Path to paradise
(Lex POV)
"Shit he heard me..."
What was I supposed to do now? Do I confront him? I mean what am I supposed to do in front of a deity when I'm still as weak as I am... frustratingly so. There's a lot of potential for me in the future with a system as diverse as mine but I don't have any particularly powerful abilities to make me stand on top at the moment.
I fiddle my thumbs in thought and come to the conclusion there is nothing I can do but take baby steps. So I decide to use [Character observation] on him to see what details I missed when I first met him.
{Name: Royard (Avatar alias: Roy Finnegan)
Race: Deity | A god's child | Angel
Titles: God of the divine flame, childcare, and deceit | Son of Dawn | Second child of the sun god
Current feelings: Amusement | competitive | curiosity | Pride
[Status: Severely weakened in avatar form
STR: 1500 (-10000)
AGI: 3000 (-10000)
DEX: 2700 (-10000)
CON: 1000 (-10000)
INT: 45000
WIS: 40000
CHR: 500 (-10000)
DIV: 100000 (-200000)
...
I can only guess what this stuff stands for; in the order, it probably stands for strength, agility, dexterity, constitution, intelligence, wisdom, charm and divinity are my guesses and I shouldn't be too far off. These numbers look insane but I have no comparison... well I guess I could look at someone else who's sleeping.
...
[Abilities
Trick arts lv. 9
Calm nature (Passive) lv. Max
Caretaker lv. 7
Flame divination and control lv. 9]
[Hobbies
1. Pranking his sister and cousins
2. Being praised by his parents
3. Adventuring
4. Messing with governments
5. Donating to orphanages
6. Discovering new things
7. Talking with his aunt Kross
... ]
Interesting that's some of these are his hobbies they look like they're mainly things that he likes rather than activities he enjoys doing some of these are pretty wholesome, perhaps I can build a decent relationship with him since despite not being very pious my father and I were, in fact, believers in the goddess Kross. My father more so, he'd even go to church on weekends.
...
[Relationships
(p.s from Roydans perspective)
Dawn: Minimal impression
Alicia: Heavily disliked
Kross: Familial bond
Adjace: Acquaintance
Gaia: Disliked
...
Lex Armine: Acquaintance, very interested in his mysteries
Esel: Finds him adorable
Lily: Finds her adorable}
...
An even better reference for me to use when gaining his favor, there's a lot of information with over 500 people being listed a lot of it is pretty unnecessary. Surprisingly despite his supposedly deceitful aspect a lot of these bits of info look wholesome, especially those that relate to childcare I just hope that it's not secretly in a freaky sort of way. Just note to self, try not to get on his bad side, he seems to be aware of my somewhat special existence which isn't that surprising.
I wonder if can use this skill on myself in the mirror instead of having to unlock stats in the system.
( "You cannot, the stats tab will have some extra special features befitting your status." )
A surprise message appeared, but I could only sigh and feel curious about what those special features would be. Finished with my thoughts I compared his stats with the various people sleeping here to get a better idea of how powerful his avatar is. My eyes widened and I took a deep breath, compared to everyone else of various ages and gender there wasn't anyone with stats in three digits except for to my surprise the two servants who came along with me Esel and Lily.
Esel had insanely high agility, dexterity, and strength stat that was in the frickin five hundreds! While Lily had similarly high wisdom, charm, and dexterity stat. The rest for the both of them rested healthily in the 100s, I wondered what secrets they had and why I had never known about their capabilities. Also if they were this powerful where were they during the attack? Questions kept on forming, but I chose not to delve too deep into their privacy by looking at their hobbies, I mean who cares that I'm being hypocritical by now knowing that Roydan likes to cuddle with a certain fox-type pet he has at home(a godly plane) when he falls asleep. Also, I didn't take a good look at their abilities for similar reasons.
I just looked at their impression of my father, me and Roydan
[[Esel relationships]]
Lily [Redacted]: Developing a crush
Lucas Armine(Master): Very loyal, thankful and worried
Lex Armine: Recently wary
...
Roy Finnegan: Kind
***
Oooh, stone-cold Esel is getting a crush on little Lily I'll fully support them! Though that tormenting word [Redacted] brings back tormenting memories I wonder if they were stripped of their last names after becoming slaves that's why it's there, well Roydans name is written as his alias, I wonder if that means that it depends on what the person likes to call the other, like entering a silly name when entering someone's contacts. Then there's also the matter of them being wary around me, it's really difficult to make out with the stone-cold faces they retain also what are they worried about when it comes to father. Are they worried for him or worried about him?
[[Lily relationships]]
Esel [Redacted]: Stong crush
Lucas Armine (Master): Very loyal, thankful and worried
Lex Armine(Young master): Wants to teach him their ways
...
Roy Finnegan: Very kind
***
*Strike*
Lily's screen was pulling at my heartstrings, I'll fully support Esel and Lily's developing love life. There's the same redacted part next to Esel's name. Also, I'll gladly accept little Lily's teachings when she works up the heart to, well unless Esel is stopping her because of his wariness.
'Royand really made a good impression on the both of them huh?'
I muttered in my thoughts because I didn't want to be heard again. It took me a solid few minutes to gather my thoughts on Roydan, what to be wary of, and things to do the next day like comparing stats with knights in the castle to build a hierarchy of strength in my mind. If any noble children back me into the corner I'll just look into their hobbies and other things to find out their weaknesses. In the end, these sorts of skills are very useful for information gathering and there isn't stated to be a limit on the amount of time I can use it or consequences for using it.
I noted down some of the notes and planned to memorize what I can while studying by pulling an all-nighter so I could increase [Tune out]'s level because I think it could prove useful. So by focusing for hours on end I'd be able to raise it a few levels. Everything else would happen when I begin training or get free time.
In a way, the failed regression proves to have its own benefits that weren't in the punishment the benefit I'm most grateful for is Oh-Jin's work ethic I may not have gotten all his memories but I do know he worked his ass off till it grew back then repeated the process, rinse and repeat until the very end.
Though before I run myself out of energy it was time for me to make a long-overdue decision. In the second quest, I received labels protagonist gifted me with the plot armor skill and till now I haven't used the gold class selection. After all the experiences I had, I went through the list of around 30 different types of classes. I was feeling indecisive, and afraid of making the wrong choice. Though now after encountering a god damn God! I thought it was time to choose based on what path forward I wished to take and my experience as a reader lead me to this conclusion. My goals are currently lackluster, I don't know what I want out of this life as a protagonist other than ensuring my survival and not involving the ones close to me.
Screw being a hero, an anti-hero, a villain 'though that would be kind of badass' or even the rare species of anti-villain. I'm no paragon of good or perfectly malevolent being. I'm a conglomeration of three very different people's memories and with very different life experiences. If I'm going to be the protagonist of a story I'm going to be the sort of protagonist that should be able to take it easy when I want and make all the annoying bastards I'll probably face faint at the sight of me! So I've chosen to be...
[[Gold protagonist class selection]]
{Great pick host! You've selected gold class deviant protagonist!}
I was confident in my choice, all of them seemed powerful in their own way, there was were classes like {Sage protagonist} or {Hard working protagonist} and many others that seem like they could be developed to be extremely powerful in the long term but from my reading experience being defined by something so specific would lead to stops in the road, to rise even higher you need to stray from the orthodox path, to reach never before seen heights I'm sure the protagonists of cultivation novels would show me a thumbs up for my decision. Even more so because what happened next almost made me fall out of my chair!
[[ Host has created a unique class! Host, you've created a fresh and unique be proud of yourself the new class has been formed by combining {Wild protagonist}, {Deviant protagonist} and your intentions for the future.
[[Your new class is now called... {The Protagonist's path to Paradise}!]]
I blinked a few couple hundred times in rapid succession and over exaggeratedly rubbed them till I was beginning to see stars. I got up quietly, and steadily walked to the center of the royal garden, pillow in hand I looked left and right and screeched and maniacally chortled like a joyful demon into my pillow and in my normal clothes for a few minutes at the absolute hype! That was my current situation, and after a few minutes calmed down. Under the night sky where the night sky was fully visible, it reflected in my vision.
Until I finally calmed down with a giant grin on my face I sat down and breathed shuddered breaths. In melancholy I continued to be entranced by the night sky, it felt so close yet so far. Shaking my head despondently I chuckled,
"Let's check what this baby has to offer."
[[Welcome to the protagonist system!
1. Quests
2. Classes
3. Skills
4. Statistics (Locked until a class has been leveled up)
5. Inventory
6. Shop <
7. Secrets unlocked <
8. ??????]]
The 'New!' signs were very refreshing to look at though it was a bit infuriating that the statistics tab still remains locked, it was like a minor perfectionist type feeling of wanting it to open it all up in order.
'Maybe I wasn't expected to open these two first?'
I scoured through [Shop] to find it remained the same even though it was already previously opened it was still the same with all the same items and 25P still remained. Though before I was to check the [Secrets unlocked] tab I really wanted to review my new class, out of curiosity I opened the seemingly useless [Classes] window to see the appearance of the screen change.
My thoughts stopped midway as I realized that two classes were not even listed as being unlocked those being {Wild protagonist} and my personally selected {Deviant protagonist} class, I guess that the system message that said, that they combined was very literal. I guess I now know the conditions to get a unique protagonist class. Those being to have two or maybe even more compatible classes and having the intention to use them in my preferred way.
Opening the class felt like a fresh wave of air to me. The background was that of flowing flowers and trees I feel I could smell them somehow, a comfortable three-story house and a river flowing near. It was comforting but I also felt... dormant. Like there was more to explore or this wasn't the full picture.
While sitting on the bench I bent forward like I was in gamer mode, thank goodness no one was here to watch me look blankly into space...
I left the panel and suddenly felt underwhelmed like I wanted to open it again, though I guess my willpower came in handy. I opened up [Skills and was very surprised by what I found.
[[Skills opening
1_______________100
*Ting*
<
***
It would truly put me on the path to paradise...