I woke up with a searing headache. I quickly used my Sky Dragon Slayer magic to heal the headache, and my memories slowly became clearer—at least in the early part of the night. After we return to Riften, we are greeted like a hero.
The governor of Ivarstead already sent a carrier pigeon back to Riften and informed the Jarl about our accomplishment. So when we return to Riften, the people greet us as if we are a hero. Technically, we are.
We defeat someone who can throw the entire Rift Hold into chaos and save Skyrim from future problems.
The Jarl throws us a grand feast that involves the entire city. Yup. It is a city-wide party full of alcohol, food, and more alcohol.
I look around and see that I fell asleep in the middle of the hall instead of my bedroom. Not only that, but I can also see the others falling asleep in the hall rather than in their beds. I got up from the ground and ensured I did not step on someone while leaving the manor.
After a minute of carefully walking through the sea of people, I manage to leave the manor and take a deep breath. I wave to the guard outside the manor and walk to the city center, where I sit on one of the benches.
I release a sigh and look at the early morning sky with a smile on my face. While I enjoy my time here, I wonder how the others are back home.
'They are doing fine, Ryan. Remember that I make sure the time moves faster here than on your planet.'
Ah, Akatosh! It has been a while. How are you? Are you done with your project?
'The project is done, and you will learn about it in five seconds.'
Five seconds? What are you talking about, Akatosh? Can't you tell me what it was?
However, before I can say more, a familiar blue panel appears in front of me.
|Do you want to accept your weekly gift?|
|Accept: Y/N|
What?
I press the Y button, and a second later, another panel appears, and I get another headache.
|Congratulations! You get {Class Card Creation}|
However, this headache is not because of a hangover, but rather a massive rush of knowledge gets inside my brain. I grit my teeth and clutch my head as the pain lasts for three minutes or so. However, after three minutes of intense pain, it slowly disappears and leaves me with a knowledge of how to create a Class Card.
What is a Class Card? They are cards that let me borrow the power of heroes of the past. Creating the card itself is not complicated, at least with the knowledge in my head. What makes it hard is that I need access to the Holy Grail or the Throne of Heroes to copy the heroes' power from the Grail or the Throne of Heroes.
There is one more step, though. I can directly ask the hero I want to copy. However, to do that, I need to visit the afterlife and ask them directly to let the card scan their souls. Even though I have some connection to the Shinto Gods, I don't think asking them to let me access their afterlife will end in something good.
I am dead is the good outcome, and getting tortured for the rest of time will be the worst one. Izanami is not someone you want to anger, after all.
'Then why not ask the heroes of this world?'
That is a good suggestion, but I don't want the divine being of this world to notice my soul too much. That is inviting trouble to my doorstep.
'That is true. I think– Wait. Who are you?!'
Akatosh?! What is happening?!
Before I receive an answer, I can see an old man appear in front of me with a massive grin on his face. He looks familiar. He looks like someone in his mid-fifties with white hair and a great beard. However, something clicks in my mind when I see his red eyes.
"Zelretch."
"Hahahaha! You know about me! However, I did not know you."
I look at him in confusion and say.
"Of course, you did not know me. We are in a different universe."
He shakes his head and says.
"No. No. No. I know everybody."
"I beg your pardon?"
"I know EVERYBODY. I am the first one to access the Kaleidoscope, and that power has already told me about all the people in the multiverse! I know EVERYBODY! However, I did not know you."
Ah, shit. He is the first Zelretch. He is like Rick Prime of the Rick and Morty universe. He is the OG and maybe the most powerful. I only sigh and say.
"What happened to Akatosh?"
"Hmmm? That dragon? Don't worry, he is fine. Even in my prime, he could give me a run for my money. I only create a barrier so he cannot interrupt us. He can still hear us, though."
"Right. So, what do you want?"
He gives me a grin and says,
"Don't worry. I will not do anything stupid. The one giving you that power already gives me a warning when he copies my knowledge."
I blink at those words and say.
"The system?"
"The owner of it. That thing is something that even Alaya, in my world, will not dare to anger."
"Can you ask why it sent me to the DxD universe?"
He stays silent for a second before saying.
"It did not say much but only says something about Parasite Gods and their destructive Machine Gods counterpart."
The ExE gods, huh? Dammit. That makes matters even worse. I thought that I only needed to worry about the Trihexa, but now I need to worry about the ExE gods.
"Are they strong?"
Zelretch looks at me curiously.
"Very strong. They destroy another world with ease. If the name has a connection, they use that world as fuel or something. "
Should I kill Issei? He is the reason why our world has a connection with those gods, right? Or is it already too late? If I remember correctly, the first connection is when Issei uses some breast-based power against Loki, right? However, Loki is already taken care of, and Issei does not do anything too notable.
I will investigate when I return to the DxD world.
I shake my head and look at Zelretch.
"Anyway, what do you want?"
Zelretch looks at me with a grin and says.
"I can help you with that card creation problem."
"What do you want in exchange?"
"Nothing much. You have a great connection to Nature, and I want you to ease some of the pain Gaia of my world feels."
"How the fuck can I do that?"
"Easy. Filter the natural energy in my world and leave the good one behind."
I look at him and say.
"You want me to be a sage of your world?"
"Is that what it was?"
"Sage is someone who heals the world by purifying the tainted energy. In exchange, the world will give some of that purified energy and strengthen the Sage."
He looks at me for a few seconds before saying.
"The last part will be a little bit different, my friend."
"Huh?"
"Don't worry about it. It is not something bad. How is it? Do we have an agreement?"
I think for a second and nod my head.
"Perfect! I will return in a week with something that will help you finalize the class card."