Finally coming to my senses, I stood up and looked around. The lake changed greatly as the glade’s magoi density increased 100-fold. Even the animals began to evolve into magic beasts. Unlike monsters, magic beasts are animals who like the races, can manipulate magoi but retain all of their normal animalistic behaviors.
“What… what happened!? Is this all a result of my development? My endowment maybe?”
Mumbling to myself, I continued to survey the area. What I found more strange, the glade had expanded by 2/3s its original size. Further when looking at the lake, it had expanded now to the size of 50 Olympic pools and was 4 times as deep as it once was before. Deep below the water, I could see a mysterious creature moving at the bottom of the lake. Noticing my gaze, the creature made its way to the surface, bursting into the air without causing a single ripple or splash on the lake’s surface.
“…Wow…”
I marveled as I beheld the majestic creature before me, and even fell to my knees. Although the creature did not have a fully corporeal form, it still moved lithely like a bird in the air, or a sea serpent in the water. Yet, the creature exuded a kind of majesty which demanded reverence, causing me to instinctually kneel. Once I did though, I could feel a power slowly raise me back to my feet, as a voice rung out,
“Hold, young Godling! Bow not unto mine figure. Verily, it twas thou who didst give me life.” The entity said as it encircled the island. I relaxed, and began to speak,
“Godling? I am no god, friend. Are you a spirit? What do I call you?” I asked, to which it replied,
“Indeed, I am the spirit of this lake, but haven’t I a name. I beseech thee, Godling! Bestow unto me a name befitting of thou and mine ordained task.”
The entity bowed it head(?) and awaited my response. (I told you already I am no god, silly thing… not yet anyway.) Thinking of a name, I looked at the entity which made me think of an old Chinese saying which meant all life comes from the great rivers. Those rivers were the domain of a serpentine dragon, Shenlong. Shenlong was just as important as Tianlong and thus both are revered as gods. Since this entity is a guardian spirit of water, it would only make sense to give it such a name.
“Okay, how about Shenlong? It means God Dragon. Where I’m from this being is a god that rules over the waters and summons the rain.”
“Thank you, Godling! I, Shenlong the guardian of the lake will strive to live up to this name!”
“Congratulations, you Have unlocked the hidden achievement, Divine name Bestowal! This is unlocked by creating and naming an elemental being the same name as a divine being of another world! A new entry has been added to your Divine Myth!”
As the entity answered and the message chimed, the entity began to become more corporeal until what lay before me was bluish-gold dragon right out of a Chinese myth with five-clawed paws each holding a pearl, antlers similar to caribou but with more branches, and whiskers like a catfish which made its beard.
It is said these dragons have five paws, but the fifth is hidden, I guess it’s the same for this fellow. After our little conversation, Shenlong sunk back into the lake and roamed around the lake. It’s very presents caused the magoi density to increase further, creating this heavenly mist all around the glade. The mist acted like a barrier which kept monsters out but let everything else in. Even sapphires the sizes of soccer balls could be seen along the shoreline with bigger ones deeper down.
This place became an even better training ground as the magoi density was 100-fold greater than anywhere else in the forest. After all the suffering I experienced in one day or maybe two, I decided to bathe, eat, and sleep for now. I will review all the changes and start training my body and magic tomorrow.
…
The following morning, I awoke refreshed and ready for the day. First things first, I washed up and ate something. When that was taken care of, I checked my status,
~User Info~
Location: Ancestral Glade – Emeraldshade Forest – Monarchy of Duxley…
Incarnation: Yuriy Markov XV
Age: 6 sol, 266 days
Race: Mixed (Human 74%, Dark elf 25%, Dark Angel (Kaliharda) 1%)
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Stage: None (Endowment: Hatched Godling – Heaven domain)
Attributes
HP: 600/600 Stamina: 310/310 MP: 275/275 SP: 18/18
Strength: 25 Charisma: 10 Endurance: 20 Dexterity: 21 (20) Vitality: 21 (20) Intellect: 18 (33) Luck: 5(17)
Moral Affinity
↓
Good --------------------------Neutral----------------------------Evil
Elemental Affinity (Scale of 1 – 10 with ten being the greatest)
Earth: 7 Fire:7 Water:7 Air:7 Light: 7 Dark: 7 Lightning: 7 Nature: 7 Ice: 7 Null: 10
Special
Soul of Misfortune (- 12 Luck) Guardian Angel(?) (+1 Dex. and Vit.)
(New) Divine Vessel (+ 21 Str. +10 Dex. And Vit. +11 End. +3 Chr. +2 Luck, All Elem. Affinity below 7 increased to 7)
Soul concussion (- 15 Int.) Inheritor of Ancient Blood (Incomplete)
(New) Living Artifact (MP drain reduced by 75%, MP regen +200%)
What the…. Shiii!! What is all this? My stats all increased save Intellect, even my elemental affinity increased. Not to mention I gained 2 special traits Divine vessel and Living Artifact. Wanting to know more I thought on the traits which pulled up,
“Divine vessel: Only obtained by existences who have completely crafted all 16 mana palaces and have no impurities. Mana palaces are separated into 4 domains. Flesh: 2 Feet, 1 loins, and 1 intestine palaces. Blood: 2 hands and 2 intestine palaces. Earth: 2 lungs and 1 stomach palaces alongside the heart “Primordial Palace”. Heaven: 2 eyes palaces alongside the “Celestial” and “Divine Kingdom” brain palaces.)”
“Living Artifact: Only those with an elemental affinity for all elements at 7 or above are able to absorbs magoi faster than they can use it”.
Next, I checked the stage info, which was not there before, but now it says I have an Endowment called Hatched Godling. What the hell is that?
“Hatched Godling: the lowest level divine beings under demi-gods. They are still among the greatest of divine endowments and can evolve directly into godhood. Note, only hatched godlings with a complete heaven domain are able to evolve directly into godhood. It is said hatched godlings are artificially born between a divine being and a mortal. Rarely are hatched godlings naturally born between 2 mortals and no divine involvement…”
Godhood!? I can evolve directly into a god given enough time!? This right here is too OP! I also can recall an earlier message saying my endowment is a naturally innate divine endowment. Does that mean I am an ultra-super rare “character”? Looks like I am incredibly lucky despite having most of my luck zapped by the curse. Happy with everything I saw, I thought it might be best to clear out my unread messages and notifications. So, I returned to the system menu and saw,
~System Menu~
User- Markov-Lysenko, Henry Status: Logged-In Time: 21:45 Date: 83rd Fall, 984
User Info Map Logbook Quest List
Inbox (99+ Unread) Notifications (99+ Unread) Chatroom
Divine Myth Inventory (Read-only) System Settings (Limited access)
Ignoring everything else, I first went to Inbox. Inside, I could see messages similar to emails all listed one after the other. I clicked each one and read them but did not reply to any. Even still this took an hour and a half because there were 500 messages. The good news; more than half of the messages were spam messages like Meet hot and sexy singles 5 solar systems away!! Or You have won an unlimited supply of Turbo Ex male enhancement! Click here to… (You must think I’m stupid, soul hacker… delete!!) After clearing the spam messages, I only had about 115 messages left. 5 were from actual individuals, with the rest being system notification messages.
Man, I was super busy in my past lives I guess, cause all the notification message were about them. As for the 5 remaining messages, one was a message from Nexus recruiting inviting me to be a part of their little project. It was even dated the day before Earth was destroyed with a statement at the end saying: No response to this message indicates you agree and accept our terms and conditions!!
(The fuck!! So, by not responding to a message I never received, I accepted their bullshit soul kidnapping!!!) Still angry about the message, I read the last 4 messages which didn’t really say anything important. Next, I moved to the notification section which was filled with the same notifications I had seen in the inbox, so I checked mark all as read and went my merry way.
After the last few days of craziness, I felt like I was on top of the world and ready to train. Although, I am not sure how my stats compare to monsters and other members of the races since it’s only been 3 days since I had something telling me what my stats were. Time to test the new body and powers.
Not wasting any time, I walked towards the edge of the island and stepped into the lake. Before I could sink into it, Shenlong acted as a bridge connecting me to the other side. With a gesture, I thanked the guardian spirit and went on my way towards the edge of the glade, only to be stopped by the Cheshire panther of all things. Meeting its gaze, the cat stood up on its hind legs as if it was a natural thing to do and spoke,
“Well… looky here, meow! What’s the little meowsy doing today, hmm?”
Great the only thing that could make this relationship any worse is a talking asshole of a cat. Apparently the panther was affected by the changes to the glade as well, gaining more intelligence and the ability to speak in this continent’s common language. (Because that’s what the world needs, more non-beastmen talking cats!!) To be honest I forgot this fucker was still here, but it seems it wanted to remind me of its presents…yeah… Rubbing my now throbbing forehead, I relied curtly,
“Hunting. Unless you want to be my test punching bag, I suggest you go back to your daily lounging like the cat you are.”
“NYAA! Well, how rude meow! To think, the little meowsy is upset to see and hear me! Fine, mehmph!”
Finally getting the message, the Cheshire panther faded like a mirage, and appeared in its favorite tree. Thank the Elder Spirits! No matter what, I already know this cat is gonna come running over the moment I return with meat like where’s my dinner, meow? Do you have any for mee, meow? When I crossed the mist, I was met by the dark but vibrant forest. Not worried, I drew my sword and started searching for easy monsters to fight.
-End of Chapter