Chapter 1098: The Mechanism of Deification

Beyond the Southern Continent, the Luo Sheng Du hovered in the high sky a hundred li from the eastern coast, and Lei En sat in the bridge, eyes half‑closed, receiving synchronized data from the Thunder‑forged Divine Weapons.

After a night of movement, the Thunder‑forged Divine Weapons had already dispersed across the Southern Continent.

They shapeshifted into various troll forms, began their operations, simultaneously hunting suitable tribal priests and gathering local power information.

Especially those Loa.

Very quickly, a Thunder‑forged Divine Weapon succeeded, obtaining from a forest troll tribal priest the knowledge of dozens of Ancient Saint Runes and several pages of Ancient Saint Script manuscripts. Though most of the knowledge was duplicate, it was at least a gain.

Not long after, another Thunder‑forged Divine Weapon synced its knowledge, increasing its own Ancient Saint Rune knowledge by a little.

The whole day Lei En did nothing, sitting on the bridge and waiting.

Not every Thunder‑forged Divine Weapon fared smoothly; some tribal priests possessed little, still duplicate, knowledge, and some tribes noticed them and tried to resist. The weapons did not linger, and at the first sign of trouble they left immediately.

Even twice they were spotted by Loa, who chased them out of the Ancient Saint Altar's control range.

Overall, however, the Thunder‑forged Divine Weapons faced no mortal danger.

Even when confronting Loa warriors, they could retreat unscathed.

By nightfall, the Ancient Saint Rune knowledge had grown to over a thousand characters, and the Ancient Saint Script progressed even faster. Lei En was very satisfied; at this rate, in about half a month he could decipher and master the complete Ancient Saint knowledge.

The following days' progress accelerated further.

As the number of mastered Ancient Saint Runes increased, Lei En could roughly read some rune arrays, though some errors might remain.

He simultaneously studied the Ancient Saint Altar, probing whether he could break its control, while mentally mapping the Southern Continent's power distribution.

As previously guessed, the Southern Continent indeed has eighteen Ancient Saint Altars.

However, originally there were twenty‑four!

In the past twenty‑thousand years, six Ancient Saint Altars were either completely destroyed in the Loa wars, rendering them inoperable, or inexplicably failed, becoming a historical mystery.

The loss of those six Altars did not cause the continent‑wide sealing barrier to collapse; the remaining eighteen Altars gathered magical energy to cover the Southern Continent, keeping the barrier intact, though its sturdiness and potency have waned.

Of the eighteen still operating Altars, fewer than half are truly intact; many have various issues.

Lei En surmised that at least twelve Ancient Saint Altars are needed to sustain the sealing barrier.

If no external interference occurs, as more Altars fail, perhaps in four or five thousand years the barrier sealing the Southern Continent will vanish completely.

This shows that the Loa do not repair the Altars, and trolls have not mastered the knowledge transmitted by the Ancient Saints.

The Loa merely control the Altars.

The Loa are not true deities.

They were born after the Southern Continent's sealing, most originally powerful forest beings that mutated by absorbing the Altars' magical energy, evolving bodies, awakening minds, with souls instinctively drawn to the Altars, seeking to control them and gain greater power.

In the First Era, Ai Lun E Si's deities numbered only a handful, almost all naturally born, such as the Earth Mother.

The trolls have no clear understanding of deities or how to deify.

They naturally worship powerful beings.

So the trolls raised those abnormally powerful mutated beasts onto altars, offering faith power, inadvertently forming a relationship akin to deity and follower.

Thus the Loa were born!

However, the Southern Continent lacks divine fire; trolls and Loa do not even know of its existence, so Loa cannot convert divinity into divine power to become true deities. The Loa that control the Ancient Saint Altars are, in the trolls' eyes, the strongest beings in the world—their gods!

The sealing barrier also prevents trolls from leaving the Southern Continent.

Gradually, trolls treat this continent and its forests as the whole world, and over time forget the existence of the outside.

Those distant historical records and everything beyond the Southern Continent become mythic tales.

For over twenty‑thousand years, the Loa each control an Ancient Saint Altar, battling each other; war is the trolls' perpetual main theme.

In this closed world, the history of 'rise, expansion, conquest, and destruction' repeats endlessly, an unbreakable cycle that confines the trolls; their civilization and wisdom have seen little progress since twenty‑thousand years ago, some even regressing.

The root cause remains the Ancient Saint Altars.

Isolated trolls need not face terrifying external foes; several epochal shifts and Abyss invasions never reached the Southern Continent.

In their worldview, trolls are the sole intelligent species on Earth.

Although the Ancient Saints left creator legends, trolls have never seen other intelligent races, nor know of elves, dwarves, orcs, and humans; those races appeared only after the Southern Continent's sealing.

Trolls lack motivation to develop; most Loa are merely beasts, lacking concepts found only in civilized intelligences.

The Loa can only seize more Ancient Saint Altars to gain greater power.

However, few Loa can control more than two Altars; their true form occupies only one altar, leaving another vulnerable to enemy intrusion. After arduous battles to defeat rival Loa and seize an altar, they soon lose it.

This results in the Southern Continent being fragmented under Loa dominion for most of its history.

Without a highly unified regime, there is no foundation for development.

The Gumanra Empire achieved four unifications in its history; the first occurred just after the Southern Continent's sealing over twenty‑thousand years ago, inherited from the troll era, and lasted only three hundred years before fracturing.

The subsequent three unifications were each sparked by great conquerors born among the trolls.

All three empire‑rebuilding troll leaders were Loa!

Trolls can also become Loa.

This is not rare; each era has troll Loa, sometimes many, sometimes few. Today the Southern Continent has five Loa that are trolls. Moreover, the strongest Loa currently controlling four Altars, the 'God of War' Kazlatajin, is a troll!

Kazlatajin styles himself as 'King of Loa' and 'Great Troll King.'

He controls the Southern Continent's most important Ancient Saint Altar, located in the Gumanra Empire's capital Itaza, known as the Golden City, in the continent's central interior. The Golden City and the three surrounding Altars, hundreds of tribes, and over ten million trolls are Kazlatajin's subjects.

This Loa king seeks to emulate the three historic Great Troll Kings, aiming to unify the Southern Continent and restore the Gumanra Empire's glory.

However, Lei En is not optimistic.

Because historical records show that those three Great Troll Kings all met ill fates, and the empires they forged lasted little; the longest dynasty endured less than two hundred years.

The empire's collapse always stemmed from the death of its supreme ruler.

The nature of the Ancient Saint Altars dictates that no Loa can dominate all Altars; regardless of how many troll guards are stationed, a single oversight allows an enemy to seize control. A Loa holding multiple Altars merely expands its domain, gaining broader energy support, more followers, and stronger divinity, but without a qualitative boost in power.

As long as a hostile Loa controls an Ancient Saint Altar, there is a chance to defeat the Great Troll King.

Moreover, those three historic Great Troll Kings never eliminated all other Loa; they only ruled all trolls at the tribal level.

Other trolls also want to become Loa.

In short, a troll Loa might be able to seize a kingdom, but it will inevitably be unable to hold it.

The saying from the previous life, "When the world is united for long, it will split; when it is split for long, it will unite," does not apply to the Southern Continent; Loa fiefdoms are the norm there.

Now on the Southern Continent, besides the War God Kazlatajin, there are several Loa whose power is slightly inferior.

"Blood God" Sotigo, whose true form is a feathered serpent; "God of Courage" Huangqi, who is also a troll Loa; "God of Witchcraft" Jazruila, appearing as a multi‑headed serpentine lizard; "God of Storms" Akidara, this Loa being a male eagle.

The rest of the Loa are somewhat weaker.

The God of Night Siric ranks near the bottom among the many Loa, roughly in the last five.

Of course, Siric is not the weakest Loa; in the vast forests of the Southern Continent there are many powerful beings that also control the Ancient Sacred Altar. They are Loa as well, but of a lower tier.

"All are demigods..."

Lei En sat on the captain's throne, rhythmically tapping the armrest with his finger, his face deep in thought.

Among the historical data gathered by the Thunder‑forged Divine Weapon, there is a crucial point: the control of the Ancient Sacred Altar can be seized!

The premise is that the Loa has left the altar's area of control.

There is no need to kill the Loa nor have it relinquish control; as long as it is outside the altar's influence, that's sufficient.

In that case, the difficulty drops considerably.

Lei En's mind became active; his primary goal upon entering the Southern Continent is to gather Ancient Sacred knowledge, which should pose no problem and can be completed in a few days. The next step, after deciphering the Ancient Sacred runes, is to attempt to control the Ancient Sacred Altar.

The Southern Continent is a massive treasure!

Natural resources—gold, mines, and countless treasures need no elaboration, but in Lei En's eyes, the most important resource is population.

Compiling the data gathered over the past few days, one can roughly estimate that the total number of trolls on the Southern Continent exceeds ninety million, possibly surpassing a hundred million!

One hundred million trolls, all of them an intelligent race!

With such a massive population, if governed well, it could experience a two‑ to three‑fold increase, generating immense labor power.

Population is wealth!

Most importantly, these hundred million trolls can contribute a huge amount of faith power!

The Southern Continent is perpetually at war; Loa constantly clash, and the victor changes periodically, causing trolls to frequently switch allegiances. Mid‑ and lower‑tier trolls have little resistance to changing faith and can readily accept a new god.

That means over a hundred million trolls are potential believers; with a modest offering, missionary work on the Southern Continent would encounter little resistance.

If the gods learned of this, they'd probably go mad!

Lei En felt his heart race as well.

He won't ascend to godhood, but Sheng Jiles can!

Over a decade ago, Sheng Jiles began preparing for ascension, secretly preaching on the New Continent. Today, the Holy Spear Knight Corps are all followers of the Lord of Radiance, but with only a little over ten thousand believers, the faith power they provide is insufficient.

A portion of divinity already resides in Anse's divine flame, but even adding it all is not enough.

The original plan was to let Sheng Jiles quietly grow followers, gradually amassing divinity, and once Lei En fully controls the Empire's affairs and the nation's strength reaches a certain level, to have the Radiant Church openly preach at the right moment and achieve ascension in one stroke.

Now it seems Sheng Jiles' ascension plan can be advanced; the trolls of the Southern Continent are the best field for harvesting faith!

And those Loa, they possess massive divinity…

Lei En's eyes flickered.

Sheng Jiles is currently level thirty‑four, not yet on the demigod path, but Lei En predicts that when Sheng Jiles becomes a demigod, the MutatedPhone will upgrade accordingly, with a high chance of devouring other demigods' divinity, converting it into energy, then turning that energy into his own divinity!

"The plan needs adjusting."

Lei En hesitated hardly at all and made the decision to ascend.

Below Gotham City's Aibolaken, in the "Santela Residence," within the Radiant Church Cathedral, the hidden Sheng Jiles slipped away silently.

A moment later.

Sheng Jiles teleported to the Dying Sun plane, entered Anse's tomb, and saw the divine flame.

He stepped forward, grasped the divine flame, and instantly heard a reverent whisper at his ear—the sound of prayers. Part of it came from the sun‑chasing tribe's bull‑headed people, clear enough to see the location of those followers and the surrounding scenery.

Another portion of the worshippers' prayers was extremely vague, as if behind a barrier; their condition could not be seen, only a vague sense that they were a group of trolls.

"Barrier, trolls..."

Sheng Jiles muttered softly, a smile appearing on his cold visage.

Back when he first obtained the divine flame, Reslin had already sensed the presence of these troll believers; the bull‑headed people of the sun‑chasing tribe also said that their ancient records mention Anse's followers in the distant Southern Continent.

On the bridge, Lei En formed a clear plan in his mind, though it still needed verification.

Boom!

The Luo Sheng Du leapt into the void, and in an instant arrived over the desert of the Dying Sun plane, only a few dozen li from Anse's tomb.

Lei En opened a portal into the tomb and saw Sheng Jiles.

He lightly touched Sheng Jiles' shoulder, and with the divine flame still in Sheng Jiles' hand, in an instant Sheng Jiles successfully entered the Pixel World.

"Viable!"

Lei En's face brightened with joy; his worry that the divine flame couldn't enter the Pixel World proved unfounded.

Castling!

Lei En swapped positions with Reslin to enter the Southern Continent, releasing Sheng Jiles. Instantly, Sheng Jiles clearly heard a prayer, looked toward a direction in the forest about three thousand li away, where a group of trolls worshipping the Sun‑God gathered!

(End of Chapter)