Chapter 295: No One Can Order Noelle Around
Venti had always understood the greatest problem facing the divine system—it wasn’t power, achievements, or a lack of newly born gods.
The issue was that the middle tier had not yet matured, leaving a generational gap in the divine hierarchy.
They had no shortage of Primary Gods or True Gods; what they lacked were God-Kings.
Only a God-King could serve as the face of a great divine system and manage the countless time-space planes under its jurisdiction.
The territory a great divine system oversaw was simply too vast. Only a God-King at the galactic level could barely manage it.
A Primary God at the star-cluster level could handle a few galaxies, but if the scope expanded to the entire universe, even working themselves to death, they wouldn’t cover a millionth of it.
In Mond’s divine system, aside from himself as a Supreme God, all others were merely Primary or True Gods, forcing him to delegate plane management rights.
At the level of the main universe and small space-time universes, it was all maintained by him alone.
Without question, the burden of billions of galaxies and tens of thousands of timelines in Mond’s divine system rested solely on Barbatos’ shoulders.
This made the God of Freedom anything but free.
For a moment, he felt as though he had returned to the days when he set aside his crown to maintain Mond’s lands.
That wouldn’t do—he was a Supreme God now. How could he be less free than before?
And the burden now was countless times heavier than it had ever been.
Even as a super-galactic-level Supreme God, maintaining billions of galaxies and countless timelines was barely manageable. Accidents constantly occurred, and there were always civilizations in crisis in galaxies he couldn’t tend to in time.
If he were a Primordial God, managing such a vast range would be effortless.
Finally, he could set down some of that burden.
Venti suddenly felt like crying. For Mond, he had truly given his all.
Though the high ranks of other divine systems saw him as a drunken loafer, no one knew that he alone carried the entire system.
Hum—
Unable to wait any longer, Venti granted the Divine Collective’s blessings to all its gods, elevating their potential and divine seats to the place they should hold in the Cosmology.
All the shackles on the gods fell away in an instant, and each could now see the ultimate peak they could reach.
The Divine Collective was made up of scattered Celtic gods and countless small, unstructured divine systems from poems and folklore—minor gods sung of in ballads and legends.
Goddesses of the lake, mountain deities, grain goddesses, spring maidens—these were the small gods of the poems.
Though small, many were at the True God level, but none had reached Primary God. The only God-King was Balor, the one-eyed demon king of the Celtic deep-sea giants, whose followers were all True Gods and had no Primary Gods.
The Celtic pantheon itself was unstructured; any interference from another system could easily see it annexed.
Like when the missionaries of the Biblical pantheon arrived in Celtic lands—Balor was instantly reduced to the demon Baal among the seventy-two pillars.
However, the Biblical pantheon in Teyvat was entirely independent, directly under the Heavenly Principle.
Under Mio’s leadership, they never interfered with other divine systems.
Their angels quietly aided civilizations across time and space facing extinction crises.
The Biblical pantheon was unique because Mio herself was a God, the embodiment of the Truth of the Kabbalah, with no need to compete with other divine systems.
For the small, unstructured gods of poetry who had joined Mond’s Divine Collective, this was cause for immense joy.
They knew all too well the difference between having backing and having none.
Even if no one bullied them, in spreading deeds and gathering faith, they were powerless—they couldn’t compete with gods of equal rank.
While other gods expanded madly and rapidly broke through ranks, these small gods could only look on with envy.
It wasn’t that they hadn’t thought about joining other divine systems, but they inherently belonged to the larger Celtic framework.
When it came to something as dangerous as origin myths, other divine systems wouldn’t dare casually accept their conversion.
Conversion meant transferring an origin myth into another mythos.
Once converted, they would become part of that other divine system.
However, conversion had many prerequisites, and if they weren’t met, forcing it could result in Human Principle backlash for them and massive merit losses for the receiving divine system.
Now, at last, these small gods had a sect leader and backing—and not just any backing, but Mond, ranked among the top in the entire universe.
Mond’s leader was a super-god at the very first tier of the divine pyramid.
In the eyes of the universe’s gods, the Heavenly Principle and the eight High Gods were ultimate gods outside the pyramid.
The first tier of the pyramid consisted of the Primordial and Supreme Gods of the highest ranks in the Seven Divine Systems.
To gods below the Supreme God rank, there was no practical difference between Primordial Gods and Supreme Gods—they were all super-deities.
Just like, to an ordinary person, both a state governor and one of the Three Dukes in court were colossal figures.
Hum—Crack—
"A Supreme God..." Jean, upon receiving the blessing, saw the ultimate point she could reach—she could rise to Supreme God, the very position of Lord Barbatos.
It was unimaginable to her; she had once thought God-King would be her limit.
At the same time, she felt her place within the Divine Collective.
Lord Barbatos was clearly grooming her as the leader of the Divine Collective.
"Primordial God! Primordial God! Hahahaha, at last, I, Dvalin, stand tall again!"
"I can finally catch up to my fellow kin! Hahaha!"
A blue-haired youth laughed wildly, drawing the eyes of the gods, though none thought it strange—eccentricity was normal for great gods.
He, the Western dragon Dvalin, could finally speak with pride.
The neighboring Hydro Dragon and Geo Dragon had long since reached Primordial and Supreme God.
Only he, the Cryo Dragon, and Sumeru’s Dendro Dragon had been shamefully stuck at Primary God.
It was only thanks to Barbatos’ care that he had even reached that point; left to his own abilities, he would still be a True God.
Who knew how shameful it had been for him all this time?
He had often scolded Barbatos for being irresponsible, but deep down, he had nearly lost the face to meet him.
When the other dragons were so powerful and he was so lacking, he felt embarrassed to call himself the Cryo Dragon of the Seven Elements.
Even though he had only just reached God-King level now, catching up to the Hydro Dragon and Geo Dragon’s height was now a certainty.
Venti couldn’t help but feel comforted seeing Dvalin nearly ready to roll around on the ground with joy.
In the past, whenever he took Dvalin to gatherings with friends, the dragon’s rank meant he could only sit pitifully at the "children’s table."
Even if the Geo Dragon and Hydro Dragon were chatting and laughing at the next table, Dvalin could only watch enviously.
It wasn’t that Neuvillette or Azhdaha ignored him—rather, the rank gap was so wide that their conversations left Dvalin with nothing to contribute, making him seem out of place among the Dragon Kings.
At every gathering, Venti would see him and Sumeru’s Apep sighing together.
It wasn’t due to Dvalin’s lack of effort—he had worked hard—but the blame lay mostly with circumstance. He wasn’t one of the original Seven tasked with the earliest missions.
And the worlds he first took on were insignificant to Teyvat, so his achievements naturally lagged.
Even so, his progress had been fast.
But comparisons are cruel—next to Fontaine, Inazuma, and Liyue, Mondstadt’s progress seemed like a turtle’s crawl.
Sigh...
It couldn’t be helped.
"Still, things are much better now. There’s still a gap with Liyue, Fontaine, and Inazuma, but it’s not so big anymore."
As Venti thought this with relief, Mond’s adult gods began awakening. Under the Cosmology’s blessing, their potential and power broke through on the spot.
Albedo felt the divine power surging within him, calmly clenched his hand, and rested it over his chest to feel his heartbeat.
It was his favorite thing—feeling the vitality of life.
Since becoming an Upper God, he had evolved from an alchemical lifeform into a true Law-based being. In that moment, he had experienced the true greatness and brilliance of life.
"A Primary God without precedent... with just a bit more merit, I can become a God-King—and protect even more of Mond’s worlds."
As an alchemical life accepted and embraced by Mond, granted a true life, he would absolutely protect Mond and never let disaster touch it.
"Congratulations, Mond’s chief alchemy god. Looks like it won’t be long before you’re one of our few God-Kings—that’ll let us in the Knights of Favonius relax a little."
Kaeya clapped Albedo’s shoulder with a grin.
"Kaeya, congratulations on becoming a Primary God. I’m sure you’ll become a God-King one day too," Albedo replied with a smile.
Kaeya shrugged. "I can’t compare to you. At most, I’ll reach God-King."
Even with his full potential, he could only aim for God-King; Supreme God was beyond him—unless Lord Barbatos personally granted him the power of his Cosmology.
But he was already satisfied and didn’t long for a higher divine seat.
The higher you stand, the greater the responsibility. God-King was perfect enough for him.
Those in Mond’s direct line understood well that the entire Mond Divine System rested on Lord Barbatos’ shoulders—if Kaeya could carry just a little of that weight without being crushed, that was enough.
Lisa chuckled. "Hehe, I’m not surprised Jean woke first. I didn’t expect to be neither second nor third, but I’m just a scholar—not as skilled in combat as our friends here."
She too had reached Primary God, and in the future could become a God-King—that would be her limit.
Her Authority was Equivalent Exchange, aligning her with the Kabbalah faction.
Even a God-King might lack such an Authority—hers was a half-step Supreme God power, beyond God-King but not quite Supreme.
She could trade her own lifespan, divine power, will, and more to Truth itself in exchange for knowledge, authorities, and anything she desired.
Among Primary Gods, it was utterly unique.
A young goddess in a maid outfit over armor spoke: "Is everyone alright? The trial may not have been dangerous, but I’m sure it wasn’t easy on the heart."
"I’ll make some Immortal Plum Soup for everyone afterward to help calm the nerves," Noelle said.
Bennett scratched his head. "Immortal Plum Soup? Noelle, that sounds like a Liyue dish?"
Noelle nodded. "Yes, I learned it from Xiangling when I went to Liyue with Captain Jean last time."
Rosaria asked, "From the goddess of cuisine herself, Xiangling? Then please make me a serving too, thank you, Noelle."
"No problem, Lady Rosaria," Noelle replied.
Diona put her hands on her hips. "Immortal Plum Soup! I’ve had it—it’s delicious! Oh! What if we replace alcohol with Immortal Plum Soup? Then all the drinkers in Mond Divine Collective could switch to soup!"
Amber nodded vigorously. "Yes, yes, I think Immortal Plum Soup is better than wine."
Noelle smiled. "Klee, Sucrose, Fischl, Razor, Mika—come drink Immortal Plum Soup with me later, alright?"
Klee giggled. "Hehe, okay! Noelle’s soup is the best—better than Mom’s!"
Fischl declared, "Since my dearest friend has extended such a heartfelt invitation, this Princess shall certainly attend, and will judge the culinary craft with due gravitas."
Oz translated: "Caw! My lady means she’ll definitely come, and she would never miss your soup, Miss Noelle."
Fischl huffed. "Oz, you talk too much."
Sucrose blushed. "Thank you for the trouble, Noelle."
Mika scratched his head. "Noelle is too kind to everyone—people will get too used to being cared for."
Razor simply nodded. "Mm..."
Noelle looked around at the gazes fixed on her—many belonged to gods from other divine systems she didn’t even know, though now they were all part of the same Divine Collective.
"Well, how about everyone—mmmph..."
Before she could finish, Eula covered her mouth.
"Just invite the ones we know, Noelle, otherwise people might get upset."
Noelle was too kindhearted—one pleading look from someone asking for help, and she would assist without hesitation. More than once, gods from other systems had nearly taken advantage of her if not for the fact that everyone knew she couldn’t refuse anyone and kept an eye on her.
She never complained, always working hard and helping everyone with the utmost enthusiasm.
That was why Eula took on the role of the "bad guy" to handle refusals for her.
Venti chuckled—he was fiercely protective. With him around, no one could deceive Mond’s people.
Opening his arms, Venti announced:
"Very well—here and now, I declare to the entire universe—"
"The Mond Divine Collective is officially established!"
At this moment, Mond’s gods had all reached Primary God level on average, and it wouldn’t be long before their number of God-Kings exceeded one hand.
At the same time, Sumeru had also completed its Gift Game, with Olympus and Snezhnaya following closely, awakening their Cosmologies in turn.
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