Chapter 1040: Chapter 1039: The Fire Thief

Kamel is a very pure scholar. Compared to the complex forces among modern human kingdoms and other races’ kingdoms, he is more adept at analyzing the data in the laboratory that would make ordinary people dizzy at a glance. But even so, upon hearing Gawain’s words, he realized that these tests had not only academic significance but also political considerations behind them.

Cecil is advancing a new kind of international relationship, one that transcends all races across the continent, encompassing all mortal species. And the starting point of this order is the common interest appeal of all mortal races facing worldwide calamities like the "divine disasters," a life-and-death link, more at present a political call proposed by Gawain. But if someone can prove in the laboratory that all mortal races’ souls exhibit some kind of "synchronization" before the gods, proving that the fluctuations of the gods can influence all intelligent beings worldwide regardless of race or space-time distance, then this concept of "community" would not be merely a political appeal.

To be honest, Kamel is not interested in politics.

Yet he is still willing to assist Gawain in establishing the new order the latter desires — being a Defier, that was a beautiful future he and his compatriots envisaged a thousand years ago.

Mortals united, facing world crises together, surviving tenaciously in divine disasters and chaotic waves.

"I understand," the ancient Master Mage slightly bent down, and the rune armor plates clinked crisply, "We will complete these tests as soon as possible and produce reliable evidence."

Gawain nodded, thought for a moment, and said, "Also, prepare for me, I want to go to the defied Fortress Courtyard."

"Are you going to see Amon?" Veronica immediately reacted, "Do you need me to accompany you?"

"No need, I’ll go by myself this time," Gawain shook his head, "just to talk with him — the War God has fallen, and I’m curious whether he can perceive anything or has any thoughts on this matter."

"Understood," Veronica replied with a bow, "Then I’ll go check the portal."

...

In the Shattered World, deeper and darker than the shadow realm, in the defied Fortress Courtyard located in the shadow realm, the holy white deer, as large as a hill, lay quietly among the floating debris and crisscrossed ancient artifacts as usual. The nebulous white radiance surrounded him like a thin veil, without any change over the thousands of years.

This almost stagnant "dead silence" lasted for an unknown amount of time until Amon suddenly opened his eyes.

Those crystal-like eyes looked toward the courtyard entrance, where a special "human being" was walking toward him. The God of Yore remained silent for a few seconds, and only when the other approached did he spread his voice through thought: "Gawain Cecil... long time no see. Welcome to my courtyard — forgive me, I can’t move to greet you."

"Your sense of humor is as ever," Gawain showed a slight smile, came to a just right distance from Amon, "Is everything all right here?"

Amon’s voice directly resonated in his mind: "Except for not being able to walk around, everything is quite good — quiet, peaceful, free from the endless raging of mortal thoughts interrupting my contemplation, it could be counted as a nice vacation."

"That’s good," Gawain laughed and then got straight to the point, "So let me be direct — the War God has fallen, a few days ago."

Amon fell silent for a moment.

After a full minute, the God of Yore broke the silence with a sigh: "Is that so... Well, it might be a good ending."

"Didn’t you sense it?" Gawain looked at him with curiosity, "This event created quite a stir, and I thought its influence would penetrate the barriers of the shadow realm and the shadow realm."

"I did sense some fluctuations a few days ago, but I didn’t think it was due to the War God’s fall... Although you once told me he was on the edge of losing control and there would inevitably be a conflict between mortals and the War God someday, to be honest, I didn’t expect you would achieve such a feat just like that," Amon spoke slowly, "Looking at your expression, it went smoothly?"

"We paid a huge price, many people died, and the resource consumption was countless," Gawain shook his head, "I don’t know if that counts as ’smoothly’."

"Ah, that’s quite smoothly, human emperor, you faced a god directly and won," Amon’s tone seemed to carry genuine appreciation, "Feel proud, it’s something worth feeling proud of. But I suppose you’re not just here to tell me this, are you?"

"Indeed, there’s another matter," Gawain nodded, "Upon the War God’s fall, we found the remnants of His body... no longer cause mental pollution to mortals."

Amon seemed stunned for two seconds, then spoke with a hint of surprise: "You mean the War God’s fragments lost their mental pollution?"

"No, it’s not that those fragments lost their pollution, but that mortals are no longer affected by them," Gawain immediately corrected, "The War God’s fragments didn’t change in nature; what changed was the mortals themselves, there’s a fundamental difference in this."

Amon fell silent once again, seemingly contemplating seriously, and opened his mouth again half a minute later: "You mean, through an actual ’killing a god’ act, mortals now completely freed themselves from the War God’s influence, not only gaining freedom in using divine arts and behavior but also obtaining mental resistance against the War God’s relic — and this ’effect’ happens not only in those soldiers who participated in the battle but in everyone?"

"Yes, although we can’t test every person in the world, we speculate that everyone has undergone this change, possibly even including races beyond humans."

"... I’d like to hear your more detailed views," Amon, watching Gawain, spoke with a tone more serious than ever before, "What have you discovered, what are your speculations, and what are you planning to verify — if you don’t mind, please tell me everything."

This was precisely the purpose of Gawain’s visit, so he gladly agreed to Amon’s request. In the following dozens of minutes, he detailed to the other party the various phenomena discovered by technicians in the laboratory, information collected from various messaging channels, and the conjecture of Kamel and others.

Throughout the narration, Amon remained exceptionally silent, not even interrupting once until Gawain finally finished speaking, when he sighed, a long and meaningful sigh.

After a few seconds, the God of Yore broke the silence: "It seems there was a small breach in my original plan—a missing link where mortals can ’act on their own.’ So... do you plan to take advantage of my inability to resist and organize a group to come in and ’kill’ me once more?"

"Ahem..." Gawain suddenly coughed, momentarily unable to determine whether Amon’s words were sincere or merely a manifestation of his unique humor, "Of course not, you’re overthinking it."

Then he paused and explained to Amon what he had previously discussed with Amber in the laboratory, emphasizing to reassure the other: "... Overall, our primary goal is merely to ensure that mortal races can survive in this world. Even if the defied Plan is restarted, we actually harbor no subjective hostility towards the gods—whenever given a choice, we won’t resort to extreme measures."

Saying this, he glanced at the quietly listening Amon and, after some hesitation, spoke of something he had been pondering for a while: "In fact, I believe there is another path between mortals and gods—apart from mortality oppositions and total separation. I have considered this issue before and am now increasingly convinced."

"Overly idealistic and optimistic," Amon finally spoke, "But you seem not to be driven by blind optimism or naive thoughts to propose this idea."

"I have my beliefs," Gawain looked seriously at the "God of Nature," "I firmly believe one thing—since the existence of gods is a result of the world’s natural laws functioning, then this ’natural law’ can be mastered and controlled. It’s just a matter of time. Right now, we can’t find the third path because we don’t understand the mysteries of time enough, but if we give up exploration just because we can’t find a way for the moment, then we are essentially no different from those who seek help from the gods when encountering difficulties."

"Fearless..." Amon sighed, "You remind me of those early people who emerged from caves, those who took fire from lightning with tree branches... the fearless fire thieves should possess such qualities, but I must remind you—compared to the lucky ones who succeed in stealing fire, more people die before the first flame catches."

Gawain solemnly nodded: "Thank you, I will remember your reminder."

"Since you’ve come this far, let me offer some more advice," after a moment of silence, Amon suddenly said, "I think you came here mainly to hear my ’advice,’ right?"

Gawain’s expression immediately became serious: "Listening intently."

"I don’t know the specific way you intend to ’master’ the laws of gods in operation, but there is one thing I’d like you to remember—no matter which god, they are firmly restricted by the ’rules’ established at their birth, limited by the mortal thoughts that ’shaped’ them initially. Even approaching madness, or even fully in madness, their actions actually abide by these ’original doctrines.’

"On this basis, I have two suggestions: First, what you do should be cautious, but you can also be bold. As long as you strictly comply with the most critical parts of those ’rules,’ you actually don’t need to worry about gods losing control—mortals believe gods are easily angered and will punish at the slightest mistake, but in fact... whether ’anger’ or ’joy,’ the gods’ own ’emotions’ actually cannot dictate their actions; they can only act according to rules.

"Even the angriest god cannot punish a follower who hasn’t violated the original doctrine, nor can the happiest god freely bless a mortal who doesn’t worship them. In a sense, these lofty gods are actually a sadly helpless group.

"Second, I suggest you and your scholars study those oldest, most primitive religious texts, summarize the ’laws’ of a god from the source of belief, and sort through the process of changes in these laws according to historical development, rather than directly imposing modern classics that have been revised and refined countless times.

"Many times, modern classics and the most primitive religious texts seem to depict the same thing, but due to minor adjustments by annotators intentionally or unintentionally, the corresponding doctrines have actually undergone subtle deviations—if these subtle deviations are not properly manipulated, they can cause big problems."

Gawain involuntarily clenched his fist—this was the first time Amon had offered such specific advice, even involving practical operations!

Clearly, the constraints on the "God of Nature" had once again loosened, and this change was likely related to the battle at the Bitter Winter Castle frontline.

His trip wasn’t in vain.

After firmly memorizing Amon’s reminder, he let out a long breath, revealing a sincere smile: "Thank you very much for your advice—I will definitely use them practically."

Then he took out his pocketwatch and glanced at the time, stepping back slightly: "I’ve stayed here too long; it’s time to leave. Lastly, thank you once again."

"There’s no need for thanks, after all, it’s not often I meet such an engaging conversationalist," Amon’s tone seemed to carry a hint of humor, "If you truly wish to express gratitude, I have something to ask of you."

"Ask me for help?" Gawain hesitated, his gaze involuntarily falling on the entangling restraints around the other, "Let me be clear, if it’s about helping you break free from these..."

"Don’t worry, I know my situation—I haven’t fully become ’harmless,’ so it’s normal for you to be cautious, I don’t ask you to release my restraints," Amon proactively spoke before Gawain finished, "But... lying here for such a long time is indeed boring, and I wish to find some amusement."

"Amusement?" Gawain blinked, "What do you want?"

"I heard there’s something new in the human world called a Magic Web Terminal, somewhat similar to the Gondor Empire’s communication network but more interesting," perhaps just an illusion, but Amon’s tone seemed to hesitate slightly, yet he continued, "I am curious about it."

Get one for me too.jpg.

Gawain: "..."

Bemused for a moment of surprise, he then reacted: "Magic Web Terminals rely on the Magic Web to operate, and I am not certain whether it can operate stably after crossing the portal through the shadow realm..."

"I think it can," Amon said, "That ancient portal is actually more stable than you think. Back in the Gondor Era, mortal mages transmitted very complex magical information through the portal—in theory, it can allow Magic Power to be transmitted without loss."

Gawain: "..."

How did the God of Yore even consider this?

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