Myths Reawakened

In the end, Siluk still paid the higher price.

She could take it. If a problem could be solved with money, it wasn’t a problem at all compared to the difficulty She faced. She even had to thank Wayne!

Siluk was a late investor, and She had a habit of maintaining the haughty stance of a goddess. As a result, Wayne had little goodwill for Her. Even though She had made the biggest investment, he still ranked Her third, after Kaleb.

Little Pride, times have changed. You’re dropping to number four in rank.

Wayne smiled. He had to plan for his next visit to Hell soon and tell Pride about the sad reality. Someone as prideful as Pride would definitely refuse to accept that he was only ranked fourth.

Pride had to be the top in every ranking!

His strange smile made Siluk take an involuntary step back. Sensing Her now pale thoughts, She found Her heart pounding with doubt.

Before She fell into the rabbit hole, no one could influence Her. After She had fallen into the rabbit hole, She might very well fail to hold onto Her principles and become Wayne’s vassal and puppet. Then no one would be able to bring Her back.

She should’ve considered it longer.

She didn’t detect any orders issued by Wayne’s thoughts. With a complicated expression, She started a group chat and asked Ines what Her plan was.

This trap is too generous. Aren’t you up to something?

Ines huffed. “Don’t project your own narrow-minded assumptions on me. We’re allies. Only when you’re strong can I guarantee my victory.”

That has to be a lie. No doubt about it.

“I know you’re lying, but I still can’t help but believe you for a moment.” Kaleb nodded, curiously asking how far Ines’s distillation of knowledge had progressed.

Wayne’s life essence was an incredibly potent source of corruption. With a single touch, he could claim a goddess’s thoughts at no cost. If they didn’t have their Divine Realms, Kaleb and Siluk would’ve never welcomed the corruption.

With the protection of their Divine Realms, though, they could maintain themselves while isolating their corrupted thoughts in the form of a replica, using it to sort out their knowledge.

The distilled knowledge could be learned with no risk of insanity, allowing them to enter the Astral Plane once more to capture more knowledge.

The entire process was time-consuming, and it was a distinct possibility that they would have to divide another part of their thoughts for Wayne’s corruption to ensure efficiency.

High risk, high reward. Today’s business yielded more reward than the risk, so it was a winning deal no matter how they looked at it.

Siluk, however, was worried about Ines’s other plans exactly because of the benefits... Still, She had stepped into the trap already. She could only take one step at a time.

“Tell me, Ines. You didn’t actually sleep with him, did you?” Kaleb’s eyes glinted. If She had, the price would be way too high.

“What are you thinking?” Ines huffed. “I’m not that kind of goddess. It’s my Holy Maiden he had bedded.”

Siluk nodded. She didn’t think Ines would’ve gone that far, either. After some consideration, She decided to urge Her Holy Maiden to move faster. Galen had been dragging things on for the preservation of her dignity. If she couldn’t do it, she should expect to be replaced. There was no shortage of beautiful women in the Church of Moonlight.

Kaleb shared the sentiment. She didn’t want to lose to Ines.

A bold thought occurred to Her. Since Ines and Siluk didn’t have the courage to do it, if She did, wouldn’t She become Wayne’s top shareholder?

She hesitated. Wayne had left a good impression on Her. The young man reeked of fire elements, which was to Her liking. She could do it. However...

No goddess would volunteer Herself. It would be unbecoming. Besides, an easy conquest wouldn’t be treasured.

Should She give Wayne a chance and see if he would seize it? Kaleb cocked Her head, lost in Her fantastical thought. In the end, She decided to wait and see, sending Holy Maiden Corte to test the waters first. She would try and find out whether the plan was viable.

“I’ll be blunt with you,” Ines said in warning. “I was the one to invite Wayne, and he is my ally. You can do the same, but do not cross the line. You should act like goddesses rather than losing yourselves because you aren’t thinking straight.”

“Who-who do you think you’re talking to?!” Kaleb raged. She wasn’t that kind of goddess.

Siluk sneered wordlessly. Ines should worry about the line Herself.

But then Siluk’s brows furrowed. Ines had already cheated. She believed that the Holy Maiden of Darkness wasn’t the only agent of Darkness by Wayne’s side. There was also a Darkness Knight. Both of them together had lifted Wayne’s goodwill for Darkness.

Siluk pondered. She had the Moonlight Knight, too, but wouldn’t sending her be inappropriate?

Darienne had been serving Moonlight without complaint. Having such a loyal knight take on a diplomatic mission... She remembered Darienne speaking well of Wayne. The positive feelings were already there.

But it wouldn’t be right.

Ines could blatantly ignore Her knight’s feelings, but not the Goddess of Moonlight. However, if Siluk didn’t do it, their ally would lean toward Ines, and all Her investment would go down the drain.

Weighing the sunk cost and Darienne’s loyalty, Siluk made up Her mind. She contacted Darienne, telling her to head to Londan and make an appearance. Whatever that was for, the goddess didn’t say. She hoped that once the knight saw how the Holy Maiden acted, she would come to the conclusion on her own.

If Wayne put on his pants and forgot their names immediately, that wouldn’t be a problem. The superior had made a perfectly legitimate order; it was the subordinates who had misinterpreted it. Darienne couldn’t blame the goddess for not making Herself clear enough when she was the one who misinterpreted the oracle.

Yes, let’s do just that.

Seeing Kaleb and Siluk silently dwell on their own thoughts, Ines hid a smile under Her poker face. She wasn’t worried about them being too competitive, but them not joining the game. As long as Ines slowly upped Her investment, Kaleb and Siluk would sooner or later lose themselves in the gamble, too.

I’ve got this! x3

(一`´一;)

Wayne shuddered, feeling a chill run down his spine. He could make an educated guess that the three goddesses were silent because they were having a private conversation. After some hesitation, he messaged Ines, “What are you doing? Why would you let them take away your advantage? Is that really good for you?”

“Oh? Are you worried?”

“Yes, I’m worried that you’ll get the short end of the stick.”

“At least you aren’t completely shameless,” Ines responded faintly. “You’ve got too big an appetite, Wayne. I can’t raise you to maturity on my own. These two idiots are overconfident and will help accelerate your growth.”

Wayne’s appetite was more than big—it was absurdly immense. Because of the breadth of his life essence, resources that would be enough to make others a demigod could only make him a Gold-ranked mage. Becoming a legendary mage and then a demigod had each cost an astronomical amount of resources.

Ines had reasons to suspect that even if She lost all of Her fortune on Wayne, even selling Herself, it wouldn’t be enough to make him a god.

She had made too much investment to let it go to waste, so She had to attract more shareholders to divide the risks.

Kaleb and Siluk were good candidates. Ines had high expectations for their low intelligence.

The two goddesses had received the gift of corruption and confirmed their future path. After bidding Wayne farewell, they helpfully sent their Holy Maidens back to Londan. It wasn’t safe to leave them in the ruins of the Life Alliance. Ines would certainly make them missing persons.

Wayne and Ines left the ruins, landing on Sicilia Island, Enoria. Wayne jumped off the cliff and approached the old castle of the City of the Sky.

“Ines, I still think something is wrong,” he said. “Aren’t you hiding something from me?”

“You ask when you know I’m hiding it from you?”

Wayne shrugged. “Given our relationship, you may just answer my question.”

Ines smiled. “They are indecisive idiots who will never amount to much. Even as a package deal, they won’t be my match.”

“That’s hard to say,” Wayne said honestly. “I’m easy to tempt. Besides, they aren’t as intelligent as you are. Them being idiots is a plus for me.”

Ines rolled Her eyes. “Can you not say one sentence without angering me?”

“This is flirting.”

“Why don’t you flirt with Ana like this?”

My white moonlight is different!

“Speak!”

“You’re beautiful, Ines.”

“...”

Ines almost rage-quit. She spread her hands in front of Wayne. “Give it. You’ve evolved and become more corrupting and active. I don’t want to lose to them.”

She was in a rush to return to Her Divine Realm. Regarding what She was going to do and how She would deal with Solsknar, She didn’t say, and Wayne didn’t ask.

He took Ines’s hands and corrupted Her thoughts without a question asked. He gave it to Her just because She asked.

Ines didn’t comment on that. It was very much Wayne’s style to treat a sex-payer differently. Something She had to scheme to acquire was now given to Her readily. She only had to ask.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yeah.” Ines nodded. “They have found a way to complement each other and double their efficiency in studying. I need to hurry, or if they overtake me, I’ll need their permission to seek you out.”

She smiled. “What’s wrong? Are you reluctant to let me go?”

“Not really,” Wayne said with a grin. “I’m happy because I’ll see Ana once you leave.”

(눈‸눈)

The disciplinary teacher couldn’t be more furious. She immediately turned to leave. Wayne was never laying a finger on Her again if this was how he was going to act.

Wayne took Her wrist and pulled Her back into his arms without much effort. Lowering his head, he whispered, “My goddess, you’re stunning.”

That appeased Ines. She huffed, changing the subject since She didn’t want to get too lost in this act. “Kaleb and Siluk must have other plans. Remember, do not step into their Divine Realm no matter where you are or what the situation is...”

“They cannot take you into their Divine Realm directly, but they will catch you off guard with deception. Use the trick I taught you, and you’ll be able to avoid their detection.”

“How about the Divine Realm of Darkness?” Wayne asked. “Can’t I enter that, too?”

“If you ever step inside, I’ll make you my slave!” Ines met his eyes steadily. “Don’t give me the chance. I’m afraid I won’t be able to resist it.”

“Should you be telling me that? You have a chance to...”

“Indecisiveness will only lead to failure. Since I’ve made my choice, I will not regret it!” Ines closed Her eyes. “You’d better not disappoint me. Otherwise... hmph...”

Wayne caught Her lips and shut Her up. After some deeper exchanges, the beauty in his arms opened Her eyes, losing the fierceness of a goddess.

It was his white moonlight!

Anastasia looked up with wide eyes. Ines had left her with all the memories from the past few days. She watched everything play out from the first-person perspective, covering her gaping mouth in disbelief.

I didn’t know you were that kind of goddess.

Watching more of it, she concluded that the goddess was mediocre at best, not being able to do this and that.

Anastasia was much better.