Chapter 57: The First Day Apart from the Night

What kind of chaotic mess were those night-watchers put together in the tribe...

Hermione's forehead was covered in black lines, though she maintained a serious and indifferent expression: "Perhaps you can seek the answer to this question from Amanises through the statue in your arms."

At the mention of Amanises, Selena chuckled awkwardly and did not dare to ask any more bizarre questions.

Watching the young girl leave obediently, Hermione sighed softly. The tribe's faith, especially the branch belonging to Amanises, seemed to have taken a somewhat subtle deviation... She needed to remind Amanises to pay attention to the ideological issues among the believers.

However, the fundamental problem was that the tribe had not yet developed a true religious system. Before the ancient times when the Bible's framework was copied wholesale, the faith systems of the entire world were unorthodox, lacking necessary guidance.

"But there are simply too many pitfalls in that Bible setup..." Hermione frowned and sighed. She certainly couldn't walk the Ancient Sun God's old path knowing full well there were traps ahead.

With these thoughts in mind, Hermione lay down to rest. She felt somewhat exhausted mentally, yet unable to sleep, her heart feeling rather hollow.

"It seems... I really haven't slept apart from Amanises before..."

Although Amanises was a bona fide night owl, that woman would often use the dark, silent slumber to soothe the exhaustion that occasionally welled up in Hermione during the deep hours of the night.

She was simply a humanoid sleeping aid for insomnia.

"I can't possibly drag her into the dream space just to chat..."

The somewhat insomniac Hermione thought wildly, tempted to apply a psychological hypnosis on herself. After a moment of hesitation, however, the flesh beneath her ribs wriggled and split apart, and a miniature black statue of Amanises tumbled out from her flesh.

Under the control of Hermione's flesh magic, the statue was free of any blood or dirt, pristine enough to reveal every single detail of Amanises.

This was what Amanises had given her upon their parting.

Hermione stroked the statue. Although she had not performed any prayers, a wisp of familiar darkness emanated from the statue.

A darkness carrying the power of silent slumber.

...

A sound sleep through the night.

Hermione woke up feeling refreshed, only to see the young girl, who clearly had not slept all night, washing the enormous fruits and vegetables unique to the Giant race.

Under the guidance of the "Goddess of Harvest" Omebella, the agriculture of the Giant race had developed far beyond other races. The seeds of various high-quality crops cultivated by humans mostly originated from the giants.

With such a good foundation of civilization, they were squandering it instead of vigorously developing it, insisting on eating bloody flesh or even humans...

Hermione picked up the huge knife left aside and said to the somewhat flustered Selena, "Leave this to me to handle."

Selena stepped aside with a look of skeptical distrust.

Without spending too much time, Hermione skillfully concocted a fruit puree that was rich in flavor yet harmonious.

"This is so delicious." Selena, who had almost swallowed her tongue, asked Hermione in disbelief: "You even know how to do this? Can you teach me..."

"Alright." Looking at the easily placated young girl, Hermione smiled and said: "Judging by your expression, you look rather tired. Would you like to sleep for a bit later?"

Holding the oversized cutlery spoon, Selena looked a bit embarrassed and said, "Mm. Actually, I planned to rest last night, but I couldn't help thinking about the rumors of humans disappearing in this Giant King Court, coupled with the abundant spirituality at night, so I couldn't manage to rest..."

"Go rest after you finish eating, and leave the cleanup here to me."

Although Hermione said this, Selena stubbornly washed and tidied everything up before returning to her room to rest.

In many of her behavioral details, this girl really resembled Amanises somewhat...

Left alone with nothing to do, Hermione attempted to go outside, but was blocked back by the giant guards. Hermione could have used shadow transformation to bypass these giant guards, but being a newcomer, she prudently chose not to cause trouble in the Giant King Court.

Even if the "Giant King" was not in His divine kingdom, encountering His subordinate gods would still be a dangerous affair, and the "Giant King" would inevitably have made necessary arrangements within the divine kingdom.

With nothing better to do, Hermione stayed in her residence to familiarize herself with the soul of the "Phoenix" she had pastured.

This Phoenix, instantly slain by Amanises, was a demigod of both the "Door" and "Sleeper" pathways. Its strength was actually quite decent, but unfortunately, it ran into Amanises, a Sequence 1.

Aside from this Phoenix, Hermione had also casually pastured the soul of that giant, which belonged to the quite standard "Twilight Giant" pathway of the Giant race.

Unfortunately, pasturing did not help Hermione unlock the contents on the "Blasphemy Slate".

Instead, a brief connection with the "Chaos Sea" confirmed to her that the aura of Lilith, the "Ancestor of Blood," still lingered within the Giant King Court, though she could not pinpoint the exact location.

Just as Hermione was communicating with the spirit world through her pasturing ability, trying to find out what the entity giving her a faint sense of threat in the spirit world actually was, an uninvited guest interrupted her communication with the spirit world.

It was a twenty-meter-tall dark cyan giant who made no effort to conceal His mythical creature form. The giant guards outside the house all fell to their knees, kowtowing and trembling as they greeted the visitor.

They addressed the giant as "His Grace Bladel."

A curtain of shadow detached from Hermione's shadow and draped over the sleeping Selena. Hermione walked out of the house and looked up at the tall youngest son of the Giant King.

The other party lowered his head at the same time, curiously sizing her up.

"You are the human demigod?" Bladel asked in a rough voice using the Giant language, extending a finger as if wanting to poke Hermione, just like a child curious about a weak yet special bug.

Hermione naturally dodged out of the way while speaking in a clear voice: "Your Grace Bladel, I am the first demigod of humankind, the first councilor of the Irusha tribe, Hermione."

Displaying her identity was a reminder to this young son of the Giant King that she was here by invitation, and also an attempt to probe who among the giant race had invited her to participate in the celebration.

Hearing this, Bladel did not continue to poke Hermione with his finger. A sheepish expression appeared on his one-eyed face: "I was merely curious about what was so special about the human invited by my father... I had no intention of harming you whatsoever."

Was it really the "Giant King"?

Hermione's heart sank. If so, this trip would most likely be unable to avoid that "Giant King."

This was the worst-case scenario, but Hermione had anticipated it.

At this moment, the towering giant before her gradually retracted his form, shrinking to a height of ten meters. He invited Hermione with what he considered to be a graceful demeanor:

"Human demigod, as an apology, please allow me to give you a tour of the Giant King Court."