"And you are- NOT THE FATHER!"

[Hear an interesting bit of gossip-> 5 points of experiences and 6 points]

"THey say that the new hire at te butcher shop is the butcher's son..."

"But the butcher's wife is an elf and the young man is a dwarf."

"Exactly!"

"Oohhh..."

[Hear a spicy rumor-> gain 10 points of experience and 10 points]

"I finally have it! The secret patty formula is!-"

[Discover the secret formula-> gain 20 points of experience and 20 points]

[Big-eared Macaque lvl 1->2]

"Three kobolds in a coat! Three of them!"

[Discover a minor conspiracy-> gain 5 points of experience and 5 points.]

Bill's life had taken quite the turn.

----------------------------------------

For a human, Bill had quite the set of ears, earning him the name Big-Eared Bill, a nickname that would follow him even into the Pheme-Nyx intelligence organization.

He had a desire to hear the most interesting bits of news, appropriate to the large ears he had.

He had become one of the most prominent agents within the organization, specialized specifically in listening, grasping the most delicious bits of intelligence.

He was one of the best, but even the best could be caught unawares.

On a classified mission to investigate a dangerous slave cartel, he had been tripped by a banana and exposed, causing him to be quickly apprehended.

An embarrassing mark on his spying career, which would be ending shortly with his death.

They had tried to pry his secrets from his head, only to be met with his laughter and indifference.

Betray the Goddess of rumors!?

Never!

"THen I hope you do not blame me for this." the torturer said solemnly, only for Big-Eared Bill to laugh.

"Forgive you? For what?

If I wish to play by the rules, then I should expect to die by them!"

And with that Big-Eared Bill disappeared from this world.

----------------------------------------

Hey, wake up. Wake up.

Waaaaake uuuuuup.

Bill heard a booming voice, causing him to flutter his eyes, and rub them, forcing himself awake, only to pause.

Why would he need to open his eyes?

He should be dead! Being greeted by the indifferent chiron as they rode a boat through the river styx! But he clearly wasn't.

Opening his eyes, he found himself surrounded by a world of two things: wood and the void.

The floor he stood on was bark as far as he could see, and in one direction, as far as he could see was wood.

All other directions, up and down from side to side were nothing but void.

He was not alone, as there was a large macaque standing next to him, likely the source of the noise.

And the macaque had 6 ears...

Like the divine consort of Pheme, the six eared macaque...

Reacting almost instantly, the young man(?) got on his knees, apologizing profusely.

"My deepest apologies milord! I did not realize you were here, the great 6 eared macaque, consort to the great Goddess Pheme!"

The macaque seemed quite pleased with his apology especially the last part as he smiled broadly.

That's better, but no need to call me milord. He said it, though his expression slightly soured at that last statement, though Bill paid no mind to that, continuing to show respect.

Bill couldn't help but feel a little excited at the thought that perhaps the one who had saved him could be no other than the Goddess he worshipped.

"Milord, I don't suppose you could tell this servant as to how he survived?" he asked cautiously.

Survive? That's a strong word. The macaque said, with a rather mysterious smile, bringing Bill confusion.

Have you... checked yourself yet? He asked mysteriously, causing the spy to observe himself carefully, only to realize...

... He wasn't human.

His hands were not those of human, covered in fur and pink paws, not fingers.

He touched his face, finding the pronounced snout instead of a sharp nose and an eerie sensation from his behind, the feeling of a prehensile limb.

Bringing the sensation in front of himself with trembling eyes, he confirmed the existence of a new tail poppng out of his back, and more importantly, confirming that he had become a macaque!

Seeing his shocked expression, the 6-eared macaque chortled in amusement.

You are no longer human, but rather, have become a would be divine beast.

To be more precise, you are the child of the Goddess Pheme and I. He said, sounding rather proud.

You should call me father instead.

"Father."

Better. The macaque nodded approvingly.

Anyway, you happened to be one of Pheme's favorites, and she thought it'd be such a waste were you to die this way. Lucky for you, there happened to be a bit of a program for people like you. Unfortunate favorites of the Gods.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

He grumbled a bit. Of course, it took someone else dying before she finally agreed to having kids but whatever.

The last part itched Bill's curiosity, but he choose not to say anything, for there were some melons too dangerous to eat.

The macaque snorted, as if he knew the young monkey's thoughts.

And he probably did, since the 6 eared macaque can hear all things in the world, both spoken and thought of.

The macaque continued. Unfortunately, you couldn't just start off as a 6 eared macaque, since your human soul isn't adapted to a monster body. So you'll have to start as the low rank monster, the big eared macaque which would be considered a D-rank monster, and as you grow stronger, the other two pairs should grow in, with each pair representing a jump in 2 ranks, from D to B, and B to S. capiche?

"Understood.

Actually, I wanted to ask. Since Pheme is my mother," he said, feeling weird about the statement, but continued anyway, "then can I ask where she is at this moment?"

To this, the macaque showed a rather disgusted expression. Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to be here to see you and your first steps as her son, Jorvus called us back to do some work on his part. In fact, this isn't even my main body, but one of my incarnations sent out to watch over and guide you while we're busy.

"Oh." Bill said, feeling a bit disappointed, before choosing to focus on the more important matter.

"So how do I get stronger then?" he asked, and the bigger macaque merely smiled amusedly.

How else would a snooping macaque grow?

Listen, and listen well.

----------------------------------------

And since then, Bill had done as he had said and listened.

He quickly discovered the existence of the system, a rather fascinating object, but one useless to his own growth. After all, according to it, anything he learned from asking the system questions, did not count towards his own growth.

The root of the macaque's growth after all, was what it heard, and the rarity of the knowledge, so freely given knowledge was as good as public knowledge.

Interesting, but useless.

That didn't stop him from asking it tons of questions. He just loved hearing those little tidbits of info.

Bill had long since recognized that the macaque's dislike was not at him as a person, but as a mortal who had finally gotten his wife to give birth to a son, after years of her husband asking.

Essentially, it was pettiness.

Otherwise, he was still caring, stepping in when the worst situations occur, whether it be pulling him back into the realm of Yggdrasill, or killing the offending person in question, he acted decisively.

The macaque was a dominating beast when it acted, pulling out a giant metal rod and crushing anything that opposed it.

He had watched the 6-eared macaque crush a dragon with one blow, which filled Bill with excitement, knowing that as he grew, he'd be more like his newfound father.

ALthough his new father was a bit of a grouch, information could be pried from the older macaques hands.

Like in this instance...

"I have uncles?" Seeing that the little macaque was unlikely to stop pestering him about it, the older macaque sighed and put down his peach pie.

Yes, you have... 3 uncles. He inhaled deeply through his nostrils before speaking.

We are the 4 chaos monkeys. As long as one of us lives, the other has a chance to come back.

The long armed gibbon, whose arms are one, capable of sliding and reaching to the very stars, and capable of pulling the stars down, or even the chariot of Apallas Ra

Wu Zhiqi, the river demon, who was imprisoned under a mountain by heaven for being too strong, and at the 5th level was able of contending against Qinglong, a 6th level being on strength alone.

And... the stone monkey. He said the last part with great reluctance, but that didn't stop Bill from picking up on it.

"Stone monkey... you mean Sun Wukong!? The sage equal to heaven!?"

Yes, him! Snapped Liuer, seeming particularly upset to mention him.

"Did he do something t you?"

He killed me!

"That's terrible! Why would he do that to his family?"

Well... The six-eared macaque paused seemingly embarrassed to say more.

He had to practically force out the next few words.

Well... you know... I'd been stuck at the pinnacle of the 5th level for ages...

and you know, merit helps achieve breakthroughs and-

well my brother was doing that whole thing with the scriptures, so I thought it couldn't hurt to impersonate him a little...

and I...

tried to take his position in the journey...

he didn't take it very well

Hearing this, Bill was completely unsurprised that the stone monkey had killed the six eared one.

It was said that the Journey to the West had immense significance to the growth of the Heavenly Sage, who broke through to the 6th level shortly thereafter.

Such an opportunity, his father had tried to snatch it.

He could only say that the macaque was truly bold!

Still...

"He's not still coming after you right?" Bill asked curiously, wondering if this was the reason why the 6 eared macaque now resided in the Romana empire, hiding from his stronger sibling.

No. He's out there pursuing worthy opponents to fight. The macaque denied, his voice now tinged with bitterness.

After all, the meaning behind such words was clear.

Unprompted, the monkey began to speak, practically blurting out the words.

It's infuriating! We 3 were the only known chaos monkeys once upon a time. We were born far earlier than our brother, preceding him by millions of years, as well as all of humanity!

Yet now, millions of years later, we are still stuck at the pinnacle of the fifth level, while he is off to bigger and brighter things.

The air went stagnant for a moment, as Bill was left unsure what to say.

The six-eared macaque sighed, seeming to just push the topic as a whole out of his mind.

You wish to know where these uncles are. The macaque said, less of a question and more of a statement, as if he knew the young macaque's temperament as if it were his own.

Perhaps it was his nature, so similar that he predicted what the child was thinking.

And indeed, the boy's eyes were widening in curiosity.

He sighed. Very well.

Wuzhiqi currently resides in the Nile river, now that Sobek occupies a greater part of the world's waters. He leads a group of water monkeys, though he does run off to Vahalla here and there, fighting with the brave warriors there.

Gibbs has long become the beast who follows Appalas Ra, helping to pull the sun chariot as well as the moon. You should of heard of him. He's called the golden arm gibbon.

If you want, I can take you to visit them one of these days once you've gotten your second pair.

The macaque was mildly confused. "Why are they all in the Romana empire? Surely you didn't all migrate for the fun of it." Bill asked and Liuer snorted, having gotten over the previous subject.

The Qing empire drove us out. The dynasty has become one of cultivators, who've been hunting divine beings left and right to supplement their growth.

We're just some of the divine beings who've fled since then.

In fact, Nuwa should be a very familiar name to you, right?

Bill nodded. "Mother of the three gorgons and mother to most snake people and monsters as a whole." he said, reciting what he knew of her.

Well, she also used to have a different title. In the east, she had been humanities protector, famously known as a saint of humanity, famously involved in the developement of their dynasty.

However, the emperor took it a step too far, attacking and killing many demon snake tribes, even against her warning, and attacking her reincarnated brother Fuxi. After that she left the Qing dynasty and came to the Romana empire since they're offering good deals to anyone over the third level currently as long as they're neutral+

"Really? I never heard that!" Bill said, astonished that he had never heard this piece of info.

It's kept pretty under wraps. The Qing empire knows, but can't do anything about it. They've lost too many great demons this way. Pangu himself in fact, has left the dynasty after they refused to acknowledge his sons, the three pure ones, and alienated him from the common people.

"Wait, then how many have fled the empire since?" Bill asked, and the macaque rolled his eyes.

Who knows. So many have crossed over, and I hardly care enough to count them all.

"That's amazing!"

Liuer chuckled. Indeed.

"I thought I knew a lot, but so many fun secrets still exist out there." The young monkey marveled, the older could not help but chuckling as he rubbed his head, thinking of himself when he was but a small macaque in a terrifying world.

Scared, yet curious.

Indeed. little one, continue to listen so that you can become like me, and hear all things in the world.

There's just so much excitement to listen to.

He said, choosing to encourage the little one before him, as the old are supposed to.

----------------------------------------

One day, after listening to the scheme of a necromancer planning to raise an entire city's cemetery (and stopping it),

BIl felt it.

A ticking of the ears, an instinctive feeling.

[After overhearing the scheme of a necromancer planning to cause mayhem in a city, you've gaained 500 experience, and 40 points!]

[Big eared macaque 49->50]

[Big eared macaque -> Four-eared Macaque]

A blossoming of power, and confirmation.

A confirmation of who he'd become.

He too, had become a great listener.

Now, his father would take him to see the other two.