Divine Heritage: Only I Can Judge The gods-Chapter 53: The Blonde Lady’s House

This was the third time Ark was in a vehicle but the first time he had no idea where he was headed. He of course knew that they were not going to her house, at least he hoped so at first but now he was getting unsure.

Each time he asked her where they were going, she repeated the same simple answer... ’My house.’

This made Ark rather wary of the woman but seeing that she was the vice commander of the fourth squadron, he reserved his comments. This could very well be his chance after all...

After a few minutes of driving in relative silence, Ark decided to check his status. He had received an artifact during his battle against the ants but was so out of it that he never checked it.

He ’mentally willed the Console into reality and glanced through the golden text.

[—:god-Console Initiated:—]

[~Ark Lysander~]

[Current Class: Knight]

[Next class ~ 39/200 :|: Beast Tamer: LOCKED]

[Other Classes: Archer (LOCKED), Mage (LOCKED), Craftsman (LOCKED), Healer (LOCKED)]

[Please unlock previous class to access later classes]

[Artifacts: Untainted Valor, Infernal Claw]

[Curse: Dragon Strike]

[Forms: First Form (4/10)]

[Second Form (INEPT), Third form (INEPT), Fourth form (INEPT), Fifth form (INEPT)]

[Blight: Soul Taint]

’Infernal claw... Pretty catchy.’ Ark tapped on the letters and another tab opened up.

[Artifact: Infernal Claw]

[Rank: Rank 1]

[Type: weapon]

[Effect: Rebound ~>

This dagger will always find its way back into its master’s hand]

[Loyalty: 0/10]

Ark stared at the screen, slightly confused by what he was reading. It was the first time he had ever heard of a loyalty tab for weapons.

His first suspicion was that he could not use the rebound effect efficiently if he had low loyalty stats but since he was seated next to a vice captain he decided to ask.

After all, the console and their Archive bore a number of similarities.

"Vice captain—"

Thalia briefly glanced at him before focusing back on the road.

"Vice captain sounds like a mouth full, you can calm me Thalia."

"Alright, Thalia, have you ever heard of loyalty for weapons?"

"You sound like you’re just seeing it for the first time..."

"That is because I am."

Thalia laughed gently.

"Loyalty is basically the bond you have with your artifact, the more you use it, the better the loyalty and the stronger the artifact will get."

"It is not common in all artifacts, save for a few. But it’s strange that you’re seeing it for the first time, since all primary artifacts have the loyalty stat..."

Just as she finished, Ark was already fact checking her words.

He tapped on the Untainted valour, realizing that he had never actually checked the weapon.

[Artifact: Untainted Valour]

[Rank: Rank 1]

[Type: Weapon]

[Effect: Lone Knight ~>

When outnumbered, the wielder gains a considerable boost in speed and strength, as long as he remains steadfast]

[Loyalty: 0.57/10]

Ark’s eyes widened slightly.

’She’s right!’

Thalia smiled as she watched his reaction, "the higher your loyalty, the greater your control over the effects as well as the weapon."

"And as you grow your spirit core, your primary artifact will grow stronger too, gaining more effects along the way. If not they would be redundant at higher levels." She finished.

So far his loyalty had increased by just a measly amount but it made sense considering that it had not been a long time since he got the artifact.

He then went over his stats.

With each passing battle, Ark was inching closer to unlocking his beast master class. He was already building anticipation for what kind of beast master he would be.

Would he be able to summon mythical beasts like some beast masters did? Or would he be the type that could transform?!

The possibilities were endless and the thought of it made him unconsciously smile.

Before that though, he had a lot more apocalypse beasts to slay.

*

Finally, their journey came to an end as the suv pulled up to a large building.

The house was three stories with a very large land area. There were a few guards at the gate in ponchos, who opened it up when they approached.

Thalia drove the car to the side of the building and parked before getting out and stretching, letting out a sigh.

"Home sweet home..."

Ark got out of the car and walked up next to her, watching the large building as well.

By now the rain had reduced to a quiet drizzle but since they were still wet, they were unbothered by it.

Ark had to strain his neck to see the top of the house due to how close he was standing to it.

"T-this is your house?"

"Of course, it is... pretty fancy isn’t it?"

Ark was once again staring at the house in awe. It dwarfed all other buildings around it, with an elaborate roof and clean modern design.

"They must pay you a lot."

"Meh, it’s okay I guess."

She then raised her hands, motioning at the building in front of them.

"Welcome to fourth squad, Ark." She smiled.

"I guess I have to say this for the sake of formalities..."

Her expression suddenly became serious as she pushed herself from the car, standing right in front of him.

"Ark Lysander, Fourth Squad invites you."

"Do you accept?"

Ark was shocked at first.

’Fourth squad?’

"So when you said your house..."

Thalia tilted her head slightly, a playful yet devious smile on her face.

"What did you think I meant?"

Ark coughed, his mind wandering back to what this meant for him.

What he had expected to take months of work to accomplish was now laid right in front of him, an offer to join one of the squads.

When she told him she was the vice commander, he began cooking up a plan to convince her to bring him aboard in his head, never did he expect her to have already planned it out.

There was no other answer to give.

"I accept!" He replied enthusiastically.

"Good."

Thalia began walking towards the house, with Ark in tow, meanwhile, although happy, Ark was curious as to the reason why she picked him.

"Was it because of the gate?"

"What do you mean?"

He had defended several civilians during the gate crisis at the risk of his life. Maybe she had chosen him because of that...

"Do you pick me because I fought the ants?"

"Oh that... not really. I always wanted to pick you, I just couldn’t do it during the selection."

He scratched his chin as he watched her from behind.

"Why?"

Thalia turned to glance at him while still walking, motioning for him to catch up and so he jogged up to her until they were walking side by side.

"It’s simple, the last piece of pizza only gets important when someone reaches for it."

Ark rose a brow.

"Huh?"

Thalia stopped with her hand on the door handle, moments from opening the door.

"I’m a vice captain, if I showed interest in you then your value would have increased, which could have potentially led to you slipping out of my hands."

"Although they were wary about having someone in the slums on their squad, because of that stunt you pulled, just my words would have been more than enough to give them that final push."

"So I just watched, knowing that you would be completely ignored."

Thalia smiled before saying:

"It looks like my gamble paid off, didn’t it?"

She then opened the door to the squad house. "Welcome to your new home, Ark."