Raymond smashed her glowing fist into the crumbling stone block. The already cracked and splintered surface shattered in a cascade of dust and rock. She stood amidst the range of shattered pillars, breathing deeply to catch her breath. She turned, dusting off her clothes as she walked away. Three straight days and nights of smashing things did wonders for her emotions. The sadness and anger already felt like distant memories. All that remained was a faint sense of embarrassment for shedding exactly three and a half tears. She counted.

It was all thanks to Og’s instruction on the ‘goblin way’ of dealing with emotions:

Breaking stuff until you feel better.

Technically, that was the Gobber Goblin method. Glitter Goblins played tricks on people and cracked jokes. Wisely, Og had recommended the more violent of the two options to Raymond.

The magic users who were maintaining the field collapsed, exhausted. They had rotated on shifts through the days and nights to keep raising targets for her to smash. By the end of the third night, she was moving between the targets so quickly and efficiently that they could barely keep up.

Devastate is now level 7! Damage increased by 5%!

Current Ratio: 1.35:1

Power Strike is now level 9! Damage increased by 5%!

Current Ratio: 1.45:1

The sun had risen two hours ago, but Raymond had paid it no mind. During the daylight hours, Og or Trog often came by to watch her for a short time before leaving to do whatever.

Og was there now and he had noticed that Raymond had stopped. He approached.

“You worked it all out?” he asked.

Raymond nodded sheepishly, a wide grin on her face. “I feel a hundred times better.” she responded contently.

Og shook his head slightly, “I’ve seen people go at it for hours, but for days… even for a True Vampire… no, for any immortal race, your endurance isn’t just for show.”

Raymond snorted, “You could say that.”

“If you are ready, would you like to meet with Vorg or the Glitter Court first?” Og asked.

Raymond looked down at her disheveled and tattered outfit that still was the slightest bit too big. She was suddenly overwhelming conscious of how greasy she felt.

“Actually, I think I might need a change of clothes…” she replied, holding up a sleeve to peer at a jagged tear. She vaguely recalled being pelted and cut by sharp fragments from the stone pillars… but she had completely ignored it in her rampage.

Og grinned widely, revealing his sharp fangs as a glint entered into eyes. Raymond noted that he actually looked kind of cool…

“By the smell coming off of you, I suppose you haven’t bathed in a while either?” he supplied, his voice taking on a teasing, semi-malicious tone.

Raymond frowned, sniffing.

“There does seem to be the faint scent of blood…” she muttered.

Og reached out and pulled back her hood, causing her platinum hair to tumble out. Raymond had kept it covered for so long that she had almost forgotten about the dazzling strands. Her hair was tangled and matted with dried blood crusted at the edges. Slimy-looking dirt mixed with a dried, whitish-brown pasty substance dulled the brilliant luster, replacing almost the entirety with a dark tone. A few faint sparkles of glitter reflected light here and there.

“And a few others things…” she added sullenly.

Og tsked. “I think you should take care of yourself more. You might not stink like humans but you still get blood and grime on you.”

Raymond ran her fingers through the soft, hair, grimacing as they caught on tangles and dried clumps and she felt a sharp pull in her scalp.

“I guess I should clean up.” she acquiesced, “Where might I do that?”

Og motioned towards the outskirts of the camp.

“This way.”

***

Honestly, I got pretty bored of watching Raymond smash stone blocks for three days. If this were a novel or an anime, it probably would have passed as a training montage. During that time, I started asking Auto questions about this world. He didn’t know the answers to all of them… apparently, the database contains information about every world but it doesn’t have every person or event recorded.

I guess that makes sense… there are a lot of people who never do anything that significantly affects the world as a whole, right?

But he knew a lot about Evelyn Raymond… and she’s really scary. Just remembering the handful of stories makes me want to shiver.

Naturally, I’m preparing the information to give to Raymond but I don’t yet have enough Holy Power to create another Lesser Miracle. Also, I’m not quite sure that I want to keep expending my limited power as soon as I get it…”

In addition to asking Auto questions, I used the time to address my huge backlog of prayers. I really have to be missing something… there’s no possible way for a single person to address each of these prayers individually. Even after filtering out all the ‘thanks for the food prayers’ on auto-respond, I still receive an average of 150,000 prayers a day.

In other words, after three days of reviewing the Prayer Log, I still had an aggravating blinking red light at the edge of my vision, taunting me with the ever-growing number.

674,532 unread messages!

It felt depressing reading them too. People asked me for all kinds of things that I want to give them, but I just… can’t.

Rudy the Gnome asking me how to become a great swordsman.

Issylra the Naga asking me to help her attract her ideal minotaur.

Steve the Human… well, he seemed like an interesting guy. First of all, he’s praying to me despite being human, which obviously caught my attention. He asked me to turn him into a Paladin and a Dark Knight. Also, he said he wanted to learn how to breakdance.

I kind of want to meet the guy… also, his name is awesome...

As I flicked through the list of names, I noticed one that I recognized. I opened up the prayer message.

Eileen, Temple Priestess: Legion, the adventurers are going after her. You have four days.

Wait… who’s coming in two days? The only people I could think of that would be after Raymond are Jonathan’s group and Jantzen’s group…

And then it dawned on me… I know this information and I can’t tell anyone. I won't have enough Holy Power before the attack happens…

“GAH! Who designed this system? What the hell is the point of being a god if I’m stuck like this?!” I shouted to nobody in particular.

Of course, Auto replied because he’s annoyingly helpful that way.

“Why not just respond?” Auto asked.

“...”

“She’s a Priestess. She should be adept at interpreting spiritual messages.” it continued.

I looked at the prayer again and then willed a response. The conveyed message should have been something like this:

Not enough power. Go find another way.

I closed the window with a sigh, eyeing the small golden-yellow bar that was ever so slowly increasing.

I really want to have more power…

***

Congratulations! You have met 2/2 requirements to unlock the Acolyte class!

- Learn to access your magic aura

- Successfully manipulate your aura

Accept? Y/N

Lexi collapsed, joy and excitement battling with extreme mental fatigue. She’d been practicing controlling her aura for the better part of three days now while she waited for Raymond to calm down. After a couple dozen hours of meditating and emitting her aura, she’d finally managed to grasp it.

Unfortunately, after she grasped it she had no idea what to do with it. She mentally pushed…

And then she had collapsed, receiving that notification at the same time.

“Yes!” Lexi whispered, mentally accepting her first combat class.

Congratulations! You are now a Level 1 Acolyte!

The Acolyte skills Mana Manipulation and Basic Elemental Magic have been unlocked!

You have learned the Basic Elemental Magic spells:

Manipulate Fire, Manipulate Water, Manipulate Earth, Manipulate Air

Lexi felt an influx of new knowledge press into her mind and for a moment she almost understood how the elements worked…

And then the knowledge disappeared.

She shook her head, unsure as to why the information had gone away. She sat up dizzily, slowly pushing herself to her feet.

“Thine aura has changed. Did the abomination learn to twinkle her appendages?” came an arrogant and annoying voice.

Mort. Honestly, she didn’t really mind the bird too much at first, but his verbal jabs were starting to get under her skin. She’d been insulted frequently as a slave and so she’d thought that she was past all that. Words just didn’t hurt as much as sticks and stones, right?

Except when it came to Mort.

Lexi turned and glared at the large, black Raven Lord. She pulsed her aura, stretching her hand out towards the evil creature.

“Fire!” she said, grimacing as she felt another wave of mental fatigue roll through her mind like a heavy fog. A small burst of fire erupted from her palm and flew towards the bird.

Mort sighed, waving his wing lazily. The fire turned dark for a moment, flickering and then disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Lexi stared at the smoke. “Huh?” she asked, feeling her tail twitch anxiously.

“Such paltry flames are hardly worthy of Lady Raymond's servant. I sincerely hope you are not satisfied with such a performance?” Mort droned.

Lexi shot another burst of fire and then tried to push the air. Mort flapped his wings once more and the fire dissipated. The air leaped back at Lexi, blowing her off her feet. She tumbled to the ground, her mind erupting in pain as her mental exhaustion peaked. She groaned in frustration.

“Stupid bird…” she muttered. She decided to lay there a little longer. She just didn’t have the will to get up…

Her ears tweaked as she heard a familiar voice. She looked over and saw Raymond walking with Og towards the outskirts of the camp. They were talking about a bath…?

Suddenly, Lexi had enough energy to crawl away.

Anything to be far, far away from the water.

***

Eileen was sitting at the desk in her office, reviewing local ecclesiastical reports on the computer. As per usual, she ignored the lists of members as she opened up the new file that she’d created a few days ago.

Legion, the Great One.

She was extremely tempted to re-register herself as his follower. It would certainly make things a lot easier but… she really couldn’t abandon her Lady. She didn’t take too kindly to turncoats. Either way, Eileen wasn’t inclined to lose her perks by switching Overseers.

A notification caught her attention and she opened the message from Max.

“Oh,” she muttered to herself, “Doug will be in town next week? I wonder what’s bringing the golden boy out east this time…?”

She sighed. Every time the boy-prodigy visited Cairel he raided the United Federation and came back with a host of slaves. She silently prayed that this time he would fail.

She truly hated seeing the ‘monsters’ in slave collars. It reminded her too much of her own childhood…

Also, her Lady wasn’t fond of the practice.

A brief sensation of enlightenment overcame Eileen and she paused to examine the message.

“Impure. Get out.” she interpreted.

Of course, knowing the contents of her prayer to Legion and with many years as a Temple Priestess under her belt, she knew exactly what that meant.

“Gerald!” she called. The assassin who was always guarding her stepped out of the shadows.

“What is your order?” he asked tersely. Eileen grabbed a loose sheet of paper and scribbled down a message.

“Tell Max he has a customer in the Voskeg Mountains. The deadline is under four days.”

Gerald accepted the note.

“It will be done.”