Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Lu Zhiyu sat in the enormous hall. White and red patterned carpets covered the ground. The fur on the carpets was soft and glowed with magical power. A couple of fairies wearing white dresses played with some of the special, magically-reinforced plants.
Suddenly, the other side of the wall began to gleam. Something was happening. Lu Zhiyu looked up and saw the pictures behind the three divine thrones start to shine. Light began to spread from the enormous world tree model out across the map.
The first eleven divine thrones were for law and order. The jobs of the gods who sat on them did not matter; machines, engines, war, or dreams, their only concern was making sure the world operated under the rules.
The three Gods of Civilization, who had just shown up, were different. They represented the internal civilization. When society and culture were at their peak, the Gods of Civilization were more powerful than the Gods of Rules. As civilization declined, however, so did their power.
The Gods of Rules drew their power from enforcing the laws of the lands. They could also gain power by acquiring disciples, but this was insignificant in comparison to the power they gained by maintaining order. Even if all the creatures in the world died, the Gods of Rules would be unaffected as long as the rules of the world remained intact.
Gods of Civilization were the guardians of culture promoters of the development of the world. They must be important people who had made great contributions and who were recognized by the civilizations of the world.
Lu Zhiyu knew exactly who had been chosen, he just hadn’t expected them to be approved so soon.
“You three are the best fit,” he said, “to be the Gods of Civilization.”
Central Province, Sumerian Kingdom.
Hundreds of years ago, the last generation of Sumerian royal families, Lanny I, died out. After this, the entire Sumerian Kingdom entered a period of chaos and war. The Faith of the Sun and the remaining Church of the Dark Night fought each other constantly but neither could gain the upper hand. Once they finally admitted they’d reached a stalemate, both churches agreed to let go of the area so that it would belong to neither of them.
The Sumerian Kingdom became a playground for mercenaries, wizards, demonic wizards, and wicked supernatural creatures. This was the freest but most chaotic world. The royal families were succeeded by cousins of Lanny I, but eventually, another family took the throne. After several centuries, the royal family of the Sumerian Kingdom was a completely different bloodline.
Now in the Sumerian Kingdom, changes were happening again. A secret organization called the Freedom Assistance Association emerged, which provided magic crystals and alchemy tools to the entire central province.
All of a sudden, the influence of Freedom Assistance Association’s magic crystal system spread across the entire Sumerian Kingdom. It even reached the Ahenaten Kingdom, the Church of Light and the Northern Arc Kingdom.
“It’s the product of freedom and hope!” people exclaimed.
“The crystal gives hope to the commoners!”
“We can finally do what supernatural creatures are capable of! This is not the power of deities, this is the power of civilization and wisdom!”
Members from Freedom Assistance Association were in the spotlight again, and they promoted magic crystal alchemy tools to the entire Sumerian Kingdom. Quickly, magic crystal workshops and crystal-powered alchemy workshops emerged everywhere. All sorts of new magic crystal alchemy tools were designed.
What constrained the development of alchemy wasn’t the difficulty of alchemy techniques or making alchemy tools, instead, it was the scarcity of supernatural creatures. Even though the era of Gods had come there were a great many supernatural creatures, even hundreds of lower-class supernatural apprentices were not enough for one city system.
That constraint was finally broken in the Sumerian Kingdom. Many ordinary people could also use alchemy tools so that they could be members of a supernatural system. They could also participate in the alchemy era of steam and machines.
Many workers, farmers, carpenters, mercenaries and supernatural creatures chose to join Freedom Assistance Association. The association had the entire Sumerian Kingdom under its control.
In the year 458 by the San calendar, the Sumerian Kingdom announced that the royal family had abdicated their reign. The Sumerian Kingdom was now the Sumerian Freedom Association.
“Freedom will lead us to the future!”
“Each of us is the master of this country. Each of us is the controller of this country. We’ll change the world!”
Frank was the first one to ignite the godly fire. He summoned the star divine personality, becoming the first demi-god out of the three Gods of Civilization. Frank was the God of Civilization and Wisdom.
“Guardian of wisdom, promoter of the era and ideas.”
“We pray that you guard our future. Guard the light of civilization and give us the energy to move forward.”
Inside Niyah were banners pulled by airships, cheering crowds and gun salutes. Huge shadows of gods stood at the center of the city as if they were its guardians. They received the cheers and blessings from the civilians graciously.
“Magical, godly, supernatural, and belief. All of them are just nouns, but they are, to their very cores, sources of power.”
After becoming a demi-god, Frank discovered the secrets behind that power. They immediately adjusted and reconstructed the magic crystal system.
“If we can power the magic crystals using belief, we’ll be able to charge the crystals without supernatural creatures. We can greatly improve the design and usage efficiency of magic crystals!” exclaimed Frank. “Also, we can use the magic crystals as the base for constructing our divine incantation system!”
Frank came up with the idea to make the second-generation magic crystals when he was on his way to becoming a god and gathering belief. They could power magic crystals by collecting the power of belief. Magic crystals were the seeds of the divine incantations of the three Gods of Civilization. They extracted the power of belief from the magic crystals so that they could provide the power to the civilians.
After the second-generation magic crystals were created, Frank and Alpha started to gather the power of belief in the city by building magic crystal towers to charge magic crystals. They called them “Towers of Belief.” The era of magic crystals had arrived.
Many small steam engine cars appeared in the streets, spurting plumes of white smoke eight feet tall. Magic crystal alchemy tables went into commercial workshops, promoting productivity. Ordinary people could also make alchemy tables, accelerating prices and productivity. The economy of the Sumerian Freedom Association and the alchemy industry boomed.
Railways were established in every small city, and because of the small steam engine cars, highways were also constructed in every corner in the kingdom. As alchemy techniques grew popular with ordinary people, alchemy tools became an integral part of the society and the kingdom.
Using magic tools became normal in thousands of households. They started to use magic tune machines, magic news machines and alchemy stoves based on magic crystals. Any alchemy tool that could bring human beings convenience became commonplace. There was even a magic crystal network in the capital city!
Everyone who entered the Sumerian Freedom Association was amazed by the alchemy techniques and the era of magic crystals here. It was a city dedicated to steam and machines, and it was a kingdom of magic crystals. Magic crystals became the core of the Sumerian civilization.
Word of the advantages of a magic crystal system started to spread. Magic crystal alchemy tools became popular in all the kingdoms nearby. Even kingdoms run by conservative, supernatural royalty couldn’t resist the waves of magic crystals. They started to open their own alchemy workshops, making magic crystal alchemy tools.
Institutions in all the kingdoms began to try the magic crystal system. Commercial systems, national institutions, workshops, and commercial groups started to recruit ordinary people again. The social status of ordinary people was greatly improved, and the commoners became a part of this era.
Many ordinary people began to learn how to use and build alchemy tools. They didn’t have a superpower, but they could still learn the principles of alchemy tools so that they could make them.
“The era of magic crystals has arrived!