Just after his talk about the merchant with Mrs Richardson, Metello decided to aim for the achievement to get the Prayer to Lux. From this moment, it was a hectic routine for Metello. Each cycle, in the morning, he trained his prayer for three hours. Then, he went to the House with Mrs Richardson while looking for potential threats. He practiced the rapier for one hour from the 15th to the 16th bell under the eyes of both his teacher and mentor. Finally, he “taught” a bit to Maria before dinner. Besides all that, there have still been chores.

At first, the future [Acolyte] had wanted to perform some Prayer to Lux again a bit before dinner, but he couldn't. The physical training was too much exhausting. He had to lie down in the broom closet with Maria, not teaching her much, more waiting for mealtime because he was barely able to do anything else. Physical training was not his forte. Nevertheless, he was enjoying the rapier. When he was holding his weapon in the air, he was feeling some similarity with drawing, directing the tip of his tool toward his target.

In one of their quick talk, Metello explained to Mrs Richardson that he had chosen Lux and why. She was pleased to see him finding a goddess he liked even if she told him once again not to choose too quickly, that he had to wait at least to be bestowed the Prayer to Calor. It was a bit of a shame, as she said, to choose without being able to compare the two blessings. She was a Calor's [Priestess], so she was a bit biased. Or a lot.

Maria progressed a lot too. With Metello's meager help, she managed to stabilize her light sphere in seven cycles. She was anything but patient, so she started to aim for the bestowal immediately, always hiding in the broom closet. As she told him she wanted to be an [Acolyte] some cycle before and she was really motivated, he advised her to read the stories about monster hunters she didn't already have. It was his way for her to get a better understanding of what the different gods had to offer practically. When Mrs Richardson heard that Maria was practically already training with a class in mind, she was not so pleased. Anyway, she couldn't do much about it. It was the same for everyone when Maria is concerned.

Some morning in the library, the blonde-haired girl looked up from her book with glittering eyes. She disrupted Metello's light ball when she whispered loudly to him.

“Flying! You can fucking fly like a bird if you follow Aeris! It's set, I'll be an Aeris follower. Zombie balls!”

Then, she resumed her read, ecstatic.

On the morning of the 18th Calors, seven cycles after the start of his prayer's marathon, Metello's fifth Prayer to Lux for the cycle had reached the 10 minutes when he felt divine energy he couldn't control flowing into his heart from the outside before disappearing.

He lost his focus immediately and his light sphere collapsed. He panicked a little, not knowing what was happening. Then, he felt he recognized the feeling he had already experienced from time to time. It was the sign he had been bestowed a blessing.

Excited, he said the Prayer of Status, not noticing Maria's curious glare at the change of chant.

Status : Metello Level : 0 Ether : 0 Class : None (none) Stamina 30,2/ 30,2 2/h (regeneration) Divine energy 31.1/40 2,6/h (regeneration) Statistics Base Effective Class bonus Strength Upper 6,7 6,7 0% Lower 6,8 6,8 0% Agility Body 8,1 (↑0.1)

8,1 0% Hand 10 10,1 0% Resilience Body 7 7 0% Mind 10 (↑0.1)

10 0% Mind Intelligence 8,3 8,3 0% Imagination 12,5 12,5 0% Faith Power 9,5 9,6 0% Control 9,8 (↑0.1) 9,9 0% Perception Sense 9,7 9,8 0% Memory 10,5 10,5 0% Social Comprehension 8,3 8,3 0% Expression 8,1 8,1 0% Blessings Bestower tier level Petrus Resting 1 3 passive Aqua Cleaning 1 1 passive Lux Hiding 1 2 passive Graphic arts 1 1 passive Sight sense 1 1 passive Prayer to Lux 1 1 (↑ NEW)

active Fulgur Prayer of Thanks 1 1 active/passive Menta Reading 1 4 passive Counting 1 3 passive Nihil Prayer of Status 1 2 active

The first thing Metello did was to direct his attention toward the blessings section. He noticed quickly that he indeed had been bestowed the Prayer to Lux. It was a nice feeling to be rewarded for the hard work. The sole ability to produce a ball of light was not an everyday useful blessing under the Everlasting Sunlight, but it was the foundation of all his future prayers as Mrs Richardson told him once in the past cycles.

His seven cycle of hard work was rewarding in term of stats too. He increased Agility Body, Resilience Mind, and Faith Control by 0,1 points. His maximum Divine energy had grown a little too thanks to that. It was a lot in these eight cycles.

He opened his eyes again and grinned at Maria.

“You got it ?”

“Yes!”

“Zombie balls!”

Like the child he still was, he ran to the office beside to tell the good news to the one who is both his headmistress and mentor for some time now.

“Nice! You got it fast my boy. I didn't know you were such a hard worker.”

“Thanks, Madam.”

He took a strong breath. Satisfaction. He went back slowly to his seat in the library under the jealous gaze of his blond friend.

Before he could sit down, she whispered. “Now you can learn the Prayer to Aeris and teach it to me! Please!”

He took the time he needed to sit slowly, then he answered with his own whisper. “No, I will go first with the Prayer to Calor. Mrs Richardson wants me to have it before really making my choice and I owe her too much to not follow her advice.”

“Don't mind her. Even if she's old she's not that old that she'll die before you learn both of them. And you just have to tell her that you need more time.”

“Sorry, but I prefer doing it the right way. Now, I will try my new blessing.”

“Rat sucker...”

Maria pouted and Metello smiled.

“Lux, gorgeous god, shiny god, please help me pierce the night with your bright beauty.

Ball of light!”

The feeling was different. It was as if the divine energy knew what to do by itself. It traveled his veins easily and took form on its own where it wanted to and the result was a stable 10 cm ball, the same as the headmistress. The future [Acolyte] didn't have to monitor the flow at all to maintain the shape.

As he had the blessing now, he knew he could forcefully change the amount of divine energy he used for it. He had to try it on the spot and the ball grew to 14 cm. Then he reduced it and the ball shrunk down to 7 cm. The prayer marathon was hard work, now was time for some fun by trying new things.

Metello enjoyed playing with the blessing as much as he could while his amount of divine energy decreased. He looked at his status a bit to confirm that small balls used less divine energy than big ones. When he had enough of it, he went to the priestess to be shown once more the Prayer to Calor. It had been a bit of a time since he watched it and he was not confident enough to think he had remembered all of it.

A new routine was set up for the next cycle with his headmistress. Metello would have to be at the House early to train his second prayer to a god and from 15th to 16th bell too. Mrs Richardson would not be able to come and fetch him twice every cycle as he wasn't the only child she had to care for. He was grateful for the time she had given him nonetheless.

For Metello to be able to stay in the House for lunch, Mrs Richardson would ask Mrs Masson to cook him take away meals. Thus, he would have just two trips to make each cycle. He was apprehensive of finding himself alone again in the streets as it had been only nine cycles since the threat had been made. They hadn't encountered anyone particularly hostile during this period, but Metello hadn't been alone, it would not be the case anymore.

He had not really the choice. As Mrs Richardson told him, he could use the situation to train how to stay vigilant and avoid monsters. If he wanted to fight monsters, he had to face the threat head-on, even as scared as he was about it.

The next cycle, his new hat on his head, he would have to go to the House in the morning, but alone.

Three cycles later, in the 21st cycle of Calors, when Metello was walking back to the orphanage after an exhausting rapier training, he didn't notice anything different from the previous cycles. It was even a good day as he had not met anyone calling him names after seeing his hair yet. Most people ignored him.

That went until he reached the middle of West Work Street. When he noticed them, it was too late. What he recognized as a young [Acolyte] or [Priest] of Lux in golden robe was standing on a wooden box in a recess of the street with half a dozen people around him. They were only ten meters from him. The Lux follower had taken notice of him too. When Metello stopped to turn back, another group of three people was staring at him intently. He had been tailed. Behind him, Metello heard a solemn voice.

“This cycle, we will catch the noxian taint which was hiding in the city for so long. We need to protect our sons and daughters from the monsters inside our walls. Look at this foul-looking hair this child of Nox tries to conceal! Get him so we can repel the Night influence out of the city !”

Metello didn't take the time to listen until the end. It was obvious they were here to harm him. He tried the only thing he could against a group of around ten zealots: flee. The streets being blocked from all sides, he had not a lot of choices, he went through the nearer workshop door, voices shouting after him from behind.

He opened it with a bang and found himself in front of a wooden desk with two men talking on each side. They stopped talking to watch him run to the end of the counter toward the only other way out.

The one who could only be the workshop manager shouted at him. “What do you think you're doing boy! It is not a playground! Where are you going ?”

As he went through the door, he heard multiple steps coming after him from outside.

“What the fuck is going on? Get out of my workshop now !”

He found himself in the entrance of the crafting area, at a vantage point above the rest of the large hall. He had to take a stairway down to access the proper crafting zone. From this place, Metello could see the whole hot, dirty, and noisy hall in a second. There were several working areas with high chimneys blocking the view, piles of ore or coal, here and there, and several [Craftsmen] were at work. The only two ways out he saw were at the other end of the workshop: a door and the river. As he couldn't dive into the river, unless he miraculously learned how to swim without knowing it, he chose to run for the door.

He jumped down the short staircase toward an empty space, and received himself awkwardly, spraining his ankle in the move. The plan to flee was already aborted. If he could not run out anymore, his last hope was to hide. He limped while gritting his teeth as fast as he could between the nearest pile of coal and ore and stayed still. It was not a good place to be.

The voice of a zealot resounded. “I saw him, he is there!”

Had he not been quick enough or was he too badly hidden? He didn't know. He could not run anymore, he could not do anything more. He could only hope this was a bluff and he stayed hidden as well as he could and listened. Above the noises of the men working, he heard screams and sounds of a brawl. The workshop manager was very active in contributing to the first part. In less than five minutes, silence fell. The [Craftsmen] had stopped their work because of the stir. A little more time has passed before the voice of the workshop manager resounded again in the building.

“Get back to work gentlemen and gentlewomen! The situation is almost cleared.”

Almost?

“Almost.”

Metello heard the voice behind him at the same time he felt a hand on his back.

“What are you doing hiding here little rat ?”

The die was cast. He stood up and turned to look at the bald middle-aged man. It was the strong-looking man who was with the manager when he ran in. He was all in leather armor and had a sword on his belt. It could have been worse. Metello was not sure what to say.

“Hum, hello.”

“A bit late to say hello, but better late than never I presume.” Keeping his hand on Metello's shoulder, he added pointing to the man at the door. “But I think he wants some explanations as to why you ran in his workshop like that.”

The workshop manager was a short mustached middle-aged man. He seemed almost as strong as the bald man but not as fit. He was wearing well-used and dirty working clothes with a leather apron.

“Sorry for that sir. Did they leave?”

“Not for the moment. They are waiting outside.” Metello cringed. Forcing the boy to limp toward the reception room, the bald man asked, curious.

“What did you steal from them ?”

“Nothing sir.”

“Call me Terry.”

“And you can call me Mr Gray little rascal. Now, explain. And thank Terry that I didn't call the [Guards] to gift you to them yet.” As he talked, the man had a disgusted expression on his face.

Then, Metello told them how he came into the ambush, and then he spoke about the [Merchant], the theft accusation, the [Questioner], and the threat as he was pretty sure it was linked.

In the end, Mr Gray exclaimed. “A story full of rascals. It doesn't even surprise me if Moore is responsible for this thing. It's perfectly in his ways to go over the [Guards] decision without dirtying his hands by using people. But why would I need to shelter a black-haired under my roof? Perhaps we should give you back to the men outside.”

The bald man intervened in the talk. “Don't worry kid, we won't do that. Isn't it Balthazar? It's just a kid bullied by a wealthy [Store owner] and a group of zealots. I won't leave him at that.”

Mr Gray grumbled. “Didn't you see his hair color ?”

“Yes? And what? Perhaps you wanted to be part of the mob ?”

“Nah, but... you know, he is like touched by Nox.”

“So, you're really part of those still-ass fools. You never walked your ass out of this Iron-shit-holes I guess. You know nothing about anything outside of the Yellowind Kingdom and think you know about black-haired people and their curse ?”

“Hey, don't be offensive, man.”

“Because you weren't offensive to the kid? Threatening him to deliver him to the angry mob? Black-haired people are pretty common in other kingdoms and not more or less evil than bald, brown, red, or blond-haired ones. If I'm not mistaken, I think Saint Peter was black-haired too. How can this hero could be called noxian tainted because of his hair when he is one of the two greatest defenders of humanity. So yes, you are a still-ass ignorant, accept it or change it.”

“You know, if you are not happy with my beliefs, you can go out.”

“Good idea. Come with me kid. What is your name again ?”

“Metello.”

The boy released a heavy breath and all the accumulated tension as they went out and saw his wrongdoers had left. He had been lucky that the only non-hostile person was also the stronger one. He didn't like to rely on good fortune but he was glad for it at this moment. He should have been more vigilant and should have noticed the group following him if he wanted not to depend on luck.

“Nox bollocks. I'll need to find another [Weapon forger] now.”

“Sorry.”

“Don't worry kid, it's not your fault most of the people here are idiots.”

Terry went with the limping Metello back to the orphanage while chatting a bit. He had been a bit impressed to learn that the kid had chosen to stick to his training schedule despite the threat and cheered on the wannabe monster hunter.