Elizabeth stood stock-still after she digested the contents of her first Side Quest.
"Is this a joke?" She asked in disbelief, "Don't you guys in Heaven, or wherever you are, know that the story I wrote was completely made up?"
Half-heartedly, she thought, 'First, I get turned into a game character and now the gods that are pulling the strings behind the scenes want to me follow through with the nonsense I wrote for said character's background?'
Though, for exasperated as she was, the greatest source of her ire came from the Optional Objectives.
A squint of death searched for a target to vent on as Elizabeth thought, 'And what do you mean, "Take revenge while wearing your Beginner Armor Set?"'
She fumed internally, 'To anyone with even a single working neuron, this Side Quest is obvious way out into the endgame! What kind of sadist designed this Quest? You want me to take revenge against ultra overpowered gods with Beginner Armor? Hmph!'
Uncaring of the internal turmoil currently raging within her Chosen's mind, P nonchalantly said, "You are literally talking to me, a Goddess. You've seen your life turn into a game and your body transformed. Yet, you still question how a story you made up could be realized?"
Elizabeth might have understood the faults in her logic, but that didn't stop her from wondering what the limits lay for a godlike entity like P.
However, as she considered how her life had been flipped upside down by these nonsensical gods, her intrigue, though still present, was buried away to some remote corner of her mind. With an apocalypse incoming, was use was fussing over a matter as distant as combating divinities?
As Elizabeth regained focus, she would have finished claiming what was left of her Starter Pack if not for the rough and mechanical gurgling that spawned from her.
Before she had become a she, Elizabeth had not eaten in over half a day. She couldn't have prepared to have started the day off so chaotically.
She might have managed to ignore the groaning sounds of her dissatisfied stomach to continue doing as P asked if not for the Goddess' intervention. After all, she didn't know if it was even possible for her to disobey P now that they were bound together.
Elizabeth had a basic understanding of her current situation. She was P's Chosen. Yet without much understanding of her Goddess Sponsor's personality, she couldn't help but assume the worst. She thought, 'Dissention is impossible. This is a Goddess I'm dealing with, so who knows what kind of misery I'll be in if I ignore or, heaven forbid, refuse her.'
Fortunately, P was not as sinister as Elizabeth's worst-case scenario might have alluded to. Completely opposed to her initial judgment, P responded sensibly to ease her Chosen's obvious discomfort.
She said, "You should really eat something. It's not like I'll do anything to you for not getting back to work immediately. That would be both detrimental to your growth and utterly irrational as I, more than anyone else, wish to see you become strong."
"As long as you finish the Main Quests assigned to you by their deadlines… Nothing bad should happen," she concluded. Though from the tone of her voice, P didn't sound very sure of herself.
Elizabeth bit her tongue. She remained unable to find the courage to question what would happen should she fail to meet her Quests' deadlines.
Instead, she gave up on fiddling with the rest of the items in her Starter Pack and made a beeline for the kitchen.
Still clad in only her previous male form's now-oversized t-shirt, Elizabeth made it to the kitchen and prepared herself a typical breakfast meal. Chicken Fried Rice.
While she loved junk food and splurging on nutritionless candy, the previous Adrian never skipped eating at least two home-cooked meals a day. It was a way to counteract getting morbidly obese while retaining a somewhat "healthy" body even if he never exercised.
Now, when Elizabeth started cutting up the ingredients to her dish and began managing the wok she used to work the frying rice, game-like notification prompts of gaining experience for a Cooking Skill occasionally popped up.
[Skills:
*New) Name: Cooking
Level: 1
Experience: 0/10
Description: Cooking is the art of perfecting meals. To make the most out of any ingredient available, both with regards to taste and effect. The Cooking Skill allows the user to boost the buff rates of energy-augmented meals.
Current Effect: Increases the buffs received from Low-Mid Grade Mortal-Tier Meals by 10%.]
By the time everything Elizabeth intended to eat was finished cooking, she received four experience points for the Cooking Skill. She checked over the skill for any changes and then quickly consumed her meal.
She hadn't the slightest clue as to what qualified as a Low-Mid Grade Mortal-Tier Meal, but her breakfast today hardly tasted any better than usual. Though that wasn't to say it didn't taste good. As a home cook with years of experience, Adrian's food was impressive.
Despite there being no discernible difference, the dish was so good that Elizabeth literally cleaned her plate of every individual grain of rice.
With the need her body craved to be taken care of now fulfilled, Elizabeth put her plates away in the dishwasher and retreated to her room to pick up where she left off.
She picked up the Grimoire of Time for Shadow Realm Gateway and willed for its Status to manifest before her eyes once more. She wondered how she would be able to make use of the book. It literally couldn't be opened. Suddenly, a prompt requesting for her acceptance of learning the contents within the Grimoire appeared.
[Would you like to learn Time Magic: Shadow Realm Gateway?
Yes/No]
Elizabeth thought 'Yes' and the leatherbound ancient-looking cyan tome shattered into bubbles of multicolored lights. The lights exploded from the book and moved a couple centimeters in all directions before being mysteriously driven to Elizabeth's right hand.
As the bubbles phased through her hand and their glowing light dimmed, Elizabeth's right hand manifested a dark blue tattoo that faded after the last of the bubbles had finished entering her hand.
When the tattoo completely manifested, it quickly faded away, bringing with it another notification within Elizabeth's mind.
[Skills:
*New) Name: Time Magic: Shadow Realm Gateway
Level: Null (Tied To Time Affinity)
Grade: F
Energy Cost: Null (1D Cooldown) | 1,000,000 Inner Strength (Active)
Description: Shadow Realm Gateway is a special type of Teleportation Skill. Gifted to the user by the Goddess P******** and effected by the Goldfinger bestowed for the Cataclysm, the Skill has an Intrinsic Property of Divinity.
Property of Divinity: The user's Understanding of Time, or level of proficiency in controlling Time Energies, may be used to change the rate of time between Earth's Dimension and the Shadow Realm Dimension.
Current Effect: None (No Understanding or Cultivation of Time has been accomplished)]
With the Shadow Realm Gateway Skill created, Elizabeth moved onto the next Grimoire. The next one she picked up was plainly colored beige and labeled "Introduction To The Path Of Medicine."
She confirmed another prompt for learning the contents of the Grimoire and after another magical display of the book bursting into bubbles and dissolving into her body, all sorts of medical knowledge appeared in her mind.
When she was done sorting out the information she gained, a new Skill was learned.
[Skills:
*New) Name: Acupoint
Level 1
Experience: 0/10
Description: A branch in the Path of Medicine that uses needles to stimulate the body. Acupoint makes use of cultivation anatomy to activate single acupoints in the body or arrays that promote natural healing and cure ailments.
Current Effect: Requires 10% less energy to resolve Low-Mid Grade Mortal-Tier ailments and wounds.]
Elizabeth picked up one of the needles on her bed and rubbed it between her thumb and index finger. Despite this being the first time she picked a needle, she felt as if the sensation produced by its thin and cold metallic composition was of second nature.
Next, she picked up the remaining cyan-colored Grimoire to learn the Time-type Cultivation Method, Temporal Meditation. The Cultivation Method would allow her to gain the Energy her Cooking and Acupoint Skill used to operate.
[Cultivation Methods:
Name: Temporal Meditation
Grade: SSS
Description: A Mortal Grade meditation technique of the highest level. Given to the user by the Goddess P********, this Cultivation Method will last the user until the end of the Mortal Realm's Stages of Cultivation and develop the user's Affinity for Time up to Mediocre Tier.
Effect: Yields Inner Strength at a rate of 0.01 multiplied by the user's Intelligence Stat per minute of successful meditation.]
'Exactly how is Temporal Meditation a technique of the highest level?' Elizabeth questioned, internally.
After digesting the contents of the Introduction to The Path of Medicine and Temporal Meditation, she had learned much about the process and Stages of Cultivation. Her Goldfinger had quantified the amount of Inner Strength needed to reach each Stage for the Mortal Realm and by the end, she would need tens of millions of units of Inner Strength.
However, as she didn't have another Cultivation Method to compare her Temporal Meditation with, Elizabeth quickly dropped the matter.
All that was left was to pick a weapon. Thus, Elizabeth picked up the white-colored orb-bound book and immediately thought of choosing a staff as her weapon. It was an impulse derived from her association as a mage.
Just having the thought, "staff," was enough for the orb to begin lighting up and give her a prompt asking for confirmation. Unfortunately, upon further consideration, she didn't really want to be a traditional mage.
"Tsk," Elizabeth clicked her tongue, frustrated with herself.
She lamented, 'Why couldn't I have just made a normal build when creating my character? Really… of all the times to be unorthodox...'
She sighed and rubbed the bridge of her nose in frustration as she continued, 'Even in my imagination, a speedy Time Mage is the type to hack enemies to pieces with a blade. A Mage that specializes in close-combat and casts time-altering Magic to further boost their speed while reducing that of their enemies.'
Now covering her face with both hands, Elizabeth let her body fall on her bed and said, "Ugh… It wouldn't even matter what weapon I pick. I'm only a Speed-type Time Mage in concept. I don't know how to use weapons or Magic Spells."
As her partner, P stepped in to assist Elizabeth in making her choice promptly by explaining, "Why don't you let the Orb of Origin decide your weapon for you? All you need to do is offer it a drop of your blood and it will manifest the weapon most suitable for you."
"Welp, that's convenient enough for me," Elizabeth said.
She was unnaturally quick to rise from her bed and retrieve her acupoint kit.
With her newfound skill in medicine, or more specifically, acupuncture, Elizabeth gently pricked her right index finger.
As she was waiting for the blood to gather and fall onto the colorless orb, P said, "Fair warning, what you're doing is activating a special function of the Orb of Origin. Naturally, there's a cost to doing that."
"Yeah? What is it?" Elizabeth asked, slightly sweating as she slowly guided her bleeding finger away from the orb. Any sudden movements might have caused the blood to spontaneously fall.
She withdrew her finger from above the Orb of Origin before P said, "Not much, you'll just lose half a day's worth of time from your first Main Quest."
"Hmm, it sounds like you're confident I'll still be able to complete the Quest with the penalty," Elizabeth cautiously commented.
"If you can't…" P's voice darkened considerably as she said, "Your prospects of surviving through the Cataclysm are as good as dead."
Affected by P's tone, Elizabeth solemnly returned her finger over to the Orb of Origin and let a drop of her blood color it crimson.
She watched with mild fascination as the Orb of Origin exploded much like the Grimoires she had digested previously. However, instead of turning into information she directly absorbed, the bubbles of multicolored light that came from the Orb split into three distinct shapes.
"Uh… P, did something go wrong?" Elizabeth asked as she felt her eye twitch violently.