Chapter 159: The Birth of Faith-based Magic

This was the first time Miss Vilyric felt the power known as “Faith” so clearly and distinctly.

It felt like a soft thread gently wrapping around her fingertips, carrying a cascade of affectionate and respectful emotions, bringing a faint sense of warmth.

Ordinary individual faith could never allow a higher existence to sense it so clearly; it probably had to do with Xiao Lan’s special circumstances and Vilyric’s own acknowledgment of this connection.

It resembled a somewhat loose and unsteady special contract; Vilyric could easily break the thread in her hand and sever the relationship, but Xiao Lan could do the same because this “contract” was intertwined with the causal power of faith, and it would immediately vanish if either party failed to meet the conditions.

However, the tiny bits of mutual complement and feedback would dissipate with it.

So this is the relationship between deities and their followers…

Still, the previous statement stands; the connection between ordinary followers and deities should be much weaker than this. Xiao Lan’s situation felt more like being “chosen” and “watched.”

From what she felt at that moment, the inputs and gains from both the god and the believer were clearly not proportional. To put it simply, the faith rewards that the deities could harvest were a poor trade compared to the individual blessings they granted.

However, considering someone like Xiao Lan might become a leader in organizations like the church to promote doctrines and showcase miracles to attract more individuals to worship the deity, it would seem that the long-term benefits outweigh the drawbacks.

Hmm… Is this thinking a bit too utilitarian? Unlike myself, who doesn’t understand what’s going on, a true deity like Xi Fu Lin likely wouldn’t bother about a little magic power loss, as the power shared through this connection is truly negligible.

“It seems to be a success. Get up, Xiao Lan; how do you feel now?”

Establishing this so-called faith relationship didn’t seem to change Miss Slime much. After Vilyric retracted her hand from Xiao Lan’s head, she quickly stood up, brushing off the snow clinging to her cloak, a little amazed as she looked around her jelly-like body.

“Lady Vilyric, I… I’m not sure how to describe it, but I think I can vaguely feel… is it your presence? I can sense you watching me, but not in a literal sense. It’s really hard to explain…”

“Why does that sound a bit like you’re a voyeur? Never mind that, let’s focus, Xiao Lan. Can you see if you can use anything different now?”

“I’ll give it a try… Sunray Wave!”

Xiao Lan clasped her hands in front of her, striking a pose that resembled a turtle-style energy attack, which looked somewhat embarrassing to Vilyric. But as she made this rather dorky gesture common in Blue Star, a golden beam of dazzling light erupted from her hands, piercing through several trees before disappearing into the mist and falling snow.

“Ah! It really works! Oh my gosh, this is just unbelievable!”

Even Xiao Lan’s normally composed nature couldn’t help but exclaim in wonder upon witnessing this scene. After all, what she had just done wasn’t any conventional magic; all she did was strike a weird pose and shout, and she unleashed such a powerful attack that was simply unheard of.

“Ahem, it seems it was indeed effective… so did that drain your magic power?”

Clearing her throat awkwardly, Vilyric couldn’t help but think of a certain winged girl named Dolina, recalling the earlier scene.

“It seems… I really did lose some magic power, but not much. Lady Vilyric, does that mean…”

“Yes, it’s somewhat similar to faith-based magic.”

So that’s how it is.

While the specific details of faith-based magic in this world are still unclear, there is no doubt that Xiao Lan’s attack just now, initiated through a special movement and a spell name, was indeed the power Vilyric granted her through that vague connection.

What she did wasn’t much; the cost to unleash the power still came from Xiao Lan herself. Vilyric merely modified her low-tier skill called “Holy Ray” a bit, naming it “Sunray Wave,” and set this pose as one of the necessary conditions to activate the ability, transmitting it to Xiao Lan through the medium built on “Faith.”

In the end, it formed this strange ability that is a lot weaker than what Priestess could cast herself.

And the “cost” she paid was just a small amount of sp consumed during the modification of this skill.

That said, standing from Vilyric’s perspective, for Xiao Lan, who originally had magic power but couldn’t use it well, and for most ordinary beings in this world, it was already a very powerful skill.

So… by analogy, could the Church of the Goddess’ faith-based magic be a version of the Light Goddess modifying her power and teaching it to mortals?

Those ritualistic spell names, poses, and supposedly sacred items, were they intentionally set up by Aurora to enhance the holy aura of faith-based magic, yet are actually not necessary at all?

If not, it wouldn’t explain why Xiao Lan could still utilize the same holy powers with that almost comical gesture.

It seems very likely, but there are still some details that don’t quite match up.

For instance, faith-based magic in this world is said to be a miracle that even ordinary people without any magic power can use as long as they have sufficient devotion to the goddess, while Xiao Lan just now spent her own magic power.

Though Vilyric can indeed convey some power to Xiao Lan through the connection of faith, there is a loss associated with it, making it quite inefficient.

The Church of the Goddess is vast, with followers spread across nearly every corner of the world, numbering in the billions. There’s no way even a goddess could provide power to so many followers day and night, let alone worry about whether it’s a profitable endeavor.

What’s going on… or rather, how is this operating in principle?

Forget it, there’s no rush to clarify this now. The fact that the experiment on Xiao Lan succeeded is already quite unusual; let’s focus on what’s at hand.

“Let’s go, back up the mountain. We’ll also try out other abilities along the way.”

“Okay, Lady Vilyric.”

As the two of them just began to move, Vilyric suddenly turned back, looking at Lulu, who was still standing there, seemingly dazed and having not joined in their conversation, tilting her head in confusion.

“What’s wrong? Is something off?”

At the same time, Xiao Lan, who had been immersed in her newly acquired power, noticed her friend’s unusual expression and immediately cast a concerned glance her way.

“Lulu, were you scared by what just happened? It’s okay; while Lady Vilyric might be a bit mysterious, I can now feel her pure, warm radiance being transmitted to me. She is definitely a fundamentally kind existence.”

At this moment, Miss Butterfly seemed to snap back to reality, awkwardly scratching her head.

“Ah? Oh, haha, that’s good then! Honestly, I didn’t think you two would really succeed. I was just dumbfounded…”

“What?”

The Priestess furrowed her brow slightly. Just now, she clearly saw a fleeting expression resembling nostalgia and sadness on the face of this spirit butterfly girl, but it vanished quickly.

Not wanting to immediately expose it, Vilyric just nodded lightly, keeping her composure.

“Alright, let’s hurry up. We’ve already delayed a lot of time. We need to figure out the situation up ahead quickly.”

   

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