章節 3: Chapter 2: Awake All Along?
"S-so you've been awake for the entire four days?"
The head priest's voice cracked as he faced the child in front of him. He ran his hand through his beard as he saw the androgynous beauty not bother with the priest but instead curiously look all around the place.
"Mhm," the child answered in response, still looking all around the place.
"Why did you never inform us?"
"You never said I had to."
The priest was taken aback at the child's words. Fortunately, it seemed he wasn't the only one who was surprised as even the two otherworldly heroes and the rest of the clergy in a similar reaction. Taking in a deep breath, he continued the line of questioning.
"Did you not get hungry or thirsty?"
The child raised his eyebrow and reached into the pockets of his garments, coming back out with a large piece of bread. "There was food everywhere—"
"—Ah! That's the fruit bread I was saving!" One of the sisters standing behind the priest snapped when she saw the bread in his hands. "That's my bread! Why?!"
Seemingly uncomfortable at the sudden accusation, the child alternated his gaze between the bread and the sister. He furrowed his brows and tore off a granule from the bread and reluctantly extended it toward the sister.
"No! Give me the bigger piece!"
When the child frowned and reached out to tear off another granule from the bread, the head priest realized this wasn't working at all. He sighed and took a step back, he gazed around as if he could see the strange atmosphere filling the special prayer room of the church. The priest rested his hand on the wenge wooden divider that separated the benches from the pedestal of the room. His face wrinkled slightly as he turned to the other two otherworldly heroes in the room.
Talking to the first one was like chasing a fly, his experience told him enough to not even attempt it.
"Come to think of it, Sir Claude, Miss Erika, we never got to hear the last of your friends' name."
Claude and Erika shifted their gaze up at the priest's words as if thinking. Their thought lasted a second too long for the priest to be comfortable with, though. Sweat appeared on their foreheads as they next looked at each other.
"What's his name?" Erika asked.
"Is 'he' even a guy?" Claude doubled down on the question.
"Wasn't he your neighbor!?" Erika snapped in a whisper.
"My name?" A helping hand came in to diffuse the awkward situation, but the priest saw this as throwing fuel on the fire. "It's Elric, Elric Wald."
"Elric... Wald?" the priest muttered. "But, those are just two last names!"
The child, no, Elric Wald stared at the priest with an open mouth and widened eyes. The strange silence and the lack of reactions coupled with his creepy face grew to make the priest very uncomfortable. Worried he might have offended Elric, the priest apologized at once.
"I meant no insult," Elric's face returned to normal and he turned his gaze away. "Please forgive me, Mr. Elric—"
Elric's dropped jaw and widened eyes returned.
"U-uh... Miss... Elric?"
It showed no signs of going away.
"Elric?"
As if there was never a reaction, Elric turned away again.
"I-in any case..." the priest continued. "We must move on with the pressing matters."
He turned around and a sister handed him a tray. The tray was covered with a velvet maroon cloth with golden seams on its edges. Atop the cloth rested a slate of stone, its edges cut in fine lines with intricate markings drawn over its center. The priest carefully extended the slate toward the child, who looked at it with a curiously head-tilt.
"This here is an empty God Stone. It is the providence of the gods in the heavens and shows you your status. Please nick your thumb and let a drop of your blood touch the stone, and then pray to the statue of Goddess Ephis."
The priest was excited at the prospect of seeing the last reincarnator's abilities. The status of the other students here was extremely jaw-dropping, to the point that he started referring to some of them as 'sir,' instead of 'Mr.'
Bodies made by the gods' hands, and a soul rich in experience from another world. He could only wonder what kind of skills and growth the heroes were capable of.
"Why?"
'KNEW IT! I KNEW IT!' The priest held in the urge to shake the disrespectful sixteen-year-old right then and there and took in a deep breath instead. An old man as he was, he was experienced. After the Oracle of the goddesses was bestowed down and the Ephis church in the Zarak duchy claimed to be looking after most of the otherworldly heroes, he was the one chosen by the head church of Ephis to come down here and handle the more important matters.
He had seen a couple or two of these kids.
It made him hopeful, since all the arrogant brats, especially ones like Elric whose nature was arrogance and not his actions, always turned out to be great geniuses that made a big name for themselves in the world. So he would deal with it similarly.
"Isn't it interesting? You could find out how strong you are, you know?"
"Huh... I don't care about that."
"U-um..." It wasn't his loss yet! "You can also show others your worth and make them grovel at your feet!"
"What the. Old man, are you sure you are a priest?"
"I am saying this because of you!"
Elric Wald yawned.
A blatant show of disrespect.
The others in the room frowned at the distasteful behavior in front of the statue of their goddess, they wanted to take objection to it but were interrupted beforehand.
Without a warning, Elric had bit his thumb and let down a drop of his blood on the slate.
The reason was simple.
He was getting sleepy now.
Elric took the slate in his hand before the priest could react and turned to the statue of the goddess.
"Uh... I pray to you? Something like that—"
A bright light emerged from the God Stone in Elric's hands. The blinding light spread all over the room, taking everyone inside by surprise. The other sisters and priests along with Claude and Erika covered their eyes, only two people stood unfazed.
'Yes! This! This amazing, brilliant light! I knew it! This arrogant reincarnator, maybe he might even be stronger than Sir Claude!' One was the priest.
'Hell. If I close my eyes now I'll probably fall asleep on the spot.' And the other was Elric Wald.
The light dissipated away in the air and calm returned to the room of white marble.
"Ooh!" An excited hand reached out and took away the slate from Elric's hold and leaned in toward the stone. The others in the room closed in on the stone as well out of excitement including Erika and Claude.
{Name: Elric Wald}
The name wasn't a lie! That was already a big enough surprise for Claude and Erika, they knew there were quite the antique characters in their class, but Mr. Two Surnames here was going a bit wild.
{Age: 16}
{Gender: Male}
He was a guy after all.
They skipped over the basic details, though they were curious about it too. The stats of the Reincarnator took precedence here.
{Strength: 4}
{Agility: 8}
{Magic Control: 5}
{Endurance: 3}
.
.
.
{Mana: 3}
.
.
.
"S-skills. The Reincarnators also have unique skills, and aptitude matters too!"
{Skills: [Hex Magic: Beginner (Charm)], [Water Magic: Beginner]}
{Unique Skills: [Awakening]}
"O-oh! The unique skill. Even if the skills are bad, this is new." The priest was clinging too hard to his hope. He tapped lightly on the word 'Awakening' on the slate.
{Unique Skills: [Awakening - Force yourself to stay awake for 5 more minutes.]}
"N-no way..."
"H-hey Erika, what were your starting stats?" Claude asked. Flabbergasted at the sight in front of him.
Erika gulped and answered. "An average of 30... The lowest of us was 17 in strength..."
"A healthy child's stats average at 10..."
All the people in the room turned back to the root of all the clamor. But the person who should have been standing there... was nowhere to be seen.
After shocking the people of Ephis church and two of his classmates with the worst stats they had ever had to lay their eyes on, Elric Wald had gone back to sleep.
Losing all interest, everyone in the room just left his God Stone lying around and left the place. That was why they never noticed the remaining stats that appeared after a while.
{Intelligence: 52}
{Unique Skill: [Awakening] [Adaptability - No matter the situation, you remain calm and collected. Absorb knowledge like a sponge. EXP Multiplier: 101%]}
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