Unique ability
"Wow!" gasped James.
"What is it?" Amelia curiously asked.
"My unique ability."
"What about it?"
"I can stop time," said James.
Everyone who heard this gasped in surprise. To think that the prodigious scholarship student acquired such a powerful ability. Even the bishop eyed James with an intrigued look.
"What about you Amelia?" asked James.
"My ability lets me double my physical attributes," she promptly replied.
"That is also a very powerful ability."
"It is nowhere near as good as yours," she said and hit him on the head.
"Why are you hitting me?"
"Because I'm jealous," Amelia replied with a sneer.
"…"
James decided to quickly change the topic to avoid being hit again.
"What about your ability Daniel?"
"Mine is nothing special," I tried to avoid answering.
"C'mon tell us," Amelia pestered him.
Thankfully the bishop clapped his hands taking attention away from me.
"Since today you have joined our realm as blessed, I have prepared some celebratory gifts. I hope you will use those gifts to get stronger. After all, it's the blessed's duty to protect the people and enlighten the nonbelievers."
A number of servants handed out small chests to every hero.
I pried the chest open and was startled when I saw the contents. The chest was filled to the brim with blue crystals that were exuding a faint shimmer.
"These are mana crystals; they are manifested after a person's death when some of the mana inside of their body crystalizes into this form for an unknown reason. These crystals are harvested from dead beasts, and you can absorb them to become stronger," the bishop explained.
"How do we absorb them?" asked a guy with brown hair and lively green eyes. His name was Leonard Pierce and he used to be an heir to a family that owned many casinos.
The bishop pointed toward the marble pillar the moment he saw Amelia trying to take a bite out of the crystal.
Everyone turned around and they could see a small girl wearing a white silky-smooth dress. Her blonde locks cascaded down until they almost reached her feet, and she was wearing a curious expression on her cute round face. She was peeking from behind the marble pillar and when they noticed her, she tried to run away.
"Marie, these are the heroes I've been telling you about. They require your help."
The girl halted in her steps and slowly turned around. She shyly approached our group while clenching her white dress.
The visage was so cute that a couple of girls immediately surrounded her and tried talking to her.
"The only way to turn those crystals into power is with the help of a holy maiden. She has been blessed by the gods with the ability to do so and will prove vital in your journey so be nice to her."
"She is so cute I wish I could take her with me," said Amelia.
"Please don't try to do that. Holy maidens cannot leave sacred grounds and if you try to carry her outside, she will turn into dust."
"…"
The heroes were shocked at the proclamation.
'So, the church in this world has complete control over the fastest strengthening method. I should probably try to get in their good books as soon as possible. They could be the thing that saves me from being sent to the frontlines.'
I glanced at my unique ability.
'I should get a unique support ability that is useful outside of combat.'
While everyone was fawning over Marie, I slowly approached the bishop.
"Your eminence."
"Just call me father. Our status is not so different."
I was surprised at the revelation but continued with what I had in mind.
"Are there any healers in the church or do people in this world perhaps use potions to heal their injuries?"
"Blessings that heal injuries are extremely rare and the church sadly does not possess any knowledge about medicine. If you want to know more about medicine, then you should talk to an alchemist. However, I will tell you this: Healing potions do exist, but they are extremely expensive and only work on noncomplicated surface wounds."
Jackpot. Then becoming a healer is what I should aim for.
Satisfied with the answer I wanted to leave but the bishop held me back and asked me a question of his own: "May I know the name of your blessing?"
It sounded more like an order than a request, but I couldn't turn him down after he answered my question. I guess he decided to trade information with me instead of building a relationship. He seems very assured that I will want to remain in a cordial relationship with him no matter what. I guess that's because the only way for me to strengthen certain aspects is to use a holy maiden.
"Celestial Aegis," I replied before walking away.
When I got my turn to talk to Marie, I lowered myself to her height and grabbed her hand before flashing her with a dazzling smile.
"Marie will you please help me absorb these crystals."
She nodded.
"Which attribute?"
"Mana absorption."
[Mana absorption: 1 (+5)]
Marie put one hand on me and the other one on the crystals. The crystals glowed in mysterious patterns, and I felt the patterns spread through my entire body. The crystals started disappearing one by one as if they had melted. Whenever a crystal disappeared, I saw my mana absorption increase by 0.1 attribute points. I could feel mana flowing through me further opening up my pathways as it flowed through me. I could feel the strength cursing through my veins and I tried to grasp the feeling and direct the mana, but the patterns were simply too complicated for me to be able to follow them.
Now it's time to try out my unique ability.
I tried writing another unique ability.
[You do not possess enough attribute points to create this ability]
I guess that didn't work.
[Do you want to downgrade the ability to a level you can afford?]
'Yes.'
I replied.
[Do you want to pay 6.5 attribute points to create the following ability:
Miracle
Completely regenerates an organism for the price of consuming the entire mana pool of the user. The user feels twice the pain of the injury he is healing. This ability can only be used once per month.]
What a scary masochistic ability, but do I even have the option of not learning it?