786 - 794

Arrangement

In order for Leylin's plan to succeed, a clone was of utmost importance. Because he could not use his soul seed, it was necessary that he separated a part of his truesoul and give it enough authority to act independently.

Leylin had already obtained the technique to split his truesoul from Melinda, and the method to control it had just been given by Ignox.

"Next is to fuse these two techniques and find out ways to reincarnate in another world… With the Manderhawke Plate's ability, my clone will then secretly enter the World of Gods… Since it will be an entirely independent body, my truesoul clone will also be considered a native of the World of Gods and won't be monitored too closely, so I can quietly grow in strength…

"Even if I fail, I'll only lose a clone. If I luck out, I won't even need to take over the World of Gods. As long as I fuse with that clone once more and absorb all the origin force of the World of Gods from it, I'll gain immense benefits… Obviously, if I do succeed, then the whole World of Gods shall be mine!" Leylin's eyes burnt with fervour.

Since he had his goal set now, he could begin the rest of the preparations.

While a deep sleep lasted hundreds of years for some existences of laws, Leylin had a pile of things to take care of. On top of that, he had plans for his family and descendants. It did not take him too much time or effort to deal with these common things, but the sense of satisfaction they gave him made it all worth it.

The entrance of the laboratory that had been silent for a long time revealed a dark path. The brass lampstand emitted a hazy luster, and the undying flames above it continued to emit bright, blazing flames and heat.

"With a life span of over a hundred thousand years, it feels like a hundred years passed in the blink of an eye…"

Leylin looked grim as he walked out through the secret pathway and arriving at the outer world.

On an afternoon in a castle, the warming rays of the winter sun shone down, creating a cosy feeling. There was even some snow on the peaks of a few hills surrounding the castle, while also having some life around.

The place Leylin had exited from was the core area where security was at its strictest in the castle.

In the castle, many high-ranked Warlocks supervised and patrolled. The castle had an atmosphere of splendour and grandeur.

Every underground patrolling Warlock's' eyes was filled with reverence towards the castle.

What they were guarding was the most powerful Monarch in the central continent! The pride of bloodline Warlocks, the rank 6 Warlock and the most powerful of the Ouroboros Clan, Leylin Farlier— And this was his castle!

Yes, this castle was the newly-built core power of Leylin's power in the south coast, and the main camp of the whole Farlier family.

"The Targaryen Castle is still the same as it was before!"

Leylin chuckled slightly, disappearing in mid-air and instantly arriving in the hall of the castle.

Numerous ceremonial items began to shake and produced the most splendid music. The throne at the centre began to release a black radiance, as if welcoming the arrival of an emperor.

With a flash, Leylin sat on the throne, the upper part of the throne automatically curving to allow Leylin to sit very comfortably.

"Mm, not bad!" Leylin nodded, and then sensed an elated conscient in the hall. This belonged to the emotional undulations of the castle.

With Leylin's ability, just the powerful radiation that he unwittingly gave off could, within a short period of time, completely modify the Targaryan Castle.

When he had first built it, Leylin had also intentionally vitalised the materials of the castle due to his radiation and modifications.

The whole Targaryen Castle had long since become a real ancient Magus castle that did not lose out to the famed ancient Magi castles in the central continent. It had even created a conscient of its own, serving under Leylin.

The whole castle also had all sorts of mysterious abilities and powerful defences.

"Without my approval, perhaps rank 5 or 6 Magi might find it difficult to just move around in here!"

Leylin was rather confident of this fact.

"Notify everyone that I'm here!" Leylin patted the armrest of his seat.

*Clang! Clang!* At the heart of the Targaryen Castle, atop a large black bell tower, a cumbersome brass carillon began to move even without wind, producing dull sounds that somehow seemed to penetrate through everything.

The heavy carillon resounded in the whole castle, causing many Warlocks to watch with their mouths wide open in shock.

"Ni- Nine times in a row? This signal…"

A newly advanced Warlock looked stunned, as if he had seen something unthinkable.

"You're really lucky, kid, that you managed to witness the moment lord Bloodline Monarch leaving his research!" Beside him, his team leader had given him a ruthless shove to his chest, with some desolateness in his voice, "It's a pity that the central meeting hall is not a place we can go to… Only the enforcers, housekeepers and family of the Bloodline Monarch have the authority to enter…"

"Enforcers? I'll reach that point someday! When that happens, I'll…"

The young Warlock eyes seemed to be ablaze.

"Do your job well!" The team leader patted his head and then laughed encouragingly.

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

After the clanging of the bell, bundles of jade-green flames burnt within the discussion hall.

Every once in a while, figures could be seen coming out from the flames, bowing to Leylin respectfully and then standing by their assigned seat, eyes full of fervour.

Amongst them were obviously people who had yet to have the ability to shift locations easily. However, since this was the Targaryen Castle, this sort of teleportation was not an issue with Leylin personally allowing this, as well as help from the castle itself.

"Father!"

An even larger bundle of green flames burst into a blaze, revealing two Warlocks' figures.

The leading one was obviously Syre from before. He looked somewhat similar to Leylin, his long black hair and eyes full of a mysterious charm.

The unique aura of Warlocks hovered about him, giving him a deadly attractiveness.

Standing beside Syre was Freya, dressed like an upper-class woman. Now, however, her eyes concealed some sort of grudge and bitterness.

"Freya, come!"

Leylin waved them over and got Freya to sit beside him, accepting the greetings from everyone else.

He was actually aware of her unhappiness towards him.

It was a pity that what Freya truly wanted was something Leylin could not give her.

For Leylin, he could spend a bit more time to arrange things for the people or matters he knew well, but he could not keep staying by their sides.

His gaze was always on the distance, attracted by the glamour of eternity.

Before he reached his goal, Leylin would not halt his footsteps.

However, Freya evidently loved him. She did not mind if Leylin played around outside indulging in sensual pleasures, but she was very dissatisfied with Leylin doing an experiment for a whole century.

While she hid this sentiment, Leylin still realised it.

It was a pity that it was impossible for Leylin to yield to her in this matter. He could only make it up to her with other methods. Perhaps, after truly gaining eternal life and freedom, would he then have the time to accompany her without restrictions.

Now, under the steps were a large number of high-ranked Warlocks aside from Syre. They were all Leylin's housekeepers and enforcers in the castle, and their eyes were filled with fervent zealousness.

It was as if Leylin was a god in their eyes.

After the burdensome etiquette was done with, Leylin asked a few questions, mostly regarding the latest news of the Ouroboros Clan.

After getting his answers, Leylin was now up to date with the development of the organisation under him.

The Ouroboros Clan had long since gone through a complete transformation. With the limitless benefits from the underground trade, they not only had control of the south control but was also spreading towards their surrounding organisations.

Even the branch in the central continent was working out well, its reputation there flourishing even more than it had been.

The Farlier Family made rapid progress. Syre and Daniel, the two second generation descendants had already grown, and there were even a surge of talents from the third and fourth generation descendants.

Of course, many of them were fervently being sought out by many bloodline nobility, and it was obvious they would find many troubles with this in the future.

"Syre, you did very well with the underground trade!"

Leylin apathetically praised Syre as he watched the other Warlocks below.

"The reason I came out was to notify everyone that I intend to go through with experiments at an even deeper level. The next time we meet might be hundreds or even over a thousand years later. In the time I'm not here, I will hand everything regarding the Ouroboros Clan and Farlier Family over to my wife and beloved son, Freya and Syre…"

The other high-ranked Warlocks had long since gotten used to this sort of commands. After all, Leylin had done the same thing in the past and pushed the responsibility to others. This was just making things official.

Meanwhile, Leylin's nonchalant attitude towards the hundreds of years that might pass gave rise to the envy of these Warlocks.

Experiments that would last for over a thousand years? For Warlocks like them, not getting past the hurdle of Morning Star meant they might not even live through one round of Leylin's experiments…

Truesoul Splitting

"Father… you…" After hearing Leylin's of intentions, Syre couldn't hold himself back even if the Warlocks sitting below had no objections. At the same time, although her expression hadn't really changed Freya was already tightly clasping her dress.

Leylin noticed all of these minute movements.

"Of course, before the experiment, I'll definitely make time to stay with you…" Leylin glanced at Freya and consoled her.

Meanwhile, his eyes scanned across those below him, "Everyone, please allow me some time to be with my family…" Since Leylin had spoken, the high-ranked Warlocks naturally did not say more and bid farewell, leaving the space to the family of three with the highest authority.

"I'm sorry, Freya, but there's a reason I have to do this!" Leylin watched his wife apologetically, "I promise! This temporary parting is all preparation for us to be together for eternity… Please believe in me…"

Freya's eyes reddened, and Syre scratched his head.

"Alright, let's not talk about stuff that will dampen our moods. Send the order for a banquet to be prepared! I'll spend good time with you for now." Leylin watched Syre tenderly and smiled.

...

Several months had already passed by the time Leylin had returned to his laboratory once more.

At the thought of how he'd been rushing everywhere for these months, even Leylin could only rub his nose and laugh wryly.

There was not just Freya and Syre in his family. Whether it was Celine and his son in Twilight Zone, Belinda, her sister and Aegnis in the underground Alabaster City and the rest who hadhad intimate relations with him, all needed to be pacified.

While the time he spent with each of them was short, the amount of time it added up to came to a terrifying amount.

Of course, with Leylin's personality, he only spent more effort appeasing Freya and a few others. The rest of the women were consoled with just some transmissions.

After all, Leylin clearly knew which women held more importance to him.

"Besides taking care of those affairs, there was also the development of the Ouroboros Clan and the Farlier Family…"

Leylin merely set a rather approximate aim when it came to this and got his subordinates to do the rest. With Syre and Daniel, the two rank 6s in charge, there was little he needed to worry about.

"Next… is to vigorously do research on reincarnation techniques and do all I can to make a strategy for the World of Gods!"

Leylin's eyes displayed his anticipation as he immersed himself in experiments and research.

Time flowed like water, and the years passed by in a blur. Things of the world outside his word seemed to lose all importance to Leylin, who'd sunk into experiments and getting proof.

In his mind, the truesoul splitting technique he had gained from Melinda, the method to maintain control over a truesoul clone that he had obtained from Ignox and many other techniques were already being broken up and re-organised to form an even more complex and profound body.

The mysteries of the truesoul began to unveil itself before Leylin, allowing Leylin to touch on the truth of the world on a deeper level.

"Universe and truesoul, macroscopic and microscopic, matter and conscient… At the very heart of it, everything mysteriously has its similarities. Is this the secret of the universe?"

Leylin looked intoxicated.

In front of him, dazzling starlight fused into one body, yet its form seemed to be constantly changing.

From the outside, its eemed to be an irregular spheroid formed of starlight. There were scenes of the explosion of the universe and shrinking of the black hole, which then gradually formed into a human figure.

[Beep! Completion of Rank 7 spell— Alternative World Reincarnation. Referenced material: 'Soul Splitting Technique', 'How to control your soul— Enoja', 'Exploring the mysteries of the world', 'Truesoul concealment— Basics for Devils']

The A.I. Chip's prompt sounded, followed by an even more detailed introduction to the spell.

[Alternate World Reincarnation. Rank 7 spell. Ability to split the truesoul of the main body and project the body to another world to be reincarnated. The main body will have absolute control over the truesoul clone and synchronise completely with the world origin force's frequency, getting treatment as a native would.]

In the Magus World's history, there were few rank 7 spells, and much less spell models to record them.

This was because the existences of laws, after reaching rank 7, could make use magic at its source and bypass the process of using the spell model.

Besides, spells at rank 7 and above usually needed the corresponding power of laws as the basis, and had no properties that allowed it to be used widespread.

The spell formation that Leylin had specially developed was much different from the original soul splitting technique.

"It can be said that this 'Alternate World Reincarnation' is actually a new method of traversing to another world. If used on an ordinary person, it would still have the same effect."

Leylin's lips quirked up into a smile.

His rank 7 spell not only made use of the intelligence of Melinda and Ignox, but also included what he felt was important.

Amongst this was the A.I. Chip's simulation analytical skills as well as the transformation by the world origin will.

In his reincarnation spell, the truesoul had to go through a transformation by the world origin force. Hence, the clone that successfully descended into the World of Gods would be no different from a native, and even gods would not notice.

Only with these would his clone have enough space and time to develop.

Of course, because the clone had abandoned all its original abilities and lacked any power from the main body, the clone would start off in the weakest state.

However, with Leylin's truesoul memories, the clone would definitely grow quickly and then begin to spy on the domains of the gods.

It was only after reaching the realm of the gods and synchronising with the world origin force that the clone would possibly coordinate with the main body, in order to break through the barrier of the crystal wall.

"The theoretical and practical experiments for these have been completed. What's next is to put everything into practice…"

Leylin looked very grim. Neither the splitting of his truesoul and reincarnating it in the World of Gods were simple tasks.

Even with Leylin's semi rank 7 body of laws, he had to treat this very seriously.

"So I've finally reached this point?"

Leylin's eyes were filled with emotion. All his memories flashed before his eyes, from starting off as an ordinary little noble that developed into a being filled with fear in the Magus World, to his memories of glory and splendour afterwards.

Leylin's mind lingered with the mysteries and vastness of magic, the glory and mystery of the World of Gods, as well as the limitless strength system and the supreme truth.

Now, he was completely giving up the path the ancient Magi had walked, entering the World of Gods in order to search for the origin or to meet his end.

The slight wavering in his emotions was suppressed by him in the blink of an eye.

Soon, his eyes went back to a state that was impervious to desires and passions.

Leylin arrived in the astral laboratory. Here, an astral gate exactly the same as before had been rebuilt.

The large stone gates and the strange, simple patterns seemed to be narrating some ancient and great history.

"Manderhawke Plate!" Leylin's right hand flickered with light, and a round stone plate appeared. There was even a large part missing at its edge, as if something had taken a bite out of it.

"Based on the data from the previous experiment, I've modified it further and made an imitation Manderhawke Plate with the addition of some other materials!"

Leylin's eyes flashed as the A.I. Chip's robotic voice sounded.

[Manhark Plate (Imitation). Weight: 2451g. Effect: Weaken world force, makes it convenient for transmission of energy. This is an imitation, made from the Manhark Plate Beezlebub possesses. Holds 46.5% of power of the original. Maker: Leylin Farlier.]

"Mm! Compared to the previous inferior versions which only had 20 – 30% the effects of the original, this imitation is evidently more powerful. It should help the plan work more smoothly…"

Leylin touched his chin, suddenly looking resolute, "Let's begin!"

*Rumble!* A dazzling golden, blazing sun slowly appeared from behind him.

This was a projection of Leylin's truesoul, representing a peak rank 6 Warlock. This was the strength of the highest quality soul!

The golden soul flames that appeared physical wreaked havoc in the laboratory . Besides the astral gate, everything was incinerated into nothing.

"First up… the splitting of the truesoul!"

Leylin looked incomparably grave. Based on the technique to split the truesoul into two, a powerful tearing force entered his point mass.

At the heart of the point mass, which was where a Magus' soul and strength gathered, the peak rank 6 truesoul began to tremble abruptly.

Pain! The intense pain of tearing one's soul apart! Leylin bore the sudden attack, which made him turn pale with cold sweat running down profusely.

At his back, his blazing sun truesoul quivered, and even the Targaryan appeared, producing hisses of misery and suffering.

"Hah! Split!"

Leylin looked extremely malicious, as if a devil from hell. With his yell, a white streak of electricity fell, striking the figure behind him.

*Crash!*

The golden sun split in an instant, forming two truesouls, one larger than the other.

"Ugh—" At the moment his truesoul was split, Leylin's mind went completely blank, and his eyes were filled with confusion.

"Such weakness…"

Once he completely regained his senses, he forced a smile as he sensed the terrifying injuries to his truesoul.

"Just breaking off a small part of my truesoul is already so terrifying…"

Leylin gazed at the two irregular truesouls. While they had both turned into flaming suns, the physically larger one was obviously tens of times bigger than the smaller truesoul.

Alternate World Reincarnation

"Injuries to the truesoul are the most terrifying. Even existences of laws will sink into a deep sleep in order to heal them…" Leylin laughed wryly, "This is a result of splitting a small part of my truesoul. If it's anything like what Beezlebub did, it's very possible that my main body would just die…"

The phantom Targaryen behind Leylin's back withered and slowly disappeared. A bit of faint red light flew out from between his brows and disappeared into his hand, flashing like a firefly. This was the smaller truesoul that Leylin had split. The experiment had to begin immediately, lest it dissipate from prolonged exposure to the external world.

"Astral gate, open!" Leylin huffed in a low voice, and a procedure identical to before was executed. His soul force waded through the long astral river until it arrived at the tremendous crystal wall surrounding the World of Gods.

"Manderhawke's Plate!" The stone plate in Leylin's hands came to the crystal wall, emitting a light that caused a portion to seem to be on the verge of melting.

At the moment a channel opened through the crystal wall, Leylin's eyes brightened and immense rank 7 spell undulations were emitted from his body. "Rank 7 spell— Alternate World Reincarnation!"

Time seemed to stop in that instant. That bit of truesoul in Leylin's hands was enveloped in the brilliance of the Alternate World Reincarnation spell as it disappeared into the World of Gods.

Everything happened quickly. Once it was done, the Manderhawke Plate exploded into powder, and the crystal wall from before closed itself quickly with no trace of a flaw.

"It's all up to the truesoul now…" The huge astral gate gradually collapsed, and Leylin could only smile wryly.

With his serious injuries, he could only slumber in his laboratory, recuperating with time as he controlled his clone in the World of Gods.

"These injuries are enough for me to sleep for a few hundred years. If I don't get any benefits from the World of Gods, it would be such a huge loss…" With this thought, Leylin's body disappeared into the ground under the laboratory.

With the slumber of his main body, all of his attention was focused on that clone.

The brainwashing and refining from a world origin was a very terrifying process.

Leylin's truesoul could sense that ever since he entered the World of Gods, terrifying energy whirlpools had formed next to him, tirelessly washing away all traces of the power he used to possess.

Evidently, this was an effect of the rank 7 spell, Alternate World Reincarnation. It allowed Leylin to reach the core of the World of Gods and be altered by the origin itself.

Once this modification was over, he could perhaps wash off all traces of being from another world and truly become a native of the World of Gods.

This alteration happened extremely quickly. The luster of the Manderhawke Plate had diminished by a huge degree after opening just the external layer of the crystal wall, and after opening up the World of Gods, it had been directly destroyed with no traces of it left at all.

Next was the power of the rank 7 spell, the reincarnation spell that allowed Leylin to arrive in this world. Its luster gradually dissipated.

Just like stripping off a greatcoat, once the rays of light of the reincarnation spell dissipated, Leylin's truesoul was fully bared in the immense darkness.

Vastness! Terror! Boundlessness!

This was Leylin's truesoul's first thoughts. Compared to this enormous world, his little truesoul was nothing and couldn't even be compared to an ant, and it could only tremble in the corner.

The and powerful source immediately invaded into Leylin's truesoul.

The truesoul, which had already been shrunk and condensed to a large degree, surprisingly gradually became slower under the alteration of the world force.

"Even soul force has been forcefully removed…" Leylin's truesoul watched this process, able to only laugh.

The truesoul was constantly altered, to the point that Leylin's own conscience was gradually becoming fuzzy.

Gradually, the changes from the world force went on to the deepest layer of his truesoul, where his memories and his most important elements of self were.

The tremendous soul force ruthlessly invaded it with no intentions of stopping.

"Could it be that… I'm going to be defeated just like this? With such a laughable method?"

Leylin's truesoul was on the verge of death, and only this little thought appeared tenaciously, as if making its last struggle.

*Bzzt bzzt!* At this moment, a bright silver white light shone from Leylin's truesoul memories.

Under the influence of the white rays of light, the world force hesitated for that slight moment, and then let go of Leylin's memories, altering other areas.

"Could… could this be the power of the Alternate World Reincarnation spell? So it still has a bit of energy left, stored in my memories? Or… it's something else?"

Leylin's truesoul was perplexed, but having been diminished to the limit quickly sank into a deep sleep.

Time seemed to stop at this moment, but at the same time, a long time seemed to have passed.

"Where… is this?" Leylin, who regained his consciousness, sized up his surroundings, stunned.

Perhaps 'sizing up' wasn't the right term for it, because he no longer had a body, and naturally had no eyes or organs like that.

What he was now doing was using his senses to explore the area like feelers.

Darkness… It was darkness all around with no light at all. Leylin, who was now conscious, measured up his surroundings and felt helpless.

"Even my truesoul has vanished. I'm just a body that's a mixture of memories and a fragmented soul now?"

Leylin's conscient was suddenly enlightened. At this moment, there seemed to be a black hole in the air that sucked his conscient in.

Leylin's conscient found itself getting dizzy as it sunk into a deep sleep…

"How long have I slept for?"

When his conscient re-awakened, the surroundings had changed once again.

While it was darkness all around, orange-red light could be seen. He could even hear some low hums in his confusion.

Thankfully, while his conscient was weak, Leylin could tell that his conscient was no longer without a source but had something maintaining his life.

"In this state, what I need is to do what I can to reduce consumption of energy and allow the conscient to rest in order to amass more energy…."

Leylin's conscient sank into sleep once more. However, before going back into a slumber, Leylin gave himself a prompt.

The terrifying calculation abilities of his main body now became the most precise stopwatch.

Once it reached 17280 000 in his mind, Leylin reawakened.

"Mm, 17280 000 seconds, which is two hundred days have passed?"

Awake, the conscient was elated to find that it had gotten stronger. There was the obvious feeling of energy being transmitted, as if there was a warm rush unceasingly pouring towards his stomach.

"Stomach? Mm!!!" An electrostatic force swept across him, and immediately after, Leylin felt his right leg twitch.

"This…" His conscient abruptly became clear as he then went through a more detailed probe.

Thanks to this slumber, the area that he could explore expanded, gradually forming the image of a baby hugging his head. The veins and even bones could be seen.

"I have a body now! So what happened was that I've always been in a pregnant woman's stomach as an embryo!"

Leylin abruptly understood.

"So it seems like the Alternate World Reincarnation spell formation succeeded!"

However, Leylin soon found himself at a loss, "Do I have to start off as a baby? This is simply too shameful!"

However, with Leylin's thick skin, this embarrassment only had him turn red for a moment, before he began to consider this situation as if nothing had happened.

"A baby is far too weak. With my current state, my parents should be regular human natives of the World of Gods. It's a pity that in this situation, I have no way to protect myself. I can only leave everything up to fate…"

All the previous energy he possessed had been washed off and removed from him. Even the soul energy that Magi were the most proud of had completely disappeared. Besides a bit of awareness, he was no different from other unborn children and naturally had no way to protect himself.

In addition, just thinking for this moment left Leylin feeling dizzy.

"This isn't good! A baby's brain has yet to fully mature. In this state, I should try my best to withhold my thoughts. It's better to sleep."

Leylin understood everything.

Conscients cannot exist without a body. This was even more so in the World of Gods, where laws were even more stern. Leylin now had lost all his solidified soul energy. His conscient and spiritual force could only rely on this developing body of a fetus and he naturally could not overdo it. If the woman were to have a miscarriage because of this, Leylin would be doomed.

Leylin, who understood this well, could only sink into a deep slumber while hoping this pregnant woman would be safe.

"Ugh…" At this moment, in a port city in the World of Gods.

A noble young lady clutched at her swelling stomach, brows tightly furrowed.

"What is it, darling!"

A young man immediately came over to help her along, looking anxious.

"It's the child. He kicked me…" The woman looked gentle, brimming in the radiance of motherly love.

"What a cheeky fellow!"

The young lad bent down, pressing his ear tightly to the swollen stomach, to which the lady protested coquettishly.

Birth

Waiting was always boring and painful, especially when one's safety was entrusted to someone else. Thankfully, this torture was about to end. Through his own senses, as well as the information he'd obtained from the outside world, Leylin knew he would be born soon.

He'd even felt the invasion of an extraordinary energy during the long pregnancy. It was a pure white positive energy, used to heal and increase vitality. Having experienced it several times, Leylin quickly understood what it was. 'The blessings of a priest! Great!'

This blessing was very beneficial for the development of fetuses, and Leylin naturally accepted it without restraint. What made him even more satisfied was that a family who could afford to call for the blessing of a priest several times would not be ordinary. He was starting in a better environment, so the chances of a successful birth were much higher.

With a good background, he could even have a better life. After all, the chances that those with high social status got were always greater than the what peasants came across. This established trend would never be overturned.

Just as Leylin was pondering over this, he felt the placenta around him tearing, and a terrible odour filled his sense of smell.

Meanwhile, in the master's bedroom at the very centre of a vast manor, the piercing screams of a woman sounded with many panicked voices. "OH! HE'S COMING OUT…"

A nobleman was pacing around on a bright velvet carpet, clenching his fingers so tightly that they had turned pale with stress.

"Don't worry! He's been blessed by the gods, so he will definitely be born safely…" a priest in a white gown consoled him in a gentle voice. On his sleeves were several shining threads of gold, and he had a unique emblem on his chest.

The emblem looked like a thick tome, with some mysterious runes on it. The priest was evidently the bishop of the region, loyal to the God of Knowledge.

His presence wasn't necessary given his status, but this was a family of devout believers of Oguma. They were also his primary supporters in the region, so he'd ended up coming for the birth of their descendant.

"Thank you so much, Bishop Tapris! The Faulen Family will forever remember and abide by the teachings of the God of Knowledge…" The young man did all he could to suppress the anxiety in his expression.

"WAAH!" At this moment, a resonant cry could be heard from the bedroom, causing him to freeze. Immediately after, numerous maids and a wet nurse came to congratulate him, "She's given birth! She's given birth! It's a healthy young master!"

"Really? Let me see him!" The young man's expression was filled with fervour as he took the baby over from the nurse. There were signs of the umbilical cord being cut off on the stomach, but his limbs were thick and sturdy. His blue eyes were as deep as the ocean, and it was especially moving that he was a new life.

Meanwhile, the baby was wailing and bawling away, and the young man was left at a loss.

"What a strong child! God shall bless you!" Tapris had a kind smile on his face, and white light tenderly caressed the child's head. The divine force placated the baby, causing him to fall asleep.

"Please allow me to donate a hundred gold coins to the church to show my humble respect!" The young man told Bishop Tapris, and these words immediately caused him to freeze before the smile on his face widened, "God definitely knows of your goodwill! I will personally pray for the baby as well…"

This bishop had originally intended to take charge of the baptism and even become the godfather of the baby to further deepen his relationship with the Faulen Family. Now, though? A hundred gold coins didn't seem half bad, since it was a huge amount of money.

'Nobles are all sly and greedy. They definitely won't close off all the escape routes they have.' Tapris suddenly recalled the education he'd received and watched the young man meaningfully, but he did not get angry.

After all, ever since he had dedicated the rest of his life to the mighty Oguma, rage and the like had grown rare. The mighty God of Knowledge taught his followers and priests to always remain rational, and fury was the biggest enemy of rationality.

Hence, Tapris seemed rather elegant as he chatted with the young man before hinting that he was going to leave.

Before that, the bishop seemed to remember something. "Oh yes. I've yet to ask the young master's name…"

"Leylin!" Leylin Faulen! This is the name his mother picked for him!" The young man exclaimed excitedly.

"Leylin? That's a good name." The bishop gracefully bade them farewell and left. The young man impatiently entered the labour room, comforting his exhausted wife. However, none of them noticed that the baby who was sleeping peacefully in the cradle opened its eyes for an instant. Its eyes were full of glee before it closed them once more.

Such emotions were an extreme thing for a newborn. Leylin was exclaiming inwardly, 'World of Gods, here I come…'

Leylin was rather satisfied that his name remained the same in this world. It had been intentional; he'd hinted it to his mother from time to time as a fetus in her body.

'So this is my family in this world… I seem to have a good background!' Leylin had seen most of his surroundings in that glimpse. The valuable velvet carpet, the silver crystal chandelier, the soft red brocade duvet, the large curtains embroidered with green daffodils, and lastly the numerous respectful maids and the wet nurse made it clear that Leylin was at least a minor noble in this world, or perhaps one with an even higher status.

After all, not every noble child's birth would warrant the visit and protection of the regional bishop.

The birth was followed by a clamour. His father here was now receiving the friends and family who had come to congratulate them.

His mother beside him was already deeply asleep, while Leylin appeared to be the same. Inside however, he was getting excited.

Leylin took in a deep breath. 'A.I. Chip!'

[Beep! Authorisation to unlock seal has been obtained. Beginning activation procedures.] Familiar robotic sounds could be heard, and immediately after numerous blue virtual lines were projected before Leylin's eyes.

'As expected, the A.I. Chip's here as well!' Leylin's eyes were filled with ecstasy. The A.I. Chip had already been fused with his soul, and the truesoul that had been split naturally carried a portion of the A.I. Chip's abilities. 'No! Only a subroutine of the A.I. Chip has been separated. Still, even just that possesses a large portion of its abilities!' Leylin was very excited.

With his extraordinary knowledge , he could definitely rise up quickly in the World of Gods even if he started off with nothing. With the A.I. Chip's powerful storage system and analytical abilities… Leylin could not begin to imagine the great life he would soon have…

'It's a pity… this is the World of Gods, and the influence of gods permeates every single aspect. I can't be too outstanding… For now, it's necessary to act like all other babies. Otherwise, I'd get suspected or even treated as a foreign force or a being possessed by a devil…'

Leylin was grim. Gods treated the purity of noble bloodlines as an important thing. The bishop that had come today wasn't just a nanny. At the very least, Leylin found many traces of magic in the room, such as [Detection of Evil] and [Soul Defence].

If not for using the rank 7 Alternate World Reincarnation spell and been baptised by the World of Gods' origin, his soul no different from the other natives, he would long since have been discovered. When the time came, even his identity as a noble would not save him.

'Of course, there are also disadvantages of being a native… My strength has been completely removed! Everything is blank right now. I can't even begin to train yet, and I'll have to climb up through the strength system of this world…'

With the baptism by the world origin force, all traces of Leylin being a Magus had been wiped. Besides his memories and the A.I. Chip, he was no different from a baby here.

Most importantly, even though he had numerous high-grade meditation techniques, he could use none of them at all. Those were the paths of Magi, and even if Leylin were to gather spiritual force using those meditation techniques the gods of this world would soon sense the foreign force. This body would suffer the same fate as his soul seed.

'But there must be a way to use spiritual force in the World of Gods… There's no need to hurry. I just need to grow slowly, and I'm bound to find it someday…' Leylin consoled himself.

At this moment, the A.I. Chip completed its first scan. [Beep! Scanning of surrounding humans complete. Establishing database regarding races in the World of Gods.]

'Alright then… Set up my statistics with the average humans of this world.' Leylin instructed.

Neither his original standard of measurement nor the standards of the Heavenly Astral race fit into this context. The former was too low, while the latter started at Morning Star, which was too powerful. He needed to set up a new standard of measurement.

[Beep. Mission established. Scanning host's stats. Beginning generation of database!] The A.I. Chip loyally followed Leylin's commands.

Soon enough, a 3D image of a body appeared in front of Leylin, with concrete information next to it.

The Faulen Family

[Leylin Faulen, Strength: 0.2; Agility: 0.1; Vitality: 0.3; Spiritual Force: 0.7; Condition: Healthy.] The A.I. Chip projected Leylin's current data in a small blue font next to the image in the database. It was a tragic sight.

'Alright… Except for spiritual force which is closer to that of an adult because of the memories I've retained, the rest are standard stats for an infant.' Leylin Was rather embarrassed. He was currently more weak than when he'd first crossed over into the Magus World.

'However… the standards of the adults here are different from those of the Magus World. They can't be compared.'

Leylin understood the new criteria that the A.I. Chip had adopted. The current statistical units represented the standard of the commoners of the World of Gods. As the laws were more rigid in the World of Gods, there were even changes in the physical constants of the world. It was thus perfectly normal for the average stats here to be greater than in the Magus World.

At this moment, the A.I. Chip's voice sounded once more. [Beep! Unknown energy source has been discovered. Radiation is determined to have a beneficial effect on the host's body.]

'Hm?' Leylin identified the location of the problem discovered by the A.I. Chip, and saw a milky white brilliance within his lower abdomen which was continuously spreading outwards.

"This is… the divine force of the bishop from earlier!" Leylin was very certain about this.

"What effect does this radiation have?"

The A.I. Chip quickly gave an answer, [Radiation appears to be in a state of weak radioactive decay. Estimated to completely dissipate in 279 hours, and at the same time increase the host body's strength by 0.1, agility by 0.1 and vitality by 0.2.]

'Is this the blessing of a god?' Leylin laughed sarcastically, 'A privilege that only the strong get!'

Of course, Leylin recognised that this was indeed a privilege. With these blessings, his growth would definitely surpass his peers. He would also possess greater strength and a more well-built physique when he grew older.

'The disparity between classes is set from birth! The difference in the starting lines mean that the children born of the commoners are destined to be unable to match up to the children born of nobility, favoured by the gods. Even if they put in a hundred times more blood, sweat and tears, and get a little lucky, perhaps all they can see are the backs of those noble children.'

Although Leylin was confident in eventually reaching the peak even if he started off as a lowly commoner, he obviously wouldn't reject a higher social position.

"Where's the baby? I want to see my cousin!"

*Clang!* The door to the room was pushed open even as a tender and lovely voice sounded. The person speaking evidently wasn't very old, talking in a childish manner. The other maids seemed to recognise the source of the voice, and allowed her to lean against the side of Leylin's cradle.

"Oh! He's awake!" The little girl cried out in surprise.

'Is this a relative?' Leylin opened his eyes unhappily, and sized up this reckless person who interrupted his train of thought.

The girl had azure pupils like him. Strands of her silky gold hair caressed her fair and delicate forehead, lending a delicate charm to it. Her beautiful small nose was raised up slightly, and below it was a little mouth which revealed her cute canines as she smiled. There were also two tiny dimples, one on each side of her cheeks.

"Isabel, you're disturbing him!" The voices of the other adults could be heard at this moment, accompanied by footsteps. The little girl was pulled to the side, and the occasional discontented voice sounded out from her.

'Isabel, eh? What an energetic little brat!' He sensed great trouble from those inquisitive eyes, she clearly had great interest in him. He predicted that this elder cousin wouldn't let him have peace.

What drove Leylin a little mad that he had absolutely no power whatsoever to resist her right now.

'Dear God, Please send that Isabel back home right away. It's best if it's on the other end of the continent…' he started to pray piously. Such a pity; the World Will didn't seem to hear his prayers.

Soon after, his elder cousin Isabel decided to stay in his family's manor. Apparently, this young lady would be staying with the Faulen family for a long period of time.

Leylin's next few days were extremely tough. He could still tolerate her squishing his cheeks or smothering his face with cream, but the most serious of all was that this female cousin actually tried to imitate the adults by changing his diapers!

Oh goodness! It was already shameful enough to be fiddled with like a baby after reincarnation, and now his elder cousin who was still a young girl wanted to change his diapers?

'Dear God!' Leylin really had an urge to kill himself right there and then. If only the gods knew of their plight in the future, they would definitely show their strong support and approve of this decision. Unfortunately, there was no such thing as 'if only' in this world…

With Leylin's bottom line and character, these were just trivial matters. After simply blushing in embarrassment a few times, he no longer had as many mood swings. He even quickly discovered the ultimate trick to deal with Isabel. It was crying— loud, relentless crying!

In any case, he was a young baby, and it couldn't be more normal to wail when he was bullied. Once he did, either his mother or some servant or maid would come to his rescue. They even firmly reprimanded the girl at times, which made him feel inexplicably carefree.

After a few such incidents, Isabel didn't dare to do anything unusual that would make Leylin unhappy. She even seemed to be a little afraid of him, which pleased him greatly. It also had to be said that, in certain aspects, Leylin's strong character made one's hair stand on end.

These awkward incidents of life were just trifling matters. Thanks to his identity as a baby, many adults didn't intentionally stay away from him when they discussed matters. Who could guess that a child just a few months old would have the ability to remember anything?

Leylin thus managed to gather a lot of intel. With the A.I. Chip's valiant ability of gathering information and the things the subordinates and servants unintentionally revealed as they chatted, his understanding of the family quickly surpassed that of most others. He even learnt many secrets of theirs.

After all, being able to gossip about their masters without worry while they were not around was practically instinctive to those servants. On top of that, Leylin was still an infant and they wouldn't avoid him. Yet, they would never have imagined that their little master already had a will, and even remembered every single thing that they said clearly.

Although the majority of the things these subordinates discussed were very vulgar and were accompanied by exaggerated imagination, Leylin soon managed to gain a profound understanding of his own family, and even used the A.I. Chip to produce a family tree.

First off would be his father, the baron of the kingdom. Jonas Faulen's father had great military accomplishments. Because of his inheritance, he'd obtained some feudal land, becoming a rising nobleman in the kingdom. He had a few younger siblings and they formed the current line of descent for the Faulen family. His mother, Sarah, was a gentle and benevolent upperclass woman.

As a noble family in military service, they'd had to go through an extremely wretched process to obtain a fief. There was nothing that could be done about it.

Leylin's respected paternal grandfather seemed to have been the head imperial bodyguard of the kingdom. He was on friendly terms with the previous prince, who was also the current king. In the wars that followed, there were a few times when his grandfather almost lost his life, and he ended up with a body full of injuries that couldn't be cured fully even by divine spells. Only then had he barely managed to seize the opportunity to develop the kingdom's territory and became a noble landowner. He was then conferred the title of baron, and breathed his last not long after.

And that was exactly where Leylin's manor was.

Speaking of which, his father Jonas was actually a highly accomplished leader. Upon arriving at his feudal property, not only did he actively open up new lands for agriculture, expand production processes, and breed numerous kinds of cash crops, but he also established a decent port on a remote island. Through providing potable water, food and maintenance services for boats that passed, it had slowly developed.

They had managed to resist a few pirate attacks, causing them to retreat.

Now, the Faulen leadership had already undergone earth-shattering changes as compared to before. Their land was acclaimed as the "jewel off the coast of the kingdom", and it certainly led to veteran nobilities lusting after it.

However, all of this was still within the range of Jonas' capabilities. At least there weren't any intense conflicts at present, which made Leylin heave a sigh of relief.

Isabel was also living in the manor with the family of three. Her parents seemed to have forgotten about her after throwing her here, and she herself seemed to be indulging in too much pleasure to care about her home.

Apart from Isabel, the entire manor was filled with servants of the Faulen family. The grey-haired butler Ryan had the highest status, and there were also a large bunch of kitchen ladies, maids, servants, apprentice knights, and the like present.

The Faulen family's feudal lands were really huge. There was an independent farm, mill, stable, workshop, vegetable oil extraction factory and other facilities. There were even entire plots of fertile farmland that employed farmers, both male and female.

The entire manor was able to supply flour, vinegar, wine and similar items in large quantities, as well as iron farm tools in smaller amounts. Even if they closed their doors to the outside world, they would still be self-sufficient for a very long period of time.

Leylin viewed it as the typical economic situation of a feudal villa.

Due to the Faulen family's short history, they still didn't have the financial ability and physical resources to build their own castle. In actual fact, constructing a castle required the consumption of vast quantities of stone and food, and even the assistance of priests and numerous extraordinary beings. Even ancient noble families often did not have the money to finance a castle.

Of course, once construction was complete, it would be the pride and symbol of the family.

The defensive abilities of castles belonging to noblemen in the World of Gods were top-notch. The castles were protected by spell formations, and even military troops wouldn't be able to bring it down in a short span of time.

When interacting within the circle of nobility, one would often feel as though he was shorter than others by a head without a castle of their own.

Scholar

*Crackle! Crackle!* The bright flames burning in the exquisite fireplace licked at the top-quality pinewood, and it exuded a fragrant scent. A warm flow of air circulated around the main hall, sharply contrasting the cold dark world outside it.

A long wooden table stood unassumingly in the centre of the hall, a white tablecloth draped over it. On it were silver lamps and precious china, all laid out carefully by maids with beautiful figures.

This china was exceptionally glossy. All of the tableware was luxury goods; imported from rare elves and even more exquisite and smooth than a newborn's skin. Decorated with extremely elaborate floral motifs, they were simply high-quality pieces of art, and brimmed with the perfectionist style of elves.

The price of this tableware was certainly terrifying, and couldn't compare to the family properties of all the maids even if added together. If they broke a piece by accident, the great baron would definitely fly into a rage.

Chicken covered in juices and smooth, tender calf loin were all roasted to perfection, and arranged neatly on the dining table. There were long strips of white bread in a weaved rattan basket, and a honey-coloured china pot containing milky-white mushroom broth at the side gave off a rich fragrance. At the edge of the soup pot was a copper ladle for everyone's use. Every seat had in front of it silver knives and forks, but there were also china trays and a few small plates containing fine salt mixed with sesame and powdered black pepper.

Leylin was adeptly using his tender fair hands with the fork and knife. He dabbed a piece of tenderloin evenly in pepper before delivering it to his mouth.

The chef's skills were not bad; the beef was very tender and chewy, which made Leylin nod his head slightly.

"Haha… Look at that! Our child is now a grown-up too!" Jonas laughed joyously from the head of the table, a glass of grape wine in hand.

Leylin's family of three and Isabel were the only ones seated at the huge dining table. The other servants and maids could only stand at the side and wait.The butler, who had quite a high position in the manor, held a white towel in his hand. He stood respectfully behind the baron, and so did the other apprentices.

This was evidently a family banquet.

"Of course. My little Leylin is the best. Look at how much he's eating. With such an appetite, he'll definitely grow into a wonderful young lad who the girls will go crazy over!" Lady Sarah laughed as well.

It couldn't be denied that the current Leylin had inherited both of his parents' genes, and had a pretty good body. His face already held marks of the handsomeness that he would inherit. Isabel nodded from the other side, continuing to focus her attention on the apple pie in front of her.

"Alright. Sarah, I wish to say something!" Jonas put down his wineglass, his expression slightly serious, "I think Leylin's ready to enter a profession, enlightening himself with scholarly knowledge."

"But he's still so young…" Sarah seemed rather concerned.

"No, he's already 5 years old! Other nobles' children all receive education at this age. Do you want our child to lose out to others on the starting line?" Jonas asked a question in reply, rendering Sarah speechless.

Leylin was drinking and eating, but he was listening carefully. 'Education at 5 years old? Seems like I'll be able to interact more deeply with this society. After all, Beelzebub's memories are all related to devils and hell, and have little to do with the main material plane.'

Leylin was also awed by the education methods of these noble families. Their identities as noblemen were not innate. In order to maintain their illustrious glory and position in society, they would have to invest great effort.

Every heir of a noble family would receive strict and harsh education from a young age. This was passed on down throughout the generations, and even though there would be the occasional good-for-nothing fellow once in a while, a majority of them were the most wise and learned people in the world.

'Implementing elitist education and monopolising knowledge?' Leylin thought secretly to himself. At the very least, he understood that the education fees here were simply frightening. As a result, among all the servants in the manor, only the butler and a handful of the knight apprentices were able to read, while the rest were illiterate.

Evidently, the commoners that grew up in such an environment were absolutely unable to compete with the later generations of the noble families. If this was the case even in terms of intellect, the amount of power they were in control of would be worse.

"How about you, Leylin?" Jonas looked at Leylin.

"I think I'm up for it, father," Leylin's response was very composed. He'd had more than enough of pretending to be a child.

"Haha… Now that's a true descendant of the Faulen family! Excellent behavior!" The baron laughed heartily and downed the red wine in his glass in one gulp. He then started discussing with Sarah about the problem of which scholar they should hire.

Leylin, of course, was in no position to interfere, and could only drink his mushroom broth in silence.

"You're in troooooubleeeee~~" Through the gaps between her actions, he could see his elder cousin Isabel, making a face at him as she mouthed the words. He just pretended to not see her teasing him, causing her to roll her eyes.

After he had eaten his fill, Leylin returned to his own room. This was a benefit that he had tried his very best to fight for. Although the baron and his wife had generally agreed to this request, they also had other terms.

Next to his room would be an experienced made, someone separated by only a silken curtain ready to take care of the young master at all times. Leylin, of course, absolutely did not give her a chance to do so. His early maturation made the baron's wife very pleased, yet she also felt a little upset and regretful.

A faint light flashed in Leylin's eyes as he heard light breathing sounds from next door, 'A.I. Chip! Show my current statistics!'

[Leylin Faulen, Strength: 0.4, Agility: 0.3, Vitality: 0.6, Spirit: 1.0, Condition: Healthy.] The A.I. Chip sent the information faithfully.

Leylin's current stats were much better than other kids of his age, and even his spirit had been restored to the average standard of ordinary people.

Even so, this made Leylin frown in dissatisfaction.

'It's taking too long to restore everything! The laws of the World of Gods are really the harshest among all the worlds.'

Through many minor experiments, Leylin was now able to confirm that although there were extraordinary powers in the World of Gods, they rejected beings that were overly powerful. Even if they were deities, it was compulsory for them to leave the main material plane after advancing, and establish their own kingdom in the outside world.

The physical constants here had also undergone changes. The attractive forces between all kinds of particles seemed to be oddly strengthened, which made it even harder to attain extraordinary powers.

In short, even deities had to expend great effort and strength if they wanted to have a great influence in the World of Gods.

'The knowledge aspect is alright, but the education of professions…' Leylin's pupils glistened with anticipation.

In the World of Gods, those who possessed extraordinary strength were unanimously named 'Professionals.'They seemed to be able to have occupations at such places as guilds, and they obtained all kinds of privileges and benefits for doing so.

The number of Professionals among Baron Jonas' subordinates seemed to be scarce. Of course, the Faulen family's fortune was based entirely on their port. Leylin secretly speculated that perhaps the main powers of the family had always been defending that area.

The baron acted swiftly. Early in the morning the very next day, an elderly man who was dressed up completely had been invited into the manor.

"Good morning, Mr Leylin Faulen!" This scholar had the air of someone who had intensively read all the traditional books, and his manner of speaking was also very fitting for his profession. It seemed that he and Baron Jonas had hit it off very well and they had a pleasant conversation, thus he was asked to be Leylin's tutor straight away.

Leylin met his teacher in a small drawing room that had been opened up temporarily.

It was a pity that his wealth of knowledge far exceeded that of his tutor's by leaps and bounds. However, his understanding of the World of Gods obviously surpassed Leylin's, thus Leylin kept a respectful expression.

"Good day, teacher! May I ask how I should address you?" Such refined and courteous actions clearly surprised the scholar. He raised his eyes, and the interest in his pupils grew stronger. Having such an intelligent and gifted child as his student would be an extremely fortunate matter for him.

"You can call me Anthony!" The scholar said as he smiled, "What a polite young mister!"

"Good day, Teacher Anthony!" Leylin saluted once more, but he was actually secretly doing a thorough check of his tutor's details and background information using the A.I. Chip.

[Scan complete. Name: Anthony. Strength: 0.9, Agility: 1.2, Vitality: 0.8, Spirit: 1.7, Evaluation: Normal human, slightly spiritually gifted.]

'This is a typical average scholar…' Leylin sighed to himself. Initially, he had hoped to run into a Magus or some other being that used magic. After all, the identity of a scholar was an excellent disguise for these professions.

But Anthony, who was sitting opposite him, clearly wasn't such a person.

"Then, may I ask what you can educate me about?" Leylin dove straight into the main topic.

This attitude evidently startled Anthony. "As the heir of a noble family, there is much knowledge that you will need to master, such as languages, writing, etiquette and simple arithmetic. Linguistics is my forte, thus I will be developing a course for you on the common language used here. This would also be the most appropriate arrangement for a five-year-old. As for the others that follow… My apologies, but that will depend on the baron's opinion…"

"Alright then, let's begin!" Leylin nodded. Although he had already obtained a vast amount of content regarding languages when he had first been projected into the World of Gods a long time ago, that was obviously insufficient.

After all, as part of a noble family, he had to master specialised pleasantries and even certain speech mannerisms, or else he would be treated like an unsophisticated country bumpkin. Although Leylin loathed the idea of formality, he still had to take the initiative to adapt to the laws as he didn't have the capability to break them. This was the principle of survival.

Fighting Spirit

"The accurate usage of formalities and the mastery of titles and honorifics at different levels is a complicated subject," Anthony wiped the small blackboard behind him, "Before we begin the course, I would like to introduce a respected deity to you."

Anthony fished out a badge from his chest pocket. On it was a sacred logo in the shape of a book which had a dim luster.

"Can you recognise this?" Anthony asked softly.

"I recognise it! This is the emblem of the almighty God of Knowledge, Oguma!" Leylin nodded earnestly.

The smile on Anthony's face spread even wider, "That's right! All of us scholars believe strongly in the almighty God of Knowledge, Oguma, who is also the origin of all knowledge."

He shot a profound glance at Leylin, "It is also the religion that the Faulen family believes in. Do you pray frequently?"

"I've seen my parents do it!" Leylin replied. After all, you couldn't expect much of a child.

"Very well. Now, follow my actions." Anthony's expression grew sincere, pure, and holy, "Almighty God of Knowledge, you are the origin of all knowledge, the controller of truth…"

Leylin was secretly rolling his eyes vigorously, but he could only follow Anthony and pray, "Your glory will be scattered upon the entire world, driving out barbarism and ignorance, and bringing about the golden age of civilisation…"

A young voice continuously reverberated in the small drawing room. Jonas and Sarah, who were hiding outside the door, had smiles plastered on their faces.

'So apart from giving me language lessons, this teacher is also here to give me lessons on the divine…' Leylin was secretly gloomy, but didn't express the slightest bit of impatience on his face. Instead, he was conscientious and focused, at which Anthony couldn't help but nod approvingly to himself.

In actual fact, Leylin knew that there was totally no way for him to avoid this. After all, the influence that the deities had on this world was honestly too deep. If he wanted to continue living under his false identity, he had to transform into a believer.

A person without faith in the World of Gods would be considered a freak, and would have absolutely no room for survival.

Fortunately, the deities only had great influence on and branded the souls of their own devout followers and fanatics. They didn't pay much attention to the general believers who had only been slightly influenced by the glory of the gods.

What was even more ingenious was that unless one assumed the position of a priest, it was practically impossible to tell the extent of faith that one had. Anyway, all he had to do was just pray at fixed times and occasionally make donations at the church. Leylin felt that he could totally act out such superficial deeds very well.

Based on what Leylin knew, the God of Knowledge, Oguma was a deity that many noble families and scholars believed in. It could be said that he was rather someone all cultured people believed in.

Of these two specific types of people, one set cared only for their interest while the other laid special emphasis on practical laws. They definitely weren't as religious as they claimed to be. Leylin wouldn't stand out if he mixed with them, thus this deity could be said to be the best option.

'There's only one other option in the Faulen family's territory… The God of Sufferance Erma…' Leylin shuddered.

Erma was a deity brimming with devotion and sacrificial spirit. Most of her teachings advised her believers to exercise patience and compliance, making her a deity that many rulers liked to introduce into their territory.

Naturally, the same applied with Baron Jonas. These two churches were the only ones currently in his fief, resulting in a scenario where the upper class prayed to the God of Knowledge and the farmers and sailors prayed to Erma.

Although the Baron also wished to introduce the church of the Goddess of Wealth Waukin into his territory, he hadn't been successful.

The island's trading industry wasn't very prosperous yet, and was even boycotted by the combined resistance of both the current churches. The wealthy pastors who knew how to earn money more than they knew how to preach naturally wouldn't be attracted to this place.

'Excellent!' Upon seeing a white cloud of holy light floating up from the religious emblem and draping itself over Leylin, every single wrinkle on Anthony's face was smoothened out with a smile, "The almighty God of Knowledge has received your prayers. In the future, you may follow your parents to the Knowledge Shrine and Church to participate in scripture-related activities and donations."

"That would be my honor!" Leylin replied methodically as he secretly rejoiced, 'Sure enough, my soul is now wholly native to the World of Gods, and I haven't aroused even the slightest amount of suspicion from Anthony. As long as I maintain this level of faith in future, and do not attract his attention, there definitely won't be any problem.'

Of course, Leylin also knew that he had no path as a priest. After all, priesthood demanded great faith. Not only were priests expected to understand the entirety of their deities' doctrines and follow them, even their souls belonged to the deities themselves.

If his own soul was laid bare under the gaze of the deities, Leylin wasn't certain if he'd be able to conceal the truth.

'However, with my attitude, I'm afraid that I wouldn't be able to achieve even the lowest level of a priest…' Leylin grew speechless at these own thoughts of his.

"Alright, let's begin today's lesson. I'll just mention that the remuneration I get from your father is three golden coins every time the hourglass runs out!" Anthony started to write on the blackboard. He wrote in cursive, which appeared highly complicated and beautiful.

"Three gold coins?" Leylin deeply exhaled. Even a young child like him knew that the purchasing power of gold coins in the World of Gods was extremely high.

"Knowledge is priceless…" Anthony nodded satisfactorily at Leylin's show of poor manners, then began the morning's lesson.

This level of teaching was simply considered nothing in Leylin's eyes. He had even specially lowered his speed of learning by a great deal in order to conceal how exceptional he truly was.

Even so, the abilities that he displayed had earned exceedingly high praise from Anthony. He strongly commended Leylin in front of the Baron and his wife, and even predicted that he would become a mighty scholar one day, which made Lady Sarah's eyes twinkle with delight. The Baron lifted Leylin up and tossed him around in the air many times.

After enjoying a sumptuous lunch under the maids' care, Leylin followed the Baron to a small field behind the manor.

This was the place where farmers usually lay their grains under the scorching sun. It was very spacious and empty, a wooden frame upright at the side holding hammers, daggers, pikes, knight spears, and other kinds of weapons.

A warrior dressed in leather armor was already waiting in the centre of the field.

"Leylin, this is the chief imperial bodyguard of our family. You may call him Uncle Jacob!" The Baron introduced him to Leylin.

Leylin could distinctly sense a menacing aura from him, one that could only be cultivated by traversing mountains of corpses and oceans of blood. He also felt his formidable strength; Jacob clearly possessed some sort of extraordinary ability, and was a Professional.

"Uncle Jacob!" Leylin immediately shouted sweetly.

"Your Uncle Jacob has always been in charge of the patrol team at the harbor. I specially transferred him here to take responsibility and teach you martial arts. He is your instructor from today, understood?" The Baron's voice grew stern.

"Teacher Jacob," Leylin secretly rolled his eyes as he greeted him seriously once more.

"Jacob, I'll hand Leylin over to you!" Jonas hit Jacob's shoulder

"Rest assured, Sir, I will definitely teach the young master all that I know!" Jacob straightened his chest.

After the Baron left, only Leylin and Jacob were left on the small field. "Before we start on the warrior training, I have a question for you, young master. Do you know what a Professional is?"

Jacob had a very boorish face. Having had a long-term job that required him to oppress others, he was brimming with a deadly aura. Even if he tried hard to make himself look gentle when he smiled, his looks would intimidate many imps, so much that they would cry.

"I've heard about it before…" Leylin scratched his head.

"A so-called Professional is someone who possesses formidable strength. Even in other countries, they receive preferential treatment, especially so for Professionals who are rank 5 and above." The muscles in Jacob's right hand bulged, as though trying to make him more persuasive. They were covered in a misty brilliance.

"Look carefully! This is an ability that only rank 5 warriors and above possess. Fighting Spirit!" With a loud bellow, Jacob smashed his fist onto the ground.

*Rumble!* Smoke and dust scattered throughout the air, as though a small-scale earthquake had occurred in the field. When the smoke and dust dispersed, a huge sunken pit could be seen next to Jacob.

"Wow…" Leylin's jaw dropped open, and he appeared to be extremely shocked. He reacted in about the same way as other children would, but he was actually secretly estimating Jacob's capabilities.

'Such destructive power… It's almost the same as knights who've activated life energy. There's no doubt about it; the harsher restrictions on extraordinary powers in the World of God means that Jacob's true strength should be even greater than this. He should be close to a rank 1 Magus in strength…' Leylin made secret calculations as the A.I. Chip immediately revealed Jacob's stats.

[Jacob, Warrior. Rank: Rank 5 or above (insufficient information). Estimated stats, Strength: 3, Agility: 2, Vitality: 3, Spirit: 1.5. Evaluation: Dangerous!]

Leylin sighed in silence. At the same time, he had also roughly gauged Jacob's strength. 'This body is too weak. Even the A.I. Chip's scanning abilities are limited.'

"I'm only a warrior, thus I can only show you the strength of a warrior, young master." Jacob said regretfully, "There are many different types of Professionals, who possess strange yet mysterious abilities."

It was clear that Jacob was faithfully fulfilling his duty and using his formidable strength to lure the young master into walking on the path of strength.

"Then… what is your rank as a warrior, Uncle Jacob? Can you tell me?" At this point, Leylin fully put his advantage as a young child to use, and constantly tried to acquire information.

"Me? I'm just a mere rank 6 warrior!" Jacob laughed, seemingly embarrassed.

Ernest

"A rank 6 warrior? How about my father? What rank is he? Is he rank 15?" Leylin appeared very innocent and vulnerable. After all, in the hearts of children, parents were unequalled.

"Rank 15?! Cough cough…" Jacob almost choked on his saliva, "Esteemed young master, Professionals above rank 5 are already valued by nobility. Those beyond rank 15 are treated with excessive respect even among the highest strata of society. There are very few of them on the continent…"

"Is that so?" Leylin stroked his chin. He'd heard about this ranking while he had still been a soul seed, and it seemed like after borrowing a medium to use, the strength of his soul seed was not half bad.

Of course, no matter how powerful he was, he was still a foreigner. Nothing could be hidden from the glory of the gods, and he would easily have been destroyed.

"Uncle Jacob, what happens after rank 15? Are there more powerful beings?" Leylin was like a little guy filled with curiosity.

"After rank 15… ah…" Jacob's eyes were dim, "Then there are only the Legends! Legendary beings can make whole kingdoms retreat, and are the most powerful forces of the continent…"

"Legends?" Leylin's eyes flashed.

"Alright! Let's start training today. First is long-distance running!" At this moment, Jacob realised that Leylin's questions had pushed him off topic. He turned grim.

"Fine, fine…" Leylin began to run around cheekily like a little cheetah full of energy, his smooth motions causing Jacob's eyes to brighten.

...

Deep in the night, in the baron's study room.

Jonas sat behind the work desk, arms crossed as he looked deep in thought. "You're saying Leylin's body has good potential, and if he were to go through warrior training, he he has high prospects?"

Jacob stood before Jonas, speaking sternly. "Yes, my lord! The energy in young master Leylin's body flows very smoothly. On top of that, with a great body from birth, I'm certain that the young master will gather fighting energy and break through to become a rank 5 warrior in ten years if he perseveres with warrior training!"

"Alright. You may leave," Jonas waved his arms tiredly. Only after Jacob bowed and left could he laugh wryly. "Outstanding literary talent and an outstanding physique! Leylin, you truly are a gem gifted to me by the gods!"

Jonas grabbed at his hair in frustration. Every parent hoped their child would be a genius, but when Leylin was outstanding in both of these respects, Jonas grew distressed as to how best to nurture the boy.

"It's obviously necessary to continue the cultural lessons, but what about the warrior training?" Jonas knew Jacob's strength well, and if Leylin truly had talent, it would be a waste for him to be training under Jacob.

On top of that, warriors had low status in the World of Gods given how common they were. While they could grow extremely powerful at the higher, more profound realms, one would unavoidably be treated like cannon fodder in the beginning. Jonas was hesitant about it.

"What are you worrying about?" At this moment, a gentle voice was heard from outside the study room, and Jonas' eyes brightened.

"Ernest! Welcome!" Jonas stood up while beaming sunnily, watching a figure walk out from the shadows.

The figure had a head of long, soft, silver hair. His eyes were filled with wisdom, and while he looked young he had a great aura. He wore a yielding gown similar to those of scholars, and had a mysterious golden decorative motif on his chest. Powerful magical force twined around his body, giving him a very menacing aura. Evidently, Ernest was a powerful magician.

This was a magician! The spellcasters of the World of Gods grasped powerful abilities in magic, and were existences that could control the natural elements around them. More importantly, every spellcasters was extremely well-learned. Their breadth of knowledge was above that of many famed scholars.

Of course, due to the great amount of resources and time that had to be poured into magic, magic was a Profession of nobles. Regular commoners definitely couldn't pay the expenses required to study and conduct experiments.

"We meet again, Jonas!" Ernest smiled gently, giving his friend an enthusiastic hug.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get here in time when your child was born. Experiments that probe the abyss are too complex and time consuming…" Ernest looked sorry.

"Treat this Ring of Light as my belated gift!" He passed a glimmering silver ring to Jonas, "Though the light spell in this can only be used thrice, it's not bad for a child's toy…"

"Thank you very much, on behalf of Leylin as well!" Jonas took the ring carefully, moved by the present. With his knowledge, he knew that even a temporarily enchanted item like this could easily fetch ten gold coins.

Magical items were that expensive! Often times, they could not even be sold due to their exorbitant prices.

With the Faulen family's background, they would at most befriend a few useless magic scholars, and it was impossible to make connections with powerful spellcasters like Ernest.

Meeting him was a pure coincidence. After finding out his true identity, Jonas had spent much effort to build up a great friendship with him.

After they sat down, Ernest continued his query, "Jonas… What's worrying you?"

"Well…" Watching the powerful spellcaster, Jonas had to conceal the glimmer in his eyes. He laughed wryly, "You know Leylin is already five, right? His talent is worrying me. I'm worried he'll lack the guidance he needs, which will cause him to walk the wrong path and not be able to show his outstanding talent…"

Jonas mentioned Leylin's display in detail. It had to be said that even while he was hiding a lot of information, Leylin's was definitely a talent amongst the natives here.

As Jonas continued, Ernest's eyes brightened, "Tomorrow! Let me see the child tomorrow. If he really has talent, I can consider taking him in as my student!"

"Thank you so much!" Jones stood up, elated.

"It's nothing!" Ernest smiled slightly. He had already noticed Jonas' objective, but he didn't particularly mind. He had gotten a huge sponsorship from Jonas before, and taking a child in as a student wasn't much in return. Of course, the child needed to have talent in magic, even if it was at a low level.

The next day, Leylin was informed that all of his classes were postponed, and that he was going to meet someone important.

"Leylin, my child!" Jonas stood before Leylin, looking extremely serious.

"I will bring you to see a powerful magician later. Even in the entire continent, he is a very terrific person, so you must be respectful. Is that understood?"

"Yes, father!" Little Leylin nodded vigorously, looking forward to this. 'A magician? A spellcaster in this world? I can finally walk the path of the elements again…'

Leylin was more than aware about whether he had talent in casting spells. In addition, he didn't have plans on choosing a different profession having restarted his life. He was a Magus, and it was much easier for him to reach the peak of the path of magic.

Of course, he had not considered becoming a Warlock once more. He had gone through a great number of trouble to break his bloodline shackles in the past, and wanted nothing to do with it again. Hence, becoming a magician was currently Leylin's best choice.

"I hope you'll become a powerful magician. If that happens, our Faulen family…" Jonas' tone held hope and anticipation as he rubbed Leylin's head, bringing him to the drawing room. In there was a magician with long silver hair, gazing over him with eyes as intense as lightning. Goosebumps arose on Leylin's skin.

"Ah!" A low hum could be heard from his lips.

"Come! Leylin, this is your uncle Ernest!" While perplexed by Ernest's expression, Jonas immediately hinted at Leylin to greet him.

"Good morning, Uncle Ernest!" Leylin bowed respectfully, his bright eyes full of curiosity.

"Good child, come here." Ernest's eyes were filled with excitement. Even Jonas could tell that he was holding his emotions back.

"Hold this!" Another silver ring appeared in his hands. Unlike the previous one, this looked like an exquisite work of art, and had a glistening gem embedded at its crest. Jonas could tell at first glance that this was a magic item with a permanent spell inside. Compared to the one from before that could only be used thrice before it was rendered useless, it was at least ten times the value.

"Thank you, uncle!" Leylin respectfully took the ring, while he held it with contempt in his mind.

'A magic artifact that can be used only when my spiritual force has reached a certain level? What a primitive method of sensing…'

The moment he held the ring, the energy pathway and structure within was laid bare before Leylin's eyes. 'I'll take this chance to show off my ability then!'

The Path of A Wizard

*Bzzt bzzt!* A bundle of bright white light emanated from the ring on Leylin's hand. Piercing white light startled Baron Jonas, blinding him temporarily.

Baron Jonas rubbed at his reddened teared-up eyes, finally managing to recover from the blindness caused by the light spell. What he saw in front of him after that was a wizard who was at a loss for words.

Dear gods! Jonas rubbed at his eyes, watching Ernest in front of him while unable to believe his eyes.

Was this the wizard that he knew? Everyone knew that wizards were the symbol of wisdom and calm. There were few matters that could make them lose themselves, forget leaving them at a loss.

"Haha… very good, Leylin. You did well!"

"Ernest… do you mean that… Leylin passed?" However, Jonas no longer thought of the other matters, because he had already come up with another possibility at the sight of Ernest's expression.

"Passed? Ah, of course! His talent is so great that he might even have a place in the Magic Association! Even my mentor would be jealous of me taking in such an excellent student…"

Ernest spoke sternly once he calmed down, "Jonas, my friend! It is my responsibility to inform you that your child Leylin has great talent in the path of magic! Even now, his spiritual force far surpasses those of his age, and with the correct guidance I believe he might even break through to the realm of a grandmaster, or even…" Ernest's body was beginning to twitch without his knowledge.

"Alright, alright! Well then, Ernest, are you willing to take my son as your student?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I?" Ernest already considered Leylin the student who would carry on his legacy. Had Jonas not allowed it, he might even have resorted to force to acquire him.

"Then that's great! I want to announce this great news to everyone. I'll hold a celebration!" Jonas' face glowed red with pride. The fact that the young master of the Faulen Family had been taken in as the student of a powerful spellcaster definitely raised the family's status and influence in the kingdom.

Jonas was already becoming impatient, "Well then, are there any other procedures for Leylin to study under you, what about fees?"

"We can talk about that later. For now, please give us some time alone…" Ernest respectfully waved his hand, and an invisible force pushed Jonas out. The door closed itself automatically.

"Don't be surprised. That was merely the effect of 'Mage Hand'. It's a parlor trick." Ernest turned, putting what he believed to be his kindest smile on his face as he consoled the startled little guy.

"Ye- yes, mister!" Leylin shrunk back on himself as if in fear, yet his eyes secretly held a shrewd expression, 'A.I. Chip, has this been recorded?'

[The wizard's spellcasting has been recorded. Storing data!] The A.I. Chip quickly answered.

'Great! However, the power of this spell is rather…?' Leylin could clearly tell that something was different about this person. Even in the Magus World, high-ranked Magi needed to practice for a long time in order to cast spells with such instantaneous effects.

'No! He doesn't have the ability to cast spells instantly. It's like he had already prepared this spell beforehand and stored it. With a designated gesture and command, the spell model was activated…' Leylin himself was an expert in of spells, and he immediately saw through the process.

'Though I'm not too sure about the theory behind it, this seems to be the way spells are cast in the World of Gods. Compared to the Magus World, there seem to be many differences.'

"This… this is magic?" The young voice quivered, yet it held a curiosity within.

"Yes, this is magic! With just a slight move of a finger, you can call on the power of nature!" Ernest rubbed his hands, and flames appeared in the air, turning into a little bird, a man, and many other shapes. Finally, it abruptly dissipated, turning into a small flame.

Seeing that he had successfully captured the little guy's attention and admiration, Ernest's lips curved in a proud smile.

Yes, with just the slight movement of a finger, immense power could be called upon. There was no need to be like those warriors or other physical Professionals, labouring, bleeding, and sweating like a fool. Such things were very crude and violent.

Besides, even the lowest ranked wizard would gain many benefits from copying scrolls or performing alchemy. Compared to the Professions of those low lives, magic was obviously a more mysterious and noble path. Of course, such a thing would capture a child's heart.

Ernest felt very good about himself, having arrogant thoughts. Of course, the terrifying expenses and harsh requirements for talent while one studied to become a wizard was something he ignored.

"Then… Can I become a wizard?" Finally, Ernest heard Leylin's apprehensive words, which made him feel like he was in the clouds.

"Of course, my child! You have the talent to be an outstanding wizard! I, Ernest of the Burning Shadows, am very willing to be your guide on the path of magic!" Ernest did his best to seem solemn.

"But… there's something I need to remind you of. While you have an astounding talent, you'll have to put in more effort than ordinary people. The path of wizards does not allow for laziness," Ernest expression was stern as he began instruction…

Soon enough, news of young master Leylin of the Faulen family coming under the tutelage of a powerful wizard spread its way around the port.

In the World of Gods, wizards usually represented power, mystery, and power that could not be withstood.

Wizards represented torrential power and mystery in the World of Gods, a strength that could not be withstood. The Faulens had produced a magic student, and he was even very talented. That meant that there was a huge likelihood of the appearance of a powerful wizard in this family!

This potential immediately caused many to disregard the fact that this family was a new and upcoming noble family. Many traditional nobles began to accept the existence of the Faulen family, and many made plans to extend an olive branch to them.

Baron Jonas cleverly made use of this opportunity, helping the Faulen Family gain many advantages, bettering the lives and the environment of the family.

Of course, this had nothing to do with Leylin. He was far too young and could not help out in matters of the family. The only thing he did was to accompany Ernest to attend a banquet, gaining the blessings of everyone in the land.

Bishop Tapris, who followed Oghma the God of Knowledge, personally came forward to express his regret.

Leylin's powerful spiritual force did not only give him talent as a wizard. If he could accept the teachings of the God of Knowledge and abide by them in body and mind, he would have a smooth path to priesthood, and he could even advance faster than other priests. With such a great seedling snatched away by a wizard, Tapris naturally felt very regretful.

It was a pity that he would never know that it was impossible for Leylin to rely on the God of Knowledge, nor would he ever become even a rank 1 priest…

After they made their relationship as master and student official, Leylin's lessons as a wizard began. Under Jonas and his wife's enthusiastic attempts at making him stay, Ernest had decided to remain in the manor, completing his duty of instructing Leylin in magic.

In actuality, he was a wizard without a fixed residence and did not possess anything like a magic tower. Based on the intel Leylin had received on the sly, mostly from his mentor letting it slip by accident, he was only rank 9 and far from rank 15, the rank of a grandmaster wizard. He was even further from becoming a Legend.

If they wished to build a magic tower, unless they were favoured children backed by the most powerful of organisations, even grandmaster wizards had to save up for centuries.

Leylin maliciously thought that Ernest had nowhere to go, which was why he had no choice but to freeload at the Faulen family's place. Of course, even a rank 9 wizard was an outstanding person on the Faulen territory, hence Jonas and his wife both agreed to it. Both sides were willing.

Leylin's magic courses were scheduled for the morning. His culture teacher Anthony could only come in the afternoons, and Jacob was laid off his initial job of instructing Leylin in his path as a warrior. If not for Leylin coming up with the reason of needing to train his body, using half an hourglass' time everyday, he would probably be patrolling the ports.

"Spells are actually gods' gift to wizards. The Weave, created by the mighty Goddess of the Weave Mystra, is the source of all magic…" In the very first lesson, Leylin almost choked as he heard Ernest stating this seriously.

"Spells? Gods' gift? The Weave?"

"Yes!" Ernest looked extremely grim. It seemed like these were his true thoughts.

"Alright!" Leylin nodded seriously, but he was snickering inside.

'It's obviously his own strength, yet he has been shackled. How should I judge him…' As Ernest spoke, Leylin acquired a better understanding of the wizards in the World of Gods.

The spellcasters here, or rather wizards, essentially used meditation to increase their spiritual force, communicating with the devil web that was everywhere to create spell models and then store them as magic.

This conclusion left Leylin speechless.