Chapter 380: Faith Network

Owen had never dealt with faith before. It was these that had been acting on his behalf all along. Otherwise, even with the system, under the immense pressure of faith, he would have gone mad if not stupid.

However, this method was too scattered and couldn’t play a significant role. What Owen needed to do now was to integrate these and build a complete faith network, like a magic web, that could respond to the prayers of believers and utilize the power of faith to protect millions of believers to the fullest extent.

This sounded like a massive project. Even though Owen already had all the necessary conditions, it was still not easy to implement and improve it.

First, Owen ordered the expansion of the temples on the original basis. Because the temple was the abode of God, only the temple could become an important node of the faith network. At the same time, having temples go to the countryside and integrate with ordinary people would also make it easier to gather more faith.

Building temples was not a problem for the territory. Sufficient manpower allowed the temples in various places to change every day. The main problem was the replenishment of missionaries.

Fortunately, monks, as preachers, were one of the unit types in Age of Empires and could also be transferred from civilians. It only took some time to quickly replenish them.

Actually, the number of monks in the territory was not small. Because monks were knowledgeable and possessed certain mystical powers, after learning, they could master art, construction, technology, medical treatment, potions, magic spells, and other abilities. They were quite versatile. Therefore, a group could be directly deployed, and the territory would quickly replenish the missing positions.

In contrast, priests, as the core of faith dissemination, were a bit troublesome. Because priests were a fifth-tier unit type in Heroes of Might and Magic, Owen could only exchange for unit buildings of the first to fourth tiers. Unit types above the fourth tier could only be obtained through exchange.

Although Owen’s progress value recovery speed was now faster, he still felt it was not enough.

Firstly, he needed to exchange knowledge and items from the system for the territory’s research. Secondly, temples in various places needed to exchange for holy relics as the core of faith gathering. So Owen’s head started to ache again.

Fortunately, the current situation was still relatively stable, and Owen had the time and energy to improve the territory’s faith system.

The Grand Cathedral of Divine Light in North City had been expanding for thirty years. It was the largest temple in the entire territory, and today it was decorated with solemnity and grandeur. Groups of priests, accompanied by monks and Templar Knights, escorted the holy relics to temples in various places. Next, they would be stationed there as guardians of the holy relics and disseminators of faith.

As the holy relics were put in place, the priests, accompanied by monks, held large-scale sacrificial ceremonies in the local area, gathering the faith of the surrounding people on the holy relics, and then the holy relics transmitted the faith to the five holy relics that were inherited from the same origin.

Staying in the Grand Cathedral of Divine Light, Owen could sense the power of faith coming from all over the territory converging here and trying to integrate into his body, but he rejected it. As a mortal, he simply couldn’t bear the power of faith.

When Owen put on the five pieces of holy armament, the power of faith gathered in the Grand Cathedral of Divine Light seemed to have found its source and poured into the five holy relics like a river flowing backward. Then Owen opened the Domain and imported the endless power of faith into it, handing it over to the Golden Tree for processing.

The faith generated by millions of believers fell into the Domain like a storm. It seemed that a terrible storm was about to form, but the Golden Tree stretched out its roots and branches and leaves to transform into a giant tree that covered the sky and the sun, withstanding all the wind and rain. Then, with itself as the core, it transformed the vast power of faith. At the same time, with the roots as the loom and the law as the pattern, it wove the thread of faith with the imprint, passed through the Domain, spread to the territory, connected the temples in various places of the territory, and then wove a net with this as the node, and finally enveloped the entire territory, forming a unique domain of faith.

Because it was newly created, the faith network would definitely have some omissions, but the effect was significant.

Firstly, the monks and priests, as shepherds, mastered the power of the mind and the divine arts of faith bestowed by the Golden Tree. Then, the domain of faith expanded from the temples in various places could enhance the resistance of believers within the range to abnormalities, especially these shepherds, who directly had the ability to annihilate evil under the blessing of faith.

From now on, whether undead, demons, or Fel, it would be difficult for them to invade the territory under the protection of the shepherds, let alone cause damage.

However, this was only temporary. Owen could come up with ways to create a faith network and domain, and evil forces would also try their best to find loopholes. So he could rest assured, but he couldn’t take it lightly.

Owen, who had a clear understanding of this, did not stop but continued to improve the territory’s faith system, such as the Grand Cathedral of Divine Light as the core.

As the first and largest temple in the territory, it enshrined the five holy relics and Owen’s most complete statue. It was also the core of the entire territory’s faith network, and its importance was no less than the core of politics and military, that is, the Town Center.

The Grand Cathedral of Divine Light was so important that ordinary priests were naturally not enough to preside over it. Therefore, Owen ingeniously fused the holy relics with the priests to create a special profession: bishop.

Because they were fused with the holy relics and had Owen’s permission, bishops could directly mobilize the power of the five holy relics and release power beyond the legendary level.

In a sense, bishops were no different from the incarnations of gods on earth, or living saints. Therefore, the conditions for their formation were naturally very harsh. The priests who had just been exchanged could not bear the powerful power of faith that Owen instilled. Only the ten priests initially rewarded by the system could be promoted to bishops after decades of faith and tempering.

That being said, it was enough. After all, every conversion of a bishop required a lot of faith. Even with thirty years of accumulation, Owen did not dare to squander faith at will.

However, it was a waste to promote all ten priests to bishops. It was not that bishops were not good, but because the abilities of bishops were more inclined to priests, suitable for holding ceremonies and developing faith, rather than fighting.

But which priest in Heroes of Might and Magic didn’t dare to fight demons with a mace? It was obviously a waste for them all to be civilian officials. Therefore, after some deliberation, Owen only promoted five bishops, and the remaining five were promoted to inquisitors, and the Inquisition was established.

In Owen’s vision, the Inquisition was mainly aimed at the purification of heretics and evil, so it had to be given more targeted power.

Bishops could borrow the power of the five holy relics, and inquisitors of the same rank could not be worse. After some deliberation, Owen took the Godslayer Greatsword as the core, integrated his own Demon Lord power into it, and created a magic sword whose lethality was even higher than that of the five holy relics. He inserted it into the root of the Golden Tree and allowed the inquisitors to borrow the power of this magic sword.

In addition, Owen also mobilized a group of elite guards and witch hunters to join the Inquisition, becoming the first batch of divine punishment warriors and witch-hunting nuns. At the same time, he asked the Inquisition to train a group of judges as evil hunters in the territory.