บท 195: Level 4
As before, I'll continue with the main line of chapters, but I think this may be an excellent chapter to chill out and wait.
Once you read through it, tell me, should I continue with the main chapters, or should I post the side chapters first?
Also, this chapter is a bit dramatic, the next few will also be a bit like that... So I hope you guys don't mind.
That's all, peace!
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/Later…/
/Creak…/
/Clack!/
'After commemorating with his Familia companions, and reassuring them of his current condition, Silver and Hestia went back to the second floor, entering the office.'
(Yo! Chill Chill!!!)
'The party was long and full of laughter, however, he couldn't remain with them forever.'
'It was time to update his Status, and also to have a talk.'
'Silver had noticed from the beginning, from her estranged expression that something was burdening her mind.'
'Perhaps she as well could tell he was hiding something from everyone, or mayhaps she saw something else, yet in the end, refused to point that out.'
'But in the end, Hestia was terrible at hiding things, and Silver was definitely not the only one that noticed her strange behavior.'
'Regardless, it was time to clear her worries and reassure her that this was just another step in their long journey.'
'And once that was done, Silver was going outside, he had people to meet.'
/Poof…/
'Hestia sat on a couch, pulling his hand and forcing him to sit beside her.'
"Now that we're here… Tell me, what's weighing on your mind?" Silver asked as he held her hand
It's time to slowly get back on track, this time, there's nothing in the background, nothing to pull me down.
There is the everlasting threat of Evilus and those guys, but they won't move after everything that happened... They shouldn't.
I dealt two major blows to their forces, I took out the Ikelos Familia, and albeit I'm unsure of what happened to Ikelos himself, with their removal, they complete more or less lost that stream of income.
And now, the Ishtar Familia is a goner, on the contrary, they became a liability.
Ishtar has definitely gone mad over what happened, and she'll start making crazy demands... In fact, I want to see just what will she do regarding Haruhime.
Ishtar's existence is in itself a lurking danger, but her knowledge of Haruhime is by far her greatest asset against me.
If she reveals her powers...
'While Silver lost himself in his thoughts, Hestia replied:'
"Honestly?... A lot."
"I can't even begin to describe how confused I was… I still am, but I can notice everything went well in the end."
"From the moment you woke me up dead in the night proceeding by the meeting with the drunk Ishtar… I already knew something awry was going to happen."
Your way of talking and your expression... I never saw you so... Anguished.
'She grasped his hand tight.'
"I'm glad you spoke with me once that was over, explained why you did it… And I… I can only say that it pains me… To see you do something so horrible…"
"I was and still am ready to face reality, an adventurer has and will face things below… And above."
"It's not always about the monsters."
"..."
"I'm still a bit iffy, everything was just soo fast… But what matters is that you're here now… And okay."
'She looked at him, her eyes sparkling clean.'
"So please, stop trying to cover it. Show me how you truly are." She asked as her lips trembled a little
"I ... Okay." Silver replied in a heavy tone
I wanted to cover it up for a little longer, at least have my eyes back...
"!"
'The hand grasping Hestia's slowly vanished, and as she felt its heat and presence vanish, her stomach started to twirl…'
'Her deepest fears, to see someone she cared so much for… Hurt.'
"Just… Just what happened…"
'She grabbed his face with trembling hands, tears falling from her eyes as she saw his two arms vanish, and a bandana covered his face as Silver couldn't bear to show his hollowed-out eyes.'
'After all, they were the very reason why he was given this name...'
'Out of everything he could show her if he allowed her to witness that…'
"Y-Your eyes… Your…"
"Shhh…"
'Silver's chest hurt immensely as he saw her expression, the only thing he could do was go back to how he looked and hug her back.'
/Cries…/
'Hestia cried silently as he hugged her, her tears seemed to carve away at his Soul, as her hiccups sent shivers down his spine.'
'It made him feel so many things at once…'
"I'll be okay, everything will be okay…" He said as he patted her back
'This was the first time he had seen her cry, a few times before, he saw her tear up upon seeing his injuries or something like hitting her toe on the edge of the table…'
'Honestly, she was quite the strong woman.'
'She rarely ever showed such deep expressions, and even in moments of extreme emotion, she would keep herself somewhat composed.'
'Always supportive, and willing to stand aside her protectives in their lowest moments, she was a Goddess that preferred peace, yet also had a sense of justice…'
'It was clear why she was so confused, seeing what Ishtar had done, how could she set for a peaceful outcome?'
'Yet at the same time, she didn't want her own children to suffer.'
'It only came to show how distressed she was right now.'
"..."
'So he let her cry her worries away, together with all of the pent-up frustrations she had bottled up over the days…'
…
'And as such, time passed…'
'It took a lot of words, lots of hugs, a small cake, some ice cream, and a small nap session, but she finally calmed down.'
'She was finally willing to listen to his words…'
"... As I've said, I can heal myself within due time." Silver said in a slow tone
'It took a few tries, but she finally managed to stay cool when he showed her his current appearance.'
"It may take a while… But it's more than feasible."
'Raising his hand, he continued.'
"My magic can make such incredible things, the only problem is how I can't make it permanent, but with small changes every day, I can keep some of its effects…"
"It's exactly the same principle behind what I do before every time I Level up, there isn't anything new, so calm down."
"... I'm trying, but it's not exactly… Urg!"
'She just jumped onto him, hugging his chest again like a Koala.'
"Sigh."
'Silver patted her head, enjoying the hug.'
'Despite how light she was, her hug was suffocating…'
"What about… Everyone? Do you plan on…"
'He patted her head again, interrupting her.'
"Hey…"
"I'll share this with them… But slowly."
"Let them sleep with a smile on their face, let them party up and enjoy their time…"
"Once things calmed down a little, I'll show them that I'm actually a functioning Human being and that I can get hurt…"
/Flick…/
'Hestia flicked his nose.'
"Don't joke around this topic please."
"I wasn't… I just want you to understand that it's ok…"
"It's not okay." She said deeply
"Seeing you hurt yourself like this, no matter how well you recover, it's not okay."
"But… You're an adventurer, and so is everyone else."
'She squeezed his cheeks tight.'
"So I want you to get this inside that head of yours… It's not okay, just that."
"I said this too many times already."
'She then kissed him on the cheek before getting up.'
"So! I'm sure you've been waiting for this."
'Silver smiled, though he noticed she was hiding something.'
""Status Update."" They said at the same time in different tones
…
'Silver laid his back on the couch, letting Hestia perform the small ritual, bringing forth his hidden values.'
'The hieroglyphs rose into the air, letting themselves be manipulated by her in an oddly clumsy yet organized way.'
"...!"
'As she saw the numbers change, as she saw the values alter, she saw something she feared greatly…'
'And with determined eyes, she… Brushed it off.'
'Or so she wanted.'
"..."
'Bitting her lips in confusion, pride, and many other emotions, she eventually let the text form...'
'Picking up a small piece of paper from the side, she inscribed what she saw, there was no coming back now.'
"Here…" She said, slightly dejected, and even a bit ashamed
"Something's wrong?"
"Not… Exactly."
"..."
'Whatever it was, he was going to find it out himself.'
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Mellios Silver
Level-3
Strength SSS-1424 -> SSS-1499
Vitality SSS-1486 -> SSS-1499
Dexterity SSS-1380 -> SSS-1499
Agility SSS-1499
Magic SSS-1499 -> J-1###
Evolved body -> H
Perseverance -> G -> F
Geneticist -> H
Magic:
>Magnum Opus Ambrosia
Skills:
>Vit Alhjin
>Infir David Missimus
>Neo Stur
>Decretum Proficiscor
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'After he finished reading, Silver was extremely surprised.'
I expected such massive growth, considering my Skill would give me an immense boon for fighting well above my own Level…
But… A Status bug?
'His expression tensing, he suddenly relaxed, saying:'
"Well, I finally got a new Skill, and my Development Ability raised in rank after so long."
"..."
'Hestia looked at him with a deadpan expression.'
That's what's concerning you?
'Silver sat down on the couch, smiling at Hestia.'
"I don't really think there's a need to explain anything else apart from that Skill, right? They're pretty self-explanatory…"
But I do wonder why it breached past it… I didn't expect the Status bug to appear so soon.
I didn't even start my greatly awaited operation.
"... I guess not." Hestia said as she looked to the side
"..."
She's still hiding something.
Her expression, way of talking, body movement… Yup, she's totally hiding something.
Should I just get it over with and press her on?... No.
Not today.
After I fully recover, I'll ask her what she's hiding from me... If she doesn't tell me before that.
I can't let her carry a burden all on her own, especially when it concerns me.
"Shall we start?" Silver asked as he looked at her
"Aren't you going to do your thing?"
"Yes I will, it'll help me recover faster as well."
Although it took me longer to level up, I also got some more time to prepare, I know what to do this time around.
To improve my body's constitution, strength, and attributes…
Overall, even if my body is improved with Falna, it still has a base, what I'm doing is increasing that base, nothing more.
At a core, I'm a young Human adult, one that has undergone two procedures, they were a bit rough, but they worked nonetheless.
If I were to think about it… Even if I were to lose my Falna, my body should be able to somewhat contend with a Level 1 adventurer for the most part, and I imagine this is the value reflected by the Development Ability.
It's mostly speculation on my part, those things don't have numbers for me to go by, and even if I were to ask Hestia, she wouldn't have been able to help me either.
Some things just can't be conveyed through words.
'While Silver opened his inventory tool, Hestia started her explanation:'
"Your new Skill… Comes from your desire to change something, to stand your ground against the odds, to move forward as you wish."
"Change something?..."
'Silver smiled helplessly.'
"That doesn't seem wrong…"
No, it's completely correct.
"Simply put, Decretum Proficiscor is the will to achieve something, in your case... Greatness?"
"It's an active Skill, as for its specifics… "
'She gave him a smaller paper with some explanations, the best ones she could think of.'
[Decretum Proficiscor
*Active Trigger.
*When used, it'll force an enemy to face you for a small period of time.*
*Strengthens the Status proportional to the Level difference.*
*Dispels all foreign abnormal effects on use.*
*Consumes Stamina proportional to strengthening.*
]
"An active Skill? How do I use that?" Silver asked with a curious gaze
So I finally have a Skill that isn't passive… Can't say I'm unsatisfied.
They say Skills are something slumbering within a Soul, so you never really gain them, but rather, discover them.
Does this mean the desire to defy something has always been within me? Or is this something I developed as I grew older, eventually gaining traction to change me completely?
Even so, discovering a Skill is rare by normal by adventurers' standards… I'm grateful either way.
Phryne isn't really a good example of a Level 6 adventurer, but in the future, if I ever face another, I may end up facing an enemy with several Skills and Magic that stack together, and I could end up losing without even realizing, even if I'm theoretically stronger.
"How would I know?" Hestia replied as she shook her head
"Yeah, that was strange to ask... Or so I would say!" Silver retorted in dissatisfaction
"How can I have an active Skill but not have the activation key?"
"Well... It shouldn't be too hard to figure out... You can do it, as always." Hestia said with a reassuring smile as she looked at him
"I... Of course." Silver replied with a slight smile
Can't even get frustrated when she speaks like that...
"Don't get ahead of yourself!"
"..."
Sigh.
'Hestia smiled as well, the atmosphere had become a little lighter.'
…
/Around an hour later…/
'Silver was now sitting on the ground, his body had returned to its true, armless, and sightless form, as he couldn't lose his focus by trying to keep appearances with his Plasmids.'
"..."
'Hestia watched with a deep gaze as Silver's body glowed faintly, slowly turning back to his usual color, clenching onto the "safety" measure, Silver prepared for her.'
"It's not as hot as before, but still…" Hestia mumbled as she kneeled on the ground, letting her head rest on his back
'She wished he would be okay, as this was everything she could do.'
'The Gods descended to see the greatness of men, but sometimes, they may grow too attached to it, to the point that they start to condemn themselves for being weak.'
'At least for a small minority.'
/Open…/
'Silver slowly opened his eyes, letting out a turbid breath as he exhaled.'
"It's over."
"Really?!" Hestia asked, overjoyed
"Should I have taken longer?"
"No!... But be sure to take your time regardless…"
"I will, even if I'm reckless when fighting, I won't be reckless at this..."
There is no point in rushing it anyway.
"So you finally admitted it yourself."
"..."
'To her provocative words, Silver stretched his body, trying to gauge the changes he had just made.'
This went smoother than I thought.
... I became more efficient.
Is this due to the effects of my Development Ability, or is this due to my own efforts?
A mixture of both?
My body is still hot and I'm also famished as per usual, I should've lost around 8 kg worth of fat… Not ideal when I already need a lot of energy to reconstruct my arms.
Like before, I felt no pain, though I felt some discomfort, likely because I was doing this without my damn arms, moving around without them is still a bit foreign to me.
'She looked at him inquisitively, he knew what she wanted.'
(Yo, please... Stop and CHILL!)
"It's time to Level up, for real now."
'She nodded.'
…
"Should I…?"
"No, just tell me what Development Abilities I have to choose from, I've already done everything I could, there's no point in pushing this any further."
"Alright, do I need to repeat your options?"
"No, that's unnecessary…"
I can remember them all.
Martial arts, Blacksmith, Mixing, Abnormal resistance, Engineer, Researcher, Slayer…
After fighting and finding out what path I want to seek, it's pretty simple...
I would have to choose either Martial Arts or Slayer, but I'm more inclined to the latter...
"I took a bit longer to Level up this time, were there any new Development Abilities this time?"
"There are, somehow." Hestia said with a slightly surprised expression
He always surprises me in this regard.
'Hestia cleared her throat as she tried to sound professional.'
"First, Unarmored..."
"As the name indicates, it raises your Constitution proportionally to the amount of armor you take off…"
'Her expression turned serious.'
"Definitely not it, I'm telling you, I won't let you pick this one up." She said while pouting
The last thing he needs to have is an incentive not to wear the most basic of armor...
"..."
I didn't even say anything.
'Silver could only stare at her with an awkward smile as he went into deep thought.'
Removing armor is a very dangerous gamble... One that I take daily, so it doesn't look like a complicated one to add to my repertoire of abilities...
But at the same time, it doesn't look like Hestia will allow me to choose it... And I can understand why.
It's not exactly necessary either way as most of the time, when I know I'm going to challenge something great, I do utilize armor, thus negating its effects.
If that wasn't enough, I must account for the increase in Constitution, is the increase significant enough to somewhat balance the loss of... Let's say, a chest piece made of Orichalcum?
It would be decent during my training times, but in intense fights, it would be one less DA for me.
Especially since I've started to pester Hephaestus to make me, armor... My gauntlets can be considered that.
"In any case..."
"The other one is Berserker, it increases your Status proportional to body condition, allowing you to keep going regardless of injury…"
"Berserker..."
Another one that fits into my combat Style, and in fact, if I could add both, they would synergize very well.
A Berserker without armor that can ignore damage...
I also have Perseverance, it's almost the same, but if I have two similar ones, would it be a waste or a double down?
"Phew... It's quite a few…." Silver said with a smirk
They all seem quite useful, more so than my other ones.
Though… Looking at Hestia's expression, she doesn't seem as eager as me to see those here… Ooops?...
"If I were to make a choice… Just like before I would have to refuse the previous one with the exception of Slayer."
It increases my stats and by Hestia's words, it also affects Mind, healing, and stamina recovery speeds when I'm on a killing spree of monsters.
As for the other two… Unarmored is something I didn't expect to see here.
Like many things I requested from the Guild, I also managed to get my hands on the Development Ability records.
An extensive book portraying all DAs acquired through time… Or at least all of those that were publicly revealed, some adventurers just refuse to share, or die before feeling confident enough to do so.
It's not as imposing as it sounds, most of it is just names with no indication of what it does, or how to acquire it.
Though some, like Hunter, are famous enough for all adventurers to know how to acquire and its effects.
It's a pretty decent book, because, at the end of the day, there is a set of Development Abilities 90% of all Adventurers will get, the rest are rarities few acquire.
Things like Hunter, Abnormal resistance, Blackmisthing, mixing... 1 or 2 of these and you have a Level 3 adventurer, it's literally most of all adventurers.
Only those that start to thread into First Class will usually have some sort of Development Ability that is borderline unique to them, or rare.
Even Skills, something that is rare to manifest have different classifications, much less Development Abilities.
Amidst this large number of DAs, Unarmored is one I recognize, on the same page as things like Light, Medium, and Heavy armor and its variants.
It's quite interesting, but I think it's a bit too lackluster, as it only raises Constitution and it has quite a serious condition to it…
But of course, the increase can more than make for that, I shouldn't expect all Development Abilities to have widespread uses and applications.
Then it comes, Berserker… I think it was recorded, let me just check what it did real quick…
'Silver pulled a thick book from his inventory, flipping the pages quickly.'
"What are you doing?"
"Checking some things, to make sure I understand what I'm doing…"
'Silver eventually found what he was looking for.'
Berserker… Increases Status based on bodily damage, being healed doesn't remove the effect… But it'll slowly wear off over time.
It allows you to ignore body damage and fight at peak condition, at a massive Stamina cost.
Regardless, on a do-or-die situation, even if it's just a single strike...
It has a certain risk of… Making the user lose their mind.
There aren't really any values tied to it, and if it wasn't for the ability to ignore injuries, it would make me think it's just a worse form of perseverance.
"Hm…"
The last thing you want in the Dungeon is to lose your cool, a fight that makes you struggle with everything you have can be won if you got a tad stronger, but that won't be the case were you to lose your cool.
Phryne is once again, a prime example of that.
...
'In the end, Silver made his choice, and let laid down on the couch.'
'And with a smile on her face, Hestia updated his Status, from 3 to 4, Silver was now Level 4!'
'One step closer to the top, one Level at a time...'
'But for now, after spending some time with his Goddess, he finally succeeded in having her sleep.'
'After being tense for a full day, once everything went away, she hit the bed in a jiffy.'
'Once all of his responsibilities in the Manor were done, Silver walked off her room with a pensive gaze...'
'It was now time to collect his due fee.'
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Notes
Now that you've read through it, should I post the main chapters first, or should I post the side chapters?
I also made a few more images, as in preparation for this new Arc, check it out:
(Images)
As I said before, the next few chapters will contain some level of drama, this is because Silver will go talk with people and well... If people were to react with happy expressions to what he currently looks like, it wouldn't be very in line with what I wrote so far.
Even then, it shouldn't be too much for you all to dislike, and it'll be mostly on how tolerant each person is.
Some may cringe, others may nod, and some may cry if I am allowed to be arrogant about my writing.
That was about it tough, once again I ask, do you think I should proceed with his meeting with Loiju, or that I should post the side chapters first and get them over with?
What do you think Hestia is hiding? And what do you think of my trollage by hiding his updated Status?
Thank you for reading, goodbye!
This chapter had 3.5K words.
PS: I forgot to add this, but I started posting chapters on Scribble, so if you have an account there and some time to spare, I would greatly appreciate it if you went there and gave it a hand.
Appreciated bro.
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