Once Sol calmed down, Theresa began to explain the origin of the pearl.
“This is the first and last gift of your mother.”
What made magical beings so powerful were their veins, horns, and core.
Only high-ranked beasts could manifest horns while only S rank beasts had a core.
The core, when coupled with a powerful enough body, changed the body of the user into something close to a perpetual machine. At the same time, they were great catalysts for magic.
For S rank the core was something sacred. The proof of their superiority. Because of this, whenever a rank S was about to face death, they would detonate their cores at all costs possible.
“When Blaze was about to sacrifice herself, she mutilated herself just to take them out and gave them to me.”
Her grip on the chest tightened. Even now, she could only feel awe at the unconditional love of a mother.
From what she knew, the pain such an act should have brought was something out of this world but Blaze acted as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Showing neither fear, pain nor hesitation, she dug out what made her greatest pride for her son.
“I will never forget her words as she took off in the sky in her dragon form. She felt no reluctance in parting with those since her greatest pride was none other than you--”
Taking a deep breath, Theresa said with a hint of sadness in her voice, “Your mother loved you so much, so much you were everything for her. I cannot even begin to imagine what she must have felt like while flying towards her doom.”
Sol felt silent. He honestly did not feel much love. Neither for Mars nor Blaze. But...He had to give respect where it was needed.
Without those parents of his, he would be nothing. So, even though he did not love them as a son should love their parents, he was still sad at their deaths and respected their sacrifice.
Theresa meanwhile felt respect for an entirely different reason.
As a dwarf, familial love, friendship and other similar feelings were nothing more than illusions. Something so rare that it was priceless.
On that day, as she watched Blaze fly away, she asked herself.
'Would I have done the same if I was in her place?'
Blaze was, at the end of the day, the daughter of a divine beast. She had absolutely no need to face Echidna in the first place and could have fled at any moment.
But she stayed and died with her husband.
The cold part of Theresa found this incomprehensible. Why sacrifice yourself to protect someone else?
But the soft part in the corner of her heart grieved at the loss of a friend and envied at the fact that she had something she could die for.
“For many years after this event, I did not know what to do with the core. Should I give it to you? Should I use it for myself? My greed and my duty as a friend fought against each other continuously.”
She chuckled as she said that. The core of an S rank being, a direct descendant of Tiamat to boot, was something that had no price. Something so precious that even the aloof angels and the prideful elves would have gone to war for.
“In the end, and honestly with a narrow margin, friendship won. So I face a problem . How should I give it to you?”
She wagged his finger at him.
“If you were unable to awaken your own core, I would have simply given them to you as they were. I am sure the dragons would have found a way to make them fuse with you. Thankfully, you were far more talented than I thought. So I decided to make something else.”
“A divine weapon.”
“Indeed, a divine weapon. Well, more precisely, the husk of a divine weapon. It still lacks something very important.”
“...Which is?”
“A divinity.”
The sound of the carriage slowly moving sounded in Sol's ears.
Absently looking at the small chest he couldn’t help but think back to his discussion with Theresa.
Divine weapons were a curse. Tools that absorbed lifespans and destroyed luck.
This was the reason why no queen or king, even those of long lived races, managed to survive for long.
At least this was Theresa’s opinion after years of research.
Divine weapons worked by channeling one of the seven sins in the weapons and using it to surpass one's own limits.
But the problem was that mortals could not comprehend the vast infinity that was a divinity.
Sol understood this very well. After all, back during the Saint Fall, one look at Luxuria’s face had been enough to make him feel like his mind was melting.
What was in this chest though, was different. A divine weapon without divinity and without any form.
Logically speaking, the best way to call it was to say that it was a potential divine weapon.
When Sol had asked her how he could add the so-called divinity, Theresa simply chuckled and played cute by sticking her tongue out.
He closed his eyes and chuckled bitterly.
Sol wasn’t dumb. He more or less understood the situation in which he found himself in.
He stood now at yet another crossroad.
Who else but a goddess could bestow divinity?
The easiest way was without a doubt to ask Luxuria to bestow divinity upon this weapon.
If he did so, it would be like they had never lost the holy sword.
This was without a doubt the safest and steadiest path.
But…
‘I do not wish to.’
All this while, Sol had always wondered.
How did the goddesses become goddesses?
What about the demi-gods?
If a mortal can transcend and become a demi-god, what stopped them from becoming full fledged gods?
If this was possible. What if he obtained his own divinity?
‘Of course it wouldn’t be easy.’
After all, even if it was possible, would the goddesses really stand aside and watch?
For some reason, Sol felt as if they would indeed just watch.
The rules of their so-called game was something he did not entirely understand. But...
“What are you thinking about?”
Looking at Nuwa, he waved his hand, the chest immediately vanished as it was put in his mirror dimension.
This was the most secure place in the world after all.
Once this was done, he gave a faint smile and crossed his leg while leaning back on his chair,
“I was just thinking how interesting it would be if I could become a player.”
Ignoring Nuwa's confused look, he closed his eyes in thought.
Soon, he would announce the punishment of the traitor and proceed with their executions and Gerald’s exile.
Once this was done, it would be time for him to enter the Astral world.
