Story: I'm a Daemon, so what?
Disclaimer: I do not own the original setting.
Chapter 121: Ultimate Arts?
Up to chapter 137 is available at [email protected]/theogbasilisk
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- Felix -
"That's good then. If you need anything, you can always ask me." Despite not making much use of Gravity Manipulation, I had been capable of manipulating it for quite some time and had used it here and there.
It did also fall under my Law Domination, meaning I had nigh-absolute control over it to a certain point, and Kurumi had been specializing in Gravity Manipulation.
I may not make use of Gravity much, but it was a powerful force of the universe. Even ignoring its more overpowered applications like bending Space and Time, even just increasing the force and momentum behind your attacks could help you a lot up to a certain point.
"I have already begun constructing an Ultimate Skill that improves upon Kurumi's abilities, the data for which I will engrave into her soul so that it will awaken within her when the time comes."
'Thank you.'
"It is my duty, Master."
Kurumi's smile turned a little sharper. "Even if what I want is you, Master?"
I rolled my eyes, smirking. "Nice try."
She laughed, the tension in the air fading. "You can't blame a fox for trying."
I wanted to have a more casual relationship with Kurumi until I felt like I had put enough effort in to get to know her to the extent that I believed we would do well together. I had learned a bit after all the experience I accumulated in this world.
Shaking my head, I glanced back at her paintings, watching the tiny figures move as if they were real. It was like they were real beings that were captured inside of the painting, with no idea about the world outside their own. "You really do have a gift though, Kurumi."
A small but cute smile formed on her face as her fox ears twitched. "Thank you." She was always weak to compliments.
"They remind me of the art I have displayed in my office." I pointed out.
Kurumi's ears perked up slightly, clearly pleased by the comparison. "Oh? You noticed? As expected of you, Master." Kurumi nodded in a self-assured manner. "I was quite taken with those pieces, actually. They were a masterpiece in their own right, and I couldn't help but wonder… what if I could create something similar, but with my own touch?" She gestured toward one of the paintings, a tranquil lake reflecting a starry sky. The water rippled ever so slightly within the painting, as if a breeze had passed through it.
"I'm glad that you found a hobby like this you could devote yourself to."
Now if only Arcueid, Lalatina, and Megumin could follow in Kurumi's example. It was as if those three never heard of a hobby. Though maybe for them, their tasks were hobbies. After being alive for so long, as long as they found enjoyment in their tasks, then perhaps that was all they could wish for. I imagine most hobbies would get stale after so long, even if Spiritual Lifeforms were more immune to boredom than most.
"There was also one other thing I wanted to talk to you about."
Kurumi's tails swished from side to side. "Yes, Master?"
"It's something that can increase your power further. I didn't tell you about it beforehand, as I was not sure if you were capable of surviving the process. Now I'm confident you can."
I told her about Life Construction, about how I thought she was ready to handle the strenuous process and come out stronger for it. I explained the process to her, how it made use of souls, and how it was up to her to face the resentment of the souls while allowing Othinus to guide the energy within her to refine her being.
I made sure it was clear that she could reject me if she wasn't up for it. I was aware of how morally dark the operation could be considered, and I was willing to take that sin onto myself since I was the main driver behind the Life Construction.
I explained Othinus away as something that was going to help with the Life Reconstruction. I would tell those close to me about Othinus at some point, but I didn't want to get into that right now. Most of them would likely learn about her during the operation itself.
Othinus was basically responsible for guiding the energy into Kurumi in a steady fashion so that it was easier for her to gain control over the energy and refine herself with it, while also absorbing the resentment of the souls and refining herself with that as well.
Life Reconstruction was actually based on the Harvest Festival. In the Harvest Festival, you took in souls to basically nurture your Demon Lord Seed. These souls would have an ego and would try to kill you while you resisted against them, slowly refining them into energy to germinate your Demon Lord Seed.
Life Reconstruction was the same, except for instead of germinating your Demon Lord Seed, you'd germinate your entire being, refining everything. This could only be used once since, after that point, the amount of souls required would be absurd, and the process would take exponentially longer.
I was only having everyone undergo it to basically expand their potential, so that when they went through the Harvest Festival, it would be an even bigger multiplier to their strength, hopefully.
Life Reconstruction would definitely be considered a demonic Art by Humans, similar to Necromancy, and it was deserving of such a label.
Kurumi seemed all for it, seemingly not at all bothered, and even seemed happy at my confidence in her abilities.
I did wonder what the next evolution for Kurumi and Saeko would be. Though that was if they even evolved. The next stage of evolution for them was likely going to be obtaining Divinity, and part of that transformation involved reaching a stage of ascendance.
If they missed that, they wouldn't get Divinity, though they'd still receive a significant power up in EP at the very least. The rules of Divinity still confused me since there didn't seem to be a set condition to acquire it.
I got it after my Harvest Festival, as did Rimuru. True Dragons like Veldora were born with it, and then there was Hinata who reached a stage of enlightenment for it. She said that it was as if she reached a pivotal realization in that moment that transformed her world view, that was the catalyst for Divinity in her.
Yet a man like Damrada was still a Saint and not a Divine Human.
Arcueid, Megumin, and Lalatina likely only obtained Divinity so easily because they already had it once upon a time. In fact, I doubt they ever lost their Divinity. You can't really lose something like that; it's a piece of yourself. The likely scenario was that it was just deeply suppressed inside of them by the World itself, making it difficult for me to detect even when in my Infinity Space.
"I believe the same as well, Master. Whilst guiding them through their reconstruction, I felt the Divinity almost immediately sprout from within them, almost as if it was waiting for the opportunity."
Well that proves that then.
Raiden's next stage was obviously Divine Dragon. It was the highest state a Dragon could reach, as far as I knew, as there was no becoming a True Dragon ordinarily. Divinity in general marked the highest stage of evolution for the most part. Evolving again after gaining Divinity wasn't something I had ever heard of, but I wouldn't be that surprised if it had happened in the past.
The nature of this world was that the impossible was possible.
"If you're open to it, then I'll call you when Raiden and Saeko are undergoing the process, so that you can all go through it at once."
Those two were still fighting, which wasn't surprising. At this point, they had the stamina to keep going for days.
"Yes Master!" Kurumi yipped as her tails swished back and forth. She was really way too easy to read. She would have a completely neutral expression, but her tails would be wagging back and forth. It was honestly pretty cute.
I stood up from the seat I had taken. "I'll leave you to your art now. I'll be looking forward to seeing what you come up with next."
She smiled, and this time, there was no teasing in it. It was just pure, genuine happiness. "I won't disappoint you, Master."
I raised a hand, waving as I left. "I know you won't." Before I paused, just remembering what I came here for. "One last thing Kurumi."
"Hmm?" She purred.
"You've been doing good work, and so I want to reward you."
"Fufufu, I appreciate the gesture, Master, but it is a pet's duty to follow the orders of their owners."
I really never got the whole "pet" and "owner" thing Kurumi went on about. I guess it was just her culture. Well, that and it was partially a kink thing too; something I realized quite a while ago with Lover.
"Still, I want you to have something. It can be anything, and I won't stop bugging you until you tell me what."
Kurumi sighed. "Very well then, Master. There is one thing if you wouldn't mind my impudence."
I gestured her to go on. "I want you to arrange an opportunity for me to kill the man who murdered my mother." Kurumi said with a vicious smile on her face.
I nodded right away. "I'll arrange it. Do you mind waiting for when the Eastern Empire takes action? Things involving them will be easier at that time."
Kurumi nodded. "Thank you. As you wish, Master."
I nodded. "See ya later then."
As I left, I considered what to do with my time. I had some free time on my hands. Sure there was stuff I could be doing, but sometimes I let my laziness win out; it was nothing urgent.
My lips curved upwards as I figured out just what I had decided to do.
I used Instant Motion to immediately appear in one of the training dimensions with only a thought.
I took a deep breath of the magicule rich air. The dimension was empty, filled only with green hills and was about the size of a larger country.
Maintaining a dimension of this size would ordinarily be a bit bothersome, even for me. A single dimension wasn't going to do much to my reserves with Magicule Breeder Reactor, but with tens of them littered around, it would add up.
Even with Magicule Breeder Reactor needing only a moment to quickly refill my reserves, that single moment when I was at less than peak capacity could be taken advantage of if someone was competent and powerful enough.
So I had already enlisted Sasha to create magicule reactors. They wouldn't function to the same extent as my own, but they would be similar to nuclear reactors. A single one of them, in theory, should be able to power two or three of the training dimensions I was currently maintaining. They would absorb magicules from the air, and breed them together, as I had explained the mechanisms behind something like that to Sasha.
So it was only until those were ready that I would be maintaining these dimensions.
Now I was here to test a few theories of mine.
I had gotten a bit inspired after acquiring the data for Guy's Lucifer, Lord of Pride. The way he could basically "copy" Skills and other abilities was that he analyzed the phenomena in question in incredible detail.
Once he understood the phenomena in question, it was sort of logged into Lucifer for easy access in the future. They are basically tacked onto Lucifer for future use almost like Arts, but they still functioned like Skills. It was certainly unique.
This way, the Ultimate Skills he copied weren't weakened due to lacking a core, but were still able to be called upon quickly. However, there was a limit to how much Lucifer could store, as the Ultimate-level sub-skills he copied still occupied space in his soul.
I had asked Othinus to add the ability to "log" the data for Arts and such I used under Brahma as well, similar to what Lucifer did, so that I could also quickly call upon any Ultimate Skill I was able to replicate in Art form in the future.
Such a function was easy to create thanks to the data on Lucifer.
Lucifer's essence was basically complete reproduction of abilities the user has seen once, due to Guy being its wielder.
Lucifer most definitely buffed up his analytical abilities, but Guy's own still had to carry the majority of the weight. His calculative abilities had to be monstrous, maybe even approaching the level of a Manas if he can do it on sight like I suspect he can.
Using what I now knew, I wanted to improve upon Brahma. I had already been working on this, but hadn't been making much progress until I got the data on Lucifer, Lord of Pride.
Brahma, Lord of Creation was certifiably bullshit. With enough time, I could do almost anything with it. Create brand new never before seen Skills, putting Skills into weapons, putting knowledge into weapons so that the wielder immediately becomes a master combatant, manipulate the soul,. Hell, if I want to be a True Dragon, I can be one if given time.
All of that was theoretically possible if Othinus had enough time to analyze the processes and mechanisms behind what I was trying to do, which was why I couldn't just True Dragonify myself just like that. It wasn't even something I considered due to just how difficult something like that was.
True Dragons were born, not made. You could not just become a True Dragon because you wanted to, they were a pivotal aspect of existence, until their concepts died out, they would forever remain.
Othinus had already run through the odds of me successfully becoming a True Dragon; safe to say it was not likely. She had said it would theoretically be possible if I cannibalized a True Dragon, completely destroying and incorporating their being, which Othinus theorized would be enough for her to understand just how they were linked to the world and replicate such a process inside of me.
Even if it failed, she said she would still be able to strengthen my base attributes to the same levels of a True Dragon, including my soul. I would just be lacking the intrinsic ability all True Dragons possessed due to their concepts. My energy reserves were already at the level of a True Dragon, but there was more to it than that.
But essentially, Brahma breaks all the so-called rules over its knees.
And Yuuki was bullshit for having the potential to awaken something like that, but I wasn't going to spend much time considering the possibility of becoming a True Dragon and whatnot. If it happened, it happened. If not, no big deal. I was already as strong as a True Dragon.
With all that, there wasn't much I could actually improve upon Brahma, despite my desire to. At least as I was now, except for one thing. The Skill Retrieval sub-skill, which limited me to only being able to bring out 70% of the power of the Ultimate Skill in question.
This limitation was in place because what Skill Retrieval did was basically overlay whichever sub-skill I was trying to access over itself, giving me access to that specific sub-skill of an Ultimate Skill.
However, it wouldn't have the core of the original Ultimate Skill that was specifically meant to reinforce and empower its sub-skills, making Skill Retrieval slightly weaker than the real deal. Brahma's core by nature was adaptable, but it wasn't perfect.
After Guy's Lucifer, I got the idea that couldn't I just manually recreate the phenomena of the Ultimate Skill?
I was able to copy Metatron, Lord of Purity from him likely only because Metatron had a single ability that could be used in a variety of ways, but it still went to show Guy's sheer skill, that he could get Odin, Lord of Cursed Knowledge to misclassify the data as a full on Ultimate Skill, and it worked.
Doing this would involve my own processing and calculative ability just as much as it would Brahma's. Skills, at their core, were basically keybinds for automatically manipulating certain Laws of the World in a very specific way. They were extremely potent, but less flexible because of that very same function.
Arts could do everything a Skill could. It would just be more difficult, but it would also be more potentially flexible.
So why not mimic the phenomena of the Ultimate Skills I had data on through Arts? It was different from what Lucifer, Lord of Pride did, but that didn't change the fact that Guy's Ultimate Skill was what inspired me.
I decided to start off easy, with a few Unique Skills, despite there being no need to do so as Unique Skills could be perfectly used through Skill Retrieval.
In front of me, Space was cut apart in a fashion mimicking the Unique Skill: Spatial Severing. An illusion was placed over the world around me, one capable of deceiving the senses of other people around in a fashion similar to Falsifier.
I continued to cycle through various Unique Skills, managing to mimic their effects with relative ease. There were a large variety of Unique Skills I had data on, from various otherworlders, from Rimuru's people, from my own people, and the Unique Skills of other people I had come across.
Quite a lot of them were simple but potent. Raiden's Unique Skill: Thunder was a simple but potent Unique Skill. I could recreate its effects easily with Magic, as it just gave Raiden an instant and powerful control over Lightning and Thunder, and allowed her to temporarily spiritualize and turn into energy. More specifically, it turns her into a form of living lightning itself. That didn't make it weak; it just optimized her already powerful abilities in that department, making them easier to access and more powerful.
Then there were also some Unique Skills that could be very complicated. However, I had an extremely adept understanding of the world, making it rather simple to mimic them with the data I had.
I knew Ultimate Skills would be different, however. They were levels more complex in the Laws they utilized, as well as the finesse needed, to use them in a way similar to the Ultimate Skill in question.
Some Ultimate Skills were easier to recreate in the form of Arts than others, like Elmesia's Vayu, Lord of Heavenly Wind. It was just Wind Manipulation taken to the max, involving spiritrons in its manipulation. But what I wanted to do was to be capable of using some of the more innately complex Ultimate Skills without suffering the loss in potency.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
The Ultimate Skill I would attempt to replicate was going to be Beelzebuth, Lord of Gluttony. It was one I was very familiar with seeing as I have used it quite a bit, even if it wasn't my own Ultimate Skill.
It was one of the more "straightforward" Ultimate Skills, in that its primary function was to consume and even assimilate anything, whether it was matter, energy, or even phenomena.
However, its underlying mechanisms were anything but simple. The way Beelzebuth functioned was through a complex series of Laws that dictated what could be consumed, how it was processed, and how the user could redistribute what they had taken in. The latter part wasn't difficult as I could just chuck whatever it is I ate into Infinity Space.
I extended my hand and focused.
First, I attempted the most basic application, the consumption of matter. A chunk of Hihi'irokane sat before me. It was one of the most durable and magically resistant materials in existence. It was the base of God Grade equipment, so it would do just fine as a test subject.
I focused on the Laws that Beelzebuth interacted with. After having and using it for so long, those Laws were somewhat familiar to me. It was why I chose to first attempt Beelzebuth, Lord of Gluttony, as it wasn't extremely easy, but it wouldn't be as hard as some of the Ultimate Skills I wasn't as familiar with. I had the data of various Ultimate Skills, but having the data alone wasn't enough. The data gave me a general understanding of the Laws used, but it was still more complex than that.
Guy was able to do what he did likely due to his experience. He was eons old and had far more experience than I did, so he just knew a lot of things. Not to mention, he's likely experimented a lot over the years.
I felt the Laws of the World. Most felt easily manipulatable to me, thanks to Law Domination, but many Ultimate Skills made use of multiple Laws, so I had to intertwine them very carefully to come up with the specific effect I wanted. I felt the drain of my energy, but it was less than expected.
I felt the shift, yet nothing happened. The chunk of divine steel remained inert, completely unaffected. My lips pursed as I went through the process in my head, trying to figure out what went wrong.
I raised my hand, deciding to observe the process of Beelzebuth's consumption again. I instantly consumed the Hihi'irokane with my Ultimate Skill version of Beelzebuth before spitting it back out.
Perhaps my attempts had been too simplistic? I needed to more accurately mimic the way Beelzebuth broke down matter on a conceptual level.
It was the Ultimate Skill representing Gluttony, an all encompassing desire to consume. Maybe I needed to call upon that desire a bit more.
I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath as I focused on the essence of Gluttony.
Beelzebuth wasn't just about consuming, it was about devouring completely, leaving nothing behind but what I wanted to remain. It was the representation of an endless hunger, a law that allowed the user to erase something from existence and claim it as their own. If I wanted to replicate it without losing potency, I needed to understand exactly how that process worked.
The world functioned on rules; layers of reality interwoven through cause and effect, pretty much. Beelzebuth functioned by bypassing the normal constraints of consumption, matter, energy, and even abilities, by enforcing a single event: that which is consumed belongs to me.
I extended my hand again, the chunk of Hihi'irokane still resting before me.
This time, I didn't just attempt to consume it like before. I poured my will into it, my desire to take it as my own. I reached out with my senses, I felt the structure of the metal, its energy, and everything else. I let that hunger manifest, not just an instinctual craving, but the absolute certainty that this object would be mine, even invoking some aspects of what Greed may call upon.
There was a subtle shift in the atmosphere.
I focused on the Laws, guiding them to interweave as carefully as possible. This was my first attempt, so I was going slow. Something at this speed would be useless in real combat.
The Laws Beelzebuth interacted with bent to my will. I wrapped them together, shaping them into an Art that would function identically to Beelzebuth. It was Beelzebuth's Predation in Art form.
After a few moments, a vortex of pure darkness and absorption formed, sucking the Hihi'irokane into my Infinity Space as if it were a black hole. The energy drain was larger than what Beelzebuth's Lord of Gluttony's would be, but that was because the Ultimate Skill form was more optimized. I could do the same with enough time.
I allowed my lips to curve upwards into a smug smirk as I dispelled the vortex. I had done it, or at least I had mostly done it. It wasn't as smooth as using Beelzebuth directly, but it proved that replicating an Ultimate Skill's function through an Art was possible, and that I could do it on my own, and that too without it losing potency, so long as I mastered the Art version enough.
"That was quite excellent, Master. I could not have done it better myself." Othinus finally spoke up.
'Thanks.'
This was my own little side project, so Othinus was refraining from helping me.
I went ahead and tested Predation a few more times on various objects, each time was smoother and quicker than the last. Before long, I was happy with the progress I had made with Beelzebuth. I didn't feel the need to work on Predation much, as I had an Ultimate Skill that I could wield at full power. Beelzebuth was just the test.
The main Ultimate Skill I wanted to master in Art form was Metatron, Lord of Purity. Even when operating at only 70% of its true capabilities, it could one shot True Dragons. I wanted it at 100%, if only for the raw destructive power it offered. I could only match that level of destruction with Hollow Purple. Hollow Purple was also something I've been experimenting with on the side.
I had managed to give it a beam form similar to Disintegration. The next step I wanted to do was coat it over Yamato, similar to Hinata's Melt Slash.
But that was for later. It had been a while since I had a real training arc, so I was a bit excited.
Metatron's essence was that of purification. It basically purifies all positive spiritual energy, physical matter, and magical energy like a water filter, but anything negative or not sourced in spiritrons it can't purify. Basically, those particles are too small and pass through the filter, but there weren't many energies not sourced from spiritrons. Only stardust and minus energy from the abyss of the Daemon Realm were the ones I knew of.
Essentially, someone with Metatron could no sell any and all attacks sent at them if they made use of any spiritron-based energy, as they could purify the attack down to the spiritron.
Literally everything was made of spiritrons in some way, shape, or form, so even the natural environment could be converted into spiritrons and used. There was also the fact that Metatron had internal functions as well, but I wasn't focused on those right now.
Of course, attempting to recreate Metatron in Art form would be tougher, as it was an extremely destructive Skill by nature. So without having the fine control over it that Brahma offered me, chances were I was going to blow shit up.
'Do you mind making sure the dimension doesn't blow up, Othinus?'
"As you wish."
And with that I got to work.
- Hinata Sakaguchi -
She looked at herself in the mirror, adjusting the collar of her blouse for what felt like the tenth time. Hinata Sakaguchi was not the type to fuss over appearances, but today was different. She had been in her room, going through her wardrobe for over an hour. When it took her a moment to swap between clothing… She had gone through quite a lot of outfits.
She sighed, brushing a lock of dark hair behind her ear before stepping back to examine the outfit she had settled on. It was a rather simple yet elegant dress that, while modest, still accentuated her figure.
It felt rather odd to wear such an outfit. She wasn't used to this kind of thing. She was usually in her Paladin's robes, but this wasn't a battlefield, and she wasn't preparing for combat, even though she felt like she was.
Or maybe she was? Maybe this could be considered a different kind of combat?
She nodded. Framing it like that made it no different than a monster slaying quest. She would succeed, as she always did.
Still, for some odd reason, it felt just as nerve-wracking, if not more than even her most dangerous monster slaying quest.
She felt less nervous when she set off to seal Veldora!
With a shake of her head, Hinata turned away and picked up another outfit; a more practical one, something she could move in without feeling restricted. She held it up against herself and frowned. No, that wouldn't do.
She didn't want to wear something practical. As Luminous had said, she wished to enjoy herself.
Her fingers brushed against the fabric of a third option. It was a sleek, fitted outfit that was a bit more balanced. It had both elegance and comfort, and did not show much skin.
Her heartbeat quickened. Was she really this concerned about what he'd think?
Truly, he had far too much control over her without even trying.
Perhaps something was wrong with her?
This was the first time she had felt anything like what she had felt for Felix. The thought of seeing him again is what pushed her through the centuries of acting as the Hero Chronoa. It wasn't that she did not enjoy helping people, but it felt like there was far more purpose when there was an end goal to be achieved.
Her end goal was seeing Felix again, to solve some regrets that she didn't even know she had, and to see her friends again.
She exhaled slowly, setting the rejected outfits aside and slipping into the one she had finally chosen. Taking one last glance at the mirror, she straightened her posture and steeled herself.
She had fought battles almost her entire life.
This was just another one.
Right?
Hinata smoothed the fabric of her dress with steady hands, but the tension in her shoulders betrayed her unease. The logical part of her mind scoffed at how ridiculous this was. She had stood unwavering before Demon Lords, had clashed blades with the mightiest of foes, she had met blades with Guy Crimson without hesitation!
And yet, here she was, hesitating over something as trivial as a date. She truly was pathetic.
She clenched her fist at her side, willing herself to calm down. She had already wasted too much time deliberating over her appearance. If she stalled any longer, she might start questioning herself again, and that was unacceptable. She was a True Hero, one of the strongest individuals in the Cardinal World.
She turned from the mirror and walked toward the door.
Her hand hesitated on the doorknob.
What if…
No.
She inhaled sharply, pushing the thought aside. There was no point in doubting herself now. Luminous had encouraged her to enjoy this moment, and for once, she would allow herself that luxury.
With one last glance at her reflection, she took a breath, and stepped out into the evening air.
She had been in her home in Lune, a home she had been given by Luminous long ago. She looked up to the clear sky, before looking back straight ahead. Civilians were in the process of reorganizing themselves after the attack.
She took a deep breath, calling upon Space-Time Manipulation, and teleporting herself to Felix's territory.
- Felix -
I sighed in frustration after a few hours of trying to replicate Metatron.
I wasn't quite successful in replicating the phenomena that Metatron invoked. It sounded simple, but it was anything but that. Stripping an energy source of all the extras, leaving only the spiritrons was extremely tough and required quite a lot of control. Especially since in combat, a lot of the energy being thrown around isn't going to be your own, making it even more difficult to purify it as an enemies' attributes would be mixed in making it more complex.
Metatron, Lord of Purity really was an incredible Skill.
I had managed to succeed to a certain extent, purifying magicules into pure spiritrons, but it was a time consuming process, far from the speeds Metatron did it at. So while I was getting there, I wasn't quite where I wanted to be on that front.
I understood in theory how Metatron worked as I had the data on it, I understood the Laws it functioned under, but I was having some trouble associating with the concept of "purity". I wasn't a very pure individual after all, but I'd get it down.
Not to mention that the sheer processing power one needed to replicate Metatron on their own was at the level of a Manas, easily. About a tenth of Othinus' processing power, I'd say, which went to show just how absurd Othinus was.
I was not Othinus, so I did not have the same level of calculative ability as she did. A Though Acceleration x10 from Othinus would get her a lot further than a Thought Acceleration at the same level for me.
So of course while the Thought Acceleration I had was extremely potent, it did not put me at the level of a Manas, though I was very close according to Othinus. I expected that Guy and Milim were at that level. They had been improving themselves for thousands of years, so it wasn't unexpected that even mentally, they were superior to the majority of the world.
I was getting there. I had been going through some exercises to increase my own computational ability as it wasn't something that could be upgraded like a Skill could, so it wasn't like I hadn't been developing it all this time.
After I got Metatron, Lord of Purity down, my goal was to master Faust's Probability Manipulation. It was a good ability that had been underused until this point, though I hadn't really needed to use it in any fights. But now I want to be prepared, just in case. Using it at 70% and 100% could just matter in the future.
I had made good progress, so I was satisfied enough for today. This was never going to be a one day training montage, it would take me time to get what I wanted to learn down.
With that I appeared back in my private room.
As I lounged on one of the loveseats in my large room I ran through the various things I had to do before going to the world of Solo Leveling. The times would be synced so that Othinus could get more data on the flow of time in different worlds, meaning time would flow at the same space in both worlds as the Voice of the World would sort of initiate that kind of connection between the worlds through my Planeswalker sub-skill of Ouroboros.
It was because of that that I didn't want to leave some things just hanging around. I wanted to speak with Elmesia to ensure her assistance with the upcoming war. I'll give her Laplace as a bribe of sorts for that reason as well. I was going to give her Laplace just like that, but I couldn't afford to just be nice now.
We might not even need the help of her, or her dynasty. We had the support of Guy, by extension that meant Velzard, I was no push over either. And then we had Veldora, Rimuru, Milim, Chloe, Hinata, Luminous, hopefully Dagruel, and many more allies, but I wanted to ensure all the cards were in our favor.
I may have been confident, but that didn't mean it had to be stupid confidence.
Not to mention the more leisure activities I wanted to have before leaving, like my date with Hinata, and Arcueid. Arranging Ingvild's concert would be pretty easy as I would just need to tell the right people to get on it. The interrogation with Gadra was also somewhat urgent as he may have more useful information on the Eastern Empire.
The spar with Chloe could wait for a little bit, as well as the spar that I had offered Arcueid, Megumin, and Lalatina. I had offered them to all come at me together, and they took it well and agreed. Perhaps they could learn some things in the spar, and learn to fight together better as well, since that wasn't something they really did, and it may just be needed in the future.
Before I could continue listing out what I wanted to get done, I felt space bend as a familiar presence appeared in my palace. I could have easily blocked the teleportation, but I had no reason to prevent my adorable Hinata from coming to see me.
We had a date to plan after all! Maybe I could even convince her to have one now. I had actually been looking forward to it quite a bit after all. If not, I would still be open to just hanging out with her for a little bit before she inevitably had to return to Ruberious. She was a hard worker, if nothing else.
I stood up from my chair, took a step forward, and appeared in front of Hinata.
My eyes widened upon looking at her state of dress. She wasn't dressed in anything super crazy, I just wasn't used to seeing her like this. She wore a sleek dress that hugged her curves, but not too tightly. Minimal skin was shown, but I wasn't going to complain. The dress suited Hinata.
A grin slowly spread on my lips. "You look great Hinata! It seems you're ready for our date then?" I could read between the lines; she wouldn't come here like this for no reason.
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Author's Note:
Sup everyone, back with another chapter of Daemon.
We get some Kurumi bonding, she hasn't been as present in recent chapters so I thought that it was a long time coming.
Then we get Felix explaining some of the mechanisms behind Brahma and Lucifer as he makes some progress on getting past the whole limiter on Brahma. Once he does that he'll be able to freely use all his Ultimate Skill at their max capability if he wants to without any strain. I know you all haven't seen him make use of a bunch of different abilities in any fights yet, but he hasn't really needed to. Even against Milim, she wasn't going completely all out as she didn't need to, and neither did Felix. Not to mention a lot of the Skills he has data on don't really fit his general style. In future fights I do plan for him to make use of some of the data he has in fights to be a trickier opponent however.
We also get some adorable Hinata moments, she's human too!
Also, hopefully you all don't take Felix struggling with something like recreating the effects of Ultimate Skills the wrong way. He isn't incompetent, it's just that Ultimate Skills are complex. Recreating something like that on your own, requires absurd amounts of understanding (which Felix has), but not only that, it requires the processing power of a manas basically, which Felix does not have on his own. Even Guy would struggle with what Felix was trying to do.
Next chapter is the data with Hinata!
Thanks for reading, peace.
Thanks to @Salante and @Flowerman for beta'ing this chapter.
Last bit of editing -Omnax