Chapter 402

Thus, a large ring of forest now surrounded the outer edge of the Sacred Flame Forest.

The reason for this was the same as that of the Loki Forest's former Elven Empire.

After the Loki Forest was reclaimed, not all the reclaimed forest was designated as Loki Forest—a ring was left outside as well.

Because when the Loki Forest was reclaimed, an invitation was extended to all elves across the continent; the Night Elves responded to this invitation and came, but by the time they arrived, the Loki Forest was nearly full.

They had braved great dangers to come—how could they possibly go back now?

So the Night Elves settled down around the perimeter of the Loki Forest.

Now, the forest along the edge of the Sacred Flame Forest served the same purpose: to prevent other arriving elven tribes from having nowhere to go if the Sacred Flame Forest became full.

And the actions of these fifty thousand elves brought the reclamation of the Sacred Flame Forest to its Second Stage.

That is, the planting stage.

Only twenty-some days after reclamation began, and they had already entered the Second Stage!

When the Loki Elves reclaimed their forest, it took nearly ten years before they even reached the Second Stage!

The difference was not small at all!

As the Sacred Flame Forest continued to expand, in the Heavenly Realm, the Elven Goddess sat upon a floral bench, her expression troubled.

With the Heavenly Realm's barrier in place, every action a heavenly deity took concerning the Gods' Continent consumed divine power.

Even merely directing one's gaze downward required divine power.

Moreover, this consumption increased over time.

That is, the longer one gazed, the greater the cost became.

In these past few days, she had directed considerable attention downward.

Naturally, she knew what the Green Elves were doing!

They were reclaiming the Dark Forest!

Then she was astonished to discover how fast the elves were reclaiming it!

A thousand years ago, when the Loki Forest was reclaimed, she had naturally been aware of it.

The Loki Forest had taken over a decade to reach the current size of the Sacred Flame Forest.

The staggering contrast—even she, a goddess, was stunned.

Immediately afterward, she discovered why the elves in the Sacred Flame Forest could reclaim land so quickly!

Holy Light!

They were using Holy Light directly to reclaim the land!

This was even more astonishing!

Such a vast area, reclaimed directly with Holy Light!

And this Holy Light was not a fleeting flash—it was continuous, unceasing Holy Light!

As a deity, she could naturally create Holy Light; her realm had no sun, yet it was brilliantly radiant, all plants brimming with vitality, sustained by Holy Light.

It was not impossible to manifest Holy Light upon the Gods' Continent.

The cost would be comparable to descending divine power.

But the problem was—such a vast area, for such a long duration, was being sustained by Holy Light!

How could she not be astonished?

After her astonishment, she observed further and discovered the source of this Holy Light.

That white flame they called "Sacred Flame."

When this Sacred Flame burned, it emitted Holy Light!

She had never heard of such a flame before.

And this flame was obtained by praying to the "Lord of Flame"!

"The Lord of Flame must be an immensely powerful deity!"

The Elven Goddess thought thus.

To descend so much Sacred Flame at once, continuously and without end—in her mind, the Lord of Flame must be extraordinarily powerful!

She also discovered the reason for her declining faith.

Although the Green Elves did not, when praying, say "I am your faithful believer," as the Night Elves did,

yet the Green Elves prayed daily to the Lord of Flame and witnessed his miraculous powers—thus, their faith was already being diverted…

Now she understood why her faith power had diminished so significantly!

It was being diverted by the "Lord of Flame."

Although the Green Elf tribe still contributed more faith power to her than to him,

her share was steadily decreasing while his was steadily increasing!

And the rate of increase was alarming.

Now, the Elven Goddess was growing anxious.

This kind of faith competition was not a Faith War.

A Faith War involved warfare between the realms of two deities—forcing faith through military power, mostly occurring among human nations.

In human nations, commoners did not care which deity they worshipped, as long as they received sufficient benefits.

Kings likewise did not care, as long as they could maintain rule and gain advantages from the gods.

Devotion was built upon strength—if a god was not powerful enough, even the most devout believer might lose faith.

Unless one was a Holy Maiden, a Holy Spirit, or otherwise bound to the deity.

But in elven realms, such a situation simply did not exist.

If any elven tribe's deity ordered its followers to wage war against other elven tribes, that tribe would immediately cease worshipping that deity.

The elves are stronger.

They are also freer, and dislike conflict—especially conflict among their own kind!

Therefore, the elves' faith must be cultivated slowly.

When the elf-line deities compete for faith, they do so through subtle influence; there is never any violent conflict.

When the Loki Elf Empire was first founded, it contained over twenty tribes, each worshipping around ten deities.

But now, many elves have come to follow the Light Elves in worshiping the Goddess of Light, leaving only three or four tribes still devoted to other gods.

Throughout this process, no conflict or war occurred.

Moreover, many elves in fact hold dual faiths.

For example, most elves worship the Goddess of Life.

She is a powerful main deity, the creator of the Life Tree.

So when she discovered her faith was being diverted by the Lord of Flame, this elf goddess never even thought of the word "war."

She began to bestow some of her power to aid the Green Elves who worshipped her.

Yet she soon found that while the power she granted brought joy to those helped and briefly increased her faith, over time, her faith continued to drain away.

What could she do? The Lord of Flame's Sacred Flame was just too overpowered.

After trying for about a week, she was nearly in tears.

Heaven have mercy—only three or four elf tribes still worshipped her.

Now one was about to be lost—no, two.

"What should I do?"

This elf goddess had been worrying for days.

"I wonder if I can reach out to the Lord of Flame? I only have these few tribes left—he can take the majority, but could he at least leave me a tiny bit?"

This pitiful elf goddess thought.