With his umbrella in his left hand, and his mouth chewing a sweet strawberry gum, Lukas walked through the streets of Astria.
Unlike the evening before, people were scarce on the road.
"I wonder if they are truly fighting at that place or they are just going there out of obligation."
He scanned the fighters just returning from the battlefield yesterday, and he could tell easily that they had not gone through any stress that day.
’The battlefield is probably calm now, or they are just reserve soldiers who are not facing there yet.’
As he drowned in his thoughts, Lukas stopped.
Then a muffled laugh erupted from his lips.
"Why was I talking like I had been to the battlefield before?"
Passers-by began throwing him weird glances, but he ignored them completely.
He was not one to care about people’s judgement of him.
Finally, he sighed. ’Maybe I am suffering from a god complex,’ he mused.
He did not stand in that place for long after that. Soft clicks of his black shoes sounded as he moved forward.
With the decision to be more frugal while spending, Lukas had decided to walk to the Association.
He was dressed in a black suit that fitted his body perfectly.
The blazer of his suit was unbuttoned, revealing the tie that hung around his neck and stopped just above his belly button.
With a gentle flick of his wrist, he checked the time on his wristwatch.
It was just a few minutes past 7.
...
"It’s quite big," Lukas muttered, staring at the huge Association building that loomed ahead.
It was a collection of several buildings, with a single standout tower in the center. The tower shot into the sky, its top disappearing into the clouds.
Aside from the tower, another thing that drew Lukas was the island that floated by the tower’s side, casting a large shadow over the buildings below it.
Like every other part of the city, it was devoid of humans.
Only a few people in uniform patrolled there.
His leg had already carried him into the compound before he knew it.
"What do you want?" the loud voice snapped Lukas out of his daze.
His body shuddered in realization as he turned towards the voice.
A slender man with brown hair and a well-refined physique was approaching him already.
’This is definitely apostle, or higher,’ Lukas thought as the divine presence of the man crashed into his frail body.
"I want to register as an awakened person," Lukas said, keeping a straight face.
The man stopped in front of Lukas, scrutinizing every detail about him before he nodded.
"Come with me."
The man turned, facing the tower in the center. With a gait that suggested nobility, the man began moving towards the tower.
Lukas breathed out as he saw the man leave. ’I have a feeling that both of us will never get along,’ Lukas thought as he followed behind the man.
"I am Raymond, by the way," the man suddenly said, looking over his shoulder.
Lukas nodded in response.
"And I would be in charge of your evaluation."
Those were the words that drew the real reaction from Lukas.
"Huh?"
He did not reply to Lukas’s confusion. He walked through the automatic doors of the tower, coming into the large reception.
Despite the greetings of the receptionists standing behind a large, brown wooden desk, Raymond did not stop.
Before long, he was in front of a door. After waiting for a while, the door opened by itself.
"Come in," Raymond said with raised brows.
"Yes," Lukas said, scrambling into the hall.
The hall was not too big, just average in size. In the center was a machine that hummed gently, with blue lights pulsing along its surface.
"Your evaluation is split into three sessions," Raymond said, a file and pen appearing in his hand. "First is to confirm if you truly possess divine energy, which I have confirmed."
He paused for a while before he continued. "The second one is to check your pantheon and god. The third one is combat practical, against a voidborn of the same rank."
He tilted the pen in his finger as he spoke.
"Your full name?" Raymond asked.
"Lukas Morningstar," Lukas replied almost instantly.
Raymond wrote the name in one section of the file, and marked another section. Then he looked up again.
"What is the name of your Patton god and pantheon?"
Lukas squinted his eyes, pondering it for a while.
"You are delaying," Raymond said with a loud heave.
"Masked Sovereign," Lukas said with a nod.
’Yes.’
He was about to write it when it hit him. "A new god?"
Lukas shrugged. "I don’t know."
Raymond nodded before writing it. "Which pantheon?"
Lukas sighed. He could have just lied about belonging to any pantheon, but If Raymond tried to confirm the divine energy signature, he would be exposed.
"None."
Lukas said.
"You don’t belong to any pantheon?"
Raymond asked again, almost confused. He had never heard of a god that did not belong to a pantheon.
"No," Lukas said, shaking his head.
Raymond went quiet for a while. His eyes were fixed on Lukas for what felt like an eternity.
"Okay."
He wrote the result on the file.
"I guess we wouldn’t be needing the machine," he said with a sigh.
"Aren’t you going to verify what I said?" Lukas asked, not out of honesty, but because his mind had started to spiral into crazy thoughts.
’What if Raymond felt no need to verify since he was going to kill him for having no pantheon?’
"I don’t need to. If you lied, you just got yourself into a problem."
Raymond said nothing more.
"What is your god’s divine authority?"
"Trickery."
Raymond nodded slowly. "You can select a weapon from the rack. I will summon your opponent once you are done.
"Okay."
Lukas turned to the rack. Weapons were arranged neatly there.
Swords with edges that glistened under the light. Sharp spears that threatened to pierce through anything.
But none of them called Lukas’s attention as much as the weapon he was staring at.