A Puppet Master in the DanMachi World

In this positive atmosphere, Ming Ge's goal gradually became clear.

Chapter Nine: Magical Enlightenment Ritual

"And so, Jonathan Joestar and Dio Brando sank into the sea..."

Sitting in the church, Ming Ge held Meitellia's hand as he told her a story from Earth.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Phantom Blood focused on the Golden Spirit and the Black Will.

Ming Ge felt that Meitellia was well suited to the term Golden Spirit.

As for himself, would calling it the Black Will be giving himself too much credit?

Still, he and DIO did share similarities: the same ambition, as well as the intense desire to defeat fate and surpass the gods.

In a sense, Meitellia's terminal illness was part of "fate." Overcoming it would be the same as defeating fate once.

"After finally finding happiness, only to have it cruelly taken away again... such an ending is too tragic."

Meitellia murmured, unable to pull herself free from the sorrowful ending.

"Jonathan was unlucky because he met DIO. Fate became a cage, imprisoning the two of them together. But he was also lucky, because he protected his wife and child."

Viewing the story from another angle, Ming Ge said, "For humans, loneliness may be frightening, but what is even more frightening is gaining sunlight only to have it taken away again."

"This ending was tragic yet fortunate for Jonathan. For Dio, it marked his absolute defeat at the hands of fate."

"And for Jonathan's wife, Elena, those who remain alive are the ones who suffer the most."

Those who remained alive suffered the most... Meitellia suddenly understood the second reason Ming Ge had told her this story.

"Don't worry. I won't leave you behind."

Meitellia tightly clasped Ming Ge's hand and smiled gently. "Haven't we always been working toward that?"

"Mm... I wasn't worried about that... Well, actually, I was."

Ming Ge said helplessly, "You seem gentle, but you're actually very strong-willed. No matter what happens, I hope that whenever you're troubled, you'll think of me instead of making a terrible decision on impulse."

"Mm, I'm not that foolish."

Meitellia puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.

"This isn't a matter of distrust."

Ming Ge chuckled. "No matter how wise a person is, their thinking is still narrow. No matter how great one person's strength is, it is still limited. We need to recognize that, then combine the strength of both of us to face our difficulties together."

"If we do that, we'll shatter mountains when we encounter mountains, fill seas when we encounter seas, and slay gods when we encounter gods—we will overcome every hardship and rewrite fate."

"Mm..." Meitellia was somewhat moved. Then she gently placed a finger against Ming Ge's lips and whispered, "Though I like your confession, you mustn't keep talking about killing gods."

Godslaying was a grave sin and something absolutely forbidden in the Lower World.

Therefore, those words could never be allowed to spread outside. It would be troublesome if anyone heard them.

"I know."

Ming Ge said calmly, "But if a god stands in my way, I will not hesitate in the slightest."

Meitellia accepted his words and his resolve with all her heart.

"Mm."

Meitellia smiled. "Let's work hard together."

The two continued their efforts, and at the same time, Ming Ge's study of magic progressed smoothly.

There was only one issue: Ming Ge had no "magic power," so he could only speculate about much of the material and could not put it into practice.

So-called magic power was Mind that had undergone a qualitative transformation, a supernatural force capable of producing tangible "phenomena."

The simplest way to achieve that was undoubtedly to become a member of a Familia.

But there was another method: undergoing a magical enlightenment ritual.

There were two conditions for cultivating innate magic—

Only magical races, beginning with elves, could use magic without a "Blessing" through repeated training and rituals, as well as the systematic long chants passed down from ancient times.

This statement showed that being a magical race was a prerequisite for using innate magic, illustrating just how difficult it was to learn magic.

The second requirement was to undergo a ritual that would cause one's Mind to undergo a qualitative transformation.

In truth, nothing appeared out of thin air. Acquired magic, for instance, had been developed using innate magic as its foundation.

The five basic attributes—strength, endurance, agility, dexterity, and magic—could only emerge from things that already existed.

Thus, with Meitellia's help, Ming Ge began his own magical enlightenment.

Setting aside the difficulty of learning magic, as long as he possessed magic power and could understand its essence, Ming Ge's understanding of magic would rise to another level.

Although this was something he could accomplish simply by becoming an adventurer, Ming Ge still intended to test the effects of the ritual.

After finding five rituals from different races, Ming Ge studied and compared them, finally gaining a true understanding of their principles.

After making improvements, Ming Ge prepared to give it a try.

In truth, after thousands of years of development, the rituals of the various races had left no room for improvement.

The so-called improvements were mostly adjustments suited to Ming Ge's current circumstances. After all, most magical rituals were intended for magical races.

Ming Ge was not a magical race, merely an ordinary human, so he had even greater reason to pay attention to this.

"Are you really going to do it?"

Meitellia asked worriedly.

"Of course."

Ming Ge rubbed his cheek against hers and smiled. "The ritual itself has no issues, and the danger is minimal. I think it's worth trying."

Still, compared to becoming an adventurer, this method did carry an additional uncontrollable risk.

"Let's begin."

Ming Ge cleared out the center of the church, looked it over, and took out the ritual materials.