The temple's light had faded. The air was calm again.
But within the core chamber of the Verdant God Palace, divine currents still hummed, coiling through the newly bound compass, the layered defenses, and the stone-veined command altar.
Clark stood at the center of it all.
His gaze swept across the interface. Everything was in place—walls fortified, forces evolved, champions ascended. The fog had not pressed forward in over a day.
Now, the only escalation left… was his own.
He summoned the God Rank Panel, letting the interface unfold over the air in radiant text.
[God Rank: 1 – High Tier (Verdant God)]
Eligible for Rank Advancement – Rank 2 God
Requirements Check:
– Territory Level: 2 ✔
– Follower Count: 500+ ✔ (current Followers 717)
– Divinity: 2,000+ ✔ (Current Divinity 34,280)
– Divine Skills: 2 minimum (Current: 4) ✔
– Domain Authority Sync: Stable ✔
All conditions were met.
Even the system recognized it now. The prompt had changed—from dull gray to soft gold.
[Ascension Eligible – Rank 2 God]
Penalty: Divine Pressure Calibration Will Adjust Accordingly
Additional Notice: From Rank 2 onward, Ascension must be earned.
[Divine Will Rank-Up Trials]
▸ All Rank advancements beyond Tier 1 require personal Trial of Divinity.▸
Trials are issued and overseen directly by Universal Will.
▸ Failure results in backlash, resource loss, or stagnation of growth for up to 6 months.
Do you wish to invoke your Ascension Trial?
Clark paused.
The words pulsed quietly, but the meaning behind them shook like thunder.
Clark's expression didn't shift, but something in the room tensed.
This wasn't a promotion. It was a summoning.
Before, advancement had been resource-based—contribute enough divinity, build fast, collect followers. But from now on, that pathway ended. The Divine Will itself would measure him directly.
That explained the system's silence.
No name on the rankings had risen yet. No announcements had appeared in the world system. No divine signatures had surged across the continent.
He might be ahead. But the window wouldn't stay open forever.
A single blink. That's all it would take. And he'd lose the edge.
His hand hovered above the confirmation glyph—
The sanctum responded to his will instantly.
[Ascension Trial – Divine Will Response Confirmed]
Classification: Divine Descent Trial
Tier Attempted: Rank 2 (Low-tier God)
Trial Format: Immersive Descent
Realm: The Lost World – Shattered Pantheon Sector
Objective: Save the village of Maple from an active Evil God influence
Secondary Objective: Convince survivors to accept your divinity
Hostile Threat: Rank 2 Evil God – Zareth, the Lord of Hollow Blood
Note: You must descend alone. No domain assistance. No followers.
Trial Begins in: 3… 2… 1…
The light collapsed.
[CUTSCENE – THE LOST WORLD: SHATTERED PANTHEON]
The sky was red.
Ash drifted across the highlands like snow. Fires burned unchecked in the distant forest as black-clad raiders dragged screaming villagers toward a crude altar of bone.
Above it all, in the heavens that no longer bore stars, a great eye turned once—pupil vertical, the color of dried blood—and blinked.
Maple Village had once worshipped a minor harvest deity. That god's temple now lay in ruins, its statue shattered, its priest's head impaled atop the altar's spire. What remained were frightened humans and demihumans, clutching pitchforks and wooden shields, holding their children behind rusted barricades.
"It's coming again!"
"Block the northern pass!"
"The blood-sickle cult—they're sacrificing the elders!"
Panic reigned.
And then—
The air bent.
Not with fire. Not with corruption. But with something older. A pulse of deep green and pure pressure cracked the sky above the altar like a falling star.
A tear opened in the clouds.
...........
The cutscene dissolved.
The moment hung frozen in ash and tension, but this time, Clark stood at the threshold—not as a shadow or hidden observer, but in Passive Descent Mode, just outside the bounds of manifestation.
His divine form hovered above the burning edge of the Lost World's sky, veiled in partial incorporeality. The interface pulsed gently at the edge of perception.
[Divine Descent Pending – Authority Suppressed]
Awaiting user invocation…
Current Trial Zone Status:
▸ Maple Village – Siege Stage: Approaching Catastrophe
▸ Time Remaining Before Full Ritual: 14 minutes
▸ Total Villagers Remaining: 327
▸ Hostiles Detected: 10,000+ Aberration-Class Cult Entities
▸ Aberration Density: 93%
Divine Intervention: Available
Warning: Divine signature will trigger hostile awareness across entire battlefield.
Suggested: Wait for shield timing… or descend now and risk siege acceleration.
Below him, the ruined village of Maple huddled behind broken palisades and flickering ward-stones. Smoke billowed from the granaries. Blood darkened the roads.
And then—light.
A ring of radiant energy exploded outward from the heart of the village square, driving back the incoming mist. At its center stood a tall woman in weathered robes, ash streaked across her cheeks like war paint.
Her scepter struck the ground once—runed crystal flaring at its tip.
[Barrier Skill – Final Vestige of Orena]
Source: Tier 2 Hero (Fallen) – Level 10
Name: Priestess Elowen
Race: Human-Demigod Hybrid
Divine Core: Fractured – Inert
Weapon: Scepter of Solarin Light (Immortal Grade –)
Status: Fatigued
Clark's gaze sharpened. He activated Divine Eye.
[Divine Eye – Wide Scan: Hostile Army]
Units Scanned: 2,800 of 10,000+
Class: Aberration-Infused Cultist
Mutation Rate: High
Divine Core Fragments Detected: Yes
Divine Signature Origin: Mixed – 17+ Unique Sources
Alert: These entities have absorbed or devoured divine fragments.
Approximate Divine Remnant Consumption: 12–19 lesser gods.
Combat Insight: Aberrations are partially immune to moral fear and spiritual exhaustion.
Several possess corrupted divine skills.
Ritual Beacon Active: If ritual completes, Evil God Zareth will manifest physically.
Clark did not move.
He watched the cultic waves on the horizon—ten thousand twisted zealots approaching through the ashen hills, some dragging sacrificial victims, others fused with divine bone, malformed wings, or rune-burned flesh.
He saw spears made from angel ribcages. Staffs crowned with blinking, severed eyes.
The world below had not simply fallen.
It had been fed upon.
"They devoured gods to rise," he thought, as the interface hummed coldly.
"How many broken thrones built this army? How many divine cores shattered in silence… just to make one Evil God stronger?"
And still, they marched—chanting, howling, clawing forward with rabid joy.
The Priestess stood alone in the shield's heart. Her barrier flared, but it would not hold against the tidal wave forever.
Clark's interface pulsed again.
[Divine Descent – Active Mode Authorized]
Descend Now?
▸ Risk: All hostiles will become immediately aware of your presence
▸ Benefit: Prevent first wave massacre
▸ Legacy Bonus: First Divine Manifestation in the Lost World in 20,000 Years
Confirm Descent?
He didn't answer
The moment was heavier than strategy. It pressed against something deeper—against memory and purpose.
This wasn't just a trial.
It was a glimpse at what divinity had become when abandoned.
A weapon. A hunger. A means to ascend through devouring others.
Clark narrowed his eyes.
And for the first time… he considered not whether he could win—but whether the world below still deserved to be reclaimed.
......
The barrier cracked.
The outer layer of light, thinned by constant siege, finally gave way with a sound like shattered crystal. Dozens of corrupted cultists surged forward, teeth bared, blades raised, howling the name of their god.
Behind the breach, the villagers screamed.
Priestess Elowen tried to stand—her legs shook, her essence drained—but the divine wound in her chest flickered with refusal. The scepter in her hand sparked once… and then failed.
The barrier fell.
And in the heartbeat of silence that followed—
The sky detonated.
A beam of pure verdant light lanced down from the heavens, not gentle, not quiet—blinding. The storm clouds above did not part—they were ripped open. Red ash disintegrated mid-air. Black mist was scorched away like dry leaves in a wildfire.
A vertical scar of light tore the sky in two.
The world stopped breathing.
[SYSTEM NOTICE – TRIAL WORLD ONLY]
▸ Divine Descent Detected
▸ Signature: Verdant God (Clark) – Rank 1 High Tier
▸ Manifestation: Corporeal Descent
Inside the beam, a figure descended slowly, visible through layer after layer of golden-white and emerald brilliance.
Cloaked in rootlight. Armored in pulse. Haloed by wind and foliage.
Each step downward carved glowing runes into the air.
By the time his feet touched the ruined soil outside the village gate, Aura of Divinity erupted in a 100-meter radius, purifying every footfall, incinerating corrupt mist, and forcing dozens of aberrations toscreech and collapse into dust.
The cult army staggered.
Thousands stopped mid-charge, hands trembling, heads snapping toward the beam of light.
But it was the figure at the back of the horde that reacted first.
A black, malformed creature wrapped in ceremonial robes twitched. Then twisted. Then screamed.
Zareth—the Evil God of Hollow Blood, not yet fully manifest, but tethered through sacrifice and divine rot—turned his face skyward like a starving beast.
His voice cracked the stone underfoot.
"D-Divinity…! No! No, not here—NOT AGAIN!"
The divine light pressed down like a second sun.
And from its heart steppedClark- The Verdant God...
His presence hit the battlefield like an ancient verdict.
The world remembered.
Even the sky flinched.
[Legacy Triggered – "First True Descent"]
▸ Divine Aura Engaged
▸ Blessing Aura Applied: All mortal allies within 1,000 meters gain 20% resistance, morale, clarity
▸ Anti-Evil Field Deployed: Aberrations suffer –25% physical integrity, –40% corruption cohesion
▸ Corrupted Divine Cores Unstable
Special Notice: You have ignited a buried memory in the fabric of this world. This is no longer just a trial. The Lost World is watching.
Priestess Elowen fell to her knees—not from weakness, but from sheer overload. Her half-shattered divine core flickered in awe, recognizing something she hadn't felt in 20,000 years.
Real godhood.
Not sacrificial.
Not stolen.
Not stitched together from corpses.
Clark didn't speak.
He stepped forward once.
And every cultist that looked directly into his eyes felt it.....