Divine craft

"It worked!"

Looking at the fruits of his research, Lin Jin said delightedly, "Finally, some progress."

To explore his own nature, Lin Jin had been conducting all sorts of experiments lately.

Now, a small ball of flame burned in his hand without any fuel.

Unlike the pitch-black palette of this world, the flame was an orange-red that evoked vitality.

More precisely, his achievement was not the flame itself, but the technique that created it.

Unlike the flames he had created before, this was a technique even ordinary bugs could learn, yet, like Spirit Thread, its source led back to him.

Its basic principle was to burn the soul as fuel, producing tremendous energy that acted upon the outside world.

After considering it from several angles, Lin Jin finally decided to name this power Soulfire.

The fire of the soul. Soulfire.

"But... this is too crude." Lin Jin frowned. The technique was rough and brutal, and its use of the soul was far too inefficient.

It was like carelessly piling up firewood and lighting it. Most of the heat and light went to waste, with only a tiny portion actually being put to use.

That was not much of a problem when he used it himself, since he could replenish what he spent through the power of faith.

But if ordinary bugs used it, their lives would soon be consumed.

His followers would not complain even if he gave it to them to use, but that would not do.

Lin Jin had always believed in never draining the pond to catch the fish, and taking everything one step at a time.

"No, no. More revisions."

Dispersing the fireball in his hand, Lin Jin sighed to himself inside his temple.

It was a shame he could not spread the technique immediately, but this was clearly the right path. It simply needed careful refinement.

He had already taken the first step from nothing to something. All that remained was to keep improving it.

"Now that I've created the technique, is there anywhere I can put it to use right away?"

After thinking for a while, Lin Jin's eyes suddenly lit up. There was! And it was a problem that had been troubling him all along.

At present, the entire natural ecosystem of Ashen City depended on Lin Jin's simulated sun, and that would remain the case for a long time.

This was also the direct reason Lin Jin could not leave. Once he did, the fragile soil would lose its nourishment and turn into barren ground again.

Without land to sustain them, his followers could not solve the problem of survival, however devout their faith.

The two great clans currently living in Ashen City were followers he had built up from nothing, painstakingly tricked... ahem! Found! Found his way to.

They were his foundation, his last reserves. Absolutely nothing could be allowed to go wrong with them.

With that thought, Lin Jin traced fiery lines in the air with his finger. Though this was his first attempt, the motions came naturally, without a single pause.

Before long, he finished a circular pattern drawn in Soulfire.

Once it was complete, Lin Jin placed a certain amount of essence inside. Soon, the magic array began operating like a steam engine freshly loaded with coal.

The array connected to the simulated sun above the temple. The essence at its center glowed, occasionally giving off sparks.

He tentatively stopped supplying divine power, but the miniature sun above the temple remained unchanged.

"Ha!" Seeing this, Lin Jin knew he had succeeded. He could not help smiling. "Semi-automated sun: a success."

Now that the little artificial sun was semi-automated, Lin Jin no longer needed to expend effort maintaining it. It could run on its own as long as it was fully fueled.

The fuel would still burn out after a while, requiring another supply of essence, but at least Lin Jin was free for now.

His work had borne fruit after all. With that thought, Lin Jin decided to take a break.

He was a god, after all. He ought to pay some attention to the progress of his followers' expedition.

"Isara, I'm going to check on Gron's expedition. Stay here and continue guarding this place."

"Yes, my lord."

Isara nodded in reply. From the fiery runes that had suddenly appeared in the air earlier, she understood that her god had successfully created something.

She could feel power within that pattern.

Leaving his contemplative attendant to her thoughts, Lin Jin gave a few more instructions, then detached his will from the statue and began moving between the bonfires his followers had built.

He first arrived at the Black Shell Plains, where Gron was directing the clan warriors as they swept through the black-shelled beasts on the plains.

The Black Shell Plains were vast. At the very least, he could not see their end.

All that met his gaze were scattered ruins and endless grassland.

At that moment, the vast majority of the bugs in the expedition force were fighting black-shelled beasts here.

After watching for only a little while, Lin Jin decided to leave. Gron had always been dependable, and the expedition here was proceeding smoothly. There was no need for him to intervene.

Next, he went northwest of the temple in Ashen City.

Directly opposite this bonfire stood the Great Library that Lin Jin had ordered built.

The earliest generation of larvae in the Ashen Clan had grown into youths.

Though they still needed some time before they could meet the requirements to become warriors, they already made excellent laborers.

The Great Library changed almost daily, as if it had sprung up overnight.

Ashen City itself had expanded severalfold, with both its caverns and tunnels enlarged.

It had truly reached the scale of a city.

Knowledge was undoubtedly the most important treasure in this wilderness, indispensable to both combat and survival. Lin Jin valued it greatly.

For that reason, a facility dedicated to storing and recording knowledge was essential.

At least a quarter of Ashen City had been set aside specifically for the Glow Clan to store knowledge.

As the collection of books continued to grow, this area would expand as well, but that was a matter for the future.

By now, the Great Library had begun to take shape. It was already the second-tallest building in Ashen City, surpassed only by the Sunfire Temple.

What astonished Lin Jin, however, was that the builders seemed unable to construct rooms as quickly as the Glow Clan could pile up books.

The two sides seemed to be competing to see who could produce more, faster.

Lin Jin could understand it. Records of new and unfamiliar knowledge from the front lines and various regions were being sent here in an endless stream to be compiled into books.

Some were records left by other bugs, some were rubbings of ancient inscriptions, and others were unusual materials.

Using these things, the Glow Clan compiled book after book, keeping pace almost perfectly with the Sunrise Expedition.

Thinking back, he had originally intended to have the Glow Clan write just two books. He had never expected there to be so many.

It seemed Aemon had become utterly absorbed in the work.

Lin Jin chuckled. This was no bad thing. Once given a job, they ought to do it properly.

He intended to visit a few more places, but suddenly sensed an unusual fluctuation.

"Hmm? What's this?" With a thought, Lin Jin arrived at the place where he had sensed the anomaly.

Fungal Wastes

By now, the fight had been going on for a while. The captain was pinned down by Mortas's attacks, struggling to defend and unable to strike back.

Every bug present had their eyes fixed on the two combatants, completely unaware of the change in the newly built bonfire.

"Incredible." The moment Lin Jin arrived, what he saw surprised him. "Mantises? A small civilization still exists in this fallen kingdom?"

"That's right. Who knows how long Hallownest has been gone, but Mantis Village remains as it was."

The agility of the mantis warrior fighting before him filled Lin Jin with admiration.

This fighting style, combining speed with striking power, was a spectacle to behold.

As Lin Jin watched, he could not help thinking that if these mantises pledged their loyalty to him, they would certainly form the foundation of a powerful army.

But mantises were proud, aloof warriors who would not accept the rule of another race.

Even the Pale King had only established a pact of mutual nonaggression with them.

That might be true, but whenever Lin Jin thought of the mantises' natural advantages and combat prowess, he could not resist wanting to see whether he could turn them into followers.

He coveted these powerful warriors far too much.

"Mantises have extraordinarily strong wills. They can even resist infection in the early stages of the plague. If I can win these mantises over, the expedition will definitely advance even faster."

Of the two great clans currently under his command, only one had any fighting strength. Conquering the entire kingdom with the Ashen Clan alone was simply impossible.

The more fighting strength, the better. The same goes for followers, Lin Jin thought.

His expedition had only just begun, and this was precisely when he needed more bugs.

Lin Jin grinned. It was time to pull the miracle routine again.