Chapter 597: Divine Spell – Believer Detection
The fishman youngster and Cang Xu had once discussed and estimated the likelihood of a clerical position promotion.
Their conclusion was: most likely sacred son, a small chance of Cardinal, and a minuscule possibility of Pope.
During his last prayer, the fishman youngster had already ascended to Archbishop, equivalent to Zhou Zhang.
To draw an analogy: an Archbishop was akin to a local noble or a powerful feudal lord. A Cardinal was an imperial high official, overseeing the daily operations of the church and able to command Archbishops across the lands to a certain extent.
The Pope was analogous to a king.
Yet, the outcome was...
"Divine emissary, acting in the name of the god, walking the world and exercising divine authority. How does this feel like a position even more powerful than the Pope?"
The fishman youngster muttered to himself.
“Regardless, I've finally obtained the divine spell, Divine Domain Descent!”
The fishman youngster's primary goal in advancing his clerical position was to acquire higher-level divine spells, enabling him to teleport away from the Ocean Mother Nest.
This time, instead of granting him promotion to gold level fighter, the divine blessing elevated his clerical position and bestowed numerous divine spells.
Foremost among them was the divine spell [Imbue Divine Might].
This passive divine spell had already been bestowed upon him during the prayer, imbued by a pillar of divine light.
With this divine spell, he could now wield a measure of divine might.
Divine spell - Divine Authority Execution.
This too was a passive divine spell.
Upon successful imbuement, the fishman youngster automatically received certain information.
He learned all the authorities of the Charming Blue Goddess. The primary authority was deception, the secondary was fishman, while the third and fourth were water and fishing, respectively.
The deception authority was already familiar to the fishman youngster.
The fishman authority was a classic racial divine authority. Simply caring for the fishman, ensuring the growth and prosperity of their race, and ideally becoming their primary deity of worship, would bring benefits to the Charming Blue Goddess.
The water divine authority primarily concerned the transformations of water elements. This was a specialized branch within the Water God's duties. Generally, aquatic lifeforms ascending to divinity almost invariably possessed this specialized authority.
The fishing authority, as the name implied, pertains to the harvest of fish. This was a subcategory of the harvest authority.
After receiving this divine spell, the fishman youngster would gain benefits whenever he engaged in deception, protected fishmen, facilitated changes in water elements, or fished.
But exactly how much? The youngster had no idea. Unlike last time, this divine blessing didn't grant him experience, leaving him on the novice stage, still quite clueless.
Divine spell - Divine Perception.
Still a passive divine spell, it granted the fishman youngster a special perceptual ability.
With its blessing, he could sense divine presences within a certain range. This perception became exceptionally potent when detecting divinity related to divine authorities.
Only through personal experimentation would the fishman youngster gain deeper understanding.
Divine spell - Divine Domain Descent.
This was an active divine spell.
Its effect invoked a portion of the Charming Blue Divine Domain to descend near the believer.
“The space within the Ocean Mother Nest is a fragment of the Charming Blue Divine Domain.”
This truth had been uncovered by Cang Xu through inquiries with Zhou Zhang, and the fishman youngster now knew it too.
“But how do I use this spell to get out?”
Further experimentation was needed.
Divine spell - Divine Artifact Mastery!
An active divine spell.
Its effect was powerful yet unadorned: mastery over divine artifacts.
Divine artifacts were not for just anyone to wield.
Forged using the power of deities, their effects were peerless, yet this very power made them difficult for others to control.
Only the deity itself could truly unleash the full potential of a divine artifact.
The Jade Gold Coffin wielded by the survivors and the Mermaid Fairy Tale were both divine artifacts.
Even a legend level alchemist of the War Merchant's caliber, straining every ounce of strength and ingenuity, could only unlock a fraction of the Mermaid Fairy Tale's true power.
The fishman youngster was eager to unleash this divine spell, hoping to touch upon the Mermaid Fairy Tale and see what he could gain.
Divine spell - Divine Script Mastery.
Magic runes were tools that harnessed magic power. By analogy, divine scripts were akin to runes that utilized the corresponding divine power.
Each deity was unique, and their divine power was equally singular, thus the divine script derived from them were all different.
Of course, similar divine script did exist. But no matter how alike they appeared, their essence remained fundamentally different.
This was a passive divine spell.
Upon its activation, the fishman youngster instantly mastered the Charming Blue divine script with extraordinary proficiency.
“Now, I can effortlessly decipher the Charming Blue divine script within the great magic formation surrounding the Ocean Mother Nest.”
Beyond these, there were divine spells like [Divine Blessing], [Divine Revelation], [Divine Oracle], [Divine Descent], and more.
The total exceeded twenty.
This wasn't the largest number of Charming Blue divine spells the fishman youngster had ever received, but he was certain it was the highest quality set he'd ever obtained!
After studying them for a moment, the fishman youngster focused his attention on two specific divine spells.
The first divine spell - Divine Power Channel.
It allowed the caster to forge temporary conduits between certain faith coordinates.
These faith coordinates could be believers, saint beasts, or even divine statues, altars, sanctuaries, temples, and the like.
The second divine spell - Believer Perception.
Believers of Charming Blue Goddess could be sensed by the caster.
“First use the divine spell [Believer Perception], then employ [Divine Power Channel] to forge a temporary conduit. Finally, utilize spells like [Divine Blessing], [Divine Revelation], or [Divine Oracle] to bestow blessings upon the faithful.”
During his analysis, the fishman youngster realized he could seemingly impersonate Charming Blue Goddess to grant divine blessings to other believers of Charming Blue Goddess.
Theoretically, it was entirely feasible.
The fishman youngster began experimenting with divine spells.
As a divine emissary, his clerical position surpassed even that of the Pope in certain respects.
Thus, he possessed the authority to freely wield all Charming Blue divine spells he had mastered.
The youngster resolved to proceed from simplest to most complex, testing every divine spell in turn.
The easiest was Believer Perception.
After casting the divine spell, the divine power within the fishman youngster began to deplete.
His spiritual energy underwent an instantaneous transformation, radiating outward from his body like lightning. Its speed was astonishingly fast, like light itself. In the next moment, it had spread to a distance beyond the youngster's estimation.
Expanding, ceaselessly expanding.
The fishman youngster's perception seemed boundless, its scope terrifyingly vast.
"Maintaining the divine spell consumes less divine power. Though my mental energy undergoes a qualitative change under the technique, I can feel it draining rapidly. Overall, I can sustain this for about twenty minutes."
This was a unique dimension of perception.
Immersed in this perception, the fishman youngster felt as though he stood within a vast, dark void.
The size of this space expanded ceaselessly with his mental energy, spreading outward in all directions.
Within this dark expanse, every Charming Blue believer radiated a faint glow.
Some emitted a negligible flicker, others a white light akin to candles, while a few shone as brightly as alchemy lamps.
The area closest to the fishman youngster was empty. Beyond that, however, lay a vast expanse dotted with countless points of light, densely packed.
“I am now within the Ocean Mother Nest. Beyond the nest lies the army of Charming Blue believers. These points of light represent them.”
Among all this radiance, one light stood out most prominently, bright as a bulb.
That was Zhou Zhang.
The Charming Blue Archbishop!
The fishman youngster's focus sharpened on this point, his perception suddenly becoming tenfold clearer.
He could even sense that Zhou Zhang was handling affairs, listening to subordinates' reports. He could perceive the voices of those reporting, including mention of Cang Xu. They said that after returning to the gathering place, Cang Xu had rushed to Jian Gui's quarters, where he performed divine magic to guide Qi Ling's faith.
Using divine magic for the first time, the fishman youngster felt uncertain and dared not act rashly, fearing Zhou Zhang might detect his persistent observation.
He cautiously withdrew his attention. The next moment, he felt as though he had returned to that previous dark space.
He selected other points of light and continued his observation.
After a short while, the fishman youngster gained considerable insight.
“After focusing my attention, I can perceive the believers' actions at that moment and ‘hear’ their conversations.”
"Building on that, by concentrating further, I can sense the believers' psychological states. Not necessarily their inner thoughts, but mostly their moods and feelings."
"Concentrating even deeper allows me to perceive the deeper information within the believers. This information isn't actively revealed, yet I can still sense it. Primarily the believer's name, identity, attributes, transcendent level, their current vital signs, transcendent status, faith level, and so on."
“How marvelous.”
“Is this the perspective of a deity?”
He concentrated his attention once more, but nothing changed.
After observing more samples, the fishman youngster discovered three patterns.
"First, concentrating on extracting information intensifies the consumption of divine power and mental energy. "
"Second, when probing information about fishman believers, one can perceive their bloodline details. But examining octopusmen, sea elves, and others reveals no such data. Could this be tied to the Fishman God authority?"
"Third, the radiance emitted by believers results from multiple factors, not solely faith intensity. Some fanatical believers with weak transcendent strength emit only a faint white glow. Yet a saint level Archbishop like Zhou Zhang, whose faith level is merely pious, shines as brightly as a light bulb."
After gaining proficiency, the fishman youngster felt confident and observed Zhou Zhang again.
Zhou Zhang remained completely unaware.
The fishman youngster made an intriguing discovery—the mighty Archbishop's faith level was merely pious!
But he quickly understood.
“Above piousness lies fanaticism.”
"Fanatics possess unwavering faith, driven to reckless devotion. If the god commands death, they would commit suicide instantly, without hesitation."
“This is a complete loss of reason.”
“And should anyone slight the deity, fanatics often transform into violent mobs, seeking vengeance and retribution at all costs.”
“They're essentially potential criminals!”
“How could a fanatic possibly serve as Archbishop, handling daily affairs, representing the Charming Blue Church in dealings with other forces?”
“A fanatic as Archbishop would be a catastrophe for the Charming Blue Church.”
Thus, pious level faith was precisely the right balance.
Of course, above fanaticism was sainthood.
Believers at this level possess both fervent devotion and sound reason, the most valuable treasures among the faithful.
“However, if Zhou Zhang were sainthood level, coupled with her saint level power, she would never settle for a mere Archbishop position.”
After becoming a divine emissary, the position of Archbishop seemed nothing more than “mere” to the fishman youngster.