Except for Hathaway, of the eight remaining elders in the council, not one has reached the pinnacle of legendary status, making them qualified to strive for demigod or throne realm boundaries.
From Shiayar's current perspective, they truly fall short.
Compared to the neighbors who, once they reach adulthood and maturity, start at legendary level, or beings like Ye who are born as mythical species such as ancient dragons, the difference is worlds apart.
It's inexplicable that with the might of ancient dragons and giants, the royal courts were annihilated in the cataclysm, leaving not even a trace, with civilization obliterated, leaving only a few bloodline remnants... yet only the elves managed to survive, even preserving a complete civilization on the Lost Island.
And now, hearing this, the extraordinary intuition of his teacher, and the Elf Clan's seemingly goddess-blessed situation, finds a full explanation.
"Due to the unique nature of the elf race, from the beginning, I never used them like ancient dragons and giants, as mere dumping grounds for uncontrollable divinity."
"I subtly incorporated their bloodline as a mystical catalyst, leveraging my divinity and rank to bring the entire elf species under my control..."
"Including the Elf King that governs the royal court, regardless of the succession, is ultimately an avatar of mine under control."
"When the first attempts of the three royal courts failed irreversibly, I began preparations for what would come next."
"The Lost Island was my second attempt." ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ n͟o͟v͟e͟l͟f͟i͟r͟e͟.net
"According to my original plan, after detonating those superfluous chaotic divinity and authority, I could transfer my spiritual power and remaining divinity into the body of the Elf King—"
"Complete, a true rebirth."
Yet they called it rebirth.
In truth, it's just an old monster usurping another's body, spoken in such pleasant terms.
Shiayar's subconscious mind scoffed internally.
But his shallow conscious persona, having completed memory sealing with "Moon Reading," revealed the shock and reverence his preset logic demanded at this moment.
Across the ages, bridging an entire era.
Forsaking that creator, the Sun God, the throne of heaven worshiped by all beings to achieve rebirth.
What audacity, what daring.
What a grand millennium-spanning plan this is!
"However, even with preparation centuries in advance, I still underestimated the power of chaotic divinity."
"Those excessive, near-out-of-control divinity are not so easily discarded."
"Even after switching to the Elf King's body, the chaos brought by severing divinity and changing bodies still plunged me into semi-madness, forcing me to use slumber as suppression."
"Before slumbering, I used my last power to sever parts of the Elven Royal Court, letting it fall into the Endless Ocean Domain, then set up this veil to keep the outside world unaware of its existence here."
"And when I wake nearly a thousand years later, suppressing that chaotic tendency—"
"I found that this current body had also approached decay in the long turmoil of divine madness and slumber, necessitating another body change."
"However, after millennia, the elven bloodline on the Lost Island had long been corrupted by the power of the cataclysm, turned defiled beyond bearing my divinity and spirit."
The Sun God's remnant words remained calm and indifferent.
It seemed the failure of the second attempt at body change hadn't touched his demeanor in the slightest.
"Relying on the contingencies I left back then, I have absolute control over all who bear elven bloodline..."
"But now, the remaining elves on the Lost Island, even those so-called council elders and legends, their bloodline is too defiled to bear my divinity and spirit."
"Hence, the new vessel to bear my soul, the only choice... is that surviving pure blood Golden Elf."
He gazed at Shiayar and slowly spoke.
"Originally, I intended to wait for my full recovery before formally transferring to the vessel of that pure blood Golden Elf."
"Yet your appearance has presented a new choice for me."
"Though you don't possess the elves' powerful spiritual intuition, your affinity with spirit is enough..."
"More importantly, from humans, I've seen greater potential."
"Just as you demonstrated, that mysterious thing called magic."
"All supernatural races are formed from rule fragments scattered in the Era of Chaos, and the more naturally powerful supernatural races bear more rule fragments in their bloodline."
"Yet you humans are anomalies... From you, I saw no trace of rule fragment residue at all."
"This indeed signifies innate weakness as a race, but it also means your constraints are fewer."
"The previous failures led me to realize..."
"Simply piling up divinity and authority is probably not the path to higher ranks."
"The truly new path may not be through 'addition,' but through 'subtraction.'
"Race and bloodline, even divinity and authority, these may allow for reaching legendary, even naturally born demigod status."
"But when you aim to transcend the True God..."
"All these past dependencies become burdens that must be discarded."
His gaze burned intensely as he looked at Shiayar.