Chapter 460: Severing the Divine Fire

For some reason, the vast Main World had not given rise to any true gods of commerce, trade, or daily life. Perhaps such gods once existed, but during the long period spanning from the collapse of the Great Arcane Empire to the fall of the Magic Empire, a thousand years later, no such history was found in the Main World.
It might be because the gods deliberately controlled things.
The Main Material World was one of the most important origins in the universe. Countless true god-level entities restrained one another, keeping all beings within it, resulting in a situation where various factions thrived across different planes, especially on the continents of the Main World. Development remained stuck at a level similar to the medieval era of his past life. If any mortals attempted to develop powers beyond the legendary level, it would pose a threat to the gods’ rule, and they would surely suppress such attempts together. Whether it was the ancient Arcane Empire with its true god-level powers, the Gnome Technology Empire that worshipped creation, or the later Ancient Magic Empire of Banai, their destruction was always orchestrated by the gods in secret.
Although deities related to commerce had limited potential for growth and were constrained by the social structure of the Main World, once they developed, they could at least support a mid-tier god. Such deities were not easily controlled by the gods, so it must have been due to other reasons.
Therefore, it was unlikely that Donald would face pressure from the gods if he tried to create such true gods.
In his plan, he drew inspiration from the paths taken by true gods of art and poetry—those beings who were originally just ordinary people but excelled in their fields, became famous among many mortals, and eventually gained the opportunity to ascend to divinity.
As the saying goes in Donald’s country from his past life, “Skill approaches the Dao”—meaning that if one can reach a level close to the laws of a certain field, even a mortal can transcend and become sacred.
Donald now wanted to use this method to create a true god for his beloved and his own realm!
So far, the initial plans were progressing well. But Catherine was just a weak mortal. Despite gaining considerable fame, she couldn’t embrace these beliefs to achieve divinity or a divine role. Such power was too immense for her soul and body to bear. If she forced herself to accept it, she would be destroyed by the forces of divinity and faith.

So, Donald’s next step is to lay a solid foundation for Catherine, preparing her to embrace divine power and become a being of divine lineage. Once this most difficult step is accomplished, everything else will no longer be a problem for Donald, who is already a true god and wields a powerful artifact like the Book of Truth! As for Catherine’s situation, Donald already has a plan in mind, but he isn’t fully prepared yet, so he’s not in a hurry. After returning to his physical form, he brought back all the memories from the Pantheon. Full of determination, Donald decided to deliver an outcome that the Lord of Dawn never wanted to see. Thus, he left his lordly mansion and headed to the Dark Night Manor. Although he already owned several manors—ranging from the island mansion in the Emerald Dream to the island mansion by Moonlight Lake, and even the cliffside castle-style mansion on the Swordhorn Bay Peninsula—each with its own unique scenery—his first manor, built from scratch with his own design and construction, remained special. To Donald, it felt like home, filled with a sense of familiarity. Back at his mansion, Donald took a comfortable hot bath like any ordinary person, put on his pajamas, and entered the Land of Truth. According to the information obtained from the Sea God Bassetto, the demigod Axce was one of several demigods trained by the Lord of Dawn, just like Bassetto himself. However, among these demigods, only Bassetto had the potential to become a true god and fortunately seized that opportunity. The others reached their current status by relying on the Lord of Dawn’s power to ignite their divine flames. Even if they became true gods, they could only divide the Lord of Dawn’s divine powers and weaken him. This was not worth investing in for the Lord of Dawn, who always wanted to strengthen himself and gain more allies. Thus, these demigods were treated like divine messengers, responsible for conquering material realms outside the main world, without serving in the church. They could be considered half-abandoned pawns, but even so, they still held some value to the Lord of Dawn—such as handling matters he couldn’t personally deal with. Even if they failed, he could sacrifice them to protect the bigger picture. After being captured, Axce was imprisoned tightly in the Land of Truth. If he were an ordinary person, he would have been assimilated by the divine realm within a few years and could no longer survive outside it.

But with the other party’s peak demi-god strength and immortal traits, it would likely take at least several hundred years to completely wear them down. So after Donald became a true god, he could easily deal with the considerable trouble posed by Axse. However, considering that Axse might still be useful in facing the Lord of Dawn, he temporarily imprisoned him in his divine kingdom without further plans.

As for those twelve powerful beings from the Prison of Banishment, Donald had decided to turn them into his divine messengers once his divine kingdom was fully established. Having committed countless vile acts, they deserved no sympathy, as their actions were not entirely due to the pressure from the Lord of Dawn—they were originally strong figures from the evil or dark factions, with selfishness and cruelty being their defining traits. By joining the Prison of Banishment, they merely shifted from committing evil on their own to doing so on behalf of the Church of the Lord of Dawn! Becoming divine messengers might mean losing some freedom, but it was still a bargain for them!

Before approaching the heavily sealed demi-god Axse, Donald said softly, “Don’t blame me. Blame your great Lord of Dawn! He’s the one who pushed you to this desperate situation. If there’s an afterlife, I hope you won’t serve such a heartless true god again!”

From the Lord of Dawn’s attitude this time, Donald realized that this supreme god didn’t really care about his subordinates—he only cared about his own dignity and reputation! Faced with the Lord of Dawn’s condescending pressure and threats, Donald couldn’t help but feel resentful. The reason the other party could look down on and suppress him so much was ultimately due to his own weakness. If it weren’t for the support of the three powerful neutral goddesses of agriculture behind him, he likely would have already found an excuse to attack him.

Instead of blindly blaming others, this made Donald even more determined to strengthen himself. Not wanting to rely on external factors that could weaken his foundation, he began by working with the people around him to enhance their powers. If anyone among them currently had the greatest potential, it was undoubtedly Elyia, the elven druidic elder, and Uther, the holy knight.

Both of them now possess golden-tier strength and have received heroic legacies. Even Kaelthas, with his high elf bloodline, cannot compare to the Jungle Guardian, who inherits demi-godhood, or the two heroes who wield the power of holy light. In the game, the strength levels of these heroes are designed to be balanced, but after being modified by the Book of Truth according to the laws of this universe, they naturally differ.

Compared to the Jungle Guardian, the demi-god Senarius, whose heroic legacy comes from Ilya, Uther’s Holy Knight has a much greater advantage in enhancing his strength.

“The power of Uther’s holy light is similar in nature to Axel’s radiant power, yet it differs. For instance, besides being radiant and sacred, the power of holy light also embodies justice, kindness, and compassion. It is a collective will formed from the desire for harmony among all beings, akin to a plane’s will. Naturally, it is much weaker than a true plane’s will, but if someone can master this power, it is sufficient to make them a true god.”

Donald knew that what Uther lacked now was time to accumulate strength. As long as his physical and mental strength were sufficient, he could easily gain the power of holy light and become a demi-god in a short time.

After all, Uther was directly shaped by the Book of Truth, with the imprint of a Holy Knight already etched into his soul. He wasn’t plagued by distractions like ordinary mortals. He could be said to be the most suitable being in the main world to embrace the core of holy power!

What Donald needed to do now was extract the power from Axel and use the Codex of Gods to remove the imprint of the Lord of Dawn, so that Uther could absorb it and accelerate his growth.

Due to the compatibility of their powers and the nature of holy light, this approach wouldn’t pose any risks of forcing rapid development for Uther.

Currently, his strength was already one great realm higher than that of Axel, the demi-god, and he was within his own divine kingdom, with his target heavily sealed. If he still couldn’t deal with Axel, then Donald would truly be a worthless true god!

Moreover, Donald had the high-tier artifact, the Book of Truth. By controlling it to emit a projection of divine light, and under the pressure of a four-fold difference in power levels, Axel was stripped of his divine fire like a helpless chick ready for slaughter.

Axel’s divine fire was a blazing flame that seemed to contain endless radiance. As soon as it left its original owner’s body, it automatically condensed into a brilliantly shining crystal.

This is another form of the demi-god deity. After completing these tasks, Donald had no intention of ending Axce’s life; he simply left him in the divine realm to fend for himself. Donald didn’t want to reveal anything about the Book of Truth, as every true god already possessed methods to steal soul memories. Anyway, the divine realm had eternal spring weather, a paradise-like environment, and no lack of food or water. Without the divine fire, this former demi-god was not much stronger than ordinary humans and would likely soon be assimilated by the divine realm to become part of the Land of Truth, turning into a being similar to those who pray.