Joey could even sense the girl's nervousness, unease, and fear.
Living in a world blessed by gods, anyone suddenly drawn into this place would first think that a miracle had occurred.
Coupled with the oppressive sensation weighing on both her mind and body, Helena dared not do anything disrespectful.
Someone who did not belong to Senegal-where could she have come from?
Beyond that darkness? That was the first possibility Joey thought of.
After learning that this was Blue Star, he had begun to suspect that Senegal might merely be a region sealed off by darkness. Beyond it, there might be far vaster lands.
Since she had mistaken him for some god, perhaps he could make good use of that identity to draw out useful information.
After a moment's thought and a few seconds of silence, Joey lowered his voice, trying to sound natural.
"Who are you, and where do you come from?"
A response? Helena could scarcely believe her ears. She had actually received a response from a god.
Helena took a deep breath, lowered her head, and spoke devoutly.
"I am Helena Rothschild, the last of the Rothschild Family's bloodline. I come from the Duchy of Isamott."
An utterly unfamiliar family name and a country he had never heard of further confirmed Joey's conjecture: she had come from outside.
To draw out more useful information, Joey refrained from asking another question.
Helena was anxious, but the brief silence finally allowed her to think about her situation with a little composure.
The gray fog, the round table-everything here suggested that this being was not a god recorded in the histories. At least, none of the known gods had corresponding characteristics.
This is probably an evil god!
At that thought, Helena grew even more uneasy, while an inexplicable sorrow welled up deep within her.
After today, the once-glorious Rothschild Family would truly vanish from existence.
Perhaps because she knew she was doomed, Helena summoned the courage to raise her head. With the gray fog blocking her view, she could not make out what sat at the head of the table.
"Will you kill me?"
Joey had never directly encountered the so-called gods of this world and could not understand the changes in her emotions. Clearly, his continued silence had terrified this lady.
He tentatively adjusted his manner, then spoke unhurriedly.
"I will not do that."
She could hear no malice in his words. On the contrary, he seemed very friendly.
Helena asked tentatively, "Could you let me go back?"
To maintain his inscrutable image, Joey gave a simple reply.
"Yes!"
Gods loathed deception and betrayal. Since he had said so, it meant she would be in no danger.
Helena finally felt the tension leave her heart.
Joey noticed a thread attached to Helena. Following it, he could see the world at the other end: a building resembling a church, with a lady crouched in front of a cross.
As long as he severed that thread, Helena could return to reality. Here, she was merely a phantom formed from condensed consciousness.
"What should I call you?"
Joey froze for a moment, then involuntarily looked toward the endless gray fog. After some thought, he smiled. "You can call me... the Hermit."
A wanderer hidden within the gray fog!
That's a pretty good title!
A god's name could not be spoken. "Hermit" was clearly an alias, further confirming Helena's suspicion that he was a god.
"Mr. Hermit, what can I do for you?"
In Helena's eyes, he would not have summoned her here without a reason.
Joey placed both hands behind his head, shifted into a more comfortable position, and leaned back slightly.
"I don't need you to do anything for me. This was merely a simple experiment."
"You mean bringing me here?"
"Yes."
Helena recalled the peculiar whims of certain evil gods, who would often do things that defied common sense. Perhaps this being was the same.
He's very different from the evil gods in those rumors. Perhaps I could give it a try.
"Could you bestow a blessing upon me?"
A blessing? What the hell is that?
Joey pondered how he should address the question.
Helena thought her request had angered him. She hurriedly lowered her head and said fearfully, "I am willing to pay a price."
Every favor came with a price attached. She only hoped it would be one she could bear.
With nothing left to lose, Helena resolved to take the gamble without hesitation.
Whether he could bestow a blessing was another matter. Joey decided to hear her request first.
"Tell me what you have in mind."
Helena glanced around and, finding nothing unusual, immediately breathed a sigh of relief.
"I am undergoing my Beyonder advancement on the Arbiter Pathway."
Arbiter? What Sequence is that?
Helena paused, then continued cautiously, "Might I ask you to bless me so I can withstand the maddening whispers from underground?"
Underground?
Whispers?
Why does that sound just like the Endless Sea?
"Of course, I can offer you my soul!"
In Helena's view, since she had been summoned from a church, his identity might be connected to the Secrets Suppliant Pathway.
Joey found it amusing. I'm not God Almighty. What would I want your soul for?
Besides, resisting maddening whispers-isn't that easy? This place can shut all of that out.
Now that he had something to bargain with, Joey began considering what terms he should demand.
Right, that's what I'll do!
He seemed to have thought of something.
"I don't need your soul. You can tell me about some major events."
Joey paused, then nodded and continued in an even tone, "Yes, major events concerning 'them.'"
Helena naturally understood who "them" referred to.
At the same time, she felt a surge of confusion.
Does he seem to have only recently awakened?
"Has the sun risen?"
That simple question left Helena frozen in place.
She had considered that he might have awakened after a long slumber, but she had never imagined he had slept for so long. He was actually a being from the Second Epoch.
She answered anxiously, "Mr. Hermit, the sun already shines upon the land."
Just as I thought. She comes from outside, and there is a sun out there.
According to the histories, the Ancient Sun God had fallen during the Second Epoch, plunging the entire world into a long age of darkness. Only in the Third Epoch, after the seven gods regained control of the world and restored order, had the sun risen again.
"It is now the Third Epoch. The world is under the rule of the seven gods."
Seven gods?
"Oh! Is Isabella still alive?"
She was the only high-Sequence being Joey knew of. She had once been an Archangel serving the Ancient Sun God.
Helena pressed her palms together in prayer, filled with reverent fear.
"She is now the Goddess of Light, one of the seven gods."
She dared not speak the seven gods' honorific names directly. Any utterance would be known to them.
"The current seven gods are Evernight, Light, Storm, Machinery, Harvest, Wisdom, and War."
"Here, you may speak their honorific names directly."
Helena looked astonished, then told him the seven gods' true names one by one.
Aren't they the seven Angels who once served the Primordial Sun God?
After the Primordial Sun God's death, they had actually become the rulers of the new world. It was simply unbelievable.
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