CONQUEROR OF WORLDS

• BASIC INFORMATION — Scraps of accrued knowledge

• HISTORY — A record of the tri-dimension conquest

• ABILITIES — The fruits borne of domination

Name — His true name is utterly unknown, for there are none left who remember it. Both the passing of long ages and a concerted effort on his own part have completely eradicated the existence of his birth name, magically severed from his being and therefore impossible to be divined even through mystical means. Throughout his life he has used many different aliases. Those who speak to him directly will often use only his titles, or otherwise refer to him by the name most familiar to them. On Althea they know him as Theon; in the Seven Realms it is Xiong Yang and Tian Mo. Of the names used by his servants, Arsaces is the most common among Earth's humans.Titles — Even greater in number than the names he personally adopted are the titles assigned to him, either by right of conquest or deeds that have been engraved into history. On Althea he is known as the Lord of Domination, the Thrice-Crowned Lord, and the Beast Messiah. In the Seven Realms he is known as the Celestial Dragon Emperor, the Heavenly Devil King, and the Golden Rainbow Immortal. On Earth he is simply the Emperor, the conqueror of worlds and lord great in magic, with a legion of demons worshipping at his feet.Age — With the attainment of true immortality, an eternity of rule is all but guaranteed. Already over 1,000 years have passed since his birth, and even 10,000 more would not satisfy him.Physical characteristics — Possessing a full control over his appearance, it changes in accordance to want and need. Yet he is never anything but regal, imposing in stature and noble-featured, with the dark wisdom of millennia in his face and the burning light of ambition in his eyes.Personality — With all the goodness of the world having turned to ash before his eyes, his previously strong ideals of doing evil for the cause of good have been thoroughly twisted into a cruel facsimile of their former self. Even though he has betrayed Heaven and Earth for his personal gain, he still believes himself to be chosen by some higher power, or otherwise believes his own judgement to be of greater value than that of the gods.
Despite his vast domains and great array of abilities, his boundless ambition continues to drive him towards ever grander and more perilous heights. He is wholly lacking in respect for any who do not toil to gain it from him, be they man, demon, or god, and he views anyone without a personal bond to him as nothing more than a stepping stone to greater power.
His power has come with a supreme arrogance, leading him to believe that even those superior to him in strength will eventually be surpassed and made his servants, and in general his desire for control has led him to develop a great love for enforcing his will on others and dominating them utterly. This desire is so far-reaching that he rarely outright kills his enemies, preferring to make them serve him no matter how inefficient it would be. Though he lacks any faith in the good intentions of others, he has such a high opinion of his intelligence and ability to unravel the plots of others that he has no qualms about trusting those he deems harmless or beneficial to his plans.

EARTH

Every journey has its beginning. The past of the conqueror is shrouded in mystery, and would forever remain so if he were to decide. Besides those who knew him in his first life and the few mighty beings who have broken through the countless barriers guarding his mind to glimpse a piece of his true history, none but him know. They do not know that he was born in Italy under the name Augusto Vipera, in the twilight of the twentieth century to a politician and his loving wife, a politician who was assassinated by their own government for speaking against his country's corrupt practices when he was only a child. They do not know of the struggles his mother had to endure without her husband, and her only son's solitude after she took her own life. From the moment he was born, he knew nothing but struggle. A struggle for existence. Alone and with nowhere to go, the young Augusto thought of following his mother's example until help came from an unexpected place: a man he did not know visited his mother's funeral. He reached out his hand, and introduced himself as a friend of his father's — an old contact in the world of organized crime.In truth he had been far too young to make an accurate assessment of his father's character before his death, but by his reputation alone he had believed that he was a just man with a spotless belief in doing the right thing. His father's friend explained that if one truly wished to make a change in the world, they needed the power to carry it out, and such power could never be obtained through legitimate means. Listening to these words, a new purpose sprang to life inside of him as if his soul were set ablaze, and he accepted the invitation to be raised under the man's tutelage without a second thought.Years passed, long years filled with intense study of politics, finance, and things no law-abiding person should reasonably desire to know. It did not take long for him to discover that his dear father was once the head of notorious criminal organization, and that his friend was the second in command who desired to mould him into the perfect successor — and puppet. To the man's surprise, he excelled in all of his studies, absorbing theory in a fraction of the time it would have taken others and putting it to use with an immense cunning. When he became a man he was already the clear superior of his once-mentor, and they had simply given up on attempting to manipulate him. The organization had survived during his tutoring, if only barely, and what little resources were left had been given to him to do with as he pleased.Instead of entering politics like his father, he focused his efforts on business instead, making several investments that would ensure continual growth and provide him with a foundation to grow his wealth and influence. Through a plan years in the making, he was able to use his existing resources and the backing of his followers in the criminal underworld to expand in the realms of finance and organized crime alike, leveraging the advantages of one against the other in a synergy that, to him, perfectly encapsulated the rot permeating them both. Despite his natural affinity for such matters, there were many setbacks and defeats, his genius not yet tempered by experience, but his goal drove him ever forward. He was engaging in the very same despicable practices that he hated, but he would need power, power to enact his vision on the world. He would rule from the shadows, set his claws into every aspect of the country until he could burn away the lies and corruption and allow it to be born anew. And then, when it had taken on a greater form, he would move on to the rest of the world.But as his influence grew, the amount of eyes on him grew as well. No matter how widespread and well-enforced the secrecy surrounding his operations were, they eventually become too large to hide in full: covertly acquired business became multinational corporations, bribed local politicians became candidates for the office of prime minister, and gangs of hired enforcers became private military companies operating on battlefields across the entire world. Though the average person did not even know his name, he became well-known in certain circles — circles that saw his power and did not view it as beneficial to their own plans. By now the authorities were almost fully in his pocket already, but his grip on the organs of state was not yet so tight that he could easily defeat the full might of his enemies' pawns arrayed against him. The attack was sudden and left his faction reeling, his followers exposed for their corruption and backroom dealings by those who did the very same, and when one had not even seen a courtroom yet the another had already been accused. He did all he could to halt their advance, but it did not take long for them to target him directly, and they did not even need to unravel the full scope of his plans; tax evasion was enough to have him arrested and given a false diagnosis so that they could force a confession out of him when the medication had taken away all of his wits.When he died in his cell, it was ruled a suicide. And as the guards prepared the rope and fastened it around his neck, his life flashed before his eyes. All of the evil he had done, all of the suffering he had caused, for what reason had it been carried out? The goal he had been working towards would now be destroyed, and that suffering had become pointless. The world would continue as it always had, cruel and uncaring, as his breath was halted and his mind faded into eternal oblivion — or so he believed when the darkness took him, for after what felt like an eternity he opened his eyes once again.

ALTHEA

HERO OF LEGEND

He thought the darkness had taken him forever, but after timeless ages the abyss released him, and he opened his eyes to a dim room filled with hooded and cloaked individuals, their elaborate robes illuminated by a strange light emanating from the ground beneath his feet. He still wore the clothes of a prisoner, but there was no rope around his neck, and his mind felt clear of the dreamlike malaise that the medication had poisoned him with. It was as if new life had entered him, and that very well may have been the case. Clear of mind he may have been, but the sight before him was purely fantastical, and as the first shock of his escape from death subsided the shock of his new surroundings set in. His bafflement was addressed by the elderly man in the middle of the half-circle of strangely-dressed individuals, his clothing the most extravagant of them all.With a wise tone they explained that he was now in the realm of Althea, and the Kingdom of Elemar that lay therein, having been summoned by the kingdom's mages to fulfill the prophecy of the great hero. Ancient legends speak of a time when darkness has overtaken the land, and the sages call forth a hero from another world to beat back the Demon Lord's armies and save the kingdom. As direct as the explanation may have been, he was no less bewildered by what he had just heard. He had never been a believer in the occult or any other such superstition, let alone the existence of another world with mages and demons, but the head mage ensured him that the matter was not yet pressing and he could acclimate to this strange new world before he set off on his mission.When he was mentally recovered and deemed presentable, he appeared before King Gallodwin of Elemar and had the current situation and the nature of his quest expanded upon in a more official matter. Rather than a single quest, he was to be sent on missions all across the vast territory of Elemar and its allies with a group of three companions. This would train his skills and strengthen the kingdom against internal threats before they could focus on the threat of the Demon Lord, reported to have awakened half a year ago and whose forces were already encroaching on the great Empire of Zulfera's outer borders. Seeing that there was no other choice, he accepted the position of hero and swore to carry out his task no matter the obstacles that may place themselves in his path.He was afforded a month of rest before his task would begin in earnest, and in that time he learned all he could, questioning his summoners relentlessly and poring through every text they could afford to give to him. He also pondered the meaning of this utterly unthinkable situation — he had no doubt always felt that he was chosen for some higher purpose, but could this have been what he had felt? And of course, there was also the matter of his past life. He continued to be haunted by the mistakes of his past, still fresh in his mind though they were now a world away. While he could not reverse them, he made the decision to atone for what he had done by putting his all into saving this world. Because he was to wield the legendary hero's sword, the kingdom's knights taught him in the art of swordplay; living in an age of firearms, he had never entertained the thought of fighting with anything else, but even if he had it would not have let him stand a chance against the superhuman abilities of the warriors of this world possessed. They cut through steel in a single swing and tore the ground with their great leaps, moving as a blur to defeat a dozen of their lessers in the blink of an eye.It was during this time that he became acquainted with Leofran, a knight of the realm who would accompany him on his journey, and in aiding one another during their training they forged a bond of swift friendship. He seemed young and naive, but of a respectable character that was all too rare in the world that he was born in. Once his training was complete, he was introduced by the king to his other two companions, chosen for their great skill in their chosen field: Emile, magic user and apprentice to the head mage of the kingdom, and Celea, princess of the elven kingdom of Sydania and a greater healer than any mortal man. Together with the Leofran, trusted knight of the king, they would serve as worthy companions to the chosen hero.With no time to waste, they set off. Their first missions in the capital province of the kingdom were simple, and almost quaint in their lack of danger. They faced strange but ultimately comical monsters more akin to household pests than dangerous beasts, and solved minor disputes between the people of the kingdom that ended with both sides on friendly terms regardless of the outcome. As far as he could tell, Elemar was a place of great prosperity and virtuous character, the product of benevolent rule and divine blessing that could only be found in the world of the fantastical. It was the kind of world he wished to have created and protected on Earth, if things had gone differently. But in the months that followed, that impression was beginning to crumble. As months passed, their tasks led them to regions of the kingdom that were not nearly as safe and content as the capital province, borderlands where food was scarce and the petty elite ruthlessly exploited the commoners. Happy as it may have seemed at first, this was still a world of peasantry and nobility, and one was given great power over the other. Of course this was not advertised openly to the hero, to whom every local ruler showed the utmost courtesy, but as they saved villages from bandits and destroyed monsters of considerable danger, he grew more and more suspicious of Elemar's nobility. Especially the firstborn son and heir of the king, Prince Zandt, was a man he did not trust the moment he laid eyes on him. With their father growing older, Zandt was appointed as co-ruler of the realm, but years of legitimate and underworld politics had taught him to see through the prince's charming demeanor.His only comfort was that his companions were just as unnerved by the destitution they witnessed in the far regions. Leofran did not view knighthood as a mere title, but endeavored to live up to the name in both heart and deed, and he was as quick to defend the people of Elemar from violence as from the injustices of the ruling class. Emile was a scholar whose nature was not suited for dealing with the harshness of the world, but his ideals were still strong and his hardiness in the face of adversity was greater than any could anticipate, himself included. Celea was burdened by an endless sympathy for those around her, her universal kindness proving an inspiration to them all, and her courage to go against evil despite lacking the skills of a warrior was nothing short of admirable. In the many months they travelled, fought, and survived the wilderness together, he had come to greatly respect all three of his companions, and their friendship had grown strong beyond reckoning. Leofran was his sword-brother, a man he would trust his back to when in his previous life he could not trust anyone, Emile his friend in need, whose wise counsel he could rely on when his own knowledge or judgement failed him, and Celea was the one he had grown closest to. He had never loved a woman before, simply unable to bring himself to care for another in such a way when his mind was ever on his goal, but her embrace made him forget about the troubles of the world.With his belief in the righteousness of the king's cause wavering, and his suspicion towards their ever more cryptic missions growing, it were his companions who kept his resolve strong. But one night, sleepless and wandering in the halls of the royal capital after returning from a particularly lengthy task, he heard the voice of Emile coming from one of the rooms reserved for the royal family. Already puzzled by his companion's absence beforehand, he listened more closely and overheard a conversation between Emile and Prince Zandt — a conversation that revealed more than he would perhaps have wished to know. Emile spoke to the prince as a servant would, which was not unusual considering his position as the future head mage serving the royal family, but he also divulged large amounts of information about the recent actions of his companions, and especially his comments regarding the untrustworthiness of Zandt. The prince seemed greatly displeased by this, and ordered Emile to reaffirm the legendary hero's loyalty to the crown, and to him specifically. Then they continued with a report of the mission they had carried out, which had already given before, but as he listened the true purpose of their task became clear to him: the bandits they had defeated were in fact hired by Zandt to make the local duke seem weak and inept, and to increase his popularity with the commoners when the hero, who was officially under the command of his father and by extension him, destroyed the raiders. From their tone, he could only assume that all of their missions in the other regions had been assigned for similar reasons, but the most shocking revelation of all came when the topic shifted to the matter of the Demon Lord. Not of their recent actions, or how to deal with the threat, but the best way to keep the hero from finding out that the Demon Lord had not awakened at all!In that moment, all became clear to him. Rather than summoning in a time of need, he had been called earlier than needed to do the prince's dirty work. Fantastical as it may have been, this world was just as corrupt as the one he had left. Indeed there were people of great virtue and kindness, like his two other companions, but those who held power were invariably of the most despicable sort. Had he been his past self, he would have kept this information secret and used it to its greatest effect when Emile and their master showed a moment of weakness, but he was tired of games of deceit, and so after informing Leofran and Celea of Emile's ill intent they confronted him together when he returned from his clandestine meeting.At first Emile denied any accusations, instead attempting to convince Leofran and Celea that the hero was being affected by some curse of the mind. When that failed, his demeanor instantly shifted. He derided them as fools, and threatened them with serious consequences if they did not continue to carry out the prince's wishes. None of them were cowed by these threats, moving to restrain their former comrade before they could act on any threat, but Emile revealed he had hidden more than his true personality from them. He called out a spell and a sea of thunder sprang from his hands, engulfing the three of them with overwhelming power, and when the hero came to a moment later he realized that he was the only one who had survived this attack. In a rage he charged Emile, who was so shocked by his survival that they could not defend themselves in time and almost received a fatal blow. Using a spell to retreat elsewhere, they left the hero alone to his mindless rage, carrying the bodies of his companions on his back. He rushed to Prince Zandt's chambers and caught him by surprise, cleaving him in two from head to navel before making his escape from the palace with all his speed. Already every knight and soldier in the capital had been alerted that the hero had gone mad and turned to the side of the Demon Lord; none who blocked his path could stop him, and he fled the capital alive, but he lost the body of Leofran in his violent flight.

BEAST MESSIAH

He passed into the wilderness and dwelled there like an animal for what felt like months, recovering from the wounds to his body but not his mind. Sometimes he gazed at the body of Celea, yet to be taken by any sort of rot, as ageless in death as it had been in life. So lifelike it remained that he couldn't bring himself to bury her, as if she could reawaken at any moment. He wished for nothing more than to slay the one responsible for the deaths of his companions, and to tear the corruption that was as ever-present in this world as his own from its foundations, but there was simply no way he could defeat all the knights and mages of the realm alone — not in his current state. For a long time he practiced alone, using the survival skills he had obtained during their missions to live off what little nature gave him and test himself by hunting wild beasts. All the while he travelled further to the north and east, ever more away from the territory of Elemar, and eventually he reached a dark wood with many unnatural creatures to test his strength against. There he remained for a while, and he caught the eye of one of the wood's residents. They appeared in the night, defeating him with a wave of their hand, but offered aid rather than death.They would not tell him their name, but declared themselves to be a practitioner of forbidden tomes of magic, punishable by death in all the civilized lands of Althea. Long they had hidden themselves in this wretched place, studying the magics of blood and death in solitude, but the dark sorcery by which they extended their lifespan was now failing, and in them they saw a suitable apprentice. Willing to obtain power through any means, and having a special interest in power over death, he accepted this offer and studied under the mage. It reminded him of the tutoring he received in his childhood, and much like then he grasped the subjects presented to him far faster than should be possible. Despite the prophecy speaking of the hero as a great swordsman, it turned out that he was in fact a genius in the field of magic. Several years passed, and the knowledge of several lifetimes was passed on from his mentor to him, after which he had learned all that the mage could teach him. To complete his apprenticeship they would battle to the death, and he claimed victory in the end, unraveling the magics keeping his master's ancient body together and reducing him to ash.Deep beneath his former mentor's secret retreat he allowed Celea's body to rest, and then he set his sights on his next course of action. There was great power within him now, perhaps enough to destroy the kingdom by his lonesome, but he did not wish to turn it into a ruin. After crushing Emile and putting the corrupt nobility to death, he would claim rulership over Elemar himself, and right the wrongs of those who had gone before him. But to control it he would need an army, and the necromantic servants he had learned to create would not suffice. Further from the borders of Elemar he went, beyond the reach of the civilized kingdoms, and he reached the tribes of the beastfolk — humanoids with the features of animals, in permanent hostilities with the human kingdoms and used as slaves in almost all of them. Elemar was a rare exception, but only because their religion treated them as monsters that ought to be exterminated. In the past Emile had successfully convinced him of the monstrous nature of the beastmen to ensure his loyalty to the kingdom and its prince, but when he reached the lands of the beastfolk he found nothing but animal-eared humans. Still they were primitive in technology and social structure, and rarely able to defeat human forces without the advantage of numbers, but even those were steadily dwindling. He appeared before the beastfolk as his mentor had appeared before him, defeating any who dared the show hostility, and declared his good intent as a prophet of a higher power: a god had sent him to end the slavery of the beastfolk, and to punish mankind for its evils. By honeyed word and force of arms he united the countless tribes under his banner, teaching them all they lacked compared to the human kingdoms until none could deny that they were civilized. Though he was no architect or military strategist by profession, he had long been an enthusiast of the great Roman Empire in his past life, and studied such topics in their historical context with the same vigour he otherwise reserved only for his duties.Thus he turned the hordes of the beastfolk into an army with incomparable organization and discipline, teaching those few with the gift of magic enough of his own knowledge to turn them into formidable mage-commanders. His subjects named him the Beast Messiah, saviour of all the beastfolk, and with a great host of his loyal followers he marched south the kingdoms there were hardened from constant beastfolk raids, but never had they expected their foes to attack with such unbelievable numbers and tactics wholly unknown to them. One by one they fell to the Beast Messiah's legions, his victories igniting the spirit of rebellion in the captive beastfolk and causing slave uprising across the continent. Even those who did not rise up began to truly believe in the divine power of their saviour, and wherever beastfolk slaves were found cults started to spring up. They only revealed themselves openly when a kingdom was under attack, joining the attacking forces and hindering their captors in any way possible.Thusly he managed to conquer great swathes of the continent's northern reaches, and his dominion extended ever closer to Elemar. At the first opportunity he personally led several of the legions in an invasion of the kingdom, and even the famed knights could not hold their own when they were outnumbered a hundred to one by superhuman opponents of equivalent technological advancement. As the invasion force neared the capital, he ordered raiding parties to search for his old friend Emile in case he decided to stage a cowardly escape, but when they reached the city a messenger informed him that Head Mage Emile of Elemar would face him in a duel — as long as he entered the city alone. In spite of the obviousness of this trap, he ordered his armies to halt their advance strode through the gate without a hint of caution, making his way to the royal palace as those who had not abandoned the city looked upon him in fear. There in the throne room he found Emile, and he had been very busy. He stood beside the throne of the king, and it was easy to sense the mind-binding spell upon the old fool. With Zandt's death, Emile had taken their place as puppeteer of the royal family.Of course Emile's intention had never been a one-on-one magical duel, attacking together with all of the royal mages who still lived, but they were easily slaughtered by forbidden magics he controlled. His foe had grown even stronger since he had last seen them, and yet his own power had now grown to match theirs. As the city quaked and the palace collapsed around them, his magic overpowered that of the head mage and sent him flying. But when he moved to finish off his hated enemy, he dodge to find a swinging blade where his head was just a moment ago. A knight had leapt into the throne rome with the intent of cleaving his neck, but as he turned he saw a face he had not expected: Leofran stood with sword in hand, donning the armor of the Knight-Captain of Elemar, but through his disbelief he could feel that this was not his fallen companion returned from the dead. In his eyes there was no soul to be found, and as he focused his senses he could see the magical seals placed by the head mage controlling the corpse of his sword-brother like a puppet. Enraged, he focused all of his power into destroying Emile, but their slave would defend them with its body, and proved to be a far greater foe than he could have imagined. Its body has been enhanced beyond the already great heights it had reached in life, and he was forced to annihilate it in its entirety before he could have his victory. Another unforgivable crime had been committed against him and his fallen comrades, and when his enemy was beaten and defenseless, they paid dearly.Using his power over the forces of death, he inflicted every imaginable ailment upon his defeated enemy but did not allow them to die, not until they had repented for what they had done. The head mage's body finally rotted away to nothing when their spirit was broken, and in their extreme agony he learned a vital piece of information, though Emile had uttered it like a curse: a mere month ago, Elemar's spies had reported that the seal on the Demon Lord had shattered, and that dreaded being had now truly awoken.

LORD OF DOMINATION

His comrades had been avenged. Elemar had been destroyed. The task of rebuilding it in his own image followed. Still the legions marched, for he would not stop until all of the kingdoms of mankind were under his rule, but Elemar he gave his special attention, and it would become the heart of his new empire. Using his great organizational and economic skill, he uprooted all of the existing systems and worked to craft better, more efficient, and more fair replacements. Human and beastfolk would be treated as equals — equal in service to him. The nobility was done away with, and replaced by praetors possessing utter loyalty to him alone. The Theonian Empire, as it had come to be called, became a shining beacon of order and prosperity, its success guided by his iron fist and watchful eye.Even more important than realizing his vision for Elemar and the rest of the human kingoms was preparing for the threat of the Demon Lord. His mind was bent on the matter ever since he learned that the prince's shameless lie had now become reality, and with full access to the royal library and the head mage's personal study, he left not a single tome unread in his search for information about his new enemy. He learned much of the lore of demonkind, beings of pure evil born in Inferno that would occasionally manage to cross over to Althea in dark places where the barrier between realms was weak, and the land with the greatest concentration of these border-realms had long been known as the domain of Demon Lord Axiagor. When it came to magical power, demons far exceeded any people upon Althea, being the inventors of the forbidden tome of blood which even his former mentor had little knowledge of. Among the demons capable of escaping Inferno, Axiagor was the most powerful and most ambitious, so mortals knew him as the Demon Lord.Most of what he learned only served to intensify his caution, but there was one account of the last war with the Demon Lord written 1,000 years ago that captured his interest. It spoke of Axiagor's fervent search for a spell of unmatched power, a dark ritual that would make its caster of comparable standing to the gods themselves. The Demon Lord had never managed to find it, and the manuscript said that it had been sealed away in the place of Axiagor's bane. Already his mastery over the dark magics had been great, and his control over the elemental arts would reach a similar level with the resources now available to him, but he knew that he could not defeat the most powerful of demonkind's mages to ever walk the mortal plane with that alone — he needed to find the spell known as the Well of Misery.While scouring the archives for any clues of the spell's location, he also plundered all of Emile's magical secrets for himself. He mastered the elemental tomes with frightening swiftness, becoming perhaps the most powerful human mage on the whole of Althea, but that was not enough. After months of work, he finally chanced upon something that could aid him in his search: in the Sword Empire of Kelmaris, lying upon the easternmost edge of the continent, there stood the ruin of an ancient library said to store all the world's knowledge. Presuming such a place to be of great use to him regardless of if the answer to the mystery of the spell's location could be found there, he ordered the legions stationed in the east to invade while he watched for any sign of the Demon Lord's forced in the west. They did not return alive.Indeed, even the great legions of his beastfolk soldiers could not stand against the swords of Kelmaris, and the great Sword Saint Adanela who ruled the empire was worth a thousand of her inferiors in the art of swordsmanship. He soon received reports that this so-called saint was destroying legions singlehandedly, even defeating the mage-commanders he had personally mentored with ease. This would not stand, especially not at this crossroad between total victory and annihilation at the hands of the Demon Lord. Commanding only his most elite legion, he personally marched into Kelmaris, and there he was awaited by the Sword Saint herself. He spoke to her with honest words, attempting to convince her of the righteousness of his cause and allowing her to bend the knee willingly, but it was a thankless effort. With a swing of her blade she destroyed his army, and would have taken even his own head had he not anticipated such treachery. The battle was fierce, and he could very well have perished had he decided first to march east rather than west, but with mastery over the tomes of the elements in conjunction with the tome of death he had grown too powerful to be threatened by something as primitive as mere swordsmanship, no matter how powerful.His body shimmered as a kaleidoscope, illusion and teleportation ensuring not a single attack could hope to land as he passed through the enemy formations like a whirlwind. Those who took him for a weak-bodied sorcerer had their heads crushed by a single blow of his hand before they could discover the error in their assumption. All the while rains of fire and ice, lightning, sickly winds and mists from the netherworld itself terrorized the enemy, who found themselves struck blind, immolated from the inside, their hearts frozen to icicles and all vitality leaving them as years of time seemed to pass in an instant and their bodies were reduced to skeletons while they yet lived. Even the Sword Saint found her limit under the raging torrent of magical fury, clinging to life through a body unnaturally strong and potent anti-magical artifacts, yet left defenseless long enough for her enemy to cast a great spell that banished her to the elemental plane of fire where no living thing could survive.With that, Kelmaris had fallen. His troops plundered the ancient library of all its secrets, bringing their master tomes that no mage had dared to read in millennia for fear of the dark powers contained within, but he tamed them and made the knowledge inside his own. The tome of blood, an art mostly lost ever since the former slave-sorcerers of the Demon Lord were hunted to the last man, was now reborn in him with the discovery of their only surviving writings. Even as he searched for the great spell that would bring him victory over the Demon Lord, his mind dwelled upon another magic known of only in legend: true resurrection. But each method he discovered was fouler and more lacking than the last, resulting in mere facsimiles or beings of undeath. Thinking of Celea's lifeless body resting peacefully where he had placed it, hidden and safe from the ravages of time, he knew he could not bring himself to disturb her eternal sleep or mar her slumbering visage with any sort of magic.Abandoning the final desire that kept him clinging to some shred of humanity, the whole of his soul became filled with nothing but a lust for greater power and influence over the fate of the world. In a scroll so old that it would surely crumble from being exposed to the outside air, he finally found the path to such limitless power, the location of the Well of Misery. He laughed when he had finally translated the ancient text inside, for the answer had been right beside him all this time — the knowledge of the spell had been sealed in the sword of the legendary hero. With not an iota of hesitation he defied his destiny for good, shattering the silver blade to pieces with an eruption of magical power. Even as the knowledge of the ritual flowed into his mind, he prepared to set out for the capital and carry it out, a grand ritual that would require a full month to complete. For thirty days he remained in complete isolation, allowing none to disturb him for any reason, even if the Demon Lord were to sweep across the western lands and knock on the gate of the capital itself.The nature of the spell was more perfect than he could ever have imagined. Upon its completion, the caster would spread his magical power across the world, drawing in disease, old age, suffering and all other pains of the body and mind and concentrating them inside of the body, using the tome of death to convert the immense amount of negative energy into magical power. The endless power now fuelling the merest of his spells and the agony that came with containing all of the world's suffering within his own body was almost too much for his body to bear, straining him to his limit, but he would need each strand of it to defeat his foe. The ritual finished just in time, the demon-host of Axiagor already having descended upon the borders of his domain. Countless humans and beastfolk alike were slaughtered and enslaved, used as fuel to power the blood magics of the demon mages, and with the fate of the world resting within his flaming hands he rushed to the place of the final battle, where the destiny of Althea would be decided.He exchanged no words with the Axiagor, the torturous energies coursing through every fibre of his being too overwhelming to even speak, and they took to battle as soon as his suffocating presence was noticed. The sky was pierced, the earth was rent asunder, and a million demons plunged their claws into the bodies of their slaves to unleash magics of a power unseen for a thousand years, but their target was in possession of a power that even their dark master feared. The very land itself was irreversibly scarred by the magical duel that ensued, rivers drying up and mountains turning to ash as the reborn Lord of Domination wrestled with the Demon Lord. In an act that shocked even the master of all demons upon Althea, the former hero channeled the tome of blood and weaved a spell of matchless power through pure might rather than the shedding of blood, binding Axiagor to his own soul and forcing his will upon the Demon Lord.His conquest was complete.

EARTH, CHANGED

INVADER

In the years following his victory over the Demon Lord, the Emperor learned to control and wield the immense magical might that once threatened to tear his body apart, and strengthened his mind against the pain that was endlessly drawn into his body as the price for his power. For a century he toiled to become wholly accustomed to his new state of being, and with all the world's magical knowledge under his control he mastered every tome and spell there was, even creating entirely new ones by shaping them in ways previously thought impossible. All of the information recorded in the ancient library of Kelmaris became known to him, and anything not written there he extracted from his new demonic servants. The Demon Lord and his army became the mightiest of his legions, and before the end of the century all of Althea had come under his control. He was uncontested, a god upon the world of man, and every spell ever created had become his own. All of civilization had been reshaped in his ideal, the very embodiment of perfect order with no corruption to disturb it. All his subjects now accepted the righteousness of his cause and would fight zealously to protect it. It was perfect, but he was not satisfied. Not while his own world still suffered.If his studies had any goal besides ultimate power, it was the invention of a spell that could breach the barrier between worlds, as the one that transported him to Althea had done; that ritual was considered one of a kind, said to be bestowed onto mankind by the gods, but he was sure he could wield that power and twist it to send a person from this world to another. With his lifespan vastly extended through magical means, there was no hurry, but he did not delay purposelessly. Upon the very first sign of the spell's success, he informed his closest aides of his plans, and ordered them to look after his world-spanning domain in his absence.In truth, he could no longer bear the thought of humanity being crushed under the weight of its own inequity, not for a second longer. He had long prepared the most efficient way to place the Earth under his control, a plan to be put into action immediately upon his return. But when he had passed through that timeless and shapeless place between worlds, and the light of the sun seemed so endlessly bright after traversing the infinite void, the first thing he saw stunned him.He saw a tower. A tower of utterly titanic size, unlike any construct he had ever seen before. Even the great library of Kelmaris, the stonework of which was supported by ancient magic, did not reach such heights. It cut the horizon in two like a challenge against nature itself, so confident in its strength that it would not bow even to the laws of gravity. Already he considered idea that the humans of his world were willing and able to build such a bizarre structure to be suspect, and he grew more astonished when he sensed the flow of magical energy emanating from it. Just as he intended to fly closer, something flashed before his eyes. It reminded him of a TV screen, yet it was translucent and hung in the air as if suspended there. Words appeared as if addressing him:[ YOU HAVE BEEN DESIGNATED AN INTRUDER IN THE SCENARIO BY THE SYSTEM. ][ ACTIVATING INTERDIMENSIONAL INVADER PROTOCOLS, LOWERING ALL STATS AND LOCKING INCOMPATIBLE ABILITIES. ]Upon reading the messages, he instinctively realized that all of his spells above the third grade had been sealed away. What was this?! To have his power taken from him displeased the Emperor greatly. But he was far more curious to know what exactly this "system" was, and what business it had in his homeworld, which had previously been nothing but ordinary. An unknown variable of such magnitude appearing just as he was about to enact his plans was unthinkable.[ PROTOCOL COMPLETE. CALCULATING COMPENSATION... ][ ACQUIRED THE [RUNE EXTRACTION] SKILL — YOU HAVE A FORCEFUL PERSONALITY AND A PENCHANT FOR TAKING WHAT DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU. ]Compensation. It seemed to have a sense of humor, at the very least. He thought this "skill" would be of little use to him if he didn't even know what it was supposed to mean, and like clockwork another screen appeared. It was like an artificial approximation of his physical and magical qualities separated into attributes and a list of his spells sorted into skills. He could even see the spells that had been locked away, and he was pleased to see that the capacity of his magical energy was denoted by an infinity sign — his maximum output would doubtlessly be lowered, however. With a thought, the screen navigated to the skill he had been given.[ [RUNE EXTRACTION] (S-RANK): WHEN YOU DEFEAT AN ENEMY, THEIR HIGHEST-LEVEL SKILL IS CRYSTALLIZED IN THE FORM OF A RUNE. WHOEVER CRUSHES THE RUNE GAINS THE SKILL. ]He pondered. The description implied that others had their own skills. Perhaps they were given as compensation, or perhaps those not designated invaders were granted skills without having anything taken from them. His attention returned to the tower dominating his vision. No doubt the tower and the system were connected in some way. Floating high in the clouds, he could see that a sprawling settlement had been constructed around it, one unmistakably built by humans. He observed from afar, and became ever more puzzled. While there a great deal of ordinary-looking people, many were dressed more akin to the inhabitants of Althea, though the resemblance was not exact. He could see knights, and healers, and mages practicing their craft. No longer satisfied with observation and knowing he would not stand out, he descended.Going unnoticed and used the magics still in his possession to get the information he needed from one of the locals, he discovered that it was indeed his own Earth, his country of birth at that, and it had been a mere eleven years since his departure; time apparently flowed at a different pace in Althea. Mankind ate away at themselves in its usual fashion until a fateful day ten years ago, when the towers appeared and otherwordly monsters streamed forth. Some like the tower this settlement had been built around appeared in the wild, but many more appeared in the middle of major cities, and the casualties were unfathomable. National militaries stopped the monsters for a time, but ever more powerful hordes escaped from the towers until nothing short of nuclear weapons could harm them, and evacuating the area was simply too time-consuming. It was at this time that the "Awakened" appeared: certain individuals with supernatural powers granted by the System. They defeated the escaped hordes and entered the towers, finding that each floor challenged them with ever greater dangers. They came to be called hunters, and to better coordinate their efforts they formed guilds.Having already travelled between realms once, he did not consider the idea itself to be strange, but the sheer coincidence of all of this occurring in his absence made him suspicious. Seeing it as the best course of action, he stayed at the settlement for a while and acquired as much knowledge as he could before deciding what to do with these towers and the hunters that entered them. No longer at a disadvantage, he disguised himself and adopted the name Arsaces, posing as an Awakened that had come to the settlement to challenge its tower, much like all of the other inhabitants who weren't store owners or family members of hunters.It wasn't a complete lie. He had access to the system as well, after all. The most important part of maintaining the facade was restraint. All Awakened had magical energy. Those whose skills were focused on fighting with weapons only infused their bodies with it to enhance their physical abilities, but the use of magic was a universal trait nonetheless. However, these so-called hunters rarely had more than two or three skills to their name. Compared to a master mage like himself, they were pitifully inflexible. All he had to do was choose a handful of spells that would be the most effective in his current situation and conceal the existence of his vast array of other skills.Of course not all hunters were equal. They were divided into ranks from F to S, with special exceptions made for EX-rank hunters who stood head and shoulders above even the S-rankers. Judging by the rumors he'd heard, the strength of hunters from the S rank and above could very well exceed even the Sword Saint's power. They were primarily the heads of the guilds, which he learned were something between a corporation and a mercenary company, ruthless and competitive as only human institutions could be as they vied for supremacy over national and international markets. For now only the largest guilds from the US and China had managed to operate internationally with any success, though. Italy had some powerful hunters, but they were ultimately not exceptional in this regard. The Italian branch of the Hunter Association, the best attempt of the traditional international authorities to gain some measure of control over the Awakened and their guilds, was also famously lax in its policies. Things change, and yet they stay the same.Unfortunately he could obtain little information on the towers, since they were as much of a mystery to the hunters as they were to him. No attempt at studying them had produced anything useful since any regular technology failed when exposed to their dense mana, so the outside world could rely on second-hand accounts from hunters. All he knew was that they were separated into floors, each floor having an objective of some kind, and when one floor was cleared those who entered could ascend to the next floor; those who cleared the floor gained rewards of increasing value, and reaching the top meant receiving the ultimate gift of becoming a "Saint", a chosen warrior of godlike beings known as Constellations. If a floor had gone unconquered for too long, it would become inaccessable and the previous floor would need to be cleared again. If the first floor hadn't been cleared, monsters would be able to exit in continually stronger hordes. There were hundreds of towers spread around the world of varying height and difficulty, also ranked from F to S, and the one which the settlement had been built around was a fairly ordinary C-rank. It was neither so easy that it could be easily conquered by a group of average hunters, nor so challenging that it attracted the attention of famous hunters. Apparently the Saints who had already conquered a tower had little to gain from lower-ranked towers, and were content to let lesser Awakened squabble over scraps while they set their sights on the greatest prize of all: the only known EX-rank tower in the world, of which the 50th floor had only recently been cleared by the most powerful Saint in the world, Head Saint Nicholas Reeve of the American-based Leo Conclave. It was said that the reward he gained had made the gap between himself and the other hunters even greater.The System was consider by some to be even more enigmatic than the towers themselves. The two were unmistakably intertwined, since it was the System that regulated the floors in the towers, setting the requirements and handing out rewards. It was widely believed that they were both somehow made by the Constellations to seek out powerful candidates as their Saints, but to what end they did not know. The Saints themselves were notoriously silent on the matter, and none dared to bring it up in front of them. It did not bother him, since he would find out for himself upon reaching Sainthood. To him, that was an inevitable fact. From what he had heard, there was nothing in this tower that could threaten him. The local guilds, three of them in total, did not seem all that impressive, and they had already climbed to the 83rd floor. More hunters were bound to show up once the 90th level had been cleared, but for now he had found himself in a rather backwater part of the world as far as these things were concerned.He showed off the spells he had decided to conquer the tower with and showed them to the rank assessors in the local Association office, who determined him to be an A-rank. He hadn't expected anything less, since mage-type Awakened tended to be heavily focused around only a single theme, while he refused to limit himself thusly even when concealing his true strength. Almost immediately he was approached by representatives of the guilds, since only a single one of them had an A-rank leader, but he refused their offers. He would not share the fruits of his labour with anyone who did not bend the knee to him.

SAINT

It was strange to be in his own world again. He had grown to accustomed to Althea that the place where he was born seemed foreign to him, and yet the atmosphere within the tower was of the same otherworldly quality that now felt like home. Being an A-rank hunter, he had the authority to enter anything below the 50th floor of a B-rank tower on his own; apparently that was the point where it became too dangerous for solo A-rankers, but he was sure there were all sorts of politics involved in that ruling. As soon as he entered the first floor he was given the option to travel to any floor between the first and 83rd, and though everything up to the latest accessible floor had their requirements completed, each floor still generated a small number of monsters. Lower floors were used by hunters to train their skills, and because cleared towers no longer reset or provided new rewards the floors were often claimed by guilds or the local Hunter Association branch and rented out. At least in the eyes of the world at large, claiming the lower floors of an unconquered tower was seen as illegitimate, so he was free to spend as much time there as he wished.He quickly ascended from floor to floor, finding nothing there to be even half as threatening as the beasts of the Althean wilds. He could at least be sure that there was no connection between the towers and Althea, since the landscapes and monsters he found within were very different, even when they apparently had the same names. For every monster he slayed he used his [Rune Extraction] skill, but weaker monsters had no skills at all and the ones he did obtain were nothing he couldn't replicate with his spells. [Night Vision], [Fireball], [Poison Touch], they were all deeply unimpressive, though he hadn't hoped for anything more. After acquiring a large amount of useless skills, he instead decided to keep the runestones of weak monsters on his person instead. He ventured up to the 83rd floor, a sea of mountainous peaks swarming with flying drakes that harrassed anything attempting to pass the narrow passageways leading from peak to peak. Just when he thought he would pass into an eternal sleep from boredom the boredom of destroying flying pests for the better part of five hours, he finally reached the so-called boss of the floor, some draconic lord or another. He blasted it to ashes, and with great disappointment found that neither the runestone nor the reward for clearing the floor were particularly noteworthy.The same other floors did not prove too challenging either, though not all of them involved defeating a boss monster like the 83rd floor. Some required a particular set of actions like finding a hidden monster, defending a castle, or even merely surviving an incredibly hostile environment. He commended these juvenile games for making him use more than just the spells he had revealed to the assessors, but with no spectors there was ultimately no point in needlessly delaying himself by using only a handful of spells. By the time he reached the 100th floor, he had obtained only two skills that stood out to him: [Disguise] from a shapeshifting monster on the 96th floor, allowing the user to take on any humanoid appearance they wished down to their magical presence, and [Evil Presence] from a demonic knight on the 98th floor, which caused the monsters that encountered him from then on to flee in fear rather than suicidally charging him as they had previously done.In under a day, he had cleared the final floor of the tower. The challenge he had defeated there was another simple one, requiring the complete destruction of a lich and its army of the dead. Using his mastery over the Tome of Death, he bound the lich to his will and forced it to destroy itself. The rune it gave was, ironically, filled with a skill that controlled the undead. The war-torn battlefield around him was wiped away and replaced by a field of flowers, the heavens opening to reveal a bright golden light that shone down upon the land with a reinvigorating warmth. He was sure that if it were anyone else, they would no doubt rejoice at the sight, bloodied and broken from overcoming overcoming such a perilous obstacle, but he had yet to receive a single scratch. This tower was below him, but he would conquer all things, no matter how insignificant. Though he had returned to Earth as an invader, as the System had so aptly pointed out, that was all the more reason for why he wouldn't allow these monsters and whoever was responsible for their presence to do as they pleased with his world.[ QUEST COMPLETED WITH HIDDEN OBJECTIVES: DESTROY THE DEATHLORD'S ARMY ][ ACQUIRED THE [COMMAND AUTHORITY] SKILL — YOU HAVE STOLEN THE SUPREME AUTHORITY FROM A BOSS MONSTER. ]He hadn't seen anything like this before. Apparently floors could have hidden objectives, but his straightforward approach to clearing them so far hadn't led him to satisfying any objectives other than what the descriptions told him. Reading the effect of the [Command Authority] skill made him glad he hadn't yet condemned clear rewards as entirely worthless to him. With this skill, he could usurp authority from any monster of a lower rank than him, their former subordinates immediately recognizing him as their new overlord. It served a similar function to some of the spells he already possessed, but there were some beings these spells could not affect, and it was altogether more useful to rely on a skill awarded by the tower than abilities he wished to keep secret.[ YOU HAVE CLEARED THE 100TH FLOOR OF THE TOWER. YOU HAVE CONQUERED THE C-RANK RED BASALT TOWER. THE GAZE OF THE CONSTELLATIONS IS UPON YOU. ][ THE GEMINI CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR SAINT. YOU HAVE BECOME A MEMBER OF THE GEMINI CONCLAVE. ][ ACQUIRED THE [LIE DETECTION] SKILL — YOU WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY FALSEHOOD IN YOUR PRESENCE. ]Just as he had heard, the process of becoming a Saint was an entirely one-sided process. No choice was given to the new Saint, and to be chosen meant immediate membership in the Constellation's conclave. Conclaves, as far as he knew, operated much like guilds, but their goals were ultimately decided by the mysterious whims of the Constellation they served. He knew little of the Gemini Conclave, beyond that they were somewhere in the middle in terms of size and influence. Compared to the highly combat-focused Leo and Taurus conclaves, they leaned more towards negotation and subterfuge. It appeared that Constellations made very apt choices when it came to their Saints, analyzing their personality much like the System had done.The moment he conquered the tower, the entire settlement was alerted was alerted that the final floor had been cleared and a new Saint had been selected. Shocked by this sudden announcement, all who lived there flocked to the tower's entrance to see the one who had cleared the final floor. He exited with no regard for their attention, his mind too focused on formulating his next steps now that he had become a member of the Gemini Conclave. He once again become involved with the most treacherous circles of human society, his natural habitat in a sense. The old order of ordinary politicians and businessmen was still clinging to power, but in truth it were the guilds and conclaves who now dominated, and the ones who had to direct such influential organizations would naturally be of the most cunning sort. Though he had no desire to entertain the gathered crowd, nor accept any offer to join a guild, he still chose to speak with them. If power was his only goal then he could afford to ignore the other Awakened, but not if his goal was to bring order to all the world.He still had a month of time to report to the conclave, and he intended to use it efficiently. He travelled to Naples, the most important city in the country when it came to matters related to hunters, and immediately became acquainted with all of the important individuals he could find. He presented himself as friendly as approachable, but also a man wise beyond his years who would not be tricked easily. S-rankers, guild leaders, it did not matter who, all he needed was to find enough people who were sensitive to his manipulations. Naples was also where the headquarters of the Hunter Association's Italian branch was located, and they were his most frequent target. There was nothing preventing Saints from being a part of the Association, and the great speed with which he had cleared seventeen floors on his own was by itself enough to gain membership.He made sure to report to the Gemini Conclave within the thirty-day period. While there was no official punishment in place, most Saints who had not reported to their conclave by then were found mysteriously dead not long after. He visited the conclave's base of operations in Greece and met with the number one Saint, Maria Aetos. Within the conclave she was the only EX-ranked Awakened, leading a group of 55 S- or powerful A-ranked hunters. The Gemini Conclave was average in this regard; only 5 the Leo Conclave had more than one EX-ranked hunter, and the only conclaves with far more members were the Aquarius and Virgo, whose members were known to be individually weaker than most other Saints. As he he had expected, the Gemini Saints were of a particularly clever sort, taking naturally to scheming and finding ways to gain control over others. Every interaction was a test or a part of another's plot, and any who did not comprehend the language of deceit would be reduced to a mere pawn within a day. But he was a native speaker, and his experience in these matters was incomparable. They were a cut above the schemers when he was still an ordinary man, certainly, but
none of them were even a century old, and their machinations were like open books to peruse at his leisure.For the better part of six months he played the part of a low-ranking Gemini Saint, while gathering influence in the conclave and allying himself with the supporters of the current Head Saintess. When he was not busy there he played the politics of the Hunter Association, its bloated bureaucracy not standing a chance compared to the intrigue he took part in when among the Saints, and he had the head of the Italian branch in his pocket before long. All the while he challenged more of the towers, searching for skills that would allow him to expand his already considerable abilities, but the restrictions placed upon Saints meant that he could rarely go around conquering entire towers by himself. It was around the time when the head of the Hunter Association's Italian branch named him as their successor that the Gemini Conclave came into conflict with the followers of another Constellation. Kim Sungwoo, leader of the Aries Conclave which had recently moved their base of operations to Korea, was on particularly bad terms with the Gemini Head Saintess, and the unexplained death of several Aries Saints in Greece was now being blamed on them. He had called for all-out war, and though the conclaves kept one another in check, that didn't stop Aries Saints from disrupting Gemini operations in Asia.He was selected for several missions against the Aries Conclave, allegedly because Maria had come to trust him and his skills, though it was clearly another test of his abilities — in the handful of private conversations they had up until that point, it had become obvious that she thought he had something to hide, and the same went for him. Despite being an EX-ranked Saintess, her abilities were entirely unknown to the public. Among Gemini Saints, she was rumored to in fact have the greatest amount of skills out of any Awakened on Earth, and any alleged sightings of entirely different abilities were in fact all true. Entertaining the idea that she may possess a similar skill to his own, he kept up the facade of a close aide for as long as it proved profitable, and the conflict with the Aries Conclave was certainly profitable. It was the first time he had to fight other Awakened, and also when he realized that it was in fact hunters who had the best skills for him to take. Further empowered, he easily assassinated the three strongest Aries lieutenants, crippling their overseas plans for the foreseeable future. For his crushing victory, the Head Saintess awarded him with only suspicion. She knew very well that he desired her position, and it was not long before she made an attempt to personally put an end to the threat he posed.[ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE GEMINI CONCLAVE. ][ ACQUIRED THE [REROLL] SKILL — YOU DEPEND ON THE LUCK OF THE DRAW. ]The fight proved more challenging than expected, requiring him to use more power than he had ever displayed on Earth, but as he crushed the runestone in his hand he discovered the secret of her expansive assortment of powers. She had only four skills, more than the average person, but not the overwhelming amount claimed by her subordinates. The secret was that she was a gambling fanatic, and was given a skill to reflect that:
[Reroll] was as a skill that allowed the user to reroll a particular skill once a week. This basic function was guaranteed to result in a skill of the same rank, but the chance of a higher-ranked skill could be purchased by sacrificing a set amount of other skills each time. To Maria, who only had one other S-ranked skill, it was still a great boon, but to him and his extensive library of superfluous skills, it was the key to ultimate victory.

EMPEROR

The path forward was clear. With his new power as both the Head Saint of the Gemini Conclave and the national head of the Hunter Association after his superior's convenient retirement, it was finally time to shatter the status quo that had formed around the conclaves and the most powerful guilds. Many of his schemes on the local level had come to full fruition, gaining the full support of all of Italy's most important guilds through a combination of bribery, intimidation, and spondering those wise Awakened who saw the truths inherent in his goals and philosophy through blatant favouritism. The first thing to do was tying up the loose ends from the conflict with the Aries conclave; the Aries Saints were not particularly outstanding in any one area, and rather mediocre on the whole, but their relevancy had skyrocketed since Kim Sungwoo had become their Head Saint. The young hunter had only Awakened as an F-rank five months ago, and yet he had somehow risen to become an EX-ranked Saint within that short span of time. It was intriguing curiosity, and he was sure that it wouldn't take long for them to track him down. The Aries Conclave was all too clear that they would take revenge after they were done licking their wounds.It was only a week after he had acquired the title of Head Saint that Kim Sungwoo appeared before the Gemini headquarters and demanded a duel. He brushed them off, not desiring to fight with so many eyes on them, but the Aries Saint forced his hand when he threatened to flatten the entire headquarters if he refused to fight. So he confronted them, hoping to use only those abilities that the world at large already had knowledge of, but something unexpected happened: fighting without the slightest sense of tact, his opponent failed to dodge a stream of fire not half a minute into the fight and burnt to death. It was a baffling outcome. Though he hadn't doubted his victory, he sensed there was far more power within the one he had just killed, yet they squandered it and wasted their life so foolishly. The answer came when he used their rune.[ ACQUIRED THE [DO-OVER] SKILL — YOU CANNOT LET GO OF THE PAST. ]Kim Sungwoo's only skill was to travel 24 hours into the past upon death. He could not help but laugh when he realized what had happened. Acting carelessly due to their perceived immortality, they let themselves be killed under the assumption they would simply try again, but his [Rune Extraction] skill had cancelled the ability's affect and left him dead for good. He thought he could not be more amused, but in that moment another message appeared.[ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE ARIES CONCLAVE. ]He came to another realization. Despite the occasional conflict, a Saint had never killed another conclave's leader. The title was passed on either willingly or through the death of the current Head Saint, but surely no one had thought that the chosen Saint of an entirely different Constellation could inherit the title through these means. He attempted to keep it a secret for as long as he could, but it did not take long for the Aries themselves to notice, and word spread from there. That the leaders of conclaves could merge with their rivals by force with the backing of the system was considered a monumental discovery, and the relations between conclaves that tended to go from cold neutrality to alliances of convenience quickly turned into open warfare — the status quo was dead, and he had killed it.Immediately the Gemini Conclave was forced to defend itself against predation from all of the conclaves traditionally considered to be more powerful than it, at least when they weren't fighting amongst themselves. The first conclave to absorb another since the discovery was Pisces, claiming Aquarius as their own until they were themselves folded into the Capricorn Conclave. The Head Saints of the Taurus and Scorpio conclaves killed one another in a draw, and in some twist of fate the second in commands ended up inheriting the title of their enemy's conclave. Leo stood incontested, and most thought their victory was inevitable. Throughout it all, he wondered: Was it not strange that the Constellations were nowhere to be seen in this? He first assumed that the Head Saints were under the direct control of the Constellations, and yet it seemed none of them including himself ever received any sort of message from them. It was the only thing that occupied his mind when he was not dealing with the current state of war. Rather than engaging directly and attempting to absorb as many conclaves as possible before others could get to them, he opted for an entirely different route. The Hunter Association was in a panic, unable to contain the violence in the slightest, and they sorely needed any help they could get. It would have been remiss of him not to aid them. He pledged support to Association in this matter, above even his duties as a Head Saint, and for it he was given the title of Vice President, the second-highest position in the entire organization on an international scale.He appealed to both the guilds and the ordinary population worldwide, accusing the Saints of completely abandoning their duties as mankind's most important protectors to engage in senseless infighting, the very thing that had led to the death of the Aries Conclave's Head Saint. Their influence in the world of hunters was too great, and they needed to answer to the Hunter Association to prevent any more incidents of this nature. He professed that he had never intended to claim leadership over the Aries Saints, but that he would nonetheless lead them as justly as he could in accordance with the law instead of the mysterious whims of otherworldly beings. This sentiment spoke to those who had long lives in the shadows of the Saints, and when a vote was put through to decide if the Hunter Association should be allowed to greatly extend their power of the conclaves, the result was almost unanimous. He gathered a great army of hunters from the Association and sympathetic guilds, as well as the Gemini and Aries conclaves using his authority as the Head Saint of both, and made war upon the belligerent Saints.Even moreso than his aptitude for personal combat, his ability to direct large numbers of subordinates was of simply incomparable skill. Even when the odds were not in their favour, he still managed to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The first of such victories came against the Cancer Saints which had been holding their own, then the greatly empowered Capricorns, and the Virgo Conclave submitted willingly to his authority. By this time there was only a single enemy left, as Nicholas Reeve and his Leo Conclave had successfully absorbed the remaining four conclaves. The Head Saint of Leo was a simple man; rather than relying on powerful skills and other such advantages, he had grown powerful through endless training and crushed any who stood against him with raw strength. Any rumors of him gaining an even more insurmountable advantage from clearing the EX-Rank Tower's 50th floor were false, as he rejected the reward on principle. He was outnumbered, but the Lion no doubt counted for several hundred Saints all by himself. No matter the strategic and tactical advantages he had managed to afford his side, it would all come down to a one-on-one confrontation in the end. He held nothing back. The full scale of his powers were brought to bear against the leader of the Leo Conclave, or at least those which had not been sealed way. The rumors of this man's strength had not been exaggerated, and indeed they were superior to him in that regard, but he had many more advantages to draw on. Mighty indeed, but so very inflexible. It imparted a tinge of nostalgia upon him as he ever eluded his foe's crushing grasp and used every spell and skill at his disposal to wear them down until he could strike the fatal blow.[ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE LEO CONCLAVE. ][ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE SCORPIO CONCLAVE. ][ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE TAURUS CONCLAVE. ][ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE LIBRA CONCLAVE. ][ YOU HAVE BECOME THE HEAD SAINT OF THE SAGITTARIUS CONCLAVE. ][ ACQUIRED THE [PUNCH] SKILL — YOU RELY ON THE BASICS. ]They had won. Once again, he had become the most powerful man in the world. Because of his great success as the head of the Conclave Accountability Task Force, he soon became immensely popular with all of those who had harbored a secret dislike for the Saints, and facing pressure from the public the president of the Hunter Association could do nothing but step down and grant his position to their genius ex-subordinate instead. With most human institutions now firmly under his control, it was time to put an end to the towers and the danger they posed to the Earth. Advocating for and consequently receiving continually greater authority over both the countries the Hunter Association operated in and the affairs of the guilds within them, he massively increased the efficiency of tower clearings and successfully brought about the conquest of all remaining towers up to the S-rank, which he himself participated in. In the span of a year, only the EX-rank Obsidian Doom tower, whom even Nicholas Reeve had only cleared up to the 50th floor of, remained. He held nothing back, and nor did those who now followed him with zealous loyalty, and with Awakened of all professions and ranks they plunged into the darkness of the tower in search of victory and answers.That victory did not come quickly or easily. Even the first floor of the world's most dangerous tower was comparable to the final floor of an S-rank tower, but there was no longer any reason to conceal his powers, and so he used them openly to destroy any challenge they met on the remaining 50 floors of the tower. Any lesser threats were dealt with by the other Saints and S-rank hunters, guided as one by his command and allowing them to progress more swiftly than any other force that had attempted to conquer the floors had ever managed. The cost was heavy, yet they remained undaunted and their ascent did not slow for even a moment even as hours turned to days turned to weeks. Upon the completion of the 99th floor, a special message appeared.[ ONLY ONE SAINT MAY ENTER THE FINAL FLOOR OF THE OBSIDIAN DOOM TOWER. ]All of them knew there was only one choice. Their leader, saviour of the Earth from the evils of mankind and the monsters of the tower alike, would have to face the 100th floor alone. With not a shred of hesitation he allowed himself to be transported to the final battle, and all was revealed to him. He was plunged into an ocean of golden light, the very same that streamed down at the successful completion of every tower's 100th floor, and the gaze of the Constellations was upon him more strongly than ever before. He could feel their presence, each of them crushing beyond measure and brighter than the sun, but he neither bowed nor averted his eyes when they appeared before him.[ THE GAZE OF THE CONSTELLATIONS IS UPON YOU. ][ DETECTING AFFILIATED CONSTELLATION. MULTIPLE AFFILIATIONS DETECTED. THE ARIES CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE TAURUS CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE GEMINI CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE CANCER CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE LEO CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE VIRGO CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE LIBRA CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE SCORPIO CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE SAGITTARIUS CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE CAPRICORN CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE AQUARIUS CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. THE PISCES CONSTELLATION HAS SELECTED YOU AS THEIR VESSEL. ][ THE SYSTEM WILL BE TEMPORARILY DISABLED TO PREVENT RESISTANCE AND ENSURE SUCCESSFUL INCARNATION OF THE RELEVANT CONSTELLATIONS. REMOVING VESSEL_CANDIDATE#678901 FROM THE SYSTEM... ]He finally realized the purpose of the Scenario and its System. Whereas the gazes of the Constellations upon clearing a tower and becoming a Saint were often considered to be benevolent, he now felt them eyeing him hungrily like a pack of starving wolves. The Constellations did not direct their Saints because they had no ability to. Their existence was tied to the towers themselves, with Awakenings and the selection of Saints being nothing more than a battle to determine which of the Constellations would be reborn into the world. The full scope of their deceit flowed into his mind as they attempted to invade his body to make it his own, their luminous forms struggling against one another in an attempt to become the sole claimant of the vessel and the one to destroy the world — that was their goal. Beings of unimaginable power were they, but they lacked the substance to exert their power over the material world, and so they had created the System to find a suitable vessel for them. Then they would shatter the Earth and remake it in whatever form pleased them most, reigning as the ultimate god over all existence.He could not allow this to happen. The world and all who lived in it, as their rightful ruler they were under his protection. To fail now was to admit that he was too weak to defend that which was his duty to protect. In a contest of pure power he could not compare, but they were focusing the greater part of their energy towards fending off one another, and there was something they had forgotten, or perhaps were not even aware of: he did not need to depend on the System for his power. With it disabled, the seals on the might he had gained on Althea were now released, and he was free to use it as he pleased. Channeling the full might of his magic and unbound by any arbitrary restrictions, he cast the most powerful spell at his disposal, Wish, and projected his will upon the Principle of Beginning to affect the very processes of creation. His desire to see the Constellations destroyed forever was manifested into reality, and the backlash of this act was so gargantuan that the entirety of the ocean of light was swallowed by pure chaos. The infinite darkness of the space between worlds was once again before his eyes.

THE TOMES OF MAGIC

In Althea, magic is a natural force harnessed by those with the required talent and a great deal of experience studying its secrets. Though magical energy could theoretically be shaped into any form, the nature of the elements and spellcasting itself makes the division of magic into tomes and spells more effective than using it in its pure form.After casting the ritual of the Well of Misery and gaining access to endless magical energy by converting all suffering in the world into power, Arsaces became the ultimate and uncontested mage in all of Althea. The power energizes him at all times, no longer requiring food nor sleep, and the magic coursing through him is so overwhelming in its potency that it causes weaker spells striking him to harmlessly glance off his form. Ordinarily, mages obtain the magical energy needed to cast anything but the most minor spells by absorbing the power of naturally-occurring gems associated with their chosen tome, or by channeling the blood of slain sacrifices in the case of the tome of blood. The endlessly-replenishing energies concentrated in his body render the use of external power sources and foci meaningless. The only limit to his spells is the speed at which he can call them forth, and while the energy he can invest in them is still limited it continues to grow with each spell he casts, like a muscle growing stronger with use. The most powerful magics would also require drawn-out rituals, but his power allows him to cast them at will by increasing the energy cost to compensate for any missing components.

THE TOMES OF MAGIC

Magic is divided into eight tomes, which are grouped as such:The Four Elemental Tomes
— Urax, Tome of Fire
— Velthis, Tome of Water
— Beltham, Tome of Air
— Arzok, Tome of Earth
— Ilnir, Tome of NatureAs the name implies, the elemental tomes focus on manipulating the eponymous elements which make up the world. Many elemental spells have equivalents in other elemental tomes, and general uses are summoning, controlling, and expelling the element. Elemental mages can attack from afar with their element in a variety of shapes, form magical shields from it, create elemental shackles around an enemy to bind them, enchant themselves to resist their chosen element and its opposite, or summon elemental beings. The most powerful mages can kill enemies in an instant by summon the element inside their bodies, banish them to an elemental plane, all of which are completely hostile to non-elemental life, or summon the gods of these planes to fight on their behalf. As an example, a master of Urax could summon a torrent of fire to turn an enemy to ash from the inside out, while a master of Velthis could fill an enemy's heart with water and flash-freeze it to turn their body to ice.The Three Sacred Tomes
— Zemkar, Tome of Stars
— Orthos, Tome of Dreams
— Eledea, Tome of ZealWhile not all cultures on Althea consider the tomes of Zemkar, Orthos, and Eledea sacred, they are traditionally practiced by wise sages and holy men or women. The Tome of Fate primarily influences the works the stars, in which it is said the fates of all things are recorded, and a basic function of Zemkar is to twist the fate of the caster or other targets, increasing their own luck while diminishing that of their enemies. Because of the function of the stars in regulating time and space, a mage's control over this tome allows them to manipulate both to some extent, slowing down their perception of time or appearing in another place instantly. It is also similar to the elemental tomes in its connection to the astral plane, and through this connection a mage can interact with the minds and souls of others, enslaving them to their will or tearing their souls from their bodies. Lastly, it is the tome closest to the essence of pure magic, and some of its mages are capable of creating anti-magic fields or unraveling the magical energy that summoned beings consist of to banish them.Orthos allows the user to tap into the power of the realm known as the Dreamwild, a place of memories, dreams and legends said to be the place where elves originated. Through it they control dreams and illusions, allowing them to craft phantasmal images and alter the senses of others. Powerful enough mages can bring beings and even large swathes of the Dreamwild itself into reality, causing the world to become less static and more malleable.Eledea instead channels the power of pure belief, and for this reason it is almost exclusively used by priests, clerics, and other zealots. While it is commonly believed that the caster is channeling the power of the god through their body, it is in fact the manifestation of their belief that powers their spells. These spells are mostly focused around imparting blessings on the faithful in the form of heightened physical strength and willpower, smiting unbelievers with bolts of lightning, blindness, and petrification, and banishing unholy beings like demons and the undead. While mages are usually incapable of using the Tome of Zeal without a strong faith in one or more deities, the Lord of Domination substitutes this with an unwavering belief in his own supremacy and godlike power.The Two Forbidden Tomes
— Krodir, Tome of Death
— Ralgos, Tome of BloodThe tomes of death and blood are practiced only by inhuman beings and pariahs living outside the bounds of civilization. In the history of Althea, the greatest threats to mankind's survival have often come in the form of practitioners of the forbidden tomes going mad with power and gaining enough of it to march on the human kingdoms. Krodir manipulates the energies of death, darkness, suffering, and the general negativity that is exuded by all of these things. Death mages are often necromancers, raising corpses in various forms and summoning spirits of the dead from the underworld as servants, but many are also capable of inflicting supernatural fear or disease upon enemies, draining them of their lifeforce, making their living bodies age or decay in the span of moments, and most infamously causing instant death with a single finger. Their powers over darkness extend to creating servitors from pure shadow and plunging entire kingdoms into impenetrable darkness. They are also capable of using negative energy to attack the souls of targets, though their methods are more brutish than the subtle if incredibly deadly workings of astral mages. Those skilled in the art of necromancy can forcefully take control of undead beings they themselves did not raise or undo the magic that gave them their unlife, causing them to crumble to dust.The Tome of Blood was created by demons, and while Ralgos has no direct connection to negative energies, its spells can only be cast when channeling the power living in the spilt blood of the innocent. For this reason, demon warhosts are often accompanied by vast amounts of blood slaves to be sacrificed at their convenience. Its effects vary greatly, but many spells empower and heal the caster in the form of strengthening their magic or restoring their energy in exchange for the life of another living being. Offensive functions include inflicting unbearable pain on enemies, causing them to bleed profusely from all orifices, transferring the caster's own pain and wounds to them, binding their soul to the mage's service, or simply causing their body to shut down completely by tying the life of one of their sacrifices to that of their enemy's. The tome's strong connection to demonkind is both one of the greatest strengths and weaknesses of demons, since it is capable of forcefully binding the wills of demons to the caster's own and enslaving them. Mighty demons make use of this to ensure full control over their underlings, but many of them have themselves been bound to powerful human mages in the past.

SPELLS

Over the course of a century, the Emperor has used his natural genius and vast reserves of magical power to master all spells ever invented by man, beastfolk, elf, or demon. Hundreds of spells practiced by mages of every specialization have been learned by him, as well as some once thought forever lost to time.The number preceding the name of the spell is its grade, a general assessment by mages of the spell's complexity. It is not strictly equivalent to its power, as a mage could for example channel an immense amount of energy into a first-grade spell to overpower a third-grade one. It is exceedingly rare for human mages who have not unnaturally expanded their lifespan to master spells above the third grade, and even long-lived magical beings such as elves are rarely capable of comprehending more than one sixth-grade spell. Spells above the sixth grade were reconstructed by him from records of divine acts, or otherwise personally invented through sheer magical aptitude.Urax, Tome of FireI — Distill Gold: The alchemist distills gold from minerals. The process is time consumingI — Will o' the Wisp: A handul of Will o' the Wisps are summoned to help their summoner in battle. They appear at the edges of their enemies' vision. A Will o' the Wisp is a glowing sphere, looking like a light from a bright lantern. In combat, it glows with great intensity, burning anyone nearby. It is very difficult to hit a Will o' the Wisp in combat due to its great speed and small size.I — Burn: The targeted enemy is set ablaze. The spell ignores enemy armor, but it is not always strong enough to kill the victim. Also, rain or snow will put the flames out very quickly.I — Resist Cold: This spell makes targets resistant to cold. It also negates the chilling effect caused by some undead beings.I — Combustion: A group of targets are instantly set ablaze. The spell ignores enemy armor, and can be cast from any distance, but it is not always strong enough to kill the victim. Also, rain or snow will put the flames out very quickly.I — Fire Flies: Six burning sparks shoot forth from the wizard's hand. The sparks have very limited armor penetration and will be ineffective against armored troops.I — Blindness: A very bright light flashes in the target's eyes. The target will be permanently blinded unless the spell is resisted.I — Burning Hands: Flames will issue forth from the mage's hands, killing anyone in front of him.I — Protection from Fire: This spell protects the caster from fire and flames.I — Fire Shield: A wall of fire surrounds the mage. Anyone trying to strike the mage in melee combat will be burned by the fiery shield first.I — Bonds of Fire: Shackles of fire will trap the victim of this spell. If the victim tries to escape, the shackles become exceedingly hot. Otherwise, the heat stays bearable. A great amount of willpower is required to fight the heat and escape. Trying to escape may very well kill a weaker man.II — Transmute Fire: The alchemist transmutes fire gems into gold. Every gem spent gives the alchemist several pounds of gold.II — Phoenix Power: This spell gives the mage limited immortality. When the mage is slain, he will explode in a cloud of fire and reappear in a location of choice. The spell lasts for an entire battle, no matter how many times the mage is killed. However, being killed is exhausting and the spell will not work while the mage is unconscious.II — Immolation: The caster bursts into white-hot flames, badly burning everyone within range. Armor offers little protection against the flames. The spell will consume the caster if he is unprotected.II — Conflagration: Many enemies are instantly set ablaze. The spell ignores enemy armor, but it is not always strong enough to kill the victims. Also, rain or snow will put the flames out very quickly.II — Fire Blast: A powerful blast of fiery energies strikes a small area close to the caster.II — Fireball: The hallmark of Fire magic, this spell allows the mage to throw a ball of flame toward his enemies. The ball is quite difficult to aim, but does considerable damage wherever it lands.II — Pillar of Fire: This spell creates a huge column of fire that strikes from the sky. It will kill those who are hit and set fire to anyone who is standing nearby.II — Ignite Arrows: The mage enchants the projectiles of his arrows with magical flame. The projectiles burst into flame as they are fired, doing considerable damage to their targets. The fire damage of the arrow is magic and will affect ethereal and invulnerable creatures even if the projectile itself cannot.II — Flame Ward: This spell protects targets from fire and flames.II — Battle Fury: The caster fills the hearts of men with righteous fury. All targets gain greater willpower and strength.II — Rage: The spell fills the hearts of men with furious anger. The raging target will attack anything nearby, even friends.III — Pyre of Catharsis: Catharsis was once the spirit of the Purifying Flames. He would cleanse bodily sicknesses of those who exposed themselves to his flames. Since his corruption by wicked gods he no longer controls the Purifying Flames and any powerful fire mage can wield his flames. With this ritual the caster sets himself ablaze on a pyre of Purifying Flames. The flames burns away any diseases he carries, but the caster is likely to suffer terribly from the flames unless properly protected.III — Summon Fire Elemental: The Caster summons a Fire Elemental to aid him in a battle. Fire Elementals are difficult to harm and dangerous to be near.III — Incinerate: A single target is consumed by flames from the inside. Armor does not protect against this spell. It can target victims over long distances and it is one of the very few Fire spells that can be used underwater.III — Flare: The mage sends a gigantic ball of pure flame towards his enemies, which explodes upon contact.III — Falling Fires: This spell calls down a rain of searing flames on the enemy. The spell can strike from great distances, but takes longer time to cast than most other evocations.IV — Fate of Oedipus: The caster punishes an enemy for observing them with clairvoyance. The target's eyes are blasted by brilliance, their eye sockets emptied forever, and their claivoyant powers are greatly weakened.IV — Dome of Flaming Death: An invisible web of Fire magic is created over a kingdom-sized area where this spell is cast. Any enemy spells cast into the protected province will trigger the deadly trap. A powerful blast of fire will find its way to the casting mage and burn him and anything around him to cinders. The dome does not directly stop spells that pass through it, but it may stop the offending mage from ever casting spells again.IV — Raging Hearts: Fury will start to grow in the hearts of all people in a kingdom-sized area. Those affected will soon start to plunder and kill their fellow man.IV — Flameflesh Army: This spell transforms targets into red-hued apparitions. They become hot to the touch and highly resistant to cold. The transformation also protects from the chilling effects of some creatures, such as Wights and Winter Wolves.IV — Heat from Hell: A large area is struck by heat worse than that of the hottest of deserts. This heat soon renders all enemies nearby unconscious, after which death is certain. This spell is most effective in warm climates.V — King of Elemental Fire: The caster calls upon the supernatural forces of Fire itself and summons one of the Kings of Elemental Fire. There were once three such beings, but since the fall of Catharsis, there are but two. The Kings are masters of Fire magic and are surrounded by blazing flames.V — Elemental Opposition of Water: The caster channels vast amounts of Fire Arcana against all active Water enchantments to simultaneously dispel them on a planetary scale.V — Flames from the Sky: With this spell, the mage hurls a maelstrom of flaming spheres towards any location on the planet. The flame storm will strike with enormous force, capable of devastating an entire kingdom. Most likely, the majority of the enemies present will die from this powerful attack, but those highly resistant to fire or extremely durable have a chance of surviving. Through this spell, the fire mage will also be able to see exactly what is happening as the flaming spheres strike the enemy.V — Vafur Flames: This spell recreates the legendary enchantment of Asgård. A fortress-sized area is surrounded by a ring wall of enchanted flames. The flames are able to read the intentions of those who approach and will let friends pass safely through. Flying beings that pass over the flames will still be put on fire, but the damage will be less severe than for those walking through.V — Choleria: The caster affects a kingdom-sized area with the humor of fire, choleria. The populace becomes energetic and productive, but also easy to anger. Production and income are increased, but quarrels are common and unrest will gradually increase.V — All-consuming Pyre: The caster erupts in a pyre of white-hot flames, incinerating everyone and everything in a large area around him. Armor offers little protection against the flames. The spell will consume the caster if he is unprotected.V — Fire Storm: A massive storm of fire is unleashed on a large area. Everything within the vicinity will be burned to cinders within minutes. The flame storm will also shroud the area in blinding brightness, reducing the effect of night and certain spells. This spell is extremely powerful and can annihilate entire armies.VI — Eternal Pyre: A huge blazing pyre lights up the landscape. It never burns out and the embers of the pyre will absorb the heat and can be harvested as magical gems imbued with the fiery power of the pyre. The Eternal Pyre causes the temperature to rise to unbearable levels a kingdom-sized area where it is cast. Once the eternal pyre has started burning, it will be impossible to extingish without the use of magic. Even putting it underwater would only reduce its heat a little.VI — Purgatory: Holy fire will strike undead enemy creatures in all that the caster claims as his dominion. The more powerful the caster's control over his dominion, the more undead will be killed.VII — Banishment of Flame: The caster banishes an enemy to the elemental plane of fire.VIII — Second Sun: The caster opens a permanent gate to the elemental plane of fire and uses its power power to create a huge ball of fire in the sky. This Second Sun will always shine, day and night, resulting in severe effects across the entire world. The planet will become hotter and drier unless the Second Sun is destroyed.

Velthis, Tome of WaterI — Summon Water Power: The mage gathers power from the surrounding water to enable him to cast more powerful Water magic spells. This spell can only be cast near bodies of water.I — Resist Fire: This spell makes the caster's body resistant to fire and flames.I — Quicken Self: Quickness increases the speed of the caster and enhances his ability to dodge and evade incoming attacks.I — Ice Shield: The mage transforms the water around him into a shield of ice that protects him from harm. The shield will randomly block about half of the attacks against his person.I — Liquid Body: The caster transforms himself into a semi-liquid being. He becomes very difficult to harm by physical means and wounds will rarely become permanent afflictions.I — Frozen Heart: The caster reaches out his hand, and the victim's heart is instantly frozen.I — Freezing Touch: The mage touches an enemy who will suffer from severe freezing damage, and possibly even die from it. Armor offers no protection against this potent attack.I — Water Strike: This spell creates a torrent of Water magic that can rip flesh from bone.I — Protection from Cold: This spell protects the caster from cold.I — Water Ward: The caster is surrounded by strong currents, making him very difficult to hit in combat.I — Breath of Winter: The caster is surrounded by extreme cold. Anyone close to the caster will suffer severe fatigue damage from the cold. The caster becomes resistant to all cold effects when casting this spell. The Breath of Winter works best in cold climates.I — Calm Emotions: The caster afflicts the target with phlegmatic humors, quenching their raging emotions. Those empowered by rage will be weakened, and if cast on a less aggressive enemy they may become far less inclined to continue fighting.II — Vile Water: The alchemist creates a bath of water and vitriol. The vitriolic water is given form and purpose through powerful alchemical rituals. The alchemical entity is known as a Gelatinous Cube. It slowly slides forward and swallows anything it passes over. Swallowed beings quickly dissolve in the vitriol, unless the cube is destroyed and its magic unraveled.II — Fire Resistance: This spell makes targets' bodies resistant to fire and flames.II — Freeze: The caster slowly freezes an enemy, lowering their body temperature to a deadly degree.II — Quickness: This spell increases the speed of its targets and enhances their ability to dodge and evade incoming attacks, making them about twice as fast.II — Slow: This spell will slow down enemies, making them about half as fast.II — Encase in Ice: The caster transforms any water surrounding an enemy into ice. The must break free to be able to move or defend themselves. While encased they will become chilled and numbed and suffer fatigue until they die.II — Gift of Formlessness: This spell transforms its targets into semi-liquid beings. The transformed soldiers become very difficult to harm by physical means and wounds will rarely become permanent afflictions.II — Cold Bolt: A bolt of intense cold issues forth from the caster's hands. It can be hurled over very long distances.II — Cold Blast: A powerful blast of cold strikes a small area close to the caster.II — Cleansing Water: The caster projects a torrent of water against undead enemies. The cleansing water will damage undead beings and demons, but not other magical beings.II — Ice Strike: The caster hurls a ball of ice at his enemies. When the ball strikes, it explodes into thousands of ice shards. Cold resistance offers no protection against their sharpness.II — Winter Ward: This spell protects its targets from cold.II — Desiccation: This spell will affect targets with severe dehydration. The dehydrated targets will become more and more exhausted and may eventually lose consciousness. The duration of the dehydration depends on the magic resistance of the targets. Undead beings and constructs are not affected by this spell.III — Summon Asp Turtle: The Asp Turtle is probably the most powerful beast encountered outside the deep gorges in the ocean. The turtle is normally peaceful and lives in relatively shallow waters. With this spell, an Asp Turtle is summoned, bound and turned into a very deadly killing machine. Its huge size and heavy armor make it easy for the turtle to kill smaller beings by trampling them.III — Wolven Winter: The caster curses a distant kingdom-sized area with a dramatic fall in temperature.III — Summon Water Elemental: The caster summons a Water Elemental to aid him in battle. Water Elementals are quick and crush enemies regardless of armor. Water Elementals summoned in cold climates will be composed of ice. Ice Elementals are stronger but slower than Water Elementals.III — Rain: This spell creates a heavy rain in a large area. This makes it harder to fly, magic fires will be put out quicker and magic affecting the clouds will dissipate faster than usual. Fire magic is more difficult to use during the magical rain in general.III — Falling Frost: Bolts of breathtaking frost bombard an area. Cold resistance will protect the targets from damage. The spell can strike targets far away, but takes longer time to cast than most other evocations.III — Friendly Currents: This spell makes the water currents aid the caster and all his allies, easing passage across the ocean.III — Tiamat's Wrath: The lungs of the targets are filled with water.III — Curse of the Desert: This spell will affect several targets with severe dehydration. The dehydrated targets will become more and more exhausted and may eventually lose consciousness. The duration of the dehydration depends on the magic resistance of the targets. Undead beings and constructs are not affected by this spell.IV — Liquify: The targets are turned into pools of liquid flesh, causing instant death. If a target resists the spell he is only partially liquified and will probably become permanently crippled.IV — Frostflesh Army: This spell transforms targets into half-frozen apparitions. They become pale and cold to the touch. The transformation also makes them highly resistant to heat and flames.IV — Grip of Winter: A large area is harrowed by enormous cold. This cold quickly renders all enemies unconscious, after which death is certain. The Grip of Winter is most effective in cold climates.IV — Queen of Elemental Water: The caster calls the supernatural forces of the sea itself and summons one of the three Queens of Elemental Water. The Queens are masters of Water magic and difficult to damage when they are underwater. Unless they are completely destroyed in one blow, they will heal all their wounds a moment later.V — Ice Walls: The caster strengthens all fortifications in a kingdom-sized area by covering them in magical ice, making the walls very difficult to breach. The ice walls get thicker the colder the climate.V — Murdering Winter: A sudden, furious blizzard will strike a kingdom-sized area of the mage's choice. The blizzard is very powerful and will at the very least kill most normal men. The spell will be even more powerful if it is cast in a cold climate.V — Elemental Opposition of Fire: The caster channels vast amounts of Water Arcana against all active Fire enchantments to simultaneously dispel them on a planetary scale.V — Tidal Wave: The caster unleashes a huge tidal wave upon a distant kingdom-sized coastal area, destroying the lands and drowning all its inhabitants.V — Frost Dome: A frost dome is created over a kingdom-sized area where the spell is cast. Any spells cast into this dome will trigger the deadly trap. A powerful frost blast will find its way to the enemy mage and freeze him to death.V — Thetis' Blessing: Allows all of the caster's allies in the world to enter the sea and breathe underwater.V — Wrath of the Sea: The sea will rise and flood all coastal areas on the planet within the span of a month.V — Phlegmatia: The caster curses a kingdom-sized area with the humor of water, phlegmatia. The population becomes passive, quiet and unproductive. Work as well as religious duties are ignored and soldiers in the area are likely to desert.VI — Niefel Flames: A shower of blue flames shoots out from the caster's hands and flies towards the enemy ranks. The blue Niefel Flames instantly remove all heat from any living being, and this spell can easily freeze an entire enemy army to death.VII — Guardians of the Deep: All of the sea monsters on a planetary scale are subjugated to the caster's will. They will follow orders without question and live only to serve the mage.VII — Banishment of Water: The caster banishes an enemy to the elemental plane of water.VIII — Sea of Ice: The caster opens a permanent gate to the elemental plane of water. All lakes, seas and rivers in the world are frozen by this powerful enchantment.VIII — Vengeful Water: All natural sources of water across the world will become animate and hostile to the caster's enemies. The elementals grow more powerful the more humid the climate.

Beltham, Tome of AirI — Air Shield: The air shield solidifies the air above the caster to protect him or her from incoming missiles.I — Shocking Grasp: Shocking Grasp causes a target to spasm violently as energies pass at close range from the caster's hands through his body. Shocking Grasp can cause considerable harm. Armor offers no protection.I — Gust of Winds: Creates a gust of wind strong enough to knock enemies prone.I — Charge Body: When a charged body is struck in melee combat, a powerful jolt of electricity will strike the attacker. The damage caused by the electrical charge bypasses the protection of armor and is very deadly. Once hit, the mage's body will become discharged and, if the mage survives, will need to be recharged.I — Summon Storm Power: During a storm, this spell can be used to channel the power of the storm through the mage. This enables the mage to cast more powerful Air magic spells. This spell only works during a storm.I — Levitate: Grants the caster the ability to float a few inches above the ground.I — Windrunner: With this spell the caster will be aided by the wind when he is running.I — Protection from Lightning: This spell protects the caster from thunder and lightning.I — Personal Flight: Grants the caster the ability to fly.I — Farflight: This spell enchants the projectiles of its targets, making them fly swift and far. The range of the projectiles are greatly increased.I — Steal Breath: The victim of this spell will have his breath stolen from him. Recovering the breath will require quite an effort and the leave the victim exhausted.II — Lightning Bolt: The mage hurls a bolt of lightning towards an enemy. The lightning bolt is very accurate over long distances and will destroy even heavily armored targets.II — Shock Wave: An electric shockwave will hit a large area in front of the caster. This is a very dangerous spell to cast, as an unlucky caster might also be killed by the electric shock.II — Orb Lightning: The mage hurls an orb of pure lightning towards the enemies. Where the orb lands a lightning will strike a nearby enemy and continue to travel to other nearby enemies until it eventually dissipates.II — Mistform: The mage's body becomes mist. Striking the mist that makes up the mage's body causes the mage very little damage. The mistform will end if the mage gets hit exceptionally hard or by a magical weapon.II — Protective Winds: Powerful winds will protect a large area from enemy projectiles.II — Lacerating Winds: The caster makes the very winds themselves attack his enemies by hardening and sharpening the air itself. The winds will slash and bruise unprotected enemies in a large area.II — Arrow of the Western Wind: With a few swift words the caster enchants a projectile with the power of the Western Wind, the strongest of the four winds, and sends it towards an enemy. It strikes with great force and precision.II — Gift of Flight: Grants targets the ability to fly.II — Trueshot Warrior: Targets get increased Precision. This increases the chance of hitting with missile weapons and spells.II — Cloud Trapeze: The caster swings himself up with incredible speed, landing in a location of choice far away. Although much faster than normal flying, the caster does not really teleport and the path can be blocked.II — Thunder Ward: This spell protects targets from lightning and thunder.III — Thunder Strike: A magical thunderbolt strikes a large area. The mage can make the thunderbolt strike very far away. Even if it misses, the shockwave is powerful enough to severely stun and damage anyone nearby.III — Hurricane: The caster unleashes a violent hurricane upon a large area, devastating the land.III — Mist: The caster creates a dense magical mist across a large area that makes it difficult to see far.III — Summon Air Elemental: The caster summons an Air Elemental to aid him in battle. Air Elementals can fly and can send enemies flying through the air. They are very difficult to harm.III — Seeking Arrow: The caster sends an enchanted projectile across the world to find a suitable heart to penetrate. The arrow will target one enemy of the caster's choice.IV — Thunderstorm: The caster unleashes a devastating and long-lasting thunderstorm up a large area. Lightning strikes occur every few seconds and exclusively target enemies.IV — Fog Warriors: The bodies of a large group of friendly troops become misty and almost impossible to damage. A unit's mistform will end if it is hit by an exceptionally hard blow or by a magic weapon.V — Wind Ride: The Air mage summons a whirlwind and orders it to bring a target of their choosing. The whirlwind will try to find the target and transport them to where the Air mage is located.V — Sanguinia: The caster affects a kingdom-sized area with the humor of air, sanguinia. Sanguine people are enthusiastic, social and active. The area will become a place of merriment, festivities and good spirits.V — Elemental Opposition of Earth: The caster channels vast amounts of Air Arcana against all active Earth enchantments to simultaneously dispel them on a planetary scale.V — Queen of Elemental Air: The caster calls on the supernatural forces of the sky itself and summons one of the three Queens of Elemental Air. The Queens are masters of Air magic, can fly and are ethereal in nature.VI — Lightning Field: This very powerful spell charges a kingdom-sized area with the power of air and thunder. Bolts of lightning will soon start to bounce between any targets in the area and destroy everything.VI — Dark Skies: Black clouds billow forth and cover all lands in the world. All enemies of the caster will perceive the heavens as dark and oppressing. The dark skies strike fear in to them, eating away at their minds and inducing large amounts of paranoia.VII — Banishment of Air: The caster banishes an enemy to the elemental plane of air.VIII — Perpetual Storm: The caster opens a permanent gate to the elemental plane of air. An enormous magical storm will rage constantly over the entire world.

Arzok, Tome of EarthI — Alchemical Transmutation: The alchemist transmutes base metals into precious ones. The process is time consuming and requires the alchemist to use earth gems.I — Fists of Iron: The caster enchants his hands, transforming them into pistons able to strike down even the largest of foes.I — Earth Grip: The mage orders the earth to swallow a single target. If the target is affected, he will be unable to move unless he succeeds in breaking free.I — Resist Lightning: This spell makes the caster highly resistant to thunder and lightning.I — Armor of Achilles: Totally destroys the target's armor and shield. Magical armor is more likely to resist the effect of this spell.I — Personal Ironskin: The skin of the caster is transformed into a hard, metallic hide.I — Flying Shards: The caster hurls several magically enhanced stones towards enemy units.I — Iron Will: The caster strengthens the mind of the target. Their ability to resist magic is increased for a short time.II — Earth Gem Alchemy: The alchemist transmutes earth gems into precious metals. Every gem spent gives the alchemist several pounds of gold.II — Mechanical Men: The caster makes a group of Mechanical Men to serve him. The fragile skeletal structure of the construct is covered with full plate armor and the construct is given a metal shield and a sword. The iron men are not affected by heat, cold, shock or poison. They are mindless, magical beings that will cease to function when left without magical leadership.II — Summon Earthpower: The Earth will lend its endurance to the mage. All Earth spells will be less demanding to cast and the mage will be constantly invigorated by the Earth's power.II — Lightning Resistance: This spell makes targets resistant to any damage and caused by lightning.II — Stoneskin: The skin of a target is transformed into a rough, stone-like hide.II — Temper Armors: The armor of the targets is tempered with magic, making it more durable.II — Gift of Giant Strength: Targets gain increased strength.III — Enliven Statue: A group of statues are given false life by this powerful enchantment. The statues are difficult to destroy but will revert to an inanimate state if too much damage is taken.III — Summon Earth Elemental: The caster summons an Earth Elemental to aid him in a battle. Earth Elementals are robust and regenerate damage. They can trample enemies or strike with mighty fists.III — Curse of Stones: The caster curses the enemy with the weight of the earth. Affected enemies are severely burdened and even moving will be slow and exhausting.III — Maws of the Earth: The earth cringes and heaves and a great maw with teeth of rock opens and swallows those unfortunate to be standing in the area. Those who survive will be partially buried in the ground and immobilized.III — Shatter: This spell shatters metal and stone, wood and bone. Constructs and other inanimate beings targeted by the spell will take tremendous damage, but it has no effect against living beings.III — Iron Bane: The armor of all enemies will rust and become weakened.IV — Earthquake: With a thundering boom, the ground heaves and erupts, throwing enemies into crevices that close after a few seconds. Even so, the effect on the land is devastating.V — Earth Sense: The caster attunes himself with the earth itself to sense who treads upon it. Enemies trying to sneak around in a kingdom-sized area will be detected and traced, even if invisible.V — Elemental Opposition of Air: The caster channels vast amounts of Earth Arcana against all active Air enchantments to simultaneously dispel them on a planetary scale.V — Petrify: The caster transforms some targets into stone. The target might end up dead when the petrification ends.V — Crumble: The caster unleashes great power upon a fortification. The construction fall apart and debris will crash down without mercy.V — King of Elemental Earth: The caster calls upon the supernatural forces of the Earth itself and summons one of the Kings of Elemental Earth. There were once three such beings, but since Pedoseion was tainted with blood sacrifices, there are but two Kings left. The Kings are masters of Earth magic in addition to being physically powerful.V — Melancholia: The caster curses a kingdom-sized area with the humor of earth, melancholia. The populace becomes depressed, cynical and listless. Peasants don't care about harvesting and let their livestock wander. Craftsmen only work when they feel like it and soldiers tend to desert unless whipped into obedience. Even the temples are left untended.VI — Forge of the Ancients: The ancient forge of a great god's servants is reconstructed. The magic of the forge will reduce the need for magic essence when forging magic items. It also enables mages to create more powerful items.VII — Banishment of Earth: The caster banishes an enemy to the elemental plane of earth.

Ilnir, Tome of NatureI — Poison Touch: By touching a target, the magician can poison them.I — Vine Arrow: The caster shoots an enchanted arrow of vines against their enemies. The arrow will come alive and entangle the target if it hitsI — Eagle Eyes: This spell grants the mage superior vision and accuracy for both spell casting and archery.I — Cat Eyes: This spell grants the caster the ability to see in the dark.I — Poison Resistance: This spell makes the caster resistant to poisons.I — Animate Plant: This spell will cause plant to come alive, uproot themselves and start to fight for the nature mage that awakened them.I — Elemental Fortitude: This spell increases resistance to fire, cold and lightning.I — Tangle Vines: Vines will ensnare anyone in the targeted area. The ensnared victims cannot move or attack anyone until they have destroyed the vines holding them.I — Maggots: The mage conjures thousands of maggots, which will start to feed upon an undead being at a shocking pace until they consume it entirely.I — Healing Touch: This spell heals targets within reach of the caster.I — Gift of the Hare: Targets are given quick feet.I — Envenom Weapons: The mage enchants the weapons and projectiles of the targets to coat them in the venom of magical serpents.I — Beast Fury: The caster fills the hearts of beasts with fury.II — Breath of the Dragon: The caster opens his mouth to let poisonous bile stream against his enemies.II — Enlarge: Targets are magically enlarged for a short amount of time.II — Shrink: Targets are are shrunk for the rest of their lives, unless the caster decides to reverse the spell's effects.II — Torpor: This spell targets the metabolism and bodily functions of enemies. The targets become unnaturally tired.II — Blood Poisoning: The blood of the target is turned into poison. Even poison resistant beings are likely to suffer and die from their own blood.II — Transformation: The caster is transformed into a monster or animal of choice, including supernatural beings such as dragons, and retains their intelligence regardless of their form.II — Poison Ward: This spell protects targets from poisons.II — Panic: This spell will cause panic to spread among enemies in a large area.II — Whispers of the Wild: The caster taps into the minds and perceptions of the animals in a large area to gain insight into what transpires there.II — Charm Animal: An animal is charmed by the mage, bringing it under their command.III — Stream of Life: The caster pours life into the bodies of his enemies in to overload their body and mind, causing them to violently erupt.III — Creeping Doom: This spell enlarges a huge number of insects to enormous proportions and brings them under the control of the caster.III — Polymorph: The caster transforms his enemies into a harmless animal of choice.III — Spirits of the Wood: The caster summons several spirits that inhabit ancient trees. These Woodland Spirits are stunningly beautiful, ethereal and regenerate wounds as long as their trees are not destroyed. They never leave the land of their home.III — Regeneration: This spell grants targets regenerative powers, massively increasing the healing process of their bodies.III — Wildness: Animals near the enemy suddenly turn against them, becoming wild and attacking the enemy without regard for their own lives.IV — Cure Disease: Targets are cured of all diseases, even those certain to result in a quick and early death.IV — Gift of Reason: This gift grants a sharp intellect to any one being, including the simplest of animals and otherwise mindless creatures.IV — Army of Rats: All enemies take on the aspect of the rat and become small and nervous for the rest of their lives.V — Locust Swarms: The caster unleashes swarms of locusts upon a kingdom-sized area. The locusts will incite panic, consume crops and cause famine.V — Awaken Forest: This spell will awakens all trees and other plants in an entire forest. The awakened trees and bushes will uproot themselves and start to fight for the nature mage that awakened them.VI — Gift of Health: This gift grants excellent health to all allies of the caster. They are permanently more healthy, live longer, and heal wounds more quickly. Even permanent afflictions such as blindness and missing limbs may be cured.VII — Beast Mastery: All animals in the world are bound to the will of the caster.VIII — Enchanted Forests: All forests will start to whisper their knowledge to the caster, and obey their command. All plantlife in the world gains at least animalistic intelligence, and even the spirits of nature become subject to the caster.

Zemkar, Tome of StarsI — Twist Fate: The caster changes his future fate. Twist Fate negates the first successful strike against the one protected by this spell.I — Astral Projection: The caster's mind is separated from his body and travels the Astral Planes in search of information. His mind and body are connected with a silvery cord, which can be detected by unfriendly Astral mages. Once detected, the cord of the mage can be severed - a traumatic experience indeed. Each casting of this spell allows the mage to scry a faraway location.I — Star Fires: The caster focuses the lights of several stellar bodies and projects them onto his enemies.I — Magic Duel: By use of this spell, the caster challenges another mage to a mental duel. At most one of the mages can survive this duel.I — Body Ethereal: The target's body becomes hazy and transparent. The target can pass through obstacles and non-magical weapons usually just pass through his body without harming it.I — Power of the Spheres: This spell makes the caster more powerful in the elemental and sacred tomes of magic.I — Resist Magic: The caster of this spell will have his resistance to magic increased for a short amount of time.I — Astral Shield: A shield of Astral energies forms around the mage. Anyone trying to strike through the shield will have their mind blasted unconscious by the force of the shield.I — Blink: The caster creates an instability in space that transports him to another nearby location.II — Arcane Bolt: The caster fires a bolt of arcane energies that is deadly for magic beings but harmless for humans.II — Solar Rays: This spell calls down rays of fire from the sun that set undead targets ablaze.II — Stellar Cascades: Light from a stellar body will shower down upon the area. Everyone caught in the shower of light will become exhausted as the light sucks energy through their skin.II — Memory of the Spheres: This spell lets the caster access the akashic records to discover history of a target.II — Spell Ward: The mage seals the minds of alies against malign spells.II — Ritual of Returning: The mage will return to a predetermined location at once if he is wounded.II — Horror Mark: The Horror Mark is an astral beacon only perceivable by Horrors. Horrors, powerful astral beings, primarily attack marked people. This spell is the only way to direct Horrors and avoid disaster should one be summoned.II — Returning: The caster creates a rift in space that sucks him through, sweeping him back to a predetermined location. It is a very fast but dangerous way of teleporting. If the caster is unlucky he might get lost in time and might return later, not at all or completely insane.II — Mind Burn: The caster overloads the mind of the target, who experiences overwhelming pain as their mind is damaged.II — Paralyze: The caster overloads the target's mind and effectively paralyzes the target for a very long time.II — Astral Window: The caster opens an arcane rift through which he can observe distant lands.II — Teleport Item: This spell can be used by an astral mage to teleport a single item to a location or ally a great distance away.III — Astral Geyser: Tiny holes are blasted into the astral space. For a short time rays of astral energy will blast out of the holes and anyone hit will be severely horror marked. Anyone in the vicinity of the astral energy rays will get hit by deadly residual magic.III — Control: The caster alters the arcane bonds of a magical being, making it serve them instead of its creator or summoner.III — Astral Healing: The mage summons Astral power to activate the healing energies inherent in the souls of all living beings.III — Dispel: This enchantment enables a mage to destroy any enchantment they are aware of.III — Opposition: The caster creates a supernatural force diametrically opposed to a target magical being. If the spell is powerful enough, the magical being will be disenchanted and cease to exist.III — Teleport: With this spell, the mage can transport themselves to any location in the world.IV — Soul Slay: The caster attempts to rip the target's mind from his body and destroy it. If successful, they die instantly. Immortal beings killed by this spell will stay dead, their soul annihilated.IV — Akashic Knowledge: This spell lets the caster tap into information from the memory of the Spheres to discover all there is to know about a given target.IV — Rewrite Fate: The caster alters the fate of the targets, blessing them with great luck.IV — Doom: The caster alters the fate of the targets, cursing them with terrible luck.IV — Enslave Mind: The caster enslaves the body and mind of one target. The victim loses his will and intellect, and his ability to cast magic is impacted.IV — Gateway: The caster creates a rift in the fabric of space, allowing him to step through with a great amount of allies.IV — Arcane Analysis: With this spell a skillful astral mage can send a thaumaturgical probe into the ether in order to examine the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy mage's magic. The mage chooses a single target to examine and he will get a fairly accurate measure of the power and method required to defeat them.IV — Divine Name: The caster inscribes a divine name on a piece of paper and places it in the head of a mindless being. The being is gifted with an artificial mind and great strategical and magical ability. The caster can also inscribe the name on the forehead of a willing target, increasing their mental faculties in a similar manner.V — Astral Tempest: The caster unleashes an astral storm upon a large area. The storm is physically undetectable, but every enemy will feel the effects as it rips their very souls from their bodies. Spellcasting is extra difficult during the astral tempest and all magic users will have trouble casting spells unless they have very high magic resistance.V — Time Stop: This powerful spell will stop time for everyone but the caster.V — Rend Space: The caster focuses on a target and splits the space between their left and right ride side, cleaving them in two.V — Exchange Fates: The caster forces a harmful event in his future upon the target. Whatever they were fated to suffer, the target will suffer instead.V — Command the Fates: The caster alters the fate of an entire battle. Its outcome will be greatly shifted to the caster's desire.V — Solar Brilliance: The sun starts to shine with a brilliance that destroys the retinas of all enemies in a large area and burns all undead and demonic beings to cinders.V — Imprint Souls: Those living within a kingdom-sized area will have their minds gradually broken down. When they are entirely lobotomized, their minds will be imprinted with religious zeal towards the caster. When the conversion is complete, they will attack the area in an attempt to conquer it and serve their God to the best of their abilitiesVI — Baleful Star: The caster invokes the great Maleficent and forces the evil star to take a conjunctive position in the heavens above a kingdom-sized area, causing unfortunate events and evil deeds to occur. Anyone exposed to the evil star risks getting cursed for the rest of his life.VI — Stellar Focus: This spell focuses the light of the night sky into a crystal sphere, depriving the entire world of some of its splendor. The entire world is drained of arcana while magic flows freely in a kingdom-sized area where the ritual was cast. The light of the sphere can be distilled in the process of forging magical items.VI — Unraveling: The caster unravels the enchantments that bind magic beings together. All magic beings on in a large area start to fall apart and dissolve. Mages may lose their minds and spellcasting abilitiesVII — Disenchantment: This spell is a more powerful Dispel. If cast at sufficient power it will destroy an enchantment affecting the entire world, but if it fails it will still reduce the power of the targeted enchantment.VII — The Eyes of God: This enchantment allows the mage to project his mind to many distant places at once via strands of arcane power, enabling them mage to see everything in the world. Anything their mind focuses upon can be seen in great detail. This includes the detection of invisible enemies that are not actively attempting to conceal their presence at every moment. Any astral magic they know can be cast through their eyes without being physically present.VII — Arcane Domination: The caster alters the arcane bonds of all magical beings in a kingdom-sized area, making them serve the caster instead of their creators or summoners.VIII — Arcane Decree: This decree shields the world it is cast in, forbidding anyone but the caster and those with their permission from casting spells. Any hostile mage trying to cast or dispel magic must first overcome the arcane decree, which will weaken the manipulation attempt even if it should manage to get through. This also applies to any dispel attempt against the arcane decree.VIII — Master Enslave: The caster unleashes vast arcane powers throughout the entire world, ripping the free will from his foes and turning them into loyal thralls. The thralls will aid the caster until they die. There is no way to break free once enslaved by this spell.IX — Wish: This spell taps into the primal powers from beyond the Spheres. By projection of their own will upon the Principle of Beginning, the caster can affect the very processes of creation and receive an answer to their wish. There are many things to wish for, but the outcome is not always good.

Orthos, Tome of DreamsI — Bewitching Lights: The caster creates a bewitching display of dancing lights. Anyone in the area stares blankly at the lights, momentarily forgetting anything happening around them.I — Blurred Body: The target becomes blurred, transparent and difficult to strike.I — Fascination: The projects images and scents in an enemy's consciousness. Should it succeed, the enemy will be distracted for a short while.I — True Sight: The target gains the ability to discern illusions and see the unseen.I — Luck: The caster merges reality with the Dreamwild, where everything is possible. In dreams, even Fate itself can be tricked. The targets of this spell are granted unnatural luck in battle.I — Mirror Image: This spell creates illusionary images of the caster. A skilled Dream mage will get more images than a less skilled one. The images will surround the mage and make it harder for enemies to figure out which one to strike. A strike will have an equal chance of hitting each image and the mage. If an image is hit it will disappear and further attacks are more likely to hit the caster.I — Steal Sight: The caster renders an enemy bereft of sight.I — Warrior Illusion: The mage creates the illusion of a warrior who attacks the enemy. Illusions inflict false damage that is eventually made real by the presence of the mage.II — Confusion: This spell will confuse the minds of a the targets. Those rendered confused can easily attack friends instead of enemies.II — Despair: The caster's enemies are overcome with despair and will be more likely to rout at the first sign of resistance.II — Ephemeral Bolt: The caster projects a bolt of ephemeral power against his enemies. Drawn from the Dreamwild, the bolt causes the target to imagine himself suffering great pain and being wounded regardless of durability.II — False Fetters: Illusionary fetters form around the ankles of the targets. The victims will not be able to move or fight until they have overcome the fetters' magic.II — Dance of Ephemeral Swords: The caster is surrounded by ephemeral dancing swords. The swords are only illusions, but they will attack, harass and harm enemies unless they perceive the illusions for what they are.II — Shroud of Bewilderment: The caster and his surroundings shift and change. Faces of friends and foes are swapped, images are altered, and colors and sounds shift and change. Enemies trying to attack the shrouded one will not know friend from foe and will randomly attack anyone in their vicinity.II — Sleep: The caster makes the target fall into an enchanted slumber.II — Tapestry of Dreams: The caster conjures the dreams and memories of a distant land and weaves them into a tapestry that reveals what transpires there.III — Charm: The victim of a Charm spell will become totally loyal to the caster of the spell. A charmed individual will retain all their intellect and special skills and use them for the benefit of their new master.III — Invisibility: The caster becomes invisible and will be almost impossible to hit in melee. The invisibility ends if the caster is wounded.III — Twilight: The caster shrouds the battlefield in twilight. Vision is slightly hampered and it is difficult to discern details. That which is small seems large and that which is close seems far away. Appearances are deceiving and it is difficult to separate dreams from reality. All Dream mages have their skills empowered as long as the twilight remains.VI — Visions of Death: The target of this spell will see a vision of himself dying a violent death. This lifelike vision will feel real enough to instantly kill lesser men.VI — Lore of Legends: The caster taps into the legends of the Dreamwild to unearth long-forgotten lore. For one month the caster's magic skills become legendary and his skills in all magic paths are increased. After a month has passed the powers fade and the caster is once more bound by the restrictions of this world.V — Dome of Misdirection: A kingdom-sized area is protected by a dome of glamour and illusions. The dome will fool enemies and protect the warded province from attacks that originate outside the dome and make them target a different location instead.V — Forgotten Palace: The caster casts a spell on a location or person and makes it disappear from everyone's memories. People are able to see and interact with the target, but once they leave they will forget about them.V — Gates of Horn and Ivory: The caster erects two gates into the Dreamwild. Through the first comes fulfillment and true dreams that tell of the future, from the other comes dreams of deception or despair. Rituals cast at the Gates of Horn and Ivory will have their reach extended greatly.V — Immaculate Fort: With the help of glamour a location and everything in it is made perfect, at least that is how it seems. The air is cleaner, the food tastes better, the streets are always clean and all the buildings are in better shape than when they were just built. The fortification also looks perfectly fine, no matter how much damage it sustains. This makes it very difficult to figure out how to enter for those not invited by the caster.V — Shimmering Fields: The caster projects a storm of ephemeral power against his enemies. Whilst the damage from the ephemeral power is not real, the presence of Dream mages will make it real enough to kill.VI — Dreamwild Demesne: The caster enchants a kingdom-sized area with the magic of the Dreamwild, creating a land of hope and peace free from misery and woe. The enchantment is broken if the land is conquered by hostile forces.VI — Veil of Perpetual Mists: The caster shrouds a kingdom-sized area in mists alive with whispers, screams and harrowing shapes. Anyone trying to enter the province without the consent of the caster will find themselves led astray and leave the area from whence they came.VIII — Dreams of the Awakening God: Everywhere where they are not yet worshiped, people will start dreaming of the caster as the rightful God of the world. Maybe just a glimpse of their wonderful promises, maybe an excruciating nightmare showing what can befall their enemies.VIII — Eternal Twilight: The entire world is stuck in between the day and the night, an eternal twilight. Vision is hampered and it is difficult to discern details. That which is small seems large and that which is close seems far away. Appearances are deceiving and it is difficult to separate dreams from reality. Allies are not affected, but enemies must be constantly suspicious of what they see, or they will wander off a cliff or maybe into the sea. This enchantment requires the presence of a single sun in order to function properly.

Eledea, Tome of ZealI — Blessing: This prayer can be used to bless the priest or a group of sacred warriors.I — Banishment: With this prayer the priest smites undead beings with the power of his God.II — Sermon of Courage: The morale of allies is increased with the help of this prayer, negating any magical effects negatively affecting their minds.II — Smite Demon: This prayer will make a divine bolt strike down from the sky and deliver massive damage to a demon .II — Holy Word: With a holy word from the next true God the priest is able to stun a believer of a false god.II — Holy Avenger: Any harm done to the casting priest will result in a divine bolt striking in the midst of the enemy.III — Heavenly Fire: The priest utters a prayer most holy and a heathen is struck by a divine bolt.III — Word of Stone: The priest utters a prayer most holy and a heathen is struck by a divine bolt. Anyone surviving this smite will risk being petrified as well.III — Syllable of Death: The priest utters a prayer most holy and a heathen is struck by a divine bolt. This prayer is imbued with death and anyone affected will die instantly or at least be fatigued from resisting the death.

Krodir, Tome of DeathI — Animate Dead: The necromancer animates a lifeless corpse to unholy service.I — Hand of Dust: The caster's left hand becomes deadly, able to turn anything it touches to ashes.I — Skeletal Body: The body of the caster dries up and becomes impossibly thin and skeletal. Piercing weapons hitting the caster will cause less damage.I — Weakness: The mage damages the lifeforce of the target, making them permanently weaker.I — Ghost Grip: The caster summons energies from beyond the grave to target their enemies, exhausting them and draining them of life.I — Spirit Curse: The caster summons a malign spirit from the underworld and coerces it to curse an enemy.I — Dark Knowledge: The caster summons a spirit of the Underworld and coerces it to reveal a target's secrets.I — Spirit Mastery: The caster summons spirits of the newly dead and prevents them from entering the Underworld, binding them to their will.I — Dust to Dust: The mage destroys undead beings by unraveling the magic that holds them together.I — Frighten: The spell fills the target with fear.II — Dark Servant: The caster shapes a servant of solid darkness and grants it life.II — Bolt of Unlife: This bolt passes straight through armor and bone and damages the target's soul directly. If the target is slain he will be filled by the energies from this spell and rise as a soulless warrior.II — Control Dead: The caster takes control over undead beings. Only undead more powerful than the necromancer will be able to resist.II — Disintegrate: The necromancer points a bony finger at a target, who instantly turns to dust.II — Hand of Death: The left hand of the caster becomes deadly and forces death upon anything it touches.II — Shadow Blast: The necromancer hurls a blast of dark energies against his enemies. The blast ignores all armor and can paralyze those wounded by the spell. The undead are immune to this spell.II — Twiceborn: With this spell, the necromancer enchants his own body to protect himself from death. If the necromancer is slain, he is revived as a Wight Mage in the location where the ritual was cast, possibly gaining dark insights in the process.III — Arouse Hunger: The necromancer curses targets with undeath. The victims will become ghouls that serve the necromancer.III — Carrion Reanimation: During a dark and stormy night, the unburied dead stir as the necromancer unleashes the vast powers of his art. Entire battlefields will be reanimated as soulless undead.III — Invulnerability: The flesh of the caster is made almost invulnerable to normal weapons. Only magic weapons or strikes from mighty giants will be able to harm the invulnerable one.III — Leeching Darkness: A deadly cloud of darkness will form and cover a large area. Anyone standing within the cloud will be wounded and permanently weakened.III — Soul Vortex: Anyone close to the necromancer will have his lifeforce drained from him. The lifeforce will be used by the necromancer to heal his wounds and restore magical energy.III — Terror: A connection is created between living enemies and the dead harrowed in the Netherworld. The targets are overwhelmed by fear and despair.IV — Darkness: A large area is covered in a blanket of darkness that renders even fire useless. Most ordinary beings will stumble and have great difficulty fighting or eveb moving in the darkness.IV — Drain Life: The caster drains lifeforce from the target and rapidly ages them into bones and then dust, adding the lifespan they stole to their own.IV — Life after Death: This spell gives targets a second chance to live. A target of this spell that dies will rise again as a mindless, soulless being and serve the caster.IV — Plague: With this spell, the mage will bring a magic plague upon a large area. The magic plague kills and spreads at an enormous rate. It does not take long to catch the disease, nor does it take long to die once infected.IV — Rigor Mortis: The necromancer causes the joints of enemies to stiffen as their bodies suffer the fate of the newly dead. There is no immediate cure for the spell, but it subsides after some time unless it is reapplied.IV — Bone Grinding: With a horrible grinding noise, all enemies in a large area fall to the ground as their bones crack and break. Strong victims might get away with a broken bone, more unfortunate ones will become crippled for life.IV — Ritual of Rebirth: The caster of this spell revives a previously slain target via the ancient Ritual of Rebirth. The ritual mummifies the dead target before bringing them back to life.V — Army of the Dead: This spell animates all dead bodies in a kingdom-sized area as an entire army of mindless undead that serve the caster.V — Leprosy: The mage conjures forth a wasting disease upon a kingdom-sized area. Those affected become unable to heal their wounds and will slowly rot away in their living bodies.V — Visage of Hades: The caster of this spell is wreathed in the energies of the underworld, instantly killing any enemy who lay eyes on him.V — Lichcraft: With knowledge of this ritual, the Death mage has discovered the means to remove his own viscera and place it in a jar, killing himself, only to return as an immortal undead being of great power. By dying and returning from the dead the Lich gains insights and powers in the path of death magic. Furthermore, the body of the Lich becomes almost impossible to harm with mundane weapons. Should the body of the Lich be physically destroyed, a new one is formed from the dust of the dead.V — Stygian Paths: All lands are connected to the Underworld and every location in the Underworld corresponds to a location in the lands of the living, but time passes differently in the Underworld. By traveling in the Underworld, great distances can be covered in a short period of time. When this spell is cast, a gateway into the realm of the dead is opened. The necromancer then leads his followers on dark paths through the Underworld to emerge in a faraway location. The journey, however, is not free from risk: no one is allowed to leave the lands of the dead. Everyone using the Stygian paths risks injury or even death by poisoning, spirit attacks or fates even worse.VI — Greater Vortex of Unlife: This vortex affects a kingdom-sized area, binding itself to the souls of those within it. If they are slain they will be filled by the energies from this spell and rise as a soulless undead bound to the caster.VII — Burden of Time: This evil enchantment will make everyone in the world age at a highly accelerated rate. While this enchantment is active, the world will become more and more desolate until everyone dies.VIII — Undead Mastery: The caster takes control over all undead beings in the entire world. Only the most powerful of undead will be able to resist the spell.VIII — Utterdark: The world is covered by a blanket of utter darkness. All living beings must use magical light to see even a few feet in front of themselves. During the perpetual night the barrier between the world of the living and the netherrealm will weaken, attracting great amounts of evil spirits and restless dead that are bound to the will of the caster upon passing through the veil.

Ralgos, Tome of BloodI — Bleed: The Bleed spell causes blood to pour out of the victim's nose, ears and mouth. The effect is a prolonged and painful death.I — Harm: This spell causes severe damage to the victims' chests and stomachs. The unfortunate victims will start to cough up blood and will most likely never fully recover from the harm done to them.I — Leech: The mage drains the lifeforce of their enemies. The lifeforce drained will be used to heal and reinvigorate the mage.I — Blood Heal: The mage spills the blood of a blood slave and is healed in return.I — Reinvigoration: By sacrificing a blood slave, the mage will remove all of his fatigue.I — Rejuvenate: The mage drenches himself in the blood of ten young girls in an attempt to become younger. Each offered girl will make the caster one year younger.II — Blood Rain: Blood pours down over the battlefield, inflicting mental anguish upon those who are bathed in it.II — Agony: The mage kills one or more blood slaves in an extremely painful way and transfers their pain onto a large number of enemies. Being struck by this pain is unbearable and has a truly devastating effect on morale.II — Bind Fiend: The caster sacrifices several blood slaves to contact and bind a demon.II — Bloodlust: By sacrificing blood, the mage awakens the bloodlust of demons, giving them increased strength during battle.II — Blood Burst: The caster causes the victims' blood to explode in their body, likely killing them instantly.II — Pain Transfer: Wounds taken by the mage will be transferred to blood slaves that are nearby. Damage absorbed by the slaves will be half of the damage that was inflicted on the blood mage.III — Damage Reversal: This spell will bring the ultimate protection for a mage in battle. Whenever the mage is wounded, the damage is transferred to the one who tried to wound him. Magic resistance might prevent this from taking effect, so the mage is not fully invulnerable.III — Hellbind Heart: The caster binds an enemy's soul to his service.VI — Life for a Life: The Blood mage sacrifices a virgin and in exchange one of his foes is slain.VI — Bloodletting: With this arduous spell, the mage drains blood from every enemy in a large area. All drained blood will be added to the mage's lifeforce.VI — Three Red Seconds: The caster summons a horde of demons and commands them to raise a fortress. In three red seconds, a mighty citadel is built in a location of the caster's choice.VII — Ritual of Five Gates: The demonologist inscribes a pentagram on the floor of his summoning chamber and opens a gate in each point of the star. Legions of fiends from five infernal realms enter this world simultaneously in an attempt to prevent forces from the other gates from emerging. Trapped by the pentagram, all five legions are bound by the demonologist for a lifetime and a day.VIII — Blood Vortex: This horrifying ritual creates the blood vortex, a churning pool of polluted blood that roars horrible yet terribly alluring songs. The song of the vortex is heard by all mortals in the world, whispering sweet melodies of death and carnage, beckoning all people to come bask in its crimson presence. Its song is especially strongly felt by those whose blood is suitable for blood rituals, summoning them to the site of the ritual. The mortals that enter its presence stare dumbfounded on the waves and swirls in the vortex, or throw themselves heedlessly to drown in the bloody swirls. The master of the ritual then collects suitable victims to use in other rituals. Eventually, when no life is left in the world around the vortex, it dries out and dies.

THE SYSTEM

Upon returning to Earth, it had come under the influence of a System created by otherwordly beings known as the Constellations. The System facilitates the process of Awakening in humans beings, which allows them to harness magical energy and channel it into a variety of abilities, which are artificially structured into Skills by the System. These skills are separated into ranks F through S based on their usefulness, and are assigned by a combination of personality traits and luck upon Awakening. Awakened still train their control over magical energy to become far more powerful than they were upon Awakening, and skills can also be practiced to be used more efficiently and with greater power depending on the amount of magical energy invested, but no amount of training can raise the rank or change the functions of one's skills. By using the sole skill he was assigned when the System noticed his presence, [Rune Extraction], he was able to gained a vast amount of other skills from defeated enemies, though few were of any actual use to him. Later he obtained [Reroll] and [Beloved of the Goddess], allowing him to sacrifice the majority of his weak skills and ensuring they would be turned into S-ranked skills.After he lost access to the System and destroyed the Constellations with his unbound magical power, the protocol programmed for their incarnation was activated under the assumption that one of the Constellations had successfully turned him into their vessel, and the System was returned to him with full administrative privileges. While it did not allow him to give himself new skills or anything of a similar nature, he was now capable of using his skills even in those realms where the towers had not appeared.

SKILLS

[Rune Extraction]: When the user defeats an enemy, their highest-level skill is crystallized in the form of a rune. Whoever crushes the rune gains the skill.[Reroll]: Rerolls one of the user's skills to turn it into another skill of the same rank. It is possible to include the chance of a higher-ranked skill by sacrificing 5 other skills. A skill can only be rerolled once per week.[Beloved of the Goddess]: Multiplies the user's luck stat by 100 times when entering a game of chance or a near-death situation.[Do-Over]: Upon dying, the user's soul is transported to their body 24 hours in the past with all of their memories intact.[Uncapped]: The user is not bound by a maximum level limit and can continue to grow infinitely.[Kinetic Absorption]: Passively absorbs a portion of the physical damage dealt to the user and allows them to release it in an attack upon activtion[Eye of Prophecy]: Views the future of the nearby surroundings within the next ten seconds.[Magic Analysis]: Analyzes any spell cast in the vicinity of the user and determines the optimal way to replicate it relative to the user's magical abilities. It may not be possible to fully replicate the spell's effect through one's own magical power.[Scales of Judgement]: Judges the weight of the target's wrongdoings and lowers their skills based on the extent of their crimes. Those considered to be punishable by death will have their strength lowered by 99%.[Survival Instinct]: Allows the user to reflexively dodge attacks with their full speed and relevant skills even when unaware of the attack or not consciously capable of defending themselves, like during sleep or a state of unconsciousness.[Lord's Aura]: Any who consider themselves to be the user's subordinates may make use of their lord's abilities if their request is accepted by the user.[Inventory Space]: Grants the user an infinite inventory space in which to store items and others valuables.[Disguise]: Transforms the appearance of the user's body and aura into another humanoid form.[Lie Detection]: Instantly determines the truthfulness of a statement when it is spoken. The truth is based on the target's perception and can sometimes clash with reality.