"If I take some of the decent wood from the nearby abandoned buildings I should be able to at least fix most of the damaged parts." I said as I looked over the walls of the church after arriving.
"You know how to build houses?" Hestia asked surprised and strangely excited.
"Not really but this isn't building a place from the ground up but merely replacing damaged parts. Since the boards are bare I can just replace each of the damaged ones by pulling out some nails and putting a better board back in it's place with those same nails if they aren't rusted through." I explained honestly.
"That does seem doable now that you mention it, maybe we should wait until we can afford to get professionals to do it though?" She said clearly reluctant to do any renovation without the assurance of it turning out okay.
I shrugged "Your call, I'd be fine either way since it looks good enough to stop the rain and cold from getting us in our sleep." I said honestly.
"Righto, now hurry up and get undressed so I can give you my blessing." She said cheerfully.
"You could have worded that better but at least I know what you mean." I teased and she looked confused for a moment before turning red when she figured out what was wrong with what she said.
"Mo~ Just take your shirt off and lay down already!" She ordered embarrassed as we walked into the church's basement that had a couch and a bed and that was about it really besides the bathroom.
"If you say so." I said as I took my shirt off as ordered and I noticed the curious look she threw the tattoo like marking on the front of my torso.
"I had it when I woke up in the woods with no memories about a week ago so not much I can really explain about it since I myself have very little to go off of." I explained honestly as I laid down on the couch.
"The guild employee told me about that, it sounds horrible." She said sympathetically as she sat on my back.
I would have shrugged if I could have "It's not that bad really, then again the Artemis familia were quite helpful at answering any questions I had. Surprisingly enough not having any memories is actually rather freeing since without a past I have nothing stopping me from moving forward." I said honestly.
It was true too as I had no family, friends, responsibilities ,nothing at all that could weigh me down. I could truly be considered as at rock bottom but that simply meant the only way I could go was up. Hestia seemed to appreciate the sentiment if the way she hummed was any indication before I felt a drop of something warm fall on my back. The room lit up as the falna formed and began to take shape on my back.
At first it was just like an intense heat flowing through my body from my back but as soon as it touched the symbols on my chest and stomach it turned scorching and painful causing me to grit my teeth and clench my fists.
"Is this normal? Nobody told me it was supposed to be painful!" Hestia said panicking once I started to show pain.
The painful heat dulled after about ten minutes and all I was left with was a tingling sting like I had a bad sunburn all over my body. Irritating but something I could deal with without much issue.
"I think it's over now." I said honestly.
"Are you okay? you are burning up under me?" she asked worriedly.
"Really? I feel like I have a sunburn but otherwise totally fine. Maybe it's a skill of some sort, Artemis said that happens sometimes." I suggested while surprised to learn my body temperature was so high.
"Did she? I guess she would know more than me about it what with you being my first child and all. Give me a moment to copy your status to a piece of parchment and we can go over it together." she said getting up and rifling around in a bag over in the corner where she eventually pulled out some parchment and set it on my back and did something with her finger.
"All done!" she said and I got up before putting my shirt back on.
Name: Alexander Drake
Spells: Hell's forge(Innate technique): Can use anything from a living being and reshape or refine it per ones will.(Incantation: Hell's forge)
Skills: Heavenly restriction: In exchange for the ability to wield mana and magic one gains access to cursed energy and cursed techniques.
"Is this bad? And whats cursed energy or techniques?" Hestia asked confused.
"It doesn't look sound bad at all though that part about not being able to use normal magic stings a bit. Also I am pretty sure cursed techniques are just ways to use cursed energy which seems like a replacement for mana. Let me give it a try." I said seriously and held up and hand and began to concentrate on it.
At first nothing happened but as I got more and more frustrated a dim black and bluish glow started to come from my hand but it vanished the moment I got a rush of excitement.
"Not really all that impressive is it?" Hestia asked with a awkward look.
"It seems to rely on my own negative emotions to manifest right now but maybe that's just because I am not very skilled with it yet?" I said without having any clue if I am right or not.
It certainly sounded right given what little I actually knew about cursed energy from the anime. Like you could have a lot of cursed energy but not be able to use it very well or at all like Yuji at the start.
"I see and what about this spell "Hell's forge" do you think you could use it?" Hestia asked finding what I said reasonable.
"I need something from a living being but I think so. Do you think wood counts as something from a living being?" I asked with a grin as I had an idea.
My goddess obvious didn't see my grin as she thought about the question for a moment before saying "Trees are alive so I think so, why"
"If I'm right we may not need to wait that long to fix up the church. Help me find a loose piece of wood to try the spell on." I said and she brightened up as she realized what I had thought of.
It only took a small amount of time to find a piece of rotted wood that had fallen from the walls up top.
"Here goes something, Hell's Forge!" I called the incantation and immediately felt a harsh draw on my energy stores as a bright black and blue flame came out of the hand holding the wood and fully covered it.
I pictured an image in my head and willed the spell to work and slowly but surely the wood began to transform until I was forced to stop barely halfway through as I felt my energy get dangerously low. The flames vanished and I felt drained but couldn't help by grin widely as the rotted wood was now nearly pristine and pointed like a stake at one end. "It works!" I said excitedly.