16 Falna

He was obviously surprised by his status as normally adventurers used to start with rather low values, yet almost all of them values had risen to the rank H, if not for dexterity and magic, and neither left him particularly surprised.

Haru hadn't seen any magic yet, so it could be said he had no knowledge of it except the little that he remembered of the anime. It seemed that not only magic was "rare", it was also very expensive to obtain through the books known as grimoires, and certainly Haru didn't have all the Valis needed to buy one.

The real reason for his surprise was that under his status, additional information relating his SSS-ranking skill had been added.

---

[Intuition's Holder]

Rank: SSS

(This is a skill defined as innate, the system cannot discover all of its effects)

Effects:

- The will of the boy who had decided to repay his beloved, the strength of this skill depends entirely on how much will the user have faith in his resolve. Whenever deemed necessary, the user will use this skill to change an already written event. The whole world is nothing in the face of this will.

- (Requirements are needed to be met)

---

Haru was very impressed. Certainly this explained what had convinced Hephaestus to take him with her, but he had felt no difference compared to when he had used the hammer with the blacksmith as his temporal apprentice. The explanation helped to clarify his mind a bit, but it formed even more questions to which he would have wanted an answer.

'.. By the way I even unlocked the skill [Swordsman] right away. Isn't that also definitely odd?'

Asking himself this, Haru turned around ready to ask Hephaestus something about his status, but before the words came out of his mouth, a doubt appeared in his mind.

'Oh right, she doesn't know I can see my Status on my own. There really is a problem though if she would know of my power to be able to read my status without having to read it from the sheet?'

He asked this question internally, not expecting an answer in any way, but before he could think further, an explanation was given to him by the system itself.

[The host is not allowed to reveal anything that happened in the Judgment room. Risk: If the host tries to reveal this to someone in this world, everything that comes around his neck will only be certain death.]

It was not Gaia who included this condition, and she didn't care what Haru would reveal to the people of this world, the problem was in the world itself. Altering the original story is one thing, but revealing a function that he normally shouldn't have might be fatal. Any hint of a power that exceeds the divine conception while remaining human would have been considered a breaking of the laws governing the world.

And that might not have had an immediate effect, but just thinking about it, Haru could feel a strange cold in the back of his head, yet the mere feeling made him swallow for a moment so that he could lighten his throat.

There were, of course, many exceptions. The entities known as Demi-Gods, or the innate themselves, which were able to be used regardless of the laws, were known to be the only two cases of this happening. All the other powers from the Judgment room that Haru would inherit would be impossible to argue, and if discussed, Haru should have avoided in any way revealing the source of those powers.

Otherwise, Haru felt the feeling of coldness would be nothing more than a mere warning compared to what would happen if he tried to talk about the judgment room or any other skill related to it. This meant he would have to keep the system secret, to avoid this tragic end.

With this new information, Haru took the status from Hephaestus' hands pretending to be genuinely surprised by what he read, but something really caught his eye.

'The skill...has no rank?'

He had clearly read that his skill had an SSS rank, but here on the sheet the rank of the skill seemed not to be listed, and this actually also clarified the doubts as to why Hephaestus wouldn't be much more surprised. As far as he could understand in fact, usually the limits of the ranks are I-S, beyond which normal adventurers can't pass, but if this was also true for skills, then it meant his innate was very powerful.

Although he hadn't doubted this even for a second because a simple skill had altered his future, perhaps so radically that Haru couldn't even begin to understand how the butterfly effect would have changed his life from the very first choice he made in this world.

But while Haru was lost in thoughts, Hephaestus found his reaction quite normal since it was rare to already possess a skill and a development ability from level 1. It could be said that Haru was a very special case, and Hephaestus already felt more confident of her choice than before, although not possessing yet a minimum of experience as a blacksmith and not being able to observe his skill for it, Hephaestus was willing to teach the boy who now looked up to meet her eyes, but what they met was the second smile Hephaestus showed him.

"From now on, you will be a member of the Hephaestus Familia, Haru Yamaguchi. Bear the name of your family with respect and honour, but most of all, please grant my wish...one day."

Saying these words with much confidence, but at the same time twisting towards the end, Haru could feel traces of sadness concealed within. He didn't respond to those words immediately, for besides those words, Hephaestus had laid her hand on his head, but without mastering the utmost force on it. For almost a moment, Haru was shocked that even though between his hair and her hand there was the glove that Hephaestus generally wore, he could still feel the softness of her hand passing through his hair, and the thing was very relaxing, but Haru hardened his expression by eliminating these thoughts out of context.

What he didn't know was that the Goddesses' vessels were many times greater than even the best work that a Master Artisan would ever be able to accomplish.

At the beginning, Haru was rather confused, but these doubts were clarified by thinking about it for a few seconds. This was nothing more than a symbolic ritual, and although he had several questions about why she chose to caress his head, Haru didn't ask any.

Nodding to her words as this was exactly what he would do. He didn't know if he was good enough for the task, but Haru certainly couldn't say no to that expression. Although he had barely glimpsed it because of the hand now patting him, he couldn't refuse this request after accepting in his mind all the benefices linked to being part of the Hephaestus familia.

"I will do my best to impress you, Hephaestus-sama."

It was with these words that Hephaestus now formally recognized him as a member of the Hephaestus Familia. Although her gesture in the middle was different from usual, Hephaestus didn't consider it something to feel embarrassed about. Unlike before, there wasn't a sort of misunderstanding, this time she really wanted to put her hopes in someone, and now that the person she was so waiting for had arrived, she couldn't help but try to encourage him to do his best in her own way, yet once the ritual was over, Hephaestus quickly took her hand away. Confirming how he had theorized that they really seemed to be smooth as silk.

After their conversation about his status had reached an end however, Hephaestus still had much to discuss with Haru. Although she would have liked to take him immediately in an appropriate room to forge some material to better observe his abilities, there were more important things to deal with first.

Much to Hephaestus's surprise, Haru was intent on exploring the Dungeon. Returning to sit on their respective chairs in fact, he had the opportunity to tell her about how he had spent the days here in Orario, how he had lived his life in a village until recently and especially how he was already taking part in the lessons to learn more about the Dungeon in the Guild..

"The problem is the availability of people in the familia to form a party. Although the familia is made up of many members, almost all, aren't really directed towards the exploration, but the forging. They would all be useless in a party."

Hephaestus familia was one of the most powerful families in Orario. This was basic knowledge that anyone who crossed Orario would know about, but there was something even more interesting related to the Hephaestus familia, they in fact do not depend at all on the earnings obtained by the Dungeon, one can say the only times the Hephaestus familia appeared in the expeditions, it was only to forge weapons to adventurers or simple supports that would remain in the rear guard.

Although Haru also knew this, he had no problem facing the Dungeon alone for a while. As explained by Eina in fact, the close-ups of the Dungeon were possible to deal with alone, and although the risk was always present, it was significantly lower than the norm. There was no reason to worrying too much about a party for the moment, or at least that's what he thought.

Expressing his views however, Hephaestus brought her hand on her chin thinking about a possible solution, but she couldn't certainly mobilize her most special members just for Haru. Although she had well understood the level of his abilities by that blow, Hephaestus wouldn't have convinced the Captain of her familia, Tsubaki with what wasn't but a feeling mixed within a bit of truth, to convince her to accompany Haru in the dungeon, Hephaestus would need some time so that she could show her what he was capable of.

"... As long as you listen properly to your advisor, then you are free to do whatever you want. Pursuing the path of the strong won't interfere with your blacksmith work. You could say that it will play a lot in your favour."

Hephaestus referred not only to the strength and the greater control he assumed over time with the increase of his parameters, but also to the rise in level by itself. It was difficult, but if Haru would succeed, then he could definitely get the Develoment Ability [Blacksmith] which was critical to begin his career as a blacksmith.

They continued their conversation as they talked about other minor topics such as accommodation. Since he would be an apprentice under her special care, Hephaestus had in mind to have him use one of the apartments on the floors over which she had control. He was grateful to her for it, but this meant he no longer had any reason to remain at the Shining Moon, yet memories of the food, and also of Ryn who had slowly taken the habit of giving him a warm welcome back whenever he returned from training, were enough to make him feel he will surely miss these things.

After this point had also been dealt with, Haru stretched out having been sitting for a long time. Their 'conversation' in fact, had begun shortly after lunch, yet Haru could see how now the sun was about to set, and the thing made him sigh as Hephaestus seemed ready to make him try to forge immediately, but Haru felt not only the need to train, above all to put something under his teeth because skipping meals was one of the things he hated the most.

Reminding Hephaestus of his mental fatigue, Haru saw how the expression of the Goddess saddened although she tried very hard to hide it, and even though he wanted to point out to her she would only have to wait an extra day, he felt it wouldn't be a very nice thing to say, so he just pretended not to have noticed that.

Thanking again for everything she had done and adding he would surely have met her expectations in one way or another, Haru chose to begin his training immediately after eating so as to clear his head from all the thoughts that formed during a single day as he returned to the Shining Moon to spend his last night there.

Seeing Haru with a determined expression on his face as he left, Hephaestus sighed as she looked towards what was the ceiling, wondering in her mind if Haru was really the person she was looking for and it wasn't she who was seeing things with her second eye covered as well, but soon, these little doubts would completely disappear from her mind...