Warrior Path

Noven, in the Divine Kingdom, watched his two followers the entire time.

"Well, damn. That's a pretty good scheme!"

Noven had not expected Pete to come up, all on his own, with the idea of acting as a "plant" to lure others into joining the church.

Naturally, Pete and Rena were the ones working together on this scheme.

First, they used the combination of [True Name Knowledge] and [Stealth] to craft a first impression for their targets, making them feel as though they had been chosen.

They used slips of paper bearing names to pique their curiosity.

They claimed to have a way to help people become professionals.

Once someone began to entertain the idea, they were hooked!

When they arrived at the Moni Brothers Tavern, Pete pretended to be someone who had also received a slip of paper. Following the prearranged "script," he played off Rena perfectly.

Noven could imagine that even if the visitors had initially been wary, once they saw someone experience the relevant divine arts firsthand and even become a professional through faith in the God of Knowledge, their vigilance would be greatly lowered.

That was the scheme Pete and Rena had planned.

People tended to follow the crowd. Without someone taking the lead, no one might dare to believe it.

After all, what people said and what they actually did could be entirely different things. Without seeing the actual ritual and the effects brought by faith, no one would dare to rashly believe Rena's words.

But once Pete took the lead and gained tangible benefits from it—

The situation became completely different!

Noven soon received several sources of faith directed toward him!

They came from the people Pete and Rena had talked into coming to the Moni Brothers Tavern.

Naturally, Noven welcomed them all!

He was in need of divine power right now. His followers were willing to use their own initiative to help him recruit more followers—Noven could not have been happier.

According to the repeatable quest he had previously issued, [My Lord's Truth Illuminates the Earth], as he accepted the faith of the four new followers, Noven granted each of them 10 Knowledge Points.

Of course, Pete and Rena did not miss out on the rewards they deserved either.

Noven had set [My Lord's Truth Illuminates the Earth] as a weekly quest that could only be triggered and completed once per week, so the two of them each received 5 Knowledge Points.

The new followers could not immediately provide Noven with faith.

The 10 Knowledge Points he gave them as rewards were a pure expense for Noven, essentially a "benefit" he gave to newcomers for free.

It was equivalent to Noven paying out of his own pocket and issuing an advance surplus.

But Noven was not worried that these surplus "benefits" would go to waste.

The essence of "Knowledge Points" was a resource followers used to exchange for all kinds of information from Noven.

And information was a reusable resource.

Followers could directly learn how many Knowledge Points they needed to spend if they wanted a response from Noven.

During the initial stage, Noven needed to prepare some divine power as upfront costs in order to activate his authority and obtain the knowledge his followers needed.

However, once the number of followers increased, much of the knowledge new followers needed would overlap with that of the old followers.

With every reuse, Noven could recover some of the Knowledge Points he had issued in advance.

In the long run, his income would certainly exceed his expenses.

As for why he provided benefits to newcomers?

Naturally, it was to use those small benefits as bait, allowing new followers to experience the advantages of this faith!

After Brandon followed Rena in reciting the prayer, he immediately received a response from the God of Knowledge.

The information that suddenly appeared in his mind startled him.

His whole body trembled.

After all, when he had gone to the church to offer faith to the God of Radiance in the past, there had never been any divine revelation. At most, he would feel his body grow warm.

According to the priests of the Radiance Church—

This was the blessing the God of Radiance bestowed upon followers.

The blessing strengthened the body and made people less susceptible to evil auras.

Other than that, there was nothing!

Even when he performed his daily prayers at home, the only effect was maintaining the blessing so that it did not weaken and fade.

For an ordinary follower like him, the God of Radiance would never deliberately turn His gaze upon him, much less grant him a divine revelation.

Yet here, with the God of Knowledge, he had received a divine revelation the moment he became a follower?!

"Don't be nervous. This is normal."

Upon receiving the completion notification for [My Lord's Truth Illuminates the Earth], Rena knew Brandon had become a follower of the God of Knowledge.

Just as Pete had once done for her, she now took on the role of guide.

"Pray to our Lord without worry. Tell Him what you wish to know."

"Our Lord will grant you the corresponding knowledge. Of course, the Lord's truth is not free—you need to spend the Knowledge Points you possess to exchange for it."

Brandon pondered for a moment.

"God of Knowledge above, how can I become a powerful warrior?"

He had just completed the aptitude test, and the result was much as he had expected. His affinity with the major gods was not high.

In that case, he either had to give up on the path of becoming a ranked professional, or... develop the potential within his body, attempt to awaken and control rage, and become a warrior.

Brandon had never particularly liked the professional paths that required daily worship and earnest prayers to the corresponding gods.

Because he felt that the gods did not seem to care much for him. All he could receive from them was the most basic blessing that everyone possessed.

His dream was to travel the continent with a sword in hand, adventure everywhere, and preferably leave behind legends of his own. The gods' basic blessings alone would certainly not be enough.

Warrior was the only ranked profession on the continent that did not rely on the power of gods.

The cultivation method for this path required one to learn to control the power of rage, infusing rage into various combat techniques to unleash formidable destructive force.

Although warriors did not require affinity with any god, becoming one was not easy in the slightest.

With rage, either you could use it or you could not.

When someone was extremely enraged, they could unleash strength greater than usual.

But that did not mean they had successfully mastered rage.

To reach Tier 1 on the warrior path, the most basic requirement was to be able to use rage freely at will.

Even when one's emotions were not greatly stirred and one could still remain rational, one had to control the power of rage and apply it to combat techniques.

Compared to the professional paths that obtained power by praying to gods, if one's affinity was high enough, a follower could more easily receive a response from the corresponding divine power, which was equivalent to lowering the difficulty.

That was why, when conditions allowed, it was best to first undergo an aptitude testing ritual. It could determine which god one had greater affinity with and which path would be less difficult.

There was no way to take shortcuts on the path of the warrior.

One could only rely on one's own effort.

If one could not control rage, then any combat technique was just empty form with no real substance.

Brandon had never heard of any god who could help followers on the warrior's path.

But after receiving the God of Knowledge's revelation, hope arose within him.

He had never heard of any god directly responding to a follower's prayer before, either!

Perhaps... the God of Knowledge truly was different from the other gods?

[Detected follower's request]

[Target: Beginning of the warrior cultivation path, mastering rage]

[Requirement: 3 Knowledge Points]

Brandon's eyes widened with excitement.

"It really works!"