With his plan to bring explosives being discarded in its infancy. Cedric began to prepare for other plans.
He first calculated the time he had left until the demon king appeared.
Including the one-year advancement that's caused by a sudden increase in Negative Energy caused by that woman. He should have around three years remaining.
[The System has just done a detailed calculation, and the exact time should be two months and eight days.]
"It felt quite short. But I guess it's enough for some preparation." Cedric asked the System.
"Can you estimate where the demon king will appear?"
[Based on the current situation. It should either be on the battlefield between Lacius and Gratian, or inside River Stone city.]
Cedric nervously asked, "Which one has a higher chance of being the birthplace of my world's demon king? Or will I need to face two demon kings simultaneously?"
[At your current level, only one demon king should've appeared. As for the exact location, it's kinda fifty-fifty.]
Cedric could feel his head ache once more. The System that's usually reliable at important moments isn't even sure about it.
The distance between River Stone city and the battlefield requires around an hour's journey by horse.
Because the chance is fifty-fifty. It means he needs to create two forces capable of delaying the demon king for at least an hour to wait for reinforcements from other places to arrive.
"Let's push this matter for later. For now, I need to tell Lacius to evacuate everyone in River Stone city just in case the demon king appears there." Cedric quickly acted and sent a message to Lacius.
[The demon king will appear in two months and eight days. It will either appear on the battlefield or River Stone city.]
After sending that message, Cedric recalled something and checked the granaries in the human race's cities. Just like he has suspected, those granaries are mostly empty.
The battle against demons, coupled with a population boom, has caused a strain on the human race's food resources. Currently, they are just a small drought away from a world-ending level food crisis.
Cedric doesn't want another mess to happen. So, he gritted his teeth and bought a [Species Fertility Blessing] for 100 GP and blessed the plant that has become the human race's primary source of food.
After another big spending, he checked the remaining GP he had left.
[Name: Cedric Hills
Level: Pseudo Lesser Divinity (Actual level: 0)
Law: None.
World: Crystal Cube World
World Level: 1
World's Average Potential: Lower Level 0
GP: 12.295
Annual GP income: 0.8]
After he blessed the three races and increased their population. The amount of his annual GP income has steadily increased to 0.7.
It's only during the last few years, when the amount of blessed in the human race has increased and they occasionally died in battle, does his annual GP reached 0.8. But compared to his spending, the amount of annual GP income is still not enough at all.
Except for the amount of GP and annual income. There is no other change in his panel.
***
More than two months quickly passes by amidst everyone's busy preparation.
In preparation to fight against the demon king, Cedric has split the combat force in the Crystal Cube world into two.
One part consisted of Yuma and several top blessed. They're stationed in the empty River Stone city as a small elite force that could handle battle in urban areas more easily.
As for the second combat force, it consisted of Lacius and the army he led.
Thanks to Cedric's timely use of [Species Fertility Blessing], which caused an explosive increase in recent harvest. Lacius has successfully gathered resources to utilize a thousand-strong army with a considerable amount of low-level blessed.
After checking the preparation, Cedric nervously observes the entire human territory repeatedly. 'Nothing must go wrong in this battle.'
While doing his third check, Cedric suddenly saw the Negative Energy that existed throughout the human territory suddenly condensed into the battlefield between Lacius and Gratian.
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Just like dark clouds that gathered toward the eye of a storm, the Negative Energy in Crystal Cube world slowly gathered there before condensing into an extremely thick cloud that obstructed Cedric's view.
[Warning! A demon king has appeared in your world.]
Even without the System's warning, Cedric knew the demon king would appear, and the place it had chosen was the battlefield where Lacius was currently.
He quickly informed Yuma's group who were staying in the River Stone city to quickly move toward the battlefield. After some thought, Cedric purchased a [Paper Airplane] so Yuma could arrive in advance toward the battlefield.
***
At the battlefield where Lacius and Gratian previously fought.
Lacius rode on a horse in the rear of a thousand-strong army. Inside the army, there are two hundred blessed, which is already the most he could gather without greatly weakening the defense from the human city in case of sudden demon attacks.
Next to him, there are Hars, granny Maude who has become even older, Rumina who has become a guard captain, and Lacius's other trusted subordinates.
While they're preparing. Everyone saw the light in their surroundings begin to dim. The massive amount of NE gathering around the place has caused it to take a faint physical form that obstructed the view.
With the darkening sky, some soldiers with weak willpower began to hear some auditory illusions. Even those with good enough willpower began to feel uneasy.
Lacius saw the scene and shouted. "Don't be afraid! Every soldier, prepare for combat! We have the god's blessing for this battle!"
He used an ingenious method to control the earth and allow it to spread his voice to the surrounding soldiers. A method he has learned after training his earth manipulation power.
Hearing Lacius's shout. Although the soldiers felt nervous, they forcefully suppressed it and sternly stood. It seems the time and resources Lacius spent to train his armies haven't gone to waste.
Amidst the tense situation, the earth below them began to tremble and a vortex of dust appeared.
The vortex continued to gather dust and the faintly visible NE before slowly solidifying into a two meter egg like ball.
Seeing the two-meter ball that continued to solidify amidst the vortex, Lacius shouted. "Prepare the formation!"
The soldiers began to move into a formation. Those wearing shields stood in front, while behind them, there were many spear-wielding soldiers and almost a hundred blessed with divine strength who had prepared their throwing spears or shields.
Since a few years ago, the amount of blessed awakening divine strength has been increasing. Right now, almost half of the blessed humans awakened divine strength as their blessing. This can be said to be a good thing because the destructive power and endurance of a divine strength blessed is much stronger than others at level 0.
After the formation had been prepared, Lacius commanded once more. "Target that ball and commence a wave of spear attack!"
The army heard it and the spear-wielding soldiers threw one of their throwing spears toward the egg. The spear thrown by the people blessed with divine strength is especially fast and becomes the first one to arrive near the ball.
Upon arriving close to the vortex, they are affected by the strong wind and most of them miss their target. As for those that successfully hit the ball, they failed to cause any noticeable damage to it.
Lacius tested the defense of that ball once more."Every blessed, commence a wave of attack!"
The hundred blessed began to gather their abilities and shot them toward the ball. For a whole half a minute, the space around that ball has been filled by many abilities chaotically thrown toward it. Yet, the ball didn't seem to be affected. There aren't even any cracks seen on it.
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric could see the surrounding Negative Energy continue to enter the vortex and solidify into the ball.
Watching Lacius's futile attempt, Cedric felt slightly nervous.
If the demon king has such a powerful defense. Then, he is done for.
After several waves of attack from Lacius, the vortex slowly settled down and the ball began to crack.
From it, the silhouette of a human can be seen.
Even though his mental power has been hindered by the Negative Energy surrounding that silhouette. Cedric is still the first one to see through the other party's identity.
His eyes widened in disbelief. "It's actually Gratian? Does Negative Energy have the power to resurrect someone?!"
[Nope, that's just his resentment that has been given form by the gathering of Negative Energy. You don't have any sort of afterlife system, so every dead soul simply returns to the universe after being cleansed by the process of death.]
While Cedric listened to the System's answer. Lacius's army has also seen Gratian who has appeared from the ball condensed by Negative Energy.
Right after he opened his eyes. Gratian who has been recreated from Negative Energy immediately looked toward Lacius's direction and smirked. "Long time no see."
Lacius felt a sense of threat and quickly shouted to the surrounding soldiers. "Commence attack!"
Without much nonsense, the two parties began to fight against each other.
Gratian calmly looked at the hundreds of throwing spears and blessed power chaotically thrown in his direction and grinned. His left arm exploded and turned into three five meters long purplish black tentacles enveloped in mist. Those tentacles danced erratically and easily parried or blocked most of the attacks.
Although the tentacles also received some damage. They absorbed the mists surrounding them and began to heal at visible speed.
After a whole minute, the attack sent toward Gratian began to die off and he counter attacked. The three tentacles somehow combine into a single ten meter long tentacle and sweep down toward the shield bearing soldiers standing in front. With each swipe, dozens of soldiers are either injured or immediately died.
Gratian's sweeping attack only slowed down when many blessed with divine strength began to raise their shield and joined forces to stop him.
Gratian saw it and changed his attack pattern. He now began to whip his tentacle arm around like a whip. Every attack of his tentacle whip once again easily caused many casualties in the army.
While causing massive havoc to the army. Gratian slowly walked towards Lacius's location.
Lacius occasionally created a massive hole and swallowed Gratian. But, it only caused Gratian some delay as he easily destroyed them and dug himself out.
Inside Divine Space, Cedric activated Divine Sight and checked Gratian that has been condensed by Negative Energy.
[Life Level: Upper Level 2
Potential: Upper Level 1]
"Sigh, what a headache! He is one small level higher than Yuma who's at Mid Level 2." Cedric held his forehead and sighed. He moved his mental power from the battlefield and checked Yuma's location.
Luckily, Yuma has already arrived halfway and only needs around a minute to arrive there.
Cedric felt grateful to whoever or whatever created the [Paper Airplane]. That item with a stupid name has actually saved his ass twice.
With the [Fire Sword] in hand, Yuma should be able to defeat Gratian as long as he uses the remaining Fire Slash at the right moment.
By the time Yuma has arrived on the battlefield. He saw many human corpses that had been flattened or had been separated into several pieces after being thrown away from the battlefield.
Amidst the soldier's formation, he saw Gratian who still wore clothing made out of animal skins.
He is currently only standing less than twenty meters away from Lacius.
Seeing the massive tentacle that kept on flattening the soldiers or throwing them away, Yuma immediately understood that Gratian was the enemy he needed to fight this time. The so-called demon king Cedric has always mentioned.
He charged toward Gratian while getting ready to unsheathe the sword in his hand.
When Yuma had already reached less than ten meters away from Gratian, he had entered Gratian's attack range, and the tentacle that had been busy flattening the surrounding soldiers immediately took a sharp turn and shot toward Yuma.
Yuma had long since prepared for that attack and quickly enveloped his sword in flames and slashed it toward Gratian's tentacle. With that attack, Gratian's tentacle got heavily damaged to the point some of it has been severed.
"This is quite troublesome." Gratian frowned and the mist surrounding his tentacle gathered toward it and healed it. Then, he slightly squatted before placing heavy force on his leg and dashed at high speed toward Yuma.
When he is a few meters away from Yuma. Gratian's right arm exploded and turned into five thin tentacles that shot toward Yuma from various angles.
Yuma successfully cut two of them and blocked two of the tentacles targeting his chest and head by placing his sword vertically to guard them. But, he couldn't do anything to the tentacle that had targeted his hips and torn a large chunk of his flesh.
"Arggh!!" While screaming in pain, Yuma summoned a burst of flames and burned the two tentacles he blocked before retreating while limping away.
Lacius saw it and commanded a nearby blessed to bring Yuma toward granny Maude.
Gratian tried to stop that blessed. But, Lacius quickly moved and summoned several earth walls that delayed Gratian's chase.
Seeing catching up with Yuma seems to be impossible, Gratian looked at Lacius and clenched his fists in anger. While he has been fighting against Yuma, Lacius has been retreating and has reached a considerable distance from him.
Gratian paused as he looked at Lacius who had stood far away and asked several random questions. "How does being a king feel? Do you feel satisfaction? Is the power to control and be respected by many people satisfying? How many people have you killed with that power? Have you turned into the person you hated the most?"
With every word from Gratian, Lacius felt a sense of disgust toward himself. That sense of disgust even slightly turned into self hate and gave him a fleeting thought of doing suicide.
Feeling something wrong, Lacius silently clenched his hand so hard that some of his nails began to cut through his palm.
He also continuously recalled every single family and friend who had died from Gratian and condensed his hatred to Gratian instead.
Even though Lacius had been in a massive mental battle, he kept his poker face which made Gratian feel his attack had failed. Seeing no reply from Lacius, Gratian felt bored and dashed toward his location.
The surrounding soldiers and blessed tried to block his advance but to no avail. The most they could do is slightly delay Gratian's advance.
Occasionally, Lacius would lock Gratian's leg with the surrounding earth while the soldiers and blessed tried their best to damage him.
Soon, Gratian arrived near Lacius and began his attack.
A bit further away from Lacius and Gratian's battle. Yuma saw Lacius being targeted by Gratian and quickly ran towards them even though his leg hadn't been fully healed by granny Maude.
When he is only a few meters away from Gratian, Yuma activates the Fire Slash stored inside the [Fire Sword] and prepares to slash at Gratian.
Gratian saw Yuma trying to attack him and controlled his right hand that had turned into tentacles to block Yuma's advance. But different from before, his tentacle easily got burned by the flame coming from Yuma's sword.
When he felt something was wrong with it, Yuma had already arrived near Gratian and immediately slashed at him.
The moment the [Fire Sword] slashed through Gratian. The flames in it exploded and caused his body to get charred and exploded into several pieces.
Although Gratian has exploded into many tiny pieces, his voice can still be heard in the surrounding area. "I thought with this newfound power, I could take my revenge easily against the world that disrespected my effort and the god that turned a blind eye to all I've given to this world."
At the place Gratian had exploded, a vortex appeared that swallowed the pieces of his flesh and blood. Soon, a new Gratian appeared under everyone's view.
Although Gratian seems to be fully healed just like nothing has happened. More than half of the mists surrounding him have disappeared in the process of healing himself. Yuma saw it all and muttered. "Are those mists something akin to his HP bar? Will he continue to regenerate as long as the mist exists?"
"This makes me recall my time on Earth. I never thought I'd do something like a boss raid in another world." Yuma said while enveloping the sword in his hand with fire and raising it while glaring at Gratian.
Just when Gratian prepared himself for another attack from Yuma. Yuma instead quickly retreated toward granny Maude's side while shouting. "Try to hold him down."
Lacius nodded and created a hole in the ground around Gratian while shouting. "Begin Plan C!"
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Gratian who suddenly fell down into a hole finally pulled himself out from the hole and said. "I dislike this hole-digging trick of yours the most."
The moment he rose up from the hole, several massive fireballs from the blessed that had gathered around Lacius greeted him.
After releasing those massive fireballs, the fire element blessed quickly fell down in exhaustion and got supported by the soldiers to retreat further away.
Seeing the rain of fires, Gratian used the tentacles that came out from his arm to envelop him. Thankfully, Gratian's defense isn't as powerful as the ball-like construct that gave birth to him. Being attacked by several massive fireballs has caused Gratian's body to be damaged, which forces him to absorb the mist around his body to heal himself.
Right after Gratian finished healing himself while most of the fire around him had died down. The blessed around Lacius began creating water balls which drenched Gratian.
Although he is confused about what they're trying to achieve by drenching him. Gratian is unwilling to test it and quickly dashes toward Lacius's position.
Before he could run far away, several long lightning bolts appeared from the blessed around Lacius.
Just like the fire element blessed from before. The blessed releasing those lightning immediately fell down from exhaustion after releasing those lightning.
The effect of their lightning attack is quite considerable. Gratian, who was initially extremely energetic and dashed toward Lacius at high speed, immediately stopped as his body began to twitch while releasing a burnt smell.
Once again, the mists around Gratian got absorbed into his body and he began to heal.
Although the two consecutive attacks that have exhausted dozens of blessed have only decreased Gratian's mists by less than a tenth. Their goal to delay him has been achieved as Yuma has been healed and re-entered the battle.
The moment Yuma got fully healed, he stared at Lacius while pointing at his sword.
Lacius understood the meaning of Yuma's gesture and gathered several blessed with water, ice, and earth power.
Together with Lacius and several dozen blessed that's guarded by blessed with divine strength. Yuma reached toward Gratian and prepared to slash his [Fire Sword].
Seeing the flames burning on Yuma's sword. The blessed around him began to move.
The water element blessed summoned many balls of water and directed them toward Gratian's location. The moment those water balls almost reached him, Lacius created a hole and quickly buried half of Gratian's body in it. While the other earth element blessed exhausted themself to continuously solidify the earth and sealed half of Gratian's body in it.
When most of Gratian's body and the ground around him had been drenched, the ice element blessed quickly directed their power toward him and encased him in ice.
Those consecutive combos are enough to stop Gratian long enough for Yuma to attack him with his Fire Slash.
Gratian, who had just finished thawing his head and left arm, saw Yuma's Fire Slash and smiled bitterly.
Before Yuma's Fire Slash could hit Gratian whose leg has been swallowed into the earth that has been frozen by ice. Gratian shouted in a loud voice. "I am unwilling!!! I curse this land, I curse this world. The prosperous land I have created… everything shall return to desolation!"
Gratian's body began to inflate as he looked at Yuma before turning to Lacius and smiling condescendingly. "You too will be discarded and forgotten by history."
Yuma felt something was wrong and infused his own power into the Flame Slash to slightly strengthen it. Before his slash could hit Gratian, Gratian had already exploded and turned into a thick viscous liquid that seeped to the ground.
Gratian's self-explosion made Yuma's attack miss and only caused the soil underneath to explode and charred black.
Yuma's Basic System screen immediately appears and the amount of Exp written in it continuously increases until he leveled up to the upper level 2 before stopping.
With Gratian's death. Inside the Divine Space, Cedric received a notification from the System.
[Congratulations on killing the demon king in your world! You've gained 1 GP.]
[As the demon king has been defeated, most of the NE in your world has been purified. The rate of NE infection has greatly decreased. The chance of the demon king to appear in the near future has been greatly decreased. Your world's resistance to Negative Energy has also slightly increased.]
Cedric saw the System's congratulations and smiled.
He grabbed the [Divine Intervention: Word] and sent the good news to Yuma and Lacius.
[Good job. The demon king has been defeated.]
Reading the happy message Cedric sent, Yuma felt a sense of loss. 'Maybe It's truly time for me to retire and start a farm somewhere in the world? Or should I begin exploring the world and start another adventure?'
Many thoughts pass through Yuma's head. The only thing he hasn't thought of is to return back to Earth. Because except for some games and modern trinkets. There is nothing he missed on Earth. He even doubts his trashy brother, his only family member, has realized he actually went missing.
While the surrounding soldiers cheered. Yuma fell into a trance and silently observed the charred ground. His expression suddenly turned serious as he shouted. "Wait a moment! The charred earth is expanding!"
Just like a trigger, the dark color began to expand toward the surrounding soil at an increasingly faster speed.
Everyone quickly retreated and fled in fear from the weird scene.
With the place where Gratian has just died as the center. The earth in a several hundred meter radius darkened until finally slowing down.
Above the dark earth, every plant began to die off or distort before finally dying. Many worms left the soil in a hurry before they twitched and died. The blood and flesh of dead soldiers began to rot and turn into some dark mist like miasma. Other than the soldier's corpses, faint miasma also spread out from the ground and caused the soldiers who accidentally inhaled them to feel weakened.
In the Divine Space, Cedric who has just celebrated the successful battle against the demon king saw a sudden warning from the System.
[Warning! A cursed land has appeared in your world.]
Cedric's smile froze on his face as he asked, "What the hell is it this time?"
[Before your demon king died, it used most of the remaining NE in its body to curse the land in your world. Please purify it as soon as possible, otherwise, it will continue to corrupt the surrounding land and turn it into a haven for NE infected creatures. Once it reaches a certain size, it might even give birth to another demon king level existence.]
"Argggghhh!" Cedric screamed to release his pent up emotion.
He has been fighting against time and spending a lot of GP to finally kill the demon king. Yet, another problem has somehow appeared.
He took several deep breaths to calm himself and asked, "How do I purify those cursed land? Do I need to spend GP and purchase some items?"
[Items that could purify the land indeed existed. But, they were quite expensive. So, the System recommended you to purify it with your own effort instead.]
[You may purify the cursed land by generating positive emotion from people in the area surrounding the cursed land. You can also suppress and purify the cursed land by sending people who have wholeheartedly practiced virtues like temperance, kindness, patience, or other virtues into the cursed land. Those kinds of people will gather some sort of virtue energy that can purify the curse caused by Negative Energy.]
Cedric read the first message and quickly shouted. "Who are you?! Where is the System I know? There is no way it wouldn't recommend me to purchase things in the shop!"
He only read the System's second message after he finished shouting.
The System heard his shout and seemed to get speechless as it replied with several ellipses.
[...]
[Has you gone bonkers from stress? Of course, the System wouldn't recommend expensive items to a poor wretch like you. Otherwise, you will go bankrupt and die.]
Cedric just rolled his eyes.
After ignoring the System's sharp tongued words. Cedric begins to digest the information he has just obtained regarding the cursed land.
Even after reading it a few times, Cedric still feels slightly confused. "Do you mean I could suppress and purify cursed land by making the surrounding people happy and by sending people that are pretty much monks that have practiced asceticism?"
[You got the idea for the first one correctly. But the second type of people isn't only limited to ascetics. As mentioned before, it's people that have practiced virtue.]
[For example, that granny Maude from Lacius's army could easily suppress the growth of the cursed land in your world. The amount of people she has selflessly healed has reached an astounding amount.]
'hmm?' Cedric recalled memories about granny Maude and indeed felt she was an extremely nice old lady.
Whether it's in Winter city or other cities that she visited with Lacius's army. She always used her power to heal every person she could help. From people who lost their limbs in a hunt to a child who has been injured from playing. She healed everyone with a kind smile on her old face.
"I think I got the gist of it. Basically, I need to gather people who've done good deeds to purify the cursed land." Cedric nodded. " Then, what counts as good deeds? Also, how does practicing virtue generate virtuous energy?"
[As long as a lot of people feel grateful to a person, that person will slowly accumulate virtuous energy. As for why wholeheartedly practicing virtue could generate virtuous energy. You can simply think those kinds of people generated much less NE and much more GP than normal people. To the point, the excess GP begins to leak and automatically turns into virtuous energy even before their death.]
Cedric felt the System is especially talkative today. So, he decided to ask more questions. "Is virtuous energy the opposite of Negative Energy?"
[Nope. The other side of Negative Energy is God Points. That's why the System always mentioned the two of them with capital, while other energies aren't.]
[Virtuous energy is still a subsidiary of God Points. In terms of level, it's indeed more powerful than mana. But, it's still one level lower than GP and NE.]
"How come virtuous energy could exist in the world? I thought there can only be one special energy in a world?" Cedric recalled the note he received when he first created the Crystal Cube world.
[Wrong! A world can only create one special energy. But it can still rob other world's special energy in exchange for losing balance if the energy absorbed is too different from the energy they could generate.]
[Furthermore, virtuous energy isn't a special energy. It is a 'general energy' that creatures in every world could utilize in conjunction with the special energy.]
"Huh? Utilize in conjunction with special energy?"
[If the creatures in your world somehow learned how to utilize virtuous energy and mix them with mana. They should be able to create techniques like holy light, purify undead, or something similar.]
Cedric thinks he kinda understands. So, he continued to ask. "Are there any other types of general energy?"
[There are. Exp that could be gained from killing NE infected creatures are included among them. Also, the System will only share some basic information regarding general energy when you or the creature in your world has met a certain requirement. For example, when they learned how to utilize that energy, found out about the energy, or have met something heavily related to that energy.]
[Furthermore, this information is only free while you're under the System's protection period. Once you leave the protection period, you'll need to pay for such information. So, try to meet as much general energy as possible while you're still in the protection period.]
"Then, why didn't you tell me about virtuous energy before? Hasn't granny Maude already collected a lot of it?" Cedric asked in confusion after reading the System's explanation.
[If the System hadn't told you about virtuous energy just now, you wouldn't even realize such energy existed. Of course, you haven't met the requirement. Until the cursed land which is heavily related to virtuous energy appeared in your world.]
Cedric fell silent and said. "Well, I don't have any other questions for now."
He then focused his mental power on granny Maude and asked the System. "Is there a way for me to see virtuous energy?"
[You can train it on your own. Or you can add the ability to see virtuous energy into your Divine Sight by spending 1.000 GP.]
"That's robbery!" Cedric shouted and decided to try and learn how to see virtuous energy on his own. He then asked the System. "How long is the average time used to learn how to observe virtuous energy?"
[On average, the gods usually took ten years of focused training to learn it. So, do you want to spend 1.000 GP to learn it?]
"No!" Cedric shook his head. "Do you think I am rich enough to waste 1.000 GP for something like that?"
[Up to you.]
Cedric just recalled an extremely important question. "How do I learn to observe virtuous energy?"
[You need to constantly observe someone who has a lot of virtuous energy with your Divine Sight. Then, one day you'll just sense it on your own. It basically depends on your luck and comprehension ability.]
"Then, I'll start training!"
[Don't train too hard. Using Divine Sight for too long will consume your mental power and make you exhausted. That's why the System recommended you to buy the ability to see virtuous energy for 1.000 GP instead.]
Ignoring the System's word that's mixed with concern and greed targeting his GP. Cedric prepared to train.
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But, before Cedric starting his training, he grabbed the [Divine Intervention: Word] and decided to give Lacius the task to gather kind and virtuous people.
***
Inside the Crystal Cube world.
After blockading the cursed land and cleaning the battlefield, Lacius led his army to march toward the empty River Stone city to collect their rations.
While walking toward the city, Lacius heard a report from Hars. "Your Highness. Among the one thousand strong army, 138 people have been killed or heavily injured with close to zero chance of survival. 16 among them are blessed with divine strength that has received a direct attack from Gratian."
"Furthermore, around three hundred have received injuries of varying degrees due to flying pebbles or due to friendly fire."
Lacius looked at Hars in the eyes and said with a deadpan face. "It's a demon. The demon king."
"My apologies. Previously, I was just reporting the casualties during our battle with the demon king." Hars understood Lacius's meaning and changed his wording. In his mind, Hars couldn't help but sigh. 'It seems the lord still hated Gratian even after all these years. He doesn't even want to hear his name.'
After hearing Hars's words, Lacius nodded and prepared some compensation for the soldiers.
While traveling and discussing with Hars, a screen from Cedric appeared in front of him. [Gather people who have done many acts of kindness or virtuous people. Then, send them to River Stone city.]
Lacius saw it and paused his discussion.
Hars became curious and asked. "What's wrong, your highness."
"The god has asked me to gather people who have done many good deeds and people of virtues to River Stone City," Lacius said with a frown. "I don't understand why the god would suddenly request something like this. Has a new threat appeared that requires those kinds of people to fight them?"
Nearby them, Tsukiko overheard Lacius and Hars's conversation. She controlled her horse to walk toward them and said. "Ohhh! I know about this!"
"A god has asked you to gather people with virtue and kindness? That's definitely because the god is trying to make a religion! A temple! Those kind and virtuous people will be the face of the temple to invite more believers!" Tsukiko posed like a detective while controlling her horse with one hand. "As for why the god requires them to be gathered in River Stone city. That must be because River Stone city is the place that has been selected as the location of the main temple!"
On the side, Yuma heard the excited Tsukiko and held his forehead.
He just recalled. Except for Tsukiko's penchant for dating handsome toxic men. She also has the unique trait of joining a weird cult.
He knew Tsukiko had at least joined three random cults during the time she spent dating his trashy brother on Earth.
Those three cults are just the ones he knew. Who knows how many weird cults she has actually joined and become a member of.
While Yuma felt a bit concerned. Lacius and Tsukiko continued their conversation.
Lacius, who had trusted Tsukiko's insights simply nodded. "That sounds reasonable. Then, I'll leave the matter regarding the god's mission on Miss Tsukiko."
"If you have any problem, you may contact Hars for assistance." Lacius pointed toward Hars. "He should be able to help you collect some manpower and resources."
Tsukiko beamed with a smile. " Leave it to me, I am extremely experienced in this kind of thing."
Yuma, who heard their conversation, feels utterly shocked. 'Is she trying to level up from a cult member to a cult founder in another world?'
At last, he simply sighed while shaking his head. 'Whatever. I'll warn Lacius to keep an eye on big sis Tsukiko after she goes away. I don't want to shatter her excitement. After all, she has been in a slump for the last few years.'
And so, Yuma waited for the right moment, which somehow lasted for more than a week.
Although Yuma has planned to warn Lacius as soon as possible. But, Tsukiko actually always stuck around Lacius until the army returned to Winter City more than a week later.
After the army dispersed, Yuma secretly met with Lacius and asked, "Lacius, are you sure you want to leave that matter to Tsukiko?"
"Hmm? The one about building temples for the god? Is there something wrong with it?" Lacius asked in curiosity.
Yuma said with a concerned expression. "Well, it can't be said to be wrong. But she has joined a lot of weird cults while on Earth. I am afraid the temple she created might be quite weird."
"It just sounded like she has a lot of experience to me. As long as she successfully gathered people with virtue and kindness. Then, my mission is complete." Lacius shrugged and said. "Furthermore, I am quite busy with the kingdom's affairs already. As a king, it's important to know how to delegate duties."
Yuma paused as he saw Lacius slowly leave further and further away. 'This technique! I've seen this before! It's my trashy brother's ultimate - pushing troublesome matter to someone else while spouting logical nonsense - technique!'
The shock from seeing that familiar technique after a long time, caused Yuma's mind to go blank.
By the time he regained his senses, Yuma had returned to his room and was staring blankly at the ceiling.
While sleeping on the bed, he could only hope nothing went wrong. At last, he slept while thinking. 'Whatever, I already planned to open a farm in some rural village anyway. No matter how chaotic the future is, it should have nothing to do with me.'
***
A year later. Inside the Divine Space.
Although Lacius's personality is quite troublesome. Cedric still believed in his ability to get things done. So, he tried to learn how to see virtuous energy by using granny Maude as an observation target. He only occasionally checked Lacius's progress and sensed nothing wrong.
From the few times he overheard Hars reporting to Lacius. Cedric felt the progress of gathering people who possibly have some virtuous energy is working perfectly.
It's only a year later does he realizes something weird.
After granny Maude received an invitation from a person with white robes to attend the grand opening of River Stone city's temple. Cedric saw her leave Winter city and went to River Stone city with that person.
Because Cedric has been focusing most of his mental power around granny Maude to try and find a way to see virtuous energy. He also heard the conversation between granny Maude and that white robed person.
Listening to their conversation makes Cedric feel quite flabbergasted. 'Why would they suddenly create a temple in River Stone city?'
He decided to control his mental power and left granny Maude's side to check the situation in River Stone city.
When his mental power arrived in River Stone city, Cedric immediately saw a massive building located in the center of the city.
Looking at a massive building that's much smaller than the palace in Winter city, but still big nevertheless. Cedric controlled his mental power to check it.
Different from Winter City's palace which gives off a feeling of grandness. This building gives off a feeling of solemnity and sacredness.
"Is this the temple that white robed person mentioned?" Outside the temple, Cedric could see many people wearing white robes just like the one worn by the person inviting granny Maude.
They all entered or exited the building in a hurry while constantly maintaining a faint smile on their faces.
Once he checked the surroundings of that temple. Cedric began observing its interior and immediately found a much younger looking Tsukiko. She wore a white robe embroidered with golden thread and wielded a golden scepter on her hand. It seems she has already broken through to Lower Level 2 by killing the few demons that have remained after the demon king's death.
She is currently standing in front of a massive statue made of white marble stones. The statue depicted a man wearing casual modern clothes with a staff in his hand, a sword on his waist, and a crown above his head.
But that's not the most important thing.
Cedric focused on the statue's face and his eye twitched. "What the hell? Why are they sculpting my face on that statue?"
What's happening?!" Cedric screamed in confusion while grabbing the [Divine Intervention: Word] to contact Tsukiko.
[What's going on here?]
Inside the Crystal Cube world. Tsukiko's eyes widened when she saw the screen Cedric sent, and shouted aloud with a pious voice. "The god has heard our prayers and sent me an oracle!"
"As expected of the high priestess!!" Some people wearing white robes began to praise Tsukiko.
She then waved her hand and bowed toward Cedric's statue. "I have completed the god's task of gathering kind and virtuous people to become a part of the temple serving you!"
Then, Tsukiko began talking funny and Cedric simply couldn't comprehend it any further.
He is also sure he never said anything about building a temple. So, Cedric scratched his head in confusion and simply activated Past Observation to check the source of this chaos.
After activating Past Observation, Cedric continuously followed some clues and finally saw the scene where Tsukiko joined Lacius's conversation after Cedric sent him the mission to gather kind and virtuous people.
At that time, he immediately started training to see virtuous energy and hadn't heard their conversation.
Now that he knew the cause of everything, the corner of Cedric's eye twitched.
Looking at Tsukiko who kept on rambling nonstop while standing in front of the massive statue depicting himself, Cedric sent a message for her.
[I have seen your effort. Remember to spread goodness throughout the world and create a world full of happiness.]
Once he sent a chicken soup for the soul to Tsukiko, Cedric recalled the only person that should've seen him. "That's it. Yuma should have a certain level of involvement here. I'll look for him and ask for further details. I already got the gist of it, but I want to hear further details I might've missed from others."
Cedric looked around the Crystal Cube world and found Yuma living in isolation on a small opening near the wilderness next to the road leading to Winter City.
Currently, he is controlling several horses that have a plow attached to them, and busy plowing the land.
Activating the [Divine Intervention: Word] in his hand, Cedric sent a message to Yuma.
[What's going on with Tsukiko and that whole temple thing in River Stone city?]
Yuma saw the screen that suddenly appeared in front of him and paused to answer while wiping his sweat.
"That temple is the headquarters for religion worshiping you. It's something big sis Tsukiko has created with her knowledge about the many cults she has joined while we're on Earth. I think she got too deep into her own play, though. Nowadays she has become slightly wrong in the head." Yuma said while pointing his index finger at his temple. "Talking with her has become extremely tiring."
[Why don't you stop her?]
"I've tried, but she has full support from Lacius," Yuma answered while plowing his field. "I already feel tired, and my gut feeling said getting involved any further would cause my retirement plan to fail."
"I am currently retired and living my best life with my five wives. Thanks for bringing me to this world from my trashy life on Earth. But please leave me alone for now. The twenty years of consecutive battles and adventure has tired me out considerably."
Cedric speechlessly looked at Yuma's five wives. Among them, one is currently busy raising Yuma's baby, while two are currently pregnant with Yuma's child.
Cedric felt the change in the last year was simply too exaggerated. "Just what the hell has been going on in the last year?"
When Cedric prepared to leave and check on Lacius. Yuma suddenly said, "Oh, while we're at it. Can you name my two kids? Being named by a god should be counted as a blessing right?"
Yuma's request gives Cedric a headache. He wanted to immediately leave, but Yuma's request wasn't all that hard. Denying his simple request isn't something Cedric feels proper after everything Yuma has gone through to defeat the demon king.
It's just that Cedric has never been good at naming. This can be seen by his world that's simply called Crystal Cube world because it's encased inside a cube shaped crystal.
After a minute of churning his brain around, Cedric finally sent another message to Yuma.
[Mayu and Yami]
"That's such a lazy name. You're just switching the syllables of my name, and changing one of the syllables from my name for the other." Yuma sighed while still deciding to name his children Mayu and Yami.
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It's the name granted by a god after all.
***
After leaving Yuma who started retiring in the midst of his thirties, Cedric went and checked Lacius's situation.
Just like usual, Lacius can be found inside the throne room of Winter City's palace.
Before Cedric could talk with Lacius, a massive mirror located next to Lacius's throne pulled Cedric's attention.
'Is that something created by one of the transmigrators? Or have the people in the Crystal Cube world somehow invented a mirror on their own?' Cedric thought, before pushing that useless thought away. Right now, he has other important things to do.
Seeing Lacius sitting on his throne, Cedric sent him a message.
[Greetings, king of humans. Have you finished gathering many kind and virtuous people?]
"Yes. I've also built a temple to worship you and granted those kind and virtuous people high status, so they may spread your kindness to the human races."
Cedric sighed and felt how scary a miscommunication can be.
[I don't need such a thing as a temple. Also, I have a new task for you.]
[Once a year, send some of the kind and virtuous people you've gathered into the cursed land where the demon king has died. Told them to circle around the cursed land for a day every year. That should be enough to slowly purify the land.]
Lacius's expression turned weird when he read Cedric's message. He then stood up from his throne and bowed. "I'll immediately do so."
At last, Cedric thought of something and asked Lacius.
[I shall grant you a reward for your diligence. Speak, what do you wish for?]
No matter what, Lacius has been working tirelessly since the birth of the demon king. This whole temple matter is also mostly Cedric's own fault because he didn't say his request perfectly.
Cedric already gave Yuma a sword, a pill, and even named two of his future kids. So, it's only correct to give Lacius a reward too.
After reading the message Cedric sent, Lacius instantly replied with a glint in his eyes. "I want eternal life. I want to be at your side and watch the change of the world for eternity. I want to remember everyone that has died and make them eternal in my memories!"
'Sorry, I am still normal and only like women.' Cedric subconsciously thought. Then, he realized what Lacius had requested as a reward and rolled his eyes. "I am just preparing some basic reward for him. Why does he suddenly ask for something so difficult."
Cedric thought of another alternative and asked the System for something that could extend a person's lifespan instead. "Hey, recommend something that allows the creatures in my world to extend their lifespan."
[The System recommended Level 1 Lifespan Fruit.]
Cedric searched for it and found the item the System mentioned.
[Level 1 Consumable Divine Item, Lifespan Fruit.
Cost: 10 GP
Details: Increase lifespan by 1 year. Note: Lifespan increasing items with the same level is only effective 3 times.]
"Hmm… does that mean Lacius can only eat 3 level 1 [Lifespan Fruit]? Furthermore, he needs to wait until level 2 to eat more fruit?" Cedric rubbed his chin. "Then, I'll buy 3 Level 1 [Lifespan Fruit]."
With his purchase, three peaches like fruits appeared on the table next to him.
Cedric picked them and could smell a delicious aroma coming from them - well, actually not.
There isn't any sort of smell coming from that fruit. The peaches are quite soft to the touch though. Cedric's hand moved on its own as he began to randomly squish those peaches.
Cedric suddenly stopped his hand and quickly sent it to Lacius. Otherwise, he might accidentally destroy the [Lifespan Fruit] while playing around with it. The sensation of pressing those [Lifespan Fruit] is simply calming and relaxing.
Before sending the [Lifespan Fruit] to Lacius, Cedric sent a message to him.
[I shall give you this lifespan fruits that could increase your lifespan by three years in total. Giving someone eternal life is beyond my ability, as only the gods can have an endless lifespan.]
After giving Lacius the fruit, Cedric continued his attempt at trying to see virtuous energy by observing granny Maude.
This time, he occasionally left granny Maude's side to make sure nothing went wrong.
Every month, he always spends time checking Tsukiko, Lacius, and Yuma's condition. He also checked the purification progress of that cursed land, which progressed steadily, without any mishaps.
After a few years, the inevitable arrived.
Granny Maude who has reached close to one hundred years finally breathed her last. After she fainted while healing a line of people like usual, granny Maude never woke up again.
Her burial is held inside a temple in Winter City, which was created a few years ago.
On the day of her funeral, most of the civilians from Winter City attended it. That caused the small temple to almost collapse due to a sudden massive influx of visitors.
***
While the humans in Crystal Cube world are enveloped by depression after granny Maude's death. Cedric has also been in a bad mood since she died.
At first, he is also depressed because of Maude's death. After all, he has been observing her for several years already. So, Cedric tried to busy himself with his training but realized he had already lost his target for observation.
He tried to ask the System to recommend him another person with a high amount of virtuous power. But, it's reluctant to help him look for a new target.
Cedric asked. "System, can't you tell me who else in the Crystal Cube world has a lot of virtuous energy?"
[Do you wish to add the ability to see virtuous energy into your Divine Sight by spending 1.000 GP?]
"But, you previously told me about granny Maude for free!"
[That's that, this is this. It's a different matter altogether. The information the System shared regarding granny Maude can be included as a part of basic information. But, if you want more, then you need to pay!]
That's how the System always replied.
He has been nagging the System for several days. But it never shows any sign of weakness.
At last, Cedric could only reluctantly admit his defeat against the System's greediness and look around to try his luck at finding a person who possibly had a lot of virtuous energy.
After a whole year of observation, Cedric has found three candidates who might have a lot of virtuous energy.
The first one is Tsukiko. Although she has gone slightly bonkers after taking the seat as a high priestess. She has also shown many acts of kindness by introducing some concepts from Earth.
From donating food and clothes for those who needed them, opening several small hospitals and schools in every city, or granting start-up loans with close to zero interest to small merchants. She has done a lot of indirect acts of kindness. Much more than the other two candidates Cedric found.
But, that is also the main problem. Cedric isn't sure whether or not an indirect act of kindness will result in virtuous energy. After all, although Tsukiko has led many acts of good deeds, she rarely went and got involved herself.
Then, there is the second candidate. She is a woman called Rinya, granny Maude's disciple and one of the extremely rare people with healing type blessed power.
Rinya has learned a lot from granny Maude and also followed her path. She also loved to visit different cities to use her power for goods. Although not as extreme as granny Maude, the amount of people Rinya saved is also quite considerable. Basically, Rinya is a watered down version of granny Maude.
Finally, there is another familiar person who also came from the hero's party, Alan.
Since leaving Yuma and the others, Alan has been traveling around the wilderness doing many things Cedric found incomprehensible.
Things like meditating under a waterfall while abstaining from eating foods for several days. He also kept away many desires like lust by never touching any woman, which has kept him as a single man even after he reached middle age.
Alan has also been living in the wilderness these past few years. Constantly traveling around like the wind without any destination in mind. Somehow, Cedric felt Alan had turned into someone that trying to attain enlightenment. That's why he suspects Alan might have generated some virtuous energy through the second method the System has mentioned.
Cedric is curious about what has caused Alan to decide to travel around the wilderness. So, he activated Past Observation while searching for the time when Alan began turning weird.
After rewinding until two years before the demon king appears in his world, Cedric finally finds an event that he suspected to be the cause of Alan's change.
At that time, he is still adventuring with Yuma and Tsukiko.
After seeing Tsukiko has reached the peak of level 1, Alan's expression has turned quite gloomy. It caught Yuma and Tsukiko's attention and the three conversed while traveling on their horse.
After Tsukiko knows Alan feels down because he feels like a burden after being stuck at the same level for a long time, she tries to console him. "In my previous world, it's said you could attain enlightenment by understanding suffering and the world. Maybe you could break your limit and reach a higher level by doing the same thing?"
Then, Tsukiko continuously talked about meditation, fasting, and whatnot.
Although Cedric could see Tsukiko only gives those comments offhandedly to comfort Alan. Cedric guessed Alan had kept those words to his heart and followed it. Which made him decide to travel around the wilderness to train.
Closing the Past Observation, Cedric messaged his forehead. "Learning from my experience with Lacius and Gratian. I somehow felt Tsukiko would cause me a massive problem. The three of them are indeed capable, but their trouble-making ability seems to be equal to their capability."
"Sigh… I still prefer people like Yuma. Although he will retire the moment his mission is completed. At least, I don't need to fear the problem he might cause in the future."
***
Returning to the main topic. Cedric has been in a dilemma and couldn't resolve himself on which person he is going to follow. So, he decided to switch his observation target between those three.
He keep observing Tsukiko, Rinya, and Alan by changing his observation target every three months.
Between every change, he spent a day checking the progress of purification for the cursed land, and the remaining times were spent resting after overconsuming his mental power.
This pattern continued for more than twenty years, but he still failed to see the virtuous energy. It seems he is quite untalented in it.
While Cedric's observing Tsukiko with his mind full of pessimistic thoughts. The System suddenly sent him several congratulatory messages.
[Congratulations! Someone in your world has found the prototype of a training path based on the special energy generated by your world! Your world has begun to get in touch with related laws.]
[Congratulations! Someone in your world has broken through the limit of their potential without being infected by Negative Energy! Your world has begun to get in touch with related laws.]
"Huh?" Cedric paused and scratched his head. "What happened? Who has done those?"
[It should be Alan, because the System detected the source of that change to be nearby the area where you last saw him.]
Cedric quickly controlled his mental power to leave Tsukiko and observed the wilderness where he saw Alan for the last time.
Sending his mental power to that area, Cedric checked the surroundings and found Alan in front of the entrance of a gorge.
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The gorge's entrance is less than ten meters wide, with a thirty meter tall cliff wall on its left and right sides. Some plants and animals are thriving around it.
Currently, Alan is sitting in front of the entrance of the gorge while strong winds blow toward him.
After finding Alan, Cedric activated Divine Sight to check his current state.
[Life Level: Mid level 1
Potential: Lower level 1]
He is finally certain that Alan is indeed the one who has found a training method and broke through his potential. So, he asked the System. "How do I see the training method Alan has created?"
He is quite curious about what the training method actually is.
[You should be able to see the energy absorption and circulation method Alan used through the use of your Divine Sight.]
Cedric immediately sent some mental power into his eyes and activated his Divine Sight.
The next moment, he focused on Alan and tried to see the energy absorption method the System mentioned. Yet, he still failed to do so after staring for ten whole minutes.
Cedric stopped staring at Alan with his Divine Sight and asked the System. "I didn't see any energy circulation nor energy absorption though? Are you sure I just need to activate Divine Sight?"
[Apologies, the System forgot you're a half-baked god.]
[Please activate Divine Sight while spreading your mental power as wide as possible. Then, try to sense the mana in your world. You should be able to see the mana inside your world easily thanks to the connection between it and you.]
Cedric ignored the first screen and followed the System's guidance.
After spreading his mental power while constantly activating Divine Sight, Cedric could feel his mental power getting consumed rapidly. Which forced him to focus and tried to sense the mana in his world as best as he could.
Suddenly, his mental power seems to feel a new sensation. It's similar to the flow of air and water, but also similar to the solid earth.
After feeling those sensations. Just like the humans understood how to breathe since their birth, Cedric could see the flow of mana in his world as if he always had that ability.
Whether it's mana in the air, in the soils, in water, in animals, or in the plants. He could sense them all as long as they were within the range of his mental power.
If Cedric must describe the feeling, it's similar to gaining the ability to observe airflow combined with some x-ray-like ability from sensing the mana inside things.
'With this, I should be able to see Alan's training method.' Cedric focused his attention on Alan and found him still in meditation poses.
But this time, Cedric could see the mana inside Alan circulate and turn into a vortex. That vortex absorbed the mana within the strong wind blowing from the gorge.
Although the amount of mana absorbed is small, and some of it will disperse to the outside world when Alan stops turning his mana into a vortex. But, the small amount of absorbed mana that hasn't left his body is enough to slowly increase his life level.
In fascination, Cedric spent an hour observing Alan's meditation.
He only stopped when a golden light suddenly appeared from Alan's body.
That light slowly increased in size until it turned into a dim gold light that enveloped half a meter radius around Alan.
Cedric turned off his Divine Sight and retrieved his mental power while massaging his temple. His head feels a bit tired and heavy after unknowingly over-consuming his mental power.
After the sense of exhaustion mixed with a slight headache disappeared, Cedric asked the System. "I suddenly saw a golden light appear from Alan. Is that related to the training method he used?"
[No. Those golden lights should be virtuous energy. So, congratulations on gaining the ability to see virtuous energy.]
Hearing other good news, Cedric didn't turn happy and became concerned instead. "These consecutive good news are making me uneasy. I've never been this lucky before."
[Don't mind it too much. Maybe your luck has increased after obtaining godhood and a world that you currently call the Crystal Cube world. After all, obtaining a godhood as mortal is pretty much winning a universe level lottery. So, your luck shouldn't be that bad.]
"Thank you." Cedric never expected the System to actually comfort him. But the warmth in his heart immediately turned cold upon reading the System's next message.
[Your luck may have indeed increased because you've gained a godhood through sheer luck. But, that uneasy feeling might be your sense of danger at work. It's warning you of possible danger you've overlooked. Don't underestimate the unconscious warning sent by someone at your level. Even if you're just a Pseudo Lesser Divinity that's actually a fake with 0 levels.]
Cedric felt his heart thumped upon hearing the System's second message. So, he quickly moved his mental power and checked the person who has a 'criminal record' of causing chaos in his world.
Seeing Lacius still minding his own business in the palace, Cedric still kept his alertness. He activated Past Observation and checked what happened around Lacius for the last few months.
Cedric saw Lacius actually sat on the throne room most of the time. Except for sitting in the throne room or sleeping, Lacius actually has a secret laboratory in the palace. He occasionally visited that laboratory to study and research magical plants, beasts, and even occasionally some humans, both alive and dead.
Cedric has checked and found the living humans that got there are actually prisoners who have been sentenced to death. They mostly consisted of normal human and occasional blessed humans.
Although Cedric isn't sure what Lacius wished to do. Lacius that looks like a mad scientists or some wizard doing a forbidden experiment is making him feels a bit uneasy.
At least Lacius hasn't made something that could cause chaos and mayhem in the world for now.
But Lacius's killing made him recall a question. "Hey, System. You said NE is generated from negative emotion once the creature in my world died right?"
[Yes.]
"Then, won't what Lacius is doing right now will generate NE and even spawn another demon king in the long term? After all those prisoner will definitely be in despair when they died after being experimented."
[There is no need to worry. Normal world has the ability to expel some NE to the void as long as not too much NE is generated at once and caused the world to get constipated.]
[Only when too much NE is generated at once will the world be unable to expell their NE and gave birth to a demon king.]
Cedric nodded and accepted the System's explanation.
Then, he placed a mental note to check on Lacius more often before switching his attention to check on Tsukiko who he felt might also turn into a super troublemaker.
***
Inside the River Stone city's temple, Tsukiko silently observed several white robed priestesses teaching children how to read and count.
Passing through the area used as a school, Tsukiko entered the hall with Cedric's statue and stared blankly at it.
Inside the Divine Space, Cedric saw Tsukiko and immediately used Past Observation on her.
Although he had been observing her for two months when he tried to learn how to see virtuous energy. But there is nothing wrong with making sure of it once more.
After checking what Tsukiko has been doing the past few months, Cedric did not find Tsukiko doing anything that could cause the world to descend into chaos.
So, he calmed down slightly. 'Perhaps this is a false alarm. Or perhaps Lacius is going to accidentally create some plague that could kill the whole kingdom? I'd better spend some times to check on them occasionally just to be sure.'
After Cedric returned from checking Lacius and Tsukiko who didn't; or hasn't caused any trouble. He continued to observe Alan's condition and tried to learn the training method he had invented.
His observation lasted until the sun in Crystal Cube World finally set.
When night arrived, Alan opened his eyes and ended his meditation while smiling. "With this, I finally catch up with those two."
Inside the Divine Space. Cedric who has been pondering about the training method, accidentally overheard what Alan said and his mouth twitched. "I think I've heard a pink haired anime girl saying something similar in my past life."
Cedric dispersed his nonsensical thought and prepared to research the training method Alan invented.
But he suddenly recalled something, and asked. "System, can I use this training method to increase my life level? I recall my real life level is still at level 0 right?"
[It's possible. But, the System doesn't recommend you to increase your life level through that method.]
"Why?"
[In a term that's easy for you to understand. Increasing your strength through that trashy method will cause your foundation to be unstable.]
"Woah, that sudden familiar xianxia dialogue shocked me," Cedric said with an exaggerated shocked expression. "But, I must say, it's indeed easy for me to understand."
"So, I need to look for a better method to increase my level? Should I go to another world to find a better training method?"
[Please use the super memory you've been granted from merging with a godhood. The System has previously mentioned that you can increase your level by spending GP.]
Hearing the System's answer, Cedric said. "So, you're targeting my pitiful amount of GP!"
[You've misunderstood, this time the System isn't targeting your GP. Actually, the system doesn't recommend you to increase your level at all in the early stage.]
"Huh?" Cedric scratched his head. "Wait a minute! What do you mean by this time?
[Ignore it, that's not important. Anyway, at your current development stage, your personal life level is of little use. Especially when you're still within the system's protection period. Instead, a higher personal level is a burden, because some Divine Items will consume more energy depending on the user's life level. Your currently low personal level is basically an advantage compared to other normal gods.]
Cedric read the System's message and something clicked in his mind. He opened the description for [Divine Intervention: Dream] and checked it.
[Level 6 Consumable Divine Item, Divine Intervention: Dream.
Cost: 100 GP
Details: pull one or more people into a Dream Space to share a certain amount of information. Once the amount of information shared reaches a certain amount, the Dream Space will be destroyed. The more people pulled into the dream at once, the faster it will be destroyed. Dream Space's interior can be changed by consuming the item's power. The higher the user and target's level, the more energy is consumed.]
Cedric focused on the last sentence written in [Divine Intervention: Dream]'s details and asked. "Did you mean the energy I consumed while using items like this is lower than other gods who have truly reached Lesser Divinity level?"
[That's right.]
Cedric mulled over it and said. "Well, I'll listen to your advice this time"
"So, is there any way for me to try the training method Alan created without increasing my level?" This is a way of training magic you know? Although I could do things like this with Divine Items, I still want to try activating magic on my own." Cedric said without hiding his excitement.
[Didn't you already have mental power related abilities? Those definitely can be counted as magic.]
"Well, that doesn't feel like magic at all." Cedric shrugged.
[If you truly want to try it, you can create a human clone of yourself inside of the Divine Space. Then, send your mental power into that clone to control it. It's pretty much similar to what you've done when controlling a clone in the Dream Space created by 'Divine Intervention:Dream']
Cedric nodded and used his power to create a clone of himself in the Divine Space.
Once the clone has been created, he sends his mental power toward it.
After Cedric successfully possessed the clone he created, he controlled it to exit his house and created a strong gust of winds imbued with mana toward the clone.
Controlling the clone to sit in meditation poses, Cedric tried to follow the energy absorption and circulation method Alan had found. But, even after sitting for a long time, he couldn't seem to move the energy in his clone's body according to his will.
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"Why can't I use that training method? I am sure I've followed it to the tee."
[There is no mana in your clone, and the internal organ inside of your clone is messed up. Of course, it couldn't use the training method. One of the requirements for Alan's training method is to already have a certain amount of mana within the user's body.]
"Huh? What do you mean by messed up internal organs?" Cedric said in confusion while sending his mental power toward the clone. This time, he is trying to probe the interior of that clone.
Then… There is no then. Cedric quickly pulled his mental power while staring at the clone he had created in fear and disgust. "What the fuck is that thing."
"Where did it go wrong? I created it just like how I usually created buildings and snacks to eat! How does it end up as that abomination with weird internal anatomy?"
[It's because you have no exact memory about the internal part of your body. So, the Divine Space and godhood will automatically fill the thing you haven't specified when creating something with the knowledge you have. The interior of your clone's body is created based on your knowledge regarding internal organs. Which resulted in that abomination.]
"Then, how does that abomination move when I possess it with my mental power? If normal humans have that kind of messed up organ, they would've died already."
[Of course because of magic! That's just how unscientific magic is. You'll get used to it sooner or later.]
Cedric's mouth twitched at the answer.
"So… is there any other way for me to try the training method? Or at least a way for me to fix that messy internal organ?"
[You're the god of a world. You can study the physical constitution of every creature in your world by observing them with your mental power. Then, simply create another clone once you've learned enough about human anatomy.]
Cedric nodded and controlled his mental power to check the internal structure of living creatures in the Crystal Cube world.
Initially, he only focused on the humans. From the bones, muscles, nerves, heart, brain, and other organs inside of normal humans. Then, Cedric moved his focus to humans with blessed power and learned their passive energy circulation, or how they activated their energy.
He also occasionally created a human body clone inside the Divine Space to measure the progress of his studies. Thanks to the super processing speed given by the godhood, the process of learning is extremely satisfying and easily made him intoxicated.
For the first decade, Cedric could still pay some attention to Lacius, Tsukiko, and the others every now and then. But slowly, he began to get lost in the sea of knowledge and ignored every change in the Crystal Cube world.
Cedric only stopped when he finally could consistently create a human body at Lower Level 1 that fulfilled all the criteria to use the training method Alan had created.
What a pity, though. Even with a perfect body, that clone couldn't turn alive. To be honest, Cedric wished he could create someone to accompany him in the Divine Space.
But, the System has said that inside the Divine Space, he is the only creature that could exist. Creating a flesh body as a clone to experiment with things is still possible. But, if he wished to create a living creature with a soul, he needed to do so in the Crystal Cube world.
He has previously asked the System why he is the only creature that could exist in the Divine Space. But the System answered him with many complicated professional jargon.
Cedric is still a noob in this whole being a god thing. So, he simply stored that complicated explanation inside his godhood to check in the future.
Dispersing his useless thought, Cedric extended his mental power and possessed that body. When he felt the body had come under his control, Cedric followed the training method while creating a strong gust of wind filled with mana.
Every circulation of his clone's energy caused some of the mana stored inside the wind to be captured in the clone's body.
By the time the clone's energy circulated once more, the mana it absorbed had become a part of the clone's energy, which slowly increased its life level and energy storage.
The clone that initially has energy equal to the limit of Lower Level 1, immediately advanced to Mid Level 1.
With that success, Cedric slightly cheated and increased the mana density inside the wind, while controlling the mana to be absorbed more easily. Which is something he could only do in the Divine Space.
When Cedric first found this method of allowing mana to be absorbed more easily, he actually wanted to try and boost Alan as a reward for finding that training method.
But the System said he couldn't do so without using extremely expensive Divine Items. Which is such a letdown, because Cedric thought he had found a loophole to forcefully increase the level of everyone in his world.
Once he thought up to that point, Cedric pressed his forehead. 'Sigh, why do I recall the System so many times? Did I get attached to that annoying and greedy thing after losing contact with normal people?'
[The System is glad to hear that. But, you won't gain any discount from it.]
Cedric ignored the System that has once more breached his privacy, and focused on experimenting with the clone.
Thanks to Cedric's manipulation, the clone's mana absorption speed greatly accelerated and its level quickly rose like a rocket.
From Mid Level 1 to Upper Level 1, and Peak Level 1, the clone repeated the same energy circulation method tirelessly.
When it reached the limit of Peak Level 1, Cedric slightly changed the circulation method and allowed the clone to advance into Lower Level 2.
Seeing the clone's level keep on steadily increasing until it finally got stuck at the limit of Peak Level 2, Cedric sighed.
Previously, the training method Alan created could only be used up to Peak Level 1. Which wasted Cedric's time to look for the difference between level 1 and level 2 creatures and why such a thing happened.
Thankfully, there are Tsikiko and Yuma in his world. Both of them have reached level 2, so he could simply study the structure of their body.
After some experiment, Cedric finally created the continuation of that method which allowed the user to train up to level 2.
While happy with the result, Cedric also felt a bit disappointed "This also means that for now, the limit for this training method will be at Peak Level 2. At least until Yuma or another person has reached Level 3."