Taboo Scripture
The heavenly beings were a race steeped in a sense of chosen superiority, but their kindness itself was never hypocrisy. That made it all the more uncomfortable, but anyway. Even if I decided to stay here long-term, they'd treat me kindly as a guest. Of course, due to the system and settings, actually staying long-term was impossible... but it was still ideal conditions for leisurely building my strength. I could properly gauge Demon Sword Kaleon's power, and training here in this unique environment would help too.
So first, I needed to build some favor with the local NPCs. They were friendly by nature, so as long as I didn't act standoffish, it should be fine. I had no clue how to actively win people over anyway. Whatever.
I stopped overthinking and returned to reality. Why the hell was she still lurking over there like that?
"……"
The couple was bustling in the kitchen, preparing a meal for me, while their daughter had been staring at me all day. Not just staring—she was peeking from behind the wall like she was spying on me. What did she want?
Come to think of it, she'd freaked out and run away the moment she learned I was a human from the surface. There must be some reason.
"If you've got something to say, spit it out. Stop just lurking and staring."
"Eek!"
Frustrated, I called out first, and Angela jolted in surprise, ducking back behind the wall. She looked like she was in her late teens or early twenties, but her behavior was pretty childish. Did heavenly beings age differently? Or maybe she was just scared—but those eyes told a different story. I wasn't the quickest on the uptake, but I knew that look well enough. It was the same one Elenoir often had.
"What's got you so curious?"
It was a gaze brimming with curiosity. Not just curiosity, but I could tell.
"Are you... really a human from the surface?"
I spoke again, and Angela peeked out from behind the wall, mumbling shyly. I nodded.
"But how'd you beat the divine beast? Humans from the surface get super weak up here, but you looked really strong."
I'd checked the community forums, and the heavenly realm's debuff wasn't just stat reduction. It was like altitude sickness. Fine at first, but over time, your breathing got ragged, vision blurred, ears rang. I'd felt a bit of motion sickness early on, but I'd adapted by now.
That was why challengers couldn't linger here long-term without quests—it wore you down.
"I did get weaker."
"Liar!"
"Not lying."
Angela sounded incredulous. Why would I lie to her?
"If you don't purify your impurity, you can't even breathe right up here! But you're totally fine!"
My overall resistances were just too damn high for something like this to faze me. Among my consolidated resistances was [Asphyxiation Resistance]. Probably [Motion Sickness Resistance], [Blindness Resistance], and maybe even [Curse Resistance] kicking in.
"I can hold my breath for about two hours. Poison gas or lava showers don't hurt me either."
I couldn't explain it was due to resistance skills, so I just said it was my constitution.
Then Angela hit me with:
"Then you're not human."
Damn, that was a solid point.
**
Angela kept grilling me about my constitution, then started firing off all sorts of questions.
"What about cold? You don't get cold in ice?"
"I do, but I won't freeze to death."
"Lightning then? What happens if you get struck?"
How long could I last in the cold? Could I survive a lightning bolt? How little sleep did I need? Stuff like that. It didn't feel like she was probing my specs—just a kid nephew pestering with random questions. I'd never had relatives growing up in a broken home with no parents, but I got the vibe.
The chatter kept going until she asked how many humans like me were on the surface.
"Dunno. Probably just me."
"Then you're not human."
"I wasn't always like this. I am human."
Honestly, claiming I was human with this body felt a bit disingenuous even to me sometimes. But classification-wise, I still was. There were top rankers and S-grade hunters even more extreme than me. My stats blew past the 15th-floor human average, so I got why she couldn't wrap her head around it, but whatever.
"So what was that earlier? You had your eyes closed in that weird pose."
Angela had crept out from behind the wall and was now pretty close.
"That? Oh, just meditating."
"Meditating? Like what mages do? Are you a mage?"
"Not a mage, but aspiring."
Ever since awakening mana sense on the elf floors, I meditated whenever I had time. I'd self-taught the cheat skill Mana Control and Mana Reinforcement, but my mana handling still had gaps. I could wield mana smoothly, but I hadn't fully mapped the paths it took inside my body. Nor could I gauge the right amount to channel in without overdoing it. The brutal backlash after Mana Reinforcement was probably from that—forcing too much mana through.
Condensation - Flash!
"See? I can do stuff like this."
Feeling like I was entertaining a kid, I casually cast Condensation to form a glowing orb. It was a basic light-gathering spell, but I'd used it enough to show off tricks now—tweaking the shape or color a bit. Magical mood lighting.
"Pretty... like the priests' Grace Light. Oh, no, that can't be."
Angela gawked, then panicked and clamped her mouth shut. She'd compared it to the priests' "Grace Light," and realized that might be blasphemy—equating a spell from an impure surface dweller like me to divine grace.
But the heavenly realm's lore was already dissected on the forums. So I could say it.
"Who knows? Maybe it is."
Not similar—identical.
**
A bit later, the kitchen quieted down, and the couple emerged with the finished meal.
"Sorry for the wait. We'll serve it right up, so come on over... Oh, Angela, what are you doing?"
Angela had been sitting on the sofa with me, peppering me with questions, but jumped up at her mother's call. I started to say something, then sensed the odd vibe and stayed quiet.
Angela blurted:
"Oh, nothing! I was just keeping our guest company so he wouldn't get bored!"
"Really? That's our Angela, doing something nice. You didn't say anything weird, right?"
"Nope, just... he was curious about the heavenly realm, so I was answering."
Angela hadn't told me a thing about the heavenly realm. She'd been the one asking me questions. I wasn't that dense. "Weird stuff" probably meant what she'd asked me. I didn't know every detail of the lore, but curiosity about the surface was probably taboo here. To heavenly beings, the surface was impure land, sinners' domain. No surprise if showing interest was forbidden—and Angela seemed like the type they'd watch for that.
Her eyes were full of curiosity, but not purely that. She probably felt guilty herself—knowing she shouldn't be curious about the surface, yet unable to stop.
"Yeah, that's right. I learned a lot, thanks to her."
I backed her up with a neutral line. I'd already picked up basics from the forums anyway, so it wasn't like I knew nothing.
Surprised by my support, Angela glanced at me. I waved it off and stood.
The meal was mystery meat roast with a special fruit-based sauce. Unfortunately, only the sauce was the problem—way too sweet. I didn't show it, but daily white rolls had killed my sweet tooth.
"The priests will probably come looking for you soon."
After eating, the couple mentioned that. Right—they'd said they'd contact the priests. Priests here were like heavenly cops or soldiers: elite combat-ready heavenly beings. But 15th-floor level with few elites? I wasn't expecting much.
"We're cloud keepers, so anything involving the divine beasts gets reported."
"Attacking one is taboo by default, but you're from the surface, so no blame."
"You didn't kill it anyway, and surface humans wouldn't know the taboos."
The "taboo" they meant was the laws set by the heavenly realm's master, the Heavenly God. Breaking them supposedly brought divine punishment.
"Still, be careful from now on. You might actually get punished."
That's what the couple said, but I already knew better. Just like the priests' "grace" wasn't all that special.
The heavenly punishment—and the Heavenly God itself—were nothing impressive either.