A grand symphony mingled with the horns of Azathoth, bringing Tike a sigh of relief.
Ilúvatar had intervened. The music that echoed across the Sea of Chaos contended with Azathoth, blocking the pervasive corruption and allowing Tike to focus on fighting the Black Pharaoh.
Azathoth was the main force opposing Tike. Without his assistance, the Black Pharaoh was immediately at a disadvantage. After all, he was merely an avatar and could not contend with a fully armed Tike.
Sensing the unfavorable turn of events, the Black Pharaoh charged at Azathoth's body, enduring the Eternal Spear, abandoning the interception of Tike and fleeing.
Amidst solemn chanting, Ilúvatar's phantom nodded gently at Tike. This intervention was a gesture of gratitude for her bringing the treants back to their homeland.
Tike said softly, "Thank you for your assistance, Prince Ilúvatar! I will remember your help. Please do not hesitate to command me if there is anything I can do for you. I will never refuse!"
Ilúvatar smiled and shook his head, "I did not drive away Azathoth solely to help you. Their presence polluted my world, and all creators would choose to strike them."
"They have not gone far, be careful."
Ilúvatar extended a finger and gently pushed the World Tree. Tike's vision blurred, and in an instant, she found herself before a vast cluster of worlds.
The familiar crystal spheres confirmed that this world was Faerûn. Tike circled the crystal spheres, observing them, and then, using the same method as before, sent an avatar of a World Tree flower to scout ahead.
The crystal walls were no obstacle for Tike, who understood them well. The thick crystal spheres were like nothing before her, and she descended effortlessly onto a piece of land.
The moment Tike entered the world of Faerûn, she sensed something was wrong. The world's laws here were unprecedentedly silent! This was different from the silence of the world where the Witchers resided. This silence felt entirely devoid of self-awareness. If she had to find a description, Tike felt it was like a self-service registration machine; it retained interactive functions but completely lacked vitality.
The rules inscribed on the foundation of the laws prohibited the true bodies of deities from entering. Every star in the sky was the divine realm of a deity!
This was a realm belonging only to gods!
In every corner of this world, any race, any concept, any trace of faith belonged to the gods, and only to the gods!
Whether it was extraordinary professions or ordinary ones, they were held by deities in the form of divine offices! Whether it was tangible things like the earth, the sun, or the forests, or abstract concepts like knowledge, death, or pragmatism, their origins were all deities!
What shocked Tike was that the deities of Faerûn had, to a certain extent, replaced the existence of laws! Tike even felt the aura of the same origin as the laws scattered across various planes, unable to converge. Each plane had distinct faction characteristics, divided into upper and lower parts according to good and evil.
The upper planes, ranging from Lawful Neutral leaning towards Good to Chaotic Good leaning towards Neutral, consisted of seven planes: Elysium, Mount Celestia, the Twin Paradises, the Blessed Fields, the Beastlands, the Outlands, and the Garden of Ysgard.
The lower planes, from Lawful Neutral leaning towards Evil to Chaotic Evil leaning towards Neutral, consisted of seven planes opposing the upper planes: the Nine Hells, the Abyss, the City of Brass, the Plane of Shadow, the Astral Plane, the Elemental Planes, and the Limbo.
Together with the neutral mechanical realm of Mechanus and the chaotic neutral Maelstrom, there were sixteen planes that guarded the Prime Material Plane. The divine realms of the gods were also attached to these planes according to their alignments, all displaying brilliance in the sky!
The nine alignments formed a mutually supportive structure. This truly meant choosing friends while also choosing enemies. This made Tike unable to help but exclaim, "Why is it like a game interface? Don't these gods have any flexibility?"
The behavior of deities had to conform to their alignment. If a Lawful Good deity wantonly killed innocents, their alignment would shift towards Chaotic Evil, and the plane to which their divine realm was attached would reject that divine realm, forcing the deity to move.
Tike found many loopholes in this system of laws. In a sense, the more tightly these deities were bound to their divine offices, the more foolish they became. Their thoughts and actions prioritized the tendencies of their divine offices, making them too easy to predict.
Tike walked on the land covered in ice and snow. The divinity of Ulutiu, the God of the Polar regions, pointed towards the land beneath her feet. This was once a place of worship for this deity, and his faith still lingered on this frozen land.
Tike, dressed as a sorceress, quickly attracted attention. Tribal people wearing thick furs avoided her from afar, trying not to make eye contact.
Although somewhat strange, Tike did not actively interact with these humans. Following the divinity of Ulutiu, the God of the Polar regions, Tike arrived at a simple altar. The divine aura emanating from this altar was already very weak, as if no believers had prayed there for some time.
Seeing Tike approach the altar, the tribesmen became visibly agitated. Several warriors wielding great axes and spears approached Tike with unfriendly expressions, letting out a few whistles.
"Outsider, stay away from the altar of the God of the Polar regions!"
Tike was even more confused. These people had not abandoned their faith in Ulutiu, the God of the Polar regions, so why was the altar in this state?
"Are you followers of the God of the Polar regions? Why is the faith of Ulutiu so weak?"
An elder, resembling a priest, parted the crowd and approached Tike. His pale blue skin indicated he was of elemental heritage, a half-blood of ice elementals and humans.
An undeniable divine grace enveloped the elder. He must be a priest of Ulutiu, the God of the Polar regions.
The priest waved his hand, signaling the believers to put down their weapons. His gaze fell on the lantern in Tike's hand, and his divinity seemed to sense the owner's faith, flickering intensely.
Tike casually threw the lantern to the old priest, "I merely wish to return what belongs to its owner. I have no ill intentions."
The old priest prostrated himself before Tike the next moment and said respectfully, "Although I do not know which deity's holy avatar you are, your act of returning divinity undoubtedly shows that you are not here for hunting. Please, follow me."
The old priest led Tike to a tent and lifted the curtain, "Unknown saint, the deity I serve awaits to meet you here."
Tike was somewhat bewildered. In the tent, she saw Ulutiu, the God of the Polar regions, in person!
The God of the Polar regions, radiating a faint blue glow, had left his divine realm and appeared in his true form. This was undoubtedly very dangerous. Humans craved the immortality brought by divinity and would do anything! Driven by greed, they would hunt deities. The end of all extraordinary professions was called legendary, and their power was enough to harm deities. There were not a few legends in this world who had ignited divine fire on the remains of deities and entered eternity. Ulutiu doing this was very risky!