Douluo: Emerald Poison King

Chapter 507 The Golden Throne: The Final Accumulation Before Becoming a God

In the eyes of the God of Forging, the effort put into this device was completely disproportionate to the reward. After going through a whole series of processes to finally obtain enough cosmic energy, it was only to be downgraded and dulled for use. This was like finally extracting gold from a mine and then using that high-purity gold to make a hammer to nail a wooden bed.

It's not impossible. In fact, from a technical standpoint, it's not a problem at all.

I just can't understand why anyone would do something like this.

After all, not to mention how many hammers could be bought with the gold that could be made into hammers, the money and effort required to extract gold from the ground at a high price is enough to directly produce countless hammers.

"Kid, are you out of your mind? If you want to give spirit rings to the people around you, you can make divine spirit rings. Even if you don't know how to make them yourself, you can find someone else to make a few for you. Although divine spirit rings are not cheap, they are much cheaper than divine artifacts."

"How about this, since you seem a bit immature and you're so familiar with my successor. If you need anything, I'll give you ten divine soul rings to use first. After you ascend, just take care of my successor, and that's it."

As a dwarf who ascended from some unknown plane, the God of Forging, despite having gone through countless experiences, still retained the stereotypical dwarf's mannerisms.

Even when saying something good, the tone wasn't exactly friendly. Except when mentioning alcohol, when the tone softened, the rest of the time it was as hard as a rock.

Chen Ming understood the instructions of the God of Forging. After thinking for a moment, he explained the use of the item and his future preparations to the God of Forging. After explaining for quite some time, the God of Forging finally grasped Chen Ming's meaning.

"You mean, you forged this thing to spread that artificial, growable spirit ring to every spirit master in your world? You went through all this trouble just to get these spirit masters to believe in you? To unify the various forces and beliefs in your world?"

"It's not just about faith. When I create a spirit ring, I also add restrictions and contracts to it. A small part of the power will be fed back to me. After the spirit ring grows to a certain age, it will need to come to me and spend an extra cost to unlock it in order to continue to increase the upper limit of the spirit ring."

"After a Soul Master dies, a portion of the power accumulated within their Soul Ring will return to me."

Listening to the summary that omitted too many important points, Chen Ming felt somewhat helpless, but there was nothing he could say. After all, the God of Forging wasn't the God of Politics, so it was normal that he didn't understand these kinds of things.

"Hmm," the phantom of the God of Forging took a sip of wine, his face still showing deep doubt.

"So why don't you just leave behind your faith like a normal deity in our divine realm?"

"My goal is to ensure that everyone in our world has the potential to become a transcendent being, that is, a Soul Master, thereby significantly raising the baseline of our civilization. Then, I will create everyone's first Soul Ring, using quantity to gain more resources."

"How long would it take for mortals to accumulate enough faith to equal a main artifact? And the energy required to elevate everyone to the level of a Soul Master in your world would be far greater than the faith you could extract from them, wouldn't it?"

"Let alone breaking even, if after it becomes widespread no one can increase the age limit of this so-called limited spirit ring, then you'll probably keep losing money, right?"

The God of Forging placed the wine jug at his waist and then waved to Chen Ming.

"But never mind, I don't understand these things anyway. I know you guys are different from me, a stone, and you think about many more things. Just because it looks like a loss doesn't mean it's a real loss, and even if it is, it won't keep going on forever."

"If you insist, I'll make it for you. But the price can't be waived. After all, a main artifact is different from ordinary artifacts and semi-artifacts. Even if I were to forge it, it would take a lot of effort and resources. Besides, you need to obtain it within a few years in your world, which will incur an additional price."

"After all, I still need to apply to the central hub of the divine realm for a change in the local flow rate, and then ask the God of Time for help to speed up my temple. Otherwise, if I fight this thing normally, you'll probably become a god before you even finish this chair."

As he spoke, the God of Forging glanced at the God of Pride, whose lips twitched slightly and who was clutching his chest with one hand, and revealed a smile that, in the God of Pride's eyes, was even more greedy than that of the God of Gluttony.

“Arrogance, we’ve known each other for a long time. I won’t ask you to pay all the money upfront like others do. Just pay half as a deposit. As for the overall price of this artifact, I won’t ask for more.”

"Considering the complexity and intricacy of this main artifact's functions, the need to speed up the forging process, and the fact that it has squeezed out some previous orders, I'll just ask for 250% of the normal price."

"You pay half first, and the rest can be paid gradually through a contract established in the central hub of the divine realm."

"Can you lower the deposit price? Or if all else fails, can we wait until this kid ascends to immortality and have him pay us?"

Although he was a veteran first-level god in the divine realm, the cost of forging a single main artifact was still enough to easily wipe out the God of Arrogance's accumulated wealth over an unknown period. Moreover, due to the accelerated time process, the God of Forging's price was even higher than that of ordinary main artifacts.

If he were to pay this all at once, the God of Pride would probably have to give up all the divine armor and even artifacts that had accompanied him in battle for years. Even just half a deposit would be enough to make him feel extremely pained.

Even though he had gotten along quite well with Chen Ming over the past few years, he could see that Chen Ming's talent surpassed his own and that he had a bright future ahead of him.

However, the God of Arrogance still suspected that Chen Ming might have been after his secret stash of money from the start, and was trying to pull some kind of scam.

It hurts, it hurts so much! The God of Pride felt as if his heart was being tightly bound by Blue Silver Grass!
"What nonsense are you talking about?" The God of Forging rolled his eyes at the proud God who was feeling sorry for him.

"I'm about to leave, and I'm not even sure when I'll go. I don't want to leave behind a mess at this point. If it takes him hundreds or thousands of years to recoup his investment after he ascends, do I really want to stay in the God Realm for hundreds or thousands of years just to settle this debt?"

"Hmm, can I give you one-third first?"

The God of Arrogance, unusually, humbled himself and pleaded with the God of Forging. After pondering for a long time, the God of Forging glanced at his successor beside him, whose face was also full of expectation, and finally nodded reluctantly.

"One-third, and I have to pay extra upfront. What kind of karma have I created? Oh well, I'll just consider it a good deed. I still trust you, God of Pride, and I believe you won't renege on your debt."

With a sigh, the God of Pride pulled a token from his robes, imbued it with a portion of his divine will, and handed it to the God of Forging. With the divine will contained within this token, the God of Forging could take whatever he desired from the God of Pride's treasury.

After the God of Forging left, the God of Pride rolled his eyes at Chen Ming, didn't say much to Lou Gao, and put his hand on Chen Ming's shoulder, leading him to a corner where no one was paying attention.

Looking at Chen Ming's expectant face, the God of Arrogance slowly sighed.

"Kid, I hope you won't regret what you've done later."

"To be honest, the thought of what's going to be taken from me makes me regret my boastful promise to you about getting you a divine artifact. Your plan is certainly brilliant, but who knows how many tens of thousands of years it will take to break even?"

“There are many daring individuals in the God Realm, but you are the most daring of them all. You're already thinking about increasing the strength of the world before you've even become a god.”

"But let me tell you, once you become a god, you'll have to pay back the money. If it's just a divine artifact, I'll consider it as my own money, but as for the main divine artifact, I don't even have enough money myself, so I might have to borrow from a few other people."

The God of Pride felt a pang of heartache, but he didn't want to explain this to the God of Destruction.

After all, in the God of Pride's heart, the God of Destruction was the most brilliant leader, and he had to be utterly loyal to the supreme god. Failing to eliminate enemies on behalf of the supreme god was already a dereliction of duty on his part as a subordinate; if he were to then seek favors and borrow money, well…
The more the god of pride thought about it, the more he felt a tightness in his chest. So he closed his eyes, drew upon a sliver of power within him, and opened a door.

"Kid, let's have a match on the Mountain of Mighty Destruction. I'll see just how much your strength has improved. If you satisfy me, I'll give you the Fruit of Life, so you won't keep thinking about me."

"Thank you, senior." Chen Ming followed the God of Arrogance into the spatial gate and entered the Mountain of Power, which he was already quite familiar with.

In this space created with the power of the God of Destruction and the God of Mighty Destruction, the God of Pride was able to temporarily break the seal on himself and unleash a portion of his true power.

Considering that Chen Ming had not yet truly become a god, the God of Arrogance restrained himself, only unleashing qualities barely equivalent to a third-level god. Chen Ming, on the other hand, entered battle mode, activating the still-developing divine position within him to empower himself, and prepared to fight at full strength.

Domain, Soul Skill, Combat Skill, Divine Skill
Various forces collided, and their powers canceled each other out. The God of Pride, unusually, also drew his weapon, the Scepter of Pride, and unleashed his divine power to counteract the various pieces of equipment on Chen Ming's body.

Chen Ming's mechanics are excellent, and his stats are not low either. However, the God of Arrogance, as a "veteran" of the God Realm version, is not weak in his own mechanics either. Moreover, even if his output is suppressed to the level of a third-tier god, his base attributes are still higher than Chen Ming's, who has not yet crossed that step to achieve sublimation.

Relying on the combination of his own combat experience and power, he even gained the upper hand in the initial battle, forcing Chen Ming to fight back with a defensive counterattack strategy.

The battle lasted for a day and a night. As Chen Ming released and used his powers, the God of Pride gradually changed from being relaxed to being serious, and finally made no attempt to hide his surprise.

The battle between the two was not over. Or rather, given their god-like strength, it would be difficult for either side to completely suppress or defeat the other in a short period of time under normal circumstances. It was quite normal for beings of this level to fight for days and nights without a clear victor.

Especially the arrogant god, a veteran first-tier god, whose accumulated faith and energy over countless years are terrifyingly exaggerated. If a real battle were to break out, and neither side has the decisive ability to deliver a single blow, even a battle lasting several months would not significantly diminish his condition.

After all, it was just an assessment with a little personal grudge involved. Once the God of Pride confirmed that Chen Ming indeed had strong aptitude and had begun to realize his future potential, he stopped. He took out two Life Fruits from the core of his treasure vault and carefully placed them into Chen Ming's hand.

"You must make good use of this treasure. It will be of great help to your final step in becoming a god. Before becoming a god, it's easy to improve your godhood, but after your godhood is fixed, it will take several times or even dozens of times more effort to improve its strength."

"Don't put in all that effort only to get stuck at the last hurdle and become a level two god. That would be laughable. You have to understand that even the strongest level two god can barely reach the lower limit of a level one god when they unleash their full power. Unless they borrow the divine power of a god-king like Hypnos, their upper limit is just that."

At this point, the God of Pride's expression turned serious.

"If you only become a second-level god after the God of Destruction opens a back door for you, granting you extra rewards such as the Fruit of Life and a main artifact, then after you ascend to the God Realm, I will beat you up once a day, understand?"

"I understand, I appreciate your concern, senior. I will surely become the next God-King, or even stronger."

Chen Ming carefully stored the two Life Fruits in his spiritual world, which was gradually transforming into a materialized plane. Then, he clasped his hands in a respectful gesture to the God of Pride.

"I hope so. When the God of Time became a god, almost all the gods in the divine realm thought that he could go further with the special nature of his power and become a powerful god-king like the Dragon King of Time."

"But countless years have passed, and the God of Time, who was once closest to the God-King, is now only a first-level god. At most, he is only considered to be able to rival the God-King to some extent because of the special nature of his divine authority. Even I find it difficult to describe the gap between being rivaled by the God-King and being the true God-King in words."

"Perhaps when you reach that level, you will realize just how difficult it is to cross that thin line."

After speaking for a long time, the God of Arrogance waved to Chen Ming and then left the space, disappearing without a trace. Chen Ming, on the other hand, bowed to the void before slowly leaving the space.

After the God of Pride and Chen Ming left, the phantom of the God of Destruction appeared in the void.

Watching Chen Ming's retreating figure, the God of Destruction was filled with emotion. Humanity's growth rate was truly the best among all races in all worlds.

According to the timeline of the divine realm, only a few days had passed since their first meeting. However, in the short span of a few years in the mortal realm, the child who had only grasped part of the essence by imitating him and Xiao Lü had already forged his own path.

They began to attempt to combine the powers of life and death, creation and destruction into one person, creating a divine position that was similar to but different from their own.

(End of this chapter)