Power Corrupts: Divine Perks (Patreon)

The next few days were...normal. Extremely normal. Things seemed to fall into a routine of sorts. I got up, went into the Dungeon with Lili for around ten hours or so, then Eina would give me lessons. Apparently, she figured since I agreed to it once, then I was agreeing to it for all time. Then I went home to Hestia. Calling it a routine might be a bit much since it was only two days, but I noticed a pattern the week I’ve been here. 

There was a distinct lack of anything from Asshole the Second. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I was expecting...something. To find him standing at the end of a dark alley, a note telling me to leave a dead drop of money at a location, or just...something. Something other than a stunning lack of nothing. 

"I shouldn't think about that," I decided, walking towards Welfs workshop. Maybe this was a good thing? Maybe it meant that he didn’t care at all? I don’t think they were friends in the anime because I recall Asshole the First getting screwed over, then running face-first into a swarm of killer ants. For all I knew, I was completely overthinking it and nothing was going to happen at all. 

Maybe it wasn’t a mistake to not murder him. Maybe I made the right choice...or...he just hasn’t screwed me over yet. 

As I walked outside the city, waving at some guards playing a card game as I did. To my relief, as I approached his workshop, I saw smoke drifting up from the chimney. I wouldn't be left standing outside his door waiting for him to wake up, or wasted time walking in and out of the Dungeon. 

If I was getting blackmailed or something, then I needed to be prepared. I think Hestia suspected I was stressed about something, or that I was going to the seventh floor, trying to complete those quests while I still could. I hadn’t said anything about it yet, using the excuse of that I could be just overthinking things so I could be worrying her about nothing, but that excuse sounded hollow to myself. 

I didn’t want her to know that I killed someone. And I didn’t particularly regret it beyond the trouble it might have brought me. I don’t know how she would react to that, but I couldn’t imagine that going over well. At all. 

I knocked at Welf's door, taking a step back. Over the days, my Sense stat increased and I was noticing the effects. I heard Welf curse underneath his breath, a loud clanging sound, followed by another curse. It took about a minute, but the door slid open to reveal an exhausted-looking Welf, his eyes bloodshot with dark bags hanging underneath. He blinked at me, then his eyes went wide. 

"Is it night already?! Sorry, I was just putting some finishing touches on your armor, I must have lost track of time," Welf babbled, gesturing for me to enter his home. I ducked my head to step inside, looking over the messy interior. The forge was still hot, raising the temperature until it was sweltering hot, while tools laid around an anvil, a greasy rag stained with soot laying ontop what looked like my armor. 

“It’s not night, I’m just early. I wanted to check in on my armor,” I explained, turning to look at a devilish Welf. His short red hair stuck up at all angles, a white rag keeping sweat out of his eyes. He blinked slowly at me, then stuck his head outside to look at that dark sky. 

“What time is it?” He asked, looking back at me with an uncomprehending expression. 

“Around four-thirty,” I answered, trying really hard not to walk over to my armor. It had to be my armor. It was a shin guard that I doubt would fit anyone else in this world. A smoky black color and certainly looked like heavy armor. 

“...What? Like, in the morning?” Welf asked, still confused. 

“Yeah,” I replied, looking back at him with just as much confusion now. What was so hard to understand about that?

“What are you doing up at four-thirty in the morning?” Welf questioned, looking at me like I grew a second head. That started singing.

“I’m an early bird,” I defended, sounding indignant. “And you’re up too, so I don’t know why you’re complaining.”

“Yeah, but I stayed up all night. There’s a difference,” Welf pointed, crossing his arms as if he made an irrefutable argument. I huffed, rolling my eyes as I grinned goodnaturedly. It was hardly the first time I heard this argument, but it was usually from my roommate. 

“Well, I’m here now. Is my armor ready?” I asked, giving a not so subtle glance at the armor across the room. Welf nodded, running a hand through his hair, uncaring of the soot he left behind. Taking that as permission, I walked over and picked it up. It was, well, heavy armor. It was fairly thick, nearly half an inch of solid black steel -- altogether it would probably weigh about 20 pounds or so, or 10 to each leg. 

Before Lili and using her and her bag as training equipment, I would have commented that it seemed too light. Now I knew better. 10 pounds on each leg would be easy to ignore at first, but when time passed, and you were exhausted, those 10 pounds would feel like 100. 

“I was just polishing them off. Looks like I got the color right,” Welf said, gesturing to my black armor. 

“They look great. Can I try them on?” I asked, going to do so anyway no matter what he said. After 5 days, I finally had leg armor. 

“Sure, let me know if you feel any pinching or anything like that,” Welf said, leaving the door open as he moved to help me put it on. I was thankful for that. I had no idea where to start. Welf knelt down, starting at the shin that he clasped on. “I put some chainmail to protect the back of your knee -- figured you were at more of a risk getting hamstrung than most adventurers.” 

“Thanks,” I said, flexing my thigh a little against the constraining thick metal strapped to it. Welf let me test its limits, and to my surprise, I had full range of motion. “It fits great,” I told him, trying to bring my knee to my chest. A bit of chainmail dangled off the back end, also blackened, to be tucked into the shin guards that would encase my legs. 

“Great, now for the bottom half,” Welf said, attaching the shin guard. The design was simple, the front pushed forward in a small peek, a line of red going upwards until the knee where the shin guard tapered off into a point. It flushed well with the thigh portion, the red line tracing up it at an edge. Eventually, I would have to commission a chest piece to match. 

Once both leg pieces were on, I continued to test them. It might be because of my growing strength stat, but I barely felt them. That could change after about eight hours of fighting, but for now, they felt great. “And you said they could stand up to killer ants?”

“They will. Given your build, I made the armor a little thicker than normal for some extra protection. It won’t feel great when one of them bites down on you, but the armor will hold. But, that’s a long way off, you know?” Welf said, giving me a humoring smile- ah. Right. The last time we spoke, I was stuck on the first floor. 

“Actually, I’ve been going to that floor for a couple of days now. Lili, my supporter, recommended that I don’t go past it until I got some leg armor,” I told him, untying a pouch full of valis from my belt to pass it over to him. Welf blinked, giving me an odd look that prompted me to explain. “Those rabbit things are the biggest problem for me since they’re so small, and they like trying to hamstring me.” 

Fighting goblins and kobolds was bad enough, but those rabbits with a horn on their heads were a flat out nightmare to deal with. Not only were they the size of a rabbit, but they were so quick too. I thought the killer ants would be the biggest threat on the seventh floor, but it was easily the rabbits. And, not gonna lie, that made me feel really dumb. 

“Seriously?” Welf asked, not believing me. 

“Hm. Speaking of which, I actually had some questions,” I said, gesturing to my swords at my hip. “I’ve been having some trouble cutting through the exoskeleton with these. Do you think you could give them a look over?” 

“Er,” Welf started, seeming to struggle with the fact that I was planning to head to the 7th floor in less than a week. Then he shook his head, with a shrug of his shoulders, dismissing the issue. “Yeah, I can do that. Had ‘em over.” I did and Welf looked like he swallowed an entire lemon tree when he pulled them from their sheaths. 

“Have done any maintenance on these?” He asked, an accusation in his tone. He scanned the battered blades, covered in scratches, the edges nicked and blunted. They saw some pretty hard use in the few days that I had them. “At all?”

“Well,” I trailed off, giving a shrug. “No?”

Welf stared at me, looking personally affronted. “How long have you had these? You’ve only been an adventurer for a week, right? Did you get these second-hand?” He pressed, sheathing the swords as he pinned a mild glare on me. I was glad he put the swords away, at least that way he was less likely to use them on me. 

“I got the eastern one second-hand,” I told him to hopefully divert some of his irritation to a now-dead adventurer. “And, well, I spend about fifteen hours in the Dungeon on most days. Wear and tear builds-up, you know?” I defended weakly, unwilling to tell him that the reason I hadn’t used the sharpening stone I bought was because I was making Hestia cum her brains out. That, and I’ve never sharpened anything in my entire life before.

An explosive sigh escaped Welf, “maintenance is supposed to take care of that.” He pointed out, “these aren’t too far gone that I can’t save them but it’s going to take some time.” 

I frowned at that, my gaze drifting over the weapons that lined the walls. It wasn’t like I hadn’t seen this coming. “In that case, are any of those for sale? I’ve been meaning to buy something with more reach. And a hilt I can fit both hands on,” I requested, eyeing a long broadsword with a hook towards the tip. 

“That one is a commission,” Welf said, dashing my hopes. It looked cool too. A proper fantasy sword that would go well with my armor. “But...yeah, I have a couple of swords that fit the bill,” he said before giving me a sideways glance as he walked across his workshop. “They’re not magic swords,” he added, compelled to point that out. 

“Still don’t want one,” I told him bluntly. “I mean, maybe once I reach the mid-floors I would want one, but on the upper floors, I’d probably kill everyone and everything on them with one of your magic swords. Myself included. And I like living.”

Welf’s gaze lingered on me, as if he could see if I was lying, then a small huff escaped him. “You really couldn’t care less about them?”

“Not a bit. I’m sure you have your reasons for not making them,” I told him, knowing that he didn’t make them out of stubborn pride. “So I’m not going to ask. If I really need a magic sword for some reason, I’ll just buy one somewhere.”

Welf turned away to enter his room, but I saw a slight smile on his lips. If I had a relationship manager then I’m sure I scored some major points with him. He returned a few minutes later with a bundle of swords, one of them I recognized as his sword from the anime. All of them were broadswords, the longest among them nearly 5 feet. 

Naturally, I zeroed in on it. The hilt was wrapped in white cloth that left a long bit of it to hang free at the pommel. There wasn’t a crossguard, just a solid bar that the sword seemed to emerge from. The blade itself started off thick at the bottom, then jutted inwards about a half-inch before continuing to stretch upwards the remainder of the straight blade. Towards the tip of it, it jutted outwards a half-inch, giving it a nice fantasy feel to it. 

“Ohhh,” I muttered in delight, picking it up to feel its weight. It was surprisingly light too, somewhere around 6 pounds or so, but it felt lighter because of the balance. I grabbed it with both hands, seeing that the hilt was long enough for me to fit both of them. “It’s perfect.”

“Heh, you’ll make me blush,” Welf said, a grin on his face. “It costs about eight thousand valis-” I was already digging into the spare pouch of gold I had hanging off my hip in case I had to buy another sword. ‘And, you have to learn how to take care of it. Seriously, if I see that sword all banged up like your other ones, I’m gonna cry.”

I nodded, accepting the condition as I handed over the money. I had a nice nesting egg building up since the only things I was buying was potions. Without those extra costs, even splitting the spoils evenly with Lili, and I did make sure that they were even, my savings were back around 50 thousand. Half of which was set aside for emergencies. 

“That sounds fair to me. I just use a whetstone on it, right?” I asked, managing to tear my eyes from my new awesome sword to look at Welf. He closed his eyes slowly, visibly swallowing some probably mean words about my ignorance before letting out a soft breath. 

“You know what? Maybe we should just meet up sometime and I’ll show you how to take care of your equipment,” he offered, trying to sound patient but not quite managing it. I was going to blame that on the lack of sleep. Judging from how pale he was and the dark bags under his eyes, it wasn’t his first one. 

I nodded, “I usually leave the Dungeon around five, but I can head out a little early whenever you’re free.”

Welf returned my nod, stifling a yawn. "We can do it tomorrow since I need to get some sleep. I'll meet you at the Guildhall at five?" 

"See you then," I said, stepping out of his workshop with a wave goodbye. As soon as he closed the door behind him, I gave my new sword a test swing. It swished through the air, the sound it made was a song to my ears. With it, I had a reach that could only be matched by spear users. Maybe not even then with my massive arms. 

I tossed my other swords into my Inventory, and there they would likely stay until I bothered to clear it out at some point down the line. Smiling all the way, I practically skipped to the Tower of Babel. I was one step closer to my usual D&D build. I even had the low Intelligence stat to prove it. 

It didn't take long to reach it. At this early hour, the main plaza was practically devoid of anyone, all accept Lili. Her oversized green bag made it easier to spot her. "Morning, Lili," I greeted, coming up behind her. 

"Good morning Mr. Jericho! Lili sees that you received your armor...and a new sword?” Lili returned, glancing over the blade that was bigger than her, quickly dismissing it. I couldn’t tell if she decided that it wasn’t worth stealing or just admiring it. If it was the former, then not only was I offended but I wasn’t going to let go of the weapon until I shoved it into my inventory. 

“Yup, fresh off the forge. Are you ready?” I asked, feeling as light as a feather in my heavy armor. For the past few days, I was stuck on the seventh floor, doing whatever I could to grind my stats as I mapped out the floor. None of my stats had broken fifty yet, but some were close. I could run with Lili for longer without getting completely exhausted, the weight, while stupidly heavy, was more manageable as for balance. Well, there was only so much a Dexterity stat could do when there were a hundred something pounds hanging from my neck. 

“Hm! But...does Mr. Jericho promise not to use his usual method for hunting monsters?” Lili asked, her eyes narrowing even as she smiled sweetly at me. “Because that’s very dangerous. More dangerous than how Mr. Jericho usually does things.”

“I promise,” I agreed easily as we started walking up the stairs. During the upper floors, I could somewhat fight with Lili on my back. So, naturally, I wanted to fight with her on my back, backpack and all. It worked...well enough.

“That’s not what Lili wanted to hear, Mr. Jericho…” Lili said with a dramatic sigh, her shoulders slumping. I glanced down at her and swallowed a sigh. In the days since we ran into Asshole the Second, Lili hadn’t exactly proved to be a well of information. She confirmed that she was in the same familia as him, and that was about it.

“Don’t worry Lili, no matter what, I’ll make sure you get out of the Dungeon in one piece. I promise,” I told her, her beige hood hiding her reaction to that as we stepped into the Guildhall. Much like the city, it was deserted except for a skeleton crew. I scanned the faces, a small group of guild employes chatting, one of them glancing over. Eina. 

“Morning,” I greeted, “you’re here early. Nightshift?” I asked when she broke off from the others to approach. I saw a more of her now since I was having study lessons for the past few days, where she drilled information into my head. It didn’t matter if it was relevant or not, Eina wouldn’t be satisfied unless I knew the Dungeon down to the last pebble in it. 

At the very least, I got some maps out of it. 

“I could say the same to you,” Eina responded, smiling lightly as her gaze racked over my form. “I see you finally got your armor...I suppose you’ll be going back down to the seventh-floor today?” She asked, her eyes sharp. I knew she was a worrier, but I had underestimated how much. I’m not sure what I did to endear myself to her either since she didn’t treat every adventurer like this. Wait, I knew why. The whole going to the sixth floor in a blanket was probably what did the trick.

“We are, and I did the reading on it that you gave me. And I studied the map until I’m pretty sure I can find my way down there drunk and blindfolded.” I said with a patent smile. You’d think reading about monsters and stuff would be exciting because they were, well, monsters. You’d be wrong. The textbooks were as dry as a science textbook back in my old world. It took a special talent to make monsters and myths boring. 

Eina nodded, believing me even though she really shouldn’t. “And you have your potions?” She asked, acting like a mother hen.

“We do Miss. Tulle,” Lili spoke up, “Mr. Jericho made extra sure that we had plenty!” 

Eina nodded again, letting out a small breath. “Then I suppose you’re as ready as you can be,” she said, sounding like she’d rather pull teeth than let us down to the 7th floor. Still, the fact that I kept coming back from it the past couple days stopped any real protests. 

“We’ll be fine, Eina. I won’t ask you not to worry -- mostly because I think that might be impossible, but just have some faith in us. We’ll be back up around five, so if you’re still here then we’ll see you then.” I reassured, getting a thin-lipped smile from her. 

“I won’t, but Misha will be. Check-in with her before you leave, okay? She worries about you, you know.” Eina said with an air of defeat. At the very least she wasn’t arguing me to not go down anymore. I guess my results spoke for themselves. 

“I will. See you later,” I waved goodbye, walking into the Dungeon with Lili at my back. We walked down into the Dungeon, walking through the first six floors with ease, arriving to the seventh with cautious excitement. For me, at least. That sweet, delicious 12 exp per kill awaited me. I already had a lot of killer ant mandibles, not close to the hundred needed, but I was getting up there. That 5000 exp would be mine. 

Stepping onto the seventh floor, at this early in the morning, it didn’t take long for us to hear the first sounds of monsters spawning. A tidbit I learned from the books was that the Dungeon had a soft cap on how many monsters it could spawn. It seemed to take some unseen energy to spawn monsters -- early in the morning, it could afford to throw more lone adventurers since it didn’t have to split focus on dozens of other adventurer parties. 

Three killer ants emerged from the walls, two on one side and one on the other. I hefted my new weapon, feeling its weight before I swung down with all my strength on the two ants on my right. The edge of new sword bit into the exoskeleton -- before, because of how dull my swords got, even as I got stronger the exoskeleton proved too tough for me to slice through. With my new sword, with its extra weight and a wickedly sharp edge, I carved cleanly through the head and thorax of the first ant. 

My sword slammed into the other one with enough force that I cleaved off the bottom half of the killer ants front legs. It let out a screech, collapsing without its support. My sword was out of position to seize the opportunity, too large to easily maneuver a downward strike to finish it off. With what was becoming well-practiced ease, I raised a foot and slammed it down on its head. It cracked open like an egg, killing it. 

Whipping around, I saw that Lili had put some distance between her and the killer ant, a few arrows lodged in it, but just to slow it down enough so I could finish it off. The ant turned its attention to me when I rushed towards it, viewing me as the bigger threat. It jumped at me, lunging at my stomach, only to be greeted halfway by my sword skewering its bulbous head.  

“Sweet,” I couldn’t stop myself from breathing, a stupid grin on my face as I looked down at my new sword. It worked like a charm -- the weight was a great, so much better than the light swords I was using before. And the reach was absolutely fantastic! The killer ants never came close, even if it was a little awkward to get back into position for another good swing. 

My good cheer was broken when more ants spawned down the hall, another five. Glancing behind me, I saw Lili was holding her own against another two that were in the process of leaving the Dungeon walls. She slowly backpedaled, calm, though I couldn’t see her face through the giant green pack she wore, but she didn’t seem to be panicking. 

“I have another five. Are you good?” I asked, backing up slowly to get a little closer to Lili, letting the monsters come to us. 

“Lili will need to reload soon,” Lili said, firing a bolt that killed another killer ant. Like an anthill, another two crawled over its corpse. Right. I needed to start taking these things out faster. 

“Go ahead and do it. I’ll keep them off you,” I said, turning on my heel to run at the four killer ants behind us. In the low light, their blackish-red exoskeleton looked menacing now that there were more of them. Three of them lunged at me at the same time, jumping up to knock me over then swarm over me. 

Gritting my teeth, I swung my sword with all my strength, slicing through the three of them at the same time, bisecting them at the thorax with some difficulty. The halves fell on the remaining killer ant, stunning it so I could stomp on its head. No sooner as they were dead, I rushed back to deal with the other five. 

Lili reloaded her weapon, firing off at the killer ants to slow them down until I could reach them. They rushed us, practically crawling over each other to get to me. Holding my sword like a giant baseball bat, I swung through the ants, cleaving three them while the other two continued undaunted. I stomped on one’s head before it could bite me, using a well-tested tactic while the final one nearly managed to bite down on my leg before I grabbed it by the base of its neck. With a snarl, I lifted the deceptively light ant and crushed its head against the Dungeon wall. 

That was a great fight, I concluded, looking down at the corpses, making sure that they were dead. Then I turned my attention down to my armor, noting small marks where the ant bit down on, but not much else. 

“All good?” I asked, turning to Lili to see her topping up her crossbow. The smaller girl gave me a firm nod, displaying a radiant smile. 

“Lili is okay,” Lili confirmed. “Is Mr. Jericho ready to continue?” She asked, making quick work of retrieving the monster stones. When she was done, she walked over to me as I crouched down to let her hop on. 

“You bet,” I said, picking her back up as we continued to clear the floor. 

…

It was days since Jericho had dropped the revelation of his origins on her, almost randomly after they indulged in an act of intimacy. Hestia had two days to come to terms with it, but she still struggled with it. It was just so…

Less than a year ago, she was one of the few gods left in Heaven, stuck overlooking countless souls as she rubber-stamped them to be reincarnated. She knew first hand just how overworked the gods left in Heaven were and how they jealousy looked down at the ones on vacation. Before, each soul would be judged and punished or rewarded for their deeds in life. Now, with a skeleton crew in Heaven, all souls just got reincarnated or tormented when a petty god was in need of some stress relief. It wasn’t right, but it happened more than a little. 

Still, to take a soul and change it...Hestia wished she could say she was surprised by it, but she wasn’t. If anything, it was more surprising that what was done to Jericho wasn’t done to more souls -- altered in ways to break the carefully crafted game the gods on the lower world enjoyed. A spiteful move that would entertain the ones that looked on from above. Two birds with one stone. 

Jericho’s altered falna. That Skill Gamer Body. Those weren’t the results of a mistake on her end. Jericho’s soul and body were changed in a fundamental way that Hestia didn’t fully understand. Nor did she have any idea which god could have done it -- there were only a couple dozen gods left in Heaven, and she could easily see every single one of them doing something like this if the idea struck them. 

“Haa…” Hestia sighed, her shoulders slumping as she felt the beginnings of a headache. She thought about what he said nearly nonstop for days now, trying to think of something to do about it. But, she couldn’t. If she had access to her arcanum, then it would be a different story, but she didn’t. All she could do was plan for the future, support her child, and make sure the worst-case scenarios never came to pass. 

Which was why Hestia found herself walking down the familiar hallways that lead to Hephustus’s office. She needed advice more than anything. Jericho was advancing at an incredible pace. She didn’t know much about normal adventurers, but it was easy to see that Jericho’s growth was abnormal. It wouldn’t be long before the Guild took notice of it, or worse, the gods.

With a plan in action, Hestia knocked on the door to her friend’s office-

“You can come in if you’re not here for money,” Hephustus welcomed her, somehow knowing that it was her. Pouting, Hestia threw open the door, striding into her office with her arms crossed. 

“I don’t need money!” Hestia half yelled at her friend, who simply stamped a piece of paper with her seal. That much was true. Jericho was bringing in a lot of money now. Yesterday, he brought home thirty thousand valis, and that was apparently after he split the spoils with his supporter evenly. Their nest egg grew until it no longer fit in her hiding place. 

“Then what can I do for you?” Hephaestus asked, glancing up as she stamped her seal again. 

Hestia uncrossed her arms, recalling why she was here. She crossed the distance after closing the door behind her, taking a seat in a soft leather chair. Hestia took in a deep breath before she bowed her head until her forehead was nearly touching her knees. “I need your advice!”

Hephaestus sighed, the leather creaked as she leaned back in her chair. “About what?” Hephaestus asked, sounding more exasperated than annoyed. Hestia could hardly blame her for it -- this was the second time in as many days that she came for advice from her friend. “And stop bowing, please. I’m going to strangle Takemikazuchi when I see him for teaching you that…”

Hestia refused to raise her head. Of all the favors Hestia had ever asked, this was possibly the greatest one so far. And the most important. “Hephustus...is there a way I can make my child’s status look like something else?” Hestia asked, still bowing. 

It wouldn’t be long before Jericho tried to go down the eighth floor, or deeper. At the rate he was going, it would be less than a week before he was on the tenth floor. Soon, the Guild was going to start noticing something. At first, they would probably think that he was getting help from another adventurer, but as soon as they realized that Jericho was strong enough to do it himself, the Guild would accuse her of hiding his true level or something. 

The only way they could refute the charge would be to show them Jericho’s status. And that would be the final nail in the coffin. Jericho would be treated like a toy, or stripped of his falna and exiled from the city. She would be sent back up to Heaven, even if it wasn’t her fault. They needed a way to make Jericho’s status to look normal. 

“Hestia...what’s going on with that child of yours? Why would you need to hide his status? You’ve already hidden it from sight, haven’t you?” Hephaestus questioned, her tone still sounding exasperated, but it couldn’t hide the suspicious undertone. 

“...Jericho has a Skill that makes his growth...explosive. He’s already on the seventh floor,” she informed, and that seemed to catch Hephustus off guard. 

“How- I, no, don’t tell me,” Hephaestus said, sounding like she really, really wanted to know. A lesser goddess, like Loki, would have demanded to know in exchange for help, but Hephustus was better than that. By miles and miles. “What exactly do you want? To make it where this Skill doesn’t show up?”

If only it was that simple, “I...need to make his stats look a certain way too.” Hestia added hesitantly, trusting her friend, but there was so much at stake. 

“...” Hephaestus fell silent, her mind undoubtedly mulling over what could possibly make her request such a thing. An explanation weighed heavily on her tongue -- she could blame it all on some god up in Heaven that was trying to have a bit of fun at their expense, but Hestia couldn’t bring herself to say the words. Maybe Hephustus had enough clout that she could protect them from any consequences of Jericho’s falna. Maybe, the gods would understand that they hadn’t done anything wrong. Maybe, maybe, maybe. 

Hestia wasn’t going to risk Jericho’s future, his life, on maybes. 

“I don’t know if something like that is possible,” Hephustus admitted, “...but...Hestia, you do realize you’ll be lying to the Guild?” Hephaestus said, having more or less guessed what Hestia planned. “You’re not going to get off with a slap on the wrist if you get caught.”

“I’m absolutely positive,” Hestia said, speaking with as much conviction that she could muster even as she continued to bow her head. This could blow up in her face if the Guild ever found out. Orario was a city filled with sharks with the Guild keeping the peace only because the strongest familias allowed them to. Any reprisals would be harsh, to say the least. 

“Fine…” Hephaestus said after a moment, “just stop bowing to me.” Unlike before, Hestia didn’t launch herself at her friend to give her the hug of a lifetime. A weight seemed to be lifted off her shoulders, only when it was gone did she realize it had been crushing her. Instead, a small sigh of relief escaped her as she raised her head. "I have to go to Hermes' familia for this. Their captain has the Mystery development ability, so if it can be made then she can make it. Though, knowing Hermes, he's going to charge out the nose for it." 

"I'll pay you back!" Hestia swore, "no matter how long it takes, I'll pay back every single valis!" 

Hephaestus let out a small laugh, "it'll take you a couple of decades to do it working at the potato stand." She commented, earning a small wince from Hestia. 

"That's fine," Hestia nodded, undeterred. Hermes was the kind of guy that would triple his prices and say he was giving you a friend’s discount, worse, he would figure out she wanted the item to trick the Guild, so he was already going to jack up his prices. The jerk. 

"Hestia…" Hephaestus opened her mouth to continue, but she paused for a moment. After letting out a sigh of defeat, she continued. "Then why don't you work for me then?" 

"Huh?" Hestia blurted, broken from her musing just how deep her debt was going to be. 

"Come work for me. A position opened up for a clerk in one of my stores for my level 2 blacksmiths. It's commission-based, so you'll be able to pay off whatever Hermes charges a lot faster if you work hard." Hephaestus offered, a sharp look in her eye. A look that Hestia learned to recognize during the weeks she stayed with her friend. The Look that said 'or else.' 

"R-really?" Hestia asked, the offer catching her off guard. "But I thought you were done helping me?" She questioned, unable to stop herself. Before she started coming to Hephaestus for advice, their last meeting hadn't been pleasant. For her, at least. Mostly because it ended with her getting kicked out. 

"That was when all you did was sit around and read all day. I've heard good things about the potato food stall you've been working at and I know you're taking running a familia seriously -- you wouldn't be here if you weren't." Hephaestus answered, crossing her arms, giving her a serious look. "But, I have to ask -- is he really worth this, Hestia? If this blows up in your face, then Loki will probably exile you from the city. Or send you back to Heaven if she's in a bad mood." 

Others might disagree with Loki, but in the end, their voices didn't matter. In this city, strength was what mattered. Freya and Loki -- their word was law. 

"He is," Hestia confirmed with a nod of her head. That was all she had to say. The serious expression on Hephaestus' face melted away, replaced by faint amusement. 

"I didn't expect anything different. Though, if I didn't know you any better, I'd say you have a crush on your child-" Hephaestus cut herself off when she must have noticed how quickly Hestia's face turned bright red. "What? Wait, do you-" 

"Thank you for your help!" Hestia shouted, jumping to her feet and all but running to the door. 

"Wait-" 

"BYE!" Hestia practically screamed, interrupting Hephaestus as she threw open the door. 

"Hestia!" Hephaestus shouted as Hestia broke out into a Sprint, leaving her friend in the dust. 

"TELL ME HOW MUCH IT IS WHEN YOU FIND OUT! BYE HEPHUSTEUS! LOVE YOU!" Hestia screamed as she fled the building. She ignored Hephustus’ shouts for her to stop, but she didn’t until she was in the elevator and going down. Her face burned, so she buried it in her hands, letting the elevator carry her down. 

Maybe...she could have handled that a bit better…

“Haa...I hope Jericho’s doing better than me…”

…

I hate getting poisoned. I know that should be a given, but I’ve never been poisoned before. Well, not counting food poisoning, but that just proved my point since I absolutely loathed having food poisoning. Now that I had suffered real poisoning, I could honestly say that I didn’t care for it very much.  

Sweat poured off me, my body feeling incredibly hot as I glanced up at a few moths hanging above. They were the size of a seagull, the wings a light purple while the fuzzy stuff at the top of their thorax a darker purple. With every flap of their wings, purple powder fell on top of me, seeping into my skin, further poisoning me. 

I jumped into the air, swinging wildly at them. Between my reach and their limited mobility, I sliced through one of them, severing its wings. After stomping on it, I jumped up again and lucked out by getting both of them. They had no defensive abilities beyond flying above you, and after awhile the poison kicked in so other monsters could finish you off. 

“Mr. Jericho, here’s an antidote,” Lili said, offering me a vial filled with a dark purple vial. I wasted no time snatching it from her hands, popping the cork and draining it in one go. Almost instantly, I felt better. 

“Thanks, are you feeling okay?” I asked, keeping a watchful eye on the tunnels to our sides. I saw Lili nod out of the corner of my eye before she spoke. 

"Lili is fine, her coat protected her from the poison powder," she commented as she began to harvest monster stones. I nodded, keeping a lookout while she worked. There were quite a few corpses, so it would take a few minutes. Which made it the perfect time to catch a breather. "Lili has another mandible," she spoke up, holding it out. "This makes sixty-three." 

"Sweet," I said with a nod, watching Lili stuff the monster drop into her bag. The things really were rare, for the most part. I hadn't been keeping track, but it was something like every fifteen dropped one. "“Thirty-seven left to go.”

“Does Mr. Jericho wish to keep going today?” Lili asked, looking up at me. A sheen of sweat coated her face, and I noticed that it was taking her a little longer to retrieve the stones than normal. Something I noticed was that just because I was carrying her, that didn’t mean she was having a relaxing time. Holding onto me proved to be much more tiring than simply walking around. From the looks of it, she was asking since she hoped the answer would be yes. 

I checked the time to see it was only an hour before we usually left anyway. Well...might as well, I guess. Not to mention, we already blew through our antidotes. 

“Yeah, might as well. Are you done?” I asked, watching her pick up a pair of purple wings that disappeared into her bag. Lili turned around to give me a nod, smiling brightly despite her tired appearance. She usually looked wiped by the end of the day, but if she was asking to call it quits early then there had to be an actual problem. Maybe she was getting overworked?

I did spend something like twelve hours a day down here, whereas most adventurers called it a day after five or so unless they were going deep into the Dungeon. 

“Lili is finished! Thank you for understanding Mr. Jericho,” Lili said, bowing so low that I’m honestly shocked that she somehow didn’t fall over with that stupidly massive bag on her back. “Lili will understand if you want to punish her for being so lazy-”

“No, that’s fine, no punishments or anything like that,” I hastily cut her off. It still creeped me out when she said stuff like that with her usual chipper tone. “Just don’t worry about it, okay? I’ve been pushing you pretty hard every day without a break so don’t worry about it.”

“Thank you Mr. Jericho,” Lili said, rising back up. I looked at her, my mouth open to say...something. What, I didn’t know, but I thought better of it. Words didn’t matter to her, only actions did. 

“Do you want me to carry your bag?” I offered, starting to walk back towards the exit. Thanks to the maps of the upper floors Eina provided, I already had this floor mapped out. Next to me, Lili shook her head. 

“No thank you, Mr. Jericho. Lili can at least do this much,” Lili said as we made our way out of the Dungeon. 

Our way back was far less eventful than our start of the day. When you knew your way, and the Dungeon didn’t bother throwing too much at you as you left, it took about fifteen minutes to reach the Guildhall from the seventh floor. Barely anything at all. Before long, we stood in front of a teller as Lili unloaded our earnings for the day. 

“Your total is...fifty-three thousand valis,” he said, passing over several heavy bags of gold through the slot. The guy looked up at me, his expression blank, but I didn’t miss how he glanced between me and Lili. Though, I paid it no mind because…

I thought our earnings would be higher today. The seventh floor really ramped up the spawn rates compared to the upper floors, and the monster stones were worth more. Over the past ten hours or so, I killed a whole lot of monsters -- easily blowing past my bare minimum of one thousand exp. 

I took the bags of gold and turned to Lili. She tried to not stare at them as she fiddled with her straps, a sinking suspicion forming in my gut. Lili...was stealing from me, wasn’t she?

“Here you go,” I said, my voice not reflecting my thoughts. I guess it was half because I expected her to do it at some point, but I didn’t really feel betrayed or anything like that. Still, I couldn’t say it wasn’t disappointing. I guess I would have to keep better track of how many monsters I kill to learn how much she was skimming off the top. 

I had a nice nest egg, so I wasn’t hardpressed for money anymore, but I wouldn’t let what happened to Bell happen to me. 

“Thank you again, Mr. Jericho. Lili promises that she’ll make up for it tomorrow,” Lili promised, tucking the bags of gold away. I shrugged, dismissing the issue as I glanced around the room. My gaze landed on a group of adventurers, most of them looking at me, though they were quick to look away when I caught them. They wore decent looking armor, one of them wore an emblem emblazoned on their shoulder pad. A crescent moon with a fancy looking cup inside of the moon. That was...the Soma familia’s emblem, wasn’t it?

My eyes narrowed as I tore my gaze away, trying to play it off as a coincidence. I turned my attention down to Lili and sent her a lopsided smile, “I said don’t worry about it, Lili. Just make sure you get some rest for tomorrow.”

“Lili will! Goodbye, Mr. Jericho,” Lili said, waving goodbye as she left the Guildhall. I watched her leave, a small sigh deflating me as I made my way to the showers. I didn’t see Eina anywhere, so she might be off today. As I made my way to the showers, I walked by the group that was eyeing me, none of them glancing my way as I passed them by. 

As soon as I was out of sight, I shoved my earnings into my Inventory before stripping off my armor. After everything was off, I paid close attention to how everything looked before I took a quick shower. Less than five minutes long. After wiping myself down, I went back to the armor rack and my locker and found exactly what I expected to see. 

My clothes had been moved, the same for my armor. Someone had tried to rob me. Well, Lili had already robbed me, but someone else was trying to steal from me.

And, as I expected, that group of people was nowhere to be seen when I came out of the showers. 

“Hm,” I hummed, leaving the Guildhall. That could be a problem. No, it was a problem already. Was this Asshole the Seconds move? It’s not what I expected, but that didn’t change a couple of guys from his familia were trying to steal from me. Was it just coincidence, or were they following orders? I didn’t know. Maybe I should have stuck with the canon timeline so I wouldn’t have to deal with these questions. 

Still, if they were after my money...then there were better ways to get it. I was still expecting something from Asshole the Second, so maybe this was just testing the waters or something? Again, I had no idea. I’ve never had to worry about getting blackmailed before, so all of this was new to me. 

“Excuse me,” a woman’s voice broke me from my plotting. I came to a stop, turning to the source of it, and blinked in surprise when I saw who it was. Silver hair with matching eyes that were the same color as steel, a heart-shaped face while her lips pulled upwards into a smile. Her hair curled inwards ever so slightly near her mouth, two locks of hair hanging by her cheekbones. Syr Flova. The girl that looked like Freya. 

“Yeah?” I started, coming to a stop, feeling more than a little cautious. Her connection to Freya in the anime was vague, only that she looked like the goddess and she seemed to take orders from her. Though she did seem to have genuine feelings for Bell, other than that Syr was a great big mystery. “Wait, your Syr, right? You stitched up my pants for me.” 

Syr nodded, beaming joy out of every pore. She clasped her hands behind her back, smiling at me in a cutesy way. “I did! But, I wanted to apologize on behalf of the children, they wanted to have a little fun, but…” She shrugged dramatically, a troubled expression passing over her face. “I hope they didn’t cause you too much trouble…” She said, fishing to see if I was still pissed. 

“Eh, I’m more embarrassed about how I reacted. Just...could you tell the kids if they want to play pranks, then stick to stuff like whoopie cushions? I mean, I’ll just laugh it off, but not everyone will,” I said, shrugging as I scratched at my cheek. Syr nodded gravely as a look of relief replaced the troubled look. 

“I will. I’ve already had a stern talking with them, I promise,” Syr informed, then her smile became a little more shyer in nature. “I’m not sure if your goddess told you, but the offer of a free meal is still open!” Oh, yeah...I completely forgot about that. With everything else going on, going out to eat was the last thing on my mind. 

“I won’t say no to a free meal, but are you sure that’s okay?” I asked, recalling Mia, the owner of the Hostess of Fertility. She seemed to cut Syr a lot of slack, while also giving her a hard time when she slacked off too much. 

Syr nodded, “it’s all okay!” She answered, her shy look transforming into a slightly pleading one. “Please, could you come? I feel really guilty about what happened, I was supposed to be watching the children when they stole your clothes, but I was just so tired after work that I took a small nap! Can you please come, it would make me feel better,” she finished, a light blush dusting her cheeks. 

She looked so embarrassed that I felt a blush on my own cheeks rise as I looked away, “er, yeah. I think my goddess has a day off coming up, so we’ll come then, okay?” And then we could finally celebrate forming our familia a week after it happened.

“Yay!” Syr cheered, clapping her hands as she beamed at me, “I’ll get everything set up, Mr…?” 

“Jericho,” I introduced myself. 

“Jericho,” Syr repeated, sounding like she was considering the name. Then she nodded, satisfied. “Your name suits you, Mr. Jericho. I’m Syr Flovel, by the way. I look forward to seeing you! Don’t keep me waiting,” Syr said, giving a small wave as she turned to walk down the street towards the Hostess of Fertility. I waved back, my mind slowly turning over the odds that this was by chance. 

Could I have attracted Freya’s attention? I know her thing was finding noble souls, souls of heroes and those that were unique...I was no hero, but was my soul unique? Did death leave its mark on my soul, or was she seeing the Gamer System in some manner? Or was I overthinking this, and it really was chance that Syr was inviting me to the Hostess, much like she did Bell. 

The odds were against it, but I still doubt that I had managed to attract Freya. I was...normal, hardly the beacon of innocents that Bell was. 

Either way, I wasn’t likely to find answers standing here and thinking about it. I would have to be on the lookout for signs that this was more than a chance meeting, like monsters rampaging through the city, a grimoire dropping in my lap or trained monsters cornering me in the Dungeon. 

A sigh escaped me as I started walking again, shoving the issue to the side for now. I had bigger fish to fry at the moment. As much trouble as Freya stirred up, her interference with my life could help a lot more than it would hinder. If what I recalled from the anime could be believed, then Zanis wasn’t likely to part with Lili for any amount of money simply out of spite. Which meant my only option was likely to be a War Game. 

A randomized battle that could end with me fighting him in a 1v1 duel, or his entire familia at once. It all boiled down to the same issue. 

I wasn’t anywhere close to being strong enough. 

I let out a huff of laughter as I started walking the final stretch home, the sun beginning to dip towards the horizon. It seemed that anime-protagonists-ites had infected me already since all my thoughts recently seemed to revolve around how I wasn’t strong enough. 

Stepping inside the church, I opened my inventory and took out the black backpack and shrugged it on. After that, I pulled out the chest that I tucked under one arm. Had to keep up appearances, and all that. 

“I’m home,” I called out, ducking my head to enter the small room. Hestia had apparently beat me home because I smelled something cooking. Hestia made an adorable sound as I walked down the steps, she rushed to get in her usual position, only for something to clang to the floor. 

“Welcome back!” Hestia said sheepishly, picking up a pan that was thankfully empty. “You’re home early, is everything okay?”

I nodded, letting her check me over, but she paused when she noticed that I was wearing my leg armor. “Woah,” Hestia muttered, patting it down as if to test its integrity. Then her eyes lingered on a few scuff marks where the occasional killer ant or horned rabbit got me. Though, none had managed to injure me. 

“I picked it up this morning. It’s pretty great so far. And I’m back early since Lili couldn’t keep up and it was too late for me to bother going back down.” I answered to draw her attention away from the scuff marks. Welf really did do good work. 

“Oh, well, dinner won’t be ready for a little bit,” Hestia informed, taking a step back to look up at me. 

“That’s fine. Need any help?” I asked, starting to shrug off my armor. I would have just shoved it in my Inventory, but just because Hestia knew about my pocket dimension didn’t mean others had to learn about it. Especially when I was being watched by the Soma familia. 

“No! I can do it, just relax, okay?” Hestia hastily denied with a shake of her head as she went back to making dinner. I opened my mouth to tell her about what happened with the Soma familia for the thousandth time, and for the thousandth time, I closed my mouth. Telling her about the Soma familia meant that I would have to explain why I caught their attention. Which would lead me to explain that I had killed someone. 

How would Hestia react to that? No matter how I formed the justifications in my head, I don’t think any of them would work. I didn’t want her to look at me and think ‘murderer.’

“How was the Dungeon today?” She asked as she cooked something that smelled delicious. Just because I didn’t need to eat anymore, didn’t mean that I didn’t want to. Hestia was proving to be a talented cook. 

“A lot better now that I have my leg armor. Didn’t take a single scratch,” I told her as I shoved my armor into my Inventory. “And I got a new sword while I was at it. Way better than my old ones.” I said, taking it out of my Inventory to show Hestia. Her eyes widened a fraction when she saw the blade that was bigger than her. 

“Is it made by the same smith?” Hestia asked, inspecting the sword with a clueless expression on her face. 

“Yeah, Welf Corozzo, he’s apart of the Hephustus familia,” I tacked on, seeing Hestia looked pleased at that. 

“Speaking of the Hephaestus familia, I got a new job!” Hestia exclaimed, sending me a proud look. “I’ll be selling weapons and armor made by level 2 blacksmiths!” She said, striking a pose that practically screamed ‘praise me.’

“Congrats! How’d that happen?” I asked, feeling some confusion. This hadn’t happened in the anime, at least not until Hestia took out an incredible loan for Hestia’s Knife. Given her lack of a reaction to my new weapon, then it didn’t seem like that was the case here. 

“Ah, I met up with Hephaestus and she told me about a position that opened up. It’s commissioned based, so my hours are going to be a lot more flexible.” Hestia said as she turned her attention back to the stove. And since I was raking in the money now, it didn’t matter as much if she had a bad day profit-wise. 

“Hestia, if you want, you don’t have to work. I’m making enough money to support the two of us,” I offered, making her look back at me. I knew what she was going to say just by looking at her expression. She smiled at me as she shook her head, filling the room with the sounds of bells chiming. 

“No, I want to work. If I sat here all day, every day, then I wouldn’t know what to do with myself!” Hestia exclaimed, dismissing the issue. I opened my mouth to argue but fell silent instead. I couldn’t help but feel there was a lot she wasn’t saying there. 

“Alright...just...know the option is on the table, okay?” I said, settling on the couch. There was a slope in the cushion where I sat the past couple of days. Pulling a book from my Inventory after shoving my sword back into it, I started to thumb through a chapter about the eighth floor of the Dungeon. 

To my disappointment, I still hadn’t found a Skill Book among the pile that Eina gave me. So, either there weren’t any or I needed to look into different kinds of books. Time passed rather quickly as I finished off the chapter just before Hestia informed me that dinner was done. 

“Smells great,” I complimented, getting up to help her take the plates. On them I found a not-Phillie cheesesteak sandwich-- practically overflowing with strips of steak, topped with a liberal amount of cheese, with some peppers. There was also a nice pile of not-french fries off to the side. “Looks better.”

“He-he,” Hestia puffed her chest out with pride as we both sat down. She really was easy to please. Not just sexually, but a word of praise was all it took to make her day. Honestly wish my relationships in my last life were this simple. 

I took a bite of the sandwich. Then another. And another. And another and another. I would have taken another one, but by that time it was gone entirely. I never put it back down. I caught a look of amazement from Hestia out of the corner of my eye, so I gave her a closed-lipped grin while I chewed. “S’good.”

It took Hestia a lot longer to finish hers off, but even then she only made it halfway before she passed me the remainder. After finishing off her plate as we chatted, I picked up the dishes to wash before taking off my tank top. I caught Hestia blushing as she looked at me, and that blush only intensified when she realized I caught her looking. 

“Let’s update my status. I think I did pretty well today,” I said, throwing myself onto the bed and feeling it groan underneath my weight. A moment later, I felt Hestia climb up on top of me. A bright light filled the room as she began to update my status. 

“I ran into Syr earlier,” I started, realizing that I forgot to tell her. “She says that offer for a free meal is still on the table. I told her that you had a free day coming up...would you want to go-”

“L-like a d-date?” Hestia stammered, getting a chuckle out of me. 

“Like a date,” I agreed. “The Hostess of Fertility is an adventurer’s bar, but I’ve heard good things about its food,” I told her, also thinking that it would be a good time to check out the quest boards in taverns. 

“Let’s go tomorrow!” Hestia decided, practically vibrating she was so excited at the prospect. 

“What-” I started, only to cut myself off as a screen appeared before my eyes. 

You have reached 50 in Endurance! Please select the perk you wish to be awarded:

Toughness: 5% damage resistance.

Life-Giver: Total health is immediately doubled and an additional 5% health is awarded with every permanent increase in health.

You have reached 50 in Dexterity! Please select the perk you wish to be awarded:

Dexterous: Bonus 5% exp awarded for all Dexterity related actions.

Graceful: Finding your balance is a simple task, regardless of positioning. 

Due to reaching 50 in Endurance and 50 In Dexterity, you have been awarded the perk: 

Ballerina: You now move with an almost unnatural grace. 

“What’s wrong?” Hestia asked as I read over the boxes again, surprised to see them. They were the first popups I’ve seen in the week I’ve been here. 

“I’ve reached a milestone with my stats, and my falna is letting me pick a perk,” I answered, my brow furrowing as I stared at my choices. How did Graceful or Ballerina work? Would I suddenly be able to dance, or something? What did it mean by ‘almost unnatural grace?’

“Tell me about it,” Hestia demanded, her voice uncharacteristically serious. I did so, repeating what I saw, the light still glowed so she paused updating my status. Hestia fell silent after I was done, both of us thinking on the perks. “I don’t understand this -- is this from Gamer Body?” 

I nodded, “yeah, it is.” I confirmed

“I can’t finish updating your status until you pick one, it seems. I...don’t know which one you should pick. I’m sorry…” Hestia trailed off, I could practically see the frown she wore despite the fact she was behind me. 

Which one should I pick? More damage resistance sounded nice, but so did that instant boost in HP and more gains each time my Endurance went up by ten. But...that five percent wouldn’t do me a lot of good down the line, would it? It was already getting harder and harder to increase my Endurance stat. Still, doubling my health right now sounded fantastic. 

My health now was 161. Doubling that would put me at 322. Getting stabbed in my arm cost me about 15 hp. Probably less now that my physical resistance was higher. At the same time, that extra 5% physical resistance would bring me up to 15% total. Between that and my armor, that was a pretty decent number. At that point, I doubt cuts and scrapes would damage me at all. 

But…”I’ll pick Life-Giver,” I decided after a long minute of thought. The extra 5% boost in hp sold me on it. So, my next health boost would be...370 or so. And that number was going to keep getting bigger alongside my physical resistance. 

You have gained the perk: Life-Giver!

As for my Dexterity perk...I couldn’t lie, that 5% gain for Dexterity was tempting as all hell. Between Limber and Fast Learner, my total bonus exp for Dexterity would be 15%. That sounded fantastic. But, Graceful caught my eye. How would it interact with the perk Ballerina? If I was almost unnaturally graceful now, then wouldn’t having near perfect balance be some pretty great synergy?

Or, was there no point to it since I handcrafted this stupidly huge body? Between it and my heavy armor, it sounded like I needed to make sure I got as much exp as possible for Dexterity. But, at the same time, the synergy between Graceful and Ballerina sounded pretty powerful. I was already fairly flexible -- I could touch my toes without bending over, and stuff like that. 

...You know what? Let’s science it. 

“And I’ll go with Graceful,” I decided before I could think better of it. 

You have gained the perk: Graceful!

Instantly, the light began to fade, Hestia letting out a sigh as she patted my back lightly. “I really don’t know what to think of this,” she mused aloud as she peeled off the paper on my back. As she got off me, I nodded, feeling much the same, if a little less lost. 

“But, it sounds like it’s going to help me in the long run,” I told her as I accepted the paper to look down at my new status. 

Jericho

Level: 1

Progress to level 2: 23,867/1,000,000

Strength: 38 

Endurance: 53 

Dexterity: 50 

Intelligence: 12 

Sense: 33 

Development Abilities:

Physical Resistance: The user receives 5% less damage. Effectiveness is determined by the Endurance stat. 

Abnormal Resistance: Poisons, Toxins, and Drugs are 5% less effective. Effectiveness is determined by the Endurance stat.

Skills:

Gamer Body: The user’s body is that of a video game.

Massage: Skilled hands make targets tension and exhaustion melt away. Effectiveness is determined by Dexterity and Strength stat.

Kissing: An intimate act between lovers that, if done well, can bring pleasure to the target. Effectiveness is determined by the Dexterity and Sense stat.

“I sure hope so,” Hestia muttered, cuddling up to me as I turned over. I wrapped my arm around her, hugging her to my body. 

“Don’t worry so much. Everything is going to turn out fine.”