“Why hasn’t your mother smitten their entire family tree into smithereens already!?”
Undine had just finished retelling what happened with the Jeofferneys, or at least an abridged version of it, and I couldn’t contain the indignity that kept on building whilst I was listening any longer.
“It isn’t that simple, and I’m glad that it is so: Could you imagine how chaotic the [Nexus] would be if the more deviant [Demi-Gods] could just use their powers willy-nilly? It would be an immediate catastrophe!
No, she can’t ‘[Smite] them into smithereens’, but has to instead move through the proper channels, which take time”, the [High Priestess] explained.
“…Yeah, I guess”, I acquiesced after seeing her point.
I had been the first to doubt the authenticity of the [Gods] themselves, while still feeling glad that every [Divine] entity so far has had their powers limited in one way or another, so I know what she said was the truth, but in my anger, I almost wished that there were double standards.
Hypocritical of me, I know, but I’m pretty sure that was the fear that made the [Gods] slap restriction on top of restriction over [Buddy], so you can blame them for giving me the idea.
“Still, those [Nobles] are truly despicable: Not only they have used the occasion when everyone should unite under a banner to cause a ruckus, but their effort will inevitably cause some useful resources to be redirected towards stopping them, which will hurt the [Nexus] as a whole”, Sheeno stated with a frown, tapping her foot nervously on… I have no idea what it’s called, but it’s that small rod that unites the support beams of a chair’s leg and runs in the middle of them.
Anyway, we obviously didn’t stand around while Undine retold her story, but we reconvened on the table of the kitchen, with me and Sheeno occupying the one with its back to the stoves, while the Nymph sat on the one opposite to ours, and sipping on a tea that we had rapidly brewed as the good host we were, and I definitely hadn’t needed my girlfriend to tell me to go and make some, and I definitely didn’t get worried at turning my back to the two of them, technically leaving them alone for a couple of minutes.
Definitely.
Taking a bite of a biscuit that pleasantly tasted like vanilla, I went on with our discussion.
“So, having said that, now you’re here because doing so would mess more with their plans than yours, and you thought you could kill two birds with one stone if you were to help us specifically in closing dangerous [Dungeons]”, I concluded.
It wasn’t a bad plan, at least it didn’t sound bad to me, but I could definitely tell that there was something she wasn’t telling us, and that made the whole thing fishy.
“Precisely”, Undine nodded, clearly unwilling to disclose anything more than that.
“But why tag along with us and not someone else more qualified and powerful?” Sheeno apparently was just as convinced as I was, which wasn’t a lot.
“Because I know Darwin and by being near him I can help in keeping him safe. Also, even though I’m the [High Priestess] of the [Temple of Water], I don’t have that much experience in the world, so my [Level] is relatively low, and so joining a [Team] of experts would just make me a bother to them”, She immediately replied; she was so fast that it made me think that she must have expected the question and rehearsed the response beforehand.
Now, do I want to hurt my relationship with Undine and question her until she either breaks or we refuse to let her into our [Party], or do I bend the knee this time and just see where this goes? I mean, I trust her, not as much as I trust Sheeno, but I still trust her, so I doubt that she’s doing this to somehow hurt me.
“Let’s say we agree: what’s in it for us?” I finally asked, maybe a bit too directly.
I didn’t want to be cynical, but I definitely wasn’t dragging a tag-along all the way through multiple [Dungeons] without them contributing in some way.
“I could argue that there would simply be safety in numbers, but I already know that wouldn’t help in convincing you; what I can promise you is that you’ll earn a favor from the [Demi-Goddess of Water], that you may redeem at a later date, and I myself will provide to the [Team] both strong attacks that can pierce through defenses and enhancement that I can temporarily apply to my allies to increase their [Statistics] by a ‘non-insignificant’ flat-but-scaling amount, whilst also having the restorative capabilities that are bereft of a [High Priestess] like me.
And before you ask: My [Class] is [Flowing Diva], an embarrassingly showy name, I know.”
Once more, Undine seemed prepared for such a question and immediately provided an apt answer without an ounce of hesitation.
I then realized that I’d never tried inspecting her.
“Do you mind if I [Inspect] you?” I asked politely.
“It’s very kind of you to ask first. Some people should learn from your example”, the Nymph replied with a smile, which twitched towards the end of her sentence.
Sheeno snorted in irritation, and I could only scratch the back of my head in embarrassment.
“Well, here I go then.”
Name:
Undine Turquoise
Class:
Flowing Diva (Lvl 21)
Sub-Class:
Liquid Practitioner
Job:
High Priestess
Proficiency:
67%
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Race:
Water Nymph
Status:
Happy; Troubled; Cautious
“[Buddy], how does the [Proficiency] that I see on someone else work?”
As you surmised, it doesn’t work like yours, but it’s more like a general indicator of how good a person is at getting the most out of their capabilities.
“Just as I thought, but I still wished that it had a different name.”
[Proficiency], in the context of other people, has been renamed to [Competency].
“That works, thanks [Buddy]!”
Ask, and when I can deliver, you shall receive.
“Ooh, that felt a bit invasive: Was that an [Evolved] variant of [Inspect]?” Undine asked, bringing me out of my mental discussion.
“Yes, and thank you for satisfying my curiosity”, I nodded.
“You’re welcome!” She exclaimed with a happy smile.
“Wait, you actually got something? My readings came out completely blank, except for her [Job] being [High Priestess], which I already knew!” Sheeno suddenly interjected while throwing all 4 of her arms in the air.
“That’s because I normally block screening attempts from a stranger, whilst I purposely allowed Darwin’s because he asked nicely… even though, by what I felt, I probably couldn’t have prevented him from inspecting me even if I wanted to”, the Nymph responded, slightly annoyed, but I didn’t know if it was because of Sheeno’s tone or for being made cognizant that she couldn’t resist my [Gaze].
Maybe both.
“Anyway, I can attest that Undine is competent enough to join us-“
“How flattering…” the one called in cause muttered, slightly displeased by the choice of words.
“-AND will provide some needed ‘battlefield control’ to our comp”, I finished my thought hoping that she would see where I was getting at.
“Comp?” She instead asked.
“It’s the shortened version of ‘Composition’: You’ll get used to it”, Sheeno responded absentmindedly, waving a hand in the air.
“I don’t know, [Humans] seem to have a lot of phrases with double meanings or that are culturally inappropriate in most settings, and it’s pretty hard to know if whatever you’re going to say will incite the wrong reaction”, Undine pondered aloud, slandering my entire fucking [Race].
“I know, right!? I almost thought that it was just mine that had his peculiarities, but he convinced me that all the others were mostly like him”, and then my companion went and focused the slandering almost solely on me.
“Well, not all, but definitely the majority of them seem to have had ingrained in them some weird preconceptions that don’t mesh that well with the rest of the [Nexus]”, the Nymph nodded along.
“Too true. Darwin, in particular, insists on repeating the same pun where he uses ‘cool’ to refer to both my [Ice Affinity], and to describe whatever he’s talking about as amazing”, Sheeno bad-mouthed me in front of the guest.
“I did hear that many [Humans] having a penchant for these ‘puns’, even though the rest of them constantly groaned or rolled their eyes when hearing them”, and Undine made, what is probably, a small racist remark.
Are these two really bonding over their complaints about me and my [Race]?
…
Well, I’m now some sort of [Evolved] variant, so I don’t belong exactly to the same [Race], but I still think that my point stands.
“See what I was talking about? He just gets that lost look in his eyes and then stops paying attention”, Sheeno stage whispered to the Nymph.
“Yes, I see it. I originally thought that he was just getting lost when looking at his [System interface], when he had been just [Transferred], but now I’m almost convinced that that’s just a thing that he does on the regular”, Undine responded with the same tone.
“WOW, are you two done with badmouthing me and my [Race]!?” I had to interrupt them because I was starting to get seriously angry.
“No”, they answered at the same time, and then erupted in a giggling fit.
Seeing them laugh about their antics made me realize that they weren’t being serious, which eased my feelings a bit, but I was still left annoyed that the thing they seemed to bond over was enjoying teasing me.
“Say, where’s the cloak I gave you?” The Nymph suddenly asked, finally taking notice of the lack of black wearabilia.
“It was deemed a travesty and a waste of good materials, so the local tailor took it by force when we went to get him some new clothes”, my girlfriend responded in my place.
“Yeah, what she said. I’m now using that leather cloak on the rack by the door as a temporary replacement”, I continued by pointing in the general direction of the leather sheet left hanging next to the front door.
“That’s kind of embarrassing to hear. That garment was just a little thing that I had laying around in my private quarters at home, and I was only told that it offered surprisingly good protection even though it was made of cloth: I did not expect it to be as extraordinary as you’re making out to be”, Undine scratched her cheek in embarrassment.
“It was made of demonic silk”, Sheeno deadpanned.
“What!?” Her head snapped in my direction.
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t know either until Sheeno pointed it out to me!” I exclaimed in my defense while pointing at the [Heliokan].
“You two… really need to learn to pay more attention to stuff…” the amazon said, followed by a resigned sigh.
“My mother said the same thing, but she also said that I should worry myself over things less, so who knows?” Undine replied with a shrug, not seemingly bothered by the situation anymore.
It was then that we fell into an uncomfortable silence that there seemed no way to escape from.
“Ok!” I said while clapping my hands, “Having gotten all the random topics out of the way, why don’t we go to one of the reinforced rooms in the [Rainbow Guild] and test out fighting together?”
“Now we’re talking!” Sheeno exclaimed while standing up, and unsurprisingly she was the first one out of the room.
I and Undine shared a knowing glance before following after her.
* * *
{UNDINE’S POV}
Undine was surprised by how well the two of them worked together, both as [Adventurers] and as people.
Darwin in the back and Sheeno in front, the two of them would give a veteran fighter a run for its coins.
“And what are those adorable things!?” Sheeno thought when she saw the horde of [Auromons] running around and hitting the dummies in a disorganized attack, that ended up being effective barely through sheer numbers.
They had all quickly arrived and brought some private time in one of the training rooms, and the already established [Team] had no time into displaying their [Spells] and [Skills] against the training dummies.
And Undine was left genuinely impressed.
But most importantly she was troubled by the clear [Divinity] she could feel emanating from Darwin whenever he fought. A normal person might not notice, but to her, it was crystal clear, and even though every notion she knew on the matter taught her otherwise, it was hard to argue with his [Aura] that he didn’t already have the making of a [Demi-God].
“So, yeah. That’s how we usually work, but our style is normally more flexible in order to be able to adapt to most situations, which is something that we won’t be able to demonstrate here, unfortunately “, the one that surprised her the most called for her attention, seemingly done with the show of prowess.
Darwin fought mostly from the back, but wouldn’t shy away from melee confrontations, showing impressive movement techniques different from those she was familiar with. Sheeno instead seemed to charge recklessly into the fight, but was actually unfairly competent at avoiding blows and disrupting the enemy’s lines.
All in all, they didn’t fight as the beginners they were supposed to be, but as the warmongering [Princess] and the exceptional [Anomaly] that they were.
“Truly marvelous. I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have great expectations from both of you, but what you showed definitely surpasses what I could have imagined”, she said with a smile.
Sheeno snorted, “Why don’t you stop watching and join in on the fun? I would be lying if I said that I wasn’t interested in what our future companion was capable of”.
“Ohoh, I’ll show you what I’m capable of, alright…” Undine mutter while walking towards one of the stationary mannequins with a stiff gait.
“Just be careful of not being dragged into the flow”, she lightly said before summoning a scythe made out of the water and brandishing it in both hands.
Lowering her center of gravity the Nymph got ready to demonstrate that she also wasn’t one that should be underestimated.