It should be obvious that this crazy little teacher will rake me over hot coals for this small little error of refusing to spend my attribute points. Honestly I don’t understand what is wrong with it. Not that I had very long to consider it since a solution is far more important than considering what I may or may not have done/consider before.
“Well, what are you waiting for, show me the goods~!” That cute voice became a lot less cute when her body seemingly shattered like glass right in front of my eye… Only to have that voice come out from right behind me. All the while feeling a sudden increase in weight as if something was hanging off my neck.
Yeah… there was no doubting that she was currently on my back, looking over my shoulder, thankfully the system window starts off as being private so-
“Sh~o~w~ m~e~!”
Her whiny voice left no room for consideration as she clearly understood more about the system than me so pretending I couldn't make them public or share would be ill advised. Taking a deep breath. I obviously have no choice but to just slam those two buttons to reveal my status’ to her. So I do just that while closing my eyes at the same time; bracing myself for the ass kicking that was bound to follow from this mad midget seeing my status.
…
…
…
Am I-?
*BANG*
Thoughts unable to complete as I felt the force of a shockingly powerful little fist impacting my scalp - hitting me right atop my hat so hard I thought my antlers may pop off.
I really don’t want that to happen since they massively increase my already impossibly high beauty.
They may just be my best feature.
Surprisingly she stopped there, prompting me to take the risk to look at her, seeing her shockingly just looking at my new system rather than the old one. Specifically she seemed to be focused on my attributes based on her line of sight. Something I learned how to read since it was an easy way to see where someone was going to shoot their gun.
Not something I needed to know (since guns do hardly any damage to me) but a nice trick that I hoped would come in handy when people began swinging magic swords at me. Never imagined it would come in handy like this. Either way I decide to glance, to see if I can figure out exactly what caught her attention.
Dark Matter {Ex}
Evil {Ex}
Fire {S}
Heavenly Demonic {Ex}
Karma {Ex}
Void {C}
At least I understand what having a fire affinity means and also can understand why I have an affinity for dark matter but the rest were just words to me. What does it even mean to have “karma”. Sounds pretty dumb if I’m going to be honest - am I meant to just tell people off for being a bit naughty or something?
Seems like I definitely got a useless element.
“To think you’d have karma… Probably the strongest and rarest affinity there is; especially since it pretty much needs you to have that bastard’s HD affinity to control it. Honestly, I didn't expect you to be as special as you are.” So the girl said; making me very glad she couldn’t read my mind or I may have been beaten for being a dumbass again.
What made it so strong that someone like her cares, though?
At least it’s strong enough to get her attention of my apparent failings! Rather, I at least hope, my ability to jinx myself was unreal at this point. Perhaps I should consider getting an ability to curse others since clearly there was something behind thi- So is this what they mean by karma is a bitch?
She eventually got bored or something as I felt the weight vanish from my back with that familiar sound of glass fracturing echoing in my ears. Sure enough she appeared in front of me with a smug grin. “I figured it all out now ehehehe~!” Crossing her arms under that massive check of hers.
“I expected like 50 spare points at most but you pretty much spent none of them which was crazy no matter how you look at it. Having some on hand in case of emergencies doesn’t account for a whole 430 spare points; that is more points that you currently have. You also aren’t like that crazy descendent of mine who loves difficult hunts to the point of purposefully crippling her growth at times~!” Nodding her head with confidence at her ascertained conjecture.
She was right that I don’t exactly like a challenge, though, as well as the fact that I’m not crazy. If anything I’d say I’m the most normal out of my siblings; certainly more sane than that crazy bitch of a sister of mine.
Although I’m certainly curious about what she figured out, so, I looked toward her little body as it simply appeared in front of me. As if it had always been there. “But it’s actually quite easy to understand why you’d make such a stupid move… You’re a greedy, gluttonous and prideful heavenly demonic spirit. You didn’t believe anyone could match your strength due to your pride. There was nothing like bingeing so you wanted to wait to sate your gluttonous… But you were too greedy to actually go through with spending them all so you spent a few which left you unsatisfied thus we got here with you unwilling to spend~!”
Her finger pointed towards me as if she was some kind of child detective.
“I-I mean that makes sense…?” I couldn’t exactly refute her as - from a third person perspective - her hypothesis does actually make quite some sense. Only problem is… “I’m not a demon, though, none of my bloodlines are demonic.”
She just lifted a brow at me. “You do know a Phenex is a phoenix who became a demon; not to mention the Mantis family is the strongest and most famous Phenex family there is.”
Flicking her finger forward with a jet of water following behind to hit me right in the forehead as well as fall flat on my impressively large ass. It was good to know where I came from… But that bloody hurt a lot! I couldn’t help rub the welt on my head while pondering why that was even able to hurt me.
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“The mantis family just so happen to have strong connections with pride, greed, lust, wrath and obviously pride which they show in their ability to carry out contracts. They’re technically a family but most just see them as what they really are - a mercenary group led by the quickest shooter in the realms. It should be obvious that your skills are nowhere near as random as you assumed~!” This time I really had nothing to say about her reasoning…
It made perfect sense.
Unconsciously I found my iron in my grasp; looking down at my revolver allowed me to feel the strange connection that had caused me to be so drawn to firearms all this time. In hindsight it was a little weird that I was as good as I was without practice. Wasn’t as if I could figure out how to program after just reading a book on it - it took hours of practice to get as good as I am - but I was naturally so good with a gun that I only needed to know the weapons parameters to make shots beyond most professionals.
“Now… Time to teach you some interesting stuff~!” Soon she excitedly exploded out with all the fiery passion of a deep sea volcano - jumping in the air with her hands raised up high. Although she soon took a contemplative look with puffed up cheeks while rubbing her head. “If I give you any abilities relating to most of your attributes it’ll only be usable for your secret identity and I don’t know karma stuff anyway…”
The little goddess mulled over her choices while pacing back on the dock; if I didn’t know she could control water easier than I could control my own body I may have worried about her slipping in the ocean. Soon those eyes of hers shined as she raised her finger into the air. A mischievous grin on her face.
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Quest Alert!
The True God With Lost Name Has Decided To Take You In As Her Disciple But She Can’t Send You Away Without Making Sure You Don’t Shame Her! Accept Her Training And Learn The Basics Of Footwork So That You May Prove Yourself To Be Worth Teaching.
Requirement: Mortally Deficient
Reward: New Quest, Skill & [Enchanting For Idiots]
Skill Name: Golden Gun
Category: Semi-Active
Rank: To Be Determined (Has Potential To Reach S)
Attributes: Holy & Fire
Weapon Requirement: Revolving Chamber-Based Firearm
Effect: Adds Attribute And Increased Damage (Depends on Rank & Level) For Cost Of Mana Alternative
Description: Harness The Power Of The Divine In Order To Unleash A Powerful Blast Containing The Power Of The Stars!
[Accept] [Decline]
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“A SKILL FOR MY REVOLVER: YES PLEASE!” There seemed to be absolutely no reason to decline although it certainly concerned me that it contained the holy attribute. If that was the case I wouldn’t be able to use it on my own. At the same time it at least would give me knowledge on such skills so I may be able to develop my own.
Suddenly that diminutive demiurge jumped up to place a finger on my lips. “I know what you’re thinking but that’s only because you don’t understand that you already technically have two-ish holy attributes. You see, holy is just a broad term for several attributes or rather there are evolved forms that sometimes get mixed up as benign Holy; especially divine which is the most common evolution… In the mortal realm at least.”
“Then… Is karma one of them?”
“No, wait, maybe?” The girl tapped her chin as her gaze drifted up to the sky as the cogs continued to turn in that weeny teeny head of hers. “Honestly I’m not particularly sure what karma even nor all the things it can do since only, like, two people have the ability to use it and neither are fans of me ehehe~.”
She cutely wrapped the side of her head with her tongue sticking out but I had a feeling that any drama she had wasn’t as innocent as she was making it seem. Either way she refused to let me ask about that as she forced the conversation on. “Despite what mortals think both evil & demonic attributes are actually holy elements; the former being curiously sadistic with its ability to make anything a source of suffering while the latter is transformative as well as cursed. Then you have a divine which enhances healing & creative aspects - lastly there is the heavenly element which focuses on destruction~!”
“Wait then don’t I have three attributes?” Tilting my head curiously.
That made her rub the back of her head while looking off to the side. “That’s why I said two-ish; that bastard is a menace who managed to merge the adaptability & curses of the demonic attribute with the destruction of the heavenly attribute. This results in an ability which outshines all others due to the balance between the pair - with his cultivation he managed to… Well, y’know how special moves buff you?”
To that I can only nod.
“That’s his passive state which is why he’s a nasty rogue!” Huffing while stomping on the ground in an obvious annoyance due to whoever the “bastard rogue” was.
Either way it was time to get down to things as she spread her little legs while beginning to dance with those ribbons of water; this time drawing from both gourds at once. “While I’m not too sure about all the rules around HD or Karma I am certainly confident in the principles of magic - I even claimed the title of Sage of All due to my mastery. We’ll instead be focusing on footwork, something I didn’t really need to use much since few could hurt me, but I at least know enough~!”
Suddenly she launched a bullet of water right at my head; something I only barely managed to dodge thanks to seeing the sadistic light in her hand. Either way I could have done it better as just tilting my head away made me stumble. A moment the goddess utilised to give me a palm in the stomach which sent me hurtling backwards across the pier.
“Move your feet not your body, keep focus on where you shift your weight, the highest form of dodging requires you to not even move your torso an inch ehehehe~!” So she stated as she sent a flurry of water balls flying toward me. “I didn’t tell you about all the intricacies like the bonus that taunts give you with this version of the system or the effects evil has on space as that’s for you to figure out!”
She said as if she wasn’t trying to remove my head from my neck!