Seeing is believing. To get them to truly understand, it was quickest to just show them. And so, it was time to reveal the secret to skyrocketing an adventurer's growth!
"First, I prepare this."
As I spoke, I pulled a small box from my Storage Ring—an all-too-familiar sight.
"A Pandora Gift, I take it?" Rei noted.
"Exactly," I replied, nodding.
Ordinarily, such a move would have been met with skepticism, but Rei and the others were so used to my antics that they actually looked convinced.
Mil nodded as if confirming her own suspicions. "I see. So that medicine was pulled from a Pandora Gift?"
"Yeah. Watch."
I snapped the box open. As expected, a small vial appeared inside. It was a Status Enhancement Potion.
"Wow... Same as always, Tort-kun," Sally remarked. "It's not like most people can just conjure exactly what they want on a whim."
She was right, of course, but it was far too late to worry about that now. I had been pulling exactly what I needed for quite a while, from the Rune Breaker on down.
Perhaps because they had seen it before, the three of them weren't particularly shocked. If anything, Rei’s expression grew more somber.
"Even so, Pandora Gifts are incredibly rare. And if I recall, you're limited to opening only one per day, aren't you? Amassing that many potions must have been an exhausting ordeal."
"Ah, right. About that."
Opening a Pandora Gift usually carries a risk of instant death. My skill, the Destiny God’s Smile, is what allows me to bypass that danger exactly once per day. It effectively flips a life-threatening risk into a stroke of good fortune. That was the only reason I could use the boxes with any peace of mind, and the reason I had stuck to the one-a-day rule.
Lately, though, a thought had occurred to me. If I can control exactly what comes out of the box, then death traps and other hazards might not even manifest in the first place—meaning there would be nothing for the skill to trigger against.
So, I had tested the theory. Ordinarily, this would have been a suicidal gamble, since there was no way to tell if the destiny reversal had actually fired. But for me, it was simple: I just asked Ren-kun. Since he’s the Destiny God, he was happy to give me a straight answer.
As it turned out, I had opened a hundred boxes in a row without the reversal effect triggering even once. It seemed that when I specified the contents, the boxes simply didn't contain traps. To be safe, Ren-kun even gave me a divine alarm that would sound if the reversal ever did trigger, but so far, it had remained perfectly silent.
"I-I see," Rei said, nodding slowly. "So you've turned it into a perfectly safe, all-purpose container."
"That’s the gist of it."
Rei seemed satisfied with the explanation, but he still looked a bit troubled. Even with the safety issue solved, his math still required a massive number of Pandora Gifts. He was likely tallying up the effort it would take to collect them all.
Fortunately, he didn't need to worry about that.
"Now, here is where the real trick comes in..."
"We're only just getting to the trick?!" Rei blurted out. "Then what was all that preamble for?"
"Eh? A prerequisite, I guess?"
"I... I see..."
Ignoring the bewildered expressions on their faces, I moved on to the demonstration.
"I prepare a Pandora Gift once more."
"Another one?!" Mil exclaimed.
"Of course. This is the important part. Earlier, I pulled out a single Status Enhancement Potion, but this time, I’m going to specify that a Pandora Gift Set comes out."
"A Pandora Gift... Set?"
"Is that even allowed...?"
Rei and the others exchanged glances. It was a blatant cheat, to be sure—the equivalent of asking a genie in a lamp for more wishes. In the past, I actually couldn't do it. But now...
"Okay, here goes."
"Whoa!"
The moment I opened the lid, the Pandora Gift burst with a light pop. In its place, five boxes of similar size tumbled out. Naturally, they were all Pandora Gifts. By opening one, I had effectively gained four more. I could then pull five more gifts out of each of those new boxes. As long as I had at least one in stock, I could multiply them infinitely.
I had only pulled out a single potion earlier, but if I felt like it, I could have pulled those out in sets of five as well.
"And that," I concluded, "is how I can increase the supply of Status Enhancement Potions whenever I want."
"I... I suppose it is," Rei muttered, he and the girls nodding repeatedly as the reality sank in.
"Phew... It really is incredible," Mil said with a sigh. "At this point, it’s no wonder people are calling you a god."
"People are already calling Tort-kun's tools 'Divine Tools,'" Sally added. "I've heard some adventurers have already started worshipping him."
Their tone was mostly one of exasperation; they clearly had no intention of joining the cult themselves. I intended to just laugh it off, but someone else took it much more seriously.
"No! Tort isn't a god! He's not going to become one!"
Halfa cut in, her voice uncharacteristically sharp. Sally and the others jumped, startled by the sudden outburst.
Lately, Halfa had been a bit emotionally fragile. She was usually her cheerful self, but the mere mention of me ascending to godhood—even as a joke—would send her into a state of distress.
"It's okay, Halfa. I'm not going to become a god."
"Really? You really, really won't?"
"I still want to enjoy this world as an adventurer. Together with you."
"Yeah... That's right. Yeah..."
As she murmured weakly, I comforted her while she clung to me. When I patted her head, she narrowed her eyes in relief, looking much like a contented cat.
"Sorry, Halfa-chan," Sally said, looking sheepish. "I shouldn't have said something so weird."
"No... I'm the one who's sorry for snapping," Halfa replied, shaking her head.
Mil and Rei looked on, unsure of how to break the awkward tension.
"Actually—"
Realizing they were probably confused by her reaction, I decided to lay everything out for them. I told them about inheriting the God of Creation's Power, and how the Sun Goddess had formally approached me about becoming a coordinator for the heavens. By the time I finished, their faces were pale with shock. I suppose the scale of the conversation was a bit much to swallow.
"So that's what was happening..." Rei whispered. Mil and Sally remained silent, likely processing the weight of it all.
After a long pause, Rei looked up. His eyes were burning with a fierce resolve.
"In that case, we'll just have to work even harder."
"...Rei?" Halfa asked, tilting her head.
Rei turned to her and nodded firmly. "The Sun Goddess is worried about the future of this world, isn't she? Then we just have to show her through our results that she has nothing to fear. If we prove that the world is stable and in good hands, she'll have no reason to keep trying to drag Tort away."
As he made his declaration, Mil and Sally nodded in agreement. Even Spira and Lowell looked inspired, while Shiroru just continued to smile happily.
"I see... You're right!" Halfa cried, springing up with renewed energy. "I'll work hard too! We won't let anyone turn Tort into a god!"
Seeing her get her spirit back was a relief. I was glad everyone was motivated, though I couldn't help but feel they were overreacting just a little.
I didn't have the slightest intention of becoming a god anyway, but I suppose there was no harm in them being overprotective.