Fortunately, all that knowledge was stored in Hinata's main body.
If it had been dumped straight into their human projections, the sheer volume would have fried their brains and left them drooling idiots.
"Magic, sorcery, martial arts, swordsmanship…"
Hinata really was the ceiling for humanity on the Central Continent. Her comprehension speed was on another level.
In the blink of an eye she had already sifted through the flood of information and pulled out exactly what suited her.
Except for those moments when she faced Damien—then the memory of that full naked dogeza made her cheeks flush and her movements turn awkward.
The rest of the time she was decisive, sharp, and utterly reliable.
A gallant saint and knight in shining armor.
That was the real Hinata.
"I see…"
Not long after, she had assembled a complete set of professions for her human body.
Knightly sword techniques as the core, supported by sorcery and martial arts.
Naturally, it also included the exact method for summoning a Heretic God.
"According to this world's mystery-side ranking, from lowest to highest it goes Apprentice, Practitioner, Expert, Highest Rank, Divine Ancestor, and finally Campione."
"The last two—Divine Ancestor and Campione—aren't something you can reach through normal training."
Damien explained, "But the first four ranks? You can definitely try those, Hinata."
"Right now?"
"You're not starting from zero."
Damien smiled. "Don't forget—we're stowaways."
"And if you're smuggling yourself in, bringing a little extra cargo is only fair, right?"
The whole reason they had descended in purely human forms was twofold: to become Campiones more easily, and to slip past the world's will so they wouldn't be treated as heretics and kicked out.
Siphoning power from their main bodies to the projections fell squarely into the "reasonable" category.
Of course, they still had to be careful about how much they transferred.
"From Violet's and my analysis, raising our strength to the quasi-Divine Ancestor level—that is, the absolute limit of Highest Rank—should be perfectly safe."
Damien was straightforward. "Anyway, Hinata, you go first. Think of it as running a test for me."
"Got it."
Hinata didn't hesitate for a second. She didn't care in the slightest that she was essentially the guinea pig.
If it failed, the worst that could happen was being sent back. It was only a projection; no big loss.
A soft hum filled the air.
The next moment, Hinata began drawing power from her main body and converting it into the magical energy this world used.
The process went smoothly, and her strength surged at a frightening pace.
In just a few minutes she had walked a road that ordinary practitioners here would need decades to travel.
She reached a height most people in this world could never attain in a lifetime.
"So this is Highest Rank?"
The so-called Highest Rank—also known as semi-divine—was the pinnacle a human body could reach, enough to stand on equal footing with divine beasts.
It still couldn't compare to a Campione, of course. Against one she would be obliterated in an instant.
Even the absolute peak of human cultivation in this world could only barely survive the aftershocks of a Campione's battles.
"How does it feel?"
"Pathetically weak."
Hinata answered honestly. "If we convert it to monster ranks on the Central Continent, Highest Rank here is only about A-rank at best."
The Campione world and the Central Continent had roughly the same material density, so destructive power could be compared directly.
An A-rank on the Central Continent could flatten a small city at full strength; here it would be about the same.
Compared to a Campione's country-destroying strikes, it was laughably outmatched.
"Can't be helped," Damien said with a wry laugh, casually raising his own power to the same limit. "This world's true main characters are the Campiones, after all. But even though Highest Rank is only A, there are still differences between one A and another."
"We've already stepped right up to the threshold of Transcendent."
A-rank magicules ranged anywhere from ten thousand to a hundred thousand. Transcendents were roughly on par with special A-rank monsters that hit the hundred-thousand mark.
Even the Divine Ancestors—who had lost most of their divinity and power and were living rather pathetically in the current era—sat at about that level.
"What about Campiones?" Hinata asked, genuinely curious now.
"Awakened Demon Lord tier," Damien answered without exaggeration.
If they treated this planet as equivalent to the Central Continent, then the Campiones—who could wipe out nations like natural disasters—would rank among the very top even among Awakened Demon Lords.
Especially Luo Hao and Marquis Voban.
If those two ever crossed over, they could probably trade blows with the current Rimuru and Luminas.
"The gap is that big?" Hinata knew exactly how vast the difference between A-rank and an Awakened Demon Lord was.
"Which is why we need some allies."
Damien continued, "The Heretic God summoning ritual will let us bring our companions over."
"Heretic Gods are roughly equal to Campiones in raw power."
That statement wasn't entirely accurate. In the original stories, Heretic Gods usually ended up as prey when facing Campiones.
Even if their strength was comparable, fate tended to favor the Godslayers, and the gods lost more often than not.
Damien's group wouldn't be exempt from that rule either.
"Fate?"
"Yeah."
Damien explained, "The three biggest headaches in this world are: first, the Realm of Immortality. We can't force our way through it without destroying the entire universe, so we have to exploit its loopholes."
"Second, the powerful Campiones and Heretic Gods. They're our opponents and enemies—we'll have to clash with them sooner or later."
"And third… fate itself."
Fate sounded vague and intangible, but in the Campione world it was a very real force.
"For example," he went on, "suppose we manage to summon Ogerpon, Diablo, Testarossa, Luminas, and the rest—all six of them as Heretic Gods. Six powerhouses at that level working together should be able to steamroll the whole planet, right?"
"But in reality, it wouldn't work."
It wasn't that summoning six Heretic Gods at once was impossible.
It was that even if they did, and Damien led them in an all-out assault on Marquis Voban or Luo Hao, the outcome still wouldn't be what they wanted.
Someone might ask: six against one—how could they possibly lose?
The answer was simple.
When multiple gods attacked a single Campione, the gods would trigger their Covenant Authority, causing their magical energy to multiply geometrically.
At the same time, the Campione facing multiple Heretic Gods would receive the favor of fate itself.
After all, a mere mortal slaying a god was already a miracle.
^^^
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