Chapter 21: Chapter 21: Ariel & Asmodeus
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"Hydra, why are you already telling my daughter to go to another world?! She should stay on Earth at least until she fully acclimates herself to Fantasium!" my father said.
"It’s way too dangerous! And there are far too many strangers there. What if they try to kidnap my baby girl? Yggdrasil is a world with a much higher ceiling. While she is relatively safe on Earth, in Yggdrasil there are tens of thousands of beings stronger than her who could come and snatch her!" my mother added.
"A-Ah, okay, I understand... Please calm down," Uncle Hydra muttered, laughing with his many heads. "We can consider that once she turns ten years old, perhaps? I am willing to give her a scholarship and everything!"
"Hmmm, maybe," my mother nodded.
"Only if she grows strong enough," my father said. "But no pressure, Elizabeth. You can take it easy."
"Hmph..." I groaned, feeling angry as I pouted. "And how strong do I have to be?"
"Hmm, you should at least have one of your Paths at Level 300," my father replied.
"And your Spiral must be at least Tier 7," my mother added.
"W-What?!" I gasped. "I have no idea how to grow a Spiral, but Level 300... that’s a little—actually, that’s completely fine!"
"Mirai, the Spirals vary too much in how they grow," my father said. "That’s too much to ask of her."
"Huh? Then, um..." My mother rubbed her chin. "Ah! Then reach Rank 5 of your Dragon Soul at the very least. That might do it, right?"
"Sure!" I nodded eagerly. "I’ll do it. I’ve got four years, hehe. Plenty of time."
"She’s confident," my father laughed. "Well, do your best then."
"How am I going to level up though? Are you letting me go to dungeons, Mom, Dad?" I asked.
"I suppose we should, with proper bodyguards. Or we can accompany you..." my mother said.
"You should remain in the castle, and... I am the King. Leaving the Kingdom wouldn’t be right either," my father sighed. "Ah, but at the very least one of us should accompany her to a dungeon..."
"Well, we can think about that later. Let’s enjoy the birthday," my mother said.
I nodded and ran toward the alchemy cauldron, infusing my Soul into the artifact. By now, I already knew how to move my soul around. It wasn’t so hard. It was like a wobbly little golden thing. When it touched something, it would spread what was called Soul Essence.
And by spreading Soul Essence into an artifact with a high enough Soul Rank, it could be refined into a Soul Treasure.
FLASH!
The cauldron gleamed brightly, then grew smaller and smaller until it was the size of a cup. It landed in my hand and disappeared, entering my Soul Sea and floating there.
Ding!
[You have successfully refined the [Divine Alchemy Spirit Cauldron – Rank 2] into your Spirit Soul Treasure.]
[You have reached your Soul Sea Capacity. Please Rank Up your Dragon Soul to refine more Soul Treasures.]
"Oh, it’s also Rank 2?" I asked.
"Yes, it aligns with your current Soul Rank," Hydra answered. "You know, you should never have treasures of a higher level than your own soul, or they may hurt you! So you must grow them along with you, steadily."
"Hm, I see," I nodded. "I guess I have to visit the Draconic Record some more to slowly cultivate my soul then..."
"That’s right," Hydra said. "Ah, Selene, don’t be shy. Come here and give her something."
Selene, the giant moon dragon, walked toward me and gave me a warm, motherly smile. "Here. It’s nothing too fancy, but... I thought it might look nice on you, dear."
It was a pair of beautiful small golden earrings with tiny pink jewels.
"These are earrings I made using Moon Steel and Moon Stone," she said. "Extracted directly from the Mountains of Yggdrasil’s Moon. If you infuse Mana into them, they activate an automatic restorative effect for your wounds that lasts a little while. They also give you overall more speed and dexterity."
"Oh, I can already feel the moonlight in them," I said as I held the earrings, which glowed with pink light. "Do they have any sort of elemental effect?"
"They should," she replied. "They may help you learn and conjure Moonlight Magic, but I think you should dedicate yourself to a few elements for now."
"I see. Thank you," I nodded. I began experimenting with the earrings, feeling their energy in my hands. This pink energy was supposed to be "Moonlight Energy" and it possessed healing properties. "Wow..." I felt a noticeable boost to my abilities when I infused it into my body.
After that, I received many more gifts from several other people. Some were more incredible than others, but I accepted them all gratefully.
From what I could tell, I had obtained a dozen Elixirs that could fully heal and restore any wound once drunk, some Divine Reinforcement Potions that could permanently increase Stats, a few Skill Scrolls, Skill Evolution Stones, and two Cultivation Method Scrolls.
As for my parents, they had prepared special gifts for me as well!
"Now that everyone has given you a present, it’s our turn," my father said. "Happy birthday, my princess. Here."
He handed me a big book as thick as my arm. It was completely white and gleamed with a mysterious energy that resonated with...
"Harmony?"
"Yes, this is a Harmony Magic Grimoire," he said. "I made it myself. With this, you will be able to learn more about the element and how to conjure more spells."
"So that’s it!"
"And this is for you too," my mother said as she handed me another grimoire. This one looked rather sinister, with tiny fangs and red jewel eyes that shifted toward me once I held it. "This is a Demon Grimoire! It’s alive! It’s a pity that your Soul Sea is full. Once you grow stronger, you should turn this into your Soul Treasure alongside your daddy’s gift. Both are technically living items."
"Living items? Both?!" I asked, touching them. "WOAH?!"
FLASH!
The moment I touched them; I saw a glistening white light coming from one book and a black flame from the other. Darkness and light intertwined, connecting to my hand.
Two small tattoos appeared on my hands, resembling a red and a white jewel. The books reacted to these tattoos and disappeared, becoming one with me.
"Oooh?"
Apparently, I could summon and unsummon them at will even if they weren’t Soul Treasures yet.
"We’ve equipped the grimoires with a special storage spell," my father explained.
"Well, you could also tame them and turn them into your familiars..." my mother added. "Hmm, well, that’s how they were designed more than as Soul Treasures, I think."
"Yeah, did you get any message?" my father asked.
"Huh? Oh!"
Ding!
[Congratulations, you have successfully forged a familiar contract with the Living Grimoire: [Divine Grimoire of Harmony: Ariel – Rank 1: Level 0/100]!]
[Congratulations, you have successfully forged a familiar contract with the Living Grimoire: [Demonic Grimoire of Chaos: Asmodeus – Rank 1: Level 0/100]!]
"That worked!" I said with a nod. I summoned the two Grimoires, and they began floating before me, looking at me with their jewel eyes. "They even have names... Ariel and Asmodeus. Do they talk?"
"Not yet," my father said. "They’re technically just made—babies. You’ll need to feed them materials too, like a Soul Treasure. Usually you only need to do that when a Familiar has to evolve, but these grimoires are special. They need to be fed Fantasium Crystals regularly."
"That’s how they level up," my mother added.
"I see. So I can just order a lot of Fantasium Crystals and—"
"No cheating," my mother shook her head. "Also, it’s better if they grow slowly alongside you. You don’t want a Familiar stronger than you yet. They can disobey you pretty easily."
"Ah, that doesn’t sound nice," I said. "Well, alright then. Thank you, Mom, Dad! I love them! I wonder what spells they come with. Can you two open up?"
The two books opened, revealing three Spells they could offer me.
Ariel offered: [Protective Shield], [Harmonious Mind], and [Celestial Cherubin].
Asmodeus offered: [Demon Bite], [Shadow Hand], and [Minor Curse].
"Oh, that’s more than I imagined..." I nodded.
"If you learn a Spell enough, it could turn into a Magic Skill," my father explained.
"Magic Skills can do more than the original spell and can evolve," my mother added. "Eventually, you can combine them to create stronger Skills."
"Ohhh..." I nodded. "Sounds awesome."
"For now, let’s go eat. Aren’t you hungry?" my mother asked.
"A little!"
"Alright, let’s move then," my father agreed.
We sat down around a large table, where I was served a huge piece of birthday cake filled to the brim with fresh fruit. It was delicious.
I also snacked on many other dishes the chefs had prepared, and I had a lot of fun until night finally came.
"Hmm, I need something to store all this stuff though," I groaned.
However, there was a small problem I was facing right now. Where was I supposed to store all my items?
"Mom, Dad, is there no inventory or something?" I asked.
"Inventory?" my father asked. "The System offers no inventory. What are you talking about?"
"But you could purchase a special System Privilege that would allow you to have a growing Inventory," my mother explained.
"Growing Inventory?" I asked.
"Yes, it would grow in space alongside you," my father said. "That’s as much as you can get for now, little lady."
"Umm, can’t you get me a super huge spatial ring? I mean, we’re rich..." I muttered.
My father nodded. "I suppose I can craft you something. The thing is, inventory items tend to always get robbed, and everything inside... well, it goes to the robber."
"Oh..."
"But if we make them like the grimoires..." my mother wondered. "Hmm, still, storage items are very rare. Your father might need a lot of materials to make a proper one."
"Yeah," he said. "I don’t have any storage item myself, just Pandora."
"Pandora?" I asked.
My father opened his hand and suddenly summoned a large living treasure chest—a mimic monster! It was purple and red with big jewel-like eyes, a long tongue, and sharp teeth. It looked utterly gnarly.
"What is that thing?!" I asked in disbelief.
"This is my Spirit," he said. "It’s a special kind of Treasure Chest Mimic Spirit I... uh, that once belonged to someone else. I obtained it fair and square through a duel. Though his friend Arthur still holds a grudge against me over it."
"Eh?"
Did he just say he stole it? That was definitely not something from the game.
"You can get around such problems with something like this. That’s what I’m trying to say," he continued. "I store most of my things inside Pandora."
"Graawwr!" Pandora extended her long tongue and stole my fries, eating them.
"Hey!"
"It’s a glutton too, sorry," my father said as he unsummoned the spirit. Pandora disappeared.
"Well, I’m a little jealous now..." I sighed. "But whatever. I’ll see if I can buy that inventory from the System... Um, wait, I do have that System assistant spirit... I’ll see what she can do later."
After the birthday party ended, we said goodbye to everyone as they returned to their homes. My parents helped me take a bath before bed.
"Good night, Elizabeth."
"Good night, dear."
After giving me kisses and leaving, I was finally alone in my room. Yes, I had my own room now. I wasn’t sleeping in a little cradle anymore either. I had my own big bed.
"Finally alone..." I sighed.
"You sure are spoiled, huh?" Mongrel appeared by my side. "It’s unbelievable."
"Shut up," I said. "You’ve barely grown these past years. What do you even need to get bigger?"
"I need Nightmare Stones!" he said angrily. "I can feel them though... Hmm, they’re germinating well! Soon a lot of people will start exploding! Hahaha!"
"What?!" I asked.
"Ah, no, never mind what I said..." He looked elsewhere.
"You’re definitely going to explain to me what you meant by that!" I grabbed him and started pulling his tentacles.
"Gaaaaack! This is abuse! Stop abusing me, you big bully!!!"
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