Rafe looked back to see Filoria walking forward with a smile the mirror of her father's.

That was when he started to get wary. He had been wary before, but it had taken him a moment to put two and two together.

This aquamarine haired guy with his head tilted to the side and his eyes half closed and his mouth wide open in a smile was Bodhia Benhaven, the chosen of Primus, the chosen he'd heard so much about. And Filoria was not as happy as she was pretending to be when she first saw her father. And she wasn't even as happy as Rafe expected any child who hadn't seen their parents for a long time to be.

Certainly she wasn't as happy as Rafe would have been to see his own parents. To have them here, Rafe didn't know what he was willing to sacrifice. Certainly money wasn't an object. Then he really considered the thought. If credits were supposed to have the use of undermining the system's rules…. But then the system wasn't exactly what was causing his prolonged stay on Primus.

Finally, the father daughter duo met and embraced each other. It had all been very slow in Rafe's eyes. If it had been him, he'd have run the moment he'd snapped out of his surprise. And he too would have been a little surprised, only Filoria was more shocked than surprised.

Name: Bodhia Benhaven

Race: Elemenoid(water affinity). lvl.???

Class: ???

Strongest skill: ???

Highest stat: ???

Notable title: Chosen of Primus. (Note: no one can see the effects of a chosen title.)

The information, useless as it all was, emptied Rafe's mana reserves and had him gritting his teeth. He tried not to show any visible reactions.

When the father and daughter duo hugged, the nagging feeling of someone trying to tear through Rafe's secrets finally stopped. It was hard to even picture this unassuming, young and neat looking man as the chosen of Primus. His aura was under such severe control even Rafe's highly trained skill couldn't do much prodding without being sensed. He was so focused on the chosen he didn't see what was behind him and slightly to the left for almost half a minute. He moved his head a little from the hugging family, and that's when he saw her.

"...Helare," he breathed.

It was so quiet no one should have heard. Except there was someone who was more than the average person, wasn't there? A D grade being was far from normal. The difference of two whole grades meant Rafe couldn't even imagine what it must feel like to be in the other man's body.

Imagine all that coordination, all that agility, strength. Such people shouldn't even be moving at the average speeds people like Rafe moved. Only, they had an easier time controlling their stats the more they evolved, as their souls grew stronger.

To be a D grade, Rafe thought, was probably the biggest dream of some people's lives. Not his though. He would surpass that short peak.

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The chosen heard Rafe, and he made no attempt at hiding his interest now. Helare remained stoic, poised. She might not be D grade, but she had been looking at him and could have surely read his lips and the surprise on his face.

Seeing her, Rafe too decided that perhaps this was a person to be wary of. He tried to school his face into neutrality. He hoped he hadn't given away too much information. He hadn't really ever needed to be a person for subterfuge, but as long as he was collecting skills…

****

To say Filoria Benhaven was having a shit few weeks would be an understatement of epic proportions. Helare had left the mining camp, and yet she hadn't gotten as close to Rafael as she'd expected.

She forced him onto a scouting trip. He was unexpectedly easy to convince. That was the last easy thing she could remember happening the whole time. Contrary to her beliefs, simply following him around like Helare had was not enough motivation for him to strike up some kind of friendly conversation.

Instead it had made him so wary of her he'd spent a whole morning finding reasons he didn't want to hunt with her. And he'd brought up beating her that time, which had kind of made her sad, although she didn't know why. She wondered why she thought it absolutely necessary to be stronger than Rafael.

Maybe it was because what she wanted from him, whatever that was, because she sure as hell hadn't a clue, she wouldn't be getting through peaceful means. Force would have to be applied.

She had kind of given up there at the end, just watching him and trying to figure out what it was about him. Then she'd tried to talk to him on their way back, but that had only served to frustrate her more.

And then the cherry on top of the shit flavoured fish stick, the damn princess had returned with her father. And he had that almost comical smile that promised pain once they were alone. Even as she hugged him, she felt the question in every small gesture he made. Why is the princess still alive?

"You must be the blacksmith dear Helare was bragging about taming?" the hero said with an innocent smile.

Filoria saw Helare wince slightly but hurry to course correct immediately. Instead Rafe's face had gotten hostile as he looked at their group of three. Although his hostility turned into concern when he looked towards Helare.

"Oops. Was I not supposed to say that?" her father said with a smile in the princess's direction.

The princess smiled in turn. "I would have preferred if you didn't."

There was tension there, and this time it wasn't only from her father's side. They were both pulling. Helare was no longer one of the starry eyed who worshiped at the hero's altar.

What had changed her though? Could it also change Filoria?

"What do you think about that, dear smith?" the hero asked.

She turned back to Rafe. He was frowning towards the princess, but he didn't seem angry at her. More…concerned. So that was her catalyst, was it? Could it work for Filoria too? The simple answer was no.

Admiring a hero was one thing. Even developing a crush on them was something one could get over. But her, he was her damn father, her only existing parental figure. It would have to be one hell of a catalyst to combat that.

"My name is not Smith," Rafe said, finally turning toward the chosen.

There was a challenge in the boy's eyes. If only he knew how close to death he was. The chosen, when he crossed into the D grade, into a realm of power never before seen on Primus, he'd become like a god to them.

And she had seen him perform god-like feats before. It was hard to imagine the D grade wasn't the pinnacle of power in the multiverse. The chosen could destroy a whole continent by now, although of course the land masses on Primus were tiny from what Hestus had said.

But for godly feats, it was the chosen who was personally holding back the gods.

Filoria wondered about that, by the way. All this talk about people becoming gods in the multiverse, her own E grade planet had its own gods. And her D grade father, even in his absence, was the force that had banished these supposedly immortal beings. Not many people were privy to this information.

"Funny guy," the chosen said with a small laugh. "I never heard that about you. Yes, I have heard a lot about you, you know. From Collab too. From others around the camp."

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