It was very quiet in the night , Ikuta sneaked out after he was sure everyone was asleep , he didn't worry that Claire or Louis were awake from his experience . He prepared a spell as soon as the dark flame opened the way to the midnight mansion .
He looks at the lady , quickly uses the magic on her and turns her into a puppet . He felt a link to her and asked ' Can I talk to her in my sleep ? ' " Only if you are conscious during sleep "
' Does me talking to you when I was asleep mean that ? ' " Yes " ' Good enough ' He sends a telepathic message to the lady ' Tell the cult leader that I accepted the deal , But I'd like to keep my connection a secret so it would be nice if you give him "
Ikuta looked around and found it . He grabs the box removing all of the debuffs and turning them into mana , a common technique practiced by everyone and pools all the available mana for the puppet spell ' Here give this as a gift and make sure they open it "
' Will that mana be enough ? ' " It will be enough , black magic users tend to be much weaker in will but a few may run if you try to control that much " Ikuta wonders if there was a scale that weighs his will to theirs , the puppet holds the box .
He goes back and sleeps before he gets caught and sees the lady in his mind " I have some questions please answer them ... First question what was the game have a heart ? " " It is a medium that can used for black magic , it is also one of the ways we cause disaster "
" Why a game ? " " Because it was designed to invite you according to the clerk " " Do you use codenames ? " " Yes it will be easier for each of us to know each other but not completely " Ikuta looks at the puppet remembering his past conversation with the duchess .
" Duchess , what happens to people affected by the puppet spell ? " " That spell you used turns people into puppets , but the soul is needed to control the body so the soul stays " " Is there a better version of it ? "
" Yes , one that uses darkness to animate a puppet " Ikuta was glad that he received the duchess's soul because he wouldn't have gotten his hands on the lower spell version in the book because it doesn't show enough information that it was the duchess's book .
' Since Dad won't let me know about the legends' knowledge from the book I'll have to be careful about knowing spells that he didn't teach me ' he thinks of the other names in the book of legends wondering how he can get every one of them .
' I'll need all the help I can ' He goes to sleep and the lady takes the box to the cult leader .
" Leader the boy has accepted the offer " " Oh impressive this will be perfect we will gain a much higher standing with him " " He also offered this box , he said that it's a gift "
" Huh , that is the Pandora how did he get his hands on it ? " " He said it has been in his family " The lady said " Perhaps this family has been hiding for a while " " Seriously it's that Pandora ? " " Yes the box that held suffering until it was opened "
The leader was amazed , the box was taken to be " It looks so ancient and yet it resisted the challenge of time " " But why would he gift us that ? " " He said he wants you to open it "
" It must be because ... I see , he wants us to learn what pain is it ? There has been records in the books the greater the pain of the sacrifice the stronger the black magic , but if we use ourselves as Catalyst the black magic would be much greater "
" Hah I don't want that " " It's okay you may not want it but I the leader must take it , if that boy came from a great family they must've sent this to challenge us " " Then I'll take it too " " Me too " more volunteer but there were still some who preferred to not undergo it .
" No this is okay , everyone else will create a barrier to keep the suffering from spreading too far " those who didn't participate welcomed that idea , they get to stay and contribute , while not suffering the pain .
So they used the spell together and cast their imitation of pandora's box , the lady had no further commands so she watched it all happen . One person watching was terrified of what they just heard ' I have to report this '
But before they could even do it " Found you " the denier revealed their existence quickly making the stalker disappear " Oh some black magic guys , I'll leave them for Ikuta , he didn't want to play their game so I doubt he would even continue "
His father left the cultist hoping to use them for Ikuta soon . The next morning Ikuta wakes up hearing the voices " We are ready master " he goes to the bathroom hearing Druk " I'm in here " " Okay "
He decided to take the bathroom downstairs and smelled something good " Morning kid last night was hectic I found a group of black magicians , they happened to have a spell of puppetry so maybe the duchess has some successor around "
Ikuta's body was too tired to react but his mind did ' What does he mean by that ? ' " I don't who made that puppet spell but I sure as hell am gonna find out when you jump at does cultist and beat them up "
' Looks like dad doesn't know I'll have to be careful with that he might notice me ' he hates not knowing what's going to happen when his dad knows he has been aware of him " But at least I found whoever was keeping your fame from growing "
His father watched TV " Turns out people can't tell between dark magic and black magic these days , maybe the duchess should have another appearance too bad she's dead on the moon , but people would believe if she was still alive but then she'll tell everyone about me which is gonna be horrible being pestered by them like scholars to their dead teachers "
Ikuta returns to his bedroom to bathe after Ezio finishes his business , Druk looks at Ikuta's computer " Ikuta why do you exercise ? " " Cause it's healthy " " But you can run that fast " " Cause I like doing it "
" How can that be fun ? " " It's fun because I like doing it , swinging the sword and parrying also looks cool , games that make using weapons look cool always make me so happy that I could do the same , but it's just too bad nobody can do it with me "
Druk wondered what a strange kind of motivation Ikuta had just for exercising and went to take a bath " Ikuta come down and eat " Coming " Ezio and Ikuta ate .
' I want you all to continue your activities but stop getting sacrifices , pretend that your master is someone else so if I meet you pretend we are strangers and nothing more "
" Ikuta what kind of games do you wanna buy ? " " I'm not sure I might get a retro game or indie horror game but I wanna make sure there is a good story from it , and maybe collect some retro games for fun "
" Really ? " Ikuta nodded " I only ever know about multiplayer games so that me and my cousins can play together " " What about computer games ? " " Oh of course we get to play separately but it's so hard sometimes , because to save money we can't get the same games unless they are coop but at least we can play like but you get to play all on your own it's so nice to live alone sometimes "
" I know " " Morning thank you for making breakfast " " You're welcome " Louis said with a monotone voice , Claire opens the morning news " Just last evening a group of cultists claiming to be the black sun appeared at the police doorsteps talking about a new cult leader that took over , they claim to have opened the Pandora's box that released a powerful black magic that passed their imitation of the Pandora's box "
" Scary " Ezio said " Citizens beware as we don't know who this new cult leader is and whether the claims of these so-called cultists were true or not " " I did see that maybe I should check the storage " Ikuta calmly ate breakfast sending a message ' Is the box still there ? " " Yes it is "
" Don't worry Ezio I'm sure it's not the real Pandora's box " ' Afterall I sent it back ' " Nope false alarm it's still there must be a fake one but this is some magic you have Ikuta " Ikuta looks at the real box through a seeing dark eye he left that everything was still the same just as Claire remembered .
" We still have to be careful there are still some remnants of ancient cults everywhere , Mom always tells me that I have to be careful when I go out alone everyday "
Druk said " I remember mom telling me that if I don't get good grades a cultist will get me , but that was when I was young , now she takes my games if I get a bad grade " Ezio's ears drop remembering it .
" Then you better study well " Druk said " I heard that already " " Druk what about you how do you get good grades ? " " I did it because I'm a dragon , ancient times have always called dragons the great and wise ones because they live for a long time , but now everyone's blood is pretty much the same "
" Oh that would be my fault after all it's a bit unfair for that to happen after I caused ragnorak " Ikuta ignores his father's words because he doesn't have much care for the world's history that could shake the whole world if his father had confirmed it .
" Speaking of history what do you learn at school ? " Ikuta asked " We learned about the first time when time was recorded which is the very ancient civilization that fell , after that everyone returned to their roots before that civilization and focused on rebuilding "
" Oh then the adventurer's guild appeared to explore the world and uncover the mysteries of the past and I know this the core and alchemist led that civilization and I also remembered the adventure king who cleared SSS class quest it's just too bad he died in such a young age for an adventurer "
Ikuta thinks about the adventurer that appeared in the book of legends and the core and alchemist whose secrets are hidden by the challenges of time and danger " The adventurer king was the one who discovered most of what we know about the ancient civilization "
" I heard there are some scary theories that the ancient civilizations had reached a line of progression and that their technology doomed them " " That's a terrible theory , in the first place most of them are born because people are too scared and just wanted to make stories out of them " Druk said trying to reason with Ezio .
" Really ? then what can about the short lifespan of the ancient civilization " " Terrible power dynamics " Ezio was stumped with the new words Druk used " What's that ? " " An example is when all power is given to only one person who likely earned hate from the others"
" Uh what about the dark forest theory ? " " We have had wars the moment one tribe discovers the other , even though it's peaceful right now , there are some tribes that went extinct , so of course the aliens wouldn't do it , it's not even a scary theory but a decision to make sure they don't get detected by others "
" Ikuta help me " Ezio asked sensing that he was losing " How about the great filter ? " " What's that " " It's similar to what Ezio said but instead of just the lifespan of a civilization it includes the entirety of a whole world , remember how gods were said to be born from the great chaos ? "
" Oh I remember that but I was born because my power indiscriminately denies anything both existence and nonexistence " " The theory always says something of whether the filter is behind us or ahead of us "
Ikuta thinks of how to explain with visual aids but didn't had one in mind " You just said that the great filter could be ahead of us because of the short lifespan of civilization of the past and Druk says that the civilization has fallen because of the power dynamics . You can't say that the filter is the power dynamics or similar problems "
" Uhm " Ezio was thinking hard to understand what Ikuta said " We could be ahead of the great filter , because the great filter is supposed to be a step that we have to take " " Oh trust me you already passed that , life doesn't exist in other planets because they have lots most of their needed resources because of those gods "
" Okay , that's calming " Ezio said and Ikuta remembered his dad " But we might be heading towards the great filter , I don't know what it is supposed to be " Ezio was excited to add " What if it's other alien species ? "
" Not possible " Ikuta said " Because that wouldn't be a great filter at all " Druk nodded and finished it " it would just be a war between each other " " Don't worry about that no such thing exists we are the first of the first "
" But it's not like it's useful to talk about that " Druk said " Yeah then what should we talk about ? " Ezio was bored considering the time the mall opens " How about the heroes " " Oh I know that I heard there were evil kings , majins and heroes that fight them "
" Tsk " His father showed disdain to the words and left " I love the stories about them " Druk nodded " They all had one thing in common that gods blessed them to fight against the challenges of this world "
" Yeah effortless power not obtained , it's the reason why I created the graveyard " His father yelled back despite none of them being able to hear him " I heard that they had to go through trials when coming to our world " Ikuta mentioned .
" Yeah right , trials that just showed how terrible they are in life " " how much do you think a hero has to do to be able to come to our world and be blessed by the gods ? " Druk asked " Die by a truck or just have a pathetic life that makes them vulnerable and easy to control " His father continued his complaints .
" I don't know but I don't wanna go through it " Ezio said " Then you better study or else you will be pathetically chosen as a hero because these otherworlders are terrible in their life they only do better because they have powers better than the world "
Now three people told Ezio to work harder , they heard the alarm ring " Ikuta it's time to go to the mall " " Okay " the three went to the car with the three boys seated at the back and Ezio placed himself at the back while Druk and Ikuta sat in the middle .
" Louis drives and they continue their talk " Hey Ikuta what do you usually buy at the mall ? " Druk asked " I never go out though " " Then how do you have that collection of games ? " " Louis and Claire buy them for me , dad transportation is a waste of time if there is nothing for me to do I also think so too "
" Is that why you just ran first to the school on Thursday ? " Ikuta nodded " Then why didn't you just run to the mall by yourself ? " Druk asked " I might get lost and now that I have friends to talk to it won't be a waste of time " " I kinda wish to have the car for myself though " Ezio said lying at the back of the car .
" It's usually so loud every time we go to school and come back home and visit the family business " Ezio said " What kind of family business do you have Ezio ? "
" It's a restaurant , the food is good but only my uncle and aunt run it the rest of the family works somewhere else so me and my cousins sometimes help out during holidays What about you Druk what does your family do ? "
" My dad works at the office and my mother works at a bank " " Are they both dragons ? " Ezo asked and Druk nodded " So you have any cousins you know ? " Ikuta asked " I do have a few but they only visit during holidays " " It's nice to have cousins the only family I know is my dad "
Druk assumes that Claire and Louis are similar to the servants at home " Then what kind of chores do you two do ? " Ikuta asked " Sometimes I just help my aunt cook and bring things to my mom and put the laundry away "
" I just clean my room and put my things away " " I wipe the whole house especially the hard parts so that I can use my body " Ikuta said " You did say you clean the room " Ezio said " Yep and I also maintain some of the weapons at the back I had to learn about weapon maintanience "
" Really ? " Ezio was surprised and Ikuta nodded " I even made a dagger it was a little bit bad I wonder if I could make a weapon out of darkness " " It would be so cool if you have that " Ezio said .
" That doesn't sound like a hobby " Druk said " Then what kind of hobby do you have Druk " " I study " Ezio waited " And ? " " I clean my room " " Druk that's a chore " Ikuta said " Do you really do nothing but study ? "
" No , I don't I clean my room " " But that's boring " Druk thinks of the word boring and looks at Ikuta " What about you what are your hobbies ? " " I play games , make weapons , maintain it , play with some toys , a rubix cube , I just started a new one of collecting retro games "
" That's a lot of hobbies , for me I also play games , sometimes I play with cousins which is fun , then sometimes I cook my own snacks because there are some leftovers in the restaurant , I even make stick art with the barbeque sticks at home "
They both look at Druk " I Uh " he was speechless " Is this why I have no friends ? " They were both surprised that Druk admitted that " Maybe ? " " What about your cousins ? " Ikuta asked " We do talk " He said trying to recover from his lack of friends .
" About " he froze and said " studies " " Not even games ? What about manga , comics , manhua webtoons ? anything fun ? " Ezio's word made Druk clenched his fist " N-none " " We are here " " It's uh okay maybe you should just shop for now "
Druk looked at the mall " Hey what did you usually buy at the mall then ? " " School supplies , textbooks " They both think that Druk is a loss cause " How about we try something then " Ikuta said " First we go buy you some clothes Ikuta " Claire said .
" You don't have a lot of clothes to go outside " Ezio asked " Yes " Ikuta answered " Then we'll have lunch " Druk felt defeated thinking about all the time he tried talking to Nisse " But playing games makes my grade go down "
" But you at least get friends for it , Nisse at least has a few friends she always goes out with " Ezio found a shirt and takes it to Ikuta " Hey Ikuta you should get this it's one of the clothes you can get by showing your account progress you even get a discount for it "
Ikuta looks at it surprised " What if I get a custom one ? " " But those are expensive " Ikuta looks at Claire who nods at him " Don't worry it will be okay , dad said I can use my money as much as I want "
Druk was surprised at how Ikuta was so casual about spending money " Uhm Ikuta are you sure that's okay ? " " Yeah of course it is , Dad used to give me a budget for my games but I've been getting so many good grades he just lets me have everything "
Druk felt jealous " Careful Ikuta , if you tell our classmates about this they will think you are spoiled and don't wanna be friends with you " " Oh it's okay Ezio , I'm fine with only having little friends " " You sound like Nisse " Ezio said .
" I know " Ikuta looked at the arcade " An arcade " " Oh I remember playing air hockey it's really fun but winning the prizes is better " Druk looked at the arcade " Do you guys want to go there ? "
" Sure " Claire finds clothes for Ikuta while Ezio and Druk look around the department store " How do you get friends " " How did you have none ? " Ezio asked " You are one to talk you only have Nissse and Ikuta " " I mean some of my friends are not here plus I have cousins "
" So how did you become friends with Nisse I already know about how you threw a ball at Ikuta's window " " Oh I remember I learned how much he exercised and studied it was really hard to keep up with the studies he has been doing "
" So how did you learn about Nisse ? " " I just told her about Ikuta and told her how much he studies and has fun in homeschool she got curious and I took her to visit his house " Druk looked at Ikuta .
" So you just use Ikuta " " I also told her about my cousins she asked her family to eat but I had to tell her that the food wasn't gonna be good because our ancestors were carnivorous so there weren't a lot of vegetables for her to eat "
" Elves do live in forest " " Yeah but then I learned that the elves don't mind eating meat so we talked about it " " Why didn't you invite Ikuta ? " Druk asked .
" Oh he was training that day , you know he's so much stronger and faster than last time , I remembered I accidentally dropped a cup a his home and he caught it like he got the tingle "
Druk wanted to ask what the tingle is but assumed it must be something that's gonna point out his lack of interesting hobbies " But now he runs so fast that my body hurt when I piggyback ride him "
Ezio looks at the helmets " Maybe I should get a helmet " " for what ? " " Ikuta runs faster than a racing car " Ikuta busies himself with commanding the black suns in the black market deals .
' While I'm at it I'll take out the terrorist groups too as for the master that I'll probably have to kill I need to plant the idea but that kind of magic isn't dark magic it's more on mind '
He thinks about the sage who owned the greatest magic tower that still stands even today ' It's one of the things that dad doesn't own ' he thinks he might get to the tower to find out more about the sage and her craft .
' I'll have to do something about the only magic I have , people can get a magic affinity by learning more about the element and harness it but even that road is hard ' " Ikuta what are you thinking ? "
Druk asked " Oh just about Magic , it's something I never studied because I had no affinity , but now that I have dark magic I have to study it , Dad already agreed to send me books but with the magic being derived by darkness being rare I have to wait for a while and make do with what I have "
" Ikuta I've been meaning to ask but what happened to the thread of darkness ? " Claire asked " Oh I forgot to tell you that I lost it " " It's okay if you did , that kind of thread only works as long as you maintain it now that it will probably disappear if you lost it " ' I actually used it for the puppet spell '
Claire takes the full cart of clothes and shoes " Wow that's a lot " " I know but dad doesn't mind " " You will have to make room for a warddrobe " " I know " The cart had so many things for outdoors "
" What kind of clothes do you wear at home ? " " They all look boring , plain shirt , so it's nice to have these newer once " Druk wonders what kind of clothes Ikuta wears at home thinking only about his pajamas .
Claire pays for all the clothes and takes them to lunch while Louis loads them at the back " Wow so much " " You can only order a few bits there are no waiters to keep the food from coming " " Okay " Ikuta was disappointed .
Druk recalled the amount of food he ate for breakfast that surprised him " Didn't you eat a lot at breakfast " Ezio pulled Druk away " Druk he's been eating more than we eat because of his exercise so it doesn't matter if he ate a lot in breakfast he'll eat more in lunch "
Later Druk was surprised by the food on Ikuta's table " Bento's are so easy to stack " Ikuta ate his food faster than everyone despite having about as many as they eat .
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