Ripples

A.N. Before we start, I want to draw your attention to a fellow author and one of my most devoted readers in my little community, and I want him to get as much attention as me because this story is about to hit a million views. He is doing a story of his own and he's almost at a million views too. Let's get him there before the month is out!

His author name is RikuKage. And his story is called 'Oh No, I get stuck with Crazy Name that Stuck me with A crazy Goddess!'. A long title I know but I leave it up to you to find out what that story is about.

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~Gotta make you, understand~

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In the secret base beneath Steve's room, there was no sound to be heard but the swirling of the portal as it cast a purple glow upon the contents of that room. Somewhere outside, there came the cry of a rooster, and then the bells began chiming as the South Gate of the city was pulled open for people and travellers to come in.

Just as the morning sun broke free of the horizon, the Nether portal glowed before Steve jumped out and landed shakily on the floor, a little disorientated from the interdimensional jump. He coughed out a bit of ash from his mouth as he stood up.

He had entered with his iconic outfit, that of a blue top, dark blue slack and grey boots. But they were now covered in soot and Steve noticed that he had brought with him a volcanic smell. The smell had been prominent and all encompassing in the place he had just come from but now that he had normal air to compare with, he realized that if he walked around the grotto, then the two gods upstairs would think that the whole damn place was on fire.

He set down a bag on the a table that jingled with contents inside and made his way into another room adjoining to this hidden one just for this purpose. Having expected an outcome like this, he'd built a pool for himself in which he could bathe to shake off suspicious smells.

As he sat in he bath, soaking in the aroma and watching all the soot flow out of his hair and his body, his mind went back to his trip to hell. To begin with, it was dark. The only light source was that of where the lava was but the ceiling was hidden from view because no light levels reached there. He'd had to put on FullBright just like in game to see up there.

Having entered in Creative mode, he'd made sure that he wouldn't be attacked on sight and seeing as there had been no immediate hostiles to greet him, seeing as the portal had ended up in a Warped forest, he'd come out into Survival and the first thing he was hit with was the heat. Well, to be honest it was actually warm to him...but even that could mean something.

For someone like him who had insane levels of durability, as well as having abnormal resistances at SSS rank levels and had still felt that heat, albeit very little...well he couldn't imagine how punishing it would be on a lower level adventurer let alone a normal person.

Minecraft characters really were natural born units. If they could enter a dimension like that and not boil the moment they set foot, then they would be superhuman enough to take over the Earth with a mall contingent army of them. Especially when he noted the sharp increase in gravity. He'd read somewhere before that the estimated gravity of Minecraft was approximately 3 times greater than Earth.

His superhuman physique had upheld him but normal people would not have survived it. He had felt the weight and he felt the change in atmospherical pressure. Thus he concluded that normal people could absolutely not be allowed into Minecraft at all from Danmachi. Normal mortals would not survive whatsoever because that kind of pressure would probably be enough to make their hearts and other vital organs explode.

He was hesitant about bringing a level one into the overworld even, let alone the Nether. Thus he concluded that when he eventually put his program into motion, only first and second class adventurers could come to the Nether as only they could probably have the resistance and the fortitude to withstand the effects of the fire realm. Especially considering how little there was to breathe in that place.

Steve would also never grow tired of the realistic mobs. He had spawned some in before to get used to them but he would always be taken by surprise with just how ugly those monsters were. The pixelated originals looked cute and funky at times but when seeing them in reality...the first time he met a Piglin there...yuck!

...

Well whatever the case, he still had the other realms to explore to ascertain the difficulty levels, so he could figure out which adventurers could come and which could not.

After one final rinse and dressing in another pair of his character outfit (his closet was full of them for some plot convenient reason), he exited the secret room and got to doing the morning chores. No matter what world you were in or what profession you took, the house still had to be maintained which meant sweeping the floors, wiping surfaces and window areas to prevent mould etc.

He made sure to prep his room properly as well, cleaning things up and changing his sheets just in case his two 'dates' decided they wanted to come to his place. Remembering Tiona's love for books, against one side of a wall he had put up a lot of bookshelves.

Now...here was something weird. He was well aware that there were some minute things that he would have to get used to when meshing reality and Minecraft game things together...and the bookshelves was one of those things. The books themselves were books of 'magic' which really were just a bunch of weird symbols, diagrams, circles and code.

But when he had been trying all these things out during his three day stay on the Beol Mountain, he'd come to find that if he thought of certain books when he placed the bookshelf down, those very same books would appear on the bookshelf alongside the magic books of enchantment.

There was absolutely no explanation why that was the case. He'd only come across this phenomenon by accident when he'd wished that he could read his old books instead of just finding weird books with weird symbols. Seeing as every time he put a bookshelf down, the book contents were different each time, he'd opted to keep placing them until he found something interesting or different and it was only after his frustrated wish did those books appear.

And thus his bookshelf now had an assortment of all his favourite books and novels. Being at home a lot had made him quite a bookworm in his life, to the point where his eyesight had weakened considerably with how much reading he'd done. Of course now, his eyesight was so good and refined that when he really focused, he could see the pores on a person's skin when they were a mile away but it gives you the idea of how much he used to read.

That habit only became worse when he started purchasing manga with his allowance. And considering how hefty his allowance was since his parents seemed to think that money that he could do whatever with seemed to be the only way to please and appease him in place of their absence, he bought a whole crap ton of manga and light novel material.

...Technically they hadn't been wrong, for that money had brought him happiness. But there had always been a hole in his heart which he he could never fill with fulfilled desires. In fact, the more he sated his desires, the deeper that hole got. He had thought that perhaps a significant other would fill it, but fat chance of that ever happening in his old life.

As Minecraft Steve, he was filled with a new and profound confidence that came along with his powers and the fact that he was in a new and different world that was thousands of times more fun than his own even if it was lacking in the entertainment industry. But still...was it right of him to be constantly engaged in his fun instead of worrying about how his parents might have reacted when they came to the flat and found his body? Should he not be concerned with how they felt or how they reacted? It wasn't like they were bad parents; they were just absent and had much of their priorities misplaced. So would it not be selfish of him to busy himself with the goings of this world and not dedicate even a moment of time to think and worry about them?

...

As if by some external force, the rising doubts and anxieties in him were instantly quenched as the emotions just washed away and he returned to his usual self.

Going over his bookshelf, he sorted out through potential books he could give to Tiona. He knew she loved hero stories but did that extend to fiction too? He hoped it did. Tiona was the type to cherish whatever gift given to her by anyone but the fact still remained that he wanted to give her something that she liked in her heart.

When he said his feelings were genuine, he was being a hundred percent honest. It was different to just seeing her on screen and just longing for her. Having actually met and engaged with her and have her return his intentions made his feelings run all the more deeper and he expressed a genuine desire to make her happy, especially if a certain arc of Sword Oratoria still came by even with his presence.

And though that arc gave Tiona a lot of growth...he didn't like it.

...And the same with Ais too. For all he was dismissive or unsure of returning her feelings, he had made very good relation with her beyond just a friend. He didn't want anybody he'd come to know go through painful experiences like that. Perhaps he had made relations too fast as a result of a sheltered an lonesome life...but he was in the stew now so he might as well just keep stirring it.

It did no good to dwell on ifs. This was the kind of life he'd dreamed of and now that he had it, it would be stupid to not make the most of it.

His finger came to rest upon books of a particular franchise and he stopped dead in his tracks. Mulling over them, he realized that they were the perfect ones to give to Tiona if she liked fiction...because they were the closest in relation to her world! And he had been thinking of these series not too long ago.

He removed the books from their place on the bookshelf and moved them to a more empty one, just so he could pick them up quicker if the girls came to his room. His eye then caught on another book of great importance to his stay here under his specific patron. Hearing Ptah open his door in the hall way and seeing as Steve had finished the last of his cleaning, he picked up the book from the shelf and exited his bedroom.

He found Ptah stretching his arms as the little god breathed through his nose and his puffy eyes blinked rapidly to get rid of the sleep. Ptah caught sight of him and yawned a little before waving.

"Hey."

"You're up early." Steve commented. "What's the occasion?"

"The occasion is that you're making too much noise out here." Ptah replied. "I thought I might as well just get up since you're not going to let me get back to sleep anytime soon."

"Well someone has to do the chores." Steve said dryly. "What are you doing now?"

"Now? I'm going to go and make some weapons to sell through the Hephaestus Familia. Just the usual."

"Why are you still doing that? I'm making money and I'm soon to make a whole lot more when we open up shop."

"And until then, I'm going to do my stuff." Ptah said. "Get your affairs in order first. In the meantime, I'll worry about my own work."

"Fair enough. Anyway." Steve held the book in front of him and offered it to Ptah. "Take this."

"What is it?" Ptah asked with a raised brown as he took the heavy book from Steve's hands.

"It's a gift. I really appreciated the outfit you made for me." Steve rubbed his neck awkwardly. "It doesn't take nearly as much effort to give you this as you spent making those clothes, but I thought I should give you something unique."

"...The Complete Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Egypt." Ptah read from the cover as he looked at Steve questioningly.

"You may not believe it." Steve said. "But in my world, alternate versions of you gods existed in many of our ancient mythologies. Now I'm not sure it truly was all down to folklore as this book suggests, or whether or not it was physical alternate versions of you in that world at some point in time. But this book is from my home world, and I thought it would be an interesting thing for you to see what my people thought of...'you' and the others."

"Huh?" Ptah said as he looked back down at the book. "I can't believe it. I'm actually holding an otherworldly item in my hands."

"I suggest giving yourself a break today." Steve said as he turned back around to return to his room. "Perhaps in reading that book, you may also come to know me better too. Ancient Egypt was a great nation that lasted over 3000 years and met its ill end at the hands of invaders around 2000 years ago. It's one of the most mystical ages in my world's history, the secrets of which my people are still digging up and deciphering to this day. And considering the bigger picture, we've only scratched the surface since even the language is still being decoded." Steve paused as he got to his door. "And perhaps in reading that, you may also realize what I expect from you." Steve closed his door.

Ptah looked down at his new book and gave it a once over as his eyes returned to Steve's door. He then turned around and returned to his own room as he closed the door behind him and sat down cross legged on his bed. He breathed in heavy suspense as he fingered the edge of the cover, his head still spinning at what he was carrying in his lap before he just expelled all the feelings from his chest and quickly flipped open the first page.

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While the household of the Ptah Familia were slowly waking up and getting their priorities of the day straightened out, another shit stew was stirring up all over the city in the following hours. 

Adventurers really were a thing of wonder in this world. They were the heroes of every boy and many of the girls, a point of fascination and hero-worshipped throughout the world. To bear the blessing of a god and traverse the literal belly-of-the-beast, slaying monsters left and right just as the heroes and saviours of old did.

It was extremely difficult to even become and adventurer in the first place. No ordinary Joe could just walk up to a Familia home and ask for a Falna. That mortal not only had to be fit enough to be an adventurer in both body, conduct and strength of character. And beyond that, that mortal had to possess something unique or be a unique sort of person separate to other mortals, in order to be chosen and inducted into a Familia.

Whether that thing was expressed outwards or was reserved only for the eye of a god to see, a person had to have it in order to become an adventurer, for the gods only choose a specific person. That goes for the gods that actually took their 'game' seriously but even then a callous god searched for something desirable and conducive to their agenda.

Now even amongst adventurers, there was a hierarchy. Those in the highest throngs of the power ladder were looked upon with equal amounts of awe and jealousy and as such, they were kept a close eye on. 

Such as the Loki Familia. And by this point, all were aware of their return and many were aware of the many changes that they had undergone, namely much of their equipment and their behaviours. And it was because such a close eye was kept on them that they noticed the newcomer, the new face that had emerged out of the dungeon with them. So already, those fanatically or carefully observant of Loki's children were trying to investigate and find out who this person was.

The night in the Hostess had revealed a lot more to a small contingent of adventurers the truth of the matter and his identity...but as rumours and yarns began to fly from one tongue to another to a point where tales were being misconstrued, adventurers as well as ordinary people began to congregate before the guild, waiting for it to open so they could look at the notice board or make their own enquiries.

The Dungeon remained ever-open but the guild ran according to a set timetable as any establishment. And when Royman finally hung up the announcements of that day and permitted for the doors to be opened (after safely locking himself into his office), a stream of people rushed through and dived for the notice board to be the first ones to digest the information posted there.

The centre-most parchment of all was that of a drawing of a young man, registered under a new Familia, boldly declared as level 9, verified and witnessed upon by the signature of the Guildmaster himself as well as that of the Loki Familia.

Just those signatures alone was enough to almost dispel all doubts and objections of this being a fabrication or a farce. Especially when going along on his absurd accomplishments, that of trouncing every known monster rex by himself and how he had singularly defeated the Loki Familia by himself.

The Loki Familia would not swear upon such a claim if it were falsehood. It would be a grave lie and accusation and Loki was infamous for being vengeful and militant when she was slighted.

And so the name of Stephen Hewer was passed from mouth to mouth as the whole city was roused by this news. And of course many gods began to speculate and contemplate their own decisions and how they would go about dealing with this new bit of news. 

Some decided to see if they could quell this uprising Familia before any more adventurers could rise in it because they were drawn to its singular adventurer. Some gods, upon merely hearing the name 'Ptah' immediately turned away from any notion of challenging his Familia.

Nonetheless, there were those who wanted see a physical demonstration themselves from this new superpower, and before long, Folkvangr began receiving letters and requests of formally challenging Ptah's child publicly to verify these claims in the most explicit and clear-cut way that existed. 

Not even a few hours later, already the most extreme option was desired by both adventurers and civilians alike. They wanted a War Game. All they waited for now, was the acceptance of Freya herself. And the goddess in question clutched a bunch of these letters in hand and pondered on what measure she should take and when she should take it.

Her eyes then fell upon a different sort of letter, that bore the insignia of the Ganesha Familia. An invitation. Slowly a smile spread across her face. Before she made any decision regarding these bold demands of her...

...perhaps it was time she met this upstart adventurer as her real self. Only then perhaps could she come close to him and gain a clear picture of that weird soul of his once and for all.

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