Chapter 484: Divine Offices and Paths (II)

“Humanistic divine offices?”
After hearing Donald’s explanation, the King of the North was deeply moved, though he still had some misunderstandings and doubts about certain parts.
“Yes! This is actually a description of a type of divine office based on my own understanding!”
The term “humanistic” was certainly a unique adjective from Donald’s previous life’s country, distinct from Western humanism.
In Donald’s previous country, the original concept of humanism was “righteousness.” As Mencius said, “Benevolence is the heart of man; righteousness is the way of man.” This tradition of humanism was thus centered on righteousness. Over time, through the accumulation and development of various theories, the term “humanistic” acquired a deeper humanistic meaning, reaching a level comparable to that of the “Way of Heaven.”
In the realm of divine offices and laws, humanistic refers to all the laws and principles arising from human beings as social, intelligent beings, ultimately forming the domain of divine offices!
In contrast to humanistic is the “Way of Heaven”!
The “Way of Heaven” refers to all the laws and relationships that govern the universe and nature, such as the four fundamental elements, material existence, and seasonal changes.
After listening to Donald’s explanation, both the King of the North and the newly appointed God of Kings nodded in admiration.
“Prince Donald truly is not like ordinary gods. His descriptions of humanistic and heavenly principles are indeed very apt. Even powerful higher gods might not be able to think of such things!”
Xize, who was skilled in politics, recalled Donald’s past deeds and said, “Could it be that the theory of natural balance he presented on the continent a few years ago was meant to lay the groundwork for his future path as a true god?”
“That’s right! Although my strength was still limited at the time, and the realm of true gods seemed distant, it was indeed part of my plan!”
Having his conjecture confirmed by the person involved, Xize, once a wise ruler, couldn’t help but admire Donald’s foresight.
According to Donald’s understanding, humanistic faith is the most suitable source of divine power. Therefore, most gods who achieve divinity through faith are essentially true gods within the humanistic system. As for law gods, when they become gods, they can only become true gods under the Way of Heaven, unable to transcend this framework.
Of course, if conditions permit in the future—though it would be extremely difficult to actually do so—it isn’t impossible for someone to be both a faith god and a true god!

With these thoughts in mind, Donald continued, “Of course, the two major systems—humanity and heaven—are not absolute. For example, the God of Art and the God of Knowledge are pure deities who have attained humanistic divinities, while the God of Dawn, the Goddess of Magic, and the God of the Underworld, who can also be called the God of Death, are all deities under the heaven system.”

“But there are also deities that fall within both systems. For instance, the Goddess of Agriculture and the God of Thieves—Princess Eilien’s divinity includes areas like agriculture, which only intelligent beings can engage in, as well as domains related to growth, abundance, and plants, which belong to the heaven system. Meanwhile, the King of Shadows has both a divine role related to thieves, which is part of the humanity system, and a divine role related to shadows, which is a natural law within the heaven system. Similarly, Princess Charlie is in a similar situation right now!”

Hearing this, the God of Kingship couldn’t help but ask, “Could it be that the deities of the heaven system you mentioned are generally more powerful than those of the humanity system?”

“Exactly!” Donald nodded in approval.

“Princess Xize sees things clearly. Although this view may not be agreed upon by all deities, the proportion of deities who have attained divinities from the heaven system and become mid-tier or higher-tier deities is indeed much higher than those from the humanity system! Of course, this is not absolute either. Understanding what kind of divinity you receive is just an opportunity; the path ahead depends on how you proceed!”

At this point, the King of the North suddenly expressed concern, “According to you, Donald, doesn’t that mean Xize is completely confined to the humanity system, with far less potential for development compared to deities of the heaven system?”

Donald nodded helplessly. “There’s nothing we can do about it. Princess Xize doesn’t have the talent in this area. For now, the path of humanistic divinities is the most suitable for her development. Only when she gets the chance to acquire divinities related to natural laws in the future will I find a way to help her reach a higher level!”

On the other hand, Princess Xize herself wasn’t worried at all. She smiled and reassured the King of the North, “Charlie, don’t worry. Whether it’s a humanistic deity or a heaven deity, aren’t they all immortal deities? Besides, as Donald said, my divinity has several paths that can lead me to at least the mid-tier level, and there will be opportunities in the future to explore the domains of the heaven system as well.”

Seeing that Xize was extremely confident and undeterred at all, Charlie stopped talking. Just as he was about to ask Donald more about matters related to the priesthood, a will from a true god arrived from outside the underground palace, interrupting them. All three true gods sensed that will and immediately stepped out of the altar in the underground palace to greet it. “Great Princess Eilien, if there’s any news, sending a believer to inform us would be enough. How dare we trouble You to descend personally with Your will!” The will of the Goddess of Agriculture accepted their compliments with a smile. Then she said, “With another true god added to Celt, how could I not come to offer my congratulations? Besides, I represent our other allies as well. Princess Xize is truly a genius—having risen to become a new god so soon after Princes Donald and Charlie were elevated to godhood, leaving us older true gods feeling ashamed!” King Xize, the God of Kingship, spoke humbly, “Princess Eilien, you flatter me! I was only able to be elevated to godhood with the help of Princes Charles and Donald. Compared to their achievements, there’s really nothing worth praising about me! Especially Prince Donald…” Hearing this, as he didn’t want other true gods—especially those powerful deities at higher ranks—to know about his theories for now, Donald quickly took over the conversation, saying, “It’s perfect that Princess Eilien has come. We’re celebrating Princess Xize’s successful elevation to godhood and also planning to come up with a suitable title for her. How about asking Princess Eilien to bestow it upon her?” Xize, who had been interrupted by Donald, was indeed a master strategist as a king and immediately understood Donald’s intention, nodding subtly in agreement. The Goddess of Agriculture also couldn’t refuse, so after thinking for a moment, she said, “Since that recently revived Ughesh is called a dictator by the orcs, then Princess Xize could be called the Conqueror. Three hundred years ago, it was she who led the people of Celt to conquer the Northern Counties and the six southern towns—those once-barbaric lands. This title seems very fitting! I hope that in the future, Princess Xize will grow strong enough to conquer those powerful enemies for humanity!” Donald immediately applauded in approval. “Great! The title ‘Conqueror’ is perfect. After all, Princess Xize also has expertise in matters related to war!” “Indeed!” The King of the North nodded in agreement as well. “I’m sure Princess Eilien didn’t come just to congratulate Xize on her elevation to godhood!”

“Yes! This time, I am here on behalf of our neutral god allies to convey the plan jointly decided by the supreme gods of our main worlds in the Pantheon!”
Donald raised an eyebrow and asked, “Could it be that we human gods are about to take action against the New Continent?”
Elenia nodded in approval, confirming Donald’s guess.
Since such an important matter was being discussed, the King of the North, as the landowner, invited a manifestation of the Agricultural Goddess’s will to enter the underground altar for a detailed discussion.
Inside the altar, aside from the puppets and divine essences created from the two orc true gods, there was nothing secret. Moreover, a barrier existed to shield them from the senses of other true gods, making the conversation more confidential.
As for Donald’s method of stealing faith, it wasn’t hidden from the Agricultural Goddess either; she believed she could keep this secret for them. After all, the dictator Ughesh was, in a broader sense, an enemy of all human true gods! If it learned that human true gods were stealing the faith of orcs, who knew what might happen.
That dictator was certainly not known for his rationality!
Indeed, upon seeing the statues of the former orc true gods in one corner of the altar along with their floating divine essences above their heads, even the Agricultural Goddess couldn’t help but show a surprised expression.
“This is…”
Seeing that Donald didn’t speak up, Cezar, the newly appointed God of Kingship, smiled and explained, “All of this is the ingenious idea of Prince Donald. After joining forces with Charlie to capture the invading orc true gods, Bigel and Kara, he stripped them of their divine essences. Unexpectedly, even without control over their physical forms, since their masters hadn’t perished, those divine essences continued to draw faith from the orcs. That’s when Prince Donald came up with this method to steal the orcs’ faith right under the dictator’s nose!”
The Agricultural Goddess’s eyes sparkled with admiration as she nodded repeatedly in praise.
“It seems I underestimated Prince Donald after all! No wonder the Great Elven Lord made such a prophecy!”
After carefully observing the two orc statues and their divine essences, she nodded again and said, “Presumably, Prince Donald is also betting that the dictator won’t come to rescue his two subordinates so soon! Indeed, given that dictator’s personality, he would surely think you merely captured and imprisoned these two orc true gods, maybe sealing them away to suffer a little. He wouldn’t expect anyone to dare kill his subordinates and steal the orcs’ faith right under his nose!”

“I truly think so. That being has just revived and is likely very busy. By the time it realizes what’s going on here, I’ll have already earned quite a few Faith Crystals! And when the dictator is forced to announce the death of its two subordinate gods in an attempt to stop the theft of faith, I can retrieve the two divine essences and two divine bodies as spoils. In any case, it’s a win for me!”