Divine Force
“Jesfano, that piece of trash. Not only did he die, he also lost the master’s token…” The old man’s voice was incredibly hoarse, and it held an unendurably strange tone as he pointed out an earth-shattering fact.
“What? That happened at the Dambrath outer seas?” These black-robed priests exchanged glances, seeing shock in all of their eyes.
They were unwilling to think about what had happened to Jesfano.
In the Underdark, the druid elves that angered the spider empress Lolth would turn into terrifying half-spider monsters. For Jesfano, whose soul was in the hands of his god, he would be in a worse state.
Even the black-robed priests felt sorrowful on his behalf., but it didn’t last for long. The old man slowly scanned them, the whites of his eyes brightening slightly, “Jesfano was already a high-ranked priest. We’ll have to dispatch a legendary to be able to find out what happened. Who’s free right now?”
One of the priests muttered to himself, then continued, “Lord Shadow Mask’s whereabouts are unknown now, while Crimson Eye is at the barren west. It’ll be very inconvenient for them…”
“As for my own subordinates, the north is still rather unstable. A few lords have been pursuing Queen Alustriel, and there still haven’t been any results…” another black-robed priest reported. This was the pain of large organisations. While their influence was spread throughout the prime material plane, it was not so simple to make use of their high-tier forces.
“How’s the Cadaver Collector doing?” Since the old man had ordered this, he must have his own plans.
The last one hesitated for a while before speaking, “He has yet to complete his experiments…”
“Tell him to rush to the outer seas once he’s done. I want him to skin the scalp of the sinner who had the gall to kill my master’s priest!” The elderly man spoke slowly, and then knelt in front of the idol and began to pray, immovable. He was like the most solid statue himself.
The black-robed priests glanced at each other and retreated.
……
Leylin was completely clueless about the matters on the mainland, but he had his own predictions. He had returned to Port Venus undisturbed and hid in his wizard tower.
“This serenity should be maintained for a period of time. Even if the God of Murder’s church wants to take revenge, the time taken for them to investigate and dispatch men should be enough for me to advance…”
Leylin was now seated in the core of the wizard tower. There were terrifying isolation runes on the walls around him, and the tower genie was strictly monitoring everything. With its help Port Venus had become the harbour with the best security. Crime rates were currently very low, which attracted even more merchants into business here.
Leylin knew very well that even more trade was coming in. That was the result of eliminating the Barbarians.
‘Cousin should know that they can attack Pirates’ Cove and treat that area as an eternal base…’ Leylin placed the steaming cup on the table, a ruminating look on his expression, ‘I never thought I would become the source and driving force of chaos in the outer sea…’
At this thought, Leylin could not help but look at the other item on the table. This was a pendant of a strange make, containing surging strength within. Yet, it had lost its own spiritual nature and turned into an enormous source of energy that anyone could use.
“Now that I’ve removed the conscient and sealed it, the God of Murder shouldn’t be able to sense it anymore, no?” Leylin did not mention Cyric’s name. This was cautiousness on a fundamental level. Just mentioning a god’s name would allow them to sense things.
‘The information in the Wizards’ Guild stated that greater gods can obtain 15 to 18 words of information on the ones who call their truenames, regardless of where they are…’ Leylin stroked his chin.
This ability was somewhat similar to a part of the abilities of great rank 9 Magi, who were capable of everything and knew everything. It was a pity that this was just a part of it, and was a unique law that had been generated specific to the World of Gods. There were far too many ways to evade it.
‘Also… such a tremendous divine force… What a huge gift!’ Leylin spread his fingers and began to rub on the surface of the pendant. Threads of chaotic energy had been transformed by his devouring power, becoming the purest dark gold. Leylin absorbed it unceasingly.
Leylin now had given up the vulgar method of devouring everything at one go, and had switched his method to making fine adjustments and changes continuously. While the divine force of the God of Murder was powerful, it seemed too impure, and the power of Distorted Shadow was continuously seeping in from it. What Leylin needed was to refine the purest divine force and use it on himself.
As the divine force was poured into himself, a golden mist formed around Leylin, like he was a god cast of gold.
The A.I. Chip’s prompts kept sounding out. [Beep! Host has absorbed large amounts of energy essence. Determined to be a greater god’s divine force. Effect similar to eternal grace from the god.]
[Host’s stats have increased, Strength +1. Agility +1. Vitality +1.]
As the A.I. Chip’s robotic voice sounded, Leylin felt like his body had been enhanced. Terrifying strength burst forth from all his cells.
“As expected of a greater god’s divine force…” Leylin sighed with satisfaction.
“A.I. Chip, assess the value of all the divine force!” He commanded.
[Beep! Mission established. Constructing model of host’s body. Beginning simulations…] The A.I. Chip loyally carried out Leylin’s orders. Within seconds, it had a comprehensive conclusion.
[Beep! Preliminary results show that the pendant will be used up completely in 145h 12min. Host’s average stats estimated to reach 15, will advance one rank as an arcanist.]
“Is that so? That’s not bad… On top of that…” Leylin saw the A.I. Chip’s prompt below. [Beep! Analysis of level 5 Weave at 100%. Host has obtained all rank 5 spell models, is now immune to forgetting spells. No materials needed to cast rank 5 spells.]
There was a new change to the A.I. Chip’s interface, in the portion related to the progress on the Weave.
[Analysis of Weave: Level 0: 100%, Level 1: 100%, Level 2: 100%, Level 3: 100%, Level 4: 100%, Level 5: 100%, Level 6: 53.33%, Level 7: 34.97%.]
‘So divine force is also effective at deciphering the Weave…’ Leylin nodded, ‘It also seems to have something to do with me becoming an arcanist. Now that I’ve somewhat broken away from it, the analysis has quickened quite a bit…’
Becoming an arcanist was a huge advancement for Leylin. It wasn’t just a change in combat ability, he could now completely break through the Weave that limited wizards.
With the restrictions of the Weave, high-ranked wizards after rank 15 would find advancing extremely difficult, Becoming a legendary was also incomparably harsh. It was easier for legendary warriors; becoming a legendary wizard before turning three hundred would already make one extremely young!
Leylin had a feeling that, after experiencing the dusk of the gods and the rise of the Netheril Empire, the gods had consciously limited the abilities of the spellcasters and prevented them from improving and growing.
However, this did not apply to arcanists. As long as they had the theories and a foundation, as well as enough resources, there was nothing stopping arcanists from advancing! However, the difficulty for arcanists lay in constructing theories applying to the higher ranks or even legendaries. This was much harder than for wizards.
In ancient times, the difficulty in arcanists advancing far exceeded that of the wizards. But Leylin was different. His main body was a near rank 7 Magus of laws! His foundation was extremely solid for the nonlimited arcane arts. With enough capabilities, he could constantly improve.
With the recuperation of his body and restoration of his law of devouring, as well as Cyric’s bishop’s ‘altruistic’ offering, he was pushed into the fast lane of advancement.
‘Only legendaries are high-end battle powers in the prime material plane. I must become a legendary as soon as possible; only then will I have the confidence and capital to separate the outer seas…’ When it came to his future development and plans, Leylin practically had a complete set of steps to follow.
‘Before this, I need to crack down on the faith of the natives and the various devil and demon worshippers, as well as the followers of evil gods…’ Leylin got up slowly, the great energy in his body turning into terrifying streams of air in the private room.
‘I’ll need to alter my outer appearance. It wouldn’t be fun to be misunderstood as related to the God of Murder!’ With a thought, all of Leylin’s divine force was converted into the purest energy. The faint golden light on his skin completely disappeared.
“Master, the guests have arrived outside the tower!” The tower genie spoke respectfully, her little face appearing at this moment.
“I’ll greet them myself!” Leylin nodded.
He headed outside the wizard tower and saw the figure of Gold Priest Xena. Beside her were the priests of a few other churches, though they were only around rank 10.
“Bishop Xena, everyone else, welcome to my wizard tower!” Leylin had a cordial smile on his face. In that moment, it was as if spring had arrived and all sorts of beautiful flowers were blooming.
‘This power of influence… How terrifying! What state is his spiritual force in now?’ While having shock in her eyes, Xena similarly revealed a smile, “Lord Baron, you’re too courteous! As guests, our gifts are lacking. This isn’t good manners…”