Starting from the Planetary Governor - Chapter 878

Chapter 871, What kind of god am I?

The fundamental reason Gu Hang was able to choose Grit as the carrier of divine power, outside of the Space Marine system, lies in the unique nature of humanity’s belief system at the Warp level.

In his limited understanding, Gu Hang believed the Ascended Emperor could be considered humanity’s racial god.

Perhaps the God-Emperor possessed some other conceptual source of power. But whatever else he possessed, the concept of humanity’s racial god remained central.

Now, Gu Hang had come to understand his role as a “parent.”

If I were a god, then what kind of god was I?

Gu Hang analyzed the source of his own “divinity.” He

had originally acquired the Divine Kingdom on the Wrathful Owl Star, from the remains of the original Wrathful Owl. After that original deity was destroyed, the system transformed and stole the Divine Kingdom, placing it in Gu Hang’s hands.

However, the remnants of the original Wrathful Owl are now extremely rare.

While it possessed Warp essence, its degree was minimal, far less than that of even a great demon. Even at its peak, a single warband champion would have been utterly annihilated. While

the Primordial Raging Owl laid the foundation for Gu Hang’s Kingdom, its subsequent growth relied on two key factors:

First, Gu Hang devoured countless enemies in battle after battle. This included

the souls of aliens and demons. Even

more so, those incredibly powerful Greater Demons, Neuron Worms, Orc Warlords, and even beings of the rank of the two Worm Queens.

For a long time, Gu Hang only perceived the latter of these two ways of strengthening the Storm Kingdom.

It was obvious.

The former was much less noticeable. Even if millions, tens of millions, or even hundreds of millions of lives perished, Gu Hang would hardly have noticed a tangible increase. It wasn’t

until the Dark Side Crusade began, when this “trickle” became more pronounced, that Gu Hang, through the Storm Kingdom’s slow yet steady growth, realized this source of growth.

Second, the trust of countless subjects within the Alliance’s territories rested on Gu Hang.

While this was also a trickle, its magnitude was far more pronounced than the killing of enemies.

Analyzing from these two perspectives, Gu Hang seems to possess characteristics of both a “conceptual god” and a “racial god.

” Huh? Why do I say “also”?

Let’s not worry about that for now.

The so-called conceptual god part refers to the primordial natural concepts of “storm” and “thunder” represented by the primordial wrathful owl.

On its own, it’s not powerful enough—it’s just a planetary native deity, a rubbish with a very low standard.

It’s also not high-brow enough—a worship born of sheer fear of the natural environment. On its own, it can’t hold a candle to the grandeur of a conceptual god; it’s just a minor figure with a very low upper limit.

Both its upper and lower limits are low, but it can change.

By consuming a large number of powerful alien and demonic units, it has directly expanded the nature of the subspace, raising its lower limit.

More importantly, as the Alliance continued to expand, the prestige gained from each victory transformed into trust and worship of the leader, bringing about two major changes.

First, the simple worship of natural phenomena—thunder and storms—transformed into worship of the leader. Because the original nature worship was weak, it was quickly purged into the concepts of “development, domination, and victory.” Storms and thunder, originally the essence of a divine kingdom, became a mere appearance.

Storms and thunder symbolized the Alliance’s storm-like growth and its thunderous methods of achieving victory!

This was perfectly natural, much like the Emperor, who is the “cold sun,” but this doesn’t mean the concept of deity he represents is simply a “sun god.”

Furthermore, the Alliance’s devotion to Gu Hang gave him the added significance of a “racial god,” beyond the “conceptual god.”

Gu Hang was certainly a racial god—a single race’s devotion, considering him the symbol of the Alliance.

To some extent, this represents a diversion of faith in the Emperor.

Without the Emperor’s will, Gu Hang would be unable to succeed—in the Warp, he would be met with hostility from the Emperor; in the real universe, the Ecclesiarchy, and indeed all of the Emperor’s followers, would inevitably view him as an enemy. The combined effects of these two factors would completely destabilize Gu Hang’s rule, precipitating a rapid collapse of the Alliance into civil war.

However, this did not occur, and the underlying significance is crystal clear: the Emperor does not care; he even supports it.

Can’t a race have two racial gods? Of course!

The prime example is the green-skinned second brother who blocked the entrance to Gu Hang’s kingdom.

It was precisely because of Gu Hang’s dual identity as a “concept” and a “race” that he was able to quickly foster the creation of Grit, a “living saint.”

Grit is a Battle Sister, wholeheartedly devoted to the Emperor.

Clearly, faith in the Emperor and faith in Gu Hang are not in conflict at all.

She also held Gu Hang in deep trust, believing him to be “the greatest leader since the Emperor,” “will lead the Imperium back to its peak,” and “the Alliance is humanity’s hope.” This

wasn’t always the case, but after centuries of victories within the Alliance, and especially after embarking on the Dark Side Crusade and carrying the banner of human liberation, Grit quickly fell in love, elevating her faith in Gu Hang to a level on par with that of the Emperor.

Even under her leadership, the entire movement within the Holy Lily Order shifted in this direction.

The Alliance’s new religion, centered around the Holy Lily Sisters, followed a similar path.

It was simply a matter of degree.

The more insane believed Gu Hang was a god, equal to the God-Emperor; the more reasonable could distinguish between religious devotion to the God-Emperor and secular support for Gu Hang.

Regardless, Grit’s faith met the standard, even surpassing the level of fanaticism.

Her partial faith in the Emperor, far from being an obstacle, actually facilitated Gu Hang’s sharing of the Warp’s essence.

Gu Hang was proceeding conservatively, aiming to create a regular Chosen, after all. He didn’t want to overwhelm Grit, nor did he expect to create a supremely powerful Chosen, one as powerful as a Chapter Champion—that would simply add another weight to the upcoming battle.

Unexpectedly, the sharing of the Warp Essence went so smoothly, and even before he’d fully benefited,

Gu Hang faintly sensed another force, giving him a slight boost.

So the Emperor’s help was so subtle, wasn’t it?

Then maybe a little more!

Thus was born Gu Hang’s first ‘Living Saint,’ the ‘Angel of Storms.’

After her ascension, Grit’s individual combat power was likely slightly stronger than both Martins and Ewing.

This was a huge surprise!

And the next surprise was also an unexpected choice:

Rizzo, the Phoenix’s Chief Priest.

He was one of the seven Phoenix members who had accompanied Martins to the Wrathful Owl Star. A hundred years later, only three of the seven are still alive, and Rizzo is one of them.

Gu Hang had always found him mysterious, having played a subtle yet crucial role in the Phoenix’s integration into the Alliance.

Gu Hang later learned that the Phoenix changed course and came to the Wrathful Owl Planet in search of the so-called “redemption of the Chapter” because Rizzo had received the “Emperor’s Call” and told Martins about it.

But in Gu Hang’s mind, it was a “Special Event” he had activated with his own Gift Points.

The subtleties in this are truly fascinating.

(End of Chapter)