The Oracle Paths

Jake and Hade were taken aback, but they were curious about what she was going to say.

"It's simple, the answer is in their name. Divinities." Lucia revealed with a smirk.

Divinity? Jake had obviously mulled over that possibility. If the founder of this faction wasn't absurdly arrogant then he was probably regarded as a god somewhere in his home universe. That he chose to recruit only Players with such a prestigious status as his own was not so surprising either.

However, there was a difference between being considered a god and actually being one. If it was enough to be abnormally powerful and have great powers, then Jake could be treated as a god in the eyes of the Earthlings from a few years ago.

With his abilities, he could easily annihilate the entire Earth if he felt like it. By sharing his Vitality he could heal, he was invincible, unkillable, could command the elements and even produce precious metals like gold, platinum or mithril from his own body.

If one used this definition, then he was indeed a god. But a mortal god. It didn't explain how those Lost Divinities Players had survived his attacks after being annihilated to the last cell.

His other assumptions were more hazardous and much harder to verify. They were based on the Dream Aether's enigmatic nature, which implied that all beings were interconnected. Their thoughts blended into the Dream Aether's fabric, accumulating until eventually they came to life.

That was why Xi had told him early on: Everything that can be imagined exists somewhere in the Mirror Universe. That could be interpreted in a broad sense, but also literally.

If the latter theory prevailed, then there could be all sorts of real gods, more or less powerful depending on how many thoughts brought them to life. This could include vague concepts such as Love, War or Money, as well as real or imaginary deities such as the deities of the Greek or Scandinavian pantheon. It could also include imaginary fictional characters provided that enough Evolvers believe in their existence in the Mirror Universe.

"I see you already have a clue." Lucia chuckled as she saw their brows scrunched up in a thoughtful expression. "To summarize, there are those who are perceived as gods, those who pretend to be gods, and those who are gods because they have been imagined as such or embody ideas or concepts that have given them life. Divinity is the source of divine and conceptual energy that these imaginary belief-based gods use to harvest the Faith Energy of their believers. As long as the Divinity exists, or a person believes in their existence, they cannot really die. To be on the safe side, they can place their Divinity in a secure location not too far from their body, nullifying the chances of defeating them permanently."

'Xi, did you know about this?" Jake probed with a grim expression.

[I wasn't sure.] The Oracle AI confessed in a distressed and somewhat guilt-ridden voice. [It didn't seem likely in a low-level Ordeal, because it usually takes a high Dream Aether density for these kinds of miracles to occur. Such Aether density should not exist in lower Seed Worlds like the one where Earth used to be, nor even this one where Quanoth is. I think this kind of natural god can only be spawned in advanced worlds as those of the Eighth Ordeal or higher.]

Jake stood motionless for a long moment, before experiencing a sudden epiphany.

'There is still a possibility. Lost Divinities is an old faction belonging to some old system, right?'

[Hmm, that is indeed the case. I don't remember much about it, but there is also a famous faction called Lost Divinities in System A0. Their leader is said to be able to stand up directly to the Oracle and its Ancient Designers. Its Divinity is said to be Omnipotence. Basically, anyone in the universe who firmly or subconsciously believes in the existence of an all-powerful god provides Faith Energy to its Divinity and its divine powers match their expectations.]

Jake was stunned when he learned of the existence of such an absurd and overpowered entity. If such a thing was possible then it supported his hypothesis even more.

'If so, can a Divinity be shared, or at least its power?'

[I don't know, but in all logic... Yes.]

"I've figured out how Lost Divinities do it to survive my attacks." Jake sighed wearily. Sure, the mystery might have been solved, but it didn't tell him how to defeat them.

"Glad I could be of help." Lucia gave him a beaming smile.

"I think I figured it out too." Hade nodded. He, too, had been talking with his Oracle AI.

The reasoning was as follows. If enough Evolvers in the Mirror Universe believed in the existence of Batman, then somewhere a Batman could exist. On the other hand, this Batman, if he had a Divinity, could not share it with other people. Why not? Because that would be tantamount to diluting his own existence. There could only be one Batman.

It was different for the conceptual Divinities. Love and War were universal concepts. Each civilization had probably believed at some point in its history in gods embodying these concepts. Ares, Freya, Anat, Ishtar, Chiyou, Seth, Hachiman, Indra, Athena, Taranis, Mars, Sekhmet ect...

On Earth alone there were dozens of them. Although it was highly unlikely that the believers of that time were enough to bring them to life as individuals, on the scale of the Mirror Universe it was more than enough to create a Divinity of War. The first person to get their hands on this Divinity had to be more than powerful enough to share their Divinity with their subordinates, bestowing upon them divine powers similar to their own.

Taking the concept to the extreme, Ares, Seth and these other known gods could even be Evolvers in his service sent to Earth at a time when technology was still not very advanced to preach the good word and provide more and more Faith Energy.

Taking it a step further, one could even imagine that some of these gods had borne children, their Divinity affecting their bloodlines and their potential in unpredictable ways.

"As unrealistic as it sounds, let's consider the worst case scenario." Jake suggested, rubbing his temples.

"Okay." Hade agreed. "The worst case scenario would be that all the Players in this faction are true gods with their own unique Divinity that defines them. Most would be spirits, deities, or gods in their home worlds from the most popular local beliefs, but according to the birth principle of Divinities and the fact that they come from lower worlds like us they would have to be extremely weak, barely more tangible than mirages. As long as they have a follower somewhere in the Mirror Universe or B842 they can't really be killed, but it should take them so long to regenerate that they pose no threat to us.

"This brings us to the second component of the worst case scenario. These lesser deities have become Evolvers just like us and have used their assets to achieve excellent results at their first Ordeals. The Oracle always gives appropriate rewards to those who deserve them. If I were a belief-based god and the last believer believing in my existence was about to die, the first thing I would want would be to get a real body, a bloodline that matched my identity and essence, but which would not be dependent on anyone's fleeting thoughts and beliefs. If such relevant bloodlines exist then they should have specific abilities to maximize the use of this Faith Energy and the matching Divinity.

"This brings us to the third component of this worst-case scenario. Each of these Players would be a minor deity with their own Divinity, their own bloodline, AND they would have been lent a sliver of power from another much more powerful Divinity. In that case, we can destroy their body and soul, but killing them for good will be nearly impossible."

"But we can mortally wound them." Lucia countered with a fighting glint in her eyes. "I doubt many Lost Divinities members have two Divinities as you describe, one of their own and one borrowed. From Jake's description, most were just cannon fodder. On top of that, you left out another major possibility."

"And which one?"

"Descendants and ordinary Players who obtained a divine bloodline qualifying them to receive a Divinity or create their own."

Jake cast a knowing look at the young woman.

"That reminds me, you still haven't told us how you found out about Lost Divinities..." He quipped calmly.

"I was waiting for you to pop the question, hehe." She giggled smugly. " Thanks to my bloodline. The Neithnikidian bloodline, it's a combination of my Myrmidian bloodline and two other divine bloodlines based on the template of a demiurge goddess and another goddess of victory. This fact alone would not have been enough to arouse my suspicions, but you see, after I got this bloodline in my Third Ordeal, they contacted me to recruit me. I don't know how they found out, but the facts are there. I asked around looking for other Myrtharian Nerds who had received a similar invitation and found a few.

"Asfrid for example, has assimilated a bloodline named Nereid, which to put it simply are sea nymphs considered minor deities. Lost Divinities also contacted her."

While Hade wondered about the deeper purpose of such a mass recruitment, Jake and his narcissism were indignant about something else entirely.

'Did these cheap gods just try to recruit my subordinates right under my nose?'

Now he was pissed.