You are in my dream

Laying on his back, Isao let Hestia update his status while listening to what had happened for the past six days after he went to the dungeon, but then her voice stopped. 

"Hestia?" 

"...I know that you are amazing, but this is..." 

As Hestia's gaze fell upon his upgraded status, a mixture of emotions flooded her. Awe, at the numbers, yes, but also a profound sense of empathy for the struggle he has endured to reach this point. 

"Have you finished updating my status?" 

"...um." 

"Can you let me see it?" 

Hestia gave the paper a copy of his status to Isao without hesitation since, unlike Bell Cranel, the original protagonist, it was unreliable and childish; Isao was mature and could be trusted, so even if his improvement was so shocking, he would stay low-key. 

If he wasn't so handsome and only had an ordinary face, she was sure that he could grow steadily, becoming one of the strongest adventurers in the Orario sooner or later, but when she saw his exceptional appearance that could easily seduce anyone, she sighed helplessly since she was sure that the one who was seduced wasn't only Hephaestus. 

Still, let's put those matters aside as Isao looked at his status for the first time in a while. 

Iinuma Isao. 

Level 1. 

Strength: SSS3411

Endurance: SSS4089

Dexterity: SSS3481

Agility: SSS3333

Magic: SSS3458

<Magic >

?????

<Skill >

?????

<Curse >

?????

Isao nodded and asked, "Can I level up?" 

"Of course." Hestia nodded helplessly. "If you can't level up, then who can? Let me level you up." Still, as she knew his status, she somehow had hope that a miracle might happen. 

Or rather, she believed Isao to be an individual since he always had a method of breaking away from misfortunes that befall them. His method was out of the box, and even she, as his goddess, couldn't imagine what he would do tomorrow. 

"By the way, which development ability do you want to choose?" 

"Development ability?" 

"It's a skill that you can get when you level up. There are a lot of them that you can choose from." 

As adventurers leveled up, they were able to gain a skill known as a development ability. Whenever one leveled up, they could gain one skill, which could help them depending on the type of ability which they chose. 

Usually, one could only have one ability, as an ability usually appears based on one's characteristics. 

If Isao gave an example, if one often ran away, they could gain an ability known as "Escape," which allowed them to move faster when they ran away. 

As Isao had gained many DNAs of gods, races, adventurers, and many others, the abilities he could choose from were immense. 

Frankly, there was no need for him to be cornered about the ability since whenever he replicated the adventurer's DNA, he would also gain their development ability. It was as if when he replicated Finn's DNA, he gained "Hunter," "Abnormal Resistance," "Magic Resistance," "Initiative," "Chain Attack," and "Spearman" abilities. 

In the future, he was sure that he could gain more abilities as long as he replicated the DNA of someone, so in his case, he leveled up, he should get a rare ability that usually wouldn't appear on others. 

Still, he also decided to ask Hestia since, as a goddess, she should have advice for him. "What do you think, Hestia?" 

"Eh?" Hestia was surprised, but then she smiled and said, "I think that you should pick "Luck." 

"Luck?" 

"Yeah." Hestia nodded. "It's my first time seeing this skill, and it seems to be like divine protection, increasing your luck. If you increase your luck, maybe tomorrow, all of the members of the Apollo Familia might have a stomachache and be defeated by default as they are unable to participate." 

"...do you think such a good thing will happen so easily?" 

"Haha..." Hestia laughed, feeling happy with their silly banters. "But I think this is the best choice ability." While there were some rare abilities such as "Swordman," "Hunter," and even "Mage," she felt that Isao should choose "Luck." 

"Then, let's just choose this one." 

"Okay." 

As he made his decision, Hestia updated his status, and his level rose to Level 2. 

Iinuma Isao. 

Level 2. 

Strengths: I0

Endurance: I0

Dexterity: I0

Agility: I0

Magic: I0

Luck: I0

<Magic >

?????

<Skill >

?????

<Curse >

?????

Watching his status, Hestia sighed in amazement, but she didn't feel inferior any longer, and she knew that Isao wouldn't leave her no matter what. As he had chosen her, he would never waver, and she felt stupid for doubting him, yet she knew that this guy was a scoundrel since, instead of focusing his love on her, he played around with many women, which made her helpless. She wanted to get angry, but she couldn't, especially when she loved him so much, and he was going to do anything to the point of tormenting his body to maintain her dignity as his goddess.

Still, it didn't change the fact that Isao was a scoundrel~! 

Shaking her head, Hestia thought for a while and asked, "By the way, if you don't meet me, which Familia are you going to join in?" 

"Which Familia? What's wrong so suddenly?" Isao asked. 

"Just answer." 

Isao sighed helplessly, then said, "No, I have never thought of joining anyone other than you, Hestia." 

"...even if you lie, I am happy." Hestia hugged him from behind tightly, letting her lewd body press against his broad and manly back, then looked at the "Bzzt! Bzzt! "Bzzt!" texts on his skill, magic, and curse. She tried to see behind those many dots and sometimes blurs, but unfortunately, she couldn't. 

"If only we can understand your skill, magic, and curse..." 

"But since we know nothing, then there is nothing we can't do." 

Isao knew that Hestia wanted to help him uncover the secret of his body so he could win his battle tomorrow, but it was meaningless since the power of the deity was unable to penetrate deep into his system. 

"Let's sleep first. I am quite sleepy." 

"Ah, I have some gifts for you!" 

"Let's do it tomorrow morning." 

"Okay, okay." Hestia was helpless, but she nodded and let him sleep. Naturally, she moved into his arms and snuggled closer. 

Isao looked at his goddess helplessly, but he didn't say anything. 

'Ah, it feels so nice...' 

Even though it had been only six days without him, Hestia couldn't sleep as comfy as before. However, when he returned, it was different; feeling the comfort and long-lose of warmth she longed after, but the thought of tomorrow's War Game made her hesitant and worried. 

"Isao-kun?" 

"Hmm?" 

"Have you fallen asleep?" 

"...if I am sleeping, then I can't answer you, right?" 

Hestia looked at Isao, who closed his eyes and said, "Win, okay?" 

Isao opened his eyes slowly, then nodded firmly. "I will." 

With that answer, the two slept soundly as they prepared for tomorrow's battle. 

On the other hand, the Apollo Familia was all fine, and some of them even had a party, thinking about what kind of posture they should use when they had Isao. No one thought Isao could win, especially when he was alone, so they knew their victory was confirmed. 

All of them couldn't wait for the War Game tomorrow and got Isao, so by then... hehe...

After all, like their god, Apollo, all of them also learned the joy that came from holding a similar gender. 

Yet, among all of them, there were already some who had fallen asleep, including Cassandra Ilion, the gloomy female member of the Apollo Familia. Still, during her sleep, she suddenly saw a dream, a nightmare, something that made her dread. 

In that dream, she saw everything was red, crimson, blood, and many dismembered body parts of everyone in the Apollo Familia. 

With the moans of pain and cries of horror, everyone sounded frightened as she could only look around nervously, trembling before she saw the source of this terror. 

A single figure stood among all the fallen, straight, unbending. 

Cassandra couldn't see his appearance as it was covered in darkness, yet she could see a centipede and red spider lily tattoo on his neck, glowed in ominous light before he glanced in her direction, causing her to wake up abruptly in fear. 

"Ha... ha... ha..." 

Her body trembled, and she felt her entire body was wet due to her cold sweat. 

"I-I have to stop everyone... 

Or else... all of them would be over. 

---

I might take a holiday tomorrow since I need to visit another city for a trip. 

Sorry~!