Highschool DxD: Dragon's Ascent

Turns out, there is a cooking skill in this system.

[Cooking(Novice) Lv.1]

Your skill in cooking and preparing food. The higher the level the more complex recipes are available to you and the better food you create.

I noticed this after making myself 4 eggs and sausages(I was absolutely famished and I would need the protein), right after I finished cooking it I got the notification that I created the skill and felt myself get better at cooking. I will have to grind that later, imagine making a dragon soup or... potion, there is a lot of overlap between the two.

After stuffing my stomach it was finally time to leave my man cave and experience the fresh air, touch the grass, smell the air and all that jazz.

I put on a suitable tracksuit and got out of my house, It was time to get MAD MUSCLES. I want to see how far I can push this body to its limits and if my recovery theory works. If it works then I can get a good level of fitness relatively fast. If it doesn't its back to the drawing board.

Exiting the house I felt fresh air hit me like a wall after staying for hours in my man cave(Alchemists lab). I honestly have to say, Kuoh is a beautiful little town. It's actually a little exciting considering I have lived most of my life in basically downtown Shitsville.

I guess it will be fun touring around too, this will help me get used to the town layout as well. Anyway, I started running, making sure to note every building I passed by. 

Running in a body that was not used to running was... not very fun. 

5 minutes into my run I was already panting like a dog in heat, my lungs burnt and my legs hurt. My knees were weak and my arms were heavy, I could picture my mom's spaghetti already.

Feeling myself get close to puking I found the nearest bench and sat down and sighed in relief as every single muscle in my body ached like hell. Giving myself a few moments of reprieve I took out two bottles from my bag. One light red and the other light green.

In theory, this should massively improve my physical training. It was now time to put that theory to the test.

I first downed the regeneration potion, it tasted like strawberry tea, immediately I noticed the soreness of my muscles quickly getting better. Then I downed the stamina regeneration potion it tasted like very sugary water, this time I felt myself quickly catching my breath and my body more energized. 

In just a few seconds I was ready to take off running again. And so I did. 

✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧

God, I fucking hate myself.

Or more so I hate how stubborn I am. I ran until I felt like I was about to fall over, then I took a rest, then I resumed running, and rinse and repeat.

Fun fact! The regeneration potions don't last forever!

FUN FACT ! : You cannot escape fatigue.

My back rested against a bench as I contemplated every single life decision I ever made. My legs felt like jelly, I felt tired enough to pass out. Fair enough as within the timespan of me drinking the potions my body had been constantly going in and out of failure. With no choice left, I pulled out the stamina and health recovery potions I had and chugged it both.

Thankfully I had brought those potions with me or else I would be toast right now. I felt them take effect almost instantly the pain and exhaustion being replaced with fatigue and as an effect of the slowness aspect of sluggishness.

It felt like I was wading through water with my movements, annoying but the effect was temporary only for 30 seconds or so. While that was running out I decided to check out my status and was pleasantly surprised.

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Statistics:

Vitality: 10 => 11

Mana: 10 => 12

Endurance: 10 => 13

Strength: 10 => 11

Agility: 10 => 12

Magic Power: 10 =>11

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An impressive display of Tenacity! You have acquired the perk: Tenacity!

[Tenacity]

Increases tolerance for pain and exhaustion allowing the wielder to perform for longer.

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This was great, I now knew how to get perks from the system, it seems that by impressing the system I can get rewards from it which makes sense if you consider what this was made for.

In all likelihood, Iter Melius was made to create someone like a champion for humanity. It seems to treat the wielder like a god would treat their champion, helping them by nudging them in the right direction and granting them boons for accomplishing tasks like the heroes of myths.

My mana and magic power likely rose thanks to all the Alchemy I performed. But the most important part is that my theory is proven, I got 30% more stamina and 20% faster give or take. For that to be accomplished in a single day is mind-boggling but beginner gains adding a further multiplier to that result are a slight possibility too.

And my potions were sub-optimal too, I could optimize this method further, creating better potions for physical exercise.

It seems to me the best course of action is to focus on Alchemy first. After all, it's better to take time to sharpen your axe than to spend that time hacking away with a dull axe.

But right now I really need the sleep. I am afraid the moment I close my eyes I will drop sleeping. It took me a while to get home, and once I did I immediately dragged myself to the shower. While I desire to fall into the embracing warmth of sleep I am not sleeping in a sweat-soaked tracksuit.

After the shower, however, I fell asleep the moment I touched my bed.

✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧—•✦•—✧

I woke feeling refreshed and well-rested.

HAH! As if. I feel like I have been hit with another pipe bomb. But that's fine, I have been to college before, I would have been spooked if I HAD woken up feeling refreshed.

I panicked a little upon seeing the roof I woke up under, this whole situation still felt a bit too surreal. But hopefully, that feeling will fade out with time. For now, I had a mission to work on.

That being increasing my Mana and Magic Power as well as learning magic. Or more accurately figuring out magic I guess since there is nobody to teach me.

After whipping myself up a nice breakfast of grilled cheese with an omelette(note to self, grind cooking when you can, everyone likes good food) I went back down to my laboratory.

My goal for today? Teaching myself magic and increasing my mana and magical power. The biggest limiting factors for my alchemy is my magical power and budget. I decided to tackle the magic problem first.

I picked up one of the notepads and started writing down what I knew about DxD magic. 

First of all, humans get shafted like always. Devils naturally have imagination magic, Angels and Fallen have light manipulation. 

Humans have sacred gears, sometimes . Which is more of an advantage for the other teams really since they can take those humans into their own faction. It's tough being a human in this economy.

Anyway, remember the wiki articles Takumi.

Alright, human magic works with calculations and formulas instead of imagination like Devils. Which tells me... not a lot. 

All that says is that I can't just brute force magic like devils. Nor do I possess an easy way to acquire information on magic and magicians. And I don't remember how to use any of the spells in DxD if it was ever explained how they work.

So what can I do? 

Well, I can try to do whatever I can with a little imagination and inspiration.

I already have a feel for the mana in my body thanks to Iter Melius. So I could start experimenting right off the bat. First of all, I tried using the usual standard methods for magic like chants and stuff to try and see if anything happened but as expected it didn't work very well. So I decided to retrace my steps and ask myself, what is human magic?

Unlike Devil Magic which uses the power of imagination. Human Magic uses knowledge and calculations to do magic. Basically, it works on the principle of "If I do this, this will happen".

Devil magic is simple and flexible while human magic is rigid and complicated but versatile. Human magic requires a solid understanding of what you want to do and how you can do it. At least that's all I remember about it.

So that should mean that as long as I know the result and the method I should be able to cast magic. But that's precisely where the problem lies; I don't possess any knowledge about magic nor do I know any of the calculations they use for their spells. 

So the only thing I can do is improvise, experiment, and overcome.

Usually, magicians use magic circles and runes to do magic. And chaining together specific patterns, shapes, and runes along with magic power creates formulas that can be used to do magic. And it's possible to create your own unique formulas if you are skilled enough at magic like Rossweisse.

That means it is pretty flexible. Or at least flexible enough for me to have a chance to do magic without any access to teaching materials about it. So I have to remember, how did the first magician invent magic again?

By studying demonic power...

Fuck.

Alright, Instead of walking around in complete darkness, trying to piece together some form of magic without any knowledge about the spells in DxD. Maybe I can instead try to draw some inspiration from magic from other media I do remember. Preferably one that is better explained than DxD.

That should be technically easier than trying to use the magic of a system I am completely unfamiliar with. After all DxD magic is quite lax.

...Now now. My dear system.

I am an alchemist, aren't I? That means you BETTER accept this kind of alchemy alright?

What I was going to try and adapt was the Fullmetal School of Alchemy. Or at least in principle. I was going to try and apply the logic, method and principle of the alchemy or more specifically transmutation here.

I knew far more about Fullmetal Alchemy than I did DxD after all. 

...10...hours...later...

My man cave is a complete mess. Scattered around were multiple books filled with ideas and theories scribbled down in neat-ish handwriting. I had also moved several pieces of furniture down here to make it more comfortable. Although it looks more like the study of an insane man.

And the hours of nonstop studying and remembering along with testing their plausibility had taken its toll on my body. But my magic power had increased by 2 and my mana by 3. And also my cooking had levelled up throughout the course of the day.

But now I have found what should work!

You see, magic works by placing values and meanings on the magic circles you create, the lines and shapes on that circle do not mean anything if you do not put any meaning into it. If you slap a rune down on a magic circle without knowing what it means then its as good as a scribble.

And with experimentation, I knew what I wanted it to do and how I wanted to do it. I took a lot of inspiration from Fullmetal.

Transmutation is done by channelling energy through a transmutation circle, then altering the shape of the target through said energy down to a molecular level. But transmutation circles aren't random scribbles on the ground, every shape has its own meaning that impacts the result.

The magic circle is a conduit which focuses and dictates your magical power to achieve the desired result. So after so many different attempts and tries I finally managed to find something that works.

On the ground was a precise but simple magic circle traced out in chalk, there were several circles and triangles inside, as well as a few symbols that worked like instructions or code for the magic circle. 

I knelt down and put my hand on the magic circle and started channelling my mana through it, seeing the circle light up with energy and give me feedback I felt manic laughter brew within me.

I felt the ground below me obey my commands like it was an extension of my will.

*Swoosh!* *Crack!*

"AHAHAHAHAHHAHA!"

My insane laughter was finally let loose as a large spike of earth emerged from the circle and stabbed into the ceiling of the basement.

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An outstanding achievement! You have started developing your own magic formula! 

An outstanding achievement! You have created your own transmutation magic without help!

You have created the skill:

[Transmutation(Novice) Lv.1]

An extension of Alchemy specializing in the transmutation and shaping of materials.

You have acquired the perk:

[Magic Pioneer]

You are a pioneer in the realm of magic through ingenuity or skill. Increases the rate at which you can develop and level up Magic.

+10 Magic Power

+10 Mana

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Alchemy is truly the way to go!

A/N: When faced with a challenge you improvise, adapt and overcome. Imagination is the strongest asset you have in your possession. What did you think about Takumi's way of handling the challenge humans are met with? 

Did you think I did a good job handling DxD's magic system? 

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