"The first universe-tier world... heh, even I can't help but feel fired up. It's a pity there's no being who holds cosmic authority or serves as the Will of the Universe."
"Otherwise, I might be burning with fighting spirit right now."
Noah's golden eyes glimmered with anticipation as he stroked his chin.
The world of No Game No Life was currently in the middle of the Old Deus war six thousand years ago, with half of the Old Deus still remaining.
No Game No Life's universe was rather unique. The Old Deus, personifications of rule-concepts, were also infused with a trace of Creation Power from the dawn of the universe.
This allowed the Old Deus to create life and elevate their power limitlessly.
Given the right environment and suitable conditions, they could rapidly ascend to the upper threshold of what the universe could support.
The No Game No Life universe had only existed for a hundred million years, so it was still at the galactic level. Yet the universe's edges were beginning to birth over a dozen small galaxies. With a few million years of natural growth, it would reach the level of a galaxy cluster.
Once a universe surpasses the galactic level, its growth accelerates rapidly—changing daily. With enough potential, it could reach the level of a Single Universe within a few hundred million years.
In other words, if the conditions were right, the Old Deus could reach the galactic level in an extremely short time—and their rule-concept quality was incredibly high.
Besides the Old Deus themselves, their created upper races were also tremendously powerful—capable of using primordial magic, forbidden rules, primordial language, and more.
A single Flügel could casually pierce the ocean, and if going all out, evaporate an entire sea region such that the waters wouldn't return for days.
That level of power was equivalent to a Lower God in Teyvat—on the level of nation-busting strength.
The Dragonia born from the corpses of gods were multidimensional lifeforms, integrating all versions of themselves from past and future into a single being. Theoretically, their present self was the sum of all past and future selves.
They also inherited remnants of the Old Deus' Creation Power, enabling them to wield the primordial language and command the laws of all things—an inferior version of reality rewriting.
Say someone must die—they will die. Say a rock shall burn to ashes—the rock will burn to ashes.
This was an indirect exercise of divine-level rule-concepts.
This put them above Middle Gods, though they hadn't reached the level of an Upper God's rule embodiment—an awkward spot in between.
The Dragon King of the Dragonia was born from the divine core—the divine essence—of a deceased Old Deus. In terms of capability, it was equal to an Old Deus, albeit slightly lacking in potential.
The Elves, Fairy, Dhampir, Lunamana, and Dwarf didn't possess the raw power of the upper races—each of whom started at Lower God level—but they were all transcendents, and elite individuals among them could reach quasi-god status.
Their strength lay in numbers, and the Elves and Dwarves possessed advanced civilizations. Through wisdom, they developed powers capable of contending with upper races.
The most unusual of the sixteen races were the Phantasma. Each was an embodiment of some natural phenomenon in the universe. They could appear as living beings or as natural forces.
Their bodies were entire other worlds—simply existing on a planet.
To Noah, they were like immortal caves or minor worlds that had gained sentience and taken form.
Each of them was entirely distinct, with no sense of shared identity.
In the Old Deus war, weakness was the original sin. The Werebeasts, Sirens, and humans were the most unfortunate, constantly fleeing throughout the millennia-long war.
Humans aside, even the strongest individuals among the Werebeasts and Sirens were only on par with Teyvat transcendents who had lit two or three stars in their Constellation System.
Phanes looked at the fighting spirit burning in Noah's eyes and asked, "Do you long for battle? If you seek combat, the four of us Holy Gods should be able to satisfy you."
Noah spread his hands. "That kind of mock fight is just play-acting. Your power all comes from me—what's the difference from shadowboxing with my own hands?"
"What I want is a true, equal, all-out battle."
"I've never experienced such a fight before."
Phanes shook her head. "That kind of battle is extremely rare, unless it's against the top beings of the great universe."
Her husband's power was the totality of the Teyvat Universe—he was truly the embodiment of "All is Me."
Even in a neighboring great universe, fighting a "Aeon," he would not fall into defeat.
So long as Teyvat itself was not completely destroyed, Noah's true body remained eternal.
In other words, even if he stood still and let a Aeon attack him, he wouldn't be truly harmed.
Given this connection, only entities at the Single Universe level could possibly pose a threat to Noah.
And even if the Teyvat Universe were annihilated, as long as Noah's core wasn't destroyed, he could restore it entirely.
Only those below the rank of Upper God would remain unrestored.
Unless he encountered an entity with divine authority as terrifying as his own, none could truly challenge him.
Noah shook his head and stepped out of the Temple of Truth. His figure vanished.
Meanwhile, Phanes issued a notice to all pantheons across Teyvat via the Cosmic Nexus.
To be safe, she ordered a full mobilization of all gods of Upper God rank and above.
From the intel she had received, that world was exceedingly unusual. To ensure absolute success, overwhelming force was preferred.
As for Middle Gods, Teyvat had surpassed fifty thousand in number.
Lower Gods had just exceeded one million two days ago.
Conquering a world didn't mean sending the entire host of gods charging forward.
The main battlefield of the No Game No Life world was just a single planet—thus a selection of Lower Gods would suffice.
The current Supreme Gods were tasked with maintaining order and preventing the Old Deus from undergoing limitless power surges.
A force of one hundred thousand Middle and Lower Gods was requested. Each divine pantheon was expected to make arrangements accordingly.
...
[To All Pantheons Across the Universe]
[The Conquest of the Third Grand World Begins]
[All Upper Gods and above must be deployed]
[100,000 Middle and Lower Gods required]
[All must assemble at the Supreme Divine Realm by the sixth Teyvat system tick]
As the announcement spread across the Cosmic Nexus to all pantheons, all intel regarding the No Game No Life universe was instantly transmitted into the minds of each pantheon's Primary Gods.
For a time, every pantheon was in uproar, especially among the Lower and Middle Gods.
They had ascended to the main world from the lower realms. They'd only ever heard secondhand stories from the Upper Gods about such ultra-large-scale world conquests.
Every time they heard tales of those missions, they'd longed to participate and seize the glittering glory of "Merit."
This was untold fortune raining from the heavens—becoming a Middle God or even an Upper God could be done in a single step. Dreaming of becoming a Primary God wasn't out of the question.
The chat groups of each pantheon were exploding.
"A universe-wide ultra-large conquest mission! My first time seeing one!"
"Yeah! Just yesterday my Upper God mentor mentioned this—now it's happening!"
"Unbelievable! What kind of scale is this?! Every Upper God in the entire universe! Just how strong is that other universe?!"
"Ah, you newbies are overreacting."
"New gods lacking experience—perfectly normal."
"The Supreme Gods up top won't be fighting evenly. It'll be total domination."
"That's right. Without absolute certainty, the Supreme Gods won't initiate an ultra-large-scale mission."
"Exactly. That's why these missions are divine blessings falling from the heavens."
"True. I rose from a Lower God to a Middle God just by participating in one ultra-large-scale mission."
"I heard some gods who joined two or more were originally just Quasi-Gods. Now they're about to become Primary Gods."
"So jealous!"
"Heh, don't get ahead of yourselves. There are only a hundred thousand slots. Not everyone qualifies. Only one out of ten gods will get a chance."
"Only one in ten? That's terrible. My luck is awful!"
"Why aren't you panicking?"
"What's there to panic about? It'll be fair. The selection is random. Who would dare use connections under the watch of all the Supreme Gods?"
Liyue.
Zhongli abruptly stood up from a stone bench and immediately informed the gods from the original Teyvat and the first wave of lower-realm gods who had followed him. He transmitted all the relevant information to them.
Their numbers were not many—only a few hundred.
Ningguang, Hu Tao, Yun Jin, Yanfei, Ganyu, Shenhe, Toga, Nurarihyon, and others.
Of the 100,000 slots, each pantheon received about 7,000–8,000. The rest were distributed randomly.
Although most of the Main Gods were generally fair, as long as emotions exist, so do biases. Naturally, they'd favor their earliest followers.
Zhongli looked up steadily. "This third grand world... I must earn enough merit."
Becoming a Supreme God was the next step. At that point, he could establish Liyue Divine Collective.
Above Liyue Harbor.
On a floating island, once the site of the Jade Chamber, Ningguang had established a new island as Liyue's supreme administrative center after ascending to Upper God.
Wearing an elegant golden qipao and crossing her legs, Ningguang set down the document in her hand.
"Finally, another grand world mission. It's been nearly a year since the last one, and Liyue has changed entirely."
"Just a few days ago, we finished refining the structure of the Liyue nation. Whew… and now another earth-shaking phase begins."
Keqing, now also an Upper God, waved her hand, causing all the documents to sprout wings and eyes. They floated like fairy tale sprites back to the bookshelves.
"Yes, it's exhausting, but seeing Liyue as glorious as it is today—that sense of achievement is intoxicating."
Ningguang pressed her lips together. Her brows carried the majesty of a ruler, the holiness of a god, and the gentleness of a woman.
"I wonder if this time we'll have a chance to ascend to Primary God."
Keqing shook her head. "Who knows? It feels unlikely, but we still hope to grow stronger. Only then can we manage an ever-stronger Liyue."
"But to reach the Primary God tier—that's god-king level. I can't even imagine."
Ningguang elegantly raised a smoking pipe and took a puff, smiling. "Keqing, we need to be bold. The Teyvat Universe is growing infinitely stronger. Who's to say we won't keep evolving too?"
"And divine rankings have changed three times already. I wouldn't be surprised if it happened again."
"Maybe in the future, Primary Gods will also be able to advance like Upper Gods."
Keqing shook her head. "That's not something we should be pondering right now. We should hurry to the divine realm. We mustn't keep the Supreme Gods waiting."
Fontaine.
In the Opera Epiclese, Furina was watching a detective ballet performance on stage. Upon receiving the notice, she shot up from her seat.
"The third grand world! Haha! It's finally starting!"
"All my subordinate gods—mission time! Fortune has come knocking!"
Charlotte, honorary leader of the Steam Bird Community, shot into the sky and flew excitedly toward the Opera Epiclese.
"Heehee, finally another grand world mission! This time I'm going to capture the first news headline! I, Charlotte, am the number one news god in the universe!"
Neuvillette walked out from Palais Mermonia holding his gentleman's cane.
"That universe has dragons too? Dragonia, multidimensional space-time lifeforms... now that's quite the marvel."
Skirk took a deep breath. "It's finally here. This time I should be able to ascend to Upper God, right?"
She had reached Middle God last time. Her strength was already enough. All she lacked was merit.
Only by becoming an Upper God could she gain real influence within the Fontaine pantheon.
Fontaine's Ocean Depths.
In an underwater fortune-telling house, two Middle Gods—Witch Barbeloth and Astrologer Mona—had founded the Astrology Society community, made up entirely of Lower Gods or Quasi-Gods with divination abilities, authorities, and talents. It was one of Fontaine's major communities.
Barbeloth patted her disciple Mona's shoulder. "My dear apprentice, this time we must become Upper Gods."
Her eyes were full of complexity. She sighed.
When Lord Heavenly Principle came, why wasn't her disciple around? If she had been, Barbeloth would've had the guts to push Mona into his embrace.
Now the chance to cling to a cosmic-tier thigh was gone. They'd have to climb up the hard way.
Mona looked speechlessly at her sighing master, muttering in her heart, "Master's odd habits just keep growing..."
Sumeru.
A massive grass dragon, like a mountain, flew out of Sumeru City toward the divine realm.
"It's finally here! I, Apep, will not miss this chance! I will become a Primary God this time!"
Whether it was Fontaine's Hydro Dragon King or Liyue's Geo Dragon King, they were already First-tier Primary Gods, some even stepping into the realm of Supreme Gods.
Yet she, the Dendro Dragon Queen, was still only an Upper God!
Human History Timeline.
A divine ship spun around and charged out of the timeline.
Lumine placed her hands on her hips and shouted excitedly, "To the divine realm we go! It's money-making time!"
"Ohhhhhhhh!"
Everyone in the Traveler pantheon raised their hands in cheer.
The Abyss.
On the divine throne at the heart of the Abyss' main city, the Abyss Sovereign Aether overlooked the group of respectful Upper Gods and Primary Gods standing on both sides of the hall.
Above the city, a colossal beast over a kilometer long, with the power of a Third-tier Supreme God—Trihexa, the Emperor Beast of Apocalypse—coiled silently.
Aether nodded in satisfaction. "The Abyss is finally presentable."
"All Abyssal gods, hear my command."
"March on the otherworldly universe!"
"Yes!"
The Abyssal gods roared in unison.
The Apocalyptic Beast let out a deafening howl above the city.
Roarrrrr—!
All across the Abyss' supercontinents, prisoners and gods being punished flinched and cried out instinctively.
The evil god Loki, covered in wounds and shivering, stared in horror toward the Abyss' center and burst into tears.
"I want to go home! Boohoo! I'm done being an evil god! I want to go home!"
—Elsewhere—
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
Snezhnaya, Inazuma, Asgard, Olympus, Egypt, India, and Takamagahara—all pantheons were boiling with excitement.
Countless meteors shot toward the divine realm.
From the surface of the main world, it looked like a meteor shower flowing upward into the sky—an awe-inspiring sight.
At the divine realm now stood a world gate over ten thousand meters tall.
The gate had already opened. Phanes floated at its highest point.
Noah had already gone ahead to try directly seizing the Star Grail.
Seven Supreme Gods appeared beside her, watching the "meteor shower" fall in waves before the world gate.
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