After stowing away the nascent divine fire, Hades meticulously examined his surroundings to ensure nothing precious had been overlooked—no divine artifacts or holy relics remained. Satisfied with his thoroughness, he departed swiftly towards the sealed location.
Having gained experience from the first encounter, Hades found the subsequent process significantly easier. This time, it didn't take long for him to unlock the seal of the second World Chain, Star. He brought it into the Underworld, where it was gradually devoured by the Demon Star.
Over the span of three thousand years, as the second World Chain was completely consumed, Hades noticed a substantial enhancement in the sealing principles contained within the Demon Star.
"Sea, Underworld, Earth," Hades muttered softly. "There are still three World Chains left. Once these remaining chains are devoured, how much will the sealing principles of the Demon Star be amplified..."
The World Chains embody the unique divine power of the world's primordial seals. When these are absorbed by the Demon Star and fully manifested, the resulting power would be beyond imagination.
Hades left the Underworld and returned to the Ruins of the Star. He stood quietly, gazing at the vast ruins, and gradually spread his hands. Between them, a void formed, akin to a black hole, slowly taking shape.
An immense gravitational force began to draw everything within the Ruins of the Star into it—whether it was remnants of divine artifacts, fragments of holy relics, or even the bones left behind by gods. None of these mattered; their individual significance was trivial.
As long as something contained divine power, it was sucked into the darkness, where the World Tree would naturally decompose and absorb it, turning it into pure nourishment.
For ordinary deities, these items were useless. But for the World Tree, they were pure divine power, resources, and nutrients—fundamental and critically important.
As Hades absorbed the entirety of the Ruins of the Star, he initially did not realize the immense scale of the place. But as he truly began to consume it, he understood just how vast the ruins were.
This was no exaggeration—the Ruins of the Star were extraordinarily massive. It took close to ten thousand years to completely absorb the countless remnants, deemed 'garbage' by ordinary gods.
An enormous amount of divine power was broken down and absorbed by the World Tree. Although each piece individually contributed little, their sheer volume brought about a significant transformation.
As endless divine power surged from the World Tree, the entire Underworld seemed to tremble and expand proportionally at an observable rate.
Hades hovered at the pinnacle of the World Tree, overseeing the transformation of the Underworld. This time, the growth was not just in size but more importantly in essence.
"Divine power," Hades whispered.
The generation of divine power was crucial. It wasn't the power emanating from the World Tree; rather, it was the divine power spontaneously generated within the Underworld itself.
Although this may sound convoluted, it can be simplified: the Underworld had reached a point where it could autonomously generate divine power. This marked a significant milestone. In the future, the Underworld would naturally produce a vast array of divine artifacts and holy relics, even generating unique life forms native to the Underworld. Such developments are typical during the birth and evolution of a world.
The Underworld was only just beginning to develop. While this was a notable improvement for the Underworld, the World Tree's rapid expansion—by nearly thirty percent in a short time—was even more remarkable due to the absorbed divine power.
"The Ruins of the Star..." Hades murmured. "They truly brought immense growth."
What was considered a wasteland by other gods, a place seen as nothing more than a repository for trash, turned out to be incredibly beneficial.
This demonstrated the immense potential for growth among deities who simultaneously cultivated their divine realms, faith, and laws. Particularly for those focused on divine realms, the hatching of a World Seed was an exceedingly challenging task. However, once it matured into a World Tree, the benefits were unparalleled.
The World Tree's unique trait was its universal absorption capability.
To put it plainly, the World Tree could assimilate anything, as all substances' essence was divine power. For the World Tree, any form of divine power could be absorbed flawlessly. This unique attribute made the World Tree exceptionally powerful.
This is why hatching a World Seed was notoriously difficult. Hades, taking an unconventional approach, utilized the Demon Star's unique properties to successfully hatch the World Seed. Otherwise, the resources required to hatch a World Seed conventionally would be astronomical—probably equivalent to filling half of a divine world. This fundamental challenge underscores the necessity of world power for rapid growth, with divine power as a suboptimal but usable substitute.
The effectiveness of absorbing the Ruins of the Star lay in this principle: while the World Seed could only absorb 'milk' as nourishment during its infancy, the World Tree, once mature, could consume more substantial 'meals.' The greater the nutritional value, the better, but even lesser forms were beneficial.
The second reason the absorption of the Ruins of the Star was so effective was due to the accumulation of divine relics over countless years. This enormous volume resulted in a transformative effect through sheer quantity.
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