World Principle

It was said that when the world had first been born, Omnipotens had contained only two races.

One was the God Race.

The other was the Demon Race.

The God Race and the Demon Race had appeared in this world almost simultaneously, and like natural mortal enemies, they had been fighting ever since.

Unlike the Demon Race, which had been born with immense power, the God Race possessed all manner of powers, but compared to the Demon Race, they had not been born specifically for battle.

Gods could accomplish many things. They could create land and life, but in terms of combat power alone, they were actually somewhat inferior to the Demon Race, which had been born for destruction and ruin.

Moreover, the God Race had a limit to its numbers.

Normally, each god had their own domain. Some governed life, some nature, some fate, while others presided over health, bountiful harvests, wisdom, culture, and so on. Yet there were only so many domains, so there could not be too many gods, much less many gods overseeing the same domain. Thus, the number of gods had been fixed from the beginning. Only when a god perished could a new god possibly be born.

For that reason, the God Race's numbers were limited.

The Demon Race, on the other hand, had no such restriction. Over time, its population grew ever greater and the race increasingly flourished, until it eventually overwhelmed the God Race completely.

To fight such a Demon Race, the God Race began creating other races. Humans, Elves, Beastfolk, Dwarves, and others were born one after another, and under the gods' guidance, they grew strong enough to barely hold back the Demon Race.

But the Demon Race refused to be outdone. It not only created magic, but also monsters.

That was right.

Both magic and monsters had, in fact, been created by the Demon Race.

That was why they bore the name "demon." Even the term "magic power" originated from the Demon Race, showing just how much more exceptional they were than the God Race in terms of power.

Magic aside, although monsters had been created by the Demon Race, the Demon Race was not as omnipotent as the God Race. As a result, the monsters it created possessed very little intelligence. Sometimes, even their creators could not control monsters when they went feral. Thus, while monsters gradually multiplied and eventually spread to every corner of the world, unless they had been tamed, they would attack even the Demon Race.

Thanks to that, even after gaining magic and creating monsters, the Demon Race had not been able to crush the God Race outright. The God Race had also created systems of magic such as holy magic and support magic, so in the end, neither side could do anything to the other.

"But overall, the Demon Race is still more powerful than the God Race."

Seated at the tea table she had just summoned, the Goddess drank fragrant black tea as she spoke at length.

"That is why, in order to resist the Demon Race, the God Race created the Hero Summon ritual. By summoning Heroes with unique traits from Another Worlds to fight the Demon Race, we hoped that they would ultimately defeat the Demon Race's king—the Demon King."

As she said this, the Goddess addressed Shien, who sat opposite her and seemed to be intently savoring his tea.

"Though we of the God Race can do all manner of things, we alone cannot directly grant power. Therefore, we place our hopes in Heroes, who are born with Holy Swords and generally powerful Unique Skills, hoping that one day they will defeat the Demon King."

That was how the Goddess explained many things to Shien.

Shien, however, had a few questions.

For example—

"Why can't gods directly grant power?"

Shien voiced his question.

The Goddess readily gave him an answer.

"Because levels and skills are concepts inscribed into the Principle. Even gods cannot interfere with them."

The Principle referred to the laws of the world, the rules themselves. It was also known as the World Principle.

"Whether they are of the God Race, Demon Race, human race, or monsters, all possess levels and skills. Their capacity for growth in every aspect differs according to their qualities, talents, and potential. All of that is a concept inscribed into the Principle. In other words, they are rules set by the world itself. We of the God Race can interfere with phenomena and events, but we cannot interfere with the world's rules themselves. We cannot interfere with the Principle."

That was how the Goddess explained it.

"Of course, some interference is still possible within the limits permitted by the Principle. Magic, for instance, uses magic power to intervene in the Principle, thereby influencing phenomena and events to ultimately form power. That is magic."

"Then there are certain Magic Weapons, Magic Items, and Magic Potions that can use those properties of magic to temporarily raise skill levels and personal abilities. The Holy Sword you possess also falls into that category."

"However, interference with the Principle can only occur within its permitted bounds. If it disrupts the balance too greatly, it will never be allowed."

For instance, gods could bestow weapons or items that enhanced a human's strength, and they could bless humans, but they could never directly raise someone's level.

Otherwise, people would have no need to level up or grow. They could simply have gods grant them everything directly.

As for weapons or items that could directly raise levels, they simply did not exist in this world.

"Up to now, the only weapons and items capable of raising levels have been the Holy Swords wielded by Heroes from Another Worlds like you. This world only has items that can, at most, raise the level of a certain skill or enhance part of a person's abilities."

That was what the Goddess said.

"Perhaps it is because you do not originally belong to this world, so you deviate somewhat from the rules of this world's Principle?"

Heroes from Another Worlds could also awaken extremely powerful Unique Skills, perhaps for the same reason.

That was why the gods wanted to summon Heroes.

"Unfortunately, not every person from Another World possesses the qualities to become a Hero. Otherwise, all of them would surely be summoned here without exception, wouldn't they?"

The Goddess casually said something astonishing.

Shien rolled his eyes without betraying a thing, but inwardly, he was deeply puzzled.

If that was the case, then didn't it mean that he had not been summoned here and made a Hero at random? Was it because there was something special about him as well?

"That's exactly it." Once again seeing through Shien's thoughts, the Goddess smiled. "At the very least, fewer than ten Heroes have been summoned to this world from ancient times to the present."

In other words, people from Another Worlds who possessed the qualities to become Heroes were that rare.

Shien was one of them.

"Incidentally, the Heroes summoned in the past all came from worlds different from yours."

The Goddess revealed something even more shocking.

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