Rise of the OtherGod Apostle: Not a Cult Leader, but a Serf?!

#053Reader Mode

#053

“What are you talking about…”

“I’ve seen it, you know. That necklace you’re desperately trying to keep hidden. It must be a holy relic given to you by the Saint.”

“..……”

“…I really just want to have a conversation with you.”

Sh*t!

He knows about the necklace too?

How many times has he rewinded time to figure this out?

But more than that…

Was that stupid-looking act of his actually a high-level psychological tactic to make people lower their guard?

I felt a sudden urge to slap myself.

You stupid bastard!

Absolute idiot!

Dumba*s!

For thinking even for a second that I had the upper hand in this situation!

All my gamer knowledge? Worthless. Totally worthless here!

…Even with my arms being held, I could still summon the Saint or Adna by calling out their names.

But then, I’d probably end up being gagged next time.

Against someone who can rewind time, every move I make just reveals more of my hand.

I need to stall for time and play dumb.

No telling how many reloads he’s done, but if he’s looking this worn out, he must be nearing his breaking point.

I just need to endure longer than him this round…

“…Fabio, there’s something I’m really curious about.”

Don’t answer him. No matter what he asks.

“Didn’t Casimir, the commander, or that guy named Elamin teach you anything? About these… obvious things?”

I kept my mouth shut and lowered my head.

Because if I met Athanas’s gaze, who knows what might slip out in a moment of panic.

“Do you even know what a reader is supposed to do?”

“..……”

“I couldn’t help but notice something strange. You’re wearing Casimir’s garter, yet you seem clueless about its significance…”

“What? Wait, when did you…”

“Staying ignorant like this is bound to lead to trouble. Didn’t they warn you? Even the most careful can stumble over what they don’t see coming.”

What’s the meaning behind the garter?

Seriously, when the f*ck did he even catch a peek at that?

And why on earth would he lift up my robe that high?!

Did he loot my body after killing me?

Is that when he found out about the necklace too?

“I can’t figure out what the Saint or Casimir want from you. If all they wanted was to keep you safe and out of sight, they wouldn’t have left you in the dark like this…”

“…….”

“Perhaps…they wanted to know more about you too.”

What kind of nonsense is that?

“Because it’s those tiny slip-ups that reveal the real you.”

“…….”

“Looks like asking you out on a date isn’t going to work. I’ll find another way to get through to you. Thank you for the advice.”

That advice wasn’t meant for you to use on me!

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

…I continued flipping through the pages. This book seemed worth a read, touching on real history and all.

I had zero plans to see who was in front of me.

Probably just another random person. Making eye contact, striking up a chat? That’d be a headache. There’s way too much I still don’t know, being only my second day at the capital church.

No need to yap away and accidentally let slip I’m a goblin.

Not long after settling in, the distinct sound of a chair scraping across the floor echoed through the room.

Looks like someone’s switching seats.

Diving back into my book, I was soon interrupted by the thud of several books being dropped onto the table.

Guess they just went to get more books.

Thankfully, the person across from me seemed just as disinterested in idle chatter as I was.

For a while, the only sounds were the gentle turning of pages.

They’re definitely not in the mood for small talk.

I couldn’t help but feel a sense of relief.

If people at the Cathedral aren’t big on gossip, maybe the news that there’s a ‘serf’ among them won’t spread like wildfire.

I’m really hoping I don’t have to whip out my serf ‘shield of ignorance’.

But in a matrilineal¹T/N: ‘Matrilineal’ means a system or society where family lineage, inheritance, and important social connections are primarily traced through the mother’s side of the family. It focuses on the mother’s family line rather than the father’s. In matrilineal societies, children often take their mother’s name, and family property or possessions are passed down from mother to daughter. setup, guys really don’t get much spotlight, huh?

Even if she’s not in line to inherit anything, a daughter’s birth and death are meticulously recorded in the family tree book. Sons, though? Once they’re ordained, it’s as if they fade into obscurity within the family records.

It’s like they don’t care if they live or die since they can’t be heirs.

Unless they achieve something truly extraordinary, their accomplishments after birth are pretty much ignored and unrecorded.

But that doesn’t mean being born a daughter seemed any better.

Seeing entries for first periods and the onset of menopause in the family book is just downright creepy.

It feels less like tracing lineage and more like a breeding certification with all those intimate details, if you ask me.

In the Dark Realm, noble families favor a matrilineal inheritance system. This means only women who can have daughters, or who already have them, can inherit titles and positions. The reasoning behind this is as simple:

Divine traits are passed down through the mother’s bloodline.

In other words, a child’s father being an Apostle doesn’t matter – it’s the mother’s divine traits that are inherited. If a female Apostle has a child, that child will possess her divine abilities. However, if a male Apostle has a child with a woman who isn’t an Apostle, the child won’t be born with those same powers.

This leads us to believe that when a god incarnates, they fundamentally alter the mitochondrial DNA, rather than the DNA in the cell’s nucleus.

Strictly speaking, it’s not exactly mitochondria, but a similar organelle within the cell. Think of it like the Dantian, that ethereal organ martial artists in Wulin possess as an energy center. It’s believed people in the Dark Realm are a human subspecies with unique cellular structures designed to process divine power.

This explains why, even if two Apostles of different gods have a child, the child will always inherit the traits of the mother’s god. So, there is no such thing as a ‘mixed-blood’ with abilities from multiple gods.

Proving the existence of divine-cell organelles was one of my proudest moments while playing the game. But how did I even get there?

It all started with another player’s question: “Can you make an artificial Apostle with powers from multiple gods?”

That got my brain working.

Yeah, you could use multiple relics from different gods to get different powers, so technically an “Artificial Apostle” isn’t needed.

But aren’t gamers basically a group of people who like to waste their time on pointless things?

Lots of us jumped on that question and started playing around to create an ‘Artificial Apostle’.

During the process, we learned a lot about divine power.

For instance, which part of the body is crucial for using divine power?

Prior to the experiments, it was assumed that the ‘heart’, ‘eyes’, and ‘bones’, which are ideal for making holy relics, would play the most important role.

However, the results surprised us. We found that, when properly preserved, ‘internal tissues’ or ‘skeletal muscle’ of equal weight could produce relics with the same level of divine power.

From there, I came up with a new idea: ‘Could the smallest unit of divine power be a cell organelle?’ The fact that a god’s traits are passed down through the mother made this seem quite possible.

Many of the so-called ‘Artificial Apostles’ that people had attempted to create in the past were made by fusing the bodies of two Apostles, resulting in a ‘chimera.’ These chimeras either endured excruciating pain before dying, or they survived with only one of the original Apostles’ traits.

I theorized that this was due to a sort of divine immune response. While others were focused on finding the organ transplantation method with the highest survival rate, I reasoned that the smallest unit of the body’s tissue capable of handling divine power is the ‘cell.’ Therefore, there was no need to transplant an entire ‘body.’

So, I settled on…

Divine-cancer cell transplantation.

Cancer cells have the unique ability to evade immunity, which meant that, even after transplantation, their traits would be less likely to be ‘eliminated.’

Of course, there are numerous steps involved in cultivating divine-cancer cells.

It all begins with the Plague God.

In Heretic Slayer, the Plague God is known for spreading pestilence, but there’s actually another Othergod who governs all diseases. To even see the ‘Cancer’ trait in your units, you must start with the Plague God, as the system only shows it when it’s related to the god’s ‘Domain’.

Fortunately, you don’t need to wait for a unit to develop cancer naturally; you can use divine powers to induce it. However, simply capturing Apostles and giving them cancer isn’t enough. If an ‘Artificial Apostle’ transplanted with multiple cancer cells dies early from cancer, wouldn’t that defeat the purpose?

That’s why you must first capture the healing goddess Ledeia and perform a ‘fusion’ with the Plague God.

Of course, since ‘disease’ and ‘healing’ are opposing domains, a direct fusion could easily drive the newly merged god insane.

This is where redefining ‘healing’ comes into play.

The essence of Ledeia’s ‘healing’ power is the replication of normal cells. By slightly twisting this definition to include the ‘replication of abnormal cells’ as part of Ledeia’s domain, they can be seen as the god of cancer. Once Ledeia’s essence is transformed in this way, they can be merged without causing madness.

After the fusion, you can then infinitely proliferate divine cancer cells, which can be used to extend the lifespans of ‘Artificial Apostles’ by transplanting multiple cancer cells into them.

By the time you’ve absorbed Ledeia, you’ve practically devoured the entire Dark Realm, so there’s not much point in creating an artificial Apostle unit.

It’s just for fun at that point.

When I managed to create an artificial Apostle, I unlocked an account-related trait, but it’s no use now since it’s bound to my main account.

Well, even if I know how to make ‘divine-cancer cells,’ it’s not like I’d have any use for it…

I closed the genealogy book and was about to open the next one when I realized it had been a while since I’d heard the sound of pages turning from the person in front of me.

Glancing up, I saw they’d dozed off, head resting on the table.

Reading does make one sleepy.

Looking at his outfit, I couldn’t pinpoint his exact affiliation, but he appeared to be a knight.

Should I wake him up? I debated, but decided against it, not wanting to risk irritating them.

It’s not like he asked me to.

Instead, I continued reading until the noon bells rang, signaling it was time to meet Elamin. I stood up, stretching stiff limbs as I headed out.

What will be served for lunch today?

It was my first lunch since joining the Order and I was already looking forward to it!

Before heading downstairs, I glanced back at the sleeping figure.

…Still out cold.

After a moment of hesitation, I decided to leave him be, figuring a nap was more important if they were that exhausted.

⋆⁺₊⋆ ☾⋆⁺₊⋆

Lunch was a delicious meal of roast pigeon, steamed trout, and thick sausage served with freshly baked white bread.

I remembered to thank Elamin, of course. “The library was so quiet and peaceful. I can see why you said I’d feel at ease there.”

“Is that so? I’m glad to hear that.”

“Yes. It was so nice that I couldn’t believe there were so few people there.”

“It’s probably because the main building has a hundred times more books, so most people go there.”

“A hundred times more? My goodness. Can there really be that many books? I thought the branch library had more than enough books for a lifetime!”

Elamin chuckled softly. “The Capital Church’s main building is known for having the largest library in the empire. We can visit it together sometime.”

“Well if you’re too busy, just showing me the way would be great…”

Elamin shook his head. “I wouldn’t recommend going alone. Since the main building is so popular, it attracts not only readers but also people with ulterior motives.”

“What do you mean?”

“The most common thing is… people trying to convert others to their beliefs.”

Convert?

Evangelizing within the Cathedral?

They’re practically doing what cults do…

“They’re usually followers of lesser gods who can’t enter the Religious Pantheon. It’s one of their only ways to spread the word about their gods.”

So, desperate lesser gods are behind this…

“But as an ordained reader, you can’t serve any other gods besides the Lord, right? Even if they try to convert you, you wouldn’t be able to join their worship anyway.”

Elamin frowned slightly and said, “You’re right, you can’t offer prayers, but donations are always possible.” He continued, “Readers are often targeted more frequently because they’re perceived to be wealthy. It’s quite bothersome.”

Right. Readers are usually from noble families.

But doesn’t Fabio look like a beggar just by looking at his face?

I don’t think he would be targeted even if he went.

“Anyway. These days, they don’t just grab people and start preaching about their god. Never worked in the past. They first give blessings and then say, ‘Now that you’ve received a blessing, it’s only polite to listen to our doctrine as a show of gratitude.’”

So…it’s like an aggressive sales scam tactic disguised as a blessing.

“There’s a rule that those who proselytize²T/N: ‘Proselytize’ is a fancier word of trying to convert someone to one’s religion. must back off as soon as they’re refused, so they’re just a nuisance rather than a big problem. But Fabio, you’re… different.” Elamin glanced around, lowered his voice and continued, “…I heard you shouldn’t receive blessings.”

I raised an eyebrow, confused.

It’s because divine mental interference doesn’t work on me. There’s no specific rule about not receiving blessings or anything like that.

But then I remembered the sixth Apostle mistakenly thought I had an ‘allergy to divine power.’

He must have shared that information with Casimir.

I simply nodded, deciding not to correct him for now. “That’s right. I guess I’d better not go there alone.”

T/N: ∑(; °Д°) Athanas how do you know MC is wearing a garter?! Author why didn’t you show us that reload?? Lol