"I swear to you, as long as you come closer to me, I will give you all the knowledge!"
"That’s right, walk forward, quickly!"
"No, wait! You’re walking in the wrong direction!"
"Daniel, have you given up? Don’t you want to become the one who creates a pantheon?"
The voice of the God of Knowledge in Daniel’s mind became increasingly impatient.
However, Daniel’s expression remained one of disdain.
"You think you can control me?" he sneered.
"To be honest, I am intrigued by what you’re saying, but I don’t believe you. If you keep blabbering, I’ll just go to another forbidden lands."
With that, Daniel began walking towards the exit of the forbidden lands.
Just as he was about to take a step forward, the God of Knowledge’s voice suddenly rushed into his mind again.
"Wait, don’t leave yet!"
"I told you, we’re friends, and I don’t want to interfere with your interests."
"Stay, remain where you are. I promise I won’t bother you again until you become a Fake God."
"When you need me, just come to me. I’ll be waiting for you."
After these words, the voice in Daniel’s mind disappeared in an instant, leaving nothing but silence. It was as if nothing had happened at all.
Daniel took a deep breath, relieved by the familiar peace that enveloped his mind.
But he didn’t forget to issue a warning:
"Don’t disturb me."
At that moment, Daniel had already made a firm decision. If he hadn’t acted resolutely, the God of Knowledge would likely have continued its persistent attempts to tempt him.
But regardless of that, one thing was clear: this God of Knowledge desperately wanted Daniel to venture deeper into the forbidden lands.
For the next period of time, no more voices appeared in Daniel’s mind.
He simply sat cross-legged, quietly waiting for his ascension ritual to complete.
Time passed unnoticed.
When Daniel finally opened his eyes again, a whole day had nearly passed.
Only ten minutes remained until the completion of the ritual.
However, Daniel’s expression had grown unusually serious. He had suddenly realized something—why was the God of Knowledge so obedient?
If the God of Knowledge was truly an inner god, such a powerful entity wouldn’t be easily communicated with.
Just moments before, Daniel had been ready to leave the Place of Twisted Minds altogether. After all, he had only been in the forbidden lands for a few minutes before being inundated with endless temptations. If he hadn’t acted decisively, it would have been difficult for him to resist further.
But the words of the God of Knowledge had made him think. Especially the mention of the third path to godhood—the so-called Perfect Pantheon. It was undeniably tempting.
...
While Daniel waited for the ascension ritual to finish, something was happening in the Land of Origin within his mental realm.
Under Daniel’s guidance, the first Awakener, who had successfully merged with the ancient divine position without being affected, was born!
After confirming the feasibility in the real world, Daniel immediately directed Odin and the others to begin constructing the necessary facilities at Winterhold Castle.
To merge with an ancient god position without being affected required a complex ritual. Therefore, constructing a dedicated space for the ceremony became crucial.
Of course, simply participating in the ritual wouldn’t guarantee its success.
In truth, Daniel had already mastered the core principles of the ritual. Although it was complex, he understood the mechanics behind it.
The inheritance of the Ancient God Pantheon contained a huge problem. The gods of the Ancient God Pantheon were all subject to the influence of the Origin Gods, sometimes even becoming mere avatars of these Origin Gods.
This ritual targeted the divine power of the Ancient God Pantheon positions, continuously weakening the marks left by the Origin Gods until they were completely eradicated. Only then could the ritual be considered truly successful.
As the ritual space was set up, more and more human Awakeners stepped into it.
The first successful human Awakener had already emerged from the ritual.
Now, even without Daniel’s protection, this individual would no longer be affected by the Origin Gods.
However, that wasn’t to say the ritual was without its flaws.
For example, without the power of faith, combat strength couldn’t be fully realized.
Still, for the human Awakeners, this was already a significant improvement.
But Daniel could sense that the knowledge the God of Knowledge had provided him was incomplete.
For instance, this ritual could even eliminate the power of the Origin Gods, so surely it should also be able to easily remove the need for faith power. Yet, the God of Knowledge had deliberately concealed this information.
It was clear that this was a warning. The God of Knowledge was reminding Daniel that if he wanted to acquire the remaining knowledge, he would need to make a trade.
And the cost of that trade would be to venture deeper into the forbidden lands, closer to the God of Knowledge itself.
The reason Daniel had been so firm earlier in silencing the God of Knowledge was precisely to avoid this situation.
The God of Knowledge used half-truths to manipulate him. But Daniel couldn’t easily escape this trap.
The knowledge offered by the God of Knowledge was undoubtedly something he desperately needed.
Thus, resisting this temptation required an immense amount of willpower.
If Daniel’s soul was originally from this world, if he had always pursued the goal of ascension to godhood, he likely wouldn’t be sitting at the edge of the forbidden lands but instead would have ventured deep into them by now.
Daniel acknowledged that he was just an ordinary person, unable to resist any temptation.
However, because of the memories buried deep within his mind, he remained constantly on guard against the world around him.
Even now, Daniel didn’t let his guard down, waiting for the final moment to arrive.
At the same time, he remained cautious about the possibility of the God of Knowledge returning.
His Flashback and Time Stream abilities were ready. His Reflective Shield completely enveloped him.
But to Daniel’s surprise, as time passed, the ritual completed effortlessly.
When Daniel opened his eyes again, a prompt appeared before him.
[Ascension Ritual Requirement 1: Enter any forbidden lands in the Backworld and survive for over a day (Completed)]
[Reminder: You will now begin the final trial. Upon successful completion of the trial, you will officially ascend to Fake God.]
Daniel was well aware of what this trial entailed.
After all, when Odin ascended, he had also participated in this very same trial.