After all of us have some food down our bellies, Hilda turns towards me. “So, Ami, you wanted to talk about a skill you’d gotten?”
I nod. “About a skill I can pick, yes.”
“You’ve not picked it yet?” My sister asks.
“No, I wanted to hear you all’s opinion about it before deciding since it might be something that affects all of us.”
“Ami and I already talked about it earlier.” Sam ads.
“I see, that’s fair enough.” Hilda replies. “What does that skill do?”
I open up my skill window and scroll to the skill in question. “Well… first of, it costs 50 points. Which is already quite a lot. And it is called Divine artifact control. It is acquired after attuning with a divine artifact and mastering my control of magic in general.”
“That’s a big part of the other skills Ami has acquired when she was finally using some of her points.” Sam explains.
“And the skill itself says that it allows you to use divine artifacts that are not of my own make.” I finish.
“That’s the entire explanation?” Hilda asks.
“As far as I can see, yes….”
Hilda scratches her chin. “Hmmm.”
“What are you thinking, Hilda?” Nikki asks.
“Well, there’s one thing from the way it’s worded that already piques my interest. ‘not of your own make’. That insinuates that Ami could potentially make divine artifacts herself in the future. Which is already quite interesting all by itself if you ask me.”
“Like our weapons?” My sister puts her hand on her sword.
“I don’t think those are that level yet, but potentially.” Hilda nods.
“But that doesn’t really answer if I should take the skill or not…” I reply.
“That’s true. But look at it this way. Right now you have an artifact around your wrist, which you have gained ownership of. And last time we checked you could not really take it off, right?”
I try to take the armband of but it just stays on.
“So if you want my honest opinion, Ami. I think you should probably take that skill.” Hilda smiles.
I then look at my sister and Nikki for an answer as well.
“I think you should do so as well, sis. Maybe it will allow you to finally take it off.” Lise nods.
“As for me, I’m not 100% sure but we will help you anyway we can. And so far things have gone relatively smoothly.” Nikki ads her say to it as well.
“And you already know that my answer will be to do what you think is best for yourself.” Sam gives me a quick kiss on the cheek.
I nod. “Okay. I think I’ll take the skill then.” I open my skill window back up again and scroll back towards the Divine artifact control skill. With a heavy press, I pay the fifty skill points and receive the skill in my skill list.
At first I don’t really notice anything happening, but by the bewildered look on Sam’s face I can tell she’s definitely seen something.
“Ami, the bracelet is gone.”
“Huh?” I lift my wrist. Just as Sam said, the bracelet that I literally just tried to take of, is not there anymore.
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
Hilda gets up from her seat and walks over to me. “Is it still equipped?”
I open up my equipment list. There can I see that the ‘Will of the Goddess’ artifact is definitely still there. “It’s still there…”
“Is it listed under bracelets?”
“Ah…” I look at the list in detail. When I press on my artifact’s name, there appears a bit more information. “It says. ‘incorporated divine artifact’.”
“Alright… so you literally incorporated it by getting that skill… that’s… interesting…”
“Hilda, that didn’t sound very reassuring.” My sister comments.
“I don’t want to literally incorporate anything into my body.” I call out.
“Let’s not panic.” Hilda says. “Is there any other information about the bracelet that you can now read?”
Sam puts her hand on my thigh to keep me a bit calmer too. “Let me see…” In the same window there’s some more text hidden behind a ‘more information’ button. When I click it, it reveals some more details. “This artifact offers an easier access to divine powers by its wearer. Also greatly reducing energy drain while being in the wearer’s divine form. Divine powers in general are greatly enhanced by worship.”
“That doesn’t sound too bad.” My sister says.
Nikki agrees. “Yes, it definitely doesn’t sound bad at all.”
“And there’s probably a way to get those artifacts unbound from you.” Hilda reassures. “We just need to find it. I don’t believe that there’s no way to accomplish that.”
that reassurement definitely helps. But there’s something that starts creeping into my mind regarding a comment Hilda made earlier. “Shouldn’t we be more worried about the wording?”
“How so?” Sam squeezes my thigh.
“Easier access to divine powers by its wearer… Are we not forgetting that might also mean that it makes it easier for my emotions to take control of my angel form as well? Or is that too much speculation.”
“No, I do think you make a valid point there, Ami.” Hilda says. “That’s not immediately what I was thinking of but that interpretation could definitely hold true.”
“And what if it has unknown effects? You never know with Gods, right?”
Hilda nods once more. “Let’s just keep an eye on it, as you’ve learned how to deal with your powers before. We can do so again if necessary. We just need to know what we are dealing with. And now at least we partially know how the cookie crumbles. But, as for now, let’s maybe already start to see if you can actually summon your angel form easier than last time. If you would like to try that. We are in the middle of nowhere, pretty much nothing bad can happen. And we can respawn if need be.”
“Sis, don’t worry, I can take a hit or two.” My sister jokes.
Both Nikki and Sam give me a calm smile as well.
“Okay… Let’s try that…” I get up from my seat. Last time, changing into my angel form really didn’t come easily even though I had Hilda’s help.
I walk a little distance away from the campfire, with the rest of the group following me just a tad. They do stay a bit away from me, just so they don’t get caught in anything unexpected that might happen. Sam does pretty much come to stand next to me though.
“Alright… here we go.” I breathe in heavily and breathe out slowly, to help me focus as I close my eyes as well. I call back upon the good memories I’ve had with my family and friends and quickly feel a burst of energy unleash from my core. It’s a warm and pleasant energy that just quickly turns from a burst into pulses before it steadies down to just become a stream of warmth. This all happened in just a few seconds.
“Holy shit, that was fast.” My sister calls out.
I open up my eyes and look at my hands. I’m already wearing the pearl white vambraces, but this time there’s even more gold woven into it than I remember. “Wow, that barely took any effort.”
“I see, so that’s what the bracelet did.” Hilda nods. “And it has an even bigger effect on your appearance now too.”
“What has changed?” I try to look at myself but with the armor on it’s not that easy. I do notice that other parts of my armor also have a lot of gold incorporated into it as well. Where previously I basically had none.
Sam points towards my wings. “Your wings now have armor too.” She answers.
I try to fold my wings in front of me so I can see as well. Sam hops out of the way just in time or she would’ve been pressed up against me… not that I would’ve minded that too much… “Sorry, I’m not that used to the size of them.”
Sam laughs. “Don’t worry about it.” She then runs her hand over the top of my wings which has now some kind of golden armor plating on them. As opposed to the rest of my armor, this looks to be mainly gold with only some pearl white detailing.
“Does it not weigh you down?” My sister approaches and taps the top of my wing armor.
“I honestly don’t even notice it’s there.” I reply. The rest of my armor is rather bulky, but it’s not like that weighs me down either. It’s a really strange feeling as I recall it at least felt heavier before.
“Apart from the visual changes and more importantly, how do you feel right now?” Hilda asks.
“Not very different.” I admit as I cautiously open my wings again and fold them back up behind me. “Apart from maybe feeling a bit stronger.” I close my gauntlets and open them again.
“Hmmm. That’s pretty good news I’d say.” Nikki folds her arms with a smile.
-I do kind of want to test the reduced energy drain thing though… But what would be the best way to do that?-