"Mortal!" A voice exclaimed inside my head. Both Krog and I instantly turned around to see an unimaginable sight; Shem was awake and standing up! However there was something wrong with her! Her eyes were glowing white, and an incredible aura was coming forth from her body.

"How dare'st thee try and pull her soul back before tis time! This child is under my protection, and will always be. Do not meddle in mine affairs, else you shall pay the price!”

Hmm, is that a higher being, a demi-god? A god? I need to ask this voice something, but how. I have already tried to speak, but I can’t move my mouth, even when I try to use mana to enhance my mouth muscles! Wait, if most gods are comparable to spirits, then I think communication through mana is the best course of action!

And that is exactly what I did.

“Uhm, excuse my rudeness, but can this mortal know who you are?”

“You!” said the voice filled with rage, and hints of curiosity. “How can you converse with a higher being like myself?!?”

“Uhm, I am using mana… like how I communicate with spirits.”

“Oho, so you are a spiritualist, specialising in communication through mana I see.”

“Not exactly, but yes.” I was about to tell the now noticeably more feminine and gentler voice that she was wrong, but I had a feeling that I would have been killed if I did that.

“Anyway, you still haven’t answered my question…?” I asked

“Hmph, since you are a friend of this child I will tell you. I am Ploutos, the goddess of wealth! And this child you call Shem, shall be my champion, bringing great riches to herself and those around her! Her fate is strong, and she was born of one my children. Do not disturb her slumber with your blasphemous acts! She is currently absorbing some of my wisdom, and will awake when the time is right! That is all!”

Saying this, I could feel a presence leaving Shem’s body and her eyes began to dim, and come back to normal. I leaped ahead and held her collapsing body, before she hit the carriage floor, and then slowly lowered her body onto the floor. I quickly did a mana search on her, but it seemed like Ploutos did not harm her in any way. The only thing that has changed is that her mana is incredibly low! It seems that when a god takes over a mortal’s body, it uses up an insane amount of mana! Even the external mana has been completely sucked dry. I’ll have to wait till we leave the area until I can cultivate again. My guess is that she left in such a hurry because if she stayed any longer, Shem could have died from mana depletion!

“Uhm Jon, what just happened?” Krog questioned. It seems like he couldn’t hear anything, and had turned around after feeling a terrifying existence behind him. But when he found out it was Shem, he blanked out.

“Nothing much. I just figure out why Shem isn’t waking up!”

“WHAT!!! Tell me, Quickly!!”

“It seems that Ploutos, the goddess of wealth has chosen Shem as her champion, and is under her protection.”

“Oh! I think that is good?”

“Of course it is. Ploutos is a Prima, which means she is a goddess of order, and will try and keep the balance. The reason Shem is sleeping is because the goddess of wealth has given her some understandings, which she needs to understand herself, or else there might be consequences on either her body, her mana, or her soul! That is how much I have understood. Ploutos also said that Shem will make up ‘When the time is right’, so all we can do now is wait and hope for the best.”

“OHO, That means she is actually fine, but is just spending some time with the goddess! And she will send her when time is right!”

“Haha… I guess that sums it up. Anyway, I think we should get some sleep. Its already dark and everyone is already sleeping. Here, have some of this, it’s the sandwich I made for breakfast. It’ll be our dinner tonight. Itadekimasu!”

“Hmph, why is it so less! You better make a whole lot for lunch tomorrow!!”

“Haha, Ok!” Saying this we both enjoyed a light dinner and went to sleep in our carriage.