Gwen had always been interested in the Disobedience Project of the Kingdom of Gondor. In a sense, the project could no longer be described as just 'huge'. It could even be described as' great '.
It was a plan of humans to fight against the gods as a means of survival after confirming the existence of the gods and the fact that supernatural forces dominated the world. In modern times a thousand years later, human civilization had declined, and other races seemed to be trapped in a quagmire. Gwen had seen too much rigidity, backwardness, ignorance, and decline in this era, but some sparks of the Disobedience Project still continued in this dark and chaotic world. Even if it was just a little spark, it proved one thing to Gwen:
The humans in this world had the genes of resistance and survival in their bones.
But upon closer inspection, Gwen found too many suspicious points in the Disobedience Project. This huge project seemed to revolve around 'disobeying the gods'. While its ultimate goal seemed to be to fight against the Demonic Tide, was it just to let humans survive the Demonic Tide?
The Kingdom of Gondor had tried to fight against the gods with such a resolute attitude. Even after the Demonic Tide ended and a new kingdom emerged, there were still rebels like Ophilia who continued the research of the old empire. The focus of these research seemed to have completely changed to simply analyzing the gods and fighting against the Demonic Tide. Instead, it was more like an ancillary product of this series of plans.
Even if these doubts aside, with a living rebel like Ophilia, Gwen could not help but want to pry the ancient secrets from this' person '. After all, it was human nature to gossip, and it was the same even if one was a satellite spirit.
"The Disobedience Plan … I thought you would at least wait until the situation is completely stabilized before discussing this with me," Ophelia said with a faint smile. "This topic involves a lot of things that can't be explained in a few words."
"It's just a casual chat to satisfy my personal curiosity," Gwen said. "You don't have to answer my question completely. If you think there are some secrets that should be kept, we can keep them until we build more trust. After all, it's just a casual chat."
Ophilia sat on the high-back chair next to Gwen's desk. She turned her head slightly, and her cheeks seemed to be soaked in a faint layer of holy light. "Don't worry, I'm happy to tell you about this. The rebels never refuse to share the same path. Other than the necessary confidentiality from the public, our project is not shrouded in secrecy."
Gwen nodded. "That's good. I already know that the Disobedience Project is actually divided into many project teams. The Abomination project that Kamel is actually just one of them. I'm curious about how many projects there are in total, and which part of it are you in charge of? "
Ophilia pondered for a moment. "I'm afraid that I can't tell you the details. It's not that I want to keep it a secret, but … because the gods may hear it.."
Gwen frowned. "The gods will hear it?"
"I'm not sure if you can understand this overly abstract knowledge. I can only tell you what I know. Some of the projects … The rebels have gone too far into the realm of Chaos between the mortal world and the world of the gods. There, you know the gods, and the gods know you. We have taken some safety measures to ensure that we can mislead the gods and make them look away during our research. But if we mention them at the wrong time, especially through the mouth of the rebels, these misdirection measures will immediately be broken …"
"The gods have some kind of conceptual trait, so that the mention of relevant knowledge in certain fields will attract their attention?"
"… You have an excellent ability to understand." Ophilia looked at Gwen with a little surprise. "That's a sincere compliment."
"After a near-death experience, I have more or less come into contact with some secret knowledge," Gwen said casually. "Since the gods have such a trait, how did you manage to study those projects that you can't even mention?"
"… I can't even mention that." Ophilia shook her head helplessly. This was the first time that Gwen saw such a helpless expression on her face. "The safety measures that I set up back then are now ineffective. I can't discuss anything related to it with you in the real world. In a sense, these secret projects are 'stuck' at the edge of the divine domain. I'm sorry, I haven't found a way out yet."
"… It's okay. You can't force everything." Gwen exhaled. "Then tell me about the projects you are in charge of. Pick those that you can talk about."
"My main task is to study the nature of the gods and their many laws and try to find loopholes in them." Ophelia nodded. "In addition, I'm also responsible for managing several bases of rebellion, including the Fortress of Rebellion that you know."
"Several bases …" Gawain suddenly looked up in surprise. "And there are many bases like the Disobedient Fortress?"
"How can we put all the projects in one place for such a dangerous plan?" Ophilia said faintly. "The Rebel Fortress you know is just one of the many bases. But as far as I know, the Rebel Fortress is indeed the largest of all the bases and the earliest one to be built. It is connected to the place where Julu Amoun fell. Our initial project started there. That's why it is qualified to be called 'Rebel.' "
Gwen could not help but ask, "What about the other Rebel Bases?"
Ophilia's next answer temporarily dispelled all his thoughts. "In the Gondor wasteland."
"… Well." Gwen sighed. "This is something that we can't solve for the time being."
Ophilia looked at Gwen. "What else do you want to know about the Rebel Plan?"
Gwen pondered as he tapped his fingers on the table in front of him. "Is the goal of the Rebel Plan just to fight against the Demonic Wave? In order to fight against the Demonic Wave, we have to rebel against the gods? Or to put it another way … Why do we have to fight against the gods to survive? Is it because only by stealing the power of the gods can we resist the Demonic Wave, or is it because the gods triggered the Demonic Wave? "
This was the question that Gwen had been thinking about recently: What was the initial reason and motivation for the rebels to fight against the gods?
As a former atheist, coupled with the thinking habits of his previous life, when he first learned about the Rebel Plan, he did not think there was anything wrong with the plan. In his opinion, it was a kind of "innate right" for mortals to try to break free from the shackles of the gods. It was the pursuit of freedom, the defeat of evil spirits, and the oppression of the gods. Wasn't that what it was all about?
But the longer he lived in this world, the more he felt the inconsistency from the worldview of the locals.
What was the relationship between the gods and the mortals? They did control the source of the power of the divine arts and the faith of the mortals. They might even have created the "Soul Seal" to ensure the faith of the mortals. But apart from that, did they really intervene in the operation of the mortal world?
The church acted on behalf of the gods to supervise the world. This was one of the rules of the mortal world. In other words, the clergy composed of mortals were the real exploiters and oppressors. They were even the interpreters of the divine right. After Leit took over the Church of Holy Light, he also confirmed this point. Although the oracle existed, the number of times the gods gave the oracle was pitifully small. Except for the connection in the field of divine arts, they were completely dissociated from the world. The ones who really did things were the clergy.
Of course, Gwen still had a lot of fear and even a certain hostility toward the gods. But this was determined by his personal experience and worldview.
So, what about the people other than him? What about the natives of this world? What about the rebels of ancient times?
When the rebels first decided to fight against the gods, there must be a more motivating reason. According to the information disclosed by Ophelia, the Disobedience Project could be said to fight against the gods in all aspects. Not only did they steal their power, but they also studied their nature, looked for their coordinates, looked for their weaknesses, and went one step further. They certainly did not mind killing the gods.
If it was just to let the mortals survive the magic wave, they did not have to go to this step. They must have a deeper reason for doing so, such as …
The gods themselves were an "absolute threat" to the survival of the mortals.
On this point, Kamel, who was only a senior researcher and the team leader, could not give Gwen an answer. But as a member of the royal family of the old empire and a senior manager of the Disobedience Project, Ophelia should have known. Norton, of course, would know something.
Gwen's question might have hit the nail on the head. Ophelia's expression was faintly solemn. After pondering for a long time, she spoke faintly.
"As long as the gods exist, humans will be destroyed one day."
Gwen frowned. "… So, it was really them who triggered the magic wave?"
"On the contrary, the gods have never triggered the magic wave. According to our research, in the ancient lost civilization — do you know the ancient lost civilization?"
Gwen nodded. "I've been in contact with the Dragons and know some things about the ancient civilization. It seems that you know this too."
"Then it's easy to communicate. According to our research, the ancient civilization had also encountered the magic wave. Some of them had also survived the disaster. And these civilizations that survived the disaster did not all rely on their own strength …"
"You mean …" Gwen's tapping on the table suddenly stopped. His eyes were solemn. "It was the gods who helped?"
"It's more than that. The darker it is, the brighter the light is. The worse the disaster the mortals suffer, the more the gods will spare no effort to protect the mortals. There is evidence that in ancient times, there may even be gods who came directly to the present world to help the mortals resist the magic wave. Although not every civilization succeeded in surviving, those gods did do so."
Gwen thought for a moment. "… Is the information reliable?"
"We can't be sure about the ancient things, but we have more than one clue, including the knowledge revealed by some ancient races, and some ancient relics that we have excavated in the central region of the continent," Ophelia said slowly. "The magic wave was not triggered by the gods. The latter would appear to help humans resist the magic wave. As a pioneer, you should also know that there were many priests who were active in the frontline as an important combat force in the pioneer army. Didn't the divine arts in the hands of these priests come from the gods they believed in?"
Gwen could not help but think in the direction of a conspiracy. "What if it was the gods who triggered the magic wave and used miracles to increase their faith?"
"By reducing the population by more than 70% to increase the number of their believers? After the magic wave, the number of believers of all churches plummeted by half, and many of their beliefs were directly cut off. What's more, in ancient times, there were civilizations that were directly destroyed by the magic wave. From this point of view, I don't think your speculation is valid. "
"Well, this seems to be too much of a conspiracy theory." Gwen also realized that his speculation was not well-thought-out. "In that 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 magic wave. But those who survived, where are they now?"
In just a short two or three seconds of silence, Gwen suddenly thought of Melita. There was a concept that Pernia had told him about.
The Black Trap.
"Did the gods finally destroy those survivors?"
Ophelia nodded slowly. "I'm afraid so."
Gwen was startled. Suddenly, he spread out his hands with a strange expression. "… Is God's Capital schizophrenia?"
"We don't know the reason. At first, we did not find any clues or evidence to support the idea that the gods had destroyed the world. We only found records of the gods protecting humans during the magic wave and the fact that all the civilizations that survived the magic wave eventually went extinct.
"At first, we did not know what had destroyed those survivors until in the process of adjusting the magic flow of the Deep Blue Well, we accidentally opened a wrong rift to the border of the divine realm. In that distorted and glorious rift, we saw a little shadow of the divine realm for the first time.
"At that time, the Royal Family of Gondor organized a secret exploration team consisting of the most powerful clerics and scholars. The purpose of this team was actually very simple. They just wanted to go to the other side of the rift to take a look. If possible, they wanted to pay their respects to the gods in person to thank them for their protection of the mortal world. The team would not really enter the divine realm, nor would they do anything offensive.
"However, the moment the 'crossing of the boundary' happened, the situation went out of control. Extreme chaos and madness emanated from the rift, and the glorious image of the divine realm instantly turned into the most terrible nightmare. What was hidden under the brilliance was all the twisted 'knowledge' and 'truth' that the human mind could not understand. The team that crossed the rift was almost instantly wiped out. Only two half-mad Legendary champions managed to return to the present world. Before they died, they only left two sentences:
"They are going to destroy us.
"This is a countdown."
Ophelia stopped and looked at Gwen quietly. After a dozen seconds of silence, she softly broke the silence.
"These two sentences are the beginning of the disobedience plan."
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