Chapter 28

'I should've expected this, I really should've.'

When I told Ajuka that I wanted him to provide me with various types of Magic books, I thought he would give me a few. Instead, he came back with several dozen bookshelves, all filled to the brim with books.

"Learn well." He patted me on the shoulder and gave me a nod before he walked away, carrying a bunch of equipment in his hands.

Ajuka stopped in front of the pod, staring at it for a moment until he nodded his head. Then he acted, forming an extremely complex Magic Circle, and my mouth opened wide at the display.

The entire machine broke apart into tiny little parts as he started rearranging them all while also adding parts from the equipment he brought with him. This was such a beautiful display of Telekinesis, and it was only the tip of the iceberg of his actual capabilities.

"Now it will provide more accurate data," Ajuka said to himself once he rebuilt the pod. It still looked the same, but I trusted that it was indeed better than the one I made.

He then stepped into the pod, fully knowing how much information I could gain from this. I sighed, thinking back to how I tricked Chuckles into entering it while this guy jumped in with no hesitation. If I knew this would happen, I would've figured out a way to contact him way sooner since it would've saved me so much time.

I opened my phone, just to see what was going on in the virtual reality. Helel quickly supplied me with that information, briefing me how he was throwing all of my blueprints at Ajuka, who was fixing and upgrading them at a monstrous pace.

This guy's brain was working with a speed equal to an AI. No wonder he acted as he did. Ajuka simply saw the world differently than everyone else, and his brain worked on a frequency of its own. And now he worked for me… well, with me, but that was good enough.

"What's all this?" Kuisha asked as I walked out of the workshop, all of them curiously staring at what he brought with him.

"I asked for a few Magic books," I said as I looked at the several bookshelves. "He ended up bringing his entire library."

"This is…" Cori gulped as she focused on the bookshelves. "Satan Beelzebub's Magical library? This… do you even understand how big this is?"

"Looks like several bookshelves to me," I replied with a smile. They deadpanned at me, clearly not appreciating my amazing humor.

'Oh, shit…' I came to a striking realization. I was starting to make dad jokes, and it started happening after Helel's birth. I… truly have become a father. A part of me had already accepted that as the truth, especially since I was responsible for his creation, but I still didn't feel ready for this!

"We have to store it somewhere more secure! We can't just leave them out here in the open." Cori turned to the rest, and her words snapped me out of my mini panic attack.

"This is… really big," she continued before she snapped in my direction. "Can we also read them? Satan Beelzebub is considered as the best Magician among the four Satans, and this is his library!"

"Sure," I replied absentmindedly. "They're mine now."

"You can't just decide that on your own," Kuisha said, raising a good point.

"Hey, Ajuka, if you object to me taking your books, speak up now. If you don't answer, I'll take that as a no," I poked my head inside the workshop and called out. I waited for just a moment before continuing, "Well, there you have it. They are mine now."

They blinked and stared at me, all of them having an expression that screamed, "Are you serious right now?"

"On a side note, Ajuka might've decided to move in here?" I said as I scratched my chin.

"How did that happen?" Saiborg asked, trying and failing to understand how one of the Satans had decided to move in here out of all places.

As far as normal humans were concerned, he was rich as fuck. He had a massive plot of land, a giant mansion, and watched over multiple human cities.

However, compared to other Devils, especially the other heirs? Saiborg was kind of poor and lacked the amount of resources they had at their disposal.

Well, that used to be the case until he met yours truly. With me in the picture? He could be considered as one of the most well-off Devils in existence since I didn't mind sharing my own resources with him.

"I didn't want to move my equipment to his lab since I like it here more, so he decided to move his own equipment here," I replied with a shrug.

"So you're saying we will have a Satan living with us from now on?" Kuisha asked, trying to get her head around that.

"I'm not sure if he will fully move in, but you will be seeing him around, though…" I paused and looked back in the workshop, seeing that he was still in the pod. "He's probably gonna spend most of his time in the virtual reality."

I took a look at my phone, and Helel informed me they had moved on from my blueprints since Ajuka had already upgraded them all. Now, he was willingly, yes, willingly offering his knowledge to Helel, feeding him information at a ridiculous speed, all while telling him, "Learn well and grow quickly."

Ah, I see how it was. I didn't get myself an assistant. No, I got myself a nanny for my baby AI. All things considered… he was probably the best person for the job due to him being the Chief Adviser of Technology of the Devils.

"Yo, Liban," I called out to our resident swordsman, figuring all of us needed a small distraction. "Let's go test out those swords while they store the bookshelves."

"Do you even know how to wield one?" He asked, though he immediately started walking towards where the blades were.

"Eh, how hard can it be?" I asked with a little shrug as I followed along, holding back my snicker.

"A sword is not a simple weapon." Liban shook his head in exasperation. "You can't just pick up a sword and swing it around. It takes time and effort to become a skilled swordsman."

"Oh, really?" I was having a hard time and barely stopped myself from laughing.

Liban told me all about his pains, about how much time and effort he had put into learning how to wield a sword. I listened attentively as we went over to grab the blades, and I almost felt bad about what was going to happen next… almost.

After grabbing the swords, we returned to the place where we usually sparred with our more destructive abilities since we couldn't test them in the Gravity Chamber. Those weapons were supposed to be really powerful, and I'd rather not have to rebuild the massive room again. Though… I still might have to do it if Ajuka upgrades the blueprints for it.

Regardless, it was time to test those swords, and I figured I could start with the most unruly one. Gram gave me the impression of a thrashing beast that was starved for blood, Dragon blood to be more specific. It was also known as the strongest Demonic Blade, and I was starting to understand why after picking it up.

"You better behave, you little shit" I told it with narrowed eyes. "Or I'm gonna smelt you and turn you into something else."

"That's not…" Liban's words died in his throat as he watched me wave it around, and his mouth clicked shut once he noticed my swings and movements.

"Would you look at that?" I asked as I slowly got a handle of this, getting better and better by the moment. "I can indeed pick up a sword and start swinging it around!"

"I hate you… I hate you so much right now," Liban said with a tired sigh as he picked up his own blade. "I thought you said you haven't used a sword before…"

"I haven't," I replied absentmindedly as I focused on Gram and what was going on with it.

For one, the sword was trying to influence my mind. Unfortunately, I had an empty space in my mind where I could move my thoughts.

'No thoughts, head empty,' I chuckled in my mind as I tried to figure out why it was still being unruly. Gram wasn't satisfied with me wielding it for some reason, and I couldn't understand why exactly.

It clicked after several minutes of me swinging it around. My newest Perk activated, and I gained the ability to add a Demonic element to my attacks at the cost of using more energy. I could do this either through my Magic Power or with my Ki as both were neutral aligned types of energy.

'Interesting,' I thought as Gram calmed down, sort of. It no longer had any issues with me wielding it, but it still wished to slaughter Dragons and spill their blood.

"Now show me what you can do," I said as I truly swung it for the first time. Up until this point, I was mostly playing around with it, but now I was properly using the blade.

Gram greedily grabbed onto my energy, pulling from both my Magic Power and my Ki, taking as much as it could get away with. The little shit even attempted to drain my lifespan, but I easily prevented and simply charged the attack the normal way.

I brought the sword down. A massive purple Demonic wave flew out of Gram, easily destroying and splitting the ground in front of me, running everything in its path.

"Not bad," I whistled as I looked at the sword, a bit impressed by its performance, especially since I hadn't fueled this attack with too much energy.

Honestly, I almost considered keeping it. Almost. However, Rihan earned this sword by killing its previous owner, so I wouldn't take it away from him. He deserved to have it.

"You really made it work," Liban said wistfully as he stared at the blade.

"Aw, don't be like that. You got two cool Demon Swords, right?" I said, trying to cheer him up.

"You don't understand." Liban shook his head. "Everyone who can wield Demon Blades has dreamed of wielding Gram, the strongest Demon Sword in existence. It's like… how priests and knights dream of using Ascalon or Durandal."

I understood him, I really did. It was like me wishing to use high tier Magic, but being stuck with being only a Punch Wizard. Not that there was anything wrong with that. I quite enjoyed creating miniature stars with my punches, but I wanted to wave my hand and make cool shit happen, you know?

"So you're telling me I should take back Nothung and Tyrfing because they aren't Gram?" I asked with a raised brow.

"Nope! Gram? Pshh. What's that? It has nothing on Nothung and Tyrfing!" Liban backed away, holding both blades behind his back and hiding them from me.

"That's what I thought." I grinned as I watched him back away.

"I'm just gonna… practice over here and get used to using them, alright?" Liban said as he moved a good distance away from me, making me snort in response.

"Alright, Gram, teach me how to slay Dragon, so I can go and make a nice pair of shoes for myself in the future," I said as I charged the sword again, and it guided my energy with eagerness, showing me how to perfectly use it after hearing my words.

Then I swung it a few more times before I threw it away like trash. Liban looked like he was about to cry when he saw me do that, but I already got both things I wanted from it. Most importantly, I learned how to add a Dragon Slaying effect to my attacks at the cost of my energy, which worked exactly like the Demonic effect I figured out earlier.

"Eenie, meenie, miney, moe," I sang as I picked up the next one. "Alright, Balmung, it's your turn."

Unfortunately, I didn't learn anything interesting from this one since I already knew Wind Magic and creating whirlinds wasn't that hard as long as I had the necessary Magic Power. Though it gave me the ability to manipulate my life force a bit better, allowing me to shape it like a drill, which could be useful for something, I suppose.

Next up was Dáinsleif. This one was an even bigger disappointment. Ice Manipulation, mostly centered around creating ice pillars, wasn't something that really interested me since I couldn't truly make use of it.

"Now you," I said as I lit up the Light Sword. "You are fucking cool."

It was a freaking lightsaber! An honest to God, lightsaber! How cool was that?

'You know, God, you are alright in my books for making such an amazing weapon!'

He might've not made awesome smartphones, but I had to admit that this was pretty great! It gave me the ability to use Light Magic, which wasn't that impressive, but it also allowed me to imbue my attacks with a Holy element and that was really good.

"Hey," I called out to Liban. "Let me try out those two swords."

"You're not gonna take them away, are you?" He asked as he backed away even further.

"Nah, I just want to swing them a bit and test them out."

"What are you even trying to do?" Liban questioned as he stepped towards me, deciding to trust I wouldn't take them away.

"Just copying their abilities." I shrugged.

"By simply swinging them a few times?" He blinked at me before he shook his head and offered me Nothung. "Nevermind, here."

"Thank you," I said gratefully as I took it from him and started feeding it energy before I started swinging it around, releasing massive waves that cut apart anything in their path.

Just like the previous four, it took me a few minutes to gain its abilities, and I handed it back to him. I cupped my chin as I considered what I could do with this. Then I grinned widely as this could be used with either my Magic Power or my Ki!

"Dismantle!" I yelled as I swung my hand, releasing a massive wave that cut through anything in its path.

"Cleave!" I slammed my hand on the ground, watching as the earth itself split apart from just my touch.

"Hahaha! I just need a four-armed form, and you can start calling me The Glazed One!" My laughter echoed in the training ground. "Everyone should fear me when I start using the techniques I haven't used since the Heian Era!"

"Shit… I need Cori. Michael is acting weird again," Liban whispered under his breath as he backed away from me.

"Bah!" I threw him a dirty look. "Just let me have my fun, dude."

"You have a weird way of having fun," he snorted with an amused expression. "If I didn't know you better, I would've assumed you were possessed when you started spouting bullshit about using techniques you haven't used since the Heian Era."

"Just… hand me over Tyrfing." I looked away from him and raised my hand, waiting for him to give me the sword.

A few minutes later I was done and dropped on the ground, deep in thought. It took me a long while, but I managed to combine the information I gained from Chuckles' trait with the two abilities I gained from Gram and Tyrfing.

"Hakai," I whispered as I pointed my finger at the ground. A large part of my own life force disappeared as a purple beam of light pierced through the earth as if it was nothing more than air.

'Hehehe!' I chuckled in my mind, knowing that Liban wouldn't appreciate my reference. 'I have become a God of Destruction! Hehehe!'

I added another valuable trump card to my repertoire with this. Applying Demonic, Holy, or even Dragon Slaying effects to my attacks was really good, but the Power of Destruction? It was something extraordinary.

I tested it out a few more times, getting a better handle on it before I stood up. I got everything I wanted from those swords and then some.

"I'm gonna be going back. You need anything?" I asked as I gathered the blades.

"I'm fine." Liban gave me a thankful nod. "I will continue practicing with them until I run out of Demonic Power, then I'll join the rest in the Gravity Chamber."

"Alright then." I gave him a wave and returned.

After storing the blades, I headed to where they had moved the bookshelves and started browsing what was there. I was going to read them all, but I was currently focused on only a single subject. Soon enough, I found what I was looking for and quickly listed through the available books, ensuring that I would memorize the contents due to my perfect memory.

Once done, I entered the virtual reality to check up on Ajuka and Helel. They had already completely optimized the League of Legends copy, having balanced every single thing about it; the items, minions, monsters, and even champions, making sure that every one of them could be great with the right build.

Now they were in the midst of creating multiple other smaller games that could be released alongside the virtual reality pods. Their focus was on ones that could be later implemented into Helel's virtual world. Things like cooking, playing instruments, engineering games, and various others similar ones.

"Have you finished your business?" Ajuka asked without even looking my way, his entire focus on perfecting the project he was currently working on.

"Yep. I got everything I needed from the swords," I answered as I informed Helel of my newest abilities, so he could simulate them better.

"What about the books? What did you need them for?" Ajuka asked, probably having realized that I didn't really need them for the game.

"Ah, I mostly needed the ones about time since I wish to make a Time Chamber that compresses time," I replied truthfully since I did want his help with that.

"Hmm. I never really needed more time," he mused to himself before shaking his head. "And the Agares already have something similar so I'm not interested in this."

Well, there went that plan. I would have to figure it out on my own, but I could probably throw the finished blueprint at him, so he could optimize it if there was anything wrong with it. Ajuka was a perfectionist, after all, and he proved as much when he touched up all my other creations.

"I do have something else that might catch your interest," I said, and he turned around, showing that he wished to hear more.

"Alechemy, or more specifically, permanent transmutation. I can create an endless amount of basic resources as long as they are used, and we can transmute them to rarer and harder to find materials," I continued and sent my current progress to Helel, who forwarded it to Ajuka.

"Oh, this is intriguing." His eyes opened wide for a split second. "Yes, this is promising, and it will ensure we wouldn't need to leave our work space to fetch resources."

"This…" He paused and looked at me oddly. "Your current design is even slightly similar to my Kankara Formula, though it takes a different path than the one I chose. Yes, I was right, we can indeed work together."

"What's this Kankara Formula?" I asked in interest since I had seen it mentioned on the DevilNet, but no one knew exactly what it was.

"My way of manipulating the rules and laws of reality through mathematics," he explained simply as if that made perfect sense.

I somewhat understood what he meant. Human Magic was heavily based on equations, and he had simply taken it to its maximum limit, almost pushing his ability into the realm of true Reality Manipulation. Yes, all Magic was manipulating reality in some way, but he had taken it a step further.

"Do you have any other plans for the virtual world?" Ajuka asked, breaking me out of my thoughts. He really was fascinated by this, wasn't he?

"Yes, I do have a few, but the most important one will be a hidden feature, and it's one of the reasons why I'm currently focusing on my Senjutsu."

Ajuka didn't respond to that, but the intensity in his eyes was quite scary at that moment. I was pretty sure he would start attacking me if I didn't continue now that I had revealed as much.

"Senjutsu masters can manipulate souls, and I want to learn more about that, so I can include the special hidden feature."

I paused briefly as I realized that Saiborg had one last Pawn, which I could ask to inspect. My two Perks should be able to provide me with some useful information about how it works.

Not to mention that Ajuka was working alongside me now! He would surely be a great help with this since he was the creator of the Evil Pieces, after all.

"I want to make it so that the progress in the game can be transferred over to the real world. Or at least part of it."

If the Grimoire wasn't going to let me cheat my Magic Power, then I would find another way! This was my solution to quickly increasing my Magic reserves.

"Things like Magic can easily be taught if we make it one to one, but I want to be able to transfer the more tangible benefits. Like increasing the players energy reserves or even giving them special abilities. Of course, this feature won't be spread around and only a limited number of people will have access to it."

There was no way I would give my enemies the chance to get stronger through my own game. That was just pure stupidity. I wasn't even sure I wanted to make the Magic identical to the one in the real world since that could lead to massive consequences I just wasn't prepared to deal with.

"I did not think this project could become any more interesting, yet you proved me wrong," Ajuka said before closing his eyes for a moment. "I provided Helel what I know on this topic, but we will need to research it even more if we wish to accomplish such a grand feat."

I grinned, happy that I had accepted Ajuka. I was sure I could've completed all of those projects on my own, but how long would it have taken me with just Helel? Maybe a couple of years if things went smoothly. But with Ajuka in the picture? Well, we might just complete it in a few months now.

Of course, that was when the Grimoire decided to activate, rewarding me for my choice of adding Ajuka to the team. Or, at least, that was what I thought since nothing else really made any sense. Either way, it was a good thing even if I knew that it wouldn't increase my Magic Power. The Grimoire was way too stingy for that.

-----------------------------------

Sailor Moon: Energy Sense - 400 CP

Mana. Ki. Prana. Life energy. If it's a power that rests in a living being, you can sense it. You can detect someone's hidden potential in any skillset or magical power you possess. You can sense when someone has a hidden strength to them, unknown to even them. You can also sense when great bursts of energy happen within a distance around you similar in size to a large city. This includes dramatic flashy fights involving the slinging of spells. This sense can eventually be extended to reach to the edges of the Solar System.

------------------------------------

Beta'd by Gerald of Revea.

A/N

The Perk is for reaching 100k words. It's my achievement rather than Michael's, but I don't care because this is big for me, and I can't celebrate in any other way than this. So he gets this one for free. 

Now, there's something that I have to admit, I skipped a Perk. I would usually not do this, but the Perk in question is… how do I put this? It will make a lot more sense if he gains it after a specific event/achievement. You will understand when that happens. Hopefully, it won't take too long for that.