A Different Path

The strongest figure in the Kels Starfield was known as the God of Black Mist.

The divine power he had initially embarked upon was water-element divine power, supplemented by a portion of air-element divine power.

Within the Kels Divine System, he was the undisputed leader.

Especially in modern times, the Kels Starfield had gradually undergone a "transformation" under his guidance.

Starting tens of thousands of years ago, the God of Black Mist had expanded his divine domains from natural domains such as "Water Flow" and "mist" into domains such as "Black Smoke," "Thermal Energy," and "filth."

This expansion of his divine domains had naturally been meant to align with the various changes taking place in the Kels Starfield.

It had been the God of Black Mist himself who brought the Galente Federation's "relatively advanced" heavy industry into the Kels Starfield.

Back then, he had even personally traveled to the Border Star Region of the Galente Federation and signed various contracts with a deputy regional official there.

The contracts broadly stipulated that the Galente Federation would guide certain enterprises to build factories in the Kels Starfield.

In return, the Kels Starfield needed to provide these Federation companies with numerous conveniences and support through planar laws.

Naturally, the God of Black Mist had not initially done this for the small share of profits allocated to him by those Federation companies.

Rather, over the long years, the God of Black Mist had gradually realized that although he was attached to the Divine Descendant World, the internal struggles among its divine systems and the relationships between its gods were simply far too complicated!

The God of Black Water had failed to understand this point. He had rashly stepped into that mess, only to end up shattered to pieces, with even his godhead seized from him.

With the God of Black Water's fate as a warning, after several thousand years of contemplation, the God of Black Mist decided to bypass the Divine Descendant World and directly establish contact with the Divine Descendant World's Eldest Brother—the Galente Federation.

Truthfully, it had not been easy for an old god who followed the path of faith-based godhood to proactively approach an atheistic Technological Civilization and reach a cooperative deal with them.

The God of Black Mist could be considered the pioneer of the faith-based godhood path in the regions surrounding this starfield.

And he had succeeded!

The arrival of technological power had injected another surge of vitality into the Kels Starfield's development.

Although the enterprises the Galente Federation had sent to the Kels Starfield were all second- and third-rate factories with severe heavy-industrial pollution, the Energy Crystal Blocks and other resources distributed to the God of Black Mist and the others every century were tangible and real!

The God of Black Mist had even kept up with the times. He had spent more than seventy billion Federation Credits to acquire a secondhand Federation Planet-Class War Fortress as his personal vessel.

The performance of such a fortress was not much different from that of an ordinary Space Fortress model from the Wizard World.

The God of Black Mist had not even hired Federation pilots. After sending his followers there to study for a time, those followers who had already come into contact with some technological elements were able to operate such fortresses with ease.

When Saine and the others approached this small starfield, the God of Black Mist and the others had not noticed anything at first.

Only when the heads of the major Galente Federation companies stationed in this starfield, along with Federation management personnel above the middle ranks, began evacuating in batches did the God of Black Mist finally catch the scent of something unusual.

"What happened?" the young God of Twilight asked.

The God of Twilight was the youngest god in the Kels Starfield. He had ignited his divine fire Twenty Thousand Years ago.

At present, this God of Twilight should also have been the final god the Kels Starfield could accommodate.

The Kels Starfield's total resources and wealth were limited. Without embarking on a path of outward expansion, the starfield's total number of believers could only sustain the current five gods.

One more god, and they would have to carve flesh from the others.

Moreover, the heavy factories the Federation had frequently built over the past tens of thousands of years had caused excessively severe pollution across the planes of the Kels Starfield.

Some planes no longer produced any valuable resources at all, and their Plane Will had become extraordinarily feeble and weak.

Most of the resources the God of Black Mist and the others currently received came from the Galente Federation's profit distributions.

In fact, the God of Twilight's successful ignition of divine fire and condensation of a godhead Twenty Thousand Years ago had already greatly surprised the God of Black Mist.

He had originally thought that, after the God of Black Water's fall, his divine system could only maintain four members.

The Kels Starfield's current development was closely tied to the Galente Federation's investments, while its connection with the Divine Descendant World had instead become insignificant.

Thus, when Federation humans frequently withdrew their investments, and those so-called company executives departed one after another aboard Cosmic Spaceships,

No matter how slow-witted the God of Twilight and the others were, they sensed that something was wrong.

Facing the God of Twilight's question, the God of Black Mist glanced at the other three gods who had gradually gathered nearby and said in a low voice, "Mr. Anqi of Thomas Industries said that the Wizard Civilization has dispatched a legion to attack the Divine Descendant World."

"Our Kels Starfield is also within the range of attack. He told us to hold this place well. The Federation 'should' send forces to assist us," the God of Black Mist said.

"Should?" The God of Twilight's eyes widened.

The God of Black Mist was quite capable. At this stage, with the war between the Wizard Civilization and the Galente Federation raging like fire, even the Divine Descendant World had to send two-thirds of its native gods to support the Federation's frontline battlefield.

Yet every member of the tiny Kels Divine System, a divine system composed of merely five gods, remained in their Home Starfield rather than participating in the frontline war.

Had those High-Gods and Mid-Rank Gods of the Divine Descendant World suddenly grown kind-hearted and refused to send members of the Kels Divine System to the scorching frontlines of the Civilization Battlefield?

Of course not!

The reason the God of Black Mist had been able to keep his four little brothers firmly at his side was precisely because of his connections with Certain People in the Galente Federation.

Many gods of the Divine Descendant World were indeed stronger than the God of Black Mist. Whenever he met them, he had to bow and scrape.

But in terms of vision and foresight, many fifth- and sixth-level gods of the Divine Descendant World fell far short of the God of Black Mist!

While those so-called gods were still busy fighting over believers and divine titles,

The God of Black Mist had already taken some of his followers to the Border Star Region of the Galente Federation for inspection.

Those Federation companies capable of shaking the foundations of the Kels Starfield's rule had been excluded from his selection.

Furthermore, before establishing cooperation with those Federation heavy-industry factories, the God of Black Mist had explicitly stipulated that they could not introduce the Federation's ideas of "freedom" and "democracy" into the Kels Starfield.

In terms of business models, the Federation heavy industries accepted by the Kels Starfield were all low-tech "rough-processing industries."

Many beings of the Kels Starfield likely did not even know what exactly they were manufacturing.

In any case, it was black cloth.

Iron pillars in the depths of winter—they followed the guidance of their respective gods and went to the various factories to complete their work.

It had to be said that this method of combining a divine system with technological elements had indeed been effectively put into practice in the Kels Starfield.

From the Kels Starfield's own perspective, ever since it began cooperating with the Federation, its beings had rarely suffered deaths from starvation.

No matter how cold-blooded Galente Federation capital was, it would not let its own workers starve to death.

Many products from Federation society were not fully opened to the Kels Starfield, but even the small trickle of goods that flowed in had greatly enriched and satisfied the Kels Starfield's beings in terms of material goods and daily life.

Even more astonishingly, after the Kels Starfield's beings had been exposed to some of the Federation's technological elements, not only had they not wavered or doubted the gods they worshipped,

They had instead become even more devout than before!

They believed that all of this had been bestowed upon them by their gods.

If war had not broken out, if the Kels Starfield had been allowed to continue developing steadily like this, perhaps the God of Black Mist really could have carved out a different path!

For example, in recent years, the God of Black Mist had already begun considering transforming some of the heavy factories within his starfield into industrial systems with less severe pollution.

The God of Black Mist wanted to go farther as well. Not only for the sake of his people and the Plane Will, but also because he could not ruin his own Mother Plane if he wished to advance to a higher realm.

In the God of Black Mist's long-term plans, he had even intended to spend enormous amounts of Federation Credits to hire professional Galente Federation companies to transform some Demiplanes in the Kels Starfield into "artificial planets."

He would use them for migration, gaining a larger population and a greater foundation of faith.

This fellow truly was a talent!

But at this moment, with the massive army of the Wizard Civilization's legions bearing down upon them, did everything seem destined to become nothing but bubbles?

"Go. Defend your respective planes and temples!"

"We absolutely cannot flee in the face of battle," the God of Black Mist said.

Then, he added a remarkably interesting sentence: "At least, not yet!"

The God of Twilight and the others exchanged glances, then each respectfully departed.