Aside from the Burner-type worms, Li Ang also created several other types of combat-ready worm weapons.
For instance, there was the Bomber-type Worm. It resembled a coconut with eight long legs and was filled with explosive substances. This type of worm obeyed Li Ang's commands, crawling rapidly along the ground and exploding immediately upon contact with a target.
Another example was the Ground-drilling Worm. It was over three meters long, plump and round, with armor covering its body and a sharp, eight-sided protrusion for a mouth. This type of worm could drill holes in the ground like a boring machine, with high efficiency. If multiple worms worked together, they could potentially cause the surface of a specific area to collapse.
These worm weapons, parasitized by vines, had essentially become a variant of semi-plant lifeforms. They were usually planted in the soil, motionless, consuming almost nothing, and not requiring precious Divine Power to maintain them. However, their use was restricted by Swamp God Power.
Unlike Spiritual Energy Value and Sanity Value, the natural recovery rate of Divine Power was extremely slow. Perhaps only enough for two or three of the most basic Swamp Divine Arts could be recovered daily. If used for battle, it would be spent quickly.
According to Li Ang's guess, the types and strengths of Divine Arts should increase with the quality of the Divine Seal itself.
He had consulted numerous Mysterious Studies Texts about deities on the player forum and discovered that most Western Magicians' records indicated that Personality Gods generally possessed four elements: Divine Power, Divine Fire, God Status, and Divine Roles.
Whether a Personality God was formed from the descent of a Nature God, or a mortal achieved it through a Ritual Track, they all had to undergo the process of 'gathering Divine Power, igniting Divine Fire, wielding God Status, and assuming Divine Roles'.
Divine Power, as the name suggested, was the power of the gods. It could be naturally recovered by deities (though with low efficiency and slow speed) or converted from faith and Telekinesis. When necessary, a deity could bestow their own Divine Power upon their followers to create miracles.
Divine Fire was the source of Divine Power. A Personality God relied on Divine Fire to convert faith and Telekinesis into their own Divine Power. Those who possessed Divine Power but lacked Divine Fire were generally referred to as Quasi-Gods or Demigods.
God Status referred to a deity's rank, the standard that measured the magnitude of a deity's Divine Power.
As for the last element, Divine Roles—the scope and area of a deity's power—it was closely related to God Status. The number of Divine Roles was not unique, and Divine Roles between different gods could also overlap. For example, the Wind Elemental Goddess held Divine Roles such as Wind Element, Elemental Messenger, Ranger, Thief, and Sailor, among others. For example, the Goddess of Misfortune held Divine Roles such as Pranks, Misfortune, Accidents, and Thief.
God Status created Divine Roles, and Divine Roles, in turn, nourished God Status and Divine Power.
According to the speculation of Western Mysterious Scholars, God Status, Divine Roles, and even Divine Power all possessed 'aggregation' and 'uniqueness'.
The meaning of 'aggregation' was that lower-rank Divine Roles often merged. Gods sharing common Divine Roles frequently struggled for various reasons. They stripped God Status from one another, seized the Divine Roles of their opponents, and thereby raised their own Divine Power limit.
The meaning of 'uniqueness' was that deities with Weak Divine Power who wished to ascend to Medium Divine Power within the same Divine Role had to initiate a Divine Battle, stripping the God Status from the higher-ranked deity.
These principles of 'aggregation' and 'uniqueness' almost dictated that struggles among deities were bloody and brutal. Even Nature Gods within the same Divine System might fight due to holding the same Divine Roles.
This was also one of the conjectures by Western Mysterious Scholars about Ragnarok: the deities had massacred each other in their pursuit of ascension, suffering heavy casualties. Coupled with the ebb of Spiritual Energy and the development of technology, the believers of Personality Gods dwindled. The Divine Fire could not be replenished, leading to its extinguishment and ultimately resulting in Ragnarok.
Of course, among the four fundamental elements—Divine Power, Divine Fire, God Status, and Divine Roles—Li Ang did not possess the Divine Spark. According to the Mysterious Studies Texts Li Ang had consulted, the Divine Spark should be considered a type of Divine Fire.
Could it be that I am a god?
Li Ang's speculation was that he had become a Demigod or Quasi-God who possessed Divine Power but had yet to fully condense the Divine Fire. It was just that this spark was so weak it couldn't even be called Divine Fire.
Based on the 'aggregation' and 'uniqueness' principles, Quasi-Gods and Demigods were seen by higher-ranking deities of the same Divine Role as nothing more than a delectable meal. These higher-ranking deities could initiate a Divine Battle and strip a Quasi-God of their Divine Fire and Divine Power.
Igniting the Divine Fire required a significant amount of Divine Power, and to accumulate Divine Power, one needed many devout believers. According to the Mysterious Studies Texts, the greater the number of believers, the larger their scale, and the higher their level of devotion, the quicker the accumulation of Divine Power. Some deities encouraged their believers to establish bases, proclaim the deity's presence, and expand the reach of their Divine Power. When necessary, the deity might also perform miracles to further deepen the believers' faith.
This process seemed unproblematic at first glance. But times had changed.
Li Ang, situated in the Automated Pet Box, shook his head. This isn't the Dark Era, where there are so many intelligent life forms worshipping deities. Even the Reindeer God himself fell into a comatose state and died due to a lack of believers.
To a certain extent, those with the best chance to accumulate Divine Power and ignite the Divine Fire in this era were the widely admired idols. The fan clubs supporting idols were on a scale that utterly dwarfed the congregations of deities from the Dark Era, and the fans' loyalty far exceeded that of the ancient, naive folk.
Unfortunately, Li Ang's level of attractiveness could only be considered mediocre, and his singing was nothing special. He couldn't be an idol singer. After applying makeup, his attractiveness and temperament were quite impressive. However, in this day and age, just being handsome and a good singer didn't guarantee fame. Consider how many untalented idols, only capable of singing catchy but shallow pop songs, became incredibly popular, while some musicians dedicated to their art remained unknown.
Even if Li Ang, utilizing his player status, managed to become a moderately popular idol, the time and effort required, as well as the need for secrecy about his true identity, would be extremely troublesome. It seemed the scenario of Li Ang becoming an idol to achieve Divine Enthronement was unlikely to play out.
So here's the question, aside from becoming an idol, where can I find a group of intelligent beings who are willing to worship me unconditionally...
After pondering for a long time without any solution, Li Ang turned his attention back to modifying the bee swarm's weaponry. With the experience from the worms, this modification went smoothly. Soon, five Queen Bees had been transformed, and a new batch of bee eggs was incubating. The presence of the vines enabled Li Ang to control the bee swarm precisely through the Queen Bees, eliminating the need for him to release pheromones himself. This was quite convenient.
As for the issue of other deities in the same Divine Role... It's been so long since Ragnarok. Surely, there aren't any deities of Marsh-related Divine Roles remaining, right...?