As a creature ascends to higher levels, it becomes less susceptible to injury under normal circumstances, or to significant depletion of its energy. However, if injured or if energy is lost, recovery generally takes longer.
Some deities, after being injured in battles against beings of equal rank, might even need thousands to millions of years to recover to their peak condition.
In the battle with the Twin Flower Divine Envoys, Garon himself was not injured. Although the two half-gods could cooperate to restrain him, they could not inflict effective damage on his divine form.
It was merely due to the extensive use of the power of time to prevent them from escaping that Garon had to sleep for a relatively long period to replenish it.
His rate of absorbing the power of time was increasing, but so was the total amount of time power his body could contain.
Months later, the slumbering behemoth in the Dragon's Nest twitched slightly.
Huu huu huu.
With a series of deep breaths like thunder, the platinum dragon eyes slowly opened.
Upon awakening, Garon stretched his dragon wings fully, gently loosening some stiff muscles and bones. Fortunately, when the Dragon's Nest was constructed, considering the presence of Yuna, it was made spacious enough for two super-sized dragons.
Otherwise, with Garon's now hundred-meter wingspan, the Dragon's Nest would seem cramped.
After a series of movements like shaking his legs, tilting his head, twisting his neck, and rotating his wings, Garon felt his body loosen up, with vigorous strength flowing between his muscles.
Then.
He turned his gaze to the several Time Ambers scattered around him due to his sleeping movements.
Saint Soronol, half-god Aisha, half-god Aishe.
And three artifacts.
The six Time Ambers appeared translucent, with the sealed gods and artifacts maintaining lifelike poses. Garon could see the faces of the two half-gods and the divine saint, their expressions filled with unwillingness and a hint of fear.
"It seems, gods too can feel fear."
Garon shook his head slightly.
Next, with a thought, the Time Amber enveloping half-god Aisha at her head part turned into time power and was reabsorbed by Garon.
These two half-god elves were divine envoys of the Goddess of Life.
And now, the dragon race unanimously believed that it was the Goddess of Life who attacked their legendary dragon. Without any other evidence, Garon also felt it was highly probable that the Goddess of Life was behind the attack.
On the other hand.
When the Time Amber covering her head disappeared, Aisha's rigid and stagnant expression immediately came to life.
She initially tried to exert force but realized her supernatural divine power was gone, and her body was sealed within a peculiar crystal, unable to move. She then understood her current predicament.
Her emerald-like eyes slightly moved, taking in the interior of the Dragon's Nest.
Upon seeing the indifferent and majestic silver dragon, her heart sank.
As divine envoys of the Goddess of Life, Aisha and Aishe were veterans of countless battles, having claimed innumerable victories. They also faced many setbacks, but being prisoners of their enemy like this was a first for them.
Looking at the massive dragon, Aisha bit her lip.
"Evil dragon, what do you intend to do?"
In the elves' perception of dragons, they almost all are viewed as vicious beasts, greedy, lustful, brutal, especially lustful — enough to prove it across countless species of dragonkind.
How lustful must one be to develop a terrifying aesthetic that spans the entire multiverse?
Some dragons even do not spare elemental beings, mud monsters, slimes, and other creatures.
Elves are generally considered quite beautiful, fitting within the dragons' aesthetic.
Many elf women captured by dragons often meet tragic fates.
"He wouldn't."
Aisha, thinking about what might happen next, tensed up.
For an elf, a being that considers itself noble, encountering such a fate would be a lifelong, unerasable shame, especially for an elven goddess.
Simultaneously.
The dragon, majestic as if wearing a crown, lowered its head, slowly approaching, its heavy and hot breath directly hitting the elf half-god's face, blowing her green hair backwards.
"Evil dragon, what do you intend to do?"
"I am a divine envoy under the Goddess of Life, second only to the gods in the realm of Aphan. The great Goddess of Life will not stand idly by and allow you to insult an elven divine envoy!"
Aisha said firmly.
Garon laughed softly, "If you weren't the Goddess of Life's envoy, you'd be dead by now."
"But don't think I spared your lives because I fear the Goddess of Life."
After a pause, the dragon's gaze turned cold, and his voice deepened, "Tell me, was the Goddess of Life in her divine realm when I was attacked?"
Hearing Garon's words.
Aisha was slightly taken aback, then quickly understood that the dragon before her was investigating the attack she experienced.
She frowned, speaking in the tone of a victim, "My lord is kind-hearted. How could she attack a dragonkin junior who has not yet reached half-god status?"
"Such despicable acts can only be done by evil gods from the abyss."
"My lord made it very clear, the entire incident was orchestrated by your dragon gods to provoke a war against our race!"
The elf half-god looked at Garon, a soft smile on her face, "It seems now, you are unaware of the true circumstances behind your attack."
After a pause, Aisha earnestly persuaded, "Powerful Time Dragon, you should understand that we elves are not a war-loving race, unwilling to see our kin suffer in war."
"Moreover, this war brings us no benefits, whereas your dragonkin gain much."
"Think about it, could you be being used by the dragon gods?"
"Know that before you, there was no precedent for legendary dragonkin participating in dragon wars."
In reality.
Aisha herself was unclear about the truth behind Garon's attack.
As a divine envoy, she would naturally not doubt the Goddess of Life she serves and would stand firmly in front of her.
Just as the entire elven race, when the Goddess of Life announced that the elven chief god was ambushed and claimed the cause was the dragonkin seeking to start a war, almost all elves agreed with this narrative.
Just as the dragonkin all agreed with the narrative that it was the Goddess of Life who attacked Garon.
Regardless of the actual truth, beings of each race generally choose to trust their own divine beings; it's natural. Why would they believe in the divine beings of a foreign race that has grievances with their own instead of their own protective deities?
Listening to Aisha's words, Garon remained unmoved.
Without concrete evidence, he also chose to trust his own divine beings.
"Instead of trying to sow discord between me and the dragon gods here, you might want to think about how to escape from my grasp."
Garon's expression unchanged, used Time Amber to reseal Aisha.
Afterward, he questioned the other elf half-god Aishe, who looked exactly like Aisha.
The answers were consistent.
The Goddess of Life was not away from her divine realm when
he was attacked.
However, this answer was not credible.
Even if both half-gods were telling the truth, there was still the possibility that the Goddess of Life quietly left. As a powerful deity, leaving her created divine realm without wanting to be discovered means it would be impossible to detect.
"With my current level, it's unrealistic to investigate a powerful divine being behind this."
Garon thought carefully and decided to put aside the matter of his attack for now.
What does being a powerful divine being entail?
He would need to grow safely to the ancient dragon stage, and that's thousands of years as an ancient dragon, before he could possibly compete with a powerful divine force. So far, the Time Reversal summoned by Garon did not include a version of himself with powerful divine strength; the strongest, Golden Garon, seemed to be only a few hundred years old.
There definitely are versions of Garon with powerful divine strength in other timelines, but not many.
Powerful divine beings truly stand at the top of the multiverse's food chain.
A chief deity of a pantheon, some ancient primordial beings, supreme lords of hell or the abyss — any powerful deity has lived through countless eras, witnessed innumerable worlds' rise and fall. They are not to be underestimated.
Most importantly.
The Time Reversal, Garon's trump card, can be blocked by powerful divine forces.
After all, if Garon grows as expected, he would likely only be a powerful divine force, similar to the Dragon Mother and the Metallic Dragon God, before he has even grown. The fact that a being with powerful divine strength could cut off Time Reversal is not surprising.
The last experience made Garon realize that he cannot place his hopes on versions of himself from other timelines.
Only the power he possesses now is the most real.
Next, Garon stored away the Time Ambers sealing the two half-gods and the divine saint.
His gaze fell on the Moonkey God Bow.
This artifact, even when wielded by a saint, could pose a very high threat to him. When it gathered its sharpness, Garon had to be fully prepared. If a half-god entity possessed it, its lethality could increase by another level.
"Soronol, medium divine power, the god of archery."
Garon took out the Moonkey God Bow, murmuring softly.
Medium divine power is a significant presence in any pantheon, ranked just below powerful divine power, higher than the rank of various dragon gods. If encountered in the outer planes, Garon would flee, not entertaining the thought of fighting them.
Calculating the rank of creatures.
Garon felt that deities with medium divine power are at least level 80, nearly twice as high as him now.
As for the Twin Flower Divine Envoys who recently battled with Garon, he had already checked their levels.
Surprisingly high.
Both half-gods were level 52, while Garon, who had just become a half-god, was only level 41.
They were not ordinary half-gods; their strength was outstanding among many half-gods.
Being so much higher in level than Garon, but still not his match in a two-on-one fight, was because they descended to the primary material world, subjected to its restrictions, only able to exert up to level 40 combat power.
Logically.
Half-gods of level 50 or more, even if unable to fully exert their strength upon descending to the primary material world, should be able to easily defeat a being who has just become a half-god, based on their foundational strength.
Unfortunately, they encountered Garon.
Garon is unreasonable.
And the threshold for weak divine power creatures, based on Garon's estimate, is likely level 60.
"About every 20 levels, one can ascend to a higher level of divine power."
"If this trend continues, after level 100, one could be considered as having powerful divine strength."
At level 40 half-god, level 60 weak god, level 80 medium god, level 100 powerful god. Calculating this way, Garon feels he is still infinitely far from powerful divine power.
After all, as a level 40 half-god, killing ordinary legendary creatures was like slaughtering dogs, crushing a bunch with one strike.
Outside the primary material world, where deities can fully exert their strength, they possess might far beyond the imagination of mortals.
"I wonder how the Lava Half-Plane is doing."
Garon recalled the day he was attacked.
The images of Roel and Grelsa turning to ashes and dust under the divine light sword surfaced in his mind.
For followers who had been with him since before he became legendary, Garon still harbored some affection. He could not tolerate his followers dying so cheaply and insignificantly.
If they died in a bloody war against enemies, Garon would not regret it.
But dying under the aftermath of an attack by powerful divine power, such a helpless and ignoble death, without glory or dignity, is hard for dragons to accept.
Not only two red dragons sent him off that day.
Fire dwarves, fire giants, earth giants, red centaurs, etc., many kin were affected and died, including some alpha spellcasters.
Moreover, casualties were secondary.
The key is, after being struck by the full force of powerful divine power, the Lava Half-Plane would inevitably suffer severe damage.
This is just a small half-plane, valued by Garon for its unique elemental ratio and rich mineral resources. In terms of stability, the Lava Half-Plane is even less than the Noah continent.
"If the Lava Half-Plane is shattered by divine power, all living kin inside cannot escape disaster."
This is the worst possibility.
Deities indeed possess the power to destroy planes.
"For now, it's better to visit the outer planes less."
Garon's gaze fell on the Moonkey God Bow.
Artifacts generally possess sentience. Under the restraint of dragon claws, the Moonkey God Bow trembled with resistance, even autonomously absorbing elemental energy, condensing sword-like arrows on the bowstring, attempting to attack Garon.
Garon suppressed the Moonkey God Bow's resistance.
He concentrated his spiritual power, forcibly pouring it into the Moonkey God Bow, leaving his mark inside.
However, the artifact's resistance was also extremely fierce.
Crack crack crack. Seeing the dense cracks appearing on the exquisite bow, Garon frowned slightly, stopping his action.
"Do you prefer to be shattered rather than compromised?"
He said solemnly.
The surface of the Moonkey God Bow shone, condensing into a small, ethereal female elf figure.
This small elf glared at Garon fiercely, "I, Moonkey, am loyal only to the great Soronol. You can destroy me, but you cannot change my loyalty to my master!"
The Moonkey God Bow was personally crafted by Soronol and had accompanied this deity for tens of thousands of years.
Such an artifact is generally very difficult to subdue.
Garon laughed softly, "The more you resist, the more I want to make you my weapon."
For this sharp and formidable artifact, Garon was determined to have it.
"Don't even think about it."
"Destroy me then, but after that, my master's invincible arrows will pierce through your heart and avenge me!"
The spirit of the Moonkey God Bow stared at Garon, speaking.
"I look forward
to the day you call me master."
Garon's expression remained unchanged.
Saying so, Garon once again sealed the Moonkey God Bow in Time Amber.
He was not proficient in artifact crafting, but he had a brother on the Valoran continent who excelled in this field. Once he goes to Valoran, he will hand the Moonkey God Bow to Ornn for processing. Garon believes this brother can provide a satisfactory result.
As for the other two artifacts.
Since their owners were in Garon's hands, he had ways to subdue them.
Taking out a sword and a shield, after they declared their loyalty only to the Twin Flower Divine Envoys and swore they would not submit, Garon calmly took out the Time Ambers sealing the Twin Flower Divine Envoys and placed them in front of the two artifact spirits.
"Thousand Flowers, and Vast Woods, right?"
The silver dragon smiled, giving the two artifact spirits a bad premonition.
"I appreciate your loyalty to your masters."
"However, you wouldn't want your masters to suffer humiliation and torment before falling here, would you?"
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