After entrusting the task of establishing a religious order to Gai Tsutsugami, Souta finally found himself with some free time and began researching miracles.
He wasn't worried at all about Funeral Parlor's operation in Roppongi.
Inori Yuzuriha possessed the "Power of the King," and in terms of combat experience, she far surpassed Shu Ouma.
If she was involved in the mission, even if she didn't steamroll everything, she definitely wouldn't be kneeling before grunts.
If Shu could manage, there was no reason she couldn't.
So, for now, there was nothing to worry about.
"System, all worlds have Source Energy, right?"
Once he calmed down, Souta began asking the system questions.
To develop miracles, he needed to be thoroughly prepared.
[Yes.]
Souta continued, "Then with the modified version of the divinity system, can I create my own harbingers?"
[You can, but they'll be quite different from the original version.]
"What kind of differences?" Souta was intrigued.
[The harbingers created by the host derive their miracles from the "Source." Followers who believe in the host can, through a channel the host establishes, communicate and interact with a specific "Source" to use miracles developed from that Source.]
[For example, the host can help followers communicate with the "Source of Matter," allowing them to use miracles related to material manipulation.]
Souta thought it over and quickly grasped the concept.
In simple terms, a "Source" represented a concept.
As many concepts as there are, there are just as many Sources.
His divine domain over "Matter" was linked to the "Source of Matter."
As a deity, he could create a bridge for followers to communicate with the Source, allowing them to harness Source Energy.
How much they could use depended on the "bandwidth" of that bridge.
Of course, only gods could convert Source Energy into Divine Power.
Harbingers would likely only be able to use Source Energy as a kind of special power.
Souta continued probing:
"Do I have to develop every miracle that my harbingers use?"
[Yes. Allowing believers to connect to a Source gives them the energy for miracles, but without actual techniques, they'd have raw power with nothing to channel it through. Miracles are granted directly by the host.]
[Of course, it's not impossible that a truly gifted follower could develop their own techniques based on their understanding of the Source.]
"Oh? My harbingers can develop their own miracles?" Souta was a bit surprised.
[Extremely rare geniuses might manage it and any technique developed this way will be immediately comprehensible and usable by the host.]
The system's response delighted Souta.
It felt like he could gather the wisdom of many to enrich himself.
"Harbingers… they're kind of like magi from the Type-Moon universe. Source Energy is like mana, miracles are like magic foundations."
Souta made the comparison and realized the similarity.
"They also remind me of something. If I remember right, they always end up being cannon fodder."
This kind of power couldn't be handed out carelessly.
In the wrong hands, it could lead to serious problems.
He would have to use faith as a filtering metric to decide who was worthy of being his priest.
And he'd need to create a divine scanner to detect good or evil intent.
Souta definitely didn't want villains gaining his harbinger's powers.
He began seriously considering the rules for granting such power.
As he thought more about it, a strange realization struck him.
"Wait a second!"
Souta quickly asked the system:
"My harbingers can communicate with Source Energy directly, but I can only obtain Source Energy by doing things related to my domain. Isn't that kind of backwards?"
Why?
He was the god, why did he have more limitations than his harbingers?
They had direct access, and he had to go the roundabout way?
[Harbingers only interact with Source Energy. What the host does is extract and convert Source Energy into Divine Power.]
[The host can also interfere with Source Energy directly. For example, when you casually manipulate matter, you don't use Divine Power because you're instinctively interacting with the "Source of Matter."]
"That's a thing?" Souta pondered a moment and asked:
"Then why do I use Divine Power when I manipulate matter on a large scale?"
[Simple interference with Source Energy has limited effects. Only miracles can properly guide Source Energy to create order and manifest phenomena.]
"Wait, so if I develop a miracle, then when I use it myself, I'm pulling from ambient Source Energy and not my own Divine Power?"
[Correct. However, frequent interference with Source Energy will consume mental stamina.]
"Mental stamina comes back after sleep, right?"
[Yes.]
That was a nice bonus!
A faint smile appeared on Souta's face.
He'd finally found a way to fight without burning through his Divine Power.
He was starting to feel like a proper spellcaster.
If he could develop a ton of miracles, not only would he enhance his combat strength, but he'd essentially fight for free in terms of Divine Power.
If his mental stamina was high enough, he could toss around world-ending spells like candy!
"This is a straight-up bug."
Souta felt both amused and amazed.
"No time to waste, let's start developing miracles!"
…
Two days passed.
After holing up in his base for two days, Souta hadn't created a single miracle. Not even a clue where to start.
"I knew it wouldn't be that easy!"
He sighed. The dream of "free casting" was shattered.
Of course, it was also because he'd aimed way too high.
He'd been thinking only about world-ending spells for two whole days.
Things like a matter-based "Moonfall."
Or an energy-based "Gamma Ray Burst."
Maybe miracles based on the four fundamental forces like "Wide-Area Electromagnetic Silence," "Celestial Manipulation," or "Supergravity Cannon."
All theoretically within the scope of the Source of Matter.
The result? Like a tiger trying to eat the sky, no way to even take a bite!
If he'd started with a low-level miracle, maybe he'd have made progress by now.
"Whatever. I'll put myself aside for now and focus on the followers."
Reluctantly, Souta changed his priorities.
The more powerful a miracle, the longer it would take to develop.
Maybe a lot longer, decades or even centuries like researching a legendary spell.
His current goal was enabling his followers to use miracles and bring him Source Energy.
With that in mind, small-scale miracles would suffice.
This time, Souta planned to cheat.
He'd use the system's auxiliary functions.
Besides helping understand laws, the auxiliary tools could also help develop techniques.
Perfect for this.
Because even for simple miracles, he estimated the time required wouldn't be trivial.
Without cheating, it would be a slow grind.
Souta pulled out his system phone, opened the store, and checked his point balance.
—86.
"…So broke."
He sighed.
No choice left but to shamelessly rely on someone else.
With Kurumi in a deep sleep, he thought for a moment and sent a private message to Rin Tohsaka.
Souta: "Rin, how's your progress on the Second Magic?"