"Hestia, is that you?" Aiden opened his bloodshot eyes, looking at Hestia standing by his bed. He stretched and sat up.
The magic stone lamp above was already lit, and outside the window, a deep blue night sky cradled a silver crescent moon, silently watching over Orario.
It's already night, isn't it? Hestia's back too. Aiden thought as he glanced around the room, his head still a bit dizzy. Seems like he won't need to stay up all night, just an all-nighter in the dungeon will do.
"Good evening, Hestia." Aiden rubbed his drowsy eyes.
"Good evening, Aiden-kun. Have you already used both grimoires?" Hestia asked excitedly.
"Yes, yes, that's why I slept until now." Aiden nodded, still not fully awake and not yet getting out of bed.
"Haha, finally learned to sleep in bed, huh? It's always more comfortable to sleep in bed." Hestia laughed, patting Aiden.
Because Aiden was still sitting on the bed.
"I'll be right there. What could your remaining two magics be, Aiden-kun?" Hestia eagerly ran back to her room.
"She's more excited than I am," Aiden muttered, rubbing his temples to wake himself up. He then got out of bed and went to the washroom to splash water on his face.
"I'm back!" Hestia came running with a silver needle in her hand.
Aiden lifted his shirt, revealing his well-defined back.
A faint blue light enveloped the room again, and even though Aiden's back was to the light, he could clearly see it.
The appearance of Golden Rule brought benefits beyond just luck; it allowed Aiden to sense his still-weak magic power more clearly.
This time, Aiden was highly focused. He was sure now, it wasn't just his imagination last time. The duration of Sparda power lingered longer, and the faint pain in his right hand was real.
"Could it be that my Devil Bringer is about to appear? In the prequel novel Devil May Cry 4, Nero's Devil Bringer appeared after protecting Kyrie from a demon assault. I got hit by an infant dragon's tail strike; could that work too? And if I need to awaken an incomplete Devil Trigger like in Devil May Cry 4, do I need a similar family stabbing? Damn, is this really the fate of Sparda family members? Should I stab myself to awaken the initial Devil Trigger?" Aiden pondered, frowning as he considered the possibility of self-inflicted awakening.
Hestia's cheerful voice interrupted his thoughts.
"Aiden-kun, these two magics look amazing!" Hestia exclaimed excitedly, handing the status sheet to Aiden.
Aiden quickly dismissed the self-stabbing idea, taking the sheet to examine it.
The new magics were listed below the Golden Rule.
[Firestorm]
Quick Cast Magic
[Tempest]
Supplementary Magic
"Fire and wind, huh? I vaguely remember answering like that. Both are magic that can directly enhance combat abilities. Nice." The status sheet, gripped by Aiden's fingers, started to crumple under the pressure. Aiden's lips slowly curved into a smile, which eventually turned into laughter.
"Hahahaha..."
Hestia looked at Aiden's handsome profile and his well-defined chest, and her mind wandered to the flat-chested Loki. "Loki, that flat-chested woman, doesn't even have a chest as big as Aiden-kun's. Hahaha... I'd love to see her face when she finds out Aiden-kun leveled up again. Hehehe..."
For a moment, Aiden's room was filled with an atmosphere of joy.
...
"Aiden-kun, let me highlight something important for you. You know that magic needs to be activated through chanting, right?" Hestia sees Aiden eager to test his new magic.
"Yes, yes, I know." Aiden, who had seen Riveria casting magic before, nodded.
In this world, all magic is activated by the user chanting a fixed incantation aloud.
The process of chanting or reciting the spell can be compared to constructing the barrel of a cannon. Once it's built, it's then loaded with ammunition. The longer the chanting process, the larger and more powerful the resulting spell will be.
Conversely, a shorter chanting time results in a smaller, less powerful spell, but it also means the spell can be cast more quickly, offering the convenience of instant activation.
"Let's get to the main point. I've heard from friends that the chant for a spell appears in the status magic slot when you learn it. You need to see it to understand the trigger for the magic. However, right now, the record sheet only shows the chant for Tempest. There's nothing for Firestorm and Golden Rule." Hestia said seriously.
The magic slot for Firestorm lacked any chant. It seemed Hestia was addressing the issue of the chant for Firestorm, Aiden thought. He vaguely remembered that in the anime, Bell only needed to shout Firebolt to activate his magic, and Firebolt was also a quick-cast magic. The details of other spells were less clear to him.
"I've definitely activated Golden Rule. I've already experienced it."
"Let's set aside Golden Rule for now, as it's my first time seeing it too. But Aiden-kun, when did you go out? How did you experience it? Did gold fall from the sky?" Hestia seemed a bit excited at the mention of money.
Aiden recounted what had happened earlier that afternoon.
"Incredible, this... this is the Golden Rule effect?" Hestia was now more than a little excited. Her round eyes sparkled with a golden light. "That certainly sounds like Hephaestus' style."
After a while, Hestia calmed down. She coughed lightly, trying to appear mature, and continued, "It seems Golden Rule is like a passive skill, only requiring a bit of magic power to activate. This is just my speculation. The detailed information in the magic slot suggests that Aiden-kun's magic... might not need chanting."
"So, you're saying that Firestorm doesn't need chanting, and I can activate it whenever I want just by thinking about it? Does that mean the trigger is simply my intention?" Aiden asked, contemplating the idea that this magic could be used spontaneously, making it an excellent skill for surprise attacks.
"Though I'm not sure about its power, it does seem like a quick-cast magic... a magic that doesn't require time to chant. I think that's correct." Hestia nodded.
"Then I'll go to the training room and test it out right now." Aiden immediately got out of bed.
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