In the beginning, there were three Realms. The celestial, the Infernal, and the middle Realm, Midgard, land of the people races. For millennia, it was like that. The Celestial and Infernal realms were locked in a rivalry dating back to the beginning of times. The host of the Celestial Realm desired Midgard so their influence could spread. Thus they granted magic to the people races to grant them access to the souls that received magic. These souls would go to their realm and become new Celestials. To fight back against the Celestial, the Infernal horde created monsters and sent them to Midgard. The monsters would fight the people, kill them and conquer Midgard for the Infernal.

And for a long time, they were losing against the monsters. The Ruler of Midgard, a transcendental creature, awakened. He saw death and devastation and censured both the Celestial and the Infernal. He banished the Host and the Horde back to their own Realms. But he could not take away magic or monsters as these became part of Midgard. The Ruler then granted people Skills to make them more powerful and able to fight back monsters. But he knew the hearts of people were easily swayed.

So he granted them Skills according to two criteria. Desire and Legacy. Desire is the inner will of the person. Their ideal even if not understood by the person themselves. Legacy is bound by both fate and bloodline. Those fated to rule, to bear the burden of nations earned stronger Skills. Those with a Legacy of great deeds for the benefit of their people did too. And thus the Prince earned strength so he could rule. And the heroes knew their progeny would continue their work.

But people were flawed. Even with their Skills, they forgot. The Prince became a Tyrant, his powerful Skill a tool not for prosperity but for domination. The Hero's scion became a scoundrel, resting on the laurels and hard-earned wealth of their progenitors instead of adventuring and exploring the world like their parents and doing deeds of good.

And the monsters were still winning. Kingdoms fell, continents devastated. So the Ruler of Midgard decided to help once more. His last help. He created the Dungeons. Crystals of power that would draw in and trap the monsters inside. And he, this time only spoke, to the mortals.

"Delve into the dungeons and slay the monsters within. For the Dungeons are shards of my Soul and they will reward you for your efforts."

But people were flawed. They delved and fought not only the monsters but each other. The delvers were both hunters and prey to the other delvers along with the monsters. And they built cities and walls around the Dungeons so they could control who could delve. The Dungeons still lured monsters to them and these monsters met the walls people built. With no choice but to obey the compulsion, the monsters attempted to break in the towns and cities.

Still, the Dungeons did their job. The monsters, trapped inside, allowed the people to recover their territory. Kingdoms were rebuilt. Dungeons, discovered.

They were flawed. MIllennia passed and they forgot the Ruler of Midgard's teachings. They delved only to sustain themselves, letting monsters fester and breed inside the Dungeons. After a long time, some Dungeons burst with monsters, the Ruler's fragment deep inside the Dungeon unable to contain the monsters anymore. Towns and cities and Kingdoms fell to the waves of monsters. And the people became afraid of the Dungeons.

Soon scholars discovered only half of the link between the monster attacks and the Dungeons, the obvious one. Dungeons lured monsters. No dungeon, no monster raid. They also said that Dungeons bred monsters and released them to destroy cities on purpose, therefore dungeons were evil. And they hunted Dungeons. Delve into the deepest floor and break the crystal within, the Dungeon Core. Being part of the Soul of a higher being, it had great power. Dungeons were destroyed left and right out of ignorance and greed.

Free of most of the lures, the monsters settled into the parts of the world hard to reach for the people. The scalding deserts. The tallest mountains. The deeper oceans. The ruins of ancient Kingdoms. The eerie underground. And they bred. They grew in numbers, strength, and wisdom. They waited for the time they would conquer the world.

The Ruler of Midgard is weakened. Forever wounded by his own hands. He is unable to intercede a third time. Some say he is unwilling to help them again.

Midgard is on its own.

It was night in the camp they made to spend the night before reaching the town. They could travel the rest of the distance and get there at night, but as stinky and dirty they were, the guard would shoot at them without asking any questions. Cless wanted to learn some magic to clean up them. Maybe with that [Brownie Magic] she could. Instead she was sleeping one more night under the starlit sky.

That piece of knowledge she got from the gnome elder troubled Cless. Some parts were as she learned in the church, some weren't. But it felt wholesome. Compared to it and how this was passed through oral tradition in the gnome village, the story from the church felt fabricated. Cless didn't know what to make out of it.

It doesn't say humans anywhere. And the Orc King also spoke of a Celestial Realm and how Cless should be bound to it. Who was the One God? Was he the Ruler of Midgard? Or some envoy from the Celestial Realm? If it was, why wouldn't the church speak of it? Could these Realms be classified in terms of good and evil? Wasn't the Infernal's creation of monsters a reaction to the Celestial's meddling with Midgard?

What defines a monster?

She shelved that line of thought for later. It gave Cless a knot in her head because it conflicted with the teachings she learned in church.

Maybe she should focus on the parts that didn't conflict. On how Skills were granted. Desire and Legacy. Maybe one shaped the type of Skill and the other determined the potency. No. Too simple. She felt that both factors should affect both parameters. A strong desire would lead to a stronger Skill. Just as the legacy could mold the Skill as well.

What did it mean to her, with an S-rank Skill? She had no idea what Legacy she carried so she had to focus on the Desire part. What being granted a Skill that allowed her to make contracts told about what Cless really wanted? She thought back to the changes she felt after she had earned her Skill. She kept being herself but at the same time, she was another Cless. A strange vibrant girl who couldn't back down from a challenge or a slight. How the shy, demure girl raised by nuns give way to a proud if not haughty woman?

She was haughty. Making a guild weeks after her rite of passage was an act of arrogance. True to the meaning of the word, she drew that responsibility, burden, and status to herself. Then the mess with the contracts and the deaths of the boys. She messed up big time. But she grew in strength and wisdom because of these blunders. Of the twenty-seven, only twelve survived. Eleven, one of them is a bear now. At least none of them will die again. The bear will, but that's his problem.

Cless had that Skill because she wanted to connect. To build bonds between her and people. Build, not impose. That is why it must be of free will. She didn't just want bonds. She wanted friends. The feeling of accomplishment that a person can feel only when one gains a deep understanding of one's own psyche washed over her. Yes. Cless had a Skill for contracts because she was lonely for most of her life. Even with the nuns, they were with her but they weren't really her friends.

More and more some nagging thought crept in the back of her mind. The church was as much a shelter as a prison. The nuns weren't really her friends because they were also her jailors. Why would she feel like that? Why a little girl would need to be kept under such a watch? Wasn't it easier to just lock her away in some prison or cloister elsewhere?

Should she confront the church's teachings? Commit heresy? Would the One God smite her for that?

She didn't feel like it would happen. Moreover, the church taught that the One God granted Skills to Humans. Yet the gnomes had it. The Orc King had it. He changed into a chimera because of that. He was going to eat Vic and Kurt's hearts for that. Wait for a second...

"Silverfang, do you have a Skill?" She asked her lycan.

Silverfang shifted into beastkin form. "I do, Cless. Its name is [Steel Fur] and it is D-ranked. When I am attacked, my fur is as resistant as steel threads. Excellent against slashing attacks, average against blunt force and weak against piercing but still better than normal hair. It also has the side effect of making me unable to shed fur.

"What about you, Vic?" Now that the can of worms was open, why not see its bottom.

The lamiak was lazing in a coil and he lifted his torso out, "I have [Venomancer] it's a C-rank Skill. Unlocks Magic and allows me to cast poison spells. It also improves my own natural venom."

"Ok, thank you for sharing... Kurt?"

"[Peacock's Grace], D-rank. Unlocks Charisma, grants me some proficiencies and makes me irresistible to any feathered girl. Garudas, harpys, big-rumped griffins, and even a pegasus mare once. Oh, good times." He ruffled his tail feathers and they indeed had those eyes peacocks do.

Cless chortled and Venaris stirred in the blanket. She shut it.

And internally, she freaked out. Since when monsters had Skills? What was the One God thinking if he was granting monsters Skills? Her mind churned but her Intellect was no pushover. There were three possible scenarios. The One God didn't exist. Not possible. They weren't monsters. What a creepy way of thinking. But the gnome knowledge didn't mention humans. They were half-monsters only. Does such a thing even exist? She had no idea. The fourth was that monsters now were getting Skills and the world was nearing its true end.

All four options were as bad. Cless thought went into a loop, but one thing was crystal clear. The church wasn't telling the whole truth. Why would the church be absconding the truth? Because things were dire and they didn't want panic? Plausible.

No. Things didn't add. The church advocated to destroy the dungeons, but without the dungeons, humanity... the people would be at the monster's mercy again. It was one thing to ask Karen. If there ever were any dungeons around here.

Enough heresy for a day. Back to her own Skill. She could understand her Desire. To forge bonds and shove away loneliness. But it still didn't explain the S-rank. Come the second part. Legacy. Wasn't she an orphan abandoned at birth at the church's footsteps because she was born with a misshapen body? To grant her an S-rank Skill, what kind of Legacy was that?

Cless knew she had to get Karen to speak. Open up the closet, air the skeletons. Cards on the table. She remembered the dream and how Venaris told her they were burn marks right away. She didn't care before because she thought she knew. Karen said she was a relative of her mother. Did they know each other? Did they meet?

Tomorrow she would be home. And she would talk about it with Karen. Cless needed to know the truth. S-rank Skills shouldn't exist, right? What was she?

If for naught let it be only to stave off her own madness.

Status unchanged.