As the legendary stone shattered completely, a blinding golden light filled the entire room.
Still, no one paid attention to the light—their eyes were all on the treasure that was about to appear. The light slowly faded, and in the middle of the broken pieces lay a glowing red object.
"What the hell is this?" Daniel frowned and slowly picked it up. As he touched it, he suddenly felt a massive reaction within his bloodline.
It was as if his bloodline was desperately craving this object. That surprised him. Ever since he awakened his class and gained this bloodline, he had never felt anything even remotely toward anything.
Just what was inside that stone?
Whatever it was, he was sure it had something to do with his bloodline or his class.
And it wasn’t just his bloodline. The color drained from the faces of everyone in the room. They didn’t know why, but it felt like they were staring at something ancient and terrifying.
Evangelin’s reaction was the worst. As someone highly familiar with divinity, she could sense the divine essence coming from the item!
Strangely, it felt even stronger and purer than the power of her master... But how could that be? Her master should be the most powerful being under the gods.
There should be no item or being in the entire world with stronger divine essence than her master.
So then, what was this thing? It looked like a fragment of something—everyone turned to Daniel, hoping for an explanation.
But he himself was utterly confused. He felt an overwhelming sense of familiarity with the item but had no idea what it was.
Fortunately, the Mother System announcement popped up in front of him:
[ Congratulations to the player for acquiring an item of rank ????? ]
[ Name: Fragment of God’s Heart (1/6) ]
[ Description: A fragment of a god’s heart. The God of Apocalypse—He who ends worlds and builds new ones. ]
"Fragment of God’s Heart? No wonder my bloodline reacted to it... it must be tied to divine blood," Daniel thought to himself, staring at the item in his hand with amazement.
According to the Mother System, he had obtained one of the six fragments of the God’s Heart. Unfortunately, he had no clue what the God’s Heart actually did.
Still, his instincts told him it was extremely valuable—more valuable than anything he’d ever seen, acquired, or would ever acquire.
"How do I even find the rest of the fragments?" Of course, he didn’t immediately decide to go hunt for them, but he did trust his instincts.
So it wouldn’t hurt to try and search for them, right? The only problem was, he had no idea where to start. He’d gotten even this one purely by chance.
"I think it’s time for the first sermon," he remembered and turned to look at Evangelin.
"Huh? What do you mean?" She was completely absorbed in shock over the item and had totally forgotten about the sermon and their purpose.
"Oh! Damn, I totally forgot! I think we’re late!" Evangelin suddenly shouted.
"Come on, we need to go now!" She rushed to Daniel and started pulling his hand.
"Thank you very much," Daniel said, glancing at the shopkeepers who were still frozen in shock.
They just nodded and gave him a faint smile. They really wanted to ask about the item but didn’t dare. They figured Daniel probably didn’t know what it was either.
Besides, there was a rule that prevented them from asking questions about such items.
Daniel and Evangelin quickly left the market and headed toward the sermon grounds. On the way, she asked him a question.
"By the way... what was that thing? Do you know anything about it?" she asked curiously. Daniel had already hidden the item right after leaving the shop.
"I’m not sure. I have some guesses," Daniel replied vaguely. Of course, he had no plans to tell anyone the truth about the item.
Evangelin nodded and didn’t seem surprised. That item radiated too much divinity. If she didn’t know what it was, then Daniel likely didn’t either. Though she didn’t rule out the possibility that he was lying.
Soon, they arrived at a massive open area. It was insanely crowded—pilgrims had gathered in large numbers.
In the middle of the area, there was a raised platform with a cushion in the center. The pilgrims were sitting around it, all waiting quietly.
"Thankfully, looks like we’re not too late," Evangelin sighed in relief as she saw the first Paragon hadn’t started yet.
"We should sit here too," she motioned to Daniel, and they both sat near the stage.
"Who’s the first Paragon giving the sermon?"
"If I’m not mistaken, it should be Paragon Velmiran. He’s the leader of the Endurers Cult," Evangelin replied after thinking for a moment.
"Endurers Cult?" Daniel frowned. He hadn’t heard about that before.
"Well..." Evangelin then explained the two ideological branches of the Eternity religion to him.
"I see. So the Endurers are the ones who reject change and believe eternity means stability, and that death is wrong. And the Ashbound are the ones who believe eternity is constant change, and that death and life are both part of the eternal cycle," he nodded.
Daniel looked thoughtful. He’d just learned about these two ideologies, but he found it somewhat ridiculous.
Most of the time, different interpretations in a religion happen after the death or ascension of a prophet—when no one is left to clarify the meaning.
But here? The prophet was still alive. Why hadn’t he done anything to clear up the confusion among his followers?
’This prophet is just... weird’ Daniel smirked. The thought made him even more curious to meet this person.
Luckily, tomorrow that wish would come true.
"Look! Paragon Velmiran is here!" a voice rose from the crowd. Many pilgrims immediately stood up.
Daniel glanced at Evangelin and saw she hadn’t stood up, so he didn’t either. In fact, he noticed that around half the crowd also stayed seated.
Then his eyes fell on an old man walking through the crowd toward the platform.
"So that’s the Paragon?"