"Speaking/speaking"
'thinking/thinking'
"flashback"/'flashback'
"Skills/skills"
items/items•
Soma, The God Of Wine
Expressionless and focused, that was the face of the God sitting inside a dimly lit room, stirring a pot with a concoction that no mortal could match. Each swirl of the liquid was intended, each ripple with purpose, no unnecessary movements and more importantly, no imperfections. His eyes never left the pot, steady were his hands and each time he would add an ingredient was measured to the milligram. Hours passed but the god patiently waited, his work needed to be perfect.
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
And so, his silence and focus is broken once again by one of his "children". Imperfect beings that could not endure the effects of his creation. He doesn't see them as failures, but they are imperfect.
He left the management of the familia with his own name to its commander, his captain, so he could continue with his passion. Since coming down into this lower world, all he has done was practice his craft, his mind solely focused on perfecting the wine that he has been working on for as long as the gods have descended. He knows something wrong is going on with the familia but he just couldn't bring himself to care… not when none of them could live up to his standards, standards which he knows are unfair for them.
No mortal has been able to endure the effects of his wine. All of them succumb to its effects, getting addicted and chasing after the taste, willing to do everything in order to get another sip.
He made a promise to himself, a promise that should any of his "children" manage to endure a sip, just a single sip of his wine, that he would bring himself to care, that he would dedicate half- no, more than half of the time he spends making wine into taking care of his familia.
*Knock! Knock! Knock!*
The person on the other side of the door knocked again.
He turned to the only other person in the room, the vice captain.
"Let them in."
The vice captain unlocked the wooden door, letting the person on the other side to come in.
"I'm here to get my status updated, Lord Soma"
he turned to face the source of the voice, it was his the latest addition into the familia, Eremes Guile was his name, if he remembers correctly.
It has been a week since he first gave this child his Blessing. He's curious on how much he has improved.
"Leave us for a bit."
His vice captain nodded and left without saying a word, closing the door as he did. Now, only the 2 of them are left. He did not need to command the newest child; he already took off his shirt and turned his back to him.
Wordlessly, he pricked his fingers and let a drop of blood drip onto the child's back.
A dim glow traced the lines of the engraved Falna on his back, revealing the status hidden in them.
Soma stared, his eyes locked into the words that appeared in the child's back. Peculiar. Countless times he has updated the status on a child's back, but this is the first time he is seeing something this absurd. Something so out of place.
"Child, how long have you spent in the dungeon?"
The child gained a thoughtful expression, pinching his chin in deep thought. "Hmm, 3 days? Yes, 3 days. I rested after the second day because I was so tired from nearly depleting my "mind", was it called mind? Miss Misha explained it to me when I was telling her about my dungeon exploration."
The child began rambling, but it's fine. He's getting the answers to his questions as he speaks.
There is something else with this child, something that made him curious like never before. It is an unfamiliar feeling but one that is not unwelcome, afterall, It has been so long since he came to care about anything else besides his wine making.
Question after question, the child answered honestly, no deception, no misdirection. When his curiosity was finally sated, his eyes landed on the paper on which he copied the status of the child.
Eremes Guile
Lv. 1
Strength I 0 —> G 241
Endurance I 0 —> G 224
Dexterity I 0 —> H 192
Agility I 0 —> G 237
Magic I 0 —> H 108
No emotion was visible from his face. Like always, it was empty and blank. It might appear that way on the outside but as he read the skills listed below the insane numerical status increase, skills that he was not able to fully read the first time his eyes laid themselves upon them when he gave his blessing to this child, the beating of his heart began to race faster and faster.
He's seen countless skills from the children he gave his Falna, he's seen some extraordinary skills that made him mildly curious, but none of those could compare to these.
"Tr**sc*nd**t"
h*ro*s th*t p*** be*o*d m**t****y w*o g*ve up their m**ories a*d expe***nces, re*orn to re**ize their *estiny as go*s among les*er be**gs.
- - - - - - -ed - - - - t -- - - - - - - - - be- -nd t - e mo- - -l limits
"*******K"
The description of the skill might be obscured but he is not blind, he's smart enough to piece it together, fill out the missing pieces and complete the puzzle.
'How did this happen?' a part of him wanted to stand tall and scream as his eyes, eyes that were filled with indifference, scanned over an impossibility that nobody outside this room should know.
He cannot let the child see this skill. Not yet at least. He may not have a lot of care for his familia but he knows that the knowledge of this skill alone could bring unwanted attention to this child.
*Scrunch!* He crumpled the paper and threw it into the fireplace in the room. The child noticed his actions and watched as the flame consumed the paper containing a copy of his status.
"Lord Soma?" the child questioned.
"Think nothing of it, I merely made a mistake in copying your status."
He copied his status onto a parchment once again, this time deliberately skipping the skills, even the one he can't fully see just yet. He handed Eremes the parchment, heavily redacted.
Eremes Guile
Lv. 1
Strength I 0 —> G 241
Endurance I 0 —> G 224
Dexterity I 0 —> H 192
Agility I 0 —> G 237
Magic I 0 —> H 108
[]
[]
He handed the parchment with the copied status to the child. The child began observing it with a scrunched brow, which confused him. Shouldn't he be happy that he has progressed quickly?
For what felt like minutes, the child stared and stared into the status as if it would somehow change if he focused enough.
"I have a question, Child." Soma interrupted his deep thoughts. "You do not have any magic yet you have gained substantial status points for it. How is that?"
He was quiet, his face blank, though he could tell he was having an internal debate on whether he would share his secret or keep it that. Different emotions flash on his visage as his body language changes.
"You are free to keep your secret. You are free to leave." Soma spoke up to which the child nodded and began going for the door.
"Your name, child. What is it?" He already knows his name of course, his soul is a canvas that gods can read with their divine eyes ,to which some have an easier time doing it than others, or through the falna.
What he wants is an introduction, a proper one. His latest child has more than earned his interest so referring to him by the name is the least he could do.
"Eremes, Eremes Guile." with a nod of his head, he left the room. Leaving Soma to ponder some things.
D-O-T-E
The wine god is sitting alone in his room for hours now. The pot that he was previously minding was left unattended as more important matters danced around his mind.
The questions he had made him focus on anything beside the wine that he was so obsessed with for the longest time.
The words on his back. If it is real and not just a regular skill description then the knowledge of its existence alone would drive all the gods in this city to rally against him to claim the child for their own. It was better to let Eremes be in the dark for now. He doesn't want to take any chances.
A part of him is tempted to reach out to another god and hand Eremes to them and make the skill their problem to deal with, but he refrained from doing so.
The description of Eremes' skill flashed in his mind. It was not difficult to make out what it says even if it's as redacted as it is.
"Transcendent"
"heroes that pass beyond mortality who gave up their memories and experiences, reborn to realize their destiny as gods among lesser beings."
Eremes, that child doesn't have an ounce of divinity on him, on the outside at least. He hasn't seen past the veil of his soul that is easily observable so he is clearly not a god as his skill suggests, it could just be a metaphorical comparison. The dungeon would've also reacted badly to his presence too if he actually had any so he could disregard the last part of his skill for now.
What worries him most at the moment was the first part of his skill. A genuine hero. One that gave up what made them themselves to be reborn anew.
The concept of heroes is not uncommon in the lower world. But to see one walking and a part of his familia no less is just baffling.
Soma stood up and sighed. He walked towards the balcony of his room and stared at the sky.
"Out of all the Familias in the world… why is it that a hero ended up in mine?"
-end-
That wraps up this chap. Sorry for the delay, my new work leaves me with little time to myself and even less time to write. I'm gonna keep this AN short, but just know that I will do my best to pump out chapters faster. The chapter next to this should come out either by this Saturday or Sunday at the earliest. Again, I apologize if the wait gets too long. That's about it for today, like this shii and don't forget to either comment or reply or whatever the equivalent is to wherever you are reading this. Piece!
this shii was not Beta read by my friend so if you see any mistakes, don't hesitate to point them out, thankssssssssss