Chapter 1: The Moment of Sealing in Gold

  Eternal Radiance for 832 years

  A small church.

  "Perse... how many years have we been here?" A middle-aged man sat in a chair, watching the little kid play in front of him, and suddenly asked after a while.

  The child named Pusu turned his head to look at the middle-aged man, stretched out his fingers, counted five times with one finger after another, and then said: "Five years have passed since we arrived here until now. We've been stuck here for five years."

  "It's been five years... " The middle-aged man stared at Perseus absent-mindedly, "Perseus, have you ever thought of going out?"

  "Going out?" Perseus looked at the middle-aged man and asked in confusion, "What door are you going out of?"

  When he heard a middle-aged man calling him, Perseus also stopped playing and ran to the middle-aged man, waiting for his words.

  The middle-aged man stared at Pexu for a while, pinched his fingers to calculate the date, and said: "I estimate that you will soon awaken the seal, and then you can learn magic. I think it's better to take you away than to keep you trapped here alone, so you won't be in trouble when the time comes."

  "Really?" Perseus asked curiously, "Many people come to pray every day. If I want to see the world, can't I just talk to them?"

  The middle-aged man couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Indeed, you're clever, but after all, you're still just a little kid." As he spoke, he reached out to ruffle Pechu's hair.

  Perseus struggled out of it discontentedly and said to the middle-aged man: "Uncle Olivela, you're doing this again. I'm not a kid anymore."

  Oliver laughed and said: "You're just a five-year-old kid, aren't you still a little kid?"

  As soon as he heard this sentence, Perseus's expression turned gloomy. He whispered to Olivira: "Uncle Olivira, you said... am I really a monster?"

  Perseus was exceptionally intelligent from a young age, and his intellect reached that of an adult from the moment he opened his eyes. Although many people revered him as a child prodigy, even more people regarded him as a monster. In the twisted vortex of genius and monstrosity, Perseus gradually lost his sense of self-judgment.

  Olivira continued stroking Perseus' little head and said: "How could that be, you're the most perfect masterpiece..."

  "Perfect?" Perseus raised his head and asked in puzzlement.

  "Yes, you were given the most perfect wisdom, granted the power to become a god, you are one of a kind, you are Perseus, not a monster, got it?" Olivira said, "As for whether you're a genius or a good-for-nothing, I have no idea. But today, everything will be revealed."

  "It's so hard to understand..." Perseus muttered, "Uncle Oliviera, why did you say we had to leave earlier? This little chapel isn't bad at all..."

  Olivira patted Pechu's head again and said, "It's not me who wants to leave, it's you who must leave. Staying here is a dead end, understand?" Pechu nodded and then shook his head, saying, "I think... this place is great, I don't want to go out!"

  "Stupid kid..." Oliverra couldn't help but chuckle at Naperu's stubbornness, shaking his head and saying, "You're still so young, you really don't understand anything."

  "They all say I'm so smart!" Peshu said discontentedly, "Grandpa Harin says I'm a genius!" Elder Harin was the bishop of the small church where Peshu and Olivira were staying, and also the person Peshu trusted most besides Olivira.

  Oliver burst out laughing and said, "Genius? Percy, genius also needs to grow up. Being clever can only help you have a good start, it can't help you for your whole life, not with just that little bit of cleverness!"

  "Hmm!" Peshu let out a disgruntled hum, then asked again: "Uncle Olivira, when you named me Peshu...Peshu? Ye Lian, did you also think I was different from other kids?" As he spoke, Peshu's expression turned gloomy once more.

  He was praised by adults for his intelligence since he was a child, but as "someone else's child", he always suffered from the cold eyes of children of the same age. Although the speaker is unintentional, the listener is intentional, and over time, Perseus has serious doubts about his own identity - some people say he is a genius, while others think he is a monster.

  Perseus had once heard a traveling bard tell stories, in which two terms were mentioned - Luminari Persephone and Tenebrous Yelanarul. Both are spirits under the goddess seat, and in the mouth of the bard, they are often deified as light gods and dark gods.

  Percy had always been afraid to ask where his own name came from, and he suspected it was connected to the two spirits.

  "Not that," Oliviera said, "I gave you this name, and it does have something to do with those two legendary beings. You are indeed different from the others. But not in the way you think. As I said before, whether it's Perse or Yelian, you're both one-of-a-kind, got it?"

  Just as Pei Xiu was about to continue speaking, a loud whooshing sound came from the sky, like a flock of wild geese flying by.

  Perseus looked up and pointed at the geese, asking: "Uncle Oliviera, what's that?"

  Oliviera looked in the direction he was pointing and replied immediately: "Ah, those are geese. Every year at this time, geese fly south for the winter..." As he said this, Oliviera suddenly stopped talking, discovering an incongruous presence among the flock of geese.

  The discordant existence in the flock of geese slowly descended and landed on a tree. It was already late autumn, and the leaves on the tree had fallen off, making the bird stand out even more. Of course, apart from the seasonal reason, there was another subjective factor that made this bird stand out - its enormous size, which seemed capable of carrying a person with ease, as if it could fly with someone on its back with just a little training.

  "What is a wild goose?" Perseus was full of curiosity about this world and couldn't help but ask whenever he heard a new term.

  Oliviera gazed intently at the huge bird, saying seemingly unintentionally, "It's just a bird, every year around this time it flies south for the winter because the north is too cold and the geese can't take it. But they come back the next year, when the weather warms up again in the spring, they return..."

  Later on, Oliveira didn't have any intention of answering Perseus's question anymore, he just stared straight at the huge bird.

  "Uncle Oliviera, what is that?" Perseus pointed at the huge bird and asked.

  Olivira came back to her senses and said to Perseus, "That bird, I'm afraid it's not an ordinary thing. You'd better keep a distance from it, lest it hurts you."

  "Huh? Why?" Perseus turned around completely and said to Olivia, "The bird is so mighty, why should it stay away from me? Why does it come to harm me when I don't want to harm it?"

  "Such a large bird is usually a bird of prey, I haven't seen this kind of bird before, but... "Olivira gazed at the big bird in front of her," But it's probably also a bird of prey. Birds of prey hurt people without needing a reason."

  Oliviera didn't tell the truth, this bird in front of him he knew, it was a huge... swallow.

  Like a giant peregrine, the swallow was armed with sharp talons like those of an eagle. There was only one such bird - the one raised by Libra in the "Stellar Alliance"! Knowing that the Stellar Alliance's intelligence network had already been set up here, Olivira smiled faintly and thought to herself: "The Stellar Alliance... is indeed a powerful force. Compared to the Church, this power is much easier to control."

  "Fierce bird......?" Perseus's eyes showed a hint of confusion, as if the term "fierce bird" was still somewhat unfamiliar to him.

  But Perseus was at the age where he asked "what" rather than "why", so he didn't ask any questions, just nodded and said, "I know, it's a bird of prey!"

  After finishing, Perseus ran to the door and shouted at the big bird: "Hey! Bird of prey! Are you coming down to play?" Completely ignoring Olivira's previous advice. Looking at Perseus like this, Olivira also had a bitter smile, this Perseus is really hard to manage.

  The big bird gazed at Perse with a sideways glance, then looked at Olivira holding a powerful magic in her hand, and flew away with a flap of its wings. Perse stared at the distant back of the big bird, seemingly talking to Olivira again, or perhaps muttering to herself: "Why did you have to leave? Isn't this roof warm enough?"

  "It's not a matter of whether the eaves are warm or not," Olivela replied. "You're still too young and haven't experienced such things. People don't move just because they feel comfortable or uncomfortable, warm or cold. That bird is the same way; it won't stay in a warm place for its whole life."

  Olivier sighed heavily. Yesterday, he had just divined that Perseus was destined to be homeless for the rest of his life, but he couldn't do anything about it. He actually hoped to keep Perseus by his side forever, but fate had other plans. A person's destiny is predetermined, how can one change it?

  "It's so hard to understand, why do I have to force myself to go somewhere I don't want to? Isn't it good enough to live comfortably at home?" Persephone asked with a furrowed brow.

  "It's not that I don't want to," Olivira said with a smile, "it's just good, not warm. Sometimes people have to force themselves to do things they don't want to do. For example..." Olivira glanced sideways at Perseus.

  Perseus was extremely intelligent and saw the gaze of Oliviera, immediately understanding, and quickly showed a bitter smile, saying: "Still need to pray..."

  "Everything else can be negotiated, but not this," Oliverra said. "You're already five years old, it's high time, every day diligently praying, one day you will unlock your own crest and start learning magic."

  "If I get a mark on my hand, can I go find birds then?" Perseus asked with expectation.

  From this moment on, Pei Xiu no longer wants to stay at home.

  "Yes." Oliviera nodded and said.

  Engraving is the source of magic. Each engraving gives its owner different abilities, and the way to obtain different engravings varies, also bringing many variables to the owner of the engraving.

  Olivira hopes that Perse gets the imprint "Justice", which is a universal imprint of the church, Justice is a treasure given by the goddess Shiva to humans, which can enhance the power of light attribute magic and reduce the consumption of light attribute magic. At the same time, when the owner of the imprint receives positive benefit magic, the Justice imprint will enhance the benefit effect; while when the owner of the imprint is affected by negative magic, the Justice imprint will reduce this influence. And the way to obtain the Justice imprint is to have enough faith in the goddess.

  To say the least, Justice is a very peculiar crest that has advantages that other crests do not have. Because the way to obtain the Justice crest is to have enough faith in the true goddess, the owner of the Justice crest is much more than the owner of the general crest.

  Percy didn't say a word and walked away. The residence was a small chapel made by Oliviera, with the main hall in the middle, Percy's bedroom on the left, and Oliviera's on the right. Usually when they met, it was Oliviera who came to Percy's room to chat, and today was no exception.

  Perseus finished speaking and hastily came to the center of the church. Perseus stood before God and began to pray.

  That's right! Oliviera teaches this Perse way of praying, standing up and praying to the goddess!

  "Goddess Olivia, I'm praying to you... um, what was today's prayer again?" Perseus' prayers were quite casual, with no rules or forms. He just said whatever came to mind. That's how Olivia had taught him: "Just pray to the goddess for whatever you want."

  Just like everyday conversation.

  "Ah! Thanks to the goddess for bringing back the bird again, hmm... so, in order for me to get out of here soon, I'll pray to the goddess once more..."

  "I want it engraved! I hope you can give it to me!" Perseus said with his mouth open. It wasn't a request, but a demand.

  Dazzling light flickered in front of the goddess statue, and a white bright mark gradually appeared on Perse's right hand back.

  Perseus was overjoyed, and after countless prayers, he had actually succeeded. He suddenly opened his eyes, and those eyes were suddenly filled with dazzling golden light. Olivira saw the light piercing into the room and hurriedly ran out to see such a scene - the imprint on Perseus' hand shone with dazzling light, and the level of the imprint continued to rise: multicolored, pale multicolored, pure white, shining white... all the way to gold!

  "Could it be... this child... is only five years old?!" Olivela couldn't suppress the shock in her heart, "An imprint at this age... what pure faith! And to think it's a high-ranking Gold Imprint!" Olivela approached Perseus and said: "You..."

  "Uncle Olivela, is that the imprint? Can I go out and play now?" Before Uncle Olivela could even ask a question, Perseus had already spoken up, more eager to go find the divine bird than the imprint.

  Oliviera held her breath and nodded, saying: "Indeed it is... however..."

  "But?" Perseus turned back, his scarlet-gold eyes shining like hot gold towards Olivira.

  Oliviera stared at the golden imprint on Pechu's hand, stunned. Pechu had no magical power and didn't understand magic, yet his hand had produced an absolutely pure imprint... it was almost approaching the highest level! As Oliviera, he even felt a feeling called "jealousy"!

  No, this Perseus has no faith in the goddess whatsoever, which means he's completely rid of his worship for her!

  The experiment... was successful!

  However, this imprint has directly surpassed many levels. Waking up one day to find that he had this level of imprint, but it had nothing to do with the experiment. Olivira clearly knew that his experiments on Percy were not in this aspect, and Percy's imprint was completely innate!

  Olivela got more excited, this kid is a treasure!

  "This mark of yours..." Oliverra said, "Never show it carelessly in front of outsiders!"

  "Hmm... but this seal is on its own, what should I do to hide it?" Perse asked, looking up.

  Oliviera calmed herself and said, "As long as you don't use magic, the crest is usually hidden. But from today on, I'll teach you magic. So before you learn powerful magic, don't use it in front of outsiders."

  "Can I go out now?" Perseus suddenly shifted his attention to the back of Olivira, excitedly pointing at the large bird behind Olivira.

  Although Oliveira didn't look back, with his powerful senses, he could still detect the large bird. He knew it was time to fulfill his promise.

  He deliberated for a moment before saying to Percy, "Go on, be careful..." Although he knew Percy would definitely not be careful, he still reminded him.

  But rather than warning Perseus, he was actually warning himself. For a while afterwards, he kept his hand clenched around a spell, his eyes fixed intently on Perseus, afraid that the big bird might accidentally crush his only hope.

  Of course, this is not a distrust of Big Bird, Oliveira believes that Big Bird is harmless, he just prefers double insurance.

  Having obtained permission, Perseus ran out in a flash and stopped under the tree. The big bird on the tree cast a sharp glance at him, but Perseus didn't mind. He shouted: "Hey, bird!"

  He didn't know what to shout to make the bird come down, he just used his childish language to express what he wanted to say, like his prayer: "No... hawk, come down!"

  It was unclear whether it was due to his sincerity or the bird truly understanding him, but the giant bird actually flapped its wings and slowly landed beside Perseus. Perseus looked at the bird with an excited face, cautiously approaching it. One step, two steps, three steps... Perseus got closer and closer until he was within arm's reach, then stretched out his hand.

  "Don't touch me." The bird suddenly glared at Perseus. Perseus was startled and took a few steps back, hesitating for a moment before saying, "Bird... are you talking?"

  "Although it's unbelievable, it's true." The bird didn't open its beak but nodded its head to convey the message to Perseus. Perseus looked at the giant bird in surprise and said, "You can talk without opening your mouth?"

  The giant bird nodded and said, "I don't use my throat to speak, and I complete communication with you entirely through my intentions. My throat structure is the same as that of ordinary birds, and can only make bird calls. However, unlike ordinary birds, I can use magic, so I can communicate with you."

  "Hey? Can't other birds talk either?"

  The giant bird nodded, but didn't speak. Perhaps it felt the question was too childish and beneath its dignity to respond with such a high-end means of communication. After getting the answer, Perseus fell into confusion. He said: "Why? Aren't you all birds?"

  The giant bird looked at the surrounding birds chirping with a disdainful gaze and said, "Because I am the divine bird."

  "What is a divine bird?" Perseus asked, "Is it a kind of bird?"

  "It can be understood this way, and it can also be said that my name is Shen Niao." Shen Niao said, "What's your name?"

  "I should call... Perseus? Yelan, yeah, that's the name." Perseus said.

  "Haha, Perseus, Yelian, haha, Olivira is really good at naming, has he started hitting the gods' heads yet? Next time he adopts a daughter, should she be called Shivasilvia?" The divine bird sneered.

  Xiwasiwiria is the name of the goddess, only people in the church call the goddess by her name, non-believers all refer to her as the goddess.

  "It's not good behavior to speak ill of others behind their backs, Shen Niao." Olivira's voice came from inside the house. "It's fine to play together, but don't lead the little kids astray, okay?"

  "Don't worry, esteemed...” The Divine Bird was about to say something, but was cut off by Olivira: “Some things are better left unsaid.”

  "Hmm..." The divine bird seemed to be a bit intimidated by Olivela, so it listened to his words. Olivela said again: "Divine bird, is your task not yet complete? Your master must be getting anxious."

  When Oliviera gave the order to expel the guests, the divine bird flapped its wings and said, "I'm leaving now."

  "Eh eh eh? The divine bird isn't going to stay and live here? This warm house is so comfortable inside." The child said hastily as he looked at the divine bird preparing to fly away.

  The divine bird replied: "I just came to complete the task, and when the task is completed, I will leave. Why would I not go outside because it's comfortable inside?"

  "It's strange, you say so too, Uncle Olivela also says so, why must one always force oneself to do things one doesn't want to do?"

  "Sometimes, I have to make such a choice," said the divine bird. "I should go now, my destination is the continent of Greenridge, which is very far from here, and I must set off early. Goodbye." After that, the divine bird flapped its wings and flew high into the sky, disappearing like the wind at the horizon.

  The divine bird said a string of words, and the child's head was still a bit dizzy.

  The child who came back to his senses raised his hand and shouted towards the horizon, "Goodbye!" But perhaps the divine bird couldn't hear it, its speed was too fast. In a brief moment of stunned silence, the divine bird had already vanished, reaching a place where sound could no longer reach. Olivira walked out of the church and said, "Child, it's time to go back. Today, we'll start with your first magic lesson."