“Your muscles are more defined,” Jurot said, noting that Adam’s mood was dour.

“Yeah?” Adam replied, taken away from his anxiety about Mina’s safety. “I’ve been working quite hard on trying to lose weight.” He pulled up his shirt to reveal his stomach, where his abs were more defined. Adam was looking more and more like a Greek statue as the days passed.

“I did not know Half Elves could gain weight,” Jurot admitted. “Or that they could grow such a thick beard.”

Adam rubbed his beard, fluffing it up. “I should probably shave it. It grew so much during nightval and the Twilight Month, but it’s mostly stopped now.”

“It is dawnval,” Jurot stated. “No longer will your beard grow, for the magic is balanced once more.”

“I wonder what that’s all about,” Adam said.

“It is how the world balances itself, thanks to Ritetu.”

“Lady Elaveil?” Adam asked. “Makes sense, I guess. That’s a lot of influence over the world, even if she is the Goddess of Balance.”

“She holds great power over this world due to her powers,” Jurot said. “She is perhaps the strongest of the Gods, save Baktu.”

Adam’s head bounced in a casual nod. “That’s a surprise. I would have expected Wahtu to be one of the strongest. Baktu makes sense, and then there’s, what do you call her, Mahtu?”

“Yes, Mahtu, Mother Soza,” Jurot answered.

“Yeah. I would have expected her to be one of the strongest too, since she’s the Goddess of Life.”

“Mahtu answers prayers, but she does not directly communicate to her Priests,” Jurot explained.

“What does that mean?”

“All the Gods speak to their greatest Priests in some way, no matter how sparse, but Mahtu is the only one who has remained silent.”

“That’s alarming. Why’s that?”

“We do not know,” Jurot admitted. “Once, the various Priests of Life lied that Mahtu had spoken to her, and they held great influence. They used that power frivolously, but once they were found out to have lied, much of their influence had been stripped away. They still hold the greatest admiration due to their role in preventing the death of births by many fold.”

“I’m glad it ended well.” Adam’s thoughts fell to why Mahtu would remain silent, as Jurot put it. ‘That’s weird.’ Ritetu held such a great influence in the world, and he had met her not long ago. However, Mahtu being so distant from her Priests, it was something Adam hadn’t expected. ‘Did I meet Mother Soza? I don’t think I recognise her…’ He hadn’t met her in his previous life, or the current one.

“Now that I think about it…” Adam threw a look to Jurot. “Why is everyone else called Lord and Lady, but they call her Mother Soza?”

“She is the Mother of the Great Pantheon.”

“Oh,” Adam said. “You mean she gave birth to the Gods?”

“Yes.”

“Oh.” Adam continued to walk with Jurot back to their estate. “If she was the mother, then who is the father?”

“No one,” Jurot said, but he exchanged a knowing look to Adam. The pair knew who the father was, but it seemed that he did not exist in this world.

‘Does that mean he existed at one point?’ Adam thought. ‘There’s no memories of him, nor are there any of Bandlor, but they remember there was a Bandlor at one point. So…’ Adam tried to understand how it all worked, the rules within this world, how it was possible that some of them could exist and then disappear.

Adam only knew that it was because of him that everything had gone to hell.

No, not him, but Belle.

‘Hey, are you sure you aren’t Belle?’ Adam asked.

[I am Bell.]

‘I get that, but… I guess it would really be too simple if you really were Belle. There’s a small chance you named yourself Bell from Belle and you really are Belle, just for the fun of it.’

[…]

‘How come you never say stuff to me randomly any more?’

[You ignore me until you need me.]

Adam cleared his throat, causing Jurot to look over his way. ‘Don’t say it like that. You’re using me and I’m using you, right?’

[How am I using you?]

‘You’re probably the last remnant of Belle and you need me to live on, or something like that.’

[No.]

‘Huh, really?’ Adam raised his brows in surprise.

“Adam?”

“Huh?” Adam replied. “What’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m just talking to myself in my head.”

“Okay,” Jurot replied. Adam talking to himself wasn’t the queerest thing Adam had said or done, so Jurot left Adam to his thoughts.

‘I’ll try and treat you better,’ Adam said, wondering how he could treat a system better. He had a sneaking suspicion that Bell wouldn’t answer anything about himself.

Lanarot was crawling around, playing with her blocks, but when she saw Adam and Jurot return, she crawled over to them. Adam lifted her up, checking her clothy with one hand as he kissed her cheek.

“Why are you out here playing, silly girl?” Adam asked, noting that her clothy was clean. “It’s nap time for you.”

Lanarot babbled up to him as he carried her into the room. She groaned and threw out her arms, but Adam placed her down onto her thick blanket and dropped down beside her, rubbing her stomach gently.

“Go to sleep, little Lanababy,” Adam cooed, trying to get her to fall asleep. If she tried to fight through her tiredness, she’d be irritable for some time.

Lanarot reached up and grabbed his hand with her own, which gripped his palm firmly, before she grabbed his finger. She sucked on her thumb as she stared up at him.

Adam smiled at her, causing her to smile with her thumb in her mouth. He brushed her hair gently and slowly whispered towards her, coaxing her to sleep. Once she was firmly asleep, he gently, over the course of minutes, slipped out of her grip.

Once she was fast asleep, Adam grabbed his pearl, and made his way to another room. He wanted to sit far enough away from her that, if magic did affect children and their sleep, it wouldn’t affect his little sister.

Spell: Identify

Adam decided against using Mana that day, just in case he needed it later, so cast the spell as a ritual instead. He held his pearl in one hand, and held Stormdrake in the other, slowly channelling just the smallest amount of Mana through himself, forming a connection between himself, his pearl, and the magical weapon.

He quietly chanted, calling forth the magic, and as the hour passed, he managed to connect the threads of magic, gaining a deeper understanding of the sword.

Stormdrake

Requires Attunement

You gain a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with this weapon.

Deals 1D6 slashing and 1D6 lightning damage.

You gain the ability to speak Drakken and Stormspeech.

You gain the ability to use the trick Shocking Touch.

???

“Hmm?” Adam stared at the information ahead of him. Stormdrake was indeed quite the weapon, though it didn’t hold a candle to his Phantom. However, seeing the three question marks, he wondered what the spell couldn’t gather. “Weird.”

The spell had allowed him to form a small connection with the weapon but he could feel how tough it was to push through the connection.

Arcane Lore Check

D20 + 5 = 14 (9)

Wisdom Save

D20 + 5 = 8 (3)

Health: 65 -> 54

“Ah, fuck,” Adam gasped, dropping Stormdrake after it had shocked him. “What was that for?” he asked the inanimate magical sword, swinging his hand in the air to cool himself off. His flesh was slightly red from the burn. He reached for the sword again, tentatively. “You shock me again and I’ll bury you.” He grasped the hilt tightly, waiting for the shock, but it didn’t dare to shock him again, so he assumed.

“What’s wrong?” Jaygak asked, watching as Adam winced, walking towards her.

“Stormdrake shocked me,” Adam said, holding out the sword to her.

She looked at the sword and then back up to Adam. “So you want me to touch it?”

“It didn’t shock me after,” Adam replied, defensively. “Just take it. It’s a pretty good sword, but I couldn’t gather much more about it.”

“Is it better than Bloodseeker?”

“It seems to be better, in my opinion,” Adam said. “Strom said that it was at least as good as Phantom, but I’m not sure about it.”

“What can it do?”

“It’s a basic sword, deals lightning damage, gives you Drakken and Stormspeech, and a trick, Shocking Touch,” Adam explained, quickly.

Jaygak’s gripped the sword within its sheathe tightly. “Since you’re offering me the sword, it’ll be so rude to refuse.”

Adam kept his hand on the hilt, and the pair of them tried to hold the blade.

Athletics Check

D20 + 6 = 9 (3)

Due to the shock from moments ago, Adam’s hand twitched, causing him to let go of the magical sword, and he gasped as the slightest pain which filled his hand.

Jaygak smiled, holding the blade in her hand. “Thank you, Adam.”

“That’s all I wanted to hear,” Adam said, finding some water to cool with Tricks so he could stick his hand within it. He carried the bucket of water with him as he walked to the Rot family estate to teach Churot.

“Why is your hand in the bucket of water?” Jarot asked, sipping some peach wine.

“I was shocked by a sword so I need to cool my hand,” Adam replied.

Jarot, who knew how queer Adam was, just nodded his head.