" HAHHHHHHH " Ezio yelled clenching his hand on the grip strength measurer or whatever name you call it " And check " " What at least tell me the score " Ezio said " These tests are only to make sure that you have been exercising too little or too much " Nisse said .
Druk also tested his grip strength on a different device , Ikuta was doing something else waiting for anything he had to do since they were still testing their strength " Uhm hello can I sit here ? "
Ikuta looks to see Amber " You are already done ? " " Sort of yes " She takes a seat " What about you ? " " Same I finished already " Ikuta watched everyone compete for grip strengths and Amber stares at him .
" Why did you go to school ? " " My friends invited me to visit one day and my dad heard and thought it would be nice for me to have more friends , I became friends with Druk " " How do you make friends "
" I don't know ? Mine just came to my life suddenly " ' Dad was the one that made Ezio miss ' Ikuta remembered that day " Did you have friends before ? " " No I was homeschooled I only know my older brothers "
" Oh what's it like ? " " They love me a lot , maybe because I'm a girl mom said they used to fight each other before I was born " " Must be nice to have siblings " " So you don't have any " " Yeah I'm kinda curious what it is like to have siblings or at least cousins "
" It's hard sometimes , I remembered that when I was walking around the kitchen , Brother would always snatch me away from the knives and from the fire at the forge " " You have a forge ? "
Amber nodded " Yeah apparently it came from my mother she said she has it as her inheritance from the ancient civilization " " Oh I heard they used to call the ancient civilization aetherpunk ? " " Oh yes I remember that but mom has the best stories and beautiful pictures hung on the wall "
" That sounds nice " " Yes , Mom even said that maybe it was the gods that struck it down because ancient civilization had gone too far and frightened the gods "
" That seems hard to imagine " " I know I mean Zeus was able to kill his father who is the god of time but for some reason , he took time to win against the titan Cronus "
Amber said " So what happens next ? " Ikuta nodded " It's nothing important now , they're just stories now " Ikuta nods " So what do you want to be in the future ? " " ... I don't know , Dad tells me a lot about what kind of treasures I could make but Mom tells me about the inventions of the ancient civilization "
" Time for the other test " Amber gets up and Ikuta checks the news ' The cultist is being interrogated I'm sure they want to ask questions '
He had to withhold this information somehow because they didn't need to know about two surviving goddesses from Ragnarok what's more the one that Zeus even fears .
' What should I tell them ' he was used to lying because of how much he needed to hide ' They'll probably think that I am losing control of the cultist , I'm not sure what they will do so I'll just wait for them . '
" You can stop hiding now " Morst leaves the hiding spot and Ikuta moved the cultist to him " Why did you release that Cultist " " I needed someone to get the bait " " Who ? " " Forbidden knowledge "
Morst recalls that Ryela had taken charge of watching Ikuta " Why did you someone to take the bait so far nobody has checked in on the cultist " " You didn't see that they did " Morst was worried that Ikuta had planned further actions .
" I heard your father sent books , they have some substantial amount of magic on them " " I know that , I'm still studying them " " You have the world tree " " Yes I do why is it a problem ? " " No but having hold of something that valuable will attract some unwanted attention "
Ikuta thinks of the characters who would likely discover the world tree ' There is the market but they don't know the puppet that dad had and he was using teleportation to send the seed to me ' he does think about his neighbors .
' No Dad will probably take care of it ' " That's taken care of by my dad he's the one who sent it " Ryela reads the report sighing now that she knew who Ikuta's father really is ' So is the child the son of the Ragnarok ? '
She can't say she's surprised after he admitted that the forbidden knowledge was a stranger sort of guardian ' Guarding their son while even being feared , How complicated ' Ryela wonders about the world tree and thinks back on all of Ikuta's words .
The forbidden knowledge goes through her mind and she feels the world shake upon remembering as if the world didn't want to be reminded ' Did the world's will fear this monster ? '
She remembers the people who called the forbidden knowledge and gave it a name ' All these people are related to the Book of legends ' She looks at the ending of each legend story ' They had other books based on them but only this book of legends was by far more in lined with historical findings '
She wonders what the relation of these characters to Ikuta's father was ' What exactly is their goal ? If they were able to end the ancient civilization how did they do it ? ' Ryela remembers what Ikuta had said about the Saintess and defender .
' Ragnarok was also in the same period as the withering and abyss , everybody knew that the end of times simply ended all of a sudden after the death of Yggdrasil and the end of gods ' She suspects one more thing .
' Did this being not like gods ? After all , he did say that the defender called it the abyss , then how was the abyss created ? What about the withering ? But if it's Ragnarok wouldn't that be the being itself ? Are the withering and abyss their creations ? But it's the denier ? '
She had so many questions and speculative answers ' He'll probably keep me from learning anything ' Ikuta rans home during Lunch break and leaves the duchess's grimoire and randomly grabs another one .
" Ohohoho that one is a good one kid this was the one I recovered from those who had worshipped the three deadly forces , Erosion , withering and the abyss " Ikuta calls his father " Dad why are you giving me these books ? "
" It was in my collection you were gonna get it so why not get it much earlier " " But these are banned I thought these were from cultist who want the world to end " " Oh yeah they do but you know maybe if you study it you can find a way to fight against them , Know your enemy know thyself "
Ikuta wonders why his father would give him this " Don't be so discouraged just ask Claire to change a few things so you don't get arrested , also you won't even need , I just heard that you have been buying some old games recently and Claire was cleaning your room and found that one of your retro games and that set of computer you bought was a new kind of magic "
" It is ? " He pretended to be surprised " Yep I'll even help you buy some more retro games for you " " No need Dad I wanted to collect them myself and I just wanted to code but I didn't think it was magic "
" Life is always full of surprises and since you have magic coding already I'll have to make sure nobody uses magic and technology against my money banks "
" Okay bye dad " " Later kid " Ikuta internally sighed ' Looks like I can code safely now ' he gets access to the clerk's soul and starts to learn watching screens appear in his eyes and eating his lunch at home .
He runs back to school " Welcome back Ikuta " Ezio said " what did you have for lunch ? " " I ate a pot of soup filled with carrot , potato , onions , garlic , radish , yams , sweet potatoes , beets , turnips and lots of meat "
Druk was surprised by the amount " How is your stomach ? " " It's burning like I ate a bowl of chilis ! " Ikuta said , Druk was surprised and Amber too " How do you eat a pot of food ? And still look thin ? "
" One of the mysterious Ikuta has " Ezio said " Claire said that my body is used to it , because I eat a lot my stomach got better at digesting it , she also said that it's like throwing wood into a fire so I get a lot of energy from eating a pot of food but if I don't exercise I will get fat "
Druk was confused about how Amber could just join in " Then how much do you exercise ? " " I ran to school instead of using a car very quickly " Druk thinks about the stress Ikuta was putting on his legs .
" Doesn't that make it harder for your legs ? " Druk asked " Don't worry it's still fine I have been exercising a lot so I'm used to it but I do wanna eat out so " He turned to Ezio " Can I visit your restaurant ? "
" You want to ? " Ikuta nodded " Alright I'll call my aunt to prepare for the giant who's coming to eat " " I'll call Claire too " The classes continued and Ikuta ran to the restaurant to see Louis " Claire is at home making sure nothing bad is inside the computer "
' I already took care of it so it doesn't matter ' " What would you like to order " Ikuta ate plenty satisfied with his hunger and felt something on his stomach " My stomach feels weird " " Probably because you ate all the food that wasn't good in this season "
Louis's words make him think about the food he had eaten " Your stomach's fire is burning brightly because it's winter right now so your stomach is more active and hungry " Ikuta remembered the books that was taken by the cult of the three deadly forces .
He looks at the lines "beware of gazing into the abyss that will gaze back at you" He knows what kind of words these means ' This is what happens to the people who did ' he turns to a page showing a beautiful picture with a smudge of black with an eye that looks at the reader .
' The abyss is one of Dad's creations , he said he made it because he didn't like how everyone had different lives so he used the abyss to reduce it ' " Ikuta " Ezio said he looked at the plates " You already ate ? "
" Yes I did thanks for the food though " " It's not like I'm paying it , But can you tell me what I missed during classes " Ikuta reached through his bags " Here you can borrow my notes " " Is this okay ? "
" Don't worry about it I already know I just thought you would ask " " Eheheh I got caught " Ezio still accepted the notebooks that Ikuta got out for him .
" Ikuta time to leave " Ikuta took the car and Ezio was told by his uncle " Make sure to invite your friend over some time " " Ehh It's not like I need to study that much " His uncle felt like he had missed the point .
...
The abyss was a force that had constantly invaded and it was such a mystery how they had suddenly disappeared , the withering seemed more like a natural phenomenon that laid waste on the world tree's roots .
Some people called the withering Nidhogg as this was the dragon that had gnawed on the roots but there was no reason to call the withering Nidhogg " I am done with this " Ryela couldn't find anything at all .
' I should just ask him ' She leaves and Ikuta secretly spins the wheel while controlling a few cultist " I need to ask you something " Ryela said " What is it ? " " Is your father or that forbidden name the creator of the abyss and withering ? "
" I'll give you a price for a piece of information " Ryela wondered what kind of information Ikuta had for her " Why would you bargain ? " " Because I know I will gain something from it , Yes the stranger my father was the creator of abyss and withering " ' so the denier is his father '
" Why ? " " The price will increase " Ryela sighed and chose to ask for the other information " There is another force that killed the will of the world , it's the erosion " " what ? "
Ryela was confused with the answer " Nobody knew of this because it happened too fast the dwarves were too busy to notice and the will was already sick to the point they couldn't tell anyone "
Ryela wondered about all the effects that occurred once all the blessings were destroyed " Did your father want to equalize everyone's advantages ? "
Ikuta thinks about what she said " Maybe , after he destroyed the ancient civilization he might've done that " " Why ? He couldn't just make another core or alchemist ? "
Ikuta answers after a short while " No Dad will probably bring the alchemist back " " Why ? " ' Because for dad to keep existing he is constantly denying his nonexistence of the self '
" That will cost you " Ryela felt annoyed having to go through a paywall to get the information and the only ones she got was on another deadly force .
" Our meeting is cut short by the way " Ikuta goes for the next training " Alright so your father sent these books about the abyss , even if they are supposed to be forbidden it's only because it's much harder but since the books have written everything on how to utilize the power of the abyss you will learning how to use it "
Ikuta was reluctant to do it " I'll be watching the process so let's begin " until bedtime Ikuta was doing his best to learn the power of the abyss after Claire had assured him that the abyss is a neutral force " Even if it's not like the original abyss that I made it's still good "
Ikuta wondered what kind of problems his father was planning to make him face with this " The abyss appeared upon opening in the surface , the land split opening the deep chasm , the book has said that the abyss was where prisoners were thrown but there was already Tartarus had been the prison of several other monsters "
Claire said reading it so that Ikuta could understand the culture surrounding the abyss " nobody knew what it was but they learned spells to throw powerful beings inside , which led to the further birth of the true abyss creatures , monsters that had taken the knowledge of the fallen and were transformed by it "
" Won't I fall and they take and attack with my body ? " " You don't have to worry about that I never said there were no survivors from the abyss's corruption " Ikuta thinks about his father's words when he learned about the abyss ' That's right even the defender was able to survive it '
" You can survive it because you have a high tolerance to pain , nausea , stomach ache , a full stomach " " a full stomach ? " " Yes sometimes you feel bloated but you still kept stuffing yourself that takes a lot of will too " Ikuta remembers the torture he had to go through after he was rewarded with so much food .
" Back to the abyss , the corruption drove several people to become puppets but with the abyss losing that ability after it achieved the goal it lost it's corruption and will so you don't have to worry about losing your mind , but there are people who want to awaken the abyss and get it to work or claim themselves as the will of the abyss "
" What happens when they do ? " " They will weigh their wills against those they wish to control it could be slow but all the matters is that they must overpower others through their will " " So what's the difference between Tartarus and the abyss ? " Claire pauses to get the information to her head .
" Tartarus is a prison and the abyss is a correction facility with a goal driven by a will . " " So the abyss is more flexible ? " " Yes it could be a school and according to the books nobody has control over it but your dad is watching the abyss currently no criminals are being thrown and nothing is inside it right now "
Ikuta wonders what is the purpose of giving this information " dad owns the abyss !? " " Yes but he doesn't control it but because he is doing such a good job he is getting some cut from the government as a tax " " Wow dad is like a hero then "
" Sort of " Claire said and Ikuta wondered what dad was actually doing " But what is dad doing now ? " " managing the abyss " Ikuta was surprised " Why ? " " Obviously now that you are going to control the abyss yourself " " but how ? " " Nobody has been alive in the abyss from now on so you being the sole user of it can own it "
Claire looked at Ikuta and saw the connection to the abyss " Alright looks like you've already connected to the abyss now " " I am ? " " Yes you won't feel anything because your father cleaned up the abyss but now that you have it you can use it as a training facility if you want " Ikuta wondered how he could use it .
" Why would dad give me the abyss ? " " Because you'll never what happens in the future it's better to have you become stronger and be prepared to fight any monsters why else do you think he supported your training and made sure you kept training "
' Yeah I guess that's what it is but why did dad kill them ? ' he knew that his father had killed them denying the existence of the self ' But not the soul what is he planning to do ? ' Ikuta goes to bed and asked .
" Claire , can you tell me more about Tartarus ? " Claire took a seat on a soft cube " What is it ? " " Is Tartarus a god because they said that Typhon was Gaia's son with Tartarus " " That's what you think of course but you see there's so much more of the gods that isn't known "
" Really ? " " Yes for example the mother goddess wasn't well known because someone didn't like woman to be on top so you never know how powerful she is " " So is she like the will of the world ? "
" Maybe , some text had said that she decided to let Zeus command the sky seeing as he was taking responsibility and knowing he was the best of the worst " Ikuta thinks of Gaia .
" What about Ymir ? " " Ymir could be like Gaia maybe the giant was supposed to be Gaia's previous form but we can't be sure after all these myths are too strange "
Ikuta thinks about the mythologies that resisted the test of time and the existence of the ancient civilization " They're scary you know "
His father walks past the wall " You don't have to be scared those gods aren't all-powerful but that might mean that the world isn't either so you gotta be strong "
Ikuta thinks his father made him stronger to protect him and doze to sleep with some assurance . The next morning he gets up and is presented with spicy noodles and a bunch of add-ons.
" Wow " " Your father is sending you more food " " Ehh why ? " " Because your stomach is eating more , after you connected to the abyss you got more hungrier or in other words your stomach is now connected to the abyss "
Ikuta was confused and Yukina called out " Ikuta eat more you didn't feed me enough yesterday " Ikuta was confused what Yukina meant " But I ate so much for dinner yesterday " " Oh that's because your connection to the abyss meant that the abyss is now your stomach "
Ikuta was confused and Claire drew a pipe connecting " Think of this pipe as your contract with Yukina the water that goes through it is the lifeforce that you converted and because you are connected to the will of the abyss that lifeforce you have "
' I take back the feelings I had when dad said he wanted to protect me ' " Is being distributed to the abyss , it's not half of it more like 40-30 percent of what you gave to Yukina is being sent to the abyss " Claire said .
" Then what does dad want to do with the lifeforce ? " Ikuta asked " Sell it , because your contract with Yukina was able to create and channel lifeforce he had the idea of using it to get more money and connections " ' I knew it something was always up with dad '
" Don't be too mad he promised he'll feed you more " " Okay I'll eat all of this " he felt mad that his father was using him but felt grateful for being taken care of " At least I get to eat more "
Ikuta surrendered to the food that he was presented and ate them quickly he felt his stomach on fire ' That's so much chilly ' " Ahhh hot hot hot " Yukina complained " Are you okay ? " " A little bit but I need water "
Ikuta went to get more and found a packet of noodles "Fiery hot noodles" in a flaming text and an additional text too "With real fire mana" " Huh ? " " Oh right your father also found that you can feed Yukina through your contract you just had to eat mana "
" But wouldn't that mean that also goes to the abyss ? " " Oh yes it does " the TV showed an advertisement " Enjoy our new energy drink for fire affinities the taste of chilly sauce " Ikuta was surprised there was already one and it even said " Limited stocks only "
" So hurry and eat all of this food and also it's going to snow a lot soon so you're gonna have to stay at home " Ikuta checked his laptop on the coffee table "Wanna come over ?" Ezio asked "Sure" Ikuta took the offer and packed his things .
" Hold on Ikuta I still have to enchant your clothes " " okay " while waiting Ikuta received the book again from Yukina " Louis Yukina gave this to me "
" Huh these seem to smell a lot like fresh food " " Yep do you think Yggdrasil knew how to make paper ? " " Don't know but if Yukina gave you this she must know how to use it right ? "
Ikuta shrugged his shoulder " I'm not sure " " it's okay if she isn't you have plenty of time to do so and also she will have to absorb more ice mana from now on it's getting more like winter now " Ikuta looked outside " Ikuta it's so cold " Ikuta wondered if there was a way to keep Yukina from freezing .
" Louis Yukina is cold " " and you want to fix that problem ? " Ikuta nodded " You can share the stomach flame but you will have to change it let me show you "
Ikuta learned how to share his stomach flame and felt it change slightly " Huh ? " " It's okay because you are sharing it with her so that she could digest the food she is getting faster but not from the contract "
" Wait then what's the contract for ? " ... " It's a kind of exchange you have , you feed the plant with your life force but the plant still eats the food around it and in exchange , you get to receive part of what the plant eats , now this doesn't come as a fruit but more like something similar to what you give her "
" Sounds complicated " " You will understand it eventually when you randomly gain the ice affinity " Ikuta was confused and felt cold on his body " Looks like it's kicking in " Ikuta's body temperature fell from the cold managed he was absorbing .
" Brrr It's cold " " I'll get your lunch ready and do you want some hot choco ? " Ikuta thinks about the fire mana that he has been absorbing and moves the manas away from each other " Louis where should I put the cold mana ? " Louis looks at Ikuta's body " you could use it on your cells . "
" Won't it break ? " " Not at all , it acts more like a cooler , if you had cold mana freeze your body then there's no point in having ice dragons " Ikuta tried to have it done and felt all the cold mana distributed " That works just to make sure you kept it that way "
Claire comes holding a phone " Here your dad said it's about time you get one , but it's only for communication " " thank you " Ikuta takes the phone hoping to get his friend's number so he doesn't have to bring his laptop everywhere .
" Also Ikuta you also have to make sure nobody else eats Yukina's fruits " " Huh why ? " " Your father did some research he found that the trio Nidhogg , Ratatoskr and the eagle Vedrfolnir were just normal animals until they started being the parasites of Yggdrasil . "
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