The Unavowed 3 (Patreon)

The Unavowed

Chapter 3

-VB-

"What do you mean 'no'?"

I looked at Loki and shrugged. "Aki here just brought me up here without getting an answer from me, and I was showing off what I could do because I do want to pay back for the help you've given me," I replied.

Aki now looked flabbergasted. "B-But why refuse?! We're the best familia out there!"

I gave her a "Are you kidding me?" look. "Because, Aki, I want to forge my own path. Unassisted by gods and crafted my own hands."

"But you would do that even if you join a familia," Riveria interjected, bringing our attention to her. "Are you sure you are not putting pride before your actual advancement?"

I opened my lips to respond that I was proud of myself.

But what did I have to be proud for? The owners I got was already set up for me, and u locked only after I suffered, which I apparently signed up for. What have I actually done to deserve my power? At the very least, the two adventurers in this room have studied and struggled for their place.

Compared to them, I was a jumped up hooligan who literally got his powers gifted to him by chance and nothing else.

But even this hooligan wanted something that was his. My powers were already artificial. I didn't want more artificial boosters pushing me higher into the sky. What I needed was for me to improve myself.

I snorted to myself. I never did like Blizzard's boosting service. All characters and alts were grinded by questing and mob killing.

Maybe I was doing this out of habit, but my mind was set on this.

"Not pride but a desire to prove myself," I responded. "If I join her Familia right off the bat, then all accomplishments I make is the work of hers before they are mine, because it is through her blessing that I become more than I would through my own efforts."

Riveria hummed. "So you are a blacksmith refusing a better tool for his job?"

"If you wish for a smiting analogy, then I am a Smith looking to master his craft first in a way that tells the world that his craft, no matter how shoddy or masterful, is his own. A tool borrowed is forever a tool borrowed. It can be just as easily taken away as it is lent."

"Loki wouldn't do that!" Aki objected.

"Maybe she wouldn't," I said as I met the gaze of the goddess who had been silent throughout it all. "But I nonetheless seek that path."

"... you're a dumbass, you know that?" Loki asked me.

I smiled self-deprecatingly. "A little. I have been told that I am sometimes too stubborn for my own good. Never changed my breakfast meals content for a full decade."

She snorted before grinning. "How about this? You obviously owe us, yes?"

"Yes." I wasn't going to deny that.

"But we don't know your ability to repay us. You certainly say a good thing or two but repaying but words are cheap~."

"True."

"Spar with Riveria."

Aki gawked at Loki's suggestion. Pitting a non-blessed against a Level 6 adventurer? It sounded like insanity even in my head, and I wasn't a native to this place.

"If she says you can pull your own weight, then you continue without my falna and as a .. let's say contracted worker. If you aren't strong enough, however, you will join us. How does that sound?"

I grinned. "Well, I certainly like the idea of it."

"Great! Then we can make it an event. Tomorrow at noon. You and Riveria will fight until one side is unconscious or gives up."

I noticed how she didn't include "knocked out of bounds" as an option.

"Deal."

We shook on it.

---

The man left and Riveria turned to look at Aki. "I need to talk to our goddess in private."

Anakitty "Aki" nodded and quickly left, no doubt eager to chase after the mysterious magician.

Once the door closed behind her, Riveria turned to level Loki a deadpan stare. "What was that?" she asked. "Setting up an event like that. You don't normally do that, at least not with me anymore."

Loki pouted. "I just wanna see what he can do. Is that so bad?" the goddess asked petulantly.

"Under normal circumstances, no," she replied evenly. "But you felt it as I did. Whatever magic he used, it isn't what either of us are familiar with. It felt-."

"Almost divine," Loki finished, completely forgoing her usual playfulness. "And certainly not like how I work."

"Is he a… god?"

Loki snorted. "No. He is definitely a mortal but there are things attached to him. They tried to look at me when I tried to look deeper into him."

Alarm bells rang inside her mind.

Loki quickly lost her seriousness as quickly as she had gained them moments ago. "Besides, I think you'll enjoy something new. It gets boring being at the top all of the time, right?"

Riveria didn't snort but it was close.

"We'll see."

-VB-

I knew that I had impressed them at least a little.

Using the Azeroth preset magic system within the Arcanist (obviously made with me and my gaming history in mind) had definitely impressed them, because as far as I know, Danmachi wasn't a setting where holy power was thrown about lightly.

However, I wanted to set myself apart as truly different, if only to prove my point that I wanted to and will forge my own path.

My Spar tomorrow needed to show them that, and what better way was there other than an outside context problem, something that they will have no idea how to deal with?

[Panacea], [Bonesaw], [Artificer], and [Arcanist]. With these four, I will make something that will tell everyone that I was not someone to be messed with. That I was strong and powerful.