Chapter 1089: The Deity of Gods
Two words for the experience of connecting minds: burning and chaos.
The burning came from the Origin of Magic itself — the substrate of all power, the place all power returned to, the engine that had made the Realm of Minds possible. It destroyed what approached it before the final transformation. Hackzord had visited it enough times to know the sensation the way one knows a scar: familiar, unpleasant, not to be lingered over.
The chaos was the minds themselves.
Magic power above a certain threshold left marks. When enough marked minds converged in the Realm, they moved like water into an ocean — some sinking immediately to the lightless bottom, others riding the surface currents. The difference was consciousness. The ones that sank were empty, their echo exhausted. The ones that held the surface had been here before, had survived the crossing, and that single traversal had altered them in ways that could not be unfixed.
Hackzord was exceptionally good at what he did in this place.
The Origin of Magic had acknowledged him — that was the formal structure, the recognition that unlocked a Sky Lord’s ability to reach into the Realm at will and draw out what was there. He used it sparingly. Minds touched each other; linger too long and the contamination moved both ways. Worse, the Realm had no fixed landmarks. Many who entered never found the way back, and their bodies sat somewhere in the physical world, breathing and blinking and increasingly hollow.
The other reason he came rarely was simpler: he disliked it. Even at the apex of this particular ability, he found the Realm unpleasant. The sight of other minds dancing and subsiding in the currents looked too much like watching something die in slow motion, and he had seen enough of that.
He was moving to withdraw when something familiar brushed against him.
He stopped.
Kabradhabi?
He traced the signature carefully. The shape was right — the mark of an upgraded one was distinctive, not easily confused — but the strength was wrong. Wrong by an order he had not expected. Kabradhabi should have retained full consciousness after losing a body. The upgraded ones persisted through physical death; that was the point. This trace was barely above the surface, flickering, weaker than the mind of a newly-hatched female insect.
Hackzord extended his formless hand and held the thread.
Then a voice reached him from the physical world, his guard’s voice, steady and immediate: “Sky Lord. The king is summoning you.”
He released the thread. Turned. Gave the guard a single glance and the two words that ended the conversation. Walked back.
The legacy shard caught the light in red when he set it down — a deep arterial gleam, warm and constant. He did not let himself look at it for long.
The Birth Tower’s crown was wreathed in wet mist, thick enough to press against the skin. He liked it there. He placed his hand against the tower’s surface and opened his mind to the resonance network.
“Sky Lord is at your service.”
“How did the plan go?” The king’s presence filled the connection the way a tide fills a channel — total, without overflow. “We don’t have much time remaining.”
“Has something occurred at the Sky-sea Realm?”
“Something significant. Most of the council’s position is to hold course. The Deity of Gods is close.”
The words struck him like a physical thing.
Deity of Gods.
He had known it was coming. The research had been underway for generations, a project so long in development that entire upgraded ones had lived their span and passed into the Origin of Magic before the work moved a single stage forward. The objective: to free the Lords permanently from the tyranny of mineral-bound magic stones, to make movement and reach no longer functions of geography. To place the will of the Lords over distance the way the sky was placed over the ground — absolutely, without negotiation.
A God’s gift. That was what the name meant. Another step toward the Origin.
Hackzord let his admiration pass through the connection without disguising it.
“What is your assessment of the Western Front?” the king asked.
He had intended to say nothing. The king had the Sky-sea Realm to manage; another failure report from the Western Front was weight the king did not need, and making the decision himself was a form of loyalty. Then he heard himself thinking: choosing what the king knows is not loyalty. That is management. The king does not pay a Sky Lord for management.
He recalibrated. “The low lives have changed significantly in the four hundred years since the last contact. Their combat methods are different in kind, not degree. My commander suffered minor losses. The advance plan is unaffected.”
“Evolution?”
“No. Tools and elements — fire, primarily. We have little experience with fire used this way. It appears to be entirely non-magical.”
Silence. Then: “Not magic power?”
“Not as far as can be determined. My commander had intended to take specimens — men and weapons both. The attempt was unsuccessful.” He paused. “My commander has requested reinforcements, or authorization to pursue answers through the Realm of Minds.”
The king considered. When he spoke again, his tone had not changed, but something in the quality of its attention had. “Were any upgraded ones taken by the low lives? I had expected this to happen eventually — we’ve reduced the upgrade requirements, which introduces risk — but the timing concerns me. Your commander of the Western Front is the one you’ve called a genius. Did he exercise appropriate judgment?”
Hackzord bent his head.
“Well?”
“I found him in the Realm of Minds. What remained of him. He was barely above the surface — nearly no power left. I couldn’t recover significant detail.” He stopped. “But when my mind touched his, I saw something. Extremely bright flames. It may have been memory distortion.”
“If they were actual fires, it’s irrelevant,” the king said, dismissing it cleanly. “We understand fire well enough. We ceased studying it from human beings long ago. As for reinforcements — no. The Sky-sea Realm requires those forces. I will not divert headquarters guards. Your request is declined.” A pause that had weight. “The legacy shard is in your custody, Sky Lord. Remember what that means.”
“I understand.”
“Then see that the plan proceeds without disruption. Once the Deity of Gods is operational, the initiative is ours. We stop defending and start moving forward.” The presence in the connection thinned, then went dark.
The mist closed around the top of the tower.
Hackzord stood with his hand still flat against the stone, feeling the hum of the resonance fade, and thought about a thread of mind that had once been Kabradhabi — one of the most capable commanders on the Western Front — reduced to something barely distinguishable from an empty husk.
And thought about very bright flames.
Chapter 1089 - The Deity of Gods
Translator: TransN Editor: TransN
It took a lot of energy and strength to connect minds.
He could only find two words to describe such a kind of feeling: burning and chaotic.
The burning sensation resulted from the Origin of Magic. Although the Origin of Magic was where all kinds of power stemmed from, what everything returned to, and also what created the Realm of Minds, it would destroy everything coming near it before its upgrade.
As for the chaotic feeling, it came from minds themselves.
Once magic power reached a certain point, it would leave marks on a person’s mind.
Numerous minds converged as streams merged with the ocean. Some of them sank to the bottom, leaving the slightest trace behind them while others floated off with the tidal waves.
The difference between the two lay whether minds had consciousness.
That was what parted higher minds from lower ones.
The ones sinking to the bottom were useless, whereas the floating ones indicated that they had entered the Realm of Mind before. Even if they had just been there once, they differentiated themselves from others.
Hackzord was one of those who was good at controlling minds.
He was not only acknowledged by the Origin of Magic but also obtained the ability to connect with minds at will.
This enabled him to search for some valuable information.
But he did not do such things quite often.
Minds intertwined and influenced each other. If he stayed there for too long, his mind would be contaminated. Besides, it was easy to get lost in the midst of wild streams of minds. Many people had indeed lost the sense of direction after they entered the Realm of Minds, leaving their soulless bodies behind in the real world. Hackzord did not want to be one of them.
The main reason, however, was that Hackzord did not like it here.
Even though he was one of the top mind controllers, he could not linger too long.
Without the support of a body, the mind would eventually sink to the Origin of Magic. Newly awakened individuals would soon replace him, as everything was subject to changes. He would eventually vanish into a puff of smoke if he did not upgrade himself. Watching his own mind dancing up and down was like watching his own life slowly draw close to its end. It was not a pleasant experience.
Suddenly, Hackzord sensed something familiar.
“Is this… Kabradhabi?”
He was surprised.
“Why is he so weak like he’s dying?” he wondered.
Kabradhabi should not have been that weak even if those low lives had destroyed his body. Although his mind was now at the bottom, it was, after all, the mind of an upgraded one. As the commander of the Western Front Army, he would not lose his consciousness upon dying.
Nonetheless, the Kabradhabi in front him was way weaker than the upgraded one he knew. He was even weaker than a female insect. With such feeble magic power, Kabradhabi should have had no way to enter the Realm of Mind.
Hackzord stretched out his non-existing hands and slowly grabbed that thread of mind.
“Sky Lord, ” a voice said, waking him up from the Realm of Mind, “the king is summoning you.”
He turned around, cast the guard a glance and said, “Noted. You may leave.”
“Yes.”
Hackzord let go of the legacy shard gleaming in red and zoomed toward the top of the Birth Tower.
After they inherited a part of the civilization, they made great progress in their magic power research. The invention of symbiosis had freed them from magic stones. Even the Birth Tower had developed some new abilities, such as amplifying the effect of magic power and resonating with other Birth Towers.
The resonation between different Birth Towers enabled local lords to communicate with the king directly.
The thick, wet mists surrounding the top of the tower made Hackzord feel better. He put his hand on the tower and started to concentrate his mind.
“Sky Lord is at your service, my king.”
“How did the plan go?” the king’s voice rang off the tower. “We don’t have much time left.”
“Did something happen at the Sky-sea Realm again?” Hackzord asked instantly.
“Yes, something quite wild happened there. Most people suggested ignoring it, given that the Deity of Gods is close to its completion. They maintain that once the Deity of Gods comes into use, we would be able to reverse the situation, starting to attack the enemy rather than just defending against them.”
“Deity of Gods!”
Hackzord was thunderstruck.
“So, finally, they’re having… the ultimate legendary weapon?”
For years, they had been striving to go beyond the restriction of mineral Magic Stones to travel around in the world at will. Now, their dream was finally coming true.
Like the name suggested, this was a God’s gift. It meant that they were another step closer to the Origin of Magic.
Sky Lord expressed his admiration for thie king through his mind.
“What’s your thought on this?”
“Something unexpected happened at the Western Front,” said Hackzord. He had wanted to tell the king that everything was fine, considering that the king had already the Sky-sea Realm to worry about. He did not want to place more burden on his shoulder. However, he should also be absolutely loyal to the king by not making any decisions for him. At this thought, he changed his mind. “My commander’s report shows…” Hackzord broke off and then decided to address formally, as this was also how he used to call himself. “Those human beings changed a lot in the past 400 years, particularly in their combat methods. Our vanguards suffered a minor loss, but it won’t impact our plan in general.”
The king slipped into silence after hearing the report. He then asked, “Is it a result of evolution?”
“It has nothing to do with evolution but more with the usage of devices and natural elements, for example, fire that we aren’t quite familiar with.”
“Not even magic power?”
“I’m afraid so. My commander planned to capture some men and some of their weapons like we used to. Unfortunately, our attempt was unsuccessful,” Hackzord said. “My commander suggests me sending some reinforcements to the Western Front or looking for the reason via the Realm of Mind.”
“Did any upgraded ones fall in men’s hands?” asked the king, who was seemingly unimpressed. “I did expect that this would happen one day, since we’ve lowered the upgrading requirement, but it seems too soon to me. I remember the commander of the Western Front is the one you highly speak of, a what you called a genius. Are you sure he fulfilled his due diligence?”
Hackzord bent his head immediately.
“So, did you find anything?”
“Nothing. He barely has any magic power left, so I couldn’t get many details out of him.” He hesitated for a moment and then said, “But…”
“But what…?”
“When my mind touched his, I somehow saw extremely bright flames… It might just be an illusion.”
“If they’re really fires, then never mind,” the king snapped. “Although we rarely use them, we know enough about them. Plus, we stopped learning from human beings a long time ago. As for your first request, I’ll decline it for you. We should focus more on the attack at the Sky-sea Realm. I can’t give you more troops and I certainly won’t send you the troops who are supposed to guard our headquarters. Don’t forget though, the legacy shard that determines the upgrading of our kinds is now in your custody!”
“I understand.”
“Very well then. Make sure our plan goes smoothly. Once we have the Deity of Gods, we’ll gain the eventual victory.” The king’s voice trailed off and gradually faded out of his mind.