Taking her faith into the Underground World was not something Sera could accomplish overnight. The idea had only just occurred to her, and she needed time to mobilize her resources. But she had already paid her fee. At the Augustus Family's urging, dozens of great members of the Nobility stopped sitting on the fence and distributed the Seeds they had received to the farmers on their estates for planting.
The lesser members of the Nobility followed their lead. For a time, Wheat seeds became a hot commodity, as though planting Wheat would make the yield of any field soar.
Which, in fact, it would.
As this happened, Jiang Hao felt the Authority binding more closely to him. His control over it was growing.
"According to Bartholomew Augustus's notes, once I feel I have complete control over the Authority, I can proclaim my Divine Name to the entire Main Plane. The world's 'recognition' will follow."
So I was wrong before? No, my guess was right. The reasoning was wrong, but the conclusion was right.
"It sounds an awful lot like acquiring a publicly traded company on Blue Star... First you buy shares on the market. Once you own more than fifty-one percent, you disclose your holdings, and the company is yours. By that analogy, Ieta was a founder. He didn't need the world's 'recognition' because he had it from the start."
"Then the Dark Sun wasn't just provoking the gods and announcing his return last time. He was regaining the world's recognition, too? Or perhaps he knew his return would bring interference from the Good Gods—he was hardly popular—so he laid a trap."
"But how could a fallen God, one who fell after going mad, manage that? Has he regained his sanity? Or was another God behind it all?"
"If so,