Chapter 1151 – A Life of Two Masks

Jake kept watching as the newly renamed Golden Forest King slowly lowered himself to the ground, the control of his own energy a bit wobbly. Energy was still pulsing throughout the Unique Lifeform’s recently formed body, as it seemingly took a few moments for it and the mask to fully become one.

Only a moment, though, as soon the King landed on the grassy ground softly. Artemis and Yggdrasil had both taken a step back, allowing just Jake and the Unique Lifeform to have their little reunion.

The wisps of consciousness settled on Jake as he felt the Unique Lifeform still adapting to everything, but once he was confident his former Nevermore teammate could hear and understand him, he really couldn’t help himself.

“Man, are you lazy or what? You’re hopelessly behind in levels. What have you even been doing while dead?” Jake said, crossing his arms and shaking his head.

“I’m more surprised seeing you’ve managed to get any levels at all as the last time we met, you were still lazing around, wallowing in your own stupidity after severely injuring your soul,” the familiar voice of the King echoed in Jake’s head, making him smile.

A part of him had still been afraid that the creature brought back wouldn’t truly be the arrogant asshole he knew. However, seeing as the King’s massive ego couldn’t even give Jake one joke after literally having a god help get him revived, it was definitely the same King as before, despite the changed name.

Speaking of…

“What’s up with the name change? Look, I’m not saying you can’t change your name, but you’ve already had three in the brief period I’ve known you, and if you keep up this pattern, you’ll have hundreds if not thousands by the time you fail your ascension to godhood,” Jake fired back with a smile.

“I only change my name as a result of very important events. Dying to you and subsequently finding myself bound to you like a slave was certainly worth changing it to remind myself of my own stupidity,” the former Fallen King said. “In the same vein, it’s certainly an equally massive event when I finally manage to rid myself of the chain around my soul.”

“Doesn’t really explain the name,” Jake shrugged, not offended at all that the King was happy to be free of him. In fact, it was a sentiment he very much reciprocated.

Even if the connection had been somewhat useful at times, it was still an overall negative, in Jake’s opinion. He fundamentally opposed what it presented, and while Jake never took advantage of it, the mere fact that he could was enough for him to hate its existence.

He also knew that the King despised it even more than Jake did, and for good reason. Jake also knew that the King would have done borderline anything to get rid of the chain holding him back, and that he’d spent much of his free time researching a solution.

“I considered a few different names, but more important than my new name was to get rid of the old one. Forest was chosen because I’ve always felt a deep connection to the forest from a conceptual standpoint. A forest represents a domain of life for monsters of all kinds. It’s a facilitator of existence. This is the domain I proclaim myself king over. As for the Golden… well, the first thing I noticed after awakening in this new form was that my power of gold had increased in potency substantially, so it came naturally,” the King actually answered Jake’s question seriously.

“Could have just gone with Golden King of the Forest, then,” Jake shrugged. “Would be a good callback to your original name.”

“It wasn’t my original name and far from my first one. I also consciously wanted to avoid a name like that. Calling myself the King of the Forest signifies there’s only one forest for me to rule over,” the Golden Forest King said seriously. “Additionally… in the event of my ascension to godhood, my legacy skills would sound dumb. Something like Force Blast of the King of the Forest simply sounds far too silly and repetitive.”

“Huh, never even fought about that,” Jake muttered. “But actually a pretty good point.”

“Naturally. I plan on sticking with this name permanently,” the King said.

“To be clear, I won’t think of you or refer to you as the Golden Forest King. Ever. Forest King you can have, but definitely gonna mentally ditch the Golden part,” Jake said, being his usual honest self.

“I do not find myself surprised at learning that three words are too difficult for your mind to consistently put together. You’re truly lucky to find yourself the Chosen of the Malefic Viper and not a god with a longer name.”

“Thinking about it more, it’s actually hard to find a peak-level god with a long name…” Jake muttered. All the Primordials had short official names, a lot of them even just one word.

Turning to Artemis, whom both Jake and the King had expertly been ignoring until now, Jake asked a very serious question:

“Is making your Legacy skills sound good part of the considerations gods make when deciding on a name?”

Artemis threw Jake quite a glance as she sighed. “In my case, I’m just using my name. It’s also quite rare for gods to have chosen their own name, as they more often than not simply get assigned one, and the Records around that name eventually crystallize and give it actual power.”

“Fair enough, but surely there have been gods who didn’t like their assigned titles and forced through something else?” Jake said, having a very hard time believing no god had been pissed off about what others called them.

“There likely have been, but those forsaken names tend to be forgotten,” Artemis shrugged.

“I do apologize for the hunter’s incessant need to sate his own curiosity,” the Forest King butted in as he bowed toward her. “This one greets Goddess Artemis, and I believe I also have you to thank for my revival.”

“I was barely involved,” Artemis shook her head. “The Mother Tree and Jake were the ones behind everything.”

“Your modesty is admirable. I know from personal experience that no task which involves interacting with the hunter for prolonged periods can possibly be described as easy,” the King said offensively before turning toward the dryad made by Yggdrasil. “I believe it is only proper to thank you once more. As I stand here, I feel your power echoing throughout my body, and I can only display gratitude for the vessel you created. It surpasses all expectations I could possibly have.”

Yggdrasil looked at the King for a few moments before nodding. Jake didn’t know exactly what had just happened, but he got a strong feeling that the two had briefly spoken telepathically with one another, having a small private conversation that Yggdrasil seemed satisfied with the result of.

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Turning her attention toward Jake, the dryad lifted a hand as a mask appeared floating above it. “One soul, one identity, but two masks of roughly equal power. The one you’ve worn until now has returned to where it belongs on the vessel of the Unique Lifeform. This leaves the other mask. The mirror. While the connection between yourself and the Unique Lifeform has been severed, one between the masks still persists, and your ownership of this mask also cannot be called into question.”

The mask, which looked just like the one Jake had before, slowly floated toward him as Yggdrasil kept speaking.

“The original mirror mask was destroyed when the Unique Lifeform fell, but I reformed it and transferred many of the Records from the true mask into the mirror, and alongside that, the Soulbound connection you had to it. As the masks remained connected eternally, it shall grow in tandem with the Unique Lifeform, but in the event of your demise, rather than the Unique Lifeform suffering a disastrous injury to his soul, the mask will simply return to his possession.”