“And here are your belongings.”
Gestalt handed Oswald his Phoenix’s Bracelet, Plague Bracelet, and Druid’s Necklace. Oswald put them back on.
“Take it easy for the time being. The Drake’s heart that I transplanted into your left chest needs to settle in properly, so you need to rest.”
A Drake’s heart.
A subspecies of dragons that were thought to be extinct, they had come to occupy a position similar to dragons in the present era. They used dragon speech magic passed down from dragons and, like dragons, stored magic power in their hearts and used it.
Of course, they were not as overwhelmingly powerful as dragons, but they were strong enough to take on an entire regiment.
The Drakes had inherited the dragons’ will and had been given the task of protecting this world from the Five Great Evil Gods of Chaos, and they dedicated themselves solely to fighting evil. Thanks to this, they shared a common goal with the Order of the Holy Knights and worked together.
The heart that Oswald had received was said to have been donated by a Drake who had died in battle, and it had been imbued with sacred power through the blessing of the Pope and the blessing of Chronos. By transplanting the Drake’s heart, which was imbued with sacred power, Oswald had gained the ability to use sacred power.
Thanks to this, Oswald’s fate changed dramatically, and he gained 20,000 Fate Points.
As time passes. . . . . . .
Oswald began training in the use of sacred power. Under the tutelage of Paladin Oleg, Oswald grew rapidly.
“It’s as if you’ve been wielding magic power for a long time.”
Having experienced the movement and flow of magic power firsthand while playing the virtual reality game 「Final Chapter」, Oswald had no difficulty wielding sacred power. In particular, the magical circuits etched into his bones had become circuits for sacred power, allowing him to wield it more easily.
“I hear that you were a student at the Academy.”
“Yes, I was suspended.”
“And now your suspension has been lifted and you have been readmitted.”
“What are you trying to say?”
Oswald looked up at Oleg with a sudden thought.
“There are those within the Academy who are in league with the demons. The CID has decided to send in agents and has asked us for support.”
“. . . .”
“You, too, have now become a member of our Order of the Holy Knights and have learned the technique to detect demonic power. We would like you to help us find and eliminate the demon worshippers hiding in the capital.”
“. . . .”
“The Order will ask Hecaton to cooperate in this matter, so there should be no major problems with your activities. But why are you so quiet?”
“I never imagined that I would have to return to the Academy.”
“You’re not happy about it?”
“Not very.”
“Well, you were suspended for causing an accident. But since you’ve earned your reinstatement by performing a great service, there shouldn’t be any problems, right?”
“Ugh. . . . . .”
Just thinking about facing the regressors and their associates who had gone to great lengths to expel him made him want to vomit.
‘𝘔𝘦𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯?’
The thought alone made him shiver.
‘𝘕𝘰, 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵. 𝘓𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘯𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘥.’
He didn’t know what kind of procedure he had undergone or how it had been done, but his Strength, Endurance, and Agility had all increased. His Strength had increased because of the Ogre muscle grafts, his Endurance had increased because of something that had been grafted onto his skin, and his Agility had increased because of grafts to his eyeballs and several nerves.
In addition, various sacred magic circles were etched all over his skin, and a two-handed sword in the shape of a cross, the symbol of the Order of the Holy Knights, was tattooed on his back, along with two wings next to the sword.
‘𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘰 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘰𝘰. . .’
The two wings next to the sword were a kind of sacred magic circle that allowed him to manifest the sacred spell ‘Saint Wing’. It was a spell that allowed him to actually spread two pure white wings like an angel and fly through the sky.
“Even if you are reluctant, all of this is for the sake of Chronos. . . I am grateful for your sacrifice.”
Oleg acted as if everything had already been decided, even though it hadn’t, and Oswald shook his head.
“Now, go and pray. It is time for worship.”
Through the act of prayer, holy power could be built up and holy power could be restored. The ‘Prayer of Chronos’ has already been created in the skill list.
‘𝘐 𝘸𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘐 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘤𝘪𝘳𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘦𝘵𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘣𝘰𝘥𝘺 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘴. . .’
But that didn’t seem to be the case. Thanks to this, he had to train and train hard to cast magic.
‘𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘱𝘳𝘢𝘺.’
He currently had 25,000 Fate Points. Unfortunately, he could not increase his sacred power in the shop window. It seemed that sacred power could only be leveled up through prayer. . .
‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘦𝘮 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘴𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘯𝘴.’
The members of the Order of the Holy Knights used both sacred power and magic power. Of course, Oswald could also use magic power, but. . . he could not use his own magic power. However, if he used a magic stone, he could use magic power to infuse any object he wanted through the magical circuits etched into his bones.
‘𝘞𝘩𝘦𝘸. . . 𝘖𝘩, 𝘢𝘭𝘮𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭-𝘱𝘰𝘸𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘊𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘴. . .’
As he prayed, he invested 10,000 Fate Points in his Sense stat, bringing it to level 30, and invested 5,000 Fate Points each in his Mind and Composure, bringing them to level 25. With the remaining 5,000 Fate Points, he invested 1,000 Fate Points each in Aim, Stealth, and Luck, bringing them to level 20. He now had 2,000 Fate Points left. . .
Oswald immediately opened the shop window and decided to learn additional skills that would be helpful to him.
‘𝘏𝘢𝘯𝘥-𝘵𝘰-𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘣𝘢𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥.’
With his overwhelmingly strong Strength, hand-to-hand combat would be helpful. He spent 100 Fate Points to learn Hand-to-Hand Combat Basics and 90 Fate Points to upgrade it from Basics to Proficient. And then he invested 1,000 Fate Points to upgrade Hand-to-Hand Combat Proficient to Master.
Of the remaining 810 Fate Points, he spent 10 Fate Points to upgrade Butchery to level 1, and invested the remaining 800 Fate Points in Gun Basics, bringing it to level 8.
‘𝘕𝘰𝘸, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘶𝘤𝘩 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘐’𝘮 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘴. . .’
𝔸𝘥𝕧ả̉𝐧ᴄ𝙚𝘥 C̉̉ʜ𝚊𝑝t̉̉𝕖ʀ𝕤 𝘬𝑜-𝚏𝘪.𝘤ỏ𝘮/ᴀ𝙬ᴇ𝐛𝚜𝙩𝕠ʀ𝑖𝚎s̉ 𝐩𝘢𝚝𝙧𝑒𝕠𝘯.c̉̉𝕠𝚖/𝘼w̉̉𝙚𝑏𝙨𝐭𝑜𝘳𝙞𝙚𝘴
