Douluo: Emerald Poison Emperor [501] (Patreon)

In the God of Forging’s view, the cost and effort of this device far outweighed its reward. After all that, the hard-earned cosmic origin would be downgraded for use, like making a hammer out of pure gold just to nail wooden boards.

Not impossible—just hard to understand why.

It’s like spending a fortune to extract gold and then using it to make hammers you could buy for pennies.

"Kid, are you sick in the head? If you want soul rings for people, you could just make god-bestowed rings! If you can’t, get someone to help. Even though god-bestowed rings are valuable, they’re way cheaper than a main artifact."

"Tell you what, since you know my heir, I’ll give you ten god-bestowed rings for free. When you ascend, help my heir out."

The God of Forging, a dwarf from who-knows-where, still had the typical dwarf’s gruffness, except when talking about booze.

Chen Ming explained his true purpose and future plans at length. The God of Forging finally began to understand.

"So, you want to popularize these artificially grown soul rings to every soul master in your world? All this just to get them to believe in you and unite the world’s faith?"

"Not just for faith. When I manufacture soul rings, I’ll add restrictions and contracts. A portion of the power returns to me, and after a certain age, they’ll have to pay extra to unlock further growth."

"And when a soul master dies, some of the soul ring’s accumulated power returns to me."

Hearing this oversimplified summary, Chen Ming was helpless—after all, the God of Forging wasn’t a political god.

The God of Forging drank, still full of doubt.

"So why not just collect faith like a normal god?"

"I aim to give everyone the potential to become extraordinary—soul masters—greatly raising civilization’s lower limit. And have everyone’s first soul ring made by me, to gain more through quantity."

"But how long would it take for mortal faith to equal a main artifact? And raising everyone to soul master level would cost more than any faith you’d get back."

"Not to mention, if people don’t upgrade their limited soul rings, you’ll always be losing out, right?"

The God of Forging shrugged.

"Whatever. I don’t get it, but I know you people think differently from me. Losing money may not be truly losing. If you insist, I’ll make it. But I can’t waive the price—main artifacts are costly and time-consuming, especially on your world’s timeline."

"With all the time acceleration requests and extra orders skipped, I’ll charge you the normal price—plus a 250% markup for the trouble."

"You pay half up front. The rest you can pay over time with a contract in the divine realm."

"Can the down payment be cheaper? Or can Chen Ming pay after he ascends?"

Even as an established first-level god, the price of a main artifact would drain the God of Pride’s coffers. With time acceleration, it’d be even more expensive.

Even though he admired Chen Ming’s talent and future, he couldn’t help but feel Chen Ming was after his stash.

It hurt!

The God of Pride’s heart ached as if bound by Blue Silver Grass!

"Don’t be ridiculous," said the God of Forging.

"I’m leaving soon and don’t want bad debts. If it takes centuries for you to pay back, I’d have to stay in the divine realm for centuries!"

"How about a third up front?"

The God of Pride pleaded. The God of Forging pondered, glanced at his expectant heir, and reluctantly agreed.

"A third, huh? This means I’ll have to cover the rest. Fine, I trust you, God of Pride."

The God of Pride handed over a token with part of his divine sense, letting the God of Forging take what he needed from his treasury.

After the God of Forging left, the God of Pride sighed and pulled Chen Ming aside.

"I hope you won’t regret this. To be honest, I already regret promising to help you get a main artifact. Your plan is impressive, but who knows if it’ll ever pay off?"

"There are many bold gods in the divine realm, but you’re the boldest—trying to strengthen the world before even becoming a god."

"But once you become a god, you must pay me back. For a normal artifact, I’d let it go. For a main artifact, I might need to borrow from others."

He didn’t want to ask the God of Destruction for help—he respected his leader too much.

The God of Pride grew more depressed and opened a portal.

"Kid, let’s have a match on the Mountain of Power, using Destruction and the God of Strength’s power. If I’m satisfied, I’ll give you the Life Fruit you want."

"Thank you, senior," Chen Ming replied, following him into the familiar space.

Here, the God of Pride could temporarily unseal his power.

Limiting himself to about third-level god power, while Chen Ming entered his peak battle state, not yet fully formed in his god position.

Domains, soul skills, battle skills, divine arts—powers collided, and authorities clashed. The God of Pride wielded his Sceptre of Pride, unleashing divine power against Chen Ming’s equipment.

Chen Ming’s mechanism was excellent, and his stats were high, but the God of Pride was an old god of the divine realm. Even at third-level, his base stats exceeded Chen Ming’s.

With experience and authority, he had the upper hand at first, pressing Chen Ming to defend and counterattack.

The battle lasted a whole day and night. As Chen Ming unleashed his powers, the God of Pride grew more serious and surprised.

Neither side won decisively—at this level, it’s rare to defeat an opponent quickly, sometimes fighting for days.

Especially the God of Pride, whose accumulated faith and energy were terrifying. Without a decisive finishing move, even a months-long battle would not wear him down.

After confirming Chen Ming’s talent and progress, the God of Pride stopped, took two Life Fruits from his treasury, and handed them to Chen Ming.

"Use these well—they’ll help in your final step to becoming a god. Once your god position is fixed, it’s much harder to advance."

"Don’t fail at the last step and only become a second-level god. Even the strongest second-level god only barely matches the lowest first-level god. Unless you borrow the power of a God King, like Killing God, your ceiling is set."

He grew serious:

"If, with all the help the God of Destruction gave you, you only become a second-level god, I’ll beat you every day after you ascend—got it?"

"Understood, senior. I’ll surely become the next God King—or even stronger."

Chen Ming carefully stored the two fruits in his spiritual world, then bowed respectfully.

"Hopefully. When the God of Time became a god, everyone expected him to surpass, to become a God King like the Time Dragon King. But after all these years, he’s still just a first-level god. Matching a God King is not the same as being one—there’s a gap words can’t describe."

"Perhaps when you reach that level, you’ll understand how hard it is to cross that line."

After saying his piece, the God of Pride left. Only after he and Chen Ming departed did the God of Destruction’s avatar appear.

Watching Chen Ming’s back, the God of Destruction sighed. Human growth is the most outstanding of all races.

By divine realm time, only a few days had passed since they first met, but in the few years Chen Ming spent in the lower realm, he had forged his path—gathering life and death, creation and destruction, to create a unique god position.