NOVEL WEB Chapter 179: Chapter 175
For the next few days, Ray and Freya travelled around Inazuma.
On the third day, they finally left the territory of the twins and entered another God's territory. They went around the villages at the outskirts while avoiding the bigger towns to stay away from the eyes of the god and his retainers that possessed power similar to gods although much inferior.
It's a surprise that there's actually neutral Gods who abstain from the bloody conflicts for the seat of Archon and are satisfied with simply protecting his people.
This particular God is a God of Fire, Smith, Craftsmanship and Commerce.
Although abstaining from the war, he is one of the major suppliers of weapons, military equipment and other goods to the other Divines of Inazuma.
It was precisely his importance which allowed him to maintain his neutrality and not be targeted by other Gods in their conquest.
His territory is located in the center region of the Inazuman archipelago. An island with a large port with heavy traffic of ships from all over Teyvat.
Having fled from the east-most island under the twin's control. Ray and Freya arrived at a small fishing village on the neighboring island to the west to gather information for their journey.
"Leaving Inazuma?"
An elderly village head of this fishing village strokes his beard while holding a wooden cane as he thinks of an answer for Ray.
"Your best bet would be finding a willing crew in the Taketsugu Port up north. It was a port town under the dominion of Lord Taketsugu, the God that ruled the upper half of this island." The village head said after a long thought.
"Thank you for the information." Ray offered a thankful gesture but the village head immediately bowed his head to refuse.
"Please, kind Lord. It's hardly anything to be thanked for especially after you help quelling the water demons that plagued our shore and preventing the villagers from going into the sea to catch fishes."
"If not because of getting scammed by those fraudulent ronins we hired. I could have offered monetary rewards. But now, our village has nothing else to offer but our sincere gratitude and prayers."
Ray quickly shook his hands at the offer and wanted to leave immediately as he started to grab a lot of attention.
He didn't help for money. He had plenty robbing the bandits along the way that tried to rob him especially because he looked like one of those rich lords that snuck out for an adventure due to his good looking clothes and Freya that decked out in expensive and exquisite armor and gears.
"It's alright… anyway. If you have a map, I would be grateful enough. If not, then I will get going." Ray said while looking at the sun which was halfway reaching its peak.
"Map? Ah, of course. I will order someone to make a copy immediately. Please wait for a bit, Lord." The elderly village head said before returning to his house looking too energetic for someone his age.
Ray and Freya have to wait for the map he copied. At the meantime, the villagers treated them like vips. Offering the best drinks and foods they could offer which is actually bad compared to what he tasted from the lunch with the twins. But he didn't really care or mind at all.
Almost an hour later, the village head returned with a bamboo slip usually reserved for archiving important information for this time period where paper is not widely available yet.
Receiving what he needed, Ray bid the village head and the villagers farewell before continuing his journey with the map as his guide.
It wasn't that he disagreed with Makoto's plan that decided to part ways with the twins. However, it was his lack of strength.
His battle with Fujin was a fluke. He overdrafted the Power of Destruction which caused Sirzech's soul went into a deep slumber and probably would take several centuries to recover
Ray is unsure of the state of the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles. Although he injured her severely. Five years have passed and she is in her home territory while Ray has to fumble around in unknown places without even being able to recover his strength. The most likely scenario is the Sustainer of Heavenly Principles had probably already fully recovered by now and possibly going to hunt him down soon.
In his current state, Ray has absolutely no confidence of winning and unlike before. He learned his lesson about proper mastery of his power.
His original plan is to lay low and slowly regain his strength. But, from the recent battle with Fujin. He learned that consuming another powerful being is the fastest way to recover his power and added with his recent experiment with faith, his plan changed significantly.
The concept of power through faith is a very common phenomena that existed even back in the DxD world with the cult that worship him. But because of how insignificant its gain was for him back then, Ray never placed any significant investments in it since as an Eldritch God, his power grew simply by living and aging.
But in his present state, the fervent worship of the few thousands soldiers back then when he fought Fujin and when he recently aided the fishing village had amounted to nearly half a year's worth of Divine Power.
Naturally, the more intense and sincere the worship, the higher the quality and quantity of Divine Power he will get.
With the present state of Teyvat where it was embroiled in its bloodiest era of conflict and bloodshed. Ray thought of a plan to take advantage of it and quickly regain and even increase his power.
But before he can put his plan into motion, he must go to The Land of Geo Element. The place where the bloodiest conflict took place at the present with the Divines on the land formed factions and waged war with one another while facing constant invasion of the Divines from the ocean and its minions that sought to carve out a territory for themselves.
He heard from the people he encountered that the only safe way to travel to another region from Inazuma is only through the merchant fleets that stopped at Taketsugu Port town to trade.
The merchants are the only one that knows the safe routes through the monster infested
sea.
"We must hurry, the village head says the merchants usually depart after a week."
Ray climbed up to Freya's shoulder as she picked up her speed and ran a straight line through the forest toward the port.
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