“Your armor looks weird. Are you one of those criminals who abandoned us?”
Isa raised a brow in amusement as the color drained from Jarrid’s face. He made a choking noise and moved to hush the curly-haired young girl who’d guilelessly asked the question.
The former goddess cleared her throat to prevent herself from chuckling, though she failed to conceal her amusement completely.
“No, I’m not a criminal, though I am technically an exile,” Isa said with a grin. “They kicked me out for fighting a monster in a dungeon. I was living on Sumar and working to get the atmosphere established when I found it. I guess the people in charge didn’t like that I went inside without permission.”
Isa had met the group of refugees at their chosen building to minimize the confusion. Nobody had mentioned her very obvious connection to Horizian forces before the girl spoke up, and she knew they had to be curious. Even with the modifications she’d made, the armor was quite recognizable.
The little girl nodded sympathetically as she looked up at Isa. “Asking permission is important,” she said seriously.
The girl’s short hair was pulled into two small bunches, one on either side of her head near her neck. The barely tamed curls made the small tails look more like balls, which Isa found particularly adorable on the girl. She couldn’t have been more than five or six years old.
Children, in general, were a bit of a soft spot for the former goddess. Had her aspects not been so clearly aligned with storms, she would have likely sought a domain involving children instead.
However, knowing that about herself, Isa had limited her interactions with young children after outgrowing the stage. It was far easier to avoid and ignore something than it was to let yourself care and deal with the pain of loss.
That didn’t mean she’d withdraw now, though. She’d only made the choices she had in the past because she knew what was to come. Isa hadn’t wanted to grow attached to the children that would be left behind on the space station. Similarly, the former goddess hadn’t wanted to allow herself to care for children who were likely to die soon, and it was impossible to save every child.
But now…
Now, maybe she could let herself connect, just a little bit. It had been a really long time since she indulged in non-familial connections.
The thought of her parents made her grimace slightly. She really should check in on them, even if there was little she could do to help them at this point.
= = =
“Whatcha doin’?”
Isa glanced up to see Addy standing in her doorway.
After learning about Isa’s background, the youth had taken to just showing up in her workshop occasionally. She was one of the handful of orphans in the group, though she didn’t like talking about what happened to her family.
In truth, she wasn’t really an orphan.
Her mother had been killed by monsters early on, but her father was still alive. However, when given the opportunity to evacuate as part of the Senator’s forces, the man had taken it without hesitation. There was no room on the Senator’s shuttle for family members, much less children.
So Addy had been left behind.
Even after eons of watching civilizations rise and fall, Isa was still surprised by humanity sometimes.
Not every race was built the same when it came to parenting instincts, but humans were supposed to be similar to elves and dwarfs in that way. Isa simply couldn’t imagine an elf or dwarf abandoning a child so young like that. But humans…
They so often broke the mold of what they should be. It was one of the reasons they were so prolific throughout the realms.
“I’m crafting,” Isa replied to the curly-haired girl. Someone had braided the girl's normally unruly locks, making her look much more presentable. “I’m trying to make a golem so I don’t have to fight in the dungeon alone.”
“Is that like a robot?” Addy asked, stepping closer.
Isa nodded. “It is a lot like a robot, but it’s not so much mechanical as magical.”
“Oh,” Addy said, moving several steps closer. “I hope I get magic when I grow up. Only the Priest has magic in our group.”
Talking to the girl didn’t take much of Isa’s attention, so she didn’t mind her presence all that much.
“Do you have any aspects listed in your status?” Isa asked.
Addy shook her head. “No. It just has stars in that part.”
Isa hummed lightly. Stars could mean she was close with an aspect but didn’t quite meet the threshold, or it could imply she had one or more aspects that met the criteria, but they were being hidden until the girl reached a specific age.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
Even with her vastly improved cognitive abilities, Isa still could not recall everything. She knew both were possibilities, depending on the system overlay. But unfortunately, such minute details hadn’t been relevant to her when she picked the system.
“Well, we can practice together sometimes if you want,” Isa offered, deciding a little social interaction wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing, especially if said interaction was with an adorable little kid who really needed someone to care about her.
= = =
“Addy! I’m heading to get more ore!”
Almost as soon as the words left her mouth, the youth rushed around the corner excitedly. She’d grown in the three years since the refugees had arrived, and her formerly shoulder-length hair now reached part of the way down her back.
It hadn’t taken long for the young girl to move into the mansion with the former goddess. Isa was still a bit surprised at how quickly Addy had wormed her way into the former goddess’s heart. Isa had only planned to open up a little bit, and that was mostly because she could sense the need for connection in the young girl.
But somehow, things had gone sideways.
“I’m coming! You said I could come this time!” Addy shouted breathlessly. “I’ve even got the armor and habetes you made for me!”
Isa sighed as she took in the youth’s appearance.
The armor was modeled after her own modular armor, which had been modified several times from its original design. The under-armor was enchanted with [Self-Cleaning] and [Perfect Fit], the latter of which would allow the garment to grow with the youth for at least a couple more years.
Isa hadn’t bothered to add the second enchantment to the girl’s outer armor since she planned to upgrade it as soon as the girl gained access to magic.
Addy couldn’t gain levels yet, but that didn’t mean gaining experience was useless for her. It was well known among noble circles on worlds with the Omicron system – the system overlay she’d chosen for Gentrius – that earning experience prior to gaining full access to the system would boost a youth’s base stats.
The people of Gentrius still had no idea that was the case, but that didn’t mean Isa couldn’t take advantage of the feature. Once Addy’s system unlocked and the benefits of gaining early experience were ‘realized,’ she planned to share it with everyone in their little community and potentially beyond.
She’d always hated how nobles tended to hoard valuable information.
“Alright. Just make sure you stay behind me. And remember—” Isa eyed the excited youth “—you have to work extra hard when we get back. The last time, you said you felt stronger afterward. This time, I want you to see if you can make yourself smarter by studying extra hard.”
The young girl groaned dramatically, though she was only pretending to be bothered by the demand. Addy actually enjoyed studying, and Isa knew that.
“Can’t we practice magic instead?” the young girl pouted. “I almost got the air to blow out the candle last time. I’m sure I can get it if I practice more.”
“That’s why I want you to study,” Isa replied. “Getting smarter makes it easier to use magic.”
The two girls smiled at each other.
“Alright, let’s get going. We’re only taking Rho and Pi with us this time,” Isa said, referencing the two golems that were waiting by the door.
Rho was the larger of the two, standing at around eight feet tall. Isa had built it to be the tank in the group, and the Andronite it was crafted from worked well for that purpose. The mammoth of metal was stronger than anything she’d encountered in the area, and she suspected it would be able to hold its own against some of the weaker C-Grade threats that might eventually appear.
That hadn’t happened yet, of course, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t.
Pi was smaller, standing only about six feet tall. Isa had constructed the lighter, sleeker golem out of a semi-hardwood that grew in one of the nearby dungeons. Pi mostly functioned as the archer of the group, growing its bow from the wood that comprised its body.
It could also grow new arrows, though the heads were hardened thorns instead of stone or metal. Similarly, the golem could grow thorny vines to ensnare anything that might get close enough to pose a real threat to Isa or her ward.
Isa didn’t think either golem was strictly necessary during the delve, but the dungeon they were entering had shown signs of getting stronger in recent weeks. If she was going alone, Isa might have only taken one golem, but with Addy coming along, she felt it was better to be a bit more cautious.
= = =
“Take your time, Addy,” Isa said calmly. “Focus on the magic you’re trying to invoke. Feel the mana as it passes through the spell. There’s no rush.”
Wands like the one Addy was using were largely point-and-shoot. You feed them a bit of mana, and the spell activated, targeting whatever the wand was pointed toward.
Concentrating on how the magic worked was totally unnecessary as far as functionality went. But Isa felt confident the young girl was close to gaining access to Air magic. Of all the basic elements, the girl had shown the strongest connection to Air, and Isa suspected that feeling the shift from neutral to aspected mana might be all she needed to grant her access to the magic.
She didn’t have to wait for the system to unlock it for her. As long as she figured it out, the system wouldn’t stop her from using it. Other systems might, especially prior to gaining full system access, but the Omicron System wouldn’t.
Addy’s face scrunched in concentration as she pushed mana into the wand. Her eyes lit up as a blade of Air shot from the other end of the engraved implement and sliced deeply into the injured beast being held down by thorny vines.
“Good. Did you feel the shift in the mana when it aspected?” Isa asked her young protégé.
The girl nodded excitedly. “I did! I didn’t think it would work, but you were right!”
“Of course I was right!” Isa replied. “I told you I’m a genius, right?” the former goddess asked playfully as she puffed out her chest. She didn’t show this side of herself often.
The young girl pursed her lips at her mentor. “I can be a genius too if I grow my mind stats high enough. You just got a head start,” Addy insisted.
“Well, I guess we should hurry back to the manor then so you can get to studying. That’s the best way to get smarter.”
“We’re going to finish the dungeon first, right?”
Isa nodded. “Yes. But you should probably finish the monster you already injured first,” she said, causing the young girl to flush in embarrassment as she looked at the creature still bleeding within the thorny vines.
Addy went through the process of activating the spell wand again. This time, she focused on targeting to ensure the monster was properly defeated.
“I think I unlocked Air magic,” Addy said with barely suppressed glee. Her eyes unfocused. “I did!” she squealed. “It shows up on my status now! Isa, I have Air magic!”
The former goddess smiled at the young girl’s excitement. “That’s wonderful! I knew you could do it. When we get back to the manor, I’ll teach you a couple of Air spells. That should work well enough to boost your mental stats.”
The youth’s eyes sparkled in excitement. “Really? That would be so amazing! I’m going to be a Mage! Brenna is going to be soooo jealous!”