Staring down at my reflection rippling on the surface of the water, I can't help but frown at my new looks.
"I'm so white, and... girly?"
With a mutter, I turn my face from side to side, looking over my delicately soft features with furrowed brows.
"Why do I look like an adorable little girl?"
Even though the water wasn't a perfect reflective surface, it worked well enough to highlight my new features. My skin almost glowing in the sun, my long forest green hair falling in loose curls over my sharp sparkling green eyes, and my pouty pink lips turning my scowling and disgruntled expression into the epitome of cuteness.
With further observation of my general body, it also became clear that my body wasn't exactly the most... masculine of forms.
'Hell! If I hadn't made absolutely sure I would be doubting my own gender!'
"Haaaa... Great, just great."
Releasing an annoyed breath, I complained for the nth time, gathered water in my hands, and washed my face with it. Now with a newfound appreciation of the accessibility of water that I took for granted in my last life, I fully enjoyed the feeling of washing my face for the first time in days.
'Though it's not like I sweat, or can even get dirty, but it's the feeling that counts, you know?'
Moving on, it's been a few days since I successfully managed to escape the impromptu battle royal I found myself participating in. A few very stressful and informative days.
"At least I finally found a river."
After spitting out the water I used to wash my mouth, I stood up with a satisfied sigh, taking note of any oddities in my immediate area with a glance. Not finding anything, I pulled up my status.
'[Status]'
[Ding!]
[ Name: Floros
Title: The Coward (more)
Power: 9
Race: Petty God
Divinity: Flowers 9% (more) Masks 14% (more)
God points: 8/10
[Skills] [Quest] [Rank up] [Map]
*The Coward: Slightly increases the improvement rate of any escape-related divinity/skill]
'Kindah annoying that it does say how much 'Slightly' actually is, but apart from the hit to my nonexciting pride, it's better to have it than not I guess.'
After finally making my escape, I spent the next hour just running, followed by figuring out how to use my 'Divinities' to hide somehow. Even though it was intuitive, it still took a few tries to get the hang of it.
"Now... Right or left?"
Tilting my head thoughtfully, I debated on which path I should take before finally deciding to go left.
"'Always hug the left wall' right?"
*Vooom*
[ -1 God point]
With a hard nod, a blank mask materialized in a convergence of golden particles. It covered most of the upper half of my face, mostly around the eyes while exposing my nose and mouth.
As soon as the mask took form, the area around him became drastically quieter, even my previously glowing and vibrant skin took a muted grey hue.
'Alright, let's go.'
And so I continued, keeping up with the same routine I've had since I started running. Head in a random direction and hope for the best, always making sure I'm behind some type of coverage.
During these past few days, I've taken my time to thoroughly explore the system, my divinities, and the knowledge ingrained into my head. And let me tell you, it was a loooot of text. It felt like I was reading the terms of service for most media at the same time. So to give a TLDR about everything I managed to find out.
To start, based on the knowledge downloaded into my mind at birth, it became evident that a god is at their most vulnerable when they are newborns, resulting in their divinity being at its most 'fluid' and makable state.
This fluidity lasts for about a year before it 'solidifies' slightly. This 'solidification' makes the god safer from having their divinity ripped away, but also has the downside of making it harder to incorporate new divinities that aren't related to my birth divinities.
'Hence why Demeter made sure all her children were born all at once. Forcing them to fight each other so only the most capable survive, absorbing all the divinities of her 'weaker' children. This is also the reason how my Rose divinity was easily able to evolve into my current Flower one'
Following up on the age part of a gods development. The 1st hundred years of life are the most important. This is because after this initial hundred, ranking up from a minor to median, or from median to major, becomes infinitely harder. It also locks in all the divinities the god has at their disposal, making it impossible to gain, and or, evolve their divinities.
'And then we get into the more complicated info when concerning what a specifically ranked god can actually do.'
To dumb it down, petty gods can only affect themselves with their divinity. Lesser gods can affect others with their divinity, and it's only when you reach minor status that you can influence the wider world. Then comes the median rank, also known as a godly milestone, because it is only here where you can affect elements outside your divinity by brute forcing it with 'God points'.
'Like willing a tree to grow while being a god of fire, or plaguing a city while being a god of healing. With enough God points anything is possible. Literally anything.'
And that's a good transition into the next point of interest, 'God Points'.
Simply put, God points work kindah like Mana from any fantasy setting, just waaaay more potent. You know all that sh*t I did during the battle royal? yeah, that didn't even use a full God point!
The only reason why my Mask divinity uses that many God points is because I overpower it with more GP than necessary to mask myself not only from other Petty gods, but from anything that ranks Just below Minor.
Another thing about GP is the fact that the amount you have increases based off of what rank you are.
Petty -> 10
Lesser -> 100
Minor -> 1000
Median -> 10000
So I can only assume that as you rank up it keeps increasing by a 10 X margin.
'Though I don't really know what all the ranks are, I can only assume that there are a few more before reaching Major, going off of the fact that there were a few of my siblings that were born Lesser, while a union between 2 of THE Olympians resulted in a Minor. So me being a union between a Median and Major resulting in only a Petty, means that there has to be at least on rank between Median and Major.'
The last thing I found out about my divinities was how my Mask divinity worked.
[Mask (Petty): A Divinity that gives the user dominion over masks. The divinity is heavily aligned towards concealment, what it conceals matters little (Facial features, emotions, power, or even the trace smell divine blood leaves behind). Due to the absorption of { Eyes + Rabbits + Rats + Snakes + Vultures + Bees + Goats } The Mask divinity has gained a more martial aspect. By dawning masks with characteristics in line with the aforementioned divinities, you may use said divinities as though they were your primary divinity, increasing one's improvement rate over said divinity by a large margin.]
'-Or so it says, basically Mask is used for Masking things, I know, shocker.'
Though I was genuinely grateful for it, given all the close calls I've had with monsters so far. Not to mention the potential for growth it has, basically giving me multiple Primary divinities.
'Which is really impressive considering primary divinities develop twice as fast as secondary ones. And since Mask allows me to use its secondary divinities as if they were my primary, it drastically increases its potential in every aspect. The downside is that that means I'll be spending more time on my individual divinities due to the sheer number of them now available to m-!!'
*Crunch...*
[ -2 GP ]
Crouching down low in surprise, I almost instantly dumped 2 more GP into my Mask, making me virtually undetectable from anything under Minor rank.
*...*
Slowly peeking out from behind the thick tree I hid behind, my weary eyes focused on anything that might or might not be a threat.
*Crunch..*
'!!!'
My head wiped in the direction I heard the sound coming from, my fingertips transforming into sharp thorns in preparation for any unexpected situation.
*Crunch.*
...
..
.
*Crunch!*
================================
A/N: Made an entire chapter before this, then discarded it 'cause I didn't like the way it turned out, so hopefully this one's better. Also changed the way I oriented the dialogue, this just feels better.😅