I Defeated the Guide Angel and I Became a Necromancer ~ I Feel Like I'm Playing a Different Game from Everyone Else, but I'm Doing Fine ~ - Chapter 26

Chapter 26: Deeply Shallow, Shallowly Deep

◆ Underground Training Grounds [２] ◆

“La sohdam (Come, great flame and burn those to ashes), doura aerirha (dragon breath)… it’s no good.”

“Why can’t we get the activation to come out right…”

“It’s just our MP that’s getting taken”

“This undoubtedly falls in line with how we’re supposed to invoke it but it doesn’t seem to actually activate.”

“If I had to say, this was like if the engine started but the gear wouldn’t shift or if we stepped on the acceleration but it wouldn’t move.”

“I see…”

Within the 2nd training grounds, Lia-chan and several of the onee-samas were in the middle of passionately studying the draconic language. It seems like they made some progress deciphering the draconic language itself and found something similar to activation words but when it came to the main invocation, it would apparently fail to activate and only consume mana. Like one of the onee-samas said in an analogy to a car, the engine would start and it would use up the fuel but once you stepped on the accel, it wouldn’t move and nothing would happen. It’s quite a mystery.

“Is our line of thinking wrong…?”

“I wonder if there’s a difference between the magic that dragons use compared to the magic that humans use.”

“We’re pretty much stumped on what essentially makes dragon magic be considered as such…”

“I thought we’d make some progress on deciphering if we could get the magic circle to form through the activation word.”

“Hm…”

The magic of the dragons, huh. There’s something about it that sounds romantic. I wonder what’s different between it and the magic that humans use? Why is dragon magic classified as dragon magic in the first place? Wouldn’t it be fine to just categorize any magic that deals in fire as fire magic? If I was the one designing the game, I’d just throw it into the same vein as fire magic since it’d be a bother.

Maybe you really can’t use it unless you had the dragon attribute? Then again, we wouldn’t see a reaction with the activation word if that was the case. It would react but wouldn’t actually be put into motion. I wonder why?

“Perhaps the language of dragons isn’t recognized as words that are powerful?”

“I’m not sure, the activation word does seem correct though…”

“Umm, the words you used before… what did they mean in human language?”

“It was ‘come, great flame, and burn those to ashes, dragon breath’”

“Oh, are you here to study this too, Rinne-san?”

“N-Not really…”

“Come to think of it, you’re a beast tamer so it’s obvious you’d be learning magic too.”

“Certainly, that is true.”

I’m actually a necromancer though… As a matter of fact, my current class was a personification of death… sorry, forgive me for lying… but anyhow, ‘come, great flame, and burn those to ashes’, huh I’m not sure if I should said this but for something that’s supposed to activate dragon’s breath, it sounds kind of shoddy… like, it’s lacking in impact. Though, if I said something as childish as that in front of everyone, they’d just laugh at me so I’ll whisper it to Lia-chan.

“Lia-chan, Lia-chan.”

“Y-You’re not going to inhale me again, are you…?”

“I’m not!!!”

“Umm, okay then.”

Geez! What kind of person do you think I am, Lia-chan! I mean, yeah, I was admittedly being a bit of a pervert earlier but… I’ll apologize for that though! At any rate, she came over and got close enough to where we could have a private conversation.

“Isn’t the activation word kinda flimsy…?”

“Eh?”

“Well, erm, I don’t think a dragon would say, ‘come, great flame, and burn those to ashes’. Wouldn’t they use words that are more, I don’t know, like haughty and violent? It might just be a biased image I have in my head, but shouldn’t they be a race that wouldn’t really act with such consideration towards anything?

“…”

I’m sorry Lia-chan, don’t just stay quiet please. It hurts the most when you have nothing to say so please don’t look at me like I’m an idiot. Give me a break, okay? At the very least, you could pick out something indirect to ridicule onee-chan with, alright? Please?

“Y-You know, my magic’s the same, isn’t it? Perforate, submerge, become the living dead, abyssal pulse are like that, right? Lia-chan, you also say, ‘burst and splinter’, don’t you? If I had to say, it’s the nuance that makes it sound like you’re saying ‘ah, magic-san, please do this’… Rather, don’t you think it might come out poorly if you go out of your way to include a name for the magic…?”

“…”

Please, say something, Lia-chan…

“Gwi schizodus(Death through scorch)!! Anehra(Extinction befalls)!!!! Ah…!!!”

“Aurelia has canceled the use of [Incendiary Extinction] ”

“Aah–”

“Ah, that was a close one…!!!”

How scaaaary…!!! Just now, I could’ve sworn I saw an artificial sun forming in the palm of Lia-chan’s hand but she immediately extinguished it, that’s terrifying…!! What was that!? Incendiary Extinction!?

“How could the activation be this simple…!?”

“Eh, so you really did activate it just now!?”

“Yes!! So that’s how it is, I see… a dragon’s haughtiness might be the answer! There’s no way a dragon would ever request something from magic!”

“O-Ohh…?”

“We might have had it all wrong in the first place and I’m talking about what we use in magic, the activation word itself!”

“Ooohhh…!?”

◆　◆　◆

According to Lia-chan, the correct answer to what a spell’s activation word was that it’s a [word that calls upon magic] . A spell has certain conditions that need to be met in order to activate it and once someone fulfills those conditions and uses the word that calls upon that magic, the spell will activate.

To support this claim, if you utter the activation word of a higher ranking magic while you’re still a low level mage, you will not be able to activate the spell. It’s as if the magic itself is saying, “Hah, you’re not at a level where you could activate me lol”, creating a situation where the conditions aren’t met for its activation and the magic refuses you. In this case, it simply falls flat without even consuming your MP.

Now, what’s the deal with dragon magic? First off, even if you determine what makes up the activation words for dragon magic and say it, it’ll only consume your MP but not actually activate. If the activation falls short, your MP will be consumed and nothing will happen so this wasn’t a case of the aforementioned lack in levels or qualifications. If so, why does the spell not activate even though you’ve called upon it?

The conclusion Lia-chan arrived at was that it “doesn’t want to activate”, an incredibly simple and straight-forward answer. To put it frankly, it’s the kind of situation where the magic basically says, “Man I really don’t wanna work… ah, delicious MP…” Dragon magic isn’t something that you gently request from. If you want it to activate, you guessed it! You have to force it to do so through strong words, [Forceful Activation Words] , you could call it… at least, that’s what we believe.

Of course, there hasn’t been a sanctioned answer from the officials so we’re completely in the dark on this one but we think it likely that you have to use impactful words as the spell’s activation words to force it to activate…

“Perhaps it’s correct to say that humans employ the use of magic while dragons exercise the use of magic. Dragons are considered the lords of creation, an existence that even exerts control over magic, which is why the magic that dragons use is… specifically classified as draconic magic, maybe.”

“And we don’t have the level to put it to use…

“It misfired, didn’t it…”

“I couldn’t control like Lia-chan and burned myself to death”

“If you forcibly draw out a power you’re not worthy of, I guess you instantly get swallowed up and destroyed by it.”

“This might be a bit meta but it could be a stat that’s hidden. Magic itself has internal levels and maybe the level of magic you can handle develops as you also progress?”

“Aah, that sounds possible. The developers for this game really love their hidden stats after all.”

“Stuff like karma values were only discovered after people changed their class to something related to the Meltis religion and found out the equipment they received demanded a certain value of karma. If I recall, it was only after that did karma values stop being a hidden stat.”

“Magic levels, huh… That does seem likely…”

“I’d love to compile a list consisting of levels a spell falls under.”

“Ah, that sounds pretty fun! We could teach magic to beginners and ask to see their stats at the same time to collect data on the topic”

… That’s amazing everyone’s so passionate and enthusiastic…

“I think we’ll have to have them show us their stats first before teaching them magic. I’m a bit wary that people might ditch without showing us their status.”

“True, but it’s probably alarming for them to suddenly hear, ‘show me your status first’”

“Not only that but they’d be suspicious of magic levels existing in the first place.”

“It is within the realm of possibility though… but I guess we need to make it not just a possibility.”

“Right– that’s what’s most important–”

I was listening to everyone’s conversation as they encircled the table, all while I was hugging Lia-chan who was sitting on my lap… Lia-chan’s so warm… nhn…. even though she’s a witch, she has an aroma of sunshine… I mean, I’d be put off if she smelled all dusty… but I guess that would be in character for what she was…

“But if we do this–”

“We can call this one Annihilation Napalm–”

“That’s so cool–”

“… ? …??”
“My oh my–”

So warm… so fluffy… aah… I love Lia-chan’s gentle, mature voice that you wouldn’t expect out of a 9 year old… I love her silky blonde hair… I love her pretty blue eyes… her fair skin… so squishy, love… hnnn…. Donta’s fluffiness isn’t easy to part with either…

“This is already–”

“Certainly, that–”

“Then, let’s–”

…

◆ Guild House [Lobby] ◆

Wow, this might be the first time I’ve ever seen a player doze off aside from myself.

“Yo, you’re up?”

“Morning…”

“It’s two and we’re in the dead of night, what do you mean, morning.”

“I could say the same to you Baldy, how long are you gonna stay awake for?”

“Well, obviously until I’m sleepy.”

“Then, it’s right about time, isn’t it”

“I guess so”

Nh sleeping during a dive felt as good as always. It’s nice but whenever you wake up, you’d wake up almost instantly and that’s rough… it makes you feel like you actually had a light sleep…

Anyways! Baldy’s awake. Baldy always goes to sleep after 2. He wakes up around 10, works a bit in the afternoon and he’s practically in Meltis for the rest of the day. His job was a mystery as usual as well as the enigmatic nature of his machoness. Still, if anything, Baldy’s just a good-natured person.

“… That’s a nice sleeping face she’s making.”

“Aye, Lia-chan carried her here with a troubled expression saying, ‘she’s like a big child’.”

“Lia-chan’s surprisingly strong…?”

“Apparently, Lia-chan was being hugged from behind so they were in just the right position for the both of them to get on her broom.”

“Gotcha… sleeping while clinging onto a little girl? Isn’t it usually the opposite way around?”

“If a little girl was sticking to you, you wouldn’t be able to move at all.”

“Well, if you did move, that’d be a crime, a crime I say.”

“True that!”

Rinne-chan had a content face as she was sleeping… At first, she was a gloomy-looking girl and I was worried, wondering, “Is she gonna be okay here? Will she be able to fit in?” but I figured it’d work out since Perseus was the one who brought her along and sure enough she got along just fine, almost too fine even.

“Which reminds me, did your level go up after thrashing those guys around?”

“I’m at 37 It’s pretty low compared to 59 which I was at before”

“Sounds like a pain getting back there. You were complaining about 60 being too far out of reach but I never imagined you’d reincarnate. How come?”

“Huh? You do waltz up pretty close to Rinne-chan at times but you never hear anything, Baldy?”

“Hear what? You talking about her breathing while she’s slumbering, ’cause I hear that.”

“Aaah… I wonder if there’s a certain requirement for it then since Rena-chan seemingly heard it too..”

“Will something happen once you reincarnate after hearing whatever it is?”

As expected, Baldy’s also curious about it. I mean, this hand puppet… is cute, isn’t it… That said, he’s not pushing it and I’ve also known Baldy for a while now through another online game so I suppose I could tell him. He wasn’t someone that would spill the beans anyways. I’ll send him a private message.

“(This is a closed conversation but if you step on Rinne-chan’s shadow, the evil god, Babylon, will call out to you and say something like ‘you’re much more suited to this side♡’)”

“(Seriously? I haven’t heard a thing though. Your weapon changed, right? Is that what she means by ‘this side’?)”

“(It’s this tattoo I have. This hydra tattoo is an equipment that fits in the other accessory slot and the evil god, Babylon just slapped it on me. Then, I got this skill called Coward which gave poison resistance, confusion resistance as well as other resistances and I became able to equip this claw)”

“(Hehh really now… How come I’m no good then? Is it because I’m a skinhead?)”

“(I think you have to do something to earn the evil god’s favor. When we reclaimed this land, you gave out meals, made beds, and encouraged the residents, didn’t you, Baldy. Wouldn’t you say you acted in a rather good manner? A behavior in which an evil god wouldn’t particularly be fond of?)”

“(Ah, you guys murdered the pirates, the corrupted priests, and practically went on a killing spree so it’s no wonder she’d be interested)”

“(Right? But that begs the question, Rinne-chan has all these good eggs following her around, yet why does the evil god, Babylon, call out to you when you step on her shadow…?)”

“(… Maybe she’s reeeeeaaallllly– fond of her?)”

“(In such a short period of time? What could she have done…? It’s only been three days since she’s started playing, y’know?)”

Rinne-chan sure is a puzzling existence. She’s got an immensely strong wolf following her, a cute little witch as her companion, she can apparently craft weapons, she’s seemingly a magic class, and she easily committed a 34 player PK without even lifting a finger herself… I’m only spitballing here but could it be? Was Rinne-chan actually a game master? Ah, was she a GM!? Then again, GMs have the giant GM acronym above their heads and in the first place, the game’s security is so tight that one of the game’s staff members was banned and demoted within a minute when they decided to do whatever they wanted with their personal account, so that’s not it. Still, if that’s not the case then what exactly is she…? She truly is a mystery…

“… cutlet fillet…!!!”

“Cutlet fillet, she says.”

“A cutlet fillet, huh. Maybe I’ll make one tomorrow…”

What’s with that sleep-talk, Rinne-chan… why ‘cutlet fillet!!!’… Wait, hold on, there’s a chance I might’ve said that in my sleep too…!? Maybe I should stop sleeping in front of others next time.

“By the way, what level are you now?”

“Oh? I’m at 70.”

“That’s so high…”

“Yep! It’s thanks to everyone!”

Uwaah, Baldy’s almost double my level… The guild members toss a bunch of food ingredient items in the ingredients storage everyday and he uses all those surplus ingredients to make dishes in the kitchen so it’s no wonder his level’s been increasing…

“Speaking of, when I was going from 60 to 61, I had to cook for 100 people.”

“… I wouldn’t wanna do that if I was solo.”

“It would’ve been unachievable for me to do as a solo player too. Unless you were a multi-billionaire, it would be impossible to open up a restaurant in this world. It’s just out of the question if you’re not charging for your meals.”

“Which reminds me, are you not going to take meal payments from the guild members?”

“There’s no way I could. If I did, no one would just be throwing food into the ingredient storage.”

“That’s true.”

I was envious of Baldy’s levels but the requirements were crazy… After hearing that, I couldn’t think of ever going through with it. Hm? Shouldn’t there be some leftovers if he made that much?

“Eh? Don’t you have leftovers considering… you cooked for 100 people?”

“If I have leftovers, I hand them out to the residents. Though I always tell them, ‘I’m not gonna spoil you guys all the time, you should find food for yourselves since even I don’t know how long I’m gonna be around for’”

“Gotcha…”

Baldy really is a person dyed in virtue… Even the fact that he doesn’t spoil them too much is something that an average do-gooder wouldn’t strive for.

“Oh right, Rena logged in all drowsy earlier and gave me this before instantly logging off”

“It’s huge…”

“It’s a Giant Skillet that seemingly allows me to cook giant food.”

“Ohh…”

Incredible, the heck’s up with that enormous frying pan… Eh, it’s somehow so fitting for him, how nice.

“In case you’re wondering, it’s got some serious capabilities too. Look.”

“Uwah, that resistance penetration is insane… Eh? You’re gonna do combat, Baldy?”

“‘I’m actually able to cook up enemies so if it comes down to it.”

“Hoeh… you’ve always been strong at PvP in the past… you’re not gonna do it?”

“If my fire gets lit, I feel like I’ll end up ignoring cooking…”

“I see, I know what you mean. Back then, you were always competing with Rena-chan to see who would be number one and two in national ranking after all.”

“Yeah.”

I’d love to see Baldy fight again. I wonder if he’ll eventually reach a point where he could set aside cooking and take up the gauntlet again? Come to think of it, there’s PvP tournaments and such so there’s a chance he’ll participate!

“Hey hey, Eris has arrived, finally at level 45”

“Ohh, you’re here. If you’re looking for Rinne, she’s asleep, over there.”

“Ah… what a nice sleeping face. I guess I’ll put it off ’till another time then”

Eris joined in. Hm? Level 45? Did Eris also reincarnate? It couldn’t be?

“Isn’t that a different weapon from before?”

“Ah this? It’s a whip sword, a blade that extends out like a whip. Isn’t it nice?”

“And you dance while swinging that around? That sounds pretty scary, no?”

“In the beginning, I did often hit myself…”

It… sounds like she did!? Somewhere along the way, Eris came in contact with Rinne-chan and also heard it!? If she has a whip sword, maybe she became a Dark Dancer or something like that?

“Well, I’m gonna head back to leveling again”

“Stay safe”

“Oh yeah, eat this while you’re at it, it’s an Insquidious Fritter I made earlier.”

“Ooh, thanks… ohh, this even increases my HP by 2000. Amazing.”

“Sorry I don’t have any Tough Shark Burgers left. Careful out there.”

“Your food always helps out, thanks for the meal”

There she goes. As usual, she was probably heading to the sea at night. If you change channels in Lorei to a time slot that was at night and approach the beach, Zombie Pirates show up. They’re levels were pretty high so the experience they gave was good… This information was spread throughout the internet so it became a popular leveling spot where quite a lot of people come to farm.

However, whenever I went to Ocean Abyss Dungeon, I saw no one else there so I guess no one was going to the dungeon. Moreover, you can only get to the dungeon if you start at a spot where they don’t spawn and loop around so it hasn’t been discovered yet. I wonder if anyone will come across it one of these days?

“… I’m getting sleepy just looking at Rinne-chan’s sleeping face.”

“You sleep too much, but well, I guess it’s a good time for me to sleep too…”

“Hm, speaking of which, did everyone else head to bed…?”

“It looks like they’re getting beat up by Don-chan in the 1st training grounds.”

“I see… I wanted to sleep buried in Don-chan’s fluffiness but that’s too bad.”

“You should hurry up and get some sleep in real life already. You sure you haven’t gotten deep diver’s syndrome yet?

“I wonder that myself, maybe I already have it… I feel like I sleep heavier while I’m diving and I can’t really feel satisfied with my normal sleep…”

“Doesn’t that sound like early symptoms? You should watch out or it’ll lead to insomnia.”

“I should be careful… then, I’ll sleep in an actual bed today as well… Ah, that reminds me, the abandoned inn next door was absorbed into the guild house. I heard it got cleaned up and now each room has a bedroom and bathroom…”

“Lia-chan’s seemingly using one. Interestingly enough, the bathroom forces you to use swimsuits and even cursed equipment isn’t allowed to be worn. It’s like it’s saying, ‘we don’t allow the features you’re thinking of!’”

“Darn it…!!! And by Lia-chan, you mean Aurelia-chan?”

“Yeah, she said she wanted to be called Lia-chan. Apparently, Rena gave her that nickname.”

“Hehh… I’ll call her that too then”

“You do that! Well, I’m heading off now, later.”

“See ya later”

Nhnn… I’m kinda getting sleepy after thinking over a bunch of stuff… In order to not develop deep diver’s syndrome, I should go back to reality and sleep there sometimes… While I’m at it, let’s do some fitness training tomorrow too.