Elliot had single-handedly designed the entire system behind Vanessa's Secret Society.
The canteen now served a certain public relief function in the Hearthfire District, offering meals at very low prices and attracting many people. Vanessa and the others screened these people for believers.
Believers who joined would be employed by the canteen and paid a fairly decent wage. All they had to do was regularly hand over supernatural materials. The supernatural powers were just an added benefit.
This system ran quite efficiently. Believers with [Spirit Vision] could enter other believers' dreams to quickly gather supernatural materials. The Difference Engine's protection meant they did not need to worry about [Spirit Vision] going out of control in the Dream World. With proper arrangements, one believer with [Spirit Vision] could work with many ordinary believers.
And it had indeed worked as intended, producing a steady supply of supernatural materials.
According to Elliot's vision, as long as this system kept developing, sooner or later it could become a massive organization covering the entire Hearthfire District. Advancing through supernatural materials was indeed far slower than sacrificing oneself, but an overwhelming numerical advantage could make up for that.
A believer could gather around eleven or twelve pieces of supernatural material in a single exploration. The submergence involved often took several days, averaging out to roughly one and a half pieces of supernatural material per day.
The four or five hundred pieces of supernatural material Vanessa needed might seem like a lot, but with three hundred believers, they could gather enough in a single day.
Even if those four or five hundred pieces were used up, there was no need to worry. There would be another four or five hundred tomorrow.
Several hundred believers might sound like a lot, but the Hearthfire District had tens of thousands