The villagers were doing pretty good.
Whoosh!
Teddy’s descent from the sky attracted the villagers’ attention, and they turned to look. At once, they were delighted, and looks of joy came over their countenances.
“Meng Lei!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei is back!”
They swarmed toward him at once.
“I thought that Teddy had gone Magical Beast-hunting when I saw it flying out in a rush. Little did I expect that it was going to you instead!”
Captain Hudders was elated. He said, “By the way, I heard from Jonah and the others. Weren’t you heading to the Imperial City to take part in the exchange competition? Why—”
“There was a small accident during the competition. I went to the Magical Beast Forest to see to something, so I decided that I might as well come back to check on the village.” Meng Lei eyed Hudders up and down. Then, he asked with a smile, “Captain, you’ve become a Fourth-Grade Warrior?”
“Hahaha! All thanks to those high-grade Battle Aura manuals of yours!”
A rosy Captain Hudders said, “Of course, it’s also to do with the fact that the meals have been great recently. Teddy has been going to the forest every day, and every time he does, he returns with a Magical Beast.
“Eating mid-grade to high-grade Magical Beast meat every day halves the effort yet doubles the efficiency of cultivation. That’s how I’d managed to advance by two grades in such a short amount of time!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”
Meng Lei turned to the villagers to see that all of them had improved by varying degrees. Almost all the Trainee Warriors of the past had improved a lot and become Second- or Third-Grade Warriors.
As for the ordinary villagers, they had also become much stronger and sturdier than before. They were no longer skinny and sallow with haggard faces; instead, their skin had become supple, and their bodies strong and energetic.
“That’s great!”
A smile appeared on Meng Lei’s face.
“It wasn’t easy for you to come back, Meng Lei. We must show you hearty hospitality today!”
Hudders instructed the villagers loudly, “Training for today ends here! Inform everyone—we’ll hold a bonfire feast to give Meng Lei a warm welcome home tonight!”
“Yay! Captain Hudders’ the best!”
“Big Brother Meng Lei’s the best!”
The village held a grand bonfire feast that night. The aromatic fragrance of meat permeated the village as the villagers sang and danced and ate and drank happily.
As he ate the delicious roast and listened to the villagers’ cheerful voices and laughter, Meng Lei’s mood gradually improved, and he enjoyed a rare moment of happiness with the villagers.
Late at night...
Despite resting in his run-down house, Meng Lei wasn’t sleepy at all. Even though Ol’ President was no longer around, life still went on. It was time for him to come up with a clear plan for the future.
“I’m still too weak. If I’d been stronger, Ol’ President wouldn’t have died. At the bottom of it all, it’s still a matter of strength.
“System, bring up the stats interface!”
Whoosh!
Host: Meng Lei
Race: Human (Fire Dragon bloodline <53%>, Fire Demon bloodline <48%>, Golden Colossal Dragon bloodline <51%>, Golden Gods-Slaying Ant bloodline <10%>, Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline <10%>)
Wealth: 3.2 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Saint Domain (1,039,876,198/100 billion)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,037,108,765/100 billion)
Laws of Nature: Fire-Elemental (0.2%), Wind-Elemental (0.1%), Thunder-Elemental (0.1%), Metal-Elemental (0.2%), Light-Elemental (0.1%)
Others: Some increase
“‘Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity’? ‘Elementary-level’? Where are the numerical values? They’re gone?
“Since the numerical values are gone, does that mean that I can’t directly improve my Physical Body Constitution through credit redemption anymore?
“Is that so, System?”
The system gave him a definite answer. It replied, “Without concrete numerical values, the host naturally cannot redeem any credit.”
“Alright! So be it, then!”
Meng Lei curled his lip in disdain. “Well, as long as I can still redeem credit for bloodline assimilation rate. That way, I can enhance my body all the same.
“But as someone that also has the body of a half-deity, why was I unable to kill the Tree of Life?”
Meng Lei’s eyes were cold and dark.
What he didn’t know was that even though the Tree of Life was one of the weakest half-deities out there, it had a fairly fearsome half-deity build. Botanical lifeforms had always been known for their tough and durable bodies, as well as their astonishingly high defenses.
A half-deity of a similar level would usually find it challenging to break through a botanical half-deity’s defenses. In Meng Lei’s case, his body had only just broken through to become a half-deity, so how could he possibly kill the Tree of Life?
“Never mind, I won’t think about this anymore.”
Meng Lei’s gaze then landed on the Spirit attribute after it with a shake of his head.
From a Saint Domain with a Physical Body Constitution value of 34 billion points, he had broken through the 100-billion-point upper limit to become a newbie half-deity with a half-deity build. His improvement was undeniably fast, and the distance he had crossed undeniably great.
But... The disadvantages were too obvious, and that was... His soul!
Or rather, his spiritual power.
It was precisely because his soul was too weak that it had ended up giving the Tree of Life the chance to counterattack and give him one final blow, thereby indirectly causing Ol’ Amos’ death.
“I have to improve my soul’s durability. I mustn’t have such an obvious weakness. Unfortunately... I don’t have enough money...”
After a moment’s hesitation, Meng Lei ultimately still brought out the spatial ring that Ol’ Amos had left him. Stored within the ring was Ol’ Amos’ lifetime’s worth of assets.
“Ol’ President...”
Meng Lei heaved a sigh. His spiritual power entered the ring, and then, he was stunned at once.
“I-it’s so huge!!”
“Huge”? How could the word “huge” even cut it?
One practically couldn’t see to the end!
Inside the spatial ring was actually a continent that stretched on for hundreds of kilometers!
Standing tall and proud in the continent were mountains of gold, heaps of magic cores, Magical Beast carcasses, hills of elemental crystals...
The mountains of gold were big and lofty, tall and towering!
The innumerable magic cores came by the billions and more!
All the carcasses were of Ninth-Grade and Saint Domain Magical Beasts. There wasn’t any weaker than that!
Multi-colored magic crystals and glittering elemental crystals almost blinded Meng Lei!
“These are Ol’ President’s lifetime worth of assets? Isn’t this a little too much... and a little too incredible?!”
Meng Lei couldn’t help but gasp, intense feelings of gratitude welling up within him.
“Thank you, Ol’ President. I will put these things to good use!”
“System, collect all the gold coins!”
Whoosh!
As the mountains of gold vanished one by one, his Wealth value on his stats interface also began to spike.
4 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, 5 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, 6 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals...
, 30, 40...
In the span of a few breaths, his Wealth had surpassed his previous 73 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal milestone and was continuing to rise at a terrifying speed!
At last, when t
he number reached 238 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal, it finally came to a stop.
“It has increased by a whole 235 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! That’s 2,350 billion gold coins! Just the gold coins alone have amounted to so much, not to mention that there are still so many Magical Beast carcasses, magic cores, magic crystals, and elemental crystals...”
Chapter 196: Divine Spirit Flame, The Power of Faith
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“238 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! What vast assets! System, redeem 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals’ worth of Spirit points!”
100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal = 1,000 billion gold coins = 1,000 billion Attribute Points!
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank. He was credited with 1,000 billion attribute points, which he added to his Spirit attribute.
Boom!
An icy, surging aura gushed into Meng Lei’s mind and began to furiously enhance his soul.
For a while, Meng Lei could feel his soul’s durability rising exceptionally quickly!
At the same time, in Meng Lei’s vast, boundless sea of consciousness, a silver flame burned quietly, chilly and aloof—it was Meng Lei’s soul flame.
Suddenly, endless golden rays appeared out of nowhere, gushing in from all around and straight toward the silver flame suspended in the air.
The golden rays of light were just like petrol, like firewood, and also like natural gas!
Boom!
The moment they came into contact with the silver flame, the silver flame’s intensity surged dramatically and began to visibly expand.
Expand, expand, and expand!
Doubling, tripling, quadrupling!
Tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold!
Boom!
The silver flame expanded to a hundredfold of its original size and turned into an even brighter and even more radiant flame.
Additionally, it had also... changed in color!
It was no longer silver but gold in color now! Yes, gold!
The chilly, aloof silver soul flame had turned into a brilliant, dazzling golden one.
Just like the blazing sun spanning across the heavens, the golden soul flame gave off a million golden rays that shone upon the land and ruled the sky.
His soul was no longer a soul now; instead, it had metamorphosed into... A divine spirit!
“This feeling... It’s simply too fascinating!”
Meng Lei laid quietly with his eyes closed as he took in the changes brought about by his soul’s transformation.
Everything felt so natural and simple, yet also so complex at the same time.
The wind was no longer wind—yet still wind!
Trees were no longer trees—yet still trees!
Even the flowing air was no longer air but still air, too!
“Is this what the half-deity realm is like? It’s so fascinating!
“Are these golden chains covering the skies and the lands and forming all that exists in this world the laws of nature?
“Well, comprehending laws of nature isn’t that hard, is it? It feels as if layers of fog have been lifted, and I can now see clearer and have a more thorough view. Hmm, laws of nature...”
A mumbling Meng Lei withdrew his spiritual power, and then, he entered his sea of consciousness.
According to Ol’ Amos, once one attained half-deification, their soul would metamorphose into a divine spirit.
Divine spirits were near-immortal and near-inextinguishable. Even if a deity’s divine spirit were crushed into bits and pieces, they could still use their divine spirit fragments to come back to life.
Thus, Meng Lei wanted very much to take a look and see whether his own soul had metamorphosed or not...
“...My soul flame has actually turned golden! And it’s much stronger than what it was in the past! Is this what a divine spirit is? As expected, it’s something beyond one’s imagination!”
Meng Lei was awfully excited, but right after, he became terribly dejected.
“If I had owned a divine spirit earlier, Ol’ President wouldn’t have... Sigh, never mind! I wonder what these white threads are?”
Dozens, perhaps up to a hundred, milky-white threads had appeared within Meng Lei’s view.
It was not known where they had come from, yet they were attached to his golden divine spirit like innumerable antennas.
Rather curious, Meng Lei controlled his divine spiritual power to touch one of the white threads.
Right away, a voice brimming with gratitude played in his mind.
“Big Brother Meng Lei, you’re my idol! I want to be someone like you in the future!”
“Uh... Isn’t that Monica’s voice?”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback.
Monica, whose full name was Monica Draper, was a little girl in the village with a twin elder sister named Hester Draper.
Apart from Jonah and himself, the two of them were the only ones in the village who were endowed with magic talent. On top of that, their magic talent was even better than Jonah’s, with both of them having high-grade elemental affinities.
“Why is Monica’s voice suddenly playing in my sea of consciousness?”
Meng Lei found this rather strange. His gaze continued down the white thread, and the sight of Monica currently lying in bed and looking as if she was in deep slumber entered his sight. However, she was also mumbling softly to herself as if she was dreaming...
“This is strange! Too strange!”
Then, Meng Lei picked another white thread.
“Thank you, Meng Lei! Thank you for everything that you’ve given us!”
...It was Captain Hudders’ voice!
“Big Brother Meng Lei...”
And now, it was Jonah’s!
“Why am I hearing everyone’s voices? Never mind about Captain Hudders and Monica, but Jonah’s a long distance away in the capital city right now... Could it be...” Meng Lei’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “...That this is the power of faith?”
Faith was a very miraculous thing. It could make one strong-willed, as well as make one pure...
But in Heaven’s Vault Continent, it also had another natural order-defying effect—the investiture of gods!
As long as one had sufficient believers and the believers’ faith was pious enough, the one they worshiped could soar right into the heavens with the help of the copious amounts of power of faith, thereby becoming a god and attaining immortality.
“Monica, Captain Hudders, and the others... They believe in me and idolize me?”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. He hadn’t done much for the village; all he had done was nothing more than just small favors that didn’t even require him to lift a finger. Never would he have ever imagined that the villagers would actually worship him. He honestly didn’t!
“Never mind, there’s no harm in it anyway!”
Meng Lei wasn’t too hung up over it. He continued to check the other white threads—true to his expectations, almost all of them led to the Magical Beast Village villagers.
“Are there so many people who believe in me? I’ve heard that there are many benefits to having the power of faith.
“Not only can it strengthen one’s divine spirit and allow one to comprehend laws of nature more easily, but it can also be converted into the power of divinity used to enhance one’s strength. It’s practically like Tiger Balm1!
“But why is it that I don’t feel these effects that the power of faith is supposed to bring about at all? Is it because I have too few worshipers?
“Forget it. I don’t have the time and leisure to spread my faith around to collect the power of faith. Being able to redeem credit is more than enough!”
Meng Lei exited his sea of consciousness. Then, his gaze landed on his stats interface again.
Wealth: 138 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)<
br />
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,037,108,765/100 billion)
“Both my Physical Body Constitution and my Spirit have gone through a qualitative change, so I’m just left with the Magic Power attribute now. Should I redeem some credit and complete the set...?”
Meng Lei rubbed his chin, unable to quite make up his mind. What would magic power metamorphose into? The power of divinity?
If it really turned out to be the power of divinity, then he would thoroughly become a real half-deity!
He would possess a half-deity’s body, a half-deity’s soul, as well as the power of divinity, instead of what he currently was—a half-baked half-deity with a half-deity’s body and soul but not the corresponding power of divinity.
But the problem was... Redeeming credit to boost his Magic Power attribute required a whole 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! Once he spent that money, he’d become a pauper on paper again!
To redeem? Or not to redeem?
“Never mind, I’ll just do it! System, redeem 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals’ worth of Magic Power points!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrank again!
Then, Meng Lei felt as if the magic power in his body was bubbling and boiling. They surged neatly and altogether toward his brain, taking only an instant to gush into it.
For a moment there, Meng Lei felt as though he had been drained, and he felt a great deal frailer.
However, the feeling of feebleness didn’t last long. Soon, another fiercer and more torrential rush of energy swept into his brain, instantly filling his limbs and every corner of his body!
The wave of energy was simply too fearsome. Meng Lei could feel endless strength gushing forth from within his body, and he felt as if he could crush a continent with his fist!
He hurriedly did an internal scan of his body—his magic power had disappeared; instead, what had replaced it was an all-new type of power!
It flooded through every fiber of his body, glowing a faint gold and emanating a terrifying might.
Meng Lei couldn’t be any more familiar with that mighty aura.
“The power of divinity! It really is the power of divinity!”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked at the stats interface:
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