A trait that completely restored his mana and mental energy that scaled with the faith he had in the Goddess?

Klaus stared at the blue window and his eyes narrowed.

In the world of Artemis Online, this wasn’t just a perk... it was quite literally a cheat code, like something the Protagonist would have.

Mana management was the one thing that kept high-tier wizards from turning the entire world into a smoking crater.

If he could just reset his "gas tank" by believing in a deity, he was essentially a walking nuclear reactor even though he could only use it three times in a day.

’Was that white-haired woman back there the Goddess?’ Klaus thought while rubbing his temples.

The memory of that silent field stayed with him.

He didn’t know if he felt "divine love" but he did know one thing.

’I mean, I do believe in the Goddess...’ Klaus thought. ’Anybody that doesn’t believe in the Goddess of Light is a fucking idiot.’

Back on Earth, atheism made sense.

You couldn’t see God, you couldn’t touch him, and the world was usually a mess but here in Artemis? The Goddess of Light was a reality.

She had ushered in the era of healing mages and priests and she had given the world the Saintess who was a figure who could rewrite the laws of biology with a wave of her hand.

Klaus remembered the pro-players who spammed the Saintess in the global tournaments back in the game.

Her most powerful skill, the one that consumed a massive chunk of her own HP, could one-shot even the Demon Lord if the player knew what they were doing.

To not "believe" in her here was like not believing in gravity while you were currently falling off a skyscraper but then, he thought about his "divine favor."

He was a mob character, an extra in a world that didn’t care about his name and protagonists got the high favor by default.

What did he have? Would his "refill" just be a trickle because he wasn’t the "Chosen One"?

Klaus exhaled sharply, massaging his hair. He looked up and realized Serra was sitting on the edge of the couch with her hands trembling around a cup of water.

"Why the hell is she here?" Klaus asked.

Serra flinched and her shoulders hunched up. "Uh... Uh..."

Taula replied with a goofy grin on her face.

"The lady had nowhere to go, Klaus... Her whole squad is gone, and the Guild is a mess so... I told her she could stay with us for three days if you don’t mind..."

Klaus felt a vein throb in his temple.

He was about to crash out and ask why Taula thought HIS home was a charity ward but he caught himself and then took a deep stabilizing breath.

’Wait... This is actually good.’

If she was here, he could make sure he was the one to turn her in for the 20-gold rescue bounty from the Church of Light.

More importantly, having a high-tier healer within arm’s reach was a tactical necessity. Dungeons were getting harder, and his Magnetic Field only did so much.

A Holy Barrier was the difference between a successful raid and a very messy death.

"Fine..." Klaus grunted, waving a hand and Taula actually hopped in place with a small "yes!" escaping her mouth.

Klaus ignored the idiot’s enthusiasm and looked at Serra. "Are you doing fine?"

Serra looked at the floor with her throat working as she swallowed a lump of pure grief.

"I’m... I’m not fine..." she whispered.

Klaus couldn’t blame her. Watching everyone you were close with get turned into red mist by your own leader was a trauma that would break most people.

As she looked at him, the dam finally broke as the tears began to spill over with fat droplets hitting the wooden floor.

Taula moved to comfort her, but Klaus held up a hand, signaling her to wait.

He knew some people just needed to let the poison out. Serra tried to take a step forward, maybe to find a corner to hide in, but her legs were like jelly.

She tripped forward, falling directly onto Klaus’s chest.

He sat there with his arms frozen at his sides because he wasn’t a hugger and Serra started crying with her face buried in his shirt making it wet.

Klaus shot a look at Taula and his eyes were screaming for help but Taula just smirked and made a "pat-pat" motion with her hands, urging him to do something.

With a sigh of utter defeat, Klaus reached out. He placed a hand on Serra’s back, feeling the frantic rhythm of her heart.

"There there..." He said dryly.

The contact seemed to act as a trigger.

Serra wailed louder, her fingers clutching his shirt as if she were drowning and Klaus flinched at the volume but didn’t pull away. He just kept patting her back until the crying eventually slowed to a shuddering hiccup.

...

A few minutes later, Serra pulled away as her face had turned into a blotchy mess of red and white. She looked at the wet patch on his shirt and winced.

"I... I’m so sorry. I got snot on your shirt."

Klaus looked at the damp spot and shrugged.

"I’ve had worse things on me..." He turned to Taula. "What happened? How did I get back here?"

Taula pulled out a chair and sat down.

"A cleanup crew from the Guild followed our trail and they found the scene so Kahn has been apprehended. He’s currently in a high-security infirmary while the healers try to stop the rot from eating his heart. Once he’s stable, he’s going before the Galen court for murder and dungeon abandonment."

She paused with her gaze flickering to the floor. "And Astrid... she resigned. She stepped down as the receptionist this evening and by tomorrow, there’ll be a new face behind that desk."

"Oh." Klaus said.

He wasn’t surprised though he was wondering if he should just kill Kahn.

Taula headed toward the kitchen.

"I’m making dinner. You hungry?"

Before Klaus could answer, Serra spoke up.

Her eyes were puffy but her gaze was intense.

"Why did you save me? Saving me would have slowed you down..." she said as her voice trembled. "Kahn was right in front of us. If you had just left me, you’d be safe. So why?"

Klaus didn’t believe in lying to make people feel better.

"I saved you because the Church of Light pays a 20-gold bounty for rescuing their members from life-or-death situations."

Serra’s face fell and she looked at the floor with her shoulders sagging. "Oh. I see."

Klaus watched her for a second then added. "And... I also thought you were pretty cute. It would be a waste to let a girl like you get flattened by a hammer."

The transition was instant.

Serra’s entire face turned a shade of red that rivaled Kahn’s aura.

"Thank you," she squeaked. "I... I’m grateful. You saved my life, Klaus. I’ll repay you with whatever you want, as long as it’s within my power."

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Whatever I want?"

Serra clutched the hem of her dress with her knuckles turning white.

"Yes. I owe you everything. I’ll offer you anything you ask for." She took a breath. "As long as it... as long as it isn’t my innocence. I’m saving that for the man I love."

Klaus let out a snort. "I’m not interested in that anyway. I have a better use for you. I want you to be my personal healer."

Both Taula and Serra perked up. "Personal healer?"

"Yeah," Klaus said while leaning forward. "I’m an adventurer. I’m going to be diving into a lot more holes like that one, and I need someone who can keep me in one piece. I’ll pay you well, better than the usual Guild rates."

He looked her in the eye. "I get it if you’re done with that life. After what happened, nobody would blame you if you quit."

Serra’s expression changed.

The vulnerability didn’t vanish but it was joined by a sudden resolve.

"If you want me as your healer, I’ll do it. But I need to be paid well." She took a breath. "Vex had a balance he was saving, his cousin is a maid for a noble family. They’re selling her freedom for 5 gold total and Vex already paid the three so I need to pay the rest."

She looked at Klaus with fire in her eyes.

"And Garrick... his sister needs to go to school in the Capital. I’m going to make sure that happens. I’ll work for you... I need the money to finish what they started."

Klaus didn’t say a word.

He reached into his storage ring and then pulled out two large Gold Metil Diamonds handing them over to her.

"Take these..." Klaus said. "Sell them too. That should be more than enough to free the cousin and get the girl into school but you better be ready to resume work tomorrow morning."

Serra’s hands shook as she touched the gems.

"Klaus... these are worth at least 20 gold. Why give me something so... expensive?"

"Consider it a signing bonus..." Klaus said while already standing up. "Taula, I’m too tired for dinner so I’m crashing. Stay down here and make sure she doesn’t accidentally set the house on fire."

"Aw, man!" Taula complained, but Klaus was already heading upstairs.

Serra watched him go with her fingers brushing the cool surface of the diamonds.

She knew these were the spoils from the dungeon that had killed her friends, but she also knew the man who gave them to her had dragged her out of hell so she couldn’t tell him that a share belonged to her.

The cost of these two was much more than she contributed to buying the dungeon after all.

Taula walked over and handed Serra a bottle of beer.

"Klaus is a softie when he wants to be hehe~ Don’t let the grumpy act fool you." She tilted the bottle. "Want to drink yourself to sleep? It helps with the ghosts I think."

Serra looked at the beer.

"Yeah..." she whispered. "I think I do."

...

The next morning, the backyard of the inn was cool with Serra sitting on a wooden bench, wearing one of Klaus’s oversized shirts while her own robes dried.

On the other side of the yard, Klaus and Taula stood ten paces apart.

"Are you sure about this?" Taula asked, letting out a lazy yawn.

"I’m sure," Klaus said while raising his fists. "Don’t hold back... I need to know if I can actually hit you."

He was focused.

To raise his physical stats, he had to put the work in. He was tired of being a "glass cannon." If he could combine his magnetic speed with raw physical impact, he’d be more powerful.

"Ready?" Klaus asked.

"Ready!" Taula replied.

Klaus didn’t hesitate.

"Iron Skin."

His left leg turned into a pillar of matte-grey metal and then he activated his Magnetic Field, not to repel, but to propel.

He treated his own metallic leg like a railgun projectile, creating a massive magnetic repulsion behind his heel.

BOOM!

The ground beneath Klaus’s feet vanished into a crater and he shot forward like a bolt from a crossbow with the air screaming around him. Klaus turned into a blur of momentum, closing the distance in seconds but Taula didn’t even blink.

As Klaus’s fist came within an inch of her shoulder, Taula’s hand moved in a blur. She didn’t block the strike, instead she simply reached out and caught Klaus’s face mid-flight.

The momentum died instantly and the shockwave of the stop rattled Klaus’s teeth. Taula held him there, lifting him off the ground with one hand while his feet flailed.

She dangled him for a second like a misbehaving puppy before dropping him onto the grass. Before he could even scramble up, Taula flopped down sitting squarely on his stomach.

"I’M HUNGRY!" she wailed. "I’m not getting off until you promise to let me go cook! Move! Move!"

Klaus grunted under her weight, his face turning blue. "Get... off... you brute, you’re... heavy!"

From the bench, Serra let out a genuine laugh.

Seeing an A-rank adventurer acting like a pouting child was the first normal thing she’d seen today but as the laughter subsided, her eyes began to mist over.

In her mind, she could see Garrick and Vex wrestling like this...

’I... I hope you’re resting in peace.’ she thought while closing her eyes. ’I’m going to make sure your families are safe. I promise.’