※ Arito's POV
The food in the inn was amazingly delicious. The chef perfectly balanced the taste of meat and vegetables, creating a perfect harmony. We went to sleep happy and satisfied.
„Hey, Arito…" Blanche spoke up from next to me. She was given her own bed, but climbed into mine anyway. Something tells me this won't be the last time…
„What's up, Blanche? Can't sleep?"
„Yeah… we will be baptized tomorrow, right?"
„Yes, that's the plan. Is something worrying you?"
„When it's done… I will have my parents name… I don't want it, so… could I take yours?" She was so frustrated that her fingers dug into my shirt, her head hidden in my side, eyes wet with tears soaked my shirt a little. Her grip got pretty strong…
„Why do you think I would say no? Use my name however you want," I patted her head and hugged her.
„Arito! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I love you so much!" Blanched dried her tears and hugged me back. Damn she's getting stronger! I need to lower the amount of Collagen Slime's food supplement we eat every day…
The next morning we headed out for the church together with Kalvig and Lena, while Henry, Laina, Henretta and their servants went to the town hall for an audit. Depending on their findings, they might have to prolong the stay in this town.
We went through the town to get to the city center, where the church of Creationism was located. From what I've heard every god has their own faction that he/her was the main deity of. Then there was the Creationism church that worked as the world's centerpiece, that worshiped all gods, but the Creator god the most.
„Welcome, Duke Reva, it is always a pleasure to see you. Do you wish for a private ceremony?" a head Nun asked while courting lightly.
„I've already passed down the title to the youngster, sister Ingrid. I just came today to get these two baptized."
„I understand, I shall accompany you to the waiting room," the nun bowed gracefully again and led us inside. Is it my imagination, or did she look at me for a second there?
„Grandfather, do you know that sister?"
„Indeed. She is the younger sister of our current king. She didn't like the power struggles that came with succession and joined the sisterhood. Now she travels from temple to temple as head auditor."
„My official title is [Inquisitor], lord Kalvig," sister Ingrid smiled coldly.
„Yeah, yeah. I forgot, sorry. I'm getting too old, you see?" Kalvig laughed merrily.
„Aah~ honestly, you never change…"
„Um… could I ask what entails baptism?" I spoke up to dispel the tensing up atmosphere.
„Of course, young man. Once you enter the baptism room, I will have you touch a Crystal ball and place the empty Status slate to the stand. The device will absorb your magical powers and imprint your status onto the slate, turning it into a Status card."
„Wait, that's all?"
„Yes," her answer was swift and lacked any kind of emotion. We followed her into a chamber where she called me out to go first.
The baptism room had an octagonal shape and was completely made from white stone. The closer I looked, the more it reminded me of marble. I have some lime and dolomite Chika mined for me so maybe I could use earth magic to mix them? Well, what would I even do with that, anyway?
„Here you go, young sir. Your Status Slate," sister Ingrid handed me a rectangular slate that had white color and nicely fitted in my palm.
I placed the slate in a prepared hole under the Crystal ball and touched it. As I did, the ball shone with blue light that enveloped both of us. The light quickly subdued and retracted into the card that now changed from white to almost see through light blue color.
„You can now take out the Status card. It is customary to hide everything except for your name, race and age. Affiliation is customary and mainly refers only to the place you consider your home. As you can see, the slate changed color from white to see through light blue, that is due to exposure to your mana."
„So my mana color is light blue? What does it mean to me?"
„Nothing much, the color only shows how much mana you have. Usually the lighter the color, the more you have. Only on rare occasions can you see someone with a translucent Status board," Ingrid said with a high and mighty look, probably because she had such a board herself. I let her talk and took a look at my status in the meantime.
Name: Arito Aruze
Race: Ancient
Age: 10
Magical Prowess: 201,984
Physical Prowess: 39,476
Affiliation: Risha Kingdom, Nomille Duchy
Combat Skills: Unarmed combat 8, Energy manipulation 7, Bow Mastery 6, Spearmanship 2, Swordsmanship 2, Dagger combat 5, Energy Shield 2
Magic Skills: Null magic 3, Water magic 4, Fire magic 5, Earth magic 6, Wind magic 3, Lightning magic 1, Healing magic 2, Dark magic 1, Light magic 3, Barrier Magic 4, Ice magic 2, Space magic 5, Poison magic 2, Wood magic 2, Taming magic 2, Hasten Magic Recovery 5, Magic control 4, Blood Magic 1
Crafting Skills: Blacksmithing 2, Alchemy 6, Medicine 5, Construction 3, Mining 4, Carpentry 4, Brewing 2, Butchering 5
Everyday Skills: Penmanship 8, Drawing 8, Cooking 10, Etiquette 5, Calculation 5, Housework 4, Performance 2, Singing 2
Resistance Skills: Mental pain resistance 9, Physical pain resistance 9, Health 7, Poison resistance 8, Alcohol resistance 7, Sleep deprivation resistance 4, Stench resistance 6, Disease resistance 5, Hallucination resistance 3
Sensory Skills: Magic detection 6, Sence malice 2, Night Vision 6, Miasma vision 3, Long sight 2, Sence Animosity 3
Special Skills: Self-healing 5, Stamina Boost 5, Mana boost 2, Food Storage 4, Stealth 3, Intuition 3, Survivalist 4, Oracle 1, Character Judgment 2
Titles:
Overcome an unhappy life
Savior
Apprentice of the Sage
Apprentice of the Martial Queen
Apprentice of Evolution Goddess
Favorite child of Evolution Goddess
Bandit's Bane
Skull Bear's natural enemy
Lector
Protections:
God of Creation Atan
Goddess of Evolution Tunetia
God of Life Lodite
Goddess of Love Cullana
God of Crafts Golagi
God of Hunting Vulrin
Seems like my skills have grown and expanded since the time I arrived in the Kassana forest… they didn't show me skills and protections though… WHY AM I A SAVIOR?!!!
Savior: Title given only to those who saved many lives without taking anything for themselves. Holder of this title is as Selfless as he is Great. He is a Paragon of justice and order. (Effectiveness of Resistance skills is boosted)
THE HELL IS THIS?!!! IS THIS SUPPOSED TO BE A JOKE?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
My anger was quickly subdued as we reached the original room where Kalvig, Lena and Blanche were waiting.
„How did it go?" Lena asked as soon as I made it back.
„I got my card," I showed her the card without activating it, so only my name, race and age could be seen.
„You have a light blue color? That means we match!" Lena smiled brightly and showed me her card that she took out from a deep pocket where it was fastened to a soft golden chain.
„Really? That's nice."
„Okay, I'm going! Wish me luck!" Blanche waved us and went with sister Ingrid to the baptism room.
„So how was it?" Lena asked a question, strangely similar to the first one.
„Quite interesting. I did not expect it to be so shiny."
„I know, right?"
„Arito. Let me ask you, though you don't have to answer, how high is your total Magical prowess?"
„My total? Hmm… around two hundred thousand."
„I see… that is quite high for an Ancient of your age. Is your control good?"
„I never had much problem… my Magic Control skill is actually level 4."
„I see that's great. Your spells could misfire if the control was too low, after all. Crafters of Magic weapons with low leveled Magic Control skill tend to lose control of the weapon during crafting resulting in explosion."
„Grandpa is worried because up to fifteen years of age Ancients have a tendency to lose control over their magic. It happened to me too, but as my magic lacks offensive power, nothing that worrisome happened," Lena smiled proudly.
„Why are you looking like that? If you used Fire magic, then you would burn down an entire mansion with everyone in it," Kalvig tapped Lena's forehead.
„Uuuu… Arito, grandpa is a meanie," Lena tried to act spoiled by hugging my arm.
„But he's right."
„Ack!" my strightfaced comeback gave Lena a critical damage, sending her to her knees.
„I'm back…" Blanche came back with a depressed look.
„Did something happen?"
„No…" Blanche had an empty look and showed me her Status card which was slightly darker and most importantly, green.
Name: Blanche Aruze
Race: Elf
Age: 12
Magical Prowess: 134,520
Physical Prowess: 21,487
Affiliation: Risha Kingdom, Nomille Duchy
Combat Skills: Marksmanship 7, Dagger combat 3, Unarmed Combat 4
Magic Skills: Null magic 3, Summoning magic 1, Barrier Magic 2, Fire magic 1, Wind magic 6, Healing magic 2, Light magic 3, Wood magic 2, Hasten Magic Recovery 3, Magic control 4
Crafting Skills: Sewing 5, Material preparation 4, Butchering 4, Carpentry 2, Medicine 2
Everyday Skills: Cooking 4, Etiquette 2, Calculation 3, Housework 5
Resistance Skills: Mental pain resistance 6, Physical pain resistance 6, Alcohol resistance 3
Sensory Skills: Magic detection 2, Night Vision 3, Magic Sight 1
Special Skills: Food Storage 2, Survivalist 3, Fashion sense 1
Titles:
Overcome an unhappy life
Savior's Damsel
Protections:
Goddess of Love Cullana
God of Wind and Hunting Vulrin
„Aritooo… t-that title…"
Given she showed me everything, I could be sure she had no reason to hide anything from me. She must mean that Savior's Damsel title, right? If not… well, we both have the other title, so it should be fine…
„It's fine, look here," I took out my Status card and showed her my Savior title alongside everything else. Repaying her in kind, you could say. When she saw it, she looked up, her eyes growing wide. I smiled at her and winked secretly.
„Is everything okay?" Kalvig asked.
„Yes!" Blanche beamed a happy smile, while hugging me.
„Okay, that is—WHAT?! Why do you have the same last name?!!!"
„I asked Arito for it and he agreed!" Blanche grinned proudly while hugging my arm.
„Arito… care to explain yourself?" Lena said in a cold voice, her neck practically creaking.
„Well, Blanche didn't want to have her parents name so she asked me for mine. I don't see a problem with that," I smiled teasingly and pulled Blanche closer, „Do you see a problem with it Blanche?"
„N-no…" she blushed and placed her hand around my waist.
„AHEM!!! Everyone, this is a church, not a place to be flirting," Ingrid got angry and threw us out of the church.
„Well, let's get to the Summoners guild. Blanche, will you sit it out?" Kalvig asked.
„No, I have the Summoning magic skill, so I wanna try it!"
„I see. Then let us get you your first contract done while we are at it," Kalvig said as he boarded the carriage after us.
The guild was near the port as most of the monsters in this town were water based. The guild building itself wasn't looking that clean, but it strangely worked with the giant beasts moving around.
We were in the back while Kalvig did everything for us. Within minutes we were led to the backroom where we were served tea by the receptionist and soon came in a pair of older elves. They gave Blanche a single glance before moving to the rest of us. If they try to do something to her, I won't stay still or silent.
„Lord Kalvig, it's been far too long. Two hundred and fifty years, I believe?"
„You are missing five years, Mr. Audile. Mrs. Abelle, has your son been well? I haven't seen that little rascal for a decade or two."
Sense of time in another world is really crazy.
„He's been training his swordsmanship and magic like always, he recently became an A rank adventurer. But what is your reason for coming here?"
„I came to register my granddaughter and this boy as tamers, and the girl as a Summoner."
„Is that so? And what did you tame?"
„Three slimes. Two healing slimes and one Light slime. They finished their evolution yesterday," Lena took out her three slimes from a basket covered by cloth.
„Oh, ho~ a Light slime? I definitely never saw one before. Sadly, as they are only slimes, we can only place you to the rank H," the old woman said.
The lowest rank is I and the highest is S. Somehow it reminds me of video games. I should've asked the gods when I could.
„And what about the boy? Also some interesting monsters?"
„Indeed. I tamed Black Wolves, Shadow Wolves, One Blizzard Wolf and One Infernal Wolf, Two Gobinas, One Hobgoblin, two Fire Beetles, six Ogres, Freezing Owl, Phantom Owl, three Shadow Owls, Vampire, Corpse slimes, Bloody Slimes, Golden Slime, Poison slimes, Medicine Slimes, Moss Slimes, Spore Slimes, Collagen Slimes, Acid Slimes, Resin Slimes, Cocoon Slimes, Cleaning Slimes, Grime Slimes, Healing Slimes and one Space Slime."
„Wait, what?"
„Should I repeat myself?"
„Please don't!" the old man waved his hands in front of his head.
„I keep them in my Dimension home, do you want to see them?"
„Please," the woman nodded so I opened my Dimension Home and had them follow me inside.
As we walked inside, we got to see the six ogres training against Romi and her Vampire servants. The one moving around the most was Undead wolf who recently became Lesser Vampire. The Ogres were getting their rears kicked though.
„Wha—"
„This is crazy… I've heard of Ancients being capable of using high tier magic from an early age, but to think he had such an army of monsters too…"
„Helmina what rank do you see?"
„Do I have to give him one Barot?"
The two were talking and completely ignored the rest of us. At that moment, the Space slime teleported and landed on my head.
„What's that?!" The man was surprised by the slime's sudden appearance.
„My Space slime. It's a slime that can use space magic."
„I never heard of that slime… a monster that can use Space magic? Never heard of one before. I can understand healing and light slimes, as they appeared before, but what is this?! My monster's understanding is turning on its head! Slimes shouldn't be able to use space magic."
„That's it. The strongest monster you have here is D rank so we will give you E rank so the other branches and the HQ don't intervene too much."
„Well, you also collect information about monsters, so would you like to have information on how to evolve them? I believe something like that could grant the boy at least a D or C rank."
„Huh? You know how to evolve monsters? That was a good joke, Kalvig."
„But I do know. How to evolve the slimes for example."
„…Talk boy," Helmina said defeatedly.
„Should I?" I turned to Kalvig and after receiving a nod from him I continued, „All monsters are separated into two types. Magic born and Adapted monsters. Adapted monsters born evolved monsters, but Magic Born monsters evolve themselves. Slimes evolve by eating. If you feed them specific food they will evolve accordingly."
At that moment a slime I previously used Dark magic on, came to me and asked for more so while the duo was murmuring to themselves I fed him some magic power. Soon after that he started spitting and absorbing magic power and evolved on the spot, right before two no believers, into a Dark slime.
„It's true…"
„I can't believe it…"
And then, the two fainted on the spot.
„Oopsie… Ogres! Two of you get here and carry them out!"
„Yes sir!"
Two ogres came to the spot the two elves fainted at and carried them outside the Dimension home and placed them on the sofa in the room.
Spotting the time was good, I used Monster Appraisal on the new Dark slime.
Dark Slime
Almost mythical breed of slime seen only once every thousand years. It is made of dark magic and it can use it too. Dark magic 2, Dark magic resistance 3, Dark magic absorption 1, Jump 4, Absorb 4, Life steal resistance 4, Dissolve 2, Split 1
„I see, so it can use dark magic, just like the one I used on him. I wonder if he could learn other spells too…"
Currently I could use three Dark magic spells. The most basic one called Darkness. Dark Ball, the most basic attack magic and Fear which was an intermediate spell causing fear in the target's heart.
As I was thinking about the slime, Kalvig used healing magic on the two elves to relieve them.
„Urgh… What… happened?" The man woke up first.
„You passed out when you saw the number of monsters Arito tamed."
„Ah… right, I remember…" Barot took papers in his hands and wrote something on it. „Take this to the receptionist and ask her to finish the proceedings… then have her conduct the girl's summoning ceremony… I need to rest now," with that he closed his eyes and started dozing off again, his arm over his eyes.
We left them be and went to do as he said. And so, I became an E rank Tamer right of the bat. Blanche went to make her summoning contract, but as we were not allowed to enter the ceremony room, we waited outside.
About half an hour later, Blanche walked out with a happy smile on her face and a green crystal held on a leather string. She showed me her guild card and found out she was an E ranker too.
„Heheeh, I summoned a Wind Wyrm, she is still young, but will grow stronger with time!"
„Congratulations to both of you. Now do you want to do some jobs for the guild?" Kalvig asked us and we went to take a look, but…
„There's nothing…"
„Yeah, everything asks for water based monsters, so no dice huh?"
„What to do now… it's still too early to go home…"
Each of us complained a little.
„Hmm… Mr. Kalvig, is there an adventurers guild in town?"
„Yes there is, but why?"
„I just thought that it would be good to register there too. Me and Blanche have a lot of experiences living in the forest, so our survival abilities are quite high."
„Hmm… that's right. Let's do that. What about you, Lena?"
„Well, I don't plan on getting in the inheritance race or anything so I thought I would register too, for the future."
„Aaaah, you don't need to think that hard about it," Kalvig smiled and patted Lena's head, „I'm sure you three will be able to talk things out."
„Three?" Blanche asked.
„I have a brother named Hazel who stayed back in the Royal capital because of school. He could come to see us from time to time though. He has a break just like big sis Retty, but he said he had to ‚Study'… I'm sure he just wants to pick up girls and play adventurer, though…" Lena frowned in anger.
„I see… sorry to bring that up."
„Aah, it's fine. He's the one missing out on all the fun parts. Now let's go!" Lena led the charge towards the carriage.
Now as far as the adventurers guild goes, it was a completely different building compared to the Summoners guild. The walls were clean white, the roof was made from red tiles and the few windows that the building had, were made from glass, which only the high class inn and some wealthy looking merchant stores had. Once we got inside, we were handed formulas in which we had to write of at least one skill so we could be assigned well suited missions. I have chosen Taming Magic, Space magic, Bow mastery and Dagger combat, just so I could have easier time choosing jobs. Blanche chose Wind magic and Marksmanship, which was lower version of my Bow Mastery skill. Lena wrote off her healing magic and light magic alongside her swordsmanship. Once that was done, we were quickly send to the training facility where we were supposed to be tested. Lena's supervisor was a B ranked healer of a party from another nation. Blanche's supervisor was a middle aged man who for some reason was completely meek. I guess he had bad memories with elves. Finally, my supervisors were a duo forming a team of an A rank mage and another A ranker who was a scout. Weird combo for a former RPG enjoyer, but they apparently still had zero failed quests to their name.
„You wrote that you can use taming magic and Space magic? What spells can you use with space magic?" The mage boy, called Al Pacta, asked while fixing his glasses.
„I can use Item Box, Dimension home, Pick Up and I recently learned how to use Teleport."
„Can you demonstrate Dimension home before Emilia starts her part of the tests?"
I see, so the tests are more like confirmation we can use our skills.
„
„Are those slimes?" the black haired elf lady asked me. She was the scout of this party called Emilia.
„Yes, they are Resin and Cocoon slimes. They are quite useful in combat."
„I would expect Poison or Acid slimes… I would love to see you how you fight with them, though," she sounded a little disappointed, but slightly excited too.
„I can take those out as well, but I believe they are unfit for tests like this one."
„You have those slimes as well?"
„Among other monsters, yes."
„Well, let's take out our weapons and start, shall we?" Emilia smiled wolfishly and brandished her twin short swords that were made from reddish black metal, „I'm ready when you are."
The two slimes were already fastened around my wrists which seemed to confuse her a little, but nevertheless, she got ready. From my place I could see that some adventurers were already standing by a passageway overlooking the training arena.
„Okay.
I ordered the slime and he spit some of his fibers in a spinning manner to create a cobweb with a combination of its steel hard string and soft sticky string.
„That won't work on— What?!" confusion spread over her face as she realized she could not cut the webs. Sadly for her, they stuck to her hand and blade, leaving only one hand for attacking.
„Hardening spit." My next attack came from the Resin slime. This time she was however smarter and dodged the spit. I closed the distance again and attacked her side paralyzed by cobwebs.
„This won't work!" She parried my hand with her free one.
„Double spit." My next order was a finishing move. Cocoon slime spit cobwebs and the Resin slime spit a half hardening and half sticky solution. Coincidentally, the handguards I was wearing right now have a place for slimes to fit into and were made from this exact material. I call it Slime PVC. It looks similar and feels to the touch about the same. Only thing that is different is that this material can withstand even the sharpest of blades.
„Not again!" she jumped back, but I at least managed to cover her other blade. She tried to shake it off, but the sticky solution was way too hard.
„That kid…"
„He's pushing her back without a drop of sweat…"
„Really? The Blade Tornado is being pushed back by a kid with slimes?"
„He may be an Ancient, but this is too much…"
The adventurers were murmuring among themselves.
„Who the hell are you kid? I was not using my usual skills as it would be unfair against a newbie, but you make it look like I should have. Did you train with someone famous before?"
„Not really… I just lived for a few years in a forest where I was hunting beasts and bandits."
„Did he say bandits?"
„My brother is a guard and he said there was an Ancient kid with a ducal family that got bounties for four big names."
„With the ducal family? So it was not just a ruse that they came to the city…"
The adventurers started talking again.
„Grrrr… it's my loss. I can't go into hand to hand combat with these stuck to my hands."
„Are you sure? I could melt it for you."
„Don't be a battle junkie! You are too young for that!" she pointed her hand, which had the dagger still glued to it, at me. Looking at her hand, tears threaten to spill from her eyes.
"Pffft! What is this?! Getting beaten by a kid with slimes, Blade Tornado? Really?" a bald man with a giant ax on his back came laughing.
"If you are so sure you can beat this kid, then why don't you try it? Are you okay with that Arito?" Emilia asked me and I nodded.
"Hah! No problem! I will beat the kid and show y'all who is the strongest adventurer in town!" the man brazenly came forward, other people clearing the place for us. I was still holding my daggers firmly when the man struck the ground with his ax.
"Come at me, Punk," He waved at me.
"Alright, magic and skills allowed?"
"Use whatever you want!"
"Okay.
"Gyaaaaaaaah!!!" The man jumped forward when he received a direct hit from my dark magic spell. His legs were shaking and his eyes wavered. He was afraid of me thanks to the spell and I had no intention of letting him go now.
"What is it? Didn't you say you will beat me? When? When I'm a feeble old man? You'd need to wait way too long for that, human." I did not let the spell weaken. Not even half a minute into the fight, he fainted and I was declared a victor.
***
※???'s side
After the trio finished their tests, the guildmaster of the branch, former S rank adventurer, called in the four supervisors.
„Well, we had quite a line up today. Duke's daughter, an Ancient boy and an Albino elf, what were their results?" the guild master asked with a straight, even voice. He was a dwarf born to Albino dwarf woman, so he was quite angry when he saw someone attacking or discriminating against Albinos, hence his reputation as the [Guardian of White] was widespread over the entire southern continent.
„The youngest daughter of duke Nomille is quite skilled with healing and light magic, though her swordsmanship is slightly lagging behind. She would perfectly fit into any E or D rank party."
„I see. Karo, what about the elf girl?"
„Ah! Yes! Um… the girl… Blanche, she definitely is… markswoman… she can use daggers well and has keen sense, I'd say… she's about D or weaker C rank," the perpetually flustered and nervous Karo said while fiddling his fingers.
„I understand… and the boy? I saw a little, but tell me more, Emilia and Al."
„He's scary. Using intermediate Space magic at his age? I know Ancients grow quickly, but this is too much. As for Emilia…" Al looked over to the sofa at the side of the room, where Emilia was staring blankly into the space.
„Impossible… I lost to slimes just because I didn't know what they could do… and it was so easy to get rid of those webs for them too… and that goblin… What even was that?"
Coincidentally, after the battle ended, Arito called out his Cleaning slime which Urza brought out. The slime had no problem melting away the resin and cobwebs which Emilia found amazing. This led to Urza replying to her surprise with „I know, right? These guys make for a great bath too."
„To be honest, we never heard of Goblins being able to use Human Language or one with intelligence on a human level."
„That was a surprise to me too, but what about his abilities?"
„As a magic user… probably B or A rank, the Teleport-Terror combo was as scary as it was effective. As a warrior, though, we think he is of the same rank as us at the least. He was not afraid to use his energy manipulation skill and he even used energy to shield himself."
„Aaaaaaahh… you guys don't make it easy to me… I guess I will have to talk with them myself. Briggitte, call them in I will judge them myself."
„As you wish, guildmaster," the brown headed Ooga girl smiled and went out of the room.
„And you are dismissed too. Take some time off, if you need it. Especially Emilia."
„Those slimes… I can't underestimate slimes anymore…"