Chapter 54: On the Fact That the God of Death Is Already Dead
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 54: On the Fact That the God of Death Is Already Dead
[Reaper]
[Harvest: When you kill a unit, convert its soul into an equivalent Spirit Mass. Unlocks Soul Refining.]
[Suppression: Units attacked by you cannot recover HP or Mana until they exit combat with you.]
[Judgment: When attacking a unit with less than 15% HP, execute them instantly.]
[Branches and Leaves: You may grant the "Reaper" class (excluding the "Branches and Leaves" trait) to those who meet the requirements. For every "Reaper" who reaches Level 100, you gain one level.]
Walking the rift between good and evil, harvesting the rot deep within the soul.
After the Reaper class completed its advancement, not only were the first three traits further strengthened, but a brand-new trait was added.
Branches and Leaves.
Simply put, it allowed Xie Bai to establish her own sect or school. Every time a disciple reached mastery, she would receive an unconditional level-up.
"But these prerequisites are way too vague. What does 'those who meet the requirements' even mean? Am I supposed to just leave it to fate?"
"And even if I grant the class, I have to wait for them to hit Level 100. Isn't that going to take forever?"
At that thought, Xie Bai began a serious analysis.
Based on the experience point requirements shown in her progress bar, the leveling mechanism of the Player Panel was easy enough to deduce.
Using levels one through ten as the baseline:
The experience required for each level was ten times the value of the next level. For example, going from Level 1 to Level 2 required 20 experience points, while Level 2 to Level 3 required 30.
Then, every ten levels, this multiplier would increase tenfold.
Between Level 10 and Level 20, the multiplier became 100. Under this scale, Level 10 to Level 11 required 100 experience points, and Level 11 to Level 12 required 200.
Each time a ten-level threshold was crossed, the multiplier would jump by another factor of ten, causing the experience requirements to skyrocket.
As the XP requirements climbed, players were also hit with experience gain penalties based on level differences.
Consequently, a player's leveling speed would get slower and slower until they reached a level that was nearly impossible to push past, leading to a long period of stagnation.
This was exactly the predicament Xie Bai currently faced.
Starting from Level 130, her experience requirements had already reached the magnitude of trillions. Every ten levels after that, this terrifying requirement would flip upward again.
Trying to reach Level 200—the threshold of a True God—through conventional means was practically impossible.
But the appearance of the Branches and Leaves trait simplified this impossible goal. Compared to grinding her way to Level 200 normally, getting a few dozen players to Level 100 was significantly easier.
"Though it's not exactly 'easy' per se..."
With that thought, Xie Bai closed her panel.
To be honest, she was quite curious whether her True God status would advance again once she hit Level 200, turning her into something beyond a True God.
But for now, she had more important things to do.
"Thanatos."
At Xie Bai’s call, Thanatos emerged from her shadow.
"I am here, My Lord."
Seeing him appear, Xie Bai went straight to the most critical question. "Thanatos, do you know what a Godhead is?"
"A Godhead?" Thanatos paused. "My Lord, have you already returned to the status of a True God?"
"Yeah, why?"
"It is nothing. I expected My Lord’s return to the True God status would not take long, but for you to achieve it now—especially under the restrictions of this world—it seems I have still vastly underestimated you."
Thanatos adjusted his posture and began to answer her question.
"As for the Godhead My Lord asks about... generally speaking, it is the critical core used to provide Divine Authority. It exists from the Demigod stage onward but only fully matures at the True God stage. Once a Godhead is fully mature, it allows the owner to obtain complete and unique True God Divine Authority.
"Before that, the Divine Authority possessed by a Demigod is incomplete and non-unique. One of the conditions for a Godhead to mature is to absorb all Demigod Godheads of the same type."
Hearing this, Xie Bai suddenly realized something.
"Then where did your Authority of Death come from? There should be a True God corresponding to Death. As long as that True God exists, you shouldn't be able to retain the Authority of Death, right?"
Faced with Xie Bai’s question, Thanatos smiled slightly.
"My Lord, I appreciate you asking that. However, due to the total erasure of that existence, my memories regarding this are somewhat blurred. I can only vaguely remember that the True God who controlled Death died tens of millions of years ago."
"Huh? The True God of Death is... dead?"
"Correct, My Lord. Furthermore, my very existence was created using the Godhead left behind by that True God. As for the specific details, I truly cannot recall. They are likely tied to that specific existence."
Xie Bai’s lip twitched at Thanatos’s explanation.
What did he mean, the True God of Death was dead? Why did that sound like some kind of dark joke?
And the "total erasure of that existence" Thanatos mentioned—he had to be talking about the previous Void King, right?
Thinking about it, Xie Bai could take a rough guess at what happened.
Don't tell me the Void King beat the God of Death to death, ripped out the Death Godhead, and then used it to mold Thanatos?
For a moment, that explanation felt incredibly plausible.
Setting aside the mystery of Thanatos, Xie Bai asked another question. "I don't have a Godhead yet. Do you know how to solve that?"
Thanatos thought for a moment. "If my memory isn't muddled, My Lord’s Godhead has actually never dissipated. You simply need to reclaim it."
"I have to go find it myself?"
"Yes, My Lord. If nothing has gone wrong, your Godhead should still be within the Void. We happen to have a Titan Flagship; combined with the Poem of the Void, we can initiate a Void Expedition. During a Void Expedition, the Poem of the Void will guide you to find all the Void Relics within the Void."
Xie Bai pondered this. "Alright. I'll see if I can fix that ship when I get the chance. If I can't, you go bring Roland over."
"Understood, My Lord. Shall I summon him now?"
Xie Bai reconsidered. "Sure, go ahead. Oh, and remember to pick up the Divine Artifact left behind there while you're at it."
"As you wish, My Lord."
With that, Thanatos vanished through Xie Bai’s shadow, leaving the Void Insect Hive.
Once he was gone, Xie Bai felt a pang of boredom.
"Strange. Why does it feel like life hasn't changed at all after leveling up? I'm still just stuck here in this 'prison.' Whatever, let's see what weird stuff Melos has cooked up now."
Xie Bai looked up and was suddenly stunned by a very peculiar building.
"Wait... a fast food joint? How the hell did he manage to build that?"
*
On the other side, Thanatos had arrived in the physical world.
Emerging from Roland’s shadow, Thanatos found the group busy clearing the battlefield.
Aside from Atoris and Edward, who remained silent, everyone else was buzzing with talk about the mysterious girl who had just appeared.
Roland, the man he was looking for, happened to be right next to Atoris.
Just as Thanatos was wondering how to take Roland away without drawing too much attention, he noticed a massive weapon thrust into the center of the battlefield.
If he wasn't mistaken, that was the Divine Artifact Xie Bai had summoned through the Great Funeral.
"Well, it seems the tasks of finding a ship mechanic and recovering the artifact can be solved at once."
The Divine Artifact in the center of the battlefield, which no one dared to touch, was a gargantuan red spear.
It could be called many things, but perhaps it was best known by its other name:
[War]