Chapter 53: Researching Divine Grace |
Why!
This immense injustice
almost caused You to lose control on the spot!
But very quickly, You forced himself to calm down.
A new plan began to take shape in You mind.
You had to find a method to extend lifespan as soon as possible!
Otherwise, if You lifespan was exhausted and You returned to the Sea of Stars,
what would there be left to speak of regarding gaining God’s attention?!
And how could You ever become a constellation?!
and decisively took leave.
After bidding farewell to Mo,
You set out on the path toward the three great duchies.
There lay the divided Wa, Ya, and Ze bloodlines… and also the knowledge of the previous era.
Perhaps… there were also secrets buried there—secrets of eternity and power that You longed for.
……
“My lord, the supplies you requested some time ago have already been delivered by the family.”
“Would you like to…?”
The old steward stood below with a bow, his tone humble.
“Mm, just send them to the warehouse.”
You leaned lazily against a cushioned chair and gave the order.
“Yes.”
The old steward withdrew respectfully.
Watching the steward’s departing figure,
a trace of mockery and disdain flashed through You eyes.
Since You intended to research methods of extending lifespan,
a vast amount of resources was naturally required.
However, ever since Lei had discovered part of the truth behind the fragmentation of the Solar Dynasty,
the Theocratic State had become extremely dangerous for You.
After all, in Lei’s eyes,
You were still nothing more than an ordinary person.
Therefore, You could only remain outside, using the identity of a baron in this remote region as cover to conduct research.
Otherwise, if You drew Lei’s attention, You had no confidence that You could escape successfully.
After all, not everyone possessed the ability to flee from a wielder of authority like Shan.
When You had first learned of this news, You had also been greatly astonished.
From that moment on, You gained a new understanding of Shan’s ability to escape.
The first time, even while severely injured, he managed to escape a military manhunt.
The second time, hunted by numerous Recipients of Divine Grace, he decisively jumped off a cliff and was still saved.
And the third time, even Lei himself failed to capture him, allowing him to escape once more.
Such skill in fleeing was simply an extraordinary talent!
As for how You had learned of this information,
it was naturally because after Lei arrived in the three great duchies, he learned of everything from Ilo.
He came to understand the origin of the Divine Grace Technique, as well as Shan’s identity, and deduced that Shan must have been behind the fragmentation of the Solar Dynasty.
Unfortunately, even with the truth known,
the three great duchies could never return to what they once were.
A shattered mirror could never be made whole again.
The Solar Dynasty had become the sun of yesterday.
And it was precisely because the three great duchies knew the truth that they spread the discovered information throughout their lands, to prevent the bloodline of Apollo from being manipulated again.
Thus, even though You were now in a remote territory of the Wa Duchy, You were still fully informed.
And it was precisely because Lei already knew the truth
that You chose to kill a baron
and take his place.
This old steward had been the steward of the previous baron.
For three generations, his family had loyally served the baron’s household, yet in the face of the temptation of the Divine Grace Technique, he betrayed them faster than anyone.
The human heart…
truly was both interesting and tragic.
After dismissing everyone, You returned to the inner chamber.
You moved aside the carpet in the center of the room,
revealing a wooden board beneath it.
Lifting the board,
a deep passage leading downward came into view.
The corner of You lips curled upward,
revealing a sinister smile.
At the end of the passage was a basement chamber.
This was secretly constructed by You for researching methods of extending lifespan.
The scene inside the chamber was horrifying.
Four Recipients of Divine Grace, with golden hair and golden eyes, were shackled to the walls with heavy iron chains.
Their gazes were vacant,
filled with despair and a bone-deep terror.
Of course, these four were not of Apollo’s bloodline, but merely commoners from the territory.
After transforming them into Recipients of Divine Grace through the Divine Grace Technique, You imprisoned them in the basement for the convenience of You research.
Upon seeing You appear, the four could not even struggle, only letting out meaningless whimpers.
Their tongues had been removed, their limbs broken, and they could not even mobilize the Divine Grace within their bodies.
A gentle smile hung on You face.
You gaze carefully swept over them,
like a butcher inspecting livestock awaiting slaughter.
They were not
the first batch brought into this basement.
Before them, more than a dozen corpses had already been quietly disposed of.
You skillfully unlocked the chains, dragged one man to the stone bed in the center, ignored the final pleas and tears in his eyes, and began today’s “research.”
After a long time, the research concluded.
You stood before the corpse, lost in thought.
After an ordinary person became a Recipient of Divine Grace, their physical abilities would be significantly enhanced, allowing them to fight several adult men with just their body.
If they used Divine Grace, their power would increase even further.
They could even easily kill over thirty people.
But in doing so, the starlight power within their bodies would be exhausted.
This was not because the power of Divine Grace was weak,
but because the amount of starlight power a body could store had a limit.
In other words, if the storage limit of starlight power within the body could be increased, then strength would rise dramatically.
“Then… the key lies in how to increase the storage limit of starlight power.”
You muttered to himself.
After this period of dissection, You had already confirmed that the location where starlight power was stored was in the abdomen.
You line of thought gradually became clearer.
Based on this, You conceived two directions.
The first direction
was to allow the abdomen to contain more starlight power.
The second direction was
to allow other parts of the body to also store starlight power.
At this point, You gaze slowly turned toward the remaining three “materials” on the wall.
That chilling smile once again appeared on You face.
……
At some point, tales of merfolk began to spread across the entire continent.
It was said that in the southwest of the continent, within a vast expanse of sea, there lived a group of merfolk.
They possessed unparalleled beauty, countless treasures, enchanting singing voices, and gentle, kind personalities.
At first, people treated it merely as a curiosity, marveling that such wondrous beings—half human above the waist and fish below—could exist in the world.
Until a powerful and influential grand noble publicly offered an exorbitant reward, solely to obtain a single merfolk.
This sky-high bounty instantly stirred the greed in many hearts.
Even some financially struggling nobles began to feel tempted.
After all, not every noble possessed abundant wealth.
Most nobles had only gained their status because they were of Apollo’s bloodline and had accumulated sufficient contributions from their elders.
Only then did they become Recipients of Divine Grace, obtain noble titles, and receive a piece of land.
But most of these territories were remote and resource-poor.
Thus, although they were nobles, their lives were not necessarily more comfortable than those of ordinary people in the royal cities of the three great duchies.