Gender-swapped Saintess: A Survival Diary on Hell Difficulty

In the past, the so-called church was more like a sect or interest group gathered together in a fantasy novel.

Because the gods do not need believers, and divine power is not provided by believers.

This powerful force of divine power exists within heaven and earth.

Those with exceptional talent have the opportunity to absorb and utilize Saint-level magic power once they reach it.

Of course, the divine power that naturally exists in heaven and earth is extremely rare.

The body's essence is mostly concentrated in the divine energy mines around the world.

These divine power source mines come in various shapes and sizes; one might be a towering crystal, a pool of beautifully colored spring water, or even a small cave that only a dwarf could squeeze into.

Each church builds its temple around a source of divine power, gradually expanding its influence.

The central area of ​​the Church of the Night was a crystal whose surface forever reflected the starry sky, providing the Goddess of the Night with a high concentration of divine power for cultivation.

Unfortunately, at some unknown time, the divine power gradually declined and disappeared.

At first, only the scattered divine power between heaven and earth disappeared. Then, small divine power source mines began to dry up, followed by medium and large divine power source mines.

Deities who have lost their divine power become even more vulnerable than ordinary superhumans.

It also lost its immortality.

In this situation, more and more churches fell apart, and the alliances formed between gods collapsed on their own, leading to wars over the remaining sources of divine power.

In the end, only a handful of churches with deep-rooted financial resources remained.

Vina recounted to Roland things that would never be recorded in history books, leaving Roland wide-eyed and completely shocked.

Finally, Vina drew her conclusion.

"Therefore, the research conducted by the Goddess of Night at that time was related to the survival of the gods."

She looked down at Roland and emphasized.

"Miss Roland, no matter how dangerous such a topic may be, there will always be gods who cannot help but explore it. The Goddess of Night is one such example."

Roland was deeply disturbed by the history Vina recounted, and it took her a long time to come to her senses before she asked in confusion.

"Then why did the Goddess of Night go to the front lines of the Abyss to conduct research?"

"Since the gathering of divine power relies on faith, why not conduct research within the heart of the church?"

Vina had anticipated that Roland would ask this question, and chuckled softly.

"Because using faith as a catalyst to make magic condense into divine power is ridiculously inefficient, it's simply appalling."

"So the goddess tried to use the power of faith to create a divine power source mine, preferably by combining it into a complex magic circle, otherwise it would not be able to meet the needs of the gods at all."

"But the space technology of that era was terrible, so the goddess had to go to the front lines of the abyss herself to conduct experiments using the unstable space there."

Roland suddenly realized and picked up where Vina left off.

"So, did the goddess experiment fail?"

"After all, according to historical records, the goddess set off a spectacular fireworks display for everyone, then rolled her eyes, kicked the bucket, and died..."

Vina's breath hitched, and she raised her hand as if to slap the fox's backside.

Startled, Roland covered her buttocks with both hands, and her tail emerged directly from between her legs, forming a furry crotch protector.

"Hey, don't hit me, I won't mess around anymore."

Seeing that Roland admitted her mistake and backed down, Vina shook her head and replied.

"No, the experiment was a success."

"The refining array created an environment that mimicked the source of divine power, and by consuming the power of faith, divine power was generated out of thin air."

"Although we failed to maintain spatial stability at the last moment, the magic circle exploded severely, and the generated divine power was minimal, there is no doubt that the experiment was a success."

As Vina finished speaking, she looked at Roland with a half-smile.

"Speaking of which, the faith techniques you know are basically developed based on the research of the Goddess of Night."

"No wonder the three remaining churches are interested in you. You are truly gifted in winning people's hearts and gathering faith."

Roland's expression changed slightly.

"Miss Vina, I know nothing about faith technology. This is the first time I've ever heard of it."

"uh-huh?"

Vina gave a soft snort, her long bangs revealing a playful glint in her starry eyes as she gazed at Roland's face.

"Miss Roland, we've clearly been researching so many new technologies together in private, and we're good friends. There's no need for us to lie, is there?"

"You must know about faith technology, and perhaps even have a deep understanding of it... Don't rush to defend yourself."

Vina extended a finger and touched Roland's cherry lips, stopping Roland from saying what she was about to say.

"Miss Roland, if it were anyone else, they would have already shouted blasphemy upon hearing about the origin of the gods, but your reaction was clearly not strong enough."

"When you later heard that faith could be used to produce divine power, you didn't react like someone with superhuman abilities."

Roland stammered.

"How should a superhuman react?"

Vina seemed amused, letting out a lewd laugh, one hand covering her lower abdomen, the other gesturing in the air.

"Hia~hia~hia!"

"Miss Roland, I don't think you understand anything."

"For a gifted superhuman like you, gaining divine power means you could become a god. Yet you just showed a simple surprise and didn't even ask any questions."

"Unless you already knew about the Faith Technology, which means that the establishment of the Roland Group was something you did with a purpose."

"For whom are you collecting faith?"

Vina pinched Roland's chin, looked her up and down, and finally stopped on Roland's forehead.

"I suspect there might be another deity behind Saintess Seraf. It seems she has indeed apostasyed."

Upon hearing this, Roland's face showed a faint "Holy crap" expression.

Did something go wrong?

This usually taciturn dark elf is surprisingly intelligent.

Roland removed Vina's hand from her chin, pulled back a distance, and frowned.

As the conversation progressed, Roland gradually realized that something was amiss.

As a novice elf with only apprentice-level magic power, even if Vina is old, she shouldn't know so many secrets.

In particular, knowledge related to the origin of deities and the decline of divine power is something that even Caryl and the ancient old tree lady do not know.

With such knowledge and vision... Vina's identity is probably not as simple as it appears on the surface.

Roland's eyes became wary, and her thigh muscles tensed slightly.

It seems that as soon as she senses something is wrong with Vina, she immediately uses her powerful close-combat abilities as a fox to subdue the dark elf.

"Vina, let's put my business aside for now."

"But you, as an ordinary dark elf, know so many secrets. Don't you find that strange yourself?"

Roland's tone was melancholy.

"Vina, after working together for so long, I really don't want to doubt you, but you are just too suspicious."

"Who...are you?"