Prayer

After leaving Violet House, Rayne went to a tailor shop and bought himself several new outfits. His body had grown a full size, and none of his old clothes fit anymore.

As soon as his carriage entered Cosham Street, he cautiously looked around in every direction, wary of running into Hogan, the Martial Artist who might be searching for him.

He arrived safely beneath his apartment building without seeing any sign of Hogan.

"Maybe Hogan doesn't know I live on this street. I overestimated his abilities and ended up outsmarting the air."

Rayne laughed at himself.

He ran into a few neighbors on the way upstairs, but they were not very familiar with him, so none of them noticed his changes.

Back in his room, Rayne narcissistically admired himself in the mirror for quite a while. He was very satisfied with his current appearance before finally considering what to do next.

His most urgent task was dealing with the trouble caused by the Strife Mark.

While he had been outside, Rayne had used the Soul Eye to observe many people, paying particular attention to their Flames of Faith. He discovered that most people, whether ordinary people or Transcendents, believed in the Three Gods of the Empire—either one of them or several at once.

The Goddess of Magic had the most followers, followed by the Earth Mother Goddess. Together, they accounted for more than eighty percent, while around ten percent believed in the God of Justice.

The beliefs of the remaining ten percent were extremely mixed and did not belong to the Three Gods.

Rayne did not know much about deities and could not identify the gods these people worshipped. He could only roughly judge whether they worshipped righteous gods or Evil Gods based on how their Flames of Faith felt.

Then he was badly startled.

There were far more people who believed in Evil Gods than he had imagined!

On the stretch of road from Violet House to his apartment, Rayne had discovered more than a dozen suspected Evil God Cultists, including both ordinary people and Transcendents.

Rayne could not be completely certain about the distinction between righteous gods and Evil Gods.

Aerenus had numerous deities, and every major race had its own pantheon. The difference between righteous gods and Evil Gods was a subjective judgment made by humans according to their own concepts of good and evil, influenced by the local Church's power.

Any deity hostile to the gods worshipped by the Church was called an Evil God.

These deities were all native gods of Aerenus. They merely had different codes of conduct due to their differing Divine Duties.

Some more objective believers called gods they did not worship other gods, and those who worshipped other gods were Other-Faith Believers.

The only truly terrifying gods regarded as Evil Gods by all races of Aerenus were the four deities from the Abyss!

The dozen or so people Rayne had discovered were Other-Faith Believers. None worshipped Loki the Deceiver, so they could not sense the Strife Mark.

"The Strife Mark..."

He suddenly thought of something. Now that he could see Flames of Faith, could he also find the Strife Mark?

He activated the Soul Eye and searched himself for a long while, but found nothing unusual.

"Still no good?" Rayne felt somewhat disappointed.

All this time, the Soul Eye had only been able to see other people's soul states, not his own. He could only judge the state of his soul through the information on his Mobile Realm interface.

"If only I could see my own soul too."

Rayne scratched his head. His gaze swept over the mirror, and an idea suddenly struck him. He stepped in front of it again and focused the Soul Eye on his own head.

At once, his head in the mirror became translucent, and a ball of light emerged.

"Damn, I should've figured this out ages ago. I look in the mirror every day, yet I never thought to use the Soul Eye on myself." Rayne smacked his palm in annoyance, then carefully observed his soul.

Like everyone else's, his soul was a ball of light. However, its intensity far surpassed that of ordinary people. Even among Transcendents, few could compare to it. It was roughly equivalent to a Rank 3 Transcendent.

Deep within his soul, Rayne saw a familiar red flower.

"This should be my phone."

Rayne looked curiously at the red flower. It was like a strange yet powerful element, located at the very core of his soul and fused with his entire soul.

"If Little Red Flower is also an element, then what rank is it?"

The thought suddenly occurred to Rayne. He nodded with certainty and silently said, "At least a Legendary Element, perhaps even higher!"

The red flower's eight petals bloomed, and a vibrant little tree grew from its center. The tree had only one branch and three leaves, with an Element Rune on each leaf.

The World Tree, formed from Soul Power, occupied more than half of his soul. Not far beneath it, Rayne discovered the Blood Soul Curse.

He could not help sighing inwardly. Even as a transmigrator, he could not escape the Lord of Darkness's curse.

Then Rayne finally found the Strife Mark!

Above his soul was a black-and-red symbol. A twisted black skull surrounded by bloody light radiated a sinister aura.

It was precisely this outward-radiating aura that allowed Loki's Cultists to sense its existence.

Rayne studied it for a long time but had no idea what to do. The mark was bound to his soul; he could only look at it, unable to touch it. He was completely helpless.

As he stared at the mark, he suddenly remembered that he seemed to have forgotten something.

Everyone else had a Flame of Faith in their souls, but he did not!

"Could it be because I don't believe in any deity?"

Rayne remembered that the previous owner of this body had believed in the Goddess of Magic, though not very devoutly and without praying often. Since taking over this body, Rayne had never prayed even once.

Had his Flame of Faith gone out because he had not prayed for too long?

The Strife Mark was also formed from Divine Power, and it occupied the same place in his soul as a Flame of Faith. If he never had a Flame of Faith, would it occupy that place forever and never dissipate?

Rayne felt faintly worried. He had a feeling that lacking a Flame of Faith was not a good thing.

But he was also reluctant to believe in any deity.

After being in this world for so long, he had gradually come to understand certain things.

In Aerenus, the fate of Unbelievers was terrifying. The reason people had to believe in some deity, righteous god or Evil God alike, was to gain protection so their souls would not fall into the Abyss after death and become slaves to Evil Gods forever.

Rayne had once been a staunch atheist, but after experiencing all this, he had begun to waver.

He hesitated for a moment before ultimately deciding to pray.

If he had to believe in a deity, then the Goddess of Magic was the best choice.

She was a very tolerant Goddess. Her requirements for believers were not strict, and she almost never interfered with their daily lives. Since her Divine Duties included authorities such as "wisdom," "knowledge," and "magic," she favored believers with broad knowledge. If they also possessed powerful magical strength, so much the better.

Thus, the vast majority of human Spellcasters were followers of the Goddess of Magic, especially Wizards.

The Goddess's Chosen Ones were almost all the most powerful Wizards.

In the Aurelian Empire, faith in the Goddess of Magic was even more deeply rooted in people's hearts. Yet her Church had less of a presence than those of the other two righteous gods. Most of her churches were established in the form of libraries, and the organization among her believers was not as tightly knit as in other Churches.

Furthermore, all schools in the Empire were actually the Goddess's churches as well, spreading the radiance of her wisdom.

Rayne's mother, Malinda, was a devoted follower of the Goddess and a teacher at a Church school. Under her guidance, the entire family had become followers of the Goddess.

He carefully recalled the Goddess's prayer, crossed his hands, pressed his index and middle fingers together in pairs to form an upward-pointing gesture, half-closed his eyes, and silently prayed in his heart.

After praying three times in succession, Rayne felt a strange power within his heart.

The power was extremely weak, yet it calmed his mind and brought an indescribable sense of mystery and security.

He looked at himself in the mirror and discovered an invisible, rainbow-like flame burning in his soul. It formed an illusory thread above him that plunged into the Void, extending somewhere beyond detection.

"It really worked!"

Rayne was overjoyed. As soon as his Flame of Faith appeared, it immediately began repelling the Strife Mark, whose aura visibly weakened.

He watched patiently for a while. Under the Flame of Faith's resistance, the Strife Mark became less stable.

It would still take a long time to dissipate completely, but this was a good sign.

Rayne decided to pray regularly from now on, but not too frequently. He only needed to maintain his Flame of Faith. At least for now, he did not intend to become too devout. Being a Shallow Believer was good enough.

After staying in the apartment for a while, Rayne went out again and headed to Basil Inn.

His shotgun was still hidden in his room at the inn, and he also needed to see Roger. Even though he had not become a Demon Hunter, he should at least tell him.

Taking the public bus to Lien District, Rayne discovered that there were far too many Other-Faith Believers in this slum. It was practically a breeding ground for Evil God Cultists.

As usual, Basil Inn was still lively, its lobby filled with people playing cards.

But there was one change: there were far more women than before.

Their clothing was extremely bold—or rather, revealing. Some flirted with the men, while others joined the card games, batting their eyes at their opponents as they played and leaving the men distracted. Bursts of lewd laughter broke out from time to time.

"What the hell is going on?"

Rayne stared in disbelief. He had not come by for only a few days, so how had Basil Inn turned into a brothel?

He did not see Roger anywhere. When he walked up to the counter, he saw the Dwarf Zoltan flirting with a plump, voluptuous woman who seemed a little overweight by human standards.

"Zoltan," Rayne called.

Seeing him, the Dwarf sent the voluptuous woman aside first. Without the slightest embarrassment on his face, he laughed heartily. "It's you, kid. If you hadn't paid your room fee, I would've thought you weren't coming back."

"My things are still here." Rayne swept his eyes over the women filling the lobby and asked curiously, "Is Basil Inn planning to change businesses?"

"Ahem, it's just a way to attract customers. You can see for yourself—everyone likes it. Hehe..."

Zoltan wore an expression that said, "You know what I mean," his mohawk swaying as he cheerfully said, "Want some? I'll call two over for you!"

Rayne shook his head repeatedly and hurriedly refused.

Zoltan's taste was not very good—if anything, it was rather extreme.

Most of the women in the tavern were voluptuous, with below-average looks and predatory expressions. In just this short time, at least four or five women had stared straight at him. He truly had no interest, nor did he dare provoke them.

Besides, after seeing Viola, these common women could no longer catch his eye.

"Where's Master Roger?" Rayne changed the subject.

Zoltan pointed toward the courtyard behind the inn and replied lewdly, "He's in the back."