(MC POV)
"Unngg… Wha… What the?"
I looked up at the waking Muon who was trying to sit up on my bed.
"What happened… Did I… Pass out?" She muttered.
"Yeah… I'm not sure what happened either but you suddenly just collapsed there after… Err… Whatever you were trying to do."
She turned to look at me with squinted eyes, as though trying to remember the events that led up to this moment.
She lifted a finger to point at me slowly, "You… What are you?"
I tilted my head at her. At the same time, Xun Guan had stiffened up in preparation of a fight.
"I'm not sure what you mean by that?"
"I certainly sensed Origin within you and I tried to touch it with mine to bring out your lost memories… But when I tried to do so, so much information came to me that I couldn't even comprehend them at all which made me pass out. Just how many lives have you lived? No wait, asking you that is pointless so since you don't remember."
I frowned at her answer, that means this is not my first transmigration? Just how much of my life have I forgotten?
"Ok, so what did you get from that? What did you see?"
Muon stared into space for a bit before shaking her head, "The scenes I remember seeing were just memories of looking at space. Not really helpful since every Origin Wielder has been in space before."
Er… Well… I didn't know that.
She sighed, "Though you may not remember it… It seems like you are my senior in wielding Origin. I apologize for my rudeness in my assumptions earlier."
"Eh? Ah, don't worry about it. The fact that I don't really remember means I would be depending on you, I suppose? I'm not even sure how this whole thing works anyway."
"I see… I suppose you would want to know where this power came from and what it even means to wield it, correct?"
I nodded my head.
She tapped her chin with a finger, "Where do I even begin… Ah, you don't even know what a 'Patron' is, much less who is yours, am I right?"
I nodded again.
"Hmmm… Alright, do you know why it's called 'Origin'?"
"Nope."
"That's because it is the origin of all things. Everything in existence can be traced back to Origin itself. You can say that it is what 'allows' everything to exist in the first place and thus, it is literally the Origin of everything in existence."
Woah. Ok, that's err… Kind of deep?
Actually, that kind of explains why when I'm in that Star Power state it felt so easy to move and create things.
Not noticing my brooding, Muon continued, "So you might be wondering how Origin Wielders like ourselves came to be, right? What if I told you there's more than one world in this Universe? Not just different 'Planes' but actual 'Worlds'?"
"You mean like the Spirit Realm?"
"Ah, no. Those are still part of this 'World'. Hmmm… This is quite complicated, but just know that there are other worlds out there. You don't really need to know the finer details now. The point is, each World has one or a group of gods watching over it. Get it so far?"
I remembered that old lady that I met from before and nodded my head.
"Right, so every 'World' has gods that take care of it and they don't interfere with other worlds, these are called the World Gods. Above them are the Realm Gods who manage them and then there's the Supreme Gods after them. All of them are subordinate to Origin who stands at the very top of the hierarchy."
I raised my hand, "Hold on a moment, you're telling me that Origin is a person?"
She made a complicated face, "No… But yes. Origin does have a consciousness so it can be said that they are a 'person'. Honestly, that goes beyond my realm of understanding anyway and it's not really important. What I wanted to bring attention to are the Supreme Gods directly under Origin in charge of maintaining all the other gods and also acting as Origin's proxy. Despite their powers, there are some things they cannot do on their own as well."
"Things that a god can't do?"
"Yes. It might be considered heretical to some people but gods are not perfect either. Some are corrupt while others might be lazy and shirk their duties when given the chance. If the Supreme Gods come to check the world, every God would know and it would be a simple thing of putting on airs for them to see."
Ah, it's like if the boss of a company visits a branch company, everyone would do their best to look busy even if they had been slacking off every other day.
"So that's where we come in. Supreme Gods would bless certain mortals that they have taken interest in to be able to wield Origin and act as their arms to serve their will. The Supreme God who has blessed them would be known as their Patron since the Origin energy flows from them to us, acting as the conduit to Origin itself."
I nodded, "Right, so I suppose we're like champions of the gods or something similar."
"That's the gist of it. Conversely, my Patron is Muenia, the Supreme Goddess of Fate."
"Is there any way to find out who my patron is?" I asked.
She smiled at me, "Aside from regaining your memories or even meeting your Patron in person, you probably wouldn't know for sure. Though we may act as their hands, we're not really that important to them to be honest. There are many of us after all."
"Huh? There's… An abundance of Star… I mean, Origin wielders?"
Muon tapped her chin with a finger, "Well… If we're considering the universal scale… Not really. But there's definitely so many of us that one person, even a God, wouldn't have the time to care about every single one of us individually."
That's a relief, it's quite troubling to imagine a horde of people like Lilith running around and causing chaos. Speaking of which, what was she doing there anyway?
"I don't think you said it yet but… What exactly do we do?"
"Ah, it's simple really. We basically live our lives within the assigned 'World' as part of its residents, trying to find out if there's anything abnormal or out of place within that world. If there is, we would need to report back to our Patron and they will decide on what to do. Sometimes we might just be relegated to do other miscellaneous tasks like wiping out some galactic threat but those work are rare."
"And what would qualify as 'abnormal' in the world?"
She shrugged, "It could be many things, actually. For example, the inhabitants of a World might be in constant agony for no reason or they might be exceptionally blissful in another. Then there might be natural disasters that have no cause or even absolutely no misfortune of any kind within that World."
"That sounds exceedingly complicated."
"I admit those are the more extreme examples and it's caused by the God's interference, most of the time we don't find anything at all. That's why Origin Wielders go through several incarnations within one World to check if there's actually an anomaly or not before moving on."
Wait a moment…
"You're telling me that Origin Wielders have the ability to reincarnate?"
She nodded, "We're pretty much immortal so unless our Patron decides to take back their gift, we won't die. Ah, I know what you're thinking, but to use our powers for selfish reasons is quite impossible. The selection process for this gift is quite strict and they only pick us from their devout followers. If Goddess Muenia commanded me to die, I would gladly kill myself right there."
"Huh… But what about cases like mine where I lost my memories? Surely that's a cause for concern?"
"Unnn… It actually is… If you did something that goes against your Patron's will, they would definitely appear and punish you for it though… The fact that yours has not appeared means that even after losing your memories, you are still fulfilling your duties to a certain extent, I guess? But on the off chance we do come across a rogue Origin Wielder that slipped under their Patron's notice , we'll try to eradicate them."
Hey, hey, don't say such ominous things with a straight face!
Still, it seems like the mystery behind why I transmigrated back into my old body and why Lilith was so hostile was solved.
She probably thought I was a rogue Origin Wielder or something.
But is this alright? My main goal is to live an easy life you know? I never thought about investigating this world at all, wouldn't my Patron be angry with that?
No, she did say there's a whole lot of us, maybe they just haven't paid attention to me yet?
That's not exactly a comforting thought though…
Or maybe… My Patron is also trying to live an easy life?
"Anyway, I think that's enough to keep your thoughts occupied tonight, although I did mean it for you to leave the town as soon as possible though," Muon told me, standing up from the bed.
"Huh? I was planning to leave tomorrow morning though?"
She shook her head, "The ruler of this place does not like my presence here and I'll bet she doesn't like you either. There's definitely going to be a fight tonight so unless you want to get caught up in it, you'd best leave right now."
I sighed, "And here I thought I would at least sleep in a bed tonight… There's still a lot of things I don't understand though."
Muon gave me a wry smile, "Just camp somewhere outside the town, I'll find you once I'm done."
With that, she disappeared from my room in a puff of smoke.
Oh well, I guess I better get packing then, this night turned out to be a hell of a learning experience…
