[||||=LEVEL 25= ||||]
Raven dashed towards the mimic quickly. The Mimic gave up on It's facade as Raven and morphed to a spindly creature with four legs and no other features.
She and the mimic were roughly the same speed-wise. The Mimic was better physically but Raven was far more skilled at actively using her aura to be faster.
Raven was also way more skilled at the sword and general combat than the mimic. She also had her magic to attack.
Unfortunately, while Raven was one of the best human fighters in Remnant she was a close combat fighter. She hit things in soft spots and they died. The Mimic had no soft spots and It's VIT was huge. It also only took a single fifth of all physical damage.
A lot of Raven's strikes didn't hit because the mimic could change shape. If it was about to be hit it could just change it's shape to a form that wouldn't be hit.
With all this it would seem that Raven was at a slight disadvantage. But no. She had an advantage that made the fight completely one sided.
Me.
I took every opportunity to harm the mimic. I shot heat beams. I sent pulses of ice mana designed to freeze the bastard upon contact, which I received the spell creation message for it, called ice beam. I did everything I could to harm that fool that thought to pull one over us.
It was barely even a contest really. I kept resist spatial interference on the mimic and threw spells of any sort at the idiot. Raven slashed at the mimic whenever possible with her ice mana sword and left his mostly liquid body frozen around her slashes. She never got hit thanks to my interferences.
Ruby hung back and watched in a sort of fascinated awe as we went all out on the mimic. She kept an eye out but didn't interfere. Ruby was as protective as we were but she wasn't as vengeful as we were. Besides, I think she knew that we weren't really in need of protection.
I shot one more ice beam towards the mimic and got a direct hit. While it was slowed by the ice mana and, as it always was, stunned by the mana right in it's face, Raven landed a slash into it. Her left hand swept out and ice mana slammed into the mimic. It shuddered and frost spread over it's body. It slinked away from Raven and shook the frost off but it was obviously injured.
HP – 1089/915,860
AP – 0/4,200
MP - 201/23,080
"Raven." I interrupted. Raven stopped herself from taking a final charge as I approached the mimic. I came close enough to it to perhaps get hurt and it lashed out at me with a spiked tendril. I dodged easily with prediction and waved my hand to push heat mana into the tendril. The mimic recoiled as if struck and desperately looked for a place to run. But there was none. The armory had only one entrance and one exit.
"You know, I almost feel bad for you." I said calmly. The mimic stilled. "Locked up in this lab alone with that awful semblance of yours making you sane all the time. You can't leave and after all that time you've had absolutely nothing to do."
The mimic shivered against the wall of the armory. "I wanted freedom too once. I got it." The mimic shivered harder, though it seemed less in fear now and more in rage.
"But I have freedom. You don't. That means I'm free to do with you as I like. And you know… if you'd just asked to be let go I might have even given you some advice for getting loose. But you hurt my family. With that done you've become completely devoid of any sympathy from me. That's why I won't feel bad at all about giving you a fate worse than death." The mimic went absolutely still.
Before my eyes the mimic appeared like Ruby was. Silver eyes wide and watery, face wracked with fear.
"You're a good actor." I blinked right in front of the mimic and my hand leapt out onto it. Seeing an opportunity the mimic grabbed onto it, seeking to consume it, probably. I sucked it into my inventory without mercy. The mimic must have sensed that something was wrong since it tried to get away. I dumped motion mana to pull it back to me. It strained against my magical might but it was to no avail. It tried to morph itself away from my hand but it was useless.
The remaining mana in the mimic fought against mine as hard as it could but I simply flooded the mimic's soul with my mana. The faint shreds of aura that it had were dragged into me. I could clearly feel the absolute terror the mimic had in it. Too bad. Steel will kept me perfectly in control.
With my aura control I engulfed the aura of the mimic. It wasn't consensual. The mimic screamed in it's soul but I simply choked it's struggles out. I was a greater entity than it. Perhaps crueller than it as well.
I assigned all of my parallels to it for my purposes. If my theory about my parallels taking affinity from the environment was correct I should be able to absorb the creature's affinities easily enough. I aimed for consumption first. I would grow faster at consuming the soul of the mimic as I took that affinity.
With all of my parallels meditating on the mimic I could, if I paid very close attention, feel it on the brink of death with it's affinities slowly being ripped away from it to my own soul. It was extremely painful for it; like being digested alive. Too bad. That's life for you.
Through a special action you have earned a title: Dark sage
-Increases rate of affinity stealing by 50%
-Creatures you are stealing from resist 50% less
-Increases aura and mana reserves by 25%
-No penalties to mana or aura are gained by keeping creatures in your soul
*Ding!* By keeping a strong creature in your soul your AP and MP regeneration rates have dropped by 50%.
I really wanted that title but it was better for me to have passenger and wizard on. I needed to keep Ruby well and to keep my soul as great as it was. It was the main factor in keeping the mimic subdued.
"Is it dead?" Raven asked coldly.
"Worse." I said vaguely. "Let's find a bunk that's somewhat clean. It's too late to head out. We can take the bullhead to the tower tomorrow or walk if it's not functional." Raven nodded. There was a small satisfied smile on her face. Ruby looked slightly disturbed but I think it was more of the violence of the situation than the act of vengeance to the mimic. Ruby wasn't any goodie two shoes but she wasn't happy to do deeds of cruelty to keep her family safe. It was just who she was.
Without any pomp or ceremony we all headed out to find a bunk to sleep in for the night.
[|||| == ||||]
"What the-! Bella?!"
"Um… Hi Qrow!"
"You're my date?!"
"Yeah!"
" … Did Abyss set you up blind too?"
"Um… no. I kinda… um, dismantled a minor drug smuggling ring to get this date. I didn't know I was getting a date but, um, I'm pretty… pretty happy with it."
"… Huh. Well alright then. I didn't realize you liked me that way."
"That's because you're a guy."
"I blame my semblance."
"Do you blame your drinking habits on it too?"
"No I blame my nieces and unofficial nephew for that one. I'm pretty sure Abyss is a demon and that he's corrupting Ruby."
"I'm considering your nephew for sainthood myself."
"All the better to be hell's double agent."
"Hah! Yeah that hits closer to home than a saint that's for sure. I'm going to remember that one. Speaking of, have you ever met his uncle?"
"No. The guy just kinda popped out of nowhere. Oz knows him apparently but he's not telling me about it."
"Hm… you should meet with him. He's new family. It's important to know him."
"Yeah… I probably should get a drink with the guy."
"As one-track a mind as ever."
[|||| == ||||]
I Kept an eye out for enemies while we walked and meditated on the mimic. I had already gained the consumption and as I consumed more of it's affinities I began to consume faster. I had gained a skill for it too.
*Ding!* New skill acquired! - Siphon
"The most horrible of all creatures in the forest of Krannen is the vampiric cakkan, though luckily it is quite rare and while it's methods are horrid it isn't particularly a problem for your average wizard though an arch-mage may have a small bit of trouble… The vampiric Krannen steals the soul of it's victims and tears them apart piece by piece, feeding on the unlucky person's affinities to sustain itself."
-Helleal Gothic, Senior magical creature biologist
Affinities:
Air: 315 (+200) = 5768
Electricity: 189 (+100)= 3236.8
Heat: 149 = 1668.8
Purity: 144 (+100)= 806.4
Light: 135 = 756
Space: 125 = 700
Ice: 117 (+51)(+59)= 1271.2
Consumption: 112 = 627.2
Water: 102 = 775.2
Unity: 98 = 548.8
Nature: 82 (+19)(+63)(+20)(+8)= 1069.6
Motion: 81 = 453.6
Life: 80 = 448
Metal: 42 = 235.2
*Ding!* Due to your purity affinity dropping below the required two thousand your purity familiar is unavailable for usage outside your body. The affinity buff provided by it is unavailable. Raise your purity affinity over two thousand to wake your purity elemental.
Letting Gem sort of hibernate was fine. I never need to use her unless I was going to fight some really strong grimm. It was more important to suck that mimic dry of all it was worth… I probably shouldn't ever mention this to Ozpin. Ever. Dark druid makes me think that what I was doing was like a wizard drug. Like this is what power hungry dark wizards do. Well too bad Ozpin. I'm growing stronger and stronger. Soon enough… one day… I might be strong enough to face him as an equal rather than someone he can push around as a pawn.
Being angry at my lack of power compared to the true powers of remnant is a meaningless act. For now I have to look in front of me. And by In front of me I mean the elementals around the tower.
Raven crouched down and looked through binoculars at the top of the ice tree she was using to scout out the elementals. Ruby stared through the scope of rose eclipse next to her.
Greater ice elemental (Lv. 8,927) - An elemental of rare strength compared to the norm born of an extreme concentration of mana with an ice affinity in this location. It is naturally hostile to all entities besides one long dead.
Stats
STR: 9,991
VIT: 26,358
DEX: 7,992
INT: 146
WIS: 84
LUK: 64
AFF: 64,000
Well… They're big. Very big. Each of them are like large almost So the snake theme continues… I've no doubt that all of them can breathe ice of frost or something cold. The strong ones could so these ones probably can do the same but better.
The problem is this. There are eight of these beasts and all of them are on par with Raven but super tanky. That means that we can't just fight them. We actually have to plan and use our superior intelligence and abilities to kick ass. We can't just sneak through them either since if the lesser elementals could sense us then these suckers undoubtedly can.
My best plan is to make runes like landmines filled to the brim with heat attuned mana. Raven draws them in as little groups as she can through the landmines and hopefully a few are knocked out. I will be hidden on a tree and fire massive heat beams at them while Ruby snipes them. Raven fights defensively while we deal damage and we repeat. Boom. Eight dead elementals.
Hopefully the plan will be as simple as that. Nobody thinks it will be so easy but we can only hope.
It took two hours for me to write all the runic matrixes. They were simple things written on plates of ice. A rune holds heat mana and releases it upwards when the circle is disturbed. Easy.
I made roughly two hundred of these plates and scattered them around the forest floor all around the elementals. I made a series of sniper nests from ice for Ruby to run around in if the elemental was drawn out of our kill zones.
Raven started by just showing a hint of herself to an elemental. It looked at her for a moment before a hissing screech rang out. All other seven elementals noticed clearly. Two ran towards the entrance of the tower, guarding it, and the six others rapidly slithered through the snow.
I growled inaudibly, though Ruby heard me. I had considered that something like this would happen. It was dealable but not good. Ruby and I took aim carefully. My heat beam rammed full force into the lead elemental's face and Ruby's bullets peppered it's face not a moment later. The elemental was more pissed than hurt but eight more beams were fired onto it and several magazine's of bullets. It was barely alive. One more beam dealt with it.
That had used a quarter of my mana. I wasn't able to use dust unfortunately since I was in Ruby's body and she didn't have a dust system but using heat was much easier now since it was a dominant affinity. Without that we really would be screwed or I'd have to leave Ruby's body, which was… undesirable.
Raven whistled strongly and sent a few slashes of fire towards the elementals. They turned their attention from me and Ruby and started following her. Then one of them slithered over the first landmine. A moderate amount of heat attuned mana shot up and melted it's belly. The elemental screeched in pain but continued on.
These elementals were smarter than we gave them credit for. After seeing their brother in arms… or fangs or mana or something - get scorched by the plate of ice they avoided the plates. Sometimes they would miss one and get damaged by them but not all that often.
If only it could have been that easy. The elementals adapted again. They seemed to come to a consensus to use their breath attacks. Icicles and beams of razor ice spew from their mouths and Raven is now playing dodgeball as well as running away. I winced as an icicle clipped her shoulder. Another came flashing towards her face but she slashed it out of the air and sheathed her sword in a flash of embers.
The fight went much the same way. Elementals attacked, Raven ran away, dodged, and occasionally tossed some fireballs to keep their attention. Ruby and I shot bullets and magical heat beams whenever we could… it was kind of boring.
At the last elemental the other two tried to attack too but it was just blind repetition. Boring. Why is that becoming a theme of this place?
Ruby hopped down with a small scowl. Raven had a similar expression.
"I know I volunteered for that… but that was not fun." She said in irritation.
"It was boring for us." Ruby said frustratedly. "All we did was shoot and shoot and shoot… why am I missing all the fun stuff?!"
"Because you're not strong enough to fight up close with the strong elementals and the others are all too easy for you." I wind whispered out loud. Ruby pouted.
"I'm almost wishing something interesting would happen." Ruby muttered. I almost agree.
Raven sighed and withdrew a bottle of beer from the inventory. "Time to go inside." We all walked towards the tower and Raven took the honor of kicking the door in dramatically. A long hallway with a red carpet led in. The hallway was lit by glass globes that softly shined with light affinity. Because there was some practicality among mages and wizards the walls were made of a thick and dense wood. Runed darkwood, apparently.
"Okay, that's actually pretty cool." Ruby admitted. "But the apartment is cooler. Homier." Raven nodded and tossed the now empty beer bottle behind her into the snow.
"Wait." I said. "The mana isn't streaming into Ruby anymore." The compulsion mana that had constantly annoyed me was gone now. It just wasn't there."
"Ooh! You can get out now?" Ruby said excitedly. I answered that by exiting. Ruby squeed and hugged me. "Thank you! I know that was super boring for you to sit in my soul!" I shrugged.
"It wasn't that bad." Ruby grinned.
"Come on kids." Raven said a little teasingly. "We've a tower to explore." Raven walked ahead and Ruby and I followed suit.
Entering the main room there were two wings on the left and right and a doorway in the center. "Not splitting up." I confirmed.
"Oh absolutely."
"… Fine."
"Left first." I decided. I walked to the left and the only turn was to the right. I walked down the corridor a little and found the first door. Opening it was a… dorm room? And in good condition. My eyes zeroed in on the table, which had a book on it.
I instantly half stepped towards the book and snatched it up.
"-ould be the frostfire branching spell, which is designed for cold that spreads like fire. The main benefit is that a fire affinity is unnecessary for such a spell though it can be used. Other affinities such as consumption and domination can be used though fire is the preferred method due to the commonality of the element."
I chuckled darkly. "I like this place." I glanced around the room and saw Raven holding a staff curiously.
Treated icewood staff
Rarity: Magical (Low)
Material composition: Icewood, Ice essence (Medium concentration)
Special traits: Magical amplifier (Ice - x3)
Bio: An ordinary mage's staff from ages past. Icewood treated with ice essence (Concentrated ice mana) makes the entirety of the staff. This staff is, while well made and runed to be durable, quite standard compared to a normal staff.
"Raven." I said warningly. "Hand that over. Now." Raven looked warily at the staff and cautiously handed it to me. I gingerly took the staff and brought it to my face. A huge grin broke my face and I hugged the staff.
"Don't worry, precious. You're safe now." I stage whispered. Raven lost all tension and deadpan to me.
"Really?" I ignored her. I was with my baby now. I would get a better one but this was my first.
"Uh… so what does the stick do?" Ruby asked confusedly.
"It triples the intensity of my ice affinity when I channel mana through it." I mumbled, only half hearing Ruby. Raven's eyes widened and she looked appraisingly towards the staff. I saw her look and held my staff closer. "I got first pickings. Back off. There may be better staffs but I already figured out how to make a better one. I'm pretty sure I could make any type of magical amplifier now… I just need to experiment a little." I set the staff down with a sigh of happiness.
"This place is already the most rewarding." Raven said in a pleased tone. "Onwards then." Raven exited the small dorm room across the hall, where another empty room was. She came out a moment later with another staff. I didn't even care.
We circled the entire corridor to the other side. It wasn't like the tower was super thick. There were only eight single bed rooms in the circular corridor. There were staffs in each of them and a poorly made longsword made of mana conductive metal treated with ice elemental mana. I didn't care to use that. It was badly made and I didn't use longswords.
As it turns out the book I had found was a textbook scribed to standardization. In other words, it was a handwritten copy of a magical textbook. I think we found hogwarts…
"Well I know you two are thrilled to have staffs that amplify mana but… well can we see what other stuff is around?" Ruby asked. "Like whatever arch-mage lives up high?" A pointed finger up the stairs did clarify to us that yes there was more loot to be had…
Like better textbooks and staffs.
Words cannot describe how fast I leaped up those stairs.
The second floor was filled with two lecture halls, some teaching supplies (Like volumes two through five of the textbooks and a teacher's annotated copy, which was mine now), and three teacher's quarters which all had better staffs in them. Not to the extreme concentrations of ice mana, but high grade. They had a 4x boost to ice mana. Beautiful.
The third floor were staff quarters, which were mundane except for the bedding being made of frost spider silk, which was to be my and Raven's new bedding since it was incredibly soft.
The fourth floor was a storage room… it had properly stored and labelled magical creature parts with their effects in all kinds of crafting. Ruby was pissed. All those samples we collected were for nothing. There was also a little hangout hidden in the boxes of supplies runed to be hidden from mage sight with a runed cooler full of magical beer. I took it all. I'm hoping I can use it with nature's bounty to sell beer to remnant. Raven demanded one, which I obliged. Her eyes widened and she found a new favorite drink.
The fifth floor had an alchemy lab. I don't know if I'll ever bother getting into alchemy but I took all the supplies and whatever stations I could. The potions were interesting. Alchemy includes the process of manufacturing elemental essences though so… I'll think about it. There's also the potions but they're not really useful. At all. The only one worth even a little were the mana potions but they only restore about ten thousand mana at most so I doubt I'll ever really care about getting into alchemy.
The sixth floor was a library. I took it all. Everything. Every scrap of paper is now safely stored in my soul space. I saw spellbooks for everything. Heat magic, water magic, space magic, consumption magic, fire magic, and everything in between. It was beautiful. So gorgeous.
Finally was the seventh floor…
I eagerly opened the double doors at the top of the stairs, hoping for the best. As the doors parted I gazed at the room's contents…
A large bed, a sort of lab with some ice dust that was glowing for some reason on it along with some equipment, a basin with some uncleaned dishes… is this some sort of magical bachelor's flat?!
I wandered in, still scrutinizing everything around here, and Raven wandered in with a gleam in her eye that faded to confusion when she looked around. "Is this some sort of magical apartment? I didn't answer. I was in love.
Ice Archwizard's staff
Rarity: Magical (High)
Material composition: Icewood, frosted silver, powdered ice dragon scale, powdered ice dragon bone, Ice essence (Extreme concentration)
Special traits: Magical amplifier (Ice - x5)
Bio: This staff used to be a symbol of authority and skill. The most powerful ice wizard of them all was allowed to wield it but with the fall of magic and the rise of the queen the hierarchy and magical community is in shambles. What used to be a symbol of power and skill is now simply a very good staff.
I put my teacher's staff into my inventory and took this one. It's top was carved to resemble an ice wraith coiling around it. Silver circled up the wood in a spiral. The rest of the staff was made of ice wood that was paler than the norm. I can't say for certain but I think that it's the ice dragon bone and scale that's infused into the wood. It doesn't really matter though. It's beautiful. And super deadly. Ice magic just became my most powerful magic.
"This is the best one. The arch-wizard's staff. It's got powdered dragon scale and bone in it too." I grinned. I wasn't going to be creepy with my staff again. I'm kind of out of juice for that.
"Do you think we can make one better?" Ruby asked, walking up behind me. I sighed but nodded.
"We can rune one to be great, infuse it with the dragon bone and scale, and smelt this silver, called frost silver, into my best magical conductor. Not to mention that what we make will be mechashift and amplify more than just ice mana." Ruby smiled proudly and looked over at the glowing crystals.
"And… what are those?" I observed the crystals curiously.
Infused ice dust (High grade)
Rarity: Magical (High)
Special traits: Magical battery (10000/10000 ice mana)
Ice dust infused with ice attuned mana.
"It's ice mana infused into high grade dust. I didn't know that dust could act as a magical battery." Ruby walked over to the crystals and glanced at a covered basket under the crystals. She pulled it out and it was filled with ice infused crystals.
"Whoa…" She said in a little surprise. "How much mana do these things have?"
"About a twentieth of my total mana. I could make one of those every minute… or every two minutes right now. The mimic is hampering my mana regeneration right now." Ruby nodded, not questioning how the mimic was doing that or why I was letting it. I don't think she really wanted to know.
"Why is it hampering your magical regeneration?" Raven asked. Oh, so she wanted to know. That makes sense.
"I'm siphoning the affinities from it. It's fighting me but it's not able to fight back. I'm far more magically adept and aurically adept than it."
"That sounds… horrible." Ruby said, her face dark.
"It is. I've done a lot worse, though." I said sadly. Poor Jaune. I don't regret what I did though.
A moment of silence passed. Then my eye caught something. A runic circle on the wall. I approached it and tried to decipher it's function. A magical battery, a wide-range emitter, a collection matrix, and… oh?
Part of the matrix was specifically designed to run through a catalyst to convert the mana. I followed where a conductive pattern led and found a small matrix in an auxiliary matrix. In it was a purple rod of metal.
Infused moribus (Mind)
Rarity: Magical (Medium)
Special traits: Attuning rod (167,980 affinity)
A rod of moribus, a mana conductive metal, that has an elder mind strider's essence infused into it, granting it a potent mind affinity. Running unattuned mana through the rod will attune it to mind mana.
Instantly I figured out what this was. This was the matrix that was compelling Ruby to not know about the icy tower before. Without hesitation I took a brush out of my inventory and a bucket. I dipped the brush and without even paying attention I dragged the brush across the matrix's detection system. It was still technically active but it couldn't see. It was blind.
I grabbed the rod of mana and pulled it out and into my inventory. "Alright. That was the matrix that was compelling Ruby to not know about the tower. She can go outside now without my soul defending her."
"Good." Raven said approvingly. "And what about that one?" She said pointing a finger at the wall above the lab. My eyes widened. A conductive pattern was going from the matrix I had just destroyed to the other matrix.
I rushed over to the matrix and looked over it quickly. Oh no… oh nonononon. This matrix was specifically focused on the north-east, where the ice cave was. It prevented thoughts affiliated with escape or revenge… but it needed the detection matrix to discover those thoughts. Shit.
"roooooOOOOOOOOAAAARRR"
I stiffened. "That… that is what was keeping the beast in it's icy cave."
*Ding!* You have released Í̴̡̙̥̪̠̻̾̂̃͡ͅć̨͙͇̞̖͛͒̓͐̏̚̚͞m̶̢͇̱̫̫͙͆̎̏́̏́̚͡a̴̯̳̝͉̜͋́́̈́͂͠ͅñ̡̤͍̌̈̆̚͢ͅt̡̺̘̪͉̤̳͗̌̇̄͋͢͞ t͇̻̳̗͓̳̑̉̍̓͋͑͋̌̍̌͢ḩ̷̭͙͔̯̹̲̎̕̕͘͡ē̳͇̭̳͖͂̊̓̚ i̴̗͈̼̠̥̫͇̓̉́͘͡m̧̢͍͉͍̠̃́̾͌̽̌͢͠ͅp̺̝̯͇͚̃̀̍͋̎̿̕͝͠r̨̡̹̰̳͇̠̫̆̅̄̉̓͛̚͜i̵̢̨̨̲̪͕̺̒̌̾̽̑̾̄͆͘͠s̸̢̼̬̺̲͉͖̩̐͐̒̃̐̅͆õ̡͎͕͙͖̩̱̫̓͋̒͂͒̒̕̚͢͞n̢͙̜͇̬͌̍̉́̊͢ȩ̞̼͕̹̲̹̌̀̌̄̿̿̈̽̕͟ͅͅd̶̨̛̙̰͔̳̤̟̟͙́̈̀̕͟͡ ǫ̸͔͓̟̜̀̏͆͗̕n̢̻̗̝̘̭͎̊̎̄̾͑̃ę̸̦̼̼͎̂̋̀͘̚͞͡ (̤͎̞̻̥̓̔͋̒̊͑͘̕͠L̨͔̱͇̳͉̞̬̙̞̈́͐̉̈́̈́̎̈́̚v̷̳͙͓̖͒̎̅̎̉̌͑̈͟.̷̢̛̤̼̺̟̘͓͋̀͑̒͂̕̕̚͡ 9̶̧͖̝̝͙͓͌̑͒̔̽,̶̛̛̲̼̙̼̖̦͚̹̈̇̓̿͊͒̍9̛̯͎̰͔̌̓̌̉͗̈́̍̊̐͢8̨̼̫̯͚̳̇̀̌̚͘͟͞8̢̢̱̗͕̄̍̿̍͋͘͘)̵̨̛͎͕͚͇͉̜̱͙͗̍̌̿̕ͅ This is classified as a raid mob and vastly above your level.
A massive snapping sound was heard from all the way across the forest. "Raven! Take us out now!" I snapped. Raven could seemingly tell the panic in my voice meant 'now' since I saw her concentrate briefly. A red portal opened but…
'ROAAAAAAARRRRR'
A huge pulse of ice mana flushed over the tower. It was like an ocean's depths. The pressure of all than mana leaned down on me with crushing force. Raven gasped and her legs buckled as she fell to a knee. I heard a crumpling sound behind me. Ruby was unconscious probably. With Raven's concentration disrupted the portal collapsed.
Well… shit. There's only one thing left to do other than die… I gravely looked at my status screen and assigned my points. 500 points total in WIS and INT… and fifty to LUK. I'm going to need it.
[|||| == ||||]
"So obviously we need to lower the budget for coffee and-!"
"NO!"
"What?!"
"Oh… oh no… Glynda I need to… this is not good. Not at all."
"Ozpin what's going on?!"
"An old one. Not a large threat for Salem but for us… there are enemies that required no less than an arch-wizard to face. One such enemy was just released."
"Oh.. oh dust… can… can you kill it? Can anyone else help?"
"Perhaps Abyss… or two maidens… is Amber nearby?"
"She's in Vale right now, yes."
"Get her now and the fastest bullhead we have and put it in the teleportation matrix to Shade. Time is critical here. I may not be up to the levels of the arch-wizards of old without the use of a relic but I am a strong wizard. I can fight."
"I'm coming with you."
"Glynda you-"
"I. Am. Coming."
"... Alright. Now get Amber. This is an enemy that may collapse whole kingdoms should we not be able to kill it."
[|||| == ||||]
I poured my stat points into my WIS and INT hoping for the best. The moment I did I felt my soul twist and writhe in ways it shouldn't. Another change in my soul. Fine. I leaned on my steel will skill and pain resistance skills to keep myself conscious. I couldn't read the messages but while my soul warped I stumbled over to Ruby, who was shivering in the fetal position on the floor. She disappeared into my inventory. I then clumsily stumbled to Raven. I tripped but I was close enough to her to touch her. She disappeared into my inventory a moment later as well.
I collapsed onto the floor and waited for the horrible pain to end. I could feel Icmant and his colossal mana come closer but he wasn't hellbent to getting to me I think. Or he was slow. He was just slowly coming closer to the tower.
After the metamorphosis finished I felt a blaze in my soul. Not a fiery blaze but a powerful one. Before I even opened my stats sheet, though, I put on The Storm title. I was going to need it. Then I opened my stats sheet hoping to whatever gods are watching that I had the strength to beat this monster.
*Ding!* By reaching 400 WIS a new skill has been acquired! - Prime affinity
"Wizards only ever specialize on one element. It is what they are best in without question. Thus why we have archwizards specializing in just one element barring the archwizard of soul, who none can claim to comprehend."
-Ventel, wizardess
-4x modifier on your greatest base affinity.
*Ding!* By reaching 450 WIS a new skill has been acquired! - Selective memory
"A rare few remember only what they care to and forget the rest. A better trade off than remembering everything. I don't particularly care to know what I ate on the twenty sixth day of my tenth autumn either. I'd rather remember the beautiful women of Cassidy city. It's irritating that I remember one but not the other."
-Iruidil, scholar
-Remember everything you have ever seen
-Muscle memory is never forgotten
-You may choose to forget whatever you don't care to remember
*Ding!* By reaching 500 WIS a new skill has been acquired! - Grand soul
"I once saw the souls of those that call themselves the enlightened. They are above even those of us that wield the higher souls. I fear what the enlightened call their master, however. For what a soul that individual must have to earn the love of that which is grand?"
-Pamels the viewer of souls
-+250% WIS and INT modifiers
-Your consciousness lies in your soul rather than a physical body. Skills and the INT, LUK, and WIS stats are based in the soul and cannot be lost except in death.
-Affinities are four times as strong
-Aura and mana may be used interchangeably in some spells
-Anything that occurs inside your soul costs 25% less MP or AP
-Replaces high soul
*Ding!* By reaching 400 INT a new skill has been acquired! - Nature's wrath
"Dust is interesting. We know that mana focused in a particular way makes it but we can't say that we understand it. Especially naturally made dust. We cannot comprehend it no matter how hard we try. Yet… we can use it. Perhaps that is enough."
-Relkaskan, dust expert
-Dust is 4x as powerful when used
*Ding!* By reaching 450 INT a new skill has been acquired! - Foci
"A staff is a wizard's best friend. Lose it and you'll be a laughingstock. Don't have one and you're either incredibly powerful to the point of not needing one like the archwizard of soul or you're just an idiot."
-Magical foci are 5x as effective
-Focusing attuned mana into objects is 10x as efficient
*Ding!* By reaching 500 INT a new skill has been acquired! - World of mana
"Mana… it is such a small word but it is so powerful in reality. It is incredible."
-Ulerid the believer
-Replaces flood of mana
-10x mana capacity and regen
*Ding!* By reaching 150 LUK a new skill has been acquired! - Pass it on
"I'm a lucky person. So are my friends. It makes me feel more lucky that my friends are lucky too."
-Minsk the well of fortune
-25% of your LUK is applied to friends, family, and allies
*Ding!* As your wind affinity is over eight thousand total your contracted wind elemental has become a lesser wind elemental! He may downgrade to a minor elemental should your wind affinity decrease.
*Ding!* As your wind affinity is over sixteen thousand total your contracted wind elemental has become a common wind elemental! He may downgrade to a elemental should your wind affinity decrease.
*Ding!* As your wind affinity is over thirty two thousand total your contracted wind elemental has become a strong wind elemental! He may downgrade to a common wind elemental should your wind affinity decrease.
*Ding!* As your electrical affinity is over four thousand total your contracted electrical elemental has become a minor electrical elemental! He may downgrade to a petty elemental should your electrical affinity decrease.
Abyss Mavros
Title: Wizard; The Storm
Level – 234
HP – 12,032 (+30.08/min)
AP – 120,000 (+6000/min)
MP - 2,050,000 (+102,500/min)(½ due to mimic)
STR - 204 (+515%)= 1254.6
VIT - 188 (+540%)= 1203.2
DEX - 275 (+545%)= 1773.75
INT - 500 (+400%)= 2500
WIS - 500 (+500%) = 3000
LUK - 150 (+0%)= 150
POINTS - 490
Affinities:
Air: 315 (+500) (x64)(190%)= 99,104
Electricity: 189 (+200) (x16) (190%)= 11,825.6
Heat: 149 (x16) (140%)= 3337.6
Purity: 144 (+100) (x8) (140%)= 1612.8
Light: 135 (x8) (140%)= 1512
Space: 125 (x8) (140%)= 1400
Ice: 119 (+51)(+59) (x8) (140%)= 2564.8
Consumption: 168 (x8) (140%)= 1881.6
Unity: 107 (x8) (140%)= 1198.4
Water: 102 (x8) (190%)= 1550.4
Nature: 82 (+19)(+63)(+20)(+8) (140%)= 2150.4
Motion: 81 (x8) (140%)= 907.2
Life: 80 (x8) (140%)= 896
Metal: 52 (x8) (140%)= 582.4
I felt it without even trying. That sharpness. That cutting feeling in my soul. My wind affinity was massive. Gargantuan. And my mana… it was ten times what it was before. More, even.
I stood tall and smiled at the wealth of power that coursed through me. I'm getting closer and closer to Ozpin's level. If I spent every point I had I might even be AT his level… but no. I have other ways of gaining power. And points are precious. To only be used in emergencies. Like now.
I ran down the tower and in a burst of air mana I jumped high up to the top. Getting a handhold was easy enough. Then I looked out into the forest. Icmant was easy to see.
He was a demon, first of all. Clearly a demon with his blue skin, horns, and clawed feet. They resembled velociraptor legs. The first thing that really struck me, though, was that he was huge. Ten times taller than the trees and his height was halfway up the tower. And his mana… his mana was beyond mine by such an insane amount that he may as well have been a human and even I, with all my new power, an ant.
Obviously I observed him.
Icmant
Title: Imprisoned one; High demon; Minor embodiment of ice; Tyrant; Elder one
Level – 9,988
HP – 697,600
AP – [DENIED]
MP - 379,760,000
STR - 5379 (+900%)= 53,790
VIT - 6976 (+900%)= 69,760
DEX - 9,009 (+900%)= 90,090
INT - 18,988 (+900%)= 189,880
WIS - 9459 (+900%) = 94,590
LUK - 129 (+0%)= 129
Affinities:
Ice: 78,282 (Innate)
Corruption: 47,9042 (Innate)
Abyss: 36,829 (Innate)
Blood: 15,989
Perks:
Pure demonic heritage - You are a demon of the purest heritage. Certain boons and restrictions are granted upon you because of this.
-x25 mana regeneration and capacity
-Only up to four affinities may ever be acquired
-All affinities are 10x as powerful due to the potency of your mana
-Aura is impossible for you to acquire
-The purity element inflicts 10x the normal amount of damage on you
-Magical foci without a corruption element are impossible to use
Wisdom of ancients - You have seen nations rise and fall. Technology come and go. Lands change. Cultures die out. People live and die. Through one way or another, though, you still live. Millenia have passed and you live still. The knowledge of old and present are available to you and through this you have learned much.
-+1000% to INT and WIS
-2x mana capacity and regen.
Chosen of Othos - You have been chosen by Othos for one reason or another. Bear his strength with the might befitting your race.
-1000% to all physical stats
Bio: Icmant is an ice demon from the abyss. He has no objective in his half-life other than to destroy, corrupt, and turn the world to an icy grave while not dying along the way. After he sufficiently amuses himself that is. He was imprisoned by the ice arch-wizard Methanthelios with the help of the mystic mind order over three millennia ago. You have just freed him.
I set all of my parallels but two to work on increasing my purity affinity. It was just two points below my heat affinity and while heat may be useful against a beast such as Icmant purity would be better. Especially with my eyes… I wonder if I can hide from him for thirty minutes while I raise my affinity to properly combat him?.
"̰̱͙̳͎̒̏͑̀̔͢ͅH̢̛̟̱͖̅̾̽̅̔̎͟͞ḙ̢̻̩̘͎̙̅̀͑̈̓̏̂̕͢ļ̸͙̥͈̣̳͉̼̲͆̽͗̄̉͘͜l̸̨̡̢̛̜̤̠͍͓̳̑̋̕͠Ǫ̢̫͍͇̹̖̝̤̦͛͗̓͐̇̆̓͊̕͞ Ḽ͚̭͚̳̟̫̄̑̽͘͢͡í̵̛̯̙̤̫̙̓̎̂̐̇̉́ţ̵͚͎̥̦͖͊͆́͊͝͝t̶̲̮̞̪̬̏͊̾͒̾̈͐͠l̶̨̖̥͎̜̜̑͒̅͑̎̒̒̐͝͝Ẻ̴̝̩̠̫͈̼̻̯͉̓͂̊͊͘ M͔̦̺̼̝͋̆̈́̐̂̔͡ͅA̶̢͖̩̬͇̫̪̣̓̋̿̈̐̀̔̿͜͞͞g̵͎͚̠̰̥͔͎͒͆̉͗̆́̅̄͟͜͞͞Ę̵̛̫̻̟̖̦͕͎̀̅̅̓̇͡ͅ"̸̢͉͔̯̲̹̠̤̼̠̋͐́̐̓̕̚͡͞͞
Or perhaps not. Icmant turned to face me and a large and cruel smile spread across his face. It brought to attention that his teeth were VERY sharp and made of blackened ice with pulsing red veins faintly visible in them. The image sent shivers down my spine.
"̧̡̢̘̲̰̦̘̤͂͑̈͑̇̊̄̐̚͢A̵̳̪͉̫͚͛̈́͂̈͛̊͛̀̚ń̵̩͔̖͉͇̪̑̑̈́̎̂̅̄̀͝D̶̨̛̗͇͍͓̻̼̙̦̝́̒̃͐́̊̅͆ ẁ̴̨̡̜̯̻͙̣̀̀̔̋̾͑̅͘H̴̢͉̱͇͙̩̯̅͛̍̈́̏̐̈͗͟͠a̸͈͔̝̲̳̝̩͗̐́̏̅̏̿͜A̸̢̰͎̘͎͕̦̒͊̏͒̔̏̕͡t̵̢͖̯̝̬͔̙͓̉̇̀̓́̿̒̕͟͜ B̸̤̰͓̲̿̆͗̋͂͜ͅr̶͙̦̟̣̼͊̂̌̀͞͠ȉ̤͈̯̫̯͈̦̭̏̍͊͑̽̉͛̋͠ń̷̡̗͖̲̫̳̻̯͙͆̇͗̓͡g̗͉͈̭̺̪̐̅̈́̑͗͛̆͡͝S̶̡̛̲͚͙̦͍͆͌͊̇͆̇̕ ô̮̠͔̜̘̂͒̓͆͠͞N̡̢̢̩͉̥̫͈͚̽̍̋̎̂̚͡ͅë̢͈̱͓̳̟̮̟́̑́̍̊̀̂̅ͅ A̷̻͔͎͍̣̤̻̿̂͌̈̍͑̑͢͞Ś̷̠̮̘̩͕̤̰̜̘̓̓̍͋͊̈́͒͝ l̶͓͍̹̦͉̥̄̋̀͗̉͊̾͘o̸̭̻̟̮̫͕̰̳͗̃͒͛̋̉͜͜͡w̵̢̱͖̘̫̞̉̊̓́̓͌͋͟͞l̫̪͔͚͎̝͙̝̺̏͊̉͗̿̈́̐́͠Y͉̳̯͚̏͛̈́͛̿̏̾͘͜ a̵̛͎͍͕̦͗̀̉̍̀͜͡͡S̴̨̬̣̭͕̮̥̗̫͆̃͌́̚ Ỷ̶̱͉͓̝͉̰̙̤̜̏͆̓̒̕͞ṏ̸͕̝̭̲̪́̈́͋͜͠u̡̘̯̞̩̽̃̅̽͑̀ȑ̰̹̟̖̲̾̏̾͗͊ͅŜ͕̖̭̣̻̞̙̝̅́̏́̾͘ͅĚ̵̫͇̖̱̺̏͋̾̂́͐̕̚ͅL̸̤̻̺̠̉͋̊̑̔̃́̃͢f͎̱̩͇͚̖̭͖̀̑͛̀͘ t̶̡̡͖̣͖̹͛͋̾̃̅̚̚͘͢͠O̢̖̺͓͍̬͚̳͛́̓͆̅̓̽̽̕͟ ŗ͔̖̲̙͕̯͂͊͐̀̓̎̿̋͊ͅé̡̖̥̝̬̠̽̈́̀̆͆͊͗̍͘ͅv̴̢̧̰̫̪̱̒̾̀̾̅̓̚Ẹ̡̥͔̘̘̩͓̱́̍̄͋̈̋́̆̂͢͠ả̵̛̩͎̖͔̲͖̲̼͕̓̔̇̽̎̍͝l̠̪͖̟͕͒̎̌͗̿̄́͢͡ T̨̬̬̮̲͉́͑̓͒͗̇̾ȟ̴̢̨̹̼̥̲̗̿̉̑̀͌̀̉̂ȩ͇̩̲̻̝͚͆̋̔̈́̃̿͞m̘̪̘̜͙̞̰̜̓̽͑́͗͊͐͢͡S̠͇̬̲̫̫͎̣̤͚̆͋͐͐͘̚͞Ę̴͖̦̰̞͙̪̠̓̇͗́̈̆L̴̝̰̘̼͕̝͕̑̃́̈̈͞v̷̹͉̬̬͐̈́́͂͒ͅè̵̛͎̫̻͍̘̗͈͚͎̇̈́̕ͅṣ̶̢̡̡̩̼͍̄̂͐͛͟͝?̡̨̳̬̺͖̲̰́͛̊̀́̑̊̚ P̧̨̬̬̄̓̈́͊̆͢͠ở̱̲̲͇̂̌͋͂͂ͅẂ̴͇̟͎̠̰̜̙͚̈́͛͌̇̿͆͘͟͢Ę̵̳͔̞̦̗̄̏̀̓͊̐͜Ŗ͔̜͖̼̠͗̀͂̀͟͡͝͠?̣̻̺̘͔͔̣͓̈̍͋͌͛͞ Ä̹̥̤̘͔̟͆̂͐̅̄̄̾͢͜͞ B̬̖̫̦̲͉͊͊̎̈́̎̆̈͐͊̚Ă̢̫̳̰̟͎̦̅́̓͠Ṛ̢̧̛͖͆̃̂̈̓͜͞Ǵ̡̡̱̹͈̺̲̻͚̄̂͆̍͢a̦̱̖̙̤̩̪̘̎͐͐̓̑͐̊̓͛̍i̷̛̞̯̭̦͍̞͕͛̀̓͘͘͜͟͝n̙̟͈͚͈͉̰͙̥̓̔́̾̃͘ͅ?̷̡̹̫̯̩͕͇̌̀̓̅͘̚̚͢ F̯̞̫̙̙͕̈̎̅̓̈̇͞ơ̢̻͈͔̬̬̤̗̺͊̏͑͗̀͊̀͘͠ͅǫ̢̜̤̜̰̪͉̊̀̀́̇̐͑͘͜l͕̹͓͖̯̜͚͎̔́̽̀͊͌̎̅͌͌I̵̧͍̯̞̙̫̯͌̅̋͛̾͞͝s̢̛͚͙̣̐͂͆̔́͌͞͝͞ͅḩ̣͍̹̟̱̈́͐̓̔̚͡n͎̰̙͓̰̱̦̭̮̊̆̽́͛̊ͅE̬̳͎̟͈̭͒͆̉̃̋̚͟S̮͈͈̹͔̽͗̽̍͋̕S̵̨̝̳̰̫̲͔̜̊̑̈͊͐͗̇͒͡͝?̧̡̛̲͙̺̻̗̓̆͋̔͊̌͡"̵̨͖̤̤͍̝̟͓̀͊̍̓̎̆̍
Icmant's words cut into my skull like glass. It hurt my mind to comprehend them. "Can you please stop talking like that?!" I yelled while amplifying my voice with wind mana. Icmant laughed lowly.
"Consider it a boon, little immortal, that I will restrain my accent from my voice. Now… why do you reveal yourself to me?"
I nearly sighed in relief that Icmant repressed his… accent. Now to stall. Stall him till the cows come home. Just five minutes would be enough to raise my purity affinity enough… not fast enough. I myself sunk into meditation and took one of my two parallels from the mimic, leaving just one to guard it. The parallel was to keep him as weak as possibly and focus specifically on guarding him from causing damage rather than siphoning it, however.
"I wish answers, great Icmant." Icmant's smile widened greatly.
"AHA! A valuable thing, that. But of course, answers require recompense…"
I looked sadly to the staff I held… damnit. I couldn't use it in the upcoming conflict… "I would offer the very staff of the fool who imprisoned you. The staff of the now deceased Methanthelios."
"AHAHAHAHAH!" Icmant roared with laughter. "Oh that is good! I accept! Passit here, mage!" I used some motion mana to make an acceleration on the staff and casted momentum on it. I reared the staff back (goodbye my sweet) and threw it like a javelin. It went flying the several miles to Icmant and he caught it between his fingers, which had long, spear-like nails.
"Ah, yes. I remember this twig." Icmant seemed to relish the staff before he bent his fingers and the staff bent a little. His eyes seemed to glitter as he slowly increased the pressure on the staff. Slowly it bent farther and farther until it snapped entirely. I was sad at losing my staff but… well it was a staff and this was my and my families life on the line.
"You have five questions, little immortal. But first, your name, should you know it, how I was freed from my prison, and what of the puny mortals who poisoned me to docility."
"My name is Mavros." I said as humbly as I could. Icmant nodded and leaned to sit back. A throne of black ice grew quickly to support him. He rested his head on his left fist and his black eyes glittered with some interest. "You were freed by my hand, though I admit your freedom was not my intention. The runic matrix keeping your cell's mental effect in place was destroyed by my hand. As for the mortals who poisoned you they are long dead. Their base is right over there if you care to destroy it." I pointed to the bunker.
Icmant looked pleased and waved his hand. I felt a practical river of mana exit his mand and flow towards the bunker. It was ice attuned for sure but there was a massive corruption element and another element which was probably abyss planted so deeply into it I doubt it could ever be seperated. Tainted ice mana, I decided to coin it.
Instead of just remming into the bunker, however, the mana flowed in through the entrance and I lost sight of it. For maybe five seconds the mana flowed until Icmant cut it off. The rest of the mana flowed into the bunker and black ice creeped rapidly out of the entrance. It grew hungrily with the mana and when the mana finally stopped the bunker was covered in a jagged, ominous looking field of black ice. I could feel the taint of it from the tower.
"Move, mortal. The tower is next." Icmant said calmly. He waved his hand and I turned my body to wind. I flew as fast as I could, which was extremely fast at my level of affinity, away from the tower to the hill.
I watched in awe as Icmant's mana rammed into the tower. A shield of silver purity mana and some odd white mana sprung up. Icmant laughed and the river of mana doubled in concentration. The shield buckled and shimmered. Some of the corrupted mana leaked through and finally the shield fell. Icmant growled in a satisfied fashion as the tower was turned black.
"There. Properly defiled, as it should be." He spoke. Then he turned to me. "Your questions, little immortal."
I gulped nervously. "Tell me all you can about the abyss and Othos." Icmant grunted in surprise.
"And how would you know of Othos? Or the abyssal realm? Nobody in remnant knows of my realm and Othos' name is forbidden to be spoken of here unless you're alone."
"I will tell you in exchange for two more questions." I said solemnly. Icmant snorted.
"Almost admirable greed, immortal. You'll have no additional questions, as asking about both the Abyss and Othos is two. Now talk."
"I know of Othos since I know you were chosen by him." Icmant looked to consider that and shrugged.
"I suppose that's possible. His essence may still contain traces of his divinity. And the Abyss?"
"I know of demons and Othos. I know only where you come from and your general intentions of destroying humanity." Icmant hummed.
"Fine then. The abyssal realm was made by Othos for his pet serpent Ouros originally. Then after he and Althea conceived humanity in reconcile for the creation of the divine beasts and grimm individually Othos repurposed the Abyss for his new children, the demonkin. We are the grimm but greater. Stronger. We serve our god Ouros as his forces. The grimm are made to serve us and act as the deterrent for humanity through their queen until she rebelled."
"Do you speak of the tale of two brothers?" I asked questionably.
"Othos and his sister Althea, yes. You humans are rather sexist. How did you think the two made humanity and your spark of the divine? Magic? No. They fucked."
I grimaced at his bluntness. And aren't they brother and sister? Kind of brings a new perspective on humanity… well it's better than the greek pantheon at least.
"What is the current state of Othos and Althea?" Icmant eyed me appraisingly.
"A decent question, I suppose. That will be your third from your six questions. Three left. I can sense my master still hasn't revealed himself but still wanders. He left long ago on a journey across the adjacent realms when I was a whelp. Althea is still watching humanity and Salem…" Icmant paused and closed his eyes. A grin nearly split his face then.
"Something has caught her interest. Or someone. She senses that something is happening in this realm. A hero, perhaps. Or the cursed one has lived up to his potential after so long. Maybe a new age is beginning. Oh how exciting! Mayhaps a new order of heroes is coming to fruition."
My mind raced. Althea, the brot-... sister of light is watching over humanity while her brother Othos is screwing around somewhere. But something caught Althea's attention. Let's think of something or someone that's bringing in a new age of heroes or something…
… What? Why are you looking at me? Oh… OH! Yeah so Althea's probably watching me and possibly the people I'm affecting. That's… interesting.
"I see." I said calmly. My mind was running at a million miles an hour but my voice was calm. Thank you acting skill. "Tell me about Salem. All you can."
Icmant shrugged. "The bitch rules the grimm. She has the purpose of ruling over humanity and has a little fraction of the divine to do so. She is the oldest sister to us until she rebelled for reasons unknown right after Othos left. Certainly not for the benefit of humanity. But she doesn't venture to the abyss or tap to the affinity for the abyss so we don't care. A traitor's a traitor but Salem has no allegiance but to herself now and she still does her job. We don't care about her basically. She is stronger than I though."
I frowned. That didn't tell me much other than that I'm facing a mini-Salem. Not as strong as she is but not really weak either. "Tell me of the full history of Althea and Othos. Their creations, subjects, and important actions." Icmant smiled slightly more.
"There's a good one that I actually know well. I served as the libra of the frost clan for a time, you see. Hm. I haven't given the tales in some time. I'll give you the full one I suppose. It's not like there isn't some divine beast just dying to tell everyone. Fucking Oll." Icmant spat the word Oll with venom. History, maybe? Not important.
"In the beginning there was remnant. Just remnant and nothing but remnant and the mana and trees and fish and worms and blah blah blah. But then a collection of mana occurred. Given that there was an infinite amount of time filled with nothing but fish screwing and trees and plants multiplying across the land it doesn't matter how long it was. Mana converged naturally and the affinities were close enough to form an origin affinity, which was unstable due to the lacking of a vessel to reside in and broke to purity and corruption though the two are nearly exactly the same. Two sides of the same coin. The first elementals. Othos and Althea."
"The two were rather mindless at first, they admit. They frolicked and did just about nothing at all other than mature and grow in power. For you see, there were no other elementals to compete with so why grow up? Millenia passed and they matured and stayed together. They deciphered their creation and determined that they had no purpose. So they gave themselves one. They hated their lack of purpose in the world so they decided to give others a purpose instead."
"They knew the deer and rabbits and fish had a purpose. To multiply and die with some natural selection and evolution along the way somewhere in there. Everything had a purpose but them. They just existed. So they made beings of no purpose. The magical beasts and the grimmkind. Althea made hers, the magical beasts, first from the creatures she had seen in her travels and warped them to be better. More interesting and fascinating. Dragons from lizards, krakens from squids, Yetis and sasquaches from apes and so on."
"Othos admired her creations as well as felt jealousy towards her firstborn children for their exotic nature and made his, the grimm, in the image of hers with only a few differences. He made one original entity vaguely in Althea's image. He said 'you have looked upon all manner of beasts but you have forgotten your own visage, sister.' and made the lady of grimm. Salem. She's not really like Althea at all in power or looks but the message was clear enough."
"Althea raised the magical beasts as best she was able and Othos Salem. Everything was all bubbles and sunshine. Well for Othos and Althea. The magical beasts absolutely decimated the ecosystem of remnant. The grimm live off of mana but the magical beasts needed to eat. Althea sadly cut down the dragons, her favorites, to a quarter of what she wanted. It was all very sad until she got right back to being motherly and raising everyone."
Althea liked the dragons the best? I have to admit, she's wise. Dragons are totally the best sort of beasties.
"Now, the grimm and the magical beasts started getting into spats. The magical beasts would accidentally kill grimm thinking them food or a threat to dominance and piss off Othos. He knew Althea didn't mean to but he eventually just entrusted all the grimm to Salem, which she was happy for. I mean, if I had parents and they said I was in charge I'd be happy too. But Othos wanted some form of recompense for the grimm Althea's creations had killed. Althea agreed. She's sort of a softie although she acts the eldest."
"And then they fucked." I sighed and Icmant chortled at me. "You humans are so sensitive about that. I mean, Althea apparently took up on it last I heard but it's mostly you guys. Is it the brother sister thing? I know that doesn't really work with you humans."
"No. It causes genetic deficiencies at a higher rate than the norm. The deficiencies are still rare. Not even a hundredth of the norm but still higher. It's also a sort of perversion of familial bonds for many." I said.
"Whatever. You humans do what you humans do. You'll all die off eventually." Icmant said callously. "Now where was I? Oh yes! And then they fucked." My eye twitched and Icmant was able to see it from his miles away and laughed at me.
"Fine. You humans are so amusing. Anyways, they took on physical form first. Magic did that this time. But the shells of flesh weren't sentient. No spark. They were as the magical beasts were. Empty of a soul though they, as all things do, had mana. But the child? The child had aura. A spark of the divine. A soul."
"The two raised humanity and faunuskind, and I should say that faunus are just humanity that take more to Althea's side of the family tree since her form was a wolf faunus, to the thousands and left them with their knowledge of mana and aura to survive. They watched as they forged villages, towns, and cities."
"But humanity grew somewhat soft. They stayed in their cities and did very little. So Othos and Althea agreed that Salem should take charge of trying to destroy humanity with a set of rules in place. We don't know what they are but they're along the lines of staying only on the north-western continent herself and not spreading corruption to the other lands."
"The first human campaign was led by the archwizards of old. They failed obviously. Salem herself is as strong as a higher demon and her armies of grimm spread throughout the land. They had no chance but to reclaim their continent they tried and failed."
"The first archwizards were culled for but a single survivor. A mage with a semblance to remember everything. Althea and Othos made him immortal and constantly reincarnating as a record of sorts for Salem's defense and conquest after asking her if she wanted a sort of reward. Then the second wave of arch-wizards came into being. Othos made the demons and left and the archmage of ice and some of his buddies imprisoned me."
"Obviously the elder wizard, the record keeping guy that's immortal, isn't allowed to know about any of this by orders of Althea and Othos. Just saying. We don't really want the guy knowing about this. One time a divine beast was tricked into telling him and Althea struck the beast down herself and wiped the elder wizard's memory. So don't talk. The wizard's pretty weak anyways. Like my level but a little under me."
"Now… your last question?" I frowned. I had just gotten the history of everything dumped on me. I kind of need a moment. Icmant had a moment of chill and lent me a few seconds to think.
I felt my purity affinity hit one hundred fifty finally and take place as a dominant affinity. Gem awoke too.
*Ding!* As your purity affinity is over two thousand total your contracted electrical elemental has awoken! She may return to inactivity should your purity affinity decrease once more.
*Ding!* As your wind affinity is over four thousand total your contracted purity elemental has become a minor purity elemental! she may downgrade to a petty purity elemental should your purity affinity decrease.
I hid my smile at the notifications. With my silver eyes I might once more have a chance. Just a teeny tiny one but still a chance. "Alright. I have my final question."
Icmant raised an eyebrow. "Do tell. Your questions are surprisingly helpful to assess the current happenings."
I looked as intensely at Icmant. "Why haven't the demonkind spread destruction across remnant yet? I know you desire to and you're clearly strong enough even you yourself are strong enough to cripple the world of humanity as is. So why haven't we been conquered yet?"
Icmant's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean? There are at least eighty or so archmages in your civilization able to combat me on their own and plenty of mages that when working together could subdue me. They instead sealed me away to benefit the training of their ice mages. The ambient mana I emitted when separated from the abyss and corruption element made their affinity for ice rise higher… so what do you mean? If it is as you say… how has the human race fallen in strength that I am as a god to them?"
"We are weak. Magic is a legend to many. It isn't understood." I explained. "So why has your race not invaded?" Icmant looked stumped.
"... I do not know." He admitted. "A curious problem but not one that concerns me at the moment. Othos lives yet he wanders. Althea watches but has not designed to interfere in my release. I will return to my tribe after inspecting your kingdoms for myself. This information you brought me has proven useful. I hope mine will help you as well."
Icmant's skin darkened and black and red tendrils of abyssal and corrupt mana, at least I think that's what they were, writhed under his skin visibly. .
"̴̫̱̖̲̩̻͚͊͑̅̄̐͜Ḅ̦̬̤͉͍͚̤̏͛͌̓͑̑̐̓͞͠u̴̡͇̳̫̯͑̀͛̋̌̈́͢t̶̡͚̦͚̲͓͈̘͊̄̌̈̒̂ ŷ̸͖̞̼̦̥̅̀͊̓̉̍̑͢͝ơ̢͇͍̲̖̽̉͛͊̾͗ͅu̷̢͉̠͔͚̻̲̓̂̿̌͟͜͡͝ ẃ̵̛̹̺̼͍̰̀̔͆̄̕̕o̴̢̡̞̰̜͍̮̐̊́̽̎ṇ̷̢̯̤̞̞̟̆̓̃̎̀͋͜'̧̲͓̮̺͔͚͔̿̐̆͑̀͐̚͠͝͡ẗ̛͈̜̭̞̀̊͑̈́͛͢͟ͅ b̸̧̡͓̬͔͌̀͂͆̒̒̿͠ͅę̵̻͙̙̀̿̂̉̓̓̐̔̚̚ͅ a̵̛͉͈̼̥̼̲̮͋̾̆̒̓͋̂͝͠b̷͉̮̗̥͓̳͒͆͛̌͝l̸̨̨͙͉͚̜̻̪̟͇͊͂̽͘̚͘͡ȩ̵̟̥̣̠̳̓̆̐́̓̕̕͝ t̶͕̘͈̟̞͗́͐̊͌̋͋̍̄̈́o̦̫͕̬͇͊͐̀̒̚͝ u̶̡̯̞̞̥͚̜̭̾̊͒̓̏͜ṣ̢̪͕́̀̽͗̔̈͒̍͜ë̵̩͔̬̼͓̼̱͈̭́̆͑̂͌̒͜͡ i̸͇͇͉̺̫̳̜͈̩̋͛͑̓͆̓͒͋͟t̴͎̲̘͓͍̼͉̹̉͋͋͂̄̑̉͡ͅ.̴̦̻̭̬̙̺̥̠͛̓̍̈̽̌̈́ Ǹ̢̺̙̯̗̹͎͍̃̾̄̀̾̓̅̀͢͢o͚̤͍̰̻̻̼̎͋͋̑̆͒͘͢͠͞w̶͙̥̤̺̦̝̥̓̽̾̐́ ď̢̥̼̪̟́̑̂̑̚͡į̶̣̲͍̖̰͐͒̎̓͛͌̉̉͞ͅe̶͎͉̟̰̽́̊̀͌͢͡,̨̯̪̰͓͓̪̱̹͉͛̄̋̎̏͘ f͚̜͓̖͕͍͎̿̈́̇́̑̓͘͢͡õ̵̢̭͓͇̟̦̱̠͌͊̌͋̆͗ͅo̷̼̥͉̦̭͈̪̣̪͛͌̇̑̆͆̄͊͟͡͝ĺ̷̼͕̳̖̓̉͊̓̅̀̚͟į͙̗̃̍̇̿͋̂͜͢͝ş͈̣̩̜̯͚̙̯̉̋̀̈́̏͞ͅḩ̴̮̻͍͎̩́̀́̏̓́̀̓̀̆͟ i̞̣̼̟̣̎̀͒̍̓̓̓͟͟ḿ̸͖͚͙͔̏̈́̔̃͋͢ṃ̵̨̻̗̦́̈́͂͂͢͠ợ̸̬̜̯͓͆̄̇͆́̈̍͐̇͜r̴̲̩̣͖̖̤̅̃̓̉͢͞t̴͍̤̫̬̠̘͖̜͓̺̔̿͑́́̾͆a̶̡̡̡͔̰̩̤͓̔̋̓̇̈́͐̂̓̀ͅl̬̲̘̭̹̏̇͌̎̑̚.̭͇̦̦̜͔̗͎́̀̆͐̃͝͞"̫̟̙̝͎͍̞̮̋̀̓̍͛̈͐͛̑͟
[|||| == ||||]
"Nearly there…"
"Ozpin why am I here?!"
"Amber… I'm sorry but you have to fight. I don't believe you can do much but at the very least you can support me. You mastered mana transfering, yes?"
"Yes I can do that fine and I expanded my mana reserves like you said. I even got those techniques to amplify my affinities. The first two at least. Attunement and dominant nature."
"Good. You keep them up full time?"
"Obviously."
"Good… Amber I'm going to have a rare moment of honesty with you. We humans are so very weak. Ants compared to the true powers of remnant. Salem is just a taste of what lies just behind curtains we don't understand. She is strong but there are worse than her."
"… You're kidding."
"If only. You forget that I was there Amber. I saw what she did to the archmages of old. I only hold the title as an archmagus because there are none left. I am truly just a wizard. In my several millennia of existence my growth has slowed to a fraction of what I wish it could be. I am a rather weak wizard even. To truly be a strong wizard you must hold ten times my mana though my affinities are rather strong for one such as myself. But the point is moot. I am weak. There are so many stronger. In my youth archmages had over a hundred times what I have. They were the peak of wizardry. Not I."
"Oh dust… no. Not even dust. Oh shit."
"Precisely. So Amber… support me as best you can. If I die, which is a good option here, try to live. Try to fight. Do some… some…"
"Ozpin?... Ozpin?! What's wrong?!"
"Something miraculous just occurred… but Summer is dead? No. But… Amber somebody with a purity on par with the strongest of elementals is fighting. Though their mana is somewhat small they are a wizard. Strong affinities… Who then…"
[|||| =NEXT LEVEL= ||||]
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