Chapter Ten: Exploring the Divine Kingdom
The reincarnated body was temporarily placed in the Bottomless Abyss.
Soren now had a plan in mind, and naturally felt more confident about the future structure of the Divine Kingdom. In fact, the demon form of reincarnation was still acceptable; at the very least, the humanoid reincarnated bodies crafted by Soren would not affect the frictional motion between different sexes. If Soren were to directly pursue the Divine Profession of Death, then the reincarnated body he created might very well be in an undead form. In that case, there would be no telling how many skeletal remains were inside the Divine Kingdom; unless one simultaneously mastered the domains of death and life, the Prayer Weavers within the Divine Kingdom would lack the opportunity to enjoy the frictional motion between sexes or between the same sex.
As for the reincarnation into beast forms for Prayer Weavers, that preference was rather heavy.
It’s better not to elaborate too much.
This matter cannot solely be viewed from a personal perspective; it must also be compared with others. Soren had already decided upon his return not to mention the Paradise of Mount Heaven to the believers, but rather to focus on the Underworld, the Gray Wastes, and the Wild Lands. Compared to those realms filled with either undead or beasts, Soren’s future Divine Kingdom would surely possess great allure.
Many people desire to reach paradise.
But who can persist in doing good deeds and being a good person for a lifetime?
To ascend to the first level of Mount Heaven, the inclination towards the Good Faction must reach at least 50 points! This means that generally ordinary good deeds must be performed for a lifetime; acts of kindness are merely daily routines. As the saying goes in Middle-earth, one must possess merits to be reincarnated into the Paradise of Mount Heaven.
It’s easy to be a good person for a moment, but difficult to be a good person for a lifetime.
Especially in today’s world.
The most splendid paradises in the upper planes, such as Mount Heaven, the Paradise, and Eden, are essentially the dreams of ordinary people.
……
Upon returning to Modo, Soren immediately sensed something was off.
Gloria was surprisingly not in the laboratory, but had been waiting for him at his residence. The moment they met, her expression turned grave and she said, “A Divine Kingdom has fallen to the Material Plane!”
“The location is in the northwestern wastelands, very close to the realm of the orcs.”
“The scouts from Modo have detected anomalies.”
“Recently, many Professionists have headed to the northwestern region, including notable legendary level adventurer teams.”
“Numerous temples are also taking action.”
“This is the emergency intel sent back. You should take a look before discussing.”
A report was handed to Soren.
He glanced over it at an astonishing speed, and his expression immediately turned serious: “It’s the Divine Kingdom of the God of the Hunt – Mara! It seems they want to acquire wealth from the Divine Kingdom!”
Currently, the fallen deities were not many.
Though the God of Half-Elves had died, Soren took over the Divine Profession, and there have been no issues with the Divine Kingdom thus far.
One of the deities from the Elven Pantheon had recently died, but its Divine Kingdom could not have fallen so quickly. Therefore, the most likely candidate was the God of the Hunt – Mara, who had previously perished at Soren’s hands. His Divine Kingdom was originally located close to the Gray Wastes, making its fall to the Material Plane quite probable.
The Saint’s Cataclysm was a mess.
Even if the cataclysm had ended, many issues continued to affect the world, such as the fallen and shattered realms of deities.
But that had already been a conclusion of the Saint’s Cataclysm.
Soren had not expected that due to his killing of the God of the Hunt, the crisis following the end of the Saint’s Cataclysm would start to break out prematurely. The first incident of a Divine Kingdom falling happened at the end of the Saint’s Cataclysm; though there had been previous deities that fell, their Divine Kingdoms did not descend into the Material Plane. Such situations might have occurred, but they did not influence the world. This time, with the God of the Hunt – Mara’s Divine Kingdom falling to the mortal realm, it introduced a new variable into the Material Plane.
The Divine Kingdoms are unique.
Deities spend a long time constructing these realms, and within these realms lie the immense wealth accumulated throughout their lives.
Even a mere ordinary deity possesses treasures unimaginable to mortals within their Divine Kingdoms, as deities can also plunder resources from the Astral Realm to transfer to the interior of their Divine Kingdom.
However, the interior of a Divine Kingdom is also quite dangerous.
Deities require many powerful subordinates to maintain the operation of their Divine Kingdoms. In addition to the ordinary Prayer Weaver citizens, deities command their own armies within the Divine Kingdom to respond to wars with other deities. They require a cohort of Otherworldly Divine Servants to execute various tasks and need enough Holy Spirits to govern the residents within the realms. There are also divine servants responsible for guiding souls and overseeing reincarnation, among other duties.
If a Divine Kingdom collapses,
it could be weakened and fragmented into independent demi-planes, much like a shattered mirror. The remaining fragments are still mirrors.
Those utterly destroyed are sucked into temporal chaos.
Because certain powers can still stabilize or temporarily maintain the shattered independent demi-planes.
At the late stage of the Saint’s Cataclysm,
many adventurers directed their energies into exploring Divine Kingdoms because many beings within Divine Kingdoms possess divinity, and one might even gain a sliver of divine power from fallen deities.
In the process of expanding their Divine Kingdoms, deities are continuously consuming divine power.
“I’m afraid I need to set off immediately.”
Soren pondered over the intel for a long moment, then slowly said, “There must be many important things within the Divine Kingdom of the God of the Hunt. This matter will have a wide-reaching impact; I need to investigate what’s happening over there.”
Gloria nodded gently, responding softly, “Mhm.”
“Modo City still has me, so you must be extra careful on this journey.”
Soren gazed at the beautiful witch before him, opened his arms, embraced her tightly, then kissed her harshly before rising to walk outside.
The Divine Kingdom of the God of the Hunt.
As the god who killed Mara, Soren had to check the situation, or else he would feel uneasy.
Before departing, Soren visited the temple.
After briefly briefing the High Priest on some matters, Soren instantly used magic to teleport near White Horse City.
White Horse City remained the same.
The crisis from the Ancient Red Dragon had not been resolved, but the outside world had begun to realize that the entity occupying here was likely not an ordinary Red Dragon.
Soren was not confident in dealing with this Ancient Red Dragon.
If he aimed to kill it, Soren would have to join forces with Gloria, the Fallen Witch, Vivian, and the Princess, and there was no doubt that casualties could occur.
The costs and gains were completely disproportionate.
In the context of the Saint’s Cataclysm, Soren had other means with lesser costs to gain similar benefits.
As Soren passed through White Horse City, he unexpectedly discovered some hurried combat priests. They had a very distinctive emblem on their chests, a red chess knight piece with star-shaped pupils. This deity was the Weak Divine Power of the Strategy Goddess, also a deity of war—a somewhat uncommon yet significant war deity.
This goddess possessed a special ability to perceive strategies!
She belonged to the category of deities that, although classified as Weak Divine Power, were quite difficult to contend with.
She had never disclosed her true name; only the God of War knew of it, and it was said that if one knew her true name, they might control her.
Whether this is true remains uncertain.
The goddess’s followers were not very common; upon seeing her priests, Soren couldn’t help but take note.
Passing through the dense autumn leaf forest behind White Horse City, he gradually approached the barren wasteland. The half-orc chieftain Eugene had risen in this land, but with the half-orc offensive against Leaffall City, many half-orcs had already relocated elsewhere. Currently, the most active races here were primarily werewolves, goblins, and ogres. The most prominent presence in the northwestern wasteland was wolf packs, filled with numerous wolf mounts and jaw wolves, and sometimes even very dangerous winter wolves could be seen.
Barren land signifies little yield, and even the orcs are hesitant to farm or graze here.
However, upon arriving here, Soren unexpectedly discovered quite a hustle and bustle; not only did he find traces of humans and elves, but he also saw several groups of orc armies.
The fall of the Divine Kingdom had stirred many people.
Mortals seemed to be fine, but Soren was worried about whether other deities would come to explore. If other deities also arrived and happened to encounter Soren, it could lead to a significant conflict. However, it could be said that the Divine Kingdom of the God of the Hunt was likely most attractive to Soren and Lady Silver Moon due to the compatibility of their Divine Professions.
……(To be continued ~^~)
