CHAPTER 662

【 ONE MONTH 】

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After listening to Féng’s guidance, Sophia entered the Temple of Life.

This was her first time visiting another god’s temple other than the Temple of the Eternal Lord, and this was only the time she had chosen to enter on her own accord, so she felt an inexplicable nervousness.

Unlike the usually solemn and quiet human Churches, the Temple of elves seemed to receive far more visitors.

Here, almost at every moment, excited elves streamed into the temple’s hall to pray. They worshipped the holy statue of the elven goddess with utmost devotion.

Watching these sincere elven believers around her, Sophia found herself subtly affected as well.

The strength of this faith testified both to the Goddess of Life’s high standing and to the steadfastness of the elves’ faith.

That, in turn, deepened Sophia’s respect for the Goddess of Life.

To her, such a thriving scene could not exist unless the deity had truly brought happiness to her believers.

Of course, what the half-elven girl did not know was that most of these so-called ‘believers’ were actually Chosen Ones, who were little more than pseudo-believers visiting the temple merely to access the exchange store.

In truth, although they appeared to be devout believers praying earnestly, they were simply there to use the in-game exchange store to either purchase an item or participate in the lottery draws.

In a sense, the relationship between the Goddess and the players could be summarized as, “Since believing in the Goddess costs nothing, they might as well believe as much as they like.”

Moreover, the players’ minuscule sense of belief tended to manifest as outward enthusiasm or simple fondness for the Goddess, rather than as a life-guiding devotion that could truly be called faith.

The moment Sophia stepped into the temple, she immediately became the focus of the players’ attention.

In an instant, countless curious glances turned toward her.

As their inquisitive gazes lingered on her, a flicker of hesitation crossed Sophia’s face.

Looking around, she considered stepping aside to avoid drawing more attention, but just as she was wondering whether she should ask someone who Priestess Dōngdōng was, a cheerful female voice called out to her from one side:

“You must be Lady Sophia, right?”

Sophia’s heart stirred. She turned toward the voice and saw an elven girl dressed in clerical robes.

Her golden hair and blue eyes, coupled with her refined beauty, made her stand out even among the crowd.

Beside the elven girl stood a male elven priest, and perched upon his shoulder was a small, thirty-centimeter-tall creature with butterfly-like wings. The tiny being regarded Sophia with wide, innocent eyes while happily munching on an unfamiliar nut.

What an adorable creature…

Sophia thought, her gaze instantly drawn to the little one.

Noting Sophia’s surprised look, the girl who had greeted her smiled slightly.

She performed an elven greeting and spoke warmly, “Allow me to introduce myself. I am Dōngdōng, one of the senior priests here at the Greyhaven branch of the Church of Life.”

She then gestured toward the male priest at her side.

“This is Natsume, the future chief priest of this church, and the little one on his shoulder is his companion, the elemental fairy Dingdang.”

At Dongdong’s words, Sophia stiffened with renewed composure.

She returned the greeting in a calm and noble manner to both of them and spoke with sincerity:

“Greetings to you both. I am Sophia von Wells, and I have come to visit this church upon the recommendation of someone. She told me to seek you out, Priestess Dōngdōng… She said that you could help guide and enlighten me to the teachings of Her Grace, the Goddess of Life.” Ɽ𝔞ΝỐᛒËș

Dongdong and Natsume exchanged a glance, then smiled.

“Of course, we have been awaiting you for some time,”

Dōngdōng said happily.

She then tapped Natsume’s shoulder, and a flash of light appeared in his hand, revealing a thick stack of books. The top book, The Holy Codex of Life, had a gilded title that faintly shimmered the light. Beneath it were other books, such as The Limitations of Feudalism, Religion and Freedom, and The Awakening of the People, all neatly stacked on one another.

“These are the study materials we specially prepared for you, Lady Sophia. We believe that after reading these, you will have a clearer understanding of your future path…”

Dōngdōng said with a beaming smile.

༺⟐༻

After observing Sophia meet Dōngdōng and Natsume through the game network, and learning that they had given her the study (brainwashing) materials she had assigned the players to compile, Evé was satisfied and returned to her divine kingdom.

She was confident they could braishwas—err, properly convert Sophia. Dōngdōng was a notably capable priest among players and far more skilled than Demacia, who relied on dubious, cult-like methods of proselytizing.

Furthermore, the believers Dōngdōng had nurtured tended to possess a deeper and more genuine faith. Thus, entrusting her with instructing the half-elven noble girl seemed not only appropriate but also the most effective way to ensure Sophia will gain a proper enlightenment.

“I hope she will not disappoint,” Evé murmured to herself with a hint of some expectation.

She had considerable hope for Sophia.

If she could cultivate her into a devout believer, then perhaps the girl might shake the foundations of the Eternal Church in the Empire and even attract more believers to her faith. That would be ideal.

Although, in truth, the Elven Society was not as splendid as she had described it to Sophia, Evé still believed that her own church was considerably way better than the Eternal Church in several respects.

Of course, all that talk with the girl about equality, the pursuit of better life, and whatnot was nothing more than rhetorical pretension, intended to make the girl feel comfortable and more inclined to adhere to her cause.

After all, in this alternate reality wherein gods truly exist, what use are notions of equality when gods could bend the laws to their will, decide the fates of mortals, and grant power to some while denying it to others?

At best, there can only be relative equality among mortals.

And even that limited equality remains at the mercy of the gods, subjected to their whims and benevolence, rather than any genuine sense of fairness.

Alas, such is the world they live in.

Nonetheless, Eve wasn’t entirely posturing without reason.

Although she, too, had harvested the faith of her believers like crops, possessing the power of ‘Absorption’ and being an ancient god herself, she believed she was noticeably more tolerant of her believers than other true gods.

Although she could not provide true equality or justice, at the very least, in this dog-eat-dog, hyper competitive reality, Evé believed she behaved somewhat better than other deities.

Besides, there were also the players, who were almost cheat-like beings, taking pleasure in carrying out her bidding and shouldering part of her burden.

Moreover, by incorporating certain ideologies from Earth and considering that the human nations in the current world of Seigües had clearly reached the bottleneck of development and were now trapped in stagnation due to the constraints of supernatural power, her introduction of a set of new theoretical materials, capable of challenging the long-standing foundations of feudalism, could gradually erode and eventually dismantle them.

The method of governance among humans was deeply intertwined with the Eternal Church.

Thus, by dismantling the human’s governing feudal structure, it would inevitably deal a severe blow to the Eternal Church itself. And any weakening of the Church’s influence would, in turn, erode the foundation of faith that supported the Eternal Lord. This could significantly alter the balance of power, directly shaping the dynamics of the future conflict between her and Etriōu, potentially tipping the scales in her favor if executed carefully.

This was Evé’s true objective in introducing those books to Sophia.

Of course, she had never been an expert in these theoretical ideologies from Earth. In her previous life, she had merely been a fresh university graduate who spent much of her time playing virtual games. Therefore, her understanding of such theories was superficial at best.

Thus, when persuading Sophia, she could only speak in vague and ambiguous terms.

Fortunately, there were always talented individuals among the players, and she firmly believed that professional work should naturally be left to professionals. She, in turn, only needed to wait for the results to manifest in due time.

Having entrusted Sophia to Dōngdōng and Natsume, Evé temporarily withdrew her attention from them for the time being.

༺⟐༻

Before she knew it, almost a month had already passed.

By now, the half-elven girl practically resided within the Temple of Life in Greyhaven. Sophia had earnestly begun studying under the tutelage of Dōngdōng, learning not only the doctrines of the Church of Life but also a collection of rather peculiar ideologies from Earth.

Also, during this month, the Elven Forest underwent some significant changes.

More and more second batch of public-beta players had reached the peak of Iron-rank. The fastest among them had even qualified for Silver-rank advancement, becoming new Silver-rankers.

Out of the total 560,000 summoned players, over 450,000 had now reached the max-level Iron-rank

The number of Silver-rankers also surged explosively, rising from over 4,000 to more than 9,000, just shy of the 10,000 mark.

Naturally, this growth came at a price.

Eve’s divine power accumulation slowed dramatically, as most of it was now consumed to sustain the players expenditure and maintain the game’s operation.

Even so, through successive summoning missions, dungeon conquests, and the growing contributions of faith from her believers, Eve’s divine power value had reached over 22,000 points.

She was now only a little over 7,000 points away from achieving the rank of a High Divine Power.

Interestingly, after the commotion caused by the players in Morningstar City, the summoning statues that Evé had secretly distributed through the black market became wildly popular. Lately, she had been receiving an increasing number of summoning calls from various parts of the world.

Most came from the humans, but some also originated from other races. Nonetheless, their motives were all the same: they all sought to summon elves as mercenaries.

Naturally, Evé accepted these requests gladly.

Apart from Sophia, whose case required her special attention, all other summons were paid for by the summoners themselves. There was no reason to refuse, since each mission provided valuable experience for the players, honed their skills, and even granted her some divine power.

If fortune favored them and they encountered an evil god, then that would simply provide a delightful appetizer for Evé.

Thus, every summoning mission was categorized by Evé as a battlefield quest.

It not only enriched the players’ gaming experience but also elevated their overall strength to an unprecedented level.

Evé believed that if all players were to mobilize at once, the resulting destructive power would be terrifying.

Still, considering the accelerating recovery of mana across the world, the rapid rise of powerful figures among other races, and the general resurgence of extraordinary powers across the continent, the Elves rapid advancement did not stand out too conspicuously—especially with Evé deliberately keeping a low profile.

Meanwhile, as the players’ strength continued to grow, their exploration of the continent further deepened.

The Titan ruins near Mirovia and those within the Desert of Death had already been explored to their deepest parts. Although Evé had not discovered anything particularly noteworthy on these sites, the players had uncovered several lesser divine artifacts that satisfied their own needs.

It’s worth mentioning that the players discovered something interesting near Mirovia’s coastal Titan ruins: specifically, a number of ancient elven items that seemed to have been discarded thousands of years ago. The odd thing about them was that they showed no signs of battle, as if deliberately left intact.

This discovery caught Eve’s attention, and she waited patiently for further findings from the players’ ongoing investigations.

By now, the players had mapped over 70% of the Elven Forest. The only unmapped regions that remained were the mountainous northern territories.

Some max-level players had already formed exploration teams to survey those northern areas in search of the remaining two great elven city ruins: Crystal City and Frozen Valley.

Currently, the players had already traversed every map area that Evé had granted them access to.

Some even went so far as to form mercenary groups, joining the civil war between the Borderlord and the Imperial Army in the Maple Leaf Territory.

Of course, not many people did this, as the long journey back and forth to respawn points whenever they died was troublesome. So only those who truly enjoyed mercenary gameplay pursued this path.

Even so, through their intervention, the name “Elven Mercenaries” gained fame, and many valuable pieces of intelligence regarding the Maple Leaf Territory were collected, which proved to be an unexpected bonus. The information they provided offered insights not only into the Empire’s movements and tactics but also into the morale of both sides, giving Evé a clearer picture of the ongoing conflict.

Based on these reports, the development of the rebellion in the Holy Maniya Empire’s Maple Leaf Territory took an unexpected turn.

Initially, she had assumed that, with the Eternal Church’s backing and the Empire’s vast manpower, the Imperial Army would hold a decisive advantage over the Borderlord’s forces and secure a landslide victory without significant effort.

Yet, half a month ago, during their first confrontation, the Imperial expeditionary army suffered a near-total defeat.

After three days of battle, the army of 80,000 collapsed, losing over 20% of its soldiers.

Their defeat caused an uproar within the Empire, and even players who often traded with human merchants soon heard the news.

Rumors circulated that the Borderlord had unleashed a monstrous creature during the battle—something akin to a Behemoth, suspected to possess Titan blood—which had crushed the Imperial army.

Worse still, after his victory, the Borderlord publicly declared the expulsion of the Eternal Church from Maple Leaf Territory, completely severing all ties with the Eternal Lord’s faith.

This was a serious matter.

The Eternal Church held a supreme position within various human nations, and the Borderlord’s daring act made one thing abundantly clear: he had allied himself with another god.

Only a mythical being could oppose another mythical being. Only with the support of such power could a mortal lord have the confidence to defy his original faith.

Given the many rumors from the Maple Leaf Territory and the detailed reports from that first battle, everything pointed toward one conclusion…

The mysterious entity backing the Borderlord was a reawakened evil god.

And most likely, this being bore Titan bloodline, or perhaps was a fallen Titan itself.

Recalling what the Dwarven god, Dorft, had once told her, and considering the mysterious Titan ruins located within the Maple Leaf Territory, Evé strongly suspected that the mythical being behind the Borderlord was none other than a fallen Titan that somehow survived.

Of course, this still remained speculation.

From the looks of things, the civil war in Maple Leaf Territory would not end quickly, and the hidden presence behind the Borderlord’s rebellion would inevitably surface as the conflict progressed sooner or later.

As it stands, Evé had no intention of intervening at this stage.

After all, one benefits most, as the fisherman does only after the clam and the snipe exhaust themselves.

Moreover, the half-elven girl in whom she had placed such high hopes had still not yet completed her “studies.”

So for now, Evé deemed to merely watch and wait.

Yet, as she quietly observed the rising turmoil across the continent, a powerful tremor suddenly emanated from the canopy of the World Tree’s projection in the center of her divine kingdom.

Eve’s heart stirred, and her eyes flickered toward the source.

The three bone dragons who had pledged allegiance to her were about to came out of their cocoons.

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