CHAPTER 212: A SMALL STEP TOWARDS BECOMING A GOD!

Divine Bearer

A skill that granted him the chance to become a god.

Even the description alone was enticing enough for Zarek.

There were only two gods in this world: the Dragon God and the Human God.

Both gods were more like guardians, firmly protecting their respective races.

From what Zarek knew, many gods had once existed before the era of blood and carnage.

A brutal war between all races, from which only the humans and dragons emerged victorious.

The massacre that swept away millions.

This was the information he had received from Conrad. And later, after Drayken’s status rose to royalty, he gained even more insight into that forgotten age.

This battle was of immense significance, for it was the moment the gods revealed themselves, clashing openly before the eyes of all the races.

It was a scene of utter annihilation like the entire world was on the verge of collapse!

According to the book Drayken had read in the royal library, that single line was the only description that the author could give.

Even that one sentence was enough to convey the terrifying might of the gods. But for Zarek, a lingering question remained:

Were the gods simply powerful, or was there something more that set them apart?

Perhaps the answer lay within this very skill of his.

Without hesitation, Zarek closed his eyes and focused his mind.

Inside the cramped space of his golden cage, tightly bound by golden chains, even the fierce wind rushing past his face couldn’t stir a single strand of his hair.

The golden chains were clearly something special, an artifact meant to suppress him completely, sealing every inch of his body.

But Zarek didn’t mind.

Right now, his consciousness had slipped into an empty space.

This was where he arrived after activating the skill.

"...What is this place?"

Zarek murmured, glancing around the darkness that surrounded him. He could feel it, something strange. A connection. A pull.

Splash!

"Hmm?" Zarek flinched at the sudden sound of splashing water. He looked down, eyes widening in disbelief.

"This feels like solid ground but it’s actually a sea?"

In the suffocating darkness, Zarek could barely make out anything around him.

Then, all of a sudden, a golden light shimmered into existence before him, small and flickering like a distant star.

He didn’t know what it was, but his instincts whispered to him.

"This... this is the tool to create my image."

The golden light moved in harmony with his thoughts, trailing sparkling dust as it drifted through the void like a comet.

"Hmm, so I can shape anything as my image?" Zarek mused, curiosity rising.

Focusing his mind, he guided the golden light to form a simple circle in front of him. It was plain and bland.

But the moment he completed it, a soft chime echoed in the void.

A glowing blue panel materialized in front of him, its text forming rapidly.

[Do you wish to choose this as your sacred image?]

[Chance of forming the sacred image: 0.0001%]

[Accept / Decline]

"Well, it sounds simple enough," Zarek grumbled, his tone dry. But he quickly shook his head.

Even if he could forcefully manifest his sacred image, there was no way he would choose a bland circle to represent himself.

With a sigh, he respectfully declined the prompt and fell deep into thought.

What should his sacred image be?

He needed something that could define him. Something that was just symbolic and a reflection of his uniqueness.

And when he asked himself what made him truly unique, the answer came immediately.

His skill: Adapt.

A skill that defied logic.

A power that allowed him to change, to grow, to evolve endlessly. It was broken in every possible way.

Zarek couldn’t forget the weakness of his skill. the feeling of complete helplessness, being utterly bound, unable to move an inch which completely rendered his Adapt skill useless.

Just like what Mirabella had done to him.

But that had been an overwhelming difference in strength. She had known his abilities inside and out, and used that knowledge to suppress him entirely.

Still, it bothered him.

He needed a sacred image that truly captured the essence of his Adapt skill...

Something that symbolised not just survival, but the ability to thrive under any condition.

Something that represented his invincibility.

Zarek thought long and hard. After all, it was a decision that all his followers would pray upon and represent him.

Time passed, it felt like an eternity had passed even though barely an hour had gone by.

Finally, his eyes sharpened.

He began to move the golden light in front of him.

It started to flicker right in front of him, weaving through the air with constant twists and turns.

The more the golden flicker of light moved, the more he felt it truly symbolized the sacred image of himself.

"Something that defines my Adapt skill, a skill that can surpass anything and everything."

In just a few minutes, his creation, the sacred image, was complete.

Looking at it with his blue pupils, Zarek nodded with a satisfied expression.

Hovering before him in golden light was a glowing spiral. It was a...

Bacteria.

Small, nearly invisible to the eye but they were the most adaptable beings in existence.

They survived in boiling heat, frozen wastes, toxic voids, as long as they had time, they always found a way.

They were perfect.

The embodiment of adaptation.

There could be no better sacred image to represent his Adapt.

[Do you wish to choose this as your sacred image?]

[Chance of forming the sacred image: 99.99%]

[Accept / Decline]

"Well, it seems like even this agrees with me," Zarek grinned and accepted without hesitation.

In that instant, the air around him trembled. The ground beneath, an ocean in form, began to rumble.

The golden spiral, his sacred image, shaped like a bacteria, flared brilliantly, then shot forward like a comet.

It struck his arm.

Suddenly.

Zarek’s eyes snapped open.

He was back. Inside the golden cage. Still bound tightly by the golden chains that held his body motionless, in a cage.

’It felt like a dream,’ he muttered in his heart, bitterness creeping onto his lips.

And even though everything had been so vivid, if he couldn’t still feel the invisible image he had carved not long ago in his hand, Zarek might have believed it really was a dream.

’Gods, huh?’

Zarek muttered again, his eyes unable to hide his excitement.

’A small step towards becoming a god.’

Just as he was lost in thought, Mirabella landed, and Zarek uncomfortably shifted his pupils to take in his surroundings.

She had landed in front of a giant white temple.