Chapter 154: War of Faith (1)
"No one knows exactly how strong the dean truly is, but it is certain that his strength ranks among the absolute peak," Selena said. "After all, he is a permanent member of the Wizard Council."
Lynn's eyes flickered slightly.
What level was a permanent member of the Wizard Council? Lynn had no concept of the specific ranks, but he knew one thing: the Wizard Council was the supreme authority standing above all wizard factions. Ownership of the wizard network belonged to the Wizard Council. It acted like a helmsman, steering the direction of the entire wizard civilization. He had heard that all the true giants within the wizard system held titles in the Wizard Council.
"The Academic Affairs Office falls under the Director of Teaching. Thanks to the Director's connections, our academy normally enjoys many benefits," Selena said.
"The other two vice deans currently hold the most power. It is said that this invasion of the Feilan Plane is spearheaded by the aggressive faction led by these two vice deans."
Lynn began to connect the dots.
In other words, although he had come to the Feilan Plane, the vast majority of the wizards here actually belonged to a different faction within the academy.
However, he was just a small fry. Even if there was competition or conflict between them, it had nothing to do with him.
Those big shots wouldn't go out of their way to target a mere Apprentice. If word of that ever got out, they would be laughed at.
He just hadn't expected his own faction to somehow end up as the minority. Ever since Harlin brought him into the academy, he had been stamped with the mark of their faction.
No wonder Selena had said that Maesys had no other way out besides cooperating with them.
The other factions weren't lacking in gods, not to mention that Maesys was already trying to steal a slice of someone else's pie.
If he didn't cooperate with them, who else could he possibly turn to?
The vast majority of the other wizards belonged to the opposing faction. Even if Maesys tried to work with them, he would eventually be swallowed up until not even his bones remained.
In just a brief moment, Lynn thought of several different approaches.
Lynn and Selena had not shied away from Maesys during their conversation, and Maesys heard everything loud and clear.
Hearing them talk, Maesys's face turned green! The surface of the statue lit up with a sickly emerald light.
Fuck!
I've fucking fallen into a massive trap!
Not just a trap, but a bottomless pit!
"We'll be fine. At worst, we'll just get kicked back," Selena said nonchalantly.
"Even if we ruin their operation, we all still belong to the same academy. The absolute worst-case scenario is paying some compensation," Selena said.
"Anything beyond that has nothing to do with us," she added carelessly.
"Wait, don't!" Maesys finally understood. He knew he had to latch firmly onto these two heavyweights right in front of him.
Aside from these two lifelines, he had no other options.
For him, unless he was willing to abandon everything he currently had... but he was absolutely unwilling to let go of what he had gained!
Who could possibly give up so many benefits?
Maesys thought for a moment before speaking up.
"What do you need me to do?"
Lynn and Selena exchanged a glance. A tacit smile flashed in their eyes, along with a look of perfect manipulation.
Parts of their previous conversation were true, but other parts were a synchronized performance born of their mutual understanding.
Otherwise, they wouldn't have deliberately spoken like that. Lynn genuinely hadn't known about the academy's factions.
"We can help you spread your faith, but we need operational funds. After all, we'll be offending other wizards and possibly even other gods. Another god might descend in their true form, and you can't even come here," Lynn sighed.
"I honestly never expected there to be so much trouble when we started," Lynn said with a helpless and sorrowful tone.
Maesys fell silent.
"I only have eight strands of divine power right now. I just harvested them," Maesys said.
A smile bloomed on Lynn's face.
"Oh, you shouldn't have," Lynn said, holding out his right hand.
Staring at Lynn's outstretched hand, Maesys wanted nothing more than to swallow this shameless bastard alive!
This guy was definitely tricking him.
But Maesys had no choice. He truly was completely at Lynn's mercy.
He had to fight for this. He could feel that the longer he remained sealed, the more his body weakened and failed him.
He needed faith.
And he needed high-quality believers.
There were differences between believers, after all.
"The believer I had spreading my faith disappeared in that direction," Maesys said, looking another way.
As a deity, he naturally knew the exact location of his believers.
However, most deities had many followers, and this vast number meant they didn't care in the slightest about the deaths of a few believers.
The large churches spread their faith incredibly fast. Coupled with accidents, old age, and illness, the influx of new believers and the passing of old ones was immense. Unless it was a highly favored Chosen One, gods paid no mind to the deaths of the majority of their flock.
Of course, that only applied to deities with massive followings.
Maesys, a miserable god with barely any believers to his name, was certainly not among them.
He treated every single believer like a goose that laid golden eggs.
"I want to go take a look." Maesys's statue floated back and forth.
"I highly suggest you don't go right now. They might be waiting exactly for you," Lynn offered kindly.
Going now would just be walking right into a trap.
Those guys were probably waiting for the mastermind behind the spreading faith to reveal himself.
Spreading one's faith in another god's territory was undoubtedly the ultimate provocation.
"Then what should we do? Let's spread my faith somewhere else."
"Impossible. Everywhere you go, there will be gods," Lynn shook his head.
The number of deities in the Feilan Plane was not small. And as the war of faiths grew increasingly fierce, masses of people had begun spreading their doctrines.
Any intelligent race of a decent size would have traces of a deity's church spreading faith among them to some degree.
This was no longer the primitive era when intelligence was just sprouting in the wilderness, nor was it the peaceful recovery period following a great war. Right now, they were in the volatile lead-up to an impending war. No one knew how the situation would develop, but all gods faced the possibility of falling, and fallen gods would leave behind vast, rich, empty pastures of faith.
Ages of chaos were always the favorite eras of the ambitious.
New deities might ascend to the throne through this turmoil, and new empires might be forged upon the ruins of the old.
"However, we can slowly spread outward with the wilderness as our center. How much strength can you actually exert right now?" Lynn looked at Maesys.
The statue flickered unsteadily. "I can only use this statue to exert a tiny sliver of power right now. I might be able to mentally crush weaker opponents, but if they're even slightly strong, I won't be able to do anything to them."
"But if you can provide me with a monster's body, I might be able to offer you far greater help," Maesys said.