While waiting for the spaceship to be finished, Rian decided to test his own powers. Since arriving in this world, he had only ever used the power of the Staff of Avanheim and the Sword of Primordial Chaos, but never his own abilities directly.
So, this time he was going to conduct an experiment. Rian looked at a large Beast Monster standing not far from him. The monster looked like a combination of a Komodo dragon and a dragon, except it had no wings. Only its sharp teeth and its tough, blackish-yellow skin were visible.
"Go for it, Lord Arthur!" A cute cheer from a little girl sounded from beside him. Rian smiled at the little girl.
He thought about what spell he should use. Ahh, I'll just use that one. Rian extended his hand toward the Beast Monster, which was now running toward him.
THUD! THUD! THUD! The ground trembled and shook under the giant monster's footsteps.
"Ninth-Sequence Magic: Black Hole."
When Rian finished speaking the words, a black magic circle with various runes inside it appeared at the tip of his palm. The magic circle then pulled in on itself, transforming into a pitch-black orb. Surrounding the orb was a white sheath.
Rian aimed the orb at the Beast Monster, then launched it at high speed.
The moment the black orb touched the Komodo Dragon's massive body, the white sheath surrounding it shattered. WHOOOSH! Instantly, an incredibly powerful suction force erupted. The Komodo Dragon couldn't even last a second and vanished completely, as if it had been teleported.
The black orb disappeared immediately after devouring the Komodo Dragon.
So, magic works the same way? No, there is a change, but it's minor. The Black Hole should still be usable. In the game, this spell didn't just disappear after one use; it could be used three more times.
He often used this spell in the game to clear out large numbers of enemies, like ant monsters.
"As expected of you, My Lord! That spell just now killed my Level 90 Beast Monster instantly!" Lily exclaimed in awe of her master. Her dinosaur tail wagged back and forth rapidly, showing her excitement.
Seeing that, Rian smiled, then quickly apologized. "I'm sorry for killing your Beast Monster. I only meant to leave it on the brink of death. But who knew this Black Hole spell was so powerful." Rian crouched down and gently stroked Lily's soft hair with his right hand, smiling.
Lily shook her head. "You don't have to apologize, My Lord. I'm the one who should be blamed for providing such a weak *Beast Monster*." She bowed her head slightly.
Hearing that, Rian frowned. This is one of the traits of the Avanheim NPCs I don't like. This self-deprecating nature, to the point of blaming themselves, even for things that have nothing to do with them.
He placed both his hands on Lily's small shoulders. "No. I'm the one who should apologize. And Lily, if you haven't done anything wrong, you should never take the blame for it," Rian said, looking seriously into Lily's eyes.
"But… everyone else does it," Lily murmured.
"Don't follow everyone else. Be yourself. Isn't that better?" Rian asked softly.
Lily looked into Arthur's eyes with a serious expression that looked cute and adorable on her face. "I understand. I'll try."
"Now, that's good." Rian patted Lily's head again. "In that case, let's continue our magic practice."
He immediately stood up and walked to where the Beast Monster had been.
Rian bent his body, then crouched. He picked up a handful of dirt and felt it between his fingers. "Completely gone…."
"What is it, My Lord?" Lily asked, confused, tilting her head.
"No, it's just… it's a shame we don't have a human or at least a Lizardman," Rian muttered to himself.
"What does My Lord need with such lowly creatures?" Lily asked innocently, her large, round eyes looking incredibly cute.
Ah, her too? Rian looked at the innocent gaze coming from Lily, a stark contrast to her words just now. I can't blame her, either. Most of Avanheim's residents have a negative justice value.
In Avalon, this feature wasn't actually that important, just an extra bit of decoration. Besides, the level of AI the NPCs had in Avalon wasn't much different from other games of its time. Although it was updated over the years, it still didn't have much of an effect on combat.
But now, for some reason, Avanheim had become real, and all the settings in the game had become real along with it.
"Lily, what's your opinion of humans?" Rian asked gently. The evening sunlight shone on the two of them, casting long shadows on the ground.
"I think… they're lowly creatures," Lily answered cheerfully, her feet shyly scuffing the dirt.
"Why is that?" Rian bent down to be at Lily's height.
Lily began to tell her story in a childish tone. "Humans often fight with each other. They kill and slaughter their own kind just to satisfy their greed. They also take other people's land, other people's precious things. They're never satisfied with what they have. My creator, Lady Fitria, once told me about a war humans started. They came to someone else's land and said that God had given them this empty land. They slaughtered millions of the native people, enslaved them, and exploited the resources that should have belonged to them. They lived there for thousands of years, and when they were discovered by humans from another continent, they went extinct in less than 200 years. Creatures like that are lowly and barbaric; they deserve to be wiped out!"
Lily clenched her small fists, an angry expression on her cute face.
Rian was stunned for a moment, then he smiled. His right hand stroked Lily's small head. "Not all humans are like that," he said softly. "And… Lily, you shouldn't judge an entire people based on stories from others, even if Fitria was the one who told you. You have to see and feel it with your own eyes. Experience it for yourself, find out if it's really like the story says. Only after that are you free to make your choice. And besides, if we do what you said, what's the difference between us and them?"
Rian's blue eyes shone with gentleness. The orange sunlight illuminated his face, while the evening breeze gently moved his hair.
For a moment, Lily was silent, unsure how to answer.
Seeing this, Rian took Lily's small hand. "I still have more magic to show you, you know."
"Right! I still want to see Lord Arthur's amazing magic!" Lily shouted happily. She leaped into Rian's arms with joy. Although she didn't fully understand what her master had meant just now, she felt it was something very important.
"Alright, Lily, let's try another spell," Rian said as he tried to release the little girl's hug.
Lily puffed out her cheeks, a little annoyed at being released from her master's warm embrace.
Rian pretended not to see Lily's angry look. He stood up and walked to the edge of the forest not far from the training ground.
What I just said… was so embarrassing! Rian covered his face with both hands, trying to hide his shame. Good thing it was just Lily. If it had been Belial or Emma, they would have definitely thought I was a leader trying to act all wise and philosophical.
Imagining the disgusted look they might have given him made Rian shudder.
"Phew…." Rian sighed, then looked at the dense forest before him, thinking about what spell he wanted to use. Thanks to his rare Job, Abyss Magic King, his character could learn any elemental magic except for the Light element. But among all of them, he was most proficient in Darkness element magic, especially the magic of the Fallen Angel race.
"I'll just try that."
As he thought of the spell he wanted to use, a black magic circle with dark runes appeared before him. Inside the circle, disgusting black bubbles began to appear, like boiling water.
A black fluid with a pungent, rotten smell poured out of the magic circle and fell to the ground. The magic circle vanished as the strange black fluid fell.
The fluid continued to writhe on the ground. Soon, it began to change shape into a skeleton wearing broken black knight's armor. Its right hand held a rusty sword, and its left hand held a rusty black chain. Its abdomen showed dried muscles clinging to bone, while its face, nothing but rotting brown flesh, stared blankly with two glowing red dots in its eye sockets.
Rian took a step back and covered his nose with his fingers, trying to hold back the pungent smell of a corpse coming from the Zombie Knight.
I didn't expect… the effect of this spell would be so different in the real world. In the game Avalon, the 'Summon Magic: Zombie Knight' spell came out of the ground through a magic circle, like a corpse rising from its grave. But here… it's kind of disgusting.
Besides, it stinks! It smells like the flesh of a corpse that has been rotting for a very long time. Rian looked at the Zombie Knight, which was still standing there, awaiting orders, with a complicated expression.
Back when it was still a game, he often used this spell to create an army of zombies, because the Zombie Knight had a passive skill that could turn anyone it killed into its zombie follower. With this method, Rian used to turn an entire village in Avalon into a sea of zombies. He thought it was a lot of fun. Of course, the consequence was that he gained a negative effect of hostility from the faction that managed that village. The passive skill also only worked on targets below Level 30, so it wasn't very useful against players or bosses.
Lily also covered her small nose to avoid the rotten smell.
"Hmm, what should I do?" Rian muttered. *If only there was someone to use as a target, I'd like to see this Zombie Knight in action.*
Oh, right. I also want to try out my Class and Sub-Class.
He remembered his very specific Class and Sub-Class, which focused on death and the Abyss. His current Class was Ruler of Death, a Class he obtained after evolving into the Abyss King of Fallen Angel race. His two initial Classes were just Mage, then Death Mage, and now Ruler of Death.
And his Sub-Class: Abyss Evolution.
So, this time he wanted to use the ability from that Sub-Class.
"Lily, step back a little," he requested.
Lily nodded obediently and immediately moved back twenty meters.
Alright… let's just use it.
"Unique Skill: Abyss Evolution!" Rian shouted softly as he activated his ability.
At first, nothing happened. But then, something strange began to occur.
Within a ten-meter radius, the ground around them began to tremble. The Zombie Knight suddenly began to scratch and claw at itself. Thick black blood flowed from its wounds. The zombie looked as if it were possessed, continuously tearing at itself while letting out a horrifying, shrill scream.
Rian felt a little horrified watching it. "What's happening to it?" He backed away slowly, keeping his distance from the crazed Zombie Knight.
Rian soon noticed a biological change and a surge of mana in the Zombie Knight. He saw new flesh begin to grow from the half-skeletal body, covering its rotten bones.
And that wasn't all. He also noticed that the grass around him was growing at an unnatural rate. Some even mutated, turning into man-eating tree monsters, complete with sharp teeth and horrifying, gaping mouths.
"This…?" Rian looked confused at the scene before him.
In the game, this had never happened. The Unique Skill: Abyss Evolution only changed the creature affected by it, not other creatures in the vicinity.
And that wasn't all. The Zombie Knight, which originally had only half flesh on its skeleton, had now drastically changed into a fully fleshed, rotting figure. Its face now more closely resembled a human's, with two goat horns growing from its head and a pair of black bat-like wings spreading from its back. Its rusty sword had turned into a reddish-black blade, its eyeballs now had demonic pupils, and its originally broken armor had become a glowing red armor.
It… evolved? Rian stared at the drastic change in the Zombie Knight's appearance. This never happened in the game! Back then, when I used this skill on other creatures, they only gained additional abilities from the Abyss, without such a striking change in appearance.
This is like it changed its race entirely, Rian thought seriously, observing the effect of his skill's change. But it seems I haven't lost control of it… no, it's more accurate to call it a Demon Zombie Knight now, maybe.
Rian could still feel the Master-Slave contract connection from the Demon Zombie Knight before him. In fact, the bond felt even stronger.
"Usually, summoned monsters disappear after a certain period of time. But I wonder if you will disappear too." Rian then saw the man-eating plants begin to writhe, aiming their sharp stems toward him and Lily. "But for now, I have to clean up this mess first."
"My Lord! My Lord! Let me be the one to annihilate these lowly creatures, who dare to aim their attacks at a Supreme Being!" Lily walked quickly to Rian's side. Her reptilian tail stood on end, and her cute face showed an angry expression as she looked at the man-eating trees with hatred.
"No need. Besides, I want to test his strength." Rian turned to the Demon Zombie Knight, which was looking at him, as if awaiting an order.
"Demon Zombie Knight, attack that creature!" Rian commanded, pointing to the man-eating tree that was beginning to uproot itself to approach them.
Hearing the command, the Demon Zombie Knight immediately roared and ran toward several man-eating trees, then swung its sword. However, its sword slash was immediately parried by one of the tree's roots.
Oh? Rian narrowed his eyes.
The man-eating tree took a deep breath, then shot several black orbs that had grotesque faces and mouths. The black orbs also had red pollen in their centers.
The Demon Zombie Knight cut through all the launched black orbs. When the orbs were cut, they instantly spewed yellowish pollen into the air. Rian immediately backed away at the sight.
"Lord Arthur, it seems those strange black orbs contain poisonous pollen!" Lily exclaimed, pointing.
"It's not that simple. Poison wouldn't have this effect." Rian saw some of the pollen gather together and form a kind of strange little creature. The creature was humanoid, yellow, with a deformed face.
The small creatures immediately ran toward the Demon Zombie Knight's legs. Then, when they reached them, their bodies suddenly emitted an orange light.
BOOM!
The small creatures exploded.
"Those little creatures seem to be carrying out a suicide attack, My Lord," Lily said, holding her chin as if pondering why the creature exploded.
"Yes. A truly interesting creature. I've changed my mind." Rian shouted at the Demon Zombie Knight, which was angry and about to cut down the damn tree in front of it. "Demon Zombie Knight, stop!"
He knew, of course, that such a small explosion wouldn't hurt his Demon Zombie Knight, which was now Level 55, up fifteen levels from before.
Rian immediately extended his hand toward the man-eating tree, which was still attacking with its dozens of sharp roots.
"Dimensional Prison."
A blue magic circle appeared in the air and immediately formed a small, beautiful, transparent blue cube. The cube opened and shot toward the man-eating tree.
Sensing danger, the tree immediately launched black orbs and attacked with its roots. But its efforts were futile. The cube didn't budge at all, then enlarged and swallowed the tree whole, before shrinking back to its original size. Inside, Rian saw the tree was now calm, unable to move at all.
Dimensional Prison was a Sequence Nine spell. Its effect allowed the caster to seal or imprison something inside it. Back in the game, he often used this spell to hold a troublesome enemy while he finished off the weaker ones first. But it seemed that in this world, this spell worked differently. Usually, he would see a countdown timer above the cube, but now there was none.
"Just how many spells have changed?" Rian muttered. He bent down, picked up the cube, and put it in his inventory.
He turned to Lily. "For now, that's enough practice. And as for him…." Rian turned toward the Demon Zombie Knight, which was still standing still. If I don't command it, it won't move, huh?
"I'll leave him to you, Lily."
Rian patted Lily's head. With Lily's height of only 155 cm and his own current height of about 180 cm, he could do it easily.
"Leave it to me, Lord Arthur! I will definitely take good care of this Undead!" Lily exclaimed with a confident expression, a small smile on her lips.
Seeing that, Rian nodded. "In that case, I'm off." After saying his farewell, Rian teleported away instantly.
Watching her master's shadow disappear, Lily looked at the Undead. "What should I do with you, huh?" she said with a confused expression on her cute face.
Then, a small dinosaur emerged from Lily's pocket and whispered to her.
"You're right," Lily said with a smile to her familiar, who was now perched on her shoulder.