Chapter 4 Divine Power and the God-King
When asked by Sariel whether he was prepared to face numerous gods and even sovereigns at the time of Ra's rebirth, Araha could clearly answer – no.
He inventoried his possessions and found that the only two artifacts he owned were gifts from the God of the Hebrews.
Looking back at my own methods, the most useful supernatural powers are two: one is the "eye that peers into all worlds," which is used to observe the world, but at least for now, it cannot be used against enemies.
Another type is a palace throne that seems to exist within one's own consciousness, but is like an illusory existence. As long as Araha sits on it, he can hide himself and even choose to leave this world. One exit is the Egyptian world, while the other exit is nowhere to be found.
Therefore, there is no solution, only the "escape" method.
"Since you are unwilling to enter heaven, my Lord will not force you. He has instructed me to tell you that if you want to receive, you must first give."
"Heaven can shelter you, but you need to do something for Heaven."
Aroh did not object to these words; he preferred open transactions to secret schemes.
"It seems that even your gods have things they cannot do and need my help."
Upon hearing Aramean's words, Sariel did not feel offended, but instead said frankly, "My Lord is still on his way. He may be here forever, but he is not yet all-knowing and all-powerful."
For the Alakas of today, the concepts of eternal existence, omniscience, and omnipotence are all distant realms.
This realm must have transcended the simple application of divine power, laws, and the power of heaven and earth. I wonder how it can be better described within the system of gods.
However, it is easy to express in the language of his previous life, and that is—the near way.
"Tell me, what does He want me to do?"
"Isis, the goddess of life, is the only deity in this world who knows the true name of the sun Ra. If you can obtain Ra's true name through Isis, please tell my lord."
"My Lord promises not only to protect you in this world, but also to help you ascend to the position of 'King of the Gods' in Egypt."
"The King of the Gods?" Aroha pondered. "Like Ra or Isis back then?"
In the Book of the Dead, Ra is actually referred to as the King of the Gods.
When the sun god Ra was aging and about to be "reborn" as the god Atum, the goddess of life Isis tricked her into giving Ra his true name.
Then, for a period of time, she became the apparent leader of all the gods in the world.
Human worship also places her statue at the very center.
It was for this reason that her husband Osiris became the god of the underworld, and her son Horus was able to defeat Set and become the king of the mortal world—the protector of all the pharaohs.
"It's not that simple." Sariel shook his head. "This world is quite special. The sun god Ra has too much power and does not follow the path of a god-king. There is no god-king like in other worlds."
"Back then, Isis was only the nominal leader of the gods; the true source of her authority was the permission of the sun Ra."
"A true god-king should establish a divine court and, together with the gods who join the divine court, manage every corner of the world. Even if he does not have the opportunity to become the ruler in a short period of time, he is still enough to contend with some god-rulers."
"In the Hittites, in Babylon, in the Nine Realms, in Chaos… in many worlds, there exist such god-kings."
Aroh didn't know about other gods or other worlds, but he immediately thought of two gods—Odin and Zeus.
"Can it really increase strength? And how?"
The two special divine realms contained within his eyes are something that Aroha has yet to find a suitable way to explore their secrets using the corresponding laws and authority.
If becoming a god-king could truly allow him to rapidly increase his strength, he certainly wouldn't refuse.
In a world belonging to the gods, trying to improve one's strength step by step is far too slow, regardless of the difficulty.
Horus, the patron of the Pharaoh, had a powerful backer and a high starting point, but it took him over a thousand years to finally become a chief god.
"You should know about the three baptisms of gods, right? To become the King of Gods, one can receive a fourth baptism."
"Baptism?" The word puzzled Arakha slightly, but he immediately realized, "You mean those three divine gifts?"
"Yes, the so-called gods of this world do not receive baptism from the Lord, but rather call it a gift of divine power."
Aroha certainly knew about the three divine gifts. His "friend"—the storm god Set—had once explained to him in general terms the method by which non-born gods grow into gods and continue to become powerful.
Every deity, not only in the Egyptian world but also in other worlds, will receive divine blessings three times.
In Seth's view, this is the root of what determines the power of a god.
The first divine gift was the innate divine power bestowed upon the gods at the time of their birth, allowing them to be distinguished from other living beings.
Whether born naturally like the Aroh or born through the union of divine bloodlines like Horus, they will receive divine blessings at the time of their birth.
Generally speaking, this divine blessing will only cease after a deity has reached adulthood.
Of course, a deity's adulthood has nothing to do with appearance, looks, or age. Only after a deity senses that their divine power has stopped growing can they be considered an adult.
Aroh's divine power has been growing naturally since his birth, so despite his tall and handsome appearance, he still considers himself an "underage deity".
The first divine gift determines the lower limit of a deity's power.
At first glance, the divine power of gods all seem to be a kind of extraordinary power, but they are different in essence.
Every kind of divine power has a corresponding law attribute, but unless a god is born with a mastery of the law, it needs to be sorted out and integrated in order to make the divine power correspond to the law.
As for how to sort out and integrate it, that's related to the second divine blessing.
The second divine gift begins when a god receives their divine office.
Divine authority is the power bestowed upon deities by heaven and earth. In this world, it can only be obtained through a few rulers, such as Ra, the sun god, Shu, the lord of air, Tefnut, the lord of rain, Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky god.
At this point, divine power will evolve according to its own divine function, and the gods will begin to walk different paths.
Some deities are willing to focus on one divine office, while others wish to encompass many divine offices.
It's hard to say which of Aroha's "good brothers" Seth is better, since neither of them has much to do with Aroha.
After Arakh was born, he received the divine name "God of Miracles" through the sun god Ra, whose divine duty was to help mortals be reborn.
Unfortunately, this divine position is not very useful to Arakha; it is only a very small part of his divine power.
His complete divine power attribute should still be related to the divine domain in his left and right eyes.
Even Arokha himself couldn't explain what kind of divine office these two divine realms were for, or what kind of laws were needed to explore them.
In this situation, Arakha naturally did not put much effort into fulfilling his divine duty of "rebirth".
In the eyes of other gods who were unaware of the situation, his laziness was mainly due to his insatiable lust and constant desire to take the "first night" of Hebrew women, so he had no intention of "working properly".
The third divine blessing occurs after a deity becomes a chief god, establishes its own pantheon, and begins to possess subordinate gods.
Therefore, the divine is actually a very important existence for the supreme god.
He himself did not value the authority of "rebirth" much, but other gods flocked to it.
Having received divine blessings three times, he progressed from a nascent deity to a chief god who established his own pantheon. Unexpectedly, becoming the God-King would grant him another opportunity for divine blessings.
Aroh pondered that the Hebrews were now being ordered by the Egyptian Pharaoh to drown their newborn male infants, which meant that their exodus from Egypt must be imminent.
He lacked confidence that he could become a supreme god in a short time, so he asked, "What are the requirements to become a god-king? For example, do I need a certain level of divine power?"
Sariel guessed Aroha's doubts and said directly, "Don't worry, becoming the God-King only requires the consent of most of the gods and the recognition of all living beings, and has nothing to do with your current strength."
"As long as you can obtain the true name of the Sun Ra and give it to my Lord, even if you are still in your current state, my Lord will surely make you the King of the Gods of Egypt."
"The God-King will not only receive the fourth divine blessing, but will also be granted a heavenly status. No other god can be your match."
To be honest, the conditions offered by the Hebrew God were very tempting to Aroha.
However, obtaining the true name of the sun god Ra from Isis, the goddess of life, is extremely difficult.
"Am I going to break my promise to my good brother'Seth'?"
After Sariel left, Araha thought to himself, "However, my good brother has never given me the benefits he promised, so this agreement is not truly established yet."
"When we go to the underworld for our appointment, we'll see how things go and whether Isis, the goddess of life, is willing to pay this small price for her husband's true 'rebirth'."
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Sariel vanished directly into the temple of Arahu; he did not emerge from the door and was unknown to the Egyptian gods.
She reappeared in Goshen, where the Hebrews struggled to survive, these suffering chosen people living like slaves.
In some respects, they were even worse than slaves.
If some heretical being in the Egyptian world were to happen to show mercy, the slaves might still be able to obtain some benefits from those greedy pharaohs and nobles.
However, the Hebrews, who did not worship the heretical race of Egypt, did receive "divine punishment" time and time again.
The Hebrews are a people who love procreation, even though women in their tribe do not have their "first night" with their husbands before marriage.
Hebrew women dared not tell their fathers, brothers, husbands, and children their true experiences.
The secrets surrounding "Aroha, the God of Miracles" are only conveyed through the unspoken smiles of all the women.
Behind that smile lies a shame that Hebrew men will forever remember and never forget.
Now powerless, they can only bury their hatred for the Egyptians and Egyptian gods in their hearts.
But this time, the girls who returned joyfully from the Temple of Arahu were immediately met with an even more terrible "punishment for heresy".
All Hebrew male infants were to be put to death after birth.
Even if they get married, the elders no longer allow them to get pregnant and have children.
No one could be sure that they would give birth to a girl.
Just as this decree was being promulgated, a woman named Jochebed gave birth to a baby boy, her third child.
She wasn't sure if the baby boy was among those to be executed by the Egyptians.
Left with no other choice, she placed her child in a cradle and let it drift away on a tributary of the Nile.
"My child, I hope I can see you again."
As they watched their third son drift away into the water, Jochebed, her husband Amram, and their two children, Aaron and Miriam, were filled with sorrow.
Sariel witnessed this scene.
Over the years, she has often been to Goshen, witnessing the various hardships and perseverance of the Hebrews.
However, no Hebrew ever noticed her. Even though she had spoken with Hebrews and helped many people, they all forgot about her existence deep down.
Sariel could only sigh as he looked at the heavily pregnant Hebrew women.
Perhaps the one that went into the water will be the only one among these children to survive.
She left the Hebrew tribe and went to the wilderness, where she prayed from the bottom of her heart.
"Sariel, my messenger, what doubts do you have? Pray to me."
A faint voice emerged from the thorn bushes high in the mountain. Sariel did not look up to meet it, but instead lowered his head and asked, "God, is the true name of the sun god Ra important?"
She made no mention of the suffering of the Hebrews, which the gods had seen and were already preparing to help them leave Egypt, but instead expressed no hope for the Arameans she had just met.
"I think it's better for me and Gabriel to work together to deal with Isis, that doomed heretic, than to pin our hopes on that miracle worker from some mysterious foreign land."
The voice from above chuckled softly: "La's real name is neither important nor unimportant; it's just providing an option."
"As for Isis, since you've already made up your mind, you can go find her after the chosen people leave Egypt and cross the vast Red Sea."
"She is the test you face, but Gabriel cannot help you."
Sariel nodded: "Understood, my lord."
"The man I have chosen has left Goshen. He will be rescued from the water by Pharaoh's daughter and raised in the palace. You should go and teach him knowledge at the appropriate time."
Upon hearing this, Sariel suddenly realized: "That child, is he the chosen one?"
"It could be him, or it could not be him. His thoughts will determine his actions. If he is concerned about the suffering of his people, not blinded by the wealth of the Egyptian court, and willing to step forward, then he will be the right person."
"The Hebrews were destined to leave Egypt, and even if he hadn't, someone else would have become a prophet among men