Chapter 1399 (Patreon)

After taking a day to deal with other issues, check in on people and generally have a bit of time to relax, I returned to the newly created anchor in the old shrine, ready to work on the library crystal some more. 

The only issue was, the shrine wasn’t empty, though that might have been because it was early evening, and the people inside were somewhat busy, or at least they were intense. Intensely focused on the library crystal I wanted to examine, or rather, on the Altar the crystal was set into. Their focus, or maybe devotion, was so complete that they didn’t even notice my appearance. For a moment, I was utterly annoyed with that; people shouldn’t have that sort of tunnel vision, these sorts of blinders. However, my disdain faded moments later when I remembered that I was just as bad, maybe worse, at least when I had something interesting to examine. Hadn’t I been so focused on the library crystal that Anise had walked up to me, getting close enough to kill me if she was so inclined, and I never even noticed her presence? Just as these people didn’t notice mine? Nobody could claim that I wasn’t capable of impressive displays of hypocrisy, certainly not me. 

Regardless, the people in the shrine were engaged in a service of the religious sort, which was somewhat amusing. Especially as Anise led the service, I briefly wondered whether she had related her embarrassing display before their Goddess. Or maybe she was trying to prepare the locals, so they wouldn’t conduct themselves as pathetically as she had, if they ever came face to face with the deity. After all, it wouldn’t do if this place became known for its leaky faithful; that might attract some very, very weird people. 

Obviously, the service was dedicated to Lady Hecate, making it extra funny. As far as I knew, and given my relationship with the deity in question, I was fairly certain I knew correctly, Lady Hecate didn’t care for mindless followers. She wanted her followers to be magically competent, which was somewhat odd, as magical competence lessened their need to pray for salvation, and even denied Lady Hecate a good deal of power the prayers would usually generate. I wasn’t completely certain why Lady Hecate didn’t care for that power, but I had an inkling that the power generated by followers wasn’t Lady Hecate’s primary power.

Due to my own experiences with apotheosis, I was somewhat confident in the assumption that the Path to Power of a deity was somewhat analogous to that of a mortal. Or rather, that what I considered the Divine path had two distinct parts, one for mortals, who received power from their devotion and one for deities, who received power from the devotion directed towards them by mortals. Using that logic, there was no real reason why the other paths would have to change, so, fundamentally, Lady Hecate was likely walking the Arcane Path as well, just far, far ahead of me.

So, it was quite possible that Lady Hecate had little interest in advancing on the Divine Path, instead focusing her attention on the Arcane Path. She might use the Divine Path to advance her journey on the Arcane Path, possibly by taking inspiration from those like me, or maybe even by teaching. There was no real reason why the system would reward me for teaching magic to others; consequently, there was no reason why Lady Hecate wouldn’t be rewarded for it, too. No reason, other than her divine domain, which really shouldn’t count.

“Great One!” Anise’s voice shook me from my idle contemplations. Suddenly, the Altar and the statues weren’t the primary focus of the small group gathered in the shrine. No, they all turned, their attention instantly transferring over to me. Moments later, the attention sharpened even further, turning rather fervent, when the people recognised the obvious similarities between myself and one of the statues they had been praying to.

A part of me was amused by how obvious their thoughts were. For a moment, after the recognition had hit, they turned hostile. The group likely thought I was somehow modelling myself after the statue, or maybe that I had manipulated the statue at some point in the past, making it look like me. Which was technically correct, but completely off-base at the same time, which might just be the most amusing way somebody could be correct.

But then, moments later, after they realised that Lady Hecate was a very real being, with very, very real powers and the ability to kick anything and anyone she didn’t approve of out of her shrine, the general mood took an abrupt turn. Because once that realisation had hit, it became obvious that I had divine approval, which I also underpinned a little by letting my own power flood into the small space, mingling with the somewhat faint and subtle power the shrine contained innately. Lady Hecate’s power wasn’t terribly potent in this space, not without somebody channelling and directing it, but I was fairly certain that the locals could feel that my power mingled readily with Lady Hecate’s, without either side trying to subjugate the other.

“Didn’t I ask you to call me Jade?” I asked Anise, feeling a little annoyed at the deference she displayed, as her behaviour was already being copied by the rest of the faithful. 

“Certainly, Madame Jade,” she nodded, her tone submissive but with an incredibly faint trace of determination, making it somewhat obvious that she wouldn’t budge on the address, not unless I was very forceful about it. For a moment, I considered going that far, but then I simply discarded the idea. The address was a little annoying, but really not worth the hassle. Even correcting her by giving her my adopted last name was too much effort for too little gain, so I simply let it stand with a sigh. Some battles weren’t worth the fight. 

“Whatever,” I sighed, “And shouldn’t you teach these people magic, not make them recite empty platitudes to Lady Hecate?” I asked, opening my senses up a little to get a better idea of the local magical talent. Anise had proven to be exceptionally talented, as expected of someone Lady Hecate had recruited directly, but the rest were not as impressive. Far from it, really; their talents were remarkably average, with only two people sticking out, one on the positive side, the other not so much. Neither was exceptional, but I would have considered teaching the better example. The only way the other would be successful on the Arcane Path would be as a Warlock, but given that Lady Hecate had asked me to keep their numbers down, I had no problem keeping that off the table.

“We are faithful,” one of them, the least talented one for Arcane Magic, rebutted, sounding rather angry at the idea, while Anise blushed, looking down in shame at my admonishment. Maybe she had tried to teach them, but not managed to get the lessons through some dense or empty skulls. 

“Great,” I replied, my voice as dry as the desert, “I’m sure Lady Hecate is happy that some talentless hack knocks on her door every time he can’t handle a problem. It’s what any Master of the Arcane would want: to get hassled by those who can’t walk the path due to their lack of talent and determination,” I mocked the guy, not even trying to hide a disdainful snort. 

“We are faithful!” the guy repeated, his voice now loud and hard with anger. To my amusement, he then tried to draw upon Lady Hecate’s power, only for said power to backfire, the divine energy he tried to gather in his hands exploding in a shower of sparks and concussive force. Not a lot, but more than enough to send him ass over teakettle. 

“Impressive,” I scoffed, looking down at the dazed guy. “Is that the quality of people you want to induct to the Arcane Path?” I asked, looking at Anise now.

It was rather amusing. Anise looked almost as mortified as she had the previous day, when she managed to wet herself before Lady Hecate. Only now, the anger and mortification were directed at the guy who had made an ass of himself and the Faithful of Lady Hecate by proxy. 

“Leave,” Anise commanded, her voice harsh and hard. The downed guy grinned up at me, thinking that Anise was angry with me, but her ire was squarely directed at the fool. It took the guy a few moments to realise that the situation was very much not in his favour, that even Lady Hecate herself was against him. At that point, he picked himself up, mumbling angrily as he walked out of the shrine.

For a moment, I considered altering the guy’s memories. Maybe making it so that he wouldn’t be able to remember what Anise had taught him, especially when it came to communing with the divine. Otherwise, I might just watch a future faithful of Sunna walk out of the shrine. Given my luck and the Sun Goddess' dislike for me, that was a disturbing possibility.

So, I made a mental note to sneak later, just to make sure this wouldn’t become a problem in the future.

“Now, the Arcane Path, and why you should strive to solve your own problems instead of bothering a deity,” I began, addressing the congregation. Not quite what I had in mind when waking up, but correcting and educating these people was a worthwhile effort.