Alright, much better. So what is currently happening?

Hm, the mana clone is still here so it can’t have been too long. Simon doesn’t seem to be back yet. The Illusion of a Spell is gone however, so I assume it can’t stay around for much time at all.

What now? Hm, I don’t think I got the [Illusion Magic] skill most likely because [Self Reality] was supposed to be an Illusion spell but was turned into something else because of my titles.

I can try and make a stronger [Illusion of a Spell] but that seems dangerous and while I might be able to learn something, it isn’t as tempting as using [Self Illusion] on my mana body was.

I wonder where Cyrus is. He didn’t seem very happy with me going to the city of Talvisota. Oh well, I did what he asked and left the forest.

I don’t have anything to do. There is the option of leveling up my existing Illusion spells but that would take a lot of time since I can’t really level up and get Skill Points.

Wait, I thought of something, I need more mana because it’s useful but there are only two ways to get more mana, either Intelligence increasing my maximum mana or Wisdom increasing my mana regeneration. I can’t level up to get Stat Points nor can I train those stats because I don’t know how but I can use [Ancient Enchanting] since it’s level three now.

So how exactly do I make a better enchantment than the owl one? [Ancient Enchanting] makes it easier to create the enchantments but it doesn’t make them stronger. I would have to assume that the enchantment itself determines the effects.

Simon told me that owls are normally just regular animals which means they aren’t special and almost always stay at level one. If they by some magical chance manage to learn about the system and level up then they still won’t be dangerous or special and will merely be at the higher end of strength for regular animals.

However, while owls are usually regular animals, they are known to be much more intelligent than other animals. This is most likely why the owl enchantment gives increases to Intelligence and Wisdom.

If I were to make an enchantment with a monster or magical creature that was known to be more intelligent, would it have a better effect than the owl enchantment? The only issue is that I don’t know any monsters or magical creatures that are very intelligent.

Although, couldn’t I use myself? I’m considered a monster and I’m very intelligent.

Why don’t I try it? There’s no harm in making an enchantment of myself, that I know of at least.

Alright, so first I have to make an image of myself but rather than it having a “3D” shape, as Simon calls it, I need to make it flat. That shouldn’t be too hard.

Make my ears, my nose, my eyes, this is all much easier when I use the mirror that Simon told me about. He even showed it to me when I asked.

It seemed to make a clone of myself but instead of being physical, it was inside the mirror. Also unlike my clone, it seemed to be flawless making it extremely useful when I need to make an image of myself. However, it doesn’t show my insides which makes its usefulness limited.

Anyways, the image I need to make doesn’t include my insides so this mirror is perfect. I just have to figure out how I’m going to show the image. The owl was easy because it stands upright but I don’t stand upright, I stand horizontally.

I already have the face so I suppose I can’t just use that instead of trying to figure out how to show the rest of my body.

POP!

And so the enchantment goes up in smoke. I think this is going to take a bit.

POP!

POP!

POP!

Creak.

Oh, Simon’s back, I still haven’t made the enchantment but oh well, that can be done later.

“Ahem, why are there two of you?” Simon doesn’t seem happy but I suppose he’s just strange like that.

“It’s my clone. It just exists for a while and then dissipates.” I explain to the unknowledgeable human.

“Right, well can you explain why there was a mana reading of a tier three spell from here? I know for a fact you can’t cast them so who did?” Simon asked questions that I don’t know how he learned of. Something about a mana reading makes sense but I have no idea how you read mana.

“It was a fake. There was no tier three spell cast, I’m not even entirely sure what a tier three spell is.” I don’t see why a tier three spell would be so conspicuous anyways.

“Sigh, regardless of if it was real or not, I need you to come with me. This is almost entirely unrelated to the tier three spell but we need to go to Pyrp to help with the war over there. Had there not been a tier three spell’s mana you wouldn’t have to go, but you do. Now follow me, I can probably trust you enough to not put you in a cage.” Simon walked out the door without even a second look at me.

Hm, I wonder where Pyrp is and if it’s close to whatever Mystre is.

I followed Simon out the door as we headed on our way to Pyrp.

*****

We weren’t close to Pyrp, I think, when Simon asked, “You mentioned something about Cyrus when we first talked, who exactly is this Cyrus?”

I thought about this question, who exactly was Cyrus? He said he was a god but he didn’t have a church, he seemed to have some connection with the System since he could write a message in one of the System messages, and he seemed very eager to have the world destroyed.

“Cyrus is a god who doesn’t like the gods and wants to have the world destroyed.” I think that is the most accurate description I could give.

Simon stopped as he just stared at me with a strange expression, it seemed to be a mix of what was called disgust and confusion.

“Hm, how do I put this, you’re saying you spoke with either an ancient or demonic god?” Simon asked still with his weird expression.

“What are either of those?” As always, more knowledge can be gained even if I don’t have a clue what he’s talking about.

“Well, the ancient gods are known as the original gods. The current gods replaced them by force as the ancient gods were constantly oppressing the Mortal and Demon Realms. All of the ancient gods hate the current gods for revolting against them and sometimes send their will down to the lower realms to influence specific events. Demonic gods however, don’t care about anything except what they want to do. If they want to slaughter a village they will, if they want to kill a god they will try. If Cyrus is a demonic god then it’s more likely that he’s just bored and wanted a mortal to play with.” Simon explained as I listened and thought about what applied to Cyrus.

Cyrus did want to influence specific events but he also vanished sometimes and went off to do something else.

Wait, didn’t Cyrus say he was the God of All Living Beings?

“Simon, was there any god in charge of all living beings?” I asked curious as to what the answer would be.

Simon’s strange expression immediately changed to one of fear, “There wasn’t one that was in charge of all living beings but there was one in charge of death and the dead. That one was the God King but he was sent to his own personal realm so he would be unable to do anything. If Cyrus is the God King then you should be very afraid.”

I thought for a bit, “I don’t think he is this ‘God King’, he didn’t want to destroy anything except the Godly Realm even though he said he wanted to help me because I was supposed to be able to destroy the world.”

Simon lost his fearful expression and was now just confused, “Cyrus sounds like he has some issues in his life. Sigh, you’re right, he probably isn’t the God King but you should still be careful.”

With that conversation over, we continued onwards toward Pyrp.

*****

Do cities normally burn? Simon claimed that no building was actually burning and instead it was something called torches which were sticks with something called fabric wrapped around them that were burning.

So why exactly was there a house on fire and a lot of people standing around it? Although, what if it wasn’t a house but was instead a massive torch?

Whatever it is, Simon seemed quite angry that it was on fire. He had a very angry looking face as he walked towards the people. I followed him because I was curious as to if the thing on fire was a house or a massive torch.

“HEY, WHAT ARE YOU ALL DOING!?” Simon made strange noises that I couldn’t understand. I assume they were something like the growls I heard some things make in the forest, usually those growls led to a fight.

“What does it look like we’re doing? This war has gone on for far too long and you know that as well. You could’ve just deserted but instead you had to come here and continue the war and the hostilities! This is your fault not ours!” One of the people made noises back at Simon. This one looked similar to Simon but wasn’t. I think this was what Simon said was a female.

“I don’t want this war to continue either but that doesn’t mean you should betray your kingdom!” Simon made more noises and I felt like a fight was coming soon.

I was correct as Simon pulled out what seemed to be a weapon from what seemed to be thin air. It was a curved stick with a thread attached to both ends. The female didn’t have a curved stick but she did have an axe. I think that’s what it was at least.

I think I saw some when they were just left in the trees. I once used [Identify] on one.

Anyways, I didn’t like how the female made noises. It felt like I was seeing the spider again. Not the high level part but the evil part. I didn’t like it. That spider would’ve harmed me but I managed to escape. Why should I let something that reminds me of it live? Wouldn’t it just harm me later?

Simon and the spider lady were still making noises but I decided to do something besides watch and listen.

I used [Shift Form] to transform into my mana body and went over to the spider woman. She didn’t notice me and kept growling at Simon as he growled back.

I carefully used [Earth Mana Manipulation], [Physical Mana Manipulation], and [Dense Rock] to form a rock above the woman’s head that was filled with Earth mana.

Simon started to notice something as he stopped making angry growls and started making panicking growls. The woman was still making angry growls however so I ignored Simon.

The [Dense Rock] was slowly filled out and as I let it go the woman stopped growling and looked up.

Only to see a large boulder falling on her at speeds that didn’t seem to make sense.

CRASH!

Human ‘Lota’ Lv. 10 killed.

Awarding experience. Bonus experience for killing a Sentient Race while being a monster. Bonus experience for killing something that is double your level.

You have leveled up multiple times

Level 5 → Level 8

Hmm, it seems that doing things that are supposed to be difficult is rewarded. It also seems like monsters are supposed to kill “Sentient Races”. Do these Sentient Races get a bonus from killing monsters? If so, why do they kill each other instead?

Very strange but now I realize that Simon, along with all the other people who were gathered, are staring at me.

Did I do something wrong? She was dangerous like the spider so I killed her. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that.

“Salem, I just watched to kill that woman. Do you have anything to say?” Simon asked me using [Telepathy].

“No? Is there something I’m supposed to say? She was dangerous so I killed her.” I replied.

“Sigh, I have to take you to the dungeon by law. I really should’ve told you not to kill people before we left but I didn’t think you were even capable.” Simon seemed annoyed and angry but not as angry as he seemed with the lady and he also seemed to be slightly happy and relieved. Very strange but what is a dungeon?

“Alright, this incident has escalated to being a severe crime. However, while a murder has occurred, the victim was someone guilty of treason which the punishment for is death. This means the punishment will be lowered but not removed. Now please go back to your daily lives.” Simon made noises before coming towards me.

I simply waited until he reached me, I simply waited as he picked me up and moved me away, I simply waited as he placed me in a larger version of a cage.

“You’ll have to be here until it’s decided how long to imprison you for. I’ll try and reduce the sentence but I can’t promise anything.” Simon told me before leaving.

I… I’ve realized something. Simon said something to the people but he said something shorter to me. His tone with the other people was very serious but when using [Telepathy] he seemed slightly happy and relieved. What if Simon is telling me false knowledge?

Hm, this needs to be investigated.

So I used [Shift Form] and walked out of the larger cage. I walked through the walls of the dungeon and out into the street. I walked above the crowds of people. I walked and walked until I saw something interesting.

In a small strip of open space between two buildings, there were five people. It seemed like three of them were fighting against the other two. The two were losing as expected but they kept fighting even if it seemed like they would lose.

One of the three pulled out a blade. He seemed to be inexperienced as he swung it with such lack of grace that even I could have done better. He swung directly downwards and missed, so he then swung sideways.

This seemed to work slightly better but then failed as the blade got stuck in a wall.

Humans seemed to want to kill each other so why can’t I kill them? The two were slowly losing so I decided to kill the three.

I used [Lava Ball] and formed the fire-rock before sending it towards one of the three.

They seemed to notice something and wanted to flee but couldn’t flee at once due to the small corridor they had put themselves in and my lava ball hit the one at the pack of the three causing him to scream in pain and I presume agony.

The remaining two were frightened and tried to escape even faster.

I used [Lava Ball] again and hit another one but this allowed the final one to escape.

The other two that were quite injured looked towards the sky in amazement, fear, and respect and gave their thanks to where they assumed I was.

They ran off and left the blade in the wall.

I decided to take it as there was something I could learn from it. I left the two corpses on the ground alone.

Now then, what exactly did I gain and is there a reason not to do it again?