Chapter 6
"You're a very cunning woman." – I say to Tuatha, while we drink tea.
"Ha ha ha, Mr. Rogan, I'll take it as a compliment" - she tells me, after hiding her face behind a fan.
"It wasn't a compliment!" - I replied, a little angry.
We were sitting again in the living room of Tuatha's house, just her and me. The others were outside, trying to repair the damage the dragons left behind. Only a few hours had passed since I had defeated Katar.
My victory over the Dark Elf had only increased the other Dark Elves' belief that I was their new leader, all fueled by Tuatha's gossip, of course. She was willing to tell everyone who would listen that I was the new leader and that I would protect the village even from the Demon King Clayman if necessary. Now whenever I met one of the Dark Elves, they looked at me with wonder and hope, and bowed and called me sir. And that was exactly what Tuatha was counting on. The Dark Elf had made me tell her my story with Huges, and with it, she had found my greatest weakness: I would never abandon someone who needed my help. So, she made sure to trap me, telling me how much the town needed protection.
Damn woman! How can she know me so well after a few hours of knowing each other?
Now I was stuck with this new job as leader of a Dark Elves village! My conscience wouldn't allow me to abandon them to their fate. Their hopeful looks were the final nail in my coffin.
"I love my people, Mr. Rogan. Deeply. I'll do whatever it takes to keep them safe and happy." – Tuatha told me, suddenly serious. "I'll use anything and anyone to get it done. And I believe that, if the Dark Elves are to have a prosperous future, it'll be at the hand of a being powerful enough to protect us. I believe that being to be you."
"I know you love your people, and that they need protection." – I said, after sighing and relaxing. "It's the only reason I'm going to agree to be the village chief. But you should know that I have no idea how to rule, so I'm going to need all your help."
"Of course, Mr. Rogan. I'll continue to take care of the day-to-day running of the village and I'll inform you of everything that happens." – Tuatha answered me, happy after seeing my capitulation.
"Very well. For now, let's start with an overview of the village, its structure, population and any other relevant information."
"About one hundred and four Dark Elves live in the village at the moment. Fifty of them are women, forty are men, and the rest are children. The village guard is made up of about thirty Dark Elves capable of fighting with weapons and magic. We managed to establish a small area of the forest to grow vegetables and with the fruits of the forest and what the guards are able to hunt, we manage to sustain ourselves, if not prosper. Our homes aren't exactly fancy and big, but they're good enough for now. We don't have an architect to help us design new homes, but we Dark Elves are good at building things. One of our men is good at creating weapons and armor using the materials we get from monsters in the forest, but to get any of good quality, we would need to attack more powerful monsters. Thanks to you, the dragon attack did not cause any major damage and everything should be in order by morning."
"Do you have a map of where we are?" - I ask her.
"Yes, here it is." – She says, and gets up to a nearby bookcase and brings me a map.
The map shows three continents. A frozen continent to the north, a smaller one to the south, and in the middle, a huge continental mass. It is a geopolitical map, each kingdom is denoted by its name and separated from the others by clear lines. The mountain in which the cave where I was reborn is located is called Dragon's Peak, due to the large number of dragons that can be found in the area. The Dark Elves village is located in a small forest located on a small piece of land in the northwest area of the base of said mountain. Both the mountain and the surrounding area belong to a kingdom called the Armed Nation of Dwargon. And near Dwargon, passing through the Kingdom of Farmuth, is the Kingdom of Ingrasia. I hadn't forgotten the promise I made to Huges. At some point I would have to travel to Ingrasia.
"What about this island, north of the Kingdom of Ingrasia." – I ask Tuatha, noticing an island that seems to have no name or owner.
"Oh. No one really knows much about that island. As I recall, the inhabitants of the mainland gave up trying to control it due to the difficult access."
"Difficult access?" – I asked.
"Yes. The ocean is full of sea monsters that are at the level of Demon Kings." – She explains to me. "Why do you ask?"
"The situation in the village is precarious. First there is the issue with Clayman, then the issue with the increased monster activity in the area, and lastly, I imagine the King of Dwargon has no idea that he is hosting a Dark Elves's village. We need to find a place that no one has claimed. A place that is difficult to reach. It seems to me that our best option is this mysterious island." – I say, pointing to the map.
"But that would mean crossing the sea full of monsters." – She tells me, concern clouding her voice.
"If I get strong enough, Rogue and I should be able to defend a single ship from the sea creatures. And I just acquired a skill that allows long-distance teleportation if you know the coordinates, so once we're on the island we can get back to the mainland without having to cross the sea again."
At least Katar left something good behind before he died. His unique skill, which I got after possessing him, contained the following effects:
Skill Plunder: This skill allows me to gain the skills of those I have seen die. It doesn't do me much good since I already have Selfish One, which has a similar effect.
Soul Consumption: As its name suggests, it allows me to consume the soul of any being that I or my subordinates kill. I have no idea what consuming souls is for, or what souls are, so I'd have to ask the Librarian later.
Body Double: Allows me to create copies of myself, but these copies are much weaker than the original and can't even use unique skills.
Multilayer Barrier: Which I already had.
Spatial Domination: Which allowed me to move freely between two spaces whose coordinates I know. This was, for me, the most useful feature of the entire skill, as it allowed me to teleport great distances.
Another surprise was how convenient the Dark Elf body was. Huges's human body was the most compatible with my skills, until now. Dark Elves were descendants of fairies, who were spiritual beings and therefore incredibly compatible with magicules and magic. By obtaining a Dark Elf body, I could use magic much easier than before, and even my spells used much less energy. Seeing all these conveniences I decided to use Katar's body as my permanent body. I would use Huges's body again when I traveled to Ingrasia, and use the others as well if the need arose, but the Dark Elf form would be my standard form from now on.
But even though I had decided to use Katar's body, I didn't want the other Dark Elves to look at me and see someone who betrayed them. The solution to this was given to me by the Librarian. It turns out that I was able to modify the appearance of my forms to some extent, and with a little help from the librarian, I managed to change my appearance enough that I wasn't going to be recognized as Katar.
My new appearance looked like a combination of my old self, Huges, and a Dark Elf. I had kept Huges's short black hair, combined with the olive skin and pointed ears of the dark elves, but my face more closely resembled my old self, except for a scar running down my cheek and an eye-patch covering my left eye.
When I asked the Librarian why the eye had not been recovered and the scar disappeared once I possessed Katar, as it has happened with the wound on Huges's body, it replied that the wound on Huges's body was recent and was considered a "altered state" from the original, while Katar's was an old wound that had not been healed using magic when it was made and thus was now part of the body's "original state". But it wasn't really a problem, since I didn't depend on my eyes to see, but on my "Magic Sense", I could technically lose both eyes and still be able to see. So, I just kept the patch and the scar. Why? Because it made me look badass!
Once Tuatha finished informing me about the state of the village, we went out for a tour of it, where all the Dark Elves were officially introduced to me and met my new form of Dark Elf. Thank the gods for the Librarian's perfect memory, because I could never have remembered so many names in my previous life.
After our tour, Tuatha took me back to her house, where I would be staying from now on.
"Are you sure you don't mind me living in your house?" – I asked.
"Not at all, Mr. Rogan. The house has enough space for both of us." – Tuatha said and retired for the night.
Since I had no need to sleep, I left Tuatha a note telling her I was going to train and left the house. Outside I ran into Rogue, who couldn't get in due to his sheer size so he had stayed outside guarding the demon I had captured.
"We should find you some kind of barn to sleep in." – I said caressing his furry forehead, which seemed to make him happy.
"I think I have found the answer to that problem, Master." – He told me through "Thought Communication" and suddenly he shrunk several meters, reaching a size close to that of a very large dog.
"Wow. I didn't know you could do that!" – I told him astonished.
"My species seems to be able to change size easily. I only found out a few hours ago."
"Very well. I'm going to train a little with my skills. Stay and make sure everyone is safe, okay?"
"As you command, master!"
"Now, let's deal with you." - I said to the demon, and activated my "Selfish One".
Do you want to activate the Forced Possession sub-skill of Unique Skill "Selfish One"?
Yes
No
Yes!
The current body is not compatible with the amount of magicules of the individual "Rogan".
Launching emergency evolution of the "Lesser Demon" body.
Successfully.
The "Lesser Demon" body has evolved into "Greater Demon" body.
Analysis completed. Skills gained through Unique Skill "Selfish One": Mimicry: Greater Demon, Extra Skill "Material Creation". Magic gained through Unique Skill "Selfish One": Creation Magic.
Mi new form wasn't that much different from my Dark Elf form, I just had horns on my head, and it gave me good control over magic.
Once I finished analyzing my new skill, I left Rogue behind, and on the outskirts of the village, I transformed into my Wind Dragon form.
This new form was much bigger than any other I had obtained, and moving around with it on the ground was a bit awkward, so I spread my wings and launched into the sky. Although a bit clumsy on the ground, in the air the Wind Dragon showed its true potential. In just a few moments it could reach almost supersonic speeds.
Using this new form, I soared through the sky and in a few moments, I was flying over the ocean. It was liberating, being able to fly wherever I wanted and I enjoyed that feeling for a few more hours.
After a while feeling the wind against my new body, I returned to the seashore to train with my other skills without causing havoc.
Once I landed and returned to my Dark Elf form, I began testing my new skills.
"Wind Manipulation". Like "Fire Manipulation", this skill allowed me to create and manipulate an element, in this case the wind. Aided by "Magical Sense" and its ability to detect magicule disturbances in the air, I used "Wind Manipulation" to create everything from small breezes to large tornadoes with great ease. This skill would come in handy once we set sail for the island, to power the ship's sails.
"All Seeing Eye". This skill allowed me to observe my surroundings from another point of view, as if I was looking through someone else's eyes. If I combined it with other detection skills it should become quite useful for avoiding ambushes.
"Sense Heat Source". This skill allowed me to see all warm-blooded creatures, as if I had infrared vision. This should be a good match for "All-Seeing Eye".
"Material Creation". It allows me to create equipment such as weapons and armor using magic, but its performance will always be lower than that of equipment made by an expert.
"Ghost Flame". It's the skill I had obtained from when my Direwolf form evolved into Nightmare Wolf. Rogue had it too. When I tried it, a sphere of blue flames shot out of my hand and onto a nearby tree, immediately incinerating it. The intensity of the flames was much higher than what I could achieve with "Fire Manipulation" and also seemed to add to the fire the corrosion element, which almost completely decomposed the body, and even the soul of the target.
"Nightmare Eruption". I decided not to try this one since according to the Librarian it would destroy a large area of the forest. But there was no doubt that it was a very powerful skill, and it also possessed the element of corrosion.
Since some skills seemed to have an "element" in them, I decided to ask the Librarian about it.
Received.
Elements are the ways magic uses to modify the world at the user's request. All living beings have one or more elements which are integrated into their soul and can affect their evolution and magical characteristics.
Librarian, do you know what my element is?
Received.
All undead beings possess the element of Darkness. Thanks to your skill "Selfish One", you also possess the elements of Fire, Earth, and Wind.
And what about Rogue? What's his element?
Received.
The individual "Rogue" currently possesses two elements: Darkness and Fire.
Currently? Does that mean that the elements can change?
Received.
There are several ways to change the natural element you're born with. One of them would be to house an elemental spirit of a different element. Another, only available to monsters and spiritual beings, would be to be named after a being of a different element. The individual "Rogue" inherited the Dark and Fire elements from you.
As I continued to ponder about the elements and their relation to evolution, I decided to ask the Librarian about another topic I knew very little about.
Librarian, can you tell me everything you know about souls?
Received.
Souls are the core of each being, the very concept of each individual. On its own, it's extremely fragile and usually requires a three-part body to function normally. Souls are made up of three parts: A Nucleic Heart, which is the very core of the soul, where skills are engraved. An Ego, which is an individual's "being", memories and sense of self; is the only part of the soul that can be removed, but this results in madness. And an Astral Body, which is the container of the soul and the form of being; this form requires a medium to preserve it or it'll slowly dissolve as the magicules that compose it spread out into space. The Medium is usually the physical body.
From what I understand it is possible to turn souls into magicules, but is it possible to do the reverse?
Received.
If a thorough study of a soul is done, it should be possible. This process may take some time at the current level of processing. Do you want to divert a percentage of the processing capacity to carry out the study?
Yes
No
Yes, do it, Librarian. This knowledge may be of some use to me in the future.
With the study process underway, I decided to return to the village.