Chapter 39: Ch 39: Newfound Ideas

"Master, there was an elf following this Aeron. I've captured her as well, and she is also currently trapped in an illusion," Loki reported.

The elf was now a confused prisoner, running in circles within an illusory forest of the Realm of Advancement, completely unaware of her predicament.

"Is she a lifeform of some God?" Sunny asked, a hint of curiosity in his voice. Loki's cheerful reply, however, made Sunny feel a sense of helpless dread over the mischievous fellow he had created.

"She is a demigod, and a beautiful one at that," Loki replied with a hint of a wicked grin. "I can surely use her body to seduce and invoke more infighting between other lifeforms."

"What do you mean by using her body?" Sunny asked, a new worry taking hold. "We are good people here, we don't 'use' anyone's body. Just capture her alive and interrogate her."

"I was just talking about my Shapeshifter ability," Loki tried to clarify, but before he could finish, the divine connection between them was cut off.

Sunny's current faith points had now soared past 900 million, the majority of which had come from the video of Aeron.

Many gods in the chat, taken by Aerion's powerful elemental body, were now discussing it with envious eyes.

One god even messaged Sunny directly, offering 200 million faith points for Aerion. Sunny was amused and momentarily tempted, as that amount could fund the creation of several more demigods.

All the other gods were amazed and envious of the god's wealth, but Sunny didn't reply. His status had changed.

He was no longer just the wealthiest god; after catching Aeron, he was also being hailed as the strongest.

Many felt dissatisfied by this new order but were wise enough not to question Sunny's strength.

Sunny, however, didn't pay attention to the chat.

He quietly began to formulate designs for his SS-Grade signal towers.

He had collected design schematics from other gods, but he was still searching for a better, more complete plan.

Just then, he felt another influx of faith points.

It wasn't an immediate spike, but a continuous, slowly increasing stream.

Sunny sensed its origin, a source that was not just in his universe but also from other, distant universes.

He couldn't help but ponder its meaning. Could another god have been so amazed by his power that they chose to worship him? He quickly dismissed the thought.

He knew that many of his alliance members had begun to call him "Great God Cosmos" and bowed to him, but their respect never translated into a single faith point.

He knew it was impossible for a god to receive faith from another god.

After a long moment of contemplation, the answer surfaced in his mind. "Shenlong."

Sunny knew that Shenlong had been tasked with helping lifeforms in the Realm of Advancement.

What he had not considered was that those who returned to their own worlds still prayed for Shenlong's blessings.

Their prayers of hope were being offered to Shenlong, and their faith was being channeled to Sunny.

This was indirectly creating a new legion of followers for him.

Suddenly, a realization hit Sunny with the force of a supernova: "How can faith travel between these universes so effortlessly?"

He didn't know it yet, but this single thought—this new understanding of the very fabric of his universe—would change everything. But that was a story for later.

Currently, Sunny was running through countless theories, even asking Nova for her advice.

But the results were not promising. He didn't lose hope and continued to search for a solution.

Meanwhile, in the Realm of Advancement, both Aeron and Rina were bound, their abilities sealed by an SS-Grade Heavenly Seal Bar—an item a god had once traded with Sunny, which he had upgraded to its current, demigod-imprisoning strength.

Loki grinned mischievously at his two prisoners and began his interrogation.

He first asked for their names, but both remained silent. Loki was no fool.

He asked for the SS-Grade sword in the hand of a nearby human leader, Anaske, and with a swift movement, stabbed Aeron in the leg.

Aeron's screams of agony echoed through the forest.

All the humans and elves who witnessed the scene shuddered.

They had seen torture before, but seeing a powerful demigod being subjected to it made their minds go blank.

"Master is merciful," Loki said, his face hardening. "But that doesn't mean I am."

The next second, his face broke into a polite smile. "Allow me to heal you, brother Aeron."

Loki then applied a medicinal herb that was known for being the most effective healer but also the most painful.

After a moment, he laughed mischievously. "Now, can you both tell me your names?"

Aeron and Rina felt their bodies go numb. Rina couldn't speak, her connection with Kairos preventing her from revealing anything.

But Aeron, who feared torture more than anything, broke. "My name is Aeron, and she is Rina..."

This was how the interrogation successfully began.

Yet, even as Loki pressed them, the name of Kairos was not revealed.

Aeron didn't know his master's name, and Rina, ever loyal, refused to speak no matter what Loki did.

Sunny knew that demigods personally created by a god were unfailingly loyal.

He ordered Loki to not bother with Rina and to do as he saw fit.

Sunny didn't want to manage his demigods; he had created them to ease his burdens, not to increase them.

As his mischievous demigod handled the prisoners, Sunny's primary focus returned to how he would handle the disappearance of the System.

Suddenly, he understood the reason for the instantaneous transmission of faith.

"Connection."

Sunny's mind raced, a new understanding of the universe clicking into place. He immediately tested his theory by observing the Elves' teleportation arrays.

He saw the problem firsthand: when the elves had to teleport their lifeforms to the Central Continent, which did not have a corresponding array, the cost in mana stones was astronomical.

The single array on their end had to bear the entire burden of the teleportation.

However, Sunny realized that if both the sending and receiving locations had a functioning array, the cost of the teleportation would be minuscule—only a tenth of the original price.

This massive difference was all thanks to the Connection that existed between the two arrays.

In a moment of profound clarity, Sunny understood the truth behind his faith.

The same principle applied to the spiritual fabric of the universe.

Faith, much like mana, traveled effortlessly through space, a divine signal sent from a lifeform to its god.

The connection was a bridge, and as long as that bridge existed, the flow of faith was instant and efficient.

This was why the werewolves' prayers, though sent from a distant universe, were able to reach him without any cost—their connection to Shenlong, and Shenlong's connection to Sunny, formed an unbroken circuit.