Myth: The Ruler of Spirituality

“Do you wish to ask something?”

The rain was pouring down, yet not a drop penetrated the area around the two of them. Watching the clash outside the city, Laine also noticed Humar behind him, hesitating to speak.

“Yes, Your Excellency, I wish to know, is he a human?”

Humar looked up, gazing at the figure enshrouded in a golden blaze across The Sky.

In the impending doom of the Bronze Humanity, someone took up a sword against a deity — another event worthy of being recorded. However, whether the individual in question was human or a demigod was undoubtedly crucial for the content he was about to record.

“Yes, he is, but not of the Bronze Humanity.”

“He is of the Golden Humanity, the very first human I created. As the king during the Golden Age, just as your records say, he once held devout faith in the deities, and as for now, you have seen it for yourself.”

With a hint of emotion, had not Laine sensed that pure, powerful Power of Faith a hundred years ago, he probably wouldn’t remember Cohen now, as he had never exhibited anything notably special. Although Laine had made him king of the humans and had given him the opportunity to dream, at that time, Cohen’s identity was merely that of ‘Golden Humanity’.

He was the first of the Golden Humanity, so Laine had named him king; he was the leader of the Golden Humanity, so Laine had allowed him to witness the Civilization Slate. But now, as Laine’s attention returned to him, he had to admit that Cohen, in some respects, had vastly exceeded his expectations.

Ten thousand years ago, Laine personally created the initial Meditation Method in accordance with the authority of Spirituality, and he distinguished seven levels for non-deity beings, corresponding to the seven realms of meditation. However, the reality was that the seventh layer of the Meditation Method, the realm of ‘intrinsic divinity’ within the spiritual domain, was speculative — whether it could be successfully attained was completely unknown.

After all, until now, not even a single common being had managed to achieve this on their own, not even Hecate who had fully mastered the Seven Phases Meditation Method, as she was a naturally-born deity who did not need to confront that threshold.

Therefore, Laine was not quite sure whether the path to divinity through ‘recognizing the world, discerning its rules, summarizing one’s own order of all things,’ and the gradual sublimation of spirit until the birth of divinity could actually succeed.

Yet now, the Golden Human King seemed to not be following this path; he was using his actions, his superficial understanding of the essence of power, to demonstrate to Laine a completely different method right before his eyes.

The Oracle Stone Tablet of Delphi, a manifestation of the primal Order, capable of even glimpsing one’s destined path of life — the first of these tablets was inscribed with the axiom ‘know thyself.’ After being transformed by the Spirit Realm, Laine had added a phrase — ‘Know the world, and then know thyself.’

The meditation method he created was about understanding the world, while Cohen’s current state was about having comprehended himself. The fact proved that, while one might be harder than the other, neither was superior or inferior.

“So he is the king of the Golden Humanity…?”

At his side, Humar did not think so much. Having received an answer, he merely sighed and then bowed his head slightly, starting to etch onto the slate.

This was the third picture he carved, once again divided into three parts. In the first section, a pair of large hands shaped the first humans; it was the scene of deities creating humanity. In the second section, humans are bowing in worship to the deities, while in the third section, someone draws a sword towards The Sky, pointing directly at the Sea God wielding a Trident.

The expressions of the characters were the core of this part of the stone carving. The cluelessness of birth, the devoutness while worshipping, and the resolve coupled with subtle perplexity when drawing the sword made the characters seem alive. Interestingly, the Sea God’s likeness was not Triton but resembled the statue of Poseidon in The Temple.

“Perplexity, was it that apparent?”

Coming back to his senses, Laine, looking at the stone carvings emerging from the old man’s hands, unexpectedly asked.

“Such a capable individual, yet he remained quiet and peaceful in Aurora for so long, only to act today — I can feel his conflicting emotions.”

“I hope he finds the answer he seeks; that’s all I can do for him now.”

Nodding his head, Laine expressed his agreement. From another perspective, he could see that it was precisely this point that had kept Cohen from truly taking this historic step.

Unlike Laine’s ‘outer to inner’ conception for the spiritual domain, the Golden Human King had unconsciously followed another path, ‘inner to outer.’

With his resplendent will at the core, steadfast on his path, he achieved an integration and sublimation of spirit and flesh, ultimately taking a leap forward into divinity — this was the state Cohen was in now.

This was undoubtedly viable; if these conditions could truly be fulfilled, perhaps Cohen could become the first person to achieve demigod status through his own efforts today. It’s worth noting that a demigod is similar to a territorial god, a broad concept with wildly varying limits. The extent of power of such self-promoted entities was not something Laine was entirely certain of.

However, in reality, Cohen had still not found his own ‘path.’ Now, with resentment towards the deities’ indifference, his will was indeed brilliantly luminous, but he did not know what to do after vanquishing the deity before him.

There was a beginning, but no continuation; thus, Cohen’s divinity remained embryonic, seemingly within reach yet elusive.