Chapter 478: Chapter 85: The Giant Demon Empire’s Resignation and the Ancient Deity Experiment

"The Star Empire is developing at an incredible pace, so fast that our Empire is starting to look like a backwater civilization in comparison."

"Whether they value trust or simply look down on the small benefits our Empire can offer doesn’t really matter."

"At least they acknowledge us as their only ally. The fact that they’re even thinking of bringing us along at a time like this can be seen as a way to strengthen our relationship."

"At the very least, they didn’t issue the summons in a commanding tone."

At Moridun’s words, Penelope gave a rare nod of realistic acknowledgment.

"The Star Empire’s conduct in this matter is quite honorable."

"If we were in their position, to be honest, I’m not sure I could do the same."

"Never mind. Since Your Majesty has been so forthcoming, I have nothing more to say."

"From now on, let’s leave the Divine Council Hall in their hands. Moridun and I will join Your Majesty in researching the secrets of the Bloodline of those two Ancient Deities."

"If Blood Exchange and even soul transference methods don’t work, then our only option will be to borrow the Rule Power of the Ancient Deities and ascend to a higher level as members of their Clan."

"However, we must keep these two Ancient Deities under strict watch."

"A Blood Covenant is necessary, but we absolutely cannot give them a chance to turn on us!"

Clearly, this was different from the approach of the Star Empire and Lince.

In the Giant Demon Empire, because the Emperor and the other leading Deities were not Ancient Deities themselves, they had no confidence they could permanently suppress, or even outgrow, the two Ancient Deities under their command.

Therefore, they would naturally adopt harsher methods when dealing with these two Ancient Deities.

The Master-Servant Contract was one such method.

Strictly supervising and suppressing the growth rate of the two Ancient Deities was the second.

After all, once the subservient Ancient Deities became stronger than them—or not even stronger, just reaching the same tier—it was highly likely they would trigger a backlash from the contract.

Thus, these measures were necessary.

In fact, to solve the problem once and for all, Emperor Tobien and his two ministers had been working with the Empire Research Institute to study the Power of the Ancient Deities.

Their goal was to completely usurp everything from the two Ancient Deities.

But this was just an idea.

Whether it could succeed was still an unknown.

Even if it could, the time required would surely be immense.

After all, Ancient Deities are naturally born as Weak Rule lifeforms. Once they achieve Ascension to Divinity, they become strong Rule lifeforms.

Rule lifeforms are fundamentally different from conventional lifeforms, like mortal species.

The difference lies in the fact that both their souls and bodies are partially composed of Rule Power.

As for mortal lifeforms, even if they achieve Ascension to Divinity and possess the same Rule Power as certain Ancient Deities in their souls, there’s a problem. The difference between acquired and innate factors would likely be a huge obstacle to usurping them.

Therefore, even someone as powerful as Emperor Tobien, who was already a Star God, wouldn’t dare claim he could find a way to perform something like soul-seizure on an Ancient Deity.

This just goes to show what a heaven-defying feat it was for the True Game to cultivate a postnatal Ancient Deity like Lince.

Even now, the True Game can continuously strip away everything from the Ancient Deities whose lives and deaths Lince controls, and use it for the postnatal cultivation of Players.

However, this action by the True Game has its limits.

For example, for postnatal cultivation, they must secretly select a Player to cultivate from the very beginning and start latent Bloodline and soul modifications during the Tierless stage.

In short, the entire process is incredibly complex.

"Yes, the research on the Ancient Deities must continue."

"However, even if that ultimately fails, the process of us forcibly becoming members of their Clan should still go smoothly."

"What’s more, because we wield the power of the contract, we can even force the Ancient Deities to give up their blood, thereby increasing the concentration of our Clan Bloodline."

"Therefore, in my view, this might be a more realistic path, one that would make it easier for us to gradually usurp them."

Emperor Tobien spoke again. His focus on this matter was absolute.

"But, once we become members of their Clan, the power of our contract will surely conflict with the power that comes from being part of their Clan."

"Therefore, its effectiveness should be greatly reduced, or even nullified."

"So, we cannot all undergo the process of becoming Clan members at the same time. Someone must remain as the master of the Ancient Deities’ contract to keep them under control. This will ensure maximum safety for the one undergoing the transformation."

"Moreover, we have already achieved Ascension to Divinity. Forcibly becoming Clan members means we would have to actively weaken our own soul strength. We would even need to make our Divine Bodies ’descend to mortality,’ returning our Spirituality and physical forms to the threshold of a Saint."

"This process is extremely difficult, even excruciatingly painful. One wrong move could lead to true annihilation."

"Have you two truly thought this through?"

Emperor Tobien looked seriously at Moridun and Penelope.

"What is there to fear?"

"Since we were able to ascend from the mortal stage to the station of Main Gods, we naturally have the confidence and certainty to walk this path again."

"Your Majesty, if you trust me, I am willing to be the first to test the feasibility of this path for you!"

"Now that the Empire has the protection of the Star Empire, I have nothing to worry about. From now on, I live only for myself and for Your Majesty!"

"So, Your Majesty, please forgive my boldness, and allow me to be the first to walk this path of the strongest Deities!"

Penelope declared his resolve in a booming voice, refusing to yield the honor.

At that moment, even Moridun shot him a sideways glance.

But it wasn’t that surprising. After all, Penelope had been Emperor Tobien’s loyal guard since his mortal days. At this point, he was undoubtedly the perfect choice.

After all, if he failed, that would be the end of it.

But if he succeeded... this was the Power of the Ancient Deities!

With anyone else, Emperor Tobien might not have felt at ease.

Not even Moridun would do.

And so, as Emperor Tobien fell into a thoughtful silence, Moridun slowly spoke up:

"Penelope, your courage and loyalty are commendable. I believe this is feasible."

"Therefore, I will not compete with Penelope for this."

"Also, Your Majesty, since we want to test this path, I think that even if we don’t inform the Star Empire’s Pantheon, we should still test the reaction of the Cloud Court Dragon Clan."

Emperor Tobien naturally understood the subtext of Moridun’s words.

This was, after all, an act of mortals usurping the Power of Ancient Deities.

The Star Empire’s Dragon God was an Ancient Deity, and under him were several native Ancient Deities from the Barbaric Star.

Furthermore, one of the Giant Demon Empire’s own two Ancient Deities had been a gift from the Star Empire.

This kind of thing was very sensitive.

Especially for those of Upper-Rank.

Just as traditional Deities believe the Divine Realm must not be desecrated by mortals,

would the Dragon God, as an Ancient Deity, and even the Ancient Deities under his command, consider the Giant Demon Empire’s actions a desecration of their status?

Moreover, by doing this, the Giant Demon Empire would be setting a bad precedent.

What if mortals under the Star Empire also had such treasonous ambitions? That would be a huge problem.

So, when Moridun brought this up,

Emperor Tobien had to admit that this matter was incredibly troublesome!

But no matter how troublesome, it was an unavoidable hurdle.

After all, even if the Giant Demon Empire succeeded in secret, if the Star Empire found out and deemed it a desecration and a bad precedent,

then the outcome awaiting them would certainly not be good.

Therefore, even Emperor Tobien himself felt this was a difficult situation at the moment.

But no matter what, they had already come this far. Once the bow is drawn, the arrow must be released.

And so, Tobien finally sighed at Moridun.

"You’re right. We should test their reaction ahead of time."

"Also, if their attitude is ambiguous, we can offer to carry this out in secret and maintain confidentiality, regardless of whether we succeed or not."

"Of course, if it’s truly impossible, then we’ll just drop it. Settling for second best is also an option."

"Ultimately, I have neither the desire nor the courage to gamble with the fate of the entire Empire."

"..."