The white ‘congratulations, here are your rewards for not dying’ room looked identical to how I remembered it, with a massive projection of Dominion’s head and shoulders looming over us, telling us how we’d conducted ourselves with honor and… yadda yadda.

  One could only listen to the same canned animation so many times before losing interest. I felt like something like this would earn a whole slew of one-star ratings back on Earth, but I suppose if your society was medieval, you’d watch it enraptured like Rogar and Philip were. Hell, even Richard’s eyes were glued to the screen.

  The only ones who weren’t were myself and Aerion, who was staring up at my eyes. I thought about sneaking a kiss when no one was looking, but decided that was very much preteen behavior, and that I was better than that.

  Instead, I restrained myself… only for Aerion to stand on her toes and give me a kiss a moment later after she confirmed no one was looking.

  We promptly proceeded to make out. So much for restraint.

  It was only Richard’s cough that forced us apart a split-second before Rogar and Philip turned to look.

  My head got hot and I felt incredibly stupid. What were we, high school kids hiding their first love behind their parents? We didn’t have to hide anything. Then again, the stupid grin on my face was proof of how much I was enjoying this.

  I figured it was the same sort of thrill you got when committing an innocent crime or telling a lie. Even mundane actions became exciting, and making out with Aerion was uh, well, it was anything but mundane. Even with her dressed like a guy. Damn. Maybe that made it even better?

  Dominion’s repetitive speech finally ended and Philip and Rogar were bathed in light, allowing me to breathe easy. I couldn’t know whether they’d received a Boon or a Blessing, but by the light and their stunned, happy looks, they must’ve gotten something.

  As for me, while there wasn’t a soul seed option like I’d received in the Cataclysm Dungeon, I couldn’t exactly complain. I hadn’t expected the experience boost to do much, but considering the enemies we faced, the Trial apparently felt I ought to be rewarded.

  Between this and the Trial Guardian fight—if you could call it that—I jumped three levels, bringing me to D - 4. Aerion, meanwhile, had just hit E - MAX, having risen three levels too. While it looked like she was catching up, I suspected that state of affairs wouldn’t last long. Especially now that she was using an Initialized Aurora. My guess was that I’d start pulling ahead before long, though I’d be delighted if she leveled as fast as I did.

  The slew of leveling meant she had a bunch of stats to spend, and I had a ton more free Essence to play with. When combined with Rocky’s dropping Essence cost, that meant I was now at 432/530. Enough to start Initializing things when we were out. Maybe even prep for my next Armor Set.

  “Well?” I asked, approaching Rogar and Philip. “Spill the beans. What did you guys get?”

  “Dominion saw fit to grant me Shield Wall,” Philip said with his chest puffed out. It must’ve been really puffed for me to notice it under his Basecrest plate armor. “It’s an Emergence-Rank boon, augmenting my defense. I can create phantom shields beside my own, or have them circle me, protecting me from all sides.”

  Well, that was something. “How strong are they?”

  “Apparently they’ll have half the durability of my current shield.”

  My eyebrow raised. “Now that is something. That could become seriously impressive with a quality shield.”

  “Precisely my thought,” Philip replied, beaming. “I honestly never imagined Dominion would value my contributions this much.”

  I had to wonder about that. What we got was a recording. My guess was Dominion had no clue when someone cleared his Trial. I couldn’t imagine the god getting notified each and every time across all of his various Trials. Across centuries and millennia, he’d go insane.

  No, I suspected the true entity here was that Covenant Core that kept showing up in the System Messages, usually when my unique set of circumstances errored it out. It sounded an awful like the central computer, or intelligence, responsible for overseeing these sorts of things. If that was true, then Boons and Blessings were being doled out based on some algorithm.

  I wonder what the people of Axius would say if they found out their godly gifts came from a machine?

  “Congratulations, Philip,” I said, exchanging arm clasps with the older warrior. I mentioned none of my ruminations. That was all they were, for now—conjectures and theories. Not worth voicing until I had more evidence. “You earned every bit of it. Hope you’re planning on celebrating.”

  “Oh, believe you me, as soon as we’re out, I’m hitting the best tavern in town.”

  I let out a breath of air. “You sure that’s a good idea, Philip? They won’t know what hit them!”

  Philip burst out into laughter. It was good to see the man so relieved. The past few days hadn’t been easy on him and Rogar.

  Speaking of, I turned my attention to the blacksmith who wore an expression I wasn’t at all expecting.

  “Uh, Rogar? Something wrong? You got a Boon, didn’t you?”

  Rogar looked up at me and scowled. “Aye. Emergence Rank at that.”

  “So, what’s the problem?”

  “The problem is it’s Dominion-damned useless!” he swore, before hurriedly glancing at the god’s projection.

  Dominion’s recording wasn’t bothered in the least, smiling down upon them with his arms crossed, giving them the occasional nod of approval.

  I fought not to roll my eyes. It was hard—the temptation was great.

  “Why don’t you tell me about your Boon, and then we’ll see if it’s useless.”

  “Draining Hand,” Rogar said in a lower voice, as though Dominion would suddenly reach out and rescind his Boon. “Lets me suck the heat out of things. I’m a blacksmith, Greg! A blacksmith! My lifeblood is heat! What good is a cold forge? Nothing! I’ll be a laughingstock, I tell you!”

  Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

  “Alright, let’s just calm down and—!?”

  The world whirred around me, blurring as it did. When it stopped, I was stuck in the middle of a crowd on an extremely busy street. People young and old passed me by, from smart suit-wearing businessmen to young punky teens with bleached hair. Women with handbags to grandmas. The sound of car traffic in the distance completed the scene of a modern-day metropolis, bustling with life. Yet despite the ocean of people occupying every square inch of the sidewalk, not one shoved me or pushed. Also, nearly everyone wore medical masks.

  I looked around dazedly… Past the crowd was a jungle of glass and concrete buildings, ranging from five stories to ten. Everything from '80s retro to the ultramodern. And on their walls were no end of billboards in an eye-bleeding assortment of garish colors.

  When one of the oversized LCDs surged to life, showing the words Doki Doki! Waku Waku! I knew exactly where I was.

  “You’ve got to be shitting me.”

  “Konnichiwa, Guhregu!” a familiar voice called.

  I found the silver haired god standing at the corner of a nearby highrise, near a shop that occupied the first floor of the building, wearing a coat made of white feathers and black leather. That was all I could see from my position, so I weaved through the crowd to my patron deity.

  Up close, I saw he wore heeled boots, skinny leather jeans—which were ripped—chains that hung off of them, and a shirt so short it showed some of his chiseled abs. And the coat, of course. To complete the look, he had a gunblade slung across his shoulder.

  “Greg-san, we meet again,” he said in a low, edgy sort of voice. “I have awaited this day for a thousand years.”

  “I’m sure,” I said, already feeling the onset of a headache. “Nice to see you too, Cosmo. But why here, of all places?”

  “What, you don’t like it?” Cosmo asked in his normal voice. “I was sure you would! This is supposed to be a holy place in your culture, right?”

  “No! Well, you’re not strictly wrong, but no! I’m not that way. And I am definitely not a weeb.”

  “A weeb?” Cosmo asked, frowning in confusion before his eyes lit up in understanding. “Ah! A weeaboo! Greg, I think we both know you’re absolutely a weeaboo. What about those figures you keep in your room?”

  “Those are action figures, Cosmo,” I corrected, thoroughly unsurprised that he'd invaded the privacy of my room back on Earth. “Totally different from the figurines you’d find at a place like this!”

  “What, you mean like that shop over there?” Cosmo pointed to the store, where instead of having a wall facing the street like a normal store, its wall was composed of dozens of glass cases, stacked five high. In each were countless plastic figures. All female, and in various poses and states of undress.

  “Yes, just like those—wait…”

  I did a double-take, ignoring Cosmo’s widening grin as I walked up to the nearest one. The girls inside were all white-haired, thin and lithe, and short. They all had half-blue, half-green eyes, except the ones that had the red evil eyes thing.

  “You have got to be shitting me,” I groaned. The entire store was packed full of model Aerions.

  “Like it?” Cosmo asked. “You really should check out the ones over here,” he said, pulling my arm and forcing me to follow through a fabric divider boasting an Aerion with her finger on her lips in a ‘shhh’ gesture. Despite my internal turmoil at this situation, I had to admit, it was kinda cute.

  That feeling evaporated the moment I stepped through. Apparently, this was the NSFW section of the store, and… yeah, I turned back immediately.

  It didn’t help at all that everywhere I looked, I saw Aerion.

  “Cosmo, you really gotta cut it out with this crap,” I said. “There’s teasing, and then there’s this. This is downright offensive.”

  “What humor isn’t?” Cosmo asked, peeking his head through the Aerion divider curtain.

  I was about to argue when I realized he had a point.

  “Maybe, but still. Please tone it down. I really don’t understand you. One moment you say you want to make up with Aerion, and the next, you’re doing this. You really think she’ll forgive you for whatever you did to her if she finds out?”

  “What’s the matter, Greg? It’s different now! You’re a couple! Husband and wife to be! Congratulations on that, by the way.”

  “Er, thanks, but we’re just going to take it slow for now.”

  Cosmo leaned against a case full of Aerions and snorted. “Friendo, I don’t think you understand what ‘slow’ means on Axius. And that’s not even talking about elves. They are not known for dragging their feet.”

  “Yeah,” I said, tasting something bitter in my mouth. “Figured that one out myself. Anyway, can we have this conversation elsewhere? It’s kinda distracting in here.”

  Cosmo shrugged. “Suit yourself. But you sure you don’t want a souvenir?”

  “You’re saying I can take something back from here?” I asked, head spinning at the potential implications.

  “Well, I can’t exactly give it to you, but there are ways… if you catch my drift.”

  “I really don’t catch your drift. Also, nobody says that sort of thing anymore.”

  “Oh, really? Huh,” Cosmo said, as though I’d just insulted his mother. “Anyway, why don’t you just pick one?”

  “Fine,” I sighed, stooping down to regard the many Aerions. Arguing with Cosmo felt like it'd get me all of nowhere. Better to just pick and get it over with.

  That said, there really were thousands of them, and it was hard not to get lost staring at them. This was the woman I loved, after all. I couldn’t get enough of her.

  Ignoring all the lewd ones eliminated about two-thirds of the choices. The rest ranged from cute to badass, with some showing off her exploits in battle. I had to admit, those were especially detailed. One in particular depicted Aerion in a gorgeous set of red armor that was bathed in flames, fist cocked as she fell upon a hydra-like creature from high in the air.

  Her face was exceedingly well done, with every little detail matching her actual face almost perfectly. She was almost expressionless, as she would be while under the effects of [Reave]. The dichotomy between her pose and her expression somehow made the piece all the more striking.

  There was even rubble and destroyed cars on the ground.

  “This one,” I said without hesitation.

  “Aw, c’mon!” Cosmo whined. “Of all the options, that’s what you pick?”

  I rolled my eyes. “I’m not choosing anything even remotely lewd, Cosmo. But…” I said, looking at another in the case beside it. To be honest, it had been a hard choice.

  The other one had Aerion standing in a simple white nightgown, her hands clasped behind her back. She was smiling gently, and something about the genuine happiness on her face struck me. It was like she was a completely different person from the one I knew. Someone who was at peace with herself.

  “Alright, I’ll throw that one in, too. Special service.”

  I shook my head. “Not like I can take anything from here, anyway, so have at it. Now, can you move us somewhere we can talk?”

  Cosmo clapped once, and I was suddenly sitting on a bar stool. In front of me was an onyx bartop with lights that shone through it from below, showing the stone’s veins. Behind that was one of the most epic liquor racks I’d ever seen, and behind that was a 30th story view of the busiest intersection in the world.

  I grinned. “Now we’re talking.”