In Bertha's house, many people gathered. Most were Wood Elves, with some Angels and Humans, one Beastwoman, and one God – the God of Fate.
The atmosphere was celebratory because today was her 10,000th birthday.
Rachel modified the laws in Hell and the main world, reducing lifespans. However, in Heaven, lifespans remained very long, with a Rank 6 able to live for more than 1 million years, and 'mortals' were outright immortal!
She didn't modify Heaven. In her opinion, Heaven, with its complete law, was very stable. Also, very few creatures who can reproduce exist in Heaven. In any case, they get permission to reproduce, so overpopulation is not an issue.
Furthermore, angels are born naturally, and their birth rate depends on the capacity of Heaven. If there are too many, new ones simply won't be born. So, there is no need to change anything.
As a result, Heaven indeed resembles Heaven, where everyone is happy for eternity, or at least until Heaven itself gets destroyed or runs out of energy.
With a knock on the door, a huge cake arrived.
Wood elves don't have any tradition involving cakes; this cake was a suggestion from her daughter, Emma, who fervently insisted on it.
Bertha, as a very traditional Wood Elf, was initially unwilling, but to make her daughter happy, she reluctantly agreed.
She still cares deeply about Wood Elf traditions, living on a tree, consuming only plant-based food, and walking around naked.
Non-Wood Elves are used to her being naked after thousands of years, so seeing her in this state is as unremarkable as looking at a random stone.
The cake was enormous, and they had to use magic to transport it without causing any damage. On top of it were 10,000 candles.
They placed the cake in the center of a large room, and everyone gathered around their tables.
After some time, someone cast an ignition spell, lighting up all the candles at once.
"Quick, Mom, blow!" said Emma.
Bertha, who had a peculiar expression on her face, nodded and blew. As a Rank 6 knight, it was easy for her to extinguish an entire jungle on fire with her breath, so this was a simple task.
Nevertheless, she was careful because many mortal members were present.
Almost all mortals refused to become mages because, in Heaven, you could live happily, free from illness, forever as a mortal.
However, as soon as you become a Rank 0 mage, you will lose your endless lifespan. Who would want that? So, most of those brought here chose to remain mortals.
She skillfully blew out all the candles, and everyone clapped.
"Happy birthday to you," everyone sang.
She smiled and thanked everyone.
After a while, everyone except for Bertha began eating the cake.
She was unwilling to eat anything that wasn't plant-based, and despite Emma's claims to the contrary, Bertha was convinced that this cake wasn't made of only plants.
"Mom, please, at least try it once!" pleaded Emma.
Bertha shook her head.
Blowing out the candles on the cake was already a big step, but eating it was too much.
"Honey, thank you, but I already ate, so I'm full," she tried to soften the blow.
Emma sighed. After 10,000 years of trying, she still failed to convince her mother to even once try anything that wasn't plant-based.
Today, Emma was very different from her mom, dad, and brother.
She wore clothes and consumed all kinds of food, unlike them, who were committed to wood elf culture.
Milan, her father, was a human, but he was more committed to wood-elf culture than many wood elves!
Still, her mother, Bertha, had accepted that she was just different and no longer tried to change her.
After the celebration ended, everyone left, and only Milan and Bertha remained, both as happy as ever.
"Heaven is amazing," Bertha thought.
Initially, she had been suspicious of the light elements, but now, she felt that the influence of the light element was a good thing.
She no longer resisted it and let it influence her.
There was no war, jealousy, rage, greed, envy, or the bad type of lust in Heaven. The light element removed all sins, and the seven virtues were greatly enhanced. Who wouldn't want such a world?
Milan hugged her, and both went to sleep. Even though they didn't need sleep, they still did.
...
Dyer was looking at Lewis with rage.
He had already cast many spells to resist the corruption of the light element, so he was not affected by it in the slightest.
In his opinion, the light element is more deadly than the dark element.
It makes one soft, clouded judgment and unable to see the true path forward, which is power.
Exactly like mortals, who refused to become mages despite being offered high-ranking 'mage talent' pills, along with resources.
Their path to becoming mages was countless times easier than even the core apprentices of large academies, but they indulged in their temporary pleasures, not trying to become stronger.
They couldn't see what might happen if Heaven were to be destroyed or if something unexpected occurred. In that case, they would be slaughtered like sheep, without any power.
They were blinded by the light element, just like Lewis in front of him.
"Dyer, why are we trying so hard? After a hundred million years of trying, we never relaxed and spent some time together. Why not rest for a few million years?" Lewis said.
"You! How can we rest before you reach rank 10? Sure, the law of destiny won't work, but we can find other ways!" Dyer said angrily.
"You know it's difficult," said Lewis.
Unlike Dyer, he was not a peak rank 9 mage, so for him, it would take much more time to reach rank 10. He had already lived for a long time, and with his remaining lifespan, it was not guaranteed that he would ever reach that rank.
His main path, destiny, was already blocked because Dyer had reached it by destiny. According to Rachel's settings, each complete law could be used for rank 10 advancement only once.
Now, Lewis had no choice but to abandon everything and start a new fragment of the law, which might take tens of millions of years by itself.
"You've lost your mind because of the corruption of the light element! You've got to try until the last moment! Only if you reach rank 10 can we truly be together forever," Dyer said.
He doubted that he would have the same drive to get stronger if Lewis were to die. So, this insistence was for both himself and Lewis.
"It might be partially because of the light elements, but so what? What in my logic is wrong? My chances are abysmal, so let us at least spend time together doing something other than meditation! I don't remember ever in the last one hundred million years doing anything except mage training together," Lewis said.
"Why do I have to explain something so simple to you? It's all an illusion if you die. No matter how long we are together, if you die, it's all for nothing. Only immortality is true happiness," he said.
Even after reaching rank 10, it's essential to continue advancing in rank to get stronger, but the importance is far less than reaching rank 10.
Before rank 10, it's mortal; after rank 10, it's immortal, with the same lifespan as the universe itself. A complete law will never expire.
When the worlds get destroyed, that's because of other factors, such as their codes being damaged, their energy being consumed, running out of time water, heat death, etc; it has nothing to do with their complete law expiring.
Rank 12 worlds are immortal because their universal law can fulfill all of its needs from chaos and will never run out of energy.
Otherwise, even when rank 12 worlds run out of energy, they will not get destroyed but will be deactivated until they get enough energy to operate again.
Overall, once one reaches rank 10, they become eternal.
As for the endless lifespan of mortals here, that is supported by this world's laws; they depend on this world, not on their own.
Lewis said, "It's not an illusion to me; it's not fake. I want to rest for the rest of my life,"
Dyer got depressed. He never imagined that the corruption of the Light element could get so serious, even for Lewis, a Rank 9.
"Why did you allow this?" he asked Lewis. The Light element was powerful, but a Rank 9 could easily resist it if they tried.
"I want to rest! My chances are low, and I don't want to meditate for the rest of my life," said Lewis.
"It can't be helped," thought Dyer with a sigh.
With this thought, Dyer used the complete law of destiny and froze Lewis in time.
"Now, it's time to clean up the corruption," he thought. With him at Rank 10, it shouldn't be too hard.
...
Doris was in a house, alone, sitting on a chair.
When Dyer brought her here, she could not bring any of her servants, and even the storyteller boy was left behind.
She would have been very upset about her fate if it were before, but now …
"Life is so great!" she thought with a wide smile.
Her daily activities include sitting in this chair, sleeping, eating, and walking—very exciting stuff.
She had some friends, but only a few.
However, she is happy. She never gets bored or depressed. Every moment is an enjoyable moment.
One of her hobbies that she only indulged in on special days is watching trees grow.
She did it only on Sundays, and she always looked forward to it.
...
The God of Fate was deep in research.
As gods, they had great resistance to the corruption of the Light element, so they still aimed to get stronger.
"You should be able to advance to Rank 9 late stage now!" said Rachel #2, the boss here.
She was not created by the main Rachel but had already received approval from the regional headquarters, making her the official main incarnation of Heaven.
"Yeah! It's so fast! It's all thanks to your information," he said. As a god, he didn't have a gender, and most of the time, he chose a female form, but occasionally, he opted for a male form. At the moment, he was in a male form.
However, for gods, gender was ultimately meaningless, as they didn't reproduce using any sexual organs.
Rachel had been providing him with lots of information over the years, which had allowed him to progress very quickly. Now, his research on time is only second to Dyer's.
As God of Fate, research on time is crucial for his advancement.
"Hey, I remember we have an ascension ceremony for today!" he suddenly remembered.
Gods were originally angels who had been promoted and received an inheritance of Heaven.
Unlike mages, angels possessed natural talent and didn't require spells.
The God of Fate was born as an angel, and after reaching Rank 9, Heaven directly bestowed upon him the title of God of Fate and provided him with the fragment law of fate.
That's why Rank 8 angels are truly incomparable to mages and demons of the same rank. They only rely on their natural talents, not caring about researching spells and such.
After a while, the God of Fate reached a giant platform.
Many gods were gathered around, watching the beautiful angel with eight pairs of wings in the center.
The God of Kindness was also present, holding something in her hand.
They waited for a while as the angel closed his eyes, meditating. Gradually, the concentration of the Light element grew higher and higher, to the point that even Rank 8 mages might be corrupted by it.
Then, all of the light elements gathered around the orb held by the God of Kindness. With a kind smile on her face, she handed the orb to the angel, whose eyes were still closed.
He took it and pushed it to where his heart was. Everywhere began to shine with holy light.
"I am the God of Sadness!" he shouted.
Everyone closed their eyes, concentrating, trying to discover the mysteries of Heaven.
From today, Heaven would have a new god.
There was even a God of Evil, so the God of Sadness isn't that bad.
The God of Kindness hugged him tightly and left. Everyone congratulated him, including the God of Fate, then they left.
The God of Sadness looked, well, sad. With that expression, he also flew away with his pair of beautiful wings and returned to his new home.
Now that he had become a god, he needs a new residence.