Prayer

After leaving Violet House, Rayne went to a tailor's shop and bought himself several new sets of clothes. His body had grown a whole size larger, and he could no longer wear his old clothes.

As soon as the carriage entered Cosham Street, he cautiously looked around in all directions to avoid running into Hogan, the fighter who might be searching for him.

He reached the apartment building without a hitch. There was no sign of Hogan at all.

"Maybe that Hogan doesn't know I live on this street. I overestimated his abilities and have been fighting with thin air."

Rayne gave a self-mocking smile.

On his way upstairs, he ran into several neighbors, but he was not close with any of them, so no one noticed his changes.

Back in his room, Rayne admired himself in the mirror for a long time. He was extremely satisfied with his current appearance before considering what to do next.

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

While he had been outside, Rayne had observed many people with the Soul Eye, 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. They either worshiped one of them or believed in several at the same time.

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

The faith of the remaining ten percent was extremely chaotic and did not belong to the Three Gods.

Rayne did not know much about the deities and could not identify which gods these people believed in. He could only roughly determine whether they were righteous gods or evil gods through the way their Flames of Faith felt.

Then he was badly frightened.

There were far more people who believed in evil gods than he had imagined!

Along the road from Violet House to the apartment, Rayne discovered more than a dozen suspected followers of evil gods. They included both ordinary people and Transcendents.

Rayne could not be entirely certain about the distinction between righteous gods and evil gods.

Aerenus had countless deities, and every major race had its own divine system. 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 Church's power in the region.

Any deity hostile to the gods worshiped by the Church was called an evil god.

These deities were all native gods of Aerenus. They merely followed different codes of conduct because their Divine Duties were different.

Some objective believers called gods they did not worship alien gods, while those who believed in alien gods were alien believers.

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

The dozen or so people Rayne had discovered were alien believers. None of them believed in the Deceiver Loki, so none of them could 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 his body for a long time, but he found nothing unusual.

"Still not working?" Rayne was somewhat disappointed.

The Soul Eye had always been able to see only the state of other people's souls, never his own. He could only judge the condition of his soul through the information on his phone's interface.

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

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

At once, his head in the mirror became hazy, and a mass of light emerged.

"Damn, I should have realized this ages ago. I look in the mirror every day, yet I never thought of using the Soul Eye to look at myself." Rayne slapped his palm in frustration before carefully observing his soul.

Like everyone else's, his soul was also a mass of light. However, his soul was far stronger than an ordinary person's. Even among Transcendents, few could match it. It was roughly equivalent to that of a Rank 3 Transcendent.

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

"This should be my phone."

Rayne looked at the Little Red Flower curiously. It resembled a strange and powerful element, located at the very core of his soul and fused with it completely.

"If the Little Red Flower is also an element, what rank would it be?"

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

The red flower's eight petals bloomed, and a small tree full of vitality grew from its center. The tree had only one branch and three leaves, and each leaf bore an Element Rune.

The World Tree formed from Soul Power occupied most of his soul. Not far beneath the tree, Rayne discovered the Blood Soul Curse.

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

Then Rayne finally found the Strife Mark!

Above his soul floated a black-and-red pattern. A twisted black skull was surrounded by a halo of blood, radiating an evil aura.

It was this aura spreading outward that allowed Loki's Cultists to sense its presence.

Rayne studied it for a long time but could not figure out what to do. The mark was bound to his soul. He could see it but could not touch it, leaving him helpless.

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

Everyone else's souls contained a Flame of Faith, yet he had none!

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

Rayne remembered that his predecessor had believed in the Goddess of Magic, but he had not been particularly devout and had rarely prayed. After taking over this body, Rayne had never prayed even once.

Had the 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 position in his soul as the Flame of Faith. If he continued to have no Flame of Faith, would the mark remain there forever instead of disappearing?

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

However, he was not particularly willing 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 those without faith was terrifying. The reason people had to believe in some deity, whether a righteous god or an evil god, was to gain protection, ensuring that their souls would not fall into the Abyss after death and become the slaves of an evil god forever.

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

He hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to pray.

If he had to believe in someone, the Goddess of Magic was the best choice.

The Goddess was a very tolerant deity who did not demand much from her followers and almost never interfered with their daily lives. Since her Divine Duties included authority over "wisdom," "knowledge," and "magic," she favored followers with extensive knowledge. Possessing powerful magical abilities as well would be even better.

Therefore, the vast majority of human spellcasters were followers of the Goddess of Magic, especially Wizards.

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

In the Aurelian Empire, belief in the Goddess of Magic was even more deeply rooted in people's hearts. Yet her Church was less conspicuous than those of the other two righteous gods. Most of her temples were established in the form of libraries, and her followers were not organized as tightly as those of the other Churches.

In addition, all the schools in the Empire were actually temples of the Goddess, spreading the glory 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 became followers of the Goddess.

He carefully recalled the Goddess's prayer, then crossed his hands with his index and middle fingers touching each other, forming an upward-pointing gesture. He closed his eyes slightly and silently recited the prayer in his heart.

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

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

He looked at his reflection in the mirror and discovered an invisible, rainbow-like flame burning within his soul. A phantom thread formed above it, disappearing into the void and extending toward a place beyond his perception.

"It really works!"

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

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

Although it would be a long time before it completely dissipated, this was a good sign.

Rayne decided to pray regularly from then on, but not too frequently. He only needed to maintain the Flame of Faith. At least for now, he did not intend to become overly devout. Being a shallow believer would be just fine.

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

The shotgun was still hidden in a room at the inn. He also needed to see Roger again. Since he had not become a Demon Hunter, he should at least inform him.

After taking a Public Bus to the Lien District, Rayne discovered that there were far too many alien believers in this slum. It was practically a breeding ground for followers of evil gods.

As usual, the Basil Inn was still bustling, with people playing cards all over the lobby.

There was one change, however: many more women were present 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. Every so often, waves of raucous laughter rang out.

"What the hell? What's going on?"

Rayne was dumbfounded. He had only been away for a few days, so how had the Basil Inn turned into a brothel?

He could not find Roger. When he walked up to the counter, he saw the dwarf Zoltan flirting with a plump woman who, by human standards, was somewhat overweight.

"Zoltan." Rayne called out.

When the dwarf saw him, he sent the plump woman to the side first. There was not the slightest trace of embarrassment on his face as he laughed heartily. "It's you, kid. If you hadn't paid for your room, I'd have thought you weren't coming back."

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

"Ahem, this is just a way to attract customers. As you can see, everyone likes it, hehe..."

Zoltan wore an expression that said, "You know what I mean." His rooster-comb hairstyle swayed back and forth as he said cheerfully, "Want one? I'll call two over for you!"

Rayne hurriedly shook his head and refused.

Zoltan's taste was not very good. In fact, it was somewhat extreme.

Most of the women in the tavern were on the plump side, with below-average looks, and each of them had a hungry, predatory look. In just this short while, at least four or five women had stared fixedly at him. He simply could not work up any interest and did not dare provoke them.

Besides, after seeing Viola, these ordinary 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 lecherously, "He's back there."