Reflection

(Gale POV)

It's about 10 P.M. and I was laying down on my bed, reflecting on my decisions and memories. Today was such an exciting and yet nerve-wracking day. Coming to this world, finding out that my skills and equipment were effective like I hoped, seeing other anime characters, and my choices after leaving the Loki Familia.

In the end, I chose not to join the Hestia Familia immediately. To keep things somewhat close to the Canon, I had to let Bell grow a good relationship with Hestia first. If I get in the way of that, then there might be unpredictable consequences that I didn't want to deal with. Not to mention, the chaos that I caused by selling the Sky Walk grimoire which further made me realize how much trouble I brought to myself.

I was now considered a valuable person to every Familia due to my creation of a whole new magic grimoire. In order to sell it, I had to first demonstrate it and so I did. Once I was done, I was practically swarmed by adventurers and ultimately, the Loki Familia gained the grimoire. As soon as I got my money, I used a teleportation tag and went back to an alley on the other side of Orario which worked like the Flying Thunder God. Was it a little overkill? Perhaps. However, I like my privacy and peace.

As I entered a random inn nearby and got a room, I used my magic removal grimoire to free up my magic slot of the Sky Walk. It's useful, but I have other plans for my magic slots. Plus, there is only one Sky Walk out there and if I accidentally use the magic, it will all be over.

Inside my room, I took off my voice modulator and face mask. Two items that I created through my magic. I threw them with the rest of my stuff into my pocket dimension and gave myself a well-deserved shower.

Yes, I do have a pocket dimension. That was one of my 3 free high-level grimoires that I created. This DA allows me to store anything that is not living into it and when it reaches A or S in ranking, I would be able to store living things inside and the space would nearly reach infinity. It's very useful.

With human needs secured for a month or two, I went to the Hostess of Fertility to get some grub. Nearly every character goes there to eat and I want to see if their food can impress me. Oh, who am I kidding? I love food! I honestly wanted to skip there in glee, but that would be embarrassing and I could never use my fake face ever again.

I gotta say, clothing is quite good here. I may have copied God's look from when I first met him. I'm sure he won't mind.

Arriving at my destination, my stomach growled in anticipation. Entering the place, I saw many individuals having their social gatherings with their groups and a maid with silver hair came to greet me. Syr, the sly maid that liked Bell and cared for him.

"Welcome to the Hostess of Fertility. Are you new here?" she asked.

"Yes, I am." I rubbed the back of my head with a smile. "I heard that this place offered great food and I came to take a look."

Her face brightened. "Then you came to the right place. Why don't you grab a seat and I'll come to you in a few minutes to take your order?" I nodded in reply and she left me alone with the menu. I remember watching a scene from the anime where Bell literally counted how much the food cost before he began to eat it. That was one short budget. Too bad I'm here Bell. I won't let you starve anymore. Well...only after three months though.

Once I ordered my food and waited, I analyzed many of the individuals who were there. I saw the ugly guy who beat up Bell in the 18th floor by being invisible. Hermes and Asfi were also having a meal. Then there were other faceless people that were not important at all. There was also an elf that caught my eye. Ryuu...

"Um. Excuse me, Elf-San." I called out. Maybe I was a little too loud since some of the adventurers glanced at me. When Ryuu heard me, she approached me with the stoic expression she always donned.

"Do you need something, sir?" Her voice was quite soothing.

"Yes. Your smile." She frowned and stared at me. Do I have to explain? "I want you to give me your most genuine smile. Not a stiff smile. Not a fake one. Rather, a real one that comes from the bottom of your heart."

Nothing on her face changed, but I can see the inner turmoil in her eyes. "I... I'm sorry. I can not do it." Can't or won't?

"Not even for 100,000 valis?" The other maids trembled from hearing my words, but Ryuu still shook her head. "Then I'll try again another day. Goodbye." She bowed and left. "You know. You can never heal completely. The scars will always stay behind, just to remind you how cruel time was once to you. But someday, you will learn to see the beauty in the world that gave you these scars. And your eyes will shine with no lies in it. That day, you become beautiful. With baring all the scars, which you always tried to hide from everyone." By Akshay Vasu. I drank my water and turned away to wait for my food. "The scars in your heart will never heal. You just have to live with it." Quote by Sruti Swyamsiddha. "So tell me something. Are you living or are you waiting to die?"

My words were like heavy punches against her thoughts. I could see her clenched fists from the corner of my eyes as I saw her leave. I only wanted to help her a little bit...

"Here you go, sir. Your food." Syr served me with a forced smile and left as quickly as she came. I didn't mind as the heavenly smell of pasta was seducing me and tempted my heart. At that moment, I understood how weak-willed I was towards food. Once I was done with my meal, I saw that I was the last to leave and so I approached Ryuu. She was cleaning one of the tables quietly.

"Hi." She gave me an unreadable expression and waited for me to continue speaking. "I wanted to say one last thing before I left." I cleared my head. "Yesterday is history, Tomorrow is a mystery, but today is a gift. That is why it is called present." Oh Oogway. Your words will help this poor soul in front of me. "That's all. Good Night Elf-San. Goodbye, everyone. I'll see you all soon." I smiled at them and left without looking back. In an alley, I used a tag to come home and this is where I was now.

I rotated 180 degrees on my bad and I screamed into my pillow. Cringy! It was so cringy! Why did I try to act cool in front of her!?! Was I that shallow?? I don't want to go back anymore. AHHHH!!

The next day, Gale woke up abruptly. He examined his surroundings and laid back down in his bed when he remembered where he was.

That scared me. For a second, I forgot where I was. Since I didn't want to get up, I decided to check my Falna and see if there was anything new. Yes. I have a Falna that I can access. It came from one of the three high-level grimoires.

It was cheap, but I can't complain. I learned the mistake of whining about the cards I was dealt with. During the time I spent with God, I argued with him on the value of the Pocket Dimension skill. In the end, he said, "I see. It is pretty powerful. Let's make that a Level Four grimoire instead." How the grimoire thing works is that I pay the levels and the grimoires take on that level to show it's value. If I pay three levels, the grimoire I created through that would be a level three grimoire. Simple.

Unfortunately, questioning God backfired and I had to basically beg him to lower it back into a Level Two. After that, I didn't question anything about my Falna skill and my Double Growth Rate skill.

I needed a way to catch up to Bell and so I got that last skill. I can't break my limits like him since I would need a Level Six grimoire. Why I know the specific level amount is due to the voice in my head mentioning it. It never annoyed me and so I stopped my curiosity.