The 108 stars of the Heavenly Spirits and Earthly Fiends… all the stellar authorities from myth and legend were gathered here.
A mythical star did not possess only a single authority, but several. In different myths, the same star represented completely different meanings.
The same Venus—in Huaxia mythology it represented Taibai, symbolizing war and martial might, while in Mediterranean mythology it represented beauty and fertility. Likewise, Jupiter in different myths symbolized time, dominion, throne, and so on.
Stars that occupied a prominent place in many myths naturally held more than one authority. Still, unlike Solar Sovereignty and Lunar Sovereignty, they did not divide into too many; at most, three.
Even so, the singular sovereignties divided from these powerful stars still held immense strength.
It was like a high-tier strong single-universe with the mass of three thousand universes splitting into three selves. Each self would still hold the mass of a thousand universes, and still be a high-tier strong single-universe.
Stars of lesser renown, which lacked broad enough mythological coverage, held only one sovereignty.
Unlike the Sun and Moon—stars present in every myth, in every civilization.
No worldview would ever lack such true protagonists.
Even civilizations that had already stepped into the cosmos continued to call stars "suns" when referring to their own.
The word "star" itself fully represented the brightest rulers of day and night.
Lunar Sovereignty was not as exalted as Solar Sovereignty, mainly because spacefaring civilizations had realized: a satellite was not indispensable for civilization's existence, while a star was irreplaceable.
Gulp…
The first Seven Archons could not resist such an immense temptation either. Their eyes burned hotly, some even swallowing hard.
Some gods of weaker resolve—like the Four Primordial Gods of Greek myth, or the Triple Aspects of the Sun Kings—let scorching heat spill from their seven orifices. Even Shakyamuni, with the greatest composure, trembled as he rolled his thumb over his Bodhi beads, producing a swish swish sound.
Odin, though clenching his fists, cast a scornful glance toward the Sun Kings' gods, infamous and reviled. His single eye gleamed with disdain.
They had once been his friends, back when they hailed from the same place. But now they had drifted apart. Their lack of composure and greed was too much—no wonder they had only barely earned a seat here.
"Heh…" Athena let out a contemptuous sound. They hadn't even begun the contest, and already some were losing control. Pathetic—clowns.
Those who strayed further from Heavenly Principle's will would likely make little progress even after endless ages.
Yet… her burning gaze turned toward the stellar authority aligned with her own Greek mythology.
The Eighty-Eight Constellations Authority—this shared the same source as her Pseudo Star Map Creation. To push the Primordial Universe to break its limits and ascend toward a strong single-universe, she had to gather at least half.
Even if she gave up every other authority but Solar Sovereignty, she would not hesitate.
Meanwhile, she calculated her Greek pantheon's odds against the other pantheons.
Now that her strength approached double single-universe mass, she was not far behind even the eldest of the Seven. Her pantheon's core strength was no weaker than the others.
She thought this way, and naturally so did the other pantheons.
Every pantheon wished to claim all the stellar sovereignties belonging to their own mythology.
Hu Tao turned and grinned at Zhongli. "Solar Sovereignty—we need at least a fifth, about five or six shares. Confident, Zhongli?"
Zhongli's golden eyes brimmed with battle intent. His gaze swept briefly across his comrades. "Only five or six? That is naturally no problem."
"As for the rest of the stellar sovereignties, we shall take as many as possible. Among the middle and upper ranks, Liyue is strongest."
Greater Lord Rukkhadevata had already become a bearer of Truth, and would not participate in the contest. That left him as the strongest pantheon leader.
He wasn't aiming for half. His comrades would surely grant him that much respect.
The only concern was… his gaze shifted to the two siblings seated in the foremost divine thrones.
The only ones who would not give him face were those two siblings. Aether was manageable, but Lumine… Just thinking of her gave Zhongli a headache… Hopefully, the rules of the Gift Game would prevent her from so easily seizing sovereignties.
"Eheheheh… slurp~ heheheh~ Solar Sovereignty~ I can feel it. Even when divided into more than twenty shares, each one is still about the same as me right now. Just one holds the strength of a thousandfold single-universe."
"And as Pan-Human History grows stronger, Solar Sovereignty will also grow stronger."
Lumine stared at Solar Sovereignty, drool trailing from the corner of her mouth, eyes filled with heart-shapes. She had utterly fallen in love with those twenty-four glittering little suns.
Slurp~
"Mine, mine, all of it is mine~"
...
Her hands rose uncontrollably, reaching out as if to snatch them. But they were only phantoms—she couldn't touch a thing.
Aether glanced at his utterly oblivious little sister, his face expressionless.
"Don't even think about it. At this level of sovereignty, there's no way you can claim them all. Not all, not even half, not even half of half. Impossible."
"There might be pantheons that fail to obtain Solar Sovereignty, but the vast majority will certainly secure at least one. There may even be Gift Games that favor particular pantheons."
"With the current foundations of each pantheon, in favorable conditions they won't possibly lose."
"I have little interest in Solar Sovereignty. After all, the Abyss doesn't grow by influencing Pan-Human History, nor does it need to deliberately deepen its influence. So I'll just take one as a token."
"As for you… you're not part of any pantheon system. You are a Lawbearer. If you seize Solar Sovereignty, you'll be forced to shoulder the burden of maintaining Pan-Human History. You… will absolutely mess it up."
"When that happens… So, I advise you not to get involved. It will be more beneficial than harmful. If you actually win it, the harm will outweigh the good."
Lumine pouted. "Tch, making it sound like I'm stupid. If I win Solar Sovereignty, why not just sell it to a pantheon?"
"Hehehe, then I'll hold an auction… Let all the pantheon leaders fight each other to the death over it~ Just imagining it makes me thrilled, hahaha…!"
"The great god is certainly joyful enough~ If I didn't know better, I, Sparkle, would have thought Lord Aha had become the bearer of the Principle of Elation." Sparkle teased Lumine, who was going mad with glee.
Indeed, this place was truly interesting. Every great god was full of individuality. Hehe, I, Sparkle, really like it~
"Aiya~ I'm not an Aeon anymore, you know~ I, Aha, neither follow the pantheon system, nor intend to walk the Law system~ I'm trying out something very fresh, hehe~"
Aha spread both hands.
"And also, Lady Sparkle, there are many misunderstandings about me. I was once Elation, but I wasn't entirely Elation. Now, Elation is merely one part of my personal nature~"
Sparkle giggled, showing no mercy: "Once Elation, always Elation~"
"Fufufu, the Solar Sovereignty Contest, the gods' playground—too fun, it's practically heaven born for Elation."
"I can already feel my strength accelerating."
Whether it was the Gift Game of Solar Sovereignty or the process itself, she was absolutely interested. She would never miss it.
When the time came, after obtaining stellar sovereignties, if she encountered trouble, then just as that great god had said—hold an auction. To watch gods strain their voices, their faces twisted as they fought over sovereignties—fufufu, far too fun.
Within just a few seconds of the stellar sovereignties' projections appearing, the gods were already wearing all sorts of expressions, their thoughts weaving chaotically across the hall.
Noah did not interfere. Phanes wasn't interested in the thoughts of gods either—she only looked at results, not process. Whatever the gods thought, she did not care. Only Greater Lord Rukkhadevata, sitting in this position for the first time, was deeply astonished.
As the saying goes: standing high allows one to see far. The myriad schemes of all pantheons and gods lay completely bare before her eyes. It was as if she was watching tiny figures in a picture scroll. Or as if the entire hall was a chessboard, with the gods as its pieces.
In the next moment, she even felt the gods were like an ant colony scrambling for crumbs of bread.
Her gaze drifted to Phanes. In that instant, she understood Phanes' past actions.
In her eyes, the gods were like ants moving crumbs. When some ant disrupted the colony's order, she would pick out the spoiled one.
But when she looked at Lord Heavenly Principle, only his eyes carried a different light toward the gods.
Possessions, friends, lovers, pets… all kinds of light, full of emotion, embracing everything.
In that instant she understood something. Crack—the final bit of disharmony between her, a Lawbearer, and Heavenly Principle shattered.
Noah's voice continued:
"The Solar Sovereignty Contest shall be held in the Divine Realm closest to Celestia."
Meanwhile—
Beneath Celestia, the uppermost layer of the Supreme Divine Realm was shrouded in night. The stellar sovereignties born of Pan-Human History projected as constellations upon the dark canopy, rotating according to the laws of Pan-Human History.
The Supreme Divine Realm was a Little Garden structure, but with only three layers, never having changed.
The layer nearest Celestia had always been unclaimed. The gods living here were, at minimum, Primary Gods, though none stayed long. It had become a realm for high gods to conduct trade.
And now, the entire third layer became the arena for the Solar Sovereignty Contest.
Only its durability could bear the weight of a contest involving all the gods of Teyvat.
"This final revelry, these stellar authorities that will establish the foundations of the Teyvat pantheons—if you wish to obtain them, then exhaust both violence and wisdom to seize them."
"This contest will be extremely long. Every participant of each stellar sovereignty must be a god aligned with that sovereignty."
"All questions shall be answered within the Cosmic Nexus."
Hearing the supreme voice, the gods' fervor calmed, and they listened in silence.
Noah continued:
"In this meeting, besides the Solar Sovereignty Contest, there is also the division of divine ranks beyond the Almighty God level."
For now, the hierarchy of gods had not yet been fully defined.
Previously, the titles of Lord of Principle, Lord of Law, and Lord of Truth were not divine ranks. They were more akin to titles such as pantheon lords within their respective systems.
Now, with the systems infinitely open, there would be countless paths capable of breaking past the single-universe boundary and accumulating negative-mass levels.
At present, many gods had already reached double single-universe mass, yet they were not Lords of Principle.
Take Aha, for instance—he was treading a very new path, gathering countless philosophical concepts to attempt to simulate the multiverse itself. This was practically an advanced version of Pseudo Star Map Creation…
The gods immediately held their breath.
Those present had already attained the Almighty God rank, capable of true omniscience and omnipotence within the scope of a great universe.
But what came after—that, they did not know. Though there already existed clearly defined roads such as Principle and Law.
Yet the paths they walked were completely different.
Although Principle and Law were grand avenues, walking them meant starting over from zero, reconstructing and creating a path anew. They were unwilling to do so, and it did not align with their pantheons.
Noah's voice echoed through the entire hall:
"Breaking through the single-universe is a boundary, but it still does not truly depart from the scope of Almighty God. When one surpasses single digits of universe mass, reaching double digits or more—only then does one truly transcend, truly shatter the limits of conventional omniscience and omnipotence."
"That is, upon reaching tenfold single-universe mass or greater, a god naturally advances to the rank of Super God."
"Super God signifies transcendence beyond universe-level, surpassing the universal boundary of omniscience and omnipotence recognized by humanity."
"Beyond Super God lies the ultimate ancient end—a cultivation system radiating throughout the multiverse, the origin of mythic systems. In short, it is the endpoint any mysterious system can reach. When one's own strength gathers the power of ten thousandfold single-universe mass, where every motion can influence a corner of the multiverse—that is the Primeval God rank."
"The final endpoint of a mysterious system within the multiverse."
The Magic Gods of the Toaru world were such existences, the endpoints of their system. Yet they had merely exploited loopholes—their true strength was far less than what he defined here.
At least in Teyvat, reaching ten thousandfold single-universe mass would only barely touch low-tier super-universe strength. By that standard, only a perfect Magic God could barely brush the threshold.
At present, however, it was impossible to reach the Primeval God rank. Teyvat must truly reach the multiverse itself first.
Still, the divine ranks had to be set down now. From this moment onward, they would never change—even upon reaching the multiverse, the ranks would remain fixed.
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