Chapter 196: Divine Spirit Flame, The Power of Faith
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“238 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! What vast assets! System, redeem 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals’ worth of Spirit points!”
100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystal = 1,000 billion gold coins = 1,000 billion Attribute Points!
Whoosh!
His Wealth instantly shrank. He was credited with 1,000 billion attribute points, which he added to his Spirit attribute.
Boom!
An icy, surging aura gushed into Meng Lei’s mind and began to furiously enhance his soul.
For a while, Meng Lei could feel his soul’s durability rising exceptionally quickly!
At the same time, in Meng Lei’s vast, boundless sea of consciousness, a silver flame burned quietly, chilly and aloof—it was Meng Lei’s soul flame.
Suddenly, endless golden rays appeared out of nowhere, gushing in from all around and straight toward the silver flame suspended in the air.
The golden rays of light were just like petrol, like firewood, and also like natural gas!
Boom!
The moment they came into contact with the silver flame, the silver flame’s intensity surged dramatically and began to visibly expand.
Expand, expand, and expand!
Doubling, tripling, quadrupling!
Tenfold, twentyfold, fiftyfold!
Boom!
The silver flame expanded to a hundredfold of its original size and turned into an even brighter and even more radiant flame.
Additionally, it had also... changed in color!
It was no longer silver but gold in color now! Yes, gold!
The chilly, aloof silver soul flame had turned into a brilliant, dazzling golden one.
Just like the blazing sun spanning across the heavens, the golden soul flame gave off a million golden rays that shone upon the land and ruled the sky.
His soul was no longer a soul now; instead, it had metamorphosed into... A divine spirit!
“This feeling... It’s simply too fascinating!”
Meng Lei laid quietly with his eyes closed as he took in the changes brought about by his soul’s transformation.
Everything felt so natural and simple, yet also so complex at the same time.
The wind was no longer wind—yet still wind!
Trees were no longer trees—yet still trees!
Even the flowing air was no longer air but still air, too!
“Is this what the half-deity realm is like? It’s so fascinating!
“Are these golden chains covering the skies and the lands and forming all that exists in this world the laws of nature?
“Well, comprehending laws of nature isn’t that hard, is it? It feels as if layers of fog have been lifted, and I can now see clearer and have a more thorough view. Hmm, laws of nature...”
A mumbling Meng Lei withdrew his spiritual power, and then, he entered his sea of consciousness.
According to Ol’ Amos, once one attained half-deification, their soul would metamorphose into a divine spirit.
Divine spirits were near-immortal and near-inextinguishable. Even if a deity’s divine spirit were crushed into bits and pieces, they could still use their divine spirit fragments to come back to life.
Thus, Meng Lei wanted very much to take a look and see whether his own soul had metamorphosed or not...
“...My soul flame has actually turned golden! And it’s much stronger than what it was in the past! Is this what a divine spirit is? As expected, it’s something beyond one’s imagination!”
Meng Lei was awfully excited, but right after, he became terribly dejected.
“If I had owned a divine spirit earlier, Ol’ President wouldn’t have... Sigh, never mind! I wonder what these white threads are?”
Dozens, perhaps up to a hundred, milky-white threads had appeared within Meng Lei’s view.
It was not known where they had come from, yet they were attached to his golden divine spirit like innumerable antennas.
Rather curious, Meng Lei controlled his divine spiritual power to touch one of the white threads.
Right away, a voice brimming with gratitude played in his mind.
“Big Brother Meng Lei, you’re my idol! I want to be someone like you in the future!”
“Uh... Isn’t that Monica’s voice?”
Meng Lei was mildly taken aback.
Monica, whose full name was Monica Draper, was a little girl in the village with a twin elder sister named Hester Draper.
Apart from Jonah and himself, the two of them were the only ones in the village who were endowed with magic talent. On top of that, their magic talent was even better than Jonah’s, with both of them having high-grade elemental affinities.
“Why is Monica’s voice suddenly playing in my sea of consciousness?”
Meng Lei found this rather strange. His gaze continued down the white thread, and the sight of Monica currently lying in bed and looking as if she was in deep slumber entered his sight. However, she was also mumbling softly to herself as if she was dreaming...
“This is strange! Too strange!”
Then, Meng Lei picked another white thread.
“Thank you, Meng Lei! Thank you for everything that you’ve given us!”
...It was Captain Hudders’ voice!
“Big Brother Meng Lei...”
And now, it was Jonah’s!
“Why am I hearing everyone’s voices? Never mind about Captain Hudders and Monica, but Jonah’s a long distance away in the capital city right now... Could it be...” Meng Lei’s eyes widened as he exclaimed, “...That this is the power of faith?”
Faith was a very miraculous thing. It could make one strong-willed, as well as make one pure...
But in Heaven’s Vault Continent, it also had another natural order-defying effect—the investiture of gods!
As long as one had sufficient believers and the believers’ faith was pious enough, the one they worshiped could soar right into the heavens with the help of the copious amounts of power of faith, thereby becoming a god and attaining immortality.
“Monica, Captain Hudders, and the others... They believe in me and idolize me?”
Meng Lei was rendered speechless. He hadn’t done much for the village; all he had done was nothing more than just small favors that didn’t even require him to lift a finger. Never would he have ever imagined that the villagers would actually worship him. He honestly didn’t!
“Never mind, there’s no harm in it anyway!”
Meng Lei wasn’t too hung up over it. He continued to check the other white threads—true to his expectations, almost all of them led to the Magical Beast Village villagers.
“Are there so many people who believe in me? I’ve heard that there are many benefits to having the power of faith.
“Not only can it strengthen one’s divine spirit and allow one to comprehend laws of nature more easily, but it can also be converted into the power of divinity used to enhance one’s strength. It’s practically like Tiger Balm1!
“But why is it that I don’t feel these effects that the power of faith is supposed to bring about at all? Is it because I have too few worshipers?
“Forget it. I don’t have the time and leisure to spread my faith around to collect the power of faith. Being able to redeem credit is more than enough!”
Meng Lei exited his sea of consciousness. Then, his gaze landed on his stats interface again.
Wealth: 138 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Magic Power: Saint Domain (1,037,108,765/100 billion)
“Both my Physical Body Constitution and my Spirit have gone through a qualitative change, so I’m just left with the Magic Power attribute now. Should I redeem some credit and complete the set...?”
Meng Lei rubbed his chin, unable to quite make up his mind. What would magic power metamorphose into? The power of divinity?
If it really turned out to be the power of divinity, then he would thoroughly become a real half-deity!
He would possess a half-deity’s body, a half-deity’s soul, as well as the power of divinity, instead of what he currently was—a half-baked half-deity with a half-deity’s body and soul but not the corresponding power of divinity.
But the problem was... Redeeming credit to boost his Magic Power attribute required a whole 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! Once he spent that money, he’d become a pauper on paper again!
To redeem? Or not to redeem?
“Never mind, I’ll just do it! System, redeem 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals’ worth of Magic Power points!”
Whoosh!
His Wealth shrank again!
Then, Meng Lei felt as if the magic power in his body was bubbling and boiling. They surged neatly and altogether toward his brain, taking only an instant to gush into it.
For a moment there, Meng Lei felt as though he had been drained, and he felt a great deal frailer.
However, the feeling of feebleness didn’t last long. Soon, another fiercer and more torrential rush of energy swept into his brain, instantly filling his limbs and every corner of his body!
The wave of energy was simply too fearsome. Meng Lei could feel endless strength gushing forth from within his body, and he felt as if he could crush a continent with his fist!
He hurriedly did an internal scan of his body—his magic power had disappeared; instead, what had replaced it was an all-new type of power!
It flooded through every fiber of his body, glowing a faint gold and emanating a terrifying might.
Meng Lei couldn’t be any more familiar with that mighty aura.
“The power of divinity! It really is the power of divinity!”
Meng Lei hurriedly looked at the stats interface:
Wealth: 38 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals
Physical Body Constitution: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Spirit: Half-Deity (Elementary-level)
Power of Divinity: 0.1 Divinity Crystal
“True enough, Magic Power has metamorphosed into the Power of Divinity!
“‘0.1 Divinity Crystal’? System, what’s a Divinity Crystal?”
The system replied coldly, “A friendly reminder: A Divinity Crystal is the crystallized form of power of divinity. It’s the unit of measurement for the power of divinity and is also the currency in circulation among deities. 100 Power of Divinity droplets usually equates to 1 Divinity Crystal.”
“In other words, I currently only have 10 Power of Divinity droplets?”
Meng Lei blinked and commented, “Isn’t that too little? How can this bit of power of divinity possibly suffice? It makes me feel so insecure! I have to redeem credit! Alright, let’s get to 10 Divinity Crystals before we talk!”
“A friendly reminder: 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals are required per Divinity Crystal.”
(⊙_⊙)?
“10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals? I’m gonna faint! Aren’t you being too much of a crook?”
Meng Lei was almost jumping up and down in a fury!
“1 Divinity Crystal = 100 Power of Divinity points; and 1 Divinity Crystal = 10,000 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals.
“In other words, 1 Power of Divinity point = 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, and 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals = 1 Power of Divinity droplet?
“Oh my goodness! One Power of Divinity droplet alone requires 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! You f*cking system, aren’t you being too unscrupulous!?”
Meng Lei had almost wet himself!
With 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, he could use Limitless Pickup 100 times!
With 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals, he could raise his Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate by 10%!
Yet the same amount was only enough for him to redeem one Power of Divinity droplet? Were they serious?
The system didn’t respond, leaving behind only a quiet space for Meng Lei.
“What the heck! It’s too unscrupulous!”
Meng Lei was fuming mad, yet there was nothing he could do about it. To think he had even been a little gleeful just now.
After all, he couldn’t directly redeem credit for his Spirit attribute or his Physical Body Constitution attribute anymore, so all that was left was just his Power of Divinity attribute (0.1 Divinity Crystal).
Despite his Power of Divinity attribute being the only thing left that he could still redeem credit for, this had to happen. He could only redeem 1 Power of Divinity point with 100 Laws of Nature Origin Crystals! Was this daylight robbery or daylight robbery?!
Did justice still exist? Was there still any law and order?
“I thought that I had gotten rich overnight and was on my way to my life’s pinnacle, but now... I’m back to being penniless!
“Boosting the Gods-Slaying Rat bloodline assimilation rate requires money, as does boosting the Power of Divinity attribute and my comprehension of laws of nature.
“Every single thing requires money—and not just a small sum at that. They’re all large amounts of money!”
All that aside, though, at least he could still redeem credit for those. Meng Lei believed that with his current level of strength if he worked a little harder, he would surely be able to earn enough over time.
The troublesome part was his divine spirit! He couldn’t redeem any credit for that! How was he supposed to enhance it, then?
Meng Lei sank into contemplation. Since meditation could raise one’s spiritual power, it could also do the same for the divine spirit. The level of efficiency, though... That probably didn’t need to be expounded upon.
“There’s one more way I can enhance my divine spirit, and that is—to collect the power of faith!
“The power of faith is an all-nourishing elixir when it comes to enhancing one’s divine spirit. As long as I can get enough power of faith...
“But all the faith resources on Heaven’s Vault Continent have been fully split among other parties. Where am I supposed to spread my faith to? What a headache!”
Just as Meng Lei was lost in his troubled thoughts, his magic communication device suddenly rang. He took it out to see that it was actually President Fred who was calling.
“Where are you now, Meng Lei?”
President Fred had an awful look on his face.
“I’m in the Magical Beast Village.”
“The Magical Beast Village?”
President Fred was a little taken aback by his answer, but he regained his senses right away. “Why are you at the Magical Beast Village? Weren’t you in the Lost Continent?”
“It’s a long story, President.” Meng Lei shook his head lightly. Then, he asked in puzzlement, “Is something up?”
“Something terrible has happened! Prince Barbarossa is dead! And so is the 13th Princess whom His Majesty loves and dotes on the most!”