« Flamme », Kirito muttered instinctively the moment he caught sight of the young teenage girl standing in front of him.
Fortunately for both him and Flamme, the loli elf hadn't noticed the strange look her son was giving her new disciple. Serie had only registered the sound of his voice.
« Indeed, Flamme. That's her name. She also resembles you in several ways, » she said, wearing an even more annoyed expression than usual.
Kirito gave a bitter little smile as he observed Serie's reaction to his attitude toward magic.
'Looks like I really wasn't the best son…' he thought while listening to the rest of what the legendary mage had to say.
« Correction: she is potentially even more eccentric than you on certain points, because she is fond of even more useless magic than the ones you learned, » she explained after a short pause during which she took a sip at the tavern.
« More eccentric magic than Archive? Could you tell me more about that? » Kirito asked.
He already knew a little about Flamme thanks to his memories of this fictional universe. Still, he preferred not to reveal his knowledge of the future — especially in a world where magic could sometimes predict certain things.
« Um… Master, I don't think… » Flamme tried to intervene, but Serie spoke faster.
« Unlike you, who wanted to become a living library, Flamme prefers to make flowers grow. Can you imagine? At least your science has real combat utility, » Serie remarked, glancing in a specific direction of the room.
Beyond the embarrassed teenage Flamme, Ilulu was doing her clumsy best to hide her presence in the room. Unfortunately for the little dragoness, the people gathered in this place were far from ordinary.
Kirito decided to ignore his maid for the time being, telling himself he could punish her later for eavesdropping behind the door.
The elven teenager's eyes settled on the beautiful woman with wine-red hair.
Ilulu was beautiful.
That was a fact.
However, the girl currently before his eyes was neither a "beast" nor the product of an experiment. She was quite simply the most beautiful human being he had ever seen.
Instinctively, he nodded in satisfaction — both as an Earth otaku whose curiosity had been sated, and after analysing her magical presence with Archive.
'Even at this point in time, she's still hiding most of her mana…' he thought, a faint flash of disappointment passing through his eyes.
Even though he was currently more focused on science, the heart of a mage couldn't help but disapprove of Flamme's practice.
Restricting one's mana…
It consists of emitting a false amount of mana when the reality is completely different.
Of course, it gives an advantage in combat, but it is dishonourable for a mage.
It's a bit like a noble disguising himself as a peasant to defeat his rival in a duel: an utterly shameful act.
As for this habit in Serie? Kirito saw it as a test from his master to evaluate the quality of a student, not as a cheap trick to win more easily.
« Hello. I am Kirito, 'former' principal disciple of Lady Serie, » he said after quickly brushing aside his disappointment regarding Flamme's bad habit.
« I am Flamme, the new principal disciple of Lady Serie. May I call you… Senior? Or perhaps… Your Excellency, the Great Royal Court Mage? » she asked politely while performing a respectful, perfectly proper curtsy.
Kirito froze for a second when Flamme mentioned one of his many false identities: the Court Mage.
It was thanks to this identity that he could consider punishing the nobles around Ilulu without any qualms.
« Hahaha, don't call me by all those useless titles. Just Kirito is fine, » he declared after he finished laughing at the mention of his role in the kingdom.
« By the way… is it true that you really like flower magic? » Kirito suddenly asked, wanting to avoid titles between him and Flame.
« Yes, » she replied in a slightly happier tone, noticing that Kirito's interest seemed genuine and not the usual mockery.
Unfortunately, she lost a bit of her cheerfulness as she continued:
« However… Master doesn't seem to appreciate this spell very much, » she said with a wry smile.
Serie immediately sneered after her disciple's answer:
« If it was just about flowers, I would have let it slide… but this child wants to spread her magic across the entire continent. She's even crazy enough to dream of a future where the whole continent would be covered in flowers, haha! »
The loli elf's loud laugh echoed while Flamme's ears turned bright red with embarrassment.
It was easy for Kirito to sense the growing frustration in Flamme as she endured her teacher's endless criticism.
« Just thinking about it makes me sick, » Serie sighed before concluding:
« Still… she exceeds my standards for a disciple. »
A rare compliment, very hard to obtain from someone as stubborn as her — at least according to Kirito's long experience with the elf.
After a brief pause, Serie looked at Kirito:
« Compared to you, this human still disgusts me more… but she seems to genuinely love magic, even if she doesn't learn as fast as you did, » she said, referring to the efficiency of the magical Archive for accelerating learning.
« What can I say? » Kirito shrugged before uttering words that were almost insolent toward his mother.
« Unlike a certain blonde elf, we have real dreams to pursue, without being weighed down by boredom and murderous impulses… »
He stopped mid-sentence when he sensed a dangerous fluctuation of mana.
« My little Kirito… have you forgotten respect after just a few decades of independence? » Serie asked, cheek resting on her palm.
The older elf's eyes locked onto the teenager, but Kirito's pride prevented him from backing down. An intimidating aura emanated from his body in response to Serie's pressure.
« So? Are you really going to attack me in my own house? And then you complain when I say you're more barbarian than mage? » Kirito snapped in irritation, drawing his swords to face his mother.
« Anyway, you're just proving my point about your bloodthirsty tendencies, » he continued while confronting several magical circles.
Unfortunately for him, he had greatly underestimated Serie.
The magical circle released a pure power that Kirito judged almost impossible to dodge.
'If she blocks my path, then I'll cut through,' he thought, raising his swords and channeling a « Mana Strike » toward the magic.
His blades became coated in Haki; he reinforced his physical strength with mana and brought his swords down.
« *Cough*… Am I really this weak? » he muttered, staring at his completely shredded lab coat, now reduced to tatters.
Even though Vegapunk is a scientist, he still belongs to the One Piece universe.
When he first received the scientist's legacy, Kirito wasn't sure how far he could go. That's why he had mainly exploited the mental genius aspect.
It was only at around forty years old that he seriously tried Haki. As expected, his talent was mediocre: after all, neither elves nor Vegapunk are exactly models of physical or martial prowess.
So he possessed exceptional Observation Haki and decent Armament Haki, but he didn't believe he could reach Zoro-level swordsmanship before one or two centuries.
« Is that also science? Whatever. You've clearly neglected your magic, » Serie suddenly declared after the dust dispersed.
Kirito frowned, quickly realizing he was in a very bad position.
« H-how?! » he stammered.
« You rely too much on the magical Archive. Don't forget — I helped create it, » Serie added. Complex magical circles appeared beneath Kirito's feet.
« Tsk… you got me, you old hag… » Barely had he spat out his last rebellious taunt when a blinding light swallowed his half-naked body.
« MASTER!! » Ilulu's furious shout echoed, but Kirito had already vanished amid the ruins of what used to be a tavern.
…
Somewhere on an unknown island in the northern part of the continent, a black-haired elven teenager lay on the ground.
The young man had several light wounds, but there was no trace of anger on his face. Only frustration.
« A forced teleportation spell, combined with several unknown magical locks designed to prevent the Archive from locating or 'twisting' it? » he analysed while staring at the clear night sky.
After fifty years living in this magical world, Kirito was neither a weak mage nor a swordsman to be underestimated. He had built his fighting style around one precise goal: neutralizing mages.
To achieve this, he developed the magical Archive to push to the extreme a certain characteristic meant to maximize efficiency in learning both science and magic: Magical Analysis.
A magic inspired by a manhwa character named Desir Arman, the mage from A Returner's Magic Should Be Special.
(Image)
The whole purpose of this magic was born from the idea of "hacking" spells — just like Zero from Fairy Tail did with Archive by exploiting another mage's telepathy.
Normally, that example alone wouldn't have been enough to push Kirito down this path. After all, the telepathy of the mage Zero faced was weak.
However, the fact that the magical Archive could force-download information straight into a mind like Lucy's had seriously made Kirito consider the concept of magical piracy.
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, Kirito remained an ordinary human from Earth. Vegapunk could only help him understand spells — a crucial element for magical hacking.
As for creating a proper mystical foundation, he had needed Serie's assistance. An action he now regretted, since she had most likely used that very knowledge to catch him off guard.
'Never mind… this magic still needs a lot of improvement before I can become a real magic copier,' he thought while observing the deserted surroundings.
Magical Analysis held immense potential, thanks to its origins tied to both the magical Archive and Vegapunk's mind.
Yet it still had many flaws.
For instance, the analysis process took time to twist a spell and give Kirito control over it.
Moreover, he had to truly "understand" the information at a certain level to be able to distort it or hope to reuse it later.
Thus, Kirito's ability to illegally "borrow" magical knowledge from another mage heavily depended on his own understanding of magic.
Everything else was just external factors: his mana capacity, and the complexity of the spell itself.
« So she used Mana Strike to occupy the Archive and create an opening for the forced teleportation, using the atmosphere saturated with magical particles to blind my senses? » he concluded after about ten minutes.
The teenager frowned as he realized the sheer gap in experience between Serie and himself.
« Sigh… anyway. I'm sure it would have been different if she didn't already know the Archive and its sub-magic of analysis, » he mentally muttered while tossing aside his two swords, damaged by the forced teleportation.
[ Ding! ]
[ You have received a quest! ]
'Is this one of those "crisis" events the System mentioned?' he thought while opening the details after properly scanning the island.
He had already confirmed that the place was deserted.
[ Quest: The Cursed Raven ]
[ Difficulty: C+ ]
[ Description:
« Boobs Make Me Stronger » is in danger facing an executive of the Grigori organization. ]
[ Reward:
– The friendship of « Boobs Make Me Stronger »
– An unlimited access portal to a lower or equal level world compared to your current universe ]
[ Failure:
« Boobs Make Me Stronger » will die facing Kokabiel, without plot armor ]
[ WARNING!!! ]
[ System:
« This information is hidden from other chat users, except the administrator. » ]
[ System:
The flow of destiny energy has been sufficiently disturbed by my presence in Issei Hyoudou's life to generate a "crisis"-type energy.
However, this has the negative side effect of making the death of the protagonist Issei Hyoudou genuinely possible. ]