Man on the ark, forced to become king

“From today onwards, you no longer need to fear anyone on the land of Shelag. God is no longer an obstacle or limitation for you. You can change Shelag with your own plans and make it a better place. I have said before that the Golden Tree can give you everything you want.”

So...what's the price?

The more one gains, the more fearful one becomes.

Indeed, the Golden Tree did fulfill its bold promise made in Ursus—Lin Lu arrived here and crushed their god with overwhelming force, seizing control of Sherag using the most powerful means.

As a partner, the status of Kalan Trade naturally rose accordingly. If the Golden Tree became the new protector of Shelag, then Kalan Trade would be equivalent to the former Manju Academy.

No one can threaten Shiva'ish anymore, and no one can stop Sherag's staff.

But what do they have to give in return for such generosity?

SilverAsh didn't know, nor could he imagine, but he understood that nothing in this world is ever free; everything you receive has already been priced according to fate.

Taking control of Sherag—what benefits could this backward, barbaric land possibly bring to the Golden Tree?

Does this mean that the Golden Tree needs to replace Jeragand and gain the faith of the Sherag people?

Otherwise, he really couldn't imagine what this snowy landscape could give the Golden Tree, or rather, what they could offer the Golden Tree was far too little compared to what they received.

"Outsiders! You despicable outsiders! God! Please punish me!"

Lin Lu slightly relaxed her suppression. The Grand Elder knelt at Yela's feet. It was impossible to tell whether he was delirious or too old to even discern the most basic situation.

"Your matter is now in your hands. You'd better come up with a good way to explain today's events to the people of Shelag."

"You are guilty."

Yera looked at the Grand Elder with a complicated expression, gently raised her hand, and crystal-clear ice and snow emerged from the void, covering the old man's body, before shattering into countless tiny ice crystals that scattered with the wind.

Many years later, she looked at this land and its people again, and sighed.

Perhaps eradicating faith in God now would not be a good thing for Sherag.

This was originally a good opportunity to strip the gods of their glory, but unfortunately, the time was not right.

Well then... let's wait a little longer.

“Within Shelag, I can perform widespread mind control, making it not difficult to cover up the truth.”

As she said this, Yera looked at SilverAsh, who was holding his sister in silence, and her eyes flickered with an inexplicable light.

Is this the young man that Golden Tree has its eye on? He's certainly impressive.

He might be the beginning of Sherag's transformation.

Chapter 111 You Disturbed the Last King

A miracle, which had not occurred for hundreds of years, has once again befallen Sherag.

However, this miracle was not to prevent a natural disaster, but rather a large-scale spiritual suggestion covering the entire territory of Shelag.

The clear sky was obscured by the divine light of the ocean waves. All the Sherag people were frozen in place under the influence of the divine power. The spiritual suggestion from the deity had slightly altered their memories, erasing the process of the divine war. However, Yera's power was also limited. Her spiritual suggestion could not continue to work on everyone after expanding to such a huge area. Therefore, some individual psychics or warriors with stronger individual strength would still remember the storm that swept across the sky.

Lin Lu felt that Yera's power was somewhat difficult to assess.

You might say she's strong, but her actual combat power is just so-so, roughly on par with Xi, not as good as Nian. Here's a little tidbit: in pure combat power, Xi is inferior to Nian, even if we disregard the issue of their attributes countering each other. The ranking of Nian's twelve fragments is, to some extent, based on their strength.

Nian, ranked ninth among the fragments, is much stronger than Xi, and also stronger than Yela.

But is Yela weak?

She also possesses the ability to alter the memories of all the Sherag people through mental suggestion—an entire nation, something even Theresa, who specializes in the mind and spirit, cannot do.

At the same time, unlike deities such as Nian and Xi, Yera's abilities mostly rely on 'Shelag' itself, similar to the Black Serpent.

He is a god born in the snowy land, and when he was in Sherag, he possessed many incredible abilities, including spatial teleportation without time or location limitations and large-scale mental suggestion.

According to her own account, if she leaves Sherag, her teleportation ability will fail, and her other abilities will be greatly weakened, causing her to fall from a god-like state to a human level.

If Lin Lu were to give her opinion, she would say it has major flaws.

Looking down from his level, even in the snowy realm, Yera's abilities were just so-so, and she didn't have much combat experience. After leaving, she was practically a noob—of course, the noob assessment is relative to the gods; among humans, she could still rank among the top even after her fall.

For Yera, Shelag was both her birthplace and the prison that confined her.

However, this restriction will soon be a thing of the past.

If one accepts the blessing of the Golden Tree and integrates oneself into its system like the others, then Sherag's existence will be replaced by the Golden Tree, and the area where she can exercise authority will expand to all places that the Golden Tree can cover.

Although her strength wouldn't increase much in the short term, at least she wouldn't be trapped in this small place called Shelag anymore, and her wish to go out and explore could be fulfilled.

"Does the Yan Kingdom have many gods like you?"

Inside the council hall of Manju Academy, the hall that was usually occupied by many elders and which oversaw all the major affairs of Sherag was now occupied by Lin Lu and others. Yera and Nian sat together, feeling both fearful and curious.

This was the first time she had ever interacted face-to-face with someone of her own kind who wasn't herself.

“There used to be many, but now… there aren’t many left. Looking back, we gods are actually fragments that split off from a certain god.”

After the power of the Golden Tree shielded Nian from the effects of age, she didn't mind bringing up those things that had once made her live in constant fear.

“Yan Kingdom is not the same as Shelag. The people in that land do not believe in gods; they only believe in themselves. It is a kingdom of men.”

"The ancient gods were driven out and slaughtered by humans. The human world without gods is much more interesting than Sherag."

"A world without a god... I really wish Kjerag could become like that too."

Yera's expression held a hint of longing; after what happened today, she felt even more acutely the inadequacy of Sherag.

People always think of relying on her, thinking that their wishes can be fulfilled by praying, but no one has ever thought that their God may not be omniscient and omnipotent.

This is wrong—she told herself, but she didn't know how to fix it.

"Whether human or god, we must always look forward. Those who cling to outdated ideas and stagnate will eventually be eliminated by the times."

The young man smiled and pointed to the silver-gray man sitting in the chair with a furrowed brow, whispering, "Didn't you already have a suitable candidate?"

“The descendant of Shivaesh… I still remember his ancestor following behind me. He is indeed very suitable. If I had thought of this earlier, the position of Grand Elder should have been handed over to him long ago.”

"Lord Jeragand..."

The great god Yeragand, who has been worshipped by countless Sherag people for thousands of years, is now sitting not far away, and SilverAsh doesn't know what to say.

He was still pondering the future of Kara Trade and how to better demonstrate his value when he was informed that, after discussions among the higher-ups at Golden Tree, it was unanimously decided that he would be appointed as the Grand Elder of Manju Academy.

That can't even be called a discussion!

He heard it clearly: Lin Lu said it casually, and then the great god Yeragand thought for a moment and nodded in agreement.

As a result, he was inexplicably appointed as the new Grand Elder.

By Yeragand, the original intention of inviting Lin Lu to Sherag was to ensure that his sister Enya could become a saintess. He also took the opportunity to use the Golden Tree to get some high-quality Originium mini heaters from Ursus.

Now look what's happened! The partners they invited are all ridiculously powerful. They came up and fought their god right away, and even won. Enya didn't become the saintess, but he became the Grand Elder!

All the original plans and preparations targeting Manju Academy and the Grand Elder have become useless, so what is there left to target?

Like a dream, when I woke up, the Grand Elder was actually myself?

This was different from what he expected!

Would you say I've gotten myself into this mess?

Considering what he's about to do, the position of Grand Elder, the religious leader, might not necessarily be a good thing...

"Go ahead and do it, Ensiodis. The future of the Snowlands has never been in my hands, but in your own."

Yera smiled gently, her warm gaze falling on SilverAsh, causing him to instinctively lower his head.

Even though his faith was not devout, he was still a citizen of the Snowfield and held the deity who had protected Sherag for thousands of years in high esteem.

“This time, God will not be an obstacle for you, and you do not need to abide by those old and decrepit rules.”

“You can change Sherag according to your own ideas.”

"The past will remain in the past. As God, all I can do when this change comes is to send you on your way until you no longer need me."

"Is this... the final divine decree?"

At this point, Yela winked mischievously.

"The final...oracle?"

SilverAsh fell silent.

Because of his past experiences, he didn't have a good impression of God, but at this moment he realized that the many halos attached to God's name were just far-fetched interpretations by mortals.

Sherag's current situation has never been God's fault.

The fault lies in people's hearts.

“If this is a divine oracle, then Shivaash will obey the will of my God.”

SilverAsh stood up from his chair and bowed to Jeragand with the ancient etiquette of Sherag, but as he stood up, he suddenly remembered something.

"Lord Jeragand—"

"Call me Yela. I don't like everyone being so respectful to me. We are both holy spirits of the snow mountain, so why must you all fear me?"

“Ye... La.”

SilverAsh's expression was somewhat unnatural. He forced out two words, carefully choosing his words before asking, "What about the ceremony for selecting the Holy Maiden?"

“Enya did not reach the end of the Heavenly Road, nor did she hang the sacred object on the bell rack.”