Chapter 267: The Ruins Unlocked
Seeing two of the over a dozen items glow with divine light—sub-legendary artifacts—both Carlisle and Vincent’s eyes lit up.
Carlisle, already a legendary warrior, could now unleash over 80% of a sub-legendary artifact’s power. For him, such an artifact represented the highest level of weapon available. As for true legendary artifacts, only those with divine power could fully harness their immense strength; mortals simply couldn’t.
Vincent, as the current head of an ancient family in the main world, naturally understood what a sub-legendary artifact meant there—it was the most powerful weapon a mortal could use, on par with demi-gods. If a family possessed one, it wouldn’t be hard for them to thrive for millennia.
Donald looked at the three Sword Saints and said calmly, “Following the previous method, each of us has now obtained a fragment of a divine essence. So, I’ll take one-fifth of these spoils first, and then the rest will be divided equally among us!”
This was the agreed-upon distribution method, so the others had no objections. Seeing them nod in agreement, Donald collected all the divine items except the sub-legendary artifacts, along with the corpse of the Snow Wolf God.
“The fur of this snow wolf is quite good. With its size, it should be enough to make a large blanket. As for these rare materials, they’re perfect for crafting equipment and potions. You won’t argue with me over them, right?”
Vincent shook his head. “Though these are valuable, they can’t compare to fragments of divine essence. Donald, you handle things fairly. Having the chance to come to this Totem Continent with you is a huge fortune for us. We shouldn’t take advantage of you any further!”
The female Sword Saint and Carlisle agreed as well. Seeing their firm attitudes, Donald took one of the fragments of divine essence.
This was the most powerful of the five fragments, containing seals of hunting and tactics, along with a combat domain granted to Donald by the Codex of Gods through his own divine power.
“I’ve already got the best fragment of divine essence. I won’t participate in dividing the rest. You go ahead and divide it among yourselves!”
In small matters, he could hide things and take slight advantages—like secretly collecting some seals of divine domains from the Codex of Gods earlier. But overall, Donald didn’t want to deceive these friends who had fought together and could trust each other. So, he always tried to create fragments of divine essence suited to Carlisle and the others’ attributes.
Vincent and the others discussed it and decided that the remaining four fragments—representing the domains of combat, tactics, hunting, and medicine—should be divided equally among the four remaining people, including Donald’s subordinate Uther. If it were those who were inherently greedy and keen on petty gains, they might use the excuse that Uther was Donald’s subordinate to claim more for themselves. But Vincent and the others, especially the female sword saint Abel, were upright by nature and disliked any unfairness. Moreover, there were two secondary divine artifacts among the loot, whose value was slightly less than that of the divine fragments but still comparable. After much deliberation, each of the four received one divine fragment, but the two secondary divine artifacts proved difficult to divide. In the end, the three agreed that Donald and Carlisle, who had contributed the most, should take them. However, Donald said, “To be honest, with those materials, it wouldn’t be hard for me to create secondary divine artifacts. Besides, I’m not short of them. How about Carlisle and you keep them for now, and we’ll arrange appropriate compensation during the next loot distribution?” Carlisle and the other agreed, as they really wanted those two secondary divine artifacts, so it was settled that way. “Since targeting a legendary totem god yields such great rewards, you should also work hard to improve your strength. Maybe after reaching legendary status, we can take on another legendary totem god together?” This time’s fruitful outcome made Donald and the others deeply realize the benefits of hunting legendary totem gods. Yet Donald rejected Carlisle’s suggestion to target another one next time. “Legendary totem gods aren’t that easy to defeat. This time, it was fortunate that we encountered the Snow Wolf God under special circumstances. But those legendary totem gods who have been gods for years aren’t all like the Snow Wolf God—each has one or two subordinate gods. Even within their tribes, there are many mortal warriors, and if a few of them reach the golden level, our mission will fail, and we might even be exposed to all those totem gods, making it difficult to return to the main world!” Hearing Donald’s words, the other two, who had been tempted by Carlisle’s idea, gave up on it.
Donald continued, “Besides, becoming a legendary powerhouse isn’t something that can be achieved just by having many divine fragment pieces. Under normal circumstances, for a Gold-tier powerhouse, fusing one divine fragment is basically the limit. So, aside from Carlisle, it’s unlikely for you to rapidly gain strength by fusing more divine fragments.”
Vincent, however, wasn’t too concerned. He was already on the verge of reaching the legendary realm, just needing to break through that final barrier. Thus, the restriction of not being able to fuse more divine fragments was only temporary for him.
Seeing the female Sword Saint somewhat disappointed, Donald reassured her, “Although you and Vincent won’t be able to fuse a second divine fragment in the short term due to your physical conditions, aside from Carlisle, you can wait until we return to the main world to do so, or give them to someone close to you. There’s still over half a year left. If nothing goes wrong, our gains will definitely exceed what we have now!”
The female Sword Saint had a pure heart and an open-minded attitude, so she didn’t overthink it after hearing this. After all, just being able to come here and obtain divine fragments was already a tremendous fortune for her.
Ordinary mortal powerhouses had to reach the peak of legend before they could begin to gather divinity on their own, ignite divine flames, and become demi-god powerhouses before obtaining divine fragments. They, on the other hand, had already gained divine powers many steps ahead. Even if it was less than one ten-thousandth of that strength, the benefits it brought to them were enormous.
Next, Iron Anker God and the others dealt with tribal unifications and the promotion of faith. With Snowstream God, the local strongman, providing support, and Golden Sand God’s strategic advice, they successfully and secretly dealt with several misbehaving Gold-tier Totem Gods in the border areas of the Great Northwest Snow Mountains, obtaining five more divine fragments and even a secondary divine artifact.
Although the Totem Continent had richer resources of divine artifacts compared to the gods in the main world, it wasn’t so abundant that even Gold-tier deities could have one each. Moreover, the targets chosen by Donald and the others were mostly those Totem Gods who had committed many evils, had evil natures, and had no backing. That unfortunate Totem God had accidentally obtained a secondary divine artifact and kept it secret, fearing others would try to steal it, which ended up benefiting Donald and the others.
This secondary divine artifact was defensive in nature. After discussing it with the others, Donald decided to give it to Iron Anker God to enhance his defensive capabilities, allowing him to better fulfill his role as a meat shield warrior and increase the chances of success for the major event ahead.
Not long after Donald and his group completed the fifth goal, they stopped taking further action, as a month had passed. The God of White Mountain issued an oracle, officially announcing that the ruins of the God of Green Trees were ready to be opened. Immediately, all the totem gods, from those below the rank of demi-gods to others who heard the news, rushed toward the snowy forest area in the eastern part of the Great Snow Mountain, hoping to be lucky enough to inherit a demi-god’s legacy or at least obtain two divine artifacts as benefits.