Disclaimer: English is not my first language. I'm using Grammarly to check the Grammar and using Word to write it.
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"Hey, look who decided to show up," Kurt said with a smirk.
"Sorry I'm late," I said, catching my breath.
Kurt shrugs, "It's fine, from what I'm seeing it's going to be a slow day."
Kurt frowns and takes a closer look at me.
"Are you okay? You look a little pale," Kurt said.
I paused for a moment.
That's a very good question.
"I'm fine. Didn't get much sleep last night. My neighbor was listening to music and thought that the entire floor should also listen to it," I said annoyed.
"I hate when that happens," Kurt shakes his head.
That is not even a lie. It did happen once before.
"Go to warehouse 37 and help Martinez in moving some boxes," Kurt said.
"Okay," I said, walking to the warehouse.
I arrive there in a few minutes and start to work.
While working my mind slipped back to my talk with Zelretch.
Where do I even start?
How do you kill a multi-dimensional alien?
More and more questions keep coming to my mind but I don't have an answer to any of them.
This isn't going anywhere.
I take a deep breath to clear my mind.
"Take a step back and focus on the now," I thought.
What do I have?
The Akashic Grimoire is supposed to give me the tools necessary to kill Scion.
I should have asked how it's going to do that.
Damn it.
Do I have to do something specific or should I just wait?
No, I can't wait. I only have two years to do this.
Keep thinking, I gotta be missing something.
I take a look at the stack of boxes waiting to be moved and let out a weary sigh.
"Maybe I should use reinforcement to speed things up," I thought absentmindedly.
I pause at that thought.
Reinforcement?
"It is a spell from Material Transmutation, which focuses on interfering with the properties of an object. Reinforcement can enhance the caster's body to superhuman levels or improve the durability of materials beyond their natural limits. Additionally, Reinforcement enables the caster to go without food or sleep for several days," A voice whispered.
That...is the explanation that my teacher(?) gave me when I was first learning magi-no.
Magecraft.
It was one of the first spells that I learned.
"The hell," I muttered.
My eyes widen with realization.
The Grimoire gave me something.
What else do-
"What's with you, Ben?" Martinez asked, placing his hand on my shoulder and shaking me lightly.
I jump a little in surprise and turn to Martinez.
"What?" I asked.
"You have been staring into space for about two minutes now. Don't feel like working today?" Martinez raises an eyebrow.
I have?
I stop myself from cursing out loud as that wouldn't help me.
I will do that later.
"Sorry. I just have a lot on my mind," I said.
I need to be careful.
If I call attention now, the gangs are going to visit me. And they aren't going to let me say 'no'.
Martinez raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything as he returns to work.
I quickly followed suit and this time I stayed focused on my task.
Three hours later, I finally got a break. I head to a quieter, more secluded corner of the Lord's Port, hoping to avoid any interruptions.
I lit a cigarette and took a long drag.
Let's try this one more time.
Closing my eyes, I focus on what else I know besides reinforcement.
Suddenly it all became clear as day. A memory(?) starts to play in my head.
I remember being taught what being a Magus means, the basics of magecraft, and how to safely use my magical circuits. But I can't remember my teacher, their faces are all blurry.
Strangely, I don't find that weird.
And, honestly, does it even matter who they were?
I think about that for a few seconds and shrug in response.
Let's get back on track.
Is there anything else?
...yes, yes there is.
A key to my personal reality.
I quickly search my pockets and find the key.
In my hand, I hold an ordinary-looking key. At first glance, its simplicity made me raise an eyebrow, but I know there's nothing mundane about it.
I need a door.
Looking around I spot an old rusted door on the side of a warehouse.
I walk towards it and stop in front of it.
Gingerly I place the key in the door and open it.
Instead of being greeted by the humid and musty air of the warehouse, I see a white room that doesn't possess any doors or windows.
Walking to the center, my footsteps echoing in the empty room, I look around the room.
Well, I do need a private place to practice magecraft.
"Reinforcement, Gradation Air, Hypnosis, and Formalcraft," I muttered, taking another drag.
In summary: I'm a brute who can create simple weapons that last a few minutes and can also mind-control people.
Let's also keep a lid on the hypnosis part for now.
Masters that can control people don't tend to live long lives.
Okay, now all that is missing is me becoming a cape.
"As if it's that simple," I scoffed.
I drop my cigarette and put it out with my feet.
I've heard enough stories to know that if I'm not careful, I won't last a month in the cape scene.
What are my options?
It briefly crossed my mind to join the Protectorate, but I quickly shut that idea down. If I joined, I'd be buried in so much red tape that getting anything done would be impossible.
New Wave is also out as I don't think they would accept someone outside their family.
And those are the only two hero groups in Brockton Bay.
Wait, why the hell am I even thinking about joining them?
Although having someone I can trust to support me would be valuable, I need as much freedom as possible to practice magecraft.
There's also the fact that many people might also feel uneasy about magecraft, as it often operates in a....let's say morally dubious area.
Looks like I'm going solo.
Yeah, I'm going to go against Scion....all by myself.
I quickly shook my head to get rid of these thoughts.
Let's not get ahead of ourselves.
I still-what's going on?
I inhale sharply as a warm sensation begins to spread throughout my body.
My eyes widened as an influx of information about a new spell entered my mind called 'Magical Balls'.
Geez, who come up with this name?
Anyway, it's a good spell since it can assist me in combat scenarios. It allows me to summon six spheres that act as mediums for channeling my magecraft. Unfortunately, I currently lack offensive spells beyond reinforcement and gradation air, which limits the 'Magical Balls' overall usefulness. But it is still something.
They are also easy to summon as I just need to think about them.
Alright, let's take a look at them.
With a single thought, I felt the six spheres coming out of my back.
Wha-why were they inside me?!
I quickly checked my back and didn't notice anything wrong with it.
Okay, let's move on.
I grab one of the spheres to take a closer look at it.
It's about the size of an orange, featuring a mesmerizing purple swirl pattern that moves gently in a slow, fluid motion.
Neat.
I can also change their form.
With another thought, the sphere in my hand slowly increased its length until it vaguely looked like a sword.
I'm going to have to work on that.
Hmm, let's see what other form I can use.
I spent the next few minutes experimenting with the spheres and quickly two things became very clear to me:
They can change to any shape I want. And their mass doesn't make any sense.
"How the hell..." I muttered, inspecting the axe that was twice my size.
I only used one of the spheres to make this.
Before I could see just how large I could make this axe, my alarm started to ring.
Welp, time to get back to work.
I gaze at the spheres and, with a brief hesitation, will them to return to my body.
It only lasted a second and I didn't feel a thing but it was still very weird to see the spheres entering my body.
I left the room, ensuring the warehouse door was back to normal, and began to walk to my next assignment.
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After work, I went straight home and entered my personal reality, intending to familiarize myself with using magecraft.
I know how to use magecraft, but at the same time, I'm not really confident in doing so.
It's a weird feeling and I don't like it.
So, I spent the next hours repeating all the same exercises I had done when I was first learning how to use magecraft.
Not gonna lie, this is awesome.
I've never moved this fast or felt this strong in my life. I can almost touch the ceiling of my personal reality with a single leap! And this place is five meters tall!
I also kept using gradation air to create simple weapons like knives, hammers, and swords. I considered attempting something more complex, like a gun, but decided against it, realizing I wouldn't be able to manage just yet.
I experimented more with the spheres and found out that I could reinforce them without the need to hold them. Which makes sense and I shouldn't be really surprised by that.
Hypnosis is the only issue I'm facing. On one hand, I'd prefer to forget about it altogether, since if it gets out, there will be a kill order with my name on it within the hour. On the other hand, what if I can reach a point where I'm able to hypnotize Scion?
I need more information about it than I can see if it's worth to pursue it or not.
After finishing my training, I take a quick shower, grab a sandwich from the fridge, and sit down in front of my laptop.
Besides training, I still have two crucial problems
"I need money to buy reagents, and find a place where I can buy it," I said, taking a bite of the sandwich.
Formalcraft provided me with a fundamental understanding of how rituals work. Essentially, rituals require reagents to be effective, and the higher the quality of these reagents, the more powerful the ritual becomes.
The issue is that some of these reagents are likely to be extremely expensive. I'm unsure about the exact price range, but I imagine something like wyvern fangs won't come cheap.
"Could I buy it online?" I thought, finishing the sandwich.
I quickly search the internet for the reagents and there is no end to places that claim to sell what I need.
In the past, I would scoff at people falling for such an obvious scam, but now I know that at least one of these places might sell the real deal.
The question is: which one?
I will get back to this later.
Now for the other problem.
Money.
Now that I have powers, the fastest way would be to steal from the gangs.
Incredibly dangerous but the quickest, and if I hit one of their stash houses, I'll make a fortune.
The Empire and ABB are off the table for now. I'm not going to clash with them until I have a few more spells at my disposal.
Coil is a tempting choice. Unlike the other two, he doesn't have any capes in his gang and is 'smaller' in comparison. However, he does have mercenaries working for him, all equipped with tinker tech rifles.
And then, there are the Merchants. Hardly anyone respects them or even acknowledges them as a gang. Their territory consists of unwanted, overlooked areas, and their ranks include just three capes who spend most of their time too high to function properly.
Yeah, it's an obvious choice.
I also got lucky since tomorrow is Saturday and-oh, it's happening again.
A warm feeling spread throughout my body but this time I didn't receive a new spell but clothes.
What?
It's an extension of my personal reality called 'NFF Wardrobe'. It's an infinite wardrobe that will have any kind of clothes I might ever need.
I gotta see this.
I entered my personal and noticed that there was a door to my right. Opening it I enter a wardrobe that is half the size of my apartment that is filled to the brim with all kinds of clothes and costumes.
"Okay, this is big but I don't see how it's infinite," I said, looking around the wardrobe.
Well, I don't have to worry about clothes anymore.
I pick up a tuxedo that is in front of me and let out a low whistle. One glance is enough to tell it's a top-notch quality, the kind you'd only find in those overpriced boutiques along the Boardwalk.
I could sell this.
A tuxedo of this quality would fetch a high price. And the rest of the clothes here are just as well-made, meaning I could make a significant amount of money.
I will look into this later.
Let's get back to planning my raid on the Merchants.
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Please leave a review. It helps me to stay motivated.
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If you like my stories and wish to support me, you can find me over at pa-tre-on (slash) Regulareader.
Or at Ko-fi.com/regulareader
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Magic Balls (Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt) 100:
Wielding phenomenal cosmic power is all well and good, but style is quite important too, especially as a dignified Divine Spirit. And with this purchase you get to benefit from a particular aesthetic, one that the Arjuna of the fourth Lostbelt uses. Mainly, you're able to generate up to half a dozen glowing and floating balls of various colors (they can also have minor aesthetic accessories like blue arrows sticking out of them), which apart from being under your full control in both movement and size, serve as a decent but unremarkable channel for your abilities. You can also manipulate their form, such as morphing them into a cutting disc or something. The focusing doesn't provide more than maybe a bonus of about 5%, but they might be useful for grounding your abilities into physical objects to make them easier to control, especially if you are extremely powerful and your abilities are a little unwieldy to use quickly otherwise. As a final note, you can merge these balls with items you have, letting you manipulate said items telekinetically and channel your powers through them, even if the item itself isn't normally resilient enough for it.
NFF Wardrobe (Fate/Legends Baba Yaga) 100:
It is best to be prepared for any occasion isn't it ♡? This infinite wardrobe ensures you will never have to worry about clothing again, coming stocked and updating for every occasion you may encounter. From spy operative outfits, commissar uniforms, qipao's, sari's or simple dresses, even bunnygirl outfits, all is available within this wardrobe. While they have no special properties aside from being self-cleaning and repairing and of course making you look good, there is sure to be something for any occasion.