Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Lucien was speechless. He was just bragging.
That the other priests including Nena believed in his words was not surprising, for they had no idea what the truth was; however, Lucien could not believe that Ell himself had also been persuaded by the lecture.
In Lucien’s understanding, his lecture should be like a joke to Ell.
He tried hard to accept Ell’s change, telling himself that Ell was one of the false gods who were stubborn and crazy according to the Congress’ record and that the proper treatment for these false gods should be electrotherapy. However, Lucien still could not understand what happened to Ell.
Lucien wondered if Ell had even actually become more powerful.
It was not scientific, no, not arcanic to Lucien at all. Fortunately, he was more or less mentally prepared for any unusual changes within the divine realm. Calming himself down, he started observing Ell’s reaction and taking down detailed notes in his spiritual library.
Lucien secretly looked aside at Francis and saw Francis also looking back at him with a confused smile. Obviously, Francis was also surprised, just like Lucien. Yet in the next second, Francis seemed to had already accepted it and was now keeping his eyes on Ell attentively with a slight hint of fanaticism.
Lucien could more or less understand what Francis was thinking. If Francis was really an expert in theology and philosophy like he said, changes of a god could certainly trigger his interest. And this was perhaps why Francis had chosen to present Ell using part of the theory of the God of Truth.
However, in this way, Lucien became even more confused about where Francis came from. Most of those who were both powerful and profound in theology came from the Church, but so far, Francis had been behaving like a sheer blasphemer.
Retreating his sight, Lucien asked in surprise, “great God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption, I don’t quite understand…”
Ell said calmly wearing the same smile, “to put it simply, I have found my true self. I have seen the undescribable existence in excess of the universe and its projection in both the spiritual and the material world. Whether the Lord of Fire and Destruction or the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption, they share the same origin. Based on what human beings see, know, and believe, the projection takes multiple forms, but there is only one ‘self’. I have found the true self, so now I am able to completely control the two forms — Avando and Ell — the two integrated forms.”
“My Lord, are you alright?” Francis asked out of concern. The corner of his mouth secretly twitched a bit.
“I feel fine. I feel better than ever,” said Ell in great confidence.
Lucien felt that Ell might need some medical treatment. In his eyes, the current Ell seemed to have created a third personality to govern the previous two.
Seeing that Leviathan and Francis still looked very concerned, Ell released a sigh inside — No matter how smart humans were, their intelligence was still far from matching the mightiness of gods, so Ell decided to show his strength to them.
Ell darkened the room, turning the space into the dimension of the dead. A dense black mist rose, and spectres were hiding within. The rotten brought rich nutrition to the soil. The several plants on the ground in the room grew wildly, while the atmosphere became tranquil and peaceful.
Resurrection, fertility, redemption… Ell was no longer an avatar of the God of Flame, instead, He had now become the true God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption, whose power had reached level eight, equivalent to that of a radiant knight. But Ell was still in a poor state, so the power He could use right now should be around level seven.
Ell’s godhood had changed. Was it because of Ell’s own awakening? Or was it because the God of Revival, Fertility, and Redemption had started accumulating more devout followers?
Lucien carefully took down the notes, recording everything that he saw while making some comments beside,
“If it’s the former, then this world is even crazier than I thought, as the change resembles that of one’s cognitive world but seems to be more preposterous, and it means that there’s still a long way to go for arcana; if it’s the latter, then a theoretical system can be formed about this world with some of the untested hypotheses available, however, the key part is still missing. Be careful with further exploration. Arrogance leads to head explosion.”
“If the former assumption is true, then this world might run under the Strong Anthropic Principle.”
“If the latter is true, an assumption can be made here: Every human being has spiritual power, but some are stronger, while some are relatively weak. Those whose spiritual power exceeds the average level can use meditation to control and utilize spiritual power and thus become sorcerers; As for those who are not gifted in terms of spiritual power and cannot afford or find the power-trigger potion, they follow the uniform instruction and guidance from the Church and pray, so that when they pray, their spiritual power will be attuned to the same frequency and even gather together.”
“If a god already has a separate entity, then this special spiritual power or better call it the power of faith, will gather together to the god. Different wishes create different godhoods, and different godhoods use the different special spiritual power to master the corresponding spell-like abilities and enhance their own power.”
“This might be a proper explanation for why the Church needed followers. But if the God of Truth did exist, powerful as the He is, why would the Congress of Magic still be allowed to survive? Why did the God of Truth allow the Church to be split into two? Why did cognitive worlds exist? Why didn’t the God of Steam come into being despite the fact that there were so many dwarves as followers? Why didn’t the God of Truth have a specific godhood domain?”
“… According to the most shared belief in the Congress, spiritual power is a special kind of electromagnetic wave, in other words, it’s a kind of invisible light. Then why are souls able to emit special electromagnetic waves?”
“… The school of Necromancy and Electromagnetism have a rough explanation — This is due to the combination of some special electromagnetic fields and some elements…”
When he wrote this sentence, Lucien paused as a strange idea suddenly occurred to him—
One day, the God of Truth might have an exclusive radio channel.
“Welcome, this is FM xxx.x, the God of Truth…”
That was very, very weird.
Although Lucien had written a lot in his spiritual library, only a few seconds in the real world. The air surrounding Ell had changed again. Twirling fierce flames filled the space; the power of destruction withered the newly-grown plants.
“Flame and destruction, level eight, radiant knight level, but still in a weak state…”
More words appeared on the notebook in Lucien’s spiritual library.
“Although it seemed that Ell’s power did not actually increase, he had integrated with Avando…”
This had something to do with the mind, so Lucien believed that the change came from Ell’s sudden enlightenment. Lucien secretly thought that it was like curing a disabled person caused by psychogenic reasons.
As an arcanist, Lucien felt the enthusiastic desire to research rose in his heart. He longed for knowing more in-depth about the false god standing right in front of him. He had no idea whether capturing a false god, bringing it back to Allyn and cutting it up for research would yield any results. But he was certain that observing one closely in such an invisible way, giving stimulations, and recording changes were very effective.
To study wild animals, researchers should go into the wild. It was the same with studying false gods.
At this time, Lucien heard Francis’ gentle sigh. Francis smiled and praised, “my most sincere congratulations, my Lord! Your true self has been found, and my Lord, you’re now the one and only almighty true god!”
“The one and only true god?” Ell asked confusedly.
“You’re the projection of the true almighty, my Lord. Any other so-called gods are false ones in front of you. You’re the one and only true god, as your power spread across the world. Some false gods stole your power when you were lost, but now it is time to get them back and reclaim the supreme throne.” Francis praised passionately.
Lucien was also a bit lost. The one and only? Was Francis talking about the God of Truth?
Ell slightly frowned, “Are you saying that I should kill all of them and take away their divinity? Then no ally will be left.” He seemed to still have some sanity remaining
“It is not necessary, my Lord. The one and only almighty only needs servants. He shall grant part of his power to His servants, my Lord, and let them work and think for Him. But the servants will never be gods, neither do they possess godhoods. The gods who obey your commands can be given this chance, but they will be just half-divine creatures. You don’t have to kill them, my Lord.” said Francis.
“Intermediaries between God and humanity… What shall I call them?” Ell understood Francis’ words and asked full of interest.
Francis put on a flattering smile. “Angels. And there are different ranks of angels, so they have the chance to promote.”
The look on Lucien’s expression remained unchanged, but his heart suddenly skipped a beat when he heard Francis’s proposal. Francis was trying to make another God of Truth! Who was this man named Francis? Was he studying the secrets of the God of Truth? Or did he have other purposes?
“Good.” Ell burst into hearty laughter. “I am the one and only true god!”
While Ell laughed, Francis rubbed his brows gently with a mysterious smile on his face. Lucien looked away and confirmed his plan that he must carry on his secret experiment with Ell, to observe, stimulate, and record.
The laughter stopped, and calmness returned to Ell’s eyes. “The priest of the God of Wisdom, the God of Love, and the Mother God of Earth sent messages. They have confirmed that the God of Moon and the Lord of Underworld will come and attack you tonight in order to lure me out, so they can find a chance to kill me.”
“My supreme divinity has not yet recovered. We’ll lose facing the God of Moon and the Lord of Underworld. Also, it is unknown yet if this is a trap.” Ell could never forget how he was betrayed last time.
“In the debate, my true identity has been revealed, and now the Lord of War is afraid of me. If we still stick to the previous plan, it is going to be very dangerous. Shall we leave for now to wait for future chances? What do you think, Francis, Leviathan?” Ell asked.
“No!” Francis and Lucien burst out at the same time.
