Chapter 273 - C273. The Flow Of Fate
Although Tyler was being flattered by Uriel's as she seems to be his number one fan, he still felt a litle uneasy in seeing how Moloc was able to handle herself against the Grim Reaper even though she hadn't recovered her full strength.
Lucky for him, his innate ability allowed him to passively get stronger each day just by existing. This meant he would always be stronger today than he was yesterday.
Of course, this only applied to his physical body and while it affected his mana body. It did not provide any boost to his current tier and just constantly increases his mana reserves.
In order for that to happen, he needed to find the proper training method that suited him and by simply practicing Magic the last few days, his current Tier had broken past the peak stages of the 7th tier and had to reach Basic Tier 8.
However, with the vast defenses in tiers the more you went up, he had noticed that it would take him a thousand years to have another breakthrough at his current pace and with this method of training.
The reason he had progressed this far in such an absurdly short amount of time was due to his presence of mind in learning basic Magic runes before he had even attempted to learn a spell. Then again, perhaps he had just been lucky or maybe there was a powerful external force that wanted it that way.
Magic runes were the very foundations of all Magic in the universe and the fact that he had just so happened to have learned the most important aspect of Magic before even attempting anything else meant that he had gained the greatest knowledge from the starting point.
To explain this with a simple gaming analogy, this meant he had gotten all the experience points from a quest meant for a party of max level, it lets say level 100 gamers as a single level 1 character. Naturally, this had catapulted his levels towards the top in an Instant.
Back then, he had probably woken up underground still as a Tier 1 mage with an absurd amount of mana practically overflowing from his damaged mana body that surely would've killed him in only a few days if he hadn't found the Magic library.
This meant the moment he learned Basic Magic runes, it had used most of the mana forced inside him to reinforce and boost his Magic ability all the way to about Tier 5 or 6, and the more he learned, the stronger his Magic potential became.
This was only possible because his empty vessel had been forcefully fed with mana and because of his innate ability, his mana body was able to break through its limits and by him more time, not allowing such deadly amounts of energy to consume him.
However, this was only temporary as his innate ability worked gradually and was unlikely to keep up with the wild energy forever.
That was probably why he had woken up after a thousand years of his body trying to adjust to the energy but couldn't complete the task without a catalyst, then as though led by lady fate at the perfect time, he woke up and immediately wandered into the demon king's castle, finding the hidden Magic library as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
Now that he thought about it, everything had been way too connected. Not to mention some of the decisions he made furring that time had been questionable, to say the least, and if even one of those steps had been off even by an inch, then it was likely he wouldn't be alive right now.
The connections were too precise. There was no way all that had been a coincidence.
He knew the original demon king had something to do with summoning him here with a failed hero summoning ritual which may have been failed on purpose but the demon king should've been dead a long time ago.
Even if he had set up some contingency plans and he had been a part of it, such finesse control over the lives of people should not be possible for a dead man.
'Does that mean he's still alive?'
Tyler's heart suddenly skipped a beat as he thought of this fact. What would a demon king who could perform such acts even in the grave do to him who was practically impersonating him?
A cold shiver ran through Tyler's spine as he carefully observe his surroundings but sensed nothing.
'Uriel.'
{Yes, master?}
'Is there any possibility that my actions are being influenced by something or someone?'
{Multiple analysis has been made on master's physic over the past week since I was awakened and none such external influences has been permitted.}
'Permitted? Does that mean there were attempts?'
*No response.
*Sigh... Tyler wanted to query Uriel about what she meant but stopped. He was sure she could not lie or deceive him as he was connected to her soul and would easily sense such things.
If she wasn't answering it simply meant she was not 100% sure and her conclusions may be incorrect so she would rather not provide her master with wrong information no matter how unlikely it was.
'No need being so paranoid Tyler. If that guy could easily kill or even afford to kill me then he would've done so by now. His aim is likely to resurrect himself with my body right? Else why go through all the trouble of keeping me alive.'
Tyler had originally thought he survived because he fell into that strange lake underground and had accidentally taken away the demon king's only chance of surviving at the time m but perhaps that train of thought had been planted in his head as well.
A way for him to be oblivious to the truth and thus fall straight into his trap. Although this sudden realization was mind-boggling for him. Tyler did his best to stay calm as his emotions were constantly being stabilized by Uriel who would automatically use the placate spell anytime she sensed an unnatural spike.
He knew without all the facts there was nothing he could do about this especially not in this situation so he decided to return his attention to the matter at hand and think about the best way to handle this at a later date. Well, he was actually delegating the task to Uriel who could run parallel calculations at the same time so he felt more confident in handling this.
Perhaps increasing his strength was something the demon king wanted him to do, still, that didn't matter as there was nothing else he could do as remaining at his current level wouldn't help him either.
However, as he had already gained a basic understanding of advanced Magic runes, learning the other levels of it won't be enough to grant him any significant increase in tiers. He needed to actually learn more about the theories of Magic and have a more comprehensive knowledge of all aspects of Magic and learning and creating new spells would be a focal point for him.
Usually, most mages start with learning and understanding the basics of their preferred aspect of Magic before attempting to learn Magic runes as they had seemed it impossible to learn Magic runes without gaining some understanding of Magic first.
However, this had only resulted in problems that limited their growth as most of their magic knowledge had been transcribed in this world's written language causing them to not gain any 'experience' just by researching Magic.
As far as he knew, the Void Library was the only place in this world that had held Magic research books still written in Magic runes.
Perhaps this world's current system was set on purpose to control the growth of talented commoners due to the pride of the so-called nobles but even then, it didn't seem like time had shone favorably on the nobles as well as even they had fallen victim to their own schemes.
Even though they still had a slight advantage as they were able to teach Magic runes to their heirs while making it almost impossible for commoners to gain even the knowledge of basic magic runes.
"Now then, how do I handle this creature."
After delegating his problems to Uriel, Tyler finally returned his gaze to the massive illusionary of the Grim Reaper after spending a long time in thought while using a form of thought acceleration that allowed him to do all that in an instant.
{Answer: An extensive analysis has been completed on the conjured celestial: Grim Reaper, several adequate solutions had been decided. Would you like to hear them all?}
"Not really. Let's just go with the simplest method."
{As you wish.}
Hearing Uriel's idea in dealing with a reality-warping monster such as this, Tyler smiled faintly as he teleported back to where Moloc was facing the creature for a while now without their battle progressing at all.
Even though Moloc seemed to have the absolute advantage from afar, the reality was different as she hadn't recovered her strength fully yet and had basically been dragged out by him.
It seems all she could do in her current state was deflect the attacks by focusing all of her energy to a single point in her fingernail and reacting faster than the reaper as she currently lacked the power to even attempt a counter much less bring it down.
"That's enough Moloc, I'll take it from here, why don't you go reunite with your friend there."
"My friend? Oh my, I'll happily oblige by your will, Master."
"Please don't speak seductively in front of me, it gives me the chills."
Although Tyler was glad Moloc seemed to be excited to reunite with her friend, he couldn't stand hearing her speak in a certain tone as he just ended up picturing her original form of a massive muscle head with limitless power contrasting her current beautiful appearance.
"Oh Master, Whatever could you mean by that, fufufu."
Saying that in a mischievous tone while flashing Tyler a seductive smile, Moloc's body was then consumed by hellfire as she disappeared and reappeared behind Azalea who had been staring at her battle completely speechless. He didn't seem to have realized anything like the shock of seeing her was enough to alter his logical mind.
"Oh Azalea darling, did you miss me."
[Aewk! Moloc! I mean, Lord Moloc, is that really you! Why! Why are you in such a form? in the physical realm no less.]
Suddenly hearing Moloc's lovely voice from beside him, Azalea's soul almost jumped off his body as his skin immediately became pale and he started stumbling through his words.
"Oh my darling boy, do you like this form? I got some huge knockers to play with don't you think?"
Moloc happily responded to Azalea's question as she cupped her breasts and raised them higher for him to get a better view which had surprisingly made his checks flushed.
However, this only served to frighten Azalea more as he almost jumped back but resisted the urge. He wanted to run but knew it was useless as Moloc cheerfully smiled at him with sparkling eyes.
"Now then Azalea, I notice you were having some fun with my master's vassals earlier. You've really grown a lot, haven't you? Why don't we have some fun too."
The life visibly drained from Azalea's face as he could only visualize the despair that awaited him if things were to profess as he feared.
His mind flashed back to his life in the underworld, serving under the tyrant Chaos Lord, Moloc who made an Arch Devil like himself do demean and torturous errands for him just to so he would gain some amusement.
Nothing could've prepared him for meeting such a person even after he had finally escaped that place by being summoned.
[Wait, did your master's vassals?]
"I did, what of it?"
Hearing Moloc's casual response, Azalea's mind that had already been a mess instantly melted after hearing that. It had even taken him a while to notice the details in Moloc's words, to begin with.
He couldn't believe it, the tyrant Devil Lord just said he had a master. A being the nearly all-powerful Chaos Lord had deemed superior. Someone that most likely had equal or superior strength to Moloc, and by the twisted threads of fate, he had foolishly attacked that master's vassals.
What the hell is up with this world.