Chapter 6: The Faith Restored
Editor: Henyee Translations
In the Temple of Nature on the trunk of the World Tree.
Alice the saint of nature and Samuel the elderly priest uneasily knelt down before the statue.
They bent their heads with expressions of great elation but also deep shame.
At this moment, Alice's body seemed to have undergone an inexplicable change. There was an aura of holiness about her.
And the elderly priest who had recovered also seemed to have undergone a subtle transition.
Berserker the oak guard stood aside with a solemn yet fanatical expression like a sculpture…
"Have I bluffed too much?"
In the space of the godhead, Eve swallowed his saliva as He looked at the number of believers in His profile.
[Number of Believers: 3 (Saints: 1, Fanatic Believers: 2, Devout Believers: 0, Shallow Believers: 0)]
The series of Eve's operations was far more powerful than what He had imagined.
Originally, He thought if he provided timely help in a better way, He might have been able to restore the two elves' faith. However, the effect was so strong that it went beyond His imagination!
Alice the saint, a former devout believer, not only restored her faith after this crisis, but also exceeded the level of the fanatic believer and became a rare saint shown in the data!
And the elderly priest whose life was saved also became a fanatic believer like the oak guard!
Until now, Eve could not forget the scene where the elderly priest fell down onto the ground, patted himself and cried aloud like a child after he realized what had happened.
The combination of endless expectations, the ultimate despair and the present hope produced an extraordinarily surprising effect.
"It is no wonder that gods let believers suffer. And then the gods will give them a red jujube after their suffering to produce a stronger effect… Well, is it called… Stockholm syndrome? Um… It's not appropriate to say so, but it's a bit like that.
Eve sighed and then checked His points of divine force.
[Divine Force: 20/500]
He had expected long ago that He would gain the points of divine force by increasing believers who could incessantly provide faith power for Him.
Nevertheless, He was still surprised by the amount of faith power brought by high-level believers.
Originally, He only had 10 points of divine force. And it cost Him one point to heal the two elves. But when the two elves restored their faith, they actually provided Him with six points of divine force!
This… was too exaggerated.
In fact, it only cost Him five points of divine force to awaken Berserker.
However, Eve soon discovered that the two elves seemed to be blessed with an inexplicable power, which burst out at the same time when they restored their faith. That was the reason why His divine force soared…
This kind of power was similar to will power.
In addition…
Berserker, the oak guard who had killed more than 20 ors, actually provided Him with five points of divine force!
Eve found it strange.
If Alice and Samuel's changes were surprising to Him, then that of Berserker the oak guard was shocking.
Although Berserker had provided Him with all the vitality of the orcs, the addition of all the vitality of more than 20 orcs of an average power of Intermediate Iron was below five points of divine force anyhow.
It was barely one point, let alone five points.
Just now, nevertheless, the five points of divine force seemed to be made of more than the vitality of orcs. There seemed to be something else…
This power was similar to that of the two elves.
After checking the information inherited from the World Tree, Eve made an assumption.
Those orcs, as long-term elf hunters, had accumulated the resentment of numerous elves. As the main god of elves, Eve exterminated them and fulfilled the wishes of those dead elves.
The more powerful and intellectual the creatures were, the more bitter their resentment would be after death.
Elves were originally intellectual creatures with long lifespans. And they were born with magic physiques. The resentment caused by the deaths of numerous elves during 1,000 years was absolutely great.
Similar to faith power, resentment was also a kind of spiritual power. Derelict resentment and souls would fall to the underworld after the creature's death.
By destroying these hunters, Eve fulfilled the responsibility of the main god of elves. So the resentment that accumulated for years turned into gratitude and was sublimated into faith power, which finally came through the vacant space and fed Eve in the form of divine force in return.
Additionally, even among the faith power provided by the two priests, there was still the elves' resentment!
This… greatly surprised Eve.
"That is to say, besides spreading faith, I can also quickly regain my power by exterminating elves' enemies, restoring the elf race to its former glory and gaining the recognition of the souls of the dead elves! Furthermore, the skill of War Sacrifice seems to have considerable potential, for it can indirectly provide power for me…"
Eve came to such a conclusion.
But He soon found it less helpful…
"I can act against elves' enemies… Directly speaking, the majority of elves' enemies were hunting bands. In fact, the number of these hunting bands was limited. I won't regain much power even if I destroy all of them. As for those indirect and real culprits, now I am not their opponent…"
"Moreover, while the dead elves' resentment seems considerable, it is actually very limited. I suppose it can greatly feed me only at the initial stage. Feeding on the dead elves' resentment alone, I can only at most get rid of the dying condition."
"In order to restore the elf race to its former glory, I must have enough helping hands. That is to say, I must assemble the remaining elves. Besides, to gain more strength, I need a large number of believers to indirectly provide power for me through War Sacrifice…"
"I'm afraid that the number of believers should be at least 10,000, or even hundreds of thousands, or a million…"
"But how many elves are still there?"
Eve basically understood the current situation of the elf race as He had heard the conversation between Alice and Samuel before.
In general, elves scattered after the fall of the World Tree and less than 10% of the elf race survived. The remaining elves went into hiding. Most of their former brilliant civilization was gone…
"If I really have enough time to assemble the remaining elves, I will regain almost all of my faith power. So, this is not a shortcut…"
"Furthermore, it will be harder to restore the elf civilization. A civilization needs a large population."
The more Eve thought, the more disappointed He began to feel.
"I'm still too weak. The World Tree, in its prime, never worries about the issue of population. Divine force can be turned into original elves directly."
Original elves were the first generation of elves created by the World Tree.
"However, if I really have the power to create original elves, there is no need for me to regain my power by restoring the elf civilization. This is completely incompatible!"
The mere thought of it made Eve helpless.
Now, the points of divine force needed to create original elves were too many for Eve.
More precisely, it would deplete the weak World Tree's power heavily to create the souls of original elves.
In theory, with the divine mission of "life," Eve was able to create souls.
But currently, He had almost lost the ability to create souls. If He struggled to create souls by force, it would cost Him far more points of divine force than under normal circumstances.
For example, if He needed to spend one point to create a soul in His prime, it might have cost Him almost 10 points to do the same thing when He was weak…
It cost Him five points of natural power to revive Berserker's soul, let alone create a new one!
That was right. He revived a soul.
When Eve revived Berserker, He struggled by force.
And among these five points of divine force it cost, most of them were used for the soul. The oak guard's vitality and his silver power actually cost few…
According to Eve's current situation, it would cost even more to create new souls of original elves.
It would not cost many points to create bodies alone.
But if He did not give them souls, what He created would be nothing more than hollow bodies of no use.
Sure enough, it would gradually cost Eve less to create souls as he restored His power… And He would finally return to the normal condition to create original elves.
At that time, it would cost Him even less than one point of divine force!
But Eve could not wait that long.
This was actually an issue about time and efficiency.
"Can I only increase my power by gradually assembling elves and restoring their faith? If that is the case… I'm afraid that I will have to wait for decades or maybe even 100 years?"
That was too long!
Additionally, He had opponents. By inheriting the World Tree, Eve had inherited the enemies of the former World Tree in the same way. Those enemies were also true gods!
The body of the World Tree survived for 1,000 years, because the former World Tree had made every effort to cast a spell on His body at the end of the war of gods.
Under this spell, nobody below true gods could touch the World Tree's body except for believers of nature.
After the war of gods, the magic power in the world of Sagas gradually faded. The passage between heaven and the secular world was closed afterwards. The true gods in heaven could not enter the secular world in their true bodies, while the true gods in the secular world were all falling into a deep sleep…
Under these circumstances, the World Tree survived.
But when Eve inherited the World Tree, the spell was broken.
If Eve was still in a dying condition without enough power, it would be hard for Him to defend Himself against several enemies of Legendary power.
"I hope I have a way to find a large number of souls. If there are souls, I can only worry about the bodies. It will be a shortcut for me to create souls… In this way, I can solve the problem of population. Then, I will continue to assemble elves and spread faith. I will do these two things at the same time and gradually become stronger…"
However, where can I find souls? Because of the existence of faith, almost all souls belong to their god in this world! And He was not able to enter the underworld…
Moreover, even if He could find useful souls, they must be willing to listen to Him.
"It is too hard…"
Eve sighed while surfing the Internet in the space of the godhead out of sheer boredom…
"Wait…"
Suddenly, He seemed to think of something. He stopped and gazed at the Internet passage from the blue planet,
"There really seems to be a way…"
-- Gift
received