It was a magical room that Alice had personally designed for Greem. It was the ‘prison’ used to trap the Libram of Wisdom.
It couldn’t be helped. The Orb of Shadows might be a Fifth Grade artifact, but it did not belong to any one person.
A simple Fate spell could obscure it from the senses of all the Dark Witches.
However, the Libram of Wisdom was different. It was an artifact with an actual owner!
With the endless supply of power from God of Wisdom Hierro, the artifact could escape at any time. Greem had to find a way to cut off the connection between the Libram and its owner and keep it in his hands at all times.
Greem’s only option had been to ask Alice to construct this small spatial domain cut off from the rest of the world. That was how he had managed to cause the Libram of Wisdom to remain dormant all this while.
A loud eruption rang out in the room. Greem’s towering figure appeared in a corner with a flash of fire.
This room was isolated from the outside. There were no paths in or out. The only way in was to teleport using fixed spatial coordinates. However, only Greem knew the coordinates of this room. Even Alice and Mary were kept in the dark.
That stifled any chance of leaked information!
After entering the room, Greem coughed violently for a while. Finally, he carefully sat down before the stone table and opened the Libram of Wisdom lightly.
“Gods are omnipotent!”
This simple line was the only thing written on the very first page!
Gods are omnipotent. Hmph! If the gods were so powerful, why was there still evil and corruption in this world? Hmph! Liars and tricksters.
Greem remarked in disdain in his mind. He tried to flip to the second page.
However, regardless of how he rubbed the corner of the page, it was as if all the pages were stuck together. He could not move them at all.
“Dammit! What is happening? Is the artifact I tried so hard to get my hands on an incomplete artifact? Chip, run an analysis.” After several failed attempts, Greem could only shut the door and let the Chip out.
[Beep. Detecting unusual aggregate of faith energy. Analysis suggests that unlocking said faith energy requires the host to either achieve resonance or proceed based on the settings of the faith energy.]
“Achieve resonance? What does that mean?”
[To become a faithful believer of the God of Wisdom. As long as the host’s mental wave matches the faith energy resonance of the God of Wisdom, the host will be able to read the Libram of Wisdom without any obstruction!]
“Dammit, you are telling me to convert? We adepts don’t believe in any gods except for ourselves!”
[Self-worship is an alternative faith of sorts! If the host does not intend to convert belief, the host can refer to the book Gulliver’s Self Hypnosis.”
An awkward smile appeared on Greem’s face.
Gulliver was an adept who called himself ‘The Arcane Trickster.’ He had a fondness for researching the divine magic of the gods.
He had dicovered that the believers of the gods did not require too much supernatural knowledge to be able to unleash devastating high-grade divine magic under the blessing of the gods. That made it far easier for god believers to grow in power compared to the adepts, with far less risk.
For the sake of obtaining such easy power, Gulliver took an unusual path and developed a method of self-hypnosis. It allowed the user to temporarily disguise themselves as a believer of a god, thereby tricking the god and obtaining the right to use certain divine spells.
If you could only trick a single god, there would only be so many spells you could obtain on a daily basis.
However, Gulliver was a genius in his own right. Through his powerful abilities, he was able to cheat as many as a dozen gods simultaneously.
His magical abilities, in addition to all these free divine spells, allowed him to make a name for himself as an up and coming genius. The Gulliver’s Self Hypnosis that he wrote became an interesting book that most high-grade adepts had to read!
Chapter 1155 - Pollution of Divine Power
Disguising himself as one of the God of Wisdom’s believers?
This thought had never crossed Greem’s mind.
If the gods were classified by their power, God of Wisdom Hierro was a weak, lower god at best. He was barely more powerful than newly crowned gods.
Meanwhile, as a Fourth Grade adept, Greem was practically a demigod if he were in the World of Gods!
There was only a small step between a demigod and a god.
Even though the difference in power between the two was massive, Greem could not lie to himself. He could respect gods, but investing his full devotion to them was something that Greem could never do, even with his life on the line.
The adepts’ research into gods was extensive. The gods might appear to be high and mighty beings to mortals, but in the eyes of the adepts, the gods were no more than high-energy beings that relied on faith to parasitize their planes.
The gods and evil that people speak of were simply the external manifestations of supernatural powers!
The gods used their supernatural powers to fool the mortals. They used the conversion of faith to brainwash their believers, making them repeat those false ‘truths’ and notions of ‘justice,’ over and over again. Through this process, the gods obtain the believer’s faith, and the believers received a fragment of the god’s power. It was an insignificant return for their investments.
The gods even descended to walk amongst mortals with human bodies for the sake of further deceiving their followers and spreading their faith. They would personally establish their own religious organizations with their strict structures of authority. The thoughts of the believers were kept in line with these organizations. They would chant the prayers and words left behind by the ‘prophets’ to communicate with their gods and turn themselves into a faith node.
To prevent the believers from overthinking, the gods would often suppress technological and philosophical advancements in society, often keeping their believers in a state of ignorance.
In fact, some gods would even intentionally provoke worldly conflicts to stimulate an explosion of faith. They would also use the terrifying war to eliminate unqualified believers and bring in new blood.
Of course, in the worlds ruled by the gods, spellcasters and individuals with supernatural powers were targets of oppression and murder. Adepts, mages, and arcanists were naturally opposed to the gods!
It was precisely because of how much they understood the gods that having an adept take the knee and worship a god was the greatest humiliation possible!
“Is there no way I can study the Libram of Wisdom, apart from converting to a believer of Hierro?” Greem mumbled dissatisfiedly.
[Beep. The Libram of Wisdom is a book of faith that contains a record of the divine origin and divine traits of the God of Wisdom. Analyzing its content does not require sight, but Spirit. Adjusting one’s Spirit frequency to match the divine flux of the Libram is the only way to read the book.]
“If it is just a matter of changing Spirit frequencies and not conversion, I wouldn’t mind doing it. There won’t be any side-effects from this, will there, Chip?”
[Beep. Host’s thoughts will be polluted by the divine power of the Libram of Wisdom after changing Spirit frequencies. Given the strength of the host’s current Spirit, the host’s mind will not be influenced as long as the connection is no longer than 27 minutes and 53 seconds. The host will need to conduct deep meditation for long periods to neutralize the effects of the divine power after reading the Libram.]
“Influence thoughts? What kind of influence?”
[The influence will make the host accept the divine information contained within the Libram of Wisdom and acknowledge some of the ideals of the God of Wisdom. It would turn the host into a loose believer.]
Loose believers were not actual believers. They were individuals that agreed with some of a god’s behav
ior and ideals. Their faith was not strong and was often incredibly flimsy. It rendered them very easy to external influence and conversion to other faiths.
“Loose believers? That doesn’t seem all that unacceptable!” Greem rubbed his chin and hesitated slightly.
[Beep. Becoming a loose believer is only the first step of divine power pollution. As the host continues reading the Libram of Wisdom, the degree of faith will continue to deepen. As such, conducting deep meditations after reading sessions to neutralize the effects of the divine power is of utmost importance!]
“I understand! Chip, when I read the Libram, remember to record and monitor the changes to my Spirit. If I show any signs of having my thoughts being influenced, notify me immediately and interrupt the reading!”
[Beep. Host’s order has been received. Conducting digitization of host’s Spirit. Dynamic real-time monitoring of Spirit has begun.]
Greem could finally relax with the Chip looking after his back. He put all his attention back on the first page of the Libram.
Gods are omnipotent!
These words were written in a foreign language that Greem did not comprehend in the slightest.
Supposedly, Greem should not be able to recognize these unusual runes. Strangely enough, when Greem cast his gaze towards the words, their meaning naturally appeared in his mind.
There was no need to decipher or analyze them. Greem naturally knew what the words meant the moment he laid eyes on them!
Greem wasn’t surprised by this.
Most high-grade magical tomes had similar effects.
That was why reading this book did not rely on sight, but Spirit!
Greem’s eyes gazed upon this short line of words. It was almost as if his Spirit had broken into an unusual illusory realm or had been dragged into a different world. Greem appeared as a complete translucent humanoid in this world. He followed behind a god, personally witnessing how he unleashed his divine power and gathered material substance, using his omnipotent powers to forge a plane out of nothing.
On the first day, the god used the power of Creation.
Countless tiny yet real substances swarmed forth from the endless galaxy, gathering together.
On the second day, the god created the planar world.
The god used his divine power as an adhesive and pieced the particles together to create the continents and the sea upon which the countless lifeforms could live and procreate.
On the third day, the god isolated the world from the spacestorms.
Once the planar world had been constructed, the god used his divine power and formed a massive bubble to envelop the planar world and shield it from space.
On the fourth day, the god created light.
The planar world had formed when the plane’s barrier was created. However, the world was utter darkness, and nothing could be seen. The god dragged stars and suns from the depths of the galaxy and placed them in the skies above the plane.
On the fifth day, the god created life.
The planar world might be vast and boundless, but it was merely a frail marble in the hands of the great god. The god lay above the marble and blew into the glass. Sparks of his divine power scattered across the world, merging with material substance where they landed, giving form to thousands upon thousands of plants and animals.
On the sixth day, the god created intelligent life.
The planar world became increasingly lively and colorful with each passing day. The god molded several intelligent species in his image and sent them into the plane.
These were the leaders of the world as named by the god!
On the seventh day, the god became the guardian deity of the planar world.
After accomplishing all this, the god went to sleep in hopes of recovering his powers. The humans or elves or beasts (the form of which depended on the reader’s own species) created by the god’s divine power started to walk in the world, spreading civilization and faith where they went.
As Greem witnessed the seven days of creation by the god, his Spirit frequency gradually became compatible with the god. He started to understand certain planar laws that were typically incomprehensible to him through this act of creation.
However, just as Greem became immersed in this divine power that could create worlds and destroy them with a wave of a hand, the entire illusory realm started crumbling due to an unexpected alarm.
[Beep. Warning, warning. Host’s mind has been polluted by foreign energy. Foreign pollution reaching threshold. Awakening Protocol activated.]
Greem, in his Spirit form, looked around helplessly and could only watch as the entire world rapidly collapsed and fell apart. The wondrous galaxy popped like a bubble, and the countless stars crashed down from above like fireballs.
The entire world began to burn in silence.
Meanwhile, in reality, Greem suddenly clasped his head and screamed in agony. His eyes that had lost focus became sharp and full of life once more under a splitting headache.
Greem took a deep breath and finally broke free of that very real and very strange illusion.
“Chip, conduct self-examination now. Give me a full report!”
[Beep. Mission accepted. Self-examination commencing.
[Beep. Beep. Beep. Examination complete. Report is being produced.]
Lights flickered before his eyes as a screen appeared in Greem’s mind. His current mental status was quickly displayed.
[Target Creature: Greem (Host)
Target Grade: Beginner Fourth Grade
Target Identity: Demi-Principle Adept (Fire Specialization)
Target Bodily Attributes: Strength 27 (11) | Physique 32 (14) | Agility 18 (8) | Spirit 41 (29) |
Target Bloodline: Starbeast Bloodline (Unknown)
Target Physique: Chaos Physique
Target Traits: Heart of Principles
Target Condition: Origin damaged. Soul is currently in a weakened state (all bodily attributes weakened). Mental consciousness polluted by foreign energy. Currently processing foreign mental influence.]
Ever since his injury from the return trip from Morrian Plane, Greem’s soul had been in a weakened state. The most direct effect of this injury was the decrease in all his attributes. If it weren’t for the powerful magical equipment he possessed, he would not even be able to maintain his power at the level of a Fourth Grade adept.
Now, his mind had been further polluted by the God of Wisdom’s divine power in addition to the pre-existing injury.
Greem immediately left the room with Fire Teleportation and hurried back to his chambers to meditate.
When he left, the Libram of Wisdom flipped on its own, silently turning to the second page.
Chapter 1156 - Infiltrator
Hierro was the God of Wisdom.
He might not be a particularly significant god, but he held the secrets of the gods in his hands.
There was no doubt that the Libram of Wisdom that he had personally created was a powerful artifact.
After being influenced and charmed by the Libram of Wisdom, Greem had to go into deep meditation to remove the divine power from his Spirit. It was a long and arduous process, but it was very much worth it.
At the very least, Greem’s Spirit had gone from 40 points to 41 points after reading the first page of the Libram! That was his greatest reward from doing so!
After advancing to Fourth Grade, increasing Spirit had become very difficult. This fact was well-known to adepts.
After the multiple bloody battles in Morrian Plane and the stimulation of the divine power in the Libram of Wisdom, Greem’s Spirit had finally increased by one point. It wasn’t hard to imagine that, in the near future, the Libram of Wisdom would bring about a decent improvement to his Spirit.
However, Greem’s soul origin was still recovering from his injury. An excessive burden on his Spirit was not conducive to this recovery process.
With the Chip’s planning, Greem only read the Libram of Wisdom once a month. With the rest o
f his time, Greem started to organize and optimize the knowledge he had obtained from the Arcane Empire.
The information on the floating rings that he sold to Molten Fire City Lord Alfred was only the initial version. Obviously, he didn’t want to use such crude, unrefined knowledge for himself. Greem had the Chip continue the optimization of the floating ring technology.
However, compared to the low-level technology of a floating ring, what attracted Greem’s attention the most out of the Arcane Empire’s knowledge system was their fearsome pseudo-planar fortresses.
The Arcane Empire had transformed many pseudo-planes into impenetrable fortresses.
Every time the Arcane Empire launched an invasion, these pseudo-planes would charge from the frontlines, with floating fortresses serving as their artillery. One could claim that most of the hundreds of lesser planes ruled by the Arcane Empire at its peak were conquered by these pseudo-planar fortresses.
If Greem wanted to replicate the former glory of the Arcane Empire, he would have to conduct comprehensive and in-depth research into spell pools, magic pools, arcane cores, and the many other gems of the Arcane Empire’s knowledge system.
It was an exceedingly large and complicated knowledge system of a completely different type to the adept’s knowledge. Even with the Chip’s aid, Greem would require a tremendous amount of time to transplant the knowledge into the adepts’ magic system.
Thus, he was in no real hurry. He continued to mend his injury as he silently waited for news.
Two weeks later, the first good news arrived.
The Shadowsteel unit in the laboratory had been completed!
Greem hurried to the alchemy lab immediately upon receiving the news. An unusual magical machine floated in the room in midair, waiting silently with both arms hanging by its side.
This magical machine was over seven feet tall and made of a dark black metal that could absorb all incoming light. Its body was a thin, metallic frame shrouded by an impenetrable black mist.
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