Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Laine shook his head slightly. After all, this was also one of the reasons why his divine self was outside, while his human incarnation still had to descend again.

Despite the respected Lord of the Spirit Realm having claimed, for many years, that he wanted to explore the path to divinity, using this to analyze a deity's authority from below upwards, his actual achievements to date were zero.

Indeed, what about demigods, what about self-generated divinity? These were concepts he had investigated during the middle of the second era, yet further developments were still absent, just as they were back then.

Cohen's success, at best, demonstrated from another angle the potential of different methods of self-generated divinity, but it made no progress towards ascension to divinity itself.

Thus, in such circumstances, Laine wasn't keen on directly following the various branches that stemmed from these two paths, after all, he didn't know whether they were dead ends.

What he needed now was another power system that could be accessed at any time yet abandoned just as quickly, temporarily giving his human incarnation some powers to use.

So the question arose, what in the Mortal World today could be readily accessed and just as easily reset to zero once put down?

"Of course, it would be a Godhood Practitioner, after all, that is merely borrowing external power. Without the blessings of deities... Godhood Practitioners are just mortals, albeit with a somewhat higher essence of life and a more powerful spirit."

Picking up the materials he had prepared in advance, Laine continued to arrange them in the darkness.

If neither war nor spells were viable options, then choosing pastor role it would be, temporary as it may be... But since he decided to become a Godhood Practitioner, Laine also needed to consider his own 'faith' issues.

The Olympian Gods were directly passed over, just as the angels of the Spirit Realm — the idea of worshipping one's own subordinates seemed odd to Laine, even without revealing anything.

As for directly worshipping the 'Lord of the Spirit Realm'... Ever since the opening of the heavens and earth, no mortal had become a direct devotee of the 'Lord of the Spirit Realm', and if Laine were to do this now, it would be akin to openly admitting he had secrets, inviting all the Primordial Gods to come and take a look.

"Thus, eliminating all impossibilities, I am left with only one option."

"Amongst All Worlds, only He is worthy of my devotion, only He will not reveal my secrets, and likewise, He possesses supreme power — cough, why does it sound more and more like I'm talking about the Mother Tree."

He shook his head, putting those useless thoughts aside, and looked at the ritual that was now completely laid out, Laine's demeanor tranquil.

With a gesture, a simple Magic Net fluctuation similar to [Light Spell] flashed past, lighting the candles placed at the core of the ritual, and then he bowed deeply.

"Great Serpent that encircles the Central Court."

"You are the Earthly Python that devours All Spirits."

"You are the origin and the end of sin across All Worlds."

"In my name, I hereby pray to you... please bestow your power, let it manifest..."

Along with the chanting of the prayer, an invisible fluctuation spread. Yes, it was quite reasonable for a human incarnation to invoke the power of his own malignant thoughts.

And for the mortals in the Mortal World to sacrifice to a Lord of Hell for power, there was nothing wrong with that either.

Moreover, the power of the Nine Hells has nothing to do with the Spirit Realm, but the life force of Hell has long held a grudge against the Divine King on Mount Olympus, so if Laine later engaged in some sacrilegious acts, it would still make sense.

Furthermore, among the subordinates of the Lord of Hell is a fallen angel from the Spirit Realm, so it's reasonable for Him to have many connections with the Spirit Realm.

In any case, three is a sacred number in the Chaos World, as with the Birch Tree's Three Goddesses, the Three Furies, the Three Divine Tablets, the Three Fates... and names similarly carry significant mystical meanings.

So, when Laine fully recited the three venerable names of the Serpent of the Central Court, a connection instantly projected from Hell into this exceedingly rudimentary ritual.

The power from the Lord of Hell began to descend, and during the descent, it combined with elements, becoming massively diluted, and finally transformed into a 'Hellish version of Sacred Power' that was permissible by the reality of Order. Then, under some will's guidance, it was unapologetically infused into Laine's human manifestation.

Within almost less than a second, the makeshift ritual simply collapsed, unable to endure more power flowing through it. Yet the Sacred Power it brought in that brief time still brought enough change to Laine, with the power of Hell swirling at his fingertips. From now on, he was officially a spellcaster of the Divine kind.

"Hmm—bestowing upon oneself, what a curious sensation."

"But no matter what, I am now someone with a true identity."

"As a human tool sent to the Mortal Realm by the great ruler of Hell, my origin may have many flaws, but involving a regional monarch, that is not a problem at all."

"My purpose here is to stir discord among the nations of the Mortal World, to bring war and destruction, and to corrupt the faith of the Olympian Gods. The ultimate goal is for the millennium-long plans of the Lord of the Nine Hells, to ascend the Mountain of the Gods, suppress Zeus, and restore the greatness of the Demons Clan!"

Patting his clothes, Laine fished out a strangely shaped instrument from nowhere.

As a human manifestation, Laine couldn't always act like a regular person; he was destined to be involved in much during this era, stirring grand waves.

He would intervene in disputes between nations, have encounters with heroes favored by fate, and influence the situation in the Mortal World. Over time, the more his origin was revealed, the more it would bug everyone who knew of his existence, be they human or god, sparking their curiosity.

Simple disguises were not advisable, the less others could see a problem, the bigger the problem actually was. The more ordinary you seemed, the more terrifying the reality. Therefore, in such a scenario, the best way to hide a secret was to cover it with another secret that seemed even bigger.

On the surface, his identity was that of a noble descendant from a foreign land, but if someone investigated deeply, they would find that Laine was definitely not a noble, because he bore no Divine Blood from any deity... Digging deeper, they would think he belonged to some hidden organization or had come by some special opportunity.

But in the end, someone would inevitably discover that he was a divine favorite of the Lord of Hell—no one would consider this a false identity, not even a Divine King could achieve such a feat.

This identity might be equally troublesome, but compared to being a 'human manifestation of the Lord of the Spirit Realm', it was far lesser. Moreover, in some people's eyes, this identity might even be a bonus.

"Well, this will do. Sacred Power from Hell... although it mostly works in favour of casting, it seems to also nourish one's physique, leaning towards agility and stamina."

"That being said, in the understanding of mortals, could my profession be considered a variant of [Bard]?"

Making a silent judgment, humans always tend to cling to established concepts, so Laine wasn't planning on giving himself a unique, new name that was too distinctive. Fortunately, this world already had similar professions, beginning with the Northern Evil God, [God of Drama], which later spread as [Bard]. Find your next read at empire

It possesses both spellcasting abilities and decent hand-to-hand combat capabilities, though, of course, both are rather specialized.