CHAPTER 81(Secrets Out)

Please read the author's notes. (Examples and explanation of moves and appearance+ Monster Sources)

Discord: https://discord.gg/K7f8qGpvuk

pat.treon:/Keanu_Eugene

CHAPTER START---

"Well now, Yang, how have you been liking this world?"

As if simple words could kill, Yang felt the world still around him. Words died in his throat as a cold sweat began running down his forehead.

'How'd she know, was it because oh how I talk. Did the gods sense it when we came here? Why didn't she confront me earlier, none of th---'

His thoughts are interrupted as the other man in the room breaks the tension.

"Another world? Whaddya mean Hephaestus?" Welf questions, the women never taking their eyes off the visibly panicking Yang.

"Exactly as I said, he was unwillingly thrown into this lower world, settle down Yang, breathe, you aren't in trouble..." her soothing voice reaches him.

His chest still rapidly rises and falls with every ragged breath, the room becoming hot then cold every few seconds as his mind races.

"YANG!" Tsubaki calls out to him, finally getting his attention as his head snaps to look at her.

"Uh-uh-um-I..."

"Take a deep breath, you are NOT in trouble," his captain says to snap him out of the lead up to a panic attack.

After a minute or two pass with Yang trying desperately to get ahold of himself, he slumps back into his seat with his hands on his head.

"How'd you know?" he meekly asks, eyes glued to the ceiling.

"I knew from the moment I gave you a Falna, it allows gods to see all the major events in your life."

"WHAT? Since day one, then, why didn't you have me dealt with when I was helpless?"

"That's not what I want, you aren't a threat you're just a child that wants to go home..." she says, a more somber tone than he's used to from the goddess.

"She's got a soft spot for strays, trust me," Thalie says from her new spot behind Yang, a small dagger held behind her back just in case.

"So... what now?"

"HOW ABOUT SOMEONE FILL ME IN!" Welf yells out, getting everyone's attention.

"Oh, Hephaestus saw and told me after she gave him a Falna, Thalie figured it out the night she asked about the new monsters and we messaged Hephaestus to fill her in, how DIDN'T you figure it out?" Tsubaki teases with a slight shrug as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

"Why would I ever think ANOTHER WORLD was the answer, that doesn't make any sense and you know it," he argues back.

"Let's get back on topic here, Yang, how are you liking our world?" Hephaestus asks, directing the conversation back to Yang.

"Um, it's... fun? Magic is fun and being strong is nice, fighting monsters too..." he manages to squeak out.

"That's good, now do you mind telling me what your plan is exactly." A suggestion, simple words with a kind tone, but the unsaid threat was clear as day in her eye.

With his head down and eyes staring at the table between them, Yang takes a deep breath before he continues.

"Whatever brought me here, the Angel, it's trapped in the dungeon. If I get to it I feel like it can take me home," he mutters out.

A tense minute passes, nobody moves, all eyes on the young man. His head down and voice shakey, a shell of the confident adventurer they're used to.

"Hmm, OK." That was all Hephaestus said.

"Uh, ok?"

"Yeah, ok. I'm a GOD, if this thing was capable of threatening gods I would have felt it, beings slipping between the lower worlds isn't as uncommon as you'd think, although it's mostly in the sense of being reborn into the wrong world with memories or something like that, I suppose this explains why exelia is so effective on you, you aren't evolved to take it in as well so it might be forcing evolution faster than other adventurers, but that's just a theory."

"You...you really don't care that I'm from a whole other world, this just, what about the other gods?"

"DO NOT let anyone outside of this room know, I accepted you into my familia because I saw memories of your old world and the memory of when you woke up here, how you got here exactly is still lost to me. Other gods would try to turn Orario upside down with this information or start wars for you. Half the reason I took you was so that wouldn't happen. Hell if you weren't so hell-bent on going home and had some ulterior motives I'd of had Tsubaki killed you already."

"Yup!" Tsubaki confirmed with a chipper tone.

"This feels underwhelming..."

"Speak for yourself!" Welf argues, hands on his head as he tries to process all this information.

"The Angel, as you call it, poses no threat to the gods. It'd be a problem if anyone but you got to it first, that's why I was so generous with you and this team, I could feel your intentions and desire through the Falna, I trust you to take care of this issue, and get yourself home."Hephaestus says with a small smile.

"T-Thank you Hephaestus, this, this really means the world to me..." Yang says in a soft voice, his eyes becoming watery from the thought that he didn't have to deal with all of this alone.

"Don't mention it, and having a weapon design from your world really helps," she replies with a shrug.

"Don't you know how to craft all weapons and stuff?" Yang asks.

"Nope, gods tend to make worlds then mess around for a bit before we abandon them, this is the longest we've ever stayed on a lower world because the dungeon is unique across all worlds. I wouldn't even know what world you're from if I could get you home. Speaking of knowing things, don't influence this world with your knowledge, got it. Don't interrupt another worlds' natural growth." Her stern voice causes him to straighten in his seat.

"Of course, I'm trying to not make it obvious after all."

"Good, now let's get you updated..."

Sitting reverse on a chair, facing toward his fellow adventurers with his back toward Hephaestus, blocking any of them from seeing his Falna, Yang feels a drop of blood fall onto his back as blue light begins to shine from his back.

"Thanks to you we both have magic resistance, by the way, so thanks for that, figured it was because of how...liberal, you tend to be with big attacks," Thalie says, now taking a seat Beside Tsubaki.

"See, it was all part of the training, you're welcome," Yang replies with a wide smile.

"Don't even joke like that man, some of those attacks were a bit much..." Welf mutters.

As Hephaestus watches the glyphs dance and shift on his back, the language of the gods hovering above his skin as blue light begins to shift, instinctively she takes a few steps backward as everyone notices the bright blue light slowly shift to a deep blood red.

They're all stunned, goddess included, to see a Falna react like this, her own Falna no less.

As she approaches once more, the standard block of text with two hammers crossed above it, her very own familia logo, has changed.

Now two massive ram horns protrude from the side of her own logo and curve down the text, the normally black letters and numbers painted as blood red, with one particular line actively glowing.

'Chaos Blessing: Defiance'

"Orcus..." Hephaestus mutters under her breath, all the adventures easily hear her.

"Um, what's going on back there?" Yang asks, a bit panicked at not knowing what's up with his own Falna.

"Give me a moment," Hephaestus says while placing a piece of paper on his back, completing the ritual to copy the text, "Alright give me a moment," she says while moving back to her seat, keeping the sheet away from the other adventurers, not that they'd try to peek at it.

"I believe Orcus is up to his games again, he seems to of made you his agent of chaos before leaving the lower world, that mark didn't hide that it was only meant to act like this if YOU came into possession of it, you were chosen perhaps," Hephaestus ponders aloud.

"Then why put me in the challenge where I could die? He knew I'd win?" Yang asks, genuinely confused as he sits on the couch.

"Maybe, but these traits are problematic, the first one the mark gives is what you did to the Gorgon, STRENGTH. That's self-explanatory, but DEFIANCE, that's a problem..." Hephaestus says.

"Um, mind explaining for people that aren't gods?" Tsubaki asks.

"It means I can't tell if he's lying and other things won't work on him, it allows you to defy the will of others, including gods." She explains in a grave tone.

"That sounds like something gods won't like..." Welf guesses.

"Exactly the problem, it shouldn't come up so we have no issue, as long as you tell them the only god you're allowed to follow the orders of is me they won't pester us."

"Anything else?" Yang asks, looking at the back of the paper in her hands.

"You lost a skill..." the goddess mutters.

"WHAT?"

"Your Abnormal Resistance is gone, but I think it overlapped too much with the chaos blessing so the weaker one was consumed, that would explain why you couldn't be petrified..." she theorizes.

"That's...something," he mutters, confused about how he should feel about this.

"That and your new skill are the only problematic changes, also you leveled up, so congrats on the new record to level 5," Hephaestus says with a devious smile.

A chorus of groans could be heard from the other adventurers in the room at the news.

"Hey at least I'm on your team right, so be happy a bit," Yang says as he takes the sheet from his goddess.

Handing him the stat sheet, Yang's eyes immediately dart to the bottom.

STAT SHEET START---

NAME: Yang Shen

Level 5:Collesium challenge(Survive 24hrs+ Defeat the secret boss of the arena solo)---[This line doesn't actually show up in the sheet just for readers]

Stats(Before Reset): STR=SSS DEX=SSS AGI=SSS MAG=SSS END=SSS

Stats(Now level[5]): STR=I DEX=I AGI=I MAG=I END=I

Magic:

---Storage(Its essential video game inventory)

Allows the user to store a limited amount of inanimate items.

---Elementalist (Obtained at level 2)

Allows the user to channel certain elemental magic through their body and manipulate the elements to their whim, however, the user can take damage from these elements.

Skills:

---Elemental Resistance(Obtained at level 2)-[Level 10/10]

Taking elements damage develops resistance to these elements over time.

---Elemental Healing(Obtained at level 1 )-[Level 10/10]

Pre-requisite skill 'Elemental Resistance'.Allows the uses to transfer some of the resisted elemental energy into health.

---Hunter(Obtained at level 2)

Improves abilities against monsters that the user has fought before and gained experience from.

---War Mage(Unique ability variant)(Obtained at level 2)-[Level 7]

Amplifies the user's magic and reduces the cost and strain on the mind and body.

---Unarmed Strikes(Obtained level 2)-[Level 8]

All unarmed strike damage is boosted

---Mage Armor(Obtained through stress at level 2)-[Level 10/10]

Envelops the user in magic amplifying defense and unarmed strike damage with elemental damage.

---Kinetic Exchange(Obtained Level 3)-[Level 9/10]

Whilst moving in mage armor acceleration and momentum are amplified when added to melee damage. Recoil and backlash from this are greatly reduced on the user's body. Whilst this skill has no set limit the user's capabilities of achieving velocity and taking damage are the limits.

---Elemental Absorption(Obtained at level 3)-[Level 10/10]

Transfers some of the elemental magic that damages the user into mana for the user. (For the damage that he DOES NOT resist only. So after he resists the damage some of the damage he takes will give him mana but it will still damage him to be clear)

---Greater Spirit Healing(Unique Variant, Obtained level 3)[Level 5/10]

Automatically begins to restore mind/mana.

---Adrenal Overdrive(Obtained at level 5)[Level 1/10]

Adrenaline Increases stats and causes battle mania status effect, no active trigger.

---CHAOS BLESSING

Strength

Defiance

STAT SHEET END---

"Yeah, that might be a problem, what's battle mania?" he asks while reading the rest of the sheet.

"Um, it's probably the worst thing someone like you could have, basically makes you dead set on fighting. Sometimes it doesn't discriminate between a friend or foe. But it's kinda like Berserker so you should be able to learn to control it," Tsubaki informs him.

"Ugh, one more thing to train, sometimes I think these skills are difficult to combine on purpose..." Yang groans, earning a strange look from everyone.

"Care to elaborate?" Welf asks.

"Elemental wheel boosts my affinity for whatever element is on the wheel, but I need to have clear thoughts to use it, mostly. Then the chaos mark just makes me go crazy and I can't use magic while it's on, and now this thing might make me a loose cannon, yeah it's becoming a pain having to train all of this and six elements and combat skills..." he says with a defeated look.

"True, but if you pull it off you'll be unstoppable, the Zeus and Hera familias were at the top not just because of levels, but they had unique skills and magic that allowed them to overcome the difference in levels, you effectively have the power of a level six with barely a percentage of the experience because you always overload your Falna. Your magic and hand-to-hand skills also synergies when you fight so you hit hard, much harder than you've got any right to, it'll be a pain but you need to take your time and make all these skills your own," Hephaestus says.

"Hmm, guess I'll have to get to training then huh, this is gonna be a long journey..." Yang says quietly.

"You'll get there eventually, rushing will just get you killed, you'll get home Yang."

END CHAPTER---

Having to train 3 different forms basically+6 elements+Unarmed and Armed combat, oof.