Chapter 995: Bone Lord

As Sein delved deeper into his research, he not only uncovered secrets within the cellular tissue of his specimens’ bodies but also began to explore the connections between the two stronger natives and their god.

The Faelorian divine power system was rather unique.

In other planes, such as the Wild Gorilla World, only a select few could establish direct connections with gods of Rank Four or above and receive divine power.

Typically, only individuals who had reached Rank Three or higher were granted a portion of divine power by their gods.

After all, divine power was not distributed like candy; most deities in the Astral Realm were not that generous with their power.

However, Faeloria was different.

Here, the deities seemed overly generous.

Even a templar, possessing merely the combat prowess of a Quasi Knight, had a trace of divine power in his body.

This amalgamation of divine power with their flesh significantly offset their lack of combat skills and prowess.

The gray-robed man was easily subdued by Sein due to an unfair disadvantage.

Had he been able to activate his divine power earlier, even with just three offensive Rank One spells, he might have put up a better fight.

Unfortunately, his frail body and Sein’s unexpected assault left him unable to utilize his full potential.

In the underground laboratory, one templar met a tragic end—becoming brain-dead from Sein’s excessive vivisection experiments.

The remaining gray-robed man now became Sein’s primary focus.

From the memories of the templar, Sein gleaned little about the Church of Bones’ deity, Femurs the Bone Lord.

It seemed the knight had never successfully communicated with his god, only receiving the divine blessing after relentless prayer before an idol, rigorous training through numerous temple quests and battles, and finally achieving the strength of a Quasi Knight.

Interestingly, the deities of this world were indifferent to the circulation of their true names.

In contrast, the true names of the foreign deities within the Magus Alliance were closely guarded secrets.

They shared only their divine names and titles to prevent others from bothering them by invoking their true names.

This practice was likely also linked to the potent curse magic developed by the Magus Civilization.

In the Magus World, curses within the field of occultism could target an individual through their true name.

These curses come with complex prerequisites, but their destructive power was formidable and highly unusual.

Anyone unfamiliar with this type of magic would surely be in for a shocking surprise.

It was likely that the Faelorian deities had never been targeted by curses through their true names.

As a result, the true names of most notable deities were widely known across the continent, used partly as a means to cultivate faith and expand their influence.

Among these were Femurs the Bone Lord, Ysor the God of Storms, Masque the God of Thieves, Aurelia the Goddess of Wealth, and Eluvira the Goddess of Magic.

In Faeloria, only two types of deities kept their true names hidden.

The first were the lesser deities who lacked the qualifications to establish temples on the continent. These deities could only gather followers in hidden corners of the world, remaining relatively obscure.

The second type includes greater deities such as the Dark Alliance’s Dark Lady, the Justice League’s God of Justice, and the Wings of Nature’s Elemental God.

Perhaps in the primordial era, the names of these formidable beings were celebrated.

But today, apart from the truly mighty or ancient deities of similar stature, most people on the continent remained unaware of their true names, knowing only of their immense power and numerous temples.

At such a level, these gods no longer need to expand their influence by disseminating their true names.

All this information was gleaned from the Rank One gray-robed elder.

As expected, the only “Transcendent Being” Sein had captured proved to be more knowledgeable than the rest.

Filled with excitement and eagerness to delve deeper into the elder’s memories, especially regarding divine power and the god he communicated with, something unexpected suddenly occurred!

Indeed, dealing with divine powers was fraught with perils.

While Sein was investigating how exactly this man could communicate with his god, an origin seal deep within the old man’s soul triggered a violent reaction, causing his body to explode into a mist of blood.

Sein had truly underestimated the sophistication of divine power in this world.

Even a low-level world like the Gumo Plane had nearly succeeded in sealing away Dark Flame, a Rank Five mage.

Hence, underestimating Faelorian deities was a grave error.

This continent had witnessed the evolution of a well-established faith system over time, marked by numerous historical instances where deities plotted against each other by targeting followers.

As a result, almost all deities had implemented protective mechanisms in their followers.

The strength of the gray-robed elder was just enough to trigger the divine protection mechanism.

To safeguard the secrets of the Bone Lord and the Church of Bones, the elder exploded into a cloud of blood mist at the moment of his death.

𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

Furthermore, the Rank One bio-energy and traces of divine power within him transformed into a potent attack aimed at Sein.

The energy contained in this blood mist was powerful enough to severely injure most Rank Two creatures!

However, Sein was not overly alarmed because he had prudently set up protective wards around the experimental table well before commencing the experiment.

An exceptional mage always exercised caution during such procedures.

What Sein had not anticipated was the reaction between the Silver Spider Ring, imbued with the Spider Queen’s divine power, and the trace of the Bone Lord’s divine power within the blood mist during the attack.

Under normal circumstances, the Bone Lord would not concern himself with the death of a mere Rank One creature.

However, the involvement of another deity’s power greatly complicated the situation.

After all, it was a clear indication that other deities were targeting him, potentially signaling the onset of a divine conflict!

***

High above the Faeloria Continent, against the infinite, dark expanse of the starry sky, a hidden subspace appeared.

According to the myths and epics, when deities ignited the divine fire and lifted their divine nations, these nations were said to transform into bright stars in the sky.

This was a fantasy born from the minds of lower-ranking creatures as an attempt to explain phenomena beyond their comprehension.

Even so, this narrative held a grain of truth.

Instead of transforming into stars, the divine nations of these deities were actually concealed in the sky as subspaces and demiplanes.

The laws governing this world were exceptionally unique.

It was these peculiar laws that enabled the Faelorian deities to establish their vast divine nations within subspaces.

For deities who had attained the status of “powerful deities”, also known as “greater deities”, the expanse of their nations was comparable to that of an ordinary plane.

These divine nations were home to their most devout followers and powerful servants.

According to the mythological history of the Faeloria Continent, the most devout believers were guided to the divine nations of the deities they worshiped after their deaths.

In a way, this was true as the populations within these divine nations had indeed been growing.

While not among the highest echelons of Faelorian deities, Femurs, the Bone Lord, was certainly no weak god.

He was a “moderately powerful” deity who could survive the Avatar Crisis, a catastrophic event triggered once every ten thousand years by the Tablets of Fate.

As an intermediate deity, Femurs would be classified as a Rank Five creature by the standards of rankings used in the Astral Realm.

The size of his divine nation was likely comparable to that of a microplane, and the believers and subjects residing within numbered in the millions.

Opening such a vast subspace was considered a significant achievement even by the standards of the Magus Civilization.

This was largely possible due to the special laws of this world, which allowed for the extensive expansion of subspaces.

Under normal Astral Realm conditions, it would be impossible for a Rank Five creature to open up a plane-sized subspace.

Despite being a Rank Four being, the Tower Master of Cipher could only fit in a leaning tower and a small number of other buildings within her subspace.

On the other hand, the subspace created by Rank Four Faelorian deities, commonly referred to as lesser deities, could rival the size of a massive continent.

These unique laws were truly exclusive to Faeloria.

The Spider Queen was correct; the laws governing this large-sized plane were indeed unique.

Faeloria was definitely different than the majority of foreign worlds that the Magus Civilization had previously encountered.

Typically, the discovery of such a world would spark intense curiosity and a drive to explore among the powerful entities of the Magus Civilization.

Within the Magus Civilization, there were also a few special worlds or star domains like this.

For instance, there was the Void Star Domain, where laws were dominated by void attributes, and the planes and creatures that existed there were quite distinctive.

In the grand church at the pinnacle of the Bone Theocracy, Femurs was engrossed in examining a giant skeleton laid out before him.

This skeleton likely belonged to the dragon clan, perhaps that of an ancient dragon known for its considerable lifespan.

Given its impressive length of nearly five hundred meters, it was undoubtedly the remains of an Epic-level dragon.

Femurs' pale fingers paused mid-motion as he lifted his gaze.

The eyes of his soul, burning like twin azure flames, looked out into the distance, beneath and beyond his divine nation.

That was where Faeloria lay, known to all deities as the “Prime Materia Realm”.

The Faelorian deities were quite an interesting group.

They had never left their own world, nor could they, which led them to develop a sort of “world-centric” and “egocentric” thinking.

In their view, Faeloria was all that existed.

The term “Prime Materia Realm” symbolized their perception and cognitive attitude toward Faeloria.

Although some evil deities had inadvertently entered Faeloria and shared tales of the broader “Astral Realm” and the worlds beyond, the native Faelorian deities never believed these stories.

There was simply no way to verify them!

Not even the powerful deities, nor those revered as “supreme deities”, could breach the outer crystal wall of Faeloria to see for themselves.

Perhaps only those who had attained the legendary status of an “Overdeity” possessed the capability to do so.

Since the dawn of Faeloria, countless deities had risen and fallen.

Yet, only one had ever achieved the Overdeity status.

This being was revered as the “God of Gods” but had vanished long ago, leaving no trace of their whereabouts.

The Bone Lord, having ascended to godhood only within the last one hundred thousand years, had never even heard of this Overgod’s name.

While Bone Lord was not the most senior among the deities, his strength was undeniable!

In fact, he was among the stronger intermediate gods.

The fluctuations of divine power across Faeloria caused Bone Lord to frown.

“The next Avatar Crisis is due in two hundred years. Could it be that someone has set their sight on me?” he mused.

“Let’s see which fellow it is.”

Bone Lord chuckled darkly as his divine power coalesced into an arm that swooped downward.