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Is It Wrong To Skitter In A Dungeon? Chapter 23: To Build a Brighter Future
🕑 Added 2024-12-20 17:02:01 +0000 UTCChapter 23: To Build a Brighter Future
"Welf."
"Taylor. Or, it's Weaver now, isn't it? I heard about the Level Up."
"You can keep calling me 'Taylor.'"
"Hm. Cool."
Welf was standing in the doorframe of his smithy, while Taylor was in front of it. The two of them stared awkwardly at each other for a bit, neither sure about what to say or do. It'd been a day since she'd gotten her Alias and two since the events in the Dungeon, and Taylor was wondering what exactly she'd done to deserve getting her old hero moniker slapped onto her again in this new world.
A tingle ran through her mind as Queen Administrator briefly made herself known, smugness radiating from her Shard, and Taylor hid a frown.
'What did you do?' she mentally demanded, but Queen Administrator refused to answer her host and her presence retreated a moment later.
Without an answer, all she could do was sigh, and instead she glanced at Welf and mustered her courage for the reason she'd come here.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "For hitting you. And, more importantly... for forcing you to break your oath."
Welf looked at her, his frown deepening. "Magic Sword have only brought me and my family misery. They've ruined lives because they break too easily, and do not provide enough assistance to those who try to rely on them."
He shook his head. "And yet... I am... glad..." he finally admitted. "I Leveled Up when I crafted Lili's blade and turned the Udaeus' sword into a Magic Sword. When I finally accepted that this was a part of me."
"You saved many lives by helping," Taylor told him.
"I know," Welf said. "I've had some time to think - and for Tsubaki and Lady Hephestus to scold me - but I've come to a decision: no more hesitation. I will forge Magic Sword, but on my own terms."
He then glared at her. "But don't think I will forget what happened. I've forgiven, yes, but I won't forget."
That was more than Taylor had hoped for, and more than she felt she deserved, causing a thin smile to slip onto her face. "Thank you, Welf. Again, I am sorry."
She clenched her hand into a fist. "I was also scolded by Hestia. She wasn't happy with how I treated you, and I was forced to think to myself about what I've done, what I should have done differently... my own experiences colored how I reacted to you. I was unfair to you, to force you to do something you didn't want to do. It's... it's something I never want to do again. I'm sorry."
A glint of sympathy flickered through Welf's eyes, and he stepped back. "Alright, then. You didn't only come here to apologize, right? You wanted something built?"
"You're still willing to work with us as our contracted blacksmith?" Taylor asked, relieved and hopeful, and Welf nodded.
"Yeah. I can't leave Bell or shorty hanging. It wouldn't be fair to the other members of your Familia." He then snorted. "Besides, I have a feeling that if I stick around with you guys, I'll see a lot more crazy things, and get to build a bunch of awesome stuff!"
Welf clapped his hands. "So! Show me what you've got!"
Taylor nodded and stepped into his workshop before taking a few sheets of paper out of her pocket and laying them down onto his workbench.
They contained highly detailed drawings and sketches, and for a moment Welf thought he was looking at pages taken straight from a medical text on human anatomy until he saw the notes scribbled in about different materials.
“So, what do you think?” Taylor asked. “Is it possible?”
Welf stared at the blueprints in front of him before sighing. “Do I want to know why you know so much about the anatomy of a human arm? To the point you can apparently design a prosthetic that surpasses the Silver Limbs Dian Cecht makes?”
“It’s probably best you don’t know,” Taylor replied bluntly, and the newly minted Blacksmith shook his head.
“Well, I do owe ya for helping me man up and get over my problems with Magic Sword. Oh, and the Level Up was nice, too,” Welf said, before flashing Taylor a grin. “And this project does look really interesting.”
“It won’t interfere with the armor making and other equipment upgrades, will it?” Taylor asked, and Welf chuckled.
“Right now, I’m still waiting on all that hide being processed into leather so I can properly work on it. So I’ve got the time,” Welf declared.
Taylor nodded at that. The Black Goliath had dropped a truly absurd amount of skin. It was thicker and harder than Orc or Minotaur hide, and would provide defenses befitting a Level 5 adventurer. And with the amount that’d been acquired? They would be able to make at least a full dozen outfits with it, according to Welf’s initial estimates. Possibly more, since there was enough of the stuff to drape over a two-story building like a tarp.
‘I’m just glad the other adventurers let us take it all for ourselves,’ Taylor thought to herself. Though considering the sheer number of Magic Stones and Drop Items littering the 18th Floor in the wake of the Stampede, nobody was going to argue with the party who’d killed the damn Monster Rex about it.
Along with that, though, they’d still managed to obtain a truly staggering amount of wealth. When they got back to the surface and divided up the spoils Debbie had carried back up with them, everyone, including Ryuu and the three members of the Takemikazuchi Familia, had walked away with a quarter million valis. Each. That was two point five million valis in total! And from just the Magic Stones!
Yes, Taylor had had to use the majority of her share to pay for Debbie and the Gun Libellula’s Tamed monster registration fees, but it was worth it, and she wasn’t that concerned with the money in the first place. It was the raw materials that really held her interest.
“The main materials for this are gonna be Adamantite and Mythril,” Welf said, explaining what he needed in order to make Taylor’s new arm. “Adamantite for the shell and main structure. The bones and skin, so to speak. Mithril for the joints so you can actually move the fingers and wrist, as well as to form ‘veins’ so you can channel magic and the Falna through the limb. There will be a few other materials. Copper, steel, and a smidge of titanium. But the first two I mentioned are going to be the most important.”
Taylor nodded as she followed along. She wasn’t going to be satisfied with a regular Silver Limb like what Naaza had. She still wanted to delve the Dungeon, and needed something that could keep up with her.
“It’s gonna be expensive,” Welf warned. “Luckily, the prosthesis is going to be two-thirds Adamantite and we collected enough of the stuff to make weapons for everybody and have enough left over to make you three whole new arms.”
“Can’t we get Mythril from the Dungeon?”
“Like I said down in Rivira, not unless you can survive the Lower Floors. Or, well, I suppose if you kill a Jack Bird you’ve got yourself a whole egg made of the stuff, but the odds of that are slim,” Welf replied. “We’ll just have to pay for it, and likely put up Quests with the Guild.”
“Alright,” Taylor said, not liking it but also not having any other option.
“By the way, this Spell Slot system you want to integrate? Ingenious!” Welf said happily as he looked over some of the ideas Taylor had come up with for improving the prosthetic. “It’s given me new ideas for Magic Swords as well!”
“Glad to hear it,” Taylor said. “Now, I’ll leave you to it.”
“Yup! Oh, and don’t forget to remind Lili to stop on by so she can get fitted for her new equipment. I think I’ve finally made a decent mock-up repeating crossbow I want her to try out!”
“Sounds good, I’ll pass that along,” Taylor nodded before exiting the smithy, Chris falling into step behind her as she left.
There was one more place she had to visit that day before heading home to training the newcomers.
A few minutes later, she arrived at Valka’s Crimson Chamber, an enormous structure made of red bricks in the east of the city. It was one-part fortified manor, one-part smithy, with workshops for dozens of blacksmiths and a several large bloom and blast steel foundries to produces the metal necessary for all their creations.
Upon reaching the front doors, they swung open, revealing a tall, tanned woman with an eyepatch. The hum she emitted was skin to the sound of hammering, and the volume of it marked her out as a Level 5 adventurer.
“Good afternoon, Tsubaki Collbrande,” Taylor said politely as she greeted the Hesphestus Familia’s captain.
“Taylor Hebert. Lady Hephestus is waiting for you,” the tall Blacksmith said, gesturing her into the building. Chris, her loyal companion, hunkered down to wait, and Taylor stepped inside.
The interior was about what she’d expected: bare walls, the brick and stone foundations visible, while wrought-iron decorations covered them. There were also impressive handcrafted pieces of furniture here and there, also made of metal and stone, and Magic Stone lamps with red-tinted glass lighting the hallways and rooms.
Hephestus’ office was not at the top of the building as Taylor had expected, but was instead on the first floor, in a corner of the manor. The reason for this was because right next door to the office, accessible through a hidden door in the room, was an impressive workshop where self-proclaimed goddess of crafting and metalwork would be able to create her own items.
“Lady Hephestus, your guest has arrived,” Tsubaki called out after knocking on the door.
“Send her in.”
The captain complied, opening the door and stepping back to allow the parahuman to pass by. When Taylor was inside, she closed the door, giving the two of them privacy.
The appearance of the woman who’d taken Hephestus’ name was yet another reason Taylor didn’t believe it whenever Hestia tried to convince her she was an actual deity. In the legends of Earth Bet, Hephestus was – besides being a man – deformed and ugly. Depending on the source, he had a hunchback or a lame, crippled leg.
This woman was beautiful, like most women who possessed a Falna. Was that a side effect of the Trump-like ability or something? Regardless of that, female-Hephestus had curly crimson hair and the only sign of disfigurement was the eyepatch she wore over her left eye, just like her captain.
The two women stared for a bit, sizing each other up, before she stuck out a hand. “Let me see it.”
Having a guess as to what she wanted, Taylor took out the Nano-thorn dagger, and passed it over. Hephestus looked it over, examining it close. The hum surrounding her – the crackle-whoosh of a fiery forge and the clanking of metal – intensified, and Taylor guessed she was using some power to scan it.
“It’s broken,” she muttered in disappointment. “Or rather, it’s used up the last of its charges.”
“I had to use it,” Taylor said defensively.
“I know,” Hephestus sighed, conceding the point. “According to the reports the Guild made, that rare variant Goliath was at least Level 5 in terms of danger. Probably higher, given that it could apparently regenerate even after half of its body was erased.”
She then returned the Tinkertech weapon to the parahuman.
“Do you think you could fix it?” Taylor asked, honestly not expecting anything.
“Not me. Down here, my Arcanum is sealed, and I'd need to use it if I wanted to do anything to this thing. It uses technological principles the Lower World shouldn't have access to for another millennium, at least," the one-eyed smith declared. "Not to mention there is something... alien about it, that I'm not sure even my Arcanum could fully overcome."
"Then there's no chance," Taylor sighed, disappointed. She was also a bit miffed. Why did these Trumps have to roleplay so hard? They weren't gods! They really needed to stop acting like they were!
"I didn't say that. There may indeed be a way to repair it,” Hephestus admitted slowly. “There is a Blacksmith I know, considered one of the greatest in the world. He has a unique Spell that can restore anything. Weapon or armor, magical or mundane. Even if it was broken into a hundred pieces and some of them are missing… he can fix it, good as new.”
“What’s the catch?” Taylor asked. Because nothing that good came free, after all.
“The Blacksmith is in high demand across the world, and his workshop is located in Solingen,” the ‘goddess’ replied. “If I send him a letter, it may take at least half a year before he receives it, and the wait time for a slot to open up, even with one of the favors he owes me to speed things up, could be several years on its own.”
“Is there nothing else available?” Taylor asked with a grimace, not liking the idea of waiting so long.
“There’s another possible option,” Hephestus claimed. “The School District has a trio of extremely talented smiths who, with some effort, could possibly find a way to restore the dagger. One of them has a Skill that can analyze any mundane object, grasping both its composition, its structure, and its history, another can transmute one type of solid matter into another form, so long as both are not magical in nature. Like lead into gold, for instance. And the third smith can create copies of any mundane object in existence, even replicate complex mechanisms, so long as he has blueprints for it and enough of the proper materials.”
“And the dagger isn’t magical at all,” Taylor said slowly. “With the three of them working together, they could analyze the Nano-thorn dagger, create samples of the unique composite ceramic used to build it, and then make replacement parts. It’d be like building an entirely new one.”
It sounded like a long-shot, but magic seemed to be capable of all sorts of things. Perhaps it could get around the lower tech-base and Tinkertech Blackbox issues?
“Exactly,” Hephestus said with a nod. “The School District moves around a lot, but it should be scheduled to arrive at Melen within half a year or so. And it would be easier to convince the three smiths to work on this project.”
“Can we try both options?” Taylor asked. “Contact the Blacksmith in Solingen as well as these other smiths?”
“We can,” Hephestus said, a tiny, approving smile on her face. “I’ll write some letters to all four of them.”
“Thank you,” Taylor said gratefully. “And, I had another question. Well, a favor, really.”
“Ask,” Hephestus replied.
“Would it be possible to obtain a Growth Enchantment like what Bell’s dagger has? Specifically, applying it to the prosthetic I am designing with Welf?”
“A Growth Enchantment on a prosthetic arm? Do you know how expensive that would be?” Hephestus asked, raising an eyebrow at Taylor.
“No,” she admitted.
“The blade I made for Hestia would be worth 200 million valis if priced at its retail value,” Hephestus revealed, and Taylor choked a little.
“Yes, that was the exact same reaction she had,” the ‘goddess’ snorted.
“I wasn’t aware the Familia was in such debt,” Taylor admitted when she recovered from the shock.
“Hestia didn’t have to pay that much,” Hephestus admitted. “She received a very generous 50% discount because she let me study your own knife for a bit. And she’s paying in installments.”
She then leaned in across her desk, fingers steepled in front of her. “Now, tell me, Miss Hebert. What makes you think you have anything else to tempt me with to bestow a second Growth Enchantment upon something your Familia would own? Not to mention, I’m not getting you into contact with those smiths for free.”
“I know things,” she began, but was cut off with a dismissive shake of Hephestus’ head.
“Unless you can tell me the exact methods to manufacture the unique composite alloys that your weapon is made of, there is likely nothing you can tell me that would convince me,” the goddess warned.
Taylor winced and began to wrack her brain for something – anything! – from Earth Bet that might convince the red-headed woman in front of her.
“What about... a method to reliably produce aluminum?” Taylor eventually asked. At that, Hephestus blinked.
“Oh? Well, I suppose that might be worth something,” she replied, but this time it was Taylor’s turn to shake her head.
“I am well aware that aluminum is worth an insane amount of valis,” Taylor said.
“Aluminum is worthless as a metal. It’s rarity is the main reason it is worth anything,” Hephestus stated.
“Aluminum is not worthless. It has a lot of uses,” Taylor argued. “Of course, if that doesn’t convince you, what about a way to reliably create rust-resistant steel?”
At that, Hephestus perked up. “Rust resistant, you say?”
“Yes. Around 200 times more resistant compared to regular steel, and it can be done without magical assistance,” Taylor claimed, and with the way Hephestus’ sole eye glinted, the parahuman immediately knew she had her.
“If your knowledge is true, and can be replicated – unlike whatever stuff your knife and armor plates are made of – then I will gladly and strongly consider creating another item with a Growth Enchantment on it for you.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday,” Taylor scoffed. “I want it in writing that states that in exchange for my knowledge of rust-resistant steel, you will help Welf create my prosthetic arm and grant it a Growth Enchantment.”
“You don’t trust a goddess to keep her word?” Hephestus inquired sharply.
“No,” Taylor retorted simply, and the craftswoman blinked before chuckling.
“Very well. I’ll draw up a contract. We can sign it at the Guild in front of witnesses if that also makes you feel better.”
“It does,” Taylor confirmed. “If that’s all, then, I’ll take my leave.”
“Before you do… thank you for rescuing Welf. My Familia members are precious to me,” Hephestus said.
“It was the least I could do,” Taylor claimed, causing the self-proclaimed goddess to snort and then wave her off, and Taylor turned away, recognizing the dismissal for what it was.
As the parahuman left the office, she just barely managed to hear Hephestus let out a faint sigh before muttering, “It’s like dealing with the Vice-Captain of the Zeus Familia all over again… like looking in a gender-bent mirror, too…”
‘That was odd,’ Taylor thought to herself.
Upon leaving the building, she noticed a cat-eared young woman with long silver hair and bright red eyes in a ruffled crimson slit dress was staring intently at her from across the road opposite Valka’s Crimson Chamber.
She decided to try and get on with her day, and finish some other chores. Shopping for food was a constant task given the lack of modern refrigeration or preservation, and of course an adventurer ate a staggering amount. Taylor had surprised herself when she’d managed to eat two whole paellas from the Hostess of Fertility and had still felt there was room for dessert.
‘What will my appetite be like when I hit Level 3?’ Taylor wondered nervously to herself. ‘What will our food bills be like?’
An hour of shopping later, and the catgirl was still following Taylor. The parahuman was getting a bit weirded out by her stalker. The only reason Taylor didn’t try and shake her off was because she lacked any hum, meaning the girl wasn’t an adventurer.
The girl was also really bad at being a spy, if that’s what she was. She wasn’t even trying to hide or be discreet, just humming softly to herself as she skipped along the road after Taylor. She would also stop and help random people, who’d repay her with small gifts in thanks.
“Hello,” Taylor said, finally growing tired of waiting for her stalker to speak up and turning around to confront her. “Can I help you?”
“Hi! I’m Love Silva!” the teen said, her voice rather airy and cheerful.
“I see,” Taylor said slowly.
“You’re Weaver, the Record Holder. And you are very interesting,” Love declared, peering intently at Taylor who leaned back, unused to such intensity.
“Thank you?”
“I want to join your Familia!” Love claimed, and Taylor blinked slowly.
“What? Why?”
“Because I can tell that interesting things will happen around you!” the catgirl said happily. “You’re the current record holder who defeated a rare variant Monster Rex, and started up a business involving silk garments and another upcoming one with the Ganesha Familia. Things are definitely gonna be interesting in the future if I stick by you!”
“How’d you hear about that?” Taylor demanded, glaring at the girl. The deal with the Ganesha and Miach Familia should have been a secret!
“I hear a lot of things,” Love said guilelessly.
“Well, Miss Silva, I’m flattered, but I can’t make the decision alone,” Taylor said sharply.
“That’s okay! I wasn’t planning on having a job interview with a goddess today but I think I’ll do okay,” the catgirl said. “Oh, and please, just call me Silva!”
“Alright, then. Silva, you want to join our Familia because you think it will be fun?”
“Interesting,” Silva said, stressing the word. “I have a sixth sense for it. And you… you have ‘interesting’ practically oozing off of ya!”
“Are you truly willing to join? There will likely be combat. We enter the Dungeon for a living, after all,” Taylor said.
“I might not look it, but I can fight!” Silva claimed, pumping a fist.
Taylor watched her closely for a bit, scrutinizing her before giving a curt nod. “Come along, then. You can talk to Hestia. She’ll be the one to convince, in the end.”
“Yay!” Silva cheered, skipping over to Taylor’s side and glomping her arm with a hug.
“Personal space,” Taylor requested through gritted teeth, and the catgirl blinked before letting go.
“Sorry,” she apologized, looking down at the ground sheepishly. Taylor just gave her stern and disappointed look before walking off towards the Hestia Familia’s base.
When Taylor returned to the church with Silva in tow, she found Bell and Hestia also back from their own business and waiting out front for her. To her surprise and amusement, there were two newcomers standing with them.
Besides Bell was a five-foot-four blue-haired young man with yellow eyes and a massive sword strapped to their back. It was a big slab of metal rivaling Welf’s, but was more of a traditional great sword in appearance. They wore a brown vest with red highlights on it, with grey shirt and pants on underneath. They had a neutral expression on their face, but their eyes lit up with excitement and awe when they spotted Taylor.
Next to Hestia was a short, five-foot-one-inch-tall pink-haired girl with pink eyes. She had two short swords sheathed at her side and wore a white shirt with a red ribbon on her chest and a frilly white skirt with leggings underneath. She had a nervous expression on her face, but tried to hide it.
“Well. It seems I’m not the only one who was followed home,” Taylor joked. Behind her, Silva snickered, while Bell and Hestia both looked a little embarrassed, sheepishly rubbing the back of their heads in tandem.
“I couldn’t say no to such a passionate request to join my Familia!” Hestia claimed.
“Me, too,” Bell agreed.
Taylor smirked a little before glancing at her own tagalong. “Go ahead and introduce yourself.”
“I’m Love Silva! Just call me Silva!” she declared, waving at the others.
“I’m Leo Diaz!” the blue-haired swordsman – no wait, there was a lack of Adam’s apple, so they were actually a swordswoman – declared, bowing deeply when Taylor looked over. “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
“A-and I’m Emma Flores!” the pink-haired girl said, also bowing in greeting. Taylor twitched a little at hearing the name of her former best friend-turned-bully again, but forced it down.
“It’s gonna get lively around here!” Iris said, grinning at the thought of having some juniors. No longer would she and Lucia be the newest recruits!
“At least it gives us an excuse to finally start the expansions on our home,” Taylor agreed.
“It does! Oh! And you better get ready for a shopping spree tomorrow, because we got invited to the God’s Banquet being hosted by Apollo!” Hestia declared, flourishing an envelope with a gold wax seal upon it.
Taylor hid a wince at that. A party? When was the last time she’d had to attend a social function? And this was going to be a high society one, at that!
Cheerfully oblivious to Taylor’s inner turmoil, Hestia prattled on about different dresses, shoes, and hairstyles, sounding excited about attending the event.
In the end, Taylor heaved a defeated sigh. There was no chance of her being able to avoid going to it, was she?
‘Well, there will be so many other people there, odds are I can just fade into the background once we’re actually there,’ Taylor thought to herself. ‘And nothing bad could possibly happen surrounded by high-level adventurers.’
After all, it was party. How bad could it possibly be?
Comments
MN01
No, more like the beings in Tenkai created a vessel for their divine spirits to pilot and then placed a ton of limiters on it to prevent the deity from accidentially killing mortals by sneezing too hard (and riling up the dungeon) but allows just enough to use a trickle of their divine powers and gift falna to mortals. The more people try to fit this square peg into a round hole of intentionally making Taylor obtuse and ignorant of the deities true nature and the longer they keep pushing it the more the entire thing falls apart and comes off as hamfisted author fiat rather than than it being Taylor. The Entities aren't the explaination for every powerful being in the multiverse. And it becomes really tiresome when people try to make the MC in crossovers with Worm believe that the Space Worms are the only things in the multiverse that can grant power or that other forms of power and beings exist. It just comes across as making the character delibriately obtuse for the sake of plot instead of it being natural. Skeptic at first, yes. Continuing to deny something despite a mounting ton of evidence to the contrary? That comes across as the character trying to be obtuse despite their intelligence.
BarrettSlayer
So instead of one avatar it’s like if each subset of shards got an avatar and was using that as a vector to test abilities? That would make sense and the longer timeline could be just that this entity pair arrived in this subset of the multiverse first and due to different operating system/testing didn’t mesh with the rest and only sectioned off its testing ground leaving the wider group (earth bet and co) to the whims of another entity. Would also fit in why Queen is such a threat (at least feels like one with that ability to take) cause Queen was built to manage the whole entity even when crippled for testing that would probably still be there, while the gods are all smaller parts of another whole and aren’t built to the same parameters.
MN01
That is a stretch, and a really thin stretch at that just to maintain denial. As many people around her (the older ones) would be easily able to confirm the gods ageless nature. And even if she only has the word of those plainly older generations around her to go on. I ask, what reason would they have to lie about something that is plainly common knowledge? I get you want to keep up the denial for plot purposes but the longer it goes on the less plausible it becomes and the more and more it looks like Taylor's obtuse despite her intelligence. If she doesn't at very least acknowledge the fact that the gods are at least non-human entities that severely weakned themselves to walk among the mortals save for the ability to empower others and a few of their minor abilities that people accept as deities, after one of them unveils their arcnana I would have to call bullshit on the amount of mental gymnastics needed to delude herself at that point. In fact, the gods situation could be compariable to Scion's avatar but instead of retaining their power they weakened themselves to interact with normal people. Which wouldn't be too much of a stretch for her.
Ian Rodgers
The gods have indeed existed for centuries in Orario, but Taylor assumes it's a Butcher situation. When one 'Hermes' dies, a new one takes their place. It could be a literal body-jumping like the Butcher, or it could be more ceremonial. Plus, Taylor only has the words of others to go on. History wasn't exactly recorded very well before the modern era. Even with the invention of the printing press, knowledge remained a commodity that was heavily suppressed by those at the top. As for the Falna not working the same as Powers... again, not really. There were some very weird Powers on the Earths. Butcher's body usurpation, Teacher's granting of minor abilities through Mastering, Mama Mather's cognito hazard-like Power... they are so unique and varied that while Taylor probably does suspect something is up for them to be able to all do the exact same thing, it's still not exactly a definite sign of magic or even divinity.
MN01
Maybe, but consider this, she should have seen by now that there is more than enough evidence that Magic and the Falna doesn't work in the same way parahuman powers do nor operates by the same rules or that the beings calling themselves gods are far older than they appear and from all accounts are ageless since some of them have been around for decades or centuries with no signs of aging. And so Occam's Razor would apply. The simple explaination might be the best one. She might be skeptical now, which is fair, but once she see's an arcanum released (or at least flexed) should be the point she should reconsider her stance on their divinity. At which point she could consider the Gods are powerful entities in their own right that decided to essentially take vaction from their home dimension of Tenkai and place themselves in severely weakened false bodies to interact with the material realm like they've been saying all along. I could see her acknowledging she was wrong but only accept them as powerful entities that were formed from the poeples beliefs. She doesn't have to worship them to acknowledge they exist and are not just humans pretending to be gods.
BarrettSlayer
Personally I think it makes a bit of sense, after all I’m betting Queen is shielding her from the full effects that gods normally have on mortals (I don’t recall others being able to sense hums from people and figure out a rough power level in the actual show afterall). Though I agree once it gets through to her she will not be worshipping any of them and will probably be the result of finally ‘eating one’ or during the fight with one
Ian Rodgers
What evidence does Taylor actually have that these people are gods? She has seen no miracles, and nothing they've done can't be explained away as Parahuman powers, or something very similar. Now, if/when she sees a god return to Heaven, then she may finally have to accept facts and have a crisis of faith. But until then, she's going to be very skeptical.
MN01
This refusal to recognize that gods are real is really getting annoying when evidence to the contrary is all around makes Taylor look really obtuse. You do know that there are schools of thought where you can acknowledge the existence of gods without worshiping them right? The first is Deism, where the person acknowledges that God(s) exist without worship but is hands off who do not intervene in the universe after creating it. Impersonal entities who are indifferent to mortals and their actions. The second is agnostic theism. Where an agnostic theist believes in the existence of one or more gods, but regards the basis of this proposition as unknown or inherently unknowable. The agnostic theist may also or alternatively be agnostic regarding the properties of the god or gods that they believe in. The third is Dystheism where a god(s) is considered that a deity is not wholly good and can even be considered evil. There are a few more but in context, Taylor could acknowlege that these beings are gods without worshiping them or treating them any different from any other powerful entity. Would make her seem less in denial despite all evidence to the contrary. Her insistence on this "roleplay" idea really comes across as heavy handed and makes Taylor seems obtuse to the point of stretching ones SOD to the limit.
