Wait wait wait-!
"It has finally come to a point where the origin levels of that world are going below what is acceptable."
"Wait, ma'am!" I finally exclaim.
"Stay quiet and listen." She retorts.
Well, I tried.
"Your main purpose is to simply exist in order to renew the origin in that world. As an uncleaned soul from the origin world, you carry immense Ather, easily replenishing the origin to its natural levels."
Okay… not too bad.
"Now, I would be grateful if you would slay the Black Dragon in order to not have this happen again. Though it's absolutely necessary, in fact it would be very bad for you to be killed by the Black Dragon, so do not needlessly risk your life."
No, I don't think I would want to be killed by the Black Dragon either.
Taking a moment, I processed the information she had given me.
…Nope, still not helping.
But I think I got the gist of it.
But there was still the last part of my initial question she had yet to ask…
"Why me? I am nothing but a failure, and for such a seemingly important task..."
"Well I could not choose anyone in the world to do this because you are the only hero available who just died before Alaya could devide your soul, I pull you into my plane of existence."
In the short time that I learned of the issue in the 'Danmachi' world, the soul must have just died on Earth without being cleansed.
"There was a multitude of reasons I chose you. I needed someone with enough origin, which is accumulated through life experience, but not too much as to exceed the limit. Thus, the young and old were discounted, but you who have merged two souls but always died early have the most origin within the age limit."
…So I beat some grandparents and newborns.
Not helping my confidence here…
"I chose you due to not having any regrets on Earth, understanding the world you are being sent to some degree, having enough smarts to survive, and finally… knowing that you would not use your second chance and newfound power for selfish gains such as overtaking the world."
That was a bit better!
"But… would you really care about the one you chose taking over the world? You seem to be quite… disconnected from the events of mortals."
I chose my words carefully so as to not accidentally piss her off… I really hope I didn't piss her off.
"You are correct. I do not care in the slightest what happens in the mortal realms."
Oh.
"I simply would not want to choose a warmonger as it would quickly lead to their deaths."
I see.
"I… think I get it now, but what 'power' do you mean?" I ask.
Is she talking about the stats and skills and stuff?
"As the Black Dragon would likely kill you without it, I will give you three chances to choose gifts of any power you wish for. Even without this power, you would be extremely strong, as the pure talent of an uncleaned soul from the origin world is immense. But unfortunately, your talent would take too long to properly bloom for you to be able to survive or even possibly kill the Black Dragon in time."
…Those words sounded a little ominous, but I'll let her continue.
"If that is all, we should not wait any longer. So? What is your wish? It can be a skill, magic, or even something else. I will imbue the same amount of divinity regardless." She then says, prompting me to answer.
"I understand, can you give me a moment to think it over?" I ask.
"Naturally. I should also state that your memories of the story beyond when you arrive will be foggy, this is to ensure you do not make a mistake in not understanding your effect on the 'story' of the world. It will also make sure you truly become one with the world and not view it as a work of fiction but as a true realm."
With that, I went over all the information I was given while going through the plot of Danmachi in my head, theorizing about the powers I could be granted.
Arguably the strongest person in the series was Alfia the Silence, only limited by her sickness.
…Is that the level of talent I would have?
If that's the case… honing my talents might be better for me rather than being given a cheat skill.
After all, if someone had a counter for my powers, I'd be dead.
So, for this reason, I was thinking of having my wish arrive before the story starts, giving me the chance to grow stronger.
But strength wasn't the only reason for looking into the past.
I was also thinking of my favourite group of characters in the series.
The Astraea Familia.
If it was possible… I would want to save them from their fates as they showed the highest potential to become another powerhouse.
But I still didn't know if I was even able to be granted time travel as my wish, so I might just be getting ahead of myself.
Well… she never said that the gift had to be a skill or magic, only that it could.
So I can at least give it a try.
"Could my gift… be being able to save the Astraea Familia from their fate?" I ask.
I wait in unease as the goddess wears a surprised expression before narrowing her eyes in thought.
After a few seconds, she responds with a smile.
"You are kind. To use your gift for others and be left powerless in such a dangerous world."
Uhh… I guess so?
"I won't be powerless. I believe in the talent you spoke of. I'll train hard in order to survive and slay the Black Dragon by the time canon begins." I say with gusto.
Well, maybe slaying the Black Dragon was a bit ask, but I wouldn't be powerless.
Getting stronger was the thing I found the best about this second chance, after all.
"I see but I can't make that happen. As if you saved them there is a possibility of creating another branch world. Besides, History have a tendency to always correct itself so even if you save them for now they will surely die for some reason. It's a dangerous world and you possibly can't babysit them for 24/7 now can you?"
I sighed as they can't be saved but when I saw her she smiled.
"I may not allow you to change the fate but I can give you a power to revive them by breaking the fate but it will have some sideeffects if used carelessly as it was bound to death plane which even I consider troublesome."
"It's okay. As long as they can be saved."
"So your first wish concludes let's hop onto the second one, it should be related to heroic Spirits as it's the only lingering attachment you have with origin world."
"Haa... Is it that obvious?"
"Yes. So summoning the heroic spirits should be the second gift?"
"Yes. But can I Summon the specific heroic spirit?"
"Worry not. What I will give you should be advance version of Summoning ritual. You can call heroic spirits more than one in fact if your Ather supply is sufficient."
"Well that's good. To defeat the black dragon, the more support I have the better. As for the third wish, I want a combat techniques which can be easily learned by anyone."
"You are planning to strengthen the revived Astarea Familia, is it not?"
"Yes, as I saw there are still Evilus lingering around and how powerless adventurers are against the Juggernaut as magic didn't harm it I want to have a strong set of skills which can be learned easily and not bound by Falna."
"Hmm a wise desicion but the 'Easily Accessible' part made the skills weaker. Oh I know. How about the 'Breathing Techniques' though it's limited to sword fighting and came from a 4th tier world as long as the user levels up, the techniques can be strengthen. Also there are 14 kinds of them so everyone can get their own matching techniques."
"Sounds good to me. Though I have already used up my requests, could you please send me to the timeline after Asterea Familia anhilated?"
"Well the last gift you choose barely used any origin power so I will be generous and send you in past as far as possible with the remaining Origin energy."
"In that case, thank you."
"Now I declare that your gifts shall be bestrowed you to be transported to after the timeline Astraea Familia are attacked by the Juggenaut and destroyed."
Her words hold a heavy weight, the very world itself shaking with each syllable.
Silence descends on the area as she returns her gaze to my eyes.
"I accepted your proposal, but how do you explain such power without a falna?" She asks.
But I already had an answer.
"I trust that the goddess Astraea is as kind as she was portrayed in the story. I won't explain everything but enough for her to believe me." I respond.
Yeah, the more I thought about this, the more sure I was of my decision.
"...If that is all of your questions, then we can begin the process." She says.
"Wait! Will I be able to understand the language? It won't be funny if I cannot even explain my situation to Astraea." I quickly ask.
Oh shit, would I be able to read?
What about diseases?
My immune system is most likely not primed for this new world!
"Your body when summoned will automatically have an understanding of writing, reading, and language. So no need to worry about such needless things."
Okay, that's a relief.
"A-And the memories about plotline?" I ask.
"The plotline knowledge will converted to keen sense as the plot evolves you will have stuble hints of where the plot is going." She answers.
Okay… I see.
Damn, so this really wasn't a dream, was it?
"Alright. I'm ready to go now." I declare resolutely.
"You will feel a small distortion, but once the feeling clears you will be in anywhere in that world and as you already know it's a cruel world so be prepared, and… good luck." She states.
With that, the beautiful scenery disappeared and my vision became blurry before colours began racing across my vision, forcing my eyes shut.