With crossed legs and hands planted over the knees for extra support, Tetsu pushed back the pressure, his smile growing into a wider grin, challenging the god to do his worst.
Inwardly, Tetsu cursed himself, but the omni-level skill successfully enraged the god.
Rune god’s pupils swallowed part of the iris and flashed a set of ancient runes.
The swirling runes within the dress gracefully parted, making way for a singular rune that surpassed the others in size. One nestled upon the rune god’s chest, while another floated lower, securing itself onto his arms and legs.
The impulse seized Tetsu to disperse like the wind and flee the premises before the god powered up, but he restrained himself as the realization dawned upon him—he was contemplating escaping from a god.
What distance could possibly ensure his safety?
The fact that he remained alive hinted that the god wasn’t enraged or... “Ha!” A chuckle involuntarily escaped Tetsu’s lips.
‘He ain’t in control,’ Tetsu reassured himself.
Rune read the last two comments that flickered and stayed inside the mortal’s head. They didn’t flicker away immediately like the rest, meaning he regarded these two to be true. “There are restrictions before a god can enter a newly integrated universe.” He replied before the mortal asked. “And yours isn’t even integrated yet.”
‘It’s rude to read someone’s mind.’ Tetsu replies with another thought.
‘Says the guy assuming ill of a god.’ The god responds to the inner thought with a voice inside Tetsu’s head.
‘Ooh... neat trick. Hey! Wait, not the point.’
‘I—’
Before the god continued, another thought popped up in Tetsu’s head. ‘Please monologue.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I won’t get any information otherwise.’
‘Good point. I won’t then.’
‘Agh!’
‘I normally only pick strong individuals after the integration. I don’t get why others waste their time before you simple-minded being mature, but I take a thousand years at the least after the integration to make a choice.’
‘I’ll be dead by then.’
‘Not if you reach immortality.’
‘Let me guess, you can help with that.’
‘No, as I said, I don’t invest in bumbling fools. I shall first test you thoroughly before making a choice. Maybe this time I won’t wait for a thousand years.’
‘Won’t be changing my mind then either.’
‘Priorities change within seconds.’
‘And all I have to do is stick to a core rule. Not that hard.’
‘Haha! Unique individuals keep immortality interesting indeed.’ Rune god seemed lost recollecting a memory.
‘Sounds like wise words. From a friend?’
Rune God ignores Tetsu’s question and asks him one instead.
‘How can one stick to their core, no matter what?’
‘Accept and hope.’ Tetsu answered as if he had the answer for ages.
“Now I have to meet your friend to understand how you turned out like this.” Rune god finally spoke using words
The pressure subsides and Tetsu gets up, smacking his head.
Telepathic communication wasn’t for him.
“Well, I was a weirdo who never fit in his old world. Thanks to a miracle, this weirdo found a bigger weirdo, and we kept our weirdness. I am sure he can baffle you more.”
“I like you brat.”
“Thanks?”
“So I am going to test this resolve of yours.
“I am already hating the follow-up.”
“Until next time.” Rune god disappears before Tetsu blinked.
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“Oh, fuck!” Tetsu’s smile fades as he kneels to the floor, tears filling his eyes.
The so-called test was going to be with people or creatures a thousand years older than him, and all of them were going to kill or tempt him into submission.
What the fuck did he get himself into?
"Swell my ass!" Tetsu scoffed, dismissing the image he had formed of the rune god. "He or she is the worst. I'd pick the creepy insect any day."
On the brink of storming away to vent his frustration over a dumb beast, Tetsu paused, opting to first blink and survey his surroundings.
The beasts were scattered far away, repelled by the supreme aura. However, during his survey, Tetsu spotted a rune protruding from the ground beside him—the very spot where the rune god had stood moments ago.
Despair morphed into hope as he excavated and cradled a metallic fractal in his hands.
“Rune god isn’t all that bad,” he cheered inwardly, with a glimmer of hope that the god could still hear his thoughts, expressing gratitude for the unexpected gift.
The mere notion of receiving a gift from a god rendered it inherently priceless, and the weight of expectations alone prompted his heart to explode.
He or she, whatever the god’s pronouns were, wanted Tetsu to become strong; otherwise, dispatching a thousand-year-old soldier would risk making him or her appear foolish.
Tetsu diligently studied and memorized the intricate shape of the fractal, painstakingly drawing the symbol a thousand times. The fractal itself encapsulated numerous half-runes within its design, branching out in a mesmerizing pattern reminiscent of a snowflake.
Info did not affect the symbol and his heart skipped a beat, imagining the rune dress which swirled around the god.
Remembering the mana infusion skill, Tetsu infused the snowflake with his mana.
It soon floated and faced Tetsu, glowing with a blinding light.
A sentence entered his mind, similar to how info imbued knowledge that already existed.
|| Immortals have no pronouns. We are what we want to be.||
“Fuck you.” Tetsu hurls the rune as it disappears into nothingness. “No more being fucking friendly to gods.”
---- ---- ---- ----
The system heeded Tetsu’s desires, dispatching another deity even before his recovery. Every concern and wound dissipated beneath an embracing light, its presence tangible. He basked in the aura which left like playing in snow without heavy clothes restricting the fun.
“Oh, to hell with you!” Tetsu attempted to raise a defiant finger but failed, opting for a mental flip instead.
The supreme being took on a woman’s, surpassing even Tetsu’s wildest fantasies.
Tetsu is a god-tier overthinker, and that’s really saying something.
She radiated with power. Tetsu surmised that her strength surpassed mere vitality, embodying a more concentrated and potent form of life force.
‘Is this sales rep using temptation and greed?’ Tetsu couldn’t be certain; he merely stared in awe at the goddess who redefined perfection.
“I never realized I liked Goths so much. Asian Goths at that!”
“You see through the illusion?”
“Yeah! The last one revealed your secrets. Not that I am going to pounce on a... well, you get the point.”
“Such insolence.”
“Says the one who’s tempting a kid. Who is underage, I might add.”
“We Omni beings have no form.” The goddess ignored the accusation.
“Guessed as much!”
“We choose a form not to freak out our future Disciples.”
“Huh-huh,” Tetsu nodded as if he had already guessed the answer. Before he could say anything more, the goddess waved her hand, silencing him by erasing his mouth. The abrupt surge in pressure not only robbed him of the ability to speak but also stripped away his power to respond through thoughts.
In Tetsu’s mental realm, each thought manifested as a wave, and every memory took the form of a cloud. The sky and earth, once colliding in a tempest of ideas, emotions, and chaos, now transformed into a tranquil ocean under clear skies. At the center stood Tetsu, his true core, stripped of feelings, senses, and emotions.
He attained true enlightenment—peace.
However, the hidden heaven within him was short-lived, as the storms swiftly returned, engulfing him.
Breaking free from the trance, Tetsu collapsed onto his knees, soaked in sweat and gasping for air. It felt as if the storm had truly devoured and spat him into this reality, yet his smile remained untouched by the ordeal.
“What was that?” Tetsu gaped at the god in astonishment.
“In the eyes of mortals, tranquility. Genuine peace.” The goddess's tone turns more holy, like a priestess. “I perceive it as the profound longing within your core, and only through the sacred tenets of my Order can one attain such peace, safety, and immortality. A life with your kin, basking in normalcy, until the end of eternity.”
The first deity sought persuasion through force, whereas this one enticed with the allure of peace and every desire he had ever yearned for—a life devoid of conflict, a genuine heaven.
The concept never irked him until this particular presentation.
Tetsu’s lips part, dispelling the tension as laughter escapes. “Hahah. So... is the grand overseer not going to reveal herself? What esteemed rank do you hold within the order?”
The goddess’s countenance shifts for the first time. Tetsu discerned a fleeting trace of anger brewing within the deity who professed purity, and he couldn’t help but smile. “My order is a dead giveaway. You either are at the bottom or your boss isn’t taking me seriously.”
“I can still rip—”
“See...” Tetsu interjects before she can conclude her threat. “You must be a recruit.” He presses his luck, relying on the system’s interference as he prods the goddess for more information. “Yet here you are, imploring a powerless mortal to join your cause.”
As he suspected, the gods were permitted one display of power or one pitch. The fact that his mouth still ran rampant served as all the proof he needed.
Bonds only have one rule, which was reinforced by the system itself. Tetsu presumed the system to be one of the top, if not the top, Orders, and thus, a bond had to be willingly made. Trickery or any form of deceit would prove ineffective, and even attempts at manipulation and threats to forge a bond would falter. Tetsu just had to choose death to nullify any kind of bond.
The theory was absurdly simple and surprisingly functional, to the extent that even gods found themselves scratching their heads when dealing with Tetsu.
With a choice predetermined, Tetsu probed the goddess for information. He had a lot of questions and an enraged god might divulge a few secrets.
The concept of integrating a new universe seemed illogical. A powerhouse can effortlessly acquire what it needs, why refrain from doing so, and why resort to recruiting followers?
Some kind of multiverse government system made sense and also the trials to find leaders for new factions, but the existence of a flaw in the bond-making process raised questions. Moreover, why allow a system that grants power and choice to the weak?
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