Chapter 152: The Beginning
The Goddess of Elegance sat up on the divine throne. Her fair hands, like lotus roots, rested on the throne. She gazed at Her son and spoke earnestly: “Your father and I love you dearly, and a path to godhood is the best gift I can give you. Though it may not be the most powerful, the stronger the path, the fiercer the competition, and the higher the risk of failure!”
“You are right, Mother Goddess! The path of Drama is the most suitable for me.” Ronamos, standing dutifully by Her side, said gratefully.
“You should know that to achieve the Legendary rank, you must have your epic tales sung by mortals.” The Goddess of Elegance gazed at Her son and continued:
“Eternal Epic Heroes are known for their eternal epic. Their strength is not necessarily greater than that of a Legendary Hero, but!
Even if mortals cease to sing their stories, and even if no one remembers their names, their power will never diminish!
This is because the Epic Hero has completely solidified both the Noble Phantasm projected from their Mental World and the sung epic tales. They will forever remain in their peak state.
For most beings, the Epic Hero is the end of the supernatural path.”
Her gaze was distant, as if recalling something. She spoke softly, almost whispering:
“Although they possess a lifespan of ten thousand years, and their Noble Phantasms are unique, allowing them to even defeat and strike down a Deity, an Epic Hero is still not a Deity. They can defeat a Deity for a time, but they cannot kill them.”
“What kind of powerful Noble Phantasm could possibly defeat a Deity!” Ronamos couldn’t help but ask. The Goddess of Elegance did not answer him but continued speaking to Herself:
“Only by refining divinity from the Noble Phantasm, or by being granted a divine authority by a Deity, does one gain the qualification to ignite the divine spark and leave a mark on the Great Source of the world, becoming a Demigod—an existence with an immortal divine spark and eternal life.”
“If you become a Demigod, you can be considered a divine reserve.”
The Goddess of Elegance looked at Ronamos with immense hope. She placed infinite expectations on Her only son.
“For a Demigod to become a true Deity, they must spend their endless life using the divine fire to refine their Noble Phantasm. They must then communicate with the Great Source of the world, leave an imprint on the Great Source, and let the Great Source elevate the Noble Phantasm into a Divinity, gaining a Divine Authority as feedback. Only when the Divine Fire, the Divinity, and the Divine Authority are unified can they truly ascend to godhood.”
“Such an ordinary god is also called a Free God.”
“Some Deities follow the path of other Chief Gods, and their Divinity and Divine Authority are secondary acquisitions. The Chief God can revoke them at any time, so these common Deities are called Subordinate Gods.”
This was extremely secret knowledge. Not every Son of God knew it. Only a Deity like the Goddess of Elegance, who had recently attained godhood and retained a strong maternal bond, would educate Her child about these matters.
“Do you know why naturally born Deities rarely utilize worship, Ronamos?” The Goddess of Elegance asked, leaning back languidly on the divine throne.
“Your son does not know,” Ronamos replied honestly.
The Goddess of Elegance smiled faintly and said softly:
“For naturally born Deities, the worship of mortals is merely supplemental and not absolutely necessary. Even without mortals, it does not affect their immortality.”
“This is because their Divine Fire, Divinity, and Divine Authority are perfectly unified, and they can communicate with the domain of the Great Source at any time, acquiring power directly from the Great Source without relying on worship.”
“If I could fully communicate with the domain of Elegance in the Great Source, merely by having the style of elegance prevail among all creatures in the Inner Plane, even if no one knew my divine name, I could acquire infinite power!”
The Goddess of Elegance looked at Her son, who was listening intently, and continued: “Unfortunately, my Divine Fire, Divinity, and Divine Authority have not yet unified. I cannot fully communicate with the domain of Elegance in the Great Source. Therefore, I need a substitute to stabilize my divine position. And this substitute is not worship!”
“Worship is the last resort. We have our Divine Authority. By acting in accordance with our domain, we achieve unity between the self and the Great Source. This does not mean we lose our self-identity. On the contrary, we gain a clearer recognition of the self and maintain our true spirit.”
“The power of worship, however, is different. It can momentarily allow a Golden Hero to break through to the Legendary rank, forcibly allow an Eternal Epic Hero to reach the Demigod realm, and even allow a Demigod to gather the faith of all sentient beings, achieving the trinity and ascending to godhood!”
“But this kind of quick success comes at a price. A Deity forged by worship, whose virtue does not match their position, is blinded by the faith of sentient beings. They do not pursue unity with the Great Source of their own accord but are pushed by the beliefs of the masses. They become a puppet of sentient beings!”
The Goddess of Elegance solemnly revealed a secret hidden within the rise and fall of civilizations over the past 200,000 years of the Kaya world: Deities of Worship have indeed appeared!
She changed Her posture and continued:
“We are Deities, possessing the immense power to suppress all dissent. We must be the ones guiding ourselves, not driven by ants.”
“In countless cycles of civilization creation and annihilation, the Deities discovered that once a nation’s population exceeds 100,000, forming a city, and is effectively managed, it will form an Authority sufficient to stabilize a common Deity’s divine position.”
“Consequently, civilizations in the form of large empires gradually vanished. The last one was in the previous civilization, which was established with His Majesty the God-King’s permission to resist the invasion of Devils and Demons into the Inner Plane of the world.”
“The Empire’s Authority was too high, causing its Emperor to develop rebellious thoughts. Even with the God-King’s immense suppression, the Emperor still achieved Demigod status. He even temporarily possessed the strength to challenge a Titan Chief God, leveraging the Empire and the Steampunk civilization.”
“After that, a new cycle of civilization began. No matter how active the Abyss and the Hells become, His Majesty will never allow a large empire to emerge again.”
The Goddess of Elegance stood up and took Ronamos’s hand, saying:
“The conversion of the Northern March into an Abyssal Projection by the Demons is a crisis we must resolve. Even if we cannot reclaim the Northern March, we must contain the Demons there. Medimus City-State concerns the divine path of us both, Mother and Son!”
“Why is our city-state not called Medea, but Medimus? Because this city-state is destined to sustain two Deities!”
Ronamos, held by Medea, the Goddess of Elegance, felt a warmth in his heart. This was the love of a mother. Even as a Goddess, She was still a great mother.
“Mother, I will prepare now and travel to Grandmother’s domain. I will definitely set foot on the divine path and become a Deity!”
Just as Ronamos and Medea were sharing this moment of deep affection, in the divine domain of Gana, the Lord of the Sea, Gana sat upon His wave-formed divine throne. Pontos, the Son of the Sea, stood respectfully beside Him.
“You are too impatient, Pontos! You engaged in grand worship rituals and transformed the entire human populace of the city into Merfolk! Do you realize that your actions have crossed the boundary set by His Majesty the God-King?” Gana, the Lord of the Sea, spoke calmly to Pontos. Pontos, a giant made of water, was profusely sweating cold water.
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