CH191 Thera’s perspective

After her second day of helping her aunt at the hospital, Thera finished a bit earlier than she had the day before. She had originally planned on only helping every other day, but since her father was still away dealing with the other great spirits she decided to do a bit more and was already seeing a benefit with a level up to her medical knowledge during the day. Besides that benefit, even if it wasn’t for her current job after all, it was still worthwhile to train her life magic when she could, and without the fear she’d gotten in Stonewall it was a more pleasant experience overall.

Of course, that lack of fear was mostly related to the patients not knowing who she was, but that didn’t matter too much. It felt surprisingly nice to be genuinely thanked for her work, it was an experience she wasn’t used to but it made her want to improve and she understood why Lux spent so much time going from hospital to hospital, doing what she could. It did leave her to wonder why Vividus didn’t do more for the various races of the world, but then again the great life spirit wasn’t so inclined to help out of charity when she could focus on whatever nightmares she was preparing in the life valley.

She felt herself getting worked up and took a breath, not wanting thoughts of her least favourite aunt getting to her given where she was and took a seat at her destination, the first church of Anailia.

While she made sure to pray semi-regularly, given the fact that her goddess had not only given her a quest that she’d been greatly rewarded for, she’d also actively worked to save her life. Given all of that, it was probably a mistake that she hadn’t immediately gone there upon arriving in the nation, but she did her best to make up for that with the sheer amount of gratitude she put into her prayer as she closed her eyes.

“Ah, as nice as your gratitude feels, I do hope you’ll open your eyes so we might have a talk Thera,” A voice she recognised said light-heartedly as her eyes shot open, only to be blinded by the force of the divinity before her.

Realizing she was in the realm of her god, she quickly took a knee as she bowed to show her respect. “Anailia, it’s an honor to have the chance to talk to you again, what do I owe the pleasure?”

“Hmm? Does a mother need a reason to visit any of her children?” She told her in amusement, though feeling Thera’s panic grow at the answer.

“Not at all, I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

“I’m only teasing you Thera, please be at ease. Perhaps take a page from the child of Myriad,” She said before thinking better of it. “Well, maybe don’t be quite that liberal, it caused quite the headache up here when he mentioned an interest in attempting to seal a soul to put to use.”

“Uh, I’ll try my best to keep him from doing anything too bad,” She said, knowing in her heart that if Ben’s interest was caught he wouldn’t listen to reason, a fact her god easily picked up on.

“Don’t worry, as long as he only tests it on demons like he said he would in the event he succeeds in making such a tool then there’s no issue. Actually, I’ve come to you about another matter.”

“If there’s anything at all I can do for you I’d be happy to.”

Her goddess smiled with her thin reptilian lips at the prompt answer. “I’m glad to hear it, but try not to be too quick to agree to things without learning what it is you’re agreeing to first, even if it’s coming from a god. Having said that, I doubt you’d find any issue with this. You’ve done excellent work completing your quest so quickly, and I was particularly moved to watch you gaining the zeroth level of life magic. To push beyond your limits for the sake of a loved one is something to be rewarded, and it is with that in mind that I’ve come to you with another should you choose to accept it. Thera, I offer you this, awaken one of your magic skills. If you succeed in doing so I’ll grant you a level to any non-awakened skill.”

She felt herself stunned to silence as she processed just what had been said. A level to any non-awakened skill, meaning that it could even go to a ninth level skill to awaken it. The gods simply didn’t make offers like this to individuals as far as she knew, a quest with such a reward that was entirely focused on her own growth was beyond reason.

“It really isn’t as great as it seems,” Anailia told her as she read Thera’s thoughts. “Even though you struggle with your magic control, your soul is so tightly bound to the ones that you’ve gained that providing a level for anything less than an awakened skill is a trifle. As for why you don’t hear about quests like this often, well it comes down to the fact that we try not to give challenges if we don’t believe a person can succeed, even to issue the quest costs some faith after all, but ones like this have been made in the past. I’m offering it to you now because awakening your magic skills isn’t a question of if but when. Given the lifespan you can expect there is no doubt in my mind that you’ll be able to one day awaken any of your magics to even the third tier so long as you have the opportunity, I’m simply hoping to help speed things along given the timeframe we’re all forced to work on.”

She felt stunned. In her heart she always dreamed of awakening her magic, beginning the path that would let her see the great spirits of the world as equals, but to make it to tier three? That went beyond her already ambitious dream. It was a goal countless people worked towards but few had the talent and skill to pull it off. Still, if it was to meet her god’s expectations then she would put herself to the test.

“I’ll gratefully accept this opportunity.”

<RECEIVED QUEST- BEGINNING OF GREATNESS>

“I look forward to seeing what you’ll accomplish,” Anailia told her, placing a gentle kiss on her brow before Thera found herself opening her eyes back in the church.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

It took all of her effort to keep from merrily skipping back to her home, the excitement she felt could barely be contained as she tried to plan just how to go about her quest.

Obviously, I have to try to awaken my earth magic, the only question is which other skill should I try to raise up to level nine at the same time? Dark magic is out so it really comes down to life magic or telekinesis. Oh, an awakened telekinesis skill would pair so well with my earth magic, but with an awakened life magic I’d be able to help so many people and keep Ben from dying next time something decided to eat him. I really should aim for that one, right? Well, I guess I work on my telekinesis at the same time as a lot of my earth spells anyway now so I can just see what’s closer by the time I’m close to level nine in my earth magic.

When she got home her mother was already outside the house, seemingly waiting for her. She couldn’t help but wonder if the nation would be alright when the queen seemed to have such a casual attitude about all but the most pressing work but pushed the thought to the side as she greeted her.

“Hello mother, isn’t it just a wonderful day?” She asked, filled with a level of cheer that Pelenia hadn’t heard from her daughter since she was a child and it took her by surprise.

“Any day you’re so happy is wonderful sweetheart, what’s the good news? Unless you’re still so overjoyed about your brace.”

As thrilling as that particular development was, she still wasn’t used to the idea that she could wander her home nation now without too much fear of harming someone, to the point she’d forgotten she didn’t need her cloak while out for the day and was still wearing it, but that was all but irrelevant as she gave the good news about her meeting with Anailia.

“That’s incredible honey! To receive such a quest, what an honor!”