Christian B. ($20), Julien M. ($20), Zachary H. ($20), Sam K. ($20), Zachary Z. ($10), Douglas E.M. ($10), Chuasaichwing ($10), Jacob K. ($10), Damian D. ($5), Max F. ($5), Andrei S. ($5), Tshuki ($5), Katrina M. ($5), Dante A.S.P. ($5)
“Please, come on into the office,” said the middle-aged Deputy Guild Master Joseph with a friendly-looking smile.
Vandalieu was a little hesitant.
“Vandalieu-sama, a Deputy Guild Master would never personally handle a temporary registration. It is certain that he is planning something… However, it would be unwise to openly disobey him, so I believe it best that you follow him to the office,” Chipuras advised.
“Alright,” said Vandalieu, giving a nod both to Chipuras and Joseph.
Chipuras’s advice was reasonable, and he did have a bad feeling, but there was no reaction from Danger Sense: Death. This meant that even in the worst-case scenario, he would be able to make his way out of the situation with brute force.
Even without using Soul Destruction Fighting Technique and magic, it would be easy for Vandalieu to destroy the Commerce Guild building and leave if he went on a rampage with his claws.
“What will you do in the meantime, Mom?” Vandalieu asked Darcia.
“Let’s see… Maybe I’ll go ahead and change Jobs, then,” said Darcia. “Merchants’ employees can use the Job-changing room, right?” she asked Joseph.
“Yes, of course – You’re mother and son?!” Joseph exclaimed in surprise, looking from Darcia’s face to Vandalieu’s.
The receptionist behind him seemed surprised as well, but she didn’t express it.
“… His true thoughts appear on his face, in his behavior and even in his words, even more so than the receptionist who looks to be around twenty years old. I, Chipuras, feel some unease as to whether this city’s Commerce Guild can be relied upon,” said Chipuras.
Vandalieu felt the same unease as Chipuras, but he responded to Joseph’s question.
“Yes, I take after my father, so my mother and I don’t look alike. But one of my eyes is the same color as hers,” he said.
“I-I see… Well, in any case, please follow me,” said Joseph, the expression of surprise still fixed on his face as he led Vandalieu to the office.
Joseph motioned for Vandalieu to sit down on a chair inside the room, so Vandalieu sat down. Joseph began speaking immediately.
“So, you wish to open a food cart… Why in this city in particular?” he asked Vandalieu. “You were not born and raised here, nor were you living in any neighboring village or city, were you?”
“Is an explanation of the motive behind my business required for the temporary registration?” Vandalieu asked in turn.
“I apologize if I have upset you, but you are a special case. After all, you are a Dhampir… That Dark Elf lady is your real mother, isn’t she? Not your adoptive mother. Thus, it is only natural for me to be curious,” Joseph explained. “Why is a Dhampir like you trying to start a food cart business in a city that should be unfamiliar to you?”
Joseph did not have access to some special information network, but as he worked at the Commerce Guild, all kinds of information found its way to his ears. If there had been a Dark Elf and her Dhampir child living in this place or the surrounding areas, there would certainly have been rumors about them, and Joseph would have heard them.
The fact that he had not heard of them meant that this Dhampir and his mother had come from another land.
The city of Morksi was renowned within the Alcrem Duchy for being a commerce hub, but there were several cities in the duchy that were just as large. Why had Vandalieu chosen this city in particular?
And the thing that Joseph was most curious about was… Why a food cart?
“Since you are a Dhampir, you could earn much greater profits by becoming an adventurer, could you not? And you have been living in a Dark Elf settlement up until now, I assume? I am sure that you did not come to this city just to begin a food cart business,” Joseph said.
“I see. Vandalieu-sama, this man has not heard any rumors regarding you and Darcia-sama, so he is assuming that you were living in the Dark Elf settlement that Darcia-sama was born in,” explained Chipuras.
Vandalieu understood this, but he gave a small internal sigh at how troublesome this was.
“… Due to certain circumstances, we had to leave the place that we have been living in until now, and I came to this city with my mother to begin a new life in a new land. I chose to start a food cart business rather than become an adventurer because I am more interested in business than adventuring. That’s all,” he told Joseph.
Now that Darcia was here, this was the story that had replaced his previous story of being an apprentice who was fortunate enough to survive a bandit attack. It was different from the story that he had told the guards Kest and Aggar the previous day, but even if Joseph were to investigate that far, Vandalieu intended to push through by telling him, “Sorry, I lied. Is there a problem with that?”
After all, it wasn’t illegal to lie to guards.
Smuggling contraband goods into the city and evading taxes would be illegal, and it was also of course illegal to lie to guards that were investigating a crime. However, as long as no crime was involved, there was no problem with lying to guards while entering the city.
This was possibly difficult to believe from the perspective of someone from Earth, particularly someone from modern-day Japan. But if visitors to the city were treated so strictly, less people would come, and if the guards held too much authority, it would be difficult to detect corruption.
Of course, Vandalieu was only able to be as defiant as he was because he had taken over the city’s criminal organization.
But if he asks too many questions, I’ll have to have Eleanora and the others do something, so I want him to stop, Vandalieu thought.
Perhaps sensing how Vandalieu felt, or perhaps this topic was only a preface to the main topic coming up ahead, Joseph stopped his questioning.
“I see,” he said. “Let us leave it at that… So, moving on the main topic, do you have any interest in religion?”
It seemed that it was the latter. Joseph was wearing a beaming smile.
“Despite my appearance, I am well-known to be a humble worshiper of Alda, and Alda’s peaceful faction, which advocates that we should co-exist with Vida’s races, has gained much influence in the Orbaume Kingdom as of late. Even here in the Alcrem Duchy, they are becoming a force whose influence we cannot ignore,” he said.
“… I have heard as much during my travels,” said Vandalieu.
He was aware of this even without Joseph telling him.
Only humans had previously been able to become guards, government officials and knights in the Alcrem Duchy. Vida’s Church had protested over a long period of time, demanding a change to the system, and in recent years, they had received support from Alda’s peaceful faction.
The system had been revised, and Vida’s races were now able to become public workers such as guards, like the Beast-kin Kest that Vandalieu had met at the city’s gate.
… It was unpleasant for Vandalieu to think about this, but all of this was largely because of the influence of the ‘Blue-flamed Sword’ Heinz, the leader of the Five-colored Blades.
It wasn’t that Heinz had personally come to the Alcrem Duchy to express his objections to the duke. The duke had simply accepted the suggestions of Vida’s Church and Alda’s peaceful faction after Heinz became an honorary earl.
It was likely that the duke had wanted to show Heinz, a national hero, that he was willing to actively make compromises.
Thus, the persecution of Vida’s races had decreased within the Alcrem Duchy at least on the surface, but it had not disappeared completely, and Heinz almost never visited the Alcrem Duchy, so there was almost nobody associated to the Five-colored Blades here. That was why Vandalieu had thought that it would be the perfect place for his plan.
If he had gone to a Duchy where the influence of Vida’s Church was strong, there might have been people insisting on protecting him because he was a Dhampir. But if he had gone to a Duchy where Alda’s extremist faction were influential, then he would likely have run into trouble very frequently.
The Alcrem Duchy was right in between these two points.
“So, what is this main topic?” Vandalieu asked, curious as to why Joseph had brought up this information as if he were well-informed on the matter.
Joseph put a hand on his chin, and his smile grew even broader. “Impatient, I see. I believe that the strategic use of words is one of the thrills of business, but I suppose you will learn that with experience,” he said. “I would like to propose a scheme that would make us very rich. If I use my connections, I could arrange a meeting with the S-class adventurer Heinz, who is the symbol of Alda’s peaceful faction, and those involved with him. I am sure that there is no need for me to describe just how many business opportunities there would be if one had connections to the Five-colored Blades, who are national heroes and honorary nobles, and those associated with them… We are talking about sums of money that you could never earn in a lifetime of running a food cart business. This is a chance that cannot be missed –”
“I decline,” said Vandalieu.
It seemed that his bad feeling had been right. Chipuras gave a silent prayer for Joseph, who had inadvertently stepped on a landmine.
After Darcia finished her Job change, she was waiting in the lobby in front of the front desk when an expressionless but tired-looking Vandalieu returned.
“Our discussion has finished… That man doesn’t know when to give up,” he said as he casted Silence, a barrier that prevented oscillations of air particles from passing through, so that the receptionist who had returned to the front desk couldn’t listen in on their conversation.
“Welcome back, Vandalieu. What kind of discussion was it?” Darcia asked.
“Nothing important. It seems that he wanted to use me to make connections to people associated to the Five-colored Blades.”
“He is not suited to scheming,” Chipuras remarked. “He is third-rate as an actor.”
Joseph had pretended to offer Vandalieu a way to get rich quickly. But as Chipuras said, his true intentions were so obvious that even Vandalieu, who was not very good at reading what other people were really thinking, could see them.
If Vandalieu thought about it, he did understand… but no matter how valuable a connection with S-class adventurers who were also honorary nobles and their associates would be, no matter how vast the sums of money moving if they were entrusted with work would be, these were not things that a boy starting a food cart business could handle.
It seemed that Joseph had not believed Vandalieu’s lies, but he certainly wouldn’t suspect that he was the emperor who ruled the region within the Boundary Mountain Range and the Demon Continent.
Thus, if the scheme that Joseph had suggested to Vandalieu actually materialized, the profits would largely enter his own pockets.
At the very least, he had likely planned it that way. Joseph had persistently hounded Vandalieu, and Vandalieu had left the office after repeatedly turning the scheme down.
“That’s… What a problematic person. He has a high position in society, too,” Darcia sighed.
She knew that although he was on the small scale for a villain, he had considerably high status within the Commerce Guild, so it would be difficult for Vandalieu to silence him by brainwashing him using Mental Encroachment.
Darcia drew closer to whisper in Vandalieu’s ear. “Did Eleanora-san and the others not tell you anything about that Joseph person?” she asked.
There was no way that Eleanora and the others who had taken over the city’s criminal organization would have no knowledge of individuals related to the organization or those that the organization was keeping under surveillance. That was what Darcia thought.
But Vandalieu shook his head lifelessly. “I did ask them about the Commerce Guild. I heard that the Guild Master and the three Deputy Guild Masters were harmless people who think of nothing but schemes to make money, but that’s all.”
“… Umm, so what exactly does that mean?” Darcia asked, confused.
Vandalieu paused for a moment before answering. “In other words, he’s not connected to the criminal organization, but it seems that he’s still problematic for me.”
Joseph had been tiresome for Vandalieu, but he was not a criminal. He had tried to use his words to take advantage of Vandalieu, but even that wasn’t some kind of fraudulent plan; it was merely business talk.
Joseph’s personality and history may not have been praiseworthy. There were probably moral issues with his everyday deeds, too. But he hadn’t done anything causing him to attract the attention of the criminal organization.
That was why Eleanora and the others had not given Vandalieu any warning about him.
“The guard named Aggar who forced a small bribe from Vandalieu-sama is the same. I believe that these small things do not deserve the attention of a criminal organization, so Eleanora and the others did not think that you should be cautious of him,” said Chipuras.
“But according to him, he can introduce Vandalieu to those people, right? Then doesn’t that mean that he’s related to Alda’s peaceful faction or something?” said Darcia.
“Mom, anyone protecting a Dhampir would be able to meet those guys and the people associated with them,” said Vandalieu.
The Five-colored Blades were taking care of a Dhampir girl, Selen. If there were a Dhampir in the country other than her, Alda’s peaceful faction would respond even to a proposed introduction from someone whose face and name was completely unknown.
That was the extent of the ‘connections’ that Joseph had mentioned. He had essentially been pretending.
“As someone who was once in the same position, what do you think?” Vandalieu asked Chipuras.
“… Even as a merchant, I believe he is third-rate,” Chipuras replied, giving his opinion on Joseph as someone who had once been a Deputy Guild Master of a Commerce Guild himself. “The fact that his true intentions were easily seen through by Vandalieu-sama already puts him below an apprentice, and his scheme itself is also sloppy. Perhaps it would be possible for him to earn great sums of money if he were to take advantage of Vandalieu-sama to create connections with those people – This was what had occurred to him the moment he heard that a Dhampir has come to make a temporary registration, and he simply jumped at the chance.”
It seemed that this was the case. Vandalieu was aware that he wasn’t good at telling what other people were thinking, so he gave a nod, not denying Chipuras’s conclusion.
“In other words, Vandalieu looked like such an easy mark that he attracted the eyes of even someone that we’d normally never need to be cautious of,” said Darcia.
“I think that’s right. It just so happened that Joseph was at the Guild today so he was the one who got involved, but if we came yesterday or tomorrow instead, I’m sure another Deputy Guild Master or the Guild Master himself would have gotten involved in the same way,” said Vandalieu.
“… Drawing attention is pretty hard, isn’t it,” said Darcia, giving a deep sigh. But her face quickly lit up again. “Still, we shouldn’t be worrying about it this much. It was something that was bound to happen after the fact that you’re a Dhampir became known,” she said.
“Concealing my race would have made it harder to draw Birkyne out, and it would also have hindered the missionary work that will be done later… Even if I disguised myself as a human or Elf, I’d probably have looked suspicious,” Vandalieu said in agreement.
It would have been possible for him to conceal his race by using the Demon King’s ink sacs to change the color of his pupils. However, that would put his social position at risk.
And in any case… it would be problematic if people were to find out about Vandalieu’s claws, the fangs that protruded from his mouth, his regenerative abilities that no human could possibly possess or his Dark Vision that gave him the ability to see in complete darkness as if it were the middle of the day.
If he made it clear that he was a Dhampir, such things would not arouse any suspicion. And if anyone were to see that he clearly had better Attribute Values than should be normal for his age, if they were not very well-informed about Dhampirs, they would just assume that it was because of his rare race.
“But it would be troublesome if he were to hold a grudge against Vandalieu-sama for refusing his scheme, and abuse his authority to cause problems for us. I shall go and tell Eleanora and the others to investigate him and keep watch,” said Chipuras.
“No, please stay with us, Chipuras,” Vandalieu instructed him. “I’ll have another Ghost deliver the message… I would feel uneasy without an advisor.”
Chipuras seemed happy that Vandalieu was relying on him, but his smile was a little stiff. “Vandalieu-sama, it is true that I have infiltrated a Commerce Guild before, but… there are times when I am unable to recall my memories from when I was alive, and I have never conducted a food cart business,” he said.
Chipuras had been a subordinate of the Pure-breed Vampire Ternecia, and he had infiltrated the Commerce Guild for the benefit of the evil-god-worshiping Vampire organization. He’d had no true intentions of being a merchant.
It seemed that he was uncertain as to whether he would meet Vandalieu’s expectations if he relied on him too much for advice as a merchant.
“Chipuras, I understand what you’re trying to say. But you’re far more reliable than an amateur like me, so I’m counting on you,” said Vandalieu.
He was even more of an amateur than Chipuras. Chipuras was currently the biggest source of mental support for him after Darcia.
“… Very well. I, Chipuras, shall once again do everything I can in my limited ability for your sake, Vandalieu-sama,” said Chipuras.
“So that settles things, then. Pull yourself together and go and change Jobs, Vandalieu,” said Darcia. “I’ve gained the ‘Magic Staff Clothing User’ Job, so I’ll be able to make better use of the staff that you made for me.”
“I see. You will transform to act as the skewer cart’s salesperson? That should certainly increase profits,” Chipuras remarked.
“… Chipuras-san?” Darcia said, looking sternly at Chipuras.
“I-I have said something terribly rude! Please forgive me!” Chipuras stuttered hastily.
And in the next moment, the muscular Vampire Ghost retreated inside Vandalieu to hide.
“He doesn’t have to be that scared of me,” Darcia muttered. “Have you decided what kind of Job you’re going to choose, Vandalieu?”
“For now. I was thinking of choosing one that would grant Luciliano and Doug’s wishes. I was also considering a leader Job that would give me large increases to my Attribute Values, since I lost to Heinz’s party, but… considering the situation at the time, I think the result wouldn’t have changed even if I had 50% more Attribute Values than I have now. Well then, I’ll be back,” said Vandalieu as he headed for the Guild’s Job-changing room.
This Guild’s Job-changing room had been built at the far end of a corridor, which also had its own door. Those using it would enter the corridor, lock the door from the inside and then go through the corridor into the Job-changing room.
Though Jobs weren’t as important here as in the Adventurers’ Guild, which Jobs which people had was still important information in the Commerce Guild.
《Jobs that can be selected: Whip Tongue Calamity, Vengeful Berserker, Dead Spirit Mage, Dark King Mage, Divine Enemy, Fallen Warrior, Insect Nin, Destruction Guider, Bestower, Dungeon Master, Demon King, Chaos Guider, Hollow King Mage, Eclipse Cursecaster, String User, Demon Ruler, Creator, Demiurge, Pale Rider, Tartarus, Wild Spirit, Dark Battery Cannoneer, Magic Staff Creator, Soul Fighter, God Destroyer, Dream Guider, Qliphoth》
The available Jobs were displayed in Vandalieu’s consciousness as he touched the crystal, and as usual, there were more new Jobs. ‘Magic Staff Creator’ was there because he had created transformation staves, and ‘Soul Fighter’ was related to the ‘Soul Destruction Fighting Technique’ Skill that he had awakened yesterday. The ‘God Destroyer’ Job had likely appeared because he had destroyed Curatos, the god of records.
Curatos was not the first god Vandalieu had destroyed. But now that he thought about it, Curatos was perhaps the first god he had destroyed that was one of the gods that had originally existed in this world from the very beginning, rather than a god belonging to the Demon King’s army.
As for ‘Dream Guider,’ he could think of a hundred reasons it had appeared if he glanced back at his recent past. However, he couldn’t think of a single one for the last Job on the list, ‘Qliphoth.’
‘Qliphoth’… I have no idea what it even means. Even for new Jobs, there probably shouldn’t be any with their titles containing entirely newly created words, so I’ll ask everyone about it later, Vandalieu thought.
And so, he decided to leave figuring out the mysterious Job for later and choosing the Job that he had planned to take.
“I select ‘Bestower,’” he said.
He chose the ‘Bestower’ Job that seemed like it would allow him to lead Luciliano and Doug beyond the bounds of humanity.
He assumed that the ‘Bestower’ Job could cause a change in those whom he granted fragments of himself to. He thought that perhaps it would cause some effect in those who were granted his fragments… in other words, those who consumed the Blood Potion made from his own blood and the fragments of the Demon King that had become a part of him.
《You have acquired the ‘Bestower’ Job!》
《You have acquired the ‘Mutation Induction’ Skill!》
“‘Mutation Induction’… I’ve only ever caused experimental animals to turn into monsters from drinking Blood Potion, so isn’t it a little strange for me to acquire a Skill named that?” Vandalieu wondered. “Umm, let’s see, Luciliano and Doug are –”
Thinking that perhaps something might have happened, Vandalieu sent his consciousness to a pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar in Talosheim.
Several dozen people were in Talosheim’s underground workshop, waiting for Vandalieu’s Job change.
“The main body has now acquired the ‘Bestower’ Job and acquired a Unique Skill named ‘Mutation Induction,” reported the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar that possessed a capsule-shaped head containing countless fist-sized brains. “Has anything unusual occurred to your bodies?”
Luciliano, Doug, the young girls who had become addicted to Vandalieu’s guidance and Emma hastily checked their bodies.
“Hmm… Pulse, heartbeat sound, respiration and body temperature are normal. There does not seem to have been any change,” said Luciliano.
“Our appearances haven’t changed either. Our skin and eyes haven’t changed color, and we haven’t grown fangs or anything either. Right?” said Doug.
“Yes, you haven’t grown a tail or wings or any extra eyes,” said Melissa, who was accompanying Doug.
As far as she could tell, no changes had occurred in any of the young girls, either.
“There are no changes to the experimental animals, either. Maybe this was a failure?” said Legion’s Enma.
Perhaps Vandalieu’s intuition had been wrong this time. But just as everyone began to think this, it happened.
“Hmm? Ugh… Gah! I thought I was merely imagining it, but my body has suddenly grown hot, and I am experiencing heart palpitations, shortness of breath and dizziness! I am unable to remain standing!” Luciliano shouted as he collapsed onto the floor.
“Hey, Ossan, your joke is a bit too forced, it’s not funny – W-woah, I’m experiencing similar symptoms!” shouted Doug.
“Doug?!” Melissa exclaimed in surprise.
“Everyone, please sit down. You might injure yourselves or collide with other people if you collapse, so sit down first,” instructed the pseudo-main-body-type Demon King Familiar.
It wasn’t just Luciliano collapsing as he described the symptoms that he was experiencing; the same symptoms had also occurred in Doug.
The young girls quickly obeyed the Demon King Familiar’s instructions and sat down on the floor, and they seemed to begin experiencing the same symptoms immediately afterwards.
“Hey, they’re going to be alright, right?” said Melissa, looking up at the Demon King Familiar for reassurance as she felt Doug’s body growing hotter and hotter in her arms.
“It seems that there is no danger to their lives, so I believe that these are the side-effects of some kind of mutation that is currently occurring inside them,” the Demon King Familiar said.
All it knew was that these symptoms were not the effects of some kind of poison, and their lives were not in danger.
“Melissa… If I do change race, there’s something I need to tell you…” Doug groaned, struggling to speak as he lay in Melissa’s arms.
“Doug, save your sinister jokes for later!” said Melissa.
“No, I’m not trying to set up a death flag by making a joke… There’s something I really need to tell you! Wait, huh? I’m fine now?” said Doug, suddenly realizing that his extreme heart palpitations and dizziness were gone.
He was still a little hot and out of breath, but even that was fading away.
“W-what was that?” Melissa asked, bewildered.
“As Master said, it seems that it was a side-effect of some ongoing mutation,” said Luciliano, standing up and wiping the sweat from his forehead with a handkerchief as if nothing had happened. “Look at your Statuses to see what has happened. It should be very clear,” he told everyone else.
“I feel it, I feel it! I can feel Vandalieu-sama so strongly!” said one of the girls.
“Ah, it feels like I’ve returned to back when I was first rescued!” said another.
“… It seems that there are many children who can tell that something has occurred without checking,” said Luciliano.
“I can’t tell, so I’ll check my Status… Dark Human?!” Doug exclaimed, finding that his race had changed from human to Dark Human.
- Name: Darcia
- Race: Chaos Elf Source
- Age: 0 years old
- Title: Witch, Holy Mother, Monster’s Parent, Vida’s Incarnation, Empress Mother
- Job: Magic Staff Clothing User
- Level: 0
- Job history: Magical Girl, Life Empress Mage, Magical Idol
- Passive skills:
- Dark Vision
- Magic Resistance: Level 10
- Physical Resistance: Level 10
- Status Effect Resistance: Level 10
- Monstrous Strength: Level 5
- Super Rapid Regeneration: Level 5
- Vitality Enlargement: Level 8 (LEVEL UP!)
- Mana Enlargement: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Automatic Mana Recovery: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Increased Mana Recovery Rate: Level 6 (LEVEL UP!)
- Self-Enhancement: Vandalieu: Level 10
- Self-Enhancement: Guidance: Level 10
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Creator: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attribute Values: Ruling: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Allure: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Strengthened Attack Power while equipped with a bow: Medium
- Strengthened Defense Power while equipped with non-metal armor: Medium
- Strengthen Followers: Level 1
- Active skills:
- Cooking: Level 5
- Housework: Level 5
- Hunting God Archery: Level 1
- Hearth-Style Dagger Technique: Level 1
- Unarmed Fighting Technique: Level 10
- No-Attribute Magic: Level 5
- Fine Magic Control: Level 1 (Awakened from Mana Control!)
- Life Empress Magic: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Water-Attribute Magic: Level 10
- Wind-Attribute Magic: Level 10
- Spiritual Magic: Level 4 (LEVEL UP!)
- Dismantling: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Spirit Form: Level 1
- Surpass Limits: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Chant Revocation: Level 5
- Coordination: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
- Goddess Descent: Level 2 (LEVEL UP!)
- Clergyman: Level 2 (NEW!)
- Dancing: Level 3 (NEW!)
- Singing: Level 3 (NEW!)
- Surpass Limits: Magic Staff: Level 1 (NEW!)
- Staff Technique: Level 2 (NEW!)
- Unique skills:
- Vida’s Incarnation
- Life Attribute Gods’ Divine Protection (Those allied with Vida)
- Chaos Elf Founder
- Vandalieu’s Divine Protection
- Divine Metal Skeleton
- Demon Eye of Regeneration: Level 5
- Chaos
Job Explanation:
Spirit Warrior
A Job that can be acquired by someone with an affinity for the death attribute, has experienced death, possesses the ‘Spirit Form’ Skill and possesses the ‘Unarmed Combat Technique’ Skill at a certain Level or above.
It is a Job that offers a bonus to the ‘Materialization’ Skill which allows the user to materialize their own spirit form and use them in place of their own limbs or as weapons. It is a Job that is mainly related to the ‘Unarmed Combat Technique’ Skill, in the same category as Jobs such as ‘Unarmed Fighter.’
Job explanation:
Magical Idol
A Job that can be acquired by someone who has acquired magic-related Skills and possesses a transformation staff made specifically for them. It provides bonuses to the Singing, Dancing and Staff Technique Skills in addition to magic-related Skills.
Mage-type Jobs grant low Attribute Value growth except Mana and Intelligence, but this Job also provides large bonuses to Vitality, Agility and Stamina.
According to Kanako Tsuchiya, the first one to discover this Job in this world, “Idols can’t afford to run out of stamina!”
TLN: In previous chapters, the ‘Bestower’ Job was translated as ‘Enchanter.’ Given its description in this chapter, I have retranslated it.
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NOVEL DISCUSSION
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OneTed
I want mc to get Eclipse Cursecaster. It’s cool sounding, and effective in the long term. Probably.
Zenden1st
the progression to higher social standing never stops
Ereshkigal
“I was also considering a leader Job that would give me large increases to my Attribute Values, since I lost to Heinz’s party, but… considering the situation at the time, I think the result wouldn’t have changed even if I had 50% more Attribute Values than I have now.”
No, I think you win that fight. Why is Van’s confidence so low? I mean 1v5? He forces two btches out, attack them mentally (telling them how they’ve been killing Vida’s races), almost destroy Edgar’s soul, damaged Heinz and the other btch’s soul, kill a god, destroy most of his dungeon’s floors, and make the god act like he was a btch and forced him to use such disgusting method just to drive you away. While you only suffered from your own attack? How come you still think you lost? It’s good to be humble, but have some confidence man.
Wolfwood824
I think, to Van, he didn’t accomplish his objective, so he considers it a loss.
Ronin
Add to that even Rodiot said Van had about 2/3 of his actual power. But I think Van is the type that wants an overwhelming victory for it to be considered successful.
Chiu ChunLing
Luciano is a researcher to the core.
And Doug thought he was joking.
Zauberbiest
lol mom chans job changes r all weird and uncool
A_wandering_otter
But despite their weird names they are all vary practical bringing bonuses to basically all attributes
Jason
Doug getting “dark human” title is kinda lowkey racist
HAHA!
hungsayori
“I feel it, I feel it! I can feel Vandalieu-sama so strongly!” said one of the girls.
O w O
polynesianvibez
meta humans?
thanks for the chapter
SuprGofi
Black is often the theme of death.
Van forces:
Recently multiple 13th rank allies.
Blessed by multiple gods fast development and stat boasted by multiple venues.
Majority of races are battle ready.
Easy access to mega materials.
Members easily unite and cooperate.
New breeds are gonna be created from this chapter on (enhanced humans).
Teleportation thru legion and guda.
Van breaching reincarnate god powers since he is close to soul tempering that even rod can’t.
Alda and rod:
Humans are still against each. Crappy unity.
A ton of make shift heroes from ordinary people and they are blessed by one god. Who knows what the soul damage is from gods soul clone descent has on normal people.
Ancient god gear and demon fragments seal gear.
The offense team of reincarnaters that aren’t that OP unless they all unite and take to time grow, which so far seems unlikely, since they are just rushing to van (lack of information from rod).
TruePath111
What’s with the Author and color black? Well I hope their lifespan increase
Kionzel
Black is the theme of death in many cultures. To represent the void, night, an eclipse. Many beings associated with the underworld in various religions use black, which contrasts well with the white of bones. Why? Does the color black offend you?
Vitor
Most people you ask which colour would they associate with virginity would answer white (in asociation with purity), that’s most likely it
Shiiny2.0
Allure: Level 7 (LEVEL UP!)
does this level up occurred because of the incident of the mercenaries ogling her breasts?
A_wandering_otter
Most likely idol performance
Jonathan Hurd
So some people have brought up what kind of theme traitor author is trying to get across and it got me thinking. I think the theme of the story is the difference between societies where people boost each other up versus ones in which they tear each other down.
This thought occurred to me after I thought about Hiruishakyu the Evil God of Joyful Life and compared his teachings to Aldas societies. What I find is that they match up fairly well. They both have a hierarchy where there are some above you and others below. The big difference between the two is Joyful Lifes teachings believes the oppressed can actually rise up to become the oppressors. In the Amid Empire and Orbaume Kingdom there is this instilled belief that peasants will always be trampled by nobles.
We saw that when Van went to the slave mining town in Hartner Duchy. The leader was convinced he was untouchable because he was a noble and the slaves believed him. We saw this with Raymond and Paris in the Sauron Duchy. They believed their goals were more important than all the Scylla and that the Scylla should be proud to die for them. Add in the only reason they had support from the Orbaume Kingdom fighting the Amid Empire versus Iris is they connected to other nobles in the Orbaume Kingdom. After the Sauron Duchy was reclaimed it didn’t matter how hard Van and his friends worked they were expected to move aside for the nobles.
I think this theory is best shown though when we look at Heinzs criticism of Van during their talk. Heinz didn’t care about the oppressed people Van saved he points at the inconvenience he caused nobles. He blames Van because the Hartner Duke increased taxes to fix the castle Van broke. He blames Van for the Sauron Duke ignoring the warnings and subsiding a while knight regimen. In the Orbaume Kingdom Nobles are right and peasants should roll over and be oppressed.
For the Amid Empire the system is a little different. The food chain goes Alda, Nobles, then peasants. Even Marshakul is getting replaced because Alda decided to throw his entire empire at Van.
What I do find funny though is at least with the Joyful Life there was no ceiling. Everyone was fair game to dethrone. Even the God himself. For human society and Alda they have worked hard to never let anyone near their positions.
Compare this to Vidas country. No wars are fought. Countries all allied together. Even the physically weaker humans are respected and looked after instead of abused or used. Everyone does what they’re good at and support one another.
Another interesting comparison point is to look at how easily an Evil God with a world view of survival of the fittest fit into each society. In Aldas society Hirishakyu fit in perfectly. The Pure Breed vampires infected every part because they can rule over and use the nobles to rule over everyone below them.
Vidas society on the other hand. When Ravofard came in there was immediate rejection at every step. He had to fight tooth and nail to take ground.
Another interesting part I find is how people like Arin and the other Bravers look at Van versus Aldas society. They seem to fit in very well to Aldas model especially Asagi.
I think we can all agree that the discovery of Death Attribute has caused a mess on Origin but I find it interesting who Asagi and Hirioto blame for that chaos. You notice they never rail against the government’s that keep sacrificing people. They turn their anger and blame towards victims like Van and the Eighth Guidance. They seem to see the government as an untouchable construct they are unable to change so they’d rather sacrifice the victims it’s after to try and reduce the damage.
To me the message I see so far from the author is that the most of the world’s are built on the idea of kicking one another down and a lot of us take that for granted, but even monsters who were literally made only for destruction were able to learn to love and respect their fellow man. Maybe it takes a uniting enemy like Alda who is really coming to kill you all but they did pull it off. Things don’t have to be shitty. People together can change it.
VEreality
Guduranis was right from the beginning. The strongest has the last and most important word in anything. This is the world in which all of this happens.
Alda and his faction were stronger than Vida and her faction, therfore they now rule. They can lie to themselves all they want and say that it was all because they fought for greater good, but it’s not case.
However, the truth is that being ‘powerful’ doesn’t resume to just being strong. This is where Guduranis did dumb. Why is that exactly? Because in this world the power is literally in the hands of the people. If they follow someone, that person is going to be empowered by them.
Alda had more supporters than Vida after the war with the Demon King and that was all that he needed to win.
Van is playing in a different league from all of them. Even Vida herself. He is not followed because he wanted to be. He is not followed because he tries to be an example for the people. He is not followed because he tries to be the hero that will save everyone. He is not followed because he lies to the masses. He is not followed because he is a creator of all. He is not followed because he forced or brainwashed people to.
He is followed because he, through his ACTIONS, inspires people to be the best versions of themselves. And in time, anyone who is willing to listen to him or accept him realises that by following him they can be free and happy.
This little greedy but lovable death god is not only the one that this people deserve. He is the one they need.
madstack
That’s one well thought-out theory. Consider me convinced, though I’m, not sure if the author did it intentionally.
SuicidalSkeletin
That changes nothing. At least somewhere along the story the author realized the contrasting social structures he had created and he’s making good use of them
Kazza
Pretty much completely agree. My only real two cents is I also think Densuke is trying to get something across about being the “one” in power.
To explain, I think he’s trying to make the point that trying to climb to the top by trampling over others in the process will in turn only lead to self-destruction.
Take Alda. He has been the top god for millions of years. He’s the most powerful, has the most followers, etc. But he’s not content, and never will be. He’s constantly chasing a Utopia that will never return, but can never let it go. In the process, he’s burned so much to the ground that he may never be forgiven. He’s attacked his sister, murdered her children, stopped progress to a point the world is literally stagnating, and many other crimes. However, he’s convinced he is still right, because he’s only surrounded himself with those who agree. Only his champions, subordinate gods, and followers are inside his echo chamber. He won’t let anyone else in, and he’ll destroy anything that tries.
And that, in essence, is why he’ll never realize his mistakes, and in turn never succeed. Chaos, despite the name, is as natural as it can be. Ian Malcolm said it best – “Life finds a way.” The more you try to control, the more it will fight back.
Then there’s Rodcorte. A compete idiot with power he doesn’t deserve. And because of that power, he’s become lazy, ineffective, and cowardly. He constantly puts plans into motion and then… Leaves them alone. He cripples himself, his allies, and nearly anyone who benefits from his gifts because he won’t help them or even explain their potential. He – if not stopped accidently by Van – almost doomed trillions of people to save himself, despite the fact that he started the conflict. He is Sloth incarnate, and why shouldn’t he be? He literally created a system of reincarnation in which he needs to do nothing. And when he is driven by others to do something (Alda’s stagnation, Vida’s alternate circle, Van’s existing), he always blames them and treats them as enemies. Even now, when he’s supposed to be working with Alda, he circumvents his requests, keeps secrets that would benefit him, and doesn’t even communicate unless required to.
And the list goes on.
Marshukzarl – Out of paranoia, decides the only way to deal with other power is to control or destroy it. He controls Schneider by his threat to the villages, controls the church through bribery, and tried to control then destroy Van and failed. Now, all of them have come to bite him. Schneider wants to kill him for his crime of rape, the church will certainly dispose of him, and Van has declared war.
Braver – Out of a misshapen ideal of Justice, imposed his values and ideals on others. However, not only did this make the others hate him, it does nothing to protect them from those who would try to kill them. He’s blind, but due to his power he thinks he can see and his worst enemy is allowed to freely walk inside his house.
Birkyne – Wanted the top seat so much, he basically destroyed the Vampire Alliance and consequently leaving him alone with too much responsibility.
Gudurandis – Might makes right, but fear will always bring dissatisfaction. The more you control through fear, the more others will look for a chance to take you down.
Even Vida herself isn’t above this theme. Her plan may have had good intentions, but many of her species have inherent flaws. The ghouls are infertile, vampires are weak to sunlight/silver and races like Arachne and Scylla require other species to reproduce. There is also the unaccounted fact that these races have a potential for evil, just like any other race. And if they are born with power greater then others with no restraint (The Pure Breeds come to mind) they are just as likely to abuse it. Despite her good intentions, if Alda hadn’t made himself an enemy they can unite against, there is no telling what would’ve happened.
And the thing is… Very few of them earned their power from others. They were mostly “born” with it. Out of all of them, Gudurandis, ironically enough, is the only one who earned his title, and even then he stole it by killing another.
Contrast this with Van. Born with nothing except a humongous Mana pool and a magic type he could barely use due to a curse. Instead of cursing his fate, however, he fought. And when he couldn’t fight, he hid. Bided his time. He always creates countermeasures and backup plans because he knows that no matter how powerful he is, he isn’t invincible. As he said, he fears the gods, which is why he’s well prepared.
Van doesn’t take without reason. Often, he makes deals he believes are fair, treats those who have treated him kindly in turn, and offers the chance to atone to those who deserve it. He is willing to discuss his point of view with others, and even consider their point of view. He doesn’t attack the son for the sins of the father, and so on.
Van loves his family. Not just Darcia, but those like Zadiris, Borkus and Legion. He not only takes steps to make sure they’re strong, he wants them to be as happy as possible. He fights and improves himself to make sure they can live safely and without fear. And above all, unlike Alda, he would never raise a finger against them if they disagree.
Van is the only leader in the story to start from nothing. And when he he’s crowned, it’s almost an unwilling coronation. He didn’t choose the crown, the crown was chosen to be given to him. And that’s the main difference.
Now, is that an overly verbose way to say that Densuke is all about Democracy? That Kings should be chosen, not born? Probably. Sorry if you didn’t enjoy the read.
Jonathan Hurd
I like your post Kazza and it got me thinking on a potential second theme. In the story I feel progress and innovation is made when faced with adversity.
The reason Rodcorte is so ineffective and stupid is that he has never faced adversity. He has never felt any sense of danger and therefore no fear of failure. He even always had the assurance if something did happen he could just unplug. If we look at Rodcortes strategies through the story they have definitely become better thought out as the threat he feels from Van has ramped up.
Before Van could break souls Rodidiot just gave him some curses and would wait for his suicide. After Van breaks a soul he just sends an uninformed assassin. Once Rodidiot found out Van could kill God’s he tried to unplug. After realizing that he couldn’t do that he is now actually strategizing, analyzing Vans moves and gaining allies. I will say he is still making reckless moves because he doesn’t feel like Van can get to him though.
What is kind of interesting to me is it feels like the true fights in Death Mage are just getting started. Just about all the opponents Van has beaten are those he took by surprise. We haven’t really seen him fight in a head on battle quite yet. He surprise attacked Ternicia, Gubamon, Heinz, as well as Ravovfiard and Marshakul. So the upcoming fights where Murakami and Hajime come to Van prepared to fight should be really fun.
I will just add though out of all of Vans opponents I think Marshakul is my favorite. He was the one who underestimated Van the least and overall took the least damage. He is also the only one who has fought Van that thought about reconciling. He was even willing to reconcile even if it cost him his own head. That deserves respect in my book.
Sailon
Just correcting something you are mistaken alda is not the top god for millions years only for a hundred thousand, before guradanis Lambda dif have a top god the 11 great goda are equal didn’t have one above other, is just after the gods was destroy, sealed or fallem in slumber Alda defeated Vida and called himself the top god, the vida races i agreed the great power of the purrbreed can make they go umpneshed because they strenght is above others but like the 100 of them kinda jeep eachother in check, you tal about born insted of deserve but the purebreed are fighters and heroes that survived the war agaist Guradanis, and the weakenes of yhe races like scylla and arachne of being one gender i see this as making them to have to interact and respect ither races because this is necessary for thei surgival so make to have to lie with other races is not exactly a bad weaknesses and the low fertility of ghouls if Alda dint atack Vida she could solve that i mean she is the godness of life and love, and altought her races are superior to human, elves and dwarf, if not for alda i simple see them fight for piwer and territory like humans do after all they races dont make them better or worse, altought i agreed that back then she was kinda of reckless because she feeled cornered, and about born with power insted of deserve has many gods that are human and become heroic gods this dont mean they arr good Fitun the god that is manipulating that Hajime reicarnation is a exemple he was a human mercenarie before became a heroic god, Bellowod and nineroad was champions that defeat gurudanis but they continue to make mistakes and screw the world, meanin born with power or conquer that power in both ways you have people that use the power “Wasile”and prople that abuse for theyr selfish desires
Rasho
I won’t say that Vida isn’t free of error, if she had talked with Alda and the others, things might not have become like this(tho I doubt it bcz Alda was being affected by Bellwood and Bellwood was against Vida and the Creation-minded Champions from the start).
However, I have to say that the Pure Breeds going off on their own to worship Hihiryushukaka and other Evil Gods is largely bcz Alda and Bellwood imprisoned Vida and the other Gods who would’ve kept an eye on them, and then kept persecuting them even after that which gave the Pure Breeds the thought(that became a certainty after his new teachings) that no matter what happens, Alda would never let them live, which made them to turn to the Evil Gods for power to fight, then these Evil Gods messed with their brains and made them become more twisted.
I won’t say the escaping Pure Breeds never had the thought of abusing their powers, but Alda gave them the chance to do so by cornering them so much that they had to follow the Evil Gods, so IMO Bellwood and Alda are the ones who made the mistakes first.
Tejing
Wow, wall of text. I admit I only skimmed it, but it’s an interesting perspective. Btw, the evil god of joyful life is named Hihiryushukaka. I know it’s hard to remember, but you mangled it pretty badly there. Also, who’s “Arin”? (“Ravofard” should be “Ravovifard”, there may be more)
Kazza
I presume he means Michida Aran, one of the Bravers who became Rodcorte’s familiar sprits
Hobbes
Your theory is fairly well thought out, but I don’t believe it be correct or even an intentional theme by the author. [There’s no spoilers in what I’m about to say, but I’ll warn just in case.] If you read ahead a bit (with the google translated Japanese WN) you’ll see that your take on Asagi and Hiroto is off. Even with where we are in the near-professionally translated English version on this fine site, you’ll see that Asagi has more of a moral problem with the idea of necromancy, undead, etc than he does with the problems Rodcorte and his beloved transmigration system have with Van. Hiroto is a bit different case as well, but I’m not going into that. Anyhow, Alda’s issues, as well as the society’s formed under him, are not so much about the lack of cooperation and symbiosis versus the overabundance of crappy hierarchies and oppression. The issues are much more about whether you see the basic world in black & white or shades of gray. Evil is much more a product of absolutes/absolutism than it is of an absence of benevolence and altruism. Seeing things you want to see versus seeing things how they are. That kind of thinking.
But I wanted to thank you for the well-thought-out theory as well as the profound message of benevolence especially given the holiday spirit around us all. 🙂
And thank you donators and editors and translators for all of your great work!
Chiu ChunLing
Asagi may be one of the least honest characters in this whole novel, even worse than El Braver.
I don’t know how you managed to miss that with all the crap he was spewing about Amamiya being his precious companion from a previous life and all (the winning line for me was the “pseudo-death” thing, I’d have liked Van to offer that right back and see how he liked it).
Asagi doesn’t have a thought in his head that isn’t there to hide from himself what a completely irredeemable asshole he is.
El Braver at least has enough of a connection to external reality to notice when what he’s doing isn’t making him look good. Thus he has to be somewhat cleverer about how he lies to himself…like pretending there was some reason he didn’t ask Kouya what happened to Amamiya specifically other than because he didn’t want to reunite Narumi with the guy she admired for sacrificing himself in an attempt to save her in their previous lives. Or that he never doubted whether having twice as many powers as anyone else really meant he was suitable to lead the Bravers, let alone blackmail everyone else into joining.
But Asagi’s internal BS doublethink is beyond Orwellian.
Hobbes
You may disagree with me as to how false/guilty/self-aware Asagi and Hiroto are. Personally, I’ve met and had to deal with people like them so I’m more inclined to believe that characters like theirs lack the self-awareness that you implicitly assume them to possess. There’s a lot of people that operate with the best of intentions only to have bad or even malicious effects follow. None of that requires any level of objective self evaluation (which tends to be a key missing ingredient for all kinds of bad results).
Knowing oneself takes courage and effort; it’s not in any way innate knowledge. To suggest otherwise is simply incorrect.
Asagi isn’t smart, introverted, or experienced enough in self-doubt to question any of his BS doublethink as you accurately put it. He is very self-righteous and grounded, but that makes him rather conservative and inflexible in his thinking. It’s the primary reason why he hasn’t changed or very noticeably matured in over half a century of life. But the bottomline reason why you’re wrong regarding Asagi’s character is that you assume being dishonest with yourself requires you to know yourself. That’s completely and utterly false. You can be stupid or cowardly and acheive the same or greater level of separation from reality that purposeful lying can get you. Just look at some politicians or world leaders to see what I mean.
Hiroto has plenty of flaws as a person nevermind as a would-be hero, but he’s a significantly better person than you give him credit for. However, he’s a bit self-righteous too, as all philanthropists/do-gooders innately are (they try to make the world a better place according to THEIR standards and values).
However, his biggest fault is that he is naive and doesn’t know how to or is unwilling to distrust humans’ true natures (especially the darker side of that spectrum which is where Rikudo operates). And thus he is unwilling to confront and truly conflict with anything deeper than the surface level of humanity’s problems. This is a key reason why the Bravers organization is so ineffectual.
His naivete is showcased with the botched handling of the death attribute guinea pigs. He trusts governing bodies to do what they’re supposed to and protect and serve victims. He doesn’t believe or want to believe that they will act to abuse their authority even more naturally than doing their sworn duty or breathing for that matter. That’s not malicious on Hiroto’s part; it’s just dumb, idealistic, and gullible.
His human weakness is shown clearly when he doesn’t wish to tell the truth to his wife about the Undead. How many people do you know will always tell the truth despite their feelings, positions, insecurities, etc?
You’ve kept on insisting erroneously that he’s a poser who’s completely aware of everything going on, that he’s like Heinz and wishes to look away from problems at every opportunity, etc. Now, Hiroto does have a bunch in common with Heinz, but he’s more open-minded and free-thinking than Heinz as you’ll discover as the plot in Origin reaches a climax. There’s a bunch of environmental factors at play to form those differences (i.e. no Bellwood, no Alda, no complete absence of critical thinking, no societially accepted genocide, etc), but those differences exist nonetheless.
Sorry for the wall of text, and please don’t misunderstand me as defending, liking, or siding with Asagi or Hiroto. But I felt compelled to correct the rather extreme & biased POV you’ve been looking at them through, because the core of it is fundamentally incorrect.
Bottomline is this: Acting disingenuously doesn’t have to be done conciously or even purposefully (which is the basis for most of your assertions and views of them).
Chiu ChunLing
I’ve met enough people like that to know that, when challenged, they very clearly demonstrate that it’s not that it never occurred to them, but that they habitually lied about it.
You’re the one assuming that people can’t be dishonest with themselves without special effort to know the truth. That’s completely the opposite of what I’m saying and also completely the opposite of what “dishonest” even means in the first place.
El Braver is someone drunk on his own power. Everything we know about him clearly demonstrates that. You might as well be defending Alda.
Dumb, idealistic, and gullible.
I know a lot of people who habitually lie. I avoid trusting them.
kagemao
I think there’s a theme I would tack on, though it’s a little simple and in the title. A division between people who abandon their previous identities and embrace their new life and the people who see themselves as outsiders in their new world.
The most straightforward instance has it in the chapter titles with Kaidou Kanata. Metamorph kills him to avenge her mother, and he remarks that she’s only a biological mother and they should be closer as reincarnated comrades. There’s a similar moment with the currently group hunting Van, where one of them describes their group as a cuckoo stealing the place of somebody’s kid, instead of having any sort of familial connection with them. I expect since van is already fixing Metamorph’s mind somewhat, she’ll be a comrade eventually. Maybe the leader of a group who aren’t in a hurry to reach their “third time” just yet.
You can see that division with Kanako’s group and the bravers too. With them deciding they should gather everyone up and pull everyone away from their new lives in order to serve some higher calling. I suspect we don’t hear about their families more because it is too far from the main story to be relevant. But I do find it interesting that with two parents that are going out doing mercenary work… We never hear about the grandparents even for babysitting. When we hear about someone’s parents, they end up allied with Van. The bravers’ kids seem to be on that list with their mom on it only by association.
I think that ideological divide is part of why Rodcorte’s new assistants are irrationally worried that Van would go after the baby reincarnators. They don’t really view the new life as separate, so they aren’t in his headspace. In their defense, he didn’t even embrace the idea til after he was reborn again, but it was a quick change.
I have been fixated on this idea because it feels like a bit of commentary on the genre to me. I’ve read more isekai stories than is probably healthy, and I feel like the different champions could be stand-ins for different trope characters. There are people on Bellwood/Asagi’s spectrum who want to enforce their worldview on foreign cultures. There’s the Kanata/Murakami types that decide no one’s life matters but theirs. There’s the Lambda babies/Van/etc… who just want a normal family. There’s the guys coming in fully formed as adults who hide their power and go to some other continent for a slow life. The only trope I don’t expect is having someone who dies and gets a redo on their current life.
Eberam
Ah i live the smell of philosophy ant any hour. These theories are well thought out and do point out some great parts from the story.
Be it done through accident or made on purpose Densuke did a great job and my God (hope not as bad as Alda or Rodidiot) bless use with more gifted authors like Densuke.
Vitor
Hiroto doesn’t blame Van or Eight Guidance, thought, he considers that it would be better if that atribute didn’t exist, but he is not going to the lenghts of wanting to kill the Eight Guidance so he could eliminate all the people who possesed said atribute, in fact, he tried to capture them alive, but it’s shown that not because he wanted the death atribute for himself, as shown by the fact that he didn’t stop Ifrit from burning Valkyrie’s corpse even thought the nations asked him to retrieve the corpses, and he tried to dispose of Pluto’s and Emma’s corpses, why there’s so many people obsesed with thinking he is an evil mastermind?? of course, being the one that dealt the final blow to Van in origin, it’s not like I like his character or anything… but he is just a justice hero wannabe, and at least he is less self-righteous and not as malicious as Asagi, who wanted to kill Eight Guidance when Mao was killed
Jonathan Hurd
So I just had a thought as to why the Qhiloth Job has appeared. I think it has to do with Banda. Van took parts of his soul made a body and separated it from himself. Basically Banda is the cast off shell of Vans soul.
With that in mind maybe taking the job would lead to strengthening Banda and making it easier/less costly for Van to make more like Banda.
Tejing
One hole in that theory is that the new jobs normally seem to show up in the order in which Van gained their qualifications, and Qliphoth showed up after things that clearly came from his fight in the ToB, like “God Destroyer”. I think it has to do with the way he removed part of Roddy’s curses.
Jonathan Hurd
That’s true. I need to read through the story again to try and confirm if that trigger order is set in stone. If so that’d make figuring out the triggers really easy.
SuicidalSkeletin
To begin with Qhiloth means a whole number of things. The interpretations number in the dozens. Because that is the case I’d say the Job itself in order to be unlocked required multiple conditions. Earth’s guidance, devouring of Gods, the ruler of Demons (Demon King), the one who does not posses mercy, the creator of evil, the shell of the dead (death magic), the opposite of the God/Light and fearful thereof, the mutilation of the power of God, the one who conceals Gods, the ruler of the dead, etc.
Probably after directly opposing Alda, who at this point is like the one most powerful God, and his chosen ones Vandalieu managed to accomplish every single task that makes him the exact opposite of Life, Light, Pureness and Order. He’s at the point where he could become a Dark God
DarthJawa
Maybe he got the job because he lived after having his soul got destroyed, turning him into a husk of sorts? It makes sense on the job timeline as well cause that was the last thing to happen in the dungeon fight
Morgan
Here’s my theory that Guduranis was created.
Van acquired death magic because his soul was completely hollow, cause his soul basically lacked it’s vital organs, allowing a rare and low power mana to fill him. (I’m assuming it’s low power as mana attributes tend to fill the world, with death obviously taking to smallest space when compared to air, heat, water, cold, earth, light, darkness and life.)
The reason the theory about Van getting death mana from Guduranis when he destroyed the creation champion’s souls is because is has big holes. When Rodcorte built Van’s soul, he would have removed mana, especially if it was Guduranis’. Rodcorte also admitted to putting Van’s soul through a cycle of manaless worlds for the 100k years. Any mana left by Guduranis would have activated in order to fill the mana deprived world setting off Rodcorte’s alarms as manaless worlds got filled with the death attribute. Like water with a dry sponge. And if that didn’t happen then the death mana would have appeared immediately at birth in Origin causing Van to grow up seeing ghosts, but that didn’t happen till the experiments started.
As for how the Eighth Guidance and Mei-chan (Meh-kun) got their Death Mana, it would be cause mana and magic worked slightly differently for the humans of Origin. Likely large infusions of attributed mana could grant a limited ability to use that mana, like a blood transfusion. Mei-chan (Meh-kun) will however likely be able to attain Vandalieu’s ability and skill with Death Mana because she recieved a transfusion when still in embryonic form, long before birth which is before she would have had much exposure to Mana, since the only Mana around her would be whatever attribute was inside her mother. The sheer power of the transfusion of Death Mana would have completely overpowered her mother’s mana and thus, Mei-chan (Meh-kun) was borth with Death Mana
Guduranis came from another world, completely unknown and not a part of Rodcorte’s reincarnation cycle. Since the requisite conditions for death mana is a hollow soul, only another god who can handle souls as well as, if not better than Rodcorte, would be capable of creating Guduranis.
It is, however impossible to confirm whether Guduranis had a hollow soul as the god of Lambda first saw his soul after it was broken.
This however brings up further story growth as, if Guduranis really was created, are there more Demon Kings like him? Do they perhaps use planets or even star systems for their wars? (Since Guduranis came to conquer Lambda) What is the goal of creating Demon Kings, if there is one?
Frankly there are a lot of questions and speculations from this point on. But by the time Van becomes a god, he’ll already be stronger than pretty much every other god, especially since he seems to be able to get his believers to rebuild his soul while he devours his opponent’s soul and power. So we’ll need something for the story to continue.
Ultimate Speculation:
If the story really does grow to be that massive, I can easily see Van conquering the universe by chapter 1000 or so.
Morgan
If my above theory has any holes, please inform me.
Jonathan Hurd
I find your theory interesting but I will just say that there might be a hole with the theory. The Doctor’s in Origin were studying changing someone’s magical affinities and failed. That was why they removed Valkyries heart and blood to see if implanting a new one would change her attributes.
I think the scientists would have tried soaking a person in a different attribute to change the Affinity before removing a person’s entire circulatory system, but then again these guys were pretty insane. If the answer was so simple people wouldn’t have been as desperate as they were to get their hands on the Eighth Guidance and I think the original nation would of probably manufactured some back up Vandalieus.
Vitor
When they introduced the origins of Gufadgarn it was explained that Demon Lord was simply the title of the strongest God of the world from wich Gudaranis and the Evil Gods where born
Jonathan Hurd
I think the story has said that you get Death Attribute when your body lacks any other kind of Mana in it.
To me it the reason Van ended up with Death Attribute isn’t that his soul was lacking in Innards. He seemed to have an excess of those they were just haphazardly put in and being used in inappropriate ways. Van got it in a similar way to the Eighth Guidance and Mei. When his soul was in an vunerable state it was soaked in Death Attribute Mana.
I think the reason the Eighth Guidance only got limited Death Attribute abilities was because they had already grown to an extent when they were drenched in Death Attribute.
If we’re looking at non human cases transforming due to being washed in Death Attribute we do have quite a few. From the Ents to the Black Goblins, Anbusis, Armin, and Orcus. Now we do know that none of these monsters can use death attribute like Van and Mei have, and some have magic of other elements.
So I think there might be another factor to gaining the Death Attribute. I think the second factor is closeness to death itself when they are submerged in Death Attribute. The four champions were killed and had their souls broken with death attribute magic before being molded into Vans soul. Pluto almost completely covered Narumi and the few cells that were Mei in death using death attribute magic before taking it back. Remember the reason Van helped the Eighth Guidance was they were on Deaths door.
The difference between the three cases as I see it is how close to death they were and the level of death attribute their souls gained. Vans original souls were killed and then broken. He seems to have the strongest connection to death even able to charm undead.
The Eighth Guidance were brought back from Deaths door and only got partial powers of death attribute. Mei was brought to death door and brought back from it with Death Attribute and seems to have an actual affinity for it. It’s hard to tell how much of an affinity Mei has being only two but thus far she isn’t charming ghosts like Van so maybe a little lower than his.
Morgan
Good point, acquisition could be related to closeness to death. however the lab that owned van in origin treated him pretty well until they got too greedy about exploiting his death attribute. his treatment only got bad enough to be close to death after he was already paralysed, long after he gained his death attribute.
Likely, Van acquired it because his soul was hollow and unable to accept any other mana attribute.
Meanwhile the Eighth Guidance got it when Van soaked them while they were near death.
Mei-chan however got the death attribute before her body had been exposed to other attributes, and so she was born with the death attribute, however since her soul isn’t hollow like Van’s I doubt she’ll ever attained the same strength. Furthermore she may even have other attributes.
As for the death attribute charm, I think Van got that because he’s a death mage and half vampire.
That’s the likely reason since the Eighth Guidance and Mei are all humans and don’t have it.
The reason can also be because Van was properly reincarnated with death attribute mana while the Eighth Guidance wasn’t and Mei-chan is still in he first life with the death attribute.
Zeronime
“As for the death attribute charm, I think Van got that because he’s a death mage and half vampire.”
In Origin, he already have that skill.
Morgan
In Origin, Van did not have the death attribute charm skill. The only death related things charmed by him were the ghosts of a few people who experimented on him or others who were experimented on with Van’s power. He didn’t charm them, they kept him company because they chose it.
Furthermore, Origin doesn’t have Lambda’s job/rank/level/skill system.
If Van did have it in Origin then there’s no reason that the Eighth Guidance and Mei wouldn’t have gotten it.
SuicidalSkeletin
Incorrect. Van said that he used death mana to manipulate the souls of the dead, he even said that using death mana in Origin allows you to brainwash Ghosts
Chiu ChunLing
He didn’t have the Skill because Origin doesn’t have a Skill system. Just like none of the other reincarnated individuals had Skills in Origin.
He did have the ability which that Skill reflects, just like the other reincarnated individuals had the abilities that their Skills (other than Mount and Archery) reflect.
Chiu ChunLing
I’m sorry, but you’re way off when you say “the lab that owned van in origin treated him pretty well until they got too greedy about exploiting his death attribute. his treatment only got bad enough to be close to death after he was already paralysed, long after he gained his death attribute.”
The lab treated Van horrifically all along. They didn’t kill him outright until long after he was deliberately paralyzed. But once they discovered his death attribute affinity, before he had even regained his memories (which happened when he was still a young child) he’d already been remodeled his entire body, including his brain, to remove his control over his body and implant self-destruct explosives and tracking devices to ensure their control. Not content with this, they eventually worked out a procedure to remove even control of his own mana. This is all in chapter one.
In later chapters, we get information showing that the researchers firmly believed that the reason Van awoke to Death-Attribute was because of how horribly they treated him before he awoke to it. That’s why the experiments on the other subjects were similarly horrific. They were senselessly pushing him to the brink of death from the time he was a toddler.
Now, their theory of how Van obtained Death-Attribute likely was completely wrong from the beginning. But it was very firmly based on all the meticulously collected evidence they had available of what his life was like in their lab before awakening to Death-Attribute. If they’d been treating him pretty well and he’d awakened to Death-Attribute, they wouldn’t have thought it was necessary to push others to the brink of death (or beyond) to repeat that success.
Lord Rin
Guduranis was not created by some other being. In the world he comes from, different species can naturally evolve into gods when they get strong enough and Guduranis just happened to be one of those who also had the unique ability to break souls -I don’t know if they ever said if he could also devour souls or not- and he just happened to become stronger than all the rest of the evil gods and because of his personality he named himself Demon King and forced all the other evil gods to join him or die before he decided to go conquer other worlds after conquering his own world and Lambda just happened to be where he set his sights on.
As for how Van got Death-attribute mana, it’s all because Rodcorte fucked up like always. When Zakkart and the other three creation heroes had their souls broken by Guduranis, their fragments were given to Rodcorte by Alda’s people so that Vida and her faction couldn’t try to revive them. Anyways because of how lazy and inept Rodcorte is, he decided to just recycle the soul fragments and shoved them all together to make a new soul as is out of sheer laziness without even checking or maybe even caring that the soul fragments were practically soaked with Guduranis’ mana which has been said to either be Death-attribute-like or even the genuine thing and thus giving the soul the natural affinity for Death-attribute mana which also consumed or killed any affinities for other elements aside from no-element. Rodcorte didn’t remove any mana, he just put the soul in worlds that didn’t have mana so it wouldn’t produce mana but it still had the latent affinity for Death-attribute mana. Then because of his own ineptitude he didn’t examine the soul closely and reincarnated it on Origin which does have mana which allowed the soul to eventually unlock the latent affinity for Death-attribute mana it had. As for why Van had such a large starting mana pool, it’s because his soul is formed from 4 other souls and has the mana capacity of all 4 combined. Rodcorte speculated that he had such a large mana pool as compensation for not having any affinity for any native elements of Origin but we all know that he’s an idiot who doesn’t know anything though he thinks he does.
Morgan
It is plausible that Rodcorte was lazy but since he was handling souls he knew were soaked in the death attribute, which came from Guduranis, who could destroy souls (which would screw with Rodcorte’s reincarnation cycle), it is likely he would have removed it asap.
furthermore, Van had no affinities for any elements, because rodcorte hadn’t given van any to reincarnate with on Origin. Since it had been 100k years, during which the death attribute had never been seen, Rodcorte forgot it existed and so never made a move to prevent Van from getting it. He helped Van to get it by not giving Van his fortunes, power and destiny in origin. because of that Van’s soul was hollow and was filled with millions of mana.
The curses place on Van to prevent him gaining any power further hollowed his soul allowing him to safely handle more power than most gods have, despite being mortal.
Also Van’s soul is made from parts of 4 other souls, not 4 entire souls. so he only has a mana pool size that a single soul can handle.
Basically his soul is made from 4 quarters that each came from the creation champions
Lord Rin
You are seriously underestimating the laziness and stupidity of Rodcorte. I mean this is a guy who thinks it’s a brilliant plan to shove in Demon King soul fragments into Edgar’s soul because he can’t be assed to spend anymore time trying to fix his soul normally. Rodcorte always believes he is right so he plows ahead in everything without being thorough because he believes that whatever he’s done is perfect and doesn’t require him to do anything past the bare minimum because there is absolutely no way that anything can go wrong. He probably seriously believed that just putting Van’s soul on worlds without mana is enough and wouldn’t bother with cleansing the soul of Guduranis’ Death-attribute mana.
As for why Van doesn’t have any affinities for other elements, I think it was Vida who theorized that it’s because his Death-attribute and his affinity to it is so strong that it “kills” all the other affinities just like how it “kills” his presence and makes it hard for people to notice him. As for how he and the Eighth Guidance and Mei got it in the first place, I believe it is mostly because of the intensity of their exposure to Death-attribute mana. Van’s soul was flooded with Guduranis’ mana that was said to be extremely potent and then left as is for 100,000 years which probably caused the soul to assimilate with that mana and attain its Death-attribute properties. As for the Eighth Guidance, they spent who knows how many years forcefully experimented on with the Undead’s mana. And as for Mei, even though it was for a very brief moment, as a fetus she was flooded with Death-attribute mana that must have been incredibly intense since Pluto powered it with the death aura of possibly thousands or even millions of people. Meanwhile though Van did a similar thing to make the orcus, anubis, black goblin, and araman races, the mana he used probably wasn’t anywhere near as intense since he wasn’t trying to kill anybody unlike Pluto initially tried to do.
Even if Van’s soul only contains a quarter of the mana pool size of each of the heroes, you’re forgetting that each hero was essentially empowered to the level of a god in order to be able to fight against Guduranis and the other evil gods. So even if each quarter of Van’s soul only has one quarter of the original mana pool, that mana pool was equivalent to the level of a god which is why Van started out with 100 million MP. Rodcorte just made a dumb and baseless assumption on why Van possibly had such a large mana pool.
Also look, I don’t where you’re getting this “hollow soul” stuff from but it is merely an assumption on your part. There is absolutely nothing in the story to suggest or support that theory. Van’s soul is said to be extremely misshapen but they never once say that it is hollow. Even if having a hollow soul somehow led to possessing Death-attribute mana then it would not account for the Eighth Guidance and Mei also possessing it since none of them were said to have an abnormal or hollow soul. Guduranis wasn’t said to have a hollow soul either. The closest thing to a hollow soul mentioned was when Rodcorte noted that Van had an unusually large and empty frame that he just assumed was some form of compensation for not getting any fortunes or cheats that either happened naturally or was something done by his system. He didn’t even try to investigate why that is because he’s an incompetent idiot and if he had then he would have found out that Van is the soul made from the previous heroes.
On another note, there is nothing to suggest that Guduranis was made by another being as I’ve already stated. We know next to nothing about the world Guduranis came from and for all we know there might not even be a system of reincarnation on his world given how vastly different the life forms from there were. There is no rule that says that every world has to have a reincarnation circle just like how there’s no rule that a single world can have multiple reincarnation circles like Lambda has. All we do know is that it was a world were everybody tried to get stronger and the natural evolutionary end point for each species was reaching the apex and becoming a god. Guduranis was just one such being who reached godhood and because of his own personality, he set about conquering and/or killing the other races and gods on his world before eventually turning his sights towards Lambda to do the same. Even if there was a reincarnation circle on Guduranis’ homeworld, that doesn’t mean that Guduranis was artificially engineered by somebody else.
Jonathan Hurd
I will just add that I don’t think Rodcorte can take away someone’s natural mana attributes it would cost to much. He could probably hinder the person’s spell casting or mana pool, but this probably falls in the same category as Vans curses. It takes extreme effort to overturn rules of the world like Lamdas everyone gets exp.
For the reason Van has no presence the story actually stated that is because Van keeps unconsciously casting a Death Attribute magic that lowers it. It’s similar to what Ghost has, but Vans mainly doing it out of developed instinct and trauma to avoid standing out.
A thing to keep in mind with why Vans mana pool was so big was it’s not just he had four champions pieces of empty space, but he also had no fortune or destiny to fill the space and curses that actually made even more empty space. So you multiply the mana gained from four different champion souls and that’s how you get his mana pool.
madstack
IIRC, Guduranis was only ever suspected of possessing death mana, it was never proven.
The story’s premise is already based on Rodcorte’s carelessness and a large part of the plot is only enabled through his ineptitude. He’s already too big of a plot device IMO, and I would honestly prefer it if less of the story depended on his idiocy. It lessens everything every other character does.
Morgan
The gods of lambda and rodcorte already described how Vandalieu’s mana was the same type as Guduranis’ but had none of the overpowering pressure. Instead Van’s mana feel more like an all encompassing warmth. (That’s more or less how it was described a while ago when Van welcomed refugees into Talosheim)
Morgan
Remember though, Rodcorte is the only one the Gods of Lambda know who can manipulate souls. even if the gods of lambda boosted the creation champions to the level of godhood, which they weren’t, they simply received divine blessings from a lot of the gods, such a power boost wouldn’t affect their souls, at least not after they died and rodcorte shoved them together and threw them into the reincarnation circle.
As for Van’s hollow soul that was back in the first 3 or so chapters when rodcorte didn’t give him any fortunes, magical affinities or destiny and then later gave him curses instead.
And the part about guduranis is speculation mostly. My theory fits and doesn’t require the speculation about guduranis.
Also, do you seriously think the gods of Lambda would allow Rodcorte to halfass he treatment of the 4 creation champions after they died to Guduranis? Even if he is a lazy egomaniac, would they allow even the faintest trace of Guduranis’ mana to remain in those fragment? Considering they thought that unknown mana was responsible for destroying souls, even Rodcorte would work his ass off to get rid of it simply cause he wouldn’t risk any future damage to his reincarnation circle
Lord Rin
The champions HAD to be boosted to the level of godhood. Or do you seriously expect that just having divine protections would be enough for them to be able to go toe-to-toe with the many Evil Gods in Guduranis’ army along with Guduranis himself and all the other Lambda gods that turned traitor? Alda even mentions at one point that they interfered with their souls to do things like reverse their ages. If they’re going to go that far then there wouldn’t be any reason to just stop there and just give them godhood while they’re at it. Maybe make them physical gods without a domain to rule over initially but gods nonetheless.
I’m not going to continue arguing about how you keep insisting that Van has a hollow soul or that Guduranis is possibly something created by a bigger bad because you clearly won’t change your stance regardless of anything.
Anyways while yes the Lambda gods wouldn’t want Rodcorte to half-ass the treatment of the remains of the creation champions, they have no way to enforce and ensure that he doesn’t do that. They have no real knowledge about souls so it’d be entirely up in the air if they could even feel any of Guduranis’ mana remaining or even think that it could be possible to infect the fragments in the first place. They also can’t check on Rodcorte to make sure he is properly working since apart from Zuruwarn, they can’t enter Rodcorte’s Divine Domain without his permission which he would never give them anyways and Zuruwarn was injured heavily and sleeping to recover during this time. Heck it’s because of that that Alda can only ask Rodcorte not to do anything unnecessary to Edgar’s soul but not witness it personally or send a subordinate to make sure he works properly. And I’ll reiterate it again, Rodcorte is lazy. He only does the bare minimum of anything while thinking that that’s enough without thinking of all the possibilities because he thinks he is never wrong. That is precisely why Van has gotten so powerful and easily circumvented the curses placed on him. Rodcorte has continuously underestimated Van and his schemes have only served to strengthen Van while he didn’t think through the curses thoroughly which left huge loopholes that Van could exploit that largely made them useless.
Morgan
I would like to point out that my theory is about the method of accquisition for death mana (Having a hollow soul) is proving that Guduranis is the result of another soul-manipulating god making a hollow soul.
It’s a pretty strong theory seeing as Guduranis came from someone else’s reincarnation circle and in his previous life likely wasn’t able to evolve into godhood.
Jonathan Hurd
To be fair, it is possible that on Guduranis home world beings can be born with Death Attribute similar to how on Lambda and not on Origin beings can be born with Time Attribute. I do have to grant though as far as we know no world that we have encountered doesn’t have a system for reincarnation, but then all the world’s we know are basically under Rodcorte.
We never did learn why Guduranis decided to invade Lamda. It seems obvious they didn’t come for the resources. A lot of the evil God’s hate Lamdas environment. Maybe Guduranis messed up and broke to many souls leading to his home worlds system of reincarnation failing. It’ll be interesting to eventually learn the reason for the invasion.
Zeronime
No. You can obtain death-attribute with vast mana if you haven’t any other attribute.
Spoiler: ||Rikudou reincarnate him self in Origin to Body with a height of 3 meters (Ark Avalon). and he manipulates the body so he has no other attributes. Initially he had 5 attributes (earth, fire, water, wind, space). and now because he has sacrificed all his attributes, he has a death attribute with a capacity of 80M. When he was reincarnated in Lambda he already had death-attribute with a capacity of more than 100M.||
Jonathan Hurd
Just a quick update please try to avoid sharing spoilers. The moderators and translator like to keep the comments a spoiler free zone.
Morgan
Zeronime, the first part we already knew. magical affinities use up space in a person’s soul thus reducing the space for a manapool. van was given no affinities or destiny which is why his soul was hollow and he got such a massive mana pool and ended up with the death attribute.
Also, keep spoilers to yourself. If you know what’s happening, good for you, but don’t ruin the suspense for people like me who want to enjoy the story chapter at a time with no research on what will happen later.
Hobbes
I like your pondering, but there’s a big hole with your initial hypothesis about death attribute. I know the answer so I won’t spoil anything, but I will tell you that mana and magic in this story is intrinsically linked with the very idea of what those attributes are named after.
It is explained fairly early on in the story about how important knowledge and imagination is spellcasting and that having mastery of magic of an attribute enables one to rule over all aspects of that phenomena. So a fire magician could make a glacier by removing all of the heat, a life magician could reign over much of death, and a death magician could be a miraculous healer, etc.
Bottom line is simply that you need to think about what a magical attribute is, what it directly controls, what it indirectly is linked to, and finally what phenomena can it conceivably influence?
When that becomes clearer you’ll arrive at why death attribute magic is a bit unique comparitively as well as the origins of the other attributes, I think.
Chiu ChunLing
I don’t believe Van has any motive to conquer the universe.
Van doesn’t go around conquering things for no reason. He’s not even going to go back and conquer Earth. Nor Origin unless it’s necessary to protect Mei. But right now he’s trying to avoid that.
Though it’s probably too late to avoid becoming acknowledged as a facet of the God of Origin now that he’s running around in the dreams of Eighth Guidance worshippers (once he takes that “Dream Guider” job, Rotcortex’s system is going to go nuts).
Morgan
Less than half this webpage is the actual chapter XD. man there are LOTS of comments
Lord Rin
So that Joseph guy is just a greedy idiot who thought he could make a quick buck off of Van. Doesn’t seem like he’ll be much trouble but at least Van is going to send someone to keep an eye on him anyways just in case.
Uh oh. Chipuras just mentioned how Aggar extorted money from Van in front of Darcia. Welp that guy ded.
Man so many of Van’s jobs don’t even sound like jobs anymore. More like titles: Demon King, Creator, Demiurge, Pale Rider, Tartarus, Wild Spirit, Divine Enemy, Fallen Warrior, Qliphoth. At some point I’m expecting a job called something like “Fluffy, The Destroyer of Worlds” to show up. Also I do wonder what sort of job is Qliphoth? I only know that name from Devil May Cry 5 where it’s a giant demonic tree that sucks the life and blood out of people to make a fruit that a demon can eat to gain power and become the Demon King.
So now Doug and the others are Dark Humans. I’m not sure I like the race name. Doesn’t sound so cool and sounds more like a description but whatevs.
Also I just noticed that Darcia has Vandalieu’s Divine Protection no longer censored. I don’t know if it’s always been like that for Darcia or did it just get uncensored? If so could it have been because of Van getting the Bestower job? Also does this mean that everybody with his Divine Protection now also has it uncensored?
Morgan
I think the divine protection takes time to set in. one of the statuses a few chapters ago had only 1 part revealed while at that time all the earlier character had almost all of it revealed. it also seems to be affected by relationship with van. Darcia got Van’s protection later but is the first to get it revealed.
Also Qliphoth is the equivalent to an incarnation of Satan, hell and the source of all evil power, according to the Jewish religion
Here’s a Wikipedia link
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qliphoth
Jonathan Hurd
Amusingly the first thing that popped up for me when I put Qhiloth in Google was Wikipedia to DMC5 lol.
You might be onto something with the Bestower job helping Van give out his Divine Protections. That might be an unexpected side benefit to the Job.
Morgan
Well since Qliphoth is the embodiment of evil, there were often deals made with it to gain power. so the jobs aren’t entirely unconnected though i feel van got bestower because he gave his blood out + divine protection + bestows a kind of life to the dead
Valeth
As I understand it, and it is a very complex subject so I may be wrong.
Qliphoth means ‘peels’ or ‘husks’ and has to do with Occultism, what exactly it is, is a subject of serious debate depended on your beliefs and study.
It is akin and similar to Sephiroth, as they are both tide to the Tree of Life.
Qliphoth like Sephiroth is plural (Qliphah & Sephirah Singular). The Tree of Life consists of 10 ’emanations’ or ‘numerations’ which are known as Sephiroth. Each of these numerations essentially represents a different aspect of gods created process. Many practicioners who work with Qliphoth view it as a collection of the flawed or severe aspects of creation
Qliphoth is somtimes a nightmare version of the Tree of Life, or Reflection of the Sephiroth on the Abyss – opposite but still connected to the realm of light by Da’ath. However, in most of the accounts the common theme is present — the Qliphoth is essentially the ‘dark half’ of the Tree of Life, sometimes refereed to as the Tree of Death.
I am interested in these topics but by no means a expert, but with this rough explanation which I did do some checking on. This would fit with Van too a degree, I would say.
grim
damn thats interesting
Haraken
I wonder if the husks and peels part could be inferred to be the demon king fragments without any mind or will of it’s own now that Vandelieu absorbed and made them his own.
If so, taking the job might cement Vandelieu as the new recipient of the demon king parts that doesn’t contain will, mind or soul recognized by the system as becoming something else rather than just an amalgamation of demon king remnants.
Pallington
I wonder if it has to do with banda, or with metamorph…
OokamiNoO
Have anyone else notices that “Vandalieu’s Divine Protection” no longer is censored?
Nobody2
I hadn’t noticed
no1
Wow… your right, can’t believe that I didn’t notice that.
Guroga
Am i the only one thinking too much of the Qliphoth job possibly appearing coz he’ll be a container of Guduranis?
It’s the 1st thing that came to mind when i saw what qliphoth was and guduranis incoming appearance in the story.
Sebas Tian
He would have the Job because of something he already is or is doing. So that wouldn’t be related.
no1
Well guduranis soul was removed from his body and both his soul and body was split into fragments. And since in the previous chapters the fragments call vandalieu the main body and said they would be resurrected. It is a possibility that without guduranis soul and that Vandalieu’s body contains the majority of guduranis body parts/demon king fragments. Vandalieu can essentially be considered the husk of guduranis. That could be the reasoning for the Qliphoth job
Phantom Knight
Thanks for the chapter!!!! It seems like the girls can deeply feel the power of the Force……uh, I mean, guidance now that they have changed races. They all probably gained better compatibility with Death Attribute Magic and now have greater resistance against dying. Heck, although they probably won’t gain Death-attribute Magic, we can assume they can most likely use Demon King Fragments more efficiently.
I really can’t wait to see how these new races perform. We have to see whether they have unique racial jobs or racial skills. Moreover, we have to see how effective does Van-sama’s work in boosting their power growth.
On side note, I wonder whether DarK Humans are weak against the fusion of Light and Life Magic. After all, I know Alda won’t let them live if he can help it.
Jeanean
Just an idea, but I think it would be cool if dark humans automatically turned into undead upon dying. And not only with a small chance but guaranteed, almost instantly and most of all, without Van having to reconnect their body and soul.
Morgan
Maybe Dark humans will be able to procreate successfully with undead that received life gold without the baby dying shortly after birth. Or perhaps they’ll be able to use death magic.
Lord Rin
No the offspring born between a living person and an undead does not die shortly after birth. According to Luciliano, the offspring born between a living person and an undead is born as a perfectly healthy living being that can procreate normally up until the third generation. Past the third generation or if both parents are undead then the child is born as an undead that grows normally until the reach adulthood and they also need Life Gold transplants in order to procreate like other undead.
Jonathan Hurd
I don’t think Van is going to let anyone close to him die anytime soon so them automatically reviving would be hard to find out. I do think you might be onto something though. I think rather than having an easier time becoming Undead. They probably will have an easier time learning Undead exclusive skills like Spirit form and materialize.
Lui5aidh
I love how Van is basically the god of death, yet he is constantly saving and creating new life. He’s more like the god of change.
bk3k
He’d be displeased to hear you refer to him as any sort of god. LOL poor Van can’t fight it.
ZeroX1
so our lord of death can mutate people sweet just like zerg from starcraft the only difference here is they are good looks people
and now we have a new race Dark Human! ..come to dark side we have cake and cute idol and hot big boobs girl and damn good foods 😀
Md23
you forgot the most important thing COOKIES!!!
mexgema
I think cookies are covered under damn good foods
Valeth
Interesting a previous translation was Chaos Human, but I figure Dark Human probably works as well.
Morgan
The dark side also has an intelligent and benevolent 13 or so year old god.
Entropy
Nah, the dark side has the being that all of the gods are afraid of.
Ryuutsukai
Wouldn’t both be accurate? Well, except Vida/Darcia Mama, I’m pretty sure neither of them are afraid of him at least.
V4NQU1SH
OP Darcia-mama with complete Vandalieu’s Divine Protection.
Thanks for the chapter~!
Jonathan Hurd
Nice catch there. God can’t believe I didn’t notice she does indeed have his completed Divine Protection.
Darquesse
I think bestower was previously translated as “Enchanter”, right?
Yoshi
I mean I literally put a TLN at the bottom of the chapter explaining that
Kyo2112
A lot of us laugh at Heinz and chew him out and i don’t like how character either but you mustn’t forget his allignment is neutral neutral leaning towards lawful neutral while Van is chaotic neutral completely which reflects in his jobs option/choice.
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like you could honestly describe Van as Chaotic Good, but it depends on your definition of good really. He has killed a lot of people, but just about every time was in self defense or retribution. He has experimented on people and made monsters, but most of those were voluntary.
You could say the experiments he did on his captured prisoners could be evil, but he did those with purpose of getting medical knowledge not just torture. For me it’s kind of hard to label anyone in the story definitively Good or Evil because it all depends on your values. Aldas and Vidas groups have such drastically different values that following one faithfully would immediately make you evil to the other.
I do agree with the Lawful versus Chaotic though. Van is bending if not out right breaking the rules. While Heinz talks a big game about changing things his focus seems to be on keeping the status quo.
Ryuutsukai
If you google ‘D&D alignments explained’ or something along those lines you’ll get a good idea of how it works and chaotic good is : will use any means to save the days, if he wants to save the day. I.E. The 11th Doctor. I think Van fits in the chaotic good range quite well.
Gawain
It seems to me that the whole point of the story is whether it’s better to change a system from within or from without (lawful/chaotic). If you think about it, this story could easily be written with Heinz as the main character and Van as the villain instead of the way it is written, where Van is the hero and Heinz, while not evil, is most certainly an antagonist. Of course, due to Van’s OP nature, his chaos will win out, but it’s an interesting thought.
Jonathan Hurd
The theme I keep feeling from the story is fighting for the oppressed or oppressing others to boost yourself. Van is not willing to allow the oppression of a few individuals even if the horrible things done to them would benefit the rest. The only people he uses for experiments are those he was always going to kill never the citizens he should protect.
I compare that to Heinz and the Bravers values. Heinz declares he will stand up for Vidas races but sat back while the titans were made into slaves in the Hartner Duchy and the Scyla were confined in the Sauron Duchy. For the Bravers they knew the Eighth Guidance were victims but they didn’t even bother trying to protect them. After the Eighth Guidance freed themselves the Bravers started trying to guny them down and almost immediately turned to using lethal force.
We can also see their differences in opinion when Van dealt with the Sauron Duchy by what Heinz and Arin thought of his actions. Van wasn’t willing to forgive Raymond and his brother’s murder and exploitation of the Scylla. He was also not willing to quietly give up the Scyllas land when the new Duke Sauron turned on him and the resistance. Heinz felt Van shouldn’t have stayed in the Scyllas land inconveniencing the new lord and his people. While Arin thought the right answer with the resistance was for Van to join forces with Raymond and his brother while ignoring their crimes.
To me it isn’t that Heinz and the Bravers are trying to change the system from within. They are just following the system with no intention of changing it. I feel this is why they panic when confronted with people like Van who are outside the system and ignore its rules.
The problem as I see it is that the system is broken. It is designed to prey on the weak and reward the strong. The Bravers and Heinz both benefit from this system and are repulsed when they see someone like Vandaliu who the system has exploited over and over rising up and fighting for the abused.
Morgan
Van’s ultimate purpose that Rodcorte gave him was to develop Lambda. He got on Rodcorte’s nerves breaking and guiding souls, and the Light gods are fussy old codgers scared of change. It’s understandable that van looks like the bad guy but that’s just cause he got dealt a bad hand. This story would be very different if he were born a human or elf with literally any attribute other than death (which is good and justice by the light gods opinions)
Jonathan Hurd
I feel like Alda and Rodcorte are very similar. They both place no value in humanity seeing them as tools that should work as cogs in their systems. They do not care about their tools suffering or problems. As long as you don’t interfere with the system you can do whatever. If you interfere you are evil and must be destroyed.
For Rodcorte the system he wants to protect is the circle of reincarnation. It’s the only thing he thinks about or pays attention to. Alda it’s a system of having only the original humans in a world with no technology or advancement all just worshipping him and never stepping out of line. They both want Van dead not because he’s evil or wrong but because he is breaking their systems.
I will say you are right the story would of gone differently if Van wasn’t unlucky, but we also shouldn’t forget the primary causes of his bad luck. If Rodcorte had bothered to do his job right Van would of had a fortune and powers never becoming a guinea pig. If Alda hadn’t kept trying to kill Van and persecute Vidas races Van wouldn’t have learned to break souls or hate him so much.
Honestly they made Van the monster he is today. The saddest part is neither one ever cared about him til he became a threat. If they had just started by caring a little they wouldn’t be in this mess.
Chiu ChunLing
I have to point out that Rotcortex literally made Van in the first place.
And that he was already extremely unlucky before meeting Rotcortex the ‘first’ time. I think that when Rotcortex said “there were problems” with Van’s soul, he was only talking about problems for himself, not problems for Van.
I bet that the haphazard way Rotcortex put together Van’s soul caused him a huge amount of misfortune over the thousands of reincarnations he must have experienced before leading to the bad luck of meeting Rotcortex again.
And some of that bad luck finally rubbed off on Rotcortex.
Babyldr
That was a quick new chapter , thanks a lot!
QuantumQuilava
Well we did have to wait longer than usual for the previous chapter so the translator probably worked on both chapters and decided to post them back to back.
VEreality
A new chapter so soon? Thank you yoshi-sama!
Van can now mutate people. Our small god of death is now more of god than ever before. I have been waiting for him to gain such a skill for some time now. Never lose hope!
………………OH SH*T!!!!!…………………….
What is going to happen to all the people in Origin that Van gave fragments to?
*Insert JoJo ‘To be continued’ meme*
Evil Apple
Well, about god part…
Don’t forget about “Demiurge” option in his “Jobs that can be selected” list )))
VEreality
That ever growing list of Jobs was always a reason, but now half of those Jobs scream godhood XD
no1
Yes van gave some people in origin his fragments, but his clone banda had said he couldn’t communicate with van. The different world difference probably cut their connection. So whatever changes van experiences in lambda probably won’t affect banda while he is still in origin. Who knows they might mutate if banda returns to lambda and brings all those people with him
VEreality
‘With the return of thy Lord, thou shall be reborn as brothers and sisters. Await that day and pray for through Him thou will ascend!’ tell this to all the good fellas in Origin.
bk3k
Without spoiling… Remember what Van was attempting to do? The thing that resulted in him connecting with the dungeon copy?
Jonathan Hurd
Now that you mention it he was trying to connect with Banda and check on Meh Kun before his dream trip got hijacked. I guess if he doesn’t pull that off before next job change he’ll probably just take Dream Guider.
Jonathan Hurd
One thing I think to keep in mind is that when Van originally got the Demon Guider job Pluto and the other members of the Eighth Guidance also had dreams with him in them.
At the time they weren’t completely guided otherwise they wouldn’t of gone to Rodcorte after death. So I feel like mutation Induction might have an effect on those in Origin. Not immediately mind you, but I think eventually.
For Banda I think thanks to the fact that he has separated so far from Van he will start to gain his own separate will and eventually become like a subordinate God to Van.
Morgan
Rather than a god, banda will probably end up as a Guardian spirit.
Lord Rin
He probably counts as a real full god now. Look at Darcia’s stats. Van’s divine protection is now completely uncensored.
Seinvolf
Thank u always for ur great work…
^^…
Kazza
Yes! My paranoid refreshing paid off!
Let’s see here… *Googles*
Jewish Mythology? Uh…
So, turned out Joseph was only after profit, then. To be honest, I’m a little confused on how that plan is supposed to work. Like, I understand he doesn’t know Van and Heinz’s history, but what does making connections to merchants who are connected to Heinz accomplish? Is his plan to pseudo-sell Van’s cart placements to these merchants, so they can kind of pull a “Hey, I support the Peaceful Faction, too. Look at my own Dhampir who I’m totally protecting and supporting, so why not scratch each other’s back?” Because otherwise, where is this money he would be pocketing come from?
Maybe I’m just too business-deaf. Someone please correct me.
Apparently, Heinz and the Blades have actually been doing stuff (albiet indirectly and borderline accidently) to improve the social standing of Vida’s races. Honestly, I don’t like this revelation. Let me explain:
So, the conflict inside Curatos’ Dungeon revealed Heinz is a Sayer more than a Doer. He’d take easy tasks that no reasonable person will disagree with (saving a girl whose parents were murdered by a corrupt Noble) but shy away from shaking up the status quo (won’t object to the hunting of Ghouls/Majin even though he knows they can be reasoned with to not create issues for humanity, despite their similar potential for evil).
To put it into perspective, it’s like Martin Luther King Jr.’s writings in Birmingham. To summarize, he compared the current priests to thermometers, while he and his protesters were thermostats. A thermometer can only tell you it’s too hot or cold, it won’t change anything, like a thermostat. In this example, Heinz is the Thermometer.
As such, and I guess you can call this fanon, I always considered the Duchies to just be… Humoring him, for lack of a better term. Like, since Heinz isn’t going to fight them… Why would they change?
See, I’d expect them to give him a pat on the back, and promote him to S-Class, but only for political reasons. Heinz actually says their promotion wasn’t really deserved, because they hadn’t actually beaten Ternecia, only finished her off.
However, they embellish it for a good heroic story. With that, they have a popular hero that both opposing churches can look up to, improving their image with both. Meanwhile, Heinz and Co. gain a promotion, and everyone’s happy. Win-Win on all sides.
And since everyone’s happy… Nothing is ‘broken’ and needs fixing. So, what motivation would there be for the Duchies to shake things up, since it was previously established Heinz wouldn’t?
And especially such a jump. Apparently, Alcrem hated Visa’s races so much they weren’t even allowed to be guards. But Heinz gets promoted, and suddenly that changes? It was even said he never visited. So what gives?
It’s honestly a big weakness of Densuke’s world-building. S-Class individuals are apparent gods among men, but so far we only have two (one for each country) and a half-worthy team before training with cheat codes. And of the two, one is a political recluse, while the other basically hides his beliefs and goals to protect others. Is that it? Is Heinz the only one who’s ever become promoted since those two? Has no Titan or Beastman ever reached even A-Class? Or an actual Alda extremist? We were just told a couple chapters ago a Titan rules the Duchy next door. And yet, it’s Heinz’s simple promotion that makes Duke Alcrem or whoever decide to let Vida’s races, who they accept as citizens, able to work public jobs now?
Honestly, I’m expecting more information on the Duke, because it sounds like a conspiracy to me. Like, maybe he/she’s a reverse Lucas, who actually feels guilty about their Alda worshipping ancestors and used Heinz’s promotion as a form of atonement. That’s my bet, anyways.
Fuck, that’s long. I might be drunk right now and not realize it. Especially since I’m teetotal, but whatever.
TL;DR
I don’t like the scene where Heinz and Co. are responsible for the changes. It makes the world seem smaller, and also makes it seem politics revolves entirely around this one group, despite a previous chapter establishing they were not willing to truly shake up the status quo. It also makes it seem like there are only three S-Class adventurers, which is way too small for a diverse world like this.
This isn’t Overlord, where humanity needed literal Deus Ex intervention from MMORPG guilds to not suck.
Entropy
Well I suspect Joseph wanted to use Vand as a promotional tool to have a way to get in with the nobles like giving Vand away to the duke as a pet. That is kind of the same way the five blades treat their dhampir, she can be a mascot for them but if she attacks a human, she will be put down. What is really funny is that Heinz is doing the exact same thing as what the empire wanted to do with him. The empire wanted him as a figurehead, and that is what the kingdom is doing. Agreed with you about the usefulness of Heinz, I think he and his allies are the types that would watch a crime be committed, but do nothing to stop it while saying it was bad. My bet on the S-class is that some countries might keep their numbers down to appear weak and keep enemies from invading or go head-hunting when someone approaches S class to add to their forces. Look at the 15 light-breakers swords of the empire, all of them roughly A to S class, but probably no records of them at the adventurer guilds being that strong. I imagine that guilds are supposed to be unbiased, but nobles can influence them as seen with Riley.
Jonathan Hurd
Okay so the thing to know about being an S class adventure is that it isn’t really about power. It’s more about popularity and politics. If you want a list of the current Generation guys strong enough to be S class…
Heinz, Scneider, about 13 of the fifteen evil breaking blades(before Van killed three of those), the Zero Blade of the evil breaking Blades, Randolph the True, Marshakals secret guards….
This list isn’t counting those in Vans team/south of the boundary mountain range and the Orbaume Kingdoms held back Aces. The author has stated the heroic God’s and spirits are humans that were also S class when they were alive. So there have been plenty through the generations.
The reason there are so few S class adventurers is mostly political. Let’s look at the three we know Schneider, Heinz, and Rudolph.
Rudolph tried to quit being an Adventurer. Schneider is secretly a Vida worshipper and could defect to the Orbaume kingdom, and Heinz is an up and coming adventurer who did leave his home nation.
The reason these three were made S Class isn’t about their strength it is to tether them. Rudolph can’t quit he’s S class, Schneider can’t escape the Amid Empire, and the Orbaume kingdom doesn’t want Heinz to be able to go back to the Amid Empire. By being S class adventurers they are under constant watch and scrutiny by the public limiting their actions and moves.
Another reason these three are in the spotlight at least for Heinz and Schneider is they are good looking and popular with the people. They are marketed as champions of the people and make good symbols. Rudolph has been in the game for so long that he has long proven he can be relied on.
For the changes to the Alcrest Duchy I think you are overestimating what has happened. Yes they have agreed to let Vidas races hold government jobs but also look at how the veteran gate guard treated his beast man kohai. Racist slurs, telling him to heat himself with his fur… look at the Beast man’s thoughts. ‘This is just something I have to deal with I’m lucky to even have a job as one of Vidas races’. The government said you shouldn’t be racist. They didn’t do anything to punish being that way though. They are basically doing what Heinz has done paying lip service to boost their image.
The reason they’re doing this is two fold. One it doesn’t cost them anything since they didn’t change anything. They just say they did and they’re done. The second is the publicity. It will probably make Heinz more likely to look favorably at them while also increasing Heinzs credit. People will point at this change and say to themselves ‘wow Heinz is getting things done!’ The more famous Heinz is the better Alcrest looks supporting him. It’s a win win for no effort.
For how you make money by having a Dhamphir child with you it works like this…
Heinz obviously has a soft spot for Dhamphir children he has Selen. You start protecting one and obviously Heinz is going to want to meet you. EVERYONE knows he’s going to want to meet you and probably be your friend. So if they can be friends with you then you can give Heinz a good word about them and introduce them.
In Earth standards think of it like this. You are friends with an up and coming High School Athlete. All the scouts want him so they need an edge to convince him to come to their school. They realize if they can get you on their side maybe they can get him. All of a sudden you have people ‘gifting’ you cars, shoes, scholarships, and money. They don’t outright say it’s a bribe but the gifts have a very obvious message and if you weren’t friends with the star athlete you know you wouldn’t get anything.
This kind of cash flow is what Joseph was after. If he acts as Vans guardian then all the cash and gifts come to him first.
Tejing
Btw, his name is Randolf, not Rudolph. That’s different enough to confuse people.
Jonathan Hurd
Thank you. He doesn’t come up that often so I got mixed up.
bk3k
He will more often soon…ish.
Kazza
Ok, I agree with a lot of what you said, but I have to take issue with one thing. Promotion to S-Class limits their agency? I disagree completely.
Randolf was about to quit adventuring, and when he was about to turn his card in, they begged him not to, because they had no alternative. Randolf is too powerful to coerce or threaten. The story doesn’t explicitly say how he was convinced, but judging by his conversation with Rudel it’s something sentimental with those in charge.
Schneider isn’t in the public eye. As far as any Noble knows, he’s a very hedonistic man who sits on his Island all day drowning in beer and women. It’s not their watch that keeps Schneider limited, it’s Marshukzarl’s implicit threat to the hidden Vida Race Villages. The last time we were told a noble pissed him off (via killing a child) Schneider literally beat him to death with next to no punishment.
That’s how powerful S-Class adventures are. They are basically walking nukes that the government can’t destroy because there will eventually be a need for them. So, their only choice is to reason with them, threaten someone close to them or bribe them.
I agree Heinz would be surface level, because it’s shown he is unwilling to do anything that would disrupt the thinly-veiled peace. But that’s why I always thought his promotion was due to convenience and political “Look-goodery”. He’s not a ‘true’ S-Class.
That’s honestly my only disagreement.
Jonathan Hurd
To me S class adventurers are basically Celebrities of this world and nuclear weapons. They are constantly in the public view and used as a deterrent and excuse to the public. People follow their actions and whereabouts because to the common people they are the ones keeping them safe. If a country loses one the military might blow would be big but even worse would be the blow to moral.
The thing to remember with Schneider though is he couldn’t leave because Marshakal wouldn’t let him. Schneider couldn’t go near the Boundary mountain range because Marshakal would jump him and he knew it. The fact that Schneider was on his own private island and everyone including the rank and file knew shows how public his location and actions are. Maybe Schneider could win and sneak past but if it gets out he fought the empire it would destroy his reputation.
The only reason Schneider was allowed to run around so freely is Marshakal could use him. Everyone knows that Schneider is anti noble. So anyone opposing the Emperor would obviously try to befriend Schneider. It made it really easy for Marsh to find the traitors.
For punishing Schneider after he killed a noble. It’s not that he couldn’t but that it wasn’t the smart move. Marshakal is pragmatic, what Schneider did endeared him to the people. Trying to harshly punish Schneider then would be costly, cut down his own nations power, demoralize the civilians, and in a worst case lead to riots. In the end a punishment was given Schneider had to kill a few Elder Dragons.
The thing with Randolph is he isn’t as untouchable as you might think. If he did retire, he would never get the rest he wanted. We saw how nobles like the new Duke Sauron were eyeing him and trying to lure him to their side. If he isn’t an Adventurer all the politicians would be desperately trying to draw him to their side. They would then move to block each other. Some would send Assassins. The downside of being human is you you can exhaust them. If he quit they’d never stop coming.
Honestly being S class doesn’t mean you can’t be touched it means you will never be left alone. You’re to important to leave alone since they are the symbol to the people. Their actions reflect back on the country so they need to be controlled.
Chiu ChunLing
Yeah, but…
Snei got away with beating that noble to death before he was S-Class.
Randolf apparently seriously would rather quit, but he couldn’t because he’s S-Class.
It’s true that they’re walking nukes, but they’d still be walking nukes even if they weren’t “S-Class”. They’re S-Class because they’re walking nukes and the government wants to try and control them.
Lord Rin
Heinz and the rest of the Blades really haven’t done ANYTHING at all for Vida’s races. Apart from giving some lip service by Heinz -and apparently only him from his whole group- saying that they should treat Vida’s races better -note he doesn’t say equal- and caring for Selen in what is basically a publicity stunt to make Heinz look good, they really haven’t done anything. These duchies are letting Vida’s races do some things they weren’t allowed to do before but it’s only because they think that they can get money from the peaceful faction or maybe forge a connection with Heinz and his group. Even then, we’ve clearly seen that the changes are only on the surface. Look at Aggar, still makes racist remarks about beast people directly to Kest who is one even though officially there should no longer be discrimination against Vida’s races.
Morgan
I doubt Heinz is actually responsible, even accidentaly. he’s the only S-rank in the peaceful faction so the faction is likely making him a figure head. the faction does the work and Heinz take the credit. But if the faction screws up, then it’s also Heinz who takes the fall since he “caused” the changes.
I agree the, for such a diverse world, it’s starting to seem kinda small. though keep in mind its currently set in a mid-sized and small-sized pair of continents. Frankly the story still has a humongous growth potential. in another 2-300 chapters, i can easily imagine that Vandalieu has taken over Lambda and has connected it to earth and origin and is going up against whatever god or entity that might have created Gudaranis.
For more information about Guduranis being created, take a look at my comment. It’s probably above this reply.
Jonathan Hurd
I agree Heinz has definitely been made a figurehead. That was part of the reason they were willing to push the achievement of killing Ternecia to him even if he only dealt the final blow.
My problem though is being the figurehead comes with power. He is a well respected Noble, adventurer, and church figure. His words hold weight. He’s also beloved by the general populace. He could use his political position to get justice or at least change for the downtrodden, but he ignores them.
What annoys me when Heinz yells at Van, for how chaotic and disruptive Vans actions are, is that Van wouldn’t have to be so disruptive if Heinz did anything. The reason Van works outside the system is because no one cares about him inside the system.
Everytime we have seen Van go to human towns he has been cheated and looked down upon. No one takes him seriously. Most don’t even care about extorting him. Currently the only reason Joseph even sees value in Van is because he can get close to Heinz.
If Heinz had started a campaign to free the enslaved Titans in the Hartner Duchy Van wouldn’t have needed to break into the mine and kill everyone to make it look like a monster attack. The Titans and the rest of the slaves could of had a place in the Orbaume kingdom.
Heinz would of done some real good and with his position he could do it. He wouldn’t be as popular with the noblemen but the point was to help Vidas races wasn’t it?
Entropy
Well the blades have cared for Selen. They feed her, play with her, make sure she gets exercise, put her to bed, and make certain that nobody steals their pet, I mean junior member. Seriously I agree with you, to the peaceful faction, the races born from Vida will be treated as the lowest class at best and pets or slaves at worst. My money is that even in the peaceful duchies, the Vida races will never be given positions of power. I think the real point of the Five Blades is to soothe Heinz’s guilt over condemning Darcia to a painful death and doing nothing to aid Vand. After all, what will become of Selen if they die in one of their adventures or eventually die of old age is that she will be sold as a slave from the great 5 blades or blamed for their deaths by some zealots.
Chiu ChunLing
I do think that this is an important point, it’s clear that Heinz was promoted to S-Class a little early because the Reconciliation factions (of Alda and Vida) that are the overall trend in the Orbaume Kingdom wanted it.
And in truth, Heinz probably was sensing that the whole “burn mothers and infants in the holy name of Alda” thing wasn’t a great look even in the Empire. Even if they allow slavery, the existing S-Class there is famous and popular for flipping out and killing noblemen who wantonly kill Vida race slaves.
Heinz isn’t why Marshkuzarl thinks that Alda fundamentalism is incompatible with the needs of human society. Marshkuzarl thinks that because it’s obviously true, humans may like to lord it over Vida races, but meaninglessly slaughtering them isn’t really popular no matter how many millennia Alda insists on it.
And he’s not why the Reconciliation faction is more popular in Orbaume. The Reconciliation faction is why he’s popular.
And his whole party knows it.
Chiu ChunLing
I think that Van could have done a better job shutting Joseph down.
Honestly, those words should have been on his lips just waiting for a chance to pop out since the moment Joseph asked him into his office.
“I already know that. I still don’t want to meet him.”
“I’ve already met them, more than once. I’ve discussed all this with them, and more besides. I met them quite recently, in fact. But unlike Selen, I don’t need their protection, and I’ve informed them of this in no uncertain terms. They seemed quite convinced I could defend myself. I will arrange to meet them when it serves my needs. Therefore it is not necessary for you to arrange a meeting.”
This would shut Joseph down and give him reason to think twice about treating Van like a hapless child. Not that he seems clever enough to think just because he’s given a reason.
TheBuldog
Thanks for the chapter!
Btw, Qliphoth is hebrew word for ‘Husk’, and it is representation of evil or impure spiritual forces in jewish mysticism and they are polar opposite to the Sepirot/Sephiroth. ~via wikipedia
You know, that fancy tree of life thingy
Megamink24
So, basically Van is a demon according to the job, huh? Makes sense
Megamink24
I’m guessing he gained access to the job because he killed a Heroic Spirit, which would be the equivalent to a Sephiroth.
VEreality
Ok, I am not an expert in religion, but I think I am onto something. The Qliphoth is supposed to be something evil that grows on the Tree of life. A great evil that not even the source of life can purge. It exist alongside it. I think this Job would give Van resistence against Light and Life attribute magic. I don’t know if this is it, but this is the best I idea I have so far.
no1
That sounds more accurate than my idea 🙂
TImeWreck24
Qlippoth is closer in meaning to “cast off skin (of god)”. It’s actually often used in reference to the jewish idea of what the angels would be classified as. They (angels) are essentially constructs of god’s will built in his spiritual image, whereas mankind was built in his physical image.
TImeWreck24
To put it in simpler terms, Qlippoth are the parts of god he unwillingly discarded as they are impurities of his soul, where the entirety of the concept of angels is that they were discarded out of necessity
oolas
Based on your description, I guess Qlipoth becomes available after he destroy the curse part of his soul. I think in the future if he ever select that job, he may able to remove god’s curses, divine protection or special ability granted by god. I guess that job may help him against reincarnator special ability or god’s champions.
Entropy
It could have also shown up after he tore his soul apart and started rebuilding it or it could have shown up for all of those or neither of these reasons. These vague job descriptions make me want to know what they do, still going crazy over pale rider, demuirge, and tartarus. Kind of miss the ones like zombie maker, at least that was obvious.
Ltshrek
So I guess if he pick qlipoth and probably dream guider removing the curse in his soul would be probably easy..but isn’t it also the reason that those curse somewhat responsible on why he’s so op now? So yeah when it comes to it the most troublesome among the curse is that
“Unable to gain exp points by himself”
VEreality
Oh….Oh this is so much cooler (Sorry for butchering the whole concept. I am not familiar with this religion).
TImeWreck24
No worries! I only knew this as i am jewish by heritage and grew up learning about it. Im also a huge generalist culture buff. I love learning about religion, even though i am technically a believing agnostic
Jonathan Hurd
Your mention of Angels and cast off Husk made me remember Banda. Banda was made using torn off parts of Vans soul and he is currently working like a Familiar Spirit the equivalent of Angels to God’s in the story. So maybe the Qhiloth Job came from making Banda.
Hobbes
So the exuvia of G-d cast off to reach transcendence
Ragnmunkeez
Thanks for the chapter!
This was such a tease lmao. I thought I was going to see Doug’s status and Darcia’s was there instead.
So does this mean that mutations will also happen to people in Origin that he gave fragments of himself to? Also, will the people he’s met so far that are already superior races evolve into something more powerful? Schneider and his party along with the Vampires, Chaos Elves, and Ghouls are already a force to be reckoned with, but with this they’ll become even more out of standard.
I’m glad Van chose Bestower though. I don’t think the guild can track past jobs before joining, but most of the others probably would have raised a red flag. I wouldn’t doubt if they would have started asking him questions or, at worst, assemble a subjugation force.
I bet Tartarus would be a job that grants him skills that make torture and punishment easier since Tartarus is a location in Greek Mythology that is used as a Titan prison and for torment and suffering of the wicked.
Entropy
Well I am thinking dwarves will become Duergar, perhaps abyss vampires will gain the noble type, elves might just mutate to dark elves or a new type like eclipse elves, and maybe ghouls will gain something along the same line. I don’t know if chaos elves will mutate since they are already a mutation from Vida. I am more curious to see if the undead will mutate as well. Can’t wait to see what happens next. I would like to see Vand gain some more guiding jobs to see if the guides will merge or even the named jobs just to see what they do. Someone mentioned that tartarus might also have to do with imprisoning as well, maybe it allows him to imprison souls like he did with the hunters that betrayed his mother at the start of the series.
NovaPulse235
I personally want to see him get some of the jobs that stand out a bit more like Pale Rider, Qliphoth, and Demiurge. I looked into a few of these and they all are a reference to some different mythologies, so I would love to see what they do
Ragnmunkeez
I would love to see that as well, but I want him to get the God Destroyer or another Guider job first to increase his options for Gods and divine spirits. His fight against Heinz showed that he needs more options against light and life attribute attacks.
Jonathan Hurd
He should definitely get God destroyer before the war with Alda truly starts, but it would be awesome if he chooses one of the mythological jobs. I wonder what skills and bonuses those would give.
VEreality
Any kind of imprisoning skill that Van will gain will be used with his dungeon creating one resulting in an eternal prison for the soul of any sucker that hits on Darcia-mama. Change my mind. I dare you
Ltshrek
Probably the people on origin won’t since it’s too far and will probably only work if they drink the actual blood (not the potion type) of van like those guys did so we’ll wait for Lucillano tests out
Also the Tartarus job would be suitable on his dungeon making skills and possibly could probably imprison Main God, subordinate gods,heroic spirits the likes of it
kazamakj
Dark Human? Lol too bad they did not show us Doug’s stats before the chapter ended.
Bladist
Ai’ight, make the black man a “Dark Human”.
Lol tho.
Nox
Thank you for the chapter.
Vida had to Mate with other gods in order to create new races while Van gained an skill for that.
no1
I had an idea, a possible explanation for the qliphoth job. Since Vandalieu’s soul was reduced to a shattered and injured state from his own attack and since a qliphoth is a word for husk and shell. It is most likely that this job is related to the state of his soul and that since his soul is damaged, his body would be like a shell or husk. This job could possibly give him a soul related skill, can’t wait to see if he takes it.
Entropy
I agree, it probably has to do with his soul. I initially thought that it would allow ghosts to evolve faster, but you are probably correct. It might allow him to break down his soul for some benefits like attribute boosts since he also broke his soul in that fight. Those named jobs are vague and make me want him to choose them, but I also want to see him choose those guider jobs.
Jonathan Hurd
Thanks for looking that up. I think you’re probably right about the Qliphoth jobs meaning considering the timing Van picked it up. To me I think it’s main effect could be to make it so that Soul and God Devour allow Van to absorb more of the Souls he eats. Maybe give him more mana and skills than before.
Tejing
It’s been a while since a new guider job showed up, and dream guider is pretty spot-on, honestly. Soul fighter seems to be pretty much the continuation of spirit warrior. God Destroyer certainly sounds cool, and it’s obvious why he got it, but I wonder what bonuses it actually gives other than probably a boost to the god devourer skill?
Dark Humans sound interesting, but we know nothing about them but the name so far, so not much to say there yet.
Darcia’s status wasn’t really very interesting… I expected some kind of new tidbit, but it seems like nothing out of the ordinary has happened with her.
Entropy
I am wondering if elves will mutate into dark elves, dwarves into Duergars, and if any of Vida’s races will also mutate. Same goes for the ghosts and other undead. Kind of with you on the guider, I think if he chose dream, it would transform into nightmare or follow after dark. Would love to see Vand’s guider full title with all of the choices picked including chaos and destruction. Maybe he will become chaos dark destruction demon nightmare guider if it is done based on letter order, although I think chaos destruction dark dream demon would sound better.
Tejing
There are already dark elves, so probably not that. Also, you’re forgetting creation guider.
Entropy
Didn’t forget, but it might cause the elves to race change to dark elves kind of like dark elves to chaos elves. Creation probably has to do with golem, dungeon, and possibly haunted object creation. No clue if that is the case. Perhaps creation might also help with creating new races like with the tree creature that was the apple merchant. Maybe he will follow the original DK and be able to create more new races easier with that job.
Jonathan Hurd
Van already chose Creation Guider. The author even gave us a little blurb about it in one chapter that it is easier to guide those the guider creates I believe. Usually you would think Creation Guider would mean you help craftsmen improve, but when we’re dealing with Van things get weird.
Entropy
Sorry, meant Creator job.
Entropy
Well maybe a new group of elves with be formed like you said, but there have been some cases where jobs have given meh abilities. It is possible that this job will be made redundant for some things like how the zombie maker job was more of an annoyance than benefit for Vand. I can’t wait to see if the titans, beastkin, and other races grow. I am really curious about the undead and vampires, but I suppose the abyss vampires are already a mutation.
Tejing
I think there was a mix-up when the chapter was first posted, but there is one notable thing about Darcia’s status after all. She has Vandalieu’s divine protection fully revealed.
Jonathan Hurd
Wooh! Thanks for the immediate chapter Yoshi and crew.
Can’t wait to find out what being a dark human entails. Probably the human equivalent to the dark goblins, anibuses, and orcus. Bestower sounds like it’ll be a fun Job. I also hope for next Job change be Qhilpoth. That name makes me think of Old Gods. I feel like it might be related to how high Vans Abyss skill has gotten, the fact he ate Curatos, and the state of Vans soul.
no1
This was fast, was not expecting this so soon, thank you for your hard work yoshi
Rodrigo
This is getting more and more interesting as the story goes on, I can’t wait for the next chapter.
Donny The truth speaker.
Darn, I was for sure thinking he would choose the Chaos guider (since chaos can represent change = possibly also give abilities to grant a mutation, and may further their development)
Jonathan Hurd
That is an interesting idea. All the guider jobs thus far do seem to have their own special effects. Creation gives bonus stats if a creation is near Van it’s creator. Demon allowed many to get abilities they shouldn’t of been able to. For example Vigaro making a fifth arm or Sam’s flying. I think Dark guider might be the reason so many of Vans allies evolved to races with classically evil mythology in their names.
I can imagine Chaos Guider working like you suggest and helping mutations. If that is how it works though I think it’s good Van got Bestower first. That way Chaos Guider has something to work with and amplify.
Entropy
Really like the new jobs, but I thought Vand already had Divine Enemy and Hollow King Mage or I might be remembering some skills evolving into things similar to them. I am kind of curious about those two and Destruction Guider, Demon King, Chaos Guider, Demon Ruler, Creator, Demiurge, Pale Rider, Tartarus, God Destroyer, Dream Guider, and Qliphoth. Really want to know the difference between demon king and demon ruler, they seem about the same with maybe ruler possibly being a binding or taming job and king being empowering demon pieces, not sure. I guess Demiurge might be related to demons as in making demons, pale rider allowing Vand to ride ghost animals, Tartarus being improved zombie creation, Creator being golem or life creation as in Vida races and Qliphoth might be a ghost creation. Don’t really know, but would love to see how the chaos, dream, and destruction guider go with the other guiding paths. If I recall correctly, he has dark demon, and I am guessing all of them would be chaos destruction dark dream demon guide. I suspect that Joseph or the merchants guild might try to kidnap Vand or Darcia as a hostage possibly using the dirty guard. I am curious about dark humans, and their power ups. Also wondering if all humans, elves and dwarves in Vand’s empire will change into similar races.
Jonathan Hurd
So Van has the skills Hollow King and Divine Enemy. If he gets the jobs usually those will boost those skills. Hollow King Mage is basically an evolved version of Neutral Magic Mage Job that no one bothered to take.
For the jobs these are my guesses and understanding of what they represent or cover.
For Demon King and Demon Ruler they kind of cover different things. Demon Ruler is basically tamer related because Van is followed by a ton of Demons. Taking this job would probably boost them and make taming them easier.
Demon King on the other hand probably has more flexibility. It would most likely boost all abilities associated with Guduranis usually. So it would help Van wield the DK fragments, break souls and God’s, lead demons, creating dungeons, and probably making monsters.
Creator is most likely the next Job up for the Vans job line in Golem creation and dungeon making. So this would probably help Vans Golem creation skill and Labyrinth Creation. As well as other construction jobs Van does.
I put Demiurge into Google and it says ‘being responsible for creation of the Universe’… so yeah that sounds awesome. Probably it’s to do with his Labyrinth Creation ability and might let him do that outside dungeons.
Pale Rider is a bit different than just riding Ghosts. Yoshi explained a while back that Pale Rider in the story is actually the alternative naming for Death when he rides as one of the four horsemen of the apocalypse.
For Tartarus I think it might have to do with Vans Abyss skill, monster creation and God destroying he has done. Tarturus in Greek mythology was apparently where the Titans were sealed in Greek mythology. So it might give Van a sealing ability too if he gets it.
Qhiloth to me sounds like it’s related to old God’s like Cthulu. I think it might affect Soul and God Devour. As well as Vans unarmed fighting technique.
For Vans guidance it is Dark Demon Creation Path. I would be interested if there is some weird evolution to the skill due to becoming a Destruction Guider. I would also enjoy Chaos Guider because it would probably promote mutations as you said. Could also help Chaos elves so that could be fun. Finally Dream Guider could be fun since it could lead to those in Origin being Guided. That might tip off Rodcorte though so probably best to hold off on that one for now.
Entropy
You might be right about the named titles especially creator and tartarus. Creator might also have to do with possessed items as well. Creator might also make it
easier for new races to be created. Pale rider is death but it might also add the mount ability and raise Vand’s death magic. Demiurge was also the name of a demon in overlord so the author might use it with that as a reference, no clue.
Lord Rin
From my understanding, Demiurge is the name given to a being in certain philosophy circles and religions that is a creator that fashions the physical world but is said to either be something created by a higher power and thus basically a tool or that it’s a being/force that can create things but has no drive or will of their own and only follows the will and orders of another being.
NovaPulse235
Qliphoth is actually a Jewish thing meaning “shells” and “husks” and relate to evil or impure spiritual forces. Not sure what that would do for Vandalieu but might have something to do whit spirits or his own soul since it could be described as a husk after being devoured
Crimson Nanashi
Praise for the translations of the Holy Mother and Trap Emperor Van. May their mother and son time be forever glorious
Doom-sama
PRAISE VAN-SAMA, OUR LORD SAVIOR, OUR CHAMPION, OUR DEATH GOD! LET HIS ENEMIES COWER IN TERROR AS THE FAITHFUL EVOLVE INTO SOMETHING GREATER! THE SACRED MESSAGE TODAY IS:
Bothersome people are bothersome.
Soundwave
Wow ty for the chapter didn’t expect one so soon 🙂 pleasant surprise thanks for your hard work!
Apokryphos
Thanks for the translation~