Chapter 167: 9-1-2 Clean Up II

At my mental command, a stream of new information filled my head. These where the purported options for my Starting Gift, though at this point I was beginning to wonder at the accuracy of that name. It had, after all, been a decade since I’d actually “started,” as it were.

“[Seed of Authority]: A seed of Authority. No prerequisites.”

“[Seed of  the Dragon Tree]: A seed of the Dragon Tree. Requires one be recognized by a living Dragon.”

“[Seed of the World Tree]: A seed of the World Tree. Requires one with memories of another world.”

“[Seed of a Spirit]: A seed of Spirit. Requires one be recognized by an Original Spirit.”

“[Seed of Sin]: A seed of Sin. Requires one to bear a burning hatred of the divine.”

“[Seed of Divinity]: A seed of Divinity. Requirements Hidden.”

Six choices… And none of the descriptions are helpful in the least.

None of them actually described what making that choice would do for me, though the name gave some hints. After all, I already knew what Authority was, and presumably, the seed of Authority would develop into a second one for me. As powerful as that might sound, it wasn’t worth the risk; my existing Authority already had enough risks and limitations.

Whatever a “Dragon Tree” was, that one was clearly tied with Drakas. It might be good, but the lack of any description meant I couldn’t be sure of its effects; I didn’t know enough about Dragons. The same could be said about the [Seed of a Spirit], except it was tied to Tlaloc instead of Drakas.

That leaves three.

The only three real options then, were the [Seed of the World Tree], [Seed of Sin], and [Seed of Divinity]. The first was exclusive to otherworlders like myself, the second was obviously something related to the Hell Kings or demons in general, and the final was… Well, it existed. One might think that the lack of knowledge there was the same as the ones I’d discounted already, but that would be wrong.

Because I actually have a fair degree of context for it, and something is telling me not to pick it…

Divinity. The Divine Element. One facet if the magic I had been using nearly my entire second life. Yet something was pushing me towards it. Not literally; every time I considered making this choice, a sense of disgust welled up from inside me. It was driving me away, and that made me want to pick it all the more. Logically speaking, I had no reason to feel disgusted toward a menu entry.

Granted, it was named after the divine and therefore had ties to gods. And as recognized by the world itself, my hatred towards the gods was extreme. But this was something else, something other.

Seed of Sin is out. Even if an alliance with the demon faction might be on the table in a hundred years or so, I wouldn’t want to turn into one.

One look at the demons I knew was enough to inform me of what a lousy idea willingly jumping into that particular pool was. Sitri and Eris had both been ruled by their skills, their free will eroded away by the nature of their sin. No, the [Seed of Sin] could not be an option, simply because of that risk. That left two.

Between the [World Tree] and [Divinity], the former seemed to be the better option. It was exclusive, meaning it would probably turn into something of a unique ability, and just considering it wasn’t making me metaphorically sick. But there was a nagging train of thought that was holding me back. A single, logical assumption that had no proof other than sound reasoning and happenstance.

It’s not going to be enough. It might not even do anything at all.

What I meant, was that I “already had it.” I couldn’t shake the possibility once I realized that this [Seed of the World Tree] was simply the name of whatever special treatment an otherworlder received. In my case, it was my [Custom Class] and my own original Authority. In Dominic’s case, it had been his [Demon Aspirant] Class and his Charming eyes… A recollection that made me slightly ill to think about.

I had no proof that this is what it was, but once I’d made the theory, I found myself unable to shake the notion. Then there was the last option. On the surface, innocent if not uninformative. I would regret taking it. It wasn’t something good. Unlike in the previous case, these assumptions were utterly baseless. Even if blindly trusting my theory was a fallacy, the [Seed of the World Tree] Hypothesis at least had a trackable chain of logic and reason leading to the conclusion.

These feelings feel… artificial.

That was the best way to describe it. It felt like I was being gently pushed away from choosing the last one. As soon as the words crossed my mind, the sensation of distrust toward that final option faded away. In its place, there was a momentary wash of satisfaction, but that too soon vanished. Had that been from outside as well? I couldn’t exactly tell, but probably.

For someone who claimed they would be hands-off and simply watch, you’ve been getting more and more intrusive lately…

My lament toward my patron went unheard or, at the very least, unanswered. There was nothing I could do about it anyway. The only lingering question now was whether or not Adroni had been genuinely trying to dissuade me from picking the last option or trying to reverse psychology. After all, it was now clear that despite being offered six choices, I really only had two: Pick the sixth or pick none of them.

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…I’ll take it. Even if Adroni was trying to lead me here, I need more power; I can’t yet face a Hell King with any certainty.

If power was what I wanted, then I probably could have picked any one of the others… But no. From the moment I’d first seen the options, the end result was obvious. Fighting against that was just me being petty for no good reason. After hesitating a few seconds to confirm that these were in fact my own feelings, I locked in my choice.

I felt a wave of lethargy wash over my body, which caused my hand to drop into the water and produce a splash.

“Stali Neechan?”

“My Lady?”

Felicity and Sasha both took note of this fact and raised voices of concern.

“Is the water too hot?” Sasha further added.

“No… Sorry to have worried you both.”

Sasha bowed her head, but Felicity crossed her arms and stared at me for a fair few seconds before deciding that I was being truthful with her. She crossed her arms and sank down in the chair, still upset that her attempt to join me in the bath had been rejected. This wasn’t meant to be a social affair; I didn’t have time for that.

I need to figure out what’s gotten into her.

Add that to the long list of things I needed to accomplish. Not that Felicity being more assertive and less shy was a bad thing. It was just… very sudden. As I contemplated this, I allowed my body to sink lower in the water, until exhaling produced tiny bubbles.

Well, at least that’s not going to be an issue.

I’d had a slight worry that picking my flavor of seed would reset the progress of my starting gift back to that of an unsprouted seed. That stage had taken an obscene degree of experience to grow out of. That proved to be unfounded. When I now checked my status, my starting gift was now displayed as “Sprout of Divinity.”

Furthermore, the lethargy was slowly working its way out of my limbs and I was beginning to feel more alive. Not by any special degree mind, more like a return to form, to the level of energy I’d had before sleeping thirteen days.

Well, I suppose it’s going to take some more work. Next up will probably be a “Bush of Divinity” or, keeping the theme, “Sappling of Divinity: 0.00%.” Whatever.

There were a lot of things I had to do in the near future, and for once, I would have the time; sea travel took a lot of that, after all. But, for now… I eyed Felicity and activated my [Stealth V] Talent, further hiding my actions with a small spell to increase the amount of steam coming off the water. My hands formed a specific shape just below the surface, like I was gripping the hilt of a sword.

In one swift motion, I contracted them while at the same time spending a bit of mana to lower the temperature of the water I was squeezing; it wouldn’t do to burn the girl. My impromptu water jet sailed through the air in a perfect arc, and landed squarely on the top of my little sister’s head.

Bullseye!

Sasha shook her head ruefully while Felicity yelped and jumped up baring her shadow claws at a perceived threat. Once she realized it had been me, she put away the claws but retained the glare. A moment later, she attacked by performing what amounted to a cannonball. By the time she surfaced the glare was gone, replaced with a victorious smirk.

I merely shrugged and sent another splash at her while erecting a small wall of Ice to serve as a shield between us.

I’ve got a lot to do, but I’m done sacrificing family to do it.

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