Chapter 469 - Gods
While everyone in the workshop were still in a state of confusion and surprise by what Lara said, Ren was currently in his Soul Realm.
"Did I die or did I survive before I was sent here?"
"You survived." Ren looked behind him and saw Leo's familiar face.
"I see, so I get to fight for another day."
"Yeah, that was a great battle you had. Though it was a bit disappointing that you fled, instead of finishing it."
"Hmph, I have no excuses to offer, but I can confidently say that there will be no escape for either me or that Goddess the next time we meet. I now understand how she fights and if that was the limit of her power then I have a better chance the next time we fight." Hearing what Ren said Leo shrugged his shoulders as he responded.
"Well, you do understand that in this plane of existence a world deity cannot unleash her full might. Also, I'm pretty sure that she was holding back a bit when she fought you."
"I know the basic information based on what you guys have told me, but what is a world deity, really?"
"Hmmm, how to explain this... Well, we do have a lot of time, so I guess I can explain it to you. To start with World Deities are different from the actual Gods."
"Huh, then why do we even call them Deities?"
"That's just something that people started to call them since in the perception of a normal person they were kinda like True Deities. Yet the truth was they're just a form of mana, a manifestation of beliefs of the living beings in the world. They are basically beings that govern a certain law of that given world. How to explain that part, for example, the God of Death, obviously governs the law of Death, he is a guide to those that die and protects the souls of the dead until they are able to reincarnate into their next life. Most of the different worlds have this world deity. Another example would be the Goddess of Alchemy, the world you are currently in doesn't have this deity as those that practice alchemy mostly does not believe in any form of deities. So without enough belief this deity hasn't manifested itself. So basically every world has a certain roster of world deities that is usually there no matter the world. Those would be the Gods of War, Death, Life, Light, and Darkness. Other, world deities are just add-ons that depend on what kind of people are living in a certain world. I'm sorry if I'm not explaining this so well. If you want I can call someone else that has more knowledge in this subject."
"... No it's Alright, I kinda understand what you're saying. So then what are these so called True Gods? If world deities are simply like moderators of a certain world what are the True Gods are they like the moderators of the universe?"
"The moderator of the universe? That title can only go to the ORIGIN, as for the True Gods there are different kinds. To explain more about that, I need to go back to the beginning. As you may have already guessed, the ORIGIN is the creator of all things, he is basically the beginning. The first semblance of intelligence that he created were the Gods, these Gods are now called Ancient Gods. They are few in number and some of our past incarnations especially the original one had killed a lot of them. Currently, based on my knowledge, there are only Twenty Ancient Gods left, each Ancient God exists in different universes. It is not possible for these ancient Gods to co-exist in the same universe as that would break the reality of that universe... Well anyway, these Ancient Gods created their own beings, same as how the ORIGIN created them, the Ancient Gods created the old Gods."
"Wait, wait, before we continue why did the ORIGIN create the Ancient Gods in the first place?" Ren who was receiving too much information too quickly stopped Leo from talking to ask a question.
"Oh, we're not fully sure about this either, but we think that the purpose of the Ancient Gods existence was to get rid of the loneliness the ORIGIN was feeling. This was also the reason why the ORIGIN created the humans. It is safe to say that both sides have failed their original purpose. Well, that's our theory anyway, of course, we can't be too sure if that theory is right or wrong, for as long as the ORIGIN himself doesn't give the answer."
"I see... Then what's the purpose of the Old Gods?"
"Oh, that's just the Ancient Gods trying to show-off. They wanted to show the humans who were supposedly more loved by the ORIGIN that they were the ones closer to the ORIGIN, not the humans. Well, in a sense they were right. Ability wise the Ancient Gods were indeed closer to the ORIGIN than humans. The Old Gods they created were a weaker version of themselves, but these beings they created had something they did not. The Old Gods had the ability to reproduce the same as humans, but their ability to reproduce is extremely limited. An Old God can only produce one offspring in its entire lifetime and the time to produce this offspring takes a hundred thousand years. Granted that to ageless beings like them, a hundred thousand years might not be that long. These offsprings of the Old Gods are called New Gods, and they are beings closer to humans than Gods, but unlike humans, they are born extremely powerful. New Gods can copulate with mortal beings such as humans, and this creates the Demi-God category. So you see True Gods and World Deities are pretty much different species. Anyone can be a world deity but to be a True God you need to be born as one."
"I see, thanks for the explanation. So basically what you're saying is that there are a lot of strong beings out there, that I can face in battle." Ren suddenly got excited as he showed a vicious smile on his face. Seeing Ren's reaction Leo smiled as well while shrugging his shoulders.
"After hearing my long-ass explanation that's what you got from it? Well, granted if I heard the same thing that's what I would focus on as well... So anyway Ren, what are you planning to do now?"
"What else is there for me to do? Before the rematch with the Goddess of Light, I need to gain more power, and the best way to gain that power is to train with you guys. This soul realm is the best training place that I can ask for, cause I can get to fight strong opponents and go all out without dying.." Ren declared as he summoned a weapon.