Day after day, year after year.
Every day was a repeat of the last.
Until more than forty years later, Arthas reached the Gold Rank at an absurdly unreasonable speed, surpassing everyone in the Black Dragon Empire to become the strongest figure on the surface. Furthermore, under Gar's tutelage and through self-study, he had become a highly knowledgeable lich.
At that moment, Arthas felt he was on the verge of achieving his goal. As long as he could surpass Gar in scientific research, he would truly win his mother's approval.
Through his intellect, the knockoff version of the chainsword, which they had failed to replicate for various reasons, was finally successfully created.
Arthas immediately used precious magical materials to forge a chainsword for himself that constantly exuded an icy aura, just like the stories his mother had told him. He named it Frostmourne.
After that, he not only improved the power armor but also, in a single burst of effort, reverse-engineered a ranged weapon called the bolter, greatly boosting the armed forces of the Black Dragon Empire.
But as his research progressed, Arthas quickly discovered that Gar's terrifying 'power of imagination' was completely unreasonable. Formulas that Arthas spent half a day painstakingly studying, the other party could solve just by imagining it.
If Gar hadn't disliked reading books and preferred to rely solely on his own imagination, and if his foundation hadn't been so poor, he would have cracked these technologies on his own long ago.
In the face of this completely un-magical power of imagination, Arthas felt a deep sense of frustration for the first time.
He realized profoundly that it was impossible for him to surpass Gar.
If so, how could he call himself the eldest son of the Empire? How could he obtain his mother's recognition?
Arthas fell into a long period of confusion and anxiety. He couldn't think of any other way to win his mother's approval.
Until one day, he accidentally overheard Fido and the others discussing the topic of gods.
Right then and there, Arthas had an epiphany.
A bold idea popped into his head.
Indeed, a great existence like his mother would inevitably break through to the Legendary Rank, and even become a demigod.
But what lay beyond a demigod?
Becoming a god was no easy feat.
‘If I can help Mother become a god, she will definitely recognize me!’ This thought arose in Arthas's heart of its own accord.
To achieve this goal, he began frantically gathering books related to ascension.
After spending a full six years, he finally found the complete method to achieve godhood.
It was the method of ascension through faith, handed down by the gods.
Ten thousand years ago, the beastkin, along with the half-beastkin, attempted to slay the gods. Although they failed in the end, many deities fell as a result.
To fill the vacancies of these divine seats, the gods bestowed the method of ascension through faith.
As long as one reached the Demigod Rank and touched the laws, accumulating enough faith would allow them to ignite their divine fire and ascend to the Divine Seat.
Armed with this method, after the Twilight of the Gods, the demigods went into action one after another.
They walked the world, performing various miracles to spread their faith.
Thus, over the course of thousands of years, one demigod after another ignited their divine fire, raised their divine kingdoms, and became True Gods.
But believers were limited, after all.
Once a region was dominated by the faith of a certain deity, their descendants would generally only worship that same deity.
Furthermore, to consolidate their faith, most churches would spare no effort in eradicating any external beliefs, not hesitating to brand them as heretics.
Consequently, as faith was gradually carved up, it became increasingly difficult for subsequent demigods to achieve godhood.
They often grew old and died on the long road to ascension before they could even accumulate enough power of faith.
Historical records showed that the last time a True God was born was over two thousand years ago...
It was a slime.
A demigod-level slime.
No one knew what method it used, but it actually managed to get the mindless slime races to collectively worship it.
With this, it ignited its divine fire and ascended to the Divine Seat.
Becoming the one and only... God of Slimes in history!
In the two thousand years since, up to the present day, no new god had been born.
Arthas saw hope in the books about ascension through faith—the hope of being recognized by his mother.
If he could accumulate enough faith in advance for his mother to ignite her divine fire and become an ascended dragon...
She would definitely recognize him!
To achieve this goal, Arthas sought out Fido, Daviel, and the others to discuss.
They crafted a divine statue and designed a holy symbol.
Finally, choosing from several titles like 'Thunderous Tyrannosaurus God of War,' 'Goddess of Redemption,' and 'God of Beastkin and Half-Beastkin,' he picked the best of a bad bunch and settled on the title 'Goddess of Redemption.'
However, the beastkin and half-beastkin were races cursed by the gods. Preaching to them without permission would inevitably incur the gods' displeasure.
In historical records, there was more than one demigod who, out of desperation, attempted to spread their teachings in the God-Forsaken Land, hoping to achieve godhood through the faith of the beastkin and half-beastkin.
Their ends were usually miserable; at best, they were severely wounded by divine punishment, and at worst, they were killed outright.
To gather faith, Arthas had no choice but to head to the Eastern Kingdoms of humanity, hoping to secure a sliver of faith there to serve as a stepping stone to godhood.
However, before leaving the God-Forsaken Land, he paid one last visit to someone.
His only friend—Moses.
Or rather, Moses's tombstone.
This guy was neither a dragonborn nor an undead, but a mere human; his lifespan was simply too short.
Arthas respected his choice and let him pass away in peace, choosing not to resurrect him as an undead.
He felt that doing so would be far too selfish.
Even so, after losing his only friend, he felt that long-lost sense of loneliness wash over him once again.
But Arthas no longer cared.
Compared to this loneliness, obtaining his mother's recognition was his lifelong pursuit.
After casting one final look at the cold tombstone, Arthas left the God-Forsaken Land. He slipped into the Eastern Kingdoms, moving from place to place in search of a suitable spot to spread the faith.
But soon, Arthas discovered that this place was already the backyard of the gods. Every nation and city-state had its own faith.
In such an environment, trying to secure an extra share of faith was as difficult as ascending to the heavens.
Arthas tried many methods, but all ended in failure.
Finally, his gaze fell upon the refugees wandering the streets, homeless and destitute.
They couldn't even fill their stomachs, so they naturally had no mind to worship the gods. Thus, most of them were faithless.
At that moment, Arthas felt as though he had discovered a new world.
To test the feasibility of this idea, he came to a small town called Laila and extended a helping hand to the refugees there.
And the only price these refugees had to pay was a mere, ethereal faith.
To facilitate the spread of faith and to ease the loneliness in his heart, Arthas selected a few children from among the refugees and took them in as 'apprentices,' who would usually distribute food to the other refugees on his behalf.
As for himself, he only needed to focus on preaching everywhere, searching for refugees struggling in hunger and cold, telling them that they only needed to believe in the Goddess of Redemption to receive warm clothes and fresh food.
Arthas originally thought that if he kept this up, he would eventually accumulate enough power of faith to ignite the divine fire and condense a divine spark.
When that time came, his mother would definitely recognize him!
Until that night, when Arthas received a letter.
It was a letter brought by a pitch-black crow.
The sender seemed to have been observing him for a long time.
Not only did they know he was gathering faith for the Queen of the Black Dragon Empire, but they also claimed to have a faster way to accumulate faith.
Although Arthas didn't really believe in his heart that the other party had a so-called faster way to accumulate faith...
But... what if they did?
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