“Take this.” A wad of demas was shoved into Sel’s hand.
“What? I can’t take this, and this is the temple’s money.” Sel tried to hand the money back, but the Shaman was insistent.
“Nonsense! You are the sole reason for the revival of the temple! How can I, a representative of the gods, not ensure that you are well rewarded for your faith in the gods!”
“I…”
“Furthermore, it wouldn’t do the temple’s reputation any good to know that its staff members are struggling financially. You’re not the only one receiving this!”
“We still have to write it into the accounting statements for the tax office. What am I going to write it as?”
“Goodwill. My goodwill. If that doesn’t work, throw it in as a bonus for all staff members.” The Shaman waved his hand dismissively, leaving 3000 demas in Sel’s hand.
Sel didn’t try to return the money any longer, pocketing it with humility. While he felt that it was a handout, it still was indeed the fruits of his labor over the past six days, preparing everything for the parade.
With the temple finances in good shape now, Sel felt a calming sensation wash over him. It felt good to achieve goals, and if he added everything he had earned till now, he had a total of 5000 demas, enough to tide one more month as long as nothing went sideways.
What was more important to him was the amount of Faith collected. Even after the parade, residual Faith kept trickling in, he himself having lost track of exactly how much Faith had been accumulated.
[Name: Selas Trind]
[Aspect: Tenacity]
[Faith: 400 (F)]
[Trust: 34(F-)]
[Followers: 0(F-)]
[Current Deity Rank: Unknown (31)]
Sel didn’t recall where the Trust came from, but he surmised it was from the temple staff, who had now seen him as the natural organizer of any parade. He had even gone up a grade in Faith from F- to F. With a skip in his step, he went home, ready to rest for the next day.
As soon as he opened the main door of the house, however, his aunt was there, a knowing smirk on her face. Sel’s jovial mood flushed out immediately, his heart sinking.
“Where’s the rent?”
“Are you really serious about the rent?”
“Of course I am! You think you can freeload off me and my hard work?”
“What hard work?! Is it hard downing vodka? All you do is drink all day! I’m the one cleaning up the house most if not all of the time.” Sel shot back.
“You pay up the rent, or you, your sister, and your mother can say goodbye tomorrow morning!” His aunt threatened, her finger jabbing towards the framed contract on the wall once more.
How I wish I could set that contract on fire. Sel knew that was just a copy – another copy rested in an undisclosed location, the aunt knowing better than to expose it to him.
“Fine, you want the rent? Here. 2000 demas. Take it. And don’t you dare ask me for rent in the next thirty days!” Sel angrily pulled out the demas he just received, handing it over to the aunt.
“Nope. Not enough.”
“What?! My mother was paying 2000 demas last year!”
“Things change, brat. The economy is going bad, didn’t you know? How am I supposed to pay for the upkeep of the house with just 2000 demas?”
“I don’t know, figure it out! I’m not the owner of the house.” Sel scoffed.
“New rental price is 4000 demas.”
Sel’s eyes nearly bulged out of their socket in disbelief.
“Don’t give me that fucking look – I watched your damn parade. Your temple must have made a killing! Now pay up!”
“Why in the fucking hell are you doing any of this?! The whole mortgage for the house isn’t even that high!” Sel simmered with rage, his voice rising slowly.
“What would a brat like you know about finances – I got things to pay! You’ve been freeloading for months on end, and I’ve had enough! Now pay up!”
Pay what? Pay for your alcohol addiction? Your gambling debts? Sel felt as though something had snapped inside of him. “Fine, you know what. We’ll leave. We’ll leave tomorrow. Me, my mom and my sister will be gone by midday. How’s that? You happy now?”
His aunt seemed taken aback by the sudden twist in the conservation, her face paling. “No, no, no, you three are not going anywhere!”
“Didn’t you want us gone? You just said we could be gone tomorrow morning. I have the right to move my family out, right?”
“You can’t! You can’t leave!”
“I can, and I will!” Sel stormed up the staircase. As infuriated as he was, he was not making a rash decision. Four thousand demas was already higher than the rental price for most places nearby. It’s fine. I’ll move them out, and have them stay at the temple temporarily while I settle the new rental. Anything is better than my damn aunt.
“YOU! YOU COME BACK NOW!” The same snapping sound could be heard, Sel’s irritation rising through the roof.
“Or what? You don’t own me – you only own the house!”
“Don’t test me brat! I got enough dirt on you to put you away for a long time!” His aunt suddenly screamed, Sel’s heart stopping for a beat, his mind racing. What? What does she know? And if she knows, how does she know?
He turned around, running down the staircase before glaring down his aunt. “What dirt? I got nothing on me. What about you? I have enough dirt to put you in jail!”
“And then we can both leave your mother in your dear sister’s arms.” His aunt grinned, knowing she had regained control. “Roll the dice if you want to. If you want to put the burden on your sister.”
Sel raised his fist that was clenched tightly into a ball, nearly throwing a well-practiced punch at his aunt’s gloating face, but he restrained himself, even as his fingernails cut deep into his palm. They glared into each other’s eyes.
“That’s right, we both know what’s happening. Now you pay up that 4000 demas, or we can burn this whole place to the ground.”
“This is blackmail!”
“And? Pay up!”
Sel stood in silence for a moment, contemplating his options. Wild thoughts fuelled by hate ran through his mind, some bordering on murder. Calm yourself, Sel! Your mother needs you!
With a furious gaze, Sel pulled out another 2000 demas, tossing it at his aunt as the notes fluttered around her. “THERE! HAPPY?”
His aunt was unfazed by the clear outburst of rage, as though she enjoyed it. “Hold on; you still got utilities!”
“What the fuck? Since when? Doesn’t the rental cover that!”
“Like hell it does! Do you think electricity grows on trees? You’ve been running that heater in your mother’s room all month long, you think it’s free! 500 demas now, for all six months you’ve been using it!”
Sel was on the verge of grabbing a knife. “You’ll fucking regret this,” Sel swore, as he tossed yet another wad of demas onto the floor, ignoring his aunt’s calls to pick it up properly while he stomped up the stairs, going right to his room and slamming the door.
Fucking shit! Sel kicked his computer chair in a fit of rage, toppling it over. The flimsy holster snapped into plastic pieces as it smashed against the floor, the pieces scattering on the messy wooden floor.
“Always this, always that, everyone trying to take a piece of me, fucking fuck!” Sel cursed under his breath as he pulled the chair back up, trying to inspect the damage. However, as he rested the chair on its legs, one of the legs gave way, bending under the stress.
Sel didn’t even know how to react anymore. The joy of a successful parade and earning money washed away like nothing had even happened.
All of a sudden, he was back to square one, stuck in this grimy, dark room.
A failure.
One of the poor, impoverished people of Akama.
A number in the system.
Just like Mason said.
He sat on the bed, clenching the sheet as tight as he could, trying to reign in his impulses to simply run back out and beat the shit out of his aunt. Yet he knew he couldn’t afford to – how was he going to take care of his mom from jail?
If this goes on any longer, I’m going to swap out to the damn Aspect of Retribution and teach her a FUCKING LESSON! Sel swore to himself.
A light knocking sound rasped against his door. “Hey, Sel? Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Felicia. I’ll handle it.” Sel gave his usual lie, the same lie he wore on his sleeve everywhere he went.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, everything is okay. Don’t worry about it, I got it all under control, okay? You just focus on your study. I’ll swap with you later, okay?”
“Got it. I’m on your side, bro. Fuck that bitch.” Her footsteps receded into the distance down the hallway.
Sel didn’t bother correcting his sister’s language anymore, unable to find a more appropriate word to reference his aunt any longer. He sat in silence, contemplating. How much does my aunt actually knows?
He wondered if his aunt was lying or not. Maybe his aunt didn’t actually know anything, simply acting like she knew. Sel cursed again, knowing that there might be a chance that he was baited. Now, he was locked into paying an absurd rental rate due to implicit association.
How do I even get out of this damn situation? Sel’s mind was in a mess, unsure of the path forward anymore. He could not do another parade within the next month or so – too many back to back, and there would be donation fatigue and hence diminishing returns.
Do another backpack run? Sel shook his head, knowing that he barely escaped by the skin of his teeth the last time around. Furthermore, he knew that with every run he did, his aunt potentially had more and more dirt on him to keep in him check. I should limit my exposure to illegal stuff as much as possible.
Sel groaned. The fighting tournament’s top prize would have solved everything, but it was still more than a month away, and 500 demas now left was far from enough to feed the three of them and buy his mother medicine, illegal or not.
He laid down on the bed, doing his remaining sit-ups and pushups. Sel still could not do all 100 in one go, so he split them up into three sets sprinkled throughout the day. Thanks to the Fatigue Endurance skill, he could do them much faster now, but his muscles still burned each day.
Pulling up the shop screen on his phone once more after he was done, he checked for what he could now buy with the extra Faith.
[Upgrade Deity Rank: 300 Faith/ 900 Trust]
[Upgrade Aspect Grade: 500 Faith/ 1500 Trust]
[Active Skill: Resurgence (F) – Recover swiftly, restoring strength and vitality of the User and improving regeneration. Activation Cost: 1 Faith per second, 300 seconds for full regeneration. Cooldown: One week. Purchase Cost: 60 Faith/180 Trust.]
[Passive Skill: Physical Fortitude (F) – Reduces the damage inflicted against the User for physical attacks. Note: does not reduce amount of pain felt. Purchase Cost: 120 Faith/360 Trust.]
I have enough to buy the last two skills, but what do I get when I buy the Upgrade Deity Rank? Sel knew that he would have enough to do all three before the tournament, but with him just suffering a massive setback, he needed something, anything that could help him bounce back.
Sel swiped through the Deity Interface, trying to find any hints as to what upgrading the Deity Rank does. Hey, uhm… interface? System? App? I don’t know what to call you. What does upgrading my Deity Rank get me?
He felt stupid waiting for a reply that never came, the Deity Interface apparently silent on it. Regardless, the best purchase now would be to buy Resurgence and Upgrade Deity Rank.
Sel’s thumb pressed the purchase button on the Resurgence skill first, before purchasing the Upgrade Deity Rank.
[Deity Rank Upgraded!]
[Deity Rank: Unknown (31) -> Whisper (30)]
[New Shop Items Available!]
[Forge Unlocked! User can now register Items.]
A wave of pressure ran over Sel’s body, squeezing him slightly before disappearing as fast as it appeared in an instant. What the… Forge? New Shop Items? Shit, I should not have bought Resurgence first!
He hurriedly checked the new Shop Items first, trying to see what was new.
[Item: Idol Totem (F) – A customizable totem. Can accumulate and store up to 1000 Faith from worship and offerings. Requires physical touch from User to transfer the stored balance of Faith. Cost: 200 Faith/600 Trust.]
[Upgrade Deity Rank: 3000 Faith/9000 Trust]
What the fuck? The rank cost just multiplied by ten? Sel couldn’t imagine how long it would take to accumulate 3000 Faith just based on the Daily Quests alone.
Still, he was happy to see the totem item listed. It would make the collection of Faith continuous even when he was not at the temple, especially if he could fashion it in a similar shape to Disphe, the god of tenacity whose statue he had originally converted into Faith unexpectedly.
But I need something that can make money immediately, legally. Working a full-time job isn’t going to cut it. Sel decided to check the Forge now, the phone’s screen opening to reveal a gamified forge filled with anvil, crystals, and other metal tools hanging on the side.
[Welcome to the Forge! This tutorial can be replayed at any time.]
[Items are an extension of the Users. In order to design or register a new Item, a relic of significance is required to act as a core, or enough Faith to be injected into said item.]
[Note: Custom Items are far more expensive compared to pre-determined items in the Shop.]
He internally groaned the first relic he could think of having already been converted into Faith. However, he soon noticed a dropdown menu in the forge, a list of all Items registered to him.
[Registered Item #1: Rat (F) – A rat. Might be more than a rat. But definitely a rat.]
Wait, it isn’t dead? And it’s actually tied to me?! Sel was utterly confused. Wasn’t it just a normal rat?
Surprisingly, the list of Items also has a location tracker, the position showing up on a map relative to him. Says here the accuracy is about 250 meters… Sel peered at the location of the rat, noticing that it was in the vicinity of the temple, more than twenty kilometers away from the train depot where he was summoned.
He closed the tracker, sighing. A rat was not very useful to him right now, so he focused on other features in the Forge. How much Faith is required to make an Item?
[Depending on the blueprint and purpose designed by the User, the Interface shall calculate the total amount of Faith, Trust, and/or Followers required to achieve a high success rate. Raw materials can also be used. Alignment of purpose also affects success rates.]
Success Rate?
[The injection of Faith may not be perfect, resulting in either a poor quality Item, or a complete destruction of the Item. The user is advised that the Interface is not liable for any failures.]
A blueprint-designing interface appeared in front of him like a hologram, a simple engineering grid-like screen with the ability to draw freely on it. The implications of the Forge’s instructions slowly dawned on Sel, his anger with his aunt almost lost. “Shit, I can create anything, literally!”
He quickly drew as many dema notes as he could into the interface, trying to get the likeness down. After all, demas were merely plastic or paper notes – easy to copy. Within seconds, he was done, a single thousand dema note in the blueprint. Generate!
[Calculating… Calculating… Warning: Intricate Design detected on the nanoscale. Cost increased.]
Sel’s face paled, forgetting about the watermark as well as every little secret the administration used to make sure the money was legitimate instead of counterfeit. He could already sense something wrong about to happen.
[Cost calculated: 5000 Faith/15000 Trust/1 Follower]
If Sel had liquid in his mouth, he would have spat it out by now. One Follower? Who the fuck would trade One Follower for a thousand dema note?
[Cost can be reduced by finding a relevant relic of significance.]
Sel didn’t bother going down this route any longer, knowing it was impractical to convert Faith directly into dema at this stage, though his mind was already wandering to thoughts of when he would be the leader of a large temple, generating wealth infinitely from the faith of others. Maybe I should have really gone with the Aspect of Wealth.
Regardless, the blueprint designer opened an entire range of options for him now. While it was immediately apparent that the larger the object was, the more it would cost, this meant that he could simply attempt to monetize a slew of smaller things.
Once I’m done, 4000 demas a month would be nothing to me!
