't just about 'hitting' the target.
In truth, it also checks whether the individual hitting it had applied the same strength and same stance in each blow. Meaning, an individual have to maintain a uniform strike everytime. And this, is something that even the most gifted people in swordsmanship couldn't achieve in just a short half a day of trying it out and a one month of sword training.
Just imagine the sheer talent needed to do such a feat in such a short amount of time. If someone were to tell him that someone like this little boy managed to do this task after training for only a month, he would definitely look at them as if they were fools who needed some medical attention. But, the evidence is right in front of his eyes. The little boy is really doing it, and with relative ease at that.
"*sigh*, I guess it wouldn't take long for him to learn under me, after all. After he finished this task, I guess I should prepare on teaching him all that I know," Vasco said while looking at the figure of Shin deeply.
After releasing another exasperated sigh, Vasco once again murmured,
"After all, he'll be one of the individuals who will shape the future of Heaven. Engraving my teaching into him is something that would definitely lessen the chances of him turning into someone that may antagonize the Heaven and the Church."
Watching Shin train, Vasco resolved himself to teach this little guy his tricks. He, along with Shin's family, Gabriel, Griselda, and the others, wanted to lead him to the good path. They trust that, through their guidance, Shin wouldn't be led astray.
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At Year 20xx, the 1st of May.
After that day when Vasco saw Shin's incredible learning skills in the way of the sword, he decided to up his training. He thoroughly trained him to the point that any normal or sane human would cringe at the intensity and level of their training.
It is even questionable whether a strong adult male would be able to persist in Vasco's training regimen, much less a little boy like Shin. But, much to Vasco's surprise, Shin was able to keep up with him without showing any fatigue on his face.
Of course, Vasco modified their training regimen so that Shin's growth would not be affected. It focused more on the lower body, making Shin's already inherently high Agility to rise up even more. Of course, they also didn't forget to improve their sword training.
During this time, Shin also practiced separately inside the Elemental Fox Reality Realm. Majority of this 90 days(x2.67) was spent on gathering mana and creating a mana bead. With his increased mana gathering speed that is double his past gathering speed, Shin managed to create two light elemental beads.
Now, one might be confused as to how Shin managed to make two light elemental beads when it is clearly said that they can only create one elemental bead for each of their element? Well, that is because, before they can reach the stage where they can create one elemental bead, an Elemental Fox needs to first create three elemental beads before refining them into one solid elemental bead.
With two of his light elemental bead created, Shin just needs to wait and create one more to condense it into a fully formed light elemental bead. He chose this route of advancing his elemental bead creation because he can't create his next neutral elemental bead until he has two more tails.
After completing his light elemental bead, Shin wanted to then focus on gaining one more tail. Then, he would immediately go for his third and create his second neutral elemental bead. This way, he will have a much faster gathering speed.
But, now isn't the time for Shin to think of his future plans. Right now, he need to focus on defeating these moving armors that are clearly targeting some dangerous spots. There's more than a dozen of them and these knights are armed with the ability to defeat even those newly graduated exorcists-in-training.
Meaning, their speed, strength, and overall parameters are at a level of a Low Rank Devil/Angel/Fallen Angel, according to this world's power standards. But, to Shin, this wasn't really a problem as he can cope with it with his current skills. What he's worried about is their number.
'Going by the Strength Level thing, they're at a Strength Level of two with at least a C or a B parameters before leveling up. Good thing I have the system to watch over my growth,' Shin thought while remembering his status which has grown at a balanced way since he have a [Hero's Aura] skill.
•~•~•~•
Name: Shin Flammia Tenma
Race: Mystical Elemental Fox God
Racial Rank: (undetermined/mutated species)
Age: 7
Gender: Male
Affiliation: Angel Faction
Rank: Commoner
Title: None
Strength Level: 1(Mortal)[+]
Parameters:
• STR: C-> S
• END: C-> SS
• DEX: B-> SSS
• AGI: A-> SSS
• MAG: A-> SSS
Skill(s):
Light Mana(H)*-> (B)*, Hero's Aura(E)*-> (C)*, Sacred Gear Wielder(G)*-> (F)*, Mana Control(D)-> (S), Resilient Body(SSS), Luck(E)-> (D), Swordsman(F)-> (B)
Magic:
Angel Magic(C)-> (A)
•~•~•~•
It was a far cry from his previous status. Shin just discovered this function of the system after he one day surpassed the S rank in terms of Magic and Agility parameters. So, he couldn't help but ask Yuki about it. What she said was quite brief.
In summary, she said something like;
• Shin, being the host of the system, can naturally surpass the limits that was naturally placed by the world in terms of strength level.
• Shin can level up only when his body couldn't take it anymore or when he wanted to.(as long as he reached D rank overall)
• Because no one can see their strength in parameters like Shin and can level up knowingly, majority of people usually level up at around C-B. Rare cases like Vasco Strada appears rarely.
• Besides these clear advantages, Shin also had the advantage due to his race. He had a high container that can grow in strength more in each strength level.
All in all, it was another cheat that Shin gained. Although Shin can now level up, he wanted to postpone it for now and see if he can still increase his strength a bit more. Even though it seems greedy, he have the leisure to do this as there's still a lot of time before any major event happen.
Shaking these thoughts out of his head, Shin parried an incoming attack from his left side. He swayed his body and took a step back, letting the perpetrator pass by for a bit before delivering a slash in its torso. This slash was almost perfect because of Shin's rigorous training. Under his scrutiny, even the tiniest of wasted movements was amended by him before it could potentially cause trouble for him in the future.
'I guess I have no choice but to enter that state again. This old geezer is really making things hard for me, but...' Shin trailed off after he briefly closed his eyes.
When he opened it, there was a cold and bone chilling aura that was emitted by his small body. It was like an extremely dangerous beast has awakened, ready to tear his enemy apart.
Just as Shin opened his eyes, a violent thrust came from behind him, which he promptly dodged. But, before Shin could even blink, another attack came from his front and his right side. Knowing that he will be at a disadvantage if he let them come at him like this, Shin jumped up.
*swoosh*
As the first attacker from his front passed by, the next attacker also came, hitting thin air. It was only in time for Shin to drop on top of its head. This made it try to grab Shin by the leg but it was unsuccessful in its attempt.
Shin just kicked it on the back of its head, propelling himself to another dummy who decided to welcome him with a deadly thrust. Shin just avoided this attack midair, twisting his small body.
Shin managed to dodge its attack as he landed on top of its head and striking it at its head with a stab. He then got down from it, just in time to dodge an attack from another dummy who jumped and slashed his previous location with an overhead slash.
Shin, after jumping down from the dummy which was slashed by another one into two equal halves, jumped over a dummy. He then somersaults midair, turning a full 180°, and hacked the head of a nearby dummy. After that, he used that dummy as a foothold, jumped up, straightened his posture, and spun his body like a gymnast.
"HAAAA!" Shin shouted as he dropped a slash onto a nearby dummy with all the force of his spin and the gravity.
*slash*
After that, Shin continued to battle against the dummies that newbie exorcists battle against when training. Due to his enhanced animalistic instincts, reflex, and his monstrous concentration, Shin managed to defeat more than a dozen of these practice dummies that are supposed to be higher than him by a level.
"Haa, haaa, haa, that's so tiring. Maintaining concentration for so long takes some toll on my mind," Shin complained.
Vasco, who was watching his battle against the practice dummies was very astonished. This boy, he reached this strength in just a few months! He's never seen someone who progressed this disgustingly fast. Not to mention that it's not just his raw strength that increased but his techniques too.
To be honest, at this point, he's already tired of getting surprised everytime. He already gave Shin the pointers that he will need to progress at his swordsmanship so he have nothing to teach him in that subject.
"I guess, we're gonna be learning about magic. I do not use any other magic often besides Strengthening Magic and Holy Magic so I guess I will teach you that," Vasco said to the heaving Shin.
Hearing that, Shin just smiled widely and said,
"Yes! Please teach me magic!"
At last, he can learn another type of magic besides Angel Magic!
"Alright. I'm glad that you're fine with that, boy. Now, if you want to learn more about magic, you'll have to ask other people like Sister Griselda or maybe even Gabriel-sama. She's very great at using magic of different kinds," Vasco said.
Hearing this, Shin was amazed. Who would've thought that the innocent and child-like Gabriel is so amazing? As they say, don't judge the book by its cover.
After that battle with the practice dummies, Vasco told him to first take a bath and head towards his study room right after. He didn't take long as it only took him a few minutes to take a bath. If anything, what made him take so long to arrive was the sheer size of the whole place. But, at this point, he just ignored that point and moved on.
'Learning magic. I learned Angel Magic from Big Sis Gabriel. I wonder how different they are from the magic of humans,' Shin thought.
『Mm, I'm curious too. I haven't really tried to study these kinds of things nor bothered to even know about them in the past so I'm quite excited to know about these kinds of things,』 Yuki said.
『I'm glad to know that you're enjoying yourself. Anyway, how's your progress with your control going?』 Shin asked while walking towards the very long corridors.
『So so. Even though the gap between my real strength and the current power that I have is only a single strength level below, it is still quite vast and hard to control for a beginner such as myself who never bothered training it, anyway,』 Yuki complained.
『*sigh*. Why is the power gap between a Level 9 and 8 so vast, anyway? A fragment of your power is at the peak of Level 8? Seriously...』 Shin said.
He was honestly bummed after he heard about this. A fragment of her power is enough to destroy the current world they are in a million times over. No wonder she can destroy a world 'accidentally'.
『Hu hu! That's because I'm a supreme being! Don't compare me to those lofty and fragile beings who call themselves as Gods. I just obliged to their demands of not destroying any more worlds because I would lose my entertainment if I happen to destroy all of them,』 Yuki said haughtily.
Shin could imagine a cute little girl with jet black hair - with blue undertones - a few strips of azure hair mixed with her jet black one, and crimson eyes, laughing haughtily with her hands on her hips. To be honest, it was nothing but cute in Shin's opinion. He hoped that she could control her strength faster so that he could at least try to make her happy.
He wanted to thank her for giving her another shot at life. Not just that but he really do care about this self-proclaimed Dragon God. He was really amazed when he met her personally for the second time. Who would've thought that she could still remain so innocent, despite living for who knows how long?
Remembering her overwhelming strength that was briefly shown by his [Status Inspection], Shin couldn't help but once again sigh in amazement.
•~•~•~•
Name: Coldwal y Glas(Yuki)
Race: Supreme Celestial Dragon
Racial Rank: (undetermined/mutated species)
Age: (unknown)
Gender: (unknown)
Affiliation: None
Rank: None
Title: Supreme Dragon God, Void Dragon, Azure Dragon Emperor of Destruction, Azure Dragon Emperor, Dragon of Destruction, Dragon God
Strength Level: 9(Origin)[sealed] / 8(Celestial)[current]
•~•~•~•
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
After a few more minutes of walking, Shin was finally able to reach the study room. When he arrived, Vasco told him to sit at the sofa nearby. Not long later, a maid came, bringing in some food and refreshments.
After the maid left, Vasco began talking.
"So, let's talk about magic."
He looked at Shin seriously before speaking once again.
"In simple terms, magic in this world referred to the skill in manipulating mana to perform physical phenomena," Vasco said.
Shin sat down comfortably on his seat, knowing full well that this will be a very long conversation.
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A/N:
• 64÷24=2.66667 or 2.67(this is the entire duration that he is able to stay inside the realm. How did I get 64 hours? Well, its a simple 8×8=64. He is able to stay inside the realm for 8 hours and the speed of time inside the realm is in a ratio of 1:8. 1 hour in the outside world is 8 hours inside the realm)
• Yep, Yuki is a monster alright.
• Like in Danmachi, a level gap couldn't only be bridged so easily. As the level progress, the higher the gap in strength is. It takes a monster like those owners of the Longinuses or an abnormal like Sirzechs, Ajuka, or maybe even Rizevim to be able to bridge a gap in level.
• Like Danmachi, there is something that is called a 'container' inside a person. Let's just say that it's something similar to 'potential'. When it's filled up, the individual will level up. Those who are higher in the Racial Evolution Tree has a larger container than those who are at the lower end of the spectrum. Lucky bastards like Great Red, Ophis, Yuki, and Shin really had it great. Vasco Strada had to continuously break his limit in order to gain a monstrous amount of strength.