I closed my eyes and concentrated inwards.
There, deep within myself, I felt for the so-called 'Light' that the Stray Devil believed I had. And sure enough, I found it.
It was a strange form of energy, intrinsically linked to my mana and indistinguishable unless I am looking specifically for it.
But now that I am aware of it, I can easily call upon it.
So I did exactly that.
Using the Stray Devil's memories as the guide, I pulled on the light, trying to shape it into a light spear as the native Angels of this world could supposedly do with ease.
Yet, my power refused to comply.
I could manipulate the light energy just fine, making it move within my body as I wished and even making it form a thin film around my body. But the moment I tried to materialize it, it refused to obtain a coherent form, as if my very being was being suppressed by something unknown.
With a sigh, I stopped trying and started writing in the small journal that I was quickly filling up after my experiments in the past two days.
"Light Spear experiment result: failure. Same issue as the other native 'Holy' spells that I faced before. My Light refuses to manifest according to the system of this world, only materializing when I use spells from YGGDRASIL."
"My theory is all but confirmed. I cannot use any spells or abilities that fall outside the system of YGGDRASIL."
'Unless I use a certain object.'
I stared at the black ring on my thumb, shaped like a serpent biting its own tail.
The Ouroboros.
A World Item that could literally break the game by overturning the rules that govern the system.
Back in the game, some guild once used this item to keep Ains Ool Gown from claiming the Seven Hidden Mines, one of the rare few sources of the Prismatic Ores.
I would know, since I was contracted by that guild along with many other top solo players to mine those resources for them since the time limit given to them by the shitty devs for only a single month before the effects of the ring would fade.
Of course, they were not foolish enough to advertize their name so that the legendary Heteromorphic players guild could track them down for retribution and kept their identity hidden, so I don't know who they were, only that they used that specific world item to achieve their objective thanks to the Developer message and compensation that was given to all the players as a result of that item's usage.
The payment for that task was a good chunk of real money and some top-tier materials, along with a good chunk of the Prismatic Ores that I stole from under their noses.
It was this large chunk of money, combined with my own whaling attempts at the Gachapon website, that helped me gain my own Ouroboros ring. (Seriously, I lost nearly a third of my income to the gacha, along with the small fortune I made from that harvesting job.)
But all of this was in the game. Right now, it cannot be denied that I am in a real world with its own strange circumstances.
Truth is, I don't know what will happen if I try to use this ring, so I am not too keen on using it right away.
Thankfully, I could test things out with a few other items and spells that have similar properties.
Concentrating on my spell repertoire, I called upon a particular Super Tier spell.
"[Wish Upon A Star]"
In the game, when invoking this spell, a special effect similar to a meteor shower would form around the user as they are presented with options to choose from. The number and quality of the options available depended on how much EXP the player was willing to pay for invoking this spell or using it through an item of the same name. In some ways, it was a drastically less effective version of the Five Elements Overcoming World Item, which was itself a lesser version of the Ouroborous.
However, it was no longer the case here.
The moment I invoked the spell, I immediately felt like the world itself held its breath. As if all life had come to a grinding halt in awe of the power I just called upon.
As if a part of creation itself was now peering down at me, willing to do anything that I asked of it.
Frankly, it felt a little intimidating to feel all of this.
Holding the spell, I tried to imagine some of my EXP disappearing into this spell, and immediately felt something within me drain at a rapid rate until a good chunk of it was gone.
However, I did not find any menu manifest in front of me, and neither did some instinctual knowledge about what I could do flood my mind.
Instead, I felt like I could literally wish for anything under a certain threshold that I could instinctively tell, and it would come true. That the world itself would bend over backwards to make my wish come true.
Looks like this is a success.
Without making any wish, I cancelled the spell, making the EXP go back within me since I did not make any wish. Although I did lose all the mana that I used to invoke that spell, along with one of the three uses of the ring Shooting Star, which makes this spell possible.
Once again, I started writing down the result of my experiment.
"Super-Tier Spell, Wish upon a Star, is capable of being executed in this world and seems to be much more powerful and versatile than it was in the game. It serves as strong evidence that Ouroborous can be used in a similar way to allow me to grow without hard limits inherited from YGGDRASIL."
"But first, I need information. I need to know if there is anything in this world's supernatural scene that is worth me breaking my limits by using such a unique item."
"I cannot waste such a cheat code unless I am absolutely sure that things in this world cannot be dealt with my current repertoire of skills and spells."
"Best option is to access the supernatural version of the internet and then find a way to get some general information about the global supernatural scene."
Easier said than done, since I don't know where to get access to said network. The Stray Devil's memories told me that there were things like smartphones for the devils and many other supernatural creatures in the world, but the distribution of these things was handled by proxy companies that were under the control of the devils.
This meant that I would have to leave the safety of this town and find such an outlet to buy one, which is also an issue since these people have ways to identify counterfeits or magically conjured money, so I will need some real money.
Which brings me back to square one.
Maybe i could use Wish Upon a Star to will one of those phones into existence?
No. I can't do that just yet. I will need to see if I can still earn EXP in this world before I spend any of my reserves. If I cannot get EXP, then I will end up losing levels by consuming EXP and end up weaker than I am right now, which is unacceptable until I am sure that nothing can threaten my life for now. But I can't know if I can gain EXP unless I consult some EXP to give space for newly gained EXP, since I am already at the Level cap for all of my Job Classes and Racial Class.
Such a headache-inducing situation!
With a sigh, I got up from the chair and put away the journal into my inventory before casting my concealment spell and taking off into the air through the window.
I guess I will use that spell after all and try to see what I can manifest from my immediate needs that cost one or two percent of my EXP.
After that, I need to find some kind of monster to kill and see if I can gain EXP.
So much work to do. I guess that old saying about free lunch was right after all. I had to pay the price for this once-in-a-lifetime chance at a new life somehow.
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Author Notes: Read 5 chapters ahead on Patreon: patreon.com/Ruijard1