21st Century Necromancer
Chapter 984 - 977: The Ritual

In ancient times, primitive humans, fearing the power of various natural disasters, believed in the existence of deities. Consequently, they worshiped these celestial phenomena, offered sacrifices, and even formed sects, customs, and traditions.

This was the initial reason for the birth of faith, and also the opportunity for the emergence of new gods.

In ancient times, these primordial deities or newly-formed gods often bestowed divine blessings on their followers for their devotion, as the world's rules were not yet complete, and bestowing such blessings was not a cumbersome task.

However, not all deities were generous. Due to their own reasons, most new gods would only grant a bit of Divine Power or Divine Arts, divine blessings, or the like. The poorer ones couldn't even sustain a Miracle.

As for primordial deities, as beasts, they mostly lacked intelligence and granted their followers not Divine Power or Divine Arts, but their own blood.

This blood was consumed by followers in primitive times and would trigger a mutation in their bodies.

Those who survived were naturally the warriors of the tribe or sect, the deity's favored. Those who didn't survive? The dead were not worthy of receiving divine blessings.

Those who endured the mutation caused by Divine Blood would physically resemble the deity to whom the Divine Blood belonged. Those warriors who withstood the Divine Blood were the Families.

The famous Jaguar Warriors in Aztec history, although modern archaeological discoveries suggest they wore jaguar skins, had actually undergone the Jaguar Warrior transformation ritual, turning into beings with jaguar heads and human bodies, covered in jaguar fur.

Similar cases include the Scorpion People, Cat-headed Assassins, and Jackal Warriors of Ancient Egypt, all transformed due to the influence of the blood of the deities they believed in, taking on beast-like traits.

Of course, in the transformational rituals of these special military units, due to the participation and protection of deities, the souls of those being transformed were not greatly affected. As long as their will was strong enough, they could withstand the mutation and maintain their sense of self.

Those whose will was not strong enough, and whose physical condition was lacking, naturally had only the path to death when unable to withstand the mutation of the transformation ritual.

However, for these two US military soldiers who privately consumed monster blood, they were not as lucky as those who underwent transformation rituals in ancient times.

Firstly, they did not worship the Giant Sea Monster, so not being followers, they naturally didn't receive the deity's protection. Furthermore, the Giant Sea Monster had already been turned into soup by Chen Yu, making it impossible to protect them even if it wanted to.

On the other hand, their method was simply mixing it with water and drinking, overly simplistic compared to the complicated steps in the Families' transformation rituals.

The transformation rituals of ancient Families were the results of generations of divine followers' exploration and experimentation, and divine guidance and protection. Even then, only the strongest, most courageous, and resolute warriors among them could withstand the rituals.

Hence, these two naive soldiers, who thought they could become superheroes, were met with tragedy, with their bodies mutating into octopus-headed monsters, their souls shattered by the violent energy in the Divine Blood, almost being shaped into the form of the Giant Sea Monster by the Divinity contained within the Divine Blood.

To know, the immortality of deities stems precisely from possessing Divinity. Although the Giant Sea Monster had been completely eradicated by Chen Yu, boiled completely into soup, its residual Divinity would still attempt to resurrect itself, and these foolish soldiers' souls were evidently fodder for the monster's resurrection.

If no one intervened, the Divinity within these soldiers' bodies would mold their souls into the shape of the Giant Sea Monster, and through a series of means like sacrifices and worship, resurrect that Giant Sea Monster.

The whole process is somewhat akin to Outer Gods invasion or Evil God resurrection tricks. After large-scale sacrificial killings, the residual Divinity of the Giant Sea Monster would forcibly mold all sacrificial souls into the shape of the Sea Monster, forming a new Giant Sea Monster with flesh and blood.

As for whether it is still the original Giant Sea Monster, or how much power the resurrected Giant Sea Monster has compared to the original, it becomes a matter of perspective. At least Chen Yu could guarantee that the resurrected Giant Sea Monster would be unable to possess the Divine Rank and Divine Power of the original.

"If I were the US military, I wouldn't even think about researching this stuff." Chen Yu explained to Major General Claire what Families were and gave some advice, or rather a warning, after clarifying what happened to these two mutated US soldiers: "The blood of deities contains more or less Divinity, which unconsciously affects the souls of those who receive the Divine Blood. Just like how Dragon-descent cannot resist giant dragons, Families cannot defy the deities from whom their bloodline originates, no matter how diluted the bloodline is."

Chen Yu's words made Major General Claire's face turn somewhat gloomy. She had indeed thought of bringing these two soldiers back to study why they mutated.

To know, the United States' pursuit of Supernatural Power has been almost pathologically greedy since their founding.

After all, the US back in those days couldn't have possibly gained independence from the then-dominant British Empire without the help of the demigods under France's Napoleon. Otherwise, the Presidential Mansion wouldn't have been called the White House, as it had been burnt by Canadians and needed paint to cover it up.

But also because of this pathological pursuit, combined with the fact the US did pick a little leftovers from the three major civilizations of America and the technological dividends after the two World Wars, they managed to forge their own system of Supernatural Attributes, albeit filled with numerous bio-experimental contents, and the highest only reaching Expert Level.

Currently, the remnants of a deity's corpse are still in the hangar of the USS Iwo Jima, and two soldiers just drank two drops of blood and could transform into Families with at least Expert Level abilities. This is a perfect research material for the US military!

In fact, after the incident happened last night, Major General Claire suppressed the two mutated soldiers and immediately reported the situation on site back to the homeland.

The Department of Defense was extremely concerned about this matter, even to the point of impatience, almost ordering the Fifth Fleet to return to the homeland, ignoring even the Persian Gulf.

However, fortunately, they did not actually give such an order, only using the excuse of needing one of the aircraft carriers in the Fifth Fleet's dual-carrier battle group to return for home rotation, planning to transfer an aircraft carrier battle group to escort the two tentacles and these two mutated soldiers from the USS Iwo Jima back to the country.

Now, a carrier battle group from the Fifth Fleet has already set sail from the Persian Gulf to rendezvous with the temporary task force.

However, Chen Yu's warning now made Major General Claire quite embarrassed. Of course, the US military desires stronger Supernatural Power, but that power must at least be controllable. If the users will all turn into Cultists of the Evil God, that's not what the US military wants.

The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!