The queen was an interesting character.

Emphasis on ‘interesting’. Lots of emphases. Make it a little bit sarcastic as well.

She laughed loudly as we came into the room, merrily talking in normal voices. The guards went silent upon walking into the room and I dispelled my mana words, but that couldn’t help us stop our laughs. Jokes in this world are actually pretty good.

After we all managed to stifle our laughter, the queen continued for a minute.

“I can’t believe it… I arrest a child and he comes in laughing with his captors!” She was practically rolling on the ground with mirth.

“I’m sorry?” I apologized, thinking I did something wrong. I was still standing while the guards were bowing. I was confused enough to not use my mana to speak.

After she recovered, her smile didn’t disappear. She leaned back in the throne, seeming very relaxed in front of somebody who had mana floating about them.

“So, you are the one who can use solid mana. I’ve also heard that you have the nickname of ‘Demon Child’.” She playfully teased.

“You seem to know a lot about a commoner like me,” I mentioned, wondering exactly how she managed.

“Indeed. You haven’t bought anything from a shop in the city for almost a ten-day. It made it very difficult to track you down. Luckily I have a few good friends down in the city.” The entire conversation was very serious, spoken in a joking tone. The very irony of being poor stopping me from getting caught was hilarious.

“So, what is it you would like from this poor commoner?” I made a sarcastic bow.

“I… I don’t think I’ve ever seen a sarcastic bow before…” The queen was actually speechless.

“I’m glad I was your first. Now, what would you like from me? I do assume you didn’t call me out all the way across the city just to have a nice tea party.” Sarcasm seemed to be a trend, following me like a trained dog.

“I wanted to know what you have learned about Effret. And have some tea.” A serious atmosphere attempted to surface. It genuinely failed.

“Hmm? Most of her stats and skills were hidden. I couldn’t have seen much if I wanted to.” I paused, thinking back to everything I knew about her. “Well, there was also that corruption on her race, meaning she isn’t human… Oh! She can read moods!” I thumped a closed fist on an open palm as if I had thought of something extremely important, while spouting off stupid things.

“So you did realize that she wasn’t human…” The queen seemed amused as she raised her hand as if signaling something. “Her race was hidden behind a magic that needs over 250 perception to read past. With that amount of progress, you can’t be human…”

“What? My perception is only, like, 150. There’s no way I could have seen past it.” I commented, giving pause to her hand.

“Then, what is this ‘corruption’ you speak of?”

“How should I know? Maybe the spell is wearing off, or something.” I suggested, shrugging my shoulders while doing my best to keep my eyes away from that hand.

The hand fell to her chin as if she was in deep thought. I knew the pose quite well. After all, it was probably the only unconscious pose I made.

“Actually… that’s a plausible explanation. Effret, how long ago was the spell refreshed?” The queen asked, looking slightly upwards.

“Umm… Around a month ago… Yes, a month and 6 days ago. Should it really be wearing off if it’s supposed to take mana from me to keep itself active?”

“It is supposed to take mana from the purest source, so if somebody has a much purer mana, but not enough to keep it active, I suppose his story works out.”

I looked to where she was looking, attempting to find my teacher. I couldn’t find her at all, so I obviously did something stupid.

Pulling Eve closer to me, I used [Mana Eye]. It took a few seconds, but my mana was spreading through the room now. The mana quickly covering the floor, I should be able to find her if she’s standing. The queen's hand was in the air, ready to signal something. I heard a buzzing noise from above.

[Mana Eye] showed me nothing. She wasn’t standing on the floor, so where was she? My mana began to slowly rise, scanning through every molecule of the air. About 30 feet above the ground, nothing but air underneath, there was a pair of feet. I focused my mana over to it, trying to figure out what they were using to float up there.

Small thin wings, some sort of dust floating off them. They reminded me of a bee’s wings, mixed slightly with butterfly wings. What did I do then, you ask?

I stole them.

My mana flowed into the wings, {Molecular Mana} and {Mana Construct} working in unison to help me create the wings just as they are. I drained my 20 mana bracelet within a few seconds, so I tapped into my 800 that I had in my body. It worked splendidly, mana congealing around my back, fusing with me, making nerves first. I had to copy my own nervous system as well, merging the mana together in a large two mana cluster so the information overlayed. Obviously this wasn't perfect, ending with more pain than it normally would be. Muscles followed the nerves, the fresh air on them making for quite the painful experience. I had to stop a few times, the pain so intense it knocked me out of my meditative state. But I was always quickly back in it, not even seeing anything of the world around me. The buzzing got louder in accordance with my screaming.

An hour was all it took. The nerves fully fused with mine, the muscles flexing in tune with my heartbeat. The membrane flowed slowly, the bursts of wind coming from the movements proving their power. I didn’t exactly like how they were shaped, so I used the knowledge from molecularly scanning real wings to build my own from scratch.

I wild grin was on my face as I felt the tingling sensation on my back, meaning the nerves were connecting with my brain. Once it disappeared, I could sense the wings on my back in the same way that you can sense your leg, even though it’s not in your view. The slight breeze in the room, caused by my own massive wingspan, tickled my wings.

The queen had been watching the entire time, hand up. But now it dropped, as did her mouth. It seemed she had been waiting the entire time for me to finish. I'm not sure why she would wait, unless she saw that I meant no harm. Flashing my trademark smirk at her, I looked to where the person with the wings was. I bowed, sincerely this time.

“Thank you for letting me steal your wings,” I announced, waiting for a reaction.

I got one from Eve.

“Brother, did you really just use an entire hour to make wings? Did that not hurt? Don't even try to tell me it didn't, because you were screaming quite loudly at the end there. What would you even use wings that large for?”

I looked to the ceiling, a few hundred feet up. The grin came back as I thought of something. I pulled on my left arm, the one that was holding Eve. She stumbled slightly, right into my waiting arms. With her princess carried, I flapped the wings with a large torrent of wind.

I was launched into the air, towards the ceiling, at an astonishing pace. Eve was screaming again, but I tuned it out. Extending my wings so they were parallel to the ground, our flight slowed to a fall. A very slow fall, more of a glide, but a fall nonetheless. A small twitch of the wings was all it took to stay in the air. I remembered the dust, so I activated my mana again. It seemed there were organs inside the membrane, no larger than a capillary, that produced a form of dust. The dust itself was more of a sort of gunpowder. It ignited with a spark, exploding in a raging fury. But the wings produced it as a placeholder, throwing it down with such force it stopped a downward fall.

I stayed about 50 feet above the ground, floating there and looking down upon everybody. I certainly felt badass, like a god reigning over his tiny subjects. Chuckling to myself at the thought, I remembered what I wanted to ask of the royalty here.

After floating to the ground, “So, I have two requests of you.” Eve rushed a few steps away from me, but not going too far. It seemed she was afraid of heights.

“What?” The queen was confused.

“I have two requests of you,” I repeated.

“You… are requesting something from the queen?”

“No, two things.”

“...I’m not sure whether I should deny you or tell you to prove yourself. See, we have a system that the king grants one wish if you manage to do something for him. Some of the requests are pretty hard, like creating a large mana stone, or entertaining him.” An explanation, how interesting. Even more interesting that she considered it. I didn't expect it to be this easy.

“Alright. So, where is the king? I’ll have to ask him what he wants from me.” I started looking around as if I would find him just standing around.

“He’s in his private quarters, probably studying on that stupid book again. I’ll go call him.” The queen stood, completely taken in by my flow.

After she was gone, I looked back to the Fairy who had not moved all this time. I waved.

“Hey Effret, how are you? Do we have a substitute for class today?” I asked, completely ignoring that she was a fairy. She floated down to me, very slowly. But I am a patient man.

“I forget you are but a child… you have no hatred towards us. You probably don’t know what we did, do you? You probably don't even care that I'm the fairy queen."

“Hmm? Are you talking about the war? Sure, you killed a few million people and carried it on for an extra 1000 years. I know enough about this world.”

“But… You show no hatred towards the fairy queen…?”

“If you were put into that time, would you do the same thing?”

“Of course not.”

“Then do tell me how hating you in any way would be justified.”

“But what if I would?”

“Then do tell me how hating you in any way would solve anything.”

“But what if I don’t know?”

“Tell me something.”

“What?”

“Do you want to be hated?”

“No…”

“Do you believe you deserve it?”

“Somewhat…”

“Do you believe you, specifically, deserve it?”

“No…”

“Then tell me why I should hate you. I don’t have a reason for it. I don’t have justification. And most of all, I’ve seen you before. You didn’t do anything wrong, Fairy Queen Effret Loli.”

Just as a little sidenote, it was extremely difficult to say that with a serious face. I’m not really used to telling people good things about themselves. It has been previously mentioned, but I’m not all that great with words.

“Will you tell anyone? About my identity?” She was tearing up, the tears not quite falling yet.

“No? Why would I? I’m just a kid, I only have forty some perception.” I feigned ignorance, shrugging my shoulders. Effret giggled, realizing the intention behind my words.

“Thanks, Rayne.”

“What do you mean, the demon child is here?” A voice boomed. Male, by the tone.

“Exactly as I said. He’s asking for two favors, it seems.” A female voice this time, definitely not the queen. This voice was shaky and light, like a cornered animal.

The doors, held on the right wall, burst open. I continued meditating, not really bothering with the intrusion. I would have pet my fox, but it seemed to have run away again. Actually, I don’t remember bringing her with me.

I focused my attention on the person I could only assume was the king. Dark purple eyes gave him quite the look of royalty. It was only helped along the way by the clothes and stature. He stood nearly 7 feet tall, his shoulders broad and boxy. His muscles were clearly visible through his clothes. The clothes themselves were stretched taut from the strain, but clearly very expensive. Golden inlays lined the entire set, with lines as thin as hair floating about and connecting to various pieces. They reflected the light inside the huge building, making something that looked almost like an aura of radiance. Black and white were mixed together, eerily reminding me of that one space where I met the god.

“So, are you the demon child? Son of the witch? What would you like from me?” The king asked.

“Two favors.” I refused to give him information.

“What are you willing to do for those two favors? You are asking something from a king, you realize. Even if I owe your mother.” The last part was muttered, but I could hear it.

“Mmh, I know. I’m not willing to do much, as these favors aren’t all that important, but sure, I’ll do whatever.” I took it in stride, nonchalantly looking at my bracelet. It had probably been a long time since somebody had spoken in such a way to the king.

A book was tossed at me. I caught it without looking.

“Tell me what spell this book is teaching me. No matter what, I can’t figure it out. It’s impossible for you.”

I looked at the book. It had a black leather cover, with scratches on the inside of it. Looking at it, I put some mana into it. [Mana Eye] was activated just before I was knocked unconscious.

Pure black. Or maybe it wasn’t. A single color dark enough to seem like an endless abyss. It was all that filled my vision. But from inside that space, I could hear a voice. It wasn’t calming, it was a scratchy voice that grated on my ears. Like the dying words of somebody with a crushed throat. Perhaps that’s exactly what it was. Ignoring my complaining ears, I began to listen.

“Make sure it is only ¼ of a point of mana. Then, split it into 100 pieces at the same time. Each must not have the same amount of mana. Then, it’s up to you and your imagination. Pray to the gods before using this spell, as you will need the luck.” He was interrupted by a large fit of coughing. “This is all I can leave you, my daughter. I can only hope that you manage to carry out the Grahuda bloodline. Goodbye, Lilia. It was nice having you as a part of the family, even if you took away the others.”

A static noise, like a Tv losing its signal, ended the words. After waiting a minute, nothing happened. I began to attempt what the man was talking about. A single mana point split into 4. Set three to the side. Focus completely on that fourth one. Carefully examine it from every angle, making sure to also think of the mathematics to turn ¼ into 100 pieces without having a single replica portion.

Eventually, probably about 5 minutes or so, I felt confident enough with the numbers to go through with it. I had to do it all at once. So, with 100 tugs, each one carefully planned in strength, the mana split into 100 pieces. Then, something even I could not have expected happened.

A portal opened. Nothing happened to it, but it seemed to be draining my strength in large amounts. I thought quickly, trying to find a way to close the portal. I reached into it, feeling a large amount of warmth. I closed my hand and pulled, feeling some sort of resistance.

Everything around me was suddenly filled with color, spinning so fast it was impossible to keep your eyes on only one color. They mixed back and forth, like mini oceans with their own waves crashing into eachother.

It lasted a few seconds. Then it was back to the black. It began to crumble around me, having fulfilled its purpose. And then I was back. The king was still standing in the same place, Eve still beside me, the small girl hiding behind the king still there…

Wait, I don’t remember that last one. I began to think about everything that had just happened in that split second, but I was interrupted by a ding, followed by a window appearing.

New Skill!

Due to using the skill book: Last Words, you have gained the skill: Time and Space Control (1/40)

Achievement!

Having learned a tier 13 pure mana spell before 1 year old, you have achieved a feat of gods!

+823,332 experience.

You are now level 38!

For reaching over 35 levels in less than one second, you have achieved a feat of kings!

+1 full level, 1 remaining level.

You are now level 40!

Rewards!

For leveling up 37 times, you have gained attributes!

Luck has been triggered on (3) levels~!

+400 STR

+400 END

+4 LCK

+400 PER

+400 DEX

+400 AGI

+400 INT

+400 WIS

+40 LDS

+40 VIT

-80 FTH

Update!

Experience needed has changed to Experience, for complications in understanding percentages. Now, it shows Experience/Experience needed to level.

Next to me, I heard Eve gasp. She seemed to have gotten a window as well. I don’t know what’s on it, but it certainly seems surprising.

Then she started tearing up, giving me quite the start. Leaping at me, she tackled me to the ground in a hug.

“You did it! I don’t know what you did, but you did it!” She was yelling in my ears, causing me a bit of pain. I reached around her back with the hand that wasn’t holding the book.

“Calm down a little, I just got a spell. I’m not even sure if I’ll be able to cast it again, ever.”

“Wait, what? You say you learned a spell from that book? You’re lying! That book teaches no spell! My greatest sorcerers have thoroughly inspected it for any hints about a spell, without finding anything!” The king yelled at me. Honestly, I was quite offended. He was the one who asked me to find a spell in the book.

“Well, I found a spell in the book. I believe that counts for what you wanted. The spell it is trying to teach you is not actually a spell. It is the method of getting the spell.”

The king took a half step back as he looked at me. I was smirking at him like I was explaining something to a child.

“Now, for my favors. What should I do for the other one?”

The king took a full step forward, raising a hand as if to slap me. I just smiled at him, still sitting on the floor with Eve pressed to my chest. I quite certainly felt invincible.

Then he took a half step back, returning to his original position. He was smirking like he had thought of something extremely clever.

“I would like you… to fix my daughter’s shyness! Get her at least 4 friends at school! I’ll have her join your class tomorrow. The time limit is 20 days. I wish you luck, for you will need it.”

I sighed, looking around for her. It seems she wasn’t in the room. Although, what a turn of events. In one day I was arrested, met with the queen and king, learned a tier 13 spell, leveled up 37 times, spiked all of my stats by a few hundred, and made the arrangements for a princess to be my classmate.

“Alright, since I can’t start that until tomorrow, may I ask for my one favor now?” I asked, curious. It wouldn’t hurt to ask, right?

“Hmm? Sure, why not. Choose wisely, it’ll be the only one you get.” He smirked again, making me feel quite aggravated.

“Well then. I would like you, as the king, to…” I paused for a moment. What did I actually want from him again? “Well, before that, I want to know how much you care about the other races. Say, if I was a fairy, what would you do?” I asked, looking for a reaction.

There was none out of the ordinary. “I wouldn’t do anything. Unless I had the knowledge of you committing a crime, we would be talking just like this. I don’t care for any biased hatred.” He dismissed my concerns with a wave of his hand. I smiled at his answer.

“Well then, that being said, what if I told you I know a vampire? Even better, what if I told you he wanted an audience with you?” I smirked, successful in making sure nothing I said pointed to me.

“I would have an audience with them. I just said, I have no liking to biased hatred.”

My smirk became a grin as I beamed it at him. I pushed Eve slowly off me, standing up and bowing. Even Eve looked confused at my bow.

“Well then. Let me reintroduce myself.”

Vampiric urges consume you...

“My name is Rayne, a one-month-old Vampire. I had a not-so-friendly meeting with the god, and he happened to curse me on a whim. I assure you, I do my best to keep my blood levels full. I am quite in control at the moment.” I added the last two parts as a reassurance to his fearful face. I waved my arms as I spoke, a show of my control.

“What I would like from you is full access to all of the workers in this building, including your personal ones. I shall not touch them on purpose, as I only wish to learn their crafts. Maybe read a few books too. I do have some gods to talk to…” I trailed off into muttering to myself with the same pose the queen did a bit earlier. Pacing, I waited for a response. I received nothing of the sort, the silence was broken only by the tapping of my feet on the stone floor.

A few hours later I was skipping my way to school, quite happy with the results of some negotiation. I had surprised him so much from turning into my vampiric state that he didn’t hear my request, so I was able to change it into something else. He didn't even want to know about the spell, he was so distracted. Eve, afterward, told me about her experience. Checking my status, I did indeed have an effect with her name, a 'party effect'. I don't remember getting it, though...

Oh well. It'll all work out.

“Slow down Rayne! I didn’t level as far as you did! My agility isn’t that great!” Eve shouted from behind me. Without slowing down, I yelled back.

“Then this is a good time to train your skills! I haven’t had much time to train my mental side of the stats in a while because of you, so I’ll be working you until you collapse!” I gave out a fake maniacal laughter.

“So cruel!” She might have been telling the truth, but we were both laughing so much I didn’t care. I was still giddy from my new request.

‘Have me and Eve become King’s Guests. That amounts to something, right?’

I pretty much assured our safe and simple life. People wouldn’t dare attack the king’s guests, nor would they try to give them unfair treatment. Well, they might try and give us more than we should get, but that’s not a problem for me.

Hitting the gates to the school, I began the long climb. My hand was intertwined with Eve’s, pulling her along mercilessly. She had run all the way to here, while I was lightly jogging. Her stamina seemed quite low compared to mine.

Sighing when she nearly tripped, I picked her up. I could use her to level my strength, I suppose.

And… Onto the important stuff (Another Power’s POV)

Well, nobody wants to read about their miraculously boring slice of life anime life, so let’s skip forward a few million years.

Obviously, I’m kidding. This skip is only a few days. But that would be a whole few days full of nothing but meditating and talking to different people. There wouldn’t even be any erotism.

Alright, there might be a little erotism. But you can live without it. Probably.

The fourth wall? Oh, I punched it with rage a few chapters ago, offscreen. Kinda made a hole in it. Oh well, it’ll be fine.

Here we go!

Rayne awoke once again, a semi normal day. For now. A little bit of backstory to the backstory, a flashback in the prologue. Just a bit confusing when you put it that way, but oh well. He was robbed the day before, or earlier that day, I don’t remember. Some cutting of flesh followed. Actually, where the hell did he get his bandages from?

This story is filled with plotholes… What the hell is the author doing?

Anyway, some little pieces of sibling bonding. Then a stubborn decision that would end up with both of their deaths. Eve wanted to go to school. Really kinda sucks that it’s what killed them. After all, if they stayed at home Lilia couldn’t have killed them, as she was ordered to kill them as a ‘public execution’. Homes aren’t public.

But yeah, they went to school and some assholes showed up. Human trafficking. How nice. Oh, a one sided massacre. Even better.

This is boring. Let’s get to the fun parts, shall we?

Rayne finds the chained god, blah blah blah… 4617892 ‘demon child’ references… Mana stuff… Oh, here we go! The first time Rayne realized he had his skill and used it! It was on Elliot, in public. Mmmmh, lovely details…

Ah! Stop hitting me! I’m getting to it! Huh? I’ve wasted too much time? Why the hell didn’t you say that in the first place?

{I DID!}

*Loud crashing sounds can be heard from the background. No need to worry, though, just some technical difficulties.*

{Alright. Author here. Nice to meet you, my dear reader. ‘Another Power’, as he calls himself, will not be a part of this story anymore. I’ll be taking his job.}

{Well, anyway, we are indeed running out of time here. Or words, whatever you want to call it. Details were made to be ignored.}

{Seems like we have a few hundred words to go here, which is quite the conundrum. I can’t get into anything good with that much, but it’s too much for me to cover on my own. So, I’ll be repeating myself here, probably.}

{I guess I should offer an apology. I do realize exactly how bad this story is, with the many plotholes and over exaggerations where they are not needed. The horrible character build up, the general lack of setting, and the many contradictory points where things are actually explicitly stated. Therefore, I shall be continuing this story with the utmost of my ability, calling out my failures as “It’s my first story”. (Just saying, it isn’t really if you want to get technical...)}

{The next thing I should offer is some information. This is the 10th chapter if you count the first one as a prologue. And it will be the end of the first ‘arc’. I can only hope I used that one correctly… I may have experience in writing but not on using words to describe it. Somewhat contradictory, but that’s just how I am.}

{Well then, as somebody once said, ONTO THE ARC!}

{It was probably Noah, but who cares? I’ll be working much harder on paying attention to detail and characters in this next arc, so it’ll probably lower my speed by a few multiples. I don’t expect it to go below two chapters a week, ever, but it’ll probably drop to something between 4-5 a week instead of 8-9 like I have been doing.}

{Well then, this next one will be much longer than all the rest, so I give you luck on finding something to occupy yourselves until Monday or Tuesday Thursday (I'm rewriting a few bits). Author out!}