"Demigod! So this is a demigod!"
Feeling the lines of faith connecting through the void grow ever more solid, and sensing that terrifying spark of origin—the Divine Fire—within his body, Leilin murmured under his breath.
He slowly extended his right hand. On his clearly lined palm, a thread of golden power instantly surfaced.
This power seemed to possess an extremely high essence, and it could be freely converted into any form of energy—battle aura, magic, and everything in between.
"Divine Power?"
The massive stockpile of faith had now been refined by the Divine Fire, spewing forth tremendous quantities of divine power that flooded every corner of Leilin's body. It even gave him the illusion that he could tear the world apart.
[Ding! This upgrade is complete!]
The Chip's voice rang out again at this moment. With Leilin's soul having ascended into the unique Divine Soul of a deity, the Chip itself seemed to have gained some ineffable benefits.
[Ding! Host has ignited the Divine Fire! Ascended to Demigod!]
By now, the Chip had fully recovered and plunged into an enormous scanning operation. After all, Leilin's data had undergone yet another earth-shattering transformation.
[Ding! Host's all attributes +5!]
[Host's
[Ding! Host's all attributes have broken through 20! Intermediate Perfect Body has advanced, gaining Demigod Talent bonus—Intermediate Perfect Body upgraded to
[Ding! Auxiliary system performance enhanced, processing capacity increased! Magic Web levels 8 and 9: 100% analysis complete! All spell templates acquired, immunity to spell forgetting, all spellcasting requires no material components!]
These were clearly the attribute and ability boosts brought about by igniting the Divine Fire, but the sheer magnitude of the increase was enough to unnerve even Leilin himself.
Under the rules of the
Therefore, a flat +5 to all attributes didn't mean Leilin's strength had improved by a mere half—it meant a terrifying several-fold, even several-dozen-fold surge!
[Ding! Detected extreme changes in host data and physical information. Rescanning and recalculating data…]
Almost the instant the notification sounded, the Chip displayed Leilin's current status on the screen.
[Leilin Farell — Race: Human (Demigod) — Arcanist Level: 27 — Strength: 21 — Agility: 21 — Constitution: 21 — Spirit: 27 — Arcane Energy: 270 — Divine Power Value: ??? — Status: Healthy — Talents: Legendary Fortitude, Encyclopedic Knowledge, Dream Sight, Transcendent Adaptation, Divine Body — Specializations: Legendary Primordial Sensing, Arcane Amplification, Illusion Mastery] [Outer Magic Web analysis progress: 100%! Commencing penetration into the Inner Magic Web!]
"So once the entire outer layer of the Magic Web has been breached, I move into the Inner Magic Web's divine arts and faith networks? How convenient—I've just ascended to Demigod and already possess partial authority over the Inner Magic Web…"
Leilin pondered for a moment, then turned his attention to the talent description for Divine Body.
[Divine Body: The deity's true form is composed entirely of divine power and can be freely reshaped. Environmental resistance raised to maximum. Grants Outer Planar travel capability! Permanently inscribes Tongue of Tongues! Grants Transcendent Damage Reduction and Transcendent Spell Resistance! Immune to all spell attacks of Level 9 and below; grants immunity to
"Divine Body? So this is where a true demigod's real power lies!"
Leilin silently sighed as he read the talent description. On the defensive front, with the Divine Body talent, vanishingly few beings in the mortal world could harm him.
And the spells and arcane arts he could now cast using Divine Power would become the sharpest weapons in his arsenal.
"The only issue is that Divine Power Value still can't be quantified—I'll need to define a concrete unit for it and work out the patterns on my own…"
"More critically, I can now bestow divine arts upon priests. Even if the maximum is only fifth level…"
The instincts of divinity told Leilin instantly which specific divine arts he could grant to his priests.
"Essentially all blessing and healing-enhancement types, plus two additional templates—Detect Fiend and Slaughter's Blessing?"
A dense array of divine arts materialized before Leilin's eyes, each accompanied by a detailed description.
From first-level Bless, Cure Light Wounds, and Command, to second-level Bear's Endurance, Bull's Strength, and Cure Moderate Wounds, all the way up to fifth-level Mass Cure Light Wounds and Monster Summoning V—the repertoire was virtually complete.
The two extra divine art templates gave Leilin pause for thought.
Priests' divine art templates were largely similar across deities, though they sometimes reflected the personal characteristics of the god in question.
In Leilin's case, he excelled at identifying fiends and possessed the Slaughter domain, so his priests could receive Detect Fiend and Slaughter's Blessing.
"All in all, with the ability to bestow divine arts, a Demigod can establish a church and won't be entirely without competitive strength on the continent… After all, aside from the divine arts being limited in level, there is no fundamental difference between a Demigod and a true god. And during the founding period, in order to attract followers, the concessions made to believers are the most generous…"
Only after reaching Demigod could one truly begin to build a church. Leilin had clearly leapt ahead of schedule. Had it not been for his exceptional abilities and his inheritance of the fiends' and natives' legacies, things would not have gone nearly so smoothly.
But now, at last, his church had a solid foundation. He could begin to contest faith with other gods.
Beings of their kind—Demigods—had a specific designation in the World of Gods: False
These False Gods were also the targets of the Guardian God Hem and his church.
However, Leilin's power base was still firmly rooted on Bankitz Island, so he had nothing to fear on that front.
The False God churches on the mainland were the ones in a wretched state—some had even been forced by Hem's church to flee underground. Even originally benevolent gods had undergone alignment shifts.
The dramatic transformation ended in what felt like an instant. Although an eternity seemed to have passed for Leilin himself, for the four Demigods waiting outside the Tide of Primordial Force—Akeban and the others—Leilin's ascension had taken only a few short minutes.
"He's coming out!"
Akeban's expression was grave as he fixed his gaze on the figure that emerged after the Primordial Force Tide dissipated.
Leilin now wore a white robe conjured from divine power. His face was unchanged from before, but an immense majesty radiated from his person, along with the unmistakable aura of a Demigod's Divine Fire—something no impostor could replicate.
"You truly are blessed by the Sea of Primordial Force!"
Akeban stared hard at Leilin, his eyes heavy with gravity and an unconcealable hint of… jealousy!
Beside him, the Twin-Headed Lion and the Golden Scorpion, as well as the Fire Steed beneath the latter, wore identical expressions.
"I am the Devouring Serpent… the Lord of Slaughter, Master of All Fiends… the Feathered Serpent God,
The power of divinity flashed through Leilin's eyes. He paid no attention to the four Demigods across from him, instead issuing a solemn declaration.
A colossal phantom of a winged serpent materialized above Hope Fortress, proclaiming Leilin's sovereignty and might!
Having ascended to Demigod, he could finally cast off the constraints of his former weakness and face his believers in his true form.
"My Lord! You are the master of our souls, the redemption of this world…"
In that instant, the numerous priests who had been praying were startled to find several divine arts suddenly appear within their bodies. These divine arts functioned like spell slots—requiring only a single thought to unleash.
Even the most dim-witted among them could tell that the Feathered Serpent God Kukulkan had undergone a tremendous ascension, and jubilant cheers erupted forth.
The vast corps of priests now possessed enough power to suppress all opposition.
Though divine arts still had shortcomings compared to arcane spells, training priests was far faster and easier than cultivating mages—and in terms of scale, the latter simply could not compare.
This power of divine arts also served as a formidable deterrent to the remaining natives.
In truth, no matter what arrangements Akeban had previously made in the mortal world, his schemes were now doomed to fail.
The thunderous cheers, together with the surging tide of faith, instantly formed towering waves of divine power around Leilin.
"This is bad! Now that he's become a Demigod, this is his home ground—retreat!"
As flawed earthbound spirits, Akeban and his fellow Demigods shared the weakness of native totem spirits: once they left the range of their own faithful, their power would steadily dwindle, further suppressed by the domains of other gods.
When Leilin had still been only a divinity holder, this disadvantage had been barely noticeable. But now he was a Demigod, and under suppression at the same tier, the effect was devastating.
Akeban had harbored hopes of overpowering Leilin with four Demigods, but after witnessing Leilin's true strength, even this founding emperor of the natives could not suppress the fear rising in his heart.
"You invaded my divine domain, and now you wish to leave? Don't you think that's a bit late?"
The Slaughter Domain unfurled, staining the entire sky blood-red.
Having reached the Demigod rank, this already formidable domain seemed to have finally awakened its true power!
"I hold dominion over Slaughter! The blood of gods shall fuel my strength! The wails of gods shall sustain my vigor… Your bones shall become my scepter, your eyes shall become my pearls…"
Amid what sounded like a hymn and a curse rolled into one, Leilin's figure instantaneously appeared before the Twin-Headed Lion.
"Roarrrr!"
The Demigod Twin-Headed Lion sensed danger closing in. From its Divine Soul erupted a surge of wild madness as twin shockwaves charged with divine power blasted forth from both lion heads.