Chapter 1048: Come Out Here

"Huh? Omniscient Lord? I…" Bobo Village Chief wanted to say he didn't believe it—he had never even heard this god's name before, so how could he possibly worship it?

But before he could finish speaking, an enticing aroma drifted from the vegetable dumpling in his hand, making him swallow hard against his will: "Gulp… uh, that is, should I believe or not?"

Silver Coin took out the vegetable dumplings, stuffing them one by one into the hands of the people who came down behind him, and said amiably: "Worship the Omniscient Lord, and you shall receive our Lord's protection. There's more after you finish. If you don't believe, once you've bought your grain, you can leave."

Why do goblin merchants fare better than human merchants in most planes? It's not because they're cunning and sly—that's slander made up by losers who can't outcompete them. The main reason is that goblins are short.

Short goblins don't look threatening. Standing there, craning their necks to look up at you, friendly and kind, they instantly put people at ease. Who would expect them to haul out a coin pouch and hammer you flat?

Silver Coin's friendliness made Bobo Village Chief and the others drop their guard without meaning to. They let out a long sigh—turns out it doesn't matter whether they believe or not. They can buy grain even without believing. Then they won't believe. Buy the grain and hurry back…

Thinking of this, Bobo took a big bite of the vegetable dumpling. The taste made his eyes go wide instantly, and his attention shifted entirely to the dumpling.

He chewed a few times and swallowed, feeling the smooth slide down his throat, the lingering flavor on his lips and teeth, the warm comfort in his belly. Bobo Village Chief couldn't help blurting out: "Delicious! So delicious, mmm mmm mmm…"

Bobo Village Chief wolfed down the vegetable dumpling, then looked at Silver Coin excitedly and said: "Is there really more? Is it too late for me to believe in the Omniscient Lord now?"

"Hehe, of course it's not too late. Go over there—see it? The Fire of Wisdom. Pray to it devoutly, receive its response, and you'll gain the Omniscient Lord's protection. Off you go." Silver Coin chuckled and pointed behind him. There stood a newly built altar, atop which a ball of purple flame burned fiercely.

By now quite a few people were already praying devoutly over there—but on closer look, why were they all veteran mercenaries of the Violet Mercenary Corps?

Watching these mercenaries, Little Fatty Dragon in the distance said irritably: "There's your shill everywhere—would you die without one? Swindling and deceiving, isn't this just a scam? What's the use of faith gained this way?"

Anthony laughed and said: "How can you call this a scam? Shills are shills, but shills serve different purposes. Here, these shills serve as guides and demonstrators. Normally when you go to a temple of a god you don't know, you think: I'm already here, might as well bow. But then you see all the offerings, prayer texts, kneel cushions, ritual implements—you have no idea how to use them. What do you do?"

Lord Nai Ge Li Si said irritably: "I would never go bowing randomly at a temple of some god I don't know."

"You wouldn't, but casual believers would. In this world, the vast majority are casual believers who go with the flow. Sometimes they pray not out of devotion but out of habit. You think when I made followers of the God of Farming pray before meals, thanking the god for bestowing food, I was hoping they'd be devout? No—I just wanted them to build the habit."

Anthony sighed: "The vast majority of intelligent beings are ordinary—no passion, no resolve, no thoughts of devotion. They cry when hurt, change their minds when beaten. Faith is the hope of the weak; those strong-willed, resolute strong ones don't need faith."

"Give the weak a hope, let them grow accustomed to walking toward that hope, and ultimately arrive at a realm of happiness."

"We shouldn't blame them for not being devout enough. What we must ensure is that the hope we offer is correct, that it will definitely be realized, and that they have the strength to walk in the right direction. That is what a god should do—and a god's mission."

Ordinary people hearing this passage would only feel Anthony's words were profound. But Lord Nai Ge Li Si listened with jaw agape, because this was an entirely new religious theory—one that actually began to set norms for a god's mission and duties?

All religious scriptures had only ever constrained the believers; never had anyone seen one that defined a mission for the gods. This… this was turning things upside down?

Although somewhat shaken, Lord Nai Ge Li Si could still accept this theory, because he had said long ago: it is not the gods who create believers, but believers who create gods.

With the shills' demonstration, almost all of Bobo Village Chief and the villagers, after finishing their vegetable dumplings, swarmed to the 'Fire of Wisdom' and began to kneel—some devoutly, some hesitantly. The more devout the prayer, the higher the Fire of Wisdom's flames leapt.

What kind of Fire of Wisdom was this? It was clearly Death's Fire—only its intensity was so extreme it broke past form and became a completely different kind of flame, making it hard to recognize. But the operating principle was still the same.

When the devout ones stepped back—having eaten their fill, been dewormed, bathed, healed of wounds and illnesses, and dressed in new clothes—and appeared before everyone radiant and refreshed, the hesitant ones one by one became devout.

Those who had originally planned to buy grain and leave couldn't help hesitating now. The Omniscient Lord seemed pretty good. Was it too late to believe now?

More and more airships gathered on the few islands poking above the water of the Sea of Omniscience. Believers willing to worship the Omniscient Lord would be transferred to the underwater 'Bubbles'; the rest, after finishing their vegetable dumplings and paying for the grain, could load up and leave.

Every now and then a 'balloon' would bob up from the sea surface. Drag it to shore and you'd find a string of large bags tied to its underside—all waterproof-packed grain. They were tied to balloons and rose straight up from underwater, eliminating any chance of being robbed.

Goods only loaded after payment. If you really wanted to rob, you'd have to dive down to the bubble city underwater.

But some with ulterior motives who had sneaked into the underwater bubbles felt the thunder element contained within the operating World-Shocking Thunder Formation, and immediately gave up the idea.

Black Cord had organized a few mercenary corps and dared to raid Violet's underground city, but raiding the Sea of Omniscience was not so easy. The surface layer of water alone was the most troublesome barrier, and sending a small elite force for a sudden strike invited fear of defensive formations.

So although the news that the Sea of Omniscience had grain had already spread throughout the entire Void, no real conflict had ever broken out.

But what was bound to come would come. On this day, the Grand Executor dragged over a dozen coffins across the Void and arrived above the island. Following behind him was North Crown.

After a period of searching, they had been unable to find any trace of the Doomsday Formation. They could only search farther and farther, growing more and more irritable, and before they knew it, they had arrived near the Sea of Omniscience.

Seeing the place where all this had begun, North Crown thought of the existence that had fought him for the Undying Divine Fire. Looking again at the Grand Executor beside him, his courage swelled, and from afar he shouted loudly: "Come out, you bastard who stole my Undying Divine Fire—come out here!"