Chapter 171 - Your Prayers Answered

"Each of these statues is attuned to one of the fourteen gods who watch over our land," The priest explained, "And although we pay our respects to every god, as a cleric you will eventually be asked to choose which god you will dedicate your worship to."

"For now, let us see your affinity with each god, and you may perhaps find that one god has found your way of living admirable." The priest continued, "First, allow me to demonstrate, then it'll be your turn."

The priest walked over to the statue of an older looking man holding up a handful of grapes in one hand, and a wine goblet in the other. He interlocked his fingers and lowered his head before praying out loud.

"I call to Dionysus, the great god of the vine and holy wine. I beseech you to fill this vessel with your guidance, so that I may quench my relentless thirst for your blessing, and become drunk on your knowledge."  The priest chanted, and moments later Merlin noticed that the statue of Dionysus had begun giving off a very faint glow.

'So this particular priest is an alcoholic, fair enough.' Merlin thought to himself. 'But that's one obnoxious prayer...'

A few moments passed before the priest turned his attention back to Merlin, and the statue's glow faded away.

"You must use words that come from the heart." The priest said before signalling for Merlin to try.

'How are you not embarrassed by that?' Merlin thought, knowing he wouldn't be able to retort out loud.

One thing that Merlin did know, however, was that fortunately, the fluffy and obnoxious prayers that the NPCs would use were unnecessary. Prayers were just flavoured system commands, so as long as the keywords were used in a way that wasn't disrespectful, the command would trigger.

This particular prayer had two words that must be used, the god's name as the target and the word 'guidance' as the command.

If he wasn't aware of the god's name, it seemed as though the priest was standing by to provide assistance or answer any questions asked of him, but that wouldn't be a service Merlin required.

Merlin walked towards the same statue that the priest had just prayed to, and as if mimicking the priest, he interlocked his fingers.

"Dionysus, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted, he heard the faint scoff by the priest behind him, but the priest seemed to quickly shut up as the statue gave off a faint glow that was much weaker than the priest's attempt.

「Guidance received: 1/14」

A couple of information windows appeared before Merlin.

┌───────────────────

Dionysus, God of Wine

God's Blessings: ⟪Heavenly Hangover⟫

Abilities: N/A

Origin Soul Bonus: ⟪Intoxicating Mist⟫

Requirements:

• You must consume at least a litre of alcohol. (0.06% Complete)

• A minimum of 20% favourability with Dionysus.

Favourability: 2% Dionysus doesn't seem to be fond of your abstinence.

└───────────────────

Merlin glanced over the information window that appeared before him, it showed him all the benefits that he could get at his current level, alongside the requirements one would have to meet to be granted the god's blessing.

The window that appeared beside it seems to have been a notification informing him that he was yet unable to utilise this feature to its full extent.

┌───────────────────

To receive a blessing from a deity, you must equip a class with the ⟪God's Blessing⟫ passive.

└───────────────────

Merlin turned away from the statue and moved on to the next one.

"Aphrodite, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.

Merlin went around the room, praying to each god one by one and reading through the information windows. 

Aphrodite had no interest in him, rather it seemed she was offended by Merlin's lack of respect and care for his hair.

Demeter, Apollo, Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon and Zeus were all indifferent to Merlin's existence, most likely because Merlin had yet to interact with their domains in any meaningful way. Ares was the highest so far at a record twenty percent, he seemed to appreciate Merlin's fighting abilities.

「Guidance received: 9/14」

"It seems the god of war favours you slightly, I was getting worried for a moment there." The priest spoke up after witnessing that most of the gods had little interest in him.

He seemed to have a smug expression, it was as if he was personally offended by Merlin's lacklustre prayers and was glad the gods seemed to feel the same way.

But his attitude quickly shifted as the statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, began glowing slightly brighter than Ares due to her favourability being twenty-six.

「Guidance received: 10/14」

"To get the attention of two warrior gods, I suppose you're a fighter of some renown?" The priest commented. Merlin ignored him and moved on.

"Hades, grant me your guidance." Merlin moved on to the last four gods, he figured that Hades would be somewhat high due to his undead souls in the form of the dagger and the rose wight,

┌───────────────────

Hades, God of the Underworld

God's Blessings: ⟪Keeper of Souls⟫

Abilities: N/A

Origin Soul Bonus: N/A

Requirements:

• You must have died a minimum of twenty times. (0.00% Complete)

• You must possess an undead soul that has reached level 3. (51.5% Complete)

• A minimum of 30% favourability with Hades.

Favourability: 17% Hades is mildly curious about you.

└───────────────────

But much to Merlin's surprise, Hades didn't seem as interested in him as he thought. Although Merlin wasn't that interested in Hades' blessing to begin with, nor the abilities he would eventually grant as Merlin obtained and levelled up his cleric soul, as they were more suited to Typhoeus' playstyle.

It seemed as though it doesn't consider souls embedded in equipment the same as possessing a soul. This likely meant that players and NPCs had separate requirements for being granted blessings by the gods.

「Guidance received: 11/14」

Moving on to the final three, he first approached a statue of a woman drawing an arrow from the quiver on her back, the statue of Artemis.

Merlin wasn't expecting much now, since the last one was low when he expected it to be high, but perhaps his friendship with Callisto would count for something in Artemis' eyes.

"Artemis, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.

After a couple of seconds, the statue brightened. The light radiating from the statue wasn't blindingly bright by any stretch of the imagination, it was still a subtle glow like the rest, but when compared to the previous reactions it was fair to say that it was bright.

┌───────────────────

Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt

God's Blessings: ⟪The Huntress' Mark⟫

Abilities: N/A

Origin Soul Bonus: N/A

Requirements:

• You must possess a ranger-related soul that has reached level 3. (26.25% Complete)

• A minimum of 40% favourability with Artemis.

• You must sacrifice an animal that you've hunted to Artemis.

Favourability: 75% Artemis looks upon you favourably.

└───────────────────

'Seventy-five?' Merlin thought as he stared at the number with a confused expression.

Not even his friendship with Callisto could explain how high this number was. He was rather skilled at all the aspects of a ranger, such as hunting, skinning and his knowledge of plants, which still shouldn't have boosted the number this high but it might have explained a fraction of the number.

Merlin turned around to see that the priest had quite a surprised expression plastered onto his face. He felt satisfied seeing that, as it seemed the priests were looking down on their new recruits for some reason.

Merlin moved onto Gaia's statue, the statue looked surprisingly similar to how Gaia actually looked, which meant that the other statues were likely rather accurate as well.

He was expecting a much bigger reaction from Gaia due to their previous interactions.

"Gaia, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted. After a couple of seconds, the statue brightened even brighter than the statue of Artemis.

┌───────────────────

Gaia, Primordial Goddess of Earth

God's Blessings: ⟪Nature's Wrath⟫

Abilities: N/A

Origin Soul Bonus: N/A

Requirements:

• You must possess a nature-related soul that has reached level 5. (12.87% Complete)

• A minimum of 60% favourability with Gaia.

Favourability: 88% Gaia is keeping a close eye on you.

└───────────────────

Merlin turned to see that the priest's expression had changed immensely, it seemed as though he was no longer looking down on Merlin, or he was just too shocked to produce a sneering remark.

「Guidance received: 13/14」

"A warrior... druid?" The priest muttered.

Merlin walked over to the statue that stuck out to him at the very start of this, which he coincidentally left for last, the statue of Hecate.

"Don't be alarmed if Hecate doesn't respond. Even the few followers she has from this temple haven't been able to get a response from her for a couple of months now." The priest muttered.

"Hecate, grant me your guidance." Merlin chanted.

The statue brightened and an information window appeared before Merlin.

┌───────────────────

Hecate, Goddess of Crossroads and Witchcraft

God's Blessings: ⟪Moon-touched Mage⟫

Abilities: ⟪Speak with Dead⟫

Origin Soul Bonus: N/A

Requirements:

• You must befriend a minimum of three animals. (33.33% Complete)

• You must possess a magic-related soul that has reached level 3. (0.00% Complete)

• A minimum of 40% favourability with Hecate.

Favourability: 72% Hecate is hoping for your assistance.

└───────────────────

「You have completed the quest, "Receiving Enlightenment I", talk to the instructor to receive your rewards.」

"What do you mean she won't respond?" Merlin asked as he turned to face the instructor, whose face seemed to be stuck in a surprised expression.

Something caught Merlin's eye on the information window as he turned around.

'Hecate is hoping for your assistance?' He thought to himself, 'Is this an effect from the shattered sky quest?'