Chapter 329: Daisilis Jolted

"In Japan, a multi-headed dragon-serpent... it sounds somewhat like the Takamagahara lineage... and this country's system seems closer to the Heavenly Court system."

Daisilis, using the affinity granted by diplomatic magic to canvass widely, was summarizing the intelligence in her hands.

Her alma mater belonged to the Asgard lineage; though she understood the Eastern Heavenly Court and Takamagahara systems, her knowledge of them was ultimately inferior to her grasp of her own and the neighboring Olympus system.

"Still, I recall that the famous serpent-god of Takamagahara had eight heads—why did the game world only show three? Was it because his divine office wasn't sufficient?"

Daisilis recalled her school lessons, her brow slightly furrowed.

The Heavenly Realm's power system was fundamentally similar to the shamanic system, but unlike modern shamans who borrowed or stole divine power, it required one to become a god.

In simple terms, one learned and practiced divine arts until one met the qualifications to bear a specific divine office, then created legends and achieved deeds to match the "god" rank, thereby ascending into divinity—in the Eastern Heavenly Court system, this process was called "Achieving Sainthood in the Flesh."

The strong could gather faith through their own experiences and ascend into new gods, while the weaker inherited the divine offices left by predecessors, becoming second-generation gods, third-generation gods...

But for this system to function, it required vast quantities of faith to sustain the existence of divine offices—this was why the Divine Realm needed so many subordinate worlds, and summoning heroes to slay demons was essentially a process of "creating legends" and "achieving great deeds."

If a hero was powerful enough to leave monumental achievements in his world, he would very likely become a deity worshipped by faith; after slaying the demon king, the hero would achieve his goal, and the Heavenly Realm would grant him what he desired—most would be sent back to their original world, a few would remain in the current world, and a select few of exceptional merit would be absorbed by the Heavenly Realm as one of the gods; no matter his choice, his experiences and legends would become a divine office, passed down within the Heavenly Realm.

Inheriting a divine office was no simple matter—the divine offices matching those positions were not easily obtained, even with the Heavenly Realm's well-established training system.

After all, the easier divine offices to cultivate naturally attracted more aspirants, and the suitable offices had long been snatched up—even someone like her, a top student with three divine offices, struggled to find an open one.

But when she was in school, her instructor mentioned that before the Exile Lands system was established, there had once been massive gaps in war-related divine offices; back then, as long as one possessed a matching divine office—even if incomplete—one could assume the corresponding position, though this would prevent the office from fully manifesting its power, and there had even been cases where incomplete offices split into defective divine positions.

Pulling up this knowledge—useless except for exams—from her mind, Daisilis suddenly understood something:

"Multi-headed serpents are common beast-god ranks; thinking carefully, his behavior in the Exile Lands did resemble the process of gathering divine offices... meaning he likely intended to gather eight divine offices altogether? Previously, in the Exile Lands, because devotional energy was scarce and the world's lore leaned Western, he ended up with a half-baked three-headed flying dragon. Now, by causing floods and absorbing dragon qi, he's probably trying to complete his divine offices..."

Thinking this, Daisilis grew agitated, for she realized that if Feng Xue continued unchecked, he would only become harder to handle.

The Divine Realm needed vast amounts of faith to maintain its countless divine offices—that was why it managed subordinate worlds. Demon kings could still be used to help heroes build their resumes, but demon gods? They were literally stealing cake from the Heavenly Realm's plate!

"I've locked onto his aura, but for a demon god, the aura of a divine office weighs heavier than his physical form; and if he doesn't unleash his full power, his true strength is weak—combined with his disguise techniques, tracking him as an individual is nearly impossible, let alone his strange cross-reality abilities. I must find a way—preferably one that traps him, forcing him to stand and fight."

Daisilis recalled numerous cases she had studied, pondering how to force a demon god to fight to the death—and she sadly realized all the cases she could find involved heroes being held hostage by demon kings.

"Ugh!" Daisilis activated her personal terminal, opened the database, and began searching for details—but the more she searched, the more confused she became.

Hostage situations required intelligence support, but Daisilis knew nothing about Feng Xue's true name (uncertain if even real), origin, or family background—there was simply nothing...

"No, no—there is something!"

A cold expression surfaced on Daisilis's face:

"For a demon god, the most vital thing is his base of faith. If I strike at his base of faith, I can force him to return and defend—only then will I have a chance to kill or seal him!"

At this moment, she bore the resolve of success or death; for once she attacked the faith base, the world's faith system would inevitably descend into chaos, and Takamagahara might suspect Asgard of stealing their foundational faith.

But Daisilis had no leisure now to consider diplomatic issues—she had to think about survival.

For her, being extradited to Takamagahara for imprisonment was almost a luxury—even if publicized as a timely damage-control case, she might not even serve time.

But if she let this demon god continue unchecked, Daisilis feared she would become the first in nearly a thousand years of the Heavenly Realm to be executed for the absurd crime of aiding a demon god!

"Besides, this world's standard combat power isn't high! 'Alaya' (humanity) is relatively fragmented—I'll gamble on reaction time!"

At this moment, Daisilis decided to trust her colleagues' slacking-off instincts; she leapt into the air, unfurled golden wings, and flew straight toward Japan—she had realized now: the very place she first landed was Japan!

"No wonder the Hunter Office led me there—it wasn't a cross-reality error, but because I didn't understand the deeper meaning of the divine office!"

Daisilis silently marveled, resolving inwardly that from now on, she would trust her own divine office.

Yet Daisilis failed to notice that her intellect seemed to have slightly declined.

What could she do? She had left so much divine power behind in the "Exile Lands."

For Melo, the only one capable of utilizing divine power, where else could such a vast amount of divine power possibly go?

(End of Chapter)