The Arcane Emperor-Chapter 95: Avatar

Chapter 95: Avatar

“Happy?” His ‘transportation’ asked, clearly annoyed at the tourist-like request he made of her to see the city from afar. Assuming she even understood the concept of a tourist, though Rainer got the feeling she’d be annoyed by it either way. Aurora was annoyed by a lot of things.

“Quite,” Rainer responded, looking over the Void Lords’ city. They had spared no expense when constructing it.

At the bottom of the peak, numerous buildings fanned out in a mismatch of culture and style; it was only the very top, a place reachable only through flight or teleportation, that showed unity.

Built as if it were the very peak of the mountain itself, a massive tower of metal extended into the sky, its dark steel marking it a fearsome watcher over all these lands. Around it, the metal extended into a metropolis of towers and bridges connecting them, making the entire city interconnect as if it were almost a single building. Though, more than one tower stood alone with no clear means of entering it.

Rainer quickly realized that there had to be Void Lords responsible for transporting food and other necessities, and chuckled aloud at that.

“What?”

He smartly opted not to share that thought. “Just a reminder of home that surprised me,” quickly telling a nonsensical lie, finding the image of Aurora ‘the food transporter’, and who knows what else, to be too much for him to think of a better excuse. And a welcome distraction to recent events. Aurora’s stiff hatred seemed to bring out the jokester in him. More so than usual, that is.

He knew he’d likely be doing similar things sooner or later; no reason not to when he had both a Spatial Enchantment and a Ring, but he wasn’t the type to be bothered by that. In fact, he’d likely be acting as a transporter of practically anything of use in the beginning. Well, ‘he’ as in hopefully his Avatar. Or two. The only real limitation to repeating the ritual was the caster’s mind and strength of Soul. His lazy fantasy did not include that he currently didn’t even have the strength for one Avatar let alone more.

“Any chance I can get one of your Dwarves to build me something similar?” Rainer asked, liking the idea of a magic metal tower, no matter the usual impractically something like that would have.

Aurora stared at him for a long while and he got the idea that she didn’t want to agree. Rainer briefly noted that she floated in the air without his assistance, some sort of self-application of [Void Hold] he guessed. Him attempting a similar thing would likely drain his Void Will reserves in a minute or two. He could see why most considered Arcane Spells as borderline useless without a talent for them. Talents were not to be underestimated.

“We are bringing back a few enchanters in any case, I doubt your request would be refused, though you’d likely have to transport or provide any needed materials yourself,” she finally said as if it pained her. Whatever her Overlord’s care for this human was, Aurora knew full well she would just be ordered to assist him or punished if she did not. And he was the reason she could come back here in the first place, no matter how little she wanted to admit that. Little did she know, her Overlord shared her envy over his method of [Void-Traveling].

Rainer went over his plans for the guild and further buildings. With such an organic way of building, incorporating Nalmar’s workstation enhancements would be even easier. On top of creating a blocked off area for the Mana-Well itself. After all, there was no reason to make an actual entrance to such a hiding-place – he also intended to master and add all the teleportation-blocking enchantments he could find, ensuring the safety of this artifact a divinity had tried so hard to deny him.

Perhaps the Void Lords could help with that as well given their nature? He doubted they were homogenous, especially given the lady right next to him, which meant they had to have developed countermeasures against each other. The only question was whether they would share them. He certainly wouldn’t be asking them when he could just ask Talvara directly.

Rainer himself still didn’t understand why Talvara treated him as well as she did beyond their original deal. He considered her a friend, but it was hard to say if that was returned, there was simply too much he didn’t know about her. And of course the huge difference in age and power, even if said power seemed to be limited in some way.

Nothing for it but to consider her a friend for now, Rainer thought. Certainly, only a friend would do something as childish as putting him with the one Void Lord who hated him. He liked that about Talvara. The Void Lord next to him was fun to joke at when there was no threat of imminent death. Fun for him, in any case.

“Can we go inside now?” said Void Lord complained impatiently.

“Let’s.”

Rainer took a quick glance around the room Aurora brought him to. The lack of luxury was a bit surprising, but he already knew the Abyssal Planes was, on the whole, poorer. And perhaps even technologically behind the world he was just in, Alvra, which itself sat in a weird mix of Renaissance Italy, Greek times, and the dark ages when you took into account it’s culture and technology also aided by magic.

The bed was most certainly not at a comfort level he’d expect for a guest-room of the Void Lords, but Constitution handled any discomfort easily enough.

“Thanks for watching out for me,” Rainer said as Jor left his shoulder. The Serpent would be keeping an eye on him as he slept. While not fully capable of staying out of his shoulder, for whatever reason, Jor was quite close to doing so at the moment. And the slight glow to its body after eating part of the Elemental could mean taking the final step to autonomy. Or it could be just another snack.

[Appraisal] was still useless, listing the snake-like flier as unknown.

While leftover simmering anger from having his Elemental-child stolen, an absence of a sleep-dosing Fairy, and a general lack of anyone in his bed kept him up a bit longer than planned, darkness took him in the end.

They had all agreed that bringing anyone into [Sleep Learning] might have unintended effects with the time difference. And he had no interest in chancing that. The idea of finding another test subject for something like that bothered him, but he supposed there was at least one advantage to having a large portion of the Demon Race after Kara.

Technically, Talvara entered his white void under a time-difference. She was also the closest thing he knew to a Goddess that wasn’t a Divinity and often used Avatars of her own. So it was a moot point.

In the interest of pure efficiency, Rainer realized that putting the Avatar Ritual first would be the best idea. Just as he wanted to have an Avatar to permanently guard his Mana-Well, future Guild, and everything that came after, he wanted access to one in [Sleep Learning]. In fact, given the connection to his Soul, he wondered how that would work in here.

Though, the major problem in that was that his Soul wasn’t strong enough. Compared to the Mana monster that Amer was, being the largest pool he had met prior to that Elemental, Rainer’s was lacking.

He knew an easy solution to that, one that his companions had either accomplished or were close to: Gunthar’s soul strengthening technique. But there were still other parts of the Avatar Ritual he could work on as he plodded forward in trying to gain this skill. That his recent advances in [Soul Detection], when creating the skill that allowed him to bring other people in here in the first place, might be useful was a plus.

However, talking with Talvara came first.

Talvara looked on with hidden amusement as the [Archon] furiously paced around this white space of his. His story involving coming face to face with a 3rd Tier Elemental had been quite a surprise. It was only at the reminder that it technically took him a whole month to get to his Elemental that it made more sense. And why she had not warned him in the first place. It seemed they both forgot about that ‘little’ time difference.

She thought of lying and painting the Elementals in a darker light, but there was little point. Even Aurora could quickly disabuse him of that notion if he asked, given Talvara’s own orders.

So she told the truth, about their location on the seventh plane, about how they took other races under their protection, about how seriously they treated poaching, something she realized she should have mentioned when he first told her about his titles, and how they would love to meet the man who wielded both Arcane and Void.

Oddly enough, that last sentence actually made the [Archon] angrier at them. Ranting about some Mage’s Council under his breath. No matter, it wasn’t as if she didn’t mind that conclusion, whatever it was.

With Talvara making a quick exit, Rainer decided to distract himself with the [Avatar Ritual]. Having no other way, he planned on simply going about it step by step. It was a mix of [Soul Manipulation], [Flesh Manipulation], Devil or rather [Human Anatomy] and most importantly, [Mana Manipulation] and extensive amounts of Mana Crystals involved in the operation of the ritual circle itself.

Thankfully, the actual splitting of his Soul was the very last step, and he could practice everything else as much as he wanted. Not to mention that his [Soul Manipulation] was actually the same level as Amer’s. The Devil hadn’t been happy to hear that given the literal centuries it took him to learn [Soul Manipulation] in the first place. Of course, the Devil would never do something as insane as attack his own soul in order to learn about manipulating them.

Even the Soul-splitting Devil had his limits.

Rainer started on the first step, recalling how Amer had done this himself. Thinking of the recently slain Taraien [Priest]s, he used them as a model for a just-dead human.

From there it was manipulating Mana into their bodies and using his knowledge of [Human Anatomy] and [Mana Manipulation] to form flesh, akin to how Mana formed earth or water in the respective magics.

With the goal in mind of growing just extra skin, Rainer set to work, knowing he’d have to rely on simple repetition, large amounts of Mana, and the [Archon] class bonus more than anything else. It was good the [Avatar Ritual] itself handled most of the flesh parts, and the prerequisite was only to have the most basic understanding of [Flesh Manipulation].

After an entire night of what had to be the grossest thing he’d done in [Sleep Learning], he gained the skill.

[Skill Gained: Flesh Manipulation lvl 1/10]

He tried using the skill to heal his own wounds, but found his own brain not being a supercomputer a limiting factor and currently wasn’t enough to properly manipulate the flesh in a normal way. Any attempts just ended up with a weird and strange growth where the scar should have been.

Rainer spent the next few nights repeatedly drawing and then using the Avatar Ritual, up until the very point he needed to split his Soul.

During the day, he got Aurora to take him hunting for monsters, even if the experience points would be negligible for his high leveled [Harbinger] unless he got lucky. Prodding Aurora with usual joking made the trips entertaining rather than tiresome and proved an easy distraction. Working tirelessly with no breaks of any sorts had its limit, and Rainer understood that making an advancement in magic when he was mentally exhausted wasn’t likely. Not when it depended so heavily on his intuition and ceaseless attempts.

Rainer awoke on his fifth day here. He knew it would be just a few minutes before Aurora entered his room without knocking. And then they’d be off to hunt again. The experience for his tier 2 classes wasn’t worth the effort, he quickly realized.

“Where to this time?” The Elf entered and showed not a hint embarrassment as she watched him get dressed.

Already used to the lack of decorum thrown his way, he was unbothered.

“I was wondering who trains Void Lords for combat?” Rainer asked. Their fighting style was the closest he had met yet to resemble his own.

“Where exactly would you like to start?”

“From the beginning I suppose.”

Rainer pushed with his Mana and his Void Will as he tried to escape Aurora’s [Void Grasp]. Yet no matter how he overpowered [Void-walking], he failed in the end. He was entirely at her mercy.

Rainer rubbed his temples and did his best not to be bothered by the smirking Void Lord standing across from him. The moment an Abyssal Elf learned to Void-Travel, they began their training. And the very first thing they did was learn to use the skill under duress. Whether that included an attacking enemy or interference to block their trip across the Void.

“For all your ability to travel through a barrier, I am amazed such an effortless use of [Void Grasp] prevents you from moving. It seems I had wasted far too much effort when we first fought.”

“Yes, it’s all amazing,” Rainer grumbled, “Are you ready to go again or not?” He was well aware of this weakness. It did, after all, make no sense that he could escape Divine Barriers and yet be held by a [Devil King] or the Aura Strings of the Wolf King. But no amount of complaining would change that. That was what training was for.

“With pleasure.”

Shortly after his training, or ‘entertainment’ as Aurora likely viewed it, Rainer went to meet with the one of the Ashen Dwarves they’d be bringing back with them. And figure out just what it would cost to have the Guild he wanted built with their metal.

The dwarf himself was brought to his room by Aurora just minutes after she left.

Unlike the dwarves Rainer saw in Neutral City, he’d call this one akin to a young and miniature elf. Nowhere were the muscles or strong jaws of those dwarves.

With dark grey skin, large pure black eyes, a thin frame, and only three feet in height, this old Ashen Dwarf looked more like an evil fae or elf from his home’s fairy tales.

“Thanks, my lady, for bringing me.”

Aurora said nothing in response and just went to a corner of the room to lean on the wall, brooding in silence, as the Abyssal Elf would often do.

“How can I help the most esteemed guest?”

The Ashen Dwarf bowed to Rainer. The [Archon] decided not to bother getting rid of formalities as he figured it would only cause problems for the dwarf.

“I need an estimate for a project I want done in your building style,” Rainer started and went on to explain the entirety of the guild, using an Arcane weaved model hovering in the air. Of most importance was a thick chamber at the top of the tower to hide the Mana-Well, though he, of course, didn’t specify what it was hiding.

“It’ll cost 32 Faarans of Mana Crystals,” The Dwarf responded after making weird high-pitched and then low-pitched ‘hmm’ noises for a few seconds.

Rainer blinked a few times, noting this was the first time his translation skill had ever failed to convert a measurement. Perhaps ‘Faaran’ was a measurement of Mana quality of some sort and had no easy translation.

“Aurora, can-”

“Yes, I’ll show you an example of how much that is,” Aurora grumbled.

“As helpful and kind as ever,” Rainer responded with a beaming smile, enjoying how much his praise bothered her. He’d get through that shell of hatred one day. Or, probably not.

“And what else?”

The Dwarf titled his head.

“That’s it.”

Rainer’s interest in the Dwarf’s metal skills grew even further. Perhaps another thing he should try to learn about before he left here.

On the sixth night here, Rainer finally starting working on the Soul strengthening skill once more. He felt he was close to learning, having practiced it the longest amongst his group, but there was a strange block to accomplishing what Gunthar told him.

He had since long assumed that strange block was the White Void that was attached to his Soul and functioned as [Sleep Learning].

Rainer sat in meditation as he tried to improve his Soul with that method. And yet no matter how he forced, even using [Soul Manipulation] on top of it, nothing occurred as always before. It was only when he was thinking of quitting and perhaps finding another method of improving his Soul that he decided to try a different way.

If the White Void was attached to his Soul, perhaps improving just himself wasn’t enough. He focused on the entirety of the White Void, before being hit with a vastness he couldn’t understand. Taking a mental step back, he instead tried to feel for the White Void rather than to focus too closely on the specifics.

Holding on to this feeling, Rainer applied the method of Soul Strengthening not only to himself, but to the entirety of his White Void, wielding the endless Mana to improve an endless space. He slipped on occasion, focusing too closely and thereby not encompassing all of it, but with every attempt he reached closer to the state he was looking for.

With the help from his [Archon] class, Rainer marched forward onto the final goal. He barely maintained consciousness as he felt the entirety of his being almost evolve in strength.

[Skill Gained: Lothfane Soul Empowerment lvl 1/10]

Any further gains in the Soul would be slow and well earned, but Rainer now had nearly all he needed to attempt the Avatar Ritual in full.

It was on the eighth night that Rainer felt he had gotten far enough along to start working on the Soul-splitting and final step of the Avatar Ritual. He had already lost count of the number of times he had performed the ritual itself. And had more than enough memories of a distorted looking clone of himself than he could ever want. However, Soul-splitting wasn’t something he could practice.

Failure was not an option.

Painting two ritual circles of blood across the ground, Rainer formed Mana Crystals on one and sat in the center of the other. He went through the ritual as he normally did, manipulating the mana and flesh as the ritual operated and formed a second body.

Rainer focused as he felt the ritual connect him to the second body. Memories flashed by him. He had watched with the utmost attention when Ameriytus had split his soul, and while he had the limitless energy of [Sleep Learning] to recover himself, even still there was a risk to it.

Without hesitation, Rainer used [Soul Manipulation] along with the ritual and with a shout of the [Devil’s Soul Language], a part of his Soul split away. He grimaced as he realized he lacked the full control to place it, but with [Void Mastery] and an on-and-off use [Void Hold], he safely guided the entirety of his soul into the second body.

A mental click went through him as he felt his energy pools connect with the second body, along with his Soul and Mind.

Rainer stared at… himself. It was hard for him to put into words what it was like having another self. He supposed Kara described it better when she told him about her [Werewolf Avatar]. Controlling it was like breathing. Only automatic until you paid attention to it. Then it was like a sword rammed into your brain to make room for a second. Amer gave a similar analogy, but Rainer opted not to think about the strange Devil-exclusive bodily function the old man used to describe it.

Rainer rubbed his forehead, and did his best as he practiced control with it. Thankfully, a skill beyond the ritual helped that matter. Something he managed to gain only with [Archon]’s assistance no doubt.

[Skill Gained: Avatar Control lvl 1/10]

He set the Avatar on enchanting works, while he left himself to just focus on controlling the Avatar. It took hours before he even learned how to walk while operating the Avatar, let alone anything more complicated. From what he remembered about Kara’s version, her [Werewolf Avatar] was more auto-pilot based. Given that she couldn’t do such intricate work such as enchanting in her Werewolf form, it may just be her own perception of it.

A few hours later, he reached the second level of the skill.

[Avatar Control has reached level 2]

The difference was notable, but it still place a heavy burden on him to control it. It was most certainly not as effortless as Amer made it seem. Not yet, in any case. But the tools were all there, it was just a matter of practice.

Days went by as Rainer found learning to control his Avatar took far longer than expected. It’s unlikely he’d progress on anything other than enchanting during his trip here. It seemed the splitting of his Soul didn’t affect his waking self. So long as all the damage was healed, it stayed together in reality.

For the rest of the month he had here, Rainer planned on working both on and with his Avatar on enchantments, and helping with [Time Manipulation] when needed. And during the day he’d divide his time by interest, more looking to fill in his boredom from his currently monotonous nights than to achieve anything of merit. Even he needed breaks on occasion.

No matter how much he wanted march into the Elemental’s homeland, he knew there was no point. Even if they welcomed him with open arms, they’d never give an Elemental to him, especially since even if he could prove that he was the ‘father’, they may not even care.

And while Talvara painted an oddly positive picture, Rainer couldn’t just risk himself, and subsequently his family and companions, by going to Elemental’s homeland. That the positive picture also meant his Elemental would be well taken care was certainly a factor.

Rainer was just as likely to be befriended by them as he was to be strapped to an Elemental’s version of an operating table and picked apart to figure out how he could use both Arcane and Void. He had too much knowledge about being a rare and sought after good to think anything else, especially after learning of what his sister had to suffer through purely because of their relation.

No. Until he surpassed both the bonds of [Archon] and [Harbinger], that would have to be left for another time. But no matter what the future held, sooner or later he’d be marching in to take back his family.

Having just woken up but knowing it was still at least an hour for Rainer to come back, Kara and Luna just sat with one another, the Fairy between the Wolfkin’s legs.

“How come you and Rainer have such nice hair? When’s it my turn for a force of nature to change me?” Kara complained, only partially in jest.

Luna tried her best to think of a response to that. She thought back to an argument between Rainer and his sister, about how some people were starving so he could stand to spend a little less on food. And then his response to that.

“Life is rela..rela… relativity. Kara’s hair is plenty nice,” Luna said, getting the feeling she was mixing in a different memory about when Rainer explained something and she stopped paying attention. That she occasionally asked questions and then stopped listening half-way through went ignored. It was definitely not her fault.

Luna pouted a bit when she felt Kara stop massaging her scalp, but smiled and closed her eyes when she restarted. Rainer did always have a way with words when it came to Kara or her. It seemed to work even without him here. A surprise that he still hadn’t added any more variety. Having two people to scratch her head and comb her hair would be better.

The small Fairy grumbled when she felt Kara pinch her cheek.

“I don’t know what you were thinking about, but I didn’t like it,” the She-wolf explained, as Luna mentally demoted her back to the old nickname.

“I was only thinking of making She-Wolf’s life easier,” Luna responded, relaxing again.

“Sure. I believe that just as much as you actually being asleep whenever it happens to be convenient for you.”

“Luna’s not here right now,” she ‘sleepily’ replied.

“As expected.”

Moments later, Rainer appeared at the foot of the bed with an unnoticeable loosening of space.

The not-actually-sleeping Fairy beat Kara in hugging their returned paramour, but a reunion soon turned into a long explanation for why he was alone.

To everyone else, it was as if Rainer returned after only half a day, right when they would be waking up the next morning. To Ele, she wouldn’t have even noticed him disappearing given he left close to bedtime.

“Anyone know where Ele is?” Rainer asked; the Elf had been missing for a few hours now. Those few hours were being spent preparing to do his first real Avatar Ritual, given he had only done it in [Sleep Learning] after all. He would then be setting his Avatar to work on some basic enchantments to sell and fund the start of his Guild, long before it was even official.

Rainer himself planned a few more trips to Abyssal Plane. While it couldn’t be a permanent home until he found a solution for the Miasma in the air, not abusing the time difference between the two places would be foolhardy. Even just going for a single hour could turn that into 60 for his use. Given that he would eventually run out of what was low-hanging fruit for the [Archon] class, it was a welcome idea. Though even he had limits on how much he could train on his own in such a manner, hence his own trips would be limited.

“Ele said she had some business to do when I passed by her this morning. Does it matter, isn’t that why you hired her?” Sarah said, rushing him along.

Rainer shrugged before mentally noting that he should put a [Soul-Trace] on the Elf for safety reasons. No matter how he wanted to be sure he could trust her, he wouldn't stoop to using [Void Seer] for that purpose. Occasional lie detection on an expert on the subject matter was one thing, playing the big brother was something else entirely.

“No, I guess it doesn’t,” Rainer responded. He had already decided on Ele’s future position, with an agreement between them that she’d serve as the Vice-Guildmaster of his future Guild along with him giving her enchanted support for her eventual 2nd Tier Trial. Though given that Rainer’s plans started with a guild, not ended, he figured she’d get a promotion if she did a good enough job. Autonomy was not only expected but deeply desired.

“Now hurry up and show me the ritual,” Sarah complained, letting her jealousy more than show over how seemingly quick her brother learned the ritual and the skills involved. Manipulation skills were anything but easy to learn and it could be years if not longer before she managed this ritual. And that was already taking into account the huge advantage [Sleep Learning] provided for her, along with her brother’s own experience with the skills.

Shortly after finishing the large expense of blood the ritual took on top of the Mana Crystals left over from the Wolf King’s ‘payment’ and the Mana Well, Rainer began creating another self.

A flurry of Mana followed as his body took shape, his sister noting the ritual carefully for her own future use. With a powerful but painful use of [Soul Manipulation], his Soul was split with an audible echo that went through everyone’s body. Rainer’s two bodies were now connected fully by the ritual.

Rainer let out a relaxed breath, this being the first time he ever did this in reality. Given that it took nearly all his Mana to perform, he opted not to do it in insecure territory. He was arguably more skilled at it than Amer at this point, having done it so many times in [Sleep Learning] with the exception of the final Soul-splitting step.

“Rainer?! Why are you naked?” his sister immediately complained, one hand covering her eyes and another covering Lilia’s, who wasn’t even paying attention having had a book in her hand.

“What did you expect?” he asked confused before realizing that Amer’s Avatar came with clothes. That was… strange. The memory of that was clear as the [Archon] was quite sure he’d have remembered a naked Amer. As he most certainly was stuck with the memory of having seen him with [Void Seer].

He stood up in concert with his other self, getting used to having another brain once more in quick order. Luna walked over to create clothes for the Avatar, but the shattering of porcelain distracted everyone in the room. Gunthar in the corner playing with Tiamat included.

“I… will speak with you later,” Ele said after clearing her voice before doing a stiff about-face and march out of the room, ignoring the broken shards of her cup.

Both Rainer’s gave a pointed look to Gunthar. The Undead likely knew she was coming but familiarity with her soul stopped him from giving a warning. Of course forgetting that many of the group’s secrets were not shared with their newest member. He wasn’t truly mad at Gunthar, but he enjoyed the Undead’s usual prudeness, something currently triggered by being stared at by a naked Rainer clone.

Rainer had a faint hope his nude charisma-enhanced Avatar had been enough to distract Ele from anything else, and walked after her shortly after.

Rainer found Ele down the hall moments later.

“Well,” the Elf started, “I did have some things to speak about with you in any case. Do you have any magic that would prevent others from listening in?”

Pausing, Rainer realized he didn’t. Not even amongst any of his tomes. Perhaps an oversight he should fix by revisiting the Fae. The over-eager seeker’s circle were always happy to trade with him.

“Not exactly,” Rainer started getting an idea, “But I do have a mental space I can bring us to while sleeping. That would certainly be free from anyone listening in.”

[Sleep Learning] was only a grand secret when they knew it was [Sleep Learning]. Otherwise, it was just an impressive use of mind magic. It also gave an excuse for Rainer to put a [Soul Trace] on her.

“Just tell me what I need to do,” Ele responded, deeply interested in learning yet another surprise from her Lord. Her choice to ‘jump ships’, she mentally mocked, was proving to be a grand one.

Sitting in a far-too-comfortable chair for it to ever exist in reality, at least according to her knowledge, Ele sank into a seat across from Rainer.

“Would you mind sharing that sleeping spell with me on a regular basis?” Ele asked, having found the comforting ease with which she fell asleep surprising.

Rainer frowned for a moment, figuring that dependence on a sleeping spell would be just as bad as dependence on a sleeping pill… he guessed. He truly had no idea how such a thing affected a person. For all he knew, getting better sleep through magic would be a huge net plus rather than a net minus that modern medicine often produced in the long-run.

“Until you get used to keeping the same schedule as me, I see no reason why not,” he said, choosing a middle ground. “So what did you want to talk about?”

“Your fake homeland, and all the possible problems with what you’ve told me about it. We should prepare a proper story with no holes. Truly, I’m surprised it took me so long to figure out it was a fake story, given that I’m all but certain you put no planning into it. Being an expert on Body Enchantments and yet coming from a place of humans…”

Seeing how sure she was, Rainer guessed there was little point in arguing that he really was from the far north. And the last point embarrassed him far too much to really argue it.

“Before that, I have question to ask. What exactly did you see that made you run off earlier?”

He could see the Elf pause in thought. Truly, none of the secrets she saw would make Rainer consider killing her, such was a benefit of his [Void-Walking] and current strength, but all of them warranted a further questioning.

“Where do I start?” Ele asked.

“What do you think of your grandfather’s claims? About me being related to the Fae?” Rainer did his best to avoid asking about Luna directly.

“You mean have I figured out that your red-haired human paramour is actually a Fairy? Who's not being blunt now?” She smirked, even though inwardly Ele was incredibly nervous. That was most certainly a secret she wouldn’t be surprised if she was killed for.

“Me…” Rainer grumbled.

And the nervousness vanished as quickly as it came.

“There is no need to worry. I am not as close to my grandfather as I seem. Revealing your closeness to the Fae does not appeal to me,” Ele responded, holding back a chuckle at how the obscenely powerful man in front of her seemed like a pouting child after being caught speaking evasively.

The truth, Rainer noted.

“And what exactly does appeal to you?” Rainer said, opting to just go along this line of thought rather than getting into specifics. Little point in going over every secret she may have seen and revealing more than necessary.

“Power.”

Even if that most certainly wasn’t the whole story, the answer was completely the truth. And comforting. Revealing his secrets could at most grant her wealth, or a quick death by whoever she told it to in order to keep it quiet. No wonder he had gotten the same truth reading when she had said acting in his best interests in was in her best interest.

“So about fixing my background story?”

Ele chuckled.

“I’m not sure even I know where to start with that mess. But I shall try.”

Within the Wolf King’s palace, Rainer was preparing to enchant the ruler that occupied it.

“Hello,” Rainer said to the Wolf King, though mostly to the guest joining them as he did the enchantments.

“Greetings,” The Wolfkin Queen said tersely, and looked as if any further exchange of words would only bother her.

Oblivious or uncaring to this tension, the Wolf King shuffled them away to a room to get his enchants, no longer holding back any excitement for them. Though, he did ask a few questions on how Kara was doing.

With everything else ready, Rainer looked away awkwardly as he prepared to enchant the Wolf King.

It wasn’t that the [Archon] was particularly bothered by naked men. The Wolf King being a man wasn’t a problem at all. It was him being such a beautiful man that telling Kara she got her looks from her father was the highest compliment, that was the problem. Even more so, his Aura-changed body meant he hadn’t bulked in a similar way that anyone of his trained strength would, system aided or not. Someone this strong even sans-system should be at least twice as heavy.

It was an all around awkward situation for the [Archon]. Even worse than with his sister he ventured. That the Wolf King’s wife stood stiffly in the background glaring at him for whatever reason definitely didn’t help. It made the awkwardness of working enchantments on a beautiful man infinitely worse. He got the uncomfortable sensation that he was doing something illicit no matter how silly that was.

Weren't those in political office supposed to be good at hiding their emotions?Please stick to your role, Queen, Rainer internally complained.

“Well, are you starting?” Ymir asked, not at all bothered.

Rainer sighed, and later had doubted he had ever enchanted so fast and precisely before. While he had certainly been glared at by a stern woman before – he had slept in most of his classes after all and as well just spent a month with Aurora – but having a Queen’s unflinching gaze on him for 4 hours was something of an unpleasant novelty.

Over an empty ocean a figure blurred past. And only moments later did sound follow.

Covered in bronze scales and sporting two wings, Demon Prince Fang soared over the water. Plans changed and his outlook shifted. The idea that the Magus he saw guarding the Half-Demon was stronger than him was impossible. Even if he couldn’t take on multiple powers of this world, Fang didn’t view any as above him. But even still, the inability to glance at him with [Foresight] left the ancient Demon wary.

So he flew back to the Demon Lands. Not in retreat, but to regroup. Despite having a goal entirely different from the Demon Princes who sought to share the Half-Demon, he realized he could work with them. Only his past confidence had stopped him from even considering this course of action.

But now, so close to his goal, he wasn’t willing to take the chance of facing the Half-Demon and all her companions alone. Especially when they proved so slippery. A proper ambush would be impossible.

If anything, waiting until the Demon Princes captured her would provide a safe way for him to consume her Soul.

However, no matter what plan he followed, Fang knew it would only be a matter of time before he had what he desired.