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Back inside the ruined church safehouse, August summoned his interdinsional portal.
"Whoa..."
Liliruca Arde stared at the freestanding door. To her, a spatial construct like this completely defied reality—it had to be a manifestation of pure divine power.
August called out for Hestia.
"Yaaawn~"
Hestia shuffled back into the main hall, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Blinking away the drowsiness, she noticed the Pallum girl standing by the portal.
"Oh, Lili. You're here." Hestia offered a casual wave.
"Yes, Lady Hestia. I have completed the objective."
Lili snapped a crisp salute. She had executed the trial Hestia had laid out for her.
"Ohoho!"
Hestia snapped awake, her eyes wide with surprise. She hadn't thought the little Pallum had what it took to actually succeed.
"Not bad! Not bad at all!"
"Well then, starting today, you are officially a mber of the Hestia Familia!"
"Ahaha! I can't believe my Familia is actually expanding!" Hestia cheered, buzzing with excitent.
She took Lili's hand and led her over to the mattress.
"Turn around." Hestia glared at August. This girl is a maiden. No peeking!
"Yeah, yeah."
August rolled his eyes, turned around, and grabbed a stool from the corner.
Lili pulled her shirt down, exposing her bare back. The faded, broken crest of the Soma Familia lingered faintly on her skin.
Hestia pricked her finger and let a drop of divine blood fall. As soon as it touched Lili's skin, a bright blue light flashed, sealing the new contract. The Hestia Familia emblem appeared on her back, covering the old mark.
Her new paraters materialized.
"Wow, look at that. You've got solid magic proficiency," Hestia noted, reading the text.
[Liliruca Arde]
[Level 1]
[Strength: I77 | Endurance: I13 | Dexterity: I23 | Agility: I533 | Magic: F389]
[Magic: Cinder Ella]
[Skill: Artel Assist]
Hestia looked at the Status board and let out a big, relieved sigh.
"Ooooh."
Finally... a normal, easy-to-read Status board.
She had almost forgotten what standard stats looked like.
"August, look at this! This is what a proper Falna is supposed to look like!" Hestia waved the copied parchnt in his direction.
When she compared this neat layout to August's broken, stat-less board, it made her grit her teeth. Since August didn't have normal numbers, she couldn't track his progress and had to guess his limits.
"Since we're doing this, you might as well check mine," August said.
He stripped off his shirt, exposing his back. Thanks to Hestia's divine seal, no other God in Orario could read or tamper with his Falna.
"Right."
It was ti for her to update him.
Hestia dropped a fresh bead of blood onto his back, temporarily unlocking the seal. The familiar text floated to the surface.
[Level 1]
[Magic: Healing Fire]
[Skills: Charm/Fla Resistance; Temporal Resistance; Spatial Resistance]
But this ti, a new line of text hovered at the top of the board.
[Level Up Available]
"You can rank up," Hestia announced, staring at the prompt. "August, do you want to initiate the Level Up?"
So Adventurers preferred hoarding hidden Excelia, refusing to level up until all their base stats hit the elusive S-Rank.
"Do it."
August didn't hesitate. He wasn't the type to wait around. His board didn't even have numbers to max out, so why hold back on a big power boost?
"Got it."
Hestia pressed her finger against the glowing prompt.
[Level Up Complete]
The exact second the update finalized—
"Tch!"
August gasped, his muscles locking up. An intense heat surged from his chest. The epicenter of the inferno was his magic: [Healing Fire]. It was mutating. Evolving.
From Hestia's perspective, the divine text burning on August's back suddenly erupted.
Huge streams of golden-red flas burst from his body, swirling in the air and coming together. The flas ford the clear, majestic shape of a giant Divine Bird.
A Phoenix.
The entity let out a screech and blasted straight through the ceiling, rocketing into the sky.
The flaming construct breached the clouds above Orario.
The sun was setting, covering the city in dusk. But as soon as the Phoenix flew up, its golden light wiped away the darkness.
Night turned back into day in an instant.
"WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??"
"IS IT MORNING ALREADY?"
"DID A GOD JUST DESCEND?"
"NO, LOOK UP! IT'S A BIRD MADE OF FIRE!"
Adventurers and townsfolk rushed into the streets, pointing at the sky. A huge, burning bird flew over the Labyrinth City, circling above like a ruler watching over its land.
For the Gods of Orario, this was more than just a light show. Their divine senses traced the mana's source right to the ruined district in the west.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
At the Hephaestus Forge.
Hephaestus stared out her window at the blazing sky.
"That idiot. What the hell did he just do?"
She recognized the mana signature instantly. It was a potent fusion of Hestia's divine aura and the exact sa fiery resonance August used for his healing magic.
"Is that..." Tsubaki Collbrande squinted at the sky.
"Yeah. It's the kid's." Hephaestus crossed her arms. "Looks like he ranked up."
She knew August had gained enough combat experience to reach Level 2. She just hadn't expected the Falna update to create a whole new, powerful magic. It was just like what happened when he first got his contract.
"Isn't this basically a rerun of his first day?" Tsubaki deadpanned.
If she rembered right, his first Falna awakening caused a huge pillar of light that scared half the city. Now he had a giant firebird. He really liked making a scene.
"You know what pisses off the most?" Hephaestus muttered, her mood darkening. "I'm not there to see it."
"AAAARGH!"
Hephaestus slamd her fist on the windowsill, thoroughly frustrated. She had missed the first contract, and now she missed the Level 2 awakening too.
"Next ti. I swear, I am going to be in that room."
Hearing her Patron Goddess throw a tantrum, Tsubaki didn't even bother hiding her sarcasm.
"I thought Adventurer Status updates were supposed to be highly classified secrets? Why is my Goddess acting like a desperate spy?"
The firebird completed its victory lap around the city, diving back toward the ruined district and vanishing instantly.
Across town, Lord Miach watched from his pharmacy window.
"That trajectory... straight to August's base."
"So he ranked up."
Miach was curious about the boy's new capabilities, but out of respect for Hestia, he suppressed his urge to investigate.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Inside the Loki Familia Compound.
"That ca from the shrimp's neighborhood."
"Don't tell it's that kid again."
"NOOOOOOOO!"
Loki clutched her chest, collapsing dramatically over the balcony railing. She felt like she was going to have a stroke. Realizing Hestia had played her for a fool was one thing, but watching her rival's kid casually trigger city-wide, cinematic anomalies every ti he breathed was driving her insane.
Gareth Landrock glanced at Finn Deimne.
"Is she going to be okay?"
"She'll live. Let her sulk for a bit," Finn replied calmly. "Given the kid's track record, this is probably going to happen every ti he levels up. She'd better get used to the chest pain."
Loki wailed louder.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
At the pinnacle of the Tower of Babel.
Freya stood by the glass, her silver eyes fixed on the majestic firebird soaring above the city.
"What is that?"
Unlike the mortals below, Freya's Soul Sight let her see through the bright flas. She saw the core. It wasn't just fire. The magic gave off a deep, healing energy, like a shield around a very complex soul.
It was the most fascinating soul frequency she had witnessed in billions of years. Even the purest heroic spirits paled in comparison to the anomaly of this existence.
"..." She leaned forward, activating her Eyes to their absolute limit. She wanted to pierce the veil and see the true color of August's soul.
But the mont her divine perception attempted to drill deeper—
"NO PEEKING!"
Hestia's voice detonated inside Freya's skull.
A mont later, a phantom fist made of divine energy hit Freya right in the face.
"Ngh!"
The force sent the Goddess of Beauty flying backward. She crashed onto her soft mattress on the other side of the room.
"LADY FREYAAAAA!" Ottar lunged forward, horrified that his Goddess had just been assaulted inside her own stronghold.
"I'm fine."
Freya raised her hand to stop Ottar. She sat up and rubbed her temples.
"Hestia layered a high-tier divine ward over the boy. If anyone tries to pry too deeply, it retaliates."
"So I'm only allowed to see the surface layer?"
Freya realized she had only grazed the outermost edge of August's soul before Hestia's booby trap knocked her out of the sky.
"Dammit."
"I was so close!!"
For the first ti in her immortal life, Freya felt the disappointnt of missing her chance. Now it made sense. The plain soul color she'd seen on August when they first t was a total fake. He had hidden his true self perfectly, making sure she would lose interest and look away.
Suddenly, Freya felt a wave of sympathy for Loki. Being outsmarted by Hestia was truly embarrassing.
"What is he hiding?"
"I WANT TO SEE IT. I HAVE TO SEE IT!"
Freya lay back on her bed, her obsession morphing into a burning, ravenous hunger.
Ottar stood silently by the door, staring out at the sky where the firebird had vanished.
'What a scary man,' This was the first ti Ottar really sized up August. The rookie's presence was as strong as his own.
Ottar realized his instincts in the ruins had been right. Fighting that man would have been a huge mistake.
'I wonder... when will we finally cross blades?'
For the first ti in a decade, the King of Orario anticipated a battle with a worthy opponent.
—•——•——•——•——•——•—
Back inside the ruined church.
Hestia watched in awe as the huge firebird passed through the ceiling and went straight back into August's spine.
His updated Falna stabilized.
[August]
[Level 2]
[Magic: Healing Fire; Immortal Phoenix Nirvana]
[Skills: Charm/Fla Resistance; Temporal Resistance; Spatial Resistance; Divine Possession]
"A brand-new magic and a brand-new skill!"
Hestia imdiately checked the paraters.
[Magic: Immortal Phoenix Nirvana]
[Effect 1: Passive hyper-regeneration of physical trauma via internal flas.]
[Effect 2: Upon sustaining a fatal blow or instant-kill attack, consus all active mana to trigger a complete, perfect resurrection. (Note: Mana can be replenished post-resurrection)]
"HOLY SHIT."
Hestia was stunned.
What kind of overpowered magic was this? Was a mortal even supposed to have sothing like this?
An auto-resurrection spell? It broke all the rules of life and death.
"This actually makes sense..." Hestia muttered, putting the pieces together.
August had been thrown into a deadly, violent fantasy world. Even with his weapons, he faced monsters and tricky gods. He never felt safe. His mind needed a way to survive, so the Falna gave him the best safety net possible.
Magic and skills changed based on what the host wanted most and what was happening around them. He needed to be unkillable, so the system made him that way.
[Skill: Divine Possession]
[Effect: Unknown (Note: Modifies and scales based on host's willpower and execution)]
"?"
"Wait, what is this??"
"How can a skill effect be Unknown??" Hestia complained, waving her hands. What kind of useless note was that?
Still, the more mysterious the ability was, the more excited she got.
"August! Look at this! Your new loadout is insane!"
She shoved the copied parchnt into his hands.
"The magic is pretty straightforward," August muttered, reading the text. "But what is the deal with this skill?"
He scratched his head, genuinely puzzled.
A skill manifested from his imdiate experiences. Divine Possession? Channeling a God into his body?
He analyzed the system note: Modifies and scales based on host's willpower and execution.
The mont he read that line, a very familiar ani trope clicked in his brain.
"This skill... is it powered by belief?" August pondered.
It sounded like a power that grew with willpower. The more he believed in himself, the stronger he would get.
"Powered by belief?"
Hestia's eyes went wide. A dangerous, very inappropriate idea popped into her head.
She practically started drooling...
"Hey, August! August!" Hestia lunged forward, grabbing his arm. "Does this an I can enter your body??"
Her imagination ran wild. If the skill was really called 'Divine Possession', that ant a God could fuse with him.
She had to be the first, and the only one. No one else could have him!
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