Faith

In the Natural Divine Palace, World Tree's pillar towered above the duo of Alice and Samir.

The Natural Saintess and the Old Priest knelt before the statue with some tension and hesitation.

However, their expressions displayed immeasurable joy and deep remorse...

At that moment, she experienced a feeling of divine peace within her body.

And when she had healed the priest previously, some subtle improvements were observed to accompany his restored state.

As Berserker stood to the side, his gaze was still and focused, as though he were a frozen statue, his expression serious and passionate.

"Is this success?"

From within the Deity space, Eve took in a mouthful of saliva as she considered the amount of information within his data Frame.

(Number of Believers: 3 (Saints 1, Fanatical 2, Devout Believers 0, Peasant Believers 0))

Eve activated his power, overwhelmed by its magnitude.

Prior to this, his intention had been to wait for the perfect moment to present itself and enhance the faith of the two individuals, yet she had not anticipated such intense effectiveness!

The formerly Devout Believer, Alice, had even surpassed Fanatical status, becoming a Saint!

The aged priest who had been saved had also become a fanatic in nature, much like Lantana's guard!

As he continued to recall the scene which transpired after the old priest had acknowledged what occurred — his body dropping to the floor, while he engaged in self-comfort and weeping like a child — Eve continued to be overwhelmed by the memory.

Infinite anticipation, mixed with a crushing despair, appeared in a snap, generating shock and a truly outstanding outcome.

Upon experiencing a minor burst of emotion, Eve turned his attention to examine his Divine Power value.

(Divine Power Value: 20/500)

The result surpassed his expectations.

Initially, Eve currently possessed just 10 points of Divine Power value, and expended one point of it to heal the two Elves.

However, when the two individuals regained their faith, it completely gifted him with 6 points of Divine Power value!

Of these, 4 points derived from Alice's promotion to Saint.

Besides that, Berserker, through his elimination of over twenty Half-Orcs, additionally supplied Eve with 5 points of Divine Power value.

In the aftermath of the session, he noticed that her Divine Power Value did not only fail to decrease — instead, it had actually increased to 20, which superseded his previous value at the instance of Berserker summoning.

As he considered the Divine Power Value, Eve fell into contemplation.

Increasing Faith was feasible, given him continuous supply of Divine Power Value.

However, the magnitude of Faith which higher-level Believers bestowed frequently filled her with suprise.

Yet she also was aware that such matters needed to be regarded but not pursued.

The two Elves had always been believers in nature, which suggested their desperation.

The great potential for faith, after all — was something which not all individuals, were able to achieve instantaneously.

It was, therefore evident that the path of strengthening faith was indeed appropriate for her.

However...

Recalling the valuable 5 points of Divine Power which Guardian Lantana had bestowed upon her previously, Eve felt an unusual feeling stirring within her heart.

5 points of Divine Power value!

If Alice and Samir's changes sparked joy, then "Lantana Guardian" Berserker, on the other hand, was rather alarming.

Although Berserker offered all of the Half-Orc's life force to him, combined, that life force — even if accumulated from more than twenty Mid Black Iron Half-Orcs, the average strength, did not suffice to account for 5 points of Divine Power value.

It wasn't that 5 points or 1 point were too much.

Rather, the value of those 5 points of Divine Power just now didn't appear to be entirely derived from the Half-Orc, it seems like there's something else...

After studying the World Tree inheritance information, a certain theory occurred to Eve.

The Half-Orcs, who dedicated themselves to the hunting of Elves, had accumulated countless elf grudges over their bodies throughout the years.

Erasing them would be equivalent to quenching their soul's yearning.

The more powerful and intellectually inclined the creature, the more intense the fatal resentment would be.

Elves were a kind of intelligent, long-lived creature, born with a magically infused body. The resentment which had arisen from the demise of countless elven kind over thousands of years, certainly was not a minor phenomenon.

Resentment was, in essence, a separate form of spiritual energy.

While it had different ways of interacting with the force of faith, the results were still similar in their beauty.

Unutilized resentment and souls would follow deceased creatures into the Underworld.

Having killed those hunters to fulfill the role of "Elf Master God", the many years of resentment were converted into gratefulness, sublimated into faith, and eventually overcame the void.

If not, they had come to utilize the Divine Power to serve Eve.

This... Made Eve utterly amazed.

"Along with empowering my faith, I am capable of vanquishing the foe, revitalizing the magnificent Elven populace, securing the endorsement of the perished spirits, thus expediting the recovery of my prowess. Besides, this War Sacrifice skill also appears to possess substantial potential, and can indirectly afford me with force..."

Having come to such a notion, Eve swiftly comprehended the issue.

But her contentment was swiftly extinguished, as she quickly discerned the matter to be troublesome.

"I can handle this. The antagonists of the Elves... To put it bluntly, most of them are hunters, and in reality, these hunting groups are limited in count. Even if I assembled them all at once, I fear that my vigor would not be restored to a remarkable degree. As far as those indirect actions, as well as those instigated by actual oligarchic forces, I currently lack the potency to deal with them. Moreover, in order to reconstruct the glorious Elven race, I must garner more accomplices, that is to say, I must recruit the remaining Elven clans to be able to achieve this."

"That quantity, I'm afraid we must take into account at least ten thousand — potentially even numerous times that count..."

"But what is the present Elf count?"

Prior to "eavesdropping" on Alice and Samir's banter, Eve already possessed a seven or eight-point comprehension on the current state of the Elf clan.

In essence, the collective had been fragmented, none remained unscathed, the remaining Elves had all fled to both the eastern and western directions, with their original grand civilization largely decimated, more than half of it eradicated.

"If I truly had ample opportunity to assemble the clan, my faith would have mostly recovered, one could say. Besides, that would not constitute of an alternative route..."

"Moreover, if I intention is to construct an Elven civilization, it would be even more formidable. A civilization requires a sizable population."

The more he reflected on the matter, the more let down Eve became.

"I am still inferior. If the World Tree was in its prime, there was no need to fret about demographic concerns. I could just absorb the Divine Power which emerged from the primordial Elf."

The Primordial Elves, the first generation of Elves, were the group which bore the initial spawn of this race, born from the World Tree.

"Then again, if I truly possessed the power to generate a Primordial Elf, I would not require restoring the Elven civilization to rejuvenate my might. This is merely a stalemate!"

Eve felt utterly powerless whilst reflecting upon this predicament.

Conjuring a Primordial Elf consumes an excessive amount of valuable Divine Power. In particular, the expense necessary for birthing an elvenkind who possesses a soul is truly exorbitant.

Even though Eve has been granted with the "Life" Deity, accompanied by the facility of giving birth to souls, the consumption is something which she cannot handle now.

To boot, even the "Casting" of Berserker's soul would result in the expenditure of 5 points of Divine Power!

Casting a spell on Berserker expends 5 points of Divine Power, with the vast bulk of it being utilized on the soul. Allocating Lantana's life force and Sliver's power consumes extremely little.

As a result of contriving the original soul of an Elf, expenditure will increase even further.

If one just generates their body, there won't be much cost.

Yet, when forsaking the soul, the genesis would only be a bunch of empty containers, utterly useless.

"Perhaps we can recruit the clan for a short while, reinvigorate our faith, and enhance our strength? That being said... I'm afraid it will waste about ten to hundreds of years?"

"Way too protracted!"

Additionally, he may not be free from confrontation. As the inheritor of the World Tree, Eve likewise garnered the enemies of his predecessor World Tree. However, these entities are all True Gods!

Although, in the recent years, the Continent's magic energy's status has been in a state of madness, the Heavenly World and the Worldly God Pathway has been temporarily shut off, the True Gods have long retired to the sky to tread their own paths, and some Divine Spirits have even decided to enter into a state of slumber.

Even if Eve does not possess the necessary power and is still in a near-death state, even if he is an enemy of legendary prowess, he himself would probably encounter difficulties in terms of providing protection.

"If it were possible to locate a sizeable quantity of souls, that would be ideal. Yet, if there be a soul, I can administer they bodies, and comprehend the means of producing Elves... Put in this fashion, the demographic issue was also solved. Consequently, continue to recruit the remaining members from Elven clans, bolster their convictions, a single mind joining forces, gradually soaring..."

However... Where shall I go to uncover my soul? Since faith exists, this world's soul nearly has its own owner! Yet, he cannot venture into the Underworld.

Moreover, even if one is able to locate a soul that can be applied, that individual must also be open to allowing him to push it forward.

"Very challenging."

On one hand, Eve languished away within the divine space, while observing the Internet. Then, Eve bemoaned —

"Wait a second..."

All of a sudden, as if recollecting something, his awareness trembled, as if intently gazing at the Earthwide web passageway:

"It seems like there truly does exist a possible avenue..."