Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
Serena POV.
"Mmm, and there goes another constellation." I said distractedly while looking at the Dwarf.
"A Dwarf? Anything interesting?" Lucy asked beside me. I could see her eyes sparkle slightly as she scanned everything around her. A holographic screen followed her as she typed rapidly while we walked.
Lucy's eyes had been replaced with a new set of cybernetic eyes. Once we had created an effective interface for Silverwolf's lenses to work perfectly with Backyard, GLaDOS and I had begun transforming them into new optics.
Silverwolf's lenses were implemented in her own optics, so when the initial setup was finished, transforming them into optics was the easiest part.
Now Lucy had a new pair of eyes with the ability to scan any living being or object to obtain relevant information, just as Silver Wolf would obtain it with his PunkLorde configuration, and the corresponding information from the Backyard.
Once we finished, we started walking around Orario so she could get used to working on the go. She had to learn from scratch how to hack a completely organic person, and the hardest part was figuring out how to do it quickly enough before they moved out of her line of sight.
Speed was the most important thing at this time.
At the moment, Lucy had large amounts of Zinc Metal Minds, with large amounts of mental speed that increased her mental speed dozens of times, helping her get used to thinking and hacking at high speeds. With Steel Metal Minds to increase her physical speed and Perfector in her hands, her fingers could easily keep up with her accelerated mind.
We were talking about placing a Kerenzinkov or Sandevistan on her neck; it would be a huge mental speed multiplier, especially the experimental Apogee we had access to. Lucy wouldn't have to worry about cyberpsychopathy with the defenses we had, so she could keep it activated for large amounts of time without any problem.
Or the next idea, which already existed in GLaDOS: the Neuro Linker from Accel World, a small device similar to a personal computer that looks like a necklace, whose function enables Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality.
The functions of augmented or virtual reality were not very important, even though the technology is interesting; what is important is the Brain Burst program, a virtual reality fighting game that is the focus of the entire Accel World series.
Specifically, the important thing was that, during the initial gameplay, the Neuro Linker was able to 'accelerate' brain waves to 1000 times normal speed. One second in the real world was more than 16 minutes for someone inside the game.
Even without the game, the Neuro Linker should be able to accelerate brain waves on its own; GLaDOS should be more than capable of creating a program for that, using a Sandy or a Kerenz as a base, which should work.
But most importantly, there were no restrictions on its use; the only requirement was that someone had had a Neuro Linker since birth, and that was it. A person could keep the increased speed activated for as long as they wanted; there were people who spent months or even years in the game at the same time without any side effects.
If we could replicate that and use it without any activation conditions, it would be incredible. The only reason I didn't end up buying a copy of the Neuro Linker was that Lucy wanted the opportunity to get used to her new system at a more 'human' pace—if a mental speed 30 times greater can be considered normal.
"Not really, the Dwarves don't have anything particularly interesting about them. I mean, they have innate superior strength along with an affinity for earth and rocks and all that, but nothing too special," I said honestly. "Really, as... interesting as the Races in Danmachi are, none of them have anything truly outstanding. The only ones that interest me are the Elves and the Renard; both possess innate magical abilities and exceptional magic," I added.
"Renards?" Lucy asked, frowning.
"Demi-human foxes." Lucy's eyes lit up in recognition.
"Like the prostitute you'll visit tonight," Lucy said easily, and I nodded.
"Yes, Haruhime, she's one of the two Renard I know of in Orario. The next one is a girl from the Soma family, but there's no need to look for her, Haruhime will do." I said easily, and Lucy nodded.
"Can't you combine races? I think you mentioned something like that." Lucy said distractedly. I could see her tap the keyboard in one direction. I glanced around to see someone start screaming about going blind for a few seconds while clutching their eyes. I whistled in amazement.
"Nice Reboot Optics." I said easily, Lucy smiled slightly as she nodded.
"Thank you, I'm getting the hang of it, GLaDOS is a great help." Lucy said contentedly. I laughed slightly.
"Going back to the races, not really? I mean, I could combine them, but it wouldn't do much good. The only improvements the different races have here are natural physical abilities. Combining them wouldn't provide as many advantages as one would expect, plus I have to find a way to prevent those advantages from being 'diluted' when mixing races." I said with a sigh.
"So other races in other worlds?" Lucy asked, and I nodded.
"Definitely, even among the same races, there are huge differences depending on the world they come from. Take the Cat People, for example. In this world, they only have a huge boost in agility and speed—that's their main strength. But the Nekomata and their stronger version, the Nekoshou, their counterparts in DxD, not only have the characteristic speed and agility bonus, but they are also natural specialists in Senjutsu and Youjutsu, two power systems from that world." I pointed out, almost excitedly.
"I have no idea what those last two words mean, but are you going to become some kind of chimera? You said you wouldn't abandon your devil side, and you said ExMachina is really useful; there's also the High Elf of Riveria, the magic bonuses are very appealing to you, and I also saw that you have that overpowered vampire of Bellatrix." Lucy pointed out as she cast another quickhack on someone else.
Or several, actually. I saw a group of adventurers trip over their own feet, or rather, their legs gave way. I saw their legs all shudder as they failed, caught in a Cripple Movement.
"They're different magical energies from the world of DxD, don't worry. And about being a chimera, maybe? I hadn't really thought about it. I mean, right now I can instantly switch from one to another, and I don't think I'd need a combination of all of them at the same time, but if I were, I should be able to pull it off."
"Devils are very... biologically adaptable; it should be possible to combine several races using that as a base." I hummed. Lucy shrugged.
"As long as you don't end up like those gonks with too much cyberware, too overloaded, I have no problem." Lucy snorted dryly. I chuckled slightly.
"Believe me, the idea of suddenly growing dozens of different ears if I decide to combine several demi-human animals is a genuine concern of mine," I said dryly before blinking a few times. "Wow, a Pallum," I said absentmindedly. Without thinking, I grabbed the Pallum constellation and placed it above me.
I stumbled slightly as the height change threw me off. I blinked a few times as the viewpoint shifted horribly. Even Lucy stopped to stare at me in surprise—a Lucy who was more than two heads taller than me—then she smirked.
"Well, well, you shrank down smaller than Becca." Lucy mocked. I huffed as she scanned me. Aria had immediately adjusted all my clothes, so I was perfectly dressed. The only things that were slightly too big were my rings and bracelets on my arms.
I had shrunk in height, gone from almost two meters to half that; if I was over 110 centimeters, it was probably pure luck. My whole body was much shorter than I was used to; it was really strange. I could see how the Pallums considered themselves the 'weakest' race. If I didn't constantly deplete my attributes, I probably would have the strength of a child. Even with my devil heritage still upon me, my base strength had been drastically reduced.
"This... is truly disconcerting." I murmured, moving my body. I tried to walk a short distance and had to thank the Talents who helped me adjust my muscle memory, which was quite good. Luckily, my physical strength and speed did not depend entirely on my body.
The attributes stored in my metals corresponded to my base form, so I could strike with the force of hundreds of times that form, even with my new appearance of Pallum. My magic had not been altered either, so there was nothing really wrong with this form.
I mean, there was nothing positive that would make me inclined to use Raza Pallum regularly. The only thing I could think of is if I needed to camouflage myself as a girl for some reason, or if I had to change my height from one side to the other in the middle of a melee fight. Changing my height and attack range would be quite disconcerting for a person.
But beyond that… yes, there wasn't much to take from the Pallum constellation. I removed the Pallum constellation and returned to my normal altitude.
"Rebbeca is going to love that look, you're shorter than her for once," Lucy said playfully, and I snorted.
"I'm sure Enid and Ravel would love that form too." I said dryly. I could see Enid hugging me to death while shaking me from side to side, or using me like a doll to try to dress me.
"You'll love it," Lucy said mockingly. I wrinkled my nose and looked away. I mean, I didn't mind being really tall—I liked being taller than my fiancées—but being on the other side didn't sound bad at all.
I coughed slightly and looked away.
"Speaking of Ravel, I need to see if I can replicate the devil bloodlines; clan abilities are far more useful than many of the supernatural races." I said, changing the subject. Lucy snorted.
"Ravel was... the Phenex girl, right? The one with immortality and an affinity for fire and wind." Lucy hummed, and I nodded.
"Yes, that's the one. Devil traits are really useful. The Bael have Destruction, the Belial have Worthless, the Sitri have an affinity for water, the Buné are dragon tamers with the ability to transform into dragons, there's Crack from the Belphegor, Hole from Abaddon, and I could go on." I said distractedly, blinking slightly before relaying all the information about those abilities to Lucy and the rest of the clans.
"Quite impressive," Lucy said, whistling. "Although I actually feel sorry for some of those clans. I mean, there are abilities as powerful as manipulating time, like those of Agares, and then there's a clan of horse tamers and another of lion tamers." Lucy said dryly, and I chuckled.
"Under normal circumstances, I'd say you're right, but there are anomalies like Sairaorg Bael, who, thanks to his lion-taming skills, was able to join Regulus Nemea." I said easily, continuing to relay information to Lucy. She made a face.
"Yeah, as if everyone could find mythological animals capable of killing gods," Lucy said dryly, and I burst out laughing.
"It's not something that happens often, no." I agreed, amusedly. Lucy rolled her eyes as she quickly tapped her keyboard again while I continued scanning the various races of Orario and absentmindedly switching between them.
It was actually a good thing I'd put a little charm on us to make everyone completely ignore us, because it would have been very difficult to explain Lucy's holographic displays, and because I kept changing from one form to another.
"We're finally at the tower," Lucy said distractedly as we approached Babel. I nodded.
"We are. Our goal is to find someone on floors 4 through 8 who can tell us where Welf Crozzo is. I'd also like to take a look at any enchanted weapons lying around, especially anything that increases magic power or the like," I said casually. Lucy shrugged.
"Honestly, when you say things like that, it feels like we're in a fantasy video game," Lucy murmured. I snorted in amusement.
"Let's go," I said playfully. We started climbing the Tower of Babel, and once we reached the fourth floor, we began looking at all the shop windows. Huge quantities of weapons that my Reality Marble replicated with extreme ease.
From what I understood, most items could only be put up for sale if blacksmiths made them with the Blacksmith development skill, which allowed them to add special abilities to the items, so all the items shown were magical to some extent.
Even so, most were a complete waste; none were impressive enough to make me care. There were a few staves and wands that enhanced magic, but nothing compared to Magna Alfs, Riveria's staff.
What was interesting was the different magical fabrics I was able to replicate: a suit made of Salamander Wool that protected against fire and cold, and dresses made of Undine Cloth, resistant to water attacks and helping the user swim better.
That reminded me of the Fairy King's Sacred Robe that Riveria wore that I had replicated; it was a dress highly resistant to magic. It's a shame I couldn't use it because of Aria.
Unless… I went to one of the shops and bought two items of clothing, one from Salamandra and one from Ondina. Aria moved immediately, some of my clothes separating and wrapping around the pieces of cloth as they were quickly absorbed.
I blinked slightly as I felt Aria subtly shift to gain the attributes of both fabrics. That… was better than I expected. I smiled slightly and quickly projected Riveria's Robe, but Aria wasn't able to consume it; she needed them to be real. What a shame.
After we finished looking around, we started asking any shop assistant where Welf Crozzo lived. It took us a few tries before someone told us where his workshop was, but we finally got there.
We had to leave Babel and start walking away from the tower, but we finally reached the indicated place.
I knocked on the door of Welf Crozzo's workshop, hearing several grunts and knocks before the door opened.
"Welf Crozzo?" I asked gently of the person who opened the door, a red-haired teenager with a sullen look. He looked me up and down before growling.
"I don't make magic swords." Welf grunted before closing the door. I blinked a few times and heard Lucy laughing at me. Luckily, I had been able to see Welf briefly; that was enough for my Reality Marble to activate and scan him.
To my pleasant surprise, I found a Crozzo constellation inside. I almost laughed with joy. The Crozzo were blessed by the blood of a spirit within their lineage; apparently, it was enough to be considered a bloodline capable of replicating. Now all I would need is the skill to forge magical weapons.
I just knocked on the door one more time, and I heard a growl behind it.
"Welf Crozzo, could I have a couple of minutes to talk to you?" I asked loudly through the door. Welf remained silent before sighing and opening the door. He glared at me before leaning against the door frame while crossing his arms.
"What?" he asked sullenly.
"I want you to forge a magic sword." I said without hesitation. Welf froze and gave me the most murderous look he could muster before clicking his tongue.
"Are you deaf? I won't sell you a magic sword. If that's all you have to say, get lost." Welf spat angrily. I just raised an eyebrow.
"I didn't say I wanted to buy a magic sword, I said I want you to forge a magic sword, then you can keep it or destroy it, what you do with it doesn't matter to me." I said, Welf froze and looked at me, thoroughly confused.
"What?" Welf asked foolishly, and I hummed lightly.
"I'm Serene Prince, a researcher, a seeker of knowledge. I like to study and write about different things. I arrived in Orario recently and heard about a Crozzo in the city. I was curious about how the Crozzo family's magic swords were created, but that's all. I want to observe the sword's creation; I don't need the magic sword." I said. Welf wrinkled his nose.
"Yeah, right, and I was born yesterday," Welf said dryly. "What's the idea? To steal it after I finish forging the magic sword? kill me? Kidnap me when you confirm I'm a Crozzo?" Welf asked mockingly. I hummed. I quickly let the High Elf template settle on top of me. I could see Welf's eyes widen, he paled slightly, and I saw him reach inside his hut and grab a weapon.
"Relax, I have no hatred for Rakia, the Crozzo, or magic swords. I swear I have no intention of harming you. In fact, I don't even possess a Falna of any god. As I said, I am merely a seeker of knowledge, and magic swords are truly curious." I said softly. Welf regarded me with complete caution while glancing around, as if expecting more elves to emerge.
His gaze fell on Lucy, who simply stared at him boredly.
"If it makes you feel better, we can bring someone else to make you feel safe. If you're confident you can do that, you can bring your Goddess, Hephaestus, or the familia captain, Tsubaki, or whoever you're comfortable with."
"Besides, I'll pay you 200 million Valis just to watch you forge a weapon," I said with a smile. Welf choked on his breath.
"200 million!?" Welf exclaimed incredulously. "Just to watch me forge a weapon and you don't get anything?! These knowledge elves are truly insane!" Welf exclaimed in surprise. I raised an eyebrow at her before smiling.
"So... what do you say, Welf Crozzo? I'm not asking for anything more, just to see you create a sword, and it's not like I could replicate it. I understand it's a Falna skill, really, it's simply to satisfy my curiosity, so... will you create a magic sword? " I asked with a slight smile.