The soft sound of crying was the first thing that sprinkled into Anna's consciousness before she began drowning in the horrifying stench of poverty. She struggled to open her eyes and found them stuck together by crust and dirt so she gave up on seeing and tried to get a better grasp of her physical situation.
Sinking further into herself she took a tally of what all she was feeling. Breathing was painful, each breath rattled as though her lungs had some mucus in them and perhaps bruised ribs. She could feel stinging across her skin as though someone covered her in lacerations. And she was sure something was wrong with her leg; though it felt like an old injury and nowhere near as recent as what else had happened to her.
She grit her teeth as she forced her sore and bruised arms to clear her eyes and in the process realized she was missing a few teeth. It took a few minutes but eventually, she could see again. Now she could get a better grasp of what was going on.
The room was large but filled with over a hundred people if she had to guess. She could clearly see dust dancing between the few rays of light that came from holes in the ceiling. This had to be an abandoned warehouse of some sort, she thought to herself. Why else would so many homeless people be able to fill this space unimpeded?
"Jiejie, qi chuang!" A small girl near to her said in a tearful voice. She looked to be about four and was shaking a person covered with a thin blanket.
Her head was pounding and therefore took several moments to realize she did not understand what they were saying. Anna struggled to sit up as her limbs trembled, muscles trying to remember how to work. Her clothing was crusted in blood and other substances of mysterious origin which also made it hard to move. She had no memory of how she got here, only that she had been in her Space and now she was not. All she could tell about her current situation is that she was probably somewhere in Asia and not in her body.
Anna clenched her eyes shut as she waited for a wave of dizziness to pass her before spending 5 Goddess Points to access the Upgrade Menu mentally. The cost was the exact reason the book suggested using the object within the Space, naturally, even though that was the best option financially that didn't mean the System would make Goddesses unable to adjust to their current system. She didn't have mental acceleration which would allow her to operate ten times faster. Naturally, it could be stacked but the main reason she didn't have it was because of the cost. 100 Goddess Points! They also listed it in the manual as one of the most important System upgrades as the effects would also apply to those in a System Contract with her.
Her heart ached as she thought about the 950 points she had to waste to fix her name. Anna vowed in her heart to be much more careful going forward as she moved through the menus before finding what she was looking for.
Comprehend Languages: This mental passive allows the Goddess to understand, speak, and read all the languages they come across and know what they are. Upgrades must be purchased for Alien Languages, Coded Languages, Ancient Languages, and Dead Languages. It should be noted that this skill does not improve one's handwriting! [Cost: 15 Goddess Points]
After she bought it, she only had 20 points left. She did not want to pay the menu fee again, so she looked for things that could help her and filter them by a cost of ten points or fewer. More people were waking up by the time she settled on a few options.
Stats Menu: Allows the Goddess to see in-depth information about herself, and the information she has learned about others after expending spiritual energy. [Cost: 10 Goddess Points] [Upgrades Locked]
Spiritual Force Circulation: Circulate the spiritual force within you to reduce fatigue and hasten natural healing. [Costs: 5 Goddess Points] [Upgrades Require a higher Spiritual Level]
And; Healing: Allows the Goddess to use her spiritual force to heal basic health issues and injuries. [Costs: 5 Goddess Points] [Upgrades unlock at higher skill levels]
Anna was forcefully removed from the menu as she no longer had any points to spend and before she could even lament she had to lie down. Her head aches as though it was being crushed as information poured into her mind.
It was almost reflexive; she circulated her spiritual force throughout her body… well tried to would be more accurate. She felt as though she was trying to drink a milkshake through a needle, she only managed one rotation before she broke out into a sweat and ran out of breath. A few of her fellow homeless people scooted away from her in fear of catching whatever ailed her but regardless she felt a bit better and was recovering from the strain.
She swapped strategies and tried heal on herself, Anna noted right away that the skill was weak. On the plus side that meant that she didn't have to worry about people noticing. All the stinging on her skin was gone, and she felt much more lively. Though that was relative, a simple glance at her status gave her a reality check.
Goddess Name: Mother
Host Name: Make something up it's a Trial
Location: Unknown, Within Trial
Health: Heavily Injured, Crippled, Starving, Migraine, Thirsty
Physical: .5 (Degraded by Health)
Mental: 1.4
Spiritual: 1.2
Willpower: 1.9 (Bottleneck)
Spiritual Force: 7/12
She could see herself in the status window and it was ragged with 'Trial Shell' so apparently this wasn't how she would look like forever. Her hair was black and heavily matted but she could tell she was presently Asian. Despite being so battered and dirty she had to admit that her eyes weren't bad, they had a gleam of determination within. Perhaps a result of her Divine Aura.
It appeared as though the Heal skill used up five points of her spiritual force on use, which wasn't bad. The skill had cleared out her lungs, so it was probably just mucus and had stopped the bleeding.
She had noticed that the little girl had stopped crying a while ago and looked over to see that the kid had fallen asleep. Anna hobbled over and to see if she could help. She had no idea how this trial was supposed to go, but surely helping others wouldn't go badly?
The little girl shot up as soon as Anna shuffled closer and glared at her with teary eyes. "Don't take my sister! All you bad people go away! Stop hurting her!" She shouted.
"My name is Que Xiao, I am good with healing so I wanted to offer my help," Anna whispered as she held up her hands to show she was harmless, she tried to seem reliable and felt her Divine Aura activate as the girl calmed down. "May I?" She asked, motioning to the sister.
"My name is Bing, is this is my older sister Shui. Please help big sister!" The little girl named Bing implored as she lowered her head to Anna. She pressed her hand on Bing's shoulder to stop her from bowing.
"It's fine, just keep an eye out so people don't come over, okay?" Anna patiently instructed the child and received a small sound of acknowledgment. She placed her hand on Shui's forehead and noticed how cold and stiff the skin was.
"Bing'er, how long has it been since your sister moved…" she asked nervously.
"Bing'er isn't sure…" the small girl held up a couple fingers and Anna's heart dropped.
"I think… she's passed on…" Anna whispered, and the little girl's eyes teared up.
"You're lying! You're lying to Bing'er! Sister isn't dead, she's just sleeping!" The little girl's wails were much louder than before and drawing attention. "Sister! Wake up! Show them you're not dead!"
The look in the eyes of those watching weren't good, and the second one of them pulled out a knife Anna grabbed Bing's hand without hesitation.
"Bing'er, listen to me, it's not safe here we have to run!" Anna could tell she only had a split second to convince this child and channeled her fear into her. The little girl stopped crying instantly, she was young and had a much weaker willpower than Anna so despite Anna having a crippled leg she didn't have too much trouble pulling the girl as she hobbled away from Shui's corpse.
They hadn't even made it 20 steps away when chaos erupted, several people fell upon the body and hacked away at her flesh. Blood flowed as they fought over the meatiest parts and seeing as Shui had been starving so there truly wasn't much.
Bing froze as she watched in horror and it took all of Anna's limited strength to pick up the emaciated child and totter out of the door.
Achievement Unlocked: First Intervention! Reward: 5 Goddess Points.
Achievement Unlocked: Minor Intervention! Reward: 2 Goddess Points.
Outside was even more disgusting if possible. Feces and rotting bodies that couldn't be eaten were left outside to get even grosser in the sun. Since she didn't have a free hand, she could only dry heave as they made their way down the path. It was like no slum she had ever seen before, and she knew for certain this wasn't on earth but it was modern enough for her to think it was similar.
It was only after they were out of sight that she put Bing down and looked at her. "I'm sorry for scaring you, but I didn't want you to get hurt, okay?" Anna said as she looked at Bing with a calm expression. The little girl didn't scream, but she seemed exhausted now that she wasn't running on adrenaline. Bing just obediently held Anna's hand, and they continued on.
First, food and drink. That was most important, so she spent 5 points to open the menu and make a purchase.
Minor Sustenance (Minor Miracle): Use spiritual force to create sustenance from nothing. The stronger this becomes the more you can create from nothing. The sustenance will go bad in 6 hours from time of creation. Sustenance will be created in whatever container is being held else it will appear in the Goddess' hands. [Cost: 2 Goddess Points]
(Minor Miracles): when leveled far enough, any minor miracle can be evolved into a Miracle thus unlocking the Miracle category.
Anna muttered a soft curse under her breath, she'd already thrown away ten whole points today. She placed a hand on the canteen clipped to the side of her rags and she felt five units of spiritual force leave her as it filled the container with water. She brought it to her mouth and drank half before giving the rest to Bing'er. The girl looked extremely grateful and Anna was pleased as the buzz in her head faded. She only had two spiritual force left, so she'd have to wait to make food.
The girls wandered the slum city, getting chased off whenever they tried to rest all the way until nightfall. Some people offered to help them, but their grins made Anna cautious so she declined again and again. She had many new bruises and a cut on her lip but she'd kept Bing and herself safe as the others had only been venting their frustrations so she lowered her head and let them hit her until they were satisfied.
The ball of anger within her stomach was near bursting when it seemed like their luck was finally changing, Anna caught sight of a Help Wanted sign.