Alternative – In the Stars Lie the Unknown

by The Snwoflake's Dream

At the age of 15, I died. And then a miracle happened— I was reincarnated to a seemingly familiar another world. Yes, it was the world of Tensei Shitara Slime Datta Ken! And with it, I would forever change this world! After all, I was now the Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint! I had all the knowledge of the WN, the LN, the anime and of the manga. And so, a New Star Lies Awake. (SI)

4. Chapter II: Magical Experimentations

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Arc I : Ô Prometheus !

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Chapitre II : Expérimentations Magiques

In the cold and silent darkness I woke up. It was an absolute and ethereal darkness, a darkness where one couldn't possibly escape. It was a loveless and lonely place... A place where the warmth of live couldn't feasibly reach. After all it was a place where dread ruled as king. For it was the deepest bottom of the abyss...

Then—

A fleeting memory. The memory of my–

Pain.

It hurt. I couldn't understand the pain... My body didn't answer me... I couldn't no longer assure the well-being of myself... The urge to vomit suddenly made itself known dangerously, my eyes were also getting blurry at an alarming rate, and a terrible nausea was creeping its way... But all of this pain was very reminiscent of a knife wound.

Knife wound?

Wh–

Then my head suddenly fuzzed like a dysfunctional radio. An unimaginable headache overtook me, a headache worse than any I had in life...

"Ah—" I gasped in pain.

Pain. Pain. Pain. It was a new and stronger pain than its previous predecessor. For, it was pure and unaltered pain, one that cornered me to a unseen height... So painful, so, so painful...

Tears were welling in my eyes. I could no longer feel my very own hands nor feet as an overreaching cold enveloped me. A new burning sensation tormenting my insides made its unwanted appearance, as if they were leaving behind my stomach...

I questioned the reality of all of this. After all, all of this situation didn't make any sense! Nothing made sense! Why? Why did I have to suffer so much? Why all of this torment? Something was wrong, very wrong! I– I no longer wanted to suffer this atrocious torture! Why did I have to put up with it?! Why?! Just why?

I just wanted to scream in despair but I was so very tired. So tired. So, so tired.

But even then, I had to continue to struggle! If not, this could very well be the end. And I couldn't accept nor risk it. Absolutely not! There were still so much to do! I had so much more, so, so much more to do!

Thus, I tried to get up! But it wasn't possible for the current me to accomplish that sort of feat...

To top it, my surroundings were utterly unknown. It was after all dark, very dark. I wasn't a superhuman, I hadn't any kind of night vision. As a result, sight became impossible with my unfit to darkness and short-sighted (myopia) eyes. Meaning that in turn I could not grasp the situation I was thrown in.

I tried thinking of something quick and rational to solve this situation. Of what could have happened to me to be propelled in this impossible situation. And after all, thinking would surely help regain my composure in this perilous situation. At least, I hoped so.

Could this be?! Was I kidnapped?!! This could very well the case! But by whom? I knew I didn't have that much enemies... Well, none to truly be exact. It was one of the advantage of not having a social life. So, I couldn't come up with any potential clues. I tried to dig deep inside my memories but nothing came up: I couldn't remember anything about this unsettling situation... And the possibility of drugs being used was very real... This could also be the reason behind my missing memories? It was very frightening to just think about it.

"Argh..." I should try asking – screaming – for help. Fortunately, I didn't have anything restraining my mouth. Or was it a trap? I pondered on that a bit before deciding against it. It was better to first have a firm understanding of the situation before making any attempt that could possibly go very, very wrong.

I maybe should first try to search my phone. It would be a quite useful tool for my search in understanding the overall situation. But it could also be a potential trap...

I once again tried to get up. I poured efforts to stand up, to regain a control of my self.

It was hard, very hard, it was a herculean task but this time I emerged successful! But I had to support myself with the walls with my slender hands. It was indeed a careful operation with all the lingering pain. It didn't go away and it became somewhat worse with all of these efforts...

Slender? Slender?! Slender?!!

Wait, what?!

I nearly screamed at the sight after my eyes finally adapted to the low light level around this environment. My panic reached a whole new level, even made worse with this previous unresolved pain. Never before I was this panicked...

And—

What was these clothes?! And my body? And my hair?!

I was dreaming, right? A dream, yeah! A little bad dream! Silly me! "Ahahah..."

No, this was very real. I couldn't be this foolish to think that this simply was a dream. Wouldn't that be too easy? And if even if it was a dream, it could still potentially be very dangerous. So, that meant that someone performed vile experiences on me... Or something else happened. It truly was horrifying!

Then unexpectedly, I stumbled on something icy. It was very cold, colder than ice, colder the overarching cold that enveloped me earlier.

But at a closer sight, I could identify it as a door. I thinly smiled and I was somewhat relieved to see traces of humans' constructions. Maybe it was the exit to all of my problems?

I couldn't wait! Thus, I opened it impatiently, then—

"Enough." I clapped my hands together. I sighed while reactivating my resistances and [Magic Sense]. My resistances were after all down after I collapsed due to the lack of magicules... They normally wouldn't but... I supposed that being newly-born didn't help. Hopefully, it wouldn't be a common occurrence in the future.

But my performance wasn't believable enough... First, it was too short. I was also not enough panicked, I still kept some sort of calmness, and I acted in a way that was too much out-of-character. The pain period was also way too short, and it was just not reasonable to whimper in despair with that kind of low level and shortness of pain. While it was true that a fifteen years old should have a lesser pain tolerance than that of an adult, it clearly was too exaggerated. If anyone stumbled on this scene and believed it, I would say shame on them. Ahahah, not really in true. But I would certainly appreciate their naivety to believe my performance.

And very frankly 'oof', my writing skills for that kind of performances needed work, lots of it. All in all, the whole setting wasn't realistic and humanlike enough, it lacked some more emotions to truly empathise with the role I incarnated.

It was like that Code Geass tragedy fanfiction I once wrote, it wasn't very successful. Or all the other fanfictions that I tried to write but remained even to this day unpublished. Or that one original story that I planned to release one day. Hopefully, with my death, nobody would stumble on them. They were somewhat embarrassing to a level. I sighed longly...

And was I that rusted with my acting skills? Truth to be told, I never really did true theatre before. So, it could explain my performance in a way. But I must mention that I had standards, high ones at that. Meaning that that little 'adventure' wasn't really to my taste. Hopefully, I would improve in the future. It would be necessary for my political plans and diplomacy. I wasn't really good in diplomacy but practice always helped. And no one should ask the 'why' for my bad diplomatic skills! No one.

And it also wasn't quite fun to do that kind of theatrics alone... This was something I must admit. It was like playing solo in a MMORPG, it was a little sad. I once again sighed in realisation. But in this new world, I now could come up with ridiculous things like that since I was no longer restrained by society! Fufu, how fun! I already had mischievous ideas forming in my screwed-up head.

But, frankly, I kind of screwed-up with my magicules reserves earlier... To use a total of eighty percent of all my magicules reserves in just four hours was beyond saving... Was creating Primordial Genesis that costly?

No comment.

Or was it? Could it be that there was some sort of magical disruption in the area nearby? After all, we were in Veldora's sealed cave, a area of high magical density. Or there could be some sort of problem with my very own magical circuitry? I was after all newly-born.

Hmmm. It could make sense but I would first need to verify the truthfulness of all of these hypotheses. It definitively was important but not right now.

'[Mystères des Étoiles, how much time has passed since I collapsed?' I asked.

‹Answer. Twenty-four hours has passed since master's collapse. ›

Wait, what?! A whole day already passed! Hurgh...

So, that made a total of twenty-nine hours since my reincarnation... What a waste of time. I sighed once more. At the very least, I learned that I couldn't really sleep. I was more in a state of semi-consciousness, a little bit like the times where Rimuru collapsed when he named too much people (but I hadn't Veldora to help me there).

But onto a positive note, I never felt refreshed in so, so long! This feeling of being so cleared-minded was simply incredible! In my previous life, I had a pretty messed-up sleep schedule (totally my fault)... I had a constant fatigue which slowed and weakened my mind. So, it really felt like being pulled-out from a bottomless cave. It was just good! It really was a fresh breath of air! And it was the same with not having to wear glasses anymore. It felt weird at first but then it felt so good!

Ah. I really shouldn't take all day just to express my joy of having a new refreshed and accessorily very pretty body.

"So, what to do?" Well, with my magicules reserves thinned out, in others words, my magicules reserves hadn't recovered, I should probably rest, train (lightly) or investigate my skills and magic. As for my magicules reserves, they were now at a total of approximatively 36 percent at the moment. So, I recovered at a rate of approximatively 1.5 percent per hour. Not bad, but it was still quite weak and really not suited for combat. If I was a RPG character, it would have been inacceptable to possess that kind of awful mana recovery. But fortunately, I was not.

So, for the rest of the day, I really needed to gain a better control of my magicules... It was quite awful for the moment— No, scratch that. It was catastrophic!

But before that...

"Had I truly gone mad?" I asked to myself loudly.

This, ladies and gentlemen, was nothing but an excess of folly... What had exactly gone in my screwed-up head to proceed to create clothes like that?! Sure, I quite liked girl's clothes in term of fashion but I wasn't really someone enthusiastic to dress like that. I was a boy before! I couldn't readily accept to cross-dress like that even if I now had a very feminine body! Sure, once upon a time, people confounded me for a girl... Even when I dressed in boy's clothes, and I always dressed in boy's clothes but that was when I was very young...

I truly questioned my sanity here, had I really gone mad with all that reincarnation thing? Even before that, my friends often said that I wasn't quite sane (not that they were better...). But frankly, I considered myself quite sane, but definitively not the most normal lad out there. At the very least I wasn't a madman yet. After all, losing one's rationality seemed pretty bad...

Even if some people (well, only my friends said that...) accused me of being a full-fledged psychopath... I couldn't 'respectfully' (dis)agree more. When I was in a sarcastic mode, I could be... Well... It was better to not say more. There were still too many people out there that couldn't possibly understand the high level of sarcasm and irony I painstakingly achieved! Obviously, I couldn't compare to Jreg, he was a master of the art. And hopefully for the moment, this status-quo would remain. Only those close to me could possibly understand my superiority in sarcasm. Ahah.

In normal times, when I didn't act ironically, people saw me as a respectful serious model student. It was indeed very ironic. Why though? Well, because in essence I was a pretty good actor, even then, I still was a serious-minded student, it was just a part of my 'natural' demeanour. So as a result, they saw me as a model student, the first of the class, the intellectual. I always had good grades, a good reputation with my teachers and my classmates always saw me as a good lad always there to help them. Even my words would always be taken as 'absolute' because of that same good reputation if I talked of something theoretical. Even if I said completely false things, I would still be credible at least if I didn't overstep my bounds.

But I truly was glad to be reincarnated! I no longer had to deal with the school system here in Belgium. Most of my days were only filled with boredom... It was the result of having a very good memory and that I could rapidly and easily grasp a concept if the explanation wasn't too convoluted. And coupled with the vast amount of knowledge I acquired on the internet, it really was boring. The Internet could be a tricky place but I had found over time very good sources. Nowadays, one could learn way more on the net than at school. To be truthful, I never really learned anything worthwhile at school if not in Latin, history, sciences and math.

I truly must say that it was really, really good to be liberated from that outdated system! And being here in Tensura would prove itself to be very fun adventure. After all, I wasn't like most reincarnators nor summoned people, for them, this was an unfamiliar world. But for me, it was a very, very familiar world. I even knew the different futures! I truly was priviligied! Ahahaha!!

"Ahem." I falsely coughed in my hands. I should really go back to my previous business. It wouldn't do if I digress too much!

"So, it was time (finally) to fix my clothes!" It was already a miracle that no one saw me in these clothes. So, I really needed some good change!

So, I will fix them by removing the abomination that was a 'skort'. In lieu of it I created silvery snow trousers with blue lines scattered there and here. I also scrapped my stocking and my heels. I now replaced them by long white socks and normal shoes. I also added a small icy pouch on the top of my right leg to stock emergency equipment like knives.

As for the top of my body, I decided to not change too much: it just was a bother... But I couldn't accept a sleeveless shirt, so I recovered a little bit more of my skin. I also decided to keep my long evening glove on my right arm (it was quite stylish after all).

I nearly forgot but I needed a new cloak. After all, the last one had mysteriously disappeared in thin air... Yes, it truly was a super-duper mysterious disappearance... What a mysterious and mystic mystery! I coughed rather embarrassed at that one sentence. Thus, I naturally created a new one, with all its plain-ish features. I called it ' Neige', totally not original but I didn't care one bit.

So, I was finally ready to tackle on that 'special' training!

Thus, I headed to the lake Hortensia to fix my quite laughable mastery of magicules. I also wanted to try something new.

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Before I began this training, it would be good to actually hold precise knowledge over my abilities, in other words, my skills and magic. It would prove itself to be quite useful to engineer and expand my techniques for combat. After all, danger always loomed in this world.

So. '[Mystère des Étoiles, could you show me a character sheet of me with precise and concise explanations of my skills and magic? And of course without showing my likes and dislikes, my background and history.' I didn't want to know what I liked and whatnot. After all, I already knew them well enough. As for the background and history, it would burden my brain with unnecessary information if something like that ever was showed.

‹Answer. With pleasure, master. Here it is:

Characteristics

· Name: None

· Alias: None

· Nickname: None

· Lineage: None

· Race: Artificial Mystic Doll

· Blessing: None

· Gender: Genderless (but master identifies as male)

· Physical age: 1 day

· True age: 15 years old

· Mental age: Undetermined

· Hair colour: Midnight black with tinges of snow white

· Eyes colour: Icy blue

· Height: 1.60 cm

· Weight: To be analysed

· Birthplace: Sealed cave of Veldora

· Birthday: 17th of April in the Gregorian Calendar

· Astrological sign: Taurus

· Blood type: None

· Like: [REDACTED]

· Dislike: [REDACTED]

· Talents: Learning, theoretical fields, leadership, organising, creating, roleplaying/acting, magic/mysticism, strategy, history, politics and geopolitics.

· Natural foe: [REDACTED]

Professional Status Societal Information(s)

· Affiliation: None

· Previous affiliation: Kingdom of Belgium

· Occupation: None

· Previous occupation: Secondary school student, 4th year.

· Country of residence: None

· Classes: Swordsman, archer, mage (and supporter and buffer).

· Disaster: A-

· Adventurer: None

Personal Status

· Status: Alive

· Kind: Reincarnated Otherworlder

· Relative(s): None

Present Status – Abilities, Magic, Resistances, Skills and Equipment

· EP (based on WN's data): Superior to 10.000

· Race: Artificial Mystic Doll

· Grace: None

· Title: Progenitor of Primordial Genesis

Equipment:

• [Nameless Sword]

Main weapon used by master. It is a sword made of ice magic and coated with sharpened blood.

• [Nameless Dagger]

Secondary weapon used by master. It is a dagger made of ice magic and coated with sharpened blood.

• [Nameless Bow]

Secondary weapon of master. It is a bow made of ice.

• [Throwing knifes]

Throwing knifes serving as distracting actions.

• [Neige]

Coat of ice made for concealment purposes.

Magic:

• [Règne de Sang] (both a skill and magic under master's interpretation)

Allows the creation of all by blood and of its usage to launch spells by the projection of master's own imagination by the consumption of magicules.

Allows the manipulation of blood. The limit is determined by master's magicules.

• [Magie des Neiges] (both a skill and magic under master's interpretation)

Allows the creation of all by ice and of its usage to launch spells by the projection of master's own imagination by the consumption of magicules.

Allows the manipulation of ice. The limit is determined by the master's magicules.

• [Magic Sense] (both a skill and magic under master's interpretation)

Allows master to perceive the surrounding magical energy or magicules.

Intrinsic Skills:

• [Doll's Regeneration]

Enable a faster regeneration to heal wounds.

Enable self-repair of any destroyed part of the body if there is a sufficient level of magicules present to proceed.

• [Mystical Ways]

Allows a greater pace of learning concerning all magical phenomena.

• [Doll's Mind]

Grants a passive resistance to mind-intruding abilities.

Allows a total removal and/or concealment of emotions.

Common Skill(s):

• [Heightened Perception]

Enable a heightened perception at a passive level.

Extra Skills:

• [Espoir Épris]

Grants a buff of all offensive and defensive capabilities at the activation. A buff reflected by a golden light.

Grants a commandeering aura allowing master to better command recognised troops of master. It also allows a better coordination between master's recognised troops and grants a total morale boost forbidding any capitulation. Master's command can't ever be refused. Desertion is impossible. Loyalty is eternal.

Grants a passive boost to charisma, eloquence, diplomacy and oratory arts.

Grants a passive boost of morale toward recognised allies' troops (not master's own troops).

• [Règne de Sang] (both a skill and magic under master's interpretation)

Allows the creation of all by blood and of its usage to launch spells by the projection of master's own imagination by the consumption of magicules.

Allows the manipulation of blood. The limit is determined by master's magicules.

• [Magie des Neiges] (both a skill and magic under master's interpretation)

Allows the creation of all by ice and of its usage to launch spells by the projection of master's own imagination by the consumption of magicules.

Allows the manipulation of ice. The limit is determined by the master's magicules.

• [Marionettiste]

Allows the creation of artificial dolls with semi-sentience powered by master's own magicules reserves. The limit is fixed at 1.

Allows master to control one's mind and heart with the use of magicules. The victim's total reserves has to be 75% lower than that of master and has to weakened mentally to allows master control over it. Master can't manipulate any non-sentient beings. And continuous use of magicules is required to maintain control over the victim. As time progress, the required amount of magicules will increasingly rise.

{Terra Astris}

Grants a dimensional pouch reigning over souls. Capacity is limited to the proportional numbers of master's EP.

• [Magic Sense]

Allows master to perceive the surrounding magical energy or magicules.

Unique Skills:

• [Alternative]

Maneuverer over all possibilities. However, greater the defiance towards the laws of the universe, the greater will be the consumption of magicules.

The range is fixed at 1 metre of master but can be artificially increased by the use of an extensive consumption of magicules or via non-conventional methods.

• [Mystères des Étoiles]

{Hasten Thought}:

Boosts perception speed by a thousand times.

{Appraisal}:

Allows the analysis of and assessment of the target.

{Parallel Thought}:

Allows the conduct of the operation of a parallel thought. Separating it from the regular thought process.

{Cast Cancel}:

Annuls all castings periods from magical phenomena.

{Knowledge is Power}:

The more knowledge, the more power and magicules master could gather.

Allows the duplication of a skill below the rank of unique if master has complete understanding of the said-skill.

Acquiring new skills doesn't permanently decrease master's own magicules reserves.

{Infinite Encyclopaedia}:

Allows access of all the works preciously accessed on Earth and on Tensura.

Allows the complete registry of information of any target the user killed.

Grants a research tree of Earth's technologies. The more advanced, the more time it would take. Research time can be reduced/bypassed by meeting prerequisites.

Duplicated Skills:

• [Sticky Thread] From Black Spider

Traps enemies and prevent them from moving.

• [Steel Thread] From Black Spider

Allows the creation of threads made of steel.

• [Vampirism] From Giant Bat

By sucking the target's blood the user can temporarily gain its skills.

• [Ultrasound Waves] From Giant Bat

Used to bewilder the enemy or causing him to faint. The skill can also pinpoint one's location.

Resistances:

• [Emotional Resistance]

Grants resistance over encroaching emotions. Helps to better control and stabilise emotions.

• [Piercing Weapon Resistance]

Grants resistance against piercing weapons.

• [Melee Attack Resistance]

Grants resistance against melee weapons.

• [Pain Nullification]

Nullifies all pains. But greater is the pain, the greater is the magicules consumption granting nullification.

• [Cold Resistance]

Grants resistance against the cold.›

Yikes. What a ride... It truly was a precise and concise character's sheet. [Mystères des Étoiles] will always be a useful skill. And I quite liked the layout of this sheet, it was neat and clean. If only, I could make one like that in my previous life... Ah. I wanted to sigh but I didn't. It would make of me a grumpy old man if I sighed too much.

So, so, to synthesise all of this: I was fricking strong. Eheh. But more seriously, I didn't expect many, many things in this. And there were many explanations in there that sounded suspicious as heck.

I will first review it in order. I began with the characteristics but there wasn't much to say honestly. I will just comment for my talents, they were very me in all frankness. But I didn't have any sort of experience in politics nor in military affairs and that was something that annoyed me to no end in my previous life. Maybe in this new life I could finally fix that. Who knew?

As for my professional and personal statuses, there was pretty much nothing to say. So, I will skip directly to my present status. Ah, my present status, it was quite filled with information. It was interesting that I already held a title, after all a title in this world granted significantly more power. And I was honestly content that [Mystères des Étoiles] used EP instead of EV, I never quite liked EV, too fuzzy for my tastes. But the data on my exact number wasn't really precise, I would need to remedy to it in the future.

Equipment's wise, I had a pretty normal stuff except that I didn't wear any kind of armour and that I hadn't any type of consumable. If I was a adventurer, I would have been a very bad one according to RPG's standards. But I always kind of favorited a hit-and-run style of gameplay coupled with light armour. And it was aesthetically more pleasing.

Next were my abilities: my magic, skills and resistances. That was the most interesting part of this character's sheet! What surprised me at first was that [Mystères des Étoiles] classed certain skills under both the magic and skills' list and said that it was my interpretation. It certainly was true that it was my interpretation, after all, there wasn't a common consensus in what was the true boundary between magic and skill. For example, [Magic Sense] was considered a extra skill and I always founded that a little weird. So yeah. I would really have to define magical treaties in the future with Gadra to help clarify all of this. If I ever recruited him of course. He would first have to betray the Empire.

Moving on, [Espoir Épris] really was a Behemoth to say the least. It definitely exceeded my expectations. I honestly just thought that it was a simple mimic of Masyuki's [Chosen One] but as a degraded version but no, it was way more than just that. It even incorporated elements of Benimaru's [Generalissimo]. But that skill really conformed to my militaristic mind-set. I didn't know how to take it. As a compliment maybe? By the way, I wondered how the heck this skill was still considered an extra skill with this kind of power, it would definitively have been a unique skill! I sighed.

Next on the list that made my brain tremble was [Marionnettiste]... I– I couldn't fathom why it had a subskill OP as hell and wasn't classed as an unique skill?! It didn't make any sense! Even Rimuru's skills weren't such bullshit at the beginning! But with that kind of skill, I will really become an evil mastermind! Ahahah. I would probably first have to drastically improve my magicules' capacity. It was worth to say that unfortunately for this training's session, I hadn't any potent materials to construct a proper doll. It would have to wait.

But more on {Terra Astris}, it looked like the Latin was correct. It was rare these days. But more importantly, this skill will allow me the capability to evolve to superior planes of existences. In other words, I could theoretically become a Demon Lord's seed and then become a Demon Lord proper.

[Alternative] definitively wasn't a surprise honestly. I kind of expected an explanation of that sort. But what was bizarre what that it hadn't any subskills as tradition for an unique skill. Maybe it will unlock later on? Hmmm. I would have to wait eighty-nine days to gain any sort of clues and one complete year to have the analyse completed.

And that was all of interest. I considered the rest as normal, so not really worth of mention. All in all, I now had near complete data over myself and that was great because I could better improve myself and not leave any kind of weak spot in the future.

Now, now, before beginning this training properly, I should certainly establish a bounded field, also known as a magical barrier in the area surrounding the lake. I preferably wanted to prevent any kind of leakage to any outside and possibly hostile source. And it would save me from being too suspected from Veldora if we ever crossed paths later on. He honestly wouldn't be too fond of the fact that I didn't greet his lonely self early on when I had the occasion. Poor dragon.

But I wasn't really adept of bounded fields. Sure, it was a little bit my fault to be inspired from the Nasuverse's magecraft to construct a magical barrier but it shall do and it was not like I knew any other complex magical theories other than it. From memory, a bounded field was knitting together a network of magical energy, in this case magicules, and spreading it on a base area to create a mystic boundary line separating the inside from the outside. It was very theoretical, but I should be able to work with that, hopefully.

So, now. I was thinking of creating a half-sphere covering the surface area of lake Hortensia. And then add extensions if needed.

Yeah. It sounded pretty good to me. I after all didn't needed to cover the entirety or Primordial Genesis nor the not so visible underground of the lake. And it would have been way too costly in magical terms and also a lot more risky to maneuverer.

Thus, I went to the centre of the lake to install the premises of the bounded field.

I extended my magicules towards the atmosphere to then create a magical boundary at the lake's frontier in a half-sphere form like I said earlier. And I also decided to include all the forty-seven metres all the way to the summit and another small corridor's extension to the wall. As for magical consumption, it would supply itself from the rich magicules' atmosphere like all my other creations. The first step was now done.

A think icy blue barrier could now be seen at the lake's frontier. It was aesthetically very pleasing. But it wouldn't last for long.

I now needed to install some sigils to apply the wanted effects. But I wasn't very knowledgeable with sigils, I knew they were similar to runes but the exact method to create them was never really described in any kind of source from the Nasuverse, even the Wiki. It was annoying but I had to put up with it. I will have to trust in my instincts.

A sigil was pretty much a magical concept in the form of a inscribed or painted symbol. Therefore, it should work if I just created any kind of symbol but with the intended concept. The symbol was pretty much meaningless, what was important was the right intent and amount of magical energy to apply to the symbol. That was at least what I deduced.

So, I painted magical symbols in the air with the properties of durability but more importantly concealment. And that was pretty much all the properties I needed for the moment. Then, I spread them to the bounded field properly by sort of flying them to their intended positions. After all, I was on the centre of the lake, I wouldn't want to place them individually one by one. Ah. Now, the second and final step towards creating a bounded field was now accomplished!

But the thin icy blue barrier could no longer be seen with the use of the sigils. It was a little disappointing for my eyes but that was the intended goal: concealment. I wouldn't want to be ranked as a third-rate mage after all.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Bounded Field Creation]…successfully acquired»

Hmmm. Cool. A new skill. So, it meant that now the process could be streamlined via the use of that skill. But would my proficiency also increase with use of a skill? But by a large margin, I preferred to do it manually to gain some needed experience in magic.

Moving on, I now intended to train my mastery of magicules as in accord to my training schedule. So, to train one's mastery of magicules, there were multiples methods to train one's but the methods I knew best probably were those in Naruto. In others words, I needed first to climb the walls with my own two feet. Then, I would walk on water but that was later.

But forty-seven metres...

It wouldn't do, I needed to be optimist! I slapped my cheeks in determination. Just in case, I added some sticky thread on the floor to protect me if I ever fall and I also added steel thread as a security rope at my waist, we could never know if something bad was bound to happen. It was best to be careful.

So, I prudently recovered my feet of magicules without wasting too much, I tried to be efficient the best as I could. Then I posed my first steps on the walls.

Success! I let out a small smile.

After all, with the Intrinsic Skill [Mystical Ways] , it should be by all means easier. So, I shouldn't have expected too much hardship. It first proved itself with the bounded field then now. But that skill really was cheated. Not that I complained.

I then continued. Step by step.

One metre, two metre, three metre, five metres, ten metres. I continued on without relaxing my posture. I was at an all-time vigilant to not commit any error, in others words, I was concentrated and focused at the maximum to complete this training. It was after all essential to better master my magicules to accomplish my future goals.

And then, without realising it, I was at the very summit of Primordial Genesis, at forty-seven metres.

"Beautiful..." At the very summit, the view of the lower plane simply was beautiful. It was a side of Primordial Genesis that I never saw, no, that I could never see. It was richly decorated with a wide variety of colours. Hortensia really was a beautiful lake with its pure blue colour. But it truly was unfortunate that Sapphire and Éclipse were too low to be seen from here... I would have loved to see my very own works.

Ah, I was grateful that I was no longer human. After all, being a doll bring me the advantage of not having a true blood circulation, in other words, being in a reversed position meant that my brain wouldn't suffocate. And I no longer feared height! Yes, I was finally liberated from that evil! I was so happy that I was all-smiles!

« Confirmed. Common Skills [Magical Step] and [Magical Climbing]…successfully acquired. Following up with the Common Skill [Basic Magical Control]… Successfully acquired»

Then, I finally registered the Voice of the World granting me three whole new skills. It was interesting that pretty much every magical phenomena transcribed as Skills under Veldana's system. Or maybe it was the effect of [Mystères des Étoiles]? Maybe, maybe not, I at least knew that this one skill granted me enormous advantages. But the skills I obtained weren't particularly interesting, especially in a fight. They didn't really grant me anything substantial, they were just a mere reflection of what I did and achieved abilities-wise. Sure, they could probably help boosting me up a little but... Using reinforcement would be a lot better! Oh, speaking of the devil, I should probably learn it later on. It was a very essential magic to use after all!

Now, what should I do? Since, I was now right there at the top of Primordial Genesis, I should probably go down. I after all didn't wanted to get stuck here forever. And it of course consumed magicules to maintain this position. So–

"How about flying?" I said out loudly.

Flying with the use of Magic was of course something incredibly difficult to accomplish in most fantasy setting but not all cases were like that. I had some ideas in order to accomplish this one difficult task but I had with me the knowledge of numerous fantasy novels! So, it shouldn't be that hard! Hopefully.

So, the most plausible and workable idea was just to freeze the air and the molecules under my feet to permit some sort of flying. It of course needed a good control of magicules but I think that it would be quite viable because freezing something was part of my own unique Extra Skill [Magie des Neiges]. So, I was rather confident.

There was also an idea to crystallise magicules into a pure state but... Good luck with that idea! I frankly knew that I wasn't capable of crazy things like that for the moment. It would require a really extensive research and a complete and thorough understanding of magicules in the first place to accomplish that incredible feat. But, if one day I could accomplish that prodigy, I could theoretically fly with a certain degree of liberty. How? Well, I could command the magicules in the atmosphere to simply carry me, I could also crystallise certain bits to allow me the possibility of flying and so on. In brief, there were many ways of flying with that peculiar method but... The cost far outweighed the benefices.

I also thought of reproducing the wings of the Giant Bat on my back to then fly. It could prove itself to be useful and not too difficult. I after all had registered the Giant Bat's information with my {Knowledge is Power}. But the problem was to successfully make the anatomy of the external organ work. Unfortunately, I hadn't Rimuru's [Predator] , it would have been easier that way... But should I succeed, I could combine it with the first method and it would make a very flexible and practical method of flying.

There also existed a method involving my Unique Skill [Alternative]. It consisted of manipulating the possibilities of the coordinates of my position in the time-space continuum to allow the prestigious art of flying. While I also manipulated the magicules in the atmosphere to smoothen my position. But it was a rather convoluted and complicated mean to achieve flying, and it was not a cost-efficient method. Not to mention that it was extremely dangerous. What would happen if I ever mess up? Or if I was out of magicules? But even if I achieved that prodigious feat, why would I solely use it to fly? Wouldn't it be a rather stupid decision? With that kind of ability, I could achieve much, much more! For example, I could just teleport myself to the designed coordinates. Unfortunately, my Unique Skill [Alternative] still hadn't fused with my soul...

I couldn't wait for [Alternative] to fuse with my soul. It was after all a skill that defied all common sense and the possibilities that came with it just were too exciting! Maybe, one day, with [Alternative, I could literally and unitarily rewrite reality! Just like Pandora's ability in Re: Zero. But that just was wishful thinking for the moment... But who knew what the future reserve? I smiled wickedly at that single thought.

I nearly forgot. But didn't emperor Rudra also possess a skill named 'Alternative'? Ah, no, I was mistaken. It was the Ultimate Gift Alternative, a degraded version of 'his' [Justice King Michael] that he bestowed upon his strongest imperial guards subordinates. That was the case if I remembered right. Well, enough digressions!

Now, it was time to fly!

I let off of the security rope assuring my protection at my waist for the enactment of my next moves. I then propelled myself in the air with a quick acceleration thanks to my [Magie des Neiges]. I then proceeded to minutely freeze the air below my feet. The freezing off course had the properties to be invisible to the untrained eyes. I couldn't call it flying if anyone could see the trick behind it. Well, I truly hoped that it was invisible to the untrained eyes! I hadn't any feedback for the moment, so I had to proceed with caution.

At the same time as I froze the air below my feet, I created wings of ice permitting the use of flying. Well, I tried... It kind of worked but there were still some problems. Mainly the propulsion and the anatomy. Well, with enough tries, I should probably succeed. But the result was largely satisfying! I now could proudly fly!

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Frosted Sky]…successfully acquired»

Hoho! [Frosted Sky, what a cool name for a skill! But I shouldn't just admire my very own prowess there.

So, I continued to fly with the tandem use of the two techniques. I noticed that freezing the air below my feet wasn't flexible enough nor that efficient. As expected. The main reason would be that move was inspired by Miyu's flying method in Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya and I could reasonably say that she wasn't the most flexible and open-minded character out-there. Well, she was a kid with lots of mental problems... But with enough tries, that flying method would gain in flexibility and efficiency. And it also helped me with my magicules control. So, it wasn't really bad.

As for the other method involving the use of artificial wings made of ice, my proficiency was rising quite nicely but it was a very slow method. But it was a very satisfying way of flying, it let me have a freedom that humans so convoyed in the past! It was an old dream of mankind realised! Not that I particularly craved flying... I had before a fear of heights, so it didn't really help.

I also tried some manoeuvres and acrobatics. I was careful not to use too much magicules. But even then, I hadn't that much of an idea of what to do. Aerial manoeuvres and acrobatics weren't really my domain of predilection. So, I did basic things like in a tutorial. I also remembered that I once did that tutorial in War Thunder. I think that I was pretty bad in that game... Not that it was particularly important.

So, I continued to fly in a straight line. Then, right and left. Afterwards, I did it vertically, in other words, I descended and ascended. And so forth. They were essential to assure a basic way to fly, so I did it with my heart. After all, flying with magic was kind of fun.

"Ah." I kind of wished that I wasn't in some cave. Flying in the blue open and free sky looked astonishingly more attractive in comparison. Well, I could technically exit the sealed cave of Veldora whenever I wanted, at the condition I found out the exit but… It wouldn't do. I didn't wanted to too much meddle in this world with my current power-level. It would be too dangerous. And I first firmly wanted to find Rimuru. I absolutely didn't wanted to deviate the initial story, it would set too much setbacks later on.

Now. I couldn't exactly remain here flying in total insouciance forever. Sure, it was a bliss. But it wasn't really the one magical theory I truly was looking for. After all, flying was an all-too popular concept, it was already too explored and common. I had other exciting plans for the rest of day!

Thus, I finally got down.

---

So, the next step of my training would be walking on water! It was after all a classic that I couldn't possibly ignore! And like I said earlier, it would be very helpful for the furthering of my mastery of magicules. I after all intended to pursue a carrier in magic, a very deep one at that!

There were two methods to realise that. The first would be to use [Magie des Neiges] to freeze the water, like that I could march on water. It was an easy and relatively easy method. The second one would be similar to the training Naruto received from Jiraya, in other words, it meant walking in water with only the use of magicules. But it shouldn't be too hard since I acquired quite a nice mastery of magicules with my training in the sky.

So, I elegantly darted myself toward the water. Before my feet could touch the pristine blue water, I froze it. Then, I took a step. Then, a second step, a third step, a forth step. Next, I ran. I ran at a relatively good pace: neither too quick nor too slow: it was in the just middle.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Frost Walker]…successfully acquired»

Hum. It truly was easy. It wasn't even remotely a challenge. But it was a fun exercise to be honest, running on 'water' was really something. But the name [Frost Walker]… Was that a reference to Minecraft? Not that I really complained, I loved Minecraft from my heart. It was the childhood game that I grew up with. Ah, what a nostalgic time.

But I didn't realise that I had travelled off the entire lake. I truly was losing my sense of time in this cavern! Not that I really held such one before…

Then, I stepped on the water somewhat 'barefooted' without the support of my [Magie des Neiges]. I wasn't really barefooted because I still wore my shoes but whatever.

It was a success! I succeeded, I now could walk on water! What would be next? Splitting the water in two? Ahahah. Magic sure was marvellous!

The feeling of the pure pristine blue water was really something else. But it truly was a pity that I wore shoes, I would have loved to feel it with my own two bare feet.

Then, I stepped once more on the water. Again. Again and again. Then, I ran: left to right, right to left. I dashed forward. I jumped and I landed. I ran.

« Confirmed. Common Skill [Magical Step]…successfully evolved into the Extra Skill [Advanced Magical Step] »

Ah, what a bliss! It felt like my childhood, when I still played with mother Earth. I couldn't remember much of it and I didn't want to. But one thing was sure, my childhood was peaceful, o so very peaceful. This new world was peaceful for the moment. But for how long? There already was an irregularity: me. So, should I expect more irregularities? I should prepare for the worst. I already knew that I had three years to prepare but that short amount of time could also be drastically reduced due to arising irregularities.

There were already numerous threats in this world: Kagurazaka Yuuki (destroying the world in the WN and conquering the world in the LN); Sakaguchi Hinata and the church of Luminism (with its Clerics of the Seven Luminaries and the paladins); the Rosso family (exclusively LN), especially Mariabell Rosso (even though she was a pathetic villain); the seven primordials; the great game between Guy Crimson (with Rain, Misary and Velzard) and Rudra Nam UI Nasca (with its imperial guards, the Four Horsemen and Velgrynd); the Demon Lords; the angels, Velda (WN) or Michael (LN) with its servants (even though they are the 'final villains', they aren't the same person, Velda is an impostor impersonating Veldanava while Michael was just a skill with conscience wanting to resurrect the Stars' Lord) ; the True Dragons; otherworld threats like Ivaraj and the Phantom race lead by Feldway (only LN) and good-old geopolitics.

But I couldn't really make use of my near omniscient knowledge of this world without knowing which timeline I belonged to. I needed to know if this timeline was either the LN or the WN, if I knew, I could take the appropriate measures to counter future threats. And the differences between the two were deep in substance but not that much in form; whatever the hell that meant. For example, there was a dumb rule in the WN that stated that monsters and majins (especially Demons) couldn't lie (but strong monsters like Rimuru didn't applied to that rule). And that same rule was straight up removed in the LN. These slight divergences could be life changing.

But it wouldn't be that hard to deduce the timeline but it could also be a little tricky to figure it out. I could probably determine it by simply viewing the clothes of the characters or if the Ogres' attack ever happened in the first place or not. It was also worth noting that in the WN, everyone dressed up in kimonos. So, if Rimuru was in a black kimono, it definitively was the WN. Also fun fact, in the WN, Milim was a gothic lolita while in the LN, she was... A loli in underwear? Ahem. And I would be rather comfortable with that WN's timeline to be honest. After all, the WN was a finished product while the LN still continued on its course. Meaning that a unexpected event could be expected (very bad pun, I know).

And I hadn't actually finished the LN because the volume 18 wasn't yet translated in English. I hoped that there weren't too many important information in that one. It was a slight disadvantage but it was frankly not too much.

But the first threat I would have to assess would be the Orc King. It wasn't truly a very deep threat but it still could hurt Tempest's growth. Well that was if I ever wanted it to even exist in the first place, but I intended to build Tempest together with Rimuru. I after all loved nation-building. But back to our sheep, it would be relatively easy to handle the Orc king if I played my cards right. And I played my cards right. I was a veteran in military affairs, these thousand and thousand of hours playing all kinds of strategy games (especially Paradox's games) would come in handy. But not so much my diplomatic skills... I had a rather strong-armed diplomacy and it would not work so well in this world as of right now...

It was worth mentioning that the Orc king issue was also very relevant. It was after all the progenitor of Rimuru's ascension as a Demon Lord seed. And that was IMPORTANT! I couldn't absolutely afford to fail that. It would bankrupt the entire timeline if a failure there was to be allowed. And I couldn't risk that without securing Chloe. And even with her, I couldn't hope for much of a failsafe...

Another problem laid in the conspiracy formatting from the minds of four Demon Lords: Clayman, Carrion, Frey and Millim. They were after all behind the plot of the Orc king. Millim was a wildcard that could flip-flop depending on her mood, she was highly intelligent but yeah... Frey was non-interventionist, so I wouldn't need to fret over her. Carrion was hard to determine, but he should be kind off of negotiable, I hoped. Clayman was Clayman. And I also needed to consider that he was tampered by a certain someone. And that certain someone was extremely dangerous. In comparison, Clayman was little play to that lad.

I sighed. So many challenges... I shouldn't think too far of the future. It would just overwhelm my 'brain'. But I had some ideas to deal with it all. They weren't the most trustworthy but I hoped they would at least come in handy in due time. Hopefully, I won't become the evil mastermind.

"So, what to do now?" I had enough fun walking on water and assessing future threats.

Ah yes! I remembered that I wanted to import some concept of magecraft in this world. The spells there were really useful! Well, I already imported the bounded fields from the Nasuverse.

So, I had something called {Hasten Thought}, a sub-skill of [Mystères des Étoiles] , right? It hastened my thought process to a thousand times. Could I add some nice bonuses to it? I surely could. But it wouldn't hurt to not be dependent on that skill. So, the basic [Thought Acceleration] from Atlas' alchemists would do!

Even if I surely would never use that ability to its full potential. I after all didn't needed to think that fast. Accelerating the thinking process to a hundred or to a thousand times was useful in combat and in planning. It was a little pausing a game (and without lags). I planned to do lots of it but even then, it was hard to really make full use of that ability. I after all didn't wanted to pause every millisecond in this world. Well, it still was useful for torturing enemies. Clayman was an excellent example of torture methodology with that kind of ability.

The requirement for it was just to think fast. With my new body, my thinking process was already greatly enhanced. I also did some analyses and I noticed that my 'brain' was in reality just a prop for decoration. How fitting for a doll. But in true, I now thought with my 'mind', it was independent from the body and from the brain. In fact, the 'mind' was contained in the 'soul' but I couldn't think with the 'soul' as I was not a spiritual being. As of now, my thinking process was similar to a psychic.

So, I just thought fast. The subject wasn't really all that important: I just thought about my experiences with the game Victoria II... And about how I could have solved the problems. Argh. Pain, pain, pain… Jacobins. One word that said it all.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Thought Acceleration]…successfully acquired»

Right. I coughed in my hand. Next was [Memory Partition]. Memory Partition would really be helpful in battle. It after all partitioned one thinking room into multiple rooms. In other words, it allowed one to partition thoughts to form multiple independent thought processes. But it wasn't multiple thought processes working for several goals, no, it worked only for one single goal.

So, I just needed to have a thought divided into multiple rooms. I wasn't by no means stupid in life, so it wasn't really that hard. Now, with my new capabilities, I could achieve way more with my thinking abilities.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Memory Partition]…successfully acquired»

Ahah. I could already achieve four partitions. I was already above the average alchemist. Not bad, especially since I did it without the use of [Thought Acceleration] nor {Hasten Thought}. But, I would need time and dedication if I wanted to breakthrough this threshold. I should be capable of surpassing eight partitions or even more in due time.

And it could even help me to counter mind-reading ability like that one of Gazel Dwargo, king of the Armed Nation of Dwargon. The principle was to let the mind-reader read only one of my thoughts and close off the others to him. And the bonus was that it let me pretend that I was unable to resist mind-reading, transmitting a false weakness to him. Which let my enemy underestimate me, which could constitute a considerable advantage in battle.

I also had to precise that they were off course inferior versions of [Mystères des Étoiles]'s subskills but it always was good to not rely on a single skill. And it kept increasing my proficiency in magic and that was worth it. Not that it meant that I will abstain from using {Hasten Thought} and {Parallel Thought}, it would be idiotic to ignore them but I felt like that they were a little too over the top on terms of power to actually help increasing my proficiency. Moreover, I couldn't actually use them at maximum output since I was already using them to analyse and integrate [Alternative].

Now that was done. [Flash Air] was to be the next spell I will acquire. Flash Air had the ability to substitute something for something else. It was a displacement magic, one of the most powerful if one was willing to invest in it. Attaining the pinnacle of that magic would practically give one invincibility like Darius Ainsworth. He really was powerful.

In the manga of Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya 3rei!! , the basic training for it was simply distorting and repairing a fork. But it would prove itself to be inefficient for someone of my calibre. And after all, I wasn't some kid learning magecraft. I was learning magic itself!

So, I wanted to do some combat moves. I was after all in a dangerous cave for the common of mortals (I wasn't in the common of mortals). So, combat techniques were always welcome.

Thus, I installed a target dummy made of ice for training. Then, I propelled my sword toward it. But before it could make contact, I displaced it in the back of the dummy. And–

It penetrated the dummy from the back!

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Flash Air]…successfully acquired. Following up with Common Skill [Basic Magic Control]… Successfully evolved into the Extra Skill [Advanced Magic Control] »

Hoho. Even my magic control had advanced. But now, I just had to cultivate my proficiency with Flash Air before making too much use of it. The numerous utilisations of it could very well serve me in a battle.

Then, I took back my sword by displacing directly it to my scabbard.

I also wanted to see if I could directly displace parts of my body. But first, I needed to know the anatomy of my body. Even with my [Magic Sense] , analyses of my body weren't that precise. If I did it without a thorough understanding of my body, it could cause some damage. Sure, I could of course regenerate, but it wouldn't kill to be a little bit cautious for the time being. So, it was time to introduce another magic! This time, it was even more basic than the previous ones. For it was [Structural Analysis]!

Yes, that [Structural Analysis]! As the name indicated, it analysed the structure of the object pinpointed, in other words, it was a scan. It was ones of the most basic magecraft in the Nasuverse, so it should be easy by all means. If an amateur magus like Emiya Shirou could do it; I will assuredly succeed! But I would not do tracing, it was rather complicated. The seven steps of it would certainly grant a greater amount of information but I didn't needed that much information.

So, which item should I first analyse before scanning my own body? I first wanted to see the efficiency and success rate before testing it on myself. Caution was always mother of surety. I didn't know if that expression transcribed as well in English as in French, but I always should remain cautious, after all, magic is walking with death at all moment. It was a famous expression among the magi back in the Nasuverse.

So, back on topic. Why not analyse my dear and precious sword? I should also one day consider granting this sword of mine a name, a name holding elegance and full of magnificence! But right now, I had pretty much no idea for a name. So, I decided to name it at a later date.

Thus, I applied magicules in the goal of scanning my sword in its entirety.

Then—

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Structural Analysis]…successfully acquired»

I did it. The history of the sword, the materials, the composition, the confirmed numbers of kill and so on were all in my firm grasp. But it certainly would have been a more enriching experience if my sword was older than only one day. Where was the pleasure of discovering something new if there was so little? I liked discovering new and extensive information, as someone full of passion for history, it was a little deceiving. I expected it in a way but it was still disappointing.

So, the next step was to finally analyse my body. The body of an Artificial Mystic Doll! I also was curious to see the differences between a human body and the body of a doll in precise details.

Next, I applied magicules all over my body permitting the use of [Structural Analysis].

Thus, according to my 'wishes', my body in its entirety was thoroughly analysed by [Structural Analysis]. The feeling was a little funny and also odd, like having a breeze of wind washing through my body. It also was refreshing in a certain way.

As for the results, my body wasn't too dissimilar to a human one. It was a quasi-exact replica of the human body: with the brain, bones, muscles, organs, nerves and so on taking on human formulae and shapes. But most of these of them weren't actually functioning as of now, for the moment they just were mere decorations, mere props. After all, a magical creature with intelligence, in other words a Majin, such as me ran exclusively on magicules, meaning that I didn't needed these pseudo-organs and pseudo-muscles to appropriately 'live'. But they could likely be used as a backup if there ever was to be a dysfunctionality. It was also worth mentioning that human's senses were still to my disposal and the organs hosting them weren't just mere props like my eyes.

But with the case of now being genderless and smooth down there, there were no need for a urinary system nor for reproductive organs. I could now determine with certitude that I could certainly eat, that was for sure as I had a mouth and a gastrointestinal tract, but it'd seem that it would be likely converted to magicules once inside my body, there would be no standard digestion for nutriments.

It was a very interesting result to say the least. But as my body was only one day old, there weren't too many other results. But for the other results I received, they just were weird. I now weighted 39 Kg, eleven less than in my previous life, for 1.60 m. It was a little bizarre to weigh so little for 1.60 m, especially with a quasi-replica of the human body. As for the composition, the organs were made of flesh, or something very close to flesh. As of my skin, it also was similar to flesh in texture but it was also exceptionally resistant and cold, very cold. And it also had a silk-like softness.

I truly was a special doll but a pretty weird one. Generally, a doll didn't have all of these features and they weren't a quasi-exact replica of the human body. Especially the interior of a doll, generally dolls were empty shells without much substances. After all, reproducing a human body demanded a lot of work. This was why in most fantasy worlds, creating a homunculus or human-doll was costly and extremely hard.

So, after these thorough analyses, I could now displace parts of my body without risking myself too much. How convenient. Especially in a battle! It should also allow me a certain degree of teleportation but I wouldn't likely use it much even if I mastered it. I quite liked to hide my deck as long as possible.

Now, now, it was time to play with this new toy. Thus, I displaced my right hand to the neck of the target dummy. Then, I straggled it to the point where the head and body were no longer held together, in other words, the neck broke and with it, the target dummy was decapitated in some way.

Hmmm. My physical strength as of now was so, so much better than in my previous life… Reincarnation truly was an insane and cheaty thing. As always. I was really lucky to fall on the Tensura's verse than any other worlds I read, otherwise it would have been pretty bad.

So, I now transferred back my right hand to where it should rightly stand: to my right arm.

Next on the list were the famous trio of [Gradation Air] , [Alteration] and [Reinforcement]. They were the principal components of Emiya Shirou's arsenal in battle. And with the use of his reality marble, it could prove itself to truly be deadly. But I certainly couldn't obtain his level of proficiency nor did I intend to. They just proved themselves to be a relatively basic and easy magic that truly was useful.

[Gradation Air] , or [Projection] was the magic of materialising something of the user's imagination by the use of magicules. In the Nasuverse, it was a lowly magecraft that wasn't that useful if you weren't Emiya Shirou. But in this world, the object created would not dissipate with time nor would it be costly in magicules. After all, this world was bountiful of magical energy.

And it was a little different than creating objects out of my [Magie des Neiges] or [Règne de Sang] , as they were limited in their own respective element but it would be infinitively stronger in that element than if I created it via [Gradation Air].

So, what to create? It always was a hard question…

A Noble Phantasm?

Nah, impossible for the moment. I didn't have the knowledge of its composition nor of its inner workings. So, yeah, it was impossible. If I did that, they would just be mere hollow and empty weapons. I after all had only the image, and only a superficial image of them.

And I didn't wanted to import everything from the Nasuverse, it would be too boring! Especially since I wasn't in the Nasuverse, I was in the world of Tensura. I had at least some bit of artistic pride.

How about a—

Stop! I didn't have any shred of inspiration left… Just a sword. Yes, a normal sword in steel would do.

So, I focused in the magicules nearby in the atmosphere to order them to form a normal steel sword conforming to my imagination.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Gradation Air]…successfully acquired»

Then, I threw it away like garbage at the target dummy.

And it pierced right in the centre. Hmm. I was becoming more and more precise with my aim. I would have liked that sort of aim in my previous life, especially when I played FPS' games, after all, I had a pretty awful aim. I sighed.

And the power was pretty good in itself. It was sufficient for the power-level I held at the moment at the very least.

Next was [Alteration] , it was a little harder than [Gradation Air] but it was expected to be easy for me. The concept behind it was really simple, it granted a property to an object or remove a property from the object in question. It could either be a permanent or a temporary change. Most of the permanents changes were a change of shape while temporary ones continuously took magical energy to fuel them, like granting a fire property to a sword. And it would also really help me if I wanted to create marionettes later on.

So, I took my good 'old' sword out of my scabbard. Then, I focused magicules on it in the goal of granting the property of durability. It was an easy alteration without much difficulty. After all, the compatibility was higher with my very own sword.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Alteration]…successfully acquired»

Done. It apparently applied to my sword.

Mhmm. But a problem subsisted: I couldn't properly test this property without damaging my own sword. It was a little inconvenient. It probably wasn't the best idea to use [Alteration] on it, especially the 'durability' concept.

How about using the 'removing' property of [Alteration]? Wouldn't that be substantially easier to test? It could grant more data to work with later.

It would certainly be the case if I knew what to do…

Argh, I was so bad to come up with things like that. I never was that handy with my hands. In situations like these, I wasn't even remotely useful...

What to do?

Hum…

Ah! I had a stroke of genius! I excitedly held my right hand in my left one. I now knew exactly what to do.

I approached the remains of the target dummy's head, picked it up and applied [Alteration] with the removal of the property of 'durability'.

I flicked it.

And then—

Gone, reduced to atoms. Nothing remained; not even ashes. The target dummy's head was no more. The course of action lasted less than one second. How efficient and how brutal! I liked that.

[Alteration] was pretty fun to be frank. It had so much utilities. As for combat purposes, it would prove itself to be a monster on the battlefield. And if associated with [Flash Air]... Fufu. Very fun indeed. But it was a very technical magic, I would need to train a little with it to become really efficient.

Now, now, since I acquired [Alteration] , it was time for me to add [Reinforcement] to the mix. It was the most difficult of the three most basic magecraft spells of the Nasuverse. But for me, it should be relatively easy since I now knew well the anatomy of my own body. So, errors shouldn't appear. At least, I hoped so. It wouldn't do if I blew myself up.

The basis of [Reinforcement] was like the name indicated: reinforcement. Nothing complex, something simple, right? Fun fact, no. The problem with it was like I mentioned earlier that one could blow oneself up if one didn't carefully handle this magic. After all, [Reinforcement] needed one to circulate magicules to the emplacement one needed to reinforce. But if too much was applied, the damage inflicted could be irreparable. And if too little was applied, it would be kind of useless.

So, what to reinforce? I could either apply it to my body or a object. But I think it was a better option and certainly more careful to apply it to my sword first. Practice made kings.

Thus, I circulated my magicules to my sword. I took a careful approach as always.

Then, a surge of magical energy formed around my sword. A very thin aura could even be seen, a icy blue aura enveloping my sword. It seemed that my magicules' aura took the colour of icy blue. Interesting colour to represent my new self in this new world.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Reinforcement]…successfully acquired»

Easy as always. Nothing new.

Then, I simply swung my sword in the air to measure the power of [Reinforcement].

And the result was a impact at the end of the cave. It was the least to say that it was pretty powerful with just a shockwave, I didn't even throw my sword. And with the amount of magicules I held, oh boy, it would become the Big Bertha! And that was only pure brute force. Technique wasn't that much developed. If techniques were applied, it would be a one-sided slaughter on the battlefield. And its applications were still very numerous. Fufu.

Hum. And I must say that the compatibility was rather good with me. Meaning that I could now apply it to my own body without the risk of blowing myself up. And since I was now a doll, no strains on the body from [Reinforcement] could be expected, it was rather logical to conclude even if I didn't test that.

So, I had multiples choices from there. I could either reinforce sensory organs, internal organs or just straight up boost my physical capabilities. But reinforcing internal organs looked so much more risky. And it wouldn't be that useful for the doll's me. For a human, it could boost vital sectors of the body but the boosts applied to humans were already there for a doll. After all, my internal organs were just for show. As for sensory organs, it was very tempting as it could grant a fairly good chunk of techniques to [Reinforcement]. For example, if I applied the right amount of magicules to my eyes, I could develop night vision. It was pretty good in all fairness. And there was the other basic capability of [Reinforcement] : physical boost. That was less risky than the others but in terms of techniques, it wasn't that interesting.

I decided that I will not involve internal organs for this training. They weren't really useful as of now but maybe in the future, they could become an asset. So, it was decided that I would train my physical capabilities and sensory organs.

To start that off, I pushed magicules into my fingers. It was a simple physical boost. Nothing extraordinary for the moment. I just wanted to see the durability of it all.

So, I took my sword out from my scabbard. I then proceeded to cut my own fingers. A rush of adrenaline came in before the impact. Maybe my 'brain' was secreting it? Ah, it wasn't important.

Clank

Contact was made. And–

Nothing 'happened': my fingers didn't budge one bit and didn't neither take any sort of damage and as for my sword, it didn't bounce off as the magicules alimenting my fingers weren't aiming for that and it didn't move either. It was a stalemate like most of the western front of WW1. It was interesting to say the least. But, I now could finally let out a sigh of relief and a small smile made its discreet appearance. It was true that I was confident that it wouldn't cut through but plans didn't always go in the right direction, but this time it did. And so, I was rightfully reassured and relieved. No one would like to have their fingers cut off. Those who did were another matter completely.

I could very well pursue that experiment further in but I already tested the durability of [Reinforcement] and the test proved itself successful meaning that there was no need to further continue. So, the data I collected was that I needed a fine amount of magicules to resist physical attacks. I probably should test it with my bare self; without any kind of magic. It could prove itself to be interesting but later on. And I noticed that my quality of magicules appeared to be superior to the average. How much exactly? I would love to know but I hadn't any objects of comparisons here.

There were also the questions of resistances to magical attacks and magical weapons. As of now, I wasn't keen on testing them on myself again. So, I kind of postponed it to later. What 'later' meant? It meant later! Well, one day. Maybe.

Thus, I finally let the magicules in my fingers disperse. After all I didn't need them anymore.

So, before reinforcing myself once again, I created ten new target dummies thanks to my [Magie des Neiges] , they were cheap and relatively inexpensive and pretty useful. They always made for good practice, didn't they? Ahah.

To began this part of training, I reinforced my legs and arms. It was relatively easy for the moment. But the next move would be a little more tricky, and this move consisted in reinforcing my eyes. It was after all a pretty sensible sensory organ. I had to be careful with my magicules, damaging my eyes would certainly take longer to heal.

So accordingly, I minutely pushed magicules into my eyes. It wasn't only to strengthen my aim but also to gain night vision. That was to say that I no longer depended on [Magic Sense] to actually see in this cave. I could theoretically reinforce to gain other very useful traits but I wasn't that confident to include more than two effects, it would have overextend and overstretch my magical capabilities. Besides, I couldn't really spend too much in experimental effects since I hadn't that much magicules in the first place since I was actually 'resting'. Ah, 'resting'! Ahahah.

Thus, I jumped high in the airs while deactivating [Magic Sense] in order to test my new aim with [Reinforcement]. But I would not fly with [Frosted Sky] as this wasn't the goal. I then took my bow and created an arrow thanks to [Magie des Neiges] and enhanced it with an increased number of not so stable magicules in order to cause a 'explosion'. I smirked at that line. I also added a effect to freeze sound's vibrations at impact in the area nearby, it was just freezing the transport's part of sound, in other words, it would freeze the particles transmitting the sound waves. After all, I didn't actually soundproof the bounded field and an explosion would indeed be quite loud.

Then, I shot the arrow and thanks to my reinforced arms, the kinetic energy from propulsion was heightened to greater degrees so as to achieve a greater explosive power.

And at last, it impacted. No sound could be heard from the explosion as expected. It was a little underwhelming for an explosion of this magnitude. After all, my arrow took out with it the entirety of the ten target dummies: they were all turned to ashes. It was powerful to say the least. Ahahah.

« Confirmed. Extra Skill [Silent Freeze]…successfully acquired»

Oh. A new skill, hum? It looked like that in the future I wouldn't need to bother freezing sound's vibrations all by [Magie des Neiges] itself and that was something I appreciated. Streamlining was always good as it allowed me to further refine my magical powers.

Before I forgot, I deactivated all reinforcements since it was quite costly to supply my arms, legs and eyes at the same time.. And it was also time for me to actually touch the ground. It wouldn't do to lay in a not so comfortable falling position. And I didn't have feather falling's boots! Ahah. Bad joke. Hmm. I also needed to reactivate [Magic Sense] , if not, I would pretty much see nothing.

I then clapped my hands. It was time to conclude this training. After all, I didn't want to exhaust myself to collapse like that little 'accident' earlier. But all in all, it was a very instructive session. I discovered many things and it was overall fun. Magic was really fun. Ahah.

With this session ended, I could now confirm my earlier hypotheses concerning my collapse. So, I noticed during this training's session that there were indeed no magical disruption and that my magical circuitry was functioning in prime conditions. In conclusions, it meant that I had some very bad control over my own magic despite having [Mystical Ways]. But all of this changed since I trained myself quite goodly for the past several past hours. Ah. It had been hours already? Time sure flied quickly.

Now, now. I had to set some other goals for the day, didn't I? I had multiples objectives, the first would be to create a doll and for that, I would need proper materials. And the second would be to find a certain slime, it was arguably the most important objective.

And so, I set off to find out the slime that we all grew to like: Rimuru!

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AN:

Ah, finally! I released it! But what a long chapter it was. And it took so long to complete! Hard to write when school takes its toll and with exams... It was annoying but I was pretty successful. Now that school ended, I have plenty of times to write. I also hope to not disappoint in this chapter. For my part, I find this chapter a little underwhelming, especially the end. Hopefully, the next chapter would be more to my tastes. Also, if you want to be updated on new chapters, don't forget to check my profile.

Originally, this chapter wasn't planned but I found out that it wouldn't make any sense for someone like me to not prepare for the upcoming threats of the future. After all, you don't fight a war without preparations (that's a metaphor). And I also wanted to include some darker and heavier elements but nah, I decided against it for a number of reasons.

I also wanted to ask if any of you fell for the little trick I made in the chapter's beginning? Was I a good prankster or not?

A dear guest also once asked about this world's timeline, and my answer is that everything will be revealed in due time. It's still is a interesting question though.

So, yeah, that's all. See ya then, my dear readers.

Changelog:

7/08/21

• Dying and succombing to insanity while fixing typos and whatnot. I hate it when there's this thing: [Something] and then a comma, it doesn't fricking work! So, I have to make it like that [Something] , ... My sanity is in danger zones. Chuckles

7/09/21

• Changed the AN to better reflect my views.

• Fixing what has been pointed by Draedon's Forge. Meaning that I translated [Alternative]'s description to English.

• Yikes. I finally understand the error with [Generalissimo]'s Benimaru. It doesn't make any sense. It should have been Benimaru's [Generalissimo]. My lucidy when waking up isn't great... Hence why I misunderstanded Draedon's review. Ahahah. Now fixed thanks to you.

• Re-added transitions since the transitions I normally use don't work here.

• Added some explanations on {Terra Astris}. And of its utility in becoming a Demon Lord's seed.

7/10/21

• Added the skill [Silent Freeze] to better streamline the steps towards freezing sound's vibrations and to make it easier for new chapters.