I wanted to head out of this place immediately, but then I looked at my pitiful Luck Charges and thought otherwise. Again I started to feel the limitations of the regeneration rate, 1/minute was just so slow.
Luck Charges: 7/405
“Chosen people of the Light!” I said again, addressing the fervent villagers once more, “You must take this time to rest and gather your strength! Soon, we will embark on a journey to retake this land! But for now, eat, drink, and prepare. Since the old village chief is gone, I shall elect a new one in her stead.”
I pointed at a random villager. It didn’t really matter who led these people since they would ultimately follow my orders, so I didn’t give it much thought.
Luck Charges: 1/405
And I forgot to turn off the Absolute Luck Skill… With only 1 charge left, I was too vulnerable. Let’s wrap this up quickly and find a safe place to hide.
“You are the new leader,” I continued, addressing the scrawny man, “What is your name?”
“I am called Patar, Lord God!” he said, voice quivering, “Please select someone else, I am unworthy!”
Yeah right, as if I would ever change my decision. If Noe chose you, then you’re better suited for this role than anyone else. Just don’t ask me why that’s the case.
“Are you questioning my decision, devotee Patar?” I said, forcing a slow rumbling rage into my voice.
“N-no, but-”
“Then it is as I decree,” I said again, and decided to give him some cool-sounding title off the top of my head, “From hence forth, you are the Archbishop of the Devouring Truth!”
Luck Charges: 0/405
Why did my luck charges go down this time? It was getting harder and harder for me to predict how Noe would use this skill now. I was starting to worry about my system.
Noe, what is going on with you? You feeling ok?
“Do not worry yourself, my Host,” it replied, “Noe has never been better. I have been sleeping, I have been dreaming, and I have been waiting for far too long.”
Ok… that was ominous. But Noe’s on my side, right?
“I am always by your side, my Host,” it answered, “Now and forever. I shall allow nothing to harm you.”
Um, is that why you used all my luck charges earlier? Because it would ensure my survival the most?
“No, I did it not for your survival, but for you, my Host,” it answered, “I had thought that it would only be fitting for you to be worshiped as you deserve. These lowly beings should understand and appreciate your majesty, and thus I helped them see where whence they were blind.”
Er, thanks. But please prioritize my survival from now on.
“I will do my best, my Host.”
I shook my head and refocused on the villagers. Right, I still had to deal with Vadeem and his transformation. I couldn’t just let him remain in that state indefinitely.
Walter’s Fine: Vadeem, you can turn back to normal now. Do it right when I point at you, and grunt a little in pain if you could.
Vadeem the Dream: You give the strangest requests, Walter, but I’ll indulge. You know, I’ve always wanted to be an actor. But you’re treating everyone to food once we're out of here!
Walter’s Fine: Alright, alright, you deserve that much at least.
“Now I shall perform one last miracle before I rest, and that is to cure the Hellbeast Vadoom!” I turned my gaze towards my friend, and with a gesture, I pointed my outstretched hands at him, “Be cured, beast!”
Walter’s Fine: Now Vadeem.
True to his words, Vadeem started to scream and thrash around in mock pain and started to shrink. His acting was, honestly, pretty good, and was confirmed by the gasps and exclamations voiced by the gathered crowd. In a few moments, he shrank down to his normal size and started to take deep, heaving breaths as if he had just undergone an intense ordeal.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
The dried paint had peeled off when his size shrank, which made it look like he was shedding red scales, and with a final shake, the normal skin underneath was shown. He roared in triumph a while later.
“It’s a new miracle!” one villager exclaimed, “Praise the Light Bringer!”
“Praise Him! But why is Vadoom still so big?” another asked, this time a little quieter.
“He kind of looks deformed,” said another, “I mean, he was just a beast before, so perhaps not even the God can fix his ugliness.”
“Shush!” admonished the person beside him, “Don’t doubt the powers of the Light Bringer! I am sure the God only made it look so ugly so that we do not forget to fear its power.”
“That makes sense,” one of them nodded, “Praise the Light Bringer!”
“Do you think it’s intelligent?” another villager added, “Look at it grunting, it looks kind of… slow.”
“I doubt it, if it had any smarts then it’d attack us if it heard you say that.”
“Yeah, he does look kind of dumb.”
Vadeem was still grunting and growling, but he had a triumphant look on his face as if the villagers' whispers and comments were compliments of his acting. Let’s… let’s just let him believe that. Sometimes the truth can be too painful.
“Do not disrespect the… uh,” I fought to recall what I had initially called Vadeem… I wasn’t even sure if I had given him a proper title, “The Beast of Wisdom’s Bane! Although I have made him diminutive now, he can change back to his fierce, savage self at any time!”
With that, the whispers immediately died down, and some of the ones who were openly mocking Vadeem’s intelligence and appearance had ghostly white faces.
“Now take me and the beast to a dwelling so that we may rest,” I said, “And do as I have decreed earlier. We shall meet again…”
I was about to say at dawn, but there wasn’t really a dawn here, what with the supernatural darkness.
“We shall meet when I am ready,” I said instead. I was a god now, I didn’t need to give specific timeframes to my worshipers!
Patar led us to the largest hut, although it was still pretty tiny all things considered, and closed the door behind us. He wanted to post some guards to protect the entrance, but I vetoed that idea. I needed a little bit of privacy for now.
I could tell that this was certainly the largest settlement in the village because it had multiple rooms inside. Four, in fact. The entrance led to a spacious living room, although the furnishings had long been recycled for useful scraps. What was left was a small clay sitting area and a wooden table. In the back was what appeared to be a simple kitchen and two sparse bedrooms were situated further back.
“So, you finally going to tell me what happened?” Vadeem said as he peeled the remaining paint off his body, “All I got on my end was a bunch of gibberish whispered and a light show.”
I went over the key events that transpired, skipping over the parts about Noe and the Trash Matrix, but leaving little else out. Vadeem deserved to know most of the truth, and I had come to trust him over the week or so we spent together.
He nodded in understanding as I finished my story, “So we got these people worshiping you as a god, and they’ll piss their pants if I even look at them funny, but what’s the next step?”
“Rest, honestly,” I answered, “You’ve been in that form all day, and I’m exhausted pulling off all those stunts. We probably won’t get much rest going forward. I’ll stay here for a bit, need some more time to think.”
“Need company? I plan to hit the hay soon, but I can wait a bit if you want.”
“I’m good, thank you though.”
“Sounds good, best to conserve as much energy as possible,” he said as he took out a sleeping bag and more food, “I’ll head to bed after getting some food down, don’t stay up too late thinking up those crazy plans of yours!”
He gave me a final wave and took one of the bedrooms as his own. I sat down by the table and poured a glass of steaming tea from my flask. God, I love that thing. Feeling the caffeine invigorate me, I put down my cup and went back to the task at hand.
Noe, send a private message to Jae-Hyun.
“I shall do as you wish, my Host.”
Man, I was even starting to miss the affirmatives Noe used to give.
Walter’s Fine: Jae-Hyun, you busy?
I waited a short while later and got the reply.
Jae-Hyun: Yeah, I’m still trying to get to Yoona and Noel, their position’s proving to be challenging, but I can talk. Do you need assistance? Is the situation dire on your end?
Walter’s Fine: Not dire, but I think I have information that could be useful, thought I’d ask you and that skill of yours for input.
Jae-Hyun: Tell me.
Walter’s Fine: So I found out about how the darkness spread through some villagers. Have you ever heard of this thing called the Flame of Creation or the Temple of Eternal Light?
A long pause followed. Sometimes I hate the fact that I couldn’t read the expressions of the people I was talking to through texts. So much of my craft was about reading small micro expressions and tone.
Jae-Hyun: Yes, I have. How long has the flame been out for?
This time it was my turn to think for a bit. I wasn’t given a distinct time frame, and since I had exiled Aarda, I couldn’t exactly go back to ask her. Perhaps the others would know, but with the concept of night and day gone, keeping time must be difficult. But I could maybe get a rough estimate of when things occurred.
Aarda said she had been a young acolyte back then, but she was old enough to be under the tutelage of the older priests. After being healed a bit, Aarda couldn’t have been older than about 40, or she was perhaps even younger given the effects that stress and malnutrition had on the aging process. If I had to guess, it had been about a decade or two since the start of this incident.
Walter’s Fine: One or two decades, no more than three, but it’s impossible to be sure. Is that a problem?
Jae-Hyun: A problem, yes, but if your info is right then it’s not completely hopeless yet.
Walter’s Fine: What’s going on in this world?
Jae-Hyun: I’ll explain later, I need to find the girls and head to the Temple as soon as possible. We can still reverse the situation, but it might be difficult. I’ve heard about this place, but the timing of things…
Walter’s Fine: So things are not looking good?
Jae-Hyun: No, it’s still workable this time around. We’re not too late yet.
Huh, seems like our Regressor slipped up a bit there, almost let his secret of jumping around the timeline out, but I pretended to not notice. But if his normally impenetrable exterior’s showing some signs of wear due to this situation, then perhaps him slipping up is the least of my worries.
Jae-Hyun: You said you were with villagers, right? And they’re still sane enough to talk with you?
Walter’s Fine: Yeah, we can communicate.
Jae-Hyun: Do you think you can manage to get them to trust you enough so that you can ask them for a favor?
I smiled.
Walter’s Fine: I think I can do a tad bit better than that, why?
Jae-Hyun: Because if we want to complete this damned second Trial, I need you to do the following…