The majestic presence of the Dragon once again made the believers kneel in unison, and the Faith Power within them surged even stronger, yet Truth still could not gather it.
In the eyes of the believers, the Ninth Saintess had only just displayed a power capable of ruling the entire Deya Plateau, but what exactly she intended to do with that power remained unknown to them.
“This has to be the strongest among all the Saintesses, right? She actually summoned a Seventh Rank Fire Dragon…”
The crowd’s interest in the Ninth Saintess surpassed that for all the previous Saintesses combined.
They all wanted to know what she planned to do with this power and began boldly speculating.
But Truth stepped forward slightly, interrupting all their guesses.
After the Fire Dragon’s roar subsided, Truth secretly crushed an Echo Stone behind her back.
Her delicate yet resolute voice echoed into every believer’s mind:
“I will bring prosperity and flourishing to the Deya Plateau!”
Thanks to the Echo Stone, Truth’s words resounded across the entire Deya Plateau.
The surging waves of sound even echoed back after hitting the northern mountains…
As expected, like the other Saintesses, she had to paint a big dream for these believers.
Truth exhaled deeply after finishing her proclamation.
Well, now that the intimidation was done and the dream was set, surely some Faith Power would be unleashed?
Just as the word “flourishing” faded away, over ninety thousand believers erupted in ecstatic cheers, and pure white Faith Power began to surge from them!
“Did you hear that? The Saintess said she will lead us to prosperity and flourishing!”
“This is great! I knew there was a reason they chose such a powerful Saintess this time. She’s really here to resolve the conflicts in our borderlands!”
“She looks fragile on the outside, but her ambition is so grand. Could Deya City become the next Water Marsh City?”
“Saintess, please bring prosperity and flourishing to our homeland!”…
After the Eighth Saintess brought prosperity to the Southern Marshes, the Ninth Saintess would bring prosperity and flourishing to the Deya Plateau as well.
Watching countless Faith Power continuously replenishing half of the Miracle of the Goddess of Life, Truth was slightly surprised.
Well, well, who would have thought Aisia’s method would be so effective.
She didn’t know what the believers were thinking now, but as long as Faith Power was being generated, nothing else mattered.
As for the grand promises she made… well, that didn’t really matter.
Alright, it was time to cash in on her appearance fee.
After all, she had worn a long dress for display today—rounding up, that counted as selling some charm, so her fee had to be high!
After confirming that the Goddess of Life was not paying attention to her, Truth’s gaze shifted back to the increasingly solidifying entrance of the Divine Domain.
The Faith Power was not directly flowing to the Goddess of Life but had to complete the Miracle’s casting progress first, which gave Truth an opportunity to act!
She lightly reached out toward the Divine Realm Entrance.
At that moment, a flicker of red passed through her eyes.
The entrance, which should have fully materialized within half a minute, suddenly slowed down.
With her second-tier constitution still below standard, Truth was unable to absorb all the Faith Power from over ninety thousand believers.
So the Goddess of Life intended to complete the Divine Realm Entrance before allowing the Faith Power to flow inside for absorption.
Truth then began to intercept most of the Faith Power originally meant to fill the Miracle.
In just a few seconds, her Faith Points soared from the hundreds into the thousands.
Moments later, the thousands became tens of thousands.
Her Faith Points had reached the “ten-thousands” unit!
“I… am… surpassing…”
Unable to believe her eyes, Truth stared blankly at her Faith Points.
No one had told her that the Miracle ritual could be such a lucrative source. She almost didn’t bother coming today!
While the fusion progress of the Authority was still under fifteen percent, her Faith Points had already reached the mid-to-late stage…
And this was only with her intercepting half the Faith Power.
If she managed to absorb it all, she could break one hundred thousand in no time. But doing so would certainly anger the Goddess of Life.
So she decided to take less—about thirty percent… No, that seemed a bit too much.
How could she suffer losses herself? Fifty percent then.
If the Goddess of Life got suspicious, she’d just blame it on the local people losing respect, it was the believers’ fault.
“Roar…”
At that moment, the Fire Dragon that had been quietly waiting beside her nudged Truth’s shoulder with its snout.
While absorbing Faith Power, Truth turned to it.
“What is it?”
This Mother Dragon had played a significant role today. She reluctantly decided to listen to what it wanted.
In fact, the Fire Dragon had been searching for Truth for days but hadn’t seen her in Deya City, nor dared to venture into the mist for fear of another beating.
Though Dragons usually upheld their pride to the death and would never yield, there were exceptions.
What if a Dragon found something more important than its pride?
Since laying her first clutch of Dragon Eggs and becoming a mother, the Fire Dragon’s temperament had softened.
Now, she no longer dared to rampage across the Deya Plateau like before, fearing some vengeful creature might come and smash her eggs.
Her last rage was triggered by an egg theft. Fortunately, the eggs were recovered intact, but it had drawn the ire of a very powerful being.
And that being was her neighbor…
The neighbor insisted she compensate for his losses, but after searching the valley, the Fire Dragon found no treasure of great value.
She wasn’t a Silver Dragon; she never collected precious items.
If she had anything valuable… the Fire Dragon glanced at the several healthy Dragon Eggs in her nest.
A flicker of reluctance and determination crossed her eyes…
On the Twelve Colored Long Steps, the Fire Dragon opened her foul-smelling jaws before Truth and raised her rough tongue, revealing a milky white Dragon Egg the size of a jackfruit.
At the Dragon’s gesture, Truth, puzzled, accepted the Dragon Egg:
“Hm?”
What was this? A guardian entrusted?
The Fire Dragon offered one of her Dragon Eggs as compensation, letting out a mournful cry.
But for the safety of herself and her other children, she had no choice but to part with it reluctantly.
She feared Truth might destroy her old lair. The value of the Dragon Egg should offset Truth’s losses, so the Fire Dragon was forced to make this heartbreaking decision.
“Look, look! The Fire Dragon is making a move again!” The believers raised their monoculars to watch Truth and the Dragon, witnessing a scene only found in storybooks:
“No way, I’m not seeing things, right? The Fire Dragon is handing over her Dragon Egg to the Ninth Saintess?!”
“For a Dragon to voluntarily give its Dragon Egg… so the stories about the Initial Hero were true! If a Dragon clan recognizes someone, they will gift their strongest offspring to them!”
The tales of Heroes slaying Dragons were always a favorite topic, so every generation of Heroes killed some Dragons to spread their fame.
But no matter how strong later Heroes were, only the Initial Hero had ever been recognized by the Dragons. Nobody knew how he managed it.
But Truth knew—because she had witnessed that scene.
When Initial Hero Aze reached the Sanctuary of Dragons in the Kolado Mountains with players’ help, he met the Dragon Mother Holatrix.
After some close adventures, Aze won Holatrix’s favor.
Later, strengthened by true love, Holatrix defied the entire clan and bestowed the Mark of the Dragon upon Dragon Knight Aze.
He then continued on his path to slay the Demon King.
As for entrusting the strongest offspring, it was because Holatrix lost a divorce trial at the Dragon Court and her daughter was awarded to Aze.
“So, the Ninth Saintess is someone recognized by the Dragon clan? As far as I know, only the Initial Hero has ever achieved that. Could she have done the same as him?”
“And look at how gently the Saintess cradles the Dragon Egg—she’s the embodiment of all that’s pure, kind, and beautiful!”…
At this moment, Truth held the Dragon Egg awkwardly in her arms. She had no idea what the Mother Dragon was thinking.
Was it immediately entrusting her offspring after recognizing her strength, hoping its descendants could ride on her power?
“Also, why does the Faith Power generated by the believers increase after I hold the Dragon Egg?”
So Truth hugged the Dragon Egg tighter. She didn’t understand but showed respect.
Truth’s current appearance perfectly matched the believers’ stereotypical image of a Saintess—pure, kind, and compassionate.
No matter how powerful she was, she was still their beloved Saintess!
“Boom!”
With a slight tremor on the Twelve Colored Long Steps, the Divine Realm Entrance finally gathered enough Faith Power to complete materialization.
The pale golden gate slowly opened before Truth, and all the Faith Power was immediately absorbed, denying her any chance to siphon it.
A soothing, prolonged voice then sounded, and Truth felt the Goddess of Life inviting her to enter Her Divine Domain.