CHAPTER 245: A PRIVATE MEETING

"Huff, huff, huff..."

"Huff. Agh!"

Silvanus practically thrashed awake. He turned to the side, clutching his throat with one hand, his breathing so painful that tears spilled from his eyes. Even now, he could still feel the searing agony, as if his throat had truly been torn apart.

That didn’t even feel like a dream!

[Lord, are you all right?]

The Acting System suddenly appeared, its tone betraying its worry.

Silvanus quietly wiped away his tears, taking a long while before his breathing finally returned to normal.

He gazed at the starry expanse before him. The stars were growing brighter, as if infused with energy, no longer carrying that hazy, distant feeling they had at the beginning.

"How much do you know about the Outer God?"

The Acting System paused momentarily before hesitantly replying: [Your choice must have already given you the answer.]

In truth, it was nothing more than a useless system, a mere channel that allowed Silvanus to exist in this world.

Silvanus said nothing. He was desperate to uncover everything—about his past life and the era when he was still a fledgling god. He didn’t know how many more dreams he would have to endure, or how many dungeons he would have to pass through.

That feeling in the first dream, when he thought of the Outer God possibly corrupting his universe, had made his heart ache. Even though that emotion felt utterly foreign to him, in that instant, he understood—his past self must have truly cherished his universe.

His teachers must have raised him to be a good god.

First things first, he had to find the angels.

Silvanus did not rest. He stood up, preparing to leave the galactic space.

Meanwhile, outside, more than a day had already passed. The meeting between those who had just closed the dungeon was underway, though not everyone was present.

They had searched for Silvanus, yet there was no trace of him—not even at his temple.

"Silvanus’s movements are always strange. Sometimes he isn’t even in the same dimension as us. Let’s start the meeting." That was precisely what Layla had said.

And so, Drake, Cocona, Silas, and Leonard were gathered here. Alice was still bedridden in the hospital—though her body was unharmed, her spirit had suffered severe damage.

This had expanded her mental capacity, but she would still need time to recover and adjust.

Silas was also somewhat weakened but was far better off than Alice. At the very least, he could still sit at the conference table instead of being confined to a hospital bed. That was the difference in rank.

"The dungeon summary and explanation will soon be released and published on the official site. For now, let us discuss the matter of the second breakthrough ability and Priest Silvanus."

At the mention of Priest Silvanus, Layla abruptly paused for a moment.

Leonard couldn’t help but secretly lift his eyes to glance at her, but quickly lowered his head again, fidgeting with his own fingers.

Right after they came out of the dungeon, Drake had suddenly latched onto Leonard, demanding a fight. The two of them instantly broke into chaos; Leonard could only curl into himself to keep from being beaten up by Drake, while Drake wouldn’t stop insisting that Leonard drink his blood.

Two top believers suddenly clashing like that had nearly triggered a war between the followers of humanity’s two most prominent gods.

Fortunately, Drake had stopped in the end. Still, now that he was seated in the conference room, arms crossed, brows knitted tight, his eyes held nothing but simmering irritation, as though he was about to erupt at any moment.

"Drake, try to control yourself a little. Until you complete your second awakening, everything will get much better." Layla pushed up her glasses, speaking to Drake in a strictly professional tone.

Hearing that, Drake smirked at her, as if mocking, yet also as if stating nothing but fact: "And how do you know I’ll be better after awakening? How do you know whether I’ve awakened already or not? What if I’m already awakened right now?"

Drake’s words made Layla falter for a moment. She sighed, saying nothing more.

Everyone knew that dealing with Drake was like touching thorns—sooner or later, you’d get stabbed. He was insufferable, and yet no one could do anything about him. The only person who could calm him down, perhaps, was the Prophet. No—Layla realized someone else could steady Drake’s emotions after this dungeon: Silvanus.

Even though Drake always went out of his way to act irritated with Silvanus, Layla could see the truth.

She glanced at Drake, then focused on the matter: "As for the second-stage evolution of power, each of you needs an opportunity for this. A moment of explosive strength fueled by unshakable faith, with the resolve to sacrifice everything to open the way. Up to now, there’s been no completely accurate conclusion. What we can say at present is this: to achieve the second awakening, you need courage—the determination to devote your entire life to your goal."

At that moment, an image suddenly appeared on the screen. It was of Silvanus, who had searched for Lilith’s heart and was attacked by Bunny and Meow.

In the footage, streams of blue water engulfed Bunny and Meow, quickly consuming them before vanishing.

Leonard’s eyes widened; he stared at the screen unblinking.

"This is Nerio’s power. But when Silvanus was in danger, he prayed, and Nerio answered. We speculate that not only Nerio, but any god, can respond to Silvanus. This may be the ability of a priest. That’s why he can move so calmly in the dungeon—under the gods’ protection, almost nothing can threaten him." Layla explained.

Silas fixed his gaze on the water and Silvanus in the footage, his brows furrowing slightly. His Heavenly Eyes slipped open without his control, swirling restlessly on his forehead in a way that looked bizarre, but quickly disappeared.

They weren’t high enough in rank to manifest outside the dungeon.

Silas couldn’t help but recall the door he had drawn and his desperate prayer.

He knew it clearly—at that moment, he had begged for the Prophet to appear. And yet, the one who came was Silvanus.

Was it a coincidence? Was it simply because Silvanus represented the gods? Or was there another reason altogether...

The faint sounds echoing in his heart, and the burning sensation in his eyes every time he looked at Silvanus gave him no answers.

"Layla, when we returned to the castle and Silvanus went missing—where did he go?"

Silas suddenly asked.

Drake’s voice was cold: "At that time, I thought he was already dead. Didn’t expect him to come back." He paused, then added, "It was all because of the door Silas painted. Without that door, Silvanus might’ve really died right there. Tch."

Cocona shot Drake a contemptuous look. "Stop putting on airs. If Silvanus hadn’t shown up, we’d all be dead."

Drake gave a cold laugh but didn’t argue back this time.

On the other hand, Leonard stared wide-eyed at Layla with expectant eyes.

Layla glanced at this group of espers who cared for no one but themselves, and felt a headache coming on. She looked at Silas before saying, "At that time, his livestream feed went completely dark, but it didn’t disappear. We suspect he must have encountered some high-level existence that nearly killed him, but in the end, he narrowly escaped."

In the end, speculation was still just speculation.

Silas nodded, offering no further words. But then Layla asked him: "Silas, what’s your take on this?"

My take...?

A ridiculous, audacious suspicion came to Silas’s mind—so much so that he couldn’t even bring himself to say it aloud.

There could clearly be more straightforward explanations for everything, yet his thoughts kept circling back to that impossible possibility. Even he himself found it unthinkable.

Silas shook his head. Seeing that, Layla said nothing more. Instead, her mind turned to Frank’s recent condition, and she suddenly spoke: "After this meeting, let’s head to Silvanus’s temple to search for him again. Perhaps he’ll appear."

In truth, it was the perfect chance to hold a private meeting—especially now, when the strongest espers were all gathered here.