"Alright, Kuro-kun, where's your room? I'll give you the blessing."
Kuro brought Hestia back to his room, then went out again briefly.
Soon Kuro entered carrying water and bandages.
While Hestia was confused, Kuro took off his outer jacket.
His thin body almost entirely wrapped in bandages was visible, and occasionally exposed skin was also full of various scars.
Different from usual when he'd directly rip off the bandages, this time Kuro slowly unwrapped the layers of bandages wound around his body he no longer needed to use pain to numb himself.
When the bloodstained bandages were completely removed, even Hestia, who was a goddess, couldn't help but cover her mouth.
"Does it... hurt?" Feeling that anything she said now would be inappropriate, Hestia finally just asked sadly.
"I'm used to it!"
Even though Hestia really wanted to know what had actually happened to his body, now wasn't the time.
Actively taking the towel Kuro was using to clean his back, Hestia carefully wiped it.
Finally she took out a needle to prick her finger, dropping a drop of blood on Kuro's back.
Instantly light radiated, and sacred letters appeared one by one.
"Kuro-kun, you..."
Seeing the sacred letters continuously appearing, Hestia's eyes first widened, then dimmed.
After a while the light disappeared, and the sacred letters became engravings printed on Kuro's severely damaged back.
Kuro Lv1
Strength I0
Endurance I0
Dexterity I0
Agility I0
Magic I0
Magic:
Skills: Revenge Flame, Suffering Mask, High-Level Player
Revenge Flame: Activated by hatred, but the target must be acknowledged as a revenge target. Attack power against all revenge targets is enhanced at a high level, attack power against humanoid creatures is enhanced at a super level, enhancement effect changes according to the level of hatred the stronger the hatred, the greater the effect. Fire that devours revenge targets will steal part of the devoured target's attributes.
Suffering Mask:
When receiving damage, suffering is multiplied;
Super high level correction to endurance attribute.
High-Level Player:
Third-person perspective map perception;
Understanding of one's own condition;
Understanding of enemy conditions.
"Ahh!"
Along with receiving the blessing, Kuro felt the suffering and itching in his body magnified without limit. Even with his current tolerance for pain, his entire body tensed up and he couldn't hold back a scream.
"Kuro-kun, this is the effect of your skill. Let's continue the blessing update."
Upon feeling the skill, Hestia immediately realized the big problem.
Seeing Kuro continuously trembling all over his body and blood seeping out, Hestia didn't care about anything else.
Right now the only method she could think of was to keep updating the blessing to improve Kuro's physical condition, so it could reduce the suffering.
So Hestia immediately pricked her finger again, dropping god's blood.
Kuro Lv1
Strength I0→I1
Endurance I0→I18
Dexterity I0
Agility I0
Magic I0
Magic:
Skills: Revenge Flame, Suffering Mask, High-Level Player
When the blessing descended, Kuro could feel the suffering from his body decrease slightly.
No, his suffering shouldn't have decreased it should be that his body's toughness itself had increased slightly, the upper limit of suffering he could bear had increased, so the current suffering felt reduced.
Seeing Hestia prepare to prick her finger again, Kuro gritted his teeth tightly.
He grabbed Hestia's hand holding the needle, stopping her movement.
"Hestia-sama, it's okay, cough cough, you're in a human body now, you can't lose too much blood, cough cough, let's just update periodically."
Even though Kuro didn't know what kind of skill was making him suffer so much right now, he could guess that Hestia wanted to increase his endurance through continuous blessing updates.
The idea was good, but he knew his own body's condition best.
His suffering wasn't caused by wounds, but by various reasons.
It wouldn't change just because his physical condition improved slightly.
To give a relieving effect, based on the recovered memories, Kuro estimated he'd need at least over 300 points of endurance.
This value couldn't be achieved in one night.
For ordinary adventurers to reach this value would take months or more.
If Hestia kept updating like this, her body wouldn't be able to handle losing too much blood either.
This wasn't what Kuro hoped would happen.
Even though Hestia was a goddess, what she was using now was just an ordinary girl's body.
Seeing Kuro's eyes that were trembling but firm, Hestia finally agreed.
Next, every ten minutes or so, when Hestia saw he was almost unable to control himself again, she helped Kuro update his blessing.
What Kuro didn't know was that his endurance was increasing at a terrifying speed.
Endurance I18→I67→H118→H163→G201→...→F389→E404
From initially once every ten minutes or so, to later almost once every hour.
After struggling through the night, finally on the second morning, the suffering Kuro endured reached a bearable level, then he fainted.
Kuro's 'first' blessing update, his attributes were also determined.
Kuro Lv1
Strength I0→I17
Endurance I0→E404
Dexterity I0
Agility I0
Magic I0
Magic:
Skills: Revenge Flame, Suffering Mask, High-Level Player
Hestia silently stared at the values in her hands that could be called terrifying.
She'd been in the lower world for three months now. Common knowledge about blessings was often heard from god friends showing off at god meetings.
Ordinary adventurers who got their first blessing having one skill could already be called extraordinarily talented. Even first-class adventurers Lv5 and above only had two or three skills.
She'd never heard of someone getting three skills with their first blessing. Only after seeing the effects of those skills did she fall silent.
Kuro had never mentioned his past, but both his body and his blessing told the story of his past.
Gently helping Kuro wrap his bandages, Hestia opened the door and went out, facing the rising sun while stretching lazily.
Then she sucked on her index finger that was slightly sore from being pricked by the needle all night.
Fortunately, later Kuro had reminded her to draw more blood at once, otherwise she really would have had to be pricked all night.
"God-sama."
"It's finished." Seeing the worried Granny Lan in front of her, Hestia said with a smile: "Oh right, Granny, do you know about Kuro's past?"
"God-sama has already seen his broken body, right?"
"Yes!"
"Actually I don't know much either. I picked up this child two years ago." Granny Lan looked into the distance: "His body was already like that then. After waking up he never spoke, just instinctively reacted to the outside world. You are the first person he's actively brought home."
"Maybe he doesn't want to touch on his past either." Granny Lan sighed: "I just hope this child can live well in the future."
...
Kuro was unconscious for a full day. When he woke up it was already the third morning.
Opening his eyes, his body felt more comfortable than ever before.
The feelings of pain and itching were also not as strong as before.
Most importantly, the whispers in his head that never stopped had finally disappeared.
Opening the door and going out, he saw two people sitting in the courtyard laughing and chatting.
"Kuro-kun, you're awake."
Seeing Kuro come out, Hestia waved while smiling.
His belongings had already been packed by Granny Lan and Hestia.
At the door, seeing Kuro carrying his bag walking away, Granny Lan felt stunned it seemed like she was seeing the day when her husband and child became adventurers and left. Unfortunately, they never returned.
"Dear God, please keep this child safe on his journey!"
This was a mother's most sincere prayer!!