Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 925 - 924: The Inclinations of Gods

Gawain took considerable effort to suppress the whirlwind of nonsense in his mind and felt immensely grateful that he didn’t bring Amber along this time—otherwise, that half-elf would surely deduce a multitude of things from the changes in his expression, leading to several exaggerated versions of the "Holy Gibberish of Emperor Gawain Cecil" appearing in the next clandestine edition of the "Emperor’s Edicts"...

He shook his head and looked at the God of Nature before him. The latter let out a light laugh and said, "Obviously, you don’t intend to help me lift these restraints."

"We’ve already discussed this issue," Gawain replied calmly, "I’m more interested in what you said just now, ’there really is such a day’—do you mean you anticipated what the Goddess of Magic was going to do?"

Amon responded frankly, "...I didn’t foresee the details, but I knew that there would certainly be other gods like me who would try to break this cycle, and among all the gods, the one most likely to take action...is the Goddess of Magic."

"Why do you say that?" Gawain frowned, "Besides, didn’t you previously mention that gods don’t normally communicate with one another, and you don’t know much about the other gods?"

"Due to the constraints of our fields of belief and associated paradigms, gods indeed cannot communicate with each other, and I don’t know what the other gods are thinking or planning..." Amon’s tone seemed to carry a hint of amusement, "but that doesn’t prevent me from extrapolating the ’tendencies’ of other gods based on certain patterns..."

Gawain immediately took note of a particular keyword mentioned by Amon, but before he could ask further, Amon suddenly posed a question: "Do you know how and why ’magic’ came into being?"

Veronica, standing nearby, found it a bit strange that a God of Nature would pose such a question, but after pondering briefly, she replied, "Magic originally stemmed from mortal imitation and summation of certain natural non-human monsters and extraordinary phenomena in nature—although many scholars and believers later attributed magic to mysterious races like dragons or gods, most true mages do not agree with those claims.

"As for the purpose of magic...of course, it was for survival in the harsh natural environment."

"Indeed, to survive in the harsh natural environment, mortals began to draw wisdom from nature, to steal power from it, transforming things once deemed as divine wonders, like thunder and lightning, and frost and snow, into forces controlled by mortal hands, using them to combat the severe environment...this is the origin of magic," Amon explained slowly, "and so it was also the birth of the Goddess of Magic."

A sudden clarity lit up Gawain’s mind; he understood what Amon was trying to say.

"Magic is emblematic of human defiance, learning, survival instinct, and fearlessness in the face of nature’s might," Amon’s voice was low and pleasant, "thus, the Goddess of Magic possesses a powerful learning ability, perceiving the patterns of change more acutely than any other god, and she will not succumb to those aspects that are unfavorable to her. She will be the first to awaken and attempt to control her own fate, just like the ancient philosophers who sought to master the dangerous lightning and fire. She desires survival more than any god and is willing to undertake many bold actions to achieve it...at times, this can even appear reckless.

"Ironically, all her acts of resistance are themselves a result of her own ’rules of operation,’ and the irony of this irony is that Mirmina, acting recklessly according to these rules, nonetheless succeeded—or at least partially succeeded...if all evidence is valid, then ’she’ now indeed has become ’she.’

Gawain listened intently to the crucial information shared by Amon, feeling his thoughts become clearer. Many issues he hadn’t been able to comprehend before now suddenly had explanations, providing him with the first concrete, quantifiable insight into the nature of other gods.

Beside him, Veronica subconsciously furrowed her brow, her face showing a sudden realization: "Gods born from paradigms...to think of it this way!"

She then suddenly recalled something and turned her gaze towards Amon: "Are you okay with directly telling us this ’knowledge’?"

"Had it been not long ago, you would have been ’polluted by the magical truth’ by me telling you this," Amon responded faintly, "but now, knowledge of this level no longer has such effects."

"Not long ago..." Gawain immediately arched a brow, a multitude of speculations rising in his heart, "Why do you say that?"

"The mortal world has advanced swiftly, many things are rapidly changing...however, for me, the developments that are worth attention only move in one direction..." Amon’s overtone of amusement became increasingly evident, "The druid general education and the ’Town Apothecary’s Manual’ are truly valuable...even children as young as seven or eight now understand where alchemical potions come from."

The lingering "divinity" entangled with Amon was loosening!

Gawain instantly realized what the changes happening to this former "God of Nature" signified and guessed the causes behind these changes. His eyes widened as he scrutinized the giant stag with a mix of astonishment and inquiry, attempting to confirm the veracity of Amon’s words while also unable to resist asking, "Are you suggesting that you’re now even closer to shedding the identity of a ’god’?"

During the White Starfall incident three thousand years ago, Amon successfully departed from the position of "God of Nature" through a feigned death, even destroying the god’s position of the God of Nature, but Gawain could clearly see that his "departure" was not entirely complete. He still retained many lingering divine qualities, such as the polluting flesh, the non-viewable body, and fatal words and knowledge for ordinary people. In this context, Nariteer served as the best reference: likewise a "God of Yore," Nariteer, after separating divinity from humanity, experienced another death. Coupled with the foundational paradigm of her existence—a sandbox of residents who all perished—she herself achieved complete rebirth and transformation through the reconstitution of Gawain’s memories, now free of those "godly limitations."

Nariteer can directly appear before any user of the neural network, whereas Amon still has to remain confined to the deepest part of the shadow realm, demonstrating the influence of the "lingering divine constraints."

Nariteer’s "success" is evidently unreplicable for this world’s gods, yet now it seems Amon has found another path to complete liberation—the starting point for this liberation lies within the new order established by the Cecil Clan.

Truthfully, Gawain hadn’t been entirely unaware of all this. After learning the fact that "gods are born from paradigms," he and his technical experts had been working backward from this to devise a solution. Besides meeting essential societal needs, much of the religion reform and new education systems within the Cecil Empire also bore traces of research related to the defied Plan. He just hadn’t expected...

That all this would genuinely take effect, right before his eyes—even though the subject in question was a "God of Yore" who had already departed from their divine position and was in continual decline of divinity.

"In some sense, I am one step closer to ’freedom,’" Amon’s voice echoed in Gawain’s mind, "I can clearly sense the change."

"I remember the last time I came, you were still quite constrained," Veronica suddenly said next to him. "And at that time, our general education course for Druids had already been promoted for some time... so at what point did the change really happen?"

When she said this, she had clearly adopted the tone of a researcher.

"It’s difficult for me to provide an exact time point or a reference value for a ’sudden change,’" Amon patiently replied. "It’s a nuanced process, and I think perhaps we may never summarize a rule for the change of ideologies — we can only roughly speculate on it. Besides, I hope you don’t get blindly optimistic — the change in me isn’t that significant, a few years of education and popularization of knowledge can’t overturn the thoughts of mortals, let alone the ideologies that have been shaped for thousands of years. At most, it can have some influence on the gods on the surface, perhaps affecting a ’god’ like me, who has already left the divine position and no longer has divine supplements. But for a god in normal state... it’s hard to say whether such a broad, rapid, and crude change is good or bad."

Gawain felt Amon’s words were somewhat abstract and convoluted, but not entirely incomprehensible. He also detected a trace of concern in the latter part of the statement, prompting him to immediately ask, "What do you mean by your last sentence?"

"Do you remember what I mentioned earlier about how the Goddess of Magic possesses traits like ’rebelliousness, adaptability, and a strong will to survive’?"

Gawain nodded, "Of course, I remember."

"Different gods are born from different ideologies, and thus possess different traits, which I call ’tendencies’ — the Goddess of Magic tends towards learning and adaptive survival, while the Holy Light should tend towards protection and salvation, and the three goddesses of fertility should tend towards harvest and abundance. Different gods have different tendencies, which means... when facing sudden changes in human ideologies, their ability to adapt and potential responses may be vastly different.

"The Goddess of Magic, when faced with the magic guide technology you developed, quickly engaged in learning and began to seek content beneficial for its own survival. But if it’s a god inclined towards conservatism and maintaining the existing order, it..."

Amon paused here before continuing with a serious tone, "It might be driven insane by these sudden changes."

The voice that came into his mind ceased, but Gawain felt a surge within him. He suddenly realized he might have overlooked some things all along. Instinctively, he looked at the nearby Veronica, only to see the same complex gaze from her in return.

They looked at each other.

"...Ah, it seems something may have already happened beyond the reach of my ’vision’..." Amon clearly noticed Gawain and Veronica’s reaction, his voice drifting over, "What’s happening?"

"...The War God’s state seems off," Gawain didn’t conceal, "His priests have begun dying mysteriously."

"...The War God, huh... I’m not surprised," strangely, Amon didn’t sound too shocked, like how he previously anticipated that the Goddess of Magic would be the first to take self-preservation actions. At this time, it seemed he also foresaw that the War God would encounter issues, "When the critical point comes, he is indeed one of the gods most likely to encounter anomalies."

Gawain instinctively asked, "Is this also due to the War God’s ’tendency’?"

"The War God, closely linked to the concept of war, was born from mortals’ awe for war and the human-imposed restraints on war order.

"War is the most extreme and brutal means human beings employ to seek benefits. From its birth, it is direct slaughter and plunder, no matter how many glamorous decorations or excuses are added, war necessarily accompanies bloody slaughter and enormous benefit plundering. This is the basic concept of war acknowledged by humans during the War God’s birth.

"At the same time, humans are filled with awe and vigilance towards ’war’ as a terrifying weapon, so they added many terms and mutually recognized ’rules’ to war, such as the basis for declaring war, such as ’bottom line conventions’ for ceasefires and exchanging prisoners, such as the distribution of spoils and merit evaluation methods — though sometimes kings and leaders didn’t even adhere to these agreements, gradually changing their bottom line for the sake of interests, but at least they publicly expressed respect for war agreements, and most people believed there was an inherent order in war.

"They carried this ’spirit of war contract’ into their beliefs, thinking the War God is the god witnessing a series of war treaties and conventions, believing it this way for thousands of years.

"Therefore, the War God’s tendency is: to maintain the basic definition of war, with a strong ’contractual inclination’ itself. He is a stubborn and rigid god, only allowing war to proceed according to certain templates — even if the form of war needs to change, this change must be based on long-term time and a series of ceremonial agreements.

"Based on the above ’tendency,’ the War God’s acceptance of ’change’ is the worst, and the reaction he might make in the face of change would be the most extreme, and closest to losing control."

Amon finished his patient explanation and then paused for a few seconds before breaking the silence again, "So, what exactly have you done?"

"...A kind of war without bloodshed or slaughter, most participants wearing smiles on their faces, with no public declaration or ceasefire steps, only a series of commercial contracts and interest exchanges," Gawain was unsure of his current feelings, his expression complex and tone severe, "This kind of ’war’ is spreading worldwide, at a rate much faster than the educational promotion project of the Cecil Empire — after all, interests can propel humans the most greatly, and the interests of this new ’war’ are too large..."

Amon fell completely silent, silent for nearly half a minute.

In the end, even Veronica couldn’t help but speak up, "So..."

"You’re pushing him to a dead end..." Amon finally broke the silence, "Although I’ve never communicated with the War God, I merely need to speculate to know... his mind... How can he accept this?"

Uncertain whether it was an illusion, Gawain felt that Amon almost blurted out, "How can the War God’s brain accept this" — which was not exactly an elegant, composed way of phrasing it.