Episode 40
Hmm. It’s good that I’ve revamped and improved the magic, but it’s a bit of a pain that there’s no way to test this new and improved magic.
And I can’t just go teaching something that hasn’t been tested yet.
You know, testing and debugging are kind of crucial steps after making anything. Hmm… I need a testbed…
But if I use it myself, it won’t create the same environment as when a lizardman uses it. Hmm… What to do?
If I were a lizardman, it would be a lot simpler, but unfortunately, I’m not one…
Hmm? Wait a second.
If I’m not a lizardman… then can’t I just become one?
Changing with polymorph… that would just change the appearance; the essence wouldn’t change, making it hard to achieve the same results.
Should I try creating a clone instead? A clone… Hmm… Sounds good!
I nodded slightly.
There’s nothing I can’t create with my power of creation, so let’s whip up a lizardman.
And if I connect my consciousness to it and make it a clone, that might just work!
Fortunately, there are plenty of lizardman blueprints. Just pick one randomly, copy it, and make it.
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So, I created a lizardman. The sleek lizardman with silver scales turned out looking pretty darn good!
Awesome. The body is ready. Now, if I could just connect my mind to this body… Hmm… I’ll link the main body and the clone with magic. Should I call it mental synchronization magic?
The lizardman, who was practically dozing off, slowly opened its eyes, and there I was in front of it.
No, my form was in front of… me. Uh-oh. The realization that both are me isn’t leaving my head. One mind. Two bodies. Hmmm…
Synchronizing them isn’t going to be easy, especially for the main body.
Moving the clone isn’t too much of a hassle, but moving the main body seems to leave me short on resources for the clone. Am I concentrating too much on moving the main body and neglecting the clone?
Well, I don’t need to move both right now, so let’s just keep going. If I need improvements, I can fix that next time.
But why do I feel like I could form a body using pure magic even without my creation powers?
Of course, it drains a massive amount of magic, so ordinary beings wouldn’t dare try it, and the body made this way has way less ability compared to the amount of magic consumed, making it pretty useless.
But what if we’re talking about beings that go beyond simple creatures? For those being treated as Spirit Kings… could it be possible?
Hmm. Now that I think of it, it’s been ages since I snagged scales from the other kids, aside from Erebus… Even if giving them back is a no-go, wouldn’t sharing this much be alright?
With this method, even if I create a body, the performance limitations mean I won’t cause a ruckus like before.
Using a ton of magic to form a body and connecting a mind to create a clone… Magic? Can I really call this magic? The amount of magic needed is ridiculous—humans and even elves would struggle to use it.
Anyway, I’m going to name this method… Avatar.
Considering how much magic it consumes, you’d have to be god-level to even use it.
After breaking the connection with the lizardman clone, I started tweaking the lizardman here and there.
I changed its race to human, tried making it an elf, a dwarf… Hmm. Beastkin work too! It’s just like customizing a character in a game!
I can change its looks… Is gender change a no-go? Hmm… Well, does it really matter?
Oddly enough, even in human form, horns seem to come as standard like during polymorph, but I can remove them whenever… Though it feels like removing the horns reduces the overall power the Avatar can exert a bit.
Well, how often would I even need to use the clone’s power anyway? If I need power, I’ll use the main body. Um.
Anyway, after turning the clone back into a lizardman, I began testing out the magic I’d improved.
Magic that allows a spirit to possess a body. I possessed the body of the lizardman with a super compliant fire spirit.
“Body! Fresh body!!”
Spirits, especially those who were once dragons, seem to crave the days when they had physical bodies, getting totally absorbed into the lizardman body I created.
Then, the lizardman’s body started to blaze like it was on fire. Hmm… When a spirit possesses a body, that body gets way closer to being a spirit itself.
First off, the performance is fantastic. Since the body is half-spirit now, it can brush off almost all physical attacks.
It feels a bit like those nature fruit powers in a certain pirate manga, right? Of course, against super strong attacks that could harm the spirit itself, there’s not much I can do.
Plus, the attributes of the spirit being possessed perfectly show, so if a fire spirit is possessing it, every move is bursting with flames.
And let’s just skip over the fact that if it’s a wind spirit, it could fly through the sky.
But, if the spirit doesn’t steal the body or gets friendly enough, it shouldn’t be a problem. Or if I completely subdue the spirit so it can’t resist, that would work too.
If there isn’t enough interaction, the spirit might want to snatch the body back, and the power can vary widely depending on the spirit being possessed. But this technique is definitely solid.
There are minor issues like the lizardmen’s low magical power limiting how strong a spirit can be… But that’s something I could fix by teaching the lizardmen some simple meditation techniques to gather up magical power.
If the user has friendly relationships with multiple spirits… Hmm, could they possess several at once? That’s something I’m curious about.
But getting close to all those spirits wouldn’t be easy. Spirits are like moody kids who can be hard to convince.
Wait. Spirits are… listening?
In that moment, a lightbulb flickered on in my mind, illuminating one big idea.
The talent of an archmage. That means… the ability to communicate with spirits and become friends quickly, right? Some kind of social skill?
No, calling it social skill sounds off. A personality that connects easily? A talent? Like a capybara? Hmm…
Or maybe it’s a talent for babysitting? I’d have to gently coax the whimsical spirits into becoming friends…
If I can soothe the spirits more easily, I could wield magic way better.
I chuckled softly to myself.
A mage’s aptitude being social skills… How in the world did we get here? But, getting closer to spirits has loads of benefits, so it could be a good thing, right?
If it’s a powerful spirit, it could mess with the environment or weather. A top-notch mage could charm such spirits out of what they need.
Hmm. It might even prove handy for rituals like rain prayers. To fix droughts or to halt rain before a flood happens. Individual lizardmen might have little magic, but spirits would happily lend their power for a pal.
Right. Now that I’ve decided all this, I should pick one of the lizardmen with stellar social skills and name them the Archmage.
While thinking this over, I opened GodTalk and realized something that piqued my curiosity.
At the bottom of GodTalk are a few buttons. One looks like a speech bubble, so I get it’s for the current message window…
But what’s up with the star-shaped button next to it?
I pressed the star shape with my finger and watched as the message list switched to a different window.
Yggdrasil. Sagarmatha. And the name Shamash lit up on the screen. It looked like a list of gods or something in a messenger app.
Ah, got it. This screen shows a list of gods.
But Shamash? I can get the other two, but why Shamash? What’s that kid doing here?
Hmm… Is belief in Shamash spreading among humans? Naturally, honoring the light that dispels darkness makes sense…
Ahem, not that it really matters. Having one more god to look after humans isn’t a bad thing.
Favoritism? Yeah, it is favoritism… but what can I do?
Without a little favoritism… humans might just get pushed aside by other races and disappear.
We can’t let humans, who only have the advantages of being spread far and wide and having a large population, go extinct like that.
Because a part of me that was human long ago is telling me to help them.
That’s why I favor humans.
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