'Mom's Not Going To Be Happy About This'

Our work of stockpiling blessed holy water only lasted for another two hours or so, but then it seemed that this was not the end of head priest's or my own work. After the crates of blessed holy water vials were stacked and stocked near the door by the clergy, Old Man brought me with him to visit the other work groups my parents had joined. As it turned out, both groups had two similar but still distinctively different missions.

My mother's work crew were hard at work transmuting various materials together into shapes like cubes and pyramids and spheres. After systematically transmuting small boxes of each shape, they would then set to work. Using different magics and tools to inscribe characters and runes into the sides or areas of the shapes. When a side was completed, the ambient glow of magic from a decent quality transmutation and material flared up just a little larger.

The transparent and unaligned mana similar to divine energy almost seemed to burn as if the inscribed items were on fire. However, they were not done yet. These transmutation blanks had been given different levels of common Conduction runes that temporarily increase mana and potency before being imbued.

I had always been taught that the Conduction enchantment was part of the finishing touched when making an item and enchanting it. For these projects, though, it seemed like the few dozen mages were using these temporary versions to strengthen the actual imbuing of the shapes. However, nobody moved on to imbuing the blocks.

As it turned out, imbuing the blocks is what we were here for but instead of using magic the head priest and I were simply going from station to station praying over the individual stocks and stacks.

When we would finish blessing one stack of crates, the inscriptions would be gone from all of the shapes in sight and the stack of crates would look like burning pillars of divine energy. Our prayer only deviated in that the head priest specified imbuing our blessing into the shapes, but it seemed to be more than enough to create a powerful base for holy enchanting.

I was actually grateful to have been brought along, I had not yet found a prayer in the tome I still carried that matched those affects. If I could apply this method not only to my future crafts but also the armor and weapons for Gryn and his friends, the armor's stat buffs would be even greater than we planned for and the potential of the weapons would rise exponentially. Without any changes to mana consumption, either.

Our passage seemed to signify to the others that work was done for the day because everybody hurriedly cleaned their stations once the blessings were bestowed. Unfinished crates were left on the tables, tools, were haphazardly placed or even arrayed around their boxes of materials, and everybody was climbing to their feet for what looked like the first time in hours. I almost felt bad for some of them, but all of them looked relieved and happy enough as it was.

The crew my father was working with were all outside behind the temple on a large plot of lawn. Here I found out where the materials for transmutation were coming from. A few dozen large and brawny men and even several people in clergy robes were all hard at working large headed hammers with flat faces to crush stones.

There anvils and stations were all placed on a large slab of the same marble-like material as the rocks they were crushing, probably from a more raw form of transmutation. Being off of the ground on a platform of the same material, they did not have to worry about losing the material or damages done to their surroundings. Gathering the broken or powdered rock was also as simple sweeping.

Despite the flying debris from shattering rocks, nobody seemed to bare any injuries and a few of the men- my father included- were working shirtless to compensate for the fervor with which they worked.

If I was not mentally drained from my own magical and religious activities today, I would have tried to show off my inhuman strength by joining them at one of several anvils. However, this would attract too much attention and our presence probably meant that they were done for the day. Instead, I could only wait and see if we were to bless this, too.

Instead of praying, however, the head priest never said a word and softly flicked his wrist from ground level. A sudden wind rich with mana swept across the entire property, gathering up all sizes of dust and debris yet to be swept. As well as gathering the materials into a small and tight dervish that traveled about the perimeter of the slab on the ground, the wind cooled and refreshed the ardent workers.

All but a few of the workers stopped their efforts then and there, laying their tools on their anvils. A few of them- my father once again included- took the time to put the new magic in their bodies to use by lightly stretching their bodies out with their hammers for light resistance. Because I already knew the various routines I spent most of my time paying attention to the dervish, watching it circle once without ever disturbing the grass with its growing mass of dust and debris. Until it stood as tall as my father.

Once everything was gathered up, the small cyclone whirled around behind the slab where I could see a large tray of rubble and dust piles already gathered. Tomorrow, depending on reports from the next set of scouts, I would much prefer to be working out here or with my mother. A quick inspection of the hammers used on my way to see my father revealed that they were conductive magic tools that drew power from the user.

Transmutation and probably these tools as well were fairly cheap in the way of mana consumption, especially in the way it was being used here. Not only would the carefully monitored and steady draining and resupplying of my mana increase my mana pool, but working out here would raise my overall stats much faster. I needed to raise my Strength on my own as much as possible before I unlocked leveling.

"How was your work, Chuck?" My father asks casually after walking over to meet me halfway. "Is that one of the older prayer books you've got?"

"Yes, dad, I learned how to perform blessings today and accepted Rayen as my god," I reply with an overly innocent wide and bright smile. "After I finished my own work, I got to read this book while waiting on the others to get done so the head priest and I could bestow blessings on the holy water. Then we blessed all the figures mom and her crew were making."

"Doesn't look like you have all that much to do here, does it?" My father asks with a knowing smirk and laughingly arched brows while we started walking back to the edge of the slab where Old Man was waiting. "If you can already bestow blessings, you must have actually been anointed by Rayen."

Because all of the others were already making their way inside, the head priest seemed to have no qualms with saying, "You would be surprised, he has already been gifted Piety… in the three hundreds. I would not be surprised if he was given a title or an actual rank, but we'll handle this in the future. For now, allowing him to develop himself would be for the best."

"Oh boy..." my father says somewhat glumly. "Mom's not going to be happy about this. We try to be careful about how much he develops himself. Have you ever seen him hunt a deer? Invisible guillotine. We just let him out for his first hunting trip with his brother and friends- gone for two weeks. Rayen only knows what trouble he got into out there."

"Good hunting and lots of experience dealing with undead entities," I reply shamelessly, presenting the book back to the head priest. "Are we going to be making anymore holy water, tomorrow?"

Giving my father a surprisingly wide-eyed look I would not have expected from this long-lived individual, the head priest says, "No, we have all we need to hallow the trench. If you'd prefer to prepare for the preemptive your parents told you about despite everything I was just told, tomorrow would be a good day to do it."

"With the divine mana you gave me as a catalyst, I can have everything prepared before I go to bed tonight," I report proudly. With such an intense anti-dark and anti-undead power source to pull from, I would not even need to use my wisps for energy. "Tomorrow, can I work out here with my father? I would like to work on raising my physical stats and this would also help my mana pool."

Looking to my father once again, Old Man smiles slightly and says, "It is up to the parents."

"Oh, yeah, I'd love to show off my son's self-harming work ethic," my father replies with a devious smile. "I'll also get to see him bestowing a blessing when we start, hopefully. Have you told your mom yet?"

"She knows about it but I did not get to say much with all of the people who were around," I reply, knowing I had only gotten to tell her I chose Rayen as a backer while she took her time tidying her station. "Mom was working in a group each focusing on a single shape for speed and efficiency, so they had a lot to put away to the next day."

"At least I'll be there when we tell her," he says with a laugh before finally hopping down from the slab a little ways off from the ancient priest. "She's probably waiting for us. Father, you'll be sticking with us while we're here, won't you?"

"I can see you to the door, but my old bones just aren't up to holding your hand on the way home," is the head priest's shockingly quick quip. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you mean she would be unhappy about his religious choices."

"Her family was hoping he would align himself with one of the sisters, maybe even all of them," he explains bluntly. "When they hear it was Rayen, they'll think we- my side and I- had something to do with it. He only sees either side two or three times a year."

"Then wouldn't you say it would be good for him to start making trips for his birthdays?" The head priest asks, showing he knew some of how the past few years of my life had been 'functioning'. "For his sixth, visit your wife's parents first to appease them and then on his seventh you can enjoy the comfort of your own family and homeland. I will make a suggestion for you."

"Thank you, Father," my own father says with some actual gratitude despite the light and joking air of the conversation. Now that I had sided with Rayen and we had agreed on his helping me with furthering my religious studies and advancement, it seemed like the head priest actually wanted to have some responsibility for this situation.

Conversation died as we neared the entrance to the temple from the slab in the middle of the property because not far inside was where the temple were providing its volunteers with food and refreshments. I was personally starving after having paid little attention to anything but magic and studying, but the food here were simple dishes with no magical value. I saved room to eat more food at home.

After a brief dinner, I pulled the child card from my deck and made a scene of tiredly asking my parents if we could go home early. This was emphasized by the head priest offering to see us out, to which my father quickly agreed and accepted.

This is how we talked my mother into not really caring about most of the implications and consequences of my adopting a god as well as discreetly paying my parents for all of our work.

*