[The faith of 12,604 followers has reached its maximum.]
[You have acquired +25,208 Divinity Points.]
[Current number of followers in the Heavenly Demon Cult: 48,599]
By appearing in person and performing flashy skills with his divinity, he had not only brought the faith of the existing members to its peak but also managed to convert most of the people at the scene into followers. This was why he had gone through the trouble of activating Celestial, Illusion, and even Shout for the first time in a while.
On top of that, he had gained a quite reliable apostle, so it was a very profitable show.
[Apostle ‘Yoon Seulah’ is beginning to establish the basic order.]
[She wishes to set the ranks of the followers in the following order: ‘Lower Ogre’ — ‘Middle Ogre’ — ‘Upper Ogre’ — ‘Unit Leader’ — ‘Dharma Protector’ — ‘Vice Cult Leader’ — ‘Cult Leader’.]
[Do you approve?]
‘…What’s this?’
Since he had named it the Heavenly Demon Cult, was she really intending to push the concept of a demonic cult all the way? At times like this, he had to express his intentions clearly. He needed to make it known that while the name happened to be the Heavenly Demon Cult, it had nothing to do with those kinds of things.
[Rejected.]
[Rejected.]
[Rejected.]
Since he had sent his refusal three times in a row, she would surely understand. And as if she had expected to be rejected, the actual ranks were uploaded immediately.
[Apostle ‘Yoon Seulah’ wishes to set the ranks of the followers.]
[She wishes to set the ranks of the followers in the following order: ‘Level 2 Priest’ — ‘Level 1 Priest’ — ‘Head Priest’ — ‘Bishop’ — ‘Archbishop’ — ‘Cardinal’ — ‘Cult Leader’.]
[Do you approve?]
It seemed she wanted to maintain the title of Cult Leader until the very end. Since the image of a ‘Pope’ was already firmly established on Earth, she likely wanted to try something different.
[Approved.]
He had made the right choice in designating Yoon Seulah as an apostle. She had barely become an apostle, yet she already understood the situation and was establishing the most basic hierarchy. If that was the case, he had to give her some real power.
[Consuming 80,000 Divinity Points to purchase Authority — ‘Punishment’.]
[Authority — ‘Punishment’]
[Allows the infliction of punishment on lower-ranking followers within the cult.]
[Can inflict a certain level of pain or apply physical restraints.]
[Caution: Excessive authority makes humans arrogant.]
[Granting Authority — ‘Punishment’ to Apostle ‘Yoon Seulah’.]
Despite the warning in the message, he granted the authority to Yoon Seulah. For now, their loyalty to the apostle would be at its peak thanks to the flashy performance, but that wouldn’t last forever. Even as the number of new followers grew and time passed, the apostle’s authority and power had to be maintained.
Since he had set up the punishment, it was time to provide the rewards.
[Automatic Divinity Distribution has been set.]
[The value has been set to 10%.]
[10% of the acquired Divinity Points will be consumed to automatically grant Holy Power.]
[The rank has been set to ‘Head Priest’ and above.]
[Holy Power will be granted differentially starting from the rank of ‘Head Priest’.]
To put it simply, if he gained ten Divinity Points from a faithful priest, he would only take nine, and one point would be converted into Holy Power and distributed back. This meant one thing.
“Holy Power will spread through this world as well.”
A god was born in a world without one. Although the amount of Holy Power was still far too insufficient to cover the entire world, more people would surely gather to chase the light. By gathering strength and light one by one, they would be able to stand against the Abyss. Hope was blooming.
“A god, huh…”
When he opened his Status Window, a new title sat proudly next to his name.
God of Patience and Magic.
This was the conclusion reached by analyzing the authority he had received from Goddess Lipuae.
Patience and magic.
That was the essence of Hio.
‘Is this how it’s supposed to be… Hmph.’
The word ‘god’ still didn’t roll off his tongue easily. Although the status of his soul had risen, he didn’t feel like a god right away. If one were a god, shouldn’t they be more mysterious and omnipotent? Shouldn’t they know the future and manipulate dimensions at will?
“I might become like that if I gather more authorities.”
It seemed that authorities were the key, but currently, he only had one: Perseverance of Splendor.
“Perseverance of Splendor.”
[Authority — Perseverance of Splendor]
[Stores momentary splendor.]
[Accumulates scheduled splendor.]
[Remembers past splendor.]
[Bursts the stored, accumulated, and remembered splendor.]
[Distorts reality.]
That was the explanation for the authority. Since it was his own power, he had a sense of how to use it. However, he wasn’t entirely certain. The best way to be sure was to try it out for himself.
“Let’s go.”
If he moved around a bit more while using this authority, the name of the Heavenly Demon Cult would spread across the globe. Meanwhile, the system would be firmly established under Yoon Seulah’s leadership. This meant the time to return to the Ventair continent was not far off.
[Transcendence Skill — ‘Dimension Transfer’ is activated.]
Perseverance of Splendor felt similar to Hio’s Hidden Trait. Just as Hio endured all kinds of emotions and pain before eventually releasing them as flashy skills, this authority seemed to allow him to endure splendor to produce an effect. That was roughly how he understood it.
However, since he wasn’t certain, he had used Dimension Transfer to travel to a place he hadn’t visited yet to confirm his hunch.
It was a large city, but it was a place where no First Awakened existed. Fortunately, it was far from the site of the recent Gate collapse, so it was barely holding on.
A purple line cut through the sky above the city. A pair of black wings spread wide, and black eyes looked down at the ground. Simultaneously, the light of Celestial fell upon the land.
[Skill — ‘Celestial’ is activated.]
The situation in the city was, as expected, not good. Even if it was far from the collapse site, there had already been five failed attempts to clear the local Gates. As a result, numerous Abyss Monsters remained scattered about, and a city of this size was a perfect target for their rage.
The Abyss Monsters didn’t attack in a single mass, but they were rushing into the city in an endless line. Tanks facing them spat fire, explosions erupted, and the skills of the Awakened poured out.
On the other side, the monsters endured the explosions, tore through tanks, and bared their teeth at the Awakened.
Under normal circumstances, he would have cleared them out instantly with Celestial, Blue Flame, and Thunder Emperor, but this time was different. He was going to use his authority.
[Authority — ‘Perseverance of Splendor’ is activated.]
Heat suddenly surged around his body. It was heat rising from Hio’s own body. Magic power boiled, and divinity surged. His body and soul were heating up to the extreme. Even though he had only cast it, the intensity was staggering.
It was powerful enough to make Hio’s limbs vibrate slightly, despite having attained divine status. Something immensely powerful was trying to burst out, heating the air in the area and causing souls to tremble.
If his body and soul’s status hadn’t significantly risen along with the acquisition of the authority, he wouldn’t have even been able to cast it. How powerful would an authority activated with such force be? Expectations rose naturally. At the same time, a massive power poured out.
[Authority — ‘Perseverance of Splendor’ will be applied for 5 minutes.]
Silence descended upon the world. There were no screams, no shouts, and no vibrations — just a world of absolute stillness. All brilliance vanished. The muzzles spitting fire, the tanks, the explosions, and the skills — all their flashes disappeared.
Every effect also vanished. Explosions occurred, but there was no sound of them. Tanks fired shells and explosions happened, causing actual damage, but there were no visual effects. The Awakened used their skills, and the skills functioned normally, but they lacked any splendor.
The same applied to Hio’s skills. Even the light pouring down from Celestial was being sucked in. The skill was working perfectly, and the divinity was certainly driving away the Abyss, but there was no flashiness within it.
Momentary splendor was being stored. Scheduled splendor was being accumulated. All of this happened in a bone-chilling silence. Even if one shouted, no sound could be heard. Explosions happened, yet they didn’t seem to happen. Flames covered the monsters, yet no flames were visible.
As reality drifted far beyond common sense, the battle slowly ground to a halt. As movement ceased, everyone’s gaze eventually turned toward the sky.
‘I see.’
Gaining certainty by using it, Hio smiled faintly and activated his skills.
[Skill — ‘Thunder Emperor’ is activated.]
[Skill — ‘Blue Flame’ is activated.]
Thunderbolts struck down. Flames covered the area. Of course, they were neither visible nor audible. Nevertheless, they were activated, and the monsters were annihilated in an instant. The Abyss was driven away by Celestial.
‘So, it works like this.’
Storing splendor. Accumulating it. This was what it meant. It meant that through the authority, he was taking away all splendor. Thus, the stored power was clearly settled within him. If he were to burst this accumulated splendor at a necessary moment, what kind of phenomenon would occur?
‘…I can’t use this more than twice a day.’
Shaking his slightly dizzy head, Hio climbed onto his Phantom Steed. The Phantom Steed began to pick up speed, and a short while later.
[The duration of Authority — ‘Perseverance of Splendor’ has ended.]
Sound returned to the city where Hio had vanished. Sounds erupted, flames flickered, and smoke rose from the aftermath. Reality had returned to normal.
“…”
Nevertheless, no one dared to move. They simply couldn’t process what had just happened. It was only several hours later that the stories of the Heavenly Demon Cult and the videos of the god they worshipped began to spread among the residents of that city.
***
Forcing himself, he could use the authority at most twice a day. It was a power that twisted reality to store all splendor within himself. Then, at a necessary moment, he could release it and distort reality.
Therefore, he traveled to as many places as possible. When he had the capacity, he used the authority to store splendor. When he couldn’t use it, he cleared cities as flashily as possible. The reason he deliberately acted with such flair was, of course…
[Current number of followers in the Heavenly Demon Cult: 1,687,133]
It was for the sake of faith. As the number of followers grew, the amount of Divinity Points he gained increased significantly. Now, it was difficult to even keep up with all the messages appearing before his eyes.
[Apostle ‘Yoon Seulah’ has promoted follower ‘Cheon Muhwi’ to the rank of Bishop…]
[Apostle ‘Yoon Seulah’ has promoted follower ‘Nam Tae-min’ to the rank of Cardinal…]
[Establishing the Busan branch of the Heavenly Demon Cult…]
[1,000 Pt has been distributed through Automatic Divinity Distribution…]
[1,200 Pt has been distributed through Automatic Divinity Distribution…]
[900 Pt has been distributed through Automatic Divinity Distribution…]
He couldn’t possibly approve or reject everything one by one. Because he had worked so flashily, the number of related videos was enormous. In any city where the internet functioned properly, the Heavenly Demon Cult had no choice but to expand. It was spreading through the internet like a modern religion.
“Anyway, it seems things are properly settled now, so I’ll clear away the headaches…”
He turned off all the messages, pretending not to see them. Since he had worked hard on the missionary activities, Yoon Seulah would handle the rest well. That was why he had picked her as an apostle, after all. At this rate, he wouldn’t have to worry about Divinity Points for the time being.
Since so much video material remained, points would continue to accumulate steadily even if he did nothing.
The Divinity Points accumulated like that would be turned into Holy Power and returned to the new priests, who would use that power to stand against the Abyss. One could say a system to oppose the Abyss had been established to some extent. Therefore…
“Let’s go back.”
It was time to return. It was time to announce his return to the continent.