Chapter 1105: Departing

Even Abel had to stop and look at what these people were doing. He couldn’t believe what he saw from Priest Cartwright, but the sight of the class holders smelling his food was something entirely different. He was starting to get a feeling that the golden castle wouldn’t be peaceful for the next ten years. It was a good move for him to open up his restaurant to the public, but it was definitely not as comfortable to eat now, especially when he had to be watched all the time.

To get over his feelings of discomfort, Abel tried to eat all the food as quickly as he could and leave the dining room. After he left, the five people watching tried to find Butler Meyer to ask for extra portions of the same stuff. The answer was an obvious no, and they were all quite disappointed to hear that.

Again, it had more to do with the smell. Even class holders of their levels felt a spiritual essence that was affecting their training progress. This would only mean that these foods possess a special power to boost their overall strength. On the central continent, anything that was used for law-defying wizard-level class holders would have to be at least rare in rarity. These foods were more than that. That was just too obvious.

After refusing the requests of these people, Butler Meyer had the circle spirit send him to the changing room of the castle. Once he arrived, he could see that Abel was changing into his clothes.

Butler Meyer went forward and pointed, “Master, this will be your costume for attending the holy birthday ceremony. It’s all here for you.”

Abel complained as he changed, “This is such a chore!”

Abel was of nobleman’s birth. He was also the emperor of his own state, but he’s never spent much effort learning the proper attire. He was more about training and combat, which was why he definitely needed a professional butler like Meyer giving him the right instructions. This time, since he was heading over to the Goddess Temple, he had to make sure he was doing his best not to embarrass Lorraine. He did have a lot of other suits inside his wardrobe, but he had never worn them. He had a higher status now, and every piece he wore signified how dedicated he was to the event.

Abel asked after he’s done changing, “Is Luka ready?”

Since this was an event paying tribute to the goddess, no one arrived through the teleportation circle. So the most they could do was teleport to somewhere closer than actually arrive in their own vehicles. Obviously, the closest location to the temple now would have to be his golden castle. A few days ago, Queen Lusia had asked him to borrow the large-sized teleportation circle over at the golden castle.

Over the past year, Queen Lousia would open a palace inside the Haden Mountain Range that used to belong to the royal palace. Almost all the guests attending the event would be over there and head over to the temple together. Things are different now. The Haden Mountain Range was already Abel’s, and all the buildings nearby would also belong to him. Now, there was even the legendary light. The golden castle’s location was already out, so Abel would not refuse the elven royal families to use the large-sized teleportation circles. He was half the master over at the temple, and he had to show his support to the event when he was called.

Butler Meyer bowed, “Luka’s had the flying chariot ready for a while. He’s just waiting for you, Master.”

Luka had been following Abel ever since he moved out of the Bay Law City Palace. There weren’t many flying chariots going out, and he was trying hard not to use anything. After hearing that Abel was using the flying chariot, he spent the past two days cleaning all the parts to the best of his abilities. After that, he took care of the flying horses, standing beside the chariot before daylight came.

Abel was going over to attend the holy birthday. Needless to say, he had to have Frankenstein with him. For now, however, he decided to keep him inside his portal beast ring. By the way, he had no time waiting for the elves wandering inside the golden castle. Now that there was too much of a difference in their status, he figured that it was better if they didn’t see each other.

Once he appeared next to the flying chariot, his three followers brought their fanciest clothing to wait for him. Given their identities as big druids, Druid Joseph and Druid Poly would receive the invitation even if they weren’t Abel’s followers. Naturally, this made Druid Gunter very emotional, more than any of them. Before, he would have no chance of joining in on an event like this.

After departing from the golden castle, the flying chariot continued smoothly in the air. This was Ervo Forest. There were fewer spiritual beasts, and none would try to attack the chariot because Abel had been sending off a bit of essence. As subtle as it was, the essence of a dragon druid would still silence any beast.

Whether it from the ground or the sky, all the spiritual beasts watched for him from afar. At the higher altitude, a battle fort was controlled by the fire tooth spirit to guard Abel the entire way.

Ever since a legendary sacred knight came to attack the golden castle, Abel had doubled down on his overall defensive capability. He understood that his battle fort wouldn’t withstand every single invasion, but what he could do was to make escaping unwanted fights a lot easier.

Once the fire tooth battle fort was on full speed, he was out of options. He couldn’t think of a way that his speed could be compared to the fort. There wasn’t that much of a distance between the golden castle and the Goddess Temple. If he had to travel on the ground, it might take a few hours. However, if they flew, the total journey would take only half an hour.

By the way, this was actually the first time Abel’s seen the Goddess Temple. It was an old-fashioned building that was situated at a slope. The entire body was made of white stone, which looked a bit grainy. Rather than ruining the aesthetic of it, however, the statues and walls looked more in tune.

The Goddess Temple had no fence. The top was the main body of the temple, and the bottom to the top had long stairs. The bottom was flat, while the ground was laid with white stones.

Abel could already see some flying chariots at the bottom. Some mounts were placed there as the elves took care of them. Luka adjusted their direction and stopped at the bottom of the slope.

Druid Lucia could see the silver-white elven chariots. She also saw Master Bennett and his three followers, so she put on a smile and went to greet them. Druid Joseph, Druid Poly, and Druid Gunter were the first to go down, and it was Druid Poly that opened the door for Abel. It wasn’t that the chariot was too small or that Abel didn’t allow them in. The three followers only did this because they felt like it was part of their duty.

Druid Lucia hurried and went bowed, “May the goddess bless you, Master Bennett.”

Abel smiled and replied, “We meet again, Druid Lucia.”

Druid Lucia made an inviting gesture, “Here, Master Bennett. Please wash yourself before you go up.”

She then brought Abel and his followers to a pool nearby. This pool had a unicorn statue that was spitting water out of its mouth. Just by getting close to it, Abel could feel the natural energy within this body of water.

Druid Lucia explained, “This is a fountain of water drawn from the god mountain. The water is supposed to purify the soul, and it can wash through the spirit of everyone that’s going in.”

Abel extended his hand and reached for some water. He washed his face and hands with it. He could feel a very insignificant purifying effect. It was not very strong, but he could still feel something familiar.

This was divine power. The fountain was transformed from divine power, and since there wasn’t a lot of it, the effect was not as strong. There was something that he didn’t know, though. If any of the other elves were here, every time an elf used this water, there would be a soul purifying effect that would be unlike anything else. From what it looked like, this seemed to be a place for rewarding the followers for even coming here.

Still, whether it was Abel or his three followers, he just couldn’t feel the fact that his soul was purified. The reason was mostly to do with the fact that their souls were already cleansed. The subtle changes weren’t enough for him. Abel already had a pure enough soul, given the way he was reincarnated into this world. For the three followers, after using the finest potions, their souls had reached a level of purity like no one else could match.

Druid Lucia was amazed to see how little the water did to them. She even hoped that she could become one of the three followers. Actually, if the Sainte was to marry Master Bennett any time soon, maybe the entire Temple would not need this fountain anymore.

She made an inviting gesture, “Please head over to the temple, Master Bennett.”

After returning the favor, Abel followed her from behind and went to the stairs. There were many staircases, about three thousand of them—there were many sculptures on their way. Since Druid Lucia had been trying to get him to take the lead, he followed through and went before anyone else.

As they moved, he felt a strange divine power transferring into his body. Once the power went in, it became this power of devotion designated to the Moon Goddess. Abel couldn’t help but frown at that. He didn’t like having religion forced upon him like this. He even had his own followers, actually. It wouldn’t make sense now if he was to be converted to something else.

Of course, it wasn’t like the divine power could really affect him, even it was multiplied to a hundred or a thousand or ten thousand times.

Abel thought to himself, “The tricks of these spirits!”

Since the spirits needed to cultivate their own followers, the temple was designed for that very purpose. It was the fountain and the staircase. No ordinary elves could ever come here and borrow an insignificant amount of divine power to boost their faith. So it was easy to tell that a lot of worship power would be withdrawn from anyone with a significant status.

Abel never stopped walking. At the second section of the staircase, he sensed a feeling of care from the spirits to the elves. It was a divine sympathy that belonged to the god. On the other hand, his power of the Will was focused on his three followers, and he saw a look of fanaticism as they were already followers.

There were a total of 3000 steps, and each step would indicate a part of humanity. The more steps one would take, the more reinforced their faith would grow. Abel was astonished. This was unlike anything like what he saw from the Nation of God. The main method there was pretty much just brainwashing. The Moon Goddess would try to display the fondness of the spirits to the elves, such that the elves would admire their masters. It was about acceptance instead of obedience–something that was fundamentally different.

Still, Abel was not a religious person. While most elves were converted after taking these steps, he just admired the beauty of the place. At least his three followers felt stronger towards their god now. Maybe this was a holy pilgrimage for them the moment they decided to come here. He wasn’t going to change any of that about them. They were elves, and it was only natural that they would follow the Moon Goddess. As for him, since he had been taken care of by the Moon Goddess all the time to sign a contract with the tree of life. He was just keeping a safe distance from her.