This time she'd really pissed off the God of the Undead. The follower's mark grew hotter and hotter, as if it would burn through her skin.

  Luo Wei clenched her fist against the pain. Before she could figure out how to appease this petty deity, a low, magnetic voice echoed in her mind.

  [My child, your misunderstanding pains me. How could I be angry that you tricked away my follower? What father would be angry at his own child?]

  It was the God of the Undead's voice. She hadn't expected them to respond directly instead of sending down vague divine messages.

  Listening to their gentle tone, Luo Wei felt something was off.

  Really? They weren't angry?

  Then why did they jump out so quickly and specifically point out that she'd "tricked away" their follower?

  And that verb "tricked"—wasn't that wrong? Where did she trick anyone? Slander, pure slander!

  [My child, you misunderstand me again. You have your own follower now. As your father, I'm only happy for you. Why would I be angry?]

  Luo Wei: ...If you're not angry, why do you keep saying you're not angry?

  Also, the God of the Undead had told so many lies they'd forgotten their own story. The testimony didn't match up!

  She asked quietly, "Great God of the Undead, last time you said you were my mother, that you borrowed Queen Isis's body to give birth to me. Why are you calling yourself my father this time?"

  The voice in her mind went quiet for several seconds before responding. "That's not important. Father, mother—it's all the same. You just need to know you're my child."

  Luo Wei: "...Oh."

  She'd heard "boys and girls are the same," but never "father and mother are the same." That was new.

  Worried her internal complaints would anger the God of the Undead again, she quickly cleared her thoughts and organized some praise.

  "Great God of the Undead, your tolerance is as vast as the ocean, your mercy as nourishing as sweet dew. I shouldn't judge your broad heart and deep love with my narrow mind. Please forgive your faithful follower's small mistake."

  [Of course, my child. Of course I'll forgive you.]

  Thoroughly flattered, the God of the Undead felt pleased and decided not to hold her earlier offense against her.

  Not that holding a grudge would help—they couldn't punish her anyway. As long as she was willing to acknowledge herself as their follower, they were satisfied.

  The burning in her back eased. Luo Wei figured the God of the Undead had mostly calmed down and took the opportunity to ask, "Great God of the Undead, could you enlighten your ignorant follower?"

  [Yes. What do you want to know?]

  "The two children I adopted accidentally received the Goddess of Justice's recognition, but her godhead—the Blade of Judgment—split in half. Why did that happen?"

  [The Goddess of Justice isn't a Natural God. The Blade of Judgment fused her godhead and authority. The goddess has long since perished, and her authority fragmented with her.]

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  The Goddess of Justice wasn't a Natural God?

  Luo Wei thought carefully. That actually made sense.

  Gods were divided into Natural Gods and Social Gods. Deities condensed from natural phenomena were Natural Gods, while godheads born from social concepts were Social Gods.

  Natural Gods controlled natural forces. Social Gods controlled social forces.

  The God of the Undead said the Blade of Judgment fused godhead and authority—this was probably the difference between Social and Natural Gods. Natural Gods had separate godheads and authorities. The Life Authority and Heart of Life were examples.

  So Roman and Rosie didn't inherit the divine position because the split godhead was incomplete.

  But Luo Wei still didn't understand one thing. "Roman and Rosie aren't descendants of the Goddess of Justice, and they're not her followers either. Why would the goddess recognize them?"

  [What recognized them wasn't the Goddess of Justice, but Justice's authority itself. Authority that's lost divine control will choose new masters for itself. Those two children together happen to meet all its expectations for new masters.]

  Luo Wei understood. In other words, the Blade of Judgment was the physical manifestation of Justice's authority. Justice was the primary category, with secondary categories underneath like Order, Law, Judgment, Punishment, and so on.

  These secondary categories disagreed on choosing a master. Combined with already being on the verge of splitting, when they encountered Roman and Rosie, they divided into two teams. On the surface, it looked like choosing two masters.

  If Roman and Rosie's traits were distributed among ten different people, the Blade of Judgment might split itself into ten pieces, even a hundred, because the secondary categories probably had conflicting tertiary categories beneath them.

  "I understand now. Thank you for explaining."

  Luo Wei sincerely thanked the God of the Undead.

  [You're welcome, God of Death and Time.]

  Luo Wei froze. When she came to her senses, the voice in her mind had vanished. The God of the Undead had logged off right after that sentence, not giving her a chance to ask follow-up questions.

  They'd just called her "my child," but after she asked two questions, it became "God of Death and Time"?

  Could the God of the Undead actually read the room?

  Luo Wei leaned back in her chair, right hand rubbing her chin. She seemed to have underestimated her own power.

  Her deep gaze fell from the air onto the desk, sweeping past the vein map and focusing on the thirty-inch wooden box beside it.

  After a moment, she reached out and tore off the box's seal.

  Using flames to melt the wax in the cracks, Luo Wei opened the lid to find a box full of magic stones containing all five basic magical elements.

  Count Wesley had been too modest. He'd said these magic stones were few, but this huge box was enough for every teacher and student at Siria Magic Academy to have one embedded in their wand.

  Luo Wei put the maps and magic stones into her spatial ring and stood up to go downstairs.

  The yellow furball was missing from the cushion by the living room window. The dishonest little cat was out working for its living today too.

  There was a black shadow in the wicker basket under the eaves, though. The raven that had followed the griffin back yesterday was still sleeping in.

  Luo Wei watched it for a while, then turned and went back upstairs without waking it.

  She'd been thinking about having Roman and Rosie try—maybe they could open the magic arrays on the veins.

  But then she realized that even if she opened the vein arrays now, she might not be able to hold them.

  The Sun and Moon Gods had sent twelve angels down to the mortal realm. Besides the Moon God's archangel, eleven angels hadn't shown themselves yet. They were likely lurking around Gelu City too.

  Taking the magic stone veins was a means to an end. Drawing a teleportation array to the Misty Plains was her real goal.

  Now that she already had so many magic stones, opening the veins wasn't urgent. Better to try drawing a long-distance teleportation array first.

  Entering her second-floor bedroom, Luo Wei locked the doors and windows, channeling magic into the binding runes on all four walls. After ensuring no one could break in, she took out a stack of cotton handkerchiefs and sat at her vanity.

  She'd copied Professor Mike's magic array once last night without feeling any discomfort. Perhaps her mental strength could restore the academy's magic array now.

  Luo Wei took out the nine small squares of the academy's magic array, spreading them on the table. Following the patterns, she pieced them together one by one. The overall outline of the academy's magic array gradually became complete and clear.

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