Chapter 153: Hestia
The woman blinked once, as if that was the part of the whole conversation that surprised her.
"Of course I can," she replied, though her own certainty started to dull by now. "Why would I not be able to see something of my own creation?"
Rohan stared at her for a moment longer, then looked back at the floating screen in front of him, then back at her again.
From where he was standing, there were only two possible explanations. Either she had access to the Origin Realm’s inner workings... or the thing floating in front of him wasn’t his regular status at all.
’It’s different from my usual one as well... My usual details from the Origin Realm aren’t even there anymore.’
That idea made his stomach tighten. The feeling of not knowing, of being confronted with the unknown, started to well up within him again. It was a horrible feeling.
The woman — the Goddess — already looked confused when she saw the contents of his status. Not interested nor curious, but genuinely thrown off by the fact that all of his categories were blank.
Rohan had no idea what any of them meant, except for his title, as that had already been explained to him by the Origin Realm... ’Or this Great System she’s mentioned multiple times already.’
The more time Rohan spent in this place, the more of a bad feeling he got.
Rohan rubbed the back of his neck again, then winced when he realised it was still caked with blood and grime from way back in the dungeon.
"So let me get this straight," he said carefully. "You can see my status screen, which is nothing like I recognise. I can see it too, yet we call it different things. You call it the Great System, which is something I’ve never heard in my life."
He paused, letting it sink in for her. But, as she was a Goddess, Rohan wasn’t expecting any grand reaction.
"Meanwhile, what I do know — the Origin Realm, with its status I’ve always had, none of that makes any sense to you."
The Goddess’ pale golden eyes rested on him in silence for a moment.
"It seems so."
Rohan huffed out a mixture of a laugh and a groan.
The way he saw this, despite how bad it looked, it wasn’t actually a bad thing.
Or, at least, it wasn’t in his eyes. Whatever lightness the Goddess had been treating him with up until now began to thin out, as they both became more focused on what really mattered.
If anything, Rohan was just glad he wasn’t the only confused one anymore. She was starting to realise that whatever this meeting was, it didn’t fit the rules and expectations she expected either.
If a literal Goddess was confused by his existence here, and even further confused by his lack of any connection to her, just maybe he wasn’t quite as powerless in this conversation as he first thought.
Not equal, obviously. It would be ridiculous of him to think himself on the same level as a Goddess.
’At least this situation is no longer a clueless intruder, but clueless intruder and clueless homeowner as well.’
Meanwhile, the woman’s gaze fell back onto his status.
After a short pause, she spoke:
"That reminds me. I have not told you of my name."
"I think this is the first time I’m having to introduce myself to a human, rather than the opposite..." She muttered.
Rohan straightened on instinct. ’I didn’t even realise gods have names. Don’t tell me I’ve been rude this whole time by not addressing her by name...’
She placed one hand lightly against her chest, in a gesture so elegant and natural that it almost seemed ritualistic to Rohan.
"I am Hestia."
Contrary to any other words he’d heard filtering out of her mouth, this time the simple utterance of her name landed strangely to his ears. It was soft, even containing a trace of the divine — whatever that was.
"I- I’m Rohan." He responded in kind.
Rohan barely even finished uttering his own name when an entirely unexpected surprise flashed past his eyes.
[Title Acquired]
[Hestia’s Acknowledgement]
[Requirement fulfilled: Receive the acknowledgement of the Great System’s creator.]
[Effect: Hestia looks favourably on you (subject to change)]
’...’
Rohan stared at the words floating in the air before him, his thoughts moving far too slowly to keep up with everything that was happening.
Then, very slowly, he raised his gaze back to Hestia standing before him.
"...Was this you?"
Hestia’s calm expression started to crack, and she let out a light chuckle.
"Normally the Great System makes all its own decisions on granting titles, classes etc. But I still have my abilities as its creator," She reminded. "That’s the way I designed it. I can take it away any time I feel like." She clicked her fingers together.
Fwip!
Like that, Rohan’s status completely disappeared, and a quick test showed him that it wouldn’t come back no matter how much he willed it to.
Rohan remained calm on the outside, but internally, he was panicking. ’It’s gone! I can’t access it at all now. Is she the reason I can’t access my Origin Realm status as well...’
Click!
Then Hestia flicked her fingers again and it reappeared.
Rohan let out a deep breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding, and very quickly made sure his face didn’t show just how close he was to openly panicking.
’What the hell was that? She’s really not joking about this...’
One second it was there. The next, it was gone so completely that even the faint sense of connection he’d started to build with the thing, had vanished.
It wasn’t the same as whenever he willed his status to disappear or appear — this felt as if something inside of him had been ripped away without him being able to do a damn thing about it.
’That was so scary!’
But contrary to Rohan’s reaction, Hestia herself seemed to have experienced something similar.
After a few seconds, she spoke.
"That is not right."
Rohan blinked.
Hestia raised one hand and made another floating status appear, but in front her this time.
"This," she said. "It should not behave as if it belongs to you... and yet it clearly does not behave like it belongs to me either."
Rohan folded his arms.
"What does any of that mean?"
Hestia’s gaze flicked back to him.
"Tell me, Rohan. This isn’t your only status, is it."
Now, her expression was more serious than ever. Any lightheartedness had completely disappeared.
Rohan didn’t need to respond with words, his brows flew up and his eyes flew open in surprise, which told Hestia all she needed to hear.
"I understand all that’s happened now." Hestia continued.
"This Origin Realm you speak so highly of, is the original realm you came from. While the one we currently stand in is one entirely separate of it, ignorant of each other’s presence — until now."
Rohan struggled to understand what she was getting at. He already knew the Origin Realm was a different realm? Awakened all over the universe get teleported into it every time they wish to enter, and return after their time is up.
"Two different universes. You come from a completely different and separate universe than the one we currently reside in."
Rohan’s whole body went still.
If what Hestia had just revealed was true, then it changed the entire outlook of this scenario. It would explain everything about this place, his strange new status and his disconnect with the Origin Realm.
The worst part was, looking at her face, he could tell that she was deadly serious about this.
There wasn’t a trace of amusement left in her expression. This was the most serious he’d seen her since the moment he first stepped into the temple.
Meanwhile, Hestia took a slow breath, as though carefully deciding her next words and where to begin.
"We have always known that our universe was not the only one." She started speaking. "That much is not some great mystery among the Gods."
"You... what?"
Rohan barely knew how to handle the information that there were more gods beyond her, but Hestia completely brushed past that and continued speaking.
"Despite their infinite size, universes still have their boundaries." She spoke carefully, as if trying to choose the right words that someone much weaker than herself could understand. "Call them what you will. We have long known that our existence was not singular. There are other universes beyond our own. Whole worlds born under different laws, different creators, and different outcomes."
Her eyes lingered back to Rohan.
"Worlds like your Origin Realm."
Rohan felt like his mind was exploding from all the information he was receiving. ’Does this mean that the Gods, even Hestia herself, didn’t create the universe, but rather they were created by it? Can they even call themselves gods if that’s the case?’
Clearly, this universe and his own had different views for what fell under the definition of a god.
