Jake just stared at the guy before frowning. “You want me to kill you?”“That would be best,” Bertram said, nodding.“Why?” Sure, he was pissed at the situation, but clearly it was more complicated than he knew. Especially with the way Jacob had talked, which made it very obvious he wanted Jake to do something about it.“Because we stole the soul of Ell’Hakan, obviously,” Bertram explained. “That ought to make you quite mad, right? Only seems proper that you kill me for having taken part in it.”“Okay, hold your horses—what the fuck are you and Jacob playing at?” Jake asked curtly, wanting to stop beating around the bush.“Everything is as he told you,” Bertram said, looking Jake directly in the eyes. “The Augur of hope was tasked with saving whatever of Ell’Hakan he could with the goal of reviving him once the universe opens up. Sure, what will be revived won’t be something I’m even sure could be called Ell’Hakan anymore, but it should have the Bloodline, which is ultimately what the

All attempts to contain the news of Ell’Hakan’s death were an utter failure. Many World Leaders didn’t even try, as they were unsure of what exactly they were supposed to do. Now that they had lost their leader, did it even make any sense to try and hide his death? To some, the answer was no. They instantly began to look into alternatives, as they knew there was no way to survive in the Milky Way if they stood alone.However, there was a small group that outright denied his death, refusing to believe he could have been killed by Jake. Their minds simply weren’t able to think in that direction, more likely than not due to repeated mental manipulation from Ell’Hakan.These and many other factions that had solidly put all their eggs in the Ell’Hakan basket didn’t see many potential actions they could take. They had positioned themselves as enemies of the Order of the Malefic Viper, and now that it was clear the Chosen of the Viper had been working in the interest of his Patron all this t

Villy was very interested in Jake’s fight with Ell’Hakan—far more than Jake had thought he would be, considering it was just a battle between C-grades. Alright, to be fair, the god was clearly just being polite while listening to Jake’s tale... right up until Jake mentioned Ell’Hakan going full delulu-Celestial-Child mode.After that, the Viper began to show genuine interest as Jake continued. Toward the end, the god was incredibly engaged, and he seemed more interested in discussing Ell’Hakan than the fact that Ell’Hakan’s Truesoul had been stolen away by an Augur.“I’m gonna admit that he surprised me, which just shows that one should never underestimate a powerful Bloodline,” the Viper said. “Doing what he did to hang onto life isn’t something I expect you to see again any time soon, if ever. His expert use of faith energy to maintain his own body was also extraordinary, if ultimately fatal. As you said, he was already dead the moment he fully began to believe he was the Celestial

Jake always liked coming home for a nice session of alchemy. Having such an enjoyable pastime certainly helped to avoid annoyance when matters he deemed more important or urgent had to be temporarily put on the back burner.He especially didn’t mind it this time around, as his next level would be quite the impactful one. Jake was level 299 in his profession, meaning that with one more level, he would finally reach high-tier C-grade with his profession, but more than that, he would get another charge for the Path of the Heretic-Chosen skill.This final charge would allow him to have his long-awaited encounter with the First Sage. At least, that was what he assumed would happen once he used the skill while focusing on the enigmatic master of the Malefic Viper.Jake still had a lot of questions regarding the entire thing. First of all, five charges were a lot to use on the skill, considering he only got one every 20 levels in C-grade. Each charge was often enough to give a skill upgrade

The question from the First Sage hung in the air for several seconds as Jake digested it. He had well and truly expected the First Sage to know all about him from the beginning, seeing as he seemed almost all-knowing... yet from his question, it was almost the exact opposite. This just didn’t track with his expectations at all.“You really don’t know?” Jake asked in genuine confusion.“I only ask questions for good reasons—more often than not, as a means to make the other party consider a matter more deeply,” the First Sage said. “This is not one of those cases. I truly do not know who you are, which you appear to find perplexing. If it brings you any comfort, I also find it highly perplexing that I do not know who you are and how exactly you got here.”“You reached out to me first,” Jake pointed out, even going as far as pointing to his boots as he slightly lifted up the flap... only to see the inscribed words were gone.The First Sage looked at Jake’s boots and, before Jake had time