The Hollow God

He wanted to interrupt the fatty as he only wanted some information but he somehow became completely engrossed in the story before he even noticed. Fortunately he was still able to get a lot of information from this world from it.

Ralfe spoke about how he was a genius magic artificer taught since young and was next in line to become a Chosen for his cities Divine, so he could start his work. Too bad he offended the city lord which used his influence to not only kick him out of the city but chase him away to a godless village at the corner of the continent. A godless village being a village that has no divine creature looking over it.

Once the manta asked him for some details he was able to get some truly important information. Humans are never born with the power of elements like beasts are and can only wield their life force which is the white mana in the body. There is only one way they can gain an element which is a requirement to be able to make magical items, that is by becoming a chosen to a Divine creature. Once they are picked their bodies are changed into a version closer to the holy creature and they gain the elements that it can wield.

The amount of Chosen that one can create is limited and he guessed it had something to do with the Divine's strength, but the fatty did not know exactly how it worked. He did however know that the strength of a divine can only grow with having more believers.

As he asked some more questions about the cities the manta was able to learn some really interesting information. Here on the Enlightened continent, religion was completely banned! There were just too many divines and if everyone created a religion it would become complete chaos. This rule is enforced in the open by the holy church and in the dark by the church of darkness so even the evil divines have to follow these rules as long as they are in this continent.

Long ago before these rules were in place the world had become almost unable to sustain life due to the frequent battles. A religious person will always follow and respect their Divine, being completely faithful that it was the strongest and the only one to bring salvation to the world. Now what would happen if you had hundreds of different religions all with people thinking that way living close to each other?

Back then a believer would kill the follower of another religion which in turn the people of that religion would come back for revenge with more people and the cycle would be repeated a couple of times until even the divine creatures would end up making a move leaving thousands dead and the land completely uninhabitable.

This brought the fatty to tell him the second rule that the two churches had created. Divine Creatures are only allowed to fight each other using their humans! If they wanted to fight themselves then they had to first leave the continent to do it!

"But if divine creatures can't create a religion and can't show their strength by fighting then how would they be able to gain any followers so they could grow?" This question bugged him through the whole conversation, it felt as if the churches had banded together to break everyone's legs to stop them from growing!

The fatty gave him a huge smile as if this was the question he was waiting for!

"Everyone knew that faith could raise your strength, but over time the divines realized fear also worked which made many creatures turn to a darker path but not long after that they came to a realization. Joy, Anger, Surprise, Sadness, Disgust, were also found to work which led people to reach a conclusion. As long as you think about the divine being in your head no matter if it's good or bad it will give him strength! So if you can't fight or create a religion how would you spread your name and image for everyone to know?" Ralfe was enjoying himself too much to notice that things had taken a weird turn and he was standing as he spoke as he motioned with his hands like a teacher while the small manta clone was floating close to the ground quietly listening to him like a student.

"How??" The small clone curiously asked.

"Advertisements! Products! The first god to notice this was Miranda the eagle of light! She gathered many artificers and created these magical items that provided humans with light in the darkness. This product was quickly spread all over the continent along with her name. As her strength quickly grew she joined the church of light and is rumored to have broken through to godhood becoming one of the top dogs in the organization!" He spoke while getting so excited that small droplets of spit were raining down onto the small clone without him noticing.

"Ahem ahem… " The small clone lightly coughed bringing the fatty back from his excitement. As he remembered his situation and who was in front of him he quickly dropped to the ground on his knees on the wooden floor apologizing profusely. They were only able to go back into the conversation when the small manta waved its tail while ensuring him that he wasn't mad.

"So that's how we can grow on this continent? By making magical items?"

"No no! Of course not! Products don't just mean magical items! Each divine has an advantage in a certain area due to their element! Earth usually focuses on building or ore collecting, fire on blacksmithing, wind in information and transportation, water in fishing and sailing. Any of them could also choose to go and fight at the border against the invasion from the barbarian continent for merits and fame, of course these are just some of the basics, there are divines that focus on a completely new thing that no one ever thought of before. I've heard of a country of metal towards the center of the continent that have three Divines working together, one of fire another of water and the last one has earth. They have large machines that could move quickly over the land carrying heavy loads while spewing white smoke! There is also a city known for its beauty that focuses on the arts like acting, music and painting. Their Divine has the element of both light and water and it was said they have magical items that could create a wall of water that could show moving pictures! It is my life's dream that one day i will be able to see it with my own eyes!" As spoke his excitement started to surge once more

"What about the other elements?" The small manta asked curiously.

"AH! yes! The light element is weak in combat against most elements but it can be used used to heal wounds other than being able to create light. Many of them chose this path to spread their name and a good amount also go into a specialized fighting path called "paladins" created solely to fight the evil divines of darkness and their followers … The strength of the darkness element is in fighting as it's the strongest element as long as it's not fighting against the element of light. It has a corroding effect that can eat away at the other elements, with the exception of light of course. So they usually either go to the front line or join underground assassin organizations to spread their name...." Ralfe felt a little awkward telling him this but he knew divines could vaguely know what you were thinking so he didn't even take lying to be an option, what he did not know was that the manta did not care whatsoever.

"What about the element of gravity?" the little manta smiled as he thought of the possibilities that this element could bring to the future!

"Gravity? ….. ….Y-you! You have a divergent ability!?" The shocked fatties eyes that were usually almost fully closed due to his fat was now wide open in shock!