Idle Mage: Humanity's Strongest Backer-Novel

"Ah, crap!"

Boom!

Ashton just barely managed to evade a massive explosion that could've potentially kill him. He rolled to displace the impact on his body and located where his enemy were in order not to not be surprised again.

The 8 foot tall monstrosity snarled at him with hate as it reeled back the chained sickle it threw.

Ashton shot a few White Magic Shots at it but the demon evaded them swiftly despite its size. It's body seemingly glitched out and then reappeared near him.

He barely avoided its deadly stomp with a well placed Blink. He continued shooting at it but the demon just raised its lantern which formed some sort of a barrier that protected it.

Ashton clicked his tongue and blink away several times. He brought out the sniper rifle and combined his spells with Piercing Rounds and Burning Rounds in hopes of hurting the demon at the very least.

Unfortunately, the barrier it has was too sturdy. None of his shots even put a dent in it. Ashton had to evade again since the demon threw it's chained sickle at him once more.

Ashton managed to evade it at least, but he was caught off-guard by a sudden change. He missed the fact that chained sickle somehow burrowed deep into the ground and followed him to where he's supposed to appear, it appeared beneath him and it was already too late to evade it.

Ashton's was cleanly cut in half, effectively ending the simulation.

Once his consciousness was kicked out of the simulation zone, Ashton gasped awake and clutched his body.

"Oh that was horrible." He murmured, he sounded weary and upset. He laid down on the mattress and took several deep breaths to calm himself down.

It's unfortunate that he's still not strong enough to even hurt a Tormentor.

He had been simulating a fight against it within the past few days but he just can't even damage it in the slightest. The demon was so freaking strong, it's fast and cunning too. Not to mention, it's impossible to lay down an ambush for it or even trap it with his current skill set.

Ashton tried almost all combinations he had in fighting that thing but nothing worked. His de-buffs are too weak to even take effect. His Spell Shots can't penetrate that damn barrier. He can't even outsmart it for the life of him!

"Maybe I shouldn't even think about fighting for now." He mused to himself, "I should train-up my Spells, Skills and techniques first before I try again."

"Yeah, that sounds about right..." he concluded.

There's really not much for Ashton to do as of the moment. Unless he becomes strong enough to kill a Tormentor, he shouldn't even think about reducing the numbers of the demons roaming around the ruins.

See, he discovered what makes Tormentors a nightmare to fight. They have this ability to devour the souls of allies and foes alike which permanently makes them stronger. And this is on top of their already absurd physiology which naturally gets stronger as they mature.

They don't need to kill anyone in particular, they just have to devour the soul of whoever died near them and it will make them stronger. How absurd is that?

In addition to that, the strength of a Tormentor's barrier scales directly with amount of souls it devoured, the more souls it ate, the sturdier its barrier becomes.

This is what makes Tormentors a pain in the ass to deal with. Ashton has no idea how much soul this one in particular devoured so far but it must be a lot. Considering the fact that Ashton could kill other types of demons roaming around the area already except that one, that is a huge sign in itself.

Tormentors have one big weakness though; their lanterns.

You see, while Tormentors can indeed devour souls, the way they do it unique from what he observed so far.

They suck the soul inside their lanterns, which effectively imprisons the soul. In there, the souls will experience all kids of torments which will erode their sanity until they're fully consumed.

The stronger one's spirit is, the more difficult it is to consume them. In fact, it is even possible for a soul to break out of the lantern. Not that that's optimal either since the Tormentor would just cull the soul with it's sickle if they managed to escape anyways.

This basically meant that it takes time for the Lantern to devour a soul. Ashton was certain that if he could just destroy the lantern, that would be enough for him to take down the Tormentors.

That being said, that's a difficult task in itself. Ashton tried doing that multiple times by now but the damn thing is too freaking sturdy. Additionally, the demon does it best to make sure it's protected anyway so good luck with that.

Anyway, it will take sometime before he could effectively take down his biggest problem. Thankfully, he has time to spare and he had methods available to him which takes advantage of that.

After his defeat from the Tormentor, Ashton called it a day. He didn't want to overexert himself again. Plus, he had other projects to pay attention to anyway.

He exited their shared room and went to the lab. There he found Aria immersed in her research. She sensed his presence and gave him a sweet smile before returning to her work.

Meanwhile, Ashton made his way into the corner of the lab to continue his project of making a new body for Jerry.

He decided to follow the original design with a few improvements. He used better components and metals to create the body, he also optimized the energy capacity so that Jerry would have more up time and shorten his charging time.

Ashton didn't really have to worry about the this not working.

While it is indeed difficult for human technology to work properly in the Outside World, the Grand Library is exempted from that. So long as Jerry remains inside the library, there shouldn't be any problems with that really.

Ashton felt like an idiot for not realizing that sooner. Oh well, better late than never. He wouldn't be needing Jerry to come outside anyways so he can revive him now.

This project took him a little over than four hours to finish. Once the main frame for Jerry's body is complete, all that's left is to attach the Memory Core in it and let him boot up.

Ashton did that and watched the loading screen with rapt attention. Once the download was finished, a familiar expression (emote) suddenly appeared on the screen-face.

Ashton heard the familiar whirring sounds made by his trusty butler-bot. Jerry head rose up to meet his and suddenly...

"Greetings, Master. I trust that it is you who made me a new body?"

Ashton nearly cried in joy as he heard Jerry familiar voice. He earnestly nodded at him.

"My outmost thanks, for reviving me." He said, "Butler Bot Jerry is once again is yours to command, do you need me to do anything for you Master?"

"You're not done charging yet." Ashton shook his head, "I upgraded your body so run some checks on yourself and optimize your systems. Once you're done with everything, including your charging time, you can come look for me."

"As you wish Master." Jerry wasted no time and began optimizing himself.

Ashton sighed and left the lab. He had a wide smile on his face as he went back to their shared room. He was really happy to have Jerry back.

With him around, things will be more fun and easier. Jerry's extremely helpful specially with his new upgrades. Ashton added a mana circuit in him which allowed Jerry to cast spells by consuming Mana Crystals. His new body is also slightly bigger, stronger and far more durable than before.

Aria and Ashton could leave the repair of books to Jerry, he'll surely be more than happy to cover that task for the two of them.

His girlfriend seems to have noticed his happiness...

"Did you succeed?" She asked.

Ashton nodded and gave her a kiss. She congratulated him and pulled him in the couch with her to watch movies with her.

After an hour or so, they heard a whirring sound and the closing of the door. They found Jerry sliding over to them with a smiling emote on his screen-face.

"Hey buddy. I'd like you to meet Aria. She's my girlfriend and she'll be staying with for a very long time, maybe even permanently." Ashton stated.

"Hi, Jerry."

"Hello, Mistress Aria. I am Master Ashton's Butler Bot - Jerry. Feel free to give me tasks to make your life more comfortable. Would the two of you allow me to cook dinner?"

"Sure! What are your recommendations?" Ashton asked.

Jerry then displayed a menu list for them to choose from. Aria and Ashton told him their meal choice and Jerry gave them another smile as he made his way towards the kitchen.

"I think I'm going to enjoy his company a lot. Do you think he knows how braid my hair?"

Ashton chuckled and said: "I wouldn't be surprised if he does."