Yes! He's the god of acting

At these words, a flash of surprise crossed Fred's eyes.

"Oh? You're interested in the Path to Divinity as well?"

"Somewhat, and I'm planning to become an Enforcer next, so..."

"An Enforcer." Fred nodded. "So you're planning to walk the 'Path of the War God'?"

"I suppose so... Enforcers can only walk the 'Path of the War God,' right?"

"Who told you that?" Fred chuckled softly. "Among Enforcers—no, I should say among Enforcer Officers—the vast majority do follow the 'Path of the War God' because it's the only divine path that the Aurora Domain has mastered. However, among the Enforcer Officers in Aurora City, there are also quite a few Divinely Favored from other divine paths who can become officers as well."

"I don't have any particular talents. Maybe I'll never have the chance to become Divinely Favored." William sighed. "Most likely, I'll have to wait until I've been an Enforcer for three years before I can try my luck at the 'War Path Ancient Repository'..."

"Brother, who says you don't have talent!" Henry immediately set down his chopsticks, speaking earnestly. "You're so capable, I'm sure lots of those... divine paths will be fighting over you!"

William smiled bitterly.

William was telling the truth. Since his previous life, he had been an unremarkable droplet in the ocean of mediocrity. As a child, his parents had indeed forced him to learn piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting, but he had never mastered any of them and had forgotten everything after growing up. His academic performance was average, his physical fitness poor—he was the type who might know a little about everything but, when it came down to it, was nothing special.

This life's William was no different.

With two lifetimes of mediocrity stacked together, William didn't believe he had the potential to be chosen by a divine path.

"Talent is indeed unpredictable," Fred said carefully. "Some people might possess certain talents that have never manifested, and perhaps when the right moment comes, they'll be revealed..."

"If it's the Path of the War God, how can someone know if they have talent?"

"Simple."

Fred's smile gradually faded, and he spoke in an extremely detached tone: "You go kill people, and you'll know... If killing one isn't enough, kill ten, kill a hundred... If after killing a thousand, the Path of the War God still hasn't favored you, then you can be certain you lack that talent."

William's chopsticks froze mid-air, and the living room fell into deathly silence.

"Just kidding." Fred laughed, as if ice and snow were melting, and warm spring breeze once again swept across the dining table. "Without killing people, you'd have to enter the Ancient Repository... Three years is a long time, but you're young—you can wait."

Killing people...

William stared at the rice in his bowl, recalling the scene from that night when the red paper monster had killed two Enforcers, and suddenly felt nauseous.

William was an ordinary person. Even though he had killed countless people in games in his previous life and had watched plenty of bloody movies, when it came to actually taking a blade to kill someone, he still couldn't do it. He couldn't cross that line in his heart—the line built by reason and compassion.

"What about 'Pathways'?"

William remembered the Slaughter Waltz he had drawn from Han Meng's body, which came from the "Judgment" pathway of the Path of the War God. But what exactly pathways were, he wasn't clear about.

"You know about 'Pathways' too?" Fred looked at him with surprise.

"Think of it this way: if becoming a god is like climbing a mountain, then besides the main road up the mountain, there are also 'trails.' The divine path is the main road, while 'Pathways' are the routes that extend based on each person's different personality and talents.

For example, Beker—he's rather stubborn by nature and has a strong sense of justice, so he follows the Judgment pathway... Correspondingly, the abilities he gains when ascending to different ranks might differ from other pathways, being more personally characteristic."

William nodded thoughtfully. "How many pathways does one divine path have?"

"That's hard to say. Some divine paths have many followers, so naturally more pathways have been explored and extended. For instance, the Path of the War God has seven different 'Pathways' as far as I know. But some more obscure divine paths might only have a few pathways."

"Dr. Fred, are you also a follower of a divine path?" William asked curiously, remembering Dr. David's assessment of him.

"Yes." Fred admitted openly. "I follow the 'Path of the Healing God.'"

"The Path of the Healing God? Is the Healing Path Ancient Repository also in the Aurora Domain?"

The moment he asked this question, William realized the implication and spoke in astonishment: "You... you're Divinely Favored?"

Fred smiled without answering.

Although William had already guessed that Fred followed the Path of the Healing God, he hadn't expected the man to be Divinely Favored. Weren't these supposed to be extremely rare? How had he just casually encountered one?

"What did it feel like when you became Divinely Favored?" William couldn't help but ask.

Fred looked thoughtful.

"Hmm... it's hard to describe. It's roughly like suddenly feeling that you've transcended in an instant, with some mysterious gaze looking down at you from above... Then the environment around you changes, and a divine path leading to nothingness automatically appears before you..."

"A divine path? An actual, physical road? Not something illusory?"

"It's real, at least real in that moment. But before you step onto it, it floats in the air, constantly swaying, like... like..." Fred momentarily couldn't find the right words.

"Like a ribbon?" Henry, who had been eating quietly, suddenly spoke up.

"A ribbon?" William looked at him in surprise.

"Yes, a ribbon." Fred's eyes lit up as he continued. "Then the moment you step onto it, it solidifies into something tangible, then disappears... Although you can't see it, it remains within your body forever."

William looked at Henry questioningly, who shrank his neck and said quietly: "I was just listening to his description... just guessing."

"...Alright."

William sighed. "I hope I'll have the day when I can step onto a divine path too."

After finishing their meal, Henry consciously rolled up his sleeves to wash the dishes. Fred produced a book from somewhere and sat by the oil lamp, reading by its dim light, occasionally frowning or looking puzzled, lost in thought.

As night deepened, the three retired to their respective rooms.

William was the last to leave. He extinguished the candle on the table, and as the flame flickered out, darkness immediately enveloped everything.

His gaze turned toward Henry's room.

William slowly walked to Henry's door, pulling a broken protective charm from his pocket. He was about to knock when his knuckles froze in mid-air.

["I, I... after I woke up from surgery, I kept waiting in the hospital for you to come get me... Then I heard people outside saying there was a 'World-Ending' level calamity invasion, and I was really worried about you guys.

I snuck out when the hospital staff wasn't paying attention, planning to go home to find you, and then I saw you hanging from that monster..."]

["The Enforcers seemed short-handed, they only sealed off the outside of Districts Two and Three, but there weren't many people stationed between the two districts, so I snuck through."]

["Brother, shouldn't we run?"]

["Brother, turning into a monster isn't such a bad thing, as long as... you're still you."]

["That doctor seems really skilled, I recovered very quickly."]

["I don't know... maybe it fell off when I was running back."]

Henry's words kept flashing through his mind, and William's knuckles clenched tighter and tighter. He stared at the protective charm in his hand, his eyes filled with confusion and bewilderment.

Ever since finding this protective charm in the ruins of Ice Spring Street, William's heart had been on edge. Even after walking for two hours to get home, his mind had been constantly occupied with this matter.

Thinking carefully, from Henry's appearance until now, many things simply couldn't be explained.

The timing of his appearance, the location—it was all too convenient. Could a teenager who had just undergone heart transplant surgery really cross through Enforcer blockades and walk for over two hours to reach the back mountain?

Or was it that... he was no longer human either?