In front of a certain dungeon’s entrance, there stood a man.

He was somewhere in between his teens and twenties. His hair was black and messy, his eyes were green and his outfit flamboyant.

There was a red mantle with linings made of ermine furs draped loosely on his shoulders, a black choker with the embroidery of a skull and two crossed bones on his neck. The torso underneath was hid behind a strange woven sweater painted in all the colors of the rainbow that looked more like the cocoon of an eldrich monstrosity than something a person would put on. He also wore black skin-tight leather pants and black shoes on platform with very tall heels.

Somewhere around the area where his temples were a pair of curly ram horns were sticking out, and his nails were long and colored black.

Oh, and there was also a whip in his hands.

The scene was very dazzling to the point that no honest person would be able to look at it for long.

The name of that man was Victor Norma-

…

Cough, sorry, Ralph stole my narrative rights for a moment there.

Um… Eeeehhhh, what do I even… Hm, it’s, um, that’s… Eh…

Hello, everybody! This is Victor Morgan. You are probably wondering what is going on right now and how I got to this point.

Um, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have any special preferences or anything… You see, when I was preparing to raid the dungeon there was a problem with one of the spell matrices I was making at that time and it blew up right into my face. Yep, that’s exactly what happened.

It was a good thing that the spell wasn’t charged fully, else I would probably not have the luxury to narrate what I’ve been doing like this. Because, well, I would be dead again.

Anyway, even though the spell wasn’t very strong, it still put what I was wearing at that time on fire and what I was wearing at that time was all the clothes I had. Even the coat didn’t get away as I was working during the night and it was quite cold. Yeah…

So, I learned two valuable lessons then. First: don’t play around with the fundamental laws of nature when you have no idea what you are doing. Second: always prepare a proper environment for experimentation in case things go wrong.

That was good thing that I learned those two nuggets of wisdom at such a low price.

The bad thing was, I didn’t have any clothes left.

While it is summer right now and it’s not particularly cold, it’s still rather chilling in this particular part of the world I am in, so I naturally turned to my benefactor, the demon Aralthen Bo Trekkill.

And Ralph decided that it would be quite boring to just renew my clothes like this, so he gave me the outfit that I am in now.

So, I’m not wearing it because I like it or anything, okay?

It’s all Ralph’s fault. Yes. Definitely.

“There were two holes in your version of the story. First: if the reason you’re wearing it is because of the cold, isn’t your attire rather unfitting to fight the cold? Especially the choker and the horns. Second: why are you carrying the whip?”

It’s… Um…

“So, please don’t push the blame for your own shortcomings as an adult human on this righteous demon, you perverted brute!”

Cough, cough. It’s… Well, yeah…

Okay, the real story: a spell did blow up and left all my clothes in ashes. I asked Ralph for help and he, surprisingly agreed, he even gave me the freedom of choice on what to wear. Well, it was fine at first as I was quite conservative in my tastes in the beginning but as I continued picking out the various things that Ralph had presented to me there, I let myself loose and went a bit overboard.

I even asked Ralph to give me some fake nails and nail polish. And a whip to complete the ensemble.

What? It’s not like I’m the only person with interest in wearing strange things, there’re so many cosplayers on Earth, why can they wear all kinds of weird things and I can’t?

I ask for justice!

Cough, anyway, back then when I was picking the new clothes I maybe was subconsciously releasing all the accumulated stress I had. I mean I used to draw and paint all kinds of “abstract pieces of art” when faced with too much pressure back on Earth. My sister was kind enough not to laugh at those things and even praised some of them. What a good kid. Though it’s concerning how early she learned to lie so well… Anyway, I think that doing creative things to vent is a rather productive way of dealing with one’s own mental problems. Isn’t what I have done pretty much the same?

Yeah, so I don’t really regret it.

I think I might wear something like that when I get out of the forest later. Only I will tone the colors and themes down as I doubt that the population of this world will be as accepting of weird th-, innovative styles.

Now that the questions about my unconventional style are over with, let’s talk about my preparations!

For the spells, I have made 300 spell matrices of the type I have been able to come up with immediately after being able to make spells. Thing like a ball of fire, a spike of ice, a laser beam. Around 200 of them I have combined into four units that I used a newly designed matrix on.

The new matrix works quite simply: it connects various spells and activates them together in a way that synergizes them, allowing them to make a better performance by utilizing the ambient mana in the air. Well, the thing in the air isn’t mana per say, but more like a substance with special properties such as… Eh, whatever, it’s basically mana.

To put it simply, the new matrix can take two spells with their performance being 1 each and make it so 1 + 1 = 6. Something like this.

That one took a lot of effort and calculations on my part. Well, the formulas I am using aren’t that advanced and probably don’t describe the processes right but they do well enough to act as general guidelines.

Anyway the four units are: 50 fireballs, together called “Summer”. Summer gives a quick burst of extreme heat that can even melt stone in an area of around 20 square meters. It can be activated from a great distance manually or, if I switch its mode, it will become a powerful mine.

Next one is, 50 flying stone spikes, all directed in the same direction. I call it “Autumn”, mostly for the sake of the naming pattern I have chosen but also because the spikes kind of resemble falling leaves. I think. It may be good against a very powerful enemy or against a horde of enemies during an escape.

50 spells that lower the temperature. Around the same area of effect and deadliness as Summer, I call it “Winter”.

“Spring” is a bit unique. I was experimenting on a few animals I have caught in an attempt to learn life magic and, I don’t think I should use that branch of magic on myself yet. It has around the same area of effect as Winter and Summer, yet the effect is, I don’t even know how to describe it… “super cancer”? “turn into the monster from the movie “The Thing””? “Things get so buff they explode”? You pick.

And a hundred more basic spells for fighting.

Spells for convenience, like a ball of light or a ball of water. It’s a shame that the matter created from the elemental mana is unstable and it dissipates with time. Else I would be able to cook with the water or build a very sturdy home with the earth made from magic.

Then I have also various spells for concealment. You would think that spells for fighting would be the hardest to create as you need to control the area of effect and make sure that you won’t get hurt by your own spell and yet, concealment spells are the greatest in difficulty.

A spell that manipulates the airflow so that the sound gets reduced. Mostly done under Ralph’s guidance, I don’t think I’m able to create something so complex anytime soon all on my own. And it doesn’t neutralize all sound, it just reduces it a little. And can only hold for 30 seconds each time. And I have only six of those, so I’ll use them sparingly.

A spell that allows me to visually blend into the environment a little. Also done thanks to Ralph, have only one of it, will hold for 1 minute.

A spell that eliminates all smells by encasing my whole body in a thin film made out of a sticky substance. Needed to be activated once, then it will manipulate the chemical processes on its own and the effect will hold for a while after the spell is done. Should be enough for 2 days. Obviously all credit belongs to Ralph. I suddenly feel very useless. Should I go make another outfit?

Various spells that will make random flashes and sounds when and where I need them to. These made by me. Still harder than elemental spells somehow.

Apart from the spells I have also prepared some food and water and some furs if I need to sleep in the dungeon. Though it’s unlikely as Ralph said that the size of the dungeon isn’t much.

Ralph has been treating me so well that I feel that something bad is going to happen. I hope it’s just my imagination.