1206 Fate is Inevitable Part 2 (1/2)

Saleen's proficiency at astrology was at the pinnacle of level nine. Due to using constellation power frequently, it was seemingly inevitable that he would advance, so when he saw the huge statue of the goddess, he saw a sliver of fate's signs in it.

It seemed that the goddess had predicted that he would build a city there that would serve as the holy city. As such, the temple there served only one purpose—a place for believers to worship.

The goddess' temple fitted the psychology of people of the current era perfect, 10,000 years after the temple was built—extravagant, elegant and exuding an aura of mystery. It had little to no similarities to the practical and simple designs used back when the goddess was alive.

Worse still, the statue was living and was filled with divine crystals!

That meant that even if the Goddess of Myers perished, believers would receive some blessings from worshipping the statue. It was a statue that the goddess created personally.

If she had no idea what was to happen in present time, she wouldn't have crafted such a thing to begin with!

Saleen felt set up. Regardless of how he struggled, there was nothing he could do to change the course of fate. Fate is inevitable. It was a line uttered by holy masters often. However, mages existed because they wanted to take their own fate into their own hands.

The dreaded feeling made Saleen curse again. The tall statue could be manipulated easily. While it was alive, there were no signs of souls or consciousness within it.

It was divine equipment left behind by the goddess for the ones who would come after she perished. With that piece of equipment, believers were provided power even after the goddess perished.

Saleen knew that if he erected the statue in the temple, the holy masters in the entire Nature City would be able to receive divine power by praying to it. The bestowing of power was reciprocal.

Prayers from the believers in times of peace allowed the divine crystals within to coalesce. When there was a need to fight, the divine crystals would then be broken down to powers needed by the believers.

In short, the statue would only grow bigger, unless the number of believers was so small that they were incapable of providing required power of faith to sustain the statue.

Saleen even felt an impulse to just throw the statue into the purgatory of the fallen, but he worried about that too, wondering if the Shackles of the Fallen left behind by the goddess would react in unforeseen ways.

He was concerned that if he threw the statue in, he would have to lose both the 12 Notes of First Purgatory as well as Nailisi.

”All gods are indeed up to no good!” Saleen cursed again before lifting his left hand, trying to summon the statue with the Ring of Gifts on his finger. The statue actually walked towards Saleen with dazed eyes.

Saleen dripped a bit of divine power within the ring and imbued it inside an Eternal Control Shard, before throwing it at the statue, shooting for the statue's forehead.

The statue absorbed the power of the goddess in a frenzy immediately, which naturally resulted in the shard between left within the head of the statue. Saleen only felt somewhat relieved then.

If a soul manifested within the statue, it would immediately be absorbed by the shard. With that, the statue would never be able to pose a threat to him.

The statue quieted down after absorbing divine power. The dazed expression in its eyes was gone and turned completely into an unmoving statue.

Saleen stored the statue inside a dimension stone, thinking that if he destroyed the statue, none of his mages would have to ever worry about insufficient mental powers.

Divine crystals were best for replenishing mental powers. Holding just a standard-sized piece of crystal would double a mage's mental powers.

Wouldn't destroying the statue invoke a punishment from the goddess though? While Saleen had to decide, it was not the time to do so. When his proficiency of astrology reached level 15, it would nullify all curses from the gods. If his proficiency in magic reached level 15, it would block curses from the gods as well.

Other than slowing down his progress in magic training, there were little trouble practicing astrology. At the very least, it would not cost him his magic chords like if he took up faith in the gods.

Saleen knew that his talents were not like Jason and paled in comparison to Truman. However, luck was on his side, which was why his speed at advancement far surpassed mages whose talents were superior to his. He deemed it inconvenient to break the statue, as it might cost him his luck.

The Goddess of Myers sure knows her way in calculations!

It reminded Saleen of how the grandmaster treated him. The super powerful beings saw common people the same way—things that they could manipulate as they fancied.

How about Gaine then? Wouldn't he be hiding something from me too? Saleen shut the thought down immediately. Other than his teacher, no one else had been as helpful in furthering his training than Gaine. The astrologer could be said to be his teacher of sorts as well.

”Your Highness?” Don sensed something out of place and called Saleen with an inquiring tone.

”I'm alright. Yeah, does your spear need recrafting?”

”No need for that, Your Highness. I only need my weapon to be resilient and sharp. Any other attributes would simply get in the way of my fights.” Don was filled with confidence when it came to his profession.

”That wouldn't be the case, Don. You need to placate your subordinates. Be it to reward or to punish them, there is a need for a standard, especially in the case of reward. I'll give you divine equipment and warrior equipment. Don't go around giving them like they cost nothing. I'm putting everything in your hands. Reward and punish your people in accordance to a strict standard.” Saleen did not bother concealing such methods from Don.

Don listened and figured it was probably how Saleen manipulated his people as well.