?The girl who had saved Howard after his encounter with Soma, familiar with their predicament and having asked for nothing in return, had told them they would meet again.

Howard hadn’t expected it to be under these circumstances.

Clearly, her presence here was linked to him or possibly related to Antalya’s adventure group.

The girl was seated with two others, an elderly man appearing to be in his fifties and a young man in his early twenties.

However, the young man was evidently not in league with the girl and the elder, as Howard could easily discern the man’s cautious, almost fearful vigilance towards them.

Indeed, caution is prudent when facing unknown individuals.

Noticing Howard’s gaze, the girl, who had been conversing with the elder, turned and warmly beckoned him over, then said something to the elder.

“We meet again.” She dragged a stool from the side to sit next to hers, patted it, and said, “The ambiance isn’t great, but it’s sufficiently discreet, attracting little attention here.”

Looking around at the silent patrons, Howard felt an urge to splash a mug of barley beer on the girl’s face.

But considering he might not be able to best her in a fight, and that such an action would be ungentlemanly, he restrained himself.

Observing Howard’s peculiar expression, the girl’s eyes twinkled, her lips curving into a smirk: “I know what you’re thinking, but we didn’t orchestrate this tavern scene. Look, the guy across the table, he’s the real mastermind, Red Eye’s boss, the Old Nobles that the folks from Breeze City have been hunting for so long. How’s that for a gift? Pretty substantial, right?”

Old Nobles!

This term had become another reflex for Howard, as it seemed that anyone associated with it didn’t end well.

The most recent example was Sorovo, who had been disemboweled by Red Eye, with few of his subordinates surviving, dying tragic deaths.

“How do I know if what you’re saying is true or not? I don’t even know your name,” Howard shifted his stool further away from the girl.

The girl blinked, though she appeared to be about Howard’s age, her manner of speaking placed herself a half-generation above him.

“Telling you now doesn’t make much difference. My name is Nula, a magus. This is my mentor; you can call him Master Dorek. The one across, as I’ve mentioned, is Red Eye’s boss, a descendant of the Old Nobles, Ankurei.”

“Mentor, if I’m not mistaken, you’re an extraterrestrial!”

“Extraterrestrial? What extraterrestrial! What’s an extraterrestrial?”

At this point in the conversation, Howard’s guard was fully up, temporarily setting aside Ankurei.

Compared to the entanglements between Red Eye, Antalya, and Ali, the “extraterrestrial” mentioned by Nula had a more significant impact on him.

Clearly, Nula must know some secrets, and it seemed they were also investigating.

“No need to guess, we came specifically for you, Howard.”

“You’re surprised, which is normal. Suddenly coming to a completely unfamiliar environment, it’s only natural to hide oneself under the instinct of self-preservation. There’s nothing wrong with that; it’s the instinct of any intelligent being.”

Nula continued: “We’ve known about your identity from the start. My mentor and I began investigating you a long time ago.”

“Investigating me?” Howard slammed his hands on the table, standing up abruptly, his eyes narrowing as he stared at Nula’s face.

“Was it you? Did you bring me here?”

Anger laced Howard’s tone.

“It has nothing to do with us that you came here!”

Nula, realizing the situation was escalating, quickly clarified, “What I meant by investigating you was investigating people like you.”

“Allow me to explain.”

Master Dorek took over from Nula, saying, “This world does have gods, that much you should be aware of.”

“Sort of,” Howard nodded.

To him, those gods were probably just very powerful magi or some supernatural beings.

Master Dorek continued, “First, let me clarify something. The gods I’m speaking of are not the powerless beings you might imagine.”

“I’ve researched your world’s culture, so I know what your stance on gods is.”

“The gods I refer to are the personification of certain rules of this world, high-order energy life forms capable of directly influencing the foundational rules of the world!”

“To put it most directly, they can change the rules of this world!”

“For instance, modifying the gravitational constant. That term I learned from your world.” 𝘪𝑎.𝒸𝘰

“Or altering the cycle of the sun’s movement!”

“Or changing a species’ lifespan, characteristics, dietary habits, and so on.”

“The mana of this world isn’t as mystical as you imagine. But the world itself is far more mysterious than you could possibly conceive!”

Changing the gravitational constant! This was something utterly impossible in Howard’s understanding.

Gravity is the primary force of celestial motion; altering the gravitational constant would mean the movement of the entire universe’s celestial bodies would become chaotic.

Even celestial bodies themselves could collapse due to the imbalance of forces, not merely a simple disappearance or weakening of gravity.

In mana spells, there are levitation spells that can change the gravity affecting an object, but that’s just utilizing mana for anti-gravity.

It still consumes mana, fundamentally no different from airplanes or spacecraft.

It’s just that chemical fuel and propulsion material have been replaced with mana.

But if the “gods” of this world could accomplish something to the extent of altering the gravitational constant, then calling them gods wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

“Alright, I admit, if your gods are as you describe, then they indeed deserve to be called ‘gods’,” Howard shrugged.

“No, you still haven’t grasped what I mean by ‘gods’, but it doesn’t matter anymore.”

“Besides, they’re not our gods. Gods are gods; they belong to no one, just like gravity, they simply exist there. By the way, I am an atheist,” Dorek said with a grin, like a child who had successfully pulled off a prank.

Howard’s expression turned sour.

“You feel troubled, right? Here I am, an atheist, earnestly explaining to you what ‘gods’ are.” Howard nodded.

He faintly grasped something, but the overall picture was still shrouded in obscurity, unclear.

“If our world had no ‘gods,’ then they wouldn’t exist,” Dorek said with a smile.

“Alright, let’s end the topic about gods here and continue discussing why you ended up here.”

“In simple terms, it was the ‘gods’ will. They took an interest in you and thus brought you here.”

“But I must clarify, not as an excuse but as a fact: even without the ‘gods’ intervention, it’s most likely you would have ended up in another world anyway. The probability of you staying in your original world is virtually zero.”

“That is to say, that crossing over, as you folks describe such actions, was a predetermined fact.”

“The ‘gods’ merely changed your destination.”

“The reasons they changed your destination are complex, and explaining them now won’t help you much. But I want you to understand one thing: if the ‘gods’ could change your destination once, they could do it a second time!”

“However, in exchange, you must complete some tasks. It’s quite simple, really, like a game where you have to complete a series of main quests. Since this trade is based on the principle of equivalence, they won’t make demands you absolutely can’t fulfill, nor will they make unreasonable demands like ‘you can’t go back, you can only stay here.'”

“The choice now lies with you, to nod? Or to shake your head?”

After a few seconds of silence, Howard’s mind flashed through the faces that were gradually fading, a smile appearing on his face.

“Do I have any other choice? I suppose I can only agree.”

“Very well.” Suddenly, Dorek stood up. The surroundings, in a daze, turned into a flat, grey expanse.

“More detailed quests will be presented later. For now, you must complete your novice village graduation task. This will be a comprehensive test of your identity. If you succeed, not only you but also those companions who follow you will receive varying degrees of rewards. However, if you fail, I regret to say, there are some things that outsiders cannot know.”

Howard looked around; aside from Nula, Dorek, Ankurei, and himself, everyone else had disappeared.

The tavern’s furnishings and chairs were gone, too; his feet still touched a wooden floor, but the surroundings were enveloped in an opaque, grey mist.

“What is the graduation task?”

He looked at Dorek’s face but found that Dorek’s visage was fading! Not just Dorek, but Nula’s face was also gradually disappearing!

“Rest assured, based on the principle of equivalence, we won’t assign any quests that are impossible to complete,” Dorek raised a hand, pointing at Ankurei, and a pale yellow halo fell upon Ankurei, “Your graduation task is to kill him!”

Updated from 𝑖𝘳.𝒸ℴ𝑚