"Fu…." Breathing out softly, Shiro glanced around her and looked at the pile of corpses belonging to the soldiers. Most of them had already disappeared and these were the most recent ones that she had killed.
Since she was able to control herself even with the killing intent trying to make her crazy, the soldiers were rather easy to take care of. If anything, trying to kill 1000 of them was the main issue since her stamina had its limits but she managed to hold out in the end.
However, she did suffer a few minor injuries during the fight but they weren't enough to hinder her movements too much.
Standing up, she could see a portal open up in front of her as there were two statues of Nike decorating the side of the portal.
Shrugging her shoulders, Shiro walked through the portal.
Looking around her, she saw that she was in the centre of a marble temple. In front of her was a statue of Nike.
Glancing up at the statue, Shiro had the urge to rest her hand against the base of the statue and remembered that after you complete the trials, you had to touch the statue to receive the divinity.
Walking up to the statue, she pressed her hands against the base.
Suddenly feeling a burning sensation on her back, Shiro furrowed her brows from the sensation but understood that it was the divinity merging with her body.
After a short moment, she could feel a strange energy flood her body which was a little different from the Celestial Energy she had come into contact with before. If mana was the lowest form, Celestial Energy would be the next stage up and this new energy she felt was akin to the third stage.
Taking a deep breath, she glanced at her system and noticed a new interface that was specifically made for this trial.
[Divinities]
[Divinity of Nike]
[Slot 2]
[Slot 3]
[Slot 4]
[Slot 5]
[Slot 6]
Pressing the Divinity of Nike, Shiro checked the benefits.
[Divinity of Nike]
Increased physical parameter, Flight, Increased speed.
Boon of Rivalry – Increase physical parameters if you see the opponent as someone you MUST overcome.
Boon of Strength – Increased physical parameters.
Boon of Force – The longer you fight, the angrier you become. The maximum is a 5% boost to physical parameters.
Smiling at the results, she was happy with this divinity.
"Now then if I remember correctly, to get out I need to go through a portal that opens up behind the statue." She muttered and started to walk around the statue.
Looking at the portal, Shiro smiled and stepped through without hesitation.
Now that she had her first and only divinity aside from the five primordial ones, she could finally make some progress in earning money as a mercenary and buying some decent weapons with it. After all, a bow is good but she needed some swords and daggers since close combat was rather difficult with a bow.
If it was a gun, then she could easily do close quarters combat with a ranged weapon. But that was hoping for a bit too much.
Shielding her eyes for a moment, she found herself back in the cave in front of the gate where she had entered the trial.
In front of her was the worried mother who was excited to see the gate shine but was disappointed when she saw Shiro.
Ignoring the mother, Shiro walked out of the cave and circulated this new energy she could feel in her body.
Unfurling a set of white wings, a golden Laurel crown could be seen on her head as she jumped off the side and soared up into the air.
"Damn it feels good to do this again." Shiro muttered with a grin.
After being forced to travel by foot for most of the year, the feeling of free flight was rather relaxing since this meant that she finally had some power in this world where the strong eat the weak. She finally had partial control over her own fate.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to fly as high as she could and looked upon the entire world.
Looking at the five tall towers in the distance, she narrowed her eyes for a moment before chuckling.
"Well, it's a little soon to challenge those trials. I'll need some decent weapons first. Just Artemis' Bow isn't enough for me to accomplish what I've set out to do." She muttered to herself before flying towards the city of Vox.
Landing roughly 30 minutes away from the city, she furled her wings and walked the rest of the distance.
With her boosted physical parameters, she was able to cover the distance in no time at all which was a great feeling for Shiro.
All that's left was to find some jobs that she could take for money and buy some decent weapons.
Glancing down at her current outfit, Shiro wondered if she needed to get some armour as well.
'Defence isn't exactly my best trait but having some armour to cover that is definitely helpful. The trials are only going to get harder and the hits I take will increase.' Shiro mused to herself while glancing at the notice board.
Checking where the blacksmith's was, she started to make her way over there. Since this was a rather big city, the blacksmiths should have some decent equipment. Hopefully.
Upon arriving at the blacksmiths, Shiro could see hundreds of furnaces burning brightly within the building as the workers had their muscles tanned by the flames. Looking at the crowd, muscle bros that had biceps that looked like they were made from bronze, Shiro couldn't help but furrow her brows a little.
She wasn't the biggest fan of muscles. At least not a macho body of muscles. Something more along the lines of lean and muscular was her type. An example of men with this body would be Chen Yu, Nan Tian and maybe Helion but he was tipping a little into the macho side of things.
Shaking her head with a soft smile, she couldn't help but wonder how her other party members were doing as she had been in this world for a few months now.
Walking inside the blacksmiths, she started to walk around, trying to find someone that was either making some good weapons or good armour.
"Missy, do you need some help?" One of the blacksmiths called out curiously after seeing Shiro walk around like a lost puppy.
Her white hair would reflect the light from the fire quite a bit so it was rather difficult for someone to not see her in this situation.
"Hm yes actually. Do you happen to know anyone that could make me a powerful set of weapons and armour?" Shiro asked with a smile.
"Do you realise that by asking that, you have essentially insulted me already?" The blacksmith forced a smile since if he did reply to her question, he was essentially saying his weapons and armour were bad.
"Ah pardon my rudeness then. I'm not familiar with your customs and I didn't know how I would be able to find the best blacksmith in the city." Shiro apologised with a soft smile.
"Bah forget it. I can't exactly say who's the best as a few of the folks here have Hephaestus' Divinity of Smithing. It all comes down to what they're proficient with making and what you're looking for. If you want heavy armour, Elias is the one you want. He's the long haired idiot that tied it into a ponytail over there. I mean which idiot would keep a long hair in a smithy? Anyways, if you want light armour, you'll need to talk to Faidon. He's the tall skinny one to our left, it's hard to miss him since he's taller than everyone else here." The blacksmith replied while pointing towards the blacksmiths that are proficient with making armour.
"As for the weapons, lightweight bladed weapons like swords, daggers and so on, you should look for the woman called Maria. She's not here today so you should come back tomorrow early in the morning. There are very few women here so it's easy to find her. She also has blond hair so keep that in mind. For heavy weapons like the great sword, axe, halberd and so on, Yiannis should be able to help you. Short dude, crap tonne of muscles over there." He said while pointing at a spot not too far from them.
Glancing towards where he was pointing, Shiro could see a short person who was just a little shorter than she was however his muscles were gleaming under the light from the fire.
'He looks like a ball of muscles rather than a person.' Shiro thought to herself as her smile started to twitch ever so slightly.
"Thank you very much." She turned back to the blacksmith and thanked him for his information.
"You're welcome." He nodded and started to focus his attention back to the weapon that he was making.
Since Maria wasn't here at the blacksmiths today, she was going to talk to the one that can give her some light armour first.