Hey guys, I've reworked the layout of the story to be and I think I have figured out a good balance of what I want and several of my audiences want. I believe that the best course of action is for me to do what I want most while noting the suggestions and ideas people give me.
I made a list of some issues in the previous novel, and I think I have a decent story to share. With that done, let's go on with the chapter!
5K words.
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Not long after Hestia updated Silver's status…
Having put on his shirt again, Silver walked around the church, checking its structure, "... This place is quite old. The structure is stable, but I wouldn't be surprised if a piece of wood fell on my head."
'I wonder which deity was worshiped here. Certainly a goddess, but I can't tell which one. These depictions of the deities always distort reality. Is it because the deities never truly manifested before the mortals of the past?'
"Hum… cleaning this will take a while."
'Keeping the church isn't an issue, but I'll look for a better home once I pass by the Guild again. I'll have to do it anyway to register it.'
Silver went down to the basement and pulled up his sleeves, "Let's start by fixing some of the furniture in the room."
"And how are you going to do that?"
Silver didn't answer her. He walked to an old and dusty wardrobe and touched it.
/Creak…/
Silver's hand slowly transformed into wood as branches and leaves sprouted out of it.
"WHAT?"
/Creak.../
His fingers elongated, fusing with the wood. The wardrobe trembled as the dust and rotting fragments fell to the side, piling up around it.
After a few seconds, the wood was completely revitalized, as if it had just been cut and processed.
Silver pulled his hand away, turning it back to how it was before, "Now that I look at it, it's quite a good wardrobe."
He looked at his palm, 'I can also feel a considerable difference in my power usage. It's not just the stats but the blessing itself. I'm a completely new person.'
'So this is the power of Falna.'
Distracted, Hestia jumped him, clenching his hand as she looked at his skin, "Wait, wait… wait! What did you just do? Is your hand alright?!"
"It's alright, don't worry, this doesn't hurt at all."
'Some Plasmids do hurt though… but the most I can feel from them are varying levels of discomfort. Nevertheless, after so many years of use, I got used to them.'
'Learning how to use a new arm can be daunting at first, but my learning days are long past me.'
She looked at his fingers, a complex gaze on her face as she sighed, "As long as you are fine… what now?"
"We continue. There's much to do."
'We could leave right now, but there's no need to hurry. This is also a good opportunity for me to get a grip over my abilities… besides, even if we bought a home today, it wouldn't fall into our hands for quite a while. Not to say buying furniture.'
Once he was finished with his little experiment at the wardrobe, Silver moved to the only bed in the small basement.
"The frame itself is easy to fix, but the mattress is beyond my current abilities."
'It's not that I can't but that some abilities are beyond my means right now… I could clean it throughly though, but at that point, might as well just buy a new one… it wouldn't even cost a few magic stones worth of Valis.'
Silver slowly revitalized the bed frame's wood like before, but this time Hestia grew even more euphoric, "Wha-Wha-What is going on?!"
She jumped onto his back when he was distracted on the ground. Shaking his shoulders left and right as she tried to get his attention.
"What?…"
"How did you revive the wood?!"
Silver tried his best to remain stable as she made a fuss on his shoulders, "Be careful, goddess, or you might fall."
"Tell me! How are you doing all of this?!"
"There is no need to be euphoric. I will tell you everything soon… we have all day, anyway."
'Explaining things might be difficult though… I used to know, but with Magic Power involved in the equation... not to say giving her lessons in biology and more…'
For the next few minutes, Silver went around the room with Hestia right behind him, curious as he manipulated the environment.
After about an hour, he wiped the sweat off his forehead, "Phew… I guess I am done with this room… what do you think?"
/Thum!/
Hestia jumped onto the couch with a radiant smile on her face. She kept jumping on it like a child, and Silver eventually decided to leave her be.
Silver turned to the side, looking at the hatch leading to the preaching room…
"Hey Silver!"
"Yes?"
"Dont force yourself too much."
He laughed, "Don't worry about me. This much barely tires me… my grandparents pushed me far more than anything I've done in Orario."
"If I can't even fix an old church, how can I face the Dungeon?"
/JUMP!/
Hestia jumped off the couch and stood before him with her arms on her waist, "Alright, let's do it!"
"Do what?"
"... Fix the Church!"
Silver looked at her up and down, "No offense… but you?"
"HOW RUDE! I can work perfectly fine! Dont underestimate me!" She said as she stomped the ground
He looked away, pensive, "But I don't want you to hurt yourself. There might be things like sharp nails and wood in there, so…"
Silver's arm turned into a mass of shadows as he opened his pocket space, looking for something adequate to protect her…
But as soon as he pulled out a pair of gloves, she froze.
"These won't do, they're too big…" He mumbled as he shoved them back into the mass of shadows
After a while of ignoring her facial expression, Silver gave her two small gloves…
Hestia pouted as she charged at him again. She jumped onto him and wrapped herself around him like a monkey, "What was that?! Your hand turned dark and pulled something from the air as if it was normal?!"
"Ahem… I haven't had the time to explain what I can do… ta-da~?"
She looked at him quietly, not finding the situation amusing at all.
"…"
'Amidst her carefree thoughts and actions, small glimpses of the goddess I read about in books surfaces.'
In legend, Hestia was often portrayed as distant and even cold to some degree. If Silver were to explain, she'd be more akin to uninterested in mortal affairs.
Despite being the goddess presiding over the warmth within mortal homes, until the fire of heaven was stolen, Hestia was a deity fully committed to her task of overseeing the divine fire… or so was written in the texts he found at the Guild.
How accurate are such depictions? Can eternal beings change or are they bound to their nature? There are many other depictions of deities changing over time, Loki being one such example.
In the records, Loki was seen as the antithesis of the divine. Cunning and ruthless, she sowed chaos throughout heaven for the sake of her own interests. Whatever those may have been, it's not written, and maybe that too is for the best. Who knows how she would react if she were to find such bad depictions of her down on the mortal plane.
Artemis too was another example. Cold and equally ruthless, she slew many gods and punished even more for the mere idea of entertaining impure thoughts about her. While still known as a goddess of purity, on the mortal plane, she came to be known as far more understanding.
Perhaps Hestia too had lingering attachments to her old self… 'This might take some time.'
…
After a while, Silver managed to divert the conversation, "You wanted to learn more about my powers, right?"
"Yes. I want to know more about you." She replied with a nod
Silver blushed a little as he sat down on the couch, thinking about what to say. Noticing this, she smiled smugly, "Arereee… why are you blushing?"
"You must be mistaken." He replied, his expression serious
"I saw it! You can't lie. Not to me!"
Silver feigned ignorance, "It's quite dark in here; it must have been the red light from the candles."
"#!!"
'He's so stubborn!'
/Shuaa…/
Silver's hand turned blue as several barnacles grew around his hardening skin… over time, water spewed out from the barnacles, forming a thin coating of a watery substance around his arm.
But it wasn't water but a similar-looking compound. Under his control, the water rose in the air, forming multiple streams of water circling his arm like planetary rings.
In his palm, they condensed into a ball he held onto tightly.
"My magic is about the manipulation of the body, changing it into a biological structure beyond ours."
"There isn't really a need for me to name them, but I do regardless… This ability is called Water Ball. Maintaining this form takes little effort on my part but will reverse, eventually. And as you can imagine, if I can perform such absurd feats of body disfigurement, simple injuries and other sources of bodily trauma… are far too easy for me to correct."
"While I still feel pain and I'd rather avoid it altogether, I can heal cuts, fractures, bruises, or even worse injuries with the same efficiency as a potion, albeit quite slowly. You can see it as an inevitable form of natural healing, for my body will return to its natural state regardless of how damaged it is… though there is a limit."
"I can retain these forms for longer if I want to, maybe even turn them permanent… but as you can imagine, I have no interest in looking like this for any longer than I need to."
/Splash!/
Silver released the water ball onto the stone wall, but it did little apart from stain it.
"Now, transforming my body has its perks, but that's only a means to an end. What matters is what I do with this altered biology of mine."
"Like I showed you, I manipulated water with my will, but when I release it like this, I consume a lot of energy. Before being blessed, I had to be extremely cautious about how I used my powers, and I don't think that'll change anytime soon."
He looked at his hand, "You can say this is akin to being in a half-activated state… and this is only one of the most basic applications I came up with."
Silver gathered water into his hand again, but this time, rather than a ball, he altered its shape. A triangle, a cube, a pyramid, a person… all the way back to a ball.
"This form of manipulation doesn't really consume a lot of Mind… and while it's not very useful as it is, this is only one form of it. In short, its relative. There are so many applications with so many uses that its hard to list them all even if we were to stand here for a few more days."
"I spent years researching these after all."
'The last few years, yeah…'
/Burn…/
His hand slowly changed. The barnacles cracked, and the water boiled, turning into flames!
Under his control, the fire danced around his arms exactly like water, "I don't really know the limits of what I can do, so to simplify things, in the last few years, I divided this power of mine into Tiers based on what I felt was the most complicated to the simplest to perform."
"This is the first tier… Abilities that were easy for me to perform even as a mortal. It doesn't mean they're weak. They have potential, they can grow… but with my abilities, the realm I could push them into wasn't that high."
/Transform…/
"To cite a few examples…" He pondered deeply, as he looked at his arms, their forms changing whenever he thought about it, "This includes simple applications of Elemental Manipulation, Chameleon, Telekinesis, Shadow Inventory as you saw before, and much more."
"Woah…"
Hestia looked in wonder Silver's hand, and body kept changing under his control.
"What do you think? Still with me?"
She nodded excitedly, "Yes!"
"Alright, we can go into details later, but what I told you was the gist of it. We can go into detail later."
Silver smiled, "But this isn't everything I can do. While difficult, there's something that takes me quite some effort to do, the current limits or rather, my past limits as an ordinary person."
"Let me explain what Tier-2 is."
Silver suddenly vanished, shocking Hestia.
"EH?! S-Silver?! Where are you?! Did you turn invisible?"
/Silence…/
"D-Don't scare me like that!"
'His blessing is close, if I concentrate…'
Just when she focused… "Boo."
"KYAAAA!!"
/FLASH!/
The moment Hestia screamed, a flash of light momentarily blinded her, causing her to narrow her eyes rather comically.
"Oh, yeah… this one will be quite good." Silver said as he looked at his camera
'Right into my collection… speaking of this, maybe I should look for a deity of craftsmanship, they might be able to produce the pieces I need to improve this.'
"Umumumu…"
After Hestia recovered from the shock, she immediately pounced on him with dangerous intent.
…
After running around the place for a few minutes, Hestia lost her breath, sitting down with a tired expression.
"Urg… I will get you one day… huff… What was that? And what is that metal box in your hand?"
"Oh, that? Just plain Invisibility. As for this box, its just a camera. There are quite a few around… do you want to take a look at the photo?"
"Invisibility… Silver…"
"Yes?"
Her expression was very serious as she looked at him, "If I hear you using this ability for bad things, there will be no second chances!"
"… I wasn't intending to…" He replied as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead
To change the mood, Silver opened his camera and took out the film, using his abilities to treat it so the image would be revealed.
"… Phew… I got it…"
Hestia was curious, so she shoved her head right in front of his… "This is…? AHHHH!"
What she saw in the camera was her distorted face as she squinted her eyes at the camera in horror.
"Give it to me! I need to destroy it! Burn it down!" She exclaimed as she jumped forward
But before she could do anything, Silver threw the camera and the photo into his shadow inventory.
"That's my memento from now on."
"URG! That's unfair!"
She turned around and sat on the bed with her back turned to him, pouting and with her arms crossed.
"Hestia… How about we take a photo together?"
"Humph."
"What if I add something extra?"
Her ears … 'perked up', but she did not turn around.
"How about we go out to eat something?"
'Might as well take this chance. There isn't anything around here.'
She turned her face slightly, "I can forgive you a little…"
"Let's continue."
"It isn't over?" She asked as she turned around, crawling to the edge of the bed
"Far from it. I have yet to show you my most important tool!"
/Snap!/
Silver snapped his fingers.
/Crack!/
Before them in the middle of the room, a tall door rose from the stony floor.
Despite Silver's actions having numbed her surprise, Hestia was still taken aback by the door's sudden appearance, "What… What is that?" She asked as she walked around it
"This is my lifeline… I call it Houdinis Door… but its just a name."
"What does it do?"
Silver walked around it with her, "This door can connect places, disregarding spatial distance. Meaning I can use it to go in and out of the Dungeon whenever I want."
'There are some conditions for this application, however… first of all, I must first have visited the place in question, and second, the distance can't be too far. I can fully teleport over long distances with this Plasmid, but with my abilities, that won't be happening anytime soon.'
Hestia's mouth opened wide. She couldn't believe what she had just heard. To put in perspective, Silver could heal himself and store items in a subspace; those alone were valued and rare forms of magic…
But being able to leave the Dungeon whenever he wants? Was that ever a thing? The Dungeon's greatest threat was the very fact you were trapped within it, but if that could be disregarded…
'Just what kind of guy did I recruit?! To think he was going to Hephaestus… I almost feel sorry for her… almost.'
"Hello~…You there?"
She took a deep breath, "Its just… I am confused about all of this."
Silver smiled, "My grandmother was just like that as well."
"#!"
'Don't compare me with your Grandma!'
/Growl!/
At that moment, Hestia's stomach protested. Seeing this, Silver went for the hatch, "We did a lot today and we still have some time, how about we eat something and pass by the Guild if we have the time? We can go there first if you want as well."
"Uhum!"
'I can think about things slowly. Ask one thing at a time.'
Hestia put all of her thoughts away for right now; none of them mattered. At the end of the day, this was the adventurer she chose! She will support him to the top of Orario!
No… she would make him reach it!
…
/Later…/
After having a hearty meal with Hestia at a rather expensive restaurant to the south. With the time they had left, they made their way to the Guild to finish the legal portion of their Familia's creation.
…
"We're here… and from the looks of it, right on time." Silver said as he looked at the Guild
'Soon enough the Guild will close to the public, so let's get things done.'
Silver looked at Hestia, who was looking around in curiosity, "Is this your first time here?"
She shook her head, "Hephaestus brought me here moments after I descended. It was to get my documentation or something. We didn't stick around for long, though."
"I see."
'Perhaps Hestia's name hadn't been added to the book of gods by the time I read it.'
"Shall we?" Silver asked as he stepped inside the Guild
Hestia entered after him, glancing curiously at her surroundings.
Compared with the usual, the Guild was quite bare.
"What do we do now? I'm not versed in the process." She asked as she pulled his shirt
"Neither am I, but when in doubt, ask someone else…" Silver replied as he looked around
He reached the counter, approaching a tall elf, his gaze tucked at a document. The man was quite serious as he read through his file, pondering over something in silence.
"Excuse me sir."
The elf glanced at him, putting his paper aside, "Good night, adventurer. How can I help you tonight?"
"It's like this, I recently became an adventurer, so I came here to report and all of that."
"I'm his goddess!" Hestia exclaimed from the side as she put her hands on the counter
"So it's a Familia registration… is it a Familia registration?" He asked as he looked at Silver for confirmation
Silver turned to Hestia, "Did you register a Familia when you were here before?"
"Nope. I only signed some papers and stamped something else with my thumb."
The elf nodded, "Yes, the usual identity registration procedure. I'll get the documents…" He said as he went to the side, "Where is that book… Oh! While I get things ready, can you please fill out this paper?"
He placed a single sheet of paper on the table.
"The Familia registration will be done by her, in your case… please, fill up your name, age, parents, the head and the name of the Familia..."
Hestia tapped the paper from the side, "Write it as Hestia Familia."
But Silver smiled in response, "I figured."
"#! Why do I feel as if you're mocking me?"
"I'm not. 95% of Familias are like that."
"Should we make it different then? Something like…"
"Let's leave it at that…"
"#!!"
…
/Five minutes later.../
/Bam!/
The Guild worker dropped an enormous book on top of the counter. After that, he picked up the paper and read it with focus, "Let me see… Mellios Silver, son of Marcus Esca and Rubia Esca?"
"That's right."
'Now that I think about it, given there are such records, I might find my grandparents' records… that would be interesting. To see how they grew up in their youth.'
'It could also give me some insights into things… what it means to be in a Familia.'
He placed the paper on top of the enormous book before returning to the back of the room and picking a green one. Opening the book revealed a multitude of beautiful and translucent, crystal-like pieces of paper.
As if crystal itself had been sliced… "The process is simple, everything you need to do is to drip a small drop of blood on the paper." He said as he looked at Hestia
"Just that?"
"Yup, we have a small nail to help."
"Urg… can't I just stamp my thumb?"
"No."
"Mumumu…"
With some protest, she prickled her finger…
/Drip.../
/Dling!/
When the divine ichor made contact with the paper, a wave of magical light spread on its surface, almost like when Silver updated his Status for the first time.
/Sha, sha, sha…/
Slowly, multiple lines of hieroglyphs formed on the paper. They twisted and fused together, and after a few moments, they turned into the image of the Hestia Familia.
"Ho… I like this symbol."
"Thanks! Would you like to join…"
"No. I enjoy my work quite a bit… also, Guild workers can't just join a Familia like that. There are security protocols we have to follow, please understand… and never try this again."
She played with her fingers as she looked down in shame, "Okay…"
He let out a faint sigh, "Let's see… So you're mister Silver and the first official member of the Hestia Familia… now its up to me and some bureaucratic papers…"
"There are only a few things left."
Silver nodded, "Just tell me what to do."
He turned to Hestia, "This will take some time… but there are quite a few documents I need you to sign. I'll bring them in a moment."
"Sure thing!"
"Second, we need to assign a Dungeon advisor to you." He said as he turned to Silver, "From your papers, it says you have some experience fighting monsters, right?"
"Correct. My grandparents were adventurers, you see. So I don't lack experience."
"This makes things easier. So here's the deal, you can sign a few papers and be done with it, or you can come back tomorrow so we can find someone to be your advisor."
"Can't we do it now?" Hestia asked as she looked at the elf
"Right now may be a bit difficult… it's almost closing time and most of us have already left…"
"Give him a break. Can't you see how overworked he looks?" Silver "whispered" at Hestia
"Ahem… I'm not THAT overworked… I'm doing willing overtime… which means I'm being overpaid… in any case, it shouldn't take long for you to graduate from your advisor. It usually takes a few months to a year at most, but for someone like you, maybe even less."
"Once an adventurer achieves their first Level Up or reaches the Middle Floors, we usually call it a stop unless they decide to continue, but that's highly individual, being up to you and your advisor to decide."
"I see."
He smiled, "With all that finished… It will be 30K Vallis, please."
""…""
"Come on, don't look at me like that! Do you know just how hard it is to make this paper! It takes a significant amount of time and resources!"
He adjusted his collar, "If you have any problems with paying, don't worry. You have a three month deadline to do so, quite a reasonable amount of time, no? If that's not enough, the Guild also offers to extend that debt with no interest."
"S-Silver…"
"What is it?"
"I-I… I have no money!!" Hestia exclaimed as she paled
Silver sighed, opening a small pouch on his waist, "I'll pay it…"
"You're my hero!" She exclaimed as she hugged him
The elf smirked, giving him an understanding gaze… -Lucky bastard- he seemed to say with his gaze as he put the golden coins aside.
He picked another paper and stamped something on it before handing it over to Silver.
"Thank you! Here is your receipt! Within one month, we should have your Familia Seal ready! I hope you have a delightful night and an exciting Winter Festival!" He said in an unusually cold and robotic monotone as he moved to the side to pick up more documents for Hestia to sign
"Before I go, I would like to ask a question."
"Hold nothing back."
"Do you know of any Familia that handles construction around here? I need to have some things fixed and changed around our Familia home… It's better if they are fast."
"Hum… Close to here should be the Vishvakarman Familia. The only problem is that they are quite expensive, but they will do the job quickly and efficiently as you asked."
"If they aren't the ones you are looking for, then you can go to that wooden board. A lot of gods will advertise themselves in the Guild, so you may find who you are looking for if you look there."
"I can even think of a few, Goibniu, Hephaestus…"
He listed a few more, and Silver noted them all.
"Each of them has their own style and prices, but all of them will need the land deeds, which you should have on you." He asked as he looked at Silver
Silver looked at Hestia, "Eh? I have them, of course! I left them… uh… back at the church…"
"… It doesn't matter much anyway… one more thing. If we want to buy land or a property, what do we do?"
"S-Silver! We… we have no money!" She whispered as she pulled his sleeves
"I have enough, don't worry."
"Silver… Silver is rich?" She mumbled to herself while Silver paid attention to the man
"… You can come here tomorrow and state your intention. A reminder though, the Guild is not in charge of selling the property. We're only in charge of connecting the seller with the buyer."
"Although, remember that certain Familias and types have their own taxes and rates… your goddess here will determine that as we finish the paperwork."
"Which type has the least taxes to pay?" She asked as she gulped dry
""…""
"That would depend on your Rank... we're fairly lenient with Rank I Familias, so the monthly tax and other rates won't be that high at all. So don't worry, goddess." He said as a bead of sweat fell from his forehead
He feared Hestia would throw a tantrum like many other deities…
"Well… that was all I wanted to ask. Thank you for the clarification."
"The pleasure is mine… by the way, my name is Loiju!"
"Loiju… alright then. Mine's Silver, see you around."
"… Don't we have to sign those documents?"
"What do we mean, we? You're the responsible one here. I'll go sit down over there. Call me when you're done." He said as he walked to the side
"Silver? Silver! Don't leave me here…"
…
After a while of waiting and almost dozing off into sleep, Silver and Hestia left the Guild and went straight to the Church. On the way, Silver found a good mattress store and bought the first king-size mattress he could find for around fifty thousand Valis, a ridiculous price for such a mundane thing.
While his purchase at Hestia caused a fair share of misunderstandings with the store clerk, they soon left the store with Silver carrying the mattress on his shoulders.
Once they reached the Church, Silver put everything in place and filled a large bathtub with warm water so Hestia could bathe without freezing to death.
As she took a shower, Silver took this time to put on a few more finishing touches in the basement of the Church so it could get a little more cozy.
He helped Hestia dry her hair before leaving to take a shower. Once he washed himself and put on his pajamas, Silver bade Hestia goodnight and went to sleep on the couch despite her complaints.
With that, his first day as an adventurer ended despite the clear lack of adventuring. A short but decisive step in his journey.
It would take a lot to turn this Familia into something great; maybe it would never come to fulfill his expectations, but it didn't matter. There were still many years ahead in his journey, and what he didn't lack… was time.
Silver soon lost himself inside his dreams, drifting further and further into the realm of the unconscious…
"Zzzz…"
...
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Notes
I'll probably slow down with the chapters for now since I put a lot of things on hold. Thanks for being understanding.
That's all from me!