Becoming a God Starts with Acting-Chapter 418: True Colors Revealed

"The shell Silvanus gave me is gone." Ariana sat on her chair, speaking with a hint of grievance.

The others could not help but look over.

Everyone knew that Ariana was one of the few people who spent time with Silvanus. Earlier, there had even been rumors that the two of them were a couple, though for some reason those rumors had quickly died down.

As for the shell, they all knew about it as well. Ariana adored it. There was hardly a day when she did not take it out to admire it. The shell was indeed beautiful, and many people had gathered to look at it. Whether noble or commoner, none of them had ever been to Aqualon, so such an item was extremely rare.

Over time, however, most people had grown a little bored of it. Only Ariana’s so-called "close friends" still hovered around her, flattering her.

Now, upon hearing Ariana say this, one of them could not help but speak up. "That’s such a pity. That shell was really beautiful."

Ariana frowned slightly in secret. She did not know why the shell had suddenly disappeared. In truth, she suspected some of the people in the class, but without evidence, she did not dare accuse anyone recklessly.

At that moment, she lifted her chin and said loudly, "It’s fine. Silvanus will give me something else."

The others could not help but gasp in admiration when they heard that.

"Ariana, the relationship between you two is really good."

"Yeah, Silvanus even takes you along on missions..."

In their class, the Aether Healers, going out on Hunter missions required strong teams to ensure that they only needed to stay in the back and provide healing, rather than charge into battle.

Of course, there were also people who were both skilled healers and proficient in other kinds of magic, but such individuals were usually very rare. None of the people Ariana associated with were like that.

"Doing missions with Silvanus must be really easy..." someone could not help saying. Everyone knew that Silvanus’s abilities were currently unrivaled in the entire Academy.

Ariana could not help recalling the two missions they had done before. Indeed, she had not needed to do much. Almost all the fighting had been handled by Silvanus and Matthew.

Moreover, they had not been seriously injured. The minor wounds they did sustain could even be healed by themselves. They had practically not let Ariana run into any trouble at all. Even so, hearing the tone of her friends, Ariana could not help feeling a little annoyed.

She pouted. "How could it be that easy? No matter what, I still have to contribute. Besides, Silvanus doesn’t like people just sitting around. Even if he can handle everything himself, he still always makes me do something!"

The others could not help but pause for a moment when they heard that.

"So that’s how it is..."

Someone joked, "What if he’s actually interested in you? Maybe he’s trying to get your attention?"

"Hahaha."

The group burst into laughter. Ariana quietly flushed red but did not refute it, even though she knew that Silvanus only regarded her as a younger sister.

"Tap, tap."

At that moment, two light knocking sounds, like knuckles tapping against a tabletop, suddenly rang out. They were soft, yet they shattered the cheerful atmosphere.

Everyone instinctively looked over.

They saw Matthew standing there, smiling at them. The light passing through his round lenses made him look even more approachable and harmless.

Different from his former nickname as a useless bookworm, Matthew had now become a friendly bookworm, his smile winning him a great deal of goodwill.

Everyone quickly greeted him cheerfully, paying no attention to Ariana suddenly stiffening.

She lifted her eyes and met Matthew’s gaze.

Matthew smiled faintly. "Ariana, let’s go. Silvanus is already waiting for us."

That’s right. This was their third mission in the past two months, and it was time to depart.

Ariana hurriedly stood up, smiling on the surface as she said goodbye to the others. In truth, her heart was in turmoil, frantically wondering whether Matthew had heard what she had just said...

Indeed, Ariana was far more afraid of Matthew than of Silvanus. It was a strange feeling. She could say whatever she wanted about Silvanus, but she did not dare utter a single careless word about Matthew. It felt as though he could appear at any moment... just like now.

Anxious and distracted, Ariana could only follow closely behind Matthew, not noticing that they had entered an empty corridor.

It was not until Matthew stopped that Ariana seemed to wake from a dream.

At that moment, Matthew turned around as well. The hem of his pure white cloak left a streak of light in the air.

Ariana faced Matthew. There was no trace of a smile left on his face now. His eyes were cold, utterly devoid of emotion, as they fixed on Ariana.

Ariana parted her lips. Her heart pounded wildly as a sense of danger crashed over her. By instinct, she clenched her fists. Her whole body curled in slightly, trembling.

Impossible. They were friends, weren’t they? Haha. Why would he...

Clearly, long ago, she had looked at Matthew with disdain. Since when had she begun to fear him?

Ah. Maybe it was that day... 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

During their second mission, they had run into the Mantis Guild again. By coincidence, the leader was still that short man who had said Silvanus would soon regret his decision.

Ariana recalled the scene from that day. Fresh blood. Sticky, squelching sounds, like those made by some bizarre creature, or perhaps a rodent.

The next day, that short man disappeared. People searched for days but did not find even a single strand of his hair.

Everyone guessed that he had died, or perhaps gone into hiding. No one truly knew. Only Ariana knew the truth, though even she only knew that Matthew had killed him. She did not know where Matthew had disposed of the body.

But ever since that day, the way Ariana looked at Matthew had changed. Only then did she notice things she had never paid attention to before.

Matthew always looked at her with cold eyes whenever she clung to Silvanus, or when she deliberately shirked her duties during missions.

Before, she had thought Matthew was like Silvanus and would not care if she slacked off a little. But no. Matthew cared, and he cared far more than that.

Imagining that Matthew might have heard what she had said earlier, Ariana swallowed hard. She forced a stiff smile, pretending not to notice anything strange about him. "Matthew, why did we come here? Isn’t Silvanus waiting for us?"

Matthew looked at Ariana’s panic-stricken expression, impossible to hide, and suddenly smiled slightly. "That day, you saw it, didn’t you, Ariana?"

Like a bolt of lightning, Ariana froze. Tears immediately streamed down her face. "Matthew..."

As she spoke, she instinctively stepped backward, only to realize that at some point, an invisible wall had already blocked her path.

She almost immediately dropped to her knees. "Matthew, I know you only did that because he dared to say something inappropriate about Silvanus. I never wanted to tell anyone!"

Matthew smiled faintly. "Then does Silvanus like you? Has Silvanus ever let you rush into danger?"

As expected, Ariana thought. As expected. Matthew really had heard everything.

She hurriedly shook her head, tears pouring down. "No. I’m sorry... Matthew, I really didn’t mean it..."

"It’s fine." At that moment, Matthew suddenly spoke again.

Ariana looked up in a daze and saw Matthew lowering his head to look at her, a faint smile on his lips. "Just keep saying things like that. Say that Silvanus despises the weak, to the point that you can no longer go on missions with him. And... this will be the last mission you take part in with us."

Matthew’s voice hardened slightly, making the words "with us" feel especially heavy, as if proving that Ariana had always been nothing more than an outsider.

He and Silvanus had grown up together, survived together until today. Matthew had always seen Ariana as a thorn in his side, a foolish girl who constantly wanted to drive a wedge between them. Despicable.