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“Dialogue”

‘Thoughts’

-Author notes-

Chapter 29: Have you heard the Goddess before?

“Identify.”

[Pale grass]

“Identify.”

[Identity spell is now Level 4]

[Common rock, contains trace amounts of iron]

“Great, it went up!” Zephyr celebrated.

“Ehmm… Zephyr, what are you doing? Why do you keep repeating that word over and over?, and what did it go up?” Seth finally decided to ask, he was becoming increasingly weirded out by Zephyr's odd behavior.

He had noticed Zephyr's abnormal behavior shortly after they left the forest.

“I'm just increasing the level of my ‘Identify’ spell. I have recently discovered that if you use them repeatedly, they will become stronger,” Zephyr explained.

The boy just looked more confused now. “Sorry… what are you talking about?”

“Right… you only awoke very recently and don't have any spells yet.” Zephyr realized. “Have you heard the voice of the Goddess already?”

“The Goddess?!” Now Seth was shocked. He had never heard of a Goddess, much less one that would speak with a human. “I only know of the four Elemental Gods the Celestials worship. But we are not allowed to know much about them.”

“Yes, I never knew about the Goddess either, until she spoke to me the day I awoke my magic. I can now hear her voice every day.”

“Whoa! A Goddess talks to you?!” Seth looked at Zephyr, his eyes filled with admiration. “What kind of things does the Goddess say to you?”

“Well… she says things like… Status, Spell list, and Level Up!” Zephyr told the boy.

“Status… Spell list… level up…” Seth appeared to consider these words, trying to make sense of them but eventually had to give up. “What does that mean?”

Stolen story; please report.

“So you really don't know anything, huh… very well, let me tell you about it.” Zephyr decided to share his knowledge about the Goddess's gift to Seth.

Zephyr himself didn't have a great understanding yet, but he could explain a few things to the younger boy at least.

By the end of the explanation, Seth didn't seem to understand much either.

The concept of skills, levels, and stat points was completely as alien to him as it had been to Zephyr.

“And you can see these rectangles floating in the air?” Seth asked.

“Yes, that's where the messages appear. I can also touch them,” Zephyr answered.

“How strange… I have never heard of such things,” Seth said. “Are you sure that is a Goddess? I mean… she never even mentioned her name or asked something from you?”

“No… she did not.” He would admit that it seems strange. But he knew very little about Gods and how they interact with the Celestials.

“Maybe I will hear her too one day…” Seth wanted to understand more about this Goddess. After all, in his eyes, Zephyr was a very unusual but also powerful awakened, so his gift must be quite great. Even if he didn't understand much of it.

“I'm sure you will.” He did say that to cheer him on, but he wasn't that sure anymore. Since he had heard the Goddess's voice since the moment his powers appeared.

Up to now, Zephyr had assumed that all awakened humans were able to hear the Goddess's voice and do all the things he could.

But perhaps he had been wrong about that.

“Say Seth. Have you ever had some strange dreams?”

Seth looked pensive for a moment. “Strange dreams… I think the other day I had one.”

“Oh? What was it about?” Zephyr asked with interest. Perhaps Seth also had similar dreams to his own ones.

“I think… I was fighting a massive red bear, and killed it by myself! Just with my trusty knife!” Seth pulled out his carving knife and gave it a few swings. “Like this… ha!”

Zephyr sighed. “Never mind…”

<><><><><><><>

For the next several days, the duo continued to travel south.

With Seth's grandfather's map, it was easy to find the best hunting locations in order to refill their food reserves.

So far, they have not encountered any powerful beasts, and Zephyr had made quick work of them with his Lightning Strike, gaining another level in the process.

“We need to be careful here…” Seth moved his eyes from the map in his hands to the two red mountains in the distance.

“This is one of the most dangerous places on the continent. Those mountains are supposed to be filled with red bears… and other deadly beasts. My grandpa warned me to never come here. Only the best hunters on the continent dare to enter…”

Zephyr knew this already. They had discussed their route for a long time while traveling.

“Getting close to the Raingar Fortress will be more dangerous. We don't know how many Celestials are guarding that place and how strong they are. Red bears… I should be able to handle a few.” He had grown stronger since his last fight with one of those beasts.

It was much preferable to approaching the Celestial Fortress situated in the middle of the Wall.

The pass between the two mountains will allow them to get very close to the western side of the Wall, far away from there.

“I hope you are right. I don't wanna get eaten by one of those bears… did you know that they like to eat their prey while it's still alive?” Seth commented.

Zephyr focused his attention somewhere else. “Status.”

[Status: Zephyr Level 8

Health points: 30/30

Mana points: 24/24

Strength: 10

Dexterity: 22

Intelligence: 11 (+2 reg)

Vitality: 10 (+2 reg)

Luck: 9

Available points: 10]

‘ I have ten available points. I could bring my strength to twenty, but… I still don't have a weapon to fight with, so that won't do that much. I should increase my Intelligence. Perhaps I will get something extra after reaching 20 points like I did with Dexterity.’

He had no reason for holding those points before venturing into a dangerous place.

‘There… nine points to Intelligence.’

[Intelligence reached 20… passive skill ‘Mana Affinity’ unlocked.]

‘Yes! Let's see the skill…’

[Mana Affinity: Reduces the cost of spells by 1 mana]

“That's great, and on top of that, my mana has jumped to 42. This means that I can use my spell… let's see… seven times in a row!”

Even if he was attacked by a small group of red bears, he would be able to deal with them.

“Let's go, Seth!” Zephyr exclaimed with confidence.