【 THE REALM OF MINDEL AND THE CHURCH OF THE ALL-DIVINE MOTHER 】

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If there was a single method in the world of Seigües that could most effectively obtain information, it would undoubtedly be soul magic which could read a person’s memories.

For Evé, who governs over the laws of life, this was likewise a field in which she very much excelled in.

As Eve cast her spell, the soul of the murloc leader trembled slightly, and an immense torrent of memories surged into her consciousness.

Amidst a hazy blur, she saw clusters of cavern settlements scattered across the shallow seabed. She saw storm murlocs ceaselessly praying before statues of Leviathan, and witnessed murlocs and sea monsters launching assaults upon the coastal world under the command of the Church of Ocean and Storms.

Naturally, she also uncovered information related to the shadow elves.

Through the murloc leader’s memories, Evé saw cities rising across the land. She observed the shadow elves, who had fought ceaselessly against the murlocs and other sea monsters for nearly a thousand years, as well as other sentient local races of this world.

As these scenes unfolded and the information continued to play within her mind, Evé gradually formed a preliminary understanding of this sealed realm.

This was a world known as Mindel Realm, wherein ninety percent of its expanse was covered by water. Only at the center of the world did a vast continental island exist, inhabited by various sentient land-dwelling races.

The oceans were a paradise for the storm murlocs.

They were the most populous race in this world and worshipped Leviathan, the God of Ocean and Storms as their Patron Deity.

Within the murlocs’ understanding, this sealed realm constituted the entirety of existence. They did not believe that a greater universe lay beyond it.

Moreover, in the faith of the murloc leader, Leviathan was the only true god in existence.

Not only that, but their worldview lacked even the concept of moral alignment. Demons, regarded as embodiments of evil by most beings living in the Seigües universe, were instead seen by the murlocs as divine emissaries of their patron god.

Cruelty and bloodlust permeated their very nature.

Traits commonly associated with demons were equally present among the oceanic creatures of this world.

For the past millennium, marine and land-dwelling beings had been locked in intermittent warfare, competing for control over coastal regions.

As amphibious beings, the storm murlocs harbored an even greater desire to claim the fertile lands.

This was because, despite oceans covering ninety percent of this world, they were comparatively barren when measured against the richness of the land.

However, aside from destroying certain coastal cities, the oceanic forces had never succeeded in defeating the land-dwelling races inhabiting the land.

As such, the war between the two sides had continued, on and off, for a thousand years.

It is worth noting that, in a world where oceanic life held an overwhelming numerical advantage, the survival of the land-dwelling races to this day was due to the leadership of the shadow elves.

From the murlocs’ memories, the land-dwelling races of this realm included elves, half-elves, humans, lizardfolk, and halflings.

They were the common enemies of all oceanic beings.

And among all land-based intelligent races, the elves were the fewest in number.

Yet they stood as the leaders of all land-dwelling races and served as the principal members of the Church of the All-Divine Mother.

The Church of the All-Divine Mother…

Within the murlocs’ memories, it was the greatest power on land.

Unlike the oceanic beings, the land-dwelling races of this world did not worship Leviathan. Instead, they revered a divine world tree, known among the elves as their Matriarch Yggdrasill—The All-Divine Mother

And all intelligent life which inhabit the land were followers of the World Tree.

༺⟐༻

When Evé opened her eyes once more, a trace of surprise flickered within them.

Although the elven-style church she had seen in the village had already led her to suspect that the elves of this world had developed considerable influence, the truths she gleamed from the murloc leader’s memories still astonished her.

The All-Divine Mother…

There could not possibly be a second entity bearing that divine title within this universe.

In the past, it had belonged to her predecessor.

But this lofty title, now belongs to her.

At this moment, Evé also began to form a faint conjecture regarding the method in which shadow elves had chosen to revive the World Tree.

They had likely opted to directly call for the revival of the World Tree through the power of faith, even spreading her divine title amongst all their members.

The Church of the All-Divine Mother was likely a newly established institution, built upon the foundation of the Church of Nature for the sole purpose of reviving the World Tree.

Evé did not know how many believers the Shadowshade Clan had cultivated within this sealed world. After all, this was primarily an oceanic world. Yet, if they were capable of contending with the local oceanic forces, their numbers could not possibly be small.

Although her power was suppressed and she could not directly determine the size of the world as she once had in the Demirealm of Ouros, as a fully formed world, the scale was undoubtedly no smaller.

After completely reading the Murloc’s memories, Eve’s emotions remained unsettled for a long time.

If her judgment was correct, this realm could very well become another source of faith for her.

That is, provided she accepted the Church of the Divine Mother and established a connection with the faith of those land-dwelling inhabitants.

With this thought in mind, Evé turned her gaze toward the corpses within the church courtyard.

They, including the humans in the village beyond, were all believers of the All-Divine Mother.

Evé let out a soft sigh and gently raised her hand.

Golden motes of light rose slowly into the air, drifting across the village like dreamlike butterflies of radiance.

They illuminated each dead bodies, which gradually began to emit light themselves, before eventually dissolving into the same luminous particles and fading away.

“Rest in peace, my faithful believers…”

Evé murmured softly.

This was a soul-requiem divine spell cast personally by a true god, capable of purifying bodies and guiding wandering spirits from the mortal world to their destined divine kingdoms or the Netherworld.

Of course, it could also conveniently be used to read their memories.

However, after Evé cast the divine spell, aside from the purification of the corpses within the village, the souls she had expected to drift toward her did not appear.

Only then did Evé suddenly realize that the souls of the deceased villagers, as well as those of the half-elves within the church, had already vanished.

Upon noticing this, her expression grew slightly solemn.

This sealed world seemed to hold some form of mysterious power over souls.

If her judgment was correct, after death, the souls of beings in this world would find it extremely difficult to return to the Netherworld.

Even if they did return, it would take several days before a soul weakened enough to be drawn by the forces of the Netherworld.

Thus, for the souls to have disappeared within just the span of a single day, only two possibilities remained.

Either they had returned to the Divine Kingdom of their patron god…

—or they had been devoured.

However, for beings below the legendary-rank, the act of devouring souls would inevitably leave behind some traces.

Yet so far she hadn’t detected any kind of such traces.

Therefore, only one conclusion remained.

These villagers, after death, had returned to a divine kingdom.

But their Patron Deity is the All-Divine Mother.

In other words, the one they worshipped was also Evé herself.

And yet, Evé had not previously established any connection with the faith of this world, nor had she received any unfamiliar souls within the Garden of Eden.

So… where had their souls gone to?

Souls that return to their respective Patron Deity must ultimately have a destination.

Then who’s divine kingdom, exactly, had received them?

With this thought, Evé turned her gaze toward the church ahead.

Her eyes grew slightly more focused.

Faintly, she felt a sense of premonition.

Perhaps the Church of All-Divine Mother was far more complex than she had imagined.

Stepping forward, Evé walked toward the church doors.

At her will, the doors opened automatically.

With a creaking sound, light poured into the interior, illuminating a hall that was simple, yet dignified and solemn.

Inside the church, there was also a scene of disarray, as though a battle had taken place…

Faint traces of blood still lingered on the ground.

At the center of the hall stood an altar for the veneration of a divine idol.

However, when Evé turned her gaze toward the altar, a hint of surprise appeared in her eyes.

Upon it, there was no holy statue of her likeness, unlike those seen among the frost elves. Instead, there was only a symbol that she found deeply familiar.

It was a tree-shaped symbol, resembling the old sacred insignia the Church of Life no longer used.

Yet compared to the simplified symbol used by the old Church of Nature, this insignia was far more intricate, appearing closer to a true depiction of a world tree.

On the altar, a line of text was even inscribed in elven language:

“Great All-Divine Mother, Sovereign of Life and Nature, Matriarch of Elvenkind, the World Tree, Yggdrasill.”

The implication was already unmistakable.

Yet Eve’s brows furrowed even more deeply.

She felt no resonance with the sacred symbol upon the altar.

For a god of faith, the severing of connection with believers was not an unimaginable occurrence.

Even demigods who worship true gods could, after losing contact, sustain an incomplete network of faith through their own power and continue maintaining that belief network.

However, in theory, once the real patron god reappeared within its vicinity, that network of faith should technically automatically reconnect immediately.

Much like a device reconnecting to a familiar signal.

Yet now, even with Evé present, not only did the connection fail to reestablish, the sacred emblem on the altar did not even emit the faint glow it should have.

At the same time, Evé could still sense a trace of pure faith power emanating from the emblem.

This indicated that the emblem was indeed still functioning, and operating quite normally.

And that was precisely what made this situation really abnormal.

If she were to use an analogy, it was as though Evé had enabled automatic connection on her device, yet the network refused to recognize her, displaying an error as if the credentials were incorrect.

Evé pondered for a few seconds, then actively released her divine power, attempting to establish a connection with the emblem.

However, the moment her consciousness touched it, she sensed a presence that felt both familiar and unfamiliar rushing toward her.

Immediately afterward, the emblem conveyed a vague, muddled emotion, like that of a child just awakened from sleep.

Yet upon sensing Eve’s intrusion, that emotion quickly shifted into anger.

The anger, however, did not last long.

Within Eve’s perception, as she fully revealed her aura, that anger swiftly transformed into fear.

Then, before her astonished gaze, the World Tree emblem upon the altar trembled slightly, as cracks suddenly spreading across its surface, before it ultimately shattered and collapsed on its own.

Evé narrowed her eyes slightly.

“…How interesting.”

She had already understood what had occurred just now.

Looks like this sacred emblem… already had an owner.

Some foreign existence had assumed the authority the World Tree represented and had become the new “All-Divine Mother”

Moreover, that existence was likely connected to Evé in some way, for she had sensed a presence that felt both familiar and intimate.

“The emotion that was just transmitted… was that fear? It’s afraid of me?”

“Who is it? Were the souls of those believers also taken by it?”

“It reacted drastically the moment it sensed my presence. Does it know who I am?”

Evé fell into deep thought.

In the next moment, however, her expression shifted as she suddenly looked around.

For no apparent reason, she began to sense a faint suppression and rejection within the surroundings.

This world…

seemed to be subtly repelling her.

The sensation had only just emerged and was not particularly strong, yet it undeniably existed.

“The innate will of this world? Has this realm already has a master? And… its not Leviathan?”

“Is it that presence I just sensed, the one both familiar and unfamiliar? Is it the true ruler of this realm?”

“…Hm? This force of rejection is rather weak. It does not seem particularly powerful.”

A thought stirred within her.

Without hesitation, Evé immediately mobilized her divine power and consciousness, locking onto the source of this repelling force.

She began tracing it back, attempting to locate the hidden existence that harbored both hostility and fear toward her.

If she succeeded, she would be able to find it.

Her actions appeared to alarm the other party. Almost instantly, Evé sensed the repelling force vanish.

Looks like the other side had withdrawn.

Nevertheless, Evé had already discerned its approximate location.

“The north?”

She turned her gaze toward the window of the church.

That direction pointed toward the interior of the Mindel Realm.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Evé looked outside the church at the players, who were happily gathering murloc equipment that was scattered on the ground.

Without her presence to restrain them, they had completely let themselves go and begun looting.

Despite each of them being high-level players at the peak of the intermediate Silver-rank, they were still unable to resist the temptation of collecting enemy loot.

Out of curiosity, Evé listened in briefly to their conversation.

It seemed that Calabash had appraised certain magical materials among the equipment, items that were extremely rare in Seigües and of immense value.

As a result… aside from Little Salty Cat, they had all become really excited.

Especially Optimist who’s known for his lack of wealth.

Eve let out a soft laugh and issued a new system notification to their field of vision:

【

】

【A new task is about to begin. Please proceed close to the Goddess within 30 seconds.】

【Penalty for delay: Favorability with the Goddess −1】

【Reward for punctuality: Special Lottery Ticket ×1】

In the next instant, the ten players who had been busy collecting equipment quickly leapt to their feet.

They quickly scanned their surroundings, soon locking onto Evé as she stepped out of the church.

Casting reluctant glances at the uncollected equipment, they hurried toward her.

The reward itself mattered little.

However, the penalty to the Goddess’s favorability… compared to a few pieces of equipment, it was not worth the risk.

As everyone in the group gathered before her, Evé gave her command.

“Go north.”

Then, without further delay, she took the lead and walked toward the outskirts of the city.

The ten players cast one last regretful look at the scattered equipment before following after her.

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