Authors Note1: I know Blood of Zeus should have the next chapter, but this one just wanted to get out.
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"Mylady, would you like to sit here?"
"Ehehe, you are such a gentleman."
A tall, sturdy man guided a beautiful woman with his hand to an empty seat so that she could sit down in a very ladylike manner.
"Offering you a hand is the least I can do."
"And I gladly take it."
Many gods in the hall rolled their eyes about the behaviour they witnessed.
"Tche, Astrea and Ganesha are showing off again."
"Hestia, that´s not really nice, they just are in love."
"Hmpf."
Many goddesses were jealous or envious about the loving relationship between the two gods. To find eternal love was rare, especially for gods.
Hephaistos smiled slightly. "Just let them be, I don´t think they do that on purpose."
"If you say so."
"And remember, you go straight back to work when the Denatus is over."
"Hay Haaay."
The small goddess had come down from heaven to experience the life here too, but she had never managed to find a follower on her own. So instead she ended with working part time for Hephaistos so that she let her stay and part time at the potato snack stall. She often played with the children around there when she had her break.
Maybe she didn´t made a big name for herself, but she was still well liked.
"Hephaistos?"
"Yes?"
"How is it to have a follower getting a name?"
"Not as fun as you might think, the others love to give them silly names. Only when a child gets really strong, they tend to give them more "cool" names."
"I can´t help but think that they are sometimes a bit cruel, when I think about your captain."
Hephaistos smiled. "Tsubaki loves her alias."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Hm. Maaaaan I want to have a follower on my own, start my own Familia."
"That would be nice, I would get one of my rooms back then."
"Hey, I´m paying rent and I attract customers!"
"I won´t argue with that."
The chatting between the various gods ended when Hermes stepped forward.
"My dear fellow gods, it is time that we meet again for a Denatus, to give those of our beloved children that went up a rank a new alias."
All of the gods were allowed to give suggestions, there were only two gods that were a small exception. Astrea didn´t made suggestions for Ganesha´s children and viece versa. The reason was the other gods, because these two would only come up with good and serious names and not silly ones, and that killed the fun for the other gods.
Like every time, they started with the lowest levels and moved their way up, today would be a bit special, since they had the chance to name a really strong child.
"Okay, for the one that many of you waited for, Astrea´s child!"
That was what many gods hat waited for, naming a high leveled child always took a while. Hestia observed Astrea´s expression. Most of the time she smiled slightly or even chuckled by a few names. But one or two times, her smile froze, Hestia couldn´t remember to have ever seen Astrea really angry.
"That decides it, Astrea´s child will be known by the name of..."
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"""""Cheers!"""""
Wooden jars banged against each other, accompanied by the cheerful voices of a bit over a dozen women. The Astrea familia visited the famous pub to celebrate the level up of one of them, a very important level up. Most of them were seen here very often, since many worked part time here, Ryu for a while even full time.
All of them wore casual clothes, the elves of course clothed up, one of them even wore a hood, a cloth mask and had a veil covering her eyes, the dark elf Viana still couldn´t bear with someone outside of her familia seeing her face. The ones who drew the most eyes in were Astrea and Kaguya. Astrea because of her divine beauty and Kaguya because of her silver arm. She was probably the first person in Orario to show this arm openly at all times,
it wasn´t shameful for her, but a badge of honor.
The waitresses of the pub were busy bringing the Astrea familia their food and more drinks. Astrea told them to go a bit wild and drink as much as they wanted. And one of them especially would take this offer.
"Wooohooooo!"
Alise cheered the loudest, visibly happy.
A few mumbles were heard around them.
"It´s the Astrea Familia."
"Hey that´s her."
"The captain?"
"Yeah, the scarlet harnel?"
"No, she got a new alias today."
The prum Lyra raised her mug as high as possible.
"To our captain! Cheers to "Phoenix"!"
Phoenix.
The new alias of Alise Lovell after reaching level six due to her deeds on the last expedition of the Familia. It was due to a new skill that she got, or rather a change in her magic. Her magic Agaris Alvesynth covered her hands, legs and sword in fire, that was nothing new.
But now the cost of mental power had dropped and she even started to heal as long as the fire burned. They had seen this, Alise had received a wound on her thigh, but before the battle ended, the wound had already stopped bleeding. It wasn´t as fast as healing magic, but it really helped a lot. And Alise loved heat even more than before,
she loved to take long baths together with her goddess...even Kaguya couldn´t bear with the heat that these two liked so much.
Astrea smiled lovingly. "I´m so proud of all of you, you really did well."
Neze emptied her mug. "Now we are close behind the Loki Familia!"
Kaguya smirked. "Not really, they have three level six and the sword princess is probably close to it. Not to mention the amazons and that wolf guy."
"We still became strong!"
"Can´t argue with that."
"To our beautiful and yet still single captain!"
Alise laughed. "We are all still single!"
"Except for our lady!"
They allowed themself to be a bit silly tonight, Mama Mia didn´t minded it since they paid good money for the food and drinks. Alise drank more alcohol than all the others, yet she would be life itself on the next morning, while most of her familia members had a hangover, except the elves of course, her self healing ability also fought poisoning in her body to a certain degree, which included alcohol.
Over the time after the attack of the Juggernaut, the members of the Astrea Familia got much stronger. Alise had reached level six, Ryu and Kaguya were high level fives, Neze and Lyra close to five. The weakest members were the healer Ciel and the dark elf Viana, both close to level three. Compared to the Loki and Freya Familia it wasn´t much, but they were pretty strong.
She didn´t knew how it happened since she got a bit tipsy from moonberry juice, but Ryu found herself used as a living body pillow by Alise in the morning...again. The captain smiled happily in her sleep and squeezed the embarrassed elf a bit.
"Mehehe...Ryu is so soft...
Grope.
"Mwehehe...squishy buns."
"Eep! A-Alise, w-watch where you put your h-hands! Ack! N-Not my butt!"
But Ryu had no chance against that level six strength anymore, she herself was more the speed and magic type, while Alise was more the strength and magic type. In the end she gave in to her destiny for now and had to wait until Alise woke up. Alise was the only person anyway that Ryu had not much problems with to get touched by like that...well and Astrea, but that only had happened during her punishment after running away.
As an elf, Ryu couldn´t and wouldn´t admit that this skinship felt a bit nice...and thankfully, Alise´s thigh went only one time between Ryu´s legs for a second. The sensation of that touch was...unfamiliar. If she thought about it, Syr had done it too a few times when Ryu slept at the pub...she really had to hold her ground and tell the others that she was no body pillow...
With Alise reaching level six, the guild would now give more difficult quests to the Familia, but still considered that they didn´t had much members.
And while Alise Lovell enjoyed the softness of her living body pillow, Bell Cranel would have a weird dream far away in his village.
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Bell had various kinds of dreams over the years. In the beginning mostly of being a hero, saving a princess and fighting some imaginary monster. Later about spending time with his Mom and he was truly happy at that time. Then about being a hero again and often saving his Mom from her illness.
But a dream like he had now, this was a first time. He slept peacefully in his bed, an opened book on his chest, he had read the myth about his grandfather again, one of his favorite stories. During the day, Bell had listened to Alfia´s explanation about magic, even when he wasn´t able to do it, he should have the knowledge.
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He wandered through an old building, made from stone and nothing else, his boots clacked whenever he made a step forward. Torches lit the way, he wondered who hung them up there. It looked like he was walking through a tunnel or maybe a corridor. Bell looked down, his feet seemed to move by themself, sometimes he noticed strange runes in the walls, they appeared glowing, then vanished again, in various colors.
Where am I?
The corridor seemed to be endless, but even when he tried to, he couldn´t walk faster. The corridor went on and on, eventually after an eternity, Bell noticed a change. There were steps at the end, since he had no other choice, Bell climbed them up. He arrived in a big hall, it was the stage of a mighty theatre. The seats were filled with shadowy figures, the ceiling that he couldn´t see, supported by enormous pillars. He had seen this architecture style before, his grandfather called it olympian.
Bell heard steps and looked up, a figure approached him, a male figure.
He heard the voice of his Mom in his head, what she told him today.
Bell, there are two types of Magic: innate and acquired. As the term "innate" suggests, this type of magic can be used by various races based on genetics. From ancient times, these races have had the potential to become magic users within them and are trained in magic at a young age through rituals. You read about this in your story about Argonaut, his sister Feena was such an example. While the types of magic they can use are rather limited, the strength and scale of these spells are often very high.
His eyes followed the figure as it came closer. It was indeed a young man, about as tall as him, maybe a year or two older, with white hair and closed eyes. He wore a white armor over a black body suit, two long knives hang at his hips.
Bell turned his head when he heard more steps. A second figure approached from the side, also a young man. But this one wore dark clothes, a long black coat and had two swords on his back, also with white hair and closed eyes.
Finally a third figure approached from his other side, wearing a red and golden armor, holding a long sword and a shield in his hands, his helmet looked like a crown of flames.
Wait...this is me, all of them.
The figures stopped about two meters away from him and opened their eyes. Now he could see it, all of them had red eyes and white hair. It was him, him and him. Each a different type of Bell Cranel, maybe possible futures? In the corner of his eyes, Bell noticed the flying runes again, but whenever he turned into their direction, they moved and appeared just in the corner of his eyes again. It was like those little floating things that he saw sometimes when it was bright enough, as if there was something on his eyeballs.
Acquired magic refers to the possibility of Magic given to those people who receive Falna, and appears on its own at some point, without needing to wait for a level up. With almost no restrictions, this kind of magic takes many different forms. Fire. Ice. Rock. Lightning. Gravitation. Wind. Light. Shadow. And many more. The effect of the Magic depends heavily on excelia...and who you are.
The runes he noticed at the edge of his field of vision had various colors, each fitting one of the magical elements. They were different from hieroglyphs and any language of the races that his grandfather and Mom had showed to him.
Bell looked at the three other Bell´s.
"What do you want from me? Why am I here?"
They just looked at him in silence.
Magic is interest. This is a vital factor for all acquired magic. What holds your interest-what do you accept, hate, want, grieve for, worship, swear to, long for? The trigger is already within you. Your Falna will carve your soul into a blazing sun.
The first other Bell that had appeared opened his mouth.
"Let us begin."
The three Bell´s started to talk one after the other.
"What is magic to you?"
"I don´t know. But it is something great and mysterious."
"The mysterious power used by heroes, to slay monsters."
"I always wanted to do that at least once."
"Why?"
"Because I saw my Mom doing it and read about it, it was so cool."
"Is that all? What is magic to you?"
"A great weapon to wield, so that I can protect those I hold dear. Not a shield or a healing hand, a strong power to overcome the obstacles in my path."
The Bell with the sword and shield raised his blade, fire washed over it. The one with the knives raised them and they shone in light. The one with the two swords raised them and they vibrated slightly as if they wanted to unleash a rapid series of attacks.
"""What kind of a thing is magic to you/me? What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think about it?"""
What kind of a thing...what is it?
Bell looked up, he heard a loud growl from outside of the theatre and saw light flashing for a second.
"Lightning."
For Bell, the first thing that came to his mind was lightning. Magic had to be lightning. Whenever he saw lightning during a thunderstorm, he admired the beautiful color, from white to an actinic blue and the loud sound it made.
Strong, ferocious, unstoppable. Destroying and splitting everything in it´s path. Faster than any opponent could react. Unleashing a sound that made everything living duck down and flee. Splitting the mightiest trees and even blast pieces out of rock. The heavenly arrows like the ones that his grandfather had used when he was still in heaven.
Running along the sky, faster than anything...the wrath of heaven.
"I want to wield lightning and unleash thunder."
"Why do you seek magic?"
"To become strong like her."
A picture of Alfia filled his mind.
"To look a bit like him."
A picture of Zeus came to that of Alfia.
"To be the light that breaks down from heaven, races across the sky."
"Is that all of your reason."
Bell smiled. "It also looks very cool."
"A childish reason."
"Maybe."
"What else?"
"To crush everything that the lightning can´t with the sheer sound of it."
"Where does that come from?"
"My Mom, she is my hero, I saw her magic. And my grandfather is the god of lightning."
"Is that all?"
"I want to become a hero, stronger than anyone. And to find a cure for my Mom, to save and help people. Impulsive. Unstoppable. Faster than anyone. A shining light."
He always wanted to be a hero, that wish had never vanished nor changed, it only got stronger and stronger in him.
"You rejected the sword of a hero."
"It wasn't my place to wield it."
"Why do you want to become a hero?"
"Because it is what my heart wants. To protect the people I care about, to end what my predecessors started. And...maybe to save a beautiful girl...or two."
"""You are pretty childish."""
Bell smiled wryly. "Maybe. Sorry, but that is who I am."
The three other Bell´s put their weapons away. All of them were possible paths for him to take, but he would take his own path. It wasn´t the Burning Fighting Fighter, not the White Rabbit, nor the Black Swordsman. His path was a different one.
His three versions all smiled and closed their eyes, then everything went black and Bell´s dream ended The last thing he saw, was that all the runes flashed for a moment in an actinic blue.
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"Good morning, Grandpa, Mom."
"Morning Bell."
"Good morning, Sweety."
"Mmmmmh! I feel really good today."
"Did you sleep well?"
"I did!"
"The thunderstorm didn´t woke you up once?"
"Thunderstorm?"
"Yes, it got quite loud sometimes. Hm, but then again you always loved them."
"I really didn´t heard anything."
"I hope you were properly wrapped in your blanket, I don´t want you to get a cold just because you sleep with your tummy exposed again."
"Ehe, don´t worry, Mom."
"Geez, Alfia. Bell isn´t a kid anymore."
"He will always be my little one, old man."
"Okay, okay, Mommy."
"You can´t tease or taunt me with that, I take that as a compliment."
"Okay, come Bell, let us update your status then you two can start with your training."
"Yes."
As always, Bell took off his shirt and sat down on a chair, his back facing Zeus. His last update was two weeks ago. As time went on, Bell got a bit more calm about updating his status. In the first three months, Zeus had to do it every day.
"Mom?"
"Yes, Sweety?"
"Could you explain that about magic to me again from yesterday?"
"Of course, we do that while warming up."
Bell smiled. "Thank you."
Alfia returned the smile. "Everything for you, Bell."
"Magic..."
"Hm?" Bell looked over his shoulder after he heard Zeus mumbling.
"Magic and a Skill have appeared."
"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh!? Grandpa?!"
"Bell, here."
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Bell Cranel
Belongs to: Zeus Familia
Level: 1
Strength D 510 - D 533
Endurance: C 601 - C 640
Dexterity: D 532 - D 560
Agility: C 610 - C 639
Magic: I 0 - I 1
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Abnormal Resistance H
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Magic:
Thunderbolt (Swiftstrike Magic)
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Skills:
Blood of Zeus
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"Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeees!"
Bell couldn´t hold himself back and screamed on top of his lunges, pure childlike joy filled his eyes, his hands shook and he felt immense happiness.
Alfia looked a bit perplexed at first, but just had to smile by the sheer joy she saw in Bell.
"Sweety, can you let me see?"
"Here, Mom!" He grinned all over his face.
"Hah, it really is magic, and a skill together with that."
Alfia handed the paper back to Zeus, she wasn´t able to read the explanation for the skill and magic.
They had to wait a few moments until Bell calmed down again to listen.
Zeus took the paper again and started to read.
"Thunderbolt:
Swiftstrike Magic, no Incantation. Two split spell. Depending on the emphasis, will create a lightning bolt or a shockwave of thunder."
"I can shoot lightning?!"
"Apparently yes."
"Awesome! And that second part, it sounds like Mom´s magic!"
Alfia looked surprised. "It sounds indeed a bit like it."
"Now for your skill."
"Blood of Zeus: Desire to become a hero acknowledged. Granting the ability to grow beyond oneself and one's limitations. Excelia gain increased when getting close to normal limitation, depending on persistent desire to become a hero.
Grants similarity of Magic due to the mutual love of and for "The Mom". Increased attraction to non-human women due to kinship with the King of Olympus...That´s my grandson!"
"What!? Zeus, what did you make out of my pure boy!?"
"I didn´t do anything! And look how much you smile because of that magic sentence!"
"B-Be quiet!"
"Mom! Grandpa! I have magic! Finally!"
Both were blinded again by the purity and joy in Bell´s eyes, they literally shone.
"Ehehehe! Now I can be like you Grandpa and you Mom, at the same time!"
"It is really surprising that you got it after just a bit over a year training without going to the dungeon."
"But Mom, you got your magic also very early."
"True."
Bell took the paper again. "But I wonder what this about limitations means."
Zeus looked like he was in thoughts. "My guess, you maybe are able to go past the limitation of rank S 999."
Alfia looked shocked. "That´s ridiculous! No one was ever able to do that!"
"It´s just a guess."
"Mom, Mom, Mom! Can we please test it out? Right now?"
"Bell, please calm down a b-"
"I can´t! Please let us test it out!"
Alfia sighed, then she smiled slightly. "Alright, I guess you won´t calm down before that."
"I go with you, I want to see how my Grandson throws lightning like me."
"This will be so awesome!" Bell jumped to his feet and ran to the door.
"Bell, your shoes."
"Oh, right! Thanks, Mom!"
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Since testing out new magic could be a bit dangerous, they decided to walk for a while. Bell could barely hold himself back from running. They arrived at an area with many rocks.
"Okay, Bell. For your first try, aim for the sky, it is the savest way."
"Okay!"
He took a deep breath. Bell clenched his right fist before thrusting his arm straight upward and spread his fingers, his heart pounded like crazy.
"THUNDERBOLT!"
An actinic blue light flooded his vision a second later. A bluish-white lightning flashed out of his hand and shot upwards. The bolt carved sharp, random lines through the air while moving more or less straight upward, before vanishing after a while without hitting a target.
A light thunderclap accompanies the magic spell.
"Ha...haha...haa-haa-haa! Magic! I did it! I casted Magic! Mom! Grandpa! Did you see?!"
"That was wonderful, Bell!"
Alfia nodded. "It looked really good, Bell. How do you feel?"
"So excited!"
"No, I mean tired or something like that?"
"Nope!" He grinned.
"Hm, Bell please aim next for these rocks."
He was about forty meters away, maybe fifty.
"Thunderbolt!"
A new lightning flashed out of his hand, smashed into the rock and blew it to pieces with the sound of a louder thunderclap this time.
"AWESOME!" He was visibly happy.
Zeus was as excited as Bell was. "That´s my grandson! Already throwing lightning just like this old man!"
Alfia nodded, but she wanted to see one last thing.
"Bell, please aim for this rock over there, but try to emphase it different. More on the thunder part."
"Yes, Teacher!"
Bell took a few deep breaths. "Thunder-bolt!"
This time it was different. Instead of a lightning shooting out of his hand, small lightning exploded around his hand and send a massive shockwave forward. It was a bit similar to Alfia´s Satanas Verion, but more a wave than a block. And while her magic wasn´t very loud, Bell´s roared to the heavens.
Small lightning accompanied the wave and made it slightly visible, but when it hit the rocks, they just exploded.
"Yeeeees!"
Bell jumped around happy.
"Now I am just like Mom! And Grandpa!"
"Bell, that was g-"
Alfia stopped when Bell suddenly fell backwards onto the gras.
"Bell!"
Zeus grinned. "Looks like he experienced his first mind down immediatelly."
As always, Alfia rushed to Bell, he ended with his head resting on her thighs.
It would become an interesting time to experiment with his new magic. He would later find out, that the sound version of his spell consumed twenty times the amount of mental strength than the lightning version. Bell would think about this as fair, since this was the magic that was so similar to the one from his super cool Mom. Alfia would get a bit red when he told her his opinion.
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Far away in Orario, a female swordmaster returned accompanied by an adult elf fromt he depths of the dungeon, after defeating a floor boss on her own. They went past a crossing in the dungeon, the golden eyes of the girl flashed there for a second, but no one lied on that crossing, so she continued her way.
The adult elf was a bit worried about the young woman, that mostly cared about getting stronger and having only two real friends, amazon twins.
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Author´s Note2:I choose the name Thunderbolt over Lightningbolt because it has two forms and it sounds closer to Firebolt when Bell would shout it.
To answer Questions.
OLoad: No it isn´t poison. In fact it is just so healthy, that Bell get´s some kind of bonus from it. I wanted to switch it around while thinking about Syr´s food.
EngineerGamin1: I guess your question was answered in this chapter.
InsaneMakaioshin:
For now this story shall become my "Magnum Opus", with Spirit child slowly coming to an end and Blood of Zeus is more a side story, I want to focus much on this one, so no new story for now. So for now for most of the ideas, no.