Roland’s floating city stayed where it was for about half an hour, before it gradually rose back into the clouds.

  Feelings were always subjective.

  For example, the World Tree thought that she had a 60% chance to beat Roland even though he had a floating city. Roland, on the other hand, thought that he could 100% kill the World Tree with one tritium bomb.

  Andonara, evil gods, the Demon Gods, and other experts could quickly escape from the dreadful heat and radiations from the center of the explosion by moving fast.

  When in a perfect environment, a nuclear explosion couldn’t kill them.

  However, it wasn’t the case for the World Tree.

  The World Tree was too big!

  She was essentially an inferior version of a floating city.

  She was also a source of enormous magic power. She was even alive. However, her greatest shortcoming was her immobility.

  The floating city was much more awesome in comparison.

  Although it was very large, its speed wasn’t low at all.

  A high mobility meant a wider range of tactics. Both fight and flight were options.

  It didn’t have to stay in one place and endure attacks.

  More importantly…… 99.9% of the mass of the floating city could be abandoned, as long as the Magic Grid Core was retained.

  Even if the floating city was hit by a forbidden spell and all its rocks shattered, it would be fine.

  More mud and stone could always be added to the city.

  It was simple and straightforward like that.

  Returning to the clouds, Roland was about to fly the floating city to the capital of Fareins to fetch the craftsmen for the projects in the floating city.

  However, in the middle of the flight, an attraction force that was aimed at him came from on high.

  It carried the divinity that he was quite familiar with.

  Earlier, he would’ve been dragged to the paradise by the force easily, but his mental power and resistance were significantly improved by the floating city. Therefore, he sensed the pull and nothing happened.

  “You…… Drop your protection and come up here.”


  The familiar, cute voice echoed in Roland’s head.

  Roland heaved a sigh and temporarily unlinked himself from the floating city.

  Several seconds later, his soul appeared in the paradise of magic.

  Mystra, the Goddess of Magic, sat not far away in front of the floating city, a round table before her.

  There were two cups of pink wine on the table.

  The Goddess of Magic smiled at Roland and pointed at a chair near the table.

  Their meetings had already become routine. Roland sat down on the chair and asked, “Goddess of Magic, is there anything I can help you with?”


  “I prefer that you call me Mystra.” The Goddess of Magic chuckled and then asked, “How does it feel to provoke the gods?”


  Her tone was casual, but the sincere smile on her face suggested that she was quite happy to see that.

  Roland replied with a smile, “Exhilarating!”


  “Will Elyse and I be provoked by you someday?”


  Roland shook his head. “Of course not. We’re friends.”


  After hearing Roland’s answer, Mystra’s smile became brighter. She was clearly satisfied.

  She gently waved her hand, and the environment changed.

  It became the Astral Plane, where bizarre bugs slithered everywhere.

  However, Roland knew that it was just an illusion…… or a projection, because he didn’t feel the mental or magic power of those bugs.

  The larger a bug was in the Astral Plane, the more magic power it would carry.

  Roland looked at the Goddess of Magic curiously, wondering why she showed him an image of the Astral Plane.

  If he wanted to see that, he could totally enter Mystra’s Mansion or fly the floating city into the Astral Plane, which was pretty easy.

  Noticing Roland’s confusion, Mystra laid her finger on her bright, glowing lips and said, “Just wait and watch.”


  After a moment, something finally shifted in the Astral Plane apart from the flying bugs.

  A dark spot appeared at a distance in the Astral Plane at first. Then, countless streams of light, mixed with bright explosions, were striking around the black spot.

  Who was fighting there?

  Roland watched attentively.

  A moment later, the dark spot was closer and became clearer.

  It was an enormous floating city.

  Also, Roland was quite familiar with the floating city. It belonged to Mordenkainen.

  Roland subconsciously looked at Mystra, who was sipping her cup of wine gracefully.

  Roland turned his head and continued watching the battle. As the floating city grew bigger and bigger, Roland vividly saw that it was a group of gods and goddesses who were attacking the floating city.

  In particular, he saw Mystra, the Life Goddess, and the Nether God among them.

  He also saw a goddess whose body emanated golden light. He guessed that she was the Goddess of Light.

  Apart from the Four Lawful Goddesses, he saw the blue-haired goddess who wore a short skirt, the elven goddess who had long hair, the Storm Goddess who also wore a short skirt, and many others.

  Surrounded by all the gods and goddesses, the floating city was already collapsing.

  “Is this the footage from when you attacked Mordenkainen?” Roland asked Mystra.

  “Yes.”


  “Why did you attack him?” asked Roland.

  “Because of the inappropriate things he said.”


  Hmm? Roland was rather confused.

  “Mordenkainen was smart and talented. He might have even been able to compete with me for the divinity as the God of Magic.”


  Roland raised his eyebrows.

  “But that wasn’t why we dealt with him,” said Mystra helplessly. “He was just too cocky.”


  Roland was rather curious. “What do you mean by ‘cocky’?”


  “We didn’t care when he attacked the evil gods and annoyed the Demon Gods. We were even happy to see that,” said Mystra. “But he kept saying that he wanted to have intercourse with goddesses.”


  Roland: Huh!!!!!

  Only that number of exclamation marks could express Roland’s surprise.

  He had met Mordenkainen in the branch of time and spent a few days with him.

  Although Mordenkainen was already pretty old, he didn’t look like such a nasty person at all.

  “He used to be a decent man in the main plane.” Mystra heaved a sigh. “But for some reason, the Goddess of Fortune went to him for trouble, only to be beaten up by him. After that, he said that he wanted to have the goddess carry his child.”


  Roland slightly opened his mouth.

  Mystra covered her head and said with a helpless expression, “Although Fortune was indeed a bitch and even more unrestrained than the Goddess of Love was, she had her dignity. She managed to escape from Mordenkainen, but she was certainly not happy about the experience. The two of them had been fighting since then.”


  Roland extended his hand to stop her from continuing. “Wait, I’ve met Mordenkainen a few times. He doesn’t look like such a shameless man.”


  “You’ve met?” The Goddess of Magic considered for a moment and asked uncertainly, “The branch of time?”


  Roland nodded.

  Mystra appeared to be greatly enlightened. “No wonder you know how to build a floating city.”


  “It was because his only family, a girl whose name I’ve forgotten, was killed by the Goddess of Fortune in her first attack. She was his daughter, or maybe granddaughter.”


  Roland snorted. “Then Fortune deserves to be killed.”


  Mystra looked at Roland, deep in thought, and then nodded with a smile. She continued, “Mordenkainen might have thought the same. Since Fortune killed his only family member, she had to give him a new one. He kept causing trouble for Fortune. Although Fortune was no match for him, she was still a goddess and managed to escape every time.”


  “Then what?” Roland asked again, “If Fortune was a bitch, why did you all work with her to deal with Mordenkainen?”


  “We would rather stay away from them, but a human could only live a limited amount of time. After chasing Fortune for twenty years in the Astral Plane, Mordenkainen grew old and weary, and something went wrong with his mind.”


  Roland sighed.

  For human beings, their bodies were the bays of their souls.

  A weakness of the body was endurable for a short amount of time, but if it lingered, the soul and the mind would be affected.

  The Netherworld was the best place for the survival of souls, but it was still not as good as the soul’s original body.

  The liches modified their phylacteries as their bodies, which was a good solution, but problems would also occur as time went by.

  For example, they might become hysterical, brutal, and short-tempered.

  Mordenkainen was old in the first place, and he persisted for another several decades. It was only natural that something went wrong with his mind.

  “Before Mordenkainen died, he was already getting somewhat insane,” said Mystra helplessly. “He often delivered magic messages in the Astral Plane with the enormous magic power from the floating city, claiming that the Life Goddess would be his bedwarmer and the Storm Goddess should carry his third son. He also said that I……”


  Mystra paused.

  Roland had a rough idea about what Mordenkainen probably had said.

  Mystra smiled in embarrassment and then continued, “We didn’t want to bother him, but we were slightly agitated when he kept clamoring. The evil gods and Demon Gods in the Astral Plane laughed at us too. Eventually, we couldn’t hold back anymore. As it happened, the new Goddess of Light was only deified fifty years previous. She was young and proud, and Mordenkainen carelessly threw profanities at her.”


  Roland fully realized what happened.

  The young and proud Goddess of Light couldn’t withstand the insults and proposed to deal with Mordenkainen.

  “Using herself as bait, the new Goddess of Light set up a trap and lured Mordenkainen to this place.” Mystra pointed at the floating city in the footage. “Then, we killed Mordenkainen in an ambush.”


  After Mystra finished her sentence, the floating city fell apart in the footage. Even the Magic Grid Core was disintegrated by the goddesses too.

  Watching the floating city turn into rubble in the Astral Plane, and the goddesses leave, he sipped the wine in silence.

  The atmosphere was quiet. After a long time, Mystra asked, “Mordenkainen is sort of your teacher. Will you avenge him?”


  “No.” Roland shook his head.

  “Why not?” Mystra’s eyes glittered. “As far as I know, friends are very important to you.”


  “First of all, I trust you and the Life Goddess, so I believe at least 80% of what you say even if I’m not fully convinced. According to what you said, Mordenkainen was to blame for his doom.” Roland put his cup down and looked at Mystra’s beautiful pink eyes. “Secondly, you’re friends to me too.”


  Mystra smiled even more brightly. “Thank you for your trust. Of course, it would be even better if you were willing to teach me the spell on the floating city or the one that can kill gods.”


  Roland coughed. “Those two spells are too important. We aren’t that close yet.”


  “Nice try.” Mystra glanced at him angrily. “It should’ve been the Life Goddess who told you this, but she’s shyer than me so I’ll talk on her behalf.”


  Hmm?

  Roland found it hard to believe.

  According to his observations, Elyse, the Life Goddess, was graceful and solemn. Although her tone was gentle and warm, she looked like a serious and self-contained goddess. She was born for the job.

  In comparison, Roland had seen Mystra rolling her eyes or feeling shy a lot.

  Shouldn’t Mystra be the shyer one?

  It didn’t make sense.

  “You may find it hard to believe, but Elyse is more open than she seems,” Mystra swore.

  Roland wasn’t convinced.

  “It’s fine even if you don’t believe me.” Mystra snorted. “Has her button been very handy to you?”


  Huh…… Huh?

  It didn’t mean anything, did it?

  “Okay, enough of that.” Mystra clicked her tongue. “Elyse does know how to disguise herself in front of you. I’ve pulled you here mainly to explain to you about Mordenkainen in case you hate us. Another reason is that we found Mordenkainen’s journal after he died. It didn’t mention how to build a floating city, but it described how the city could be upgraded. Elyse and I both thought that you should take a look at it.” She waved her hand, and a journal appeared on the table.

  Roland picked up the journal and put it in his system Backpack. Then, he said, “Right, Mystra, I wonder if you can help me with something else.”


  “What is it? I’ll help you as long as you don’t cross the line.”


  “Last time, when your soul entered mine and left something, my soul significantly grew.” Roland looked at her earnestly. “Can we do it again?”


  If they did it again, Roland estimated that it would be easier for him to cast spells in reality.

  After all, his soul would be more powerful.

  “You…… That’s too outrageous a request.” Mystra’s face was slightly red. Probably because she drank too much wine.

  Roland subconsciously leaned back. “But didn’t you voluntarily enter my soul last time?”


  “That’s……” Mystra stuttered. She wanted to say something, but she didn’t know what to say.

  “If it’s too hard for you, I’ll go ask the Life Goddess.” Roland nodded.

  “No!” Mystra glared at him with wide eyes.

  Roland was quite shocked.

  “Then don’t move.” Mystra extended her hands and touched Roland’s head. “You’re lucky this time, little guy.”


  Then, she leaned her head toward him.

  Roland felt that he was surrounded by a warm ocean.

  The air was filled with a sweet fragrance.