I Reborn as a God Within a Statue, And You Ask Me to Enslave All Gods?-Chapter 125 --Year-End Sacrifice

Owen swept his gaze across the townspeople gathered outside the temple. Some bowed in reverence toward him, while others directed their worship toward Water God James.

He didn’t mind this in the slightest. After all, James was his Vassal God, and faith in James was ultimately faith in him.

All of those spice points would converge upon Owen himself.

This was the fundamental difference between Vassal Gods and Ancient Gods.

His Vassal Gods were like executive managers—gods in their own right, capable of receiving worship and devotion, yet all the resulting spice points would eventually funnel back to Owen.

Conversely, Vassal Gods relied entirely on the divine points that Owen granted them in order to grow stronger.

From what he had learned so far, a 1-Star Vassal God required around 20 divine points per month to maintain their power. To reach the peak of 1-Star level, they would need about 100 divine points monthly.

Divine points were not abundant—just enough to cast two full-powered god skills of their tier.

Thankfully, Vassal Gods could also slowly absorb divine points from their own domains.

James, for example, as the Water God granted a Divine Throne by Owen, gradually absorbed divine points from rivers and lakes.

Tommy, likewise, could draw divine points from the very earth, his appointed domain.

After observing the now colossal form of James, Owen directed 380 order fragments to merge into James’s divine body.

As the fragments fused into him, the original human faith within James began to stir and boil. The energy mixed with the fragments and ultimately condensed into his divine core—his divine spark—at the center of his forehead.

James originally possessed 325 strands of original faith.

However, two of his dearest companions had also accumulated some original faith by following James faithfully, albeit less than he had.

Though original faith could not be forcibly seized, it could be willingly given.

After their deaths, they had instinctively offered their own original faith to James. That added 315 more strands, bringing his total to 640 strands of original faith.

To promote a 1-Star Vassal God to the 1-Star Peak, one would normally need 700 order fragments, or 100 tier-1 order fragments.

Owen chose to use standard order fragments. Thanks to the 640 strands of original faith, the promotion cost was reduced by 320 fragments.

Now, with enough order fragments gathered, Water God James began his true ascension!

The streams and rivers that swirled around him grew more turbulent, and a vast, overwhelming divine aura spread out from him—surging across every river, lake, and sea.

Watching James’s majestic transformation and advancement, Owen was deeply satisfied.

According to his calculations, before the next sacrifice, James would have fully completed his evolution into a 1-Star Peak Vassal God.

Once that happened, James’s overall strength and capabilities would leap forward, making him an even greater asset to Owen.

With that settled, Owen turned his attention to Tommy, currently his only B-rank Devotee.

Though Tommy had already become a Vassal God, he remained Owen’s devout follower, providing vast amounts of spice points every single day.

As the God of Earth, the domain Owen had granted him had grown in size through several upgrades. Even the quality of the land had quietly evolved.

Therefore, promoting Tommy was significantly easier than promoting James.

"Tommy," Owen’s dignified voice resonated in Tommy’s ears, "since becoming my devotee, you’ve remained devout. Even after receiving the Divine Throne, you’ve stayed true to your purpose. I now elevate your Godhood rank again—may you continue to serve humanity and uphold your sacred duty."

The moment Tommy heard this divine proclamation, he immediately knelt in deep reverence and said:

"Devotee Tommy shall never forget your guidance, O great Deus Initium!"

Tommy knew full well—he and his entire family were alive and well today only because of Deus Initium.

His current status, his survival, his strength—all of it was a gift from the god.

Thus, he was not just devoted; he was immensely grateful. Even if Deus Initium commanded him to die, he would not hesitate in the slightest.

To him, Deus Initium was the one and only true god.

Soon, 350 order fragments shot out from the divine statue, glowing like a swarm of luminous fireflies, and flew into Tommy’s body.

As Owen’s most devout B-rank follower, the cost of Tommy’s advancement was also reduced by half.

This was why Owen placed such value on high-rank Devotees.

Not only did they provide large amounts of spice points, but they also significantly reduced the cost of Vassal God promotion—especially crucial when order fragments were both rare and highly versatile.

After investing order fragments to elevate both James and Tommy, Owen was left with 380 standard order fragments.

The more order fragments, the better. But unfortunately, the only reliable way Owen knew to acquire them was by slaying Aberrations.

As for the dark gods he had once encountered in another dimension—they didn’t seem native to this world. In this realm, only Aberrations existed.

"For now, I’ll focus on consolidating strength. After the next sacrifice, I can have Thomas lead a team to scout the neighboring cities. We should be able to find more Aberrations—and then I’ll be able to grant more Divine Thrones to new Vassal Gods."

Having made his internal plans, Owen returned to crafting Hellish Artifacts to sell via the Trading Channel.

...

Peaceful days passed by quickly.

In the blink of an eye, half a month had gone by.

As the brilliant sun rose once again in the east, today marked exactly one year since Owen became a god in this world!

Today wasn’t just the day of the annual sacrifice—it was also the official beginning of the Divine War!

From the first glimmers of dawn, Annasi Town had already erupted with activity.

Villagers who had merged into the town from various regions gathered together. The more devout ones had even woken up early to bathe and purify themselves before packing incense and offerings, making their way to the square in front of the temple.

To all the residents of Annasi Town, this was the most important, most festive occasion of all—

—the grand worship ceremony to Deus Initium!

Held twice a year, every townsfolk took these events extremely seriously.

After all, each sacrificial ceremony offered them a chance to change their fate.

They still remembered the previous sacrifice, where many became Awakeners or experienced a breakthrough in power.

Deus Initium had always bestowed divine blessings upon his followers after every sacrifice.

This year-end sacrifice was even more eagerly anticipated.

No one wanted to miss such a sacred occasion.

No one would willingly give up the chance to receive Deus Initium’s blessings.

"Village Chief John, how’s the preparation for today’s ceremony going?" asked Thomas solemnly as he watched John manage the growing crowd.

"There are a lot of people coming to worship. Everything must remain orderly—we can’t afford any mistakes!"

Today, the town held more than 20,000 residents.

Organizing such a massive gathering for a sacrificial ceremony was, without a doubt, a monumental undertaking.