Chapter 42 – Instant Shadow Magic!
"Hestia, wait—this isn't what you think!"
But it was too late. The sound of her footsteps and her startled voice had already vanished beyond the door.
Inside the room, Hephaestus stood frozen in panic. Being caught in that moment—by her closest female friend, no less—left her with no idea how to react.
"Actually," Akira said casually, trying to diffuse the tension, "Hestia's probably known about us for quite a while now."
"Huh? Known about what?" Hephaestus turned toward him, her voice sharp and laced with embarrassment.
"Our relationship."
"There's nothing going on between us!"
Her face flushed red, half from frustration, half from something else. But Akira simply gave her a knowing smile and didn't push further.
After a few awkward moments, Hephaestus sat down slowly, letting out a deep breath as she regained her composure.
"You said Hestia already knew... What makes you think that?"
"Think about it, Hephaestus. What goddess would let a man live under the same roof with her for that long if there was really nothing between them?"
"Ah..."
The realization hit her. She hadn't considered it that way before—but when she thought about it, she had indeed been acting a little... obvious.
"And earlier this afternoon, Hestia mentioned she wanted to have a serious talk with me."
"What kind of talk?"
"She asked me if I knew what it meant to fall in love with a goddess."
Hephaestus's eyes widened. "So... what did you say?"
Akira paused for a beat, then said with a soft smile, "I told her I did."
"And then...?"
"She asked again—if I'd still love her even after death, even through reincarnation... would I still stay by her side?"
Hephaestus held her breath, hanging onto his every word.
"And I said... yes. I understood."
She looked into his eyes, and what she saw wasn't a lie or a moment of flattery. It was genuine, steady, and clear. Something in her heart cracked open, a wall she'd built slowly crumbling away. The feelings she'd been suppressing... were starting to form into something real.
"Shin Akira... the gods are greedy and selfish creatures. And as a goddess, if I ever fall for someone... unless I get bored of them... I will chase them through every lifetime until I find them again and drag them back to my side."
"I know," Akira replied, still calm. Still sincere.
At that moment, the bond between them deepened. Fate or coincidence—it didn't matter anymore. Something had undeniably changed.
Of course, capturing the heart of a goddess wasn't that easy. This was still only the beginning. For now, Akira had simply reached the point of being acknowledged.
"By the way, Hephaestus... last night I went to the Dungeon to experiment with magic. Can you update my status? I think I might've awakened something new."
"Magic isn't something you get just because you want it," Hephaestus said, standing up as she reached for her silver needle. "You need the right moment, and more importantly... the right aptitude."
Still, she pricked her finger without hesitation and let her divine blood activate Akira's Falna. A soft glow enveloped his back as the update began.
— — —
Shin Akira
Level: 2
Strength: I · 0 → I · 99
Endurance: I · 0 → I · 99
Dexterity: I · 0 → I · 99
Agility: I · 0 → I · 99
Magic: I · 0 → D · 599
— — —
Magic:
• Shadow Touch
• Shadow Domain
• (Empty)
— — —
Skills:
• King of the Shadowkhan
→ Greatly enhances mental power
→ Allows summoning of shadow warriors
— — —
• Greed
→ Unquenchable desire for all things
→ Rapid growth rate
→ Significantly boosts monster hunting efficiency
— — —
• Shadow Force
→ Extreme dark affinity boost
→ Major enhancement to magic affinity
→ Enables direct shadow manipulation
— — —
Development Ability: Mage · H
— — —
His physical stats had all maxed out at 99, but his Magic stat had skyrocketed to an impressive 599—a clear result of the night he spent summoning shadows and studying magical control.
Not only that, his Mage development ability had advanced from Rank I to Rank H.
But the most shocking part... was the appearance of two new magic spells.
The first—Shadow Touch—was a shadow-based offensive magic that let him summon dark tendrils from any nearby shadow. They could strike, defend, and bind in an instant.
The second—Shadow Domain—was a battlefield control magic that enhanced all of his stats and abilities within an area filled with shadow. While active, he could also cast Shadow Touch from anywhere in the zone.
And the craziest part?
Both spells were instant-cast.
No chant. No prep time. Just pure, immediate execution.
Hephaestus placed a hand on her forehead, dumbfounded. "You... just awakened two instant-cast spells? In one night?"
Yesterday, he had only just gained Shadow Force, which boosted his dark and magic affinity.
Now, within a single day, he'd acquired two new spells—and they were both the kind of magic that Mages in Orario could only dream of.
Most adventuring parties relied on Mages for high firepower, but casting required time—chanting mantras, focusing energy—and during that window, the Mage was extremely vulnerable.
If that chant was interrupted, the spell failed.
But instant-cast magic nullified all those risks.
Normally, even one spell like that was rare. Two? That was beyond mere talent. That was the stuff of anomalies. Miracles.
"Akira... just who are you really?" Hephaestus murmured, handing his status sheet back to him.
Akira glanced over his updated abilities with quiet satisfaction. The two magic spells he had envisioned last night had manifested exactly as he hoped.
...Though, one of his ideas had failed.
He had attempted to create a third spell—something inspired by Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon and Enkidu's Wisdom of the People from the Fate series. The goal was to build a kind of automatic magical turret from the shadows that could endlessly fire conjured weapons.
Last night, he'd succeeded in forming temporary weapons from the dark. But the moment they left his body's shadow, they simply vanished.
He had hoped the miracle of Falna might refine this concept into a proper spell. But perhaps that was too much to ask for—for now.
After Hephaestus resealed his Falna, Akira stood and redressed quietly.
"…I still have a long way to go," he whispered to himself.
Despite all his growth—despite carrying 20% of the King of the Shadowkhan Tarakudo's power—it still wasn't enough.
He needed more.
He had to become much, much stronger.
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