I leaned against a table, looking at the Portal in the corner of my workshop. I wasn't alone, I was flanked by both Scáthach and Jinn, both of whom were patiently waiting as well.
They weren't the only ones either.
Jinn was off to the side, standing near both Zelretch and Lucretia.
We were all gathered here for the same reason, and our last member was just now arriving.
"Am I late?" Medea walked through the portal, the Kaleidoscopic colors fading away after a few moments.
"Yes." Rin replied.
"….you're not." I decided to interject.
"Did you invite me right into your workshop?" Medea looked around at everything we had gathered. "Isn't that a little too trusting?"
"Medea, I don't call you my friend just for the hell of it." I rolled my eyes at this point. "Besides, if I couldn't even trust you this much, how could we ever work together?"
I think I flustered her again, because she wasn't responding.
"Shall we do introductions?" Zelretch offered.
Medea cleared her throat. "I would appreciate getting caught up as everyone here seems to know each other."
"Oh, me first!" Jinn volunteered. "I'm Jinn, Spirit for the Relic of Knowledge. An item created by the gods of my world. Every century I can answer any three questions not about the future!"
"Well, isn't that interesting." Medea gave her a appraising look. "And that skin tone. I could do so many wonderful things with that color~"
"Oh, should I be worried or excited?" Jinn smiled brightly.
"Both." I chuckled. "She loves making clothes."
"Oh, lets talk about that afterwards." Jinn perked up, speaking towards Medea. "I would love some more clothes that compliment my color."
"I have so many ideas." Medea looked just as excited as Jinn at the idea. "But yes, afterwards." She calmed down.
"I suppose I'm next then." Scáthach stood up straighter. "I am Scáthach, the Queen of the Land of Shadows."
"Lady Scáthach." Medea said respectfully. "It's a pleasure to work along side such an accomplished Magus."
"I share the sentiments, Medea of Colchis." Scáthach smiled faintly.
A bond of respect between two accomplished witches.
"And Lord Zelretch." Medea turned towards gramps. "It's been awhile since we've spoken."
"Oh yes, quite a few months." Zelretch nodded.
"Wait, you two have met?" Rin looked surprised.
"Of course." Medea scoffed. "Do you think he wouldn't want to meet me, girl? I am one of the most powerful and knowledgeable Magic Users ever to walk the planet."
"….hag."
Medea twitched. "Brat."
"Witch."
"Two-bit Magus!"
"If nothing else, this made the whole thing worth it." I said idlily, watching them bicker.
"You got something to add, Schweinorg" Rin snapped her head towards me.
"What she said, boyo."
"I can always call over Artoria and Kuzuki." I crossed my arms.
They both deflated at the threat.
"Now we have that settled, we have one last person to introduce." Zelretch stepped to the side to let Lucretia step forward. She had been silent, just watching everything with an amused look.
"I'm Lucretia Zola, Zelly's girlfriend." She introduced herself. "I'm here for my knowledge of myths and legends and how they affect the material world. I dare say that no one is more knowledgeable in this room about legends and such than I am."
"A bold claim." Medea eyed her up and down. "And I look forward to picking your brain."
"Good, now we have that out of the way." Zelretch clapped his hands. "Shall we get this show on the road, Wilhelm."
He turned the attention back on me. "Alright, I'm sure everyone knows what we're here for. And I just wanted to thank you all for helping me with this, it means a lot to both me and the lizard."
[Fuck you, you brat.]
"Scáthach, can you please remove the Boosted Gear from within me?"
She raised an eyebrow, but moved to oblige. I could do it myself…..with effort, but it's easier to have someone else do it at this point. Not to mention she'd done it in the past.
She placed a hand on me, and I felt her Runes enter my body, my Magic Resistance strained against her, but these were Primordial Runes, something enough to push past. With a bright light, The Boosted Gear was pulled out from my soul and she placed it on the table.
"[Hello, everyone.]" The Jewel on the gauntlet lit up, letting his voice echo out.
"I don't think I've ever had a dragon greet me so politely before." Medea just…..looked at it blankly for a moment. "But the more I spend time around you, boyo, the more my worldview shifts."
"[A dragon I may be, but I have my own pride, Princess. You're helping me in a way I can't properly express gratitude for. If I could move around without assistance, I would promise you help if you ever call upon me.]"
The mood got…heavy.
"Hi, Ddraig!" Jinn waived towards the gauntlet.
And thus, the heavy atmosphere dissipated immediately.
"[Hello, Jinn.]" Ddraig said with clear amusement.
"Now that everyone is truly here." I swept my gaze around the room. And it still felt weird to have Ddraig gone after having him in me for so long. "So, I'd like to say the main goal is to free Ddraig at some point, but I'm not aiming that high for now. The purpose of this get together is to theorize and perhaps outline a proper spell to…..pull his spirit out and create a facsimile of Níðhöggr for him to inhabit based on the legends and myths. I already have several spells that do something similar, but we're dealing with a living soul here and specifically that of a dragon."
"You don't aim low, do you." Medea was investigating the gauntlet. "And this was created by divine hands, yes?"
"The God of the Bible." I nodded.
Medea bit her lip. "You can color it up however you want, but this thing is a prison, that much is obvious. So doing what you want to do is made that much harder."
"Indeed, and it is by no means shoddy work." Zelretch added in his own thoughts. "The fact that someone as strong as Ddraig hasn't broken free thus far only shows how strong it is."
"Adding to the jail breaking aspect, Y Ddraig Goch is not a…particularly popularized name in legends and myths compared to most other tails in arose from the region." Lucretia floated over. "If you're wanting to side step some mechanisms by using his own mythological weight, that's going to be difficult."
"Yeah, all of this is valid." I wouldn't deny the inherent difficulty of this endeavor. "However, we also have quite a few tools to work with." I gestured towards a table set to the side. "A plethora of Dragon Bones and Scales, to start off."
"And that's where you wanted me to come in?" Medea went to examine the materials. "Can't say I'm not excited to work with this stuff."
"Yup, my first idea, which was given by Rin, was to have a Staff made based on the same concepts that are prevalent in Skyrim." I pointed at the younger Magus. "If you would, Rin?'
"Right, I picked out a handful that I thought would work best." She waived her hand, depositing a little under a dozen Staffs onto the empty table. "Each of these are slightly different, but they're all operating under the same principal of 'summoning' some kind of entity from – somewhere. I also got a few 'empty' ones for reference."
"Well done, Rin, these will be quite beneficial." Zelretch took to inspecting them himself. "I can see some interesting ideas that went into the concepts here."
"I've read up enough on these things, so I know quite a bit." Jinn walked over, picking up a staff and running her hand along it. "They do actually summon, I wanted to clarify that. There has been some theories that they simply created a fake 'replicant' or some other nonsense. But no, it's basically a specified teleportation linking to the recipient; however, the process is one worth investigating due to some of the entities existing in noncorporeal state and gaining a solidified body upon the summon."
"Yes, these might form a good basis for crafting this Mystic Code." Medea looked pleased. "But I believe we're still missing many things here."
"We're not done." I chuckled. "This is just one….portion of what's going into everything."
"Yes, if I know my student well enough, the structure of the spell will be held together by Runes." Scáthach spoke up once more.
"I can't deny that your Primordial Runes have much better staying power than my Divine Words." Medea admitted.
"And they have more significance to the spell itself." Lucretia added. "The dragon we plan to make a facsimile of for Ddriag is centered to Norse Mythology. The Runes passed down from Odin, tied to the World Tree itself, will be a most wonderful link. It's unfortunate we aren't able to get a piece of the actual tree."
"…maybe?" I spoke up, having everyone turn ot me. "I mean….I know Izzy – Izanami, maybe I could reach out to some Norse Gods and see about buying a branch or a leaf?"
The World Tree was both a metaphysical concept and an actual tree. Obtaining a branch or a leaf wasn't so….simple as going to one of the Nine Realms and seeing a big tree to pluck them off of, but it wasn't impossible.
"A worthwhile avenue to pursue." Zelretch stated.
"I'll see about that later, let's focus on this for now." I waived my hand dismissively.
"What about your….Thu'um, your dragon voice?" Rin asked. "It should resonate with both Ddraig and the concept of Níðhöggr due to the origin."
"Huh, that's a good idea too." I rubbed my chin. "I don't know a shout that would be…..viable, but I can't dismiss the idea that there is one out there. I'll check with Thorum when I go to see him in a few days after the festival." I snapped my fingers, pointing to Medea. "That reminds me you good to go?"
Medea rolled her eyes, forcing herself from smiling. "I have everything ready."
Good, I wanted to make sure she wasn't scrambling last minute since the invitation was rather last minute.
"For this Mystic Code, which I am assuming is a staff, what about the foci?"
"That's where I'm coming in as well. Also Zelretch and Rin are helping me with this part." Jinn responded again. "I'm sure you're familiar with this stuff." She brought out a crystal of dust.
"Crystallized Mana!?" She exclaimed in surprise. "Wait, why is it so weak?"
"It's from my world." Jinn explained. "Still Crystallized Mana like what you know, but it's not as dense as you're familiar with. However, it's much more accessible." She waved her arms, producing a lot more, letting it all flow out into a small pile.
"….You've been holding out on me, boyo." She glanced my way. "Dragon remains, Crystallized Mana…..I don't know what to expect next."
"How about some Magical Metals? There's one that the legends say is the blood of a God that sunk into the land." I added more metals to our already abundant pile on the table, causing it to groan.
"I was kidding." She huffed, but still inspected everything new I added onto the tables.
According to legends, Ebony was the 'blood' of the god that created Nirn.
"If you want to use this Crystallized mana –"
"We refer to it as 'Dust'."
" – Dust then." Medea corrected. "Its…..we're going to need to do some things."
"We got that covered." Rin replied, seemingly dropping their little rivalry for now. "We're going to compress it and make a pseudo-Jewel out of the stuff."
"Oh." Medea scratched at her chin idly , looking as if she was mulling it over. "Yeah, that could work."
Would also remove the need for Soul Stones. I was…skeptical on their use after the new revelation Serana had given me. I'd be looking into them more when I helped Thorum and Serena later.
"Tell me which materials you are using, I will begin carving Runic Sentences into them to bring them closer to the concepts we're desiring." Scáthach looked upon the materials, picking up a metal ingot here or there.
"I guess I should start blood letting now, get us a good amount." I groaned at the idea.
"Wait, why are you using your own blood?" Medea asked.
"Long story short, Ddraig turned my heart into a Dragon's. So, my blood should more or less be the closest to Ddraig's we have available." And blood could do amazing things for spells.
"Let me take note of everything we're working with and I'll start researching on how best to name and attach what we need to this staff." Lucretia took out a notebook and a pen.
Names had power, giving the Staff an actual name, like carving it on the item, would help exuberate the underlining connections.
"Alright, we all have our roles, let's get started." I clapped my hands happily.
It wasn't going to be easy, but damn if we all didn't enjoy this kind of thing.
***
Omake – System-chan and the unsuspecting Pyrrha.
Pyrrha Nikos POV
"Whew." I wiped the sweat off my brow, relaxing as I sat down and took a sip of my bottled water. It had been another good day of training, I was following that woman's instructions still and I felt myself getting better at a noticeable rate.
I wonder if Wilhelm will be surprised at how strong I get when he comes back. If we fight, could I beat him now?
Even if I can't I want to alteast fight him once. I'm still upset that we couldn't have our match. Well….even without a fight, I hope he comes back soon. I wouldn't mind spending more time with him, it's fun…..having a friend.
…..I miss him.
[Ding!]
"What!?" I suddenly shot to my feet hearing a strange sound
[New host found. Synchronizing system.]
[Installing updates]
[Loading settings]
[Greeting, User! You've been chosen to be the next host to System 1.2039]
"What in the brother's names!?" I looked around but there was no one around me.
[Don't be alarmed, user! I'm speaking to you inside your head.]
"Waah!?"
[Allow me to explain. I am a system – an entity that helps facilitate its hosts
growth through the use of familiar mechanics such as video games.]
"M-my growth? Talking in my head? Is someone playing a prank on me?"
[No prank, Pyrrha! I'm here to help you.]
"H-how?"
[Do you want to get stronger?]
"Stronger?" I felt something in my chest at that. "You can help me get stronger?"
[I can! I can help you get strong enough to be unrivaled!]
"You can help me get strong enough to beat Wilhelm?" I don't know why I was asking this, I doubt this….thing even knew who Wilhelm was.
[You want to defeat Wilhelm Schweinorg? I can help you beat him!]
"Y-you know who he is!?" I didn't know how to respond to that. What was this thing really?
[Of course, I can help you get strong enough to beat that big bully.]
"That's…amazing." Was this my chance, could I actually match him? "Wait….bully?"
[But why stop there!]
"Huh?"
[Tell me, Pyrrha, how do you feel about Wilhelm, hmm?]
"Wilhelm….well, he's my friend."
[Friends are nice…ever think about being something more than friends?]
"M-more than friends? Like….a girlfriend?" I barely squeaked out that last word. "I mean, it's not like he isn't handsome…and funny….and does things to makes me happy. He's strong, and I enjoy spending time with him….and he doesn't care about my fame. He teases me all the time, but he gives me hugs that are nice too…"
[It sounds like you have a crush on him.]
"I-it doesn't matter." I shook my head. "Besides, he said he has a daughter that means he has a girlfriend or wife already!"
[Are you going to let that stop you?]
"Of course!" I huffed.
[What If I told you, he has a harem.]
"A….a harem?" I said quietly. "Like….he has multiple girls?"
[He does indeed. Now, does that…..change your mind.]
"Multiple girls? But…does that mean he would….?" I could feel my face heating up. "I would….have a chance?"
[A chance? Oh, Pyrrha, why stop there?]
"What do you suggest?"
[If you get strong enough, how could he deny you?]
"Get strong enough that he has to accept me?" I repeated to myself. "If I beat him, then he would want to be my boyfriend, is that what you're saying?"
[….Sure, let's go with that. But, you're thinking too small again!]
"Too small?"
[Why not aim for being his only woman?]
"His only woman?"
[Imagine it, Pyrrha, Wilhelm fawning over you, and only you for the rest of
your life. That handsome smile of his, reserved only for you. Waking up in
the morning, and he's there, in nothing but an apron, cooking you breakfast.
At night, he gives you a foot rub after he rocks your world before bed. And
every day he brings you flowers and chocolate and –]
"Yes!" I shouted, only realizing I did so after a moment, and feeling my face flush. "I mean….yes, let's do it!"
[Good, but you have to keep me a secret.]
"Why do you I need to keep you a secret, is there something wrong with you?"
[No, no, nothing like that. But…..You don't want to give away all your
cards, do you? And imagine the jealously and attention you would get
ontop of just being famous.]
"That's a good point, alright, I won't tell anyone about you."
[Oh, Pyrrha, this is the start of a beautiful friendship.]
"Friendship?" I felt my eyes light up.
[Of course we're friends! And lets start your super duper secret training.]
"Oh, I like that sound of that. It's like I'm on a secret mission!"
[That's a good way to think of it. In fact, let's call it – Operation Yandere revenge.]
"Yandere? What's that?" It was a word I've never heard before.
[Oh, don't worry about it. Just remember, you're the only girl he needs.]
***
Just a reminder, No chapter for Thursday and Friday, got family things going on.
If you want to read 7 chapters ahead or support me, visit my p.a.t.r.e.o.n.c.o.m / astoryforone . Just got finished with Wilhelm's run in with the Ideal Maters :).