9: Chapter 9 Majesty and Distance

Hearing this, everyone nodded one after another, but no one dared to whisper anymore.

“Here, we must mention the nature of Divine Beings. Although you have awakened your Divine Realms and promoted to Divine Beings,”

“In essence, you haven't undergone a fundamental change. You still need to eat, and you can still be cut by sharp weapons, bleed, or even die.”

“In this regard, you completely lack the appearance a god should have.”

The students in the classroom looked puzzled. Wasn't this common knowledge? What did this have to do with majesty?

A hint of mockery suddenly appeared on Teacher Tong Qian's face, and her words took on a somewhat inexplicable tone.

“A God Lord has absolute control over their Believers. Even if they are sent to their deaths, the Believers will not offer any resistance.”

“They can do as they please, unrestrained by Federation laws. Under such circumstances, it is inevitable that some students who haven't had much contact with the opposite sex would be curious.”

“Add to that the fact that Believers are essentially human, so at every moment in the God Domain, there are gods reproducing with their Believers.”

“If one parent is a Divine Being and the other is just an ordinary Believer, the child born cannot awaken a Divine Realm; these are Corrupted One.”

Hearing this, some students' expressions turned somewhat unnatural. Teacher Tong Qian continued as if she hadn't noticed.

“Attraction to the opposite sex and reproduction are instincts. I don't wish to comment too much on these matters here, but I will use them to lead into the subject I want to teach: Majesty!”

“When a God Lord begins to reproduce with a Believer, your divine aura will fade. Some God Lords might directly bring a Believer into the God Domain out of a momentary sense of novelty.”

“They let the Believer intervene in their lives and treat them like family. Perhaps this God Lord's intentions are good.”

“But we must face a fact here: once Believers have reproduced with a God Lord and see that the God Lord, who was once sacred and inviolable in their eyes, lives no better than an ordinary Believer in the Divine Realm,”

“Under the impact of such a huge gap and environmental shock, unless that Believer is an extreme fanatic, their faith will rapidly collapse, and they will become a Source of Pollution.”

As she spoke, a sub-category appeared on the projection: Source of Pollution.

“If the God Lord discovers it in time and has the resolve to directly slay this Source of Pollution, then there is still room for maneuver.”

“If the God Lord fails to discover it, or discovers it but can't bear to deal with it, then once this Source of Pollution returns to their Divine Realm, it will quickly pollute the other Believers within.”

“These polluted Believers will become new Sources of Pollution, until the very end.”

Images appeared on the projection: in a vast Divine Realm, thunder snakes danced in the sky and the earth cracked.

Believers, like a rising tide, seemed to have gone mad, slaughtering every living thing in sight. Raging fires engulfed all buildings and resource points.

The entire Divine Realm was like an apocalyptic purgatory until finally, every Believer was dead. The environment began to collapse and reorganize, and new Believers began to appear.

Everything returned to the starting point. The video finished playing.

“This is the final result of pollution: all existing Believers are completely wiped out. A large number of resource points are destroyed, various buildings are burned, and less than twenty percent of all investments can be recovered.”

“A Divine Realm that was once flourishing is knocked back to its primitive state within days. This is the result of a god's majesty disappearing.”

At this moment, many students' faces turned pale, and some even had a look of ruthlessness in their eyes. Teacher Tong Qian ignored the changes in the students' expressions.

Teacher Tong Qian's tone was flat as her gaze swept over Lin Xiao.

“The higher-ups talk about these things every day, but they can't be stopped; they happen every year. If you follow the news section, you will notice.”

“So, before you become Demigods, I do not suggest you have too much contact with Believers. If there is something, simply issue a Divine Decree.”

“Even after becoming a god, it's best not to have an overly intimate relationship with your Believers. Distance is a god's best protection; excessive closeness ultimately harms both parties.”

A cup of Spiritual Tea appeared in Teacher Tong Qian's hand. She sat on the podium and took a sip, giving the students ten minutes for discussion.

“No wonder Federation law prohibits Divine Beings from having relationships with Believers, saying something about gods and mortals being different. So that's what it's about.”

“I always thought Corrupted One were monsters from outside the realm; I didn't expect them to come from this. No wonder they have such great hatred for Divine Beings.”

“No wonder my parents would rather be tired themselves than summon Believers to the house to handle chores. If a Believer saw the situation at home, wouldn't they become a Source of Pollution in a heartbeat?”

Believers are nurtured by Divine Beings. With resources bought and buildings constructed, a powerful Believer in the Divine Realm is either a local hegemon or the emperor of some nation.

With such a high status, if they come to the God Domain and find their God Lord huddled in an ordinary house of about a hundred square meters,

Eating food the same as theirs, or even worse, and having to work constantly and be exploited every day—which Believer could see that without becoming a Source of Pollution?

When the students had finished most of their discussion, Teacher Tong Qian set down the tea cup made of a spiritual tool. The classroom became deathly silent instantly.

“Teaching you these things is only to make you clearly understand the stakes involved. But you should not over-demonize these things either.”

“One day outside is one year in the Divine Realm. With such a high rate of time flow, if you train them properly, you can build your own team of consultants.”

Under the Believers category on the projection, another sub-category appeared: Talent Cultivation.

“Aside from those previous individual cases, normally everyone focuses only on the strength of the Believers they cultivate, and thus neglects the cultivation of clerical staff.”

“Even if you follow the path of war, clerical staff are also indispensable talents. On a small scale, they manage the Divine Realm and reasonably allocate its resources.”

“On a large scale, they help you reasonably select resources, buildings, cards, equipment, training, and so on from the massive amount of platform materials suitable for your Divine Realm.”

“It can be said that a good clerical Believer can help you save a large amount of faith points through planning.”

Huh? This? Didn't she just say to keep a distance from Believers? That excessive closeness would only harm people? What does this talent cultivation mean now?

Seeing the look of contemplation on Lin Xiao's face in the front row, Teacher Tong Qian explained.

“Keeping a distance and not being overly intimate is not in conflict with cultivating clerical Believers. It's just like how you cultivate the strength of your Believers now.”

“Similarly, without being overly close, you can still cultivate a large number of powerful Believers. When needed, they will work, produce, and even go to war for you.”

“But not all Believers are suited for combat. Some Believers have more active minds and have good talent for statistics and strategy.”

“If you insist on making such Believers compete in martial strength, they will be like trash, only consuming resources without results.”

“But if you change direction and let them become clerical staff, the role they can play is not necessarily worse than those high-level Believers.”

Hearing this, a student finally couldn't help but raise their hand high. Being able to save a large amount of faith points was something they couldn't help but care about.

Teacher Tong Qian acted as if she didn't see the students with their hands raised. Seeing that Lin Xiao didn't show any special reaction, she nodded and gave a summary.

“The grasp of this balance is something you students must figure out for yourselves. After all, this is a kind of test for you, to distinguish which Believers are suitable for what.”

“This is a basic quality of a god. That's all for today's class. Now, you are free to move around.”

Dropping this concluding sentence, Teacher Tong Qian's figure disappeared from Class 7 in the virtual world.

“Ah? The Homeroom Teacher just left like that? I wanted to ask how to distinguish clerical-type Believers. Didn't she just say you could save a lot of faith points after learning it?”

“Pfft, you should be happy the Homeroom Teacher taught this much today. In previous classes...”

As the student spoke, he stole a glance at the back of Lin Xiao in the front row and lowered his voice significantly.

“The Homeroom Teacher never taught these things to previous classes. You still want to ask? The Homeroom Teacher is at the God level; it's already good enough that she said a few words.”

Lin Xiao couldn't help but feel emotional inside at this moment.

He hadn't expected Believers to have so many hidden details. If it weren't for the teacher's instruction, how could new players (Divine Beings) know?