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After Frank healed Abraddon's wounds, the admiration he received from God almost overwhelmed him, it was simply ridiculous how happy Abraddon was about this, and even more how surprised he was that it actually worked.
Abraddon was the god of beasts and nature, his emotions were explosive and expressive. Although he seemed calm and carefree, whenever he was to be happy, he made sure to show it to everyone present, and celebrate as if it were to be the best thing in his life… And to be honest, it was quite like that, as the wound had been within Abraddon for many years.
In the end, Abraddon wanted to compensate Frank, but Frank had already said that he got an amazing gift in the Divine Protection and the Hero's Crest.
However, Abraddon insisted.
"No, let me give you something else, something that I can consider a gift!" said Abraddon.
"(But what can he gift to me? He's still a Beast God, right? It is not like he can create items or something, isn't it? That's part of the Chaos Goddess who created the Dungeons…)" thought Frank.
"Well, if you insist so much… But what exactly do you want to gift me?" asked Frank.
"Ah! …Hm. I guess I do not have much to gift, don't I? I cannot create items… nor equipment… but maybe resources from within my Divine Realm? Although they are ethereal… Oh right! My body is a treasure trove of materials after all! Here, grab these bottles of my blood, alongside my scales…" said Abraddon, as he piled up several scales of different colors and sizes, alongside gathering the blood leaked from him within his Divine Realm into a dozen of the bottle.
"(Well, everything seems pretty simple… But they are part of a God, so their effects could be outstanding…) Thanks, Abraddon-sama…" said Frank, saving the things inside of his Inventory.
"Still! I feel like it is not enough…" said Abraddon.
"Hm… How about giving your Divine Protection to my tamed monsters and the people I am with? Ruby, Ginseng, Gwendolyn, Cathyl, Asterion, Hilvera, and Annabelle," said Frank.
"Oh? More Divine Protections? Are you sure? They're way too easy to give… is that really a gift?" asked Abraddon.
"Yeah, it is an immense gift! As long as you don't give them the Hero Crest, people wouldn't notice anything, so I don't think they would be suspected or anything," said Frank.
"Hm, good idea, I suppose. Very well then. Whenever you have any other friend you want me to give my Divine Protection, please do tell me," said Abraddon, as he suddenly leaked several glowing gold lights from his body, which he sent elsewhere, making them disappear out of thin air.
"It is done," said Abraddon.
"Thank you very much," said Frank.
"No, no! Do not thank me, I must thank you! You are truly a Hero, Frank! I own you more than you can imagine…" said Abraddon.
"I-I see… Well, I have to go to sleep now, so if you excuse me…" said Frank.
"Ah, of course, good night!" said Abraddon, as Frank finally managed to escape Abraddon's tender generosity, opening his eyes in the middle of the night.
As he glanced in front of him, Hilvera, Cathyl, and Asterion were peacefully sleeping, but a golden light had seeped into their bodies as he woke up.
Another golden light had also entered one of his hands, most likely being directed to Ginseng.
"This will surely make everyone happy… Though I do not know if they will ever realize the Divine Protection without a Hero Crest…" thought Frank, finally sleeping once again, now without interruptions.
As Frank slept peacefully, time seemed to speed up, as the morning quickly came, and the beautiful sun arose within the horizon.
"Fraaaaaaaank! Wake up!"
Frank, who was still sleeping like a rock, was suddenly woken up by the voice of a young girl who was jumping over his bed.
A fluffy, orange-colored fox tail and a small and cute appearance quickly gave her identity away.
"Annabelle, good morning…" murmured Frank as he cleansed his eyes.
"Mommy told me to come to wake you up, breakfast is ready!" said Annabelle, jumping out of the bed and running downstairs with a checky smile.
"It seems that she hasn't noticed the Divine Protection yet?" wondered Frank, as he walked downstairs and joined breakfast with everyone else.
"Good morning, aniki!" said Asterion with a bright smile on his bull-headed face, which was rather adorable as he still looked like a young calf.
"Frank-kun, good morning," said Hilvera with a gentle smile.
"Hey, Frank! Hmm, I feel oddly energetic today! Like there is a rush of power flowing through my entire body!" said Cathyl.
"Good morning, Frank… And yes, just as you said, Cathyl, I've felt strangely filled with energy since I woke up as well…" said Gwendolyn.
"(I wonder if I should tell them that I spoke with Abraddon… No, it could end up bringing too many questions…) Ah, maybe you were all granted divine protections?" asked Frank jokingly, as most of the family laughed.
"Don't joke like that, Frank! Why would any God grant us their Divine Protection? The only Hero here is you!" said Cathyl laughing.
"Yeah, don't joke around like that, if a priest were to hear you, it would roar at you for being a heretic or something," said Annabelle.
"I wish I could be given a Divine Protection…! But this energy is pretty good nonetheless! Maybe we just ate very healthy so our bodies got stronger?" asked Asterion innocently.
"Yeah, that must be!" said Hilvera.
"So eating healthy really does make you strong!" said Cathyl.
"(I am surprised that such an excuse was so easily accepted…)" thought Frank with a bitter smile, as he ate the delicious pancakes recently made by Gwendolyn, which were covered in warm syrup.
"This is delicious…" said Frank, as the warm fluffiness filled his mouth, combined with the juicy sugary flavor of the syrup, it was a killing combination.
Everything went wonderfully inside of his mouth, as he drank a bit of tea, which went even better.
"(Ah… this is weird, I feel like… All of the flavors and a few my senses had been amplified…(" thought Frank.
Frank considered that the reason behind this could be either the increase of his stats or the new Skills he acquired yesterday.
Most likely, the amplification of his five senses was due to the combination of everything, such as the Fire Soul and Light Soul Martial Techniques, Herculean Strength, his connection through his soul with Ruby and Ginseng, and more.
As Frank thought about Ruby, his mind was suddenly filled with a bit of what she was experiencing.
Ruby was currently hunting Horned Rabbits around the nearby forest, while practicing her newly acquired Body Aura Skill, which she used to enhance all of her capabilities to a certain extent, making her hunting even smoother.
"(Wait… can I communicate with her, I wonder?)" thought Frank, as he tried to send a simple command to Ruby, a slight greeting.
Suddenly, Ruby felt Frank's voice resonate within her soul, as she roared, greeting Frank.
"Grawr!" she said.
"(I worked! Amazing, so even Telepathy is possible when it comes to Soul Pacts…)" thought Frank with amusement.
"So after working in the crops, what are you planning to do today, Frank?" asked Gwendolyn with curiosity.
"Oh, I was planning on taking a quest in the Adventurer Guild… Is there a weak nearby dungeon around here?" asked Frank.
"Yeah, there is one named 'Goblin's Nest' to the west, and another named 'Dark Lair' to the east. Goblin's Nest is well… filled with Goblins, which are tiny human-like green-skinned monsters, that have some talent at wielding tools… But I am sure that you can handle them. Then, the 'Dark Lair' is a mix of everything, it has a little of every monster of low levels, such as slimes, horned rabbits, goblins, mandragora, giant scorpions, giant rats, lesser gazer, vampire bats… And more. Although they don't appear in big groups… Both of these Dungeons are recommended for F-Rank Adventurers like you that are still within Rank 1 in their Mana Core Cultivation," said Gwendolyn.
"I see… Well, the choice is obvious, I am quite curious about the Dark Lair, and if I can hunt a ton of monsters and gather their corpses inside of my Inventory, I would be able to make a little fortune," said Frank.
"Oooh, that's a good way to abuse your storage spell!" said Cathyl.
"We want to go too!" said Asterion.
"Can we accompany Frank, mommy?" asked Hilvera.
"Eeehh? But you're way too weak for that!" said Cathyl.
"But we are already registered in the Adventurer Guild! Don't you remember? When we got our crests of Abraddon, you immediately registered us there too!" said Asterion.
"Yeah, yeah!" said Hilvera.
"But that was because it's necessary to be registered to sell materials into the Adventurer Guild… But I did not mean that I wanted you two to risk your lives there! Frank is different, he's really, really strong, but you two are little kids and just barely awakened your Mana Cores!" said Cathyl.
"But mom…!" said Asterion.
"We want to go! It will help us learn experience in close combat! And if we don't go, we would be wasting our talent!" said Hilvera.
"That's… W-Well…" muttered Cathyl with indecisiveness.
"I will make sure to protect them," said Frank with a strong voice filled with conviction.
"Frank…" muttered Cathyl.
"I have created many Spells now, I can also create barriers around them to secure their safety, and I also can conjure healing magic, even if they're wounded, I can heal them," said Frank.
"That's… Well, if you can do it… then… I am counting on you," said Cathyl.
"Yaaay!" cheered Asterion and Hilvera.
"Ah! If they go, I wanna go too, mom!" said Annabelle.
"Huh? Young lady, you stay at home!" said Gwendolyn.
"Annabelle is a very talented magician, having some real combat experience at her young age would help her grow stronger," said Frank.
"And I can make some good profit from the monsters too!" said Annabelle with a smile.
"Sigh… Okay, make sure to protect her well, Frank! Use all of your ridiculous spells to take good care of them… I can see that I won't be able to change her mind…" said Gwendolyn.
"Nice! We are a party now! A party of Adventurers! All four of us!" said Annabelle happily.
"A party… Yeah, we are a party now!" said Frank as his aquamarine eyes shined brightly.
"I can't wait to explore the dungeon and make a fortune!" said Asterion.
"I-I don't think we'll make that much… But I am a bit excited as well," said Hilvera.
And this was the day when the party of the Legendary Hero was formed, with Annabelle as the Fire Magician, Hilvera as the Rogue, Asterion as the Warrior, and of course, with Frank as the Hero and Party Leader.
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