On Farlan Island at that moment, the family's original estate had been reactivated to serve as a reception hall for distinguished guests from the continent.
Even though Baron Jonas had dispatched every person under his command, he was still woefully short-handed in the face of such a flood of visitors. What made matters worse was that guests from the continent kept pouring in without cease — particularly from the Western Desert and the Northern Regions, where those factions' envoys arrived later than those from the other coastal nations, despite being able to receive magical messages instantly.
These latecomers had no choice but to find lodgings at Morningstar Port, which ironically brought a massive windfall to the local merchants — prices of all goods surged more than fivefold overnight.
Baron Jonas scrambled to deal with guests arriving from every direction, though a sense of disbelief still lingered in his heart.
"Leilin! My son — has he really become a Legendary powerhouse?"
Baron Jonas and his wife felt as though they had been riding a roller coaster these past few days.
Even as relatively remote nobles, they were still well aware of the power system of the
A Legendary! That was the caliber of powerhouse who could influence an entire kingdom's territory! Bards everywhere sang of their deeds — figures of eternal exaltation!
Yet now their child — Leilin — had become one of them!
The sheer enormity of this contrast left Baron Jonas feeling as though he had been living in a dream these past few days. Fortunately, with Butler Lane's tireless assistance, nothing had spiraled out of control.
Meanwhile, the other guests were also discussing this young Legendary
"Tsk tsk… a Legendary Wizard who hasn't even turned twenty-five! Lord Leilin has rewritten the continent's entire history!"
"There are rumors that he might be a Chosen of the Lady of Wealth — otherwise, there's simply no way to explain this pace of advancement…"
"Even a Chosen could only surge forward on the path of a Cleric. Forcing a Wizard's rank upward would require enormous divine power and expenditure, even for the Goddess of the
Clearly, this envoy possessed a deeper understanding of the rules and mysteries of transcendent power: "In my opinion, the most reasonable explanation is that His Lordship possesses some kind of hidden talent…"
"Word has it that the Legendary Wizard Lord previously engaged in piracy, and has even been researching certain forbidden fields from the Netherese era…"
A less-than-harmonious voice interjected — clearly someone driven by jealousy and hostility.
"Before reaching Legendary, those would certainly be serious problems! But now… virtually every Legendary Wizard has dabbled in unique research fields from that dark age. Using that to condemn him would be impossible. As for piracy — didn't you see that even the chief court Wizard of Danbres has shown up?"
The final speaker's resonant words carried undeniable logic, and in that moment, even the earlier sour voice had nothing left to say.
After a long silence, someone finally let out a sigh: "So this is what it means to be Legendary…"
In that voice, there was infinite yearning.
At that very moment, Lei Lin — the one being fervently discussed by countless factions and emissaries — had mysterulously sequestered himself inside the Wizard Tower, seldom showing his face.
Inside a secret chamber, Lei Lin wore a loose outer robe, his golden hair cascading smoothly over his shoulders.
Yet beneath that brilliant golden sheen, faint threads of dark red light flickered at the tips of his hair, giving him an eerily sinister appearance.
Though Lei Lin had not undergone a complete Nightmare transformation, his body was nonetheless covered in dark red runes, and a thin crimson line on his forehead was slowly opening, revealing a dreamlike glow.
In this state, his sensitivity to the power of faith and emotion had become far sharper.
Through the pull of dream power, he could see scene after scene of those who chanted his true name — their actions, their joys and sorrows, their anger and grief, and everything else…
Upon stepping into the Legendary realm, both life essence and soul underwent sublimation — it was also the beginning of the path to godhood.
In truth, a powerhouse at this level could already vaguely sense the prayers of believers and even offer vague responses. If one could gather a loyal flock of faithful, then through years upon years of worship and the accumulation of faith — along with one's own continuous advancement — it was quite possible for divinity to be born within. One could even ignite the divine fire to become a Demigod, and from there walk the path of a deity.
However, any act of proselytizing below the level of a True God was considered a tremendous taboo in the eyes of the pantheon and the churches, met with severe suppression and resolutely stamped out.
This restriction applied not only to Legendary Wizards, but to holders of divinity and Demigods as well.
From this decree, Lei Lin could see the hostility and resistance the gods held toward latecomers. Unless one was lucky enough to ascend to godhood in a single stroke, or had the backing of a mighty divine patron, for a native of the Material World to successfully achieve godhood was an exceedingly difficult and perilous endeavor.
The halls of the gods were already gradually reaching capacity, and they had no desire to see yet more newcomers join their ranks.
"Still, even without this restriction, Legendary Wizards, divinity holders, and Demigods would find it nearly impossible to compete with the churches of the True
Lei Lin sighed.
A Legendary powerhouse could only sense prayers and offer vague responses. A divinity holder merely made those responses somewhat clearer. A Demigod could bestow divine magic, but only spells of the first five tiers. Only a True God who possessed a Divine Domain could grant the full spectrum of divine magic from the first tier to the ninth!
The common folk of the Material World were no fools — in such a competition, whom they would choose was all too obvious.
Not to mention that, in order to protect their faith, the gods had imposed all these restrictions upon the extraordinary beings of the mortal realm.
"Although I've only just crossed the threshold into Legendary, with the aid of the Eye of the Nightmare, my mastery over the threads of faith even surpasses that of some lesser gods. Apart from being unable to bestow divine magic, there's hardly any difference between me and those True Gods. And what's even more critical… the Nightmare energy-absorbing physique can also absorb emotional power, giving me an entirely additional source of strength beyond what the True Gods possess…"
Lei Lin took stock of his advantages.
If the [Legendary]s' ability to sense the prayers of their various believers was like an old radio with poor reception, then the Nightmare energy-absorbing physique was like an antenna for Lei Lin, dramatically enhancing his ability to capture and perceive the myriad signals drifting through the void.
Moreover, although emotional power was a full tier below faith power in terms of energy level, its sources were far more widespread — inferior in quality, but vastly superior in quantity.
The gods couldn't utilize emotional power because its quality was too poor and too chaotic, but the Nightmare energy-absorbing physique didn't care about such things — it could be put to effective use.
This single advantage alone increased Lei Lin's chances of ascension by over fifty percent!
Yes! Ascension! After reaching the [Legendary] tier, Lei Lin had turned his gaze squarely toward the matter of ascending to godhood.
He would never halt his steps over a handful of worldly praise and flattery. The eyes of one who transcended were forever fixed on the more profound shores beyond the stars.
"To become a [True God]! Both [Divine Fire] and [Divine Domain] are indispensable! [Divine Fire] is essentially a qualitative transformation that occurs once [Divine Nature] accumulates to a certain threshold, while the Divine Domain requires the ascendant's understanding of the laws, combined with the power of believers' prayers…"
In matters of ascension, the well-prepared Lei Lin had already accumulated a wealth of experience.
"The combination of believers' faith and prayer power can actually aid a god in comprehending the laws, forming the special structure of a [Divine Domain]! The rules of this world of gods are truly wondrous…"
Lei Lin mused quietly on the matter. As for [Divine Rank] — that was a god's own mark of power, something only obtainable after becoming a [True God].
The [Divine Kingdom] was the same! It was a dimension constructed on the periphery by a [True God], a realm to house the souls of believers, and also the god's very stronghold!
Within their own [Divine Kingdom], gods could often unleash truly astonishing power. During the previous Final War, those ancient Wizards who didn't understand this secret suffered greatly within [Divine Kingdoms] — some even perished directly.
"For me right now, [Divine Rank] and [Divine Kingdom] are still too far off. The most critical thing is to gather a batch of potential believers and attempt to obtain [Divine Nature]! Then continuously accumulate faith and ignite the [Divine Fire] to achieve [Demigod] status as quickly as possible!"
"The first batch of believers is crucial! Their prayers and ideals can even influence the image and the domain of authority of the [True God], and the clergy who tend to the believers on the god's behalf are the most important of all!"
At this thought, Lei Lin couldn't help but feel somewhat troubled.
Although the entire outer sea of Danbules was now his territory, it was still a newly developed region, and the civilized population remained far too small.
As for the
Could you possibly have a bunch of devils take over the role of clergy? Lei Lin seriously suspected those believers would end up praying inside the bellies of the very Gluttony demons they served.
The reason Lei Lin had accepted Beilu-Sebabu's church and believers was twofold: on one hand, he valued their complete and mature organizational structure, and on the other, it was to rapidly bolster his own power.
After his advancement to Legendary rank, he was already confident enough to take over the entire Beilu-Sebabu believer network, instantly gaining a covert church that spanned the whole continent.
And through this framework, cultivating the next generation of clergy had become an urgent priority.
He had already begun working on this front — the devil worshippers in the Kingdom of Danbres had started taking in wandering orphans and the like, sending them to the barony in the northern territories controlled by Tifa for secret training and education.
Plans for emigration overseas had also been placed on the agenda.
"The races of our believers will need attention as well. Race gods may be powerful, but they are far too narrow-minded..."