Badge in Azure

Saleen’s thoughts were not impossible. If gods were capable of creating doubles, then humans would be able to do the same. So long as one mastered the method of acquiring power of the Source, creating clones would not be a problem, regardless of the number of clones to be created.

The level 17 divine persona was put at the center of the magic array, and the core of the hall became eerie looking. The core materials of the hall did not get dissolved by the magic cube. Because of where Saleen was located, he did not see much of a change in the surrounding environments.

The divine persona was embedded, and the carvings on the walls of the hall seemed to come alive. They seemed to move increasingly quickly, becoming more frantic as time went on. Saleen and Jason stopped training, beginning to observe the changes on the walls instead.

Nailisi and the Winged Skull stopped training as well. In fact, everyone whose level surpassed level 14 noticed the changes. However, everyone saw things changing with the walls.

Archers would have seen god creature archers doing battle and fighting all sorts of enemies. Warriors would have seen combat techniques used by god creatures who wielded cold weapons. What surprised Saleen the most was that he saw how gods manipulated magic.

Of course, they were all illusory and were definitely left behind by the ones who crafted the Hall of Gods.

So long as one’s power of the soul reached a certain level and there was ample energy fed to the magic array, that function would be activated.

Saleen sensed that the projections had been etched into his mind and were no longer able to be erased. Saleen was taking in all manner of combat techniques wielded by high level mages. He would be able to digest them given enough time.

However, the one who had most to gain was not Saleen, but Nailisi.

Nailisi’s body continued to change. The skills seen on the walls of the Hall of Gods differed with each of the forms that the luoluokaluo had taken. The Hall of Gods was crafted by level 18 mighty ones. All skills below level 18 would be well-elaborated by those carvings.

The Winged Skull saw attacks of spirit type gods. While there was hardly any death magic seen being used, there were more spirit rules and techniques with physical attacks.

They were combat tactics that the Winged Skull leaned towards. The Hall of Gods was like a huge treasure trove, with boundless information waiting to be unearthed. The Winged Skull held their Reaper Scythe and was unable to help but to mimic what they saw on the carvings.

It would initially be difficult for level 14 beings to pick up those things. However, the Winged Skull had a weird golden heart. The power contained within their body was still unable to be completely unleashed, despite having worked on their body several hundred times. Picking up the skills instead allowed the peculiar energies to be utilized instead.

The Winged Skull’s golden heart fed them energy again. Every time the Winged Skull mimicked how the spirit gods moved, the golden heart would unleash powerful energies to modify their body.

The Winged Skull thought they would no longer be able to do anything more to evolve their body, yet new changes were seen as they moved.

The Winged Skull’s bones began to develop flesh and blood, which were of resilience eclipsing even those of high level dragons.

What Sika saw was an extremely peculiar scene. It was a chaotic nebula, the birth of a crystal wall system. Untold numbers of rules were seen in the nebula spreading out, expanding the entire crystal wall system, which in turn, gave birth to countless planes.

Sika was able to clearly see that there were a total of 12 rules. All 12 rules then gave birth to 144 rules of lower levels.

The priests were of a profession borne out of those 12 rules.

Sika had reached the end of her journey as a nature priest. The knowledge that she learned since birth was never complete. It was due to talent that she was able to advance to her current status. It was also thanks to the metal totem pole that she was still able to somehow catch up to Saleen.

Rules came from the beginning of creation, a power that formed a crystal wall system, which continued to be passed down through the bloodlines of gods, which were then, in turn, extracted by mages. All professionals saw knowledge they needed to pick up from the walls.

Dante saw the process of a god’s advance. It consisted of slaughter, enticement, patience, pride and many different things jumbled up together. Desire served at its very core, and the fires that lit it up were none other than divine fires.

One would require massive desires to become a god.

Dante had little idea where its desire lied, yet it became a god nonetheless. It was a god created by Saleen, but the contents on the carvings made it steep into deep thought.

If betraying Saleen would have allowed it to become the highest god that it would have become, then it would have betrayed Saleen without a second thought. However, its core Source was in Saleen’s hands. It was unable to even threaten his safety, so killing him would definitely be out of the question. Saleen probably even knew what Dante was thinking at the moment.

Becoming a god was to walk a path of no return. Once a person followed that path, there would have been no stopping it. Even someone as powerful as the Goddess of Myers was unable to change the fate of the gods.

Saleen was able to divide his attention and said to Dante, “if you want to leave, I won’t punish you.”

Dante was dumbfounded as Saleen continued, “so long as you do not become my enemy, I will not do anything to your Source. It’s your choice now whether to stay or leave.”

Saleen’s voice was very calm. Dante stood, but then it heard Nailisi berating it in a low voice, calling it an idiot.

Dante sat back down again. All three heads showed different expressions.

“Master, I could not leave. My journey to godhood requires your assistance to fulfill. Unless you die before I do, I won’t leave.” Dante’s voice was adamant. There was no need for it to swear or anything, as Saleen could decide whether it lives or dies at any given moment.

Nailisi pouted. Dante would have possibly survived following Saleen. But if it were to turn its back on Saleen, it would probably end up being eaten by beings like the Goddess of Nature.

The goddess still had an attachment to humanity and would not destroy planes at a whim. But gods, on the other hand, would be seen as food by the goddess instead.

Dante would definitely be able to figure something like that out on its own. Even if it lacked wit, it nonetheless knew what choices it should make, due to having followed Saleen for a long time.

Saleen continued, “I have no intentions of limiting your progress. Do you understand that, Dante?”

“I understand, master. If I do not become an enemy of Myers Mainland and simply wander the planes, you have given me permission to be free to go wherever I wish.”

Saleen nodded. If Dante knew at least that much, it would not leave, because if it were to simply leave like that, advancing would hardly be possible. If it were to stay by Saleen’s side, its master might attack far away divine kingdoms in the future. If Saleen were to do so, then it would still have hope of being able to advance. It would have had little problem staying alive after reaching level 16. If it were to go further and reach level 17, it would practically achieve eternal life.

A level 18 god would have been able to survive until the crystal wall system they were in collapses if there were no one else killing them.

The most extraordinary of level 18 gods would have been able to venture out to crystal wall systems of even higher levels, searching for opportunities to continue advancing, just like humans did.

Only Dante would have proven to be troublesome among the ones at Saleen’s side. However, since Dante expressed its allegiance to Saleen, he allowed it to continue working on his equipment and cultivate magic chords.

Saleen’s teacher, Jason, spent most of his days sitting around and seemed to be doing nothing. Other than taking care of biological needs once a month—eating and going to the loo—Jason had practically been an ascetic, sitting around and spacing out while looking at the walls of the Hall of Gods.

The Rings of Water and Fire hovered behind Jason. The two magic amplifiers had already fused into a single entity after Jason advanced to level 15. Both Water Flame and Blazing Flame melded perfectly together, taking on a grey color and looking almost transparent.

The level 17 divine persona continued to work as a power source. There was no telling of day and night within the Hall of Gods. Huge numbers of humans and demons continued to train in the magic cube outside of the hall.

Some supreme demons who were nearest to the hall were the earliest to advance, becoming level 13 devils. However, those devils had not mastered any rules and their powers were far weaker compared to ancient devils.

Human warriors advanced as quickly as they always had. Saleen no longer had any need for soldiers like the ancient warriors. Most of his warriors had gotten to level nine, but only a fraction of them were becoming golden grand swordmasters.

Training sword aura required special talents as well. Becoming a golden sword grandmaster would give a warrior the ability to threaten level ten mage trainers.

The rules that Saleen laid out were very simple—so long as one was able to advance, one would be allowed to continue training within 200 meters radius from the Hall of Gods. Rate of passage of time would be higher every 200 meters closer to the hall.

The ones who were closest to the Hall of Gods consisted mostly of demons at the start. However, as time passed, there were more and more human warriors, and mages started to appear as well. Assassins, archers, and some fallen holy masters joined the ranks of those advancing in a frenzy as well.

The closer those people got to the Hall of Gods, the higher their rate at advancement. Saleen was doing so as a way of letting nature take its course.

Those who were more talented would be granted access to more opportunities. Training in the Hall of Gods allowed one to have an easier time mastering skills and rules of their own professions.

2,300 years had passed within the Hall of Gods, while the 26 slots closest to the Hall of Gods saw only 1,150 years passing. The further away the slots were from the hall, the slower the rate of passage of time. A month had only passed in the slot away furthest away from the hall.

Saleen rose. He only broke through level 15 after he had spent 1,800 years in the hall. His teacher had long made it through to level 16 and had even reached pinnacle state.

His teacher’s advancement had finally slowed, yet Saleen found that his rate at advancement remained pathetically slow as always.

That was due to there being next to no mages who were below level 14 in the Hall of Gods. Despite being at the pinnacle of level 15, his student, Truman, had also gotten to the pinnacle of level 15. Most of his most trusted mages reached level 15 as well.

None of the mages had equipment boosting their power of the soul like the Ring of Cosmos, which meant that difficulty for advancement would have been tens of times more than what he had been through. Furthermore, they had been passing through several levels to catch up to him.

It was fortunate that Saleen had a lot to gain in the department of soul powers. Saleen became confident that if the Lord of Glory were to show up before him, he would have been able to end the war, using only the followers and his most trusted mages by his side, so much so that there would be nothing left of the Lord of Glory when they were done.

But then again, something like that could only happen if the Lord of Glory were to be surrounded by all those people.