Draft:
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As Bell was recieving Hestia's falna, he suddenly got some new information in his head.
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Well, "new information" may not be the right way to put it, as it felt more like "remembering" then anything.
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Bell remembered a game, one he played enought to decorate everything about it, but that he stopped playing years ago and the memories feel like have been sealed away by something. Now? Now those memories have been unsealed, but years of dissuse left the memories faded and mostly forgotten.
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"Is this what gaining a skill in the falna feels like?" Bell asked his goddess.
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Bell knew the "memories" he just got were not real, a "computer" was a device that simply did not exist, and how could a 15 year old boy remember playing a game when he was 20? That math is plain stupid!
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No, Bell knew enought about falna to know that sometimes people gain instinctive knowledge of how to use newly aquired skills, this was clearly it.
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"You do have a skill" Hestia answered while raising an eyebrow. "But it is an odd one... there is a note atached to it in your soul, it says that someone MADE this skill, and due to a lost bet, the creator had to toss it randomly into the void, and so the skill would land on a random pearson in a random universe!" Hestia was frowning in anger at this point.
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'JUST WHO WAS THE STUPID GOD THAT DID THIS?!' Hestia tought angryly before taking a deep breath to calm herself.
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Hestia could tell the skill Bell got was a major boon, however she was still livid at the idea of a god giving it to someone completely at random, as it could cause untold disaster if the skill ended up in the wrong hands.
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"Continuing..." Hestia says after calming down "the god says they anexed all the info there is to have about the skill, but there is a chance that the travel may have deteriorated it to an extend, and that the skill itself may also have suffered during the travel."
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"So this is why it feels so forgotten?" Bell frowned. "Can you spot what is damaged?"
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Hestia frowned, that was WAY out of her areas of expertise.
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"I am not an expert, but I can spot some parts that are very obviously wrecked. Well, that is unless it was MENT to look like that 15th dimension glass hairclip I broke back in heaven..." Hestia analysed, hoping she wasen't just spewing nonsense "One section is called "battlewill"..."
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"Even if it was operational it would still be unusable." Bell said sadly. "Acording to my memories, unlocking battlewills require using battlewill manuals, and those don't exist in this world."
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"...Another section is "race change"..." Hestia continued.
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"Pity. I wanted to be a lizardman." Bell said and Hestia diden't know if he was joking or not. "I just hope at least "evolution" still works."
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"Again, I am no expert, but at least the "evolution" section does not apear like something that was mauled by a pack of kobolds... Anyway, next section that DOES seem to have been, is called "magic"" Hestia paused at the word. "Are we sure this is a skill and not an alterate falna system?" She asked flagerbasted.
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"Calling it an "alternate falna system" actually seems pretty accurate." Bell mused, much to Hestia's growing headache. "Anyway, Tensura Mod magic was also never on the table. Just like battlewill, it requires stuff that dosen't exist in genkai." Bell then widens his eyes. "Damit, no acess to magic will lock be out of a hero seed..."
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"Well, the last area I can spot that I doubt will work is called "naming", but again, I am no expert, for all we know some of those functions I listed DO work as intended and I just don't understand this conceptual spaghetti." Hestia warned "It is also very likely that there are other parts that are broken, but I REALY don't understand like 80 percent of what I am looking at right now so I can't realy tell..." Hestia finishes and close Bell's falna, sad she coulden't help more.
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Hestia then passes Bell a sheet of paper detailing his falna status.
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Bell looks at it and finds it pretty blank, with all his stats at 0 and the Tensura Mod as his only skill.
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Bell then imagined a computer keybord in his mind and mentaly presses the key to open his skills menu.
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The first thing Bell checked was the "unique skills" tab (A/N: i was thinking of giving mc "tuner" as his unique skill(it gives bonuses when near death and can negate lethal damage once a day). It is either that or no unique at all, but i am still on the fence).
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(A/N: insert mc's reaction to his unique skill here)
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Beeing a bit disapointed with his luck in the "unique skills" department, Bell then looked at his "intrinsic skills" tab, not expecting to find anything and indeed finding his suspicion correct. The "resistances" tab was also a repeat of the story.
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Bell expected this outcome because "humans" in the mod had no natural intrinsic skills or resistances whatsoever, and the trend would continue until the very end of the evolution line he has planed (divine human).
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'Well, at least resistances may be aquirable in the future if I get suficiently hurt by something...' Bell though with a grimace. 'intrinsics on the other hand could only be aquired outside the evolution line by using a pilfering type unique skill, and I don't have one of those...' Bell cursed his bad luck.
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Bell then double checked if he could change his starting race, but found no way to do so. Hestia's belief of the function beeing broken seemed to be true.
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The next tab he checked was his evolution tracker. Bell had the options for "vampire" and "enlightened human". Bell made triple sure he had "enlightened human" selected, as dieing by getting touched with sunlight was a VERY unappealing idea in his mind.
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Bell saved the "common skills" and "extra skills" tabs for last, as they actualy had a good chance of having multiple skills for him to learn.
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Bell discovered no luck with the comon skills tab, as he was still too weak and his EP barely reached 1 000. He would unlock some comon skills as he got more EP.
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'Simply raising ones EP would unlock a few skills to learn, but there are also some that require specific actions to unlock, the ones I remember are killing 100 slimes(they don't exist in this world), killing 100 evil centopiedes(also don't exist), eating 100 giant spider eyes(another one who dosen't exist)and killing a monster while blindfolded(that sounds like a convoluted form of suicide).' Bell sighted to himself.
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In the "extra skills" tab, Bell imediatly noticed the first skill available to him was "danger sense".
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"Danger sense" was a bad skill in Bell's opinion, it made a mental bell-like sound in the user's mind when a monster was in close proximity to them, but the problem was that it could not tell how many monster are in range, how far away they are, what direction they are at, or even wheter they even noticed the user or not. It was a "yes or no?" ability, and that could cause the user to be unnecessarily tense for battle because of a single goblin one floor above that has no way to be a treath to them (causing a waste of energy that can result in deadly outcomes in a future battle), or make the user THINK that when in reality a monster party just erupted right behind their unprotected back.
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'Unreliable at best and downright detrimental at worse...' Bell thought and decided not to learn the skill.
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"Well, I guess I will have to kill some stuff in the dungeon and get some EP before making any use of Tensura Mod." Bell stated defeated.
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Bell had hoped to at least get "strengthen" and "steel body" before his next dungeon dive, but it seems that is not going to happen.
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"EP?" Hestia, who was waiting her child to come out of his mind, asked in confusion.
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"Short for "existence points", it is kinda of Tensura's version of exelia." Bell explained with a finger on his chin. "I wonder if they are two names for the exact same thing, or if I will get EP on top of exelia..."
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"Would it make a diference?"
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"A bit." Bell noded. "Some stuff from Tensura Mod require you to sacrifice some of your maximum EP, now you can always regrow any lost EP, but it still leaves you effectively weakened until you regrow what was lost. If EP and exelia are the same then my falna would lose stat points if I reduce my maximum EP, and I don't know what would happen if, say, my stats are all already at 0 because I just leveled up. Would that make me level down? Would it break the falna? I don't know, and this is why I hope they are diferent things..."(A/N:they will be diferent things)
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Another draft:
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"So," Hephaestus motioned Bell to take a seat. "Why did you ask to speak to me in private?"
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"Well... I realy need advice about something." Bell started, looking depressed. "I have heard tales of your cursed eye, and that it cost you a lot throughout your existence..." Hephaestus tensed. "And I'm afraid I find myself in a situation of similar nature."
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Hephaestus blinked. How could something ever compare to her curse?! For a moment, Hephaestus thought Bell was making fun of her, but that was just not the type of pearson Bell was, so she swallowed her anger and motioned Bell to go on, betting that there had to be a good reason for him to bring up such a hateful topic.
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"When I first got to a certain strenght mark (A/N: 200 000 EP), I automatically became what my skill calls a "demon lord seed"." Bell explained.
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Hephaestus raised an eyebrow at the term. "Demon" was usualy a word associated with monsters.
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"It has been a while since then, and I already got to the point I can "hatch" this "seed"." Bell continued. "It would give me a permanent 2.5 times boost to my power, and I don't mean just the current stat numbers shown on my falna right now, but a true overall power boost to any exelia I EVER got plus any future excelia! It will all be boosted 2.5 times over."
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Hephaestus widened her eyes, that was just a MASSIVE upgrade.
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"The trigger (button) is just sitting there in my mind, and when I use my skill nowadays, I need to be careful not to acidentaly trigger it (missclick)..." Bell stated sadly, and that confused Hephaestus.
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"This sounds like an amazing upgrade? Why are you avoiding it like that?" Hephaestus said puzzled, but then she remembers how he mentioned her eye moments ago and her eyes widened further. "You said your situation was like my eye... would this "hatching" curse you in some way?"
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Bell nodded.
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""Hatching" the seed would turn me into what my skill calls a "true demon lord". And to put it simply: they are monsters. Powerful and sapient monsters, yes, but still monsters in nature nonthenless(majin)." (A/N: i know, i know: you need to BE a majin first to become a true demon lord in the mod. but for creative reasons i decided to invert things in this fic, now BECOMING a true demon lord is what turns you into a majin :P )
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Hephaestus frowned. "So you would start attacking people?"
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"NO!" Bell jumped from his seat, shocked at the very idea. "I don't think it will have any impact on my mind or personality!" Bell then sat back down and started looking downcast again. "But my presence would likely FEEL like a monster's, and I don't want Hestia or any of my friends to look at me like I'm an abomination!"
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Tears now formed in the boy's eyes, and Hephaestus finaly understood why he felt their situations were of similar nature.
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Ever since Hephaestus came into existence, her right eye was cursed, and any who would look at it would feel profound repulse. It was the reason she wears an eyepatch over it, so people won't treat her like a monster.
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Hephaestus lost many friends and loved ones over her long life because of this curse. One clumsy moment where she forgets to put her eyepatch on in the morning, or something happens that knocks it off her face... and sudently, her "friends" and "loved ones" become "FORMER friends" and "FORMER loved ones". And they never fully go back to looking at her like a true pearson ever again...
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The boy in front of her had the option to gain great power, but it came at a cost, one she could sympathise with.
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"I understand now why you talked to me of all people..." Hephaestus sighted.
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She could easily imagine: if someone offered to remove her curse, but warned her the process would cost her her godly powers and turn her into a powerless human, she would still take it.
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Bell's situation was backwards of this scenario, but that was why the boy stated it was a problem of "similar nature" to her eye, instead of "comparable" to it.
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Bell could in theory keep suppressing the transformation for the rest of his life, Hephaestus meanwhile never had a choice...
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"If I were in your shoes, I would erase my falna altogether just to not run the risk." Hephastus advised.
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"That said," She smirked "I am me and you are you, and if I know you as well as I think I do, then I predict that if you find yourself in a situation where you need a power boost to save the life of a friend, then you will end up using that trigger without thinking twice." Bell snorted at that.
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Seeing him perk up, Hephaestus then reached for a drawer in her desk and took out one of her spare eyepatches. "My eyepatches are magical in nature, and so they MAY just work to hide your monster aura in case you DO turn one day." She then gives it to the boy with a grin. "Keep this in your pocket from now on, so it is on hand if the day comes." Bell took the item gratefully and tucked it into his back pocket. "Also do come see me if it happens, so I can analise your curse and make something more tailor-made for your specific case. Also also, I think you should talk to Hestia about this, she is the only beeing that has ever looked into my cursed eye and not ran away, I don't think you would ever lose her of all people, even if worst comes to worst."
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Bell got up from his seat and bowed.
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"Thank you so much."
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"It is ok." Hephaestus then made a good natured shooing motion. "Now if that is all then I need to go back to work. Do tell Hestia I said "hi"."
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Bell noded with a bright smile and left her office.
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Draft end
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Well, that is an idea i once had for a chalange in the tensura mod: trying to get all skills (or as many as possible anyway...) without using any pilfering skills. Then i got the idea of using that in a fic XD.
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Now, the fact that it is another world that ain't minecraft comes with some complications, such as no battlewill manuals existing and no way to pray to the fairies (thing that also indirectly keeps you from becoming a hero egg), add that to someone who is a human(no intrinsic skills) and it becomes an interesting chalange for a fic mc in my opinion
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if i do decide to play this chalange for real on my minecraft, i may also decide to extend the chalange to having no uniques enabled and no resistences, and try to speedrun getting all skills in the mod(skipping those that can only be aquired with pilfering, obviously)