THE GOD EATER

Hammock paused for a while before saying, “Two Divine Positions will also give you two Life Fires. The two Life Fires are the same, but if one goes out for any reason other than the lack of lifespan to continue living, the other one can take over.”

Loki expressed some disbelief as he said, “There are really no disadvantages?”

This prompted Hammock to think deeper about the question. He was thinking for a few seconds when he suddenly remembered something.

He started by exclaiming and saying, “Ah. I forgot about that.”

“A disadvantage is that there will be more people trying to kill you the more Divine Positions you have. After all, there are a limited number of Divine Positions.”

“The increase in aggression from others is why it is recommended to wait until you reach rank 7 before getting a second Divine Position and to wait until you reach rank 8 before getting a third Divine Position. That way, you will have the strength to defend your extra Divine Positions.

“The main disadvantage of having multiple Divine Positions is that your life-leech will increase. With two Divine Positions, you will have to pay double the life-leech, and with three Divine Positions, you will have to pay triple the life-leech, and so on.”

This made Loki curl his lips and say in mockery, “Right. The life-leech. It is the payment we give to the sect for allowing us to work for them.”

He knows that, technically, being able to raise one’s cultivation rank is a valuable privilege that shouldn’t be taken for granted. Especially since the divine beings without pathways don’t get to raise their ranks. However, something about the whole arrangement irks him.

It could be the fact that he has to earn divine merit points before he can upgrade his cultivation rank or the fact that any increase in his cultivation rank is borrowed power, or the fact that he still has to pay for this privilege to work hard just to borrow more power.

No matter how he looked at the whole arrangement, he was being cheated, and he didn’t like being cheated. Just thinking about it made him snarl in displeasure.

But he restrained his displeasure in favor of asking Hammock some more questions. He said to Hammock, “What does it mean to surrender my Cave Heaven? What are the consequences of doing so?”

Immediately after he heard the question, Hammock shook his head vehemently. He was still shaking his head as he said, “Surrendering your Cave Heaven is very bad. It means to allow someone else to assimilate your Cave Heaven while you’re still alive. Nothing good can come out of that.”

This answer and Hammock’s behavior while answering the question made Loki’s eyes widen in anger in the first dimension. In the Cave Heaven, the voice of his avatar was raised as he said, “What’s the difference between this and committing suicide? Who would willingly do such a thing?”

In response to the question, Hammock said, “Surrendering your Cave Heaven doesn’t actually mean death. You will still be alive after the deed. But your life and death will fall into the hands of the person you surrendered the Cave Heaven to.”

“There are also benefits involved. The main benefit is that both you and the person you surrendered your Cave Heaven to will gain a larger Cave Heaven and more law fragments. This is because you will both share the Cave Heaven.”

But Loki still sneered and said, “So what if there are mutual benefits? What’s to stop the other person from killing you so that they can hoard all of the Cave Heaven and law fragments for themselves?”

Hammock nodded before saying, “The other person will have to protect you because, as long as you’re alive, they will get to borrow the power of your Divine Position and Divine Metac for themselves.”

“That is, of course, as long as their mastery of the pathway is higher than yours. If, one day, your mastery of the pathway is higher than theirs, then it will be you who gets to borrow the power of their Divine Position and Divine Metac.”

“So whoever has the higher mastery gets to use the Divine Position and Divine Metacs of both of you. And whoever has the highest mastery usually gets to have the power to decide the life and death of other people.”

“Because of this, even though it is important that you remain alive so that they can continue to borrow your power, they are still going to kill you when they sense that your mastery is about to catch up to theirs. This is why only divine beings without any better choice will choose to surrender their Cave Heaven.”

He was thoroughly enlightened, so he was nodding to himself in the first dimension. But in the Cave Heaven, he continued to ask questions.

He said to Hammock, “Why do cultivators form Houses of Commerce? What are the true benefits?”

This question made Hammock sigh before saying, “Houses of Commerce are what we call alliances. There are many forms of alliances among divine beings. The House of Commerce is just a form of an alliance, and it is particular to Money Cultivators.”

“All alliances are formed based on the foundation of a contract of non-aggression. By agreeing not to kill each other, divine beings will have enough faith to engage in trend or even work together to achieve a common goal.”

Loki was somewhat surprised to hear this. His voice was full of surprise as he said, “Is that it? I thought there would be more nefarious motives for creating a House of Commerce. I guess I’m becoming too suspicious of everyone.”

Hammock racked his head to find an answer that would please Loki. When he found a somewhat nefarious reason, he quickly said, “Alliances also serve as the first step in convincing someone to surrender their Cave Heaven. Once the threat of being betrayed and killed is removed by the alliance, the benefit of becoming stronger when you surrender your Cave Heaven might tempt you into surrendering your Cave Heaven.”

———-

Golden Tickets/Power Stones: Bonus Chapters

1. 50/500: 1st Bonus Chapter.

2. 100/1,000: 2nd Bonus Chapter.

3. 150/1,500: 3rd Bonus Chapter.

4. 200/2,000: 4th Bonus Chapter.

5. 300/3,000: 5th Bonus Chapter.