—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: bchen3
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
Following the words of the Supreme God, when the goddess Hespada stepped forward, the surrounding commotion died down.
What was this?
“Hing…”
Even Themis, who had been making almost burdensome displays of affection, quieted down with a slight whimper.
Was she some amazing goddess according to the settings?
But she wasn’t in charge of something grand like being the goddess of victory or war, wasn’t she called the goddess of the hearth?
I looked at Hespada who approached me.
But something…
‘…Maman!’
For a moment, I barely managed to stop this outrageous word from escaping my mouth with an iron-clad will.
Due to the abundant light surrounding Hespada, I couldn’t even see her slightest expression as it was too bright.
But hadn’t they said that in this place, through the convenient setting called aura, one could see the nature of an existence?
The aura surrounding Hespada was, how should I put it… nostalgic, warm, and filled with affection.
Maternal love, I should say.
Hespada’s silhouette didn’t have an explosive figure like Themis, but she had beautiful curves that were neither more nor less.
Along with that, somehow feeling like there would be a benevolent expression beyond the light, to be embraced in those arms…
‘Hiss!’
I needed to get my mind straight.
What kind of unseemly behavior was this, being captivated by what was merely a chunk of data.
…In a world where people married 2D character pillows, wouldn’t it be perfectly safe with an NPC with this level of AI development?
Even in the modern era with developed virtual reality and strong artificial intelligence, the debate about whether extremely advanced AI should have human rights or not was still a hot potato, right?
With this level of quality, marriage wouldn’t be strange at all from a modern perspective.
Personally, I’d like two daughters who resembled the goddess Hespada, and one son who was a mix of me and goddess Hespada, and then register the children born from data in the family registry-
“Child.”
“Yes?”
I responded stupidly to the benevolent voice calling me.
“Kuk kuk.”
Finding that amusing, goddess Hespada covered her mouth with her delicate hand and laughed elegantly.
…This was embarrassing.
I blushed and glanced around.
To experience such embarrassment in front of all these people.
But surprisingly, several who appeared to be male gods were nodding with crossed arms as if they understood, though their faces weren’t visible.
Only Themis seemed somewhat frustrated, stomping her feet while staring in this direction.
“I wanted that child… hiing… but if it’s Hespada-chan…”
“If it’s Lady Hespada, it can’t be helped. Unlike you who spreads your legs whenever someone seems somewhat useful, Lady Hespada is virtuous enough to be a role model for other gods.”
“What are you saying, you fraud. Despite your appearance, you were terrible.”
“…You whore…”
I couldn’t tell if they had a good relationship or bad over there.
“She is not only the goddess of the hearth, but also the goddess of fire. While fire has a destructive image, sometimes it also means rebirth – burning away old and evil things and being reborn from those ashes. When it comes to healing and regeneration, there are few divine beings as excellent as her.”
I nodded at the plausible explanation given by the Supreme God.
Regardless of the settings, if the performance was certain, there was no reason not to do it.
“If the goddess is agreeable, I would become a priest serving goddess Hespada.”
“Hespada, would you take this child as a priest serving you?”
“If there is a child who desires my flame, as always, I do not turn away from that hand.”
“A foolish question on my part. Hero Yoon Sihu. Pray to her with a simple ceremony.”
I nodded and stood before goddess Hespada.
Then I knelt on one knee, bowed my head, and clasped my hands.
Roughly in the posture that priests take before statues of gods as seen in media like movies.
“Hooh.”
“Hmm.”
I slightly raised my head at the surrounding commotion.
“? Is there a problem?”
The Supreme God shook his head.
“No. A simple form of prayer would have been sufficient, but your posture is quite properly reverent, hence my comment. As expected of a champion who served gods in their previous world, your attitude is very correct. That god must have been proud to have a champion like you, I apologize.”
“Ah… well, it’s nothing.”
Well, the gods (corporate sponsors and team owners) I served were proud of me.
Good performance, lots of popularity, and no scandals.
I was truly a perfect franchise star.
As I lowered my head again and maintained my posture, a hand was placed on my head.
The soft hand stroked my head once, as gently as its touch.
While I was suppressing the slight urge to smile, suddenly a warm energy began to penetrate from the crown of my head.
‘Hmm…’
That penetrating energy spread gently throughout my entire body.
After a short time, I felt refreshed as if I had just finished a hot spring bath.
“From now on, you are my child.”
Yes, Maman.
I blankly thought while staring at the light where goddess Hespada’s face should be.
Along with that, a status window appeared without being called.
[Name: Yoon Sihu]
[Main Class: Hero[EX] – Apprentice Priest[F](Hespada)]
[Sub Class[0/3]: None]
[Life – 10.3] – lv1
[Endurance – 10.1] – lv1
[Strength – 10.3] – lv1
[Agility – 10.5] – lv1
[Circuit – 0] – lv1
[Mana – 0] – lv1
[Divinity – 1(+5)] – lv1
Skills(3/15): Language of Babel(EX), Hero’s Destiny(EX), Hespada’s Sacred Arts(F)
[EXP: 1062474]
[Achievement: World Champion 12 times and 7 others – View more]
The “None” that had been in the Main Class section changed to Apprentice Priest[F].
The thing next to it seemed to indicate which god I served as a priest, and a skill called Hespada’s Sacred Arts appeared.
The Divinity that had been 0 also rose to 1.
The +5 next to it… seemed to be the bonus value from the main class Apprentice Priest.
…Was the 10 EXP increase a bonus for celebrating getting a job?
[Skill: Hespada’s Sacred Arts(F)]
Sacred arts used by priests of Hespada, goddess of the hearth.
Can use a portion of the authority of the proxy deity Hespada.
Sacred Arts: 2 / 17
Current Rank: F
UP required to unlock next rank: 500(1000)
Unlike Hero’s Destiny, the explanation for Hespada’s Sacred Arts was brief.
I turned my attention to what was displayed as Sacred Arts 2 / 17.
[Skill: Hespada’s Sacred Arts – Healing(F)]
Heals the target by borrowing the authority of Hespada, goddess of the hearth.
Healing imbued with goddess Hespada’s authority promises the highest recovery power among all priests of all gods.
Recovery power is proportional to the caster’s divinity.
1. Consumes divine power to heal the target. (Unlocked at F rank or higher)
[Skill: Hespada’s Sacred Arts – Goddess’s Blessing(F)]
Blessing of Hespada, goddess of the hearth.
Increases the target’s abilities.
1. Consumes divine power to strengthen the target. (Unlocked at F rank or higher)
‘I see, so that’s how it is.’
Somehow I thought the number of skills was too restricted for an RPG game.
Looking at the game’s implementation, it clearly wasn’t a soft game but rather a hardcore one.
Even heroes only having 10 skill slots, and this wasn’t a mobile game, so it couldn’t be dealt with just one or two skills.
It seemed that when you learned one skill, that single skill contained multiple sub-skills.
And as the skill’s level increased, you could gradually use more of the sub-skills included in it.
With this system, it seemed like you could utilize more numerous and diverse skills than expected.
The only disappointing thing was that there was no explanation at all for when higher ranks were unlocked.
The fact that you couldn’t properly confirm those abilities until raising the rank.
‘With the number of priests being so few as it is… this means future sight is impossible.’
It meant I couldn’t use it efficiently based on information others had tested and made public.
‘No… is thinking like that too much?’
I had as much EXP as all the currently summoned users combined, so being too miserly didn’t seem right.
If this was a game format where priests had a major influence on party survival, I needed to devise some strategy for priest development.
I wasn’t in puberty anymore, and there was no need to lower everyone’s survival rate by trying to act superior with cheat mode in this kind of game.
Since my life was also at stake, I needed to make as many of the small fry as possible into proper people to increase the chances of clearing.
“It seems like it worked?”
“Tch.”
“…In the end, Hespada took him.”
“But with her, there’s nothing to disapprove of.”
When I became Hespada’s priest, nearly half of the gods disappeared from the space while expressing their regret.
Was the business finished?
At the same time, a small light appeared in front of me.
That light stretched lengthwise and transformed into a staff.
While some of the priests who appeared earlier had staffs with rather fancy designs, Hespada’s priest staff had a simple design like a poker with a long shaft.
‘Rather than a staff, it looks more like a cheap spear.’
I reached out toward the staff that was slowly falling, defying the law of gravity.
Hmm. The grip feeling wasn’t bad.
[Priest Hero’s Staff – (EX / F)]
Main Deity: Hespada
User: Yoon Sihu
A divine weapon forged by the gods for a hero who chose a profession.
This is the staff given to a hero-priest serving goddess Hespada.
Becomes a more powerful divine weapon as the hero class rank increases or the priest class rank increases.
Divinity +1(+130)(+1)
Activated Hero Bonus(EX) – View more
Activated Priest Bonus(Apprentice-F) – View more
‘…Without any comparison for equipment, it’s hard to say, but doesn’t this feel like they’re giving too much? Or am I mistaken?’
I was slightly taken aback by the description window that appeared as soon as I grasped it.
Just holding this staff increased the base divinity stat by 132…
‘The value of this weapon would vary depending on how much each stat is worth.’
And as for the activated bonuses hidden behind “View more”…
I saw all the listed abilities but will not write them here due to lack of space.
However, what was certain was that although it appeared to be just a priest’s staff that looked like a long poker on the outside, like the holy swords heroes use in Japanese fantasy, it seemed worthy of being called a chosen hero’s weapon.
While I was examining the staff’s abilities, exclamations of admiration came from the surrounding gods who hadn’t left yet.
“Do you have any more questions?”
Since I had changed jobs, maybe I should ask about basic system questions.
I knew some of it from hearing from the people before, but there might be something I missed.
“How do I use EXP to strengthen skills or raise status?”
“Just concentrate your mind and think about the skill or status you want to strengthen.”
Hearing those words, I closed my eyes and began to concentrate.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
