It's About the Time

On the Sacred Mountain's peak, a shrine priestess sat on a cherry tree's branch while playing the beautiful melody of a jade flute.

The gentle breeze caressed her long black hair, and the early morning sun lit up the scene like a spotlight. The birds stopped singing only to listen to the melodious flute of the honorable one, and the wind made no noise as if nature was listening to the profound melodies.

Ely stared at the newly rising sun with a profound gaze. It was already three years since Gabriella's arrival into her household.

Within those years, Gabriella trained diligently, expanded her influence in the outside world, and fulfilled her duty as the most reliable disciple.

The house chores and almost everything that Ely used to do by herself was easily handled by Gabriella alone.

Ely was delighted with the promised reliable subordinate. Gabriella was so reliable and competent that sometimes she had nothing to do but let her subordinates do everything for her.

Yes, the subordinates used the plural, not the singular.

Gabriella recruited many organization members in the past three years, all of whom were the heroes' descendants who had fallen into demonic possession. The monster-looking creatures turned back to normal under the shrine priestess' purification holy power. They have worked under Gabriella since then and treated their 1st senior sister as the one who brought down the revelation of the sacred priestess.

Besides Gabriella, nine other heroes' descendants with the most remarkable capabilities were appointed as Ely's disciples. They called themselves as 'Ten Apostles'.

Ely tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear. She accidentally touched a seven-petal everlasting sakura flower on her head. That head accessory was a gift Sacred Sakura gave since it formed the tree spirit last year. A life-saving treasure, a flower that would never wither.

'It's about the time...' Ely muttered in her mind as she looked up at the autumn morning sky.

In the last three years, she recovered many of her memories. However, what she got in the last monthly ritual was a groundbreaking and eye-opener. She finally discovered the truth about her origin and her primary mission regarding her existence.

The one sealed beneath the Sacred Mountain was her Goddess Master, the divine being who sealed herself and the divine curse of world devourer to prevent the world from being destroyed.

[Ely (FV: ???) | 0th Rank]

[HP: 4,500/100 | MP: 4.5M/4,500 | SP: 45,001/4,500]

[Talent: 6 Stars | Legendary]

[STR: 10 (Limit) | DEX: 10 (Limit) | CON: 101 | PER: 100 | ARC: 10 (Limit) | VIT: 540K | LCK: 100 (Max)]

[Skill: Sacred Vision | Healing Sacrifice | Energy Manipulation | Purification...(read more)

[Passive: Eyes of Truth | Mortal Field | Flawless Perception | Blessed by Heaven and Worlds...(read more)

Ely opened her grimoire to check the new page feature, namely her status screen. She regained many memories but was also blessed with many other new blessings. Her Goddess Master was so generous to answer her monthly prayers. It was time for her to leave her safe haven to complete her primary mission.

[Requirements to unseal the Supreme Goddess of Mysterious Origin]

[Achieve 450K HP]

[Achieve 450M MP]

[Achieve 4.5M SP]

[Achieve 4.5M VIT]

[Achieve...(read more)

'Ugh, I'm dizzy looking at this red requirement list. There are already many conditions with excessive numbers, and there is still a read more button...' Ely held her forehead. She immediately closed her Lost Prayer as she couldn't bear to see all the conditions she needed to meet.

'I have no decent affinities in qi or mana usage... so this will be a tough journey. I can't get stronger, let alone use proper magic...' Ely heaved a subtle sigh.

It had been five years since she came to this world, and all she did was live in this Sacred Mountain.

She did wish to unseal the divine being beneath the Sacred Mountain, but she never thought the conditions were so demanding. She had never left this mountain, but currently, she had to fulfill all the requirements to unseal her Goddess Master at all costs.

'That's all for my Goddess Master's freedom! I can do it!' Ely had made up her mind, and she was ready to depart shortly after she announced her intention to her ten core disciples.

"..." Ely noticed several gazes from the open gate.

Her nine disciples were there, peeking in with a dazed expressions.

"What are you doing there? It's been almost a month since you came back. Come and have breakfast with me. There is something I want to announce to you." Ely jumped down from the sakura tree and then went to the kitchen.

"Milady, allow me to help you." Gabriella came out of her trance. She rushed after her master to help.

"No need. You can say hello to your junior sisters and brothers first." Ely raised her palm, then went into her humble abode.

Gabriella nodded in understanding, but she couldn't hide her excitement. She could only taste her master's God-tier delicacies once a month on the day her junior sisters and brothers returned.

"Uuh, it was a flute melody full of holy aura. I couldn't help but be in awe of the enchantment. It makes me jealous that you can always be by our master's side, Gabriella." A female disciple removed her dark night cloak and transformed it into a casual dress.

"You are getting more proficient in controlling the versatile slime outfit, Rafaela. Please have a seat, everyone." Gabriella invited her junior sisters and brothers to sit around a round table.

"It's all thanks to our master." Rafaela twirled a lock of her long blonde golden hair as she looked at the small lump of dark slime in her hand. She transformed it into an accessory and was done with it.

The so-called slime versatile outfit was actually the remnants of their past tragedies. The demonic slime remains after being purified by their master.

After some experimentation, their master crafted it into an artifact. It could be shaped at will by its acknowledged owner. Their master named it the Versatile Slime.

Depending on the owner's strength and proficiency, it could become a set of versatile outfits or be formed into a weapon as potent as the finest metal.

The other disciples also transformed their assassin-looking outfits into casual clothes suitable for a sacred monthly meeting in the name of having breakfast with their master.

They were busy with their own things like assignments, training, exercises, research, investigations, and many other things out there. However, they would immediately return here once a month, no matter the reason, as it was a sacred gathering.

"You all have achieved 5th Rank Early Stage or above. That's good. So, how was the outcome of your investigation?" Gabriella's expression became solemn as she asked like an authoritative senior.

"We have dived deep into the dark side and shadow of society. We ought to be suspicious of the demonic cults out there."

"What about the movements from the Demon Realm?"

"After the fall of the human's city of defense at the border, they didn't do anything else conspicuous."

"They're just like humans. There are good and evil demons. Apart from the never-ending war with the Human Realm, one thing has caught my attention."

"What's that?"

"The Diabolos and the Demacia. These hidden demonic organizations have some involvement with evil curses. In the past hundreds of years, they have performed many heinous activities in various places all over Terra World."

"Their sphere of influence spans the entire great continent? The three major realms and nineteen minor realms aren't free from their vicious hands, huh."

"What our master said is all true. We may need to take major action against them soon. Their movements in the Human Realm are getting more heinous as time goes by."

"Is that so? It's time for us to gradually eliminate them."

"It's all to stop the Heavenly Demon's revival."

"The third world destruction must not happen."

"Is our master going to step in?"

"Our master wants us to handle the small fries first. She has a noble agenda we can't comprehend yet."

"Affirmative."

"Anyway, what about the techniques and gifts our master last gave you?"

"That's incredibly great! I can rival the opponent's strength one or two ranks higher than me now."

"I can't wait for this month's pointers. We cannot disappoint our master's expectations."

"Yeah, I will never let our master down. Therefore, I keep pushing myself to the utmost limit."

...

The ten disciples exchanged information while waiting for Ely to return.

A few moments later, the mouth-watering aromas of cooking invade everyone's nostrils. The long-awaited godly delicacies were finally served before them.

After a bountiful warm breakfast, Ely grasped her hands on the table and looked at everyone with an aloof expression. She wished everyone could help her. Yet, she had to ensure to play her role well first. She was a weak mortal, but she had to pretend to be the almighty one before her disciples so they would look up to her as a good master.

"You don't have to come back here once a month anymore. The sky is changing... it's about the time to make our moves."

The first half of Ely's words made her disciples' complexion pale, but what followed next excited them. It was an announcement they had been waiting for.