Soul of Searing Steel

After fighting the Evil God of Death, Joshua had actually sealed his own divinity, including 'combat', 'slaughter', and 'destruction' along with the Evil Gods' Chaos Memories. Comparing with Chaos Memories, which could be weakened with the gimmick of Continental War, divinity was far more incorporeal and harder to counter.

However, following his interaction with the Knowers, his designated path beyond Legend, and his thoughts regarding the threshold of the Wise Ones, Joshua realized that he may have found the essence of gods and the truth of divinity, perhaps even the gap that stood between Legends and the Wise Ones.

What was divinity?

It was the reflection of wisdom in all intelligent life within the Initial Flame. In the known Multiverse, all objects and spiritual domains were derived from light originating from the Initial Flame. It was also within the Initial Flame that the information and energy of all things were contained—everything was born from the Initial Flame, fundamentally connected to the Origins of all. Therefore, divinity was the exceedingly profound reflection of the wisdom in all that was intelligent inside the Initial Flame. It corresponded to the physical realm and was bonded to it, and should a slit be opened, infinite divine power would have poured out from the inside.

Even so, the essence of that slit was actually exceedingly pure consciousness and ideals, a wound torn out of the bond between all things and the Initial Flame. Boundless divine power was essentially the power to heal that wound—like platelets flowing with blood, congealing it to close the gap.

"Primitive Extraordinary lifeforms such as Steel Python and primitive deities are born linked to the Initial Flame, which was why they wield divine power. Unlike gods who only link themselves to the Initial Flame through divinity after their ascension, they are invulnerable to the erosion of divinity." Joshua remained where he was after purging the Chaos essence, thinking hardly while he stared at the fist-sized orb that circled around him. "My divinity, on the other hand, has dived deep within the Initial Flame, surpassing most Steel Pythons and even most gods."

Divinity was indeed the valve that tore and kept the wound open. They would endure the anguish of divinity erosion because of the endless determined belief and will, tearing the wound open time and time again so that his divinity would sink deep into the Initial Flame—the price of obtaining even more divinity. Though Joshua himself had divinity, he did not use it to deliberately create a wound, which was why he simply allowed himself to be eroded, never nearing divine death.

On the other hand, Fattrovi the Time Turner, Ruler of Simboa, had obtained the divinity of Time and Destiny, and yet had not used it when he became god. Instead, he used divinity to create the wound valve, and a small dam of human souls as a store for energy, reserving divine power while avoiding any risks at once… the price for that, however, was billions of lives.

The Earth Mother, with the conceptual meme of land itself, had drawn divine power from the aspect of earth, while the God of Forge and Flame had done the same with his own affiliated aspect. That was why the essence of gods was archetypical of the fourth lifeform—Cognition Incarnate—for they themselves were a concept, a meme.

That was precisely why Father Nature was bound by the meme of Nature and elves, and hence prioritized both elements before all else to the point of desertion. There was assuredly no helping it since he was the very concept himself, so how could he have the thought of betraying his own existence?

Later on, the True Gods with two counterpart aspects such as Zinsen, the former God of Might and Justice, had set up a complete cycle of Order with two divinity memes that at once appeared conflicting and corresponding. It was the equivalent of using one divinity to resist another, automatically keeping the valve open, directing divine power as they wished while their will was kept mostly free.

From Prime Deities such as the primitive Steel Python and deities who naturally possess divine power, to old gods such as father Nature and Earth Mother who embodied conceptual memes, and then to the True Gods, including the Seven Gods of the present day who set up cycles of Order with contradicting divinities—those were the evolving generations of gods.

Having ensured that malevolent Chaos and Evil Gods were basically a unique meme lifeform, Joshua could cross-reference and be certain that the essence of divinity and gods were of a similar existence. It was simply that one relied upon the abnormal supernatural force known as malevolent Chaos, while the other relies on the Initial Flame that was the origins of all things.

"Furthermore, divine death is not necessarily the end." Joshua completed the model regarding gods in his mind and said to himself quietly, "It's likely that one is simply dragged inside the Initial Flame by the divinity wound that had been widened to its very limit—like a fisherman being pulled by his fishing line deep inside the sea." Still, could an individual stand against the Initial Flame? It was very much equivalent to being dead.

Having understood that, Joshua finally understood several questions regarding Glorious Era clearances. The gods were a meme lifeform a step beyond most ordinary sentient creatures, which was why most gods held clearance higher than Legends, despite a majority the Legends having become so powerful that they surpassed gods.

Similar to how Void Behemoths remained beasts despite becoming more powerful than civilization, Legends had never transcended the essence of their living form no matter how powerful they became…. Even so, the lifeform as a divine being was so unstable and dangerous that even then, no civilizations belonging to a god had came to be. The application of divine power by the gods closely resembled that of normal humans having great brute strength.

As with how the beginnings of research into magic and Aura saw the death of many pioneers and geniuses, the present threshold of the gods was also a path filled with flaws and deficiences. It would have taken a long time and the perishing of innumerable gods to perfect a technique of divine cultivation that was without repercussions in the future.

Mycroft's former project of Humans as Gods was probably to have everyone ascend as deities and become the first meme civilization of the Multiverse. They would develop into the threshold of gods while being driven by the force of their entire civilization, and it was only through achieving that they could transcend their original living forms, reaching a brand-new divide like what divided 'beast' and 'civilization'.

That being said, did gods really fundamentally transcend ordinary sentient life?

It was not so.

Setting aside the many flaws and restrains of a divine threshold, powerful beasts could decimate civilization. Likewise, powerful humans—that is, Legends—could definitely slay gods. A case in point was the Undying Bird, the ultimate beast which existence almost surpassed the limits to become 'civilization incarnate'. If it ascended and obtained the correct mental state, it could rely upon its great power to reverse engineer knowledge and skill, and it would not be long before its knowledge could be comparable to that of powerful civilizations.

The most powerful Legendary champions must have been the same as Joshua who had found the essence of divinity and the gods. If their transcension of boundaries proved successful and they hence became a meme lifeform, they would certainly have become the most powerful amongst their kind—like how the Seven Gods often told Joshua that he would be an exceedingly powerful deity if he ascended.

"However, it is not to say that only divine powers can achieve that." With that thought, Joshua's eyes flickered in dark red radiance while divine light emanated away from Joshua body, manifesting as a pure wheel of Order behind him that whirled incessantly. That Φ symbol represented Joshua's essence, like the Black Halo of the former God of Might and the Bifurcated Eye of the God of Wisdom and Choice.

Joshua did not believe that becoming a god was to be the only path to becoming meme, and it was not merely a theory since there was reliable evidence for it. Similar to how malevolent Chaos could create a meme lifeform in Evil Gods, it was proof that becoming a god was not the single path to sublimation… the Wise One of each Extraordinary power had probably gone through a meme process of their corresponding power.

It also proved that meme methods probably exist for each power—that being said, divinity was the most ancient, most primitive, and most researched Extraordinary power—just as there were many refining methods to become a god far beyond any other succeeding Extraordinary power, be it in quantity or security. Indeed, even the Psybugs were likely to be the failed outcome of a superior civilization attempting a bold psionic meme method.

"Although there is no telling if it is correct, but the direction of ascension for Legendary champions is probably to assume the path of an Extraordinary power, become its 'god', and indeed embody the power itself."

And there came the 'Threshold of the Wise Ones', which established a brand-new branch of Extraordinary power.

As a matter of fact, Joshua was aware that those were simply his theories that could not be verified, analyzed, or examined with practical evidence. It was almost akin to pure daydream, and his shallowness was evident if he really bought into it. But as the saying goes, to boldly theorize and prudently prove—researching unknown knowledge assuredly needed great courage.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click www.webnovel.com for visiting.

"It seems like there is no other way."

That was why the warrior stood at the center of his world and sighed helplessly, which prompted the Silver Fairies around him who were tidying the collapsed remains of the obelisk to imitate (repeat) him and sigh as well.

I have to try capturing a few Evil Gods in the future, Joshua thought quietly. After all, they are the only meme lifeform I've encountered to possess Extraordinary powers, aside from the gods.