The British dynasty continued to grow stronger.
People had never imagined before that even those with only a little talent could one day become part of a myth.
Isn't that so?
Leaving the surface of the planet—if it ever wanted or needed to—the British Empire could now head directly to the sea of stars. A country like this, what else could it be but myth incarnate? How could people not be proud, not be amazed?
And all of this was brought about by King Arthur.
The prophesied Red Dragon King.
The Great Lord of Britain.
Even the Celtic gods pale in comparison to my king!
The people's worship of Arthur grew increasingly fanatical, and in some regions, the cult-like ideology of Arthurianism began to emerge.
Okay… that part sounded pretty embarrassing.
And it was completely contrary to Arthur's own expectations.
God knows he never wanted to become a god—and even becoming king, in the beginning, had been forced upon him. No one knows how things ended up like this. Even if public opinion was intentionally guided, anyone who dared utter a bad word about King Arthur would have their legs broken.
The madness had escalated to such a degree that even Arthur himself was alarmed.
Step outside and be greeted by endless praise. Let your identity slip, and every soul within sight would kneel and pray. How could you not be terrified of a scene like that? There was nowhere to run, no true freedom left.
As a result, Arthur had become the ultimate shut-in.
Most days, he handled government affairs from the castle. When bored, he either teased Miss Alter or was pestered by Miss Killer Whale.
"Ah, life just keeps getting duller. Kay, there's nothing left for me to do. At least let the research institute work on the magic network again." Arthur slumped on his throne and tossed aside the document he had already reread several times today. "So boring. Utterly boring!"
"My king..." Kay hesitated. "How about declaring war on Rome?"
Clearly, the knight was also bored.
After all, without a war, there were no assassination attempts, and his martial skills went completely unused.
"Don't be ridiculous. At this point, both targeting and energy calibration have been perfected. One shot from the Star Arrow and Rome's history. What's the point?"
"True enough." Kay nodded solemnly.
Honestly, the power of the Star Arrow was terrifying.
After the White Dragon War, the Star Arrow's flaws and potential were both made clear. The magi, led by Manaka, spent years upgrading and refining it. In that time, numerous tests had been conducted. Kay had once seen—through an astronomical telescope—how a mere ten percent of the Star Arrow's full output pierced a massive meteorite.
Now, after launching the entire British Isles into space, extensive transformations had been made.
Thousands of miniature Star Arrows had been installed on the underside of the island.
Though they weren't as powerful as the original, they could still easily obliterate several countries.
If Britain wanted global dominance, it could seize it with ease.
But there was no need.
Britain belonged to the Age of Gods. The rest of the world had already entered the age of human civilization. Even if they conquered other territories, those lands would still need to be transformed and controlled. Doing so would require tremendous resources. Even with access to the planet's inner true ether, it would ultimately only accelerate its collapse.
If mismanaged, by the time the Age of Gods returned, every god would reawaken—and Britain would find itself surrounded by enemies.
Arthur wasn't the only one who felt helpless about this.
Kay did too.
Their expansion was strictly limited. At least until the next great technological breakthrough, dreams of domination would have to wait.
"My king, if you're truly bored... perhaps you could visit the church. There's a large ceremony happening today. I'm sure the people would be thrilled to see you."
Of course, the "church" in question had nothing to do with the Dove God of later generations.
The object of worship was none other than Arthur himself.
"No! Enough! You win! I'm not going!" Arthur's reaction was immediate—and intense.
Stop joking.
It sounded noble, being revered by the people, but in reality, it was just being fawned over by a group of fanatics. He remembered the last time he was talked into going—thanks to Kay's malicious persuasion—his stats had been massively boosted by the British Divine Protection. He almost developed some strange new skill on the spot.
At the thought of it, Arthur silently opened his system interface and stared at his character panel:
[Host: Arthur Pendragon]
Talents:
Demonic Appearance MAX
Beauty Incarnation MAX
Beautiful Young Man MAX
Fantasy Charm MAX
Star Sword MAX
Dynasty Blessing MAX
Dragon Soul MAX
God Body LV74
Miracle LV5
Skills:
Clairvoyance MAX
Holy King (Human/God) MAX
Word Spirit MAX
Telekinesis MAX
Heavenly Grace Red Dragon MAX
God King LV98
Inch Power: Craniotomy LV90
Divinity LV50
Dragon's Shadow (Imaginary) LV35
Insomnia LV20
Equipment:
Shield of Radiance
Sword of Selection
Holy Sword of Stars
Magic Card: Wind
Avalon
Items:
Earth Ripper
Earth Vein Weaving (Healing)
Eternal Overlord's Court (Boundary)
Gate of Eternal Calamity
Heaven's Will
Kunlun Wonderland (Domain)
Yes, you read that right.
What was once incomplete "beauty" had somehow become complete—elevated by the nation's collective mythos—transforming Arthur into the very embodiment of beauty.
In other words, Arthur was now a goddess of beauty.
Well... not quite the same as the typical god of love in myth. Still, Arthur couldn't consider this a good thing.
As if that weren't enough, he'd also picked up an unexpected divine DEBUFF.
The moment he saw it, he panicked.
Everyone knows that heroes with divinity almost never end well.
Then there was that ridiculous [Insomnia] skill—it had left Arthur unable to sleep for six straight months. With the kingdom stable, government work declining, and no ability to leave the castle, he was bored out of his mind.
Visiting the church again would only make things worse. What if he gained some bizarre new trait like [Being Petted] or [Cat Attributes]? Wouldn't that basically make him Miss Killer Whale's house cat?
He'd rather die than live like that!
Oh—and he'd once given the Water of the Ganges to some particularly arrogant mortal king. Now...
That king could walk outside his palace every day and drink fresh holy water straight from the ground.
They say a plague had nearly broken out back then.
Suddenly remembering something, Arthur turned and silently led Kay to the Magus Corps Research Institute.
At the heart of the facility stood a massive golden gate.
[Gate of Eternal Calamity]
Even items as rare as [Heaven's Will] or [Kunlun Wonderland (Domain)] hadn't received system evaluations.
Only two things had ever been explicitly analyzed by the system: [Miracle] and this [Gate of Eternal Calamity].
The evaluation had consisted of one ominous sentence:
"When the gate of eternal calamity opens, disaster shall descend."
Just one simple line.
But it was enough to make Arthur uneasy.
Since acquiring the artifact, it had remained here, under observation by the magi. Unfortunately, even Ai Ge had failed to decipher it.
But recently... Merlin seemed to have made a breakthrough.
-End Chapter-
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