The past Hope and Shane walked out of the restaurant and headed toward the palace. Shane wasn't surprised by seeing this. He continued to follow the girl with a bored look on his face.
Honestly, he was bored of constantly traveling around the place. At the very least, he was mentally exhausted. It felt like he had been doing this repeatedly for several hundred years, and he didn't want to continue.
He frowned. Then he shook his head, thinking he had just imagined things. He took a deep breath and continued walking.
They soon reached the palace grounds. On the way, Hope had already removed her cloak and put it back in her inventory before entering the palace. She was in Echo mode now, acting all haughty and serious.
Shane scoffed after seeing her. He didn't like the Echo version at all.
The Hope in his mind instantly flared up after hearing that scoff. "What are you glaring at?! That's the best of my acting skills, you know?"
"Terrible."
"Not terrible!"
"Stop being childish already," Shane said. "And shut up."
As soon as they reached the palace, they were stopped by the guards standing in front of the throne room. They both looked all bulky and serious as he said, "You can't enter."
"I want to meet master," said the past Hope, or Echo.
The guard narrowed his eyes. "I have never seen you coming here. Just who's your master?"
Shane raised his brows. Hadn't Hope told her past self to become Max's disciple? Then why couldn't the guards tell that she was the man's beloved disciple?
Could it be that she hid this information? Or did she not follow it at all?
But it wasn't possible. He remembered that when he had entered the institute, Echo was popular as the top system and was Max's disciple. So how come things are different now?
In Shane's mind, Hope knew what the man was thinking about. So she said, not even bothering with an explanation, "Just wait and watch."
Echo's lips curled up. "Max, the system god. Are you satisfied?"
The two guards looked shocked as they stared at the girl. Just when they were wondering if they should confirm this, they heard footsteps echoing from the inside. The door was opened, revealing a familiar old man.
He glared at the guards and turned to smile at the girl. "Enter, my dear girl. How are you?"
Then he turned toward Shane and frowned. "Who is this?"
"Minister, this young man is why I wanted to meet master," She explained. "Can you let me enter?"
"Of course!" The old man was polite to the girl as he made his way.
When the two passed by him, the old man turned and glared at Shane. The latter found it intriguing. Why would the old man want to glare at him while treating Echo with utter respect and gentleness?
Could it be that he wanted her?
The mere thought of it made Shane want to laugh. He pursed his lips to suppress his emotions as he coughed with his hands covering his lips that tilted upward.
Hope could tell what Shane was thinking about. So she yelled at the man, "What the heck is the problem with you?! Can't you think with your brain?!"
"It's your fault for not explaining things beforehand!" Shane chuckled. "Don't tell me what I thought really did happen!"
Hope's face turned red in embarrassment. That was exactly what it was! The perverted old man was interested in her body, but she repeatedly refused. That was the reason she stopped seeing Max regularly. She would rather wait for the System God to come out of his palace than ever see the man's face again.
But what could she do? Max always kept this old man with him at all times.
Actually, the old man was sent here by her previously to keep an eye on Max while spying at the same time. The man hadn't seen Hope's real face because she had met him in the disguise of her hood. She even deepened her voice while speaking so that he couldn't figure out her identity.
She would see this old man every once in a while to get information and pretend that she was different from Echo.
Her efforts weren't in vain. The old man never figured out her real identity.
The two of them slowly reached the corridors as the old man spoke: "You know, dear, you're just wasting away your beauty. I'd rather keep you in my arms than make you do all the menial work."
Shane felt goosebumps all over his body. He yelled in his mind, "Dude, even if I hate this girl, it's rather displeasing to see this old man trying to flirt with her."
Hope was even more disgusted. He heard her curse a few sentences in his mind before she finally calmed down. He even ended up hearing something shattering.
Did she throw something to the ground and make a mess?
He scoffed and continued to walk. On the way, he silently walked over and stood between Echo and the old man, smiling widely at the man and saying, "Old man, I'm sure your body has stopped working effectively. And does it even harden anymore?" He lowers his head and points at a certain area down there. "I'm sure it doesn't. Then why are you still trying? Go back and meditate."
"You-!" The old man was so angry that he didn't have any words to say as he pointed his finger at the man's chest. "Curse you! Let's see who can save you at this point. I'm the authority here! If I say someone dies, they'll die for sure!"
"Minister," Echo finally spoke coldly, "this young man is my guest. If you continue to speak this way, you will offend the system's god. No matter what, the System God is the main authority, and I, his direct disciple, hold the second-greatest authority in the palace. You come after me. So you'd better think before speaking."
Then she turned to Shane and said, "No need to save me. I can do it myself."
Shane shrugged and backed away. "With pleasure. I'm not interested in this anymore anyway. Continue flirting."
The expressions on the faces of the two people weren't good, but they didn't speak anymore. The three of them finally reached the throne after walking for a while, and they opened the gate.
There were two main entrances to the throne. One was where Echo had been stopped, and another was after passing through a corridor maze.
Max was already seated on the throne with his hand on his forehead as if he were worried about something. His dress was even more dazzling than the previous System God.
That man at least pretended he was wise and cunning, but no one could tell after seeing his posture toward Max that this person was a System God. He looked more like a servant or an actor who didn't do a bad job of acting like a System God.
Heh, so this Max had been turned into a coward.
Echo bowed to the System God and said, "Master, I have something to say."
She turned and pointed to the person standing behind her. "He's Jake, and he wants to be my disciple. I want your permission."
Finally, Max raised his brows and narrowed his eyes at the man behind his disciple. He felt a strange yet familiar aura coming out of the man's body, but he couldn't tell when he had seen the man.
They had never met in the past. So why did he feel that the man was familiar? This emotion got even stronger when Jake bowed.
"Lord," Shane spoke, showing off his acting talent. "At your service."
At your service, my foot! Max screamed in his mind. He felt a shiver go down his spine after being stared at by this young man. His intuition told him that he shouldn't get any closer to this person, and if he could stay away from his dear disciple, it would be great!
So he shook his head and directly refused. "You can't take in a disciple in my presence. Only after I die can you do that."
Echo was silent for a moment. She didn't look surprised at all. She smiled and said, "Understood, master."
After saying that, she turned and walked out. Shane raised his head as the corners of his lips curled up.
Max, watching the young man intently, felt another shiver crawling down his spine. He took a deep breath and gripped the arms of his throne chair. It wasn't until the two people walked out of the room that he relaxed and rested against the throne.
The old man walked over and asked with a frown, "Is there something wrong, your majesty?"
Max rubbed his forehead as if trying to ease the hidden anxiety in his heart. "Keep an eye on Jake. I feel like there's something wrong with him."
The old man already didn't like that man. So he nodded directly and said, "Should we kill him?"
Max thought about it and shook his head. "Let's first get more information about him."
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