Sekou, who was currently sitting on top of the bed in his room, would look at his inventory once more. This time however he'd simply be looking at a single item.
[Item: Fallacia's Holy Book
Description: A thick book containing the doctrine and beliefs of the Church of *****. This specific Holy book is said to have been carried around by the First Cardinal of the Church wherever she went. It's said that in her last moments, she sealed her consciousness and soul inside hoping that one day someone worthy of reviving the Church would find this book.
"Really, why am I the only one who does their job properly?"
Effects: Upon opening the book the user gains the following skills:
[Fallacia's Remnants Lv???]
[Prayer Lv1]
[Heal Lv 1]
]
A frown came over his face as he looked at it. Interacting with the status window once more he'd summon it in front of him as he looked at it
It was a hard black cover with the church's insignia proudly plastered in the middle. There wasn't a title of any sort in front of it, and as he looked at it, he couldn't help but get an ominous feeling.
'It says that as soon as I open this book I'll get the listed skills… including [Fallacia's Remnants Lv???]. This is a huge gamble. Do I trust what T.S.A. previously told me? About how the system is extremely unlikely to give a hero an item that negatively affects them at the start?'
'The main problem is that the chances aren't zero tho… am I simply being too paranoid about this? Is that it?' Sekou would scratch the back of his head as he looked at the book that was causing him so much confusion and irritation.
"Ah fuck it!" He'd say.
'I already told Emma that I have a priest related skill with healing capabilities. If I don't have a healing skill to go with that lie then I'm screwed!'
That and the fact that the chances of the book actually affecting him negatively were extremely low. His main fear stemmed from the unknown. The possibility that this was one of those very low chances.
At the end however, he'd remember some of the words that old man Vista had said. Not to be overly paranoid. Opening the book subsequently became the only valid option in Sekou's mind.
What was his plan B if things went south? Yell as loudly as possible in hopes someone ran in with a way to save him.
Unfortunately however… he'd quickly find out that his plan B wouldn't have worked even if he was in a dire situation.
/Tremble…/
/FLASH!/
The book would lightly tremble as it was opened before a black flash suddenly followed, completely covering the room. If not for the fact that Sekou had previously closed the door it would have most likely gone into the hallway.
Luckily the flash only lasted for a short moment before a series of messages would assault Sekou's mind.
[DING]
[You have gained the Skill. Fallacia's Remnants Lv???]
[You have gained the Skill. Prayer Lv1]
[You have gained the Skill. Heal Lv1]
Now this was good. This was appreciated as he now gained new skills to add to his arsenal!
However-
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? Awakens.]
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? Gazes upon the Host.]
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? Wishes to assess the Host.]
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? Pulls the Host inside their mind.]
This was not good. Not in the slightest or at least that's what Sekou thought before everything went black as he was pulled within his mind.
/Darkness…/
As everything went black and Sekou lost sight of his room and the holy book a feeling of regret would start to overtake him.
"Should I not have opened the book?" He'd say aloud.
"That hurts you know… I just wanted to see the face of the church's new leader." A clearly female voice would say as suddenly.
"Who-"
Before Sekou could even answer the question the sudden darkness would disappear allowing him to glance into his mindscape. A rather desolate and bleak place would unravel in front of him.
The "ground" he stood on was of a pitch black colour with nothing to signal what it may be whilst in the sky a large dark grey cloud would cover anything that may be in there.
"This place is quite… bleak." He'd mutter.
"I quite like it. A small chapel wouldn't be a bad addition tho." The mysterious female voice would once again ring out.
Looking around for the source of the voice he'd spot a woman standing at a distance of about 8 feet. She seemed to be wearing a pitch black priestly robe that covered her head to toe, the robe also possessing a hood that covered her eyes which combined with a small mask that went up to cover her mouth and nose left Sekou with almost no information on her facial features.
If it weren't for her figure, voice and the two locks of white hair that seemed to come down from the hood of the priestly robe Sekou would have been left guessing at the gender of this enigmatic figure.
(Image?)
"Who are you- wait no dumb question. It's pretty clear that you're Fallacia unless I had someone in my head before this." He'd speak whilst looking at her.
"You are indeed correct. I am Fallacia the First Cardinal of the Church of ***** or should I say was the First Cardinal of the Church…" She'd say.
"Hope you are aware of the fact that the Church's name was blocked out either by the system or by something else." Sekou would say whilst lightly tilting his head.
"System?… Ah I see that's what you call "it". I suppose that's what I`ll start to refer to it as for easier communication with you, host. That aside…"
"It`s strange… suddenly I don't remember the church's name anymore… I could have sworn…" It would seem that the woman in front of him also seemed to be confused as she entered a state of deep thinking.
"Well can't do much about that now, can we? You must have taken me here for a reason. Care to tell me?" Sekou would say whilst looking at her.
"Yes. As previously stated I'm Fallacia a previous Cardinal of a now dead church. I'm here to assist you in the revival of the now dead Church!" She'd say Sekou felt a hint of excitement towards the end of her statement.
"Aren't you like… supposed to convince me to rebuild the church?" He'd ask whilst tilting his head.
"Pardon?" Fallacia would ask in confusion.
"As I see it right now I have no reason to revive this dead church. I opened a book and was given a skill that dragged my consciousness around without permission and on top of that I have zero information on what the church was about in the first place." He'd say.
"Um-"
"Not to mention that you all were clearly based around Deceit and Lies. Do you know how that sounds on paper? Who in their right mind would want to follow such a church or religion?" He'd cut her off.
"I- um- there are benefits-"
"None of them probably outweigh the risks I'd be taking if I were to follow through and help you build such a church. I can already imagine only crooks and people with bad intentions joining." He'd cut her off once more.
"But- the system promised- it promised a host that would revive the church if I became a skill…" She'd say.
"Damn… did you get scammed? That aside, you're really bad at this. Shouldn't you be trying to convince me instead of sulking?" He'd say whilst tilting his head.
Sekou wasn't gonna lie when he was first dragged in here he expected someone more… how should he put it… scary? Kinda. Respectable yeah that's it. Someone who would put both fear and awe in him.
'She sort of did that in the beginning. She started strong but then she let me get the momentum in the conversation…' Looking at the masked figure desperately trying to find reasons as to why he should help her rebuild the church Sekou decided to give her a general direction she should be heading towards with her argument.
"You can lie..really well.. If you build the church…"
"Ok, this is kind of… sad? Um ok, how bout this? Promote yourself instead."
"P-pardon?"
"You are my skill, aren't you? Tell me what you can do and depending on how useful you are I might decide to help you."
The Cardinal seemed to almost beam with happiness at the thought that all hope wasn't lost. Clasping her hands together she'd nod.
"Oh! That's easy then. Ahem, I am extremely useful after all." She'd say regaining her calm as she moved her hands.
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? Attempts to devour the Host's consciousness.]
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? Fails due to being unable to harm the bearer of the "Saint of Deceit." Class.]
"…"
"…"
Sekou would take five steps back and frown as he looked at her.
"Seems like I'm going to have to see if I can delete skills." He'd say as his gaze grew colder by the second.
"W-wait no! I didn't know that would happen!" The Cardinal would almost scream. At this point, Sekou would start to doubt if this woman was even competent enough to be called one.
"You are a skill that's trying to tell me it doesn't know its effect." He'd look at her blankly.
"Do I look like an idiot?" He'd ask.
"I'm not lying, I haven't been able to use my abilities ever since I became a skill!" She'd step forward towards him as she spoke.
"(°-°)"
"Don't look at me like that, I'm telling the truth! I have no intentions to harm you! I can't even harm you if I wanted to due to your class!"
He'd keep on looking at her with evident distrust.
"How do I know that you aren't lying? You could just be saying that after just finding this out." He'd say with avid distrust.
"I-I really- I didn't-" She seemed at a loss for words.
"Can you even prove it? What can you do to prove to me that you're not scheming something?"
[Skill, Fallacia's Remnants is nervous]
[Fallacia's Remnants pledges complete loyalty to its Host!]
[Conditions have been achieved!]
[The skill is mutating]
[Fallacia's Remnants Lv??? has changed into Fallacia LvMax.]
"Hm…"
"See! I t-told you I didn't mean to-"
"I don't know what those messages mean…" Sekou would say.
"Wh- what? They mean that I pledged my loyalty to you! I can't switch to another host even if I find a way and am unable to harm you… along with some other things…" She'd say.
"But you couldn't harm me to begin with due to my class…"
" Tha- that's because of the Class I had whilst I was still alive… One of the conditions for becoming a Cardinal of Deceit is that you forever remain unable to harm fellow Cardinals or higher ranked beings within the church… seems like the effect persists even after death…"
"So in other words I'm extremely lucky, otherwise you would have devoured my mind and taken over my body." He'd say.
"I-In essence but! But now I can't do it anymore even if the effect from my class doesn't work! On top of that, I evolved! Or mutated? This is all very confusing but I'm more useful now!"
"Haaa I still don't know what the hell you do. Stand far away from me whilst I read your effects." He'd say whilst looking at her.
[Fallacia LvMax: Fallacia can leave a copy of her consciousness inside another being the host is in physical contact with. Once inside said being ,the copy of Fallacia like a parasite takes over their mind turning them into a puppet for the host to use.
Fallacia is naturally able to devour the consciousness of any being she's within. Obtaining their knowledge, skills and memories. Naturally, all copies of her consciousness are connected to her and subordinated to the Host.
Perhaps this is how she managed to become a Cardinal of the Church of *****. By trampling over those who stood in her way. Note: Although the skill has pledged its loyalty to the host its natural behaviour does not change. Fallacia is a natural manipulator.]
"S-so? What does it say? I'm good right?" She'd ask.
"Are you faking this?" Sekou would ask as if genuinely confused.
"P-pardon?" She'd ask in seeming confusion.
"Fallacia is a natural manipulator." He'd repeat what he read.
"What?" Her stuttering strangely enough would stop.
"I'm… why do I have to deal with you…" Sekou would grab his forehead and sit down on the ground.
"I-I apologise if I'm causing you any trouble." She'd say her stuttering resuming almost as if she had remembered that this was still a thing.
"Ok, I'm gonna go out on a limb here and go through a few assumptions. You just stand there and tell me if I'm correct." He'd say.
"You wake up and pull me into my mind as soon as you get the chance clearly in some form of hurry. You start deliberately acting like a clutz to see if I'm on board with rebuilding the church and once you realise that I don't care much for the church you attempt to take over failing miserably because of you previously being a wielder of the Cardinal of Deceit class." He'd start to speak.
"I-I-" She'd try to speak but Sekou would interrupt.
"I'm not done yet, be silent. Once you realise that you are unable to damage me due to your previous classes' effect you hear me talking about finding a way to remove you. In a hurry and slight panic, you pledge your loyalty to me to show that you aren't a threat to me." He'd say.
"…" She'd stay quiet.
"And you'd have most likely succeeded in fooling me if the system didn't warn me about your nature in the skill description. Probably due to you being a skill with an actual consciousness."
"…"
"Now tell me. Truly what's stopping me from just finding a way to remove you and deciding to never revive the church? We both know that I'm likely the only hope you have to see it come back alive." He'd smile lightly.
"You being a skill with a consciousness are kind of Unique so I doubt you'll ever come back if you are deleted and as for me the system has multiple times reinforced the notion that I am this church's last hope and that no one else besides me even remembers the church's existence." Sekou would start tapping his hand on the floor.
"You may speak now." He'd say with a smile. "Although if you try and go with the 'I don't know what you are talking about' nonsense I'll consider any possible negotiations we could have null."
"I… I just want the revival of the church." She'd say.
"Figured." He'd comment.
"I don't have much except some knowledge and the effects of my skill but I can promise full cooperation on my side regardless of what you may ask if you truly comply with my one wish." She'd speak sincerely.
"Hmm.." he'd look up at the sky of his mental scape.
"Hmm, couldn't I just force you? Since you already pledged your loyalty I'm pretty sure the system would just force you to comply with the parameters you agreed to." He'd say.
"You probably could and I truly have nothing to offer." She'd speak once again. Her voice was extremely monotone.
"Really… it was pretty amusing seeing you act like a clutz tho… hmm." He'd mutter.
"I can permanently act like that if it's what it takes to have you agree!" She'd say her tone of voice was getting livelier towards the end of her sentence.
"Pffft- o-ok I don't think all of this is necessary." He'd say. Although he was extremely amused.
"I'm going to ask you a couple of questions and you'll answer them to the best of your abilities. If I find the answers satisfying I'll decide to help you in the recreation of the church. Do you understand?"
"Yes! Yes!" She'd say whilst almost exaggeratedly nodding her head. It seemed she'd quickly picked up on the fact that he found it amusing when she acted like this.
"Let's be serious for now tho since this is a rather serious situation." He'd say to which she'd nod in a more composed manner.
It seemed like she wanted him to rebuild the church.
"Number one. Who would we even worship since I read somewhere in the system that your previous Patron deity disappeared?"
"In such a situation the god's apostle or Saint in this case would take over being the second strongest being carrying a piece of the god's divinity." She'd explain.
"Right now I don't know if you have divinity or not but assuming you are indeed the Saint we just need to get you up to that level of strength and then have you take over as the Patron deity… meanwhile as long as people believe you to be powerful it won't be hard to get followers… especially due to me."
"Hm, I see. Number two. What would I gain from this?" Sekou would ask.
"A large following of people and depending on if you use me on them, loyal pawns that would risk their lives at a moment's notice just to be slightly useful to you." She'd say.
"Of course, you'd also gain my unending loyalty and compliance with any request you'd ask." She added.
"I feel like you are insinuating something but I'll ignore that. Question Number Three. Why do you want to bring back the church so desperately?"
"…"
"So?" He'd urge her for an answer.
"When becoming a skill I lost key aspects of myself, most of my power and personality are also gone and all that's left is a feeling of duty. The wish to accomplish the task I've set out to do." She'd say.
"In a way, you could say that it has become the meaning of my existence. The Fallacia that you are talking to now and the Fallacia that accepted the system's deal to become a skill couldn't be further apart." She'd add.
Sekou would look at her with interest in his eyes as he listened to what she had to say and nod slightly. Looking up at the sky he'd nod once more and speak.
"I have come to a decision. Guess what I've decided-"
"You will naturally help me in building up your church." She'd say.
"Oh? What makes you so certain?"
"I don't believe I'll be able to handle any other answer. So for my sanity and well-being, I'll have to believe that I am correct." She'd speak.
"Eh… can't even get mad at that. Well yes, you were right. If you had just sat down and talked to me about this instead of trying the whole manipulation bit this would have gone by much faster." He said.
"Thank you." She'd say.
"No problem Fallacia. Hope you'll work well for me."
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax beams with happiness.]
"Curious." He'd mutter to himself as though she outwardly seemed to be the same, but the system had notified him that she was very happy right now.
"I have a bunch more questions right now. You won't mind answering them for me right?"
"Of course."
"Ok then. First of all, what is the Saint of Deceit?"
"Saint of Deceit was a title given to the person who would in the future guide the church as the next leader and someone who if talented enough would even be able to become a demigod under the church's Patron deity."
"Hm keep on hearing about these gods, what exactly are they?"
"That's hard to explain. There are so many differences when going from deity to deity that it's hard to just categorise them. All I can say for certain is that they are very powerful beings who for some reason had their connections to our world cut off or greatly limited." She'd say.
"They however are very real and I strongly suggest not getting on one's bad side this early on."
"Not like I was planning to… What happened to the other Cardinals and the church? Your Patron Deity left but for how long were you able to last? Because the system makes it sound like you all got wiped within a year or something."
"4…"
"4 Years?"
"Months…."
"(°-°)"
"The only strong people in the church were me and the other two cardinals! When people heard that for some reason our Patron Deity wasn't responding to us any longer they started leaving the church… except for the Cardinals and a few extremely loyal bishops not many were left." She'd explain.
"On top of that, the other churches also started targeting us once they found out we lost our backing and had no demigod at the time to take over. We weren't that big in the first place so we were all wiped out in a matter of months."
"Whilst I decided to seal my consciousness and soul inside my holy book deciding to set off in search of someone worthy of becoming our Saint the others took other paths. Dolus said he'd go find somewhere safe we could rebuild in and Fraus said he'd go looking for where our Deity had gone. I never saw any of them again after that… I-if you have their items they are most likely dead." She'd finish.
"Damn… that's kind of sad… how big were you as a church before all of this happened?"
"Small to barely medium size. Turns out as you mentioned before only bad people wished to have connections with us so we couldn't be out there. Most of our strength came from having connections to high-ranking nobles at the time, the bastards all left immediately when our Patron deity left."
"The more time passes the more this sounds like a hopeless case…" Sekou would mutter.
"How long ago did you seal your soul inside the holy book?"
"I… have no idea. At the start, I could keep track as around 2000 years passed but after that, I started to go insane from all the waiting… I hadn't exactly prepared for this… that aside when I was on the brink of breaking down the system gave me the proposition of becoming a skill. I had apparently met some unknown requirements and the promise of not having to wait to find the next Saint was too tempting." She'd say.
"I accepted the deal… which in hindsight I should have thought more about as I was ripped apart from most of my power and key aspects of my personality deemed unsuitable for a skill. Then everything went dark and I reawakened once you opened the book." She'd say.
"Key aspects of your personality deemed unsuitable for a skill? You're still pretty manipulative tho…" Sekou would tilt his head slightly.
"I cannot stress this enough. Past Fallacia wouldn't be in the predicament I currently find myself in."
"Oh? You believe I'd have been manipulated?"
"…"
Fallacia would remain quiet. It seemed like she didn't wish to anger Sekou by making unneeded remarks.
"You know silence is an answer too." He'd say.
"Regardless of that, what's the first step in creating my Church?"
"Name."
"Pardon?"
"You need to find a name… we can't go with the previous one as it's clear that it has already been deleted from all records in history and for some reason the system is directly interfering to keep it unknown." She'd say.
"So I request you to think of a new name."
'Damn, this is gonna be hard. I have a horrible naming sense but I'll figure it out. Think Sekou, Think.'
"Mendacia. Church of Mendacia." He'd say.
"What does that mean?" Fallacia would ask in confusion.
"I'm a summoned hero. It means Lies or Falsehoods in an ancient language from my world. I've noticed that the Cardinals also seem to have deceit based names from the same ancient language. Whether by coincidence or not I just find this fitting." He'd say.
"Ah. A summoned hero? What's that?" She'd look at him in confusion and that's when he realised that she was extremely old.
"Hmm. I don't know the exact details but basically, the humans on this continent found a way to summon humans from other worlds. They have this machine that gives "Heroic roles" which are just roles with a ridiculous amount of potential and power." Sekou would give her a quick explanation.
"Oh? It would seem humanity has evolved quite a bit ever since I was gone… this is.. strange to hear." The woman would say whilst looking at him.
"Yeah, although I really don't care for this place at all. I'll sure as hell be using them to grow tho." He'd speak.
Nevertheless, this wasn't what they needed to worry about right now.
[DING!]
[You have triggered a quest! Birth of the Church of Mendacia.]
[Conditions:
Build the foundation for this new faith and gain a following of people solely devoted to you. After all, you wouldn't be a "Saint" if there were no religion for you to be based in.
Create a foundation for the church by amassing a following of at least 10 humanoid devotees within 30 days.
The greater the following and foundation for this new faith the greater the rewards.
Mission Rank: ???
]
"Indeed… it would seem like we have bigger things to worry about… way bigger things to worry about." He'd say.
Fallacia would just look at him in confusion as he spoke. Which led him to realise she couldn't view the system messages he received.
Thinking about this for a moment he'd decided to try something. He'd try and share the quest he had just received with her to see if she could view it and almost as soon as he thought of allowing her to see it.
/Clap/
Fallacia's hands would clasp together making a clapping sound. That was the only reaction he had gotten yet the system revealed a lot more.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax is exhilarated.]
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax looks upon the host with devotion.]
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax once more pledges their loyalty to the host.]
Nothing really happened after that tho. It would seem to just be telling him how Fallacia was feeling which he currently struggles to believe due to the fact that she was just standing there with her hands clasped together.
"It seems like the system has given me a quest to build this church's foundation. Are you pleased by this?" He'd ask with a light smile on his face.
"Extremely so," Fallacia answered.
"Neat. Well, I guess I'm committed to building this Church now." He'd say whilst sighing slightly.
"How do I leave this place now? You kind of just dragged me in here." He'd say whilst lightly tapping his foot on the dark black ground.
"You simply need to will it and you shall awaken. Out there I estimate less than seven minutes have passed."
"That's good to know. I'll be going now as I need to check the ring that Fraus had. I'm sure that we'll still be able to communicate." He'd say.
With that settled he'd close his eyes and when he opened them again he'd be sitting on the bed of the room he was previously assigned to.
"Well that was… productive…"
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax Agrees.]
"Yeah. Well, now I need to check the other skills I got from opening the book."
Interacting with his status he'd get two skill descriptions.
[Heal Lv1: User can heal a target's wounds the worse the wound the higher the mana consumption.]
[Prayer Lv1: User can pray and give an entity they're faith. Whether said prayer reaches any specific entity or gets a response however remains to be determined. It's possible to narrow down the entity receiving the prayer by saying the name or moniker of said entity.]
"Not bad. Not bad at all."
Sekou knew he could use these skills well later on but for now, he had to focus on what was in front of him.
"Next up Frause's ring. I'm pretty sure Fallacia can just devour his consciousness if that's what's stored inside. Nevertheless."
Sekou would summon the black ring with golden engravings and equip it. As he once more read its description.
[Item: Ring of Fraus
Description: A black ring with golden encryptions of unknown origins. It's said to belong to Fraus the Second Cardinal from the Church of ***** perhaps the most mysterious of the three Cardinals. To this day people still wonder how a seemingly normal man became a Cardinal.
"Stop trying to act all cool and mysterious and come teach the deacons damnit!"
Effects: The effects of this ring are unknown.]
He'd then start to wait and wait and wait. 'Why is nothing happening?'
Looking at the ring he couldn't feel anything. He'd tap it with his index finger awaiting something. Yet nothing happened.
"Fallacia, do you know what this ring does?"
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax states that they don't have the slightest clue.]
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax suggests moving your mana into the ring.]
"I don't know how to do that." Sekou would say.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax Frowns.]
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax suggests the host enter his mind scape once more so she can teach him.]
"I just left tho. Tell you what I'll first read your Holy book as I'm curious about the doctrine after all we got time and I need to learn more about this." He'd mutter silently.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax nods in agreement.]
'By the way, can you hear me when I do this?' He'd think in his mind.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax says it can.]
'Good let's talk like this from now on you never know who might be listening.' He'd think before starting to read the holy book. The ring of Fraus still on his finger although no effect or sign of something happening is there.
…
Emma would be walking somewhere in the forest behind the royal palace, she didn't have anything specific to do and was just waiting for Sekou to come out of the dormitory room really.
Nevertheless she thought she might as well explore since there were only so many things one could do in here.
"To think.. to think I'd be separated from everyone else…" she'd just sigh and decide not to think back on her family right now. She just had to wait until Sekou figured something out in the meantime she'd just laze around.
Turns out it's easier to handle things when you have someone else thinking about things for you. Much easier.
She was honestly thankful that he had reached out to her when she needed it otherwise she would have probably broken down.
Although she felt like he had ulterior motives and for some reason every now and then when they spoke she had an odd inclination to always believe what he says.
Just as such thoughts would start to cross her mind however.
/Step./
/Crack!/
She seemed to have stepped onto a bird egg killing the creature inside. Her eyes would widen as she quickly switched directions and started to walk off whilst constantly muttering.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry…." To most likely the parents of the baby bird she had just killed.
'Why am I so careless? Even after I get magical powers I'm still the same I guess..' her thoughts would stop there in slight irritation.
"That aside however." She'd speak once more.
"Still can't believe we have powers tho…" She'd say whilst looking at her status. Specifically at her class and two abilities.
[Class: Successor of Sloth.]
"I'm not that lazy! Why do I get something like this!"
She'd say in slight annoyance.
"That isn't even the worst part!"
Skills:
[Unseen Force Lv0: You can create invisible limbs for you to use at your discretion. The limbs are able to extend up to 20 feet away from you and must be connected to your body.]
[True Sloth Lv0: When activated all creatures around you will feel a powerful sudden urge to laze around and do nothing.]
"Am I being mocked? What do you mean I can make things lazy?" She'd sigh in exasperation as she thought about this, unable to think of a reason this ability would ever be useful.
Looking up at the sky she'd see small birds flying around and a small squirrel climbing up a tree. A rather peaceful sight compared to the previous chaotic sight she'd experienced when being transported here.
"Haaaa… why couldn't I have just gotten an ability that allowed me to talk to animals?" She'd mutter to herself. On the spur of the moment she'd decide to try the ability out…
Something she'd soon come to regret.
[True Sloth Lv0 activates.]
[Sloth and Lethargy overtakes everything around you.]
The birds who were previously flying would plummet to the ground suddenly not having the energy to keep flapping their wings, the squirrel who was just about to attempt a risky jump would slip and fall.
The very plants around her would rapidly start to wilt and die no longer having the energy to sustain themselves.
"…"
Emma would just look, her eyes shaking slightly at the sight in front of her. It would seem that everything around her was quickly starting to die as their systems no longer felt like keeping them alive.
From what she could gather before turning around and running off it seemed that the higher the level of consciousness the creature had the more time it took for their systems to start failing them. So naturally due to plants not having a conscience they almost instantly started to perish.
Nevertheless this wasn't Emma's problem anymore as she quickly turned around and left the crime seen. Her breathing possibly got a bit more sporadic and her gaze down towards the ground as if she didn't wish to pay attention to what was happening around her anymore.
"I-I why can't I be normal damnit?!"
Tears would start to form on the corners of her eyes as she managed to quickly leave the forest and enter her room. Luckily it seemed like her roommate wasn't currently in there otherwise it could have been a mess.
She'd go to silently wipe her tears away and think that maybe her traits weren't wrong when describing her.
Traits:
[Careless]
[Obedient]
[Inept]
[True Slothkin]
A whopping four traits. Unfortunately they were all disadvantageous. Overall from an objective stand point none of them were good.
Careless made her more likely to not notice her surroundings or what's happening around her.
Obedient made her subservient to people she trusted. Luckily it however also buffed her when she listened to them.
Inept made her have practically no talent for physical activities.
And lastly True Slothkin although it made it easier to advance in power it also made her at random times feel extremely-
"I-I.. I really… can't… d-deal with thi…Zzz"
Sleepy. Extremely sleepy. As she'd end up falling asleep whilst sitting on her bed. Funny enough it didn't even look like she was sleeping, more so like she had her eyes closed with an impassive expression on.
Heck she was even sitting straight.
Overall Emma might have one of the most powerful yet worst ability sets among the heroes. Due to her personality even if she didn't have the downside of randomly falling asleep she'd still be unable to utilise her abilities to their full potential due to them being a bit too immoral.
…
Meanwhile Sekou had just finished reading over Fallacia's Holy book and finished creating the new doctrine that the Church of Mendacia would follow. Discussing with Fallacia the entirety of the time.
"Ok so we got an outline. Now we just need to figure a way to get that following started don't worry tho as I already have sort of an idea for what we can do."
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax asks if you can't just turn the heroes into followers.]
Sekou would quickly shake his head.
"Anyone in this Palace is a big no. The surveillance here must be insane and if suddenly a large group of people starts acting strange they'll start to be suspicious."
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax asks if that's the reason the host hasn't used her on others.]
"Yea. Can't use you on the Heroes because the surveillance on them must be insane and I also can't use you on the Maids because I don't know if they have mental protections or not."
He'd say before sending the holy book back inside of his inventory and starting to leave his room.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax asks where the host is going.]
'I'm going outside to the forest.' He'd think.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax asks why.]
'You'll see.'
Sekou would think before leaving his room and walking towards the exit of the manor. As he passed by he'd see from afar a uni student with blue eyes briefly talking to Lingy. Not paying it any mind he'd go to the forest at the back of the Palace moving rather quickly.
Luckily or unluckily he wouldn't arrive at the area that Emma had previously been in although it wasn't like he could have figured out anything even if he had been there.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax is curious.]
"You'll see, matter of fact you'll be of use soon enough." Sekou would say whilst smiling lightly.
After arriving at a random area in the forest he'd look around. He wasn't deep enough to find any unwanted company but he however was deep enough to find normal animals.
One of such animals being birds. A smile would spread over Sekou's face as he looked at a bird he had previously spotted pecking at the ground. In order to not scare it he'd first smile in its direction and say.
"I mean no harm little one. Could you come closer?" He'd say whilst leaning down and extending his hand lightly.
[Veil of Lies Lv4]
As suspicious as the bird may have been, the second Veil of Lies activated it would be over as it would come closer before hopping on one of Sekou's fingers.
/Grin/
A big grin would spread over Sekou's face as he started to lightly pet it with his other hand. The bird got more and more comfortable as he did so.
"Aren't you adorable?"
/Chirp! Chirp!/
"Aren't you useful?"
/Chirp!/
"Aren't you easy to fool?"
/Chirp? Chirp?/
It would look up at him in an almost adorable manner.
"You will now serve a much greater purpose."
He'd say as he lightly petted it.
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax activates.]
[The target's consciousness is being devoured.]
[The target has successfully been turned into a puppet for the host!]
"Neat." He'd say.
"Are you connected to it now, Fallacia?"
[Skill, Fallacia confirms that she's now in full control of the targets!]
"Neat. Now here's your mission. I'll give you a map of the kingdom and after you fully memorise it you'll have this bird's body head to the slums of the capital. Do you understand?"
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax confirms that she understands the plan.]
[Skill, Fallacia LvMax asserts that she'll accomplish the mission which she was given.]
"Good to hear. Remember this is absolutely imperative to the creation of the church." He'd say whilst smiling.
Not even a day had passed yet Sekou's had a plan already in motion. With the little information he possessed he'd make sure that in the near future he'd become one of the players in the board instead of just a pawn to be used.
…
"Em… a.. ste..in..g"
"Y..l..Em.."
"Em…"
"Emm…"
"Emma!"
Emma would suddenly open her eyes and look in front of her seeing her roommate looking at her in both curiosity and confusion.
"Emma, did you space out or something?" She'd ask.
"Wh-what?" She'd look in confusion around her inexplicably feeling tired.
"Did you forget? I was telling you about how small groups are already starting to form around us. People are already splitting up." Her roommate would say.
"O-oh y-yea I remember! My bad I must have dozed- I mean spaces out!" Emma would quickly start making up an excuse. Too embarrassed to admit that she'd most likely been asleep through the entire conversation.
'I really hope I can find a way to get rid of that trait.' She'd think.
As she thought about that her roommate would start to speak once more.
"Small groups are already starting to form around the people who seem to have powerful or outstanding abilities; luckily the old groups aren't completely disbanding; it's just that some people who may not have had as much attention or importance before are now starting to stand out."
"I-Is that so? Well it's not that bad then…" She'd say as her thoughts started to trail off.
"Yeah right now but conflicts are definitely going to appear especially after people found out that the knights don't interfere with us." The roommate spoke.
"Oh… that doesn't sound good.."
"That's because it isn't! If I were you I'd start to work on increasing my skills and level otherwise someone might come looking for trouble. Anyways bye!" The roommate would say before exiting their shared room and closing the door.
"Bye…" Emma would reply a tad bit too late.
"Raising my skill levels…" She'd say as her eyes trailed off to one of her traits.
[True Slothkin
Type-Trait
Description: You are one of the many children of sloth although your connection to said sin is much stronger than it normally should be. To such an extent that even though you aren't actively slothful your very soul will force you to act in such a manner. Of course it isn't all that bad as your high affinity with Sloth has given you abilities most would envy.
Effects:
Unending Slumber: At random times you will fall asleep with no warning whatsoever. When this happens however your body's instincts will take over to keep you safe. The sleep could last for 10 minutes or even span multiple hours, maybe even days regardless once it starts nothing is stopping it.
Dormant Advancements: You are unable to level up your skills normally instead however your skills levels increase by performing slothful actions such as: Lazying around, sleeping and performing as minimal movements as possible.
]
'On paper this looks good… that's until you realise that I could be in the middle of giving a speech and suddenly pass out… or I could even be trying to save someone and suddenly fall asleep… ' she'd think.
"Just because my instincts take over doesn't even mean I'm safe… if it only reacts to danger then it means that as long as no physical harm is done I'm defenceless…."
Emma would cover her face with her bed's pillow. She almost wanted to scream.
She was so excited in the beginning when she read her abilities now, however she's more so worried about suddenly falling asleep at an inopportune moment.
"The worst part is that it feels as if my personality is slowly changing to fit what's described… It's probably just my imagination… yea let's go with that." She'd say.
'What should I do now? Test out my abilities? No… I'd have to go all the way into the training area for that… plus it's not like I can improve by doing that..' Shd'd think.
'I-I'll just train! Y-yea… I can train from here after all…' As she said that she'd almost unconsciously used [Unseen Force Lv0] to turn off the lamp and tucked herself into the bedsheets.
'I'll definitely go complacent if I start getting used to this…'
"But there really isn't much I can do about it anyways… right?" She'd ask and as her consciousness slipped into the land of dreams she'd feel almost as if someone had answered her.
.
.
.
"Right."
A being extremely far away from the world of Eden would say as they stopped gazing upon their child.
They wouldn't be able to look at them again for a very, very, very long time.
.
.
.
…
Multiple things were currently happening within the Palace multiple of said things the very King is unaware of. Whether the summoning of this batch of heroes was a good thing or not is yet to be determined however one thing is certain.
The world will surely be shaken due to quite a bit of problematic people in here.