Flames licked at his skin like savage beasts, and an indescribable burning pain shot straight to his bones, making Ren cry out in agony.
The acrid smell of burnt flesh and thick smoke rushed into his nose and lungs, making it hard to breathe.
"Can't sleep, mustn't sleep, I'll die! I'll really die!"
"Stay awake! I have to stay awake!"
The physical torture and mental anguish filled Ren with helplessness and despair.
His body was tied to a cross with no way to escape. All he could do was watch as the flames slowly devoured him...
"Hah—"
Ren jolted awake and shot up from his bed, gasping for air.
Ever since the day he was sacrificed, whenever he fell asleep, he'd dream of that desperate moment!
Even after being mysteriously sent to the Goddess of Magic's divine realm, even after inexplicably entering into a marriage contract with the Goddess of Magic, the nightmares hadn't stopped.
The pain from that day clung to him like a curse!
Even though he'd lost his physical body and only his soul remained, becoming a legendary holy spirit, it didn't help one bit...
With trembling hands, he opened the window, hoping the breeze outside would calm him down.
But the moment the window opened, a massive book suddenly appeared in front of him, blocking all the wind:
"Good morning, Lord Ren! How are you feeling today? Looks like you had another nightmare? That's no good—it'll affect your magical theory studies. Speaking of which, today's a perfect day for learning! The weather's great, no annoying holy spirits or chattering magical creatures to disturb us. Lord Ren, do you know what a chattering magical creature..."
"You're chattering enough already."
Here was an extremely chatty magical creature right in front of him, complaining about other magical creatures being chatty. Ren felt his head throb and glared at the thing: "Shut up!"
"Oh, of course, Lord Ren. You like reading quietly, just like the Goddess. Your loyal butler knows this very well. Keeping quiet is important for you because..."
Ren took a deep breath: "What I mean is, I'm ordering you to be quiet!"
The moment he said "ordering," the book finally went silent.
But the silence only lasted a few seconds.
"Lord Ren, I almost forgot the important stuff. Is the Goddess here?"
"..." Ren was speechless for a moment. He seemed to gain an even deeper understanding of just how chatty this book was. "What's going on?"
"The divine realm's faith power is severely insufficient. The realm's barrier is becoming unstable. Without the Goddess's divine power to reinforce it, the divine realm might have problems..."
"The divine realm's barrier is unstable? Wait, what?! Faith power is severely insufficient? How's that possible?" Ren couldn't help but exclaim.
This was the Goddess of Magic's divine realm, not some minor deity's!
The Goddess of Magic, also known as the God of All Spells and the Lady of Mysteries, ruled over magical power.
Legend said she was the mentor to the world's first dragon and the elves.
How could such a being have a faith shortage?!
Sure, spellcasters made up only a tiny fraction of the world's population—maybe one in ten thousand—but the more powerful someone was, the more faith power they contributed...
By all logic, the Goddess of Magic should be one of the deities with the most faith power!
How could she possibly have a severe faith shortage?
The cold sweat that had just disappeared broke out again.
A sense of crisis filled his heart!
In the few days since arriving at the divine realm, he'd learned quite a bit about the rules.
Everything in the divine realm depended on faith power to exist.
Whether it was the divine realm itself or holy spirits like him—it was all the same.
Once they lost faith power, his remaining soul would completely disappear too.
Then there really would be nothing left!
After transmigration to this world and becoming a prince of the Kingdom of Dawn, he'd thought he could reach the peak of life. But before he could even process all the information in his head, he got sacrificed. Then the deity who demanded his sacrifice directly converted him into a holy spirit and dumped him here with the Goddess of Magic. He'd barely had two peaceful days, and now he might disappear due to insufficient faith power... Could this get any more hellish?!
"When the Goddess was still mortal, she once said while teaching others magic: 'Knowledge is power. So-called gods are just scholars who happen to be a bit stronger...'"
The book's tone was full of admiration, but Ren caught the key point: "So spellcasters who like pursuing truth and exploring mysteries don't provide faith power?"
"No, no, no, not all of them. A small portion of magicians do choose to worship the Goddess."
The book kept denying it: "But the Goddess's main source of faith comes from when people test for magical talent—from those apprentices and their families."
"..." Ren quickly searched through his memories.
It really seemed to be like that.
People who respected the Goddess of Magic were everywhere, but those who actually believed in her were few and far between.
At most, they'd pray during magical talent tests... praying they'd have decent magical abilities.
"Ah, this..." Ren suddenly felt that if he didn't think of something, he might really end up completely destroyed. Who told him his wife apparently didn't know how to collect faith...
But how could he help her quickly collect faith?
Ren's mind raced, drawing on knowledge from both his past life on Earth and his current life:
"Book, if I remember correctly, you mentioned that the entire mortal realm is like a ball, and the source of magic is this ball's core? All magical power emanates from the core? Doesn't that mean all spellcasters can be connected through magic power?"
"Of course! When I taught you this knowledge, I expected you to be amazed, but your ability to accept new concepts far exceeded my expectations." The book couldn't help but praise him: "Lord Ren, I don't have time to waste here. Do you know where the Goddess is?"
"Definitely in the laboratory."
Ren really wanted to complain that probably any Earthling wouldn't find this knowledge hard to accept, right?
But thinking about how chatty this book was, he held back: "When you go, tell the Goddess I've thought of a good way to collect faith!"