Chapter 4 - Varis Aloro

Once his hand was healed, Stray began to eat after Jade brought him a clean knife. She left to tend to the other customers, which actually gave him the chance to check out the Store. It pretty much had different weapons, armor, items, abilities, and even system functions that could be bought with Divinity.

There were also items like the Basic EXP Box that randomly gave 1 to 1,000 experience points to the person that opened it, which costed 5 Divinity. Stray wasn't sure on what to buy, but knew he shouldn't waste it on something useless. By the time he finished his meal, Stray had decided to buy two Basic EXP Boxes, and then put 3 points of Divinity in the Gamble section for more gold coins.

Once Jade came back to his table, Stray paid for his meal with three gold coins, and asked about the various places around town. They made small talk for while, before Stray left the tavern and walked to an inn. It was an average building, nothing fancy, and the innkeeper was a man with red skin that that a single broken horn extending out of his forehead. Stray paid for the room with the last three gold coins he had, and the innkeeper just nodded and tossed him a numbered room key.

Matching the door that had the sign showing the same number as the key, Stray walked into the room, locked it behind him, and laid back in the bed. After buying the two Basic EXP Boxes, he took them both out of his inventory. They looked like small treasure chests, that were squishy to the touch, like plush animal toys. Opening them caused them to disappear in a rainbow light, and Stray gained enough experience to level up again.

He chose to use the Gamble section first however, gaining 11 gold coins from spending 3 Divinity. Satisfied, Stray then alerted the System he wanted to level up, and time froze again.

|Select Stat] +1, [Select Stat] +1|

|Hit Points: 40 + 22|

Seeing the menu again, he felt slightly more confident about what to do. Stray chose to increase his Charisma by two points again, as he wanted to bring it up to at least 30. After talking to the System for a few minutes, Stray discovered he could activate his skills through his intent to use them, instead of saying the name of the skill.

Stretching out his body on the bed, Stray fell asleep with a smile on his face.

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Waking up to knocking at his door, Stray yawned and rubbed his eyes. Getting up from the bed, he unlocked the door and opened it just enough to glare at whoever disturbed his slumber. Standing there was a human middle aged man wearing a red suit and blue tie. The man's shoes were green, and his pink haired spiked in all directions. "You are the god Stray, correct? I apologise for disturbing you, I wished to ask for an available time for us to hold a trade of sorts." Contrary to his looks, the man's voice was monotone and plain.

"Can't we do this in the morning?" Stray asked, wondering why someone would bother someone sleeping rather then wait till they were awake. The man stared at him with an awkward expression before speaking. "It is morning." Stray returned his awkward stare with his own, before letting out a heavy sigh. He closed the door behind him as they went downstairs. Stray tossed the room key to the innkeeper who caught it easily while reading a book. After leaving the inn, the man led them to a large, extravagant house. The man knocked on the door, and a female human maid greeted them. "Master Varis is in the study, please come in Mr. Naal."

They both entered, and the maid closed the door behind them. Stray and the man kept silent as they followed the maid to a ornate door. She knocked on the door twice, before an elegant voice spoke in a strange language that sounded almost like song lyrics. The maid nodded, opening the door and motioned for the two to enter.

Once Stray and the man entered, the maid didn't enter and instead closed the door. "This is the god Stray?" The voice sounded soft but hoarse, and Stray turned his attention to see an elderly elf man in robes that shined with golden robes. Before the pink haired man could speak, Stray spoke up. "I answer to the name Stray, and I am a god."

The elf smiled at him and gave a friendly gaze. "I apologise for not addressing you directly, most deities prefer being talked about rather then spoken to. I am the wizard Varis Aloro, it's a pleasure to meet you God Stray." Stray returned the smile and shook his head slightly. "You just call me Stray, I don't mind talking to others." Varis nodded, pleased with how well everything was going. "If I may, what level are you Stray?" The pink haired man froze and sent confused gaze towards Varis.

"I just reached level 3, Why?" Stray didn't mind the question, but was a little surprised that that people knew about things like levels. "Though mortals know very little about the exact abilities of deities, it's known among the knowledgeable that they choose one of the domains they rule over after reaching level 5." Once the wizard was done explaining, he waited till Stray nodded in understanding before continuing.

"In return for helping setup a place of worship and paying you 10,000 gold coins, I would like you to rule over the domain of Nature, and improve the farmer's crops." After hearing his offer, Stray held his chin with one of his hands in thought. 'System, can I sell gold coins to the Store?'

{Host will receive 1 Divinity for 2,000 gold coins}

Although it wasn't really worth exchanging in to the store, Stray thought he could save some Divinity by using the gold instead of having to rely on the Gamble section. He'd also get a place where people would worship him, and guessed that Varis would probably help in getting people to come in the first couple of days. Since he didn't really mind being in control of nature, Stray shook hands with Varis and accepted the deal.