Divine Celebrity 127 (Patreon)

I was just leaving the locker room, having just finished the delivery of a rousing speech that enhanced the team morale — not that it was difficult to do when we were currently leading the game by a wide margin, a few words enough to make their enthusiasm burn. 

We were leading a game that we were supposed to be trailing, and even our quarterback was looking ready to return the game. They were happy. 

I was happy as well, but only a part of it was about the status of the game. I was sure that people would have treated that statement weirdly if I told them — doubly so if they knew what was in line for my victory, in terms of the bet with Coach Juana and the cheerleader outfit — but regardless, that was what I felt. 

The responsible thing, was the line of writing that popped on my face. 

[System Repair - Stage I - Complete]

“Excellent news,” I murmured as I made a mental call, and my field of vision was filled with other writing. 

[DIVINE SYSTEM I

Traits: (Divine Body I, Divine Mind I, Divine Aura I)

Domains: (Lust I, Command I, Athletics I)

Acolytes: ()

Intent Pool: 0.2%]

“Don’t tell me,” I murmured suddenly as I felt the stirrings of panic when I realized I had lost quite a number of abilities. A lot of Traits were simply gone, and the rest had lost several ranks in the process. Just like that, my earlier mood had evaporated. 

I wasn’t panicking, but it was a close thing. I had been relying on my Traits quite a bit, and the sudden loss was not welcome. Rather than going out like I was supposed to, I dashed toward the nearest storage room, and hacked the security camera on the way. 

“Let’s see just how badly I had been weakened,” I said as I turned my attention to a box that weighed around a hundred pounds. Not something I couldn’t lift, even if the shape didn’t allow for easy lift. I didn’t want to rely on the System for my first attempt. 

With a pull, I raised the box up to my head, and achieved that very easily. “Okay, that's weird,” I murmured. I wasn’t surprised by the fact I was able to lift it, but by the ease I was able to do so. The weight might as well not exist. 

Even when my Strength was at stage five, I felt some pressure from such a weight. Curious, I moved to other weights. Two hundred, three hundred, five hundred … a thousand; and most importantly, still easy. “Okay, maybe they didn’t exactly drop,” I murmured as I placed the box that would have required a forklift to move. 

Then, a small discussion I had with my guide, back when in my first chess tournament, drifted into my mind. She had dismissed the benefits of the Traits quite readily, dismissing them as being mere Heroic Traits. And, now, I had the Divine Traits. 

And, my limited experimentation showed that she was not entirely unjustified in dismissing that. I was truly supernatural, above human limits. 

Maybe the name of Divine System was not exactly unjustified. 

Still, further tests were needed. Curious, I opened the code for the hacking program I used for the stadium … only for it to look like the scribbling of a young child. I would have cursed the coder if I didn’t have vivid memories of programming it. 

The level of improvement was flat-out shocking. 

“I wonder how the storage work,” I murmured as I walked back to the stadium, enjoying the cheers as they filled the Intent Pool. It was good that the System had the ability to store Intent, so I didn’t need to always steal from the flow to use my abilities. 

[Intent Pool: 0.4%]

Though, the Intent Pool wasn’t the biggest challenge I had been dealing with. No, that honor went to something else. 

Domains. Athletics, Command  … and Lust.

They sounded impressive, but I didn’t know what exactly they were for. I could easily imagine they somehow acting like umbrellas to hold the Traits, but my instincts were telling me that it was not the case. No, that mostly went to my Traits … those domains worked differently. 

I needed to discover how.  

Luckily, the match was the best opportunity to do so, as I could imagine it falling under the definition of both Athletics and Command. Not the most fun one, of course, that honor went for the bet that I had with Coach Juana, who was looking at me. 

“Any changes for the second half?” she asked. 

“Nothing much. I want to see their plan first before taking action,” I added, turning my attention toward the opposing side, reading their lips as they discussed their plans — another benefit of my Divine Traits, as my senses were much stronger. 

They were trying to change the pace of the game with a few tricks plays that would ruin our pace. Too bad it wouldn’t work, especially with both my senses and abilities experiencing such an incredible improvement. 

One such improvement, I caught rather easily. I was able to expand my tactical aura of the whole team easily rather than focusing on a smaller part. Despite their inexperience, my players blocked excellently, creating a path for the kick returner to escape easily, bringing us to the fifty-yard mark. 

“Not a bad start, right,” I said as I looked at Coach Juana, smiling. She looked excited at first, but it soon left its place to a deep blush, remembering what was on the line. 

“Marcus, be ready for a tough second half,” I warned as the offensive team took the field, along with the backup quarterback while Arthur watched from the side, still not in full form. “They’ll be hitting you a lot.” 

“Don’t worry, I can handle it. I’m still fresh,” he bragged, unaware of the magical reasons for his strength. With a chuckle, I gestured him to take the field … and from the side, started a long, laborious rush to get our point. Shallow passes, interior runs, and other tactics pitted our team against theirs in the most physical way possible. 

It took more than eight minutes to conquer the field once more, but we got stuck around the ten-yard line. Still, a kick gave us three points, which was enough for us to maintain our lead, bringing the game to the score of seventeen-three. 

Their next attack worked better, but mostly because I didn’t want to push myself using my new abilities too much. With the match under control, I wanted to reduce the suspicion of any possible observer. I maintained a loose coordination aura … which came with a timely sack, forcing them to kick as well. 

“Coach, I can play,” Arthur said, and I decided to allow him. Their defense expected some more runs, and was unprepared for the long passes — a mistake that cost them a big pass, costing them a fifty-yard chunk when Arthur suddenly threw a deep pass to Marcus, giving us another touchdown as the third quarter was about to end. 

The gap in score was demoralizing for our opponents. With their growing exhaustion, the mistakes started. They threw two interceptions, one of which we managed to convert into a touchdown. They managed to score with a desperate hail mary as well, but it was too little, too late. 

The game ended. Thirty-one to eleven. 

An incredible victory, the cheers breaking through the stadium. Interestingly, even as they cheered explosively, the intent pool didn’t get filled as much as I expected. And, since I could feel the intensity of the Intent that was generated, it was more about the capacity of the pool. 

[Intent Pool: 23.5%]

“Great game, boys,” I cheered as I went to the locker room, where the team was celebrating in shock. The last thing they expected was to win, especially in such a decisive manner, and the results spoke for themselves. 

“Coach, coach, coach!” they cheered, taking me to their shoulder, aware of just how much of a role I had played in the victory. I let them do so. 

When they finally let me down, Marcus walked to me. “Will you visit the den for the celebration?” he asked. “We have some fun things in mind.” 

I patted his shoulder. “Don’t worry, just go and have fun. I have my own  celebration party to attend to.”