Vending Power DxD - Chapter 1

“Ace! That's enough for today.”

Ace, a Japanese teen with dark shaggy hair and equally dark eyes, paused in his sweeping of the floor to look at the middle-aged store manager that had just called out to him, “Sure thing boss! Gimme a few to finish this though.”

The slightly balding man nodded and returned to his small office. The shop was a tiny family owned one, which was the only reason Ace had been allowed to work at it. He was too young to work legally so had to work under the table for cash. He didn't mind though, cash was exactly what he needed.

It only took him a handful of minutes to finish his work and make his way to the office where he accepted a small handful of yen bills from Noburo. He got paid daily so it wasn't a huge wad of cash or anything, but it was a solid one thousand yen an hour and he'd just worked six hours.

It wasn't his highest paying job, but it was one of his longest running and easiest. Not to mention, he really liked Noburo's wife, Kimiko. She treated him as if he were her child and tried her best to spoil him rotten. Too bad she wasn't around today.

Just as he accepted the bills, Noburo looked at him a little sternly, “Don't go wasting it all on vending machines again, Ace.”

Ace gave his best smile, fake as it might be, “I promise.”

Noburo stared at him for a bit longer before nodding his head in acceptance. Ace turned and walked out of the shop while stuffing the bills into his pocket. Soon after he was on the train making his way back to his hometown, Kuoh. He had to take the train for an hour each way just to get far enough away from the crazy student council president. It was against school policy for students to have jobs and she was a crazy stickler for the rules.

Or... at least SOME of the rules.

Either that or she just had a full on hate boner for him. Either way, it was annoying and it made him waste time having to travel. Time was money!

Once the train finally pulled into Kuoh station, he made his way directly toward the nearest vending machine in the station, as was his habit. He stepped up to the first machine, a one hundred yen drink machine. He fed in one of his recently earned thousand yen bills. He glanced over the selections before randomly selecting the option for some green tea.

The vending machine did what vending machines do. There was the whir of motors as the item was moved into position, then a loud thunk as it dropped into the retrieval area. Ace, with the grace that came from performing the same action thousands of times, bent over and easily retrieved the item.

What he held in his hand was NOT the can of green tea he'd selected. Instead of an understated green covered in Japenese lettering, he held a neon blue can covered in writing he mostly couldn't read. The only part he could read was the giant golden label that read 'Djinn's Fizz!! It's MAGICAL!'

Ace sighed as information on the drink filled his mind. It was an interesting little thing, but totally worthless. Drinking the Djinn's Fizz would grant him a single minor wish that was, more often than not, misinterpreted. He'd played enough D&D to know just how badly a misinterpreted wish could go. Still, it wasn't complete garbage so he opened his inventory, really more of a small pocket dimension where he could store the things he'd bought, and stuffed the can of Djinn's Fizz into it.

The pocket dimension had come to him the exact same day his special ability had two years ago. On that day he'd randomly decided to get himself a drink from a vending machine. Instead of the coffee he'd selected, he'd gotten a can containing a pair of swimming trunks. Not just any trunks though, trunks that specifically belonged to Franky from One Piece.

As if being reborn into another world wasn't strange enough, he'd apparently been given a strange golden finger to go with it. Any time he used a vending machine he would get something completely random in a can. The machine didn't matter, for the most part. The only part that did matter was the price of the vending machine.

The more he spent, the better the item he got... supposedly. He'd never seen anything truly impressive, yet he could never stop. Some of the items he'd gotten were just too interesting, or too fun, for him to ever stop.

Case in point, he still had nine hundred yen left in the machine to spend. He pushed the same green tea button again. Once more he heard the sounds of the machine working and the clank of the can hitting the floor of the retrieval area. This time the can he pulled out was completely blank, just clean metal. The top, rather than being a tab like a drink, was a pull top more like one would see on a tennis ball canister.

After pulling the top off he spotted yet another container, a box. A box similar to the ones jewelry is stored in. He dumped the box into his hand and flicked it open to see what he'd gotten. He hummed in interest as a small copper bell with cat ears landed on the palm of his hand.

The Copper Bell of the Cat. It rings when someone is watching the bearer, unseen. A nifty little thing to know when someone was spying on him. He immediately used the little chain on the bell to attach it to is key chain, something he kept on him at all times.

The next few items weren't all that interesting. A rubber duck that was neon pink instead of yellow, a bottle that make any water drank from it taste like raspberry, a single left sock (it was labeled), and other items best labeled as trash. Truly useless stuff got thrown in the nearby trashcan.

Once all thousand yen was spent, he left the train station and made his way to a much more expensive vending machine that he liked to use to try and get more impressive items. Or, at the very least, larger items.

It took a while to walk to the machine but it was worth it. He stood near the entrance the Kuoh Park, a little ways into the park, where a large vending machine stood. This particular machine dispensed boxes of hot food for five hundred yen a pop. He fed one of his thousand yen bills into the machine and selected takoyaki.

The box gently settled in the collection area after a few minutes. Sadly, despite there being no takoyaki actually in the box, the machine still went through the entire heating process to reheat the frozen meal. He collected the box and hit the button again. After a bit of experimenting, he'd found the takoyaki to be the fastest item to come out of the machine, therefore the only one worth buying.

While the second one was defrosted and heated, he opened the first box and peered inside. He frowned when the only think he could see were garish bright pink feathers. With a sigh, he grabbed the item and pulled it out. The pink feathers weren't alone, they came attached to an equally garish coat covered in bird motifs that was far too large to have possibly fit inside of the box it came out of.

That was something else about his ability that was interesting. The size of the container didn't necessarily match the size of the item contained within. He'd once pulled a long cane out of a twelve ounce can. That had looked funny as hell to him. Still, once the items were removed the interior space of the container became normal once more. It was too bad, a bunch of bigger-on-the-inside takoyaki boxes would have been amazing if he ever needed to move.

That was neither here nor there. What was important was the super ugly coat he was now holding, the Coat of the Phoenix. Once per day the coat would heal any wounds even going so far as to revive the person wearing it from death, all in a burst of flames. It went right into his inventory. It might be ugly as hell, but it was a life saving item!

A moment later the second box fell into the retrieval slot. Before picking it up he fed the machine another thousand yen bill and picked another takoyaki box. Collecting the one already in the tray, he opens it and looks at what's inside. Rather than a big item, the object inside is actually rather small this time. Sitting at the bottom of the box is a small golden locket in the shape of a book. Well, if it was a trash item, at least it could be sold for more yen!

He quickly picked the locket up and paused, his eyes widening as the information on it entered his mind. Library in a Locket. When opened the wearer could enter a living, infinite library watched over by a forgetful talking owl. It took everything he had to not let out a squeal of delight. Instantly he had the locket around his neck. First thing when he got home he would be using it!

For now, he collected the next box, which contained a pair of glasses that automatically adjusted to whatever prescription the wearer required. Useless for himself since he had perfect vision. Still, he might give it to someone else sometime so into his inventory it went. The next, and last item from that particular machine was a pair of jeans... five sizes too small. Oh, and for women. It too found a spot in his inventory, just in case.

He had one more machine to visit before calling it a night and heading home. The last machine was also the most expensive costing one thousand yen per item. It was the most expensive vending machine he could find in the city. So far he hadn't gotten anything all that interesting out of it. Today he planned to spend his last three thousand yen on it. Three tries, hopefully he would get something nice.

The first box plonked down and opening it revealed a nice golden necklace. Collecting it revealed that not only did it not have any special abilities, but it was gold plated tin, worth even less than the thousand yen he'd spent on it. That... sucked. And was more like what he was used to from this final machine. It it wasn't for the fact that the item he'd picked wasn't a necklace, he'd suspect his special power didn't work on this machine.

He fed it another bill and got yet another piece of cheap trash in exchange. Today had been pretty awesome, as far as his power went, so even as he stuffed the last bill into the machine, he honestly didn't care if he got something amazing or not. Just the library alone was amazing and priceless! He loved to read and he couldn't wait to dig into books from other worlds!

When the last box fell into the collection area, he picked it up and flipped it open. What he saw inside made him frown, he'd never seen something like it before and he really didn't want to touch it. Sitting in the box, looking creepy as hell, was a human skull.

“Well are you just going to stand there and stare at me deary, or are you going to take me out?”

It took everything Ace had not to scream and throw the box. The voice, which sounded like a kind older woman, had come directly from skull.

“It's rude to just sit there and stare young man.”

That jerked Ace out of his stupor. If nothing else, he prided himself on his manners, “I apologize. This is the first time that something like this happened to me. I'm Yanagi Ace, or since you're speaking English, Ace Yanagi.”

As he spoke, he did as the skull suggested and carefully pulled it out of the box. As soon as he touched it he realized what it was. The Skull of Grandmother Yaga, an old, wise, and deeply judgmental skull that offers arcane knowledge but expects manners, tea, and gossip in return. That... was fucking AWESOME! Actual magical education in exchange for so little?!

“My my, such good manners. I suppose I can forgive the stumble in the beginning. I am Grandmother Yaga, you may call me Grams. I take it you are to be my new student in the arcane arts?”

Ace nodded and began his walk home even while holding a bare human skull in his hand. He'd learned long ago that people just ignored anything he did that was unusual. As long as he didn't just walk up to them and point it out, anyway. It took him a bit to learn that.

He smiled down at the skull, “That's right, Grams. I am really looking forward to learning about magic from you.”

“That's wonderful! It's been quite some time since I last had a student. Especially a handsome young man. My last dozen students were all ancient men and women, all wrinkles and pontification on greater mysteries. All thinking they knew best. No. It's much nicer to start with a strapping young lad like you and teach you from the beginning. Just keep a nice open mind and I'm sure you will do wonderfully!”

“That sounds amazing. I've been hoping to find something about magic ever since I gained my special power. I've found magical trinkets and such, but not even a single tome or wand or anything like that.”

“Well, that's no matter now dearie. I can teach you everything you need to know. Getting started will be the hardest part, but once you get the hang of it things will progress quickly. If I might ask, how old are you young man?”

While the skull talked, Ace double checked his location to make sure he was still on route home. He returned his focus to the skull to answer the question, “Fifteen. I'm in my first year of high school.”

The skull made a sound like someone clicking their tongue, however that worked, “I despise modern schools. Back in my day people were taught what they needed to know and nothing else. What's the point of spending the effort to memorize something for a few years then forget it for the rest of your adult life? Such a pointless waste of energy.”

Ace nodded, “I can't help but agree. I know for a fact that a lot of things I'm learning I will never use in my adult life. Things like calculus. I have no intention of ever having a job that requires the use of such higher level math.”

“Wise. Though, some knowledge of math is required for magic. Especially in the creation of new spells. If you're not careful and calculate a spell's effects incorrectly, you can injure yourself, or worse. Of course, that's not something you will need to worry about anytime soon.”

They continued to chat for a while with Grandmother Yaga asking Ace several questions about himself. Finally, they arrived at his small apartment, paid for by a trust fund his parents created before their deaths two years ago. Ace had lived with his aunt for a while, but moved out when he entered high school. He was old enough mentally and strong enough physically to take care of himself.

After a short tour of the apartment, Ace placed Grams on his coffee table in his living room, “Alright dearie. I'm sure I know the answer to this question. You said you don't know magic, but do you have any tomes or any other such magic paraphernalia?”

Ace started shaking his head, “N---,” then paused and grinned, “Actually, I probably do.”

“Probably?”

He nodded, “Just before you came into my possession I received a nice locket that contains an infinite all knowing library within it.”

Just saying that, Ace realized the library probably had the greatest magic tomes to ever exist within it. He could learn magic just from that! However, he still planned to let Grams guide him down the path of magic. She was, after all, specifically designed to teach and having a teacher was infinitely better than having to learn all on his own!

There was a moment of silence before Grams spoke again, “An infinite library?”

He could hear the thread of doubt in her voice, but his items always did exactly what the information shoved into his head said they did. Case in point, the talking skull. So, he nodded and explained further, “It's a living library of infinite size with a forgetful talking owl inside of it. I haven't used it yet, but I was planning to upon returning home. So, want to check it out with me?”

“Of course I do, dearie! I've never heard of such a thing so I find myself highly curious. Come, come, let's go!”

Ace grinned and picked up Grams before he focused on the locket under his shirt. There was a flash of golden light that briefly blinded him. When it cleared he found himself standing in front of a welcome desk like one would expect in a public library. Sitting on a perch with a book open in front of it was an owl.

Ace was no expert on owls, but the one he could see was rather large and might have been a species of eagle owl, given how much it's eyes and beak reminded him of an eagle. It was tawny with lighter belly and darker back and covered in small spots. He expected that in the right kind of woods the bird would be very camouflaged and hard to notice. In the library, the bird stood out.

Speaking of the library, it was wide open behind the desk. As far as he could see there were just rows upon rows of massive wooden bookshelves filled to the brim with books. The wood of the shelves was light brown and polished to a bright gleam. The whole place was filled with light coming from bronze brazers that glowed rather than burned anything.

Just as he finished taking in his first look of the library, the owl noticed him. It was unnerving to be looked at with such intelligent golden eyes coming from an animal. The owl studied Ace in silence for a moment before it spoke in a surprisingly deep masculine voice, “Who, who are you?”

The first 'who' came out more like a normal owl hoot than the word. Ace grinned at the bird and replied, “I'm Ace, the owner of this library.” He lifted the skull in his hands, “This is Grandmother Yaga. We're here hoping to find magic tomes.”

“Magic tomes?” The owl tilted its head to look up then nodded, “Yes, there are many magic tomes within the library.” It spread on wing and pointed to a small service bell on the desk, “Just ring the bell and state the name of the book you're looking for. If you don't have a specific name, go to the card catalog and tell it what you're looking for.”

It's work seemingly done, the owl returned to its book, using its wing to turn to the next page. Ace studied the owl for a moment before he shrugged and looked down at grams, “Is there a specific book we should start with Grams?”

“I have the perfect one, ring the bell for me, dearie.” Ace did as asked causing a bright metallic ring to echo through the area, “The Spark Within, by Elira Dawnwhistle.”

An instant later four thin books, all looking very similar, appeared on the desk before them. Ace picked up one and saw it had the proper title just as Grams had requested. Checking the other three proved they all had the same title, though one's full title was “The Spark Within, A Novice's Guide to Awakening Magic.'

“Take the one with the longer title, it's the one I'm familiar with... Actually, take all four. I'm curious about what differences might be within them. With this we'll be able to perform the purification ritual and get you started.”

Hearing the word 'purification' caused an idea to blossom within Ace's mind. With a wide grin, he made his way over to the card catalog, “I just had an idea.”

Grams hummed in curiosity but didn't ask. What would have been her question was answered as Ace spoke, “I'd like a selection of the greatest beginner methods of cultivating immortality.”

A moment later a dozen small cards appeared on top of the card catalog. Each card had a title, author, and a small description of the literature. Grams let out a huff, “Eastern Magic? Is what I intend to teach you not enough? Those overly self important murder monkeys are a bunch of idiots who spend all their time 'meditating on higher realms' like it matters.” He could hear the sarcasm in her words at the end, but she continued, “You will not practice that garbage within my sight, and if I feel it is slowing your progress in my lessons I will no longer be your teacher.”

Ace paused in his reach for the cards and let out a sigh, “I promise, your training will always come first. I'm mostly just curious about this. It's more a super long term project than anything else anyway.”

The skull huffed but remained silent as he picked up the cards. He set Grams down to shuffle through them looking at the titles and descriptions. Even reading them out loud for Grams to hear, “Opening the Meridian Gates, by Master He Lian, Wandering Mystic of the East. The Nine Breaths Sutra
by the Silent Monks of Yunjing Monastery. Yeesh those are some 'interesting' titles and names.”

Grams cackled, “Those silly people. Everything has to have some long grandiose name. Otherwise it's worthless.”

He read a few more, laughing at silly names like 'The 81 Petal Path: Initiation into the Dao' and 'The Silent Sutra of the Sleeping Phoenix.' That last one made him laugh the loudest. It was like the title was trying to imply the Phoenix was a slut. Or maybe a manwhore if it was male?

Finally he came to one that actually intrigued him, “The Primordial Breath Scripture, no listed author. It's supposedly said to be the first method taught by the Ancestor Dragon to mortals.”

Grams hummed out loud, “Even in western magic dragons are powerful beings. I'd suggest that one.” She snorted, “Besides, the name is sufficiently 'domineering' enough for those braggarts.”

Ace nodded and set the cards down on the catalog, having no other idea where to put them, and made his way back to the desk. He rang the bell and repeated the name of the cultivation method. A moment later there was a single scroll, and actual scroll, sitting on the desk. The rolled up piece of parchment looked ancient, the edges frayed and slightly ragged, yet the main portion looked perfectly preserved.

Of course, he wasn't about to leave the library with it without checking that he could read it first. Chinese was not one of the two languages he could read. Unrolling the scroll taught him three things. First, the scroll wasn't written in Chinese. He might not be able to read the language, but he'd seen enough of their written word to semi-recognize it. Second, whatever language it was written in, he could actually read. It was super easy, barely an inconvenience. Third, though he couldn't recognize it and could read it, a single glance at the language sent a searing pain right along his optic nerve and directly into his brain.

He quickly closed his eyes and dropped the scroll with a groan, “Holy shit, why did just looking at that hurt so much?”

Rather than Grams answering him, it was the masculine voice of the owl, “Oh, I should have mentioned when you asked for it. Some materials, such as that scroll, require a certain level of power to read. Pick the wrong book and you could very well melt your brain just from looking at it.”

Ace stared at the owl through nearly closed eyes as the throbbing pain slowly subsided, “You're just mentioning such a danger now?”

The owl gave its best impression of a shrug, “It slipped my mind. Now you know. No harm done.”

Ace stared at the owl as it turned back to its reading. He grunted, annoyed, and dropped the scroll into the return slot. It would do him no good at all until he was actually capable of reading it without melting his brain. He didn't know how, but he could sense that Grams was smug as hell at the sight of him returning the cultivation manuscript.

He willed himself out of the locket and found himself standing back in his living room, “Well, at least I got...” He trailed off as he looked at his empty hand, the hand that had been holding The Spark Within.

With a growl of annoyance, he returned to the library and was met with the same sight he'd seen upon first entering it. The desk and card catalog were both spotless. He glared at the bird, “Where's the book I had?”

“Huh?” The bird turned to look at Ace, “Who, who are you?”

If it were possible to glare any harder, Ace's glare would have ignited the bird, “The book I just found and wanted to read, it was in my hand when I left. Then it vanished.”

“Oh. The books cannot be taken out of the library, obviously.”

The owls tone was so condescending that Ace began to wonder what roasted owl tasted like. Was it more like chicken? Or turkey? Or maybe duck? As Ace contemplated bird dinners, the owl continued, “All books must be read within the confines of the library. There's plenty of nooks to sit in and enjoy a good book.”

Ace scowled and called for the copy of The Spark Within once more and stomped away from the front desk to find one of said nooks. It didn't take long and the sight of it soothed some of his annoyance. The nook have several large leather wing back chairs and sofas with thick cushions and plenty of small tables as well as one larger one in the center.

Ace picked a chair and placed Grams on the small end table next to the chair. Once he was comfortable, he faced Grams, “So, how do we begin?”

“First, we have to make sure you can get in touch with your inner mana. Close your eyes and breath deeply.”

Ace did as instructed. He breathed deeply while Grams began to speak in a different tone and cadence, her voice softer but still firm and commanding, “Now, sink deep into the darkness behind your eyes. Let it flow around you, surround you, and pass you by as you sink deeper and deeper into your inner depths.”

Ace's body relaxed as his mind drifted into the darkness. Grams voice dropped even lower and grew deeper, “In that deep darkness there is a light, soft, weak, in the distance. Do you see it?”

Silence fell around them. Slowly, as he sank deeper into the darkness, he eventually did see a small little light off in the distance. He nodded his head weakly, “I see it.” his voice was flat, almost dead from being so deep within his own mind.

“Good. Move toward the light. Let yourself glide toward it until it is in front of you within reach.”

He did. The light slowly grew larger in his sight. The closer he got, the brighter it got. Bright blue, writhing like a flame. He didn't know how long it took, but soon the small flame was in front of him, dancing in a non-existent wind, “It's right there.”

“Good. Reach out and gently touch it, just a little, just the very tips of your fingers.”

The moment his fingers brushed against the flame in his mind, his eyes flew open wide while he gasped deeply as energy flooded through his body. His entire body spasmed and shook from the overflowing power filling him. It only lasted a few moments before the flood settled down to a gentle trickle. Even so, Ace still felt energized, like he'd just down a gallon of straight espresso.

Grams cackled as she watched Ace recover from the rush, “Nothing quite like touching your mana for the first time. It's like an electric jolt through the system and you're never the same ever again.”

Ace nodded in understanding, “It's incredible. I've never felt anything like it before.”

“Well, don't let it go to your head dearie. You might feel all juiced up and powerful, but you're still just a tiny fish, barely a guppy. You can't even cast a spell yet so keep your head on straight. I don't know if anyone else in your world can use magic, but I wouldn't doubt the possibility. Now that you've awakened your mana, you will stick out to anyone who can sense magic.”

Ace shrugged, “I'm sure you might be right, but this is Japan. At most we have onmyoji here. I'd be shocked if there was a single western style magic user that could tell what I was doing.”

“Be that as it may, I do believe the first thing you should learn is the Cloaking Method. It will help hide your growing power from those in the know. You should begin reading now. I chose this particular book specifically because the Cloaking Method is one of the first lessons it gives after one has awoken their mana.”

Grams' voice almost turned evil as she stated, “You will not be leaving here until I feel your cloak is up to my standard.”

Ace quickly opened the beginners book and began to read. Somehow, he expected he would be up late that night. Worse, he was starting to get hungry. Grumbling quietly to himself, he buckled down to study. But hey, at least he was studying magic rather than algebra!

-----Line Break-----

Sona calmly watched students entering the high school campus. The school year had just started and it was her first year as the student council president, she wanted to be seen and remind people of that fact. It also let her do quick surface scans of the students as they entered to check for anyone interesting. While she and Rias were there mainly to learn how to manage a territory, it was also a good opportunity to gain members for their peerages.

With the new year starting, that meant new students. She'd already scanned most of them in the first few weeks, but it never hurt to double check. It was a good thing she had as her eyes focused on one of the students she didn't approve of, Yanagi Ace. Oh, he'd never actually done anything, but he looked like a slob and thug, she couldn't stand that. She hated his long shaggy hair and beady black eyes.

However, something was different about him today. She couldn't quite figure out what though. He was still human, still weak, and nothing seemed to be different from her scan. Yet, she felt there was something. She made a note to do a discreet deeper scan of him during the school day. She didn't like feeling like she didn't know something. Though, she speculated, perhaps the boy was awakening a sacred gear? It seemed possible. If so, she wondered what it was.

Well, there was nothing she could do about it now. She moved on to looking over the rest of the students and checking for any other changes.

-----Line Break-----

School sucked. So. Much. Not only did he either not care, or already know, about the material, but he had to deal with three perverted little shits that should have been arrested for sexual harassment or assault at this point. Seriously, how the hell were they even still in such a high class school as Kuoh Academy?

Those three idiots talking about boobs and shouting about their preferences didn't get a second look from the student council. Yet, here he was in front of the door for the student council, summoning note in hand. He hadn't done a damned thing and they still summoned him.

He fucking hated Monday's.

He knocked on the door and quickly opened it after a female voice called out, “Come in.”

Stepping into the room he had to pause for a moment. It never really occurred to him before, but looking at the student council now, he had to admit it was full of beauties. Well, that didn't really matter, but he did find it odd that there wasn't a single male among them. Granted, the school had only gone co-ed that year, but he expected at least a token male to be present.

Sona, the president, was the one to speak, “Thank you for coming Yanagi-san. I just wanted to take a moment to speak with you.”

Ace stared at her blankly for a moment before calmly asking, “So, this isn't a disciplinary issue of any sort?”

Sona finally looked up from whatever paperwork she was working on, “No, nothing of the sort.”

Ace nodded, “Oh, well then...”

He turned on his heel and calmly left the student council room and made his way out all while ignoring Sona calling his name louder and louder. He flat-out ignored her though. There was nothing in the school rules that said he had to socialize with the president at her whim. He had much better things to do with his free time, like make money!

He couldn't do too much on school days, unfortunately. Two hours for the round trip on the train was a bit much and would only leave him with a few hours of work time. Fortunately, he knew exactly where to go to earn some coin.

He quickly made his way to the slightly seedier part of town and into one of the many bars lining the street. The place was dimly lit and had the sort of clientele most bars would happy kick out. It kind of reminded him of Moe's place in the Simpsons, though no where near as dirty since there were actual laws about that.

Working behind the bar was a middle-aged man with a thick head of dark hair and a constant smile on his face. He facial features easily distinguished him as a westerner, specifically he was Greek. Ace moved behind the bar while greeting the man, “Hey Dion. How's things?”

The man turned his constant grin to Ace, “Ace! My man! Good of you to come by, there's a delivery due any minute. When it arrives just pack it all into the back.”

Ace nodded and moved past Dion to the back area where the storage room was. Ace had no idea how, but Dion's little bar went through tons of wine and liquor on a weekly basis. He'd never seen more than five people in the bar at a time, most of whom tended to nurse their drinks, yet every week there was a large delivery.

Ace expected it was a money laundering operation or something along those lines, and he didn't care. Why? Because Dion was generous as hell with the pay. Probably as an incentive to keep his mouth shut.

It worked exceptionally well.

It wasn't long before the delivery truck arrived and Ace was completely occupied with unloading the truck and storing the booze. He spent hours working in the back of the bar, making sure to stay out of sight. He didn't think any of the students from Kuoh would come into the bar, but it was best not to take chances when he was still so close to the school. It was the last thing he needed.

He only stopped working when there was little else left to do. This is why, sadly, he only worked at the bar on Mondays. There wasn't enough work the rest of the week to justify him coming by. With the work done, he stepped out of the back and was met by Dion who held out a wad of cash, “Good going man. See you next Monday.”

Ace took the wad and stuffed it into his pocket, “No problem, I'll see you then.”

Dion gave him a wave as he walked out of the bar with a wide grin. Just four hours of work for Dion and he had fifty-thousand yen. It was crazy! That was why Dion was Ace's favorite boss. Now... he turned and made his way toward the most expensive vending machine in his route. He planned to skip the one hundred and five hundred yen machines tonight.

Upon arriving at the machine he fed a five thousand yen bill into the machine and hit a random button. Garbage that he literally threw away. The next four were equally worthless, though the one piece of decent clothing, in his size even, got stored in his inventory. He stuck in another five thousand yen bill and got another five pulls. He sighed as he looked over the results. Yet even more trash.

This was much more what he was used to from using his power. Last night had been a complete fluke of good luck to get even remotely useful items. Not to mention how amazing the library and Grams were when combined together! Seeing all the trash and a single decent tee shirt he'd gotten for ten thousand yen, compared to what he'd gotten yesterday for six thousand.

He didn't stop though. He couldn't. He realized he might have a gambling problem, but who could blame him? Sure, a ton of his attempts to get things were a complete waste of perfectly good money. But then, then he got things that could change his life! He didn't think he would ever be able to stop unless he found something that completely changed his world.

He swiftly went through another ten thousand yen getting even more trash for it. He held up the last five thousand yen bill he was willing to use today, the remaining twenty-five thousand would be saved for extra food. Grams had warned him that casting magic would increase the amount of calories he needed to eat. Since his trust only gave him a limited stipend, which he used appropriately, he would need extra money for groceries.

He fed the money in and hit the button. First item, a used tissue. That was just fucked up! The next was a skimpy thong. It went into his inventory with the rest of his collection of women's clothing. The next roll was more trash. The second to last was a small cell phone trinket shaped like Pikachu. He sighed as he pushed the button for this last roll of the night.

He opened the box and froze, staring at the item inside. Before he could even process what he was looking at, the entire world around him turned gray as time froze. He looked around, almost panicked. He jumped when a phantom voice echoed from the area around him.

“Legendary item found. Universal Vending System upgrading. Please wait.”

Ace was shocked, he'd never heard anything from the supposed system before. However, his shock soon became annoyance as crappy hold music began to play while he waited for whatever was happening to happen. Thankfully, it wasn't long before the voice was back.

“Update complete. One hundred yen vending machines may now dispense items with minor curses. Overpay option unlocked. Thank you for your patience.”

Color returned to the world as if nothing had happened. Ace considered what he'd heard and immediately decided he would never buy anything from a one hundred yen machine again. It didn't matter how 'minor' a curse could be, he didn't want to be fucking cursed, period.

As for the new Overpay option, he had no idea what that was, but he had a rough guess. Sadly, it would have to wait until tomorrow for him to confirm his theory. He had something much more important to deal with at the moment.

He turned his gaze down to the box in his hand and wondered aloud, “Does this mean I should change my surname to Portgas?”

Sitting inside of the box was a strange bright orange fruit that looked like it was covered in flames. He recognized it rather easily as the Mera Mera no mi. A single touch confirmed that he was correct. Eating the fruit would give him an impossible power. He would, essentially, become living flames. He would be able to conjure, control, and become flames at will. He would become immune to physical damage, unable to be hurt by mundane attacks of any sort.

In One Piece Haki was a weakness, as was seastone, but neither of those things existed in his current home world, so they presented no fear. However, he had no idea what the reaction to magic would be. Not that it would stop him from chomping down on the fruit the minute he got home!

With that in mind, home was his next destination. He stuffed the fruit into his inventory and began walking with a little more speed than normal, his excitement was getting to him. As he paused at a crosswalk, a woman in a weird succubus like cosplay costume handed him a flyer. He glanced at it and chuckled. On the flyer there was an obvious magic circle with the words 'We grant your wish' at the top of the paper. He started to crumple it up to throw away before he paused.

He knew magic was real, because he could use it that meant other people could use it. He glanced at the magic circle for a moment and wondered if it was real. Well, he had a way to find out. So, instead of throwing it away, he stuffed it into his pocket and continued on his way home.

Thanks to his rush it didn't take him very long to arrive. In his excitement he accidentally slammed his apartment door. This earned a loud, “Don't slam doors!” from Grams.

He quickly stepped in front of her only for her to ask, “So, what has you so excited that you're slamming doors and practically running in the house, young man?”

Ace quickly retrieved the Mera Mera no Mi from his inventory and held it out for her to see, “I pulled this today after work. It's called the Mera Mera no Mi, a Devil Fruit. Eating it gives special powers, in this case it gives the power of fire. It's also a Logia, a special type of Devil Fruit that allows the user to turn into that element rendering them completely immune to non-augmented attacks.”

Grams hummed for a moment as she studied the fruit, “There must be drawbacks to something so powerful. What are they?”

“Well, I'll lose the ability to swim. The ocean will become my enemy and getting into it at around waist height will rob me of all of my strength. There are others, but they don't apply since they're not available in this world. Although, I have zero information on how it would react to magic. Best guess? It'd effect me like normal with water magic maybe being a bit more effective.”

The skull hummed before Grams gave her verdict, “I forbid you from eating it. We know too little of how it will work with magic. For all we know, eating it will rob you of the ability to use magic.”

Ace opened his mouth to protest but paused at her reasoning. He frowned and looked at the fruit in his hand. He couldn't argue with the skull. He had no idea what eating it would do to his body. Seeing that he hadn't argued, Grams continued, “In the future, you will be able to run magical scans of the fruit to learn its secrets and extrapolate the effects it will have on you. Until then, it is forbidden.”

Ace sighed, deeply, and unwillingly stored the fruit back inside of his inventory. He didn't know nearly enough about magic to form any sort of argument. If he'd gotten the fruit first and already eaten it, that would be one thing. But there was no way he was going to willingly risk his ability to use magic. Who knows, maybe he could learn to do everything the Mera Mera no mi did with magic?

“Good. Now, it's time for your lesson today. We'll continue with your cloaking practice, it's still not perfect. I can feel random small fluctuations. It isn't enough to be obvious to anyone not specifically looking, but it can make you feel off to sensitive people.”

Ace sighed and sat on the floor, he didn't quite need to meditate to do the cloaking technique, but it did require some mental focus and visualization. As he got comfortable, Grams spoke up, “And while you practice I want you to tell me all about your day at school.”

Ace bit back a groan. The description had warned him that Grams would want gossip. Well, he could use it as an excuse to complain about all the things he disliked about going to school, at least.

-----Line Break-----

After telling Grams about his day at school and his encounter with the student council, he brought up the topic of the flyer. He pulled it out to show it to her. She let out a low hum as she looked it over for a bit. Finally she spoke, “Well, it's legit. If you focus on it while making a wish you will summon a devil. For very obvious reasons I am going to suggest you burn that piece of paper and forget you ever saw it.”

Ace didn't argue. Just the word 'devil' conjured up contracts and selling his soul. He liked his soul exactly where it was, thank you very much. Soon the paper was torched and the ashes washed down the sink. After returning to the living room he asked, “So, this means there are at least devils out there using magic and.. oddly, giving out flyers with summoning circles on them to random people? That seems... stupid.”

Grams scoffed, “Stupid or genius. Either way, devils are a race to be avoided at all costs. They cannot be trusted. I don't know which race of devils this is but if they're handing out summoning circles with 'make a wish' on it, then they are obviously the soul eating kind. They're the only ones I know of that grant wishes or make deals.”

She sighed, “But this does confirm that magic is not an unknown thing in your world. It must be a moonlit, shadow world, or masquerade type world where the supernatural is carefully hidden from the mundane. I'm certain there are other spell casters out there now. We'll have to make sure your cloak is perfect. Especially if there's the possibility of devils being around.”

She thought for a bit before continuing, “Though the existence of devils means there is an organization to hunt them. I would be willing to bet that organization is the Roman Catholic Church. It almost always is. They are also most likely going to be your enemy. That whole 'suffer not a witch to live' thing of theirs. Which means, European countries such as England and Germany are the ones most likely to contain western magic users such as yourself. Beware. There's no telling if they would be friend or foe. It would be best to hide until you are strong enough to defend yourself.”

Her tone turned a little self assured, “Besides, you don't need any of them anyway, you have me and that's all you will need to become exceptionally powerful. Between my teaching and your library, I'll make an archwizard out of you in no time flat!”

-----Line Break-----

Ace sat in his living room staring at the small ball of fire hovering above his hand. It had been just over a week since he'd gained Grams and begun learning magic. Today was the first time he'd actually cast a spell successfully. He hadn't been allowed to try until he'd perfected his cloak. It had taken a few days, but now all he had to do was maintain it every now and then to account for his growing reserves. To anyone who looked at him now, he would appear just as he had the day he awoke his mana.

Sadly, there was no way to hide the fact that his mana was active, only how much of it he had.

“Good job, dearie. With this you are officially a spell caster. A wizard I would say.”

Ace hummed at that, “I always did like playing Wizards in D&D. Though Warlocks were fun too.”

The skull huffed, “Warlocks, a bunch of lazy bums with no real talent in magic. If you wanted to be a warlock then you should have kept that devil summoning circle. You'd need to make a contract with it to become one.”

Ace shuddered at the very idea of that. Grams had given him more information on the different kinds of devils she knew, none of them were good in any capacity. She'd also given him a lot of rules if he was ever forced to deal with one. Given there was one giving out summoning circles as flyers in his home town, it seemed like wise advice to keep in mind.

Still he had to ask, “Why a wizard though?”

“Well, I can't sense any lowly bestial heritage in you, no dragon blood or anything of the sort. So you're not a sorcerer. Obviously not stupid enough to try and become a pathetic warlock. Since you must study to learn spells the proper way, you are a wizard.”

Ace shrugged his shoulders, “Makes sense to me.” He then grinned widely, “Awesome. I'm a wizard.”

“Yes, yes. You can bask later. Take us to your library. It's time for you to do the one thing all wizards must do. Study.”

Normally the word 'study' would fill Ace with dread, however he was about to study more magic! That was the best kind of studying! He quickly picked up Grams and took the both of them into the library. When they arrived, Grams piped up, “I want you to get a book titled 'Foundations of the Arcane' by Archmage Luthen Marr. It will help you discover where your talents in magic lay. Consult me before attempting anything within the book.”

Ace did as instructed, collecting the thin book and heading to the little reading nook. Most of the beginner books Grams had him reading were all short and to the point. She'd explained that there were massive tomes with lots more detail, but that was what she was there for so he didn't need to slog through such books.

He opened the book and began reading about the method he would be using to determine his talents. It looked like it would be a ritual of some sort. That excited him.

-----Line Break-----

Ace paused on his way to his favorite five hundred yen vending machine. The small cat shaped bell charm on his key chain was ringing gently, informing him that he was being watched by someone hidden. He kept his face carefully neutral, fighting not to scowl. This was the fourth day in a row that someone had been spying on him. It was really getting on his nerves, especially since he couldn't find the individual doing it.

He continued his walk, but changed his route to make his way home. It had been four days since he'd been able to spend a single yen at a vending machine and he was getting jittery. Someone was going to pay for this... As soon as he knew who he needed to go after.

It was only once he was inside his apartment that the small bell stopped ringing. He grumbled and made his way to his living room where Grams was sitting on the table and using a minor telekinesis spell to watch TV. He glanced at it and grimaced. He had an international package and she was watching an American soap opera. It wasn't the first time and wouldn't be the last. He also knew, from past experience, to never interrupt her when she was watching. She could be extremely vindictive when she wanted to be.

He took the time she was watching her 'stories' to get back to work on the ritual circle that he was setting up in his bedroom. He might not have been able to feed his addiction the last few days, but he had gotten the materials to do the ritual for finding where his talents in magic lay. Amazingly, it didn't require anything exotic or expensive. It was like the ritual was designed for the modern day.

He'd been working on the circle since he finished reading the book. It wasn't a super complex circle, but the closer to perfect it was, the more accurate the results. He could have finished the circle the day after reading the book, but the results would have only been general. Like 'fire' as a talent instead of going into something more specific down the fire path like 'life fire' or 'hell fire' and so on. Or it might tell him 'weight' when his talent was actually 'gravity'.

So, to make sure he got the best results possible, he'd spent days meticulously going over every detail of the circle, making sure every curve, line, and character were as close to perfect as possible. He'd even bought a laser measurement tool to measure down to the millimeter accurately.

By the time he finished triple checking everything, Grams' stories were over. He set her on his dresser so she could see everything he was doing. She looked over the ritual circle and the provided regents with an expert eye before commenting, “You did rather well, I am very impressed. That doesn't happen often. Get in the center and use the candle lighting spell to begin the ritual.”

Ace was just thankful he didn't need to be naked or anything for the ritual. Even if Grams was just a skull, he didn't feel comfortable being even remotely naked near her. He took his position in the middle of the circle and pointed his finger at each candle one by one to ignite them with a tiny bolt of fire. The spell had all the power of a lighter and was taught to him before he'd learned to summon little balls of fire. Grams called them utility spells from the olden days when all light was candles and fireplaces.

Once the candles were lit, the ritual began. Unlike what he'd expected, there was no chanting or anything else that needed to be done on his part. Igniting the candles ignited the ritual. The circle around him began to glow softly and bathe him in its light. It slowly grew brighter while metaphysically going deeper into his being. Soon, the light became too bright for Ace to continue to keep his eyes open.

Inside the darkness of his mind an image began to form like a mirage. It was all wavy lines and color with not particular shape, at first. As the ritual continued the image slowly gained focus. He saw himself casting spells of all kinds, many he couldn't even describe. Though they all had something in common, they were all ghostly, semi-transparent, not real. Illusions. Yet as a half-there fireball hit a shadowy enemy, the enemy screamed and flailed as if on fire.

Two words came to him, the magic of the ritual forcing them out of him and into the world as a declaration, “Illusory Reality.”

Suddenly everything stopped and Ace was back in the real world looking directly at Grams. The skull let out a humming sound then spoke, “My, how intriguing. I don't believe I've ever trained someone with such a talent. To be able to make illusions real is quite the talent indeed. It might be the most flexible school of magic. You will, essentially, be able to turn your imagination into reality. Just a handful of spells will mean infinite variety. The downside, because there is always one, is that your spells will not be as effective as a real spell would be.”

Ace nodded in understanding. He'd seen it in his vision. The shadowy figure hit by the fire spell hadn't been as badly burnt as it would have been if hit with real fire. It didn't lower his excitement over his talent in the slightest bit though! He could already imagine all kinds of things he could do with the power to make illusions real. Or, at least, mostly real.

With the ritual done, the next step was heading into his library. Grams didn't know of any specific books to grab so they made their way to the card catalog. He started by asking for illusion magic, but that led to hundreds of cards appearing. He canceled that search and narrowed it down over a few minutes. Soon there were only a handful left. Eventually, with some feedback from Grams, he selected 'Crafting the Unreal' by Magistra Lune Myriad.

He couldn't wait to start learning!

-----Line Break-----

Rias stood at the window looking down on the students as they entered the school. One, in particular, caught her interest, Yanagi Ace. At the beginning of the school year she'd paid no attention to him at all. Yet, after just a few weeks, something about him had changed. She couldn't quite tell what, but she knew Sona had noticed as well.

So, she decided to see if she could make some inroads with him and sent her familiar out to make sure he'd get one of her summoning flyers. That part of her plan had been a success, so, “Why hasn't he used it yet? It's been weeks!”

She'd gone with the plan she had because any proper devil could just FEEL the waves of greed rolling off of Ace. She didn't think she'd ever met someone so in tune with that sin before. With him being so greedy she'd expected the prospect of a wish to entice him immediately. From there she could have worked out what about him was different. She expected it would be a sacred gear, possibly one that could help her out of her current dilemma.

Perhaps she should take a more direct approach?

-----Line Break-----

AN

Okay, this stupid idea popped in my head while I was reading someone else's work. They mentioned a Vending Machine that would vend items from other universes when used and it just ignited my imagination. I got a bit lazy with the MC though, just picture Ace from One Piece and that's him. Hence the Mera Mera no Mi, which he isn't likely to use for a long time and wouldn't be very powerful in DxD since I'd make magic work against it like normal.

Anyway. That's it for now. I hope it was at least mildly entertaining to read.