Kingdom Building: Civilization Starts with Divinity-Chapter 121: Piety & Avatar

"Is this... Piety?" Nera questioned.

"Yeah, here take it... Oh lord, this is disorienting."

The small butterfly lept from Alchemy’s hand to Nera’s shoulder.

|<Miracle Generation>|

|<Type: Unique Skill>|

|<Exaltation: A Sub-skill of the Divine Spirit races’ Unique Skill. Exaltation is the quintessential skill for all aspiring Gods and Goddesses! When one thinks of Miracles, one thinks of healing incurable illnesses or fixing an unrestorable item. With Exaltation, you can do exactly that! Anything short of [Death] can be circumvented with enough Divine Power!>|

|<Sanctify: Locked>|

|<Grace: A Sub-skill of the Divine Spirit races’ Unique Skill. Grace is the bread and butter of all aspiring Gods and Goddesses! From creating epic armaments for legendary heroes or food for the starved, Grace is the key to spreading your faith far and wide!>|

|<Piety: A Sub-skill of the Divine Spirit races’ Unique Skill. Piety acts as the eyes, ears, and voice of any aspiring Gods or Goddesses! Create "Avatars," constructs of pure Divine Power that can share information with the original, convey their will to their loyal believers, and mimic skills and stats with a fraction of efficiency.>|

|<Desecrate: Locked>|

=

"I completely forgot I leveled up Miracle Generation. You have fun. I’m gonna... Go sit down before I fall on my face." Alchemy said, giving her Hero a thumbs up before leaving.

Despite her main body moving away, the butterfly kept tabs on Nera.

"Mother Goddess. Do you have the Divine Power to be using Piety right now?"

"Yes. It doesn’t drain DP unless it leaves the consecrated land. Plus, my signature butterflies are so small that their upkeep is quite small anyway." The butterfly spoke.

Nera was amazed by how clear her mother’s voice came through the avatar. Of course, she knew how the skill worked generally, but interacting with it in person was a very unique feeling.

The same could be said for Alchemy, controlling the little butterfly. Thanks to her IDOL, she’s had some practice already when it came to controlling something separate from her own body, but the fine control needed for moving an Avatar was a completely different beast.

"So, Mother Goddess. What do you think of the Black Dot?" Nera asked as she began to head toward its location.

"In my opinion, it’s probably the dryads. They’ll come sooner or later, I’m sure, but the timing is a little weird."

Nera hummed for a short while before nodding in agreement.

With the Mimicry Disasters potentially threatening the entire forest, it made sense that they’d seek out the new kid on the block, but that should realistically take at least a day or two as far as Nera was concerned, more.

The sudden attack from the mimics shouldn’t give them any leeway to watch what Alchemy and company were doing.

"If it is them, we can assume they aren’t hostile."

"I mean... Unless they somehow pin the Mimics on us. I don’t think they’d technically be wrong either." Alchemy surmised through her Avatar.

Nera let out a small sigh. That was extremely unlikely, as far as she could tell. While she walked, she considered the possibility of the Dryads knowing of the System but waved that idea quickly.

Gravana might have told them about it, but it’d be impossible for them to create a countermeasure against it, especially with what little information the werewolf had.

The black spot was most likely a cloaking spell of some kind, either one powerful enough for the system to not register it properly or using energy that the system didn’t understand, like Ki.

’So many possibilities. I wonder which one will turn out.’ Nera hummed cheerfully.

"H-help me!" A weak voice called out.

Subtly, Nera put her guard up as she turned to the voice. Looking at the map, she had arrived in the general location of the black dot, but the voice came from somewhere else.

’The map can’t mark their exact location, huh? Then... Is it a trap?’

"Please! Anybody!"

Nera began to pick up the pace, but as she ran in a direction, she quickly realized that the voice didn’t seem to get closer or further away.

"Over here! Somebody!"

Despite that, an odd force nudged her forward.

’The voice is coming from the trees. This might be a suggestion skill for lower-level monsters.’

A type of gradual mind control. It was a nasty type of magic, but many spirits like Dryads and Sirens had it intrinsically.

Luckily, the pseudo hivemind protected her from any potentially adverse effects. The spell must be strong enough to influence the entire Verminae colony.

"Here! This way!"

After those words, Nera finally caught a glimpse at the one who was calling for her.

A girl who looked to be about as old as Alchemy, that is to say... A child, perhaps in her early teens, laying on the ground.

"You there! Please! Help me!"

She had dark skin and white hair, like the leaves on the trees. Her eyes were a dark gray like their trunks, with horns made of bark, and a simple dress not all that different from what Nera wore. The only noticeable difference was the significantly lower quality.

"Please!!!" She continued to cry.

|<Name: Melphite Droya>|

|<Species: Young Ash Dryad>|

|<Inclination: Omnivore, Lawful, Starved>|

|<Thought: Food! Please!!!>|

|<Estimated Level: ??>l

|<Highest Stat: INT>|

|<Estimated Danger: S>|

Nera froze. Dumbstruck by what she saw.

She thought maybe the young dryad had gotten harmed while fighting or running from the mimics, or maybe a wild beast attacked her, but... Food...

"Mother Goddess?" Nera asked for input.

The Avatar simply readjusted itself without giving Nera an answer.

’So she doesn’t want to let them know she’s watching?’ Nera thought to herself.

Since no input was given, Nera grabbed some Indigo Berries from the storage and handed them to the girl.

Perhaps it was because she was a spirit of the forest, or maybe she genuinely was just so hungry that she didn’t care, the young Dryad began to scarf down the berries without any hesitation or fear that they might’ve been poisoned.