Ball of Nothing

How long has it been since the start of this training? Truen had lost track of time with the constant visits between the time-space dimension and Merlin's library. Sometimes, it felt as if the elf had gone through five years of studying but other times, it only felt like two days worth of magic sparring. Zero's mana regeneration pills were put to good use and the bodyguard smiled. Without them, he would have lost track of the days that went by in the real world.

Zero made a pill for each day left before they would complete their individual training. Truen was given a hundred and eighty pills to last approximately six months. Today, he consumed the seventy-eighth pill and smiled. He was ahead of schedule and there was only one last task to accomplish before he could formally graduate the training. Freya and Merlin were impressed with his progress. Although the wood elf was still not very good with weapons and combat, he was confident in his ability as a mage and an archer. he might not have accuracy but he had the speed for taking out armies within minutes. Freya's blessing on Sureshot was very handy and the cheating cranes he readied was going to complete the finishing touches this bow required.

Freya and Merlin were waiting for their student when Truen materialised in the time-space dimension, carrying the parchment containing his proposed modifications to the special bow.

"Did you rest well?" The Great Goddess asked with a fond smile. They'd spent a long time together and she was very proud of the wood elf for making so much progress. Sure, he might still have some of that self-sacrificing tendency still left in him but Merlin did a great job of beating most of that out. It was now replaced by a slightly more twisted sense of gratitude that they couldn't help but approve of.

Truen gave the Goddess of Beauty and War and dazzling smile. "Yes. I've also completed the blueprints for the converting of Sureshot as just a magic weapon to a magic medium-weapon. With this, I can cast spells while fighting at the same time. Please have a look at the rune designs and magic circles I intend to incorporate."

The Wizard God glanced at Truen's final product. While the wood elf didn't write a grimoire, he had several signature moves that the magician approved of. Freya looked at each page in detail and felt prouder with each spell proposed. As his second magic teacher and combat trainer, Freya was satisfied that Truen found a way to strike a balance between the two.

Merlin was impressed. The elf must have given it a lot of thought. It was definitely not something drawn overnight. Truen must have completed studying every book in his library before he started to choose his runes and magic circles. The limitations of not using a grimoire as a medium were the variety of spells one could use at disposal. Talismans can only hold one spell at a time and unlike a grimoire, the Sureshot bow didn't have a lot of places that talismans can be imbued into.

"Are these all the things you want to imbue?" Freya asked with a small frown. "Sureshot can hold up to twelve slots, you only have eight."

Truen nodded. He thought about it carefully and decided that with these eight, it was enough for him to guard Zero discreetly. Merlin and Freya didn't know if it would be alright. However, they couldn't see any flaws either.

[Signature Spell 1 - Elemental Golem]

This spell creates golem puppets that can assume any physical form and identity that is controlled by a Parallel Mind.

Freya looked at the first spell fondly. She had spent a good amount of time perfecting the formula for this with her student and Merlin helped with the aesthetic portion. Both teachers had smiles on their faces as they approved of it.

[Signature Spell 2 - Time Distortion]

This spell borrows the power of the Dream Dimension in the Training App to allow the caster to use less time to achieve desired effects for a span of three seconds in the physical dimension.

Freya nodded at this spell. She remembered her discussion with Isis, Merlin and Steve Jobs when Truen brought up his concerns to her. the rune was tricky to create because even for the Great Gods, nobody had created a bridge between magic and technology until recently. Steve Jobs and Merlin spent nights trying to put everything down into a tiny rune. Thankfully, nanochips existed and they were able to write codes into the rune to process mana the way it should while linking it to the app. The only thing Freya had to compromise with was the authenticity of Sureshot after the rune was imbued. Steve would be able to access Sureshot's data thanks to the nano chip in the rune. Freya would no longer be the only administrator. In normal circumstances, Freya would not have permitted it but for Truen's sake, she allowed it.

[Signature Spell 3 - Area Detection]

Fires a mana net covering a radius of a hundred miles to give information to the castor's Parallel Mind about the live signatures in the area, terrain and threats detected.

Merlin had no problems with this either. He remembered telling Truen about how some powerful magicians created towers that acted as a lighthouse. These Wizards were almost undefeatable because of how fast they were able to make preparations when the enemy appeared. Kingdoms usually did everything they could to employ these magicians. They were known as Court Magicians who was like the Kingdom's first line of defence during a demon raid back on the old Earth. His student found a way to replicate something like a Wizard's Tower and as his teacher, Merlin was proud.

[Signature Spell 4 - Homing Tracker]

Places a curse on the target that consumes the target's mana to sustain itself. The curse constantly gives the caster information about their whereabouts.

At this point, Freya raised a brow. She wasn't seeing many offensive or defensive spells. It was mostly spells used for reconnaissance, spying or information gathering. Merlin noticed it too and was curious.

"Why have you not included and defensive or offensive spells?" the Goddess of War asked.

Truen smiled. "It won't be needed. Zero doesn't like to see violence and would rather subdue his enemies with kindness. Besides, there is no real need for defensive spells with all the blessings and enchants on the clothes Zero is wearing. I doubt Zero will wear anything else willingly and if all fails, I will always ensure that Zero wears the underwear that had been enchanted."

Hearing Truen's explanation, Freya rolled her eyes. This was Truen's mother hen nature that they still couldn't erase despite the harsh training. Still, it was why they were so assured that things will be alright with Truen beside Zero. The wood elf had a good point, Zero was well protected even without the elf. The wood elf's main duty was to be Zero's moral compass and less of his physical bodyguard.

[Signature Spell 5 - Perfect World]

A powerful illusion spell to fool the target's mind and senses to give the caster an opening to take over the control of their body.

Merlin couldn't help but be reminded of Truen's experiments to leave his physical vessel and possess a golem. The first few times he tried that, it was disastrous. The Great Gods had bound Truen's soul to his vessel so tightly that when Truen possessed the golem, the golem and vessel ended up fusing together somehow. That was a mess that Merlin didn't wish to clean up after again. Thankfully, the following trial runs were less catastrophic and proved to be a huge success.

Freya studied the rune design and pointed out that there was a small flaw in the calculations that Merlin overlooked.

"The time frame is too long. Also, Parallel Minds cannot be separated from the spirit. There has to be some other way."

The Wizard God looked over the part that Freya pointed out and felt another headache coming along. All the eight runes created, this was the most difficult one to perfect. Thankfully, they had one more meeting before imbuing anything.

"Let me work on it, let's see the next rune..." Merlin sighed and made a copy of the problematic rune's design.

Likewise, Freya was also troubled by the concept of this rune. It was tricky and splitting the spirit from the vessel can be dangerous. the force between spirit and vessel becomes weaker each time the spirit leaves it. If possible, she didn't want Truen using the spell at all.

"How about using mana strings to control the target after he is shot? Inject your mana into the target to act as a parasite," Isis suggested. She was merely dropping by when she heard that they were finalising the runes. The Goddess of Time wanted to see how Steve Jobs and Merlin managed to create a rune to bridge the Dream Dimension using the app for Truen's spell.

"Oh! That's actually a good idea," Freya praised Isis and turned to Merlin. "We might have to try that out."

The Wizard God liked the counter-proposal better and told his student that they'll have to go back to the drawing board for this one.

"What's next?" the Egyptian Goddess asked and Truen continued his presentation.

[Signature Spell 6 - Seraph's Command]

Place a curse on the target shot that does not allow them to lie or remain silent when asked a question.

Truen blushed at the knowing looks he received. The wood elf definitely took inspiration from the angels to name this spell. His initial name for it just didn't compare to the grandiose of using the Seraph's name.

[Signature Spell 7 - Pagoda Prison]

A powerful spell to imprison and bind the target that uses all six elements and scriptures from Buddha's Heart mantra. Uses the target's mana to hold the prison and slowly drains the target to death.

Isis couldn't help but be impressed. The kid actually got Buddha to lend him a hand with this spell. Scriptures were on a completely different plane as magic but the wood elf outdone himself by showing them his versatility. Truen was also rather proud of this idea. Of all the spells he created, this binding spell was his favourite. To thank Buddha for teaching the Heart Sutra to help him cope with the demonic stress from the expectations placed on him, the wood elf dedicated the spell to the God of Enlightenment.

[Signature Spell 8 - Soul Count]

Mark a person as an enemy for Onion Union to take care of outside Zero's field of vision and knowledge.

Everyone paused when they read the description. So far, the spells have been nothing but peaceful pacification if not slightly sadistic with the mana drain torture. this last spell was just downright shady even if it wasn't as impressive as the first seven spells. It screamed 'badass mafia' and all three Gods couldn't help but applaud Truen for staying true to his yandere nature.

"We better keep this out of Zero's inspection," Isis commented and Merlin quickly edited the rune so that there would be a shield and a false description. Hopefully, it was enough to fool the Mind's Eye system created by the Great One.

The meeting soon concluded with Merlin taking back homework to revise the rune of possession and illusion with his apprentice. Isis and Freya chose to stay back in the Dream dimension for a while more and waited for the duo to leave.

"What do you think?" Freya asked the Goddess of Time.

Isis smiled. "He's probably the most perfect choice for a bodyguard. Still, I wonder if it is my imagination that Truen's nature was closer to a Demon lord than a wood elf."

Freya raised a brow and entertained the thought.

"Probably not," she shrugged and both Goddesses laughed.

To think that humans of the old world could prove to be this fearsome. No wonder Gods were falling left and right during the war. If Truen hadn't been on their side, the Great Gods and King Yama would have been the first to snub out the growing threat. Thankfully for them, Truen's soul was still their hostage.