[|||| =LEVEL 19= ||||]
I walked into the guild, lazy eyes scanning the room, my cloak around my shoulders. All the adventurers were looking at me, but politely out of the corner of their eyes instead of outright staring. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Ainz and his servant stiffen. He was wearing armor and hulking over a table while the servant, a doppleganger named Narberal, hid irritation and fear at me. I walked past them to the desk where a cute dark haired receptionist sat.
"Excuse me," I said pleasantly. "I'm a mage with a few years of experience. Some… circumstances have caused me to become an adventurer. Is there some sort of test I can take to advance past the lower ranks or is it a requirement to work my way up?" I gave her my most charming smile and she blushed.
"I-You'll have to start at copper like everybody else, sadly," she said, stuttering at first. I made a show of disappointment.
"I see. Am I limited in the jobs I can take?"
"If you join a more highly ranked group you can take more advanced jobs. Pay is divided according to whoever signed up for the job, though," she said, actually managing to sound sad for me. It was fake, but still nice to hear. Ah well.
"Hm. Alright then. I'm sorry to trouble you more but how do I increase my rank?"
"After taking enough jobs you become eligible for a rank test, wherein you demonstrate skill above your current rank." The receptionist smiled proudly. "I performed second tier magic to advance to iron rank, for example." I raised an eyebrow and peered into her mind to see what differentiated these 'ranks' of magic…
Seriously? A firebolt - literally just a teensy little fireball that doesn't even explode - is rank one? And rank two is a proper exploding fireball. Rank three is a teensy firestorm. Ainz is basically a god with how weak humans are here. Pathetic.
"Rank two?" I smiled but leaked a little condescension into it. "Impressive." She could tell I didn't mean it and looked a bit irritated.
"Here's your plate." She slid over a copper tag. "Just push some magic into it. You-" I had already inserted some aura into the flimsy enchantment. It broke. My aura was too potent for it. Too little and it couldn't detect me. Adding more broke it. I studied the enchantment and refined it to take on more powerful energies. The new one held my soul but it made the copper a little blued.
"Nevermind," she scoffed. Bitch. I turned away from her and looked at the job board when I felt Ainz get up from his seat and stride over to me. He held out his hand when I looked at him.
"You look competent. Can you use that sword?" He gestured to my waist, where a plain sword, if one made of high-carbon steel, lay sheathed.
"I can indeed. I'm more of a mage but I'm competent with it." Ainz nodded.
"I would like to speak with you. Chauncey?" He looked up at the receptionist. She looked respectfully to the armored man. "Could we borrow a private room if only for a moment?"
"Of course, Sir Momon. Room two is open." He nodded and we walked down past the desk and into the second room. Ainz, or I suppose he was calling himself Momon, towered with his arms crossed. Narberal stood beside him, her expression neutral.
"So you've come here. May I ask why?" he asked in his deep voice.
"Fun," I said simply. He seemed displeased by this so I elaborated. "Do you know exactly what I do every day, Momon?" He shook his head. "I can study magic, which gets boring, I can spend time with my wives, which gets tiring, I can attend to my followers, who are tiring if useful, or I can socialize. I have few responsibilities, wealth is no issue for me, and I'm one of the most powerful men alive here or there. So when you have almost everything you could ask for what would you do?"
Ainz was silent. "I would spend time with Nazarick," he said solemnly.
"And? That can't be all you do. What do you do when no hobbies interest you? When you simply need a break? For me I need an adventure. Conflict. A goal to strive for. Without it I just stagnate and grow apathetic. I hate that feeling. I need substance in my life. Challenge. So that's why I'm here. So that you and this world can entertain me."
"Challenge, you say?" he inquired.
"I limit my power when I adventure unless the world I'm in is no fun and I just want to leave. Some of my normal limits are the basic elements of fire, water, air, and earth or only manipulating space. Sometimes I just use my sword."
"I see… you put yourself in other's shoes."
"Exactly!" I grinned at his summarization.
"Then what are you pretending to be this time?"
"I don't know. I just started," I admitted. "I wasn't going to your tomb to play. I went there because I wanted to unleash my power on something. Mass destruction can be relaxing sometimes. The amusement of waltzing past all your defenses made my whole week!" Narberal looked irate again.
"Then if I may make a suggestion?" I was interested.
"Of course, so long as it's reasonable."
"How about you join our party?"
"I had considered that. I was prepared to go alone or join you, whichever was more convenient."
"Of course, yet do you know of the four party system?" I considered that. Four adventurers in a party… oh.
"Tank, healer, mage, DPS I believe, though some would argue for a rogue as well. For extra preparedness a ranged attacker such as an archer, gunslinger, or arbalist would be used but that's uncommon. The first four are the core of a proper adventuring party." Narberal opened her mouth but Ainz spoke first.
"The terms they use in this world are vanguard, mage, healer, and swordsman but yes, you are exactly correct. Narberal is my mage. I am the vanguard. Tell me, are you much of a healer?" I WAS interested.
"Not truly. For healing I tend to pour life essence into a person and have their body heal naturally. It's brutish and simple but gets the job done. I can dispel any curses or magical ailments easily by negating magic. Beyond those two tricks and transferring magical energy, a simple feat, I'm incompetent as a healer, though I have a wealth of knowledge about biology and anatomy."
"Hm… I was hoping to place you in a position where you have no experience. You seem at least adept at healing. Are there many fields where you are completely inexperienced?"
"I've done quite a lot in my life. Don't bother with swordsmanship or stealth arts. I know both forwards and backwards. Well, I could improve my swordsmanship slightly but compared to any mortal I've far surpassed their limits."
"Perhaps… a new field of magic?" he suggested.
"I've explored quite a few. Ice magics, storm magics, fire magics, antimagics, kinetic magics, life magics… I can't think of many fields of magic I'm poor at."
"Hm… what about buff magics?"
"Hmm… I can alter inertia, momentum, or other kinetic forces, slowing my foes and making my allies faster and stronger by altering space and kinetic forces as needed. I could easily flood anybody with a fraction of my power. Doing it properly is foreign but why bother when I can achieve the same result with less effort?"
"What of…"
"My liege if I may make a suggestion?" Narberal asked.
"Of course."
"You have mastered many arcane magics from what you've listed. What of blood?"
"Blood?" I tasted the word on my lips. "I… have never tried blood magics. I tend to go straight for the soul… I can see possibilities. Flesh and blood are fields I have never explored before, though I've experimented with them outside of magic." Narberal nodded and looked towards Ainz quietly.
"I was going to suggest a craftsman's role such as runes or enchanting, perhaps metalworking. Have you performed any of those?"
"I've mastered all three long ago beyond nearly any craftsman's abilities. They hold no interest to me unless you have some sort of anomaly that could inspire me to new heights." He shook his head.
"I would prefer to keep the treasures of Nazarick private. I doubt any of them would hold interest to you otherwise. If you have never used flesh magics perhaps now is a time to try? In fact, you could abstain from your power entirely, only taking from the powers in your body as a normal human. It would be a great limiter to you."
"It would be… alright then. I'll try blood magic." I felt pleased. I had never considered trying the magic before. Manipulating blood as a weapon would be interesting. I was definitely looking forward to it. Learning from and with Shalltear would be fun too.
"Excellent!" Ainz clapped his metal-shod hands together. "I will assign Shalltear to teach you blood magic. A new responsibility will be a fitting task to repay her for her failure in the defense of Nazarick."
"I'm not that bad," I grumbled.
"Her pride is wounded. Being near you will be a reminder of her failure," he said a little quickly. So I still scared him even though I admitted to sealing my power. Good.
"I'll return to my world for now and meet you in... let's say three hours. My current body is more like a golem's or a slime's than a man's. I will craft another one containing mundane blood. I'll be leaving a copy of my mind here with an illusion while I deal with my bodily issue. I'll be back soon."
"I understand. I will see you later." I left a solid illusion and manned it with a parallel while all of the others began meditating on blood so that I could gain the affinity. Meanwhile I killed a cow and grabbed some of my DNA.
I had a new body thrown together in half an hour, a faunus one of course. It just didn't have any of my fancy enhancements. It was a plain old faunus, albeit a decently muscled one. I moved into it and found seventy six strength, eighty six endurance, and seventy two dexterity. Perfect.
I prevented my aura from enhancing my body much at all, leaving me weak as hell. I was slightly enhanced by my aura but not to a very noticeable degree. It just kept away any aches and pains I might collect.
I checked my blood affinity and found it not only gained but at twenty seven base affinity. That measured to six hundred twenty eight affinity when my modifiers applied. I used a few points of mana to create blood from nothing and tossed it into my front yard. It looked like a horrible, brutal murder had occured. I made a tub of ice and looked at how much blood I could make with one point of mana. The little mote meshed with the affinity and the tub filled. A little measurements showed about enough blood to fill two kiddie pools. Was that weak enough? I wasn't sure. I would limit myself to a fraction of the affinity if it was too strong.
I teleported to Ainz and Narberal, who I found walking out of the city. I stepped to join them from behind a wall and my illusion disappeared, myself taking its place.
"Done," I said casually. A flex of the affinity and a thin stream of blood wove it's way between the fingers of my hand. "My body's blood is absent of any magic at all right now, but I'll add some more when I figure out the average concentration for the mages of this world. Or maybe Shalltear's blood's magical concentration divided in half. If I'm going to perform blood magic I want to conquer it through skill, not power."
"I… see. When we are alone could you demonstrate how powerful you are in blood magic? It would be tiring to begin with enough power that your adventures become boring. We're starting with the easier adventures, after all. You will have time to seek challenges and improvements."
"I'd be happy to. You don't need to justify your needs," I said. Narberal nodded to herself and we walked in silence while I wondered if I should bring Esdeath, Kuroka, or somebody else to the world I was in. I wanted some time by myself sometimes, but having them shake the place up could be interesting.
When we reached a forest outside of E-rantel we stopped. "Here is far enough. You won't bring notice to us if you release your power in blood magic will you?"
"Not too much. I may frighten some wildlife," I said, looking out into the forest and restraining from using my senses to scout out the area.
"Then please, reveal it to us," he asked politely. I grabbed hold of my blood affinity and pushed outwards into the world. The dew on the grass below us turned red and the air felt a little moist. You could smell iron a little bit if you were paying attention.
"You are not using magical power," Ainz observed.
"No."
"I see," he seemed troubled. "Most mages, without magical power, can only manifest minor spells. Cantrips, as they're often called. Would you attempt to summon blood without consuming power?" I did so and kept the globe suspended in the air.
"It is roughly a fifth the size of what Shalltear can summon without magic infused in it," he observed. "Pardon my impoliteness but how long did it take for you to acquire this magic?"
"About two minutes to gain the ability and three more to bring it to its current level. I'm not using a magical amplifier right now by the way," I said, studying the globe. I used a little mana and formed a lance of blood from the globe, compressing the blood. A little will congealed it to nearly a solid, though it was almost like an arrow with a conical head… no, I didn't want that.
I made the head jagged and infused a little magic into the blood. Then a flex of will sent it flying into the forest at a tree. It pierced through the first tree and lodged itself in the second before it went splat and painted the forest a little more red. I looked at the hole in the first tree, an uneven, jagged thing straight through the trunk, and hummed curiously.
*Ding!* New skill acquired! - Bloody lance
"It's like water magic but more dramatic. The real stuff is in popping your enemies like overfilled balloons."
-Riaj the sadistic, senior blood mage (Remnant)
Since when did the skills quotes label people's dimensions of origins? It was necessary now, I supposed, but it was interesting that the system had changed in that tiny way. Was it due to necessity or my curiosity? Not that I cared too much.
"Impressive for a beginner. As far as blood mages go that was a weaker tier two spell," Ainz commented.
"What?! No, that's too much." I cut my use of the affinity in half and tried the same technique on a similar tree. This time I willed the blood to solidify farther and tried to will it to explode and fragment after it hit. It landed and blasted a crater halfway into the tree but then it exploded. It was liquid.
Blood splattered all over Ainz, Narberal, and I. Ainz was stoic but from his aura he was freaking out until that strange magic pressed on him and he calmed once more. Narberal's face was stony. I was looking at the blood on my hand. I experimentally licked a drop. "You know, I've always thought blood tasted pretty good. Too much is bad but it doesn't taste bad… hm." I made a small globe of blood and willed it to be a little sweeter and less iron-y. I stuck a finger in it and licked the finger. "Wow… that's pretty good. I've never tried using magic in cooking besides the ingredients." Then I remembered that we were covered in blood.
"Right, here." I willed the blood on the two to evaporate. Narberal huffed while Ainz nodded thankfully.
"It is appreciated. Perhaps you should launch your spells farther away next time."
"Right… splash damage." Nobody appreciated my pun, instead walking away. "I thought that one was pretty good… My sister would be proud. Her puns are way worse."
[|||| =-= ||||]
I grunted as I pressed against the goblin's blade. It was knocked aside, cut nearly in half, and I sliced halfway through it's head. It staggered back and fell to the ground dead as I immediately engaged with another. Its sword was much more gracefully batted aside and I cleanly stabbed it through the eye. I pulled my sword out and blocked a small arrow coming at me and threw another dense needle of blood. The third goblin tried to duck but ended up with a hole through the top of his head anyways.
"Hruh!" Ainz slashed his right greatsword mightily, sweeping through three goblins. Two were just knocked back by blows across their chests, though they were disabled. Narberal shot two arrows of ice through their hearts stoically while Ainz looked around.
"That's all of them," I said to clear up any doubts.
"Perhaps there are more hidden?"
"I've been working on being able to sense blood. It's still too powerful but I've been getting better with my new blood affinity. I can keep it below a hundred feet now. All the goblins here are dead." Ainz nodded.
"I suppose we'll need to collect their ears," he spoke in distaste.
"This is one of those times where I'm fine with cheating. I've done enough dull work in my lifetime to wave this off." I flash froze the membrane connecting each of the ears of the goblins to their skulls and then blasted the frozen areas with heat. With a cracking and a fluctuation of temperature each of the ears just fell off. A wave of my hand and they were all in a pile in front of us.
"Convenient," Ainz said. I might have been wrong, but was there a hint of jealousy in his tone? Heh, sucker.
"Very," I agreed.
"I would have been happy to complete the labour for you, lord Ainz," Narberal said with as much emotion as normal.
"No need to debase yourself, Narberal. Not when there's an easier, quicker solution," He assured her. "Though somebody will need to carry the ears."
"I've got a pocket in my cloak but I would prefer it to stay clean if you have a better solution."
"I will carry them, Lord Ainz." Narberal said, kneeling down to collect the ears. I smiled gratefully and was completely ignored in favor of Ainz's small nod of approval.
"Very good, Narberal. It is appreciated." She blushed slightly but her expression didn't really change. The ears were neatly placed in a leather satchel at the maid's side which was swiftly hidden from view. "Now, I suppose we might head back."
"I've been meaning to ask, do blood magic users often freeze their blood?" I asked as we began to walk out of the cave and its tunnels.
"Indeed. Shalltear often freezes blood in lances to send at her enemies," Ainz responded. I smiled and lifted up a leg. Goblin blood, which looked almost like normal blood but with a small amount of brown shading, flowed under me and wrapped around my foot, taking an odd shape. I stepped down on the construct and repeated the process for my other foot.
When I stepped next there was a small jerk to my step. I tsked and lubricated the wheels with the blood of some more goblins. With a flex of will it congealed to become more slimy and grease-like. It was gross but when I stepped next I was rolling, not walking. Bloody ice marked my path as I rolled my way down the cave tunnels.
"… What in the name of the supreme beings are those?" Narberal asked me, disbelief in her voice.
"Roller skates. I could have used ice skates but… well this is a little boring. I've gone goblin hunting countless times. I may as well mix this up somehow," I said, not disturbed by her feelings.
"A being such as yourself shouldn't be so-" She shut her mouth as Ainz stared at her intensely for a moment. A small bead of sweat accumulated on her forehead.
"An odd if somewhat repulsive contraption considering it's origins. For the sake of my party's reputation would you not bring it into town?" he asked.
"Always so polite, aren't you Ainz? Of course I wasn't going to skate into town. I'm not insane, merely eccentric and bored. Give yourself a few years and you'll have done things most will consider odd or disgraceful yourself by happenstance if nothing else."
"Lord Ainz would never debase himself," Narberal said firmly.
"Not willingly. Accidents happen. And that wasn't even a threat. Given a long period of time, events occur outside of people's control or completely by accident that have absurd results or what you might call disgraceful. I once died trying to avoid paying for a… carriage ride, believe it or not." Narberal looked at me in disbelief once more while Ainz chuckled.
"You live a strange life, Abyss, if an exciting one."
"I'm one of the people who has to seek out exciting things if I want them to happen. I could tell you some if you like. I could tell you about the many times I had tea with a dark overlady and discussed her marital issues with her ex husband, for example. Or the time I learned how to pick pockets from a middle school teacher. That ended in me founding a spy ring out of middle schoolers and teaching them how to polymorph. There was this one girl, Ocean, who wanted to become a giant spider, see, but she had the ability to make others ignore her, which was great for stealth but had some horrifying results. I sent her after my adoptive sister to spy on, the one that makes puns all the time…"
We talked nearly the whole way home. I had never roller skated before but with my stats it wasn't difficult, although going down hills at a walking pace needed some practice. I tried making a ramp only for my skates to break as soon as I fell back down to the ice. I had to make them all over again, not that it was difficult.
Ainz got progressively more comfortable and wistful, telling me about the time that Touch Me (weird name) had sparred with Warrior Takemikazuchi (Japanese?) using breadsticks as weapons. Narberal looked shocked that her 'supreme beings' weren't constantly formal perfect role models and did, in fact, do stupid stuff sometimes.
He told me about when Ancient One accidentally used confetti bombs instead of actual bombs in a formal duel, when Amanomahitotsu had tried to play as a tank and gotten pinned for an hour under the weight of a metal carapace, and when the whole guild had been cultivating some powerful materials called caloric stones and ended up doing chicken fights on top of golems they designed.
I, in turn, told him about Ruby's first magical mishaps, the first time I had made homemade cookies for the bandit tribe, the time Ruby dragged everyone through a forest to find the perfect Christmas tree and I passed around alcohol secretly, when I pretended to fight my friend Roman while half drunk with Yang, when Ruby collaborated with the clan to throw a birthday party for Raven, and a few other stories. I had to talk more than him since he often got sad talking about his old friends. I just said that I understood the feeling and we silently agreed to leave it at that.
Meanwhile Narberal, completely forgotten, listened to our tales silently, not wanting to interrupt us. I wasn't sure what she was going to do with the stories she heard but if Ainz was alright talking about them in front of her I wasn't going to stop him.
Our conversation petered out when we reached the city of E-rantel. I asked about a few parts of the city like the public baths and Ainz answered politely and just a little less formally than before, though he was still stiff. I felt like he was treating me less like a potential powerful enemy and more like an associate, which wasn't what I was looking for but was a step in the right direction.
"Now, where are the goblin… ah." Ainz immediately shifted back to formality when we reached the guild hall. He stared at Narberal for a moment and I realized that he wasn't comfortable telling all his stories in front of her. He had just let his guard down and forgotten her presence. He silently turned and walked inside the guild hall, the two of us following after him.
"Excuse me, ah, Chauncey. It's good to see that you're still here." The receptionist who had scoffed at me nodded politely at him. "We are here to fulfill the request for thirty eight goblin ears. Narberal?" He held out his hand and she produced the ears, handing them silently to her master. He placed them on the desk and the receptionist poked through the ears before nodding.
"That will be twenty silver as per the request and the bounty per goblin comes to six gold and twenty nine silver." She counted out the currency with a practiced quickness and pushed it over to Ainz. He nodded and swept the coins into two separate pouches.
"It is appreciated. I don't believe I'll be taking another job so soon. I've need to visit my family at the moment and it may be a week before I return."
"Of course, Sir Momon. I wish you well." She turned to her papers, formalities apparently completed. Momon turned away and handed me and Narberal ten silver coins. I didn't care and pocketed them. Narberal was the same and quietly hid the coins somewhere on her. The three of us exited the guild and walked out of town.
"Narberal," Ainz said as we were two blocks away from the city gate. "My apologies for forgetting your presence earlier as I traded stories with Abyss."
"It is fine, Sir Momon," she said, really seeming to mean it. If we weren't in public I was sure that she would say that her purpose was to serve or something.
"Your forgiveness is appreciated but I have to ask, though it feels awkward to do so… those stories you heard. I would prefer that you not tell those stories to your fellows."
"I understand, Momon. I had no intention of doing so." This seemed to surprise him.
"Truly? … Thank you. My friends and I were close comrades. Abyss was not wrong when he described how time would allow one to be in strange or humerus situations." The lich paused. "We were people, Narberal. We had moments of glory such as the triumphs you have heard of as well as moments of play and merriment. Though you have heard of one facet of us we were many things, one of which being friends, which naturally led to the situations you heard described."
"I understand, Ai-Momon," she said, barely correcting herself. He nodded and turned away. I wondered just what his relationship with the lady - she was clearly a servant of some sort but I was getting the impression that she normally viewed Ainz as greater than he actually was, a bit like me with some of my more ardent followers, though thankfully I had only met them through answering a few prayers. It implied that they didn't have much of a personal relationship yet knew each other well. It made me curious to know more about Nazarick. Just what was Ainz to its members?
[|||| =-= ||||]
As soon as we were out of sight of the city and we confirmed that nobody was around us Ainz opened a portal back to Nazarick and I looked at the tomb's surface. It was nearly covered in dirt, obscured completely from the outside if not for a few hidden entrances. Most people probably wouldn't have noticed them.
Since there was no reason for me to keep up the facade of an adventurer I switched bodies in an instant, my weaker one going into my soul space and the familiar metal one returning out. My aura flowed freely and I relished the strength in my limbs. Faunus forms just weren't very nice when compared to those specifically meant for a soul like mine. They were typically used by people with souls too weak to act independently of a body's assistance, not that that was a bad thing.
"Narberal, you are dismissed for the day," Ainz said. He shined with light for a moment. Flowing black, purple, and gold robes appeared draped over him as a staff materialized in his hand. His skull was left open and staring out into the world instead of hidden behind any kind of mask.
"As you wish, Lord Ainz." She bowed deeply and left out of sight. A moment of silence passed before he sighed.
"She is loyal but oh so formal," he said more relaxedly. I blinked.
"I was starting to think that you were that formal all the time."
"Goodness, no," he chuckled, totally lying to my face. "Even I need to relax sometimes. I don't sleep but I do rest. I would fall into inefficiency if I were to be formal every day without pause." Absolutely, one hundred percent lying. Why, though? To seem friendlier than normal? To get into my good graces? Odd.
"You always speak with grammar like 'inefficiency' and 'without pause', then?"
"Well… mostly." He seemed a little embarrassed but was telling the truth that time. I shrugged.
"What you do with your free time is your business. I've never been formal, though I'm not often in the role of a subordinate. I have been a student, though. And, correct me if I'm wrong but you seem to understand your servants' positions and actions quite well. Sympathetic, maybe? Or have you been the servant before?" Ainz laughed, or he made the sound, anyways. He was doing some more social-fu, testing out ways to get me to relate to him more and make me less inclined to smite him.
"Indeed, I've had to take orders before. Discipline is important on adventures, of which I've been on many with my comrades."
"I see." I didn't buy it. You didn't learn the part of a subordinate with friends. You learned it with a job. Ainz either ignored my suspicion or didn't notice.
"Here. I have a magical artifact that will teleport us to Shalltear." I looked at the ring on his finger. It looked like a poorly made blink spell tied to the wards around Nazarick. It, unlike most magical teleportation, wouldn't alert every being in Nazarick about being attacked, letting the denizens travel around the tomb freely.
I took Ainz's bony hand for a moment and immediately let go after he teleported. He was a lot taller than me. It made me feel like a kid holding his parent's hand, not a pleasant feeling.
"Shalltear," Ainz spoke a little loudly. I looked around to see us on the third floor of the tomb of Nazarick, right outside of Shalltear's house. With only a moment of pause the vampire opened the door, her dress a little ruffled and her eyes a bit tired. She looked at Ainz curiously and then noticed me. Her lips curled and her eyes hid thinly veiled distaste, not that she or Ainz acknowledged it.
"Abyss has returned to this world in the search of adventure and amusement. He has decided that Nazarick is… sufficient." The magic in his head activated again. I had definitely heard anger in the word 'sufficient'. "In his endeavor to amuse himself he is masquerading as an adventurer and is joining Narberal and I for the time being." He was calm in the latter half of his sentences. I knew what the strange magic he was using was now. It was a sort of calm magic, or maybe an emotion-nullifying magic. I would need to look closer to be sure. Was it tied into his soul? If so that would seem like a curse. I would hate to be calm all the time.
"In this masquerade of his he has decided to master a new form of magic to weaken himself and provide a minimum amount of challenge. He has decided that he would learn blood magic, which you will be teaching him." Shalltear's eyes widened for a moment before her shock turned to anger, which she shoved deep, deep down immediately.
"As Ainz is too polite to say to my face, this is a punishment for you since you pretty much invited me into the tomb with open arms," I said plainly. She nearly glared at me but once more muffled the anger.
"I understand, Lord Ainz," she said, her voice devoid of emotion. "I will try to make up for my failure earlier with this task."
"That's not-"
"Ainz," I interrupted him. Shalltear glared at me furiously in defense of her lord and was forced to take a deep breath. Ainz was too busy turning to me to even notice, the dense man. "Don't worry about it. I can deal with this." He stared at me and nodded.
"I will leave you to it, then. Please, take as long as you require." He glowed white for a moment and the space magic in his ring took hold of him and pulled him elsewhere. I turned to Shalltear.
"So are you going to let out that anger you keep shoving down now?" I was hoping for the best.
She turned to face me and I really hated all that hidden anger in her eyes. "I am going to teach you blood magic, as Lord Ainz requested," she said politely. Damnit! I would rather that she get it out and we come to an understanding. Instead I would have to deal with her being pissy and 'secretly' angry the entire session. Unless I could bring it out.
"Fine, so I created a few small spells based off of what ice magic I know."
"Most blood magic is a variation of ice, water, or blood magic," she said calmly. I flicked my hand and a red lance of ice flew from my fingertips to a nearby tree. It was pierced, a flurry of wood chips flying behind it. I quickly healed it and threw the ice again. The lance exploded in a mess of icy splinters on contact this time, though. Finally I held my palm out and made a ball of coagulated blood, surprisingly solid. I threw it and more bloody ice slivers were born in a violent flurry around it, whipping around the ball. The ground underneath it was torn apart as it flew, the ball slowly growing smaller as it traveled. When it hit the tree it splattered and exploded into a flurry far more violent than before, tearing the tree halfway apart before dying out. I healed it a third time.
"So what do you think? It all seems kind of boring to me, just red ice magic," I said casually.
"It's weak," she said bluntly. "Besides not being tier magic, some strange type I don't care to understand, it's not proper blood magic. Blood magic relates to stealing your enemy's lifeforce and making it your own or using your own lifeforce to devastate your enemies."
"Does it work against enemies that don't have blood?" I asked. She nodded. "Try it on me." She looked at me for a moment before she raised her hand and a circle of solidified mana appeared, weaving affinity into a spell. It was a bit like DxD's human magic but with less of a toll on the user, the calculations required to use external affinity being routed to… somewhere else.
"Life leeches," she announced. There was a faintly ringing quality to her voice for some reason, likely a side-effect of this 'tier magic' thing that all the locals are so focused on.
Four tendrils of blood arced out of the spell circle and attacked me, Shalltear's soul lancing through them. I felt distaste at the things but let them touch me. They grabbed onto me like leeches - ewww, gross, and Shalltear's soul tried to pull on my aura. It failed without me even doing anything.
"What?" She sounded shocked. I made a noise of disgust and drew on my blood affinity, trying to control the leech-like constructs. I succeeded easily and threw them and the blood composing them aside. Shalltear's soul, no longer suspended in the mana holding the bloody construct together, fell apart away from her body.
"That was just gross. And inefficient," I said, magically pulling the blood off of me.
"What did you do?!" she demanded. "And why weren't you affected?!"
"Firstly, you tried to control my soul. I am a god, and thus an energy construct puppeting this body. I am my soul. What you did was no different from a toddler trying to pull down a warrior's arm. For the spell I just grabbed ahold of it with my blood magic. Let me guess, you can't do that."
"… No." That seemed to anger her.
"Considering how powerful your souls are that's a little odd. Perks of having full control of your soul, I suppose. But anyways, I wouldn't even call that a spell. I could do that in my sleep. It's just your soul grabbing onto mine and pulling away chunks to revitalize yourself. Here." I made some fifty tentacled limbs out of blood and coursed my soul through them. "Boom. Spell accomplished. Lame."
"What do you need a spell for if you can do that?" she asked angrily.
"Variety. That and fitting in. Why do you think Ainz doesn't use spells? He's so far above any crappy spellcaster from the human kingdoms he's amusing himself in that he might forget how weak their spells are and use something more impressive, accidentally outing himself. If I just did this all about the kingdoms I'd be an abnormality, somebody that draws more attention than needed. If I wanted to be worshipped as a god or some supreme magician I wouldn't bother with the whole adventurer schtick going on here." She nodded at my logic, though her surprise hadn't driven away her anger for me, just put it aside for a moment.
"That was a fourth-tier spell. Here's an eighth." She waved her arm and a much more complex spell circle appeared. "Boost magic: Mists of the dragon." A bloody red mist flew out of her hand, blood vapor, and the magic circle directed it to spread in a V shape in front of her. I was caught in the middle and I winced at strong cuts across my body, all of them managing to sap tiny little amounts of my aura if I didn't resist them consciously. I ignored the damage and tried to understand what was happening.
The mist was blood, but it wasn't just blood being manipulated here. The force hurting me was piercing, not caustic or anything - ooh, acidic blood mists, gotta remember that for later - so there was a cutting force being generated from vapor alone. Was it from the air?
I focused on the air and felt a small blast of air but going away from where blood was trying to pierce my skin. Now that I focused on it there was a little raw mana being released from the impact site as well. Some of it affected - hey wait! Ohhhhhh, that's what she's doing!
I laughed out loud. "That's really creative! You're binding mana into the blood and, when the mana clumps hit me, they explode! I've never thought much of raw mana constructs but weaving them into a spell like that? Ingenious! … Shalltear?"
Where was Shalltear?
I looked around for the vampire and immediately found her soul dispersed within the mists. She seemed to realize that I saw her and she lunged for me. I used Body of Worlds and turned my own body to a bloody mist as I ran through her own form. Her misty form recoiled at my sudden transformation and I lunged myself, projecting my soul with a slash of blood as a medium. Her soul rocked violently, a good chunk torn off, like an eighth almost, and I heard her voice.
"Boost magic: Devourer of vitality." Her dispersed form collected into a solid again and she flung some sort of snake made of blood at me, the tail connected to her hand. It was just a fancy version of her leech things but with a snake and more aura in it. Well whatever she was doing it was a good chance to try out caustic blood.
"What's with the sudden attacks?" I asked through air as I formed a defense. I wanted to try out the raw mana construct trick. Mana weaved into tightly wound knots of blades inside a tiny division of my aura, the void removed from it. I let the snake latch onto my arm, it's fangs ineffectually gnawing at me, and fed it the trapped aura.
"You-GAHGHGHHH-OH!" She screamed as her body was suddenly cut into ribbons by the mana bombs, all of them exploding on her at once. My aura coursed through her at the same time, giving her a conflicted expression of vicious pain and… ecstacy?
"Oh… Oh my." Her wounds healed rapidly, faster than almost any I had ever seen. "Your life. Delicious." She shivered and looked at me hungrily with a creepy smile, her already red eyes glowing crimson. Her hands trailed over her arms, looking disturbingly like an addict looking at her next fix. "I want MORE!" Her face warped horrifically, a lamprey-like circular mouth and long, pointed tongue poked out of it, twitching around as though looking for something. Sharp claws grew from her hands and feet, something Freddy Kreuger would be proud of. Her face shriveled and her ears lengthened, making a mockery of a human face, looking like something straight out of a horror novel.
I didn't have time to yell something explicit as she immediately leapt for me, claws slashing. I quickly came up with a plan and made a bottle out of bloody ice. I filled it with the rich, sweet blood I had tried making earlier today and since aura had some sort of effect on her I infused the blood with some of it.
I promptly shoved the bottle into Shalltear's hands and threw myself backwards. She shoved half the bottle into her mouth and guzzled it. Her clawed hands grasped the bottle and tilted it upwards as she sat down on the ground cross-legged and groaned erotically. Her inhuman eyes fluttered their eyelashes and gradually became more human.
"Not touching that," I muttered to myself. "No way in hell. Nope right the fuck out."
Shalltear slowly came back to a human form, albeit one where her hair was a rat's nest and her dress was a rumpled mess. Her transformation seemed to stall as the bottle emptied. She then proceeded to crunch down on the bottle. Another full-body shiver went through her and she took another bite, the finishing touches to her reversion completing.
"So are you going to be going crazy again or are you better now?" She finished off the ice-bottle and licked her blood stained lips in satisfaction. Most of it was just smeared around a little but she got some of it. I wasn't even sure if she had heard me. She paused for a few silent seconds before her eyes widened and she shook her head quickly.
"What?! Wait, what?! Oh, um-OH!" She looked at me in a panic. "Uh, I, sorry? Sorry!" She jumped to her feet and bowed her head.
"I…. I-" oh shit, she was crying. How do you comfort a crying girl again? Ah, right. "I've failed Lord Ainz already!" Oh, she didn't feel bad for me… Not sure what I expected there. No, that doesn't change that I still made her cry, even by accident. "Not even half an hour and I… I completely lose control like some sort of… of beast!"
"Aww, don't worry." I smiled reassuringly and, though I really didn't want her anywhere near me after she turned into a horrific ghoul, reached out to hug her. She pushed me away feebly.
"No! I don't want a hug!" she said, still crying.
"Yes you do," I said confidently. I turned her around and sat down on a chair I made in an instant, setting her on my lap and combing her hair soothingly with my fingers.
"… I've failed Lord Ainz," she sobbed into her hands. "He's… he's the only one left! I don't want him to leave us too!" That set off alarm bells and I realized that this was the perfect time to learn about Nazarick and its secrets. What was Ainz hiding? Why were its members just hiding the top of the tomb when I got here? Had they moved here? But… Shalltear was alright. I wasn't going to take advantage of her like that.
"He's a forgiving person," I told her.
"I've failed him! This was the most important mission I could have gotten but… but I couldn't even keep my own anger in check for him! Nobody shoul-should forgive that! I'm the worst guardian ever!"
"Ainz would. You're family to him, and it's not your fault that you lost control."
"Albedo wouldn't have messed up! I can't even measure up to her!"
"Could Albedo have taught anything about blood magic?"
"No," she sniffed.
"There you have it! You did a job nobody else in Nazarick could! Sure, you didn't do it perfectly but you've perfectly distracted me with blood magic. I learned a ton from you, actually."
"You did?"
"Yup. That's hardly the only thing that makes you better than her." She furrowed her brows, as though trying to think of something. "You're way cuter than her." Ruby loved being called cute. Worked every time to make her feel better. Shalltear blinked, stunned.
"OH CRAP!" She leapt off my lap like it was on fire, face blushing. She swallowed something down and spoke primly, ignoring her red eyes, bloodstained mouth like the worst lipstick ever, and half-combed hair. "Ahem, you're clearly talented in blood magic. At the very least your blood magic and natural intuition for magic will allow you to fake most magic that would be required. Anything under fifth tier blood magic is just ice-based blood constructs or lifeforce transfusals. The name doesn't matter for you. Just make something up as need be and call them original spells." I nodded and looked over her appearance once more.
"Let's go see Ainz to tell him how successful this session was. I don't think we'll get any more done today and I have a ton of new spells to try out." Shalltear nodded, taking the escape I offered, and worked to smooth out her dress with surprising success. She coughed and did her best to look proper. Her hair was still a mess and her face was smeared with my conjured blood. Good enough.
"I have a guild ring from Lord Ainz. It allows me to quickly travel through the halls of Nazarick. If you would please?" She held a hand out like Ainz had and I walked to her and took it gently. I felt the warp happen once more and found myself in Ainz's office. Perfect.
"Lord Ainz," Shalltear said formally. The lich looked up from his desk to see the vampire looking a bit like a mess. I noticed a maid of some sort standing dutifully to his right against the wall. She stared at Shalltear judgingly. "The session was a success. I feel that… Lord Abyss has learned quite a lot from my demonstrations. He's quite a prodigy, though there is more to learn in the future."
"Oh, and our issues are worked out, as I said." I smiled and ignored the fact that the way we had fixed our issues was completely different than I had thought would happen. I was just going to irritate her until she blew up in my face, whereupon I would surprise-hug her and congratulate her for quitting the formality, probably with snacks or blood or something. Repeat until results are acquired and she associates being honest with her feelings with snacks, hugs, and good feelings. "Although as you can see, she turned to the bottle before we were half finished." I waved at Shalltear.
She blinked uncomprehendingly before wiping her mouth with the back of her hand and looking aghast at the blood staining it. I snickered and erased the blood staining the area around her mouth.
"Good," Ainz said, giving no hints to his emotions. "I didn't expect results so quickly but I do hope that you have learned at least a part of what you needed."
"I have," I ruffled Shalltear's hair and she slapped my hand away. "If anything, I would come back just because of how cute your subordinate is."
"I'm sexy, you bastard!" she snapped. Her hand instantly clapped over her mouth and she looked horrified.
"My parents were married, excuse you," I said, unoffended. "And yes, you are very sexy. Most of the time. I prefer you flirting to trying to suck my soul out of me literally. Save it for the bedroom, won't you?" Shalltear blinked and then looked irritated while Ainz was stoically trying to remember if he went insane recently.
"Please! Your limp dick? Didn't you throw a bottle at me and run away when I attacked you?" she sniped back.
"Excuse you? I have three wives!" Shalltear barked a laugh.
"And I have as many vampire brides as I please! I suppose you're just less manly than even me, the peak of femininity!" Ainz got a headache at the implication she made about her 'vampire brides', which I presumed were servants of some kind. I was getting drawn into something here but I was a bit stung by the implication that I wasn't all that good in the bedroom.
"Peak of femininity, huh?" I walked closer to her and poked her in the head, scoffing. "Girly, you mean?" She grew red with anger.
"Lady Shalltear, Lord Abyss, it would be quite improper to forniceate in front of Lord Ainz." The maid interrupted us. I spluttered. Shalltear scoffed this time.
"He's good at S&M but I'm pretty sure that he's only an S. Also, I prefer undead."
"… I've died a few times, actually. I'm only as alive as the bodies I make. Does that actually count? I'm not sure about the criteria for being undead," I wondered. I noticed Ainz sigh and resume his work, writing something on his papers.
"Do you have a heartbeat?"
"Only so much as I want one." Shalltear looked thoughtful at that.
"You switch between living and undead, I guess? Only technically. By undead I mean like, pale skin and such. Like you know how people prepare their dead for open coffins?"
"Oh, like this?" I used an illusion to make myself seem skinnier and more pale.
"Exactly like that… oh…" She looked at me as though in a new light. "Hm… say, I'm set on Lord Ainz but you could be fun." I stared at her.
"About twenty minutes ago you wanted to…" I trailed off at that. Some days I was pretty sure Esdeath still wanted to kill me. Some people got weird about who they wanted to kill. Shalltear was abnormal in her interests but not completely foreign. But did I want to sleep with Shalltear? She was pretty horrifying when she went feral but she was pretty tame now. I noticed her dress move a little from side to side. Was she rubbing her legs together? "Tempting but I'll have to pass for now. I wasn't exactly seeing you at your best today. Maybe next time." She pouted but nodded.
I took one moment to glance at Ainz and the map behind him. I took a quick note of the continents of Ainz's world and heard Shalltear gasp.
"Sorry, Lord Ainz! I, um… bye!" She glowed white and disappeared. Ainz kept working with his papers.
"See you later, Ainz." I waved to him. He ignored me while the maid looked tersely at me. That was fine. I slipped out of the wards using the same method that the guild rings Ainz and Shalltear had used and went back to my home dimension.
"Esdeath?" I called out in my home. "I've got a continent in need of conquering!"
Ainz seemed to have a nice world but he didn't think that I was going to put all my eggs in one basket, did he? Well actually he had a horrible world, but one rife with opportunity and conflict. His map had a continent labeled the Draconic kingdom with the notes 'overrun by beastmen' and 'desperate for aid'. Maybe now Esdeath would have an outlet for all of her bloodlust. And maybe an army for her to spend some time on if she got things in order. I was sure that Elsyria could do with some more potential cultists.
Was I setting myself up to be a conqueror of worlds? It sounded like a lot of work. Maybe just one world.
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