Chapter 69: After the War

Year 3859, Day 43

The elder supervising this branch of the sect personally received me. There's no doubt about it—the pressure generated by a Rank 9 being is enormous. 

Honestly, I believe he could easily crush countless worlds with just his own strength. 

I still have a long way to go. 

But let's talk about the good news. Since I've finally reached Rank 7, I've been able to raise my rank in the sect to that of an inner disciple. In a sect as vast as the Ten Thousand Swords Sect, this is a coveted position. 

Regarding disciples, they are classified as marginal disciples, outer disciples, inner disciples, and core disciples. 

Needless to say, this is a big change. Even more so because once I reach the peak of Rank 7, I'll be eligible to become a marginal elder, which represents another major opportunity. 

As for my situation, it's undoubtedly the most stable I've had in thousands of years. 

The sect even pays me a monthly salary of one high-quality spirit stone. Now, all that remains is for me to deepen my understanding of the laws, and I should naturally progress. 

Maybe I'm overestimating myself, but I feel I'm much more talented with the sword than with cultivation, and if I hadn't gone astray in the beginning, I probably would have broken through a long time ago. 

In any case, only time will tell if I was right or not. 

...

At the other end of the Polaris system, in a gigantic formation isolated from the outside world, Liam's main body, still seated calmly above Alandal, suddenly opened his eyes and sighed. 

"It seems this expedition is coming to an end." 

Controlling his incarnation was quite easy for him—simple multitasking for a high-tier superior existence. 

Although he hadn't expected to intervene, he ended up spending nearly a hundred million faith energy to prevent the world from collapsing due to void energy. 

Even though void energy is violent, it's not usually that out of control. 

In fact, even Rank 5 beings can survive a few minutes in outer space, but when void energy comes into contact with a dead world, it becomes like a starving predator, even capable of killing weaker superior beings. 

Still, a hundred million is no small amount. This single move cost him about eight to nine years of accumulation. 

But at least he had saved all his believers. Even more importantly, all the members of Alandal's army and a large number of Donvers had witnessed his actions. 

Originally, within the Great Army, there were about 400 fanatics, 3,000 fervent believers, 20,000 true believers, and the rest were nominal believers. 

Thanks to his intervention, there are now over 1,000 fanatics and 8,000 fervent believers, while almost all the others have become true believers. 

Taking into account the impact they'll have once they return to Alandal, it's likely that a new wave of believers will soon emerge. Overall, it would only take two to three years for Liam to recover his investment. 

And that's in void years—on Earth, he would regain everything in just a few days, along with many benefits. 

"Alas, it's going to be tight." 

He would probably spend the next century overseeing his divine domain in the void, preventing it from heading toward self-destruction.

Alandal will soon enter a new era of development, and he feared that almost a thousand intermediate beings will emerge in the next century.

On the lower plane, Liam's incarnation extended its divine sense. 

Having already reported the outcome of the battle to the instructors, he could now do as he pleased. 

Even though a few Minks resistance pockets remained within the base, the mission was considered almost complete, and his actions would no longer have any influence on the situation. 

Nevertheless, the losses had been significant. 

Not to mention the material damages, amounting to tens of thousands of spirit stones, the death toll was far higher than he had imagined. 

In total, he had lost 12 intermediate existences, 629 Ranks 3, and 7321 Ranks 2. 

Although the gains weren't negligible, these were the heaviest losses he had suffered since the creation of his divine domain. 

Sigh

"This is the way. There can be no wars without deaths," he thought calmly. Now, it was time for him to return to see his instructors. 

He had to quickly prepare the device to "package" the twenty thousand Donvers and add them to his divine domain. 

...

Several months passed calmly. 

Even time couldn't erase the damage caused by this extraordinary battle. 

The entire center of the plane, within a radius of about twenty kilometers, was nothing but pits and craters of various sizes, most caused by the attacks of the intermediate existences. 

Almost all the Minks had been killed, and only a few hundred had barely managed to escape through underground passages, but one thing was certain: they no longer posed any threat. 

With the news of the Great Army of Alandal's victory spreading, the student armies quickly began sweeping the world of everything they could find, even calling for reinforcements from their homeworld. 

At the same time, the Great Army reactivated the Minks' vehicles and joined in the plundering. 

No doubt about it, these large vehicles were very practical for transporting a large amount of supplies. 

After all, no matter how strong a cultivator or mage was, they only had two hands. Only the few Rank 4s were exempt from this rule, but honestly, they found the task too degrading for them. 

Still, in nearly six months, the plane had been stripped bare. 

As for the underground base, although part of it had collapsed during the battle, the rest had been fully exploited. 

Everything that could be dismantled had been, and even some walls made of high-quality alloys had been cut down and taken. 

All in all, there was almost nothing left worth staying for. 

Finally, the troops withdrew one by one, leaving only the warlords and a few generals in front of the portals, next to a massive pile of spirit stones. 

"After stripping this entire world, we've extracted the equivalent of eight tons of low-quality spirit stones. According to the agreement we made earlier, each of your twenty armies will receive 2% of this amount, while the Wylrach slayers and the Yvengoth troops will each take 10%, and Alandal will keep the remaining 40%. Any objections?" 

Sylvera calmly asked as she scanned the assembly of warlords. 

The latter clearly had no complaints. 

In fact, it was already very generous of Alandal to give them anything, given their meager contributions, so they weren't going to risk losing what they had just gained by protesting. 

Moreover, 2% of all this still represented nearly a hundred spirit stones, which was enormous for these small worlds. 

Seeing no issues, Sylvera quickly divided the spoils, and after a few farewells, she watched the armies pass through the portal one by one. 

After a few minutes, Ilbert pulled a pocket watch from his robe. 

"Well, it should be time." 

As soon as he finished speaking, another portal opened. 

Quickly, about five hundred small gray beings emerged from the portal, dragging large bags and about fifty large herbivores whose backs were laden with supplies. 

The portal closed as soon as the last dwarf emerged, and immediately, the space between the group of generals and the small dwarves warped, revealing two figures. 

"Greetings, divine envoys." 

Both groups bowed directly before the two figures: a large naga with a fierce look and a towering mountain dwarf woman. 

"Rise!" Liam's incarnation ordered directly. 

"It's time to begin the migration," Liam said calmly. "From this day forward, the goddess of nature and the forest, Goddess Linala Iggdasia, officially joins the pantheon of the God of the Four Elements, Lord Ahsoka Rivalek. Let these believers be the cornerstone that will unite our two peoples into one great family!" 

...

To understand what had just transpired, we must go back a little in time. 

Just after Liam had successfully altered the Donvers' memories and incorporated them into his divine domain, he received an unexpected visit. 

"What can I do for you, Lucie?" Liam asked calmly, looking at the young woman protected by a barrier. 

She had no other choice. Unlike Liam, who could enter directly with his physical body, she was just a peak-level grand mage, unable to stay in the void for long. 

The young woman clenched her fists, hesitating, then glanced at the vast world behind him, covered in a fog that blocked all prying eyes, before finally gathering her courage. 

"I... I want to become your subordinate god!" 

This simple phrase seemed to exhaust all her strength, and she looked at Liam with pleading eyes. 

He said nothing at first, though his mind was racing. 

In truth, Liam already knew Lucie, particularly her past. It wasn't just her, either—he had researched each member of his team to prepare for the planar expedition. 

"Why? Even if you're just an ordinary-class deity, you still have many believers and will even gain some benefits from the expedition." 

Lucie breathed a sigh of relief internally. "At least he hasn't refused me outright—I still have a chance." 

"Do you remember Maria Guezara?" 

Liam nodded. 

She was the very goddess of the student army that he had expelled from the expedition for organizing the murder of one of Lucie's believers. 

At that time, Liam hadn't acted to defend Lucie specifically, but rather because, as mentioned earlier, he had researched each team member. 

Based on the information he had found about her personality, he was almost certain that without his intervention, Maria wouldn't have stopped until she had killed all of Lucie's believers, which would have completely shattered the budding trust between the various student armies. 

"My parents both work for the company run by her father, a powerful supreme mage. Ever since Maria found out, she's been harassing me nonstop, saying that if I ever complained, she'd get my parents fired. They're barely low-level superior existences, and without stable jobs, we'd easily fall into poverty." 

Tears welled up in her eyes as she recalled all the torment she had endured. 

Liam, on his part, merely listened to a story he already knew firsthand. From his point of view, Lucie was actually downplaying the suffering she had gone through. 

"This time, you directly expelled her from the expedition. Of course, you don't have to worry—whether it's in terms of personal strength or support, she'll never dare to even complain in front of you. But for me, it's different. In her twisted mind, I'm sure she's already thinking of a way to pin the blame on me and make my life even more miserable." 

She now looked at him with a face full of distress. 

"Besides, my divine domain is very different from yours. According to the AI, I'm destined to be a goddess of nature and the forest. If I join your pantheon, it could benefit you even more than it would benefit me." 

She hastened to say, fearing that Liam would refuse her. 

Liam remained thoughtful, his mind racing. 

It was true that he pitied the girl, but that wasn't nearly enough of a reason to accept her as a subordinate god. 

First of all, when a god joined a pantheon, they had to do so willingly. Nothing could force them to join. 

At that point, the principal god had to inscribe a mark of submission on the subordinate god, engraving the submission into their soul. 

This was almost the same mark he had placed on Alandal but with far fewer constraints on the god. Nevertheless, it was still a lifelong oath, and unlike with Alandal, which was then just a young consciousness, Lucie was clearly an adult and mentally sound. 

Even though she was only a Rank 5, it was impossible for him to force the mark, given how complex the process was. 

On the other hand, while there were certain methods to remove this seal, they required the strength of at least a high god. 

As soon as the possibility of her being a spy had crossed his mind, Liam dismissed it. 

He had no enemies willing to pay such a high price to harm him, not that they could even invite such a being in any case. 

In contrast, a pantheon was almost immutable. 

Other gods could join, but it was nearly impossible for a god to leave a pantheon except through death. 

So once a god joined a pantheon, they typically couldn't be replaced. 

It was a very serious matter. 

A pantheon could only have a limited number of gods. For instance, there couldn't be two gods with the same divine domain. 

It was just common sense—if two gods had the same purpose, whom would the believers worship? It would only cause unnecessary confusion in the world. 

Therefore, beyond a god's loyalty and abilities, their potential and talent had to be carefully studied. 

After all, if one of the subordinate gods in a pantheon could no longer progress, they would become a weak link for the entire pantheon. 

But similarly, the more gods there were in a pantheon, the more complete it became, and thus, the faster its members gained strength. 

However, while it was true that Liam had already considered building a pantheon, it was something he had planned to do much later. 

As time passed, Liam became more and more indecisive. 

If he refused Lucie, who knew how many thousands of years it would take for such an opportunity to present itself again? 

On the other hand, he had scanned the young girl with his divine sense, and her bone age was approaching 150 years. 

That was still young for a Rank 5 being with about 3,500 years of lifespan, but it also highlighted that she lacked some talent. 

After all, this wasn't Alandal, but Earth. 

Even the poorest regions of the planet had a spiritual energy concentration thousands of times higher than Alandal's sanctuary. 

"Lucie, I'm going to ask you several questions, and I hope you'll answer without lying—I'll know if you do." Liam said calmly. 

The young woman felt a surge of excitement and nodded; she still had a chance. 

"When did you start practicing?" 

"How much time do you usually practice each day?" 

"How many Rank 5 spells do you know, and which ones?" 

... 

Their discussion lasted for days, with Liam asking thousands of questions, ranging from her knowledge of magic to her favorite hobbies, including her culinary tastes and combat abilities. 

Some questions even made her blush with embarrassment, making her think Liam had ulterior motives, but despite that, she continued to answer. 

For his part, although he felt awkward asking certain questions, he needed these answers to form a clear idea of who the young girl truly was. 

You could say that by now, Liam knew her better than her own parents. 

And perhaps fortunately for her, the portrait he had painted of her was actually quite promising. 

It was true that her talent might have been inferior to Liam's, but in reality, it wasn't as pronounced as one might think. 

After all, as a deity, she was quite capable and had already nurtured a saint. 

Her lack of cultivation mainly stemmed from a lack of resources and time. 

Yes, time. 

Even with the research he had done, Liam had clearly underestimated the abuse she had endured throughout her childhood. Not only had Maria stolen all her resources, but she had also sometimes forced her to leave the planet and exile herself in the void. 

Lucie could spend months, even years, outside, but the problem was that Lucie was only an intermediate existence and therefore couldn't use void energy to practice. 

Her actual time spent on Earth didn't exceed ten years, and as for the time she had spent cultivating, no more than two or three years. 

With proper support, she would likely soon rise to the level of superior existences. 

Liam calmly looked at the young girl with a smile on his lips. 

"Very well, but the process is quite strict for this sort of thing. We'll have to wait until we return to Earth to make it official." 

Lucie suddenly felt the world spin around her as blood pounded in her ears, but she wanted to be absolutely sure before celebrating. 

"S-So th-that means..." she stammered, her eyes filled with hope. 

"Yes," Liam interrupted her. "I accept."