Power of the God

"The first believer of the New Thought seems to have already been born," Janna said.

"A believer of the New Thought? You mean... not a follower of your original doctrine, but a kindred spirit walking the same path as us?" Li Wei was utterly bewildered.

He'd just spent the night soldering circuit boards, done nothing else, and somehow—out of nowhere—he'd welded a follower into existence?

They hadn't even officially started spreading the word yet. How did a faithful follower suddenly pop up out of thin air?

"But he does exist."

"And that person is very special." Janna spoke softly, elaborating: "His mental power is extraordinary by nature. The Faith Power he contributes alone is stronger than that of a hundred ordinary people."

"I think... he must be suited to becoming a mage."

"This..." Li Wei was even more lost.

When had he ever met such a remarkable person, and somehow managed to recruit them without even knowing it?

The more questions he piled up, the more confused he became.

But the fat man, Aubrey, wasn't about to give him time to think.

He simply assumed Li Wei's earlier dodge was a fluke—that he'd gotten lucky to barely evade it.

Regardless of the reason, though, Li Wei's nimble sidestep made Aubrey look clumsy and humiliated. The onlookers' gazes seemed to stab at him again, silently mocking him as a useless loser.

"Bastard." Shimmer was like gasoline, dousing the flames of Aubrey's rage: "Go to hell!"

He stomped the ground with an elephantine foot, his bloated body charging forward like a roaring truck.

Raising an arm as thick as a tree trunk, he threw another earth-shattering punch.

"Forget it, I won't think about it." Li Wei had no time to dwell on where that unknown comrade had come from.

He steadied himself, guided by Janna's mental direction, and began to carefully sense the newfound power within him.

It was a warm, gentle force—like a hot spring, like a soft breeze—silently seeping into every limb and bone.

It was still faint, not enough to make Li Wei truly strong. At least physically, he was still no match for the fat man juiced up on Shimmer.

But this power was Janna's divine energy, its mysteries far beyond the brute force stimulated by Shimmer potions.

Besides enhancing Li Wei's physique, it granted him a special ability—

The power to feel the wind, and to command it.

As for commanding the wind, he couldn't manage that yet. The divine power was still too weak to let his mind manipulate matter, not enough to sustain even a single wind magic spell.

But feeling the wind? That was more than enough.

"The air currents... they seem to be speaking to me."

Li Wei unconsciously slipped into a strange state.

He could hear the wind's "voice," feel the disturbance of every wisp of air, no matter how faint.

So before Aubrey's heavy punch even landed, Li Wei could already sense the airflow torn apart by that blow, predicting the spatial path it would sweep through.

The divine power of wind perception and the combat instincts honed by the original owner's struggle for survival in Zaun quickly sparked a strange chemical reaction within him.

"Go with the Wind!"

Following the natural sea breeze, Li Wei's form drifted lightly.

Though it was only a dodge, it felt as graceful as flying.

With a mere, effortless step, he made Aubrey's heavy punch miss completely.

Like a wild boar that had charged at full speed only to hit nothing, Aubrey stumbled far into empty space before finally staggering to a halt.

"Wh... what just happened?"

Aubrey vaguely sensed something was wrong.

But the Shimmer potion, steadily taking hold, was clouding his reason, making him more irritable and volatile. Gradually, his dwindling wits slipped out of control.

"Dammit... you slippery bastard, how the hell can you dodge so much?!" Aubrey turned back in fury, charging again.

This time, he didn't rely on easily dodged punches. Instead, he spread his arms wide and lunged, trying to use his size advantage to form a net and crush Li Wei in a deadly bear hug.

His bulk and momentum were indeed terrifying, like a bear's—but...

"Too clumsy."

Li Wei lightly tapped his toe and dodged again.

His movements were as light as the wind, a pleasure to watch.

"Damn it!!" Aubrey's lunge missed, and his rage spiraled further out of control. He forced his momentum to a halt with raw strength, twisted around, and swung a fist in a backhanded strike, trying to catch the infuriatingly agile man off guard.

But Li Wei seemed to have eyes in the back of his head.

Without even looking, he simply ducked his head slightly and glided past the fist sweeping from behind.

"Impossible—absolutely impossible!!"

"How can I lose to some lousy wage slave?!"

Aubrey felt like he was fighting air, fighting the wind itself.

But Li Wei was clearly a human.

A lowly Zaunite Apprentice, nothing more.

"No, there's no way I can't beat him!"

A punch—Li Wei twisted his head to dodge.

"I'm not useless, I'm not!"

Another punch—Li Wei sidestepped, and as he did, he caught the outstretched arm and gave it a gentle shove forward.

Aubrey crashed into the floor like a Malphite that had ulted into a wall, charging in with all his might.

"Aaaah—" He split his own head open, blood streaming, the pain only fueling his rage.

The side effects of the Shimmer flared further.

Aubrey's fury consumed his mind, the drug surging through him, and he finally lost all reason.

He scrambled up from the ground and charged at Li Wei like a madman, like a tank barreling straight at him.

But Li Wei had lost interest in playing with him.

In a game, even if you couldn't beat a tank, you could at least tank a few hits. But in reality, a "tank" had weak points.

"You lose."

The melody had reached its climax.

A sea breeze happened to sweep by.

Li Wei dodged with the wind, shifting past Aubrey's position, and then—

He raised his hand, flat as a blade, and using the momentum of Aubrey's own charge, struck straight at his throat.

Precise and elegant, a single blow aimed at the flaw.

In the end, as the gale roared, the two passed each other.

"Urghhh!!" Aubrey shuddered, clutching his throat as he collapsed to his knees in agony.

Li Wei, drenched in blood, still stood.

The music stopped.

Li Wei paid no attention to his defeated foe, lost instead in the thrilling afterglow, staring intently at his own fist.

He had actually done it—beaten a monster like that.

"So this is the Power of the God," he murmured.

It was his first time being a superhuman; he couldn't help but get a little carried away.

The feeling of being above ordinary men was indeed good.

But the true deity, Janna, stood on his shoulder and shook her head firmly:

"No, this isn't the Power of the God."

Janna had once believed it was divine power, her power.

But she didn't think so anymore.

She looked up, gazing once more at the distant sky. Then she shared her "vision" with Li Wei.

And so Li Wei sensed it too:

In the sky, a faint, indistinct "thread" was steadily feeding them a weak but resolute stream of power.

This was Faith Power.

Power born from human faith. Someone out there was silently supporting them.

"Summoner, this isn't the power of a god, nor yours or mine—this is the power of the people."