Chapter 432: Heart of Greed

Won what?

When? How?

Seth blinked, his mind going blank, unable to muster up a reason for how he might have won the trial.

’Wait, don’t tell me...’ he muttered in confusion. Could it be because he had made a purchase?

He shook his head; no, that didn’t make sense. This was a greed trial, and there was no way just making a simple purchase was the key to winning this thing.

He must have met some requirement even he didn’t know about, and he couldn’t think of one thing he had done that was worthy of the greed mantle choosing him.

His mind drifted back to the moment when all his competitors killed themselves. "Heh, if those guys knew I later won this, I bet they’d be rolling in their graves," he chuckled.

He could imagine the indignation they’d be feeling in the afterlife; they gave their all to prove their greed, yet a random human swooped in and won it all.

"Sigh, life has to be tough for non-human earthlings..." he muttered as the system screen flickered, new text popping up.

[Your appetite is boundless... worthy of the mantle...]

Suddenly, a brilliant glow of green bled out of the pillar, forcing Seth to squint against the excessive brightness.

By this stage, Seth had lost at least 70% effectiveness in his intelligence stat and it was still counting; fortunately, the regression no longer felt so alien...

He had gotten used to it after treading that dreadful flight of bronze stairs. But that didn’t dull the urgency in his heart.

The light before him converged and consolidated into a spectral, divine figure, a faceless humanoid towering over Seth and exuding a daunting presence.

He stared up at the entity, his shoulders staying loose beneath its towering shadow, and strangely, a hint of intimacy tugged at him, almost as though this thing was related to him in some way he couldn’t understand.

"Well, that’s because you’re my new master..."

Out of nowhere, a soothing voice echoed through the hall, startling Seth; he stared suspiciously at the entity, a slight frown on his face.

"Hmm? Lemme guess, you’re the greedy mantle," he questioned, his gaze narrowing as he scanned the entity from head to... well, whatever that amorphous mass it had for legs was called.

"Not exactly, I am the greed mantle’s divine item spirit." The entity’s voice echoed again in response, its tone calm and its poise surprisingly respectful.

Seth’s eyes went wide at the word divine. "Wait, don’t tell me the greed mantle is actually a divine item!" he exclaimed.

The entity glowed, and somehow Seth could tell it was smiling, its head moving. "Yes, master."

It hit him all at once — no wonder those ancient race guys seemed so desperate; the power a divine weapon could provide was simply boundless.

Heck, most of his feats to this day could be attributed to the divine items in his possession; if not for them, he wouldn’t have been able to crush the flame dragons’ army so easily.

With only a divine bow, he had forced an entire race, more powerful than the entire human race at the time combined, to despair.

Their armies were practically useless in his presence...

Back then he hadn’t even known that these items had divine spirits dwelling within them, though he later learnt the hard way.

If not for the divine spirit of the bow rebelling against him and actively resisting his commands, he might not have suffered the fate of the cancer plaguing his essence stems.

And precisely because of this, Seth had grown a natural distaste for divine spirits.

And the one right before him could sense the sudden switch in mood.

Its faceless head tilted, "Oh my, is the master actually judging me because of the sins of another?"

Seth frowned, "Are you reading my mind?"

The entity nodded, "We are bound; I am tethered to your soul, so your mind is an open gate to me."

Seth’s frown deepened. "I don’t seem to remember claiming any treasure, how come—" His voice suddenly halted as he felt something and raised his right hand to check.

And indeed, sitting upon his index finger was a plain, dull emerald ring that had never been there before.

The divine spirit explained, "Well, winning the trial automatically means claiming the rewards."

Seth’s lips twitched, his brow pulling into a scowl.

Observing its new master’s silence, the divine spirit spoke again in hopes of soothing Seth’s worries. "Master, you don’t need to fear my rebellion; I am bound to you, and anything that happens to me happens to you..."

The spirit’s voice trailed off for a moment before adding, "And besides, it was wrong of you to wield a divine item without binding it to yourself — that is a very reckless move, master."

Seth’s brow furrowed again. "I have to bind divine weapons before using them?"

"Indeed," the divine spirit nodded.

Seth frowned, his mind drifting into contemplation. ’This... the oracle never said anything about this...’

"Normally, master, a life form of your grade and rank shouldn’t even be able to hold a divine weapon without being bound to it... I’m honestly not sure how you managed to wield one without binding," the divine spirit explained.

Seth squinted as he stared back at the divine spirit’s spectral form in silence, not contemplating its explanation but intrigued by something else.

This spirit knew of grades and ranks, which hinted that it knew many facts about the broader cosmos.

As if a divine weapon appearing on a newly awakened tier 1 world wasn’t strange enough, its divine spirit was here carrying knowledge related to the broader cosmos.

The elusive entity stared back at Seth; even though it had no eyes, Seth could feel it, the same way he could feel that if he tried asking what he wanted to ask, he wouldn’t get a satisfying response.

But he tried anyway, "Your knowledge and existence... where does it come from?"

The entity’s frame flickered, and Seth could have sworn he heard it chuckle, but it responded. "I can’t answer that, master."

Seth rolled his eyes at this response, "Sigh... I shouldn’t even have bothered."

"Okay then, hopefully you can answer this instead... Why did you choose me? That is, assuming you’re the one selecting the winning candidate. Is it because I am the only one left?" Seth asked seriously.

And the divine spirit responded promptly, "No, master. I didn’t choose you; the sin of greed chose you, and that’s simply because your heart seethes with the purest will of greed there is."

Seth’s lips twitched. "Is that a compliment or an insult?"

"..."