Chapter 12

"I... am a goddess," She declared, her voice filled with authority.

I stared at her blankly for a few seconds, stunned speechless.

She awkwardly scratched her cheek and chuckled.

“Weeeellll... yeah, I don’t really look the part, do I?”

“N- No! You look absolutely div-” My praises were interrupted by her words.

“There’s no need for empty complements. Adelle, how do you feel? You had... absorbed the monster core, right?”

“I feel excellent!”

I wasn’t lying. I did feel quite good. My body did ache for a few hours, but I stopped feeling cold, and hadn’t felt hungry even though a day had almost passed since I had last eaten.

“You’re absolutely sure, right?”

The goddess asked once again, with a nervous expression.

I nodded vigorously, a smile covering my face subconsciously. The girl in front of me felt like a normal teenager, not a goddess.

“Phew.” She sighed in relief, and then continued, “James did say those monster cores would help you, but I didn’t expect they’d help you this way. You know what, I’ll go to that village again. If there are still monster corpses lying around, I should be able to get you a few more cores.“

I nodded, my mind extracting information from what she said. Apparently, there was this ‘James’ fellow who had told her that monster cores... Wait, monster cores?!

This girl had gone to the dungeon crack to bring her a monster core?! Is she crazy?!

I calmed down when I remembered that the teenager in front of me was in fact, someone probably very powerful. Otherwise, there would be no way she would risk her life and head into a region where a dungeon crack opened.

I had never heard of any awakener absorbing monster cores, though. I chalked it off to my limited knowledge.

The goddess absentmindedly stared at the ground.

Unmovingly.

A few minutes passed, after which she rapidly blinked, a huge smile blossoming on her face.

“Woah. They’ve added so many new features.”

She looked at me, and said, “The dungeon has been cleared. They’re currently cleaning up the aftermath.”

I nodded, my mouth slightly open at her amazing ability to see things miles away.

“Hm. Adelle, what do you want to do next?” She asked, looking around at the dingy alleyway. “Shall we change locations?”

She slightly bent over and offered her hand to me.

I took it, excited at what she was about to do. Would she teleport?

Contrary to my expectations though, she mumbled ‘It worked!’ and suddenly soared into the sky with me.

I gasped, even though the speed at which she was levitating was quite slow.

“What if someone sees us?” I asked.

“I turned both of us invisible.” She said, giggling pleasantly.

***

-Elena POV-

I plopped onto the ground, spreading my arms and legs. There was quite nothing as comfortable as soft, slightly cold and damp grass.

Then, the thought that insects would probably be roaming in this grass made me bolt up.

Adelle giggled at my antics. She had gotten a lot more comfortable around me.

“So, what do you want to do next, right now? How do you want develop your life?” I asked.

She took a deep breath while staring at the scenery pensively, before finally saying,

“I... want to join the Hunters’ Association.”

***

‘Alright! Things should go smoothly from now on!’ Avahul thought, feeling slightly impatient.

It had been decades- well, days, since he had sunk into his research.

His body felt itchy, and he felt like a child overdosed on sugar.

‘I was getting close to a breakthrough, too.’ He grumbled angrily.

Suddenly, an idea surfaced in Avahul’s mind. He looked at the teenager with red hair, that was sitting next to him, with a wicked grin.

“Whatever you’re thinking, no.” The red haired teenager scoffed.

“Even if it means a vacation, Blythe?” Avahul asked, his evil smile growing even wider.

“...What do you want me to do?” Blythe asked, his face becoming impassive.

“It’s a very easy task. All you’ve got to do is monitor Elena for me. Just call me if there are any sorts of emergencies that you can’t handle.“

“I can’t interfere with any of the worlds until I’m a full fledged god.” Blythe muttered.

“Correction, you can’t interfere without permission. Who am I? One of the fifteen. My permission should be more than sufficient. Not to mention, it’s not like you’ll even have to interfere. Just call me if anything problematic happens, and occasionally fabricate a few websites and posts to quell any doubts she has. This is all elementary stuff. She’s just a teenager. She’ll get drawn into the game in no time, enjoying it to the fullest. Don’t worry.“

“I can’t constantly monitor her thoughts. It’d make me feel like a creep.” Blythe shivered. “Not to mention, I’m still not that good at invading others’ minds. It might cause some backlash from her.”

Avahul sighed.

“Then don’t.” Avahul said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You fledglings for goodness's sake, worrying about every small thing. You won’t need to monitor her thoughts. Just call me if there are any emergencies.”

“Will the vacation be long?” Blythe asked.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes. Actually, if you help me out with this task, then I can just bring forward your first ascension. I’ll conduct it as soon as this mission is over.”

Blythe’s face brightened up instantly.

“Really?” He exclaimed.

Avahul smiled helplessly. “Yeah. You really are much too attached to your origin world. Your lover was granted immortality, yet you still pester me and meet her every single day, Blythe.”

A small blush crept up to his cheeks, as he muttered, “What do you know, you loveless old bachelor?”

Avahul rolled his eyes, “Alrighty then. I shall be going into seclusion! Oh, and also, don’t let any of my siblings in. They’ll be livid if they get to know of this.”

***

-Elena POV-

I opened my minimap, and put a marker on the closest city.

Adelle had said that she wanted to take the hunter’s test, which she could only do in the nearest city.

I picked her up into a princess carry and began flying towards the city.

The journey passed in silence, both of us enraptured with the beautiful nature below us.

There was just something different, something so free about watching their surroundings from the sky. It was addictive.

After around ten minutes, I spotted a road which looked quite narrow, probably because I was considerably high up in the sky.

Only after I levitated higher and crossed the mountainous terrain did I finally see a familiar sight.

I gulped as I saw the bustling metropolis that was in front of me.

A translucent barrier surrounded a majority of the city.

I inferred that the barrier was a form of protection and suddenly had a thought.

Why were people even living in those villages, when this city would probably be much safer?

Seeing me look at the city with a stiff face, Adelle muttered,

“Don’t worry, the barrier only stops monsters. We should be able to enter.”

I broke out of my chain of thoughts and nodded, finally entering the city, when I froze again due to a stray thought.

Would... the hunters’ association even let Adelle take the test? She does look like a beggar, so...

At Adelle’s curious gaze, I voiced out my concerns awkwardly.

“Oh, that’s okay! I’ve heard of many cases where beggars have awakened suddenly, so they’ll probably not turn me away.”

“Ah.” I nodded in understanding.

I gently landed in an alleyway and turned both of us visible. I was wearing a normal hoodie and jeans, so I didn’t look all that out of place.

We walked towards the big building that was in the very center of the city. I grasped Adelle’s hand firmly when I noticed the looks she was getting. Adelle smiled at me, indicating that she was fine.

I suddenly flinched as I heard my room’s door opening, and my mom saying,

“Elena, it’s been quite long. Why don’t you take a break and give your eyes a rest?”

I took my headset off and replied, “Mom, I’ll play for a bit more and then take a break.”

“Fine.” She said. “But only a bit more, alright?”

I put the headset back on and was about to continue walking when the fact that I was playing a game on a VR headset with thought based controls finally sunk into me.

‘Thought based controls.

Being able to experience all five senses.

And eerily real NPC’s.

Is this all just a game?’

***

Blythe noticed Elena’s expression. She looked... scared?

A sense of anxiety took over his heart, and he began debating trying to read her thoughts, when Adelle asked her,

“Are you okay?”

Elena looked up at her and nodded, saying, “Adelle, I have something to do. Can you manage this on your own?”

Adelle nodded hesitantly.

Elena took off her headset, and headed straight for her bag.

“Sh*t! I totally forgot about the test I have tommorow!” She grumbled.

Blythe released a sigh of relief. It seemed he had gotten worked up over nothing.