Chapter 432: Owen’s Dilemma
Owen, having gathered a group of believers, was heading towards the steel gate. That place might be their only way out.
As expected, Rat Nest Street was deserted because of the all-out attack. The remaining Skaven had either charged out or burrowed into the underground Rat Nest, making this place a rare safe haven.
However, Owen knew this was only temporary. With the Drow Matriarchs’ counterattack, Rat Nest Street’s fate was sealed. Therefore, they could only rest here temporarily but couldn’t stay for long to avoid being caught in the crossfire. After all, he couldn’t expect the Matriarchs’ soldiers to distinguish between friend and foe; they would simply kill any living creature they saw.
In fact, Owen was waiting for an opportunity. He didn’t believe that the Fel Skaven had emerged this time just to collect garbage in the Lower District. They were not a peaceful race. Once they had gathered enough Fel Energy, they would eventually launch a massive attack on Mithril City, and that was the opportunity Owen needed.
The upheaval in Mithril City alarmed Owen’s Original Body. Residing in the Domain, the Original Body pondered the impact the spread of Fel Energy in the Underworld would have on the entire Main World. As for eliminating this hidden danger, he hadn’t considered it. To completely eradicate the Fel threat in the Underworld with his current power, he would have to mobilize at least five or six levels of his forces.
It didn’t sound like much, but it represented hundreds of thousands of well-equipped troops with guns and cannons, thousands of elites, a massive mecha force, a double-digit number of Legendaries, and one or two Demigods. Not to mention the massive consumption of Faith and Divine Power, which would be enough for Owen to engage in a fierce Divine War with any Lesser God and emerge victorious.
However, what Owen could gain after such a sacrifice was the most important factor.
In reality, he would gain nothing. A devastated Underworld would no longer have trade value, nor would it be worth occupying. The cost of reconstruction would offset any potential gains. Moreover, after displaying such overwhelming power, Owen would become a thorn in the side of many gods.
Most importantly, Owen never considered himself a savior. In fact, the fact that he hadn’t become a three-legged Demon Lord already was a testament to his nine years of compulsory education in his previous life. After all, there were no effective moral constraints on the strong in other worlds. In theory, the stronger one was, the freer one was. He could completely abandon all self-restraint and become a carefree tyrant.
Although Owen had changed a lot, his essence hadn’t been completely eroded by power and time. Simply put, his bottom line hadn’t been completely crossed.
Actually, if Owen was invincible in this world, he wouldn’t mind paying some price to eliminate the hidden danger. The only problem was that he wasn’t the only god in this world. From the Goddess of Nobility, he had also speculated that more Demigods, even Gods, would appear in the future. The scene of his younger sister Katie condensing Divinity further confirmed this speculation.
In this situation, if Owen dared to expose such outrageous strength, he would definitely be targeted, even becoming a pawn in someone else’s schemes.
It was because of this concern that Owen had even separated his territory’s million believers from himself, disguising the Temple faith as the faith of another powerful god, while he was just a small God of Death and Shadow, currently with only a few believers in the Underworld.
This was still the same old trick of name-dropping and borrowing power, proving that he had someone backing him, a powerful patron, while reducing his presence and threat. Otherwise, why would he focus his missionary efforts on the Underworld? Why would the Goddess of Nobility try to win him over? It was all because he had played his role well.
However, ignoring the situation wasn’t a wise choice. Even Owen didn’t dare to underestimate the contagious nature and spread of Fel Energy. If he wasn’t careful, the entire world could be doomed.
Therefore, Owen planned to borrow some external forces. For example, exposing the projection of the Rat Nest’s internal situation was his way of utilizing the power of Mithril City’s higher-ups.
Unfortunately, the higher-ups of Mithril City’s slowness and carelessness had disappointed Owen. He didn’t hold much hope for their victory. By using the Lower District, the Fel Skaven had already stockpiled enough resources to launch a Fel War. Once the Middle District fell, the Fel Skaven could utilize the resources and life there to become truly unstoppable.
By then, the Fel Skaven occupying Mithril City would be able to rebuild their Fel Empire in the Underworld, and that was definitely not something Owen wanted to see.
Caught in a dilemma, Owen was not going to sit idly by. After discussing it with Maya and the others, he contacted the Goddess of Nobility through the Divine Net to inquire about Fel Energy. This was meant to remind her, but the response he received was not satisfactory.
“My believers have discovered a large number of Fel-converted creatures in the Underworld. They are spreading at an alarming rate. So, what exactly is Fel Energy?”
Upon hearing Owen’s question, the Goddess of Nobility remained silent for a long time. After giving a brief answer, she disconnected, clearly apprehensive about Fel Energy.
From the Goddess of Nobility, Owen learned that this was not the first appearance of Fel Energy. However, even she was not entirely clear about its origin, as she was a new god.
Nobility was born from class, and class arose from the improvement of productivity. When people were struggling to survive, the so-called class was merely the order of distribution. For example, strong hunters received more food, as this was the only way to ensure the success of the next hunt. As for status, they didn’t think much about it.
Therefore, only with a stable source of production could a stable class emerge. Simply put, it was a matter of having enough to eat and having time to spare.
Therefore, the Goddess of Nobility hadn’t existed for very long, far less than those gods representing natural phenomena, let alone the Elemental Gods who had existed since the Void.
However, due to her excellent social skills, the Goddess of Nobility had acquired some ancient secrets.
But these ancient secrets were too precious; the Goddess of Nobility couldn’t possibly tell Owen for free.
Of course, given Owen’s displayed potential, the Goddess of Nobility made a small investment, revealing some information about Fel Energy and the secrets of gods.
Gods did not exist from the beginning. Even the Celestial God, a Primordial God born from the world itself, appeared after an invasion, similar to a guardian born from the world.
As for new gods like the Goddess of Nobility, they were essentially a reactive product of an invasion. It could be said that the birth of each god was the world’s preparation for an invasion. However, as gods grew stronger, they gradually broke free from the world’s constraints, even becoming a threat to the world itself.
Gods were forged from Divinity and Divine Authority, which were the embodiment of the World Essence and Laws. In theory, it was the world that created gods.
However, gods, through various means, plundered more World Essence and Laws, even transcending the world that birthed them, becoming increasingly uncontrollable.
These were not the main point for now, as Owen was now a member of the gods; he couldn’t side against them.
