Chapter 830

【 A NEW DEMIGOD, THE CYCLOPS 】

Western coast of the Elven Forest, Mirovia.

Above the city, the clouds churned restlessly and continuously gathered toward it, faintly forming a massive vortex that slowly grew denser with each passing moment.

And these were no ordinary clouds either, since they were clouds composed entirely of magical power, formed from the condensation of the mana in the surrounding air as it converged toward a single point.

At the center of the vortex was none other than the Temple of Life in Mirovia.

As it continued to rotate, the surrounding air seemed to tremble under the immense concentration of magical power but then suddenly, the vortex poured downward and a vast torrent of magical power surged down from the sky.

At that moment, everyone throughout the city felt an immense pressure slowly rising and whether they were frost elves or players, everyone instinctively stopped what they were doing as they all raised their heads almost simultaneously and looked toward the Temple of Life.

“Look! The Temple of Life!”

“What’s happening over there?”

The players stared at the magical tornado in astonishment.

Then, in the next moment, a pale blue pillar of light suddenly shot into the sky, piercing straight through the swirling clouds!

The pillar of light was so dazzling that it illuminated the entire city, while the enormous vortex continued to rotate around it. Streaks of lightning flashed repeatedly through the clouds, creating an awe-inspiring scene that seemed almost as though the God of Thunder had descended.

The pillar appeared quickly and disappeared just as quickly, lasting only a few seconds in total.

Afterward, the swirling clouds in the sky slowly dispersed, and the magical vortex gradually vanished.

Behind the Temple of Life, players began gathering in front of a hall that had remained sealed for several months.

This was precisely where the strange phenomenon had just occurred.

Then, the doors of the hall slowly opened, and a tall, black-haired elf walked out. Streaks of lightning still coiled around his body, making him look extraordinarily imposing.

He was Kelez, the Legendary Elf who had returned to the Seigües World alongside the Elves from Mindel Realm.

No, he could no longer be called a Legendary Elf anymore since after arriving here in Seigües, he had finally taken the last step and entered the ranks of demigods. Now he had become the fourth demigod in the Elven Faction, following Feynir, King of the Fairies, Aurora, Star of Dawn, and Eris, Shadow of Night!

Kelez looked somewhat excited while he examined his own hands, seemingly still savoring the power he had just acquired.

Meanwhile, the expressions of the surrounding players who had rushed over had completely changed as they looked at him.

The portrait frame of a Legendary-rank NPC was purple, signifying Epic-grade.

However, after ascending to the demigod rank, the frame would turn gold, making its borders glow with a golden light.

“A Demigod NPC! Uncle Kelez’ portrait has now been glowing Gold!”

“He must have ascended to the demigod rank! I heard Alice mention before that he had come to Mirovia to prepare for his breakthrough!”

“Wow! Another demigod! We need to find a way to increase our favorability with him!”

The players’ eyes lit up.

However, before some of the bolder players could step forward to congratulate him, another wave of golden light descended upon the Temple of Life.

Accompanied by an ethereal sacred hymn, a beautiful and dreamlike elemental fairy slowly materialized in the air—the king of the Fairies, Feynir.

As the Goddess’s first divine emissary, she was also well known among the players. Upon seeing her arrival, they all stopped what they were doing and became solemn.

They had good reason to act properly because in the past, when Feynir had descended, some players had caused trouble, only to have an entire huge chunk of their favorability and reputation points deducted from them. Such punishment had been even worse than offending Aurora.

“Lady Feynir…”

Seeing the King of the Fairies descend, Kelez restrained his excitement and respectfully performed the traditional elven salute, then drew the symbol of the Scepter of Life over his chest.

Although he had now become a demigod himself, the King of the Fairies represented the great Goddess of Life, Her Grace Evé. Therefore, he had to treat her with the utmost respect.

“There’s no need to be so formal, Lord Kelez. Congratulations on your ascension to the demigod rank.”

The King of the Fairies, Feynir, smiled.

After speaking, she lifted the hem of her skirt in midair and bowed to Kelez as well.

“Lord Kelez, the Goddess has already learned of your ascension and is waiting for you in the Garden of Eden.”

Kelez’s eyes lit up upon hearing Feynir’s words.

His expression became excited and devout, and he said fervently:

“Praise be to nature! Praise be to life! Praise be to the great Goddess Evé!”

Feynir smiled.

“Please follow me.”

A golden light then enveloped the two, before their figures slowly disappeared…

༺⟐༻

The Divine Kingdom of the World Tree, Garden of Eden.

Light flashed, and Kelez’s figure appeared outside the Supreme Temple.

As his surroundings changed, the newly ascended demigod looked around at the scenery, his expression filled with excitement.

A lush and beautiful forest, a magnificent and majestic divine temple, countless brilliant stars filling the sky, and the warm, sacred divine power that permeated every corner…

At last, he was finally allowed within the Goddess’s Divine Kingdom!

Following the King of the Fairies, Feynir, Kelez formally entered the temple.

Looking around, its interior was just as magnificent and resplendent, surrounded by vibrant flowers and plants that filled it with the aura of nature and life.

Beautiful elemental fairies flew back and forth. Whenever they saw the two, the little creatures would immediately stop and respectfully bow towards them.

Following Feynir, Kelez entered the main hall and finally saw Her Grace the Goddess seated upon her divine throne.

She wore an exquisite gown, the artifact Crown of Nature upon her head, and held the Scepter of Life in her hand.

Evé looked at Kelez with a smile in her eyes.

Behind her, golden light continuously shimmered, while vast divine power flowed like a galaxy. Merely standing before her, Kelez could sense an indescribable majesty…

This instantly brought the newly ascended demigod, who had been filled with pride and joy at his sudden surge in strength, back to his senses. Once again, he felt the overwhelming power of their Patron Deity.

“Your Grace Evé… I, Kelez, formally pay my respects to the great Goddess of Life!”

Kelez knelt on one knee, his posture respectful and fervent, while his heart was filled with profound awe.

Evé slowly nodded and used divine power to gently lift him to his feet.

“Rise. Congratulations on your ascension to become a mythical being.”

“All of this is thanks to Your Grace. Without Your support, I could never have ascended so quickly.”

Kelez said respectfully.

Evé smiled slightly.

“This is the result of your own efforts.”

Looking at the elven demigod before her, Evé was in an excellent mood.

Currently, Aurora and Eris had both fallen into slumber and were preparing to ascend to True Godhood. So at a time like this, the emergence of a new elven demigod undoubtedly filled the gap in the Elven Faction’s upper-level combat strength.

Although Evé herself was stationed within the Elven Forest, and no one would dare do anything within the vicinity of her territory, there were many matters she could not personally handle all the time.

Meryer had to remain in Hell as well, so he could not leave frequently.

Thus, having another demigod would make things much easier.

According to Evé’s estimates, Aurora and Eris would likely need anywhere from six months to a year before awakening. During that period, with Kelez available, many of the “miscellaneous matters” could finally be handled by someone else.

Of course, Kelez had only just ascended to the demigod rank, so his strength was still somewhat lacking. Moreover, he seemed to lack a suitable weapon…

Thinking of this, Evé looked Kelez up and down and sensed the Divine Laws he comprehended. After pondering for a moment, she beckoned him over.

Divine power flashed, and a long sword adorned with lightning appeared in Evé’s hand.

It was a Divine Artifact that she had seized from a Abyssal Myth. In fact, she possessed many similar divine artifacts.

Naturally, when she had first seized it, the divine artifact had been contaminated by the power of the Abyss. However, it had since been completely purified, making it perfect for Kelez to use.

“This divine sword is called Ocular Thunder. It can summon forth lightning and turn its power to your own use. I’ll now give this weapon to you as a gift for your ascension to the demigod rank.”

Evé smiled.

With that, she placed the divine artifact into Kelez’s hands…

As he accepted the divine sword, Kelez became even more excited.

“Thank you, o’ merciful Goddess. I, Your humble servant Kelez, is willing to become Your Grace’s sword and vanquish any foe!”

Seeing Kelez put away the sword, Evé was also in an excellent mood.

After pondering for a moment, she said:

“Mnm. Good. Kelez, now that you have ascended to become a demigod, I will give you a new task.”

Kelez knelt on one knee and listened devoutly.

Evé’s expression became solemn.

“Go to the southern part of the Fertile Plains. Work with the Chosen Ones stationed there to eliminate any Abyssal Demons still remaining in the region, and spread my name.”

After deciding to confront the Eternal Lord, Evé was no longer willing to simply wait for the other party to make a move. Instead, she had chosen to take the initiative and gradually expand her influence throughout the human faction.

Therefore, those demon-occupied territories were an excellent point of entry.

In any case, those Abyssal Demons had occupied these lands for far too long, and their presence had already brought immense suffering to the surrounding regions. With the Maple Moon Free State as her blueprint, Evé believed that she could accomplish the same thing again on these territories.

Moreover, these lingering Abyssal Demons had already overstayed their welcome in the Seigües World for far too long. Evé had originally expected the human nobles to find a way to deal with them, but even now, they had still failed to resolve the problem.

Meanwhile, the occupied territories continued to deteriorate as abyssal corruption was spreading deeper into the land.

If no one intervened soon, those territories might eventually become a wasteland permanently.

Evé naturally had no intention of allowing that to happen.

It was a perfect opportunity to achieve two goals with one action.

“I shall obey your divine command, great Goddess!”

Kelez said respectfully.

After receiving his first mission following his ascension, as well as permission to enter Eden, Kelez returned to Seigües.

Afterwards, Evé no longer concerned herself with the remaining mundane matters and just let the game system automatically issue quests, summon the players, and then lead the assembled player army toward the territories occupied by the demons.

By now, the players had already become very familiar with these tasks.

Plus with Kelez suppressing the remaining Demons while the players dealt with the lesser demon armies, there was little left to worry about.

After Kelez departed, Evé turned her attention to the blue sphere within her divine soul.

She currently had no idea how the Eternal Lord planned to ascend to Greater Divine Power, and it would probably be difficult to investigate directly. However, perhaps a different approach would reveal the answer.

That was to devote herself entirely to understanding the method by which she could ascend to Greater Divine herself.

Only one being could ascend to Greater Divine Power within the universe and in Evé’s view, even if their methods of ascension differed, it ultimately followed the same fundamental principles.

If she could understand the path she needed to take to ascend, then, by working backward from the Eternal Lord’s various actions and the abilities of the [Assimilation] Key in his possession, perhaps she could determine his path as well.

Ascending to Greater Divine was not easy. Although Evé did not know how far the Eternal Lord had progressed, Etriōu certainly could not have advanced very quickly.

Otherwise, the Eternal Lord would not have continued secretly making things difficult for her.

After all, once he ascended to Greater Divine Power, Evé would be nothing in his eyes.

And in Evé’s view, if she could truly uncover the secret of this blue sphere, then perhaps… she would finally be able to learn the answers she sought for all this time…

With this thought in mind, Evé immersed her consciousness into the blue sphere and began her “secluded cultivation” and research.

༺⟐༻

In order to explore the path toward Greater Divine, Evé chose to enter seclusion.

At the same time, as the entirety of Seigües became completely open to the players, their activities gradually spread throughout many regions of the continent.

Eastern Continent, east of the Holy Maniya Empire.

This was the region with the most complex terrain on the entire continent. Mountains, hills, basins, and plains interlaced with one another, dividing the eastern region into more than a dozen areas distinguished by their geographical features…

The Eastern Basin, Vols Mountains, Polxi Plains, Violet Highlands, Dragonkin Forest, and various other regions made the area extremely complicated.

However, it was precisely this complex terrain that restricted transportation. As a result, when the Holy Maniya Empire expanded eastward a thousand years ago, it encountered setbacks and failed to bring the eastern part of the continent under its rule.

Today, the eastern part of the continent was dotted with dozens of principalities and small kingdoms. The larger ones were roughly the same size as Maple Moon, while the smaller ones could be no larger than the core region of the Elven Forest.

At the same time, this was also the region with the greatest diversity of demi-human species on the entire continent. Although humans still made up the majority of the population, dwarves, halflings, dragonkin, lizardfolk, beastmen, and other demi-human races were also widespread, accounting for nearly thirty percent of the eastern continent’s total population.

The various races lived together and intermarriage was common, so… it was sometimes quite difficult to determine the bloodline of an eastern resident. This was especially true of humans, as many carried traces of other races in their bloodlines.

The cultures of the various races intertwined and merged with one another, forming a complex and unique cultural sphere in the eastern continent.

Naturally, religion was also complicated here. The human divine coalition held no particular advantage here. Instead, numerous independent churches were widely distributed throughout the region.

However, despite the widespread presence of various churches, most of the local residents were not particularly devout. Most were merely shallow believers, while devout believers were rare. As for fanatics… they could probably only be found among the priests and clergy of the various small churches.

It was worth mentioning that, with Evé’s rise, several Temples of Life had even appeared here.

They had been established by the faith brought by some bards who worshipped the Goddess of Life, and they had also attracted quite a few elves and half-elves who had fled here from the western part of the continent over the past thousand years.

However unlike other regions of the continent, the strongest force in this area was neither the churches nor the nations, but actually the Mercenary Guild.

The region was politically complex, filled with mountains and hills, and was also the most prosperous area of the underground region. As a result, it attracted countless mercenaries seeking adventure. Over time, one large mercenary group after another emerged, and these mercenary groups eventually formed the Mercenary Guild.

In the eastern continent, this was a colossal organization. Even the grand dukes of the various principalities had to treat the Mercenary Guild with serious consideration.

At this moment, in the Violet Highlands of the eastern continent, within a small nation known as the Violet Principality, a group of adventuring players who had traveled from afar was gathering information at the local Mercenary Guild…

Yeye, Nana, and Four Seasons Rain were among them.

The first two had already advanced to the Gold-rank, while Four Seasons had also reached the upper tier of Silver-rank.

They had formed an adventuring party and begun their adventures in the Seigües World. They planned to return to the Elven Forest to farm the Labyrinth dungeon once Four Seasons reached the peak of upper Silver-rank.

“You’re looking for a relatively difficult subjugation quest? And… some interesting news?”

The guild receptionist’s face flushed slightly as she looked at the handsome and beautiful elves.

After thinking for a moment, she said:

“If you’re talking about a relatively difficult subjugation quest, then there is one. Recently, a magical beast that has reached the Gold-rank appeared in the Vols Mountains. It is said to have attacked several villages…”

“The Grand Duke of Violet Principality has now issued a bounty. Anyone who successfully subjugates that magical beast will receive a reward of five hundred thousand gold coins!”

“As for interesting news… Hmm, I’m not sure what you mean…”

“For example… how about some unusual rumors?”

Yeye asked.

“Unusual rumors…?”

The receptionist thought for a moment, then suddenly her eyes lit up.

“Oh! There actually seems to be one.”

“What is it?”

the three players asked in unison.

“Recently, there have been rumors that… some villagers saw a legendary-rank Cyclops in the forests near the border…”

The receptionist said.

“A Cyclops?”

The trio were slightly stunned.

“That’s right. The rumors are incredibly detailed! One of the druids in our guild speculated that the villagers may have encountered a creature that had awakened its Titan bloodline.”

The receptionist smiled.

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