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Power Corrupts: Divine Conversions (ch. 81)
🕑 Added 2021-06-26 15:24:03 +0000 UTC"This city is absolutely insane," I muttered to myself, tanking a punch to the stomach before I grabbed the offending moron and flung him into a cluster of other morons. They caught their brother in arms, all of them sporting bruises in the form of a handprint around their face. Beyond them were even more morons, a good… hundredish, or so. Maybe more. Maybe less. I really didn't care.
"For AQQQQUUUAAAAA!" The remaining idiots shouted at the top of their lungs before they rushed me, going as far as to trample more of their ilk to get to me. I didn't mind. Compared to fighting a literal army of undead, this was nothing. One reached me first, his face a mask of terror when he realized what a terrible mistake he just made.
I grabbed him by the face and squeezed.
"AaaHhhh! Uhhh! AaAAAAHHHH!" He screamed, thrashing in my grip, "You grabbed me in the same place! It hurts! It hurts!" He shouted, hardly even noticing when I used him as a battering ram to knock through the whole group of morons. All evidence to the contrary, I'm pretty sure that the guy was a pretty decently leveled Adventurer. His level might even be higher than mine, but his stats sure weren't.
I sent the group flying, using my weapon of choice to kick one of them in the face before headbutting another. They all went down one after another, each gasping for breath, their chests heaving.
"Are you going to admit it, now?" I questioned, tossing my weapon to the ground, who moaned pitifully as he grabbed his head, torn between whether he should cradle his face or the back of his head. I looked around me at the trashed Guildhall -- the tables were upturned, windows were smashed, and there were bodies laid about everywhere, collapsing where they had fallen. Or where I threw them.
I received a low groan from a toothpick of an Adventurer as he began to slowly push himself to his feet. Funny how the weakest Adventurers were the bravest. It was also very sad because the bravest Adventurers tended to die young.
Like this one was about to.
"Your goddess… is trash! Aqua is life!" He said, taking a wide stance so he wouldn't fall over. He raised his hands, panting for breath as he glared at me with eyes full of defiance. They were the eyes of a man that was ready to die for something that they believed in… who understood that they would be dying for it very soon.
I smiled, "And who else shares that opinion?" I asked the crowd, earning low groans in response. However, a few brave souls were inspired to stand. They struggled to their feet, raising their hands and clenching them into fists. "Good. I guess I get to keep beating some sense into you lot then. Let me know when you change your mind. Or don't. Either way, I'm having buckets of fun."
With that being said, I purposely stepped on the previously defeated morons who dared to besmirch Hestia's good name and went on to break the last few holdouts. The first one, looked more and more nervous as I approached him as he realized that I had about two and a half feet on him and about two hundred pounds of muscle.
"H-hold on a second, maybe we could- ack!" He cut himself when I grabbed him by the face and squeezed. He thrashed in my grip, his screaming muffled by my hand.
"Oh, no -- we are well past the point of talking," I told the others that looked like they really wished they had stayed on the ground. "You see, I can accept you worshiping Aqua. I don't really get it, but that's your right as a person. What I cannot abide is you talking shit about Hestia." And oh, had they talked shit about Hestia.
"So," I continued, refusing to touch the floor as I stepped on defeated Adventurer's backs. "You will repent for your sins and I'm here to make sure you do. I will be cruel. I will be unreasonable. I will make it my life mission to make sure that you suffer in ways that were previously unthinkable to your meger and underdeveloped minds. And, by the end of it, you will accept Hestia as your lord and savior, because there is no greater insult than having that blue-haired idiot have more worshipers than Hestia."
I lost the plot. I could admit that, but this was an important side quest. Sorta.
Hestia was now a Divine Cleric, except not a normal one. A cleric performed miracles by channeling divine power granted to them by a god. Hestia skipped that step by being the god, but by dividing up her Arcanum, she had weakened herself significantly. That had been fine before because she didn't have a way to use her Arcanum at all without the other gods in Danmachi finding out, but things had changed.
She was unwilling to recall the pieces of her Arcanum that she had given away because it would mean the Aedra would be forced to abandon Nirn to the Daedra that now walked the planet.
I was looking for alternate means. One of those means was faith -- the more people that worshiped a god, the more fervently they believed, the more divine power Hestia would receive.
So, I was proselytizing.
"Never!" A heathen cried, charging me, only to run face-first into my other hand. His muffled screaming was joined by the first heathen. I held them both up, their feet kicking at my sides, but I barely felt the blows. And the fact that they were completely ineffective made others lose their nerve.
"Never, huh? Well, I guess I could always just send you straight to hell then. Hestia won't gain a follower, but Aqua sure would lose one," I said, my grip tightening as a warning.
I was proselytizing… I was just taking an Inquisition approach to it.
That got them to break. "We're sorry! Hestia is the greatest goddess! Aqua is dumb!" They cried in unison, and I let them go. They fell to the ground, landing on their butts. I crouched down to their level, meeting their eyes with a well-mannered smile on my face.
"I'm glad to hear it. And I do hope for your sake you aren't just saying that to save your skins because I would be very… upset if I found out that you were lying to me," I told them, earning wild-eyed looks in response. They shook their heads, huddling together as if that granted them any measure of safety. I looked at them a moment longer before I stood up, content with Hestia's new worshipers.
Without another word, I turned my back and walked away. Standing at the door was Luna, who had a vacant expression on her face and a hand outstretched, as if to stop me. I pulled a bag of coins and deposited then in her hand, "I'll be back tomorrow," I told her, earning a quiet sigh in response.
This arrangement had been going on for about three weeks so far. Every day, I would stop by the city -- between my reputation and the fact that I was a heathen in the eyes of this new outpost of the Axis Order, it meant fights were common. Which means so were chances at conversation because I got to plead self-defense. For now, at least. I'm pretty sure that the city is going to write in a law specifically to fuck me over. Which was discrimination.
Rolling my shoulders, I stepped outside and turned left, heading deeper inside the city. I got dirty looks as I walked, but I still didn't care. When people tried to cut me off, I went through them or over them. A guy 'accidentally' tried to hit me with his wagon? I just flipped it over and kept walking. Someone tried to trip me? I kicked their legs out from underneath me.
I didn't care about their opinions, but I was also done ignoring them. If they wanted to hate me, I would give them some reasons to hate me.
I reached my destination in a handful of minutes. Pushing the door open, I was greeted by the sight of Wiz behind the counter of her shop. She looked up and greeted me with a small smile, "Good morning, Jericho."
"Morning, Wiz," I greeted her in return. "Things going well?" I asked as I stepped inside. Wiz smiled pleasantly before she walked out from behind the counter, revealing a tray with two teacups on it. It was becoming a thing for her in the past couple of weeks -- I think she felt bad for believing the rumors, so she started making tea every time I came over. And since I usually came in the mornings, she started preparing it ahead of time.
Wiz chuckled in response, but it sounded a bit forced. I took it as a sign that she was going to have another month in the financial red. And the end of the month was coming up soon.
But, I chose not to push the topic. "I think I'm ready to start dumping points into the magic item creation skill," I told her, deciding to change the subject. To that, her eyes lit up.
"Are you sure?" Wiz questioned, sounding like she thought it was a bit soon to decide that. For the past three weeks, Wiz had been teaching me how to create magic items -- in a way, it was almost like Enchanting, but the effects were vastly more varied. However, it was similar enough that I could use my enchanting skill to support my item creation skill.
I nodded, "I'm sure." And I was. I had around a hundred and fifty skill points to dump into a skill. I hadn't touched them yet, but they were burning a hole in my pocket. For most Adventurers, they spread the skill points around to pick up various advanced skills that they then dumped more points into to make them better. And before, I might have done exactly that.
However, Aqua showed me the power of overspecialization. That stupid, stupid, stupid fucking party trick overcame my mental defense. Until she did it, I honestly thought that just wasn't possible. Sheogorath had failed. The illusion around the Throat of the World wasn't even noticed, and it had been turning around wayward climbers for thousands of years. And Aqua of all people overcame it. With a party trick.
So, I made my choice. I was going to dump a hundred skill points into the skill. The other fifty were in reserve in case I found something special I wanted to spend them on, if I felt like I didn't need to spend more on Item Creation.
"The deal is still on, right?" I asked her, earning a nod, but there was a glimmer of eagerness in her eye. The deal was that I would sell my items through her shop with my name nowhere near the items on sale. In theory, she could finally be in the black for once.
Taking out my Adventurer Card, I pressed down on the skill I wanted to dump points into and confirmed how many. I didn't really feel anything chane, but what I did get was a pop-up screen.
Item Creation
Lvl: 5
The ability to create magical items with various effects. Boots that let you fly, a jewel that makes you handsome, a shield that can repel any blow. All can be made.
Perk Lvl1
No Warranty: All created items have increased durability.
Perk Lvl 2
A Little Extra: All created items are more powerful as a default.
Perk Lvl 3
Expanded List: List of available creations has been updated to include more exotic options.
Perk Lvl 4
Autonomous Worker: When creating items below Rank Expert, the user’s hands move of their own will, requiring no thought on the crafter’s part.
Perk Lvl 5
Master Crafter: Masterwork level items can now be created.
Huh, so this is what changed with the addition of the Adventurer Card. I had wondered what exactly combining the Falna and the Card would do -- in Skyrim, I gained a more refined system. But, when I got a Card, my system adapted to the card.
It all looked the same, but when I pulled up my skills, the page looked a bit different. Each skill had a level now instead of a proficiency. The only one that wasn't level 1, was Enchanting, which I had Prestiged before. So, doing some quick math, those hundred points were about five hundred pips of progress. Damn. That was… a lot. And I had another fifty points.
Maybe I should look into getting some levels while I am in this world. Those skill points were useful.
"There, done," I said, dismissing the window with a thought. "Is there anything that you want me to make? Something that has some demand?" I questioned and I really wished I could swallow the words. Wiz let out a sigh that seemed to deflate her before she took a small sip of tea.
"No… no demand… for anything," she admitted weakly. I glanced around at the fully stocked shelves filled with various items -- the gag from the anime was every item was endgame tier equipment that had a monkey paw drawback to it. So, those that could afford the extreme prices didn't want to buy anything.
Well, it wasn't like I wasn't flushed with cash. "I wouldn't say that," I said, standing up before I picked a random object from the shelf. A wand of some kind. It was expensive -- about as much as what I paid for the mansion, but that wasn't even a dent in the money in my inventory. I held it up to Wiz, who looked like she was on the verge of tears.
"You don't need to do that, Jericho…" she trailed off, sounding uncertain.
I didn't, but that wasn't the point. "Call it a thank you for teaching me how to create magic items," I said before I reached into my inventory and started pulling out trunks of gold. That, and I was trying to buy a little goodwill. Wiz was the type of person I would like to have in the familia. I wanted to butter her up first.
Wiz sniffled, "I'm so sorry I was so cruel to you, Jericho. You're so kind… I'm sure those rumors about you forcing people to convert are just the town bad-mouthing you again. I'll set the record straight the next time…" she trailed off when she saw my guilty expression.
"Oh, those are true," I said, and based on the dumbfounded look I got, I continued. "My goddess Hestia is a Divine Cleric. The more followers she has, the stronger her abilities are." I explained, earning a slow blink from Wiz.
"Ah. That's… very kind of you, Jericho?" She tried, sounding very uncertain as a hand went to an Eris Order necklace around her neck.
Yeah, I'm just going to move the topic along. "I'm going to head out. I'll be back in a couple of days with something that might sell. See you later, Wiz." I said, offering a wave before I stepped outside. I spared a glance at the wand in my hand -- sleek ivory-colored metal with silver highlights. I had absolutely no clue what it was or what it did, so I just tossed it in my inventory. I could mess around with it later.
For now, I was heading back to the mansion. Making my way through the city, I got back with no incident. Well, no notable incident. All the while I walked, I ran through my ideas for what I could create. Before, for the most part, I was stuck with various types of fortification or weak types of enchantments. Now, I had a lot more options.
I could use Alduin's soul to grant me the ability to fly. I could make a shield that could block anything. Or…
I had time to think it over. I didn't have to decide yet. First I should work on the first batch of product for Wiz -- I could find out how much exp creating a magic item would give me. Based on that, I could plot out how much I should make of whatever I made. After all, I was only ten levels away from hitting Level 4, which would grant me my next big stat boost. I needed to increase my stats by a lot before then.
I blew out a sigh, "I shouldn't make plans," I muttered, chiding myself as I entered the mansion to be greeted by the sound of slamming doors and Aqua and Kazuma screaming in the distance. It went quiet after I stepped inside, though, so whatever they were doing, they were at least being mindful about it. Cracking my neck, I made my way to what I had converted into my workshop -- it wasn't much. Just a few things that I couldn't keep in my inventory without it being a pain.
A long desk, a rolling stool that could support me, a magnifying glass, and a clamp -- the latter two were built into the desk while the clamp had a ring pinched in between its teeth. An ebony one. The Evergreen Dagger I had given Hestia was melted down into rings. In the past few weeks, they were my current project.
Taking a seat, I began putting on the final touches to what would be the final ring in a set. The other ebony rings were left unenchanted for now. They would either replace the set I was currently working on or be a set of enhancing enchantments. Grabbing my brush, I took out the Black Star -- it was packed with not only Alduin's soul, but the souls of various creatures I killed in this world so far.
The speed and perfection perks really helped me out, drastically cutting down the time I spent working. And I kinda liked it. Just turning my brain off and letting my hands work. It was relaxing. But, more importantly, it was productive, because a few hours later, I finished the ring and freed it from where it was locked in place by the clamp. Smiling to myself, I pulled out the other rings -- five in total.
Sliding them on, I felt my stats plummeting like a stone. I was almost afraid of what they would be when I looked.
Jericho
Level: 65
Job: --
Magical Power: 10,000
Strength: 751 -700= 51
Endurance: 1,100 -1000= 100
Dexterity: 641 -600= 41
Intelligence: 452 -400= 52
Sense: 840 -800= 40
Luck: --
Damn, that did hurt to look at. Each ring was double enchanted, so each stat got two debuffs per ring. The rings could be removed easily enough, but there was a built-in flaw that made them easy to break in a pinch. It hurt to do this to my stats -- they hadn't been this low since I first started out, so I knew it was going to make it easier to grind my stats back up.
But, my work wasn't done here. Leaning back and adjusting to my new stats, I pulled out some odds and ends that I had gathered over my time in Skyrim. Dragonbone, various ores, plants, and the alchemy set that I bought so very long ago, but never actually used. The door opened behind me, and I glanced over to see it was Hestia.
"What are you working on?" She questioned, entering the room with a pleasant smile and a skip in her step. I'm guessing she emerged victorious over Aqua in their latest bout. The two goddesses becoming rivals wasn't something I expected to happen, but it seemed to be good for them.
I shrugged, "Don't really know yet," I admitted. "I'm going to try to sell something through Wiz, but I have no idea what would sell well." Well, that wasn't exactly true. If I sold some Aqua-related product, it'd sell very well, but I'd much rather sell Hestia-related merchandise, which would likely get Wiz's shop burnt down.
Hestia made a sound of acknowledgment as she approached, poking at the various items. "Are you trying to sell one big thing or a bunch of small things?" She asked, wanting to help. I considered the question -- it needed to be affordable for the average person, but I didn't want to spend a whole lot of time on it, so something that was also fast and easy to make.
"I think a batch of small things would probably work," I muttered in response, mulling it over. There were mundane items I could probably make, but they didn't fit the bill. They either weren't magic items, the materials to make them would make them too expensive, or someone else had previously made a version of the same thing. Kazuma wasn't the first, second, or third person that tried to import stuff from the modern world for a quick buck.
Magic was a technology killer, in the end. The steam engine was a thing, and there were designs for trains and the like. However, no country bothered with them, because why would they? Trains needed massive amounts of resources to be created, then more resources in terms of time and manpower to get any use out of them. Why bother with that when you could just pay an upper-tier mage a truckload of money to set up a teleportation circle? It was faster, cheaper, and more effective.
Things of the past of the modern world either had counterparts already or they failed to take off because of magic. However, when I first got taken from my world, a gimmick had been taking off.
Virtual Reality Goggles. They were expensive, but affordable with a bit of dedicated saving. They were primarily used for video games, but there were others like cinema… and pornography.
"Huh," I muttered, grabbing a thing of iron with my hands -- it was heavy-? Oh, right. The rings. Taking them off, I was able to shape the iron with my hands easily enough. "I think I got it. Do you know where Kazuma is?" I asked Hestia, who seemed content to watch me work.
She shook her head, "I know he's in the city, but he got really cagey when I asked where." Hestia answered. Meaning that he was probably at the Succubus Club. He recently learned about Hestia's ability to detect lies, so he got pretty good at not giving straight answers.
I held up the general shape of the headset -- they were a bit like Cyclop's glasses from the X-Men. I would put a bit of glass or crystal over where the eyes would be. Make it a bit thinner to shave off some weight too. Might be worth adding a featherweight enchantment to the goggles, which would be simple with my perks and it would only require a few strokes with a petty soul to make it practically weightless.
A plan was forming in the back of my mind. One that was just stupid enough that I might work in this universe.
The Succubi gave men and women wet dreams with their abilities. So, in theory, I could use their ability to create specifics dreams, record them in some way, then have those dreams play out on the goggles.
I was about to create the porn industry.
"I'll go chase him down later," I muttered, setting the goggles to the side. "Was there something you wanted?" I asked her, turning in my chair to look at her. Nothing seemed wrong, so I didn't know if this was a visit for the sake of it or not.
Hestia shook her head, "No, not really. Darkness is thinking about joining the familia," she told me. Huh. Honestly, I thought that would have happened sooner. "Would you be okay with that?"
I shook my head, "I don't have a problem with it, but it's your decision. It is your Familia, after all."
Hestia nodded before she leaned her head against my shoulder, "I think I want her to join, but… I'm worried that she's joining just because she wants to have sex with you." She pointed out, and… yeah, that was a very valid concern to have. Because she probably was only joining because she wanted to have sex with me.
I think I saw where this conversation was going. "Hestia, what do you want the familia to be?" I asked her, cutting to the heart of the matter. "Because you can tell Darkness no. And you can tell me that I can't have sex with her if you don't approve. You make the rules, Hestia. I'm not going to care about you any less if you decide to tell me no."
Hestia sighed, "I know," she said, sounding faintly relieved when she saw that the words were the truth. "I just wish the others were here. It feels like we're replacing them."
Ah. "No one can replace Lili, Lydia, or Serana. The family is just expanding. I'm sure Megumin is going to drive Lili up the wall. Darkness and Lydia will get along for the most part. Serana isn't the type to take issue with anyone. We aren't replacing anyone. When all of this is said and done, everyone will be introduced and we'll be whole again," I reassured.
Hestia nodded into my shoulder, choosing to believe me. "So far, we only have girl familia members, not including you." She noted, earning an agreeing nod from me. "Is that on purpose?"
That sounded like a loaded question. "Not… really?" I said, wrapping an arm around her and bringing her in close. "In Skyrim, there were Farkas and Vilkas, but they died before they could join. Here, well, from what I know of the place, there aren't many guys worth recruiting. Or… any, actually." There was Megumin, Darkness, Wiz, YunYun… and that was about it. There were other characters that I knew, but those were the four that I would want to join the familia. There just weren't any guys that got enough screen time. Which made sense because Konosuba was a harem comedy.
"Do you want other guy familia members? There's Kazuma," I pointed out. Ever since his resurrection, he had been on his best behavior. Not that his best was particularly good, but he was doing a lot better than the sex, drugs, and rock and roll that had killed him.
"I think Kazuma is looking to go his own way," Hestia remarked. "He's been looking around for a party of his own so he can go defeat the Demon King."
Yeah, I knew that, but Hestia continued. "I've just been thinking that I want the familia to be like a family. And, with the way things are with us, I think there would be a lot of fights if we recruited a bunch of guys. People would get jealous -- I mean, girls get jealous too, but it would be a different kind of jealousy." I see that I wasn't the only one thinking about the direction the familia was going.
"So, new rule?" I asked her, my hand tracing up and down her side.
"Not really, but more of a recommendation," Hestia said. "The bigger the familia gets, the more problems are going to crop up, so we need to find people that get along well together." From the sound of it, she was making a silent point that just because I wanted to have sex with a girl wasn't reason enough to recruit her to the familia.
"Recommendation taken," I agreed before I turned to face Heatia, who wore a smile. She leaned in, only for us both to freeze when the door was thrown open. Looking over, I saw Megumin, her chest heaving, and her eyes glowing red. In fear was my guess.
"The Demon King General Beldia is attacking Axel!" She shouted, taking in deep breaths.
Huh. That was wonderful news. I hope he reduced the city to ashes.
I shrugged before I turned around. Axel being attacked wasn't my problem, and Axel would be fine. If not because of the deal Wiz made to protect civilians, then because Wiz herself was there. And if she couldn't help… well… Axel already had a savior.
"It'll be fine. Kazuma will deal with him."
Probably.
...
More of a transitional and set up chapter. Next one is where the fun begins.
Comments
Big ToFu
Okay, now this has gotten fun once more. He needs to keep going forth and bring faith in hestia's name.
