"He is light, he is heat, he is fire itself, the beginning and end of all civilization and wisdom."
"He answers our suffering, he answers our cries. He is the torch that lights the night, and we are his fuel."
"With our bodies as kindling, may the flame burn forever..."
Raily recited the sacred words from the Book of Sunfire with heartfelt emotion.
The believers below listened quietly. Many bugs recalled their past despair and their present salvation, and tears welled in their eyes.
Lin Jin had been entirely right. This soil of despair could easily give rise to the flame called religion.
What had once been a small faith shared only among miners spread as they told their families and friends. Its doctrine, so utterly different from that of the Gear Council, soon began circulating among the lowest classes.
Some bugs had indeed been wary at first.
But beneath the glow of that fire, they felt a comfort they had not known in ages, and even their bodies, long tormented by illness, seemed to be slowly recovering.
The body-strengthening charms and Red Crystals that repelled beasts, distributed by the congregation, were also genuinely useful.
A compassionate, humane doctrine, and tangible benefits they could see and touch.
The Sunfire Church was soon accepted and praised by the poorest residents, spreading far faster than Raily had expected.
That was understandable, though. Believing in this faith brought real benefits.
In the past, the bugs had all believed in the Gear Council's doctrine of absolute rationality. Yet even after obeying its rules and undergoing modifications, they still saw no sign of the important figures in the Upper Layer sending anyone down to improve their lives.
By the logic of absolute reason, bugs at the bottom like them were merely expendable material.
How could any bug support leaders who ruthlessly treated the lowest residents as cannon fodder?
By contrast, this Sunfire God they had never met had genuinely made them feel cared for.
Yes, that mysterious thing called love.
This was also a result of differences in ways of thinking and levels of education.
After reading the Ironhold Chronicles, which the Snail Shaman had compiled from memory, and observing how the lower-class bugs in the Royal Airfield lived, Lin Jin quickly recognized the problem.
Perhaps the Gear Council had once been a fairly open organization that advocated reform and paid attention to people's livelihoods and concerns.
But as time passed, the present-day Gear Council had become completely disconnected from those at the bottom.
Unlike the councilors in the Upper Layer, who knew only how to preach lofty principles, Lin Jin understood that words were useless to people at the bottom. Only when they saw concrete benefits would they be willing to listen.
On that front, Lin Jin had clearly done better than the Gear Council.
Now, almost all the lower-class bugs in the Royal Airfield believed in the Sunfire God, and the faith was even showing signs of spreading into middle management.
Across the Royal Airfield, Campfires were lit one after another, and his faith points shot upward like a rocket.
Even the supervisors responsible for daily inspections noticed nothing amiss.
A simple campfire had no distinctive symbolic features, after all. Combined with the terrible welfare system, bugs lighting fires to keep themselves warm had already become commonplace.
And so, in less than a month, the Sunfire Church had grown to several hundred followers.
And that number was still increasing.
Watching the tiny motes of starlight rising from the believers and gathering in the Campfire, Raily was certain she would soon succeed.
As it happened, Lin Jin, at the Campfire in the room, thought the same as he watched the numbers on his panel steadily climb.
---------- Name: Lin Jin Title: Sunfire God Race: [Human/Sealed] Higher Being Divinity: Demigod (75%) Divine office: Flame Authority: Light, Temperature, Reaction Divine arts: Psychokinesis, Soulfire, Divine Power Infusion Believers: 647 Faith points: 1580 ----------
This harvest could only be called bountiful.
His faith points were steadily increasing. Beyond that, Lin Jin also noticed that several previously empty attributes now had new entries.
"So that's how it works. Out in the world, you give yourself your own identity, huh?"
Looking at the panel before him, Lin Jin mused, "It looks like the identity I gave myself has already taken root in their hearts. They believe in it unwaveringly and provide me with faith."
That was the advantage of establishing a persona: it allowed him to quickly gather a group of like-minded followers.
But there was danger, too. Once that persona failed to hold up, everything would collapse instantly, without any room for recovery.
Still, to grow stronger as quickly as possible, Lin Jin had no other choice. After all, no one knew whether danger or tomorrow would arrive first.
The Royal Airfield was currently the most important part of Lin Jin's development, as its enormous base of believers proved.
That was also the chief reason he had devoted so much attention to cultivating it lately.
"At this rate, I could fill the divinity progress bar in as little as thirteen days."
At present, Lin Jin had no idea what would happen once the divinity progress bar was full, but he was certain it would bring tremendous benefits.
The thought made him impatient, and he began considering whether he could speed things up even further.
Just then, a violent tremor caught his attention.
The ground was shaking.
Some unfamiliar bugs smashed through the tunnel and forced their way inside.
The entire secret gathering was now surrounded. Somehow, those bugs had also managed to evade Lin Jin's senses, and he had only detected them once they were this close.
Upon realizing this, Lin Jin looked intrigued.
"Hmph, interesting. Even a starved camel is bigger than a horse, huh?"
"Good thing I didn't rush to act in person at the start, and chose to work slowly from the shadows instead. Otherwise, I really might have been caught off guard and brought down."
"I really picked the right day to come." Lin Jin carefully sensed his surroundings. "If they intend to wipe everyone out, I'll take the opportunity to manifest myself. That'll earn me even more faith."
Sure enough, in the next instant, an impact blasted through the walls of the hidden chamber.
A large number of fully armed guards followed, along with several distinctive bugs in command.
The guards swiftly formed ranks and aimed their weapons at the lower-class residents.
"Don't move! Put your hands up! All your hands!"
"Every bug, crouch down with your hands on your head! If you can't crouch, lie flat!"
"Close all your eyes! Shut all your mouths! Fold your wings, too!"
The clamor interrupted Raily's preaching. She looked nervously toward the noise, and her scalp prickled.
"This place has been discovered? And so soon? I clearly took so many precautions to keep it hidden."
Raily was shocked. She had concealed their activities as thoroughly as she could, yet they had still been discovered so quickly.
The Silver-White Bug stepped out from among the forces surrounding them. His body had undergone extensive mechanical modification, and his behavior strictly adhered to the Gear Council's teachings.
"It's you."
Raily faced the Silver-White Bug. Behind her stood countless frightened believers; behind him stood troops armed with real guns and live ammunition.
"I should have known, you deviant."
His voice was flat, as though Raily's fate had already been decided.
"You were the most troublesome one from the very beginning. And now you've gone so far as to run this cult right under the council's nose. Unforgivable."
Though he spoke reproachfully, the Silver-White Bug was secretly delighted.
Thanks to this fool's stupidity, I managed to uncover a trace of what was going on.
If I can successfully eliminate these destabilizing elements, perhaps I can become a member of the Gear Council myself.
Raily, however, was remarkably calm. Apart from her initial panic, she had quickly regained her composure.
To be honest, she had already anticipated this moment, and her contingency plan had long been ready.
"This is a trial."
Raily spoke with absolute conviction. "Yes, what was I thinking? The Sunfire Church can't hide in the shadows forever. It was long past time we truly met face-to-face."
"What?"
The Silver-White Bug sounded somewhat surprised.
This operation had been top secret. There was absolutely no way anyone could have leaked it.
Yet her words made it sound as though she had known all along that this would happen.
No, no. She's only bluffing.
The Silver-White Bug waved his hand, and several soldiers surrounded Raily and shackled her.
"Saintess!"
"Lady Saintess!"
Even surrounded by fully armed soldiers, the believers cried out anxiously when they saw the Saintess who had guided them being captured.
But they were merely ordinary bugs. There was nothing they could do.
Before joining the Sunfire Church, these bugs from the lowest classes had still been struggling futilely on the brink of death.
Now, seeing the light in their hearts being trampled upon, every one of them was ready to risk their life to rescue the Saintess.
"Nobody move!"
A sudden command rang out, but it had not come from the forces surrounding them.
On the contrary, it came from Raily, bound in layers of shackles.
"Please remain calm, everyone. This is my trial. There is no need to worry about me."
"Let's make a deal, important sir. I'm the mastermind. You can take me away and claim your reward. As for these believers, they're only a bunch of poor wretches. Let them go."
Removing her hood, Raily fearlessly revealed herself.
"You... what exactly are you thinking?"
The Silver-White Bug grew irritated. Her composure left him with the strange feeling that his plan was slipping out of his control.
The change in her astonished him. Though he had only met Raily once or twice, he still remembered that her body had certainly not looked like this before.
Hmph, forget it. Once she's locked in prison, whatever she's planning will be impossible. I might as well see what else this unbeliever can do.
"Take her away!"
The Silver-White Bug gave the order immediately, but Raily began walking out before his subordinates could move. Her calm bearing, paired with her now-perfect body, left every bug momentarily astonished.
Seeing this, the Silver-White Bug could only suppress his unease and continue escorting this "Saintess" with the bearing of a "superior."
But he failed to notice the bugs behind him, whose eyes, beneath their robes, had begun to kindle with tiny sparks.
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