rin’s figure condenses on the throne.
Ten shamans stand before him, bowing.
He frowns.
“Where is Tillie?”
His divine sense spreads, sensing her at the border.
She is preparing the army to invade the next region.
“She is too eager.”
He studies the ten shamans.
Their strength is only slightly below Tillie’s, but for the task ahead, strength is not the main requirent.
He needs them to oversee the building of his church.
“I have work for you all.”
The shamans speak in unison.
“Your will is our command.”
“I want you to organise the construction of my church.”
The shamans glance at one another.
One hesitates before speaking.
“Lord… what is a church?”
rin freezes.
He rembers that this world has no word or concept for it.
He gathers everything he knows about a church into a sphere of light.
The light divides into ten and enters the shamans’ minds.
They freeze for a mont, then their expressions shift as understanding forms.
They also understand the totem’s goal—he wants to shed the identity of Deer-Orc Totem and beco the common totem of all orcs.
This is good for the totem, but not for the Dream Deer-Orcs.
rin’s glance easily reads their hesitation.
He condenses another ten spheres of light and sends them into their mories.
Ecstasy and enlightennt dawn on their faces.
The ten shamans kneel.
“Lord, forgive our hesitation.”
“Get up. I don’t need your begging. Write the holy book for first.”
They nod and rise quickly.
“We will do it right away.”
They turn to leave.
The Dream God’s voice follows them.
“Share the technique with all shamans. I want every shaman to practise it.”
They stop, turn, and bow deeply.
“Yes, Lord.”
They leave the throne room.
Outside, the Finance Minister and Infrastructure Minister wait to enter.
“Send them inside,” rin says.
The Finance Minister, a Weasel-Orc, and the Infrastructure Minister, a Beaver-Orc, step in quickly.
They stop near the throne and bow their heads.
rin’s mind turns to his goal—gathering more faith and transforming his believers.
The church exists to channel the power of faith.
Right now, the Deer-Orcs believe in him fanatically, but the other orc races are only partial believers.
He is still seen as the totem of a single tribe—the Dream Deer-Orcs.
In this world, almost every totem is tied to a race.
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Because of this, the other orcs cannot give him wholehearted faith.
He intends to shed the identity of a tribal totem and beco a god worshipped by all orcs.
The church will make this possible.
The shamans will handle the spiritual foundation.
The two ministers—and the parliant—will handle the physical construction.
rin studies them and notes the instincts of their beast forms still linger in them.
He does not bother explaining.
Two glowing orbs of light form in his palm, each holding the instructions of their task.
The light orbs shoot into their foreheads.
They freeze instantly.
Their strength matches the ten shamans before, but theirs lies in the physical realm.
They remain frozen longer, processing the instructions.
Slowly, they awaken.
The Finance Minister says, “Lord, this will require assistance from all ministers.”
“Then inform them,” rin replies.
“Lord, if you inform them, it would be better,” the Weasel-Orc suggests.
“No,” rin says flatly.
Silence falls.
“And I give you a week,” rin continues.
“In that ti, I expect my churches to stand in every city, town, and village.”
He pauses.
“If not… I do not have to explain what will happen to you two.”
They nod quickly.
Kneeling, they tremble as they say, “Lord, we will complete your task in a week.”
“Get up and leave,” rin orders.
They stand, bow to him, and turn to go.
Halfway to the door, the Beaver-Orc hesitates and turns back.
“What is it?” rin asks.
“Your idol’s image, Lord… what will it be?” the Beaver-Orc asks.
rin freezes, thinking.
It cannot be the form of a Deer-Orc.
Instead, he chooses his human appearance from Earth, touched up to make him godlike.
He sends the image directly into their minds.
His form on the throne also shifts to match it.
The two orcs bow deeply before departing at once.
Outside the palace, they stop and look at each other.
The Beaver-Orc says, “Garu, do you know what the Totem wants to do?”
Garu halts and stares at Drud, who wears his usual foolish expression.
“I thought you understood when you asked the Totem about the idol’s image,” Garu says.
Drud looks even more confused.
“I asked because there was no ntion of the idol’s image in the instructions,” he replies.
Garu rolls his eyes, thinking Drud had beco clever when he asked the question.
The answer from the Totem confird Garu’s guess.
“The Totem wants to beco a god all orc races can worship, not only the Deer-Orc’s totem,” Garu says.
“That ans Sain can’t look down on anymore,” Drud says with sudden excitent.
Garu nods.
They walk toward the palace gates and slowly disappear into the streets.
----
Later, rin’s body condenses before a hundred orcs of different races gathered together.
They are the talented young orcs of every race who serve as palace guards.
In the kingdom, all resources flow into the palace, and the palace library holds the greatest collection of cultivation and fighting techniques.
Most important of all—he lives in the palace.
Their duty is to protect him, though he has no need for it, so their work is largely ceremonial.
Every orc race sends its most promising youths to serve as palace guards for a few years.
Now rin wants them to practice a new cultivation technique.
From his hand, a hundred white lights form and shoot into their heads.
They grit their teeth as pain surges through them while receiving the mory.
When it is done, rin says, “Everyone will change their cultivation to this technique.”
The young orcs nod.
They cannot refuse him, and they cannot imagine he would harm them.
They begin practising at once.
The first step is to visualise him—his image in their minds—so they can form a connection to the Dream World behind him.
Because he stands right before them, many succeed in visualising him instantly.
rin senses their connection and approves.
Through the link, the Dream World sends back wisps of energy.
When this rges with their physical energy, it becos a new force—Fighting Energy.
They beco Knights who serve the God.
Shamans will beco Priests.
The young orcs show no change in appearance, for they are only First Rank Knight Apprentices.
The first visible change will co when they break through to Official Rank Knight, a Rank-6 profession.
It will take ti to see results.
rin could see results sooner if Divine Pattern rank warriors switched to Knight cultivation, but for that to happen, his idols and churches must be built.
He will not let them visualise his real body—they must do it through his idol or his picture.
After all the young orcs beco Knights, rin fades and returns to his throne.
He closes his eyes and ponders how to open the way for the Law of Illusion.
Outside the Dream Kingdom, in the Mugor Swamp region, an inferior tribe of Alligator Orcs receives a new visitor—a Deer-Orc trader.
The tribe is surprised, for Deer-Orcs are known for weak strength, yet this one travels from tribe to tribe.
He must be a warrior from a totem tribe.
They trade with him and answer his questions—how many totem tribes are nearby, and what is their strength.
They think nothing of it.
A young Alligator-Orc, carrying so of the new fruit, slips away from the tribe.
He walks through the swampy land to a massive tree.
He climbs its roots and knocks on the bark.
He steps inside.
“Teacher, I brought you food.”
A door opens in the trunk.
The teacher is a mber of the Tanarid Tech.
The young Alligator-Orc shares everything about the Deer trader—his purple hide, beguiling eyes, and his questions.
Intrigued, the mber sends a small spy drone to follow the Deer-Orc.
It finds a camp filled with orcs of various races.
This surprises him—different orc races rarely gather to live together.
He deploys more spy drones to watch the camp.
Every day, they follow the orcs as they visit different tribes.
One day, a convoy arrives, bringing resources to the camp.
Later, when the convoy leaves, he orders a drone to follow it.
The drone discovers that the door to the next region has opened.
He remains stationed here to watch that region, for it lies under the control of a supre totem—the sa one they have no intelligence on.
Three weeks later, rin’s nascent church is running, but his focus is not on the church.
His attention rests on the pages floating before him.
The scouts have sent news from the Mugur Swamp region, the land at their western border.
It is a swampy expanse, with no great totem, for the land’s nature limits its population.
He sighs and glances at Tillie, who watches him expectantly.
"Ok, you can conquer them."
Tillie’s body trembles with excitent.
"Yes, my lord."
Monts later, she walks out and uses Dream Travel to appear at the border.
Ten minutes later, an army marches into the Mugur Swamp region.
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