Maria returned to the surface and quickly resumed the earlier meeting. Without any interruptions, she quickly mentioned her plan for creating the [Return Scrolls] and the [Return Crystals]. It was quite surprising to hear that Raiju had been sitting on this information for a long time now, but it was good that she was willing to share it. Since it had dealings with the Divine Realm, many in the room thought that there would be some kind of repercussion from getting themselves involved with the realm of the gods.
“Your Majesty, since information regarding the [Return Scrolls] and [Return Crystals] are within the Divine Realm’s influence, are you sure it’s fine for us to start making them?”
Before Maria could answer Carmilla, the one who asked the question, Raiju spoke up first and asked with a chuckle, “Master, you didn’t tell any of them?”
Raiju could see that everyone was confused by her statement. This caused her to laugh, since such an important piece of information, like being a Divinity–or a vessel that was going to become one–was being withheld by Maria when it was important that others should know about it.
As a Divine Vessel, Maria was already categorized as a young Divinity and this meant that she could start spreading her faith to increase her [Divinity] stat. She should’ve been doing this a long time ago, but she simply didn’t know about it. She only knew that after becoming a [Divine Vessel], she had unlocked the [Divinity] stat and with the [Holy Grail] she obtained a while back, she was currently sitting on 1000 plus [Divinity].
Maria thought that that was already pretty good and didn’t do anything else about it, so it remained stagnant from the day she had become a [Divine Vessel]. Little did she know that her next class advancement had nothing to do with her level, but with the value of her [Divinity] stat. In order to become a [Lesser God], she needed a minimum of 100,000 [Divinity], a suitable number of followers, and a [Divine Object] that would represent her within the Divine Realm.
Maria already had the faculties to complete all 3 of those requirements, but as usual, Maria didn’t even know about them.
“What does Lady Raiju mean, Your Majesty?” Carmilla quickly asked.
Since even Maria herself seemed clueless about it, Raiju sighed before stepping up to explain, “Lend me your ears, everyone.”
She then turned towards Maria and said to her with emphasis, “Especially you, Master. I thought you already knew this, but evidently enough, you actually don’t! So listen carefully because this will be extremely important to you and everyone who you command!”
Raiju began by explaining that Maria was already included among those within the Divine Realm because she was a [Divine Vessel], a being who was on the cusp of becoming a Divinity. This piece of news greatly shocked everyone in the room, except for Maria and Alexa. Alexa already knew about this because Raiju had informed her in passing, which started making her view her older sister as a Goddess–though she had already viewed Maria as such from the day Maria saved her.
Alexa was Maria’s first follower and believer, so she provided quite a number of [Divinity] points for her. Within her nation, there were already quite a number of people who viewed her as an actual Goddess, so her [Divinity] stat didn’t just sit at 1000 points like she thought it did. In fact, it was already over ten thousand, so it was apparent that many of her nation’s citizens viewed her as something more than just their Empress. Maria hadn't checked on her Divinity stat at all, so she remained clueless about its increase, thinking that it had remained at 1,000 points all that time.
Raiju continued her explanation and began telling Maria the 3 main objectives that she needed to fulfill in order to fully blossom as a Divine Entity–or quite literally, a Goddess. Once she heard what Raiju had to say, a notification bell immediately rang in her ears.
*DING!*
You have acquired information about your class advancement quest! The quest window has been updated!
Quest: Road to Ascension Rank: SSS Class Advancement Quest Description: In order to become a full-fledged Divinity, you must complete the following conditions in order to ascend! Main Objective 1: Acquire 100,000 Divinity (12,486/100,000)
Main Objective 2: Acquire 1,000,000 believers (5,262/1,000,000)
Main Objective 3: Create a Divine Object (0/1) Time Limit: None Reward: Class: Lesser God of _____ , Quest: Ascension to Godhood, Prototype Divine Object
When Maria read through her newly updated [Quest] window, she began smiling because the quest’s description from before was really vague and didn’t have such detailed information. Unlike when she was Death’s Champion and was provided with many details for her quests, she didn’t have anyone to guide her this time and the system didn’t automatically update things for her if she lacked any information regarding the subject.
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Maria thought that this small feature was rather interesting in the game, but at the same time it was really a hassle to her, who needed more information than just a simple line that told her that she needed a certain amount of [Divinity] to unlock her next class advancement quest. However, just knowing that she needed to acquire information on her own cemented the fact that she truly was on her own and no longer under anyone's influence. This greatly pleased Maria and she was also very grateful that she had a subordinate like Raiju who could inform her of things regarding the Divine Realm.
Anyway, it was clear to her now that she needed more than just [Divinity], as there were 2 other objectives she needed to fulfill before she could ascend to godhood and obtain the [Lesser God] class. She was surprised to see that her Divinity requirement was already 12,486 out of 100,000, so she quickly opened up her class menu and saw that it had actually increased from the 1,000 she originally thought she had.
"Hah, I guess others have already started worshipping me without my knowledge..."
Obtaining believers was pretty easy, Maria thought, since she could gather them from her nation, the Dire. She was really relieved that she had built a nation that centered around herself being an Empress making this quest objective relatively easier than what it should've been. If her people knew that she was going to become a Goddess, it was highly likely that they’d become her ardent believers immediately, especially those who were her long-time citizens and had been with her since the start when her nation was still just a small-sized faction.
As for creating a [Divine Object], Maria recalled receiving a reward that likely had a link to this quest before, so she quickly opened up her [Inventory] and took out the item she believed was a key component to this third objective.
Item Name: Goddess’s Tear Rank: Legendary Description: A tear from an unknown god. It contains an immense amount of divine energy and sorrow. This item can be used to enhance another item and grant it the attribute of Divinity Crafting Material. Cannot be traded or dropped.
“It’s a crafting material that can add the attribute of Divinity to another item… This is definitely one of the key components to creating a [Divine Object]!”
When Raiju saw the item in Maria’s hand, her eyes immediately widened and she quickly approached her and asked, “M-M-M-Master! Wh-Where in the gods’ name did you get that?!”
“Hm?”
“That’s a Goddess’s Tear, isn’t it?”
“Yes, you know something about this?”
“As I thought!” Raiju exclaimed before she shook her head helplessly and continued, “Ah, you truly are blessed with fortune and misfortune, Master…”
“What do you mean?”
“That item…it’s both a blessed and cursed item within the Divine Realm. It can grant any object Divinity upon use, which means you can immediately fulfill the third objective I mentioned earlier.”
Maria was immediately excited when she heard this and quickly asked her just to be certain, “Really, Raiju? You’re not just pulling my leg here, are you?”
“No, Master. I’m serious,” Raiju replied in a firm tone. “Just use the item on any object and it’ll become a Divine Object.”
“Nice!”
“However, there’s a price…the Tear belongs to the Goddess of Sorrows who was originally the Goddess of Pure Love before she lost her ‘identity’. If you use that item, the Goddess of Sorrows will immediately know and likely send her agents to kill you…that item isn’t something that a budding goddess such as Master should possess…”
“What? Then isn’t this thing pretty useless to me?!”
“It should be…but if you manage to become a Goddess first, then you won’t have to worry about the Goddess of Sorrows’ agents.”
“Hm?”
“The agents are likely to be demigods, but full-fledged gods, even a [Lesser God], are fundamentally more powerful than them who are only descendants of a god, which is why I said you don’t have to worry about using the item once you become a god,” Raiju said.
“I see, it looks like I’ll have to wait before using this.”