Marduk patiently waited for Fortis to start explaining the situation while sipping on his cup of tea.
'This must be the sixth cup of tea I drank today… I hope I will find other kinds of drinks at the party …' thought Marduk.
"To begin with, this place is called 'God's chamber'. It's a personal space every god has, created using divine power. It's completely under control of its creator." The soft and soothing voice of Fortis started explaining.
"Each and every 'God's chamber' has different properties and characteristics,but generally speaking most of them have time bending enchantments. In mine each year spent inside is equal to a minute spent outside."
"Wait, isn't time magic considered to be possible only theoretically?" Asked Marduk, whose interest was tickled.
"Well for mortals it's indeed really difficult to use, but since you use a subclass of space magic you should be able to use it. In addition, you must consider that we don't really use magic but divine power to bend the law of time." Fortis said with a sweet smile.
"Interesting, I should study it and try to figure it out." Marduk said while playing with his hair.
"Well, leave that for later, now focus on what I'm going to say." Said Fortis trying to keep Marduk's attention focused on the present matter.
"I will now tell you the reason why I brought you here." Marduk's eyes sparkled with new-found interest at those words.
"This story starts a long time ago, hundreds of years ago the Gods committed the worst of sins, breaking lots of laws and rules…"
"Zarke and the Ancient Dragons." Marduk interrupted Fortis, who was struck by an unexplainable sense of fear by Marduk's expression, which was even more serious than usual with a spark of rage in his eyes.
Fortis gulped and resumed her speech.
"Indeed, the Gods feared Zarke and his race because they managed to overstep the mortal's boundaries of the deity realm. Zarke reached the first stage of the immortal realm but when he was still weakened by the effort needed to evolve to that level, he was killed by three gods possessing the bodies of a human, a dwarf and a demon, all of them at the deity rank. The three gods remained unpunished to this day." Fortis took a quick break to let Marduk elaborate the information.
"They are the God of war, Garus, the Goddess of love, Elen and the God of blacksmiths, Rax. They used the excuse of Zarke breaking the 'laws of the world' to kill him and erase his race. They all had their own selfish reasons behind those actions, Garus wanted to drink Zarke's blood and eat his flesh, Rax wanted his bones, fangs, tendons and his claws to use them as ingredients and Elen still hasn't told anyone about hers."
"Drinking his blood and eating his flesh?! What a disgusting psycho." Said Marduk nearly jumping off his chair.
Fortis was filled with sorrow and grief hearing the child's words.
"Now let's talk about how you come into all this, child. I am the Goddess of fate and as such, I can see and 'read' the fate of every being, and that's a power limited to myself, but the other Gods can sense the discrepancy in the fate of peculiar beings. You are one of those, no, you are even more special since you, like Zarke, are like us Gods, fateless."
"!!!" Marduk's surprise was now very noticeable.
"That being the case, you have endless possibilities and potential."
"Do you mean to say that, the Garus guy or whoever, broke all sorts of laws because he found out about this?" asked Marduk, still shocked.
"Well, yes and no. He indeed sensed something strange on your soul, but he didn't know of you being fateless. That been said, he is crazy, no other God would break that many laws just for that, he is now paying for his action with a slumber caused by your Grandfather."
"Way to go, old man." Marduk said proudly.
"Now, for the main reason you are here. I will tinker with your soul a little, giving you some boost and camouflaging your fate a little."
"You can do that? But more importantly, wouldn't you be interfering with the mortals, just like they did?"
"I'm not the Goddess of fate just in name, I can do it. About interfering, I won't let 'Zarke's tragedy' repeat itself. So I will pour some divine power in your body and teach you how to use clairvoyance. You will remain in this space for a couple of years to train yourself and to learn those things from me. Your body will remain the same since I only brought your soul here, and you will remain in a state of slumber for a couple of minutes on Lexia."
"Well, I won't refuse the training of a Goddess, but I will let you know that I'm not some type of hero who will save the world from the selfishness of the Gods or some nonsense like that. I only strive to become stronger and to fight stronger beings." Marduk's monotonic voice answered Fortis' inner questions. Fortis didn't conceal her emotions and giggled at the little child's words.
"Well, ok. Shall we start? We have no time to lose." Fortis didn't waste a moment and touched Marduk's forehead with her forefinger.
"ARGH! You never told me it would hurt!" Marduk's face was now sparkling from sweat and his face was contorted by the pain.
"Better sooner than later." Fortis wasn't happy to hurt the small child but all this was for his well being.
As the hours went by, the chamber was filled with Marduk's groans of pain.
By the end of the treatment, both Marduk and Fortis were gasping for air. Even as a Goddess, Fortis had to use all of her concentration and a good amount of divine power to change a soul even slightly.
"Urgh, you really played a number on me, eh." said Marduk just in time before fainting, devoid of any kind of energy.
'The will of this child is way stronger than I expected, he put up with the pain of a soul treatment for hours without as much as a complaint.' Marduk's achievement once again surprised Fortis whose expectations grew more and more.
Marduk regained consciousness only eight hours later, he was woken up by the beautiful voice of Fortis singing. It took him a couple of minutes to doze off and notice that he was laying on the Goddess laps.
"Oh, you are awake? Good." Fortis sweet smile made Marduk's heart skip a beat.
"Yes, thanks. How did it go?" Marduk asked to hide these strange emotions that at the time he couldn't understand.
"Well check for yourself…" Fortis answered while snapping her finger.
A second later a screen similar to those created by Marduk's unique ability but much more detailed, appeared in front of their faces.
Name: Marduk Griffith (van Licht)
Occupation: none
Title: Battlemaniac, Fated to be fateless, ?????, etc… Race: Half-dragonkin;
Age: 7y.o. Rank: Medium (final stage);
HP: 1500→ 3000 MP: 25000
STR: 150→ 300 STA: 300→ 450
DEX:450 INT: 375
AGI: 150→ 300 DEF: 140→ 210
Passive skill:
Taunt: Proficiency level 2 (52,47%); Rank: Medium (final stage);
Boost the possibility of provoking someone by 40%;
BigBrain: Proficiency level 5 (3,90%); Rank: High (middle stage);
This skill boosts your analyzing ability by 150% and mana points by 75% while in battle;
(NEW) Intimidation: Rank: Low (final stage);
"Eyes of the tiger!"
Your presence will intimidate all beings of at least a rank lower than your own, lowering their will to fight;
Active skill:
(NEW) Clairvoyance: Proficiency level 0 (0,00%); Rank: Deity (final stage);
The power given by Fortis to her followers. You can now see thirty seconds into your own future, you can also feel the impending death of other beings;
Martial Techniques:
One million beatings: Proficiency level Max; Rank: Medium (middle stage)
Feline's step: Proficiency level Max; Rank: Low (final stage)
While using this footwork technique your agility is boosted by 100% and the sound of your step will be lowered by 50%;
Mana meditation: Proficiency level Max; Rank: High (initial stage);
Mana boost 0,1%/h and mana cost reduced by 50%;
Seven winds technique: Proficiency level Max; Rank: high (final stage);
7th form: (sealed); —-----------------—;
Unique Skill:
Deity's eyes: Proficiency level 4(18,65%); Radius: 50 m;
"Fated to be fateless?" Marduk asked with a troubled face.
"It's the only thing I could come up with." Fortis said, giggling.
"Sigh, as long as it works, I guess."
"Well, there are some more gifts besides that. Do you like them?"
"'Intimidation' seems to be a double-edged sword, then there are a couple of new titles, one in a strange language and one called 'Divine body bearer', which is insanely good."
Divine body bearer:
Your body has been infused with divine power by a God. Your muscles, your bones and your organs are much more powerful and efficient than normal. You also developed a degree of resistance to curses, poison and diseases.
Effects: 100% boost to physical stats (STR, AGI, STA, DEF and HP), you are immune to all diseases and to poison and curses of the very high rank (initial stage);
"Intimidation is a skill you gained yourself fighting in the forest, and the language you can't understand is the language of Gods, but I assure you that the title I gave you is very good for your future." Fortis explained with her usual sweet and reassuring smile.
'I still don't trust her, but I have to suck it up for now. I'm powerless against her… However, at least she already made me much stronger. As for stats, my body is comparable to that of a high level martial artist of the final stage…' Marduk thought while carefully assessing Fortis' each and every move.