Epic of Caterpillar

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"Anyways, moving on to another thing, Skill Points are the representation of the strength of a mortal's soul. The more you develop your soul through skills, level-ups, and so on, the more points you will accumulate. Of course, the fastest method is to just level up, but mortals can accumulate skill points by nourishing their souls aside from acquiring Experience Points. And what relation does this have to Divine Energy and Experience Points, you might ask? Well, everything is related" said Agatheina.

"Everything, guu? You mean… Experience Points… Souls, the three energies, and Divine Energy?" asked Rimuru, curious and a bit confused.

"Yes, everything at the end is the same source of all, Divine Energy. Everything is produced by it and goes back to it, eventually. You kill a monster, and you gather Experience Points. But have you sat down and thought… just what are Experience Points?" asked Agatheina.

"I've studied that when I was younger… in the ancient books of Ollathir, Experience Points were related to Life Energy, which was taken from others when killed by an individual. Levels are Life Walls, which require Experience Points to open up and enhance the user's physique and psyche, or stats…" said Zehe.

"Indeed, in the past, we used to call 'leveling up' as… 'cultivation'" said Agatheina.

"Cultivation? As of cultivating plants?" asked Lilith.

"No, Lilith-chan~ It was the cultivation and nourishment of one's physique and psyche using the three primordial energies, Mana, Ki, and Ether. Or Magic Energy, Life Energy, and Soul Energy!" said Agatheina.

"So before the system, you guys did the leveling by yourselves?" asked Brontes.

"Something like that… we couldn't just easily slay monsters or people and gather their energies to nourish ourselves automatically, we used our own energies and extracted it from the materials we gathered to 'level up' ourselves in a way by breaking through Life Walls forcefully… Skill Points were also existent back then, and we could use that gathered 'power' to produce techniques and spells that would be engraved in our souls, similar to your skills. Though we did not have the Class System, so we had to gather recipes, scrolls, or artifacts to acquire techniques and spells… or well, have them taught to us by our superiors," said Agatheina.

"So in resume, Experience Points is not only Life Energy but Magic Energy and Soul Energy? Then how do souls still exist after killing a monster?" asked Zehe.

"That's because the system only gives you the residual amount, the soul will be left weakened, and will be drawn into the Reincarnation Cycle… those that could devour souls in the past would grow exponentially faster and were feared as Devil Cultivators! I was one of them! Haah, remembering those times really gives me a large thrill! I was known as the Scarlet Devil Empress! With my unique Blood Cultivation Technique, I raised exponentially faster, trampling over those that dared to oppose me and draining them out of their blood until they became dry mummies! Ufufufu~!" laughed Agatheina.

"Hm… those were rather the terrifying times. I am grateful that I wasn't born back then" said Morpheus.

"Hmm… they were rather scary times, but our mother Tiamat protected us through her pantheon, so we never struggled much… I suppose that Agatheina had the short end of the stick" said Nyzzet.

"She seems to have enjoyed those times…" said Levana.

As Agatheina remembered the times of old, I began to gather all the information I acquired from her and finally got a clearer understanding of how things worked back then and how they work now, and also how they're still connected but made exponentially easier by the System.

Mortals cultivated, gathering the three primordial energies, and going through Life Walls, increasing their Mortal Ranks, and slowly approaching godhood.

Similarly, we kill monsters, gather experience points, which are the three primordial energies, we level up, which is going through Life Walls and we increase our Mortal Ranks, slowly approaching godhood as well.

Well, I am an exception to all of that, I suppose… but I am still gathering Experience Points, so it means that there are many Life Walls left for me, even after eating gods…

But she did not answer how does this relates to Divine Energy and eating gods.

"Oh, I almost forgot, Kireina-sama! You can acquire Experience Points in large amounts after killing a god or its split soul because the system gives you its Divine Energy, which transforms into Experience Points for you. You also acquire Skill Points in the same fashion, the system does the transformation of energies into it for you. Divine Energy is so strong, so you end up being given a ton of Skill Points and Experience Points! Ah, and because you are worshiped, you also acquire Divine Energy through it, which the system transforms into Experience Points and Skill Points as well! How convenient, isn't it? Your path to greatness will be the most amazing and incredible of them all!" said Agatheina.

"So if I ascend to true godhood, will I begin earning Divine Energy by eating gods and being worshiped?" I asked.

"That's right! I can already imagine the vast sea of Divine Energy that you will possess! Oh, such splendor!" said Agatheina.

I wonder what kind of new Classes I can change into after acquiring the divinities of gods like this…

"I wonder if Gods can change Classes?" I asked.

"Well yes, we can, but the ones fitting of our power take tons of Skill Points to get through… if we choose weak ones, our strength will not increase at all, and the Skill Points will be wasted" said Morpheus.

"We get more Skill Points by transforming Divine Energy… but we could also use that Divine Energy to create Divine Techniques Recipes or Artifacts… so it is always a hard decision…" said Hodhyl.

"By the way, we gods also have skills, the ones fitting of our strength are called 'Divine Skills' or 'Transcendental Skills'! And are just as hard to get as Divine Techniques…" said Agatheina.

"But I guess if we were to be as strong as Kireina-sama, gathering Divine Skills wouldn't be so hard, as we could just keep eating gods," said Merveim.

"Oh, I see, so these are Divine Skills… so I have like five or four now?"

"So many!" shouted all the gods.

"Well, there are also special skills that we didn't even know about, which can only be unlocked by mortals when doing tasks that only gods can achieve… or well, Kireina-sama can achieve. Such as Divinity Devouring, Dungeon Plunder, Divine Energy Vessel, and so on… These skills seem to have been created for some kind of purpose by the System Master, and are so strong that it can even let mortals who are way below our existence damage us with their skills and spells" said Agatheina.

"I see…"

I wonder if Mysterious Voice created these skills? Or was it the World's Will? Or does the System generate new skills automatically whenever a certain task is achieved?

"I remember that you gods said that whenever a mortal ascends to godhood, it cannot gain Experience Points anymore, is there a reason behind it?" asked Charlotte.

"Oh right! Well, whenever you ascend to godhood, your entire existence transcends mortal hood and becomes of a higher… well, 'quality'. Using the three primordial energies to nourish yourself will not work, and you will have to use Divine Energy this time, which is higher quality energy that is just made by these three energies, but highly refined"

"When a mortal becomes a Rank 1 Living Deity, it immediately creates a small Divine Realm, where Divine Energy will be produced as the inner world of this Divine Realm develops. Whenever your Divine Realm reaches a sufficient level of quality, you will acquire enough Divine Energy to break through the Ranks, of course, after defeating a Divine Trial that will spontaneously appear inside your Divine Realm trying to destroy it. If you manage to beat this powerful trial, the residual Divine Energy that made it up will seep itself into your Divine Realm and nourish it. A god's Divine Realm is the reflection of their Divine Soul, and it is inside their Divine Core," said Agatheina.

"I see… so everything is connected… and each of you gods has their own little world? That's impressive" said Zehe.

"I didn't know that gods had to take care of plants and animals inside their Divine Realms to grow stronger… It is a bit funny" said Lilith.

"Of course, the more materials you bring from the outside that you put inside your Divine Realm, the fastest it will grow in quality. Also, in the rare cases when a god dies without having its Divine Realm stolen, the Divine Core inside their soul will fall into the ground and like a seed, grow the god's Divine Realm as a special space… there are certain Realms where many gods died in wars, and their Divine Realms converged into these Realms, distorting space ad creating treasure-troves of divine materials and divine beasts, we call them 'Higher Realms' and they are dangerous places where mortals should not step in. Some of these Higher Realms have such a strong density of Divine Energy that weak mortals would easily suffocate and die," said Agatheina.

"Haah, the world is really vast and filled with mysterious and mystical places, isn't it?" wondered Nesiphae.

"It seems that Agatheina's explanations have awakened your inner adventuring side, Nesiphae?" I asked.

"Fufufu, maybe~!" laughed Nesiphae.

"I don't know… I think it is a bit scary to think about it, the world is way too vast and filled with dangerous places!" said Sofelaia.

"Sister don't be so concerned, we are all together in this, we will never let you go alone into these places," said Sofarpia.

"Don't worry, my daughters, if you ever travel through these places, I shall escort you" said Morpheus.

"Huh? But didn't gods needed too much power to descend to the surface?" asked Zehe.

"Not in Higher Realms, Zehe-sama," said Morpheus.

"Usually, we gods need to spend large amounts of power to descend into the surface of most Realms, as we need Divine Energy to maintain our existences in these places, but in Higher Realms, where Divine Energy is so vast and thick, we can travel through there without many issues… there is a large pantheon of gods that inhabit various of such Higher Realms. Well, they are too far of our reach, for now, so talking about them might be not necessary" said Agatheina.

"Also, depending on the god, this necessity of spending power might be not as important. For example, Living Deities still are closer to mortals and do not need to spend as much energy as us. There is another exception as gods that raised into godhood from different monster races with different physiologies than us. For example, most Titan, Dragons, and Beast gods do not need to spend as much energy either, as we have strong physical bodies that are similar to divine beasts. However, we are different than Divine Beasts because we possess Divine Realms, which Divine Beasts don't" said Hodhyl.

"Most human gods have a different physical body than us, being almost ethereal. Like Bovdohr and Nomera" said Merveim.

"That is right, we once used to be humans. Hm, I have also forgotten those old times… when we ascended, our physical bodies slowly became more ethereal as we raised ranks… I don't know the reason why we are different than gods raised from monsters, but we also have special abilities that they have a hard time learning to compensate" said Bovdohr.

"For example, we are exceptional at giving blessings, sensing divine messages, and creating subordinate gods by dividing our souls, though if we are not strong enough, this might end up weakening us… Oh, and of course, we can maintain the attributes of the realms so they don't go crazy and are stable," said Nomera.

"Yeah, I am not good in anything like that, I only like to fight," said Merveim.

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