CC5 ~ 31!

~ 31 ~

Joe stared at the new clothes on his bed as he heaved for breath. Steam was coming off his skin, and he was currently regretting telling Havoc that his characteristic training had stagnated. The Dwarf’s response had been a kindly smile and a curt ‘walk to your room’. Then he had left, striding quickly out of Joe’s field of view.

The human hadn’t expected that as soon as he turned away from the Dwarf, a… golem of some kind would attach itself to his body. His limbs were bound to each other, and it was trying to force him into a fetal position. Joe had needed to use every ounce of physicality he had just to remain standing. Walking up the stairs and down the hall to his room had taken the entire training time required for the day—four hours and three minutes, thanks to his Artisan Body—and as soon as the golem sensed that he had gained his points… the constriction ended.

Characteristic training complete! Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution +2!

Skill increase: Artisan Body (Beginner II).

“Couldn't I have gotten that skill increase during training? Oh yay, I can get two points per day, and that little monster knows it.” Try as he might, he couldn’t find the golem after his training ended. All that remained was his moist human self that was steaming mad, as well as just plain steaming. “It’s still on me, waiting until tomorrow, isn’t it?”

“Meow.” CleoCatra didn’t seem to mind his suffering. A hiss announced her desire for food, but when the human set some in front of her, she sniffed it and walked to a different spot.

Joe ignored the cat and donned the tailor-fitted clothing that had been procured since the meeting yesterday, once again pleased with the self-cleaning function of his Neutrality Aura. The pure white monster-silk shirt and pants were… weird. Comfy, though. New shoes and socks completed the ensemble, with his usual black robe to top it all off. The new clothing increased charisma by ten percent when worn as a whole set, with no other benefits aside from not getting arrested for indecency, but they still made Joe feel strange. “Time to go and get a huge jump forward in bringing Tatum back.”

The nice thing about a golem wrestling him for an hour was that his mind had been taken off the very public event that he was supposed to be performing at in just a short while. That was gone, so all he could do at this point was power on. Clean, trained, and rested, Joe started walking. “Mate, I’m gonna need a strong brew.”

The coffee elemental swirled around and up his arm, and Joe searched for a coffee cup to put him in. Sadly, there wasn’t one remaining in his ring, so Joe ended up drinking coffee from a bowl. While he was fine with this, it seemed to upset Mate a little, showcased by the overtly bitter flavor. The Reductionist studied the little brown bean-eyes that were staring at him pleadingly, and Joe knew that something had to be done. “I’ll work on getting you a proper cup sometime soon, okay? There’s a lot going on, Mate!”

*Blub*. Mate… agreed? Or perhaps Joe was simply ascribing emotions and thoughts to it, but at least the small elemental went back into his sleeve without an issue. Either way, Joe did not have enough time to deal with every single problem that cropped up. Wearing his black-over-white clothing, he made his way up the slopes and closer to the center of the city. The capital was situated so that every new District had a wall protecting the inner portion. At the very center was the keep, a single building that was meant as the last refuge of the Dwarven nation, which was large enough to hold all of them, if the need arose.

The next ring down contained the noble quarters, including the Royal Palace and council chambers. After that was the Religious District, which had been empty for so long that it had been converted into parks and green space. Joe was on his way there now, but he had to pass through the Living District, where he was currently, as well as the Tradesman District. It was going to be a slow trip, since he needed to hoof it on foot.

Mounts were not really a thing, since most people could run as fast as horses after they had reached a certain level of strength and dexterity. Using animals or automations had just never really come up. No one was going to sacrifice their training time for comfort, not when their entire worldview revolved around war.

The roads within the city were delineated pretty clearly. ‘Messenger’, ‘high speed’, ‘jogging’, and finally the last one, the ‘walking’ lane, which Joe entered. Since there were very few restrictions on spatial devices in this Zone, he didn't need to watch out for carts, wagons, or any other vehicles. However, he did need to watch out for the Dwarves moving at ‘walking’ speed.

“Slow Bro!” A bearded Dwarf that Joe could barely see laughed at him.

Another zipped past him, shouting, “Bald Bro! Get in the children's lane if you can't keep up!”

Frankly, Joe had not even noticed the children's lane, but even now that he had, he wasn't about to let go of his dignity so easily. He started running, letting mana flow to his feet as he switched over to skipping. That was when things got weird.

The Dwarves that had been zipping past him just a moment ago seemed to pause as his speed reached theirs, and then Joe was flying past them. Seeing this as a challenge, the Dwarves abandoned the walking lane and began chasing after him, taking the jogging lane and sprinting as hard as they could. It appeared that the lanes were meant more as ‘top speed’ lanes, because most of the hairy people that were moving along the running lane were still going much faster than the sprinting Dwarves in the jogging lane.

“What is going on right now?” Joe was less concerned about the other people; instead his mind was entirely focused on analyzing what had changed. “There’s no reason I should be this fast. I’ve been actively adding my jump to everything since I first found out that I could. I'm skipping and supplying mana… but I've done this practically…! Is it… oh!”

That was when Joe remembered his massive increases in his physical characteristics. “Jump is modified by strength and dexterity! This is awesome!”

Seeing as he was nowhere near the fastest person on the road, he had no good frame of reference for how fast he was going. Still, Joe approached the Religious District far sooner than he had expected. He had planned to ask directions from there, but a solitary building was visible in the green space between the defensive walls. Just as he was debating getting off the road, he saw that there was an exit onto a street that had clearly been created recently. Jumping over the other lanes of traffic, he landed on the fresh cobblestone and sprinted toward the Grand Temple.

Before long, he approached the large crowd, but they parted when they sighted the expected bald Human coming toward them; Princess Embertank had prepared them well for his arrival. Joe slowed down and attempted to appear grand and serious for the occasion, but he couldn’t stop a huge grin from spreading his face. This was his ticket back into having a deity on his side again! The Princess was flushed, her mustache quivering with excitement and nervousness. She swallowed deeply, then curtsied lightly toward Joe. “Is everything ready?”

Joe checked his cooldown timer for Query, letting the last few seconds tick away before nodding. “Ready.”

“Then let’s go inside.” She led the way into the Grand Temple, the huge doors swinging open with a simple gesture from her. The crowd followed behind them, strangely silent, at least for Dwarves. There were only a half-dozen belching tournaments, three farting competitions, two fist fights, and one count of drunken warbling.

The inside of the temple was strangely plain. Huge marble columns supported the ceiling, and everything was accented by alternating black and white colorations. Joe raised an eyebrow and gestured at the surroundings, and the princess knew what he meant immediately. “This is the standard, basic template for a Grand Temple. We add nothing, simply providing the raw materials and space for whatever deity is going to control it.”

That made sense to him, so Joe questioned no further. They walked up to the blank slab of an altar together, and he turned to face the Princess. “Ready?”

“For literally my entire life,” she replied with a fire burning in her eyes.

“Okay then.” Joe took a deep breath and intentionally verbally activated Query. “Tatum, this Princess wants to be your High Priestess here. You in?”

Query successful! Tatum groans at your lack of proper ceremony, but has excitedly accepted.

New achievement: ‘You join me, I make you OP.’ You have converted your first follower on a new Zone, and they have become the High Priestess! Your reputation with Occultatum has increased by 1,000! New reputation Rank: Extended Family. You have gained 10,000 experience!

You have regained level 20! Cleric spell ‘Planar Shift’ is once more available for use!

“Abyss, I didn't even see that it had been blocked,” Joe muttered, quickly coming back to the present as the princess was coated in a column of darkness. It wore off a moment later, and she graced at him with a bright smile under her fluffy mustache. The only physical change that he could see was that her eye color now shifted slowly between a deep blue and a mysterious black.

“I finally… finally will be able to fulfill my life goals. Thank you, Joe.” Before she could get all teary-eyed, Joe nodded stiffly and smiled.

“Congratulations, princess.” He put his hand on the altar and motioned for her to do the same. “Sorry, but this next part is gonna suck.”

“Success is its own reward, and even if it is not perfect, I am just happy to advance,” the newly-minted High Priestess stated boldly.

Would you like to capture this Grand Temple for Occultatum? Yes/ No.

“That’s great, Princess. Just remember that.” Joe accepted the prompt, and both winced as their bodies began leaking power.