"Ow, ow, okay—okay, Niv, I get it!"
Hel was thoroughly manhandled by Niv, until she finally retaliated by pinching Niv's cheeks in return. The two of them tussled and laughed for quite a while before finally separating.
After that, Hel continued fusing the remaining godhead entries and authority entries.
This time, however, the result left her somewhat disappointed.
The red authority entries upgraded into pink entries after fusion, which was exactly what Hel had expected.
But the godhead entries—which were already pink—remained pink even after being fused.
Apparently, if she wanted to push them to the next tier, simply collecting and merging more godhead entries wasn't enough.
"It looks like if I want to raise them to the tricolor tier, I'll have to wait until I reach the Saint rank, then duplicate them a few times and fuse them again."
Hel looked at the newly synthesized entries and casually dragged them back into her entry panel.
Niv, however, asked with some confusion:
"Master, why don't you perform your deification ritual? Based on the information we gathered from other witches before, the Path of Deification ritual doesn't just enhance a witch's bloodline, talents, and godhead—it also helps compensate for all of her shortcomings.
If your strength isn't enough, you can forcibly raise it through the Path of Deification. If there's magic you don't know, you can also learn it rapidly through the ritual's effects.
You could say that, for witches, the deification ritual is an all-purpose enhancement."
"That's true," Hel replied, then looked at Niv with a rather strange expression.
"But Niv—do you know how your deification ritual is supposed to be performed?"
"Uh…" Niv opened her mouth to respond, only to be cut off by Hel.
"As witches who awakened abnormally, we never experienced the divine illusion that normal witches go through during awakening, remember?"
Pulling Niv over, Hel sat down on a nearby chair and explained:
"The Path of Deification ritual comes partly from the authority granted to a witch by her godhead, and partly from the will of the god who previously controlled that authority.
Take Vivian, for example—she said she saw Sizz, the former God of Avians, and received some guidance from him, hoping she would bring new life to this world.
Niki was the same. She saw the former God of War, though his guidance was… pretty outrageous. He wanted her to comprehend the art of war.
As for Vesti and Maya, their deification rituals were even more straightforward and brutal."
At this point, Hel felt like she could barely go on.
The disparity in treatment between different divine lineages was so outrageous it made her jealous to the point of molecular disintegration.
"Their ritual conditions were basically spelled out for them.
The God of Cuisine and the God of Wine not only personally taught them how to cook and brew in their dreams,they even told them outright—before they woke up—that as long as they steadily improved their culinary skills, they'd be able to begin their Path of Deification.
And then there's my Death authority, which is just absurd. I've heard so many stories from senior witches, and not a single path was actually viable. I honestly don't know why the gods of the death lineage are all so fond of making things difficult."
"But Master, haven't you already obtained the authority of Reincarnation? And…"
Niv smiled at Hel and gently reminded her,
"As the union of death and life, the authority of Reincarnation has never been controlled by any god."
"Huh?!"
Only then did Hel snap out of it.
"You're right! In that case, wouldn't simply practicing the power granted by the authority of Reincarnation itself be enough to open the Path of Deification?"
Without thinking too much, Hel immediately pulled Niv into her arms and kissed her repeatedly, until Niv's face turned bright red. Only then did she let her go.
"See? New brain really does work better. Don't worry—once we've got Change and Fate pinned to the ground and rubbing dirt in their faces, I'll get you a Time–Space authority to play with."
"Uh, Master, that really won't be necessary."
Niv waved her hands hurriedly, then said somewhat uncertainly,
"Although Niv feels it's a bit unrealistic… recently, Niv has sensed an increase in computational capacity. Based on comparisons, it feels very much like I've already entered the state of a deification ritual."
"Ah?!"
Hel stared blankly at Niv's pretty face, her expression full of utter disbelief.
Wait—weren't they supposed to be two abnormal witches, fellow sufferers bound together in misfortune? And now you're telling me you quietly defected from the revolution?
"Are deification rituals for wisdom-type authorities always this casual?"
"Yes, Master."
Niv nodded, delivering another devastating follow-up.
"As long as Niv continues to think and compute, I am practicing the principles upheld by the Wisdom godhead.
At the same time, the Wisdom godhead feeds back into Niv, increasing my computational power.
In other words, as long as Niv keeps calculating, I can complete my Path of Deification.
On the contrary, the Time–Space authority that Master re-fused would actually leave Niv at a loss as to how to begin the deification ritual."
"I see…"
Seeing the worried look on Niv's face, Hel instantly understood what she was concerned about.
A Fate Witch who was at least a demigod, and a Change Witch whose depth was completely unknown—either one of them would be an incredibly dangerous opponent.
Niv was clearly worried that Hel might take reckless risks just to obtain the Time–Space authority.
Once she understood this, Hel gently patted Niv's head and comforted her:
"Don't worry. You know what I'm capable of.
I don't need to be their enemy. Even using peaceful methods, I can still obtain their authorities."
"But Master—"
Seeing Niv about to say more, Hel quickly changed the subject.
"Speaking of the authority of Reincarnation, the simplest interpretation is guiding the dead and allowing them to be reborn.
Under normal circumstances, this should be the world's original operating rule."
"That's correct, Master."
Picking up the thread, Niv began reciting information from her database:
"According to records left behind by the Fourth-Epoch Giant Civilization regarding investigations into the Third Epoch, once a creature's soul separates from its body, it is carried by elemental tides toward the Sea of Elements.
After being purified in Heaven, it then returns to the land.
Within the Sea of Elements, there also exist many tiny fissures—gateways to the Abyss—known as Abyssal Rifts.
Some unlucky souls, before reaching Heaven, accidentally fall through these rifts and plunge into the Abyss, becoming food for demons."
"If that's really how it works," Hel immediately spotted the issue and asked,
"Wouldn't that mean the world's souls are constantly decreasing?"
Coincidentally, this exact question had also been raised by the giants of that era, and they had provided an answer. So Niv continued:
"According to the giants' research, when demons devour souls, they do not consume the true spirit. Instead, under the corrosion of the Abyss, those true spirits are transformed into new demons."