章節 20: 20 There is a Second Hero, and She is a Girl

I was kinda hoping she had brought me to her place for other things, but no. She immediately got busy packing clothes, toiletries, some cheese, fruits, jerky, and waterskins. The resulting pack was so heavy it made her stagger when she swung it onto her shoulders.

I reached out. "Let me take that."

She smacked my arm. "You say I'm healthy now. Prove it by letting me push myself. If I die, it'll be because you lied to me." The last sentence wasn't spoken aloud, but I heard it clearly in her mind.

We headed out. The villagers seemed determined to ignore us, with the exception of Robin's father. He stood by the gate, shoulders drooping, with tears flowing down his cheeks. "Please, Robin. You're all I have... Please don't go with this lout." That was a lot of loneliness and sorrow for one person.

Robin looked at him, and her expression softened. "He's no lout father, he saved all our lives and mine in particular. We owe so much to him, and besides, this is the kind of man I want to be with."

She stepped forward and hugged him. "You could come along, you know. You taught me all I know about this area. But I think it's better that you move on. Clinging to the past won't make you happy." Huh. The sorrow and loneliness were lessened and shared. Either the standard human has this kind of empathic power, or Robin was something special. I helped of course, pushing the idea of living in the moment, and making him stop and think about his daughter's words.

"Just go marry Clarabelle, father. She's always been into you. I'll try to stop by and visit, but I'm going with the Hero; now."

Ok, that seemed like enough. I picked up Robin in a princess carry, and, ignoring her startled shriek, leapt into the air. I laughed and manipulated gravity's pull, shooting off toward the Hero sword. It was time to put it to use.

Robin was clinging to me, her eyes squeezed tight. The feeling of falling sideways can be scary if you're not in control of the gravity slide. I tried to soothe her mind the best I could, and simply enjoyed holding her.

Five minutes into the trip, I saw the clearing. There was a glittering white marblish stone with a glowing sword stuck in it. No security or anything! Maybe it was made indestructible and was thief proof, but I thought that there would be graffit. Where was the "Howard loves Rose", and "Heroes are stupidheads", or the oft used symbols of peace and fertility?

When I asked Robin, she smiled wryly at me. "Nobody wants to draw the wrath of a god or his emmisary, the Hero. There's been stories about those trying to do so being cooked alive by lightning from above on clear days. Immediate capital punishment does discourage vandalism." Wow. Spagetti is real serious about this sword.

It was time to see if there is any ambush or trap. I clapped my hands, sending a shockwave towards the stone pedestal. Leaves and dirt flew back to the treeline on the other side, revealing nothing. How anticlimactic.

I turned to Robin, who stood there, shocked. "Time to decide how you want to help me. I can either teach you advanced magic, or you can wield the Sword of the Hero and learn smaller magic. I prefer you use the sword since we're here anyways, and because you'll strengthen that weak heart of yours, but I won't force you."

Robin thought about it. "Won't I need the Heroic gifts if I'm to wield the sword? Seems useless without them."

I grinned. "I can take care of that. You want to get up close and personal then?"

She nodded firmly. "I like to get dirty." Embarrassment echoed through her mind when she realized what she said. "Uh. I mean..."

I silenced her with a kiss, and started to channel power into her, forging her body. First, I created the reinforcement channels, making sure that they reached her every limb and organ, especially her heart. I felt and heard her moaning and gasping into my mouth with the mixed pain and pleasure. Now I didn't mind that it took me twenty minutes to impress the channels. I even took a little longer, ensuring that every part of her heart would get extra reinforcement. Then I took a little longer, creating a rune in her bladder that was only strong enough to attract any leftover residue, and looped it so that it would only activate when strengthening is over. She would have magical urine! Of course, I needed to use my hands and placed them near her heart and bladder for increased focus and accuracy, though my focus suffered a little when I did that. It's a perfectly reasonable thing to do!

Then I linked her reinforcement channels to the same space my power core was. I could have given her her own core space, but I hoped that the world Laws wouldn't go haywire with only one complete set of gifts between us. Besides, it was faster for her to level up with the Heroic measure I already had in the core. There was an indescribable feeling of connection also, once she was connected to my core. I definitely liked that.

Lastly, I gave her the harvesting channels, carving them from her hands to her heart, where I linked her channels to my power core. My fingers traced the channel, ostensibly to allow me greater focus. Yes, I was definitely focusing.

By this time, the both of us were rather flushed, panting, and excited. It was a momentous occasion; Robin being transformed into a Hero. So we took a break to recover. It involved the bedroll she had brought, as well as a nice "keep out" mental aura I wrapped around us. I think I may have seen some snakes and bugs chittering and hissing in terror as they ran away, but I'm not sure. It was difficult to notice anything other than Robin during our break, during which I noticed several nice perks to being able to read thoughts and emotions.

After several hours, we were able to recover enough to retrieve the sword. Robin just walked up to it and pulled. The five foot long greatsword came out easily, the enchantment circuit patterns glinting in the sunlight. She hefted it and swung it a few times, gazing at it in wonder.

"It's so light! What is it made of? It doesn't look like anything I've seen before."

I was looking around, trying to see if there was a scabbard for the sword. "Give it to me for a minute - I'll take a look at it."

It was time to add some new features to System.