Vessel of God. Eve Abraham (1)
Mana Disorder — This character was born with a congenital mana disorder. Cannot use mana.
Weakling — This character is a natural weakling. Cannot raise the Strength stat.
Slowpoke — This character was born a slowpoke. Cannot raise the Agility stat.
Chosen One (Communion) — One chosen by the world. Grows stronger through communion with nature.
- Experience gained increases with greater communion with nature.
- Sealed powers awaken with greater communion with nature.
Communing with spirits really did make me stronger. Sure, I coughed up blood a few times, but while Silph was summoned, my experience kept climbing. Whether that was a blessing or a curse, simply maintaining the summon didn’t drain my life force like a straw sucking up water. Whether I was walking, resting, or sleeping rough, every conversation I struck up with Silph raised my experience. Before I knew it, my level was staring down the number ten.
Again, intelligence is a luxury in this game. One of the most common arguments while playing Spirit Savior is why the intelligence stat doesn’t do anything. If staves at least required intelligence like in other games, nobody would complain. But this game is strange—mages invest in mana, everyone else pours points into strength or agility depending on their class. There must be some hidden element tied to intelligence.
I glanced at Silph, who was flying beside me with a bored expression, and fell into thought. We were almost at the academy gates. If I remembered the prologue correctly, Alex—the protagonist—barely made it in right before the entrance period closed. Before him came… yeah, the Vessel of God, Eve.
Eve Abraham. Born with holy power so immense no other saintess could ever match it. Her overflowing divine energy purified nearby monsters and revived the dying. That was why people called her the Vessel of God. If anyone was a vessel meant to hold a god, it had to be her.
As I flopped down onto the ground with that thought, Silph stared at me like I’d lost my mind.
-What are you doing. Cain. We’re almost there.
“A… aca…”
“Academy.”
-Right. That.
“I’ll head in a little later. There’s someone I want to meet.”
I said it with sparkling eyes. In the game, Eve Abraham was a top-tier healer whose overwhelming healing output carried entire parties. I wanted her as an ally, sure, but…
“Haa… she’s gotta be insanely pretty, right?”
Yeah. She was insanely pretty. Ash-gray hair paired with striking pink eyes. A well-kept figure wrapped in modestly tailored clothes and a veil that only made her beauty more alluring. If I ever met her smiling like that in reality instead of on a screen, I’d never be able to look away.
And more importantly—
“The Vessel of God, huh…”
The game’s final goal was to stop the god trying to descend and reset everything. So how did that god’s descent happen? Through Eve Abraham, the so-called Vessel of God. The god would manifest using her body as a vessel.
Alex, the protagonist, wasn’t my problem. He was a guy, and his personality didn’t appeal to me anyway. Passionate, righteous, never bending. He always forced his way through the hardest path, shed tears, then stood back up. He was the kind of protagonist who moved a lot of hearts, but I never liked him. If you don’t bend, you break. I cheered for him in the game, but I also wondered—what if this wasn’t a game, but reality? What if an enemy so strong that Alex couldn’t get back up appeared? Would he still be able to shout about justice with broken limbs and a mouth that wouldn’t move?
Anyway, enough about Alex. Eve Abraham’s arrival was getting close. In the game, when you talked to Eve, she’d ignore the protagonist entirely, her eyes darting around with polite curiosity at everything in the academy. She was endlessly curious and a bit clumsy. She’d accidentally herd evil spirits into classrooms or eat without lifting her veil, ending up with food all over her face… There was even a time people mockingly called her “God’s mistake” instead of “God’s vessel.”
-Ah, over there. An incredibly radiant energy.
“Oh. She’s here!”
I shot to my feet, eyes sparkling like a fan meeting their idol, and stared at the white carriage approaching. Unlike most media where church factions lose sight of their purpose and sink into luxury, this game’s church actually functioned properly. Minimal ornamentation that restrained desire, yet the elegant golden accents inside clearly marked the status of its passenger. The crown emblem on the carriage signified that the one inside was a saintess chosen by God.
An arm waved listlessly out the open window. Eve looked terribly bored. Well, might as well get a look at her face. Once she entered the academy, she’d be swarmed by guards anyway.
I tilted my head, trying to peer through the window at the waving arm. Suddenly, the carriage stopped right in front of me. The arm swung with inertia, then pointed its index finger straight at me.
“Huh?”
“You there. Are you an academy student?”
Her face wasn’t even visible, yet she was talking with nothing but an arm sticking out. Rude. Still, I, Cain, might only have a single life-force-sucking mosquito for a companion, but I had guts. I lifted my chin and answered confidently.
“I-It’s an honor to meet you, Saintess!”
“Hehe. I thought you’d say something like ‘Stop waving your arm around so arrogantly and show your face!’ Your posture doesn’t match your words at all.”
A playful yet beautiful voice. After the lovely tone tickled my ears and faded, the carriage door opened carefully. Long ash-gray hair freed from the veil, bright pink eyes full of curiosity. The Vessel of God, Eve Abraham, looked at me with an expression brimming with interest.
“Nice to meet you. What’s your name?”
“C-Cain, Saintess.”
“Cain. Cain, is it…”
She scanned me from head to toe, then suddenly inhaled sharply as if she’d locked eyes with something. A moment later, she smiled as if nothing had happened.
“You’re traveling with someone quite adorable. May nature be with you.”
Could she see Silph? I shot the spirit a bewildered glance. In this game, spirits were invisible to anyone but their contractor. To others, I just looked like a mage who could use wind magic. Yet Eve Abraham had clearly noticed Silph’s presence.
“Saintess.”
“Ah, I’m sorry, Isaac. May I bring this person along in the carriage?”
“……”
The holy knight called Isaac glared at me, scanning me up and down with clear displeasure. What the hell. Did I look that weird? Sure, I probably smelled, and my clothes were a bit ragged—some crazy bastard had blown away all my luggage. I shot Silph a look.
-What. Why.
“……Never mind.”
“Be grateful for the Saintess’s generosity. This way.”
You’re not even the one offering the ride, so shut up. There were always people like him—completely rigid, barking orders for no reason. I understood he was a guard and had to be cautious, but the Saintess herself had approved me. This was excessive. I climbed into the carriage as slowly and deliberately as possible, making sure Isaac saw every second of it. His expression grew stiffer by the moment, but who cared. Eve seemed to find my behavior amusing; she giggled and waited for me to sit.
“Cain. I’m Eve Abraham. It’s nice to meet you.”
“C-Cain. It’s an honor to share a carriage with you.”
Wow, I was actually shaking. This game was famous for its beautiful female characters, and Eve Abraham ranked among the very top. Seeing her in the flesh was surreal.
“Speak comfortably. We’re probably the same year anyway.”
“I-If you say so…?”
I glanced nervously at Isaac sitting beside me with his terrifying face, then cautiously dropped the honorifics. A vein looked ready to pop on his forehead, but when Eve shot him a small glare, he sighed and let it go. Asshole. Learn to read the room. I shot Isaac a triumphant look, but Eve only chuckled softly.
***
“……”
When people first laid eyes on the Saintess, the most common reaction was that she was “blinding.” Her overflowing holy power was so intense it could momentarily dazzle onlookers. Those who met Eve Abraham for the first time often said, “When the Saintess appears, she’s so beautiful it blinds you for a moment.”
Yet this strange boy had looked at Eve Abraham without the slightest reaction. She found herself intrigued by Cain. On top of that, there was something invisible to others clinging to him—something she’d never encountered before.
As a saintess, it was her duty to watch over the world, but she had no desire to live such a dull life. She possessed holy power no one else could have—why not enjoy it a little? So whenever her curiosity stirred, she threw herself into whatever caught her interest. Her guardian knight Isaac could only sweat and try to stop her.
Even on the way to the academy today, Eve Abraham—who had been sprawled out in boredom—sensed that something fun was about to happen. She rose from her seat. Now she smiled with genuine curiosity at Cain, who was staring at her in awe without a clue what she was thinking.
This man. Being around him will definitely lead to plenty of interesting things.
Her transcendent intuition was shouting it loud and clear.