Chapter 1104: Divinity

Setting Sun Plane.

Sheng Jilesi stood within An Se's tomb, patiently waiting for his phone to boot while following the sound of prayers toward the believers in the Radiant Cathedral.

Regardless of distance, a demigod can hear the believers' prayers, see the surroundings of the believers, and respond. A demigod can also bless believers, but must do so face‑to‑face. However, the demigod's blessing is merely an infusion of Divinity, not a Divine Technique.

Sheng Jilesi grasped the divine fire hovering before his eyes.

By means of the divine fire, he can wield a portion of a deity's power, grant Divine Technique at range, and achieve what other demigods cannot.

Of course, this consumes a great deal of Divinity.

"Divinity…"

Sheng Jilesi felt the state after his soul's transformation; his soul had been completely reshaped by Divinity, and in essence he was no longer mortal.

This Divinity was powerful and utterly domineering.

It permeated every part of his body—blood, muscle, and bone—all altered by Divinity, turning him into a Divinity‑infused being.

Before ascending to demigod, Sheng Jilesi underwent nine Soul Transformations to reach Level 34, possessing massive Holy Light Power; now all of it has been assimilated by Divinity, each strand of Holy Light Power infused with domineering Divinity, causing its effects and potency to surge dramatically.

Divinity enhances strength in every aspect!

Sheng Jilesi looked at his palm; his power had broken the Level 20 cap, his skin grew tougher, defense surged, stamina became limitless, and magical resistance rose to an incredible height—ordinary Nine-ring Technique could be endured without much damage.

Even when wounded, as long as the Divinity remains, he can heal rapidly, comparable to an Undying Body!

Divinity also possesses tremendous burst power and resilience, slowing soul aging, vastly extending lifespan, enhancing physical attributes, and aiding spellcasting.

Divinity is omnipotent.

Moreover, Divinity exerts near‑absolute suppression over mortal beings; on the soul level, a single glance can cause enemies below Saint Rank to mentally collapse.

This is a demigod!

Even though a demigod is far from a true deity, it is far beyond what a mortal can contend with.

Ordinary Saint Rank elites have virtually no chance against a demigod; of course, this is not absolute—demigods vary in strength, and Saint Rank elites also differ vastly.

A demigod's strength depends on Divinity.

Once Divinity is exhausted, a demigod reverts to its original form, possibly weaker than before ascending, because the spent Divinity included a portion of soul power.

Sheng Jilesi shook his head; demigods are strong, but they are bound by believers.

The so‑called "great power belongs to oneself" still carries a layer of restriction; it is not truly "absolute power".

In the Radiant Cathedral, Lei En watched the Holy Lance Knight repeatedly recite the doctrine aloud, thinking that if he could find another way to master great power, he would never walk the Path of Deification.

But it's too difficult…

Beep!

Sheng Jilesi heard a crisp sound in his mind—his phone powered on! A little flower appeared in his view… uh, he was momentarily stunned; the familiar Little Red Flower had turned yellow. Upon closer inspection, its shape was unchanged—still eight petals surrounding a multi‑core crystal at the center, and the petals were not truly yellow but golden, as if also tinged by Divinity.

However, this made it look like a chrysanthemum, feeling odd.

Boot complete.

The little yellow flower faded from view, the phone interface returned, and Sheng Jilesi scanned it swiftly; overall it was the same as before, numerous icons spiraling around the center in concentric circles.

The most obvious change was at the center: the Little Red Flower had become a chrysanthemum.

Originally five battery rings surrounded the flower; they merged into one, and the fill color shifted from green to gold, now fully charged.

To the right of the battery ring is the soul power pool, unchanged.

But on the opposite side of the battery ring, left of the soul power pool, a new unfamiliar icon appeared, shaped like a golden flame vortex with a number displayed at its center.

1893!

"What's this?"

Sheng Jilesi vaguely guessed what the number signified, then saw it flicker to 1894. After waiting a dozen seconds, the number rose another digit; focusing his mind on the golden flame, information about it flooded his brain.

Sure enough, the number represented Divinity!

Each unit equals one share of Divinity; he currently possessed 1,895 shares of Divinity.

Each share of Divinity has a concrete source; Sheng Jilesi followed an ethereal line of faith power and saw the two ends connecting him and the believers. One end lay within his soul, where Divinity coursed through his body; the other end was the believers in the Radiant Cathedral.

That believer was a Legendary High-rank blood elf, part of the Holy Spear Knight Corps' upper echelon, serving as commander of the Third Battalion.

Her faith was very devout.

Thus, the faith power she contributed was clearly far greater than that of other believers, many times more.

Sheng Jilesi looked at another ethereal line.

That Holy Lance Knight was a shallow believer, only at High Rank, contributing just one‑tenth of the faith power of the aforementioned blood‑elf commander.

He examined dozens of believers in succession, compared them, combined the phone's data with the contents recorded in Path of Deification, and shortly thereafter compiled a rough statistical report on believers and their faith power.

Lei En also received the result simultaneously and thought to himself, "So that's how it is."

Believers contribute faith power.

However, each believer's generated faith power varies greatly, with huge disparities, mainly depending on the strength of their soul and their level of devotion.

Transcendent beings' souls are far stronger than ordinary people's, thus they can generate more faith power.

The stronger the power, the higher the output.

If a transcendent believer's faith is more devout, the faith power produced can climb further, even multiplying.

Sheng Jilesi calculated that, using an ordinary shallow believer as an example, roughly ten thousand such shallow believers' contributions could be converted into one share of Divinity. For a novice shallow believer, two thousand suffice; for a High‑rank believer, only one thousand are needed to form one share of Divinity.

Converted, a High‑rank transcendent can provide ten times the faith power of an ordinary person.

Among transcendent beings, a devout loyal believer offers five times the faith power of a shallow believer.

With both factors combined, a devout High‑rank loyal believer can generate faith power equivalent to that of fifty ordinary shallow believers!

Transcendents above Legendary rank possess even more faith power.

One Legendary‑rank novice believer equals three High‑rank believers, and a fanatic believer roughly equals ten loyal believers.

Among the many believers, Sheng Jilesi instantly spotted the two most radiant figures: Li Feilin and Ai Luo Ti Xi Ya!

They are all Saint Rank strongmen, and they are all fanatical believers.

Li Fulin's individual contribution of faith power is almost equal to that of hundreds of Holy Lance Knights; the faith fire above her head burns intensely, and both its texture and strength far surpass others—only Ai Luotixi Ya can compare.

The two are almost evenly matched.

One Li Fulin-generated faith power can be converted into ten units of Divine Nature, equivalent to three hundred thousand ordinary shallow believers.

"No wonder..."

Lei En suddenly realized that the deity places such importance on powerful believers.

Igniting divine fire requires about ten thousand units of Divine Nature; if there were a thousand believers like Li Fulin or Ai Luotixi Ya, they could directly achieve deification.

That, of course, is impossible.

Saint Rank strongmen are scarce, and they must also be fanatical believers; such people are almost all Divine Chosen, and a deity usually has only a handful of Chosen Ones.

Collecting faith power mainly still requires many shallow believers.

Whether transcendent beings or devout loyal believers, their proportion is never high; they are generally mid‑level in the church, holding relatively high status.

"Ten thousand units of Divine Nature..."

Sheng Jilesi stared at the numbers in the golden flame icon; after a while it had risen to 2022 and then stalled. Igniting divine fire needs ten thousand units of Divine Nature, but currently only one‑fifth is present, a considerable shortfall.

Members of the Holy Spear Knight Corps have an average strength between level six and seven, one‑third reach high‑rank, there are hundreds of legends, and half are loyal believers.

Ten thousand believers provide over two thousand units of Divine Nature, certainly high‑quality believers.

If the Holy Spear Knight Corps expands fivefold, it would be enough for deification. The Holy Lance Knights continue to pray loudly, but Divine Nature no longer increases.

Instead it fell back to 2019.

Sheng Jilesi was slightly surprised—he hadn't done anything, yet Divine Nature decreased?

Before he could figure out what was happening, the numbers jumped again, rising by two units. In the next few minutes, Divine Nature fluctuated up and down within the 2015‑2025 range, changing almost every few seconds with no pattern.

Sheng Jilesi watched the Divine Nature changes intently, his eyes fixed on the believers' faith fire.

A moment later, he understood.

Divine Nature is closely linked to believers' faith state; when faith is engaged in prayer or large ceremonies, the faith fire rises, providing more faith power.

When believers are not praying, the faith fire wanes, and Divine Nature weakens accordingly.

"This..."

Sheng Jilesi frowned, and Lei En was speechless.

Although he had long known that the strength of Divine Nature and Divine Power depends on believers, he hadn't expected the relationship to be so tight and constantly fluctuating, with almost no delay—truly instantaneous. Moreover, it weakens without any action; what if Divine Nature is consumed?

Sheng Jilesi immediately conducted a test, casually releasing several Holy Light Divine Techniques.

Divine Nature began to fluctuate.

When the numbers stabilized, the fluctuation range became 2014‑2024, meaning the upper limit of Divine Nature decreased by one unit.

Sheng Jilesi observed for a long time and found that the consumed Divine Nature did not recover.

No matter how the Holy Lance Knights prayed, it was useless.

This consumption is not a reduction in the faith power provided by a single believer, but a weakening of all believers. The missing unit of Divine Nature, when spread across each believer, becomes negligible and hard to notice, but if hundreds of units are consumed, it becomes obvious.

Sheng Jilesi thought for a moment and continuously released Divine Techniques.

The Divine Nature inside his body was rapidly consumed, and the total cap quickly fell to 2008 units, sometimes even dropping below 2000.

Li Fulin led the Holy Lance Knights in repeatedly reciting the radiant doctrine; after half an hour, Divine Nature finally recovered one unit, returning above 2000, but after that it stalled, and it was unclear how long the next unit would take to recover.

"Indeed, it's arduous!" Lei En couldn't help but sigh.

Sheng Jilesi also figured it out.

A believer's provided faith power is essentially fixed, growing very slowly, and requires maintaining prayer frequency to sustain faith; otherwise it declines.

Moreover, there are only two ways to increase it.

The first is to raise the level of faith, such as moving from shallow believer to loyal believer; the second is to increase strength, after the soul metamorphoses and can generate more faith power.

Beyond that, daily prayer is also important.

Years of continuous prayer can slightly increase faith power; if the soul and faith level remain unchanged, maintaining prayer for about five years can double the contributed faith power.

Shallow believers must pray at least once every seven days, while loyal believers pray daily.

If prayer frequency is insufficient, faith power regresses.

The most terrifying thing is conversion!

Once a believer abandons the faith or converts to another deity, the faith power they generate vanishes instantly, and previous contributions must be returned. Even if some Divine Nature or Divine Power has already been consumed, the loss caused by that believer is taken in full, without any discount.

Therefore, the deity's greatest aversion is to apostates.

Almost every church has a doctrine: betraying the deity is the greatest sin, never forgiven!

In short, acquiring Divine Nature and Divine Power is difficult and hard to restore.

From these traits one can infer that for a demigod or deity, the best way to increase power is to develop more believers!

A new believer joining provides faith power equivalent to five years of prayer from an old believer.

Developing believers offers the highest cost‑performance ratio.

Lei En's thoughts drifted, using his past‑life internet mindset: the key to growth of Divine Nature and Divine Power is acquiring new users!

The benefit generated by a new user can match several years of an old user's contribution, so policies should favor new users; old users are like dogs, occasionally given a tiny treat, while imposing strict penalties for leaving the platform, stabilizing them, and then regularly harvesting the chives.

"Hmm..." Lei En suddenly had an idea.

A deity is like an internet celebrity.

For an internet celebrity, the most important metric is, first of all, the number of fans; the more fans, the larger the base, the higher the traffic, and then other metrics—click‑through rate, view ratio, conversion efficiency, likes, one‑click triple‑action—can be cultivated gradually.

At the same time, the biggest fear for an internet celebrity is 'unfollow', which for a deity equates to conversion.

The difference is that fans unfollowing incur no cost, whereas believers' betrayal may provoke church retaliation, even divine punishment!

Lei En thought of this and smiled inwardly.

Following these ideas, if I wholeheartedly seek godhood and develop believers, it seems not too difficult; I have great confidence to become the most powerful deity of Ai Lun E Si.

However, there is still a shortcut at present.

In An Se's tomb, Sheng Jilie Si looked at the divine fire, which contained a huge amount of divinity!

(End of chapter)