When we arrived at the inn, Lenore and Servante were waiting for them.

  Not the kids though. They were sleeping.

  Including Borsche, who was a child despite already being an orc.

  Lenore looked at him in surprise.

  "Woah! Look at those muscles! I don't know if you're that strong man they mentioned, but you're certainly not weak!"

  Servante on the other hand, seemed less certain. He didn't doubt the man before him was strong, but both him and Lenore were merely B ranks.

  By no means weak, and even strong, but to compare themselves to the true powers of the world would be a terrible joke.

  So even if he recognized that the man's strength was greater than his by his own inability to sense the man's strength, it wouldn't be a great measurement.

  That battle between s-ranks was still clear in Servante's mind. They were all stronger than him.

  If this man alone was s-rank, he would be strong for sure, but enough to be regarded as a secure life vest?

  Of course not. Since Earl had brought back his s-rank fiancé and her s-rank maid, naturally their safety went up.

  Servante as part of the elven royal guard and involved in the matter of dealing with the cult worshipping a different tree god, he was aware that they had many supporters. S-ranks were rare, sure.

  But for a long lived race like the elves? There were still plenty.

  A good example would be the high elves. High elves have a lifespan of 10,000 years, with one being born every 1000 years. Because of this, there are eight of them currently still alive, each at the minimum s-rank.

  In numerical terms, bare minimum early 4th level, the strongest early 5th level.

  And that's high elves, who are rare in number. For elves, with somewhat low reproductive numbers? The number of S-ranks in such a heretical organization could number in the dozens, countless of baker dozens.

  An extra s-rank is not that reassuring.

  Seeing their concerns, Maria stepped in, explaining. "I know what you're worried about, but trust me, he's strong. I can't even measure his strength. Even my appraisal spell doesn't work on him."

  Oh right, appraisal!

  [???]

  [lvl: ???]

  [race-human]

  [skills: ???, ???, ???, ???]

  [description:run]

  Weird.

  Before I could react, a hand flashed out, grabbing the text boxes from before my eyes.

  The hand belonged to the old man, who was holding the now-manifest text boxes, clearly scrambling to get out of his hand, the text boxes shifting between human shape and text form, struggling to escape.

  Servante and Lenore looked on in shock, surprised by the appearance of such a being, coming out of seemingly nowhere.

  They were bewildered, and terrified realizing that this old man was far stronger than they realized.

  "How interesting." the old man muttered to himself, watching it carefully with unconcealed curiosity.

  "So this is the "system" the gods have been promoting. Curious, truly curious. it's like a hivemind, a singularity almost.

  Fragments of a greater consciousness, but each with their own individuality. And it's power should be on par with my own, were it not divided so." This surprised me, but it also made a lot of sense. Stolidus and the system at large, despite not appearing often, had abilities that overturned my whole understanding of monster biology.

  Them being as strong as the old man made more sense than Stolidus being a mere tool yet capable of giving me skills, generating items and altering my evolution path.

  I decided to step forward, requesting him to drop my partner. "Look, Stolidus isn't the nicest fellow but he is my partner bestowed upon me by lord Anubis, so could you drop him?" I asked politely and he shrugged, dropping him, before turning to Maria and her maid.

  "Do you mind if I take a look at your-"

  "-No"

  "-No." Both firmly refused, leaving him helpless, as he could only harumph.

  "Fine, suit yourself spoilsports."

  Stolidus brushed himself off, shooting the old man a vengeful look before looking at me with a cunning glint in his eye.

  [Hey Earl, would you like to know who the old man is? I can tell you for free.] Stolidus said teasingly and I quickly glanced at the old man in question.

  He acted nonchalant, and I almost believed it, but the sound of teeth grinding sounded throughout the whole room, letting me know that he's clearly upset.

  "Hey old man, do you hate me knowing your identity that much?" I asked, teasing the old man and he snorted before complaining.

  "I don't care if you know, but I hate the idea that this snot nosed brat here would spoil the secret, and ruin the suspense." He responded.

  [Snot nosed?! SNOT NOSED! I'll let you know that we, the system are thousands of years old!]

  "AND STILL YOU ARE A SNOT NOSED BRAT! 1.8 MILLION YEARS OLD YOU BRAT!" He shouted back, proving to be not much better than the child.

  I turned to Stolidus. "No thanks I'm good." Stolidus hummed in complaint, but dissipated into particles of light.

  If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Servante said nothing, yet I could tell his eyes were on us, countless thoughts running through his mind.

  But I had other things to focus on.

  "So old man, are you finally willing to reveal your true identity?" I asked, and even Maria perked up.

  After all, we've known him for a while, yet he has never revealed his identity, remaining surprisingly tight lipped.

  Hearing this, the old man perked up noticeably.

  "Well, since you insist, then I suppose I can tell you." the old man said smugly, before revealing himself.

  He exhaled, and then something changed.

  His eyes changed colors, one a cold silver, the other a blazing gold.

  Above his head floated a jade disk, and below his rising form was a 36 petaled lotus.

  "I am... PANGU!" As he said his name, Pangu flexed his muscles comically.

  Yet behind that comical form, true pressure existed. Even a small leakage of his presence was enough to force them to their knees.

  "So strong!" Lenore said with some effort, but some excitement as well.

  Most swordsman were like that, excited by the presence of strong seniors.

  Servante on the other hand, had a grim expression. He was wondering at this moment if they had let a wolf into the house.

  Or in eastern terms, it's easy to invite the gods, but not so easy to send them away.

  On the other hand, I was cursing the old man internally.

  I wasn't stupid after all. Looking nearby, the kids aren't affected at all. In other words, all of this is all an intention act on his part.

  He's showing off!

  The pressure let up after a moment, and the old man reverted back to his old silly self, but our reaction to him now was far different.

  "Did you say Pangu!?" Servante after a moment said in disbelief.

  "Do you know the name?" Maria asked, and I had similar thoughts as well.

  Pangu? What's that?

  "Pangu is the name of the creator of the world in eastern mythology. It's said that he used an axe to part chaos, and that after creating the world, he fell and died, his body becoming parts of the world like mountains and such. It's said that his eyes became the sun and moon." Servante said, recalling some obscure texts from the royal elven libraries.

  Hearing this, I could totally believe it. After all, the old man spent most of his days chopping wood with his axe. Hence why I associated him with the woodcutter in journey to the west.

  Because he was asian and I am not well informed when it came to eastern legends. Only general stuff with wide influence.

  Hearing this recounting, Pangu snorted in anger. "Those legends. Nothing but fool's dribble spread by that damn emperor. As you can see, I am well and alive!" He announced confidently, pounding his chest.

  Lenore, hearing that, had an odd expression on her face. "But why would an emperor choose to describe you in such a fashion. Even if they hated you, to credit you with creating the world seems more beneficial than negative."

  On the other hand, Servante had a thoughtful look on his face.

  "Figure anything out elf?" The old man asked Servante and Servante asked tentatively. "Could this have to do with faith perhaps...?"

  Pangu nodded in approval. "It seems you elves aren't so ignorant after all." Hearing this, the pair had a uncomfortable look on their face, but kept quiet.

  Pangu continued. "Yes, it has to do with faith. Most mortals don't know this but faith can alter the nature of a god, if enough people believe something. I'm guessing you read that in the elven archives?"

  Seeing Servante nod in agreement, he continued. "But you don't know to what extent. It's actually far greater than you can imagine.

  God's are not merely fueled by faith; they are molded by it, for better or for worse.

  Faith is a derivative of mental energy, and is not only easy to produce, but extremely powerful. Most pantheons are proof of this.

  Ra and Chaos would never have reached the 6th level without the faith they've gathered."

  He paused.

  "But, faith is dangerous, just as it's great. When faith is absorbed, so too is the expectations. Just as mental energy, and to an extent faith can bend reality, it can distort the one who uses it. It can change them in ways they will absolutely despise.

  The God Sethor is a good example. He used to be two individual gods from two pantheons, Set and Thor. However, their domains were similar, and their followers similar enough, and as the pantheons merged, so did the gods.

  Neither Set nor Thor could halt the change. Now they are one, for better or for worse."

  Hearing that, I couldn't help but gasp in surprise, and so did everyone else in the room.

  Even Borsche showed a look of horror. Leon and Willow did not. They didn't seem to understand the full implication but we did.

  It was clear that faith was terribly dangerous, even if it was beneficial. No one wants their own existence to be determined by others.

  "Because of this, the gods in China rely on incense bodies, clones condensed out of faith, to purify the faith into the purer mental energy to cultivate with.

  They do lose a lot, with half the energy lost in the process.

  And unlike pure gods of faith, the original no longer receives all the powers and benefits of the gods of faith, with the clone receiving all of that, and depending on the faith, there's even a chance the clone will break away and become its own individual being.

  But compared to the alteration of one's own personality, it's a safer bet.

  Which brings me to why I hate that myth." he said, giving them a meaningful look.

  "Can you guess why an emperor would purposefully choose to propagate such a myth?"

  A chill permeated the room as we quickly grasped the core concept.

  The emperor had such audacity to plot against such a god!

  Using faith to distort reality, he was clearly trying to kill Pangu!

  It sounds wonderful, attributing creation to someone, but if the result is that they die in the process, then it's all just sweet talk.

  It's like mourning someone after plunging the dagger in their heart!

  "Yes, the first emperor of Qing tried to kill me. You should know, that the current dynasty has a rather radical stance on any non-humans or non-human sympathizers.

  And they were afraid of me. Because I'm human. The four directional lords, Xuanwu, Baihu, Zhuque, and Qinglong are all 6th level beings, but are unwilling to attack the Qing dynasty because they fear the fortune of the human race.

  A while back, the emperor Dayu forged the 9 tripods of humanity, which stabilize humanities fortune in the east.

  Its most unique ability is fortune backlash. Any being nonhuman that tries to do anything drastic in human lands will find their fortune sapped and backlashed by the 9 tripods. Because of this, the four of them are unwilling to act currently.

  And Lubu? Lu Bu doesn't care about anyone so the qing emperor wasn't worried about him.

  But me? My sons are the three pure ones, important figures amongst the taoists. And I'm human, so the fortune backlash won't affect me.

  I'm also the only person related to taoism on earth who is at the 6th level, the only real threat in their eyes. (they're stupid btw)

  So naturally, when they began their purge of the immortals and non-humans, I was a concern.

  And that whole myth was an attempt to kill me or at least weaken my power. Unfortunately, they didn't realize that the effect is limited depending on the being's initial strength. As a 6th level being, they would have to make 2 continents believe that before it would actually work.

  Good luck on that." His anger quickly turned to gloating as Pangu laughed at the pointless efforts of the first qing emperor before turning back to annoyance.

  "I still left though. I'm still human after all and I knew that if I stayed, I might just end up storming the palace, which isn't a good thing for humanity in the end."

  I could agree with that. The old man could be tolerant at times, but also pretty ruthless once he moved.

  Petty. Petty is the most accurate word honestly. Not even the butler managed to escape his wrathful hands. His hair smelled like cheese curds for a week.

  "Although I would very much like to hear more, I have to ask you the most important question first." Servante interrupted, with a very reluctant look on his face. He wasn't the only one, as Borsche also looked a little down, though he didn't interrupt.

  Servante was a mage, and like many mages, had a hunger for knowledge. An old man who was walking history was extremely exciting, but he understood priorities.

  And Borsche was pursuing the path of a sage. Basically, those who pursued a path of pure magic pursued knowledge greatly.

  The old man seemed equally regretful as he spoke. "Yea? Fire away."

  "Are you willing to escort us to the boat to the elven kingdom?" He asked, his question tinged with hope and anxiety.

  I understood why, but I wasn't worried.

  "Of course, of course. You've already dragged a friend of mine onto the pirate ship already, so naturally I'll board." He agreed casually, inviting relief from the elves.

  Seeing them relieved, Pangu turned to me with a wide grin on his face.

  "Now that's done. So let's go to the inheritance sight!" He said, with a great deal of excitement.

  'Why?' I ask, genuinely curious. Why would the old man care?

  Hearing this, Pangu showed a sheepish look.

  "Well, it's a long story. But uh, I owe this old senior a favor. "

  Well, that sounds simple.

  "I never met her of course. She was dead for millions of years before me but I do owe her a favor and you have a connection to her.

  It's good for you too, so it's like I'm killing two birds with one stone."

  Well now it's complicated.