In fact, from the methods used by the gods of this Type-Moon world to resist the decline of the Age of Gods and the disappearance of True Ether, Alaric was reminded of a very famous world.
The Forgotten Realms, also known as the world of Faerun, or Abeir-Toril.
In that world, the original gods did not require faith to exist.
However, precisely because of this, the gods paid little attention to their followers and toyed with mortals at will. This angered the Overgod above them, Ao.
Thus, after casting the gods down to the mortal world during the Time of Troubles, Ao linked the gods' divine power to the number and devotion of their followers, forcing them to focus on their responsibilities.
If a god lost their followers, their power would gradually weaken, and they might even perish.
From that moment on, for the gods, believers were no longer optional admirers, but the very source of their strength.
Thinking about it carefully, wasn't this remarkably similar to the current situation in the Type-Moon world?
During the Age of Gods, when True Ether was abundant, the gods did not need followers.
Their strength came from their control over concepts, not from faith. But as True Ether faded and the Age of Gods came to an end, the faith of mortals became their final means of survival.
It was, in a sense, rather tragic.
After returning from Egypt, Alaric also conducted research on the power derived from mortal faith.
As the figure who had spread magecraft throughout Egypt, Alaric's legend had, in fact, been deified alongside Nitocris.
The difference was that, perhaps due to political reasons, or perhaps because people found it displeasing that a foreign man stood beside Egypt's Pharaoh, Alaric's identity as a sage of Egypt and Nitocris's advisor was deliberately downplayed, both during that era and under subsequent Pharaohs.
Compared to this foreign sage, Egyptians cared more about the greatness of their Pharaoh. Moreover, many believed it was disgraceful for an outsider to assist Egypt's ruler.
As a result, most accounts of Alaric appeared only in myths and unofficial histories related to Nitocris.
In the latter, Alaric was usually portrayed as a mage, while in the former, he was described as the god Thoth walking upon the earth.
Yes, among certain Egyptians, Alaric's image had actually been elevated into that of a deity, especially among Egypt's magi.
This was also another reason why the image of Alaric as a sage did not appear in official historical records.
In the eyes of many scholars studying Egypt, Thoth was the god of wisdom.
And the stories claiming that Thoth assisted Pharaoh Nitocris were merely exaggerated metaphors used by ancient people to describe her intelligence and appreciation of wisdom.
In any case, Alaric was indeed worshipped in Egypt under the name of Thoth, and these legends endured for ages.
Incidentally, besides Alaric, Hecate, now the Goddess of the Magic Network, also acquired a divine name in Egypt.
To avoid drawing the attention of the Heliopolitan pantheon, Hecate adopted the name Isis in Egypt.
As this divine name spread, she gradually became known in Egyptian mythology as the goddess of life, magic, marriage, and fertility, and by the late Egyptian Empire, she was even regarded as one of the Ennead of Heliopolis.
Returning to the main topic, because he was worshipped as a god, Alaric did indeed gain the power of faith.
Although, under normal circumstances, beings other than gods could not utilize this power, Alaric was clearly an exception.
Firstly, while he was not a god, he was deeply favored by several goddesses.
The divinity within him was already comparable to that of a minor deity.
Secondly, he had mastered the Third Magic, Materialization of the Soul, which made him extremely sensitive to spiritual and soul-based energies.
As a result, he was able to perceive and partially control the power of faith, something that was usually extremely obscure to others.
In fact, according to the theory of the Third Magic, the soul is a perpetual motion machine.
The human body requires constant intake of energy to function, but consciousness does not require any external energy to operate.
The soul itself is perpetual, something indirectly proven by necromancy.
Based on this, the various emotions produced by the soul can also be considered a form of energy.
Joy, sorrow, hatred, pain… all emotions can manifest as energy.
This is why magic requires absolute rationality to cast, yet emotions like jealousy can push magic beyond its normal limits.
However, under normal circumstances, such energy is only useful to oneself.
Every soul is an independent entity, and emotional energy from others is essentially a form of poison.
If absorbed, even the strongest and most composed beings could only barely endure its corrupting effects.
Most individuals lacking sufficient willpower would go mad, and even gods were no exception. In this regard, "All the Evils of the World" was a classic example.
That said, there was one exception, worship.
Emotions such as reverence, admiration, and longing were not self-generated thoughts of the soul, but rather one-sided wishes directed toward another existence.
For the one being worshipped, such emotional energy was not only harmless, but even beneficial.
Such emotions, such thoughts, could become nourishment for the gods.
After gaining this power as the god Thoth, Alaric derived many insights from it.
He even used it to draw connections to a unique existence within the Type-Moon world, Heroic Spirits.
The power of Heroic Spirits comes from their history and their legends.
History refers to their actual deeds, while legends refer to their fame and how widely their stories are spread.
What is called "fame" is, in essence, the power of worship, faith, and imagination.
When a Heroic Spirit is summoned as a Servant, fame becomes a key factor determining their strength.
The closer they are to the land or cultural sphere where their legend originates, and the greater their fame, the stronger they become.
This "strength" means that their abilities and equipment more closely match what is described in their legends.
Why is this so? Because even though the power of faith is not inherently toxic, there are still limitations to its use.
A user can only utilize this energy based on the imagination of those who provide it. Otherwise, the efficiency of that power drops significantly.
In simple terms, the faith of a fire god's followers can only allow that god to function as a fire deity.
Since their image of the god is tied to fire, that god cannot suddenly wield water through that same faith.
Similarly, even though Alaric could use the faith Egyptians placed in Thoth, he could only use it to perform divine arts or abilities associated with Thoth, such as manipulating the moon, wielding magic, and granting wisdom, because these were precisely the powers people believed Thoth possessed.