Ding—
[You have a new log entry. Please check it promptly!]
Half-asleep, Anser heard the dice's notification chime. His heart tightened instantly, like a basin of icy water had been dumped over his head in the dead of winter, jolting him fully awake.
He opened his eyes and swept his gaze across the room. Everything was silent. Nothing seemed out of place. The Arcane Lock remained intact, and the Alarm spell had not been triggered either.
Maeve lay curled beside the pillow, her little belly rising and falling as she slept soundly.
Anser relaxed slightly. For a moment, he had thought someone had come to assassinate him again.
Last time, if not for the dice's combat check warning him in advance, he truly would not have noticed anything on his own.
The dice had two core functions. One was the character sheet, and the other was the log system, which recorded all kinds of things—combat, experience, checks, saving throws, and more. Normally, however, it did not interfere with battle or daily life, and almost never popped up notifications like this.
Unless he had encountered danger, or was going through a major event such as leveling up.
'What happened?'
He lay back down and sank his consciousness into his mind to review the records stored within the dice.
[You have received the favor of an unknown deity and obtained a strand of divinity along with a divine oracle…]
'This…'
Anser's thoughts froze for an instant, utterly stunned.
Ever since the Weave became unstable, the gods had lost contact with their followers. Even the most devout clerics could no longer receive responses from their deities.
'And someone like me—a casual believer—is worthy of divine favor?'
Suppressing the confusion filling his mind, he carefully read through the log entry. The more he read, the more shocked he became.
Just moments ago, the dice had detected the descent of an unknown deity's will. The connection had been weak, and the intent unclear. Several times, the deity attempted to draw away Anser's soul consciousness, but Anser's Brilliant Soul proved rather "difficult to handle," and every attempt ended in failure.
But the deity did not give up. Instead, They switched methods and directly projected down a strand of divinity carrying a divine oracle, which the dice successfully "captured."
Just like the dragon race's gift back then.
The contents of the oracle were extremely simple. It hoped he would maintain order in Toril, remain vigilant against the descent of evil gods, actively identify and purify those blessed by evil deities, and upon completing such tasks, he would receive rewards—including but not limited to divine spells, advancement in class rank, or entry into a divine kingdom.
'The rewards are pretty good, but who exactly is this? Why didn't They even leave a name behind?'
Anser reread the oracle several times, yet failed to find a single clue regarding the deity's identity.
'Who could it be? Mystra? Bahamut? An elemental lord? Tyr? How am I supposed to identify followers of evil gods? And how do I actually receive these rewards?'
His gaze drifted unfocused.
At the end of the day, he was merely a casual believer. He did not worship gods fanatically. His behavior and ideals simply happened to align with the doctrines of certain deities.
Like elemental oaths aligning with elemental lords, or magic aligning with the Goddess of Magic.
A divine favored one who did not even know who his "lord" was. The irony was almost laughable.
'Something must have happened in the Outer Planes. Otherwise, there'd be no reason for them to seek out a tiny Sorcerer like me,' Anser guessed.
He strongly suspected he was not the only one chosen. Perhaps he was merely one result of some deity casting a wide net—a pawn in a conflict over faith.
'Good thing I'm not a devout believer. The connection isn't deep. Otherwise, I might've been turned into a vessel for divine descent.'
Never assume that lawful or good-aligned gods are incapable of doing terrible things. Alignment was a broad concept. For the sake of the "greater good," sacrificing the "individual" was perfectly ordinary to them.
Anser was far more interested in that strand of divinity. He checked the records again and discovered that the divinity was not actually within him—the dice had intercepted and retained it instead.
The silver twenty-sided die had gained a faint golden sheen across its surface.
He tapped the glowing divinity section on his character sheet, causing a small information window to pop up:
[Divinity — Attribute: Life]
'Life?'
Divinity was the "essence of godhood," the qualification required to become a deity. It was often referred to as the spark.
To ascend to godhood, one first had to obtain divinity through some means, then ignite a divine spark and convert faith into divine power before truly becoming a god.
The core components of a deity included divinity, divine power, divine portfolio, and divine rank. Among them, divinity was the most important—and also unique.
If one crudely compared gods to ordinary workers, then the divine portfolio would be the job itself, divinity the nature of the work, divine power the ability to perform it, and divine rank the position level.
The commonly mentioned weak divine power, intermediate divine power, and greater divine power all referred to divine rank.
"Life" was an extremely broad domain. Many deities held portfolios related to it, such as Amaunator, Chauntea, Lathander, Selûne, Eldath, Helm, Bahamut…
So even if a deity did not directly possess a corresponding divine portfolio, it would not be strange for Them to possess this type of divinity.
After thinking fruitlessly for a long time, Anser eventually stopped torturing himself over it.
'I hereby dub you the Careless God.'
He continued reading through the related information and was quickly drawn to the final line.
This strand of divinity, complete with divine power, could be exchanged for ten thousand experience points!
'Followers of evil gods deserve death at everyone's hands!'
Anser's spirits immediately soared, his motivation surging all at once.
Experience points were the real practical reward!
And those followers of evil gods definitely carried divinity and divine power as well. Once killed, the dice would most likely be able to "intercept" and retain them.
As for whether this would offend some deity, that was not his problem to worry about. After all, he was merely "acting under orders."
The blame belonged to "my lord." The benefits belonged to him.
Still, he had no intention of consuming this strand of divinity for now. If the deity suddenly lost contact with him entirely, that could become troublesome.
'Becoming a god might not be all that wonderful after all,' Anser mused as he walked barefoot to the window.
A divine portfolio was both authority and restraint. It came with advantages and disadvantages alike.
He was not even a Legend yet. Godhood was still far too distant for him to worry about now.
Staring at the pale white glow appearing along the horizon, he stretched hard, unease and tension quietly rising within him.
He desperately wanted more information. If divine favored ones were truly beginning to appear across the world, then it was easy to imagine the entirety of Realmspace becoming one enormous battlefield.
Alliances between gods were not determined solely by alignment. Divine portfolios, historical grudges, and practical interests all played a role, and betrayal was an extremely common occurrence. The situation would only become more chaotic than anyone imagined.
After letting his thoughts wander aimlessly for a while, dawn gradually arrived.
He pulled out a book explaining divination magic and tried reading it for some time, but his mind remained restless, unable to focus.
In the end, he simply got dressed and went outside, climbing onto the walls of Fort Jacqueline. As he strolled along the ramparts, he gazed out over the plains and Durlag's Tower beneath the morning light.
By the time Iris came to call him for breakfast, he had already regained his composure. Still, he did not tell her about the divine favor, because there was no clear way to explain it.
Better to wait until he had actual proof before telling her.
Throughout the meal, Anser kept considering how to identify and hunt followers of evil gods, but aside from relying on the dice, he could not think of any more effective method.
Trying to stumble across them on his own would be like searching for a needle in the ocean.
'First, I should establish a combat order and prepare in advance,' he thought to himself.
"Anser?"
Iris noticed his distraction and fixed him with a probing gaze.
"Just thinking about something. What is it?" Anser turned toward her.
Iris did not press further. She set down her knife and fork and dabbed at her lips with a napkin.
"The knights reported that my father's old friend should arrive today. Come greet him with me."
"The Wizard who once studied at Candlekeep, the one you mentioned before?"
"That's right."
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