Chapter18-God, Please Avenge Me!

Thomas was utterly shocked as he looked at Kevin, Robert, and the others.

These people were all senior figures in their respective villages, holding important positions.

"They have all received the attention and blessings of Deus Initium. This is a good thing. It seems that Deus Initium has had a great influence on them, and their faith in Deus Initium has grown even deeper."

Thomas was very pleased.

As a missionary, he naturally hoped for the villagers to become stronger.

This way, the village's power would grow, and the villagers would live more securely.

Then, his gaze fell on Henry and old John.

They had now both become Tier-1 Advanced Awakeners.

"Receiving the blessings of Deus Initium twice, their devotion should now be nearly as strong as mine."

As he observed them, Thomas muttered to himself.

He had no other thoughts, only joy.

The more devoted the villagers were to Deus Initium, the better he was doing his job as a missionary.

"Now the village has six Tier-1 Advanced Awakeners, thirteen Tier-1 Mid Awakeners, and thirteen newly promoted Tier-1 Low Awakeners. Very good."

Looking at the newly awakened villagers, Thomas smiled.

Having so many Awakeners was something he had never dared to imagine before.

After all, among the four villages combined, there had only been eight Awakeners in total.

Each village had about two Awakeners—an elder and a middle-aged person. Younger Awakeners had not yet been cultivated.

Becoming an Awakener was no easy feat.

But now, thanks to the blessings of Deus Initium, Awakeners were sprouting like mushrooms after the rain!

And he was certain this was only the beginning. As long as their faith in Deus Initium deepened, more villagers would receive blessings, and their levels would continue to rise!

...

Time passed quickly.

The vast starlight shone down.

Owen stepped out of the divine statue, strolling through the village under the cool moonlight.

After walking for a while, he suddenly looked up at the moon.

The soft, gauzy moonlight cascading down condensed in his hand, forming a ribbon-like wisp of white light, radiating the power of the stars.

"The power of the stars… Many spellbeasts and disasters can use the power of the stars to grow continuously. This power is indeed formidable."

With this thought, Owen focused his mind, and the moonlight across his entire domain began gathering toward his palm. The lights from various villages dimmed slightly, as if absorbed by an invisible force.

Before long, a portion of the moonlight from his territory condensed in his palm, appearing like white linen, much denser than before.

"This power of the stars is strong, but it is difficult to condense."

"Even if I refine it all night, it would barely equal 10% of a divine point's power."

Owen thought for a moment and shook his head slightly.

A whole night's effort was not even worth the daily spice points provided by a single C-rank devotee.

He then turned his attention to his now-expanded territory, which had grown more than threefold.

"The lands of Colmar Village and Reinham Village have not been fully absorbed into my domain. It seems I have reached the limit of a 1-Star deity's expansion.

Although some areas remain outside my control, the residential zones of the villages are within the domain."

For ordinary spellbeasts, while they absorbed the power of the stars quickly, they could not do so on the scale he could.

Their absorption rate was actually quite slow.

With this realization, Owen understood why spellbeasts like vampires preferred consuming humans.

Human bodies contained a unique faith energy that no other creature possessed, making consumption far more efficient than absorbing the power of the stars.

As the deity of this land, Owen would never allow spellbeasts to run rampant.

These devotees were the foundation of his divinity!

Losing even one devotee would be a tremendous loss for Owen.

As he continued walking under the moonlight, he arrived at an abandoned pond.

The pond was not large, with no fresh water flowing in, covered in yellowed leaves, and beneath them, pitch-black sludge.

It seemed to be a place few dared to approach.

Standing there, Owen suddenly halted and looked toward the depths of the pond.

"Resentment? Such strong resentment!"

Owen narrowed his eyes. Ever since this area became part of his domain, nothing within it was a mystery to him.

From this pond, he sensed a powerful presence of lingering resentment.

There were undoubtedly ghosts here!

With a flick of his finger, ripples spread through the air, and the leaves and sludge on the pond's surface parted as if moved by an invisible hand.

As a deity, he only needed to expend divine points when using god skills.

Within his domain, he wielded immense control.

He was practically the master of this world.

As the sludge and leaves parted, an even stronger wave of resentment emerged.

"Two ghosts…"

Owen muttered, then spoke slowly:

"In the presence of a god, where do you think you can hide?"

Though his voice was calm, it echoed across the area with divine majesty.

Soon, tendrils of black mist surged from the sludge, quickly forming into two shadowy ghostly figures.

The first was a young boy, thin and weak, but his eyes glowed red with resentment.

However, upon seeing Owen's golden radiance, his madness and obsession immediately faded, replaced by sheer terror.

Behind him was a frail young girl who trembled violently, clutching onto him.

Just hearing Owen's voice had left her petrified. Now, seeing his radiant, golden form, she was utterly overwhelmed with fear.

He was like a divine sun to them—his mere presence enough to annihilate them in an instant.

Faced with Owen, the two siblings felt like melting snow under a scorching sun, on the verge of vanishing completely.

"Mia of Lucas Village greets the god!"

The girl suddenly reacted, hastily bowing before Owen, her face filled with both fear and reverence.

From Owen, she truly sensed the presence of a deity!

Before her, Ethan also quickly bowed.

"Ethan of Lucas Village greets the god!"

Owen examined them briefly. Their resentment was intense, yet there was no stench of blood. They had not harmed anyone.

"Your resentment is heavy. What happened to you that your souls refuse to dissipate?"

Owen pondered for a moment before asking.

As an Ancient God, he could vaguely sense the existence of an ancient underworld—a vast force overseeing the cycle of reincarnation.

Of course, this sensation was faint, merely an awareness of its existence.

He had no knowledge of whether deities existed within the underworld or how it operated.

But by his understanding, souls should naturally move on to the underworld. Few remained as ghosts, lingering for long periods.

Upon hearing Owen's question, Ethan and Mia seemed to grasp onto their last hope.

With tear-filled eyes, they looked at Owen and cried out,

"Please, god, avenge us!"