News of the ‘tokens of faith’ spread like wildfire throughout the various worlds, even without the gods themselves making any sort of

Announcement

. People very quickly became aware of the different uses of the tokens, as well as the requirements for the services that would most affect them.

Naturally, for the most part everyone was already worshipping the god or goddess that would help them the most in their daily lives. Healers were already praying to Udona, generals to Bihena, or blacksmiths to Tubrock. However, this opened up a new path of religion for some who did not previously consider seeking a particular divinity.

As an example, there were many alchemists that hadn’t considered worshipping Tryval, but instead worshipped Udona or Accalia. When they saw that they would be able to acquire rare and valuable medicinal herbs from Tryval, they became increasingly interested and started to study his religion more deeply.

It must be known that the value of an offering lay not in its monetary worth, but the faith of the one who offers it. While the exact specifics were unclear, many knew that they would only be able to receive the tokens of faith if their belief in the deity was true.

To some, that became an obstacle to prevent them from joining the religion. After all, if they did not care for the teachings of a god and instead only wanted to make their offerings as a business exchange, they would receive minimal rewards. For these people, a new trend appeared on the market.

Unlike the tokens of the Boundless Caravan, the tokens of faith were able to be exchanged between people freely. Whether through buying or stealing, it was possible to acquire tokens of a faith outside of your own. When these tokens hit the market, it created a stir, completely upsetting the balance of prices across a huge number of products.

Tokens were used as the new universal measurement for several goods and services. The fact that one could buy both gems and coins with the tokens of Ryone caused the prices of those gems to settle at their token equivalent. Similarly, the different items that one could buy from Tubrock and Tryval would have their prices in the real market affected. Some previously rare and valuable herbs became cheap while a select few more common plants experienced an increase in their market price.

Perhaps the most exaggerated example would be the price of refined gold bars, as it was influenced by a grand total of three tokens. First, the tokens of Leowynn that could provide the raw metal ore. These tokens became the lowest common denominator across all physical goods, linking the changes in market costs.

Next, the tokens of Tubrock, who ‘forged’ the metal. His tokens interacted with the price of all other metals, creating a standard that could be used to measure their ‘worth’ in the eyes of the heavens.

Finally, the tokens of Ryone. This is where the price had really become set in stone, and forced the previous two tokens, as well as their different influenced items to undergo a price change. With one token of Ryone and one token of Leowynn being exchanged for one haram in the elven markets, that became a firm price. Despite Tubrock’s tokens not being required for purchasing currency, it still entered the equation when determining the value of the material.

Five tokens of Leowynn and one token of Tubrock could purchase a single gold bar, which could in turn be forged into fifty golden coins the size of a haram. This would normally put Leowynn’s token value at five tokens per two pounds of gold ore. However, because of the direct conversion to haram coins with Ryone, that price was not set.

Instead, the price wasn’t calculated as if Leowynn and Tubrock shared the same value. Tubrock’s tokens had an increase in price while Leowynn’s were lowered. In the end, Leowynn’s tokens had a market price of four per haram.

Ultimately, the price had almost gone down even further, before the market was forced to accept the limited supply when compared to the demand. Although more and more people had been beginning to worship Leowynn, she was still after all a new goddess. The number of people who genuinely worshipped her couldn’t be compared to the more established gods, which resulted in a shortage of her tokens on the market. Furthermore, those that sold their coins were those that typically did not put as much value in their faith, resulting in them receiving less coins than devout followers.

If the supply of tokens was without limit, perhaps every world would have changed to using them as a universal currency. Instead, their existence became a luxury, but one with a fixed price in relation to other goods. Once Leowynn’s tokens had their values set, it was only a matter of time before every other token that contributed towards physical goods was similarly evaluated.

There were few exceptions to this, very few of the divines not offering any sort of physical product. The most notable, and easily becoming the most expensive token, was that of Terra. She only offered a single type of item with her token, and it was an expensive blessing that only affected her priests. Yet, it still caused more people to convert to her faith.

The power to receive divine hints about future dangers became incredibly valuable almost instantly. While lost properties can be restored, and wealth can be regained, one person only had one life. For a hundred of Terra’s tokens, one could receive a clue to their fate, and earn a chance to save themselves.

Perhaps, the recent release of the Perfection Chamber increased the value of these coins even further. Anyone who followed Terra and considered using the chamber to achieve perfection would inevitably want to purchase this blessing and determine if they would be able to succeed or not. For those that learned they wouldn’t, they could only smile bitterly and try again after improving themselves.

Within his research lab, James had twelve shining coins laid out before him, one of every deity in the Greater Pantheon. It had taken him a bit of effort in order to obtain the tokens of all twelve in the name of research materials. Yet, he clearly didn’t have the urge to research them, letting out a light laugh as he put them in a frame.

“So that’s what he meant.” James muttered to himself, recalling the previous words of the Keeper, about how they would be releasing something that would distract the masses from the Perfect Chamber’s chances of success. “I didn’t think he’d be coming out with something like that. Well… guess I should put in a bit more work on my end.”

Behind James was an elven researcher, a woman who looked at him curiously. “Is this about the new project we’ve recently started working on?”

“Right.” He nodded his head, placing the framed coins on the wall and anchoring them in place with his magic. “Have you made any progress with the formula I gave you?”

The elven woman furrowed her brow, before letting out a long sigh. “Unfortunately, I can’t say I’ve had any success yet. Thanks to your warning, I was prepared for the explosion that occurred when I performed the fusion, but the remaining energy dissipated before I was able to extract it.”

“That’s still a success!” James told her proudly, clapping her on the shoulder. “You’re not lacking even compared to the twins, so have a bit more confidence in yourself. Send the data to me later, and I’ll start working on the refinement device.”

Though he said that, she felt that his words were not entirely sincere. While she was confident that her talent in energy was great, the ‘twins’ that James had mentioned had already performed a successful fusion in this energy. Upon doing so, they both obtained the Pilot class, and had been steadily building their essence pools.

Of course, for the time being, James had ordered them to not tell anyone about the new class. Not until they had perfected the method of fusing its energy such that normal people could do so without a substantial risk to their lives. For some reason, he had been particularly firm in his tone when it came to the twins, emphasizing that they couldn’t tell anyone.

“Nora, how are you and your sister coming with your research?” An elderly felyn man asked within the virtual room, his gaze directed at a young kitsune woman. It had been some time since their last report, and so it was time to check in again.

To his surprise, the girl appeared nervous when she was asked this question, her eyes meeting that of the elder who had sponsored her and her sister. “In truth… we have made a breakthrough, sir. However, we are not allowed to speak of its nature, or divulge any information.”

The man raised a curious brow, before the girl continued to explain. “At the present time, only James, Thea, and myself have completed the first step of this research. So it could be said that we are more familiar with it than the rest, but… James is aware of our connection with the hidden clan. He specifically forbade us from sharing this information until our research advances further.”

The felyn’s eyes opened wide when he heard that they had been discovered, before his brow furrowed. “You revealed yourselves so soon?”

“I assure you, we didn’t!” Nora insisted with a firm shake of her head. “We have been following the training and not leaving any physical traces. Even our own minds were clouded by the self-hypnotic spells that the clan devised to further perfect our performance. Outside of these meetings, or special triggers, even we ourselves would not be aware that we were connected to the clan.”

“And yet he discovered you.” The elder pointed out, causing the lycan to let out a sigh.

“That is correct. His perceptive ability is terrifying, if I may speak frankly. With only a glance, he saw through my and Thea’s combined energy, even without us performing a demonstration of it. I don’t know if he saw traces of the training in my movements, if he was able to sense the self-hypnosis, or if it was one of the gods that revealed us. The only thing that I can be sure of is that he does not care whether we are connected to an outside force or not.”

The elder looked towards Nora rather quizzically. “Then why would he forbid you from sharing the knowledge in this instance?”

To that, Nora actually seemed to have an answer. “It’s because the current knowledge is too dangerous. If people wanted to act on it with only the practical knowledge we’ve obtained so far, they would be throwing their lives away. James wishes for us to first invent an external assistance device that would solve this problem. After that has been completed, we’ll be able to share what we know with the clan.”

The elder seemed somewhat relieved at that answer, nodding his head. “Understood. In that case, carry on. Have the two of you received any new progress in other matters, yet?”

“We have.” Nora’s eyes showed a glimmer of excitement. “Under his guidance, we formed the dual-energy pathways in our bodies. Now, both Thea and I possess both halves of the completed energy. Unless we force the collision between them, this energy is very stable.” As she said that, she focused to upload her current energy pathways into the virtual room.

This was indeed considerable progress, which brought the elder great surprise. Their combined energies, which had apparently earned the name ‘Destructive Balance’ from James, was the result of generations of research from the clan. Only two people with identical natures would be able to cooperate to train this energy together.

Until now, they had always assumed that the energy itself was meant to be practiced by a pair, due to every attempt at using both energies in one body ending in failure. Now, with the file that Nora had just uploaded, they had the chance to spread this energy to the rest of the clan.