Chapter 156: God of Dawn (1)
"You're the wizard Harlin recommended?" Nicholas asked, looking somewhat surprised.
The person standing right in front of him was merely a wizard apprentice.
Nicholas, who had initially felt a shred of interest, couldn't help his disappointment. Harlin had called in a small favor Nicholas owed him, which had raised his expectations. But seeing a mere apprentice, he realized this would be nothing more than a simple, ordinary transaction.
Disappointed as he was, Nicholas remained polite. "Do you need help with something? Are you looking for materials to advance to an official wizard? I'm afraid I don't have any suitable commissions for you right now."
"I would like to make a trade with you. I have some materials here," Lynn said.
"And what would you like to trade for?"
"Divine power," Lynn said.
"I do have some divine power. Harlin must have told you about it, that fellow... but divine power is not a cheap material. What are you prepared to trade for it?" Nicholas said offhandedly.
"Divine power from a different god."
Nicholas fell into thought. "It seems the divine power you currently hold no longer suits your needs. Very well, what nature of divine power do you require?"
"Lord Nicholas, what I wish to trade for is divine power from various different deities," Lynn said. "Ideally, a wisp from as many different gods as possible."
"Of course," Nicholas nodded.
Lynn produced nine wisps of divine power, the majority of his current stock.
These nine wisps were held in a special vessel, their golden radiance dyeing the container a brilliant gold.
With a wave of Nicholas's hand, the vessel flew from Lynn's grip and landed in his palm. After a brief inspection, Nicholas flicked his wrist, dissipating the divine aura on the surface of the golden light to reveal the true essence within.
It was nine clusters of ever-shifting water. One moment the water took the shape of tentacles, the next it turned into a fish, resembling nine little hyperactive figures that simply could not stop moving.
Nicholas pondered. Divinity related to the ocean, and also connected to monsters?
He thought for a moment, finding no suitable match on the Feilan Continent, but quickly locking onto a target among the deities of the Continent of Vanquished Gods.
Still, he cared little; he had no conflicts or clashes of interest with that deity.
Nicholas casually waved a hand, floating nine glass vials up before him, each storing a single wisp of divine power.
One vial seemed to hold a wisp of light, akin to the very first ray of dawn; in another, a bloody river seemed to churn, its thick crimson mist filling the container; in a third, a mass of Liquid Metal rested silently at the bottom; in yet another, it was as if a starry river had been captured, brilliant starlight packed right inside the bottle...
The nine glass vials dropped to the ground before Lynn one by one. He picked them up and stowed them inside his spatial ring.
With the transaction complete, Lynn did not linger. He thanked Nicholas and turned to leave.
Seated upon his throne, Nicholas watched Lynn's departing back.
After a moment of thought, he called out to stop him. "Wizard Lynn, is it? You're preparing the materials to undergo the transformation into an official wizard, aren't you?"
Nicholas's deep, magnetic voice drifted over from behind.
Lynn paused and turned back to look at Nicholas. "Yes, Mr. Nicholas."
"I have an opportunity here, if you might be interested," Nicholas said with a hint of amusement.
"I spent some time in the Celestial Realm not long ago and reached certain arrangements with a few local deities. These deities have a few commissions, but since my time is limited, perhaps you could do me a favor."
"Please go ahead," Lynn said, not agreeing rashly.
"One of those deities is the God of Dawn, a subordinate deity under the Light God of the Celestial Realm. Not long ago, He gave me a temporary commission. He stated that traces of other faiths had appeared within His territory. As you know, faith on the Feilan Continent has basically been carved up entirely. The Blue Sea Empire sits right in the middle of the Light God's numerous faith-nations, surrounded on all sides by the domains of the Light God's other subordinate deities. Therefore, He worries there might be some conspiracy behind this."
"He originally dispatched divine officials to investigate near the new source of faith, but He discovered that the remaining believers had already been treated as discarded pawns. So, He eliminated the heretics who had turned their backs on His faith."
"Consequently, He asked me to investigate which deity this new faith is connected to," Nicholas said.
Hearing this, Lynn fell silent.
This was a commission he could turn in the moment he accepted it...
Except... those believers of Maesys within the Mount Heidu Territory had all been killed?
At that moment, Lynn profoundly realized the true cruelty behind the struggle for faith among deities.
To another god, a believer of a different deity was a seed that could explode or spread at any moment.
The moment a single seed sprouted, it could quickly spread far and wide, which was why deities would decisively clear out every single one.
Lynn raised his head to meet Nicholas's gaze. The man sitting on the throne possessed smooth black hair, delicate facial features reminiscent of a classical Roman sculpture, and a black wizard longrobe. His lips carried a faint dark tint, and his deep eyes met Lynn's. Had he guessed something?
"Of course, it doesn't matter even if you don't find anything out. The matter itself isn't actually that important. Since that deity has already abandoned the new point of faith, it means there will be no conflict for the time being. You won't be in any danger."
"It's just that the God of Dawn worries about other conspiracies lurking behind the scenes. The current situation is turbulent, and these deities are filled with anxiety; a single misstep could mean their utter fall. As long as the investigation result satisfies Him and eases His worries, that will be enough," Nicholas said with a faint smile.
Lynn's long, dense eyelashes fluttered slightly, his gaze as calm as a deep pool. "I am willing to take this commission."
"This is the Divine Token of the Dawn God. Once your investigation is complete, you can report the situation to Him by finding any shrine of the God of Dawn." Nicholas tossed a token gleaming with a soft white light over to Lynn.
Lynn caught the token and placed it into another spatial ring used for miscellaneous items.
Leaving Nicholas's castle, Lynn returned home.
He then commenced his new research. He spent half a month successfully installing the Pupil of the Evil Forest onto his wizard tower.
With the Pupil of the Evil Forest installed, an additional dark green bead appeared in one of the vacant slots on the reverse side of the Dalifen Fiend Horn. This bead ceaselessly emanated pale cyan smoke, which quickly billowed outward and blanketed the entire surface of the wizard tower in a faint fog.
This fog persisted for only a brief moment before vanishing from the visible dimension, as though it had never appeared at all.
Afterward, Lynn sought out Selena and informed her of Nicholas's commission to discuss the matter.
"Clearly, Senior Nicholas had already guessed it the moment he traded that divine power with you," Selena said.
"He guessed it," Lynn muttered to himself, sounding half like he was asking a question and half like he was stating an answer he already knew.
"When the God of Dawn commissioned him, He certainly would have described the traits of the believers at the new point of faith," Selena said. "That cannot be concealed. He could naturally discern the nature of the divine power you traded him, especially for a wizard of his caliber."
When a deity propagated their faith, they would articulate certain characteristics of their faith within their doctrines and creeds.
Naturally, there might be slight variations in phrasing and vocabulary depending on local customs in different places, but the deviations would never be too large.
Because this concerned a deity's divine office and faith, errors were absolutely impermissible.
Through their pious devotion, believers would conjure an image of their deity within their minds.
Such visualization had to approximate the essence of the worshiped entity and could not go wrong.
Take, for instance, someone who thought they were worshiping the God of Wealth in their mind, but ended up praying at the altar of the God of Death.
That was entirely acting at cross-purposes.
If it were just a few individuals, it might not matter. But if large quantities of prayers were misdirected in such a chaotic manner, not only would these forces of faith fail to reach the intended deity...
If large numbers of believers carelessly tampered with their faith, terrifying occurrences might happen—there was a genuine probability that it could actually alter the very essence of the worshiped deity!
It was said that such catastrophic events had indeed occurred in history, and the end result for that particular deity was extremely miserable—He went mad.
"Then by handing the token to me, is he intending for me to explain the situation to the God of Dawn myself, or is it just part of the trade?"
Lynn frowned.
He couldn't quite pin down Nicholas's intentions.
"The initiative in this matter lies entirely with you, though it shouldn't be a bad thing," Selena said.
"After all, Wizard Nicholas belongs to our faction within the academy, and he is also the academy's number one demon."
The number one demon!
A strange light flashed in the depths of Lynn's eyes.
To be the one to secure that position among all wizards under a thousand years of age...
It proved that Wizard Nicholas's strength might be even more terrifying than Lynn had imagined.