Age of Adepts

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 behavior 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.