Chapter 5: Advancement of the Divine Kingdom

Although Ava Gray didn't hesitate to express her disdain for the dragon race, her words nonetheless struck a nerve with the Dragon King. In his memory and tradition, his race was supposed to be among the strongest. Yet, after all these years, things seemed awfully weak. Puzzled, he asked,

"We may not wield magic, but our physical strength is unmatched. So why do I feel so feeble?"

Ava Gray shot him a withering glance and replied,

"Do you really think you're not weak? I've seen mighty dragons before. Take the nine-tier dragons, for instance—one casual slap from them could shatter my pathetic little domain. And if we're talking about lower tiers, in terms of innate talent you're hardly impressive. The Shadow Dragons can create identical copies of themselves that even struggle against each other, while the Elemental Dragons manipulate their corresponding elements in massive area-of-effect displays. And as for raw physical strength—consider the Witches or the Golden Behemoths, who can withstand meteor strikes without a scratch—what do you compare yourselves to?"

At these words, the Dragon King recalled the time he faced a Demon Lord who had summoned a meteor that blanketed the entire Dragon Valley. He shuddered at the memory.

"Endure a meteor? That's absurd! One such stone could level the entire Dragon Valley and wipe out an entire wave of void invasions!"

He admitted that when confronted with such a threat, even he wouldn't dare stand firm—despite having the strongest physical constitution that earned him the title of Dragon King.

"Is the outside world really that terrifying? It's hard to imagine just how formidable our patrons' deities must be."

His voice trembled slightly as he realized his own narrowness. "No—I must spread this matter throughout the entire Divine Realm. Otherwise, if an external enemy invades—one of those plump, tasty brutes that we cannot defeat or even capture—their succulent flesh would slip away, and I'd be doomed!"

Ava Gray, naturally unaware of what her followers might be thinking, cared only about one thing now: how to persuade these miscreants to perform a proper worship ceremony.Sensing her predicament, the Dragon King sighed and said,

"Alright then—just this once, on account of the new spell you taught us, I'll hold a worship ceremony. But mark my words: next time, you must allocate resources to us first."

At his words, Ava Gray sprang to her feet and nodded eagerly,

"Don't worry—I promise that after you perform your ceremony, all future resource allocations will prioritize your area."

After seeing her off in a rather cordial manner, as if he'd just remembered something, Ava Gray called back,

"By the way, slow down your rate of advancement! Our resources can't keep up!"

At that moment, as Ava Gray was returning to the Divine Realm, the Dragon King couldn't quite catch her words. He shouted,

"What did you say? Speak louder—I can't hear!"

Ava Gray widened her mouth and shouted back,

"Advancement, advancement—slow your progression! Our resources won't be able to bear the burden!"

Then she vanished.

Scratching his head, the Dragon King patted his cheek and exclaimed,

"Oh, I see—it's about spirit, spirit, spirit! Get your spirit up, and you can crush the entire continent!"

He chuckled to himself. "I must say, that little miss has thought this through quite well—knowing that we can't do magic, she's urging us to speed up our growth."

Without delay, as if the sun itself had taken notice, the Dragon King began to practice the new spell he'd just learned, disseminating its power throughout his kin.He mused, "If we keep training for another ten days or so (in Divine Kingdom time—a year in our realm equals a single day in the Divine Realm), our domain might finally advance. Heh, what a pleasant surprise for that little miss."

Then, glancing at the altar, he suddenly realized: this task must not fall solely on the dragon race! All six major races must contribute—yes, that's it. If each race could contribute a few thousand units, then together they'd roughly muster up about ten thousand in total.

Shaking off the dust from his scales, the Dragon King spread his wings and soared off into the distance.

Meanwhile, having just emerged from the Divine Realm, Ava Gray felt a twinge of unease. She wondered if that foolish dragon had taken her words to heart.I hope he delays things for another five years—meaning, in Divine Realm terms, five days—otherwise, with only 23 divine power crystals in my coffers, I have no idea how I'll survive.

She slumped at her desk, her eyes filled with bewilderment. At this rate, she needed to find a part-time job—otherwise, she wouldn't be able to keep going for much longer.

After stretching, she collapsed onto her bed and slept soundly. Normally, deities never rest, but being poor was her only way to conserve resources.

Alas, during her slumber, nothing in the Divine Kingdom could reach her notice. She remained oblivious to the steadily falling "faith" scores of her rebellious followers, even as their strength gradually increased.

The next morning, with a heavy heart, Ava Gray nonchalantly tossed a divine power crystal onto a public bus and then trudged off toward Yanhuang Academy.

How did she even get there? She couldn't recall. The only thing she remembered was waking up to find that she'd advanced from the peak of Tier 2 to the early stage of Tier 3 overnight.

She only discovered this advancement upon waking—she had burned through ten divine power crystals to sustain that day. Worse still, her followers' faith scores had plummeted even further. Normally, faith and worship were the only means to generate divine power crystals—the rest came from extraction or plunder. When faith was sufficient, they could produce a crystal or two daily, barely sustaining themselves.

But now? Not a single crystal was produced. Although the worship had been performed, it only left a meager surplus of about a thousand crystals—enough to keep her going for roughly a hundred days.

At the previous pace—every 200 days—the next worship would mean starvation. To make matters worse, her domain had just advanced and was now closed for further rituals.

She had only managed one divine descent, and even normal communication was impossible. Now, the future development of these rebellious beings was entirely out of her control.

Heh, today was just another day when she wished to clear out all these rabble. Ava Gray had completely thrown her hands up in defeat. The next divine descent wouldn't come for another year—or she'd have to purchase one with 100 divine power crystals.

Additionally, communication required nurturing divine envoys with a minimum faith level. Sadly, none among her rebellious group met the criteria.

There's an old saying: when God closes a door, He also shuts a window. May the Almighty bless us. Although things might get shameless soon, perhaps I'll have no choice but to mooch off my dorm mates' meals…

Normally, Ava Gray wouldn't even need to eat—the academy's food, imbued with special divine power, met her daily needs. It wasn't as cost-effective as absorbing energy directly, but it did provide a bonus.She had chosen to be a day student, but she also had her own dormitory. Fearing exposure of her true identity, she hadn't communicated much with her roommates. She hoped that her dear dorm mates wouldn't be too cold-hearted; maybe they'd play cute and share some food, so she could make it through…