I Reborn as a God Within a Statue, And You Ask Me to Enslave All Gods?-Chapter 93 --The Terror of the Core Crystal

After truly understanding the capabilities of the Core Crystal, Owen couldn’t calm down for a long while.

After all, deities were already vastly superior to awakeners—on an entirely different plane of existence.

But even that gap had its limits. Some powerful awakeners possessed enough strength to slay deities.

This was an unspoken truth known to nearly all deities.

And yet now, the Core Crystal had shattered that very principle.

If he absorbed this Core Crystal now, his combat strength would skyrocket to match that of a tier-8 beginner awakener!

To put this in perspective, even if other deities poured all their efforts into ascending to 2-Star Ancient Gods, their combat strength would only rival a tier-7 awakener at best.

But Owen? He would be able to go head-to-head with a tier-8 awakener. The gap was so wide, it could drive others to despair.

Even if ten tier-7 awakeners teamed up against a tier-8, they’d normally have no chance of victory.

The power disparity—tenfold—was like an unbridgeable chasm.

And most importantly, the Core Crystal’s combat power boost was persistent—it wouldn’t hit a ceiling until he reached the level of a 4-Star Ancient God.

Before that point, even other deities at the same Godhood rank as him would absolutely not be able to stand against him.

Thinking of this, Owen felt more and more just how overpowered and heaven-defying the Core Crystal truly was.

No wonder he surpassed over a billion deities to claim the top ranking and was granted this exclusive reward.

If it weren’t for that hidden existence organizing this deity summit, he might’ve never even heard of something like the Core Crystal.

"A competition like this deity summit... should really be held more often. It’s done wonders for my strength!"

Owen narrowed his eyes, secretly wishing he could participate in more of these high-reward tournaments.

The life-and-death slaughter between deities would begin in five months.

When that time came, combat strength would matter more than anything—it would determine who lived and who died.

And this Core Crystal, which granted him near-invincibility at his rank, could very well make him undefeatable.

After all, divine battles followed rules—opponents were generally matched according to Godhood rank.

To most deities, it was a clash of power and luck, something entirely out of their control.

If the opponent was a deity with a powerful bloodline, you’d be in for a tough fight.

If they were weak, you could easily crush them.

Survival was a roll of the dice.

There was always someone stronger out there—no deity could guarantee a win against a same-tier opponent.

"Core Crystal... Even the name sounds extraordinary. I wonder if I’ll ever come across a higher-tier one someday?"

Owen muttered with visible greed.

This treasure could elevate his ultimate combat potential, which was practically unbelievable.

If more of them existed in this realm, he’d stop at nothing to get his hands on them.

Taking a deep breath, Owen worked to calm his racing thoughts. Then he retrieved the Core Crystal from his system storage and slowly held it in his palm.

The earlier he used it, the better, given how much it could boost his power.

In Owen’s gaze, the Core Crystal resembled a colorless, transparent diamond-shaped crystal, but when the light hit it, it shimmered in rainbow hues—mysterious and breathtaking.

The next moment, the golden god mark on his forehead radiated a dominating golden glow.

Like a tendril, it reached out and touched the crystal, probing and intertwining.

As the divine point within the god mark made contact with the crystal, Owen felt an immediate, massive surge in his combat intuition.

A peculiar fluctuation emanated from the Core Crystal—Owen could clearly sense the pulse of Order!

This Core Crystal... seemed somehow intertwined with Order itself—or perhaps something that transcended it.

It shouldn’t have appeared in this era at all.

"Is this truly just the reward for placing first? Or was my point total so ridiculously high that I was granted a power I shouldn’t have access to at this stage?"

As he absorbed the Core Crystal’s power, Owen only became more puzzled.

But the confusion quickly faded.

Regardless of why, the Core Crystal was his now. Rather than obsess over the reasons, he might as well master it and use it well.

At once, Owen’s soul sank into the god mark that was now integrating with the Core Crystal.

The moment his divine soul merged into the god mark, the sky suddenly erupted into fierce gales, and the world dimmed as if responding to a profound disturbance!

Elsewhere, in the temple hall, Thomas was startled by the sudden change.

The howling winds and darkened sky were clearly not natural.

"What’s going on...?"

Thomas narrowed his eyes, instantly growing alert. As the winds grew louder and more piercing, the pressure on his body grew heavier—terrifyingly so.

It was a pressure that dug into his very bones.

And perhaps it was just his imagination, but when he looked toward the source of the storm, he thought he saw a massive figure standing between heaven and earth, surrounded by an endless tempest.

The suffocating pressure was emanating directly from that entity.

However, as he tried to look more closely, the figure vanished in the storm, as though it had never been there.

Perhaps it was only a hallucination?

But the wind up above was still as sharp as blades, tearing through the air with a sound like paper being shredded.

If even a single gust landed on him, Thomas had a terrifying feeling his flesh would be completely shredded and devoured.

At the same time, other awakeners in the village noticed the storm too.

The wind had appeared far too suddenly—clearly aberrant—and it put everyone on edge.

Village leaders like John, Tommy, and Hibrael, as well as all tier-4 awakeners—even those chasing the broodmother or the evolved treasure wolves, and Mia—all felt it.

All tier-4s and above sensed something was very wrong.

For a brief moment, each of them caught a glimpse of a colossal figure within the storm clouds above.

Though the figure appeared and vanished in an instant, the impact it left behind was unforgettable.

That terrifying entity had clearly noticed them—but after just one glance, it vanished like a ghost.

...

Meanwhile, inside the divine statue, Owen also looked up at the roaring winds above.

The mysterious, giant presence had descended—and as the local deity, Owen sensed it immediately.

But unlike Thomas and the others, Owen saw not just one colossal figure—but twelve.

Twelve immense beings encircling the sky, like a celestial council, gazing coldly down at the village.

Because the others were actively concealing themselves, the awakeners couldn’t perceive them—only Owen could.

In fact, these enormous beings seemed deeply connected to the will of this realm.

They could peer into his domain with ease, and move freely within it.

"What does the will of this realm want? To wipe out deities like us?"

From those vague silhouettes, Owen clearly sensed hostility—they were enemies, not allies.

Most of their attention seemed to be focused on him, as if his breakthrough had drawn their interest.

"What a strange world... spellbeasts rampage freely, aberrations emerge endlessly, and humanity has become little more than prey..."

Owen muttered.

Yet when humans suffer, these mighty entities do nothing.

Now that he—a deity representing humanity—had achieved a significant power-up, they suddenly show up and target him.

"This realm didn’t originally have deities... But now, thanks to that mysterious orchestrator, so many have appeared. Clearly, this is disrupting the realm’s original order..."

Owen still didn’t understand what that hidden force was planning, but it was likely connected.

With so many deities appearing, the balance of this world had already been heavily altered.

If things kept going this way, the conflict might only grow worse.