A True God Visits Eldorun!

In an even more distant era, thousands of years later, when humanity became the masters of the earth, Elian once heard numerous ignorant human scholars raise a question:

"Why do most gods look like human beings?"

"Clearly, there are other intelligent races on this continent, aren't there?"

"Yet, apart from the racial deities tied to specific kinds, most other gods take human form."

"Before the human race was born upon the earth, were the gods also in human shape?"

"..."

Indeed, the God of Knowledge, the God of War, the God of Death, the God of Commerce, the God of Disease...

Why do they all appear as men or women, old or young, resembling humans?

If the humans who posed these questions had truly traveled back to the primordial dawn, to the era when humanity had just been born or not yet even existed, the answer would become self-evident.

Ain, the Goddess of Knowledge and Prophecy—the divine schoolmistress of the gods, the all-knowing mentor—witnessed this process firsthand.

In the epoch at the very beginning of creation, she was merely a formless, impersonal, primary divine force, a part of the universe's foundational numinous energy.

Until one day, the reverence and faith of mortals endowed this formless divine power with a shape, offering a name to this deity.

Only then was the Goddess of Knowledge truly and completely born.

Mortals shaped their gods with their faith!

Thus, the Goddess of Knowledge gained her initial consciousness and personality, opened her eyes, and looked upon the greatest continent of a certain planet, beholding those mortals who worshipped her and chanted her name—

Those "mortals" who possessed mountain-like colossal bodies, wings, scales, and claws.

This was also Ain's initial form.

In that ancient era before humanity was born, the "mortals" who dominated the world were called dragons.

And Ain, the Goddess of Knowledge at that time, also manifested in the form of a giant dragon.

Just like those mortals who revered her.

Later, when the Dragon of Lush Forests, the primordial nine-faced dragon god, split into two distinct dragon deities: Tiamat, the Goddess of Chromatic Dragons, and Bahamut; when the two dragon kinds—chromatic and metallic—fell into an eternal opposition of good and evil, causing their empire to lose its unity; when the dragons plunged into a millennium-long war to the death against the giants; when the empire of dragons finally declined through protracted battles and disintegrated, forcing the remnants of the dragonkind to retreat to other smaller continents...

When the elves replaced the dragons to become the new masters of this continent...

Ain transformed into the likeness of an elf.

This Goddess of Knowledge acquired the slender, graceful physique of an elf, along with the most iconic long ears of the elven kind, moving with elven elegance in every step and every gesture.

As the most civilized race on the continent, besides revering the elven pantheon that created them, the elves would also periodically worship non-racial deities like Ain.

Occasionally, while listening to prayers, the goddess's divine perception would emanate from her statue, and she could hear thoughtful elven children asking with curiosity:

"Why does Ain, the All-Knowing Mentor, look like us elves?"

"Are there not other intelligent races on this continent, such as dwarves and gnomes?"

Whenever she heard such questions, Ain in her divine realm would smile knowingly.

As the lighthouse of civilization on the continent, the Elven Court had ruled this land for a very long time.

The elves walked among boundless scrolls of literature, spreading knowledge, and treating knowledge and magic as art; their very actions embodied Ain's divine purview.

Whether they worshipped her or not, they substantially provided power to Ain.

This was the nature of conceptual deities.

In essence, they were the embodiment of certain worldly rules, the personified manifestation of the universe's origin. One could even say they were a part of the universe's origin itself, with mortals merely weaving names and appearances for them.

Even if mortals had never known of the corresponding deity's existence, any action of theirs that practiced its divine purview would sustain and even expand that deity's power and authority!

Perhaps because of a larger population, which required more books to spread ideas.

Perhaps because elves regarded magic and knowledge as art.

For whatever reason, elves seemed to pay more attention to the transmission of knowledge than dragons had.

During the era of elven rule over the earth, Ain, as the incarnation of knowledge, saw her power and authority grow further, rising from the peak of weak divine rank to the level of a intermediate deity.

Seated in her divine realm, gazing at the vast collection of scrolls within the Elven Court, Ain sometimes could not help but wonder:

"Will the rule of this noble race called elves over this continent come to an end one day?"

"Just like the mighty dragon empire of years past."

She did not know.

That was an ethereal future that even this Goddess of Knowledge and Prophecy could not foresee.

Century after century passed.

One day, Ain, the Goddess of Knowledge seated in her divine realm, sensed a new surge of knowledge-power.

It came from the vast cosmos of the prime material plane, from the corner in the eastern part of the largest continent on the surface of the only planet with a thriving civilization at that time.

There, another group of different living beings was practicing the path of [Knowledge], expanding her authority.

And so, the goddess cast her gaze toward the direction where she felt the power of knowledge.

It was a new race called "humanity"!

In a small, barbaric land in the east of the continent, within the human kingdom of Eldorun, hundreds of schools stood upon the earth.

Mages, whether hailing from the cities in the sky or born upon the surface and staying behind to teach, were spreading knowledge here.

Students studied cultural courses and magical knowledge within the schools.

They learned writing, basic arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy; they learned calendars and chronology; they came to know the history of Eldorun and the human race, and even understood how elves had replaced dragons to rule the continent in the ancient era, believing that: history will not end, and what has been done will be done again.

They loved knowledge.

Although, due to their sparse population, humanity's impact on the Goddess of Knowledge Ain and the domain of knowledge was still far inferior to that of the elves.

Yet Ain could clearly perceive that the humans of Eldorun harbored a passion for spreading knowledge that seemed far to surpass that of the Elven Court.

Could it be because human lifespans were far too brief, making it difficult for individuals to live past a hundred years unless they were exceptionally powerful mages, thus necessitating the passing down of knowledge within a limited time? Or perhaps it was simply because elves viewed knowledge as an art form, preferring to appreciate it rather than study and disseminate it painstakingly.

Whatever the reason, this new race named humanity had successfully caught Ain's attention.

Thus, the Goddess of Knowledge and Prophecy shaped an avatar with her divine power and descended upon Eldorun.

To prevent humans from recognizing her appearance and discovering her true identity, Ain made what she considered a flawless disguise—

She shortened her iconic elven long ears, slightly adjusted her slender and delicate physique, and altered all traits resembling elves into human forms.

Now, she looked precisely like a human!

She was indistinguishable from the statues of the goddess revered within the temples thousands of years later.

Ain's avatar flew into the lands of Eldorun. After demonstrating astonishing magic, she said to the patrolling mages:

"I have come from a very, very far place, from a human settlement outside Eldorun, and I am a high-ranking sixth-circle mage."

"I have heard of the achievements of you people of Eldorun, heard that you have forged a great human kingdom here, and I also know that you have a great monarch."

"Might I have the honor of glimpsing the countenance of your great emperor?"