Emperor Minis had not yet reacted when Herodotus reached out and pressed down.
"Divine Flourishing Tree."
Rustle, rustle.
A young girl's scalp suddenly sprouted from the ground. Countless strands of hair spread like vines, transforming into a towering tree that bound Minis tight.
"What in the world is that thing?" Minis shouted, utterly unable to break free.
"This is called a divine art."
He climbed the Emperor's Seat step by step and said:
"You people possess talent, but lack breadth of mind."
"I won't kill you. I'll leave you to continue making use of your talents. If you want to come and kill me, then come."
"I won't be afraid. I am not an emperor, but a general of the empire—a warlike powerhouse in pursuit of truth. Challenges only excite me."
"Compared with Atabia, I am not skilled at research. All I can do is hand this divine art, which we painstakingly developed before us, over to you and let you continue advancing it."
On this day,
Herodotus developed a divine art. Upon the divine throne, he became the king of the gods above, an existence that governed the world, ruled over heaven and earth, and reigned supreme beneath the heavens.
"What is that thing?"
Li Qing watched in astonishment.
That fellow Herodotus had finally stepped forward. Li Qing thought it was only natural.
But this divine art was just too cool.
He felt as though he understood it, yet did not understand it at all.
That did not stop him from secretly learning it.
After all, Herodotus was teaching everything he knew. He possessed tremendous vision and was not afraid of rivals appearing—in fact, he even longed for competition.
"The principle is very simple."
Herodotus took out a medium for casting spells.
A fertilized egg.
"Do you remember that elf giant god seed we handed over to the Outer God some time ago? I transformed its embryo into embryonic cells."
"With our energy, it is impossible to catalyze a complete giant god's body, but catalyzing a little body tissue locally is possible."
"The three-layered shield I summoned just now was made by catalyzing three fingernails with the terrifying computational power of the Divine Treasure Tool."
"The dense forest I summoned was made by catalyzing hair."
Simply put, it was cell differentiation.
Take out a DNA cell, and as long as there was enough energy, together with the computational power of the Bio-computer, it could be catalyzed into fingernails or hair and used against enemies!
This was cell Creation Arts performed on the spot.
Prepare the encoding in advance, then provide the energy required for growth.
Summon fingernails, hair, and bones.
"Divine arts? This really happened?"
Li Qing stared in stupefaction.
This technology was simply outrageous.
It truly surpassed Earth by several thousand years.
Wasn't this equivalent to needing an embryonic medium every time a divine art was used, catalyzing it and killing one of the god's little tadpoles?
No spell, no killing?
They had created an elf giant god just to play like this?
Keep up the good work.
The Holy Maiden of the elf giant god outside was waiting for you to keep updating the versions.
Herodotus continued, "Add a spell of accelerated-growth genes. This temporary creation is unstable and will soon suffer genetic collapse, but it is already very powerful. This is the direction in which we must develop!"
He had even already thought of it.
They would constantly modify the giant god's functions until they achieved divine arts with universal effects.
What if they encountered polluted water or poisonous water in the wilderness?
Clap both hands, summon the god's kidneys, filter and purify the water source—this would be the Art of Water Purification.
What if they needed to build a house in the wilderness?
Clap both hands, summon a section of the god's spine—a pagoda—and live inside it.
In the future, they could even add electric organs, compound eyes, poison-spraying sacs, acid-rain-spraying organs, Great Flood-spraying organs, and foul-gas-spraying organs to the DNA sequences of their giant gods. One strand of DNA would encompass everything; they could summon individual segments and use them against enemies.
"But the energy consumption is enormous," Minis said bluntly. "A giant's fingernail may be small compared with our bodies, but it still requires no small amount of energy. And generating certain organs, such as bones, requires the corresponding casting materials to be prepared in advance."
"Yes."
Herodotus said, "The nutritional energy supplied by this divine art is the most difficult technical obstacle. I have only barely overcome it for now, researching high-density energy storage within the body, but even so, it is exhausted after just one or two uses of the divine art."
For a civilization, energy was the cornerstone of development.
Whether it was humanity's charcoal era, kerosene era, gasoline era, or electric-power era, every age had only undergone a great leap after breaking through its energy technology.
They, too, were now facing a bottleneck in high-efficiency energy technology. For the moment, they still had only the most primitive biological energy storage.
Herodotus said:
"Once we break through energy technology and find a way to store enough energy within our bodies and circulate it, we will be able to use divine arts at will. Only then will we be true gods!"
The more they thought about it, the more enthralled they became. The more they thought about it, the more inconceivable it seemed.
It was as if they had glimpsed a majestic giant god in the void, one that symbolized truth—a majestic guardian god of their elf era. By borrowing its power, they could possess unimaginable combat strength.
"This is the Art of Omnipotence!" someone shouted from atop the Tree Crown.
"As long as we research an omnipotent giant god with every kind of organ within its body, then summon them out!" someone cried excitedly.
"I am convinced." Hearing this, Minis sighed. "Compared with what you are pursuing, I am simply laughable. All I knew was how to fight among ourselves and scramble for fame and power."
"Yes."
Herodotus smiled. "How can internal strife and self-consumption allow us to explore truth?"
Standing atop the World Tree, he looked down upon the entire magnificent land, his spirits soaring. "This giant god will become the core of our civilization's divine arts. The written genetic sequences of the god contain its structural blueprints, so let us call it...the Codex of Truth!"
"From now on, it won't be limited to us. I want to spread it to every living thing on the land, so that all of them can learn the Codex of Truth, recite it, and study divine arts!"
Everyone looked at Herodotus with worship in their eyes.
This was a new king.
More than that, he was a great sovereign who was about to lead an entire civilizational era.
He had already entered the indescribably magnificent realm of creation.
Everyone was dazed, as if they had seen a true deity about to lead them into an inconceivable age, allowing them to endure throughout the world and remain immortal!
After Atabia, the entire land had finally welcomed the second age of unified dominion!
"What an era pioneer!"
Li Qing sat in his chair, watching this scene unfold, the corners of his lips curving faintly upward.
What a Herodotus. He had hidden himself for so long, and had truly given Li Qing quite a pleasant surprise. He hoped Herodotus could continue down this path and live through as many civilizational eras as possible.
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