"Very good. A fine answer."

"Then, goodbye, young Sub-dragon."

Lince smiled as he looked at Stephanie.

After all, in terms of true age, Lince was indeed over two thousand years old.

Compared to this mere four-hundred-year-old female Sub-dragon, he certainly qualified as an elder.

"Oh, right. This is for you. Consider it a small gift for answering my questions."

With that, Lince sent a condensed ball of a Divine Power Crystal over to Sub-Dragon Stephanie.

"Huh?"

Stephanie caught the flying ball of light, a look of confusion on her draconic face.

’What is this?’

"Ah! Is this condensed and purified Power of Faith?"

"This is too precious! I..."

At first, Stephanie hadn’t recognized the Divine Power Crystal.

But her Father Dragon was a Divine Tier Dragon, after all. Even if she’d never possessed one herself, she certainly knew what it was.

So, after taking the Divine Power Crystal in her hand and sensing it for a moment,

her expression immediately became panicked.

’A Divine Power Crystal!’

This was an incredibly precious item.

It was of great use to Deities, and of course, it was also of great use to any being in the mortal stage.

Although mortals couldn’t absorb the Power within it,

simply by keeping it on their person and using Meditation to slowly absorb the faint Energy it radiated, they could achieve immense growth in Spirit and spirituality.

Not to mention, the Divine Power Crystal Lince had given Sub-Dragon Stephanie had been rigorously purified.

And it was the size of an adult’s fist.

A Divine Power Crystal of this size would probably require the offerings of hundreds of millions of believers over several years to be purified and condensed.

Therefore, without a second thought, Stephanie wanted to return it.

But when she looked up again, there was no sign of Lince in the sky.

Lince had long since used the Power of Space to leap to the edge of this world’s Star Realm.

There, beneath the Barrier formed by the Mana Will, Lince looked up directly at the Star Sea.

"Insolent!!!"

"A mere mortal species dares to spy on the domain of the gods!!!"

A furious roar suddenly echoed from above the Star Realm.

Soon, from across a ’Rule Net,’ a stream of light arrived swiftly.

What appeared before Lince was, surprisingly, a Divine Tier Kobold!

Yes, he was a deity of Weak Divine Power.

’A Lower-Rank Species like the Kobolds actually had one who achieved Ascension to Divinity?’

Lince was a little taken aback.

After all, on the Oakland Continent, and even in the current Star Empire,

there were large numbers of Kobolds.

Kobolds were small in stature, and although their life essence was of the lowest Lower-Rank Species, just like the Rabbit Race,

their reproductive ability was truly impressive.

A single female Kobold could often give birth to two or three offspring in one litter.

Although their lifespan was naturally less than half that of the Human Race, their reproductive rate was three to four times higher.

Therefore, among the commoner class of the current Star Empire, Kobolds were in fact one of the most populous races.

But despite their large numbers,

their Potential was truly terrible.

To this day, not a single deity had emerged from among the Kobolds.

Of course, the current Star Empire was also trying its best to optimize the structure of its various races.

Thus, for races like the Kobolds, the Star Empire had given them the green light all the way on the path of Extraordinary advancement.

The goal was to cultivate some Deities from the Lower-Rank Species.

If nothing else, it would be good if each Lower-Rank Species could at least produce one deity.

This would also help to win the loyalty of the various races at the bottom.

But while the Star Empire had opened the Extraordinary path wide for races like the Kobolds,

the Kobold Race clearly hadn’t lived up to expectations.

In truth, this might also be related to the Star Empire’s increasing reliance on Intelligent Mechanisms.

However, these were clearly not points for Lince to focus on.

Seeing a Kobold deity appear before him had just suddenly sparked a few thoughts.

"Huh?!"

As loud as the Kobold deity’s initial shout had been, his voice became just as soft the moment he saw Lince’s appearance—or rather, the moment he used his Spiritual power to sense Lince’s true Race.

"Ah, so it is an Excellency from the Dragon Race!"

"Please, Upper Race, do not take offense."

"I will grant Your Excellency passage at once."

With that, the Kobold deity waved his hand, and the Rule Net separating the Mortal World from the Star Sea immediately opened a gateway.

And so, as Lince mused thoughtfully, he quickly passed through the gateway and entered the Star Realm.

"Thank you," Lince said with a smile.

"Don’t mention it! If not for the existence of the Upper Races, we Gods of Mortal Species would never be able to enjoy this hard-won peace."

"So, Your Excellency of the Upper Race, please don’t humble yourself before me like that."

The Kobold deity smiled humbly.

At the same time, as he looked at Lince’s human form, his eyes held a slightly odd expression before he suddenly waggled his eyebrows suggestively and said:

"It seems Your Excellency of the Upper Race had a fruitful trip to the Lower Realm?"

"So, how were they? Were the females of the Human Race in the Human Realm to your liking?"

’Huh???’

Hearing this, Lince’s expression froze.

’What the hell?’

’The Dragon Race in this world... right.’

’I guess the Dragon Race’s reputation has always been like this.’

’After all, we share the same origin.’

Besides, Lince had learned from Stephanie earlier

that in this world, nearly all Pure-blooded Giant Dragons, regardless of age, lived on the fragments of Dragon Island outside the Star Realm.

Therefore, aside from the Divine Tier Dragons guarding the various regions, almost no member of the Dragon Race could descend to the mortal world at will.

That’s right. In this world, the Dragon Race had to get approval just to enter the mortal world.

Every member of the Dragon Race who wished to enter the mortal world had to have a valid reason; otherwise, the Deities of the various races guarding different positions outside the Star Realm would not grant them passage.