Pirate Kingship

He has so many Queens and incarnations that the internal problems of the Human Realms are no longer their highest priority.

Looking at the red [Inverted Tree of Life] on his left arm, he let out a soft sigh:

"Time waits for no one; I don’t have much left to waste."

When he fell asleep tonight, he once again drifted into the Anti‑Pantheon without meaning to, and saw the [Wolf God] Anu and the [Thousand-Faced Serpent] Hydra.

The sphinx he had run into earlier had clearly already passed the news on to Them.

The two Demigods were preparing to mobilize their agents to seek out the Desert Empire’s [Papyrus River Flower Snake], [Radiant Queen] Cleopatra VII, and take back the No. 9 Skeleton [Death God], which represents a portion of the Southern Continent’s Nether Authority.

They never said what they intended to do with it, but the [Hidden: Sun God Inti’s Crisis, Historical Influence 61] Decryption Rate still jumped from 27% to 35%.

Byron had not taken the initiative to decrypt it, yet the Hidden crashed into him on its own, dooming him to another plunge into a Big Vortex.

The Crystal Skull, which had originally been only one‑thirteenth of a Sacred Relics set, suddenly shot up in importance.

When he came back, he noticed that the Inverted Tree of Life on his arm looked like it had tilted a bit more.

Humanity’s [Rudder] belongs to the self; its underlying hue is Human Nature anchoring the self. When the Tree of Life appears as an Inverted Tree of Life, it signifies Order, Entropy Reversal.

But the Old Gods’ [Rudder] belongs to the Deep Sea; its underlying hue is no longer Human Nature anchoring the self, but the Beastliness and madness of the Deep Sea as Anchor. The Tree of Life appears upright, signifying Chaos, Entropy Increase.

Each degree that the mark tilts symbolizes a shift in balance, even a migration of alignment.

Now, what is tugging at him is the entire Anti‑Pantheon.

On the Material World side, the [Creator], victor of the last divine war, is utterly unreliable for the moment, and the other high‑ranking [Sun God] Inti is hard‑pressed to save himself, much less shoulder the main burden.

Although Byron felt the tilt was still minuscule, and his own Human Nature showed no obvious change, he did not dare let this trend continue to evolve.

"My strength is still lacking!

Even if I accidentally exposed the conspiracy of the Wolf God and the Thousand-Faced Serpent, there are so many Old God Churches that no one knows how many undiscovered plots are still out there.

Condensing a [Crown], cultivating believers, and building a Divine Kingdom all take time—results won’t come in just a year or two.

Rescuing the Mermaid Kingdom, finding my Father-in-law, reclaiming the ’Pirate Code’ and the No. 9 Skeleton [Death God] can’t be delayed any longer.

And I absolutely can’t let anyone else get to any one of them first.

If I’m missing even one piece, my Demigod Promotion Ceremony could go catastrophically wrong."

There are three major prerequisites for advancing from Fifth Order Pseudo-God to Sixth Order Demigod:

After Spirituality exceeds twenty‑five points, one must completely sublimate one’s Spirituality into [Immortal Divinity] bearing a powerful personal imprint;

The number of believers must exceed one million, and the completed [Divine Kingdom] must contain at least one thousand devout Kin;

Finally, one must use the Immortal Stairway as a fulcrum to pry at the rules, and condense at least one personal [Divine Position] through the faith of one’s believers.

After fulfilling these three prerequisites, one then holds an Apotheosis Ritual that exercises the corresponding Divine Position’s authority.

The prayer‑answering range of a Demigod covers an entire Continent, so the impact range of this ritual is likewise one Continent, corresponding to a Historical Influence of at least 30 points.

Byron’s Immortal Stairway is the primordial "One"; its core authority is [Transformation], while also encompassing the authorities of both a Nature God and a Persona God.

After much thought, he decided that the Divine Position he ought to condense is... [Reform]!

He would ignite a Fire of Transformation across Human society on the entire Continent and achieve Ascension to Godhood through that.

Reaching that step might still require years, a decade or two, even decades of accumulation, but he should start preparing now.

Moreover, there is a consensus in religious circles: "Without a King, ceremonies seldom bear fruit."

One [Crown] and two Great Empires are only the Foundation; the bigger his territory, the better, and the stronger his power, the better.

However much power one wields in the Secular World is how much Great Power one can command in Mysticism; the two complement each other.

"I now have the ability to enter the ninth‑layer Golden Palace, ’Gladsheim’, of the ’Valhalla Hall of Valor’. When I get the chance, I’ll go find the clues Woden, the Mad Hunt Deity, left behind.

Once preparations are complete, I’ll immediately set out for the Eastern Continent!"