Mount and Blade System: Start from Pioneer Lords.

Chapter 446 The Road to Godhood
The tent was filled with the rich aroma of roasted meat and the spicy smell of it, and the sounds of the barbarians chewing and swallowing rose and fell.

Looking at Levi's face, which appeared particularly languid in the firelight, Flina's doubts and worries were dispelled by his matter-of-fact attitude.

"I see." Frina let out a soft breath, her tense shoulders relaxing.

She should have realized it sooner. How could this lord, who could ride dragons and slaughter demons, be a pushover who could be fooled by a few verbal promises?

"You never intended to let them leave alive from the beginning?"

"Release?" Li Wei used a knife to cut off a piece of roasted beef that smelled charred, and slowly put it into his mouth. He said indistinctly, "If they don't tell us something really useful, like where the Ring of Ice and Water is hidden, or the situation in the New World... then they don't even have time to think about it."

"If you behave, you can go back and spend the rest of your life there. If you don't behave... heh..."

He picked up the warm beer beside him and took a swig. The spicy liquid slid down his throat, dispelling the chill of the snowy plain. He chuckled a few times but didn't finish his sentence.
In any case, all things considered, it's best for these frost giants to go back to the New World.

Just then, the tent flap was suddenly flung open again, and a rabbit-man sentinel, wrapped in thick fur and with a face red from the cold, practically rolled in, his voice filled with rapid breathing and panic: "Master, those frost giants are roaring to see you."

In fact, even without the rabbit-man sentinel's announcement, everyone had already heard the sound, which resembled muffled thunder.

……

Outside the ice wall.

Countless frost giants, like small mountains, stand in the snow, like snow sprites.

The lord led everyone to Ragras once again.

Looking at the frost giant leader in front of him, Li Wei asked directly, "So, you've finally made up your mind?"

“My lord, what you’re asking for is far too demanding for us frost giants,” Lagras said sullenly. “I can promise you everything you want to know, without holding anything back, but I have one condition!”

"What are the conditions?" The lord did not give a direct answer.
"If you can return our Frost Giants' most precious treasure to us, I can tell you all the secrets, and then I'll go back to Tiridates and stay there until the seas dry up and the rocks crumble, never to set foot in the material world again."

"Do you think I'd beg you to go back? I have plenty of ways to deal with you. Whether you go back or not makes absolutely no difference to me," Li Wei said. "As for the secrets? Curiosity killed the cat, you know?"

"As for the Ring of Ice and Water, even without you telling me its exact location, I already know it's in Debe. I have plenty of time; I can spend thirty, fifty, or even a hundred years searching for it. I don't believe I won't find it in that long."

“My lord!” Ragras’ lips trembled when he heard the name of the Ring of Ice and Water, and he finally couldn’t help but speak.

His words shocked everyone present—"We want to retrieve the supreme treasure because of the path to godhood!"

……

In fact, in the material world, legends are the strongest beings at the pinnacle, who are natural disasters to mortals, and are gods that cannot be resisted.

But ultimately, he is not a god.

Only by reaching this level can one understand that they are not even worthy of looking up to the true gods.

They can't compare to each other simply because they never die of old age.

In ancient times, it was not uncommon for divine beings to descend upon the material world in their incarnations or to send down divine servants.

Therefore, there are numerous records about them.

Therefore, how to become a god after becoming a legend became a matter that people of this rank studied until their death.

Or perhaps there were indeed methods for ascending to demigod or true god in ancient times, but as history progressed, elemental tides came, and the gods went into hiding, these methods also disappeared, and it is estimated that only some ancient relics would know a thing or two about them.

And clearly, these frost giants, whose lifespans are comparable to those of dragons, are undeniably living fossils.

Since advancing to Legendary status and reaching the pinnacle of Holy Light cultivation, the experience required for system upgrades has become enormous, and the Lord's strength has hardly changed.

He could only strive for perfection, refining his Holy Light magic and the blessings of the sea goddess, hoping to reach even greater heights.

As for the talent that everyone is so eager to acquire after advancing to legendary status, it's like the Monkey King born from the Heaven-Mending Stone – it hasn't changed at all.

Digen, the red dragon's soul, knew a little about it, but only vaguely and couldn't give a clear answer.

After all, this thing is a dragon. All that is known is that if a red dragon wants to become a god, it needs to gain the favor of Tiamat, the queen of the five-colored dragons, and after becoming an ancient dragon, it can directly enter her divine kingdom.

Simply put, effort is useless if you want to become a god; it depends on luck and talent. So most of the five-colored evil dragons just eat and sleep.

As for effort? That's something only those traitorous dragons, those alien dragons who are always thinking about overthrowing Tiamat's rule, would do.

Hearing the method to become a god so suddenly, even the lord couldn't help but feel a jolt in his heart, but his face remained completely expressionless.

Lagrass couldn't help but feel a little disappointed. He had thought that this secret would be enough to shock the human, but the other party seemed completely unconcerned.

“Speak,” Li Wei said calmly.

“In the distant ancient times, there were actually many ways to become a god, but generally speaking, there were only four mainstream methods.” Lagras pondered for a moment, his face seemingly reminiscing: “One method is to develop followers. The more followers who worship you as a god, the greater the probability of becoming a god.”

"Wait, isn't this the kind of method those evil gods usually use?" the lord suddenly interrupted.

In reality, Debe is not as peaceful as it appears on the surface. There are countless evil churches operating in private, and many nobles even worship unorthodox and evil gods.

But as long as you don't go too far, everyone usually turns a blind eye.

However, on the other hand, now that he is using the title of God of War and has the system's endorsement, the barbarians of High Cliff Fortress are indeed extremely fanatical about him, almost no different from fanatics.

Could it be that he unknowingly became an evil god as well? But the Holy Light Church hasn't jumped out to attack him.

"An evil god? It's nothing more than the victor taking all." Lagras sneered twice, and a burst of cold air emanated from its nostrils, instantly freezing a snow swallow flying overhead into a block of ice, which then crashed to the ground. The poor little creature clearly mistook Lagras for a small mountain.

"Right now, you humans must worship a few mainstream gods, right? Do you think these gods would share their faith with other gods?" Lagras countered. "Wars fought over beliefs have been common throughout history, and even we giants have gone to war because of our different gods."

"But we can forget about this method. Although we don't know why, it's no longer possible to become a god this way."

"What about the other three?" Li Wei asked.

"Second, after becoming a legend, all you need to do is perform heroic deeds that can influence the world. With the power of fate and the worship of countless people, you can ascend to the throne of gods." Lagras casually grabbed a pile of birds frozen into ice crystals from the ground, mixed them with snow, and threw them into his mouth. He chewed them a couple of times and swallowed them, treating them purely as snacks. "Third, as long as you can gain the favor of the gods, they can easily make you a god. Even if you only become a god with minor divine power, you will still be above all mortal life."

Perhaps feeling that such a small amount of food was not enough to satisfy its hunger, the frost giant leader looked up a few times and found that the snowbirds were not all fools. They knew that their people had all suffered setbacks on this ice mountain, and not a single snowbird had flown over.

"And the fourth one?" Li Wei knew that the most important ones were often the grand finale.

After all, of the three methods mentioned earlier, the other party only proposed these methods, but did not say whether they were feasible.

It's obvious at a glance that it's long since faded and its glory days are over.

"My lord, before you proceed, let me first tell you about the weaknesses of our race." Unexpectedly, Lagras kept everyone in suspense: "If we frost giants leave the snowfield, we will shrink rapidly and even die, so we have no way to go outside the snowfield."

"But in the world of Tillyridge, besides the snowfields where we frost giants live, the other half is hot lava."

"Unfortunately, these lava zones are constantly spreading, encroaching on our territory. We are forced to come and retrieve the Ring of Ice and Water to stop the lava from spreading further, because only the Father God's artifacts can stop this disaster."

"Our home is dying. Only His power can quell the raging lava, restore the balance of ice and fire, and preserve the last place for our frost giant race to live. We have taken great risks to cross the world barrier to come here in order to find Him and use Him to save our world and our people."

Lagrass's ancient Titan language was extremely low, carrying a sorrow unique to an ancient race. His massive head drooped slightly, and even his icy eyebrows seemed to weigh heavily on his face.
"What does this have to do with becoming a god?" The lord remained unmoved by the other party's heartfelt words and simply continued to ask.

We're all old foxes, so let's not try to fool each other.

If you actually believe everything this old fogey says and start to sympathize with him, then you're a real fool.

It is undeniable that the other party's homeland is indeed in crisis, but only it knows how much of the rest is genuine.

"Because there are fragments of divinity in this magma!" Lagras's opening statement was anything but shocking.

"The only feasible way to become a god in the present world is to condense fragments of a godhood; this is an age-old method."

"Therefore, as long as you have enough fragments of divine essence, you can ascend to godhood by absorbing the divinity within them."

"Old Di, come out." The lord snapped his fingers and took out the Flame Sword.

A transparent dragon crystal was embedded in the hilt of the Flame Sword. Inside, a mini dragon was dozing. It was awakened by the surrounding tremors. The cunning red dragon soul, which had just emerged, was horrified when it saw what was happening in front of it.

"Li Wei, where did you get yourself here? How come even those ancient frost giants are here? Is this still the material world?"

No wonder Digen was so shocked. Ever since its blade was repaired in the Holy Sith Kingdom, the lord had kept it in his inventory and had hardly ever taken it out. He was happy to let it sleep in there, since it was never a good thing when it was taken out, so he had no idea what was happening outside.

In its preconceived notion, the frost giants had been extinct for thousands of years.

There's no way these guys still exist in the material world. At most, there are some remnants who escaped due to the magic tides in other small worlds.

"Don't worry about any of that," the lord said briefly, relaying what Lagras had just said.

"I'm just asking you, does this method he's using even work?"

Dicken has lived for thousands of years and has a wealth of experience, so he must know something.

Although Sersni is also a legend, she is only a young dragon in terms of age, and knows far less than the old dragon Digan.

After all, that little hussy was pretending to be aloof on the side, but actually she was listening intently, thinking she was being discreet, but the lord knew perfectly well what was going on.

Lagras stood to the side, seemingly oblivious to his surroundings, but inwardly he was cursing.

This human is incredibly cunning; he's even more shrewd than his grandfather.

Fortunately, what he just said was not a lie.

“This…” Digenlong raised an eyebrow visibly, stretched out its little paw to touch its chin as if deep in thought, and after a long while it finally spoke: “The methods it mentioned are all correct. They are also recorded in the Dragon Heritage. I heard about them when I was alive.”

"The fourth method I was going to tell you last time was the one I didn't reveal because a few fragments of divine essence can only make one's cultivation level slightly higher."

"If you don't have enough fragments of divine essence, forget about becoming a god. Just be a king of the material world and you'll be able to live a life of luxury and debauchery for the rest of your life." Digen spread his paws.

Dragons are born lecherous creatures; otherwise, they wouldn't have created all sorts of dragon races.

So what Dickin was actually talking about was the life he himself had lived.

“Why is there no such record in my Dragon Legacy?” Sersney said coldly from the side.

Digen glanced at the other party, snorting two streams of flame from his nostrils with disdain: "What decent dragon heritage could a weak black dragon possibly have?"

It only treated Lord Digen with deference; it wouldn't even give a second glance to anyone else.

Among the five dragons, the black dragon, while not at the bottom, is second to last. As the red dragon, ranked first, Digen naturally looks down on it even more.

The so-called Dragon Heritage is the process by which every dragon, upon hatching, proclaims its true name and is identified as a true dragon rather than a beast. Once this is confirmed, the experience and knowledge of all its predecessors will automatically appear in its mind.

As the weakest batch of dragons, the Black Dragon's Dragon Legacy is naturally weaker than that of the Red Dragon.

(End of this chapter)