Chapter 767: 274 Woodworm

Chapter 767: Chapter 274 Woodworm

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“…Lord Amon, thank you once again for your cooperation.”

In the void outside the world, still in the original position.

Before Hermes floated three unstable crystal cores, reflecting his not-so-good complexion.

It had been a while since Amon’s ‘birth,’ and upon discovering the experiment’s success, Hermes immediately returned to the tower, retrieved his items, and came back here.

A single success could simply be luck; he intended to repeat his experiment once more.

...

However, just as Hermes feared, even though he tried again and again with the same method, Amon’s birth still seemed unreplicable.

Just like every time before, the trace of his soul he released was never assimilated by the will of the God of Stars long slumbering in the crystal stone, transforming into an independent avatar closely linked to it.

Because every time he reached this step, that wisp of soul would self-destruct during the instinctual assimilation process of the God of Stars.

Evidently, it couldn’t withstand the power from the Ancient Sun God, at least not with just a wisp of soul.

So, in order to understand how his sole success came to be, Hermes had no choice but to ask Amon to continue cooperating with his experiment.

He thought it would take a lot of effort, but to Hermes’ surprise, this new consciousness, believing itself to be the ‘Recovery Star God,’ seemed grateful for his help in ‘awakening himself’ and did not refuse any of his requested attempts.

Therefore, Hermes gave up on using coercive means; on the contrary, he even satisfied some of Lord Amon’s requests.

For example, during breaks in the experiments, he would explain the history of Chaos or explain what his experiments were for.

After all, although the other party appeared to be a God of Stars, it was essentially a wisp of the soul assimilated by the Star God’s consciousness.

Regarding memories of the true God of Stars, recalling even a tiny bit would be difficult, let alone detailed aspects.

If he truly understood those things, Hermes would indeed find it strange.

“…Just like I said earlier, the mortal world is now ruled by God-King Zeus on Mount Olympus.”

“He is the son of the second-generation God-King Cronus, grandson of Father Sky and Mother Earth, and the most powerful deity in today’s mortal world.”

“He ambitiously seeks to rule all things, while those you once served either got branded as sinners of the previous era, imprisoned in the Abyss without leaving, or were sealed or remained hidden from the world.”

“I don’t know whether you once served the Ancient Sun God or the former God-King, but the outcome is the same; there is no place for you in Zeus’s divine court.”

“The current night sky no longer holds room for your survival… these things you could also have verified with others.”

With a slight sigh, after failing again and again until finally seeing no hope for success, Hermes could only choose to accept the status quo.

It seemed that his previous success really couldn’t be replicated, perhaps just a coincidence caused by probability calculations.

But this made the only success case even more precious.

He certainly hoped nothing would happen to this existence named Amon, and of course, couldn’t let him entertain too many ideas.

Thus, while narrating the world’s situation, Hermes highlighted external threats.

To make the sheep in the pen obey, the best way was to satisfy its desires.

However, desires always grow, and no one can satisfy them forever, so this way was impractical.

As for the secondary method, it was to tell the flock that there were countless wolves outside.

This way, even if their desires were not fulfilled, the fear could drive them to quietness.

Strictly speaking, the so-called faith intertwined with these principles too; fear and hope, reality and falsehood, all manifested within.

Besides, regarding whether his ‘lies’ would be uncovered, the great alchemist also believed it wouldn’t happen.

Anyway, in the short term, Hermes was not planning to let the other go.

Without an opportunity to go out, it was impossible to verify the truthfulness.

So whether or not there were ‘wolves’ outside was naturally up to him.

“So that’s how it is…I’m really unfortunate then.”

“Didn’t expect that upon waking, the world had already changed.”

Like a naive young person, Amon easily believed Hermes’s words.

As an outdated relic abandoned by the times, this was also inevitable.

Yet, despite the external crises looming, fortunately, the benevolent Hermes was willing to provide him with a safe environment, a favor indeed substantial.

Even if the other party didn’t say anything, Amon planned to repay the kindness bestowed upon him.

“Haha, although the situation is a bit unstable, you need not worry excessively.”

“In fact, I do have connections with the lineage of the God of Stars, having been old acquaintances for many years, so I’ve always attempted to awaken you.”

“Regrettably, my ability is limited, and to this day, you are the only one I’ve revived. If only a dozen more could arise, then even without acceptance from all gods, you wouldn’t need to worry about survival.”

Shaking his head slightly, Hermes thought it was time to return.

Maybe Amon was indeed an unexpected occurrence, possibly because he was his first subject for a ceremony in the void.

Often, there were always some advantages to being the first, not merely fantastical within mysticism.

But since subsequent efforts didn’t succeed, there was no need to waste more time or pay higher costs.

After all, he still had backup plans, such as blood sacrifices, among others.

The vital energy of living beings was capable, to some extent, of converting into spirituality, a concept Hermes had long verified.

This was also one of the basic theories of alchemy, indirectly proving the theory of all things returning to one.

Whether a material life or a spiritual life, they might, to some extent, belong to one entity.

However, the finished products created in this way would presumably need strict seals and contracts to restrain them.

Given current technology, even knowing all things are one, Hermes could not achieve it.

At least, until total success, he needed them to obey orders.

Referencing many Nature Spirits in the northern continent indulging in blood sacrifices, Hermes would not relax his vigilance on this.

“So are we heading back?”

“Yes.”

Nodding with a smile, Hermes treated his creation with courtesy.

“Welcome to the new era; even though you can’t remember things from the past, I believe you will eventually recall them.”

…

By the Circumterrestrial River’s bank, two figures passed through a gate of light.

Without lingering much, Hermes led the ‘awakened’ ‘God of Stars’ back toward the tower.

The experiment here was over, and next, he wanted to see how his student’s work was progressing.

Materials for blood sacrifices were hard to find, but the battlefield was different.

The figure hurried away, and soon, the sea region at the world’s edge once more fell into tranquility.

Only in the depth of the ocean, countless undercurrents surged relentlessly, manifesting the authority of the Lord of Ocean.

“…”

“…God of Stars…immortal…blood sacrifice…Chaos…”

Who knew how long had passed when suddenly, a peculiar-looking sea serpent was swept by ocean currents approaching this area.

However, in the next moment, it suddenly went rigid and then began shriveling at a visible speed.

After a while, near its seven-inch point, a translucent seven-segmented insect emanating brilliant starlight emerged from it.

A slight trace of blood lingered on its body, which then faded at a rapid pace.

After a while, seemingly having finally absorbed the sea serpent’s strength, the seven-segment insect seemed to open its ‘eyes.’

“…So this is blood sacrifice from the Otherworld, such transformation between spiritual and material life also exists in Hemenu; mortals believe the heart is a bridge connecting the body and soul.”

“But in this world, the instinct of ‘life’ belonging to the body itself can nourish the ‘life’ belonging to the soul… Heh, there seems to be a bit of a problem here, likely related to the Principal God who holds the [Life] authority in this world.”

No specific process was needed, nor detailed knowledge required.

Amon merely knew of Chaos’s existence of ‘blood sacrifice,’ and he discerned the method through his way of perceiving the Law.

After all, this wasn’t something complex—any Sub-Spirit could accept a blood sacrifice, as long as it could withstand the overwhelmingly active negative emotions in between.

This was also why All Gods didn’t completely ban blood sacrifices but forbade human sacrifices.

Because the higher the wisdom of the existence being sacrificed, the more terrifying the negative emotions generated during it—which, of course, meant more substantial gleanings.

Yet, orthodox gods did not need such means to amass strength, hence ‘human sacrifices’ often became synonymous with evil gods.

“The God of Stars… originally just intended to have him help me get in, then secure a suitable identity.”

“With my current strength, there’s no way to influence a deity, yet I didn’t expect such an existence as God of Stars to exist in this world. They are weak but undying.”

The starlit insect swam among the waters, easily draining several more sea beasts of their life energy.

The seven-segmented crystalline body shone brighter, enveloped by misty starlight on all sides.

Yet, feeling its own changes, the insect was dissatisfied.

Replacing external entities wasn’t difficult for him, even if that God of Stars had some protective powers; he could also disguise his aura, parasitizing within.

Although to Amon, this was a good start already. After all, though that God of Stars lacked even the slightest divine power, it was still a god by essence.

But since he had a good start, he couldn’t help but desire more in the follow-up.

Especially since Amon discovered that this being called Hermes not only had one God of Stars, but many more.

“Tch, judging by now, I indeed won the bet previously.

“This wasn’t a trap set by this world, though it cannot be entirely confirmed.”

“Fortunately, I didn’t pin all hopes on a single place; since you’ve let me in, you can’t catch me again…”

Splitting his consciousness was effortless for Amon, though the part split off couldn’t hold the complete and transcendent persona of the original.

However, the trait of surpassing the limitation of great divine power allowed his thoughts to spread out and unify, and no matter the distance, the characteristic from the void allowed his consciousness to remain whole.

Any avatar could become the ‘main body’ at any time.

Therefore, Amon followed Hermes away grandly, unafraid of walking into a trap, and left only a single sub-body for himself.

If any incidents arise, this avatar would become his new main body, and as time passed, such avatars would only become more numerous in the future.

Of course, not every avatar could replace a deity; using ‘replacement’ to deceive the world’s Law was considerably challenging, even with Amon’s persona level.

Especially now, when he possessed a persona but lacked any divine power.

“Hmm… Next up is to acquire some strength.”

“The main body should see if it could deceive that alchemist; if not, then deceive his student, as for me…”

With a flash of starlight, a regular polyhedron with twenty-four faces appeared before the seven-segmented insect.

“Sea Emperor, Divine King, Hades, and other deities.”

“Where to start? Perhaps roll a dice to see who gets unlucky first.”

With a slight curl of the mouth, theoretically, the ocean was the easiest to deal with and least prone to errors, but Amon didn’t care about that.

For him, without a life threat, he naturally wanted to make things as thrilling as possible.

At worst, he would get discovered and defeated, which wouldn’t be unacceptable.

In the next moment, as the starlight flashed again, on each face of the twenty-four-sided die, an image of a deity appeared—all the ones Amon had heard from Hermes.

As the mind subtly moved, the twenty-four-sided die responded by dropping toward the sea.

Whichever face touched the water first would determine Amon’s choice.

Whether simple or difficult, he wouldn’t retract his decision.

“Tap—”

“Hmm… the result ended up being her?”

The twenty-four-sided die hit the sea surface and shattered into a handful of stardust.

Knowing the result, the seven-segment insect seemed to shake its head, then dived into the ocean.

Amon didn’t intend to linger in this seldom-visited place, and the reason he revealed his avatar in the form of an insect wasn’t for any other reason, mainly influenced by the ancient Egyptians.

They revered the Scarab as the Sun, so Amon wanted to use the pest as a symbol for stars.

After all, now disguised as a God of Stars, it wasn’t implausible.

A new world, gaining a new life.

Hopefully, the people and gods in this world would bring him more joy.

······

“Hmm?”

To the north of the continent, on Mount Nysa.

At the center of the continuously extending mountain range lay the peak almost destroyed by Typhon.

The mender of destiny resided there, troubled by the impending war.

They aimed to steer it back to the right path, at least partially correct, yet achieving that seemed difficult given their capabilities.

After all, none of the gods favored the Goddess of Fate, nor could any single god single-handedly alter the war’s course.

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