The study was quiet for a few seconds. Ophelia seemed to be sorting out her thoughts, while Gwen was digesting the information provided by Ophelia. After a moment, he broke the silence. "You started the Disobedience Project just because of these two sentences?"
Before Ophelia could answer, he added, "I thought of a possibility. Is it possible that because the knowledge and nature of the gods are too beyond human perception and the processing ability of the human brain, any action close to the gods will lead to madness? This has nothing to do with whether the gods are malicious or not. What the dead explorers and the half-mad returnees saw was just the knowledge that led to madness, and not the gods themselves? "
These words sounded like an excuse for the gods, but Gwen knew that Ophelia would understand what he meant. He was not a believer of the gods, nor did he have any innate affection for the gods. It was only out of caution that he had to say all the possibilities he thought of. And as a researcher of the ancient empire, such caution should also be Ophelia's professional ethics.
Ophelia's reaction was just as Gwen had expected. "This is a possibility. We had thought of it before. So we did a series of verifications and more investigations. However, the more we delved into the knowledge of the gods, the more unsettling the vague truth became.
"In the process of excavating the ancient ruins, we found some fragments left behind by the civilizations that were lucky enough to survive the Great Demon Tide. Their demise was sudden and without warning. They went extinct when they were at their most prosperous and stable. This made us rule out almost all possibilities except 'the end of the gods'.
"We came into contact with some ancient races, including the sirens and Dragons that you know, and some ancient lords of the Elemental World. The ancient empire had a close relationship with the inhabitants of the Elemental World, and the powerful creatures of the Elemental World were not affected by the Great Demon Tide. From the words of the ancient races, we found that the destruction of the ancient civilizations usually happened when their belief system underwent a major change.
"And in some of the most precious archaeological finds, we also unearthed some written records of the ancient civilizations before their demise. Occasionally, there were words like 'God forbid,' 'Mortals have crossed the line,' 'God has come, the end is coming,' and so on. These words seemed to be left behind by the few people in the ancient civilizations who had noticed the changes of the gods in advance. But those 'prophets' could not save the situation."
Listening to Ophelia's narration, Gwen nodded slightly.
It was true that the rebels did not embark on the grand plan out of impulse. They discovered the increasingly despairing truth as they continued to investigate. The dark future left these 'rebels' with no choice but to secretly embark on a plan to fight against the gods.
"Perhaps we still can't completely determine the truth of the 'end of the gods,' but the Great Demon Tide is coming, and the shadow of the gods is approaching. Even if there is only a one percent chance of the end, we must be 100 percent prepared. Perhaps all our efforts will eventually turn out to be a joke, but if it does happen, we must at least come up with some means of resistance," Ophelia said in a low voice. "People living in a peaceful and stable environment may not understand such extreme behavior, but you, as a pioneer, should understand."
"Human beings are a suspicious and timid creature," Gwen sighed. "That's why we always have to arm ourselves."
"This suspicion and timidity ensure the survival of our race."
Gwen adjusted his sitting position and looked into Ophelia's eyes. "You just mentioned that you found that the destruction of the ancient civilizations usually happened when their belief system underwent a major change. What does this mean?"
"In short, their temples were rapidly decreasing, and the size of all the churches shrank rapidly almost at the same time."
"Betraying the faith and angering the god?" Gwen frowned and suddenly had an idea. "Then, the reform of the Church of Holy Light now …"
"That's what I want to say," Ophelia said. On her face, which was always calm and gentle like a mask, Gwen saw a rare trace of enthusiasm. It was an expression that came from the bottom of her heart. "The reform of the Church of Holy Light has not caused the 'activation' of the God of Holy Light."
Activation — Gwen noticed the word Ophelia used at the moment.
Then he asked, "You mean that the teachings of the Southern Church, such as' the Holy Light comes from the heart, '' morality and justice take precedence over dogma, 'and' everyone has the freedom of belief, 'will not cause any adverse reaction from the God of Holy Light?"
Ophelia smiled. "People are still pursuing the Holy Light, with the core elements of the Holy Light, namely protection, exorcism, justice, and light as creeds. Our temples have not decreased, and the size of the church has not shrunk. Although we have replaced many things, the Church of Holy Light is still the Church of Holy Light, isn't it?"
Gwen looked at the smiling Ophelia and suddenly thought of the many obvious actions of the Church of Holy Light in the past few years, as well as the "Veronica Moen?" The role of the Saintess Princess in the church, many things that could not be seen before began to be connected bit by bit at this moment.
The Church of Holy Light's rejection of heresy promoted the rapid development of the church, but also led to the emergence of a large number of low-quality, bad-tempered low-level priests. The reform of theurgy lowered the threshold for the use of Holy Light theurgy and expanded the size of the clergy, but also allowed those clergymen of varying degrees to use the same theurgy, which shook the faith of a large number of originally pious ascetic monks. The struggle for the interpretation of the classics and morality led to the division of the clergy in the middle and lower levels of the church, and progressive clergy like Wright and Severn were born under this background …
These seemed to be natural changes caused by the decline and decay of the church after it had developed to its peak, but … what if there was a pair of eyes full of scrutiny from researchers behind these 'natural changes'?
What if all these were to test something, such as … testing the 'operating rules' of the gods, testing the 'boundaries of the personalities' of the gods?
No wonder Ophelia was so active in cooperating with Wright's reform and supporting Cecil's new policy — if there was not enough experimental data, how could a researcher make a decision so easily?!
Ophelia just smiled calmly and looked at Gwen. "What are you thinking about?"
"These are the results of your research in the Church of Holy Light, right?"
"If there were no results, why would a disobedient lurk in the enemy's church for so long?"
Gwen looked around and could not help but fall on the platinum scepter in Ophelia's hand. Since the death of the former pope, this platinum scepter had been in her hands. Even when Wright, the great patriarch, took over the North Church, she did not hand over the scepter.
This scepter was originally the possession of the pope. It was said that it had the function of communicating with the Divine Kingdom and listening to God's orders. It represented the bridge between God and humans. However, due to the reformation of the Church and the reorganization of all the upper echelons, the issue of this scepter had been intentionally or unintentionally forgotten. However, looking at this scepter, Gawain recalled what Ophelia had just said about the God of Holy Light not being "alive". He vaguely guessed something.
"Are you monitoring the status of the God of Holy Light? Through this scepter? "
"Any experiment needs to be closely monitored and recorded." Ophelia slightly raised the scepter in her hand. "This is the attitude that a researcher must have."
Looking at the platinum scepter in Ophelia's hand, Gwen suddenly could not help but have an idea. Should he give it a try?
This scepter seemed to be able to establish a certain connection with the Kingdom of God, and if used properly, it could even be used to monitor God. If an ordinary person touched it, they would most likely be brainwashed into a devout believer, but he was a satellite spirit that had become a spirit after hundreds of thousands or even millions of years, so he was very resistant to such brainwashing. His experience of touching the Eternal Slate back then had proved this point. Now that he touched the platinum scepter … it should be fine, right?
Would it be the same as touching the Eternal Slate, where others would hear the oracle, but he would hear another message from the super fleet, or even … something even more unexpected?
At this moment, Gwen's curiosity was suddenly ignited, and it burned uncontrollably.
He was even mentally prepared to die on the spot if he did not control it properly.
But at the last moment, he forcibly suppressed his curiosity, because he realized a huge hidden danger. The Eternal Slate was dead, but the current God of Holy Light was alive …
Although that God seemed to have been killed once in ancient times, he was most likely resurrected now.
If he touched the platinum scepter rashly, would it agitate the God of Holy Light? What Ophelia and Wright were doing now could be said to be "stealing God's authority." The most important thing was that they could not agitate that God. If this slap of his woke the God of Holy Light up, he would open his eyes and look at the world. What about my church? What about my large church?
The thousand years of hard work of the rebels and my achievements so far would be over.
After forcibly restraining his impulse, Gwen coughed twice to hide his embarrassment. He looked at Ophelia and said, "If the reform of the Church of Holy Light is successful, and we successfully block the 'mortal bridge' without attracting God's attention, what do you plan to do next?"
Ophelia calmly met Gwen's gaze. "With this experience, I will reform all the beliefs in the world."
As an ancient soul who had lived for a thousand years, she seemed to have plenty of patience and time.
"Will the Gods really obediently wait for us to block them? Although our reform of the Church of Holy Light has not caused the God of Holy Light to come alive, when the day comes that all the Gods are cut off from the mortal world, will the Gods still not react? "
Ophelia nodded slightly. "The Gods operate according to a pattern. Although the 'transponder' conjecture proposed by a few scholars in the Gondor era is not completely correct, it is indeed close to the truth. Thus, as long as we grasp this pattern, we will be able to bypass the Gods' line of sight in a relatively safe situation and complete the replacement and reform of the beliefs.
"Secondly, according to our research results, although the Gods' power does not completely come from the beliefs of mortals, the transfer of the beliefs of mortals will indeed greatly weaken them. Moreover, if they lose the 'basis of belief' of the mortal world, the Gods will face great obstacles and losses if they want to descend to the mortal world. On the other hand, mortals will become stronger because they have taken back the power of the divine arts. When the day comes, we will not be unable to resist the Gods …"
Ophelia did not finish her sentence, but the subtext was obvious.
When that day really comes, the Gods that descend to the mortal world … will be the evil beasts that invade the mortal world from the other world.
The Church of the world will fight back bravely, in the name of faith, eliminating the evil and defending the right.
This was the plan of the rebels, but it was still not the whole plan, just a small part of it.
Just this small part was already frightening enough.
But Gwen still felt that there was something wrong with this plan. There were too many uncontrollable variables. Even if everything was carried out smoothly, it would not usher in the best results.
But at least at this stage, this plan still needed to be carried out. The reform of the Church of Holy Light was inevitable. Whether it was for the stability of society or for the development of the new empire, he had to ensure that this most influential religion in the country, with the most followers, followed the laws and regulations of "divine authority."
After discussing some more details about the Disobedience Plan and the reform of the church, Gwen slowly exhaled.
"That's all for today. Let's stop talking about the Disobedience Plan." He leaned back in his chair. "I need to sort out this information. If I think of any more questions, or if you think there is anything else that needs to be told, we will continue to talk."
"As you wish." Ophelia smiled. "But before I leave, there is one more thing."
"Oh? What is it? "
"It's about the reform of the church," Ophelia said. "The female priests in the church are currently in a rather … awkward situation."
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