Overpowered Wizard

The POV was back on Zarian as he sat on a throne made from Quarter Percent Darkness and the Parasite Cloak +3. His new daughter waited on his knee. His friends surrounded him, including Bianca, who parked her big fifty-foot self in a crouch behind his throne.

Everyone waited with bated breath on the dark tower he formed underneath them, keeping them above the haze, smoke, and smashed rubble covering the ruined cavern floor.

The whole place looked like it was about to fall apart, with more openings appearing above in the crumbling ceiling, letting in the late afternoon light.

With a long breath, he let the last thoughts and feelings of the Absolute Hater disperse from his mind. Nothing but faint and quiet echoes of Jack’s horrible nature remained with Zarian.

Hannah had a point.

The POV Shift thing needed to be studied.

It could be something vital with Zarian’s heritage as the descendant of ultra gods. But how could anyone study something that seemed so above it all and incredibly meta?

Zarian figured that was something they could examine later. He had plenty of other things that needed his immediate attention before he and the others could finally sleep.

Chief among them was Naomi’s arrival as a demigoddess of determination.

She dropped back down into the cavern like a supernatural sun. A thickly condensed sphere of high-intensity green-yellow aura surrounded her.

Aura lightning bolts, aura flames, and aura winds crackled and circulated around her naked body. Her curly and bouncy hair flicked and danced with a larger and more luscious volume, like a black bonfire.

All of that was amazing to see, but nothing beat the look of thrill on her face. Seeing that made Zarian feel glad about the risks he’d taken despite Jack’s dangerous nature.

The militant woman landed softly from the long fall. She held her unconscious prize by a fistful of hair, letting Jack drop like a weak noodle beside her.

Zarian looked dead in her eyes, keeping his focus on her face instead of her exposed body.

Gilbert, of course, turned fully around. He looked off at a corner in the cavern and grumbled to himself about decency.

Hannah had no fucks. She was studying the power Naomi generated from her Second Ignition.

Zarian was doing the same with Aura Mastery, and it was frankly amazing.

He had no doubt in his mind that Naomi’s Second Ignition was much greater than Foodie’s Second Ignition. Hell, it might have reached a range of power that was beyond how anyone’s Second Ignition should be.

“My bad for making y’all wait. I had to take a dump,” Naomi said plainly, her voice a wave of aura that billowed against them with a strong gust.

“Are we missing one less mountain back there, hot shot?” Gilbert asked, still looking the other way.

“EW!” Bianca bellowed. “NOT IN FRONT OF THE CHAMA!”

“What’s chama?” Foodie asked.

“Cuban Spanish for the word ‘child,’” Zarian answered, patting his hand over Foodie’s hair.

She had lost the long braid that used to hang from behind her mohawk, which was also chopped down to a bush. She was all scuffed up and dirty still, but the many scars she’d carried were gone already because of Gilbert’s healing skill.

Looking deep into Foodie’s eyes, Zarian firmed up his heart. “By the way, would you like for me to adopt you as my kid? You’ll be my first daughter. You don’t have to answer now. It’s just that I have these strong feelings toward you and–”

“Okay.”

“Uh, maybe think about it longer,” Zarian said, stuttering.

He nearly forgot how blunt and straightforward Foodie could be. It was a struggle to keep himself from smiling as he turned his attention back to Naomi.

He asked, “You okay staying like that, hard charger?”

“I have to stay like this or I will fall unconscious and not wake up for who knows how long,” she explained. “I had to use my Thematic Concept to make this happen and you know how it is…”

Oof.

Naomi was going to hurt for a while after this. Her divine trait, Thematic Concept/Even Further Beyond, allowed her to push far past her mortal limits at the cost of a heavy physical debuff for a decent enough duration. She also risked killing herself if she pushed too hard.

Based on how her words struck like small, compact explosions because of her incredible Second Ignition power, Zarian could tell Naomi was going to be debuffed hard for maybe two weeks or longer.

“Huh, so you have one, too,” Foodie said toward Naomi. “My Thematic Concept is Let Her Cook. I become stronger in situations that deal with cooking, even if it means I have to look at my enemies as my future meals. I must eat them or cook something great or I’ll feel hungry for days.”

Foodie turned to look into Zarian’s eyes. “Do you have one, Father?”

Zarian flinched in his seat. His body went tense. He froze there for two seconds as his heart felt like it was bleeding out.

I WASN’T READY!

Discombobulated, Zarian’s mind unraveled on its own.

Para helped by tapping into his High Rune Mindframe +2 and organizing his thoughts for him like a mental secretary. She quickly reminded him of the order of business he needed to get done before the Floridians could finally rest.

This was important because the longer Naomi held Second Ignition, the longer she would need to recover.

“Okay, there’s a lot of stuff to go over,” Zarian said. “But we’re obviously tired as hell and some of us need our beauty sleep more than others.”

“SIIIIIIIIIII!” Bianca screeched, flapping her golden wings and waving her six arms.

“First, let’s go to the surface so I can seal Overwhelming Darkness away,” Zarian said, saying his instructions aloud for everyone.

They were too tired to rely on impressions through the spider network. Zarian also knew his voice was a decent guide for everyone.

The spectral spiders performed one of their best dance routines. They probably had a lot of routines stocked up for moments like these, especially with how they liked to wave their little wizard hats around with a foreleg.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Through them, Zarian cast Void Waltz to whisk everyone off the dark tower, leaving it to collapse.

They made a quick jaunt through the void and ended up on the courtyard of a nearby castle mountain top. Zarian chose here instead of Castle Grimrock because the place was crumbling.

He still had to go back to Grimrock, specifically the floors below, to finish some business there, too. He also forgot about his new sword. He couldn’t forget that.

Wait, I can just bring it to me. Zarian used his spectral spiders to cast Void Waltz again.

The big black thing of a sword appeared from wrinkled air above him. He used Aura Mastery to circle the air into a cushion underneath the sword and keep it floating for a little while.

Zarian then sealed away Overwhelming Darkness in its entirety, although he had some struggle toward the end, which was strange. He kept note of that for later as he placed whorls, spirals, geometric shapes, and more dark tribal-looking symbols on his arms as full-sleeves using Aura Mastery + Dark Affinity.

The dark-ink sealing marks on his arms acted as an extra precaution, which settled down Overwhelming Darkness some more.

Para shapeshifted away from being a throne of claws, spines, and monstrous leather skin covered in an array of dazzling lights. She returned to her original form as the Parasite Cloak +3. Her ragged strips billowed and waved while shining with many inner aura lights inside of her dark red leathery material.

With Foodie in Zarian’s arms as he stood, the little goblin girl looked with wide-eyed fascination at the living cloak and all its magical glory.

Zarian wished he could let Foodie relax and enjoyed the splendors of her new freedom, but he had to acknowledge the major benefit of having her. It felt greedy, but that was why he was in the free evil sub-alignment.

He knelt down and placed Foodie on the floor. His heart jerked with pain at how she clung onto him for a second longer before letting go. Her eyes shook with emotion, which hurt his heart even more.

I REALLY WASN’T READY!

Zarian used his free evil +4 to keep a straight face. He smiled a little as he worked up to making a request.

“Hey, Foodie, can you do us a favor? Can you cook us a feast that’ll, well, help us rest and grow for the next time we wake up? We haven’t checked our notifications for the past two weeks, and after a nonstop crawl to get you and close the Grimrock Hell Gate, we’re expecting some big returns and–”

“I see,” Foodie said, perking up. “You don’t have to explain any further. I know what to do to help everyone, Father.”

Zarian’s mask broke. He grasped at his chest as he bent over, as if the little goblin had just stabbed him.

Why was she so cute when she called him ‘Father?’

It should feel wrong. She once had parents. The late Grabber and late Wicky. Now here Zarian was, sweeping in to take their place.

“I’m sorry, Foodie. You’ve been through a lot, and I’m taking advantage,” he muttered. “We can pay you. And you don’t have to feel pressured to act like my daughter. I don’t even know how to be a parent. I have no role models for that other than fucked up foster parents.”

“I don’t want to interrupt this heartfelt spiel, but I’m risking a heart attack,” Naomi admitted, her voice still sounding like mini-explosions. “And this little hateful boy here already cost me one revive from the Divine Revival Charm.”

Ah, shit.

There was one troubling part about Zarian having let Gilbert and Naomi get their moments against Jack. The Absolute Hater had shown multiple times how he could pull out bullshit power ups and strengthen himself for the occasion.

Zarian had felt nervous throughout from holding back, but in the end, they had gotten the best results. Gilbert had gotten his hit back, avenging himself and his comrades. Naomi had achieved Second Ignition, even at the risk of death.

And Jack was lying there unconscious and buck naked as the day he was born.

“Naomi is right,” Foodie said resolutely. “We have to act quickly so you all can grow as much as you can when you wake up later. I need more time to make a proper meal, but you can have the rest of the imp snacks, Naomi. Unfortunately, it isn’t the best meal, but it should help.”

“Fuck it. I got Second Ignition. If I lose out on some points, I’ll be okay.”

Nodding, Foodie summoned from her personal kitchen dimension the imp snacks. The little goblin dumped a hefty pile in front of Naomi.

The ignited beast of a woman dropped onto her knees without shame and stuffed her face. She chomped and slurped ravenously.

She even cheered, which came out as a powerful roar that resounded far and wide. “Damn, this is freaking tasty! Best meal ever!”

Foodie smiled a little at Naomi’s gluttonous act before turning to look at everyone else. She paused on Zarian. The tension was crushing for the wizard.

Foodie sighed. “I will always have a birth father and mother. But they are gone now. You’ve proven great enough that I think it’ll be nice to be adopted by you. And if I’m your daughter, then that means Shadowfell is my mother. It’s a win for me.”

Foodie turned away. “I’ll go hunt some things down and come back to cook up a meal before you all fall asleep. I hope this next meal I make for you and your friends will suffice, my new father.”

Foodie’s words had struck like bombs on Zarian’s mind and a storm of knives to his heart. Zarian’s mind was unraveling even more, but Para’s assistance kept him as focused as possible.

None of the personal pain was a bad thing, but it made Zarian feel a growing sense of dread that he was taking on more than he could handle and that he wasn’t ready. Paradoxically, he still felt thrilled that Foodie was accepting of him as her new father.

Keep it pushing.

Zarian held up his hand. “Wait, Foodie. I don’t want you going out on your own. First, let me call in someone for this comepinga.”

Bianca snorted loudly.

Zarian cupped his hands over his mouth and breathed deeply. Before he could shout, Ruvaria appeared, as if she knew he was going to beckon her.

Zarian felt a little disappointed that he couldn’t shout for her. He noticed the humor shining through her eyes and the tiny smirk forming on her face.

His dear teacher, Empress Ruvaria the Sorceress Queen, was quite the character.

She was a petite woman of elven descent, pale skin, shining emerald eyes, and silver-gold hair that reached down like a waterfall to her ankles. Today, she wore a simple green dress and brown leather-thong sandals with a few golden accessories that shone beautifully under the late afternoon light.

Zarian opened and closed his mouth as he beheld the meeting between the strongest Master Ranker and the mythical cook. The two examined each other like two cats meeting for the first time.

“You’re a teeny thing,” Ruvaria said.

“Did Zarian come to your lands to conquer, taking you as his, too?” Foodie asked, big ears tilting.

Gilbert fell over with an uproar of laughter. He was still turned away from Naomi’s naked body as she did nothing but feast on the cooked imp meat.

Bianca reached down for Ruvaria with one giant hand, and the elf teleported out of the way. Then Bianca reached down with all six hands, and Ruvaria kept teleporting in between the grab attempts of the monster princess.

“We’re really falling apart at the seams,” Hannah said wearily.

She walked around and raised her hand. Using her Aura Mechanic trait and golem magic, she grabbed Zarian’s new sword from the air. She studied it with a half-lidded gaze as she moved over to Jack. She looked down at the troublesome hater, then pushed the toe of her boot against his shoulder.

“I’m curious about what you want to do with this one,” Hannah asked. “You mentioned something about a dungeon project, in fact.”

“Yeah, a dungeon project. As in, turn him into a dungeon,” Zarian said. “He fucked around. Now he gets to find out in a whole new way.”

A foreboding silence swept in. They were all thinking about the implications of that, Jack becoming a dungeon.

Zarian used the silence to test his Aura Mastery + Unraveled Mind on Jack’s profile. Thankfully, Gilbert had his Tranquilizer Touch +2 pumped fully into the hater, so Zarian could experiment and try to find ways through the hater’s runes.

Unfortunately, the profile itself shifted and changed in minute and painful ways that made it clear it was set against Zarian. There was no stealing a copy of Jack’s skills when he was the mortal enemy of the Dark Lord.

I’ll get something out of you, Jack, that’s for sure, Zarian thought grimly.

Bianca interrupted the lull by snatching at Ruvaria again like a pouncing bird. She succeeded.

The elf empress looked down grumpily while Bianca’s hands clasped around her body and hugged her like a doll. Somehow, Ruvaria kept her impeccable bearing.

“It is honestly better to have him turned into a dungeon than to kill him,” Ruvaria said, picking up the conversation.

“Really?” Hannah asked, looking away from Jack to Zarian.

The Madness Wizard was still down on his knees in front of his new daughter. His attention had veered away again before snapping toward Hannah.

“Uh, yeah, I guess. I just wanted to make use of Jack after all that he’d done, especially with how powerful he became,” Zarian said. “I can’t steal a skill from him, either. But can you imagine the crazy shit a dungeon based on him would create? Maybe it would be mythical, or a high legendary grade that’s close to Level 100 starting off.”

“There’s more to it than just that,” Ruvaria said, shifting slightly to get comfortable in Bianca’s hold. “The Ascended Heavens could’ve used Jack like a special weapon if you killed him.”

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