[Luna POV]
I was laying in bed that night thinking of the things I needed to do now that Soleil was going to join us. While it’ll be easy to get her to D-rank, the harder part is helping her level.
“Ugh. What should I do, Tamamo?”
{About what?}
“Helping Soleil catch up with us. Although this is reality, there were many stories in my past life that had a character join with someone or multiple people that were way stronger than themselves, and throughout the adventure, that person notices how weak they truly are. That, more often than not, led those characters to do reckless things in order to get stronger, and those reckless things tended to drag everyone into messes that were dangerous. I don’t want that to happen.”
{This is tough. An easy solution would be to ask Crate to give you something like the thing you ended up using on Velvet, but I know you, and you wouldn’t do that.}
“Do you know any titles that help in cases like this other than things related to Divine Protection and Fated Ones?”
{Blessings can do that, but you can’t give those yet, and I doubt you would want another god to bless Soleil.}
“I would be fine with you, Atmos, or Grey, but that’s about it. I feel like asking a favor from Quetz, Crate, or Gear would put me in a troublesome situation down the line.”
{None of my blessings would have the effect you want, Atmos’s have more effect on things like intuition and other abstract things, Grey would be the best bet, but he would probably ask you to do something of equal value for him.}
“What would he consider equal value to a blessing?”
{No idea. He was a human at one point, so I don’t understand how he thinks sometimes. He could ask for something as small as a special item from you to asking you to give him the floating island you are going to conquer, though I doubt he would do the latter.}
“Think I should pop over there and ask him?”
{You can try but I don’t know if he’s still working, and haven’t you said that you can’t teleport to his office?}
“That’s the thing about getting a third tail, I feel like things that I couldn’t do before have become possible or at the very least nearly possible. It would still take a lot of mana, but I think I could pull it off.”
{Is it that big of a power boost?}
“To put it in an easy way to explain, if skills didn’t stop at level ten, my skills would jump just as much as my stats after I get another tail. That’s the feeling I get anyway.”
{How interesting, it never felt like my power grew when I got a new tail.}
“Maybe it’s because you didn’t get them through gaining power but age that they gave a smaller boost?”
{Who knows. We’ll need to see once more kitsune gain more tails.}
“Can that happen? I thought I could because of your divine protection and the Fated One title.”
{It should happen. I think the way I got more tails is the natural way and you are an exception due to those things you mentioned. It’s just that no kitsune naturally lives that long.}
“Wouldn’t that turn them into gods once they get nine tails then?”
{No. You becoming a goddess is the effect of the Fated One title.}
“Guess I’ll just need a way to make my family immortal and we’ll learn in time then.”
{Ufufu. Don’t worry about that Luna. That is something that we can think about when you ascend.}
“All right. I’m going to try teleporting to Grey’s office now.”
{Good luck.}
I concentrated on my magic and brought up the place I wanted to teleport to in my mind. I activated the magic and felt a large amount of resistance, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from forcing my way through with my large amount of mana. It took longer than the normal instant, but I made it through the resistance and popped up in the middle of Grey’s office.
I took a few second to recover from using so much mana in such a short amount of time. When I recovered enough, I looked around and saw Grey watching me, waiting until I could speak before starting a conversation. When he saw I was good, he started to speak.
“I’m impressed that you managed to teleport here while only having three tails, Luna. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit tonight?”
“A few questions.”
“Ask away.”
“What kind of effect does your blessing have?”
“2x increase in stats every ten levels.”
“What would I have to offer you to bless Soleil?”
“Get her to B-rank in a month, and I’ll do it. If you can’t manage that, I’ll do it, but you’ll have to give me the floating island.”
I thought over his offer. I weighed the two things in my mind before deciding.
“Deal. Even if I have to give you the floating island, that just mean I have to find myself another one.”
“Good luck.”
After hearing his words, I teleported back home and immediate fell asleep from using all of my mana.
[Grey POV]
After Luna left my office, I went home. When I got there, I was greeted with Atmos staring right at my face.
“So Grey, why did you issue her a trial like that? It’s not like you.”
“Because she probably wouldn’t accept it if I just outright agreed.”
“Fine, but if she does end up having to give you her island, what are you going to do with it?”
“Gift it to her and Tamamo for their wedding.”
Atmos thought about my words for a few minutes before looking back at me.
“Why did I never think about that?”
“Because you only think of the most difficult ways to give people things.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“While we’re on the topic, do you think she’ll manage to get Soleil to B-rank in a month?”
“Well, she will have an easy time getting her to D-rank since there is a kobold king in the forest near Tamamo’s shrine and she can easily teleport between the capital and there. If she’s willing to out her space magic, she can cut the time getting to Celestia’s capital by three weeks, giving her the escort achievement. If she really pushes herself, she can teleport her party to the last few floors of the dungeon to clear it again. And it’s extremely easy to do a delivery quest.”
“You’re forgetting that there are rank up tests.”
“We’re talking about Luna’s little sister here. Her sheer motivation to join Luna’s adventure made her reach the point she can join her a year earlier than even I planned.”
“How’d that happen?”
“Not sure. It might be because she’s been around Luna for so long or maybe it’s because she was at one point as deep into the abyss as one could get with the exception of Luna.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t she be insane right now?”
“No, that charm skill saved her from that and when it’s effect disappeared, it took away all the negative effects that the abyss would have had on her with it.”
“So, in either case, it has something to do with Luna.”
“Yep.”
“Luna is one really crazy person. I mean, she shouldn’t have been able to teleport into my office yet, but she did.”
“I think that’s because she is getting closer to establishing her divinity. She’ll become a demigod when she gets five tails, and she is only two away from that. Of course, when she reaches that point it just means that her Authorities will be cemented as hers, but she won’t have full access to them.”
“She’ll have partial access?”
“I think so.”
“That’s way better than what I went through, I had to fully ascend before getting access to my Authority.”
“Hahaha. That’s because her Authorities aren’t as abstract as yours.”
“Good point, though I would argue that Fluff is pretty abstract.”
“Not at all. Fluff is something that all things know. It’s something that, if it wasn’t there, would take away half of all meaning to life.”
“That’s just dramatic.”
“It isn’t.”
At that moment, Atmos fell silent, and she got a distant look on her face. After a few seconds, she returned to normal. When she did, she had an enormous smile on her face.
“That’s the look you get when something entertaining happens.”
“What I just saw will be entertaining for all of us but the victims.”
“Who is it and what did they do?”
“Wyverns, and they royally pissed off Luna.”
“Can I ask how?”
“Let’s just say that they denied an important part of her.”
“But aren’t wyverns only as intelligent as a decently smart goblin?”
“When I said they denied a part of her, I meant that they deny it by existing.”
“Oh.”
“Not like it matters much in the end since she was eventually going to hunt them all down anyway.”
“Think she’ll share some wyvern meat with us?”
“A better question would be is if she’ll cook something with it then share it with us.”
“She’s that good?”
“Her cooking skill is at level ten. Then there is the skill boost she gets when she gains another tail. I bet she could give the God of Culinary Arts a run for her money.”
“Impressive. Maybe I should have had that as the condition in our deal instead of what I actually did.”
“To late to take it back now.”
At those words I sighed and went to bed.
Author's Note:
Tamamo: Just out of curiosity, how strong is the barrier around Grey's office?
Atmos: About as strong as a dungeon's hundredth floor's atmospheric mana level.
Tamamo: So she can easily teleport to the dungeon's fiftieth floor and help Soleil clear it?
Atmos: Yep. Of course, doing that will drain her mana a lot and she'll need to wait to get it back to a point she is comfortable with, but it won't be that difficult.
Tamamo: If all of this is that easy, then why did he give her a whole month, and why even add the other condition if he's just going to give Soleil the blessing anyway, and don't get me started on the asking for the floating island, even if he has plans on giving it back.
Atmos: Because he knows Luna would probably prefer it this way. She's trying to do what you told her and enjoy the mortal world. If she wanted to she could just go on an indiscriminate slaughter to level up to be with you, but she isn't. At least for the rest of the world, wyverns are different.
Tamamo: If it's like you say, then I can only support her. By the way, can you tell me what exactly you meant when you said wyverns existing deny a part of Luna?
Atmos: Just wait and find out.
Tamamo: Fine.
[Luna POV]
I was laying in bed that night thinking of the things I needed to do now that Soleil was going to join us. While it’ll be easy to get her to D-rank, the harder part is helping her level.
“Ugh. What should I do, Tamamo?”
{About what?}
“Helping Soleil catch up with us. Although this is reality, there were many stories in my past life that had a character join with someone or multiple people that were way stronger than themselves, and throughout the adventure, that person notices how weak they truly are. That, more often than not, led those characters to do reckless things in order to get stronger, and those reckless things tended to drag everyone into messes that were dangerous. I don’t want that to happen.”
{This is tough. An easy solution would be to ask Crate to give you something like the thing you ended up using on Velvet, but I know you, and you wouldn’t do that.}
“Do you know any titles that help in cases like this other than things related to Divine Protection and Fated Ones?”
{Blessings can do that, but you can’t give those yet, and I doubt you would want another god to bless Soleil.}
“I would be fine with you, Atmos, or Grey, but that’s about it. I feel like asking a favor from Quetz, Crate, or Gear would put me in a troublesome situation down the line.”
{None of my blessings would have the effect you want, Atmos’s have more effect on things like intuition and other abstract things, Grey would be the best bet, but he would probably ask you to do something of equal value for him.}
“What would he consider equal value to a blessing?”
{No idea. He was a human at one point, so I don’t understand how he thinks sometimes. He could ask for something as small as a special item from you to asking you to give him the floating island you are going to conquer, though I doubt he would do the latter.}
“Think I should pop over there and ask him?”
{You can try but I don’t know if he’s still working, and haven’t you said that you can’t teleport to his office?}
“That’s the thing about getting a third tail, I feel like things that I couldn’t do before have become possible or at the very least nearly possible. It would still take a lot of mana, but I think I could pull it off.”
{Is it that big of a power boost?}
“To put it in an easy way to explain, if skills didn’t stop at level ten, my skills would jump just as much as my stats after I get another tail. That’s the feeling I get anyway.”
{How interesting, it never felt like my power grew when I got a new tail.}
“Maybe it’s because you didn’t get them through gaining power but age that they gave a smaller boost?”
{Who knows. We’ll need to see once more kitsune gain more tails.}
“Can that happen? I thought I could because of your divine protection and the Fated One title.”
{It should happen. I think the way I got more tails is the natural way and you are an exception due to those things you mentioned. It’s just that no kitsune naturally lives that long.}
“Wouldn’t that turn them into gods once they get nine tails then?”
{No. You becoming a goddess is the effect of the Fated One title.}
“Guess I’ll just need a way to make my family immortal and we’ll learn in time then.”
{Ufufu. Don’t worry about that Luna. That is something that we can think about when you ascend.}
“All right. I’m going to try teleporting to Grey’s office now.”
{Good luck.}
I concentrated on my magic and brought up the place I wanted to teleport to in my mind. I activated the magic and felt a large amount of resistance, but it wasn’t enough to stop me from forcing my way through with my large amount of mana. It took longer than the normal instant, but I made it through the resistance and popped up in the middle of Grey’s office.
I took a few second to recover from using so much mana in such a short amount of time. When I recovered enough, I looked around and saw Grey watching me, waiting until I could speak before starting a conversation. When he saw I was good, he started to speak.
“I’m impressed that you managed to teleport here while only having three tails, Luna. To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit tonight?”
“A few questions.”
“Ask away.”
“What kind of effect does your blessing have?”
“2x increase in stats every ten levels.”
“What would I have to offer you to bless Soleil?”
“Get her to B-rank in a month, and I’ll do it. If you can’t manage that, I’ll do it, but you’ll have to give me the floating island.”
I thought over his offer. I weighed the two things in my mind before deciding.
“Deal. Even if I have to give you the floating island, that just mean I have to find myself another one.”
“Good luck.”
After hearing his words, I teleported back home and immediate fell asleep from using all of my mana.
[Grey POV]
After Luna left my office, I went home. When I got there, I was greeted with Atmos staring right at my face.
“So Grey, why did you issue her a trial like that? It’s not like you.”
“Because she probably wouldn’t accept it if I just outright agreed.”
“Fine, but if she does end up having to give you her island, what are you going to do with it?”
“Gift it to her and Tamamo for their wedding.”
Atmos thought about my words for a few minutes before looking back at me.
“Why did I never think about that?”
“Because you only think of the most difficult ways to give people things.”
“I guess you’re right.”
“While we’re on the topic, do you think she’ll manage to get Soleil to B-rank in a month?”
“Well, she will have an easy time getting her to D-rank since there is a kobold king in the forest near Tamamo’s shrine and she can easily teleport between the capital and there. If she’s willing to out her space magic, she can cut the time getting to Celestia’s capital by three weeks, giving her the escort achievement. If she really pushes herself, she can teleport her party to the last few floors of the dungeon to clear it again. And it’s extremely easy to do a delivery quest.”
“You’re forgetting that there are rank up tests.”
“We’re talking about Luna’s little sister here. Her sheer motivation to join Luna’s adventure made her reach the point she can join her a year earlier than even I planned.”
“How’d that happen?”
“Not sure. It might be because she’s been around Luna for so long or maybe it’s because she was at one point as deep into the abyss as one could get with the exception of Luna.”
“If that’s the case, wouldn’t she be insane right now?”
“No, that charm skill saved her from that and when it’s effect disappeared, it took away all the negative effects that the abyss would have had on her with it.”
“So, in either case, it has something to do with Luna.”
“Yep.”
“Luna is one really crazy person. I mean, she shouldn’t have been able to teleport into my office yet, but she did.”
“I think that’s because she is getting closer to establishing her divinity. She’ll become a demigod when she gets five tails, and she is only two away from that. Of course, when she reaches that point it just means that her Authorities will be cemented as hers, but she won’t have full access to them.”
“She’ll have partial access?”
“I think so.”
“That’s way better than what I went through, I had to fully ascend before getting access to my Authority.”
“Hahaha. That’s because her Authorities aren’t as abstract as yours.”
“Good point, though I would argue that Fluff is pretty abstract.”
“Not at all. Fluff is something that all things know. It’s something that, if it wasn’t there, would take away half of all meaning to life.”
“That’s just dramatic.”
“It isn’t.”
At that moment, Atmos fell silent, and she got a distant look on her face. After a few seconds, she returned to normal. When she did, she had an enormous smile on her face.
“That’s the look you get when something entertaining happens.”
“What I just saw will be entertaining for all of us but the victims.”
“Who is it and what did they do?”
“Wyverns, and they royally pissed off Luna.”
“Can I ask how?”
“Let’s just say that they denied an important part of her.”
“But aren’t wyverns only as intelligent as a decently smart goblin?”
“When I said they denied a part of her, I meant that they deny it by existing.”
“Oh.”
“Not like it matters much in the end since she was eventually going to hunt them all down anyway.”
“Think she’ll share some wyvern meat with us?”
“A better question would be is if she’ll cook something with it then share it with us.”
“She’s that good?”
“Her cooking skill is at level ten. Then there is the skill boost she gets when she gains another tail. I bet she could give the God of Culinary Arts a run for her money.”
“Impressive. Maybe I should have had that as the condition in our deal instead of what I actually did.”
“To late to take it back now.”
At those words I sighed and went to bed.
Author's Note:
Tamamo: Just out of curiosity, how strong is the barrier around Grey's office?
Atmos: About as strong as a dungeon's hundredth floor's atmospheric mana level.
Tamamo: So she can easily teleport to the dungeon's fiftieth floor and help Soleil clear it?
Atmos: Yep. Of course, doing that will drain her mana a lot and she'll need to wait to get it back to a point she is comfortable with, but it won't be that difficult.
Tamamo: If all of this is that easy, then why did he give her a whole month, and why even add the other condition if he's just going to give Soleil the blessing anyway, and don't get me started on the asking for the floating island, even if he has plans on giving it back.
Atmos: Because he knows Luna would probably prefer it this way. She's trying to do what you told her and enjoy the mortal world. If she wanted to she could just go on an indiscriminate slaughter to level up to be with you, but she isn't. At least for the rest of the world, wyverns are different.
Tamamo: If it's like you say, then I can only support her. By the way, can you tell me what exactly you meant when you said wyverns existing deny a part of Luna?
Atmos: Just wait and find out.
Tamamo: Fine.
