Soul of Searing Steel

Chapter 825: Shrine of the Races, the Gods and the Multiverse

Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation

There were many so-called ‘gods’ at the beginning of the Glorious Era.

The first type were powerful beings born when the world was created from various natural phenomenon, even primordial Steel Strength. They include the Steel Python, Ancient Dragons, Earth Goddess, various mountain gods, the Sun God and the fist generation gods of the seas and the skies.

They breathed with the world, grasping nature’s power and were amongst the world’s earliest and most powerful living spirits. That is why they are known as the Prime Gods, the main deities of various legends. Amongst them, Steel Pythons and Ancient Dragons were the most special since their definitions blurred lines, and the other nations could not be described on equal terms.

The second type spawned from the Prime Gods, powerful beings born in the world: such as the Gods of Thunder, Windstorms, Avalanches, and Tremors.

Such gods spawned from the power of the Prime, and were considered children that partially inherited their power. It was them who were the main form of the earliest deities, known as the World Gods and commonly seen in various myths.

The third type were superior beings born sheerly from human imagination, faith, and worship of certain concepts, including the God of Knowledge, the God of Craftsman and the God of Wanderers… There were so many such gods that some of their existences were suspected and mostly counted as divine spirits, and could be set aside.

Their existence originated from human faith. First comes divine class and then their birth, which was why these deities were different from the first two. Given that their power comes from their devotees, they were the only ones who need faith—otherwise, they would vanish into nothingness no matter how powerful they were.

But are the Seven Gods of men to be classified into the three aforementioned groups?

Certainly not.

“We are different from them—they are simply innately powerful, as if a mountain chain gaining consciousness and devastatingly powerful when compared to human. That said, their knowledge and skill was probably less than an Iron-class individual.”

The God of Life spoke serenely to Joshua in the Void sealed by divine power mist and Steel Strength. “Unlike the perished, eliminated ancient gods, the ‘True Gods’ we refer to holds divine power, wisdom, and skill.”

“The three types of gods we spoke of are definitely powerful, but only just—they christened themselves gods but were simply powerful creatures, and it was a certain form of Nature’s Power which sustains them.”

Such was what the ancient gods did day to day: strengthening themselves by absorbing power through faith, nature, and world. Civilization was their infinite bakery, suppling inexhaustive resources as they willingly live alongside humans.

‘True Gods’, however, did not require that.

Linked to the Root by divinity, every God could obtain near boundless power. The doors to that power was only that large, difficult to spread or develop and would be stimulated by mere conflict, they have to be careful not to touch the limits of divinity, leading to assimilation with the Multiverse Root—nevertheless, while True Gods were connected to the Root as well, they were the most powerful, the most perfect and the most difficult class to be accomplished.

“So, what are True Gods, actually?”

The white mist of divine power slowly fused into the Steel Strength, the figure of the God of Life gradually turning illusory. One could tell that its clone was about to leave, but neither Joshua’s clone nor true form moved. The Warrior was fulfilling his promise—he would not fight since the God of Life had revealed the information he wanted to know, while the impulse from divinity dissipated, and Joshua regained calm.

“Simple-Minded One. ‘True Gods’ are but gods created artificially, and yet more powerful than all naturally created divine beings. It is a refinement combined from the ideas of Prime Gods, World Gods, and Doctrinal Gods, and in other words was the so-called ‘Path to Divinity’. By fitting the conditions and possessing a sufficiently firm will, ideals and ability, even a mortal could sublimate from the self-refinement of Fated Legend to True God!”