The Will Of The World Tree

Chapter 6 Faith

Inside the Temple of Nature, nestled within the massive trunk of the World Tree.

Alice, the Saintess of Nature, and Samir, the High Priest, knelt before the headless statue in a state of restless agitation. Their heads were bowed, their expressions a complex blend of boundless joy and profound shame.

A subtle, inexplicable change seemed to have come over Alice; she was now shrouded in an aura of undeniable sanctity. Samir, having fully recovered from his ordeal, also exuded a renewed, vibrant energy. Beside them stood Basaka, the Oak Guardian, as Stoic and motionless as a statue, his face a mask of solemn fanaticism.

Did I overdo it?

Within the Divine Core, Eve stared at the follower count on her status screen and mentally gulped.

[Followers: 3 (Saints: 1, Fanatics: 2, Devout: 0, Casuals: 0)]

The impact of her "performance" had far exceeded her expectations. She had intended to offer "help in an hour of need" to rekindle their faith, but the reaction was explosive.

Alice, who had been a "Devout" believer, hadn't just regained her faith; she had bypassed the rank of Fanatic entirely to become a Saint—a rank so rare it was legendary. Meanwhile, the old priest, whose life she had saved, had ascended to the rank of Fanatic, matching the loyalty of the Oak Guardian.

Eve couldn't forget the sight of the old priest after he realized what had happened—how he had prostrated himself, wailing like a child and beating the ground in a mix of relief and grief. The combination of agonizing despair followed by sudden, miraculous hope had created a psychological shock of extraordinary proportions.

No wonder gods let their followers sometimes suffer, Eve mused. A little bit of hardship followed by a miracle works wonders. Is this... a divine version of Stockholm Syndrome? No, that's not quite right, but the mechanics are similar.

She turned her attention to her Divine Power.

[Divine Power: 20/500]

She knew increasing her followers would provide a steady stream of faith to convert into power, but the sheer volume generated by high-tier believers caught her off guard.

She had been down to 10 points. Healing the two elves had cost her 1 point, yet the moment their faith was restored, they had collectively provided her with 6 points of Divine Power. That was staggering, considering that awakening Basaka from scratch had only cost 5.

Furthermore, Basaka's s*******r of the twenty half-orcs had provided an additional 5 points!

Eve found this highly unusual. While Basaka had sacrificed the lifeforce of the half-orcs to her, the combined vitality of twenty Iron-tier mercenaries shouldn't have been worth 5 points. She'd be lucky to get 1 point out of them.

Sifting through the World Tree's inheritance, she found a potential explanation.

These half-orcs were lifelong elven hunters. They were encrusted with the resentment and hatred of countless elven victims. By personally decreeing their death, Eve had fulfilled the final wishes of those lingering souls.

In this world, the more intelligent and powerful a creature, the stronger their resentment upon death. The elves, being a long-lived, high-magic race, had generated a massive amount of "unclaimed" resentment over a thousand years of persecution. This negative energy is a form of spiritual power, not unlike faith.

By fulfilling her duty as the "Sovereign of Elves" and slaying the hunters, Eve had converted centuries of elven grudges into gratitude. This gratitude sublimated into faith, crossed the void, and manifested as Divine Power.

This is a game-changer, Eve realized. Beyond increasing my faith, I can restore my strength by hunting the enemies of the elves. Fulfilling the vendettas of the dead provides a massive boost. Plus, the "War Rite" skill has incredible potential to siphon energy for me.

But her excitement was quickly tempered by reality.

Hunting parties were a finite resource. Even if she wiped them all out, it wouldn't be enough to fully restore her to her prime. As for the true masterminds behind the elven g******e, she was currently far too weak to face them.

The "vengeance boost" from the dead was a great early-game jumpstart, but it had its limits. It might lift her out of the "near-death" status, but to truly rebuild the Elven Civilization, she needed a massive population base. She needed thousands, if not millions, of elves to create a sustainable cycle of power.

But how many elves are even left? From eavesdropping on Alice and Samir, she knew the race was shattered. Most were dead; the survivors were in hiding, and their culture was in ruins.

If I spent centuries gathering the scattered survivors, I might as well just wait for my faith to slowly tick up. That's not a shortcut; it's a slog.

If I were at full strength, I could just expend Divine Power to create "Primordial Elves" directly from the tree.

Primordial Elves were the first generation, birthed from the World Tree itself. But for the current, weakened Eve, the cost was prohibitive. Specifically, the "cost" of creating or manifesting a soul was the bottleneck. In her current state, creating a soul from nothing cost ten times more than usual.

Even "awakening" Basaka's soul had cost 5 points, and most of that went into his consciousness rather than his Silver-tier body. If she tried to create a Primordial Elf from scratch now, it would bankrupt her.

She could grow the bodies easily enough, but without souls, they would be empty husks.

Is there no faster way? Must I wait decades or centuries?

She didn't have that kind of time. By inheriting the World Tree, she had also inherited its ancient enemies—True Gods who would eventually notice her awakening. She had been safe for a thousand years only because the previous World Tree had placed a suicidal curse on its trunk, preventing any non-believer below the rank of True God from touching it.

But now that Eve had claimed the inheritance, that protection was gone. If a Legendary-tier enemy showed up now, she was defenseless.

If only I could find a massive source of souls, she thought. If I had the souls, I'd only have to provide the bodies. I could mass-produce an army of elves. The population problem would be solved instantly.

But where could she find souls? In Segas, almost every soul was "claimed" by a deity upon death, and she couldn't exactly break into the Underworld. Even if she found souls, they would have to be willing to serve her.

It's impossible.

Bored and frustrated, Eve let her consciousness drift back to the blue orb—the link to Earth's internet. She began "surfing" the web to distract herself.

Wait...

A sudden, jolting realization struck her consciousness. She stared intensely at the connection to Earth.

I actually found a way.