The Silver Queen spoke casually, but Gwen listened attentively. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt that this topic seemed to be strange. Let the former God of Nature talk to those devout believers who did not want to forget the past? This matter... was probably just a whimsical idea for the Silver Queen, but for Gwen, it seemed to be physically feasible...
That "god" was still watching "TV" in his backyard, and according to the monitoring team, he spent at least 20 hours a day online...
But then again, what should Amoun say to those persistent believers? How could he safely and securely let a group of elves who had been persistent for 3,000 years give up their obsession? Let the God of Nature perform another death on the spot...
Gwen shook his head gently, and quickly shook off the strange idea that suddenly popped up in his head. He knew that this was just a random thought, and no matter what, he did not dare to let Amoun reconnect with the mortals of the outside world. Even if it was just to say a word to them, it was absolutely impossible. The risk behind this matter was too great, and it was very likely that it would cause Amoun, who had already broken away from the divine throne, to reconnect with the divine right. The benefits of this were unpredictable.
He could not casually waste the results of White Star's three thousand years of fall on such a joke.
But... if he changed the method... if he changed the way of thinking...
Gwen could not help but fall into deep thought, but his thoughts were quickly interrupted by the Silver Queen. She looked at him curiously and asked, "What are you thinking about?"
"... Nothing, just some trivial matters." Gwen was startled out of his thoughts. He glanced at Bersetia, and some ideas came to his mind. But he quickly suppressed these unformed ideas. He looked up at a mechanical clock not far away, and saw that the needle on it was gradually reaching the highest bar. "It's about time for the break... Let's go back to the meeting."
In the Stone Ring of Oaths, all the representatives returned to their seats one after another. In fact, most of the representatives did not even leave the stone ring at all. In the limited 30-minute break, they seized the time to contact other representatives and learn as much as possible to increase their grasp of the situation. Even those who left the meeting were communicating with their own teams, seeking the advice of the think tank group and help in intelligence. No one would really empty their minds in this short period of time because everyone knew that the meeting had come to an end, and the best time to relax was when the stone ring opened again.
After making sure that all the representatives had returned to their seats, and the staff outside the stone ring were ready, Bersetia stood up from her seat. She quietly glanced around the room, and then raised her right hand slightly. "Then, according to the procedures of the meeting, the Stone Ring of Oaths is now closed. Unless there is a life-threatening situation, the lockdown will continue until the end of the closed-door meeting."
As soon as the Silver Queen's voice trailed off, a low hum sounded from the edge of the venue. Layers of magical radiance suddenly appeared on the surface of the magnificent stone pillars. Countless ancient and profound runes emerged from the stone walls and spread out like petals, connecting with each other in the air to form a pale green runic curtain wall. Then, the light wandered, and the runes quickly spread out. In just a few seconds, a lush, endless forest rose outside the Stone Ring of Oaths. The original wasteland and the scenery of the distant town were replaced by the sudden emergence of the forest, and not a trace of it could be seen.
Outside the Stone Ring of Oaths, the teams waiting in the resting area did not see the 'jungle'. They just watched as the massive ancient ritual field was shrouded in a light and disappeared into the wilderness in the next second. Many people were a little restless, but when they saw the elven officers, Typhon, and Cecil were still resting quietly by the side of the field, the restless people quickly quieted down.
Inside the Stone Ring of Oaths, the Silver Queen ended her 'reversal' of the ritual field. After she sat down again, Gwen stood up and said, "Then, let us begin the meeting. Presumably, many of you have realized that we have been deliberately avoiding the topic after so many days of meeting. So now... it is time to face the biggest problem: the gods of our world. "
In the hall, which had become much quieter due to the reduced number of people, many representatives moved slightly in their seats. Some had a slight change of expression, some subconsciously fell into deep thought, and some clenched their fists and knocked on their forehead. But no one lost their composure in front of this topic. As Gwen said, after so many days of meetings, after seeing the images left behind by Typhon - Cecil on the battlefield, and learning about the disaster in Tarlonde, any intelligent person should have guessed the content of this closed-door meeting.
"At this point, I think no one will question the authenticity of the information we saw at the opening of the meeting." After a pause, Gwen continued, "What I want to say is that the information is far from complete.
"As early as a few years ago, Cecil had already come into contact with this part of the truth, and Typhon had faced the 'dark side of the gods' even earlier than Cecil. Even back to the ancient Gondor era, some of the prophets had faced this dark reality. They were called 'disobedients,' and spent their lives looking for a way to fight against fate...
"This is what I want to say: this is not a crisis suddenly exposed to mortals. In fact, this crisis has been with our civilization for thousands of years. Many people have faced and tried to fight against it over the years. This is a 'dark river' in the development of our civilization. Most people do not know of its existence, but it has always been flowing in the depths of our history."
"This sounds too general." The leader of the Northern City-state Federation stood up. "Is there any more detailed information that can help us quickly grasp the situation?"
"Yes, the information is in the secret compartment under your table." Gwen nodded. "You can read it yourself. We have explained the situation in as concise and clear as possible. If you have any questions during the reading process, feel free to speak at any time. "
Under the flag of the Augulay Tribal Nation, Wenna Baizhi quickly found the information that Gwen mentioned in the secret compartment under the stone table. To her surprise, it was not a high-quality manuscript that was widely used in the previous agenda, but a sheepskin scroll with an elvish style. The moment she opened the scroll, she saw a few shining runes flashing on the edge of the paper. This distinctive feature made her instantly realize what it was.
It was a magic scroll. The biggest function of this scroll was that it could not be copied in any form, could not be overwritten or tampered with in any form, could not be taken away from a specific area, and could only be opened once.
Gwen's voice came from not far away. "In order to ensure the safety of the information, we have to distribute the information in the form of a magic scroll. This is not because we are suspicious of anyone present, but because it is related to the gods, and the safety of the process must be taken seriously."
The leaders and plenipotentiaries from the various countries had no questions. They lowered their heads and began to read the information stored in the magic scroll carefully. With the help of the spell, a huge amount of information was converted into their minds at a very high efficiency. As the ancient and terrible truth and the recent research results were revealed one by one, a solemn atmosphere began to take shape in the Stone Ring of Oaths.
Everyone's expression became serious, and some of them even began to wipe the sweat off their foreheads.
After some time, a female leader with fiery red hair was the first to stand up. "The 'countdown' mentioned in the scroll has not been measured accurately so far? We have no way to calculate it? "
"Unfortunately, this is beyond our current knowledge." Gwen shook his head gently. "The situation of the gods is different, and the observation of the gods itself will lead to powerful reverse pollution. Those who try to calculate the countdown will die from the divine pollution before they can say anything. This was proven by many pioneers who sacrificed themselves for this in the Gondor era a thousand years ago.
"Of course, now that our technology has developed to a certain extent, Cecil is experimenting with various methods to effectively resist divine corruption and has already achieved preliminary results. If our protective technology is sufficiently advanced, perhaps one day we will be able to directly observe the divine kingdom and even directly monitor the state of a certain god. But we do not know when that day will come."
"... Monitoring the divine kingdom and the gods, this sounds like a terrible plan," another representative could not help but whisper. "But..."
"But we have to do it," Rosetta broke the silence. The ruler of Typhon looked at the representative with a deep and solemn gaze. "Typhon has used his blood to prove the consequences of the gods losing control. This countdown is real, and as long as the mortal civilization is still developing, it will never stop. Even if we only slightly prolong the average life span of the people and increase the population, it will increase the change of thought and the risk of the gods losing control."
"To stop the countdown, we have to stop all development. Even considering that the experience and knowledge of the intelligent race is passively accumulated, we have to consciously eliminate the population, destroy knowledge, ban technology, and revert to the ancestral life," Bersetia suddenly said. Her voice was soft, but it had a certain penetrating power that echoed throughout the Ring of Oaths. "Who is willing to accept this price?"
The conference hall instantly quieted down. The representatives looked at each other. Apparently, no one was willing to accept this terrible result.
What was more... even if they did use such an extreme method to stop the crazy countdown of the gods, there was more than one crisis in the world. What about the Demonic Wave? What about the dangerous natural environment? What about the surrounding crises after the decline of the national power? Those who could sit here were not stupid. No one would choose to break their limbs to avoid falling.
What the Silver Queen suggested was obviously an unacceptable choice from the very beginning.
"Then we have the most basic consensus," Gwen broke the silence at this moment. His voice was steady and powerful. "The development and progress of civilization is necessary for survival. We cannot stagnate, and we cannot accept regression. The change of thought caused by this is also inevitable. The problem will not disappear out of thin air. We can only find a way to solve it. This is the premise of everything. "
No one objected because everything was obvious. But after a short silence, a leader from the southwest of the continent could not help but stand up. "So, we must see the gods as enemies?"
"This is the first thing we need to do in this meeting — define the nature of the gods." Gawain glanced at the representative quietly. He then looked away, straightened his expression, and said in a deep voice, "For thousands of years, or even tens of thousands of years, faith has always been an important part of the life of the Loren race. In any case, we must acknowledge its positive role in the development of civilization, and this positive role is still in effect today. On the other hand, there is no 'country of the faithless' in the true sense among the member states of the Alliance. All of our countries have their own Holy See forces, and religious activities are closely related to our people. It is impossible for us to violently and directly separate religion from our social activities. That is a fact.
"Given the above two premises, is' God 'really our enemy?
"A thousand years ago, the rebels did indeed hold such a view. They believed that the gods were the enemy of civilization, and even if they were not now, they would be sooner or later. Forerunners are respectable, but regrettably, as our cognition improved, we had to question the views of the forerunners back then.
"More and more evidence shows that the gods have never had any subjective malice toward civilization. In fact, due to the influence of thought, their kindness toward civilization is the mainstream. Secondly, the 'countdown' of the gods to madness itself is not the subjective intention of any side. This is the result of the operation of the law of nature. Unfortunately, no god can be responsible for this law. Finally, the gods will indeed cause devastating damage to civilization after going mad, but they have not actively caused any damage before this. In fact, it is even the opposite. As long as conditions permit, the gods will actively stop this madness and take some kind of self-saving action.
"As for this' self-saving action ', we cannot disclose too much detailed information for the time being, but I can assure you that Cecil has observed enough evidence to prove that there are signs of the gods actively breaking free from the' shackles'."
At this point, Gwen deliberately paused for a moment before continuing, "Therefore, I think that we should not regard the gods as enemies or potential enemies. Like us, they are also victims of the law of nature of the 'shackles'. Even if there is an extreme situation like the Battle of Wintercastle, even if a certain god stands on the opposite side of civilization one day in the future, we must have a clear understanding and determination of this."
After that, Gwen finally breathed a sigh of relief as if he had put down part of the burden in his heart.
After so many twists and turns, collecting so much information, and conducting so many arguments, he finally completed the determination of the relationship between the gods and humans in the ruthless' law 'of this world. For himself, the significance of this matter was actually no less than the establishment of the Community Union.
Everything could only have a clear direction when it was determined.
While he breathed a sigh of relief, he also noticed the changes in the expressions of the representatives under the stone pillars.
Nearly one-third of the representatives were obviously relieved. Their expressions were still serious, but their faces were no longer so tense. There was even an inexplicable brilliance in their eyes.
Gwen sighed softly in his heart.
In this world, there were too many people who could not truly "give up" their gods. Even the royal authority, which was naturally opposed to theocracy, was only opposed to the secular clergy, not the gods who protected the world.
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