Since I had confirmed what I wanted to confirm, it wasnât as if there was anything else that was left for me to do here.
That was why I said, "Letâs go back to the main church."
The popes all seemed surprised when they heard this.
The way that they looked at me was as if they had been expecting me to say something about the statue. However, the fact that I didnât say a single thing caught them completely off guard.
In the end, it wasnât as if there was anything that they could say about this.
Even if the looks on their faces showed that there was something that they wanted to ask, they just werenât in a position to really ask about this.
But before we did leave, there was someone that came forward.
This person was different from the rest of the popes, but the aura around them made it clear that they were similar to these popes.
In fact, the aura around this person even seemed like it was stronger than that of these popes. It was as if there was some kind of special aura that was around this person.
Though in terms of appearance, this person looked like any regular old man from the neighbourhood.
When this person came forward, they looked at me with a look that I couldnât see through before saying, "Please cherish the blessing that youâve received. One day, you will do great things with it."
Then as if they thought of something, this old man said, "Please feel free to visit us whenever you can."
It was clear that this old man was the one that was in charge of the temple that this statue of me had been installed in. Which meant that this old man was one of the followers of the Creation God.
The fact that they were in charge meant that they should be trusted by the Creation God as well.
So I couldnât help wondering just what kind of things this old man knew.
But no matter how I looked at him, I just couldnât see through the look that was on his face.
There was a smile that was on his face, but it felt like there was no emotion behind it at all. With the blank feeling that I got from this, it started to remind me of how blank the Creation God had been.
It really felt like there was something similar about how hard this old man was to read...
It was clear that this old man wasnât anyone simple and he knew more than he was putting on.
But it wasnât as if I could force him to say anything.
Just like how the popes couldnât force me to say anything, I couldnât force this old man to say anything. The moment that we crossed that line, then the relationship between us would completely change.
So that was why in the end, I had no choice but to drop this matter.
With the popes leading the way, it didnât take long for us to arrive at the main church.
The reason that I had come today was to ask the gods some questions just like before.
But what I didnât expect was that there was something else that the gods had for me.
It was the same thing where I was pulled into the god realm the moment that I entered the main chapel.
Then it was the same where there were gods waiting to meet me.
Though this time, it seemed like there were far less gods that were here.
It seemed that this time, Solista was the only one here to meet me.
At the same time, she didnât greet me in the same way that she normally did.
Instead, it seemed like she was just staring at me as if she was thinking about something.
There was a strange solemn feeling that I had never felt before in this place.
"Is something wrong?" I asked her in the end when I saw that she wasnât saying anything.
Solista didnât respond at first, but then she said, "It seems like youâve made some progress."
A strange look appeared on my face the moment that I heard this, but I didnât say anything since this was also what I wanted to discuss. Though I certainly wouldnât have phrased it in the same way as her.
To call it âprogressâ, that certainly wouldnât have been the way that I would have addressed it.
However, I was curious what she would say.
At the same time, I was curious what she would call what had happened to me.
"Since youâve become more adapted to the divine energy, it means that you have the ability to accept the higher level of our mark."
"Huh?" I couldnât help being caught off guard when I heard this.
Solista didnât seem to mind this outburst from me as she continued by saying, "Since you have become more adapted, it means that your body can accept even more of our divine energy. But it isnât as if we can just give you this higher level mark that easily. If we were to do so, then it would break the divine laws."
"Wait, wait, who said that I wanted this?" I suddenly cut her off.
Solista stopped talking and looked at me in a way that was easy to make out.
Even though I couldnât see what her expression was like, I could tell that she was confused why I was rejecting this.
After a moment of silence, she finally said, "Why wouldnât you want it? This will certainly help you in the future when you deal with the forces of Destruction. After all, youâll be able to use even more of our power then."
"You still havenât told me what you mean by how my body has adapted. You should know that what has happened isnât normal. Unless you explain this, I donât really feel like thereâs a need to continue this relationship. I even want to return this mark that youâve given me."