Blood Holy Scripture: True Ancestor Charlotte de Castel
Chapter 446: -188- The Secret of the Deity_2

Chapter 446: -188- The Secret of the Deity_2

Although extremely faint, so faint that it couldn’t be detected without careful sensing, and would probably remain insignificant even if magnified tenfold, hundredfold, or thousandfold, Charlotte was certain that the Divine Power in her Divine Power pool had increased slightly.

She immediately perked up, realized a certain possibility, and then hurriedly dived into her consciousness, tracing the source of that energy.

Following the Faith Network, Charlotte easily traced back to the flickering starlight, and when she projected her consciousness there, her vision instantly changed.

She "saw" a forest where a fierce Demon Beast had fallen, with a spear still stuck in its body, and a rough-faced Werewolf standing on the corpse of the Demon Beast, breathing heavily.

His aura fluctuated unsteadily; his whole body seemed to be radiating the rhythm of intense Transcendent power, and the flesh around the gruesome wound was wriggling, slowly healing.

He forcefully pulled out the spear, splashing a trail of blood, then extended his other hand and awkwardly drew a thorny rose symbol on his chest before declaring in a deep voice,

"Praise the True Ancestor for granting me courage!"

Sensing the Werewolf’s aura, Charlotte instantly realized what had happened.

"A Werewolf believer fighting a Demon Beast in the forest just broke through to the Starry level in a moment of crisis..."

"So, the power that the Faith Network just collected is the burst of Transcendent power when he broke through to the Starry level?"

Charlotte was certain that it wasn’t the power of faith.

Or more accurately, she didn’t even know what the power of faith was; she had never heard about it even after Crossing.

It’s possible that this world doesn’t have the power of faith as depicted in the western fantasy novels she had read in her previous life; the power she just sensed was purely Transcendent power, the energy released in a burst when a Transcendent broke through.

With some conjectures in mind, Charlotte carefully sensed the Faith Network again.

And this sensing really let her discover quite a few things.

For instance... her Faith Network was actually connected with the bloodlines and lives of all believers, seeming to hook together their souls and bodies.

And the more devout the believer, the tighter that connection was.

This connection was the channel of the Faith Network; Charlotte could bestow power upon the believers through this channel, and also absorb the believers’ power via it.

Only then did the information about the Faith Network in the Blood Holy Scripture emerge, appearing to have finally completed its verification and loading:

[Faith Network: As the Blood Totem, the Master of Holy Scripture possesses the ability to weave the Faith Network, which can compile a Faith Network through the beliefs of believers, construct faith anchor points, anchor believers with faith, grant them Divine Grace Blessing, cultivate and absorb Transcendent power, and reclaim souls and Divine Grace upon a believer’s death.]

Cultivate and absorb Transcendent power?

Reclaim souls and Divine Grace?

Looking at the description of the new capabilities, Charlotte was slightly startled.

She narrowed her eyes, her expression somewhat inexplicable,

"So... gods develop believers to establish a close connection, enabling the believers to help them cultivate jointly?"

"And this... is the secret of the deities?"

Charlotte almost instantly thought of some words Nisi had once mentioned:

Gods are gods, faith is faith. Master Cat once heard someone say gods are just a bunch of parasites cloaked in hypocrisy, selfishly benefiting from others.

"Parasites, huh... If gods really develop believers to absorb the Transcendent power of their followers, that indeed is a form of parasitism,"

Charlotte muttered to herself.

Of course, although she said this, not all of the followers of a god were Transcendent; in fact, most of them were mortal.

"Mortal... if we talk about devout believers, when they die, they are all meant to return to the Divine Country."

"Hiss, so, for mortals, is it about reclaiming their souls after their death?"

"Spirit power is also a type of transcendent power; it just varies in strength among different people..."

"Deities develop believers, and those believers who possess transcendent powers contribute feedback to the deities when enhancing their powers. After the death of a believer, their soul is reclaimed by the deity."

At that moment, Charlotte finally understood the secret of deities:

"No wonder, no wonder gods want to develop followers. Although there is no talk of ’power of faith,’ developing followers is indeed a part of how they augment their own power."

"It’s like herding; as Transcendents grow, they constantly absorb the magic power—or should I say, transcendent force—dispersed around them, much like sheep eating grass and growing wool."

"And deities that have established a Faith Network can absorb a portion of this energy during the process, similar to shearing wool."

"And when believers die, it’s as if the sheep have grown and are ready for slaughter; the deities reclaim the souls and the remaining transcendent powers."

"This also matches up with the need for funeral rites after the death of a believer."

"Each Church proclaims that after the funeral rites, the deceased’s spirit will find peace, and the residual transcendent power within the body will be purified..."

"But in reality, the funeral rites might ’guide’ the believer’s soul back to the divine realm of the deity, and the transcendent power is also reclaimed through the Faith Network!"

"Of course, this is a win-win situation for both mortals and deities, as a Transcendent’s body, if left untreated and unreclaimed, is very likely to turn into an Undead."

"Deities grant Divine Grace and protection to believers in exchange for their souls after death and their transcendent power during life!"

At that moment, Charlotte had an epiphany.

Indeed, the best way to fully understand something was to engage with it directly, or even to become it.

Previously, Charlotte’s grasp of the secrets between deities and believers had been like looking through mist—there were guesses, but not a clear understanding.

Now, possessing the Faith Network, everything suddenly became clear.

"The way Bloodline deities enhance their power is probably similar; deities of the Bloodline rarely care about spreading faith, but they do care greatly about the evolution of their progeny..."

"The bloodlines of the Bloodline are, in another sense, a Faith Network of their own. The fact that I can devour the bloodline power of other Blood Descendants through the power of the Blood Holy Scripture is clear proof."

"In other words, in the Bloodline, the role of Blood Descendants probably supplants that of believers!"

For a while, Charlotte made many more connections.

At the same time, she also understood why Nisi said it didn’t matter if faith was corrupted, because deities truly aren’t worried about the corruption of faith.

Deities just need believers to believe in them, to establish a channel; even if the nature of the faith changes, as long as they still believe in the deity, the channel remains.

And as long as the channel remains, deities can continue to draw power from their believers.

Looking at the purpose of the Faith Network, the relationship between deities and believers is unequal: deities can completely control the life and death of believers. This is corroborated by those stories Charlotte had read about deities falling, driving believers into madness or causing them to die outright.

But then again, how could the powerful and the weak be equal? Mortals who seek protection and transcendent power from deities surely need to pay a corresponding price.

"My current condition should be a step closer to that of a deity. Although I am not a true deity, perhaps I am no longer to be seen as a normal life form."

"Deity, Divine Power, faith, Divine Country... If you think about it, I don’t yet have a Divine Country; perhaps... that is the fundamental difference between me and a true deity now?"

Charlotte pondered.

Regarding deities, Charlotte still had many unanswered questions.

However, one thing she was certain of:

Now that she had the Faith Network, developing believers also had to be on the agenda.

Although there was no evidence, deep down, Charlotte felt that she had indeed stepped onto the true path of becoming a deity...