Noven: I Really Don't Want to Be an Evil God

"Done!"

In the Divine Kingdom, Noven rubbed his hands together excitedly.

A gigantic, translucent light screen had appeared before him.

Like the RTS (real-time strategy) games he had played before being transported here, it displayed a map of Greenport Lower City, with green dots blinking one after another across it.

At first, there had only been a scattered few. Now, their number had risen to over a hundred, and it was still gradually increasing with time.

Those green points naturally represented the number of followers Noven had gained.

The missionary plan in Greenport Lower City had gotten off to a remarkably smooth start. In just one day, the number of shallow believers had grown from the initial six to over a hundred.

"At this rate, the number of followers should soon break a thousand and eventually cover most of the Lower City."

As his number of followers increased, Noven received more and more information through them, and his understanding of this world became increasingly comprehensive.

Information about the various gods and churches, the state of the continent, monsters in the wilderness, and more—Noven gathered an immense amount of it.

It was like playing a game. Back when he had no followers, this world had been covered in "fog of war" to Noven.

Knowing nothing, he could only rely on the few isolated followers he had, Pete and Rena, to observe the world. Not only was it inefficient, but it was also difficult to obtain complete information.

The new followers converted through missionary work were equivalent to resources in Noven's hands.

With the observation effect of the [Eye of God], every follower could become Noven's "vision" at any time, allowing him to observe the state of the world through them.

The faith continuously provided by his followers had finally allowed his once-stretched divine power to gradually grow more abundant.

With over a hundred followers, their daily prayers alone brought Noven more than a hundred points of divine power each day.

Not to mention the divine power brought to him by ordinary people's daily "labor" and professionals' "training and meditation."

The divine power Noven gained was not only enough to use his authority to answer his followers' requests, but also left him with quite a surplus.

After exploring for some time, Noven had figured out several "rules" concerning this Divine Kingdom space.

Within this space filled with gray mist, divine power was nearly omnipotent. It could even create objects from nothing according to Noven's will.

Of course, Noven could currently only create inanimate objects. He had tried molding a flower, but the result was merely a fake flower with an empty appearance. It could neither grow nor wither.

The enormous light screen in the Divine Kingdom was something Noven had created with a portion of his divine power.

After all, as his followers increased in number, relying solely on the [Eye of God] to sense their circumstances was not only too inefficient, but the information obtained was also not intuitive enough.

The light screen could display all kinds of information according to Noven's wishes, allowing him to observe his followers' various conditions more conveniently.

After gaining a broader understanding of the Prantis Continent, Noven finally understood why the major churches across the continent constantly preached about the dangers of evil gods.

He had thought the evil gods of this world were the sort of shadowy figures who hid away in unknown corners, plotting to make some huge splash, only to be hunted down by the churches of the major gods the moment they surfaced.

The actual situation, though...

It could not be said to be merely different from what Noven had imagined. It was worlds apart.

The evil gods were far more powerful than Noven had expected.

The battles between civilized races and the monsters born from corruption by evil gods had never ceased.

The evil gods even held a slight advantage!

Training a professional was troublesome. They needed sufficient talent, recognition from a god, and long years of cultivation.

Yet evil gods could transform a creature into a monster very quickly.

Whether animals or plants, as long as they were affected by an evil god, they could undergo tremendous changes in as little as a few days.

They became more dangerous and more aggressive.

Evil gods were like cancers of civilization, tumors upon order, constantly creating new monsters and battering at the defenses of civilization.

They had no need to conquer or control civilization. Wherever they passed, they left behind only ruins of chaos and madness.

The number of professionals was limited, so the civilized races could only unite, gradually retreat their defensive lines, concentrate their elite forces, and resist the monsters' attacks.

In fact, nearly half of the entire Prantis Continent had already fallen to the evil gods, becoming monster territory.

Not only was there immense pressure from without, but conditions within civilization were equally dire.

Every so often, lackeys who had pledged themselves to evil gods would infiltrate cities, secretly organize dangerous sacrificial rituals, or spread evil doctrines to convert even more servants of the evil gods.

Once they succeeded, an entire city might fall as a result, completely becoming a forbidden paradise overrun by monsters.

After learning this information, Noven felt helpless as well.

"If I had a choice, I really wouldn't want to be an evil god!"

Noven did not know how he had arrived in this world, nor how he had become an "evil god."

In terms of his power, Noven's divine power would corrupt mortals and turn them into a type of monster—aberrations.

By this trait alone, he was undoubtedly an evil god.

Once people discovered that his followers would turn into monsters after receiving divine power, the next day, extermination forces from the major churches would launch a holy purge upon Greenport Lower City.

As for simply abandoning humanity and joining the evil gods' camp, Noven immediately ruled out that option.

That was because evil gods possessed no reason whatsoever. They were practically synonymous with disorder and chaos.

Mortal races that believed in them and gained power from evil gods would, at best, become bloodthirsty, violent, and insane. At worst, they would directly lose their minds and be corrupted into all manner of monsters.

In other words, the evil gods' camp contained only lunatics—and even crazier lunatics.

If the evil gods truly broke through the defenses of the civilized races, this world would become nothing more than ruins where monsters celebrated. There would be no reason or order left at all.

The problem was, Noven was rational!

By then, if the world had collapsed and civilization had been destroyed, leaving only him with his sanity, what meaning would there be in his continued existence?

He could neither reveal his identity nor join the evil gods' camp. Noven had only one final option left:

Play the part of a normal god!

At the very least, become someone who looked like a normal god!

The good news was that his disguise had been fairly successful so far.

The church had been initially established, and after the first batch of followers had been sent out, they had, just as Noven expected, quickly brought him more new followers.

As long as he played the role of the "God of Knowledge" well enough—

Noven would have a legitimate identity recognized by the camp of orderly civilization.

The bad news was that his followers were not particularly formidable. If his true identity were exposed, he would probably still be killed the moment he showed himself.

But Noven was very patient.

Once he accumulated enough followers and possessed sufficient strength, Noven refused to believe that any church would still dare call him an evil god!

To play the role of a normal god, he naturally needed a sufficiently great reputation.

Or rather, in the name of a god, he needed to do something significant enough for mortals to remember!

The terrible public security and massive amount of criminal activity in Greenport Lower City happened to provide the perfect opportunity for Noven to make his move.

Noven's gaze naturally settled upon the criminal force that ran rampant through the Lower City:

The Bloodfang Gang!

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