Chapter 386: God of Splendor (2)

"I... I can't believe it."

Layla stared at Oh Kang-Woo dumbfoundedly. Deific Essence was usually an innate quality. It had come to be back when Titans had created gods in the very distant past, to grant them the power to interfere with the providence when taking care of the creations.

There, of course, were Titans such as Demon God Bauli, who had granted Deific Essence to beings to drive all creations to extinction, but it did not change the fact that Deific Essence was granted by Titans.

"Is it that shocking that I acquired Deific Essence?" Kang-Woo asked while tilting his head.

He knew how difficult it was to acquire Deific Essence, but despite that, many enemies around him possessed it. Not just that, some beings who did not innately possess Deific Essence managed to acquire it, such as Lucifer.

"It is. It's extremely rare for someone who isn't an incarnation to acquire Deific Essence," Layla answered as if she couldn't believe what Kang-Woo was saying.

Kang-Woo's eyes shone with interest. "Then that means it's not unprecedented, right?"

"Mm. There have been a few." Layla nodded with an awkward smile. "There have been less than five occurrences since the era of myths, though." Layla turned to look at Kim Si-Hun. "Martial God Tian Taihuang, whose soul is within Si-Hun, was one of those occurrences."

"Really?" Si-Hun looked down at himself in surprise, having heard it for the first time.

Layla nodded. "Yes. Martial God Tian Taihuang was the disciple of Heavenly Dragon Tai Wuji. Since he was a human that the Heavenly Dragon himself raised, it's not strange that he acquired Deific Essence. However, you're... different, Kang-Woo."

As far as Layla knew, Kang-Woo had not been raised or trained by anyone.

"You've fought by yourself, risen by yourself, and even acquired Deific Essence by yourself. A case like yours is completely unprecedented," Layla remarked.

There was no being besides Kang-Woo since the era of myths who had risen to the top from the bottom. He did possess Gaia's blessing, but Layla knew better than anyone else that one could not acquire Deific Essence simply by being blessed by a god.

"In any case, that means there have been beings that had acquired Deific Essence," Kang-Woo said.

He smiled and looked away from Layla.

'Risen by myself, huh?' Kang-Woo recalled what Layla had said. 'Have I risen by myself?'

He wasn't sure, since he had possessed the Authority of Predation ever since he had fallen into Hell. No matter how he thought about it, he had not started from the bottom in the truest sense.

'But...'

That did not mean Kang-Woo had risen to where he was now with just the Authority granted to him; he was at least sure that no one else could be like him because he had not only acquired Divinity.

'I...'

Kang-Woo possessed a dark, deep, and endless sea within him, which Deific Essence could never compare to. He had been controlling and keeping it in check all this time. A god was nothing before that unending sea; even one of the Titans that had created those very gods had been imprisoned within the greatest depths of that sea. Kang-Woo had achieved far too much to say that he had risen to the top with someone else's power.

"Hyung-nim."

Si-Hun was staring at Kang-Woo. His eyes were hazy and filled with sorrow, but only for a moment. Si-Hun hugged Kang-Woo while congratulating him.

Han Seol-Ah approached Kang-Woo and asked, "How did you acquire Deific Essence?"

"Well... I'm still a bit confused right now, so I'll explain in more detail later," Kang-Woo said to his party members, who had swarmed into his room.

It had not even been ten minutes since he had become the God of Splendor. He was so curious about testing out the power that he did not have the leeway to do anything else.

"Oh... Okay. I understand, Kang-Woo." Seol-Ah nodded in slight disappointment.

The other party members were also dying to ask Kang-Woo all kinds of questions, but they decided to leave it for later.

Layla said before turning around, "I'll let Lady Gaia know about this."

Her expression was bright as she said that. Whatever the reason, Kang-Woo becoming the God of Splendor was worthy of celebration since a literal god had pretty much been added to their party. Kang-Woo's existence would become the ray of light that would chase away the darkness that had befallen Aernor after the advent of Lucifer, the Lord of the Flies.

"Okay. I'll leave it to you," Kang-Woo replied.

"Phew. I honestly still can't believe it," Layla expressed.

"Haha. I might have become a god, but I'm still nothing compared to Lady Gaia."

It was more or less the truth since Gaia was far above him in terms of their Deific Essence ranks.

"Not necessarily." Layla shook her head with a smile. "Those who acquire Deific Essence instead of being born with it barely receive any restrictions from the System. Considering that, you might have more influence over the System right now than Lady Gaia."

That was the first time Kang-Woo was hearing of this. His eyes shone sharply.

'Is that why the Constellations of Evil aren't restricted by the System?'

He was not sure about that, but the fact that he wouldn't be restricted by the System was welcome news since it would be a problem if he wasn't able to use the power of Deific Essence that he had just earned.

Clack.

The door closed. Kang-Woo sat down in a chair while humming.

'Well, then.'

He used the power of Divinity as his eyes shone like a child opening his Christmas present.

Whoooom.

A formless energy that could not be detected with any sense spread throughout his body. The Divinity began to naturally mix with the enormous demonic energy within him.

'Oh, this is pretty cool.'

It was different from demonic energy, mana, and sacred power. Those three energies usually did not mix, especially demonic energy and sacred power. However, Divinity melted into the demonic energy as if the two energies had been one from the very beginning.

'In the first place, I can't do anything with just Divinity.'

Unlike the other energies, Divinity itself did not translate to physical power. Demonic energy, mana, and sacred power were fundamentally the same because the manifestation of those powers resulted in a physical effect. Whether it be using Authorities with demonic energy, creating fire and ice with mana, or creating a spear of light with sacred power, the ultimate result was physical.

To make a comparison, it was like gunpowder. Guns, cannons, and missiles were all different, but they were the same in that they all used gunpowder and brought about a physical result. Although there was mind control magic and Authorities specialized in detection, they were a result of a physical manifestation of energy being used differently.

Condensed demonic energy, mana, and sacred power were also tangible for a similar reason; a mountain of gunpowder became a powerful weapon in its own right without needing to be processed. However, Divinity did not possess such physical qualities.

'But once the Divinity mixes with demonic energy...'

Kang-Woo used an Authority to create a dark red spear. The spear that had been made using demonic energy imbued with Divinity contained immense power.

'I guess it's similar to an enhancer or auxiliary.'

Kang-Woo lightly swung the spear imbued with Divinity joyfully. Just then, an unexpected result arose.

'Hm?'

The spear that was made with demonic energy was enveloped in golden light without Kang-Woo even having intended for it. No, that wasn't the only anomaly.

"What?"

He could not feel the demonic energy at all. Not a single ounce of demonic energy was flowing out of the spear; it was to the point that even Kang-Woo himself had been fooled.

'What the hell?'

He looked down at himself in surprise. He bit open his thumb to confirm something. Despite not having used the Authority of Coloring, red blood was flowing out from his finger.

"Hah," Kang-Woo chuckled.

'It even has an effect like this?'

It felt as if his active skills had turned into passive skills. Of course, once he willed himself that he did not want to hide his demonic energy, the golden light disappeared, and the dark energy took its place.

"Wow," Kang-Woo expressed.

'I guess that's the God of Splendor for ya.'

Golden light naturally poured out of him without even needing to use Authorities just because Divinity was mixed into the demonic energy. It made his life so much easier.

[Granting Player Oh Kang-Woo the Deific Name 'God of Lies...']

"Let's see. Since I'm the God of Splendor now, I should make some skills that fit the title."

Kang-Woo fell into thought while stroking his chin.

[The System has identified an error.]

[The detected error does not exist.]

[The Deific Name of Player Oh Kang-Woo is 'God of Lies!']

"No, flamboyant skills might degrade my status as the God of Splendor."

Kang-Woo turned around after having made up his mind.

[It is 'God of Lies!']

"Let's just go with naturally exuding faint amounts of power."

Kang-Woo enveloped himself in faint brilliant light and walked off.

[It's God of Lies, you motherf—]

Fwish.

Kang-Woo waved the annoying blue window away.

***

A man with a hideous diagonal slash scar on his face was sitting cross-legged in the darkness. He was thinking with his eyes closed.

'That monster...'

The terrifying monster looked as if it had been born from the Demonic Sea itself. Tai Wuji's mind was scrambled whenever he thought about that monster, but it was not just the monster's power that was making his thoughts so convoluted.

'How did he use the Heavenly Dragon Sword Technique?'

That monster had used the sword technique that he had never taught to anyone else but his disciple.

'It was laughably terrible, but... It was without a doubt the Heavenly Dragon Sword Technique.'

Not only that, it was good enough that it couldn't have been performed without someone's teachings.

Silence fell. Tai Wuji turned to look at the boy with blank eyes. "Constellation of Nightmares."

"Mm," the boy replied.

"Check if there is someone with the soul of Tian Taihuang near the monster."

Tai Wuji mentioned the name of the dear disciple that he had raised, taught, and killed with his own hands.