When I woke up, I found myself lying on the bed with the sun rising over the horizon. From the feel of it, my head was not lying on my pillow but something else. Looking behind me, I found out what I was lying on.
For some reason, Raina had me lying on her lap as she meditated. When I looked up at her, she opened her eyes, looking down at me with an expression that made me feel like a mouse caught by a cat. Then, out of nowhere, something assaulted my ears, causing a bolt of electricity to shoot down my spine. Darting up from the bed at that moment and covering my ears with my hands, I looked back to see that it was Raina who touched them.
She then looked at her hands, closing and opening them a few times, causing another cold spike to rush down my spine. Not wanting my ears to get violated again, I ran into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Thankfully, she did not come into the bathroom for anything. What I did not know was that the moment I walked out of the bathroom, I was attacked again and needed to run out of the room to the dining hall.
When I ran into the dining hall, all the maids who were cleaning and setting the room looked over and stared at me for a second. I then heard someone walking down the hall behind the door and darted to the side of the room where I could hide. Darting behind a decoration, I made myself as small as possible, trying to reduce my presence as much as possible. Walking through the door, not long after I hid myself was Raina.
All the maids went back to their work, acting like nothing had happened. She looked around for a few seconds before choosing one of the maids to ask them if they had seen me. I recognized the maid as the one I had helped before. When asked the question she paused for a second and then said that she had not seen me at all that morning.
Raina did not seem to believe her as she closed her eyes for a second, and soon, a pulse of Qi swept the room. I could see it happen but could not react fast enough, and I felt the wave wash over me. At that moment, she opened her eyes and looked directly at where I was hiding and then walked up to me. When she was about to move my cover out of the way, I darted out and behind another decoration. It seemed that she saw me move but was unable to see where I went as she closed her eyes again.
I knew what was about to happen, so I jumped from my current position up to the decorations on the ceiling. At this moment, the pulse covered the room. The pulse only covered the floors, walls, ceilings, and everything connected to them, which I was not part of. By the time she opened her eyes again, I was hiding behind one of the decorations on the ceiling. She seemed confused for a moment before checking the place I was in previously. When she did not find me there, she closed her eyes and sent out another pulse, which I avoided using the same method again.
She then checked another spot on the ground, but she did not find me. The door to the garden opened, and everyone looked in that direction. Raina then walked in that direction, leaving the room. After she left, I stayed with my back to the roof for a few minutes until one of the maids said that she was gone and closed the door. I chose to spend another minute on the ceiling before coming down.
On the ground, one of the maids walked up and handed me a small wooden figurine of a fox tied to a string. Looking at the maid in confusion, she then started to explain that some of the maids had seen what happened around the shrine and had started to believe that the goddess was real. They even began to worship her, and this small figurine was seen as one of her symbols. Asking her why it was a fox, she answered that it was because the goddess was a Kitsune deity.
This was something that I started to feel a little guilty about not explaining the state the goddess was in. Now that I knew a little more after yesterday, I started to think about what authorities would benefit her most. The best authority I could think of for her was progression, which represents the constant march of time, the revolution of the universe, the development and evolution of culture and civilization, and the progression of oneself. The second authority would have to complement this, such as something like discovery and exploration, and finally I would have to include foxes somewhere in there as it was now already set.
With all this in mind, I began to explain to her that Elinaria was the goddess of Progression, Discovery, and Foxes. This also caused me to go into a small explanation of what each of those meant and how it could relate to people in their daily lives. I honestly felt that I was starting a cult, and Elinaria seemed to think so as I got a new notification in my vision.
{Congartulation on helping to establish the first religion surrounding the goddess Elinaria. As a reward, you have become eligible to test the church system.}
[Would you like to start the installation of the new sub-system]
(Note: This new system will be integrated into your existing system as a sub-system once basic testing is complete.)
This stunned me for a second, but I went on with the explanation while sending a message to the system to delay the installation until after breakfast. During my explanation, I noticed some of the other maids listening in and even one of them sitting in a corner, writing down everything I was saying. By the time I finished talking, all the maids finished their job, and I was left waiting for everyone else to arrive. I then got an Idea and asked one of the maids if they could grab the blueprint paper I left in the room.
Everyone in the room became curious about why I wanted the blueprint paper, but the only thing I could say was that I was planning to develop the mountain I was given. This made them even more curious, and before I could even blink, the paper from my room was already on the table in front of me. They set the paper on the open side of the table that had not been used for the meals up until this point, so I sat down there and started to finish the housing plan I was working on earlier.
The maids kept giving some good suggestions, and also, some that I would prefer were not included, but the plains still came out better than what I could have ever made. From here, I made a few more side buildings that would create an entire compound, which I then set up in the form of a modified courtyard house. I then designed a large workshop for crafting and creating new technology. The maids around me then started asking me why I did not design a shrine or garden where prayers could be given. I was about to respond to this when Mr. and Mrs. Xia walked in, followed by their children.
Taking this as a queue, all the maids moved back, and I moved to my usual seat at the table. We then had to wait for Raina to come back as the chefs came out, placing all of the food in front of everyone. My food was different, and the chef then explained that this was a traditional Kitsune celebratory meal that he had spent some time learning recently. From the smell, I was already wanting to devour the meal, but I still had to wait for Raina to show up.
During this time, I sent a prayer and then had to wait for Raina to show up again. When she did come back, she did not even spend any time waiting at the door and was instantly at her seat staring at the food in front of her as it owed her a life. The one thing I did not mention is that she was given the same meal as me.
Mr. Xia seemed to realize that he was note going to have a good time if he did not start the meal immediately. The moment he did start the meal, he was not even able to take the silverware out of his mouth before Raina and me were digging into our meal.
The only thing I could use to describe it was heavenly.