Flames licked at his skin like a raging beast, an indescribable scorching heat and agonizing pain driving straight to his marrow, causing Roger to involuntarily emit a piercing scream.
The pungent smell of burning and thick smoke rushed into his nasal cavity and lungs, and breathing began to grow difficult.
Can't sleep, must not sleep, I'll die! I'll really die!
Stay awake! I must wake up!
The physical agony and psychological torture filled Roger's heart with helplessness and despair.
With his body bound to a cross and unable to escape, he could only watch as he was swallowed by the flames bit by bit...
"Hah—"
Jolting awake in a sudden fright, Roger sat straight up in bed, gasping for air.
Ever since the day of the sacrifice, whenever he fell asleep, he would dream of the despair of that day!
Even after being inexplicably sent to the Goddess of Magic's Divine Kingdom, and even after inexplicably entering into a marriage contract with the Magic Goddess, it failed to ease things in the least.
The pain of that day lingered around him like a nightmare!
Even after losing his physical body, leaving only his soul to become a legendary Divine Spirit, it failed to alleviate it by even a fraction...
Tremblingly opening the window, Roger wanted to use the breeze from outside to calm himself down.
Yet the moment the window opened, a huge book abruptly appeared in front of him, blocking all the wind outside:
"Good morning, Lord Roger, how is your mood today? You seem to have had another nightmare? That won't do at all, it will affect your study of magic theory. Speaking of which, today is a fine day for studying, the weather is lovely, and there are no annoying Divine Spirits or noisy magical creatures to disturb you. Lord Roger, do you know a noisy magical creature..."
"You're noisy enough."
With an extremely noisy magical creature in front of him complaining about other magical creatures being noisy, Roger only felt a stabbing pain in his brain, and glared fiercely at the fellow: "Quiet!"
"Oh, of course, Lord Roger, you like reading quietly, which is really a bit like Lady Goddess herself. Your loyal butler is well aware of this, and keeping quiet for you..."
Roger took a deep breath: "I mean, I command you, be quiet!"
The moment the word 'command' appeared, this 'book' finally quieted down.
Yet the quiet lasted for only a few seconds.
"Lord Roger, almost forgot the important business, may I ask if the Goddess is in?"
"..." Roger was speechless for a moment, and he seemed to have a deeper understanding of this book's noisiness: "What is it?"
"The Divine Kingdom's Faith Power is severely insufficient, and the Divine Kingdom's barrier has started to fluctuate. Without the blessing of the Goddess's divine power, the Divine Kingdom might run into trouble..."
"The Divine Kingdom's barrier is fluctuating? Wait?! Faith Power is severely insufficient? How is that possible?" Roger couldn't help crying out.
This was the Goddess of Magic's Divine Kingdom, not some wild god's!
The Magic Goddess, also known as the God of All Magic and Lady of Mysteries, ruled over the power of magic.
Legend had it that she was the mentor of the world's very first dragon and elf.
How could such an entity possibly experience a shortage of faith?!
The proportion of spellcasters in this world was indeed small, one in ten thousand, but the more powerful the entity, the more Faith Power they contributed...
Logically speaking, the Magic Goddess should be one of the deities with the most Faith Power, right?
How could her Faith Power be severely insufficient?
The cold sweat that had just dissipated broke out once again.
A sense of crisis filled his heart!
In the few days since arriving in the Divine Kingdom, he had already learned quite a few rules.
Everything in the Divine Kingdom relied on Faith Power to sustain itself.
Whether it was the Divine Kingdom itself or Divine Spirits like them, it was all the same.
Once they lost the blessing of Faith Power, his remaining soul would also completely vanish.
Then there really would be nothing left!
Having transmigrated to this world and become a prince of the Dawn Kingdom, he originally thought he could reach the pinnacle of life, but before he could even digest all the information in his mind, he was sacrificed, and then the deity who demanded his sacrifice directly converted him into a Divine Spirit and dumped him here with the Magic Goddess. Having finally settled down for two days, he might now vanish due to insufficient Faith Power... Did it have to be this hellish?!
"When the Goddess was still a mortal, she once said when teaching others magic: 'Knowledge is power, and the so-called god is merely a somewhat powerful scholar...' "
The book's tone was full of admiration, but Roger's brain caught the crucial point: "So spellcasters, who love to pursue truth and explore mysteries, don't provide Faith Power?"
"No, no, not all of them. A small fraction of mages choose to convert to the Goddess."
The book successively denied it: "However, the Goddess's source of faith mainly comes from those apprentices and their families when their magic talent is tested."
"..." Roger quickly flipped through his memories.
It actually seemed to be the case.
People who respected the Magic Goddess were everywhere, but people who actually believed in the Magic Goddess were few and far between.
At most, they prayed down below when their magic talent was being tested... praying that they possessed decent magic talent.
"Ah, this..." Roger suddenly felt that if he didn't think of something, he might really scatter to the winds. Who made this wife of his actually incapable of gathering faith...
However, how could he get her to quickly gather faith?
Roger's brain spun at high speed. Whether it was his past life on Earth or the knowledge he had acquired in this life, both began to race rapidly through his mind:
"Book, if I remember correctly, you seemed to mention that the entire mortal realm is like a sphere, and the source of magic power is the core of this sphere? All magic power emanates from the core? Then could one say that all spellcasters can be connected through magic power?"
"Of course, when I was teaching you this knowledge, I thought you would be surprised, but your receptiveness is far beyond expectation." The book couldn't help praising: "Lord Roger, I don't have time to waste here. Do you know where the Goddess is?"
"Definitely in the laboratory."
Roger really wanted to complain that probably no person from Earth would find this knowledge hard to accept, right?
Yet at the thought of this book's noisiness, he still held it in: "When you go, by the way, tell the Goddess that I've thought of a good way to gather faith!"
Before you continue