Chapter 53: Action (Many Thanks to Lanmeng for the Generous Gift)

—Many thanks to Lanmeng for another generous gift～

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Inside the demiplane, seven ornate and mysterious silver chairs were arranged in a semicircle in the black void, and the five Grand Arcanists seated upon them seemed like gods gazing down upon the world from on high.

In one of the two chairs that should have sat empty, an elderly elf with dark cyan skin and long ears sat staring fixedly at the still-cycling experimental apparatus, as though he had forgotten everything around him. Again and again, water evaporated under high temperatures; again and again, lightning flashed and thunder rolled; drop by drop, water droplets condensed; layer by layer, ethereal crimson light flickered in the reflection of his pupils.

After a moment of quiet silence, "Emperor of Dominion" Brooke, wearing his customary wig, interlaced his fingers out of habit. His voice was steady but tinged with restrained excitement: "This experiment confirms the possibility of life naturally emerging and developing, opening an entirely new direction for our research. We've been overcomplicating things in this regard."

"Brooke, are you saying that from now on we'll be able to artificially synthesize a baby in an arcane laboratory using carbon, gases, and the like?" The Lord of Storms retorted bluntly. "I acknowledge the immense significance of this experiment and the new direction it reveals, but I believe this is only the first step. The mysteries that follow will surely be far more complex than we imagine! How does the Essence of Life evolve into the Cornerstone of Life? How do the other fundamental life substances essential to humans naturally emerge? How do the cells they form acquire vitality, memory, and heritability? And how are body and soul connected?"

Brooke was already accustomed to the Lord of Storms's relentless pursuit of every error. He separated his hands and pressed them downward: "I wasn't clear enough. What I meant is that we had previously imagined the initial conditions for the birth of life to be far too complex. In arcane research, simplicity and directness are sometimes extremely important."

"Then have you ever considered—why does hydrogen gas appear? Why do volcanoes erupt? Why are there oceans and floods? Why is there lightning and thunder? Before all of this, what was the world like? Why did it evolve this way?"

Magic Parliament Chairman Douglas withdrew his gaze from the experimental apparatus and swept his eyes across the other Grand Arcanists. "The experimental process itself is indeed ordinary, and the emergence of the Essence of Life was simpler than any of us imagined—it just appeared naturally. But what lies hidden behind this ordinariness and simplicity is neither ordinary nor simple. The mysteries of the world, the laws of its operation—we must never assume in advance that they conform to common sense, that they must exist, that they have no reason behind them. We must ask 'why' many more times over."

"'A hundred thousand whys'…" the Lord of Storms muttered under his breath.

Hathaway nodded gently: "The ocean of mysteries is vast and boundless. We are merely those who have just built a sailboat and set forth upon it—we are far from understanding the true essence of the world. We must maintain sufficient reverence for the unknown."

"That is precisely what makes arcane research so enchanting," said Brooke, the middle-aged gentleman, smiling as he pushed his glasses up.

The Lord of the Dead gave a low chuckle: "Although our exploration of the world's true nature has only just scratched the surface, this is already what the Church proclaims as the domain of God, the forbidden territory of God. I would love to see the expression on the Pope's face and those of the Cardinals when they learn of this experiment's results. Hmph, they'll surely attribute it to the soul. Once we thoroughly unravel the mysteries of the soul or understand the operating principles of Divine Arts, let's see how long they can keep making excuses."

Then, with a tinge of regret, he added: "Unfortunately, this experiment requires far too much time and cannot be displayed openly and brazenly before the Church's other clergy. Otherwise, the blow to the Church would be even greater. If we could crack the mysteries of Divine Arts and allow mages to perform Divine Arts directly outside the churches—just imagine what a spectacular sight that would be."

Every Grand Arcanist understood that it was impossible to expose the Church's other clergy to the experiment's results the way those two "experimental subjects" had been—after seven days of subconscious curiosity followed by direct confrontation with the truth. Without that devastating shock, the vast majority of priests and bishops would instinctively question the experiment's authenticity and accuracy, then engage in self-deception until the Church found a suitable explanation to stabilize their wavering faith. Thus, it could not deliver a fatal blow to the Church.

Of course, there would certainly be no small number of clergy in whom the seeds of doubt were planted by the inconsistency between the old and new theories—and for them, any hope of promotion would become virtually nil.

"There are some people we have always overlooked. It's time they showed their value," Hathaway said, her tone indifferent.

The Lord of Storms let out a cold laugh: "We can't just let the Church cover its ears and pretend nothing happened! How many priests and bishops will turn into illusory light?"

The Grand Arcanists quickly reached a consensus, and Douglas began issuing orders to the Affairs Committee.

At the same time, Hathaway turned to the Lord of the Dead: "Do not attempt to use 'Mind Invasion' to discover which senior Archanists of the Elemental Will designed the experiment. I don't want them pursued and torn apart by the Church like mad dogs, unable to explore extra-dimensional spaces."

The ninth-rank spells "Mind Invasion" and "Memory Weaving" were not particularly effective against high-level mages—they left traces too easily. But the Lord of the Dead was the foremost authority in this domain. He had once invaded the brain and soul of an eighth-level Cardinal, reading the majority of his memories and altering a small portion of them, weaving in jealousy and hatred toward the Pope in an attempt to orchestrate an assassination. Unfortunately, this had indirectly altered the Cardinal's entire worldview, causing his faith to collapse suddenly. Unable to control his Divine Arts power, he was engulfed directly by Holy Light—and the intended goal was never achieved.

Much of the Magic Parliament's first-hand data on Divine Arts research came from that very harvest, and it was for this reason that the Lord of the Dead ranked higher than Hathaway, the Lord of Storms, and the other Grand Arcanists on the Purification Sequence—sitting at eleventh place.

"Which of your Elemental Will's senior Archanists isn't on the Purification Sequence? What are you worried about?" the Lord of the Dead replied with a slight note of puzzlement. But he had no desire to openly fall out with Hathaway, so he nodded in tacit agreement. Then he grinned: "That mage actually integrated his views on faith into his cognitive world. Though he could never receive Divine Arts empowerment before his arcane power completely vanished, this integration does have a certain research value."

At this moment, Malfurion—the dark cyan-skinned elf whose forehead was creased with wrinkles—seemed to finally awaken from his trance, unable to control the volume of his voice as he murmured to himself: "The Will of Nature! This is the Will of Nature!"

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Inside the main hall, the Archanists stared in stunned silence as the pure, brilliant light and the grotesquely beautiful crimson of blood and brain matter bloomed together, feeling that this scene, paired with the flickering afterimages of lightning, was both dazzlingly radiant and brutally cruel.

The light illuminated the path forward, but the darkness behind it concealed the muddiness of the road they had traveled.

After a long pause, Timothy finally spoke up, his voice full of confusion: "Isn't that Holy Light?"