My Goddess is Good at Pretending

"I am." Zhuan Mei was silent for a moment, but she admitted it.

"Wow, you admitted it easily? Well, that's not unusual, though. I've encountered several reincarnated individuals before." Mingyue was surprised at first, but she left it just like that.

"Your reaction to the Sacred Sakura Goddess is so strong. It's as if you are a powerful warrior who experienced the true terror of the corrupted monsters. Would it be possible for you to share some of your wisdom with us if you don't mind?" Meiying put forward her request as she truly wished to hear more about this from the one she assumed was the experienced senior.

"There's nothing to learn from me. You kill them, and their curse eats away at you. The curse grows stronger the more you slay them and worsens over time until you perish." Zhuan Mei sighed as she hugged her legs, lamenting about the past.

"You've suffered a lot, but it's okay now. You probably were a powerful divine warrior in the past, but you are now our junior. You are not alone as the Goddess is here to guide us. Her Grace bestowed wisdom upon us." Feng Xue showed everyone about her new discovery.

She opened the map scroll to inquire more about the enemies and how to handle the monsters effectively. They were here to train themselves in extreme situations against corruption, and for that, their Goddess already prepared everything so they could adapt to the point where they wouldn't suffer.

The question was whether they were ready for it and whether they would grab the opportunity to discover more of the wisdom bestowed by the Goddess on them.

"Wait, this map can also do something like this? It's not just a map with information, but a guide... Anti-curse mechanisms to counter the corruption and curse... how far has the Sacred Sakura Goddess prepared for this?" Zhuan Mei was stunned, muttering softly to herself.

She had yet to witness how effective the anti-curse methods offered by the Sacred Sakura Goddess were, but if it was as effective as written, then wouldn't the corruption and the curse be nothing but ordinary debuffs?

The heavenly demons, abyssal creatures, the corrupted monsters, and any cursed entities could be reduced just to mere monsters with no deadly repercussions!

At that time, she was wondering where the Sacred Sakura Goddess had been in the past. If only such a method had been found during the previous war, she would not have died miserably on the battlefield, and it could have saved countless lives. If it had been found before the great war, the world would not have been destroyed, and it would have saved an entire population in the previous era.

However, it was just wishful thinking because she should not put the blame on the Sacred Sakura Goddess. Sacred Sakura Goddess might be a newly ascended Goddess, or perhaps a higher transcendent being who just recently descended to save this world.

"Fighting the evil is Sacred Sakura's specialty. There are countless heavenly demons, corrupted monsters, and cursed creatures that have been eliminated by Sacred Sakura. I may be new, but I know this will work. Goddess wants to teach us Sacred Sakura's secret technique, and this will work." Feng Xue clenched her fist with a feverish expression, eager to try it out.

She knew that putting unconditional faith in the Sacred Sakura Goddess would be the best choice in her life. With this training, the Sacred Sakura Goddess wanted to ensure they could become the pillars of the world to eliminate the evils and corrupted monsters when the time arrived.

"Let's try it out." Meiying shared the same excitement with Feng Xue because she would gladly receive Sacred Sakura's kindness. Sacred Sakura Goddess was willing to share this with them, so they had to take advantage of it and not disappoint the Goddess.

With that being said, they went back to grab the anti-curse staff in the safe zone before they went to hunt the corrupted monsters with a new method. Nobody could tell the anti-curse staff was a necessary item for the hunt because the item was just like a regular black metal stick, and they were piled up in the corner like useless items.

---

Three days passed with hard work, sweat, and blood. All the selected participants fought with all their might to train them in extreme situations against the corrupted monsters.

Meanwhile, Elysia had just finished training her pantheon members and monster warriors in mastering dark power. After building a foundation nurtured by a corrupted aura to build immunity against the curse and corruption, everyone had to face their heart demon and form a pact or bond to switch to the dark alter side.

Everyone had a demon within them, and they either had to kill it, swallow it, or simply coexist with it. Since it could be said as a part of themselves, all pantheon members chose to befriend their alter, following Elysia's example and teaching, and formed a partial split personality, the real them and their alter, the dark mode.

As for the monster army, most of them chose to swallow their inner demon, but there were quite a few cases where the monsters got swallowed by their dark side, making them alter the dominant one to take over their body.

"Urgh!" Fortuna knelt, panting in cold sweat. She was already in her dark mode for three days, but then she felt that she had almost lost herself. It was as if this training would unleash her demonic side, and she would turn into the thing she wished to destroy.

"Good job, Fortuna. Three days is a great achievement. Now, please rest." Elysia put her hand on Fortuna's forehead, easing the backlash and slowly deactivating the dark mode.

"No, this is bad!" Fortuna's eyes immediately pushed Elysia away. She almost lost her reason because of countless intrusive thoughts that even went to the point where she got the urge to kill anyone, including her master, Elysia.

"Feel my presence, can you see the light in the dark? Hold me tightly and you will regain yourself." Elysia hugged Fortuna, conveying her words tenderly. Hearing that, Fortuna hugged her tightly, desperately.

At that moment, Fortuna felt a warm wash over her, drenching her with clarity, easing her from the dark emotions that almost swallowed her. Her darkened hair and wings slowly fade, returning to its original golden splendor.

When clarity returned to her eyes, she looked at Elysia's gentle face full of wonder. It only took her a few breaths to overcome her dark mode, and what she needed was just to hold Elysia close.

"Thank you for your hard work. If you can't overcome it with just this, I may need to kiss you and suck the dark energy from your body." Elysia greeted with a wink.

"..." Fortuna blushed a little. Elysia was so bold lately, but strangely enough, she was fond of it. It was just that, she felt a little dissatisfied because Elysia was always dominant, making her passive, and she had to change it because she also wanted to take the lead once in a while.

"Oh~ does my master want to kiss me? Where do you want to suck me to begin with?" Fortuna put her finger on Elysia's chin, teasing her with a meaningful smile as she brought her face closer with a seducing whisper.

Elysia pressed her finger to Fortuna's lips, chuckling softly as she broke free from Fortuna's embrace. "Fufu, you can't. You'll trigger God Mode Fusion if you take the lead to kiss me."

"Well..." Fortuna just realized about it. Apparently, she would stay at the receiving end of this relationship. But, well... if it didn't work, then she could use another method to tease Elysia. Sometimes, she missed the easily embarrassed and shy Elysia.

"Please rest in the resting chamber. The others are already there. I will join soon after assisting our sisters." Elysia waved her hand as she floated away, going to the other sealed space where her other sisters trained.

"Hum, that's three days. Not so bad." Fortuna pursed her lips, feeling guilty but she was already drowning. It was all Elysia's fault, but she just couldn't resist it.

After a few moments of train of thought, Fortuna came out of her sealed space to join the others in the resting chamber.

"Yo, it took you three days, huh. Not so bad for a Goddess rank." Darkness raised her hand in greeting.

"Hm?" Fortuna replied with a nod, but she was a bit surprised to see that the resting chamber had many additional facilities that weren't there before.

There was a hot spring, beach, playing ground, resting areas, and many more. It was like various facilities combined in a large hall, but it was just camps just a few days ago.

"Are you surprised by the resting chamber's transformation? We asked our master for it, and everything was fulfilled. A resting place for everyone's preferences before we grind our flesh and bones again every day. A-ah~" Darkness leaned in her massage chair, enjoying the hot water and vibrations.

"Where are the other Goddesses?" Fortuna looked around, but she couldn't find any Goddess other than her. It was only the mortal members.

"You're the first Goddess to enter this resting chamber. Too bad, Fortuna, but you seem to be inferior to the newly ascended Goddesses." Darkness covered her mouth as she couldn't help but smirk.

"Shut up. I passed the two-day limit, fulfilling Ely's expectations. It's already divine law-breaking for me to last that long." Fortuna threw the nearby towel at Darkness' face, annoyed by the sudden mockery.

"Welcome. You must be tired. Let me help you to relax." Ella came with a set of bathrobes and towels for Fortuna.

"Mm, thanks. I really need a good bath and hot spring soak." Fortuna received it happily.

"Come here and serve Lady Fortuna." Ella beckoned to the nearby elemental spirits to serve. They were creatures created by Elysia to serve everyone at their rest.

"Hoho, shouldn't you ask like this. Would you like to take a bath first, eat first, or me?" Darkness laughed in amusement.

"Ah? That sounds good. I should try it on Ely later." Ella clapped her hands as she found it was a good idea.

"Shoo, don't give any weird ideas to Ella." Erina grabbed Ella's arm, shooing Darkness and the weird idea.

"Wlee!" Darkness stuck out her tongue.

The other pantheon members soon noticed Fortuna's arrival. As the first Goddess to enter the resting chamber, they wished to hear Fortuna's experiences during the divine-level training. Knowing they would resume their training in a few hours, and it might take a while for other Goddesses to join them, they gathered at the hot spring to hear Fortuna's story.

And, of course, Fortuna was not stingy in sharing her wisdom and experience with her cute juniors.

"That's my story during my training. I believe you also encountered the difficulties and received the gains from overcoming them. But, yeah, we'll have a dark side mode now, our alter." Fortuna heaved a subtle sigh and then took a sip of rice wine.

"You're amazing, Lady Fortuna. We can't even last a full day before Ely has to step in." Evelyn twirled the surface of the water.

"Don't put yourself down. Ely sets half a day for mortal members and two days for immortal members. So, your achievement has met her expectations. You've also built up enough immunity." Fortuna tapped Evelyn's shoulder in measurement.

"I think, Darkness doesn't have a dark side mode because she is already on the dark side from the start." Dory pointed to the relaxed demoness.

"Yeah, she lost her cause and reason long ago. I think, the real her lost to her alter, and perished. It's her alter who's in power now." Fortuna sighed as she shook her head.

"Hey, whose mouth was that?! I'm already one since the beginning of my existence." Darkness interjected with self-justification.

"Hum, you're a demoness so you're already a demon who coexisted with your heart demon. It's a relatively easy breakthrough for demons and devils." Morfina pointed out the obvious.

"That makes sense." Yae crossed her arms in understanding.

"Uh-huh? I never thought about it, but you might be right." Darkness was taken aback, but upon thinking about it, it made perfect sense. The entire intense training was easy. The only troublesome thing was building immunity to the heavenly curse and corruption.

The girls chatted happily with laughter. A few moments later, Elysia joined them, making the atmosphere more cheerful.

Unfortunately, the other Goddesses couldn't join them because they were still challenging their absolute limits as if competing who could build the highest immunity for the longest duration.