God of Systems: Maker of Heroes and Villains

Two days later, Keith stood in the protection church headquarters, in front of a familiar looking old priest.

"So all of you guys vote for Keith to distribute the prizes?" he asked as he looked at the team, all of whom nodded confidently except Keith who simply stood in place, lost in thought.

The priest nodded slowly before he focused his gaze on Keith, "Well, let's start with a hearty congratulations. You guys were the only ones who didn't get disqualified so you'll be receiving the cash prizes of first, second and third places.

The first place winners were supposed to receive a cash price of.... hmm. Which currency would you like me to give the money to you in? Wait, before that." he said and pointed at the three trainee inquisitors.

"Keith, the promotion of these guys will be in your hands. Like Archbishop Maria had promised, you are now an official Inquisitor and these three will be placed in your team. You can promote one of these three to an official inquisitor just like you, but two of them will remain as trainees and you will be the leader of your team. This decision was taken based on your performance in the training camp."

When Keith heard this, he silently nodded and turned to look at Nathan, Laura and Caleb. Nathan looked slightly nervous while Laura was the opposite, oozing confidence. Caleb on the other hand, looked like he didn't care and Keith could instantly tell what was going on in his mind.

'Haaaah... this guy is confident that he won't be picked. Well, in a way it's a good thing because I was never going to pick him anyways... unless...' Keith thought as he shifted his attention back to the priest.

"Can I take a look at the cursed artifact that's supposed to be given to the first place winners?"

The priest nodded, and turned around before he began to walk towards one of the doors, "All of you stay here. Keith will be the only one coming with me." he said without looking at them.

Just one glance at the door and Keith knew that he was taking him to Maria once again.

He silently followed him while his team stayed back at the church's main hall. It took them a minute or two to reach the room, but once they did, Keith took a deep breath to calm down his excitement.

Maria had a serious look on her face when she saw them walk in.

"Grandpa, please wait outside." she said, her voice soft but the priest nodded and walked out, leaving Keith alone.

She stared at him for a few seconds and then smiled, "Hehe, you did a good job! Well, here's the artifact that you were supposed to get, but just keep in mind that I can help you exchange the artifacts that you have with any of the other cursed artifacts in our church. The head Priestess will not question my actions in any way, so you don't have to worry about her either."

Hearing her words, Keith couldn't help but sigh, "So you know that I do have artifacts... did Seraphina tell you?"

"Yes, mother did tell me about it but she told me that it was her friend who gave her this information. She also gave me the permission to do this deal with you and she told me to tell you that she's on your side, but she won't help you unconditionally."

"Of course. That's fine." Keith said as he watched Maria take out a small smoking pipe. It had a similar to the one that Adam normally used.

It resembled a finely crafted wooden pipe, its surface polished to a high sheen that caught and reflected the light. Delicate silver embroidery adorned its length, adding a touch of elegance to its design. The wide bowl of the pipe featured silver seamlessly melded into the wood, while the slender mouthpiece, from which one would draw in the smoke, was also capped in gleaming silver. Your next journey awaits at empire

Maria handed it to him and Keith silently looked at it, waiting for an explanation on how it worked and the negatives of this cursed artifact.

"This one, does not really have a name and you're the first official owner of this smoking pipe so congratulations." she said, smiling at him as she continued, "Well, this pipe only works when you use the dry leaves, petals and even the fruit of the Veluria Thornplant. It still works if you use the other things too, but just like a normal pipe.

If you use Veluria, then your mind will be clear. It'll keep your mind safe from illusions, hypnotism and many other mental attacks. Long term use will increase your mental defenses permanently. Though, do try to smoke this in moderation since the negative effect is overconfidence. At first glance, it might not be much, but it is a deadly thing to any man."

Keith silently nodded as he stared at the pipe as he remembered reading about similar effects in the novel. The one who had this pipe was a side character who wasn't given much importance, and he did die after doing multiple dumb things in a row.

'Overconfidence huh...' he thought and immediately knew that this thing alone could bring him close to being his ideal self, being him close to being like Clark but he absolutely hated this idea. It was his self control and overthinking that pushed him this far, made him avoid most of the dangerous situations.

But even then, he couldn't help but want to use the pipe. The positive effects of clearing his mind and improving his mental defenses was a hard thing to say no to, especially for Keith since he knew how dangerous it was to have a weak mind.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Thank you, and um I do wish to trade my cursed artifacts. I have two."

"No." Maria proclaimed before pointing at the pipe, "You're the first owner, so you must give it a grand name."

Kieth's gaze moved from her cute face to his pipe before he flatly said, "Okay, I'll call it a Smoking Pipe."

"....."