Volume 5 Chapter 0076 An Important Step in Your Majesty's Position - I, The Dragon Overlord

"Boom, boom, boom—" The ethereal sound of a bell echoed urgently through the astral plane, compelling the gods to proceed to the 'Pantheon' for an essential council decision. It had only been two or three hundred years since the gods awakened, yet this marked the third convening of the divine assembly, which was nearly inconceivable in the pre-Cataclysm era. Before the era of catastrophe, the 'Pantheon' was seldom convened, occurring every five to six thousand years at the shortest interval, and up to two to three ten thousand years at the longest. The world of San Soliel was relatively peaceful then, and such councils were only called upon at the end of an age, when gods fell amid globally sweeping events, necessitating a redistribution of divine authority. Never before, since the inception of the San Soliel world, had the opening of the 'Pantheon' caused such anxiety among the deities. Even in the face of world-shattering events or the fall of powerful divine beings, the foundational rule of the gods was never shaken. Yet, this time, the reemergence of an alien civilization posed a threat not only to the gods' safety but to the existence of the entire world. Louie maintained his customary moderate pace, neither too fast nor too slow, as he arrived at the 'Pantheon.' He took his seat at the head of the circular table among several deities of immense power. Despite their faces being obscured by divine power, Louie knew these strong deities were visibly somber. Beyond the realm of supreme divinity, the lesser gods engaged in hushed discussions through divine power, especially the newer generation whose voices were hurried and anxious. For a moment, the entire 'Pantheon' resembled a bustling marketplace, filled with chaotic overlapping voices. Such commotion did not bother the gods. Seeing the silent supreme deities around him, Louie relished the peace, comfortably seated on his throne as he awaited the arrival of all gods. During this lull, Louie surveyed the other deities, gaining a basic understanding of the current potent divine beings. The primary deities of the four elemental powers, those of the halflings, dwarves, and other pantheons, had reached immense power levels. However, these gods stayed away from the human pantheon, belonging to the periphery of the divine circle, content within their own racial domains. Hence, these gods could be disregarded, except for the orc deity Gorrush, who harbored ambitions of human dominion and could be considered dangerous. Although these non-human deities possessed divine roles of modest strength, even gods like the dwarven or halfling deities, with divine ranks of 18, posed little threat. The Goddess of Love and Beauty, Shuni, had reached her limit with a divine rank of 17. The Goddess of Magic, having taken centuries to rebuild the primary material plane’s magic web, achieved a divine rank of 16. Yet, the magic role was critically lacking, and as long as she remained the primary deity of magic, she could not surpass a divine rank of 18. The God of Storms, having replaced faith with fear, barely reached a divine rank of 16 within the realm of immense power. Yet, this fear-based faith was fragile, posing a high risk of his downfall, rendering him the weakest among the strong gods. Nevertheless, he still maintained an immense power status. The Silver Moon Goddess reached a divine rank of 17, the limit for Selune. The moon, as a standalone divine role, lacked sufficient strength unless paired with darkness. Her connection with the elven race ensured her stable position, free from downfall risks. The Goddess of the Earth maintained an easy faith collection with her roles in land and agriculture but held steady at a peak divine rank of 18 due to the shared earth role with Louie, unable to attain her pre-Catastrophe rank of 19. The Goddess of Dawn also held a divine rank of 18 with no room left for advancement. Overall, the gods found divine rank 18 to be their ceiling, with rank 19 being exceptionally difficult. Throughout history, only the Prince of Lies briefly achieved a divine rank of 20 through sheer luck but soon fell back. The fragmented authority among the gods prevented any single deity from truly grasping the primordial power of a divine role, allowing them merely to wield a sliver of that power with immense force. ‘My divine rank is outwardly 17, but a forced simulation could push it up to 19. However, to elevate my roles of Slaughter and Dragon to 20, I must acquire the war role, fragmented between the God of War and the orc deity—virtually unattainable.’ ‘Aside from the Prince of Lies, who owed his achievement to pure luck, no god has ever reached a divine rank of 20.’ Louie pondered with a touch of melancholy, yet this situation played to his advantage—none would contest his claim to the throne, granting him the opportunity to lead the deities. Achieving a divine rank of 20 requires the synergy of multiple roles, like Light and Sun or Darkness and Moon. But these roles are dispersed among powerful deities, making it impossible for one to usurp another’s primary role. This division ensured the current diversified balance without a singular dominion. However, Louie, subtly yet shrewdly, maintained his guise as the God of Dragons and Slaughter, reassuring the gods due to these roles' limitation against reaching divine rank 20. Meanwhile, he secretly embarked on mastering the Order domain, acquiring one part of the dichotomy of Order and Chaos—domains lacking a predefined divine role. Louie’s Order divine rank was at 19, nearly touching 20. Upon reaching divine rank 20, he could attempt to transcend to the realm of a supreme deity. A mortal's transition to legendary, gaining divine traits to become a demigod, then forming a divine rank as a true god, represents a series of qualitative leaps. Each stage exponentially increases the difficulty and power, and Louie was charging toward the last evolution, with a significant chance to become the Supreme God of this age. ‘It’s close, just this plan’s success will advance me toward the throne of the ultimate sovereign!’ Louie withdrew his wandering thoughts, focusing entirely on the 'Pantheon' council. He had initiated an attack on the San Soliel world with a Terran warship precisely to provoke a counsel assembly of gods. Through this assembly, he intended to lay the cornerstone of his sovereignty!