CH21: Blessings of the House of Loki

***

The worst pain in this world isn't the physical, but rather mental pain.

Physical pain will come and go. However, mental pain takes a toll. Some argue it never truly goes away.

The reason why the golden lightening was so dreadful was because it attacked a person's psyche.

I found myself in a familiar space when the golden lightening hit.

It was from a memory of my past life.

It was from during the time Annabelle and I were laying low in the hostile neighbouring nation after I got injured.

The princess who had never treated anyone before had to take care of my wounds.

I had been shot in the leg and torso. Fortunately, the bullets didn't hit any artery, bone or organ.

The bullet to the torso went through and through while the bullet to the leg remained in the flesh. I had to walk her through helping me close the wounds with first aid items we got from a first aid box and others I had her acquire.

I was back to that moment when she was treating my wounds.

She looked so beautiful back then.

The seriousness which she did it was quite charming.

In retrospect, this might've been the moment I fell in love with her.

I had the urge to complement her, however, the words got stuck in my throat.

Even now, reliving the moment, I still couldn't say it.

I am the piece of trash who let her suffer for years and eventually left her to die in that suffering when she was trying to get to me. What right did I have to say anything to her.

My heart throbbed in pain.

I wanted to let my heart bare but I just couldn't.

"You still won't say it?" I suddenly heard her say.

I was shocked.

"Even when we returned to the beginning, you still won't make amends? Should I have not saved you back then?"

I looked into her black, clear pupils.

I sighed.

"Maybe I should've died back then. At least you wouldn't have lived in so much pain while I lived so obliviously."

"After all this time you're still a fool, Alex. Do you think you dying was what I wanted? Do you think I want to see you suffer? It was my choice to love you. It didn't matter if you loved me or not. Loving you was one of the happiest things I experienced in my life. And knowing you tried to kill yourself after my death was the saddest moment of my life."

"I-"

"You thought you had no right to live after your actions led to my death? You're really a fool." She rubbed my cheeks. "Your actions had nothing to do with my death. It was all that man's fault. I wanted the best for you, so knowing that my death broke the proud man I loved was the biggest smear of my life. Even now, I'm being used against you.

"Alex, I need you to forgive yourself. I need you to keep moving forward. I need you to be the proud man I know you are. I need you to make the most of this second life. Stop letting me the weight that drags you down. I want to be the person who pushes you forward.

"Please, Alex. Do this for me."

A tear broke from the corner of my eye.

"I will try." I muttered.

She smiled at me.

I knew...

I knew she was a figment of my imagination, however, I couldn't help wishing she was real. I felt like I was speaking with the real Annabelle.

"I wish you were here. I won't make the same mistake again in this life. I won't let you go no matter what."

"Really?" She smiled.

I nodded my head.

"It's a promise, Alex. Don't forget your words."

I felt her words were weird but I nodded nonetheless.

She suddenly looked to the door.

It was shaking as if someone was trying to kick it down

"It's time for you to go, Alex." She looked me in the eyes. "Go become the Apex of this new world. Don't worry, this time, I will be by your side all through. So, don't disappoint me, ok?"

"I won't disappoint you again, Annabelle." I nodded resolutely.

"Ah you're so stubborn. You've never disappointed me, Alex." She pouted.

The banging at the door became stronger.

"There's not much time. Listen, Alex. You lived your past life for others. You lived for your friends. You lived for your country. You put others before yourself. In this life, I want you to live for yourself. Only fight for yourself. Take whatever you want. Love whoever you want no matter who they are. Don't look down on yourself. Be the proud man I know you are. Make sure you live your life to the fullest."

Annabelle rushed to say as much as she did.

It looked like she still had more to say, but the door finally broke down. A golden light pierced into the room.

"I'll be waiting for you, Leo. Find me soon." She said before she blocked the light for me.

The next thing I knew, I was back in my body.

The golden lightening had disintegrated my body.

The only thing left was my head!

I was so terrified.

The red-gold lightening tried to destroy my soul while the yellow-gold disintegrated my body to dust.

Fortunately, my soul woke up before the process was complete or else I would have died without even realising it.

I suddenly felt the urge to scream.

I eventually did.

A tear appeared in the space before my mouth as I did.

The familiar black hole which resided somewhere within my body materialised in the physical realm.

The red-gold and yellow-gold mana flowing in whatever was left of my body were sucked into it. The dust particles of my body were also sucked into the vortex.

Slowly, my body rebuilt itself from the neck downwards.

My torso reappeared, then my arms and finally my legs. I could also feel my growing dragon reappear in its rightful place between my legs.

For some reason, it stood in its full splendour as if ready to pierce through any target castle gate or cave entrance.

I could've sworn it was longer and thicker than I remembered... almost adult-sized.

Cough... sorry. Too much information.

Moving on.

My body was rebuilt from head to toe. There was even new hair already growing on my scalp.

I realised my body was stronger than before.

My eyes shifted to the dark clouds above. The cloud was already rescinding.

For some reason, I no longer felt malice when I looked at the clouds at this time. Instead, I felt gratitude.

Looking at it from another perspective, although the lightening strikes were painful, they actually helped rebuild my body for the better.

They helped destroy the dregs in my body so that it could be reformed anew.

The body I had after the lightening baptism was different from the one I had prior.

My new body was perfect!

It was at a perfection that I couldn't attain by merely physical exercise.

I slowly stood to my feet.

This time, I didn't taunt it.

I wouldn't disrespect the Laws that I now felt grateful to.

I couldn't bow because of the significance of a bow in this world. So, instead I did something from my previous world that perfectly conveyed my respect and gratitude.

I saluted.

This was the highest show of respect a soldier in my previous life could give.

I didn't care if the denizens of this world understood what I was doing, but I did it anyways because I felt the Laws would understand.

Finally, the clouds cleared and the spatial lock broke.

Suddenly, I felt a weakness from the core of my being.

My vision slowly blackened.

Just before I lost consciousness, I saw at the corner of my eye.

[Congratulations.]

[User Interface Initiation Complete.]

[Mission Evaluated.]

[Mission Rewards Calculated.]

[Blessing will be available when Host wakes up from rest.]

[Good night, Host.]

And so, I lost consciousness while still in my birthday suit.

The next morning, I woke up to see a strange but somewhat familiar ceiling.

I rose to a sitting position.

I carefully looked around to discover I was in the room given to me in the Rowland family mansion.

[Host is awake.]

[Host's attributes have been examined and calculated.]

[Would you like to see your Status Page?]

[Yes/No]

The messages appeared before me. However, it was slightly different this time.

Previously, the message appeared at the corners of my vision. Now, however, a holographic window appeared in front of me.

It was similar to the holographic window projected by the Comms Ring.

In fact, I suspect the User Interface intentionally mimic the Comms ring's feature.

I remember once thinking that the way the Interface's messages obstructed my vision was inconvenient.

Now, I could move around the window before me so that it doesn't obstruct my vision.

Truly convenient and user-friendly.

I clicked on yes.

{Status.}

[Leo Xander.]

Race: Prime Human

Title: World Challenger

Alias: Cub of Lionheart

Attributes-

Physique: 31

Dexterity: 27

Mind: 29

[Notice: Average Limit for Homo sapiens is 10 in all parameters.]

There wasn't much information on the parameters. I guess I'd have to figure it out on my own.

I looked at each of them.

Prime Human? I wondered what that was.

Somehow I felt it meant I was different from the Humans of Arun. Well, since it didn't look like it would affect me much, I put my mind off it.

Title is World Challenger, huh?

I guess that's the recognition I got from taunting the Laws of this world.

Alias was straight forward. That's what I'm called by Rowland and the other veterans who know my father.

But then, I wonder why Zero wasn't there. DarkBlade should know me as Zero, right?

My attributes...

I shed a tear.

The torture I went through wasn't for naught.

My attributes are about three times better than those of my previous world. I know it's still not much in this world, but I'm still going to celebrate what I got.

A new window appeared before me.

[Would you like to receive your Blessings now?]

[Yes/No]

[Showing Result of Evaluation...]

[Host accepted a contract and successfully assassinated Karl, son of Gold, a 5-rings human with an C-class Pangea using wit and without moving a muscle.]

[Remark: A true show of brains beating brawns.]

[Evaluation: S-class Completion.]

I nodded my head.

It was good to be acknowledge for good work done.

[Deriving Blessing from pool.]

[Deriving...]

[Process interrupted.]

[Blessing parameters changed.]

[Notice: Host has earned the attention of the household of Lord Loki due to his actions since arriving in Arun. Reward blessing is changed to reflect this interest.]

[Blessing received.]

[Notice: Host has received the blessing of the Household of Loki.]

[Number of Household Patrons: 6/9]

[Congratulations, you have received the Blessings of 6 members of the house of Loki.]

[Patrons:

Loki, Lord of Mischief and the Patriarch of the House of Loki;

Sigyn, the wife of Lord Loki;

Hel, the Queen of Hell, and the first daughter of Lord Loki;

Fenrir, the Wolf of Destruction, and son of Loki;

Jormungandr; the World serpent, and child of Lord Loki;

Sleipnir, the greatest steed,]

[Message to Host: Keep up the good work and continue to cause more mischief. – Lord Loki.]

[Blessing now begin.]

A golden glow radiated from my body.

Somehow, I felt something was different but I didn't know what.

I heaved a sigh of relief once the glow died down.

The debacle with my second awakening was finally over.

I had to admit, for a moment there when the Blessing derivation was interrupted, I thought some other problem had cropped up.

Fortunately, nothing bad happened.

I instead received more blessings that I expected.

I had no idea what the blessing did nor even who my knew patrons were.

As I thought about this, a golden question mark appeared beside the patron's names.

I clicked on the one beside Loki's name.

[Lord Loki]

Title: Lord of Mischief.

Role: Chief Patron.

Spiritual Alignment: Chaotic Neutral.

Remark: Lord Loki is the Patron Spirit of all Fools and Jesters. He accepts any and everyone who causes mischief in the world, as is his dominion.

It became clear the question mark was in response to my lack of knowledge on my patrons.

I clicked on the other patrons.

[Lady Sigyn]

Title: Virtuous Wife

Role: Patron (Coerced by Lord Loki)

Spiritual Alignment: Order good.

Remark: Patron of virtuous wives and mothers.

[Queen Hel]

Title: Queen of Hell

Role: Patron

Spiritual Alignment: Chaotic Good.

Remark: Patron Spirit of the unjustly dead; the sick, the young and the elderly. All beings who die outside of battle shall have their Souls fall under her dominion.

[Lord Fenrir]

Title: Wolf of Destruction

Role: Patron

Spiritual Alignment: Chaotic Evil

Remark: The Wolf who shall destroy the world. Nothing and no being can resist its deadly fangs and claws. It is the Overlord of all wolves.

[Lord Jormungandr]

Title: The World Serpent.

Role: Patron

Spiritual Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Remark: The serpent so big it swallowed a world into its belly. It is the progenitor of all poisons. It is the Patron Spirit of all snakes.

[Sleipnir]

Title: The mightiest Steed.

Role: Patron

Spiritual Alignment: Order Good.

Remark: The best and mightiest steed to and will ever exist. A loyal companion to whoever has the honour of being its rider.

I found the remarks to each of my patrons interesting in many ways. It made me wonder what kind of Blessings they gave me.

The windows introducing the Patrons disappeared, along with the question mark that opened the window in the first place.

A new window opened before me.

[Blessings]

(To be continued...)

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