The Third Time Today
The goddess lords, sensing that the Dimensional Lord’s reaction to the Goddess Department’s war was far from ordinary, hurriedly pulled the black-haired goddess lord back into her seat.
Gaiana sending her will to the goddesses like that is terrifying. After displaying the authority of the Omnipotent God earlier, she seems to have completely established herself as a superior being.
Indeed, it was only natural. For any goddess, overcoming her—one who could manifest every authority at will and forcibly grant and activate them—was nearly impossible.
To think they would behave that way in front of the Chief God of the God Realm. The God of God Realm Management, who is responsible for maintaining heavenly discipline, must be mortified. Gather again shortly. It appears the previous punishment was insufficient, so I shall add further controls and teach you proper etiquette.
“Gaiana-nim—! We were wrong!”
“If you impose any more restrictions, it will become truly difficult for us. We will do better from now on, so please, we beg your forgiveness.”
“What sort of rude behavior is this from those who have become, at least nominally, the concubines of the highest-ranking Lord God? Have you still not realized that you are no longer in a position where past leniency can be overlooked? This is not the variety of opinion guaranteed to the highest gods of the Round Table. To think that the noble goddess lords of the God Realm could act so crudely—it is unthinkable! For the time being, all of you must relearn basic etiquette from the very beginning.”
The goddesses only grew more somber under Gaiana’s stern tone and expression.
Gaiana intends to teach them proper behavior starting from the fundamentals, and since neither divine power nor authority can block her, they have no choice but to obey.
Collective resistance from the goddess lords was impossible. As the planetary Creator God and mother of all deities, the more of them gathered, the more difficult it became for them to manifest their authorities or fight effectively.
To confront her, they would need to completely overwhelm Omphalos, the Omnipotent Zone. At their current upper Lord God level, only an extremely small fraction of the highest Lord Gods could achieve such a feat. With the goddesses’ present divine power, breaking that authority was impossible, rendering combat itself unfeasible.
Directly dispensing punishment is the worst approach. Having middle managers handle it themselves is the middle approach, so it is best to leave the matter alone. The best approach? That would be the person realizing their own fault, punishing themselves, and never repeating the mistake—but such cases are almost nonexistent.
The Chief God of the God Realm figured that if Gaiana handled it well, that was ideal. If not, he could always step in and administer punishment later.
Organization management does not end with resolving one problem child. Another inevitably appears right away. That is why managing an organization is truly endless.
When the Dimensional Lord glanced at the black-haired goddess lord’s panicked expression of uncertainty, she hung her head deeply.
Even if I tell her to fix her past personality, it is only momentary. I have no choice but to scold her each time. However, if I intervene directly, it only damages feelings on both sides, so having a proxy handle it is best.
The Dimensional Lord believed that maintaining the God Realm’s development through overwhelming strength would allow everything else to resolve naturally. He turned his gaze toward the three figures prostrated before him.
Dimensional Magic Authority
From the wombs in the three goddesses’ lower abdomens, dimensional divine power began manifesting magic, steadily strengthening them. The Magic Authority—which overlapped and imprinted 10th Circle magic based on dimensional divine power—had activated. Or rather, it was closer to the 10.5th Circle.
He had fused two 10th Circle magics into one, eliminating their weaknesses as much as possible while dramatically amplifying their power.
The explosive growth in their abilities and the overwhelming might of their authorities would be impossible for ordinary Lord Gods to contend with.
The technique had originally been inspired by battles against the strengthened Substitute Gods. Though the comparison was somewhat crude, they could now be regarded as minor Substitute God Lords.
While maintaining their divine power and fighting spirit, they will reflect all attacks below twice their own divine power and recover from any injury. Furthermore, the magic doubles their output without burdening their bodies. To inflict damage, one would need to deliver four times the force.
In other words, defeating goddesses with 1.5 billion divine power would require 6 billion in offensive power. Though a simple comparison, the fact remained that one needed to be at least an Intermediate Lord to prevail.
This is precisely why three Lord God level beings can overwhelm a single goddess lord.
The goddess lords shot up from their seats. They had felt the authority and strength that propelled them from ordinary Lord God level all the way to Intermediate Lord God.
At their current level, those three were now beyond what any single goddess lord could handle alone. Seeing the expectant looks demanding an explanation from Gaiana, the Dimensional Lord spoke quietly.
“Magic is not omnipotent, yet it is infinite. This is the granting of Magic Authority. It activates magic imprinted upon the target’s body using dimensional divine power as its foundation. I will adjust the dimensional divine power granted to your lower abdomens, completely separate it, and bestow a single magic. Preparations are already complete. This is magic that rapidly converts the vitality condensed in your lower abdomens over eons into divine power. It will remain permanently active for as long as I exist. I formally request this as compensation for training my complete subordinate gods to become stronger with full effort. If you accept the request, I will activate it immediately.”
The goddess lords’ mouths fell open in shock. He was willingly abandoning a position where he could completely control them and instead offering to grant them magic that could rapidly elevate their divine power to nearly eighty billion.
This reinforcement method is an application of the divine power circle treatment I performed on Gaiana. Hera, who received direct insertion and deep imprinting, achieves full efficiency. The other goddess lords, who received only a light imprint from a finger, achieve roughly half that efficiency—but it remains immensely useful.
The speed at which they would absorb the condensed vitality in their lower abdomens would likely exceed that of other goddesses by more than ten thousand times, and the effect would be permanent for as long as the Dimensional Lord existed.
Like Gaiana, it is possible to melt all the condensed vitality in an instant, but unless one was once Creator-class, there are cases where the authority cannot handle the divine power, making it dangerous.
With the highest authorities possessed by these goddess lords, it was manageable. However, a sudden rise in divinity tended to lower combat effectiveness compared to peers of the same rank, so it was better avoided.
Unless one is as powerful as the goddess lords here, the body cannot withstand that absorption rate. But for goddesses possessing a divine power circle in the lower abdomen, this method is the optimal way to increase divine power. They will grow stronger at a truly explosive rate.
Having said all he needed to say, the Dimensional Lord sipped his bitter tea once more.
Though he had received the title in the most absurd manner, the fact that he was an Absolute Being who possessed a title remained unchanged. He had to develop as much as possible.
He had no reason to concern himself with beings who held no value or potential for growth. From his current perspective, the Dimensional Lord of that time might only have been worth an 8th Circle magic tome—barely enough to reach Lower God.
There were many times when my weak abilities left me struggling under an overwhelming burden, when I wanted to abandon everything because of the responsibility for words spoken in emotion. Yet I could not, out of fear of his judgment. Above all, I must become his pride. I truly wish to become utterly desperate.
The repayment for the grace he had bestowed was not merely the price of an 8th Circle magic tome, but a feeling of gratitude for the pure favor of the strong.
It was the first—and until now, the last—pure favor from the strong that I have ever felt.
Having experienced the world as a mercenary god, the Dimensional Lord had learned through deception, suffering, and overcoming the strong just how valuable and beautiful such favor truly was. Because he had doubted and sullied that, he could only apologize, restore what was broken, and strive to make amends.
This may simply be an overly presumptuous imitation of him. And such absurd behavior might one day threaten me. The current me is still far too weak. Yet only by living this way can I reach my goal, and by overcoming these trials, I will grow stronger faster than anyone.
Who could take pride in the strong who suppress the weak with force and pursue only their own benefit? Such strong beings were as common as dust.
That is why my life—of deliberately choosing the arduous path—is as difficult as drinking bitter tea. I once thought of hiding within an expanded magic tower and devoting myself solely to magic, but that peaceful era has already passed.
The enormous amount of vitality consumed by the God Realm and Demon Realm in their battles against the strengthened Substitute Gods was not something that could be replenished naturally. Rather than choosing the suicidal option of reducing scale and enduring in a universe that valued only strength, he would pursue aggressive expansion.
The sign of that was the interference from the Lord God who reigns in the heavens. From now on, weakness means immediate consumption. If the God Realm collapses without enduring this period of great chaos, I too will end up like the Absolute Beings of the Demon God Star. If I hide behind the mere output of a highest Lord God, I will eventually be killed by countless Demon God Kings and Creator Gods.
Moreover, magic learned in solitude possessed depth but lacked true strength.
I realized it painfully while fighting the Substitute God Lords. That even my magic, which aims for the 11th Circle, is ultimately built upon the experiences I gained while living as a Lord God level mercenary god in the past.
Though it could overwhelm highest Lord Gods, by his own standards he was still only Lord God level. If he encountered true powerhouses above the highest Lord God rank, he would likely die in an instant. Even against the planet’s Omnipotent God—a genuine reserve Creator God—five minutes would be his limit.
At this rate, it feels endlessly distant before I can repay him the price he is due.
The bitterness of the tea no longer registered.
Gulp—!
He drained the cup in one swallow and set it down. Having reminisced about the past for the first time in a long while, the Dimensional Lord’s mind was complicated. No—worst of all.
I can feel the goddess lords exchanging numerous opinions and consulting among themselves. They are discussing whether there is a trap, whether this can be trusted, and that they must offer a fair price. My head aches wondering what scheme they are trying to pull this time.
Since the suppression of the lower abdominal divine power circles was complete, the Devotion Pledge could be activated at any time. There was nothing of value left that they could offer him. It seemed he had wasted useless time after all.
He must have felt this same absurd emotion when I insisted on paying a price for the magic tome he had given me out of goodwill.
Eliminating such hesitation and becoming stronger as quickly as possible was the only way to survive in this universe.
Gaiana, seeing his hardened expression, grew flustered, unsure what to do.
Even from the goddess lords’ perspective, we must look truly pathetic.
Though they were no longer the Chief God of the God Realm, they were still clinging to their pride until the very end. It clearly demonstrated how past glory had become an obstacle to living in the present.
If the goddess lords had only slightly lowered the pride they held as the former Chief God of the God Realm and harmonized with those around them, they would not have found themselves in such dire circumstances.
Thanks to that, they had grown strong enough to defeat even Intermediate Lords and continued growing stronger. Yet as a superior being, such a disposition was excessively burdensome.
If they were battle gods it might be tolerable, but for administrative gods like now, it is truly problematic. That is why I am assigning them the role of War God while also using the opportunity to train the subordinate gods.
Beyond that, he had no leisure to scheme; his own training already occupied his thoughts.
Just a little more and I will be able to implement the 11th Circle. Magic that the gods themselves would call a miracle!
If the 10th Circle strengthened ideals reflected in reality, then the 11th Circle changed those strengthened ideals.
If the 10.5th Circle complements two strengthened ideals, the 11th Circle creates power beyond comparison by making completely opposing ideals coexist or collide. If death and birth exist together, if destruction and creation are implemented simultaneously, even a Creator God would have to fear for their own existence.
Because even higher beings could completely erase that fact itself and render it nonexistent.
His current power was only enough to destroy planets and their satellites. With all his strength he could annihilate a solar system. Yet at that future level, he would be able to destroy every perceptible domain, with a range that would easily surpass the solar system.
Even then, it would still lack ‘creation,’ so he would remain a Lord God.
Even if every other being recognized the Dimensional Lord as a Creator God, if he fell short of the standards he himself had established, he was still a Lord God.
The goddess lords have reached their decision.
They all rose from their chairs and knelt before him.
Is this the third time today?