"The prosperity of the Sorcerer Kingdom, every part of it, would not exist without your assistance..."
Momonga looked toward the crowd below and slowly began reciting the speech he had prepared long in advance.
Naohara leaned against the throne, quietly watching the scene unfold.
With a slight lift of his fingers, a strand of invisible golden light was drawn into his palm.
He examined the golden glimmer in his hand, then glanced back at the three statues concealed behind him. Without hesitation, Naohara absorbed the power of faith contained within it.
The next moment, a unique cool sensation rose within his mind.
Naohara could clearly feel that the bottleneck of his level 100 limit had loosened slightly.
"What an intriguing sensation. It seems my hypothesis was correct. The power of faith truly should not be underestimated."
Naohara opened his eyes and looked in the direction of the Slane Theocracy, a faint glint flashing through his gaze.
Within the game [Yggdrasil], information about the power of faith was extremely scarce.
The only thing even remotely connected to it was what was known as faith-based magic.
Faith-based magic itself had many different branches: priests skilled in close combat, priestesses who excelled at magic, and bishops who specialized entirely in spellcasting.
However, no matter the class, the core principle was the same.
Every Cleric held a deity they believed in within their heart and borrowed the power of that god to cast magic.
Take Shalltear Bloodfallen, the Floor Guardian of the First Floor of Nazarick, for example.
As a Cleric, Shalltear's background setting states that she worships the origin of the vampire lineage, the First of the Blood, the one known as the Divine Ancestor, [Cainabel].
In [Yggdrasil], [Cainabel] was merely a minor boss with a relatively low level, around level 80.
Yet Shalltear, a level 100 Guardian, could still obtain powerful blessings through her faith in this Divine Ancestor.
For example, despite being an Undead, she could bypass racial restrictions and learn holy magic, a type of magic that is normally extremely effective against Undead.
The power of faith truly is fascinating. It has the ability to turn the ordinary into something extraordinary.
According to gathered intelligence, Clerics also exist in this world.
For example, Lakyus, the leader of Blue Roses; Nigun, the Captain of the Sunlight Scripture; and the Holy Queen of the Holy Kingdom, among others…
What makes it particularly interesting is that the gods commonly worshipped in this world are actually the Players who descended six hundred years ago, beings revered as the Six Great Gods.
This forced Naohara to think.
The power of Clerics comes from the gods they believe in, allowing them to borrow divine power to cast magic. If that is the case, then what exactly is the current situation of the Six Great Gods, the source of faith in this world?
According to available intelligence, the Six Great Gods are already dead. But if they are truly dead, why are people in this world still able to cast magic through faith in them and borrow their power?
If the object of faith dies, would it affect the Magic Casters who believe in them?
To be honest, even Naohara did not know the answer.
Shalltear's case could not explain it.
Although the Divine Ancestor she worshipped had long been defeated by Nazarick, [Yggdrasil] was ultimately a game, and games had a mechanic known as respawning.
Strictly speaking, it had little reference value.
Because of this, Naohara had two possible theories regarding the Six Great Gods.
The first possibility was that he was simply overthinking things. There might be no direct relationship between whether the object of faith was dead and the Clerics who worshipped them.
As for the second possibility, if his hypothesis was correct, then only one explanation remained.
The Six Great Gods... may never have truly died.
"The game names of the Six Great Gods are unknown, but confirmed intelligence states that five of them were humans who died of natural causes..."
At first glance, this information seemed perfectly reasonable. In reality, however, it raised a major issue.
Natural causes?
Putting everything else aside, one of the Six Great Gods was an Undead. With that alone, turning five humans into a different race would hardly have been difficult.
Of course, it was possible they chose to preserve human dignity and refused to change their race. But the chances of that were extremely small.
No one could watch themselves grow old and weaker day by day and remain completely indifferent.
Especially not five human Players who were essentially comparable to gods.
Yet that explanation still did not quite add up.
If those five human Players were truly still alive, then when the Eight Greed Kings killed the God of Death, why did the others never appear?
Naohara sank into his own thoughts, turning over every possibility again and again.
A trip to the Slane Theocracy was unavoidable.
Negotiating compensation was only a pretense. The real goal was to investigate the true situation of the Six Great Gods.
That was also the main reason why, even though he possessed the power of a World Boss, Naohara still planned to bring six or seven World-Class Items with him.
The power of gods comes from the faith of their followers.
If the Six Great Gods were truly still alive, then after being worshipped as gods for six hundred years, just how powerful had they become under the amplification of such enormous faith?
Naohara did not know.
Which was precisely why he intended to personally verify his hypothesis.
He had not even told Momonga or Herohero about this speculation.
If they knew what he was planning, they would most likely try everything they could to stop him from going to the Theocracy.
Moreover, this involved the possibility of breaking through the level 100 cap. It would also require collecting faith power on a large scale, such as spreading the faith throughout the Empire and the Dragon Kingdom.
For the time being, however, Naohara had no intention of absorbing more faith power.
After all, there had once been a saying that "faith is toxic." Because of that, he intended to conduct some safety verification first.
...
"Naohara, Naohara, it's your turn!"
While Naohara was lost in thought, Momonga's voice suddenly rang out in his mind.
Coming back to his senses, he saw Momonga standing in front of him with a solemn expression.
This coronation ceremony had three main figures. Not only the Sorcerer King, but also him, the Sorcerer Greed King, and the Black Corrosion King.
Naohara glanced at Herohero beside him and noticed he was staring at the crowd below while muttering under his breath.
Something about one buffet, two buffets, and so on.
It looked like he was trying to distract himself to calm his nerves.
Naohara shook his head and slowly stood up.
***
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