Downtime at last

"I see." The mood was quite ruined. "My apologies, I shall be certain to make sure this future does not come to pass."

"How long do we have?" The elf suddenly asked, not turning to face me.

I tried to figure it out in my head. "No more than three years I would guess; you didn't look noticeably older."

The dwarf seemed to gain an even grimmer expression. The elf spoke up again, "did it seem like we killed it?"

I shook my head sadly, "No, you almost certainly had not." There was an extended silence, before I spoke again. "I shall give as much aid as I can. For now, I must commune with my lord." I gave them a bow before moving to the corner of the courtyard.

The party started having a conversation about my vision, but I had the decency to not listen in. Instead, I finally addressed my notifications in the HUD.

Skill Unlock (2)

You have reached level 3 (and 5) of your race for the first time; you may choose 1 (2) of the following 3 (5) ability options:

Ethereal Form (active), Spirit Talisman (active), Charm (active), Spiritual Enlightenment (passive), Spirit Grounds (passive)

No matter what I did, the abilities would not expand more. Spiritual Enlightenment sounded fancy, but not really like what I needed right now. Ethereal Form did sound like a useful skill in name, but not what I could use right now, as I needed to be in the spotlight and being in some ghost mode would not help. The last one I eliminated was Charm, as Warmth already helped make people like me more, and the other two abilities sounded potentially more useful. With that, I chose Spirit Talisman and Spirit Grounds, then opened the menu to see what they did.

Spirit Talisman (active) (racial): Allows the user to spend mana and resources to produce a Talisman. The talisman can be crafted to have a variety of affects, including allowing the user to sense the surroundings of the Talisman, storing one of the user's skills to give to the wearer, and increasing a stat of the wearer (to a maximum of the user's value for that stat.)

Spirit Grounds (passive) (racial): Grants the user the ability to connect with lands they inhabit for extended periods of time. When the user stays within one region for a week, the region begins to accumulate the user's mana. While in land that has the user's mana, the user will gain a stat buff depending on how thorough the imbuement is, as well as gain the ability to slightly manipulate the lands themselves.

I smirked as I looked at these abilities. I had most definitely made the right decisions in my skill choices. Spirit Talisman would allow me to make some fake "holy charms" or such, and Spirit Grounds would allow me to have greater influence and manipulate the masses into thinking I had more power than I did by molding the very lands, though I imagine it would be costly. With that matter handled, I pulled up the next message.

Skill Unlock

You have reached level 3 of your class for the first time; you may choose 1 of the following 3 spell/ability options:

(Spell) Holy Shield (Class) (divine), (Ability) Holy Inspiration (Class) (passive), (Spell) Lesser Enhancement (Class) (divine)

My first instinct almost had me grab Holy Inspiration, simply because it wasn't a spell, seeing as my class spells had not been working. I stopped myself though, as hopefully soon I would be able to complete my first quest. I instead chose Holy Shield, as having a defensive ability would be very nice, and I had none aside from my healing. As I opened the menu again to look at its effects, I was greeted by another popup.

Belief Gathered!

The citizens of Wodegta have come to acknowledge you as a potential god.

The Quest: Birth of a New God, has been satisfied, calculating rewards.

I stared at the popup for a second before I truly understood what it was saying. I had done it? Already? I would become my own divine power?

Quest Complete: Birth of a New God

Rewards: Divine Power +1, +500 Class xp (bonus included)

I couldn't believe it. I didn't care that I got only one Divine Power, it was still a feat others could not match. The xp was absolutely amazing as well, enough to bring me to level 6 in my class, prompting another Skill Unlock:

Skill Unlock

You have reached level 5 of your class for the first time; you may choose 1 of the following 4 spell/ability options:

(Ability) Holy Inspiration (Class) (passive), (Spell) Lesser Enhancement (Class) (divine), (Ability) Mark of Divine (Class) (active), (Spell) Aura of Growth (Class) (life)

Going over these new options, I went through them logically. Holy Inspiration still didn't sound to useful in the current second. Lesser Enhancement didn't sound like a spell that would hold up against my others. That brought it down to Aura of Growth and Mark of Divine. As much as I wanted to pick it, Aura of Growth had questionable use, with how powerful my Incur Growth spell already was. I ended up choosing Mark of Divine, which added another popup to my endless list, though there were only two left now. I proceeded to check on the new one quickly before moving on to what needed my attention, so I could keep Mark of Divine in my mind.

Skill Synergy Detected

Spirit Talisman and Mark of Divine

Spirit Talisman will be evolved into Divine Talisman;

Divine Talisman (Class) (Racial) (active) (divine): You spend some mana and resources to craft a Talisman with the mark of your god. Functions as Spirit Talisman with greater ability/intensity, Talisman is more durable, and Talisman radiates your gods Divine Power.

This was a quite useful development. It would help sell my whole "holy charm" plan, as they were not legitimate holy charms. If my abilities and spells could continue to synergize, I would have to change up my choices in the future. At last, I opened my final notification, seeing the light at the end of the tunnel that was the end of these popups. What I saw, made me have to think for awhile.

Divine Power Without Domain Detected

You have acquired Divine Power, but lack a domain. Please choose a domain for your divine power.