Ikuta sat in the classroom with a smile that contradicted the other students' mood . Ezio went through all the notes during the free study period " Ikuta what will you be doing on Thursday " Pyra asked " come to school ? "
Pyra chuckled a little seeing how clueless Ikuta was about school " There's no school on Tuesday " " there isn't ? " " Yep , it's all going to be for us to study " " and my Mom won't let any of us play games " Ezio said and Pyra and Amber joined with their hardships .
" You're in a good mood Ikuta " Nisse said " Eheheh was it that obvious ? " Nisse nodded and Ikuta didn't want to brag " Tell me I'm kinda bored " Ikuta whispered to Nisse about his dreamwalking " Wow that's surprising " Ikuta was excited to share his achievement and Nisse ignored how he did beat it .
" Winning that race made me feel so happy probably the same as when Ezio felt happy when he finally won against me " Ezio was curious about what they meant and asked " What are you talking about ? " " A secret if we tell you now you will get excited and might not study "
Druk became curious and asked about it to which Nisse whispered " You did that ? " Ikuta nodded with a smile " Yep I'm so happy all the hard work let me win that race " the curiosity also reached Pyra and Amber " what are you talking about ? "
Nisse quickly replied before Druk could say anything " It's something that could distract you from exams " Ikuta nudged Druk to join " she's right you should focus on your exams " " We'll tell you after the exams are done " Ikuta said " But we can tutor at my house I do have to feed the voidlings "
They remember the monsters that Ikuta told them about " I would like to see them too , definitely better than tending to the bugs at home " " Alright I'll make sure to go through everything so I can play " Ezio said .
During classes , Druk was thinking about how Ikuta beat Hermes in a race and even ran past the target . He felt like there was no way he could beat Ikuta , they all sat in the van driving to the house where the voidlings stayed .
" Wow they're so big " Nisse fearlessly went to one and patted them " Ahh " Amber was the one who was scared even after Ikuta had told them that he tested that they wouldn't eat anything else other than Ikuta's lifeforce which was the best food that gave them the most energy .
Druk pokes them not as excited as the other , Amber is just scared while Nisse , Ezio and Pyra are excited to have the Voidlings around " Druk are you okay ? " Druk turned to Ikuta and avoided looking at him .
They were far from the group and Druk asked " I'm just jealous of you , You said you had no affinity but when you got the dark affinity you learned a lot , and then you made a high ice affinity , you fought a bad guy and then after that , you fixed the portal at Niflheim , you even got Mimisbrunnr and now you dreamwalk to the underworld got Gungnir and beat Hermes in a race and got his powers "
Ikuta remembered that time when Ezio said it was unfair for Ikuta to be stronger than him and wondered if he should be mad at Druk too " It's only normal I worked very hard from one push up to now you know "
Druk thinks about the videos he saw and feels like he was childish about being jealous of Ikuta's earned strength " Yeah I'm sorry about saying that " " It's okay Ezio said the same thing to me too so you don't have to worry about me getting angry "
Druk wished he had Ikuta's life " Ikuta can you train me ? " Ikuta was confused at why Druk wanted to do that " Why ? " " Because I wanna be better " Ikuta thinks of his own training regime and turns to Druk's tail .
" I only know how to train as a human " Druk thinks about his tail " I also have to train my tail ? " " No but you will have to think about your tail when moving right so it's gonna be hard to train " Ikuta knew this would completely throw off the direction of the training .
They hear an alarm in Ezio's phone " Oh no I gotta study " Ezio went to his bag to go over his notes " Amber test me " " You could try doing push-ups but dragons are stronger so you have to put some weight on "
Druk prepared himself to exercise while Ikuta got some weights " What are you doing ? " Pyra asked " Training wanna join ? " " Oh yeah sure " Pyra started doing push-ups while Ikuta watched them.
Both dragons were starting to have difficulty after Ikuta had optimized their push-ups to exercise their entire body after putting weights . Ezio thought of an idea and went to ask some questions to Pyra " Pyra what formula do you use to get the volume of a 3d pyramid "
"one-third of huff , Base times ... height " Nisse was interested in this kind of learning and grabbed Druk's science book " Druk give me four examples of insulators" " Rubber , wood , plastic and uhhh glass "
Amber was confused to see how they were training their bodies while reviewing their answers " I got the treadmills " " Oh Ikuta how about you test us your gonna get perfect either way " Ikuta was given everybody's notebooks while they all took the treadmills .
They had fun but Druk was the most tired because Ikuta focused on making sure he was exercising correctly " That was fun " Ezio said " We can keep doing it but I won't be around on Thursday " " Ahh adventure then ? " Ikuta nodded " Don't worry I'll still take the exams that are coming on Tuesday "
Ikuta dreamwalks to the underworld again and is very welcomed by the ferryman but still pays the fee . He kept getting praise everywhere he went because of the rumors that it was hard to not hear anything .
He finally starts learning with Brokk and Sindri and for the rest of the nights he was learning about the runes from the two brothers .
Ikuta held the apple and created another dark creature , he shared his digestive flame with it and yet failed to integrate it " This is so hard " he had failed it many times " Young master it's best if you consult with those cyclops in the underworld " Ratatoskr suggested .
" They don't want to " The three Cyclopes brothers refuse to help Ikuta make a creature because Apollo had killed them for making Zeus lightning bolts , these brothers were even gardeners right now just because they didn't want Apollo to strike them .
' but it's not like it's that bad they're the only ones who knew how to turn the elements into a solid form that needs maintaining ' He knew how dark mana disintegrates at the light depending on how high the affinity and even if his digestive flame has no light it would still die eventually and he was not going to invest most of his time with maintaining it .
' Why didn't you meet them ? " ' I didn't I was too focused on working with the living and most of the ancient beings have all died and gone to the underworld " Harkness replied ' Moreover you can't expect me to learn that when darkness is omnipresent "
The spell to maintain it was too big for Ikuta to shrink into a tiny size ' Can't you just use your console for that ? " ' No because then it would still backfire because there is a stomach fire which will probably mess up the formation "
Ikuta decided that he had to locate Apollo and was told to go to school .
After school he prepared to go to Niflheim after filling up a giant basin for the voidlings to drink and eating one of the duplicated golden apple . Ikuta wakes up inside the airplane with Gungnir beside which Ivaldi offered to give a new form which Ikuta accepted .
' I wonder if I could stand on it ' unfortunately Ivaldi rejected that offer before it reached his sons who he said would give Ikuta a look that would show their disdain for Ikuta ' Ivaldi said this is made of Yggdrasil's wood so what if I could duplicate it '
He knew that idea wouldn't be good because the Draupnir runes would only duplicate material but not the properties . He did learn how to use it but without proper time and investment to imbue the runes on Gungnir , the duplicates wouldn't last long and fade back to magic .
Ikuta tries it and surrounds the surface area of Gungnir with runes for Draupnir , like a glass of cold water , tiny droplets form at the bottom of the rune surface and out of those droplets comes a copy of Gungnir .
' Still not good enough ' the plane lands and Petra welcomes Ikuta to his breakfast . The adventurers all talked about what Ikuta might bring back . He passed the portal and reached the Ginnungagap with the thorn and waited for the right time .
He pointed Gungnir to the sky and used Hermes's powers . Gungnir flies through Ginnungagap's chaotic spatial distortions navigating it with ease while Ikuta holds on to it keeping up with the new power that he obtained .
He remembers the information he got from the dwarves about Nidavellir's and Svartalfheim's world ' They said that it's where dwarves and dark elves used to live and where some otherworlders from before ragnarok had built somethings there '
The dwarves and dark elves have explained that there were many kinds of structures made by the otherworlders who used their gifts and blessings during ragnarok ' I won't really go there unless I need to '
Gungnir landed on the ground and Ikuta checked to ensure everything was okay . He looked around the new realm and turned Gungnir to its new form a compass .
A circular plate of runes is formed and Gungnir sits on it turning it into a huge compass ' I tried using Odin's eye but I can't see it ' Gungnir turned in a direction and Ikuta followed it .
The compass runes remained because of the new form that Ivaldi had Gungnir gain and Ikuta reaches a big stone gate to ruins that were hidden by years of plantation growing as well as some dust that formed soil .
' This is a big gate maybe there is a hole which the light traveled to ' But no matter how much he willed the idea of his target to Gungnir's compass runes it still pointed at the door " How do I open this door anyways ? "
The only thing that came to Ikuta's mind was a key and passcode which he doubted he would be able to find until Odin's eye twitched cramming the information into his head . Ikuta gets a headache understanding the spell formula that moves it .
" Ouch this really hurts " Ikuta uses his dark affinity to reveal the spell formula seeing the glowing runes much clearly now . He starts ranting in his mind about magic hoping it would at least calm the knowledge-hungry eye .
' These kinds of magic are the different magic they let pretty much anyone change it as long as they have an affinity or experience in runes , it's like a computer where you have to learn how to code and all the coding languages '
He kept reflecting on his own knowledge feeding the eye and finally adjusted the runes to let him in . He retrieves his dark mana and the compass follows him through the door , there were no traps at all in this hall .
Ikuta reached a door which automatically opened to a bunch of golems working who identified Ikuta as a threat " Uh oh " Ikuta grabbed Gungnir and swung it to fly out of the lasers the golem shot .
He swung around Gungnir to stand on the spear that stabbed a wall . He turned to the golems who deployed homing magic , Ikuta turned to darkness and the magic attacks lost their target aiming only for the spot Gungnir stabbed .
The golems assumed Ikuta was gone when there was nothing on the place they aimed at ' That was a terrible attack ' Ikuta thought and walked around .
He spread his dark mana turning the entire room dark , read the runes on the golem and used his sword to scrape a few runes disabling it .
The room was lit again and Ikuta went to the next door to find a garden , he ate everything that was offered inside and continued in ' I'm confused what kind of treasure is in here ' no matter how he went he would still find alternating rooms .
The first room showed him golems , the second was a farm where he ate , the third became a pack of hungry wolves which he just fed because they were hungry and when he went to the fourth there were so many valuable ores that were just presented to him .
He thinks it might be related to the games he played where you had to keep betting either go home with what you earned or win another challenge and double it . Ikuta continued through the dungeons still confused about everything .
He meets some starving people on the fifth and decides to give them some of the spring of lifeforce and checks to see if they are illusions . He opens Odin's eye which confirms that they were indeed illusions .
Ikuta went to the next room to see gold appear , he checked with Odin's eye and saw that they were real . He decided he had to keep going and so he gave out on every odd-numbered room and gathered whatever rewards he gained but was still very generous when there were those who needed it .
But when he finally encountered an empty even numbered room he was confused but still proceeded to give up some of his lifeforce and gold in the fake illusions " This is weird " He still didn't stop walking because he still wanted whatever object had the light of the bifrost .
Eventually , he losses all the riches and food that the ruins offered him , but he still takes the loss and finally reaches the last room a place with a table and books " Hmm " Ikuta grabs the book and starts reading it .
"Author the goddess of poverty Penia" Ikuta doesn't recall anything but what was written in it was all about Penia's thoughts on the importance of her domain as the poor .
"Poverty is important , imagine this if there is a chance of poverty you will work hard to keep your wealth yet those three foolish men and that god of wealth ? the fools to me , rewarding a young man just because he was generous ?"
Ikuta could see the direction Penia was going towards "You wouldn't believe what it's like if you were a sage you don't get to keep your knowledge permanently unless you practice the same comes from money you will lose it to buy food and if you don't work you become poor it's why I'm so important"
" Everybody prays to Plutus for wealth but doesn't pray to me to avoid me , Then there is the so-called goddess of wisdom Athena" Most of Penia's entries were about her insults towards some gods but they did match Ikuta's views on the gods .
" You're right Penia the gods don't deserve their place it should be the three cyclopes should have been rewarded " Most of the works were about olympian gods and a few were about foreign gods which likely meant the asgardian gods .
" Alright now I just have to find the light " Gungnir pointed at a wall which Ikuta used the eye , he looked at the other book and decided to read it on the way . Meanwhile , outside a woman unveils her invisibility cloak " Finally back "
Ikuta passed the hallways reading the other book while the woman took a different path , they both headed to a room and eventually " I'm here " The woman looked at Ikuta with surprise " AHHH STALKER "
Ikuta quickly hid behind the corner and heard the woman throw things " Who are you ? " Ikuta felt information crammed into his head ' An otherworlder ? ' " AEGIS " the woman yelled and Ikuta quickly activates the seeing dark .
The woman named Hina wore some armor , Ikuta reads through the information about Hina while running through the hallway " Come back here you " ' Why is she chasing me ? ' Ikuta used Gungnir to fly and not damage the ruins and passed the hall and went to the room .
" Huh ? " He saw a starving child and thought that whatever trial the ruin is doing is not yet over he aimed the lifespring water at the child and did the same to the other .
Passing the room there were some of the things he gave away but there was a crazy armored lady who was chasing him and he ignored whatever riches were given .
He did the same to the other rooms while clinging to Gungnir and finally reached the first room before the hallway , but what he saw was a horrifying horror of hunger , poverty and etc .
He had to move yet he didn't ignore it, he had an idea that would help him buy time until he reached a good spot to fight , he grabbed his golden apple and forcefully activated its Draupnir traits by pushing all of his lifeforce through it .
Hina passed that room annoyed with the multiplying " Gotta run " He used Gungnir to fly out and Hina came crashing with her armor " AEGIS GUARDIAN " ' That's definitely related to the shield ' " Why are you chasing me ? "
She yelled back and a giant guardian appears " Brats like you have to be punished " Ikuta received information about Hina and saw the foolish actions she had done . Ikuta's eyes lose all the mercy he had and he grabs his sword .
' I don't like what she did '
Otherworlder traits - the goddess Hera always picks souls that are easy to control and with the record of all the countless atrocities associated with her , there is no way to say that the otherworlders were people that were just .
So after Ragnarok Hera brought the souls of otherworlders into this world and blessed them with the powers of god Hina was blessed with Athena's powers after the power was taken to the bestower after Athena's death .
While the aegis that was given to Hina was a defensive power it was essentially creating a barrier that she fashioned to be able to change from just a simple shield .
Hina materializes a sword and charges at Ikuta who is fighting the guardian " Take this " Ikuta parries it easily and creates the draupnir surface and looks for a sufficient source of power and feels some connection of power attached to him .
He turned to see that the ruins was glowing a brilliant light and granting him some power ' Maybe it's because I gave it my lifeforce ? ' he reacted quickly to the Guardian's attacks and finds no runes on them to dismantle .
Hina was on guard seeing the ruin glow when no matter what she did nothing had happened when she visited the ruins , even after making it through the hallway nothing happened there was practically no reward at the end or anything valuable at all , every treasure presented to her was just an illusion .
" Why are you getting that reward ? " Ikuta used the power the ruins was giving and fueled the Draupnir runes . He waved his hands and made Gungnir move leaving a copy of itself , Hina charged at Ikuta not caring about the copies thinking they were likely illusions .
Ikuta grabbed a copy and swung it at Hina , Clank , the helmet was taken out and Hina stopped in her tracks with disbelief . Ikuta grabbed another one and swung it towards her " Murderer " Hina was struck remembering how she had killed .
" It wasn't my fault they were looking at me weirdly " Ikuta didn't need to see exactly how it went but one thing for sure was that the information that the eye crammed into his brain was unbiased .
The people who looked at Hina "weirdly" were just thinking of her as their friend's daughter not even as a target to make a move on her , it's also why she fashioned the aegis to cover her and why she formed the sword .
Gungnir copies flew toward Hina and started breaking her armor , her guardian kept losing its parts and Ikuta reached out " Don't look at me like that " he used Hermes's thieving power but fails ' I'll try again '
Ikuta uses Gungnir to destroy the guardian ending the barrage of replicas . The guardian's body falls apart and Hina recalls the aegis it was made ' I didn't know she could do that '
He sends Gungnir and his sword back , retrieving the pandora's box ' Is that the pandora's box ? ' afraid Hina returned Aegis to its most basic form . Ikuta uses his body he construct a surface of black and white mana runes connecting them and spends all of the mana inside the box .
Hina was pushed back with the force , she hid inside and kept chanting " That dang brat messed me up " the extra eye informed Ikuta of what was making Hina like this " A seed of madness "
The aegis expanded after Ikuta exhausted all of the mana " You disgusting man " the seed of madness made Hina charge at Ikuta violently . Ikuta used his magic and created cold dark crystals sprout to capture Hina but it only took the aegis off of her .
He repeated this and made Hina unable to use them leaving her with only her armor and fist ' This is honestly much easier ' Vedrfolnir had told him that there were weak mortal minds who failed to properly use such gifts so this fight was just Ikuta trying to make sure she is alive for later use .
Ikuta hits Hina down and instantly traps her inside a crystal made of Niflheim's frost and dark mana " Now for the seed and her power " Ikuta used Hermes's power and while there was some resistance he just had to cut the connection off and did the same for the seed of madness .
The seed of madness was the same thing that Hera used against Heracles to make him murder his family . Which now made him worry about something else " For now I should check the ruins Hina needs some time to rest " Ikuta took Hina's crystal coffin inside and looked at the pile of golden apples .
" Ugh " he imagined what it would be like to eat so many golden apples at once but thinking about the ruins he passed every room and returned to the room where there were two books appeared .
" Huh ? " He was confused because remembered storing the copies and rummaging in his bag to find that they disappeared " Were they also illusions ? " he looked at the copies and wondered what was the purpose behind this ruin .
" They made me fight some golems in the first room the hallway had nothing " he looked at the other diary which was Plutus's and then compared it to the other diary which also changed .
Previously they were just boring books but now Penia's book looks more aged and cheap while Plutus's seemed more well preserved but also screamed like rich people .
Ikuta doesn't know what they mean but he does remember what Penia thinks about work , effort and the risk of poverty that plays a role according to her .
Meanwhile there is Plutus who was such a big threat to Zeus because of his association with wealth and abundance ' Plutus is supposed to have the gold from the river which washed away Midas's touch and the cornucopia according to the book ' he could tell this place would be valuable but the problem is why it's in this place of all realms .
He follows the hallway and reaches the room where he found Hina and sees two doors each with words written on plates a decorated door shows a golden plate with "Plutus's just rewards" and the other door and plate was made of stones that wrote "Penia's harsh trials"
' It's almost gonna be bedtime ' He yawns and gets Plutus's book to finish the book , learning more about him , especially the cornucopia and the reason why he and Penia's books were in the same room .
' The bees said that Aristaeus went here with Stork and the books mentioned Stork was the companies of the two gods ' he assumed that Stork must be the creator of this place and went to sleep .
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