Volcano Forest

This forest was immense, with a dense jungle spreading endlessly over rolling hills, its edges lost beyond the horizon.

Including the volcano and the distant coastal areas, this territory was vast enough to form a small nation.

Deep within the jungle stood a mysterious pyramid. Below it, a group of Lizard People worked from sunrise to sunset, planting Brown Ball Vines, cultivating potion plants, and hunting monsters.

Occasionally, they would trade with merchants from the nearby Maya Territory.

The goods the Lizard People offered were often things unavailable elsewhere.

For instance, their wares included superior Brown Ball Vine seeds and the remains of unusual creatures. The organs and hides of these creatures could be crafted into extraordinary materials, though they were only of a lower rank.

In addition to these items, the Lizard People crafted unique Divine Artifacts that no one else could replicate, as their innate divine techniques were fundamentally different from those of the Snake People.

This attracted merchants from outside the Volcano Forest, pulling them in like moths to a flame. They arrived in steady waves, transforming the once-desolate town of Limestone into a bustling and prosperous hub.

On this day, the Lizard People drove their pack beasts, arriving with their caravan at the Snake People’s Limestone Town, a settlement named for the ash of Lava Mountain.

As soon as the vehicles stopped, merchants immediately crowded around.

Though somewhat frightened by the Lizard People’s faces, the crowd surged forward once the first person dared to step out.

“Is Mr. Anu here?” one merchant shouted. “I brought enough goods this time. Whatever you have, I’ll take it all!”

The other merchants immediately protested, accusing him of trying to monopolize the trade.

“Do you have any seeds?” another asked, his words hesitant as he struggled to describe them. “The special kind, the ones that are hard to find elsewhere.”

“What about those special beast hides?” a wealthy-looking merchant inquired. “The ones that can be used as extraordinary materials. We can pay a high price.”

They focused on acquiring extraordinary items, which were highly sought after in high society. Powerful Ability Users and Divine Servants were willing to pay prices that ordinary people could hardly imagine.

One of the Lizard People explained, “We are not interested in money.”

“What we need,” the speaker continued, “are essential daily supplies in large quantities.”

The leader among them added, “Bartering comes first. We will only consider accepting money once we have exchanged for enough goods.”

After all, the Lizard People had brought much more this time compared to their last visit. Their caravan was filled with precious items, enough to trade for more daily supplies than they could carry.

Aside from a few newcomers, most merchants in Limestone Town already knew the Lizard People’s trading methods. They had prepared what was needed and immediately brought their goods forward.

The Lizard People’s items were quickly traded away, exchanged for a variety of daily necessities that were then loaded onto carts for the journey back to Volcano Forest.

Throughout the town, many residents observed the exchange with wary eyes. Some quickly shut their doors and reinforced them with whatever they could find, as if fearing the Lizard People might suddenly invade.

Among them, a young man stood on the second floor of a wooden house. He gazed at the distant caravan, observing the oddly shaped creatures with deep curiosity.

It was Akmanmon.

Red Earth Territory and Maya Territory were divided by Delanvos Territory, which lay between them. The two regions had recently been at war, so Akmanmon’s journey to this place had taken considerable time.

In ancient times, this entire region was divided into many territories, large and small. Over time, they slowly merged into a unified whole through intermarriage, annexation, and conflict.

Red Earth Territory, Char Territory, and Delanvos Territory all came into existence through this process.

It was a history filled with ugliness, conspiracy, and massacres of every kind.

“Lizard People…”

This was the first time Akmanmon had seen them, and his curiosity was piqued.

When he first arrived, he had no idea what these creatures were called. He only knew they were a newly created intelligent species and had a vague sense of their appearance.

At that time, the Lizard People had not yet been given a name.

But this was only what he had heard. He could not be certain if they were truly a new species or just Snake People who had temporarily lost their serpentine form due to the corruption of extraordinary power.

Akmanmon descended the stairs. A group of merchants approached him, presenting the special beast hides they had acquired from the Lizard People.

He ran his fingers over a hide, feeling the faint traces of power within it.

“This is the power of ability.”

Akmanmon was now completely convinced, yet this was unlike anything he had ever encountered.

In the past, extraordinary materials came from monsters, the Abyss, or the Snake People themselves. It seemed impossible for ordinary beasts to possess the power of ability.

“How were they able to create these?” Akmanmon asked, his curiosity obvious.

The merchants exchanged glances before one replied, “We can’t say for sure. The Lizard People bring them to trade, but they never reveal their methods.”

As Akmanmon held the beast hide, his curiosity about the Lizard People grew stronger, as did his interest in the apostle Kurmis, who was hidden deep within the jungle.

“Is it really possible for an apostle to achieve this?”

Akmanmon sensed there was something special about Kurmis. He decided to venture deep into Volcano Forest and see for himself.

He trailed the group of Lizard People, determined to find the location of their village.

The Lizard People, however, were highly cautious, carefully erasing their tracks as they moved through the dense jungle.

Akmanmon had to stay close, but even with his abilities as a Third-Rank superior Ability User, he came dangerously close to being discovered several times.

Realizing the risk, Akmanmon retrieved a cloak-type artifact. He draped it over himself, blending into the surroundings to continue his pursuit undetected.

He saw the Lizard People’s village deep in the jungle.

What truly captured Akmanmon’s attention, however, was not the village itself but a grand structure made of stacked stones, hidden within the trees.

“What is that?”

This was Akmanmon’s first time seeing a pyramid.

At first glance, an inexplicable sense of awe rose in his heart. A single look made him think of the divine.

This type of structure seemed to symbolize majesty and power.

Akmanmon hesitated to approach, sensing an ominous presence within the pyramid. A powerful force radiated from it, and he knew that getting any closer risked discovery.

He committed the location to memory and resolved to continue observing the race known as the Lizard People.

Within the village, the inhabitants were slowly settling into their new way of life. They were beginning to embrace their identity as Lizard People.

Some of the males and females had already paired off, forming couples and starting to raise the next generation.

Akmanmon watched as the Lizard People carefully nurtured their eggs, his gaze filled with a newfound sense of wonder.

“Birth, reproduction, and inheritance.”

“The Lizard People… they are truly a new race.”

“No, I should say they are a new intelligent race. A new civilization.”

At this point, Akmanmon fully recognized that Kurmis had successfully created an entirely new intelligent race, though it was achieved by harnessing stolen power from the Sovereign Deity.

Following this realization, Akmanmon observed the Lizard People’s farmland. The Brown Ball Vines grew with remarkable vigor, surpassing anything he had seen in the Maya Territory.

Past the fields, he eventually saw a specially enclosed plot of farmland. Numerous special plants he had never seen before were cultivated there.

Some resembled Curled Ball Fern and bore strange silver fruits with peculiar patterns.

Others had crystal-clear leaves. Some produced naked seeds that glowed faintly. A few released fragrances that subtly influenced one’s consciousness.

These potion plants were creations of Kurmis, brought to life through the Power of Spirituality and Spirit Fusion Seal Imprints.

Their forms had undergone dramatic changes under the influence of spirituality, making it clear they were no ordinary plants. The Spirit Fusion Seal Imprints imbued them with extraordinary characteristics. As they grew from seeds, they gradually developed unique and special effects.

The only issue was that this power could not be passed down naturally. As a result, these potion plants were unable to sustain their lineage on their own.

They had to depend on Kurmis’s Seed Jar to continue their line, or wait for the day Kurmis achieved godhood and underwent a complete transformation.

Akmanmon was completely astonished. He studied the plants with great care. Just like the beast hide, he could not comprehend how these things had been created.

“What are these things?”

This was the first time Akmanmon had ever seen potion plants.

He was also the only person, apart from the Lizard People and Kurmis, to have laid eyes on them.

Akmanmon did not touch the plants, worried he might alert the Lizard People. He simply memorized the location, deciding to return and investigate later.

There was another problem.

Akmanmon had circled the Lizard People’s village but could not find any sign of the apostle-rank existence, Kurmis.

He turned his gaze toward the pyramid. If nothing unusual had occurred, Kurmis had to be inside.

The next day, Akmanmon returned to the Lizard People’s village. He watched how they carefully tended to and cultivated these plants.

These unique plants were cultivated from special seeds. The Lizard People referred to them as potion plants.

Soon after, Akmanmon uncovered the mystery behind the beast hide.

He realized that the hide originated from a peculiar beast, one that had been created by consuming potion plants.

Akmanmon observed the birth of this mutated beast and witnessed its immediate descent into madness as it came into existence.

He knew precisely why this happened.

“Those who consume the Divine Blood of another are destined to succumb to madness.”

Akmanmon recited this phrase as he watched the mutated beast get killed by the Lizard People, who then carefully excavated the crystal from its skull.

He understood it deeply, for he was someone who constantly walked the fine line between madness and death, daring to touch the forbidden.

But making a beast possess ability was a far harder task than making an intelligent species possess it. The feat was almost unimaginable.

Intelligent species already carried Divine Blood within their bodies, though it remained dormant and unmanifested, unlike in Ability Users.

Helping an intelligent species unlock and master extraordinary power was one thing. Giving a simple beast the power of wisdom was an entirely different challenge.

Yet now, someone had achieved this through the use of a special plant.

“Kurmis, what kind of power have you mastered?”

Akmanmon’s curiosity about Kurmis grew even stronger. He wanted to meet this person, but the fact that Kurmis was an apostle made him hesitant and uneasy.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

In the early morning of the first day of the new month, before the sun had fully risen, the Lizard People gathered at the altar beneath the pyramid.

They collected all the potion plants harvested throughout the month, along with special crystals that radiated extraordinary energy, and prepared them as an offering.

They turned toward the rising sun and knelt in devout worship.

“Great Feathered Serpent God Kurmis.”

“On the first day of the month, at sunrise.”

“Your will shall descend with the sun’s first ray of light.”

“Please accept our offerings. May you return soon.”

Akmanmon hid behind a tree, watching the scene unfold from a distance.

What happened next left him in awe.

A powerful energy radiated from the pyramid, sending waves of white halos outward. The potion plants began to wither, their vitality drawn into the pyramid’s depths.

The Lizard People erupted in cheers. They spread their arms to welcome the power of their so-called Feathered Serpent God and greeted the sun’s first light.

The sun rose from the pyramid’s peak. Its radiance bathed the giant tower in gold and made the Lizard People’s scales glisten.

Akmanmon gazed at the pyramid, his eyes reflecting the light and shadow of the sun and the tower.

“What is he doing?”

This “he,” of course, referred to Kurmis.

“Feathered Serpent God?”

“God?”

“How can he be called a god?”

“What right does he have to be called a god?”

Although Sukob and Oran were also apostles, they had not openly declared any desire to ascend to divinity.

Akmanmon, however, witnessed what followed as Kurmis accepted the sacrifice.

Now, he completely understood.

He was both shocked and filled with excitement. His eyebrows lifted as an uncontrollable joy spread across his face.

It felt as if something he had chased for so long had finally revealed a faint glimmer of hope. Perhaps he had found someone striving for the same goal as him.

“Feathered Serpent God Kurmis.”

“Kurmis is trying to become a god. He is taking the steps to ascend to godhood right here.”

Limestone Town

At night, Akmanmon was slumped over his desk, his notebook overflowing with scribbled notes.

It held notes on his latest experiments, thoughts on creating ghouls, ideas about his own journey to godhood, and his observations of Kurmis and the Lizard People.

Suddenly, Akmanmon’s blood began to stir. A crimson mist rose from within him, and the shadow at his back started to shift and twist.

“It is happening again.”

Akmanmon felt as though he had lived through this moment before. He pushed himself up from his chair and made his way unsteadily to the center of the room.

Lines of light spread across the floor, weaving into his body as a ritual array came to life.

The turmoil rooted deep within his bloodline pressed relentlessly against his mind, threatening to overwhelm him.

Although he did everything he could to suppress the madness, the looming death curse crept closer with each passing day.

After Akmanmon activated the ritual, a terrifying dark red shadow surged from his body and engulfed him.

One by one, the figures of those he had devoured began to surface in his mind. Among them were Snake People, Abyss Monsters, and demons.

These creatures roared and howled at him.

Akmanmon, however, stood unfazed, just as Suero had once done.

“If I dared to devour you while you were alive,” he sneered, “what could you possibly do now that you are dead?”

But what followed was entirely unexpected.

The scene shifted to Fort Pence, the former capital of the Royal Court of Ten Thousand Serpents.

Akmanmon found himself as a child again, standing confused before the royal palace.

His mother, still young and untouched by illness, held his hand tightly, her head bowed in fear.

Ahead, a tall figure, his features obscured by the backlight, rode a land dragon and led thousands of troops into the city.

A dark, matte sword hung at his waist. As he reached the center of the street, he drew it. The entire army formed ranks and shouted in unison, and the whole city erupted with excitement for him.

“Ten thousand victories!”

The Dark Moon General.

He was unstoppable. He had rescued this nation and its people.

Yet, he had also driven its king into the shadows.

He led his army to the foot of the palace, his presence radiating an overwhelming force that seemed to crush everything in its path.

A looming shadow engulfed Akmanmon, filling him with a fear that seeped into the depths of his soul.

The figure removed his helmet, his steady and resolute eyes locking onto Akmanmon.

“Your Majesty.”

Akmanmon saw the man’s face and felt a shiver run through him.

“No!”

“I refuse to surrender to you. I will not submit!”

He continued to step back cautiously.

“You cannot imprison me. I will find a way out of the cage you have built.”

“You cannot control me. You have no right to demand anything from me.”

“I will break free. I will escape this nation.”

But the cries of “ten thousand victories” grew louder and more fervent. Everyone’s gaze turned toward Akmanmon, filled with malice, as if the Dark Moon General was their rightful king and Akmanmon was the traitor.

Suddenly, trapped in the past, Akmanmon recalled something.

He shouted at the shadow of the general.

“No, you are not real!”

“You died a long time ago!”

“You are just an illusion!”

In the illusion, he was forced to confront his own heart.

The terror came not only from those he had devoured but also from the darkness within himself. What pushed him toward madness was not just the influence of others, but his own inner turmoil.

Then the scene changed.

A girl rested in a crystal coffin. Akmanmon lay beside it, his face tense as he stared at her, struggling to hold back the sorrow welling up inside him.

In an instant, the girl’s face decayed. Her eyes opened, and she smiled warmly at him.

The sight of her dead, rotting face made the smile utterly horrifying.

She looked at Akmanmon and asked, “Is it only in death that we can be together?”

Akmanmon held his head in his hands, his mouth agape in shock as he watched the corpse decay.

“I had no choice.”

“I truly had no choice!”

“Yueyeh…”

The last figure to emerge in the illusion was Suero.

He became a towering shadow within a storm, radiating an aura that felt like true divine power. To suppress another apostle who had drawn upon that power, he had sacrificed half of Mooneclipse City. He had even charged into the Kingdom of God and consumed all of Purgatory.

A terrifying dark shadow loomed, towering high enough to consume the clouds and sky with its gaping maw.

Suddenly, an even larger hand reached out from the dark red Mythological Gate above. The immense being from the deepest part of the Abyss pressed down on him. No matter how much Suero struggled, he could not break free.

No matter how powerful he became, he was nothing more than a plaything in the hands of a true god.

God’s Moon appeared, and Suero gradually faded away under its light, just as the other had intended. He tried to resist, but it was futile.

In the end, Suero looked at him and seemed to say something, but Akmanmon could no longer hear the words.

Akmanmon lifted his head to look at Suero’s fading form. “We have no control over our destinies,” he said to him. “Others manipulate us, and we are unable to escape this cursed cage.”

At that moment, Akmanmon’s body in reality convulsed with madness, and he released piercing cries.

“This cursed world.”

“It feels like a prison.”

“A living nightmare.”

In his madness, Akmanmon clutched his own throat, feeling as though the very act of existing was suffocating him.

It was in this moment that he finally came to full awareness.

He had survived another bout of madness. He lay on the ground, gasping for air.

However, he found himself unable to sleep afterward.

After discovering Kurmis’s purpose, Akmanmon had spent countless sleepless nights.

He continued writing in his notebook, his pen moving relentlessly across the pages. The repeated writing tore through the paper as he pressed harder with each stroke.

“God!”

“Step into the Kingdom of God.”

“Become an eternal being, free from all constraints.”

He also wanted to become a god, just like Kurmis.

Everyone had their own reasons for seeking divinity. Sukob wanted to become a god to create the orderly world he envisioned. Oran sought godhood to fulfill the Tower Spirit School’s dream.

Xiao desired to become a god because he refused to remain ordinary. He wanted to rise to the highest stage and compete for ultimate eternity and power. He cared little for the process, willing to abandon everything but reason in his pursuit of an answer.

For Akmanmon, the goal was complete freedom. He believed that becoming a god was the only way to fulfill this desire.

“Becoming a god…”

“Is it truly possible for mortals to become gods?”

“It is absolutely possible. Suero already reached the edge of divinity, and Kurmis is actively working toward becoming a god.”

“What exactly is Kurmis doing to prepare?”

With this thought, Akmanmon finally set his pen down.

He stared at the lamplight, his eyes filled with longing.

The urge was too strong to resist. He had to meet Kurmis, even if it meant taking a great risk.

Akmanmon resolved to venture into the pyramid and uncover its secrets.

He wanted to understand not only how Kurmis was preparing for divinity but also how he had created the Brown Ball Vines, the Lizard People, and the potion plants.

Deep in the ocean, a peculiar submarine had been sailing for some time, seemingly on a quest to find something hidden on the seafloor.

Standing before a circular glass window, Yin Shen gazed out, observing the various species that drifted through the water.

He was searching for traces of the past.

This brief journey was far from perfect. The ocean, two hundred fifty million years later, was nothing like the primitive ocean of the First Era. It was an entirely different world.

The familiar life forms had been replaced by those that came later. The figures from His memory had quietly vanished over the long course of time.

Yin Shen had not discovered many remnants of the past, but He had encountered several descendants of those ancient species.

“It seems the trilobites are truly extinct,” Yin Shen said, turning His head.

Beside Him lay the shed shell of Redlichia.

Shelly glanced at Yin Shen and asked, “Trilobites? Were they those bugs from way back?”

She tilted her head, a thoughtful look on her face. “Without God, he and I are just bugs, aren’t we?”

By “he,” Shelly meant Redlichia.

She referred to herself as a bug, but she did not mind at all.

Shelly grinned at Yin Shen. “Back then, it was just bugs, wasn’t it? Nothing else.”

“Only God was God.”

“You’ve always been the greatest, right from the very start.”

Yin Shen remained silent, as if it were only natural that everyone saw Him as the one inherently divine.

Shelly lay sprawled in front of His large glass tank, her eyes pressed against it as she peered inside.

The tank stretched dozens of meters long, but several fish now floated lifelessly on the surface, their eyes seeming to protest silently.

Recently, she had taken to catching strange creatures from the sea and placing them in the tank. No matter what she raised, however, they never survived for more than a few days.

Shelly was furious.

“These guys all oppose me!”

“They eat too much, they die. They eat too little, they die.”

“They stay in the water, they die. Take them out of the water, and they still die.”

Shelly rested her head against the tank, pouting.

“One day, I’ll make a big fish that never dies. It’ll leave the water, fly in the sky, and be my pet.”

At that moment, something unusual swam past the window. Its body was encased in armor, it had numerous legs, and its tail resembled a sword.

Shelly pointed excitedly. “Look, God! It’s huge! Is that a trilobite?”

Yin Shen shook His head. “It is called a horseshoe crab.”

He explained to Shelly, “It is not a descendant of trilobites, but it does have some relation to them.”

Shelly hurried to the window and leaned against it, eager to get a closer look.

“Whoa!” she exclaimed, her eyes widening. “So, that’s not a trilobite, huh?”

She seemed to have a particular fondness for these peculiar creatures. From the dark ocean, a hand reached out, grasped the horseshoe crab, and gently placed it into the glass tank.

Meanwhile, the witch doctors were busy using nets to remove the dead fish that had floated belly-up.

Splash.

Water splashed as the horseshoe crab entered its new home, which some might call its death chamber.

The witch doctors studied the horseshoe crab closely, each quietly wondering how long it would manage to survive.

Shelly suddenly perked up and turned to the witch doctors. “Hey, you guys fix people up, right? Can’t you do the same for these guys?”

She pointed at the tank. “Next time one of them kicks the bucket, just bring it back for me, okay?”

The witch doctors felt a shiver run down their spines. Healing the sick was their expertise, not bringing the dead back to life.

They quickly turned their attention to the creatures in the tank, resolving to care for them more diligently to prevent any others from dying.

At that moment, the Mythological Spirit Vellen emerged from a swirl of colorful light.

After bowing, he looked at Yin Shen and said, “God Yinsai, it is time to open the door once more.”

Hearing this, Shelly dashed over with excitement.

“Wait, are we opening the door now?”

The witch doctors stood in a row. The last to arrive was Dream Sovereign Hila.

Hila descended the stairs and approached Yin Shen. “God,” she said, “I was thinking… wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could visit another continent this time?”

Shelly threw her hands in the air, her voice bursting with excitement. “Big fireworks! Let’s go see the big fireworks!”

“Come on, big fireworks!” she chanted, her enthusiasm infectious.

She repeated this over and over, circling Yin Shen as if worried He might not hear her.

Yin Shen placed a hand on her head and gently ruffled her hair.

At last, He reached out, grasped the door handle, and turned it.

The door swung open, revealing a colorful vortex that stretched into the distance.

The submarine shrank into a compact sphere, dissolving into shimmering light as it followed the vortex.

South of Ruhe Beast Island, a vibrant mass unfolded on the ground, reappearing as a tangible form.

A collection of stone spheres came together to create an unusual figure, which pulled a peculiar large cart as it sped across the land.

At first glance, it resembled Stone Demons harnessed to a cart.

Thus, Vellen revealed his fourth form, different from the hot air balloon, house, and submarine.

Dream Sovereign Hila took out a mirror. “It is Suinhor,” she said.

Shelly wrinkled her nose. “Suinhor? What’s that supposed to be? Can you eat it?”

One of the witch doctors respectfully told her, “It is one of the Ruhe Great Gods’ domains. Your servant, the Lava Monster, is in Suinhor.”

Shelly’s eyes immediately brightened. She looked toward Maya City and Lava Mountain’s direction and could indeed sense the other was now closer to her.

“Yes!” she exclaimed, practically bouncing in place. “The big fireworks are really happening!”