Chapter 481: Seizing Divine Positions

Hearing King Charles of the North and Celt VII’s praise for his clever plan, Donald smiled and said, “Since these two divine bodies are still useful for now and cannot be divided, half of the faith crystals they produce can be given to you as compensation. As for those two damaged sub-divine artifacts, let them serve as materials for me to remake them! I wonder if this arrangement satisfies Your Highness Charles?”
“Satisfied! How could I not be! I’m once again in debt to Your Highness Donald!”
King Charles was overjoyed. In the eyes of other true gods, gaining the faith of hundreds of thousands of people in Celt was actually equivalent to only fifty to sixty thousand dedicated believers!
As one of the legitimate branches of the Banai Empire, Celt originally rejected worship of various gods. Most of its people respected King Charles of the North only out of admiration for him as the founder of their kingdom. Charles, who adhered to the ideals of the Magic Empire, also had no desire to change anything. Under normal circumstances, such faith was sufficient for him. If Celt became a purely religious state like Sendel, it would no longer be Celt, and he would have destroyed the kingdom he had founded.
However, the faith power accumulated over time was nearly exhausted during the process of igniting the divine fire. Thus, now that Charles had become a god, he faced the second challenge of establishing a divine kingdom, and he clearly lacked divine power.
Receiving this additional faith power from the orcs would be a huge help to Charles. Moreover, with Celt VII about to embark on the path of igniting the divine fire, he would need a significant amount of faith power as well. So Donald’s proposal came at just the right time!
Charles knew that by doing this, Donald was undoubtedly offering him substantial benefits. Strictly speaking, the main tools for stealing faith were the two divine essences, both of which belonged to Donald. Even if Donald gave him some less valuable divine artifacts, it would still be enough to make up for it!
Taking advantage of the situation, Charles declined no further and gladly accepted. His relationship with Donald was based on loyalty and faith, not hollow words.
After settling the distribution of the spoils, Donald asked to leave, leaving the two divine essences and the former orc true gods in the underground palace.

There is a divine barrier here, and the entire palace is part of the Northern King’s terrestrial palace, similar in nature to a temple. Within his domain, it is naturally possible to prevent the gods from spying, so it is undoubtedly a more suitable location for practices of stealing faith than Dalaran. Moreover, with the protection of the powerful true god, the Northern King, there is nothing to worry about! Upon returning to his territory, Donald immediately began studying the trace of divinity drawn from two orcish deity essences. Through scanning the Book of Truth, Donald learned about the divine functions and domains contained within those two essences. The orcish God of Plunder, Bigel,’s essence contained the function of plundering, along with three highly aggressive domains: violence, slaughter, and invasion. “Where there is plunder, there is loss—matter and energy transfer from one side to another; this is the true meaning of plundering. Thus, plundering is also a minor branch of the function of balance.” “If I add this function, along with the domain of energy conservation and the Hunter God’s function related to balance, it will be enough for me to understand the domain of balance and prepare to further consolidate it as a divine function!” Of course, having these two essences now is very useful, so Donald isn’t in a hurry. After all, understanding such powerful divine functions too early makes one an easy target for other powerful true gods! As for the God of Birth, Kala’s essence, it included the function of birth, along with three domains: reproduction, gestation, and rebirth. These are all branches of the powerful supreme divine function of life, and like the domains of alchemy and blacksmithing, they are highly practical for a true god. Therefore, Donald had previously extracted the seals related to the mysteries of these three domains without disrupting the operation of the essences, converting them into fragmentary essences through the Codex of Gods, which were still being integrated in his mental world. On the other hand, the most powerful divine function among them—the function of birth—was of little use to Donald, and he didn’t want to change his gender to adapt to it. Then he turned his attention to the remaining two treasures. First was the broken secondary artifact, the ox-bone shield. This damaged secondary artifact wasn’t anything special; it was merely made from the scapula of a divine creature and had decent defensive capabilities. But for Donald, it had no value in terms of repair, so it was casually thrown into his storage space, along with other materials of semi-godly rank, which might be used in the future as additives for crafting divine artifacts.

Soon after, Donald took the horn-shaped, damaged sub-divine artifact. On the outside, it appeared intact, but its inner divinity had been shattered by the sword energy of the Heart of the King, rendering it no longer a sub-divine artifact. However, Donald wasn’t concerned about that; what interested him was the material itself of this sub-divine artifact. The scan using the Book of Truth clearly didn’t disappoint him. The material, which resembled horn, wasn’t from the main world but was likely derived from the Void Star Realm—it certainly wasn’t the horn of any bovine monster. Most miraculously, this horn contained inherent laws of order, repelling all chaotic forces that defied order, which explained why it could withstand the powerful attacks of a true divine artifact like the Heart of the King. Moreover, according to the Book of Truth, its material quality was on par with other realm wonders like the Dimensional Cube, making it an excellent material for crafting higher-tier divine artifacts. So, although he had to expend half of his faith power, he still considered it a gain! By now, he had absorbed and integrated most of the domain power from those divine fragments, adding three more domains to his control. In particular, the domains of reproduction, gestation, and rebirth, combined with alchemy and forging, would greatly assist Donald in mastering the talent to create beings and becoming a powerful Creator. After all, the greatest achievement of a Creator isn’t creating inanimate objects but souls and life! By the time Donald received news from the royal capital and returned to the dungeon altar, two months had passed since the orc invasion. This time, King Charles of the North invited him to discuss the current situation in the main world and because King Celt VII had reached the critical moment to ignite the Divine Flame, seeking his help in guarding it. “Thank you, Prince Donald, for coming. I feel the moment of officially igniting the Divine Flame is approaching soon. Please wait a moment!” King Celt VII stood at the center of the altar, with unmistakable fluctuations of laws emanating from him, indicating that ignition could happen at any time. Hearing this, Donald smiled and said, “There’s no need to rush. Letting things take their natural course ensures the highest success rate. Prince Charles and I still have matters to discuss!” With that, King Celt VII nodded and stood silently on the altar without saying another word.

Any demigod must be cautious during this phase before igniting the divine flame; using force recklessly could have adverse effects on the process, ultimately leading to failure in becoming a god!
Donald didn’t seem concerned and turned to Charlie, saying, “I heard the battles on the border of Gadré have ended. I wonder what information His Highness Charlie has obtained?”
Although Dalaran had its own intelligence network, it was still too new to compare with the established intelligence agencies of kingdoms like Thelos. Thus, the royal family undoubtedly received more comprehensive information.
“The orcs sent out over a hundred thousand troops and fought against Gadré for nearly two months. Both sides suffered losses, but the orcs incurred far greater damage—over half of their army was wiped out, forcing them to retreat temporarily to the Northwest Wasteland!”
“What about the two new orc gods? How are their battles with Gadré’s high-ranking figures going?”
The King of the North continued, “The orc gods of brutality, Sagum, and of voodoo, Maler, were also wounded due to the combined efforts of several human demigods. However, two of Gadré’s demigods were also severely injured. Essentially, the two sides were evenly matched. But since Gadré had external support, once those powerful demigods left, it would be difficult for them to regain the upper hand!”
“It’s worth noting that Maler, the orc god of voodoo, employs extremely cunning and sinister tactics that are hard to defend against. Those two demigods were injured by Maler’s curses and poisons. Even immortal demigods cannot resist such voodoo tactics!”
Hearing this, Donald frowned and said, “Voodoo?”
The power of voodoo is similar to that of wizards derived from schools like necromancy and spellcraft within the mage faction, but their nature is different. Yet they often achieve the same goals, so Donald knew somewhat about such phenomena.
Voodoo involves the fusion of shamans and shamanic healers, resulting in two main systems: one involves the use of runes, amulets, medicine, poisons, and puppets; the other involves curses and sacrificial rituals, allowing communication with divine or evil forces by offering various objects containing life force and energy, thereby gaining help and guidance.
Regardless of the form of their power, both systems rely on “borrowing”—using forces borrowed from the outside world, rather than the powers controlled by mages themselves.

The greatest threat lies in its unpredictability and difficulty of defense. Even legendary shamans and shaman healers, no matter how powerful, pose no threat at the level of true gods. However, once the power of voodoo reaches the level of true gods, the external forces that can be harnessed become even more powerful. Thus, despite Donald’s confidence in his ability to defeat his opponent, he still had to be wary of Maler, the orcish god of voodoo, fearing he might be tricked at any moment.