God's Slave: Reincarnated Into an Academy of Heavenly Descendants

Chapter 165: Meaning Of Nolan Gottschald

Slowly, he rose and stepped forward towards Nolan, whose hands clenched tighter around the hilt of his dagger, preparing for the fight of his life.

But the man had both of his hands in his pockets, his face filled with an unbothered calmness.

"Do you have any idea what the origin of your name is, Nolan Gottschald?" the figure asked once more, stopping about fifteen meters away from him.

"Your name..." he began again as Nolan's ears perked up, though he kept his guard up.

"Your name was given to you by us, and by them."

"Shared in half!" The man said, and Nolan's eyes narrowed.

The person before him seemed no older than twenty-seven or so.

Yet, he was referring to himself as one of the people who had named Nolan?

"Your first name is the one given to you by your own people. Nolan!" he continued, turning his gaze away from Nolan and reclining against the wall, staring at the distant moon in the sky.

"The name Nolan means 'noble.'"

"I like to think it means 'strength,' and some of your people will argue that it signifies 'leadership.'"

"Whatever way they framed it, I guess it wouldn't be wrong to say it's a name meant for someone of exceptional birth and status, don't you agree?" he asked, turning his head back to Nolan, who remained with his guard up, dagger pointed at the stranger.

"Will it save you?" the man asked suddenly.

Nolan's grip tightened on the dagger.

"What do you mean?" he asked cautiously.

"Your dagger. Will it save you?" The man repeated with a mocking smirk, his gaze fixed on Nolan's glowing weapon.

'How strong is he?' Nolan wondered, seeking the answer from the system, only to be left stunned by the response.

[I don't know.]

'What!?'

"Put your dagger away. I won't hurt you," the man said, his voice so soothing that Nolan found himself lowering the dagger before he even realized what he was doing.

The weapon disappeared back into him almost against Nolan's will.

If even the system, which had easily deciphered everyone else's power levels before now couldn't gauge this man's strength, then surely the dagger wouldn't save Nolan from death.

And strangely, Nolan found himself wanting to listen to him.

"You seem to know a lot about me," Nolan said, holding the man's gaze for a long while before finally breaking eye contact.

"What's the meaning of 'Nolan'?" he suddenly asked, almost in a whisper.

It was a strange question, one Nolan wasn't expecting, but he had just been told the answer minutes ago.

"It means 'nobility'," he answered, and the man spoke again.

"Then what does 'Gottschald' mean?" he asked.

Nolan remained silent.

His silence was answer enough.

"'Gottschald' means 'God's slave,'" the man said, the word "slave" echoing in Nolan's mind.

His breathing grew shallow, and his heart seemed to weigh heavier in his chest—a reaction not missed by the stranger.

"Your people didn't give you that name, Nolan."

"So, can you guess who did?" the man asked.

Nolan's brow furrowed as he thought deeply before a bizarre answer surfaced in his mind.

"You know, don't you?" the man asked with a smile.

"The Celestial One?" Nolan answered, and he watched as the man's smile twisted into one of irritation.

"Calling them that is giving them too much praise. Call them the Bastard Ones!" he said, his tone dead seriou and Nolan could tell he wasn't joking.

Just as quickly as the anger had come, it dissipated, and the man straightened himself, once again looking up at the sky in the far distance.

"Took them long enough," he mused, clicking his tongue.

Nolan turned to look in the same direction but saw nothing.

"Our meeting today is short, Nolan. But you learned something, didn't you?" the man said as he stretched his back and began walking away from him.

In the next instant, Nolan witnessed a brilliant blue light flaring in front of the man.

A glowing vortex formed in the air, and calmly, he walked into it, stopping at the last second to give Nolan a side glance.

"We gave you the name Nolan, never Gottschald," he said one last time before disappearing into the vortex.

The blue aura dissipated into nothing, and the world returned to normal once more.

[Leave.]

[Leave now!] the system urged him hastily, and without a shred of doubt, Nolan bolted from where he stood, racing back to where he had come from.

Less than five minutes after Nolan had left, an incredibly powerful wave of energy blasted across the area as five figures, dressed in pure white garments, appeared where the portal had once been.

Their gazes scanned the entire area.

"He escaped..." one of the figures said.

"More like he simply wandered into the academy, ignoring all of the runic infiltration devices, and left just as easily as he came."

"The Judgers need to be informed of his awakening."

"His capability for destruction is nearly unmatched."

"Who knows what chaos he could cause if allowed to roam freely in this realm," another suggested.

In the next instant, the space around the area rippled like the surface of disturbed water, and the five figures faded into thin air.

Silence filled the air once more, everything floating in a calm stillness.

Yet, a ripple soon disturbed the surface of the water, and slowly, a head emerged.

It was the head tip of a golden snake adorned with brilliantly flaring golden scales.

It rose up for about five seconds, it's golden pupils looking at the bridge where Nolan, the Mysterious handsome man and the Academy Staffs had remained before dipping back into the water, leaving everything calm once again.

-----

"We gave you the name Nolan, never Gottschald!"

"We gave you the name Nolan, never Gottschald!"

"We gave you the name Nolan, never Gottschald!"

The words replayed in Nolan's mind as he looked out of the window, staring at the half-moon decorated by stars in the sky.

The interaction with the figure kept repeating in his head, over and over again, like a broken record playing the same part endlessly.

[Don't think too much about it...] the system said, almost as if it could read his mind.

Nolan stayed quiet for a while, thinking about the man's words.

He had said that Nolan's first name meant nobility, yet the name 'Gottschald' meant 'God's slave.'

How contrasting was that?

And then he had learned that the first name, which meant nobility, had been given by 'his' people, but the other name, which meant 'slave,' had been given by the Celestial Ones themselves.

Nolan couldn't understand how that was even possible. Weren't names given by one's parents?

He also noticed how his normally dull blue eyes had lit up when the figure appeared before him.

"Activate System Interface..."

Nolan ordered, and a notification panel appeared before him.

He moved to a tab that he didn't check very often.

---

[Descents]

[First Descent: Greek Pantheon]

[Pantheon Type: Kratos]

[Second Descent: King Pantheon]

[Pantheon Type: Trimurti]

[Third Descent: ??????]

[Pantheon Type: Unknown]

---

"My right eye is flaming red, and it fits the perfect description of someone from the Kratos descent," Nolan murmured.

"My dull blue eyes... no doubt, they belong to a different bloodline. Could it be the one that has yet to awaken?" he mused, furrowing his brows.

"Why didn't it awaken like the one tied to my Kratos bloodline?" Nolan couldn't help but ask himself.

Somehow, he felt that right now, he wasn't at his full potential.

He felt like he was only a shadow of his true self and power.

That feeling had increased tenfold when he met that man, the 'perfection' of a man.

"What did you mean when you said you couldn't sense his strength?" Nolan suddenly asked the system.

He remembered how it had told him it didn't know the man's strength, a fact that had shocked him speechless even now, hours after the encounter.

[I don't know. Don't ask!]

the system responded, its tone showing a reluctance to delve deeper into the topic.

Nolan sighed and turned away.

'I need answers. I know...' he thought silently to himself, his gaze unfocused.

Somehow, Nolan felt like he had been thrown into the middle of a vast, loud ocean, tossed around in a storm, unable to regain control.

'I need answers...' he repeated quietly, feeling the weight of uncertainty pressing down on him.

Yet through everything, Nolan also felt doubt.

The truth was he wasn't Nolan Gotschald. He wasn't the real person. He was a Reincarnator who simply took the body.

He was never the real person. He had no clan or whatever the background or origin that this body was.

Nothing about this world had nothing to do with him.

He was afraid of bracing up that which he knew well wasn't his load to bear.

He didn't want to live his second lifetime fighting a battle that was truly never his to fought.

Living for the person whose body he simply possessed.

Somehow he felt fear from wanting to go too deep within the origin of this body.

He felt in way all that would end up within would be nothing more than ceaseless headaches for him.