Speculations About Gods and Authority

With great power comes great responsibility. While this saying isn't always true, it can at least serve as a reference in certain situations.

For example, right now.

It's important to understand that going from a single- Faith Believer to a person with two Faith without any apparent reason might not be a lucky thing.

Since it wasn't something they actively prayed for, this already set-up outcome must have been pushed by someone.

So after the First shock subsided, Cheng Shi calmed down and began to analyze the intentions of his two Lord of Grace.

Clearly, after [Deception] compromised, [Destiny] also chose to compromise.

The reason for [Deception]'s compromise is still unknown, but the reason for [Destiny]'s compromise certainly can't be that [Deception] no longer likes to smile...

Cheng Shi is more inclined to believe that [Destiny] is concealing its true purpose, which may be something that players are unable or unwilling to know.

So, what exactly does He, no, what do they want to do?

[Deception] It is obvious that He wants to promote the Faith Fusion, and He himself admitted it. Although His words cannot be fully trusted, if we use this as a logical basis, it seems that we can also understand some things in the current Cheng Shi of understanding.

For example, [Deception] intentionally approaches [Chaos], turning itself into Emissary of [Chaos], or more practically, giving itself an opportunity to approach [Chaos].

But Cheng Shi wondered whether He did this to merge or to steal.

There are indeed some talents with a tendency towards chaos among the talents of [Deception]. Cheng Shi always thought that these were Divine Authority that He had stolen, but now he wondered if it was possible that these Divine Authority were not stolen, but rather... exchanged?

Is [Deception] exchanging Divine Authority with [chaos]?

They appear, at least to the extent that they see and know, not to be hostile, because [Chaos] has not denied the methods of [Deception], and has even given itself a choice.

But why is that?

Shouldn't the essence of the gods be that they steal Divine Authority from one another?

Cheng Shi frowned, repeatedly writing "steal," "exchange," and "fusion" on the ground. As he wrote, a sudden inspiration struck him:

The essence of stealing, exchanging, and merging is to grant themselves the Divine Authority of other gods. Therefore, their purpose is not to steal, but rather...

Expansion!?

Thinking of this, Cheng Shi recalled the words He had spoken when he the First met with [Deception]:

To become a god!

At that Cheng Shi was very puzzled about who was trying to become a god, but now he wondered if it was possible that the gods were expanding their Divine Authority in order to become gods.

Although they are already gods, the distribution of Divine Authority means they are not omniscient or omnipotent!

Therefore, through the methods of stealing, plundering, exchanging, and merging, they intended to become the omniscient and omnipotent "God" at a higher level!

Is it possible?!

Have!

A glint flashed in Cheng Shi's eyes, but he immediately sighed:

"Alas, it's all just my own imagination. There's really too little information about them."

Moreover, the above conjecture has a fatal flaw, which is the choice of "Destiny".

He seems to have some aversion to the idea that Deception leans towards chaos.

Why is that?

[Destiny] has been pushing itself away from [Chaos], which means that it has no intention of getting involved with the Divine Authority of [Chaos]. However, according to the previous reasoning, as long as it wants to "progress", it should not and cannot refuse the Divine Authority of [Chaos].

Unless He... doesn't want to "progress," doesn't want to become that omniscient and omnipotent god!

But if He didn't want to, why did He leave such a big foreshadowing at the last moment of the Trials, making Galiusha's death related to Him?

Cheng Shi didn't know Galiusha well; at least for now, he wasn't sure which side Galiusha Faith.

According to his understanding of history, it was the Twilight Church that overthrew the Tower of Reason. Therefore, Galiusha most likely Faith [Chaos]. However, it can be seen from the trajectory of [Destiny] that Galiusha could not be [Chaos]. Otherwise, He could have completely ignored His own fragments and would not have needed to end the deduction of [Chaos] so quickly.

So, who did Galiusha Faith?

In that era, the only forces capable of overthrowing the Surface, following the long-planned Twilight Church, were the unrestrained depravity of [Filth and Decay], the all-destroying [Annihilation], and the arrogant... [Folly]!

Neither "Filth and Decay" nor "Annihilation" seems to be Galiusha's Faith, so does Galiusha Faith in "Folly"?

The choice of Destiny is Folly!?

Does He want to associate Himself with "Folly"?

It's not impossible.

What does the coexistence with [Deception] mean? Or does it mean that these two [Nothingness] gods have diverged on the path to "becoming gods," with one choosing [chaos] and the other choosing [Folly]?

In His eyes, is the first ideal object of Faith Fusion, besides "Nothingness," "Folly"?

"I can't figure it out, but I need to write this down. When I meet a teammate who knows history, I need to ask them about what happened during the period when Galiusha destroyed the Tower of Reason."

After racking his brains for several hours, Cheng Shi had to stop his overloaded mind and take a short break.

He had intended to chat with Xie Yang across from him and hear about his love story, but Xie Yang disappeared after popping up briefly, apparently off on another date.

Bored out of his mind Cheng Shi started playing with his own shadow.

He looked at the shadow in front of him and slowly extended his finger. As he thought about switching Faith, the shadow, like a mirror image, slowly peeled away from the ground and extended its dark finger.

Fingertips meet, Faith are exchanged.

Cheng Shi switched back to [Destiny] once again.

This feeling was quite interesting, so Cheng Shi smiled and reached out his hand again. However, this time he did not touch the shadow's fingers, but suddenly moved away at the last moment before they made contact.

The shadow's finger visibly paused for a moment, then instantly shrank back into the ground like a startled little animal.

This piqued Cheng Shi's interest.

He kept reaching out and moving his hand away, and the shadow kept peeling off the ground and then shrinking back into it. After doing this five or six times, the shadow got annoyed.

Yes, the shadow got annoyed and stuck out its middle finger at Cheng Shi.

"..."

Cheng Shi was stunned by the scolding.

What's going on? Does my shadow have self-awareness?

It doesn't seem like it. Could it be because it's currently carrying... [Deception]?

Um?

Cheng Shi blinked in confusion, then pointed his middle finger at the shadow and compared it to the shadow. This time, everything was normal again, and his Faith switched back to [Deception].

He had a guess in his mind, so he repeated the same scene as before. Then, he saw that the shadow of "Destiny" had been toyed with countless times, but it still hadn't raised a single middle finger. However, its response was getting slower and slower.

Upon seeing this, Cheng Shi smiled.

Interesting, isn't it? The shadows of different Faith still carry traces of His will?

Wouldn't that add a little more fun to pass the time?

Praise... never mind, I'm not praising anymore. I've already been criticized, what's the point of praising me?