Corey never expected that saving Anna would lead him to the solution of one of the problems and worries he had been having for a long time now.

Another path of power he could take aside from the Tier system of the Universal System.

Corey had been planning for a long time to separate himself from the Universal System and take another path of power. The problem was just that he had no idea what path to take or how to go about it.

The Universal System was not there in the beginning, and there had been gods and other mystical powerful beings before the appearance of the Universal System.

The existence of the Paragon Ancestor and the Supreme Ancestor was also evidence that there were other paths one could take to reach the peak of power, and one did not have to rely on the Universal System for this.

Through the Archive, Corey had some ancient cultivation methods that one could use, but Corey knew that these cultivation methods were limited. They were not the best.

The best cultivation technique could only reach up to Tier 9, or Demi-god to be exact. And another reason why did not fully trust the cultivation techniques is because the Archive was inside a system trial, and Corey believed that everything inside the system trial was controlled by the Universal System.

Maybe some parts were not, but it was dangerous to completely trust the knowledge he got from the Archive.

But with Tessa who was a true god in the past, a being that was at the peak of their universe, she would have far more information and knowledge than than what he had.

And he needed that information and knowledge.

Despite the countless excited thoughts in Corey's head, he remained calm despite his excitement.

He continued his conversation with Anna.

"So, aside from knowing that she's a true god, what else do you know about Tessa?"

Anna furrowed her brows slightly in thought for a second. "She's the Pope's daughter... Or she was the Pope's daughter. Tessa told me that after she and the Pope died in the past, the Pope has been obsessed in trying to bring her back to life, and he eventually succeeded with me."

Corey frowned. "So that means the Pope was also a god in his past life? He and his daughter, Tessa died."

Anna nodded slightly. "Yep. Tessa told me that the Pope was stronger than her. That he was halfway into reaching the next realm of godhood. The realm where he would be able to leave the universe and join... I think she called it, the true powerhouses of existence?"

Corey's brows were more furrowed in thought when he heard this, and a tinge of graveness appeared in his eyes.

'With such vast experience and a past, I'm certain that the Pope would have had a trump card to use against me if I was not careful. I was really lucky. Can't imagine I was enemies with a man who was a true god in the past.'

'If I was unlucky, I could have died.'

Corey exhaled deeply, and then he looked at Anna once again.

"What did you mean by he eventually succeeded with you? Do you know how he was trying to bring Tessa back to life?"

Anna remained silent and looked down with a conflicted expression.

Corey saw this, and he tightened his grip on Anna's hands.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

Anna shook her head. "I can and I will. It's not... that bad honestly."

Anna exhaled softly, and then she subconsciously tightened her grip on Corey's hand.

"When I was kidnapped, I realized that I was not the only person that was kidnapped. A lot of other people were kidnapped. Like fifty people in total. We were subjected to many trials at first."

"We were forced to take part in some tests like running from a monster that's way faster than all of us combined together. Having to destroy boulders as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we won't fall to our deaths. Death matches and the likes."

"We were also subjected to several experiments. The Pope would experiment on us and fuse several parts of some beasts or monsters with us. The fusion is extremely dangerous and painful, and many of us died because of the pain and complications that arose because of the fusions and experiments."

"At first, I had no idea why the Pope was doing to us, but when I was the last person to survive all the experiments, the Pope brought me to a secret room that had the corpse of his daughter, Tessa. He told me that he was preserving the corpse, and the reason he did everything he did to me was to make me a vessel for the resurrection of his daughter."

"I was powerless before the Pope, and I actually thought I was going to die, but for some strange reason and also because Tessa's soul was very weak when she woke up, I was able to barely survive."

"The Pope was not happy with this and wanted to completely kill me, but Tessa stopped him and told him that if I die, the Universal System would know and the Universal brand would be transferred to her and she would not be able to accomplish their plans."

"I actually believe that Tessa does not really like her father, but she has not told me. But the truth is that she has always protected me and prevented the Pope from killing me."

"There's a lot more that happened to me obviously, and I can tell you some of them... if you have the time."

Corey remained silent for a few seconds as he wondered on her words. He had a few questions he needed to be answered and also a few suspicions, but he knew that only Tessa would be able to help him with it.

"Tell me your story. I have time to listen to you."

Anna smiled brightly, and then she began telling Corey everything that happened to her after they separated.

Just like how he told her, his story, she told him her story.

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