Facing the Apocalypse with My Other Selves

"Sky and Death?" Wizard Shen Yu was a bit surprised by these two forms of divine authority.

It wasn't that he was surprised that these were main gods, but rather that he was surprised these main gods had such deep and detailed knowledge of human civilization.

After all, one sounded lofty and distant, while the other was associated with death itself.

"Although the sky is vast, it is also immensely empty. So the Sky God's favorite thing is to gaze down at everything on the earth. Humanity brings immense amusement to Him, thus He comes to understand." The Forest Goddess nodded slightly, her mood visibly gloomy. "And the Goddess of Death... Witnessing so much death, the Goddess of Death actually loves life far more than the Life God."

These two main gods were also the ones who, in everyday times, had the best relationship with the Forest Goddess and the others.

They would frequently share their views on humanity, exchanging various things they had learned from humans.

Such exchanges were hard for the Forest Goddess to have with mortals.

The divine spirits of this world couldn't truly blend into the mortal world. Their every move was suffused with divine power. Even now, when they've descended onto god-like beings, that faint aura of divine authority from divine power couldn't be hidden at all.

Only the few other divine spirits were left to satisfy the Forest Goddess's desire for communication.

But now, all those divine spirits had been caught in one vile, abrupt ambush and had completely fallen into slumber—even the two main gods couldn't escape.

At this moment, Wizard Shen Yu also wore a serious expression, asking the most critical question: "Why are the gods so determined to exterminate mortals, to the point of even turning against you?"

That's right. This had to be clarified no matter what.

Looking only at the current situation, the gods' resolve to destroy humanity was unusually strong—there must be a reason behind it.

If there weren't some special cause, if it were just desire, they wouldn't insist on extermination even before the All Heavens Divine Court.

And as expected, the Forest Goddess knew the reason.

"We divine spirits appeared at the birth of the world, innately able to control the authority of the world and master the power over different domains, but for the past several thousand years, we've felt our divine power fading. The boundaries between various authorities are gradually vanishing." The Forest Goddess spoke of this with little emotion, as if it wasn't her own divine power that was weakening.

She even gave an example.

"Before, even if I fell, the God of Disease could not use my divine power, but now he can. The boundaries between each god's divine authority, once clear-cut, are blurring."

Wizard Shen Yu frowned slightly.

He truly didn't understand these circumstances of innate divine spirits.

Still, it seemed improper to ask more.

He recalled his identity—one from a much stronger All Heavens Divine Court, who would, in theory, know all about such things in this little world.

He used Gray Mist to inquire and found that the cost was still rather high.

So Wizard Shen Yu asked once again, "Is this the only reason for deciding to destroy humanity?"

"The other divine spirits believe it's humans who are slowly stealing the power that belongs to us." The Forest Goddess replied, her lips curling in a trace of mockery. "Ridiculous, isn't it? Divine spirits see mortals as ants, yet believe mortals could make them wither."

Clearly, the Forest Goddess did not accept this argument at all.

Yet Wizard Shen Yu narrowed his eyes, suddenly thinking of something.

He fed his suspicion into the Gray Mist for a reading, and sure enough, the cost dropped drastically.

Only three hundred million.

No need to hesitate now. Wizard Shen Yu spent the Gray Mist; in an instant, everything about what was happening in this world, about the gods, about humanity, flooded his mind.

"So that's it." Wizard Shen Yu understood entirely. "In a way, what the gods believe isn't wrong."

The Forest Goddess froze.

"This is also the inevitable law of evolution for your small world," Wizard Shen Yu looked at the Forest Goddess, shaking his head slightly as he explained, "Your world was born along with the Extraordinary Source. It's exactly this Extraordinary Source that greatly accelerated the evolution of the world. Otherwise, in just tens of thousands of years, not only would civilization not arise, not even the most basic forms of life would exist."

How long did it take for human civilization to arise on his previous life's magicless world?

Four billion, five hundred and fifty million years.

That's the normal evolutionary timeframe for a life planet.

But extraordinary power greatly shortened that window.

"In the beginning, the Extraordinary Source scattered into all the forming domains of the world—like the Great Sun, the moon, thunder, sky, earth, life, and death. These so-called divine authorities are really just portions of the Extraordinary Source dividing naturally, like how the body develops from an egg into organs and tissues." Wizard Shen Yu's tone was calm, as if explaining something obvious.

But inside, he too was deeply shaken.

This understanding, gained through the Gray Mist, revealed to him how a world hosting the Extraordinary Source evolves.

At least, this world's process of evolution.

In that moment, the Forest Goddess stared at Wizard Shen Yu in awe.

The gods paid no attention to their own origins or the origin of their world. They believed their birth was the world's truth itself.

And while the Forest Goddess and the other divine spirits who'd learned wisdom from humans had the curiosity, they lacked the means to investigate.