Chapter 691
Xia Er had been asleep for quite a while, nearly missing the entire morning, and now he was curious if anything special had happened that he had missed.
"Nothing particularly special happened, Lord Xia Er," Tara replied, her head lowered. "Lady Aivina overexerted herself and fell asleep due to fatigue. For safety's sake, I stayed nearby... but just a moment ago, I accidentally..."
"It's fine," Xia Er said, shaking his head after hearing that nothing unusual had occurred. "You should go back to your room and rest for a bit."
"You don’t need to worry about me, my lord. I can definitely..." Tara began, but immediately regretted her words.
She was regretting why she had contradicted Lord Xia Er's command. If it had been before, Tara would never have dared to challenge anything Lord Xia Er said.
With the merging of the church, the number of those loyal to the Mother Goddess would surely increase, especially among those who had previously doubted the existence of the divine, who might become even more extreme fanatics.
Take Eleanor, for instance. From the very beginning, she had shown signs of fanaticism, but her confusion stemmed from never receiving a response. Ever since the day Lord Xia Er manifested his divine presence, she had undergone a complete transformation.
In such circumstances, Tara, whose extraordinary abilities were not particularly prominent and who was also somewhat confused about her faith, began to feel a sense of anxiety she had never experienced before.
Her earlier bravado seemed to be an attempt to prove that she would stand by Xia Er's side no matter the difficulties, that mere mental and physical fatigue were things she could easily overcome.
Xia Er sensed the change in Tara. He looked at her with a hint of surprise and said, "It's rare to hear you say such things."
Through countless simulations, Xia Er's attitude toward Tara had already shifted.
Initially, he viewed Tara merely as a useful tool, a charismatic cult archbishop he could manipulate with care.
Later, he began to see her as a reliable tool, one he could use freely without concern.
Eventually, he came to trust Tara completely, recognizing her unwavering loyalty and considering her a "comrade" rather than just a simple tool.
However, Tara still stubbornly placed herself in the role of a "servant," a mindset that even Xia Er found difficult to change.
When Xia Er spoke, there was a playful undertone to his surprise.
But to Tara, it didn’t feel that way at all.
"No... that's not it... Lord Xia Er, I..." Tara's voice trembled, stammering, unable to form a complete sentence.
Tara had been grappling with her changing faith in the Mother Goddess, arriving at a conclusion she found somewhat absurd.
She truly loved and believed in the Mother Goddess, but she also loved the human embodiment of the Goddess—Xia Er.
Essentially, Xia Er was merely a "vessel" for the Mother Goddess, who could take on another form at any time. Yet, in Tara's heart, she had already separated the Mother Goddess and Xia Er into two distinct entities.
As she came to this realization, Tara felt a wave of panic wash over her.
She was unsure if such thoughts were blasphemous and instinctively sought to justify her feelings with references and explanations, something she had always excelled at.
So, when she first heard Xia Er's question, she thought all her thoughts had been laid bare before the Mother Goddess, and she felt an overwhelming sense of shame.
"Don't overthink it. Just rest well. I want to see a refreshed you later," Xia Er said with a smile, gently ruffling Tara's hair before heading downstairs.
She was starving and needed to find something to eat.
Meanwhile, Tara remained frozen in place.
The gentle touch of Xia Er lingered on her head, and his voice echoed in her ears.
Mother Goddess... does this mean you approve?
Does it mean I can continue to hold onto these feelings?
Whether it was joy or something else, the painful dilemma that had tormented her all night was eased by the Mother Goddess's gentle love, and Tara couldn't help but let tears fall.
As she silently wiped away her uncontrollable tears with the sleeve of her maid outfit, she turned and walked toward the guest room.
Tara's room was in the servant quarters adjacent to Xia Er's, but since Aivina was sleeping in Xia Er's room, Tara decided to heed the Mother Goddess's words and rest in the guest room.
"Ha..."
Meanwhile, in the underground kitchen, Xia Er had just brewed a cup of black tea and took a sip while searching for something to eat.
Xia Er was completely unaware of Tara's complex emotions; her mind was entirely consumed by hunger.
Finally, she found a covered dish in the kitchen, seemingly prepared long ago for her to eat after waking up. The once-soft bread had become slightly hard.
But that was no problem for Xia Er; she could just soak it in her tea. She wasn't picky.
After filling her stomach, Xia Er washed up in the bathroom on the first floor and began to review the gains from the last simulation.
No new skills acquired... the points gained were minimal... Xia Er understood this.
Although she had revisited the anchor point several times, in the actual timeline of the simulation, she had only defeated one 4th-tier extraordinary being and hadn't accomplished anything particularly noteworthy.
However, the rewards were not insignificant.
By candlelight, Xia Er began to contemplate how to deal with that minion she had encountered.
In the simulation, she had been uncertain whether that minion existed in her real timeline.
She had faced the minion three times.
The third encounter was the last time she had come across that furious minion in the recent simulation.
The second encounter had been in another simulation, where it had directly erased Sadana.
The first encounter had been in a past simulation, where her sister had been used as bait. That time, the minion had aimed to kill Xia Er directly...
They had clearly been informed not to kill Xia Er directly; the "uniqueness" pocket watch would reset everything back to the past, delaying the birth of the future deity.
In the latter two encounters, the minions had clearly been too afraid to kill Xia Er directly, but the first minion had openly intended to attack her...
It was evident that the minion from the past and the one from the old simulation were not the same.
Why had the minion in the past simulation wanted to kill her...? It knew that killing her would reset time, yet it still chose to do so? And it had revealed information?
What was its purpose?
Xia Er hesitated to draw conclusions about the second minion she had encountered, but she felt somewhat confident that the third minion likely existed in her timeline.
Because Eric, the 4th-tier extraordinary being who had been secretly observing her, existed in reality.
Simulations were extensions of the future based on reality; the minions might exist in different timelines, but Eric, as an ordinary extraordinary being, did not.
Thus, as an ordinary extraordinary being, Xia Er could find him in reality.
As long as she found him, she would have a way to track down that minion. Even if it wasn't the same one, she could at least follow the trail to another.
Moreover, Xia Er had "read" some of Eric's memories, so she knew what characteristics to look for to find him and where he might be.
One crucial point was that he was in Ansu City. If she made a name for herself like in the simulation, he would find and monitor her.
However, to thoroughly root him out, Xia Er needed to make some preparations.
She opened the skill upgrade interface and found the skill [Keen Sense Lv.2].
Previously, her ability to detect Eric had relied heavily on "Keen Sense."
For such a useful skill, Xia Er was willing to invest her points without hesitation.
Upgrading from Lv.2 to Lv.3 required 100 points, from Lv.3 to Lv.4 required 200, and to upgrade from Lv.4 to Lv.5 required 500...
Lv.5 represented a qualitative change, but Xia Er currently only had 751 points, making it impossible to upgrade [Keen Sense] directly to Lv.5; she could at most upgrade it to Lv.4.
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