Later that evening Kyle walked into his favourite restaurant where he had booked a table for all of his friends. He looked quite different from the way he usually did since he was wearing a formal dinner jacket instead of his Scion’s Guard and had actually gone to the only salon in time to get his hair done. Usually, he hated doing things like that, but this was a special occasion and Fi had insisted that he actually put some effort into his appearance.

To his surprise Ulrich, Resald, Claire and Teddy were already waiting for him at a massive table while Sonia was playing music on a small stage set up for that exact purpose a few metres away. Like him they were all dressed up in their best clothes and Kyle walked over to them with a smile on his face as his friends bobbed in time to the sound of Sonia’s beautiful singing.

“Hey guys, you’re sure here early,” Kyle greeted them. “I thought that you wouldn’t be here for a while yet.”

“Well, we ran into Sonia earlier,” Ulrich chuckled. “And she told us that she was going to show up early since she was booked to be singing here tonight.”

“I see,” Kyle chuckled. “Well, I can’t blame you for that. So, how have you guys been doing?”

“We’ve been doing well,” Resald replied. “Our lessons have been picking up after the Kingdom declared war on the Empire but most of us have been handling things pretty well.”

“Speaking of which,” Ulrich said once Resald had finished speaking. “What are you planning on doing once you unlock your Rank 3 Class?”

“Well, I’m definitely going to join the army,” Kyle replied immediately as a dark expression crossed over his face briefly. “Why?”

“I see,” Ulrich sighed. “Can you promise me one thing Kyle?”

“That depends on what it is.”

“Let us know when you join the army and where you are,” Ulrich said as he met Kyle’s gaze. “That way we can get our revenge together.”

A small that didn’t quite reach Kyle’s eyes appeared on his face at Ulrich’s words. Resald also had a predatory look on his face as he nodded in agreement.

“Now that I can definitely promise,” he nodded even as Claire shifted uncomfortably when she noticed the look on the faces of her friends. While she also had her own reasons to dislike the Empire her own grudge paled in comparison to theirs.

“Alright that’s enough of that you three,” Fi growled as she smacked Kyle on the top of his head. “This is supposed to be a celebration. It’s not the place to talk about things like vengeance.”

“Yes, you’re right of course,” Kyle sighed as he rubbed the spot where she had smacked him.

Just then Sonia spotted him and placed her instrument down on the stand beside her and made her way over to the table.

“Nice of you to join us,” Kyle chuckled as she took a seat next to him. “I see that your lessons at the Bard’s Guild have been going well.”

“Yes, my masters think that I should be able to graduate early next year,” Sonia replied with a smile as she filled a cup with water and took a long drink. “So, make sure you tell me about everything that you do. I want to start writing the songs about the adventures that you have as soon as possible.”

“Uh, I really don’t think that you need to do that,” Kyle replied awkwardly as the others tried and failed to hide their amusement. “Why would you even want to write songs about me?”

Sonia frowned at Kyle’s words. She had practically idolised the boy for over half of her life, but he never seemed to understand how she actually felt about him. At best, he just saw her as a little sister, but she saw him as the hero that she was convinced that he could become. His connection to the Goddess of Vengeance did make her feel a bit uncomfortable despite understanding why he was connected with her, but she hoped that he would eventually manage to do what Nemesis wanted and turn her into a Goddess of Justice. However even with that darker side of his nature becoming more obvious over the past few weeks she still believed that he would continue to save other people the way that he had saved her.

Sonia opened her mouth to reply but to her surprise before she could a much deeper voice came from behind her.

“Because you can be the hero that we all need man,” Hal said as he placed his rough hand on Sonia’s shoulder. “You’re the Champion of Nemesis. By the time that you reach level 20 you’ll be almost twice as strong as your peers. She just wants to support you any way that she can.”

“Well, it’s not like I appreciate the thought,” Kyle sighed. “But I really don’t think that it’s a good idea.”

“Why not?” Hal asked as a wry smile crossed his face. “Is it because you’re the Champion of the Goddess of Vengeance?”

“Yeah,” Kyle nodded as a somewhat shamed look appeared on his face. “I don’t really think that people should be looking up to me.”

“Well then don’t act as the Champion of Nemesis,” Teddy chuckled. “Act as Kyle Fergusson. Don’t let her define you. In fact, as I understand it your actions actually define her not the other way around.”

The others all nodded at the companion’s words. They all believed that Kyle would eventually be able to overcome Nemesis’ current nature and turn her into a Goddess that he could be proud to be a Champion of. The only question was how he was actually going to do that. In fact, Teddy’s suggestion was the best method that they had been able to come up with which honestly wasn’t saying much. In theory it was possible that Nemesis herself would give Kyle a hint at some point since she didn’t seem to be that happy with her situation either.

Which was actually an odd situation in and of itself since she was supposedly a being created by the need and belief of her ‘followers.’ And that was despite the fact that she hadn’t actually officially revealed herself to the world at large yet which meant that her followers weren’t even really aware of her existence yet. In many ways it suggested that the majority of her followers felt some sort of guilt over their own desire for vengeance. Which in some ways made a lot of sense to Ulrich and the others since they often wrestled with those same feelings. Not that they had actually admitted that to anyone else.

“Don’t you worry about that!” Sonia exclaimed. “Some of the best songs and tales of great heroes have them set off to avenge the deaths of their families!”

“That’s a good point,” Fi sighed as the faces of Kyle and Hal both fell. “But that probably wasn’t the best thing to say dear.”

“Oh, my gods, I didn’t mean it that way,” Sonia said immediately as she clapped her hands over her mouth. “I was just so excited thinking about being able to tell your story to everyone.”

“It’s fine Sonia,” Kyle told the now panicking girl. “It’s not you fault, and I promise to tell you all my stories. So, make sure that you make some great songs.”

“Heh, you always were a bit excitable,” Hal chuckled as the moment passed. “Like Kyle said, don’t worry about it too much. I know that you didn’t get along with everyone in the village, but you lost family there too.”

“Yeah,” Sonia nodded as she glanced over her shoulder at the mandolin that Thomas had given her with tears glistening in her eyes. “I miss them.”

“Of course, you do,” Kyle said as he wrapped his arms around her. “We all do.”

“Alright you two, that’s enough of that,” Hal said as he pried them apart. This is supposed to be a celebration remember. Stop bringing the mood down.”

“Right,” Sonia chuckled as she wiped her eyes. “Well, I know that you two have some things to talk about so I’m going to go and play some more music for a bit.”

“Thanks Sonia,” Hal nodded as she turned around and walked back over to the stage. “So Kyle, I have a request for you.”

“Just say it,” Kyle nodded as they sat back down. “You know that I’d do anything for you if it’s within my power.”

“Thanks man,” Hal nodded as he met Kyle’s gaze with a serious look on his face. “I want you to ask Nemesis if she would be willing to give me a Blessing.”

Kyle blinked in surprise at Hal’s words. A Blessing was a way for a deity to give certain powers to their believers without actually making them into Champions like Kyle. Someone who received a Blessing could unlock specialised Classes related to the deity that Blessed them that were typically more powerful than normal Classes. Normally the one asking the deity for a Blessing would be the deities Head Priest but right now Nemesis still didn’t have a formal clergy but in theory Kyle should still be able to ask her to Bless Hal. However there was just one small problem.

“Um, I actually don’t know how to do that,” he replied awkwardly.

“Why don’t you just ask then?” Fi asked. “In theory we should be able to contact Nemesis for things like that after all.”

“Okay, and how do we do that?” Kyle asked as he rolled his eyes at his companion who frowned back at him.

“You could try praying,” Fi replied.

“Yeah, I suppose that would work,” Kyle nodded as he closed his eyes and started praying. ‘My Goddess can you hear me?’

‘Of course, I can my Champion,’ Nemesis replied immediately making Kyle nearly fall of his chair in surprise. ‘I always know what you’re doing. Still, it’s hard to believe that the first time that you contact me is to ask me for a favour.’

‘Well, I’m sorry about that,’ Kyle replied awkwardly. ‘I wasn’t exactly in a good place when you made me your Champion and I hadn’t really been thinking about it that much since.’

‘So, you’re saying that it’s my fault then?’ Nemesis asked making Kye flinch as he realised that he was being disrespectful to a literal goddess.

‘No!’ He replied quickly as beads of sweat broke out on his forehead. ‘Not at all.’

He was going to continue when laughter started echoing inside his head.

‘I was joking,’ Nemesis told him. ‘It’s fine. But I would appreciate it if you would contact me every now and again. If you do, I might be able to give you special Quests as well as pieces of advice.’

‘Really!?’ Kyle practically shouted inside of his own head.

‘Keep it down Kyle,’ Fi’s voice suddenly interrupted. ‘You two aren’t the only people who are using this connection you know.’

‘Actually, I didn’t know,’ Kyle replied as he cracked open an eye to glance down at his companion before closing it once again. ‘Sorry Fi.’

‘It’s fine,’ his companion told him with a mental sigh. ‘Now why don’t you ask Nemesis what you want to know?’

‘Right,’ Kyle nodded. “Nemesis I was wondering whether it would be possible for you to Bless my friend Hal.’

‘That should be easy enough,’ Nemesis agreed. ‘He’s already technically a member of my faith so there are no problems there but maybe you should ask some of the others present whether they would be interests in receiving a Blessing themselves.’

‘That’s actually a really good idea,’ Fi agreed. ‘I’m sure that Ulrich and Resald would be interested. But aren’t you pretty limited in how many Blessings that you can hand out right now? Is it alright to just give our friends three just like that?’

‘Well, normally you would be correct,’ Nemesis agreed. ‘But I don’t have a lot of other choices right now and those three all have a lot of potential and are members of my faith. Besides that, they’re all planning on supporting you which means it’s to my advantage to make sure that they’re as strong as possible.’

‘Wait I just remembered something,’ Kyle said. ‘Fi, doesn’t Resald already have a School of Divine Magic?’

‘That’s true,’ Fi nodded. ‘Will that be a problem Nemesis?’

‘No, in this case we should be fine,’ Nemesis replied. ‘Jura and I have a pretty good relationship.’

‘Alright then I guess that I’ll ask them,’ Kyle decided as he opened his eyes and turned to look at Hal who was watching him impatiently.

“So?” his friend asked. “Did it work?”

“Yeah,” Kyle nodded. “She says that she’d be fine with it. She also said that I should ask Resald and Ulrich if they wanted a Blessing as well.”

“Really?” Hal asked. “That sounds like a good idea to me.”

“I thought so too,” Kyle nodded as he turned to look over at Ulrich and Resald who were happily chatting with Claire. “Hey you two. Could you come over here a moment?”

“What’s up man?’ Ulrich asked as they made their way over.

“You might want to sit down,” Fi told the pair who blinked curiously at her but did as she asked.

“How would you feel if I told you that Nemesis wanted to Bless the three of you?” Kyle asked carefully.

“Um, I’m honestly not sure how to respond to that,” Ulrich said while scratching the side of his face.

“Can she even Bless me?’ Resald asked. “You know, because my relationship with Jura?”

“Actually, we already asked that,” Fi laughed. “And Nemesis said that it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Well then, I’d like to accept her offer,” Resald nodded.

“Are you sure man?” Ulrich asked. “That’s going to change a lot for you.”

“It’s going to make me stronger Ulrich,” Resald replied. “I might even get strong enough to get my family back from the Empire one day. Especially if we team up with Kyle and Fi.”

Ulrich hesitated briefly before nodding. He had first met Resald almost ten years ago when the Empire had attacked the town where they had both lived. Ulrich’s father had been a member of the Guard and had been killed during the siege and when the Empire’s raiding party finally broke through the walls, they had captured Resald’s parents. The only reason that Resald hadn’t been captured along with hem was because his mother had cast a powerful Illusion on him that had allowed him to pass as a human child. The distraught Resald had run into the young Ulrich and his mother during their escape and had essentially been adopted by them. This was the source of the pair’s hatred of the Empire had come from and part of the reason that they had even ended up at the Adventurer’s School in the first place.

“Then I also accept her offer,” he decided. “What do we have to do?”

“Just a moment,” Kyle said as he closed his eyes. ‘Did you get all of that?’

‘Yes, I did,’ Nemesis replied. ‘Listen very carefully. This is what I want you to do.’

Hal and the others watched as Kyle nodded slowly before opening his eyes.

“Alright you three, take a knee in front of me,’ he told them as he stood up. The others all glanced at each other before shrugging and doing as he asked. Kyle nodded as Fi took to the air and placed his hand on Hal’s shoulder before closing his eyes once more. “Great Goddess Nemesis, your Champion calls upon your power. Please Bless this brave one with your power.”

Everything throughout the entire restaurant halted as Hal and Kyle started glowing with an eerie blue light. Gasps erupted from the onlookers as blue chains suddenly shot out of the ground and wrapped around Hal before he could react. To Hal’s surprise the chains weren’t uncomfortable, just the opposite in fact and after a few moments they slowly faded away leaving only a small mark on the back of his hand and a small blue screen that only Hal could see letting him know that he had been Blessed by Nemesis.

Kyle quickly did the same thing for Ulrich and Resald while the rest of the restaurant watched on with a mixture of confusion and awe. It was at this point that Yuliah, Reginald, Gloria, Amy and Figz all showed up at once and upon seeing what was happening the two teachers glanced at each other. Naturally, both understood what was happening and silently agreed to mention this to Galdon when he arrived.

“Alright everyone, this isn’t a show,” Yuliah told the onlookers. “Please return to your own business.”

“What was that all about anyway?” Gloria asked

‘That’s not for us to say,’ Figz replied. ‘If you want to know you’ll have to ask them.’

‘Sounds good to me’ Amy replied with a nod as she floated over to the others. ‘Good evening everyone. What are you guys up to?’

“Kyle just got Nemesis to Bless us,” Hal explained and the other two nodded in agreement.

This was quite surprising to the two teachers who had been expecting that they would want to keep it quiet for now. People with Blessings were known to be more powerful than normal people which meant that they often found themselves having to fight off all sorts of people who wanted something from them. Not that Hal and the others had to worry about any of their friends doing something like that.

‘That’s great you three,’ Figz told them. ‘But I’d advise you to keep your Blessings secret for now. You’re still too weak to stand up to those in power if they set their sights on you.’

“That’s a good point,” Ulrich nodded. “We’ll keep it quiet from now on.”

Now that most of the guests were here the restaurant’s staff started bringing out food and soon the entire group fell silent as they dug into the feast that had been placed before them. There wasn’t just food made from normal ingredients but from monsters as well. The dishes made from monster parts wasn’t just tastier than normal food but gave small Buffs that would last for a day, so these dishes didn’t last very long.

At some point Revius and Galdon also showed up. They were both late because of their work but they were quite pleased that they had been invited and the group partied until late in the night before heading home.

“So, what do you think?” Fi asked. “You know, about the Blessings?”

“I think that an extra Unassigned Stat Point every Level will be useful to them,” Kyle replied with a chuckle. It might not seem like much at the moment, but most people only get Blessings once they’ve unlocked their Rank 3 Class so it’s more useful than people might expect. And that’s without even knowing how their Class choices have changed.”

“Good point,’ Fi agreed. “We should thank Nemesis later.”

“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. “Are you looking forward to leaving?”

“Sort of,” Fi replied after a few moments thought. “I mean, I’m going to miss this place and our friends but I’m looking forward to seeing new sights.”

“Me too,” Kyle nodded. “Lets just hope that the others join us before too long.”

“Yeah,” Fi nodded. “So, what did Hal say about that idea that you had?”

“He actually got really excited about it,” Kyle laughed. “That’s why he left early. He wanted to get it done before we left tomorrow.”

“That’s just like him,” Fi chuckled as they entered their room at the inn that they were staying at.

“Good night Fi,” Kyle said as Fi flew over to the cushion that she was sleeping on. “It’s going to be a long day tomorrow.”

The following morning the pair got up and had breakfast before heading over to the stables where Dermot and Gloom were waiting for them. The Shadow Chameleon was excited to see them and only got more excited when Kyle climbed up in its back making the young man chuckle in amusement.

“Alright boy,” he said as he patted the monster’s flank. “Calm down. I know it’s exciting but there’s one last thing that we have to do before we leave. Thanks for all your help Dermot.”

“That’s no problem sir,” the rabbitman replied with a short bow. “I wish you luck on your travels.”

Kyle nodded before nudging Gloom into motion. The Shadow Chameleon let out an excited cry as it made its way towards the Adventurer’s School where they found their friends waiting to send them off.

“Hey everyone,” Kyle greeted them as he clambered down from Gloom.

“Hey Kyle,” Sonia replied. “So, I guess this is it then?”

“Yeah, I’ll be heading out in a minute,” Kyle nodded. “I’m just waiting on Hal right now. He has something to give me before I leave.”

“Yeah, he was working all night,” Ulrich chuckled. “He should be done soon though. What did you actually ask him to do?”

“I asked him to make a new weapon for me,” Kyle replied with a small smile. “It should help me cover up one of my weaknesses.”

“And what weakness is that?” Gloria asked interestedly.

“How spread out my Stats are,” Kyle replied. “I have a few options that I can use to increase the power of my normal attacks, but my spells are weaker than they should be. So, I asked Hal to make me something that should help with that.”

“A weapon that can boost the power of your spells?” Ulrich asked “Surely you could just use a normal weapon like a wand or staff for that. Why did you feel the need to ask Hal to make you something specific?”

“It was just an idea that I had,” Kyle replied. “But he really liked it.”

“Well don’t keep us in suspense,” Resald laughed. “What is it?”

‘Well, it’s obviously going to be a chain isn’t it?’ Amy pointed out and Kyle nodded in agreement.

“That’s exactly what it is,” he agreed. “A chain with a focus on the end.”

“Again, I don’t really see why you didn’t just buy a wand,” Ulrich sighed. “Is the boost from your Chain Manipulation Skill really going to give you that much of a boost for it to be worth it?’

“If it was just Chain Fighting then it wouldn’t be,” Kyle nodded. “But Chain Manipulation allows me to freely control one chain with my mind. Which means that I can use this new chain to launch point blank magical attacks without having to get close to an enemy myself.”

“That’s… actually a really good point,” Ulrich realised. “You’re right that might be worth it for you.”

“Speaking of which, here comes Hal now,” Fi pointed out as the red-haired young man rushed over to them. Like Kyle had said he was carrying a length of chain that resembled Kyle’s other weapons except for the fact that it had a small crystal on the end rather than a weight.

“Looks like you managed to complete it,” Kyle said as his friend came to a halt.

“Yeah, it came out really well,” Hal nodded as he handed the weapon over. “Check it out.”

Before Kyle could say anything Fi activated her Identify Ability and shared the information with him. Kyle’s eyebrows raised as he read the information and let out an impressed whistle.

Iron Magic Chain

Item Tier (Rarity): Unique (Well-made)

Weapon type: Chain (magic)

Weapon damage: 5-7 Blunt

Increases spell power by 15%

Durability: 10/10

This unique but fragile weapon was made by a blacksmith for his friend. While it is largely ineffective as a physical weapon it does increase the power of any magic that is channelled through it thanks to the crystal focus on one end.

“I honestly wasn’t expecting it to increase the power of your spells so much,” Hal said. “As you know wands made using the same quartz that I used for this chain usually increase spell power by 20% at most but I don’t have a lot of experience working with quartz so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t even be able to make a weapon that increased your spell power by even 10%.”

“You did really well,” Kyle agreed as he patted his friend on the back. “Well then, I guess that I had better say my goodbyes to you all.”

Kyle and Fi spent the next 20 minutes or so saying goodbye to all of his friends before clambering back up onto Gloom’s back.

“Well then, let’s head off,” he said to his companions as his friends watched on and with tears in their eyes, they waved one final last goodbye as they headed down the street in the direction of the main gates. “Next stop Juria!”