The Shepherds Are Dense-Chapter 5: Enchantment Card - Shadow Blade

Chapter 5: Enchantment Card - Shadow Blade
Aiwass didn't even require the Inspectorate's approval to know he'd be permitted to participate in the investigation.
As predicted, he could go about investigating on his own—no requirement for Inspector Haina's presence on every step, merely joining as an "Inspectorate cooperator."
This was partly because of his adoptive father's influence.
The Inspectorate, being subjected to strict rules, had embraced external assistance.
As Mr. Sherlock, private detectives retained or consulted by the Inspectorate had turned into a line of work.
If the investigation was unsuccessful, failure was attributed to the detective's ineptitude, leaving the Inspectorate to suffer internal criticism.
If it was successful, the guidance by the Inspectorate took the credit, and they were rewarded with merit and benefits.
Even though Haina was a genuine inspector, Aiwass understood the Inspectorate more than she did.
His enthusiasm to participate in this investigation had a definite motive.
—Revenge and silence.
The two versions of the tale Aiwass narrated to the Inspectorate were both untrue.
Or at least, not quite true.
He was indeed a subject of the ritual and did know those two demonologists.
But he was also the ritual's sacrifice.
Those two demonologists were his "pen pals."
Aiwass was interested in forbidden knowledge since childhood.
The longer the Kingdom of Avalon prohibited some of the mystical arts, the more thrilled he was to learn them.
As, for instance, ritual magic from the [Transcendence] Path or preservation methods from the [Twilight] Path.
The one was the basis of demonology; the other gave way to careers such as necromancer.
Neither had sounded like something good.
His adoptive father's study contained only summaries of such forbidden knowledge.
Having forbidden books, even in a knight family, was a grave offense that might result in imprisonment.
But those tidbits only stimulated young Aiwass's interest.
He eagerly purchased ritual supplies, trying ceremonies based on conjecture and fantasy, without genuine transcendent insight or magical abilities.
Needless to say, he succeeded nowhere.
This world's fundamental secret was "knowledge."
The nine Paths were associated with nine mystical arts, each of which needed definite knowledge to achieve mastery.
On the other hand, with proper knowledge, even a fragile man could exhibit power much greater than his natural capacity.
Every bit of forbidden information was the basis for a school.
Good "skill books" were non-existent on the marketplace.
On Aiwass's sixteenth birthday, an underground demonologist fraternity, "Noble Red," got in touch with him.
At first, Aiwass was cautious.
But they shipped him handwritten versions of prohibited texts on demonology and rituals.
These were small rituals—causing boils, curing small wounds, causing sleepiness, or bringing ill fortune.
Apparently insignificant, yet they were real transcendent rituals!
Aiwass tested them and became enthusiastic, becoming pen friends with them, sharing demonology secrets.
They behaved like pen friends, exchanging information on their emotional and mundane lives.
Aiwass was initially wary.
But two years went by peacefully.
He reasoned that if they intended to trick him, they would have done it by now.
The worth of the secret information they were offering was substantial—albeit, having never seen the black market, he could not estimate its precise value.
But the quantity was vast.
—What sort of con man dedicates so much time and energy?
It struck him as foolish and costly.
So Aiwass slowly relaxed his defenses, playing this pen friend as a real, albeit imaginary, acquaintance.
A few days ago, they said they were coming to the capital and wished to meet.
Aiwass took them at face value without doubt or distrust.
—This was the deception he practiced on the Inspectorate.
He did not abduct him; he went voluntarily.
They were a bald man and woman, both wearing red.
The male, in his fifties or forties, and female, in her twenties, were master and pupil—and lovers.
He invited his "two friends" to dinner warmly.
The man then asked if Aiwass wanted to witness and even take part in an authentic demon-summoning ritual.
Aiwass agreed readily.
But after more than an hour of preparation for the ritual, he glanced at the altar and realized something.
Didn't demonic summonings cost a lot to perform?
Only afterwards did he realize belatedly: by crafting the altar himself, he had become the "willing sacrifice."
As a student at the Theological Faculty of Royal Law University, Aiwass was on his way to becoming a priest before he graduated.
Although he hadn't fully entered the transcendent path, he'd made his first move towards the [Devotion] Path.
He was a level 1 priest on his character sheet.
When his "Basic Prayer" ability reached its cap, he'd level up to 2, earning his initial Devotion Path trait.
He'd eagerly conveyed this to his pen friends—while "priest" wasn't as exciting as "demonologist," it was a next-life career.
Having supernatural powers was better than nothing.
Above all, priests were respected in Avalon.
The [Devotion] Path represented light, protection, and candles—a way of sacrificing oneself for others and ideals.
Only genuine observance fortified it.
All the professions that were derived from it were hopeful and socially condoned.
So, as a "willing sacrifice" and "Devotion believer," Aiwass was an extremely high-quality offering.
Only when on the verge of death did Aiwass remember his previous-life memories.
Identifying the demon's species, he contracted it successfully.
He ordered the shadow demon to ambush and slay the dazed mentor.
But the apprentice, the woman, fled.
If she'd run more slowly, Aiwass would have killed her.
If she'd have turned back, she might have killed him.
It was that close.
Aiwass exhaled.
—He was on the verge of being a sacrifice and being silenced; he was on the verge of dying by her hands.
Deceived, betrayed, and almost murdered.
Real anger resonated in Aiwass's heart.
He made up his mind to take his revenge without any hesitation.
Furthermore, she probably read his letters.
If taken captive, she'd almost surely incriminate him.
His adoptive father's position was ambiguous, but for his own good, Aiwass needed to shut her up before the Inspectorate apprehended her.
But he would not reveal his demonologist persona to do so.
He devised a plan.
Upon waking yesterday, Aiwass experimented with a ritual that the original "Aiwass" did not know, a ritual from later on in the game.
With it, restoring his vital energy depleted as a sacrifice, he validated his game knowledge in this reality.
Aiwass was not a [Transcendence] Path demonologist in the game but a [Devotion] Path Lightbringer.
A clean support profession, they greatly buffed allies with weak healing and control capabilities.
But being alone to deal with world-ending threats, such an inferior profession would not suffice.
Lightbringers could not derive benefits from their own boosts.
Most [Devotion] Path professions were unable to self-buff, protect, or heal.
But Lightbringer was a viable second profession.
As a public priest, Aiwass could gear up to become a Lightbringer, familiar with the Path features required.
To overcome those dilemmas, his main profession should have a good solo fight capacity.
With a secondary in Lightbringer, the choice was obvious.
In version 5.0, "Aiwass" became a master of phantom demon power and progressed to "Lord of Great Beasts."
A high-level occupation of Great Sin Scholar.
The essence of their immortal phantom demon enemies after defeating them could be drawn out into summonable "Great Beasts" of six affinities.
There was only one Great Beast which could be summoned at a time, but it might be replaced with one appropriate to the circumstances, augmented with support, equipment, or field cards constructed from other Great Beasts' strength.
Most importantly, the summoned beast qualified as a "teammate.
It inflicted much more damage than the summoner and could get all teammate buffs.
Game-wise, it had the highest "buff efficiency."
Card-based buffs gave useful mechanical benefits—triple speed, armor break, poison, burn, evasion, spell penetration—but no straight damage increases.
This prevented dilution by Lightbringer's damage-oriented buffs.
The summoner was unable to get attack buffs while summoning a Great Beast, reducing their own output.
But in a burst phase, the Lord of Great Beasts could temporarily become one with the buffed Great Beast, releasing incredible power.
Combining Lightbringer with Lord of Great Beasts, Aiwass was able to buff his summoned beast as a "teammate."
It maintained his priestly social perks, provided for beast switching to counter opponents, and possessed a high ceiling.
Worst-case scenario—standing alone before a boss—this combo wasn't the greatest damage but was the most flexible and versatile.
Getting phantom demon power out and making it into cards with tarot cards was borrowed from the prerequisite class, Great Sin Scholar.
A Great Sin Scholar could completely examine a phantom demon to gain its ritual knowledge—what cards it could create, materials needed, and rituals.
Even a demonologist could pre-make these.
Progressing to Lord of Great Beasts involved creating six empty cards of various attributes, each imprisoning a similar phantom demon.
Next, continuously defeating same-attribute demons as experience fodder to level up those six demons to max.
Out of memory, Yulia had a high-rank fire-attribute phantom demon.
Its development led to her frailty.
Once grown up, it would slay her.
To rescue her, Aiwass needed to fight the underage demon.
Because phantom demons were immortal, normal methods couldn't rescue her—only keep its awakening and rampage at bay.
The Lord of Great Beasts was not the same.
If Aiwass could create a blank card powerful enough to contain Yulia's demon, he might be able to pull out its consciousness.
This would rescue Yulia and give Lord of Great Beasts! advancement materials.
Yulia could also tap into the demon's leftover energy, stabilizing its unstable power and entering the transcendent way.
This relied on Aiwass's experience of card-crafting ceremonies being trustworthy.
He'd tried other ceremony rituals for games—they worked!
But ghost demon card crafting required more confirmation.
Great Sin Scholar came after the Fallen Heaven Division had arrived.
Two versions ahead of time, Aiwass wasn't certain the ritual would work.
He needed to experiment.
If he could make any ghost demon card as a demonologist, it would establish the system's validity now.
This would provide him with a power different from demonology.
His revenge and muzzling would be simpler.
Yulia might be saved!
Even the fall of Avalon could be undone—
—If he was able to create his first card.
Aiwass remained too feeble.
The only close-high-tier transcendent being he had under his control was the shadow demon.
The only card it could create was "The Moon."
Creating "The Moon" card, for all its potency, needed a nail from the forehead of an executed criminal quartered and three old ropes from a gallows.
Aiwass sat quietly at his desk, pulling out a tarot card slightly blackened from a jade box.
These tarot cards were some of the mystic objects he'd accumulated in his ritual phase.
Now, they were just ideal for making Lord of Great Beasts' ghost demon cards.
The card showed a moon, between two towers.
Below, a dog and a wolf barked furiously at it.
At bottom center, a lobster crawled out of a river, looking bewildered at the sky.
This was [The Moon].
In tarot, it meant confusion, stagnation, and unease.
Tarot cards were developed by [Adaptation] Path prophets.
Prophets derided astrologers of the same Path as being like dogs that bark at the moon.
Prophets assumed that the future could not be predicted in detail, whereas astrologers were looking for a sophisticated, exact "Grand Unified Star Chart" to predict everything.
Prophets thought this absurd—like dogs barking at the moon, showing ignorance and irresponsibility.
Aiwass caught his breath, moving cautiously.
The card's "Moon" had a coating of mercury.
Yesterday, he had employed it as a medium to pour in three points of dark-attribute mana.
His maximum dark mana pool was only three points.
Making the weakest card took at least five points.
No matter how strong the card was, other materials were always the same, just in varying amounts of gem powder.
Even if making a weak card seemed wasteful, verifying its viability was indispensable.
At its worst, it was a reusable magic scroll.
Once written, it could be charged with one-tenth the mana—less than one point worth zero.
The sole restriction: only a single card of the same tarot variety could be employed each day.
If Aiwass employed this Moon card, he wouldn't be able to use a second Moon card on the same day.
Nonsense.
He could sell or give it away later if not required.
A rechargeable, mana-free, auto-magical spell would command a good price.
The ritual materials were not actually wasted.
Yesterday, Aiwass charged three dark mana points, faintly darkening the card.
It wasn't an illusion—it weakly absorbed light around it.
In sunlight, the contrast with surrounding objects would be extreme.
Now his mana pool was replenished.
He lightly placed his hand on the mercury-coated Moon, slowly charging all three dark mana points.
A six-point card would be slightly stronger than a five-point one.
“What a pity…”
Aiwass murmured.
“I’ll make one now. The materials for the other three can wait until my mana grows.”
Once five points were infused, the ritual activated instantly.
If not crafted within an hour, it would fail.
Otherwise, he could stockpile mana daily, crafting a thirty-point “Field Card: Shadow Vault” after ten days.
He could add one more point today and write with seven tomorrow.
But five to ten points all yielded the weakest "Enchantment Card: Shadow Blade."
Additional points wouldn't alter its quality—so he preferred to save a day.
With that, he pounded a rusty nail into the tarot card.
A screeching sound resulted, like he had hammered it not into paper but into a skull.
He then made three loops of the ropes and fastened them to the nail from three sides.
Their other ends were nailed to three "Sword" cards.
The ropes inflated at once, like choking someone, making a ring rather than a "V."
Aiwass then sprinkled ground black pearl powder equally across the tarot card.
The Moon card was under the [Love] Path's jurisdiction.
Black pearls, guardian gem of the [Love] Path, caught the eye of the Path's pillar god, "Eternal Self."
Even a passing glimpse sufficed to infuse the card with spirituality.
Having completed, Aiwass remained motionless.
His shadow ascended like tendrils of smoke, blending into the card.
The image of the card changed, as if a different artist was working over it.
Once the modifications ceased, the nail dissolved into the new "Moon."
Two ropes formed into the two new "Black Towers," dog-headed beings grasping scepters.
The third rope took the lobster's place as a black scarab.
The card drifted into Aiwass's hand.
Its attributes manifested in his sight:
[Enchantment: Shadow Blade (Moon)]
[Requirement: Dark 0]
[Instant, Contact, Immediate Effect]
[Effect: Gives target "weapon" shadow, cutting, and corrosion properties, considered a transcendent weapon. Lasts one minute (+20%)]
It worked.
Aiwass reflected.
(End of Chapter)