D1V1N3 Gamer 3

Editor: AssemblerManiac
Beta reader: Impish Oni, Bigtofu
*****

Chapter 3

The cerastes (Greek: κεράστης, transliteration: kerastēs, meaning "having horns") is a creature of Greek legend, a serpent that is incredibly flexible—so much so that it is said to have no spine. Cerastae can have either two large ram-like horns or two pairs of smaller horns.

----D1V1N3----

January 22nd, 2011
Forbidden Island

I suddenly jumped back as I saw a big and fanged mouth open to swallow me whole. I quickly unsheathed my knife and pistol and fired at the thing trying to eat me. Damn it! I didn’t want to die like this! The giant snake coiled on itself and charged again; I closed my eyes and was about to throw a fireball at it when I heard a cracking sound. Opening my eyes, I saw something I didn’t expect, the monster’s fangs hit something other than me, a sphere of pink energy that was surrounding me. At the same time a ball of fire coalesced before me and burst toward the snake’s open mouth.

Just in time the beast recoiled and avoided the scorching ball of fire that slammed against the entrance of the cave. Fortunately, it didn’t do much damage. *Wow, I can fire magic through the shield!*

The snake reminded me of its presence and hissed at me, I let go of the force-field and fired three rounds into its head. The bullets bounced off its scales, it looked hatefully at me and attacked. *Fuck! It’s hide is too thick!*

I put my pistol in its holster and took my hunting knife. Channeling mana in my body, and in the weapon, avoided the snake and swiftly attacked the back of its neck by using my Tackle skill. The blade of my knife bit under the snake's head and pierced its lower jaw and reached its brain.

The snake's body violently shook, knocking me away from it. I landed on my feet like a cat and watched as the monster kept contorting its body. After another ten seconds it stopped moving completely, it's eyes dead.

You killed your first monster!

+100 CP

Skill Created:

Power Strike [Rank F]

Vital Strike [Rank F]

Augmented Agility [Rank E]

Ability Rank Up:

Fireball [Rank F+]

Okay who the fuck put the victory theme of final fantasy X-2 on? I turned to Cortana and I saw that she had pompom in her hands and she began dancing in the air. I decided to ignore my Pixie and focused on the notifications that have just appeared. I created three new skills and ranked up my new fireball ability. Fire was quickly going to become my favorite element.

“Nice!” I exclaimed as I looked at my notification windows.

Ding!

New title gained
Budding Pyromaniac
You have discovered your budding romance with the flames, careful or she just might burn off your eyebrows if you spark her enough. +20% to fire magic

I turned to Cortana who had an innocent expression on her face, but I didn’t believe her at all for a moment. *I will lose if I mind it, let's just ignore her antics.*

Walking toward the horned snake’s body, I passively observed it.

Cerastes snake (Murderized) [Rank E]
Description: The Cerastes, “horned”, is one of the many snakes born from the blood of Medusa from the Libyan desert. Their skin is very soft and stretchable, yet durable. On the head are two, four, or eight horns, described as worm-like or ram-like. The fangs are like those of a viper and are not crooked. Instead of a backbone, a cerastes has a cartilaginous spine, making it the most flexible of all snakes. Cerastes bites cause necrosis, priapism, madness, dimness of sight, scabs, sharp pain like the pricking of needles, and inevitable death within nine days.

The more I read the Cerastes’ description, the angrier I got. I was lucky to have had my forcefield on at this point, even if I didn’t know how to control it yet. I strode closer to the body and kicked its head. “Get up, so I can kill you again.”

Gamer’s Mind forcefully cooled down my anger, after I kept kicking the dead monster. I shrugged, as an idea came to mind. “Well, at least now I will make myself some new boots and maybe a matching belt?”

Cortana cut my trail of thought short and reminded me, “Céli, check if there are other snakes in the cave!”

I looked at my Pixie with eyes full of terror and said with a little voice, “I hope not.”

If the cave turned into a nest over the fifteen days it had taken me to finally see results from my training, then I will just deal with it. As I advanced toward the cave in the hill, my eyes were also trained on my mini-map. Fortunately, there weren’t any monsters or animals inside! But this problem put into perspective what I really needed, a way to interdict access to this clearing and river. I liked the place, I wanted to make a hobbit house, until I found a way to get out of that death trap of an island.

I took the Cerastes’ body into my inventory and dismantled it. I obtained its skin, horns,  meat, bones, teeth, eyes, brain and venom gland. Most of them could be used for crafting, cooking and as reagents for alchemy.

“Alchemy?” Like the mystic and scientific pursuit of the power of the Philosopher's Stone and Universal Panacea? Suddenly, images of seeing myself clap my hands and be able to use Elemental Transmutation or make healing options to cure people came to my mind. My head swiveled to my Pixie guide.

The blue colored Pixie smiled at me, then nodded. “You’ll be able to unlock the crafting and production jobs soon, you just have to carefully raise your rank.”

The Gamer system was bullshit! I instantly answered, “I will.”

I will totally go Full Metal Alchemist on people’s ass, and with this I could see how I will be able to craft my own home. There must be a carpenter for the crafting jobs; did it take inspiration from the Final Fantasy XIV games I played in my previous life? I hope so. My eyes focused then on the entrance of the glade around the hill. I was loath to go there again, amongst the monsters; but needs must, and I needed to get stronger to get out of that island to get back to civilization.

I sighed and then Cortana landed on my head, she patted it with her little hand, “Come on, we need to explore.”

Walking toward the entrance of the glade, I asked, “Can we retrace the way we came from?”

Cortana laughed at me, "It’s on the map, Céli. We will just have to follow your previous trek."

I walked with my knife at the ready, it was time to see if the training I did could allow me to survive, or run away faster than the last time.

Intelligence +

*Oh shut up, Game!*

----D1V1N3----

Forbidden Island
West side
Arrival point

I killed some fucking horned rabbits, those things are so fast. But thanks to the accumulation of some skills and abilities, I was now agile and fast enough to dodge or tank them. I suspected that the following abilities that I activated while I moved which are Third Eye, Mana Perception, and the skills Magic Combat, Augmented Agility, Force-field generation worked in tandem to make me able to have more situational awareness and insight on how to finish my fights.

“Tonight we are going to have rabbit meat!” I sang as I zipped through the trees, following the trail from my last trek through this forest.

Cortana and I avoided the plenitude of monsters that crossed our way by using the map, and when we couldn't I just either distracted them with a fireball to make them run. However, if they were strong creatures such as the Chimera or Nemean Lion and its harem of Lionesses? I made a bigger detour, after all they were all C Rank and I liked being alive.

Cortana and I skirted around the plenitude of monsters that crossed our way by using the map. When we couldn’t easily avoid them, I’d make the weaker ones run from a fireball, and make large detours around stronger ones like Chimera or Nemean Lion and its harem Lionesses. C Ranks aren’t my cuppa yet.

I smelled salt in the air and saw the earthy forest trail giving way to white sand; I ran after checking the map -no monster, yes!- and boom! I was seeing coconut trees, the sea and heard the waves crashing down on the beach. The sky was different shades of purple, pink and blue in the horizon, it was beautiful.

But something stopped me from really appreciating the vista. The giant Sea Dragons from the last time were still there and seemed to be playing in the water, but that wasn't what was bothering me; it was the translucent purple barrier surrounding the island. Thanks to my Third Eye and Mana Perception ability that were still activated I could see the thing stopping me from leaving this place.

Cortana patted my forehead in comfort. "Don't worry, it's only a matter of time until you get out of here. Just focus on becoming stronger for now."

"Thanks Cortana, I will become disgustingly strong and get out of this place." I promised as I watched the sea on the horizon minus the Sea Dragons.

I took off my boots by storing them in inventory and felt warmth between my toes as I walked into the water, I closed my eyes and revelled in the sun’s rays on my face. If it wasn’t for this damnable barrier filtering the star’s radiation, I would already be metabolizing the sunlight. There was a reason I chose Kryptonian as a race when I was shown this world; I wanted to fly in the sky.

Crouching, I put my hands in the water, feeling the waves, I focused on the water and tried to make it move or float. I needed to work on that Elemental Manipulation; I was succeeding in making it form a whirlpool and have the water slowly float from its center when Cortana’s voice broke my focus.

My Pixie fleeted before my face and looked rather scared when she said, "Huh… Céli I don't want to worry you, but there's someone behind you."

I quickly stood up. "What?!" Next I turned, only to see a really pretty pale young woman with an umbrella in hands, black hair and wearing a really black goth attire consisting of a tank top, leather pants and black matching belt and gloves. She had a silver Ankh hanging around her neck. On her right eye, Ra's eye was tattooed. She too didn't wear any shoes somehow. *Oh fuck!*

Nothing was said as we looked at each other, until a warm smile spread on the delicate face of the pale young woman. "Hello, there."

Gamer’s Mind acted out again, forcefully calming me down and allowed me to spot the opening for the Star Wars quote the being in the shape of an attractive goth placed. "General Kenobi, you are a bold one."

She surprised me when she began to laugh. "Ah! I knew you would follow up! Destiny owes me five dollars. You don’t disappoint, little girl.."

I laughed with her, albeit a bit nervously; Cortana was on my right shoulder hugging my neck, terrified by the Endless before us. I coughed to clear my voice and stood straight."So... what does Death want with little ole me?"

Was she here to kill me? I was a stranger to this universe and I wouldn't be surprised that the Endless dealt with outsiders from beyond the source wall permanently.

She smiled a bit as she said, "Call me Dee. And no, I'm not here to kill you or some such."

Cortana and I visibly relaxed at hearing that but we stayed on our guard. This was Death. An Endless. Each represents an aspect of life: Dream, Death, Destiny, Despair, Desire, Delirium and Destruction. The origin and exact nature of the Endless is unknown, and few hints are ever given as to exactly why the Endless exist; it is more implied that they are natural processes given form. While it is stated outright that they are children of Time and Night, this may be true only in the abstract sense.

Death in particular, came into existence shortly before the first life forms appeared in the omni-iverse. She will function as the concept of death until the very last living thing dies. After that, she was destined to put the universe to rest.

See? That's scary. With a trembling voice, I said with bravado, "Phew, I barely arrived in this world and I landed on a monster island and met an Endless… What kind of luck is that?"

Dee pouted, and flicked my forehead. I didn’t even see her move. “Don't complain, Céleste.” The goth chided me.

“Ouch.” I held onto my forehead, this hurt a bit.

“I am here to tell you that you aren't here by chance." Dee continued to say,  her cuteness almost made me want to stop being on guard with her. But wait um! What does she mean by that? I didn’t wash out on this island because I have shitty luck?

I frowned at her, suddenly understanding something. Cortana hugged me tighter and Gamer Mind stopped me from just becoming physical with Death. “Are you saying that…”

Dee nodded, and stared straight in my eyes. "Yes, we stopped you from arriving on Paradise Island proper." She walked at my side and looked over the horizon, then stared at her feet, seeing something in the water. Dee bent over and put her hand in the water.

I asked, "Why?"

What does an Endless want with me? I'm just a little gamer and barely able to use Observe on her. Actually, it didn't work at all, as if she was outside the Gamer system.

"What they would have done to you… would have destroyed you. At least the you, that's here now." Dee answered to my thought as she had something in hand.

She strode toward me, took my right hand and placed something in it. "Ah." I am not surprised, the more I heard about the Amazons of this dimension from Death herself, the more I don't want to meet any of them. I had thought that they would be the cookie cutter version of the Amazons from the animated movies, but boy it seemed that I was wrong.

Opening my hand, I saw a very large blue gemstone in it.

Aquamarine [Material Rank D]
Aquamarine is a form of Beryl that is similar in color to sea water. So it varies from green to blue just like the ocean. This particular gem has been blessed by the Endless Death and filled with life energy, its calming energies reduce stress and quiet the mind. +30% to all healing spells, +20% to water magic. This item can be used to raft a magical focus.

*Woah, good stuff!* I pocketed the gem into my inventory and I asked Dee, "Let me guess, they would wipe my memories?"

It was that or I would get killed by them; but I was in a child body and barely seven or eight physically. I leaned toward the first solution, it stops any attempt at spying by placing a girl child with unclear affiliations on their shore. By taking their memories, they became the pillar of support for the kid. How devious… I would have done the same.

Intelligence +

Wisdom +

The game basically confirmed it to me, making me smile warily at this. What's more? Death further confirmed it for me as she took my hand and pulled me toward the beach. "You have landed in the dimension with the worst Amazons, they rape the men that they take from their ships and kill them. The boys who were born from those violent unions were killed, until Hephaestus took them from Paradise Island to save them."

I was disgusted by this, there was no redeeming anyone who had killed babies. “Yeah and I am eight years old, old enough that if they wipe my mind I would believe that I was always part of them.”

Dee gave a bright smile and patted me on the head. “You get it.”

Why was everyone patting me on the head? Am I some sort of puppy or something? Anyway, I began to think about what I knew of the Amazons. It basically went like this, the goddesses Hestia, Aphrodite, Demeter, Athena and Artemis created the Amazons, thousands of superhumanly strong, adult females from the clay bed of a lake in Greece, and imbued them with spirits from the Well of Souls in the Underworld.

The Amazons were to serve the Olympian gods in a proselytical manner, spreading their principles and devotion to a largely barbarian world. They were given a city-state in Greece (the land adjacent to the lake of their birth), and they called it Themyscira. There they thrived for many years before they were attacked by the forces of Hercules, and were saved only through the intervention of the goddesses.

Their home destroyed and prospects for success in their worldly mission dashed, Antiope led a portion of the Amazons away from her sister and the influence of the gods, to travel the world in search of a new purpose. They eventually settled in Egypt, becoming known as the Amazons of Bana Migdhall.

Most Amazons, however, stayed with Hippolyta. To repay the gods for their rescue, the remaining Amazons were sent far away from their home in Greece to a mystical, paradisal island in uncharted oceans.

I gazed into Dee's eyes, my heart ached for the women of paradise island… but! “I truly do understand, they let their hatred and vengeance for men consume them, turning them into the monsters that had raped and enslaved them.”

Dee closed her eyes, then closed her umbrella. Her black hair shone under the sunlight as if there were stars amongst them. I sighed and asked her, “So the only ones worth knowing are Diana, Donna and Cassandra?”

They were some of my favorite heroines in this universe, but I was partial to Raven, Harleen Quinzel, Kara Zor-L and Hawkgirl. I hope to meet them soon.

I got bopped on the nose. “Don’t be so quick to judge them all, Céleste. Some of them know that what they've been doing is horrible, but I do agree that they are a minority amongst their people.”

How did she do that?! I can’t see her move at all. I held onto my nose. “Fine, I won’t put them all into the same basket.”

Dee smiled again, I wanted to see that smile a lot. How did she take away all the wariness that I felt for her? This was strange. Oh, yeah… she’s so powerful that the system can’t quantify her stuff, I forgot. But it wasn’t a bad thing, I think.

Then my thought startled me, *Dee was super strong right?*

I took Dee’s hand in mine and turned my best puppy eyes onto her and asked, "Say, Dee. I need to get out of here, can you help? I almost got killed by a snake this morning."

Dee's lips thinned and she looked rather sorry right now. "I…"

Taking in her expression, I understood that I would find no help here. Was I stuck here for good? Would I become monster food? Cortana kissed my cheek and soothed me; I guess I could only count on her.

Dee touched my free shoulder and was about to speak when a voice rang behind us. "No, she can't."

A tall man wearing a purple hooded cloak obscuring his face was on the beach, he had a big green book chained to his right wrist. He walked toward us and I noticed how he didn't leave any tracks in the sand, nor did he have a shadow. Then something else attracted my attention, over the book there was a pizza box that had a yummy smell wafting from it. I smelled meat, cheese and tomato sauce.

It was visitation day or something? "Wow, I am having so many people meeting me today."

The man stopped before Dee and a five dollars bill appeared in his hand. Okay, the guy was clearly Houdini, was it sleight of hand or did he have a pocket space like me? "Here’s the money I owe you, Dee. This child is really difficult to read..."

I glared at him, I didn't like how this person  spoke about me. "And who might you be, sir? Last time I checked, I didn’t order any pizza."

He spoke to Dee again, "And she's sassy." Then he looked at me again and held the box before him and said, "That’s for you, of course."

Dee took the box from his hands and gave it to me, it went directly in my inventory. I will have a slice later.

"This is my big brother, Destiny. Don’t mind him, he likes to be all mysterious and inscrutable." Dee informed me.

Well shit, another Endless. I hope I won't meet any more of them; I mean Dee is my favorite so far. But that guy looked overly serious. "Charmed." I said as I looked at Destiny. "You are really tall. And what a nice book you have chained to your wrist, does it get inconvenient sometimes?"

“They say that about me often and no, the Book of Souls is not a burden, this is my duty.” He instantly and stoically answered.

An intense silence stretched between us, I boldly placed myself at Dee's side and held onto her hand. “I see. So what are you doing here? I understand why Dee is here, she’s the most sociable of the Endless, but you? You have better things to do than come see a little girl like me.”

The tall man walked toward us, if I didn’t know that he was blind I would say that Destiny was looking at me right now. “Oh but you do have our attention, young Céleste. Who do you think helped in transferring you into this clone body?”

Dun dun dun! And he dropped another bomb on me just like that. Okay, so the Endless have a hand in my creation and it seems they switched my soul with the original Divine to get me here.

“Where did that sound effect come from?” Destiny asked as he looked for something.

I tightened my hand around Dee's and asked, “Dee?”

“Yes, I did.”

Dee explained to me that at the time of one's birth, she can infuse a body with life. She commonly does this at the time of birth or at certain times to give another a second chance (hear reincarnation here). Destiny and she worked in tandem with someone higher ranked, to whom they couldn’t say no, to bring me into this universe.

I didn’t like that one bit!  It means that some god or The God, brought me here. “Huh, does that mean that there's some kind of plan for me…?”

Dee and Destiny looked at each other, the man sounded a bit sorry when he said, “You know we can't answer that, little one.”

I glared at him and let go of Dee’s hand and walked up to him; looking him dead into the eyes, well it’s not like he could see me. “Hey, take that back! I am not little.”

Destiny turned his head toward Dee, then to me and said, “Well, you barely reach Dee's waist.”

I poked him with my finger index and said angrily, “I'm just a bit short!”

*That man! He is so aggravating! How dare he?! I will show him later!* I heard Dee laugh from behind me.

I crossed my arms. “Anyway, like I was saying, you are doing that ‘not sharing info about me thing’ with me. Fine, keep your secrets Destiny, but I will do what I want in this world.”

For the first time, Destiny’s austere expression morphed into something else, he smiled at me. “That’s all we can ask you. Follow your heart, young one.”

He looked up and stayed silent for a moment, opened his book and sensed something that must really be important as he promptly said, “I must leave right now, business call. Oh, and Céleste, eat that pizza, it should be really beneficial to you.”

I frowned at that. “Huh okay…”

Destiny nodded to his sister. “Goodbye Dee.” He turned heel and walked away from us, still not leaving any tracks in the sand, that was weird.

Dee waved cheerfully at his departing back. “See you next time, Brother.”

I turned to her for a moment to watch her beautiful face, then looked back at Destiny… who wasn’t here anymore. Fucking abstract entities are trolling me I think. When I turned toward Dee she was taking something from a purse. It was a big, encyclopedia sized book and she said to me hurriedly, “Here, take this and absorb it.”

I appraised the book with Observe.

Bounded Field for Dummies [Rank C]
Skill book that explains how to create a topographic type of mystic boundary line that separates the inside from the outside.

*What the fuck?!* I was just thinking about this before leaving the camp. I looked warily at Dee who looked a bit smug.

“I’m not surprised you know about the Gamer…” I said as I began absorbing the skill book that disappeared in motes of golden light from my hands.

Dee nodded and praised, “Gaea is wise.”

Skill obtained:

Bounded Field creation [Rank C]

Bounded Field destruction [Rank C]

I didn’t know it at the time, but the meddling of the Endless had saved me a lot of future problems down the line that I was unaware were coming for me.

----D1V1N3----

I was back at camp, and Dee had left for something urgent and promised to come back in three hours. Right now I was seated near the mini-table and there was the opened pizza box on it. It looked delicious, and my belly began to growl as it decided that we would have this food in it.

Ambrosia Draco Pizza [Rank SS]
When people say that pizza is the food of the Gods, they are not wrong. This pizza in particular was baked by Goddess Hestia, the virgin goddess of the hearth and the home. This pizza contains tomatoes grown from Hestia’s garden, Elder Dragon meat, watered down Ambrosia and cheese from the sheep of Goddess Duttur, sheep goddess and protector of flocks. This pizza will forever ruin all other pizza for the Gamer if she eats it. It is considered the best Panacea and cure all on the planet. Cure all deleterious status effects, strengthen individuals back to full health, imbue the body with supernatural enhancement.

Okay… was it me or did this Pizza’s description seem kind of ominous? Am I being trolled here? It does name me specifically... I glanced at Cortana who shrugged. I took a slice of the fragrant pizza. The cheese made strings as I brought the pizza to my mouth; the crust was golden and looked crispy. I began to eat and it was like there was an explosion in my mouth. The crust was indeed crispy with a buttery taste to it and the cheese and tomato sauce combined well with the soft meat.

“THIS IS DELICIOUS!!!” I ate that slice whole.

“Céli calm down! The food isn’t going away!” Cortana warned but I couldn’t stop myself.

“Bush ish sho goodsh!” I continued to gorge myself on pizza.

When the food hit my stomach, I felt a rush of energy coursing through my body. After eating my first slice, I realized how really starved I felt, as if the food I had before wasn’t enough for me. Without being aware of it I finished the entire pizza. It was that Delicious! I devoured it all, I looked sadly at the empty box.

Then I heard the familiar ring of my Gamer system’s notifications.

All detrimental status effect have been cleared

The Gamer is back to full health

+40% to all attribute

My heart was full of elation after seeing the notifications I called out, “Status.”

Contribution Points: 2775
Karma Point: 300 Yang Points/0 Yin Points

Character Sheet
Name: Céleste
Race: Kryptonian-Magi
Title : The Gamer/Deadly Panda/Budding Pyromaniac
Stats
EN: C
CON: B
STR: D
DEX: D
MAN: D+
INT: B
WIS: F+
LUK: D

The solar starved status from before was completely gone now! And… I felt so strong! As if I could take on the world! But my Gamer’s Mind skill doused my mood and calmed me down to make me think rationally. My stats had practically climbed directly to rank D, making me more than a match for the low rung of the monsters of Forbidden Island. I felt healthy and my mind was so fast? Yes, I was thinking faster right now.

“Hahahaha.” I began to laugh as I closed and opened my hands. I ran around and jumped over the river, performing a flip before landing on the other side.

Cortana flew toward me and stopped before my face. She rolled her eyes at my antics and said, “Yes, Céli. You got stronger, now it’s time to come up with some spells.”

I frowned, it's true that I couldn't just rely on my speed and Agility, and the weapons I have so far won't be able to make a dent in C ranked monsters. So I needed magic. Wait! I remembered seeing a set of Japanese swords in the cabin from the ship. Maybe I can use them? As I followed that thread of thought internally, I asked Cortana, “Spells?”

The pixie scratched behind her head, “Yeah, I mean Fireball is all well and good, but you have other elements to master, right?”

“Ah, true.” Four elements to master, I had a lot of work to do to be able to freely live on this island.

Water and fire spells should be a priority as they are the elements I know the most, scientifically speaking. I already had ideas of what I wanted. It was the control and damage aspect of magic combat that interested me the most. I started to laugh as I already imagined myself already burning my way to victory or freezing or drowning everything and everyone.

“I’m back, Céleste.” The chirpy voice of Dee interrupted my creepy laugh session.

Turning toward my new friend, I gave her a big smile. “Ah, Dee.”

She looked me up and down, strode up to me and held my face between her soft pale hands. “You ate the pizza, like my brother told you to.”

“Yeah! You noticed!  I’m back to 100%!” I hugged Dee who hugged me back.

“The price… Céleste, with magic and divine gifts, there’s always a price.” Her hugs become tighter.

I looked into her black eyes and saw the sadness within them. “Huh?”

She pulled me toward the white reclining chair  before the cave that I had placed for us. She made me sit in the left one and began explaining, “Those who eat Hestia’s food always find mortal food… how to say it? Lackluster, bland? Yes, bland.”

*Oh.* The warning from the Ambrosia pizza’s description made sense now… I looked up at Dee and asked in a trembling tone, “I-it can’t be that bad, right?”

She looked at me with pity. “There is always a Price. Always.”

It was like a glas going and filling the silence, the wind picked up and the clouds covered the sun bearing down on us. The atmosphere grew a bit sinister and cold.

Dee continued to explain facts to me, I listened attentively, she was as old as the universe; it would be folly to not hear her out. “When magic is involved, always check the price-tag. The price will be paid, one way or another. It can range from something as insignificant as the magical energy required to activate your magic, or something devastating, like your own life. The same is true with artifacts, potions, even magical food.” She pointed a finger at the empty pizza box on the mini-table.

I thought hard about what Dee said. So, the damage was going to be mainly psychological. I knew of a way to offset such a thing, the Karma shop. I shrugged and told Dee, “Then, then I will find a way to become the best chef and surpass her by making food better than a divine can make.”

Dee looked at me with shock, then exploded with laughter. When she finally calmed down, she said, “You are ambitious, kid.” She patted my head.

*Again with the pats, I’m not some puppy.* I said that but I didn’t take her hands off my head.

It seemed that my kid’s body was influencing my mind more than I thought. Was it instinct that I sought out comfort and people I could be safe with? My entry in this world wasn’t the best, I had to kill to survive and escape a bad situation. I am not going to ever have a normal life, but I could surround myself with good people.

Grinning, I answered Dee with bravado, “I’m The Gamer, anything’s possible.”

The Gamer was bullshit and concentrated essence of Hax. Dee smiled, looked at the sky and at the position of the sun. “True. Anyway, Céleste, I'm ready to help you with your magic.”

I’m not surprised, Dee knew everything. “I was about to ask you for help but… you already anticipated it. Ah, yeah you are nigh omnipotent.”

And this is how I spent a night being taught magic by Dee; she made me show her how I channeled magic and corrected some of the mistakes I was making. I wasted too much magical energy. From this my Mana channeling, Mana Manipulation and Mana Perception abilities all raised to Rank E instantly. Dee told me to meditate when I can to raise my proficiency in acting like a conduit to my magic.

The first spell Dee taught me was Magic arrow or Magic missile, one of the most basic attack spells. She teleported us in a valley full of rock and a river on Forbidden island. Fifty meters from us there was a big egg-shaped boulder blocking the river’s flow somehow. Dee raised her hand and chanted, “Sagitta Magica, Series Ignis. Undesexaginta spiritus ignis, coeuntes. Sagitta Magica, Series Ignis..”

Three large spheres of fire were held in place around Dee’s body as she activated the spell; then the three spheres launched themselves, forming arrows shooting toward the boulder. BOOM!! They exploded on impact and turned the boulder into dust.

“Awesome!” I cheered when the boulder went boom.

Dee grinned and patronizingly said, “Your turn, Céleste. Remember, Image and intent.”

I closed my eyes and stood straight, I channeled my mana and willed three balls of fire into existence; when I opened my eyes, I glanced at my sides and saw the fireball around me. “Sagitta Magica, Series Ignis. Undesexaginta spiritus ignis, coeuntes. Sagitta Magica, Series Ignis..”

Ability Created:

Magic arrow [Rank D]

I launched them at a little boulder near us. It exploded, but part of the rock was still there and it looked singed. I wasn’t as strong as Dee in magic… you know, this spell she’s teaching sounds exactly like the one from Negima, nah it must be my imagination.

Dee looked at the damage I’ve done and looked thoughtful for a moment before she spoke aloud. “You still have a lot of growing up to do, there was a lot of wasted mana; my advice is to train in mana manipulation and channeling, and meditate a lot.”

“Okay, I will.”

“Now I must teach you other spells, come on.”

Dee helped me make my own spells and taught me utility ones that the Magi of this world considered a must; such as Physical Enhancement, Purification and Heal. The first was what allowed magi to physically strengthen themselves by channeling mana into their own bodies, the second was a special magic made by mystics, it can cure all manner of illness and disease, or remove a curse, or banish an extraplanar creature. The third was a spell that restored a being to full health, cure all diseases, restore sight, and cure mental disorders caused by brain injury or magic; it also could be used against undead creatures to harm them.

Dee calmed me down after I told her about the spells I wanted to create; highly destructive ones; well, I guess that the nuke spell was a bit too much, or was it the Bolter spell inspired by Warhammer 40k that made her admonish me?

I don’t know how she did it, but Dee summoned a bag of Haribo Starbeams, gave them to me and sat me on a rock and began lecturing me on combat efficiency. In terms that I could understand, Dee said, “You don’t need any flashy or big spells to win in a fight. What you need is control, imagination and good situational awareness.”

One candy bag later… I was frowning at Dee, I thought about this and only could make one conclusion. “So… you want me to focus on debuff spells and rely on a bag of tricks?”

Dee rolled her eyes at me. “You and your video games imagerie… and yes, essentially. You don’t have the raw magical power to throw fire all day yet, Céleste. You are no Circe, Doctor Fate or Strange.”

My eyes opened wide like saucers at the casual name dropping; but it was the fact that she knew about a sorcerer from another universe that surprised me the most. Then I remembered the Negima magic she had me practice. “Wait, wait, wait! How do you know Doctor Strange?! Actually, the Magic Arrow spell you taught me, isn’t it from Negima?”

Dee’s lips formed a teasing smile and she patted my head… condescendingly. “Like I was saying you don’t have the raw fire power to cast spells all day yet. You should supplement your acrobatic and speedy fighting style with your magic.”

I need to stop people from touching my head, this has to stop! I pouted and glared at Dee. “You don’t want to tell me, huh. Fine, keep your secrets, but I will discover how you know about other universes.”

Actually, Dee was right, I was a complete novice in magic and she didn’t have the time to teach me everything correctly because of her job. So, I should make do with the obvious type of magic I can safely wield: Combat Magic. The art of infusing mana with physical attacks to augment my physical abilities, and use magical energies and spells to blast, hex, and control opponents and the environment. With water Magic I should be able to drown or knock someone out with a sphere of water stuck to their head; or blind them with a flash of light.

“I get what you are trying to say with the way I envision magic. Okay, let’s get to it.” I clapped my hands and a pink magic circle deployed under me.

For now everything was written in English and French inside with different organized geometric patterns. I used Kryptonian symbols for air, water and fire to construct my spell; but the fact that Kryptonese didn’t have a symbol for Earth shafted me from the get go. So I switched to the Japanese symbol for the Earth element.

Dee made the calculations for me, but told me that I should learn to do it myself if I wanted to become a high level sorceress. I hated math, but to wield great power, I needed to master a lot that I didn’t like right now. We came up with a lot of spells in the meantime, nothing too powerful such as the Waterjet spell that launched a stream of water at three times the speed of sound and cut through most materials. Obviously some beings would be able to resist such magic.

As a result all the spells we came up with began to clog my Power list windows. I sure hoped that the system would find a way to separate spells from abilities.

After she assured herself that I had a sufficient arsenal of spells, Dee started to lecture me about creating a kit for my dungeon dives. It took hours to tell me about the dangers that I would be facing, but it boiled down to: Constant vigilance! Pattern recognition was also a must, apparently, dungeon diving wasn’t just about killing monsters, but you had to solve puzzles inside them as well in higher level dungeons. This sucked, but I understood that this was where my Gamer system differed from the one from the original Korean webcomic.

Ding!

Training Quest: Kit yourself out!
Death the Endless wants you to choose appropriate gear for dungeon diving!
Objective: Show that you listened to her and choose your gear from the confiscated equipment from the ship you raided.
Reward: A candle spell [Rank E]
Failure: A bop on the nose each time she sees you for the rest of your life!

I visibly cringed at the penalty failure and stared up at Dee who had a malicious grin on her face. “I can’t fail this!”

“Indeed, you can’t.” Was the Endless’ smug answer.

Cortana was rolling on top of my head, her laughter filled the air. I was being trolled by an abstract entity, my luck should have gotten better! But it didn’t change, the Luck attribute must not work like I expect. I needed to discover more about my version of the Gamer. Sighing I crouched near the rock I was sitting on and opened my inventory. Looking through it I began taking things out and putting them on the ground.

x10 Flash grenade

X2 tactical knife

Portable Force Field Belt

X10 Grenade

x2 100 meters Rope

X10 MRE

X2 Tarp

Mini-shovel

Poncho

Sunglasses

T-shirt

short

Socks

Underwear

Combat boots

“Choose a weapon, knives aren’t enough.” Dee commanded after she examined everything I took out.

I reluctantly nodded and pulled out the weapon I obtained recently. It was the Ironbark bow, I showed it to Dee, I re-examined the bow. I still didn’t like the fact that it came from Artemis; the Greek Gods were too mercurial with their favors and getting their ire was not good for me.

Blessed Ironbark Recurve Bow of Smiting [Rank D]
Creator:  Artemis
Description: Laminated Takedown Bow is a laminated bow for modern archers. The riser is cut from good Ironbark wood from Thedas, and the limbs consist of wood, bamboo and high strength dragonglass sheet. It allows for practice shooting. It is effective against undead creatures; able to channel mana to create eldritch arrows.

Dee nodded and gave me back my bow, then took out a bunch of arrows from her purse and put them on the ground before me.

X20 Carbon Arrow [Rank F]

I whistled, they looked solidly made, I thanked Dee for her gift. “Thanks, I thought for a moment that I would have to craft them myself.”

“This isn’t a bad idea, Céleste. You should learn how to make them later.” Dee offered me further advice.

There was a ton of stuff I needed to know how to do, I couldn't count on the hand out that people gave me, so Dee had that right. I mean Oliver Queen made his own arrows. “Well… all I have is time.” I shrugged.

Dee nodded. “Indeed.”

Ding!

Training Quest: Kit yourself out! (Complete)
Death the Endless wants you to choose appropriate gear for dungeon diving!
Objective: Show that you listened to her and choose your gear from the confiscated equipment from the ship you raided.
Reward: A candle spell [Rank E]

“Here, take it.” Dee had a notebook in her hand, the kind that students wrote notes in.

Taking it from her hands, I tried to immediately convert it into a skill book, but something seemed to block the process.

Action Impossible

Looking back at Dee, she had a knowing smile on her face. “I want you to study the spell, not just cheat with your power.”

Training Quest: Back to school!
The Endless Death wants you to be able to write, and decipher Arithmantic formulas!
Objective 1: Write the light spell 100 times (0/100)
Objective 2: Decipher the key points of the light spell (0/3)
Reward: Basic treaty on Magic by Hecate the Titan of Magic
Failure: No more good stuff from the Endless of Death and a one way trip to ‘Circe boot camp for problem sorceress’!

You cannot refuse this Quest.

“Nooooooooooooo!” I shouted as I fell on my knees.

My eyes were already full of tears; Dee would consign me to such punishment!? Circe the feminazi would try to mold me into a man hating sorceress just like her! Dee laughed at my reaction, Cortana as well.

As I looked at them with a big glare, I sighed. “Dee, why are you giving me homework? I’m well past the age to go to school. And Circe? Really? I don’t want to have anything to do with her.”

First Cortana, now Dee? Everyone wanted to teach me things or look down on me because I was in a kid’s body. Dee turned up her nose to me. “If that’s how you want to take it, sure. I want you to survive, you need to know how to decipher a spell by just looking at it and mimic it’s arithmantic formula. And what do you mean you are well past going to school? You are eight years old and Circe is one of my D&D buddies, you know? She ain’t that bad anymore.”

“No, I am not, I am thirty mentally! And the task you’ve just given me… That’s impossible!!” I shouted as I completely ignored the fact that Dee played D&D with Circe, some things are better not explored. Deciphering an incoming spell? Who does she take me for? Tatsuya? This wasn't Mahouka!

“Zatanna Zatarra can already do this.” Dee informed me.

I frowned at her. Why was she telling me this? “But she’s a pro magic user! And she’s 20 or so! She had time to become good at what she does.”

Dee raised a finger and grinned. “Not in this dimension, she’s physically the same age as you right now.”

My expression became slack, then morphed into one of surprise. “Fuck.”

Dee glared at me and raised her hand, I knew what was coming and I tried to evade! But in vain… Dee bopped me on the nose. “Language.”

Holding my nose I growled, “Grr. Fine! I will be the best at that arithmancy stuff!”

“I sure hope so.” Dee sat at my side as I organized the stuff I will use for the dungeon.

I took away the pistol holster and the weapon proper and placed everything on my utility belt and the perishable at the forefront of my inventory. As I looked at the weapons my inventory contained, I discovered that I had some rare stuff.

Kogitsunemaru (小狐丸) [Rank A][Cursed]
Description: The “Small Fox” blade is a mythical sword believed to be forged by Sanjou Munechika (三条宗近) during the Heian Period for Emperor Go-Ichijō. Last owned by the Kujou Family, it was forged with the help of a child avatar of Inari (稲荷), the Shinto God of Food. It was stolen by Maxwell Lord who hired a teleporting Metahuman to obtain it.

Ame no Murakumo no Tsurugi (天叢雲剣)[Rank A++][Cursed]
Description: Also known as the Kusanagi no Tsurugi (草薙の剣), the “cloud-gathering sword” is hands-down the most famous Japanese legendary sword ever. This was the mythical blade found within the carcass of the Orochi Serpent after Storm God Susanoo no Mikoto slew the monster. After Susannoo gifted the blade to his sister Amaterasu, it was passed down to Yamato Takeru (日本武尊), the legendary twelfth Emperor of Japan. Just like the Small Fox blade, Maxwell Lord ordered for his pet teleporter to go steal the legendary weapon.

I know that I grabbed everything in that boat, and that Max Lord is a damn asshole. But stealing cultural heritage was a new low even for him. I had already started organizing the containers, but I forgot to do the same with the inventory and now, I found those? The Cursed tag also told me that they were dangerous as hell, so I used Observe on it.

Cursed [ Rank SS]
Description: The blade possesses a divine curse that kills the thief or thieves and eventually will bring the weapon back to its rightful owner.

Well shit. I needed to get them out of my inventory. I wanted nothing to do with those despite how powerful they seemed to be. I turned to Dee and said, “Dee can you help with-”

“Give me the swords, I will give them back to Ama.” The Endless told me brusquely, her tone commanding.

I obeyed and the two swords appeared in the air, and the Endless caught them and stashed them into her purse; the thing was like an enchanted bag of holding. I wanted my own! But I already had my inventory.

Then the name ‘Ama’ caught my attention and I looked at Dee with stars in the eyes, “By Ama, do you mean Amaterasu?”

Dee slowly nodded and she looked attentively into her purse while speaking to me. “Yes, she will be glad to have them back. The Shinto Pantheon will of course compensate you for their retrieval. What do you want, I can play negotiator for you.”

She still hadn’t closed her purse and still watched inside. I began to think about what I wanted. I lost two swords after all, even if they were cursed. “Huh, I want a sword! A magic one! Something with a sun blessing, super durable and able to channel my magic. Oh and it must look super cool! The coolest.”

Dee snorted, then finally closed her purse. “Message relayed.”

Huh? Was the purse connected to some other place? Dee put a hand on my hand and said, “Now It’s time to try that dungeon you want to go in, no?”

Despite myself, I took Dee’s hand and tightened my hold on it. I looked into her black eyes. “You’ll be there when I come back, right Dee? I have Cortana, I love her, but I like speaking with you, this place is so lonely.”

This place, the Forbidden Island, taught me that I wasn’t really a true loner; that I liked to be around people. If Cortana wasn’t present, I would have already gone crazy. Then, I meet Dee and her brother Destiny, two of the endless. I like having people to speak or argue with.

Dee seemed to understand that I was lonely. “I will be here when you come back.”

“Thank you!!” I hugged her, closing my eyes to appreciate her warmth.

We stayed like this for a moment, then I felt a rush of wind. I opened my eyes and found myself back in the clearing where my camp is located. Dee wasn’t in my arms anymore, she disappeared; I heard a voice all around me saying, “See you later, Céleste.”

----D1V1N3----

I checked my gear for the last time. My harness and utility belt were full of the gear that I prepared with Dee. I didn’t know what was waiting for me but I was ready to confront it. Raising my hand to the sky, I shouted, “ID Create.” With a big flash of light engulfing me, I closed my eyes to not be blinded.

When I reopened them, it was to a different landscape. This was a big forest covered in snow, but the trees were not made of wood, but were Candy canes with leaves made of sugar. I looked up in the sky and saw that the clouds were cotton candy. “What insanity is happening here?”

Welcome to the Tutorial Dungeon, Gamer!

Dungeon Theme : Easter Hunt!

“Fuck me sideways.”