The Soulmancer’s Ascension

Sherine went around the room to collect her personal stuff, which was mostly her artist kit. She dumped them in a small bag with a prism-like design.

Zephyr licked his lips before turning to the blonde god. “Can I have a magic bag too?”

Having a magic item to store things was one of the better conveniences of a fantasy world.

Riven rubbed his forehead. “That's a high-tier spatial pouch. I’ll think about it when you reach the next Soul Rank. Make use of Sherine’s bag until then.”

Zephyr crossed his arms under his chest and frowned. “At least give me a Dragon Slaying weapon.”

Sherine’s clairvoyance depicted him as a sword knight. He'd do anything to avoid that future until he was confident in taking down a dragon.

“It won’t be needed. You will consciously or subconsciously do things that will stop you from reaching that future. What I am saying is that the exact future where you fight dragons will be hard to replicate now. It’s the caveat of divine clairvoyance. They are not set in stone unlike divine prophecies.”

“I’d rather not be part of any prophecy.”

Most of the prophecies—Odin’s death by Fenrir and Vidar avenging his father or the whole Ragnarok ordeal—ended in someone’s death.

Zephyr glanced at Sherine, who stood before her massive closet. The clothes inside varied from leather draped dresses to frilly maid dresses. He even spotted cat and fox ears hanging in the corner.

‘A mythology nerd, a god-tier artist, and a cosplay enthusiast. Perfect wife material question mark.’

Sherine shook her head. “These clothes will look odd to the natives of Hydralae. I can’t take them.”

Zephyr still hadn’t gotten used to hearing Sherine’s thoughts directly in his head. At least there was one saving grace with his skill. He couldn’t hear someone’s thoughts unless they wanted him to hear something. He would go crazy if he had to deal with thousands of echoing thoughts.

‘I have a lot to learn about Soulmancy.’

He had a long road ahead of him. A road full of refreshing experiences and learning many new things.

‘Should I scam some divine item?’

“Don’t even think of asking overpowered weapons,” Riven warned him before he made any unreasonable requests. “I want you to raise your fighting skills. The champions will be armed with divine weapons more powerful than yours. You can’t beat them with overpowered items.”

“Tch. Got it. I need to get good to win. I’ll grind the shit out of this world.”

“Prrreci—”

“Give me some useful daily life artifacts.”

It would be hard for a modern person like him to adapt to the medieval fantasy world. No manga, no novels, no movies, and worst of all no internet. He wasn’t asking for a phone or anything like that. He simply wished for a house inside a lamp, so he could never have to worry about shelter anywhere.

“Sherine has the Soul Keeper House for all your worldly needs.” Riven summoned the teleport door. “Go through the Dark Dimensional Door when you are done.”

“Such unique names, Uncle Riven!”

Riven gave him a disgusted look before he vanished entirely. The youthful god wasn’t fond of saying farewells.

Zephyr walked up to Sherine, holding the portrait tucked under his arm. “Need help?”

Sherine glanced at Zephyr. “Help?”

The word ‘help’ was foreign to the young goddess who grew up without ever facing a tough situation.

“What kind of clothes do I take with me?” Sherine asked, shuffling her gaze through her wardrobe. “There are so many…”

“Take a couple of light clothes. Especially those.” Zephyr pointed at the cat-ears. “They might come in handy.”

Sherine tilted her head. “What will cat ears do…? Ah, disguise! We can disguise ourselves as another race.”

“Yes. Yes…”

Sherine acted oblivious to the purpose of those cat ears. Perhaps she used them as props for her wardrobe or her trap father gave them to her as a gift. She might have mistaken her for a cosplay enthusiast.

The blue-haired lady began tossing the clothes in her magic bag while humming a tune in her head. She had a gentle voice. Unfortunately only a few could ever hear her voice unless Zephyr could make a miracle happen in the tournament.

‘I wanna win and help her…’

He owed her a big deal for giving him a second life.

After Sherine finished her packing, Zephyr handed her the portrait to store. The masterpiece would decorate his new room.

Zephyr double-checked to make sure he didn’t miss anything. “Waaaait, Sherine. I forgot about weapons.”

“I can get you one from the vault.”

Zephyr followed Sherine out of the room. The endless corridors confused Zephyr into forgetting where he came from. Yet Sherine strode around with full confidence. Soon they reached a massive gate with a board above it. The text ‘Treasure Vault’ glowed red as if it was on fire.

Sherine’s eyes bore holes into the board. “My mother was fond of creating artifacts. Father gifted her this wing to store her creations… Father loved her dearly… she still betrayed us.”

“She probably loved something more than him and you. That something was more valuable to her than her family.”

Zephyr had many wild theories, but he didn’t say much to avoid confusing the half dragoness.

Sherine stepped forward and pushed open the giant door with one hand. Instead of a building, Zephyr saw a fog of darkness swirling like a vortex. Sherine stretched her hand, and the eye of the vortex sucked her inside. Zephyr followed her example and got sucked into yet another unknown dimension.

“Why is it so empty?”

The Treasure Vault was all white like Riven’s room. A white laptop sat on a table which was accompanied by a chair. Riven loved the light mode Zephyr despised so much.

‘Why a laptop?’

Sherine sat on the chair and unlocked the laptop. Her blue silhouette became a sharp contrast to the pure white room.

[Welcome to the Treasure Vault of Ancient Dragon. How can I help you?]

“Damn, he even made a custom welcome screen.”

Riven was a dedicated man alright.

Sherine looked over to Zephyr. “Help… tell it to show items tagged with weapons.”

The Treasure Vault required voice commands to work. Her lack of voice kept her away from this room. Riven could have updated the system, alas, he lost all interest in this part of the palace after Aisha’s betrayal.

Zephyr repeated the command for the half dragoness. The screen changed to show pixelated weapons like the inventory of an RPG game.

[Sunfire Wrath]

[Grade - Divine Armament]

[Equip requirements: 300 Strength, 50 Magic, Fire immunity Skill]

[Equip Bonus: +100 Health, +200 Defense.]

[A broadsword forged from the malice of a living sun. The weapon soul generates mana when paired with a fire divinity.]

[Soul Skill: Bring Forth Surtr!]

[Phoenix Mirror]

[Dragon’s Rage]

The list of overpowered weapons went on and on. Zephyr wanted the weapons for the sake of hoarding them. He was nowhere close to having the power to lift any of this weapon, much less using them in actual battles. Not to mention the greedy eyes this valuable weapon will attract.

‘Status and now weapon stats… all of it is like a game. Am I inside some RPG? Then my previous life was also fake? A simulation?’

The young man started having a bit of an existential crisis.