Adele Becomes a God

Barn spent far longer studying practical applications of the Fate Law than he had originally expected—ten whole years.

Most Lowgods initially comprehended only Lesser Profound Mysteries. Their effects were straightforward, and their fighting styles simple. They either focused on long-range magical bombardment or excelled at close-quarters combat, so they didn't need to spend much time studying techniques.

Barn's Water Clone was much the same. Even after fusing the Water Element and Water Body Technique, and later beginning to grasp Circle Softness, he had never devoted much thought to Water Element techniques.

In battle, he only needed to cover himself with a layer of icy armor for defense, use Circle Softness to evade enemy attacks, and rely on the enhancement Water Body Technique gave his physical body to fight at close range. That was enough to handle most situations.

But his Fate Clone was entirely different. Its attack power, defense, speed, and every other attribute were ridiculously poor. Without merging with his main body, the Fate Clone would probably be only a little stronger than Lowgods who had advanced by refining a Godhead. It was hardly useful at all.

Then a loud crash rang out, and the sealed cavern where Barn was staying exploded.

Declan, who had been cultivating in the cavern, noticed the commotion at once and hurried over, his face full of urgency and anticipation. "Barn! Did you do it? Did you find a practical way to use the Fate Law?"

Barn hovered in midair as the Divine Power around him slowly subsided. With a faint smile, he shook his head. "Not yet."

The anticipation on Declan's face instantly crumpled. "What? You still haven't done it? I thought you definitely had!"

Seeing his dismayed expression, Barn couldn't help laughing. "I haven't succeeded completely, but I've made a breakthrough in my understanding of the laws."

Over those ten years, Barn had also gone down a long and winding path. At first, he had focused entirely on giving his Fate Clone enough strength to fight independently. He had tried using Fate Divine Power to drive Soul Attacks and using Trajectory Distortion to directly control and kill enemies. But no matter what he tried, the results fell far short of his expectations, and he only ended up wasting a great deal of Divine Power.

Then one day, Barn suddenly came to his senses. His greatest advantage had never been the strength of a single clone. It was the Fused Divine Power—and even the Fusion Law—that came from his Soul Mutation!

Only by combining his two clones could he truly realize his full potential. He could fuse the Divine Powers of the Water Element and Fate, while letting the strengths of the two laws complement each other and offset their respective weaknesses.

Guided by this idea, Barn's mind suddenly cleared. A flash of inspiration struck, and he unexpectedly found a point of compatibility between the Water Profound Mystery of Circle Softness and the Fate Law of Trajectory Distortion!

When he had first comprehended Trajectory Distortion, he had noticed that this part of the Fate Law bore a striking resemblance to Circle Softness, a Water Profound Mystery. At the time, he hadn't thought much of it.

Who would have thought that while studying techniques now, he would unexpectedly find the point where the two fit together?

The power of fusing different laws had been demonstrated many times in the original story. As a Soul Mutator, Barn had always sought to make the most of this gift. Now that he had finally found the way into fusion, he was naturally overjoyed.

"I need real combat to drive the fusion forward. I want to go to the Royal City's Colosseum," Barn said.

Declan hesitated. "Well, maybe we should wait for Adele? She seems to have had an epiphany and has been in seclusion for a long time."

At that, Barn immediately extended his divine sense into the neighboring cavern.

Adele was lying quietly on the ground. A dense green glow of Life Power surrounded her Moonflower Deer body, and her aura was steadily rising. She had clearly reached the critical moment of a breakthrough.

Barn withdrew his divine sense and nodded. "In that case, I'll go into seclusion for a while too. We'll wait until she breaks through."

By the time Barn finally stood before the gates of Ice Prison Royal City, a hundred years had passed.

Barn couldn't help sighing. "I never expected that a trip to the wilderness to study techniques would turn into a hundred and ten years."

"I kept you waiting too long," a gentle woman's voice came from beside him.

It was Adele who had spoken.

Over the past century, she had finally become a god through her own comprehension of the Life Law and regained a Divine Clone. Her bearing was now gentler and more lively than before.

Barn wasn't surprised.

Adele had lived for more than ten thousand years and had once truly been a Godlevel. Her knowledge, will, and talent far surpassed those Sanctuary experts from the Yulan Continent who pinned their hopes on the Necropolis of the Gods. It had only been a matter of time before she broke through.

This time, Adele led Barn into Ice Prison Royal City.

After they showed the guards the Ice Blade Squad's Godlevel badge, the guards asked no questions and let them pass.

"Don't we have to pay an entrance fee?" Barn asked, puzzled. This didn't fit his impression of fantasy worlds. Most fantasy cities charged an entrance fee, and their gate guards especially liked to hassle the protagonist before getting humiliated by him.

Adele chuckled as she explained, "The Royal City once tried charging an entrance fee, but the environment in Gobada was too chaotic to establish a stable currency. Bartering was difficult to price, so eventually all the Royal Cities gave up. Now, as long as you prove you're a Godlevel under Ice Prison Royal City, you can come and go freely. But settling here is difficult. You have to be a Midgod, perform a great service, or win a hundred consecutive matches in the Colosseum."

As they spoke, the two arrived at a bustling trading ground.

It was nothing like the city-states of the Yulan Continent. There were only rows of shabby stalls, where the vendors displayed their treasures and traded exclusively by barter.

"Let's look around first," Adele reminded him. "If I remember right, you haven't even refined a suitable Defensive Divine Artifact. Going straight into the Colosseum like that would put you at a serious disadvantage."

"I do have a Defensive Divine Artifact. Its attributes just don't suit me," Barn replied.

"The Colosseum isn't for sparring. It's a fight to the death," Adele said earnestly. "Losing your life because of a weakness in your Divine Artifact would be a terrible waste. Besides, you have plenty of valuable things. In Gobada, you have to turn your supplies into combat strength as soon as possible. Otherwise, if you run into a powerful enemy, it'll be too late for regrets."

Barn shrugged slightly. "Most of it belongs to the squad. I can't just use it however I want."

Because of certain values he had brought with him from his previous life, Barn didn't want to spend their shared wealth on himself without permission. As for the Godheads Gideon and Wesker had left behind, he didn't want to trade those either.

The only things he could use were the Dark Lowgod Godhead he had seized from Blackwood and two Divine Artifacts with dark attributes.

"Since it's shared property, it's not unreasonable to use it to get me a suitable Defensive Divine Artifact, is it?" Adele looked toward a stall in front of them. "What about that one?"

After Adele became a god, Barn had given her the Long Sword of the Abyss Sword Ghost. She wasn't short of offensive Divine Artifacts, but she lacked a Defensive Divine Artifact.

Barn looked over. It was a suit of vine armor. He couldn't tell what it was made of, but he could sense a vigorous force of life emanating from it.