I was lying on my stomach, my face sunk into the hard surface of the couch. My back, already feeling the effects of a bad night's sleep, now received an unexpected strain.
Hestia, smiling with a cheerful "hum, hum~," had climbed on top of me, resting her soft thighs against the sides of my body.
"This is part of the ritual, Ei-kun, so don't move! Leave everything to your Kami-sama's hand."
"Part of the ritual?"
"Yes, yes! Don't worry, it's absolutely necessary."
She assured me, although I wasn't so sure it was absolutely necessary for her to sit on my back.
She giggled as she continued to press me against the couch, as if she didn't have enough. Then she grabbed the hem of my shirt and began slowly pulling it up. I kept my eyes on the wall so as not to show my desire.
"This is embarrassing..."
It wasn't hard to imagine why she was so anxious. According to Hestia, the Falna procedure required her to touch my body. This meant that I had to take off my clothes.
After she completely removed them, I felt her lean back and let out a small sigh.
"Oh, wow, Ei-kun... You're really toned. Your muscles are so firm..."
She patted my back a few times.
Normally, I didn't pay much heed to compliments, but... I like it! Especially coming from such a pretty goddess.
"Huh? That..."
There was a warm, yet very soft and silky feeling on my back. Since she was wearing a short dress, I felt her bare buttocks pressed against me, and I stared at the ceiling.
'A goddess is sitting on my naked back? Hah, I have transcended to a new level of life.'
I could no longer contain myself, so I took the opportunity to raise my head. Her huge tits swayed with every movement, almost in my face. She was concentrating on pricking her finger with a small needle, her cheeks puffed out in concentration.
"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" My words were slightly muffled by the couch.
"Sure! Pretty much... it's my first time, after all."
'Hey, hey, what kind of answer is that?'
With a 'ouch', a drop of red blood appeared on her fingertip. Carefully, she dropped the drop on my back, right in the middle, where I felt a slight tingling sensation. Right where it dripped, there was a ripple as if the blood touched the calm surface of a lake before disappearing.
At the same time, a bright light flared in the center of my back, casting our shadows on the cracked church walls.
"This is how the gods bestow their blessings," Hestia explained as she traced some patterns on my back. "With this drop of blood, you officially become part of a Familia, my Familia."
In this world, Familias were not simply groups of people bound by blood ties. They were formed by gods and goddesses who gave their Falna to the children they took under their protection.
The Falna, by the way, was the God's Grace, a divine mark that allowed mortals to gain power, level up, and become true adventurers capable of facing the monsters of the dungeon. It was of the utmost importance in an adventure-based society.
Actually, the Falna was not necessary for me. I had the system, which gave me another way to level up and gain stats. However, since the system was programmed to read the benefit of the Falna, I decided to accept it.
As Hestia wrote on my back with her finger, a slight warmth began to spread from the center, moving to each end of my body. The sensation was not connected to the physical, but rather to something happening in my soul. If I had to compare it, it would be as if a small flame had ignited in the deepest part of me and spread to the rest of my body.
"And... done!"
Hestia, who was sitting above me, took a white sheet of paper and pressed it against my back, capturing the strange symbols and hieroglyphs printed on it. These symbols were what was called "status," which was also God's grace.
You could say it was similar to my system. Status is a visual representation of the level, abilities, and stats that an adventurer had thanks to the Grace. But unlike my system, which only I could see, the Status was engraved on the adventurer's back, like a tattoo.
There are also things similar to "Experience Points" that are earned by experiencing various events and difficulties in life. However, unlike the system, where the experience points were given to me immediately after I completed a quest or defeated a monster, this was simply impossible with the Status.
After all, it was not created by human hands, nor could it be understood by mortal minds. Only the gods could naturally manipulate it. They would take the "experience" engraved on their backs, something like "defeating a monster," extract it, and allow it to become food for growth. It was called read and upgrade.
That is, it was only up to the god. Often, this status was also a kind of "warning" to mortals, as most gods were not very generous.
"Here you go," Hestia said as she handed me the sheet with a smile. "Your first status as an official member of the Hestia Familia!"
"Ah. Thanks."
The hieroglyphics on my back didn't make much sense to me at first, but from Hestia's words, I realized they were a record of my growth as an adventurer. As I faced more challenges, those symbols would change, and once I had a sufficient amount of "Experience Points," I would "Level Up."
"The language of the gods is tricky to grasp if you don't study it in depth, but I've put together a translation of the basic status. I'm sure you'll find it easy to read."
As it turned out, the Goddess was right. She had translated the status on the paper she had prepared beforehand. I immediately looked at it with curiosity.
[Eithan]
Lv 1
Strength: I - 0
Endurance: I - 0
Dexterity: I - 0
Agility: I - 0
Magic: I - 0
[Magic]
-
[Abilities]
-
...
If someone who didn't know how this world's magic system worked saw the stats recorded on that piece of paper, they would immediately spit on the ground and say, "Pathetic," or "Not very impressive..." These people are so impatient.
However, the status could not be summed up in those words alone.
General Abilities are divided into five categories: Strength, Endurance, Dexterity, Agility, and Magic. Each category is divided into ten Grades, from highest to lowest, ranging from S, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H to I. The higher the grade, the more powerful the General Ability.
The number next to the letter "I" represents the mastery value: from 0 to 99 corresponds to Grade "I", from 100 to 199 corresponds to Grade "H", and so on, with a maximum of 999. The more effort you put into a category, the faster the mastery value will increase, and with hard work you can reach the maximum of 999, which corresponds to an S-grade general ability.
Categories are not the only thing that affects your growth. The main and most important factor is level. Even a single level increase means a significant improvement in your General Abilities, which implies a great physical as well as mental advancement.
Knowing this, once Falna was obtained, regardless of background or personal strength, everyone started from the same starting point, the lowest grade, "I", with "0" mastery value.
From there, progress depended entirely on each person's circumstances.
My system had a different origin than Grace, so technically my Stats obtained through the system should not be reflected in the Status of my back...
While it is true that God's Grace did not affect my stat, it does not mean that it was completely useless. And as if to prove my point, the display of my system lit up.
[New magic system detected!]
[Grace upgrades will now be converted to System Stat Points each time the Falna is upgraded].
[The assigned Stat Points will be directly proportional to the amount of Mastery Value accumulated.]
***
Dear Isis and Sister,
Ever since I lost you, I felt like everything was meaningless. I thought about giving up, but my stubbornness drove me to keep going, to achieve the impossible. And I have no regrets. Thanks to that stubbornness, I am here today. I won't deny that in the beginning all my decisions were driven by the longing to get you back, but those thoughts have changed.
I have found a new reason to move forward, someone whose smile reminds me of you, sister. She is like the sun and I feel a deep desire to protect her as I have always wanted to protect you. I don't forget you, I could never forget you, but now there is someone else I want to take care of.
You will always be in my heart and everything I do is still connected to you. But maybe, for the first time in a long time, I am starting to walk a new path.
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