God's Blessing is granted when a deity uses their own blood as a catalyst to engrave the blessing onto a Familia member's body, manifesting as markings on their back.
Without any embarrassment, Noah took off his shirt, sat on the chair and turned his back to Hephaestus.
The goddess picked up a small knife from her workbench and lightly pricked her finger.
Divine blood dripped from her fingertip onto Noah's back, emitting a faint glow.
A personal status sheet composed of sacred text quickly appeared on his back.
"This is..."
Hephaestus looked at the brand new status values before her eyes and a flicker of surprise passing through them.
After examining it twice, she smiled.
She was happy for Noah.
"Noah, you're truly an amazing child."
"Huh?"
Noah turned his head in confusion, just in time to see the warm smile on his goddess's face.
Hephaestus copied his status values onto paper and handed it to him, letting him verify it himself.
Although he hadn't looked at it yet, Noah vaguely guessed that he probably had some special skill.
After all, his ability to create those equipment and items over the years was largely thanks to this capability.
However, previously he had been using it intuitively, not truly mastering it.
If it were God's Blessing, it should be able to truly awaken this ability of his.
"Let me see."
[Name]: Noah
[Level]: LV.1
[Status]:
Strength: I0
Endurance: I0
Dexterity: I0
Agility: I0
Magic: I0
[Magic]: (Empty)
[Skills]:
(Truth Seeker) ・Can appraise objects upon contact; the closer the contact, the stronger the effect, While repairing equipment, has a chance to gain insights from the equipment user's experience, leading to growth.
When crafting items, has a chance to raise the finished product by one grade
(Spellweaver) ・Can directly manipulate magical power, Can directly manipulate elements.
(Denier) ・Nullifies one fatal blow while removing all abnormal status effects, can only activate once every 24 hours
...
No magic after all.
Well, he was just human.
But having three skills was completely beyond his expectations.
Among them, Spellweaver could produce effects similar to magic.
As for Denier...
Acquiring such an ability indicated that he had always maintained such a wish in his daily life.
One fatal blow immunity every 24 hours?
Could it be because he was too cautious that this skill appeared?
Within Orario, he probably wouldn't encounter dangers of that level.
If he faced an enemy he couldn't defeat, even with one immunity, it would only prolong the duration of suffering.
Finally, Truth Seeker.
The ability to appraise objects seemed quite valuable.
Repairing others' equipment could potentially increase his own status values?
Did that mean he could grow stronger without venturing into the Dungeon?
Lastly, when crafting items, there was a chance to improve the quality of the finished product.
This description was somewhat vague - what exactly did "raising by one grade" mean?
Although this world's rules were quite similar to games, it was still a real world and equipment didn't have levels in the true sense.
In games, a level 99 character couldn't equip level 100 weapons.
Or if you hadn't reached level 100, you couldn't use tier 10 weapons, only tier 9.
In Orario, as long as you had money, you could buy a billion-valis weapon and even use it to harvest rice if you wanted.
Every skill required actual practice to truly understand.
Noah carefully examined the abilities he now possessed.
His reaction made Hephaestus curious enough to ask.
"Hey, Noah, aren't you excited? Having three skills right after receiving the blessing is considered very very rare among all the mortals I know."
'Hmm.'
"Is that so..."
Rather than that, he felt more inclined to carefully study these unfamiliar abilities.
But Hephaestus seemed somewhat worried about him, so he should pretend to be a bit happier here.
"You're right, Lady Hephaestus."
"..."
'Tch.'
Seems like he failed.
He had really tried his best to appear happy.
But deep down, he knew just how many overpowered individuals existed in this world.
Even seemingly good abilities depended on how deeply the user could study them to reveal their true value.
The gods awaited the emergence of heroes.
Superficially, the gods claimed that every adventurer had the qualification, the potential, but in reality, those truly qualified had already been decided long ago.
Compared to those destined to become protagonists of heroic tales, he was merely someone who could barely see the starting line from the back of the queue.
"I'll take my leave now, Lady Hephaestus. Please get some rest too."
Noah left the goddess's workshop, leaving her alone staring at the doorway he had exited through, lost in thought.
Mortals had no secrets before gods.
She easily saw through what was troubling Noah.
"It seems I'm not that good as a goddess, letting a child of my Familia feel so insecure."
...
Yes.
Insecurity.
Though he didn't want to admit it, that idiot Hermes's actions had indeed kept his nerves constantly on edge.
Even during that night under the bridge, whenever he closed his eyes, he couldn't help but recall the helplessness of being instantly defeated when facing that "Jack-of-All-Trades."
He had experienced what it felt like for an ant facing an opponent countless times stronger - that terror of having no control over one's own fate.
...
The night passed.
When dawn just arrived, Noah rushed to the Familia's public forge.
Though it was communal, this place was basically never used.
The reason was simple - compared to the private workshops that various blacksmiths had invested heavily in, the facilities here were too ordinary.
The dust on the workbenches showed that this place hadn't been visited for at least three months.
Even the cleaners overlooked this place.
Noah didn't mind much.
Having slept under a bridge just yesterday, being able to use free tools and materials to make something today was something to be thankful for.