The Hollow God

"But this is impossible! You are definitely a Divine, I've seen the golden aura! But how can this be?!" Ralfe started to mumble to himself ignoring the small clone in front of him.

The little manta frowned and spoke into his mind in a loud voice to awake him from his stupor. "Explain!"

The white fatty jumped in shock quickly coming back to reality. "Yes yes! I'll explain!" He took a few seconds to organize his thoughts before he started to speak again.

"There are a total of 6 elements in the world, earth, water, fire, wind, light, and darkness but there are some special creatures that are born with a new element that has a purple color which gives them a strange ability, we call them divergent. Those abilities are random and make no sense but give you a huge advantage against anyone at your level however, it is still considered a curse, do you know why? No creature that is born with a divergent ability is ever able to reach divinity! They are forever stuck in the realm of mortals! Forever stuck at the peak!" As Ralfe spoke he looked at the small clone in front of him with a strange gaze.

"I wasn't born with this ability. I gained it from another creature in the sea." The manta spoke calmly. The fatty already knew he had a divergent ability anyways so he might as well tell him everything and get as much information as possible, he can think of how to deal with him later.

Ralfe shook his head as he started to speak once more. "Creatures are indeed able to gain new elements through consuming others' core but this is an exception. I don't know the exact details but what i do know is that it's impossible to gain a divergent ability from consuming another creature. Do you know how many tried this over the years? There used to be just as many creatures with this seventh element as there were of every other element however, now they are almost extinct! Even today the church of light and church of darkness will reward anyone with huge sums of money for one of these creatures either dead or alive, even just information of where there could be such a creature will get a commoner enough gold for a lifetime!" Ralfe started speaking normally but was practically shouting by the end of the explanation.

'Why am I special? Could it have been the whale? No, or else little gold would have been able to gain this power as well… maybe?' the manta left his thoughts and turned his head towards the nervous fatty in front of him.

"What are the requirements for creatures to be able to gain a new element?"

"No one knows exactly, not even the divines know this answer. A creature can sometimes gain a new element on its first time eating a core but at the same time a creature of the same species could consume a core of the same element 1000 times and never gain anything. I heard some people say its luck others say it depends on your affinity with it, who knows? One detail they were able to confirm though was that it is impossible to gain an element from the core of someone lower level than you."

'Affinity? So maybe it's my modern human understanding of how gravity works that allowed me to gain this new element?' After coming to this conclusion he got into a very good mood. Every reincarnator in novels always came with a cheat ability and he finally found his! Knowledge!

'Now what to do with this fatty? If word got out that there was a divine with a divergent ability I would probably be hunted down by the two biggest powers in the continent!' The small clone looked at the person in front of him as he went through his options.

Ralfe felt the change in the small mantas gaze. He knew he had learned some sensitive information so there was no way he would just be let off!

"Your holiness this little one wishes to follow you in the future whether it be through sickness and health all the way until I die!" Being fast on his feet he knew he had to speak first before the small manta made a decision so he quickly kneeled on the ground with his forehead touching the floor as he shouted.

'You couldn't have phrased that a little different!? For two lifetimes I have been single and the first person to confess to me is this human dumpling?!' The little manta was disgusted as some strange images flashed through his mind.'Well let's see if you really are saying the truth!' The manta then focused onto the fatties mana and started to read his mind.

[I'm really saying the truth! I would never lie to you!] Was what he heard being constantly repeated in Ralfe's mind.

"...."

'This fatty is an artificer which would be very useful, but he is too smart for his own good! If I don't kill him I would have to keep watch over him at all times!... But, I can't just kill him…. This fatty is so interesting and funny…. Wait a minute! I have an idea!'

Seeing as the small clone had no reaction, Ralfe slightly raised his head to take a peak and as he did he found the small black clone looking straight at him with shining eyes.

'Did it w-' Before he could finish his thought he found that the clone charged at him and dove right into his body!

"AAARRRRR!!" The fatty jumped up from the ground at such surprising speed it would even leave a powerful warrior like Vall amazed. He touched his back where the clone had gone into expecting to find a hole but he found that there was nothing there, he was completely fine!

'Was it an illusion?'

"Hehehe it wasn't an illusion! I'm right over here!" He felt something moving along his skin just as he heard the small mantas voice in his head.

Ralfe quickly pulled off his robe and took off his shirt showing his soft pale skin…. A lot of soft and pale skin… enough to make at least 2 leather armors....For horses. On his chest he found a black tattoo-like image of the little manta ray that slightly moved from side to side leaving him stunned.

"Didn't you say you wanted to follow me until death did us apart? Well you got your wish! Are you happy?" A large smile opened on the belly of the manta tattoo that was on his skin.

Ralfe controlled himself not to swear and spoke after taking a deep breath "Of course! Of course! Who else can be so lucky to have a divine creature by his side .. every.. Single.. Day …" Reaching the end of that sentence he was practically speaking through his teeth.

"Well that's all the information i needed for now. This clone will be sleeping on your body but do remember that I will still be able to see everything that is happening around you! You can go back now" As it finished speaking the black manta tattoo moved onto his forearm curling his tail around his upper arm and rested Its body on the fatties shoulder no longer speaking.

Rafel gave a wry smile and put his clothes back on before leaving the building by himself. As he walked out the door everyone looked straight at him and noticed that the small clone was no longer there. Seeing him leave the house a burly man stopped what he was doing and came up to him.

Vall looked behind Ralfe at the empty house and then up in the air at the giant manta that was quietly floating before moving close to the fatty starting slowly fixing his messy robe.

"Is he gone?" Vall whispered as he came close to Ralfe.

"N-.... yes he's gone" When he was about to answer he felt that the tail of the little manta tattoo had tightened around his arm and he quickly corrected himself.

"So what do you think? Is he a new divine? Can we trust him?" Vall whispered again

"Yes it seems they have just left the ocean for the first time. We can definitely trust him, he's the most trustworthy divine i have ever met." Ralfe felt helplessness as he spoke. Vall was surprised that the fatty had gotten such a good impression of the manta in just a few hours.

"Hmm, even so he is still a divine of darkness. They can be very sneaky so don't ever fully put your trust in them, but still get on his good side. Who knows? maybe if you can get on his good side our village might not be godless anymore in the future." As he said this Vall finished fixing the messy robe and left to take care of the mess the creatures had made in the village.

"I'll try" Ralfe didn't know if he should laugh or cry as he let out a big sigh and started to get busy as well.

"Hehehe little gold these humans sure are interesting" The large manta in the air spoke.

"Hmm, interesting" A sweet voice sounded out from his back as the duo quietly watched the yellow sun slowly moving over the horizon.