Chapter 7: Being a Chaotic deity / human? – Arianna

Arianna blinked as a system message popped up in front of her, the glowing text slightly blurred from her grogginess. Before she could focus on reading it, her body acted on instinct, pushing herself upright. The sudden movement sent sharp twinges through her entire body, and she winced, feeling every bruise and cut that had been numbed by unconsciousness.

"Ow," she muttered, pressing a hand to her aching stomach.

As the blanket pooled around her waist, cool air brushed against her skin. It was only then that she realized she was sitting there in nothing but her bra. Cassis, who had been hovering beside her, first looked alarmed at her pained expression, his concern evident. Then, as his gaze flickered downward, his entire demeanour changed.

His face snapped up as if burned. "Uh—" He cleared his throat and clenched his jaw, eyes fixed stubbornly on the ceiling.

Arianna rolled her eyes. "Seriously? It’s just a bra, Cassis. You’re acting like a teenager."

His posture stiffened slightly, and she could see the tips of his ears turning red. Suppressing an amused smirk, she glanced down at herself. Well, at least she wasn’t completely naked, but that still didn’t explain—

"Why am I undressed?" she asked, lifting an eyebrow at him.

"I had to treat your wounds," he answered, voice tense, still avoiding looking in her direction. Then, as if suddenly struck by an idea, he straightened and practically jumped up, moving toward his wardrobe with a swiftness that made her grin. It was like he was trying to escape her proximity entirely.

She watched as he rummaged through the wooden cabinet, eventually pulling out a worn black shirt and a pair of old grey jogging pants. He turned back toward her but kept his gaze strictly averted, holding the clothes out to her without looking. She noticed how rigidly he stood, his entire posture screaming discomfort.

Oh, this was fun.

A quiet chuckle slipped past her lips before she could stop it. Unfortunately, the action sent another sharp pain through her stomach, and she grimaced and winced, pressing a hand against the bandages wrapped around her midsection. Cassis heard her and immediately looked concerned again, though he still stubbornly avoided directly looking at her.

"Here," he muttered, extending the clothes toward her, turning around completely.

Arianna reached for them, but her movements felt sluggish, her limbs protesting the strain. She tried to swing her legs over the edge of the bed, but the moment she put weight on her injured arm and leg, pain shot through them. Gritting her teeth, she exhaled in frustration.

"Cassis, help me get up."

He hesitated for a moment, as if debating whether to turn back around. Then, taking a deep breath, he slowly faced her again—with his eyes firmly shut.

Arianna bit her lip to keep from laughing outright.

Blindly, he reached out and found her uninjured arm, grasping her elbow carefully. With surprising gentleness, he helped pull her upright, guiding her legs out of the blanket so that her feet could touch the wooden floor. His focus was entirely on the task, his movements methodical as if distracting himself from the fact that she was still sitting there in nothing but underwear.

He looked so adorably determined not to even glance at her that it took everything in Arianna not to burst out laughing. Really, it wasn’t like she was wearing something scandalous. Her black bra and matching panties were plain, practical. They covered more than some of the bikinis she used to wear back in her world. And yet, here he was, acting as though one wrong glance might kill him.

Once she was stable, he let go quickly and spun back around, his ears now fully red.

Arianna smirked as she carefully pulled on the oversized shirt, maneuvering through the stiffness in her arms. The fabric was soft, slightly worn, and it smelled faintly of Cassis—something woodsy and clean and fire. The jogging pants were trickier with her injuries, but she managed, albeit slower than usual. She had to roll them up quite a bit, as Cassis was around 1,90m and she only 1,67m. Luckily the jogging pants had a cord incorporated that she could use as a belt. But the shirt was really oversized, the collar dragged over one of her shoulders constantly while she put on the pants.

Still, thinking of how she could actually move – albeit slowly and painfully – she had to admit, becoming an awakener had some perks. Her wounds weren’t nearly as debilitating as they should have been. The healing factor was already working, dulling the pain and accelerating the recovery process.

She finished dressing and let out a breath. "Alright, you can open your eyes now."

Cassis hesitated before cautiously turning back toward her. His expression was carefully neutral, though the slight tension in his jaw remained.

"Better?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, amused.

"Much," he said flatly. Then, after a pause, he exhaled and shook his head. "Next time, don’t get yourself injured in the first place."

Arianna grinned. "I’ll try to keep that in mind."

"I'll look at my status for a bit. I just got a message," she said.

Cassis nodded, seeming relieved, and busied himself with cleaning the poker, though it did already look clean. But what did she know?

Arianna brought up her messages. The system message from just now appeared:

[Do you wish to change your patron name to Sapphire?]

She mentally clicked 'Yes,' then pulled up her full status screen. First, her patron status:

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Patron Status:

* Name: Sapphire

* Race: Deity

* Title: [Fallen Patron]

* Alignment: Chaotic

* Special Chaotic Trait: inner scale of virtuous and evil deeds

Warning: As a Chaotic Deity, you must balance your actions carefully. Both intent and consequence will affect your CP. Should you become too virtuous or too evil, your CP will be reset.

* CP: 10

* Patron Shop: regular

* Patron’s Avatar: none

* Pseugo-Awakener Physique: Redirect to Pseudo Status Page

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She was curious about this screen. In her old world she could only see her VP, the Patron shop and the Patron’s Avatar points in another screen than the one she was watching Cassis through. And how was she a deity? She was just a normal person; she didn’t have any special abilities. Dreaming of Cassis was her necklace’s ability.

She opened the title [Fallen Patron]:

Given to a deity who interfered with the mortal world directly

Bonus: achieving pseudo-awakener status

Alright, so that didn’t actually tell her much.

She continued on and navigated to her pseudo-awakener status page:

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Pseudo-Awakener Status:

* Name: Arianna Sloane

* MS (Mana Saturation): 3%

* Race: Human?

* Rank: F

* Features: Awareness (basic), Mana Perception (basic), Stamina Capacity (low)

* Unique: None

* Level: 2

* Class: None

* Skills: None

* Ability:

* Elemental Affinity: Unlocked, to be discovered

* Unique: None

* Spells: None

* Titles: [One From Another World]

* Patron: None

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Arianna frowned as she read over her stats.

First, she would have a look at the easiest part. Her title [One From Another World]. That one should be self-explanatory.

Given to an awakener who came from another world.

Bonus: Can understand, speak and write/read this world’s languages automatically.

Oh, that was very useful. And it said languages. So she should be able to speak all of them. Were there as many languages here as on Earth?

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Second, What did 'Human?' mean? Why was there a question mark? The system wasn’t sure if she was human? She knew that in the future people could change their race through their specialized classes, evolutions and items. But that had always felt a little scary.

And last, that 'inner scale of virtuous and evil deeds' thing… That sounded ominous. She tried feeling for it and suddenly before her inner eye she saw an old-fashioned scale. One side was white and the other black. Well, that was quite the clear and easy division. She noticed that the black scale was a bit heavier than the white one. She thought back to how she had gotten her points. Killing a sentient being was clearly an evil action, saving a mortal a virtuous one. But she had more messages about killing than saving, so it made sense that the black scale was heavier. She mumbled: “I only killed the hyenas to save Cassis’s father. This is so unfair.”

A system message sprang up.

[+20 CP (for saving a dying mortal)]

Arianna blinked. "What the—?" The realization hit her so suddenly that she blurted out, "Fuck!"

[+1 CP (for swearing with profanity)]

Cassis was alarmed: “What happened?” “It’s alright,” she shushed him. “Just a little surprised. I’ll tell you in a second. Just let me try something first.”

She stared at the messages, completely dumbfounded. Then, an idea struck her—one that sent a mix of embarrassment and amusement through her. Could she... farm CP just by swearing?

Determined to test the theory, she let loose every profanity she knew. Twelve more, to be exact. Her cheeks burned slightly at the realization that she could only think of thirteen curse words. How embarrassing! But not actually surprising considering she had been a virtuous deity before and had consciously tried not to come in contact with that.

[+9 CP (for swearing with profanity)]

[Warning: Profanity will have no further effect on CP. Your scale will still be influenced by it.]

During her cursing spree, Cassis’s concern had steadily grown. His brows furrowed deeper with every word she spat out. Eventually, he couldn’t contain himself. "Arianna... what are you doing?"

She made eye contact and quickly told him. "In a sec."

She felt for her inner scale again. The white part had tipped down when she acknowledged her intention for killing the hyenas was saving Cassis’s father but with her use of profanity the evil side was again heavier. She didn’t want to know what would happen if one scale became a lot heavier than the other. Balance was key here.

Next, she checked her CP. She had now 40 CP. Just 60 to go and she could give Violet’s mother the potion. No wait, first she had to enter into an exclusive contract with Cassis, then the price should go down. Another thought struck her. She should have entered into a contract with Cassis when she wanted to buy the potion for his father. She slapped her forehead. That had been stupid, her only defence that she wasn’t used to the system in her everyday life and that it had been a highly stressful situation. She looked up to find Cassis watching her, holding his silence but becoming increasingly worried. Maybe he thought her crazy. She certainly would think herself crazy.

But she needed to continue her thoughts before talking to him. Musing about the prices in the Patron Shop for a bit she could understand why everything was more expensive with CP. After all, she got CP for virtuous and evil deeds. With VP she only got points for being virtuous and acting that way. She assumed it was the same for EP. So now she could collect points way easier than before. She smiled. Sure, the scale thing was scary. Still, she only needed to keep track of it. This was freeing. She wasn’t stuck being a “goody-two shoes” anymore. She could now be a little bad. Her smile got wider.

Cassis narrowed his eyes. She could see he was at the end of his patience and quickly sent him a message asking for an exclusive contract.

He accepted just as quickly.

[Awakener Cassis Walker has agreed to become your avatar.

New discounts at the shop available.

Spread your name throughout the world and become the most powerful deity!]

Ok, the last line was knew. She had no idea what that meant. Choosing to ignore it she looked at the shop again, then spoke her thoughts aloud. "Alright, the potion now costs only 50 CP. I’m 10 CP short, though. As I though the price of potions – and other items concerning the basic survival of my avatar – has been cut in half. Next, it seems the system automatically rewards me with CP for direct actions. Like when I killed the goblin and helped kill the orc—I got CP for killing a sentient creature and then CP for saving a “mortal” as a direct result. But with the hyenas, I killed them to save your dad, but since they weren’t actively attacking him, I didn’t get any points for saving him. And I also didn’t give him the potion myself, so I didn’t get any points for that either. But just now, when I acknowledged that I did it to save him, I got CP."

She tilted her head, fascinated. "This system is really interesting... it even gave me CP for swearing, though only 10 total. The system already warned me I can’t use that trick again. But... there is one more way to get CP. If it works the same as when I was a virtuous deity, it’ll be awkward, but it’s easy. And it should give me exactly 10 CP."

She looked at Cassis, hesitating for just a moment.

Arianna took a deep breath, her expression serious. "Please, don’t take the next few sentences the wrong way," she said, forcing an awkward smile.

Cassis stared a her, clearly unsure of what she was about to say. "Alright...?"

She pressed on. "One. You always take responsibility for the people around you. Even when you act all grumpy, you care more than anyone else I know."

A system message popped up in the corner of her vision:

[+1 CP for giving a sincere compliment with genuine feelings.]

"Two. I admire your determination. No matter what happens, you never back down. That’s the kind of strength I can rely on."

Another message confirmed the CP gain. Arianna felt her stomach twist. This was so embarrassing. But she had to keep going.

"Three. I trust you, completely. Even when I’m in danger, I know you’ll be there. That’s... rare."

Her cheeks burned. This was a lot harder than she had expected. Keeping eye contact was nearly impossible, but she forced herself to do it.

"Four. You have a strong sense of honour and unwavering integrity. Even when given an opportunity to do otherwise, you always choose to do what’s right."

"Five. You’re my best friend; you have been my rock when things in my world didn’t go well for me. I don’t know what I’d have done back then or what I’d do now without you."

Cassis’s expression was unreadable. The next few would be the worst. Hopefully, he wouldn’t take it the wrong way, but she just couldn’t think up more compliments about his character, so his body it was…

"Six. Your golden eyes are mesmerizing. Every time you look at me, I feel like I’m the only person in the world."

Another ping. [+1 CP.]

"Seven. You’re ridiculously good-looking, you know that?"

Now she was definitely beet-red in the face. She wanted to dig a hole and disappear. Cassis stiffened, looking at her like she had grown another head.

"Eight. The way you fight—it’s not just impressive, it’s... captivating. There’s something so strong and graceful about it, I can’t look away."

"Nine. I don’t know if you realize this, but you have a really nice voice. It’s deep, calm... kind of soothing, actually."

That one made Cassis choke, and she swore his ears turned even redder than when she was in her underwear.

"Ten. When I woke up in your arms at the start of everything all I could think was how broad your shoulders are and how nice it was to be in your arm. You make me feel small and safe in a way I kind of... like."

Finally. The tenth one. She had done it. A final message appeared before her eyes:

[+1 CP for giving a sincere compliment with genuine feelings.]

And then another:

[Warning: Complimenting will have no further effect on CP. Your scale will still be influenced by it.]

Arianna exhaled sharply, feeling like she had just survived an ordeal. She could barely bring herself to look at Cassis, who was staring at her like he didn’t know whether to be flattered, horrified, or deeply confused.

But at least she had her CP now.

Cassis finally managed to ask with a strangled voice, "What?"

Arianna quickly explained, still avoiding eye contact. She even ducked her head so that her hair provided a bit of a barrier. "I got CP for giving a compliment, just like I got CP for swearing. I also did this when I was a virtuous deity in my world. From experience, I know that I need to maintain eye contact with the person I’m complimenting, and it has to be a sincere statement with genuine feelings behind it. So, again, please don’t take this the wrong way."

It definitely was easier giving such compliments to women. She had never said something like that to a man and so didn’t know how he would react. She peeked at him from below her hair but accidentally met his gaze. Embarrassed, she ducked her head further, still feeling her cheeks burning.

"You did that in your world, too?" His tone was strange—almost angry.

She hesitated. Well, she’d be weirded out too if someone unloaded all that on her. She hadn’t given all ten compliments to the same woman in her world and had also stretched out those compliments over several days, so it wasn’t as difficult back then. Instead of dwelling on it, she distracted herself by going to the Patron Shop and buying a small healing potion.

"Here it is," she said and jumped up, forgetting her injuries.

Her left leg buckled, and she started to fall, but Cassis was there in an instant. He caught her before she hit the ground and steadied her. His hands remained on her shoulders to make sure she kept her balance.

Arianna shifted her weight onto her good foot and became embarrassed all over again. She had just told him she liked being in his arms, and now she was in them again. If she were a cartoon character, she would be red all over with steam pouring out of her head.

"Are you alright?" Cassis asked.

"Yeah, just forgot my injuries for a moment." She mumbled.

She needed to take action now. This situation was not good. Ari, you can’t have a moment with him now. Sure, you find him attractive, but you’ve known each other for ten years, and you're in an apocalypse now. This really isn’t the time to revisit that crush you had on him when you were younger.

"Can you help me go to Violet’s mother? I think it’s best if she doesn’t stay injured any longer."

Silence, then.. "Okay, hold on to my arm and let me carry your weight."

With her uninjured right arm, she held onto his right, trying not to put weight on her injured right leg. Cassis pretty much held her up with his left hand on her waist, pressing her side into his, practically hugging her from the side. Being so close to him after saying all those compliments—while meaning them—was messing with her head.

Just concentrate on the mission, Ari. She took a deep breath.

They slowly made their way to Liam’s room. After explaining that Arianna had just woken up and still miraculously had one more potion left, they stated that she wanted to give it to Violet’s mom.

Violet woke up during their conversation, becoming very excited. "She’ll be okay now, won’t she?"

Arianna handed the vial to Liam—she and Cassis couldn’t move freely with him still holding her up—and instructed him to pour it into the mother’s mouth. He did as told and a golden glow enveloped her body. Seconds later, her eyes fluttered open.

She looked confused at first, but when Violet threw herself at her and cried, she instinctively comforted her. The others simply watched in silence. After Violet had cried herself to sleep, the mother finally looked up and asked, "Who are you? What happened? What’s that blue box?"

Cassis took charge. "We found you outside and brought you in with Violet. Do you remember the monster? We killed it, but you were injured. You’re alright now. All other explanations will come tomorrow morning." He ended his speech abruptly and turned her to go back to his room.

Arianna had the feeling that he didn’t actually know how to explain everything, so he kept it short. Liam looked a bit rebellious at first - he had already been waiting for quite some time and Cassis was telling him to wait again - but Cassis’ stern expression kept him quiet.

After saying goodnight to the others, Cassis and Arianna shuffled back to his room. He helped her sit down on his bed before returning to his chair.

"What are we going to tell them tomorrow morning?" she asked.