Mash hadn’t been to the church yet, mainly because of the treatment he received from Alex and his general lack of belief. He didn’t know exactly when he stopped believing. It had probably been around when he decided that gods were nothing more than high leveled individuals. Honestly, he was confident in crossing whatever threshold was needed to become one himself. That fact told him that gods weren’t anything special, nor did they deserve the reverence that they received. Respect maybe, but a cult-like following was a little much.

Now, he just hoped that he would be able to see his sister. She had checked his condition before the fight with the cat thing and could discern what changes had occurred in his body. His skill was intentionally vague, and he assumed that it would give him more than just stats. Hopefully, his sister would be able to enlighten him on what the skill did.

The walk to the church hadn’t been very long, but he wished he had come with some of the others. The church was far more grandiose than he expected and was the only stone building in its vicinity. With the building being surrounded by smaller wooden structures, the church looked needlessly expensive. Now, that he thought about it, the guild was similarly extravagant. The biggest difference here was the beautiful colors and depictions painted along the walls and windows. He only hesitated briefly before heading towards the open doors.

Getting closer he noticed that there weren’t actually any doors. Only an open archway. It seemed like the building was simply left open for anyone to come and go. Stepping through the archway he felt a rush of cold wash over him. It must have been a barrier or something like it, but more importantly, it was something he hadn’t noticed. His draconic domain had been able to detect everything he had ever encountered, so the fact that he couldn’t sense the barrier frightened him a bit. It was something else he could ask his sister about. Now, how to find her?

The church was large, about half the size of the guild. He was surprised by how dark it was on the inside, but it made sense considering the goddess it was for. With no expectations in mind, he was amazed by how many people he saw standing or sitting in the building. There were no chairs, and he could only make out a single altar in the wide empty space. People filled the space, surrounding the altar that was placed into the middle. There were several archways along the walls, each likely leading to different rooms.

His focus was drawn back to the altar. Even though it was outside his domain, he could feel it radiate with otherworldly power. It felt similar to the snake from that labyrinth, but somewhat less than it as well. The altar was simple, a silhouette of a woman standing in front of the moon. Her visage was outlined by the moonlight. Mash did a cursory bow of the head; it was the least he could do in her presence.

Mash chose the most obvious course of action and walked up to one of the nearby priestesses. She wore robes that covered her entire body and had a skirt that ended a hands length from the ground. They were pure black, with white stars placed in random locations across the outfit. She wore a strange hat, that had a thin veil that covered most of her face. Her mouth was left in the open, but not a single strand of hair was visible. Mustering his best smile, he tried to speak politely to the priestess.

“Hello, priestess. I am Mash brother of Lunaria and am trying to find her. Could you let her know, or direct me to her?”

She looked at him for a second, scrutinizing his appearance while he spoke. Whatever decision she had come to, she gave him a short bow, before responding to him.

“Greetings Mash, brother of Lunaria, I will pass on the message to my sister, but will request you wait in the appropriate room.”

Mash flinched when he heard the reverence in her tone but nodded anyway. Even if they revered his sister, he really hoped that it wouldn’t extend to him. Alex had given him some hope on the matter, though it seemed not everyone shared her hatred. However, he guessed this was better than that even if it was more uncomfortable.

The priestess’s instructions were reasonable, and Mash had no problem following her. She led him down a nearby hallway and to an almost pitch-black room. It was lit up only by small glowing crystals that were embedded in the walls, obviously meant to emulate stars. There was barely enough light, though he had to admit that it was a good imitation of the night.

He expected to wait long, but within a few minutes, another priestess entered. He could tell that it was his sister, and it was shocking to see her wear the appropriate clothing. Honestly, he had been imagining that his sister just did whatever she wanted and completely disregarded all propriety. That was obviously not the case, and Mash stared at her for a second.

“Can you see with that?”

The veil that was part of the outfit, was thick and he had been wondering how people saw through it. A smile spread on his sister’s face while she lifted the veil up to show him what was on the inside. Mash knew it wasn’t magical and was surprised to see that the fabric looked thinner from the inside. They were able to see because of the strange quality of the material, not some foreign aspect.

“I don’t know who made it, but it is a very expensive fabric. The whole robe is enchanted too.”

Luna did a small twirl as she explained. She was right, and Mash could feel the mana within it. Whatever the material of that robe was, it held more mana than Jill’s fancy armor did. Luna’s robes were several times more impressive than the priestess he met earlier.

“Maybe I should join a church. I think that robe is worth more than our house.”

She shook her head but smiled fondly.

“So, what did you come here for?”

Her response came after they talked for a little bit. Mash explained how the tournament went before telling her about his suspicions.

“I think one of my skills is changing my body more fundamentally than I expected and wanted you to check. My brain too if you can.”

“I can tell you if there are differences from last time but can’t tell you exactly what’s different.”

His sister sounded uncertain as she spoke, but it was about what Mash had expected. Mash nodded and held out his hands while replying.

“Yeah, that’s what I was hoping for anyway. I just want to know if something is going wrong.”

She clasped his hands, her mana surging through him. It seemed to circulate through his body, before returning to her. Her eyes went a little wide before telling him what she found.

“Your muscles are a bit lighter, but more importantly something happened with your nerves. I don’t know what, but it feels like they are somehow different.”

That lined up with what he expected. His agility had risen, but he hadn’t noticed a physical change to his body. Improved bodily control and slightly better muscles could account for that. Nothing negative seemed to have happened, and he wanted to see if his skill would work with lesser monsters. It worked with the high-level cat thing, and he assumed that it wouldn’t for lower-level monsters, but he still wanted to test it.

Even without unlimited energy, he could fly around and spot something. This was probably the most disappointing thing from his class advancement. He was no longer able to fly as freely as before, and certainly wouldn’t be able to carry his friends for long distances. It looked like they would have to go back to traveling by road. It was the only thing he regretted with his advancement. He knew that skills could become worse when they changed, but he had been lucky and never had it happen until now. The skill wasn’t worse in all situations, but its specialization had fundamentally changed its usability. It turned an all-purpose skill, into one specific for combat.

He spent a little longer with his sister. She was glad for the distraction, relieved to be able to skip out on some work. He learned that the barrier he had felt was more like his domain skill, and actually contained no mana. In fact, it was common knowledge that each church was part of that god’s domain. So, it literally shared a name with his skill. That was surprising and meant that Mash wouldn’t be able to tell if others had a skill like his. He would need to be careful about that. This meant that there were probably other things he couldn’t detect.

Eventually, he left and headed back home. Luna was stuck at the church for some fancy prayer that night. Mash didn’t remember her being so religious and was a little worried that her class was changing her too. The biggest problem with the changes from classes was the diversity of purpose it could impose. Not everyone experienced the same changes. His had been abrupt, and he had gradually been removing them.

The issue was with the fact that he didn’t know what he would be left with. His mind had been altered back when he was a child before he had formed an identity. He desired freedom, to be able to choose his life freely, but didn’t know what that meant. What would he do differently if there was no influence? How much of his thoughts had already been molded in a certain direction, and would breaking the influence even fix them? What did fixing them even entail?

He didn’t know, and Jack’s lecture hadn’t mentioned it. From the way Jack made it sound, the system would influence a person’s mind until it was no longer needed. After having been manipulated for so long, was it even possible to not be influenced by the thing? Even now, after having broken some of the influence, he knew that he could still kill people without feeling much remorse. Sure, he had felt bad about his actions from a few days ago, but some of the names were already vanishing from his mind. He could tell himself that it was wrong, but would he ever feel like it was. That was also the only change that he recognized, but how many had he already internalized. Did it even matter?

That question caused his stomach to twist. It did matter, and he would free himself. Whatever that meant, he wanted to make sure that his thoughts were his own. Even if they were corrupted, even if it was too late, he wanted to make sure they belonged entirely to him. His fury had been building since he left the church, and even after firming his resolution, a fire burned behind his face.

There was a small yelp of surprise, and he turned to see what was happening. He was perplexed to see a group of kids staring at him. There was fear in their eyes, and Mash considered what expression he had. His thoughts had led him to despair, and eventually, he found himself with nothing but seething anger. More than just his face reacted to his emotions, and he could tell that his draconic domain had grown harsher. He immediately felt bad for the kids, who had unknowingly walked into the range. Looking around, he understood why no one had bothered him while he was walking.

Embarrassed and still a little angry, Mash quickly apologized to the kids. He still had some candies in his storage space, and hastily handed them the entire jar. It was a big jar that had cost two gold coins, and the kids stared it at in wonder as he pushed it into the hands of the girl that had screamed earlier. Apologizing again, Mash started running home.

The streets flashed by, as he held nothing back in his sprint. He wasn’t worried about crashing into people. His reflexes and domain allowed him to weave in between crowds without any collisions. His mad dash had been noticed and people could recognize who he was, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. His embarrassment wasn’t the reason. It was his anger that was peaking through despite the many ways he had to suppress it. Even with items and skills that were meant to control his emotions, they were still so rampant. What did he need to do to control them? Was he just some kind of an emotional mess, that even with help he couldn’t control himself?

Honestly, it felt like he had better control of his emotions in the past. Did his class advancement make it harder? Frustrated, he stormed through the gates of his house. His brother saw him and called out to him as he passed.

“Stop. What happened?”

His brother asked out of concern, but Mash only responded curtly.

“Nothing.”

The word came out more harshly than he intended, but he just wanted some time to think. His brother caught Mash’s arm, holding him in place easily.

“I have a better idea than letting you sulk. Let’s spar, you’ve been asking me for a while, and I think it’s a good time for it.”

His brother held his emotions in check, and his words came out in a monotone that Mash envied. A fight now of all times. He still hadn’t recovered and wouldn’t use meditation as it would only cause more harm than good. Red’s warning still echoed in his mind, and he wouldn’t use the skill to settle his emotions. He barked his response, his anger still bleeding through his voice.

“Fine!”