Chapter 907: Ch 906: The First Four

Outer Gate 3345, Thousand Eyes territory—

Shiroyasha stood beside the unconscious Kalki, peering at him the way you'd look at a monkey at the zoo.

"So this little brat is what that baldy's been using to limit himself? He looks awfully ordinary, doesn't he?"

Ryo, who was in the middle of brewing tea, shot her a look. "Limit himself? What are you talking about?"

"You don't know?" Shiroyasha blinked, then rapped her own head with her folding fan. "Oh, right. I guess I never mentioned it."

She snapped the fan open and waved it lazily. "Tell me, which do you think has the higher Spirit Rank... Shaka as the Buddha, or as the ninth avatar of Vishnu?"

Ryo frowned and didn't answer, though privately he leaned toward the first.

Anyone who studied religion outside the Little Garden knew the ninth avatar business was a deliberate dig at Buddhism, and the people involved here knew it even better.

Vishnu's Spirit Rank was an unfinished one-digit one, sure. But in a sense, the Buddha's rank might be an unfinished one-digit too, and not necessarily lower than Vishnu's.

So why would the Buddha be fighting over Vishnu's Spirit Rank at all?

Seeing him frown, Shiroyasha giggled. "Doesn't make sense, does it?"

"Good. It's not supposed to." She snapped the fan shut.

Her expression turned complicated. "You know how two people can be worlds apart? Divine Beings are the same. Some gods are born as Two-Digits, while others come into existence as Five-Digits right out of the gate."

Her tone turned faintly amused. "So here's my question. Among all those gods, buddhas, star spirits, and races, is there anyone who was born holding a one-digit Spirit Rank, but couldn't show it because the Little Garden can only support two-digits?"

Ryo's eyes went wide.

"Getting it now?" She opened the fan again, hiding half her face behind it. "Everyone in Little Garden agrees that there are the First Four. They're the founders—the ones who designed this place—and they're fundamentally different from the Two-Digits who advanced later."

Shiroyasha smiled, her voice tinged with a hint of bitterness. "There are people born as Two-Digits. But there can also be people born as One-Digits. Even if Little Garden itself couldn't support their birth, but that's precisely what makes them fundamentally different."

Ryo couldn't help but ask, "Advancing to One-Digit? Is that why the original Four planned to build Little Garden?"

"Yep." Shiroyasha nodded.

"Then Little Garden still can't support their 'birth' right now. Did they fail?" Ryo asked again.

"Yes and no." She nodded, then shook her head, and just as Ryo started to look confused, she explained. "They failed, but they saw a glimmer of success. If the environment can't support their birth, then all they have to do is make one that can."

Her tone turned mocking. "And if Little Garden rejects their existence, then they can just lower themselves to a level Little Garden can hold."

It clicked for Ryo. "So the Four couldn't be born naturally, so they deliberately downgraded themselves from one-digit?"

"Bingo." Shiroyasha sighed. "Why do you think I call Alpha and Omega 'Boss'?"

A shiver ran through Ryo. He gritted his teeth. "The twin goddesses were one to begin with?"

Shiroyasha hurriedly hid her face behind the fan, eyes crinkling. "That was all you. I didn't say a thing."

So it was top-secret information.

Ryo understood and began connecting it with everything else he knew. "So the Buddha should be one of the Four—or a portion of one of them…"

He'd thought two-digits were the ceiling of the Little Garden. Turned out there were four one-digits just lying low in here.

Holy hell. Who could have seen that coming?

Then Shiroyasha said quietly, "Small correction. Everyone knows about the Four, but really there are five. Even if the fifth one came later."

Ryo's brow twitched.

Five?

Five one-digits who couldn't be born. So who was the fifth...

Mithras' voice seemed to echo in his ear.

'Beware of Yavoth.'

Ryo's mouth twitched hard.

Even Mithras, a part of the Lord of Cross, had warned him and Kalgi to watch out for this guy.

Ryo's mouth twitched sharply.

Add Yavoth, who got stuck at three-digits because Little Garden can't hold monotheism, and that made five.

'So, if I'm right, Yavoth is the one who co-founded Ouroboros from the Cross Pantheon, and clearly he wants to build a new Little Garden so he can give himself a legitimate birth? To be born as a One-Digit being?' Suddenly, Ryo understood why Mithras had warned them.

And why the Lord of Cross had risked so much to split off a Mithras to interfere with Kalki. Well, Kalki was the key to Yavoth's new Garden, and Ryo himself was the pesky bug getting in the way.

Ryo suddenly felt like he'd been a die-hard Yavoth hater all along.

He couldn't help sighing. "My future feels pretty bleak."

"Relax!" Shiroyasha patted his shoulder reassuringly. "The Cross people can't do a thing to you. Heck, if you wanted, you could go punch the restricted fifth one today. He's weird as hell, but his actual power is lacking. Apart from being a bit tough to put down, there's not much to him~"

Seeing that bratty look on her face, Ryo's mouth twitched.

You didn't... You didn't actually go knock on his door and beat him up while he couldn't use his powers, did you?

One look at her smug grin was all the answer he needed.

Bullying a "richest man in the world" who hadn't become the richest man in the world yet? Honestly, that was exactly the kind of thing the troublemaker Shiroyasha would do.

Ryo pressed a hand to his forehead. "Instead of telling me to relax, you'd do better to send Kalki away. Just looking at him, my head is struggling to handle knowing the truth."

Offending a semi-one-digit? Crap. This went completely against his lie-low development strategy... Ryo sighed helplessly.

"Fine, fine. Since you put it that way." Shiroyasha tucked away the Gift Card containing Kalki, then glanced at Ryo with a wicked grin. "Now, just wait for my good news."

...

..

The Upper Layers, Sanzen—

Atop the vast divine mountain, arhats practiced martial arts on the steps, bodhisattvas sat in lotus positions on either side chanting sutras, and buddhas sat or reclined around the enormous golden lotus at the center, deep in meditation.

Suddenly, upon the central lotus, bathed in golden light, Shaka—the Buddha with the blurred face—slowly opened his eyes.

A moment later, a voice, half sigh and half laugh, rang out with gentle compassion.

"That rascal. What a shameless pest."

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(Hope you enjoyed the mass release🫡)