Otaku Witch

It could be said that Heroic Spirits, aside from having become Spectral Bodies, are hardly different from when they were alive, a variant form of eternal life.

The only drawback, it seems, is that the transformation is quite difficult and subsequent upgrades can be somewhat challenging.

The birth of a Heroic Spirit requires the baptism of powerful faith, only those with considerable fame, respect, or fear during their life can potentially be transformed into Heroic Spirits after death.

Even though newly ascended Heroic Spirits possess strength comparable to that of ordinary Superior Specters, they cannot enhance their powers by any conventional means.

Similarly to the method of their birth, if they wish to further increase their strength, they must expand their collection of faith, which means, as in life, doing good or evil deeds to further spread their renown and ultimately gather enough faith to transform from Heroic Spirits into Deities of Faith.

The Angels who beguile the populace with claims of reaching the Divine Realm in heaven if their faith is devout enough are technically not lying. In reality, they are transforming them into Heroic Spirits. They just don't tell the whole story; after all, only a small number of widely known high-ranking Church officials ever become Heroic Spirits—the common believer doesn't have this privilege.

The only slight hope for the average believer is perhaps to advance to being a zealot; in this case, there's a certain probability of being transformed into a special kind of Heroic Spirit known as a Supplicant, a weaker version of a normal Heroic Spirit, but still able to retain the thoughts from their previous life.

And this maintenance of thought comes with a condition: they must continually offer their faith to the Deities. Once they renounce their faith or it becomes insincere, they may disintegrate.

The sole purpose of Supplicants seems to be to serve as a "battery," providing a constant supply of faith to the Divine Realm and the Angels.

Of course, Dorothy had little interest in these Supplicants; she sought true Heroic Spirits.

This Monument of Heroes is a Marvelous Architecture capable of endlessly nurturing Heroic Spirits. As long as a hero's pinch of ashes is sprinkled in front of the monument, if they genuinely meet the criteria to ascend to the Monument of Heroes, that pinch of ashes will be absorbed by the monument, and the hero's name will then appear upon it.

Afterwards, as long as people make offerings to the Monument of Heroes, the hero's spirit will receive a share of faith, and over time, they will be invariably transformed into true Heroic Spirits.

"Judging the time, when the city is completed, the first batch of Heroic Spirits should be ready to reveal themselves. Then, it will be time to consider preparing new bodies for these Heroic Spirits,"

Dorothy thought to herself.

A simple Underworld System, sure, includes soul soothing, and of course, there should be a reincarnation system. Regrettably, the Homebody Witch's current abilities aren't enough to realize true reincarnation.

Fortunately, as Spectral Forms, Heroic Spirits naturally have the ability to possess others.

While they possess remarkable strength even without a host, a suitable body could significantly increase their power, but finding the right body is not always easy.

None of these challenges, however, posed a significant issue for the Homebody Witch, who was also an accomplished Puppet Master. In her eyes, these Heroic Spirits were the optimal candidates for intelligent Puppet entities.

The true Mechanical Ascension begins now.

These Heroic Spirits were originally framed as heroes who defended their homeland, as Guardians, and Dorothy had assigned them a similar role for the future—they would become the Law Enforcers and Guardian Gods of the city.

And to ensure these Heroic Spirits had ample combat power, a set of specially crafted, combat-specific Mechanical Bodies was essential.

Conveniently, after recently delving into the Angel Evolution Atlas, the Homebody Witch had a new burst of Inspiration. Meet the Mechanical Angels...

...Mechanical Ascension in progress...