“...you’re a demigod?” Hannah asked blankly for what felt like the hundredth time. The revelation may’ve slightly broken her. There was no skepticism or doubt in her tone, only confusion.
Dominic barely suppressed the urge to roll his eyes, but nodded nonetheless. “I am a demigod, yes.” He wanted to directly jump into the part where he proved himself with some miraculous feat, but that would be pointless with the Saintess girl already struggling to process.
“So, uh, what’s your goal?” She bit her lip, looking down at the cave’s floor, seemingly finally deciding something, “Are you going to kill me, now?”
Finally, something new, Dominic rejoiced for a second before he processed what she asked, mild confusion filling his expression. She thinks I went to all this effort to kill her?
Gabrielle pitched in, giving him the context he was missing.
The Church of Light believes in only one Goddess, and she has no sons, brothers, or other relations, so demigods don’t exist according to their scripture! The ones who mainly believe in demigods are the Darkness Bane Cult!
Right now, she probably suspects you belong to the Darkness Bane Cult, but doesn’t understand how the Darkness Bane Cult got both a teleportation artifact and thirty thousand gold coins to give as an advance—not to mention why they’d bother using it on her, someone rather disposable.
Hence, she was buying time with her constant questions, trying to gauge if you truly belong to the Darkness Bane Cult, are from some other non-mainstream religion, or are just insane! Or perhaps a combination of all three? But then she gave up, not able to understand your intentions, and hence asked you directly.
Gabrielle out!
( ????? )
Dominic blinked. Well, apparently he’d created a misunderstanding. Truly, he forgot how many factions mortals had and how much they just overthought. It was so much simpler with the gods. Oh, hello, you’re a god? Yes? Welcome to the team.
With all of the gods sharing the responsibility to fight the endless horde of reality threatening monsters looming at their borders, they had no time for drama. Mortals had it so easy they found ways to complicate it for themselves. All this pesky grouping and infighting.
Luckily he had Gabrielle at hand, a dynamic and proactive exposition device. Truly, she was such a good find. Well worth every drop of providence he paid her, considering how much inconvenience she bypassed for him.
“You’re not worth being killed by me,” Dominic told the Saintess with a scoff. “This isn’t some trick or trap, I’m actually genuinely just a god.”
“That’s not possible. Gods don’t…” she trailed off into silence. She looked like her mind had short circuited due to overthinking, so confused that she was not even afraid anymore.
“How about this, Holy Power can’t be manipulated, yes? It is blessed by the gods?”
Hannah simply stared at Dominic blankly, not responding.
The amount of Holy Power a mortal can possess is indeed determined at birth, Mister Dominic! So yes, you can think of it as a ‘blessing by the gods’. Unlike mana or a few other branches that Rift Sealers may pursue, the only way to develop or train Holy Power is through meditation and self development!
??(?? ? ??)??
“Alright, so I’ll increase your Holy Power temporarily, yeah? That should prove I’m indeed some form of God.”
He could improve it permanently—in fact, he could just make a new body for Calvin or Hannah if he really wanted to, make them into SSS Classes instantly, but… Where was the fun in that?
Not only would it not be fun for him, it wouldn’t be fun for Hannah or Calvin either. They wouldn’t have the self confidence that would come with working for it themselves, nor would they feel all that comfortable with their new bodies.
Everyone wanted to work for things, after all. If given the chance, a proper chance, no one would want to skip the journey entirely.
Gabrielle, open up her stats, please! Dominic ordered as he directed his Holy Power at the Saintess, injecting it into her carefully but liberally.
Sure, Mister Dominic! Anything for you!
Hannah Abel’s Status Screen:
Level: 23
Specializations:
Divine Power [LvL 15]
Blessings of the Goddess [Area of Effect Skill] [LvL 5]
Blessings of the Goddess [Focused] [LvL 18]
Knowledge of Healing [LvL 10]
Guidance of the Goddess [Lvl 20]
[Expand into other Miscellaneous Specializations?]
TItles:
Goddess’ Chosen [Unique, S Grade]
The One With Mercy [Epic, A Grade]
Hope Giver [Epic, A Grade]
Dominic watched the status screen carefully as he infused Holy Power directly into Hannah and her stats grew and grew. He stopped when all of her Specializations reached LvL 50. Not for any particular reason—just because fifty was a nice number.
Had a zero at the end of it, started with five. It felt like a good number, for reasons Dominic could not explain if asked.
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That should be enough to make his point without risking exploding anyone.
Hannah felt the Holy Power surge through her.
It started subtly, so slowly Hannah didn’t notice at first as she blankly watched the client—Dominic. What was he planning? It was impossible to increase someone’s Holy Power artificially, after all, even temporarily. Of everything he could’ve tried to trick or convince her, Holy Power was not a good one.
And, again, why would he even want to?
He’d already paid for her services—extravagantly so—and she had orders from the highest powers in the Church to go along with whatever he asked. If he wanted to put on a show of false holiness, he could have chosen anyone else and likely deceived them without argument.
But Hannah had been the Saintess for years. She could easily differentiate Holy Power from any of the mana or other powers a Rift Sealer could bring to bear. Why would he go through this whole charade?
Increasing her Holy Power would prove he was beyond mere mortals, but he couldn’t possibly be an actual demigod. Delusional at best, an enemy at worst, but a demigod? No such thing existed.
But then she felt it. Steadily the amount of Holy Power flowing through her increased, going from unnoticeable to overwhelming in mere moments. There was no time to acclimate or adapt.
She was used to this power being a minuscule, personal adjustment, unnoticed from day to day. This was the exact opposite. If her normal cultivation of her Holy Power was collecting dewdrops from grass, this was a lake dropped on her head.
Yet for all its sudden strength, there was nothing harsh or abrupt in it.
An ethereal warmth, secure and gentle as a mother’s hug and as peaceful as a restful slumber, filled her entire body.
She didn’t know how long she stayed immersed in sensation that could only be called heavenly, unable to think, only be.
And then, as suddenly as it came, the flood of Holy Power faded. Hannah snapped back to her senses. She hastily summoned her status screen and let out a strangled gasp when she saw her new stats.
Hannah Abel’s Status Screen:
Level: 160 {Temporary}
Specializations:
Divine Power [LvL 50] {Temporary}
Blessings of the Goddess [Area of Effect Skill] [LvL 50] {Temporary}
Blessings of the Goddess [Focused] [LvL 50] {Temporary}
Knowledge of Healing [LvL 50] {Temporary}
Guidance of the Goddess [Lvl 50] {Temporary}
[Expand into other Miscellaneous Specializations?]
TItles:
Goddess’ Chosen [Unique, S Grade]
The One With Mercy [Epic, A Grade]
Hope Giver [Epic, A Grade]
[NEW] Blessed By A Demigod [Unique, EX Grade]
She was Level One Sixty. Her Specializations were all Level Fifty. Even if they were all ‘Temporary’, that was absolutely insane. Not to mention the new TItle she gained—Blessed By A Demigod?!
Unique, EX Grade, and not Temporary!
As soon as she focused on it, the status screen expanded, giving a description for the Title.
Blessed By A Demigod [Unique, EX Grade]
Description:
You, who have seen the peak. You, who have been recognized by a demigod himself. You shall reach the peak, for there is no other way.
Effects:
+50% Regeneration for Holy Power [Passive].
Hannah brought a hand to her mouth. The effects of the Title were absolutely ludicrous.
Fifty percent! Even a single percent—anything with percentages at all related to Holy Power—was all but unheard of. Holy Power was one of the most restrictive of energies, rigidly demanding in its accumulation and usage. How…?
Perhaps that was only to be expected from an EX-Grade Title?
Emotions flooded her heart.
No matter how much she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t any longer. What more could be proof that she was standing in front of a Demigod than the fact that the goddess's system itself had given her a Title called Blessed By A Demigod?
Clearly this was the goddess's will.
Or was what she believed about the goddess even true? Was the Church of Light even on the correct path?
Perhaps they were all misguided. Perhaps what they believed—what she believed—was false. Perhaps the non-mainstream religions… or even the Darkness Bane Cult, were the ones who were right.
She looked back at the client—no, the demigod.
Her emotions were such a tangled mix. Should she bow down and show her devotion, or express the confusion, frustration, melancholy, anger that flooded her at the revelation.
If a demigod really existed, if gods or the goddess really existed, why hadn't they graced this world till now? Why hadn't they proved that they cared?
Why hadn’t the goddess ever shown herself?
Hannah’s devotion was never particularly strong. As she saw more and more of the apathy and hatred that plagued this world, her doubts grew year by year.
The world faced so many problems, why had the goddess never solved a single one of them?
None of the leaders of the Church of Light had particularly strong devotion either, if she was brutally honest. They treated their faith as a formality, their titles and prestige the part that mattered, not adhering to their own oaths nor really helping those outside their devoted lackeys.
Even when Hannah tried to adhere to the goddess’s principles, the rest of the Church only fought her at every turn until it wasn’t even worth trying.
If not for that, she may have continued to adhere to the doctrines a santess had to follow, may have put aside her true love instead of taking him as a concubine. But with such corruption and disregard so commonplace, her minor ‘mistake’ of finding someone to soothe her tormented soul, felt justified. Acceptable.
And all of it was because the goddess—or even this demigod—never deigned to appear.
Of course, she didn't dare blame the goddess. Gods, mighty beings strong enough to be titled divinity, would have a mindset and way of thinking far different from mortals, far too incomprehensible for mere mortals.
Hannah didn’t even really blame the goddess. She just felt betrayed, stranded… dumb.
Perhaps mortals—mere pesky ants—weren’t worth it. At the end of the day, trying to judge the motives of deities would be foolish.
Even as she tried to justify that to herself, however, logic her way through her emotions, her thoughts flooded back through everything she’d witnessed throughout her lifetime.
How her mother had died, how her village had died.
All the orphans that she saw on a daily basis being not only homeless but on the brink of death.
How the undeserving royalty sat atop the pyramid, callously enjoying their power and luxuries while everyone else suffered.
The frustration she’d suppressed before summoned itself again, roaring.
“Why didn't you appear before?” she demanded, before she could stop herself.
The demigod stared at her silently for a second.
She didn’t wait for him to answer. “Why haven't you shown yourself before? Why do you let sins take place? Why did you give humans free will? Why… why leave the majority of us in this wretched hell, leaving us stranded and alone to navigate it?”
Hannah expected a variety of answers from the demigod.
Perhaps he would say, ‘My purposes are beyond your understanding’ in a cold manner.
Perhaps he would say, ‘I have no reason to answer to a mortal’ in a pompous manner while scoffing.
He might well smite her down for daring to be this discourteous.
Instead, like everything this specific demigod did always was, the answer that he gave was beyond her expectations.
