Ainz stared down the simple level-four zombie he had just summoned, analyzing it closely. The creature, although capable of understanding and executing orders given by him that went beyond simply attacking targets, wasn't sentient by any means. The dull, pupil-less eyes gazed back at him without any focus. This creature was all but a golem made of rotting flesh, ready to execute its orders.
"This won't do. A summon is already at its peak power automatically and using a limit raise on this undead would be a massive waste," Ainz commented aloud to himself, sighing.
After learning the empowerment spell from Tabula, he decided to perform some experiments with it before moving on to targets with value to verify its abilities and possible side effects. Since the goal wasn't to test anything damage-oriented, he chose to remain in his quarters for multiple reasons. First, open failures wouldn't be observed by floor guardians who wanted to watch him work every chance they got, meaning less peer pressure, and the second reason was so that Albedo could do something relaxing instead of playing his shadow, something he had schemed to do for days on end until today.
His loving partner had only grown more possessive after finding out the truth of the Gods and Nazarick as a whole, wanting to ensure nothing could harm him. Considering how much she distrusted Eleleth and angels in general, Albedo wanted to be present whenever he did any sort of experimentation, even if there was no reason to believe any harm would come to him during said experiments. Especially since the angel was currently present and stood at the back end of the room, still as a statue, which she was perpetually guarded against. The angel had requested this honor as a reward for her work, stating that she hoped to learn from him to be of more use to him in the future. Reluctantly, Ainz had allowed her to come into his guard rotation alongside Rubedo, hoping it would pay off in the end.
While he was contemplating his options, Albedo sat in an armchair and was sewing a plush toy in his image, a needle made of the toughest metals in one hand and the tomb's finest thread in the other. It was no secret to anyone that she wanted to have his child as soon as possible, and was only holding back due to his own wishes. Hence, the vast majority of her free time was spent in preparation for the moment her wish was fulfilled, whether it be baby clothes, toys, or food.
"We have outsiders present in the tomb. Why not use them?" Albedo partly asked, partly suggested as she glanced up from her plushie.
"They either work for Pero or Tabula. It wouldn't be proper of me to tamper with servants of my friends," Ainz replied, shaking his skull.
"Pero did ask if you would have slots open for his servants. Maybe this is a perfect opportunity to create decently strong expendable forces. They are not of Nazarick and can be easily replaced with other locals should they fail their tasks," Albedo commented as her hand threaded the needle through the soft fabric with natural ease, rapidly recreating Ainz's flowing robes on the toy.
"You have a good point. Still, I haven't performed direct empowerment on anyone, even myself. I suppose I can ask Pero if he is okay with me attempting to empower some of his servants."
"May I suggest using Clementine? Lord Pero is the least concerned about her compared to the other members of his following, and she would be the most eager volunteer," Eleleth spoke up.
Deciding to follow up on the advice, Ainz contacted Pero. { Hey, I wanted to ask if I can use your servants to practice empowering creatures directly since undead summons are at their peak already. I think Clementine would be best suited as a test subject. }
{ Is it safe? } Pero replied nearly instantly with a question.
{ I think so. Though the process, supposedly, is very painful, akin to dying a thousand deaths in an instant. }
{ Hey, if they agree and you increase their limit on top of it, I'm all for it. But you should get your own human servants buddy. }
{ I'll check if there aren't any spare lying around in the vault. } Ainz replied with dripping sarcasm.
{ You know what I mean. Every one of us except for you and Albedo have direct local servants for one reason or another, we could even get you some if you wanted them. You don't have to be so salty. Anyhow, I'll send volunteers your way. } Pero laughed.
{ Thanks. } Ainz shut off the communication and announced loudly, "Pero agreed to let me use his servants, but he suggested we get our own."
"We? What use would I have for those lesser creatures? I am not one for keeping useless pets," Albedo dismissively retorted, no longer afraid to speak up against the guild members.
"It would be a good practice for when you have legions of worshipers, Lady Albedo. As a Goddess, you would benefit from preparing for such eventuality," Eleleth advised, with a subtle hint of smugness Ainz barely caught on to.
Albedo, on the other hand, scowled as if Eleleth was treating her like a child. "What would an angel know about being worshiped? You are a tool. Don't pretend you understand what you are talking about!" She turned to the angel with a sneer, aura flaring.
"My intent was not to insult, Lady Albedo, merely advise. True, I have little personal experience on the matter, but I have served other Gods in the past and learned how they work. It is standard for even the non-Godly spouses and offspring to be worshiped, for you who is a God and is the wife of a God even more so," Eleleth wisely backed out of any possible confrontation.
"Her advice is sound. As others are gathering followers, we should as well," Ainz interjected before their confrontation grew out of hand. "Although I don't see many chances to do so, considering we both deal with administration."
"I'm sure your mere presence would make humans worship you automatically. There are notable marks of religion around you growing in E-Rantel." Albedo turned away from Eleleth and returned to sewing, moving on to the finer patterns.
"Perhaps. But figureheads like Pero's and Ulbert's would surely help." Ainz tapped his chin with his index finger, pausing.
"Lord, with your permission, I could seek out suitable candidates for you and Lady Albedo, and work with them until your direct involvement is needed. It would not interfere with my current duties," Eleleth suggested.
"Then by all means, do so," Ainz agreed. The angel was under constant surveillance anyway, if she tried anything funny he would be notified instantly.
As the conversation died down, he turned his attention back to the zombie. 'I may need to look into ways of making the Endless Strive regain charges faster.' Only one limit increase every three days wasn't optimal if they wanted large numbers of properly strong forces if the information from previous excursions was anything. The list of people needing to get one wasn't short by any means and would only grow larger as their dominion expanded and time went on.
For now, he could spend one charge on Clementine so he could practice empowering mortals, it would be worth it for the data on the unknown he could gather. The wait for her to show wasn't long as she arrived in a few minutes. Her arrival, obviously, started with the usual formalities of her prostrating before him and expressing eternal gratitude for even letting her breathe in his vicinity, which at least made Albedo happy as she seemed to draw great satisfaction from seeing humans so submissive to the Supreme Ones.
"Rise and stand still. This will hurt," Ainz ordered the woman, who practically flew back to her feet at speeds that surprised even him, considering that she wasn't even level thirty. Somehow, her body was still fine. Fanatical devotion did things that was for sure. Perhaps he would ask Pero how far the devotion took him.
The wide smile and glistening eyes made for an unnerving expression, akin to when Solution was overly enthusiastic about something and stretched her smile far beyond what humans were capable of. Not that her feelings mattered at the moment. Clementine was nothing more than a test subject who would most likely benefit from his experimentation. Should he accidentally kill her, it would be an easy fix with the resurrection magic at his disposal. She would probably even gladly accept her death as retribution for her sins against Pero.
First, he used Endless Strive and pushed her limit way past what humans would ever hope to reach in this world, hoping for the best. Considering that her previous limit was around roughly level thirty-five for a rogue-like class, now she was able to easily surpass a level fifty player with enough training. But that wasn't the only thing that happened. At first, he was unsure what transpired, but then he realized that his second artifact slot was empty. Endless Strive was gone.
The ensuing panic was crushed by Emotional Suppression, letting him contemplate what exactly happened. The world item wasn't supposed to just disappear into the world since it was bound to him, so it had to remain with him somehow.
'Wait, why do I… I can still use it, but now it requires mana? Wait!? What!' Another forceful calm down. 'I can just use this ability and the item doesn't exist anymore. Did I fully absorb it somehow? That must be the only explanation. But why do I not feel how many charges are left? Could it be that there are no such restrictions anymore? I will need to test it.'
Ainz quickly sent a request for the entire Sword of Darkness to show up in his office and went on with the next step. And if Clementine couldn't get any more unsettling, the moment he pushed his energies into her, she clamped her legs together and whimpered in what sounded like a pure sexual delight. As a side effect, he could feel Albedo staring daggers at both him and the insane woman, even beginning to pant heavily.
Choosing to ignore it for now, he quickly finished the task, leaving Clementine at level forty-four, which according to this world's standards put her into the realm of heroes.
"Perform some of your basic moves. I want to observe the results," Ainz ordered her.
"As you command, highest God." Clementine eagerly stepped back and retrieved her stilettos from their sheaths. She did a few slashing and stabbing motions, ending with a roundhouse kick.
"This!" She stared at Ainz in disbelief. "How am I so fast?" She questioned.
"I tested the ability to directly empower mortals. Consider this a favor from Pero and make sure to repay him accordingly," Ainz explained.
"I'm Lord Pero's weapon." She bowed.
"You may leave now." He waved her off.
The woman quickly did as told, leaving him once again in the company of the two winged women and the maid, internally sighing.
"Such a simple yet effective spell!" Eleleth exclaimed, her usual soft and neutral voice becoming more excited.
"I'm sure you and Albedo can learn it with little effort. However, it does take too much mana for my liking," Ainz commented.
"I already learned it, Lord. Using magic comes naturally to me. Just observing you perform the spell was enough," The angel dutifully reported.
'She is a bit too capable for my comfort. I must be vigilant in case she ever tries to go against me or Nazarick,' He mused. "Excellent. Then you will empower two of the Swords of Darkness' members." He wasn't about to miss the opportunity and return the favor by watching her perform magic.
The non-human team arrived a few minutes later with Peter in the lead. The last human member, Lukrut, had switched to an elf with the help of Tabula, thus ensuring that no team member would need to worry about old age any time soon. And with the new powerup, they'd live even longer now.
Just as he hoped, the limit increase didn't have charges anymore as the number of empowered workers quickly exceeded his expectations. Instead, it required different amounts of mana depending on the current limit of the target, which meant pushing someone bound to level one hundred would require a lot of mana, and the requirements to push someone above one hundred twenty would be simply ludicrous.
The one problem had disappeared, only to give another one in its place. The good news was that he could increase the limits of low-level targets without much of a cost, growing his forces' capabilities greatly. The bad one was that using the limit increase again would require similar amounts of mana as it was to summon Eleleth, meaning mana became only ever more precious as a resource.
On a more positive note, it also meant he could basically level by empowering others and push his already impressive mana reserves beyond all logical game reason, turning him into hopefully the strongest magic-centric Gods in this world.
As he changed the limits of Pero's servants one by one, Eleleth empowered them right after. Her process was about as refined as Tabula's, so there wasn't much he could learn from her, meaning only a regular practitioner could possibly optimize it.
He caught Albedo observing the whole process with increasing frustration. She likely tried to learn the spell on her own by observing but as a physical fighter, no doubt, failed to do so. 'I'll have to teach her myself.' He decided to make sure his partner didn't feel inadequate compared to his summon, perhaps in a more private session.
Once the process of empowering the former adventurer team was done and they had left, Ainz ordered anyone besides Albedo to leave the room.
"That angel is too dangerous. Ainz, you must shackle her tighter," Albedo hissed the moment they had privacy.
"I'm not sure if it's necessary. As one of my summons, she shouldn't be able to betray me," Ainz replied as he let Albedo embrace him.
The succubus stared up at him with a worried expression. "You saw how quickly she learns new powers. At least do not experiment in her presence."
"Hmm, I guess I shouldn't just in case, and only share knowledge when it's necessary. Did you get a glimpse of how the empowerment spell works?" he switched the topic.
"No, it seems I still need to practice the basics of magic before being able to cast such spells. But I did feel something strange. Your level suddenly jumped up."
"I somehow absorbed Endless Strive. I didn't even notice that it also increased my level." He checked on her claims and found them to be true. His level jumped from one hundred four to one hundred seventeen with the main gain being a significant increase in his mana pool. Resistances did increase, but only by a negligible degree.
"I see. Perhaps other world items can be absorbed in a similar manner." Albedo reasoned. "Perhaps I should try using Ginnungagap and see if I can absorb it."
"I'll have to look into it. For now, let's keep this to ourselves," He suggested, to which Albedo nodded in agreement. The one limitation with absorption besides the mana cost was that it would require that person to be there, much less convenient than passing around an item in terms of transportability.
Sooner or later, he would discuss this development with the rest of the guild members, but for now, he wanted to understand what had happened without getting them involved. Better to show up with information than not.
Editing by aidan_lo.
Proofreading by Sluethen, aidan_lo, Mfkzrocker, Squid, fvvck, nate051499j6, LionLover, x4x, clagan, and Stac.
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