I lowered my hand, which I was waving around in the air like a conductor, and read the rest of the system messages that I had received.
The first was a notification that I had completed one of my quests, as well as a recap of what it asked me to do. The next one was a notification that a new shrine had been completed. Then, there was the last message from Stephanie, saying that she did not expect that I would use that many resources.
I was slightly embarrassed by that, but it was at least made better by her saying that she found the shrine to be beautiful. However, that was the last message, and I was now free to explore the shrine to see how it lived up to my imagination.
Or at least I would if I was not tackled to the ground by a hundred-pound fire-tipped torpedo. Although, for what actually hit me it was still fairly light compared to what it normally would be on earth.
Trying to get up from the ground and get a look at who just tackled me, I was suddenly pulled up off my feet and into the air. I was then held there by someone hugging me from behind like i was some sort of over sized plushy.
Before I could do anything about this or try to get out I was then let go and fell a few inches to the ground.
Now that I was on my feet I spun around to see who attacked me only for a smiling Lou Xia to enter my vision. Then, for what ever strange reason, she started patting my head between my ears.
I was tempted for a small moment to bite that hand, but I held myself off and glared at her instead.
This did not make her stop. Instead she saw this and practically squealed, "Why are you so small and cute now?"
That actually hit a sore spot, and I immediately tried to bite her hand for it.
This did not go as planned and I was now somehow being held up with her hugging me from behind again like an oversized stuffed animal. Seriously, how did this happen twice!
I was now left looking at Kaya and the Sect Master, who were standing there watching this all happen.
When the thought that they were looking at me finally crossed my mind, I instantly tried to silently ask for some help, but the Sect Master only mouthed back one word, 'Revenge.'
Elder, no. Aunty Kaya, on the other hand, was far nicer and looked at Lou Xia before asking, "Can you please stop teasing our resident fox? She would like to be let go."
I did not know what Kaya meant by teasing, but it still seemed to work as Lou XIa let me go, and I was able to run deeper into the shrine before anyone could do anything to me again.
There was the sound of people conversing behind me as I ran past Elinaria's statue and touched one of the gate's pillars on the other side. This activated a hidden mechanism in the shrine, which caused some of the smaller floating rocks to shift and create a path leading up to the island that was full of life.
As the first of the floating rocks moved into place, I started running up them as they moved back to their previous positions as I finished using them.
I was having quite a lot of fun running up this path as it was forming and breaking apart around me.
A few minutes later, I made my way up to the island and walked around for a little while.
Everything on this island was perfectly placed and seemed to be in its peak condition, with what looked to be a few birds who showed up flying about. I then made my way up to Stephanie's statue and watched the small band of water flow around her.
I spent about a minute soaking in the atmosphere around me before moving to the edge of the island, leading to the red island off to the side.
When I got close to the edge, I watched as the floating rocks moved to create a path that led between both islands.
I chose to walk across this one as I had mostly calmed down by this point.
It took about one to two minutes to reach the other island. This one had a far different atmosphere compared to the last one, which was full of life.
On this island, red foliage and trees surrounded you, with the occasional glimpse of weapons off the side of the path. There was also this subtle pressure weighed down on everything around the island.
The light coming through the trees itself also seemed to be slightly less vibrant as I made my way to the center.
Coming out of the trees, I saw the statue of Haruka kneeling in the center and the wall with the scrolling list of names on the opposite side. What surprised me, however, was the unexpected visitor who I did not see enter the island.
This visitor was familiar to me from the few months that I spent staying in the town.
Walking up behind this person who was watching the list of names, I spoke up and said, "To what do I owe this visit, Mrs. Xia?"
Lou Xia's mother slowly turned around after hearing my question and looked at me before asking, while motioning to the statue next to me, "Is this the mother of Elinaria?"
Hearing that, I was slightly surprised but quickly answered, "No. That would be Stephanie, who is on the island next to this one. This statue depicts the Grand Kitsune goddess, Haruka. She is the goddess of blood, war, and honor and is also surprisingly friendly, if a little straightforward."
She was clearly intrigued by this, and we soon started discussing the greater intricacies of the relationships between the goddesses represented in this shrine.
As we were talking, I would occasionally be given messages from them when things got a little trickier to answer. This eventually led to us talking more in depth about Elinaria and the holy book for her religion.
It was also at this time that I was informed about the larger divine worship situation of the world.
Many different gods were present here, with each continent and race following different deities. What was more unique about this is that all of the deities on this planet are all part of the same pantheon, with the different groups belonging to different factions.
According to one of my messages from Haruka, this planet was also one of the main hubs for their pantheon before its destruction. This also meant that a lot of the other deities in the pantheon would be very grateful to me once they figured out that I was the cause of the planet's return.
I was also informed that Elinaria currently did not belong to any faction, but with how things were going, she was basically starting a faction of her own because of what I kept doing.
It was then that Stephanie clarified that a deity can also join multiple factions, which is why she was present on all three major continents. That was something else I was informed of through this conversation. I did not get any information about what was on these continents, but the knowledge that there were three of them was plenty at the moment.
Besides that, we both ended up with a better knowledge and clearer understanding of the worship surrounding Elinaria.
When that was over, we went to leave when I noticed that, at some point, we had become surrounded by multiple people from the Sect.
They all seemed to be listening to what we were talking about, and a few of them even looked intrigued by this.
For those who looked intrigued, I wanted to talk with them and explain a few things when Mrs. Xia grabbed my hand. She started leading me out of there while saying to everyone that they could come back tomorrow.
She then pushed off the ground with her foot, and we both went shooting into the air before falling safely to the ground next to Elder Kaya and the Sect Master.
They then started talking for a little while. Soon, the topic of a slave auction came up.
Once they started talking about that, I was unable to control my expression, and it was clear that they had seen it.
Elder Kaya then spoke to me, saying, "You're not the only one who does not like this. In fact, if the rumors are true, then both the elves to the north and the dwarves to the south have already outlawed the practice of slavery and have heavily regulated the use of slave seals."
Mrs. Xia then said as a follow-up, "I also don't like the act of slavery, which is why most of the ones we purchase from these auctions are treated like normal employees. To be honest, we would like to remove the slave seals on most of them, but it is also the best way to ensure loyalty and make sure that certain mistakes are preventable.
And before you say anything, that is what we thought happened with you initially when Lou brought you home."
She had a conflicted look on her face as she was saying that. I was even considering speaking out and asking her about what they were trying to do to me when we first met. It was then that I heard the second part of what she said, which was starting to make me feel outraged.
I mean, come on, who around here would have fox ears and a fox tail attached to them? It was then that I heard her mumble under her breath, "Those d**n ba*****ds from the Red Lotus Pavilion!"
There was enough venom and vitriol in her voice when she said this that I would not be shocked if someone at the golden core stage who heard it died from poisoning.
It also confused me as I had never heard of the place, so I asked with a tilt of my head and my tail forming into a question mark, "Red Lotus Pavilion? Whats that?"