Chapter 2: Iter Melius

After experiencing that mind-shattering memory dump I was far more aware of my situation now. And now that I was as calm as someone who recently transmigrated could be I looked over the facts at the moment.

I was now Takumi Katsuragi, a second-year student at Kuoh Academy and was in the same class as Issei Hyoudou. He lived alone in his parent's house with no family or close friends.

And who exactly was this Takumi that I had become? Was he an important character in DxD? Or even a side character?

Haha, no.

He was a background character, literally. This guy is so far in the background he could be called an example for the Schrodinger's cat. Until you get closer and observe him he would be a shadow crowd person in an RPG.

How does that translate into his backstory?

Takumi's parents were killed in a car crash when he was younger, causing him to be a more withdrawn individual. He generally stuck to the back, never drawing attention to himself. He made no real attempts to socialize with others as an introvert.

A literal nobody.

I am starting to feel something wrong with how uneventful this person's life is and their physical resemblance to young me. It's almost like they are a blank slate.

Regardless, I was now Takumi, I don't really feel too bad for taking over his body (if I even did) because it was either him or me. And I choose me. For him, the afterlife was probably the pearly gates, for me it was the inside of a kaleidoscope with a dragon stuck inside, no thanks. Besides it wasn't like the kid had much will to live in the first place maybe he died in his sleep.

Anyway, he lived in his parent's house with 3 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a living room, a kitchen as well as a basement. That I was thankful for, he also had a good enough nest egg of 50,000¥ which was about 500 dollars. 

I could live with that amount of money for now.

Now then. The elephant in the room.

DxD.

Draconic Deus.

Since I was in this world, what do I do about it?

I live in a town that is ruled by the sisters of two different Satan's, both with the power to glass Japan. Said town also has 3 fallen angels hunting for sacred gear users, a wielder of the {Boosted Gear} a god-killing weapon and {Absorption Line} a not so god killing but still pretty good weapon.

From what I know I seem to be around a few weeks before the start of Cannon.

Now then, knowing what I know, what do I do?

You see, in DxD. If I don't make things my problem, it most likely won't be my problem.

There aren't any monsters the average person has to face, hell with mind magic you won't even know it even existed if you did see one face to face. If I just keep my head down stay clear of anything supernatural chances are the supernatural won't involve me.

If I don't do anything everything should reasonably go the same way. Issei gets his Boosted Gear and goes on his harem boob adventure equipped with one of the thickest plot armours.

I don't have to do anything, after all, this world already had a protagonist, I was just a background character of this world. This world didn't need me.

Haha, screw that .

Are you kidding me? I was reborn in a world with magic! Do you think I would just put my thumb in my ass and just live a life of mediocrity again!? Especially knowing all of this?

Who cares about dragon pervert? I am the captain of my own ship and I plan to steer this shit toward the sky.

But, before I jump the gun and try to shoot for the stars too early I need to check something.

Something that would make or break everything.

Do I have a {Sacred Gear} or not?

Sacred Gears are abilities and equipment granted to humans by random created by the {God of the Bible} to help humans measure up against beings like {Devils}, {Fallen Angels} and other supernaturals giving them a way to protect themselves.

Some of them, especially the stronger ones contain the souls of powerful mythical creatures inside them that allows the user to borrow the abilities of the being contained inside.

So, if I did have one, I would be overjoyed even if it was some weaker stuff like {Twice Critical} or something. Because I was still, you know, a regular person. 

Give me anything magical and I will freak out at how cool it is. After all, monkey sees banana and experiences neuron activation.

And if I didn't have one, it was plan B. 

What was plan B?

Well, I would figure that out when I got there.

Anyway, let's leave plans for when I know what to do. Planning without knowing was planning your own grave.

I got up from the bed and stood in the middle of my room, extending my hand forward.

Good thing I remember a decent chunk of the anime. So I remember how to awaken my sacred gear. The key to activating your sacred gear is desiring power and visualizing power. The sacred gear will respond to your desires.

I closed my eyes and visualized the picture of power in my mind. A god in the skin of man, a bald head so impeccable that light scatters off of it, an invulnerable body and immeasurable power.

I focused on my want and desire for power. My hunger . With my hand stretched forward, I summoned it.

'Come to papa!'

...Nothing.

Fuck.

I feel stupid now.

But as I was going to bash my head against the nearest wall out of embarrassment I felt something different as something appeared in front of my eyes. A floating translucent panel.

____________________________

[Congradulations! You have awakened the Sacred Gear: Iter Melius ]

____________________________

"Haha..."

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

I was overjoyed, ecstatic, happy even. I had a sacred gear, I don't care what it did for now, I had one. Granted I don't know why it looks like an interface. Or was the interface different from the sacred gear itself?

Can this thing give me an explanation?

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[Adjusting to wielder preferences... ]

[Success! Iter Melius has been activated.]

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Great, so what is Iter Melius anyway? I have never heard of a sacred gear like that in the anime or the wiki for that matter, but I guess that is expected considering how many there should be. Well, hopefully it's good.

It wasn't long before another window popped up in front of me.

____________________________

Please Choose a Specialization:

[Warrior]

Specializes in melee combat and physical ability. 

[Magician]

Specializes in magical affairs and magical ability.

[Ranger]

Specializes in ranged combat and sensory abilities. 

[Rouge]

Specializes in remaining undetected, assassination, and espionage.

[Production]

Specializes in the production of various equipment and materials.

____________________________

Wait, doesn't this resemble an RPG class selection screen more than anything? But how would a sacred gear work like that? WHY would a sacred gear work like that? After all, for all I am aware of video games did not exist while god was alive and crafting these things. And no explanation either?

Whatever, just ignore that for now. I can focus on that topic later. For now, let's take the facts at face value. Since this thing said it adjusted to me I can probably at least somewhat rely on the information I have on how those classes work.

I sat down at my desk and started writing down the strengths and weaknesses of each class down and started going through them through the process of elimination. And eventually, I came to a decision.

I would pick Production.

DxD is not a safe world by any means, whether that be evil gods, machine gods, satans, dragons, terrorists and everything in between.

But it is also a world that is in relative amount of peace.

And not only that, but it is a world where you can get strong allies. Most of the enemies are other people, not forces of nature or mindless monsters. Of course that comes with its own set of problems.

People can have incentives to seek you out but monsters usually don't. 

Anyway, I think a production class would be best here for a certain reason. It is apparent when you look at it from the perspective of who made it.

Well, this "system" is created by the God of the Bible. And what was that guy known for again?

Yes, creating god-killing weapons and entire races.

So it should stand to reason that a system that someone who most likely specializes in production created would be a bit biased towards production. After all, a magician was the best at teaching magic and a warrior was the best at teaching melee. 

And even if it isn't...

Well, picking the production class worked for him, didn't it?

Besides, I was a production kind of guy to begin with. When the game I am playing has crafting mechanics I usually focus on that.

I completed Jacksmith 3 times.

I am the type of person who spends more time on enchanting, smithing and alchemy than anything else on Skyrim to create their own god-slaying weapon or an amulet that gives them 9999999 max HP.

Besides, it's not like you can't spec into other things as a production class. 

Overall, it seems like the best decision for me.

After confirming my decision another window popped up.

____________________________

Choose a skill to specialize in

[Alchemy]

[Enchanting]

[Blacksmithing]

[Tailoring]

[Artificing]

____________________________

Now that got me thinking about my options even more deeply.

I didn't want to hurry since haste made waste so I spent about an hour thinking about the pros and cons of every skill and going by the process of elimination elimination since that clearly worked the first time.

The first one out was tailoring. There is no example of basically any powerful tailoring in this world and I haven't read any novels that have had powerful enough tailoring to get inspiration from.

Yes, I am relying on game and novel knowledge I have, so what? The situation is absurd enough to warrant that being something I can at least reference.

Next out, Blacksmithing. Blacksmithing is cool and all, don't get me wrong. But it definitely isn't unique enough to stand out or give me a good edge over others. It has the reverse problem of tailoring. 

My blacksmithing would not become strong enough fast enough for me to make something like say Excalibur or Mjolnir by the time I need it. And there are should plenty of blacksmiths in DxD considering the other pantheons. 

Well, using conservative expectations at least. I am expecting this gear to work at least somewhat decently but it would be foolish to expect it to perform on the level of something like a poorly balanced gamer system.

Then Enchanting, my argument for this one is slightly different. Enchanting requires things to enchant. And I don't really have a way to acquire said materials to enchant without a degree of importance and or power.

Besides Enchanting is not exactly a beginner-friendly skill. Besides, there is nothing that says that I cannot get enchanting later on, the same with the other skills.

Moving on, the last two options are really tricky to choose between but I eventually decided to drop...

Artificing. 

Magitech sounds cool, is practical and powerful when you use it right. I could create golems, magic guns, and other magical contraptions.

But it doesn't speak to me.

So in the end I chose Alchemy.

If there is something I know about the DxD it's the value of potions. No matter what fantasy world you are in potions are in high demand. Especially in a world with a shortage of Alchemists.

And if I am right the alchemy here is very strong. After all, that's how Durandal was created no? The power of Alchemy here is already a proven fact. Alchemy is also often more beginner-friendly I feel, I may not have an engineering degree but I was at least decent at chemistry.

And another power of Alchemy. Elixirs. As a spony weak pathetic human, I have nothing special compared to the bricked-up sulfur-smelling devils and radiant lamp-shaped angels. But with elixirs, I could make my body stronger, with alchemy, I could even modify my own body, giving me a chance to cover that gap.

Overall it is the most rounded and reliable choice here.

So, Alchemy it is.

____________________________

[You have chosen the Alchemy specialization]

[Status is available.]

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A/N: 

Takumi means Artisan or skilled.

Iter Melius means Journey/Road to Improvement.

Staying true to DxD I have decided to create a sacred gear that while filling in the function of a system, also reasonably fits within the DxD setting(And not giving it a name like gaming gear because god died before the first steam engine). Iter Melius is not some reality-bending omnipotent system neither is it a god killing Longinus. It is simply a more unique sacred gear.

What do you guys think about it?