Farming in a Parallel World and Becoming a God

The Berserk Priesthood he now holds is inherently a perfect match for Barbarians; converting to his worship is simply the natural thing to do.

And he doesn’t just hold the Berserk Priesthood; he is also an Animal God, with a natural attraction for bears. Once you place your faith in him, your Golia will form an innate alliance with all bear-kind.

Many bears’ habitats and lifestyles overlap greatly with yours. As long as the conversion succeeds, they will become your guards, companions, mounts, and pack-beasts, making your nomadic way of life much easier."

Kellysha had yet to digest Gaven’s utterly outrageous suggestion.

Instead, it was the Wealth Goddess Woken housed in Gaven’s soul who lost her composure first, unable to resist sighing, "How is it that once it reaches your mouth, faith turns into a business deal, a kind of transaction?"

Gaven responded as a matter of course, "Faith is intrinsically a transaction. Mortals use belief to exchange for the Strength and protection of the True Gods. It’s just that most True Gods are unwilling to admit this, glossing it over as something noble and Mysterious.

If they were willing to lower their posture and view the matter as a trade, expanding their faith would become much easier.

As long as you seize on their needs, they will naturally ’purchase’ your Strength with their faith."

"Haha..." Wealth Goddess Woken was amused into hearty laughter. "Interesting explanation. I like this explanation. Next time anyone dares call me reeking of coin, I’ll use this to retort.

When you get down to it, he’s just doing a bit of business himself, only what he’s peddling is his Divine Position. Hmm... Since it’s trade, doesn’t that also fall under my Priesthood? Shouldn’t I be taxing them? Hahaha..."

By the end, even the Wealth Goddess was laughing at her own joke.

Hearing this, Gaven couldn’t help but counter, "And why not?"

The Wealth Goddess’s laughter cut off abruptly, as she said in disbelief, "You’re serious?"

"Of course I’m serious." Gaven began painting her a grand vision. "So-called faith is just a transaction between God and Mortals, and this transaction is conducted through the Magic Network. Don’t you feel that ought to fall under your Priesthood’s purview?

If you could construct a more convenient system for faith-transactions, would you even need to collect taxes? In the very process of them using it, the tithe would be automatically paid!"

The Gods’ Divine Arts are bestowed upon their Priests via the Magic Network; this is common knowledge among the Felen People.

Not only are Mortals accustomed to this; even the True Gods consider it perfectly natural.

But having lived through the Arcane Catastrophe and witnessed the collapse of the Magic Network, Gaven knew that whether Divine Arts or Spells, the Network is only a support tool, not a necessity.

With it, everything is more convenient and efficient; without it, there are still other ways.

At that point, it’s like the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each showing their own powers.

The most famed among them was the equivalent-exchange trade system forged by Wealth Goddess Woken, which to a certain extent replicated the Magic Network.

It was by relying on this system that, in the era of the Gods’ fall, the Wealth Goddess’s Divine Power not only failed to diminish but actually increased, completely erasing the negative impact of her imprisonment by Grazte, successfully stepping into the ranks of Intermediate Divine Power. She then turned back to settle accounts with Prince Ubar, delivering a lethal blow to his faith on the Material Plane, cutting off his hopes of becoming a Demon God for a good long while.

From the moment Woken’s contract was brought back to the Material Plane by Gaven, all of this was destined to change.

Compared to his previous life, Wealth Goddess Woken has been freed a full ten years earlier; ten years is enough for her to accomplish many things, especially with Gaven’s cooperation.

Right now Gaven is merely pre-selling her own idea back to her ahead of time, so she can prepare early.

Since it was originally the Wealth Goddess’s own concept, its compatibility with her is naturally a hundred percent; upon hearing it, she was of course extremely tempted.

Yet in the end she shook her head. "Doing this would be infringing on the Magic Goddess’s interests. She would never allow such a thing to appear. Even if I restored all my Divine Power, it would be impossible to oppose her!"

In the absence of a Main God’s protection, the Wealth Goddess still thrived within the Pantheon of Faerun by relying on prudence and self-preservation, rarely provoking enemies. Her only Hostile counterpart was Lord of Thieves Marcus, and that conflict stemmed from clashing Divine Positions.

The Magic Goddess is a terrifying existence she absolutely cannot afford to provoke.

The same seed will never germinate before the right conditions are met.

"I’m not asking my lady to start weaving and implementing it right now," Gaven suggested. "But you can make preparations in advance, especially since you’ve now unlocked the Contract Divine Position. Certain things will be easier, more natural. Perhaps one day it will come in handy.

That’s still better than scrambling to prepare only when the time comes; in that case there’s no way to maximize the gains."

The more Gaven came into contact with these holders of Strong Divine Power, the more cautious he became about preventing the Arcane Catastrophe, even beginning to plan for two scenarios.

Because many things will produce chain reactions, good or bad, and even Record Keeper Yego, who holds Fatalism in his grasp, does not look kindly on it.

"We’ll revisit this." Wealth Goddess Woken chose to shelve the matter for now; for the moment she was unwilling to recklessly stir up trouble.

"It’s not urgent anyway. Wait until you’ve reclaimed your Divine Position." Gaven did not press her.

After all, the seed had already been scattered onto the most fertile soil for its growth; it required no watering. Once the time was right, it would take root and sprout on its own.

By then, it was highly likely Wealth Goddess Woken would come seeking him instead.

While Gaven and Woken were engaged in their mental exchange, Kellysha’s gaze was vacant as she muttered in disbelief, "Become the God’s Chosen of the Berserk Blue Bear? I don’t even revere him; how could I become his Chosen? Isn’t being Chosen the glory of those Fanatics?"