Chapter 131: Chapter 101: Insight into the Mysteries of Authority (Monthly Ticket +3)

The Magic Web, a network that constrains elements and regulates order. The latter is not yet evident, as the concepts reliant on the Magic Web are few at present, but the former’s influence is immediate and apparent.

When the Magic Web formed, the once chaotically unordered elements instantly found their carriers, for the Magic Web itself embodies some of the elemental divine authority. From then on, except in a few areas not covered by the Magic Web, any mortal thing required the Magic Web’s permission to manipulate elemental power.

Of course, the current Magic Web is impartially open to all life. It doesn’t care whether you are good or evil, as long as you follow its rules, it will serve you.

“Is this the world as seen through the eyes of a True God?”

“How wonderful, under the influence of divine authority, even if my understanding of the Law’s origin is superficial, it still obeys my will, just like mortals who do not comprehend the mysteries of the birth of life, yet that doesn’t affect their existence in the world.”

Above the East Sea, the silver fire had somehow vanished into the void, leaving no trace. Upon Hecate’s slender body, a faint stream of divine power began to flow. With each passing moment, it grew exponentially stronger than the moment before.

As this ascent continued, perhaps after several breaths, the surge of power gradually broke through to the realm of Intermediate Divine Power, and then the rate of increase began to slow. This was the result of thousands of years of cumulation by the newly born Goddess of the Magic Web, but now it was also spent.

The Magic Web is, after all, merely a tool that binds elements and connects spirituality with matter, and its own strength is not formidable. Only with a sufficient number of users, or even by broadening its own concepts, might it be possible to support Hecate taking another step further.

After all, this is not a power that was meant to appear in fate, and the world will not pour extra Source Power into it for its sake.

[This is an embodiment of the world’s favoritism towards the gods.]

[You have some understanding of the Magic Web itself, and you participated personally in the weaving of the prototype of the Magic Web, along with observing the movement of elements in all parts of the world. Hence, regarding your own divine authority, although you claim to ‘barely understand,’ your grasp is actually quite good.]

[Even the gods cannot compare with you; they use their authority instinctively, without understanding the underlying mechanisms, unknown to them why and how their powers work.]

[Their godhood is simply a result of being well-born.]

Beside Hecate, with the birth of the Magic Web, the Tome of All Spells, which also experienced a unique change, slowly began to show its text once again.

This time was different. Last time the ‘slate’ was stuck simply because Hecate criticized the ‘Divine King,’ leaving it a bit at a loss for words. But this time, it was truly overwhelmed.

It was simultaneously contending with the strongest deity in the present world, spectating the creation in the Abyss, and, at the same time as the birth of the Magic Web, ‘approving’ with Divine Authority, granting the Spirit Realm the qualifications to be open to the current world.

Multi-tasking to this extent and still having free time to answer queries was somewhat difficult.

“I see. But having personally experienced it once, I’ve realized that pure mortals cannot become deities on their own.”

“The divine offices inherent in the world are not their domain. And like the creation of The Magic Web, creating something new is quite difficult to achieve with one’s strength. The birth of the Magic Web still had the support of the Spirit Realm, but what about humans?”

“They don’t have a source of power, do they?”

After muttering a complaint, Hecate speculated that the key to mortals becoming deities might also lie in creation, since she had ascended to godhood through ‘creation’ of the Magic Web.

But this sort of creation is not simply about inventing something and declaring ‘I made xxx, witness world,’ and it’s done; that’s meaningless. Creating a material object does not mean you will receive godhood; whether the material world is willing to grant you that divine office is the crux.

Because strictly speaking, it’s not that the world creates corresponding Laws because you created that thing, but rather the opposite. The world first produces the corresponding Source Power, extends into Laws, and then you can create that thing.

Just like Laine at the dawn of creation tried to make ‘Fire,’ but to no avail. Because at that time, there was no Origin of Fire in the world, so the existence of ‘Fire’ did not exist in the world at that time.

If the world is a program, then Origin is like its base code. Without the support of the code, no matter how logical your actions, success will not be achieved if it’s unsupported.

Creating new concepts is something a complete world can do; the Spirit Realm theoretically could too, but constrained by the current strength of its master, it could only proceed in a roundabout manner like the Magic Web.

‘Nectar’ is no different. Although Laine received the authority of ‘Nectar’ early in the birth of the Spirit Realm, the first bottle of wine he made in his world was merely a catalyst. If the Origin corresponding to ‘Nectar’ had not yet existed, he wouldn’t have been able to even create the substance named ‘wine.’

Fortunately, in the subsequent traditional myths, wine did exist in the world before the God of Wine was born. Although Laine didn’t know when the Origin related to ‘Nectar’ was born in the world, at least it existed by the time he established the Spirit Realm.

This also reaffirmed that mere creation of a material object does not grant godhood; despite Laine not knowing who in the original myth created ‘Nectar,’ the subsequent God of Wine wasn’t him.

As for how the material world decides on the bestowal of divine offices, it is much like the splitting of divine authority when a new god is born, entirely determined by ‘fate.’

Fate decides if you should have it, you do, even taking it from someone else to give to you. If fate decides not, then it simply doesn’t exist, no matter if you are the world’s first inventor, it will still have nothing to do with you.

Though Laine was born, this situation had in fact not changed; it was only that he himself was not subject to this limitation. Apart from the Origin taken by the Spirit Realm, the power in the present world still followed the logic of “destining to whom it belongs; if it’s not in fate, creating more is meaningless.”

Thus, it’s reasonable for the deities to despise the present world. After all, it was only when the world’s manifestation of “Order” took shape that everything was arranged so rigidly and methodically. In contrast, in the Abyss, when Mnemosyne, who was not meant to appear there according to the later ages’ trajectory, entered Tartarus, the Abyss embraced the newcomer without hesitation.

For the Abyss, there is nothing “predestined.” With few exceptions affecting itself, it appears laissez-faire in all other aspects.

“Forget it, it’s none of my concern~”

Shaking her head, Hecate wasn’t particularly bothered by it; she didn’t have any urgent desire to elevate mortals to godhood.

After all, the tablet said to trust the wisdom of future generations; so let her see what kind of wisdom they could possess.

“But what’s going on here?”

Her expression shifted as if Hecate had noticed something. Focusing intently, within her divine perception, the massive barrier between the Spirit Realm’s space-time and the present world seemed to have disappeared.

Without a surprise, now even without the aid of a ritual, as long as one had a mental level equivalent to her engraving the third phase of the moon, one could explore the first layer of the Spirit Realm with their Spiritual Body.

This was unimaginable before. The barrier, mixed with space-time and uncertain fate, was something even the two Primordial Gods couldn’t do anything about when they first came into being.

[Normal changes, no need to pay heed]

[Since you’ve created The Magic Web, it naturally needs users]

[Although the object of meditation doesn’t necessarily have to be the moon of the Spirit Realm, the environment there is indeed the most suited for the growth of the spirit]

Using any excuse, the opening of the Spirit Realm had been long prepared; it was just that now was the time for implementation.

Previously, the present world was separated from the Spirit Realm by space-time, accessible by only a few beings. If that seal were broken at that time, not to mention the possible issue of being located by other deities, just the conflict between the worlds would be quite a trouble.

When the Spirit Realm, an interface originally independent from the present world, came into direct contact with it, conflict between the two worlds was almost foreseeable. Undoubtedly, although today’s Spirit Realm was far superior to what it once was, yet it had not reached the point of overpowering the present world; now, however, things were different.

On one hand, The Magic Web served as a lubricant between the two worlds, with Element, the special existence that could be influenced by the spirit and change matter, successfully easing the conflict. On the other hand, the Divine Authority granted the Spirit Realm a “legal entry pass.”

As a result, the Divine Authority’s presence plummeted, but the Spirit Realm itself was accepted by the present world. Just like the Abyss, although Tartarus, as a major part independent of the present world, was rejected by it, contact itself would not cause conflict.

Its portal in the Underworld served as the point of contact between the two. The Spirit Realm’s points were just more—It spanned every corner of the world.

“I see… that’s interesting. In that case, the deities should also be able to enter the Spirit Realm now.”

“Aren’t you afraid they’ll wreak havoc?”

Unaware of the various secrets behind it, Hecate simply raised an eyebrow, asking pointedly.

Past experiences told her that the tablet was somewhat wary of the deities before.

It might not be the ones frequently walking the world, but they were not fearless either.

[Not afraid]

[When this age ends, within the Spirit Realm, no matter how many outside deities there are, it will make no difference]

[In a while, you can go and observe, perhaps you will have some revelations]

Still without any intent to disguise its meaning, the black inscriptions did not deny their connection to the Spirit Realm, but hinted that at the end of this era, a significant event would take place there.

“Alright, I will.”

Hecate puffed her cheeks, her gaze inadvertently sweeping over the reflection on the sea’s surface. As if reminded of something, she twirled, and when she stopped, she was back in her once-familiar red dress.

Yet, if one looked closely, they could still see that, after ascending to godhood, she was slightly different from before.