Epic of Caterpillar

424 Meeting with Gods

That Belle was capable of using Divine Energy right away was to be expected by seeing that my other children had gained the ability to do so, but I did not expect to see it so soon.

The more milk she drank, the more her Divine Energy flourished… I was tempted to ask for a sample of Adelle\'s milk.

But I suppose that such power does not come from the milk itself, but because the milk is finally activating Belle\'s stomach and her metabolism.

Her Divine Energy seemed to combine both light and darkness, creating strange mirages.

It is quite interesting that my children are still capable of leveling up while producing vast quantities of Divine Energy.

According to the Gods, this should not even be possible. The only mortals capable of manipulating Divine Energy and producing it are Divine Species which my children do not seem to be due to their race titles.

And even if they were, Divine Species are not capable of producing Divine Energy to the extent that my children are capable of, barely being able to use it to enhance their physique or normal magic a bit.

The most strange thing of all is that their mothers neither I am capable of producing Divine Energy… but I am capable of doing something similar with my soul, which had gained a demi-divinity and such power had increased more as I\'ve eaten Divine Soul fragments from the gods.

However, to finally begin producing it, I think I would need to evolve… But for now, I can teach my children how to use it through God\'s instructions.

Glancing at my precious Belle peacefully drinking the milk of the sleeping Adelle, I could not move away from my position.

However, I decided to create a second body to do the activities I had planned for today, alongside having breakfast with everyone.

I stayed with my first body with Adelle and Belle, while I left with my second body with Amiphossia and the rest of my family towards the Dining Room, where we had a nice breakfast and later on took a relaxing bath.

Having two bodies is something amazing, I feel like I have four eyes, and two of them are in a different area glancing at something else.

Well, I think that is not a good description.

Belle had been just born and she was now sleeping, I couldn\'t do much than to take care of her and her mother with my first body, while I moved by the second body with the rest of my children towards Morpheus\'s Dungeon.

I decided to go to the beautiful third biome, where long and vast plains covered in large lakes rest.

The artificial sun was especially strong today, and it was the perfect day to take a dip in the lakes as if it were summer.

But I came with them for something else, as I wanted to teach them \'Divinity Devouring\' while helping them in manipulating their Divine Energy.

"Mommy, but I already learned that Skill!" said Vudia.

"Okaay…"

I expanded my Soul vastly around, since I devoured the Soul of Megusan, it had become something completely different than before, I could expand it almost endlessly if I wanted, and cover the entire biome.

I shaped my Soul around as if it were an ethereal slime, six tentacles were released, which I easily cut off with the Soul Attribute Magic Spell \'Soul Division\'.

"Hmm… mother, is it really okay to eat this? I feel like it may give us indigestion…" muttered Ryo.

"I won\'t let you leave if you don\'t learn Divinity Devouring!" I said.

"Okay…"

Ryo grabbed on the piece of soul, which resembled a formless mass of darkness, and other colors such as crimson, purple, and pink.

"D-Do I just eat it with my mouth?" he asked.

"Big brother, are you afraid of something? Nom, nom… Mommy, can I have some more? It was delicious!" said Ailine, who had already eaten the piece of the soul like an obedient young princess, and even asked for seconds.

"Of course! Here, have some more, it is almost endless anyways" I said, giving Ailine some more.

"Y-You already ate it?!" Ryo said, bewildered.

"Common brother! Don\'t be such a bummer!" said Valentia, munching on the soul piece.

"It has… a fishy taste?" analyzed Aarae, tasting a piece of my soul.

"It tasted very sweet to me! Can I have some more? I think I can get the Skill with another piece!" said Amiphossia.

"A-Alright, I will eat it… I guess there was not any need to worry… Nom. Hm?! W-What is this taste?! It\'s like freshly grilled dragon meat! D-Delicious!" shouted Ryo.

"Oh my, I\'m so honored that my beloved little son likes his mother\'s soul!" I said while sharing more of my Soul around.

Each time I cut off pieces, they would quickly regenerate by using Soul Energy. But to regain Soul Energy, I needed to either rest for very long times or eat souls.

While feeding my children with a nourishing meal, I opened my Item Box and took my \'Nether Sword of Undying Pain\', which was my main tool to store Souls. From there, I began to devour the thousands of souls I had saved in there.

Sometimes I do not even need to hunt by myself to gather them, as I can easily catch them whenever someone kills a monster in the Grand Forest with one of my Phantom Bat Slime Clones specialized in catching souls.

Of course, they cannot catch particularly strong souls, but those of monsters, who are usually weak, are not a problem.

Feeding in them made me quickly recover Soul Energy, and I was able to generate more soul pieces for feeding them.

As the degustation continued, everyone pointed out that each Soul piece would taste different, some would taste sweet like candies, and others greasy and salty like meat.

After a few hours, everyone had successfully learned the \'Divinity Devouring\' Skill at level 1, and Vudia leveled it to level 2.

I considered the idea of feeding them more until they hit the level cap… but it could be detrimental to me for now, so I moved that idea for another occasion.

"Aside from the Skill, I got some titles and a fragment of Demi-Divinity named \'Chaotic Venomous Chimeras\'," said Amiphossia.

"I did as well…" said Ryo.

"Me too!" said Vudia.

"Is mommy divinity about Chimeras?" asked Ailine.

"Yeah, I wonder if it would give us something?" asked Aarae.

"Perhaps we can create Chimeras? Or become one!" said Valentia.

"Well, I wouldn\'t like to suddenly mutate into a Chimera, hopefully, it\'s nothing much" muttered Amiphossia.

"Hm, if all of you obtained a fragment of my demi-divinity, it means that your own divinity had strengthened due to that, try out releasing your Divine Energy again…" I said.

Everyone began to generate a sphere of Divine Energy, each sphere seemed richer and stronger than the one I recall from before.

"I see… it was indeed strengthened. Anyways, according to the information I took from the Gods, all of you already have enough Divine Energy to be considered Demigods, which means that you will begin learning special Divine Techniques! Something that not even I can learn yet, lucky you!" I said.

"R-Really?" wondered Ryo.

"Are we considered Demigods? This is rather flustering…" muttered Amiphossia.

"So I\'m a Goddess now! Hehe!" laughed Vudia.

"N-No, Vudia, I don\'t think it works like that…" said Aarae.

"Can we bless people now? I want to bless Acathea!" said Ailine.

"Oh? If we can bless people, I\'m going to bless my whole party!" said Valentia.

"To be honest, they say that all of you are even stronger than Demigods because you can still level up and use some other functions of the System that Demigods lose… and about blessing others, I think you must first be worshiped. I\'ve already ordered the construction team to make large statues of all of you to put in the churches, there will be exclusive churches for each one of you as well"

"C-Churches?! I-I will really be worshiped as a God? Isn\'t this quite early?" asked Ryo.

"It\'s pretty early indeed, but it should be fine if we can grow strong from it. We should try for it to not get into our heads though" said Amiphossia.

"Yes! Everyone will worship me!" said Vudia, happily.

"Vudia-chan, you\'re very excited," said Ailine.

"Haha… I don\'t know what Ervin will say about this…" muttered Aarae.

"I think he should be happy! Who would be so lucky to be with a Demigod?" asked Valentia.

"I-I guess so…" said Aarae.

"My children, we can leave those conversations for later. Let me continue. I was talking about teaching you Divine Techniques, special techniques created by the gods by using Divine Energy. Such abilities were the only ones they had when the System didn\'t exist in the past." I said.

"There was a time when the System didn\'t exist?" asked Ryo.

"I can\'t imagine this world without it," said Amiphossia.

"It would be boring!" said Vudia.

"Haha… to be honest, I think the same. But anyways, the gods will be coming in \'person\' to teach you their techniques" I said.

"They will?!" shouted Ryo.

"Yes, Merveim, the Wyvern God of Strength will teach Ryo and Valentia. Agatheina will teach Vudia, Amiphossia, and Aarae. And Hodhyl will teach Ailine. The other Beast Gods will teach all of you something useful. Due to your great talents and affinities, even Life Attribute Divine Techniques should be possible to learn with my blessings"

"A-And when are they coming? And how?! Don\'t they waste too much power if they descend?" asked Ryo.

"Yes, they do, but inside a Dungeon, they are capable of projecting themselves instead of descending in person. By using Morpheus\'s as a channel to this Dungeon, they will be able to show themselves in an ethereal form, and utilize some of their power, enough to teach you all the basics of Divine Techniques" I said.

"Oh, and when they are coming? Right now!"

Suddenly, the entire Dungeon began to tremble as three arcs of light descended upon us. One was bright crimson; another was verdant green and the last one was completely dark.

Flash! Flash! Flash!

From the three arcs of light, three figures appeared. Two of them were gigantic wyverns, one was burly and covered in dark scales, with several black horns decorating its head. The other was a slim and beautiful green wyvern, with a more delicate physique, with golden eyes gleaming with wisdom. The last one was a beauty beyond beauties, a damsel with pale white skin, shining crimson eyes, and long silvery hair.

"For today, Merveim, Hodhyl, and Agatheina will introduce you to the basics. I will also participate in the teachings even if I cannot use Divine Energy yet" I said.

My children glanced at the three gods, who they had once talked casually through an artifact while having breakfast or dinner.

"T-They are real gods?" asked Valentia.

"The one and only, my child! I am Merveim, the Wyvern God of Strength. It is nice to meet all of you! And Kireina-sama as well!" said Merveim, the large, burly, and dark scaled wyvern.

"Just as my brother says, it is nice to meet the children of my benefactor and master, Kireina-sama. And quite possibly, my future stepchildren! I am Hodhyl, the Wyvern Goddess of Nature" said Hodhyl, the slim and beautiful green wyvern.

"Fufufu, such cute little boys and girls~ I am Agatheina, the Vampire Goddess of Blood. I cannot express how much happiness a meeting with all of you brings to me! Especially with Kireina-sama in person!" said Agatheina, glaring at me with a wicked and enamored smile.

"It is nice to meet with all of you as well. Agatheina, please stop looking at me like that" I said.

"A-Ah! Of course! I apologize… P-Please, Kireina-sama, punish me!" said Agatheina.

"No, I am not punishing you for such a thing, relax," I said.

"R-Really? Kya! I cannot believe it! I am really meeting in person with Kireina-sama and her wonderful little children!" said Agatheina, rushing towards me.

Agatheina then kneeled on the ground and kissed my feet.

"My master, Kireina-sama, the supreme sovereign of all Vampires!" she said, her eyes were fanatical.

Merveim and Hodhyl had weirded out expressions.

"Ah, please don\'t mind her," said Merveim.

"We aren\'t like her," said Hodhyl.

"Well, Agatheina, my children are in your care"

"But of course! I will make sure that Amiphossia, Vudia, and Aarae are well taught! Now, my little children let go learn! Follow mommy Agatheina!" she said.

"Agatheina-san, you\'re not our mother…" muttered Amiphossia.

"W-Well… call me as you may! How about the aunt?" asked Agatheina.

"I guess that\'s fine!" said Vudia, while Amiphossia and Aarae nodded.

The rest of the day was spent learning Divine Energy manipulation from the gods themselves, all of this info was very important and precious. Mortals would usually never be told such secrets.

When it had become late, the classes had finally finished. My children had learned a bit more about the manipulation of Divine Energy, and if they developed this knowledge enough, they would soon be able to convert their Divine Energy into Divine Energy Crystals, a special currency used by Gods.

Before leaving, Agatheina and Hodhyl tried to stop me.

"Wait! Kireina-sama! Don\'t you want to take a visit into my Divine Realm?" said Agatheina.

"Hmm… perhaps another day…"

"How about mine?! It would be ideal to begin preparations to create a new race tonight!" said Hodhyl.

"No thanks… not, for now, I am fine with my wives," I said, rejecting two goddesses for my mortal wives.

"You two should stop trying, let Kireina-sama take a break," said Merveim.

"Sigh… shut up, you lizard!" shouted Agatheina, shifting her personality.

"What do you know? Blockhead!" shouted Hodhyl.

"Anyways, send my salutes to the other gods," I said.

"We will!" said Hodhyl.

"Leave it to me, Kireina-sama," said Agatheina.

Seeing the three gods\' ethereal forms go back to their Divine Realms, the Dungeon once again went back to a peaceful afternoon.

We had a large dinner tonight, and Belle had woken up, she was currently glaring at everyone while saluting them by grabbing their fingers with her strong tiny hands. She was very cute.

[You acquired the [Divine Energy Understanding; Level 1] Skill!]

[The Levels of the [Worshiped Demon Goddess; Level 4], [Ancient Demons and Yokai Phantasmagoric Conjuration Magic; Level 5], [Phantom Blood Transformation and Manipulation; Level 4], [Phantom Limb; Playful Sticky Tongue; Level 2], [Phantasmal Symbiosis; Level 5], [Phantom Long Reach; Level 4], and [Phantom Materialization; Level 6] Skills have increased!]

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