Karl ended up seated on the ground by the altar, with a semicircle of acolytes in front of him, invested in his stories of the battle zones along the border, and of his adventures in the time regressed instance.
That one was their favourite. Not only was there the story of saving Elven children, the Grand Priest Orthos could even confirm some parts of it personally, as he had been there for it.
What was better than a hero story that you knew was true?
“So, if you just stand there and don’t flinch, the Orcs will respect your bravery and not just run you over?” One of the Acolytes, a boy about four years old, asked.
“That’s right. If you have the strength, Orcs will respect it. Then you just have to prove to them that you’re not bluffing.
I hear that the clerics of the beasts gods are outstanding fighters, so if you grow up big and strong like Auntie Sslyth over there, you can make them respect you. Then you can join them to beat up the bad guys and rescue the prisoners.”
The reptilian clerics laughed, as Sslyth, the way Karl had pronounced it, was just the word for Lamia in their language. With a different inflection, it was Naga, and the clerics were surprised that Karl had gotten it right, despite not speaking the language.
Karl launched into the story of defeating the Giants, and the kids became skeptical.
“No way. The Monarch Giants are too strong.” The protested.
“Why don’t we go outside, and I will show you something amazing?” Karl offered.
Everyone followed him outside to where Thor was basking in the sun with a number of Dragonkin clerics leaning against him.
Karl took out two Monarch Rank bodies. One from the village, and one from the Slavers. Rae had saved both of them for blood and personal use.
“See, these are the bodies of the two that I defeated on that trip. Now, I will have Miss Rae put them back in storage, and we can put out a blanket to tell stories here in the sun where it is warm.”
Orthos smiled at the High Priest next to him. “He’s actually a skilled babysitter. He might have made a proper bard if he had different luck with the System.”
“That Class of his is dangerous, though. See how the kids are drawn to him? He doesn’t feel like a human, they instinctively react to him as if he were a beast himself, even when they’re looking at him.” The High Priest countered.
Orthos shrugged. “We tend to trust our nose over our eyes, with so many shape-shifters in the church. He smells like a beast, not a human.”
“Can you show us how that skill works?” One of the kids was asking.
The boy was a Fire Basilisk, and his species had Flaming Body as an innate skill, but he was still young, and Awakened Rank. He hadn’t mastered the advanced methods that Karl was describing.
“Alright, pick up that stick. That should do. Now, focus on extending the ability over your hands and down the stick.”
The boy glowed in pride as he showed off that he had already mastered the weapon coating.
“Now, when you spin it, focus on letting the edge of the flames stay right where they are.”
Karl waved his hand back and forth, leaving a shield of Flaming Body in the air.
A little girl jumped to her feet next to the boy and grabbed another stick from the ground.
“I’ve got that skill too, let me try.” She demanded.
“Alright. Start it here on my hand. Now move the stick and imagine that I’m holding it in place, so you can spread it out.”
Karl grabbed the edge of the ability as she moved the stick with great effort.
Then he did the same for the boy as the clerics stared at him.
The High Priest turned back to Orthos. “There is something wrong with that human. Who grabs an attack skill with their bare hands? Humans aren’t immune to fire.”
Orthos chuckled. “I think he has damage reduction on his equipment. Their skills aren’t doing enough damage to hurt him.”
That changed the High Priest’s estimation of Karl’s threat level.
“He is using a Royal Rank Epic Armour spell.” Orthos added.
“What are the gods thinking?” The High Priest muttered.
“I think they want him to bring the System back. Everything he has described so far sounds like he’s being guided toward a larger fate.”
An ancient Lamia woman slid up beside the Dragon. “Do you think that it’s possible that we are having another resurgence? Even if it’s only a thousand years, we might be able to make better use of it this time. There is that Commander Rank dungeon that opened. That sounds like things might be changing for the better.”
Orthos thought about it as Karl brought more kids with innate barrier skills up and showed them how to make shields with them away from their bodies.
The teachers would show them eventually, but the kids were more eager to learn from Karl because he had cool stories about defeating bullies. Motivation was a major factor in beasts and beastkin expanding their skills.
“Who went to investigate the dungeon. I don’t recall getting a report.”
“Bishop Misty went to investigate. You know how she is, she will file a report in her own time.” The High Priest sighed.
“Bishop Misty, the Temporal Dragon, is the one that investigated the Dungeon? I don’t suppose we have asked Prince Karl where he was before he went missing through time.” Orthos sighed.
The rest of the clerics paused. That was right. Misty was less reliable than the average Nature Cleric, and had zero sense of punctuality, as she saw time as a fluid function. But the fact that she might have met with an interesting human and interfered in the time flow hadn’t occurred to them until now.
She hadn’t done it in generations, as her kind hated to change the timeline and cause ripples in the natural order. But she was certainly capable.
Orthos gestured to one of the Felian clerics who went over to stand beside Karl, who was happily teaching a young Gryphon to make a better wind barrier.
“Where did you go between the battlefield and the Anomaly? Our scouts saw you leave weeks ago. Did you get to explore more before you were transferred?” She asked.
Karl smiled and stroked her hears, making the Priestess purr. “Sorry, that part is confidential. I had to take care of some things away from the battle for a while, and then celebrate the birthday of one of my team members.”
Orthos sighed. That wasn’t a confirmation, but enough for them to suspect that he had been the one at the Dungeon when it first opened. But in the process, she had told him that they were watching the battlefield from a distance, when officially they didn’t have any spies within the Golden Dragon Nation.
It wasn’t exactly a good trade of intelligence details. But once they found the Bishop, they would have confirmation of the timeline, even if she hadn’t been the one that had been messing with it.
