Divine Luck: SSS-Rank Battle Maid Harem

Julius was a little surprised at how hard Zach had shot down the topic. It was like he didn't even want to entertain the thought of Nessa liking him. He didn't understand why. Maybe Zach just really valued his platonic friendships.

Julius wasn't to blame.

Zach hadn't told any of them about Nora's passing. Even if he had, he hadn't told a soul about what Nora really meant to him. They would have understood him and the changes he had gone through.

But Zach didn't want to talk about it.

It wasn't because he wanted to forget. He just wasn't ready.

Instead, he focused on spreading his perception over Zoe and honing in on the traces of energy festering in her wounds. It was Bartuk's energy. That was why she wasn't recovering. His energy was interfering with her recovery. If it had been anyone else, the energy would have eaten away at them.

Zach had shook hands with Bartuk just the other day to get a feel for this. He wanted to know if it was possible for him to target the energy. It blocked his Eyes of Truth, after all.

It was.

He needed to isolate and target the energy if he wanted to use his Material Extraction on it.

Since it was Zoe, it probably wouldn't be a big deal if he missed, but considering Ozra's reaction to the skill, he didn't want to take any chances.

So, he wrapped his perception over the energy lingering in Zoe's body. It was slippery. It was like it could tell that Zach was going to do something that it and it's original owner didn't want.

It reminded him of the same feeling he got from world essence energy. It wasn't sentient or anything. It was just that it felt like will and intent lingered in the energy. He wondered if it was a sign of a higher energy.

Eventually, Zach felt confident enough and started pulling.

Zoe twitched and groaned in discomfort. Julius' eyes widened and he turned to Zach with worry.

He knew Zach wouldn't intentionally harm Zoe. But Zoe had barely grunted in pain even when fighting Bartuk. Yet now, Zach was drawing out such a reaction from her just by holding her hand.

No, he wasn't even holding it. His hand hovered five fingernails' thickness over her palm. Julius frowned. A stream of faint light started appearing between the two hands.

As the wounds started closing up on Zoe's body, he could tell that it was the cause of her slowed regeneration. But he had no idea what it was. Poison? How did Zach know how to solve it?

The more Zach extracted, the less Julius thought it was poison. The pressure flooding the room, like they were at the bottom of the sea, wouldn't come from poison. It was something else.

Vidri looked up from the corner of the room. She already knew they were dealing with the followers of gods. She had noticed as soon as she stepped into the room that there was a patient afflicted with the remnants of a heinous attack from one of the followers of a god.

But Zach seemed like he wanted to try something. Unless he asked for her help, she wasn't going to say anything.

Never had she thought that his idea was to take control of and manipulate the energy of a god. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. Maybe life as a familiar wouldn't be so boring after all.

After a string of excruciatingly slow minutes, Zach finally held a swirling vortex of light in the palm of his hand. It filled the air with pressure so heavy that Julius had trouble breathing. It tried to break free from Zach's control in a frenzy. It tore at the skin of his palm, ripping off and disintegrating pieces.

Zach was more amazed than anything.

He had done it because he thought he could, but he had really managed to Extract an energy. The energy was also more powerful than he thought. He had a feeling that he had pissed it off and activated it more than he perhaps would have wanted by using Material Extraction on it.

It was just a sliver of energy. It wouldn't even be enough to fill a coin. But Zach couldn't even close his hands around it.

Curiously, he wrapped it in world essence energy to control it. It worked, and the pressure in the room eased significantly, but only because the two energies were too busy fighting and grinding against each other to exert pressure over the room.

Zach glanced at the others.

"Any ideas what this energy is?" He asked curiously.

Yanael looked at it with a calm gaze, ready to cut it with her sword if it continued harming Zach's hand. Alzara looked at it with a hesitant gaze. It didn't feel like her cursed energy could do anything to it.

Soara looked at it with greed that surprised both Zach and her. Mandra looked at it with a curious gaze. She wanted to study it. But none of them had the answer.

Fortunately, someone else gave it before they had to admit that.

"Divine energy," Vidri answered, suddenly having appeared next to Zach. She looked at the wispy light raging in Zach's hand with narrowed eyes. Zach couldn't tell what was going on behind those beautiful eyes of hers.

"Divine energy?" He asked.

"The energy of gods, Master. It's an advanced form of energy with great strength and versatility. I'm impressed you managed to catch it. Usually, only the followers of the god to whom it belongs can handle it."

Zach's eyes widened. It aligned with what he had assumed. But he was still a little surprised to have been right.

The energy of the followers wasn't just the same type of energy. It was the same energy as that of the god they followed. Considering what he head learned earlier, it was likely that the blessings and the strength Frida and Bartuk had referred to was the divine energy bestowed upon them by their gods.

The stronger the god, the more and stronger the divine energy they had, and the more their followers would receive.

Simple.

"But what do I do with this now?" He asked. His hand was getting tired.