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Ember Pov

I quickly left Goddess' place to test my magic. I had it finally, after so much waiting I had falna! I grinned recalling it, now I was quite impatient to test my magic, so I quickly rushed to the forest, and got near the lake, yup there was a lake nearby here, connected with a river. It was around a hour walk from the village, thankfully I had my trustworthy horse, so I arrived quick.

Arriving near the lake, I took my Magic staff and pointed towards the lake, I started chanting," O'Flames of Legends! Burn brighter than thy enemy! Turn them into cinders! Let their Ashes wash in your blue flames! Cremation! ", and a blue fire manifested from the tip of my magic staff and shot at the lake.

*Boom*

A resounding sound filled the area as I watched a dazzling blue fire evaporating the water, no it literally boiled it. With a grin, I quickly search for a log nearby the lake, and used it as my target, the moment my magic fell on it, the wet log started burning rapidly and turned into ashes in a few seconds.

I was impressed with my magic, as even from far I can feel the residual heat radiating from it, and it was hot. If I were to estimate the temperature of my attack it should be around 1400 degree Celsius or so. The colour of fire is somewhat related to its temperature, from dull red to white, and blue flames are comparable to white flames. 

It was quite hot, and can easily kill even Level 2s, maybe even Level 3s. I finally understood how monstrous my Magic was, thus without any wait, I quickly got back on my everyday work, which is to grind! So, I released a flurry of fire magic one after another, abusing the poor lake till it's shore was dry, I gasped heavily feeling my mind heavy and took a Mind Potion feeling relief. 

But things didn't end here, I quickly took my horse and ventured into the forest, fighting off any stray monsters that I meet. I killed 56 Goblins, and 12 kobolds today, it wasn't something special and I barely found any monsters, but content with my hunt I returned to the village in the evening. As I approached the village's entrance, I found Goddess and Miss Martha already waiting for me.

" Ember! Did you enjoy the monster hunting?", she asked, and I gave a wry smile understanding what I did was reckless, I haven't eaten anything today other than some meat jerky's either. " I apologize Miss Martha for missing out today's meals... I was rather excited", I said with a simple bow as I got down my horse, she sighed and said," Here i was thinking of scolding you, and then you show me how polite and mature you are... Anyway, tell me before leaving next time."

I replied," I will", and soon they escorted me to the front of the Miss Martha's Inn, and I found lamps illuminating the entire place, chairs and tables place on the outside. I frowned not knowing if there was any special occasion, Goddess Aurora smirked and said," This your welcome party Ber! From now onwards you are not only a member of Aurora familia but also Shawn Village!"

I was stunned and looked at them surprised," Shocked lad?", Miss Martha asked, and I replied," Well... I didn't expect... something like this", she chuckled, and soon others villagers arrived. Goddess Aurora grabbed my hand, and took me into the center," Everyone! This impromptu party has been decided on the joy of Sir Ber joining our family!", she said and everyone cheered.

I looked at the villagers, and said," I thank everyone for the kindness everyone showed to me, to be honest it was rather impromptu, but I had been searching for a suitable familia to join, and after meeting the goddess here, I think I met the one I was searching for", and everyone cheered, while Aurora smirked," Now Let's get the party started!".

" Yeahhh!!!", everyone shouted.

We sat and women and some men presented dishes in front of us, I drooled on smelling the aroma of the meat and fruits. There was meat, a lot of it, pork, chicken, and goat. There was fried dishes, some soup, and then enticing fruits, there was bread and some other dishes as well. It did pale in comparison to what I ate everyday back in palace, but-" It's delicious!", I said as grabbed the pork rib and ate the flesh.

Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, infact the village's younger girl even started performed a dance and so did a few couples, I honestly enjoyed that- Though I didn't like Aurora's constantly insisting trying to make me drink Alcohol. When some people tried to force me as well, I made them realize, how actually Elves are, showing Elf Anger for first time.

Other than that, it was overall a good day. Goddess Aurora was slight drunk, however I managed to convince her to update my status, and she was excited as well. Thus lying on the bed, I glanced at her updating my status from the corner of my eyes. " Done", she said and copied my status on a paper and handed it over to me.

[Level 1

Strength: I0---> I18

Endurance: I0---> I16

Dexterity: I0---> I19

Agility: I0---> I15

Magic: I0---> I23

Skills:

Decipher: Helps the user Decipher the truth, theorems, and workings of the world through logic, prediction and guess.

Magic:

1) Cremation (Chant): " O'Flames of Legends! Burn brighter than thy enemy! Turn them into cinders! Let their Ashes wash in your blue flames! Cremation!"

2) N/A

3) N/A]

I released a sigh upon seeing my status, I mean I knew it already, but still I was a tad disappointed on seeing my upgraded status. ' I guess this is the difference between normal guys and ones with cheats huh? ', I thought with a wry smile," Huh? You seem disappointed?", suddenly Goddess Aurora asked and I sighed," I didn't expect much, but the status didn't even cross twenty-five", I replied with honesty.

" Is that so? To be honest... The increase in your status in a single day has been the greatest I have ever seen", she said, surprising me. But it also showed, why the Adventurers or Orario were superior, sure my growth was impressive for a day, maybe I can level up in a year, but leveling up in a year wasn't my goal.

I wanted to surpass and achieve SSS rank or whatever the limit is in my all status before my rank up, that was my goal. Forget about that, whether I can surpass my S limit was another question, but I knew getting my parameters to even B's, with the nearby monsters wasn't going to be an easy task. I needed to think of something, I quickly explained my worries to her.

" I see- Well, you don't regret it now, right?", she asked, and I replied," Nope", she smiled hearing my answer and then got serious," Ember, I doubt you will be able to grow up here. There is a single choice, you need to move into a monster infested area, there is a town or rather small city named Argon with three familias and a guild branch, around thirty kilometers of here."

She then continued," Despite being a small city, there is a level 4 present there and it gets regularly attacked by monsters of Level 2, to be honest I didn't wanted to send you there... But it might be the place you are looking for", she looked at me with slight worry. " I see... Then I guess, I need to leave Goddess, don't worry I will act cautious and return every month for a status update", I said and she flashed a sad smile.

" To think you have to leave this early", she said and I replied," Well, I guess I should wait till my status are in 100's to leave", and her expression turned better, after that I left her house returning to the inn, for the next month I worked really hard, slaying whatever monster I encountered day and night, i encountered some killer ants, and even five orcs! After venturing far away in the forest.

Soon, I was ready for another status update, and seeing the change in my status, I smiled with joy.

[Level 1

Strength: I18--->H187

Endurance: I16--->H199

Dexterity: I19--->G212

Agility: I15--->G201

Magic: I23--->G255

Skills:

Decipher: Helps the user Decipher the truth, theorems, and workings of the world through logic, prediction and guess.

Magic:

1) Cremation (Chant): " O'Flames of Legends! Burn brighter than thy enemy! Turn them into cinders! Let their Ashes wash in your blue flames! Cremation!"

2) N/A

3) N/A]

I was genuinely surprised, after all the increase in the status was incredible considering my condition. Goddess Aurora praised me," That's the highest increase in month I have ever seen in my life, Ember this increase isn't only because you are talented, but also you have worked hard. You killed monsters day and night, and trained a lot, so that's why there is such a significant boost", I nodded.

I could feel strength surging with me, I took a deep breath. I quickly counted my parameters, and it was 1054 points. That was a quite the significant leap in a month. Goddess Aurora said," This is just a bit short of the status of Jason's if you exclude his Magic, and it had been over a year and half since he got falna, showing how good your progress is", she looked at me with stars in her eyes.

" Good, now let me lock your falna", she said and I nodded, lying back on the bed till she finished locking my falna. " Good, now unless someone uses that status snitch, your status should be safe", she said and I nodded," Thankyou Goddess, if not for you... It means a lot to me", I said with slight embarrassment.

She chuckled and said," Thanks to you Ember, because of you I will finally feel what it is like to sire a genius!", she grinned, I facepalmed myself realizing she was returning to her previous antics. Though it didn't matter as we both laughed, next day I was ready to leave the village. I had decided to keep my horse in the village's stable and take another, after all, despite the small chance some might recognize my horse.

I also made plenty of dye, took rations, I was going in carriage, pulled by two horses, followed by another, and some other familia members, including a level 2. " Sir Ber, my name is Edward, and I am the Captain of the Aurora familia", he said with a smile, I shook my head with him," Sorry, I neither met you during the day of party, and neither after that due to my training", I said.

He laughed and said," Don't fret over it, Sir Ber, well I guess I should you call by your Alias, Tithonus, anyway, welcome to the familia and if you need any help, ask me. I should visit Argon every month, with rest of the familia members", I nodded, it was pretty simple, they were going to sell some village goods, magic stones collected, and buy some other stuff from the city.

So, the Aurora familia makes a trip to the city every month to buy some essentials, sometimes they leave out the trip during winters, buying more stock before it. We all were going to travel on horses, with me, Sir Edward, and other six members, who were level 1 including Jason. " Sir, I would like to again thank you for saving me that day", Jason said as he came in front of me.

" You have already thanked me, like dozen of times Jason... Enough with this!", I said, and we laughed, suddenly I looked at the Goddess who has come to wish us good luck along with Maria, who was fidgeting for some reason. ' Don't tell me?! ', I thought considering she might propose genuinely to me, before she bowed before and said," I apologize!"

I was surprised and listened to her words intently," I disturbed you a lot, and even pestered you! Please forgive me for my rudeness!", she said, and I smiled," Fine- It seems you have learnt your lesson Maria", I said and she winced, and then looked at Jason who smiled. " Thankyou Sir, for forgiving someone as foolish as me!", she said, getting back on her usual self, garnering a laughter from both Jason and Goddess.

" I wish you luck Ember!", she said with a smile, and suddenly kissed on my cheek," Hehe, don't forget your poor Goddess!", she said with a sly chuckle, while everyone mouth was wide open. ' I guess she didn't kiss them after they grew into adults ', and I nodded to her, giving my goodbye, once we set off, Jason said to me," Damn! Goddess kissed you!"

" It isn't something big Jason, we are like children to her", I said with a shrug, and another person chimed in," You don't understand Tithonus, while Goddess has kissed us on our forehead and cheeks when we were child, she never kissed us after we grew old, even girls included! Always saying it is reserved for her soul mate!", he said with an exaggeration.

I chuckled and ignored them, Goddess falling in love with me? While there was indeed a chance, but I doubted that was the case, atleast for now, while in future it might be a different case. Thus, not commenting on the matter, we continued galloping slowly atop of our horses.

To be continued...