Chapter 26: What is love?

Darkness filled Zong Mi’s vision.

He could see nothing at all—only feel the bone-deep blackness surrounding him.

The price of taking something from a future timeline was extraordinarily high. Not only could it cause instability in the timeline and worldline, it might even overturn the current worldline entirely. Originally, Zong Mi had only intended to borrow the crown temporarily. After ascending the throne and obtaining the crown from the current timeline, he planned to return it. @Jinjiang Literature City

After all, if his future self had already completed the coronation, the crown’s usefulness to that version of him would be greatly diminished. Borrowing it for a while shouldn’t have caused any problems.

So Zong Mi borrowed it with a completely clear conscience.

He tested his vision. Conservatively speaking, it would take several months before his blindness recovered. And there were probably additional costs he had yet to discover.

But then again—

Who cared?

Extending his spiritual sense over the surrounding ground, Zong Mi took a deep breath and finally stepped onto the last stair.

The final step before the throne had always rejected his approach. But after obtaining the seventh and final quest item, it finally opened itself to its rightful owner.

Though his sight remained pitch-black, Zong Mi could still feel the divine kingdom gradually opening itself to him.

[Seven Legendary Items Collected]

The system’s cold voice echoed.

The ground beneath his feet began to tremble.

The divine kingdom, silent for ten thousand years, had finally welcomed its true master.

For countless years it had stood watch here.

At last, the day had arrived.

The barriers surrounding the City in the Sky began to flow and transform. Their icy colors gradually shifted, the edges becoming stained with brilliant gold and crimson.

At the very center of the heavenly city, the enormous fountain once again filled with clear water, surging upward from its core.

The shattered statue nearby slowly rebuilt itself under that power, reforming into the unique emblem of the God of Love.

The hidden divine kingdom shed its concealment.

Its magnificent city foundations floated high above Central Continent.

No matter where one stood on Advent Continent, raising one’s head was enough to see the kingdom clearly.¹

It roared.

Endless golden radiance spread from its edges, dyeing the sky of the continent in glorious colors.

“Praise the Goddess of Dawn! A divine miracle has appeared!”

Inside the Holy City of Central Continent, all the faithful who had been gathered in conference immediately rose to their feet.

One after another, they dropped to their knees, tracing crosses over their chests and chanting hymns dedicated to the Goddess of Dawn.

Even the normally lofty archbishops burst into tears, leaning on their staffs as they knelt.

“After nearly ten thousand years, the divine kingdom has finally returned beneath Your dawn!”

Although power struggles within the Church of Dawn were fierce, every one of them was genuinely devoted to the Goddess of Dawn.

After all, divine arts were intrinsically tied to faith.

The newly appointed Pope paused for a moment.

The papal staff rested in his hand, yet the symbolic Half-Sun Authority Ring was absent.

Cyril gazed deeply at the divine kingdom before slowly lifting his robes and kneeling.

“Praise the Dawn.”

For some reason, a feeling of anxiety lingered in his heart.

Logically speaking, if the Goddess of Dawn had truly awakened, every statue of her throughout the Holy City should have reacted.

Yet…

His gaze swept over the completely motionless divine statues.

The concern was buried deep within his heart.

And it wasn’t only the Holy City.

Across the entire continent, anyone who looked up could witness the phenomenon unfolding above Central Continent.

Though the gods had fallen nearly ten thousand years ago, they had left behind countless miracles and records. Their former glory and rule had once covered the entire world.

Combined with the many long-lived races still living on the continent, the removal of the City in the Sky’s barriers instantly caused an enormous uproar.

During the era of divine rule, every race and every creature had been creations of the gods.

Everything on the continent had been made by them.

All living beings worshipped the gods with unwavering faith.

And when the gods returned, mortals would once again become their servants.

The gods of Advent Continent possessed countless authorities and powers.

Without exaggeration, anyone who ascended the central divine throne would gain the ability to command all things without restriction and accomplish virtually anything.

Standing before the throne, the blond bard’s hair billowed in the wind, glittering like threads of gold.

A heavy crimson royal robe draped over his shoulders, its hem trailing across the ground without a speck of dust.

In his left hand rested the royal orb.

In his right, a ruby scepter.

The Half-Sun Authority Ring adorned his finger.

An elegant jeweled sword hung at his waist.

A radiant golden harp floated beside him.

Although his eyes remained temporarily blind, the deep crimson within them showed no sign of fading.

Zong Mi placed the crown upon his head.

The world bowed before him.

[New Divine King Zong Mi has been Crowned]

This time, the system announcement wasn’t limited to players.

Even NPCs heard the emotionless mechanical voice.

Certain NPCs who possessed inherited memories were no strangers to that sound.

Among both players and NPCs, it was known as the Hound of the Gods—the messenger that conveyed divine will.

Upon hearing the announcement:

The witch standing at the edge of the Black Forest suddenly looked up.

The assassin hidden between life and death tightened his grip on his dagger.

Deep within the Abyssal Sea, the merfolk king’s tail trembled before he silently sank into the ocean depths.

The Elf King guarding the Tree of Life opened his eyes.

The king who had been traveling near the empire’s borders to suppress the spreading plague abruptly pulled on his reins.

And the Pope who had just knelt slowly rose to his feet.

Nor were these the only ones.

Nearly every player in the game erupted into discussion.

After Zong Mi’s departure, the main-story dungeon immediately closed.

All players inside were forcibly transferred out.

They had already been bewildered by Zong Mi’s sudden disappearance when a new system notification arrived.

[Epic Quest: The Missing Count has been Completed]

[This quest is part of the Continental Main Storyline. Rewards have been sent to your mailbox. Please claim them before expiration.]

The players were even more confused.

They had entered the dungeon specifically for the main storyline.

They hadn’t even really started.

How had it already been completed?

Even more absurdly, another announcement followed.

[Continental Main Storyline Completed.]

[Attention all players: the Third Expansion Update will begin in ten minutes. Update duration is currently unknown. All online players will be forcibly logged out.]

The third expansion update really was connected to the main storyline!

“He opened the hub of the City in the Sky.”

Breaking the silence, Baili Kong suddenly spoke.

The ice mage had traveled widely.

His mentor had once been Garan’s most famous archmage, Absolute Zero.

Because of that, Baili Kong had access to many ancient texts.

Since traces of divine rule still remained among the NPCs, historical records naturally confirmed its existence.

After the gods fell, magic and martial arts had briefly entered a golden age.

At the time, many believed the gods themselves had been the shackles holding civilization back.

Yet once that era passed, all development mysteriously stagnated.

The situation persisted until the present day.

Modern scholars generally believed that the stagnation stemmed from the loss of faith following the gods’ demise.

As a result, worship of the gods experienced a renaissance.

Even though the gods were absent, their believers never disappeared.

That was why Baili Kong knew some of the secrets surrounding the divine kingdoms.

“He opened a divine kingdom? Holy crap, doesn’t that mean he became a god?”

Xu Yue couldn’t help swearing.

“When we first entered Advent, the beginner villages all said the gods were dead. Players are still outsiders to this world. How could the system allow a player to become a god?”

Although Advent accepted players into its spiritual world, they were still foreign entities.

The world’s will retained a faint rejection toward them, which was precisely why four expansion updates were necessary for complete integration.

The moment the announcement appeared, the forums exploded again.

But regardless of what players speculated, ten minutes later everyone was forcibly logged out.

They awoke from their nutrient pods and returned to Earth. @Jinjiang Literature City

Meanwhile, Zong Mi was facing troubles of his own.

Because the system had just delivered two pieces of terrible news.

[Divine Kingdom Activated. Main city resources depleted. Currently operating at minimum energy capacity.]

[Your Divinity has been shattered. Coronation cannot continue.]

“How do I reconstruct my Divinity?”

Zong Mi wasn’t surprised at all.

His divinity had shattered ten thousand years ago.

Ascending the throne and reopening the divine kingdom was one matter.

His true objective had always been the Fountain of Faith at the center of the City in the Sky.

By gathering faith from across the continent, he hoped to achieve his ultimate goal:

Reforging his divine core.

The system responded coldly:

[Your Divine Domain is Love.]

[Analysis complete: the emotion known as ‘love’ does not exist on Advent Continent.]

The words struck like a bolt of lightning.

Zong Mi stared in disbelief.

He had spent so long gathering all those legendary items for exactly this purpose.

But damn it.

Of all things, he had forgotten one crucial fact:

The concept of love no longer existed on Advent Continent.

Ten thousand years ago, when Zong Mi first awakened as the God of Love, he had already possessed the qualifications to ascend the divine throne.

“Absolute rationality is the supreme truth.”

“Love only leads people to their destruction.”

That was what they said.

Filled with jealousy, the gods united and exiled the newborn God of Love.

Not only that—

They established divine laws that made the very word “love” a taboo across the entire continent.

Anyone who dared speak of it would suffer the wrath of the gods, descending from the heavens in the form of a thousand cuts.

As the years passed, people gradually forgot what love even was.

Even later, when a sudden plague ushered in the Twilight of the Gods and the gods themselves died one after another from infection…

No one remembered.

They had long since forgotten what love meant.