Stone Mage: Revenge of the Villain System

This was how Ronin saw the God of Light's face for the first time.

The anger he felt was hard to explain with words. And it felt like words weren't even enough to justify it.

God Aurion....

His visage was unclear in the lion's mind, as it was not a very intelligent and sentient creature after all compared to humans. But even still.....

That face invoked so many things within Ronin that he knew it could not have been his, not even 'Ronin' who is the character's emotions.

It must be the other God's emotions, Fausforus, whose soul was basically same as his own or at least fragmented within him.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!"

He yelled as plunged the dagger deeper and deeper, actually taking it back and then pushing it back in. Torturing the innocent beast.

STAB! STAB! STAB!

The lion wailed in helpless agony, as it was bound in place by the One-Word command and the elongated whip, which now bound him all over his limbs and slowly squeezing it to pop its limbs apart.

But Ronin was not seeing the lion when he stabs, his face splatted with blood. What he sees.....

Was the God Aurion, in different scenes.

There was him in the garden, smelling the spring flowers in new bloom....

There was him playing with his pet lions, brushing the mane with his fingers....

There was him overlooking the entirety of Magecia from the skies above, in the Castle of the Highest Order, a serene smile on his face.....

With his dainty fingers, he brought light into the world during the day. Saving the people from their fear of the night.

The lion was already long dead, yet Ronin was still in a fit of rage over this god who should have been a stranger to him....

But to whom Fausforus seems to bear a strong grudge to.

He only stopped once there was a DING! to interrupt his tantrum.

He let go of the dagger, and his eyes cleared, realizing the carnage he caused. Yet there was no mercy in his eyes, only.....

Intrigue.

What had Aurion done to Fausforus for him to despise him this much? Yes, he did kill him, but that was in battle.....

And those memories.

Why would those peaceful memories of all things invoke his wrath?

Shouldn't it be something more like the time he was killed, or was fighting with Aurion, or anything else where they were in conflict?

Yet in those memories that flashed by, with Ronin watching it in the perspective of Fausforus.....

He was just observing the God of Light, and saying nothing.

Observing him as he basked in this peaceful serenity that he brings to the world, beloved by nature and also loving the nature of Magecia.

He pondered over these questions as a holographic screen and Kai's tired voice came while the world around him was paused.

[Congratulations, you have received a massive level upgrade.

Level 37 >>>>> Level 40 ]

[EXP Viewer unlocked. ]

[New Skill unlocked. ]

Ronin raised an eyebrow. "EXP viewer?"

[Yes.] Kai explained unenthusiastically. [The user is gaining difficulty for each level and so to make you aware of the EXP needed and to not feel discouraged when it takes too long to level up....]

[The system decided to give you an EXP viewer.]

Ronin's lips turned into a straight line. "Just when I was wondering about it too. How very convenient."

"But then again, the HTM is made to accommodate its transmigrators rather than be reasonable and make concrete rules."

Kai scoffed and said sarcastically. [I shall send your complaints to the management, sir.]

It went forward to show the EXP viewer on the screen.

[Level 40

EXP: 15/200,000 ]

Ronin nodded. "So the Golden Lion's Flame had some excess of 15 EXP after levelling me to 3 levels."

Kai confirmed it. [This particular Golden Lion holds about 160K+ EXP worth of Flame. It may vary, just like for every Mage human you encounter, but that is the usual range.]

Ronin kept that in mind. "What about my skill?"

Kai's screen loaded the 4th skill:

[Communication Crystal

You may send and summon crystals of pure Illuso energy that shall serve as your form of communication with a chosen person.

To activate it, all you need to do is to draw the symbol for 'message' and 'communicate' on the air, and once the crystal had appeared, you may tell it which person you would like to communicate with.

The message will be delivered in real time in front of the person, but they may choose to view it for later if they keep the crystal intact with them. The same goes for you if you shall received a crystal back from them.

For a person to reply, simply ask them to do the do the same procedure as above. However, if their Mage Focus is not related to runes, they will have to spend some Flame to send a message back to you.

At Level 40, you can only send and receive communication crystals with one person per day. ]

Ronin was disappointed. "So its just like a phone, got it."

But it could be useful too, in case that he would have to communicate with someone in the future while they were somewhere far away.

Not to mention.....

That if he reaches Level 100, the number of people he can send crystals to may increase exponentially to the point that the could broadcast to the whole world of Magecia.

What he would broadcast in the future, he do not know, but it was a neat trick despite not seeming as revolutionary as the others.

He was not expecting to use this skill so soon though.

----------------------------

After his little scheme during the Ascension exams went off without a hitch, it was now time to worry about the Scholastic exams.

At least, that was what people expected of him. But instead of reading books to study, Ronin was writing, summoning his crystals every now and then.

He was trying to piece together every clue he had so far of what happened in the past with the gods. The 'hidden lore'.

[According to the books, Fausforus got stabbed by Aurion.] He jot down.

[But according to Vyrill, he saw Aurion get stabbed by Fausforus, and create this beacon in the Abyssal realm. Could both of them be true at the same time?]

[If so, which happened first? Was Fausforus stabbed first, or was Aurion?]

[What was their general relationship with each other before the war? It would be easy to assume that they were enemies with them being literal opposing forces, the Light and Darkness.....]

[But what if that wasn't always the case?]

As he scribbled on his book all night even during the night before the difficult exams, there was suddenly a knock on the door.

He turned to Don, who was combing his hair before getting ready for bed.

"Were you expecting visitors?" Ronin raised an eyebrow. "Don, you do know that your disguise fades at night even when you still identify as man, right?"

"I do." His brother that looked more like a girl now blinked in confusion. "It wasn't me, I would never call someone to our room."

Ronin furrowed his eyebrows, and went to the door. " Go hide in the bathroom first."

Don did so, and once he hid, Ronin opened to see who's outside.

"Hey, Ronin! Your exam is tomorrow so I brought this for you to wish you luck!"

For a moment, he thought it was the God Aurion.

The resemblance was uncanny, and only that dumb words and that dumb voice reminded him that it was Cermin Drychspiel....

Holding a basket of fruits, nuts and paper talismans???