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The silence stretched for a while, as I was lost in my memories.

"I almost gave in," I said as I returned to the present.

"Fortunately, the change was so drastic, my thoughts so different from usual, that I could notice even amidst all that happiness and ecstasy.

"The dread I felt at the realization was so intense that it shook me out of the daze," I said, letting what remained of the branch fall to the ground. “And then I shoved them away. I rejected them with every fiber of my being, pushing them away.”

I doubt anyone would have noticed in normal circumstances.

Why would they? They already worship them, so their thoughts would seem natural.

It was really creepy to think that everyone just let those things inside their head.

People thought I went insane, while I thought everyone was mindfucked by the gods.

Hatred, anger, and paranoia together didn’t make a good mix.

It was a hard time to be around people.

“And that’s how my First Blessing came to an abrupt end. Fun right?” I asked as I looked at Freya, who was listening in silence from beside me.

I had enough of the heavy atmosphere; being a depressing guy suited Zeph better.

I was bright like the sunshine.

She was looking at me with a complicated gaze. Maybe it was good that she was the silent type. It felt better when someone just listened to me without outright saying I was nuts.

“Hey, I know it may sound crazy, everyone told me so,” I said with a smirk. “But after agonizing about it for a long time, I reached a conclusion.”

I paused for effect.

“Well, first, I was a slave and I could do shit about it, and second I was already fighting for my life every other day, so long that they didn’t try to mindfuck me again, what was the problem? It wasn’t worth it to be the angry, crazy, and paranoid guy everyone avoids when I could die the next day. And lastly…”

I paused again for greater effect.

“It’s that I’m too amazing! So amazing that people’s minds just cannot comprehend me. I mean, I fought with a god! It was just a shove ok, but who could say the same, huh?” I announced proudly. “So the only conclusion is that I am the best. From now on, call me The God Pusher!!!

"... Wait, no, that’ll make me a drug seller… Mm, well, I’ll think about it later."

I needed a good title to wow people.

“Anyway,” I said, standing up, “I just wanted to tell you this to avoid having any regrets later.”

She stood up too, following me.

“Oh,” I said, just remembering another thing I had to say, “Since we’re at it, I’ll also tell you that all that shit the church says about humans being powerless without the gods isn’t true. I found out we can grow stronger without them, it just requires a lot more effort and time. I'm sure I can surpass everyone in this kingdom after some time.”

I was awesome after all.

I stopped, walking as we reached in front of our tent.

"And the perk is that no one can take it away from you. It’s yours and yours alone. So, even if you don’t believe what I said before, just know that you can still be strong even without relying on them.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“Of course, even if you do ‘embroidery’, as Zeph said, I’m sure you can do better than those with Skills — you need to put in a lot more time and effort into it though.”

I knew jack about needlework, but I was firm in my belief that everything a Skill could do could be done without one. It was just a bit harder.

“It’s your call, whether you think you can do it or not. And if you want to work with mana… Well, I don’t know how much time you will need for that.”

I looked at the moon high in the sky, then back at her.

“Now, I’m sure you want to rest. You also have a lot to think about in the next few days. If you want to be as awesome as me, just tell me when we reach the city"

I told her everything she needed. Now it was her choice.

"Goodnight,” I said as I walked away to start my training.

“Did you never regret it?” I heard her voice behind me.

“What?” I asked, turning around.

“Did you never regret not taking a Class?” she asked again.

I grinned. "Nope.

“I did think a few times how it would have been If I gave in and accepted the blessing, but it was just a passing thought. I never regretted it until now,” I said, turning away. “See you tomorrow.”

“Goodnight,” I heard her say.

I then proceeded with training as usual.

I’m nearly ready to use mana during a fight, I thought as I went to sleep.

The last few days I was even using it during the day, while walking. It still required some concentration to keep up, but not enough to be a concern.

It still made me quite tired, mentally speaking, so I had a hard time keeping up my evening training, but I held on. I could relax a bit when I reached Rivergate.

I also noticed another befuddling thing.

It took me a while to notice since the first days I was busy getting my control where it was before, but after a few tests, I found out that my strength kept increasing even after I took off the manacles.

It took a while for it to stop growing.

I was now around twice as strong as I was before my evolution.

If I had to give it a reason, it was maybe that my body was rebuilding itself stronger in preparation for the next exercise. It was something that happened normally even before, but maybe now the effect was stronger and with a longer duration.

I also suspected that my reflexes, coordination, mental abilities, and all other aspects of myself were getting better.

Unfortunately, it was harder to notice most of those effects unless I tested myself against a known opponent.

Which meant that I would fight Zeph as soon as he rested for a while in the city.

I also wanted to read books. I never read books, so I wanted to try; maybe it would be fun.

There are so many things I want to do, I thought as I drifted off. Being a free man was a blast.

I reached level fifteen a few days before, and it still hadn’t changed.

We then marched for another week and a half, since the terrain was a bit harder than Zeph had predicted, and he had a hard time orienting himself in the middle of the forest, but we reached the road without any problems.

And no goblin in sight, unfortunately. I was really looking forward to that, but I was sure I’d have my opportunities to butcher those fuckers one of these days.

Anyway, the road had been fairly trafficked, so we had to behave normally. Zeph even started to sleep in the tent with us.

I always wanted to take a peek inside his tent, but I always refrained. For all I knew, there could be an enchantment to electrocute anyone else who tried to enter. I also didn’t ask, since he would have shared already if he wanted to.

He just had to stay with us for a night, though, since after a day on the road we reached the north-eastern entrance of Rivergate city.

It was a city that was constructed around a hill that was coasting the river. On top of the hill resided the castle of the lord, while right under were the residencies of nobles and rich people, according to Zeph.

The hill had a gentler slope compared to the rest and had two concentric walls under the ones of the castles.

The most external one instead was open to the river.

According to Zeph, this was the last stop for the biggest ships. To reach Caldris other types of ships with a flat bottom were needed.

We had to wait in line for a while despite being late in the afternoon, but we were easily let in after Zeph had a few words with the guards and showed them a few documents.

“Hey, where did you steal those documents,” I asked jokingly after we went inside.

We were in the middle of a crowded road surrounded by inns and other shops.

He shot me a glare.

“Lower your voice,” he growled at me.

I blinked a few times.

“Bwahaha! For real?! Our law-abiding guy is falling lower and lower every day, huh?” I laughed.

He frowned, and said, “I told you to lower your voice. What if there’s someone listening?”

I lifted my hands in mock surrender.

“Fine, sorry,” I said, without too much worry. “I just didn’t expect you to do that.”

The street was quite noisy, so I doubted anyone could hear us unless they were spying on us specifically.

I suppose he has his reasons to be paranoid, though. I wasn’t used to this cloak-and-dagger shit.

“I had to, unfortunately,” he said. “No one was hurt, though.”

Was that an accusation there? I thought as I looked around.

I felt energized.

The city was full of different kinds of people. Many were armed too.

Zeph told me that there was a Mercenary Guild here, so that would be my first stop the following morning.

Now, though, we should find an inn.

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