Game of the World Tree

【THE SPREAD OF FAITH】

—

Baal's wish was came true.

Although… perhaps it was granted in a somewhat twisted manner.

He did, indeed, receive the luxurious demon palace he had long dreamed of, and he did fulfill his desire to taste the blood of elves.

However, this dream came at a steep price. Day after day, he was thrust into relentless combat, pushed to the edge of physical exhaustion. To make the matters worse, just when he thought he might catch his breath, he would be dragged into another cycle of involuntary "unconsciousness and awakening," unable to resist or even protest.

Needless to say, as the battles wore on, this once-proud Demon King found his fury giving way to frustration, and that frustration slowly eroded into a deep and unsettling doubt. He began to question everything—his purpose, his strength, even the very worth of his so-called victory.

Inadvertently, he was retracing the path of a certain Demon Lord who had walked this very same road before him.

With the arrival of thirteen hardworking new "employees" to the Demon Lord's Labyrinth, the much-anticipated new version of the dungeon finally began to operate smoothly.

After all, these palaces were not physical structures in the traditional sense. They were projections of Evé's divine kingdom into the material world, conjured and shaped entirely by her will. As such, they required no raw materials or construction. Only a small expenditure of her divine power was needed, which, for a god of her stature, was a trivial cost.

To accommodate more players, Evé even expanded the size of the Demon God's Labyrinth several times over, taking inspiration from Azazel's suggestions to give it a more authentic hellish appearance.

The increasingly grotesque and grand palaces, thirteen newly introduced bosses with diverse designs and abilities, along with the theoretically increased drop rates for class advancement slot after the update, led the dungeon to soar in popularity once again. At one point, it even surpassed the Shattered Divine Kingdom dungeon in terms of player engagement.

This was no surprise.

Out of 360,000 players across the server, fewer than 2,000 had reached the Silver-rank.

Previously, the surge in popularity of the Shattered Divine Kingdom was not only due to the launch of the Divine Artifact Restoration system, which offered players a new path for advancement, but also because the original version of the Demon God's Labyrinth had become too limited in scope to accommodate the massive influx of new players.

Or rather, the primary issue was that Azazel could no longer keep up with the workload.

Now, however, the situation had changed significantly.

With the addition of thirteen new bosses and a substantial expansion of the labyrinth itself, the overall efficiency of the dungeon had increased more than thirteenfold. What was once an overwhelming burden on a single Demon Lord had now become a shared responsibility, distributed across a broader, more organized structure.

The thirteen newly appointed Demon Kings—some of whom were still confused about how they ended up in their roles—endured their tasks with varying degrees of resignation and frustration. Yet despite their suffering, both the players and Evé were generally quite satisfied with the results. Even a certain "veteran employee" of the labyrinth, who had been forced into the job, seemed surprisingly content with the new arrangement.

Azazel, the Seventh Demon Lord, was especially relieved. After what felt like an eternity of being trapped in the exhausting cycle of daily battles against relentless elf invaders, he was finally free from that nightmarish routine.

In fact, under Evé's persistent "encouragement," Azazel had seemingly developed a touch of Stockholm syndrome. Not only had he stopped resisting, but he had also started to take a certain twisted pleasure in observing his subordinates struggle against the elves just as he once had.

The more brutal their defeats, the more delighted he became.

"Hmph, now you know how it feels like."

Evé had often caught the Demon Lord secretly observing the battles between the Demon Kings and the elves, occasionally letting out low, gleeful chuckles. It was as if he were venting centuries of pent-up resentment, finally finding satisfaction in watching others suffer as he once had.

All that was missing was for him to be lounging on a divine throne like Evé herself, legs crossed, calmly snacking while enjoying the spectacle unfold before him.

What surprised Evé even more was that, as the workload was gradually distributed among the new Demon Kings, Azazel's resistance to fighting the elves began to wane. The burden that had once pushed him to the brink was now manageable, and with the pressure lifted, his attitude began to shift.

At times, he even took the initiative to leap into the fray, taunting and provoking the elves with an energy that bordered on gleeful.

It was truly shameless, to say the least.

This was the very same Demon Lord who had once declared that he would rather perish than ever raise his blade against the elves ever again.

Clearly, everything depends on the circumstances.

And when it came to adapting, Azazel's flexibility was genuinely remarkable.

Once he accepted the reality that Evé had no intention of ever releasing him, and with the crushing pressure of constant high-intensity battles no longer bearing down on him, the Seventh Demon Lord simply came to terms with his new reality. Rather than continue resisting, he adjusted, shifting his mindset in order to survive—perhaps even to enjoy—the role he had been forced into.

In fact, he appeared to have returned to his old habits, once again finding a twisted sense of amusement in the ongoing conflict. He began to relish the struggle, taking delight in outwitting and outlasting the elves purely for his own satisfaction.

As long as someone else was suffering more than he was, he could find peace.

Pathetic.

Even so, looking at the bigger picture, Evé had little reason to complain. The situation had stabilized, operations were running smoothly, and overall, she was quite pleased with how things had turned out.

Between the Underground Shadow Dungeon, the Demon Lord's Labyrinth, and the Shattered Divine Kingdom, Evé had now secured multiple stable and long-term sources of divine power.

Added to this was the explosive rise of the Church of Life in the demi-realm of Ouros. With its rapid spread and growing reputation, it brought in a massive influx of new believers, giving Evé even more cause for satisfaction.

Unnoticed by most on the surface, millions of elven hybrid humans within Ouros had gradually been guided toward her faith. Through the tireless efforts of dedicated elven priests and priest-class players, who had been working to purify their bloodlines, these people came to revere Evé with sincerity and devotion, ultimately embracing her as their true goddess and willingly joining her growing congregation.

Now, when she looked at her status window, there were notable changes compared to before:

Name: Eve Yggdrasill

Race: World Tree (Ancient God)

Level: 150 (Mythical Rank)

Status: Intermediate Divine

Divinity: Nature, Life, Elvenkind

Titles: Goddess of Life, Mother of Nature, Sovereign of Elves

Divine Power: 17,103 / 30,000

Number of Believers: 2,695,000

- Saints: 1

- Zealots: 867

- Devout Followers: 194,000

- Casual Believers: 2.5 million

Type of Believers:

- Broodmother of Crypt Spiders: 1

- Dragons: 1

- Oak Guardians: 105

- Elemental Fairies: 10,000

- Elves: 10,100

- Half-Elves: 22,100

- Elf-Blooded Humans: 2.643 million

- Humans: 4,214

- Half-Orcs: 3,217

Abilities: Absorption, Communication, Blessing, Enlightenment, Healing, Summoning, Divine Descent, Divine Domain, Weather Control, Tracking…

Divine Artifacts: Scepter of Life, Crown of Nature, Withering Heart (Incomplete)

The most significant development was the dramatic rise in her number of believers. Since the restoration of the demirealm of Ouros, Evé's total number of followers there had grown by roughly one million, bringing the overall count to nearly 2.7 million.

The vast majority of these new believers were native inhabitants of the demirealm.

After witnessing Evé's divine miracle of repairing the cracks in the skies of Ouros, approximately 1.7 million residents had already embraced her faith, moved by gratitude. From that point forward, the continued growth to over 2 million was a natural result. Her influence spread steadily, carried by word of mouth and personal testimony, reaching new communities and planting the seeds of faith across the land.

Granted, the total population of Ouros was only a little over three million, which meant the current number of believers was already nearing the upper limit of what could be achieved within that demirealm.

To continue expanding her faith and strengthen her divine power, Evé would need to look beyond Ouros. This meant turning her gaze toward other demirealms, or perhaps taking a more direct approach within the wider territories of Seigües itself.

While Evé was certainly pleased with this achievement, she remained clear-headed and pragmatic.

The true value of believers was not determined by numbers alone. While quantity had its benefits, it was the quality of faith that ultimately made the greatest difference.

Devout believers, those who offered unwavering loyalty and sincere worship, contributed far more divine power than casual or shallow believers ever could.

Even more significant were those of exceptional origin—individuals bearing Silver or Gold bloodlines, or those who stood among the strongest within the mortal races. The faith offered by such beings possessed a depth and potency that ordinary sentient life could never hope to match, making them invaluable assets to any god seeking to rise in power.

Of course, that is not to say large numbers of believers are useless.

For instance, the Eternal Lord's followers were composed almost entirely of humans. Yet with over half of the human population devoted to His Highness Etriōu, the sheer scale of belief created a powerful surge in divine power. At that magnitude, the overwhelming quantity of faith began to transform into a force of higher quality, demonstrating how numbers alone could reshape the divine equation.

In addition, the immense human population continually produced a vast number of skilled and powerful individuals. These experts, through their strength and influence, further amplified the value of the faith in which they offered.

However, Evé was not in a position to adopt the same approach.

Environmental limitations and the specific conditions of the realms under her influence made it impossible for her to rely purely on numbers. Instead, she had to pursue a different path—one that emphasized quality over quantity.

From that perspective, aside from the newly added Elemental Fairies, what brought Evé the greatest sense of reassurance was the notable increase in her number of elven believers.

Much like the overall growth in her follower count, the population of elven and half-elven devotees had surged as well. While not as staggering as the total rise in faith across the demirealm of Ouros, the figures were still significant. The number of true elves had surpassed ten thousand, and the population of half-elves had grown even larger, now exceeding twenty thousand.

Naturally, the vast majority of these elves and half-elves were elf-blooded humans from Ouros who had undergone bloodline purification.

They originated from cultures that had been heavily influenced by ancient elven civilizations, and as a result, many of their customs, values, and traditions still mirrored those of true elves. Their speech, dress, and spiritual practices bore clear traces of their elven roots, making their transformation through bloodline purification feel more like a return than a departure.

The most notable difference, however, was their mindset.

Unlike the native elves of Seigües, who were often bound by rigid traditions and conservative thinking, these individuals lacked such inflexible habits. This flexibility was something Evé valued greatly, as it aligned with her long-standing intention to reshape and modernize Elvenkind by moving away from the stagnation of the old ways.

As a result, after undergoing the necessary training and passing the assessments of faith and conduct, most of these individuals—so long as their devotion was sincere—were able to pass the trials and be formally accepted as true members of the Elven race.

These newly purified-blood elves quickly became highly sought after by the players.

More specifically, these purified-blood elves quickly became the focus of fierce competition among the seven player-controlled cities.

By virtue of their purified lineage and spiritual transformation, they had automatically attained the status of devout believers. This placed them a class above ordinary followers, making them uniquely valuable within Evé's divine network.

Each devout elven believer of Evé was granted divine favor and unlocked a special ability known as the "Quest System." Through this, they gained the authority to issue tasks and quest to the Chosen Ones, functioning much like system-linked NPCs.

For the believers themselves, this was more than a mere functional role. It was a sacred gift and a symbol of divine recognition—a high honor bestowed only upon the most faithful.

For the players, however, these elven believers represented a strategic resource. As living, walking white-rank template NPCs, they had the potential to enrich a city's gameplay ecosystem dramatically. Naturally, the seven cities spared no effort in attracting them as residents, offering resources, housing, and influence in hopes of enhancing their local quest systems and drawing in even more Chosen Ones to their cause.

If, by rare chance, a fanatical believer from Ouros also succeeded in purifying their bloodline, they would become the center of even more intense competition among players.

Fanatical believers were equivalent to blue-rank NPCs within the game system, a tier far above ordinary followers. These individuals possessed the ability to issue quests with significantly greater rewards, making them highly valuable for both leveling and resource acquisition. Across the entire server, such NPCs were few and far between, and their appearance often caused a stir within the player community.

Naturally, any city fortunate enough to recruit one would gain a substantial advantage in both reputation and utility.

As for saints, there was still only one: Alice, since the Fairy King Feynir had already ascended to demigod status and was no longer counted among her believers.

Interestingly enough, the seven player-controlled cities gradually began using their NPC populations—especially the number of rare blue-rank NPCs—as a major selling point to attract new players and bolster their in-game communities.

And who could blame them?

Quests issued by NPCs not only offered generous rewards but also contributed to improving a player's favorability with the issuing character. The higher the favorability, the more reputation a player earned over time.

In Elven Kingdom, where a player's reputation level was directly linked to discounts at in-game stores, NPC favorability wasn't just a social feature—it had real economic value.

In other words, winning the goodwill of certain NPCs could literally save players money and resources, making them more efficient and competitive. For both veterans and newcomers alike, cities with more quest-giving and high-ranked NPCs quickly became highly desirable places to settle.

One particularly amusing and unexpected development was the ranking of cities in terms of their appeal to native elves.

Naturally, Greyhaven stood at the top of the list. As the capital of Heart of Nature, it was, as expected, filled with overly eager and flattering players who were clearly influenced by Li Mu's playstyle. The city's popularity among the elves made perfect sense, given how devoted its residents were to pleasing the native population.

What came as a real surprise, however, was the identity of the second most favored city among native elves. It was not Mountpeak City, even though it was managed by the cheerful and npc-friendly Moe Moe Committee. Nor was it Shangjing, a city celebrated for its unique and artistic architecture that had often been praised by its elven visitors.

Instead, it was Lordaeron, a city run by the Azeroth Alliance, which was a completely unexpected outcome. Lordaeron lacked the cultural polish and aesthetic refinement of its rivals, and it had never made any special effort to appeal to elven sensibilities. Yet, despite all odds, it still somehow rose in popularity and became a favored destination for native elves, quietly outpacing cities that were far more decorated and carefully designed.

While Evé privately found the guild's choice of name somewhat ominous, she decided not to interfere as the players were satisfied with it.

After all, even the All-Star Guild had named their city "Atlantis," a name famously associated with a doomed civilization swallowed by the sea. So if one were to talk about inauspicious names, that certainly qualified even more.

As for why Lordaeron had managed to become the second most appealing city to native elves, coming just after Greyhaven, the explanation was neither complicated nor mysterious.

The answer was simple and rooted in practicality.

Lordaeron happened to be situated relatively close to Kenorland. Thanks to its favorable location, elves who frequently returned to their homeland found the teleportation route to and from Lordaeron far more convenient than other cities.

Many elves did not simply remain in Seigües after arriving. On the contrary, quite a number of them frequently returned to visit Ouros.

After all, everyone has family and friends. Returning to their homeland after partaking in the bloodline purification was, in a way, a symbolic homecoming in glory.

What truly caught Evé off guard, however, was the unexpected surge in the number of her orc followers, along with an even more dramatic and rapid increase in human believers.

The rise in orc followers was, at least, something she could make sense of.

Following their defeat and surrender, the orcs had become subordinates of the elven faction—or, to be more precise, the players who represented it. And as it turned out, the players were even more zealous than the elves themselves when it came to ideological reformation. Through relentless outreach, indoctrination, and integration efforts, they managed to convert a growing number of orcs into believers, slowly aligning them with Evé's divine doctrine.

What left her genuinely puzzled, however, was the sudden appearance of several thousand human followers seemingly out of nowhere. Unlike the orcs, there had been no clear campaign or large-scale initiative directed at the human population. Yet, here they were, flocking to her faith in growing numbers. This unexplained phenomenon piqued Evé's curiosity and prompted her to look deeper into the source of this surprising development.

She was well aware that the Elven Resistance Group, known as Oakhand, included several human members among its ranks. Many of them had already embraced her faith, either through shared ideals or gratitude for her divine blessings.

However, Oakhand was still a relatively modest organization, primarily composed of elves and half-elves. Its human contingent, while loyal, was limited in number. Hence, there was simply no way it could explain the sudden emergence of over four thousand human believers.

Puzzled by the discrepancy, Evé decided to focus her divine perception more carefully on the matter. As she extended her awareness and sifted through the growing network of new believers, a curious sight gradually unfolded before her.

Her expression shifted—faint amusement mixed with disbelief—as she began to piece together the unexpected reason behind the sudden influx.

It turned out that the reason behind the influx was far less mysterious and far more… human than Evé had initially expected.

As it happened, the story dated back nearly two months ago.

After Evé absorbed the divinity of Uller, she acquired the power to manipulate weather phenomena. Wasting no time, she refined this ability into a set of divine spells, seamlessly integrating them into her Divinity of Nature.

With this new power, she could now influence weather across specific regions by expending a calculated amount of mana and divine energy.

It was, in a way, a fortunate accident.

Over the past two years, as the mana in Seigües gradually recovered, the climate across the realm began displaying unusual fluctuations, which in turn led to a series of natural disasters, especially in various human territories.

Among these, droughts became a widespread and persistent threat as the summer months approached.

Crops failed, rivers ran dry, and despair settled over many rural regions already struggling with limited resources. And it was amid this hardship that Evé's weather-controlling power would unexpectedly become a beacon of hope.

Just over a month ago, a member of Oakhand happened to pass through a drought-stricken human village. The land was cracked and dry, the crops withered to dust, and the villagers had long since lost hope. Moved by the sight of the suffering people and the lifeless fields around them, the Oakhand member decided to act.

Drawing upon the divine power granted to them by Evé, they cast a weather spell and summoned a raincloud, blessing the parched village with a gentle but steady shower.

Though the rainfall was brief and light, to the desperate villagers, it was nothing short of a miracle. For many, it was the first sign of hope they had seen in weeks.

Before departing, the priest revealed the name of the deity who had bestowed them such an ability.

In gratitude and reverence, the villagers began to worship her. Small shrines were built, prayers were offered, and in time, many among them formally embraced her faith.

Word of the miraculous rain spread quickly from one settlement to another. Soon, the name of the Goddess of Life began to circulate throughout the surrounding human territories, carried by rumors, gratitude, and wonder.

While Evé was surprised by this development, she also realized she had underestimated the true potential of the Weather Control ability she had gotten.

From a certain perspective, if used strategically, it was an incredibly effective tool for spreading her faith.

Of course, spreading her faith within the human lands was a delicate matter. The political and religious landscape of the human world was complex, and her growing presence would certainly not go unnoticed. The risk of provoking hostility was very real, especially given the territorial influence of a powerful rival.

The neighboring Holy Maniya Empire was a prime example.

The word "holy" in its name was not ceremonial. It signified its deep and established connection to the Eternal Lord, a major deity and Evé's ideological opponent. His stronghold lay at the heart of that empire, and his influence saturated every aspect of its society, from governance to religious dogma.

Therefore, spreading her faith too aggressively in such a place could very well trigger a divine conflict—one she was not yet certain she wanted to initiate.

Even so, this incident was enough to catch Eve's attention.

Naturally, she marked that small village and began monitoring it from time to time, considering it a potential asset for the future.

But returning to the present:

Despite the two months that had passed since then, Evé's total divine power had seen little significant growth.

At most, she had gained a few hundred additional points since her victory over Uller. It wasn't due to a decline in faith or a lack of believers—far from it.

In fact, with the ever-expanding number of devoted followers across various realms, the divine network she had established was more active than ever. The flow of belief pouring into her Divine Kingdom had reached staggering levels, akin to a great river of spiritual energy.

The true problem was not acquisition, but consumption.

Maintaining such a vast and intricate web of divine infrastructure required constant upkeep. Thus, much of the divine power she harvested was immediately redirected, either stored at key shrines housing her holy statues, or consumed by the very mechanisms of the faith network that allowed her influence to span across realms.

It was a delicate balance, almost like trying to fill a reservoir while water constantly leaked from unseen cracks. For all her gains, the upkeep was equally taxing.

In a sense, Evé had entered a stage of divine development where accumulating power was no longer just a matter of gathering faith, but also about managing and refining how that power was used.

Moreover, as time went on and more high-quality individuals emerged across her growing believers, the number of elf-blooded humans who met the criteria for bloodline purification steadily increased. These were individuals whose devotion made them prime candidates to become true elves.

So far, more than ten thousand individuals had been fully transformed into true elves, while over twenty thousand had become half-elves. Though she possessed the Crown of Nature and the Scepter of Life which significantly reduced the cost of such transformations, the cumulative expenditure was still staggering.

Each act of purification, while individually efficient, added up. The divine power required to alter bloodlines on such a massive scale was not something to be taken lightly.

And that was not all.

Prior to this, Evé had also invested a substantial amount of her strength in the creation of the fairy race, an entirely new branch of sentient beings crafted from her will and essence. As if that weren't enough, she had even molded a demigod from scratch to lead them, which was an act that drained much of her reserves.

Considering everything, the mere fact that she had managed not only to maintain her divine reserves but also to achieve steady growth was nothing short of a miracle.

Taken together, these grand undertakings represented not only milestones in her divine expansion, but also a heavy burden on her divine power reserves. Every step forward in her influence came with a price—and yet, Evé paid it willingly, knowing that these investments would yield even greater returns in time.

And so, with all this underway, two months passed swiftly.

At last, the day finally arrived for Eve to fulfill her obligation to journey forth to the Pantheon.

〘 PREVIOUS 〙

〘 NEXT 〙

— —