Chapter 692: Am

“Eve!”

Lily rushed in and, upon seeing the scene inside the magic chamber, wore the same bewildered expression as Luo De.

“Mother? Why did you two come together?”

The serpent eyes darted between her mother and Luo De, a faint suspicion creeping in.

Lily flustered slightly and hurriedly said:

“It was Mr. Luo De—he noticed you were acting strange, so he called me to come stop you.”

“Oh, I see!”

Eve’s face bloomed into a warm, pure smile, all suspicion vanished.

Seeing her daughter’s unquestioning trust, Lily felt a sharp pang in her heart; guilt surged once more.

Luo De had already stepped forward.

At the instant his foot touched the ritual’s edge, he poured in an enormous amount of spirituality—the luminescence flared violently, nearly engulfing the entire magic chamber.

“Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!”

The central sand sphere’s cries grew even more agonized and desperate.

Luo De noticed the ritual was crude, with spirituality flowing unevenly and stalling.

Meanwhile, Eve’s body also glowed in sync.

“The ritual’s effect is limited—no matter how much spirituality you pour in, it can only suppress, never achieve the intended result.”

Lily nodded: “I’ll refine it.”

“Tally, assist me.”

“Ooooh~”

Tally had taken elf magic classes in the forest; she understood a little.

Seeing the plan was coming together.

Luo De hadn’t even begun to ask when Eve started chattering excitedly, proudly explaining everything.

Basically, she hadn’t realized the sand sphere was influencing her at first.

Only when sunlight struck the next day did the [Sunlight Blessing] activate and barely resist its effect.

After that, she pretended to help.

Using the slow development of the Thousand Throats Tomb as an excuse, she lured the sand sphere into accepting the sacrifice prematurely, before erasing the tomb’s rune seals.

Then she moved as far away as possible, further weakening the sand sphere’s connection to the Thousand Throats Tomb.

When the sacrifice began.

Eve used her identity as a Spirit Warrior to feign ignorance, deliberately corrupting the ritual, forcing the sand sphere to use a lower-tier ceremony.

This played right into Eve’s hands—years spent learning Ancestral Magic beside Lily, plus the three Spirit Seeds Luo De had fed her, had given her strong insight and comprehension.

After successfully advancing to First-Rank Mage on the spot, she secretly modified the ritual, turning it into one focused on binding and draining.

“Impressive.”

Luo De patted her head.

But Eve didn’t enjoy this gesture like other girls; she snorted and swatted his hand away.

Luo De didn’t mind.

He gave the Naga mother and daughter another lecture on the demonic deity events of the First Era and the divine power system.

Eve’s beautiful eyes sparkled with growing fascination.

Simultaneously, as the draining ritual intensified, her internal spirituality surged, her face flushed red, her power climbing steadily.

“This thing says its name is Am, and that it’s a deity—so does that mean I can keep digging up demonic deity tombs?!”

This thing was greedier than her mother Lily by far.

Her first reaction wasn’t fear—it was tomb-raiding.

“And if I drain Am’s divine spark, won’t I become a deity too? Like Lady Mystra!”

Eve grew ecstatic, a haughty smile spreading across her face.

“Probably not.”

Luo De shook his head. “The divine spark grants the potential to become a deity, but it doesn’t automatically elevate you.”

He and the Moon Goddess Luka had discussed this before.

Low-rank individuals have fragile bodies and souls—the divine power far exceeds their limits.

To become a deity through it, one must possess at least some mastery in a domain.

According to the panel’s data, a domain’s authority must reach at least 80 points to qualify for godhood.

Even Luo De’s highest domain, [Moon Domain], is only at 71 points.

The highest domain authority he’d ever seen belonged to Lila Star-Speaker’s father—[Sky-Eye] at 91 points, easily piercing through his disguise domain.

Only seasoned Ninth-Rank beings like him could possibly reach godhood.

Mystra, of course, was already Ninth-Rank—a genius who created the Weave; her domain level couldn’t possibly be low.

The divine spark is like a firefly in the dark.

It’s fine when hidden, but once exposed to spirituality, all divination spells and star-reading will detect it.

Other demons or powerful entities will likely covet the divine spark and try to seize it outright.

Besides,

We have no way to strip away the divine spark either.

Eve is greedy, but not suicidal.

Her face fell instantly: “Then what do I do? I don’t have a single domain authority.”

Tally, holding a jar of magical powder for Lily, snorted in mockery.

“Aha, Cabbage Snake, Tally has three domains, right, Cousin?”

Cousin meant Luo De.

No one knew when she’d invented this persona.

“You’re just a—”

Eve’s voice caught; she glanced at her mother.

She didn’t want her mother to know her man had a succubus trailing him.

Though during divorce, land Naga women would share their husband among sisters, they didn’t normally share him in daily life.

Two women serving one man would make her look weak.

So she glared at Luo De and whispered: “Are you giving her special treatment?”

The man shrugged: “She eats two meals a day, each one so much her cheeks puff up like a squirrel—how could she not be strong?”

“From today on, my portion will be the same as hers!”

“Fine, fine.”

What followed was much simpler.

The sand sphere named Am was far weaker than Moon Goddess Luka, and the sealing runes had never even been opened.

Once Lily improved the ritual, it immediately withered.

Shrinking from a fist-sized mass to a thumbnail, it lost even the strength to speak.

Eve leapt directly from First-Rank Low to High, forcibly extracting a [Sandstorm Domain] from its body.

This thing was clever and resourceful—quite a profitable catch.

The sand sphere Am was tragic; calling it shameful wouldn’t be an exaggeration.

But this was merely a spiritual entity that had escaped from the sealed core—it could draw power from its original body, but true handling required entering the Thousand Throats Tomb.

Leaving the malformed little serpent under watch in the magic chamber, the four hurried to the Thousand Throats Tomb.

Am, nearly drained of its spirit, still had a lump of flesh left; they expected a tough fight.

But upon entering, they learned:

Unlike Moon Goddess Luka, this thing was formless—its only “body” was a single yellow crystal core.

Merely draining its spirit had already pulled enough power from its essence to plunge it back into slumber.

The tomb held nothing but sacrificial items, scattered sand, and dropped equipment.

Eve went wild, shouting “All mine!” as she scooped up the gear into her arms.

Luo De didn’t care much—until he stared at the yellow crystal core and felt a strange yearning from the war spirits within him.

“Hmm?”

(End of Chapter)