Chapter 1: Divine Realm
A dark figure stood in the void.
No one knew how long he had been standing there and, like a statue, he waited patiently, eyes closed.
Vrrrrr
The being suddenly felt a vibration on his wrist and abruptly opened his eyes before smiling.
"I should have taken a higher-end one. I've been waiting here for too long."
As the being closed his eyes again, a beam of unknown energy shot from his head at full speed, undetectable to the naked eye.
…
"You… Put… Food… Here!"
A rough and dissonant voice sounded and a strange character bent down with a huge pile of fish in his arms.
He dropped (threw) what he was holding and, with about a dozen of his kind, turned to the one who had just given him an order.
"Grrr… You… Leave." the Novarian in front of him said
Indeed, the one giving the orders was not human. Neither was he by the way.
In fact, no one of them was, although there were some resemblances.
Most of them were about 1.2 meters tall. Unlike humans, they had no hair, and their bodies were covered in blue and black scales that formed some rather strange patterns.
They had long claws that extended from their hands, and their ears seemed like fish fins.
[NOVARIAN PICTURE BELLOW]
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tqYYQ6dopeawcwXdoCArGQszqTAbwNUP/view?usp=sharing
Of course, they were not all identical, and each had a small feature that distinguished them from the others: face shape, scale patterns, musculature…
In particular, the Novarian giving orders to the small group stood out very easily from the others by his size.
He was easily two heads taller than his peers and reached 1.5 meters in height.
"Grrr"
The Novarian made a strange sound and, finally freed from his work, rushed towards his hut, where his pregnant mate awaited him.
ROOOAAAAARRRR
However, he did not get far before a roar echoed through the tribe.
They seemed to recognize the signal and rushed to the center of the tribe in a unified movement.
In less than two minutes, they were gathered in a small square in the middle of which stood a "majestic" altar made of bones and clay.
A very tall Novarian – about 1.75 meters – stood in front of the altar, looking at the noisy crowd around him.
He seemed to be at the prime of life and, while the other Novarians were only dressed in a few pieces of cloth or simple loincloths, he wore a somewhat decent garment.
In addition, he had a long bone knife attached to his belt, itself made of a tendon from an unknown beast.
He looked at the more than a hundred novarians gathered and clapped his hands, drawing the crowd's attention and calming their chatter.
"The Lord of the Azure Abyss has sent me a prophecy." He said.
Unlike the others, there was no roughness in his voice, and he spoke without problems.
"He told me that a group of foreigners from another world was about to land here and was after our tribe."
Some females cast worried glances as they unconsciously protected their large bellies with their arms, while most of the adults roared with excitement.
"Go get your weapons, it's time for war!"
…
A few minutes later, a large number of Novarians were moving beneath the sea's surface, scaring the fish in their path.
Although they moved at full speed, they made almost no ripples beyond the usual swell.
They followed the continent and, a few kilometers further, arrived on a small sandy beach.
The Novarian chief slowed and stopped the group of nearly eighty individuals.
They slowly surfaced and poked their heads out of the water, observing the scene before them.
On the beach, there were about twenty frogmen croaking and bustling around.
Behind them, the air seemed to warp, and there was a huge swirling hole.
However, the Novarians were not surprised at all. They had heard of the legendary spatial channels through which enemies from another world invaded sometimes.
The Novarian chief turned back and told the group to follow him as he headed towards the frogmen.
The troop quickly followed, emitting various gurgles and roars.
Fortunately, they were underwater, and the sound did not reach the invaders' ears.
The ground rose rapidly and soon they could no longer hide.
The Novarian chief suddenly leapt out of the water and pounced on the frogmen, quickly followed by a roaring motley army.
He landed fifteen meters away, and two headless bodies fell to the ground as blood sprayed into the air.
The frogmen reacted quickly and grabbed their weapons.
The five strongest croaked loudly and charged at the chief.
The latter was not idle either: he swung his blades and jumped, twisting agilely in the air to avoid the enemies’ attacks.
With a swift move, he drove his blade into the head of a frogman who stared him with bulging eyes.
Driven by a force far beyond that of an ordinary person, the knife penetrated deep into the eye socket and pierced behind the monster's skull.
The head split instantly, and several yellow and red brain tissues splattered on the ground.
The chief pushed the frogman's body blocking his way to focus on the other four when a strange cry came from behind him:
"GRRR Lord… Azure Abyss… Gira kill… ENEMIES!"
A group of Novarians appeared around him and pounced on the remaining frogmen, led by about fifteen Novarians much taller than the others.
The Novarians waved various bone spikes and knives, roaring strangely as they charged into battle.
Compared to the childlike size of the Novarians, these frogmen were about 1.70 meters tall and looked like giants.
Despite their greater strength, they were far from numerous enough; nearly eighty Novarians assailed them from all sides: it was almost one against five.
The chief was not inactive either. After catching his breath, he swung his blade and cut one of the invaders in half before sever another's arm as he spun in a deadly dance.
Suddenly, he noticed movement in his peripheral vision and pivoted.
"Get away!"
Several Novarians tacitly separated, and Liam used the momentum he had built to throw the weapon held by his left hand.
Swooosh
A few dozen meters away, a frogman was about to kill a fallen Novarian when the weapon sliced through the air and embedded itself in his head.
Puchi
It exploded like a gourd, painting the Novarian's face with the invader's blood.
The chief did not take the time to breathe and rushed towards the other frogmen.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a frogman swing his club with all his might and crush a Novarian into a bloody pulp, but he could do nothing.
"Damn! Another one is dead."
The chief cursed in his heart, feeling helpless against the pitiful combat power of his subordinates.
He could only gather his energy and return to the melee.
He used his combat power and skills far superior to those of his peers to kill the three most powerful frogmen still alive and quickly joined the general melee.
In a few minutes, the scene on the coast had calmed down.
This time, seven more Novarians were killed and eight were injured before the remaining frogmen were killed one by one.
When the last invader fell, all the Novarians roared to the sky, brandishing their weapons.
One of them eagerly grabbed a severed hand and tried to bite it, but the chief kicked him into the sea.
He ignored the Novarian, reached out, and grabbed a frogman's corpse, lifting it high into the sky and roaring loudly:
"The Great Lord of the Azure Abyss has given us the strength to defeat the enemy. Tonight, we will use these trophies to make a sacrifice to the great Lord of the Azure Abyss."
Immediately, a Novarian shouted in response:
"Lord – Grrr – Azure Abyss – Grrr!"
The chief took the corpse with him and returned to the sea while the other members of the group followed him, carrying the remaining corpses and weapons.
While swimming, he concentrated and made a small luminous screen appear that only he could see, displaying a series of data.
…
[Divine Interface]
[Human Name: Liam Adler]
[True Name: Ahsoka Rivalek]
[God Name: Great Lord of the Azure Abyss, Lord of the Deep Seas]
[Divine Rune: 1]
[Divine Realm: Low demi-plane]
[Intelligent Believing Races: Novarians]
[Faith Points: 32 947 points]
…
Liam's eyes jumped directly past the few lines above and landed straight on the last one concerning faith points, which had recently reached nearly thirty-three thousand.
With a thought, the interface disappeared and was replaced by another.
…
[Believers Interface]
[Emblem: Novarian holding a trident, surrounded by seawater]
[Regime: Tribal Cult (Primitive Religion)]
[Believers: 1 fanatic believer, 16 fervent believers, 31 true believers, 69 pan believers]
….
"Three more true believers, not bad."
Liam Adler smiled and looked at another interface:
…
[Race Interface]
[Race: Novarian]
[Race Category: Amphibious Humanoid, half-civilized race]
[Race Level: mid-tier inferior race]
[Racial Talents: Underwater Breathing]
[Physical Stats:
[Rank 0: Constitution: 0.7 || Strength: 0.5 || Agility: 0.5/1.1 (land/water) || Spirit: 0.4]
[Rank 1: Constitution: 1.9 || Strength: 1.6 || Agility: 1.0/2.4 (earth/water) || Spirit: 0.8]
[Rank 2: Constitution: 4.2 || Strength: 3.8 || Agility: 1.9/4.7 (earth/water) || Spirit: 1.4]
(The norm for a normal, healthy adult human mortal is one point everywhere)
…
The race interface wasn't very interesting. Liam had seen it countless times already and it hasn’t changed for so many years.
On the other hand, Liam noticed some changes in three novarians. They seemed to have suddenly gained greater confidence and exuded a certain aura.
He sent his spiritual sense into their bodies and immediately noticed the difference. Their cells were dividing at a much faster rate than normal and were beginning to modify their bodies, slowly making them more solid and powerful.
“So that’s it!”
They had managed to break one of the two seals on their bloodline through the previous fight and had begun to evolve to the first rank.
Finally, Liam was in a good mood and the loss of the seven clan members who just died was largely compensated.
For a race as weak as the novarians, death in battle was commonplace, and even he could do nothing about it.
After traveling a few kilometers, they saw the outline of the tribe hidden in a cove surrounded by rocky walls.
The novarians who stayed behind—mostly children, elders or pregnant women—were busy drying fish or creating a kind of cement with shells and sand to reinforce the huts.
Seeing them return with so many "trophies," the young novarians surrounded them excitedly, while the elders looked at them with appreciation.
That night, a "sumptuous" sacrificial ceremony was organized by the whole tribe.
When the sun went down, the novarians were dancing around a huge bonfire on which a large number of fish caught during the day were cooking.
As a delicious aroma began to spread in the air, Liam stood up and clapped his hands, calming the crowd and drawing everyone's attention.
"The Great Lord of the Azure Abyss, the Lord of the Deep Seas. The supreme god of creation and the four elements..."
He didn't even blush while making such a speech and continued.
"Great being who protects and watches over us, great God Ahsoka Rivalek. Today we dedicate this sacrifice to you. Please witness to our most pious faith and the bravery of our warriors fallen in battle."
Liam's voice suddenly became more powerful and resonated throughout the tribe.
"Great Lord of the Azure Abyss, please accept this sacrifice and grant us, your most faithful and courageous warriors, the strength to spread your faith in this world!"
He grabbed the body of a frogman and threw it onto the altar.
Fifteen rank 1 novarians picked up the other corpses and tossed them onto the altar.
With a bone staff, Liam danced a war dance he had created himself with a fanatical look on his face.
Under his influence, the novarians beside the altar also started the war dance around the altar.
Later, the novarian chief, who was dancing like a fanatic, suddenly returned to his original state.
However, while no one noticed, a golden light containing a mysterious aura rose into the sky and flew out of the tribe.
It quickly transformed into an humanoid shadow that looked like a handsome human boy.
There was a layer of mystical power surrounding the golden shadow, making it so blurry that it was difficult to distinguish clearly.
Liam looked around: he could see his entire divine realm at a glance.
It was a more or less flat disk about ten kilometers in radius, with the height forming a sort of dome: from a few hundred meters high at the edge of the divine realm to about three kilometers high at the center.
The vast floating land was silent and desperately empty apart from the lights and cheers coming from the novarian tribe.
It was only a small tribe of about a hundred novarians.
That may sound miserable, but they were all of Liam's people, with only fourteen rank 1 novarian apprentice warriors and one hundred and three rank 0 mortal novarians.
Well, there was also him, the Lord of the Azure Abyss, who personally embodied the tribe's chief; a powerful rank 2 novarian.
Liam wasted no time and found the three rank 0 novarians who were evolving and pointed his finger.
Thirty faith points disappeared, and three columns of light descended from the sky onto the novarians.
The faith energy fell and engulfed the three novarians dancing around the altar. They let out a roar as their size increased at a speed visible to bare eyes.
In less than ten seconds, they went from 1.2 to 1.5 meters.
At the same time, the scales on their bodies became darker and gained higher defense.
The three newly promoted novarian apprentice warriors reacted after being briefly stunned: they immediately knelt before the altar representing the Lord of the Azure Abyss and sang his praises wildly.
Above the sky, Liam directly filtered out these words of praise he had heard so many times.
His attention was now on the line of faith representing the three novarians: it had become much thicker, and all three had become fervent believers.
The faith value provided increased from 0.1 points per day to 1 point per day, which was directly multiplied by ten.
Furthermore, because they saw their compatriots receive the power of the Lord of the Azure Abyss and be promoted in front of their eyes, eighteen true believers and four additional fervent believers appeared among the novarians.
As a result, the number of fervent believers in the tribe suddenly reached twenty-three, and the number of true believers reached forty-nine.
This was the main reason why he had not promoted them on the spot but during a sacrificial ceremony.
After all, what better way to promote the faith of believers than by demonstrating miracles? Even if it wasn't actually a miracle because he just accelerate the breakthrough of the novarians, but how would the primitive novarians find out?
In fact, once a bloodline chain was broken, the body would undergo a long evolution process that could last several months.
What he did was just spending a few faith points to accelerate this transformation.
If he wanted to directly level-up a rank 0 novarian, he could, but it would require far more faith points and was not cost-effective at all.
Closing the holographic interface with satisfaction, Liam took one last look at his divine realm and then his soul transformed into a golden light and flew into the sky.
