“So there was a memory stone then?”

“Mm, as expected it went on and on about how my mother praised Celestia and how she was Her Chosen. I could see weird problems with it as well, like she called me Alisha during it at one point…”

“They would’ve been banking on you being either completely brainwashed at that point or at least on the verge of being so. Memory stones are difficult to fabricate, in fact it’s rather easy to see through.”

Leaning back and looking at Elise, who had come along with us to hear about my trip, I shook my head.

“I don’t understand why they had such a need to change my memories like that.”

“I’m not sure on the specifics, but from what I’ve heard something happens if you were the Chosen of a God and go through the Crossroads. You were growing fast, so perhaps they needed to ensure you were completely under their control?”

Stroking Alice’s hair, who had fallen asleep on the way home, I smiled down at her. She had a big smile on her face and had been so excited to see me. During my time in Crater I had seen her getting experience and she had gotten to level 3. I still couldn’t see her Stats and I had tried to ask her before, but since she wasn’t good with her words it hadn’t exactly worked out.

“Am I a bad person for feeling nothing for my mother?” I had accepted that Alice was my child and that she saw me as her mother, and seeing how much she loved me like this made me remember how I had no emotions for my mother.

“You didn’t know her, so no, you’re not a bad person.” Elise takes a sip of her coffee before leaning forward. “At the very least you had sentiment for her, bringing her out of that awful graveyard wanting to lay her to rest in a more peaceful place. Perhaps when you do speak to her when you go to this Underworld you might get to know her, but expecting yourself to be emotional over someone, even if they were your birthing mother, isn’t good for you. Don’t let it get to you.”

I understood what she meant. I simply never knew her, I had no attachment to Melody. I wanted to go to the Underworld purely to get closure on why she was in Crater, how she had become weakened and to see if she knew anything about Celestia.

“It’s good to know you were able to spend a lot of time with your friends though.”

Smiling, I looked at Elise. “I had thoughts of meeting with Teacher Lee, but I just wanted to be with those two. Though I did want to go back to that Elven village and at least tell Olivia’s parents that she was fine, but I have no idea how to navigate that forest, Olivia had used her senses to lead us there last time, I couldn’t sense anything. Plus I would’ve tried to massacre those bastards.”

“It’s good you didn’t try, you don’t know who is lurking in that village. For all you know there is a Demigod there, so even if you found the village you’d have been driven out anyway.”

Sighing, I leaned back and shook my head. “I’m just glad they’re doing well. They seemed to want to become stronger once they learnt of the Pathways and that humans are more accepting of our kind. They said they will work on getting stronger, they seemed a bit frustrated at how on edge they usually are, so perhaps they only needed a push.”

“Well, you’ll see them in the future at some point. Though this world is large, once you reach Black Grade and this pointless war is over you can once again travel. Alexander should be teaching you how to Travel soon, though the furthest you’ll Travel is a day or two from Vale.”

Continuing to talk to Elise, I found from her that everyone, including Xia, had been hard at work clearing a dimensional dungeon and they were doing well. Aubrey had the help of an executive to head to a part of the Wilderness. The executive would ensure nothing dangerous came to her but she’ll be able to fight monsters and absorb their lifeforce.

Olivia has not gone into a dungeon with her new party, she was however more comfortable with the party she would be going into. When I asked when Olivia hadn’t gone in, Elise said she had been waiting for me, causing Elise and I to sigh in worry. The last thing that we wanted was for Olivia to be dependent on me, meaning I’d have to give her a push somehow.

Elise soon heads home herself, intending to take a day to relax. Thanking her for looking after Alice once again, I headed to Alice’s room and was forced to lay down in her room. Her grip was like a vice, it's like she knew I wanted to put her down and she refused to let go. Smiling lightly at this, I simply just laid down with her and soon she had let go and lightly hugged me instead.

Looking at the System, I brought up the Pathways I could start to walk down and looked through them. Alexander had told me that these Pathways would be compatible for me and me alone, meaning what was given to me here would ensure I got stronger.

Two of them were related to Wind Magic, one had Divinity while the other did not. I could only see a vague description about these Pathways, telling me that by walking down those Paths I would become empowered with Wind energy. While it solely wouldn’t be just Wind magic, it did mean that to get stronger I would have to continue gaining an understanding in Wind magic, basically making it my focus.

The next two were Divinity Pathways, one for Lunar magic and one for Darkness magic. I had to wonder why they were so magic focused, and looking through them I understood the Lunar one would be similar to what Tessa went down, the name of it was ‘They who shine brightly.’ The Darkness Pathway had a similar description, focusing wholly on Darkness instead. Turning my attention to the last one, I found myself excited but also nervous.

Mistress of the Heavenly Night Sky.

A unique Pathway for Alisha. She commands the night sky in its entirety, as a master of Noctilucence she will lay waste to those who stand in her way, or protect those who stand by her side. She uses the power of the night sky to empower herself and her weapons and those who dare stand in her way under a night sky will fall.

This Pathway has no Divinity and is extremely difficult to walk, but those who walk this Path will become stronger than the Gods themselves.

Divinity, as explained by Tessa and Alexander, is used to ascend to Godhood and the Divine Realm is where they resided. You did not need Divinity to gain Strength equal to that of a God, however the road to gaining that strength with a Divinity was nearly impossible.

An example of one who has succeeded would be The Blade. He has no Divinity and rose to the level of Peak Demigod with pure strength on his own. Looking at this Pathway, I knew it was the best one for me, I only hesitated because of the fact it had no Divinity. Thinking it over, I never honestly had dreams or inspirations to rise to Godhood, it didn’t seem to fit me. Becoming a Goddess would indeed help me a lot, it’ll be easier to gain strength, and being a God over a Domain would ensure those who I cared for could remain safe.

“That ain’t me.” Sighing, I smiled slightly as I made my choice. A rather simple one, one I would walk down regardless of how bad it got.

Pathway Selected: Mistress of the Heavenly Night Sky.

To step onto this Path, you must complete the following:

Conquer a Delta-Class Dungeon Solo (Complete)

Conquer the Tomb of Lilith with Alice

Conquer the Mountain of Lunaria Solo

Alice must be Level 5

You must become the Chosen of a God

Absorb the Core of a Delta-Class Astral Ice Dragon

Raising an eyebrow, I found myself shocked at the Conditions I had to complete. Thankfully one had been done, that being doing a Delta-Class Dungeon solo. The others…conquer the Tomb of Lilith with only Alice? Where is the Mountain of Lunaria? The core of a Delta-Class Astral Ice Dragon core…did Northern Hawk not have a core? I didn’t know what level it was, but I should check with him.

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Alice will become level 5, it is just a matter of time for her. The one that made me frustrated was that I had to become a Chosen of a God once again. As I’m about to get angry, I thought about it carefully.

It didn’t say what type of God, nor did it restrict me to certain ones. If there was one God I could possibly trust it would be…

“O Great Chef of the Divine Realm, I, Alisha, call upon you to become your Chosen.”

As I finished the prayer, I felt a heavy sleepiness overcome me and accepting it, I fell asleep. The next moment, I opened my eyes and found myself in front of a large building, amazingly delicious smells coming from it, making my stomach churn in hunger as I found myself drooling a bit. Looking at the doors, I saw a young boy come out of it and walk over. He was dressed extremely well, with a towel over his arm and a metal disc under the other.

“He is waiting inside, Blessed. Come with me.”

The young boy turns and leads me inside and following him I see the place absolutely packed. There were people of all types dining and I knew that these were not ordinary people. The young boy led me around them and into a very large kitchen and I could see Gastron standing there, red in the face and yelling at those around him. Dozens of chefs and assistants were running around preparing and cooking food.

Before I could say anything, Gastron snapped his head to me. “WHY ARE YOU WAITING AROUND?! GET TO WORK, WE DON’T HAVE ALL FUCKING DAY, GET TO COOKING!”

“Y-yes!” Unsure of what was happening, I looked around to see where I was meant to begin.

“Over there, Blessed. Your workstation has been prepared. You will be preparing food for those at their Pathways who have been granted a seat at our fine restaurant.”

The young boy pointed to an area and looking over I saw an empty spot with piles of ingredients, notes and utensils of all types. He turns and walks back out as I make my way over nervously. Looking at the notes I saw they were orders, stating what they wanted. All of them had to be imbued with mana and anything deemed unworthy would be…thrown at me. Who puts that on an order?

Half of the orders I had never heard of, but I found a recipe book under the notes and propping it open, I began to work furiously as I heard a booming voice.

“ALISHA YOU’RE TOO SLOW, PICK UP THE PACE OR GET OUT OF MY KITCHEN. ROLAND, I HAVE TOLD YOU TO CUT YOUR INGREDIENTS WITH CARE MANY TIMES, DO IT AGAIN!”

Roland is here?! Not chancing a glance, I breathed out, summoned my knife from my mana realm and started to work. Slowly I began to fall into a trance as I started preparing food according to the recipes, imbuing it with mana and cooking everything. At first I had been slow, but after some ‘encouraging’ words from Gastron, I picked up the pace but didn’t lose my trancelike state nor lose quality. I worked fast and the results of what I was cooking started to surprise me.

Food that increases all stats by 1,000, boost stats by 30% for an entire day, increase their regeneration and mana regeneration and so many others I hadn’t thought possible. The ingredients I was using were the best I had ever used, I doubted that Vale even had ingredients this high-quality. I didn’t know how long I had been working, but even in my Astral body I could feel myself sweating, the kitchen was extremely hot and the work I was doing was fast.

Seeing that I still had orders and I was running out of ingredients, I looked around and saw an attendant making their way over to me. After yelling at them to hurry up, I saw them panic and place everything down next to me. Previously the ingredients had been prepared but these were not. Yelling at them once again to help prepare the ingredients, I watched as more orders appeared out of thin air and gritting my teeth I kept my cool as I kept making food.

My priority wasn’t to just finish the orders, but to ensure everything I had prepared would be the best quality I could make. At some point someone would come and pick up what I made at a rate that ensured that I wouldn’t be interrupted.

What felt like hours or days, I couldn’t tell anymore, the orders finally started getting slower. The attendant that had been helping me had long paled and looked like they wanted to run but stuck around and as I’m working the last of the orders, I turned and saw one last order and completing it I wanted to lay down and pass out. I had brought my imbuing to a higher level during this and made something that had shocked me completely.

An order I had made a few hours ago had the ability to grant a +1 Stat Rank to the lowest Stat Rank of the one who consumed it. I hadn’t heard anything about the order since it left my side, but to me that was a huge accomplishment. As I’m wiping down the bench, with the attendant taking all of the dirty utensils away, the young boy approached me once again.

“He will see you now. Come with me.”

Sending my knife back into my mana realm, I followed the boy through the kitchen and into a large office. Gastron sat there with his arms crossed looking at me. Waving the young boy out, Gastron looked at me deeply.

“So you want to be my Chosen, Ali?”

Ali? I nod my head as Gastron snorts.

“For what reason do you cook? You said before you want to make food everyone could enjoy, why is that?”

I fell into deep thought before answering him. “Truthfully, it is because when I was a child and only until about two years ago I only ever had mouldy bread or scraps of meat from a bone to eat, same with the other slaves around me. Once I found out that there were many other types of tasty food out there, like what I had experienced in Zalus that night, I fell in love with making food that I could enjoy. Then I found joy in seeing others enjoy the food that I made.

“After that, I learnt how to imbue mana with my food, so in addition to others enjoying my food I could also give strength with it to those I care for. That is why I continue to cook even now, because I don’t want to see others I know and care about eating scraps like I once had.”

Gastron stayed silent before nodding. “Good answer. Chefs like you will go a long way, even the meals you made tonight surprised me. To think you’ve started making Stat Rank increasing food at your age. I want to know, Ali, why did you denounce Celly?”

I told him the truth as he listened. “I see. Well, it does sound like something Celly would do. So do you know what it means to become a Chosen?” I shake my head because I truly didn’t know.

“So you don’t know anything? Becoming a Chosen is not just a title one throws at another, it has a deep meaning. By becoming my Chosen, your knife represents me, anything you cook from that moment on is a result of how I guide you. If you make poor quality food, that will be reflected back at me. This goes for Blessed as well, but for Chosen this is of utmost importance to remember.

“In exchange, I will offer you more tasks and quests. You have yet to complete the one I have given you, but I am willing to accept that you have had some difficulties recently and that you’re now stepping onto your Path. You will be brought to my restaurant to do as you did tonight, to create and serve dishes to the large number of guests we receive. These guests are the Blessed and Chosen of other Gods or Goddess, we welcome all here and none will be barred, regardless of who they follow. We give them the best possible food to strengthen them and take pride in that.

“I do not expect you to worship me, in fact I hate being worshipped. I do expect you to spread my name if you ever make an original dish that I created, do not claim it as yours. In the event of your death, your body and soul will be laid to rest within my realm. I will not pat you on the head and tell you you’ve been a good chef, I expect that you work your damned hardest every single moment you’re cooking here, or at home.

“I do not care for conflict either, nor for combat. I live and breathe for the knife, whatever conflicts you have are your own, I will not involve myself. Your little tiff with Celly is between the two of you, I will not take revenge for you nor will I help you, I remain solely neutral.

“My expectations for you is to continue doing what you are doing while completing the tasks I give you. In return for everything I have told you, you will be given my full support with cooking. I will, once a month, bring your Astral Body to my realm to teach you methods of the knife. I am aware that you have a distrust towards Gods and that you have chosen me because you believe that I will not harm you for your talents, and you are correct. I will draw your talent to its very limits and even further beyond that, I only ever want you to flourish, and I swear upon my Divinity that I will never harm you, or even consider it.

“By crossing the Crossroads as my Chosen, you will never be able to denounce me unless I choose to accept it. If your Pathway leads you to Divinity and you ascend, only then will you no longer be my Chosen, but if it does not you’ll be given a choice once you have mastered everything I have taught you. You can become an Angel of mine or continue without being my Chosen.

“You will also be given more Gastron Points, which I believe you’ve been informed about. You can buy a vast amount of rewards, and for one like you who barely uses equipment I highly recommend you to look at getting some for cooking. If you discover any ancient recipes that I do not know of, you will be allowed to learn it and then sell it to me. If you make an original dish, it will be yours and you can sell it to me. I will give you points based on the value that I deem them to be worth.

“I will also bless your restaurant, a benefit of my Chosen. This means that any Chosen or Blessed of Gods will know of your restaurant and will go there for your empowered food. This includes Celly’s Blessed or Chosen. You are not allowed to harm them nor provide them with worse food. If they initiate conflict with you, you may respond in kind, they will also be aware of this neutrality. Lastly, you will receive a name of power and last name from me. Now, Ali, what is your choice?”

Letting everything sink in, I found myself overwhelmed with what it meant when one became a Chosen. I had thought they would just be given a task, but to think there was so much to it. The ruling on neutrality made me think about this more carefully, but I found no issue with it. If they decided to start anything I could simply fight back. Breathing out, I double checked myself and seeing the Oath that Gastron had made about never hurting me, I gave him a strong nod.

“I accept.”

“From this day on, you will be known as Alisha ‘The Fox Chef’ Piper. You will be my Chosen until your death or you have mastered everything I can possibly teach you. You will be provided with 5,000 Gastron Points.”

I felt a sleepiness once again overcome me as I nod at his words. I found myself rather excited, this was a lot more detailed and in depth than it had been with Celestia, and I knew I had made the right decision. I had no choice but to become a Chosen, but Gastron had been straightforward and honest, and I looked forward to being his Chosen. As the sleep overcame me, I knew I was returning to my physical body.