Chapter 1566: Do You Wish to Pray to the Divine?

Honestly, ever since arriving here, Gawain had heard Lady Ye recount countless ancient secrets and tales of the world’s rise and fall. Yet none of it struck him as profoundly as the single, thunderous word that just echoed down from the sky: “Awesome.”

He looked up, stunned, unable to process it for a long moment. It completely threw him off. It was only Amber—quick-witted and resilient—that managed to break the silence, a proud smile spreading across her face as she patted her chest. “Of course! I even helped come up with the idea back then…”

“That couldn’t have been your idea,” Lady Ye interrupted before Amber could finish, “because I never would have thought of that approach.”

Amber blinked. “Oh… right, I forgot we’re basically the same template…”

But compared to Lady Ye’s amazement, Gawain was even more surprised. He looked at the ancient god before him and raised an eyebrow. “You really have no knowledge of this? You should have seen this plan in action during that illusion… Even if you weren’t involved in the early scheming, you should at least know about it.”

Lady Ye was silent for two seconds, her voice tinged with awkwardness. “…To save system computing power, I skipped over all ‘known events’.”

Gawain blinked. “You can skip those too?! No wonder that ‘Amber’ was either working overtime in the office or sleeping in her room during that time. I never saw her around. So you just fast-forwarded through it all? Are you saving system power or slacking off?”

Lady Ye considered for a moment, then said seriously, “It was to save system computing power.”

Gawain’s gaze lingered on Amber, then shifted back to Lady Ye. This time, he fully understood just how deep the connection between Lady Ye and Amber really was. Meanwhile, Lady Ye on the throne seemed a bit embarrassed, her gaze flickering away. After a few seconds of silence, she added as if to make amends, “I was simply admiring your astonishing ideas.”

Gawain was silent for a long moment, then the corner of his mouth twitched. “If you really can’t hold it in… just don’t. After all, you called me an ‘old dumpling’ for fifty years before.”

Lady Ye: “…Fine, old dumpling.”

Amber’s eyes darted rapidly between Gawain and Lady Ye. She’d been wanting to ask since earlier, and finally couldn’t hold back: “What exactly are you two talking about?”

“I’ll explain later—it’s a bit complicated,” Gawain said, patting Amber’s head. Then, before the topic spiraled out of control, he steered the conversation back on track. “Let’s talk about our ‘Ragnarok Plan.’ Lady, what do you think of its feasibility?”

The ancient deity on the throne fell silent even longer this time. It seemed to be running some massive simulation, so much so that even the swirling desert sands at the horizon hung motionless in the air. Minutes passed before the dust resumed its dance, and Lady Ye finally broke the silence: “I never considered this possibility before, but theoretically… the entire process is sound.”

Though Gawain had confidence himself, having run multiple simulations before coming here, hearing this confirmation from Lady Ye finally put his mind at ease. A faint smile appeared on his face. “That answer is a huge relief.”

Lady Ye said nothing more, lost in thought for a long while. Gawain, just starting to relax, grew tense again. “Is there anything else?”

“No… not a question, just some reflections,” Lady Ye shook her head gently. “Over more than a million years, I’ve witnessed countless civilizations rise and fall—thriving, then perishing. They fought, they had great wisdom, and great individuals sought a path forward. But overall, none ever escaped my calculations. I could foresee their failures decades, even centuries before their end. But you… you have taken actions far beyond the boundaries of my system’s simulations.

“Even now, less than a year before the apocalypse, with me personally intervening to help this civilization chart its course, you still surprise me with your actions. Compared to those earlier civilizations doomed by calculation, this generation of mortals is truly restless.

“Is this all the change you brought, my neighbor? Are you the reason they’ve become so unpredictable?”

Gawain was silent, deep in thought. After a moment, he shook his head. “I don’t think so. Without me, the world’s trajectory might have shifted, maybe even failed to survive this disaster. But I don’t believe I’m the sole driver of these changes. To this world, I’m probably just a significant variable. If you ask why this generation is so unpredictable…”

He paused, smiling as he spread his hands. “Maybe it’s because every child coming of age should be a little unruly.”

“…Stuffing bombs under the gods’ chairs, this generation’s ‘children’ have certainly gone a bit too far,” Lady Ye chuckled, adjusting her posture. Then she sighed softly. “Well, there’s always more to say, but every meeting must end. The most important matters have been entrusted. I think it’s time for you to return to your own affairs. After all, this world is not yet truly safe.”

Hearing this, Gawain knew this special “visit” was coming to a close. Though he felt he might learn more secrets from this ancient god in time, as she said—the world was not yet safe. He didn’t have endless time to linger here chatting.

He nodded gently. Just as he was about to take his leave, Amber suddenly stepped forward two paces, seeming to hold back a question. “Wait… wait! I have one more question!”

Gawain looked at her, surprised by her unusual expression. Then his eyes darkened as if he’d realized something. Lady Ye cast a curious glance. “Oh? What is it?”

“There’s a voice!” Amber said loudly, as if she’d been holding this in for a long time, finally daring to ask despite her hesitation. Her cheeks flushed slightly with emotion. “I always thought it was you, because the voice called itself the ‘Shadow Goddess’… It spoke to me, sometimes teaching me things. But now I know that voice isn’t you… I just want to ask—do you know what that’s about?!”

The throne room fell silent instantly. Gawain took a slow breath, thinking, Of course, this was the crucial question I almost forgot.

Amber had always claimed to be the “Chosen of Shadows,” firmly believing it—not just because of her incredible shadow talents, but because she truly heard a voice calling itself the “Shadow Goddess.”

That voice had guided her for a long time. Though recently the connection seemed broken, its presence over the past decades was undeniable. Amber once suspected the voice was Lady Ye’s, but clues showed Lady Ye was trapped in a standoff with the God of the Tide during that period. So if it wasn’t Lady Ye, then who?

What seemed like Amber’s personal mystery now took on a far greater significance, given her true origins and her link to Lady Ye.

What made Gawain realize this was no ordinary question was Lady Ye’s sudden, unusual silence after hearing Amber’s words. Even the pale sky above the Shadow Realm dimmed, as if the entire divine domain froze in place. This eerie stillness lasted a full thirty seconds. Just as Gawain and Amber were about to ask what was wrong, Lady Ye’s voice finally broke the silence.

“You can actually hear Her?”

Gawain snapped his head up. Amber’s eyes widened in shock. “You… you really know what that voice is?”

“I do,” Lady Ye said, her tone unsettled but the throne room’s atmosphere slowly returning to normal. “Theoretically… the voice you hear is a ‘leak’ from me to your side. It should have been audible only to me.”

“This is truly unexpected… It seems the system anomalies over hundreds of thousands of years have affected the anchor generator’s core functions, causing this kind of cross-layer interaction.”

“So… what exactly is that voice?” Amber’s words stumbled, “Why do you refer to it as ‘Her’?”

Lady Ye didn’t answer immediately. Even a god like her needed time to choose her words carefully. After a long pause, she suddenly asked a seemingly unrelated question: “Do you think… this planet is big?”

“Very big,” Amber scratched her head, struggling to follow Lady Ye’s train of thought. “We all live on this planet, and there are many places we haven’t explored yet. But according to the old dumpling, this planet is just a speck of dust in the galaxy. Once we enter the interstellar age, the scale of the world will be beyond what anyone on the planet can imagine…”

“Yes, the planet is large, but on the scale of the galaxy, it’s as insignificant as dust. So, do you think the galaxy itself is big enough?”

Gawain frowned slightly. “Beyond the galaxy, there are more galaxies. The distant galaxies we see in the night sky are just points of light, like ordinary stars. On the scale of the entire universe, a ‘galaxy’ is just a basic unit of astronomical measurement.”

“Yes, the scale of the universe is truly staggering,” Lady Ye murmured, then shifted her tone. “So… do you think the universe is big enough?”

Amber was completely silent this time, her face a mixture of shock and confusion.

But Gawain’s expression grew thoughtful—because he was an “outsider” himself.

He understood better than anyone that this universe was not the only one.

He guessed what Lady Ye was implying.

“The voice you hear comes from beyond the spacetime scale accessible to mortals. A distant and magnificent cosmic order stands above this scale,” Lady Ye’s words carried a complex, indescribable emotion. “And the ultimate goal the Voyagers seek is to reach this scale… to transcend the boundaries of this universe.”

Amber’s eyes grew huge, her voice trembling slightly. “So… if what you say is true, then the owner of that voice can really be called…”

“God,” Lady Ye answered calmly, “if a god is defined as an unknowable, unfathomable greatness, then He is the true God. If miracles are phenomena beyond mortal comprehension, then He—and the scale of time and space He represents—are miracles to every living being in our universe. I understand you each have your own interpretation of the word ‘God,’ but before the scale I’m describing, all your understandings need to be recalibrated…

“Yes, gods do exist, but they abide by different rules, under a different order of time and space—and that order… is still far beyond your reach.”

Amber blinked, finally catching up to the staggering information. She struggled to sketch a rough impression in her mind, and then realized why Lady Ye had never revealed these things to her or Gawain before. It was only after Amber unwittingly stumbled upon the truth that Lady Ye had no choice but to speak.

She shrank her neck slightly, choosing her words carefully. “We’re… too early to know these things, aren’t we?”

“…‘Early’ and ‘late’ are relative concepts. Some civilizations come into contact with Them from the very beginning, but others… are not suited to grow under Their protection, especially during critical stages of maturity,” Lady Ye sighed softly. “The Voyagers taught me these ancient truths before they left, and perhaps it was because of this knowledge that I formed a connection with an individual at that scale of time and space. But I never expected that connection would extend to you.”

Amber didn’t know how to respond. This was a genuine accident, one even Lady Ye hadn’t controlled. After a long silence, she could only ask, “Then why haven’t I heard His voice recently?”

“I’m not sure,” Lady Ye shook her head slightly. “But it may be related to my gradual awakening. The reason you could hear that voice, and even communicate with it, was due to a low-level malfunction in the Anchor Generator that caused a ‘sympathetic stream’ between you and me. As I’ve been gaining the upper hand in the standoff with the Countercurrent, that malfunction was likely repaired automatically by the Anchor Generator, which naturally cut off the signal reaching you.”

“Ah… so that’s how it is…” Amber finally understood, though her voice held a hint of regret. “So it was just a stream after all…”

She paused, then couldn’t help but ask again, “Will I be able to hear His voice again in the future?”

Lady Ye hesitated for a moment, then gently nodded. “…If you want, I can try to find a way.”

After that, silence fell once more around the throne.

Amber’s conversation with Lady Ye seemed to have come to a close, but Gawain knew the ripple effects of this unexpected revelation were only just beginning.

He now had to consider what this meant for the entire world, for the Loren Alliance, for himself, and for all living beings in this world.

A vaster scale of time and space, a grand order so magnificent it defies comprehension by today’s Loren Alliance—a colossal curtain drawn back prematurely, a… phantom still beyond reach.

Perhaps not just a phantom.

In tales of heroes and dragons, the world unfolds like a scroll, step by step, with the hero’s path leading from one enemy to the next. But sadly, reality rarely unfolds so neatly.

After an unknown stretch of calm, a voice descended from the sky, echoing in Gawain’s ears:

“So, what about you, my neighbor? Will you pray to the true God?”

Now, the pressure was on Gawain.

(End of chapter)