Chapter 9: More Enhancement!
Chapter 9: More Enhancement!
Knock! Knock! Knock!
"Come in," Sona instructed, having just finished her conversation with Takauji—and successfully signing him as her Contracted Magician for a month.
Rias stepped through the door, carrying an apprehensive demeanor with her as she locked eyes with the person she was sharing Kuoh's ownership with.
You couldn't even wait an hour? Sona withheld the urge to groan, maintaining an amiable air as she welcomed Rias in. "Need something?"
"You already know why I'm here, Sona." Rias' gaze shifted from one side of the room to the other, seeing no sign of their shared target around. "How did it go with Ashikaga-san?"
Sona paused for a moment, eventually coming to the decision that it was better to rip the bandage off early.
"He's my Contracted Magician now," she replied casually, continuing to work away at whatever it was on her laptop that had warranted so much of her attention.
"...What?" Rias asked with an evident level of disbelief in her tone.
"We talked, and then we came to an agreement. That's all," in spite of fully understanding where Rias' shock was coming from, Sona continued to act as nonchalant as ever.
Rias stood still for a moment in stunned silence, quickly coming to the realization that Sona wasn't joking, not that she was the type to joke around to begin with.
"...Just like that?" She and Takauji had shared a rather deep conversation before his meeting with Sona, had all that not even warranted a single day of deliberation before he came to a decision?
"It's a simple matter of circumstance Rias, I understand Ashikaga-san, and you don't. Since you physically can't offer him more than what I can, it was inevitable that he'd rather contract with someone he was more familiar with."
Of course, the basis of their relationship was far more complicated than simple understanding of one another, anyone could decipher that much. However, she wasn't about to sit there and explain to Rias how their dynamic worked.
Even if I don't know him as well as you do… I'm finding it hard to believe that my pitch was that ineffective.
"Are you sure you and him aren't—"
"Finish that sentence, I dare you."
Rias felt a cold chill crawl down her spine, causing her lip to perform a nervous twitch before she completely disregarded the thought of asking Sona whatever it was she was about to ask her.
There were some lines she just wasn't supposed to cross, even if they were childhood friends.
I still have a hunch that you two are more than just "rivals"...
An awkward silence ensued between both of them, with Rias staring at the sight of Sona diligently typing away at her keyboard.
"Have you uncovered anything regarding his family?"
"No, other than the fact that his father is somehow completely off the grid in spite of me seeing him here a few times for parent teacher conferences—I haven't found anything new."
"And his mother?"
"Same information, investment banker abroad and whatnot. It all looks like an alias to me, but I've yet to find the underlying truth behind her identity—if there even is one. However," she turned her laptop around, displaying an article of a poorly drawn figure. "There is this."
Rias leaned closer, "What exactly am I looking at?"
Sona facepalmed, "Gosh, this is what you get for never attending class. This is the first and founding Shogun of the Ashikaga Shogunate—during the Muromachi period, in 1338."
"Ashikaga?" Rias' eyes widened a little.
"That's not all, the founding Shogun's name was Ashikaga Takauji."
"Wait, you're not saying he's—"
"The descendant of a Shogun? It's not entirely improbable, most awakened humans always originate from some kind of prominent bloodline—and the fact that he awakened Darkness of all elements makes him a rarity even among that already small margian."
That, added with the fact that he had already learned such a wide array of spells in a terrifyingly short amount of time definitely made him someone worthy of being connected to royalty.
Moreover, his parents coincidentally happened to have named him after the Shogun, which really didn't seem like all that much of a coincidence in hindsight.
Maybe it wasn't an organization that taught him his spells, but his family instead? There's no Principle Clan by the name of Ashikaga, so I can scratch that hypothesis off. But it's also possible that it's a clan seated on the Magician's Council. That's something I ought to investigate.
The only problem was that the Magician's Council wasn't something even the Sitri Clan could just poke around as they pleased, they first needed the permission of it's Minister—Mephisto Pheles; a Devil that had been active since the time of the Original Four Great Satans, and someone who happened to be the Chairman of one of the largest Mage organizations, Grauzauberer.
A figure like him wasn't someone you just provoked on a whim, especially taking into consideration how important he was as the acting mediator between Devils and Mages.
Without him, it was safe to say the concept of a "Contracted Magician" would never have existed in the first place.
Furthermore, political ramifications aside, Mephisto Pheles was someone who wielded immense strength—pestering him wasn't a good idea regardless of what your motives were.
That's not a landmine I'm interested in stepping on, but I don't want to bring this up with my older sister either. I have to be patient, this will prove to be an extremely delicate matter if the word "Ashikaga" is in fact tied with the Magician's Council.
For the time-being, the best she could do is learn whatever she could from observing her newly found Contracted Magician.
"What about Murayama? If it's a bloodline thing, then she could awaken too at some point in the future."
"Leave her."
"Pardon?"
"Murayama is probably the only person he holds any sense of compassion for, if you probe around her too much then you'll just end up triggering him."
If Murayama did end up becoming a Mage, then Sona would certainly express some level of interest in recruiting her. But she had yet to cross that bridge, and wouldn't dwell on it too much until the time came.
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"Running late again are we?" Murayama shot an accusatory glare at her brother as she watched him enter through the front door. "Let me guess, it had absolutely nothing to do with Himejima-senpai and Shinra-senpai visiting you yesterday?"
He raised his brows, "Well would you look at that? You've become a psychic."
"Don't give me that attitude! Just tell me what's going on already!" She had a pleading look on her face, practically demanding an answer from her brother.
He paused for a moment, "Alright, if you want to know what's happening that badly then I'll tell you."
Her eyes widened, bewildered that he was actually entertaining her request.
"Magic is real."
"Takauji!" She yelled, not a fan of the fact that he was clearly still insistent on leading her by the nose.
It can't be helped if you don't want to believe me.
He shrugged, "You'll find out eventually." Even he didn't sound all that confident.
Baka! She stuck her tongue out at him as he entered his bedroom, I'll figure out what's really going on here soon enough! Just you wait!
The first thing he did upon sitting down at his desk, was begin reviewing what he had learned from using his Shapeshift ability for an extensive amount of time.
There were limits to this ability, transforming into a cat might have given him a slight boost in agility, but he wasn't granted access to their sense of smell which was supposed to be 14x better than that of a human.
His transformation into a crow also had its limits, even though he was capable of flight while in that form—he couldn't mimic a crow's extremely wide degree of binocular vision—which was a 60-degree arc where the fields of each eye overlap.
That means there's two possibilities, either the Shapeshift ability itself is limited—
He tapped the back of his pen against his desk, —or I need to increase the proficiency of the skill first before I'm able to create a more accurate transformation, that actually includes all the abilities of whatever I transform into.
[+1 INT (54 → 55).]
There's my confirmation, he smiled—delighted that there was still room for improvement. The ability scaled off his Intelligence, Mana, and the level of his Elemental Affinity. Two of which he could increase with ease, which meant things were looking pretty good for him in that department.
That's something I'll get better at passively, right now there's something more active I wish to attend to.
He went to his closet and pulled out a spare set of his Kuoh uniform, planting it on his mattress and placing his hand on its fabric.
Enhancement, Mana started to run from his fingertips into the composition of his uniform, lighting it up like a circuit board without a single tear or blemish on the uniform's appearance.
Enhancing it is one thing, but I wonder how effective the enhancement itself actually is? He projected a kitchen knife, using his left hand to spread the fabric as much as he could and holding the knife in his right.
Thud!
The tip of the knife clashed with his uniform's fabric, yet not a single tear was made. The uniform remained perfectly in-tact, no tears to be found no matter how he chose to inspect it.
Well would you look at that? I can now wear a stab-proof shirt at all times. I wonder if it'll become bullet-proof when my Enhancement gains a level?
He put his hand on the shirt he was currently wearing, seeing no reason not to enhance it as well.
What's this?
But for some reason, his stat page chose to pop up out of nowhere upon doing so.
───
(Strength) STR: 21 (42)
(Vitality) VIT: 32 (64)
(Intelligence) INT: 55
(Dexterity) DEX: 38
(Speed) SPD: 22
(Mana) MANA: 34
───
Wearing an enhanced uniform has caused his Strength and Vitality to reach a temporary value of 42 and 64—effectively doubling, which would probably be removed once his uniform was no longer on him.
No wonder I started feeling a little different once I put it on. Hold on, I wonder how far I can take this?
He put his hand on the rim of his glasses, deciding that he would enhance them as well.
[(Dexterity) DEX: 38 (76).]
Dexterity includes perception and hand-eye coordination, so it makes sense that enhancing my glasses would affect that.
Next, he chose to enhance his shoes.
[(Speed) SPD: 22 (44).]
His grin widened, the true strength of his Subclass had gradually begun to reveal itself to him—and he was most certainly excited to see where he would end up taking it.
Even if a human body can't keep up with a Devil physicality-wise, it should still be possible for me to create something that allows me not only to stand on even ground with them—but surpass them.
There was definitely more to his Subclass than just enhancing what already existed, and increasing his pre-existing base stats. He wanted to create, to make objects that served a wide array of purposes that would help him make up for his shortcomings as a human.
He understood what he needed to do, and that was to level up his Artificer Class as soon as possible, and unlock whatever it was that was being hidden from him.
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Taka seems to have some history that maybe he himself doesn't even know about—yet.
Other than that, the strength of his Subclass is finally starting to properly show itself. And might even be the foundation for a huge chunk of his strength from this point onward.
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