This is not an MMO game copy

"Ok?"

"No, nothing. I just thought of something funny. After all, isn't it the 'bloodline theory'? This time, the bloodline isn't inherited by genes, but by the soul..."

Xia Yan shook his head and did not explain what he had thought of to Asthesia and Irena, who looked at him with confusion. He gestured for Asthesia to continue.

With Asthesia's detailed personal explanation, this path to the [Essence] God, which is highly similar to the Kabbalah Tree of Life, was easily explained.

The adventurer's LV1 is actually the first essence - the kingdom, and LV2 naturally corresponds to the second essence - foundation (Yesod, Foundation). As the name suggests, it is the foundation, the basis, the aura generated in the soul and the body.

In reality, only after reaching Level 2 can one be considered a full-fledged adventurer. Starting at Level 2, different adventurers have different growth paths... Those skilled in magic will aim to develop into mages from this level onwards, while those skilled in dexterity and agility will definitely develop into a fighting style like that of Sword Princess...

The next level, LV3, corresponds to the third Essence - Glory (Hod, Splendor), also known as Radiance, which means "molding" in material form. Adventurers who manage to reach LV3 generally display their unique 'talents' and begin to realize their potential...

After that, continue leveling up in this way, building Essence—Victory, Beauty, Sternness, Compassion, Understanding, and Wisdom—until you reach Level 10 and enter the final stage of the Divine Path, called Essence—Kether (Crown).

“Put on the crown, become the source of creation, pure existence, and hold high the ‘kingdom’ that one originally built – that is, oneself, transcending the mortal world and ascending to heaven.”

Asthesia said:

"Until now, the ascension of humans to godhood, and thereby the knowledge of the immortality of the gods and the truth of the [Heaven], was the original purpose of the creation of [God's Grace]... But now, no gods care. The divine path of [Essence] is too difficult, and it depends not only on personal talent but also on current luck."

As she spoke, she shook her head and sighed regretfully, "I remember back when I was still in the [Heaven], I heard that the Level 9 adventurer who came closest to success in a thousand years still failed at the last hurdle, unable to achieve the greatness needed to take the final step..."

"...Of course, aside from the person involved and her primary deity, perhaps no one knows whether that LV9 has truly achieved theoretical perfection in constructing every LV essence. Otherwise, even if they succeed, they won't be able to wear the 'true crown.'"

"So, how does this relate to what you said before about being able to leave this world just because you are no longer a 'god' in the [Heavenly Realm]?"

Irena asked curiously:

"Didn't you also say that the divine path of Essence has yet to be truly verified?"

"Yeah, there's no way to verify it... but I am a goddess from the [Heavenly Realm]!"

Asthesia pointed at herself with a smile, and her originally gentle and clear eyes suddenly revealed a madness that made the witch's back shiver.

"I don't need to start from the kingdom and climb all the way to the crown. But I can reverse this process, take off my [crown], and dismantle my [wisdom], [understanding], [compassion], [severity], [beauty], [victory], [glory], [foundation] one by one... and finally tear my [kingdom] down from heaven, from the celestial realm."

"Ah, you, this..."

Irena stared in amazement at Asthesia, who had just made a 'suicide declaration' but looked nonchalant.

"Are you crazy?!"

Xia Yan also stared into the pair of eyes that revealed madness, and said to Asthesia's sweet face that was close at hand:

"You will reverse the divine path of the [Essence] and use it on yourself, stripping the [Kingdom] that was born in heaven, along with your [Crown] and all other [Essence], from the [Heaven]... until you are weak enough to be materialized by the [Greater Holy Grail] using its incomplete Third Law of Soul Materialization and transformed into a Heroic Servant!?"

"yes dear."

Asthesia whispered, raised her head, and gently offered her lips to him again. Her eyes, filled with madness, showed an extreme attachment and admiration.

"Normally, the divine path of reversing Essence doesn't allow a god to commit suicide. As long as the prison of Heaven remains, they will only sleep in death for ten thousand years. However, your arrival allows me to truly commit suicide. All I need to do is merge my torn-away Kingdom, along with my Crown and all the rest of Essence, into your possessions, into this Greater Holy Grail. Then, I can leave this world with you."

"At the same time, I will also obtain a true [Divine Artifact], sacrifice myself to an immortal true god, and allow the [Great Holy Grail] to usher in a comprehensive sublimation, right!?"

"Ah."

Asthesia smiled and said:

"And this is my 'deal' with you, and also my 'dowry' as I am now Asteria Ubica."

"My dear, what do you think? Do you agree to put on the 'wedding ring' for me now?"

"..."

(PS: I modified the LV upgrade system in Dicuo a bit and also made up a set of [Essence] paths. It was really a bunch of nonsense. The original work should not be like this. Any similarities are purely coincidental.)

The fourth copy: 108. A psychopath blinded by love (4k+)

There is a saying that goes - love makes people blind.

What if the blind man is a psychopath?

On this basis, there is another condition: the blind lunatic is not an ordinary lunatic, but a lunatic who is rich, powerful and influential.

Question: What will this psychopath who is blinded by "love" do?

For the first time, Xia Yan suddenly found it 'reasonable' for the immortals and demons who destroyed the three realms for love in the fairy love-themed works that focused on love.

After all, there is a "god" right in front of us who is doing similar things, and in this "copy" world, there are a lot of potential similar "gods". Even in the maze city of Orario, nine out of ten of them may become this kind of psychopath who "destroys the world for love".

The difference between them and the goddess of beauty Freya in the main storyline of Dicuo may be that they have not met a suitable person who can make them sick, and an event that can make them sick.

think carefully.

Xia Yan vaguely remembered that in the main storyline of Dicuo, Freya did not fall ill at the beginning.

Judging from the timeline, Bell was granted [God's Grace] by Hestia at the beginning of the plot, that is, half a month before he was rescued by Sword Princess at the beginning of the first volume of the novel. Bell had just arrived in Orario not long ago. At this time, Freya, disguised as Seele, was still working as a tavern hostess and playing role-playing games. She was obsessed with being the best friend and girlfriend of the useless elf Liu. Even if she could rely on the passive permanent ability of seeing soul light and fall in love with Bell at first sight when he came to the tavern, it would be impossible for her to get sick immediately.

Therefore, at least in the early stages of the original story, Freya was probably just holding an idea similar to the one in the spin-off story, trying to abduct a princess of a desert kingdom to be her lover, thinking of secretly cultivating Bell and then NT/Ringing Hestia, who was considered her "rival".

It was not until Bell, a world that had lasted for at least three thousand years and had gone through countless reincarnations, that the super-scheme and power-hungry people formed in the [God's Grace] system quickly realized their potential, allowing Freya, who was addicted to role-playing games, to gradually realize that she could use the identity of "Seele" to play the pure love of one husband (Bell) and one wife (Ryu).

It was only then that the disease finally began to really set in.

However, there is still hope at this time. As long as Freya, who is determined to pursue pure love, monogamy, and threesomes, can have her confession accepted by Bell later, her condition will not become hopeless in the late stage.

From this, we can infer that all the gods in the underworld in the Dicuo world are indeed mentally ill, but most of them have never encountered the trigger for their illness.

The Astesia in front of him just happened to be the trigger for the disease.

love?

There was definitely no such thing when she had just left the [Heaven] and arrived in the lower realm, and because of her name, she came into contact with the human-machine star pole.

But after she suddenly had an idea and chose to merge into the human-machine Star Pole and completely became Astesia Ubica, even if she might not have it originally, she immediately had it at that moment because she wanted it.

Just like Freya in the main storyline of Dicuo.

The disease will occur as long as there is a trigger.

Once the disease occurs, it will go straight to extremes.

and so……

Whether from the perspective of interests or other aspects, since things have come to this, he seems to have no reason to refuse.

However, it takes sufficient time to transfer the "assets". Even if she chooses to completely become a star, Asthesia is still the goddess of the underworld, and the restriction that covers all gods indiscriminately will still be effective on her.

Even if Xia Yan agreed to sign the "marriage certificate", it would be impossible for Asthesia to transfer the "assets" belonging to the [Meteor Goddess] and separate them from the original company (Heaven) without alerting other shareholders of the company.

However, Xia Yan might not be able to stay in this "copy" world until the moment when Asthesia successfully transfers all the "assets" of the [Meteor Goddess].

So, after reaching a consensus on the 'engagement', even Irena felt her scalp tingling and nodded in astonishment under the super terrifying gravity of Asthesia's undisguised statement of 'You be my wife, I'll be my concubine, and I only wish to stay with you forever without competing for fame and status'.

There was only one question left for Xia Yan.

How long will it take until the Loki clan defeats the fallen immortal on the 59th floor of the dungeon maze in the spin-off "Sword Princess's Sacred Tale"?

If time is tight, Xia Yan will have to make some bad plans.

He had to go to the labyrinth city of Orario no matter what.

Fortunately, as a well-deserved world capital in the world of Dicuo, and a city independent of all kingdoms or city-states, Orario is still very famous in this world.

After leaving the forest where they had entered the 'copy', Xia Yan found the nearest town or village, and after asking the locals, he knew the general direction of Orario.

Afterwards, without stopping for long, he immediately used the Cloud-Flying Technique, summoning white clouds to carry himself and the two women, and flew towards Orario.

……

……

On Earth, in the myths of every nation and culture, there are records of the era when humans and gods lived together.

If it is an ordinary world without supernatural powers, the so-called "coexistence of humans and gods" is just the ancients using myths and legends to explain natural and social phenomena, or it reflects cultural background and religious beliefs.

For example: In the Classic of Mountains and Seas, gods and humans meet under certain circumstances and even participate in human activities together;

In Greek mythology, the Olympian gods left behind demigod descendants from their romantic affairs on earth, and also got involved in the disputes between human city-states and heroes;

Norse mythology, Egyptian mythology and other mythologies have similar plots. Even Christianity has stories about the coming of the Son of God and the punishment of Sodom.

But those are limited to myths.

In most worlds, at least in the worlds of the "stories" that Xia Yan remembered, there was actually very little development of "coexistence of humans and gods". On the contrary, the separation between humans and gods was one of the most core settings in many works, which was not explicitly stated on the table, but was known to everyone.

The world of Dicuo is a very special exception.

In this worldview, the gods from the [heaven] exist clearly, but they are not as abstract as the "immortals" in later fairy tales and ancient idol dramas, who rely on their divine power and magic to do whatever they want in the world.

Due to the constraints of sealing divine power and forced repatriation, the gods who descended to the lower world really only possessed a healthy ordinary human body. They might have unlimited energy and endless lifespan, and would not die even if they did not eat, drink or sleep. They might not have the need for urination or defecation, but they might be tired, hungry, and thirsty.

In short, except for not getting sick, they have almost all the physical defects that mortals have.

This means that even gods cannot eat for free without working.

For most gods, this is a very joyful experience, especially when starting from scratch, from nothing to something. No matter what the process is, in the end, being able to eat enough and wear warm clothes, and being able to go from sleeping on the streets and eating in the open air to living in luxury villas and eating delicacies from land and sea, will make them feel quite a sense of accomplishment.

Therefore, very few gods in the lower world would choose to become the "offerings" of a certain country, staying in that country for a long time and giving the other party the "favor of God" on an assembly line.

In addition, if one becomes a "tribute" of a certain country alone and lives in a remote corner, no matter how much [God's Grace] is given, under normal circumstances, he can only cultivate LV2 at most, and it may even be monopolized by the aristocratic ruling class.

Although there are gods who choose to stay in a certain country or city-state, those who do stay usually do so either because the god has the highest decision-making power in the local country and is directly in charge of all matters, or because the local class mobility far exceeds the level of medieval European feudal states that are common in the world.

But the gods who came down from the Heaven almost all came to have fun, not to work overtime. The very few who really came down to work overtime were there to check and balance the fun-loving people and prevent them from making a terrible mess.

The labyrinth city of Orario is a place suitable for gods who come here to have fun, and for gods who come here to check and supervise them, to stay for a long time.

A city where humans and gods truly live together.

Here, the gods of the lower world recruit members, grant favors, and build their own families. They enjoy building the guild they want from scratch, and from nothing they can live in a big mansion and live a life of freedom in eating, drinking, and having fun.

As adventurers, clan members enter the dungeon maze, clearing and strangling the monsters that keep appearing underground to prevent the catastrophe of monsters flooding to the surface again. In the process, they accumulate experience, establish great achievements, and upgrade the LV level of the [God's Grace] system.

At the same time, a series of ancillary industries have been derived around adventurers, and with Orario as the center, an international commercial trade network has been formed that covers the entire known world, all countries, city-states, races and civilizations, allowing astronomical wealth and resources to circulate.

It could be said that if the city of Orario were ever destroyed, before the dungeon maze monsters would emerge from the surface and bring another doomsday catastrophe to the entire world, the collapse of the core of this international commercial trade network alone, resulting in financial crises, business crises, stagnant and shortage of material turnover, the inability to process certain surplus products, and other problems, would be enough to destroy almost all countries, city-states, races, and civilizations in the world.

"If I take out the [Immortal Blade] at this moment, sacrifice the [Sun Disc Armor], and unleash [Sun Disc, Submit to Death] with all my might, and throw it at this city..."

Standing on a low-profile copycat version of the Somersault Cloud, several thousand meters in the air, gazing at the city surrounded by a massive tower on the plain below, Xia Yan asked thoughtfully:

"...Will this world be destroyed first by the monsters that flood the surface from the dungeon maze, or by the chain reaction of financial and commercial crises and other problems that trigger civil wars among kingdoms, city-states, races, and civilizations?"

"Are you crazy?!"

Irena replied to him unhappily, while Asthesia smiled.

"Xia Yan, if you want, you can give it a try. I don't mind."

"Forget it, I was just saying it."

Xia Yan shook his head and did not accept Asthesia's instigation. He descended the cloud from a long distance away from Orario.

He could fly in with impunity. Even though more than half of the gods in the lower world were concentrated in Orario, it was basically impossible for them to discover him after he sealed his divine power.

The only trouble may be the adventurer, but he is not a real footman, neither a millionaire lord nor the real fourth disaster. It is estimated that he will do nothing and activate the protective divine light of [Sun Wheel Armor] to ignore attacks below LV5 level.

In the storyline of Dicuo, even in the era of Zeus and Hera's families, LV5 was still the main core member of Orario's large families.

However, in the original work, this level can generally dominate the local battlefield based on the [God's Gift] system with its individual combat power, with LV2 adventurers as "soldiers", LV3 as "elites", and LV4 as "elites".

Combining his memories with some fragments from novels, comics, and anime, Xia Yan roughly guessed that a LV5 adventurer should be able to match the combat power of a Type-Moon World Servant.

Which level of servant is it?

In any case, he is definitely not like Little Sun, who is ranked at the top of T1 and can withstand the world-destroying attack of Arjuna, the king of the Lostbelt, for 5 seconds after burning his spiritual base. He should also not be able to defeat first-class servants with special damage-free mechanisms such as Sorry and Heel. Even because of the special nature of the Noble Phantasm, many second- and third-rate servants are capable of killing LV5 or LV6 in seconds.

For example: In the Romanian Holy Grail War 'copy' world, Jack the Ripper was killed head-on by his summoned [Error of No Return]. Using the inherent barrier + Disintegration Madonna, combined with the killing class characteristics of erasing intelligence and concealing breath, should have been able to kill Fiora instantly.

Furthermore, if we really talk about spellcasting skills, neither Riveria of Loki's family nor Bell's aunt, Alfia of Hera's family, can necessarily compare to Medea, whose abilities as a Caster are at the level of a magician.

But there's no need to be so flashy as to cause trouble.

So, after landing at a long distance, Xia Yan took Irena and Asthesia and walked towards Orario.

This distance is not a problem for Xia Yan, Irena who possesses the spiritual base of Lady Avalon, or Asthesia who has the physical fitness of a super Terran even though her divine power has been sealed.

However, as he was about to approach the high walls outside Orario, Xia Yan suddenly thought of a question as he looked at the Tower of Babel that stood in the center of the city and was visible from afar even from outside the city, pressing against the entrance to the dungeon maze.

"Astecia."

"what happened?"

"Did you mention before that a guy could see the color of souls?"