The People's God: Sacrificing Trillions to Ascend

Meanwhile, within the human kingdom’s castle, Princess Jade, the king’s only daughter, was openly flirting with a young man. Though she hadn’t known him for long, she was utterly smitten by him. Blinded by her affection, she didn’t hesitate to hand him the Runic Lexicon, a treasure reserved exclusively for royals, the moment he asked for it.

Not only did she tell him how the runes were arranged, but she even found all the corresponding base runes, formed the Advanced King Lexicon, and willingly presented the completed Lexicon to him. Naturally, she also divulged the allied army’s secret plot to eliminate the skeleton army.

As the man leisurely savored the grapes the princess fed him, his thoughts drifted. Han Wu... You began this invasion just a couple of days ago, and yet you’ve already become such a major threat that it required the four kingdoms to ally themselves to fight against. You are indeed a reliable friend...

The man was none other than Sun Qingnian, one of the six students who had entered the Rune Civilization. Upon his arrival, he skillfully used his charisma to win over different women, eventually seducing the kingdom’s princess. With the princess’ help, he had recovered his strength to that of a Lord life form and had managed to summon tens of thousands of his units.

More importantly, he also managed to learn many secrets known only to the royal family. To the princess, they were nothing but baseless rumors, but Sun Qingnian, leveraging his unique knowledge as someone from the Divine Civilization, was able to connect the disparate pieces of information, especially vital clues on how to become a Demigod.

The six students had entered the Rune Civilization primarily to ascend to become Demigods, with securing resources being a secondary objective. In the Divine Civilization, the path to becoming a Demigod was quite straightforward; it merely required at least six Divine Essence, or a total of ten Divine Essence to become a perfect Demigod.

However, it was far more complex for a Divine being to become a Demigod in a foreign civilization. Not only would they need a sufficient amount of Divine Essence, but they also had to satisfy specific requirements for Demigod ascension based on that civilization’s unique rules. For example, to become a Demigod in the Rune Civilization, one first had to locate the corresponding Special Runic Lexicon.

Special Runic Lexicons were one rank above Advanced Runic Lexicons, making them naturally even harder to find. Even the human kingdom’s royal family only had clues about them and had never actually acquired one. Even though Sun Qingnian knew how incredibly difficult it was to find one, he was still willing to try. The benefits of becoming a Demigod in a foreign civilization were simply too good to pass up.

Each civilization possessed its own religion, and every religion had a different concept of what a God embodied. Naturally, every God had a corresponding Divine Aspect and authority. A Demigod from the Divine Civilization would typically wield only the authorities native to that civilization. However, should a Divine Being become a Demigod within a foreign civilization, they would receive authorities from both the foreign civilization and the Divine Civilization.

In terms of battle strength, this meant a Demigod who ascended in a foreign civilization could easily defeat one who had only advanced in the Divine Civilization, as they essentially wielded twice as many authorities. This powerful advantage was precisely why the Divine Civilization was so keen on invading numerous foreign civilizations.

Although Sun Qingnian had finally obtained clues about becoming a Demigod, a significant concern weighed on him—it would likely take him at least ten years to accumulate enough strength to verify the authenticity of the rumor.

Since he was running out of time, he decided to cooperate with someone else. He would provide the clue, and in return, his partner would provide the army. The partnership would boost their chances of obtaining the Special Runic Lexicon. His immediate priority now was to devise a plan to save Han Wu from the allied forces.

It was in Sun Qingnian’s best interest to allow Han Wu to win and obtain even more resources to raise the necessary army. This, however, was proving difficult—his current identity lacked sufficient influence. At most, he could only convince the princess to speak with the king and perhaps influence the human army’s movements. Sun Qingnian was at a loss regarding how to handle the other three kingdoms and the church.

He was stumped until the princess mentioned something intriguing about the elven kingdom—the elven kingdom was a matriarchy, with a queen at its helm.

Sun Qingnian’s eyes immediately lit up. While he was confident in his ability to charm women, he wasn’t quite sure what kind of benefits becoming the elven queen’s lover would yield.

Meanwhile, Han Wu received intelligence from his locusts regarding the coalition formed by the kingdoms and the church. He was worried about his army’s fighting strength; while he had a multitude of skeletons, he knew they were individually weak, capable only of dealing with ordinary civilians. He greatly feared that his forces would suffer a severe defeat against the highly-trained army.

As Han Wu was lost in thought, seeking a solution, the Origin of Mutation’s mocking tone resonated from the depths of his mind. “Oh dear, my dear vessel. It seems I must intervene and assist you during this crisis, after all.”

“What do you want?”

“I have a plan, but you’ll need to give me something in return. It’s not much; just a Divine Essence.”

Han Wu scoffed. What else could you want but Divine Essence?

Nevertheless, he agreed. “Before I give you the Divine Essence, tell me your plan first. Otherwise, I can’t say it’s worth the cost.”

After a three-second silence, the Origin of Mutation finally replied, “I don’t mind telling you. I’ve heard of the Rune Civilization before, and there’s a particular Runic Lexicon I know of that can induce a very impressive mutation.”

Han Wu’s eyes lit up. “So, what exactly is this Runic Lexicon you’re referring to??”

The Origin of Mutation slyly chuckled. “Thank you for your patronage. That piece of information will be one Divine Essence.”

Han Wu grumbled and reluctantly surrendered the Divine Essence. The Origin of Mutation then shared the details and specifics of the Runic Lexicon. To Han Wu’s pleasant surprise and relief, the Divine Essence had proven to be a worthwhile investment.

The Origin of Mutation shared with him a specific method for transforming the spores of the Mourning Deathcap into a potent virus. The Intermediate Plague Lexicon was essential for the mutation process.

If applied to his own body, the Runic Lexicon would transform Han Wu into a walking plague, with every single one of his cells carrying the virus. Alternatively, if he imbued a weapon with its power, he would be able to inflict various ailments with just a single attack!

“Interesting,” Han Wu mused. “Let’s give it a shot!”

He swiftly formed the Plague Lexicon and applied it to the Mourning Deathcap in his golden pot. Then, using Controlled Mutation, he successfully identified the specific mutation required, called Viral Spores.

Han Wu quickly spent 10,000 Divine Points to complete the mutation, after which he proceeded to infect a large portion of locusts with the newly developed virus. He then issued a command for these infected locusts to head straight towards the allied army.

The allied army soon found itself face-to-face with the locusts. Since they already knew these insects were working alongside the skeletons, the soldiers wasted no time in eliminating them. However, none of them noticed the virus silently bursting forth from the locust corpses. After all, viruses were, by nature, microscopic in every world.

The virus swiftly became airborne, and the unsuspecting soldiers inhaled it without realizing. They experienced no discomfort and maintained their usual marching pace as if nothing was amiss. However, with every breath they exhaled, they unwittingly propagated even more of the virus to their surrounding comrades, allowing the infection to silently and covertly spread throughout the army.

In less than twenty-four hours, the virus had thoroughly infiltrated and infected every single member of the army. As night fell, the first Mourning Deathcap grew on a soldier’s skin. The actual war had begun that very night, though not a single shot had been fired.

Han Wu had successfully created the first ever bioweapon—simultaneously fungal and viral—in the recorded history of the Rune Civilization.