Three hours later, the three of them were walking along a stream of the clearest water Rafe had ever seen in his life. It was so clear it was almost non-existent. Filoria was still keeping her distance from the other two, brooding.

Not that Rafe cared one bit what she was doing. He wished she was not here to be honest, but what could he do?

The closer they got to the temple district, the heavier the air, the Essence got. Rafe felt it. He also started to see a lot more ambient mana. Only, this was not ordinary ambient mana.

Rafe could only sense ambient mana when it was in the process of being used to activate a spell.

The fact that he could see this growing lake of ambient mana meant there was something strange about it. Yet no matter how he tried, he could not make out its affinity.

It was as pure as, if not purer than, pure arcane mana. Granted all the arcane mana he'd seen thus far, while having the feel of purity, was not pure white. The Enchantress's arcane mana had a green tinge in it, and Devila's had a pinkish hue. This one was pure white. And it felt purer than pure magic. It felt almost…holy?

For now, he'd call it divine mana, although he was sure that was not what it was.

For one thing, the gods of this new pantheon were creatures solely made of Essence. Did they use mana? That was debatable. He would have to learn more about them to be sure.

By the time they reached the temple district, Rafe was distracted with watching the strange new mana. So distracted he did not look around at first.

It was very dense. It almost felt like they were at the bottom of a lake. They should have been suffocating. They should have been crushed by the tide of mana. Instead it seemed to be welcoming, going through their souls in a way Rafe had never seen, and coming out multiplied.

Not his soul though. His soul was immune to this new type of mana.

What kind of ambient mana reacted with the soul this way? It was supposed to be ambient Essence which was taken in by the soul.

Ambient mana was just a source of power for high level spells. It was not compatible with souls. This type of mana that acted suspiciously like Essence…

Rafe blinked as something touched his arm. He turned to see Helare frowning at him in concern.

"Are you alright?" Helare asked. "You wanted to come here, but you don't seem so eager to explore."

"It's fine," Rafe was saying, but then he lifted his head and things started to happen.

First, the temple in which the little stream they had been following fed, the largest temple in the city, at the center of the water god temples, started shining blue from within. A fountain in the shared compound of the water god temples erupted.

"Could it be?!" Helare said excitedly.

Rafe looked at her questioningly.

"Lady Ma'la first manifested when the system came," she explained. "She came to the aid of her people when we needed her the most. The other gods too. And apparently manifestations were common for a while. Until after the champion won his duel," Helare finished with a frown, pointing somewhere to Rafe's left.

He turned to see what she was pointing at, then he froze.

The face, the arrogance, that sculpted body — although this version was less exaggerated; he knew them all.

He would never forget seeing those features when he gained consciousness inside the dungeon. But what on Primus was going on?

"Maybe because the promotion event will be here soon," Helare said. "Lady Ma'la may show herself yet again."

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"And the other gods?" Rafe asked, gesturing towards the other many temples in the area.

"They all manifested after the integration began," Helare said like she was being forced. "But we still won, which is why they were banished."

"And Ma'la wasn't banished herself? It's been years since the chosen won his duel, and she hasn't been seen since?"

Helare nodded with a thoughtful look on her face.

Rafe still had so many questions, but what to ask now. He needed to not let the girls know about his connection to the weird statue he had seen, but it was what he was most curious about.

There was a group of contrite people, seven in all, wearing light blue robes. They were calmly walking through the crowd of excited worshipers.

Even children were in the crowd, wanting to see the signs. Even a few orange-haired Elemenoids were there. The power of faith.

And Rafe was sure the Elemenoids at the head of the crowd, wearing cream robes, were the priests of the surrounding temples.

"Who are those light-blue robbed people?" Rafe asked. "I want to say priests, but I'm pretty sure that's wrong."

"Oh?" Helare said, like she hadn't noticed them before. "The holy…representatives. Well, they are good looking. It's a new position the chosen opened up in, uh, respect of the Great mother of the oceans.'

Even she seemed a little hesitant to say that.

Rafe frowned. What was the chosen doing?

"They are called the holy virgins, princess," Filoria spoke curtly, probably not able to stomach anyone misconstruing her father's words.

Rafe hardly saw the difference.

"So, what does one have to do to become a holy…um virgin? Does one have to be Ma'la?"

Helare looked at him suspiciously. Rafe kind of regretted saying that, because if she thought about it at all, even though he wasn't serious.

"Thats not what the Chosen said. There were members of all four tribes when he was choosing. Apparently they need some special kind of holy affinity," Helare said. "The chosen can sense it for some reason. Only these young clerics qualified, that's all."

Rafe was about to just nod in acceptance when something unexpected happened.

"It's faith mana, the holy energy priests can use. The holy virgins are the best recipients of the faith energy on the planet," Filoria said. "And just so you know, all the major temples have holy virgins."

She was looking at Rafe strangely, as if some kind of realisation had dawned on her.

It sent a slight chill down his spine, but he had managed to distract them, had he not? There would never be a better time to ask.

"The statue over there," Rafe pointed his chin toward the statue. "Obviously I know your father, Filoria. But who is the other man? What's his story?"

He hoped he came off as nonchalant.

The statue stood in a dangerous place, a place of honour in a temple district. It stood in front of all the statues depicting the water gods, and it was very slightly taller even than Ma'la's statue. Most wouldn't, but Rafe noticed.

"The old chosen," Helare said.

Filoria hissed. "A false chosen. He was my father's first trainer, but before that he raided and destroyed our village, our livelihood. My father did not forget. And even with such an important title, he was defeated by a former fisherman of Ma'la."

A lot more information than he'd expected. He was used to speaking with Helare, who liked to keep things close to her chest.

"He was the champion of the burned," Helare said after Filoria's diatribe. "Goleon he was called."

So the famous duel. A normal mortal man who was supposed to be dead was now part of the local pantheon torturing Rafe.

Rafe was not sure that made sense, but that face was hard to forget. On two different occasions, Rafe remembered running into this former chosen. And one of them ended with him unconscious for days. There was no way he was mistaken.

And so a mortal died and resurrected as a god. But he was not even in the D grade when he died. A lot of questions, but it looked like he wouldn't get any answers that day.

The crowds were growing around the temple of Ma'la, and yet the fountain was not reacting anymore.

When had that happened?

Whatever it was, it was pretty clear the goddess would not be manifesting that day.

Maybe she could answer some of Rafe's questions, because was he crazy in suspecting that the reason she'd acted the way she had was his presence?

But the festival was just beginning. That evening, Rafe decided they didn't need to retire quite as early as the night before. And Helare apparently agreed.

"The festival at night is the best."

It was good, but probably not because of the reason Helare expected. The rumour spread far and wide, that the goddess was not happy with her seven virgins. She came to check and none caught her fancy.

In fact, once they stepped forward, all signs of the impending manifestation stopped. So now they were hunting for new virgins.

Rafe found the whole thing hilarious, but also somewhat confusing. Wasn't it weird, the whole goddess needing, and apparently only wanting handsome young men. Emphasis on the handsome. Wasn't it a bit embarrassing? Defacing, even?

"Maybe we need to consider the other tribes, or even other races. The mother is benevolent."

"The mother is benevolent," a few believers replied.

Rafe almost froze when they mentioned other races, but he kept moving. Helare hadn't figured he was a virgin yet, so he should be safe. He looked back just to make sure, and that was when he caught her eye.

Filoria was studying him with a deep frown, but she looked away when he turned to her. She turned back to him, and flinched when she found him still looking at her. Something weird was definitely going on in that one's head.

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