Rosalinda was crying. And it made me angry. You see, she was just a widow, burdened with a child, trying her best to get by. She couldn't practice a trade - I had no idea if that was even allowed or which trade she had - because a baby, even one as sentient as yours truly, demands a lot of attention. And my anger was directed at the host of deities that decided to pay a visit. She wasn't dumb either. The moment these strangely-clad strangers appeared, she knew who they were and she fell on her knees, still clutching me. Which meant I couldn't see them.
I didn't have much time to study the deities' attire, so forgive me if they are lacking for now. What I can say was that only Wyxnos had modern clothing. The others wore togas, tunics, dresses, and more Mesopotamian-Greco-Roman divine-approved style of garbs. I could swear I saw a guy in cataphract armor but don't quote me on that.
I heard footsteps approaching.
"Hello, Anomaly. We meet again."
"Uh kiiwould haff intwodwuced wyoshelves bewther," I repliedn in English. "Butt how dwo uwhu dwo, qoweuroqwiehr92382349rbudf?" I forgot I can't say a deity's name.
Rosalinda parted me from her bosom to stare at my face. "Rwoshalinna!" I cooed in the local language. She gasped. She stared up at Wyxnos.
"Can you use the sign language you invented?" Wyxnos sighed. "I can understand you better if you do."
Wyxnos spoke to Rosalinda, and she turned me around so I was facing the deities.
"I can't help you with your missing arm," Wyxnos lamented.
Wyxnos looked behind him. The gods had some silent conversation. He looked at me. "If we kill the woman, you'll eventually die because you can't provide for yourself, and we will go through this all over again. We agree to a truce."
They probably couldn't as long as she was holding me, but I kept my thoughts to myself. Differently from gods in some stories I read, these ones here couldn't mind-read me, score!
"Yes, it is. But They will expect you to make signals for all of us. It won't do to have signals for only one deity."
<"Huntress" already has one, so I'm willing to go the extra mile to make one for each of you, as a sign of goodwill.> I gesticulated.
I couldn't mention the gods, but their domains were concrete concepts. Unless I contextualized that I was talking about gods, the curse didn't trigger. I couldn't even make a sign that meant "god" or "deity". So it was all up to context to infer one was mentioning gods.
He looked at his fellow pantheon members before agreeing. "We'll accept your gesture of goodwill, but that can be done later. We have business to attend to."
I pointed out and cooed.
"Good," He smirked. "First, who are you?"
"A planet," Wyxnos concluded. He was the God of Logic. "You came from Earth."
"That shouldn't be. Transmigration should be blocked by the System."
"The Amoeba. I am aware. What you say has merit. Thanks for your answer. Now, who sent you here."
Was one way I thought about going around things my curses forbade me from speaking. Since the general statement was a tautology, there was little risk of having the curses triggering.
"I think I understand. But let's make it clear. You are under a geass to not surrender the information. That was not unexpected."
"Another question, does your mission here have a set time? Will you leave some time in the future?"
Wyxnos frowned, but I could tell he wasn't angry at me. The situation was bad, uncomfortable, but hey, I was the one being murdered every single life. Almost every single one. In seventy-five percent of the cases. Amoeba me did die of old age. Six hours.
The God of Logic was about to say something when a big guy dressed in a golden toga with a blazing sun over the heart pushed him aside.
"This farce ends now. All we have to do is to kill this weak creature every time it revives. Or make it immortal and seal it. Summon the cockatrice!" He ordered another deity.
I gesticulated frantically.
"Bundeus, think again!" Wyxnos pleaded. "We can't do that. She is immune to our power. No, worse. Every time we use power on her, it drains and feeds whoever put her here. Can't you see? She is a victim here."
A guy with white tunic-and-breeches, leather sandals, and a stern gaze said, "I, Galbarar, second Wyxnos. I sensed no falsehood in the girl's gestures. My opinion is that we should leave them be and instruct our servants to avoid contact."
Bundeus nodded with a savage grin. "Yes. Let's instruct our priests and servants to 'avoid' the divine-power-stealing anomaly."
I could see the air quotes being woven around avoid even without the big god wiggling his fingers. They would call a crusade on me. And they showed that they could track... No. They couldn't track me, as they only came when a priest tried to use magic on me. Probably if I stayed away from divine magic, I could live incognito.
My gaze met Wyxnos and he rose a finger to his lips.
The deity Bundeus ordered to summon a cockatrice finished casting magic and a hideous chicken appeared. It was a chicken only insofar the head and legs were concerned. The body resembled some sort of long-bodied lizard with leathery scaled wings. The three feet tall monster strutted next to us and a noxious green smoke blew from its open beak toward us. Rosalina flinched but she didn't run away. She was holding me facing the gods, so I wasn't looking at her behind me. At first, I only noticed she stopped moving. Then I noticed her hands felt really stiff.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Then I remembered and added two plus two. I looked at the chicken and jumped from my mother's stone arms. Yes, I could move. Even without being activated, my Perks and Skills and Attributes were all already there. I pounced on the chicken, and it tried to peck me. I twisted mid-air and dodged the chicken-dragon monster bite. I was technically home, so I had an advantage.
Then I returned the favor and bit its neck. Vorpal Bite didn't trigger as it wasn't a crit. I fell next to it, but only a touch was enough. The cockatrice summoned by divine magic was dispelled. Thy window cometh.
> EMERGENCY ACTIVATION. FAIRNESS PROTOCOLS LOADED.
>
> Congratulations. You are now a part of the System because you engaged in deadly combat with a monster. You are not an adult yet.
>
> Your base Physical and Mental Attributes are all 10. ERROR. OVERRIDDEN BY USER'S TRAIT. USING CUSTOM ARRAY.
>
> Strength: 9 / 9. Dexterity: 9 / 9. Endurance: 9 / 9 (HP: 45). Mind: 7 / 7. Willpower: 7 / 7. Charisma: 7 / 7. Magic: 0 / 0 (MP: 0).
>
> You gained 0 Attribute points to distribute.
>
> As a human, you've been granted the following traits:
>
> * You gained the Prodigy (Unique) Trait: You are the youngest of your species ever inducted in the System. Skill growth increased by 10%.
> * Your race's maximum physical Attributes are set to 100.
> * Your race's maximum mental Attributes are set to 100.
> * Due to your Traits, Your maximum Attributes are set to your racial average minus one. Your new maximum Attribute value is 11.
> * Your race Attribute growth is 1 per level.
> * You gain 4 Skill Points per level.
> * You gain a perk every 3 levels from the human list.
> * You have no racial Skills. You can purchase a Skill for 2 Attribute Points.
> * You have 10 Skill Points to distribute. Unassigned Skill points will be randomly assigned in 2 hours.
> * Your lifespan is 99 years.
> You killed level 55 Cockatrice. You gained 151,250 Exp (30,250 Base x 10,000 x 0.0001 x 5 Monster Rank).
>
> You reached level 10.
>
> You gained 10 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 40 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 3 perks.
>
> Unassigned Traits will be randomly assigned in 2 hours.
While the god squad gawked, I went through my menus at a frantic speed. There was no shop for Skills. A human needed to think about the Skill to gain it. One either knew about it beforehand or tried their luck. It was hit-and-miss but I had a ton of imagination.
> You purchased the Survival [Temperate] (common) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Improved Stamina (uncommon) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Reduced Sleep (rare) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Hold Breath (uncommon) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Identify (common) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Efficient Metabolism (very rare) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Herbalism (uncommon) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Cold Resistance (uncommon) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Camouflage (rare) Skill.
>
> You purchased the Hiking (common) Skill.
>
> You acquired the Fast Learner (ultra rare) perk. You gain a 25% Experience bonus.
>
> You acquired the Magic Resistance (rare) perk. Magical attacks deal 25% less damage to you. Undesirable Magical effects are 25% easier to resist.
>
> You acquired the Alertness (uncommon) perk. Add your Mind and Wisdom Attributes to detect threats.
I had thirty Skill Points left, so I maxed Efficient Metabolism, Reduced Sleep, and Improved Stamina for twenty-four points, and put Cold Resistance on level seven with the other six Points. The other Skills I purchased to develop later. As in, in another life. Then I moved on to the Class selection.
> HARKEN, FOR A MOMENT OF CHOICE IS UPON THEE.
>
> A Class is a path that you commit to following for your entire life. You might find forks and branches off this path, but your choice is absolute. You can postpone this selection forever. Not walking a path or making residence upon its margins is always a viable choice.
>
> Upon selecting a Class, you may use Exp accumulated since your last level to improve your Class.
>
> Based on your achievements, these are the Classes you unlocked.
>
> * Acrobat (uncommon): You displayed great grace and agility in movement.
> * Explorer (uncommon): You are learned in the ways of the wild.
> * Delver (uncommon): You are comfortable and able to move in the underground.
> * Guardswoman (common): You are used to patrolling your neighborhood.
> * Priest (uncommon): You share a close connection with the Divine.
> * Chemist (uncommon): You have an understanding of herbs and chemistry.
> * Scout (common): You have honed senses and displayed the ability to collect intelligence.
> * Monster Hunter (rare): You killed a dangerous monster alone.
> * Calamity (unique): you are loathed by the divine.
Damn. I think I will pass on the Unique Class this time. On one hand, It might equip me better to fight the deities. On the other hand, I didn't want to fight them and I didn't want to aggravate them, and they couldn't harm me directly or through summons anyway. I also noticed that Assassin wasn't on the list. So specific achievement-based unlocks didn't carry.
> You selected your Class: Monster Hunter (rare)
>
> Your HP growth is Very Good. Your MP growth is Average.
>
> You gain 3 Skill Points per level.
>
> You gain 1 Attribute Points per level.
>
> You gain a perk every 3 levels.
>
> You gain 1 fixed Perks at level 1.
>
> You gained the perk Detect Monster (rare) - you sense the presence of monsters at a range of Mind meters.
Ignoring the gods around me, I kept going on, selecting and spending things as they came. I expected to die at any time.
> You reached Monster Hunter (rare) level 8.
>
> You gained 24 Skill Points.
>
> You gained 8 Attribute Points.
>
> You gained 2 perks.
>
> You gained 176 HP.
>
> You gained 0 MP.
>
> You gained the Improved Critical [monster] (rare) Perk. Your base critical threat range when attacking monsters increase by 1.
>
> You gained the Unerring Strike [Monster] (uncommon) Perk. Your attacks against monsters are harder to avoid or defend.
I maxed out all my Attributes at 11. The Skill Points were used to maximize Survival [Temperate], Camouflage, and Hiking. The leftover Exp was used to purchase two Professions at level six.
> * Cartographer (very rare): You visited three continents.
> * Forester (uncommon): You know how to move and tend to the forests.
>
> You reached Cartographer (very rare) level 6. You gained 24 Skill Points.
>
> You reached Forester (uncommon) level 6. You gained 15 Skill Points.
I looked at my professions' Skill lists and purchased Several Skills. Professions allowed only Skills from the list but you didn't pay double or bought them blind like with Human.
> You gained the Drafting (uncommon) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Triangulation (rare) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Height Sense (rare) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Survey (uncommon) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Geomancy (rare) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Sense Depth (uncommon) Skill. Novice 4.
>
> You gained the Hide Tracks (uncommon) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Reduce Threat [Forest] (rare) Skill. Novice 5.
>
> You gained the Direction Sense (uncommon) Skill. Novice 5.
I did a little mistake buying Geomancy. It was a spellcasting Skill and I had no MP to my name. But the deed was done. I looked behind me at my petrified mother and wondered. If she survived the lightning why did she die to the cockatrice? I looked down and saw I was butt-naked. My mantle also turned to stone. The only explanation was that the cockatrice's petrification breath was considered either a disease or a poison. Interesting.
No. She was holding me away from her. At arms' length, she probably wasn't "in the same space" as me. Fucking technicalities. I checked my Status and noticed I had over four hundred HP. It didn't matter much because critical hits had insane damage multipliers. I turned to Wyxnos. With my Hiking Skill, walking was easier. Angry, I glowered at the god.
<"Logic", I hate what happened. Your friend killed my mother.>
Wyxnos looked at me, looked away, then looked back at me. "This is annoying. I can't see your Status, but I can read the System logs and filter by time and place to isolate your messages. Reverse-engineering your Status from the messages and my notes are terrible but doable."
"No, I don't. I have no interest in mortals, women, or children," Wyxnos hissed. "And I would summon your clothes if they would last more than a second. I don't want to feed your patron."
The guy in maille walked next to Wyxos. "An injustice was committed. An innocent died," He cried.
"No. Differently from your world's games, this is not reversible. Stone does not live. She already passed on," Wyxnos stated. "I'm sorry for your loss," He added in a whisper.
A lady with a green dress that looked like it was woven from think reeds and leaves approached. "I shall offer you compensation. My children will arrive soon. They will take you and raise you until you come of age. You will have shelter, food, clothes, and education."
My eyes met hers and I smiled,
"The debt was paid," Maille Guy declared. "We must leave. Even our lingering power is being absorbed."
"Indeed. Farewell, Anomaly. We will try to solve your problem," Wixnos nodded.
I gesticulated back.
Wyxnos didn't reply. His face was as unreadable as a master hold'em series player. "You should've purchased a language Skill," He said and vanished.
I hate it when he is right.