An invincible journey starting from a different race

"Wait, how the hell am I supposed to show this?" Gan Qiu cursed. "And you guys are staring at me? What do you think I am? A monkey in a zoo?"

"But if you don't show it, how can we know how strong you are?" Stank spread his hands and said, "Maybe it's just your illusion?"

"How could it be an illusion? This sharpness, this persistence..." Gan Qiu was halfway through his sentence when he suddenly sensed something and was slightly stunned. "Wait, why is it gone?"

He lowered his head suddenly.

"My power...how did it disappear?! Isn't this too fast?!" Gan Qiu raised his head and looked at Aesop, "This is not much stronger than my true combat power...Pah, pah, pah, I'm wrong, this is not even as strong as my true combat power!"

Aesop scratched his head and said, "Maybe there are still some steps that have not been perfected. This is all we can do for now."

"That's too weak!" Gan Qiu was stunned. "Before every real battle, I can't help but open your book, silently recite your name, and pray for you... and then it only lasts for three more seconds?!"

Aesop thought for a moment and said, "That doesn't make sense. My strength shouldn't be this weak. It's probably just a lack of continuity. You can try again."

"Try again? How should I try?"

Aesop said, "When you feel nothing, recite my name again. If you still feel nothing, keep reciting it. Of course, as I said before, you must recite it with emotion. This is what prayer is."

"Really? Then I'll try again." Gan Qiu held his breath and concentrated, finding the feeling at that time again, "Ah~ Aesop~ Aesop~ Aesop~ Aesop... You're crazy!"

Gan Qiu threw Aesop's Fables to the ground.

"Let's not even talk about how weird it is to call your name during the official Tata Opening!" Gan Qiu's mouth twitched wildly. "Don't you think that during the official Tata Opening, I called out louder than the nightmare. This is weird no matter how you look at it?!"

"I think it's okay." Aesop said, "For the sake of strength, this is a necessary sacrifice."

"Pay your head!" Gan Qiu pointed at Aesop, unable to bear it any longer. "You damn profiteer, can you please consider after-sales service? You keep yelling at my name every day. Sooner or later, I'm going to scare myself to death!"

"Is it possible to scare people into falling in love?"

"…You're fucking sick."

Demia, who was standing by, couldn't stand the farce. She sighed, walked over and said, "This happened because your faith isn't strong enough."

Several people turned to look at her, and Aesop asked, "Do you know much about this?"

"That's a basic understanding, I guess." Demia folded his arms and said, "Gathering the power of faith isn't a particularly mysterious thing. It's just that Deya Academy has always scoffed at this method, so you don't understand. The power of faith requires more than just a name, and as the object of prayer, you need to do more than just wield power and bestow blessings."

Aesop was a little confused: "What does this mean?"

"What this means is that prayer and blessing are a two-way process," Demia said. "The one praying offers 'tribute' to the one being prayed for, and the one being prayed for offers 'blessings' to the one praying. This is the complete process."

Gan Qiu was shocked: "They even want tribute? They don't even need the goddess!"

"The goddess doesn't need it because she already has enough power. It's not that she doesn't need it at all. The faith of her believers is her greatest source of power," Demia explained. "For example, out of a thousand believers, the goddess might only respond to the prayers of one or two, but she can receive the faith of a thousand. She also has the church, which also provides her with power. But Aesop is different. If you must say, Aesop is a 'newborn' god, without the original accumulation of faith. Therefore, the power he can provide to respond to his believers is very limited."

This was the first time everyone heard this statement.

If you think about it carefully, it seems to be true. They are all believers of the goddess, but they have never prayed to the goddess.

From this perspective, the goddess seems to be a scumbag who only takes money but does nothing... Ahem, asshole, how can you think of a goddess like that?! This is so disrespectful.

Oh, it’s all Aesop’s fault. Ever since they met this guy, their faith has become less and less firm day by day.

"Furthermore, you have no faith in Aesop at all," Demia said. "As such, Aesop has no way of gaining power from you, and naturally, no way of blessing you."

“Even though you said that…” Gan Qiu scratched his head and looked at Aesop, “I’m already so familiar with this guy, and you really want me to have any faith in him. Isn’t that too weird?”

"That's why Aesop can't respond to you." Demia said, "If you really want to get Aesop's blessing, you can only use another way."

"Another way?" Gan Qiu asked curiously, "What other ways are there?"

"Offer something else," Demia said. "It's like bartering."

Demia's words made Jel fall into deep thought: "Why does it feel a bit like a cult sacrifice?"

"There's nothing wrong with your understanding of it that way," Demia said, spreading his hands. "Without the accumulation of faith, wouldn't a primitive 'god' have to rely on these things to gain power?"

Gan Qiu asked cautiously, "So you still have to pay?"

"It's not about giving money. The power of faith is spiritual power. Since you can't provide faith, you can only provide other spiritual things." Demia explained, "For example, emotions. Of course, this is not permanent. It depends on what you want from Aesop. If it's just that ability, the price won't be too high."

"That's not too high... What exactly do you mean?" Gan Qiu asked cautiously, "I don't want to become a psychopath just for a good time."

"That won't happen. After all, Aesop isn't a true evil god." Demia silently calculated in his mind and then said, "Based on the power conversion and your own abilities, if you want to gain the strength to fight for half an hour without weakening, you will probably have to pay the emotional value of a whole day. For example, you won't feel happy, sad, or jealous on this day. This should be random. When Aesop's control over the power of faith is stronger, he will be able to make his own choices."

After hearing what Demia said, Ganqiu felt that it seemed okay.

What does it matter if you can’t cry or laugh for just one day?

For the sake of the small head, sacrifice the big head!

"In that case, let's try again!" Gan Qiu said to Aesop, "Let's try it for half an hour first!"

Aesop nodded, and then, under the guidance of Demia, blessed Ganqiu.

Soon, Gan Qiu responded.

And this time, it was obviously more sustained and stronger than the three seconds before the bang!

"It worked! It really worked!" Gan Qiu was so excited that tears were about to fall. "Finally, I can finally say goodbye to the state of 'one, two, three, I'm done'! Wuuwuwuwu, did you see it? Did you see it... Uh, let's not look at it."

Gan Qiu was very happy, and then he remembered something. He turned to look at Aesop and asked, "By the way, what emotion of mine did you take away?"

"Oh, let me see." Aesop examined it and then replied, "Libido."

"Oh I got it."

Gan Qiu nodded.

Then, he became depressed.

Sanqisan, you don’t want to wake up the goddess in this way, do you?

Looking at Ganqiu's saintly and passionless expression, Aesop nodded slightly and said, "I sense your resolve."

"I can feel your head!" Gan Qiu instantly became furious, almost wanting to rush over to Aesop and bite him to death. "Can't you be a little more reliable? Huh?! Even just once?! Can't you be a little more reliable?!"

Aesop said, "No one wants something like this to happen. My senior sister just said it, the emotions I can take away are random, not deliberately selected. It randomly hits your desire, and there's nothing I can do about it."

"What a help!" Gan Qiu was so angry that his teeth itched. "What use can you have?"

"But haven't I already fulfilled your request?" Aesop said solemnly, "You are very strong now, really very strong."

"But what's the use of that?!" Gan Qiu was really going crazy, "I don't have any desire anymore! What can I do even if I have strong fighting ability?!"

"That's not what I meant," Aesop said. "Is your Tata Kai just driven by desire? Are you just a creature driven by desire? As a human being, if you are always controlled by desire, what a failure that is."

After hearing what Aesop said, Gan Qiu was shocked.

He stared at Aesop for a long time before he couldn't help but blurt out, "You are so shameless."

Although there was a slight gap from the expected goal, at least the blessing had been successfully bestowed. This meant that as long as it was improved a little more, Aesop's blessing would definitely be useful in the future.

So Stank and Jair were still very satisfied, and Aesop was naturally satisfied as well. The only ones who were not very satisfied were Ganqiu and Bruce who was still in a coma and had not woken up yet.

Fortunately, although Bruce was still unconscious, his injuries were not serious, at least not as serious as when he challenged sixteen low-level nightmares alone. He just needed to have a good rest.

"Well, in that case, we should leave." Demia also wanted to go back and study Reinhardt's legacy carefully. However, before leaving, she still explained to Aesop, "I have told you everything I know about the power of faith. It's not a lot, but I believe that with your ability, you will be able to understand it thoroughly soon. However, there is still one issue that you need to pay attention to."

Aesop asked, "What?"

"The Church," Demia replied. "Although the Church has never formally interfered with the development and research of other religions, that doesn't mean they condone such behavior. They didn't stop it before because with the Goddess, the true God, there was almost no fertile ground for cults to develop in this land, and even if there were, they couldn't threaten the Church. But things are different now."

"What's the difference?" Aesop said, "I didn't found a religion."

Demia chuckled twice. "If you were to found a religion, the Church would probably be more reassured, but your approach... is indeed somewhat unusual, and I guess the Church hasn't figured out how to handle your situation. Also, the Goddess has stopped responding to her followers for many years. Even the Archbishop of the Church hasn't established contact with her in years. So many people are already speculating about whether something has happened in Heaven. Although the Church is trying hard to clarify and call them rumors, their clarifications are becoming increasingly ineffective as time goes by."

"The goddess... no longer responds to her believers?"

This topic was quite serious, so Man Nai...oh no, the few people whose minds were filled with only Nai Zi had to temporarily exclude Nai Zi and think about this matter seriously.

After all, this matter is really big.

"Why, you don't feel anything at all?" Demia narrowed his eyes slightly and asked, "Don't you have a little angel by your side? Didn't he tell you anything?"

"Klim?" They exchanged glances, and then Stank, as if recalling something, said, "He did seem to mention that the goddess seemed to have become sleepy in recent years. But I don't think Klim seems to care much."

"Yes, if the goddess really had something wrong, this guy wouldn't be escorting people every day, right?" Jer also said.

"I don't know much about your friend. Perhaps for the goddess, it's just a little sleepiness, not a big deal," Demia said. "But for mortals, it's a different story. If the goddess sleeps for hundreds or thousands of years, do you think it would be a small matter for mortals? The war years are not so far away that they only exist in history books. Who knows how long the church can maintain peace without receiving the goddess's response?"

Everyone looked at each other, their expressions somewhat surprised.

Just when Demia thought they were panicking, Stank suddenly spread his hands and said, "Even if you say so, it has nothing to do with us, right? War is coming, and when it comes, don't we still have to do our own things?"

"Yeah." Jer held the back of his head with his hands and said nonchalantly, "If war comes, maybe it will be a little more exciting. Of course, it's better not to come. If a war really breaks out, we can't go shopping in the Dream Demon Shop without worries, so it's better not to fight."

Demia was a little surprised.

Don’t these guys have any fear for war?

But after thinking it over, Demia quickly figured it out. After all, these guys were also famous adventurers. Saying that war was scary was only good enough to coax children, and it certainly wouldn't be of much use to them.

However, these guys' confusing appearance and humiliating experiences made Demia almost forget their identities.

But she still wanted to remind her, "You can relax, but the Church won't be so relaxed. They will definitely nip in the bud any signs that could spark a war or threaten the Goddess's status, so..."

Demia gave Aesop a warning look, but found that Aesop was thinking about something.

"What are you thinking about?" Demia couldn't help but ask.

Aesop replied, "I was thinking of a powerful woman falling asleep and causing a disaster. I think I've experienced this before."

"Is it about your experience in the snowfield?" Demia nodded, then asked, "So how did you awaken the deity of the snowfield?"

Aesop slowly stretched out his hand. At first, Demia didn't know what this meant, but when the fingers moved, she seemed to understand.

Then she thought of something and her expression gradually became exaggerated.

"Wait...you're not trying to wake up the goddess this way, are you?"

374 Big Star

"Abel..."

Deya College, in the principal's office.

After Aitch returned with a group of professors, he came straight here. As soon as he entered the room, he saw Abel with his back to him, looking up at the stars in the night sky, as if thinking about something.

"Oh, you're back." After hearing the voice, Abel turned his head and said lightly, "Thank you for your hard work."

"It's not hard or not." Aiqi shook his head, and then said, "I just don't understand why you let us come back when we haven't found little Aesop yet."

Abel said, "You've already clashed with the church, especially with that hero. Everyone says it's a misunderstanding, but with the goddess in her deep sleep, even the smallest misunderstanding could lead to serious consequences, so it's best not to start a pointless dispute."

Regarding Abel's explanation, Aitch almost had the word "disbelief" written on his face: "Are you afraid of this?"

Under the gaze of his old friend, who said, "We've known each other for so many years, don't I know you?", Abel couldn't hold it in any longer. He chuckled and shook his head: "Okay, okay, I knew I couldn't hide it from you."

"There's no need to hide this from me," Aiqi said. "I know you best. I know you're not afraid of the goddess at all."

"Yes, but since you know me best, can you tell me why I want you to come back?" Abel looked at Aitch with a smile.

This was a very pointed question, and Aitch's brows furrowed slightly.

Since he was not afraid of causing a dispute with the church, Aitch really didn't know why Abel asked them to come back early. It was obvious that Abel was not the kind of person who liked to give up halfway.

"I really don't know." Aiqi shook his head. "Why?"

"Actually, there's no special reason." Abel said softly, "I just let it go."

"Look away?"

"Yes, I want that brat back so badly. Is it really necessary?" Abel raised his head again, looked at the stars in the night sky, and said slowly, "Perhaps the stars can only shine brightly under the vast night sky. I just want to keep him in the cradle, which may not be a good thing for him."

Ai Qi was a little puzzled. "Even though you say that, it's a little too sudden, isn't it? You were asking us if we had any news about little Aesop just a few days ago, so why do you seem to have let it go now?"

"Because a few days ago, I suddenly felt a force that I had never seen before." Abel said, "It was majestic, powerful, and also very strange."

Aiqi was very surprised: "Is there a power in this world that you don't understand?"

"My old friend, the Arcanist is not omniscient and omnipotent. Even the One in Heaven is not necessarily omniscient and omnipotent. There is still so much knowledge in this world that even I have never encountered or understood."

"Then that power you felt... did it come from Aesop?"

Abel nodded and said, "It does have the scent of Aesop."

Aitch was even more surprised.

Abel said calmly, "This is why I decided to let you come back. After all, Aesop and I practice different schools of magic. At this point, I no longer have any knowledge to teach him. He will have to walk the next path on his own. If that's the case, then why did I bring him back? It was probably just to satisfy the emptiness in my heart."