Chapter 22 Enfeoffment

Half an hour later, within the Spirit Realm.

After chatting with the two Ancient Gods a bit more, Laine bid them farewell one by one.

If not for the birth of a Divine Child and the calling of the world, it would have been difficult to see these two reclusive gods in a thousand years. Most of the time, they exist in their original forms.

After parting, Laine took a step forward, passing through the sevenfold spacetime barriers, returning to the core of the Spirit Realm.

As the Lord of the Spirit Realm, Laine created the world in seven days, thus dividing the Spirit Realm from the deepest to the shallowest into seven layers. The concept of the Moon was also divided into seven, each placed within the seven layers of the Spirit Realm.

The deep layers could see the Moons of the shallower ones, but the shallow layers could not see the sights of the deeper ones. Thus, standing at the core of the Spirit Realm, Laine saw the seven different Spirit Moons hanging in the sky together.

When originally designing them, Laine intended each kind of Moon to be dual-colored. They could be silver-white and also their own colors. In the future, he would assign them different 'symbols.' However, the nascent Spirit Realm couldn't achieve this yet, so at the moment, the seven Moons all appeared in the same hue.

Looking around, the barriers between each of the seven layers of the Spirit Realm could not obstruct their master's vision. At present, the realm still appeared empty, except for life in the outermost two layers; the inner five were void of anything. This was also due to the current limit of Laine's abilities; he could only create more 'orderly' life forms.

The further out the layer, the more stable the chronology, and the further in, the more chaotic. Consequently, apart from the last created beings, only the two outermost layers of the Spirit Realm could sustain ordinary spiritual bodies.

Of course, as the core of the Spirit Realm, the order of the unnamed mountain peak where Laine resided was absolutely stable.

Its predecessor was Laine's spine, piercing through the seven layers of the Spirit Realm in the temporal dimension, which would also be the location of Laine's future palace.

After admiring his creations, Laine casually fashioned a chair with his hand. He sat upon it and summoned the beings he had created.

"Liana."

"I am here, Your Highness."

As Laine's voice fell, a winged girl responded to the call of the creator.

She bore an appearance close to humans, but the silver-white wings undoubtedly proved her extraordinary status. In the Spirit Realm, she and her sisters held powers similar to that of a territorial god, capable of handling many matters for Laine.

Laine called them Crystodes, meaning 'transparent, deceit-free souls.' As the sacred beings created on the sixth day, there were eighteen of them in total, with Liana as their leader.

According to Laine's judgment, they were not demigods, as they possessed an essence akin to that of a True God. Yet they were not True Gods either, for they lacked godhoods. They were somewhat like the Oceanides of later ages, divine yet not even amounting to Weak Divine Power.

Divine Power Level 0, that was their state.

"I have a task for you to do."

Looking at the young girl kneeling before him, Laine said gently,

"Now, the projection of the Spirit Realm on the outside is the Nether Moon, with the light of seven crescent moons alternately shining through the projection onto the Underworld. Concepts associated with Chaos and the Nether Moon are thus converging towards the Spirit Realm from the Origin, but to complete this process, it will take at least two thousand years, and I cannot wait that long."

"Hence, I need someone to operate the authority of the Nether Moon. She will take over this godhood on my behalf, which will greatly accelerate the gathering of concepts."

"To serve you is the purpose of my existence."

Liana's response was unhesitating. Faced with her creator, she had no thought of refusal.

"Very good," Laine nodded.

He stretched out his hand, and the richly gathered concepts of the Nether Moon in the Spirit Realm surged toward him. Soon, a crystal-clear, multifaceted crystal appeared in his hand.

With a point of his right hand, the crystal instantly entered Liana's body. The next moment, a force belonging to a True God burst forth from her.

"From today on, you are the Goddess of Nether Moon," Laine declared calmly.

At the sound of his words, Liana's Divine Power surged upward, finally settling around the Divine Power Level 2.

"Nether Moon" Godhood currently has an upper limit of Divine Power Level 5, but if Liana can gather all the Origin related to Chaos, then with this Godhood alone, she could step into the realm of Intermediate Divine Power.

By then, Laine would naturally lend her a helping hand, further aiding her to become one of Chaos's true top-tier deities.

Divinity surged in his eyes as Laine observed the process of Liana merging with the Godhood. His actions at this moment were akin to the bestowal of a Sub-God, yet not entirely so. To him, Liana was like the gods to Chaos; when this Godhood was conferred, he did not feel any waning of strength, but rather his digestion of the chaotic Origins even accelerated.

This time he had gained too much Source Power, so much so that even now, Origins like Nether Moon and Stars were still surging towards the Spirit Realm. According to Laine's estimate, it would take him at least a few thousand years to completely assimilate and unify these forces.

But now, with the conferment of the Goddess of Nether Moon, the concepts related to Nether Moon were being digested by him at ten times the speed.

"Aster."

"I am here, Your Highness."

This was the second divine life he had created. Laine did not speak much this time but directly took out hundreds of orbs of light.

He could sense that the star symbolizing 'Indeterminable Destiny' had already been placed by the Lady of the Night, and it was time for the remaining stars to make their appearance.

These stars were, strictly speaking, only projections; their actual bodies were still in the Spirit Realm. Just as the light of the seven-phased Spirit Moons shone through the Nether Moon onto the earth, the starlight in the Spirit Realm would follow the connection to their projections and shine in the sky of Chaos.

Until the true God of Stars was born, they would continuously siphon Source Power from Chaos's "Stars," growing themselves after being transformed through the Spirit Realm.

If the Star Gods were born late enough, maybe without Laine's input of power, these illusory stars would possess more strength than the physical stars.

With a slight pointing gesture, another multifaceted crystal fell into Aster's body, and Laine's voice followed.

"I decree you to scatter the stars across the night sky, to illuminate the earth with starlight. From this day forth, you are the 'Weaver of Stars,' the 'Goddess of Starlight'."

Divine Power surged again, but this time, Aster barely became a Weak Divine Power of Level 1.

Compared to Nether Moon, the authority of scattering stars and starlight was still somewhat feeble.

But this did not matter; Laine felt that his digestion of the Stars Origin sped up.

Immediately after, Laine consecrated twelve Star Gods in succession. Each of them possessed a star corresponding to one of the twelve months.

Laine imbued these stars with the concept of months, along with the influence different months had on plant growth and climate shifts. As the twelve Weak Divine Powers were born, Laine's digestion of the Stars' Source Power further accelerated, as did his merging with the power of Time.

With a wave of his hand, the fourteen newly born goddesses retreated. Laine did not continue to consecrate more deities because he could feel that the more powerful the Godhood, the more demanding it was on the recipient.

As his first creation, Crystodes, Liana could barely carry the still-incomplete "Nether Moon." But Godhood such as "Order," "History," "Spiritual Plants," "Spiritual Beings," and even "Time," "Space," "Life" were not easily borne by Laine's creations.

Perhaps after thousands of years sitting as a True God, Liana could slowly elevate her essence and bear stronger Godhood, but for now, Laine could only stop here.

With a thought, space and time formed a circular mirror before his eyes. Through the mirror, Laine saw the current landscape of the earth.

Though it seemed a long time had passed, in reality, just over a day had gone by in the outside world since the Spirit Realm's creation. Below the sky at this time, the war between Uranus and the Titans was still ongoing.

Divine Blood flowed on the ground like rivers; the Heavenly Father's power had already dropped to less than a third of its zenith. Despite his still-brave demeanor, the outcome of this conflict was becoming increasingly difficult to change.

"An era's end."

In a low murmur, Laine casually drew forth a scroll woven from moonlight.

He mixed some paint with the Divine King's blood he had previously collected and placed it on the circular table next to his seat.

"Chaos's first painting, I shall call it 'The Death of the God-King.'

As a god, Uranus will not die. But as the oldest Divine King, today marks his destined end."