Chapter 230: Link the Fire?
Most of the time, Xi Wei only has a murky perception towards all that existed outside his divine kingdom, and he could only feel it when an enemy touches its barriers.
Like a person hiding themselves in a house, they wouldn’t notice someone passing by if they didn’t look up deliberately—logically speaking.
Still, that was logically speaking.
Should some illogical situation occurred, such as a Godzilla passing by outside, crumbling sky and ground with every step and leaving the world trembling, even a blind man hiding in the house would know what was happening...
And that situation was a little similar to what was occurring right now.
Something unknown was slowly passing by outside, but Xi Wei’s whole ball form stiffened from the horrific presence alone.
“Don’t worry,” Flintman whispered when he sensed Xi Wei’s confusion. “Your divine kingdom is remote and hard to find—we won’t get caught so easily. And I also did place a little something outside your divine kingdom to make it harder for that fella to find this place.
Xi Wei: “...”
So, you’re the one who led that devilry here, brat!
Still, Xi Wei finally realized that the cuckolded God of Flames was the one passing by at the void outside thanks to Flintman’s explanation, which also made him profoundly understand the gap between a greater god and a noob god like himself.
Xi Wei had felt a little bloated because of his successes in defeating Rotten Bones, temporarily clearing the trial of the Ocean Goddess and successfully convincing most gods of the Invisible Pantheon to partner with his own church. His perception that there was all there was to these native gods gradually took hold.
His little tricks were simply peanuts compared to absolute power. Even if his silver tongue could fool the other guy for a moment, he wouldn’t have the time to try another round of persuasion before he got instakilled once they realized what had happened.
Indeed, those tales where words alone had resolved various crises and even claimed victory are glorified throughout the ages mostly because they couldn’t be replicated, and because everything could go wrong because of the most minor unexpected occurrence!
There might those who sneer at such notions, believing that smartness alone was enough to have the powerful run in circles while they revel in immeasurable self-satisfaction. That was only because they had no idea what ‘absolute power’ meant!
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The so-called powerful in folktales bound by various circumstances basically wouldn’t count as ‘absolute power’.
When one is really facing ‘absolute power’, the tiniest error or even some uncontrollable variable (such as the powerful having a bad mood on that particular day) would leave every effort thus far to waste, regardless of whether the clever one had set up some elaborate scheme and stunning strategy to direct the actions of the powerful.
The clever one might even pay for it with their lives!
It was true that Xi Wei had diligently nurtured his mortal Players in ability and influence after transmigrating to this world. With his ability that was almost a bug in itself, the Players were growing just as he envisioned (despite their constant trouble-seeking behavior).
On the other hand, the growth of Xi Wei’s individual wasn’t obvious aside from the two occasions where he consumed divinities, since most of his power was used to strengthen his Players and develop their abilities.
But after feeling the horrific presence of the God of Flames, the thought of becoming powerful once again wormed into Xi Wei’s head, even applying pressure and threat upon him.
All at once, Xi Wei resolved himself despite initially hesitating whether he should have the Players fight the zombie dragons and undead orks.
The deviant divine power that could be extracted from Nightcry’s body might not be much, but he might be able to study the origins of that divine power if more could be gained by slaying the zombie dragons and undead orks.
He might even go further to find a safe measure of absorbing that divine power.
Given that the deviant divine power was highly infectious and might have the potential of wiping out all life on a continent, its concentrated mass is not something to be underestimated by a newbie god like Xi Wei.
If he could collect them all, he might be able to gather divine power that could match what he could gather from the Ocean Goddess’s Sea Sapphires!
And if he really could safely absorb the deviant divine power, Xi Wei had a feeling that he could surpass the limits of being a third-rate god and truly ascend as a lesser deity—and one of the top lesser deities at that.
But even as a myriad of ideas swirled in Xi Wei’s head, either because his divine kingdom really was too remote and too small or because Flintman’s ‘little something’ worked, the God of Flames seemed to take no notice of Xi Wei’s divine kingdom.
That frightening energy hence slowly moved away from his divine kingdom and into the void.
“Phew! That surprised me. I didn’t think that he would react so quickly...”
Flintman looked relieved. “But there’s no guarantee that the fella would not turn around. I have to get away soon.”
“Eh? Leaving so soon?” Xi Wei was rather surprised.
“Are you for real? It might be dark now, but what I face is a fire that burns without end like the sun.” Flintman smiled smugly, pointing at the fireball hovering above his shoulder.
A small flame wafted out of the fireball then, which Flintman handed to Xi Wei with a rather pained look. “I told you I won’t freeload, so here’s the First Flame—it’s the primordial fire of this world which I stole from the God of Flames. Though I can’t give you the whole thing, giving you a strand is not a problem!”
“...”
Xi Wei stared at flame smaller than any flame a lighter could ignite hovering over Flintman’s finger and looked like it could die at any moment, his ball form gently shining with a ‘¿’ symbol.
“Don’t give me that look! It may be just a strand, but it is still the world’s oldest flame that represents the very concept of ‘fire’!”
Even halfway through his retort, Flintman noticed that Xi Wei’s ‘¿’ had turned to the Han character of an expletive—and he felt being held in contempt despite not understanding the word. “Fine, so you’re not linking the fire, then?!”
“I’ll link it. I’ll link it, okay?”
Xi Wei quickly accepted the flame since he was just trying to play hard-to-get even if he was the one profiting.
As a god, he certainly understood how precious the First Flame was.
The first thing that humans—or indeed a majority of sentient species—would worship are not orthodox gods but various natural phenomena, which naturally includes fire.
That way, the First Flame which was connected closely to fires was not as simple as plasma. Instead, it would be the concept of fire itself given form after gaining divine energy, even being connected to the authority of Fire itself.
There was no way the God of Flames would be chasing Flintman to the ends of the divine realm otherwise.
“That said, are you really going to give me something so precious? And wouldn’t the God of Flames chase after me after I take it?”
At those words, Xi Wei suddenly thought that Flintman might be using him as a decoy to lure the God of Flames so that he could escape...
“Relax, I’m going to lure the God of Flames away. Like I’ve said: I’m giving you the First Flame because I can see that you have a bright future, so take it as an early investment.” Flintman replied, patting Xi Wei on a spot that probably was his head. “Just don’t forget me when you strike rich in the future.”
With that, Flintman leaped as if he was jumping off a diving board and instantly left Xi Wei’s divine kingdom.
Even as Xi Wei looked on in shock, he sank into the infinite void and disappeared from sight.
***
Flintman was slowly advancing in the Void when a voice suddenly spoke, echoing beside his ears.
‘Is it really alright giving a part of me to that newborn god?’
“It’s fine. If Aslan would think of that fella so highly, he definitely wouldn’t go on to be some useless reject.”
Flintman glanced at the fireball over his shoulder and softly answered it, and turned towards another side of the void.
“Tsk. The God of Flames found me again? Well, I did leave my scent on purpose, but he’s moving much faster now. This could be a problem...”
‘He’s getting anxious because you’ve now claimed forty percent of his authority over Fire.’ The voice gently reminded.
“Hmmm. Well, things are fifty-fifty if I fight him now, even with my miracle added to the equation... Forget it, then. I’ll keep a low profile for a little longer to be safe.” Flintman muttered unhappily.
“After all, the Fourth Divine War is coming soon from the looks of things,” he continued softly. “And when it kicks off, I could fight however I want to. That is the moment I will legitimately claim his divinity!”
‘...Ah!’
“What is it?”
‘The part of ‘me’ you gave that newborn god is digested and fused. I could no longer sense or control it.’
“That quick?!” Flintman did a double take. “It took almost three hundred years for me to tame you! Even if it’s a tiny part of you...”
‘Maybe his authority is special.’
“The volatile authority of Games... unbelievable.” Flintman said, stroking his chin. “Aslan’s eyes are right—he might become unimaginably powerful before the Fourth Divine War begins, even becoming one of the rare few gods worth my attention.”
‘Should we kill him now?’
“Don’t even joke about it. I don’t want such an opponent to die before the fact.” Flintman was suddenly choking with excitement. “Fruits are delicious when they are ripe!”
‘Apologies, but I don’t understand your logic.’
“Well, I did become a ‘god’ as a ‘man’. Alright, let’s get out of here or the God of Flames would catch up. I really don’t want to reveal my true power before the Fourth War begins...”
With those words, Flintman’s figure vanished into the void once again.
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