It was unknown whether it was a Deity or a Devil involved in its creation, but when a devoted believer of the God of Humanity lost his/her life, a mysterious power was used to concentrate all the blessings they received into their brain.
As the blessings of the God of Humanity were related to memories, knowledge, and experience, it was something a human could naturally possess. And hence, once other Deities came to know of it, they began to investigate.
One such result was the 'Lingering Attachment.'
One of the uses of Lingering Attachment was in the creation of familiars. Some Deities used these brains to create familiars to guard their territory. And since the source of these Lingering Attachments was their own believers, they could achieve it.
Every faith had its fair share of fanatical believers. So, such things had been happening for decades now.
But of course, even the God of Humanity was unaware of the Lingering Attachment, since it was kept under tight wraps. Anyone involved in its creation never prayed to the God of Humanity after that, taking a strict vow with their Deity.
Even the unscrupulous merchants only brought it out to sell to those that had given a payment through faith. But, it was only a matter of time before the God of Humanity learns of this information.
But even if he were to know it, there was nothing he could do. After all, the majority of the Lingering Attachments were created from fanatical believers that volunteered. And as this process happened after their deaths, there was no way for him to find out.
It wasn't as if he could stop giving out blessings to his believers. That would cause his faith to take a hit and eventually dry up. Therefore, it was an unavoidable scheme.
As for the lady, Eldna, she had a reason to pray to the God of Humanity now. Using the knowledge, memories, and experience funnelling into her from Lingering Attachment whose essence she absorbed, she attempted to communicate with the God of Humanity.
The connection was successfully established this time, causing her to smile cunningly, 'I might be courting death, but I have no other choice.'
Every time, a connection failed because she was no longer human or retained any semblance of humanity. But the reason it succeeded this time was thanks to her usage of the essence of the Lingering Attachment.
Since it was from a devout follower of the God of Humanity, the connection formed naturally. And the moment this happened, Eldna opened her mouth and sucked in violently, grunting in exhaustion as she collapsed to the ground.
The essence she gained from the Lingering Attachment vanished, claimed by the God of Humanity. But before the channel collapsed, Eldna used all her powers to steal a small portion of faith from the other side.
Of course, since she stole the faith directly from a Deity and not from a follower, Eldna was unable to endure it as the God of Humanity's faith squirmed violently in her stomach.
"What the heck have you done?" The cactus was alarmed as it shouted, "Are you mad? You offended one of the strongest Deities in the world! Dammit!"
But just as the cactus was about to send her away, Eldna glared at it, causing her shadow to transform into a spike and impale it, beginning to rapidly devour its essence.
The cactus intended to escape but by the time it managed to react, it crumbled into dust. Using the shadow, Eldna was able to absorb all its essence instantly.
"And now, the contract has been established." Using the essence of the cactus, she focused on the faith squirming in her stomach violently and sold it to herself, thereby watching it turn docile. Following that, she bought it and gained possession of that faith—it was still an expendable resource, but now under her control.
And now that she had absorbed all of the cactus's essence, she used it, watching a tiny pouch manifest before her, one with a massive space within, holding almost a thousand items. She looked through it, breaking into a grin, 'It worked.'
This was her gamble. She wished to use the Lingering Attachment to steal a tiny portion of faith from the God of Humanity, using which she would absorb all essence from the unscrupulous merchant. Thereby, she would gain access to all the goods in possession of the merchant.
Usually, there was just one unscrupulous merchant per city. So, she didn't need to worry about facing a counterattack from other unscrupulous merchants for the time being.
But, since she had properly offended the God of Humanity this time, she would have to flee. Otherwise, she might die. But, this was the only way in which she could become stronger, even if it meant offending two of the strongest faiths.
Eldna looked through all the items in the pouch, setting aside the items necessary for her as she prayed to the Devil, 'Your Lordship, please accept my offerings.'
Immediately, a mysterious power circulated in her body as all the offered items vanished. Immediately in response, terrifying power poured into her, causing her to moan in pleasure, "I gratefully accept it and vow to serve you better."
She had become a Spirit, now possessing a percentage of the Devil's strength permanently. This was enough for her to do whatever she wished.
Of course, she couldn't just rampage around. That would only incur the God of Rain's wrath, resulting in her death, for she was in their territory. The fact that another Spirit from the Essencer Guild had been killed mere hours ago was clear in her mind.
Using the cactus's essence, Eldna created the exit to this space, observing a human-shaped door open. She passed through it, noticing that she was exiting from the body of the shopkeeper that had opened up like a door.
'So, he was a familiar that carries the entrance to that mysterious space within him. That makes sense.' She nodded in response and snapped her finger, collecting the shopkeeper in her pouch.
After wearing a random pair of clothes from the shop, she made her escape, scouring through the place as she chanced upon the house of a widow.
The widow was only in her thirties and lived alone. It was merely a dingy place to live, but that would do for the time being, until she gathered enough strength.
Eldna entered the house and targeted the widow, replacing her easily. With that, all trails related to her previous entity were cut off abruptly.
Unfortunately for her though, a hooded man stared at the house she was at, observing her in silence.
