It is the next day and Lucia snuck off with my Sun Cloak. She wanted to get back to her smithing work and today check with her master if they can make use of the titanium bars I can churn out for free. Let's hope that something comes out of that.

The flood shows no sign of change either, still just Umbrella Slimes. And despite being of similar composition, they are also hostile to Lydia. So I had to recall her before anything more significant happened.

She didn't take well to the close contact with other slimes. Or she was super happy, not sure. Always hard to tell with the pile of moldy, molten cheese.

"Hey, Justo, do you know if Maria is still babysitting?"

The house answers, "Yes, she's accompanying Carl into town, they wanted to look into what exactly happened to the head priest. Might I help you instead?"

"Not in that regard, I wanted to check on her state after what happened yesterday. Didn't have the chance to yet."

"I see..."

"Speaking of, how are you? Did anything happen to you or are you still fine?"

"I'm completely fine. Nothing out of the ordinary here. The Fortress Avatar is working normally as well, aside from a few cobwebs due to a lack of use."

"That's good to hear. ...well, maybe you can actually help me out a bit."

"How can I help you, little one?"

"Our title level increased a lot recently. Admittedly not by choice... Did that open up any important options?"

"That is hard to say. What level are you up to now?"

"Seven."

"Let me check."

While he does so, I start walking toward my office. If Maria isn't available yet, I might just as well start working with other work.

Justo has an answer, "Hmm... A few minor things like new construction options became available but nothing you were looking for. Though it is strange, it seems you have already access to the race-specific building options. Those should normally require level twelve at least."

"I mean, we would have that if we add Lucia's and my title level. But shouldn't that also give us access to pardons? I don't seem to have those yet. ...taking the consistency of the system into consideration, maybe whether it needs to be my level or the sum of our levels, varies from feature to feature."

"Hmm... I suppose that is possible."

I enter my office, Tina is cleaning it right now.

"Hey, are you finished with my desk so that I can start working?"

"Eek!", she is startled.

"Not the answer I expected... So, how far are you?"

She bows, "E-excuse me, my lord! O-of course, your desk is ready."

I sit down at my desk, "Thank you. Now, Justo, can you walk through those building options? That is if you know anything about them."

Tina mutters, "What is he saying?"

"What is wrong?"

"Nothing! Don't mind me, I didn't intend to disturb you, master."

"Okay, then keep cleaning."

"At once!"

"Where were we, Justo?"

He answers, "You wanted me to tell you about the race-unique build options."

"Yeah, right. Do you know about any specifics? Just the names 'Blood Palace' or 'Ruler's Statue' don't tell me much."

"I can certainly elaborate on those. Hmm... with which to start... I guess the simplest one would be the human's unique building, the Ruler's Statue. As the name implies, it creates a status in the image of the ruler, that would be you. It grants a small increase to base morale and minor resistance to fear effects for your subjects."

Human? So Lucia does play into this after all. But a morale increase, why does that again sound like brainwashing? It is a statue, not a newspaper!

"Doesn't sound too important right now, maybe later. And if anyone saw me wasting money on a vain statue... well, I kind of have an image to maintain. The next one, please."

"Alright, so how about the elven one?"

"Uh, why do we have that? There are no elves here."

"Aren't you an elf?"

"Am I? Oh, right, Silver Elf... why did I forget that..."

I guess that was never really relevant. I never could use its [Cure Magic] and apart from Lucia tricking me about the eye color... I think I only ever saw myself as a vampire and never as an elf. But in fact, I'm both of those right now.

"Right, so what option does that add?"

"You could upgrade a chapel or church to a High Temple. Those that serve in such a temple for ten years with a related production job can choose to upgrade said job to a combat variant of it. For example, someone with the Nun job could become end up as a Cleric instead. Though which class they get is random to an extent, or if it isn't truly random, the exact conditions for which class they would get is not known."

Strange, given the elves' typical manners in stories, I would have expected a circus.

"So a long-term investment. We don't even know if we have these ten years. Put it on the back burner for later. We have more immediate issues that need to be taken care of."

"Alright."

Tina turns to leave the room but I can see that she isn't finished yet, "Where are you going?"

"I-I'm just getting new water from the well. I'm not shirking my duties, I-I swear!"

The well is quite a ways off...

"Come here."

"Huh?"

"Is it so hard to follow orders, Tina?"

"Ah, n-no!", she steps closer.

"Hold out the bucket."

She does as instructed, "Why?"

I fill the bucket with my [Water Magic], thanks to [Magical Secret] this costs me nothing. The water may not be suitable for drinking, but it should be sufficient for cleaning.

"There, now get back to work."

"Y-yes, thank you, my lord."

She bows and gets back to work. So do I.

"Justo, am I right in assuming that Blood Palace is the option for vampires?"

"Indeed. If you bought that, you would upgrade this manor into a vampire-themed palace. It would envelop your domain in eternal twilight, the light of the real sun would never reach here again. I think it provides a minor light substitute that barely satisfied the minimum needed for plant growth."

"Useless. I also need sun protection while traveling around and the lack of sun would certainly be detrimental to everyone else here, it would also worsen the food situation. Overall it would be an unpleasant atmosphere for everyone that isn't undead..."

"I see I wasn't mistaken when choosing you."

"Yeah, yeah. So are there any other new options that became available?"

"Hmm... one that I cannot read. In your menu, it sits between the Ruler's Statue and High Temple."

G̴̱̐l̶̖̋ī̷̭ṯ̸̓c̴͇̋h̸̠̏ ̶̙̒Ṱ̴̿ẹ̵̓m̵̙̚p̴̼͠l̶͈͌ḛ̸͑? What is that... Its price is even listed as negative? I would seemingly gain 186 gold from choosing it... though that could also be an overflow that would reduce our gold to zero.

In comparison, the other new buildings would cost from 450 to 600 gold.

Too bad that just like any other option it doesn't tell me what it does. There's no guarantee that it does anything positive or at least neutral. Just like the Blood Palace, it could be purely detrimental.

Too risky, I kinda lucked out with getting a cost-free spirit, the change to my two skills was neutral or slightly positive, the glitched title is just a waste of space, and now I'm just waiting for a glitch that screws me over completely. But then, being unable to add classes, titles or spirits for a year is quite detrimental.

"I guess that is another side effect of my... experiment yesterday. I guess we have no idea what it does?"

"None. I can only tell you what the options do either from my personal experience or what another mansion shared with me. But this one is completely new to me."

"Then let's just ignore it, Justo. Given my recent gacha luck, I'm just heading for a total disaster if I don't stop right now. And by the time the soul cleansing is done, the option will be gone anyway, if not sooner."

"Agreed."

There are no other noteworthy new options, so I start taking care of other paperwork.

A while later, Maria and Carl return.

Carl hides behind Maria as usual.

Maria says, "My lord, we've returned."

"I noticed. Before you give your report, can you tell me if everything is fine with you?"

"Mostly. I'm feeling fine but the addition of the second race wasn't without issue. I might even be weaker for it..."

And there is the detrimental case. I better check her status.

Name Maria Age N/A Classes Sworn Guardian 7 Race Sword Fiend (Human) 7, Lares 7, Arke 7 Extra Spirit 7 HP 1458/1458 MP 340/340 SP 1575/1575 STR 325+21 DEX 305+14 VIT 325+14 MAG 34+14 FTH 203+14 WIL 163+14 CHA 217+14 Equipment Spirit Sword Skills Sword Training 7

Wings 7

Danger Sense 7, Health Boost 7, Oath of Protection 7, Poison Resistance 7, Restless 7, Stamina Boost 7, S̸̩͗ț̵͑á̵̮m̶̂ͅì̵̠ṅ̷͚a̵̠̅ ̸͍̃B̴̘̿ǫ̵̛ó̷̦s̷̲̀ṯ̷̂ 7, Summoned Spirit 7, T̵̹͆ŕ̶̳u̴̗̕s̸͔̐t̸͙̆ ̶̼̾F̸̛̲a̵̡̍l̶̜̒l̶̯͆ 7 Weakness Earth, Dark, Cheese

Seems like she got Elly's second race Arke as well. Unplanned, but gaining flight absolutely can't hurt.

[Trust Fall] is gone and instead, there are two weird skills...

S̸̩͗ț̵͑á̵̮m̶̂ͅì̵̠ṅ̷͚a̵̠̅ ̸͍̃B̴̘̿ǫ̵̛ó̷̦s̷̲̀ṯ̷̂

Passive

Increase max HP by -16% and SP by (7 x skill level).

Also, increase SP regeneration effects by 0%.

That is similar to her [Health Boost], just way worse.

Stamina Boost

Passive

Increase max SP by 5% and (5 x skill level).

Also, increase SP regeneration effects by 5%.

Sigh

A bodyguard with HP penalty, exactly what the doctor ordered.

And the other skill...

T̵̹͆ŕ̶̳u̴̗̕s̸͔̐t̸͙̆ ̶̼̾F̸̛̲a̵̡̍l̶̜̒l̶̯͆

Passive

NO EFFECT.

Bye-bye lifeline, now I'll never get the chance to become a millionaire. I've no one to blame but myself...

"Well, so long as you feel fine and don't show any other symptoms... So did you learn anything in your research?"

She answers, "Indeed, we-"

But I interrupt her, "How about you tell me instead, Carl? If we want you to take care of things while I'm away, we need to work on your confidence. Among other things."

"D-do I have to?"

"Yes. Now get to it! And stop hanging unto her skirt."

Maria encourages him, "I know you can do it, Carl. Trust me, he won't harm you."

He slowly steps forward, "...fine."

Carl gathers his courage and then explains, "I-it seems the head priest wasn't only expelled from the church but also publically... uh, what was the word? Ex-something."

Maria helps him, "Executed. He was stoned to death."

That was not what I expected... I expected a demotion or expulsion from the church but not death...

"Did you learn the reason for that?"

Carl continues, "Maybe, m-mostly rumors. Some claim he, uh, angered a holy figure and lost the town God's favor by that. Others say he did something unsightly to the saintess. Th-the remaining ones... uh, something about provoking your wrath?"

Those are pretty much the same thing just from a different point of view.

"So pretty much exactly what I witnessed. What's done is done, I guess. Did you learn anything else?"

"Y-yeah, but not about the head priest."

"Go on, Carl."

"R-right. So, uh, you wanted me to find out if any of the armor smiths can work with your material. We didn't find one."

Maria adds, "That isn't entirely correct. One of the smiths wasn't completely sure if titanium is out of his reach. He wants to give it a try if you can supply him a few samples."

"Did he say how many bars he needs?"

Carl answers, "N-no, he did not."

"Fine. I'll prepare a hundred bars, you'll deliver them tomorrow and then we'll see what comes of it."

Carl nods, "U-understood."

"Was that all you found out?"

"One last thing. Dunno if that is important. But... uh, supposedly one of the military teams, uh, beat a dungeon boss."

"Right, I heard the same thing yesterday. Did you find out what is special about that?"

"No, I did not."

Tina interjects, "If you allow, I can tell you that, my lord."

"Sure, please enlighten me, Tina."

She explains, "From what I heard the average group only manages to clear about four floors. The first boss appears on floor ten, so most groups never even see one."

"That may be so, but we have powerful fighters like Darius that are way above the average. Wouldn't at least his group get that far?"

She continues, "No, to my knowledge even his group has to stop at the ninth floor. SP limitations, I'm told. Though there are rumors that he doesn't even join on dungeon trips anymore."

"Well, being injured and stuck in bed all the time will do that to you..."

If not even his group could get that far, maybe we should employ a second group of familiars to break through the boss floors more often. A second powerful group as escorts when we eventually travel around is very much needed.

Well, with the level increase we could even make two whole groups. One more thing to discuss later.

"Guess I should then publically congratulate that group."

And maybe add them to my personal forces.

"Anything else I should be aware of?"

Carl answers, "N-no, that was all from me."

Tina agrees, "Likewise. Now, if you excuse me, I still have to clean the next room."

"Sure, Tina."

She bows and leaves the room. And stumbles and almost faceplants. I'll pretend I didn't see that.

I discuss a few more minor things with Maria and Carl goes to his studies.

Eventually, Anna returns as well.

She cheerfully greets us, "Hiya, I'm back! Anything new going on here?"

"No, everything is just as always", answers Maria.

"Well, not quite everything. Our dear Maria is suffering from side effects of my deeds... For one, she supposedly can generate wings now."

Anna is eager to see them, "Can I see, can I see?"

Come to think of it, her wings might be just as strange as her two skills... Better check that now than in the heat of battle or something.

"Yeah, Maria, show us."

"Uh, if you insist."

Just as she says that wings sprout from her back. Wings like that of an angel. Wide, wavy strands of nothingness, a bundle of featureless threads. As if the universe's graphic engine forgot to render anything, where her wings should be you can see the stars of the cosmos.

"Whoa, that's so cool!", Anna tries to touch those wings and play with them.

Maria tells her, "Please be careful, I'm not used to the sensation of having wings."

Anna agrees, "Uh-huh, will do!"

"Have you already tried to fly with them?"

"No, I have not, my liege."

"If it does not come to you naturally, then please ask Elly for flight lessons. She should be able to point you in the right direction."

"I will do so."

If I recall correctly, in the original myth, Arke was a deity who was robbed of her wings. If we consider Maria's strange wings as missing, we've already speedran that whole arc. Does that make me Zeus? I hope not...