"Thanatos, God of Death! Hypnos, God of Sleep!"
As he sat in the rapidly moving undead chariot, Muria reflected on the scene he had just witnessed—the birth of two new gods. His eyes sparkled with admiration.
Hades had captured a demon lord from another realm, refined it using the world's laws, and then split its essence into two, creating two powerful subordinate gods: the God of Death and the God of Sleep. Both of these gods, who were just born, possessed moderate divine power and held domains related to death, making them formidable without a doubt.
With the birth of these two gods, a powerful and dominant pantheon of death had emerged. What stood out about this pantheon was that none of these three deities needed the power of faith to sustain their divine authority.
"Hades doesn't need any explanation, but if the newly born Gods of Death and Sleep were to establish their own churches and spread their faith, they could advance further, becoming gods of great power. At that point..." Muria couldn't help but smile at the thought. Given Hades' treatment of the Titans and the invitation he had extended to them, it was clear that Hades had forged an undeniable bond with the Titan race.
Hades was one of their own. The stronger he became, the better. However, there was one potential issue. "Becoming too powerful might lead to resistance from other gods."
This was a predictable outcome. The weak always band together to defend against the strong, a behavior as old as time itself—even among gods.
"Resistance? So be it. I'll support him when the time comes!" Muria smirked. The faith of intelligent creatures from a secondary continent was more than enough to support two gods of great power.
For common mortals, worshiping gods was a natural thing. To this day, Muria hadn't heard of any country that dared to ban all divine worship. To do so would not only earn the gods' enmity but also the resistance of the common people, for whom the gods were their only spiritual solace.
Erathia's large number of gods indicated that these deities were necessary. For example, a poor, destitute person, when suffering from illness with no money for treatment, could pray to the gods. If their prayers were sincere enough, a god might respond.
Likewise, for a mortal without any innate talent for cultivation, the only way to gain extraordinary powers was to pray to the gods and become a devout follower. In return, the gods might bestow a diluted form of divine power upon them, allowing them to transcend their mortal state. Clerics and paladins often came into being this way, and some of them could even reach the pinnacle of worldly power.
Given all this, it was impossible for any country to completely eradicate divine worship. Even the empire Muria planned to establish in the future would undoubtedly have churches propagating their faith.
For a ruler of an authoritarian regime, religion was naturally something to be despised, and Muria instinctively shared this sentiment. However, since he couldn't eliminate it, he would have to find a way to control it.
Although Muria didn't personally need faith, he also couldn't allow it to be freely given to others. In the past, he had considered the churches of benevolent gods with which he had some contact. But now, it was clear to him who would receive the piece of the faith pie that would form under his rule.
"Today has been truly rewarding!" Muria sighed as he stood in the darkness, gazing at the large, glowing yellow door before him and watching the undead chariot disappear into the shadows. He turned and stepped through the door.
Everything returned to normal. Muria glanced at the clock in the room. Only a quarter of an hour had passed since he left, though the time he spent in the underworld felt much longer.
"The flow of time is different! This is the power of the gods, able to influence time itself!" Muria pondered as he sat back on the couch and resumed handling administrative matters.
In the days that followed, everything went smoothly, especially in the war on the Synapse Continent. The armies advanced with little resistance, their victories resounding. Since the last time various anomalies had occurred worldwide, no evil gods had sent down avatars. It seemed they had decided to let their sanctuaries be destroyed by Muria.
Amidst this smooth progress, Muria's eldest son, who had been in Mikaela's womb for twenty-four years, was finally born.
Boom!
At the moment of his son's birth, the clear sky was suddenly filled with countless bolts of lightning. A gentle breeze blew across all 130 floating islands in Synapse, and the sun in the sky seemed even brighter than usual.
"My grandson has been born! Hahaha!" A voice filled with endless joy echoed above Synapse. Under the calm gaze of the native inhabitants, a large, elegant dragon tore through space and descended.
This was just the first to arrive. In fact, the birth of Muria and Mikaela's first naturally conceived child had caught the attention of many elders. On the day of his birth, these powerful beings, who had long transcended the mortal realm, all arrived.
…
"Muria, there's something we'd like to discuss with you," his dragon mother said sternly, seated among a group of elders.
As the youngest of Muria's elders, she was chosen to speak for the group. Elders, after all, had to maintain a certain level of dignity.
"What's the matter?" Muria shifted uncomfortably. While having powerful elders was a blessing—it spared him many unnecessary troubles and provided him with resources beyond the reach of his peers—it could also be burdensome. For instance, he often felt immense pressure when dealing with them. Now, with all of them gathered, the pressure was even more intense.
"It's about your children with Mikaela."
"My eldest son was just born. What's there to worry about?" Muria immediately understood. Elders naturally cared about the continuation of bloodlines, even those who had attained immortality. However, he had just sensed his child's birth and was already being pulled into this seemingly significant conversation.
"We know that," his mother replied, glancing at the other elders—Arista, the newly crowned dragon king, Archimonde the Titan, and Arudiba the Seraph were all present.
"What we mean is, isn't it a bit too few to only have one child?"
"Huh?" Muria looked stunned as he finally grasped their intentions. They were unhappy that he and Mikaela had only one child. They wanted more.
Their eagerness left Muria somewhat speechless. His first son had just been born, and they were already concerned about a second. That seemed overly hasty!
"You're about to reach the peak of the legendary rank. After that, you'll be preparing to head into the void. Although we've developed safer techniques for using source power, the void is unpredictable. Anything can happen. So, before you head into the void, you must have more children with Mikaela."
"But with our current power, it's no longer possible for us to conceive more offspring."
"We know that. That's why we'll provide enough source power for your second child with Mikaela," said Arudiba, the Seraph.
"You all..." Muria opened his mouth, wanting to ask why these elders, who so eagerly wanted more children and were willing to provide source power, didn't just have more themselves. However, he decided not to voice those thoughts. "Alright."
In the end, Muria agreed. Although he was a little annoyed at being pressured into having more children by his elders, deep down, he did want more kids—perhaps even some daughters.
"Source power can create anything. Your first child with Mikaela was conceived naturally, so you had no say in the matter. But for the second, you do. Muria, what kind of child would you like to have?"
"Muria, since your first child is a boy, your second must be a girl!" his mother urged, clearly obsessed with the idea of a daughter.
She had long desired a daughter, and now that she had a chance—though it wouldn't be her daughter, a granddaughter would be just as good.
"Just one daughter?" Muria shook his head and looked up at the elders from the three races. A thought began to take shape in his mind, and he spoke it aloud.
"If source power can do anything, why just have one child? Why not have triplets—three daughters, each with the bloodlines of a Golden Dragon, a Seraph, and a Titan?"
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