Gospel of Blood

Chapter 377: Ascension to Godhood

“Condense the essence, transform divine power, ignite the divine flame, forge a divine persona?”

Muttering this phrase, Charlotte fell into deep thought.

In Albrecht’s memory, these thirteen words represented the core of ascension to Godhood, with each pair of words having a corresponding explanation.

Condense the Essence.

This refers to the reversion and awakening of extraordinary bloodlines. For an extraordinary being, this means the strengthening of their bloodline and enhancement of their extraordinary power, essentially increasing strength and elevating rank.

However, the ultimate goal of this step is not merely to enhance extraordinary power, but to trace back to the most fundamental power source of extraordinary power while doing so.

This concept was a bit convoluted, but Charlotte, combining her knowledge from various texts, believed it referred to tracing back to the origin of extraordinary power.

For instance, texts recorded that almost all extraordinary powers derived from ancient myths, the diluted and developed bloodlines of ancient mythological beings. Thus, the essence to be condensed should be the mythological bloodline at the source of the bloodline.

Charlotte had already achieved this step.

The source of her bloodline was undoubtedly the True Ancestor of Blood. Since acquiring the Gospel of Blood, Charlotte’s body has undergone multiple transformations. Though her strength wasn’t high, her bloodline power was exceedingly pure, definitely at the primordial level.

Transform Divine Power.

This is straightforward: elevating one’s power to a mythological level, transforming it into divine power.

In Albrecht’s memory, there were two ways to achieve this step.

The first method is to hold a corresponding mythological ritual after advancing to the Legendary tier. By sacrificing a massive amount of offerings and bloodline power, one could undergo a power transformation, compressing and converting a portion of extraordinary power into higher-level pseudo-divine power.

This method was the most cumbersome and challenging. Even seasoned Legendaries found it difficult, with a success rate of less than 1%. However, success meant possessing mythological power that one could use.

The pseudo-divine power gained from this ritual was non-renewable and of slightly lower quality than true divine power. To replenish it, one must perform the ritual again. Yet, since the power was one’s own, it facilitated future ascension.

Although pseudo-divine power was slightly inferior to true divine power, Legendaries could use it to cast spells stronger than Legendary-tiered ones, serving as the ace up their sleeves.

This was the most difficult and stringent way to transform divine power. There was also a more opportunistic method—fusing existing divine power.

Myria has a long history, with numerous Gods having existed, leaving behind countless divine artifacts. If a fortunate individual gains the recognition of such an artifact and achieves some fusion with the divine power, enabling them to use divine power, they effectively accomplish this step.

This method depended greatly on luck but was relatively easier to succeed in, though it carried risks.

Divine power inherently belongs to its owner, essentially an extension of God’s power. If the fused divine power belongs to a deceased God, there’s a chance to take their place.

However, if it belongs to a living God, a confrontation is inevitable.

Victory means replacing the God, defeat means becoming a pawn for the God.

Clearly, Charlotte had also achieved this step the moment she could use the blood divine power through the Gospel of Blood.

Ignite the Divine Flame.

After transforming divine power comes igniting the divine flame.

If the first two steps are preparations for ascension, this step marks the beginning of Godhood.

Divine flame is the source of divine power and the embryonic form of a divine persona. Once the divine flame is ignited, one gains the ability to actively augment divine power.

Igniting the divine flame requires a certain opportunity, merging divine power with bloodline power and achieving a higher level of life transformation.

This is the most challenging step, requiring high compatibility between bloodline and divine power and a bit of luck.

Notably, the success rate of igniting divine flame is not necessarily linked to one’s extraordinary rank. An experienced Legendary might never ignite the divine flame, while a lucky individual with a divine artifact might succeed by chance.

In other words, it’s up to fate.

Once the divine flame is ignited, the extraordinary being ceases to age.

As long as the divine flame burns, the extraordinary being is immortal.

Those who ignite the divine flame undergo incredible mental changes, able to extend their consciousness infinitely, link with other intelligent beings, and create a spiritual network.

This spiritual network is also known as a faith network.

An existence that successfully ignites the divine flame is no longer seen as mundane, becoming a pseudo-God, halfway between mortal and true God.

Though a pseudo-God, they gain many powers comparable to a God, capable of wielding God-like might when their divine power is abundant.

Hence, pseudo-Gods are also called Demigods.

Demigods mark the beginning of a myth.

Reading up to this point, Charlotte didn’t know what to say.

It was unmistakable.

The golden-red flame in her heart was nothing other than divine flame!

All this time, she had aligned her rank with the extraordinary rank, assuming that her identity as a “God” came from the external aid of the Gospel of Blood.

External aids were foreign objects, her trump cards and tools, not truly her own strength.

However, now, comparing her experiences with Albrecht’s memories, she realized that she had already unknowingly completed three of the four steps to Godhood!

She had thought she was still at the Silver Moon tier, but in reality, she was already considered a Demigod…

This revelation surprised Charlotte.

But upon closer reflection, it made sense…

Strictly speaking, Albrecht’s memory referred to lucky individuals favored by fate who had achieved Godhood—individuals like her.

She had bonded with the Gospel of Blood, transformed her bloodline power, fused with a mysterious statue, and ignited divine flame…

Although her actual strength was still low, not keeping pace with the path to Godhood, her life level had undergone a qualitative leap.

In other words, she had taken the shortcut of “paying to win.”

This method of ascension, akin to being chosen by destiny, allowed one to achieve mythological status in just a few years, but it also came with significant drawbacks and risks.

When one’s strength growth couldn’t keep up with the speed of ascension, it was like a child walking with gold bars.

If powerful extraordinary beings discovered her true nature, she could be “slaughtered as a God” before she matured, making all her efforts futile.

Reading Albrecht’s memories, Charlotte had a strange expression.

“In that case… I now resemble those resurrected Gods.”

Indeed, she did.

Both had reached the mythological level of life, but their actual strength was too weak, forcing them to cautiously increase their power.

The only major difference was likely in memories. The resurrection of Gods came with memory recovery, making it easier and faster for them to regain their strength, whereas fortunate individuals who prematurely embarked on the four steps of Godhood had to fumble their way forward.

Having read the third step of Godhood, Charlotte looked at the final step—forming a divine persona.

This was the step to becoming a true God and the one that interested her the most.

However, Albrecht’s memories contained no valuable information about this step.

A true God was a complete mythological entity, far beyond the reach of Legendaries.

Even Demigods were awe-inspiring to Albrecht, so how to achieve true Godhood was beyond his knowledge.

Nevertheless, although Albrecht didn’t know how to form a divine persona, he did understand the differences between true Gods and Demigods.

True Gods could abandon their physical bodies and exist as a form of will or law. As long as their divine persona remained intact, they were immortal.

But Demigods… could not lose their physical bodies.

A Demigod who lost their physical body would fall into slumber until awakened and would return by possessing a suitable body.

Albrecht’s memories about “Godhood” ended here.

Having finished reading, Charlotte felt both excited and anxious.

She was excited because she had unknowingly completed three of the four steps to Godhood, making her a Demigod in some sense, with only accumulation remaining.

She was anxious because she didn’t know how to proceed with the fourth step, and the historical True Ancestor of Blood remained a potential threat.

In other words, Charlotte was worried about becoming a tool for others.

But she had no choice now.

Albrecht’s memory mentioned that once the path to Godhood began, it couldn’t be stopped.

She was too deeply entwined with the bloodborne, and her blood had already been fixed, making it impossible to turn back. She had to continue forward.

“Step by step.”

She thought.

“From another perspective, I’ve already gained so much, like a child of fortune.”

“There are no free lunches in the world. Since I took a shortcut, I must face the corresponding costs and risks!”

“My previous plan was still correct. Continuing to enhance divine power will help me further advance my strength, but it’s not enough.”

“I need to find a way to form a divine persona while strengthening my divine power…”

“No matter if there’s a conspiracy, no matter if the historical True Ancestor of Blood has other plans, as long as I ascend to Godhood, I’ll have the capital to contend with them!”

With this thought, Charlotte exhaled lightly, her gaze gradually firming.

…

After finishing reading about Godhood, Charlotte withdrew from the ancient Dark Night Castle.

There was still much to Albrecht’s memory, but it was too scattered. She planned to slowly go through the rest in her spare time.

Even if she didn’t finish reading, it wasn’t a problem. She had recorded it in the “memory library”, and whenever she encountered anything related to the bloodborne, she could recall the relevant memories, similar to a search engine from her previous life.

In the following days, the investigation in Lutecia continued, with new nobles being purged by the royal family and the church almost every day, causing widespread panic in the capital.

But that had nothing to do with Charlotte. She was just a spectator, continuing to browse Albrecht’s memories in her spare time like reading a book while watching the sweeping investigation and trials in the capital.

Another week passed before the investigation finally concluded.

The investigation and trial that covered all the nobles in the capital lasted twelve days, and the results were astonishing.

Among the kingdom’s nine ducal families and three major bishops, two Dukes and a Bishop were confirmed to have connections with the Blood Demon Cult.

Duke Gaston was killed directly during the resistance, and his title was stripped. Another duke was imprisoned and dethroned, with nearly one-third of his direct fief reclaimed by the royal family. The Duke’s title was inherited by a royal-approved descendant.

The Bishop was personally sent to the stake by the Crescent Archbishop, with a new bishop appointed in his place.

Below the Dukes and Bishop, seven kingdom-commissioned Counts were stripped of their titles. The Counts themselves were either killed on the spot, sent to the stake, or imprisoned, including five court Counts and two territorial Counts.

More Viscounts and Barons were punished, totaling more than twenty, with nearly half losing their titles. The rest faced severe punishments as a warning to others.

As for the lower-ranking nobles, even more were dealt with. Reportedly, over five hundred were imprisoned and tried, with the confiscated assets forming a small mountain, equivalent to two years’ fiscal revenue for the Crescent Kingdom…

The church fared slightly better than the nobles. Besides the Bishop, over forty corrupt priests involved with the Blood Demon Cult were captured, including a High Priest and seven Second-rank Priests.

The news caused an uproar throughout the kingdom.