Adepts were not suited to have faith!
If they had to have one, then it could only be in knowledge!
Once they lost this foundation by which to establish themselves, the adepts would have lost their independence and the meaning to their own existence.
That was why personal idolization and faith had always been differentiated in the World of Adepts. Any adept that crossed this boundary would instantly become the public enemy of all adept organizations.
Still, rejecting faith was rejecting faith. Many adepts still conducted deep and extensive research on this entirely different and mysterious force known as the power of faith out of curiosity. They had gained a basic understanding of the attributes and traits of the power of faith.
First, the formation of the power of faith relied on intense psychological suggestions.
The gods would think of all sorts of way to plant the core commandments of their clergy into the minds of their followers. They would then have their followers repeatedly strengthen their psychological suggestions through specific actions, speech, or rituals, thus forming a sort of psychological reliance upon them. It caused the followers to treat the core commandments of the gods as the set of highest goals meant to realize the meaning of their lives.
During this process of interaction between minds, the pure and stubborn soul consciousness would then stimulate a strange soul power that would turn into the power of faith. If one were to analyze the power of faith from the perspective of the magic origin, it belonged to the category of supernatural powers of the mind attribute.
If one were to look at things from the aspect of the narrow mind attribute, these gods were practically no different from the infamous mind flayers of the multiverse. There was only one slight difference. One brazenly devoured the brains of other creatures to strengthen themselves. The other was just extending this process over an extremely long period of time, taking their followers as their sheep and the source of their powers. The only real change was them beautifying and polishing the process of their devouring, making them appear to be all the more noble and moral.
However, what difference was there between the two if one were to peel away the facade?
What truly made the adepts despise the gods was their attitudes and method of treating their followers.
All sorts of research had demonstrated that weak and foolish intelligent species were the best source of power of faith. To maintain the purity of their followers' mindsets, the kingdoms and territories controlled by the gods always rejected the development of technology and civilization.
Over the course of hundreds and thousands of years, the gods took full advantage of the tension and conflict between the king and the nobles, the greater nobles, and the lesser nobles. It was also between the nobles and the peasants in order to create all sorts of disorder and military clashes. It was only then that these beings living within this hell of perpetual conflict and suffering would entrust all they possessed in the vague and intangible idea of faith.
The vast and endless stream of faith became the source of power that allowed the gods to grow stronger continuously. However, in doing so, both the gods who resided at the top of the food chain and the lowest of peasants had become two grasshoppers on the same chain of faith. One was terrifyingly powerful, while the other was horrifyingly weak.
Sadly, it didn't matter how significant the power difference was. Both of these groups of individuals had been reduced to parasites of the planar laws.
The gods gathered the power of faith and used the portion of planar laws they had control over to turn this faith into purer and more condensed divine power. Thus, they became the powerful shepherds standing at the peak of the plane.
The plane was like the ranch of the deities, while the intelligent followers were their cattle and sheep. On the other hand, this wooden idol on the wooden table was the device the foolish livestock used to communicate with their masters!
Greem and Alice might be fearsomely powerful characters compared to the 'cattle' and 'sheep,' but they were no more than two slightly stronger livestock or in the eyes of gods.
As such, they had to undertake all actions against the gods with the utmost caution.
Some magic tomes had revealed that mentioning the name of a powerful god within a plane would stir the planar laws, causing this deity to receive some faint impressions. If these gods also possessed holy divination professions, they might even be able to use this vague sense they had obtained to calculate all the elements behind it, along with the countless possibilities that it would bring about in the future.
That said, the Goddes of Moonlight Meve that they were dealing with this time wasn't skilled at divination. Otherwise, Alice would never have dared to attempt deciphering and analyzing an idol soaked in her aura of faith while still in Faen.
Greem couldn't help but scratch his head upon seeing how eager Alice was, "What did you call me over here for? I know absolutely nothing about the power of faith. I'm afraid I won't be of much help!"
Alice smiled slightly, "I didn't call you here for anything. I just wanted you to sit by my side and watch as I do it."
"Then?"
"You are the calmest and smartest adept I have ever seen. You can judge for yourself. If anything goes wrong during my unsealing ritual or my process of investigation, you must instantly destroy the idol without any hesitation. I'm worried... I will no longer have the power to destroy this idol at that time."
Greem nodded his head in comprehension.
It seemed Alice had called him here to be a supervisor. If Alice's actions stirred the Goddess of Moonlight, she would have plenty of means to crush this First Grade shrimp to death. When that happened, it would be Greem's time to find a way to save her!
Of course, this was only out of the cautious nature of adepts.
The Goddess of Moonlight was a goddess– a high and aloof deity. If it wasn't a particular reason or a unique motivation, it was hard even to attract her attention. That was why the two of them never really expected something like that to arise when Alice gently told Greem about his purpose here. Their moods were still very relaxed.
Greem smiled when he saw Alice's white and slender fingers lightly touch the red ropes upon the idol and remove them in a specific order. He started communicating with the Chip in his mind.
Chip; note, observe, and record all of Alice's actions. Immediately take intervention measures upon detecting any oddities.
[Beep. Order received. Scanning and recording in process.]
With an agile movement of Alice's slender fingers, the red ropes sealing the wooden idol finally snapped cleanly apart!
The next second, a sinister, unfathomable, and strange power emanated from within the idol. This crude idol that had originally been carved of oak had, oddly enough, come to life.
The formerly coarse and crude face that only possessed simple eyes and a nose started to stretch and transform. The wooden patterns turned smooth and clean. The protruding wooden nose also turned straight and pretty. Even more terrifying were the pair of shut eyes and the eyelashes upon them quivering, as they were about to open wide.
[Beep. Detecting the appearance of a mysterious power. The source is the inside of the divine object. Detecting the appearance of a miniature spatial cave-in. A mysterious spatial passage is forming.]
A series of red alerts quickly rang out in Greem's mind. Greem looked around the room and immediately realized that Alice was staring at the wooden idol and her eyes were out of focus. She didn't seem to be aware of the impending danger.
Spatial passage?
What exactly was that damned Goddess of Moonlight trying to send over?
Even if it was only a small spatial cave-in, the power being transferred over was probably not something that Greem and Alice could endure.
That was why Greem raised his right hand without hesitation and furiously punched the wooden idol.
The ferocious power of fire exploded in an instant. The wood
en idol that had barely started opening its eyes immediately split into thousands of pieces. That strange power also vanished at the same time.
The next second, Greem and Alice spat out blood and collapsed limply to the ground. An odd projection of a moon surfaced upon their foreheads.
Chapter 629 Messenger of the Moon Goddess
Greem and Alice looked at each other speechlessly.
The two wiped away the bloodstains on their mouths and remained dazed for a moment before recovering from the shock earlier.
Alice moved toward Greem and carefully assessed the crescent moon projection on his head. She then tried to wipe it away with her hand gently. Strangely, enough, she didn't come into contact with any material substance. It was almost as if the moon was just an image being projected from the crescent moon in the sky.
However, when scanning with her Spirit, Alice could very clearly feel the existence of that crescent moon.
Moreover, the projection seemed to be changing alongside the waxing and waning of the moon above.
Greem also used the Chip to sense the moon projections on both of their foreheads. He vaguely detected a trace of spatial flux within them.
"What is this?" Greem asked solemnly
"I'm not too sure, but it seems a lot like some kind of divine magic beacon," Alice replied hesitatingly.
"Divine magic beacon? What is its purpose?"
"If I'm not wrong, it should function as a spatial coordinate. However, this is a spatial spell powered by divine power. I can't neutralize it with the magic I currently possess."
"Spatial coordinates?" Greem couldn't help but start brooding in silence.
If the enemy had obtained the spatial coordinates to their whereabouts, didn't that allow them to pinpoint where they were? When that happened, Greem and Alice would probably be locked onto by the Goddess of Moonlight if they ever came close to Garan once more.
"Don't worry. This divine magic doesn't seem to be complete either. As long as the two of us are not exposed to the moonlight, this divine rune will not be able to obtain sufficient power to send our spatial coordinates outward."
"Damn."
Greem had planned to go on a slaughtering rampage in the upcoming time. How could he not feel upset when he ran into such a strange moonshade rune at this points of time?
"Could you get rid of them?" Greem couldn't even touch the crescent moon projection after several times. It was almost as if the image didn't even actually exist. He had no choice but to ask Alice.
"This divine rune is constructed with the divine power of the Goddess of Moonlight. There is a huge difference in that and our own magical powers. It's virtually impossible to find a way to remove it without sufficient time for research."
Greem was utterly frustrated now!
Could he no longer show up for any of the following battles?
It was important to note that the flying ship was just too big. Even though it could hide in the cloud layers during the day, it would still tear apart the cloud formations when traveling at high speeds, leaving behind a clear path to be followed. That was why things such as ambushes against the elves were best done at night.
Now that Greem had become entangled in the crescent moon projection, any appearance at night would cause the moonshade rune to produce spatial ripples constantly. That would most definitely attract the attention of the Goddess of Moonlight.
After all, Greem had killed the elven believers of the Goddess of Moonlight. If she was able to track down the location of these invaders, it wasn't hard to imagine how many powerful elves would be chasing after them.
According to Greem's understanding, the Goddess of Moonlight Meve had a Third Grade elven god messenger as her subordinate. Even Greem didn't have absolute certainty of escaping unharmed if this god messenger came to intercept the ship.
An elven god messenger that could temporarily borrow the divine power of the gods was a fearsome individual, even if they were only Third Grade!
Greem felt his head hurt at the very thought of pitting his clan adepts against a god's messenger.
The solemn Greem continued to rub his smooth chin with his hand as his eyebrows furrowed. He couldn't seem to come to a decision. Alice was watching all this from a side. She couldn't help but poke him lightly.
"Feeling distressed over your subordinates' wellbeing? If you don't want to fight with the enemy head-on, then why not find our allies?"
"Allies?" Greem paused for a moment before his eyes gleamed, "The allied army of the Dark and Pale Witches?" He chuckled, "You are so nasty."
Alice rolled her eyes at him unamusedly, "Hurry up and get someone to make two circlets to hide the moonshade rune temporarily. I will be off to contact the Dark Witches."
Greem left with a smile on his face.
…………
Garan Continent, the central mountains.
Several towering nature temples loomed over this mountainous stretch of forest.
No brick or stone had been used in any of these temples. Instead, divine power had been directly applied to stimulate the growth of the ancient trees, causing their large and dense branches to twist and weave into the basic shape of a temple. Jade green vines and pretty roses climbed to every corner of these temples, turning the place into the most beautiful human paradise in this world.
These temples didn't all belong to the great Goddess of the elves– Saoirse. They also included the holy temples of the other deities of the elven pantheon, and naturally, a temple for the Goddess of Moonlight Meve as well.
The fact that these nature-attribute gods could build their temples together represented the organic and harmonious nature of their relationship. The pantheon of sea gods and the human's pantheon of gods far outnumbered the elven pantheon, but these two pantheons were vastly inferior to the elven pantheon when it came to teamwork and unity.
These were the main reasons the two other two pantheons didn't dare to provoke the elven gods easily!
A deep and silent sacred hall stood in an area at the edge of the multitude of massive temples.
Unlike the constant flow of followers, high priests walking among believers, and the constant hymns for the elven gods of the other nature temples, this nature temple appeared to be exceedingly quiet.
Apart from a few temple priests gathered in the main hall for a discussion, it was hard to see any followers coming to this large temple for prayers or offerings.
Third Grade Elven God Messenger Xenia, who held the title of Moonshade Messenger, was kneeling at a tall statue of a goddess and silently praying. Accompanying her sides were Temple Officiate Aurora and two female priests. They had their eyes closed and were focusing as if listening carefully to the words of their goddess.
Even though it was bright daylight outside, the inside of this temple was perpetually shrouded in a layer of dark, deep, and faint moonlight. No outsiders or gods would be able to see through the secrets within without stepping into the radius of the temple.
Any individual that was not a follower of the Goddess of Moonlight would trigger the divine barrier set up by Meve if they stepped within a quarter of a kilometer of the temple. Meve's consciousness would then be sent over from the distant world of gods and judge if the guest was an enemy or a friend.
After this prayer and communion that had lasted for the greater half of the day, Third Grade Elven God Messenger Xenia finally stood up. The light of faith surrounding the tall statue that possessed a pretty figure whose face was obscured by faint moonlight also started to fade gradually.
Soon, this statue, which had previously been soaked in a dense sacred aura, turned into a perfect wooden carving once again. The woman of the icon might look beautiful, with a dignified and scared expression, but it no longer had the same feeling of holiness that compelled one to kneel and prostrate themselves.
"You have heard the holy words of the Goddess as well. Why don't we all talk about how we can complete the mission assigned by the Goddess?" Even though they were al
l servants of the gods, this Third Grade God Messenger Xenia possessed much higher status compared to the temple officiate. That was why this conversation was being held with her at the very core.
Xenia was a tall, slender, and pretty female elf. She wore delicate elven armor decorated with plenty of beautiful patterns that resembled rose branches and jade green vines upon her body.
Moonshade Messenger was both her title and her advancement profession.
It was a unique profession that was somewhere in between a magical knight and a spellcaster. It also simultaneously possessed some offensive techniques of shadow assassins. As such, in terms of just combat strength, it could be categorized as a fearsome spiritualist class with tremendous dueling abilities and limited brawling abilities.
"Evil is breeding in the distance; the Goddess has already warned us. Those evil witches have once again invaded our home. In particular, a troop of especially wicked fellows have slaughtered the followers of our Moonlight Temple. They even destroyed a nature altar that the Goddess herself had personally established. A crime like this needs to be punished. I will summon and gather the followers of the Goddess of Moonlight and strike back with maximum force." Temple Officiate Aurora's words might suggest fury, but her tone and expression appeared relatively calm.
That was a classic trait of all elven followers that believed in the Goddess of Moonlight.
Elegant, noble, calm; these were the core beliefs that the Goddess of Moonlight most appreciated and encourage. That was why, as a follower of the Goddess, Aurora maintained an expression of composure while harboring intense feelings of rage.
The other two priests and the Third Grade elven god messenger were behaving in the same way.
"This doesn't seem like enough!" Xenia confidently added, "The Goddess has already used her divine powers and left a moonshade coordinate upon their bodies. I will be able to clearly sense their location if they ever bask in the moonlight. That's why I will need you to gather some individuals who are skilled at fighting. The moment the enemy betrays their position, I will use divine power to teleport the group over instantly."
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