[Scepter Fragment of Ouroboros]
Nuriel observed the cube in front of him.
In terms of size, it was about the same as the current two he had. However, its material was made out of a stone-like material that kept on changing, from moss-covered and worn-out to pristine and almost reflective jade, then back to moss.
– The undying wyrm whose hunger circles time itself. One that devours itself not to die, but to begin again. Always. Ever. All.
'These descriptions are really bugging me out, but I get the idea.'
Somehow, Yushin was some kind of an immortal being or a being that couldn't die from normal kinds of attack.
He remembered the brutal scene that was presented to him in the dream realm. Only a monster could survive that.
Nuriel winced. Monster was the wrong word to describe him. The thought of that made him feel a slight churn inside his stomach, as he thought of himself as no different from the people who called Yushin by the same remarks.
But still.
What a remarkable ability. That idea rang inside Nuriel's head. If Yushin were to be trained and raised properly, he'd be no different from a god if he used his immortality right.
"Could I use this scepter for myself?"
[Negative]
. . .
He stood up from the throne, shooing the Ouroboros scepter away with the other two.
"Tell me why I can't use magic, despite you saying I could project it."
[Troubleshooting issue]
[Issue found!]
[Lack of a proper description. Correcting issue]
[Projection has been restored for the throne room, is the correct phrase]
. . .
'Unbelievable...' He criticized his creation, turning his head away.
[...]
"Right, my first goal should be to collect more fragments. Hopefully, you can function properly once I'll get an intact scepter for you," Nuriel talked to himself, but really, it was more directed towards the scepter.
The throne room remained quiet and still. After receiving no response, he turned to the three floating cubes near his chair.
The Untainted, the Steel Witch, and Ouroboros. These three, although scepter fragments, possessed unique descriptions and classes.
'I assume Deity is the highest one, then Saint the next?' he thought, walking towards the three and observing them carefully.
Each time he collected a fragment, the overall processing speed was increased and so did the internal storage space. However, each scepter, as far as Nuriel knew, always had some form of AI. But he questioned if the AIs of the three were compatible or not, given their different names.
He touched the Witch's scepter and the Untainted scepter, then pushed them towards each other to see what happened.
Clink
After the two cubes collided, Nuriel could only hear the sound of metal clashing before they began to drift away from each other, as nothing remarkable happened.
He sighed in disappointment, before grabbing them once more, observing the two.
The Untainted scepter had the class of Deity, while the Witch's only had the class of Saint.
But thinking back to when he first saw the Witch's profile, she was classed as a Deity. However, the fragment of her scepter was only labelled as Saint.
He turned to the Untainted scepter. Despite being only a fragment, it was Deity.
'Maybe it simply overwrote the others and only took the increase in processing power.'
Nuriel tossed the Witch's scepter away, then the Untainted.
"You're quite greedy, aren't you? Just like her," he teased.
[...]
"Tell me how I can project on other scepters," Nuriel posed to the empty space around him.
The silence overcame him. He knew that this one took longer than usual.
After a couple of seconds, a large screen appeared to him, the sight making his doubts go away.
[Scepter Synchronization]
[Untainted, ???, Ouroboros can project onto each other or only into one of them, giving a massive increase of magic output]
Nuriel carefully read the line, analyzing each word and how they connected with the rest. He had an idea of what it could do.
'The Untainted Scepter is what I have. This means that I was actually projecting magic in the form of objects and morphing instead of imagining things? If that's the case, then it makes sense I can't use Yushin's scepter, because it's his, while the Untainted Scepter directly came to me. And as for the Witch's scepter...'
He walked towards the Witch's scepter fragment that he tossed away previously, grabbing it and fidgeting it around on his palms.
"Can I give this to someone else?"
[Affirmative]
He held the scepter up high, gazing on the cube as the backdrop of stars behind it casted their faint light, adding a cubic shadow on Nuriel's face.
Questioning himself on who to give it to, nothing important came to his mind. This wasn't just something to give away so easily. The person at least had to be important to this world. Someone who would be willing to worship another god.
Someone that can betray their nation for him.
Nuriel gulped in a cold sweat. If he continued that persona too far, then he would surely be lost in a delusion of something he was not meant to be.
'Besides, these descriptions aren't helping. Other than the Ouroboros scepter, the other two are...
[Untainted Scepter Fragment]
[Class: Deity]
– An untainted Scepter fragment, untouched and devoid of corruption. It seeks its rightful owner.
[Tainted Scepter Fragment of ???]
[Class: Saint]
– A tainted Scepter fragment belonging to the iron maiden who foresees all of humanity, her spells bringing destruction to all life, her pointed hat covering all in a deep void, and whose mind drives all mad.
So unhelpful...'
He twisted his head around the riddle-like descriptions but could find nothing on what they could do if someone had them. After the failure, he continued asking more questions.
"If I enter someone's dream, I could just place it there, right?"
[Your intuition is correct]
'How nice of you.'
Nuriel once again tossed the Witch's scepter away.
'If I order the two scepters onto Ouroboros, would it mean that Yushin would get a power-up?'
He thought of the previous match between Jin Yushin and Jonas Yuncandel. Certain thoughts and ideas that could elate him appeared on his mind, but he reprimanded himself before he made plans of it.
Things like that could be put to better use on other times.
For now, he closed his eyes, preparing to wake himself up.
Today was his and Vivienne's one and only day off in each week of their jobs.
They started their day with small talks, but nothing too deep and personal ever arose from the both of them. Nuriel took the initiative to clean the place, planning to do a simple sweep every day and a deep cleaning at least once a week if he had the time.
He didn't question Vivienne's food or where she learned it from. Despite the delicious meals provided for him every day, he still had bits of episodes where he thought he was about to die from poison.
After reading newspapers, drinking tea, time passed in a mere blink and it was already afternoon.
Vivienne noticed Nuriel exiting his bedroom, wearing a formal suit, and prepping his hair.
"Are you going out?" she asked, while sitting on the couch, holding an open book.
Nuriel was quick to reply.
"I'm visiting a friend," he said, then noticing what Vivienne was holding, he continued as he approached her from behind.
"What are you reading? A novel?"
Nuriel hoped that this was the natural thing to do. He made sure his tone was as friendly and as curious as he could.
Vivienne stared at him, her gaze making him slightly uncomfortable, and her beautiful face was making it even worse for him.
She turned to look at the book she was holding. It was mildly thick and was only opened to the first few pages.
"I've... just started," she replied, her voice carrying a soft tone as if she was reminiscing about nostalgia.
Nuriel blinked.
"...Tell me about it when I return," he replied.
He walked towards the exit and went outside, then he turned to Vivienne.
"See you."
The door closed behind him.
***
Nuriel began walking to the entrance gate of the university. Along the way, he spotted a large gathering.
He saw a crowd of students and civilians alike, some professors even mixed in. They protested in front of the administration building, holding signs, billboards, and banners alike.
"Say no to war!"
"Say no to war!"
"Say no to war!"
The sight made him grimace. Tensions between Bose and Solaris weren't getting any better. However, he didn't know to what extent it was. There was no internet in this world, and information was heavily monitored by the state.
The only reliable source of daily information was the newspaper.
'I just got this job...' he lampooned at the sight in front of him, thinking of other ways to earn money.
'Maybe if I snuck into an official's dream?'
He could then masquerade as the Steel Witch and siphon information from a high-ranking person, asking what business was the best to invest in, or deposit one hundred golden eagles into this person's account to be blessed.
The thought made him grin. But if he ever got caught pretending to be the god of the kingdom's religion, he'd surely die. After all, he didn't know the full extent of this world's magic capability, whether if they could detect his dream invading or not.
'Let's... not... for now.'
After exiting the gates, he got himself a taxi, choosing the cheaper carriage ride.
"Deyvind Street, if you will."