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3rd Pov
After six months, Ember had returned to the Shawn Village. For the past six months he had been hunting, like a lot, however he had also started meditating daily, like for half an hour a day. He didn't know if he would gain anything, however meditating helped him calm his mind. The last six months had been hectic to say the least, a beast tide had occurred, which was the main reason behind the increase in the monsters.
Thankfully the strongest monster that attacked the Town was just a Level 3, which was quickly slayed by the Level 4 of the town. Ember didn't participate in the frontlines and instead acted as a support and used his Magic to kill the monsters, getting a lot of fame and a new title Blue Hell. Even the other deities were interested in him, inviting him to their familia, even the Goddess Aschelois invited him to her familia but he refused them.
That was three months ago, and now he is returning from the hunt, with the intention to take a break for a week or two. Once he reached the village, he entered through the gates, meeting Maria on the way," Sir Ber! To think you have returned!", she said, and her mother smashed her head," Call him Tithonus, he is using that alias, as Goddess has briefed us", said Martha.
" Hmph! Still Sir Tithonus are you an Elf Nobility? And have run away from your home?", Maria asked with innocent eyes, he chuckled seeing her so energetic,' Some things never change huh? Glad to see she is still like this! ', he thought and said," Well it's not that much, it's just using an Alias is better in this dangerous world."
Martha nodded," Indeed, we are villagers, and only threat to us are some pesky monsters, but Sir Tithonus is an adventurer, even if he is strong his family might not be... That's why always watch your mouth Maria", she said, and the girl pouted. After talking with them, he left, once near the Goddess' house, someone jumped at him.
"Welcome back!!!!", shouted Aurora as she jumped at him, he took her into a hug, and she swung herself, making him swing as well to insure she isn't injured. " Goddess! What are you doing?", grunted Ember, while she rubbed her face on his chest. " Umu! You smell elegant as ever!", she said perversely, and he smacked her head.
" Ouch!", she cried out in pain and looked at him pitifully, but Ember didn't care about it and said bluntly," Goddess, I want you to update my status", he said, and she grumbled," We meet after six months of separation! And instead of having a romantic date you want m- wait I can see your naked body!", she said in joy.
Ember facepalmed himself, he knew Gods were otaku, and even among them his Goddess was well accomplished in the Dao of Otakuness, finally they entered, and she quickly updated his status, with a 'Wow' look plastered on her face. When Ember took his status, he realized the reason behind it.
[Level 1
Strength: H187--->D546
Endurance: H199--->D523
Dexterity: G212--->C604
Agility: G201--->C619
Magic: G255--->A802
Skills:
Decipher: Helps the user Decipher the truth, theorems, and workings of the world through logic, prediction and guess.
Orc Slayer: Grants twenty percent buff in all parameters against pig-like monsters.
Magic:
1) Cremation (Chant): " O'Flames of Legends! Burn brighter than thy enemy! Turn them into cinders! Let their Ashes wash in your blue flames! Cremation!"
2) N/A
3) N/A]
That was massive increase in six months, counting the day he got falna it had been just over seven months. " Damn! Ember what were you doing? I expected your growth substantial but not this much! You also have sufficient High-Ranking Excelia for rank up! Do you want to level up?!", she said with stars in her eyes.
" Nope, I won't not until all my parameters are S999 and even then, I want you to abstain my rank up, since I want to try something", he replied, and made his intention clear. The last thing he wanted was for Aurora to rank him up after all his parameters are S999 missing the opportunity to get the SSS parameters.
He wanted his parameters to be at least the limit of SSS before every rank up. While Ember didn't know if will be able to break the limit of his falna like Zald, Alfia or Bell. But he wanted to at least try, even if it takes a decade, he can give it. Only after the final result will he choose on what to do next. ' Still have High-rank Excelia is good, it would mean I can rank up once I hit my desired parameters ', he thought.
Meanwhile, Aurora nodded hearing his words," Indeed thinking about you having S999 in each of your parameters, undoubtedly you will have a topnotch foundation, and you will be invincible in the same realm!", she said nodding to herself like a Heavenly sage. Meanwhile Ember looked at her wondering if she was reading Chinese Novels back in Heaven.
He decided to not ponder upon it, and focus on his parameters,' They work pretty much as I guessed, Strength gets higher as I push my entire strength to fight, even running increases it, Endurance increases as I use my stamina, and endure attacks, dexterity increases the synchronization between my mind and body, agility not increases my speed but also my reactions and magic increases with the capacity of my mind ', he thought.
' Though If I have to say the main reason behind the significant increase in my parameters was because I fought against stronger opponents, since I haven't updated my status any single time during last six months, I was also fighting against the likes of Orcs, which normally a person with G or H in status shouldn't fight ', he concluded and decided to wait at least another year before updating his status again.
He also noticed the new skill he got; he had been killing Orcs even before he got falna, so maybe that's why he got the skill. ' Well, this skill is not useless ', he thought, even if there are few pig like monsters, getting a 20% boost in all of his parameters is a welcome. Even if he had slayed Orcs before, if he were to encounter a group of Orcs and can't use magic for some reason, he will be done for.
After pondering about them, he decided to visit Martha's inn to have lunch, and Goddess followed him. On the way he met the villagers and greeted them, and Goddess said," Jason's and Maria's relationship had changed, it maybe not long before I become Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother!", she said proudly.
Ember looked at her weirdly, getting a pout from her," Hmph?! What's with this look?", she asked, and Ember said with a shrug," I thought women are sensitive about their age", and Aurora smirked," Of course, but only certain old hags having no confidence about themselves and who are in state of denial are like that, my great self is way past those mortal shuffles! I am Level 999 Endgame Goddess! Muahahahah!", she said.
Ember was genuinely surprised by her words wondering if she really meant that or that was just really a part of her weird personality. Soon they arrived at Martha's place, and they were greeted with the pleasant smell of mutton broth. " You guys have arrived! Sir Ber and Goddess I have made Mutton Broth, and steak for you", Martha said with a grin.
They drooled at the sight of the steak and gulped. The aroma of the food left them saliavating," Damn Martha you sure know the way to this Goddess' stomach!", praised Aurora and they both sat and dig in. " This is so delicious!", both said, and started eating, while Aurora ate like a wild dog, Ember ate at a fast pace but slower than her and much more graceful.
Ember couldn't help but cry! While in the past six months he had eaten nutritious food, a lot of vegetables, meats and carbohydrates, the taste of the food undoubtedly was too plain. He didn't even bother to take rest for a day and get a good meal. If not for the fact, killing monsters was addictive to his inner gamer self, he wouldn't have done so.
After they finished steak, they were greeted by the alluring Mutton broth, and both thanked her before digging in. By the end Ember was fully satisfied but when he looked at the bulging belly of the Goddess his eyebrows twitched." Haha! Ember, I ate ten times as you!", she boasted shamelessly, and looking at the plates beside her he realized she might be speaking truth.
" Did you two enjoy?", asked Martha with a smile, and they nodded. ' Damn it had been a while since I had food equivalent to my everyday breakfast back in the Capital ', he thought and nodded, not missing the fact that he used to get food as delicious as this every day. He shed silent tears,' I guess this is the sacrifice I made, but as they say no pain no gain! '.
Martha's smile suddenly turned devilish, and she said," Ember your amount is 3700 valis while Goddess your is 29000 valis", hearing her words Goddess who was enjoying the feeling of full belly nearly got an heart attack," Huh?!", Ember on the other hand took out a pouch and after counting the valis he handed it over to her as if he had already predicted this.
" W-Wait! Martha you will take money from me?! Your lovely and hot Goddess Aurora?!", she asked with shocked expression. " Goddess I especially brought the ingredients for this steak, and it took me a lot of work to prepare it, so you must pay for it. Normally the meal per person would have costed 4000 valis, but you...", she paused in the end and looked at her belly with a twitch in her eyebrow.
' As expected of a Goddess her hunger is also Divine ', they both thought. Goddess Aurora's eyes quickly shifted on Ember who sighed and gave ten thousand valis extra to Martha and then said," Get the rest from other Familia members", and left, meanwhile she looked at his back as he left and then at Martha who had an evil smile. ' Damn it! This guy doesn't play according to the routine! ', she thought.
She couldn't blame him either as being her child, he paid one-third of the amount which must have hurt his pocket. Seeing his sincerity and decisiveness, she couldn't help but be impressed and more attracted to him. ' Anyway, it is time to ask my other children for money ', she thought and suddenly all of her familia members shuddered feeling their pockets heavy for some reason.
...
Ember Pov
"...Cremation!", I finished my chant and shot the Magic pulverizing the rock and took a deep breathe. I was practising my mana control, normally I use around 5% of my mind to use cremation once at normal strength which can pretty much kill any Level 1 if hit properly but hardly injures a level 2, while I need to attack with at least 20% of my mind to kill a normal Level 2 and around 1/4th of my mind to hunt down a being like Infant Dragon.
If I am not wrong using more than half of my mind should kill weaker Level 3s and nearly my entire mind will pretty much kill any Level 3, however it was easier to be said than to be done. Hitting a Level 3 was another matter, the amount of time required to condense such a magic using all of my mind is way longer.
Using my magic repeatedly I have discovered a lot about the workings of the magic. A Magic with longer chant usually are stronger than one with a shorter chant, while my magic isn't a cheat like Instant Magic like Bell's whose Magic prowess is somewhere in the middle, my magic while having a small chant has the power of one with a long-ass chant, so that was a plus.
Now, how faster I can infuse mind in my magic over than its normal limit depends upon my control over the mana itself. So what I am trying is to infuse my mind faster in my magic to reduce it's time to a normal chant, and then make the normal one's duration even shorter. I also need to apply it to my concurrent chanting after mastering it without concurrent chant.
I sighed seeing how difficult the path ahead in front of me will be. ' Since I am back in the village far from the prying eyes of the other familia members it will be best, I stay here till I master this technique ', I thought, undoubtedly what I was attempting was pretty high-level and it would definitely need a lot of hard work, so I continued with my training.
To be continued...