When I come to, I’m lying face-up in a meadow. Above me, framed by the gently swaying crowns of the nearby trees, is the blue, blue sky. The sun smiles down at me.

Groaning, I sit up, instinctually bringing a hand to my head only to feel a searing sting of pain, enough to make me instantly wake up.

Who—what—where…?

When I furrow my brows, I can feel some dull sort of pain spread across my forehead. Ah, this is…?

I touch a finger to my forehead. Yup. A pain and sensation most familiar—brands. Right on my forehead, no less. Let’s see, if I trace my finger along the ridges… Ugh, that stings… One P, two Ps, three Ps… Seven in all. I’m not sure why, but I didn’t think the Ps would be quite so literal. And right on my forehead, too! I can’t recall seeing any P on Moleman’s forehead, so either he didn’t have to have them stamped right where everyone can see them, or he’d already gotten rid of them by the time we met up again. No idea.

Anyways, this place is… Well, it’s a meadow. There are flowers all around me, the grass is soft, I think I can hear a stream in the distance, and if I listen for it, I can even hear the low chatter of winged drakes up in the trees, all around. So, a forest. The trees themselves are pretty familiar, so I’m probably not in a country or continent I’ve never been to before. That’s good. I do happen to remember some countries, so if I can figure that out, I’ll be able to tell Gecko where I am so we can meet up.

Before that, though, there’s something that’s been begging for my attention for a little while now. Turning away from my surroundings, I let my gaze fall on the status message hovering right in front of my eyes.

due to your performance,

[7] skills have been sealed.

They are as follows.>

Ledge of Pride—[To Make a Martyr]

God of Cruelty (Churches: 1)

Ledge of Envy—[Great Values Sniffer]

Goddess of Want (Churches: 3)

Ledge of Wrath—[Touch of Reverse Resistance]

Goddess of Fire (Churches: 1)

Ledge of Sloth—[Fetal Position Blowover]

God of Cowardice (Churches: 1)

Ledge of Greed—[Sacrament of Passage]

Goddess of Dragons (Churches: 9)

Ledge of Gluttony—[Innocent Adoration]

Goddess of Children (Churches: 158)

Ledge of Lust—[All-Tongue]

God of Knowledge (Churches: 314)>

…Aren’t those all my sovereign skills? Hm. Yeah, now that I think about it, I’m pretty sure I had exactly seven sovereign skills. How… oddly convenient. By sniffing a little and rolling myself into a ball, I’m able to tell that I have, indeed, been barred the use of these skills. At least I don’t get a pop-up every time I try to use them. That’d be annoying.

Though, all things considered, that’s hardly my main issue with this. I guess, for one… Is there some reason for why they correlate with the seven deadly sins? I know there’s been a weirdly Christian focus for the entire tutorial so far, but I was under the impression that it was a coincidence. This is starting to get a bit too overt, though.

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That aside, going by the way things are looking, I probably don’t have to do them in this specific order. Furthermore, since the actual mission or whatever it is that the gods want me to do to regain my skills aren’t written here, I can only assume that part of the challenge is for me to find their churches and receive the quest in hand.

…Sounds pretty fun, honestly.

I guess the problem would be in actually finding their churches. The god of knowledge seems to be well-decked out with over three hundred churches, and the goddess of children has quite a few too, but all of the others have less than ten churches to their names. Hm. I wonder why.

…Actually, no, I know exactly why the god of cruelty, god of cowardice and goddess of want have so few churches devoted to them.

Unfortunately, their bad reputation means that I’ll have a bit of difficulty finding their churches. There’s no map presented, so if I want to get to them, I’ll need to track them down. I feel like I can recall hearing that cruelty’s church was a hospital or something, but finding out where it is might be difficult.

Which is why I know exactly which of the ledges to go with first.

Lust. The all-tongue skill. The god of knowledge.

Right now, with all of what I’m trying to do, that skill will be indispensable. Being able to talk to anyone and everyone has been invaluable to my journey so far, and its absence would be deeply marked if I’m unable to use it going forward. Besides, apparently the god of knowledge has stuck one of his churches in every corner of the world, so as long as I can find some kind of civilization, I should be able to find one of his churches.

Which, of course, requires me to find people.

And talk to them.

Without using words.

While making them not attack me for looking like a wendigo.

…While simultaneously trying not to do mean stuff like masquerade as one of their own by wearing their skins, or torturing them, or eating them.

Hm.

…This is going to be a bit difficult, huh?

But I’ve got my work cut out for me, so off I go!

I jump to my feet and instinctually begin sniffing for people—only to be struck by how single my olfactory sense is. I… can only smell what’s around me. Usually, the scent of whatever I’m looking for lies over everything, doubled, pleasant and singing. Not anymore. Now, I can only smell the trees, and the grass, and the animals, hiding deep in the bowels of the forest. It’s pure.

It’s… kind of nice.

Without any hurry, I leave the meadow, and enter the forest. Small branches and strange seedpods go crunch beneath my toes. Little rocks poke my sole. I step over knotted roots, and let the dotted sunlight, filtered by green leaves, guide my way. Eventually, I find a little path. I can only smell the scent of animals on it. Letting my feet move me along, I walk the animal trail. At one point, I come across a foxhole of some sort. When I look into it, I spot a longtailed cat, hissing up at me. By sniffing, I’m able to tell that she has kits, deeper inside the hole. Nodding to her, I continue walking.

After following the animal trail for some time, I emerge onto a barren bit of rock, overlooking a cliffside. Wow, I’m higher up than I thought. After walking on prickly sticks and rocks all this time, putting my feet on some smooth and half-warm rocks feels nice. Apparently, a legged snake seems to have thought the same thing, lying off to the side, sunbathing. I don’t bother it.

Stepping out to the edge of the rocky cliff, I sit down, letting my legs dangle out. I must be a few hundred feet up. So, this is a mountain, then? When I look out, I can see the green forest, continuing seemingly endlessly, only pausing to bulge up into protruding mountains and cliffsides. I can’t see any signs of sapient life, but it’s fine. I’ll get there eventually. Right now, with my legs dangling and the wind tugging playfully at my hair, I feel nice. Taking a lesson from the legged snake, I lie down, and let the sun warm my chest. My arms stretch out to my sides, and I feel soft moss graze my palm. This… is nice.

Above, listless clouds drift by, too lazy to form recognizable shapes. This one is a cloud, and so is that one, too. Every now and again they eclipse the sun, and I take a distinct, fleeting pleasure in not having to squint up anymore. Then, it passes, and the sun shines again. I let my eyes flutter closed.

Breathe. In, and out. In, and out.

This is nice.

This… is… really…

Nice…

Without really thinking about it, I fall into a gentle slumber. Or maybe a catnap. Nothing long, nothing too deep. A branch cracking or a drake chattering could have woken me up. But it didn’t. I slept, soundly, without fear. And when I woke up, the sun now close to falling, I didn’t resent the fact that I’d fallen asleep, nor did I deny it.

It had been a pleasant nap, and I’d woken up just in time to watch the sun setting over the horizon, half-hidden by a distant summit. With its arms spread wide, the sky is colored orange, pink, yellow, green and deep, deep blue by its exit. Already, a few of the moons are beginning to rise, promising that even the night won’t be too dark. Stars gleam to life, and I watch, silent. Soon, the sun is all gone, and the world is basked in inky shadow once more. It’s about time I got moving.

If someone’s going to be living in this forest, they’ll do so in the valleys. My best bet is to head down, and then try to find paths. But, if I have time to… I’d like to climb a mountain, at least a little, before the sun starts to rise. I have a feeling that watching the dawn from up high would be really cool.

I head down. Along the way, I encounter a small herd of deer. They don’t notice me, and I let them exist. However, as they leave, I notice with some excitement that one of them has a scar left from what was clearly an arrow. So, there’s hope, yet.

I walk throughout the night. Unfortunately, I didn’t ascend a mountain when the sun began to rise, so I had to make do with climbing a tree. The effort was well-worth it, and I ended up watching the slowly rising dawn for half an hour or so. What a beautiful world this is.

But as the final trails of dawn begin slipping into the bright sunny morning, I spot something, miles away, half-shrouded by a nearby mountain.

A trail of smoke.

I feel a smile rise to my lips. Looks like I won’t have to wander aimlessly much longer.