Shang Lin's thoughts gradually became clear, the past was like a dream and felt unreal.
First, he sorted out his current train of thought.
This was not the bed he had been lying in, but an ancient and dilapidated temple, with a few towering bookshelves that seemed ready to collapse, and an assortment of bottles and jars scattered haphazardly around various places, with a pile at one spot in front of an overly grand and righteous-looking colossal altar.
The entire temple was carved out of a huge rock, with pale grey, thin gauzy fabric hanging everywhere, on which were written strange, twisted, and dim words.
The pillars that should have stood in the middle of the temple had long broken off, and, moreover, a large hole had opened in the ceiling, through which intense light was shining down. A red halo outlined the "sun," and a thin layer of mist hung at the opening.
There was no way to know how he had crossed over, but before he fell asleep, he had heard a strange call. Now, recalling it, by tracing back with the spiritual power of a deity, he found that the voice did not sound human, more like an electronic synthesized sound.
Yes, deity, the name of the god was the Faceless, a deity with dominion over "Deception."
Shang Lin now lacked a face, his whole body enveloped in a large piece of white cloth, or rather, a robe, except the hood also covered his face. Where his face should be, there were no features but he could still see and hear, as if the facial features were just superfluous decorations, unnecessary and inconsequential if discarded.
Around the white robe, there was a small, close-fitting circle of black light, which made Shang Lin's entire being seem like a "silhouette."
Speaking of identity.
There's one piece of bad news, and another of good news.
The bad news is that he was no longer human, but he was not some lowly goblin or slime either; he had become a god, an Evil God to be exact!
The good news is... all the gods that still existed in this world were Evil Gods, and he was just one of them.
The reason he was categorized as an Evil God rather than a Righteous God was that the Evil Gods acknowledged the existence of the Righteous Gods, even preserving many of the ancient altars of the Righteous Gods.
To the creatures of this era, most of the so-called Righteous Gods had long since ceased to exist, even reduced to mere snippets in historical legends. The altars left by the Righteous Gods remained in the world like cosmic markers, sparking life where they fell upon a star.
The Evil Gods collected the ancient altars of the Righteous Gods and cast them toward lifeless stars to generate life and create their own breeding grounds.
The Righteous Gods required positive emotions to maintain their vitality.
The Evil Gods, on the other hand, sustained their activity with the various negative emotions of all living beings.
The past was an era when the Righteous Gods were very active.
However, the Evil Gods had never witnessed it.
Because most of the history of the previous eras was unknown, only stories from the end of the Fourth Era and the Fifth Era were known to the gods.
And now, it was the Sixth Era.
"Let me recall..."
Shang Lin was determining his current situation. His original self, the true God of the Faceless, had been persecuted by another deity due to a conflict, his church disbanded, his followers expelled, and his faith sealed. This was a common occurrence in the gods' scramble for faith and value.
Without the support of followers, a deity would gradually be forgotten in time and become frozen, like a wax figure in time.
He still had two weeks to live. Although not immediately fatal, it was by no means ample time.
Shang Lin looked towards the massive altar.
To take revenge on that Evil God and to make his faith great again, the God of the Faceless decided to use this altar. It was his secret weapon; he had studied the altar for a long time and confirmed it to be a relic from the end of the Second Era, containing the legacy of an ancient god.
Shang Lin almost floated to the altar, where a crimson orb of light hovered.
Clearly, the legacy had been activated. The crimson orb burst with a stream of information; the words from the Second Era entered into the divine consciousness of Shang Lin and converted into text recognizable by the gods of the Sixth Era, as if possessing adaptability:
[Enlightenment Terminal (Activation Rate 5%).]
[Unlocked permission to use Enlightenment Runes.]
[Acquired Enlightenment Runes, which will help you to understand more clearly how the world operates. "Theoretically," you will possess the ability "to construct everything."]
[The Enlightener still has one unfinished project (?)]
Shang Lin learned of this information, but he didn't immediately take charge. Instead, he familiarized himself with these ancient runes.
["Information and news can be freely arranged and combined... Even if it is unknown.... for the sake of everything returning to its origin."]
The mysterious divine language left by ancient deities proclaimed in Shang Lin's mind. At the same time, laws that spanned across countless macro epochs took effect on him.
This set of laws added a segment of "information" within his own divine body.
Shang Lin watched as a crimson glow emerged on his hands, these ancient laws were telling him that he now could use the Enlightenment Runes, the terminal's usage rights had been transferred to him, and based on his understanding of the runes, he could create anything he desired.
All he needed to find was the "material" that fits the description of the object, and then he could write its "information."
Enlightenment Runes, basic level.
In this first stream of information, Shang Lin found a reverse piece of information... It was a force of Divine Power, belonging to the God of the Faceless. Shang Lin witnessed the dissolution of the deity's own will, which turned into material for writing some piece of information.
"The will of the godhood is broken down into information, the self of a deity completely disappears... This will should be the most important aspect of a deity, containing all of a god's essence, yet in this rune, the immense divine will is also only contained within that 5%."
"The original God of the Faceless no longer exists."
Even, Shang Lin found a part of himself in the stream of information.
Clearly, his soul as a transmigrator had been intercepted by the God of the Faceless and used to initiate the enlightenment terminal. However, there was a problem in the operation, causing the enlightenment terminal to disassemble it as high-quality material. Under the influence of the enlightenment terminal, his information inputted in reverse, taking over the empty shell of the God of the Faceless.
The jars and bottles around the altar were not for storing dust or liquids; they were containers meant for "value" and "information," and all these vessels were empty because the God of the Faceless had gambled all his savings on this altar.
Moreover, he had conducted research on "information," obviously making significant progress and nearly touching the great treasures left by the ancient True Gods, had it not been for a slight lack of luck.
Looking at his own state, Shang Lin found that his garments had become worn and some chaotic mumblings were audible in his ears; the power of time was gradually covering his own being, meaning that if he didn't change and seek followers soon, his end would be near.
"Having just revived as a deity, I do not wish to die so soon."
This mass of crimson power, this thing called the enlightenment terminal, would be the first step in altering his doomed fate.
And it was the most crucial force.
...
A broken function filled with ten thousand lines of bizarre variables, covered with remnants of code that was offensive to both humans and gods, twisted and incomplete...
The forgotten ancient language and meaningless strange names were everywhere in this codebase. The whispers of the Evil Gods materialized here, countless bugs entwining and depending on one another, creating unbreakable bonds. Even if some faceless programmer resolved to reshape this thing into a comprehendible entity for both gods and humans alike, but... Enlightenment Runes basic level—from beginner to burial.
"1.0 development log."
"A new authority has been created."
"Now it is time to look for new followers to test it."
Due to the change in authority, what little remained of the God of Deception's power was rewritten into a "new ability to enhance experience"—a specialized form of beguiling power.
The Enlightenment Runes also carried something called "Enlightenment Value," seeming to originate from the rune and the true owner of this terminal, that long-passed ancient deity. Now, in his current predicament, what he had to do was simply take over this value and integrate it into his new authority.
"The God of Deception is dead, perhaps because of the Deception authority, it may have been deceived by itself since it never really existed from the beginning."
"The newly born deity is the God of Fiction, perhaps because of the Fiction authority, the God of Deception was nothing more than a figure created by the God of Fiction."
This was the purification of the old divine powers, and then the new-born deity declared his own "declaration of occupation." Shang Lin read about it from the records of the God of the Faceless; he too had once made a similar statement about a god who once held the "Lost" authority, eventually overtaken by the God of Deception and defeated in combat.
Afterward, a sense of connection emerged in Shang Lin's heart, and then he made the first declaration of this new authority:
"Non-existence does not signify absence, for being known by others is also a form of existence."
This was a divine declaration, unknown to the people, representing the inherent nature of the "God of Fiction."
And in the moment this new authority was completed, Shang Lin heard the voices calling him.
Following that voice, Shang Lin saw a city cluster filled with factories and hospitals. In a corner of this city, inside a relatively thriving tavern, Miss Vampire was sitting in the corner, busily writing in a ledger...