On a nondescript dirt road on the outskirts of Yiertaya, an open-air carriage pulled by an ordinary horse bumped along its path.
Gexi was fiddling with her crystal ball, while Grinya Loran crouched in a corner, hugging her knees. She didn't know why she had suddenly agreed to Gexi in a moment of impulsiveness.
Returning to school was impossible. Skipping class in front of a teacher was a very serious offense, and without the evil god by her side, she had no idea how to face the school leadership alone.
She wasn't like Buze, who could enjoy numerous privileges at school just by virtue of the Kritov family name.
Since Xun Shen seemed quite concerned about the cult's affairs anyway, she figured she might as well follow Gexi to investigate the situation.
Furthermore, she knew Gexi's strength well. Gexi was a Level 49 archmage. Although her profession was only a diviner, her combat power was not to be underestimated; she was even more formidable than some battle mages.
Without the evil god, Gexi could have killed Grinya in a single move, as easily as squeezing a chick.
Even in Yiertaya, the status of an archmage was no less than that of the great nobles.
Grinya shifted slightly.
If she could also become an archmage, restoring the glory of the Loran family would be a matter of a single word from her.
She looked up at Gexi. She had so many questions—how did she reach the rank of archmage so quickly? How could she herself become a high-level mage faster? She wanted to know everything.
Although there was an omniscient deity within her, communicating with Him was extremely difficult. Unless she could return to that gray mist and sit before that cold bronze long table, she could not speak with that god.
But she could only enter that place when the god chose to bring her in.
In other words, the god could contact her unilaterally, but she had no way to initiate communication with Him.
Even when she encountered problems during her cultivation, she couldn't seek answers through the god.
She had tried writing notes to remind the god of things, but for some reason, the god ignored the content on the paper every single time.
Grinya had even begun to suspect that the great god was actually illiterate.
But how could that be? A god is omnipotent; how could He be illiterate?
"Gexi, I wanted to ask, how did you become so strong?" Grinya broke the silence and asked.
Gexi put down her crystal ball and looked at Grinya with some confusion. "In your eyes, am I very strong?"
To Gexi, Grinya—who had been the first to discover the traces of the Plague God—was a mage stronger than herself. So when she heard Grinya ask this, she found it difficult to understand.
"Of course. You're an archmage, while I'm only True-rank," Grinya said seriously. "I dream of becoming a high-level mage like you."
Gexi's expression turned strange, her face full of disbelief. "True-rank? You're joking, right? You were the first to find the traces of the Plague God. How could you only be True-rank?"
"I really am only True-rank. Why would I lie to you?" Grinya said helplessly.
She was sincerely asking for advice, but the other party clearly thought it was unnecessary.
Gexi hummed in thought, rubbing her chin as she observed her. She asked cautiously, "If I may be so bold, can I check your level? Using a diviner's methods."
In her mind, Grinya was a mysterious and powerful existence, so Gexi felt she had to seek permission before making any probing moves.
"Of course," Grinya said.
"Alright."
Gexi nodded and blinked, observing Grinya.
Unlike divining a name or exploring memories, checking a level only required observing the density of the mana the person emitted.
However, mana density was invisible to the naked eye; she had to use her diviner's techniques.
This process was very simple; to anyone else, it just looked like Gexi had blinked.
"You're actually only Level 20?" Gexi blurted out, her face full of disbelief.
Seeing Grinya's 'See? I didn't lie to you' expression, she became even more confused.
How did a Level 20 mage... and why would she even dare to... search for the traces of an evil god?
She pondered for a long time and finally arrived at the answer that seemed the least like an answer: This person has incredible luck.
She pursed her lips, wondering if it was appropriate to bring a Level 20 True-rank mage who hadn't even broken through yet to infiltrate a cult's stronghold.
Nevertheless, she answered Grinya's question calmly.
"Becoming strong is actually a very vague concept. I don't like to call the process of a mage moving from low-level to high-level 'becoming strong,' because 'becoming strong' itself is a very positive term. But high-level mages might not be as wonderful as you imagine."
"Why?" Grinya didn't understand Gexi's meaning.
"Seeing you like this, I believe you really are just an introductory mage. Every mage at your stage is full of beautiful fantasies about the future, but the truth is often much crueler than you imagine."
Gexi's tone turned slightly colder, though this coldness wasn't directed at Grinya.
"You should be familiar with the word 'corruption.' After all, you probably encounter this word from a young age, but you might go your whole life without understanding what true corruption really is."
Actually, I've been corrupted several times already... Grinya didn't say this out loud. She was afraid of scaring Gexi or causing even bigger trouble.
"For humans, 'corruption' is an erosion at the mental and cognitive levels. The core lies in the collapse of sanity when facing indescribable entities. Madness, hallucinations, suicide, gibberish, physical mutations—these are all symptoms that appear during corruption."
"Under normal circumstances, corruption is irreversible. Do you know why?"
Gexi looked at Grinya now, as if testing her.
Grinya recalled the times she had experienced mental pollution and returned to normal. She questioned Gexi's statement about it being irreversible.
"That's not right. I've heard that many people have experienced corruption, and quite a few of them survived."
"That's because they borrowed the power of the gods!" Gexi said suddenly and decisively.
"Only with the power of the gods can corruption be stopped!"
"Because all corruption comes from the gods!"
Grinya froze.
Gexi's expression turned cold, her voice chilling as she spoke.
"High-level mages are not as glorious as you think, because all a mage's power also comes from the gods."
"And the closer one is to the gods, the easier it is to be corrupted!"
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