Step Up the Effort

After a moment of silence, Brandon was the first to slam his hand on the table and rise.

"Fuck it! Let's do this!"

"So what if it's an evil god? What the hell is there to be afraid of?"

"If I can personally take down an evil god, bards across the continent will be singing my story from now on!"

"It was the God of Knowledge who gave me knowledge, gave me strength, and let me freely choose my own fate."

"Now that He has called upon me, I must answer!"

"Those Bloodfang Gang thugs have two eyes, one mouth, two arms, and two legs too."

"Didn't we beat them in the end? Looks like the lackeys of an evil god aren't as scary as the Radiance Church made them out to be!"

With the first person stepping forward and stirring up the mood, the others in the tavern also made up their minds one after another.

"That's right! Brandon is right!"

"If the Radiance Church can't be relied on, then we'll rely on ourselves!"

"This is the mission bestowed upon us by the great God of Knowledge!"

"Since we chose to become professionals, we should be prepared to fight monsters! Otherwise, we might as well honestly keep muddling through life as ordinary people!"

"I don't know why the Bloodfang Gang threw in with an evil god, and I don't know where they are, but I know I'm about to start slaughtering!"

Within the Divine Kingdom, Noven watched the tavern erupt with fervor and decided to add more fuel to the blazing atmosphere.

The new divine decree was completed and added to the previous event decree. Anyone who joined the event could view it.

[Greenport Lower City Evil God Threat Outbreak Progress: 21%]

[Note: Defeating Bloodfang Gang members and destroying Bloodfang Gang strongholds can reduce this progress. When progress falls to 0%, the evil god threat will be eliminated.]

With the appearance of the new progress bar and a clear objective, the Knowledge Sect members in the tavern became even more motivated.

"Did everyone see that? The God of Knowledge is watching us! He is encouraging us!"

The Bloodfang Gang's collusion with an evil god.

To the believers, it meant a challenge.

But to Noven, it was an absolute "unexpected delight."

At first, Noven's plan had merely been to build a reputation for his sect by wiping out the Bloodfang Gang, the criminal gang of the Lower City.

Noven had even prepared to pay out of pocket, planning to use the divine power he had gathered during this time as rewards to exchange for the points his believers earned during the event.

The effects of the event's three special skills were essentially information obtained by Noven expending divine power through the authority of his divine domain, which he then passed on to his believers.

To prevent his reserves of divine power from running dry, Noven had deliberately set activation thresholds for the three special skills, reclaiming some "Justice Points" to reduce the cost of launching this sect event.

However, while those five Bloodfang Gang thugs were being relentlessly attacked by the believers, streams of divine power suddenly began appearing out of nowhere on Noven's end!

Noven took a closer look.

The source of that divine power was none other than the Bloodfang Gang thugs!

As if being devoured, some kind of energy within them was continuously plundered alongside the attacks of Noven's believers, becoming Noven's power!

This meant that when Noven's believers crusaded against enemies influenced by the power of an evil god, Noven could sustain war with war and obtain divine power as spoils!

And that was not the only thing that truly delighted Noven.

This method of acquiring divine power differed from the conversion produced by the prayers of his own believers.

The energy obtained from the thugs also carried a great deal of frenzied, chaotic aura.

Yet when that energy was plundered into Noven's Divine Kingdom and was about to become part of his divine power, Noven sensed an emotion of "disdain" from his own divine power.

When the two mixed.

The foreign energy first separated out some pure, peaceful, stable divine power.

Only after becoming even more chaotic and disorderly did it merge with Noven's original divine power!

Noven could neither laugh nor cry when he noticed this.

"Looks like I'm truly among the most wicked kind, even among evil gods!"

Noven guessed that this "disdain" meant his divine power considered the foreign stuff insufficiently evil, insufficiently chaotic, and unworthy of becoming part of itself.

Only after forcibly making it discard those orderly, stable parts was it qualified to merge with Noven's power.

Absurd as it was, Noven immediately had a bold idea.

"That discarded pure divine power may be beneath the notice of my own divine power, treated like worthless trash, but it can actually be used in another way!"

Noven immediately conducted an experiment.

When the chaotic energy plundered from the Bloodfang Gang thugs separated out pure divine power, Noven did not allow it to dissipate into the vast gray mist of the Divine Kingdom. Instead, he consciously gathered it together.

In the end.

A transparent sphere of divine power, the size of a fist and composed entirely of pure divine power, appeared before Noven.

Feeling the smooth, stable, tranquil aura within the sphere, Noven was practically moved to tears.

"God!"

"Oh, no, myself!"

"I finally have power that can be directly bestowed upon mortals too!"

The greatest problem that had troubled Noven for so long was that his divine power was filled with a chaotic aura and could only convey information through methods like divine decrees.

Bestowing divine power was out of the question. Even the tiniest sliver of divine power granted to a mortal would turn them into a terrifying flesh-and-blood monster.

Noven knew very well that the believers of the Knowledge Sect had an unavoidable weakness:

His believers could only acquire knowledge; they could not receive the blessings of divine power.

The basic effect of a divine power blessing was to enhance the physical body. Beyond that, each god had their own distinct traits.

After receiving the blessing of divine power, the followers of the God of Radiance could also gain the empowerment of radiant power in battle, dealing additional damage; or, when using divine arts, the radiant blessing could produce additional healing effects.

Followers of the God of Shadow would be protected by shadows. Attacks directed at them were more likely to be deflected by the shadows and miss, while their own attacks were more likely to strike their enemies' weak points.

The gods corresponding to the other professional paths had similar blessing effects as well.

This was one of the reasons professionals were stronger than ordinary people: their bodies had already ascended beyond the mortal realm.

In past professional evaluations, since it was assumed that anyone who had mastered the corresponding combat techniques and divine arts had certainly received a god's blessing, physical strength was not assessed at all.

The believers of the Knowledge Sect had skills but lacked the physical foundation.

What Noven had not expected was for his weakness to be resolved this way:

The Bloodfang Gang had colluded with some unknown evil god and become that evil god's followers, quickly gaining power.

When Noven's believers defeated members of the Bloodfang Gang, he could plunder that power.

The part of the plundered energy that his divine power "disdained" could instead be used to bless his believers and strengthen their bodies!

The more evil god followers his believers eliminated, the more "blessings" Noven could use!

Having confirmed this new source of divine power, Noven's gaze upon the Bloodfang Gang suddenly turned scorching.

Originally, he had only intended to sweep away a criminal force to establish his authority and earn himself some renown.

Now, Noven had changed his mind!

Step up the effort!

He had to step up the effort!

Ding, the leveling system has been unlocked. If possible, please support with a vote, thanks~~