’Ashmaker.’

Alex had heard that name before.

"Would that be the Fire God?" he asked.

"Ashmaker is the god of Fire and Yang. Having gained Primordial Energy somehow, you have intruded upon his domain. And he should already be aware of this. So, he must have already started searching for you."

Alex frowned. "What can I do here? What are my choices?" he asked. He couldn’t imagine that the Fire God would decide to forgive him if he said it was an accident. From what he had heard, the only possible way for someone to resolve such an issue was for them to fight and prove which one of them was better suited to become a God.

And considering the other was a Celestial, it was simply not possible for Alex to win such a direct confrontation.

"Would... Would senior Ashmaker really come for me?" Alex asked in a hesitant voice.

"You are intruding upon what he believes to be rightfully his. He will fight to get it back," the Sky God answered.

"Would that work?" Alex asked. "As far as I understand, the Primordial energy has something to do with people who believe you are the god or pray to you. Even if he defeats me, if the people who believe my name don’t know that I’ve lost in a battle, wouldn’t that still keep me a Half-God?" 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

The Sky God paused for a moment, considering how she could explain this.

"Imagine the Primordial energy as fame. The higher your fame, the more energy you receive," she said. "However, just like one can become famous, one can also become infamous. In that instance, if two people were to battle and one were to come out victorious, people would start believing that he has no right to be a god. It’s a different type of belief they will hold, and it is quite counterintuitive, but if they see you as a fraud, you become a fraud. You will lose your Primordial energy."

Alex frowned. "I assume this is regardless of who my followers are. Even if they don’t know anything that has transpired with me, I will still stop being a Half-God."

"Yes," the Sky God answered.

Alex could only sigh. Why was it that when he had just found his family, he had to now worry about the Fire God suddenly hounding him?

"I already absorb so little energy to begin with. Will it not be enough if I just promise the Fire God to not absorb any more?" he asked.

"It’s not that simple," the Sky God said.

’Of course it’s not,’ Alex thought, wanting to just give up at this point.

"The amount of Primordial energy one can gain is practically halved the moment another such being is created," the Sky God explained. "At the moment, Ashmaker has to make do with half of what he previously received, and there is no way anyone would be happy about it at all."

"Half?" Alex asked. "But I barely absorb anything. Unless you don’t absorb much either, senior?"

He understood the anger aspect of the issue. Considering how addictive the energy was and the hope to keep gaining more and more, anyone would be angry if they suddenly had to make do with half. But that did not explain why it was half.

"It doesn’t matter how much you can absorb. That is an issue with your ability to absorb the energy. You hold a basket below a waterfall, trying to gather the falling water. Except your basket is full of holes, so what you gather is nothing in the end."

"However, you do hold the basket. Which means you get as much chance to gather from the waterfall as anyone else does. Since there are two of you, you are suddenly sharing the fame. Unless you can convince the other to stop entirely, whether by words or fists, it will never stop."

The Sky God’s explanation helped Alex see everything in a new light.

"So, this means that regardless of how little energy I am receiving from my new status, it categorically halves the amount for the Fire God?" he asked the Sky God, just to confirm he had understood everything correctly.

"That is indeed the case," the Sky God said. "I see no method for you out of this other than to just run away and hide so the Fire God can’t find you, or fight him in a combat for Godhood. I won’t lie, either one of them is pointless since it is not happening. So, realistically, your one option is to find the Fire God and apologize immediately, explaining that you told the truth."

Alex hesitated. He wasn’t sure whether he wanted to do that or not. He just didn’t want to give up on the elements just yet.

"I’m only an Immortal, so surely the Fire God will hold back from seriously attacking me," Alex said. "So at the very least, I should be safe, right?"

The Sky God shook her head in disapproval. "I think it is obvious now that you have understood the joy and loss of gaining and losing the Primordial energy. So, you should understand what sort of feeling you get when you start running out of it."

"As such, if you believe the Fire God, whose elements you fully stole, is likely to forgive you, then you are surely mistaken," the Sky God said.

Alex tried to argue against this, but the more he thought about it, the more it made sense as to what would happen. The Fire God would certainly want his title and his Primordial energy back.

"So there is a chance something like this might happen in the future, huh?" Bladedance asked, quite worried for her disciple. "He should be stronger than me."

"He should," the Sky God said. "But you are free to try it out. Who knows, you might have a way to defeat him too."

"Is that so?" Bladedance asked with a chuckle. "Then I have to regain my energy before the Fire God finds us."