Brandon finished drinking the elephant's blood and stood up with his massive body. Though he was still quite hungry, he felt much better. He picked up the elephant and ran back to the nest. There were a few injured beasts in the cave waiting for food.
Returning much faster this time, Brandon made it back to the cave in less than ten minutes.
Skyler was already back, and there was a new carcass of a five or six-meter-long animal in the cave. This creature had a single horn on its head and was covered in scales. There was a huge blood hole in its head, likely Skyler's doing.
Brandon was curious about the large blood hole in the creature's head, wondering how Skyler had killed the beast. The carcass was untouched, indicating they were waiting for him to join the feast.
Kong had woken up. Still looking weak, with dry lips and a pale face, he saw Brandon enter and let out a sound. He scratched his head and a mischievous smile appeared on his fierce face.
Four giant pythons lay coiled on the ground, like four massive mounds of flesh. They had awakened from their cultivation, their heads resting limply on the ground, appearing listless. Brandon threw the elephant's carcass to the ground with a loud thud. Using his sharp claws, he tore the elephant and the strange beast into seven pieces, each chunk weighing several tons.
The giant beasts gathered around and immediately started eating. The three giant pythons swallowed the massive chunks of meat in one gulp, then coiled up again, their eyes half-closed as they began to digest.
The most refined eater was undoubtedly Skyler. With his sharp beak, he elegantly pecked at the meat chunks, in stark contrast to Kong and the others' ravenous eating.
In just a few minutes, Brandon and the giant beasts had devoured the entire elephant and the strange beast.
Midway through eating, Brandon remembered that the humans hadn't had anything to eat yet. He looked at the humans cleaning the cave—they couldn't afford to let such cheap labor starve. Tearing off a piece of meat weighing dozens of pounds, he tossed it to them. Whether they ate it raw or cooked it was up to them, as long as it didn’t interfere with their work.
The food here was noticeably more plentiful compared to other places. For ordinary creatures, this amount of food wouldn’t even fill Brandon's teeth. But after eating the meat and drinking the blood earlier, Brandon felt somewhat full. His body started to warm up, a weak but comfortable heat spreading from his stomach throughout his body.
He yawned, feeling drowsy.
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He lay down, his eyelids growing heavier, and soon his thunderous snores filled the cave.
As Brandon slept, he found himself in a strange space, an empty void stretching out in all directions. The entire space spanned about a hundred meters in diameter, measured by his own body size. It was a massive circular area, with its edges shrouded in thick white fog that continuously dissipated and reformed, creating a mysterious, ethereal boundary. The space was brightly lit, yet Brandon couldn't identify any source of light.
Brandon floated in mid-air without flapping his wings, as if an invisible force held him aloft. Despite the eerie nature of this space, it felt oddly comfortable to him, almost like being back in his nest. This feeling was inexplicably soothing, and he sensed that he could move freely within this space.
Testing this, he thought about moving without using his wings. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, his body instantly relocated to his desired position, almost like teleportation. He had a strange sense of control over everything in this space.
Curious about the fog at the edge of the space, he approached it. Extending a claw, he gently touched the white mist, which seeped through his claws, with some of it seemingly absorbed by his body. This contact made him feel immensely comfortable.
Suddenly, he heard faint sounds, seemingly emanating from the fog. These noises were a mix of whispers and murmurs, creating a cacophony. Amidst the noise, he could faintly discern prayers, as if someone was calling out to him.
The sight of the white fog and the noise felt oddly familiar to Brandon, as if he had experienced this before. As he tried to recall these familiar scenes, he was filled with confusion.
Abruptly, a sharp pain pierced his head, waking him up instantly. He opened his eyes, looking dazedly at the ground. His mind began to process the recent memories and thoughts about faith. It seemed the white fog was something significant, a manifestation of some kind of belief or power.
The power of belief is a form of spiritual energy. By itself, it has no tangible effects. No matter how much belief a mortal possesses, it won't enhance their strength or extend their lifespan.
An individual's belief is insignificant, but the combined belief of thousands or millions is immensely powerful.
However, without a soul reaching a certain level of enlightenment, one cannot harness this power. Such individuals won't even perceive this energy, let alone absorb it.
For these people, a vast amount of belief is useless. This explains why a mortal, no matter how much belief they gather, cannot become a god.
A god's omnipotence, ability to create from nothing, and to realize their desires, comes from being able to condense and utilize this vast power of belief. Belief is not only the source of divine power but also the origin of a god's existence.
Brandon never expected that he, too, possessed belief. He suddenly remembered the cannibal tribe in the deep underground pit. After all that had happened, Brandon had almost forgotten about them. It seemed they truly regarded him as a god after he left.
What Brandon didn't anticipate was that the majority of this belief did not come from the cannibal tribe. Instead, it came from the very people of the civilized world who he despised. The emergence of a dragon shook the entire world, leading many to worship and believe in dragons.
Yet, with his current strength, he couldn't fully absorb these beliefs.
The existence of this power of belief would slowly transform him over time, although this process would take a very long time—thousands or even tens of thousands of years.