Overpowered Wizard

Ruvaria let out a long sigh. “I think out of everyone in this universe, you may judge me as harshly as you want. This dungeon, this boss, is one of my greatest regrets. I needed you to see it. So you can understand that Para’s right, I am quite terrible.”

“Mm, sure, maybe.” Zarian could throw a few pebbles. But he didn’t cast any large stones from his glass castle.

The empress lowered down from the air. She landed on her bare soles, her toes wiggling into the loamy and spongy floor. She inhaled deeply and looked up into Zarian’s void-like eyes with her shining emerald eyes.

“I’m serious. Para wasn’t wrong when she said I was or am quite evil, regardless of alignments,” the empress insisted. “You and your friends are well aware of how the alignments work. They are fractions first instead of truly moral forces, even if they intend to control how you act as you grow your alignment.”

The empress shook her head. “Nonetheless, before I awakened to the truth of things, I was very convinced that I was right, and in being convinced, I did many, many terrible things. I still benefit from those terrible things I’ve done.”

“Do you still have slaves over at your empire?” Zarian asked.

“No, I’ve abolished that quite some time ago, unless you count what I’ve done with this dungeon.”

“You should probably fix that last bit. But other than that, I imagine you’ve been working on redemption for a while.”

“And I’ve failed at being redeemable plenty of times.”

“No, I’m not. I won’t ask for it. I still contain too much selfishness inside of me to truly atone for what I’ve done. The fruits of the horrors I’ve committed benefit my family and my people, after all, and I don’t have it in me to tear that all down.”

The empress lowered her head in shame.

Zarian reached over and placed his palm on the top of her head.

“I forgive you.”

The empress’s ears lifted slightly. Her eyes widened in surprise.

“There, I did it. I can’t, however, make you forgive yourself. You’ll have to work on that,” Zarian explained. “As someone who’s an existential threat to everyone and everything in this universe and beyond, I’ll admit forgiving yourself is tricky. I recommend taking small and positive steps that are actionable and grounded mainly in reality. The little things build up, I believe. I read that in a few books from Reiki’s library, too, so it isn’t all hot air from me.”

Zarian rubbed his hand around the empress’s head, frizzing up her bountiful strands of golden-silver hair. He was almost tempted to rub the elf ears, but held back. He would save that for later.

The empress shuddered. Then she burst out into pleasant chuckles that were music to the ears. She accepted his head pats for a while before she reached up, grabbed his gauntlet-clad hand, and turned it over to look down at the uncovered palm.

She smiled as she tapped her dainty fingers around his palm before tracing over the lines.

“Thank you, Lord Zarian,” she said. “This moment of ours has been strange and illuminating. It is a moment I will cherish forever.”

“Oh yeah? I’m your first redemption partner, aren’t I? Score.”

The empress giggled some more. “It is much easier to take this from you, since you are a force of nature who is greater than this mere universe. Perhaps that is also foolish of me, but as much as I’ve grown to rebel against my alignment, I still can’t help but look up to certain authorities. And there are none who are greater than you in Infinita.”

“Maybe,” Zarian said. “Maybe the ones who will be are still growing.”

Empress Ruvaria smiled brilliantly at him, her eyes twinkling. She kept tracing her fingers over the lines in his palm, as if she was reading them. Then she slowly let go of his hand, and it fell back to his side.

Ruvaria hugged herself and walked closer to him until there was barely any separation. She looked up at him with a tilt of her head. “Putting aside false pretenses, I must say that I was nervous. I want to be your teacher. I worried you would reject me in the end because of what I’ve done. But I sense you will accept me, and I’m delighted by that.” ᚱ

“Para has to agree to,” Zarian said.

The empress shivered. She looked down from his eyes and at the living battle kilt.

Ragged threads, multi-jointed arms, and tentacles wavered about around them. Then, all at once, the points of Para’s extensions turned to the empress. Each of them formed mouths to speak with.

“Do not let your old nature win over you,” Para said. “There are always times when nature will want to win. But we must be above nature if we want to have what matters most.”

“You are quite wise for a creature born of pure evil,” the empress said.

All of Para’s mouths smiled toothily. “It is because I am evil that I can find joy in wisdom. And it’s in my wisdom that I find it acceptable for you to teach my host.”

The empress nodded in appreciation.

She took a small step back to look at his face from a different angle. Her hand reached out and gripped the biceps of one arm. “In return for your acceptance, I will do my best to make up for the things I’ve done a little at a time with grounded and actionable steps. I will also teach you as much as you want. The lessons I can provide may also extend to your friends and some of your most talented followers, depending on what I have that’s applicable to them.”

Zarian was glad to see that Ruvaria was making a moral promise along with a business promise. That was a hell of a step forward, which was a lot more than what most people would attempt.

“What do you want in return?” Zarian asked. “I know you’re thrilled to be my teacher and all, but there’s got to be more to it.”

“A simple answer to a question.”

“Hit me.”

“Will you take the Throne of the Adventurer King?”

“No.”

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“I was afraid you would say that.” Ruvaria sighed. “Then answer this for me. Why won’t you?”

Zarian shrugged. “I think it should go to someone else. I have my way of living and doing things. I don’t really need a throne for it. You can even say I’m bigger than a throne, so it’s unnecessary for me.”

“Yes, you are bigger than the throne, which makes you perfect for it. It is said the Adventurer King could make great sweeping changes to the universe. The Adventurer King is greater than most of the gods … except for one. The Dragon. If it’s you, then the Infinita Star System could truly change once you take the throne and slay The Dragon.”

Zarian chuckled. “It doesn’t have to be me, though. It can be someone else. In fact, I think someone among my friends will be best suited for it. Maybe one of them will become the Adventurer King or Adventurer Queen.”

Empress Ruvaria looked away for a second. Then she slowly nodded, her finger tapping on his arm. “Perhaps you are right. They, too, show promise. Hannah’s intelligent and ambitious. Gilbert is true to himself and gallant. Bianca is very talented and passionate. And Naomi is unreasonably determined to the point of insanity.”

“There’s one more, actually.”

“The one you call Foodie, the daughter of Grabber?”

Zarian blinked in surprise. “That’s Foodie’s dad?”

“Yes, I would know. He came back down to Corma as a secret regressor and paid me a visit first. Then he spent some years on break here,” the empress explained.

“Really?”

She nodded. “He met Wicky, the current Grimrock Warlock, and things went quite well for the Green Hop Explorers for a short time. They had many children, but chief among them is their strongest daughter, Foodie.”

The empress let him go to comb through a few strands of her long hair. “I recall Grabber speaking proudly about her before he went back to the Greater World. He’s dead now, I believe. It’s a shame. He was quite excited about the Champion Rank, and becoming a Champion killed him, the first goblin in quite some time to rise so high.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t involve yourself any further because it’s beneath you?” Zarian asked.

“There are certain cases where I can interject myself. And there are cases where the Star System will treat me as an entire event, with limitations, if I overstep my bounds. I’m too powerful for this world and the others of the Lesser Worlds, and so I have special privileges and restrictions.”

“Well, Foodie deserves some special attention after all she’s been through,” Zarian said. “Maybe it’s she, a little goblin, who’ll sit on the Throne of the Adventurer King.”

“Quite a bold statement.”

“Aren’t I nothing but bold? Besides, I’ll find it amusing.”

The empress threw her head back and laughed. Her voice was rich, singsong, and it made the entire cove brighten.

The mushrooms glowed. The aura motes glowed even more. Then everything dimmed down once Ruvaria regained her composure.

She wiped away a twinkling tear that was probably worth so much gold one could construct a kingdom from it. The kingdom-worth tear disappeared amid the mushrooms.

Zarian regretted not collecting the tear for Bianca. Then he banished that cursed thought.

“Fine then, my request for you is to help me develop the one who will take the throne and lead this universe into a new direction,” Ruvaria said. “I think the Star System would appreciate this. Its reset failed. It hasn’t changed away from being the Alignment System as it should. It needs someone on the throne to help it truly evolve. Someone worthy. Someone we can build together.”

A notification appeared in gold above their heads.

<This would be very much appreciated.>

Then the notification disappeared.

“Huh, that’s honestly a good request,” Zarian said. “It’ll be a good way to make up for the Darkrun Apocalypse. I like it.”

Empress Ruvaria let out a song-like chirp and a few mystical elven words that came and went before Zarian had a chance to Identify. The effect of hearing those magical, unintelligible words was quite mesmerizing, leaving an impression of beauty and craft of the highest order.

He watched as Empress Ruvaria twirled about, showing a more happy and classical elven version of herself that caught Zarian off guard. Before he knew it, she was back in front of him, hands on his chest, her face lit with an inner shine that held his attention with a vice grip.

He barely noticed the spectral spiders forming multiple circles and dancing around them.

“Now that we are of accord, dear student, you must heed my next words,” she said.

“I’m all yours, dear teacher,” he replied.

“Advance your Basic Aura Manipulation, please. You’ve pushed it as far as it can go. And I’m interested in what will happen when it’s upgraded, for I think you will see an unexpected result.”

“What makes you think that?”

“The way you handled the Enriched Faerie Dungeon makes me believe it is so. Others who have been in your position, many of my progeny in fact, had failed similar tests. Where they have failed, you’ve succeeded brilliantly. Now it’s time to advance.”

Zarian chuckled. This whole time, he could’ve made his crawl through the Enriched Faerie Dungeon easier if he had upgraded his aura manipulation.

He’d held back because he liked the mix of creative and brute-force approaches he had to find while under pressure. He’d even had Para lean more into her mystical side to use Basic Aura Manipulation along with him. They’d learned a lot by sticking with the basics and pushing it as far as it could go.

But Ruvaria was right. He’d hit the end of the road with Basic Aura Manipulation. It was time for an upgrade. Zarian scrolled back up through his notifications and found the option.

<Choose to upgrade a trait that’s below Legendary Quality and doesn’t have restrictive growth parameters.>

Zarian chose Basic Aura Manipulation.

Immediately, he felt a profound change that was much, much greater than he’d expected, just like Ruvaria had said.

It was a change that seemed to fill his entire being with a profound and deep evolution. Pure aura shone from under his flesh and from the body of Para.

Parasite tentacles and limbs wavered merrily from the battle kilt. Para made pleasant cooing and happy sounds, enjoying the evolution in a more novel way.

Zarian trembled as his body felt like less of his own during the evolution. He stumbled around before collapsing to his knees in front of Ruvaria’s feet. He could see how she clenched the loamy fungi floor with a lot of excitement.

The empress bent down. She cupped his cheeks with her petite hands and lifted his face upward. Her emerald eyes looked deeply into his eyes.

Then her eyes changed and sparkled with shining motes of pure aura blended with the usual emerald color. It was like he was looking into a starry green cosmos that existed inside of her eyes.

Was his eyes going to look like hers?

“Yes, there it is,” she said with warmth and adoration. “So beautiful. So wonderful. Just like my father. And just like me. Aura Mastery.”

Zarian nodded dizzily before checking his notifications.

<Your trait has advanced! From Basic Aura Manipulation (Rare) to Aura Mastery (Legendary)!>

Whoa, Zarian thought sluggishly. It skipped epic quality and went from rare to legendary! How the hell?

Zarian kept reading.

<Aura Mastery (Legendary): Aura is rooted in you. You can understand its inner depths and expand your mystical horizons far beyond most. You can perceive, manipulate, and transform aura masterfully depending on your abilities and stats. And your Wonder and Mysticism is intensified by an additional 75% while using this trait.>

“Fuck,” Zarian said woozily. “This is almost too much for me. Is this what it feels like to master aura?”

“Yes, my dear student. You are what a few of us call an Aura Master.”

“Did you say Jedi Master?”

“No, I said Aura Master. Check your origins.”

Zarian did. He had a lot going on in his origins these days. There were recent additions, too. The Star System didn’t make a big deal whenever the origins changed, so the additions would go unnoticed if Zarian hadn’t checked for a while.

Origins: Zarian Darkrun, 22 yr-old Human, Born Late Winter, Dreaded Outsider, Dungeon Master, Freedom Leader, Dark Lord, Aura Master

“Huh, well would you look at that? I guess I can work with being an Aura Master.”

Empress Ruvaria chuckled merrily as she traced her thumbs around his eyes. “I find it thrilling that someone who is far above our universe can still appreciate the grounded journey of us mere mortals who deem ourselves masters. It must be an insult to you when compared to your origins.”

Zarian chuckled as he slowly regained his composure, feeling more and more amazing. “I like touching grass. Good for the soul. So don’t worry about the ones I originate from. I bet they don’t touch as much grass as I do and can’t be grass-touching masters.”