“You didn’t have to put it like that, you know?”
Her glare turned into a grin. “Hey, if I don’t pop your ego now, it won’t fit back through the door.”
“Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up.” I smiled to her, letting the bow shatter into light as the arrows had, and then offering her a hand to get up.
Chapter 17
The next few days, I didn’t see Lilith much, except for at nights when she returned to her chambers. It seems she was back to her official duties as the Demon Queen. That said, she still asked regularly about how my training was going, and when we planned to leave. Looks like she really did want to throw a party for me before we left. I had considered lying in order to get out of it, but you really don’t want to lie to the queen of all demons.
Every day, I’d practice my magical marksmanship at the range, while in private working on my shape training. I was eventually able to create black powder, so it didn’t take long after that before my real goal started.
Now, it’s the day before we leave to go back to the human world. I stepped out long enough to send a message to Rusty to make sure that Kevin would be on time, and then pulled Denise aside. I wanted to show her the results of my training before the party later.
“So, you’re finally going to show me why you wanted to make a bomb arrow? Figured it’d be pretty pointless if you could just use those enchanted shots.”
True enough, my talents have raised quite a bit during my training. Magical Talent increased by three, while Arcane Marksmanship went up to five, and Runescript went up to four. Looks like the requirement to raise Runescript is simply to draw and use runes. Probably a common talent for people that write magical scrolls.
“Yeah, but this isn’t about arrows. You want to learn something new about my world, right?” I smiled to her, and her eyes went wide as she nodded. “Alright, let’s go to the range.”
Her curiosity must have overpowered her damaged pride, because she happily went along. It was a few hours before the party, so most of the demons were busy preparing. Thankfully, that meant we could pass through undisturbed.
“Alright.. watch this.” I held a hand out to the target, and focused my mana. According to my tests, about two hundred mana was required for what I wanted. The shape formed slowly within my hand, and I gently grabbed the handle. Waiting a few moments more, I pointed the weapon towards the farthest target, and squeezed the trigger.
There was a loud roar like an explosion, a small flash of light appearing before the center of the target was blown away, leaving a small hole.
Denise put her hands on her ears a moment too late, and winced, but was wide eyed when she saw the result. “What.. what is that?”
“It’s called a gun. A revolver, specifically. A weapon from where I come from. It uses black powder to fire these.” I held out my palm and created a bullet. Unlike the arrows, a bullet only cost five mana to make due to its size. And most of that was for the gunpowder.
Denise smirked to me. “So, you don’t want to be the center of attention, therefore you go and make a weapon from your own world that only you can use?”
...I… hadn’t thought of that. “You’re right… bow and arrows works. Gun is for emergencies only.” The gun quickly shattered into light, and Denise laughed.
“Really.. you spent all that time on this, and didn’t consider how much attention it’d bring you?”
“I was just excited that I could create something new to this world… Well, maybe it will come in handy later.” I let out a dejected sigh, realizing that I spent all that work for nothing when I could have been learning new spells instead.
Denise smiles and pats me on the shoulder. “It’s alright. You’re still plenty good with that bow of yours.”
“Yeah, it shouldn’t be that hard to hide my real power around other foreigners now. I can even call Dariel for backup if we need her. Though, when we’re going all out, I think it’d be better to rely on Lilith when we get desperate.”
“Not sure how strong she is, but if she’s better than her generals that’d be one hell of a backup.”
I nodded, focusing to create the bow on my back. “You know, it is going to be difficult to keep these up as a permanent fixture. It’s like trying to think of two different numbers in the back of your head at all hours of the day.”
She smirked to me, “Hey, you wanted this. You can only blame yourself.”
“True. Besides, who would suspect an archer to be the first foreigner mage?”
“Right. Now, less stalling! It’s time to head for the party.”
I winced. Oops, she found me out. “Uh.. right… I guess it is that time, huh?” My clothes shifted, becoming dark red and black robes which looked more like the demon style, as well as a circlet with a ruby centerpiece. “I still can’t believe they’re making me wear this thing.”
“Aww, but they want to be able to remember you as the valiant hero you were! Striding in and volunteering to help the misunderstood demon race against the oppressive angels.”
“Yeah, yeah… But still... “ I sighed deeply, and we began making our way to the throne room.
When we arrived at the hallway to the throne room, there were a dozen guards on each side of the hall, facing inward. As we approached, one by one they raised their swords to the ceiling in a salute. “This is going to be a really formal party, isn’t it…”
Denise just laughed next to me. “Only the best for the hero~.”
I glanced over to her suspiciously, and she giggled when we approached the door. Reluctantly, I put my hand on the large door and pushed it open. Apparently, having a connection to hell means you can open their doors with ease.
What I saw inside was… not what I was expecting. The throne room was exactly the same as before, and it was not crowded with a swarm of cheering demons. In fact, there was just Lilith, sitting on her throne. “Surprise~!”
When Lilith said that, Denise couldn’t help but break out laughing. “Oh you, you really thought everyone was going to be here, didn’t you? The look on your face, made up for that deal with your archery.”
Lilith smiled and walked over to me as the door closed. “Denise told me that you’re not one for parties. So, I decided to give you one last reward before you leave… and not have one.” She giggled a bit. “Is there anything else that we can do for you, before you leave?”
Yes, please teach me all of the spells that I was too stupid to learn because I wanted to make a gun! I screamed it out in my head, but forced a smile to Lilith. “No, thank you. You have already helped a great deal. I’ll be sure to receive your hospitality again in the future.”
“You’d better. Even if you don’t summon me, I expect frequent visits! Or at least a call when you can’t visit. Deal?”
“Deal. It was a pleasure to meet you, Lilith.” I bowed deeply to the Demon Queen, and she laughed.
“It was a pleasure to receive the name, Jin.” She likewise bowed to me. “Now get going. You’ve got to meet your friend, right?”
“Right. He’ll be expecting us. Probably shouldn’t keep him waiting.”
“Then go now, and may you always be a friend of the demon race.”
And so we went, exiting out of the Hell’s Gate that we came in with. Only now did I notice that Denise had a bracelet similar to my own on her wrist. I decided to wait to ask her about it till we were back to the surface.
“Hey Denise..?”
“Yeah?”
“I don’t think we fed Midnight this last week…”
She looked at me and laughed again. “I came out here once or twice a day to take care of that. I knew you’d forget.”
“To be fair, I was quite busy!” I smiled to her, glad to know that our horse wouldn’t be starved to death. We were now walking down the dark stone corridors of the dungeon beneath the oasis, and passing by the sentinel demons.
“Uh huh, busy making a weapon you won’t use.”
I made a face at that remark. It was not a hap
py face, but it made her giggle. Then, we came to the pool of water that we first found. I decided to open up our stat windows to see what kind of progress we had made in the week we were here.
Name: Jin
Race: Human
Title: Mage, Emissary of the Underworld, Ritualist, Arcane Savant
Fame: 1320
Level: 98
Gild: ???
Soul: 0
Health: 275
Mana: 1680+600
Strength: 20
Agility: 40
Endurance: 55
Wisdom: 200+30
Intelligence: 260+20
Luck: 10
Attack: 10 + 10
Defense: 10 + 33.75
Talents: Magical Talent 23(+2), Magical Knowledge 24(+2), Navigation 5, Nature Magic 2(+1), Summoning Magic 11(+1), Runescript 4, Discovery 2, Divination 1(+1), Enchanting 1(+1), Infernal Magic 20(+1), Arcane Marksman 5(+1)
Title Bonuses: +2 Int/Wis, +400 Mana,, +2 Magical Talent/Knowledge
Equipment bonuses: +20 Int/Wis, +500 Mana, +10 Wis, +50% Mana Recovery, Elemental Resistance +5%, Magic xp gain 50%, Magic Talents +1
Name: Denise
Race: Human
Title: Innkeeper, Beastmaster
Fame: 30
Gild: ???
Level: 98
Health: 700
Mana: 0
Strength: 140
Agility: 250 + 50
Endurance: 140
Wisdom: 20
Intelligence: 20
Luck: 7
Attack: 30 + 189/100
Defense: 15 + 215
Talents: Merchant 2, Archery 22, Reflex 20, Speed 10, Chef 6, Tracking 3, Light Armor 10, Taming 5(+4), Hawk Eyes 5, Swordsmanship 15
Title Bonus: +4 Taming
Compared to when we entered, we’ve gained thirty-five levels. Even pretending to be weaker, we should be able to make do. Kevin probably isn’t more than level seventy by now, and knowing him it’s all combat talents.
“Alright, in we go!” I smiled to her before diving into the water, coming out into the blazing desert sun above ground. “I never realized how much I would miss the sun…”
Denise smirks to me. “That’s what you get for staying in there training all the time. Remember, sky blue, clouds white, sand hot.”
I laughed to her, smirking. “Hey, it’s not that bad!”
Speak for yourself. Can we please head back to the city now? Midnight was glaring at me, and I smirked.
“Fine, fine.” I reached to the bracelet, and remembered what I wanted to ask Denise. “Hey Denise, what do you have in your bracelet?”
“Oh? Mine is a special bow and sword that they gave me. Figured that carrying around demon weapons would be a bit too obvious though.”
“Ahh, good call.” I brought the grimoire out to find the spell, more out of habit than anything. I could check the interface, but this felt more right. Once I had it in my head I put the book back in the bracelet. “Stars of the west, eyes of the north, bridge of the south, and eastern seas. Guide me to the place I seek.” I extended my mana to Midnight and Denise, and we felt again like we were being yanked through the eye of a needle. On the bright side, my teleport leveled up!
“Never going to get used to that.” Denise groaned out, as we appeared just outside the Arcane Emporium, where I had originally purchased that spell.
“Me either… hope it gets better. Now, Rusty said that Kevin should be near the city’s gate…” Thus, we made our way to the southern exit of the city, passing by a wide array of shops on the way. Oddly, not many of them interested me as much anymore now that I had gained what I had from Hell.
When we arrived at the southern gate, I let out a low groan, seeing one of the guards arguing with a black haired man in samurai-style armor and a katana on his waist. Thanks to my Worldlore from the grimoire, I saw his name as Kevlar. “I should have known. Let’s go see what the argument is all about.”
Denise nodded, not sure what had me suddenly upset. Drawing closer, we heard that the issue was actually that ‘Kevlar’ did have the money needed to enter the city.
“But I’m supposed to be meeting some friends in here! I just came with a caravan, surely they’ll vouch for me!”
“The caravan you came with already entered the city. Since they didn’t pay for you, you have to. As for your friends, well maybe they should have given you the money to get in.”
I shook my head as I approached the gate. “It’s alright, he’s with me.” By now I was out of that ridiculous demon robe and back into leather armor with a bow, looking like a male match to Denise.
“That… is that you Chris?” Kev looked at me, blinking as he saw my appearance.
“It’s Jin here, Kev.” I sighed, reminding him of my game name. This was probably the first time I had considered this place a game since we got to Hell. “Anyways, did you need something from the city, or were you just waiting for us?”
“No, I’m good on gear. There wasn’t much work with the caravan, so I didn’t level up any on the way over.”
This guy… “Alright… well, let’s head out then. It’s a bit expensive to pay when we aren’t getting anything.” Denise and Midnight followed me as we left the gate, and Kevin followed behind us, leaving the guard behind. Though, the guard seemed happy for him to be gone. Not really surprised.
“So… this is the person you told me you were partying with? You forgot to mention she was hot.” Kevlar looked Denise over with hungry eyes, and was smacked by her for his trouble. “Ow! What, I can’t even look?”
“It’s not that you look… it’s that you seem to have no filter on your speaking. Seriously, how did you even convince a caravan to take you when you talk like this…”
“Like what?” Kev looked to me, confused.
“Like… well like you don’t belong. You’ve got to treat the people like you would anyone else.” I tried to explain. Thankfully, Denise knew most of the details already, so she wasn’t bothered.
“Yeah. The caravan said something like that too. They asked me if I was a foreigner. I guess it was a fitting description, so I said yes. I guess that’s why they took me. They must have realized my excellence!”
“Jin, can I hit him again?” Denise looked to me with pleading eyes.
“Maybe later. And ‘Kevlar’... that is a terrible name. Why don’t you ever try to come up with something new?”
“Because it’s a tradition! And uh… how did you know my name here? I don’t think I told your old friend.”
“Trade secret.” I smirked to him.
“Also, I thought you said you were a mage when we met before?”
“Ah, yeah, I went to the college. I take it you haven’t heard about how hard the training is?”
“Well, I know a lot of people flunked out and got pissed, so they changed jobs, or just kept doing magic without graduating.”
“Exactly. So, I took up the bow. Lately, I’ve been learning how to mix some basic magic with my shots. We were in a dungeon before you arrived, and I got a pretty cool bow off of it.”
“You guys have already been into a dungeon? What levels are you?”
The Dive: Birth of a Wordsmith Page 29