Background


    Kec unfurled a scroll that he’d brought himself to reveal a series of names of deities. Every name corresponded to a strip of colour, together forming a chart that transitioned from ck to white. Chart in hand, the former cleric carefullypared the colours and names to the wisp of me rising from the te. The reddish orange could be seen corresponding to the God of Valour on the chart, but there was no name for the light gold apart from a neighbouring strip of golden red.


    Once the scroll burnedpletely, Kec let out a long breath and wiped the sweat off his forehead. He looked quite exhausted, exercising extreme caution as he stowed the scroll away before relief finally showed on his face.


    That small, exquisite scroll didn’t have any special powers. Its only purpose was that the colour chart listed every known deity on this ne. The strips of colour had a trace of the deity’s divine power sealed within, but when the scroll was rolled up this presence would vanish without a trace. It was evident that this was a rare material.


    Be it in the human kingdoms or otherwise, any religious ces would burn the possessor of such a scroll at the stake as per an oracle sent down by their god. Human kings or even popes of churches would be no exception, and if someone was powerful enough to ignore most powers divine punishment or a deity’s avatar would be sent to seek them out and kill them.


    This small scroll was known as the Book of the Gods, amongst the highest level of ssified information of every church. It was a first order taboo, to be found and destroyed no matter where it surfaced.


    Thankfully, the Bloodstained Lands had always been forsaken by the gods.


    The three other men watched as Kec pondered over his results. Carefully sorting out his scroll, he finally spoke up, “Indeed, most of this scroll came from the God of Valour. If someone else was handed this scroll, they might not have noticed the anomaly within. However, there’s a faint trace of another power nestled within Neian’s own. As for its nature... It’s somewhere between Runai and Cerces, the deities of time and space.”


    Amon slowly spoke up, “Doesn’t that mean this trace of divine power doesn’t belong to any true god of this ne? Is it a heretic god of another ne?”


    Kec shook his head in reply, “That can’t be. Since he can nestle his own divine power within Neian’s, it’s clear that he’s extremely familiar with the rules of this ne. Foreign gods would not be able to achieve this. This trace of divine power exceeds the threshold of a demigod, approaching that of a true deity. It’s likely some unknown demigod of this ne is preparing to transcend. This batch of scrolls was tainted by a true cleric, it isn’t a counterfeit.”


    Silence pervaded the room for a moment, the atmosphere so heavy it grew nerve wracking. The impending birth of a true god was iparably significant to the entire ne. The people and interests involved could overthrow countries, kill entire peoples, or even tearnds apart!


    All four of these old men had their own identities and held umon power. However, in front of such an important matter all of it seemed negligible, not worthy of mention at all. In front of a true god, the entirety of the Bloodstained Lands may as well be nothing, forget characters like them who held limited power over some parts of it.


    Another of the old men gazed at Kec, finally speaking up, “This might be your chance, old friend.”


    Kec was preupied with something, but the words of this man caused his entire body to jolt. It was evident that the other man had expressed his own concerns. It took a while for him to speak up, “I’m already very old. My body has been burned by divine power and is falling apart. Besides, this is merely a demigod... If I don’t receive his genuine eptance and blessings, it will bepletely impossible for me to be a high priest.”


    Amon sighed, “You can’t live much longer anyway. The gods of this ne no longer ept you, and you’re not willing to rely on foreign gods. This is yourst chance.”


    Kecughed bitterly, “Even if I wanted to rely on the heretic gods of foreign nes, I wouldn’t have a chance. None of the invaders we’ve met have had a cleric able to cast spells. This means that these foreign gods cannot extend their power into Faelor at all.”


    “This Richard is clearly close to the new god. Perhaps there might be a chance with him,” another said.


    Kec nodded, “If there’s a chance, let’s contact him and see exactly what he wants. It definitely won’t be as simple as doing some business to earn gold. The birth of a new god normally implies crisis and battle.”


    “There’s another interesting bit of news,” one of them spoke up, “A formidable group of invaders appeared northeast of the Bloodstained Lands not long ago. The churches of Circe and Neian sent abined force with hundreds of pdins to meet them, but they were all wiped out. Their current whereabouts are unknown.”


    “Whereabouts unknown?” Amon immediately took out a map and examined it carefully under a magicmp, tracing his finger south the entire time. “That can only mean one thing: they’ve entered the Bloodstained Lands.”


    The four men looked at one another, all thinking of Richard at the same time. However, they quickly dismissed the idea. One of them had been observing the entirety of the massacre outside the cityst night, and they understood some details of the battle. The kid did indeed have capability and power that surpassed his age, but he was still far from wiping out thebined forces of Circe and Neian.


    Amon looked at everyone before speaking up, “Looks like we have some more preparation to do now. Things definitely won’t be peaceful in the future.”


    The few old men nodded their heads and left.


    ......


    Richard spent that entire night on high alert, even though he appeared rxed. Although he was staying in an inn of the Golden Warg and had established connections with Marquess Anrick, this was still the Bloodstained Lands. Anything could happen at any time.


    Contrary to Kec’s assumptions, Richard really didn’t have too much of a motive at Bluewater Oasis. He merely wanted to do some business to earn money. Gold meant equipment, warriors, and materials. The first two would directly amplify his power, while thest he could use to boost his forces further given he spent some time.