Myths Reawakened

Ines cursed with three parts grievance and ninety-seven parts dissatisfaction. Anyone would think that She had been set up by Her bestie. If not for Wayne’s friction with Her earlier, he would’ve thought the same. Now...

He wasn’t sure.

His instinct told him that the disciplinary teacher had no worldly desire and would never develop romantic impulses, but the facts spoke for themselves. She didn’t leave when She could’ve left.

“Ahem!” Wayne cleared his throat. “Ines, earlier...”

“Shut up!” Ines scowled at Wayne. Who told you to address me so casually? That was an accident. Also, would you stop blushing?

Has anyone told you that your blushing face looks punchable? My hands are itching.

Ines took a deep breath. She would like to say that he should take responsibility, but the words were stuck in Her throat. She shook Her head to stop Wayne. This was it. Let them pretend that nothing had happened.

Wayne appeared shocked. If Ines had said that he should take responsibility, he would have thought that She had done that on purpose, that it was Her making extra investment after sensing the descent of the Goddess of Sun and the Goddess of Moonlight. The fact that Ines said nothing was at odds with Her principle of prioritizing interest...

So that wasn’t an investment!

His look of shock infuriated Ines, but She wasn’t going to let Her losses be in vain. If Wayne had misunderstood, he should keep misunderstanding Her.

Because of the progress in their relationship, Ines couldn’t be bothered with playing the shrewd seductress. She said calmly, “The Goddess of Sun and the Goddess of Moonlight met you. What did they say to you? Have they spoken ill of me?”

“More than that, they even cursed you out. You don’t know how harshly Siluk and Kaleb have insulted you.” Wayne immediately went into businessman mode and criticized the two goddesses’ immoral actions of talking behind their fellow goddess’s back.

“You-you learned of their names...” Ines said, incredulous. “Tell me, how did you do it? Did you anger them with my name?”

“More or less.”

“Ha, you’re good at doing business,” Ines scoffed. “Leveraging the opposition between light and darkness, you’ve played both sides and earned a fortune.”

“I’ve earned more from you.”

“...”

That effectively terminated the conversation.

Ines had never experienced something this vexing. She fixed Wayne with an icy stare and said, “Think before you speak. I’m here to do business. If you aren’t willing to negotiate, I’ll leave now.”

She sounded resentful, at least to Wayne’s ears. Moreover, it didn’t sound like she was talking about business, but demanding an explanation from him.

Wayne had no explanation to give. He pretended that the earlier exchange hadn’t happened and said decisively, “You may not believe it, but the Goddess of Death called dibs first.”

“Do you know her real name?”

“No.”

“Then she doesn’t have the first claim!” Ines’s voice turned icy. “I don’t know what she’s told you, but she’s not worthy of your trust. No matter what happens, do not feel sympathy for her.”

What? Do you know that I know about the Underworld?

Wayne raised an eyebrow. He was about to ask when Ines spoke up first, “Tell me. What did Siluk and Kaleb offer you? You can exaggerate it, and I’ll raise the stake.”

They can never outdo you no matter how much they give me. You’re the number two shareholder, second only to the Goddess of Death.

Wayne wordlessly showed Her the map.

Surprised, Ines gave him a look. “I’ll give you a free piece of information. This is the legacy of the Life Alliance—in its former iteration when Death and I were still part of it. Everyone was doing their best to acquire knowledge, but five goddesses were cowards, and their cowardice allowed them to survive.”

“Corrupted knowledge?”

“Yes.”

Wayne nodded. That was what he had thought. The knowledge originated from the Astral Plane and hadn’t been filtered, thus containing a plethora of truths of the Void. Knowledge from the Void was primitive and unreasonable. It was like having the ancient god murmur into one’s ear, leading to knowledge being twisted beyond its original form.

Or perhaps the ancient god’s murmurs were part of the knowledge, and learning the knowledge would be akin to listening to the ancient god’s murmurs.

The way to differentiate knowledge and reject the evolution of the Void was esoteric. Based on the progression of mages, it could be inferred that vitality barriers could temporarily protect Gold-ranked mages and allow them to enter and exit the Astral Plane. Vitality fields could allow legendary mages to enter the Astral Plane while rejecting knowledge and change. Vitality domains allowed one to bestow their own knowledge upon others, creating unstable vassals through corruption.

Beyond that, the Divine Domains and the Divine Realms that existed independently in the Astral Plane, as well as the great amount of knowledge that the gods possessed, all pointed to one thing: gods’ accumulation was inexplicably linked to faith!

Before becoming gods, none could reject the truths of the Astral Plane. To avoid becoming assimilated to the Astral Plane, one had to find sacrifices to shoulder the burden. That was where the followers came in!

The followers worshipped their gods and learned faith magic or divine arts from their gods, thus gaining their knowledge. At the same time, the followers were sharing the corruption from the Astral Plane for their faith.

In the mortal realm, the more powerful a mage was, the more serious their insanity. Moreover, most legendary mages shared one common trait: they never respected their faith as much as they appeared to. If possible, they would rather go to Hell than go to a Divine Realm.

That explained why the legendary mages were so unhinged.

However, gods’ knowledge had been thoroughly purified. Those who didn’t believe in gods and tried to find their future path on their own, like the legendary mages who had entered the Astral Plane, never fared well.

Knowledge came with a price. Worshipping a god was a much smaller price than the consequences of exploring the Astral Plane on one’s own. In fact, mages didn’t even have to offer their faith!

Did a free mage have faith? No!

Were the legendary mages who had betrayed their gods devout? No!

Did gods care? Gods did not care. Anyone who could share the burden for them would be qualified as a follower.

As Wayne grew stronger, he had come to grasp the truth—or perhaps it should be called the unspoken rules between the gods.

While he was all pale, and his whispers were noisier than any other’s, able to reshape those under prolonged exposure, it was an active offensive skill. The knowledge he possessed was in fact the purest.

He didn’t know what was happening in the Divine Realms, but the Divine Realms were able to exist in the Astral Plane without being corrupted, and inside, the gods were able to protect their sacrifices. Clearly, gods earned the right to filter knowledge after reaching godhood.

Thinking about the Pale Moon and the Twilight Sun, Wayne speculated that the two goddesses had once been diligent students. After becoming gods, they weren’t able to cut out the chaotic knowledge of the Void in their bodies, and their thoughts became severely corrupted. While they hadn’t been transformed into Astral beings, it was a close thing.

The ones able to take steady steps and had thus undergone the least corruption were Nature, Death, and Darkness. Nature was the most corrupted, Death, the second, and Darkness, the least.

Sun and Moonlight probably didn’t even dare enter the classrooms after becoming gods.

“No wonder one is a PE teacher teaching outdoors, and the other is a music teacher teaching piano in the music room...” Wayne shook his head, entertained by his imagination.

“The legacy of the Life Alliance came from fallen gods, the demigods struggling to reach godhood. They either died in the War of Faiths or died of their own insanity, their thoughts gone. Only their irrational knowledge remains...”

“Or perhaps the knowledge is corruption we’ve isolated and sealed up for later use,” Ines said slowly. “The knowledge can be used to create demigods and subordinate gods, or it can be learned. As long as one can take the price, everything is possible.”

“I get it now,” Wayne said. “Those two are up to no good. They know about our relationship and know that by destroying me, you’ll suffer serious losses.”

There’s no relationship between us! Ines cursed inwardly. What did Anastasia’s body have to do with Her? She just felt a—anyway, whatever Wayne thought, She knew She hadn’t done it.

“With your life essence, knowledge shouldn’t be able to corrupt you. Once you acquire the knowledge, though, trouble will follow.” Ines scoffed. “Take a guess. Which goddesses will seek you out then?”

“Everyone other than Death.”

“Yes, including me!”

“Um, Ines, you don’t have to emphasize yourself,” Wayne said carefully. He had moved on, and he hoped that Ines would act with more maturity. Otherwise, things would be awkward for both of them.

“Shut up!” Ines glared at him, breathing out a huff. “If you can’t learn it, you’re doomed. If you learn it, you’re done for. Siluk and Kaleb have ulterior motives. You should stay away from them.”

“Yeah, as you wish.”

...Why are you being so obedient?

Ines seethed. Every word out of Wayne’s mouth grated on Her. She wanted to tear that damn mouth off his face. Still, there was no point crying over spilled milk. She had to control Her feelings for the future. She would get him back one day.

“Speak, Ines!”

I don’t want to!

Ines looked over at the three angels standing behind Wayne, Her eyes narrowed. “What an impressive entourage you’ve got here. Śār Hesione alone isn’t enough, and two extras are sent. You’ve gotten too close to Heaven.”

Hesione nodded to herself. Could the Anointed One really save someone with such strong desires?

Hestia hid her surprise. As expected of the Śār, he had even fooled a god.

Olga paused, wondering if the secretary was actually the Śār, but it was unlikely. There was no reason for the Śār to lie to Frey. Frey wouldn’t dare raise her voice at her direct superior, even resorting to sarcastic insults.

For example, Olga wouldn’t dare curse Mikhael out as a prideful fallen angel and a son of the beach. But Frey had insulted the secretary!

It didn’t seem like an act; Frey must know who the Śār was.

“Heaven has misunderstood me.” Wayne shook his head. “It’s a long story, so I’ll stop.”

“I’d like to hear about it,” Ines asked. “There’s time for you to explain. After all... the more you tell me, the more I’ll invest in you. You won’t lose anything.”

“Um...” Wayne hesitated. “I don’t want your investment now. No matter how much more they invest, they aren’t you.”

Ines stayed silent, Her chest heaving. After a huff, She regained Her composure.

“Stop provoking me. I do care about you. Tell me, what significance does the Anointed One hold for Heaven to invest so much in you, even sacrificing the Śār of Purity?”

The title of the ‘Anointed One’ bugged Ines. She had a feeling that Hesione’s attitude toward Wayne wasn’t strictly business. She genuinely admired him.

That was alarming.

The last existence that the Śārim admired was the Heavenly Father, the first transcendent god who could rival an ancient god.

Ancient gods... Wayne...

Was Wayne the Heavenly Father’s child?