Tom's introduction left everyone stunned for a moment.
There were countless gods worshipped throughout the world. Quetzalcoatl, for example, was the feathered serpent deity of ancient Mesoamerican cultures. Countless legends surrounded the god, with some traditions portraying Quetzalcoatl as a god of the sky, while others associated him with creation.
But those were simply divine aspects shaped by popular belief. No one could say for certain what kind of powers the Quetzalcoatl actually possessed.
Mystryl, on the other hand, had been described by Tom in very specific terms.
She was the Lady of Mysteries, a goddess of magic.
In everyone's subconscious understanding, there was only one kind of supernatural power in the world: magic.
So, put another way... did that make Mystryl a god among gods?
Morgan furrowed her brows, racking her brain to see if she'd ever heard the name Mystryl before.
Unfortunately, she couldn't recall it at all.
"Um... hello, Lady Mystryl."
Jeanne was the first to recover and offer a greeting.
The French girl's voice was soft and sweet, and she looked completely harmless. But Mystryl immediately sensed something unusual in her emotions. Her gaze shifted to Jeanne.
Those eyes, bright as stars, made Jeanne instinctively avert her gaze.
Yet in that brief moment of eye contact, Mystryl already understood where that strange emotion was coming from. A faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
"Tom, I didn't expect you to bring me such a pleasant surprise on my first visit."
The woman's voice had a slight huskiness to it. It wasn't as seductive as Morgan's, nor did it have Ravenclaw's languid carefree quality. Instead, it carried a sense of grandeur and authority.
Hearing that voice made words like greatness, miracles, and divinity instinctively spring to mind.
Everyone's heart tightened. They immediately gathered their thoughts and stopped themselves from letting their minds wander.
They had no idea whether Mystryl was doing it deliberately or whether this was simply a power she unconsciously radiated. Either way, the allure in her voice was terrifyingly strong. Let your guard down for even a moment, and you might become a fanatical worshipper of its owner.
"What surprise?" Tom asked curiously, apparently unaffected.
Mystryl's lips curled into an amused smile. "You're still a long way from becoming a god, yet you've already acquired a divine domain and gained a Holy Spirit believer with extraordinary talent. Isn't that a surprise?"
"That little one immediately became hostile when she heard you call me the Goddess of Magic."
Tom's gaze fell on Jeanne.
There was no doubt that the Holy Spirit believer present could only be Jeanne.
When Jeanne heard the word hostile, her face flushed red. She wanted to argue, but she'd never been very good with words. All she could do was mumble something quietly under her breath.
Tom thought about it for a moment and immediately understood where that hostility had come from. He sighed softly.
"This is actually my fault. Here's what happened..."
Explaining it with words would be too troublesome, so Tom simply transmitted the relevant information directly to Mystryl.
With a god's extraordinary mental faculties, she quickly processed everything. Her expression didn't change. She merely nodded slightly.
"Faith is pure, but living beings are not."
She looked at Jeanne with a hint of sympathy and pity in her eyes. Then she took a few light steps forward and gently stroked the girl's head.
"Child, from your perspective, Tom truly is the only god in existence. I have no intention of shattering your worldview. You can simply think of me as someone who possesses powers beyond those of ordinary people. The title of 'god' is merely a name given to beings whose abilities mortals find impossible to comprehend."
"Thank you for understanding." Jeanne sincerely thanked her, visibly relaxing.
For Jeanne, Tom was the one who had given her everything. She had long since come to regard him as her god..
But the devotion of a Holy Spirit believer far surpassed that of an ordinary fanatic. They firmly believed that the god they worshipped was the one and only God in the world. Naturally, learning that other gods existed would provoke resistance.
The conditions required for a Holy Spirit to be born were also extraordinarily demanding. Besides unwavering faith, talent was an equally important factor.
Only those with exceptional gifts could offer up the purest form of faith.
At the level of the soul, even a million ordinary people couldn't compare to the purity and uniqueness of Jeanne's soul alone.
And as long as the god they worshipped provided them with an appropriate return, the speed at which a Holy Spirit could grow would be astonishing.
They would never become gods themselves. Instead, they would continually increase their power through an entirely different path. Some Holy Spirits belonging to powerful gods and god-kings even possessed strength far beyond that of ordinary gods.
Believers of this caliber were exceedingly rare even in Mystryl's world. They were the kind of existence a god might be willing to start a divine war over.
Seeing that Mystryl was surprisingly approachable and didn't have the aloof demeanor she'd expected from a god, Morgan finally asked the question that had been bothering her. "Lady Mystryl, forgive my ignorance, but I had no idea that a goddess like yourself existed. Your name doesn't appear in any records I've ever seen."
Even with the witch's eccentric personality, Morgan couldn't help feeling somewhat restrained in the presence of a god.
It was precisely because she was powerful that she could vaguely sense the true nature of Mystryl's power.
"Pfft!"
Before Mystryl could say anything, Tom burst out laughing.
Morgan shot him a resentful look. She thought he was laughing at the way she'd phrased her question.
'I finally managed to act like a proper lady for once, and this is how you repay me?'
Sensing Morgan's grievance, Tom hurriedly explained, "Morgan, I'm not laughing at you. I'm just laughing at that wonderful misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?" Morgan looked at him in confusion.
"Of course you've never heard of Mystryl's name." Tom grinned. "If you had, I'd actually be worried. Because she isn't from this world."
"What?!" x5
Everyone stared at Mystryl in shock.
"That's right. I come from a world where magical civilization is highly developed." Mystryl's voice was serene and melodious. "It possesses a brilliant and diverse system of power. Magic is only one part of it, though naturally, it's a very important one."
"And I'm far from the only god there. Countless gods, quasi-gods, legendary peak-level beings, and all kinds of other extraordinary individuals write their own grand epics upon a land called the continent of Faerûn."
Mystryl offered only a brief description of Faerûn, yet it was enough to make the place sound utterly enchanting.
Tom was quite interested in that world as well. He knew considerably more about it, though. Being interested in a place was one thing. If someone actually asked him to go there right now, he'd definitely refuse.
That world's rules and restrictions are just too much. There's no freedom at all.
Morgan gave Tom a strange look. "You're seriously awful. You dragged Lady Mystryl all the way from a high-level world down to our little backwater."
Tom shrugged. "How is that my fault? If I could control what kind of talent I summoned, why would I have summoned you?"
Morgan bared her teeth at him in fury.
However, Tom's next words immediately distracted her. "Besides, you could say I saved Mystryl's life. At that point in time, she was practically on the verge of dying. And it wasn't just any death, either. It was probably the most humiliating way a god could possibly die."
Ravenclaw and the others looked stunned.
For the first time since her arrival, Mystryl's faint smile finally vanished. A few dark lines seemed to appear across her forehead.
"Do we really have to talk about that?"
.
.
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