Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer
chapter-73

[Notice! Host's Bloodline roused and awakened! Providence updated.]

[Providence: Fey Emperor's Blessings (Grade-???)]

: You have been blessed by the Fey Emperor, granting you numerous benefits such as;

• [Focused Mind] - lessens the probability of you failing to cast a spell. Greatly increases intellect.

• [Fey Emperor's Majesty] - increases your beauty and charm, raises your Physical Strength, greatly increases your familiarity with Mana.

• [Magical Affinity (New!)] - Gain the Favor of all Elements, allows the possibility of multi-casting, increases Magical Perception.

Ashton stared at the notification in wonder.

He's still marveling at the changes brought by him increasing the potency of his bloodline, then there's this. Seriously, his luck was really weird sometimes.

The Magical Affinity opens up a lot of possibilities for him. It won't help much offensively thanks to this petulant curse he bears but the idea of multi-casting sounds too good to be true for him.

That, and the fact he gains the affinity for all Elements plus the perception is truly wonderful. This will really help out a lot.

'...this really makes me wonder if there were Fey around.' He mused to himself. 'I mean, their existence would be justified due to me having this but weirdly enough, I wouldn't be surprised if they're not real in this world.'

Due to him being an avid fan of fantasies back in his old world, he could recall some things about the Fey Race.

Fey, or in some other works; Fae/Faries/Elves, were a race that has close ties with nature. In some adaptations, they're the protector of nature. Other times, they are the protectors of the world itself. They answer to the natural order and maintain it's balance.

Most of the times, their race has the highest affinity when it comes to magic. Sometimes, they are depicted as pacifists, preferring to tend to their own rather than actively seek out what's outside their gardens.

Perhaps, the most common ways of depictions he can recall as of this moment, is the fact that they are overly sexualized. They're often described to posses unparalleled beauty and grace, wearing skimpy outfits with their pearly and supple skins with their males compared to Greek Gods while women had the largest knockers. It's ridiculous really.

That being said though, Ashton's transformation certain did not help this stigma. If anything, this just proves it. Then again, he's living in an actual fantasy world right now and he had been proven wrong time and time again so he wouldn't be surprised to learn if things works differently here.

Not that any of those were important right now...

See, Ashton didn't just unlock a new benefit from his Providence. The older effects were also boosted by the increased potency of his Bloodline.

This meant that his mind is sharper now and he's much stronger than before. This also explains how his Mana Reserves practically doubled just now.

Ashton glanced at the time and saw that it's nighttime. Usually, he'd be resting at this point but he's bursting with so much energy that he's becoming restless.

In order to remedy that, he immersed himself in the Simulation Zone to let loose.

Using the fixed arena which depicted the ruins of City M, he summoned a pack of Imps. He took his guns out and began shooting wantonly.

With his stronger body, he discovered that the recoil was more manageable now, it barely phases him anymore. Plus, his firing rate also increased due to several reasons.

See, during his training a few days ago, he discovered the nuances of how the Mortal Reminder works...

To load the gun with bullets, the gun is linked directly to his Mana Reserves. Ashton discovered that the more mana he has, the more bullets he can shoot. Also, the purer his mana is, the easier it is for the gun to convert them into bullets, which translates into the increase of his firing rate.

Aiming and predicting the enemy's movements are things that he still needs to get used to. He's a beginner Gunslinger, he has a lot of work ahead of him. That being said, the more he uses the sub-artifact, the more he falls in-love with it.

Peng! Peng! Peng!

Despite Ashton's eagerness, he was calm. He fired off three consecutive shots. All pierced the heads of the Imps, one even pierced through the one behind it.

Five Imps dashed at him, all seeing red in rage. They were fast and relentless, they didn't die even though they're shot at the head. If anything, that just made them angrier.

Despite this, Ashton remained eerily calm. He himself didn't understand it but he wasn't stressed right now. If anything, he felt light and at ease even though he's facing Demons right now.

He dodge the onslaught of pitchforks coming his way with grace, firing shots that barely missed the vitals of the imps. Hell, he even parried a thrust with a shot.

In his calm state, Ash could see every move of the Imps with so much clarity. Their stance, the way their muscles tensed, the trajectory of their strikes, he could even tell the how far they could reach in each attack.

It was bizarre yet it felt awesome.

A calm smile adorned Ashton's lips as he surprised himself by casting the Blink Spell, which teleported him right above the group of imps. Riding the momentum, he spun fiercely while shooting.

He quite literally created a rain of bullets that either pierced through the imps or left them burning.

By the time his foot landed on the ground with a silent grace, the group of Imps around him vanished. But they were soon followed by the last batch of Imps, this time, there's seven of them.

Ashton looked at the group and felt himself grinning. He brought the guns together and used the second form which is the Sniper Rifle.

Blinking a couple of times back, he put quite a distance between himself and the remaining Imps.

He took a deep breath and loaded his first shot.

Peng!

He fired. The shot flew at, what it seems, the speed of sound. The impact caused one of the Imps' head to pop like a watermelon. The body wriggled a little bit before turning into dust.

Ashton lowered his posture and then fired another shot.

Peng!

Another head exploded. Sadly, Ashton can't continue this since the Imps are fast approaching. He got up and aimed. He saw the Imps avoiding his scope which made him raise a brow.

He tapped his foot and blinked to his left, which caused the Imps to be caught off-guard. As soon as he appeared, Ashton fired his shot and blasted another head off. That makes it three at this point.

Riding the adrenaline pumping through his body, Ashton jumped in the air, aimed down and fired another shot. The recoil pushed him back a bit but he wasn't hurt. Plus, he killed another one so that's four.

As soon as he landed though, he had to evade since one of the Imps got desperate and threw its pitchfork at him. The attack didn't graze him but much to Ashton's surprised, he found himself catching the pitchfork and hurling it back to its sender.

Another one dead so only two left...

After hurling the pitchfork, Ashton rode the movement and lowered his body bring his rifle to another aim. He clicked his tongue when he saw the Imps running in an erratic pattern to avoid his line of sight.

That being said, Ashton has patience and distance. He took a breath and he started predicting their movements. His mind whirred into activity yet his body remained still. With an exhale, he fired another shot.

A shot the curved beautifully to hit the Imp hiding behind a wall. That one's down, Ashton didn't need to check, he's certain of it.

Then, with the last stroke of arrogance. He didn't bother aiming nor using the scope of the sniper rifle, he fired another shot behind him without looking.

The shot curved and the last imp fell with an incredulous look on its face.

Ashton stood in his spot, unmoving. He took a couple of deep breaths and surveyed his surroundings to check if there's more.

When he saw the battlefield dissolving, the massacre he performed sunk-in and his eyes widened in disbelief. He guffawed and looked at his gun and hands.

"Holy shit!!" He exclaimed. "What the fuck!?"

"I did that..." he muttered, his eyes widened and he repeated. "I. Did. That!"

"Holy shit! That was so cool!!"

Ashton laughed like a maniac. He just completely obliterated a pack of Imps and he didn't even feel tired afterwards.

His mind replayed his act just now and he found himself speechless by the things he did. He used the Blink Spell in a way that he never thought possible before, he parried an attack with a gun. He released a rain of fire and he performed seven head-shots that straight-up killed the last batch.

As his deeds settled down on his mind, Ashton couldn't help but feel smug. He knew that he shouldn't be feeling arrogant about this but he can't help it.

"I did good. I did good." He muttered as he patted his own back. "I was badass. 10/10 would do it again."

"...now, If I could just be like that every single time, that'd be awesome."