God of Knowledge

All three traits matched.

Pete was practically suffering in silence.

Why had every race unanimously agreed to treat followers of evil gods as traitors to civilization, sentencing them to death upon discovery? Why did they almost never consider the possibility that someone might turn away from evil and embrace the light?

Because the most troublesome thing about evil gods was that once you became involved with them, you could never break free!

Normal gods did not bother keeping track of their followers. They only cast their gaze upon them when they prayed. So if a mortal felt that their affinity with a certain god was not high enough, they could simply switch to another deity. The greatest consequence of abandoning a faith was losing that god's blessings.

But evil gods were different. Even if someone became only a shallow believer, once contact had been made for the first time, the evil god could lock onto them. By the time the mortal stopped praying, it was already too late. The evil god could reestablish contact at any time.

Therefore, mortals in this world who became followers of evil gods had no option of abandoning their faith! Whether intentional or not, their final fate was almost always to be corrupted into mindless monsters. And such monsters often possessed powers bestowed by evil gods, making them capable of causing enormous harm.

Pete estimated that if he dared tell the truth to this man with the ridiculously long surname, the other party might send him to the gallows the very next second.

And if the information in his mind was real—17% trust meant that the man most likely already suspected him.

"Uh... the situation was actually like this," Pete said, cold sweat beading on his forehead as he tried to come up with an excuse to cover up the truth. "Sir, you know I'm a follower of the Goddess of Magic. Um... at that time, the situation was... especially urgent. Yes, extremely dangerous."

"And because I'm a follower of the Goddess of Magic, right? Hahaha... I didn't want to die, so I prayed to the goddess with exceptional devotion, hoping she could help me survive that crisis."

"As a result... maybe my devotion really moved the Goddess of Magic. For a moment, I suddenly felt the Weave responding to me with incredible clarity. It was only through that feeling that I completed the spell. Even I don't know how I managed to do it!"

The man sitting opposite Pete raised his head. Pete noticed that his pupils were golden, appearing faintly bright beneath the lamplight.

"You mean that, at the brink of death, you suddenly increased your affinity with the Goddess of Magic?" the man asked in an unreadable tone.

Pete gritted his teeth and nodded. "Yes! That's what I mean!"

To make his story more convincing, Pete even deliberately gave an example.

"I remember there was a similar case before, wasn't there? The famous archmage Gande once broke through the advancement barrier that had troubled him for a long time when his life was in danger, successfully creating the spell [Hand of Gande]!"

"Heh..." The man chuckled softly and nodded. "That's right. It cannot be ruled out that you experienced the same thing as Archmage Gande."

Pete thought his explanation had successfully fooled the man, but before he could feel happy, he checked the information in his mind and his heart sank.

[Current Trust: 13%]

It had decreased instead of increased!

Clearly, this man named Bahamut had not believed Pete's explanation at all. His trust had dropped even lower!

Before Pete could come up with another excuse, Bahamut swiped his right hand through the air and retrieved an exquisite crystal ball that gave off specks of starlight from somewhere unknown.

"If things truly happened as you said, and you felt that your devotion moved the Goddess of Magic at that critical moment, then let's test your current affinity with the Goddess of Magic." Bahamut's voice was so calm that it seemed entirely devoid of emotion.

Pete felt a bead of cold sweat slide down his forehead.

If he was not mistaken, this was the fifth-tier spell [Arcane Pocket], which could store items in an etheric plane unique to the caster and retrieve them at any time.

That meant Bahamut was at least a fifth-tier spellcaster.

"Haha, haha, it's a little stuffy in here. I'm sweating from the heat. Testing affinity, right? Yes, yes, good idea... haha."

Pete awkwardly laughed a few times as he examined the crystal ball Bahamut had pushed in front of him, trying to ease his growing tension.

The excuse he had improvised might fool others, but it certainly could not fool himself. Pete knew perfectly well that his affinity with the Goddess of Magic had not increased at all. His successful casting of [Hada's Hunger] had relied on the power of that unknown god!

If he really tested his affinity with the Goddess of Magic, wouldn't he be exposed immediately?

"God, this is the situation now. There's no way I can fool him on my own. If you have any way to help, at least get me through this immediate crisis!"

The suspicion in Bahamut's gaze grew stronger and stronger. Pete had nearly been driven into a dead end. Telling the truth meant death, but refusing to tell it also meant death. With no other choice, he could only place his last hope in that unknown god—Noven.

Even if the other party really was an evil god, Pete no longer cared!

If he could gain Bahamut's trust and muddle through this, he could at least live a little longer. But if his lie was exposed on the spot, he would be dead for sure!

Elsewhere, Noven in the Divine Kingdom also realized that the situation was more troublesome than he had imagined.

Although Noven had found a way to prevent his dangerous divine power from affecting mortals, he now faced a new problem:

He had to find a way to give himself a new identity! He could not actually spread his faith using his original appearance!

Otherwise, let alone other mortals, even Noven's own followers might not dare pray to him voluntarily, just like Pete!

The knowledge and information Noven could comprehend was not omniscient. Instead, it was constrained by the authority of his divine power.

Only when Noven's followers prayed to him could he learn all sorts of relevant information.

For example, the black-robed man's previous prayer concerned the spell [Hada's Hunger], which was why Noven had fully mastered that magic.

For another example, when Pete prayed while trapped in danger, the information Noven received was that Pete would escape danger if he destroyed the divine aberrant monster transformed from the black-robed man.

In the interrogation room, Noven received Pete's desire to leave, and the feedback from the authority of his divine power was: gain Bahamut's trust.

Conversely, if Noven were regarded as a dangerous evil god, then the vast majority of mortals would certainly not dare pray to him at all, let alone provide faith.

Once he lost his source of faith, Noven would become blind despite having his eyes open, perhaps forever trapped within the Divine Kingdom's space shrouded in white mist.

As he considered the nature of his divine power, Noven began fabricating a new identity for himself:

[I am not an evil god. I am—Noven, the God of Knowledge.]