Chapter 10: If this is just the prologue, can I still get a refund?
White. Not bright, but just white. A familiar white, but where have I seen it before.
That was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes.
I'm definitely not in my room, and definitely not in the bed which I used in the first time for 7 weeks.
Still, I find myself lying on my back with my eyes looking up, along with Caliburn still in my arms. Heh, Old sleeping habits die hard.
I jump up to my feet and began to survey the area.
Was I teleported somewhere? By someone? Prime suspects would be of those that can wield magic. I certainly did encounter some of the supernatural on my worldwide campaign, no doubt I made some enemies when I interfered with their… unsavoury activities.
I didn't feel that killing and erasing loose ends that way would have endeared me to their faction, so I spared them… mostly, I'm sure they can fix a couple of lost limbs. Though I wonder did they manage to track me somehow.
Then again if they wanted me dead then they would have attacked me in my sleep plus I would not have Caliburn in my arms.
Although considering that my [Detect Bloodlust] skill evolved to [Detect Intent] during my 2nd week, I'm sure I would have sensed any ill will even if I slept. Even if they did get close to me, only a strong weapon would have pierced my skin with my current endurance value at 261.
And with my AGI bonus skill [Zero Lag], which renders all logic regarding perception, action andreaction null there should be no attack I could not react to, as it has essentially destroyed any need for a reaction time.
'Skill check: for reference'
[Zero Lag]- Passive –
Description: The ability that renders all logic regarding perception, action and reaction null. (150 Base AGI bonus) i.e. Your body and mind perceives, acts and reacts on the level of your INT and AGI allows. Silly logical rules like reaction time no longer apply. Your thoughts and actions are completely in sync.
Looking around the place it seems to be an empty purely white space.
Now how did I get here from my bed? This situation seems pretty familiar.
"Ah, Bingo!" I then drew out Caliburn from its sheath when I realised that this was essentially the same white space I was in for that horrid 'tutorial', sans the weapons littered on the ground.
I let out a sigh and went into combat ready mode. Well, at least more combat ready than I usually am. Spending 7 weeks constantly looking for people to save and looking out for myself taught me to always remain focussed.
"If I came here for a tutorial before it only makes sense this is the start of another arc or something." I mused out loud, in order to see if whoever or whatever sent me here, if any, would respond.
"Rather than another story arc it's more like you have just got through the prologue."
I turned to confront the voice behind me. Well, that would be inaccurate.
I had already turned around before the first world was even completed. Due to [Zero Lag] I don't 'react' to sound like normal people do, since there's no delay from receiving and acting on a stimulus in my case. If I was in a situation with normal humans around I would have waited for at least a tenth of a second before pretending to react to something, but since I'm not exactly in a normal situation along with my [Detect Intent] not picking up anything from the voice's direction, there was no need for me to keep up the appearances of being 'human'.
Well, at least a human that follows physics, I went passed that long ago. Although as a result, the time it took for me to sync my body and mind ended up costing the lives of people in front of me.
Went I gained that skill my body was rendered immobile and my mind was essentially trapped in an unmoving body. Whilst the helplessness I felt due to being unable to do anything was great, more so was my despair at being unable to save the people that were relying on me even when they were right in front of me.
Damn, why am I monologing about this again? I already beat myself up for the past few weeks over this. And yet I can't stop regretting my failure. This regret is a waste of time yet I can't stop.
My [Observe] did not work on the human shaped energy in front of me. I knew it was energy due to a combination of my [Intuitive Aptitude] (150 base INT bonus skill) and the fact that there was no physical matter from where the shape stood, thus it was not physical manifestation.
However, I was not sure whether it was a manifestation of a soul, spirit or concept. I can't make out that much even with my high INT and WIS.
Whatever it is, it managed to bring me here, which means he must be associated with [The Gamer] ability or is at least aware of it. Plus, he with what it said, it can be inferred that it knows about my life and activities to a significant extent.
Logically, I doubt attacking pure energy would do much with Caliburn. Plus it would be rude and stupid to attack a being that could not be analysed with [Observe].
As such I remained silent.
The silence continued for another 15 seconds. In my case it felt longer due to my sense of time not being the same as a regular human bound by the laws of physics. It had more to do with my INT and AGI stat more so than anything else.
The silence was then broken by the being.
"I was certain this would be the part where I would be attacked and, or bombarded with questions just as your predecessors did. While I admit that it is refreshing to find someone sensible, it is rather, as social beings would put it, awkward." The being voiced out its thoughts, or at least, what I assume is its thoughts.
"Well, I can see that you don't want me dead at least…" I put Caliburn back in my inventory. Huh, my inventory works here, good to know. I then continued, "Judging by what you said, I suppose there have been people that had [The Gamer] before me, plus this wasn't the first time you have confronted them in this manner?" I questioned it. Noting that its voice sounded like a composite character or what you would expect of someone with multiple overlapping voices speaking as one.
"It is as you say." It replied bluntly.
"I suppose this is some kind of routine?"
"Half correct, meeting you here is routine. However, meeting you this late is unusual. And in such circumstances as well. I can tell that you have many questions, unfortunately we don't have the luxury of time, nor can I answer all of your questions at this moment in time."
"If you are in such a hurry why not just leave some cryptic statements and give some sort of prophecy like what every non-human entity does?"
"I tried that once with the 'Third', turns out even with [Gamer's Mind] he was left so confused it ended up with him making stupid choices and getting an early death. Mind you, he did not invest in INT and WIS as much as you did."
Well that was an enlightening tibbit.
"Also," it continued, "Technically, I am the most human entity there can be, does the name Alaya bring anything to mind?"
"I would like to formally reject all future offers that result in me being a Counter Guardian."
"I don't do that, and besides… I am not merely the subconscious will of humanity, but also its conscious will. The name Alaya is one I picked due to it being the closest term that you can associate with. So call me that if it makes things easier for you."
"It's both reassuring and disturbing that there's no 'cleaners' for would be disasters. In any case, Alaya, I suppose you have a purpose in doing this, so I'm assuming I will be sent back once we are done. Let's not mince words, say what you need to say and do what you need to do."
"Hmm, how reassuring that some people choose wisdom over power. You are unlike many before you, just as 'he' said you would be if the trial was to be implemented."
I suppose that this trial would be the 'tutorial', and this 'he' he mentioned might be someone that could see the future.
"To be blunt, Issei Hyoudou, you need to prevent the world from ending."
I snickered a little. How typical. I did not say anything as it would be counterproductive to waste more time.
"How you do it is of no consequence. How you define 'the world' is up to you. As long as there is still life then it should be fine. As for how the world will end, I cannot say, as I do not know. I do however know some of the ways the world COULD end." Alaya made sure to emphasise that bit.
"It could end up as a result of non-human forces enslaving humanity in the future and eventually devolving into an all-out war, decimating all life, ruining the planet and all inhabitable realms. It could be due to the machinations of various individuals, human and non-human. It could be due to a side effect of two powerful entities fighting. These I believe are the manageable for you, even at your current level of power."
Oh joy, all these bleak situations are considered manageable. What could possibly be worst.
"What you cannot manage, however, is what lies behind the Apocalyptic Beast. The Beast is merely its herald, with its release it would cause untold destruction, but that merely destruction. What is behind it is far worse, as the best way to describe it would be simply 'The End'. It is not a joke, it is a concept given form. The only way to 'defeat' it is through transcending the level of a 'concept' instead of merely USING concepts as you, and your predecessors could do. Doing so would need you to transcend both 'impossibility' and 'possibility', if anything it would be too much to ask of you. The act of sealing the apocalyptic beast brought forth 'The End' given form, however, killing the beast would allow 'The End' to revive from state you predecessor has put it in. At full power, it is always more faster, stronger, powerful than all beings currently in existence at all times, meaning It would at least have a plus 1 in stats relative to the sum of all the stats of all every other being."
As much as I would like to beat myself up for jinxing it, technically since this has all already happened it was pretty much inevitable. As such I will maintain my extremely shocked state with my mouth wide opened as I continued to listen.
"Should 'The End' revive itself without you being able to surpass or match your predecessor, then you have the option to go full YOLO and enjoy your last moments, or you could try to dump 'The End' in another world which would doom its people instead. This would only delay the inevitable as it WILL tear about the boundaries between worlds to get back here, as this world is where it belongs."
As if that did not sound hopeless enough.
"Or you take the last option which could either result in a happy ever after or a fate for everyone sharing this world that would make being in hell with the pain levels with '1' equalling what you expect of hell, set to the intensity 2 to the power of over 9 trillion feel pleasant."
"What the heck is the last option?" I interject for the first time.
"As the will of humanity, the last option is the absolutely last thing you should risk. I can't say more as it won't be relevant. In any case, I have 15 seconds left. So to wrap up, my colleague, Gaia will follow up with you in a few months. She can tell you a lot more. By the way, say [Gallery] later, it will be important in the future."
Right as he finished I found myself back in my own room.
Well then, that was a quite the bomb dropped on me, well more like a galaxy busting bomb, point still stands.
Let's see here, gets powers, go through painful training, grind stuff, make friends, got myself famous on way or another, sleep on a bed and then was told that rather than saving the world, I just have to make sure it doesn't get fucked up too badly.
Truly an excellent prologue to my life. Hint Hint, Sarcasm, Hint.
My life just got a lot harder than I expected it to be.
Looking at the clock, 8 pm, looks like I got a good few hours of sleep. Whilst I have no need to sleep, which I found out quite quickly all things considered, I did think that having some sleep would allow me to de-stress from all the running through hails of bullets, going through walls with [Spirit phase], hacking supercomputers, and lots of killing. Turns out it didn't, go figure.
"[Gallery]" I said as I remembered I needed to check something out. Curious how I thought 'remembered' as I have [Perfect memory] as a result of achieving 100 base INT. I suppose the term would be 'came to mind' rather than 'remembered'.
A big screen with a slight gold tinge popped up in front of me. From there it had a list of tabs, including [Items], [Weapons], [Armors], [Events], [Secrets] etc… I took a look at the weapons tab and it had icons with a picture of a weapon along with a name. I pressed my finger on the picture showing the [Blade of the Dark Flame Master], after that I felt as If I went through the entire history and capabilities of the blade, whilst similar to [Structural Grasp] it felt more like … as if the knowledge was brought to my attention, like a refresher, rather than gaining something new.
This [Gallery] perhaps acts as a storage power for knowledge and history, just like Unlimited Blade Works does so for blades.
I suppose I should check out the [Secrets] tab to check for anything, seems like it's the most useful for now.
[Alaya's tip #1]
[The First Gamer's Departure]
There were only two entries. I went for the tip as learning about the past won't do me any good for now.
Pressing on the entry gave me a voice message.
"Welcome to humanity's hints for you! For our first entry, we have a very special advice specifically to make sure you don't mess around with your psyche too much. Do take caution when going through characters memories to learn skills, doing so causes changes to your ideals and personality with various degrees. Going through Natsu Dragneel's memories have increased your propensity to defend your Nakama and power up through Nakama power, as well as aligning your nature closer to destruction by fire. Going through Shirou Emiya's memories, is well, not really healthy. I mean he's like sword incarnate. Plus, going through protagonist memories like theirs will just make you denser… romantically."
Well that explains the nuke incident in Latin America.
Okay, that was a sorry excuse. Influenced or not, it was all me. It's my responsibility and I should not be entertaining such excuses in my head.
I let out a sigh and went to take a shower. During my travels, I only showered under waterfalls, rivers and in the Arctic seas. It would be best to take a shower like a 'normal' person, despite my mentality and experiences being anything but. Or at least, I think I'm not normal.
Opening the door to the bathroom, without knocking mind you, I have encountered the 'Anime: after a bath scenario' except it's a guy. Specifically it's Doomwing in a human form I'm unfamiliar with.
"Should I scream 'Iyaaa' to make this a comedy scene." Doomwing said casually in his naked bishounen form. To be more specific, it was a slim, well-toned body. I swear that his face looked like a few Korean and Japanese hot pretty boy faces, he had raven dark hair, through I'm not entirely sure how he styled it since his hair was wet.
Wait a minute, since when did mechanical, spiritual beings take showers. And why am I so concerned about this.
"No please, that's way too forced, please don't find excuses to enact anime and gaming scenes in real life. I just found out I have to make sure the world won't get fucked over by something that is literally the bane of everything that has ever existed. I would rather not deal with more strange events."
"Uh huh, sounds dandy." He said as he finished putting on his clothes. I looked at his clothes and could only conclude he totally loves going for a bad boy look, or at least the 'Tall, Dark and Handsome' trope.
"Here" I took out 60 million yen, leaving my inventory with 50 million yen. I put it into a suitcase and passed it to Doomwing. "Now that I'm back I can research my own ways to skip out on school, until then have a break, do whatever. I will work on negotiating a transfer to the school."
Doomwing did mention through our mental connection sometime in my travels that he took, in his own words, 'pleasure in dominating the students in the schools at their own club activities, as well as enjoying the inane and unproductive conversations of ignorant high schoolers'. Which I'm sure meant that he beating others at their own game and that he enjoyed the typical school life of an ordinary student. He would probably enjoy it more if he could be himself rather than pretend to be me.
"Party Time in Tokyo!" I suppose I find myself in a parent's situation where it's like giving a teenager way too much money and suddenly they are going to run wild somewhere. Well, this should be fun… I hope.
I gave a wry smile as he continued to detail his plans to dominate all games in arcades, drink a lot, visit theme parks, party hard and possibly do adult things. Well, it's not like he can get women pregnant currently, so whatever.
Once he got out of the bathroom, I immediately went and began to take my long due shower. I noticed that he left the home immediately based on what I can sense from the boundary field around the house, which reminds me that I need to upgrade the field in this house, and also for the warehouse and the new house I bought. Considering that they will be the base of my operations.
I would probably get to work on setting the lab tomorrow. As far as I'm concerned I have no plans on Sunday. I managed to get some work done in my travels, albeit not much.
I managed to make was a few all-in-one Archer and Hyoudou Issei transformation pills, through it won't change my height. On a side note, I managed to grow taller more quickly than I expected, perhaps it's my body adapting to be more combat ready. I currently stand at 174cm, much taller than I've been before.
In an effort to better understand the reincarnation system of the Evil Pieces I ended up creating its opposite.
I guess the only proper term to call them would be [Reverse Pieces]. I wondered why racial traits and Sacred Gears would remain despite reincarnating to a devil, so after a few tests in that direction using some traced Evil pieces I found that it changed the subject in different ways in both soul and body. The body's DNA is only changed to an extent where the most basic of Devil traits are gained, such as strength, magic type, wings, etc… However the soul is changed the least, using my understanding from the [Heaven's Feel], [Omnyodo], [Kido] and my [Intuitive Aptitude] I could see that the soul was only changed to allow for Demonic energy and it is closer to say that the Evil Piece acts as a 'shell' for the soul so that it seems more devil-like than it actually is.
That is to say, using the combination of the knowledge and techniques of those branches, I made the [Reverse Pieces] so that it removes the shell around the soul, which also happens to be equal to the body in regards to the housing of special traits. The [Heaven's Feel] part comes from manifesting the soul over the current body, using the soul's memory before the Evil piece was applied, as a template to rebuild the body anew, using an aspect of [Kido] healing techniques, the [Kaiho].
I'm beginning the think that I've gotten way to anti-social considering that I'm monologing and explaining to myself about what I've done. Its times like this I wished I had some other being living inside me that I can talk to right? Or at least some people that won't get bored with my ramblings or mad scientist moments.
Maybe I should just hire people to talk to? Nah, waste of money.
Oh! By the way, I managed to complete an [Assassin Class Card] by copying and implanting my [Presence Concealment] skill and…
"ARRRRGH!FUUCCCKK!" I scream.
"I CAN'T BELIEVE I SERIOUSLY THOUGHT TO MYSELF 'OH! BY THE WAY…' WHAT THE HELL, I'M SERIOUSLY TALKING TO MYSELF! SHIT, THIS IS NOT NORMAL! WAIT, OF COURSE I'M NOT NORMAL! AHAHAHAHAHA!"
Crap, I must be going mad. I blame the whole 'wham episode' trope with all that doomsday talk plus the only people I have dealt with over the weeks was with criminals, victims, criminals that are victims of circumstances, asshole victims, crazy self-proclaim exorcists, stray devils and douche bags devils.
I quickly finish my shower and prepared to go out.
I can't deal with this shit without throwing myself to work. I'm sure I can find some drug lord to bust, another military compound to sneak into and hack for knowledge and information, or I could go back to focus on grinding, after all I do need large soul stones to make [Class cards]. I could go and make my labs and make my house look nice.
Or maybe I could spend some time with my parents. I could call Aika up and hand her some souvenirs. I could call Murayama and Katase to see if they are free tomorrow, or just drop by. Heck, I would even bother with Motohama and Matsuda, maybe some oppai like the good old times, okay, they were horrible old times, but still….
I could probably spar with Sasaki without reinforcing myself at my current level, although I would probably lose. Wait a minute, I'm not supposed to consider fighting at supersonic speeds 'normal'.
In fact, a bigger question would be since when was I suddenly obsessed with normalcy. I obviously threw that out of the window and blew it up with a [Caladbolg II] long ago.
Normalcy would mean going back to my listless and going with the motions life. Despite killing and doing other things I still regret, it actually makes me fulfilled to be living my life like this. Then why am I seeking this normalcy.
Wait a minute! This normalcy has to do with people! The problem started because any meaningful social interaction I had during my travels boiled down to 'doing what I needed to do' whether it was comforting victims or striking fear into the hearts of criminals as I dealt with them. Any normal conversation was with Doomwing through our mental connection, and he is clearly not normal. Conversations with my parents and Sasaki was done through Doomwing as well.
Clearly I won't be fulfilled if go back on the path of normality. But as a human, and as a relatively well-adjusted (lol, not really) healthy male (perverted) high-schooler, there are some needs that just has to be satisfied or my work will be interrupted.
But the more time I spend with people, the less time I have to research, grind, improve the world among other things… What then… If only I could use the [Shadow Clone Jutsu] and have clones do the social interaction and friendship stuff for me. But…
Even If I can make chakra do to the [Shadow Clone Jutsu] I have no chakra pathway system for me to mold and control it.
Oh! Come to think of it, Archer clearly used less mana than I do for breaking Caladbolg into a broken phantasm (As Caladbolg has 7000 durability, i.e. needs 7000 mana). Saber could use Excalibur whilst coming to the world with less than 1250 prana. If I remember correctly, Prana is created using Mana from the air and OD from the persons lifeforce. Looking at chakra which is a combination of the spiritual and physical energy, the resemblance is uncanny.
If we take into account that Magic Circuits are based in the soul. Then take into account the Chakra pathway system and the Chakra coils is physically based.
And then noting that the feats in Naruto are overall much more impressive due to Chakra than Fate/Stay Night, what with essentially passive reinforcement and Madara Fucking Uchiha. And then we consider than Prana is more potent than mana itself, as less prana is needed to break [Caladbolg II] compared to mana.
Both of which draws from lifeforce and spiritual energy to an extent, represented by HP and MP for me. And finally, the fact that Shirou Emiya managed to create artificial magic circuits.
It stands to reason that it is possible that the chakra pathway system and coils are similar to physically evolved magic circuits. Artificial magic circuits are still located in the soul despite using physical nerves to make them. It must be entirely possible for me to research into this avenue and possibly succeed in creating my own chakra or magic circuit system physically across my body.
I mean, everything else worked so far, I don't see why this won't work. If things go wrong, I will just rely on my LUK to get me threw, along with whatever safety nets I will prepare.
To be a Shinobi is to endure, as it shares the same Kanji character and was referenced by Jiraiya, Hashirama and Naruto.
To be a magus, is to walk with death. Said every magus ever.
If I'm going to make sure my life works, I'm going to be prepared to take risks. In fact, I was prepared all along. Why else would I risk my life against the monstrosities in the Illusion Barriers.
I steeled my resolved as I got changed and got ready to begin my experiments.
However, I felt a strong being walking pass my boundary field. Since I felt no animosity from both [Detect Intent] which is ranked D and from the boundary field, I decided to go out to greet whoever it is. Although I have at least 20 weapons in mind to launch from the [Gate of the Gamer] should things go wrong, I also could use Hado #90 [Kurohitsugi (Black Coffin)] chant less to crush whoever it is quickly should things go sour. If the battle is way to upclose I can blast them away with [Fire Dragon's Roar]. Also, my [Multiverse Martial Arts] is at level 30 ranked Expert, which is more than enough for some special distance creation techniques.
I opened the door and saw a man with black hair and golden bangs wearing a yukata that clearly screams 'casual'. And after a quick [Observe] I wanted to laugh as I met just the right guy for my plans, or so I hoped.
"Yo, I suppose you're Hyoudou Issei, my organisation has a business proposition for you!" The guy immediately said after I met his eyes.
"Sup, Azazel, Governor General of the Grigori, come on right in and let's talk business, or we can start with small talk, whatever." I replied while smirking.
His face showed surprise for a second before replying to me with a slightly smug smile.
"Sounds great…. Archer."
Excellent, I just found someone where I can rant some scientific stuff, considering his details shows that he is enthusiastic researcher on Sacred Gears and other stuff, it looks like I will have my fill of social interaction.
A/N: Hi guys, thanks for the support. I read all the comments and PM's and through I haven't managed to get the time to answer all of them directly or personally. I can say some general stuff like…
I will be working on characterisation for other characters, e.g. Doomwing more, on his Tokyo misadventures.
I hope to expand on Issei's character that he is still normal in some senses, that he needs people. And his desires are 'normal' in terms of purpose. However his methods and goals he sets himself are not normal.
The history of [The Gamer] will not be as crucial early on, but will be more important past Volume 3's events.
For the antagonists, Issei will be their wake up call boss. Expect smarter antagonists post Volume 4 events.
I hope to get working on this more often and as well as getting to work on that Sao crossover, but the next 3 days I will be busy on a family trip. Finally made it back to my home country. Ahhh, curry, Chinese food, Indian food, how I missed thee.
Thanks for all the insight and comments. Some of you mentioned stat inconsistencies which was my mistake as I was doing some rebalancing and neglected some bits.
Thanks for the reviews, I really appreciate them and I hope to incorporate as much as I can to improving the story and my writing. And special thanks to the scientist that pointed out some science facts on stem cells for me, I will correct that later.
Check out the skill list for comparative stats for Issei post adventure and other soon to be main players.
Name: Hyoudou Issei Age: 16 (will age up on April 16)
LVL: 62 EXP: 322/279575
Title: [Suicidal Sword Master] Affiliation: None
Race: Human
HP: 5220/5220 Regen: 323.64 per minute (1% (Base) + 1% (Avalon) + 4.2% (regeneration skill))
MP: 4980/4980 Regen: 396.45 per minute (0.6*WIS + 0.02% of max mana per WIS)
STR: 288 (120+168)
END: 261 (120+141)
AGI: 464 (150+314)
INT: 265 (150+115)
WIS: 248.4 (120+128.4)
MAG: 494 (150+344)
LUK: 100 (100+0)
GAR: 110 (110+0)
Points: 18
Note: GAR increases permanently as more GAR worthy deeds happen.
Name: Azazel Age: ?
LVL: ? EXP: ?
Title: [Governor General of the Fallen Angels] Affiliation: Grigori
Race: Fallen Angel
HP: ?
MP: ?
STR: 2000
END: 800
AGI: 1200
INT: 333
WIS: 170
MAG: 5279
LUK: 110