After my official announcement that me, Lucifer and Echo were all leaving tomorrow, the fairies decided to throw a farewell party for us that night as a way to celebrate their thanks to us. The sisters decided to give me a brand new outfit, and design it based off human outfits with materials from Flair Forest. They undressed me and as they were sizing me, the sisters began to ask questions. Most specifically romance questions.
"Have you fallen in love in the other world, " Aurora asked, "Got any partners there?"
"Ummm... no? I... was popular for being the nice kid, but I never was interested in being in a romantic relationship, let alone was asked to be in one."
"So you're single, " Ellie said shocked, "I mean, I know you aren't a child mentality despite the body size, but what do you think of our brother? Do you think he's cute~?
"Wha-?"
"Sister, lets be real here, she's obviously into the Fallen Prince guy, " Aurora said back, "I mean, why else would she tame one of the most dangerous men to be beside her and ordering him around. It's pretty clear that he's her type and that he's willing to give the world to her."
"Well, why would he tame our brother then, if she was into the Fallen Prince, " Ellie argued, "She was willing to sacrifice her life for the sake of the the Fairy Race and Flair Forest! Who would even do that unless she was into him! And he would also give the world to her too if he tried!"
I was stuck in the middle of a shipping war, but one word caught my attention.
"Tame? I didn't tame anyone? I just told the both of them what I was thinking and they accepted me."
The sisters looked at each other then looked at me as if I said something stupid.
"What?"
"You checked your stats, right, " Aurora asked.
"Every now and then. Why?"
"Then you know what the Charisma stat is, " Ellie added.
"The strength of persuasion, right? I never worked on that stat let alone checked it specifically, since I figured I don't need it for survival. I thought about it before-."
"Can you show us your profile for a bit, " the sisters asked in sync.
"Um sure? Guide, show them my status profile."
[NOW LOADING STATUS PROFILE.]
[STATUS PROFILE OPENED.]
"Here you go."
They looked at it, and rather impressed with the stats I've been training on, that is until their expressions changed from impressed to unbelievable shock.
"Ummm guys? Are you okay?"
"HOW DO YOU HAVE A CHARISMA STAT OF 525, " they asked in shock.
"525?! HOW THE HELL DID I ACHIEVE THAT?!"
"THAT'S WHAT WE WOULD WANT TO KNOW, " the sisters yelled back.
[I CAN HELP EXPLAIN THAT.]
He then recreated a played back of all my memories of my entire time here.
[WHEN YOU STARTED OUT, YOUR SOUL WAS FUSED WITH A CAT KIN'S BODY. YOU BEING HUMAN AUTOMATICALLY GAVE YOU ONE OF THE HIGHEST STARTS IN CHARISMA GIVEN HUMANS ARE ALREADY A HIGH TIER RACE WHO RELY ON MOSTLY LEADERSHIP, PERSUASION AND TEAMWORK TO CREATE THE EMPIRE THEY HAVE HERE IN ASTRA AND ARE A LOT MORE DEVELOPED. SO WHILE YOU WERE BALANCED IN MOST STATS, YOUR CHARISMA WOULD BE THE HIGHEST OUT OF THE OTHER RACES. CAT KINS RELY ON THE SAME THINGS, LEADERSHIP AND TEAMWORK, BUT IT IS VERY UNBALANCED STATS WHEN IT CAME TO MAGIC. SO THEY RELIED ON MOSTLY THEIR CAT LIKE CHARMS AND PHYSICAL ABILITIES IN BATTLE. THEIR CHARM SKILLS IS ALSO THE REASON MANY PEOPLE TRY TO KIDNAP AND SELL CAT KINS AS SLAVES SINCE THEIR CUTE LOOKS ATTRACT ATTENTION.]
"So my human nature alone plus my Cat Kin charms created that high of a stat?!"
[NOT ENTIRELY. YOUR HUMAN AND CAT KIN STATS COMBINED TOGETHER, GIVING YOU DOUBLE THE AMOUNT OF SKILL POINTS THAN WHAT YOU'RE ORIGINALLY SUPPOSE TO START OUT WITH. BACK AT THE START, YOUR CHARISMA WAS JUST 75 POINTS. WHEN YOU FIRST GAINED THE COOKING SKILL YOUR CHARISMA MULTIPLIED YOUR INTELLIGENCE, WISDOM, AND CHARISMA BY 2. AND AS THE SKILL UPGRADED IT INCREASED UNTIL MASTERY MADE IT MULTIPLY BY 7.]
"S-So in other words..."
[YOUR STARTING RACE STATS AND YOUR COOKING SKILLS ARE THE VERY REASON YOUR CHARISMA SKILL IS HIGH RIGHT NOW.]
I was in disbelief, I looked at the satus profile again. That can't be right.
"A-Announce all my stat totals to me in order... j-just to be sure."
[HP: 100/100. MP: 125/125. ATTACK: 125. DEXTERITY: 75. ACCURACY: 100. INTELLIGENCE: (50x7) 350 WISDOM: (50x7) 350. CHARISMA: (75x7) 525]
Holy cow, I didn't even notice the small bracket 7 multiplier next to the stat, Geez even my Intel and Wisdom is super high cause of this, and here I thought I was doing average stat boosting... Not this high boosting!
"So how much Charisma stat did I need to persuade Lucifer and Echo?"
[TO PERSUASION OF "ECHO" THE FORMER FAIRY PRINCE BACK THEN WAS NEEDED OF 200, GIVEN HIS TRUST ISSUES WITH THE OUTSIDERS AND HOW HIS FATHER TREATED THEM THAN HIS OWN PEOPLE. WITH "LUCIFER" THE FALLEN PRINCE, YOU ARE REQUIRED OF A 200 CHARISMA TO EVEN HAVE HIM LISTEN TO YOU, GIVEN YOU WERE HUMAN AND HIS FEAR OF GETTING CLOSE AND HURTING YOU WAS NEEDED OF THIS TRUST, BUT IT INCREASED TO 500 AFTER HE LEFT SUDDENLY WHEN YOU TOLD HIM THE TERM OF "FRIENDS" SINCE IT RELATED TO FAMILY AND HE DIDN'T WANT TO BE CLOSE TO PEOPLE WHO WERE CALLED FAMILY GIVEN HIS HATRED FOR ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH THAT WORD. SO IN SHORT, YOU'D BE DEAD BY LUCIFER IF YOU DIDN'T HAVE THAT STAT.]
"WHAT THE ACTUAL F*CK?! ARE YOU SERIOUS?! EXCUSE ME!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!"
"What's wrong, " Echo said coming in.
"We heard screams and-, " Lucifer added.
"NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! NOTHING! Wait.... WHAT ARE PERVERTS DOING HERE!!! GET OUT! I'M STILL NAKED!!!"
"B-But-, " the both of them tried to speak but also realizing what she meant and started to blush.
I immediately summoned out about 20 different spears to attack, without thinking.
"OOOOOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!"
Both boys ended up screaming out of the tent, and the two sisters were laughing in the background. My face was flustered in embarrassment as I started to cover my face to hide it.
"I didn't ask for this emotion ride today.... aaaahhhhhh.... Guide close my status profile."
[PROFILE STATUS NOW CLOSED.]
"Okay, Ms Charmer, let's get the rest of your measurements finished up, " Aurora said picking me up.
Throughout the whole process, I was in deep though. Was our friendship a lie? Did they only like me because my Charisma was so high? Would they never confess all their feelings to me otherwise. I felt dirty, like I was the biggest scumbag in the world. It was like playing with people's emotion and I didn't like it in the slightest. I wanna come clean to them about my stats then. If they knew this too I needed to know if they meant every word they tell about me. When the clothes were ready, they made it look like a normal plain green military general uniform and black tights.
"No shoes?"
"Sorry... our people normally wear sandals or no footwear at all, we don't know how to make shoes, " Ellie explained, "Cat Kins normally don't wear any but we can try to make sandals for you if you wish."
"No no, it's okay. My feet would feel a lot more free like this, so I've gotten use to it."
"Okay boys, " Aurora yelled, "You two can come inside now."
They walked in, injures from the spear attack from before, to see me in my new outfit, this making them blush in awe. I didn't like their reaction, and I was quite down for the rest of the day, to which the boys noticed. I didn't spoke a word until me, Lucifer and Echo got to the guest tent together.
"Okay Kitten, what's wrong, " Lucifer asked me, "You've been acting down lately and we wanna know why."
"Did you two know...about my stats?"
Their faces looked in confusion, as they shook their heads. Oh no... this is worse than I thought...
"Is something with your stats that's bothering you, " Echo asked.
"Well... yes... but I found out something today and..."
"And, " Lucifer looking skeptical.
"It's... probably better to show you... then explain... Guide... please show my status profile."
[NOW LOADING STATUS PROFILE.]
[STATUS PROFILE OPENED.]
I showed them my stats and even they were in shock. But then they looked backed to me in confusion.
"I mean these stats are pretty shocking, but I don't understand why you're upset, " Echo asked, "Stats like these should be great for you if not better. Honestly, I'm pretty jealous for this, not even I obtained such stats at your body size."
"Did you not see my Charisma stats?"
"Yes we did, " Lucifer said with a smile, "It's far higher than any human or Cat Kin can ever achieve-."
"Why aren't you upset at me?! Why aren't you doubting me or yelling at me?! Why are you all so nice to me even after finding out I have such a high charisma stat like that?! Why-?!"
"Kitten breath, " Lucifer said trying to calm me down, "Now why would you think that just because your charisma is high we would ever hate you. Do you think the things we say to you were because your charisma is controlling our emotions and thoughts?"
I nodded, as Lucifer patted me on the head and Echo hugged me for comfort.
"Catherine, even if you don't believe it yourself, we would have liked you even without the status system, " Echo said.
"Maybe not as quickly, " Lucifer added, "But we would have warmed up to your kind kitty heart and became friends eventually, knowing your stubborn self."
"So don't ever say that the way I feel for you is ever a lie, " both boys said in sync, "I love you, I really do."
"You guys are hopeless... you know that... Thank you..."
This made me tear up while blushing as a flashback to the flirting, heartfelt and comforting times came back to me from all the time I spent with Echo and Lucifer and which made me assured that even with this strong charm that'll probably cause me problems later, I know that I can still act like myself with no worries that they're feelings for me won't change, with or without the charisma stats. We all slept together as the next day rolled in. We were about to wave our goodbyes, when Aurora and Ellie stopped us.
"Oh yeah, have you thought of your Travel Party Name, " Aurora asked.
"Party Name? Like a guild name?"
"No no, Guild Parties are a lot larger with much more privileges like guild job quests, public job quests, dungeon job requests and much more. Travel Parties are smaller and may not be with much privilege, but still can accept public job quests and dungeon job quests, " Ellie explained, "Besides it's better to have a party name so people can identify you guys properly on your journey."
"You name our group, Kitten, " Lucifer said putting his hand to my shoulder.
"Yeah, and will make you the leader, " Echo said with a smile, "I mean, you are the one that brought us together."
[THEY BOTH HAVE A FAIR POINT, "CATHERINE".]
A party name, huh? What's a good party name that represents all three of us? I got it.
"We are Soul Friendship! Or the SF Party for short.
I was bad with names, but I figured this name fits all of us, even Guide. We share a friendship unlike any other. They nodded and Aurora and Ellie taught me how to create a magic group seal for us. Once the seal was made, Aurora and Ellie nodded their heads at each other and took my hands and it began to glow.
[FAIRY RACE ALLEGIANCE OBTAINED.]
"Wha-?"
"It's a contract with us so that your group is always welcomed back with us fairies no matter where you go, " Aurora explained, "Our names with the fairy insignia that shows allegiance will show in your party group status, so if any other fairies come your way, they'll see your group isn't a threat to us the name of us Queens."
"Ahhhh I get it, thank you."
"Good luck out there, " Ellie said smiling.
We said our goodbyes and finally left Flair Forest for good. A new road ahead, and a new journey to start. From beyond the trees of Astra, welcome to the Path of Beginnings.