DanMachi: Annihilation Maker in DanMachi World!

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"That's right. I've granted the residents of the Divine Court the authority of creation. You can freely construct maps."

"However, there are restrictions on the energy allocated for map generation. As a goddess, you can utilize your own divine power to facilitate this creation."

Lucian paused for a moment before adding, "But there's a strict limit on creating life. You can only generate creatures that operate on fixed behavioral patterns. You cannot create true lifeforms possessing souls and consciousness."

"It's not that it's impossible. Rather, within the Divine Court, the authority to create true life is strictly forbidden to everyone except me."

Like NPCs in a video game, these fabricated creatures would only spout a couple of pre-programmed lines of dialogue.

Even gods who inherently possessed Authorities of creation and genesis would be barred from breathing true life into this world.

The core of the issue lay in souls and consciousness. Within the Sea of Illusions, absolutely no genuine life could be born without Lucian's explicit permission.

Even races capable of asexual reproduction, as well as artificial intelligence possessing only cognitive functions, were strictly prohibited.

Should such races enter the Divine Court, they would require screening. Under the Court's rules, pregnancy was impossible, and even if conception somehow occurred, it would be locked in a permanent state of stasis.

The regulations on this front were ironclad. In short, it was an absolutely forbidden matter.

Truth be told, life wasn't exactly a necessity for the Sea of Illusions; in fact, it was more akin to a parasite.

"Life isn't a toy. If you create it, you must take responsibility for it," Prometheus nodded in agreement. "I think that's incredibly reasonable. Frankly, knowing this rule is in place puts me at ease."

Compared to forging entire worlds, creating life wasn't actually all that difficult.

Therefore, it wasn't a matter of Lucian greedily hoarding power. It was exactly as Prometheus said—life was not a plaything.

The worlds within the Sea of Illusions operated on a loop. It wasn't just energy that recycled; the monsters inside the Colosseum also constantly respawned in a never-ending cycle.

If those monsters were to awaken souls and minds of their own, what was Lucian supposed to do?

Continue blindly slaughtering them without a care?

He wouldn't have the heart for it.

Toss them out of his inner world?

That would be highly irresponsible.

Build a dedicated map just for them to live and breed in?

That was just asking for a headache.

In the end, the one left in a tight spot would always be Lucian. And if a creator developed emotional attachments to their generated lifeforms, it would be an even bigger mess.

If he compromised once, he'd compromise twice. Eventually, the foundational rules of the Divine Court would be completely eroded.

If things ever got to that point, Lucian would evict every single living entity from the Sea of Illusions and conduct a rigorous re-screening.

If push came to shove, he'd just drop the idea entirely, find a random planet, and establish a new transit hub there. There was no need to indiscriminately shove things into his own mental landscape.

"Want to give it a try?" Lucian asked.

"Aside from the Divine Court, there are already two other worlds... referred to as 'Instance Maps'?"

Prometheus said thoughtfully, "I'd like to see what the worlds you've created look like first. Suffering the consequences of arrogance once is more than enough for me."

She hadn't caused that disaster out of sheer stupidity, but rather out of a lack of understanding.

Failing to foresee that the Flame of Heaven would be polluted—truthfully, her "foresight" was terribly unqualified.

But to say she had zero foresight wouldn't be entirely accurate either. In reality, she had known early on that the Flame of Heaven could inflict catastrophic consequences upon the Lower World.

But humanity had been suffering so terribly back then. She simply didn't have the heart to stand by and watch.

Immediate extinction, or solving the immediate crisis while planting a ticking time bomb for the future... Prometheus had chosen the latter.

"Up to you."

Lucian smiled and then glanced to the side.

Light flashed as several figures arrived in the Divine Court via the teleportation array.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Lucian."

Spotting Lucian, Meteria's eyes lit up as she greeted him.

Beside her stood Alfia, along with Ais, Talvi, and Morgiana.

"Good afternoon."

Lucian smiled back warmly before looking at Meteria. "You've already ranked up to Level 2. That's quite efficient."

Not only that, but they had all leveled up with maxed-out stats. Meteria, Ais, Talvi, and Morgiana—all four of them had reached Level 2.

Just how many times did Alfia spam her ultimate magic to max out their stats so quickly?

Lucian couldn't help but sigh in admiration. Truly, one generation plants the trees, and the next enjoys the shade.

It had taken Lucian over a week of grinding in the actual Dungeon to reach Level 2.

Though he had wanted to explore the Dungeon anyway, the only reason they could afford to squander energy so extravagantly was all thanks to securing the Flame of Heaven.

"It's mostly because the monsters in the Colosseum are so concentrated. My sister was being completely reckless and dragged us straight down to the 7th floor, instantly obliterating every monster in sight."

Meteria explained, a hint of worry in her voice. "Doing that won't cause any problems, will it?"

"It's fine. That's exactly what the Colosseum is for."

Lucian shook his head. "However, you can't just blindly focus on leveling up. After reaching Level 2, your physical capabilities and learning aptitude experience a massive spike. I recommend using this enhanced state to hone your techniques and develop your own personal combat styles."

"That's exactly what my sister suggested."

Meteria's eyes sparkled. "Would you say great minds think alike?"

"It's just common sense among the strong."

Alfia's expression tightened. Keeping her face perfectly neutral, she interjected, "Status values are important, but mastery of technique allows you to unleash power several times—even dozens of times—greater than your base stats."

"Take Lucian, for example. Even if you exclude his Limit Break and treat his base stats as those of a Level 3, he could still effortlessly slaughter a First-Tier Adventurer."

Alfia had been grinding to make up for lost ground as well. As a Level 8, she needed an astronomical amount of experience to compensate for her lacking Strength and Endurance stats.

As for the Empress, she was currently tasked with guarding the 70th floor and pioneering new territory, so she didn't have the spare time to run dungeon instances at the moment.

"Is my big sister feeling shy?"

Meteria teased playfully.

"Meteria!!"

Alfia relentlessly pinched and pulled at Meteria's cheeks before finally shooting her a look of utter exasperation.

After their playful scuffle died down, Alfia turned her gaze to Prometheus. "And this Goddess is...?"

"This is Prometheus. Three thousand years ago, she was the one who cast the Flame of Heaven down to the Lower World," Lucian introduced. "She is also the patron deity of Olympia."

"Olympia..." Alfia trailed off, deep in thought.

Olympia was incredibly enigmatic. It was hailed as the Fourth Unexplored Region, though that title wasn't widely circulated among the public.

It was so shrouded in secrecy that outsiders rarely ever managed to set foot inside.

But as long as the Flame of Heaven remained burning within Olympia, it would undeniably stand as a true Unexplored Region of the Lower World.

And now, this very Goddess was standing right here in the Divine Court. Which could only mean—

"The Flame of Heaven is in the Divine Court?" Alfia asked.

"It's right below us at the altar."

Lucian pointed downward. "If you want to take a look, you can teleport down there using the divine statues."

"The legendary Flame of the Gods! I want to see it too!"

Meteria practically bounced on her heels, eagerly raising her hand.

"Me too."

Talvi chimed in with her agreement.

Morgiana simply went with the flow, while Ais's golden eyes gleamed with intense longing.

Incidentally, the Flame of Heaven could also bestow blessings, but those blessings could not take effect across different worlds.

In other words, the Flame of Heaven was strictly confined to the Divine Court. However, if one could condense it into a Seed of Heavenly Fire and carry it on their person—just like Lucian had done—and continuously nurture it using their own life force, mental energy, or even Magic Stones... That wouldn't be a bad method at all.

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