Pausing his reading, Alyx decided to rest his mind for a little bit and headed inside his room. He didn't necessarily need to have a calm mind or be relaxed before what he was about to do, but he felt it always helped keep him grounded. Furthermore, some alone time to gather his mind was always a good thing right before he was about to speak with his two patrons.

  Once Alyx was ready, it took a single thought to start the process. Although realistically, it wasn't even necessary for him to express that, as his two gods already knew what he wanted. It was one of those things that everyone always forgot, but when you had a god in your soul, there wasn't much you could hide from them. Of course, most gods didn't remind others that they had this capability. This was often done to allow their followers to have some sense of control and self. Even if it was only an illusion having them think they were the ones calling upon their gods.

  It also helped that having exactly zero privacy wasn't always a bad thing. Alyx knew it wasn't something that had happened often, but on occasions, gods did use their almost all-knowing capabilities to help their followers in a bind. Furthermore, being able to hear whatever your follower was hearing or saying essentially was a boon, even if most gods ignored it. After all, there were certain rules that the gods followed so as not to escalate matters.

  These rules were self-imposed and prevented gods from simply stepping in and sending celestials to help their followers whenever needed. After all, if they did this, not only would it hinder their followers’ growth, but it would allow for other gods to intervene as well, something that could easily get out of hand. Granted, interventions did happen, but they were incredibly rare and often due to exceptional circumstances. Heck, even Alyx himself wasn’t sure if his two gods would help him.

  Finally, the other important rule gods had, and something Alyx had learned early on, was the fact that they stuck to their own matters as often as they could. This one was particularly important, as the gods had access to incredible amounts of knowledge constantly being fed to them by their followers. As such, if they wanted to intervene in most matters, they could do so to a terrifying degree. So, because of this, the gods often kept their actions and those of their followers to matters involving the very concepts they embodied. Naturally, there were exceptions and deviations from this rule depending on the circumstances, but the rule was generally upheld.

  It was also due to this rule that Alyx would get no warning about possible cultists coming to take the twins, or even of a mad scholar wanting to kidnap Tesilim. After all, he served the Goddess of Knowledge, who even among gods had incredible amounts of information at her disposal. Then, adding to this, his two gods had a considerable following, which could easily allow them to hear and know things halfway around the world. Honestly, just thinking about this fact scared Alyx, as if it weren’t for these rules, there would be nothing stopping other gods from doing the exact same thing to their group.

  A heartbeat after Alyx had requested an audience, the presence of his two gods began to strengthen within his soul. It was yet another tactic to let their followers adjust to their incoming presence instead of overwhelming them. This action also fed into the story that they manifested themselves in their souls when in reality they were always there. Of course, Alyx could understand why they didn't want to assault someone's senses. As for the other thing, well, Alyx assumed gods liked to make an entrance.

  “Alyx, dear, that is quite the interesting thing you are looking into,” A feminine voice echoed in his soul and mind, sounding as if two entities were talking at the same time.

  “My ladies, I am glad to know you find it intriguing,” Alyx responded respectfully, while doing the spiritual version of a bow.

  “It is certainly something new, at least some aspects of it. We are sure you know which ones.”

  “I can imagine, though I would be grateful if you could clarify.”

  “We are sure you would be,” The two goddesses answered with amusement.

  “Must you always tease me? Oh, what am I saying, of course you would,” Alyx answered with a sigh, hoping to get actual answers from the twins gods one of these days. And of course, the two gods only chuckled in response before they finally pushed the subject forward.

  “Now, Alyx dear, though it’s always fun to chat with you. We believe you are rather busy, so, as always, ask your questions, and we will answer or not,” The twin voices said as their tones lost some of their jubilance.

  Knowing it was time to get to what he had contacted them for, Alyx took an unnecessary deep breath before asking the questions he likely already knew the answers to.

  “Any advice on Tesilim’s and Drex’s soul situation? Or with the issue regarding his system? Is there something I am missing?”

  “We know you dislike it when we answer in this manner; however, your friend’s Chaos is not something we can speak much on. So, there is not much we can tell you aside from what we always tell you: Observe, Question, and Verify.”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Hearing the words of the two gods, Alyx couldn’t help but get annoyed. The two deities often told him such words, and at this point, he knew what they meant, at least more than what the words themselves indicated. The phrase was a way for the two gods to let him know that whatever he was asking for help with was something he could very much find answers to without their assistance. Either that, or they truly couldn’t or wouldn’t speak on the subject, as it was something he shouldn’t know and they couldn't speak on. However, even so, he had hoped that there would be some answer this time, at least considering the circumstances. So, it wasn’t surprising when he couldn’t hold himself back.

  “Seriously!? Why can't you say anything!? More importantly, if you can’t say anything, why does a mortal have access to energies even gods can’t speak on!?”

  After venting, Alyx realized what he had done. Thankfully, his patrons knew him well, and it wasn’t the first time he had vented his anger and annoyance at them, which meant there wasn’t the wrathful presence of an angry god manifesting in his soul. Instead, as always, Alyx felt the amusement of the two deities, thankful that they were genuinely aware of the wrath of an angry researcher or scholar whose questions went unanswered. After all, the twin gods had those very aspects embedded in them from the moment of their manifestation.

  “Child, though we will not speak much on it, we feel it is important you know, considering your proximity to the elf. The system itself is knowledge that you can find on your own, so it's best we say nothing. However, as for your other concern, well, it is not that we cannot speak on it, but simply that we do not have much we can say on the matter.”

  “I don’t understand? Does this mean you lack knowledge of Chaos Mana?”

  “Precisely, your friend's peculiarity is unknown to us. We have come to understand some of its workings from watching your friend, but it is clear the energy isn’t the same as the Chaos Mana found in the Astral. As you said, it is energy that no mortal should truly have access to.”

  “So, why does he have it?”

  “He has it because it is a way to test him for his future. Currently, he has no power or real control, and as you know, the energy is just as much a boon as it is a curse. So, his power is a test to see if he can survive to accomplish his real goal.”

  “His real goal? What do you mean?”

  “Hmmm, we might have said too much, yet we will tell you that you already know what his goal is. Now, carry on and make us proud,” The dual voice said, fading out as its last words slowly dispersed into the ether.

  Alyx stood within his soul realm, his mind reeling with thoughts as he processed all the information the two goddesses had given him. Not that they had said much at all; however, their lack of knowledge and what they had chosen not to comment on revealed more about the situation than they knew, even if the answers only raised more questions.

  Out of everything, two points stood out to Alyx more than anything. And in a way, these two topics covered the rest of what the two gods had spoken about. The first being their lack of knowledge about Tesilim, something Alyx could understand, as gods weren’t all-knowing. They often didn’t like to admit it, but it was a simple fact: gods didn’t have access to all the knowledge in the cosmos. Granted, in a way, a World Crystal could be viewed as their way to access this knowledge, but it was unlikely that the entities who created worlds divulged more than needed.

  As for the second topic, well, it was this mysterious goal of Tesilim that Alyx somehow already knew. It took Alyx quite a while to think about the possible goals he knew Tesilim had and the various reasons why those goals might be the right ones. In the end, it came down to a goal that was his friends most odd and shocking one.

  When Alyx thought of Tesilim, he thought about his chaos powers, but he also thought about his system. It was through this connection that he concluded that this mysterious goal had to be the one involving the Eldritch God. It was the only answer that made sense, since any other goal his friend had was temporary or would eventually lead him to accomplish his most challenging task.

  However, as Alyx thought more about the goal that Tesilim had in his system, specifically the wording of it, the more worried the gnome got. At first, Alyx had thought, even if ridiculous, that Tesilim’s goal was to help defeat their planet's Eldritch God. Then he recalled the words exactly as he remembered them. The goal didn’t say “Help kill the Eldritch God,” or anything that specific, but instead it said “Help kill an Eldritch God.”

  The word “an” was almost glossed over in comparison to the sentence, but on closer inspection, its impact was huge. It meant that his friend didn’t need to kill their specific Eldritch God, but an Eldritch God, as in any Eldritch God would do. The sheer thought of such a goal was mind-bending, and its implications as to where it would lead his friend made Alyx worry.

  Eventually, Alyx was able to calm down enough to leave his soul realm, and after some more tea and a snack, he felt composed enough to speak to his friend. Tapping the rune in his room, it only took a second for a blue draconic humanoid to appear. The image was partially see-through since it was an illusion, but it still held enough detail and solidity for Alyx to identify his draconic friend.

  “Alyx, buddy, how is it going!?” The transformed dragon said, his voice sounding rather average, something done by choice to be less intimidating.

  “Good! Hoping you can give me some insight. How about you? Your experiments going well?”

  “Oh yeah, actually just started one, inspired by you, actually,” Maxkalin said, causing Alyx to give him a confused and incredulous, “Me?”

  “Yeah, you know how you were trying to do the whole world thing to see if inhabitants would find magic and other such things?”

  “Oh, yes, that. So, are you trying to recreate the experiment? Maybe using your Soul Realm?”

  “Huh, oh no, I am not trying to recreate the experiment itself, at least not yet,” Max told him, which only confused the gnome even more.

  “Wait, so what is the experiment then?”

  “Well, I want to see if I can create my own World Crystal.”

  It took a second for Alyx to register the dragon’s words, and as he processed the insanity of the statement, the gnome's eyes grew wider, his mouth slowly dropping open, until finally, he erupted.

  “Wwwhaaatttt!?!?”