379: Chapter 367 What is Faith, and the Path to Godhood?

Naqi Palace.

The Main Hall.

Novak sat on the steps below the throne, his body wrapped in white bandages with only his eyes and mouth exposed, looking like a mummy from a distance.

An adjutant hurried through the main gate. He froze for a moment upon seeing the mummy before him, suppressed the urge to complain, and stepped forward, saying, "Marshal, we have cleared all the rubble, but we still cannot find any trace of the faith artifact."

He was feeling a bit of a mental breakdown, all because of Novak's bandages.

After their initial search for the faith artifact proved fruitless, the adjutant had worried about his Marshal's injuries and had first invited the church Divine Officials to help with treatment.

Who would have thought that after a brief examination, the Divine Official would state that Novak was not injured and there was no need to use Light Magic.

At that time, the adjutant was incredulous and questioned him, asking if he couldn't see that the Marshal had been struck by lightning until he was as black as charcoal?

The Divine Official smiled and said that this didn't even count as a superficial wound; Novak could recover just by circulating his own magic.

After saying that, he left without looking back.

The adjutant was hesitant, but the dazed Novak suddenly spoke up, saying that he was indeed very healthy.

Then why not treat it?

Uh, did the Marshal actually like this charcoal-black color?

Novak didn't help clear up his confusion, instead lowering his head in deep thought.

The adjutant tried to persuade him a few times, but Novak remained silent. In frustration, he could only find someone to undress him and wrap him in white cloth—blood was constantly seeping out from the cracks in his skin. Although it wasn't fatal, it wasn't good to be bleeding while walking around.

The group returned to the palace. Novak sat in the main hall and continued his contemplation, while the adjutant led men to search the altar.

Hearing the adjutant's voice, Novak finally raised his head, his vacant eyes gradually focusing. He seemed to be asking him, yet also asking himself: "Can't find it?

How is that possible? It clearly responded to me..."

"Uh, Marshal, who is 'it'?"

Novak finally snapped out of it: "God."

Marshal... what exactly happened after you activated the Magic Array?

The adjutant was puzzled by his disrespectful way of referring to the deity. He wanted to ask but didn't dare, so he persuaded: "Marshal, since it succeeded once, it will surely work next time.

Although the magic consumption of the Magic Array is enormous, we still have enough magic crystals to set it up again."

"Idiot," Novak couldn't help but curse, then continued, "It's true that a faith artifact is no longer precious once it loses its function—otherwise, with the Naqi Kingdom's strength, it would be impossible to keep it.

But it was once an artifact, after all. Do you really think it's as common as bread in a roadside snack shop?"

Being scolded didn't make the adjutant angry; he knew the Marshal was in a bad mood, so he lowered his head and stopped inviting trouble.

However, Novak couldn't stop, muttering to himself: "Damn it... damn it... what exactly is going on?

God should have agreed, otherwise it would have been impossible to activate the artifact with lightning, and I did indeed sense the artifact responding to me. But... why has it disappeared?"

Novak's current mood could be described as a roller coaster of highs and lows.

Initially, he hadn't held much hope for activating the artifact; after all, it had been a mere decoration for at least tens of thousands of years.

The idea of using the faith artifact was only because he considered that the deity might be satisfied with his strict adherence to the divine oracle to crusade against Lake and might generously unseal the artifact.

At first, things really did go that way.

When the artifact that had been dormant for tens of thousands of years opened its eyes, the excitement in Novak's heart was beyond words. The Naqi Kingdom was about to obtain the trump card for humanity to climb to the peak of the continent.

Who would have known that after the thunder, the artifact would bizarrely vanish.

Novak had no idea how to face the current situation. He felt his mind was in a daze, as if he had just woken from a nightmare.

The confusion in his heart kept surfacing as if it had no end, and his thoughts were a mess. He even made wild guesses: "Could it have been shattered by the lightning?

No, no, no, impossible. The lightning is the key to activating and unlocking the artifact's shackles. I've only heard of a key breaking in a lock, never of a key destroying the lock itself.

If it wasn't damaged, then it was... stolen?"

Novak stood up abruptly. Magic surged, and the bandages wrapping his body were shattered, with white cloth fragments of varying sizes fluttering down like snowflakes.

Hearing this, the muscles on the adjutant's face couldn't help but twitch: "Marshal, besides you and me, there were only the Soldiers moving the magic crystals at the scene.

When you activated the array, the Soldiers and I were all far from the altar. After the altar exploded, I was the first to rush... uh..."

As he spoke, the adjutant realized that if the artifact really was stolen, he seemed to be the prime suspect.

The adjutant suddenly stopped, his expression frozen. Novak looked over and, after a moment's thought, understood what was going on: "It wasn't you."

Hearing this, the adjutant immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "Marshal, I will organize the Soldiers to go again..."

"No need." Novak seemed to have finally regained his senses, no longer acting as neurotic as before. "It's only such a small area. If it hasn't been found after searching for a day, it's certainly not at the scene anymore."

"Then... Marshal, could it be that a Saint-level expert made a move from the shadows?"

"What Saint-level would be that stupid?" Novak sat back down on the steps, his arms resting on his thighs. "Anyone with even a slight understanding of ancient history knows that a faith artifact can only be opened by its contractor; otherwise, it would have been snatched away by foreign races long ago.

That faith artifact can only be used by me. Unless they took me along with it, it's just a decoration."

The adjutant was silent for a while, then comforted: "Marshal, even without the artifact, we can still repel the enemy army."

"I hope so."

"At the very least, I will definitely die before you do."

Novak looked at his determined face and slowly began to smile: "At least as a Marshal, I haven't been a complete failure.

Hmm... hear my command."

"I am here!"

"You are responsible for escorting the members of the royal family out of the Naqi Kingdom. Set out immediately."

The adjutant looked stunned: "Me?

Marshal, escorting the royal family doesn't require me. Just send anyone..."

"Hear my command."

After a moment of stagnation, the adjutant's lips parted as if to speak, but he ultimately lowered his head silently: "As you command."

...

Zhang Mu, using his Shadow Technique, was sitting right next to Novak.

"Contractor? Does that mean I can't use it?"

Based on the information gathered so far, that indeed seemed to be the case.

But Zhang Mu was not willing to give up just like that. He immediately got up, left the palace, flew out of the royal capital, and found a secluded forest outside the city to begin his experiments.

He tried many methods.

The Magic Arrays commonly used on the Saul Continent for contracting magic beasts and tools were ineffective; Mental Energy connection was ineffective; magic stimulation was ineffective.

Zhang Mu even tried the "blood dripping" method that often appeared in novels, but the result was still ineffective.

"So after all my excitement, this thing is less useful than a vase?"

Zhang Mu stood there, thinking it over for a while. He still didn't want to give up, so he flew into the sky and headed all the way to the Lake Royal Capital.

Once at the royal capital, he went directly to find Avril, who was busy with government affairs in her palace, and asked her how to use a faith artifact.

Avril said in confusion: "faith artifacts lost their function a long time ago. Every Ice and Snow King of the Ice and Snow Empire has tried, and they all ended in failure. Therefore, most of the useless methods for using them have long been lost.

Why are you asking this?"

"I heard about it from Novak—oh, that's the Marshal of the allied forces."

Avril thought for a moment and then smiled in realization: "They're trying to pin their hopes for a turnaround on a faith artifact?

It seems the allied forces are indeed very pessimistic about their future, to waste time on such an impractical method."

Zhang Mu's expression was a bit strange.

If I hadn't happened to go there, they actually would have succeeded.

He didn't voice his thoughts but followed up with a question: "Most of the methods are lost, meaning some still remain?"

Seeing that he was truly interested, Avril put down her quill: "Have you learned about the history of the ancient wars?"

"I know it." Novak had explained it very carefully, and Zhang Mu, who was listening in, hadn't missed a thing.

"Then it's easy to explain.

Literally speaking, a faith artifact is a magic item that collects faith and then returns power.

According to the surviving records of the Ice and Snow Empire, the specific process for use was that humans needed to select a person to become the artifact's contractor using a Magic Array, and then collect faith.

There are two methods: one is to gather subjects to worship the artifact, and the other is to carry the artifact and travel the continent to proselytize."

"What's the difference?"

"In terms of the amount of faith, there is no difference." Avril shook her head.

"Uh, then why create two methods?"

"Because only devout subjects can provide faith." Avril said, thought for a moment, and continued to explain, "In ancient times, the existence of deities was not known to everyone, and there were no churches responsible for spreading the word of God. At that time, human kingdoms that believed in deities were very rare."

Zhang Mu understood: "If a kingdom that doesn't believe in God gets the artifact, even if they gather all their subjects to kneel and worship, they won't squeeze out a single drop of faith.

So they can only go around spreading... wait, that's not right.

Running around is so troublesome. Why not establish an organization like a church to centralize the proselytizing?"

Avril raised her hand and pinched a bit of flesh on Zhang Mu's cheek: "Do you think it's like now, where humans hold the position of overlord of the continent and don't have to worry about their safety?

Humans back then didn't believe in things like dogmas or miracles at all. Even if you made a mountain peak appear out of thin air, they probably wouldn't even have the interest to take a look; they would just think it was some kind of magic and then lower their heads to continue farming their wheat.

To make them believe in God, and to believe devoutly, the best way was to help them eliminate threats and then tell them that as long as they believed in God, there would never be any more threats."

Zhang Mu held her cold hand: "The artifact carrier has to play the role of a savior, rushing to various human settlements to solve the things that threaten them?"

"Yes."

"Understood."

Avril's strength seemed to have improved again, and her body was becoming colder. In the short time they held hands, a thin layer of ice had already formed on Zhang Mu's palm.

She saw it and gently pulled her hand away: "Actually, the idea of relying on a faith artifact was destined to fail from the very beginning."

While using magic to dispel the cold, Zhang Mu asked curiously: "Why?"

"A faith artifact itself doesn't release any powerful attacks. Its only ability is to bless the contractor with the Power Of Faith."

Blessing with the Power Of Faith?

Can an ordinary person withstand the Power Of Faith?

Unless...

Zhang Mu was deep in thought, whispering to himself: "It sounds like... like..."

Avril smiled slightly and took over the conversation: "Like the process of gestating a deity."

Hearing her say this, Zhang Mu confirmed the thought in his mind—creating a god!

Avril rested her chin on her hand: "I once thought the downfall of the Ice and Snow Empire stemmed from the Knight Magic used to train the Griffin Cavalry. Later, I guessed that the last Ice and Snow King had violated some kind of taboo, such as trying to destroy the church that represents God.

It wasn't until I accepted the inheritance that I realized it wasn't because of those things. The fundamental reason was that successive Ice and Snow Kings craved godhood and never stopped trying to activate the faith artifact, even though they knew it was impossible to succeed."

With a slight sigh, she continued: "The Saul Continent is already dominated by the current deity, and all the people of the Saul Continent have offered their faith to him."

Zhang Mu felt puzzled: "If faith can create a god, the church that serves God should be working desperately to cultivate believers, but they seem... not very keen on it."

It was a well-known fact that the church never forced the creatures of the Saul Continent to believe in God.

"Faith doesn't refer to reverence for a deity or holding onto some firm conviction." Avril looked out at the sky through the open window on the left. "That's right, many people never go to church and never kneel to God, but they are all absolutely certain that there is a deity on the Saul Continent, and there indeed is a deity on the Saul Continent.

Believing in the existence of this deity is faith.

Does Junior understand now?

The so-called faith refers to firmly believing that there is such a god in The World, and the people of the Saul Continent are incredibly devout in this 'faith'."

Zhang Mu pondered for a few seconds: "When the deity was first born in ancient times, in order to suppress competitors, he sealed the faith artifacts. Over tens of thousands of years, all living beings have come to believe only in his existence. The Saul Continent no longer has the soil to nurture another god, and he no longer cares if the artifacts are unsealed."

"Yes, that's it."

"Then, what if someone successfully activates a faith artifact and collects faith under his name?"

"Then the deity would be very happy because someone is proactively helping him consolidate faith."

"True, the one they believe exists is the current deity.

Even if all the artifacts were unsealed and could be used again, it would all just be making a wedding dress for him."

That was the situation; it was impossible for a second god to appear on the Saul Continent. However...

Zhang Mu began to laugh.

In Avril's eyes, his laugh was somewhat inexplicable: "What's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing." Zhang Mu raised his hand to smooth the corners of his mouth. "I was just thinking, if one day I become a god, I'll definitely take Senior along with me."

Avril's beautiful eyebrows twitched: "Then I hope Junior's dream comes true soon. Senior also happens to want to experience what it feels like to be a god."

Zhang Mu was overjoyed. After chatting with Avril for a while longer, he got up, left the palace, summoned a Portal, and returned to Blue Star.

As soon as he came out, Zhang Mu immediately went to buy some mythology books and plunged into "The World" to study hard.

Don't misunderstand; Zhang Mu didn't intend to use the names of Blue Star's local gods to spread faith.

"Firmly believing in the existence of such a god" is faith.

According to this principle, if Zhang Mu used the image of a local god, he probably wouldn't become a god himself but would instead create a god out of thin air.

He flipped through the mythology books because he intended to refer to human understanding of gods to design an efficient godhood plan that aligned with human perception.

Recently, America, Ying Country, and China have all been relatively quiet, not suitable for making trouble. Russia, which is currently holding its selection matches, is undoubtedly the most appropriate subject for experimentation.

"Firmly believing in the existence of such a god." After a day, Zhang Mu finished reading all the books, stood up, and muttered, "This is actually easier to handle than the common understanding of faith.

Well, I'll give it a try and see."

With a slight thought, the exit of the light gate in Russia opened. Zhang Mu activated his Shadow Technique and stepped through the door.