“HAHAHA! What an interesting way to look at it! Indeed! If your goal is the element of surprise, a battlefield where both opponents are forced to expect every theoretical outcome, you lose your strongest weapon! I like you already!” Boreas continued to laugh in excitement.
Aella wasn’t sure how he laughed so much without taking a breath. She could control wind and sound, but she still wasn’t confident in doing such a thing.
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‘5? So I’m gonna get 60 stat points from this trial before I get the completion rewards?’
“Just like that? You’re soft, Boreas.” Skadi rolled her eyes.
“So you say, but I bet you’ll give her your recognition soon enough!”
Beginning to walk away, Skadi ended up flipping Boreas off and a rather amusing show from a supposed Goddess. “Sure, whatever. You two have a fun chat while I prepare an actual trial.”
Boreas and Aella looked at Skadi before turning to each other, neither responding to her, with Aella not knowing how to and Boreas not seeing any point.
“Oh, that reminds me. I do have a question I’d like to ask you. What exactly are ancients? I know you’re fallen divinities, but the law of this world lies with the dragons. How did you manage to grow so strong without a Dragon? Even if this System is beyond stupid, raising your stats wouldn’t be enough to raise your level beyond the [Scorpious] stage.”
The [Law of the World] was how things like magic worked in the context of the world. Earth was very unique in its method of using Dragons to make everyone stronger, but it was by no means the only weird one. Hell, it wasn’t even close to being the most bizarre. The System could also be considered part of it, but Aella wasn’t sure if it was directly tied to the world or something foreign that was assisting it.
She couldn’t tell Boreas’ exact rank. Starting at the [Auriga] stage, they all blended together due to her lack of cultivation, but Boreas was at the minimum level of an S rank.
Raising an eyebrow, Boreas glanced at the sky nostalgically. “Unfortunately, the System doesn’t let me answer that. However, I could ask you the same thing. Even if you are bonded with a Dragon in this new age world, your Mana is far too pure. Not to mention knowing about [Constellation Stages], which are terms that no longer exist in this world.”
‘Wait… The only people I’ve heard say the names of cultivation stages have been… Me, Blair, and Seraphina. I have influenced those two, so it’s natural for them to know, but what about that guy in the abyss nest? He clearly knew I was in the [Ursa Minor] stage.’
That was information Aella didn’t expect to come across. Which only made things worse. How the hell did a random cultist from this world successfully guess the name of the stage that Aella was in?
Unless he didn’t guess. But how could he possibly know with Boreas’s words? Thinking back, it was very odd, but she didn’t consider it at the time because she thought she might have let the word slip, but the cultist did sound too confident in his claim.
It’s normal for this world to not use terms for outside. Even though it’s the widest spread measurement of power, Aella had been to worlds like this that have used their own. In this case, it was the letter grades.
“It’s not terribly hard to come by an answer. There are probably some historians who remain who can answer that question for you somewhat. Since I can’t answer that, do you have anything else you wish to ask, young one?”
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Aella felt a thorn in her side when Boreas called her young one. He was probably one of the few people who could say that, and she had no room to retort. If she was an old hag, then he was a genuine fossil.
“Then, in that case. How many of you are there?” She asked. Ancients were the Gods of Earth. That made Aella curious because Earth had an abnormal number of gods for one planet in its mythology.
Most places have a singular pantheon that rules the world. Aella’s world had two significant pantheons before she… Well, became the Whirlwind Maestra. Earth, on the other hand, had dozens, hundreds even. She was curious as to how many of them were real and others fabricated from the human psyche.
Stroking his beard, Boreas hummed in thought for a while. “6 of us remain. I couldn’t give you a number of how many of us there were originally. Most have died or since fallen into a slumber that’s lasted for millions of years. So few of us remain that the System had forced us into pairs in these pocket dimensions to make sure whatever got the others doesn’t get us because aside from the initial Gods that the aforementioned Pandora killed, we don’t really know what happened to the rest of them.”
“How do you lose so many without knowing the cause?” Aella questioned in disbelief, resulting in a shrug from Boreas.
“I’m just an old man who’s slightly better at fighting than some. Those complicated things were always left to the smarter ones like Athena and Asclepius.
Thinking back to her first trial with the withering [Will of The World], the thought of it being related to the [Divine Council] popped into her head. Since they coveted Earth at one point, it’s unsurprising they’d have some backup plans prepared in case Velfius rebels.
Just as she considered saying her thoughts, Skadi returned, throwing a set of skiing equipment, a quiver, and a bow at Aella.
“Have you ever shot a bow before?” She asked, creating a distant mountain that was far more natural than the spike they were currently standing on.
“I have. Why, though?”
“As a Goddess who represents archery, my trial will be simple. We will compete in an archery contest while skiing down that mountain. The only Mana I will allow is the Mana you’re using to reinforce yourself so you don’t freeze, so no skills or spells. Prove to me you’re good with a bow, and you’ll complete this trial.”
“Sounds like fun. Let’s do it.” Aella confirmed. Behind her confident demeanor, though, she was aggressively lamenting her fate.
‘WHY?! WHY DOES ANYBODY HAVE A DIVINITY RELATED TO A FUCKING BOW & ARROW? FOR WHAT REASON? DO YOU HATE YOURSELF THAT MUCH, SKADI?!’
Aella had experience using almost every weapon and could use all of them to a decent degree of proficiency. The bow was easily her worst, though.
For all intents and purposes, it was a pointless weapon. On Earth, they innovated the concept with crossbows, making them less inadequate but still useless. Bows were created because slings, despite being just as if not far more capable of destruction, were far more challenging to master, and in warfare, consistency was the most important thing.
Sure, a competent sling wielder will cause some damage, but at the same time, one slinger can be trained, a dozen bowmen can be trained. On a divine scale, it’s even worse.
Magic would reach further and fly faster than any arrow. It’s redundant. With that very logical reasoning, Aella has barely touched a bow in her life. She knew the posture needed; she COULD shoot the bow, but that was before factoring in her current stature.
Not to mention the fact that Aella’s aim was just objectively bad for someone as old as her, she never had to learn how to be accurate as she could constantly adjust the wind to guide her shot.
Oh, and she’s never skied in her life. She has truly found herself in the worst-case scenario. Suddenly, failure became a very realistic possibility. She didn’t even know what would happen if she failed the trial. She technically already got a bunch of stats for it, so it wasn’t a loss, but does she lose anything else if she fails this?
‘Nah. I got this. Just hit the target. It’s so simple! I can’t possibly fail!’ She deluded herself in preparation for the obliteration that was more than likely coming to her.
As long as she tried her best and bided her time, a chance to win would naturally reveal itself, right?