Knock, Knock… Who’s there? … The System… The System who? … Rolling...

  - UWO Specialist Tran -

  “Wait isn’t that…” Tran mumbles to me.

  “Yeah,” I groan.

  “You know them?” Barlow side whispers.

  “Oh yeah, he knows them,” Tran says.

  Fuck me sideways. This is going to be a shitshow again. Why is she here? How? Then it hits me, her dad, the Colonel. Bet he pulled strings. He’d asked her a hundred times to take a command position. I guess she finally said yes. Still, as pissed as Cortez will be… this might be just what I needed. As long as she doesn’t expect anything special in return, she might be able to sweep some of my problems under the proverbial rug. Okay, this may be really good… keyword, may.

  “I won’t take up any more of your time, I know all of you probably want to finish out your weekend,” Lieutenant Dorliac says with a smile that means business.

  “Thank you, ma’am,” Mwangi says.

  ***

  Ten minutes later, I’m walking back to the barracks with Tran, Barlow, and a very, very silently pissed-off Cortez. Thankfully, Tran and Barlow understand how to read a room for the most part. They haven’t mentioned the new Lt yet in front of Cortez.

  Strangely, Dorliac didn’t say a word to me, didn’t even look in my direction. I forgot how professional she can be in uniform.

  “So, uh…” I begin, trying to talk to Cortez.

  “Not now,” she says, her eyebrow’s still working overtime.

  “Right.”

  “Did Sergeant Mwangi say anything about you skipping Extra Duty?” Barlow asks.

  “Nope, not yet.”

  “Damn, you got lucky then, guess you should send a thank you to whoever called in the Divine Item drop,” Tran says, he turns to Barlow, “What do you think a Divine item is anyways?”

  “Why are you asking me?” he asks with a shrug.

  “You’re the one who knows a stupid amount of stuff about gods.”

  “Well, if I had to guess, probably above Legendary.”

  “No shit Sherlock, I’m asking like, what can it do? Must be crazy if the purple System got involved right? Usually, it’s just blue.”

  Or Red, but I can’t say that to them. Not that I don’t trust them. I do. But Cortez is right, fewer people knowing is a good thing.

  ***

  Back at my barracks room, I kick off my boots, take off my clothes down to my boxers, and fall flat onto the bed. It’s been a long week. My head's pretty muddled with how I’m feeling besides Cortez. I’m solid on her, even the fox. But everything else. Dorliac making an appearance. Ulana beating Red. This… ring. I don’t know, it’s a lot to process. I’m not sure I want to uncork the bottle yet.

  Alright, before something else comes up, I need to figure out the rest of the custom RoD menu. Pulling it up, I move down to where I stopped last time. Cosmic Exchange. Clicking it, a new series of gold letter text boxes show up.

  [ Welcome to the Cosmic Exchange ]

  [ Balance: ]

  [ Sacred Echoes: 50 ]

  [ Neutral Echoes: 40 ]

  [ Cursed Echoes: 300 ]

  [ Ledger ]

  [ Enter Cosmic Exchange Shop ]

  My eyes linger on the cursed echoes. I don’t know what echoes are, literally have no idea. But cursed anything, that doesn’t sound good. It says balance above them. Does that mean… it’s like currency? Moving further down, I look at the Ledger box. What are the chances that I click that and it actually tells me where I got the echo stuff? On the order of magnitude of unlikely as fuck, it comes in at a high eleven of ten. Still, why not? I click it…

  [ Ledger: ]

  [ Quest: Gathering ]

  [ 10 Neutral Echoes Gained ]

  Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

  [ Note: Jimmy exhibited lackluster performance. Showed signs of severe mental trauma and did not pray to give thanks to his Goddess, even after she bent the Cosmos for him. Award reduced to reflect poor form. Also, his Goddess is not happy that he gave her flower to another woman. She thinks it shows callousness, a general lack of respect, and that maybe he’s an asshole. ]

  What the fuck? It’s an actual note. Who wrote this? Didn’t give thanks to his Goddess? Am I supposed to pray? Shit. Did she write this? The flower I gave Cortez… was I supposed to keep it? Looking lower, I see a red text box. Holy shit, Red can make notes too?

  [ Note: I despise Deviants. ]

  That tracks. Though the way Red says it, have there been other Deviants before? Looking further down, I see another quest log.

  [ Quest: Slay Wyvern ]

  [ 50 Sacred Echoes Gained ]

  [ 30 Neutral Echoes Gained ]

  [ 300 Cursed Echoes Gained ]

  Below it, there’s another note, written in gold.

  [ Note: Jimmy again exhibited a general lack of deference to his Goddess. He appears to think she has no feelings. Perhaps he has sustained brain trauma or was brought up to spurn those who go out of their way to help him. His Goddess also feels very upset that he sided with her opposition and saved the baby fox. Reduced reward due to disobedience and because he still refuses to pray. ]

  [ Addendum Note: His Goddess is becoming truly frustrated with him. She broke divine law and gave him a powerful item. His response… to abscond with another woman and complain about his Goddess under his breath multiple times. His Goddess is understandably very upset. She is feeling very used and underappreciated. ]

  Shit. She thinks I’m an asshole. She even did an addendum note. Below it is Red’s note, also with an Addendum under it.

  [ Note: The Deviant sided against his Goddess and saved the incarnation of the Fox of The Endless Winter. Thus ensuring that the Orlan Empire could not clear their quest. Extra marks awarded. The Deviant also somehow surprised me, stealing a Legendary bow from a high general of the Orlan Empire. Normally I would not award extra marks, however, the Deviant knew how important the bow was to Mira Stormborn. This was after she helped him as well. With that knowledge, the Deviant showed a complete and utter lack of regard for her fate without it. Such behavior should be rewarded. Extra marks awarded for that. ]

  [ Addendum Note: The Deviant does not disappoint with his dismissive nature toward his Goddess. Even after she broke divine law and summoned a calamity-class divine relic. I am very pleased to see her spiraling. Extra marks awarded. Well played, Deviant. ]

  “Fuck…”

  What the fuck did I just read though? These two sound petty as hell. I hadn’t really considered how fucked Mira would be without her bow. As crazy as she looked, she did stop the Lich from killing me. I guess that was a dick move. Right? And what was that about Fox of Endless Winter? Was saving a helpless baby fox not the right choice? I’m so confused.

  I don’t really know what to do with all of this information. Apparently, I’ve pissed off Ulana, and I’m supposed to be praying. Also, she likes to talk in the third person, but Red doesn’t? I don’t get it. Shaking my head, I don’t see anything else to click on.

  One thing is becoming certain as I reread all the notes… I might be an asshole. Like a really big asshole. I didn’t know I was supposed to pray, her murals literally said she basically ignores them. Plus, I’ve never really prayed anyway. Except for that one time. I’d probably just end up insulting her. All of this makes me feel bad for doubting she’s on my side.

  Sighing, better late than never though. Sliding to the floor, I kneel, praying, kind of. Not sure if I’m doing it right.

  “Goddess Ulana, thank you.”

  I’m about to say more, but I get a popup, a gold one.

  [ Minor Blessing Status Effect Gained ]

  [ Tier: 1 ]

  [ + 1% experience gain ]

  I blink at it. That’s what a simple thank you gets you? Well, damn. I’ve never felt so dumb before. Should’ve done this immediately. Should I keep praying? Or was that good? Maybe just wait and see? I don’t want her to think I’m trying to milk bonuses, not after she apparently has been feeling used. Slowly climbing back onto the bed, I gingerly pull up the interface again. Going back to the Cosmic Exchange. I click on the Enter Cosmic Exchange Shop, but I get an error message in purple text, the same color as the neutral echoes text showed up.

  [ Error… Insufficient Neutral Echoes to enter the shop ]

  Okay, how many do I need though? Guess I’ll just keep trying it when I get more from future Quests.

  That’s a lot to process. Ulana and Red leave notes on my performance and award some kind of currency for it. I use that currency to buy something I’m assuming. Praying is wanted, apparently it gives an Exp boost too. Which is amazing. The Fox is some kind of incarnation of something? Oh, and I screwed over Mira. Which I don’t feel incredibly bad about, her people did torch the fox world after all. Moving my hand to the nightstand, I grab the bow, holding it over me as I lay on my back. Pulling up my other hand, the one with the ring on it, I notice that the colors are very similar, though Abyss seems to be darker somehow.

  If this is a Legendary item, and what Cortez said is true, then I won’t be able to use this bow. It’s bound to Mira still, unless… maybe they killed her? That does make me feel a little bad. Back in the bottle. Tossing it between my hands, I feel a strange tingle when it’s in the same hand as the ring Abyss. Peering closer, I see the runic patterns rippling on the Legendary bow. Rippling away from the ring strangely. Like it's… my eyes widen.

  The air shifts, beginning to swirl. The ring… it’s turning liquid again, expanding and wrapping itself around the bow. Energy ricochets around it. It’s eating it…

  The ring rolls back into the shape of a ring again. The bow is gone… literally just gone. It ate the fucking bow. Looking closer, I see a small symbol starting to engrave on the band. In the shape of a stringless bow.

  “Why does nothing come with an instruction manual…” I groan, then looking up at the ceiling, remembering her note about me complaining, I add, “Not complaining about you, Goddess. I really appreciate you.”

  Another notification pops up in gold text again, replacing the other one.

  [ Minor Blessing Status Effect Gained ]

  [ Tier: 2 ]

  [ + 2% experience gain ]

  Okay, so she does want me to talk positively to her. Should I keep going? I’m about to when I get a notification. Shit. It’s her, Dorliac.

  [1LT Dorliac: Told you I’d take care of it Kiwi. Have a good night, speak soon. ]

  Yeah, she did. Guess I’ll hold my breath. No telling what’s going to happen yet. Moving to the floor, I’m about to experiment with praying more, since I’d like some help figuring out where the hell the bow just went. Before I can though, I hear a knock on the door. For fucks sake. Tran’s early.

  “Tran, bro it’s…” I begin, but as the door swings open, it’s Cortez, “Oh, hey.”

  “Hey,” she says, raising an eyebrow, “Are you going to let your girlfriend in, or?”

  Moving to the side, I smile as she walks by. Still getting used to the whole Girlfriend thing. She seems like she’s in a better mood. As soon as the door closes, she grabs my face and kisses me. Like one of those, I fucking missed you kisses. A gold text box replaces the other one before fading.

  [ Blessing Lost ]

  two exciting things to announce.

  Aethon... Which means, I'm writing full time now ??

  Number One on Rising Stars again thanks to all of you.

  Deviants.

  Following, Favoriting and Rating.

  Number one on Rising Stars / or on page one of Popular This Week, I will commit to daily chapters. As soon as we fall off of either, we will give my fingers a break and switch to the other release schedule everyone voted overwhelmingly for. Thank you!

  You are all really outstanding, and I greatly appreciate you ??

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  extra bonus chapter next week.

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