Some days dragged more than the others, but Ione was hungry for knowledge and Amahn was all too eager to give it. If Ione was asked, she would have said Amahn was a far better teacher than Coranne. She had a strict no-nonsense attitude, but was professional, courteous, and had a wealth of knowledge that far surpassed the younger nun.

Amahn seemed impressed by her. They flew through the basics of math at an unprecedented pace; she was quickly taught the Common level equation, which was [level] x [90] x 1.23. Although the numbers would be changed based on class rarity, it was nice to have a baseline to compare.

However, it was insulting that Aman seemed to believe that she would only need to know the Common equation, implying that she wouldn't get anything higher.

Then, they moved onto history.

It made Ione want to die. She could barely wrap her head around what she was told and it left her in a daze.

It also made her finally understand what [Renewal Year] meant in her status page. She was under the assumption that it was similar to ‘Common Era’, or ‘Before Common Era’. A way to mark significant periods of history. Which wasn’t too far off the mark, as Ione was taught that all life will apparently end in a little under 300 years.

On Terrestria, after a 1,000 years have passed, life will cease to be. Only to then re-blossom over again. A cycle of complete and utter annihilation across the globe, repeatedly. Ione was reminded of her time as the space octopus species, and she nearly went catatonic. Amahn was concerned, but did not make a move to comfort her. Ione appreciated it.

Then the young girl started her rapid fire questioning.

“Who kills all life?”

“The Gods.”

“How?”

“We don’t know.”

“For what reason?”

“No one knows.”

“Why not?”

“For two reasons: one is because once someone ascends to the astral plane they cannot come back to the mortal world. There is a barrier between our world, and theirs. Two, is that any attempt at getting answers directly from the gods is met with silence. So there’s no one that can answer the question of ‘why.’”

Ione thought for a moment.

“But, can’t the gods communicate with people? They have followers, right?”

“Generally, no,” Amahn responded. “They are focused on their followers and as such, do not entertain distractions that detract from their Godly duties.”

That sounds like a shitty excuse, Ione thought.

“Coranne told me a bit about the astral plane. That it’s a place where you can ascend and have a chance to become a god. What is it?”

“We’re not exactly sure, just that it’s a plane that ascended individuals go to. It’s supposedly divine and where all gods reside.”

“When someone ascends, does that mean they become a god?”

Amahn tilted her head. “Sometimes, it depends. Reincarnated individuals, people who have the same souls but live over and over in different bodies, have a much higher chance to become a god, but not all of them become gods. But we don’t know how many of the gods written in the Book of Mauvah are reincarnated. There are some confirmed, but others…It would be hard to say. Newborn souls may also become gods, but their path is much, much harder as they do not have skills, resistances or attributes carried on from a past life. All gods, however, have had to ascend to become the gods they are known as today.”

Hm, Coranne gave me the wrong information. Unless she didn’t, and Amahn is lying.

She shook her head, getting caught in thoughts like those would only distract her.

“Wait, that means that Gostra actually existed? He walked Terrestria? Mauvah too?”

Amahn nodded, “Yes. As well as Frauvna, God of deceit and betrayal, Daken, God of war and anger, Freya, God of Personal Gain, Morad, God of Nurture and Parentage and many, many others.”

A thought entered her mind. “How many gods are there?”

“From the Book of Mauvah: there are about 777 light gods and 666 dark gods.”

Ione found that very interesting. She understood the meaning of those numbers on Earth, so it was interesting that they appeared on Terrestria in this way.

“And neither are completely good or completely bad, right?”

Amahn leveled an impressed look, “yes. That’s correct, many of them fall in between.”

“But, those are two different categories. Who decides which god gets placed into where?”

Her teacher raised a brow, “astute questions. But there’s one you’ve forgotten to ask.”

Ione thought for a bit and the question soon came to her. “Who wrote the book of Mauvah?”

The woman hummed, “Presumably, Mauvah, the System God. Humans were placed in this Valley a little over 700 years ago. They were provided with The Book of Mauvah, a tutorial guide, and some basic tools. All of which are in a protected area in Golden Heights. When a new being ascends to the astral plane and achieves godhood, it is automatically written in the book. We do not decide, the Gods themselves do.”

That caught her attention. “A tutorial?”

“Yes, it details the crystals that we use, the best diet to have for our health, how to make additional tools, and classes, and ascension.”

“And you’re teaching me what the tutorial says?”

Amahns lips thinned, “yes.”

That was the most outward display of a lie that the nun has portrayed. Yet, Ione dropped it, she knew when to pick her battles.

I want that tutorial, though. I really want it.

DING! Quest Obtained! Please refer to the quest tab to get a detailed explanation.

Heh.

Obtain the Tutorial Book

Rewards: 85,000 EXP, 150 attribute points, ???, ???

“So, does Mauvah update the book?”

“It’s implied, but not exactly known. There is a Records Keeper in Golden Heights that is allowed to read The Book of Mauvah everyday to determine any differences. They just appear in the book, and we make note of them.”

Ione went back to an earlier topic.

“How does someone achieve godhood?”

Amahn smiled. “Presumably, when they manage to kill a god. And so far, no one in this period who has ascended has managed it, yet.”

“How many people have ascended?”

“Two, so far. It’s extremely difficult.”

Ione nodded. “So how do you ascend? Is it something like a system notification, a quest? Or do you go somewhere?”

“You’re getting too close to the outside of the syllabus, Ione.”

She huffed. Amahn had started to say that every time Ione asked a question vaguely related to outside of Whisperwind Valley. They must have thought that by not mentioning the outside world that it would discourage kids from leaving the valley. Which wouldn't normally work out if this was on Earth.

Well, looks like not all of my questions will be answered.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“So then, who gets placed into which category?”

“It will depend on what God is killed after ascension.”

“Is there a benefit to either category?”

“Yes, if one is a Light god. If one is a Dark god there are more negatives. There is a marked difference in how many Gods are worshiped depending on their categorization. Light gods receive more worshippers in comparison to dark gods, so those who ascend avoid light gods as they are harder to kill due to being more powerful. Dark gods are often targeted.”

“The book tells you this?”

“Yes.”

Ione suspected the discrepancy was due to more dark gods being considered ‘evil’ and the word ‘dark’ having more nefarious connotations. A combination of fact and bias. Yet, a question slithered its way into her mind: “when someone kills a god, do they become that god's type? I know Gostra is Righteousness, Freya, of personal gain. If an ascendant were to kill Gostra, would they become the new God of Righteousness?”

“No, they may choose their own as long as it has not been taken yet.”

Ione narrowed her eyes. “So there could technically be a dark god who could be the God of Righteousness, if Gostra is killed?”

“Yes. Astute observation, Ione. There is always a chance that a Light god's inclination could turn dark, or vice versa.”

Well, Ione could attribute that to her intelligence stat and [multitasking] skill, but she wasn't going to mention that.

Then, Ione thought of what classified ‘evil’ as evil and ‘good’ as good. For Gostra, the God of Righteousness, appeared good. Righteousness was good, on the surface level. It was a morally right state of being. However, when you called for the God of Righteousness, Gostra, and then committed war and genocide for the sake of supposed goodness, then what God really constituted as fully good or fully evil? Light and Dark?

Selfishness is not always good, but it’s also not always bad. Same with betrayal, desire, anger, personal gain, and so on and so forth.

Ione came to the conclusion that it was really dependent on who was invoking the god. On one hand, someone could be trying to save children and invoke the God of Personal Gain because that could provide them positive acclaim while still saving others, but then someone could rob an old lady while also invoking the same god.

There was a curiosity that nagged at Ione, “do Gods give anything to the people worshiping them. Maybe, like, a tier system of rewards for how devoted their followers are?”

Amahn's eyes widened, then closed, “wonderful question,” she said, with incredible conviction, “yes, gods may give blessings to some of their most devoted followers. It may not be consistent, and other followers may have stronger blessings based on devotion, but yes, you do gain something from worshiping a god and it varies from God to God.”

“Can you worship multiple gods?”

“You can, although you may not receive a blessing from either depending on their relationship to each other.”

“‘Cause we can’t know.”

“Correct.”

Ione paused for a moment, Amahn waited patiently.

“How do we know it’s the Gods that wipe Terrestria of life?”

“The Book of Mauvah records it. That's how we know it’s the 19,458th Renewal Period.”

Ione’s eyes bugged, “that’s nineteen million, four hundred and fifty-eight thousand years! So, just to understand, one Renewal Period is one thousand years.”

“Yes.”

“And every one thousand years the planet gets wiped of life.”

“Correct.”

Ione took a breath, “that’s-that’s so many people that have died. So many good people.”

That gave Amahn pause. “I-yes.” All the nun did was look at Ione. She had an inscrutable expression.

The young girl found it deeply wrong. What, so she was destined to be killed by genocidal gods in the next 300 years, depending if she lives that long, for a reason they don’t want to say in The Book of Mauvah? They could taunt people's demise, but they couldn't even give a reason?

No, I refuse that.

She refused to be wiped out by faceless Gods. She refused to have this life stolen from her when she’s barely lived it. She refuses beings that throw away innocent lives on some arbitrary whim. She refuses the gods themselves. It was only fair, since they quite literally reject the mortal plane; to her, it was an abuse of power. They give out their little blessings and then when they get whatever they needed to get, all life on Terrestria gets the proverbial middle finger..

I fucking refuse.

DING! Quest Obtained! Please refer to the quest tab to get a detailed explanation.

She immediately went to check.

Ascend

Rewards: 350,000 EXP, +500 attribute points, ???, ???, ???

Holy shit.

Well, that does it, she’s going to have to ascend. She doesn't care how difficult the road will be, Ione knew that she had to take it otherwise she wouldn't be able to live with herself.

She will ascend, and then see what she can do about stopping the Renewal Period from happening.

Ione was in a daze, there was so much she learned in so little time and with the knowledge that the world will effectively end if nothing is done about it, had left her a little worse for wear.

“How do people keep going, knowing this will happen? Everything will be lost.”

“We trust in the Gods and if there is a reason for this, then we assume it’s for the best.”

“I-.” Ione didn't know what else to say.

Amahn seemed to understand as she said, “I know that this is a heavy topic, which I think neither of us were prepared to discuss today, so if you would like to go to take a break, you can, I must speak with Mother Belan anyways.”

The young girl nodded. She decided to ignore the fact that Amahn was going to talk to Belan.

Yeah, a nap does sound nice.

Amahn's Perspective

After the halfling left the room, Amahn went to see Mother Belan.

The bespectacled woman knocked on the door, and after she heard a “welcome,” croaked from the other side, Amahn entered.

“Hello, Mother Belan.” Amahn greeted.

The older nun gave her a nod and a smile. “Please, have a seat,” she gestured.

Amahn arranged herself on the lush chair and then looked at Mother Belan, waiting for approval to speak.

The old woman gave a pleased smile, “please, tell me what has blessed me with your presence.”

Amahn let out a breath, “I wish for the halfling to join my class with the other students.”

Suddenly all warmth was sucked out of the room. Mother Belans smile dropped. “Explain.”

“She is a wonderful student, Mother Belan. The best I’ve ever had.”

The withered woman scoffed, “impossible.”

“I would disagree, Mother Belan. That girl is a true genius. The way her mind works astounds even myself. Did you know that we went through math in a single day? All that I’m required to teach her, in a single day. Addition, subtraction, multiplication, division; all done, with complete understanding. I tested her over and over again.” Amahn could see Mother Belan’s lips thinning, but she kept going, “We just started history, and the questions she asked me...” She trailed off wistfully. "She reminds me of myself back when I was a child."

Belan wrinkled her nose, “I do not see how putting her in a class with other children will help. She will only pollute their minds.”

“I truly don’t see how that could be the case Mother Belan, please,” Amahn beseeched, “listen to what I’m saying. I see her as being nothing but a good influence on those children. I enjoy teaching her. I would love nothing more than to teach her in a proper class surrounded by other children.”

Belan flushed. “That girl is an elf! She does not deserve to be placed in a class with the other children.”

“Her mother was human, was she not?” Amahn challenged.

A rigid expression settled on Mother Belan’s face. However, she didn't say anything.

Silence befell the room. Amahn had argued her piece and now it was time for older nun to decide.

The stillness dragged. The younger woman looked at the elder expectantly.

With a resigned exhale, Belan muttered, “fine. But you have to keep a close eye on her and make sure that she is not a nuisance. She is not to disrupt the class in any way, and if she does so, you are permitted to give her the harshest punishment possible.”

“Wonderful!” Amahn stood up and bowed, “I give you my greatest gratitude, Mother Belan.”

Belan waved her off, “I’ve been impressed with your performance so I will allow you this privilege, but, go. Make sure she isn't a disruption.”

Amahn nodded and then vacated the room with her head held high.

She was quite proud of herself, she wouldn't allow a genius to be stifled the way Ione was. Amahn knew the girl was far beyond her years, she wasn't sure if she was reincarnated, but the nun did not give the slightest care. To have someone so curious of her knowledge, so eager to learn, and so bright; Amahn would protect that with whatever devices she had at her disposal.

All she cared about was teaching the next generation, and providing them the tools to survive in this world. Although, Ione, Amahn suspected, would do more than survive.

Ione would thrive and Amahn would have a hand in it.

She adjusted her glasses. The things bothered her at times, but she only wore them to portray an air of authority and studiousness. Amahn believed that it would help influence the students to listen to her more, but that was yet to be seen.

The nun went back to the broom closet classroom and quickly cleaned it out. She was excited for the school day tomorrow and hoped Ione would be pleasantly surprised.