"I’ll give you a little help..."
Draven went still, because what Sasri had just said actually caught his attention.
"Help?"
"Of course."
"What kind of help?"
Sasri smiled, and Draven started thinking about deities, paths, and blessings.
In Valkaen, every character could follow different paths tied to a deity.
The choice affected available skills, stats, and certain interactions.
There were two main ways to formally begin following a deity.
The first was earning their approval, which meant the character performed actions aligned with their ideals and, if they built up enough affinity, could receive a blessing.
The second was far less common, because the deity themselves had to take direct notice of someone.
Draven looked at Sasri.
’I get it.’
"You want to turn me into a follower of a deity’s path."
Sasri’s eyes went wide.
"Exactly!"
Draven did not look happy.
"That’s bad."
"Why?"
"Because if a deity decides to take direct notice of someone, they usually have an ulterior motive."
Sasri pointed at Draven.
"That’s prejudice."
"Do you?"
Sasri stayed silent, and Draven waited, until she started whistling.
"Thought so."
Sasri quickly changed the subject.
"Anyway, it’s already decided."
"What’s decided?"
"Your blessing."
Draven frowned.
"A blessing from your path?"
Sasri made a strange face.
"Well..."
"It’s not yours?"
"Let’s just say I called in a small favor."
Draven felt another problem coming.
"From who?"
Sasri raised one hand and held her fingers next to her ear like she was holding something invisible.
"Hello?"
Draven stared at her.
"What are you doing?"
"I’m calling."
"There’s nothing in your hand."
"I’m a deity."
"That doesn’t answer what I said."
Sasri turned.
"Yes, hello, it’s me."
Draven watched as Sasri started walking in circles.
"Yes."
Pause.
"Yes."
Another pause.
"Exactly."
Draven narrowed his eyes.
"Are you actually talking to someone?"
Sasri lifted a finger, asking for silence.
"Perfect."
Another pause.
"Thanks."
She lowered her hand and then looked at Draven.
"Done."
"What did you do?"
"I already talked to Oram."
Draven stopped moving, because he knew that name.
"Oram?"
"Yep, that one."
Sasri smiled.
"I already arranged your blessing."
Draven tried to remember everything he knew.
Oram was a deity tied to love and relationships.
Not one of the most popular choices for players focused purely on combat, but certain builds could become extremely strong.
That said, they depended way too much on other characters.
"What kind of blessing?"
Draven asked, and Sasri put a finger to her lips.
"It’s a surprise."
"What does it do?"
"I already told you it’s a surprise."
"Does it have any drawbacks?"
"So impatient."
"What do I have to do?"
"Relax, you’ll find out soon enough."
Draven clenched his fists.
"Stop dodging the questions."
Draven stared at her, and Sasri closed her mouth, because for the first time she looked like she was holding back a laugh.
Draven sighed.
"Why Oram?"
Sasri smiled.
"Because it suits you."
"In what way?"
"You’ll understand."
"I want to understand it now."
"That would ruin the fun."
"Exactly why I want to know."
Sasri took several steps back, and the lights started appearing again.
"Well, looks like our time’s up."
"What?"
"You have to wake up."
"Wait."
Draven stepped forward.
"What dispute did you mention?"
Sasri smiled.
"We’ll see each other again."
"When?"
"When it’s fun."
"That’s not a date."
"Goodbye, my dear Draven."
"Sasri!"
A huge amount of confetti covered everything, so Draven closed his eyes, and when he opened them again he was in his bed.
He sat up immediately, breathing fast, and looked around.
His room, the window, the wardrobe, everything was normal, so Draven touched his face.
"It was a dream."
He stayed still.
"No."
He knew perfectly well it hadn’t been a normal dream, and then something appeared in front of him: a small transparent window.
Draven’s eyes widened.
[The bond with Zenash Varzometh has been strengthened.]
Draven read it again.
"What?"
The window disappeared, and Draven stood up.
’That wasn’t there before.’
He looked at his hands and tried to open some kind of menu.
"Status."
Nothing.
"Info."
Nothing.
"Bonds."
Nothing, so Draven frowned.
"Right."
Then he remembered the mana training.
He held out his hand, focused, felt the energy inside his body, guided it toward his arm, and a blue light appeared over his palm.
Draven waited.
’One, two, three, four, five...’
The light kept going.
’Six, seven...’
Draven’s eyes widened further.
Before, he could barely last three seconds without feeling a serious drain, but now it was still stable.
He shut off the light.
"What?"
He tried again, this time focusing mana into both hands, so two lights appeared.
Draven felt the cost, but it was lower, much lower.
His reserve hadn’t become huge, or even large, but it had definitely increased.
"Zenash."
He muttered, and remembered the message.
[The bond with Zenash Varzometh has been strengthened.]
Draven started thinking.
’Oram, the deity tied to love, and their blessing.’
His capacity had increased right after strengthening his relationship with another person.
"It can’t be that simple."
He had to check, so over the next few minutes he ran several tests.
He generated light, held it, tried reinforcing his arm, then his legs, and repeated some of the exercises he’d used during the week.
The results were clear: he had more mana, and he also seemed to control it a little better.
Draven sat down on the bed.
’Strengthen bonds.’
That was the condition, or at least part of it.
The more he strengthened his bonds with other people, the stronger he could become.
Draven stayed completely still, because his situation had just changed.
Until now, his naturally low mana reserve had been one of his biggest problems.
He could train, use items, look for special methods, but there was always a limit.
Now he had another option, and a very powerful one.
"So I can grow without relying only on my natural talent."
He smiled.
For the first time since discovering how little mana he had, he felt like he had a real way out, but the smile slowly faded.
There was something else.
’Sasri.’
The goddess of fun had set this up, talked to Oram, and knew how the blessing worked.
Draven looked at his hands.
’To strengthen bonds I need to form relationships with people.’
That was obvious, but not with just anyone.
If the blessing followed logic similar to the game’s mechanics, the more important bonds would probably produce bigger results.
That meant relevant characters, powerful ones connected to the story.
Zenash was a perfect example, since she was the future demon queen.
Draven raised his gaze.
"Damn it."
Now he understood.
Sasri hadn’t given him a skill that would let him stay away from the story, she’d done the exact opposite.
If Draven wanted to get stronger, he would have to get involved with other important characters and form relationships.
Help them, earn their trust, and step right into events he’d originally wanted to avoid.
Draven let himself fall back onto the bed.
"You did this on purpose."
He pictured Sasri laughing, because she almost certainly had.
The deity of fun didn’t want to see him living quietly in a town while dodging every problem in the world.
Draven covered his face with both hands.
"What a troublesome woman."
But he couldn’t turn down the opportunity, because he knew what was coming in the future, so if he wanted to survive he needed power, and now he had a way to get it.
The problem was the price.
Draven pulled his hands away from his face.
"I’m going to have to walk straight into all the problems I wanted to avoid."
He stayed there for several seconds staring at the ceiling, then sighed.
"I’ll leave it for tomorrow’s Draven."
Somewhere Draven couldn’t see, a young woman with white hair that held a faint lavender tint sneezed, then smiled.