[V12EX] Miscellaneous Lore

Q&A

Q: Can Isaac memorize magic just by seeing other people use it?

A: No, he actually studies and practices a lot in the background. Spirit King Summoning and flight magic were a bit too difficult to handle. By the way, people with water, ice, and earth affinities tend to excel in imbuement magic rather than projectile magic (such as spells for firing arrows). This is why Isaac is good at the magic sword technique.


Q: About the Makeshift Gembox made by Karina, could the materials be…?

A: The following is the recipe for creating the Makeshift Gembox.

Materials:

  • One trumpet box
  • One slightly extreme self-defense magical tool (Clifford’s stun gun)
  • Lana’s accessories
  • Paper, wood, glass, and other various materials found in Monica’s house

Instructions:

  1. Dismantle the trumpet box and remove the trumpet.
  2. Rebuild it to fit Gluttonous Zoe’s size
  3. Add decorations and stun gun
  4. (Optional) For a craftswoman’s playful touch, attach a small trumpet inside the box to make a sound when opened.

However, Karina realized that she needed to take it seriously, so she removed the trumpet.


Q: I want to know about the character’s motor skills.

A: It’s roughly like this.

Excellent:

  • Louis (feral child level)
  • Silas (trains rigorously every day)
  • Robert (good at more than just chess)
  • Isaac (genius who can handle most things)
  • Bradford (surprisingly a master at both swordsmanship and horse riding)
  • Glenn (good at moving his body)

Quite good:

  • Raul (physical strength trained in agriculture, high stamina)
  • Hubert (pretty strong and agile)
  • Neil (grew up in the hilly countryside, so has decent stamina and is good at horse riding)
  • Elliott (can do most things without too much effort)

Average:

  • Cyril (practices what he can’t do until he can)
  • Benjamin (hardly exercises, but he isn’t that bad)

Poor:

  • Ray (despair)

“The people who can actually learn things through practice are talented… The ravine separating us and them is deeper than the darkest abyss…”

  • Monica (despair)

“I can write as many papers as you want on the dynamics of exercise, so please forgive me… Ugh… I understand the theory of running fast, the theory at least…”


Q: Who is the strongest in physical combat?

A: That depends on many factors, such as weapons allowed or fists only, one-on-one or one-versus-many, etc. Assuming a simple duel without magic, the strongest is Henrik Blanquet, the Margrave of Valmbelk (Frieda’s brother).

Apart from him, the following people are also strong. There is no specific order, but I must say the biceps-freak Anthony is quite formidable.

  • Anthony: Strong even without using a magic sword. Good in both one-on-one and one-versus-many.
  • Robert: Slightly inferior to his brother Anthony, but quite strong for his age.
  • Silas: His usual combat style combines spear and staff techniques with magic, so he’s strong even without magic.
  • Louis: Shines in rule-free brawls. Exceptionally skilled at surprise attacks. Knows all the vital points of the human body.
  • Bradford: Can handle swords, guns, and fistfights. Very versatile, even without magic.
  • Prince Lionel: Can hold his own against Louis in a brawl. Extremely durable.
  • Isaac: Proficient with swords, guns, and almost everything else. Possesses high situational awareness and surprisingly strong in rule-free brawls.


Q: Ashelpikeh seems to be disrespecting the Spirit King of Ice by omitting the offering. Is that okay?

A: Truth be told, omitting the offering and using human language instead of spirit language during an audience were both, well, quite problematic. Especially since the Spirit King of Ice dislikes humans to begin with.

(Side Note: Pikeh chose to use human language because she wanted to appeal to Cyril that she was doing something amazing.)

For the time being, Pikeh does not plan to meet the Spirit King of Ice, so it’s probably fine. As you can guess, Pikeh doesn’t have much respect for the Spirit Kings.

The Spirit King of Ice may be making a fuss now, but she’ll probably forget about it after a year or so.

By the way, offerings to the Spirit King of Ice nowadays typically involve flowers encased in ice.

The Spirit Kings

I thought it might be better not to talk too much about them to preserve their mysterious image. However, upon reflection, I realized that applies to the Seven Sages as well, so I’ll reveal a part of it here.

On the gender of Spirit Kings:

There isn’t much meaning to it since spirits don’t have a gender. The prevailing theory in academia is that humans attributed a gender to the Spirit Kings to make it easier to tell stories about them.


Spirit King of Fire, Flem-Blem

Often depicted as a valiant warrior. He loves effort, friendship, and victory, embodying the spirit of shonen manga.

Spirits generally don’t value effort or friendship, so his love of individuals who are diligent and have strong friendships is rather unique. He finds joy in promising victory to such people. Relatively favorable towards humans.

Unusually diligent for a spirit, and he favors the Spirit King of Ice Fraulicel (who is friends with Luluchera). However, Fraulicel banned him from visiting because it would melt her castle.


Spirit King of Water, Luluchera

Often portrayed as a beautiful woman with hair that is constantly changing color.

Though she seems calm and gentle, she is, in fact, very capricious. She rarely stays in one place and constantly changes her residence.

She appears to be a good listener at first, but in reality, she only hears about 80% of what the other person says.

She loves things that change, so she loves humans. She has little interest in spirits, since they never change.

“Fraulicel is not all that interesting, though I like seeing her crying like a puppy. But poor Fraulicel, she’ll melt if she’s filled with another’s love. That’s why no one should ever love her.”

The Spirit King of Ice is unaware of that statement.


Spirit King of Wind, Shefield

Often depicted as an androgynous figure.

Moody and capricious, but not fickle. Tends to focus hard on one subject at a time. Fond of artists and relatively friendly to humans.

An enigmatic Spirit King who appears mysteriously from the edge of silence. When asked about what the ‘edge of silence’ is, he simply replies, “It’s the edge of silence.” It remains a mystery to everyone else.

Sometimes appears to be standing around absent-mindedly, and he actually is just absent-minded. When he gets rough, he goes all the way.


Spirit King of Earth, Arclayd

Often depicted as a man with dark skin.

Recognized by the Spirit God for providing fertile land and increasing the human population, Arclayd was allowed to marry the Spirit God’s daughter as a reward.

…However, he was promiscuous and got involved with young girls, leading his furious wife to seal him in the Vezelda Hills, and he hardly leaves to this day. The somewhat unsavory episode is still used in ceremonial incantations to this day. He has a fondness for humans, especially young girls.

Hero Ralph had the most trouble gaining the blessing of this Spirit King, despite being from the tribe of Earth.


Spirit King of Lightning, Volgang

Often depicted as a man who always keeps his eyes closed.

Since he always has his eyes closed and is silent, those around him think he’s sleeping. He is actually awake.

He rarely speaks, so when he does, he tends to accidentally speak too loudly, startling those around him. He loves shiny things but isn’t very interested in humans.

He considers the Spirit King of Wind as his one and only partner, and expressed this in front of Shefield once. However, Shefield simply muttered “…Huh?” with a vague smile, then flew off into the distance.


Spirit King of Ice, Fraulicel

Often depicted as a beautiful woman. She is a cold queen who never changes her expression. However, her emotions fluctuate wildly when she interacts with the Spirit King of Water. Generally hates humans.

Fraulicel is the strongest in battles against dragons. However, due to her many episodes of her messing with the hero Ralph, ice mages were prone to neglect and rejection during the era of the Hero King (though this does not apply in the current era). Some theorize that the rarity of ice mages in modern times is due to this.


Spirit King of Light, Serendine / Spirit King of Darkness, Eldiora

Various theories exist, such as the two being completely separate individuals, sisters, mother-daughter, the same person, or split personalities. Their treatment varies greatly depending on the story.

They exist in a slightly different realm than the other Spirit Kings and have little interaction with them. So how did Hero King Ralph meet the Spirit Kings of Light and Darkness, given this? The answer is rather vague: “When I unsheathed the sword that nobody else could, I heard the voice of the Spirit King of Light acknowledging me,” or “The Spirit King of Darkness acknowledged the vow I made to the night sky,” and so on.

Mythologies often have sudden developments, abrupt scene jumps, or ambiguous expressions, but this tendency is particularly strong with the Spirit Kings of Light and Darkness.


Fraulicel’s Jealousy

One day, a human man named Ralph was invited to the residence of the Spirit King of Water, Luluchera.

Ralph entertained Luluchera with stories from the human world, and surprisingly, he was granted permission to stay for a whole week.

The Spirit King of Ice Fraulicel was envious and furious at him for monopolizing the whimsical Luluchera for a week and even receiving her blessing. She decided to interfere with Ralph by covering a mountain with snow, preventing him from reaching his next destination.

And that is how Mount Kalug came to be… or so goes the story.

“To think that human monopolized my Luluchera for a whole week!? A whole week, all to himself!? For me, just having her company for a day would be a miracle! You insolent human, curse you, curse you, curse you! I’ll freeze that mountain and turn it into your grave!”


Hero Ralph and the Spirit Kings

Certain Spirit King: “Ralph the Hero? Oh yeah, I totally remember him.”

Young Spirit: “Is it true that Ralph did __ at __?”

Certain Spirit King: “Hmm, I think so?”

Young Spirit: “So __ was related to __?”

Certain Spirit King: “Probably, yeah (not that I remember).”

Young Spirit: “Thank you so much, Your Majesty! (Alright, let’s go teach the humans about our king’s greatness.)”

And thus, the legend of Hero Ralph was embellished with various episodes of dubious origins, then further dramatized by human hands.

Regarding the above exchange, the identity of the ‘Certain Spirit King’ is concealed at his request. Please understand.

This concludes our transmission from Vezelda Hills.

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