Free Web NovelChapter 3: Goddess Zemira
Arc’s reasoning was simple. Even the Goddess should’ve said something along those lines: If you want to select the Class best suited for you, then select the Class best suited for your Talent. Or at least one that would work hand in hand with it.
In that sense, the [SSS-rank Dominator] Talent was one that would expose Arc to a lot more Talents moving forward. Talents of all kinds—be it Attack, Support, Defense, or Craft. This put him in a tight position where if he were to carelessly select a Class now, and in the not-so-distant future he were to achieve a Target Talent that contradicted the nature of that Class, he wouldn’t be able to trigger its full potential.
Call him greedy or anything along those lines, but as far as world domination was concerned, Arc needed every single Target Talent in his arsenal at its peak strength. This was why he’d chosen to forfeit the Class selection and follow the No-class path.
[To compensate the player, a random Class would be assigned to you now...]
"I refuse."
As soon as Arc uttered that statement, it was as if something snapped in the void and his ear vacuum went numb. To be more precise, the void fell deadly silent, as if the concept of sound had ceased to exist in that space.
Then came the murderous pressure.
Thud. His knees instantly buckled and gave way under the intense pressure.
[Do you understand the weight of your words, child?]
The Goddess’s voice, now cold and authoritative, split through the void like a hot knife through butter. But her next words got stuck in her throat as she glared down at Arc to witness his knees—which should be glued to the ground—suspended only a few centimeters from the floor.
’Damn it...’ Arc mused in irritation. His palms pressed firmly against the floor as he used them to catch his fall and uphold himself—albeit with difficulty. He was not letting his knees kiss the floor for this self-absorbed Goddess.
If you asked him why he disliked the Goddess this much, Arc didn’t really have an answer. He’d never had an encounter with her before, to the best of his knowledge. But for some reason, he felt like he’d known her long enough to tell they both had something in common; and that was the Machiavellian mindset.
Indeed, his suspicion of alerting the real Goddess by playing off the book had turned out to be true. And from the looks of it, she’d probably been watching long before now.
Arc shakily lifted a knee to get a proper foothold under the intense pressure bearing down on his shoulders, then slowly but steadily began pulling himself upright. His jaw clenched firmly. The green veins hidden beneath his skin revealing themselves as he struggled to stand on his feet.
The Goddess’s eyes slightly widened in surprise as she witnessed it. Though she’d released but a tiny fraction of her aura, it still required an insane amount of willpower to even move a finger under such pressure.
’This human... he looks so young, yet he knows so much and shows immense potential.’
"I believe I’m done here," Arc spoke as soon as he stood on his feet, still struggling to stay upright.
He knew it would be a bad idea to stay any longer and entertain the Goddess at his current level of strength.
He was ending this as quickly as possible.
"I want nothing more than to move on to the next step."
He selected his next words carefully this time, so as to not reveal more than the Goddess thought he knew. That would be too troublesome.
[You didn’t answer my question... but I guess that’s fine.] The Goddess replied after a minute of silence and withdrew her aura at that last part.
[I hope you know what you are doing.]
She added. What followed was a swarm of fireflies that emitted pure white light, materializing out of nowhere and enveloping Arc’s form.
[If fate wills it, may we meet again.]
"Nahh. I’ll have to pass on that one..." Arc replied with a lack of interest as his form dissolved along with the fireflies.
’Wait... Did I just say that out loud?’ was the last thing on his mind as every trace of him being there was erased on the spot.
Having the white void all to herself now, the Goddess stood unmoving, staring at the spot where Arc had stood just a moment ago with a conflicted expression.
A soft giggle suddenly broke through the unnerving silence. "He’s an interesting one, isn’t he?" A loli’s voice spoke from the void, but the Goddess didn’t look surprised at all.
"He certainly is," she replied with a straight face.
"Do you want me to keep an eye on him—"
"No. It’s too dangerous." The Goddess spoke sternly.
"Hmpff..." the loli’s voice huffed in playful annoyance.
But the Goddess didn’t pay her any heed and kept speaking. "He might already be a candidate for an opposing God or even a primordial of the Demonic Faction. From this point forward, we can’t let our guard down."
The Goddess said in all seriousness.
"Meh~. You’re no fun, Zemira," the loli’s voice replied in a bored tone.
***
"Look, Felix. There’s another person appearing."
Those were the first sounds that reached Arc’s ears as soon as he was displaced by the fireflies. frёewebηovel.cѳm
"A—Another person?"
As the lights of the fireflies dimmed, Arc opened his eyes to the view of five people. Three girls and two boys. All within the age range of early to mid twenties. They were staring at him with eyes full of curiosity—and for some, hostility.
Their surroundings were completely obscured by towering trees and thick vegetation. But the most distinctive feature of all five people was what they carried.
The handsome guy with curly shoulder-length hair and an expensive suit carried a sheathed sword on his hip. For some reason, Arc thought his face looked familiar.
Tightly clinging to his right arm was one of the three ladies. She had fiery red hair that gave her a certain womanly vibe, and pressed firmly against her robust chest with her other arm was a thick book. A Grimoire, to be precise. She was one of the two people who gave Arc the stink-eye upon his arrival.
The next person was the second guy in the room, who looked like a delivery guy based on his outfit and still had his motorcycle helmet fitted over his head. He carried a bow with an arsenal of arrows clumsily slung over a shoulder.
The fourth person was a lady with flowing curly hair, and just like the red-haired lady, she was tightly clinging onto someone’s arm as well. She carried a wooden staff with a runic crystal mounted at the top.
The last but not least, and the most interesting person in the room, was the third lady of the circle—the person the fourth lady was clinging onto like her life depended on it. She had straight, shoulder-length black hair and, sheathed on her waist similar to the handsome guy, was a pair of daggers.
What made her the most interesting person? Maybe it was her eyes.
She was the other person giving Arc the stink-eye on his arrival, but hers was different. The red-head probably didn’t like the shape of Arc’s head or the ’creepy’ look in his eyes, but for this lady, not only did she look the least frightened out of the team, but she seemed to be the only one to observe that unlike each and every one of them, he didn’t have a weapon.
