"I'll see you guys soon." I waved as we parted ways.
"Now. East it is." I closed my eyes, concentrating on my mana. I circulated my Wind mana around my body in such a way that I began to float, higher and higher until I was well over a hundred feet in the air.
I then used Gravity mana to make me several times lighter, and then another dose of Wind mana to increase the speed of my flight even more. To any normal person, I'd be too fast to see, because of the sheer speed at which I was moving at.
What the hell? It's so far away, and I sensed it all the way from Xyrus? I'm already pretty close to the edge of the coast and I still haven't reached the signature yet.
When I'd just about reached the edge of the East coast, the hound-like signature suddenly spiked, as if it could sense me.
This thing might be harder to deal with than I expected. What the hell is with this mana? Why is it so large and dense? Whatever this thing is, it's a lot stronger than S-class.
As I landed right where the beastly mana felt strongest, I was met with a large, deep, abyss-like cavern. I walked into the cavern, reinforcing my body with mana to boot.
I'm not gonna give whatever the hell this thing is any chances.
"Coat of arms," I whispered, as the mana reinforcing my body was coated in layers of Ice, Earth, and Lightning in an armor-like battle suit.
After what felt like 30 minutes of just walking, I saw the end of this seemingly endless pathway. When I reached the end, I couldn't help but compare whatever I saw to something I'd read in my last life's mythology books.
It was a giant room surrounded by fire and lava, with a giant red hound sleeping in front of what appeared to be a giant door.
The Cerberus Hound lives up to its name. It looks like a smaller version of the real Cerberus, though. It's only got one head and it doesn't look as big; it's maybe only half as large.
Maybe it was like a child or something of the actual Cerberus. Not to mention, what is it doing here? I don't remember myths or legends of Cerberus crawling around in this world.
As I approached the giant hound, I felt its mana flare once more as its blood-red eye opened, and focused on me.
"Ah, shit."
"You dare be so bold as to try and slay me?" it rumbled as it got up.
Alright. Scratch that. This guy's probably bigger.
"You can talk?" I said as I pulled out Kamish's Wrath from my dimensional storage.
"I do not know of you nor do I have any interest in it. You are my enemy, so I will kill you," it growled as its blood-red eyes glowed and its mana flared even more.
"Let's see if you can!" I shouted as I burst toward the three-headed hound.
"No matter! You will die anyway!" it roared as a giant ball of fire manifested in its mouth.
"Not so fast!" I swung my dagger with as much force as I could as I imbued it with Ice magic, releasing an arc of Ice toward the beast's attack.
As it released the ball of fire, my Ice slash dispersed the spell as it clashed, releasing steam everywhere.
I put away my dagger's, freeing my hands. In my right, I willed Gravity mana. In my left, I willed Ice mana.
As a giant spear of Ice formed in front of me, I crushed it down with Gravity, condensing it down as much as possible until I couldn't anymore, into the shape of a spear.
My Ice spear stood at least 10 feet tall and was harder, tougher, and stronger than just about anything I'd ever created with elemental magic so far.
I then used Wind magic to spin it, and coated it in Fire magic, to ensure I would hit my target with the added penetration force.
"Let's see you survive this!" I growled as I launched the spear toward the hound.
As my spear came into contact with the hound's left side, it howled in pain and fell to it knees.
"You... a mere human..! I'll never forgive you as long as you live!!" it roared as a bright red light filled the room.
Where the three-headed hound originally was, a man with crimson red hair, sharp claws on his hands, and a strange look of calm yet evident disdain on his face stood.
"I commend you for actually managing to injure me, human. It's too bad, however. I'll be sure to kill you in this form." The man turned out to be the Cerberus Hound.
"Asura? No... you're stronger than one. Not to mention, Polymorph looks like the only ability similar."
"Indeed. I am not a mere 'Asura,' as you say. I am capable of Polymorph, but not the lesser version those so-called 'deities' managed to pick up from my techniques."
"Looks like this won't be any walk in the park," I chuckled as I got up from my knee.
I summoned Kamish's Wrath from my dimensional storage, and imbued my daggers with the four elements as the man stuck his hand out, and a red blade emerged from the ground.
The handle was jet black, while the hilt was a pristine white, almost the same color as my Ice-White hair.
"Say, you got a name?" I asked as I raised my blade toward him.
"I might as well tell you since you'll die anyway. My name is Valkan, the eighth and strongest son of Cerberus, the greatest creation of Outer God Indra. And your name?"
Wait, Outer God? What the hell? Whatever, not right now. Focus on the fight.
"S-class Adventurer Regal, this continent's finest mage with a Quadra-Elemental Deviancy at the Initial Silver core.
Transferee of Outer God Zalam, reincarnation of this world. Pleased to meet you," I said as I lowered my stance and tensed my muscles in preparation.
We dashed toward each other, our weapons clashing. Surprisingly, his blade held up against mine, not a single crack forming on it as the mana I imbued into my daggers dispersed.
"Those daggers are quite powerful. I can sense quite a bit of mana coming from them," he commented as we pulled away from each other.
"Well, they were made from a Dragon's teeth," I responded as I dashed toward him once more, imbuing Fire mana into my daggers this time.
He responded in kind, using what seemed to be a much more advanced version of Piston Stamp to burst toward me almost instantly.
I activated Thunderclap Impulse, and ducked down. As I felt the Lightning attribute mana flow through not just my nerves but my veins as well, my eyes contracted and my hair stood up on end from the electric currents flowing through me.
Even with a 0.001 second reaction time however, he still moved so much faster than anybody I could've ever fought.
Well, I should at least expect this much from a child of an Outer God's creation.
As we exchanged blows, I could feel myself improving, moving faster, reacting better, defending easier.
I wasn't sure whether it was because I had the body of a God that helped me, but I felt as if I was constantly improving in my battle with Valkan. Like my mind was finally catching up to my body.
It was as if my body was always prepared, but somehow my mind just couldn't do it, because of my shackles as a Human.
I still wanted to act like a Human, even though I had both the body and capability of fighting a God.
Right. I have the body of a God now, so I should be fighting opponents who are comparable to Gods.
It looks like I'm gonna have to fight the Asura's and the Vritra if I want to grow further, then. Not like I don't already intend to, though.
"Why won't you just die?!" Valken screamed as he released another barrage of fireballs coupled with several arcs of flames.
"I've got a family who'd kill me if I died," I said as I countered every attack with my daggers.
"Can't really afford to be done in by the likes of an enemy, even one as strong as you."
"Say, Valkan. Why don't we really see who'll be the winner of this fight?" I asked as I put my daggers away.
C'mon, let's do it. An exchange of pure magical capabilities. Your Fire magic or my Quadra-Elemental arsenal.
"Very well." He stabbed his sword into the ground as he morphed back into the form of a giant three-headed hound, his previous wound almost perfectly healed.
With my God eye, I could see everything inside his body. Where his heart was, where his mana vessels lay, even where his mana channels were located.
I could see everything, including the nearly healed wound on his body I inflicted.
"Human. You being able to fight with me has given me a new sense of respect for you. Whether I or you die, I'll respect and remember the name Regal as long as my soul still lives.
Now, prepare yourself!" He opened his mouth as he formed another ball of fire.
This ball of fire however, was much more powerful. It held at least five times more power than the one I'd originally sliced in half at the start of our fight.
I waved my hand, and several hundreds of weapons appeared in the air, made from all elements. Blades of Wind, daggers of Ice, swords of Fire and Lightning, and spears of Earth surrounded me.
Weapons of all sorts from both of my lives were formed from all four Elements as I prepared my last attack.
"Looks like this is the last we'll be seeing of each other. I'm sure you weren't brought here of your own will, so I'll chew Zalam out for this if I meet him."
"In your death or my defeat, farewell... Regal."
As he released the dense ball of fire, I shot forward my barrage of elemental spells, clashing with his fire. This was the strongest opponent I'd likely ever have fought for the next few years to come.
In the end, the winner of our exchange was me. I walked up to Valkan's body and kneeled down, putting my hand on his head.
"I'll be sure to make use of your power, so as not to disrespect you."
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"Let's see... Ah! Here it is!" I pulled the bright red core from Valkan's dead carcass. "I'll be sure to make use of this."
I continued digging as I cut through his tough skin until I found what I was looking for.
"Alright... let's grab these as well." I reached in and pulled out the other two cores I searched for with my God eye.
"One red, one blue, and one silver. Now that I have these though, what am I supposed to do? Do I just absorb them? I have no need for a Beast Will."
"Yeah, why don't you turn it into an elixir?" A familiar voice spoke.
"Zalam. You're an outrageous being, you know that? I almost died a few times." I turned around as my vision suddenly went dark.
I was pulled into Zalam's realm.
"Yo! Had a fun time with Indra's grandson?" He smiled innocently.
"Dumbass! I know what you did. I bet you're gonna do more stupid things just to mess with me!" I grumbled as I took in the incredible amount of mana the three cores held.
He sighed. "Yeah, I know. It's not like I intended to do it though, dude! I have to listen to my... boss, I guess you could call him, or he'll get all snappy and annoying." He leaned on his palm as he grumbled.
"Aiyahh. Whatever. So? What now? You wanna tell me why other Outer God's are in on this? Or are you just kidnapping creations like stealing candy from a baby?
Also, what do I do with these cores? I have no purpose for them right now other than absorption." I pinched the bridge of my nose in exasperation.
"To answer your question about the Outer God's. The simple answer is no. They're not in on this but they don't mind my taking a few of their creations. I swear, they're all sadists."
He turned his head to the left as if someone spoke to him. "Yeah, Indra, I'm talking to your pussy ass. You know, you're lucky you have all those little guard dogs of yours, or else I would've just taken one of Raijin's Thunderbird's.
Sorry about that. Anyway, about those cores. Like I said, why not create elixirs?"
"Elixirs. Like core boosting, mana enhancing elixirs? Ha! Very funny. No, really, what do I do with these?"
No way did this guy actually mean to say I could create elixirs with the cores of an SS-class mana beast like Valken.
"First of all, 'this guy' did mean to say that. Second, Valk's stronger than SS-class. And third, I can hear your thoughts. Rude, calling me 'this guy.'" He leaned in toward me.
"And yes, I really mean it. you should create an elixir out of Lil Valk's cores. I can give you a bit of insight to start you off, but that's all you get. Deal?"
"What choice do I have..." I sighed. "Whatever. Deal. I'm gonna abuse the hell out of this skill, you know."
"I do. It's exactly why I was against this; because you're a Jack of All Trades that'll abuse the hell out of any and every skill you deem useful."
"Rude! I don't do that with every skill."
"Thunderclap Impulse, improved it by over fifty times. Mana creation, you made one of the strongest weapons you could ever have read about in any lifetime.
You created a dimensional storage with a near infinite capacity. Need I say more?"
"Okay, okay, you have a point, but at least-"
"Nope! You get the most basic information possible. Build up from there since you're such a genius. I'm sure you'll be giving Dicathen's strongest elixirs to your friends and shit, so whatever." He sighed.
"You really are such a strange being," I chuckled.
"Uh-huh. Now get ready, I'm sending you back."
"Alright. See you next time, I guess," I waved.
"Oh right, I should tell you something."
"Yeah?"
"Keep an eye out for noble house Vigo. I left a present of my own in their family."
"Okay? Totally not weird."
As I opened my eyes, I found myself back in front of Valkan's dead body. I kneeled down in front of him and put my hand on his body as I visualized my dimensional storage opening wide enough to fit his body.
"I feel like your body will be of use to me in the future, so I'm gonna take it with me. I hope you don't mind."
As I walked out of the cavern, I found the sun had already set.
"Looks like our battle lasted quite some time. I wonder where the others are?" I closed my eyes as I stretched my mana sense across the Beast Glades.
"Ah! Found you. I got over here pretty fast, so I'll just run over there. I can practice revamping Burst Step while I'm at it."
________________________________________________________________________________
Before any of you fuckers whine about how short the fight with Valkan was, I'll have you know I spent over 1600 words on that fight alone.
I don't wanna hear shit from any of you.
By the way, forming elixirs only sounds a lot easier than it actually is. I just diluted that shit down by like ten times.
I could go into detail, but fuck that shit. I don't wanna waste my time like that, so I didn't bother giving you guys a short essay as to how this stuff really works.
You'll probably get it later lmao