"So I'm curious. Did the Trialist you worship, or the God of Trials, leave or perish in battle?"
Alka asked, sitting on the training ground.
They had examined some records of various gods in the Glorious Library, naturally starting with the gods they'd encountered and known along the way.
This included the God of Trials.
Although records existed, the problem was that many books were no longer compiled in the later period. After all, the world was in turmoil by then.
What scholars would have the heart to compile them?
Even if there were, they wouldn't be as comprehensive as they once were. Back then, new gods rose and old ones fell every day.
The intensity of the war had deprived mortals of the right to record them.
Even the Crystal Dragons had begun hunting divine beings around the world, forcing them to reveal the rules of the world.
In the later stages of the world, many records were no longer being compiled. Instead, it was only after the final world fell that those who survived began to write down what they knew.
Many of these records, naturally, were never written down.
Therefore, Alka didn't know whether the God of Trials had died in defeat or had departed with the gods.
Based primarily on the instructors and the fact that the Trial Tower was still functioning, it seemed likely he wasn't dead, or at least not completely dead.
Of course, he wasn't certain. After all, Alka only had a rough idea of the situation among the gods.
"It seems you've learned more and more recently," the instructor couldn't help but say.
He didn't hide it, though, saying, "It's simple: he transformed into the Trial itself."
Do you know what happened in the final world?"
Alka nodded. "Indeed, the God of Trials imbued his eternal will. He imbued the Trials themselves with his will, and then merged them with the world.
He truly became the Trial, which is why the Trial Temple still exists and the Trial Tower continues eternally."
So there's such a path?
Is it worthwhile to imbue the world's rules with one's will? Or what's the point of doing so?
It's practically the same as death. It seems that even voluntary sacrifice is required to achieve such an effect.
"From your expression, I know you can't understand, right?" the instructor said.
Alka nodded. Of course, he couldn't comprehend this situation.
"That's why we are human. Regardless of whether those high-born beings are worse than us, they are still born beings.
Their thoughts are naturally different from ours. To my god, this is an extension of his will. He has even longed for such a moment."
The instructor clearly didn't understand either, but they respected their god's choice. Only will remains to grant rules.
This was the opportunity the God of Trials had longed for.
Clearly, these natural gods and mortals like Alka had different understandings of the individual.
"Do gods like this still exist?" Alka couldn't help but ask curiously.
Clearly, such choices and changes must have occurred at the end of the God War, when the world was on the verge of shattering.
The instructor nodded: "Yes, it's quite interesting to say. Many of my god friends are in the same situation."
Simply put, there's a whole small circle of beings who wish to bestow their will upon rules. And almost all the gods in this circle share this idea.
The difference between them might simply be that some succeed, while others fail.
I can't understand it.
"For example, the Master Alchemist—you could also call him the God of Equivalent Exchange. He also imbued the rules with his will, and he was the pioneer of this path, the first to achieve it. He provided a completely feasible procedure for all subsequent gods with similar ideas."
"I see."
Arka had seen the records of this god and had assumed he had died in battle.
After all, hearing that name, this god didn't sound very powerful.
It should have been during the middle or late stages of the war. Although few records survive from the end, the records of this god were cut off during a period when they were still complete and extant.
Many scholars believe this god is dead.
This is because the Master Alchemist doesn't have a cult or religious organization dedicated to him.
Those willing to worship him are mostly alchemists and similar beings, relatively rational individuals, and most of them are quite wealthy.
It's a relatively loose belief.
Perhaps only when they were actually refining something, needed to increase their success rate, or needed more inspiration, would they make a simple prayer gesture.
However, according to records, upon the success of a major work or experiment, they would definitely pay their respects to this deity.
These were normal human emotions.
Perhaps only at such times did this deity have some followers.
Naturally, when this deity passed away, and mortals could no longer hear his voice, they believed he had fallen in the divine war.
At that time, the deity's death was no longer a significant event.
It seemed clear that this wasn't death, but rather the first person to imbue the rules with their will.
"Will such an action bring about any changes?"
Alka couldn't help but ask curiously.
Imposing one's will on the rules would necessarily lead to changes, right? If the rules remained the same, without any change, then there would be no point at all.
"Of course, didn't you feel it?" the instructor asked, looking at Alka.
"What feeling?" Alka frowned, a bit puzzled.
"What is a Trial? What is the Trial Tower?"
This tower-like structure remained intact during and after the shattering of the world, continuing to function for so long. You don't think it's because of our construction skills, right?
It's just one of the twelve towers. How could it exist so eternally? All this is because the Trial's very nature has created a certain bias. This is the will's alteration of the rules themselves.
This is also why the Trial Temple can continue to exist, and we instructors have essentially become vassals of the Trial, allowing us to continue to exist.
Rules It's fair. Nothing without character is meaningful. It's simply the natural order of the world.
Fairness is cruel, without humanity.
Any hardship can be called a trial, but does such a trial have a reward? No.
Because the laws of nature can't just involve trials; there's also luck and a price to pay.
All hardship is merely pain, but only with a reward can it be called a trial.
As he spoke, the instructor's once calm face grew a little fanatical, as he addressed Alka like he was preaching.
"So you know, the pain and suffering you endured through past suffering will only ever be sorrow. The suffering you endured will only deepen your pain.
Because that's the rule, nature is so equal and bloody.
But my God has endowed it with will, and that's different. All those who truly endure suffering will surely reap rewards.
Perhaps the rewards won't make their lives much better than before, but they will ultimately be good, or at least not worse.
Isn't this true mercy?"
Arka sat there, thinking.
He suddenly thought of something.
It was the rumor that had long circulated on the sea.
Every drifting island encountered on a voyage was part of fate's gift.
That was all appropriate.
Even if the crisis on a drifting island was inherently difficult to deal with,
The fact that this rumor survived must be because surviving the crisis on a drifting island and being able to continue sailing the seas meant rewards. Those who died on the island were naturally considered to have failed the trial.
‐‐ Of course, there was more to it than that.
‐‐ But after the instructor's explanation, Alka might have sensed that a similar force was at work.
‐‐The instructor then continued, "The divine essence rewards from the Trial Tower are generally suitable for you. Why do you think that is?
‐‐ You should already know how such divine essence could possibly be suitable for you. You must be wondering.
‐‐ To achieve such an effect, we must possess a vast treasury of divine essence; otherwise, it would be difficult to guarantee such a reward."
‐‐Alka nodded. Indeed, this was what puzzled him most.
‐‐ Furthermore, from what they knew, during the Golden Age, this deity wasn't truly powerful, merely one among the many gods.
‐‐He wasn't powerful enough to be praised, nor did he have any impressive achievements.
The only commendable aspect is that the Trial Island provides precise training and cultivation for mortals, believers of the gods, and the descendants of the powerful.
How could he guarantee that those who passed the trials in just one Trial Tower would obtain the divine essence that suited them?
Although divine essences require a greater degree of adaptability than treasures,
it ultimately requires a degree of compatibility, let alone for beings with multiple divinities.
"That's because rules with will mobilize other rules.
The world's operation isn't achieved by a single rule; it's the intertwining combination of countless rules. Every natural phenomenon is the interaction of rules; there's never a single rule that can achieve it."
The instructor said.
At this point, Alka had a rough understanding of what he meant.
The world itself is composed of a vast number of rules. It was just a simple breeze, perhaps more than just a breeze.
"So the reason we can definitely acquire abilities that match you is because there's only so much Divine Essence, generally speaking.
There's no such thing as a vast treasury; the stock of Divine Essence is limited. And most of it was collected by us at the end of the God War.
The reason we can definitely match you is because the rules of the trial have a will. After you pass the trial, the connection between wills wills will align Divine Essence with equivalent exchange."
The instructor smiled as he spoke. "That's what I just said. The Alchemist, the God of Equivalent Exchange, imbues the rules with will.
He will help the rules of the trial, using pre-existing unique methods to transform rules that don't match you into Divine Essence that match you.
After all, it's an equivalent exchange, isn't it?"
Hearing this, Alka's eyes widened.
"In other words, the will of this rule allows it to absorb incompatible divine essences back into the world, and then extract a matching divine essence from the world and return it?"
The instructor nodded.
"Yes, that's right."
Because equivalent exchange has become the world itself, it merely manipulates it through its own will.
It's like a guard watching over a vault.
The vault holds a variety of gold coins, but if someone doesn't like the appearance of a coin they hold, they can use their connections to get the guard to exchange it for a coin of equal value, but with a shape slightly more to their liking.
"Huh?"
This time, Alka was truly surprised and stood up straight from the ground.
If this got out, it would be disastrous.
Through his understanding of the world, Alka knew why so many powerful and even renowned beings hadn't yet ascended to godhood, and why, in tens of thousands of years, not even a handful had achieved godhood.
It was precisely because of the sheer difficulty of acquiring the right three Holy Grails, two Scepters, and, most challenging of all, the Crown.
He believed that someone would undoubtedly choose other treasures based on Scepter-level or even Crown-level treasures.
Discarding the Holy Grail-level treasures he once possessed.
A Crown would undoubtedly be countless times more difficult to find than three Holy Grails.
But if this rule existed, or if one had the ability to utilize it,
then simply gathering a sufficient number of treasures wouldn't require any consideration of their mutual compatibility.
Then the difficulty of achieving Godhood would decrease exponentially.
From extremely difficult to incredibly easy, of course, this was only for the strongest.
As long as Alka reached a certain level of strength, such as the sixth or even seventh stage,
According to the treasure information he possessed, he could even directly obtain the treasures, completely ignoring their compatibility and ascending to Godhood.
After all, he now possessed information about two crown-level treasures.
But no matter how he considered it, neither of these treasures could possibly be compatible with his own.
One was left behind by the Death Dragon after its death, the core of Zehai's life-death boundary.
It was definitely related to death.
The other was the island he'd previously known about, similarly governed by rules similar to death.
It was even more akin to rules like reincarnation.
No matter how he considered it, neither of these items could possibly be compatible with his treasure, or even with the treasures of the others on the ship.
But once he understood the principle of equivalent exchange, how this volitional rule operated, he no longer needed to consider these matters.
He simply needed to obtain an entity of equal value and then exchange it for one of equal value that was more suitable for him. It was like bartering.
Trading what he had for what he needed. "Looking at your expression, I know you're overthinking it." The instructor smiled, then poured cold water on him without hesitation.
"This is a link between rules with will and rules with will, both belonging to the same world.
What? You're also a rule with will?"
"I've said before, the Trial Tower is practically a function of will, a part of the Trial."
Hearing this, Alka calmed down and sat back on the floor. Yeah, what did this have to do with him?
It was all just overthinking.
What a pity.
Alka sat down on the floor, feeling a bit regretful.
"It seems the application of this rule is very important to you?"
Glancing at the instructor's gaze, Alka nodded nonchalantly.
"Indeed, even if it's just a one-time opportunity, it's very important to me."
Because Alka had already gathered nearly all the conditions for godhood.
He already possessed three compatible Holy Grail-level treasures.
The third, originally the most difficult, item had already been obtained thanks to the Prismatic Dragon's gift.
He already possessed one of the two Scepter-level items that matched each other.
As long as he ensured a perfect completion of the Tower of Trials, he would be able to obtain the other compatible Scepter.
Thus, he had two Scepters and three Holy Grails.
He had achieved mutual compatibility.
He had already collected five of the six treasures required for godhood.
He had achieved it, but he had saved the most difficult task for the last, the most difficult-to-obtain crown-level treasure.
Crown-level treasures are inherently difficult to obtain, yet he saved it for last.
As he had just said, most people would focus on crown-level treasures before collecting treasures of other levels.
He, on the other hand, had collected all the treasures of other levels before finally pursuing this single crown-level treasure.
The increased difficulty was unimaginable.
Perhaps none of the crown-level treasures he had obtained would be compatible, and he might even abandon the ones he had and start over.
He only knew of two at the moment.
And he could tell by instinct that they were most likely incompatible.
You know, a crown like this needs to be compatible with five other treasures to achieve the conditions for godhood.
But what if there was a way to exchange one of these for a treasure that matched his, based on the principle of equivalent exchange?
Then the difficulty of godhood would plummet.
He almost had the key to godhood within his grasp.
"How about this? Let's make a deal?"
The instructor suddenly said.
Hearing this, Alka stood up and looked at him, eyes narrowed slightly.
The reward for the deal was self-evident.
Furthermore, the instructor had shared so much secret information with him, suggesting he was definitely waiting for him, finally revealing his true colors.
But Alka had no choice but to take the bait, because it truly hit what he needed most.
"No problem, unless this transaction is more difficult than I imagined."
Is it more difficult than acquiring a crown-level treasure? Probably not.
Alka thought so.
The instructor looked at him and said, "After all, I've been in the Trial Temple for a long time, so I don't know much about how the world works these days.
We usually learn about the outside world through those who come to the Trial. From your expression, I can tell that such an opportunity for an equal exchange must be beyond your imagination.
Then let me first discuss the reward we can offer. As the servants of the Trial God, and the Trial Instructors appointed by him,
We must be closer to our God than any other believer."
He said, with his hands behind his back, "So we know one thing: an artifact of equal exchange.
The former master of alchemy used this artifact to... Turn yourself into the will to the equivalent exchange rules. "
"That's a Libra that can turn the exchange of equivalent value into what you want. Just like what I just said, it can transform the divine essence that is not suitable for you into a divine essence that is suitable for you at the same level and at the same level.
As for how many times this artifact can be used, we don't know, maybe it is possible to be used all the time.
The only thing we can guarantee is that he can use it at least once. "
"This is the reward we can give."
Arka nodded. The reward was the same as he thought. As long as the task given was not too outrageous, he would follow it. This was really important to them.
"Tell me, what's the mission."
"It's very simple, find a way to gather the Tower of Trial in one place, and then tell it widely and tell the whole world.
The Trial Towers that were once built were scattered due to the fragmentation of the world, with a total of 12. You need to collect all of these 12 towers, no matter what ability you use, you have to bring these towers together.
Become a real island of trial. "