Chapter 792: The Journey. 2
Hours later, the girls were in the arena, observing Hassan training Ophis and Nero with attentive looks. So far, he had taught them the basics, but now he had moved on to have them spar against each other. It was evident that he was learning their strengths and weaknesses.
"Military, Truth, and Faith... with the latter being his strongest Concept," Hestia narrated, watching from a distance as Hassan trained Nero and Ophis.
"To think that a Human would tread the path even the Gods find challenging and achieve Divinity in such a short time..." Hestia was utterly surprised. Attaining Divinity as a Human was incredible, but becoming a High-Level God starting as a Human was even more absurd—a nearly impossible feat.
"... Are you telling me this man managed to reach Divinity and rise to a High-Level God in just 1000 years?" Natashia's face showed a hint of tension.
'Hassan-i Sabbah, the original, was born around 1000 years after Christ. If this man was his apprentice, he must have been born around that time too,' Natashia pondered.
"Wrong," Hassan said while still observing Ophis and Nero sparring.
"Yes, I was Hassan's apprentice, but I was already an adult when I found him."
"Wait... Are you saying you've lived longer than him? What is your Race?" Sasha asked.
Hassan looked at Sasha in the stands. "I am Human."
"A Human Blessed by a God," Zaladrac, who was sitting at the edge of the stands, spoke in a neutral tone while looking at her sharp claws.
Everyone looked at Zaladrac.
Zaladrac gazed at Hassan. "Don't lie to us," she declared.
Hassan looked into those violet eyes that made him feel completely exposed as if no secret could be hidden from that gaze.
"I will still withhold information; my past is private."
"Fair enough," Zaladrac nodded.
Jeanne and Hestia raised their eyebrows upon hearing what Hassan said.
Both of them knew very well that when a Human was Blessed by a God, the God usually demanded something in return.
"What was the price of your Blessing, Hassan?" Hestia asked.
"My Faith."
Everyone fell silent at this standard response.
"The God who Blessed me was eccentric. He only spoke to me twice. On those occasions, he always told me to seek the 'Truth,' My Truth. The other times he appeared, he said nothing, as if he only showed up when I deviated from my pilgrimage." Hassan finished speaking and fell silent, clearly not wanting to share more about his past.
"Pilgrimage, huh..." Hestia spoke neutrally, recognizing the familiar word that was the strongest characteristic of the God she knew.
"Zaladrac, create a dome where sound and image cannot pass."
Zaladrac nodded and spoke something in The Language of Dragons, and a dome was created around the group.
"The way he describes his experiences and his philosophy, it's always deep and spiritual..." Hestia began to explain.
"These characteristics remind me of someone."
"Who?" Violet asked.
"Buddha."
Everyone fell silent.
"If it's him who was observing him... It makes sense how Hassan reached such a High Level of Divinity in such a short time."
Even if Hassan hadn't attained Divinity in less than 1000 years and had taken longer, it would still be incredible because he not only Awakened as a God but also learned more about his Concept to become a High-Level God—a feat that even those who were born as Gods found difficult to easily achieve.
"I don't understand... Why does it make sense if it's him? Can you explain better? Most of us here are unfamiliar with Divine matters," Sasha spoke, and all the others who were not well-versed in Divine matters agreed.
Hestia looked at the girls and, after some consideration, chose her words carefully. "To become a God and Master a Concept, you need a journey of self-discovery."
"Who am I? What am I? What is my purpose? Where am I going? What do I want? What is the meaning of my existence? Etc."
"At least, that's the case for Mortals who weren't born as Gods. It's an endless quest of self-discovery. Only when you deeply understand every aspect of your Being, your Soul merges with your body, and your body becomes spiritual, and thus your Soul becomes your own body."
"From that moment, you become a God... But the journey doesn't end there; it's just the beginning. Now that you know your 'Concepts' that define who you are, you need to learn more about them. At this stage, you are on the same level as Gods who were born as such."
"The quest to understand your own Concept and the struggle against other Gods with the same Concept that hinder your progress begins..."
"For example, Aphrodite is the Goddess with the Concept of Beauty and Love at its peak. She stands at the top of the pyramid in these Concepts; thus, she can influence other Gods not to 'progress' in the same Concept as hers. This makes her the only High-Level Goddess of Beauty and Love."
"Of course, other Gods with the same Concept as hers might try to fight her or negotiate so she doesn't interfere. Or it could happen that a God understands their Concept so well that even with a Higher God present, they won't hinder their progress."
"But in most cases, what happens is a Higher-Level God interfering and hindering the progress of another God with the same Concept."
"... It's so petty..." Sasha couldn't help but say, and the girls agreed with her.
"For the Gods, how far you've progressed in your Divinity is a form of status, a way to be 'unique,' and it gives you considerable influence in some aspects of other Pantheons, and of course, in the Mortal World as well. So, they don't want to share," Hestia commented.
"And with the changes happening in the Mortal World now, this struggle has become even more intense," Jeanne said.
"Indeed," Hestia nodded.
"Even I do it. I prevent young Goddesses and Gods with the Concept of Home from progressing in Divinity to a high enough level."
"Buddha... No, the philosophy itself that The Ancient Prince of The Sakia Dynasty, Siddhartha Gautama, created is a philosophy that greatly helps Beings to attain Divinity."
"Of course, that doesn't mean everyone who dedicates themselves to this philosophy will achieve it. In the end, it is still a journey of self-discovery, and there are infinite ways for someone to achieve Enlightenment."
"Albedo Moriarty reached Divinity by simply doing what she always did—researching and practicing Alchemy. A woman who was always true to herself."
"Dun Scaith achieved Divinity through effort and Enlightenment in Runes."
"Hassan-i Sabbah reached Enlightenment through Faith and with the assistance of Buddha."
"Now, here comes what I said earlier; if it's him who was observing him, it makes sense how Hassan reached such a High Level of Divinity in such a short time."
"The reason for this is that the strongest Aspect of Buddha's Divinity—'The Journey'."
"... The Journey, huh..." Jeanne pondered a little on the matter, and then she and Ruby widened their eyes; both had a realization at the same time.
"Are you saying that Buddha's Divinity accelerates The Journey of Self-Discovery?" Ruby asked.
"Yes... At least in part."
"Ugh, be more specific, woman. Does it accelerate it or not? Why are you contradicting yourself?" Violet grumbled.
"Sigh... The Concept of 'The Journey' aids in the progress of self-discovery, but in the end, it all depends on you."
"There are no shortcuts to Divinity..." Hestia was about to continue but was interrupted by Jeanne.
"Unless you are Victor and have a World Tree within your body that automatically nurtures your Soul and eventually Awakens you as a God."
Everyone fell silent upon hearing Jeanne's words.
"... Hey, big sis. I just realized again how broken our Husband's existence is... Is that fair?" Pepper said to Siena.
"No, it isn't," Siena replied.
"But that's how life is. There's no equality," Lacus said.
"It's bullshit," Pepper remarked.
"Mm." Lacus nodded.
"Indeed." Siena agreed.
"Hey, you say that, but you're not exactly fair either, you know?" Sasha said.
"What do you mean?" Lacus asked.
"Your mother is one of the strongest women out there, and you three are filthy rich," Sasha said gently, trying to ease the depression of the three sisters. However, her kindness only earned her neutral looks from them.
"... Why are you looking at me like that?" Sasha asked.
"It's nothing... Hearing such words from a woman whose aunt has literally trillions in her pocket is quite insulting, to be honest," Pepper said.
"Yes, your aunt is loaded. You can't talk about money to us," Lacus said.
"I'm not. I lost a lot of money due to the invasion," Victoria retorted.
"But you're already recovering, right?" Pepper said.
"... Well..."
"And eventually, you'll have more than you had before, right?" Siena said.
"... I mean."
"In short, you'll become richer than before." The three said simultaneously.
"Let me speak, God dammit!" Victoria snapped.
"So? Why do you think Victor sent him to train us?" Violet asked Hestia after observing the girls' conversation for a few minutes. "Does he want us to become Goddesses? You know that's impossible, right? We are Beings on the Dark Side of the scale."
"Indeed, we are on the Dark Side; everything is harder for us," Ruby said.
"At least we have cookies," Agnes said.
"And a hot Husband," Natashia said.
"...." The women just gave Natashia a dry look.
"What? Am I wrong?" Natashia raised an eyebrow.
"Enough with the references, and you, Natashia, stop being horny for a few minutes!" Violet scolded to restore order.
"Never!" Natashia huffed.
Hestia began to speak, "Returning to the subject, I think Victor sent Hassan not to train you in The Path of Divinity but to learn about the mentality..."
"Oh, even though you're Vampires, you can still become Goddesses; you'll just awaken Concepts on the Darker Side of the scale, like Fear, Darkness, War, etc.," Jeanne interrupted Hestia.
"Cool," Violet said, and her eyes, along with everyone else's, sparkled with interest.
Hestia looked at Jeanne with a neutral and stinky look.
"... I'm sorry for interrupting," Jeanne smiled apologetically.
Despite wanting to huff now, Hestia wasn't petty towards someone who sincerely apologized, "It's okay."
"You're overthinking things."
These words made everyone fall silent, and then they all looked toward Zaladrac.
"The Path of Divinity has already been opened to you from the moment my Companion obtained a World Tree for himself in his Soul."
"Self-discovery is still necessary. You need to understand who you are in existence and what role you will play, but the difficult part of the path has already been completed; you already have a reserved space in existence."
Zaladrac looked back at Ophis and Nero's training.
"So, don't think too much about my Companion's goals and just look at that man and learn... After all, he's someone who has walked this path before you."
The silence that followed Zaladrac's statement was deafening, while everyone seemed to be pondering her ambiguous words. Jeanne smiled lightly; she was probably the only one who fully understood Zaladrac's words—
words that only a Mortal Being with the influence of a God could speak.
"Your ancestors must have been very important in the past to have this kind of knowledge."
"You seem to understand what she's talking about, Jeanne," Ruby said.
"... Always the observer, huh," Jeanne smiled. "Yes, I understand... But unfortunately, I can't elaborate."
"Why not?" Ruby narrowed her eyes.
"As Monkey D. Luffy says to his crew in the Sabaody Arc: Everyone set sail in search of it. If this old man tells us something, then I'll give up on becoming The Pirate King."
Pepper, Lacus, Sasha, and Ruby just accepted her statement lightly; using those words wasn't fair.
Jeanne smiled. "The important thing is the journey, not what's at the end of it. I didn't say anything because it might hinder your own path, a path you have to discover for yourselves."
"That's something I have to agree with Jeanne as well." Hestia began speaking, getting everyone's attention.
"I've seen many Mortals rush to attain Divinity, and they ended up losing their lives on the way or becoming failed Gods who never managed to evolve their Concept... A perfect example for my words?"
"Hercules. Zeus, my foolish brother, helped his Demigod son become a God, but he never made progress in his own Divinity because he didn't understand himself."
"Of course, Zeus was also hindering his progress. After all, he fears that Gaia's prophecy will come true." Hestia spoke with disdain.
Another silence followed Hestia's words, but this silence was broken more quickly by Violet.
"So, when is Darling coming back? He should have finished his business in Samar by now, right?"
The girls looked at Violet, and they had to admire how easily she set the important matter aside.
"Haah, you're impossible, Violet. This is an important matter, right?" Ruby sighed.
"... Who cares? If I can't conquer it now because I have a lot of shit to do, why should I worry? I'll leave it for Future Violet to deal with those problems. What I'll do now is simply train in The Art of Assassination; I need to improve how I efficiently kill thots." Violet threw some imaginary punches in the air.
Zaladrac displayed a small smile. "If there's a woman who will reach Divinity faster than everyone in this group, it's probably you, Violet, followed by Anna, assuming she resolves her problem, of course."
"Huh? Why me? And what problem does Anna have?"
Zaladrac didn't answer the question and just continued observing everything in silence.
"Ugh, don't leave me with that cliffhanger, Dragon!"
...
Samar, Victor's personal room.
Victor chuckled lightly when he saw Violet's expression through Zaladrac's eyes.
When Zaladrac stared at someone, it was not just her looking, but Victor as well, sharing her senses, which meant Victor was currently watching Ophis and Nero's entire training.
[Are you sure I don't need to say anything, Companion?] Zaladrac asked.
[As Jeanne said, the journey is more important than the destination... One day, they will hit a wall in their training and strength, and only when they surpass that wall will they understand their own existence.]
[A wall, huh?... Did you hit that wall too?] Zaladrac asked.
[Yeah... But mine wasn't just a wall... Mine was an entire planet.]
[... As expected of you, Companion,] Zaladrac spoke with a voice of admiration.
[And did you manage to surpass that planet?]
[Nah, I failed.]
[.....]
[Indeed. I was speechless too. I'm used to failures; I had my ass beaten several times by my Master in the past, but I always managed to react somehow after training a lot. I failed several times in my training as well. I did things that didn't yield the results I wanted, but somehow, I always found a way... But this time, I just can't do anything.] He laughed.
Although he couldn't overcome this obstacle, he wasn't unhappy or sad about it; in fact, he was excited. He always enjoyed a challenge.
Victor had a feeling that to overcome the planet blocking his path, strength wasn't necessary; it was something else, and that was what he didn't know.
[...That's why you're traveling, huh.]
[Yes, indeed. Although there are other reasons, like curiosity and my promises as well, most of my motivation is to learn more about the world. I feel that the answer to my problem will come eventually.]
[The journey, huh.]
[Yeah.]
[Well... I will always be with you on this journey, my Companion.]
[Mm, take care of me, Zaladrac.]
[I will.]
Victor looked to the side and saw Roxanne staring at him with a look that seemed like it could pierce through his invincible body.
"... Take care of me too, Roxanne."
"Umu." Roxanne nodded contentedly.