Dix, while initially stunned at the length of time he had been stuck in his training and testing loop, eventually realized that absolutely none of that time mattered. What exactly was he missing by not yet being on his new world that he had actually never been to? He had no friends or family there, nor any responsibilities. He didn’t have to pay rent or phone bills, or feed a cat. So missing the most recent six weeks of a world that had been chugging along for thousands of years without him meant nothing at all to him.

Pleased by his revelation, Dix went back to studying his new taskmasters in a better mood than he had been. Each of the three women were very different from the others, both in looks and personality. Chance was the exact opposite of the people most likely to worship her. Even back on Earth gamblers were famous for calling out to Lady Luck, Fortune, or Chance. All of these aspects were part of an old Greek goddess named Fortuna, the idea of whom is still respected by many. Dix imagined that the same sorts of people on Mantra worshipped Chance. The gamblers, the dreamers, and the risk takers. Chance, herself, was none of these things. Instead she was careful and deliberate with her choices, always weighing the odds and making decisions accordingly. She was more akin to a card counter than a gambler. Still possessed of emotions, though guarded and careful with them.

Lust was also a little different than most people would expect. She seemed to make an effort to remain cold and calculating everywhere but the bedroom, however, she truly was a woman of passion underneath. Dix could see some odd similarities between Lust and himself. Mostly in the fields of trying to rule their lives through pure logic, while having poor impulse control. He was also very aware that they would end up fucking before he left for Mantra. For both of them this was the result of the same things, their poor impulse control taking charge of the logic and using it to orchestrate said encounter. Still worried about losing very important body parts, Dix was trying to second guess his decision, but wasn’t just losing the fight, he was getting his ass kicked.

Balance seemed to be a vision of exactly what she should be. She had enough poise and grace to put entire ballet troupes to shame, and the emotional control to make psychiatrists and sociopaths beg for lessons. Or at least that was how she appeared. Dix was rather hoping it was true to the core. If instead she was balanced through excess on both sides, that could be very, very bad. Also hard to anticipate and rely on. Balance is achieved by having equal amounts of something on both sides, so if she had huge amounts of both wrath and mercy… Honestly, it didn’t bear much thinking about, so Dix let it go. Time would tell if this was going to end badly for him.

A final resolution between all three goddesses did assure him that they agreed to his proposal about personal power being his reward, although they were obviously hoping he would lean more towards gear than skills. They seemed to have forgotten he was even there as he listened to them openly discuss how much easier it would be on them to pay Roanoak’s prices for weapons or armour with the almost guaranteed discount from Dix’s information. They also spoke about getting him, the exhuman, for virtually nothing, therefore having plenty of godly wealth to use for other ventures. Apparently there is normally a heavy price to be paid when claiming a transfer. Dix was amused listening to them discuss their plans like parents around their four year old child.

Eventually they did realize he was there, and got down to what they really needed to talk about. Almost.

Balance started them off. “So, as Crossroads said, we, as your Patrons, need to give you one gift from each of us before we send you off to Mantra. Mine is-”

She was cut off by Dix raising a hand. “You still haven’t told me what it is you want me to do for you. Nor have I given my response to your offer. If the gifts you will be giving me are your form of a partial payment upfront, shouldn’t I accept your employment first? If they are a bribe, then by all means, try and bribe me.” The last bit was ended with another of his feral grins that were starting to make his prospective Patrons a little nervous. Even Crossroads was a little nervous around that grin now, seeing how Dix had managed to force him to pay for what was supposed to be a punishment quest.

Before Lust could do more than open her mouth, Chance spoke up, “Think of it more as a deposit. If we were trying to bribe you, Lust would be naked.” By the sparkle in her eyes, it was easy to tell she was already aware of the plans the two had made, spoken or not. The hints of jealousy and interest went uncommented upon. She also clamped her hand down like a claw onto Lust’s thigh to keep her quiet. “The same rules that force us to give out quests to champions also force us to act as that champion's patrons. They also keep us from actually telling you what the quest is until you can acquire it through the system. To be able to have quests issued through the system you need to get a class, and complete the Trials first, and then we can actually communicate what it is we need done. As you can see, this is all a large risk on everyone’s part. We risk wasting effort, power, and wealth on someone who might die before they can even accept the quest, yet alone complete it. You risk agreeing to do a job you know nothing about, not to mention death. The only consolation we can offer is that all of us think you are capable of not only surviving our task, but thriving.”

Letting the silence stay for a while, Dix simply looked at Chance. He wasn’t sure what it was he was searching for exactly, but that didn’t stop him. He saw no lie in her eyes. No deceit or deception. All he found was faith, understanding, and support. It was obvious that whatever it was they needed done was going to be dangerous, but according to Chance, he could get it done. Reassured by her honest plea, he thought back over the other things she had said.

The most important thing she had mentioned were the rules. Dix was sure he had run afoul of these rules before as well. There were certain subjects that all of the gods he had spoken to had avoided. Things that he didn’t understand, but whose boundaries he could recognize. It wasn’t like he could see all of it, only one side, maybe. It was a lot like trying to navigate a dark labyrinth only by feel. You might not know where exactly you were going, or even where you came from, but you knew the wall had to lead somewhere. There were walls, traps, and other hazards, and all you could do was try and work your way through it.

It seemed the rules were making his choices for him. He didn’t like having his choices dictated by something or someone else, but that seemed to be what he was going to have to deal with for now. The only good thing he could see so far was that no one had tried to assign him a time limit, and he wasn’t going to remind them by asking for one. If he couldn’t get the actual quest until he finished the Trials, then he would just wait to take whatever Trials they were talking about.

His last chance to change this plan was to look at Crossroads. The god who had mostly seemed to be trying to help him gave a tiny nod, sealing his fate. Well, I’d get bored pretty quick without a job to do anyways, might as well take the best paying one.

Looking back to Chance, he gave her a quick wink, then turned to Balance. “Alright, I’m in. What do you ladies have for me?”

Balance went first again. “As I was saying earlier, we each have a skill to gift you. Mine is a skill called Adaptation. It helps you to adapt to any circumstance. Having seen your combat through the tests you appear to be quick thinking, and work well outside the box. Adaptation may seem to be mostly more of the same, but as I said, it applies to any circumstance. Things like resistances will be learned quicker as your body adapts, as will a great many other skills. Even with Advanced Weapons there is a period of time when using a new weapon where you need to adjust to the differences between weapons like size, weight, and grip. Adaptation shortens this time considerably. It will also help with mental aspects, such as trying to get used to an entirely new culture and world. While it may seem a small benefit, it will apply to every aspect of your life going forward, leaving more of an impression than you can comprehend right now.”

Perhaps for the first time since his arrival here in this strange afterlife, Dix was completely at a loss for words. If this skill she was giving him did even a fraction of what she was suggesting it could do, then she wasn’t wrong about how big of an impact it could make on his life. And if it did even more than she mentioned and hinted at… It was likely that this skill was actually more valuable and useful than anything he had learned to date. He couldn’t even stutter out a thanks before Chance bounced up to present her gift.

“Being the Goddess of Chance means I get to do everything like a game. Seeing as how Balance got you something so amazing, and Lust is planning something fun for you, I figured I would go practical. The problem is that there are so many practical skills that can be quite useful that I couldn’t decide on just one. To solve that I brought this!” With her best Price is Right Girl impersonation she waved at a wheel that appeared next to her.

The wheel was a giant replica of those gaudy ones you see in Vegas, standing more than double the height of Chance, with a million flashing lights, loud music, and far too many bright colors. It looked like a neon rainbow vomited on the mating of a lightning storm and a folk band competition. The slots that would normally contain dollar amounts instead held a series of names, or perhaps short descriptions. Things like Portal, Short Range Teleport, Flight, Water Breathing, Night Vision, and a whole bunch more. Most appeared to be fairly useful, but some were seemingly pointless, or at least confusing. What was Cannibalistic Rituals for, and why would he want to have it? And Air Digger? What kind of skill was that?

Chance quickly got back to speaking, cutting off everyone’s questions. “For things like Flight, I have other wheels that will determine which specific Flight power you get, so don’t worry about that. Can I spin it for you?” Not waiting for Dix to respond she jumped up and grabbed one of the handles. Not content to let gravity do the work of pulling her and the wheel down, she jerked her entire body downwards midair, then let go, turning the whole ordeal into a strange flip that landed her on her feet. As she raised her hands with a shining cheerleader smile, the speeding wheel gave a sickening crack and dropped off its axle.

Hitting the ground, it immediately rolled directly towards Chance, looming over her as though to crush her into the ground like a cartoon character. Just before it made contact, her hand lashed out and grabbed the wheel right at the edge. The centrifugal forces of the hard spinning wheel immediately tore the entire thing into thin slightly conical shapes that fluttered to the ground. By the way it broke apart it seemed as though Chance merely connected each section of the wheel to another well enough to make it look solid. As the last of the fluttering pieces of the once impressive, but annoying, wheel fell to the ground, Chance looked at the one that she still held. Her previously beaming smile hadn’t dimmed at all when she held up the small section and hollered, “Congratulations! You get a Return variant!”

Dix waved his hands in the air in an obviously lackluster way, much like his voice when he asked, “Yaaaaay?” Giggling, Chance waved her hand at the fallen shards of her broken wheel, causing it to burst into an explosion of confetti.

As she started gathering the shattered pieces together, Balance explained. “Return is a skill that allows you to select a single location, and then teleport back to it. With a long cast, high mana cost, and a fair bit of time between casts, it isn’t a combat ability at all, but it has excellent utility for travelling. People use it to return to their main work hubs, guilds, quest givers, and other things of the like. Some even use it in reverse, although that never really made sense to me. Why teleport when you aren’t carrying anything, instead of when you are leaving a dungeon loaded down with loot? Mortals can be quite odd.”

While Balance had been speaking, Chance had finished making a new wheel, although this one only had four names on it. Still excited she gesticulated wildly at her new Wheel of Torment, saying, “Yep, but that’s the boring one. Dix gets one of the variants!” The heads of every god in the room, even Beauty, immediately whipped to the names embedded on the somehow even more light laden device. Somehow each god seemed more angry than the last as they all hollered at once.

“Anamnesis!?!”

“Flashback!?!”

“RTB!?!”

“Deadhead!?!”

“Come on, they’re great skills! And far more interesting than boring old Return.” Somehow, while doing anything involving her actual aspect, Chance seemed more excitable than she had about anything other than flirting with Dix. He assumed it was due to being directly involved in the act of making part of her aspect reality.

Crossroads got the first word in, “Knowledge of Anamnesis was specifically destroyed. It plays loose with the Laws of Causality, not to mention often resulting in the death of the user. I know you like how it plays with your power, but this is still irresponsible.”

Next to pile on the complaints was Balance. “RTB is a group skill, there’s no way he’ll be able to use that.”

Lust laughed a little at the first two, but didn’t spare Chance from her anger. “Flashback is almost impossible to use well until after the Trials, and even then it’s completely unreliable.”

Everyone turned to look at Beauty, expecting her to continue the streak. She tried to hide a little behind Dix, but found she couldn’t actually bury her head in his chest. After a moment she quietly mumbled something, and Dix had to repeat it to the others. “She says she doesn’t like it when the birds die.” Being gods they had heard her, but he mistook their looks for confusion at not hearing what she said as opposed to confusion at how she could be upset for the reason she had claimed.

“In fact, all four of those skills lean very heavily on your aspect, don’t they?” Crossroads just ignored the absurdity of Beauty, and went right back to Chance. “You are supposed to be supporting him as his patron, not tricking him into worshipping you. Even if he knew all the secrets to how each of those skills worked, the most reliable way to keep them from getting him killed is to pray for your help. You need to give him a gift, not a chain.”

“Ugh, fine,” Chance didn’t look all that happy with the intervention, but she bounced back pretty quick. “How about instead of another spin of the wheel, we let him pick between these four and Return? That way he gets to personalize his own gift a little, and there’s at least still a chance that he might take one of these.”

Dix realized that this was actually what she had been aiming for all along. It wasn’t that she specifically wanted him to take one of the four skills she had presented, she just wanted to offer him a choice, as well as offer some information. He assumed that each of the different categories on the original wheel would have ended with something similar. The information was that there were a LOT of skills out there, and not all of them were safe to use, or easily understood. And some, while incredibly dangerous, might be worth the risk. He needed to know what all of those skills did, and as much as he could understand about how they worked. Recall might yet end up being the best choice, but you needed more than one option to truly choose.

“So, what exactly are all those skills?”

“Return is perhaps the second best long distance utility travel skill,” Lust stated in a firm voice. “The other four are some of the best utility deathtraps.”