Multiversal Friendship System-Chapter 259 - 258: A Divine Law Secured

Souta couldn't be completely sure whether Mio Takamiya might take the time to monitor or check up on specific Spirits.

Now that he existed as a potential threat, there was no way she'd just leave the Spirits, key pieces in her plan, unattended.

So staying too close to Miku was a bit risky.

With that in mind, after collecting a batch of faith and taking Miku on a short stroll through the neighboring city, he returned to his basement.

After all, he didn't have much divine power left. If Mio suddenly decided to attack, it would be... awkward.

As for the Spirit Miku and the others, they'd be safe at least until Mio's plan was complete.

Now all he had to do was wait for Kurumi to finish her evolution and come back to beat Mio into the ground.

That expression on Mio's face would be priceless.

...

"This should be enough now."

Sitting on the couch in his apartment, Souta looked at the faith stockpiled within his divine kingdom and felt a rush of anticipation.

He closed his eyes, focused entirely, and began the tedious process of converting divine power—nurturing his "divine Law"—and refining it further.

Having done this before, he moved through the steps smoothly.

Souta continued the repetitive process for about an hour.

Then suddenly, his figure vanished from the room!

No, not vanished.

His body was still seated on the sofa, but it was as though he had completely merged with the surrounding environment, indistinguishable from it.

The sacred aura in the room surged to its peak.

Golden light burst forth, flooding every corner.

Bathed in that golden brilliance, Souta slowly separated himself from the environment again.

When the "merge–separate" process completed, he opened his eyes once more.

In those black pupils gleamed deep joy and satisfaction.

He had done it.

He had successfully cultivated a divine Law!

In that moment, Souta felt his divinity ascend.

His divine rank advanced from level 5 to level 6.

He had officially transcended demi-godhood and stepped into lesser godhood. frёewebnoѵēl.com

Souta closed his eyes. His mental power spread outward, mapping the surrounding cityscape into a crude, holographic model in his mind.

His spiritual power had grown immensely.

His body evolved in tandem with his divine rank, every stat significantly boosted.

"Lesser divine power, huh..."

He let out a breath.

But then, a question popped up.

Why did ascending a divine Law instantly upgrade his divine rank?

"System, does nurturing a divine Law automatically trigger a rank-up after demi-god?"

He posed the question aloud.

[Correct. Think of your divine rank as a world model. A divine Law represents a world rule. Each divine Law you possess completes a rule within that model. The more rules you integrate, the more complete the model becomes and thus your divine rank rises.]

[Furthermore, the depth of your understanding of a divine Law also influences divine progression. Even a single divine Law, if comprehended to the level of "Law," can bypass intermediate ranks and ascend to higher tiers.]

[Of course, ranking up also requires absorbing enough divine power to catalyze the transformation.]

"I see..."

Souta quickly digested the system's explanation and understood the future path of ascension.

Put simply, there were two approaches:

Collect multiple divine Laws to level up.

Specialize, devote yourself to deepening your comprehension of a single divine Law.

Or both, for that matter.

Understanding this, Souta pulled up the system phone and began retrieving divine power he'd previously stored when he was level 5.

This reserve was meant for testing.

"Same unit of divine power, how much stronger is it now?"

He quickly began a comparative experiment.

Souta conjured two identical bottles of water and used a unit of divine power from each level to make them vanish.

Soon, the results were in.

"Divine power at level 6 is ten times stronger than level 5's... That's a huge jump, much greater than previous level-ups. Seems like the gap between demi-god and lesser god is massive."

Souta's eyes sparkled with delight.

His divine power strength had increased tenfold.

So had his maximum divine energy capacity.

By his "destructive power formula," if he unleashed all his divine power in one wish, he could erase the entire Japanese archipelago from the material plane—leaving no trace.

That was purely based on wishing it away.

As for defense, his divine shield was now so durable that even an attack strong enough to destroy ten islands wouldn't harm him in the slightest.

But there was a caveat: AOE (area of effect) attacks wouldn't work.

To damage him, an enemy had to concentrate all power directly on him.

Otherwise, even a planet-busting explosion wouldn't faze him if only a fraction of that force touched his body.

"Even that's conservative. Realistically, my defense is probably equivalent to half of Mt. Everest's landmass."

"Jeez, this whole formula feels like a caveman's logic... but hey, it's intuitive!"

Souta stood up from the couch and teleported into the open sky, floating above the clouds to stretch out his body.

At long last, he could call himself powerful.

A rough estimate put his current might on par with Hestia's "one kick to annihilate a nation."

But overall, he was still stronger than Kiss-Shot.

"Barely meets the criteria for a four-digit in Little Garden."

Souta gave himself a soft benchmark.

In Little Garden, four-digit beings varied widely in strength.

Top-tier examples included people like Saurian Demon King—who, with admin access and the Authority of the Moon, could turn the moon into a weapon. That kind of force could destroy worlds and was considered borderline star-level for short bursts.

Saurian Demon King's regular power was described as equivalent to forming land masses with breaths from the sea.

Most other four-digits were far weaker.

Souta figured he couldn't beat someone like Saurian Demon King, but he still counted within the four-digit range.

If he really got serious, his destructive power was formidable.

After all, erasing a continent was the dumbest possible way to show off.

Using anti-matter bombs as a wish attack would only cost about one-fiftieth the divine power...

No, wait. Now that he had the Material divine Law, manipulating matter with divine power had become extremely efficient. It might cost even less.

"I finally have a divine Law..."

Floating above the clouds, Souta felt a rush of exhilaration.

He raised a hand and created a steamroller, suspending it mid-air.

At that moment, he felt a strange energy flow into his divine kingdom.

He reached out and manipulated it.

In just a second, the energy was converted into divine power and stored inside his kingdom.

"Source energy...!"

Souta's face lit up.

As expected, divine Laws produced source energy.

From the perspective of his Material Law, as long as he created matter, he would harvest source energy.

From now on, even without faith, he no longer had to worry about sustaining his divine power.

That weakness had been thoroughly patched.

He basked in satisfaction.

Casting an illusion over himself to avoid satellite detection, Souta floated above the clouds and began researching the applications of divine Laws.

If he could develop divine arts, his attacks would consume even less divine power.

Also...

"I wonder if the Material Law can change the nature of my divine kingdom?"

An idea struck him.

Until now, his kingdom existed in a semi-ethereal plane—it could contain souls, faith, and divine power, but not matter.

If the Material Law allowed him to materialize his divine kingdom, it would boost his strength significantly.

After all, he could draw upon all the power within it.

For instance, the strength of the "believers" could be stacked on his body.

If he could store matter, that included physical mass.

Create a mountain in his divine kingdom? Then when he punches, it's like a mountain crashing down.

He'd absolutely be airborne.

With that thought, Souta immersed himself in his research.

Time slipped by, and before he knew it, evening had come.

Bzz Bzz—his system phone buzzed, interrupting his deep focus.

He glanced at the screen and saw a message from Inori Yuzuriha tagging him, asking when he was coming over.

Apparently, three days had already passed in the Guilty Crown world.

Souta smacked his forehead. "Crap, I totally forgot about my main mission."

He put away his phone and shelved his research.

"System, send me to the Guilty Crown world."