Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

Crack...

Crack...

Crack...

...

One sound after another, over and over again.

With vacant eyes, Triton could only see a vague figure flashing before him.

The chains on his body peeled away inch by inch, and the son of the Sea God felt unprecedented relaxation.

Yet in this moment, he didn't feel happy; instead, he felt a sense of shame.

"What are you doing?" he asked, "What are you doing?"

"Speak!"

"Speak!!"

"Answer me!!!"

He shouted loudly, but no one responded.

On the bronze pillar, all that Triton received were the sounds of breaking chains and the steadily passing weight.

Time ticked away bit by bit, and the chains became increasingly sparse. Conversely, with each passing moment, pressure shifted onto Heracles.

However, for some reason, as the weight of the sky accompanied by the symbolic support transferred, the Great Hero not only didn't feel burdened but felt even lighter.

It seemed that as the sky pressed upon him, some other force was leaving him.

The more things pressed against him, the closer he felt to something he had previously been unable to touch.

Gradually, around Heracles, his past deeds began to flash one by one.

Starting with battling the giant lion in the mountains and ending with vanquishing the Sphinx through wisdom.

In a fleeting moment, the Great Hero reached an understanding—these concepts were both false and true.

If he were a god, like a War God, with the godhood of "War" shrouded over him and the world's laws regarding "War" under his control, he would theoretically have the right to change, expand and perfect them in his name.

Just as Themis legislated for the present world, if the War God could drive some change related to "War" to appear in the world, his godhood might gain the world's favor, leading to an elevation of his intrinsic limits. Conversely, if he couldn't change the world, he could still perform major deeds under its influence that match the laws of "War," potentially broadening his godhood's concept and making it stronger.

But for thousands of years, few managed the former; occasionally, some gods achieved the latter, but compared to their godhood's original strength, this growth seemed insignificant.

Like the major deeds Heracles performed on his journey—if he were a devout follower of Ares, this feedback could increase the origin of Ares's "War" godhood by an amount equivalent to a Divine Power Level 2 to Level 3 because his actions undoubtedly expanded the concepts related to 'battle,' 'technique,' 'virtue,' and 'war wisdom.'

If these deeds were done directly by the War God, the feedback could even add directly to his godhood by a Divine Power Level 5, approaching Level 6, elevating the intrinsic limits of his godhood.

However, this growth seemed significant but, in the powerful divine power domain, was negligible.

It couldn't even elevate the godhood's level by a tier; moreover, because of the existence of faith, the current divine power of the gods already exceeded the limits of their innate divine power, so they couldn't feel this enhancement.

Therefore, for the gods, achieving such major deeds was unthinkable; even for gods like Ares, accomplishing similar deeds would be nearly impossible.

The harvest was disproportionate to the effort, resulting in no one putting their focus on it anymore.

Only Helios, sealed in the starry sky, took a shortcut—he skipped the process of broadening the concept and directly used appropriate parts of the alien realm's sun concept to expand Chaos's concept of "Sun."

This was also a pathway, although its probability of occurrence was minuscule, requiring more coincidence and luck.

So broadening godhood doesn't solely rely on the world's enhancement; it can also be intentionally guided by deities to gain the world's favor, which is one of the reasons for their existence—naturally, since it's the reason for deities' existence, it also proves that all this is meant for them to understand.

Because only those with godhood who can access the Sea of Origin can have their major deeds and epic sagas accepted by the world's laws, thereby producing substantial effects.

Even if mortals achieved similar deeds, they wouldn't be counted as their own.

The achievements of believers belong to gods; how much deities can gain depends on the believers' faith; faith gods' achievements belong to their divinity, precisely through this method, concepts released by the Civilization Stele gradually fill its initial framework.

The once empty Twilight finally gained healing-related abilities; the concept created by the Civilization Stele gradually broadened through the unintentional exploration of faith gods, gaining real abilities within the world's internal cycle.

Believers to gods, faith gods to the Civilization Stele, just like gods to the world.

In the end, deities are merely users of godhood, not its owners. Except for the birth of new gods, it has seldom stripped gods of their godhood, giving them the illusion that divine authority belongs to them.

However, nothing in the world is certain, even deities are part of the world.

From beginning to end, perhaps only the Primordial Gods and the master of the realm can resist the world's rules to some extent with the characteristics of the Creation Domain...but these things are irrelevant to Heracles at this moment.

Shadows flashed around him, and past deeds formed concepts.

Whether it's "War," "Victory," "Wisdom," or something else, these concepts could enhance the power of those godhoods.

Yet, whichever direction they turn, none of this enhances Heracles's own power.

Because he isn't a god, he doesn't have a godhood of his own as a key to the Sea of Origin, allowing the forces of the world's internal cycle to act on these concepts and find a common point centered around godhood, then merge into the godhood, enhancing its intrinsic limit.

At this moment, he is merely a human, even though the Great Hero already possesses the ability to bear godhood. This is the mortal limitation, the greatest barrier of the divine epoch.

"Hoo—"

Long exhale, Heracles unwound the last chain, and Triton finally detached from the bronze pillar supporting the heavens.

Lying dazed among the clouds, he felt bewildered for a moment.

Ignoring Triton's thoughts, the Great Hero looked at the bronze pillar before him.

Countless chains surged towards him, attempting to bind him to the bronze pillar, yet their efforts were futile.

For a moment, unable to take action, Heracles wasn't sure how to lift this gigantic bronze pillar.

Stepping forward, the Great Hero placed his hand upon it, sensing the last thread of symbolism for supporting the heavens still within the pillar.

"How should I lift you?"

His will asked.

The bronze pillar didn't respond; it simply allowed that thread of symbolism to merge with him.

Thus, in a daze, Heracles felt himself transform into a towering mountain, eternally standing at the earth's center point.

He was the highest mountain in the world, closest to the sky.

When the last thread of symbolism became complete in his consciousness, the bronze pillar remained unattainably high.

But in the Great Hero's eyes, it was merely a piece of indestructible metal subjected to thousands of years of sea and sky pounding, a shell he could freely manipulate.

"Smaller, I can't hold you," he said.

As he said, it was done by the bronze pillar.

The sea trembled, clouds shook.

The bronze pillar, rooted here for thousands of years, rose and then slowly shrank in Heracles's hands.