"This ability's standout feature is its touch of making dreams come true, fulfilling desires…"
"But it demands a deep understanding of something."
Desire is the foundation; fulfillment is the chosen outcome.
Truman gazed at the forest beyond the city-state, now able to see the Mercury Snake.
"Let's call it 'Cause and Effect.' I'm the cause, it's the effect, perhaps linked to the Spirit World." The Spirit World, encompassing all possibilities of past, present, and future, held the "causes" Truman needed.
Truman traced his fingers across the Book of Dreams, perfecting this second branch of dream authority.
As the ability solidified, the fog before his eyes seemed to clear.
"I see you." This was the cause—Truman knew the Mercury Snake's existence and its abilities, linking them in fate.
"A distant Spirit World visitor will appear at the Mercury Snake's location, disrupting its state."
This was Truman's chosen effect.
Crack!
The God of Luck's eyes snapped open, its luck plummeting as its spirituality screamed a warning.
The next moment, a Spirit World creature opened a gate to reality, but under the Mercury Snake's gaze, its luck drained to zero. It turned unlucky, devoured by a passing demigod Spirit World creature.
The snake used its ability to affect the world, ripples of fate spreading outward.
In that moment, the God of Luck's unique fate could no longer hide, exposed to all.
"Not good!" The God of Luck sensed centuries of accumulated luck draining at a terrifying rate.
Someone was tampering with its fate!
"God of Luck, why stay so far? I think we could be friends," Truman said softly, with friendliness.
But the Mercury Snake's symbols flared, flickering wildly, desperate to flee.
"Spatial Barrier!" Truman reached out, and the space around the Mercury Snake became a cage, trapping it.
The "Traveler" ability granted masterful control over space.
"Hiss!" The Mercury Snake's eyes flashed red, altering fate to slip out before the cage formed.
It glanced at Truman, sending a shiver through him, an ominous feeling rising.
Without the Book of Dreams, that glance might have bottomed out his luck, maxing out misfortune—to the point of choking on water.
Instinctively, Truman grasped, activating the Error pathway's "Trojan Horse of Destiny" ability multiple times, stealing the Mercury Snake's luck.
Hiss! Was this the illusion of luck?
Truman felt the world revolving around him.
It was the kind of luck where stepping outside yielded demigod characteristics, and bending down found angel materials—terrifyingly exhilarating!
But then, a shimmer of light pulsed across the Mercury Snake.
"Fate Cycle"!
The snake locked its luck in a cycle. Truman's theft triggered this mechanism, activating it.
The shimmer ceased, and Truman's illusion faded, bursting like a bubble.
"Pity!" Truman sighed. Who wouldn't want to be a luck emperor?
The Mercury Snake, in its Fate Cycle, didn't linger, opening a Spirit World gate.
"What a formidable fate serpent!" Truman exclaimed. "Far stronger than Ouroboros."
"…Forget it. I probably can't win, and even if I did, I couldn't kill it." Truman watched the snake depart via the Spirit World, choosing not to intervene.
With the Book of Dreams, he could forcibly elevate his mystical items' power by one rank, matching Sequence 1 abilities.
Even "Cause and Effect" and "Dreamweaving" had limitless potential, depending on the power he could muster.
But that was a Mercury Snake, a practical luck emperor, with "Restart" as a divine skill.
Most critically, the Elf King was likely watching!
Indeed, when the God of Luck reached this city-state, the Elf King's gaze fell upon it.
"Another angel!" The Elf King, in poor condition, his surrounding lightning dimmed.
"That sun has been plotting for ages!" His voice shook the elven palace.
"I suspect his birth wasn't much later than ours, only emerging now because we're so weakened!"
"Foolish Aurmir! Betraying Lilith! Giving the sun its chance!" The ferocious Elf King even considered attacking the Giant King's court.
"The Sun God is a formidable foe!" Calamity Queen Goshnam said gravely.
She handed the Elf King a slate presented by elven guards.
"These are the potion sequences." The slate bore a potion formula.
Missionaries had already spread low-sequence potion formulas, now reaching the Elf King's hands.
"This is blasphemy!" Lightning roared, flashing with destructive brilliance. "Potions that defile divinity!"
"But we can't destroy them!" Goshnam said calmly. "We must control their spread!"
"I propose sending envoys to the Sun God's divine kingdom!"
The Elf King's gaze fixed on Goshnam, forcing himself to calm, awaiting her explanation.
"If you don't go, other ancient gods will rush to!" Goshnam's face was cold. "Potions are the future! Use the elven treasury's mystical items to trade for potion formulas."
"In a century, all elves must advance this way, stabilizing their mental states!"
"In centuries, our elven race won't lag behind other extraordinary races!"
The Elf King, unusually, suppressed his ferocity, pondering, then nodded.
He likely shared her concerns.
The so-called blasphemy targeted divinity. Could that sun have achieved ancient godhood via this potion system?
Wouldn't that make the sun's state far stabler than the dragon's or his own?
"Send the newcomer, Auernia!" the Elf King commanded.
Goddess of Beauty Auernia, once Lilith's Sanguine subordinate god, now sheltered by the Elf King after Lilith's "death."
"Very well!" The elven race mobilized, a group of Sequence 5-equivalent elves led by Auernia heading to the Sun God's divine kingdom.
Elsewhere, similar scenes unfolded. Ancient gods swiftly obtained the missionaries' potion formulas, making the same decision.
Potions were the future of their races.
All ancient gods recognized this, whether to uncover their secrets or strengthen their races.
Each race sent delegations, carrying vast arrays of mystical items or extraordinary characteristics, to the Sun God's divine kingdom.
The potion system's impact on this era was just beginning.
(End of Chapter)