Reunion with a Nightmare

- "It must be because of the blessing that spirit animals took a liking of you"

Said Ana in low voice as she followed Val closely

- 'Nope, it's because of my assimilation with the natural mana. Spirit animals must have found me interesting who is moving closer to the nature itself'

Thought Val as he walked inside the huge circular hall of the temple under the gazes of everyone. He moved straight toward a reception like area and stopped in front of a counter where a beautiful Siren woman in a formal like uniform stood.

- "Welcome to the temple of Xandar, may God Xandar grace you with his knowledge. How can I help you Sir?"

Asked the woman in a steady soothing voice and with a kind smile.

- "May Goddess Heira be with you, I want-"

- "I know what you want to ask, what a Siren like me doing in The Temple of Xandar away from the ocean, yes? Well let me tell you my story, I was wondering in th-"

The woman cutoff Val and started telling her story excitedly but Val cut her back

- "I apologize miss but I'm here to get the carvings of utility magic"

- "O-Oh I sincerely apologize Sir, actually everybody asked me the same question, they said my story sounds interesting to them"

Said the woman while feeling embarrassed as her cheeks went red.

- 'No ma'am, they were just flirting with you'

Thought Val with an expressionless face before urging her to take his request. While Ana stood silently behind him without questioning anything.

- "For the resonance matter, we'd need to check your rank and other things. Please move your hand on top of this orb."

Said the woman, and a big white orb came out of the platform levitating in front of Val. Everyone inside the hall starting paid a close attention to Val, they were curious about the strength of these suspicious visitors.

Not wasting any time, Val put his right hand on the orb and soon, a blue light flashed. The woman seemed like collecting the data from a opaque screen in front of her but slowly, her eyes went wide and mouth agape.

- "Is everything alright?"

Asked Val to the woman from under his hood.

- "Y-Yes Sir, I just need you to confirm the data. You didn't inherit the seed of your ancestor God"

- "Correct"

Val affirmed being a Seedless which disappoint every onlookers who were Seed-bearers.

- "What? He's a seedless, I'm embarrassed for paying attention to him"

- "Seeing the spirit animals behind him I thought he was somewhat amazing"

- "Tch, what a disappointment"

As several Seed-bearers criticized Val, many Seedless adventurers glared at them while some looked toward Val with a sense of comradeship. But the next question from the Siren woman left everyone in astonishment.

- "T-Temple Rank, Arch-Priest"

- "It seems like it"

Confirmed Val with an emotionless voice and whispering started among the onlookers.

- "W-What?! Arch-Priest?"

- "H-He must be favored by Gods"

- "He already received the blessings from God?"

Every beginners were taken back, because even among the Seed-bearers, the average rank was High-Priest, which was two ranks below Arch-Priest, not to mention achieving this rank by a Seedless, they thought it was only possible because of the blessings.

Giggle*

Val heard suppressed sound of giggling from behind but ignored it. Ana was enjoying this.

- "Here is your token Priest. You'll get whatever you need on the 5th floor"

Val collected the token and told Ana to wait in the hall while taking the money pouch from her.

He went to the 5th floor and entered a random room. The room looked like a research lab with books and papers spread everywhere. He walked toward a large desk and rang the bell which was placed on it.

Tring! Tring!

- "Coming coming"

An old man looking like a Dumbledore with brown and gray beard wearing a bright beige robe came out from the back side.

- "What do you need, young priest?"

He asked with a playful smile while fixing his glasses.

- "Soul Window"

Said Val while handing his token to the old man.

- "Oh, then please come this way"

The old man led Val to the back room which looked like a personal office with several book shelves, mana stones spread on desk, papers with strange drawings and letters, and several different magical equipments.

He told Val to sit on a chair which had 2 big and comfortable arm rest.

- "Where do you want to carve it?"

- "Dorsal side of the left hand"

- "Let me put it bluntly, it hurts more for a Seedless"

- "I know"

Soul Window was a utility magic which comprised of patterns like magic circle and runic letters. Like the name suggest, it allowed user to see his capabilities just like a status window from games.

It needed to be carved on the body like a tattoo to work but how it displayed the information was always different for everyone.

- "Well, if you say so"

The old man sat beside Val and grabbed a black pen from his desk which looked similar to a rotten demonic finger. Then, the old man started drawing strange patterns on Val's hand very carefully.

Psss

Val clenched his teeth as the tip of pen moved and burned his skin. He felt a burning sensation throughout his every single bone, and half an hour later, the soul window was completely carved into him. His burnt skin healed up and a black tattoo of magic circle filled with runic letters, formed on the dorsal side of his left hand.

- "It's done. Here, try it, just channel your mana into it"

Said the old man while handing a tablet shaped opaque mirror to Val. Soul Window didn't displayed the information in the air like a status window. It needed a reflective surface like water and mirror to work.

Val channeled his mana into his carving, and instantly, several information displayed on the opaque mirror which were only visible to Val. {St.1 = Stage-1 & Natural mana changed to Primal mana}

[ Temple Rank: Arch Priest ]

[ Awakening: Mana Heart (Partially Awakened)..]

[ Primal Mana Calibration: 57.486%↑ ]

[ Mana Affinity: 80% ]

[ Innate Abilities:

Accurate Intuition (St.1)

Neo Perception (St.1)

Emotion Control(Self) (St.1)

Deep Simulation (St.1)

Super Instincts (St.1)

Artificial Experience (St.1)

Self Memory Manipulation (St.1)

Perfect Imitation (St.1) ]

[ Acquired Abilities: Primal Mana Breathing, Kelnar Weapon Arts (Revised), Mana Healing, Other Mana Related Abilities(+12) ]

[ Soul Weapon: Lightning Whips of Duality ]

[ Carving/Blessing: Soul Window ]

Val got surprised after looking at his status. The old man clearly read his demeanor over the hood.

- "What? Something missing?"

- "...it's the opposite"

Said Val in daze

- "...haha, you're funny, young priest"

- 'As expected, it's not because of a blessing. Then, how did the calibration increase and Zion got injured?.. Well, Kelnar Weapon Arts is explainable, since I ran a fight simulation of Zion and me, and it got revise because in simulation, I developed a counter against several weapon arts. That's how I gained an upgrade version of Weapon Arts, but why do I have a soul weapon?'

Soul Weapons were very rare in Lower Realm as they were the physical manifestation of willpower. Their first awakening got triggered only in a time of utter desperation, when someone carried the willpower to even bite the neck off of his fate.

- 'Sigh, I got the gist of the situation. Well anyways, thanks to that, I obtain several mana abilities including a healing ability'

As Val was thinking about this, he felt a soft touch at his right hand. When he looked down, he found a small cat with silky navy blue fur rubbing her head against his hand. He smoothly avoided the cat and looked toward the old man as if asking to take her away.

- "Haha, usually Kila don't like being touched by others, she even throws fit at me but it seems like she feels comfortable around you. Anyways, that is 50 Cemu for you. Do you need anything else, young priest?"

- "Yes, I need that and few research books of runic language"

Said Val while pointing toward the pen which was in the hand of old man.

- "You can't use it without divinity, young priest and besides, why do you need a Rune Writer?"

Asked the old man while caressing his beard and showing a smile of interest.

- "I was talking about the other Rune Writer, which was especially designed for Seedless people like me"

- "How do you know about that?"

Asked the old man with a look of surprise but Val didn't answered him.

- "Well, you must be an explorer like us who got this insider information from someone. It's not really a big secret but we don't usually talk about something which has dangerous potentials. I was going to reject your request but seeing Kila around you, who is really picky about people. I know you don't harbor any bad intentions but young priest, it'll be really costly."

- "How much?"

- "Around 700 Cemu"

Thunk

Val slammed the pouch of money on the desk, leaving the old man in surprise. Then, the old man stood up with a sigh and started searching something among the piles of his research materials. After few minutes, he handed a small rectangular box to Val which had the same pen but additionally with an inch long golden crystal embedded on top of it.

- "The crystal is made by condensing the divinity of many seed bearers, so it'll run out eventually and here, three books which composed of several researches on runic language. This'll left you with 50 Cemu. Use it carefully young priest."

- "Thank you"

Val collected everything and reunited with Ana. Ana quickly took everything from him as they exited the temple.

- 'When I wrote the novel, I remember developing the runic language by mixing Greek and Kyrgyz alphabets. Lower Realm is not really knowledgeable about runic language which is consider as the sacred language of blessings. Only artisans are capable of using some few known runic words for some small enchantments and magic engineering but because I'm already familiar with Greek and Kyrgyz, I'm certain that after learning the sequence and revising it, I can even create powerful blessings similar to Gods of this world'

As they went outside the temple, they found a crowd encircling something in the middle of street. As they moved closer, they heard people talking about it.

- "How it happened?"

- "Nobody knows, just suddenly an Anqa came crashing on the ground"

- "Well, nobody would dare hunt a divine bird like Anqa"

- "Anqa dying without any reason.. it's a bad omen"

- "True, the death of a divine bird in the middle of the city is a bad omen"

- "Don't worry, divine family and our Vicar will protect us"

They moved away from the bustling crowd as Val thought about the incident

- 'It's started. Now, several sign of bad omen will keep appearing in the city throughout the year randomly and it'll stop with his arrival'

Val thought about Aramis and turned to Ana, she was also secretly praying to the Goddess while carrying the books.

- "Lead me to Sir Nozroc"

Said Val in an emotionless voice. Ana bowed slightly after little hesitation and started leading the way.

***

Few passerby from Yasa race turned around to look at Val

- "What is it?"

- "That person who just passed us, smelled like forest"

- "You must be missing your home, let's go"

As Val and Ana were passing by from a market, they saw a 7yr old Ixeger boy crying in the corner. Ana stopped in her tracks thinking that Val would help the poor boy but Val didn't stop and kept on walking.

After few steps, he stopped and came back with reverse steps. He took a look at the crying Ixeger boy and asked Ana

- "Deaconess, does Sir Nozroc have any children?"

Ana took out a slip and said

- "Yes, one 7yr old boy named Ozlo"

the boy stopped crying after hearing his name. Ana belatedly realize the identity of that boy

- "Yes, he certainly resemble Sir Nozroc a little"

Val moved closer to the boy while pulling back his hood slightly to show his face but still covering his ears

- "Little Ozlo, why were you crying?"

Asked Val, and Ozlo started crying again

- "Sob.. My mommy is lost.. Sob"

- 'You are the one who's lost Punk'

Thought Val with an expressionless face

- "But how do you know my name?"

- "Because I'm a friend of your father and if you want, I can take you to your home while my mother will find your mommy and bring her back"

Said Val sweetly

- "But what if your mother gets lost too?"

- "She won't, don't worry"

Val reached out his hand to Ozlo. He turned to Ana as Ozlo took his hand

- "Deaconess, find his mother and take your time to bring her home... Deaconess?"

- "Y-Yes?!, yes I understand"

Answered Ana who was clearly overjoyed by Val referring to her as his mother. Val took the address from Ana and left with Ozlo.

- 'Hostage Secured Successfully'

Thought Val while looking at Ozlo

- "Brother, you smell like trees"

Said Ozlo as he looked up to Val

- "Is that so?"

Because of his mana calibration, Val's affinity with nature increased. That was why, races of animal and people who dwell close to nature found him friendly and didn't feel any ill intentions from him.

As they were walking, Ozlo kept on stealing glances at a female Ixeger knight, who was patrolling that area with other knights.

- "Do you wish to become a knight?"

- "N-no"

Val realized why he kept looking at that Ixeger knight. After all, boys will be boys

- "Little Ozlo, do you want to avoid trouble?"

- "Y-Yes?.. yes, I don't like trouble"

- "Then word of advice: Stay away from any girl who is chivalrous, as they'll always bring trouble from their justice seeking personality"

- 'After all, it's a basic setting of an annoying heroine in novels'

Thought Val as he advised Ozlo

- "R-Really? I'll keep that in mind. Can you tell me more?"

- "Well, if you don't want to be in danger then, never act like a hero and try to save a girl who is chased by a bunch of thugs"

- "T-Then, how can I help that girl?"

- "Call for knights"

- "Oh right! I can do that too. Please tell me more, brother"

- "hmmm, do you want to adventure outside?"

- "Yes"

- "Then, if you find a fancy carriage attacked by a bunch of bandits, don't jump out to help them. If you do, then the person who will come out of that carriage, will ask more help from you"

Said Val, spreading his words of wisdom

- "I understand, brother. Is there anything else?"

Asked Ozlo with a look of determination while his tail swayed excitedly and his beastly eyes sparkled

- "Very well, remember this one, it's important. If you ever wonder in a forest and hear shouts of help from a woman or sound of battle, then run straight in the opposite direction"

- "B-But what if they really need help?"

- "It's always a trap, little Ozlo"

- "Like using Illusion magic?"

Val gave a nod, hiding the fact that a girl saved in forest by a protagonist always bring trouble in every story.

Seeing Ozlo making a fist and burning with determination to avoid trouble, Val nodded in satisfaction.

- 'I saved a poor soul today'

Thought Val, and they soon reached in front of a 2-story house.

Ozlo ran into his house while calling out to his father.

After some time, a sound of heavy footsteps approaching toward the door was heard.

The door opened and a burly Ixeger man wearing an ordinary tunic was seen.

But he froze and his whole body went pale as Val pulled back his hood to welcome him.

His worst nightmare was standing on his doorstep.

- "It's been a long time, Sir Nozroc"