"That's our God, Cid. People in other places have different gods, but this one is ours."

Mia explained to the Ulysses with a face, almost like he had seen a ghost.

The statue in the farthest back of the cathedral is standing at an outstanding 40 meters tall, almost reaching the roof.

Ulysses didn't know and didn't want to respond. Never in his life had he made himself a figure to worship. He had never made any God figures like him for people to prey upon as well.

He did know that misconceptions and misunderstandings can lead to people mistaking a godlike figure.

But this is insane. I swear if I could get one good talk with that guy.

"So, do you think that God exists?"

Ulysses asked Mia with the look on his face still the same.

"No, not at all. But if demons exist, shouldn't divine beings exist too?"

Mia rubbed her chin.

(Demons are just like any other different humanlike species. The fact that they roam the underworld with dead people's souls doesn't mean they're that evil.)

Ulysses subconsciously facepalmed out of frustration.

"PLEASE HELP! SOMEBODY! ANYBODY!"

An ear-piercing shriek of a woman rang out through the entire cathedral.

Ulysses jerked his head in an instant to the woman. In her hands was a man who lost one of his arms and one of his legs. His eyes rolled back, and blood dripping down his mouth and stomach.

Three different people rushed to her and provided aid. The other one's in the cathedral just stared silently covering their mouths.

"He's already dead. There's no point in casting healing spells or treating the wounds. It would be a waste."

They looked at the person who had just said a disgusting statement.

It was Mia with her cold dead eyes.

The woman who was crying already knew but tried to deny it as much as she could.

"N-NO! There's still a chance!"

One person who was trying to treat the already dead man tried to reason with Mia.

"His heart stopped beating, and his skin is pale. He lost too much blood for even his brain to function."

"How did you know? But- it's true."

The man looked back at the woman who was in a breakdown. He heaved a huge sigh and said,

"I'm sorry, ma'am. But he's gone."

The woman had no more energy to scream or be angry. She just laid her head down on the chest of the dead man.

Ulysses watched with indifferent eyes. Morals were something Ulysses didn't understand.

(What's the use of caring for someone who doesn't have any impact on your life?)

Ulysses aimed his head at the sky and thought,

(Tragedy. I wonder if I'll experience it in this beautiful world of mine.)

Ulysses looked at Mia. Her cold dead eyes were getting teary, and her hands were shaking.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Ulysses asked Mia, touching her shoulder.

Mia grabbed Ulysses' hand and said,

"Come on, let's get out of here."

"O-okay then."

Mia and Ulysses walked out of the building frantically.

When they got outside, Ulysses was a little surprised at how the buildings looked.

The design choices haven't changed, especially considering how many years have passed.

The only noticeable change in the buildings was how neat they look, and the wood was much sturdier.

There were also buildings made entirely out of stone for added defense.

(A/N): Just like medieval-style buildings but much cleaner and tougher.

The streets were wide to make good breathing room for people. And the streetlamps were powered by lightstones instead of fire lit lamps.

Ulysses saw most of the people wearing metal armor with longswords and also mages with robes and shortswords.

I guess every resident in this city is an adventurer.

"This is the Adventurer's District. There are other districts, like the Market and Academic."

Oh, so that's why people here have swords.

"Amazing. This city is incredibly organized."

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Ulysses said with curious eyes.

"Really? It's how all cities run. Anyway, can I have the sword back?"

Ulysses felt fear running down through his body. It felt worse than the time he encountered the Wildger.

"Uhh... w-well. I left in the cave."

Ulysses staring at Mia saw her eye twitch. She took a deep breath and tried to calm down.

"You-you what?"

Ulysses didn't answer her and took a step back.

"Did you know. The value of that sword probably costs more than the amount of bribe it takes to get murder charges removed?"

Mia's head was down, and she was clenching her fists, almost like it would've bruised.

"The work I took to obtain the work of art."

Ulysses was shaking and was about to run away.

"N-no, it's okay. It was that or my life. That's all that matters."

Mia took another deep breath and unclenched her fists.

Ulysses hesitated to ask a question from the fear of getting his head ripped off.

But he still asked her one because of his irritating curiosity.

"You said something about an Academic District. What's it about?"

Mia crossed her arms and replied,

"What do you think it's about dumbass? It's where future adventurers learn combat skills and mages learn incantations and spells."

Ulysses stayed silent for a little bit, thinking about what she said.

"Do they also teach beast and monster anatomy? Or world history?"

Mia sighed out of annoyance and replied,

"Yeah, of course. But the lessons are almost entirely composed of magic proficiency or melee proficiency."

"Do students have a choice between magic and melee?"

"Yeah. But if you choose magic, you still learn how to use a weapon. If you run out of mana, you can switch to your weapon."

Ulysses was thinking about enrolling in the school to learn how much advancements the world has gone through.

"I want to start learning there. I'm a little far behind this world, so I want to learn new things."

Mia nodded,

"If you want to start now, by tomorrow, they'll begin to do physical and magic prowess exams for potential new students. You have to be under 20 to enter the test."

Ulysses remembered his age was left a blank when he brought up his status screen.

"By the way, how old are you? You don't seem to look old."

Mia rubbed her chin again out of habit.

"Oh, I-I'm uh- 18! I'm 18!"

Mia squinted her eyes.

"Hmm. Alright then, I'll be going now. Bye."

"W-wait! I don't even have a place to sleep!"

Mia, even though hearing Ulysses' pleas, didn't stop and continued walking.

(She might still be mad at me. Where do I go now? Maybe I can explore other districts.)

Ulysses walked towards the opposite direction of where Mia went. He walked past an empty doorway that was separating both districts.

The District Ulysses was in was much brighter and contained the restaurants, taverns, and bars.

(This place has a lot of people. But it isn't that crowded.)

He reached the center of the Market District that was also the center of the city. There he found a water fountain and benches around it but not so close it would splash the person sitting on it.

In the middle of the water fountain was another statue of him. This time it was wearing a toga and looked even more charming.

Ulysses sighed and looked up at the sky.

(Not going to lie, but Cid did an incredible job of overseeing and leading this world to better advancements. The person I'm most intrigued about is that figure who appeared when I lost my powers and saved Mia and me. Did he have some sort of connection with me? I guess I can't escape my duty as a god much smoothly than I thought.)

Ulysses looked around and saw no people around him. It was reasonably late too, and Ulysses thought this would be a great time to sleep.

He laid down on the bench and shut his eyes.

(The first day as a mortal, and I already love it.)

Ulysses gave one more smile and fell asleep.

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

"Hey, get up! What do you think you're doing?"

A city guard woke Ulysses up from his sleep. It was still dawn, and sunlight was barely visible.

"It's illegal to sleep on the benches!"

Ulysses got up and apologized to the guard for sleeping on the benches. The guard said he would let Ulysses go, but he would bring Ulysses to jail if he were to do it again.

Ulysses walked away from the guard and started refreshing his mind. He was planning to go to the academy and pass the test.

(My strength stat is garbage, though. Hopefully, I can make up for it with skill.)

Ulysses still retained his swordsmanship and knowledge even though he got reverted to a mortal. He was fluent in Arcadia language, the language that based magical incantations. The only problem was his lack of mana, restricting him from the usage of magic.

"Appraise."

Name: Ulysses _________

Age: 18

Strength: 9.2

_______________

Intellect: 2

_______________

Dexterity: 33.27

_______________

Constitution: 32.38

_______________

Unique Skill: Appraise

It can show the stats of the object appraised by the user.

Ulysses was delighted with the small increase in his stats though he expected this from the damage he took and the running he did. His age seemed to have changed from a blank line to what he wanted.

I wonder if I can do the same thing with my last name. Best not do anything right now, though. I still need to find the Academic District.

Ulysses walked around the city for a while until he spotted a gateway that led to a park-like area. A sign was beside the gateway that said, "ENROLLING NOW!"

He saw a tent spanning the entire pathway, and the side was blocked off by guards and gates, so everyone had to pass through it.

There was a short line Ulysses had to enter to pass the tent. The queue was quick-moving and only had five people, and it was moving fairly quickly.

Ulysses waited in the queue after it was his turn and entered the tent. In front of him were a counter and a crystal ball in front. There was also an aged woman behind the counter.

"Place your hand on the ball, and it will send your stats for officials to inspect."

(Shit, so they will see my god awful Strength and Intellect?)

Ulysses nodded and went towards the counter, then placed his hand on the crystal ball.

He felt a warmth surrounding him and, after a short while, faded away.

"You may pass."

The aged woman granted Ulysses passage, and a gap in the tent leading to the school opened.

Ulysses went through and saw a building that has two split halves. It was a building bigger than he had ever seen in his entire life.

There were also other people gazing at the building with wide-eyes and saying that building was the academy.

"That's the academy? That size is overkill."

Ulysses said out loud.

He spent so much time finding the academy that it was already a bright morning.

There was a clear line between the wealthy nobles and the poor commoners with the noble children wearing fashionable outfits and the others wearing what looked to be like padded attires.

Ulysses tried to find Mia but couldn't see her from the crowd. He gave up looking for her and went to the academy.

As he got closer, two people that seemed to be instructors stopped people from entering the building, including Ulysses.

The instructors commanded those who they stopped to sit down and wait for other potential students to arrive. Then a wave of marches stormed the Academic District in the distance.

(I guess I got here early.)

After a full 30 minutes of waiting for the other potential students, the man on the right spoke.

"There are roughly 200 of you standing in front of the school. Most of you will be going home from the failure of the two tests we're doing."

The man on the right was muscular and intimidating. He was wearing metal plated armor and had a scar across his eye. The faces around Ulysses were tense and sweaty from hearing the instructor's voice.

(Wait, it's already starting? No form to fill out or any payment fee? Time's have changed, I guess.)

"The first is medical check-up. If you have some sort of disability or chronic illness, then leave this place."

The woman on the left was the one speaking this time. She had a slim figure and had staff. Everyone heard what she said, but no one left the crowd.

"Some of you may be lying, of course. That's the goal of this test. To figure out what is wrong with your body."

After what she said, the muscular man started speaking up again.

"The 2nd test is the physical test; the test all of you have been fearing. We're going to test your capabilities to weed out the weak and nurture the strong."

The tense faces of the potential students turned fierce. Ulysses was in the middle of them, observing the faces around him.

The woman walked in front of the crowd and held up her arms towards them. Her eyes turned blue and began to chant some type of incantation. The spell made everyone feel pleasant and warm.

After the spell ended, she opened her eyes and gave a bright smile.

"Good! Everyones healthy! I've never seen these types of results before!"

Some of the people cheered while others still had a tense face. They knew the challenge has yet to come.

"The ones who prefer learning melee skills like swordsmanship, spearmanship, or hand to hand combat come to me."

The man said to the crowd.

More than half of the crowd went towards him, surprisingly, in an orderly fashion. Ulysses also followed them in an orderly manner. His attire was different from others. He was the only one who was wearing some type of armor.

"Everyone who wants to learn magic, alchemy, enchantments, artifact construction, and others; go here to my side."

The rest of the crowd went over to the mages' side.

The magic instructor walked away to the left, going to what seems to be a forest. And the instructor Ulysses was with walked to the right going to a small arena.

The academic District is bigger inside than on the outside, so the academy had access to a magical forest. Even Ulysses was confused about how the District worked.

The arena that the physical combat instructor brought them to had stone seats around to sit on. The instructor ordered them to sit down and listen to what he was going to say.

"All of you are going to fight one another. Then I'll judge based on your performance whether or not you deserve to be in this institution."

End of chapter 4