Cthulhu Gonfalon

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Because of the increase in the God of Knowledge's priesthood, the number of followers increased rapidly. In particular, those who used to follow the God of Classics and the God of Scholar had accepted Wall's belief without much resistance, and they became his devout followers.

There were two reasons for this: one, they needed a belief. Wall's priesthood and his accomplishments were well-suited to these scholars and bookworms to follow. Two, they were people with relatively high cultural standards. Regardless of how devoted they could be, it was unlikely that they would become fanatics. Madly believing and ignorance were two sides of a coin, the proportion of crazy fanatics would be smaller within a more open-minded crowd, so they could accept the fact that a god had died and there was a change in the priesthood.

Just like those films that depicted life in the real, unprotected world, where the old and experienced would not refuse to acknowledge the change to a new mogul—especially if this new head was nice and had nothing to do with the death of his predecessor…

Oh right, after obtaining his new priesthoods, the God of Knowledge also had a change in name. Now, he was officially known as the "God of Knowledge and Culture." The former included the acquisition, preservation, and dissemination of knowledge; the latter included the research, preservation, and promotion of culture. Of course, he could further split his priesthood into several subdivisions or even promote a few of his followers to partake in these priesthoods.

According to the calculations by the experienced and knowledgeable God of Justice and God of Pleasure, if there were enough time, with just the present priesthood alone, Wall could already step up to the level of great Divine Power.

Probably… accumulating for a thousand years would do. One thousand years to gods with immortality was really nothing much at all.

"From being sealed as a god to becoming a great Divine Power, it took me more than 2000 years. To the other gods, this was considered extremely fast. And yet, you only took half that time…" said Yorgaardman, the God of Justice. He seemed to be quite affected as he continued to say, "The younger generation sure does surpass their elders!"

"There are also many gods who have spent a few thousand years or even tens of thousands of years, but they have not been able to step up to the level of a great Divine Power," lamented Javier, the God of Pleasure.

As for Morani, who had not been able to step up to the level of great Divine Power after a few thousand years, he was already at a loss for words.

Right, there was also Ariel, his predecessor, as well as the former Goddess of the Ocean, Vorpocus, who were examples of gods who had not been able to step up to the level of great Divine Power after tens of thousands of years either.

In fact, the God of Law and the Goddess of Wealth were also regarded as examples. However, they had now stepped up to become great Divine Powers, and at least they would not lose their dignity before the younger generation.

"Taking a thousand years to become a great Divine Power is in fact, not considered great at all," said Wall with a smile. "His Majesty only took a few decades to step up to this level; that is truly remarkable!"

The moment he said so, everyone immediately cast their sights over to Sui Xiong.

The God of Justice pouted and then said helplessly, "We can't compare ourselves to him, if we did so, everyone here would be extremely angry…"

Everyone laughed at the God of Justice's comment.

It had only been around 50 years since Sui Xiong's first appearance in this world, yet he was already recognized as one of the great Divine Powers. Not only that, but he was also one of the candidates qualified to vie for the title of "strongest" amongst all the great Divine Powers. This pace of progress was simply beyond belief, and there had not been a second one like him seen through the ages.

Not only that, he had always been helping and promoting other gods. With his help, there were two gods who had stepped up to the level of great Divine Power, and two others who were newly sealed as gods. Furthermore, there were two who had been reborn and several others who had greatly enhanced their strength with his help. There was now a famous rumor among the gods, that if one became friends with the Void Mask, most likely it would mean that one's divinity could increase by a notch, and that was more real than a true god.

In this regard, Sui Xiong could only say… Friends, we need to believe in science. Don't be so superstitious!

"In this current war of missionary work, I'm almost about to win," said Wall with a smile. "The problem is, how should I wrap things up? What do you all suggest?"

Upon hearing his question, the gods all started to ponder.

Just like how he said, because he had obtained new priesthoods and inherited the followers of the God of Classics and the God of Scholars, he had gained a decisive advantage in this battle of missionary work against the God of Aristocracy. If this was an intense competition where both sides started out as equals, then from this moment on, the competition had progressed into a period of garbage time. Unless the God of Aristocracy could come up with a truly massive piece of news to throw out or do something that was earth-shattering, there was no way anyone could see how he had any other means to turn the tables.

Among the fallen gods from the Mystery God System, the priesthood of the God of Spellcaster had no successor for the time being—it was said that the Human God System was going to introduce a God of Mages, but until now, no one turned up; the successor to the God of Classics and the God of Scholar was Wall. Just from a perspective on the change of priesthood, it was apparent that Wall had a great advantage.

After he took over those two priesthoods, many scholars and mages who were originally inclined towards the God of Aristocracy had shown a change in attitude—belief was hard to fake. Even if they had been tempted by the benefits that the Church of the God of Aristocracy had offered them, what they actually believed in persisted on, and the principles of life they held onto… these were difficult to change.

Moreover, the benefits that the God of Aristocracy could give, the God of Knowledge—now known as the God of Knowledge and Culture—could give too. But the benefits that the God of Knowledge could give, the God of Aristocracy might not be able to do likewise.

If the total number of followers from both sides that were up for grabs was originally 100, where each had 30, and both were still fighting over the remaining 40, then now, the ratio was almost 60 and 20. Among the remaining 20, there were many who were inclined towards Wall's side.

So just like what Wall said, now was not the time to think about how they should win, but how they should wrap things up.

Wall did not want an estranged relationship with the God of Aristocracy to the point of a fierce struggle, nor did he want to trigger a war between the two God Systems. But he was also reluctant to give up on the subsequent missionary work—70 to 30 and 60 to 40 were both victories, but the effect both had were completely different. The former should be able to effectively fend off the impact from the great Divine Power of the God of Aristocracy, while the latter might not necessarily be able to do so.

As such, the "end" would indeed become a difficult problem.

Especially with the higher-ups of both churches still fighting one another, where they had already been fighting for more than half a month but were still fighting even now. How could they put an end to this fight? This proved to be quite a headache.

The truth be said, both sides had incurred great losses. The Church of the God of Knowledge lost all its Holy Sons and Holy Daughters. The Church of the God of Aristocracy lost three of its most loyal and reliable Legendary Masters, among which, there was also the church's Archbishop.

Under such a situation, it was not easy trying to get them to cease fighting, even for the gods.

After all, devoutness and fanaticism were two very different things. No matter how devout the followers were, they had their own interests and emotions. Especially these higher-ups of the churches—even the gods could not completely feign ignorance to their notions.

Maybe the God of Aristocracy could, but Wall was totally incapable of such a thing.

After a long discussion, the mass finally decided to heed Sui Xiong's opinion. Let them continue fighting, and when they reached the point of exhaustion, naturally, they would stop. This was not really a good idea, but under the current circumstances, it was the most reliable approach.

As for the issue of missionary work, since the higher-ups of both churches were still fighting, then it would be better if the gods from both sides continued to preach on their own.

"Somehow, I still feel as though we have not done anything…" said Wall with frustration.

"Being able to get things to develop in the right direction without doing anything, now that is what I call capability!" said Sui Xiong as he laughed aloud.