The morning the next day, Pnolli woke up, feeling fresh as he exited the cocoon and retracted it, wrapping it around himself like a layer of skin as he unfurled the pair of wings once again and took flight.
He travelled for a few hours before arriving in the vicinity of a village, landing at the edge as he made a praying motion, 'Thank you for your blessings.'
He wasn't even a Spirit of the God of Humanity. And hence, he was merely borrowing the power, one that vanished the moment he deactivated it.
There were three levels a believer of faith could attain by borrowing portions of power. First among them was a Spirit, one that inherited a percentage of the Deity's power.
Second was an Apostle, one that inherited a tenth of the Deity's power. Once an Apostle came into being, the Deity was only left with ninety percent of his original power. After all, ten percent was inherited by the Apostle now.
Though, if the Apostle were to die or lose qualifications, the power would return to the Deity. The various classifications were just the extent one could borrow power from the Deity of their faith. They didn't possess any powers of their own naturally.
A Spirit was similar to a priest that helped maintain the masses, and gave out teachings and blessings according to the situation to keep the faith of the masses strong and maintain the functioning of the region.
An Apostle was rare and acted as the head of the Spirits. Moreover, they formed the core power that represented the Deity and were sent out in place of the Deity, whether to curb a threat or as a diplomatic figure to other regions governed by Deities.
Finally, there existed the Saint, the strongest a believer could ever get. A Saint inherited a whopping thirty percent of a Deity's strength. This was a position that came with a load of restrictions.
A Deity could create more than one Apostle if needed. But, only a single Saint could exist. Moreover, Saints were only created for one reason.
To destroy!
Deities were typically unable to leave their domain, for that was how the power system worked. Therefore, if they perceive a threat beyond their domain, one that is strong enough to threaten even them, then they could create a Saint.
Possessing almost a third of the Deity's power, a Saint was a formidable entity, a lone unit that charged towards the target at the Deity's orders and vanquished it mercilessly.
It was through a Saint that a Deity exercised power beyond their domain. And, if a Saint was killed, the Deity would take a crippling blow.
After all, if the representation of their faith were to die, the people's beliefs would waver tremendously. This effect also occurred with the death of Apostles and Spirits, but that could usually be recovered as long as the situation wasn't too bad.
But a Saint was a singular entity, akin to a smaller Deity. So, if they were killed, it would create the notion that the enemy was capable of killing the respective Deity itself.
And when a Saint was moving around, even without any Apostle or Spirit, a Deity was only left with two-thirds of their original strength. So, it created a lot of weaknesses. But one thing was true.
If a Saint were to appear, it displayed the Deity's resolve to eradicate the target. This was why all the villagers feared when Compass Carburettor arrived at the Shukagat Village, praying for him to be a Deity and not a Saint.
The hairs of all humans are black by birth. When a human becomes a Spirit, one percent of their head changes colour—according to the hair colour of their Deity.
The coloured hair is a tenth for an Apostle. But for a Saint, their head is fully coloured.
Pnolli stared at a reflection shown in a canal, observing the lock of coloured hair on his head revert to black, sighing as he thought, 'Will there be a day when I become a Spirit?'
Through the inherited memories, Pnolli understood that the God of Humanity would never appoint any Spirits unless humanity itself was in danger. This meant that even if two villagers were to wage war against each other, he wouldn't show any support.
After all, both sides were humans. 'No!'
His eyes lit up in realisation, 'The God of Humanity would interfere in the case both the villages are about to mutually destroy each other. So, as long as both the villages believe in the God of Humanity, they would avoid annihilation.'
'Moreover, the God of Humanity would designate his representative to the place to act as a delegate to further diplomatic relations.' Thinking as such, Pnolli smiled, now having a clearer view of his objective, "A delegate of humanity, huh."
He slowly began to walk towards the village, stopping once he observed the gazes of alarm from the villagers. It was natural since most villages remained secluded deep in the wild nature, rarely interacting with one another.
At most, some merchant caravans pass through the villages, but even they were rare. After all, each village was at least a week or further away—on foot—from the other. Without any proper paths to traverse, it was hard to visit other villages.
As this world was only in its nascent stage of development, even the largest of kingdoms in the world were just a cluster of villages within half a day's distance from each other on foot. The population in such kingdoms at most reached a couple hundred thousand.
"I'm from the Shukagat Village, located a month's distance towards the sun." Pnolli introduced himself to the village folk that had gathered before him as he took out a small pouch from his bag, stating, "I've brought seeds of some medicinal plants from my village."
"What type of medicine?" The Village Head of the village came forward and gazed at Pnolli from top to bottom, wondering how such a young man could make such a long trip alone. His gaze was pretty disrespectful once he observed the pristine appearance of Pnolli, "Who are you actually?"
"Just a traveller serving our God." Pnolli announced calmly, "That's why I could do things that seem impossible for you."
"Our God?" Some of the villagers noticed the terms he used, asking in surprise, "We don't have a Deity we serve though."
