Quest 83

After leaving, Cirrus went to Astraea's Familia home.

When he reached it, they had found it rather crowded, with several Amazoness up front. The Artemis Familia and Artemis herself were handling it while the members of the Astraea Familia were on patrol.

Cirrus jumped over and entered the home from the back.

"Cirrus, welcome back!" Said Astraea, sitting in front of the back door.

Cirrus removes his hood and nods his head.

"Lady Astraea."

"Astraea." said Nox.

"As you can see, we have a lot of potential recruits outside! It's nice to see them, but their motives are… well." She then gave a quick glance at Cirrus.

"Y-yeah, I know, I'll deal with it, but first, could you update my status?"

'I'll keep an eye out in case one of them tries anything.' Nox then flew back out through the door.

After going into a room, Cirrus removes his gear and shows his bareback. Astraea pricks her finger and drops it on his back.

"Hmm… hmm… well, sadly, that didn't get you to level up, but you did get two… skills." She said, looking a bit confused about one of the skills. She tried to see if she could not add it, but it wouldn't allow her.

'Was it because of that magic Nox did? Mmm… I hope it isn't anything negative.'

"Two, huh? Well, that's good."

"Y-yeah! I'm sure they'll help you!" She said, a bit shocked.

As Astraea finishes up, Cirrus thinks to himself.

'Next time, I'll be the one to finish it. Nox's power is useful, but it's too powerful. I need to finish it myself.'

After a few seconds, Astraea gets a piece of paper.

"And done! Here you go!" She hands him his status update paper and looks at his new skills.

Cirrus Zephyr

Lv. 6

Strength: I99→E475  Endurance: H198→E499

Dexterity: I20→E468  Agility: H199→E480

Magic: G205→E499  Mage: D

Immunity: D  Martial Arts: F

Crush: H  Blacksmith: H

<Skill >

[Anthos Adonis]

Increases speed of growth.

When on the border of Life and Death, all parameters will drastically increase.

[Leo Nemeaeus]

Recovers user's Stamina faster. (Passive)

Grants the user the development abilities Strong Body, Strong Defense. The strength of the effect is proportional to the user's level. (Only activated when using [Dia Chrysomallos].)

[Lefkí Nýchta Ev̱logía]

A pact forged with a Spirit of the White Night, the spirit and user are bound through mind, body, and soul.

Grants Shadow Storage.

Grants user Development Ability Spirit Healing and Magic Resistance. The strength of the effect is proportional to the user's level.

[Medea Pólemos]

When engaged in battle, user thoughts will be accelerated.

Grants user Development Ability Metal Working, Mixing, and Mystery when in a workshop, Strength is proportional to users Strength, Dexterity, and Magic stats.

[Anemos Satanás]

When in the sand or wind, all physical stats are increased.

[Orpheus Megaleíologia]

When playing an instrument, all who listen will be charmed.

[Skiés Voí̱theia]

Able to summon the versatility of The Hecatonchires.

Its essence empowers you.

"Uhh…. holy shit." Cirrus then looks at Astraea in shock. "That last one does catch my eye a bit more than the first one."

"I'm as surprised as you are." She said. "I tried not to add it, but it just wouldn't let me."

"Well… I should go and see about—!!"

As Cirrus was getting up, he felt his body heat up. He felt as though his body was melting from the inside out.

"AHHHH FUCK!?!?!?!"

He fell to the floor as his skin turned red from the heat and even steam started to come off of him.

"Cirrus!" Astraea shouted.

"Water!! Bath!! Go!!" Cirrus shouted while clenching his fists till they were digging into his palms.

Astraea quickly went and started to the water using the coldest water, when she came back to Cirrus she found Nox had returned.

"Nox what's happening!"

"I don't know! I felt our connection cut off for a second! Is the water ready?"

"Yes, come!"

  They went to the bath and Nox dumped him in. Steam came out of the tub and quickly filled the room.

They open the window to release the steam. They could hear the gurgling screams of pain; they opened the faucet to let in more cold water.

"FUCK!! FUCK!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

'FUCK!! FUCK!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!'

The water then slowly started to turn black, as if the impurities were being sweated out of his body. It was so much that the steam turned black as well.

After about 30 minutes of screaming underwater and gritting his teeth when coming up for air, it finally stopped. He slowly got out of the steaming tub, shaking. He placed his hands to the side and tried to get out, but slipped and fell down.

"Cirrus, are you alright!" said both Nox and Astraea, getting near his steaming body.

"I… feel like shit." He said exhaustedly.

Cirrus slowly gets up with help from Nox and Astraea.

"You look like… hm? rather muscular?" Nox said, noticing he was more built.

"Hm? That's right," said Astraea. "You were leaner and toned rather than muscular."

They both examined Cirrus.

"Huh? I always had mus…" Cirrus sees himself in the mirror.

His skin was still red from the heat with black droplets on his now sculpture-like body. For a second, he had thought of the statue of David and how to define his body. His hair and eyes were the same, if not cleaner as if his brown hair and emerald eyes were given a fresh polish.

He walked to the window and carefully looked at himself.

'Eyes, hair, teeth, tongue, face… face structure, bone density. '

Knock! Knock!

'The same, fingers, toes? All there, grip?'

He squeezed his hands tightly, and he felt like being airtight.

'Stronger grip and… no eyes.'

He looked at his reflection and, as he focused on his skin, he could see the follicles of the skin.

'Eyes are 20/20 now, maybe even more.'

He touched and felt more of his body with extreme attention and found only 4 major changes and one that would need to be examined alone.

One, his strength is far stronger now and paired with his body, seems to have gone through an overhaul, rearranging the structure of his body, but his height was still the same.

Two, his eyes were now significantly better than before.

Three, his skin was comparable to Freya's in its flawlessness, but the scars on his body remained.

Four, his brain, he found analyzing his body and arranging his thoughts to be far cleaner and quicker; he tried to remember something far into his past and could easily see the face of his birth mother as clearly as 4k, but anything past his current life is still hazy but far better now as if the fog slightly lifted enough to get by.

Five, there was still one place he needed to check, but not now in front of Nox and Astraea.

He took a deep breath and breathed out.

"Astraea, can you seal my Falna? I want to know if this is permanent or if it's linked to the skill."

"Alright."

Astraea closed her eyes and took a deep breath.

"!?" Cirrus could feel it, the sealing of his Falna. He felt the deepest core of himself shake, followed by the pull of gravity on his body.

Cirrus checked everything again, but his muscles remained, as did all the other improvements. The skill had permanently altered his body.

"Is that enough?" Astraea asked.

"Yes."

Astraea unseals his Falna and the feeling of strength and freedom comes to him. It gnawed at him how reliant he was on Falna; it felt unnatural without it.

"… Nox, we're going to the dungeon to test out these new skills."

"R-right! But are you sure you don't want to rest?" She said, worrying.

"I'm—?" As he took a step, he felt lightheaded. He quickly grabbed the sink. "… we'll go tomorrow, Lady Astraea. Could you get my clothes?"

"Hm, I'll go get them right away."

"And could you bring me the status sheet?"

After getting clothed, Nox takes Cirrus onto her back and heads back home, going through the back alleys.

"Ah, Cirrus your—hm? What's wrong?" Lenoa said.

"I'm a bit lightheaded, is all. I'm just going to go to bed."

"… Alright."

As Nox was taking him to his room, she saw the look in Lenoa's eyes and nodded.