Tokyo Soft Rice King.

"It was originally just ashes, but after sinking into another world, it transformed into this shape, meow. Now you can't see this thing in the real world anymore, meow."

"If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have been able to tell that this cocoon was originally ashes... So now, as long as we infuse a soul into it, we can resurrect Grandpa Kobayashi and make him a god?"

"Three conditions also need to be met: the time from sunset to sunrise, when all things are in motion, bidding farewell to the old and welcoming the new; and finally, a special ritual of deification."

"Oh... the first two conditions have been met. The third condition is to find Tianyu..."

Kuroba Akira instinctively wanted to say "Ameyu-kun" again, but Ameyu Hikaru pulled his hand to remind him to change his address.

"So you're asking for light to perform the ritual, right? But didn't you just say that the Tenyu family's deity transformation ritual requires a human sacrifice?"

Kuroba Akira suddenly thought of something terrifying, and, sweating profusely, pointed at himself and said.

"Could it be... that I'm the sacrificial offering this time?"

Otherwise, why would they invite someone like me, who has no connection to the process, to observe it?

"Bai Zi, you really are an idiot, meow. What other connection do you have with him besides coming from the same world? If you really want to find a human sacrifice, you should find his son, not you, meow."

Upon hearing that he wasn't to be sacrificed, Kuroba Akira was immediately relieved and patted his chest as he spoke.

"Phew...that's good...So what about the offerings for the Nascent Soul Ceremony? Is this a special case where no offerings are needed?"

"The situation is indeed special, but it's not that we don't need to offer sacrifices. In the end, the so-called sacrifices are the vessels of the gods, and this time the vessel is this thing that used to be ashes, meow."

"Huh? Wait, wait, wait..."

Because it was too complicated, Kuroba Akira carefully sorted it out in his mind.

We must first start with the composition of the gods.

A deity is actually composed of three parts: divine personality, divine spirit, and divine body.

A deity is an object that carries faith; it can be anything that actually exists except for humans, because a god cannot directly possess a human.

However, individual parts of a person, such as blood, bones, or internal organs, or corpses and ashes, can be regarded as deities.

Although the divine essence cannot be destroyed by human intervention because it sinks into another world, it will decay over time. Therefore, some gods whose divine essence is about to decay will choose to transfer their divine essence to their bloodline and pass it on to their next generation of offspring in order to avoid their own demise. In reality, it is just a way to prolong their lives.

Next is the divine body, which is the true form of a god. It resides in the deepest part of the other world, inaccessible to ordinary people. As long as the divine essence remains, the divine body is immortal.

The final deity is the soul of a god who leaves the other world and comes to the real world. They can possess small animals, or transform into human form for a short time through the power of faith, and can even have children with humans... It might be easier to understand if we call them incarnations.

From this perspective, Akira Kuroba felt that gods, though seemingly immortal and possessing great supernatural powers, were actually quite unfree.

If faith is insufficient, the divine status will decay, and if all else fails, it will ultimately have no choice but to sell itself to humanity in order to survive.

The original body can only stay in the depths of a godforsaken otherworld, and cannot decide what it looks like.

Even if they could come to the real world, they would still have to work hard to collect faith, otherwise their divinity would decay.

Seemingly omnipotent, but in reality, they are controlled by others at every turn.

To survive, one must constantly strive for faith; if one cannot gather enough faith, one can only sell oneself... Namo San! What a tragic life for a god!

Looking at it this way, the gods are practically the kings of all wage slaves!

God is just a wage earner! A life of eternal toil!

Chapter 378 Still a Youth Upon Return

After sorting through all the information, Kuroba Akira felt more and more that the gods were not some lofty beings, but rather... pitiful?

Perhaps it's better to think of gods as inhabitants of other worlds with superpowers, who also need to work for life to survive.

Is it really a good thing to make Mr. Kobayashi such a miserable person?

Kuroba Akira was initially hesitant, but he immediately realized that this ascension to godhood was probably for the purpose of 'solving these problems'.

Because the divine essence prepared now is ashes, the physical vessel used for the transformation into a deity is also ashes, and finally, the soul... is also infused into this cocoon made of ashes...

That achieves the 'trinity'!

"this……!"

Seeing the look of shock on Kuroba Akira's face after a moment of thought, Kuroo narrowed his eyes and said.

"Bai Zi, you've realized it too, meow... In fact, those past precedents of humans becoming gods all required the sedimentation of time. It was only after hundreds of years that a new god could be successfully born. During this process, whether it was the divine personality that carried the faith or the original body deep in another world, it would all separate from the human. The god that was finally born was an existence that was 'similar but not quite' to the original human, meow."

"But this time it was done with human intervention, using the true self to perform the deification ritual... Hiss!"

Kuroba Akira gasped, covering his mouth in astonishment. He realized that this was not just a simple matter of bringing the old man back to life, but a 'historic breakthrough'.

Just like the invention of the steam engine by humankind... it was an event that could rewrite the 'journey of the world'!

"Just as you thought, if the ritual goes smoothly, the 'transformation' between humans and gods will take place, meow."

That's right, that's what makes it truly 'amazing'.

When the divine essence, the divine spirit, and the divine body are combined, they become a complete existence, just like the bones and flesh of a human being.

Although faith is still required for existence, one can manifest in the world in person without 'extra expenditure'.

There are likely drawbacks, namely that the divine beings appearing in the real world would become things that can be physically destroyed...

In other words, God will be able to be 'killed'.

Even so, this is a very valuable discovery.

This means that death is no longer the 'end' for humans. As long as they perform meritorious deeds during their lifetime that are worthy of people's faith, they can be resurrected as gods and gain 'immortality'!

This is the ascension of faith!

The social structure is about to be rewritten!

Because immortality is one of humanity's ultimate goals, isn't it?

Now that there is a clear and achievable method, many powerful and wealthy people must want to achieve immortality.

The best way to unite people in faith is naturally to establish a church...

Will the world become a strange place filled with churches in the future?

No, that's not right. If everyone has the opportunity to become a god, people's beliefs might become more conservative.

Some might even use this to their advantage... for example, "If you don't give me benefits, I won't believe in you..."

Capital will also spend heavily to gain public support...

Every individual will have value; people themselves will become society's most valuable resource...

Hmm, I can't even imagine...

That would be a world completely beyond Kuroba Akira's current understanding.

"Well, it's still uncertain whether the guy after the ritual will still be the same guy, meow."

"Huh? Aren't souls all the same?"

"It's 'only the soul is the same,' meow. Everything else is different. The ashes themselves do not have human bodily functions; they are merely a vessel for faith, meow. Under such circumstances, whether the entity formed on this basis is the original person, or whether it still retains the original person's memories... is still unknown, meow."

As he spoke, Kuroo glanced at Tenyu Hikaru again and said.

"It might end up like this brat, meow."

Tenyu Hikaru frowned unhappily.

"what……"

In other words, is it possible that Mr. Kobayashi, who has been resurrected as a god, will lose his memory...?

"Indeed, based on records to date, gods who were transformed from humans do not remember their 'memories of their previous lives' at all, but only the 'deeds recorded by people.' This also proves that gods are consciousness entities composed of the collective subconscious of humankind."

"...Uncle, you...!"

Tomita Hokken, the mastermind behind it all has appeared.

With a calm, mysterious, and unfathomable smile like that of a final boss, he appeared in the main hall, passing through the wall.

"For example, that Lady Kushinada Hime over there, she's just a collection of concepts called 'Kushinada Princess' right now, and she doesn't remember anything about when she was still human, right?"

"..."

When Tian Yuguang was called out again, he simply turned his head away, closed his eyes, and ignored them.

"However, the original memories of that body still remain in her soul... especially her reaction after seeing you, which confirms my suspicions, Kuroba boy."

Tomita Hoken, with a gentle smile, scratched his head and said.

"However, I really didn't expect that you, Kuroba boy, are not only a traveler from another world who has returned from the underworld, but also the boy from the Amamiya family who was expelled. This is really... making one sigh that this is 'fate', ahahaha."

"what?"

This is... solid evidence?

So, I really am a member of the Kuroba family, a branch of the Tenyu family?

Kuroba Akira just wants to know one thing: if he were expelled, would his parents still be alive?

Let alone being persecuted together... that would mean having a deep-seated, irreconcilable hatred for the Tianyu family.

Tomita Hogen didn't give him a chance to ask and continued.

"And among the people who came with you this time is that person's representative, and even a princess who has been missing for a long time... Oh my, what a strange coincidence, ahaha... Could this be a prank by Lady Kikurihime? Perhaps you, Kuroba-kun, have met the little girl Tsukimi?"

"Uh?"

Kuroba Akira looked completely bewildered, having no idea what the man was talking about.

Tsukimi-ri? That's an unusual surname... Could it be referring to Tsukimi-ri Ai?

Why would someone be associated with a top celebrity?

Judging from this, is she also an agent of the gods?

"Ah, judging from your reaction, it seems not... Then it can only be said that it was all a 'coincidence,' haha, that's quite interesting, don't you think? Lord Cat God?"

"Tsk..."

Kuroko still really hates Uncle Faquan, showing the most disgusted expression she had today.

Tomita Hoken, as if he was already used to Kuroo's attitude, came to the two people and the cat, put his hands in his sleeves, and looked at the white cocoon in front of him.

"In short, what I want to say is that there is still a high possibility that the teacher retains memories from his human days."

"Uh... Uncle Faquan, you..."

“Black Feather Boy… no, I should call you… Shirayu Akira.”