Worldwide Awakening: My Soul Kinds Are Lost-Chapter 499: Spirit Rune·Heavenly Soldier Guarding Figure, Divine Art·Underworld Soldier Passage Method_1
"My game character is in the Nine Extremes Divine Palace; otherwise, I would have had him come out and make another grand appearance, given that it’s his first birthday," Wang Linchi remarked, looking at the Holy Emperor’s birthday ceremony taking place outside.
"But that’s not a problem. Faith is something that benefits from a certain distance."
Wang Linchi didn’t attach great importance to these matters. He had already surpassed the stage where he needed to maintain a high public profile. Now, only cold, hard cash could make everyone work wholeheartedly for him.
The number of Class B believers had already reached nearly one ten-thousandth of the population. In other words, for every ten thousand people, there was approximately one Class B believer.
As for Class A believers, Wang Linchi had none yet. The furthest along was Yuan Lin, who was stuck at the final critical moment.
After all, Yuan Lin was an individual Wang Linchi had carefully nurtured, so he naturally received corresponding rewards.
A rate of one in ten thousand might seem high, but the total population of the world wasn’t actually very large. After enduring various ordeals, the total population was just over three hundred million.
Calculated out, the number of Class B believers only amounted to just over thirty thousand, which wasn’t many.
The rest were in Class C or D. As for those without faith in him, they were the true minority.
As the ceremony continued, a vast network of faith began to slowly unfurl. Wang Linchi watched the differently colored spots of light. Each one represented a believer, and its color and brightness indicated their level of faith.
Wang Linchi began to filter the conditions, selecting Class B believers with high brightness. This signified that these individuals were very close to becoming Class A believers.
"Spirit Rune·Heavenly Soldier Guarding Figure, Divine Art·Underworld Soldier Passage Method."
"Oh, right, I almost forgot the reward of ten extra years of life."
Through the network of faith, Wang Linchi started to distribute the rewards.
Spirit Glyphs are similar to Passive Skills, while Divine Arts are Active Skills.
The Heavenly Soldier Protection allows believers with this Spirit Glyph to possess invisible, full-body Armor, the strength of which depends on their faith level. The Underworld Soldier Passage Method is simpler: it allows the summoning of a squad of Underworld Soldiers, with their scale and strength depending on the believer’s faith level.
This, however, came at a cost. If the Heavenly Soldier Protection was damaged or disappeared, it could only be replenished after midnight.
The same went for the Underworld Soldier Passage Method. It could be used once a day, and the summoned Underworld Soldiers, if not killed, would last for 24 hours.
Therefore, theoretically, their scale and numbers could be stacked for two days. If used properly, this could have quite significant effects.
"Next, for the mid-to-low tier Class B believers, just give them the Divine Art and the lifespan extension."
Faith was categorized into various tiers, and the benefits Wang Linchi provided were tiered accordingly.
Although it might seem like they were only missing the Heavenly Soldier Protection Spirit Glyph, this actually represented a significant reduction in combat power.
The effect of possessing the Heavenly Soldier Protection Spirit Glyph could stack with the Underworld Soldier Passage Method. As such, the Underworld Soldiers summoned by high-ranking Class B believers would possess invisible armor.
Those who missed out need not worry. They could wait for Wang Linchi’s next limited-time offer.
The origin of the Underworld Soldiers was simple: they were just some of the Underworld Soldiers from Wang Linchi’s underworld. Summoned to serve as avatars resembling game characters, their numbers were plentiful. Additionally, since the summoned soldiers were mainly used for slaughter, they could serve as a channel for the growth of Wang Linchi’s dual divine roles of life and death. Transmitting them through the faith network incurred a very low cost.
As for the Spirit Glyphs, they were naturally at Wang Linchi’s expense. But compared to the Divine Power converted from the faith contributed by Class B believers, this cost was a drop in the ocean.
He earned a million for every unit of cost; if he couldn’t even bear to part with that, Wang Linchi might as well give up his ambitions.
The most valuable reward was likely the extra ten years of life, but this would decrease year by year until it was no longer distributed.
Distributing too much lifespan would lead to issues with Wang Linchi’s primary life-governing divine role.
"With the stimulation of substantial benefits, the subsequent increase in faith should be even greater." Wang Linchi had learned from A-33 that the next era was the Demon god era, also known as the Deity era; Wang Linchi was merely conforming to Fate.
However, compared to other deities, Wang Linchi’s offerings were much more generous.
Future, yet-to-be-born deities would probably only reach level 29 at most, and the Divine Arts they granted would be mostly useless, with an estimated upper limit of around level 19.
But in Wang Linchi’s domain, the Underworld Soldier Passage Method alone could summon at least one Underworld Soldier. These soldiers were well-trained veterans, all fearless and fierce.
For individuals like Yuan Lin, who were one step away from reaching Class A, they could command an army of at least a thousand Underworld Soldiers from the start.
Moreover, they came with Armor and Weapons.
For believers whose faith was only strong enough to summon a single Underworld Soldier, that soldier would be clad in plain clothes and shoes, fighting barehanded.
Wang Linchi fully implemented the principle: "The deeper your faith in me, the greater my reward for you."
If you don’t even believe in me, why should I give you anything good?
"The next step, once the number of Class B believers reaches about one-third of the total population, will be to usher in the network era."
This faith network was not for his own convenience but was a tool to control and motivate his followers.
Wang Linchi didn’t care about leaks from the Transcendental System. As long as there were benefits for him, he would be willing to leak nuclear bomb technology.
To him, these matters were not significant.
"Eh? Yuan Lin actually became a Class A believer!" Wang Linchi suddenly noticed that on the faith network, a spot of light transformed from blue to a dull purple. This dull hue continued to intensify and refine itself until it finally stabilized.
It was obviously Yuan Lin.
After that, several more spots of light followed suit, turning into purple Class A believers.
Additionally, the Class B believers also experienced an upgrade; their overall tier underwent a qualitative leap, with most reaching the high-tier level and only a few remaining at the mid-tier.
Following this, a small portion of Class C and D believers began to advance, likely because the Class B believers who had received rewards started publicizing them.
Once people saw the tangible benefits, especially the ten extra years of lifespan, some were naturally filled with awe and desire. This made it easier for them to enhance their faith.
"However, increasing faith isn’t that simple. Deceiving others is easy, but deceiving one’s own heart is hard."
Wang Linchi had considered using methods like thought manipulation and mind-twisting to directly gain a large number of believers. It was feasible, but it would affect the quality of the faith offerings.
Faith offerings produced through such unconventional modifications, even the highest quality from Class A, couldn’t compare to the lowest quality from Class D.
Therefore, he could only subtly reshape beliefs through psychological suggestion and public opinion manipulation, much like the scams that promise one can go from sleeping on the floor one day to being a boss the next.
The difference was that Wang Linchi didn’t cheat people out of money or their bodies. He just wanted faith, and he even sustained these followers.
"In due time, the quality of faith should improve," Wang Linchi knew. This wouldn’t happen overnight; it needed time.
He not only needed Class A believers but also a large number of Class B believers. As for Class C and D, their faith levels were too low, and Wang Linchi didn’t even bother with them.
The faith contributed by Class C and D believers was so minimal that Wang Linchi found it difficult to offer them any benefits.
Time passed, minute by minute, until dawn the next day, when the Holy Emperor’s birthday ceremony finally concluded.
Wang Linchi had been watching all night. Zhang Lin and Li Zheng were quite adept at managing such events; at least the entire birthday ceremony proceeded without a single hitch.
They even lavished praise on Wang Linchi and solidified his perceived ability to control life and death, bringing him just one step away from the Cicada Shedding Stage.
"What a pity. Just one step short, and I’ll have to wait several more months."
Wang Linchi felt this was somewhat like an annual "Double Eleven" sales event: he earned a year’s worth in one go and then gradually made up the rest over time.
If it weren’t for the fact that constant ceremonies and what amounted to forced contributions would drive away followers much like it would Players in a game, he would hold ceremonies every day, non-stop throughout the year.
One can’t harvest followers every day; they need time to grow.
"But speaking of which, what exactly is faith, and why can it be considered a resource?"
At this point, Wang Linchi began to ponder the fundamental nature of faith. Theoretically, faith was merely a human thought. Even in a fantastical context, it would simply be spiritual power. How, then, did he receive it?
"The Absolute Heaven-Linking Array seems to contain some aspects related to the System of god road," Wang Linchi couldn’t help but think.
He hadn’t noticed it before, but this time, through the Faith Network, he had perceived a part of the Absolute Heaven-Linking Array.
Although he had been paying attention to the Holy Emperor’s birthday ceremony these past few days, his primary focus had consistently been on the Absolute Heaven-Linking Array. This was currently his main research project, and most of his other projects were not as important.
