After healing my leg — a subtly horrifying thing to have to do — I approached the charred corpse of the first redcap to die to my moonbeam, I crouched and poked at what was left of it with my new copper knife. “I don’t see anything.”
Feel for it. I’m too far away to pinpoint where it is, but it should be obvious in your mind. The… system, as you call it, should be gently highlighting it for you.
Doing as she suggested, I was almost instantly rewarded with a fuzzy… thing. The best way to describe it would be a popup or a tooltip. Looking down at my feet, I saw a small dark orb laying inconspicuously in the gutter. An attribute sphere!
Picking it up, I was rewarded with the same display from when all this began. My attributes winked happily at me, except because I’d had much more practice with the system, I could see fuzzy hologram things for each one. My two points in Intelligence and one in Precision were sitting there, doing their thing, but over the top of each attribute was an extra sphere. In the case of the rest, that put them all up to just one, but Intelligence was all the way up at three, while Precision was at two. I guess that's why I was so overpowered. My angel-ness gave me one point in each stat.
You are extremely lucky to have an additional Sphere of Growth so early, Kaia. From what I understand, it is rare that they are created from the death of a monster. Usually, they are found where the fog and the storm have breached our reality. Place this Sphere wisely.
Oh, they were called Spheres of Growth, huh? Yeah, I wouldn’t be calling it that. They were definitely Attribute Spheres — ball-bearings or whatever.
“Thanks, Cynath,” I muttered absently while I contemplated my choice.
Extra Speed would be nice… but seeing how strong I would be with two points in Strength was tempting too. Ugh, I was used to games throwing stat points at me like candy. This dungeons and dragons style drip-feed of power was pretty foreign to me.
Perhaps it was a good idea to just put the point in Toughness. Survival was the most important goal, and being harder to kill was a big part of that. The cut on my leg had been pretty deep, but also not as much as you might expect. If I had to guess, I'd say the Toughness stat was literally making my flesh and skin tougher to cut through.
Yeah, as interesting as it would be to increase my overall mana levels or become faster or whatever, I think having skin too tough for the average claw to puncture was a better deal. I pushed the Sphere into the Toughness attribute, and it dissolved like cotton candy in water.
A wave of goosebumps rolled up and down my skin, making me shiver and clench my jaw. God that was such a weird sensation. With a shudder, I looked down at my palm and flexed my fingers. I should probably test my idea… right? Yeah.
Glancing around, I spotted a shard of glass in the gutter a couple of yards down the street and walked over. Picking it up, I tentatively pressed it to the back of my hand and watched as it just… didn’t pierce the skin. Pushing harder, I felt a grin growing as my skin refused to part. Fuck yes, okay, this was legit.
Abruptly, I worry flared in my gut as a horrible thought occurred to me. Dropping the glass shard, I pressed my fingers into the skin there, probing. Oh… phew. Nevermind. It was still all silky and soft. Actually, it felt softer than before. Perfect.
“Ah, Cynath, what was that about a reward?” I asked, once I was done with… stuff.
If you act in my name, you will gain further storm power for yourself.
“Storm… power?” I asked, confused. “Ah, you mean experience?”
Yes, if you insist on calling it such, you will gain additional experience towards your class.
Frowning, I asked the natural follow-on question. “What happens if I don’t want to do what you’ve told me to do?”
Then you don’t get the experience, darling. It’s quite simple, and I am not Aten—I actually respect the autonomy of my followers. Repeatedly refuse my more… basic tenets however, and our relationship may become strained.
“You seem to have good priorities so that probably won’t be an issue for me,” I said wryly. “Actually, I uh, I might lack the kind of courage you seem to like…”
We’ll see.
That was it? Her whole response?
It was either a vote of confidence or extremely ominous. I couldn’t figure out which. Did it matter, though?
With a shrug, I picked up all the redcap weapons that felt like they had magic in them. The kitchen knife was also carefully bundled up in some cloth from the monsters along with the weapons, but I could feel that it had no magic. The redcap must've picked it up once it arrived on Earth. I wonder how they even got here, since they clearly weren’t native.
Except… I think there were myths about those things. Maybe I should start looking out for more mythological monsters?
When I got to the point where I planned to cross Central Avenue, I saw something I was not expecting. The road looked like someone had drunkenly run a massive pizza cutter down the centre line, and now water was flowing down the crack, with rushes growing alongside it. It was a fair amount of water actually, and weirdly enough it looked clean.
Intrigued, I glanced upstream and saw that it was running from further up the hill towards the high school. Did the crazy apocalypse turn the whole of Central Avenue into a river? What the heck was going on?
Actually, hold on…
I knelt and stared at the divide between the pavement and the bubbling stream. There was a weird gradient as pavement became soil and stone.
This wasn’t a crack from the earthquake! It was an honest to god river in the middle of the four lane street. It was obvious, actually, unless there was some sort of wild landscaping monster. Rushes and other riverside plants didn't grow that fast. Somehow, the river was just… there.
"Hey!" A masculine voice called, and I winced, my stomach clenching with instant anxiety.
Oh crap, someone saw me. I considered just running away, but that would probably lead to problems down the road. So, squaring my shoulders, I looked up in the direction of the call.
Five people were approaching from the direction of the high school. Four were obviously firefighters, three men and one woman, while the fifth person… it was HA— uh, the girl who helped me get to the school — Chloe. Additionally, one of the firefighters resolved into Finn as the group approached.
"Are you Silver?" The leading firefighter asked, while the others watched me with intense curiosity. Well, except Chloe. She was giving me the type of look you might give a suspected elevator flatulator. Her eyes were roaming me so hard I could practically feel them.
I nodded at the question, doing my best not to make eye contact with either of the people I knew. In Finn's case, that was actually pretty easy. He was already keeping an alert eye on our surroundings.
"No shit, really?" The man in charge of the group blinked. He was older than me by quite a bit, maybe thirty, and super jacked. He also had the sort of kind eyes that you knew meant he'd make an amazing father. Assuming he wasn't one already.
Nodding again, I continued attempting to keep my cool. God, what did I even… agh!
The lead firefighter and the woman shared a quick glance, and he said, "The Captain really wants to speak with you. Would you be okay following us back to the school?"
Biting my lip, I took a moment to think and before I replied, "Maybe? I'm actually on a mission right now, though."
"Why didn't you come to the school once you were done saving people yesterday?" Chloe blurted before anyone else could speak. It looked like she genuinely wanted to know, and it was a surprise to see her suspicious expression clear up for a moment.
Stammering, I said, "U-uh… I just, I mean I… Didn't… want to?"
Clearly that wasn't a satisfactory answer, because the gates came down and she was back to glaring at me.
"What Chloe is saying is that we could really use your help back at the school," the leader said. "You've been able to figure out how all this magical mumbo jumbo works better than anyone else."
Chloe snorted, absently fingering the bandolier around her chest. She had a point, too. I wonder if her little hex bags were part of her class or if she came up with it herself.
"I… had help," I said, dragging my eyes off Chloe's face. She really was distractingly pretty.
All five of them were paying rapt attention to me after my statement, and the leader raised a curious eyebrow.
"Divine help," I clarified, trying to maintain a poker face.
Oh? Are we going to begin spreading the good word already? Careful, you might fry their good, pious little Christian brains.
The way she said 'Christian' was dripping with so much acid I was mildly surprised when all five of them didn't melt on the spot.
"God?" The firefighter asked, eyes widening. "He's… he's real?"
I shook my head, and I felt some of my old childhood mischief surge to the fore. "Little g, and add an 'ess' on the end. I'm a follower of Cynath, goddess of the moon, beauty, and war."
"What, like Ishtar?" Chloe scoffed.
"Yes, actually."
Real words. They weren't in my head. Cynath's real, actual voice hung in the open air like an anvil defying gravity. Oh, shit. OH SHIT.
“Now who’s frying Christian brains, huh?” I demanded, throwing my hands in the air in exasperation.
“Oh, quiet down little one. You already spilled the beans,” She huffed, and moonlight pulsed for several feet around me.
Nobody said anything for a few long seconds after that, until to the surprise of everyone, Chloe laughed.
“So… you… uh…” the leader of the firefighters said slowly, before his mouth clicked shut again. “Uh… what about… God?”
Cynath didn’t answer, and after a few seconds I shrugged. “Apparently he exists, so uh… don’t worry about that. He probably has a lot of followers to talk to so you know, um, don’t worry if he doesn’t reply.”
Again, we all waited for Cynath to say something, but she was quiet, and the moonlight had faded.
Fucking hell. Cynath's existence had been sorta sitting in this weird limbo space in my head — real, but only vaguely so. Now, having actually heard her speak, it was like she'd suddenly flashed from a gas to a solid.
“Right…” the man muttered, entirely unable to form a proper sentence. Which, honestly, mood.
My gaze kept getting drawn to Chloe. Her expression was amused but skeptical. That was, honestly, fair. A random floating voice didn't prove a goddess existed.
It was Finn who got the ball rolling again. “What was the mission you were on?”
“I was headed to the metalworking shop to grab supplies. I was going to take them to the school — they'll be useful for making better weapons and stuff,” I said, giving him a grateful smile. He returned it, but it was… different to how he looked at me when I was Kai. God-dess, this dual identity thing was confusing.
Finn looked to his boss. “What do you say, Sean? Should we help the lady? That sounds more than worthwhile.”
“We’re meant to be getting food,” Sean said, regaining some of his wits.
Goddess, I was going to have to keep pretending to be confident and in control, wasn't I? This was going to get very exhausting. I’d be dragged back to meet the Captain too. Ugh… whatever. Suck it up Kai, there’s more important things than your fear of social interaction.
“We could grab some food along the way?” I offered reluctantly. “We might find more than just the one hand trolley I was told would be there. Then we could load it with food and wheel it back.”
He considered the idea for a second, then nodded, “Okay, and it will mean you’ll be back at the School to meet the Cap, so that’s fine.”
“Yeah, I know,” I muttered under my breath. Oh boy, what had I gotten myself into?