Laying eggs was not the goal, it was merely a means to an end, his true desire was to harvest the believers.
The number of believers depended on the number of eggs. The more eggs, the more believers. Marshall’s actions aligned with market principles.
But I digress, back to the main point.
In the eyes of the Dark Goddess, Wayne’s level of life made it impossible for him to believe in any deity. The Dark Goddess was not surprised by this, confronting Wayne and sensing his fear, she confirmed that his power was not as strong as she had imagined.
An evolving Void Lifeform!
Precious because it imitated the Ancient God!
The Dark Goddess had not spoken for a long time; this meeting was not part of her plan. She remained silent as Wayne had something to say and started with his prepared remarks, testing the waters.
"Great Dark Goddess, I did not intend to steal your believers. Anastasia’s transformation was merely an accident, due to Torgoguryr her flesh mutated uncontrollably, I couldn’t bear it..."
"Your mercy will surely understand."
Wayne said a lot, focusing on how hard Anastasia’s life was and his own charitable demeanor, emphasizing his kind nature.
The Dark Goddess did not care about this, she had seen it all before, and Wayne’s self-praise was nothing new to her.
After much talk, Wayne began to probe, "Goddess, Anastasia must have already told you, I’ve acquired the power of the five God-chosen Knights and have fused these powers into one."
"Yes, Anastasia’s memory has revealed everything."
The Dark Goddess slowly said, "I not only know all of this but also know that the other three knights know very little, only I am aware of the lies conjured by the shared selection of the five gods."
The Dark Goddess wasn’t hiding anything, providing Wayne with crucial intelligence that could give him time to catch his breath and develop.
Managing time was Wayne’s forte; manipulating the situation well could make the Goddesses of Nature, Sun, and Moonlight quite comfortable.
At the same time, the Dark Goddess also made another point clear, she knew everything, and the tactics used on the three goddesses would not work on her.
"Goddess, every Mage must make choices for their future, it seems I can only choose you," Wayne respectfully said, attempting to offer up cheap loyalty.
"Oh, do you wish to become the Saint Heir of the Dark Church?"
Wayne thought the Dark Goddess knew the answer but pretended to be confused, always speaking in half-truths, a master of verbal tactics.
Little did he know, the Dark Goddess genuinely considered turning him into the Saint Heir.
The Dark Goddess coveted Wayne’s body, this path of evolution modeled after the Ancient God was something she greatly desired. When she descended into Anastasia’s body last time, part of her thoughts became corrupted. She could have cleaned it but chose instead to isolate it and let it grow wildly.
To the Goddess, losing some thoughts was no big deal if it didn’t affect the grand scheme of things. If she could gain inspiration from them, the investment was more than worthwhile.
Anastasia was merely one of Wayne’s Followers, a secondary evolution, not the original source. The Dark Goddess dismissed her as trivial; she was more interested in Wayne’s parameters.
If she could obtain information about Wayne through Anastasia, that would be excellent.
If not, choosing Wayne to become the Saint Heir and descending personally to acquire information, then cultivating the contaminated thoughts separately, though risky, was an acceptable loss.
At the Goddess’ realm, every step was exceedingly difficult, but compared to a much grander future, such risks were insignificant.
She genuinely prepared to choose Wayne to become the Saint Heir!
Wayne was unaware of these considerations, and even if he knew, he would refuse them, continuing to probe the Dark Goddess’ intentions: "Goddess, what do you believe life is, and could the original composition of the Life Alliance ever be realized?"
"One Goddess has already achieved it."
The Dark Goddess leisurely responded, "Your worshiped Nature Goddess has already attained everything. If she becomes aware of your existence, the consequences...you can figure that out for yourself."
Wayne’s heart skipped, relieved that he’d kept his secrets well hidden. He smiled and said, "Thank you for your protection; the Nature Goddess is not aware of the truth."
"I could tell her the truth, which would be more valuable to me than what you can offer, after all, she has come so far."
"Then what is she now, the Life Goddess?" Wayne’s eyes lit up.
The Dark Goddess did not respond, still speaking in half-truths, making it hard to judge the reality of her statements.
Wayne secretly grumbled, this incredibly powerful woman was overly cautious; was it just the Dark Goddess or were all goddesses this difficult to deal with?
"I am on good terms with your worshiped Nature Goddess, but our relationship isn’t that close. I will hide the truth from her for a while. In return, I must regularly check on your condition to see if the life that has fused five faiths is as powerful as the Nature Goddess." The Dark Goddess only referred to the life produced by the shared selection of the five gods, omitting her core demands.
Still only revealing half.
Wayne frowned slightly, "Goddess, what kind of examination method?"
The Dark Goddess raised her hand, dark light converged, and her unique dark divine statue took shape, silently floating in mid-air.
The statue was cloaked in a black robe, its true face unseen, and its form was very vague, like a crudely made figurine, cheap, lacking any collectible value.
"Infuse your power into it, that’s all."
Wayne was skeptical, not due to paranoia but because the world was indeed a mixed bag. The more people he met, the more he favored Ah Bin. Even the character of the Legendary Mage was questionable, let alone the character of a deity, no, the divinity of a deity.