Anime Crossover: Unparalleled Comprehension, Shocking the Star God

Just then, Su Mo gazed at the doll-like girl in front of him and asked in a low voice.

"Why are the Star Gods and the planetary native gods definitely not the same species?"

"what?"

Hearing this, both Hei Ta and Ruan Mei were stunned.

Black Tower froze for more than ten seconds, then looked at Su Mo with a suspicious expression and asked for confirmation.

"Are you sure you're not joking?"

Do I really need to ask such a common-sense question?

"The difference between a star god and a planet's native god is greater than the difference between a human and an insect. Their structures, forms of existence, sources of power, and scale of power are worlds apart. How could they possibly be the same species?"

With a sense of entitlement, Black Tower posed this question.

The Star God is definitely not a larger version of the planet's native gods. This has been verified countless times in the early days of civilization, leaving no room for doubt.

In response to this statement, Su Mo simply asked a question lightly.

"The difference between heaven and earth? The essential difference? The complete lack of structural similarity? Isn't this a typical characteristic of the phenomenon of metamorphosis?"

"—!"

Upon hearing the word "transformation," Black Tower's eyes widened abruptly, and he stood up abruptly.

Recalling their previous conversation, she finally understood what Su Mo meant.

144 Cosmology, philosophical concepts, the persuaded Black Tower

Su Mo's previous conclusion was that the Star God was not born out of thin air, but rather transformed from some kind of existence.

Later, he emphasized that the birth of the Star God was related to the development of interstellar civilization, which is clearly a characteristic of the planet's native gods.

If these two points are combined, what he wants to say becomes crystal clear.

"You're not suggesting that beings at the level of Star Gods are the result of the planet's native gods ascending to a higher dimension, are you?"

Black Tower braced his hands on the table, his head extremely close to Su Mo's, his pale purple eyes fixed on him.

This is a rather bold, rather crazy, and rather fatally flawed conjecture.

Similar ideas have been proposed before. After all, star gods are gods, and planetary native gods are also gods. To those powerless ordinary people, there is no difference between the two; they are both a kind of deity.

However, as early as the early days of the birth of the Star God, many researchers had already disproved this conjecture.

As more and more star gods emerged in later generations, and as more and more research was conducted on them, this conjecture was gradually abandoned. Now, even children do not consider the two to be equivalent.

Given Su Mo's previous demonstrated abilities, Black Tower finds it hard to believe that he would support such a flawed view.

however--

"That's how I see it to a large extent."

Su Mo's answer directly confirmed this point.

Upon hearing this, Hei Ta stared intently at Su Mo without saying a word until she was sure he wasn't joking. Only then did she sit back down and ask him seriously.

"Why would you think that? How could a star god capable of shaking the universe and a planetary native god who can only survive by faith be the same kind of being?"

"Even in transformation, some basic framework will remain unchanged. A god who needs faith to survive and a god who does not need faith at all have different basic forms of existence, right?"

She did not hastily reject Su Mo's opinion, but instead cautiously inquired about it.

She did this for two reasons. First, she had already accepted Su Mo and did not believe that Su Mo would talk nonsense.

Secondly, there are precedents for similar incidents in the history of the Genius Club.

The second member of the Genius Club once confirmed the existence of phlogiston, but not long after, the third member disproved its existence. When phlogiston was regarded as a pseudo-scientific joke by the entire universe and was scorned by everyone, the seventh member proved its existence again.

Given this precedent, no matter how absurd Su Mo's conjecture may be, as long as he is recognized by the Black Tower, the Black Tower will take it seriously.

Because she understood one thing deeply.

That is, the more absurd and unbelievable the conjecture, the greater the uproar it will cause once it is proven to be true.

If she were to miss the opportunity to understand the origins of the Star God due to her arrogance in the face of truth, she would surely regret it for the rest of her life.

Black Tower's questioning was very serious, and the reasons he gave were the most convincing and effective in distinguishing between the Star God and the planet's native gods.

One is obsessed with faith and would disappear without it, while the other doesn't need faith at all and even has a tendency to destroy the world. They are not the same thing at all!

Faced with this obvious question, Su Mo shook his head and asked in return.

Do you understand faith?

"what?"

Black Tower was taken aback for a moment, then immediately replied.

"If it's about faith in the Star God, my assessment is that it's utterly useless. The Star God cares less about faith than about ants."

"If it's about the worship of indigenous gods, I've done some research on the existing data, but I wouldn't say it's particularly in-depth. I only know that for indigenous gods, faith is the basis of their existence; if no one believes in them, they will disappear."

In today's interstellar society, while the planetary native gods cannot be said to be on the verge of extinction, they have long since ceased development and entered the realm of museums.

Based on the remaining information, Heita has some understanding of this matter, but information obtained without on-site research and investigation is often seriously distorted, so she dares not say that she fully understands it.

Upon hearing Black Tower's statement, Su Mo immediately shook his head.

"First, let me correct you on one point. It's not that things disappear just because no one believes in them. Only in the earliest stages of the development of mythology would those animistic gods disappear like that."

For example, the early religious tribal gods, or the eight million gods in Fusang mythology—these are just a hodgepodge of numbers. Only these spirits and monsters would be so fragile and so dependent on faith.

In a proper pantheon, these mountain spirits and wild monsters would only be considered unofficial demons.

"Oh? I know a little about animism. It is indeed an early stage of religion. You mean that the indigenous gods of later stages of planetary religions did not need to rely on faith so much?"

Hearing Su Mo point out his mistake, Hei Ta's eyes lit up, and he asked curiously.

"It's not that we don't rely on faith at all, but the way we rely on it is not the same as you might imagine."

Su Mo shook his head, and then spoke.

Do you know how many ways there are to gain faith from gods?

"do not know."

Black Tower immediately shook his head rapidly.

It's not shameful to not know; what's shameful is being unwilling to admit it. And in the realm of gods, it's perfectly normal for Su Mo to know more than she does.

After all, Estella had already told her his identity.

"Let me give you a brief introduction. The most primitive gods can only draw faith from the worship and fear of others. Once they lose their followers and are forgotten by everyone, they will naturally disappear. These are generally called tribal gods or indigenous gods."

Speaking fluently about his area of ​​expertise.

In ancient times, countless gods lost their faith and disappeared completely because their tribes were defeated and annexed.

The Black Tower refers to the gods that most people in this world know, but are only gods at this stage.

"After that, with the development of the times and the exchanges between various civilizations and tribes, different gods constructed complex myths. Later, rich and colorful myths replaced the belief in a single god and became the mainstream."

"During this period, gods were able to gain faith through the spread of myths by humankind. Even if they lost their followers, were no longer worshipped by anyone, or were even forgotten by the vast majority of people, as long as they remained a part of the mythology and as long as the mythology was still being sung, they would not completely disappear."

"I call this kind of deity a mythological god."

Through mythology, even the weakest gods have no fear of disappearing, while powerful gods can amplify their power through faith.

For the gods, joining mythology is arguably the best decision; there is no other way.

"Interesting. Is the method of sharing the burden to reduce the difficulty of acquiring faith and increase the sources of faith?"

Black Tower immediately grasped the beauty of mythology: richer stories could attract more believers and reduce the gods' dependence on them.

"However, even so, it's impossible to completely get rid of dependence on faith, isn't it?"

She pointed this out astutely.

"If even mythology is forgotten, wouldn't an entire pantheon disappear along with it?"

Weaving myths can only reduce risks, not completely overcome them.

Mythical gods still need to rely on faith, and are not the same as star gods.

“What you said makes a lot of sense. Indeed, many mythical gods have disappeared due to the loss of mythology.”

Su Mo nodded, affirming Black Tower's approach.

Myths can be overthrown by larger myths. If they are absorbed, the gods can still exist in a different form. But if it is a war of genocide, or if there is some natural or man-made disaster, the inheritance of myths is not impossible to be broken.

"In order to compete for faith and to avoid being forgotten, various conflicts will naturally arise between different pantheons and their followers."

"In the War of the Gods, people quickly discovered that the victorious pantheons all shared some commonalities that transcended time and space. By studying these commonalities, a brand-new way of gaining faith emerged."

At this point, Su Mo paused before continuing.

"This commonality is the true core of mature mythology—its cosmology."

"Cosmological view?"

Upon hearing this term, Black Tower tilted its head.

"Does that mean a unified view of the universe?"

"Yes."

Su Mo nodded.

“Myths can be used to draw faith in place of individual deities, while cosmology can be used to draw faith in place of myths.”

"Therefore, even if people have completely forgotten the myths, as long as they still remember and identify with the core worldview of the myths, the gods will not perish."

“I call this level of deity the god of civilization.”

In fact, the wonderful applications of a worldview go beyond this, but here, the main focus is on the relationship between faith and deities, so Su Mo didn't elaborate too much.

Upon hearing Su Mo's words, Black Tower immediately pressed for an answer.

"If humanity forgets its corresponding cosmology, won't it also disappear?"

"Do not."