Ch.8Chapter 8. Exclusive Divine Magic

“Did it work well…? Good!”

Watching Gracchus gradually turn red as he read my scripture, I smiled with satisfaction.

The so-called Heavenly Demon Divine Technique (tentative name).

I was pleased to discover that my masterpiece—a patchwork of Das Kapital, The Communist Manifesto, and the Bible—was working well in this world too.

…Of course, Gracchus becoming this fanatical was honestly my intention.

Anyway, now that the foundation for the religious order had been laid.

I was thinking about starting to collect the hidden elements as I had planned.

But then.

‘…?’

Suddenly, I noticed a tiny amount of my power flowing somewhere through a connection I’d never seen before.

‘What is… this?’

Slightly bewildered, I hastily traced the connection to identify what was on the other end—

[—I beseech you. May this wound be healed by His blessing.]

‘…What’s this guy doing?’

Surprisingly, the cause was none other than Gracchus.

Due to his overwhelming faith, he had somehow become a priest and was now treating one of his followers, a patient, with his divine magic.

I was shocked that he was already doing this so soon after our separation, but there was something more important to address right now.

I needed to create my own exclusive divine magic as quickly as possible.

Divine magic. Used by priests, it’s actually just a type of magic where people without magical aptitude borrow a god’s power through faith.

Therefore, its system is basically the same as regular magic.

It uses the caster’s internal mana as a power source, prayers as catalysts instead of incantations, and is also classified into levels 1-5, with higher levels having greater power.

Divine power is merely a medium, and since the caster is still the one performing the magic, they can use high-level divine magic regardless of their deity’s power level. Additionally, just as certain mage classes use class-exclusive spells, priests can use exclusive divine magic specific to their deity in addition to general divine magic.

And that’s precisely why I’m in such a hurry now.

If I don’t quickly create at least a level 1 exclusive divine magic, I don’t know how Gracchus will react to the absence of exclusive divine magic.

In the game, each deity typically has 3 exclusive divine spells per level, totaling 15, and trying to create more than that often results in an overall quality decrease, which is why I’ve decided to create about 15 as well.

However, it’s difficult to create all the divine magic right now because exclusive divine magic can only be related to divine attributes, and… once created, replacing a divine spell consumes an enormous amount of faith.

So with my divine attribute currently limited to revenge alone, I plan to create only 2 level 1 exclusive divine spells, saving room for future divine magic based on attributes I’ll acquire later.

What do you think are the common traits of well-regarded level 1 divine spells?

They either have excellent cost-effectiveness or unique functions.

A buff with damage multipliers comparable to turn-based games but short duration? A powerful attack spell? A healing spell that recovers 1/2 HP in one go?

While such high-performance spells with proportionally high MP consumption are necessary… for novice clerics just learning level 1 divine magic, as well as high-level divine magic users, level 1 spells with these characteristics aren’t particularly efficient.

Even if a level 1 magic user could cast a spell with damage comparable to a level 2 spell, what use is a mage who runs out of MP after casting just two spells?

Even trying to supplement MP consumption with potions is impossible for level 1 magic users, considering that the cheapest mana recovery potion costs around 50 gold per bottle.

Moreover, with such low natural MP recovery rates, requiring a long rest in a safe zone—about 8 hours in game terms—to fully recover MP, using it more than three times a day would be difficult.

Also, even if a level 1 spell had level 2 firepower, considering that even mid-tier monsters often have low-level spell nullification abilities… there’s no reason to learn a high-damage level 1 spell when you could just use a level 2 spell.

Therefore, my current direction for these spells is a low-power attack spell similar to a basic attack and a simple enchantment spell.

Since level 1 general divine magic already has well-designed healing and buff spells, creating more would be redundant. Instead, I want to enhance the mediocre low-power attack and simple enchantment categories of general magic.

First, for the low-power attack spell.

Named “Flame of Hatred,” it summons black flames fueled by hatred at a designated location, dealing combined fire/divine damage.

It can be cast instantly on any target within sight, and the prayer—equivalent to an incantation—is extremely short, just one word (“Ignite!”).

Additionally, reflecting the game’s system mechanics of the revenge divine attribute, it incorporates the warrior skill “Vengeance,” allowing its power to increase up to 5 times proportionally to damage received from the opponent. As a result, the stronger the hatred felt toward the target, the more powerful the spell becomes.

For the simple enchantment spell that temporarily imbues non-magical weapons with magical effects, I employed the same flames used in “Flame of Hatred.”

Its official name is “Manifestation of Avenge.”

While general divine magic also has level 1 enchantment spells, the difference is that this one targets a single weapon instead of an area, dramatically increasing its performance in exchange.

Of course, its performance is incomparably superior to the general version.

The general level 1 enchantment spell makes all weapons in range magical, but… it only adds about 1-5 divine damage, making it primarily useful only for hitting ethereal beings that can’t be damaged by non-magical weapons.

In contrast, my enchantment spell “Manifestation of Avenge” can temporarily transform a single weapon into a genuine level 1 magical weapon.

It adds combined fire/divine damage equal to about 10% of the physical damage, and like “Flame of Hatred,” its power increases with the intensity of hatred felt toward the opponent.

This might not sound impressive at first, but that’s only if you don’t understand the value of level 1 magical weapons in this world.

Unlike monster ranks (1-10) and magic levels (1-5, learned every 2 levels), magical weapon grades don’t correspond directly to magic levels.

Generally, magical items circulating in the market are treated as grade 0, while level 1 magical weapons are custom-made products typically requiring the full effort of intermediate-level magic users—those capable of level 3 magic or higher.

Furthermore, level 2 items are high-grade products that even top-tier level 4 magic users can barely create, while level 3 magical items often appear as national treasures in the game.

From level 4 onward, items are comparable to ancient artifacts that appear randomly in highest-difficulty dungeons, and level 5 items, with very few exceptions, are divine artifacts created directly by gods.

Given the immense value of leveled items, in the game, most players only acquire a single level 1 item when they reach intermediate rank (grade 6).

But now, using “Manifestation of Avenge,” even a grade 7-10 priest can manifest a level 1 weapon, albeit for only about 10 minutes.

Considering that low-rank battles in the game rarely last more than 10 minutes, this would definitely be evaluated as a must-have level 1 spell in the early game.

…I may have copied this divine magic from a mod, but good is good.

Anyway, now that I’ve completed the level 1 exclusive divine magic, my next task is miracles.

Specifically, creating “exclusive miracles” just like exclusive divine magic.