Astraea snapped out of it and swiped her finger upward along his spine. The Falna shifted with her movement, ancient glyphs reforming into new syllables in the vague shape of a list.
She was about to swipe once more when her finger went rigid, frozen mid-air.
Hestia rolled her eyes at that reaction and leaned forward, reading the list from top to bottom. A moment barely passed before her heartbeat accelerated, jaw dropping open, face flushing red.
Artemis curiously looked toward the list, eyes rising and dipping as she went through it top to bottom. She had covered half when her breath hitched, pupils dilating and locking onto a certain part, her breathing turning frantic.
Alfia took in all of their reactions and shifted to get a better look at his Falna, deciphering its divine language with practiced ease.
A long silence followed. Then, quietly, she pressed two fingers to her temple.
"Something wrong? Why have you all gone quiet?" Bell questioned, his palms lifting from the floor to rest on his crossed thighs.
Astraea, Hestia, and Artemis exchanged a discreet look, none willing to open their mouths and explain.
"Goddesses?" he asked again, brows furrowing in confusion.
"Ahem... We were just caught up going through your development abilities." Astraea cleared her throat and glared at both Artemis and Hestia.
"So, what are they this time?"
She opened her mouth at his question, then closed it.
Alfia extended her hand toward him, planting her fingers on his shoulder. Crack. Crack. Bones rattled under her grip.
"Your first development ability is... [Freya's Unattainable Love]." She said it with a straight face, though her grip tightened further on his shoulder.
It was now Bell's turn to go silent.
You find a way to screw me over one way or another, don't you, Freya?
"What will this development ability even increase? Make me more unattainable in Freya's eyes?" he thought out loud, feeling his lips twitch.
Four pointed gazes pierced into his back simultaneously.
Can't you guys take a joke?
He ignored them and continued. "The next?"
Alfia was about to speak when Artemis cut in.
"The next one is called... [Astraea's Passionate Flame]."
Bell's shoulders tensed, legs unfolding to rise. Alfia pushed down on his shoulder, forcing him to stay still.
Forced to sit still, he turned his head back mechanically, looking at Astraea. Not only him, everyone else was looking at her too.
"Let's continue..." Astraea tried to maintain a composed expression under their collective gazes, tucking her hair behind her ear, though that accidentally revealed the tips of her ear, which had turned red.
She swept her gaze around, found them all still staring, and opened her mouth to deflect.
"The next one is... [Artemis' Boy Toy]."
That made everyone turn toward Artemis.
The Goddess of Hunt frantically waved her hands. "His Falna is probably broken. There is no way I consider Bell as my—He's my Orion, not whatever 'boy toy' means."
"Besides, you should all focus on the next one. It says... [Hestia's Home]." Artemis paused.
Bell finally breathed an inward sigh of relief, a small smile stretching across his lips.
Finally, a normal one—
"[Hestia's Hot Home] to be precise."
His smile froze in place. Slowly, he turned his face away, staring straight ahead at a wall, as if it could understand his feelings.
Even Alfia's grip on his shoulders went slack at his reaction. Meanwhile, all three Goddesses exchanged another glance, communicating with their eyes alone.
Astraea — No mentioning this to outsiders.
Artemis — You both have my back, I'll have yours.
Hestia — Friends promise?
Astraea — Friends promise.
Artemis — Friends promise.
Bell listened to the silence stretch and decided, for his own peace of mind, that he would not look back.
Alfia didn't care for their silent conspiracy and shuffled closer, reading the remaining choices out loud, without ceremony.
"You can choose from... [Living Flame], [War Sword], [Primal Archer], [Greater Undying], [Magic Resistance], [Abnormal Resistance], [Golden Road], [Asura] and finally [Spartan]."
[Living Flame] — An ability that probably came from the merger of Pyromancer and Mage. Each new rank-up should make it easier to access the state of dissolving between human and flame, essentially allowing me to become a spirit at will around S-Rank.
[War Sword] — An ability that should probably grant an intuitive sense for leading people in war, and perhaps optimize muscles and reaction speed to fight multiple opponents at once with each rank-up. At S-Rank, it would probably be enough to blitz through a whole nation with a small number of troops.
[Golden Road] — Not entirely certain on this one, but it should be an evolved form of Instinct. By the name, those strings I see when using Instinct would probably widen and stabilize into broad roads to victory.
[Spartan] — Possibly an ability that allows diving even deeper into Spartan warfare, like Phalanx formation and their philosophy. At S-Rank, this might just be what allows me to use a tiny fraction of Ares' Arcanum without imploding from the inside.
Bell mulled over what to choose, torn between all the good choices, yet only once could be chosen. His hands curled into fists on their own.
After sitting there for a long moment, his mind finally settled on one thing that he might need for the upcoming Wargame.
"[War Sword]."
Alfia's fingers twitched on his shoulder.
"Are you certain?"
"I am." He replied, voice firm.
"You already know what choosing that ability would mean. You'll have to fight multiple opponents alone, maybe the whole of Orario to push it to S-Rank. Are you ready for that?"
"That's exactly why I need it." He tilted his head away and looked back at her. "If I want to reach people like you, I have to do something no one else does."
Alfia stared at the back of his head for a long, quiet second. Then she exhaled through her nose and released his shoulder. "Stubborn."
"Guess who I learned it from?"
At his reply, he heard a faint click of her teeth, though whether from irritation or something else, he couldn't tell.
Astraea finally turned toward them, fingers moving to hover just above his bare back.
"Then let us begin your Level Up." She glanced toward Hestia. "Together."
Hestia nodded, her hands scrambling to hover beneath Astraea's.
Both of their palms touched his Falna together, and it shifted at tremendous speed, glyphs cascading over glyphs across his back, the old status collapsing for a new one to form.
Artemis passed over a blank page of parchment to Astraea, which she pressed over his newly updated status, engraving its parameters onto it.
Then, after pulling that parchment back, both Hestia and Astraea pushed his Falna toward his back. It broke down into golden particles that coalesced in the shape of a wheel on his spine, above those scales with flames.
"Here, Bell... have a look." Astraea passed it over without looking, resting her chin on his crown to read it alongside him.
Alfia leaned over his shoulder, gazing at the new status. Hestia had already settled her head on his other shoulder, eyes on the parchment.
Lastly, Artemis tried to gaze at it but was blocked by the three others.
[Name: Bell Cranel
Level - 4 (↑)
[Attributes (1/2)] -
Strength: 734 [B]
Endurance: 882 [A]
Dexterity: 701 [B]
Agility: 873 [A]
Magic: 896 [A]
[Attributes (2/2)] -
Strength: 775 [B]
Endurance: 964 [S]
Dexterity: 668 [C]
Agility: 837 [A]
Magic: 911 [S]
Magic:
[Griad] - Dark Demonic Flames of Cessation.
[Astra—Vesta—Calibur] - Eternal flame envelop. Vitality stabilise. Justice judge. Exempt are not even the Divine.
Skills:
[Eight Handled Wheel] - Adaptation to ************.
[Ittou Shura/Rasetsu] - Ignite my vitality. Ignite my will. Ignite my emotions. Ignite it all.
[Instinct] - All I see is Victory. All I hear is Victory. All I can ever be is... Victory.
[Super Regeneration] - The line between living and not. It holds.
[Asura Soul Reaping] - Monster created ***.
[Revenant Epoch] - Past will not sleep. Dead will never forget. I pull beyond time. What once was... shall be again.
Development Skills:
[Adaptability] [E] - Affinity + 40%
[Luck] [G] - Fortune + 10%
[War Sword] [H] - War Affinity + 5%]
"...You're ready to level up right after levelling up once." Astraea murmured, rubbing her chin on his crown.
Bell didn't say a word. He just stared at his newly acquired Development Ability at the very bottom of the sheet.
[War Sword] [H] - War Affinity + 5%
An hour left before the meetup time, and their raid on Evilus.
One hour. Then it begins.
...
..
.
***
[300 Power Stones = 1 Bonus Chapter]
[8 chapters ahead on P@tr3on = [email protected]/Not_Aaryan]
...
[Authors Thoughts]
Do tell, how is this new card I created? Do you guys want more like these? I can try making more like this for different things, maybe even unique scenes that I write in here.
Anyway... have a wonderful day, everyone!