A Card In Hand

Chapter 87: Blessed by the Divine!

Before the incident, the white-robed priestess had already received intelligence from the maidservants.

After all, the commotion caused by Li Ao was too significant to be ignored by anyone who wasn’t blind.

The God of Creation holds a special appreciation for inventors from the lower realms, as new creations proliferate and improve in quality, becoming more popular among the lives below, thus enhancing His divine power.

Regardless of the field, the God of Creation holds all inventors in high regard.

“Young ones, are you prepared?” the white-robed priestess asked, knowing full well of Li Ao’s impressive new invention, yet she pretended ignorance, following the usual protocol.

However, her gaze involuntarily lingered more on Li Ao’s face.

“We are ready!”

Ling Long collected the cards in her hands, passed them to Li Ao, who then handed them to the priestess.

“Please wait a moment, we will assess your creation!” the priestess said as she received the cards, nodding slightly to Li Ao in acknowledgment. Being a devout follower of the God of Creation, she was well aware of His preferences. As long as this young man continued to produce similar inventions, even if he wasn’t a believer, the God would bestow His divine grace upon him as a reward.

Taking the cards.

The white-robed priestess did not leave the range of Li Ao and his companions’ sight.

She carefully placed the cards back into a sandalwood box and set it in front of the temple’s idol. She then placed six transparent, pure crystals on the prayer array and began to pray silently.

At her level of prayer, as soon as she voiced her plea, the divine servants in the kingdom of the God of Creation would immediately listen.

Ten seconds later.

A beam of light arose from the idol of the God of Creation.

At that moment, a supreme and majestic force that could stall thoughts appeared in the temple.

The God of Creation had descended.

Even if it was just a sliver of divine thought descending to the lower realms, it was an extremely rare honor.

Tears streamed down the white-robed priestess’ face in excitement; having joined the temple as a child and prayed countless times, this was the first instance where the God of Creation personally responded to her prayers.

Fuxi felt an impulse to kneel and worship immediately.

Yet, he was completely immobilized.

It seemed as if this supreme force had completely frozen their bodies.

Li Ao quickly hid his Indomitable Divine Fire within the divine light of the Hourglass of Time.

Although it wasn’t necessary to do so, as the divine thought of the God of Creation descending at this moment wouldn’t detect it, Li Ao decided it was best to be cautious.

The Hourglass of Time, sealed by countless ancient seals and being one of the three primordial divine artifacts, was indiscernible unless the deity was physically present in front of Li Ao.

“Young man, with the light of wisdom, you have invented a remarkable object. Infinite wisdom creates limitless things; I hope you continue to use the power of creation to add more beauty and joy to the world.”

At this moment, a voice, gentle yet imposing, resonated directly within the souls of everyone in the temple hall.

This divine voice resonated beautifully within their souls, causing a delightful tremor.

All who heard this voice gained different levels of enlightenment and spiritual upliftment.

As for Li Ao, a speck of golden light flew out from the divine thought and entered directly into his forehead.

Li Ao knew this was divine grace.

Being of insufficient strength now.

He certainly did not mind accepting the benefits given by the God of Creation.

The God of Creation, a powerful upper-tier deity aligned with neutrality tending towards good, granted Li Ao a slight reward which was enough to trigger a significant advancement.

A booming energy column rose, and if Li Ao could enter the native card space, he would discover that the suffix ‘Favored by God’ had now been added behind his name on the pillar of life.

During Li Ao’s surge in power, a wisp of divine thought materialized a silver badge with the unique insignia of the God of Creation before him, transforming into a return light column tens of thousands of meters tall that shot out of the temple and vanished into the sky.

The silver badge was a special reward given to Li Ao by the God of Creation for his outstanding inventive creations.

By wearing it, Li Ao bore the mark of the God of Creation.

In other words, Li Ao was recognized by the God of Creation as a divine favorite of the lower realms, a mortal under His protection.

He was favored by this mortal, and any assassination or conspiracy against him was tantamount to provoking the entire pantheon of creation.

Although the God of Creation might not seek revenge due to His status, His divine envoys and generals would certainly not stand by idly if their sovereign was challenged.

Unless Li Ao acted recklessly while wearing it, engaging in evil deeds that tarnished the reputation of the God of Creation, this small silver badge essentially served as an overt amulet for him.

When Li Ao opened his eyes, the white-robed priest greeted him with a smile, “Favored by my lord, may the light of your wisdom shine as bright as the stars!”

“Thank you!”

Li Ao somewhat understood why the God of Creation had so solemnly bestowed His divine grace upon him.

It was because of the new rookie set he had designed, which included a secret sound array for team communication.

If this function could be extended, its impact would be immense.

The God of Creation sensed this potential and immediately used His divine power to foresee the future changes.

The designated team communication function of the secret sound array would see significant expansion, turning the lower realms into a world where communication was seamless.

Li Ao’s creation would greatly enhance the God’s divine power and prestige, thus the God of Creation personally descended to the lower realms to reward Li Ao with divine favor!

Indeed, this was a matter of perspective.

In his past life, Li Ao started as a mortal and ascended to godhood through effort.

He knew the differences between mortals and gods and instinctively used various means to bridge the gap between the two.

Gods can speak without any tools, allowing any target to hear them, regardless of race or even life and death, directly conversing with the soul.

Powerful summoners of the lower realms,

Through special war beasts or source energy, could perform secret sound techniques targeted at specific individuals.

Li Ao expanded this base to more targets and specific ones by incorporating the secret sound array into the collar ornament of the new rookie set, setting a specific wave range that allowed all teammates wearing the rookie set to communicate with each other, sharing the convenience of the secret sound technique.

This simple step led to an unimaginable future evolution.

“…”

Fuxi almost dropped his jaw.

His big bad boss younger brother.

Seemed destined to never return from the path of the great evil lord.

Going on like this, how could Ice Block and Big Eyes ever catch up to him? In their dreams!

Favored by God!

What a concept!

From now on, as long as little Li Ao tightly clung to the God of Creation’s coattails, his path to the celestial realms was assured!

“Stay calm, you’re a big shot!”

Li Ao patted Fuxi’s back, causing him to stiffen momentarily before straightening his back, instantly invigorated.

That’s right!

So what if little Li Ao is a favored one of the gods?

Whether he is a favored one or the great demon king, he’s my junior brother!

As a big shot, I must maintain the calmest demeanor because my junior brother is naturally that awesome; there’s no need for surprise!

“Please, take a seat,” said the white-robed priestess, her mood extremely buoyant, a smile spreading across her face.

Under her reception, a new favored one of the gods was born, and moreover, personally acknowledged by her sovereign.

This was an indescribable achievement in her life record.

Looking ahead to entering the divine realm, not to mention becoming a divine citizen, even higher ecclesiastical positions might be attainable.

Of course, if this young favored one continues to dazzle with brilliance, continuously inventing new things, that would be even better.

After all, nobody would complain about having too many accomplishments.

She personally held the pot.

Pouring for Li Ao and his companions a kind of refined fruit milk usually reserved for internal consumption at the temple.

Then, sitting down again, she nodded amiably at everyone before slowly explaining the results of the evaluation: “First of all, praise to my Lord for personally descending, this is the supreme glory of my life! After the divine determination by my Lord, this evaluation has not only the brilliant creation of the favored one but also two mid-grade Bright Lights and one mid-grade Dim Light and one lower-grade Dim Light of genius inspiration creations!”

Dim Light and Bright Light are quality rankings for creations.

Ordinary items in the lower realms are divided into five ranks.

If corresponding to the combat beast levels like Black Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold… and so on, or to summoner standards like Standard, Elite, Champion, King… and so on, then the quality rankings for creations can be divided into Micro Light, Dim Light, Bright Light, Radiant Light, and Extreme Light.

The lowest, Micro Light, corresponds to Black Iron in combat beasts and Standard in summoners.

The designs by Ling Long and Yue Sha.

After being guided by Li Ao.

The final determination was two mid-grade Bright Lights.

This is equivalent to the middle stage of Silver-level among combat beasts, a very rare invention indeed.

Of course, this is its maximum potential.

If the materials used during the fusion transformation do not meet the requirements, the result of the transformation may not reach this maximum potential.

Wu Ying’s design reached the maximum potential of mid-grade Dim Light, equivalent to mid Bronze-level in combat beasts.

And Long Ying was graded as lower-grade Dim Light.

Their designs also counted as quite remarkable inventions.

Originally, the white-robed priestess’s highest expectation for Li Ao and his group was creations of these quality rankings. She never imagined that not only would there be a favored one like Li Ao, but also potential seeds with extraordinary inspiration like Ling Long and Yue Sha.

“Lady Priestess, could we know what rank Li Ao’s invention is?”

Ling Long and Yue Sha exchanged glances, and eventually, Ling Long spoke on behalf of the group.

They were actually most curious about why Li Ao could become a favored one by designing a set of clothes, but if the other party didn’t mention it, they couldn’t inquire directly, so they switched to asking about the new outfit and its highest potential rank of invention.

“The rank of the favored one’s invention is…”

The white-robed priestess began, pausing slightly.