I created my own system

Right before dawn, the entire class arrived at the tower, Apollo and the rest were still tired from all the ruckus they had made, so the mages didn't pry on any further and told them to just rest.

"Now what?" Apollo couldn't help but mutter as he lay on his bed, they were already there, and he was certain he and Alicia could do more, but for some reason, the archduke was adamant about sending them back.

"Was there another reason I am not aware of?" He continues to question but gradually stops since he couldn't come up with answers.

"I don't know him too well to be able to predict his judgment, for now, I should be able to check the data we gather from the latest mission, Jeremiah. How was it?"

Immediately right after his question a voice immediately spoke.

[Creator although it was slow I was able to scan the entire city and found traces of strange energy signatures from a couple of people inside the city]

"I already expected that, but which of the sensors works well? Was it the heat, the age, the mana, or the soul sensors?"

Apollo gave a question right after the other, making Jeremiah's answer a bit longer to be given.

[Creator Just like you said, I used all the given sensors and scans to search the city, at first, there wasn't anything strange until the souls of the people were the ones being analyzed next. A soul isn't something that can be changed easily even tampering with it can cause death to the subject]

Then a panel emerges with the map of the capital on it.

[I labeled the souls based on their age and purity, we have records of tainted mana before, so I thought even souls could be affectedas well, If I see one then it means they have a connection either to the church or to the Monastery.

I use colors to represent the age while the intensity of the color represents its purity, if you see any light that is almost faded out it means the soul is more or less close to corruption]

Apollo nodded, understanding his explanation, as he analyzed the map and saw multiple colors of intense yellow, they indicated the people living there were at least 0-70 years old. Since the war happened three hundred years ago, the artificial gods should be at least 300 to 500 hundred years old, given that they are powerful magical beasts.

"What's this" the boy felt shocked as he saw at least hundreds of people colored in an intense violet and red. Violet represents 200 to 300 years while red is 301 to 500 years.

"The hell," he couldn't help but mutter, he wasn't expecting that even the kids he saw begging for bread were living fossils existing even 500 years ago.

"Jeremiah can you scan the entire continent, and see if you can get these kinds of results"

[I could but the data might take a while since some cities gain artifacts to protect their territory]

A sigh escapes from the boy, thinking about the amount of artifacts he saw at the dungeon he raided before.

"If I had known artifacts could be used like this I would have taken everything back then"

[Creator, how about we look for a dungeon? We have enough data to locate them after all]

"Dungeons don't just pop out of nowhere however maybe I could create one, considering my current stats"

[We should schedule it, this might become the solution we need to our problems regarding artifacts]

Apollo felt really curious as to why artifacts were so effective against him. The way it hurts him isn't the same as others, it made him agitated but his curiosity was what he mostly felt.

Another sigh escapes from his mouth, he is full of thoughts that he doesn't know what to do next.

"The first was the Monastery, and now the church, the further I get involved in this the more my initial plan disappears"

[Perhaps it is a sign that getting revenge on your brother Eros is not what you need] Jeremiah tries to reason,however, he doubts his Creator will ever change his mind. Everything was already set in stone, and though there were many hindrances, it was still the same, Eros would experience his wrath. The scars in his skin might fade through time but the trauma it gives will never disappear.

"If only he never did what he did," Apollo said. His voice was weak as if he was tired of something.

"You know sometimes I wonder if he ever sees me as his brother, I just don't understand why he hated seeing me but loved torturing me"

Unconsciously, his hand landed on his chest, where small cuts were embedded due to the enchanted whips that once lashed his body. It was still there along the seal he left untouched.

"Should I start? Or should I end my current war?" he contemplates, thinking if ending his five-year plan now would give him the best results.

[Creator, I suggest we strike the bigger enemy, in my opinion, Eros is not a threat, and after what you did to him, his image hadn't been improving, and his power was greatly limited by your father Helios. The church and the remaining members of the Monastery are the ones we should focus on]

It was reasonable, though Apollo felt a bit bothered, somehow, he felt he should take down his brother now. Enjoy exclusive content from empire

"Ha..." He can't help but release another breath to control his thoughts.

The quiet of Apollo's quarters was a stark contrast to the thoughts running through his mind. He stood near the large window that overlooked the entire territory, his gaze distant. The flickering lights of the tower, far below, mirrored the scattered pieces of information he had gathered over the past few weeks.

"I should just finish this"

He then orders Jeremiah to give him the recording of the memories he got from the island incident. Though he already deems it useless since it was tampered with. He plans to recheck it perhaps this time, there might be something useful.

"It's really blurry" Apollo felt exasperated while reviewing the memories. It was either too faded or too bright, for some reason, he felt like being played by his enemy.

"They must have realized why there is an information leak, one of their assumptions will fall on various memory search spells. They must have done something to the souls and minds of all the creatures involved in the island incident so that no spells can pry on their memories"

[So this is useless]

"Yeah, pretty much"

Next, he reviewed the previous information he got from the time he went on and used the authority of time on one of the listed gathering places.

"I was able to confirm ten people there, though some of them had already been marked by the archduke," he recalled while flipping through the documents he got from scanning the files inside the archduke's place.

"Hmmm....I already visited them before, but there wasn't any useful information." With Apollo's multiple bodies, while he was on the island, the ones that stayed alive went on and tracked the remaining people using their mana signature. However, like the previous, there wasn't anything useful, and some of them were already dead before he could even find them.

"I currently have one last option now," he said as he remembered the person he had made a contract not so long ago.

"But I really doubt there is anything useful yet, it hasn't been that long either since I planted her inside, so should I wait more before making contact?" he ponders while Jeremiah busied himself in scanning the entire continent for any signs of dungeons and people who have a 300 to 500 years soul age.

[Creator I think I detected a message from Avis it seems there is a problem on their side]

Jeremiah suddenly reported which made Apollo's thoughts stop.

"Alright please do show it to me"

[Affirmative]

[Already inside, many people died, failed mission, recruit more]

"What?"

[It's a bit cryptic but I will analyze it for you Creator]

[Already inside - means she got in and already accepted as a new member of the Church.

Many people died- which means that plenty of the church's members died in its recent encounter with you.

Failed mission - I believe this is the island incident or perhaps the recruitment failed with you killing fifty church leaders.

Recruit more- since you killed so many of them and even the high-ranking ones though you died at the same time, they need to recruit more to fill the numbers]

"When you put it this way it finally makes sense I wonder how long I should wait to get any useful information on her"

But then something suddenly took his attention away from reviewing his current info about the church.