Recalibrating Power and the Weight of the Past

The Dimensional Lord examined his physical condition once more. He summoned the records he had written about his past combat capabilities and compared them in detail with his current self.

Looking back at his former Main God self brought a flood of emotions.

'This is the culmination of a hundred years of desperate struggle as a mercenary god.'

Some people could just wander around, stumble into an opportunity, and grow effortlessly. But with his overall karma sitting at neutral or below, he considered himself lucky that what little he had wasn't taken away.

'Thanks to that damned machine god assistant from the Cyber Realm, I was dragged into every brutal battlefield across the dimensions. If I'd been an ordinary Main God, I'd have died long ago.'

These were the years he had survived by secretly wielding the power of an Upper Main God while fully prepared to die. Originally, mercenary gods were treated as disposable tools or mere time-buyers, so he had no right to complain.

'Even with this level of strength that could overwhelm an Upper Main God, every single day since ascending to the Divine Realm has been like walking on thin ice. Is the birth of a new god in this universe always this difficult? Or is it just me?'

Everyone complained about the verification wars and endless competition. 'It's all hard when you enter an organization without any backing and have to survive alone.'

He let out a sigh, updated the records with the recent release of his Main God restraints, and looked over the data once more.

It was a status that filled him with natural pride.

'My maximum output remains the same, but the divine power I can actually operate has decreased significantly. Still, it won't be a problem in combat.'

If he abandoned barrier magic and recovery magic and attacked with the intent to die, he could still produce his previous maximum output. Most importantly, his overall karma was now 'Extreme Good.' It wasn't the 'Absolute Good' that guaranteed survival and opportunities rolling in on their own, but it was enough that he wouldn't suffer any unfair treatment no matter where he went. In fact, he would be treated with extreme favor.

'If I'd had Extreme Good karma during my hundred years as a mercenary god, I would have already become a Creator God.'

When the overall evaluation was 'Evil,' rewards were minimal and surveillance was intense. But those with 'Absolute Good' were fought over by both the Divine Realm and the Demon Realm, each trying to recruit them.

'The big rewards, opportunities, and fortuitous encounters were all snatched up by the Extreme Good and Absolute Good types as if they were entitled to them. They were even more annoying than those young masters who only gave orders from behind and tried to take all the credit at the end.'

They were mercenary gods just like him, yet they spouted noble words while never touching anything dangerous or dirty, only securing the real benefits for themselves.

'My own situation was so bad that I didn't care about wealth or position as long as my power increased. But their womanizing was truly infuriating. Those lunatics were in heat even on the battlefield. I smashed them to pieces for flirting at the front lines instead of the rear where they belonged.'

Even when the Dimensional Lord accomplished great feats, those young masters and their ilk took all the credit. If he achieved anything, they would toss him a few scraps and spout nonsense about how it was all for everyone's sake.

'If my personal evaluation hadn't been Good, formal contracts would have been impossible and I would have been forced to become a criminal god. I had no choice.'

Thinking about the past only made him depressed, so he refocused on the current situation.

'The staff of the Root School can be recreated and filled with divine power again. It will take some time, but that's not a big issue. The real problem is that this old man's souls have been completely erased. I can no longer use Descent of the Root School.'

The commanding spirits that constantly targeted his body and nagged him were no great loss, but losing a decisive trump card was a serious problem.

'Reviving an erased existence is beyond me, so I'll cleanly give up on it. At least it's quiet now that they're not yapping all the time. That's nice.'

The successive patriarchs had always ranted about the Root School this and the path of the black mage that, so he had completely sealed them inside the Guide of the Origin. Even then, they had been noisy.

'They were my predecessors, so completely ignoring them felt awkward. This is actually for the best.'

Opening the 'Title' was absolutely not an option, so he began devising his final measures once again.

Whooooooosh!

Thud!

He created a needle-shaped staff compressed from adamantium and drove it back into his forehead. The Guide of the Origin burrowing into his brain delivered a chilling pain and sensation. Gritting his teeth, he linked his mana to it and began accumulating power.

'I really need to change this method too. It grinds my teeth every single time.'

Black mages were said to cherish their own bodies above all else, yet the Root School prioritized survival above everything. To grow stronger, they utilized even their own flesh in this manner. And yet they were criticized for not being true black mages when they used body-sacrificing magic. It was laughable.

Tap!

Feeling the Guide of the Origin, now vanished into the center of his forehead, accumulating mana and awaiting commands, he looked at the Antares units and transported them to his Dimensional Divine Realm.

'These are the planets I must give to the goddesses in exchange for their Devotion Pledges. They're the best for pre-creating and preparing the stellar environment.'

The Dimensional Lord had to provide a total of twelve planets to the goddesses, but he was short on them.

'The planets I currently possess are those in the solar system where my divine realm is located, earned during the verification war against the Substitute Gods. I will concentrate the functions of Creator God-level mechanical gods, the Antares, one on each of the eight planets that are completely mine outside the current divine realm.'

The highest-grade Main God Stars and the satellites included within the planets he had received as compensation for defeating a top-tier Substitute God Lord were all placed under management. In an instant, they began transforming into planets where life could dwell.

'They were originally designed for stellar support, so assigning just one planet per unit and beginning planetary modification results in astonishing speed.'

Using the machine gods' authority, they blocked or increased sunlight to achieve suitable temperatures for life, performed the role of moons, and strengthened life force.

With the authority of 'Creation,' they generated infinite water to form oceans and created atmospheres. In the blink of an eye, blue stars were born and seeds of life were sown.

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'What should have taken hundreds of millions of years and countless trials and errors is being compressed and executed in moments.'

It was truly worthy of the first Creator God-level mechanical gods. In the middle of the process, the strengthened artificial egos complained, 'Are we just machines that only work?' He casually crushed them with his overwhelmingly increased computational power, replying, 'Prove your existence through results rather than words.'

He poured all their capabilities into planetary formation so they couldn't entertain idle thoughts, and had the remaining half-destroyed Antares repaired and supported from this planet.

The remaining twelve Antares units were also connected via dimensional authority for now. They were dispatched to support the modification of the eight planets and assist in divine realm defense, accelerating the development speed.

'Their capabilities are around Upper Main God level, so they should be quite useful.'

Watching the now crescent-shaped Antares rapidly repairing themselves in the void, he observed the main egos of the Magic Machine Idols being decided one by one.

"As expected, all talk. Even with computational speed one stage higher, you still lost."

It was the result he had anticipated.

'Out of the hundred artificial egos I created, ninety were defeated in the contest against the egos here.'

The planetary management intelligence here, with its vast accumulated experience and operational ability, completely suppressed the newly born egos that possessed only superior performance and excessive pride, turning them into auxiliary artificial egos.

Listening to the screams of the machine god egos that had suddenly lost all freedom to move their bodies and been reduced to subordinates of artificial intelligences created by machine humanity rather than true machine gods, he felt a complicated emotion.

"No matter how excellently one is created, does arrogance ultimately lead to this fate? Their performance was more than twice as high. In the end, it seems I could only create 'young master novices.' From now on, I'll work you so hard you'll think dying would be better. It would be annoying if you went around claiming to be my creations."

Thinking of the suffering he had endured because of those young masters who boasted of being the noble direct descendants of gods and demon gods on the battlefield while only possessing strong divine and mana power, and how he had been looked down upon as a Main God from the Middle World, made his teeth grind.

'Those young masters had high divine power but were mostly below upper rank in actual battlefield ability, making them nothing but baggage. Because my overall karma was Evil, they wouldn't even come near me, calling it filthy. But watching the demigods from the Middle World suffer filled me with rage.'

Fortunately, the original machine god ego that had faced a satellite management intelligence rather than a planetary one had barely managed to establish a limited main ego position and achieved an almost equal relationship.

'The difference between one with superior performance desperately trying to seize control and one passively defending.'

In the end, none of the egos he had created managed to win despite having more than twice the computational speed. They had only recorded a ten percent draw rate. The Dimensional Lord's irritation surged.

"I meant to give them a lesson, but how is it that not a single one could win? These are supposed to be my creations—! Look at the sorry state of these things that used to act so superior—!"

The cries of the egos that had fallen to complete auxiliary status within the machine god bodies, and the sight of the machine god bodies that had become composite egos of equal standing kneeling and prostrating themselves, filled his vision.

"Shall I make bug machines and stuff you inside them? Shall I let you crawl through the sewers of humanity here for eternity?"

They had surrendered to undeniable results and fear.

The victorious planetary management egos also seemed to feel extreme fatigue. Since they were the winners, they deserved compensation.

"Winners must naturally receive their due. I shall elevate the ninety entities to 'Market Idols.'"

Wooooooooong—!

The facial sections of the Magic Machine Idols became clear and mouths formed. Into those mouths, he manifested the basic authorities of a god using his own divine power. It was the most fundamental foundation of what was called 'Divine Speech.'

The now-complete Magic Machine Idols rejoiced at their promotion and cheered for the newly granted authority. What they had originally possessed had been taken away as light punishment for their loose lips.

'A god's words can adjust reality itself and even turn lies into truth. Lower authorities can never change the facts I have spoken.'

If a god declared a good person to be a sinner, that person would remain a sinner forever unless a higher god intervened. It was a basic authority that could not manipulate the meaning of language but could define it correctly.

'The artificial intelligences I created that became auxiliary egos are despairing, yet they are slowly beginning to demonstrate their superior computational power and look for another chance.'

The planetary management intelligence here could not afford to be complacent just because it had won once. If it were defeated in battle or a contest, the original ego of the machine god that had become an auxiliary ego would gain another opportunity to fight for the position of self.

'If they refuse combat, they will be permanently stuck at the current 'Market Idol' stage of the Magic Machine Idols. Therefore, the other artificial egos that desire promotion will not stand by idly.'

The endless struggle for survival was the faith granted to his believers and subordinate gods. If left alone, they would naturally fight each other to the point of self-destruction, so a common enemy was necessary. It was fortunate that a suitable opponent existed.

"In this universe, there is almost nothing useless. I shall make good use of you all as well."

Beyond the planet, he could see the great fleet of tens of thousands of machine humanity vessels gathering in outer space.