Having miscalculated the amount of damage the soul had been inflicted by, it took more out of the goddess than she had expected. She did not have enough mana gathered at the moment, within her, to give him a whole soul. So, she was forced to use her external mana pool to make up for what she had not. Preparing the necessary modem to transfer the pure mana without killing herself, she also prepared herself mentally.
Although it would make making him whole a simple task, the pure energies in her external mana pool were too chaotic to be used this way. It would tear her insides apart as they ravaged their way through her to the soul. Gritting her teeth, she opened the dam to the mana pool. As though they were seeking salvation, they came rushing into her without stopping. It took a while to create a spiral in which she could transfer the energy to the soul. But with the modem she had created, it went without any hitches.
Quickly, the energy began to flow out of her into the poor soul; like hounds sent to hunt prey. She watched as they gathered around him then condensed into a semisolid form. The pressure, she knew, was going to be unable, so, she forced the soul to lose consciousness, lest he goes mad from the pain.
A long time passed as she continued to feed him more energy until he was full and whole again. Slowly she pulled what had remained back into her, and through the opened dam. Closing it, she released a sigh of relief, having endured great pain. She would need to heal herself for a long time if she hoped to regain her full strength.
Leaving the soul, she headed into her domain. A white castle sitting on top of clouds. Spires, majestic in nature, grew to lengths not imagined neither in the soul's world nor this one. She continued on her way, entering the castle. Walking through the vast halls, she hunched her back at the pain she had caused herself. It would be a little longer until she made it to her meditation room.
Once she reached it, she opened the doors without regards to their state of being. Quickly hurrying to the middle, she activated what she had made long ago. During the times of great war. A sudden cocoon of pinkish gold energies slowly encapsulated her. Covering her entirely with a healing aura. For a period, even the gods would consider as long, she stayed there imagining the cathedrals the soul should have already built for her.
Coming out, she quickly released a scanning pulse to find his signature mana. Only to find him nowhere in the world. Confused she looked back to where he was long ago, just to see him as he was. Unmoving, unchanged, he merely floated there. Frozen in the darkness that had become his home.
She hurried there, imagining the worst scenes playing out. Of things, she had not considered. Once she reached his location, cautiously she neared him and asked what she needed to know.
“Are you okay? What are you still doing here?” From afar, it seemed as though he had completely used the energy she had provided form him, but the closer she got, the more it became visible that he had only used a major portion instead of the whole.
“Why have you not completed using the energies I had given you?” He stared at her for a time, seeming to hesitate in his speech. “Umm, I don't understand the script used here. You need to translate them for me.” He glowed in embarrassment, like a child, while she sighed in relief. Thankfully, this was nowhere near the worst outcome. But, it still didn't make sense to her. She had used the language from his memories instead of the Olden Language. Why would he-
“Oh, your memories, they were broken apart. You don't recognize this?” The goddess asked to make sure she was on the correct path. “No, its foreign to me,” he replied with surety.
This also made a significant issue for them, a major portion of the energy she had given him had been used. He could have done anything, and without having waited, she would not know what it was. The worst-case scenario was if he made a modification. Within those were curses that deducted a major portion of one attribute to bolster another. Thankfully, she knew she could balance out his attributes to reach an equilibrium with all moderate curses, but anything major could be detrimental to his existence.
“Let me see, child. Hopefully, it isn't anything detrimental to you or a modification. Let me see your Status Screen.” A sudden glow of extreme nervousness bellowed from the soul. “I need to know what you chose to help you.” she coaxed him.
“I...I don't know how to show you.” Smiling, she spoke with certainty to help him get through this. “Follow my guidance, and we will make sure you are in top shape.”
She sent a tendril of mana waiting for him. Slowly, he opened himself up to her lead. Through this, she sowed him what he had to do to share his status screen with her. Internally cursing, the first thing that was glaringly obvious was the modification tab that had been greyed out. She couldn't leave him without a bit of balance, lest he becomes cursed.
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“You have used the energy on a modification. It is possibly the worst choice you could have blindly chosen from. In it, some curses will take away a major portion of one attribute and strengthen another. For instance, you could become a troll with massive strength and regeneration, but in turn, you will lose sentience. Another example is turning into a Vampire. Though you are technically immortal, you can only exist under the moon; the sun would burn you alive. Fortunately for you, I have enough experience in the world to know how to reach a balance between your attributes. Therefore I will have to give you more energy and add them to where I tell you.”
Pulling mana from her inner mana pool, she used the connection between them to give the amount necessary. Thankfully, it was in the bounds of what she was capable of without an external mana pool. Helping him open his attributes tab, she looked on at it.
System -
The Goddess's Gift - 6500
Attributes -
Strength - 16 + Per Point 30
Constitution - 14 + Per Point 30
Endurance - 15 + Per Point 30
Intelligence - 9 + Per Point 50
Wisdom - 9 + Per Point 50
Agility - 11 + Per Point 50
Dexterity - 10 + Per Point 50
Perception - 10 + Per Point 50
Charisma - 8 + Per Point 70
“It seems like you were quite strong for a normal human, yet not the most intelligent or charismatic.” Using this opportunity, she listed the attributes and their values.
“Do you have any question about the attributes?” With a quick answer, he replied with confidence, “Nope! They are all self-explanatory, though I didn't expect them to be so gamelike.”
"Great! We need to make sure that your strength and dexterity are both 35 and endurance at 30; making you quite strong and durable. While Intelligence will be good at 23 and Wisdom at 27 with that base, you would start out as a rank four wizard with massive mana regeneration. Lastly is your charisma, we will pull it up to 20 which is much above average. That would cost you 4710 energy. With only 1890 points left, what do you want to do?"
"I would like to bring my agility, constitution, and perception all 20. And Uhh... what about the other categories?"
"Hmm, you do not have to worry about build since it will automatically give you one similar to your previous life. In life benefits will be a waste; monetary gains are so~ limited. Traits, you will get those when you gain outstanding achievements in life. Hmm ... maybe I can get you a weapons skill? What type of weapon would you like to use." she asked, giving him a final choice in what he wanted.
"It seems to me like I am quite strong so a great sword would be wonderful!" She laughed at his over-enthusiasm. The goddess could see him imagining himself a noble warrior wielding a mighty sword. A good sign as any that he chose to be a ‘noble’ warrior instead of other bloodier options.
“I must warn you. Even though you get the skill, it does not give you any inherent knowledge of the weapon. Instead, it only speeds up the learning ability.” The soul visibly deflated as he heard what she had said. Trying to pull his emotions back to where they were, checking his affinities, she noticed he had already had an earth affinity making it just in the price of what he had left.
"Okay, you have 390 points left. With that, I can get you a great affinity with only earth magic. Do you ..." the soul suddenly had a glazed appearance or the pulsing equivalent. For a while, she waited, but when he seemed to not come out, she tried to pull him out of his trance with little success. Not knowing what happened she decided to use the necessary points to take the affinity boost for him.
Unbeknownst to her, his sheer excitement at the mere mention of magic was the cause of his strange actions. His only thoughts were that of a child.
'Magic! I am going to use magic!'