Chapter 25

I made my way back to Babel and made my way straight up to the apartment instead of heading to the store. I wanted to get a magic circle down sooner rather than later since I know I have plenty of time to do it in private right now. I made my way to my room and shut the door behind me just to be safe. Then I tossed aside my carpet and sat on the floor before closing my eyes and imagining an earth element spell. I imagined the stone floor liquifying slightly, which would allow me to stick my finger into the stone and draw the magic circle as If I were drawing something in wet sand.

I felt Regulus's power flow through my body, allowing me to etch the circle easily into the floor. When the carving was done, I looked at my work and had Great Sage confirm that it was correct before I had Regulus harden the stone back to its original consistency. Then, he evened out the floor so that everything became even once more. Once everything regarding the circle was done, I grabbed my carpet and tossed it over the circle. With the circle complete and covered, I made my way back down to the shop to drop off some more money before I forgot to.

I considered how much money to keep for myself as I left the apartment and locked the door behind me. I don't need too much money since my expenses aren't very high, I thought as I sorted eight of my nine million Valis into a separate bag. I decided to keep one million to myself as a sort of emergency money. However, with my eight million, plus the two million I had already given to Fortuna today, that meant that of the 75 million debt, he had now paid off 10 million of it. I snapped out of my thoughts when I arrived at the door to the shop and headed inside.

I made my way behind the counter and discreetly deposited the money there for Fortuna to put in the safe, "Let's meet at the Hostess of Fertility in a few hours, I am heading to the abandoned church to train for a little bit,"

"Are you allergic to sitting still for even an hour?" She said, raising an eyebrow high.

"I don't like being idle," I said with a shrug, not sure how to explain the feeling of restlessness to Fortuna.

"I've noticed," she said with a small laugh.

I just grinned in return and took my leave. Fortuna would understand what I was feeling, of course, since boredom is a powerful emotion that pushes people to do many things. It was the main driving force behind the god descending down to the mortal plane, and it was the main driving force behind me, needing to be in constant motion. It sounds odd that I could be bored in a magical world, but once you adjust to the novelty of something, it just becomes normal. That had already happened to the city and the various races for me, but not for magic and training. I don't think I could ever get bored of the feeling of myself getting stronger.

Once I arrived at the church, I took a seat on a crumbling stone wall and began to envision the type of magic I wanted to cast. First, I merely pictured a flame manifesting on my outstretched hand. My experience with more complicated magics made it easier to grasp the underlying mechanics of Fire Magic quickly. It didn't take long for the flame to spring to life in my palm. I looked down at the soft flame burning in my hand, it was so small, but its potential for harm was nearly limitless.

[Fire Magic: Fire acquired]

I smiled lightly at the message, but Fire serves as a jumping-off point to delving deeper into Fire Magic. I next pumped a lot more magicules into the flame in my hand, growing it from a small torch into a handheld inferno. Once I was done giving the fire the boost it needed, I began to shape it into a different but very classical spell, Fireball. It was my opinion that you can never go wrong with a good fireball spell that is able to burn a large area of space. While Lightning Manipulation is a great skill since it is very versatile, it lacks the raw offensive and destructive power of fire.

I held the half-formed fireball that wasn't actually shaped like a ball but rather a raw mass of dense and destructive flames. I turned in a small circle, looking for a suitable target to launch the attack at, but I could clearly tell that this was a terrible idea. If I let the flames get out of control, then half the city could catch fire. Instead, I called upon Regulus's power to raise stone walls all around me. Then, I tossed the fireball at the area in the center of the stone walls so that there would be time for some of the power of the attack to fade before reaching the defenses and possibly the houses behind.

[Fire Magic: Fireball acquired]

I expected a louder noise and some sort of explosion, but that wasn't the case. It was more like there was a loud pop and a whoosh, then the all-encompassing roar and crackle of the flames. I smiled as I obtained another Fire Magic spell quickly. Of course, once I reached five spells in Fire Magic, I can use Degenerate to merge them all together to give me the Extra Skill: Flame Manipulation. That was the goal I wanted to reach before entering the dungeon again. With that in mind, I figured I had time to develop one or two more Fire Magic spells before heading to dinner.

-

In the end, I was able to get two more spells under my belt, Flamethrower and Firewall. I was tempted just to start working on the last spell I would need before I can get Flame Manipulation, but I sensed the approach of an unwelcome guest with Magic Sense. Hermes casually strode down the back alley street where the abandoned church was located. He obviously knew I had some sort of sensory skill and had purposely taken off whatever device or magic he had been using to conceal his presence last time. When he spotted me sitting casually on the crumbling stone wall, he acted surprised to see me.

"What a coincidence to see you out and about again," The god said as he approached.

"Yes, it's quite the coincidence," I said in an unreadable tone that allowed my message to be interpreted in a variety of ways.

Hermes laughed at my words but ignored them, "An interesting place to hang out," he said, gesturing to the church, "I remember the days when it wasn't so destroyed,"

"Yeah," I said with a raised eyebrow, engaging in the conversation more to be polite than anything else since I didn't really care about what he was saying.

"Many heroes visited this church in the old days," he said, glancing at me to see if I had a reaction, but I just shrugged since I didn't care, "I can see that you are busy but allow me to amuse myself by asking a question I often ask adventurers since their answers fascinate me. What do you think of a hero?"

I wanted to roll my eyes at his question since I knew the meaning behind it, but then I stopped and decided to play along, "I believe that a hero is someone with the power to bring about change," I said simply.

Hermes waited for a second as if expecting more, but when I didn't speak, he asked, "That's all you think is required to become a hero?"

"Yes," I said truthfully, "People who bring about change are often the most influential and either feared or loved people of their respective ages and often go down as important figures in history,"

"Hmm, truly an interesting answer. Do you believe yourself to be a hero?" Hermes asked, being much more direct than I ever thought he would be.

"No, I don't believe I am a hero yet," I said as I turned to walk away before looking back at the god, "Excuse me, Lord Hermes, but I must go. I have plans that I am already running a bit late for,"

"Of course," Hermes said humbly before watching me go with a critical eye.

It seemed like I had given him some pause as well as some stuff to consider. I just shrugged and walked away, making my way toward the Hostess of Fertility. There, I found Fortuna waiting for me. She gave a wide smile when I arrived and then we headed inside to have a party.

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There will definitely be no Harem since it is literally my least favorite trope of all time, but I am conflicted about who to make the FL since there are quite a few good options