Chapter 97

"I don't know if they believe it, but the gods of light will vaporize you directly." Nigris pursed his lips and sneered at this fanciful and baseless talk.

What is a divine favored one? They are those blessed by the divine, always under the watchful eye of the gods. Anthony actually wanted to impersonate a divine favored one? The first to not let him off would be the gods of light.

Anthony hesitated for a moment, looking around nervously like a thief, and noticed that Ang had already run to one side, pulling out a new vial of sacred essence. The angel skull and the small zombie followed him on either side, running up to any new thing and dripping a drop, then gathering around to watch.

"Oh, what a waste, you don't even try to stop him. That's the essence of life, the World Tree only produces so much each year. Even if you have good relations with the elves, it's very hard to get. It's such a waste." Anthony said with a pained heart.

In the past, every time he reincarnated, the hardest thing to get was the essence of life. Even at the position of archbishop, with high status and power, he still needed luck, often taking three to five years or even ten to get enough. Seeing Ang play like this, he felt very heartbroken.

Nigris had a strange look on his face, holding back for a moment before saying, "Heh, I can't control him. The undying divine essence is on him, and I now belong to him."

But in his heart, he thought: In the future, the elves might not be able to get the essence of life anymore. The essence of life from the World Tree belongs to us now. The elves will have to ask Ang for it.

This was one of the benefits of his deal with the World Tree.

At the same time, in the elven kingdom of the material plane, High Priest Kalandel was looking at the collected essence of life, worriedly saying, "The essence of life from the World Tree has decreased by four-fifths. Is the God of Life already in decline?"

She inquired about the World Tree's condition but received no response, attributing it to natural aging.

"I hope this day doesn't come too soon." Kalandel pressed her forehead against the rough bark of the World Tree with reluctance.

Anthony turned away, out of sight and out of mind, and lowered his voice to Nigris, "I've been suspicious about something for years. After seeing the Purification Ritual, I became even more suspicious."

"What is it?" Nigris perked up. This was the Abyss of Rest, surrounded by his own people, with the Resting Wind blowing outside. As the former Black Knight Emperor and archbishop, Anthony had to deliberately lower his voice, so the matter must be important.

"I suspect that the gods of light, like His Majesty, have disappeared." Anthony said, pausing between each word.

"Impossible!" Nigris exclaimed, but as Anthony lunged to cover his mouth, he realized and lowered his voice, "The last time you sent people, there were priests and paladins. They could still use holy light to harm heretics. If the gods were gone, why can you still use the power of holy light?"

"The holy light is still there, but the gods who control it may have disappeared." Anthony whispered.

"Can the holy light and the gods be separated? If they disappear, they would disappear together." Nigris said.

Anthony pulled Nigris down to squat, "So I only dare to suspect. I can usually borrow divine power, but the holy light and the gods can still be separated. You once said that believers created the gods, not the other way around. The gods are gone, but the believers are still here. So, is it possible that the divine essence of light is still there, but the ones controlling it have disappeared, just like His Majesty?"

Nigris frowned and thought for a while before saying, "Theoretically, it's possible. The undying divine essence is still there, but the believers are gone. You don't know how bad it was when Ang first arrived at the Undying Temple. There was only one silver skull priest left. The first believer was exchanged for food."

"I was just a bit suspicious, never daring to be sure. So when they wanted to make me pope, I faked my death and escaped, afraid of being seen through by the gods of light. But seeing the Purification Ritual, I had to face this possibility. The Church of Light hasn't had a new divine spell in over a thousand years. No one can define the holy light."

Nigris's expression became serious.

Defining the holy light means creating a new divine spell. What is a divine spell? It is magic with the will of the divine.

Creating a new divine spell is not easy, but it's not impossible. Creating a completely new divine spell is very difficult, requiring a high level of magical skill and theoretical foundation, as well as a flash of creativity and a deep understanding of the divine will.

But creating is hard; moving is not. For example, the Purification Ritual was originally just an arcane spell to purify water and food. After being moved to a divine spell, it became a basic divine spell to purify heretics.

Moreover, after being moved to a divine spell, the casting threshold is greatly reduced. No need for a mage; as long as a priest, or even a particularly devout believer, can use this basic divine spell.

This made the spread of the Church of Light unstoppable.

In this era, on any plane, the greatest enemy of life is various diseases and famines.

Clean water and food are the best measures to reduce disease. Once, a statistic was made: two villages with roughly the same population, one with clean water and food, the other without. The disease rate in the two villages could differ by twenty times.

Even for external injuries, using purified cloth to bandage is better than using un-purified cloth, making it easier for the injured to recover.

So when a village gets a priest who can perform the Purification Ritual, what happens? The disease rate drops by ten times. Isn't this a miracle?

Creating a new divine spell is hard, but moving magic to become a new divine spell, is it hard? If it's hard, why did Lisa create a new divine spell as soon as she met Ang?

Even if it's hard, in a religion with hundreds of millions of people, millions of clergy, and over a thousand years, not producing a new divine spell is a serious problem with the gods.

Either they are more 'natural' like the World Tree, or there is another reason, or they have disappeared.

After thinking for a while, Nigris asked, "What do you plan to do?"

"Nicholas must be eliminated for ambushing me. But I don't want to kill him so easily. I want to take what he values most and use it to kill him. So I plan to run for pope, and before that, I need the identity of a divine favored one and to verify if the gods of light are still there." Anthony said, weighing his words.

"How do you plan to verify?" Nigris asked. Although he is the god of knowledge, verifying if a god is dead is not within the realm of common knowledge.

Nigris glanced at Ang and asked in a low voice, "Will Ang allow his believers to worship other gods?"

Nigris thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "He probably will, uh, definitely will. As long as you are willing to exchange equivalently, you can believe in as many as you want."

Ang has no concept of believers. If someone offers him soul flames, he will (hai) return something of equal value, regardless of whether they believe in him.

"But the gods of light won't. Those who do not believe in the gods are lambs, needing redemption. Those who believe in other gods are heretics, needing salvation. The undead and demons are all heretics, needing to be eliminated. If I believe in the undead and the gods of light burn me on the spot, then they haven't disappeared."

Saying this, Anthony quickly walked to Ang, knelt in the most submissive posture, and said devoutly, "My Lord Ang, I offer my most devout belief, seeking your protection. Your will shall be my guiding light."

A black knight emperor with an incredibly strong soul, a super priest who has reincarnated over a dozen times and each time climbed to the position of archbishop in the Church of Light, his belief is no longer just soul flames.

A shadow emerged from Anthony's body, step by step, walking toward Ang, stopping at a distance where Ang could reach, and extending a humble palm upward.

Ang tilted his head, curiously poking the shadow's palm. The shadow immediately turned into a beam of light, merging into Ang's body.

Nigris drew a sharp breath and muttered, "Lisa, come and see. This is a true divine soul warrior."

A true divine soul, when offered to a god, becomes a warrior the god can command. The god will grant it power, which can be summoned when the believer needs it. The power of a divine soul has no upper limit, depending on how much power the god grants and how much the believer can bear.

Interesting, Ang occasionally summoned the divine soul, then input a soul flame. Seeing the divine soul solidify a bit, he input another soul flame, and the divine soul solidified a bit more.

After completing the ritual, Anthony returned to Nigris's side, extending his left hand to summon a holy light, and his right hand to summon another.

He applied the holy light from his left hand to Nigris, with no reaction, only hearing him mutter,

"Let's see if the gods of light will burn me on the spot. If they do, remember to have Lord Ang resurrect me."

Saying this, he applied the holy light from his right hand to Nigris, sizzling, the holy light that deals damage to the undead burned Nigris, making him sizzle and smoke.

Nigris jumped up and lashed out with his tail at Anthony, "Ku bad, if you want to test it, couldn't you find a skeleton to test it on?"