52

Striding towards the exit from my home, I reviewed my plan for the day. I was going to be poking around the Human Village for a place to eat, as well as the bookshop that Remiu had mentioned a few days ago.

I then turned on my heel and went back inside my house as I remembered that I would, in fact, need money if I wanted to buy anything. It took a few minutes and a small handful of Dust, but I now had a pouch of money for buying things.

I then tossed a sack of Dust as well as the raming bag of money into the Gap, a decent bit away from the Carcass Spark. I could open a gap centered on items I left in there, so I wasn't concerned about losing anything.

Moving the Path toward Remiu's shrine, I also decided to make a quick stop there. A donation couldn't go amiss; I had also beaten two gods near-death with my parasol, and while I doubted there would be trouble, a bit of money could help smooth over any issues.

Emerging outside the gate-like structure that denoted the start of the shrine, I walked inside. I very rarely went to church and had never been to a Japanese shrine, so I had no clue how exactly one was supposed to donate.

Thankfully I saw Remiu as she opened the sliding door and stepped outside with a cup in hand. Taking a drink from it, she sat down and sighed in relaxation.

Clearing my throat, I walked up and gave her a polite wave. "Hello, I was passing by and thought I might as well give a small donation," I said as I rummaged for the pouch of money in my robes.

I had no clue how much one should donate, but from what I remember, twenty dollars was the usual amount donated in church. I had a bit more money to spend, and generosity never hurt anybody.

"This is my first time donating to a shrine, so should I just give it to you or something else?" I said, chuckling slightly awkwardly as I retrieved ten thousand yen from the pouch. Her eyes zeroed in on the money as she set down the tea and spoke.

"The donation box is right here," she said as she gestured to the somewhat large box with slits atop it for money to be placed in. Stepping forward, I slipped a large number of bills into the box and gave the shrine maiden a polite bow.

"Thank you, Miss Remiu, have a nice day," I said before turning to leave. I then turned back around when she spoke again, "Thank you."

Her face then seemed to flicker through a few emotions before she continued. "There will be a party here tomorrow night, and as a solver of this Incident you're invited." She said with her tone saying, while she was slightly miffed, she was also not all that annoyed.

I wasn't a big fan of parties, but I wouldn't say no to free food, and if worst came to worst, I could either sit in the corner with a drink or leave. Thinking of drinks, I decided to bring up my sake as, for most parties I had been to, it was polite to bring something.

"Thank you for the invitation and do you have any preference on what I bring? I was planning on bringing some sake I made." This caused her to blink in confusion before she replied.

"Most of the time, people don't bring anything, but if you want to, feel free." Her tone had lighted considerably from the slightly irritated tone and now was leaning towards her being happy presumable that I was offering to bring something.

Giving her a polite nod, I took off and headed down the pathway that presumably led to the Human Village. As I was flying, I used my parasol to return to my home. Flying above the sunflowers, I quickly stopped where my simulacrum was relaxing.

"I'm going to a party and bringing some sake, so if you guys could make a lot, that would be great." I didn't know how much sake would be needed, but it would be better to have too much than run short, and it didn't cost me anything but time to brew it.

Nodding, a simulacrum floated off towards the Lunar field and started brewing the sake. Turning back around, I moved the Path once again closer to the Human Village and counited floating down the path until I arrived at a gate guarded by two bored humans.

Landing a few dozen feet away from them, they tensed and clenched their guns as they watched me with a careful eyes. The guns appeared to be from the late 18th to early 19th century, and I didn't want to test my ability to dodge bullets.

Giving them a wave, I slowly approached them. "Hello, I'm looking to enter. Is there anything I need to do prior to entering the village?" I said before stopping when one raised a hand, palm out once I was around ten yards away.

"So long as you cause no problems, you are free to walk the streets." The one on the left said he was slightly shorter than me and had stubble along with small wrinkles around his eyes.

Nodding politely at them, I passed by and entered the Human Village. Ignoring the Grimoire's growth, I grinned while looking around.

It was a lie to call this a simple village. It was closer to a town with its massive size, and even with my street eye view, I could see hundreds of people rushing about on their day.

Keeping an eye out to ensure I didn't run into anybody, I walked the streets of the Human Village. I had the end goal of seeing that bookstore Remiu told me about, but until then, I had the entire day to explore.

The architecture was strange, and while I was no expert on Japanese construction, I could tell that while a vast majority of the buildings were old-style, something about them seemed a bit off and didn't add up with the theme.

Shrugging, I continued on my way, exploring the massive town. One thing that was both annoying and useful was that people got out of my way, and while I was a fast walker, I doubted that was the reason why.

There was something about being able to walk around for an hour at a near-jogging speed without any difficulty breathing or my heart beating any harder that felt great.

Eventually, after I had spent a few hours simply wandering around the town, I tracked down the bookstore. It was fairly easy; all I had to do was open my Magesight and follow a large concentration of mana.

While that could lead to other places or people, I took my time and traveled to the first significant immobile source and arrived outside a shop named Suzunaan.

Walking inside, I smiled at the interior of the small shop. It didn't have the majesty of Pathcoli's library nor the nostalgia of the one in my home, but it was cozy nonetheless.

The woman at the counter looked up when she heard me gently close the door behind me. I blinked a few times as I was reminded once again that I was no longer on my Earth.

The girl had brilliant orange hair and was dressed in a plaid shirt with a green dress and yellow apron over it. Walking, I gave a polite nod before speaking.

"Hello, nice to meet you. My name is Aidan." Sliding a small piece of parchment between the pages of the book she was reading and removing the small pair of glasses she had on, the girl responded in kind. "Nice to meet you as well. I'm Kosuzu Motoori."

"I heard that you sell magical books," I said, causing her to lean back in shock while waving her hands about. "You mean Demon Books?" She asked as her excitement visibly raised.

"I believe, so I am looking for books surrounding magic," I said; I had no clue what Demon Books were, but even if they weren't great, it was still better than nothing.

The first one immediately caught my attention; it was a simple black book that appeared pristine with the title Al Azif emblazoned on the front. I knew that book, and its more popular name, The Necronomicon.

Looking up at Kosuzu, I had to voice my question. "Is that really the original Al Azif?" I asked, slightly concerned. Lovecraftian mythos was something I enjoyed, and while I could handle it due to the Grimoire, which was unnerving on its own, I doubted an average person could handle it.

"Yup." She said, noticing my inner turmoil. "It was written by some mage ages ago and is said to describe how the world really works."

"How much?" I asked, my curiosity and a slight tint of worry pushing me to purchase the book. Tapping her fingers on the table, Kosuzu thought for a few seconds. "100,00 yen." She said with the air of somebody not willing to bargain.

I responded by reaching into the Gap electing a startled gasp before Kosuzu looked closer while I retrieved the required funds. Placing them down on the table, I picked up Al Azif and tucked it in my robe. However, due to its size, it would not fit, causing me to open a gap and put it inside the Gap.

"Have a good day Miss," I said, giving her a polite nod as I left. The Human Village was quite nice, but I had been exploring it for almost three hours now, and I had just picked up a neat book.

That meant it was time to head back home and do some reading. Leaving through the same entrance I came in from, I gave both guards a polite nod while leaving.

I decided to walk a bit before opening a portal to my home as they seemed a bit jumpy and untrustworthy. I also planned on returning, which meant I didn't want them to cause problems.

It took a few minutes of walking, but I soon was deep into the woods surrounding Remiu's shrine and far away from humans. Raising my parasol, I swung it down and cut a hole into my pocket dimension.

Stepping through, I decided to stroll through the sunflowers this time. Frowning, I looked down at the plants while sunflowers were intrinsically neat, especially as a creepy aura in a silent field. The issue was that the ones I was walking through were only six feet tall, and with a hop, most people could look over them.

I had done some research in the past on sunflowers, and I knew they could grow up to fifteen feet, and the tallest was thirty feet tall. I knew that if anybody were likely to come in here, they would be able to fly, but if they couldn't, tall sunflowers were a must.

Twisting my parasol, I called upon the innate powers that it held and caused the sunflowers to grow taller. It was mentally taxing, but over a few minutes, I finally had proper fifteen-foot-tall sunflowers. I would have to figure out a way to have them look at people later, but for now, I had a book to read.

Striding through the now massive sunflowers, it took only a fragment of my attention to ensure the flowers didn't smack me in the face, ensuring the walk was lovely.

Stepping on the porch, I decided that it could use some outdoor furniture for reading or napping purposes. I had plenty of Dust, so why not use it? Opening a gap, I reached inside and stuck my fingers inside one of the sacks I had tossed in.

Mentally pulling Dust from the sack, I slowly and carefully created a rocking chair. It was simple, wood, and somewhat old looking; running my hands over it, I felt a bit of nostalgia well up.

The Grimorie growing shocked me out of my reminisces and caused me to sit down in the rocking chair and pull out Al Azif.

Running my fingers over the ancient tome, I felt a bit nervous. This was something I vividly recognized, and not just from modern media. It was a book penned by the Mad Arab and contained writings on the elder gods and here in Gensokyo.

Just as I was about to open the book, I felt a faint twinge and saw over a dozen beings spring into existence outside my house. There were quite a few different beings, and I was startled for a moment before I remembered Mercenary Retainer, which gave me access to sixteen monsters.

Looking at the shoggoth that was part of the monsters, I chuckled slightly nervously. I didn't want cosmic horror leaking out into Gensokyo, and while I did find Al Azif a live shoggoth was a different story.

"All you monsters!" I shouted, catching their attention. "Patrol around this pocket dimension, but do not travel on the Path. If somebody enters, just watch them unless they are hostile or attempt to enter the Lunar field, then detain them."

In response to my commands, the less sapient monsters wandered off while the others, like the faux Cu Chulainn and pre-Grimoire me, gave a nod and then wandered off like the others.

Settling back down, I flipped open Al Azif to the first page. For a moment, I couldn't see anything except writing in a language I didn't know, but then I felt a burning pain in both my head and chest.

Dropping the book, I stumbled and collapsed on my knees, coughing while clutching my chest as I heard the terrible multi-layered voice of Tzeentch rising.

"You think that you can possess my mortal!" The Chaos God shrieked as a headache grew while a second voice spoke up. This one was disturbingly familiar and sounded like myself from a recording, as if I had pitched it down slightly.

"Now, now." The voice said indulgently as the burning in my chest grew. "Theirs not much you can do. I'm afraid we made quite sure of that, and my backdoor is only helping me so calm down."

Tzeentch shouted back, but the words were muted as his presence faded away, and the burning in my chest faded slowly until I could only feel a red-hot ember in my chest.

"Apologies." The voice said, still with that strange mockery of my tone. "I should properly introduce myself, shouldn't I?" Coughing more, I stood up and brushed my robes free of the non-existent dirt before looking over where the voice seemed to come from.

Standing in my doorways was a tall, swarthy man of Egyptian descent with storm blue eyes. Smiling, the man spoke in that distorted voice that sounded similar to mine.

"It is nice to meet you after so long." He said, reaching out his hand for a shake. "The name's Gnarly, and I do hope we can get along." He continued with a smile that had far too many teeth.

Not accepting the handshake, I blinked dumbly at him. "T-That's impossible." I spluttered as I gestured at him. "How can you be here?" Shaking my head, I turned back to Al Azif and picked it back up.

Flipping through the pages with Magesight, I ignored the sounds of the phantom chucking. This had to be some form of curse or other trap; however, I didn't see any. I was protected from madness by Mark of Tzeentch, but if the being was truthful, it could override that.

"I do admit that denial is an interesting method, but I do assure you that I'm telling the truth." It said while walking over and looking in the book. "If you can read ancient Arabic, I'll be impressed, but until I believe, your shit out of luck. The software only works for modern languages."

Whirling around, I opened my mouth to shout at him. "How the hell is this happening. It's not a curse or madness, and you can't really be here." As he moved to respond, I cut him off. "Hell, that form that you use, I made it up! It's a shitty joke from the end of a bad DnD campaign I finished over a year and a half ago!"

Its lips curled up into a smile as I finished shouting at him. "Why yes, you would be correct except for one small detail. I'm not the original. He said, his grin growing larger as he leaned closer. "I'm just a fragment that used that tiny chunk of a soul in your chest as a lattice to create a semi-corporeal form."

Blinking at him, I swallowed what I was about to say and managed to speak in a semi-composed tone. "Alright, in that case, what will you be doing? You're inside my soul, and unlike the other guy, your not prevented from screwing me over."

Striding over, Gnarly placed an arm over my shoulder like an old friend and whispered in my ear. "I can help you find the people who made that Grimoire and tore you from everybody you love."

That was extremely tempting, and for a moment, I almost forgot who I was talking to; from what I remember of Nyarlathotep and my own interpretation was that he loved to cause chaos and madness. That meant while he was the most human and least outright lethal, he was still deadly and likely to sow confusion which meant he could trick me or otherwise send me on a wild goose chase.

The Grimoire growing caused Gnarly to flicker slightly, and the burning in my chest grew for a moment before both faded away. Shaking off his arm, I turned to face him and replied.

"Alright, but I want a promise that you won't do anything to compromise my judgment; you can talk, and I'll listen but don't try any magic." I then stuck my hand out for me to shake. Squinting, he looked at me before shrugging and clasping my hand.

I then invoked my magical girl powers and made what I said an official deal. I doubted it could do anything to Nyarlathotep, but in front of me was a tiny fragment of the real thing piggybacking off my soul to exist properly.

As the blue fire rippled around our hand, he barked out a laugh and spoke. "I think we'll get along, you and I!" Ignoring him, I turned back and picked up Al Azif, sitting down and ready to actually start reading it.

Flipping it open again, I was reminded that it was in Arabic, which I did not read. I did, however, have a solution, and I took ten minutes to cast Comprehend Languages.

The spell allowed me to understand all written language for an hour, and with me ritual casting it, I could cast it again at the end of the hour.

The book itself was somewhat dry, and the author was prone to going on rants or tangents about unrelated topics. That meant it took a while to separate the wheat from the chaff.

What was in the book was a mixed bag. A large portion of it was how to summon and deal with otherwordly beings, whether they be shoggoths or, if the stars were right, elder gods.

Reading the author's description of shoggoths and my knowledge, I knew the one I was granted from Mercenary Retainer was naught but a poor imitation of the real thing.

While the power I could gain from wheeling and dealing with elder gods and other unnamable horrors was immense, I was not willing to risk it.

I could attempt something like this on a dead world, but not where the fallout could hurt other people; besides the methods for communing with elder gods or summoning beings from beyond earth, it had other rituals.

These rituals were more utility in nature; they were also impeccably crafted. Even with the once-in-a-generation knowledge of rituals that Risen Legend provided, I could only make a few changes. They did little in the method of improvement.

I found three would be quite helpful without any changes made or other discoveries. The book was quite thick, and while I had done a brief read-through, I knew that I could find more if I spent more time reading.

The first was Baneful Dust of Hermes Trismegistus which harmed and could harm otherwordly beings, and while the book described hard acquire chemicals such as a 'bubbling liquid that burnt and melt,' I figured out to be sulfuric acid.

The other chemicals required were similarly easy to find in modern times. The only issue was that it needed around two pounds of materials, and that produced eight uses which, while plenty, could run into issues prolonged encounters.

While that was useful, it couldn't hold a candle to the Dust of Suleiman, which would outright kill otherworldly beings and could harm even great old ones. The main issue was that it required a 2,000-year-old Egyptian mummy and that only produced three doses.

Space-Mead was another pseudo-ritual that would allow one to brave the dangers of outer space with no issues. While it was intended to be used along with a steed, it wasn't required and could be drunk on its own just fine and would last for up to ten days.

Unlike the Baneful Dust, this required difficult-to-acquire materials such as the blood of a Byakhee, and it would take a week to brew; I would trust that Pathcoli had a method to survive in space, but this one I put in my back pocket for Komainu.

The last one was Eye of Light and Darkness; it worked as a wide-ranging version of the Elder Sign. That meant it would scare off or at least frighten beings that attempted to entire or peer into my domain.

While the more powerful elder gods could get past it, the ward would suffice for most beings. I doubted it would work on youkai and other similar beings due to their nature as being born from human emotion, but even not beings not strictly from the Lovecraft mythos should still be warded from.

The Elder Sign by itself was a reasonably simple gesture or symbol that could be carved into something. However, while the sign itself would protect you, it only guarded against what it was over or on, preventing it from being widespread as most beings had cultists to work for them or could simply attack where the sign was not.

Closing the book with a thump, I ignored the form of Gnarly following me as I approached the small area that was quickly becoming the rest zone for my simulacrum.

Currently, there were four sitting around and chatting about fun facts that they had learned. They were currently attempting to out-gross each other. However, it was a fruitless endeavor because they were all me, and knowledge trumped most other things, including disgust.

Clapping my hands, I got down to business. "Hello, which one of you wants to break into a pyramid." There was a beat of silence before they all jumped to their feet and started raising hands like students from school demanding they be picked.

Grinning, I pointed at the leftmost simulacrum and continued. "I bought Al Azif and found a few useful rituals I want to do soonish." That sparked a few mummers as they all confirmed that what I was talking about was The Necronomicon.

"One ritual needs a two-thousand-year-old mummy," I said, pointing to the one I picked for the task. "I also need sulfuric acid, bleach, rubbing alcohol, and baking soda," I said to another one.

"Lastly, I need the remaining two of you to help me put up a protection field against elder gods and other Lovecraftian horrors." The last two grinned, and as I smiled along with my simulacrum, I felt that ember in my chest burn as the Grimoire grew.

Dismissing the simulacrum, I turned my heel and headed to the house helpers in tow, ready to work some proper eldritch magic.

Reaching into the Gap, I grabbed Dust and started conjuring the materials needed for the spell. Eye of Light and Darkness was undeniably potent, but it required specific reagents and a strict timeframe to work.

It had to be done the night of the full moon and needed gallons of innocent blood. The blood I could create, then purify and change the moon phases inside a small pocket dimension was now possible with my godhood.

Arriving at the Lunar field, I conjured three massive barrels of blood. Walking inside the zone, I shivered as the pleasing feeling of purity wrapped around me, before it had been stifling, and I could feel the impurity burn away now; it felt as if it was a part of me.

I still had impurity, but it was simple to ensure the purity did nothing but burn off the outmost layer and nothing else. Ferrying the barrels inside, I let them sit and stew which would, over the course of around a few hours, purify them.

It would normally take longer, but they had been created moments ago, which meant they only had their innate impurities to purge as opposed to the absorbed impurity most people or objects gained over time.

Walking out, I noticed that Gnarly had stayed outside the Lunar field and smirked at him. I was then almost bowled over by a simulacrum carrying a massive pallet of cases in front of him.

Darting out of the way, he gave me a muttered sorry before hurrying on his way. Looking at the pallet, I saw it was stacked high with sake for which I needed to find a name.

Shaking my head, I returned to where the other simulacrum was waiting and pulled out more Dust as I explained. "The ritual needs to happen the night of the full moon and requires the blood of an innocent every few seconds. I also require a drum to be made as that is how we will calculate how often the blood is required."

Nodding, the rightmost simulacrum got to work, conjuring an appropriate drum. I then turned to the other simulacrum. "I will then need you to go observe the blood and retrieve it once it's pure, but it still must be close to human blood."

With a mock salute, he was off, and I sat down to create the small eye required for the ritual. It didn't need to be all that big, but the bigger it was, the larger the area it could guard; however, it would also increase the blood required as the entire eye had to be coated every drumbeat.

Drumming my hand on the ground, I ran through a few quick calculations to determine how large the eye would need to be in order for it to ward the entirety of my home.

It would need to be at least fifteen feet in diameter, which means that I need a ton more blood and more waiting for it to purify. Fortunately, it was mid-afternoon, so I had hours until nightfall.

Walking back to the Lunar field, I reached inside the Gap for more Dust. Mark of Tzeentch massively enhanced my intelligence which meant that as I was conjuring barrels of blood, I could do the math to figure out how many I would need.

I decided then to be on the safe side and summoned a few extra; the resulting mess was almost the entirety of the Lunar field being covered in barrels full to the brim of blood.

With that taken care of, I returned to the drum-making simulacrum and saw that he had finished and was smacking it to ensure its stability. I was about to greet him and give him his next task, but then I noticed that the top of the drum looked like it was made of a face with a person screaming and the sticks made of bones.

"Really?" I asked as he gave me a sheepish look and responded. "We're doing cultish stuff, so I thought, why not fit the mood a bit." Sighing, I rubbed my magically created nose before giving him his next task.

"I need you to make a massive stone eye; it must be fifteen feet in diameter." Seeing his confusion and remembering that I was the only one who knew how it looked, I grabbed a piece of paper and sketched out how it would be conjured.

Nodding, he grabbed the paper and a Dust bag before heading off to work. I then deiced to use the language translating skills Mark of Tzeentch granted me to see if I couldn't figure out how to read Al Azif without needing to use Comprehend Languages.

Returning to my chair, I took the time to grab another few pieces of paper and cast Comprehend Languages. I then copied over the essential words and wrote what they meant in English. I did that for the hour it took for the spell to end, which meant I had a plentiful baseline to start with.

Continuing, I started using context clues to string sentences together and further my understanding of Arabic. This would normally be a horrible way to learn a language, but I was bolstered by Mark of Tzeentch and The Leaner.

The first made me a genius and increased my ability to learn languages, while the second lets me learn ten times faster until I had basic proficiency. I was broken out of my learning by the whispered voice of Tzeentch whispering into my ears as Gnarly flickered.

"A little gift and a word of advice, young one. Use this power and that long-dead spark to burn that interloper away." As his words faded, I could feel the burning ember in my soul ignite as the normal trickle of mana exploded.

Virtual torrents of magical winds erupted from me and caused rapid changes in their radius. The flowers warped and changed to every color under the sun as the porch shifted from a Japanese-style one to a brick porch from an American suburb.

Standing up, I focused on the winds and pulled them inside myself. While it seemed like an impossible task at first, I felt a slight click as my nature as a god of magic asserted itself.

The storm raged inside my soul as Gnarly turned to face me. Calling upon the Gap to prepare the Carcass Spark, I strode forth to meet him. While Tzeentch had some other motive and was the god of schemes, the Grimoire ensured he could do nothing to harm me outright.

Gnarly held no restrictions, which meant I needed to ensure he could not harm me. The Carcass Spark could burn away anything, and with my new magical might, I felt an unprecedented level of control over it. All of this meant it was time to face him down and ensure he could not hamper me.

Arch-Sorcerer

The servants of Tzeentch are more connected to the Winds of Magic than any other beings of the Gods. Whether others desire to admit it or not, the truth is the same: All magic comes from the realms of Chaos, and Tzeentch is the controller of magic. All other theories are simply fools attempting to deny being truly damned. For your dedication to Tzeentch, he will make you mighty indeed, for as magic is his, his magic is yours. You ability to use the Winds of Magic to your own ends is impressive, and you will come to find that your magical abilities from other jumps have been boosted greatly. Where one meddler of magic would cause a rapidly growing fire, you would cause a impressive maelstrom of fire that torches all it touches.