Honkai x LOTM: Godish of Mysteries

5 Days, that was how much time Lin had spent in this world. Waking up to the sight of the ceiling, he had once seen before, assured him that this was his reality now, and not some magical dream.

And speaking of magic, since his mind was fully refreshed, it was time for his daily wake-up call of "chugging" down a magical but eldritch potion of power.

Last night, since the 'Staff of Stars'(shortened because its original name was a mouthful) took so much of his Spirituality, he couldn't experiment as much, but his findings were quite important.

Having a higher understanding of an Authority would increase its effectiveness in replicating its original power and slightly reduce Spirituality consumption.

Since playing Honkai Impact 3rd and hours of basically playing through Raiden Mei's journey towards Origin, his proficiency with the Thunder was high.

Sadly, since this was reality, it was only about 70% close to Mei's original Authority; he had to fill the gaps of his basic knowledge with Electro Magnetic Fields, Electro Magnetic Pulse, and much more.

One attempt at trying to replicate the breath of a Divine Death Dragon led to his body starting to decay into lilac butterflies, but Sefirah Castle stopped it from embracing him. His understanding of Thantos' Authority of Death was quite lacking...It seemed the Hand of Shadow wouldn't claim him yet into her embrace.

Standing up, Otto quickly slapped himself away from the cozy embrace of his couch and pulled up a prompt before him.

[Sequence 7 Magician of the Fool Pathway is ready, would you like to advance?]

Naturally, increasing his Sequence would lead to more Spirituality, which meant more experimenting with his staff.

Hesitation filled the man's heart, but luckily, money was sometimes the answer.

A golden coin was projected onto his hand with the use of the Void Archives, and once thrown up into the air, it landed on heads...A positive response.

Otto immediately mentally accepted the potion and calmed himself with the use of Cogination.

His emotions dulled as a liquid resembling a constant display of fireworks, with colors of red, orange, yellow, green, and others continuously scattering, disappearing, and reappearing, went down his throat.

A sudden pulsing shock spread throughout his limbs, head, and body. It felt as a thousands of fireworks were coursing and popping into every vessel, and nook and cranny.

Overlapping maniac whispers started to flow endlessly into his head till the point of his skull bulging with constant veins pulsing blood.

Murmurs of the unknown lingered in his brain as words of gibberish kept roaring, and the only coherent words were spoken in the way of a devil.

"Mysteries....Mysteries....Mysteries. Space is Time, Time is Space."

Otto kept up the image of a golden cube with distorted lines to regain his composure, and after an unknown amount of time, the sensation of fireworks and brain-piercing murmurs seemed to disappear into a gentle breeze.

He let out a heavy breath and wiped the drips of sweat on his head. He made sure to roll up his sleeves, making sure there weren't any physical changes that he wasn't aware of...After all, some Beyonders could have entire fish growing out of their arms.

Naturally, after drinking the potion, he felt the sensation of his Soul digesting that warmth of power surging through, and the sounds of cracking glass tingled his senses.

[Sequence 6 Faceless of the Fool Pathway is ready, would you like to advance?]

"Look at me...I am really a wizard."

He denied the prompt and instead started to linger on his thoughts of a Magician.

The role of a Magician was to never perform unprepared, take the initiative to perform, try to get applause from the audience, wield control of the target's attention, and challenge the impossible, even if the final outcome is nothing but an illusion.

A flood of memories started to surge as Otto recalled the Acting Method of a Magician.

In the second Eruption, when the First Herrscher, Welt Yang, and Siegfried Kaslana were about to deal the final toward the Second Herrscher, Sirin, Otto directly interfered as a masked clown.

He took the initiative to perform and stop the two before they could do anything, drawing the target's attention to let Sirin escape.

It was a challenge to the impossible since head-on on the masked Clown couldn't do anything in a frontal assault against Welt and Siegfried...So that's where sneak attacks and deception come into play.

Steal and break the Star of Eden from Welt so Sirin wouldn't get sucked into a Black Hole, steal Siegfried's gun then shoot him in the gut.

It was truly the work of a Magician who strived for a reality where his Holy Maiden lived, but alas, it was only an illusion.

Overall, thanks to Otto's knack of performing especially in front of a Herrscher like Mr. Yang and Siegfried, he was able to complete digesting the potion.

Moving from his reminisces of the past, Otto quickly summoned himself up to Sefirah Castle to test out his new abilities.

Reaching the ancient palace hall with a strained headache, he glanced at the door of light, where another section of steps was added, and the total to three.

The atmosphere of the place seemed denser thanks to his potion, and the connection to the Sefirot grew stronger. For example, he could modify the space of the Sefirah to add more complex buildings and structures.

At Sequence 7 Magician, his abilities had undergone a qualitative change, and Otto was now considered a Mid-Level Beyonder.

For Sequences 9 and 8, they were considerably stronger than the average person, but now, at his level, Otto had Supernatural abilities.

As a Magician, he gained access to 9 spell-like abilities and can cast them rapidly.

Otto projected the gun, Judgment of Shamash, and shot himself in his right foot. It hurt, but this was for science.

He placed a hand onto the wound, intending to transfer it to his forearm, but nothing happened since this was his Spirit in the Sefirah Castle, not his physical body.

"So it doesn't work on my Spirit Body...The one weakness of every human, being shot in the soul and soul damage."

Damage Transfer was a good tier spell for survivability and healing, as it could be used on others, but with its limitations being that it couldn't transfer over to objects yet, and each wound could only be transferred once.

The wound quickly healed itself thanks to Sefirah Castle, and Otto went back to testing.

Grasping out his hand, a wisp of swirling flames shot out of his palm into a distance of 50 meters. Jumping forward, Otto's body turned into sparks of embers as he shot out from the previous swirling flames.

Flaming Jump, A Magician can phase through a fire spark that they had left behind, and any flame that existed. At max digestion, its range was at 50 Meters. Useful for dodging, running away, and most importantly, fighting like a coward.

Next, Otto waved his hand, and a wall of carbonized alloyed steel appeared right before him.

His tongue clicked on the roof of his mouth, the sound echoing at the same time as an air bullet flew as fast as a bullet, and crashed into the wall.

A whiff of smoke trailed from the impact, and what was left behind was only a small dent on the wall.

Its power was lacking because now in the Current Era, bulletproof materials were now norm, even Honkai Beasts were barely effective against them. If an Air Bullet were to hit a mech, it wouldn't even leave a scratch.

Air Bullet will get stronger at higher Sequences, but it wouldn't be enough, so more buffs had to be used.

Utilizing the Divine Key within, a surge of Honkai Energy coursed through his body, his mind cleared of all emotion, and a dense memory of a burning home was his focus.

Two warm rings of light floated in front of his lips. He pointed his finger at the wall like a gun and shouted, "Bang!"

The bullet flew faster than before, and its body crashed into the wall. Smoked burst from the impact, and the result was a crater piercing into the wall.

After taking the Potion, not only did he gain spells, his spirituality increased, his usage in Mang shot up twofold, and his overall physical body became more nimble, a qualitative change to his overall dexterity.

For Otto's next act, a Judgment of Shamash appeared in his hand, and he soon shot himself in the head. The golden light pierced through his skull, as his tumbling corpse fell onto the ground, gray brain matter didn't spill from his head, but instead a Paper Figurine took his place. It disappeared into a mist of gray fog as it was discarded from use.

Otto was teleported a couple of meters away after substituting himself with a Paper Figurine. In his opinion, this was one of the best abilities that a Magician can use, since even if an opponent had a Sure-Hit attack, it would hit the substitute, adding to the fact that Otto can use it at least fifty times before running out of Spirituality.

He was a certified unkillable bastard now.

"What other spells can I use...I got plenty of spirituality now, so staying up here shouldn't be a problem. I have Underwater Breathing, which is a niche but good ability, Bone Softening for a real Magician Act to escape any binds, I can make Paper into actual weapons just in case I lose mine."

Making up his mind on the usage of a certain spell, he waved his hand as a trail of illusionary light followed its Path. Then slammed it down onto his other hand.

"Flashbang!"

The use of Illusion Creation, Otto can influence the environment, creating Illusions with colors, sounds, and smells that would be close to reality, allowing them to pass off the false as true. What better way to use illusions than to blind one's target?

After moments of messing around with his Spells, Otto descended back to reality. In his office, he took notice of the suitcase on his desk, and it housed a Herrscher Core of Death. His thoughts were brewing on taking it up to the Sefirah Castle.

Items staying in the Sefirah Castle will be slowly tainted by the aura of the Sefirot that can be detected by some existence, but there is a possibility of the core mutating into something entirely different.

Though keeping it at Schicksal would be the safety option. Faust, as the Will of the Honkai, was Nigh-Omnipotent, but still Omnipotent, and so "Them" cracking into the Sefirah Castle through the Core's connection would be a problem.

'Faust will never find out my fraudulent behavior.'

Of many of his items, keeping the crystal Monocle above the gray fog wouldn't be a problem, and he soon sacrificed up there with a ritual. He would only pull it out when necessary or acting in a swindling way.

After returning to his office, Otto made up his mind to carry the suitcase with the Herrscher Core and return it to the Schicksal Vault, where all the valuable, dangerous items were held.

...

Rainbows, sheep, and horses flew through the plains of a forest filled to the brim with life. Valleys of mountains stood on the horizon, rivers flowing in circles, defying physics, and in the sky was a young child with white snow hair and crimson eyes riding on a glittering horse.

"Gallop, my steed! The Sun shall die and be pierced by my spear!"

The girl wielded her lance toward the blazing sun, and with her steed turning its head backwards, it started saying to her.

BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG

The sounds that came out of its mouth were akin to someone knocking on her door.

"My steed...what thy nonsense is spewing."

Wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Wake up!

"...Can I not dream in peace!"

Her lush dreamscape disappeared into a vacuum of nothing until the girl's version returned to that of her room.

With heavy steps, she moved toward the door and, stepping closer, a familiar musky smell of delicious, divine, and delightful vanilla started overwhelming her nose.

Saliva started dripping from her mouth when tempted by such a sweet smell. Vile thoughts of biting his neck dry started to linger, but with the clinch of her fist, she dispelled them.

'Get your head out of the gutter, Luna...It's Gramps. Maybe if I ask him, he'll let me have just a little sip, or maybe a spoonful. What a good child I am!'

Her hand twisted the door knob and what came in sight was Otto wearing a a simple yet elegant black suit over a white shirt, always paired with a black tie.

"Why do you look like you work at a library?" She plainly asked.

"It's formal wear, sweetie. Did you sleep in yesterday? I can see the drool on you're chin. Did you forget about going to St. Freya?"

Luna quickly wiped her face in embarrassment and closed the door on his face to get ready.

"What a cranky child," Otto muttered to himself.

...

"So this is a plane? It looks quite scary." Luna admired with a fervent gaze and her hands clench on the him of her white dress.

In a Schicksal Hangar lay one of the many planes that Otto would use for his personal life.

The private jet looked like any other plane with its streamlined, compact, smooth, round, and elegant fuselage. Its color scheme was pure white with the symbol of Schicksal, two wings, being plastered on its side.

"It won't be as frightening if you look from the inside, I promise." He let out a hand toward the crimson child, and she took it with a tight grip.

As the two descended the stairs, Luna asked,

"Shouldn't you say goodbye to everyone you know? Like that, Goose."

"Don't worry, I wrote some letters for them about my departure. Let's just worry about whether you can still read, write, and do math." He added on with the look of a parent.

"Of course I do, and writing letters...Isn't that too old school?"

"Ah, I just like formality."

Once upstairs, Luna's eyes started to glitter, seeing the interior. The cabin was pressurized and sound-insulated, giving the space a peaceful vibe. Seats lined up the wall with their fluffy cushions, with one section being suited like a couch and giving ample leg space.

"You like it?"

Luna nodded her head like a cat. "Every piece of furniture looks so comfy...I feel like I could lie upside down on my head and fall asleep."

"Please don't try that. Anyways, we'll be staying here for at least a day. We'll reach there at least by 18:00 or 6 PM in freedom units."

"That's a pretty long ride...Well, at least I can catch up on sleep; waking up early in the morning really doesn't suit me, and I feel exhausted."

'Maybe because you got a food coma from drinking a pint of my blood this morning?' Otto inwardly thought.

"While you go do that, I'll just sketch my musings out." He brought out a sketch book and a pencil from the inner pocket of his blazer.

"Oh, what you gonna draw?" She curiously asked with a yawn.

"Gunblade..."