The world of Aelmyra had only one empire - The Soran Empire.
But it was not ruled solely by the emperor, Morvath Augustus Xerses Soran.
For normal citizens, it did seem like it was ruled by the emperor only, but actually, the power was divided into two hands.
The Emperor and the Church.
The first reason behind this power division was that the church had a force equaling the empire.
The power of the Empire contained only the Emperor and his forces, as archdukes and archduchesses were always neutral and never supported any party.
The second reason was.
Where the Empire didn't have full control of the citizens, the church almost had that.
Almost.
The emperor himself never said or did anything, which indicated that he was unsatisfied with not having the whole power to himself.
And the reason behind his not doing anything was not only these two factors.
Such as citizens, and the power—there was another one.
Goddess - Mira, The Loving Mother
The church served the goddess and spread her teaching and preached her words.
That everything in existence was due to the goddess's grace, and also, the reason behind the people gaining powers was her blessing.
That's why the church held the Awakening Ceremony, saying the better you perform and show your devotion to the goddess, the better blessing you get.
But why did people believe the church?
It was because.
The preaching and teaching have been spreading since ancient times, integrating into people's lives, becoming a law in the empire, and making the goddess the sole official religion of the empire, which almost every citizen followed.
It was not only because of the preaching and teaching but also because of the scriptures, inscriptions, ruins, and many artifacts that the church had control over.
They helped in proving to the citizens that the goddess exists. Her presence in ancient times was there.
Dimension cracks also sometimes had places, ruins, and artifacts that further proved the existence of the goddess.
But exceptions are always there, and here was the same.
As not all believed in the church, that's why the church still didn't hold full control of all the citizens.
But these people were in the minority, reaching the point of being negligible compared to the population, who believed in the church.
And among these people was Seraphine Stormfang.
She only denied about the goddess's blessing and believed the power was not the blessing the goddess gave them but what they were born with.
But did it mean that she didn't believe in the presence of the goddess?
No, even if the presence of the goddess had diminished to null compared to ancient times, the entities at her power level never thought that the goddess was not there.
This was the main reason that the emperor never showed his dissatisfaction with not having all the power alone.
So, there was no power struggle between the church and the empire.
...
'Can't she sense my fourth element?' Eden thought, his face not showing any traces of his confusion.
He didn't know the reason behind her inability to sense his fourth element.
So, not wanting to get into a troublesome situation, he threw this thought in the back of his mind.
But Seraphine didn't pay attention to his inner turmoil, as her eyes moved from him to his sister, then back to him.
She still couldn't believe her eyes that she was seeing two prodigies of the same generation in the same family.
This was the first time this happened.
And then came a new surprise: he has three elements, the same as hers.
After this surprise, she just looked at the duo of sister and brother.
Before, again looking at Eden, as her eyes flashed once more.
...
What is a potential?
When a living being advances to a higher PHASE, the soul of that living being expands. Expands in terms of an increase in its power.
So potential is just how much the living being's soul can expand or how much its power can increase.
And entities with higher life levels can sense the souls of lower-life-level beings.
When any living being reaches a PHASE [1]. It goes through the required quantitative change to see the souls of the lower-life-level beings.
Does it mean a PHASE [1] being can know if a living being has the potential to reach PHASE [0], DEMIGOD?
No, it cannot, as when checking potential, it is measuring if the soul of the living being can reach the level of its own soul.
And that was what Seraphine was doing. She was checking if Eden had the potential to reach her level.
...
And in just a second, Seraphine's eyes once again returned to normal as she looked at Eden.
"Well, you are talented too." She said, her voice neutral.
She was not surprised at this outcome. Because all things just pointed to the fact that he was going to have great potential.
'What the hell does that mean?' Eden thought, looking at her.
"It means you can reach the level of DEMIGOD."
"Oh," Eden muttered, as a smile bloomed on his face.
He looked at his sister to see if there was any change in her stoic expression.
But what he got was the expression that just said, 'I already knew.'
Seeing her expression, his happiness increased to another level with a warmth in his chest.
'Hahaha, DEMIGOD, I am going to—'
But before he could complete his inner monologue, Seraphine spoke again, cutting through his thoughts.
"Don't be that happy, kid. Many people have the potential to reach that level, but becoming one is the hardest part."
"Oh. Ok." Eden muttered, reeling in his happiness. But suddenly a thought crossed his mind.
'Wait, she can read my thoughts.' Eden thought, his heart beating a bit faster.
"No, it's written all over your face."
Listening to her words, Ethan once more hardened his expression and steadied his emotions.
Seeing him trying to steady himself, Seraphine just smiled before once more speaking.
"So you want to hide that you are a prodigy."
Hearing her, Eden once more steadied himself, his heart beating slightly, as he parted his lips to speak.
"Ye-"
But before he could even start to speak, Seraphine spoke up, cutting in.
.
.
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