Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

"Lord Amon, I thank you once again for your cooperation."

In the Void outside the world, everything was as it had been at the original location.

In front of Hermes floated three flickering crystal cores, reflecting his grim expression.

Some time had passed since Amon's 'birth,' and upon discovering the success of the experiment, Hermes immediately returned to the high tower, retrieved the items, and came back here.

A single success might have been just luck, so he planned to repeat his experiment.

However, as Hermes had feared, even though he tried the exact same method over and over again, the birth of Amon still seemed unreplicable.

Just like every previous time, the sliver of soul he released was never successfully assimilated by the will of the sleeping God of Stars within the crystal stone, transforming into an independent avatar with a close connection to the other.

Because each time he reached this step, that strand of soul would immediately self-destruct during the God of Stars' instinctual assimilation process.
Read new chapters at My Virtual Library Empire

Clearly, it couldn't withstand the ancient power of the Star God, at least not with just that sliver of soul.

Thus, in order to understand how his only success had occurred, Hermes had no choice but to ask Amon to continue cooperating with him in the experiments.

He had thought this would require a lot of effort, but to Hermes' surprise, this new consciousness, who considered itself a 'Recovery Star God,' seemed grateful for his help in 'awakening' it and didn't refuse any of the trials he requested.

Therefore, Hermes gave up on using force; instead, he even fulfilled some of Lord Amon's requests.

For instance, during breaks in the experimenting, he would tell him about the history of Chaos or explain what his experiments were for.

After all, although the other appeared to be a Star God, he was actually just a soul assimilated by the consciousness of a Star God.

If he truly understood all this, then Hermes would indeed find it strange.

"Just like I said before, the Mortal World is now dominated by God-King Zeus from Mount Olympus."

"He ambitiously desires to rule everything, and those you once served are either imprisoned in the Abyss as criminals of the previous era, sealed away, or have withdrawn from the world."

"I do not know whether you once served the Ancient Sun God or a previous Divine King, but the outcome remains the same."

"There is no place for you in the current starry sky anymore, and you can verify this from others as well."

Sighing, it seemed his success truly couldn't be replicated.

Thus, this sole success became even more precious.

So while Hermes discussed the world's situation, he also emphasized the threats from the outside world.

The best way to get the sheep within the pen to obey is to satisfy their desires.

But desires grow, so this is not advisable.

A lesser method is to tell the sheep that there are countless wolves outside.

Thus, even if their desires aren't satisfied, fear would keep them quiet.

"Is that so… That is indeed unfortunate."

Like a naively young person, Amon readily believed Hermes' words.

As an artifact of an old era forsaken by time, there was nothing he could do about it.

"Haha, although the times are unstable, there's no need to worry too much."

"In fact, I still have some connections with the lineage of the God of Stars, so I have been trying to awaken you."

"Unfortunately, my abilities are limited, and to this day, I have only been able to revive yourself. If I could revive a few dozen more, even if not accepted by all Gods, you wouldn't need to worry about that."

Hermes shook his head slightly, feeling it was time to return.

Perhaps Amon was indeed an accident, or maybe it was because he was the first subject of the ritual performed in the Void.

Often, the first one always holds some potential.

But since subsequent attempts had failed, there was no need for him to waste more time.

He still had backup plans, such as Blood Sacrifices.

However, the products made this way would likely need to be restricted with strict seals and contracts.

Considering many on the northern continent who are obsessed with Blood Sacrifice but are Nature Spirits, Hermes couldn't be too cautious…

"So we are returning now?"

"Yes."

Smiling and nodding, Hermes treated his own creation with courtesy.

"Welcome to the new era, although you no longer remember the past, I believe you will eventually recall it."

…

On the banks of the Circumterrestrial River, two figures passed through an ethereal light gate.

Without lingering, Hermes, along with the 'awakened' 'God of Stars,' hurried back toward the high tower.

Now that the experiment was finished, it was time to see how his students were doing.

The materials for a Blood Sacrifice were hard to find, but not on the battlefield.

The figure hurriedly departed, and soon, the oceanic realm on the edge of the world returned to calm.

Only in the depths of the ocean did countless undercurrents swirl continuously, demonstrating the authority of the Lord of Ocean.

"…"

"…God of Stars… Undying… Blood Sacrifice… Chaos…"

I don't know how much time had passed when suddenly, a strange-looking Sea Serpent accidentally approached this area due to the swirling ocean currents.

However, in the next instant, it stiffened there and began to visibly shrivel up at a speed visible to the naked eye.

After a while, near its vital point, a brilliantly starlit and translucent seven-segmented insect burrowed out from it.

A trace of blood still lingered around it, which then rapidly disappeared.

Shortly after, as if it had finally digested the power from the Sea Serpent, the segmented worm seemed to open its "eyes."

"...Is this the Otherworld Blood Sacrifice? This transformation between Spirituality and material life also exists in Hemenu. Mortals believe the heart is the bridge that connects the body and the soul."

"But in this world, the 'life' inherent to the body can nourish the 'life' of the soul... Heh, there's somewhat of an issue here; it must have something to do with the Principal God who governs 'Life' in this world."

Specific processes and detailed knowledge aren't necessary.

Amon had only learned of the existence of the 'Blood Sacrifice' through Chaos; he understood the way this ritual was conducted by observing the laws himself.

After all, it was not something complex; any Sub-Spiritual being could partake in a Blood Sacrifice provided they could withstand the multifold active negative emotions within it.

This was also why All Gods did not completely prohibit Blood Sacrifices, but banned Human Sacrifices instead.

For the wiser a being, the more terrible the negative emotions produced in the process of the blood sacrifice — of course, the more substantial the benefits drawn from it.

However, the orthodox gods did not need to accumulate power in this manner, so 'Human Sacrifice' often became synonymous with Evil God.

"God of Stars... I originally just wanted him to help me get in and obtain a suitable identity."

"With my current strength, I can't influence deities at all. But I never expected that in this world, there would exist beings like the God of Stars who, although weak, are undying and indestructible."

The starlit worm wandered through the ocean, easily draining numerous Sea Beasts of their blood.

The crystalline body of the worm shone even brighter, enshrouded in a hazy starlight.

Yet feeling its own transformation, the worm was not satisfied.

Substituting another was not difficult for it; even if that Star God had some sort of protective power, it could disguise its aura and parasitize the other's body.

For Amon, this was already a good start. After all, although that Star God did not possess even a trace of Divine Power, it was still a god.

But since there was a good start, he couldn't help but want more in the follow-up.

Especially when Amon discovered that this being called Hermes was not the only Star God; there were many more.

"Tsk, it seems I won the bet."

"This isn't a trap set by this world for me, though I can't be certain of that."

"Anyway, I didn't put all my hopes in one place, and since you've let me in, you won't be able to catch me again..."

Splitting his own consciousness was not difficult for Amon, but the parts split off could not have as complete and transcendent a status as the main body.

However, the characteristic of surpassing the restrictions of Great Divine Power allowed his thoughts to disperse and unify again. As long as he wished, regardless of how far the distance, the traits from the Void could keep his consciousness intact.

Any of his incarnations could become the 'main body' at any time.

So Amon confidently followed Hermes away, leaving behind only a clone of himself.

Should anything unexpected occur, this clone would become his new main body, and with time, there would only be more such clones.

Of course, not every clone could replace a deity. Even for someone with Amon's status, 'replacing' under the Law of Deceit to trick the world was a considerably difficult task.

Especially now when he had the status but no Divine Power whatsoever.

"Hmm... Next, it's time to get some strength for myself."

"If I can't deceive that Alchemist, then I'll deceive his apprentice, and as for me..."

A flash of starlight, and a regular icositetrahedron appeared in front of the segmented worm.

"Lord of Ocean, Divine King, Hades, and other deities."

"Who should I visit first? Maybe I should roll a dice and see who's out of luck first."

With a slight smirk, theoretically, the Ocean should be the easiest to deal with and the least prone to mistakes, but Amon didn't care about that.

To him, since there was no threat to his life, he would choose whatever was the most thrilling.

At worst, he could just be discovered and killed, which wasn't really a problem.

Therefore, in the next moment, as the starlight blinked again, the image of a deity appeared on each facet of the icositetrahedron, all of which Amon had heard from Hermes.

With a slight thought, the icositetrahedron dropped and headed towards the sea surface.

Whichever facet first touched the water, Amon would choose that one.

He wouldn't regret his decision, be it simple or difficult.

"Snap—"

"Hmm... it turned out to be her, huh?"

The icositetrahedron landed on the ocean surface and immediately shattered into a handful of stardust.

Having known the outcome, the seven-segmented worm seemed to shake its head, then dove into the sea.

Amon didn't plan to linger in this seldom-visited place. As for why he had his incarnation appear as an insect, there was no particular reason other than being influenced by the Egyptians of the past.

They regarded the scarabs as the Sun, so Amon decided to use the segmented worm to represent the stars.

After all, he was now an impostor Star God, which wasn't wrong.

A new world, a new life.

He hoped the people and gods of this world could bring him a bit more joy.