114 A New Celestial
The word of a powerful and mysterious being called Akhur spread throughout the desert. Some people felt the story was only a lie, stating that someone like that was akin to a celestial being.
But the number of people that believed in the stories were higher. All tribes in the desert believed in their totem gods, and worshiped them, asking for protection, guidance, and strength.
It was said that these totem gods used to manifest themselves in order to protect their devotees, but that was a long time ago. That was all but a legend now.
These tribe members had other thoughts in mind. What if Akhur was one of these celestial beings? Now that their totems vanished thousands of years ago, wasn’t it time to look for another being that was present?
Arthur did not know any of that, but his name slowly created a new movement where people wanted to worship him. They saw him as a celestial being.
Not that it was wrong though, as Arthur would soon find out his Celestial Body skill had more effects than he did not fully understand.
“Who are all these people?” Najek said.
A crowd of people was in front of the Jinzaka tribe. None of these people were there to fight, as they had no weapons in hands, and respectfully waited in the front gate.
“My name is Ahanu, and I’m the leader of this tribe. Is there something I can help you with?” Ahanu said.
He tried to act respectful as he thought all these people came to join his tribe after the word of that huge victory spread. Turned out they had other reasons.
One man wearing a robe with a hood walked in front of the rest. He had a walking stick and was clearly an elderly.
“We are all here after hearing the word about the celestial being, Akhur. I, and all the rest, will use our faith to worship him.”
Arthur had just finished his eating when he heard that. It was strange, so he went to check.
This time, he did not use his fire wings, but his flight spell. Turned out it was easy to learn to have a celestial talent.
[Flight (Tier 4): Allows the user to fly freely.]
[Cost: 20 mana per second.]
He already mastered the spell up to the tier 4, which increased the speed at which he could fly. The mana cost wasn’t that high, but one still needed a vast pool of mana to fly for a long time.
Arthur had 14000 mana points, so he could fly for about 10 minutes straight in a speed that surpassed his fire wings. In reality, he could fly more than that considering his mana regeneration, and he could also devour the mana from the atmosphere to restore it.
“I can fly endlessly if I want to. Maybe I’m a celestial being after all.”
The clothing Arthur had was not those rudimentary leather armor from the tribe. He now wore a robe, as he felt it was a type of cloth a mage would wear.
When all the people outside the tribe saw Arthur flying in their direction, all of them fell to their knees, and said together, “we all praise Akhur, the celestial being.”
A strange blue energy came out from all these people that had faith in Akhur. It was the same type of energy Arthur saw inside that fissure with Skye. That type of energy was also linked to his Celestial Body.
[Celestial Energy Absorbed.]
[All stats increasing by 1]
[Number of devotees: 87]
[Days before the next blessing: 15]
“What is this?”
It was like the system tab Arthur had where it showed his harem, but now there was another tab with all his devotees.
“This Celestial Body skill I got looks a lot like another type of system. What is this?”
Arthur already had a thought of superiority to all the humans, but now? That increased even more. If people had some sort of faith in him, then he would get free stats, which meant he would get stronger.
Strong enough to face the Bone Lord. Strong enough to find the Sky City and learn more about his identity. Strong enough to fight against the gods of that world.
He slowly descended, stopping right in front of the old man that had just spoke. Arthur was still flying, but only by a little to not touch his feet on the sand.
“How did you find me?”
“Celestial lord. Stories about you are all over the desert, and we have faith in you, more than these dead totems all the tribes worship. I gathered everyone that had the same feelings and searched for you. Please, would you accept us?”
If there were no benefits, Arthur would not accept them. But after getting a new function in his system, and the opportunity to grow stronger by using their faith, he accepted.
“There are plenty of empty houses in my tribe for you to live. But please, get along with everyone else, and work hard to make this place prosper.”
“We will, Celestial. Thank you for your kindness.”
Arthur flew back to the tribe’s gate, gazed at Ahanu, and said, “they will stay here. Are you okay with it?”
Ahanu had no way to stop Arthur. He felt he was the leader, yet Arthur was the one in command.
“What is this blessing in the system tab? Will I grant benefits to all my devotees? That would be the best so that they could spread the word and more people will have faith in me, which will grant me more free stats.”
Arthur did not know, but he was using the same path all the current gods used to achieve the top. A path that was given to him by Skye.
~~~~
The Jinzaka tribe got more alive with the newly added people, and it was clearly recovering from all the hardships they passed in all these years, all thanks to Arthur.
One week had passed since the new people came, and for everyone’s surprise, they built a totem that looked exactly like Arthur…
Ahanu was furious, as it was damaging their faith on their totem, so in a moment of rage, he yelled at all these people.
“Get the fuck out of my tribe!”