《Goddess of Beauty》 Prologue The End of a Genius Author''s note: Hey guys! This is my first time writing fiction of any sorts. I decided to write this on a whim after the idea itself came to my mind. Please excuse me for my terrible English, it''s not my native language. Please comment on any mistakes that you might find. Hopefully I''ll be able to upload at least once a week (and I''m kind of bored currently since exams are finished). Also would be appreciated if someone links on how to do blue boxes. Also, my question is, do you want a full rebirth (as a baby) or a semi rebirth (as an adult)? Thanks for reading! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As he walked out of the school gate, his eyes darted upwards and he smiled. He was no doubt that glad that he finished the final high school exam of the year and his least favourite, English. Though, he didn¡¯t find the subject particularly hard or anything, just annoying. This student is Michael Klein, your typical high school freshman from Canada¡­ or so you would think. In reality, he was only 14 years old at the moment, having skipped two whole grades. He could¡¯ve skipped even more, but his mother was worried that he would be too young among his peers. This wasn¡¯t an issue of being bullied, but that he wouldn¡¯t be able to enjoy his childhood too much if pushed too forward. He is what people would call a prodigy¡­ a genius even. He has been blessed with a photographic memory, and one unlike any other. While most photographic memories just mean that the person is able to memorize details more easily, Michael was able to memorize them perfectly. While Michael was blessed with highly capable mental abilities, the same could not exactly be said about his appearance. It wasn¡¯t that he was ugly, or that his nickname was glasses boy, in fact he could have been rather handsome. With dirty blond hair and dark blue eyes, as well as a rounded face, Michael could have potentially picked himself up a girl. But with his brilliant mindset came a disease all too well known to mankind, laziness. Over the years, his overeating habits made him quite chubby. And due to his laziness and his lack of mental fortitude, he didn¡¯t exactly want to do anything about it. Though his mother and father constantly pushed him to lose some weight, he would constantly push it to the back of his mind, always reminding himself that he could do it later. Michael: ¡®Haaaaaaaaah. Man, that was such a pain. Why can¡¯t English be as easy as science and math? Instead memorizing easy formulas to regurgitate, I have to do this motif bullshit. I¡¯m sure that the author didn¡¯t mean anything when he wrote that the cow was brown. How on Earth did the teacher come up with that it meant the oppression that the slaves felt?¡¯ ???: [Michaaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeel!!!!!!] Turning around, Michael spotted his closest friend running up to him. Michael: [Oh, it¡¯s you, Sam. Took you long enough.] Sam: [I¡¯m just surprised that I was able to finish within five minutes of your time. Yesterday, you finished the math exam over an hour before me.] Michael Klein met Samuel Petrov during the start of the school year. A son of two Russian immigrants, Sam has a tall athletic build with black hair and eyes. He works extremely diligently to produce good results in everything he engages in. Sam is a complete contrast to Michael, who never puts in too much effort into anything he does. Seeing Michael¡¯s nonchalance, Sam was immediately infuriated by his behaviour, who thought that Michael didn¡¯t care enough to try. He quickly challenged Michael to be able to beat his mark on the first science test. Michael, amused and slightly annoyed, agreed and crushed him significantly. While Sam did a great job, netting 19 out of 20, Michael put in a better performance, acing the test. Michael thought that this result would get rid of the pest, but was surprised when Sam came back with another challenge. Over time, they became best friends and fierce rivals, always competing in everything, even the most trivial things. Though Michael was unbeatable in most fields of education, Sam was able to establish his dominance over athletics. Michael: [You know what English is like. All of it is pretty much hypothetical meanings and stuff. There¡¯s no concrete analysis, everything is pretty much up to your interpretation.] Sam: [Yeah, it¡¯s pretty annoying, but at least I can keep up with you. I can¡¯t believe how quickly you worked out those complicated trigonometry questions yesterday.] Michael: [Ha, ha, well people do say that I¡¯m a genius sometimes¡­] Sam: [Hey, hey, sometimes? You mean all the time! I swear, if you weren¡¯t lazy as fuck, you would have become the next Einstein already!] ???: [Hey you guys, wait up for me!!] Michael: [Oh look, if it isn¡¯t Yuna.] Yuna Keisuke, a Japanese girl, is also one of Michael¡¯s closest friends. Unlike Sam, her parents immigrated to Canada before she was born. She is a total beauty, with long raven black hair and green eyes that seemed to captivate your soul. She has a slender figure and breasts that were the right size; they were neither big nor too small. Yuna became close friends with both Michael and Sam during the beginning of the first semester. She first came up to them when she needed help with some math problems. However, they began talking and quickly realised that the three of them had much in common. Michael did have some suspicions that she was in love with Sam, but he kept them to himself. Yuna: [Well, that¡¯s a nice greeting, Michael. Always breaking a frail lady¡¯s heart¡­] Michael: [Pft, if you are frail, then I am stupid. But anyways, it¡¯s nice to see you.] Sam: [Yuna, you¡¯re already finished your exam?] Yuna: [Yep! And it¡¯s all thanks to you guys! If we didn¡¯t meet up yesterday to study, it would¡¯ve taken a lot longer!] Michael: *Blushes* Yuna: [Anyways, you do remember what we promised to do today when we finished, right?] Sam: [Of course. You proposed to go to the movies. However, aren¡¯t they in like, 2 hours?] Michael: [I suggest that we go home for now and meet up in an hour at the usual meeting place.] Yuna: [Ah! You mean the park, right? If so, see you soon!] As soon as Yuna said that, she waved them goodbye and dashed in the direction of her house. Michael looked on and admired her until she disappeared from sight as she turned the corner. Michael: [Well, I guess I¡¯ll be seeing you soon as well.] Sam: [Yeah, I¡¯ll be seeing ya soon, mate.] With those words, the two friends parted. As Michael walked home, all he could think about is Yuna. In reality, he loved her, and those feelings became stronger the more time they spent together. However, he didn¡¯t think that she deserved him nor did he think that he stood a chance. Besides, if there was something going on between Sam and Yuna, he wasn¡¯t cruel enough to try and rip them apart. He would support them from the sidelines, albeit with a sad face. As Michael reached the door of his house, he remembered that his parents told him that they won¡¯t be home for the whole day due to work. If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation. Michael: *Sigh* ¡®I wish they were home more. I barely get to spend any time with them.¡¯ Opening the door and walking into the kitchen, he noticed a note that his mom left him on the table. It read, ¡®Mike, I¡¯m sorry that I won¡¯t be home today for the end of your first year, but I left a slice of pizza in the fridge for you. I love you, Mom.¡¯ Going to the fridge, Michael opened the door and took the slice of pizza out. He turned around and put it in the microwave and set it to two minutes. Grabbing his backpack, he walked up the stairs and into his room. Michael was an only child, so he obviously had a room all to himself. Michael didn¡¯t admit to many people, but he was a fan of Japanese stuff. His whole room had bookshelves full of anime, manga, and light novels. He also browsed many fiction websites, and had thought of writing them himself. However, due to his laziness, he always put off those plans. However, there was one thing that no one, not even his closest friends or parents, knew about him. It was his most closely guarded secret because of how embarrassed he was by it. It was the fact that he analysed the beauty of women. Two years ago when he was twelve, he was sitting in class bored out of his mind (since he already knew the stuff taught), when he suddenly started to look at a girl. That particular girl was average looking and Michael began to think about the reason for that. He summarised all the improvements that he would make if he was God. Afterwards, he would look at any women he saw and analyse their features and what improvements would have made. He even went onto porn sites, not to masturbate, but to further enhance his analysis. This continued until his first year of high school. When he first entered the school, he did his usual routine and scouted women for analysis. That was when he saw her¡­Yuna. When he first glanced at Yuna, her beauty captivated him. He couldn¡¯t find a single flaw on her. Luckily for him, she was in his class and he continued to observe her everyday. Imagine his shock when she came up to him and Sam for help in math. He immediately took this chance and struck up a conversation with her about Japanese culture. She was very delighted when she found out that a schoolmate had similar interests with her. As Michael was standing in his room deep in thought, he heard the beeping of the microwave which indicated that his pizza was heated. He threw the backpack onto the ground and went downstairs to eat. With quick bites, he finished the pizza and cleaned the dish afterwards. He went back upstairs to his room and booted up his computer. Michael: ¡®No new chapters on RRL today. And I was hoping to at least get an update on one of the fiction novels that I follow.¡¯ Sighing on the lack of new content, he checked if any new fictions were uploaded. Michael: ¡®Huh, there¡¯s this new one called ¡®Goddess of Beauty¡¯ that only has a prologue uploaded. Let¡¯s check it out.¡¯ Clicking on the link, he began reading the prologue of the new fiction. The more he read, the more he got into it. Michael: ¡®Interesting. The main character feels very similar to me so I can relate to him very well. It¡¯s sad that the main character only finds out that his closest friend liked him in his dying moments.¡¯ After enjoying the prologue, Michael decided to add it to his favourites list. While doing that, he quickly checked the time and realised that he was running late. Michael: ¡®Oh shit! I need to hurry or else we will be late!¡¯ Throwing on his sneakers and locking the door, he rushed to the nearby park where he usually meets up with his friends. After a couple of minutes of sprinting, he saw two outlines on the horizon. Yuna: [You¡¯re late! What will you do if we don¡¯t make it on time?] Michael: *Pant* [Sorry, I got too distracted reading a new fiction.] Sam: [You and your obsession over fictions¡­ what will we do with you?] Yuna: [Never mind that, let¡¯s go already or else we¡¯re really going to be late!] The three friends started to walk towards the movie theatre. After half an hour of walking, they finally reached it and bought the tickets. Sam and Michael decided to let Yuna choose the movie. To their surprise, she chose an adventure style movie, though little did they know that she took into consideration the entire group¡¯s interests. Michael: [Wow! That was a pretty great movie. We should do this more.] Yuna: [Really? I didn¡¯t know which one to pick! I¡¯m glad you liked it.] Sam: [Ha, ha, despite being a genius, this idiot doesn¡¯t watch anything but anime!] Michael: [Shut it, Sam! You don¡¯t watch too many movies yourself.] Sam: [Well, you got me there¡­] Yuna: [Hey, guys, cheer up! Oh yeah, that¡¯s right, you told us that you found a new fiction, didn¡¯t you, Michael?] Michael: [Huh? Oh yeah, it was about¡­] As soon as Michael started speaking, he noticed that Yuna started to cross the road without paying attention her surroundings. He also managed to catch a glimpse of a truck approaching with no intent of slowing down. Michael: ¡®What the fuck is this stereotypical shit? I thought Canadians were good truck drivers!¡¯ Michael dashed out onto the road and barely managed to push Yuna out of the way. He braced himself for the impact and then suddenly felt a hit. All of the bones on his left side were broken and he landed with his torso twisted at a weird angle. And just like that, the serial killer truck disappeared into the horizon. Michael: ¡®Shit, it looks like I won¡¯t be able to escape this situation alive.¡¯ Meanwhile, Sam and Yuna run up to him. Michael could see that Sam was panicking and that Yuna was bawling her eyes out. Sam: [Hey, hey, a-a-are you alright? I can¡¯t just have my rival dying on me like this!] Yuna: [Waaaaaaaaah! It¡¯s all my fault that you got hit!] Michael: [Now, now, *cough* Yuna, it¡¯s¡­ not your¡­ fault. I¡­ made the¡­ decision to¡­ save you¡­] Yuna: [Please don¡¯t leave me! *sniff* I love you! I loved you all this tiiiiiiime!!! *cries*] Michael¡¯s eyes widened at this revelation. Yuna loved him all this time and he never confessed to her. He was mentally chastising not having the courage to come forward. Now, the opportunity was lost, as he was sure that he would not live to see tomorrow. Sam: [Me too! I also loved you! At first, I thought that we were just friends and rivals, but I realised that I became gay for you!] Michael: ¡®¡­Well, not that I really care about that.¡¯ Michael: [I wish¡­ I could have¡­ hung out more¡­ with you guys¡­] As Michael was thinking whether he should be amused or disgusted at Sam¡¯s confession, he suddenly remembered the events that happened just now. The truck, the hit, Yuna¡¯s confession, it was all like¡­ Michael: [Oh¡­ right¡­ Yuna¡­ you asked¡­ about the fic¡­ It was called¡­ Goddess¡­ of¡­ Beauty¡­] And with those words, Michael let out his last breath in this world. Chapter 1 The Meeting with God Michael: ¡®So this is what the afterlife looks like? It¡¯s pretty boring here if you ask me.¡¯ As Michael thought that, he looked around and saw vast darkness covering every angle of his sight. That is, if he had any sight. After all, he had died and left his mortal body already, so he was probably now a spirit of some sorts. Michael: ¡®Surprisingly, it feels like I¡¯m still in my own body, I even still have my sense of touch. Still, what is this place?¡¯ As he looked around some more, he couldn¡¯t see anything around. However, he didn¡¯t feel like he was floating in midair or something similar, he felt as if he was walking on solid ground. He knelt down, and surprisingly to him, he could touch the smooth surface with the tips of his fingers. However, he couldn¡¯t see the ground with his eyes, or whatever was giving him sight. Michael: ¡®Wow, this is strange. I can even feel the coldness of the ground, or whatever it is. Still, this place doesn¡¯t resemble anything I¡¯ve read in the Divine Comedy.¡¯ While Michael was an avid reader of Japanese light novels, he also read timeless classics from other cultures. One such book was Dante Alighieri¡¯s Divine Comedy. Michael thoroughly enjoyed it, as it discussed the repercussions that a person¡¯s actions on Earth had on his afterlife. If he were to compare the current place he was in to the book, Michael probably would¡¯ve guessed one of the terraces of Purgatory, or perhaps Limbo. Limbo can be immediately crossed out of the equation. Michael was a Catholic Christian, and was baptized when he was born. He wasn¡¯t too religious though, he just believed that a higher being created and directed the universe, and found that Christianity best represented his beliefs. That would normally leave one to conclude that he was in Purgatory. But Michael didn¡¯t see anything that would resemble one of the terraces of Purgatory. There was nothing here, nothing at all. Michael never heard or read about a stage of Purgatory that had a person suffer loneliness, so he was obviously confused about this place. After spending some time deep in thought, Michael could only come to one conclusion. Michael: ¡®There¡¯s no use thinking about it. I won¡¯t be able to find out anything about this place unless someone specifically comes to visit me. Haaaaaaah. How I miss my friends.¡¯ With that thought, Michael¡¯s brain quickly went back to thinking about Yuna. She was not only his close friend, but the first girl he had ever loved. And who knows? Maybe if he had lived longer, he would have gotten the opportunity to get married with her. After all, she did confess to loving him, albeit a little too late. Michael: ¡®Now that I think about it, I really died too soon. I still had my whole life ahead of me. I could have been happy with Yuna and had kids with her and-and-and live with her until we would finally die of old age. Yuna¡­ Yuna¡­ Yuna¡­ And Sam too. He was such a great friend, even joking right before my death, ha, ha, ha¡­ at least, I hope he was.¡¯ As Michael was reminiscing about the days of his former life, the darkness around him was still present, still as ice, as if it will remain here for eternity. Michael: ¡®I just want to get out of this place, as it is incredibly boring. Besides, how long have I remained here already? For all I know, I could have been here for years already, my sense of time is so screwed up here¡­ what the¡­?¡¯ As Michael was silently complaining inside his mind, a bright flash of light suddenly blinded him and Michael quickly threw up his hands to cover his eyes. Yet, that didn¡¯t help at all and Michael noticed, as the light died down, that he couldn¡¯t see his hands. This produced a weird feeling in him as he could clearly feel his arms, but he couldn¡¯t see them at all. Michael quickly looked down at his body and noticed that he couldn¡¯t see himself at all. This led Michael to believe that he was transparent in his spirit form. Astonished by the new revelation, his thoughts were quickly interrupted by a booming voice. ???: [Ha, ha, ha, good guess, good guess! Your spirit form is a transparent and genderless entity! Even I, without my omniscient sight, can only vaguely see your outline.] Michael: ¡®This voice¡­ this light¡­ is this¡­ God?¡¯ God: [Indeed, I am. Though, I only appear to you in the form that you imagine me to be in. Ha, ha, don¡¯t be surprised. Of course I can read your mind; I don¡¯t even need my omniscient sight for that.] Michael: ¡®You keep talking about omniscient sight as if you don¡¯t have it right now, what do you mean by that?¡¯ God: [Well, I¡¯m the one true God, and I¡¯m an omnipotent being. However, when you have all the power in the world, it does get quite a bit boring. So I usually turn my omniscience off, it makes things more interesting that way.] Michael: [Well, I guess that is understandable. Still, what is this place? Before you came, it seemed to be some dark void or something.] God: [That¡¯s because this is a space-less and timeless void! Normally I use this place to just store stuff. For instance, if you had continued to go in that direction for about what would feel like a year, you would have stumbled upon a powerful artifact that I plan to transport into this new world that I created.] Michael: ¡®New world? So there are other worlds other than Earth in existence?¡¯ God: [Of course! In your former universe, Earth is a unique place. In fact, it is the only place with sentient beings¡­ but that is only true within the realms of your former universe. In reality, there are many worlds and universes that I created, partly because of boredom, partly because of curiosity.] Michael: ¡®That¡¯s very interesting. I do have one question though, why am I here? For what purpose did you bring me to this void?¡¯ God: [Right to the point, aren¡¯t you? We could have had a further discussion about my creations and how the different worlds work, but I guess being in this void, even if for seemingly a couple minutes, does make you quite bored, so we¡¯ll leave this discussion for another time.] God: [Right¡­ so you remember when I mentioned the artifact that you could have retrieved if you went in that direction? That artifact was created for a new world called Etrerea. It is a massive world that is many times bigger than Earth. Don¡¯t worry about the gravity; I changed the gravitational constant so that it would feel like Earth. I want you to be part of that world] Michael: ¡®Oh great, I¡¯ve read many light novels so I can see where this is going. You want me to be your champion, or a hero of some sorts. In the worst case scenario, you want me to be a demon king.¡¯ God: [I¡¯m surprised that you didn¡¯t consider that I just wanted you to be a normal human. But you are correct. I wouldn¡¯t have yanked your soul out of another world just to place it into another one just like that. Not only is it inefficient, it would have broken my principles. No, I will be using you for something different. I assume that you have read the Greek myths and legends in your own world, right? Well, on Earth, they are just myths and legends, but on Etrerea, there will be a pantheon of gods and goddesses. Of course, they won¡¯t be true gods like me, but they will be significantly more powerful than the general populace as well as immortal.] If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation. God: [Right, so this leads to you. I have been gathering different souls to create the gods and goddesses of this world. Due to a series of events, you are qualified to become one. Of course, I can¡¯t have you start off all-powerful and almighty, but the potential will be there. I have selected you¡­ to become the Goddess of Beauty and Love in this world!] Michael: ¡®¡­¡¯ God: [¡­] Michael: ¡®Um, you do know that I was formerly male, right?¡¯ God: [Huh? Wai-wai-wait, what? Jus-jus-just a second!] As Michael watched God summon a laptop in his hands, he couldn¡¯t help but be amused. Michael: ¡®Huh, so even God himself can become flustered. Well, we were created in his image, after all. Still, what¡¯s with that laptop, I was expected a book of some sorts.¡¯ God: [Hey, a laptop is much more convenient to store data. Besides, can you use a book to play A*gry B*rds?] Michael: ¡®Wow, so you play A*gry B*rds. You have such a horrible taste in games.¡¯ God: [Shut it! I play what I want. Let¡¯s see¡­ ah, here¡¯s your profile. Well, you were indeed a guy in your former life. Let¡¯s see¡­ huh, I never imagined that my requirements would reel in a guy of all people.] Michael: ¡®What requirements?¡¯ God: [Well, you see. I put in three requirements for a soul from Earth to arrive at this place. The first requirement was to read the fiction that I posted on RRL.] Michael: ¡®Wait, wait, wait, the one who wrote it was you?¡¯ God: [Yes, I needed someone with a great sense of imagination, and what better place to search for than on a website dedicated to fantasy fiction?] Michael: ¡®What are the other two requirements?¡¯ God: [Simply put, the other requirement was to empathize with the main character. I can¡¯t have a heartless human coming into this world to assume the role of someone responsible for beauty and love, can I? And the last requirement is simple: it¡¯s to look for the beauty in women and to strive to improve it. It was all automated to bring the first one who fulfils these conditions. I¡­ I guess I didn¡¯t really think about the gender part at all.] Michael: ¡®So you basically fucked up¡­¡¯ God: [¡­] Michael: ¡®My death was predetermined from the moment I read that damn prologue¡­¡¯ God: [¡­] Michael: ¡®And¡­ and I¡¯ll never see the one I loved ever again¡­¡¯ God: [Well, I¡¯m sure¡­] Michael: ¡®DON¡¯T GIVE ME THAT CRAP!!! You messed up and are now shoving me into a role that I don¡¯t want and I don¡¯t even fit in. And now you are acting as if you gave me such an honour even though I can care less! And you ruined my happiness for this bullshit?¡¯ God: [Calm down. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ll be able to see your friends again.] Michael: ¡®How can I¡­ wait, what do you mean?¡¯ God: [I think you¡¯re forgetting you¡¯re my own powers¡­ as well as those of your future.] Michael: ¡®So¡­ so that means I¡¯ll be able to see her again?¡¯ God: [Potentially. I will admit that I messed up badly this time. So, how about I provide a little bit of compensation?] Michael: ¡®What do you mean?¡¯ God: [I¡¯ll give you information¡­ and an extra power.] Michael: ¡®¡­Sounds good enough.¡¯ God: [OK. The world of Etrerea is unlike Earth. Earth only contains one sentient species: humans. On the other hand, Etrerea is filled with lots of them. Along with humans, you have the elves, dwarves, draconians, undines, fairies, beastmen, demons, and other species that you¡¯ll just have to read about. There are also monsters and animals. Animals are¡­ well, animals, and monsters are just animals that know how to use mana, until they reach a very high level, of course. Each being and monster are classified into ranks based on how strong they are, going from lowest to highest: F, E, D, C, B, A, S, SS, SSS, and finally, X. Normally, beings will be capped at SSS, since only I choose who has enough potential to reach X, and all of them so far are the ones I chose to become gods of this world. Of course, items will also be ranked by the same system as well, though they don¡¯t have a cap.] God: [Now, to become a Goddess, your goal will be to reach the peak of power, the X rank. Don¡¯t think it will be easy though, some of the souls I chose to become gods died along the way, so I had to find replacements sometimes. Normally, it will be extremely difficult, even with the potential that I¡¯ll be giving you. But I¡¯ll give you a cheat. Now, every being in this world use mana to a certain extent. Most beings only have a maximum affinity in one element, but depending on their potential, as well as race, they may have more than one.] God: [The elements in this world are the classic fire, earth, water, and wind, as well as darkness, light, metal, and wood. The classic four are the most common among the elements, while darkness and light are usually race specific. Metal and wood are extremely rare elements that almost never appear, and their true nature is shrouded in mystery.] God: [Here¡¯s where you come into the picture. First, you¡¯ll have maximum affinity in all the elements, otherwise, you can only dream about becoming a Goddess. However, I¡¯ll also be giving you a certain skill that you¡¯ll find out about when you get there. Skills are just techniques that can be used by beings. Passive skills are skills that can be learnt and have a constant effect on a person. It can be anything, ranging from weapon mastery to quick reading. Active skills can also be learnt and are activated on command. Examples of such skills include firing a fireball, as well as enchanting your weapon with an affinity. Special skills on the other hand, cannot be learnt. They are restricted to individuals and usually are skills inherited from bloodlines or given to them by gods.] God: [Now that we got all that out of the way, are you ready for some new experiences?] Michael: ¡®Well, not really¡­¡¯ God: [Excellent! I¡¯m glad that we¡¯re all good to go! Now then¡­] Suddenly, Michael could feel as if though he was falling. Michael: ¡®Argh, why couldn¡¯t he make this easier?¡¯ And with that thought, Michael lost conciousness. Chapter 2 The Awakening Author''s note: Hey, guys! I''m out with another chapter! I have a general idea of what I''m going to do for the next couple of chapters. All I can say is, enjoy! Oh, and I need suggestions for a new name for ex-Michael. That would be much appreciated. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A pair of eyes opened¡­ and then suddenly closed shut again. Michael: ¡®Argh. Too bright! Too bright! I guess spending all that time in the void had an effect on my eyesight¡­ or maybe it¡¯s just this body? Either way, I was blinded as soon as I opened my eyelids.¡¯ Shielding his eyes with his hands, he slowly opened his eyes. He started with a squint, and then fully opened them after a couple of seconds. The first things to come into vision were his hands. Michael: ¡®What the¡­? These are my hands?¡¯ In his previous life, Michael was a fairly short and chubby boy. And that reflected in his hands as well, they were tanned, chubby and had short fingers. However, looking at his hands right now, they had a completely different appearance. They were incredibly, as pale as the moon on a clear night sky. Not only that, they were thin and dainty, and his fingers were now longer in comparison. His fingernails had also grown in length. Finished in the observation of his hands, Michael started to look around. What he saw were vast white walls surrounding the place, seemingly made out of marble. The walls were adorned with numerous columns, giving them an ancient feel. The glass roof pointed upwards at an angle, creating a pyramid-like shape, and was well above his head. Looking at the center of the structure, Michael noticed a circular shaped pond that was about three meters in diameter. It didn¡¯t look too deep, as he could see the bottom of the basin. On the opposite end of the room, he could see a door about three meters in height painted white, completing the motif. Michael: ¡®This place¡­ sort of resembles a temple of some sorts. Just where did God send me?¡¯ Sitting up, Michael noticed that he was on an altar. He presumed his body was lying there before he awoke. Suddenly, he experienced a nasty headache. Michael: ¡®Ow, it¡¯s painful!! I¡¯m guessing my body was lying here for too long. This headache is similar to ones where you sleep for too long and then just suddenly bolt upright as soon as you awake.¡¯ Rubbing his forehead, Michael noticed that his hair has gotten longer. Feeling his hair, he determined that it was now at about waist length. Looking downwards, he also noticed that his clothing has changed. Instead of the usual t-shirt and jeans that he wore previously, he was now in a plain, white dress that extended all the way to his ankles. Michael: ¡®Man, couldn¡¯t God give me some more comfortable clothing to wear? *Sigh* I better get used to this, I guess¡­¡¯ Getting off the altar, Michael¡¯s bare feet touched the floor. He determined that he is now shorter than before, since everything appeared to be larger than what he was used to. Glancing towards the pond, he quickly took a step towards the pond¡­ and quickly tripped. Michael: ¡®Uuuuuuuuu. My arm¡­ my arm! Hopefully, I didn¡¯t break anything. My sense of balance is now completely different than what I am used to. It seems that I¡¯m stuck in a series of unlucky situations. What did I ever do to deserve this¡­?¡¯ Standing up while clutching his arm, Michael proceeded to walk slowly towards the pond. Though he was walking on solid ground, it felt like he was on a tightrope, holding on for dear life. Reaching the pond, he kneeled beside it and peered over the edge¡­ and froze. In front of his eyes was a child of immeasurable beauty. Back when he first saw Yuna, he was enchanted. He didn¡¯t think that such a flawless girl was capable of existing. But this¡­ this was different. Michael was never a lolicon in his former life. Well, it¡¯s hard to be one when you only lived to be fourteen years old, but he never had any interest in girls younger than him. But seeing this face, he definitely would have made an exception in his book. Staring back at him was a girl with her eyes wide open. Michael estimated that this girl was about ten years old. Her hair had an enamouring golden blonde colour and her eyes had a light shade of blue. If she had smiled, she most likely would have even melted the hearts of the wickedest of villains. Michael: [T-that¡¯s me¡­?] Uttering those words, Michael suddenly clasped his hands over his mouth. He was surprised to hear the words that came out of his mouth, for they were high-pitched and incredibly soft-sounding. It was a voice that could calm even the wildest of animals. Michael: ¡®I remember back when I was younger that I would always claim that I would marry the most perfect girl. Never would I have imagined that I would actually become one.¡¯ Crouching by the pond, Michael stared at his reflection for the next couple of minutes before standing up. Michael: ¡®Well, enough with that. I probably shouldn¡¯t be attracted to myself too much, considering I¡¯ll be living in this body from now on.¡¯ Looking around, he noticed a table that escaped his gaze during the initial observation of this room. Figuring that it must be something important, Michael, still not used to his body, wobbled over to the table. Resting on it was a single note. Michael: ¡®A note? It¡¯s probably something that the old man left me. I can¡¯t imagine anyone other than God who would leave something like that.¡¯ Picking up the note, Michael read the contents of it. ¡°Hey there, Michael! Since you are reading this note, you have been successfully reincarnated by me. Congratulations! Although, there¡¯s no point in celebrating, considering that messing up something isn¡¯t even within the realms of my imagination. Well, I guess I did mess up when I accidentally chose your soul to be a Goddess in this world. Oops. Anyways, I am sure that you have a lot of unanswered questions for me right now. In fact, we could have this conversation back in the Void, but I¡¯m not a patient fellow so I jumped straight into the action. I¡¯m sure that you are wondering where you are located at the moment. Well, it¡¯s a special place that I prepared just for you, can¡¯t have you dying prematurely, can we? Aren¡¯t I such a nice guy? Anyways, you are currently residing within a temple, as I am sure you already guessed. This is probably the place where you should practice, since I filled it with divine mana, and its purity and strength is much higher than that of regular mana. This temple is also connected to a series of buildings. If you go through that white door on the opposite corner of the room, you¡¯ll find yourself in the residence house. I stockpiled enough food to last you for a couple years. I¡¯ve also prepared some clothing fit for a goddess of beauty, so look forward to that! Connected to the residence house is the training hall, although I¡¯m not sure what use you¡¯ll find for that, but hey, it¡¯s there. Stolen story; please report. Now, you are located within a vast forest in the middle of Nephiras, the Elven continent on Etrerea. There are no villages or cities in proximity, so you don¡¯t have to worry about unfriendly company. Still worried that someone will stumble on this place? Don¡¯t be! I cast an illusion spell on this place so no one will find it¡­ at least until it wears off. You have until you reach adulthood to do whatever you want without consequences. Just don¡¯t wander farther than a 100 m from any building. You might be wondering why I didn¡¯t reincarnate you as an adult. Well, what were you expecting? You didn¡¯t even live to adulthood in your former world, and you want me to give you an automatic pass? Although, truth be told, I just wanted you to take your time and adapt for now. This is a much crueler world than your previous world, so I wanted you to take your time to prepare. Besides, it will be incredibly fun for me to watch you grow up. Oh and, by the way, I recommend you change your name. I don¡¯t think Michael would sound too good considering your current appearance. Good luck, and have fun with your new body! - God Almighty P.S. I almost forgot, if you want to see your status, then say, ¡®Show status.¡¯ I¡¯m pretty sure you can figure it out from there.¡± Michael: ¡®It¡¯s almost like he¡¯s not even taking this seriously. Well, might as well check out the status that he was talking about.¡¯ Michael: [Show status.]
Status Window
Name:???Alignment:Neutral
Rank:FClass:None.
Race:Lesser GoddessGender:Female
Titles
Future Goddess of Beauty and Love
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:100 / 100Health Regen:1.0 / Sec
Mana:5000 / 5000Mana Regen:5.0 / Sec
Stamina:50 / 50Stamina Regen:0.2 / Sec
-
Strenght:5Agility:10
Vitality:5
Intelligence:500Wisdom:500
Leadership:0Luck:10
Elemental Affinity
Fire:100%Water:100%
Wind:100%Earth:100%
Light:100%Darkness:100%
Wood:100%Metal:100%
Special Skills
Charm
Michael: ¡®Hmmmm, my intelligence and wisdom are quite high, probably because I was what people considered a genius in my former life. My strength, vitality, and stamina are pitifully low though. I guess becoming a frail girl really does take a toll on the body. And what¡¯s this skill? Charm¡­ what does it do?¡¯ Using the knowledge obtained from light novels, Michael yelled a couple of phrases. Michael: [¡®Charm¡¯. Show ¡®Charm¡¯. Skill ¡®Charm¡¯. Show skill ¡®Charm¡¯¡­ oh, that worked.]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
CharmSSMAX100%
Due to being the future Goddess of Beauty and Love, you are able to temporarily captivate and gain favours from any living being. Frequent use on one being may cause permanent effects. Warning: Mishandling the amount of mana you pour into this skill may lead to... undesirable consequences.
Looking at the description, Michael furrowed his eyebrows and shouted every profanity that he knew. Chapter 3 Exploring the New House Author''s note: Hey guys! I''m back with another chapter! It may seem sort of filler-ish, but I took the time to develop the setting, the MC''s character, as well as giving him/her a new goal to work towards. Hopefully, you guys will enjoy the chapter. Thanks! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- All Michael did was cry for a couple hours. To be honest, when God told him that he would give Michael a unique power, he became secretly ecstatic. While Michael knew that he would most likely not survive with his former gender intact, and wasn¡¯t looking forward to it, he managed to keep his calm because of the power that God promised him. He has read many novels back in his world, so he was looking forward to lightning manipulation, control of the void, or some other unique and powerful magic. Well, he did get a unique and powerful skill, in the end¡­ the power to seduce men and women, animals and beasts. Just looking at the description made him feel like a slut, and he cursed God Almighty for playing such a joke on him. Michael: ¡®Goddess of Beauty and Love, my ass. This skill is more suited for a Goddess of Lust and Temptation.¡¯ With those thoughts, he swore to himself that he will never use this skill for as long as he lives. Michael: ¡®The skill ¡®Charm¡¯ will cause me more problems than solve them anyways. And if I¡¯m reading the warning correctly¡­ well, that¡¯s a situation that I will definitely not want to be in.¡¯ Finishing with those thoughts, Michael switched priorities to the other problem posed to him by God, the need of a new name. Michael already noticed when he pulled up his status screen that the box where his name should have been was filled with question marks. Michael: ¡®Hmmm, a name¡­ since I¡¯m basically starting a new life, I should at least pick a name that I like and that will fit me. Aphrodite? No, that would be too clich¨¦ and unimaginative. Michelle? I feel that doesn¡¯t even fit someone who¡¯s supposed to be a goddess. It¡¯s more of a commoner¡¯s name. Haaaah, I didn¡¯t realise naming would be such a tedious things. I guess I kind of understand why parents argue so much over names.¡¯ Sitting down, Michael spent another couple of minutes thinking up different names, yet none of them seemed to fit. Michael: ¡®I might as well remember the names of different goddesses from my former world. People thinking them up probably had more imagination than me.¡¯ Browsing through the names of various goddesses from different religions, he stumbled upon one that he really liked. Michael: ¡®That one¡­ it¡¯s perfect! It sounds majestic and calming at the same time, but it also doesn¡¯t sound too girly. I may have become a girl, but I also don¡¯t plan to be a feminine one!¡¯ Clearing his throat, Michael slowly, but calmly, said the following phrase. Michael: [My name¡­ shall be Amaterasu.]
Congratulations! You have named yourself with the following name: Amaterasu!
Michael ¨C no¡­ Amaterasu looked affirmatively at the blue screen that popped up in front of her. Amaterasu: ¡®I still can¡¯t quite get used to these boxes. God employs such a convenient system for this world. Wish I had them back in my former world.¡¯ While Amaterasu was lost in thought, her stomach growled, bringing her back to reality. Amaterasu: ¡®Now that I think about it, how long has it been since I¡¯ve eaten? Or more correctly, how long has it been since this body has eaten? Or maybe this is going to be the first time it will eat?¡¯ Amusing herself with such thoughts, Amaterasu stood up and started walking towards the door she noticed earlier. She still hadn¡¯t quite gotten used to her new sense of balance, so the walk to the door was slow. When she reached the door, she turned the knob and pulled it open. Amaterasu: ¡®Woah, this place looks much bigger than my former house.¡¯ Staring all around her, Amaterasu deduced that the place she was in is a living room of some sorts. The walls were painted purple and two of them were adorned with multiple windows. There was a set of stairs in the middle of the room. On the wall opposite of the door she exited were two doors. On one side with the windows was a couch, though it wasn¡¯t made out of leather. Amaterasu: ¡®I might as well check out the couch¡­ wow. The material is so soft to the touch. I wonder what it¡¯s made of.¡¯ Looking around, Ameterasu also noticed two chandeliers hanging from the ceiling, with numerous stones inside of them. Amaterasu: ¡®I wonder what these stones do. Judging from the fact that they are in the chandelier, they must be some sort of device that lights up. Mana stones of some sort, perhaps?¡¯ Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings. Since Amaterasu didn¡¯t know how to use mana yet, she left the testing for later. She walked across the wooden floor to the stairs and climbed upwards, which surprisingly made her out of breath. There were two doors located on opposite ends of the hall. Amaterasu peered into one of them and discovered that it was a bathroom. All the faucets had a stone in them, which Amaterasu deduced were also mana stones. Amaterasu: ¡®I wonder if the mana stones in the chandeliers work similarly to these? If so, how do they invoke the different effects? I¡¯m also kind of interested to know how the toilet works here, but I guess I¡¯ll leave that for later.¡¯ Walking to the other room, Amaterasu saw that it was a bedroom. The bed was a four poster bed that you would see royalty use in movies. There was also a mirror hanging on the wall and a wardrobe right next to it. Amaterasu: ¡®God told me that he left some clothes for me. Let¡¯s check it out.¡¯ Opening the wardrobe doors, he discovered that it was filled with dresses of different sizes. There was also an assortment of bras and underwear, with most being quite erotic. Amaterasu was not yet in need of bras, as her chest was as flat as board. Amaterasu: ¡®¡­I¡¯m not sure if God is playing a trick on me or dresses are the only thing that women. Ugh, I guess I¡¯ll have to settle for dresses. For now, I¡¯ll change from this stuffy one.¡¯ Amaterasu took off her dress and glanced at her body. She was slim like a model, but it wasn¡¯t an unnatural sort that you would see in an anorexic person. Looking down at her chest, she couldn¡¯t help but feel a slight bit¡­ disappointed? She didn¡¯t know what it was, but she quickly dismissed that feeling. Amaterasu: ¡®There really is nothing there anymore¡­¡¯ Slowly bringing her hand down, Amaterasu touched her crotch. Feeling a tingly sensation, she quickly retracted her hand. Amaterasu: ¡®That was¡­ a weird feeling. It definitely feels different from how guys masturbate. Although, I probably shouldn¡¯t be playing with my body, I¡¯m not a sex maniac after all.¡¯ Flustered, Amaterasu quickly picked a dress from a wardrobe. It was a black one with long sleeves with a skirt that reached to just below her knees. It was looser than the one that she wore before, so Amaterasu felt more comfortable in it. Amaterasu: ¡®Much better. Though¡­ should I also wear the underwear as well?¡¯ Deliberating for over a minute, Amaterasu couldn¡¯t summon the courage to wear the underwear, especially the more erotic ones. Amaterasu: ¡®Eh, no one lives here anyway except for me. I don¡¯t think that it will matter much anyways.¡¯ Descending downstairs back into the living room, Amaterasu decided to open one of the doors that she noticed before. To her delight, it was a room that resembled a kitchen. There wasn¡¯t any oven though, but there was cutlery all over a place and a pit filled with stones. Amaterasu: ¡®Mana stones, again? Don¡¯t tell me I need to know how to use mana to eat!¡¯ Fortunately for Amaterasu, she discovered that the storage, which was fairly cold, contained food that was already prepared, most likely for her beginner days. Grabbing a sandwich, she quickly started nibbling on it. To her surprise, Amaterasu discovered that she was already full after eating three quarters of it. Amaterasu: ¡®It seems like this body needs less food to fill it up, which is good for me, I guess, since I will be able to live on less food.¡¯ Finished eating, Amaterasu decided to check out the remaining door. As she expected, she found out that it was the training hall, as written in the note. It was filled with all sorts of equipment, from wooden swords to training dummies. Deciding to try them out later, Amaterasu went back to the living room and plopped onto the couch and started to assess the situation. Amaterasu: ¡®So, let¡¯s get this straight. I am currently on Etrerea, specifically in the middle of the Elven continent Nephiras. I wonder why God put me on the Elven continent. Maybe they¡¯re the nicest people? Haaah, hopefully I¡¯ll find out later. My goal is to become a true goddess, or something like that. Now, how will I do that? God only told me that I need to get to X rank, but he didn¡¯t really tell me any further details, so I guess that I¡¯m left to figuring them out. I suppose that my first objective should be to learn how to use mana, since this body seems to be pretty useless without it. OK, now that I have a goal, let¡¯s get started!¡¯ Standing up, Amaterasu walked towards the place where she woke up, the temple. Chapter 4 Playing with Fire Author''s note: Hey, guys! Back with another chapter. So I realised I messed up on chapter 2 and put levels instead of ranks, despite talking only about ranks in chapter 1. My bad, I went back and fixed it. But yeah, this chapter is the main hero(ine) practicing magic. I wanted to focus more on the relationship between mana and spells themselves, as well as intelligence and all that. I find that authors don''t focus on it as much and they waste so much potential in developing an interesting world with magic. Often, they resort to using magic as a tool, not as a gateway for the reader to enter the world themselves, visualising themselves there. I''ll be focusing more on that aspect later. Thanks for reading this chapter and enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu: ¡®Well, since I¡¯m now in a world of magic, might as well try it out.¡¯ Amaterasu was actually looking forward to using magic, since her former world obviously had none. She was currently located in the temple, since, according to the note, this place had a special type of mana, divine mana. Amaterasu didn¡¯t know what that meant other than the mana was stronger and purer than other types. Amaterasu: ¡®Here goes nothing!¡¯ She stretched out her hand, palm open, and loudly shouted. Amaterasu: [FIREBALL!] She stood there for a couple of seconds¡­ and nothing happened. Amaterasu: ¡®¡­ huh?¡¯ Amaterasu was puzzled by the whole affair. She didn¡¯t understand why she couldn¡¯t the most basic and classic spell, a fireball. Amaterasu: ¡®Hmmm, I guess I shouldn¡¯t have expected it to be that easy. But still, what did I do wrong? I checked my status earlier, and I seemed to have an enormous amount of mana, so I should be able to cast a spell as basic as fireball. Yet, when I tried to, I couldn¡¯t feel anything forming, or any power coming out of me¡­ nothing!¡¯ Frustrated, Amaterasu sat down on the hard and cold stone floor and began to ponder. The main problem is that, though Amaterasu is incredibly smart, she didn¡¯t understand what exactly mana was. After all, she never encountered it in her previous world, nor did she have any opportunity to learn about it in this one. Amaterasu: ¡®Gah, God could have at least told me how to use it. He omitted probably the most important information in his explanation and his note. I have feeling he didn¡¯t forget though, and that he is toying with me right now. Haaah, I guess I¡¯ll have to figure it out on my own.¡¯ For the remaining day, Amaterasu tried various methods of performing spells, but all of them were to no avail. No matter what she tried, she couldn¡¯t get a hang of it. Amaterasu: ¡®Haaah, I¡¯ll try again tomorrow. Mana isn¡¯t that easy to work with after all.¡¯ With that thought, Amaterasu departed for the day. ----------------------------------------------------------- The next month went by pretty quickly. Amazingly enough, Amaterasu found the way to absorb mana on the fourth day. When she sat down on the floor to meditate, she imagined a transparent wave washing over her. As soon as she started to concentrate, she felt the mana flowing in the air. It felt as viscous as a liquid, which Amaterasu assumed was an effect of the mana being divine. What Amaterasu didn¡¯t know was that she performed an amazing feat. Even with a teacher¡¯s guidance, most students took several months to be able to find the flow of mana. Even geniuses usually took a month to find it, with the lowest time ever recorded being three weeks. Of course, Amaterasu wasn¡¯t completely helpless in her endeavours. While she did take only three days to visualize the flow of mana, she was a lesser goddess, after all. This meant that she naturally had a lot more potential than regular beings when it came to magic. Also, the purity of the divine mana meant that she could sense it would easily than she would regular mana. And finally, she still remembered all the novels that she read in the previous world, so she had some idea in the direction to take. With that discovery, Amaterasu spent the previous month meditating. The problem was that she came to a standstill. She exhausted every idea she had, but wasn¡¯t able to create a single spell. Confronted with the dilemma, Amaterasu decided that it was best to spend the time doing something useful while she came up with ideas. Amaterasu was currently sitting in a position similar to the lotus position, except that her feet weren¡¯t on her opposing thighs. The reason was that Amaterasu wasn¡¯t flexible enough to maintain the position for too long and it seemingly made no difference on the effect of absorbing mana, so she gave up trying to maintain it and just sat cross-legged. Amaterasu: ¡®Hmmm, I think I got.¡¯ Amaterasu opened her eyes, full of determination, and stood up. She was ready to create her first spell. Amaterasu: ¡®If I¡¯m correct, the key to casting spell is the imagination. Back when I first tried to cast spells, all that I thought about was the end effect, the fireball itself. But when I started to meditate, I visualised the mana itself flowing around and the way the particles themselves interacted with one another. If I¡¯m correct, then I need to also visualise the creation of the spell itself.¡¯ Amaterasu once again closed her eyes and started to visualise the creation of the spell. In her image, the mana particles started to move extremely quickly, causing the molecules in the air to vibrate. As the air molecules moved faster, increasing the entropy of the system, they started to ionise and create energy, which was in the shape of a ball. As she poured in more mana, the fireball started to become bigger itself. Feeling the heat, Amaterasu opened her eyes to see the result and was shocked with the outcome in front of her. Amaterasu saw a flame in front of her, but unlike her image, the flame wasn¡¯t red, but white. It was also much larger than she anticipated. After the shock and awe faded, Amaterasu realised that she made a critical mistake. Looking around her, she remembered that she was in a closed environment. No matter which direction she should release the fireball ¨C it would always hit either the wall or the glass roof. Panicking, Amaterasu broke her concentration and accidentally released the fireball in the direction of a wall. Clenching her teeth, she braced for the impact. After all, she had lived here for a month already, and started getting used to this place. To burn it all down over a silly mistake made her wince, the result would leave her homeless and without food to eat. As someone who just learnt how to control mana, the thought of being stranded alone in the middle of nowhere wasn¡¯t a pleasing one. However, as soon as the fireball reached the wall, it suddenly dispersed. Amaterasu stared at the wall blankly, confused at to what was going on. Just then, a realisation swept over her. Amaterasu: ¡®Ah, I get it. God specifically made this temple for training magic so he probably reinforced the structure with the ability to nullify mana and its effects. I¡¯m so glad that I didn¡¯t cause any irreversible damage.¡¯ This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. With that thought, Amaterasu noticed that a blue box popped up in front of her.
Congratulations! Due to creating the spell, you have gained access to: Grand Fireball!
Amaterasu: ¡®Grand Fireball? Not just Fireball? What does this mean?¡¯ Amaterasu: [Show skill ¡®Grand Fireball¡¯.]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand FireballABeginner 10%
Due to understanding the very nature of how energy works, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Fireball. This pure white flame is much hotter and will be able to incinerate most things in its path.
Amaterasu: ¡®Wow. I can¡¯t believe I managed to unlock a more powerful version of the spell. So it looks like the key to magic is not only the imagination itself, but also the knowledge of the particular effect that you are looking for. So instead of just visualising the creation of the fireball through mana, I was able to produce a much powerful fireball by interacting mana with the molecules in the air.¡¯ Amaterasu: ¡®Furthermore, it seems that the amount of mana used corresponds to the size of the effect. So, for instance, if I pour in all my mana into the fireball, I¡¯ll produce a bigger one than if I only use a fraction of my mana. Let¡¯s test out this theory.¡¯ Amaterasu decided to check the amount of mana that she used for the Grand Fireball. Amaterasu: [Show status.]
Status Window
Name:AmaterasuAlignment:Neutral
Rank:EClass:None
Race:Lesser GoddessGender:Female
Titles
Future Goddess of Beauty and Love
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:300 / 300Health Regen:1.0 / Sec
Mana:6050 / 9000Mana Regen:10.0 / Sec
Stamina:50 / 50Stamina Regen:0.2 / Sec
-
Strength:5Agility:10
Vitality:5
Intelligence:600Wisdom:600
Leadership:0Luck:10
Elemental Affinity
Fire:100%Water:100%
Wind:100%Earth:100%
Light:100%Darkness:100%
Wood:100%Metal:100%
Special Skills
Charm Grand Fireball
Amaterasu looked at the status screen and her eyes widened due to what she saw. Amaterasu: ¡®Did¡­ did my mana almost double over the period of this month? My health, intelligence, and wisdom gained some as well. It seems that by absorbing mana over the period of this month as well as using that spell caused my stats to go up.¡¯ After she observed her stats for a few seconds, Amaterasu looked at her current mana. Amaterasu: ¡®If we take into account my mana regen, then I used about 3000 units of mana. I have about 6000 left, so I¡¯ll pour the rest of it into the fireball and see the effect that the increase will have.¡¯ Amaterasu started to visualise the creation of the fireball again. Since she already did it once before, this time it was easier for her, so she had no need to close her eyes. Amaterasu began to pour all her mana into the fireball and the more she poured, the bigger the fireball became. Finally, when Amaterasu felt spent, she looked at her efforts. In front of her was an enormous, raging flame that was glowing white. Amaterasu estimated that it was about double the size of the original one. It was so large that if the temple wasn¡¯t specifically built with space for training magic, the fireball would have reached the ceiling. Nodding in approval, Amaterasu released the fireball and it hit the wall with the same result as before. Amaterasu was excited that her theory was proven correct. Amaterasu: ¡®So it looks like the size of the effect is dependant on the amount you use. This most likely means that intelligence affects the strength of the spell. That is¡­ good¡­ to¡­ know¡­¡¯ With that thought, Amaterasu suddenly lost conscious and fainted. Chapter 5 The Mysterious Encounter Author''s note: Sorry for not posting any new chapters. I got struck by a disease: laziness. TBH, I don''t like this chapter very much, for some reason. I don''t think I developed it as well as I could. Should''ve probably combined it with chapter 4. On another note, who will the mysterious figure be? Hue hue hue, you''ll find out. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu looked around and could only see pitch blackness around her. Amaterasu: ¡®Haaah, did I fuck up already? It¡¯s only been a month! I¡¯ve been too careless. It¡¯s strange, though, I can still see my body quite clearly, unlike in the void.¡¯ ???: [No, no, no, don¡¯t worry about that. You¡¯re not dead or anything like that.] Amaterasu quickly turned around and saw¡­ him. The glowing light shined brightly in her eyes. Amaterasu: [¡­Old man. Then, why am I here?] God: [Oh, you just fainted from a lack of mana, your body is lying on the floor recovering at this point. Didn¡¯t you learn from web novels to never fully use your mana? Haaah. The reason you¡¯re here is that I brought you here.] Amaterasu squinted and eyed the bright light suspiciously. Amaterasu: [What for? Did you forget to tell me some vital information again?] God: [Me? Forget? Now that is a good joke! I just like to¡­ take my time. So, how do you like your new body, Michael¡­ or should I say, Amaterasu-chan?] Amaterasu: [S-s-shut up about that! Because of you, I¡¯m weak as hell now! I can barely feel any strength in my body.] God: [I wish I had a body right now so that I could facepalm. Of course your body is going to be weak; you¡¯re basically a loli right now. Don¡¯t worry, though, you won¡¯t have to endure this for long.] Amaterasu: [Huh? What do you mean with that?] God: [Your body is a little bit special. After all, you are a lesser goddess. Basically, this means that your growth will be accelerated until you reach adulthood, at which point you will stop aging.] Amaterasu: [So does that mean that the illusion barrier lasts until I reach adulthood?] God: [Exactly! So that means that you¡¯re perfectly safe until then¡­ well, almost.] Amaterasu: [Wait, what do you mean by that?] God: [I don¡¯t think it will come into play, so don¡¯t worry about it. You¡¯ve been really astonishing me though, discovering magic so fast. You¡¯re the quickest one of the gods to first create a spell, and an A rank one at that!] Amaterasu: [Well, that¡¯s what happens when you combine magic and science together.] God: [Indeed¡­ well, I think it¡¯s time for you to go right now. Arrivederci!] With a flick of light, Amaterasu suddenly found herself staring at the glass roof. Amaterasu: ¡®Phew, I must be careful with my mana reserve now. I was able to escape unscathed this time, but in actual battle, the enemy would take the advantage and kill me. I must build up my mana reserve.¡¯ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A year had gone by since Amaterasu had fainted. She already got used to living in the house that God built for her. During the year, she also grew to be quite a bit taller and she noticed that her own body began developing. Her breasts, though still small, grew a noticeable amount, though Amaterasu still didn¡¯t need to wear a bra. If she looked like a 10 year old when she first arrived, she now began to look like a 12 year old. Due to this, Amaterasu deduced that her rate of growth was about twice as fast as a regular human¡¯s. She developed several skills during that time period and constantly practiced to raise their efficiency. Amazingly, she managed to create the grand version of every basic elemental skill. Amaterasu was currently sitting on the floor of the temple, admiring her stats.
Status Window
Name:AmaterasuAlignment:Neutral
Rank:DClass:None
Race:Lesser GoddessGender:Female
Titles
Future Goddess of Beauty and Love
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:1000 / 1000Health Regen:2.0 / Sec
Mana:25000 / 25000Mana Regen:25.0 / Sec
Stamina:50 / 50Stamina Regen:0.2 / Sec
-
Strength:5Agility:10
Vitality:5
Intelligence:1300Wisdom:1300
Leadership:0Luck:10
Elemental Affinity
Fire:100%Water:100%
Wind:100%Earth:100%
Light:100%Darkness:100%
Wood:100%Metal:100%
Special Skills
Charm
Active Skills
Grand Fireball Grand Water Ball Grand Wind Ball Grand Earth Spike Grand Heal Grand Darkness
Amaterasu: ¡®Yes, this should be about right.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Show skill ¡®Grand Water Ball.¡¯]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand Water BallAIntermediate 722%
Due to understanding the molecules of water, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Water Ball. This sapphire crystal water sphere will leave a devestating destruction in its path.
Grand Water Ball was the skill that Amaterasu discovered after Grand Fireball. It wasn¡¯t too difficult because it worked on the same concept as Grand Fireball, except slightly different. Amaterasu managed to create Grand Water Ball by visualising the water particles and the intermolecular bonds between them. By doing that, Amaterasu was able to form a ball of water that was crystal blue in colour and sparkled like a sapphire. Amaterasu: [Good. Now, show skill ¡®Grand Wind Ball.¡¯]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand Wind BallAIntermediate 678%
Due to understanding air, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Wind Ball. This This storm will slice through anything on its path.
Grand Wind Ball was probably the easiest skill that Amaterasu had created due to the nature of its visualisation. All that Amaterasu had to do to create this spell was to visualise the molecules in the air moving rapidly within a sphere of mana. The result was a raging storm encased within a ball. The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Amaterasu: [I see that the skill grew as well. Show skill ¡®Grand Earth Spike.¡¯]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand Earth SpikeAIntermediate 612%
Due to understanding the ground beneath your feet, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Earth Spike. This black spike will pierce through anything in its path.
Grand Earth Spike was the basic Earth elemental skill that Amaterasu found. The move¡¯s name defined itself well. Grand Earth Spike was a black spike made out of soil. All Amaterasu had to do was visualise the content of the earth shaping to form a spike at a specific location, and it would form. Nodding her head, Amaterasu was glad that she managed to level up the skill this far. Amaterasu: [Ugh, I remember having trouble with the next one. Show skill ¡®Grand Heal.¡¯]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand HealAIntermediate 313%
Due to understanding photosynthesis, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Heal. This burst of light will heal even the most devastating of injuries.
Grand Heal was a skill that Amaterasu discovered during her training. This skill gave Amaterasu the most trouble of them all. When she finished creating the Grand Earth Spike, her next step was to develop her proficiency in light magic. The first idea that came to her mind was a healing spell, since those were the most common form of light magic in the web novels she read in her former life. However, Amaterasu soon discovered that there was more to light magic than meets the eye. Her attempts at producing a healing spell ended in failure initially since she couldn¡¯t understand how light magic worked to heal injuries. Fortunately, Amaterasu remembered the time when she learned about plants in her former life and used that as a basis for healing magic. She visualised her body absorbing light like a plant wound and closing the injury. She was successful, and learned a powerful utility skill in the process. Amaterasu: [I need to level this up some more. Who knows what will happen if I get into a fight and get heavily wounded? Let¡¯s see about the last one. Show skill ¡®Grand Darkness.¡¯]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand DarknessAIntermediate 260%
Due to understanding the effect of light on eyes, you were able to uncover the secret to a much more powerful version of Darkness. The divergence of light will completely blind your opponent.
Grand Darkness was a powerful skill that Amaterasu thought up during the year. It consisted of diverting light from the eyes using mana, which effectively blinded the opponent. When Amaterasu first used that skill on herself, she ended up in complete darkness. However, this spell was incredibly hard to maintain, particularly on a moving opponent, due to the nature of the skill. Since Grand Darkness diverted light at a specific area, moving to another would cause the spell to wear off. Amaterasu didn''t manage to create a skill for the Wood or Metal element. She tried to, but couldn''t for some reason. Amaterasu wondered if this was the reason that the elements were so rare in the first place. Amaterasu: ¡®Hmmm, I¡¯ve levelled up all my skills to at least intermediate level already, so I¡¯ve become more efficient at using them. I wonder if you can combine two skills to create a new one. That¡¯s an interesting experiment. Let¡¯s try it out, shall we?¡¯ Standing in the temple, Amaterasu decided that it was best to start off with something easy. Amaterasu: ¡®Wind is the easiest element to visualise, followed by fire. What if we combine the two together?¡¯ Amaterasu began to visualise her Grand Fireball. The result was one that she experienced many times over the past year, a big, white fireball. While concentrating on maintaining the image of the fireball, she also began to invoke a current of air into the flame. Combining her Grand Fireball and Grand Wind Ball, the end product was astonishing. Instead of the white fireball that she initially created, Amaterasu was now staring at a bright, blue flame. She could even feel the heat from where she was standing, which astonished her. Amaterasu experimented over the year and found that her own offensive spells didn¡¯t cause any damage to her. So for her to feel the heat of this fireball meant that it was incredibly hot.
Congratulations! You¡¯ve created the active skill: Blue Flame!
Amaterasu hurriedly released the blue fireball. Amaterasu: [I need to see this. Show skill ¡®Blue Flame.¡¯]
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Blue FlameSBeginner 10%
Due to combining two powerful spells, you were able to create a devastating blue flame.
Amaterasu: ¡®An ¡®S¡¯ class skill? Amazing! It might not be the best skill possible, but for a newbie like me, it definitely packs a punch. Heh, I can¡¯t wait to catch people off guard with this.¡¯ Amaterasu decided to play around with the skill for a bit. She spent another couple of hours practicing it, since, at the moment, it was her trump card. She even managed to create two at once, which is difficult because she had to concentrate on forming one fireball, while maintaining the other. It took a couple of tries, but eventually she was able to do it. Amaterasu: ¡®Alright. I think that¡¯s enough for now. I¡¯ll grab a quick bite and take a nap. This skill is very draining.¡¯ Amaterasu was about to begin walking towards the kitchen when she suddenly collapsed in pain, clutching her stomach. Amaterasu: ¡®Ugh, did I overexert myself? I should have enough mana left. Besides, using this much never caused me to feel such pain before.¡¯ Deep in thoughts, Amaterasu felt a warm liquid flowing down her legs. She touched the stream on her left leg with her right hand and brought it up to her face. Amaterasu: ¡®B-¡­blood?¡¯ Her fingers were covered in spots of red liquid. Amaterasu opened her eyes wide as she understood what this meant. Amaterasu: ¡®Why? Why would God play such a joke on me? Curse him! CURSE HIM!¡¯ Amaterasu was busy shouting out every curse word possible. This was the second time that God Almighty angered her so much. Amaterasu: ¡®Why would a Goddess need to have a period? Does this mean that I can get pregnant? Why must I suffer so?¡­ Wait a minute. Didn¡¯t God say that I would stop aging once I reach adulthood? Does this mean that I¡¯ll have to suffer this every month for all eternity?¡¯ Amaterasu clutched her stomach even further. She didn¡¯t know what to do in this situation, as she never encountered it before. Amaterasu didn¡¯t have a sister in her former life to learn from, and she certainly did not ask Yuna about this subject. She only briefly knew about the subject when she read a book on biology, but that was the extent of her knowledge. Amaterasu was slightly panicking at this time. She wasn¡¯t too worried about it, but she didn¡¯t exactly know how to solve the situation. At that moment, though, the temple began to shake violently. Amaterasu: ¡®What the hell? Is it an earthquake? Dang, I¡¯m so unfortunate today.¡¯ The shaking continued for a couple seconds before coming to a stop. Amaterasu was puzzled by the incident. Amaterasu: ¡®That¡¯s weird. Usually, violent earthquakes aren¡¯t this short. Am I far away from the epicentre?¡¯ Amaterasu was conjugating various solutions to the problem, but was suddenly interrupted by a voice from behind. ???: [Sister!] Chapter 6 The Shocking Truth Author''s note: Back with another chapter. This one is a bit short, but I think that I ended it in a good place. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I''m just happy that I got past the skill box gaining chapters. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this chapter and even get a couple of laughs out of it. Enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu swiftly turned to face the intruder. Standing in front of the door to the temple was a woman. The woman was currently wearing something akin to adventurer¡¯s clothes, with a leather jacket, pants, and a belt. She was fairly pretty, with long brown hair that reached her waist and emerald green eyes. She had fairly sizable breasts, which Amaterasu would estimate at around a C-cup. However, when it came to beauty, this mysterious visitor paled in comparison to Amaterasu. Amaterasu began to feel slightly nervous. She didn¡¯t expect a visit, especially since the illusion barrier wasn¡¯t due to be worn off yet. Amaterasu was interested in how the woman managed to pass it. Amaterasu: [Um¡­ how did you get here?] The woman tilted her head and then smiled a second later. ???: [Oh, you mean the illusion barrier? Easy! I just forced my way into it. Nasty barrier, I¡¯ll tell you, God really knows how to make a powerful one. I was going to ignore it at first, but then I spotted your divine aura within it, so I had to check it out! I am glad that God finally listened to my wish and gave me such a cute little sister!] Amaterasu: [Wait¡­ God¡­ sister¡­ does this mean that you¡¯re a goddess as well?] ???: [Correct! I¡¯m Eos, the Goddess of Fertility, Childbirth, and Hearth. I was one of the only two goddesses¡­ that is, until I found you! I always wanted another goddess as a sister, but the other one is already a stingy old lady. But now I found you!] Suddenly, Eos ran up to Amaterasu and started tightly hugging her. Eos: [Oh, but it¡¯s rude of me to not even let you introduce yourself. Who are you?] Barely able to breathe in the clutches of Eos, Amaterasu responded to her. Amaterasu: [I am¡­ *huff*¡­ Amaterasu¡­ *huff*¡­ Goddess of¡­ *huff*¡­ Love and Beauty.] Eos: [Oh, a Goddess of Beauty and Love!] Eos squealed and gripped Amaterasu even tighter. Amaterasu was beginning to think that her superior was too doting. Amaterasu: [Can¡¯t¡­ breathe¡­] Eos continued to squeeze Amaterasu tightly for another couple of seconds before releasing her. As Eos stood up, she noticed Amaterasu¡¯s problem. Eos: [Oh, could it be¡­ did you experience your first period today? Here, let big sister help you out.] Eos dug around in the leather pouch that was hanging on her belt and took out some sort of white cloth. She promptly gave the white cloth to Amaterasu. Eos: [Here, put this underneath your underwear.] Amaterasu slightly hesitated at the commanding tone that Eos directed at her. Finally, she summoned some courage to talk to Eos. Amaterasu: [Um¡­ I¡¯m not wearing any¡­ underwear.] Eos blinked twice at Amaterasu¡¯s statement, and then she closed her eyes and brought her hand up to her forehead as if though she was fainting. Eos: [Oh, no! I got a pervert for a little sister!] Amaterasu suddenly became flustered after Eos¡¯ exclamation. If there¡¯s one thing she didn¡¯t want to be viewed as, then it¡¯s a pervert. Amaterasu: [No! It¡¯s¡­ not like that.] Eos: [Huh?] Amaterasu: [It¡¯s just that¡­ well¡­ I used to be a guy.] Amaterasu could see Eos staring blankly at her. Several seconds have passed before Eos burst out in laughter. Eos: [Ha ha ha ha! Oh, you used to be a guy? God played such a prank on you! Now it¡¯s understandable why you don¡¯t want to wear underwear.] Amaterasu: [Then¡­?] Eos: [However! This is a great opportunity to learn new ways. You¡¯re not a guy anymore and I can¡¯t have my sister acting unladylike. It would bring me embarrassment.] Amaterasu noticed how Eos flashed a smile at her¡­ a very evil smile. Amaterasu suddenly jumped and tried to run away as soon as possible, but she got caught instantly by the fingers of the tall lady. Amaterasu broke into tears as she was dragged by Eos to her room. Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A couple of minutes later, the two females were standing in Amaterasu¡¯s room. Amaterasu: [I know that I need to wear for this to work, but why did you have to select very erotic panties?] Eos: [Fufufu¡­ well, if you get used to wearing erotic underwear first, then wouldn¡¯t it be easier to wear less erotic ones later in the future. Besides, you look veeeeery cute in those, as expected of my little sister.] Amaterasu felt a chill creeping up her spine. She couldn¡¯t put a finger on it, but Amaterasu felt that the reason was the intense glare that Eos gave her. Amaterasu: [Well, I guess I should¡­ thank you. Are you going to be leaving soon?] Eos: [That¡¯s what I planned to do initially. If you were a guy, I would have ditched you instantly. But I can¡¯t leave my cute little sister alone, can I? Especially considering how much she needs my help.] Eos flashed a smile and Amaterasu unconsciously shivered. For some reason, Eos¡¯ smile seemed more akin to a cold blooded killer rather than a sweet person. Amaterasu wanted to run, and scream that she didn¡¯t need Eos¡¯ help. Alas, Amaterasu figured that the result wouldn¡¯t be good for her. Amaterasu: [Um, well, then¡­ Eos¡­] Suddenly, Amaterasu was karate chopped by Eos on the forehead. Eos: [Call me big sister from now on! I will not permit anything else when addressing me.] Amaterasu: [¡­Alright then¡­ big sister.] Eos squealed from delight and threw herself on Amaterasu again. Eos: [Yes! I¡¯ve always wanted to be a big sister. Back when I was a mortal, I was an only child. It¡¯s like a wish come true.] Amaterasu rolled her eyes and sighed while thinking about her future life. Now she had an overly doting older sister looking over her without giving her peace. On the other hand, Amaterasu now had a valuable source of information, even though she was a bit bothersome. Amaterasu: [You know, big sister, you accepted me instantly. What about the other gods?] Eos released Amaterasu before answering her question. Eos: [Well, some of the gods do have eccentric personalities, but the thing is that we are all chosen by God Almighty himself, so none of us hold animosity to one another. Some of us don¡¯t have the best relationship, but generally we are all friendly with each other.] Amaterasu: [I see¡­ say, how long have you been here already?] Eos: [Hey! Don¡¯t you know that it is extremely rude to ask a woman her age? Alright, I¡¯ll tell you little sister. I¡¯ve been in this world for 20 years already and I¡¯ve reached SSS rank already. I just need that last little boost to X rank so that I can finally become a true goddess.] Amaterasu: [Wow, big sister, you must be pretty strong if you managed to reach SSS rank already.] Eos beamed a smile at Amaterasu, joyous that her little sister had complimented her. Eos: [Heh heh heh¡­ I¡¯m a hard working individual after all. This is a secret between you and me, but I¡¯m the fastest out of all the gods to reach SSS rank already. Who knows, maybe you can beat my record.] Amaterasu: [That¡¯s amazing! Say, you used an expression I¡¯m familiar with, the one about not asking a girl her age. Are you by any chance from Earth?] Eos widened her eyes at the statement and broke out into another smile. Eos: [You¡¯re from Earth as well? Ah, I¡¯m so happy that I have so much in common with my little sister! I know this is useless information, but I used to live in a country called Canada and my name was Sophia Klein.] This was Amaterasu¡¯s turn to be shocked. Memories of her former life flooded her brain instantly. She never met her, since she died before Amaterasu was born, but Amaterasu remembered the time when she as Michael was listening to mother¡¯s stories. Here she was, standing in front of Amaterasu in all her flesh. Eos¡­ was Amaterasu¡¯s grandmother in her former life. Amaterasu could faintly hear God Almighty laughing in the distance. Chapter 7 Lets Go Exploring! Author''s note: I was kinda slacking off, but I have a good reason! I was playing Witcher 3! Is that good enough of a reason? Anyways, I found out the direction I want to go with this novel, for now. Oh god, I can only imagine writing the fighting scenes. I usually skip those when reading novels. Not sure how I''ll go with them. Also, during the past couple of days, I wonder if I had inspired anybody with my story. Would be nice to know, especially since I have seen many stories with a similar style to the one I''m writing in suddenly pop up. I''m reading those too. Anyways, thanks and enjoy the chapter. I plan to do the next one quicker this time. EDIT: I''ve also crossed 2000 average views! Really, thank you so much! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Another year had past since Eos moved into the house. She adored Amaterasu and felt like getting close to her. Amaterasu reminded Eos of a charming little sister that she can be proud of and, as a result, began to look after her. To Amaterasu herself, Eos felt like a big sister and a mother at the same exact time. Whenever Amaterasu encountered an obstacle or challenge, Eos would work with her to resolve it. During this time, Amaterasu grew even more. She didn¡¯t resemble a loli much anymore, but was more akin to a high school beauty queen. If one was to guess her age, he would estimate Amaterasu to be about 14 to 15 years old. Her flowing hair was kept by Eos at waist level and Amaterasu¡¯s eyelashes became elongated. Her lips had a sweet pearl-ish pink colour that matched her light blue eyes well. Amaterasu stood at 162 cm in height and was fairly slim. Amaterasu already began to wear bras a couple of months ago. She was hesitant to wear them at first, but Eos quickly changed her mind in a minute. Amaterasu was impressed with the wardrobe, since it had clothes that seemingly matched her body at all times. Eos theorised that, since God Almighty was the one who created this place, he outfitted it with clothes that would fit until Amaterasu reached adulthood. Though, when Amaterasu looked at the big bras located in the wardrobe, she really hoped that it wasn¡¯t the case. Sadly for Amaterasu, she didn¡¯t get to practice magic much the past year, due to Eos. Eos was actually impressed by Amaterasu¡¯s magic stats, since they were abnormally high even for a future goddess. Not only that, but Amaterasu was able to discover numerous rank A skills, and even an S rank skill which usually took the other gods about five years to discover their first one. For a future goddess, Amaterasu certainly held a lot of potential to be a powerful one. However, even though Amaterasu¡¯s magic potential was through the roof, her physical stats could only be described by one word, pitiful. Even common people had physical stats that were better than hers, which especially infuriated Eos. After all, Eos specialised in melee combat more than in magic, so she felt that it was a disgrace that Amaterasu didn¡¯t follow in her footsteps as well. Thus, in the past year, Eos trained Amaterasu using her knowledge of martial arts. This continued every day, and every day Amaterasu was driven to the point of exhaustion. She was thankful that Eos spent time on her, but was disappointed because she didn¡¯t have time for magic. She had many ideas about new and exciting magic that she could have developed, but Amaterasu waited patiently. And such, a fairly uneventful year had passed. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eos: [Well, I think this is enough.] Amaterasu: [Huh?] Currently, the two females were standing in the training hall. They were each standing two meters from each with wooden training swords in their hands. Amaterasu was panting heavily from the spar the two just had. Eos: [Your training, dummy! I¡¯m saying that you already completed the basics of combat. Well, I would have liked to train you more, but I noticed that you are more interested in magic¡­ such a shame, little sister. Anyways, I¡¯ll reward you for focusing on training instead of running off.] Amaterasu¡¯s eyes suddenly lit up at the mention of a reward. If Amaterasu learnt anything about Eos this past year, it¡¯s that she¡¯s extremely powerful. Anything that could be learnt from her was worth learning. Eos chuckled when she saw Amaterasu¡¯s sparkling eyes. Eos: [Don¡¯t look at me like that, or else I¡¯ll forget about everything except your cuteness. Now, where was I at? Oh right, I¡¯m going to teach you a magic spell that one of the gods I know of discovered. It took me quite a while to learn it, but with your talent in magic, I think you¡¯ll manage it in a snap. This is called the ¡®Shapeshifter¡¯.] As soon as Eos said those words, she started to morph. Amaterasu could see that Eos started to slightly change shape, starting from the feet. When the transformation was done, Amaterasu could see that Eos was standing there, slightly more beautiful and with pointy ears. Eos was grinning back at her. Eos: [See this? This allows you to disguise yourself. Currently, I look like an elf. The key to this spell is to choose the race you want to transform into. Then, you start from the feet and go up to the head, imagining your body restructuring yourself. What¡¯s great about this is that you don¡¯t need to visualise how you will look like when transformed, the magic does it for you. You can only become a humanoid race though. Now, go on, try to morph yourself!] Amaterasu nodded in reply and began to concentrate. She chose to become an elf, like Eos did, and started to imagine her body morphing. The process began and lasted a minute. Amaterasu finished and ran to the mirror in the training hall to take a good look at her new form. She was dazzled by the new sight. Her beauty that already captivated the eyes of the observers increased even more. Not only that, her ears became longer and pointy, giving her an even more cute appearance. This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.
Congratulations! You have discovered the skill: Shapeshifter!
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
ShapeshifterSSBeginner 10%
You understood the mysteries of your body. As a result, you are able to shapeshift into any humanoid being.
Amaterasu: [T-thank you, big sister!] Eos: [Ah, don¡¯t mention it. Besides, I would have taught this spell anyways. With all the racial conflicts going on right now, it¡¯s not wise to go around looking like a human. This is elven territory, so stay in that form for now. Disabling it is easy, all you have to do is just imagine the reverse process, and you should be good to go.] Eos walked towards the exit of the training hall before stopping and motioning Amaterasu to follow her. Eos: [Let¡¯s go already, we haven¡¯t got all day.] Amaterasu: [Huh? Where are we going?] Eos: [Oh, since I¡¯ve trained you already, I thought it¡¯s fine if I give you a little test. We¡¯re going dungeon exploring! Though, I¡¯ll only be watching you from a distance, so you¡¯re all on your own this time.] Amaterasu: [Is it really okay? I mean, God put up the barrier and all¡­] Eos: [Barrier? Fu fu fu, that doesn¡¯t really matter anyways. God only put it up to protect you from danger during the early stages when you were weak. You should be fine now. Besides, this dungeon isn¡¯t that strong, I already checked it this morning before you woke up. I¡¯m sure it¡¯s going to be fun.] Amaterasu: [Oh, that¡¯s right, what¡¯s a dungeon like here? I¡¯ve read light novels that had them, but what are they like here?] Eos: [Dungeons here are super fun, or at least I think so. A dungeon is basically a bunch of interconnected rooms within a certain place, like a temple, or a mountain, or a thick forest. Each room contains trap, enemies, or both. You progress through each room until you find the boss room where you fight a powerful monster. The room following the boss room is a room with a teleporting circle. There should be some artifacts in that room, and who knows, maybe you¡¯ll luck out and get a good one. The more powerful the dungeon, the more powerful the artifacts will be. Got it?] Amaterasu nodded her head. Amaterasu: [Yes, big sister.] Eos: [Well, what are we waiting for? Let¡¯s go.] The two exited the house entirely and started walking away from it. This was the first time Amaterasu ever went outside since she had been brought to this world. Amaterasu saw that her house was located in the middle of a clearing that had a radius of about 100 metres. Beyond that, there was a thicket of trees blocking her view in every direction. Amaterasu: ¡®I guess that the edge of the barrier is located where the clearing ends, and the forest begins.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Where are we, Eos?] Eos: [Oh, I just realised that you never went outside, right? We are currently in the middle of Laliphos Forest, situated in the kingdom of Nephiras. Elves, despite being nature loving beings, don¡¯t actually live inside the forest, only on the outskirts of it. The reason is that the forest is pretty dense, so you can get lost easily here if you don¡¯t know your way. Adventurers regularly come here in search of dungeons.] Amaterasu: [W-wait, then how will I find the dungeon by myself?] Amaterasu could see how Eos stopped for a moment with a shocked face. She clearly didn¡¯t think about that part. After a couple of seconds, Eos spoke once more. Eos: [I know! I¡¯ll create a mana thread all the way to the dungeon! That way, you¡¯ll only need to grab onto it and follow it. Give me a second to prepare it.] Eos began to concentrate and seemed to be creating something. After a few seconds, a glistening thread appeared. It was attached on one end to the wall of the house and the other end extended all the way into the forest. Amaterasu: [What is this?] Eos: [This is a thread that I used my divine mana to create. Only gods should be able to see it, so don¡¯t worry about others seeing it. This should lead to the dungeon that I was talking about. Good luck!] Grabbing the thread of mana, Amaterasu nodded affirmatively to Eos. She began to follow it and entered the forest. Amaterasu marvelled at the scene before her since she never expected to see this kind of scene in her previous life. It was like a scene out of a Tolkien book. The bright sun dimmed as the tress blocked out most of the sunlight. Walking along the path, Amaterasu noticed all kinds of exotic animals she never saw before in her former life. There were rabbits with horns on top of their heads and foxes with blue fur. A lot of the flora was also new to Amaterasu. After about half an hour of walking, Amaterasu finally arrived at the end of the thread. In front of her was a dark cave that seemed to be devoid of all light. She wondered if she would need a torch of some sorts or any other source of light. However, since Eos had already checked out the cave prior to her, Amaterasu was sure that she would be alright inside. Taking in a deep breath, Amaterasu built up the confidence to enter the cave. However, just as she was about to enter into the darkness, she heard a voice call out behind her. ???: [Hey, wait! Who are you?] Chapter 8 New Teammates Author''s note: A bit longer chapter than the usual, but that''s a good thing, right? Anyways, I decided to scrap the metal and wood elements because they are a hassle and I don''t know how to incorporate them into the story. Nothing much will be lost anyways. Well, I hope all of you will enjoy this chapter. Since my fingers are all type-type, you might get a new chapter tomorrow. Or you might not. We''ll see. Enjoy! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amaterasu turned around to see three people standing in front of her. No, they weren¡¯t humans, they were¡­ elves. While Amaterasu did see Eos turn into one and she herself was disguised as well, this was the first time Amaterasu ever saw true elves. Two of them were men and the other one was a woman. One of the male elves stood tall at about 195 cm and had long, night black hair that extended to just above his waist. He had black eyes to complement his hair and well-chiselled chin. His skin was dark grey in colour. He was clad in a black robe that covered his body and extended all the way down to his ankles. He was carrying a bow and arrow that was strapped to his back. He seemed to be reminiscent of the dark elves that Amaterasu read about in light novels. The other guy was much shorter in comparison, but still taller than Amaterasu, with a height of about 175 cm. He had platinum blonde hair that reached his shoulders and green eyes. He had a fairly buff stature; it was obvious that he exercised a lot. He wore khaki army pants and a black commando shirt. On his waist was a belt buckle, which had a sheath strapped to it, and inside that sheath was a broadsword. He looked as if though he was a wood elf, or maybe a high elf. Finally, the third elf was a female that was about 170 cm in height. It seemed that most elves were naturally tall. In fact Amaterasu, with her 162 cm, would probably be considered as very short by most elves. Anyways, the female elf had a weird light blue hair colour which Amaterasu had never seen before. To continue the weirdness, she had pink irises circling her pupils. The aforementioned hair reached her shoulders before cutting off. She was dressed in a white lolita dress with many frills. Amaterasu tried to determine what kind of elf she was, but the elf didn¡¯t resemble any of the ones she read about. Amaterasu finished her observations and curtsied to them. The curtsy was performed extremely well, since Eos forced her to practice it hundreds of times to teach Amaterasu etiquette for ladies. Amaterasu: [Hello, my name is Amaterasu. I arrived here to challenge this dungeon. I was about to go in before you interrupted me. May I know your names?] Dark elf: [My name is Eligor. As you can see, I am a dark elf.] Blonde elf: [I¡¯m Albus. I¡¯m a high elf.] Weird elf: [It¡¯s nice to meet you! I¡¯m Maria, a water elf.] The three elves finished their introductions. Amaterasu was curious about Maria, since she never heard of water elves before. Eligor: [That aside, are you sure that you are able to challenge this dungeon? It¡¯s fairly tough for groups of elves, and nearly impossible for a single one unless you¡¯re S ranked.] Amaterasu: ¡®Wow, Eos, you lied to me. Unless an S ranked elf is comparable to a C ranked lesser goddess, there is no way that this is an easy dungeon.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Well¡­ I¡¯m fairly confident in my abilities. If the dungeon became too difficult for me, I planned to bail.] Eligor nodded his head in understanding. Albus: [In that case, why don¡¯t you come along with us? I¡¯m sure that you¡¯ll be of help!] Amaterasu: [Eh?] Maria: [Yeah! After all, we elves have the strongest sense of camaraderie, unlike those humans. If we can help someone out, we can! Though, if you don¡¯t want to, you don¡¯t need to come.] Amaterasu paused to think for a bit. Amaterasu: ¡®On one hand, I don¡¯t really know them well. On the other hand, I don¡¯t really know this dungeon. Going with them will help me avoid fatal blunders, plus I might learn some new information from them. Besides, they don¡¯t look like bad people. Eos should also be watching over me, so in case it turns out that they¡¯re trying to kidnap me, she can help.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Alright, I¡¯ll go with you. Thank you for the offer.] Albus: [Yes! A beauty elf like you is joining our team! I feel so excited.] Maria: [Figures that the only reason you invited her is to cast your perverted gaze on her.] Albus: [Hey, knock it off! I may be fond of women, but that does not mean that I¡¯m perverted! I¡¯m just a perfectly healthy man, that¡¯s all!] Looking at the two bickering at each other, Amaterasu raised her brow. Noticing that, Eligor walked up to her. Eligor: [I¡¯m sorry for those two. They just have a very tense relationship. By the way, I¡¯m just curious because I¡¯ve never seen one before: are you a light elf? You perfectly match the description.] Amaterasu didn¡¯t know anything about light elves, but she decided to play along with the flow. Amaterasu: [Yes, I¡¯m a light elf.] Eligor: [Ah¡­ that would explain why you were trying to do the dungeon solo. Light elves generally tend to seclude themselves from the others. So you specialise in light magic, may I know the other?] Amaterasu: ¡®Oh, that¡¯s right. Elves have two different elemental affinities.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Well, my other elemental affinity is fire¡­] Eligor nodded to Amaterasu before continuing. Eligor: [Understood. I have dark and fire affinities myself. I also wield a bow during combat. I can use a little bit of magic, but I mainly use my affinities to enchant my weapon. This bow is called ¡®Eleisa¡¯s Miracle¡¯ and it is a B ranked weapon. I am also B rank myself.] Amaterasu: ¡®B rank? That¡¯s pretty high. I¡¯m only C ranked myself. Though, I think it¡¯s mainly due to the fact that I lack combat experience. I think my powers are at least B rank.¡¯ Albus and Maria walked up to Amaterasu, finished with their bickering. Albus: [I am a swordsman with wind and earth elements myself. I can¡¯t cast magic no matter how much I try, but I¡¯m pretty strong when it comes enchanting my weapon. This sword is ¡®Dullahan¡¯s Broadsword¡¯ and is also a B ranked weapon. I¡¯m C rank myself.] Maria: [I¡¯m unlike those two, a mage. Since I¡¯m a water elf, water and wind are my two elemental affinities. I can¡¯t fight melee at all, but I can cast magic. I am considered a C rank.] Amaterasu processed the information about all three of the elves and formally introduced herself. Amaterasu: [Let me reintroduce myself. I¡¯m Amaterasu, a light elf. I specialise in light and fire magic, though I can use a sword as well. I don¡¯t have any weapon on me. I¡¯m C ranked like most of you.] Eligor: [Understood. That means that you should take the rearguard along with Maria, while Albus and I take the vanguard.] Amaterasu: [Okay.] Amaterasu quickly arranged herself into position. She stood alongside Maria, with the backs of the two men facing her. Amaterasu looked at the ominous feeling that exuded from the cavern. A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. When the group entered the cavern, Amaterasu¡¯s vision suddenly improved. All of a sudden, she could see much more clearly than she could outside the dim forest. Amaterasu: [It¡¯s pretty bright here.] Amaterasu could hear Eligor chuckling in front of her. Eligor: [Of course. All elves have vision in the darkness. However, it doesn¡¯t activate until the darkness reaches a certain level of¡­ well, darkness. Light elves like to live in bright places, so it could decades before they finish childhood and venture out into the world to experience the sensation for the first time. Just curious here, how old are you?] Amaterasu was quite interested by the fact that she gained the physical characteristics of the elves, but face cramped up when she was asked the question. She didn¡¯t think about age in her current world because it didn¡¯t really bear any significance. She was currently over 2 years old, but she looked like she was 15 to 16. However, she didn¡¯t know how that would translate into elf years, especially when Eligor mentioned the word ¡®decades.¡¯ Amaterasu: ¡®I know. I¡¯ll use that excuse women always use in manga and light novels.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Don¡¯t you know that it is rude to ask a woman her age?] The three elves stopped at once and stared at her with blank faces. Eligor: [No?] Amaterasu: ¡®Oh, so this world doesn¡¯t have that saying. I¡¯ll just multiply my appearance age by 10.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Oh. Well, for your information, I¡¯m 154 years old.] Eligor: [That was younger than I thought it would be. I¡¯m 278 years old if you wanted to know.] Amaterasu could hear Albus muttering in front of her. Albus: [Hah¡­ what do I do? She¡¯s such a beauty, but she¡¯s so young. If only I was younger than 253.] Maria tapped on Amaterasu¡¯s shoulder to get her attention. Maria: [Don¡¯t worry about your age here. I¡¯m only 186 years old myself.] Amaterasu sighed as she was relieved that she dodged the bullet. It seemed that she picked an age that was somewhat appropriate to her appearance. Meanwhile, the entourage continued forward. They were currently inside a corridor, with crystals glistening on the walls. Amaterasu noticed that the entire room gave off a shade of purple. Due to a lack of sunlight, a chill permeated her bones, though it wasn¡¯t cold enough to cause shivering. Eligor: [Halt!] Amaterasu and the others suddenly stopped. She saw a door that was in front of the group. How the door got there, Amaterasu didn¡¯t know, but she did know that there was going to be something behind it. Eligor: [Prepare yourselves!] The group took up the formation and Eligor opened the door. The group entered and heard a loud bang that signalled that the door closed behind them. Amaterasu saw a group of spiders that were in front of her. They were large, about 4 feet in length, and saliva drooled from their maws. Albus: [Tektites! This should be easy!] Albus jumped in front of the group while pulling his sword out, which blazed in a red colour. He quickly slashed at the tektite and cleaved the creature in two. The remains oozed out of the body slowly. Amaterasu felt disgusted by watching the scene, though she didn¡¯t know why. In her former life, she saw plenty of gore that didn¡¯t horrify her, yet here she was weak-legged, staring at a corpse. Amaterasu wrote it off as the hormones in her body that caused her to react this way. Eligor: [Amaterasu, attack the tektites along with me using fire magic. They are weak against it. Maria, back us up with wind magic.] Maria: [Okay.] Amaterasu: [Understood.] Eligor and Amaterasu promptly began to shoot fireballs at it. Amaterasu diminished the amount of mana that she poured into her own fireballs since it would stand out if she used large ones. She noticed that Eligor was creating dark fireballs, so she assumed that combining elemental affinities was known in this world. This made Amaterasu relaxed, since she could just write off her ¡®Grand Fireball¡¯ as a combination of light and fire magic. Within minutes, the four made short work of the tektites. Amaterasu found that the monsters didn¡¯t put up much of a resistance. Amaterasu: [That was pretty easy. Why is this dungeon considered difficult, Eligor?] Eligor: [Hmm? Oh, the reason is that the main boss is difficult. In reality, this dungeon is actually very easy since the enemies are weak and there are no traps. Even more so, when you know the route to the boss like I do. It¡¯s pretty easy to get lost here.] Amaterasu: ¡®I see. Eos didn¡¯t check this dungeon very thoroughly. She was sending me off to my death! I need to chat with her when I get home. Thank god that I found this group to help me.¡¯ Albus walked to them with a grin on his face and nudged Eligor. Albus: [The boss sure is the best. He he.] Eligor: [And if you don¡¯t stop that, I will purposefully make us lost! Now, let¡¯s continue.] The four continued on through the dungeon. They encountered a few more rooms full of enemies, but all of them were dispatched with haste. Albus would constantly leap forward to hack and slash with his broadsword, while Eligor, Maria, and Amaterasu would stay behind and support with their magic. Surprisingly, Eligor didn¡¯t pull out his weapon once, because he was skilled with the few spells that he had. Before long, the four of them were standing in front of an enormous door with a metal skull embroidered on it. Amaterasu: [Hey, Eligor, what is the boss like?] Eligor: [I don¡¯t know.] Amaterasu: [Huh?] Eligor: [I¡¯ve never seen the boss before. I know the route because I memorised the layout of the dungeon on a map provided by the library in the capital, but I¡¯ve never seen the boss. People who went through this dungeon fully did say that he was extremely challenging, so we will need to give it out best shot if we want to survive.] Amaterasu nodded to Eligor in reply. She began to psyche herself up for the incoming battle. If she lost right there, it would spell in instant death. She needed to be fully prepared for this battle. Eligor walked up to the door and examined it for a little bit. He sighed before turning around to face the group. Eligor: [Are you ready for this?] The other three nodded back to Eligor. He turned around and grabbed hold of the handle. He turned the handle clockwise about 90 degrees. The door began to groan as it slowly shifted open. The four entered the room and the door closed shut behind them. Amaterasu stared to catch a glimpse of her enemy. Suddenly, the enemy emerged from a tunnel and that¡¯s when Amaterasu saw it. Standing at about eight metres was a gigantic minotaur wielding a long handled axe. Looking at them, it snorted before it began to suddenly charge. Chapter 9 Clearing the Dungeon I''ve promised, and I shall give. The next chapter won''t be that long, since it will be a side story. If you have paid attention to this chapter, you''ll know what it is going to be about. Anyways, enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Albus: [Behind me!] Albus charged out and unsheathed his broadsword to challenge the minotaur. The two weapons clashed with each other, which created a large vibration in the air. Amaterasu saw that Eligor was preparing his bow. Eligor: [Amaterasu, Maria! We don¡¯t know which magic is going to be effective on him, but it should be fire magic, judging by the rest of the enemies in this cavern. Try to hit him with the most powerful fire magic in your arsenal.] Saying that, Eligor took an arrow from the quiver on his back and aimed it at the forehead on the minotaur. As he released it, the arrow zoomed through the air with a whistling sound. Sensing danger, the minotaur quickly rose his forearm to stop the arrow. As it embedded itself inside the forearm, the minotaur loudly grunted and looked at Eligor with eyes full of bloodlust. Amaterasu flinched as she saw them. Amaterasu: ¡®Scary¡­ I didn¡¯t think that those with the desire to murder would be this scary. I¡¯m thankful that I have comrades here who I can depend on to rectify my mistakes and help me gain experience. Had I gone in alone, I¡¯m sure that I would be dead already. I need to support them.¡¯ As Amaterasu gathered her thoughts, she began to concentrate on forming a ¡®Grand Fireball.¡¯ Maria, who was beside her, also prepared a fireball, albeit a regular, red one. Maria: [Amaterasu, aim for the head. I¡¯ll aim for the legs. We¡¯ve got to figure out its weak point.] Amaterasu: [Got it.] As soon as her ¡®Grand Fireball¡¯ was fully formed, Amaterasu blasted it at the minotaur¡¯s head. The minotaur sensed it and immediately used his arms to block it, scorching them. The skin on the minotaur¡¯s arms turned blackish from its dark shade of purple. Following Amaterasu¡¯s fireball was Maria¡¯s fireball, and it slammed into the thigh of the minotaur. Amaterasu had a feeling that the minotaur sensed it, but it let the fireball hit anyways. Amaterasu: ¡®I¡¯m pretty sure that the minotaur sensed that. If that¡¯s the case, it probably couldn¡¯t afford to dodge because Albus is keeping him busy with his attacks. This means that, since it¡¯s going out of its way to protect its head, it is the weak spot. Let¡¯s spend a little more time confirming that.¡¯ Amaterasu and Maria continued to shoot their fireballs at the minotaur and Eligor did the same with his arrows. Over time, the minotaur was covered in wounds all over his body except for one part: the head. The minotaur kept protecting its head from any attacks by either dodging or using his arms. Amaterasu surmised that the head must be the minotaur¡¯s weak spot. Amaterasu: [How come the minotaur has not fallen yet? Even though we haven¡¯t hit the head, we¡¯ve covered every inch of its body in wounds.] Eligor: [This is bad. Minotaurs are known for having very high vitality, so if we don¡¯t hit its weak spot, we¡¯ll be fighting for hours. Albus is already starting to look tired, so we need to end this soon. And with a minotaur this big, I¡¯m not even sure that one hit to the head will end it.] Eligor, Maria, and Amaterasu split to cover the minotaur from all directions. They tried to do a combination attack so that the minotaur would have to block three attacks form different directions at once. Yet, despite that, the minotaur took a step back when it sensed the danger approaching and used one arm to block the attack while dodging the two other ones. Amaterasu: ¡®Wait a minute. If it¡¯s like this, then I could do it. But then I¡¯ll give away that I¡¯m not really an elf. Hmm.¡¯ Amaterasu noticed that when the minotaur stepped back that the minotaur leaned back a bit due to the projectiles moving to the head. If I had lost balance there, it would be wide open to an attack for a second or so. Amaterasu: ¡®If I use my light to blind it¡­ no, that won¡¯t work. I¡¯ve never practiced any light magic other than ¡®Grand Heal.¡¯ If I use Grand Darkness, then it might work, but then the other elves will notice that something is amiss¡­ I know. This is a gamble, but if this works, I might fool them.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Eligor! Maria! Let¡¯s attack him the same way again!] Eligor heard Amaterasu shouted and prepared his bow. He deduced that Amaterasu might have found some way to defeat the minotaur. Maria had also prepared her fireball as well. As Amaterasu charged up her ¡®Grand Fireball¡¯, she also began to concentrate on another spell as well. Amaterasu: ¡®Well, here goes nothing.¡¯ The three simultaneously released their attacks. As the two fireballs and arrow whizzed through the air, Amaterasu concentrated on making a new spell. When the attacks almost reached the minotaur¡¯s head, it began to step backwards, and that was when Amaterasu unleashed her spell. Suddenly, the room was filled with a burst of light. It wasn¡¯t that strong because it was her first time doing this, but Amaterasu quickly followed up with ¡®Grand Darkness¡¯, blinding everyone except herself. This action caused the minotaur to stumble due to a sudden loss of vision. Amaterasu then prepared her ¡®Blue Flame¡¯ and supercharged it as much as possible before releasing it. This was all done in a split second, and before long, the flame reached the minotaur¡¯s head. It was so hot that the gases in the minotaur¡¯s head expanded, causing it to explode in a spectacular and gruesome manner. Amaterasu had to refrain herself from vomiting.
Congratulations! You have discovered the following skill: Grand Blindness!
Skill Name:Skill Rank:Skill Level:Skill Experience:
Grand BlindnessABeginner 10%
Due to understanding the effect light has upon vision, you were able to uncover this skill which unleashes a burst of photons for a short moment.
Albus: [Huh? What happened?] Albus was standing in front of the corpse of the minotaur covered in blood and brain matter. Maria: [Ugh. Clean yourself up. You¡¯re gross.] Albus: [Why you¡­!] Before Albus finished his sentence, he took a breath and his face instantly distorted from the smell. He buckled over and started to vomit repeatedly. Maria created some water with her magic and drenched Albus from head to toe. Eligor: [May I know what happened, Amaterasu?] Amaterasu quickly conjured up a lie. Amaterasu: [Oh, I just blinded the minotaur with light to cause it to lose balance and blasted it with a special fire magic. I could only do it once due to my mana, but the result was more than I expected.] Eligor nodded back in reply and began to walk towards the tunnel that the minotaur exited from when they first entered the room. Eligor: [Come on! Let¡¯s go to the teleporter room! Maybe we¡¯ll even find a rare artifact.] The three quickly followed Eligor to the teleporter room. Amaterasu saw the teleportation circle there as well as a treasure chest. The treasure chest was fairly large, painted in a drab brown colour. Eligor walked up to the chest and opened it. Amaterasu: ¡®What¡¯s this?¡¯ The chest contained a gorgeous white staff. The wooden part was thin at the base of the staff but got thicker as it went up. The staff had the shape of a candy cane and embedded in it was a large purple amethyst. Eligor: [I think it¡¯s best if we give this to Amaterasu.] Amaterasu: [Eh?] Eligor: [You defeated the minotaur. You¡¯re a mage. And it would be a great parting present from us. No complaints, I assume?] Albus: [None here.] Maria: [Me neither.] Amaterasu almost let loose a tear. She was extremely grateful to her companions who considerably helped her and gave up an artifact to her for nothing in return.
Congratulations! You have obtained the following artifact: Divine Staff!
Artifact Name:Rank:
Divine StaffA
This powerful staff will power your magic greatly. It has a greater empowering effect on light magic.
This novel''s true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.Amaterasu: [Thank you¡­ for everything.] Amaterasu could see that Albus was stroking his hair with his right hand. Albus: [Ah, don¡¯t mention it. We¡¯re happy to help such a beauty as you.] Eligor: [This is just a logical conclusion. If not for you, we could have been killed in the fight with the minotaur. Let¡¯s move along now.] The group went to the teleportation circle and, one by one, they teleported to the entrance of the cavern. Amaterasu noticed that the entrance was sealed shut. Amaterasu: [Huh? Why is it shut?] Eligor: [A dungeon can be attempted once a week. Not counting failed attempts, of course.] Eligor: [It has been a pleasure working with you, miss. I wouldn¡¯t mind if you join us once more¡­ if we ever cross roads again.] Albus: [I hope to see you again! Ha ha ha!] Maria: [If you ever need help, head to the elven capital and post a request. We¡¯re quite a popular adventurer group there.] After some parting words, the three elves departed in a specific direction. When they were finally out of sight, Amaterasu sighed to herself. Amaterasu: ¡®I hope that I¡¯ll see them again. They were really great people. If I ever become a greater goddess, I¡¯ll ask the others to be in charge of the elves and help them as best as I can.¡¯ Amaterasu went back home using the mana thread that was created by Eos. She came back out into the clearing and opened the door to encounter a familiar sight. Eos was lying on the couch while eating a sandwich that Amaterasu had prepared for herself in advance. Eos: [This is¡­ really good¡­ You would make a good cook.] Eos muttered that with her mouth full of food. Amaterasu: [Why are you eating my food? And on that note, why didn¡¯t you check the dungeon more properly? I could have died had I not been lucky enough to find a group of elves.] Eos sat upright and hung her head low while holding her hands as if though she was praying. Eos: [Sorry, sorry. I didn¡¯t expect that the only difficult part of the dungeon would be the boss. If it makes you feel happier, I would have smashed through the door and saved you if I had noticed that your aura was getting weaker. Congratulations on finding some new friends, though.] Amaterasu: [Hmph.] Amaterasu sat down on the couch with her arms crossed. She still hadn¡¯t completely forgiven Eos for her blunder. Eos turned to face her with a serious look. Eos: [I have something to tell you. While you were gone, Laillo came to visit me. He is also a god, like us, and is pretty close to becoming an X rank. He¡¯s actually fairly young, much younger than the two older gods and younger than me as well. However, he¡¯s closest to X rank because of his ingenuity and brilliancy. He was the one that taught me shapeshifting skill. We have a fairly close relationship between ourselves. Anyways, he found out that the demons are building a massive army and leading them is a prodigy, an SSS rank demon. He decided to help out the humans by drawing a summoning circle in the imperial palace.] Eos shifted her position before she began talking again. Eos: [So, he told me that he needed my power as well as the power of the other two gods. You¡¯re not needed because your powers are pretty low right now.] Amaterasu: [Big sister, can¡¯t you just kill the demon general?] Eos: [Well, only Laillo is SSS ranked. Barlowe and Shanoa are SS ranked themselves. I¡¯m only S ranked as well. If any of us had been X ranked, we could have maybe taken on the army by ourselves, but as of now¡­ nope.] Amaterasu: [There¡¯s such a big difference between SSS and X ranks?] Eos: [Well, X rank is supposed to signify that you¡¯re a god¡­ so there¡¯s a big difference.] Amaterasu: [Okay. When are you leaving, big sis?] Eos: [I¡¯ll be leaving right now. It was nice hanging out with you, but we¡¯ll see each other soon, hopefully. Oh, and I have a request for you from Laillo.] Amaterasu: [What is it?] Eos: [He told me to tell you that you should go to the human continent to find the last god.] Amaterasu: [Last god?] Eos: [Yes. I don¡¯t know how he found out, but there are supposed to be six gods that God Almighty himself transports to this world. This means that there is one unaccounted for right now. Every god started out in a different continent, and if the trend is correct, the human continent should be the last one. He supposedly should have arrived sometime this year, according to Laillo.] Amaterasu: [Okay. I¡¯ll try to find him.] Eos: [Thanks. I¡¯ll be going right now. See you, little sister!] With those words, Eos stood up and exited the house before she began sprinting into the distance at an astonishing speed. Amaterasu: [I¡¯ll miss her. Even though she had some weird quirks, it was pretty fun being with her. Now, let¡¯s check out how much I grew from the dungeon. Show status.] Looking at her status, Amaterasu smiled.
Status Window
Name:AmaterasuAlignment:Neutral
Rank:BClass:None
Race:Lesser GoddessGender:Female
Titles
Future Goddess of Beauty and Love
Fame:0Infamy:0
-
Health:8000 / 8000Health Regen:5.0 / Sec
Mana:28000 / 28000Mana Regen:25.0 / Sec
Stamina:5000 / 5000Stamina Regen:5.0 / Sec
-
Strength:110Agility:100
Vitality:90
Intelligence:1500Wisdom:1500
Leadership:5Luck:10
Elemental Affinity
Fire:100%Water:100%
Wind:100%Earth:100%
Light:100%Darkness:100%
Special Skills
Charm
Active Skills
Grand Fireball Grand Water Ball Grand Wind Ball Grand Earth Spike Grand Heal Grand Darkness Grand Blindness Blue Flame
Passive Skills
Swordsmanship Spear Mastery Throwing Arts Combat Sambo
Amaterasu: ¡®I¡¯m well on my way to divinity.¡¯ Interlude 1: Part 1 - The Mystery of the Truck Interlude time! Gonna write one more interlude chapter before returning to the main story. He he he. Can you guess what will happen to Yuna? I mean, it''s so obvious! Thank you, and enjoy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Back when Michael died on Earth, Yuna and Sam could not believe their eyes. They have always seen such events happening in the news¡­ light novels¡­ and other media. But when someone truly experienced the event¡­ that was when they began to understand it. Yes, Michael died, and an extremely clich¨¦ death at that. A week after his death was his burial. Sam and Yuna both came to mourn for their deceased friend. Yuna seemingly aged by at least ten years. Wrinkles appeared all over her face and her dried out eyes would appear to let the tears loose any minute. Astonishingly enough, even her hair had obtained a slight greyness. Needless to say, Sam didn¡¯t look that much better. The death of Michael impacted their bodies a lot. Another week had gone by and the two were walking together. They haven¡¯t talked much to each other these past two weeks and were barely shuffling their feet forward with their heads low. After a long period of silence, Sam was the first one to initiate the conversation. Sam: [He was a great guy, eh?] Yuna: [¡­Hmm?] Sam: [I just said that he was a great guy.] Yuna: [Oh¡­ yeah.] Sam: [I think both of you loved each other for a very long time before admitting to it.] Hearing those words, Yuna¡¯s head snapped upwards to look at Sam. Yuna: [And what about you? Cracking jokes about how you loved him as well?] Yuna could see how Sam¡¯s brows dropped to create a serious face. Sam: [¡­That wasn¡¯t a joke.] Yuna: [Wait. You¡¯re telling me you were gay all along?] Sam shook his head vigorously before continuing. Sam: [That¡¯s not it. Even right now, I¡¯m as straight as one could be. It¡¯s just that¡­ Michael was so¡­ charismatic. He just attracted me to him and, over time, I began to feel something for him. I don¡¯t think I¡¯ll ever fall in love with a guy other than him. I¡¯m pretty sure you understand how I felt about him.] Yuna: [Yeah. Though he wasn¡¯t the most attractive person, he had such a magnanimous aura. It felt so warm to me that I couldn¡¯t just let him go like that. I still can¡¯t believe he died.] Sam: [Well, let¡¯s think about it optimistically! You know how in his favourite light novels, the MC always gets hit by a truck and is then reincarnated into a world of magic.] Yuna: [You mean¡­?] Sam: [What if he also went though that route? It¡¯s possible. Though it would be funny it he got reincarnated as a girl, ha ha!] Yuna: [Don¡¯t even joke about that!] Sam: [Sorry, I couldn¡¯t resist. Yeah, there¡¯s no way that would happen. By the way, didn¡¯t he tell you about some fiction he read online before he died? What was that about?] Yuna¡¯s eyes opened widely. She didn¡¯t think about her last moments with Michael. Quickly, she turned around to run to her house. Sam: [Hey! Where are you going?] Yuna: [Sorry! I need to check something out real quick!] Yuna made a quick dash to her house. She needed to find it. It felt as if though that it was the only thing that still connected her to him. Maybe she¡¯ll even find out the truth behind his death, although the chances for that are highly unrealistic. Still, she grasped at the miniscule amount of hope that was presented to her. When she arrived home, she discovered that no one was there. She knew that her parents were at work, but it was strange that her brother wasn¡¯t there. However, Yuna didn¡¯t really have time to work about that before she dashed to her computer. Booting it up, she decided it was prime time to search the internet. Yuna: ¡®What was it called again? ¡®Goddess of Beauty¡¯, I think. It¡¯s probably on the royalroad site. Let¡¯s see¡­ nothing? Why can¡¯t I find it?¡¯ Yuna spent about half an hour desperately searching for the fiction that Michael read before his death, but all her efforts were for naught. It was as if it had vanished off the internet. Yuna: ¡®Maybe the author deleted it because he thought it wasn¡¯t good enough?¡¯ It seemed that all her efforts were wasted. Yuna took a deep breath and sighed at her misfortune. Yuna: ¡®Looks like I won¡¯t get to read it¡­ wait a minute.¡¯ Even though it was deleted, Yuna still had a ray of hope left. She left her house and made a run to Michael¡¯s house instead. Luckily, their houses weren¡¯t that far apart, only a fifteen minute jog at worst. A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation. When Yuna arrived, she rang the doorbell to Michael¡¯s house. Fortunately, Michael¡¯s mother took off work to grieve for her son, so she was at home. Mother: [Hello? Ah, Yuna. Do you need anything?] Yuna: [Hello, Mrs. Klein. I just thought that I would check out something in Michael¡¯s room that has been bothering me for a while. Is it okay for me to come in?] Mother: [Sure. We haven¡¯t cleaned up his room as part of our mourning¡­ just make sure to not make it messy.] Yuna: [Thank you. I promise to keep it tidy.] When the two finished exchanging their greetings, Yuna went upstairs to Michael¡¯s room. She knew where it was because he invited her to study with him and Sam multiple times. Yuna: ¡®Please don¡¯t be off, please don¡¯t be off. Phew, his computer is only in sleep mode. And luckily, he doesn¡¯t have a password on it. Yes! There it is.¡¯ When Yuna booted up his computer, the page that immediately popped up was the prologue of the fiction Michael read. Since he was in a hurry last time, Michael didn¡¯t bother to turn off his computer nor close the page he was reading. As a result, even though the fiction itself was deleted off the internet, the page itself was cached, so his computer effectively saved the data. Utilising this fortune, Yuna read through the prologue. Yuna: ¡®It¡­ was pretty good, though I feel like I expected more from it. Why did I think reading this would help me find out more about Michael? The deaths were quite similar though.¡¯ In the end, Yuna felt disappointed, though she could only fault herself for that. She didn¡¯t know why, but she was expecting something more from her efforts. But she realised that she was incorrect all this time, all she read was the prologue. It was nothing special, and it certainly wouldn¡¯t bring Michael back to life. Yuna descended down the stairs of her former friend¡¯s house. Yuna: [Thank you, Mrs. Klein. I was able to check out what was bothering me.] Mother: [Not a problem, dear. Michael had such a crush on you when he was alive.] Yuna¡¯s heart throbbed when she heard that. All she could feel was an intense pain. Yuna: [Goodbye, Mrs. Klein.] Yuna exited the house. She didn¡¯t know where to go. All the attachment she had left in this world was Sam. She felt hopeless and just wondered around aimlessly. At some point, she found herself at the riverbank that was near her school. She sat there to think about how she should live from now on. However, while being in thought, she noticed a familiar thing in the distance. Yuna: ¡®Is that¡­? No, it¡¯s probably just something similar.¡¯ On the other side of the river, she noticed a truck painted blue that was speeding across the road. Mysteriously enough, there weren¡¯t any cars there at that time, so the truck stood out like a sore thumb. Yuna: ¡®I¡¯m probably too concerned about Michael¡¯s death. I keep visualising things that are connected to his death.¡¯ Yuna shook her head to dispel her thoughts. Yuna: ¡®Still, it does look similar.¡¯ Yuna kept observing the truck from a distance. She felt a connection to it, as if though it was calling for her. Suddenly, when the truck was parallel to Yuna, it swerved towards the river. Yuna: ¡®An accident? It¡¯s going to sink!¡¯ Then, the most unbelievable thing had happened that was beyond anyone¡¯s imagination. When the truck hit the water, it began to ride on it. No, it wasn¡¯t riding on water, it was gliding over it. Yuna blinked twice and rubbed her eyes to confirm that she wasn¡¯t just seeing an illusion. Yuna: ¡®Wait a second! At this rate, it¡¯s going to crash into me!¡¯ Yuna began to get up so that she could dodge out of the way, but it was all for naught. Anytime, she would run to the side, the truck would turn towards her direction, as if though it was mocking her. It took a couple seconds, but the truck finally reached the riverbank. A split second later, and it rammed into Yuna herself. Yuna was lying there, with her body smashed to a pulp. She felt as if though she was just about to lose consciousness. In her final moments, she was staring at the sky, watching the truck fly away in her final moments. Before she passed on, she uttered her final words. Yuna: [What the heck¡­ just happened¡­?] With those final words, Yuna ceased to exist in this world. Interlude 1: Part 2 - Trucks. Trucks Everywhere. Hey guys! Author here once more. So I had fun doing this interlude, so I want to ask you people. What kind of style do you want me to write in? Do you want me to do it in the comedic way, like this chapter? Or do you want me to do it more serious style? I like comedy, and it''s much easier for me to write since I''m a clown in the first place, but writing in a more serious style might develop the story better. So what do you think? Thank you for reading and enjoy! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yuna blinked once and then blinked once more. Yuna: ¡®Wasn¡¯t I supposed to be dead?¡¯ That was when she noticed her surroundings. She was currently surrounded by pitch darkness. Glancing at her own body, she noticed that she couldn¡¯t see any of it, as if though she was invincible. Yuna was currently inside the Void, which was occupied by Michael for some time as well. ???: [Take that¡­ you pig fucker!] Yuna spun around, reacting to the voice she just heard. She saw an old man in white sitting on a chair in front of her. He was playing a game on a shitty and outdated HP laptop. The scene was truly bizarre and Yuna hesitated to come into contact with the old man. However, she didn¡¯t have many options. In fact, it was her only option if she wanted to get out of here. Yuna: ¡®Excuse me? ¡­ EXCUSE ME!!¡¯ Yuna discovered that she couldn¡¯t speak, so she decided to scream as loudly as possible using her mind. To her delight, the old man fell out of his chair. ???: [What the hell? Who are you? How did you get here?] Yuna: ¡®I could say the same thing to you.¡¯ ???: [I am God Almighty himself!] Yuna: ¡®Huh, so God is an old man after all¡­¡¯ God: [How many times do I have to repeat this? The form you¡¯re seeing is the form you imagine me to be. Who are you?] Yuna: ¡®I¡¯m Yuna.¡¯ God: [¡­] Yuna: ¡®¡­¡¯ God: [Never mind. Give me one second.] God walked up to his computer and alt-tabbed out of A*gry B*rds. He seemed to be checking up something on the computer. After seemingly a minute or so, Yuna winced as she saw God slapping himself across the forehead. God: [No¡­ how could this be?] Yuna: ¡®Er, what is it?¡¯ God: [You¡­ weren¡¯t supposed to die yet.] Yuna: ¡®¡­what?¡¯ God: [You see, that story that you read on the computer, ¡®Goddess of Beauty¡¯, was originally supposed to bring someone here according to a list of criteria. After it has been activated once, the whole system should have been shut down. But I¡­ well¡­ there was a programming error in the code¡­ and the reincarnation truck wasn¡¯t deactivated.] Yuna: ¡®Aren¡¯t you God? How did you make such a big blunder?¡¯ God: [I was kinda lazy, so¡­ I made a programmer code it instead, or rather, the spirit of the programmer. What was his name, again? Ah yes, I believe it was St*ve J*bs. Guess he was more of a marketing agent than a programmer.] Yuna: ¡®Wait, so what happens to me?¡¯ God: [Worry not! I¡¯m not an evil deity. I like to have some fun at times, yes, but I¡¯m not going to go out of my way to harm you. Although I can¡¯t reincarnate you into the same body, I have an open position here in a different world that you can take. Also, Michael, was it? He¡¯s also in this world as well, occupying a similar position.] Yuna¡¯s eyes, if she had eyes, would have glistened with hope as this point. Yuna: ¡®Michael is also there?¡¯ God: [Yes! Not bad for a sales pitch, right? Anyways, you know gods and all that good stuff from mythology? I believe you read a book about it with Michael back on Earth. Anyways, I want you to occupy the same position as those deities. Well, you won¡¯t start off powerful -- you¡¯ll have to build your way up. You¡¯ll start off young, about the age of ten, and then you¡¯ll grow up. With the growth of your body, you¡¯ll hopefully grow your skills. I want you to be responsible for war, since that¡¯s the only important position not yet filled¡­ though, it would have been better if you were a guy.] God muttered the last sentence under his breath, so Yuna didn¡¯t hear him well. Yuna: ¡®Huh? Did I miss something there?¡¯ God: [No! Nothing! So anyways, do you want to take this position? I can send you elsewhere if you want.] Yuna: ¡®No, that¡¯s good enough for me. Finally, I¡¯ll get to see Michael again. I wonder if he¡¯s handsome this time.¡¯ God: [Well, he grew up quite attractive, let¡¯s just say that.] Yuna: ¡®Makes me want to see him even more. So when do we begin?¡¯ God: [¡­Right now.] Yuna began to fall through a porthole that God had opened up. God: [He he, it¡¯ll be really fun to see how she reacts when she sees him. Oops, I mean ¡®her¡¯. Ha ha ha! Now, I need to take care of business. I did threaten him if he did a bad job after all.] And on the same day that Yuna died, A*ple had to declare bankruptcy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Yuna: [Ugh, I feel as if my head is splitting open.] Yuna sat up while rubbing her head. Light entered her eyes as soon as she opened them. She didn¡¯t know why, but she felt¡­ different, as if though this wasn¡¯t her body. She spent some time reassuring herself. Yuna: [Well, of course it¡¯s not my body. God probably made my body more athletic, if I¡¯m to be responsible for war. It¡¯s younger as well, though I do think that I¡¯m rather tall for a ten year old girl. I feel rather uncomfortable between my legs as well. Wonder what it is.] Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere. Yuna stretched out the band of her shorts to be greeted by an unfamiliar sight. Yuna: [P-p-p-p-penis!?] Yuna had to spend the next couple of hours lying on the ground due to fainting from shock. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One year after Yuna¡¯s death, Sam was sitting inside of an airplane. He had already graduated high school, so he was attending his graduation trip. Though, he didn¡¯t understand why the destination was Hawaii, but he followed nonetheless. Sam thought that it would be the best way to drown his sorrows after the loss of his two best friends. Sam: [Man, how did Yuna die? According to the official report, she was run over by a truck, but she was nowhere near the road. Could the FBI be involved in this case? Wait, that¡¯s totally crazy.] Due to talking to himself a lot, Sam was labelled as the ¡®muttering idiot¡¯ by his own classmates. ???: [Aloha! Who¡¯s ready for this trip?] The one who yelled was the teacher of Sam¡¯s classroom, Nacho Taco. Sam suspected that he was an illegal Mexican immigrant, but had no proof of that so he kept his accusations to himself. All that Nacho Taco got was the sound of crickets. Everybody was already used to his antiques, so they learnt that the only way to deal with them is to ignore him in the first place. Sam quickly glanced around the cabin. It seemed that his class was occupied by either outstanding kids like himself, or weird ones. Speaking of outstanding, there was Chinchen Waxuang. He was an extremely smart and talented Chinese kid, though his level wasn¡¯t quite at Michael¡¯s when he was alive. He appeared for the last year of school, so neither Michael nor Yuna knew anything about him. Out of the weird kids, the weirdest had to be Ooga Booga. Not only was his name weird, the only words that could describe him would be a sex maniac. This nerdy Caucasian boy in glasses would constantly salivate when think about boobs, butts, and other sexually relating things to girls. Everyone knew that it was best to stay away from him. Finally, the last person of mention would be the queen of the classroom, Michelle Sleziak. When Sam first saw her, he almost burst out laughing at the amount of clich¨¦ oozing from her. Her appearance truly mentioned her personality. She was a tall, fairly busty, blonde girl from Poland that had drill hair. Drill hair! Sam had never seen drill hair before, and here was a girl perfectly matched the appearance with her snobbish behaviour. Sam: [Man, I wish that Yuna and Michael were here beside to have a good laugh at our classmates. They started to appear all of a sudden this year.] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ God: [Yes! I got 3 stars for this level! I¡¯m so proud of myself. It only took 53 hours. No matter, I have all the time in the world. Hmm, what¡¯s this¡­ a request for summoning? Oh, for crying out loud, can¡¯t they deal with this shit themselves? Guess I¡¯ll have to take care of them until one of them finally reaches THAT level. Let¡¯s see. No, not this group. These people do not work either. Ah ha! These will be decent-ish heroes. Off you go, summoning truck!] The summoning truck honked once before disappearing into a wormhole. God: [Now, where was I again?] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sam: [Well, we¡¯re almost there.] Sam was currently looking outside the window, marvelling at the passing clouds below. Sam: ¡®Hmm? What¡¯s that? ¡­ Holy shit!¡¯ Outside the window, Sam noticed an object approaching the plane. This was not a meteor, nor a plane, nor a bird. It wasn¡¯t even superman. It was¡­ a truck. A black truck was approaching the plane. Sam¡¯s jaw dropped to the ground. He swore that he could feel the cold floor under his chin. Sam wanted to shout, but he couldn¡¯t utter a single sound out of his mouth. Sam: ¡®What the fuck is happening?¡¯ These were Sam¡¯s last thoughts before the truck rammed into the plane. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Sam: ¡®My head is killing me.¡¯ Sam raised his head to look at the scene in front of him. He wasn¡¯t inside a plane anymore. Standing on a red carpet, he noticed guards all around him. Examining his surroundings, it appeared that he was inside some kind of castle. In front of him was an elder that was sitting on top of a throne while wearing a crown. Sam: ¡®Please don¡¯t say it¡­¡¯ Elder: [Welcome, heroes, to our world!] Sam: ¡®Oh, god! NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!¡¯ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Watching the scene on the monitor, God chuckled at the scene unfolding before him. God: [I like that kid. I¡¯m going to give him a bigger blessing than the other people.] God waved his hands for a bit before stopping. God: [Done. All the heroes have my blessing now. Let¡¯s return to browsing my favourite fiction on royalroad. It seems that some kid wanted to imitate my prologue, and he¡¯s doing a damn good job at that. Hmm, what¡¯s this?] On God¡¯s monitor was a comment made by a user. nightmares: Hey guys the last god is me!!! God: [Get the fuck out of here!] That was the day when the user by the name of nightmares was smote by lightning. God: [He he he! I have great plans for this little guy.] God spoke as he held onto the sphere of light that was nightmares¡¯ soul. Chapter 10 Journey to the West, The Human Continent Author''s note: Another chapter for you guys, uploaded the same time as the New Journey of an Old Soul! I originally planned to do this longer, but decided to split the original chapter in two to give you guys your gender bender fix. From the last poll, I ascertained that you guys like both styles of my writing. I tried to change some of my writing after reading reviews on different fiction. I added more details, and am trying to lean towards the ''show, don''t tell'' direction. New poll up for you guys as well, shouldn''t impact the story much, but I might be able to add a lot more comedic scenes if it goes through. BTW, we reached 2500 average views! Woot! Keep it up guys, the views are telling me that I''m doing something right. Thanks for reading and enjoy. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A wagon was riding along a dirt road, kicking up dust clouds along the trail it followed. It was currently heading towards the capital of the human continent, Barkovichi. Driving the wagon was an old man. His head was already nearly bald, with some grey hair standing up on both sides of his temple. His hazel eyes, which were already losing some their colour, were focused on the road ahead of him. His wrinkly hands held onto the reins as he sat slouching. Coachman: [Well, miss. We¡¯re almost at the capital. We¡¯ll just stop at the village for the night and we should arrive tomorrow.] ???: [Thank you for taking me this far. It¡¯s pretty selfless of you to take me towards my destination without even asking for payment.] The voice belonged to a beauty of immeasurable proportions. Her light blue eyes were gazing upwards while she hummed a melody and twirled her golden blonde hair with her long, dainty fingers. Her breasts had already grown to a nice size, not too big, not too small - they were a size that would captivate everyone looking at them. Wearing a white dress, her height of 170 cm wasn¡¯t particularly noticeable when sitting due to most of it coming from her long legs. A bystander looking at her would probably describe her thighs and butt as ¡®delicious¡¯, due to their well-sized proportions. Her long, pointed ears stood out underneath her hair that extended to her waist. Coachman: [Ha ha ha! It doesn¡¯t bother me at all! I am heading there anyways and it is nice to have a companion to talk to during travelling. It gets boring otherwise. I¡¯m curious why an elf like you is going to the capital. While we don¡¯t mind elves, I¡¯ve heard that your kind hates us. I¡¯ve always wondered why that is.] Amaterasu knew what the old man was talking about. During her travel, she had encountered many elves that carried a disdain against humans because of their greed, treachery, and other moral values. Amaterasu: [Hmm, the problem is that we have seen too much human filth in nobility, and that reflects on the general populace. You¡¯re a nice person, though.] The old man¡¯s cheeks turned red and his hand began to scratch his head. Coachman: [Ha ha ha! Don¡¯t mention it! It¡¯s nice to hear a compliment from a youngster like you, though.] Amaterasu: [¡­I¡¯m probably more than twice as old as you.] Coachman: [Ha ha ha! True that! I forgot that elves live a very long time!] Amaterasu took this opportunity to lie down on her back. She used this opportunity to summarise the events leading up to now. Another two years had passed since Amaterasu parted with Eos. While Eos had gone to meet the other three gods ¨C Laillo, Barlowe, and Shanoa ¨C Amaterasu spent another year training different magic spells. Throughout her constant training, she was able to raise her rank another level to rank A. However, Eos warned Amaterasu that every god found it easy to rank up to rank A and that once Amaterasu achieved it, she would find it difficult to rank any further. Eos did tell Amaterasu that her growing speed was only second to Laillo¡¯s, though. After achieving rank A, Amaterasu decided that there wasn¡¯t much point left in staying at the house. She packed up any necessary items for the journey, such as clothing, food, and weapons, using her magic, ¡®Dimensional Storage.¡¯ ¡®Dimensional Storage¡¯ was a void where any individual can store various items depending on their mastery of the magic. Currently, the limit of what she could store inside the void was the amount of material one could fit in a 2 m x 2 m x 2 m box. This meant that she wasn¡¯t able to store a house or anything similar in size, but her equipment was able to fit with space left to spare. The convenient thing about this magic is that the weight of the item was negated, which meant that it was possible to carry extremely heavy items. What Amaterasu didn¡¯t know was that ¡®Dimensional Storage¡¯ was a rare and sought after magic. Not many people were able to learn it because of two reasons. The first reason was that you needed to have mastery in the darkness element. The darkness element was extremely rare and usually reserved for specific races such as dark elves and demons. This meant that not many even had the opportunity to learn this useful magic in the first place. The second reason was that it was extremely difficult for people of this world to even visualise what a void looks like in the first place. Fortunately, the gods knew how to use dimensional magic because both of the reasons didn¡¯t pose a problem. As a god, they had to be able to, at least, use all the elements. The second problem didn¡¯t pose a problem either because every single one of them resided in the void during their conversation with God Almighty, so they were easily able to visualise it. After Amaterasu packed up her belongings, she sealed her house with a light barrier. Unfortunately, the barrier created by God had disappeared by that point, so as to prevent unwanted intruders, she decided to devise her own. Unfortunately, Amaterasu couldn¡¯t create a barrier even as close as powerful as God¡¯s, so she had to rely on trickery instead. The light barrier, while not strong, diverted the rays of light from every angle so that the house and the clearing became invisible to the observer. This would have been impossible for Amaterasu at her level, if not for the empowering effect of the ¡®Divine Staff.¡¯ It was a truly useful item. Amaterasu¡¯s current journey to the capital of the human kingdom was due to the quest entrusted to her by Eos. Since there was one god unaccounted for, Amaterasu¡¯s job was to seek them out and introduce them to the group. For this reason, she had been travelling the past year to the human capital, Barkovichi. The journey should not have taken that long originally, around eight months at most. However, it turned out that elven territory was extremely confusing to navigate through if one didn¡¯t know that correct way. Amaterasu hypothesised that this was to trap any approaching army and annihilate them in their confusion. Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon. Fortunately, Amaterasu had brought enough food and water to survive the trek through the forests. It had also helped that she encountered many native elves, who treated her with kindness and helped her with food and direction. The elves were truly magnificent beings when it came to helping their own kind. The six month journey through elven territory had finally brought her out to the human kingdom. Unfortunately for Amaterasu, the capital of the human kingdom was far from elven territory, so another six month journey was needed to reach it. Humans treated her with a various range of emotions: fascination, inquisitiveness, and even disgust. Amaterasu had decided to remain as an elf for the time being. Since she was primarily a mage, Amaterasu reasoned that it would be easier to explain her capabilities in magic due to her nature as an elf. Besides, she didn¡¯t want to attract unneeded attention from other humans, who would most likely hail a prodigy such as her. Yet, Amaterasu could not help but feel that the problem was rooted in deeper than that. She felt some kind of fear when she considered changing back into her human appearance. It was as if though the elvish nature had rubbed off on her and she started to feel the same disdain towards humans that they feel. Lying down in the straw, Amaterasu was thinking about her destination. Amaterasu: ¡®If Laillo¡¯s theory is true, then the place with the highest chance of finding the last god is in the capital.¡¯ Her thought was broken by the voice of the old man. Coachman: [Now that I think about it, you haven¡¯t told me your goal in the capital. If it isn¡¯t a secret, can you tell me?] Amaterasu: [Hmm? Oh, it¡¯s not that big of a secret. I¡¯ve heard that there''s a slot open in the academy, so I decided to try it out.] Coachman: [Ha ha ha! So I assume that you¡¯ll be meeting the heroes?] Amaterasu tilted her head at the old man¡¯s question. Amaterasu: [Heroes?] Coachman: [Oh, I guess you elves didn¡¯t know. The king decided to summon heroes from an alternate world using some magic circle. I have no idea where the king obtained it, but he actually managed to summon some heroes yesterday! At least, that was what he announced to us, but the king is a generous individual, so I doubt that he would lie. I¡¯m personally looking forward to seeing them in action. Ha ha ha!] Amaterasu: ¡®So Eos and the rest did succeed in summoning the heroes. I can only assume that they went to a place rich in mana and opened a wormhole between the two worlds.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Is that so? I look forward to meeting them then.] Coachman: [Ha ha ha! I knew you would! Oh, the village has come into sight, so we¡¯ll stop there for the night.] Amaterasu remained silent, just nodding once to acknowledge his remark. She did not have money to stay at an inn, but Amaterasu was used to camping outside. Even without a tent, she could, without any problem, lie down on the grass and sleep quite peacefully. Amaterasu assumed that this was another effect of being an elf, that one was more in tune with nature. As the wagon steadily approached the village, Amaterasu took a glance outside the cabin to observe it. Fairly small, the village had wooden walls encircling it from all directions. Stationed at the gate was a sentry, clad in armour, who sported a long, brown moustache. Sentry: [Halt! Intruders bring any danger?] The sentry¡¯s thick accent surprised Amaterasu for a moment, as she had never heard one before in her travels. She wanted to ask the sentry about it, but hesitated as this was not the proper time to do so. Coachman: [We¡¯re not dangerous. It¡¯s just me and the missy here.] The sentry took a glance inside the wagon to look at the person who the old man was talking about. Sentry: [She ¨C elf. Can¡¯t allow in village at time like now.] Amaterasu¡¯s face was flustered. She could not sense any hostility from his voice, so she was genuinely confused at his statement. Amaterasu: [Did something happen?] Sentry: [Bandits and raiders. You ¨C unknown. Sorry, miss. Can¡¯t allow you inside. Protocol calls.] The old man could feel his face reddening at such a treatment towards his passenger. Coachman: [But can¡¯t you¨C] Amaterasu had interrupted the old man before he lashed out at the sentry. Amaterasu: [Leave it. I don¡¯t want to cause more inconvenience for the guard. I¡¯m used to sleeping outside anyways. We¡¯ll see each other tomorrow morning.] The old man visibly hung his head low and dropped his shoulders. Coachman: [Fine. If the missy says so¡­] The sentry bowed to Amaterasu as she jumped off the wagon. Sentry: [Thank you for understand.] Amaterasu was about to begin walking towards the nearby forest when she turned her head towards the guard. Amaterasu: [By the way, I¡¯m interested in your accent. I have never heard it before. How did you get it?] Sentry: [Come from tribe. Tribal language different. Surprised you know human language also.] Amaterasu¡¯s face cramped in confusion as the guard said that. She had thought that she was speaking the same language all along, but the guard¡¯s words implied that elfish and human languages were different. Amaterasu had decided that she will ask Eos about this topic later on. For now, Amaterasu made way to the forest. Elves were creatures of nature after all, and the closer they were to nature, the more comfort they felt. Amaterasu also felt that comfort as well. Of course, she preferred a nice, warm bed at the end of the day, but sleeping in the bushes made for a nice alternative. As the sun set on the horizon, Amaterasu was rethinking about her plan to find the missing god. Amaterasu: ¡®If they¡¯re in human territory, then they¡¯re most likely attending the academy to learn about this world. I had enough luck to encounter big sister, so I stayed undercover for a period of time, but I can¡¯t say the same thing for this God. Still, finding this god will be challenging. If I was S rank, I could detect divine aura like big sister, but that is not an option for me. Maybe Laillo is sending me a challenge this way? I don¡¯t like him one bit.¡¯ Amaterasu gazed at the night sky as she reminisced her days with Eos. Though she was harsh, Amaterasu had enjoyed spending time with her. Amaterasu: [Alright! If I will find him ¨C or her ¨C then I will be the best big sister possible to fill in the gap that big sister filled in for me.] It was then that Amaterasu noticed flickering lights approaching the village at a high speed. Chapter 11 A Confrontation Interrupted by a Powerful Elf Author here. I''m so tired. I spent the entire evening and beginning of the night finishing this chapter for you. It''s definitely longer than all the previous ones that I did before. Here, we get a display of Amaterasu''s power compared to the common grunt. Will Emilia become important? Of course, I didn''t just do a segment on her to throw her away. Next chapter, the academy enrollment! Though I might do a side-chapter first. Vote in the previous chapter''s poll if you didn''t already. It''s a 50-50 split. If it''s like that, might as well make Sam a trap and call it a day. Well, good night, and enjoy this chapter that I have written for you. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amaterasu stared at the flickering lights. Surprisingly, she didn¡¯t notice them immediately, even if it was night time. This was mostly due to the night vision that elves had. Looking even closer, Amaterasu noticed the lights came from torches held by people. These people were walking towards the village brandishing weapons. Amaterasu even saw a battering ram that was pushed by several people. Amaterasu: ¡®They¡¯re attacking the village? So they¡¯re the reason for the guard¡¯s behaviour today.¡¯ Amaterasu silently crept out of the bush that she was currently lying in and circled around the edge of the forest to get a closer look at the invader. Amaterasu: ¡®Hmm. With this amount of people attacking the village, it¡¯ll be hard to defend. I don¡¯t know the amount of guards inside the village, but it shouldn¡¯t exceed twenty. There are at least a hundred bandits, so the guards would need to utilise the walls if they want the advantage. I could easily repel this amount, since none of them are strong, but¡­¡¯ Amaterasu remembered the words that the guard told her earlier in the day. Amaterasu: ¡®¡­ it¡¯s none of my business.¡¯ After all, Amaterasu was seen as a stranger by the village, a possibly hostile threat. There was no doubt that she would be attacked if she had approached the village now. Amaterasu: ¡®If worst comes to worst, then I can always help the old man out. If there¡¯s anyone worth saving, it¡¯s him.¡¯ Amaterasu took a couple of glances around her to observe her surroundings. She noticed a nearby hill that loomed over the village. Amaterasu used wind magic to accelerate herself towards it. Once she reached the hill, Amaterasu sat down on the chilly ground and she made herself as comfortable as possible. Amaterasu: ¡®Now, how are both sides faring?¡¯ Amaterasu was extremely grateful to the vision that an elf¡¯s eye gave to her. Not only was the darkness of the night completely negated, but her eyesight also became sharper. Amaterasu: ¡®I guess this is why elves are such greater archers.¡¯ Looking downhill onto the advancing bandits, Amaterasu took a deep sigh as she watched the bandits approaching the village, unchallenged by the guards. Amaterasu: ¡®The village¡¯s security sure is horrible. If they had pelted the bandits full of arrows right now, then they would have stood a chance at putting up a good fight. That chance is getting slimmer and slimmer by the minute, though.¡¯ It was at that moment that Amaterasu heard the ring of a bell. The cacophonic noise rang through the area as the guards rushed towards village walls. Though Amaterasu wasn¡¯t inside the village itself, she could feel panic and fear fill the air, even from her location. Amaterasu: ¡®Hoh. So they finally noticed the attack? A little too late, though. The bandits have almost reached the village walls. Come to think about it, why do they need a battering ram? Can¡¯t they use magic? Or are humans terrible at magic?¡¯ Amaterasu could see the guards inside the village organising themselves into a formation. Amaterasu noticed that there was a squad leader who was giving out instructions to the other guards. Amaterasu: ¡®Ah! What is he doing? Are they trying to take the fight inside the village? Stupid! They¡¯re losing the only advantage that they had!¡¯ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Leader: [Get ready! These pesky bandits are about to attack us! We will repel them with our might and courage!] Guards: [Hurrah!] The squad leader gave a satisfied nod to the reply. He truly believed that his men were able to take on the bandits. He didn¡¯t care how many of them there were, since his men were properly trained in the art of combat by him personally. His hazel eyes scanned his troops one more time. It was then that he heard a creaking sound from the gate. This noise signalled to the leader that the bandits had already began to utilise the battering ram, and that they would pour into the village at any moment. The squad leader turned to face the gate along with the rest of his men. Leader: [In formation!] In a couple of seconds, the wooden gates came crashing down with a groan. The squad leader narrowed his eyes as people dressed in black emerged inside the village. Leader: [Attack!] The guards held out their spears as their formation charged forward, kicking up dust. The guards themselves were not scared against the presence of overwhelming numbers. They were veterans, who were used to be in losing situations. It did not matter whether the situation was advantageous for them or not ¨C their job was to fight. In a few moments, the two factions collided between themselves. The charge of the guards produced an awesome impact. The wall of spears held out in front quickly pierced through the front line of the bandits. Leader: [Good! Good!] As the squad leader exclaimed that, he noticed that the bandits began to flank the guards from the right. The formation that the guards used was good for the initial impact, but was unfortunately too tight packed to manoeuvre swiftly. If the bandits got the opportunity to hit one of the sides, then the guards would suffer casualties. Leader: [Shit! Hold the line while I come!] The leader took the sabre out of its scabbard and charged at the flanking bandits. He was determined to face his enemies with unrelenting pressure. Even if one man from his squad fell into Death¡¯s cold hands, then the chances of victory would significantly decrease. He couldn¡¯t allow that, so he had to slice down all the enemies in his path. Leader: [Haaaaaah!] The squad leader reached the flankers with a rush of adrenaline and began to cut down the bandits in his path. His control of the sabre was impeccable. It felt as if though he was dancing while he was holding lightweight, one-handed weapon. He would kill one bandit by slicing his shoulder. Another ¨C by slashing his head off. Leader: [Anyone who wants to pass has to get through me!] This wild and frenzy, yet gracious attack continued for a couple of more seconds. Bandit #1: [Ack! Help! It¡¯s the legendary swordsmaster Gregio!] Bandit #2: [What¡¯s he doing here in this remote village? Shit! We didn¡¯t expect to meet an A rank warrior here.] A smile came to the lips of Gregio. It was obvious that the enemies were struck with fear. He needed to utilise this opportunity to cut down even more of his enemies. Just as he raised his sabre to deal another blow, he stepped back to narrowly avoid the wind blade flying at him. ???: [Tch! So I missed¡­] Standing to the side of Gregio was a tall woman with raven black hair. Her black eyes seemingly pierced him as they gazed at the man named Gregio. Gregio brushed his brown hair with his arm as he observed the woman. Gregio: [You! You¡¯re Satella! What is a B rank magician such as you doing here?] Satella smirked at Gregio before answering. Satella: [What else? Money, of course. These people paid me to work with them, so I agreed.] Gregio hung his head low while shaking furiously. Gregio: [You¡­ you¡¯ve fallen so low to work with bandits?] Satella: [Why not? We used to be partners once, but those times are over, especially after you betrayed me!] Gregio prepared his stance. He knew what she was talking about. Gregio: [Satella! That was for your own safety that I¡­ no, we left you behind. I was the only one who survived in the end. Back then, you would have also died!] Satella: [Shut it, traitor!] Gregio sighed as he mentally prepared himself for the coming fight. While he did have the rank advantage over Satella, magicians tended to be stronger than warriors, even more so when both parties were fighting to death. Before giving time to react, Gregio quickly lunged at Satella. He quickly brought down his sabre diagonally at the left shoulder. Satella used wind magic to accelerate herself backwards and successfully dodge the attack. Satella: [Hah! As if you can touch me!] Satella quickly fired two wind blades at Gregio. He dodged both of them by a narrow margin before rushing at Satella. Satella: [Not even using your element against me? Underestimating me like always!] Satella conjured five more wind blades before firing them at different angles. Gregio was able to successfully dodge the first four, but the last one was flying him at an angle he couldn¡¯t dodge in his current position. Quickly activating his earth magic, he strengthened his sabre before slashing at the last wind blade. The shattered wind blade flew apart in two directions before crashing into the ground with a fierce strength. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. Gregio used this opportunity to slash at Satella. She used wind magic to dodge again, but wasn¡¯t as successful this time as blood spurted out of her hand. Giving a maniacal look to Gregio, she licked the blood on her hand. Satella: [I guess I¡¯ll need to use all my power to defeat you!] After those words, Satella made wind blades, about a hundred of them. She was visibly becoming exhausted, but she let the wind blades loose. Those hundred wind blades hurled themselves at Gregio with a whistling sound. Gregio quickly prepared his stance and began to dodge as well as slice at the wind blades using his earth-empowered sabre. However, it was clear that he couldn¡¯t dodge all of them as he emerged a bloody mess after the attack had finished. Satella: [Damn! I couldn¡¯t finish him off!] Gregio coughed up blood as he spoke slowly. Gregio: [Why do you want to kill me so much? It was our collective decision to leave you behind back then. Why must you be angry at the survivor?] Satella began to shake. Tears formed at the edges of her eyes that began to flow down her cheeks. Satella: [If only you didn¡¯t leave me behind back then, the rest wouldn¡¯t have had to die.] Gregio shook his blood-covered head before continuing. Gregio: [No, all that would have happened was your death. Stop remaining in denial!] Satella: [Shut up! Die!] As she flung a final wind blade at Gregio, he prepared to retaliate. However, when the wind blade travelled halfway, it suddenly disappeared, as if though it hit the barrier. Satella: [Wha¡­?] ???: [Finished with your lovers¡¯ quarrel?] Gregio looked up to see a blonde elf sitting on top of the roof. Her beauty was dazzling and he felt enraptured by her. Then, he noticed that there weren¡¯t any signs of battle going on, so he quickly looked around. Lying all around him were the cold, dead bodies of the bandits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Amaterasu saw that the guard leader was planning to battle inside of the village, she decided to act. Amaterasu: ¡®If anything, I¡¯m doing for the old man.¡¯ She broke out into a sprint, using wind magic to accelerate herself. By this time, the bandits had already broken the village gates and poured into the village itself. Amaterasu prayed that the guards would resist the bandits long enough for her to arrive on time. Fortunately, the heroic act of Gregio was able to buy enough time for Amaterasu to reach the village. She jumped over the gate using wind magic and onto the roof. She sat down and noticed that the guards were struggling with the bandits while Gregio was duelling with Satella, with almost half of them dead. Amaterasu: ¡®Finally, I¡¯ll get to use this attack that I discovered after Eos left.¡¯ Due to the many RPG games that she played in her former world, Amaterasu was used to seeing the traditional four elements used as offensive magic. Light magic and dark magic was almost always reserved for support-type magic. Yet, this made Amaterasu curious ¨C what if she was able to create offensive magic for both types? Looking down on the battlefield, she concentrated on her attack, ¡®Laser¡¯. This spell created a beam of light that exceeded a temperature of 3000 K (3273.15¡ãC). The great thing about it was that Amaterasu could maintain for as long as she had the mana to do it. However, this spell drained her like the water squeezed out of a sponge under high pressure. Amaterasu: ¡®Okay! I¡¯m ready to begin the experiment!¡¯ She began to wave her finger around the field, slicing and piercing through enemies quickly and efficiently. The carnage was quick and devastating, Amaterasu was able to reduce the enemy¡¯s numbers from over hundred to zero in a couple of seconds, leaving behind scorched earth to signify the laser¡¯s trail. Amaterasu: ¡®Wow. This is extremely effective in reducing numbers quickly. I guess grunts will always remain grunts in the end. Now, those two should be finishing up any moment.¡¯ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Gregio was staring at the lady on the roof. It was clear to him that she was even more powerful than Satella to produce this kind of massacre. He was extremely cautious since duelling two mages would certainly lead to his death, but since she killed the bandits, he didn¡¯t think that he was in danger. Gregio: [Who are you? Judging from your power, you are at least an A rank mage! Why are you here?] Amaterasu brought her right hand up to her face and began to massage her forehead. Amaterasu: [You¡¯re asking too many questions at once. I¡¯m just a passing-by elf who was going to the capital. I was going to lodge here tonight, but someone¡¯s guard didn¡¯t let me in. So I was camping in the nearby forest when I noticed this mess. Speaking of that, shouldn¡¯t you finish up already? It¡¯s clear that the swordsman is the winner here. He wasn¡¯t even taking the fight seriously or you would be dead, loud woman.] Satella widened her eyes at that statement. She suspected that Gregio was going easy on her, but she didn¡¯t expect to this extent. She clicked her tongue and used the last of her remaining mana to accelerate herself with wind as she escaped. Gregio: [Wait!] Gregio was about to rush after her, but Amaterasu stopped him. Amaterasu: [Hold your horses! Where are you going with injuries like those? You won¡¯t catch her with her wind magic. Just give up.] Gregio sighed for another time this night and turned to face Amaterasu. Gregio: [So, elf. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your help today. Are you going to stay here for tonight?] Amaterasu curled her lip in dissatisfaction. Amaterasu: [No. I lost my interest after what transpired today earlier. I¡¯ll jump camp nearby. Goodbye.] Amaterasu jumped off the roof of the building and proceeded to walk towards the gate. She almost reached it, but she stopped as she noticed something tumbled from the shadows towards her. Unknown specimen: [Hey! Emilia saw what you did just now! That was so cool! Emilia wants to beat bad guys with light as well!] Amaterasu was amused as a little girl, no more than five years old, was jumping up and down in front of her. Amaterasu unconsciously smiled as she was confronted by this odd character. Amaterasu: [Well, if you train yourself over time, then you might grow to be strong like me!] The little girl tilted her head at Amaterasu. Emilia: [But mom and dad said that Emilia didn¡¯t have anything special about her! No affinity! They said Emilia wouldn¡¯t grow strong no matter how much she trains!] Amaterasu smile disappeared as she came to realise the meaning behind those words. Amaterasu: ¡®No elemental affinity? I thought God said that everyone had one! Could this be a disease? Or was she born like this? Regardless, she definitely won¡¯t be able to survive in this magic world like this.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Oh, I¡¯m sor¡­] Amaterasu stopped her before another thought came to her mind. Amaterasu: ¡®Wait a minute! Aren¡¯t I a goddess? Shouldn¡¯t I technically be able to give my power to others? I don¡¯t know if I can do this, but it¡¯s worth a shot, I guess.¡¯ Amaterasu brought her right hand to Emilia¡¯s forehead and extended her forefinger so that it was the only one touching her head. Emilia tilted her head in confusion again. As Amaterasu began to concentrate, she sent her mana through her forefinger into Emilia¡¯s head. She spent a couple more seconds pouring mana into Emilia before she stopped. Amaterasu: ¡®Did it work? I can feel my divine mana circulating within her, so something happened at least.¡¯ Emilia rubbed her forehead. Emilia: [What was that?] Amaterasu: [Oh, I just gave you a special something! Now, if you train, you can become as strong as me. Just keep it a secret.] Amaterasu was grinning while she put her forefinger on her lips, indicating a ¡®silence¡¯ command. Emilia: [Really? Yay! Emilia promises to train and become as strong as you! Then, Emilia will come help you!] Amaterasu: [Alright, settle down there. Go home now.] Emilia: [OK!] Amaterasu looked back as the girl sprinted back into the village with her arms outstretched into the air. Amaterasu: ¡®Well, I don¡¯t know if I did anything to help her, but I tried my best. Everything is left up to her. Though, I doubt that she¡¯ll ever come to help me.¡¯ Chuckling, Amaterasu exited the village to spend the night in the forest. Chapter 12 Boy Problems Author''s note: Ah, the joy of an author. No matter how much you try, you will never be satisfied with your own chapters no matter how much work has been put in. Next chapter, all three reunite! But only the two gods will be able to identify Sam. I went to my favourite manwha Id for some more great names! Hmmm, maybe I should add in Percer somewhere. Nevertheless, if Naoki finds one error, I will commit seppuku because I checked this twice, so there shouldn''t be any. Thank you and enjoy! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Meanwhile, in another place¡­ King: [¡­ and this is the reason we called you! Help us defeat the demon lord!] As the king was sitting on his throne and stroking his beard, satisfied with his explanation, Sam could only stare back with a paralyzed face. It was as if though Sam had stared into the eyes of a gorgon. His statuesque figure stood still like a carving after a great battle. Sam: ¡®Calm down. You can do this. This is normal. You are normal. Trucks flying in the air and crashing into planes are normal. Summonings are normal¡­ GAH, WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON? THIS IS BULLSHIT! AND I¡¯M NOT GOING TO BE ONE OF THOSE DENSE PROTAGONISTS WHO PRETENDS THIS IS A DREAM. BUT! WHAT! THE! FUCK!¡¯ A silence pervaded the room as all the students and the teacher were staring blankly at the king. Finally, one person decided to step out and take the lead. It was the bossy girl with the drill hair. Michelle: [If it¡¯s like that, we accept the request for help!] Sam¡¯s thought process was interrupted by the stupidity of the statement. Sam: ¡®Does she ever think things through? Why accept? And why does she think that she can speak for all of us? Argh, I hate people like these.¡¯ Sam was yet again interrupted by another voice. Chinchen: [Nonsense. Why should we accept when it doesn¡¯t benefit us?] Chinchen took a couple steps forwards and faced the king, pushing the glasses up his nose. Chinchen: [I assume that there is no way to return to our former world?] The king stammered a bit before continuing on. King: [N-n-no, Sir Laillo said that the summoning circle grabs the souls of the recently deceased and transports them to our world. So there is no way to return back to your old world.] Chinchen: [Who¡¯s Laillo?] King: [To be frank, I don¡¯t even know. He just appeared one day at the castle and told us that the demons are preparing an invasion. He gave us a summoning circle and told us to activate it on this specific day. He looks like a draconian, but other than that, I have no other information on him.] Chinchen: [Hmmm. So we are supposed to be dead now¡­ What exactly can you offer us in return for help?] Michelle: [Hey! I¡¯m the main role here! Stop taking away my role!] Chinchen could only sigh as he answered her. Chinchen: [The boss was originally our teacher, but since we got summoned to a different world, and we all know how incompetent he is, the smartest people should take the role of a leader. That means me¡­ and Sam. Speaking of Sam, where is he?] Sam was still thinking by himself when Chinchen¡¯s words brought him back to reality. Sam: [Oh¡­ er¡­ I-I¡¯m here.] Chinchen: [What do you think about this, Sam?] Sam brought his right hand up to his chin and looked downwards for a couple of seconds. Rubbing his chin, he glanced back upwards to Chinchen before answering. Sam: [Despite the fact that the king has basically kidnapped us, there isn¡¯t much point over needlessly worrying about trying to return to our former world because we¡¯re already dead. Why not help since we have nothing better to do? I think the most important thing is to preserve our freedom.] Chinchen: [I was thinking of the same thing. Then, your majesty, can I make a couple of demands?] Chinchen said this as he turned to the king and pushed up his glasses once more. King: [Certainly! I¡¯ll comply with your demands to the best of my power.] Chinchen: [Then, here are my demands. First, every one of us has the choice to do whatever they want. If someone wants to go adventuring, then let them be. If someone wants to retire from the hero business, then you should let them. And finally, my second demand is that, as long as one remains a hero, then you¡¯ll fund us. Is that clear?] The king nodded back in reply as he listened to Chinchen¡¯s reasonable demands. King: [Understood.] Chinchen: [Then, if you¡¯ll excuse me for a moment¡­] Chinchen turned around to face his classmates and his former teacher. Chinchen: [Well, you guys heard me. If anyone wants to jump ship, they can do it now.] After Chinchen said those words, there was a prolonged silence that lasted for several seconds. Sam could swear that he heard crickets chirping during this time. Finally, the silence was broken by one of the students. Student 1: [Eh, what the heck. I don¡¯t have anything better to do so I might as well join in.] Student 2: [I guess I¡¯ll do the same.] Student 3: [I always wanted to know what it¡¯s like to be a hero!] One by one, all the students (and teacher) had agreed to join Chinchen and the journey to defeat the demon king. Chinchen: [And what about you, Sam?] Chinchen had said this quietly to Sam after he walked up to him while the other students were talking among themselves about how they would be the ones to defeat the demon lord. Sam didn¡¯t know this, but Chinchen had looked up to him since the last year of high school. When Chinchen first moved in, he thought that there wouldn¡¯t be any students capable of besting him, until he wrote the first test. It was then that he found out that one student had bested him, Sam. Ever since then, Sam was like a role model to Chinchen, despite the fact that Chinchen himself had more leadership qualities. Sam: [I¡¯ll stick around for now, I guess. I don¡¯t quite like this, though. It feels as if though we are being forced to fight due to there being no other options. If I find something better to do later on, then I¡¯ll probably quit being a hero.] Chinchen¡¯s face was showing a smile after Sam¡¯s reply. Even if it wasn¡¯t for long, he still would get to travel with Sam for some time. Afterwards, he turned back to face the king. This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Chinchen: [Now that everyone is in agreement, what is the next step? None of us have combat abilities, so I assume that we will be trained first?] The king cleared his throat before continuing. King: [Yes. I plan to send you all to a prestigious magic and martial arts academy in the center of this city. It¡¯s right nearby. However, I want you to check your statuses first to know which area of study you are more fit for. If you have better physical attributes, you would be more proficient in martial arts. If you have better mental qualities, then magic.] Chinchen: [Excuse me. But how do you check your status?] The king became flustered for a moment before calming down. King: [Oh, I¡¯m sorry. I completely forgot in my excitement. You have to say, ¡®Show status.¡¯] At that moment, the room broke out into a clamour as dozens of voices began saying ¡®Show status.¡¯ Sam: ¡®Huh. I¡¯m fairly balanced when it comes to stats¡­ wait, I have a skill? What is this?¡¯ Sam: [E-excuse me, your majesty. What happens if you have a skill and you want to check it out?] King: [In that case, you would say, ¡®Show skill¡¯ and then say the name of whatever skill you have. You¡¯ll first obtain skills when you¡¯ll begin training.] Sam nodded back to the King, acknowledging his statement, and then, in a low voice, murmured a couple of words. The skill window popped out in front of him and Sam began to read the description of the skill on the blue background. Sam: ¡®No, how could this be? Why do I have this? No¡­ no¡­ whyyyyyyyy?] Sam had to cover his face to hide the river of tears that began to flow form his starry black eyes. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amaterasu: [Thanks for the ride.] Old man: [Ha ha ha! It¡¯s nothing, it¡¯s nothing!] Amaterasu shook her head in reply to the old man. Amaterasu: [No, no. I¡¯m grateful that you went out of your way to deliver me all the way to the academy. You saved me the embarrassment of being stared at by various people.] Old man: [Ha ha ha! That¡¯s right, that¡¯s right! Barely anyone has seen an elf before! Besides, I heard from the guards that you went out of your way for us yesterday, so it only makes sense to pay you in kind.] Amaterasu: [Is that so? Thank you once more.] The old man waved his hand in reply. Old man: [Well, I better get going. I hope to see you again, miss.] The old man took the whip into his hand and whipped the horse once to get it moving. After a couple seconds, the wagon disappeared behind the corner of the street. Amaterasu: ¡®I guess I better get going as well.¡¯ Amaterasu observed the academy and was shocked at how grand it was. Amaterasu remembered when she was once taken around the campus of MIT by her parents in her former life. All Amaterasu could say was this: the size of the Royal Academy in the capital would put the MIT campus to shame. There were many buildings dedicated to many subjects: arts, business, and maths. However, the most popular subjects were martial arts, including fighting with weapons, and magic. Many children dreamt of entering the Royal Academy to learn there. Extremely talented students would be given scholarships to enter the academy and would be subsequently employed after they graduated. Finding employment after graduating was practically guaranteed since even entering the academy in the first place was a tough ordeal. As Amaterasu was walking past the various buildings, she noticed their beautiful designs. Not a single one was grey and boring ¨C instead, they were painted in various attractive and eye-pleasing colours. Amaterasu, who had an eye for decoration, was happily observing the details. Amaterasu: ¡®Wow. Those columns are painted in a beautiful sky blue. Whoever constructed this place was a master at architecture. So many different varieties that one could get lost here. Speaking of lost, I don¡¯t know where the principal¡¯s office is¡­ oh, I¡¯ll ask that boy approaching me.¡¯ Walking towards her was a boy who about fourteen years old. He had short, spiky brown hair coupled together with bloody red eyes. His chin was angular and his muscles, though not too big, stood out as he walked. The boy towered over Amaterasu as his height was about two metres, which seemed excessive for someone that age. Amaterasu: [Hi. What¡¯s your name?] The boy finally noticed her and seemed to gaze at her for ages, before he ducked down and clutched his stomach. ???: [M-Mercio.] Amaterasu frowned as she looked at the crouching Mercio. Amaterasu: [What¡¯s wrong? Do you have a stomach ache or something?] Mercio shook his head before answering. Mercio: [N-no. I¡¯m fine. Thanks for your concern.] Amaterasu tilted her head. Amaterasu: [Alright, if you say so. So¡­ Mercio, can you please tell me where the principal¡¯s office is?] Mercio, still crouching and clutching his stomach, pointed at a building behind him. Mercio: [T-that black building over there is the administrative building. You¡¯ll find the principal¡¯s office on the top floor.] Amaterasu: [Thank you. By the way, if your stomach is hurting, you should get that checked out.] Amaterasu proceeded to head on over to the black administrative building. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mercio: ¡®That girl, is she an elf? Either way, she¡¯s so beautiful ¨C I wonder if she¡¯s enrolling as a student here. No, no. Stop with those thoughts. You already have Michael. Though, I¡¯m not sure how I¡¯ll meet him in this form, but I¡¯ll figure something out!¡¯ Mercio, looking over his shoulder, noticed that the elf was already near the administrative building. He promptly stood up as he noticed that she wasn¡¯t looking at him anymore. Mercio: ¡®Still, a boy¡¯s body is scary. It can have an erection occur out of nowhere. It would have been embarrassing if I was caught looking at her with one. How did Michael deal with this? Geez. I guess I have to adjust it again.¡¯ Observing his surroundings and noticing that no one was watching him, Mercio quickly fixed his erection by using the band of his underwear to contain it. Chapter 13 The Unknown Reunion AN: Only now do I realise how hard it is to write, when you have a protagonist (Ama), deuteragonist (Mercio), and a tritagonist (Sam). Writing different POVs is fairly complicated. The next chapter or two will be a bit slice of life-ish before more adventure time begins. In the meantime, enjoy, and thanks for the 3.5k average views! You guys rock! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As Amaterasu entered the principal¡¯s office, she noticed the vast amounts of mana that radiated in many different colours. She could easily see the powerful mana due to her body of an elf and her nature as a goddess, even if she was a lesser one. Amaterasu could sense that the one giving off this mana was an extremely powerful mage because it was nearly suffocating her. Her ears began twitching back and forth incredibly quickly, since elf ears were the most sensitive to mana. ???: [Hoh. So you can sense this, right? We have a sensitive lady right here. Here, I¡¯ll make this easier for you.] With a snap of his fingers, the unknown person lifted the pressure that he exerted on Amaterasu. Gazing upon the room, she noticed that it was dimly lit by candles and that there were no windows for light to come through. The whole room was covered by a red rug, about 10 by 10 metres in dimension. In the middle of the room was a man in his fifties who was sitting in a wool couch that was located behind an enormous wooden desk. He was casually blowing smoke rings while holding a gorgeously made black tobacco pipe. Its design screamed ¡®antique¡¯ to Amaterasu. The man was ruffling his short, grey hair with his hand as he was alternating his glare between the pipe and Amaterasu herself. Amaterasu: ¡®If he grows out his hair and wears a wizard¡¯s hat and robe, he would kind of look like Gandalf. This must be the headmaster.¡¯ Headmaster: [Greetings, young lass. My name is Tyrus and I¡¯m the headmaster ¨C or principal ¨C of this academy. What brings you here? I¡¯m assuming that you¡¯re not going to be a student, seeing as your power is formidable already.] Amaterasu: [Hello, my name is Amaterasu. I¡¯ve heard that there is a spot open for a teacher and I wanted to apply¨C] Tyrus: [You¡¯re hired.] Amaterasu: [Oh, okay¡­ wait, what? Already?] Tyrus chuckled before he continued the conversation. Tyrus: [Of course. Most of the teachers can¡¯t even sense my mana, let alone to the degree that you were able to. Even if you¡¯re an elf, you¡¯ve already built up so much power¡­ I can even sense the mana that you¡¯re leaking. It feels so¡­ concentrated. Like something I¡¯ve never seen before. Truly peculiar. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you surpass me in the near future.] Amaterasu: [I-is that so? If that¡¯s the case, when do I start?] Tyrus: [Hmm. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve heard about this already, but the human kingdom managed to summon heroes. If I¡¯m correct, they¡¯ll be sent here tomorrow¡­ alright, I¡¯ve decided that you¡¯ll be their teacher. Maybe it¡¯s for the best.] Amaterasu: [What do you mean by that?] Tyrus: [Well, I¡¯m not really sure what kind of potential they hold. It¡¯s best to have an elf teach them anyways, since you know more about magic than we do. It¡¯s very possible that they might have access to all the elements¡­ yes, I think you¡¯re the best match for the job.] Amaterasu: ¡®I don¡¯t even know what he¡¯s planning. All he does is mutter to himself.¡¯ Amaterasu: [¡­Alright. In exchange, can I make a request?] Tyrus¡¯ brows shot up and his eyes¡¯ gaze was laid on Amaterasu. Tyrus: [What is it?] Amaterasu: [Can you transfer the five most talented students, when it comes to combat, into my class?] Tyrus: [Hoh¡­ I do not see why not. It could benefit them to learn from an elf. Might even change the way they use magic.] Amaterasu: [So it¡¯s fine?] Tyrus: [No complaints from my end.] Amaterasu: [I see¡­ then I¡¯ll come tomorrow again.] Tyrus waved Amaterasu off before beginning to puff the tobacco pipe again. Amaterasu just stood at the entrance to the room for a couple more seconds before turning around and opening the white wooden door. After exiting, Amaterasu couldn¡¯t help but sigh dejectedly. Amaterasu: ¡®What a weird old man. That conversation was awkward as hell. Well, I guess I¡¯ll start looking for the god tomorrow. I really wish I was S rank, though. It wouldn¡¯t even take a day to find them. I can¡¯t help but think that this is some sort of test for me.¡¯ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The two long swords clashed as the noise of the impact vibrated in the air. One of the long swords shifted to add additional weight onto the other, causing the user to fall. A pair of red eyes looked down on him. The boy lying on the ground unconsciously shivered. Instructor: [Stop, stop, stop! It¡¯s clear who the winner here is! We can now end this practice.] The students began to pack up their equipment. The sword instructor stood with his arms crossed for a moment before unravelling them and walking up to Mercio. Instructor: [That was a great performance from you as always, young lad!] Mercio: [It¡¯s all thanks to teacher that I was able to perform well.] Instructor: [Nonsense. I¡¯m only there to guide you. You have incredibly high talent. It¡¯s a shame that this will be the last day teaching you.] Mercio was taken aback by his instructor¡¯s words. Mercio: [What do you mean by ¡®last day¡¯?] Instructor: [Well, you haven¡¯t been informed yet, but you¡¯re transferring classes. You see, I was informed by the headmaster that a teacher has arrived today to teach the heroes. You¡¯re going to be transferred in the same class with them.] This novel is published on a different platform. Support the original author by finding the official source. Mercio: [But why? Wouldn¡¯t I have to learn the basics again?] The instructor simply shrugged his shoulders. Instructor: [I don¡¯t know the details. I did hear that the new teacher is incredibly talented though, so you might learn something new.] Mercio nodded his head back in reply. Mercio: [Thanks for teaching me all this time. I could only become stronger thanks to you.] Instructor: [Alright, alright already. You can go.] Mercio packed up his equipment and faced the direction to his dorm. Mercio: ¡®¡­New teacher, huh?¡¯ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Later, in the palace bedroom¡­ Sam: [Chinchen, what do you think about this?] Chinchen: [It feels natural to me actually, and I don¡¯t know why myself. I¡¯m sorry that I stole leadership from you though.] Sam shifted over in his bed. Sam: [Nah, don¡¯t worry about it. I didn¡¯t care for it. Anyways, what do you think about magic? Is it surreal or what?] Chinchen was looking at the ceiling with his hands placed behind his head. Chinchen: [On the contrary, it¡¯s extremely fascinating. I hope that we get a good teacher tomorrow. I want to research the magic of this world and develop it further. Don¡¯t you think that this is our chance? We can become something even more, especially with our knowledge from our former world! Doesn¡¯t it excite you?] Sam: [I guess. I just wish that my close friends were here with me and not¡­ well¡­ dead.] Chinchen: [Your friends?] Sam: [Yeah. They both died in two traffic accidents on two separate occasions¡­ within a month from each other.] Chinchen: [T-that sounds like what you¡¯d hear in superstitious rumours. Didn¡¯t we die as well? I wonder if it was an engine failure. I didn¡¯t really pay attention.] Sam: ¡®No, it wasn¡¯t an engine failure. We got fucking annihilated by a flying truck.¡¯ Sam: [Anyways, goodnight. I¡¯m going to sleep] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amaterasu: [So, heroes, huh?] Amaterasu was currently walking towards the small, blue building located in the center of the academy. This building was specially built in anticipation for the arrival of the heroes, so it was designed purposefully to be used to train combat skills. It had all sorts of weaponry, from daggers to crossbows to pole arms, as well a magic field that was surrounded by a barrier that withstood most spells. There was also a classroom, filled with seats, that was to be used for lecture purposes. Usually, a teacher would start off with a lecture on how to use a particular weapon, or a spell, and that would force the students to put the theory into practice. Deep in thought, Amaterasu didn¡¯t notice that she had already reached the classroom inside the building. Hesitating for a second, she used her right hand to pull down the handle of the brown wooden door. Entering the classroom, she noticed that it was pretty desolate, save for five people sitting at their desks. Amaterasu: [It seems that the heroes are running late. We¡¯ll wait for them before starting the lesson.] Though Amaterasu did not hear any sound from the students, but she could see all of them nodding their heads in approval. Amaterasu: ¡®Come to think about it, the red-eyed boy that I met yesterday is also here. That means that he¡¯s talented, huh? I wonder if the stomach ache didn¡¯t trouble him too much. I could¡¯ve healed him if he has asked for it. Wonder why he¡¯s closing his eyes and sitting in a lotus position. Is it a type of training?¡¯ A couple of minutes later, Amaterasu heard footsteps outside, except these footsteps were as if though a flock of elephants was stampeding through the halls. The door was violently yanked open as a group of people poured into the classroom. A student walked up to her, out of breath. Chinchen: [Sorry that we¡¯re late. It took a while to find this building in the cluster of other buildings.] But Amaterasu didn¡¯t pay attention to the student that walked up in front of her. Her gaze was fixated on a single person so intensely that she didn¡¯t notice another person leaping up, doing the same. Amaterasu: ¡®W-why is Sam here?¡¯ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Mercio was sitting inside of the classroom. He was the first to arrive, because he was excited to obtain special training from the ¡°Hero Instructor.¡± It was then that Mercio noticed that the door was wide open, and that a beautiful blonde elf came in. It was the same person that he encountered yesterday. Mercio: ¡®She¡¯s the instructor? So¡­ young. And now that I look at her again, so¡­ beautiful.¡¯ Fixating his gaze on her, he didn¡¯t notice that she was actually saying something. All he could do was unconsciously nod after she finished her speech. Mercio: ¡®Oh, this is bad. The hormones are running wild in my body again. This has never happened before I met her. What should I do? I wonder if meditating will work.¡¯ Mercio proceeded to sit in the lotus position. It looked fairly ridiculous, and he didn¡¯t know if it¡¯ll work, but it was a worth a shot. He spent several minutes in this position, calming down, before he heard a stampede nearing. As he heard a wild bang that accompanied the burst of the door being flung open, he opened his eyes, curious to see the heroes that the kingdom had summoned. It was then that his face was paralyzed in confusion, and his jaw dropped faster than lightning. He couldn¡¯t help but leap up to confirm that his eyesight did not lie to him. Mercio: ¡®Is that Sam?¡¯ Chapter 14 Her Confession A/N: Here''s another chapter for your enjoyment. Whelp, the ship has finally sailed, Amaterasu confessed to Sam. They make such a lovely couple, almost romantic, even. Who says I can''t write emotional scenes? Muahahaahaahaaha! Enjoy your (not so) daily chapter of Goddess of Beauty. Thanks! I''m also currently an editor for ''Reincarnated as the main character''s little sister'', so go check that out if you want to. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amaterasu: [¡­ and all you need to do is imagine the thing that you want to do with your particular element. If it is theoretically possible to do, and you know at least some details on how it works, you will be able to conjure a new spell. Any questions?] After a long silence through which Amaterasu could hear the chirping of crickets, a summoned student raised his hand and proceeded to ask. Random hero: [Is magic really real?] Amaterasu could feel a vein pop up on her forehead. This same student had already asked that question at least five times and was getting on her nerves. She quickly conjured a small ¡®Grand Fireball¡¯ in her hands and sent it flying towards the summoned student. She didn¡¯t put a lot of mana into it, but it was enough to cause first degree burns. Random hero: [Owwwwwwww.] The hero winced in pain as he held his forehead in his hands. Red scarring was noticeable since his hands didn¡¯t fully cover the burn. Amaterasu could see all the students looking at the victim with eyes opened wide. Amaterasu: [Now, does anyone else need me to showcase a display of magic?] The students rotated their heads towards Amaterasu and violently shook them side to side. None of them wanted to piss her off any further. Amaterasu: [Good. Let¡¯s move on then. Can everyone open their status windows and then come up to me to tell what element they are best at?] The students proceeded to open their status windows. The first who came up to Amaterasu were the five gifted students that were transferred into her class. They had already known their elements, as they had practiced them for a long time. Among them was Mercio, who had all the elements, but presented his dark element. The reason he presented it was due to an accident that occurred at the beginning of the year. During the entrance exam, he showcased his dark element because that was the only element he had spells for. He was surprised when students and teachers alike flocked around him, and then later he discovered that humans had only one element, with the dark element being the rarest of all. Unless you were a being that specialised in darkness, like demons and dark elves, the chance of getting the dark element was slim to none. Unfortunately, he couldn¡¯t reverse his mistake, so he had to accept the others hailing him as a genius. The worst part was that none of the teachers knew the dark element, so he had to focus on martial arts training instead and he couldn¡¯t develop his magic further. Amaterasu: ¡®This is¡­ the dark element? But the chance of getting it is low! I¡¯ll have to mark down this student and observe him for the time being. Mercio, was it?¡¯ One might wonder why Amaterasu can¡¯t just outright ask someone whether he¡¯s a god or not. The reason is that she wants to avoid trouble. Eos had told her that the existence of gods was not known in this world. If Amaterasu revealed to someone other than a god that she is one, then she could be harassed for methods of becoming one, or even worse, studied. The risk was great, so Amaterasu needed to be sure that someone was a god before approaching him. After the transferred students, the heroes came next. None of them were particularly special, except for one ¨C Sam. To Amaterasu¡¯s surprise, he had access to all the elements, being proficient in all of them. Amaterasu had to stop her jaw from falling and instead just nodded back in reply. However, her thoughts had clearly did not match her actions. Amaterasu: ¡®100% proficiency in all elements? This is literally god level. Could he be the one? But, didn¡¯t he come with the heroes? ¡­ Besides, I refuse to believe that he, of all people, is the one I¡¯m looking for.¡¯ Amaterasu was standing with a hand rubbing her chin, before she heard someone call out her name. Other random hero: [Miss Amaterasu, what element do you specialise in?] Amaterasu was about to answer him before she stopped herself. Amaterasu: ¡®Wait a second. If I limit myself to two elements, I wouldn¡¯t be able to teach most of them. I need to know more about their powers and potential if I am to determine the last remaining god. And I can¡¯t do that if I don¡¯t train them. I guess I¡¯ll have to spin a little lie.¡¯ Amaterasu: [Well, I come from a very rare and special breed of elves that can use all elements. This is why I was appointed as your teacher.] She could sense that all the transferred students, and even most of the summoned heroes were looking at her with eyes full of amazement and adoration. Mercio was especially ecstatic, because he thought that this was his opportunity to learn some new magic, while continuing to disguise his true abilities. Of course, the story about the rare breed of elves was complete bullshit. In reality, no such elf existed, and even the elf she disguised herself as initially, the light elf, was rare. There was no elf that knew how to use all elements. In fact, there were no beings that could use all elements except gods¡­ and Sam. Amaterasu: [S-stop gazing at me. It¡¯s disturbing. I think that we should head over to the magic training field instead to test your skills. Actually, the heroes shouldn¡¯t have any, so this will be a great opportunity to develop them. Just follow what I told you in the lecture and you¡¯ll be able to do it¡­ eventually.] Amaterasu and her group of students had proceeded to the training field. She spent the rest of the day observing their training and helping them when they had problems. Amaterasu was quite impressed by the summoned heroes. Despite the fact that they had not known about magic until yesterday, their growth was amazingly fast. Sam himself had also advanced from rank F to rank E in a single day of training. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Amaterasu was walking through the hallways of the dormitory. She had to report to the headmaster about the progress of the students, so she wasn¡¯t able to reach the dormitory until late at night. She was just about to reach her designated room, when she noticed one of her students walking through the halls¡­ one of her closest friends. Amaterasu: [Hello, Sam. What are you doing here?] Sam: [Huh? Oh, it¡¯s you, Miss Amaterasu. I¡¯m impressed that you remember my name.] Amaterasu: [Oh. Ah, well, you¡¯re kind of special. You don¡¯t get to see a practitioner of all elements everyday. Other than myself, I haven¡¯t seen anyone without as much capability for more than a year.] Sam: [Really? That means I¡¯m special? Ha ha ha. I don¡¯t know much about this magic stuff.] Amaterasu: [Yes. I wouldn¡¯t be surprised if you become one of the most powerful individuals given a few more years. But, back to the original question, why are you walking around the teacher¡¯s quarters?] If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it. Sam: [Oh, ah¡­ well, I was mainly just reminiscing the old days before I was summoned?] Amaterasu: [What do you mean?] Sam hung his head before continuing, avoiding Amaterasu¡¯s eyesight. Sam: [Well, it¡¯s just that I had two close friends back in my old world. We would always hang out and stuff¡­ and we had a really great time. It¡¯s just that, well, I haven¡¯t seen them for a while, so I was thinking how great it would have been if I came here together with them.] Amaterasu¡¯s curiosity was piqued. She knew that Sam was talking about her and Yuna, since Sam had told them many times that they were the only true friends that he ever had. Amaterasu: [Friends?] Sam: [Well, my life story is kinda embarrassing, but I had two friends: Michael and Yuna. Michael was a genius that couldn¡¯t be compared. I often had competitions with him ¨C he was my main rival. I didn¡¯t beat him a single time, though. He probably would¡¯ve been stronger than me had he been summoned.] Sam didn¡¯t notice that Amaterasu smirked at his last sentence. She thought about how ironic it was that he was correct on that point. Sam: [The other friend was Yuna. She was a cheerful girl that lightened the atmosphere every time that she was with us. She was fairly beautiful, though not as much as you. Actually, I initially wanted to go out with her, but she rejected me, saying that she liked someone else¡­ and it was so obvious that ¡®someone else¡¯ was my friend Michael. I didn¡¯t mind much though, since I thought that my friend deserved it more. He was so fucking dense though, only finding out that she liked him on the day of his death.] Sam lowered his voice when he said the last sentence to the point where Amaterasu could barely hear him. Amaterasu: ¡®If you knew about it, why didn¡¯t you ever tell me? I could have been happy for at least a couple of months, instead of finding it out at literally the last minute. Speaking of Yuna though, what happened to her? I didn¡¯t see her among the summoned heroes, and Sam seems to imply that she was no longer with him for a while. Did she change schools or something?¡¯ Amaterasu: [If one friend died, what happened to the other one?] Sam: [She¡­ she died as well. Just a month after him. She got run over by a truck. Ah, sorry, you probably don¡¯t know what a truck is.] Sam glanced upwards to meet Amaterasu¡¯s eyes, but the only thing that he could see was a paralyzed face. Amaterasu seemed to want to say something, but only choking sounds came out of her mouth. Amaterasu: [Oh¡­ ah¡­ ah¡­ ah¡­ ah¡­] In truth, Amaterasu had been working hard specifically for the sake of Yuna. She had been amassing power the past couple of years for her sake. Amaterasu had hoped that, once she had ascended to rank X, that she would have enough power to meet Yuna again. In fact, when Amaterasu heard from Eos that a summoning ceremony is being performed, her enthusiasm grew with every day. But now that was all crushed, it had all been ruined. Yuna had died, and along with her death came the dream. Even if she was reincarnated somewhere, the chances of finding her were slim to none, and even if she found her, Yuna wouldn¡¯t remember Amaterasu anymore. Knowing this, Amaterasu couldn¡¯t help as the stream of tears burst forward from her light blue eyes. Sam: [What the¡­? Hey!] Sam was taken aback as he noticed the glistening tears on Amaterasu¡¯s cheeks. His face showed a puzzled look as he didn¡¯t understand the scene in front of him. Sam: [Come on, there¡¯s nothing to be sad for. I¡¯ve already recovered from that incident.] Amateraus: [Uuuuu¡­ uuuuu¡­ uuuuu¡­] Sam: [Um¡­ cheer up! It takes away from your beauty when you cry¡­] Amaterasu: [Uuuuu¡­ uuuuu¡­ uuuuu¡­] Amaterasu continued to cry as she ignored Sam¡¯s words. A silence pervaded for a couple of seconds. Suddenly, Amaterasu felt warm arms embracing her. Sam: [Come on. Let it all out.] Sam said this in a quiet, yet calming tone. Amaterasu wanted to shake him off, but found that Sam¡¯s hug was actually incredibly cozy. Another burst of tears was let loose as she continued to weep. This continued for a couple more minutes before calming down. Sam released her when he realised that she was finished. Amaterasu: [Thank you. I apologise for the unsightly scene.] Sam: [It was fine. I¡¯m sure you had your reasons to cry. Like having a tragic past and all.] Sam brushed his hair as he said this. Amaterasu observed him and realised that Sam may have always been an eccentric character, but that he was incredibly trustworthy. There was a saying that, if you got a Russian to befriend you, he would stay loyal towards you¡­ and that saying might have had some truth in it. That¡¯s when Amaterasu decided to come out and confess to him. Amaterasu: [Um¡­ Sam.] Sam: [Huh?] Amaterasu: [I¡¯m¡­ I¡¯m Michael.] Sam¡¯s eyes glared at her before he burst into laughter. Sam: [Ha ha ha! And I¡¯m the Queen of England! Nice joke. If you¡¯re really Michael, then tell me how we met.] Amaterasu: [You foolishly challenged me to a contest of who gets a higher mark when you miserably lost to me in test scores.] Amaterasu was slightly pissed that Sam didn¡¯t believe her. However, she found it understandable since she would hardly believe it in his place as well. On the other hand, when Sam heard her words, he stumbled backwards and fell on his bottom. In laymen¡¯s terms, he fell flat on his ass. Sam: [M-Michael?] Amaterasu: [Yes?] Sam: [No, I mean, is it really you?] Amaterasu: [How many times do I have to repeat? Yes, I am.] Sam sniffled as he roared out loud. Sam: [I¡¯M SO HAPPY TO SEE YOOOOOOOOU!!!] Amaterasu brought her forefinger up to her lips. Amaterasu: [Be quiet! Do you want to awaken the whole city with your wailing?] Sam dusted himself as he stood up from the floor. Sam: [Sorry, sorry. It¡¯s just that, boy, I¡¯m happy to see you after such a long time. What are you doing here?] Amaterasu: [Well¡­ it¡¯s just that¡­ ehem¡­ I was kinda¡­ appointed to be a goddess of beauty in this world?] Sam began to cackle like a maniac when he heard that. Sam: [Pft! You, a goddess? Ha ha ha! Now that I look at you though, want to go out with me?] Amaterasu: [Wha¡­? Who would want to go out with you? Did you forget that I was a guy? Are you gay?] Sam: [Says the one who cried like a little girl just now.] The two continued to bicker for a while ¨C not noticing that, when they were finished, the sun had already risen. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elsewhere during the night¡­ Mercio: [Ooooh, I really want to talk with him, but it¡¯ll be so embarrassing. How will I explain my current form?] Mercio ¨C or rather Yuna ¨C was contemplating whether he should go see Sam right now and talk to him. Mercio: [It¡¯s just¡­ no, maybe later. I¡¯ll always have time if I need to.] Mercio rolled over in his bed one more time before he began to snore a few minutes later. Hiatus Yes, I know. The dreaded word has been spoken. Hiatus. Many people hate hiatus, but this fic is taking one. Why? Well, I feel like I need to think over the direction I want to go with this. I kind of feel like I lost myself for a moment here, and I need to take some time to fish myself out. HOWEVER! This does not mean I''m going to willy nilly while this is on hiatus. I''m going to be posting chapters for another fic to gather ideas and such. Hopefully, you''ll enjoy it as much as this one (it''s also a GB). Link here: http://www.royalroadl.com/fiction/2729