Stirring awake, I found myself still laying in Alice’s bed while she still slept. I don’t know how much time has passed. Alice's room had no windows to keep it completely dark, but since she was still happily asleep I knew it hadn’t been long, even though I had been cooking for Gastron for so long.
Condition Completed: Become the Chosen of a God.
You are now the Chosen of Gastron, the God of Cooking.
You shall now be known as Alisha ‘The Fox Chef’ Piper.
Your Subclass had been changed from Blessed Chef to Chosen Chef. There are no additional changes.
You have received 5,000 ‘Gastron Points’
I wouldn't have gone to become Gastron’s Chosen if it wasn’t required for my Pathway, but I also knew He would be the best choice, I didn’t want to go for any others. Especially since He only cares for cooking, meaning I did not need to rely on Him to become stronger, especially since he wouldn't be teaching me more than how to use my knife for food preparation, I knew I would still need to rely on myself to learn recipes. He was the best choice, as I would not need to rely on the Gods at all for fighting and killing and He wouldn't help me when it came to either.
Another factor is allowing Celestia's Blessed or Chosen to eat my food. I didn't mind this, because while it may give them a boost, it also gave me a big advantage, they would be exposing their presence to me, meaning if they came to eat my food I would be able to instantly identify them, allowing me to hunt them later. Feeling a grin appear on my face at the thought of this, I couldn't help but wonder if Gastron knew that this was a possibility, I couldn't attack them in the restaurant according to Him, but He hadn't said anything about outside of it...
As I lay there for some time, I felt Alice stirring next to me and seeing her wake up, I smiled and brushed her hair gently. Recently I had felt more protective of her, wanting to have her nearby just in case something happened. Alice looks at me before smiling and hugging me tightly once more.
“Alright, Alice. We need to head off and go to the Guild today.”
“Yay~”
“Let’s go have a bath and get ready.”
Alice paled as she tried her best to scamper away from me, before realising she couldn’t escape me before screaming “ALICE HATE WATER!”
***
Carrying Alice while we went through the teleport and made our way out of the teleport hub, we made our way to the Guild, asked an attendant to take us to Alexander’s office and entering I saw Tails there along with another executive and Alexander.
They turned to me and before the two executives could speak, Alexander nodded. “Alisha, come in and take a seat, I’ll be with you in a moment.”
“Sir, I don’t thin-”
“This will concern her as well. Continue to speak freely.”
Tails and the other executive, who I learnt to be named Edward, started to speak once again. Listening to their conversation, I learnt that recently there had been a movement about the war with Harrington. They spoke about spies within the city who were hiring adventurers in secret to spy on certain parts of Vale, one of which is adventurers who were likely to side with the city.
The meeting these three were having was to pass down the order on how to handle the spies. According to the rules of the Guild, such activity was perfectly legal and those who accepted the role of being a spy are held responsible for their actions, meaning if they are found to be spying they will be arrested by the Royal Guard. Those who are being spied on and find themselves being watched are able to defend themselves, killing was allowed but there would be a higher reward for turning the spy in for questioning.
According to Tails, there were several adventurers who might be being watched or looked into, with one of those being me. They didn’t know if any one had actually taken the opportunity to start spying on others but I wasn’t worried. My home had many defensive enchantments that even those above the Pathways to at least Beta-Class would have difficulties with and even then my movements were somewhat predictable, so there would be little that they could find.
Soon, the discussion ended with Edward excusing himself and Tails remaining behind. Alexander told me from now on Tails would be sitting in on meetings between us since she would be my acting advisor for the time being and once I step onto my Path she will become my full time advisor. Moving to sit down in front of the desk, I brought up the reason for me visiting; that I had chosen my Pathway.
“Those Conditions are ridiculous, just what type of Path are you stepping onto?” Tails looked surprised while Alexander didn’t, like he had expected my Conditions.
“You choosing a Path without Divinity is surprising. I had thought Godhood would be your choice to face Celestia.”
“Mm, I don’t wish to become a Goddess. I don’t understand it completely, and this Pathway suits me.”
“Understood. The Mountain you speak of is about three months from here on foot. Obviously we will just take you, reducing the time to less than a week to get there. The Tomb of Lilith is the one I’m worried about. It’ll take you about a month to reach Floor 126, which is the furthest that has been explored. We’re not sure on how much further you’d need to go, we estimate there to be 150 floors in total but we can’t be sure. I’ll pass you the information later.” Alexander wrote something down while Tails started speaking next.
“Having to become the Chosen of a God again after what just happened is worrying, but you’ve chosen a very good God. Gastron is said to be completely neutral to any conflict and He doesn’t care about anything but making food. He even encourages others to keep their original recipes to themselves, not telling anyone but Him. It is said that His restaurant in the Divine Realm is something all Blessed and Chosen will fight to get a seat for. With you as His Chosen you will actually benefit, you’ll find Blessed or Chosen from any God will avoid conflict with you and instead will try to gain your favour.”
I found myself rather surprised at how much Tails knew and looking at her she gave me a wink. “I’ve studied up on the Gods that are related to you or may become related to you in some way. I’ve also done research on all of your magics, though I’ve never heard of Noctilucence.” Tails then took out a notepad and started to write. “Alisha, how much do you currently have in coins?”
“About one Diamond coin and some Mithril.”
“What about equipment?”
“Barely anything. I have a soul-bound kitchen knife and…um my clothing?”
“You need equipment. You have one weapon we can make as compensation for the prior incident involving Hillock. I assume you want fist weapons? You can hold one more soul-bound weapon.”
Shaking my head, I explained the Chakrams to Tails and Alexander and both looked confused when I explained them.
“I’ve never heard of such weapons. Can you go into detail?” Explaining everything about the weapons, Tails got more excited as a sparkle appeared in her eyes. “Brilliant, such weapons would be perfect for you to make up for the lack of small scale magic and close range combat you are used to. Alright, I’ll collect everything from you. I already know your Race, Class though it is locked currently, and everything but your height, weight and Stats. Can you tell me your Stats and I’ll get the rest once we’re finished here.”
Stats
Elite Aspiring Hero, Alisha
Stats Rank Base Stat Stat Total Strength: B 19,711 23,653 Agility: A 34,081 40,897 Intelligence: C+ 14,032 16,838 Toughness D+ 3,291 3,949
Current Bonuses: Monster Title, +20%
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
Telling Tails my Stats and Stat Ranks, she looked at me in surprise as did Alexander.
“You have nearly double the Stats of a regular level 100. It’s no wonder you managed to kill a Delta-Class mage.”
“Delta-Class?” Alexander looked at me and I looked at Tails.
“Ah, Elise told me of your exploits.”
Understanding, I told Alexander of what had happened in Crater Hell as he nodded. “I see, your immunity to Lunar magic would’ve hindered your opponent at a severe disadvantage. Good work in using it to your advantage and not letting them know. I will also begin teaching you Travel, though it’s rather useless before the Crossroads so I’ll start once you’ve stepped onto your Path.”
Tails was still writing things down before looking at me. “Take the next week off. During this time head to equipment stores. Get yourself Light Armour that increases your Agility and dampens soft blows and a pair of fist weapons. Look for some enchanted rings and bracelets as well. Get these for both yourself and Alice there. Since Alice is more of a mage than a fighter she’ll need heavy armour. She relies more on being attached to yourself or standing still, so perhaps medium armour will be better. Since we don’t know her Stats let's stick with medium armour.
“Next week is the funeral for Bloom, Amelia, Xander and Amanda. After that, there will be two to three weeks before the blizzard comes along. So the first order of business will be to descend into the Tomb of Lilith during this, so use this next week to prepare.” Tails looks at Alexander. “Can we make this an official request where we send Alisha and Alice to conquer the Tomb of Lilith?”
“To cover costs? Hmm, no, a request to conquer the Tomb of Lilith will be too much, let's make it a request to explore Floor 127 and further if she can. I fear that if the Tomb of Lilith is truly conquered it will disappear which may cause unrest since we rely on it for so many materials and experience. Disciple, don’t make a habit of conquering dungeons too frequently. We’ll prepare a statement for when it happens so be prepared for fame to come your way once again.”
Scratching my ear out of embarrassment as Alice hid her face, I knew she remembered being stared at frequently too.
“It was always going to be conquered one day, and that time has arrived, Alex.”
“I told you it’s Branch Master, Tails. Continue.”
“Yes. By being able to cover costs we can supply healing potions and food, though we’ll provide ingredients since you’re better off preparing yourself. Since it’s classed as food for Alice, we’ll provide high grade dark-type monster cores for both of you.”
“Yay! Yummy!” Alice stops hiding herself and faces Tails with a big grin causing me to giggle. “Ah, sorry.”
“Once you’ve conquered the Tomb of Lilith, I’ll make arrangements to take you to the Mountain of Lunaria and wait for you to conquer it. I’ll look after Alice during this time since the System has told you to do this solo. These are the hardest Conditions for you to do, so once you’ve done them, we will then focus on the last one, absorbing the core of a Delta-Class Astral Ice Dragon. You mentioned Northern Hawk has one, right? I’ll come with you to buy that after this meeting and hold onto it for you. I don’t want to see you absorbing it this week, you’re to rest and get into the mindset of delving into dungeons for the next six months and prepare accordingly.
“I’ll take you to some stores as well so we can find appropriate equipment for the two of you. I believe Delta-Class equipment will suit you, you should be able to wear it without any side effects, but in the event that isn’t the case we’ll settle with typical level 100 gear. Ale- Branch Master, can we prioritise the weapon order?”
“Get everything done before you leave, I’ll redeem a favour with a blacksmith I trust. He’ll be thrilled to work on such a unique sounding weapon. I have a good idea for the weapons as well so I want to check with him.”
After a bit more discussion, Tails took me to a side room and took my measurements as well as two vials of blood, two soul gems and four strands of hair. When making pairs of weapons as soul-bound they required double the amount but they would be linked to be as one. Handing everything to Alexander, we headed to Northern Hawks. Entering the store, I saw him look at me before looking at Tails and nodding to the two of us.
“I take it you’re here for something important?”
“Ah, yes. It’s about that Astral Ice Dragon core, is it Delta-Class?”
Northern Hawk looked me up and down. “Crossroads? Rather quick, missy. Yes, it’s Peak Delta-Class, though the soul of it will try and fight against you. Can you handle it?”
“Yes.” I felt confident since what happened in the Underworld.
“In that case, I assume the Guild will be paying for it?” Northern Hawk glances at Tails who nods. “Then the cost will be eighty Mithril coins.” Tails nods and hands him the money as Northern Hawk moves to the back and brings out the core. Once again I could sense a draw from it but this time I resisted its temptation easily.
“Good. If you’re like that this won’t be a problem for you.” As he hands it over, Tails takes it as we thank him.
“Alright, first order of business…food. We’ll make a big order to be delivered to your house later today then we’ll head to a high quality equipment store. You’ll cover the cost for equipment, the Guild will handle the food. I have a budget of one Diamond coin per year to help you and since we just bought that core I only have twenty Mithril coins.”
With that, we headed towards a market that Tails recommended since I didn’t know many shops and making a rather large order for food and ingredients we then headed towards a higher-end store for equipment. According to Tails, a lot of the equipment came from dungeons or rewards that others had gotten. I still had the rewards to collect but I decided to check these stores first.
As we arrived at the store, I found it to be closer to a warehouse with a lot of people similar in level to me coming and going. Tails parted ways with me here and headed back as she needed to do some work and order the monster cores for Alice and I. Walking in I decided to look around and with Alice in my arms I found myself looking at fist weapons very quickly.
Browsing the fist weapons, I felt slightly excited. I had at some point stopped wearing gauntlets, mainly since destroying the ones I had received before. There was a problem though, in that by wearing gauntlets I could damage them when transforming. Most of the fist weapons here cost between ten to twenty Mithril Coins, while those with self-repairing cost nearly two Diamond coins.
After browsing for some time, I found a pair of gauntlets I really liked. It had a fairly basic design but one of the gauntlets increased Wind magic and the other increased Lightning magic.
Gauntlets of the Heavy Storm.
+3,000 Strength
+2,000 Agility
Increased Lightning and Wind Magic by 20%
If both are worn as a set you will receive an additional 1,000 in Strength and Agility.
It was priced at fifteen Mithril coins and deciding to buy them, I picked them up and handed them to Alice to play with since she seemed to be getting bored. Heading over to the next area, I quickly found the section for light armour. I had worn Elven Armour in the distant past but since I had left that behind at Olivia’s house I had forgotten to look at armour since. My worry had been that the armour would restrict my movement and with my style of fighting I didn’t want to risk it.
Looking over the options in the light armour, I found myself surprised at the variety. Self repairing armour was still very expensive, but normal sets cost about thirty Mithril coins. I started to understand the cost of being an adventurer by looking at these prices. It hurts to look at. After browsing for a while, I found a set that would be perfect for either me or Alice.
“Alice, do you want this?” Pointing at the set I had seen, I smiled at Alice who looked at it before shaking her head. Looking at the set, I wondered if I should take it. The set in total gave me 1,000 Strength and 3,000 Toughness. It softened any blows I would take in the places where the armour rested and the pieces it made up would cover my forearms, chest, shins and jaw.
Once a day I could use a magic that was imbued in the chest plate to move from my own shadow to another shadow within my line of sight. It reminded me of Grey’s shadow step, and deciding to buy it, I took the set that was in a box.
“Madam, I can take those items for you and wait for you to check out if you plan to keep shopping.”
Turning, I saw an attendant giving me a slight bow. Tilting my head lightly, I looked around and saw similar attendants wearing the same clothing. Nodding, I passed him the box and the gauntlets that Alice had gotten bored of, instead playing with my ears once again.
“Thanks.” The attendant nodded at my thanks before leaving as I looked for armour that would fit Alice. After checking for a while though, Alice had said no to everything we had come across.
“Alice no!” Hearing her speak up once again, I rubbed her hair.
“Don’t you want your own armour?”
Alice shakes her head before returning to playing with my ears. Perhaps she just didn’t like the idea of armour, so deciding to leave it for now I moved to the section that had rings, earrings and bracelets. Very quickly I found a perfect ring for Alice. She could use it to surround herself with a shield and if she felt her life threatened it would destroy itself to surround her with a powerful shield.
Looking over everything else, I didn’t find anything that really interested me. Nothing empowered you like the armour or fist weapons, and as I was about to leave, I found two sets of earrings that I wanted to buy.
Both were the same, linked earrings where one could telepathically communicate with another at long ranges. I didn’t know what this meant, but the second feature is why I wanted them. You could locate each other within a certain range and considering the nature of the Tomb of Lilith I wanted them so if Alice and I separated we could find each other. Alice also gave her nod of approval.
After checking everything out, Alice and I walked towards the teleport hub as I frowned. I could feel a pair of eyes watching me and remembering the discussion from earlier I knew what this was. Ignoring the gaze for now, it disappeared as I entered the teleport hub and arrived back home. Sighing while shaking my head, I felt Alice tug on my shoulder.
“Mummy play!”
“Mm, alright, let's go play.”
“Yay~”
I had promised her before leaving Crater that I would play and heading down to the training hall, I decided to see if I could train Alice a bit while we ‘played’.