5: Chapter 5 The First Familia

[Evolution Path 10086]: Nether Soldier (E), consumes 20,000 divine crystals.

"Hmm? Why is yours so special? All the other E-rank evolution routes only cost 10,000 divine crystals, but this one requires 20,000?" Su Ming's gaze remained firmly fixed on this route as he secretly speculated, "Nether Soldiers? Should I spend 20,000 divine crystals to give it a try?"

Su Ming hesitated for a moment before choosing to evolve into a Nether Soldier.

[Evolution!]

As a flash of light passed, the card in his hand took on a completely new look.

Looking at the card in his hand, Su Ming shook his head with some regret: "What a pity. Even though I've evolved the resource card, the heterogenous aura within it is still there."

Su Ming had originally thought that since the resource card had completely changed, perhaps the heterogenous aura inside would vanish along with it. Now, it seemed that idea was wrong.

There is a law in this world: even True Gods cannot use resource cards without restriction.

Every resource card is condensed by other deities who extract and strip away the origin of their divine domain using their own divine power, attaching the original owner's divine domain aura to it.

When a deity uses a foreign resource card, the heterogenous aura will invade their own divine domain. If too much accumulates, it will trigger divine domain pollution and disorder in order.

Therefore, everyone will determine their usage limit based on the purification capacity of their own divine domain.

With Su Ming's current demigod realm, the carrying capacity of his divine domain is limited, and he can use at most five resource cards per month.

If he exceeds the limit, the pollution will rapidly accumulate, damaging his foundation instead and resulting in losses that outweigh the gains.

However, Su Ming did not force it too much. Holding the familiar card of the Nether Soldiers, he looked down at the temple in the center of the Nine Nether, which was also the only building in the Nine Nether.

His figure flashed and appeared at the entrance of the temple, and he raised his hand to gently push it open.

Rumble—

The incomparably heavy dark black temple doors slowly opened inward, and a dense, heavy nether aura rushed toward his face.

The entire grand hall was spacious and vast, without superfluous furnishings or piled treasures. The empty hall fully displayed extreme solemnity and majesty. Only in the deepest part of the hall stood an ancient and towering white jade high platform with profound patterns.

Standing on the platform was a nether divine statue, its whole body condensing a dark, profound light. Its figure was towering and straight, almost touching the roof of the hall, and a majestic momentum rushed forward.

The face of the divine statue was hidden in a faint nether mist, and its divine countenance could not be looked at directly, carrying a natural supreme majesty.

One hand was held behind its back, while the other palm pressed downward virtually, as if ruling the Nine Nether and controlling life and death.

The dark divine patterns intertwined and flowed around its body, with wisps of nether light falling down. The entire statue stood quietly without moving, yet it was like the eternal Nether Sovereign, grand and solemn, inspiring heartfelt awe in people.

This was the image automatically formed when the divine body Su Ming created for himself combined with his nether attributes.

Before becoming a deity, every student would be taught by their school how to design their own divine body.

Do not think this is merely pure external carving; the methods and principles within are extremely profound.

The divine statue is the faith hub and power anchor of the divine domain, and even more, the concrete carrier of the divine master's will and law authority.

The pious thoughts of thousands of believers and familiars would gather along the divine statue, purified and transformed into the purest power of faith to feed back into Su Ming himself.

The form and charm of the divine statue would also subtly shape the divine master's path, and the nether-style modeling could continuously deepen his degree of fit with the laws.

In the future, when condensing the divine persona and impacting the True God realm, the divine statue in the divine domain would play an indispensable role.

It can be said that the divine statue is one of the fundamentals for deities to take root in the divine domain and wield authority.

Another function of the temple is to serve as a transit station for recruiting familiars. It can help deities communicate with other worlds. As long as you have a familiar card, you can recruit the familiars within here.

Su Ming placed the newly evolved familiar card on the altar in front of the divine statue, and the endless nether yin qi absorbed the familiar card.

[Prompt: Generating familiar...]

[Prompt: Familiar generation complete.]

A new piece of information appeared on Su Ming's panel.

[Familiar: Nether Soldier (E)]

Su Ming could sense that recruiting one Nether Soldier required spending one hundred divine crystals. Su Ming currently had ten thousand divine crystals left, and could recruit at most one hundred Nether Soldiers.

Su Ming directly threw his last ten thousand divine crystals into the altar.

The moment those divine crystals were absorbed by the altar, dense black fog surged wildly from the cracks of the altar, rapidly filling the surroundings.

As the black fog rolled, hazy figures slowly appeared, their steps steady and carrying a piercing chill, walking out of the black fog in an orderly manner.

The next second, one hundred pairs of scarlet soul-fire eyes looked neatly toward Su Ming in front.

Immediately afterward, these one hundred figures knelt on one knee in unison, their voices loud and neat, shaking the surrounding black fog slightly as they shouted together: "Greetings, Divine Master!"

[Name: Nether Soldier]

[Potential: E+]

[Race: Nether]

[Realm: Extraordinary Stage 1]

[Skills]

Nether Body: Immune to ordinary physical attacks, fearless of pain and fear. Close-quarters combat comes with yin-cold erosion, which can slowly wear down the enemy's vital energy and fighting spirit.

Nether Fiend Slash: Wielding the nether bone blade wrapped in dense nether fiend power, hitting an enemy can attach yin-cold nether poison.

[Equipment: Nether Bone Blade, Yin-Cold Bone Armor]

[Introduction: Nether soldiers are transformed from hundred-battled warriors of the netherworld, fierce and unafraid of death, adept at close-quarters slashing and resentment impact.]

Su Ming looked at the panel of the Nether Soldiers and nodded with satisfaction.

Familiars just recruited rarely come with equipment; they generally require deities to purchase or forge equipment themselves. However, the Nether Soldiers came with their own equipment the moment they were recruited, which saved Su Ming a lot of resources.

Moreover, familiars that come with equipment are generally the cream of the crop within the same rank.

As for the realm, even the initial realm of an SSS-rank familiar is Extraordinary Stage 1.

But this does not mean that all familiars have the same strength. Their combat power and future upper limit have a difference as vast as heaven and earth. The gap lies not in the realm, but in potential.

The greater the potential, the higher the upper limit, and the greater the strength gap between peers of the same level. Su Ming had even heard that an S-rank familiar at Extraordinary Stage 1 could contend against some low-potential Extraordinary Stage 9s.

The cultivation realms of this world, from low to high, are in order: Extraordinary, Demigod, True God, and Main God. Each realm is further divided into nine stages, and every three stages are divided into upper, middle, and lower tiers.

As for the realm above the Main God, neither the Federal Divine Network nor the school's classics have any records of it, as if it were an unreachable unknown domain.

And Su Ming, at the very moment he successfully condensed his divine domain, completely transformed from a mortal into a divine creature—that is, a demigod.

To be honest, these one hundred Nether Soldiers right now were completely vulnerable before Su Ming.

Between a demigod and an extraordinary, there is a difference as vast as heaven and earth.

Even if these Nether Soldiers grow to Extraordinary Stage 9 in the future, Su Ming could still wipe them out with a wave of his hand.

Simply because Su Ming possesses a divine body and drives divine power.

Divine power is the most magical and powerful energy in this world. Up to now, no other energy can compare with it. It overrides all mundane energies and is the exclusive power of deities.

But this does not mean that familiars are completely useless.

On the contrary, every familiar will continuously provide the power of faith for the deity.

The two complement each other, rely on each other, and share a symbiotic and prosperous relationship.

If a familiar can break through the shackles and ascend to a divine position, it will become a subordinate god of the deity.

Su Ming had once heard that those top-tier powerful deities could prop up a complete pantheon all by themselves, with countless subordinate gods under their command and monstrous influence.

Su Ming lowered his head to look at the Nether Soldiers below, who were clad in pitch-black armor and holding nether bone blades emitting a chillingly cold light.

The satisfaction in his heart grew even stronger, and the more he looked, the more he felt that this batch of divine crystals was spent worthily.

At the same time, Su Ming clearly sensed that on each of the one hundred Nether Soldiers, there was a faint, seemingly non-existent golden thread closely connecting them to him.

This thread is the connection between the deity and the familiar. It can not only transmit power to Su Ming, but also provide him with a continuous supply of the power of faith.

This power of faith is an incomparably special existence in this world, and even divine crystals are actually condensed from the power of faith.

Every familiar is essentially a believer of the deity.

Believers are also divided into four levels: shallow believers, true believers, devout believers, and the rarest and most pious holy spirits.

These four types of believers will all provide the power of faith to the divine master, and divine crystals are the name given after the power of faith is stripped and quantified.

Shallow believers can only provide 0.0001 points of the power of faith to the divine master every day;

True believers can provide 0.01 points per day;

Devout believers can provide 1 point per day.

As for the most pious holy spirits, Su Ming knew very little.

Such believers are extremely rare. He had only heard that the conditions required to elevate a familiar's faith level to a holy spirit are extremely harsh.

Now that these Nether Soldiers had just been recruited, their faith in Su Ming was not yet deep, and they were all basic shallow believers.

Do not look down on them just because the power of faith they provide every day is very little.

But you must know that one day in reality is one year in the divine domain.

Furthermore, within the divine kingdoms of those True Gods, there are casually millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of believers.

Even if they are all shallow believers, the divine crystals they can provide to the divine master every day constitute an astronomical figure.

Looking at the exactly one hundred Nether Soldiers standing neatly below with majestic momentum, Su Ming's heart was filled with a sense of achievement and satisfaction.

Su Ming sensed the current situation of the Nine Nether. After feeling the state of the nether yin qi in the void, he thought to himself: "It seems that given the current situation of the Nine Nether, one hundred Nether Soldiers is still far from reaching its tolerance limit."

Although the familiars of the Nether Divine Domain do not need to eat or drink, nor do they have lifespan restrictions,

as long as they exist, there will be consumption. What the nether familiars consume is the unique yin qi in the Nether Divine Domain.

The more powerful the familiar, the more yin qi it consumes.

Once the yin qi in the divine domain drops too low, the nether familiars will become weak. If they fail to absorb yin qi for a long time, their soul seeds even run the risk of shattering. Once a soul seed shatters, it truly means the fall of that being.

And the amount of yin qi is related to the size and quality of the divine domain.

This is also the special feature of the Nether Divine Domain.

However, one hundred Nether Soldiers had not yet reached the limit of the Nine Nether, so Su Ming did not need to consider this problem yet.

Su Ming looked at the Nether Soldiers still kneeling on the ground and said: "All of you, follow me out!"

Hearing Su Ming's words, the scarlet soul fires in the eye sockets of the one hundred Nether Soldiers flickered slightly for a moment, and then they bowed in unison, their voices neat and respectful: "By the Divine Master's decree!"

As the words fell, one hundred figures turned into streaks of grayish-black black fog and followed Su Ming.

Soon, Su Ming brought these one hundred Nether Soldiers to an open area outside the hall.

Su Ming looked at another resource card grasped in his hand and crushed it directly without any hesitation.

As the resource card was crushed, a spiritual spring as deep and dark as ink appeared out of thin air before them.

The pool water emitted a faint dark and chilling light, and nether-obscure weeds grew densely around the spring. Thin nether fog lingered all around, and the chill penetrated the bones without being piercing. The entire spring gushed with a cold and tranquil atmosphere.

The introduction of the spirit-refining spring also appeared in front of Su Ming.

Name: spirit-refining spring (E)

Effect: Slightly absorb yin qi, slowly recover soul wounds, cultivation speed +20%, 0/8 hours.

"According to federal research, familiars cultivating in the spirit-refining spring are generally about thirty percent faster than outside. Moreover, each spring can support one thousand familiars in cultivation, which is completely enough for me right now."

Su Ming looked at the spirit-refining spring before him with joy all over his face and reached out to stroke the spring water, which felt ice-cold.

"All of you, enter into it to cultivate, and await my summons at any time!" Su Ming commanded, looking at the Nether Soldiers behind him.

"By the Divine Master's order!"

Seeing this, the Nether Soldiers orderly entered the spirit-refining spring to sit cross-legged and cultivate, and countless nether yin qi from behind the void converged into their bodies.

After observing for a long time and confirming that there were no problems, Su Ming relieved his mind and left the Nine Nether, returning to reality.