"I'm sober," Jake said.
There were only three of them inside Master Aaron's workplace, so Jake decided to reveal more about his bloodline and how exactly it ran.
It shocked the old man and the tsundere, to say the least. These two hadn't met a player before whose origins were related to the legendary existences.
Jake's presence confirmed that the legendary existences were real and gave some credence to the statues' beliefs, which they preached for more than a few generations.
The topic of statues always puts Jake on the edge. He'd never see eye to eye with them.
Viktor harrumphed, "I heard there's a reason for The Emperor and the Crowned House to look out after the statues and cooperate with them. But I wouldn't call it cooperation. The current Crowned House—Asta Orb—and their descendants have little to no belief in those statues." He looked away. There's no reason for Asta Bow to believe in them, either."
The public view of the statues was that the people behind them—the wondrous humans—brought mana and its miracles to the world by fighting the selfish existences that kept all of it to themselves up in the heavens.
Conversely, there's a belief that the statues exist and even summon players to fight against those selfish existences that want to steal back all mana to themselves.
One of the methods to steal back is dungeons, for instance.
Each country and even continent has a different belief, though.
Master Aaron sighed, "Yer shouldn't think too much about it. The strength and close ties have proved to triumph in every generation! And aren't countries hogging different statues, anyway? If those statues are conscious and scheme something behind everyone's backs, the years of scheming must have made them turn their backs on each other and turn their main scheme into a rat race!"
Viktor nodded.
Beside him, Jake was thinking about what he'd learned here.
'Sounds different from the system message I saw on The Tutorial Island. It could be the perspective of the human traitors. I learned more about the plot, but I doubt anything will come out soon... the statues seem too limited. Otherwise, Victoria wouldn't have let me go without saying or doing anything to me,' Jake thought.
If the game's main plot would force him to level up fast and reach the high ladder just to participate in the events, he'd hate that. That said, if that was the only way to save his companions or help him in any other way, Jake would go for it without even thinking about his preferences.
Viktor pulled Jake from his silent contemplation.
As he added these two, Jake opened the chat function and typed to them the casual message.
That was when he could see the couple on the streets.
He was coming back from Master Aaron's house while these two casually strolled the less crowded streets of Last Night, their hands interlocked.
'I'm not getting pissed at their cuddling... it's stupid to even get angry at them for being in love, but I will forever blame Peace's boyfriend and her for opening my head to romance like that,' Jake thought. 'It's good that I can remain clearheaded around them, though.'
He walked over to them. "Am I a third wheel?"
Peace chuckled, "Not really! We have been talking about you!"
Peace's boyfriend slightly reddened. He'd been cussing at Jake as he hadn't responded to his friend invitation until now, meaning he was having quite negative thoughts about him.
He did his best to mentally wave them off.
He said, "We've been wondering if you are okay now that you have some fame!"
Peace pursed her lips as it wasn't exactly it.
Peace's boyfriend, Shaw, slightly pulled his girlfriend's hand down to tell her to behave and not betray him!
Jake took Shaw's left side as the walk resumed.
He asked, "You really thought someone would bother me?"
"People speculated that you went through a race change. I'm curious about it, too," Shaw said.
Peace nodded.
Jake shook his head, "It's not a race change, though I can see why you would think like that." It must have been Ender's Assimilation that caused the ruckus in the crowds. 'His darkness covers me like a mantle and gives an impression that a wing is about to sprout wide. My race might really change in the future as I develop Assimilation Skills and become better than it.
I might need just levels to really get that feature unlocked...'