Chapter 412: The Long Night, the Ever‑Burning Divine Fire (12)

The outskirts of Grey City, a carefully crafted underground chamber.

Luosen lay on his back, his body completely relaxed, and his soul, having reached the peak of the twentieth ring, entered a state of thoughtlessness.

Deep within his soul, the Laifu composed of source substance was operating step by step according to the method provided by the Joyful One.

Faintly, Luosen could feel power surging in the depths of his soul.

But this feeling was very vague, like the world seen by someone with 1000-degree myopia—only able to see some blurry light and shadow shifting, yet unable to discern any details.

Naturally, he could not interfere either.

At this moment, the only thing he could do was wait patiently.

Time passed second by second, and he didn't know exactly how long had elapsed when Luosen suddenly felt his entire being—from soul to body, from core to exterior—violently shudder.

Before he could react, a warmth and joy welled up from the deepest part of his soul, instantly flowing through his limbs and bones, bringing him unparalleled pleasure and ease.

This feeling was wonderful, even more delightful than the intimacy with his most beloved woman.

After another instant, Luosen felt light again.

This was a soul-light emanating outward from the very core of his soul.

In Luosen's perception, it was a pale gold, similar to the color of the sun.

This light illuminated his entire soul, making it as clear and translucent as a perfect crystal.

Thus, Luosen finally saw his soul clearly.

He saw that deep within his soul was operating an exquisitely precise complex structure, its interior filled with a strong sense of order, its exterior wrapped in a layer of bright light-mist.

The light that illuminated the soul came from a fine structure at the center of this complex, occupying roughly two-thirds of its volume.

Luosen instantly felt an epiphany.

"Oh~ So this is the true form of Laifu, and this is the concrete manifestation of the Divine Fire."

The Joyful One said, the Divine Fire is actually not fire, but an eternal furnace constructed from source substance.

The fuel in this furnace is spacetime itself.

Thus, as long as spacetime does not perish, the Divine Fire never dies, and divine power flows endlessly.

This is wonderful news, meaning the gods share the same lifespan as heaven and earth.

However, the structure of this eternal furnace greatly affects the intensity of the flame.

And flame intensity directly corresponds to the rate of divine power supply.

"The Divine Fire has been lit—what benefits can this thing bring me?"

Luosen began to carefully sense the changes in his body.

Soon he discovered the first change.

"I have gained a clear 'Source Substance Perception' ability."

The Joyful One said, mortals find it extremely hard to perceive source substance; even upon reaching the twenty-third ring and becoming so‑called eternal powerhouses, they can only sense it vaguely.

Lighting the Divine Fire under these circumstances is like asking a blind person, using only tactile touch, to sculpt a master‑level statue.

The difficulty is self‑evident.

But now, Luosen can not only perceive source substance, he can also control it!

"In other words, the Divine Fire has granted me the True God's 'Source Substance Control'."

He continued to sense the changes.

Soon he discovered a second obvious change.

"My spacetime aptitude has broken through mortal limits, delving deeper into the spacetime ocean."

Before, he could only go down another 23 orders of magnitude from the scale of elementary particles, but after igniting the Divine Fire he plunged a full 10 orders of magnitude further, reaching 33 orders of magnitude.

At 23 orders of magnitude, when observing a True God artifact, he could only vaguely judge its relative strength.

At 33 orders of magnitude, observing the Light Staff of the True God artifact in his hand, he clearly perceived its fine structure.

"Oh~~ So the so‑called True God artifacts are all condensed from source substance."

He began to study the Radiant Scepter in detail; the more he studied, the more he felt its wonder.

"No wonder this thing can protect mortal souls."

But at the same time, a strong sense of luck welled up in his heart.

"The Radiant Scepter is ultimately a dead object; its protection of mortal souls is limited. Against True God apostles, or when far enough from the True God, this protection works. But if one confronts the True God up close, it will be broken through."

That is to say, his ability to negotiate with the True God stems from the True God's true body being in a distant otherworld.

Once the True God enters his world, he instantly becomes a fish in a net, a bird in a cage—no matter how he struggles, he cannot escape the True God's palm.

Fortunately, he has now successfully ignited the Divine Fire, reaching a new height; facing the True God, he is no longer utterly powerless.

He gathered his mind and continued to study the Radiant Scepter.

The more he studied, the more fascinated he became, unable to restrain a feeling of awe.

"Oh~ Source substance truly lives up to its title as the source of all things; its nature is truly remarkable."

The basic effect of the Radiant Scepter is to protect the soul from invasion by the True God.

It achieves this not by strengthening mortal souls to withstand the True God's pressure, but by hiding mortal souls so the True God cannot precisely locate them.

"The Radiant Scepter should be a naturally condensed divine artifact; its structure still has many flaws that I will try to improve."

Thought done, action taken.

"Relying on myself alone, it's hard to achieve perfection; I still need to rely on Laifu."

"I will have Laifu train a 'Source Substance Artisan' ability."

First, have Laifu create the ability, then enter learning mode, after which Luosen himself continuously manipulates source substance to accumulate training data for Laifu.

Through this training, Luosen discovered Laifu's change. After the Divine Fire was ignited, its computing power surged once again.

The direct result was that its learning ability reached an unbelievable level, almost to the point of mastering something instantly.

Luosen originally expected to train for at least ten or so days, but after just a few hours, the Source Quality Artisan ability could already operate independently.

"Tsk tsk~ This computing power is truly heaven-defying, though one can feel it; Laifu is also a naturally condensed Source Quality construct, its structure is not perfect either, and there is still much room for improvement."

He guessed that Laifu's appearance in his soul was likely because, when he crossed worlds, the Source Quality of that world entered his soul by chance, combining with his earthly knowledge in his mind, thus producing the corresponding ability.

But just like the Radiant Scepter, such random condensation naturally has many flaws.

"Laifu, this tool is very important to me; after I get through the crisis, I will slowly study and improve it."

As for now, of course I continue to improve the Radiant Scepter.

With the assistance of Laifu's new ability, after about ten or so hours, Luosen completed the improvement of the Radiant Scepter, greatly enhancing its concealment capability.

He secretly sighed in relief: "With this thing's protection, it is enough to perfectly conceal the divine flame I have ignited."

He indeed has ignited the divine flame now, but this divine flame is still very weak and has not been able to condense into a divinity for gathering Source Quality.

But his soul is now quite peculiar: the inner layer already possesses a trace of divine power, while the outer layer still has only the strength of a 20-ring.

With his current divine flame's strength, wanting to completely replace the 20-ring soul with a divine soul is extremely, extremely slow.

It would probably take a hundred years; this is also why he, despite having ignited the divine flame, can still remain in the mortal realm.

At the same time, this is also his most vulnerable moment, no different from a child flaunting gold in the marketplace.

If at this time he were discovered by a god from another realm to possess the divine flame, who knows what would happen? After finishing the Radiant Scepter, he continued to improve the Dawn Crown.

The Dawn Crown is also a true divine artifact naturally condensed from Source Quality.

Its effect is only one: to produce an extremely powerful shield that blocks enemy attacks head-on.

If the input to the artifact is mortal magic, the resulting shield is a 23-ring shield.

If the input is divine power, it produces a divine shield of corresponding strength.

Luosen's divine flame is weak, and the speed of generating divine power is very slow.

Divine power is used only if necessary; therefore, he mainly uses the Dawn Crown to generate a 23-ring shield.

The Dawn Crown also has many flaws; the shield it produces is nominally a 23-ring, but actually only about 22.7.

Luosen then improved it.

After a round of improvements, not only was the shield's strength raised to the true limit of a 23-ring, but the efficiency of power conversion was also greatly increased.

Finally, Luosen took out his third true divine artifact, the "Spacetime Pearl".

After careful study, his heart suddenly filled with great joy.

"This thing's strength is truly high, higher than the Radiant Scepter and the Dawn Halo, and its effect is outrageously strong!"

Originally, this thing's function was to engrave the Time Talent, but no one knew the specific principle.

Now, Luosen discovered that engraving the Time Talent is merely a mundane application of this treasure in the mortal realm.

Its true effect is to focus divine power; the maximum effect is an increase of 0.2 ring in divine power strength.

Luosen feels that he can only be considered a demigod now; his divine power strength probably hasn't even reached the first divine ring, estimated at only 0.1 ring.

Using the Spacetime Pearl can raise it to 0.3 ring.

"Keep improving!"

After a round of modifications, the focusing strength reached +0.3 ring; the increase is not much, but in battle, a slight difference could mean life or death.

After improving the three true divine artifacts, Luosen gained a deeper understanding of the rules of Source Quality.

Looking back at the divine flame shining brightly in his soul, he couldn't help but feel moved.

"Things obtained from others are indeed performance-castrated versions."

"Not to mention the slow generation speed of divine power, its quality is also low, its utilization rate of Source Quality is low, and its performance is as bad as it can get."

"This divine flame also needs a little improvement."

No one has stipulated that the divine flame can only be lit once; one can completely ignite the divine flame to study Source Quality, obtain sufficient Source Quality principles, then train Laifu-related abilities, and finally extinguish the flame and focus on the key point.

"Finally, it's just about how to obtain more Source Quality."

As for this, Luosen temporarily lacks experience, but he is not lacking in followers.

He has countless followers in the Natural Empire, the Radiant Empire, and even the Holy Elf Empire; the total number of followers has already exceeded 2.5 billion.

Before, he merely managed these followers through Laifu, aiming to better rule the empire.

But after igniting the divine flame, he carefully sensed and found that followers not only contribute faith power to him, but also continuously contribute traces of Source Quality.

The amount of Source Quality contributed by a single follower is very small, almost imperceptible.

But when 2.5 billion followers gather together, it becomes an extremely considerable quantity.

Unfortunately, although there is so much Source Quality flowing toward him, he cannot catch it.

This causes most of the Source Quality to escape again; only a small part, roughly less than one percent of the total, precipitates into his soul.

"Tsk tsk, this is truly a huge waste!"

Luosen immediately began researching how to better retain this portion of Source Quality from the followers.

This matter is quite complex; Luosen temporarily has no clue, so he can only fumble around, hoping to gain fortune's favor.

While he was researching, Luosen felt a slight tremor in his mind, then heard Laifu's report.

"A prayer from the key target Aoliangde has been detected; should we check it?"

Luosen's heart stirred slightly, and he immediately said: "Check it right away!"

Given Aoliangde's tenacious personality, he would not seek help unless in a true desperate situation.

(End of Chapter)