The Sage let out a short bark of surprised laughter. He should have seen that coming. If there truly were a bunch of so-called gods and goddesses running around, it was only a matter of time before he ran into one of them himself. But this was almost too easy. A part of him wanted to say no, simply by virtue of the unlikelihood of this being a true coincidence. He couldn’t exactly afford to say no, though, so he squashed that voice before it got too loud.
“I accept.”
And he immediately regretted it.
The goddesses’ eyes gleamed with the light of triumph when he said that, and he almost took it back on the spot. There was no reason for her to be so happy about snaring what was, by all appearances, a nobody. If she was truly glad, then this was probably some kind of scam. But Adama wasn’t the type to go back on his word. He waited as she paid the bill and followed her as they moved through the rainy and winding streets of the Adventurer’s city. He could always skip out on her once she gave him her blessing, worst came to worst, though that type of behavior was largely frowned upon and would cause trouble for him later.
He stopped in his tracks when they reached their destination, shocked into silence again.
The goddess had led him to an abandoned church. The statue of an unknown deity stood right outside, though it was so damaged and worn down even the original worshippers wouldn’t have been able to figure out who it was supposed to be. The inside of the building was nearly as bad. The ceiling did hardly anything to keep the rain out and old abandoned pews were rotting and scattered haphazardly around the room.
He followed the goddess, if she really was one, to a trap door behind the dilapidated altar, and with some hesitation, climbed down the ladder after her into the basement room below. The room proved surprisingly comfy, though, with two couches parallel to a central table and a secondary bedroom off in the corner. Everything was shabby but clean, and there was even a clock on the wall. It read 6:30.
Hestia sat down primly on one couch, and he sat down on the opposing one, fixing her with his sternest glare, which she avoided meeting with poorly hidden amusement.
“Mind telling me what’s going on here?” The Sword Sage queried grumpily.
“My, whatever do you mean? This is the home of my Familia. Though I am afraid it’s just the two of us for now.”
Holding up her hand to forestall his questions, she continued:
“I know, I know. Not exactly a mansion. But not every god has a massive Familia. More of us than you think are rather poor and struggling to get by. Everyone flocks to the more well-known and well-established deities when trying to join a Familia. Those of us who are less well known must make do with what we can get. I only descended to Gekai just recently, and no one who meets my standards has wanted to join my Familia. You are the first.”
She gave him an absolutely winning smile as she waited for him to respond. Adama visibly mastered himself before he did. Hadn’t he said earlier that he would take just about any blessing he could get his hands on? Sure, he hadn’t lived up to that when he lost his temper in the bar. But now, he had his first real chance to reclaim some of his former glory. He had lived in worse places than this, in his younger years. And try as he might, he couldn’t find any malice in that smile of hers. He did have one question, though.
“If you have this much money trouble, then how did you get that expensive potion? Or pay for that expensive meal?”
“…That was my emergency potion. I also spent the last of our money on that meal. You looked like you could use the food, though.”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
She was refusing to meet his eyes again, now, slightly embarrassed this time. Adama couldn’t help but sigh this time, more amused by his newfound “patron” than he cared to let on. He hadn’t been a materialistic man in the past and anything they needed he could earn on the edge of a blade. Besides, since gods didn’t go into the dungeon as a rule, he would be the only adventurer in this Familia. Joining a Familiawith him as the only adventurer suited him, in a way. Dangerous or not, he preferred working alone.
Without further ado, they moved right into business. The blessing. Hestia told him to take off his shirt and turn around, where she promptly pricked her finger and allowed a drop of blood to spill onto Tim’s back. The moment it made contact, it dissolved. When it did, Adama’s back began glowing with a soft blue light. Runes and glyphs of an esoteric writing system shifted in the air, emanating from his back, all for Hestia to read. She could read his life story in those glyphs, though it proved to be no different than what he had already told her.
The “divinities” from Tenkai used something called excellia to weave the blessings of their “children” aka their chosen adventurers. Excellia was, simply, an energy record of the child’s feats, actions, and trials. Depending on the difficulties experienced and the actions taken, the excellia could be weaved to enhance and expand the blessing. Enhancing the blessing could improve an individual’s natural physical abilities and allow them to develop magic, skills, and abilities. This blessing could be regularly updated to allow the child to grow further in these areas.
This child’s excellia was utterly unremarkable, given that his past was that of a humble farmhand. He was physically toned and rather tough, but that was about it. She had recruited him in no small part because she had a sense that there was more to him than meet the eye and had assumed that he was hiding something in his past. Now she was less sure of her intuition.
Just as she was wrapping up, she noticed the glimmer of something strange. Even she didn’t fully understand it, as it was little more than a collection of vague impressions, the general sentiment was clear. Almost as if it had been tacked on top of a rickety tower, this boy had recently gained a strong connection to swords and swordsmanship. She smiled again as she wove this final thread into his blessing and finalized things.
Adam’s back was now covered with the symbol of Hestia, a blazing fire surrounded by concentric circles. Within the flame was written his new Status, that she smiled as she wrote down before passing the paper to Timaias for his benefit.
Timaias Adama,
Strength: I-87
Defense: I-64
Dexterity: I-77
Agility: I-34
Magic: I-66
Spells:
Rippling Sword
* Swift Strike Magic
Skills:
()
He gave a short snort of surprise when he read the magic portion of the status.
“Well, that’s a treat and a half…” He muttered to himself, pleased and surprised to see his Striker technique had somehow followed him to this madra desert. As he read, Hestia explained the contents of the sheet to him, though things seemed mostly self-explanatory, as far as he was concerned.
“The first five stats refer to your personal ability scores, while the Spells and Skills portion represents your magical abilities and special talents. Skills are either benefits that are constant and passive or active, though there are usually certain conditions required for active skills. Spells can always be used, but they require a chant and always consume mental energies. Your Magic stat indicates the maximum mental energy you possess at one time for spell casting or active skill usage.
Strength, Defense, Dexterity, and Agility represent your physical power, toughness, control, and speed respectively. All your ability stats are given a grade, from grade I at the lowest to grade S at the practical maximum, with grades H-A in between. The number is what’s really important, though, with numbers 0-99 representing I grade physical abilities, with the grade advancing in increments from 100 from there. Once you hit 100 Strength, you will have H grade Strength, all the way up to 199 until you hit 200 Strength and get G grade Strength. Almost everyone taps out at 999 in their stats, which is S grade, assuming they make it that far of course.”
Timaias was nodding along, though he was fixated on one detail.
“What’s this about chanting?”
“Oh, right. You will need to have some sort of incantation to cast Rippling Sword. Since it’s Swift Strike magic, you should be able to just call out its’ name to cast it.”
“…You want me calling out my attack name mid fight, you’d better be preparing my body bag.”
Anyone who tried that type of thing with the sacred arts was practically begging to be buried.
“Most magics require a long chant to cast. You will have a significant speed advantage over your peers. Though their Spells will be more powerful, to compensate.”
So, he had a Striker technique in a world full of Ruler techniques. Cheers and celebrations for him.
“So, what next?”
“It’s late for now. Let’s get some sleep. We’ll rise bright and early to get you registered at the guild.”