Mage Manual

Condense divine persona, create a deity!?

Ash and the others' pupils shrank suddenly.

They realized that they were about to unravel one of the greatest mysteries of the sorcerer world: how deities are born!

Logically, Technique Spirits are special life forms gestated by mages through void realm resonance within their knowledge, so deities should be the same.

But whether Diya asked the Gospel Book, or Sonia investigated within the Dazzling Star, they could only get one result: mortals simply cannot gestate deities.

Sonia had significant authority on this matter, she researched all the Legendary Mages that appeared in the Kingdom of Stars over the past 1668 years, and only found three whose whereabouts were unknown, while all other Legendary Mages stopped at Ruby Mountain, and no one ever summoned a deity or stepped into the Demigod Realm.

Even if Sonia asked Trozan through the Contract, the Professor Sister also shook her head, expressing she didn't know. Yet Trozan also believed that deities and Technique Spirits were almost two different life forms, and mages couldn't gestate deities through void realm resonance.

After all, unlike Sonia who was new to the Holy Domain circle, Trozan had mingled in this circle for many years, even if foul-mouthed, he still heard many legendary secrets.

In the past legends of Dazzling Star, some must have broken through their magic faction realm to the demigod level, but still couldn't summon a deity, ultimately just standing on Ruby Mountain gazing at the sky, spending the rest of their life in desolation.

If deities could be summoned through void realm resonance, no matter how difficult, in a country like Dazzling Star full of puzzle enthusiasts, inevitably one or two legends would violently crack the deity mystery. However, there was no such record, and everyone had to admit that legend was the limit for mages.

Ordinary mages couldn't even imagine how solid the chasm was between human and deity. Only a handful of Legendary Mages at the very top knew the extent of despair they faced.

This is also why the Alchemy King was severely damaged in the Divine Lord inheritance.

Was the prestigious legend of Dazzling Star, the Alchemy King who survived the Abyss multiple times, a reckless fool unaware of caution?

Of course not, the elimination mechanism of the void realm was quite complete, and mages with significant survival flaws were already eliminated in the earlier layers of the void realm. Mages reaching the legendary level, no matter how reckless, would be educated by fate to be extremely cautious.

But the Alchemy King understood more, this might be his only opportunity in life.

He couldn't find the way forward, and if he missed this chance, he would never reach the Divine Domain in his life.

With competitors present, he could only be reckless, only take risks, that's the only way he could have a chance to win!

He just had bad luck, that's all.

The answer Diya got from the Gospel Book was even more intriguing—the only way for mages to see through the truth of deities is to step into the Divine Domain.

This is very strange.

As everyone knows, the most orthodox way for mages to open the Gate of Truth to a higher level is to autonomously summon a higher level Technique Spirit.

Like Ash, who to this day can't open the Gate of Truth, because he doesn't have a single autonomous Technique Spirit.

If you want to create a deity, you must first become a demigod, but without a deity to open the Gate of Truth to a higher level, how does a mage become a demigod?

When the Witch spoke about this information, Ash's first reaction was 'Karazhan pioneering, come to Karazhan to graduate'—to create a deity, you must first become a demigod mage, but to become a demigod mage, you must first create a deity, isn't this a deadlock?

Not only Ash and his companions found it strange, all Legendary Mages know this doesn't make sense.

The only hope they can hold onto is the 'Angel of Ruby Mountain'—as long as you find the Angel of Ruby Mountain after condensing the Colorless Wings, it will open the trial for you to step into the Divine Domain.

But just like the golden fish, the seven-colored tail, the faded dream. The Angel of Ruby Mountain is also an unattainable distant legend.

Ash and the others thought they had to reach Ruby Mountain to have a chance to unravel the mystery of the birth of deities.

Unexpectedly, in the Distant Realm, this secret actively sought them out.

"To create a deity, you must first condense a divine persona, and there are two factions of condensing divine persona."

The Nightmare generously revealed the information all Legendary Mages crave: "They are respectively the Virtual Divine Persona faction and the Soul Divine Persona faction."

"The Soul Divine Persona faction is the oldest method of god creation, where mages use their own soul as the base of the divine persona, integrating concepts into it. This is further divided into two routes, the first is where mages through performing certain concept-related behaviors, inject philosophies, beliefs, and wills into the concept, which eventually emerges from its chrysalis, hatching a deity."

"But this route cannot be completed in one or two generations, it might take dozens of generations, hundreds, or thousands of years to hatch a deity. The advantage is that ordinary mages can participate in this god creation plan, without any requirement for mage strength."

Ash and Weiser's hearts were stirred, both simultaneously thinking of the past four Divine Eras of Senluo.

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"The second path is for a mage to master the complete God Creation Ritual. As long as the appropriate materials are prepared and the ritual is performed according to the steps, the corresponding Divine Being can be created. This path does not require the mage to have any special prowess."

The Nightmare said, "But both paths of the Soul-Divine Status stream, whether it's the Incubation Method of breaking the cocoon to emerge as a god, or the Ritual Method of performing the ritual to create a god, will ultimately attract the Void Realm curse. You could even say that the Void Realm curse is the final step of the Soul-Divine Status stream."

"In the past, many mages who attempted to create gods failed because they couldn't resist the final step of the Void Realm curse, resulting in failure akin to a collapsing tower of cards, the concept shattering, or even death with their souls obliterated. Moreover, the first step of the Soul-Divine Status stream is to integrate the concept into the soul, a step that alone consumes a mage's time over several years."

Hearing this, Ash and the others understood that the Nightmare was not planning on letting them follow the Soul-Divine Status stream. After all, the Ghost Inheritance was about to explode; forget months, they only had a few days left at most.

"Thus, mages invented a safer, more ingenious, yet more intricate Virtual Godhood stream," the Nightmare said. "As long as the appropriate materials are prepared, and a virtual godhood is constructed according to the technique, and finally filling it with a concept, the concept will fuse with the materials, transforming into a new Divine Being!"

Ash pondered, "Both the Virtual Godhood stream and the Soul-Divine Status stream require the use of concepts… What is a concept?"

Not only Sonia and Diya, but even Weiser had heard of their adventures on the Time Continent, and naturally knew that Ash once obtained a Secret Concept, thus they all thought to themselves this man was quite the liar.

To Ash's question, the Nightmare wasn't surprised at all. It spoke earnestly, "A concept is simply a concept, you shouldn't know too much, or you'll be infected by the Secret Poison. Just know that a concept is the primary material for a Divine Being, and all Divine Beings are born from concepts."

I see!

Ash and his companions exchanged a glance, realizing that this was the secret of the Divine Beings!

No wonder Legendary Mages couldn't create Divine Beings; no wonder the Heroic Soul Army valued concepts so much!

Technique Spirits are born from knowledge, Divine Beings from concepts! Mages can obtain the former from reality, but the latter can only be found in the Void Realm!

But the issue is, now it seems that the concepts of the Void Realm are concentrated on the Time Continent, and the concepts of the Time Continent are in the hands of the Heroic Soul Army!

After arriving at Ruby Mountain, even if a mage painfully discovers the relationship between Divine Beings and concepts, they can't go back to the Time Continent to seize concepts!

Moreover, it seems that the Divine Lords have modified the concepts, embedding them into the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit. Even if Ash hadn't given the Soul Summoning Technique Spirit to Liss, he might not know how to separate the Secret Concept from it.

From the Nightmare's words, it became clear that while concepts weren't exactly abundant in the past, they could at least be obtained by mages, which is why mages invented the Virtual Godhood and Soul-Divine Status streams to nurture Divine Beings. But now, mages can't seize any concepts, and the methods to condense Divine Status are almost lost in the Void Realm.

As for why this happened, a term jumped eagerly into their minds — Divine Lord!

Honestly, Ash wasn't a conspiracy theorist, but given the current 'ruined state,' 'desolate and barren,' 'completely clean' status of the Void Realm, even if it wasn't the work of the Divine Lords, it was at least what the Divine Lords desired!

Ash even thought that Senluo was nothing compared to the wastelands; the Void Realm was the true wasteland!

At least in Senluo, you could find Divine Era legacies. In the Void Realm, even those had been excavated by the Divine Lords! Now with the appearance of the Angel's legacy, the Divine Lords couldn't wait to send people to snatch it!

"So what Divine Being do you want us to create?" Weiser asked, but she already had a guess in mind.

The Nightmare raised a hand, and the floor of the hall suddenly rose, revealing a crystal wall beneath.

Inside the crystal wall, a small pink fox curled up adorably.

"This is the concept that my true form has mastered for centuries, and it's also the foundation of Dream Heaven, the Dream Entry Concept," the Nightmare said. "I want you to use the Dream Entry Concept as material to create a Divine Being — Nightmare!"

"The biggest difference between a concept and a Divine Being is that a concept can only influence related matters, but a Divine Being can control related laws. Thus, even though my true form mastered the Dream Entry Concept, I couldn't wield Dream Heaven, and was besieged and killed, leaving only the Nightmare Inheritance."

"But if you can create the Nightmare Divine Being, besides the Divine Being, you can also use it to reconstruct Dream Heaven, and even rule the Heavenly Kingdom."

"What good does ruling the Heavenly Kingdom do us?" Ash realized this seemed to be the biggest temptation the Nightmare offered, yet they as country bumpkins didn't know its true value.

The Nightmare said, "My true form was besieged because the creation of the Nightmare Divine Being leaked out, prompting several Demigods to forcibly invade the Distant Realm to attack Dream Heaven, and even several Divine Lords took action."

"My true form having partial control of Dream Heaven was something they could reluctantly tolerate, but creating the Nightmare Divine Being meant completely seizing the Heavenly Kingdom, which was unacceptable to all the Angel Divine Lords."

"Why?" Weiser asked, "Is there really such a huge difference between the Heavenly Kingdom nominally belonging to you and it being practically taken over by you?"

The Nightmare replied, "The biggest difference between a Demigod and a Divine Lord lies in whether one holds up the Heavenly Kingdom."

Diya widened her eyes, "Then, after reconstructing Dream Heaven, won't we—"

The Nightmare nodded, "That's right; as long as you create the Nightmare Divine Being and reconstruct Dream Heaven, you will essentially be prospective Divine Lords."