Cliche Chapter 353-354: A glimpse at the future (Patreon)

“Alright. That’s enough.”

Asahi stopped Ais from casting any more Ariel spells. Through Riveria and Ais, he had observed the limitations of the magic system in this world. All magic spells required chants. The spells that required longer chants were usually more potent. It was to be expected since none of them could directly manipulate an element. It was fine for Ais, but Riveria was severely limited by this magic system.

‘Can they awaken an element?’

He asked the goddess who created this world.

“No. If I added that, this world’s history would be changed, but there is one exception—you. My love can teach them the elements with the Natural Mentor skill. Aimi can;t compete with your affinity to elements since she only has the darkness element. You’re the most qualified person.”

Asahi sighed.

‘I’ll think about it later.’

Raising the natural mentor skill will take a lot of teaching to upgrade. He just brought it to E-Rank during his lessons with Ais. If he can't do it in time, he’ll just summon a Diva for Ais and Riveria if she becomes his.

Riveria saw Asahi concentrating hard on something. She couldn’t find anything that required this much focus around here.

‘He looks better like this.’

His unruly charm was the opposite of the refined beauty of an elf. She didn’t hate elves per se, she just hated how immature and arrogant they could become, especially the cream of the crop of the elven race, High Elves.

[—Riveria: Affection +4]

Asahi blinked his eyes and turned to Riveria. “Mom, it’s time for your training.”

He was in the mood to bully some high elf.

“Huh?”

Riveria uttered a confused sound, only to be teleported into the worst floor of the dungeon.

58th floor.

The floor where Fomoire, the goat demons, spawned.

“Riveria, I want to see your limits. Show me what an high elf princess can do.”

Riveria stared at him, barely keeping her calm. “You want me to kill Fomoire?”

She could do that without a hitch.

“Yes. But there is a catch,” Asahi grinned, giving her a bad premonition. “If you can’t kill one thousand Fomoire, you’ll be punished.”

“Punish?” Riveria frowned. “You are not my father.”

She wouldn’t let anyone else dictate her future. Loki was an exception as her goddess and her benefactor who helped her escape the boundaries of her homeland.

“Don’t you want to improve at magic?” Asahi asked, giving a frown of his own. “No matter what others say, your magic spells suck.”

His words dealt a massive blow to her pride.

Her complicated expression made Asahi smile. He stepped closer and rubbed her head. “It was just an honest opinion from my standpoint. I admit you're an incredibly strong adventurer and leader. If you wish to conquer the dungeon, you’ll need more than that.”

Riveria didn’t know whether to laugh or cry at his consolation. He was belittling her without being a jerk about it. The warm feeling flooding her senses seized her ability to hate or even dislike him.

[—Riveria: Affection +3]

“I’ll give you the power to rival gods.”

His offer akin to a devil’s temptation reached her ears.

She brushed his hand aside. “I don’t need it.”

She denied him without a single thought. She earned level 6 through years of hard work. She wouldn’t throw away her integrity to become his puppet. His punishment might be related to sex and the likes. She wasn’t going to lose her freedom for power.

Ais couldn’t understand why Riveria was denying Asahi’s help. She had been with Riveria since she came to Orario, so she knew Riveria and her desire to grow stronger. That raised questions in her mind. Why would Riveria not accept Asahi’s training?

‘Is she afraid of punishment?’

Ais felt a smile tugging at her lips. She could no longer swim thanks to Riveria’s punishment. She would be more than happy to help Asahi in returning some pain to Riveria.

Asahi looked at Riveria with a mild disappointment. “Here I was thinking of giving you a chance to contract a Diva.”

“Diva?” Riveria’s curiosity was piqued. “I never heard of them.”

“Have you seen my spells?” Asahi said and summoned Phenex’s wings. The blazing wings that always caught Riveria’s attention with its exotic looks. “They are not mine but borrowed from a Diva, a being closer to god in nature.”

Asahi aroused the scholar inside Riveria. Asahi finally revealed the secret behind his overpowered magic spells.

‘Is he talking about spirits?’

The spirits were superior to humans in terms of controlling elements. Even then, she doubted any spirits could rival Asahi’s feets in the dungeon.

“Tell me more.”

She forgot about the ‘punishment’ part in the face of a new potential race. Asahi chuckled as he pointed at the Fomoire horde.

“Show me first.”

Riveria nodded reluctantly, only to realize she forgot her staff in her room. The staff was made of mithril and holydite. The nine catalysts embedded in the staff amplified the spell’s effect and reduced the magic power consumption. It was easily one of the best if not the best weapon in the entire world.

“Also, I wasn’t going to force you to do anything. The punishment was just a lie to push you harder.”

Riveria didn’t know whether he was lying or not. But she chose to trust on this one. “I forgot my staff.”

“Staff, hmm. It’s better to do it without staff in my opinion.”

It would show her capability without her fancy weapons—her raw strength as a magician.

“I can,” she said with a sigh and eyed the Fomoire horde in the distance. “It’ll take more effort.”

“Well then. The Fomoire horde is far smaller than last time,” he said and beckoned Ais.

She approached and looked at him, only to receive a gentle pat on her head.

“You won’t fight today.”

Ais stared at the monsters that could spur her growth, yet she couldn’t fight them. With a determined nod, she said, “Okay…”

Asahi summoned his spear and got ready to distract Fomoire for Riveria. A rather good warmup for his next adventure into the 60th floor.

A jade magic circle appeared underneath Riveria as she began her chants.

This was just a prelude to Riveria’s nightmare.

***

Ryuu, unfortunately, didn’t find Syr at the Hostess of Fertility. She stayed home today to do some important tasks. She spent a little time with the other waitresses and returned to the Stardust Garden with Shiori.

“That’s sad,” Shiori said. “I’m gonna check up on Asahi-kun.”

“I’ll find something else—”

Shiori grabbed Ryuu’s wrist. “You’re coming with me.”

“I don’t want to intrude on your private time,” Ryuu retorted. Seeing Asahi being lovey-dovey with others always left a bad taste in her mouth.

“Come with me to the dungeon. You can help us, you know.”

“Help how?” Ryuu said, showing more reluctance. “Your husband is a demigod. He needs no help… I’ll become dead weight in the team.”

She wasn’t confident of helping them in any way past the 59th floor. Her sword wasn’t durable like Ais’s sword with the Durandal attribute. Astraea had yet to place an order with Hephaestus to upgrade everyone’s swords. She wasn’t in any hurry to send her Familia into the unexplored regions.

Shiori placed her hands on her waist, a look of disappointment in her eyes. “Sheesh. It’s a woman’s right to be protected by a man.”

“Correction, protected by their lover.”

“Same thing. Same thing.”

No matter how much Ryuu resisted, Shiori pulled her along inside where they met with Rika, Nao, and Aimi. Together, they teleported to Asahi’s location.

Rika grinned at the sight of Riveria sweating profusely as she sang chants. She then turned to Asahi smacking the Fomoire with his spear. He was holding back his strength, or the horde would be nothing more than a pile of magic stones scattered across the floor.

“Aa-chan already started the party without us.”

“Don’t interfere,” Ais said, her voice a bit commanding. “Onii-san will… fight alone.”

“It’s the blonde loli,” Shiori said. “Ais, what is happening here?”

Ais nodded and pointed at Riveria. “Riveria’s training.”

Nao patted Ais’s head, finding her cute like her little sister Aiko. “Let’s wait and watch.”

“It’s rare to see him fighting like this,” Shiori said and pulled out her phone. “It had to happen the day I took out all of my panties from my ring.”

Ryuu was surprised at their trust in Asahi. He fended thousands of monsters all on his own, yet Shiori had leisure to make perverted jokes.

“Ryuu-chan, it’s nothing serious.” Rika patted Ryuu’s shoulder. “Let’s enjoy the show.”

Riveria wiped the sweat from her forehead and quietly cursed the gang laughing as though they were enjoying her suffering. Ais’s smile in particular irked her. The blonde rarely smiled. For her to do it when she was on the brink of collapsing was vexing. Gritting her teeth, she decided on bringing back Ais’s trauma when they returned.

“Rea Laevateinn!”

The flame pillars engulfed the horde, obliterating a good chunk of the monsters.

“I’m done for,” she whispered and pulled a magic potion out of her robe. She gulped down the tasteless potion and heaved a sigh. “Is he satisfied?”

Asahi looked over his shoulder and grinned. “Good job, Mom.”

Nao tilted her head. “Did Riveria adopt Asahi-kun?”

Rika lightly rubbed Nao’s head. “It's a kink play.”

“That’s beyond kinky…” Nao muttered, baffled at the degeneracy of her fiance.

‘I’ll ask him to do it with me next time.’

Nao covered her mouth and grinned. Shiori had infected everyone with the perverted acts that made their bedroom experience refreshing.

Asahi blew away the monsters with his telekinesis and cracked his knuckles. “Let’s test the new form.”

The skill had already given him understanding and the instructions to him, becoming more of a second nature rather than a simple skill.

‘Which form should I take?’

Fire will melt the entire floor if he wasn’t careful. The water form as it will most likely turn him into a water slime, not something he’d enjoy. Earth might turn him into Ben Grimm aka the Thing from Marvel.

‘Lightning and Wind. Let’s try wind first.’

He willed, and the elements obeyed. Nao and Ryuu picked up the change in wind currents, every current was changing its path to Asahi. The wind elemental condensed into a thick green armor around Asahi. The armor sank into his body, giving his skin a jade glow.

He closed his eyes in the sensation of overwhelming strength. His consciousness spread miles away. The wind gave him a taste of what omniscience beings felt on a far smaller scale. Just a couple of miles had pushed his Multithreaded Processing skill beyond its limits.

[—‘Multithreaded Processing’ ranked up to D.]

The boost allowed him to envelope the entire floor with his senses. Whether it was the tint on Nao’s glass, Ryuu’s baffled look or Riveria’s wide eyes, he saw them all as if he was looking at them through his eyes.

But he couldn’t push past the floor as an invisible barrier blocked his advance. As though feeling an unknown existence, the dungeon rumbled. The Fomoire rushed towards Asahi at once.

‘Dungeon-chan isn’t happy.’

Asahi crossed his arms on his chest. A green shadow stretched from his back and split into three serpents with sparkling white eyes. The fusion of wind element and life element recreated a three-headed hydra. The non-toxic hydra split the air with a barrage of wind blades.

The thousands of Fomoire were decimated in the span of a second.

It was a slaughter none of the people here had ever seen.

He could have simply crushed their bodies or cut off their oxygen supply if they were human. He chose a flashier method for Riveria. He knew this act would bring Riveria’s curiosity to its heights, giving him a solid chance at winning her heart.

Rika proudly patted chest. “It’s rare for Aa-chan to show off.”

Shiori snuck a glance at Riveria who gaped at the annihilation caused by Asahi. Ais’s tiny mouth was opened in an O-shape, prompting Nao to pat her head.

Shiori grinned. “Let’s say he achieved what he wanted.”