Chapter 412 - Incomplete God of Strategy’s Chosen

Gaven licked his face and said to Zalanda in his arms, "Beautiful lady, may we discuss a matter...?""Don’t even think about it." Zalanda did not give Gaven a chance to speak, hugging the Book of Strategy tightly in her embrace, "A gift given to someone else, how could there be any possibility of taking it back?"

What Zalanda didn’t say was, this is the token of love you gave me, now that you’ve had your way with me, and you still want to take it back?

"Misunderstanding! Big sister, you’ve totally misunderstood, am I that kind of shameless person?" Gaven stated righteously, "I just want to, from time to time, borrow it when I need it."

"Even borrowing is out of the question." Zalanda said with a smile, flipping to the last page of the Book of Strategy, where a signature read Zalanda Stardine, along with a holy emblem—a red chess knight with star-shaped pupils, the symbol of the Goddess of Strategy.

Well then.

The Book of Strategy was just like the Hammer of the Sunrise.

It belonged to exclusive equipment.

The Book of Strategy was even more extreme than the Hammer of the Sunrise, it was truly Zalanda’s personal exclusive equipment.

This was actually similar to Death Roar in nature.

Gaven once again felt the attributes of the Book of Strategy, and sure enough, all the skills were grayed out, he simply could not use them.

Gaven was not too disappointed about this, he chuckled and said, "If worse comes to worst, when the time comes, I’ll borrow you along with the book."

Zalanda glared at Gaven, "You’re full of sneaky ideas."

"Of course, if it weren’t for my sneaky ideas, this divine artifact wouldn’t exist. Tell me, how should you reward me?" Gaven’s heart was brimming with boundless pride.

Although the Book of Strategy was unusable for him, this secondary divine artifact was undeniably tied to him, enough to boast for several years.

"Haven’t you already received the best reward?" Zalanda’s eyes and brows exuded endless charm.

The alluring femininity unique to Zalanda, when perfectly blended with her natural heroic air, possessed an indescribable seductive power.

It rekindled the fire in Gaven’s heart and he launched a second attack without hesitation.

Zalanda exclaimed, "Again?"

"You just said it yourself, this is the reward I deserve." Gaven played dirty, while also spinning up more cunning thoughts, "Almost forgot, I’ve also brought you a gift this time, hehe... I wonder if it’s worthy of Lady Strategy’s personal visit to bestow her blessings."

While saying this, Gaven picked up Zalanda again and began searching all over for his Howard Convenient Bag.

Their previous battle had been so intense that clothes and equipment were scattered everywhere.

From beginning to end, the two of them remained intimately joined.

"What gift? It’s not another military book, is it?" Zalanda immediately had her attention drawn.

As the ultimate beneficiary of the Book of Strategy, she was very aware of the enormous role this book played on her ascendant path.

If Gaven were to produce another such epoch-making tome, she was also very curious about what kind of reaction the Goddess of Strategy would have.

Gaven pulled out not one book from his bag, but two.

One was Military Training Records, the other, Heaven Craftsmanship.

The first book goes without saying; it was something Gaven had prepared especially for Zalanda.

The second book was more of an afterthought, detailing the agricultural civilization techniques accumulated by the Planting Family over five thousand years, written by Gaven on the side during his big textile business endeavor at the Weizemay Manor.

But he found that this book was not best suited for vast, sparsely populated valleys.

Rather, it was perfect for densely populated Thacel, where intensive and meticulous farming should be promoted.

Zalanda, disregarding the mischievous Gaven, snatched the two books away, and seeing the familiar square block characters on them, a true joy blossomed on her beautiful face.

Without hesitation, she opened Military Training Records.

In the beginning, for the sake of reading the Book of Strategy, she had spent a substantial sum to hire a mage to cast Magic Constancy on herself for Comprehend Languages.

The unknown language Gaven used was profound, and many of the words had unique meanings.

Only by reading the original text could one grasp the true meaning behind some of these words.

Neither Gaven nor Zalanda noticed.

When Zalanda opened Military Training Records, the Book of Strategy beside her turned its pages without any breeze, automatically flipping to the page marked with the Lady Strategy Holy Emblem.

The star-shaped eyes of the red chess knight shone brightly, entwined with Zalanda’s name.

Boom!

An invisible power spread through Zalanda’s body.

Both Zalanda and Gaven shook at the same time.

Especially Gaven, who was in the midst of attacking, nearly had his courage fail him.

He could distinctly feel that the Zalanda in his arms was no longer merely Zalanda.

A terrifying presence had entered her body.

Divine possession!

This was the ability that only the Chosen possessed.

It wasn’t just that the Book of Strategy had become a divine artifact.

Zalanda had become the Chosen for the God of Strategy, the identity of the one entering Zalanda’s body was self-evident.

It made sense, after all, the Book of Strategy had become a lesser divine artifact, how could Zalanda not receive blessings?

But the trouble was, he was in the most intimate state with Zalanda at the moment.

Before possessing the body, wouldn’t the God of Strategy sense beforehand what their Chosen was doing?

Under an extreme sense of disbelief and fear, mixed with immense excitement,

Almost any other person would never encounter such a situation.

Gaven’s body moved involuntarily.

Given that the event had already unfolded, whether he stretched his neck or shrunk it, it was the same outcome.

At the very least, before dying, he might as well enjoy it, right?

Confusion wasn’t exclusive to Gaven.

The divine Lady Strategy herself was also in extreme shock.

She wasn’t actively possessing a soul, but it was triggered.

After finishing the Book of Strategy and still yearning for more, she left a small backdoor while bestowing blessings on Zalanda.

That was, once Zalanda acquired the same book again, it would trigger her divine possession, allowing herself to read it first.

But she never imagined Zalanda would do it under these circumstances.

What nearly drove Lady Strategy mad was that the other party didn’t leave because of her divine possession; on the contrary, they embarked on an unprecedented mad sprint.

Something uncontrollable burst open within Zalanda’s body.

Before the shivering could envelop her, Lady Strategy’s spirit swiftly departed.

Gaven felt a terrifying power infuse his body.

God’s Chosen of Strategy (Incomplete).

Limited Tactical Deployment (Chosen Special Ability) — You can choose a troop to appear at a location you designate, with a number based on one-tenth of your Intelligence modifier, maneuverable within a one-kilometre radius, usable once per day.

Detect Magic (Chosen Special Ability): Capable of detecting magical auras within sight.

Attribute Enhancement (Chosen Special Ability): All attributes +1.

Seeing the new abilities, Gaven didn’t know whether to be happy or afraid.

Because this meant everything wasn’t just his illusion, it was really happening.

There are two ways to become a deity’s Chosen.

The first is to be personally granted by a deity.

The second is when the individual has an indescribable relationship with a deity.

The second is a public secret, related to the second generation Magic Goddess, Mistela, whose Chosen were a little too plentiful.

It just hadn’t been expected that possession could also grant this status, albeit in an incomplete form.

But the problem is, no matter the method of bestowal, it’s always with the deity’s willing consent.

In Gaven’s case, becoming a Chosen against a deity’s will was probably a first in the history of Felen.

But this wasn’t fortune; it was a disaster — a fatal disaster.

An enraged demigod could pulverize him to dust without leaving a chance for resurrection the very next second.

All that he had built would be for naught.

If given the choice, he’d rather not have this incomplete Chosen status of Strategy.

As dozens of seconds passed without incident, Gaven let out a long sigh of relief, indicating there might still be room to deescalate the situation.

What the other party ultimately wanted to do was anyone’s guess.

The other party involved, Zalanda, seemed totally unaware, her mind and body deeply engrossed in the Military Training Records.

Like a rollercoaster of emotions, Gaven entered sage mode prematurely, not in the mood for mischief or daring to mention this matter to Zalanda, including asking her about becoming the Chosen of the Goddess of Strategy.

This matter was best left to die in his own belly.

As long as that suffering demigod didn’t pursue it, could they just act as if nothing had happened?

Otherwise, who knew if the other party would fly into a rage and kill him to silence him?

Zalanda read the books with astonishing speed, digesting ten lines at a glance, due to her meticulous appreciation; if she skimmed, she’d be even faster — a benefit of high intelligence. Follow current novels on No(ᴠ)ᴇlFire.nᴇt

After finishing both books in less than an hour, she instinctively sat up straight, her expression solemn as she fixed Gaven with a gaze, "You have yet to explain — what’s the deal with these three books? These characters aren’t native, are they? Don’t tell me you got them from a Prophecy Dream."

Her grave expression, combined with her state of partial undress, conveyed not intimidation but a certain allure.

In different circumstances, Gaven might have howled and pounced on her yet again.

But now, unsure if the demigod was watching, it wasn’t about minding a performance for her but fearing provoking her into a fury.

So he took a Ghost Cloak out of the Howard Convenient Bag and wrapped it around Zalanda, covering her limitless charm.

This was also one of the gifts Gaven had prepared for her.

Once the Ghost Cloak was donned, Zalanda clearly felt it was no ordinary item but possessed of unique magical properties.

Yet her expression was unmoved, her eyes still sharply fixed on Gaven, a look that said she wouldn’t allow him to divert the subject.

Gaven nodded earnestly, "It really does come from there. Dreams, as they’re known, are fantastical and unpredictable — containing not only what’s closely related, but also what seems unrelated.

You should know, I have the Elves’ transcendent abilities. After I chose to change my profession to a Psychic Sorcerer and combined it with Autohypnosis, it gave me the ability to dig through my own memory, including fleeting dreams. These three books are what I’ve excavated from there."

To corroborate his story, Gaven somewhat reluctantly revealed his professional panel to Zalanda.

"A Psychic Sorcerer? I thought you were following the warrior path?" Zalanda asked, her face filled with stunned question marks.

Even though she was determined not to let Gaven, the slick witted guy, change the subject,

The things he was saying were too incredible, perhaps even more so than his Prophecy Dream.

Because during their true battle, he had consistently used warrior skills from beginning to end; the various auxiliary spells he used were not considered his own abilities and were thought to be provided by Magic Equipment.

After examining Gaven’s attribute panel, she took in a sharp breath.

What exactly had this guy done in the past half year?

Transforming himself into such a monster?

How could a Spellcaster with a total Professional Level of only four possess numerous Special Abilities that even Legendary figures did not have?

"That is a long story."

This was exactly what Gaven wanted, and he smoothly steered the conversation in a direction beneficial to himself, sharing with Zalanda the experiences of his past half year.