Chapter 3 I Count A Lot

Name- Eri (Veritas)

Level- 1

Age- 18

Race/Species- Unknown

Gender- Unknown

Exp- 0

Physical Power- 1

Stamina- 1

Agility- 1

Magic Power- 1

Metal Rain Lv 1

Items Equip

Inventory Bracelet

Blessing 1- All Map Exploration

Blessing 2- Exp Increase X Proportional to Level

Blessing 3- Item- Gamer Glasses

Titles- Devotee of Amoris

The two of us were standing in what Amoris called her throne room. There was a large, fuzzy, pink, faux fur chair in the middle of the room, but other than that the room was lacking. Black walls, black ceiling, and black stone floors. Other than the pink chair, the room was entirely black. The chair could only just be charitably called a throne. It looked like something you would find at a thrift store. If she's one of the twelve main deities shouldn't her throne room reflect that? I began to feel uneasy again.

"This will be your status upon waking in Elrich. When you get to a town the gate guard will ask you to place your hand on a stone tablet called an All Seer. It won't actually show the guard everything like the name suggests. All they will be able to see is your name, race, gender, age, level, and any titles. There are two other categories the guards are able to check which you don't currently have. The first being an occupation. The second is status anomaly. Occupation is self-explanatory, so let me explain status. It allows the guards to see if you have any unusual status effects, like if you're poisoned or carrying a disease. It also allows them to see if you are a wanted criminal." Amoris smiled looking over her cheat sheet. She wanted to make sure she got it just right and didn't forget anything.

"Why is the gender unknown and am I a Devotee of Amoris?" I asked looking at the paper upside down.

"You better be! I'm giving you three Blessings after all!" She puffed out her cheeks. Then let them relax with a sigh when she realized I was teasing her again. "The gender is still unknown because some races have more than two genders. Other races are asexual. So until your race is decided your gender can't be decided either."

"Oh, I don't think I'd like being asexual." I was just imaging a blob race reproducing by splitting itself in two.

"That's not exactly what asexual means, but in either case, the odds of becoming one of the asexual races is zero since none of them are my followers. You will only become a race that primarily worships me. I'm a sex and sexual fertility goddess. Asexual beings don't worship me much." She shrugged as if it didn't matter much to her.

"Alright, let's get started." She directed me to stand right in front of the flamingo-colored chair. "Stand still, do not move. If you move I might accidentally forget something important."

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She began waving her arms around dramatically. At first, I thought nothing was happening and she was just being silly, then a glowing silver circle with all sorts of symbols around the outside surrounded me.

"I, Amoris, Goddess of Love, bless thee in my name. May you never be lost and always find your way. I bless thee with All Map Exploration." The silver circle began to glow bright and with a sudden blinding flash, something that felt like a needle struck me in the back of the head. On instinct, I turned and looked behind me with my hand on the sore spot. That hurt dammit.

"Don't move!" Amoris shouted. "That was the power entering you. It's supposed to hurt."

"You didn't say anything about it hurting," I protested.

"I told you that too much information entering your brain at once would turn it to mush. What did you expect fluffy bubbles or magic sparkles? Now stop distracting me. Where was I?" She looked down at her cheat sheet.

"I, Amoris, Goddess of Love, bless thee in my name." she paused a second looking at the paper again. "I bless you with the power, experience needed divided by your level of power. No, wait that wasn't it. The X means multiply doesn't it. Um, I bless you with experience gained multiplied by your current level of power. Yep, that's it." She nodded pleased to have corrected herself.

The circle around me pulsed twice and suddenly a baseball of light hit me right in the forehead. I ended up on my hands and knees. My vision seemed to go a bit hazy in the corners. I had one of the worst migraines I had ever had. Even breathing hurt. I could hear my pulse pounding in time with my head. The pie I had eaten made a quick exit all over the floor.

"The next one is an item it shouldn't hurt, so bear with it for a while more," Amoris called from what sounded like the other end of a tunnel. She was still standing in front of her chair, so it must have been my ears ringing. She didn't look too great either. Sweat had popped up on her forehead and she looked really pale.

"I, Amoris, Goddess of Love, bless thee in my name. Love of games and the vision to see may you always be self-aware. I grant you Divine Item Gamer Glasses." The light circle pulsed again, but thankfully this time I wasn't hit with any light spears. Instead, a pair of wire-rimmed black glasses were perched on the end of my nose.

"They work on the same basic principle as the Inventory Bracelet; they can't be stolen and they won't work for anyone else but you. The main difference is that you can't give this item away, if you die the glasses lose power. It is a divine item given by a Blessing intended for use of one person. It is an item that will use your own magic power to activate. The glasses don't need to be equipped like other items either." Amoris said all this with her eyes shut and swaying side to side. I wasn't sure if my own vision was just that shaky or if she was trembling. Everything was just so fuzzy and hazy.

"Now for the reincarnation," She murmured.

"Wait," it sounded like I shouted, but in reality, I probably was just whispering."Don't forget Metal Rain and the language skills. Those are both important." I was surprised that I was able to remember them in my state. Since I had read her cheat sheet, I knew she was skipping some steps.

Amoris groaned, she probably had forgotten that part. She wasn't looking at her cheat sheet anymore.

"As per our contract and with the authority given to me by the All-Father I grant you the Magic Power called Metal Rain. I also grant you the gift of common speech. May the All-Father bless us all."

A more golden colored light flashed from the circle this time. I got a quick glance of Amoris collapsed in her chair before a bowling ball of sunlight fell on my head. I passed out in my own sick mess.

I knew I had passed out. I could remember everything about myself. I was fully conscious, but it felt like I couldn't wake up. I was floating, weightless. I couldn't feel anything, hear, smell, or open my eyes. It was probably a good thing I couldn't taste. I probably would never enjoy pumpkin pie again.

I was trapped within myself. Was I in a coma? Is this what it was like being in a coma? Maybe I had survived the fall into the grizzly enclosure and everything else was the dream. I was laying in a hospital bed in a coma.

Bored inside my own mind, at some point I began counting. I kept losing my concentration sometime during the ten millions. I had to restart over again multiple times. I had a feeling I got a little bit further each time. The counting kept me focused. It stopped me from falling apart. I didn't want to fall apart, but maybe if I did fall apart something else would happen. Only fear kept me from trying, but there would come a point where even fear wouldn't stop me. Anything to stop the darkness.

Pain, lots of pain. I could feel my body. In the beginning, a part of me welcomed the pain. It was something different, new, something other than the darkness. I welcomed that pain, but even that started to wear on me. I began thinking when will this pain stop. I couldn't even count to ten million anymore because of the pain.