Sword of Dawn

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Veronica maintained a calm and gentle expression: "What do you want to talk about?"

"Let's talk about you, Miss Ophelia," Gawain said with a smile, "and the rebellious plan you know—I think it's time for us to discuss this topic a little more deeply."

Chapter 0666 The beginning of the rebellious plan

Gawain has always been very interested in the huge "rebellious plan" of the ancient Gondor Empire - in a sense, this plan, in his opinion, can no longer be described as just huge, it... can even be described as great to describe.

This is a plan for human beings to confirm the existence of gods, and on the basis of the reality that extraordinary powers dominate the world, and actively want to fight against gods to survive. In modern times 1000 years later, human civilization has declined, and people other than humans All races seem to be trapped in the quagmire. Gawain has seen too much rigidity, backwardness, ignorance and decline in this era. However, some sparks of disobedience to the plan still continue in this dark chaos. Prove one thing to Gao Wen:

The human beings in this world have the factors of resistance and survival in their bones.

However, if he probes carefully and thinks carefully, Gao Wen finds that there are too many doubts in the disobedience plan-this huge plan seems to revolve around "disobedience to the gods" from the beginning to the end, although its ultimate goal seems to be to fight against the devil. Tide, but is it just for human beings to survive the tide?

The Gondor Empire tried to fight against the gods with such a decisive attitude. Even after the end of the demon tide and the emergence of a new country, there were still disobedient people like Ophelia continuing the research of the old empire. The focus of these research seems to be It has completely transformed into a simple analysis of the gods, fighting against the tide of magic... On the contrary, it is more like a subsidiary product of this series of plans.

And even putting aside these doubts, with Ophelia as a living disobedient, Gao Wen would inevitably want to find out those ancient secrets from this "client". After all... gossip is the nature of human beings One, the same goes for becoming a satellite spirit.

"The rebellious plan... I thought you would at least discuss it with me after the situation was completely stabilized," Ophelia smiled lightly, "The field involved in this topic cannot be explained clearly in a few words."

"Just chatting casually to satisfy my personal curiosity," Gao Wen said, "You don't have to answer my question completely. If you think there are some secrets that must be kept, then we can keep them until we both establish more secrets." After trust—after all, it’s just casual chatting.”

Ophelia was sitting on the high-backed chair next to Gawain's desk, she turned her head slightly, her cheeks seemed to be soaked in a tiny layer of holy light: "Don't worry, I'm happy to tell you about this, disobedient Never turning away fellow travelers, our cause is not invisible, save for the necessary secrecy of the public."

Gao Wen nodded: "That's good - I already know that the Rebellion Project is actually divided into many project groups, and the 'Abominable' project carried out by Kamel is actually only one of them. I am very curious about its total How many projects are there, and which part are you specifically responsible for?"

Ofelia pondered for a while: "How many specific projects...I'm afraid I really can't tell you this. It's not that I intend to keep it secret, but...because God may hear it."

Gao Wen frowned: "God will hear?"

"I'm not sure if you can understand this too abstract knowledge, I can only state what I know: There are some items... The rebels have gone too far, to the place between the world of mortals and the world of gods In the realm of chaos, where you know the gods, the gods know you - we have taken some safety measures to ensure that we can misdirect the gods' sight, and let the gods look away during our research, but if in Mention them at inappropriate times, especially through the mouths of disobedients, and these misleading measures may be punctured immediately..."

"The gods have certain conceptual qualities, so that as long as relevant knowledge is mentioned in certain specific fields, they will attract their attention?"

"...You have excellent comprehension skills." Ofelia gave Gao Wen a slightly surprised look, "This is a sincere compliment."

"After experiencing a life and death, I have more or less come into contact with some hidden knowledge," Gao Wen said casually, "Since the gods have such qualities, how on earth are you able to study those items that you can't even mention? "

"...I can't even mention this," Ophelia shook her head helplessly—this was the first time Gawain saw a helpless expression on her face, "The security measures that were set up back then are now invalid. I can't discuss any related topics with you in the real world, in a sense, these hidden projects have been 'stuck' on the edge of God's Domain, I'm sorry, I haven't found a way to break the situation yet."

"...It doesn't matter, you can't force everything," Gao Wen breathed out, "Then tell me about the projects you are in charge of, and pick the ones you can talk about."

"Studying the essence of the gods and their many laws, and trying to find loopholes in them, this is my main task," Ophelia nodded, "In addition, I am also responsible for managing several rebellious bases, including yours. The known fortress of rebellion."

"Several bases..." Gao Wen suddenly raised his eyelids, showing surprise, "There are still many bases like the Rebel Fortress?"

"Such a dangerous plan, how can you put all the projects in one place?" Ophelia said lightly, "The rebellious fortress you know is just one of many bases. But as far as I know, the rebellious fortress is indeed It is the largest and the earliest of all the bases - it is connected to the fallen place of the giant deer Amorn, where our original project began, and therefore, it is entitled to be called 'disobedience' Two words."

Gao Wen couldn't help asking: "The other bases of disobedience..."

Ophelia's next answer temporarily dispelled all his thoughts: "In the wasteland of Gondor."

"...Okay," Gao Wen sighed, "this is a goal we can't solve for the time being."

Ofelia looked at Gao Wen: "About the rebellious plan, what else do you want to know?"

Gao Wen thought about it, and tapped the table in front of him lightly with his fingers: "Is the goal of rebelling against the plan just to fight against the evil tide? In order to fight against the evil tide, you must disobey the gods? Or put it another way...why must Can humans survive against the gods? Is it because only by stealing the power of the gods can people resist the evil tide, or is it because the gods caused the evil tide?"

This is exactly the question that Gao Wen has been thinking about recently: What is the original reason and motivation for the disobedient to fight against the gods?

As a former atheist, coupled with the thinking habits of his previous life, he didn't think there was anything wrong with the plan when he first knew about it. In his opinion, it can be said that mortals try to break free from the shackles of gods "Inherently correct": Pursue freedom, overthrow demons and monsters, gods oppress the world, isn't that what it is?

But the longer he lived in this world, the more he felt the contradiction from the local people's worldview:

What is the relationship between gods and mortals?They do control the source of divine power, control the beliefs of mortals, and may even create a "spiritual seal" to ensure mortals' belief in themselves, but other than that, they have really intervened in the operation of the mortal world what?

The church acts as the god to supervise the world - this is one of the rules of the mortal world. In other words, in fact, those priest groups composed of mortals are the real exploiters and oppressors, and even the interpreters of theocracy, and Wright This was also confirmed after taking over the Church of the Holy Light: Although such things as oracles exist, the number of times the gods actually issue oracles is pitifully small. Apart from the connection in the field of divine arts, they can be said to be completely free. Outside of this world, the ones who really do things are just the priests...

Of course, Gao Wen still has full fear and even hostility towards the gods, but this is determined by his personal experience and worldview.

And what about the others besides him?What about the natives who were born and raised in this world?What about the ancient rebels?

The disobedient initially decided to fight against the gods, and there must be a more impetus reason—according to the information revealed by Ophelia, the disobedient plan can be said to be against the gods in all aspects, not only stealing their power, but also Study their essence, find their coordinates, find their weaknesses, and go one step further... They certainly don't mind killing those gods.

If it's just for mortals to survive in the demon tide, they don't have to do this step. The reason why they do this must be a deeper reason, such as...

The existence of gods to mortals is itself an "absolute threat".

Regarding this point, Kamel, who is only a senior researcher and team leader, cannot give Gawain an answer, but Ophelia Norton, who is a member of the royal family of the old empire and a senior manager of the rebellious project, must know something.

Gawain's question may have really hit the point, Ophelia's expression was faintly solemn, and after a long time of pondering, she quietly opened her mouth:

"As long as gods exist, human beings will be destroyed one day."

Gao Wen frowned: "...So they really caused the demon tide?"

"On the contrary, the gods have never triggered a demon tide, even according to our research, in the ancient lost civilizations—do you know the ancient lost civilizations?"

Gao Wen nodded: "I have been in contact with the Dragon Clan and know some things about ancient civilizations. It seems that you know this too."

"Then it's easy to communicate—according to our research, ancient civilizations also encountered demon tides, and some of them survived disasters, and not all of these civilizations that survived disasters relied on their own strength..."

"You mean..." Gao Wen stopped tapping on the table suddenly, his eyes were serious, "God helped?"

"It's not just a helping hand - the darker it is, the more dazzling the light is, the more severe the disaster that mortals encounter, the more gods will spare no effort to protect mortals, there is evidence that in ancient times, there may even be gods who came directly to the world to help Mortals have resisted the tide of demons, and although civilization has not always been successful in surviving, those gods have indeed done so."

Gao Wen thought for a while: "... Is the news reliable?"

"We have no way to determine the ancient things, but we have more than one clue, including the knowledge revealed by some ancient races, as well as some ancient relics we unearthed in the central part of the mainland," Ophelia said unhurriedly, "The tide of magic is not caused by the gods, but the latter will show up to help humans resist the tide of magic. As a pioneer, you should also know that in the era of pioneering, there were many priests who were active on the front line as important combat forces of the pioneering army , don’t the divine arts in the hands of these priests come from the gods they believe in?”

Gao Wen couldn't help thinking about the conspiracy: "What if it was the gods who triggered the demon tide and increased their faith by sending miracles from the sky?"

"Is it possible to increase the number of believers by reducing the population by more than [-]%? After the demonic tide, the number of believers in all churches has dropped by more than half, and many beliefs have been cut off directly, not to mention that in ancient times there were people who were directly wiped out by the demonic tide." Destroyed civilization... From this point of view, I don't think your guess is valid."

"Well, this seems to be too much a conspiracy theory," Gao Wen also realized that his guess was ill-considered, "If that's the case, what is the reason for you to fight against the gods?"

Ophelia took a deep breath, and said seriously: "In ancient times, more than one civilization survived the demon tide—but those civilizations that survived, where are they now?"

During the short two or three seconds of silence, a concept that Melita Purnia once said to himself popped up in Gao Wen's mind——

black trap.

"Is it God who finally destroyed those survivors?"

Ophelia nodded slowly: "I'm afraid so."

Gao Wen was stunned, and suddenly spread his hands with a strange expression: "...Is Shendu schizophrenic?"

"We don't know why—and we didn't initially find any clues or evidence to support the 'gods destroying the world', we just found records of gods protecting humans during the demon tide, and all civilizations that survived the demon tide eventually The fact that they are all extinct.

"We didn't know what destroyed those survivors at the beginning, until in the process of adjusting the magic flow of the Deep Blue Well, we accidentally opened a wrong rift, which connected the 'Boundary of God's Domain', and in that distorted and In the glorious rift, for the first time, we witnessed a little phantom of the kingdom of the gods...

"At that time, the royal family of Gondor organized a secret exploration team, which was composed of the most powerful priests and scholars. The purpose of this team was actually very simple, just to take a look across the crack. Pay tribute to thank them for their protection of the world-the team will neither really enter the kingdom of God nor do any offensive actions.

"However, when the act of 'crossing the border' happened, the situation got out of control. Extreme chaos and crazy malice emanated from the cracks. The glorious image of heaven instantly turned into the most terrifying nightmare image. The distorted 'knowledge' that is mind-crushing and the 'truth' that cannot be comprehended by the human mind, the team that crossed the rift was almost wiped out instantly, only two half-crazy legendary strongmen returned to the world with a sigh of relief, and they left only Two sentences:

"They will destroy us.

"It's a countdown."

Ophelia stopped and looked at Gao Wen quietly. After more than ten seconds of silence, she broke the silence softly:

"These two sentences are the beginning of the rebellious plan."

Chapter 0667 The Disobedient's Long-term Plan

The study was quiet for a few seconds, Ophelia seemed to be sorting out her thoughts, and Gawain was digesting the information provided by the other party. After a while, he broke the silence: "You guys started the disobedience plan just because of these two sentences. talk?"

Without waiting for Ophelia to answer, he added: "I thought of a possibility—is it possible that because the knowledge and essence of the gods are beyond human perception and the processing capacity of the human brain, so anyone who is close to the gods It has nothing to do with whether the gods themselves are actually malicious or not. Could it be that what the dead explorers and half-mad returnees see is the knowledge that drives humans crazy, not the gods themselves?"

These few words sounded like they were trying to excuse the gods, but Gawain knew that Ophelia would understand what he meant—he was not a believer in the gods, and he didn't have any innate affection for the gods, it was just out of strict consideration , he must speak out all the possibilities he thinks of, and Ophelia, as a researcher of the ancient empire, this rigorous spirit should also be her professional ethics.

Ophelia's reaction was as expected by Gao Wen: "This is a possibility, we also thought about it at the beginning - so we did a series of verifications and more investigations, but the more we study the gods Knowledge, that looming truth is all the more disturbing.

"In the process of excavating the ancient ruins, we found some fragments left by the civilization that was lucky enough to survive the evil tide. Their demise was sudden and without warning, and they ushered in the most prosperous and stable society. Extinction is excluded, which allows us to rule out almost all possibilities other than 'the gods destroy the world'.

"We have come into contact with some ancient races, including the sea monsters and dragons you know, as well as some ancient lords of the elemental world - the ancient empires are closely related to the residents of the elemental world, and the powerful creatures of the elemental world are not affected by demons. Influenced by the tide. In the few words of those ancient races, we found that the destruction of ancient civilizations usually occurred at the stage of major changes in their belief systems.

"Among some of the rarest archaeological harvests, we have also unearthed some written records on the eve of the destruction of ancient civilizations, which occasionally mentioned 'God does not allow', 'mortals have crossed the line', 'God has come, the end is coming ' and other words, these seem to be the words left by the few people in the ancient civilization who noticed the changes of the gods in advance, but those 'prophets' could not save the situation."

Listening to Ophelia's narration, Gawain nodded slightly.

The disobedients did not start the huge plan because of impulse—they discovered the increasingly desperate truths little by little in the process of continuous in-depth investigation. The dark future left these "deviants" with no choice. , had to secretly start a plan to fight against the gods.

"Perhaps we are still unable to fully ascertain the truth of the 'destruction of the gods', but the tide of demons is approaching, and the shadow of the gods is approaching day by day. Even if there is only a [-]% possibility of that doomsday, we must make [-]% preparations— Maybe all our efforts will prove to be a joke in the end, but if it really happens, we must always have some means of resistance," Ophelia said in a deep voice, "Living in a peaceful and stable environment People below probably cannot understand such extreme behavior, but you, as a trailblazer, should understand."

"Humans are suspicious and timid creatures," Gawain sighed, "that's why we always have to arm ourselves."

"This paranoia and timidity ensure the survival of our group."

Gawain adjusted his sitting posture and looked into Ophelia's eyes: "You just mentioned that you found that the destruction of those ancient civilizations usually occurred when their belief system undergoes major changes. What exactly does this mean? ?”

"In short, their temples are shrinking rapidly, and the size of all churches is shrinking sharply at about the same time."

"Abandoning the faith, so God is angered?" Gao Wen frowned, and suddenly his heart moved, "Then the reform of the Holy Light Church that is going on now..."

"That's exactly what I'm going to say," Ophelia said. On her mask-like face, which was always calm and gentle, Gawain saw a trace of rare enthusiasm, which was a burst of enthusiasm. From a sincere expression, "The reforms we carried out in the Holy Light Church did not cause the 'activation' of the God of Holy Light."

Reactivation——Gao Wen noticed the word Ophelia used at the moment.

Then he asked: "You mean, preaching in southern teachings such as 'the holy light is in the heart', 'morality and justice take precedence over dogma', 'everyone has freedom of belief' and the like will not lead to holy What bad reaction did the God of Light have?"

Ophelia smiled: "People are still pursuing the Holy Light, and with the core elements of the Holy Light, namely, protection, exorcism, justice, and light as their creed, our temples have not decreased, and the size of the church has not shrunk, even though we Replaced a lot of it, but... the Church of the Holy Light is still the Church of the Holy Light, isn't it?"

Gawain looked at the smiling Ophelia, but he suddenly thought of the many obvious actions of the Church of the Holy Light in the past few years, as well as the role of the saint princess "Veronica Moen" in the church. Things that couldn't be seen to be related at first, but now they are connected little by little——

The Church of the Holy Light's rejection of heresy has promoted the rapid development of the church, but it has also led to the emergence of a large number of low-quality and bad-behavior priests at the grassroots level; Allowing those good and bad priests to use the same magic has shaken the faith of a large number of pious ascetic monks; the right to interpret classics and moral disputes have led to a split between the middle and lower priests of the church, such as Wright and Seven Such a progressive priest was born under this background...

These seem to be natural changes caused by the church's degeneration and internal power division after its development to its peak. However... what if there is a pair of researchers' eyes full of scrutiny behind these "natural changes"?

What if all this is to test something, such as...testing the "laws of operation" of the gods, testing the "personality boundaries" of the gods?

No wonder Ophelia would actively cooperate with Wright's reforms and support Cecil's New Deal-if there is not enough experimental data, how can a researcher make a decision so easily? !

Ophelia just smiled calmly and looked at Gao Wen: "What are you thinking?"

"These are all the 'research results' you obtained in the Church of the Holy Light, right?"

"If there is no gain, why would a rebel lurk in the enemy's church for so long?"

Gawain's eyes turned around, and he involuntarily landed on the platinum scepter in Ophelia's hand - this platinum scepter has been in her hand since the fall of the previous pope, even if Wright, the high priest The leader took over the northern church, and she did not hand over the scepter.

This scepter was originally held by the pope. It is said that it has the function of communicating with the kingdom of God and listening to the oracle, and it represents the bridge between God and man. It was left behind intentionally or unintentionally by people, but looking at it now, thinking of Ophelia's words that the God of Holy Light did not "activate", Gawain vaguely guessed something.

"Are you monitoring the state of the God of Light? Through this scepter?"

"Any experimental project requires strict monitoring and recording," Ofelia slightly raised the scepter in his hand, "This is the attitude that researchers must have."

Looking at the platinum scepter in the opponent's hand, Gao Wen suddenly couldn't help but had an idea - do you want to try it too?

This thing seems to be able to establish a certain connection with the kingdom of God, and it can even be used to monitor the gods if used properly. If ordinary people touch it, they will probably be directly brainwashed into a devout believer, but he himself is a man who has been refined for hundreds of thousands or even millions of years Satellite spirits are very resistant to similar brainwashing - the experience of touching the eternal slate back then proved this, so now touching the platinum scepter... it should be fine, right?

Will it be the same as touching the Eternal Slate, what others hear is the oracle, but what I hear is another message from the super fleet, or even... something else more unexpected?

At this moment, Gao Wen's curiosity was suddenly ignited, and the burning was uncontrollable.

He was even mentally prepared to die suddenly on the spot due to improper operation.

But at the last moment, he stopped his curiosity abruptly, because he realized a huge hidden danger - the Eternal Slate is dead, but the current God of Holy Light is alive...

Although that god seemed to have been killed once in ancient times, but now he is probably resurrected.

If I rashly touch the platinum scepter, will it irritate the God of Holy Light?What Ophelia and Wright are doing now can be said to be "stealing divine power". The most important thing is not to irritate that god. If I slap the God of Holy Light awake, the other party will open his eyes Take a look at the world—what about my church?What about a church as big as mine?

The 1000 years of hard work of the rebels and their achievements so far are over.

After forcibly controlling his impulse, Gawain coughed twice to hide his embarrassment, looked at Ophelia and said, "If the reform in the Church of the Holy Light succeeds, we can successfully block the 'Bridge of Earth' without attracting the attention of the gods. , what are you going to do next?"

Ophelia met Gao Wen's gaze calmly: "Use this as experience to transform all beliefs in the world."

As an ancient soul who has lived for 1000 years, she seems to have patience and time.

"Will the gods really wait to be blocked by us obediently? Although our current transformation of the Holy Light Church has not yet activated the God of Holy Light, but the day has really come to cut off the connection between all the gods and the mortal world. Can't you still react?"

Ophelia nodded slightly: "The operation of the gods has rules to follow. Although the 'transponder' conjecture proposed by a few scholars in the Gondor era is not completely correct, it is indeed close to a part of the truth, so as long as you grasp it well With this rule, we can bypass the sight of the gods in a relatively safe situation and complete the replacement and transformation of beliefs.

"Secondly, according to our research results, although the power of the gods does not come entirely from mortal beliefs, the transfer of mortal beliefs will indeed greatly weaken them, and if the 'faith benchmark' of the mortal world is lost, the gods will no longer want to When we come to the world, we will face huge obstacles and attrition, but on the other hand, mortals will become stronger because of regaining the power of divine magic, one will ebb and flow, and on that day, the gods will not be irresistible to us... "

She didn't say what she said later, but the subtext was already obvious:

When that day really comes, the gods descending into the world... will be demons and beasts that invade the mortal world from another world.

The world church will fight back bravely, in the name of faith, to eliminate demons and defend the way.

This is the plan of the rebels, but still not all of their plan, but only a part of it.