Chapter 218

218 Pick up the scent, please! part Helena then proceeded to explain to us all she knew about the oracle and how it worked.

Apparently, it’s a communicating device connected directly to the gods. By utilizing it, a person can be evaluated by the gods and assigned a new class depending on their compatibility. Of course Bob was tempted to use it right away, without even listening to Helena’s explanation, but Luke stopped him in his tracks.

“Don’t be an idiot Bob, this could be dangerous, can’t you see how different Helena is from how she used to be!? I bet this is a weird mind control device”

“Uh, no. That’s a regular oracle”

Risa barged in from behind Luke.

“How can you tell?”

Luke asked, doing his best to hide the fact that he was startled by her.

“Because the oracles had been a thing for longer than the sacred empire even existed, and they consider them a divine tool that is not to be tampered with. The sacred empire provided the kingdom of Loudeac with enough oracles even during the war and not even once did anyone experience something weird like mind control”

“That is correct, I was told the same thing. This is just an ordinary oracle, the same kind of which you would find anywhere, but they can only be used every so often and it is difficult to to be given the chance to use it. Especially for lower tier adventurers”

.....

“Are you implying we’re weak? I’ll show you how weak I am!”

Luke rolled up his sleeves, ready to screw up everything as always.

“Calm down and let Helena continue her explanation please. We don’t have much time, didn’t you hear she needs to leave soon?”

“Tsk! whatever!”

“Ok, as I was telling you guys, the way to use it is super simple, ok? you just need to place your hands above it and done. Most people claim they lose some time, others faint, but very few people remember their encounter with the gods. I did and that’s the reason why I’m blind, but they told me this is only for a short time until I perfect my mana sense skill. Actually, I could heal my eyes right now, but I wouldn’t be able to become a full fledged arch priestess if I did so”

“Can I become a mage?”

Bob asked with his eyes filled with hope. For as long as I can remember Bob has been saying how much he wants to become a mage, it’s almost all he talks about and he doesn’t speak that much either. He also chants weird words whenever he attacks, so he must truly be desperate to become a mage, knowing this made watching what followed after difficult for all of us.

“I don’t think so, Bob. Mages and priests are rare. You need to understand that it’s not like the gods give you any power when they grant you a class change, it’s more like they unlock your potential making it easier for you to advance. Since we are ‘special’ I bet our stats are a lot higher than regular people, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you meet all the necessary conditions”

Helena explained calmly, but it was obvious she was in a hurry to go back to the sacred empire.

“Then, what are these conditions I keep hearing about?”

Luke asked while picking on his ear, as if he wasn’t interested. Now this is something that probably only Bob and I know, but Luke hates his class. He did complain about it a bit when we were all together in the settlement, but we didn’t know much about classes at that time. After he became an adventurer he finally confessed why did he hate the thief class so much, it’s because he couldn’t see how a thief could possibly become a worshiped hero. All he ever wanted was to become the hero that would save humanity, but as a thief it just didn’t fit his own narrative.

“To become a warrior one must have strength as the highest stat, it doesn’t matter if it’s high or low, it just need to be the highest compared to the others. To become an archer one needs a minimum dexterity level that has been measured as just above average, in other words pretty much anyone can become an archer. To become a mage one needs to have a high intelligence stat and also, at least a couple skills related to magic at a decent level. Finally, a priest needs a high wisdom stat, but that’s not everything, one needs to be chosen by a god.”

“It doesn’t sound too hard Bob, maybe you can still become a mage.”

Luke tried to lift up Bob’s mood, but he was almost in tears. I turn towards Helena to get an explanation.

“What’s the matter? why is he crying?”

“He must have noticed it too, being a warrior all of his mage skills are blocked and he will never be able to learn any. The same goes for anyone with a class... listen, I would love to stay and chat all day, but it’s about to get dark and I really need to head back to the sacred empire as soon as possible. If you want to know more you can visit me in there, or you can ask in the kingdom, but I assure you they don’t know half of what the sacred empire does. If they did, they wouldn’t have lost the war.”

“Won’t you do anything for Risa? please”

“I’m sorry Ryu, but even though I can heal her, it’s not like I have any sort of obligation towards her. She doesn’t strike me as a bad person, but she’s from the kingdom. If it were one of you i wouldn’t hesitate, but...”

“It’s ok, I get. Goodbye, please take care of yourself”

We hug again dearly and she kissed me on the cheek. She may not be the same Helena we used to know, but not because she’s less naive it means she’s a bad person. I know I need to make a decision in between the kingdom and the sacred empire, but there’s no point in rushing things. Especially since i still need to find Bardun.

If anything, the only thing that bothers me is that Risa wasn’t able to recover her hands.