Chapter 53: Library of Heaven

I woke up feeling like I was on the top of the world.

Laying down on a soft and comfortable bed, with sunshine cascading down from the windows, with my cute devil princess girlfriend in my arms. It was hard to describe the feeling, almost like aggressively good.

I absentmindedly brushed Rias' hair as she snuggled into me. Laying down with her felt nice. One of the nicest feelings for that matter.

I had done it, I overcame the first hurdle, I proved myself better than Issei and managed to overwhelm Riser like Issei wished he could. I deserved the Boosted Gear in my hands.

As I was thinking this, Iter Melius popped up, it had been rather quiet for a while. I hadn't even gotten a quest for defeating Riser like I had expected.

But reading it I was just filled with more confusion.

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Analysing...

The host has finished designated "Season 1!"

Calculating feats...

...

Rebooting...

Accessing ######

Reward: Temporary access to the Library Heaven

Accessing the Library of Heaven...

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Before I could ponder on it too much however my vision faded away as my consciousness slipped into darkness.

✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧

I woke up, this time not next to my smoking hot Devil Princess Girlfriend and not in my comfortable bed and now moderately pissed.

But as I looked around myself that sense of anger faded to more of a sense of awe.

'What in the goddam...?'

I had failed to notice that saying the name of the big man upstairs not hurting me which should have been a big red flag.

The ground beneath my feet was... The sky? Well, it was blue and I could see clouds under it, but it felt like there was both a floor under me and not at the same time.

And then there was the ceiling which had been replaced with even more sky, but this time I could see the curtain of stars peering from beyond the sky. The sight was mesmerizing.

But regardless of how cool and mesmerizing it looked it still failed to answer me, what exactly was this place and why was I here? I knew it said library of heaven like it made sense but this sure did not look like a library.

Oh, wait. I could probably just use Insight to figure it out right?

Looking at the floor I used Insight.

[Seventh Heaven]

The innermost layer of Heaven which god resided in, contains the core of the Sacred Gear and Heaven Systems. Much of it is locked after the passing of God.

Huh.

...Huh.

Ain't that something? I ended up in the most guarded location in Heaven that even the strongest gods would find difficult to breach. As a devil with a crippling weakness to holy powers.

I can just feel the migraine forming.

Hopefully, this place has no intruder alert or else I feel like I will have spears of light shoved up my various orifices soon.

Seriously, how was I here? This wasn't even a projection or anything, I was physically here, naked and with balls flapping in the wind and all.

What the fuck is Iter Melius?

As I was thinking about the possibilities the system prompted again.

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Access to the Library of Heaven Granted

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And my body seamlessly teleported so smoothly that I almost felt like I hadn't teleported at all. This time, I was inside an actual library. A rather grand one.

The vast expanse of emptiness now replaced by rows of bookshelves in a grand library with divine light cascading down from the glass ceiling. It was a library definitely worthy of its grandiose title.

[Library of Heaven]

In the innermost sanctum of heaven lies the library of heaven containing the research, notes and knowledge of the god of heaven.

Okay.

What the hell am I doing here? And why haven't I turned to dust from being on the big man's doorstep?

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Middle-Tier Sacred Gear: Iter Melius has evolved to High-Tier

Due to your accumulated achievements and karma, you are allowed to pick a skill from the library of heaven.

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Okay.

Okay. That sure makes sense. Apparently, my mid-tier sacred gear which just evolved to high tier mind you, apparently allows me to access the innermost sanctum that definitely makes sense.

Not.

I want answers.

And I had an idea of how. I brought up the status window before... using insight ON the status window.

Then...

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[Iter Melius]

Class: High - Low

The Journey to Improvement.

One of the hundred Iter Melius' created by God to help humanity prosper by allowing the rise of talented individuals like powerful knights, wise scholars, powerful wizards, and renowned doctors by augmenting their journey by converting their karma into boons such as abilities, skills and traits.

It manifests in the best way for the user to perceive it. Whether it be a scroll, prophetic dreams, images or hallucinations it adjusts itself to a form most fitting for their wielder.

The current iteration had gone into disrepair from the disappearance of god and as a result of trying to manually fix itself using the perception of the current wielder as a basis, it has mutated into a form that resembles a game window.

Due to the achievements and karma of the wielder as well as the feedback loop from the Boosted Gear, it has managed to connect back to the heaven system upon rebooting thanks to it having gone into disrepair.

As a result, the current iteration of Iter Melius has gone beyond the simple mould it was made as. Now it can even be viewed as an interface to the heaven system itself allowing it and its wielder limited access to the heaven system.

It wouldn't be incorrect to refer to its wielder as a potential inheritor to the Throne of Heaven.

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I sat down.

That was... a lot to take in.

So... apparently my system completely fucked up so hard thanks to my perception that it managed to find a backdoor into the heaven system and now I am apparently a potential protegee to god.

...Yep, that totally makes sense.

In hindsight, I should have seen this coming what with Heavenly Comprehension and insight but I can be very blind to what is right in front of my eyes.

Anyway, with this information tucked into the back of my mind, I started wandering the library to find the skill I was promised. There was sure to be at least something good here. To not take too long I cranked up thought acceleration up to 75 times.

As expected, there were tons of skills and things I could pick from here that would drastically change things. For example, stuff like [Sub Atomic Deconstruction], [Space Creation] and even ungodly shit like [Angel Production].

Most of these can change the tide of a war. I at least knew that Azazel would pay almost any price for almost any of these books. But one specifically made my eyes bulge out for a second.

'Is this for fucking real?'

[The Miracle of Revival]

I knew the important part about how Jesus was revived but... revival huh?

That... I think I can work with that. I can think of plenty of people I could revive to make use of this power. And it adds a protection net beyond any other.

After all, if someone like Rias died in front of me and I had no way to help her I probably would tear down the world to get her back. But with this, I would be able to save the life of anyone important to me.

Plus, this is not simply the ability to revive people. I knew how skills worked. This would give me all the knowledge I would require to know how to revive people as well as the assistance of the system to help me revive them.

So this was basically a discount Sepiroth Graal no?

Deciding to lock in my choice I picked up the book from the shelf as knowledge poured into my mind, it was almost overwhelming. Information about death, what happens after it, afterlives, how to pull souls from those afterlives, how to integrate souls into living bodies, different ways to revive the same person etc and alongside that the ability to perform them.

By the time it was done, I felt my head throb, I don't wanna know how it would have felt without heavenly comprehension.

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You have acquired the skill [Miracle of Revival]

[Miracle of Revival]

Allows the user to perform the miracle of revival reserved to only the most powerful of the gods.

A great feat! You have received a direct gift from heaven!

You have acquired the perk [Blessed Child]

[Blessed Child]

You are a child blessed by the heavens themselves. Holy and Light affinities are increased.

WARNING! perk [Blessed Child] is conflicting with [Holy Weakness(Major)] and [Light Weakness(Medium)] until conflicts are resolved your lifespan will keep decreasing.

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I felt a slightly tingling sensation run down my spine. Great, couldn't the system have held out on giving me the perk until I discovered a way to get rid of those weaknesses?

Well, I already have an idea of how to but I just haven't gotten around to it yet. I should refocus on alchemy when I am back I will really need it and I have been neglecting it a bit lately, just a tad.

I need to talk to Azazel about procuring some very important materials if I wanna be rid of my holy and light weakness.

Maybe getting rid of it for Rias and her peerage too but no one else. This is too important to let leak.

If word got out that I could produce holy and light resistance potions I would definitely be kidnapped and the war would definitely re-start, it would literally be breaking the tiebreaker between races with the magically strongest race losing their weakness to the other two. So I had to be careful until I was strong enough.

Speaking of strength, I really needed to start ramping up my power. Season 2 started and the kiddie glove will be taken off soon. My enemies will go from devils to actual gods and godlike beings.

So, I need to start taking off my kiddie gloves too.

As I was thinking this the world around me started to fade once more as my privilege of choosing a skill was used, after everything had faded I was back in my bed once more. With Rias still lying next to me sleeping like a log.

Did I really leave or does this girl just sleep like a log? I did not know which was the answer in all honesty.

...With all of the revelations dropped straight onto my unsuspecting noggin today I could not say I cared all that much. I just want to go back to sleep.

So I did.

All that one-chosen-by-the-heavens bullshit can wait for the Takumi of a few hours later.

A/N: A decent few of the questions about MC's system are finally revealed and it turns out the now blessed dragon devil alchemist is gunning for the spot of god in the seventh heaven if Takumi's life was not complex enough.

Also, revive is a necessity, no milf goes unlewded if I have to say anything about it. Plus I felt like it was on theme with the whole god thing.

What did you guys think about this chapter and the developments in it? I would love to hear your thoughts about it, comments and engagement help motivate me to write more and faster.