Sword of Dawn

Page 119

Veronica closed her eyes suddenly, she took a deep breath, and when she opened her eyes again, her expression calmed down again, and there was no longer any fluctuation of emotion in her sight.

"Life is full of regrets, but yearns for the light," Veronica said in a low voice as if hypnotizing herself, and the energy of the holy light surging in her gradually subsided along with these words. Finally, she raised her head and stared at the Street, praying softly, "May you guide the Light..."

Chapter 0288 Great Hall of Light

Holy Light Cathedral, Great Hall of Light.

Pope Saint Ivan III was sitting on his large and gorgeous seat, a holy radiance emerged from mid-air, illuminating the space around the old man with a radius of several meters, while many bishops of the Church of the Holy Light Arranged in front of St. Ivan III in an arc, apart from that, there is no clergyman below the bishop in the Great Hall of Light—this is obviously a high-level gathering.

At this moment, Veronica pushed open the door, and walked to her own position under the gaze of the bishops——on the right hand side of the pope, the extremely respected position.

The bishops nodded to Veronica, and no one showed any displeasure because of her "lateness", at least on the surface.Veronica greeted everyone with a smile, and she exuded a warm and friendly atmosphere, just like every day in the past.

"Gentlemen and ladies—everyone is here," Saint Ivan III said, his voice hoarse and old, but it could be heard throughout the hall, "let's begin."

Veronica glanced at the Pope—the old man was a little older than before. After the end of the last day of the stars, St. Ivan III's aging rate has been greatly accelerated, almost every day is getting worse than the previous day. Old, now he is already a shriveled old man crouched in the seat. From the outside, he seems to die at any moment. Only those eyes that still flash with wisdom from time to time, and the sacred breath that constantly exudes, can he Let people realize the still powerful power of this old man, and the majesty at the apex of the Holy Light Sect.

The Holy Light appeared out of nowhere and shone on the Pope. Veronica knew that this was actually a sign that life was about to come to an end. When he is completely enveloped by the holy light, it will be the day that this old man will return to the embrace of the Lord forever.

However, no one will feel sad about this, including the Pope himself: this is a symbol of the highest glory, and it can be said that it is the most glorious and luckiest thing in the hearts of every believer of the Holy Light. Things, this not only requires an extremely pious heart, but also requires a very rare spiritual talent that can resonate with the source of the holy light, so Pope Saint Ivan III smiled in the shroud of the holy light, always with a peaceful and joyful mood, He glanced at Veronica with a smile, and said in a voice that was not very high but could be heard by everyone: "First of all, let us congratulate the birth of a new living saint, Veronica has passed the Lord's She has witnessed the glory of the Kingdom of God and returned to this world, she is the embodiment of the Holy Light, the most intimate child of the Lord."

This matter had been heard by the bishops a few days ago, but today the Pope personally confirmed it, so the bishops who had been prepared applauded and paid tribute and congratulations to Veronica. Ronika returned the gift with a smile, and said calmly: "The holy light is with each of us."

"The official celebration will be held tonight. Then we will discuss the recent rampages of heretics," the Pope quickly changed to the next topic. "Those evil people are harassing the believers of the Lord. Behavior is the greatest blasphemy against the Holy Light."

One of the bishops stood up, wearing a tall golden crown, with an old and majestic face—but in Veronica's eyes, he was nothing more than a holy torch like the others: "My lord, evil The activities of the believers are becoming more and more rampant. At present, in addition to the four borders, there are also traces of them in the Holy Spirit Plain and even near the king's capital, especially the eternal sleepers. A number of appalling horrors, each of which went unnoticed until the victims appeared in large numbers."

"The Eternal Sleepers deceive people with illusions and lies, but the cunning of the heretics can only make the warriors of the Holy Light more determined," another bishop stepped forward, "Your Majesty, we have hanged and burned in the West and the North Killing thousands of heretics, and throwing more heretic-inspired fools into the Inquisition, our actions are heartening—more and more unbelievers are realizing the greatness of the God of Light, and even There are more and more dissidents coming to seek the shelter of the Church of the Holy Light, especially in the western region."

"Infidels can also become the Lord's people," the Pope slightly opened his eyes with a smile on his face, "We welcome conversion from anyone."

"It's a good thing that our strength is increasing day by day, but the warriors of the Lord also need the support of worldly money to be well equipped to fight against evil," the No.3 bishop stood up and said with a solemn expression, "Your Majesty, the new The additional crusaders have huge expenses, and the weapons of the paladins and the weapons of the battle priests are not enough, we need to find ways to increase the source of income."

The bishops discussed in low voices, and then a person stood up in the queue: "Your Majesty, I propose to increase the amount of offerings collected by churches in various places, and urge local lords and rich peasants to donate more property - they accept the protection of the Holy Light, and they should give more That's right."

"This year, the Holy Spirit Plain and the Western Territory have a good harvest, and the common people also have extra money in their hands. Before they are corrupted by these sudden wealth, we can persuade them to donate the extra money to the church in exchange for peace of mind. They need the support of the church." Holy water and blessings to cure sickness, drive away nightmares, dare not reject the Church."

The bishops put forward their opinions one by one, and these opinions had sufficient reasons and reasons. St. Ivan III did not interrupt, but just listened carefully. He didn't look at the stand next to him until almost the end of everyone's speeches. Veronica glanced at her: "What does our new living saint think?"

"Increasing offerings is not a long-term way, nor is it a way of stability," Veronica nodded, looking at the bishops, her voice was soft but penetrating, as if it could directly echo in everyone's heart , "The secular people will inevitably be addicted to money, and suddenly let them increase their offerings. They will not be grateful for the protection of the Holy Light, but will first hate someone for taking their property."

Some of the bishops echoed Veronica's opinion: "It is inappropriate to collect extra property from people who have already converted to the Lord." "It is true." "We should think of other ways..."

"We can make those who were attacked by heretics, abandoned by alien gods, and converted to our lord after receiving the protection of the Holy Light pay an additional ransom," the No.3 bishop just said again, "They believe in the wrong It is the gods who have no resistance when threatened by cultists, and only remember to respect the holy light when they need it, so the 'atonement' is also reasonable."

Veronica couldn't help but frowned: "Will the ransom money become a threshold for those who originally wanted to convert to our Lord to be turned away?"

"We can set the amount of atonement according to the family property of the convert, such as one-third or one-half of the family property," the bishop said with a serious face, "This is also a test—everyone can afford it." Ransom money, if they are still obsessed with this situation, it can only mean that they are too stingy and stupid, or their heart to convert to our Lord is not firm enough, such converts, it is a good thing to reject them.”

The bishops all expressed their approval for this brilliant plan, while Veronica just watched all this quietly, and said softly to herself: "Atonement..."

After a while, the discussion among the bishops ended, and the pope came to a conclusion: "Then this matter is decided, and the specific amount and execution method of the atonement will be handed over to Bishop Talendis to draw up. Next, we will How is the missionary situation in various places?"

"Our missionary situation in countries other than Anzu has not changed much - Typhon's belief in the God of War has a deep foundation, all races in the Ogule Tribal Country believe in their original gods, and the Gaoling Kingdom has the highest acceptance of the Holy Light , but due to the influence of elf culture, most of them are shallow believers. As for Ansu, due to the recent activities of cultists, our missionary work is progressing smoothly, and the number of believers in the southern, western and central regions is increasing rapidly..."

"What about the northern and eastern regions?"

"The missionary action in the northern region has also gone much smoother than before. Although the Wilde family has always refused to openly convert family members, in view of the situation of the cultists raging, the Duchess of Victoria Wilde has relaxed the activities of the priests of the Holy Light in the territory. restrictions. As for the East ... the situation is still not good."

Saint Ivan III closed his eyes slightly, and whispered to himself softly: "The land of Duke Silas..."

"Duke Silas Roland is a staunch royalist, and he quite rejects missionary behavior on his land. Not only the missionaries of the Holy Light, but also missionaries of other sects are very restricted in his land. We're trying to find a way to break through with members of his family ... with little success."

"Duke Silas Loren has a very strong control over the family. As long as his attitude does not change, the entire Loren family will not be shaken." The Pope shook his head, "There is no need to be impatient, just let nature take its course, they will eventually You will understand that the Holy Light is the only salvation for mankind."

The bishops lowered their heads and looked at each other subconsciously, but there was no commotion.

"Holy light is the only salvation for mankind" - this is a very sensitive sentence in public, it directly challenges the "sacred covenant" made by various sects 700 years ago, but after all, this is the church of the Holy Light Inside, there is a big bright hall without outsiders, so why not talk about it?

What's more, everyone here thinks the same way.

After discussing most of the issues, Veronica looked at a bishop: "Bishop Meryev, is there any news about the southernmost pioneering territory?"

The bishop who was named replied: "The church has not invested much energy there, but recently a missionary has established a church there, and the progress seems to be going well."

"Did the ancient duke let the missionaries set up the church?" Veronica raised her eyebrows slightly, "This is really good news—the holy light illuminates the world once again."

"May the way of the Holy Light illuminate all corners of the world."

Chapter 0289 You Tour Public Beta Started

In Veronica's line of sight, one figure after another of the Holy Light left the Great Hall of Light, and the turbulent holy power in the entire space finally calmed down again. She waited until the last bishop had also left before turning her head slightly. He turned around and looked at Saint Ivan III beside him.

"My lord, do you have something to tell me?"

The old pope was hunched in his gorgeous chair, and the strength of the strong support seemed to be fading away from him. Although there was a glorious holy light descending from mid-air, this holy light could not reverse the fact that his body was constantly weakening. The old man weighed heavily After taking a few breaths, he raised his eyelids: "Veronica, faithful child of the Lord, what did you see in the highest prayer room?"

See the filthy and filthy streets covered in icy snow.

"I see the light shining on the world, and the pastures of the Lord are pure."

Seeing people full of desires walk into the church, rich people pray for more wealth, powerful people pray for more power, but poor people are not even qualified to step into the church, they can only kneel outside the cathedral on the first step.

"I saw the Lord's people gathered under the light of the Holy Light, and their hearts were filled with the power of the Lord, and they became pure and holy."

"Very good," the Pope said slowly, with a peaceful expression on his face, "Veronica, I'm running out of time."

Veronica leaned over: "Your Majesty, your body is still healthy."

"Don't comfort me, I don't need to be comforted," the old man shook his head slightly, "I will return to the embrace of the Lord. Recently, in a vision... I can already see the face of the Lord. He is standing in the center of the Kingdom of God. I smile, the day of my comeback will be my most glorious moment...I will never resist it."

The face of the Lord...

Veronica repeated this word in her heart, but what emerged in her mind was a large amorphous crystal. The true face of the God of Holy Light is still deeply imprinted in her mind to this day. Do not go.

"Veronica, I don't resist death, but I worry that our career will be interrupted by my death," the voice of the old pope interrupted Veronica's thoughts, and she heard the old man speaking slowly and firmly. Talking to yourself in a tone of voice, "Do you still remember the revelation you heard from the Lord?"

"Of course I remember, I will never forget," Veronica replied with a firm face, "The world is being infested with filth, and the alien gods are powerless to save this world. Among the gods, only the Holy Light is the ultimate salvation—— The will of the Lord will guide all mortals through the final disaster."

"Holy light is the only salvation," Saint Ivan III slowly closed his eyes, "Maybe many people will not understand what we are going to do, but we must do it, because the Lord awakens us from ignorance... then It is to give us the mission of saving sentient beings."

"I am willing to take on this mission and make the belief of Holy Light the only one in this world..."

"Very good, child, the Lord is pleased with your words," Saint Ivan III's voice gradually became low, as if he had fallen into sleep, "Holy light is the only salvation, the only..."

Veronica leaned down beside the Pope who was gradually falling asleep, and chanted devoutly in a low voice: "Holy Light is the only salvation..."

……

"Calculus is our way!" In the comprehensive analysis room of the Rune Research Institute, Kamel floated high, and dozens of manuscript papers were suspended beside him under the control of magic power, densely packed with calculations. The formula and the data converted into a graph, "The lord has lit a bright light for us!"

Rebecca, Jenny, and a dozen assistants (including a few newcomers who have just been added in these two days) stood nearby helplessly, watching the appearance of this ancient magister so excited that he ascended to heaven (literally) , until Kamel calmed down a little, Jenny couldn't help but say: "Master Kamel, can you come down? The ceiling... the magic spar lamp on the ceiling is almost burned out by you."

"Ah? Oh," Kamel hurriedly lowered the height, "I said, why does it feel hot near the head."

Rebecca looked at the glowing magister in admiration: "Master Kamel, you are amazing! Did you master these things so quickly? I have listened to the ancestors for a long time, and I have studied them for a long time. , I haven't fully figured it out yet..."

"This is because of your generational change—or in the words of the lord, your functional foundation is not solid enough," Kamel said while manipulating the magic power to return the manuscript papers neatly to their original positions, " We used various mathematical tools to solve problems back then, so I will adapt to this new field faster. But don’t be discouraged, your mathematical ability is very strong, and your talent in this area is better than most of our ordinary research at that time Or better yet, you'll be fully mastering these things in no time."

After finishing speaking, the ancient magister couldn't help sighing: "If you want to talk about greatness, it's still your ancestor... I can't imagine how he mastered so much knowledge...not only the legendary knight, but also the legendary knight." Knowing so much about magic, about runes, about mathematics, and even about the art of mapping..."

"I don't know why the ancestor is so powerful, but he is really powerful," Rebecca scratched her hair embarrassedly, as if she was the one who was praised, "He is a legendary hero, the country A small half of the territory was conquered by him!"

Kamel turned around and looked at the assistant researchers who were casting curious eyes around him. He was in a very happy mood now, and even his whole body glowed with a light blue light when he spoke: "Every one of us must Master this new mathematical tool - I have already discussed with Jenny, everyone must learn calculus in the future without affecting the research tasks!"

Jenny nodded with a smile, indicating that she had obtained her permission for this matter, and Rebecca next to her encouraged the researchers with a happy smile: "Don't worry, everyone, this is actually not difficult! Although I haven't Completely learned, but I think this kind of thing can be understood after ten days and half a month of research..."

The assistant researchers at the scene began to nod in confusion, while Jenny lowered her voice and muttered to Kamel next to her: "Does Rebecca know that her mathematical ability is different from that of ordinary people?"

"It looks like I don't know..."

"I'm mainly worried that these assistant apprentices who have been recruited with great difficulty will run away after seeing the calculus..."

"It's okay, I've welded the door shut."

"?"

"It's a way of describing the lord of me, and it's used to express the belief that I will never back down."

Jenny continued to be confused: "?"

But at this moment, Gao Wen, who released the demon "Calculus", has no idea what is happening in the Rune Research Institute. It's a matter of integrating these people into Cecil's business network after training.

As early as the establishment of the Cecil Chamber of Commerce, Gao Wen reserved a lot of positions in the system where intelligence personnel could be placed, so the work itself was not difficult. He just explained his thoughts to Amber, The next thing can be done by the half-elf himself.

"Now our commercial network has begun to take effect. The merchants from all over the place will spontaneously send some information to the headquarters of the chamber of commerce, and when professional intelligence personnel also enter this system, the eyes and ears of the Cecil collar will be completely completed. Already." After explaining the matter clearly, Gao Wen leaned back and leaned on the back of the chair, "Please help me to think about what is missing in the middle."

"Is there anything I missed, is there anyone more cunning than you in this world?" Amber couldn't help but give Gao Wen a white look, "Sometimes I don't even know that your heroic legends 700 years ago are true or false ——Obviously in the legend, you are a guy who solves problems by charging, cleaving, whirlwind, slashing and slashing the audience, but you are even more slippery than those schemers when you count others here..."

"Legends and stories are always artistically processed by later generations, and I was expanding the territory at that time, and everyone generally liked to solve problems by cutting down everything, so when describing who is so powerful, everyone will say this person Very good at chopping—did you know that Duke Franklin, who hacked to death the generalissimo of the orc invasion army on the battlefield, was actually better at cooking?"

"Duke Franklin? The old ancestor of the Franklin family in the west?"

"Yeah, jumping and chopping with one hand is superb. He has killed two legends and at least a hundred high-level extraordinary people in front of him. He is best at carving flowers on radishes. When he has nothing to do, he uses radishes to practice his hands - call us after the practice. They used to eat radishes, so our four founding dukes and King Charles himself didn’t like to eat radishes after the founding of the country—the history books never said that.”

Amber was taken aback when she heard this, but she suddenly found a blind spot: "Oh, no, I saw that you were very excited to eat radishes at dinner last night."

Gao Wen was stunned for a moment, realizing that he was about to slip his tongue, but his reaction was also extremely fast: "I haven't eaten for 700 years, have I recovered?"

Amber rubbed her chin and fell into thinking: "Emmmm... so it can be slowed down like this..."

Gao Wen glanced at Amber with guilt and embarrassment, and planned to say something to divert the half-elf's attention, but before he could speak, he suddenly felt a slight ripple in his spiritual world.

This feeling is difficult to describe in words. Ordinary people may even associate it with short-term trance and distraction. However, Gao Wen did not let go of this slight sense of disobedience. He immediately realized that it was not his own spiritual world. There are ripples, but something "connected" to my spiritual world.

It is the spiritual network of the eternal sleepers!

Connection re-established?Those eternal sleepers finally opened the public beta?Are their servers fixed?Your account is back?

At this moment, Gao Wen's mind spewed out a lot of reliable or unreliable thoughts like a blowout, but he didn't show it on his face, he just ended the current topic suddenly, and looked at Amber with a serious face: "I want to... sleep for a while, you will watch by the side."

"what?"

Chapter 0290 Psychic Network Invasion

Amber was confused by Gao Wen's request. She blinked her eyes and looked at the lord who suddenly said that he was going to sleep, her face was full of worries about the imminent death of the other party: "Are you sure you just sleep for a while?"

"What does that look mean?"

"I always feel that you are going to sleep forever..."

"What?!"

"Really, I've heard many bards tell stories about legendary heroes. Generally, when those legendary heroes suddenly say to the people around them, 'I want to sleep for a while, you stay by my side', they are about to die, and there are no immortals— —Do you want me to call Rebecca and Hetty for you? Tell them first, and I'll dig a hole..."

"Can you think of something for me! I'm just going to sleep!" Gao Wen was concentrating on locking his mental frequency, so he really didn't think too much when talking to Amber, and now he suddenly reacted when he heard what the other said. , and followed the blue veins straight up, "Don't ask why, anyway, I need to enter right away... Well, it's okay to say it's a meditation state, anyway, I can't be disturbed during this time, you will help me guard it, someone If you ask me to send you a report or something, just accept it first - anyway, you are with me all day long, and you know how to file and record various materials."

Amber thought for a while, and found that she should be able to handle this kind of work, so she nodded. Although she was still curious why Gawain, a knight, suddenly said that he wanted to "meditate", but it seemed that the latter had a serious look on his face. Miss Elf immediately restrained her troublesome thoughts and nodded her head in cooperation.

Gao Wen didn't waste time - there was no bed in the study, but he didn't really want to sleep, so he directly found a more comfortable position on the large chair and prepared to dive into the spiritual network of the Eternal Sleeper.Before starting to connect, he took one last look at Amber: "Later, if there is any emergency, you can slap me hard, or use shadow power to drag me to the Shadow Realm."

"Understood, you can rest assured."

After explaining this last matter, Gao Wen completely let go of his mind, and actively integrated his thinking into that special mental frequency.

After a familiar trance, his mental vision crossed the hazy darkness, and a glorious, magnificent, and incredible world appeared before his eyes. It was the "fantasy world" he had seen before - the eternity of the eternal sleeper. dream.

Just like when connecting for the first time, when you just entered this world, you can't see anyone. The wide and magnificent streets are empty, and the whole world is like a dead city. Gawain knew that this was some kind of "loading" process, so he took advantage of it When no one noticed, he quickly changed his appearance, and then walked openly on the streets of this dream city.

After a while, figures gradually appeared on the street, coming and going, very lively.

Gao Wen walked towards the city center according to the route he remembered, but just after taking two steps, he felt a faint voice echoing in his mind all the time. This voice made him unable to ignore it, so he had to find I found a corner where no one was around, and then concentrated, trying to hear what the voice was saying.

Thanks to the part of knowledge that he swallowed, he quickly locked on to that voice. The moment he concentrated his mental power, a strange corresponding message suddenly appeared in Gao Wen's mind:

"Call all middle and high-level nodes, the zeroth project collects computing power, and connect immediately when you receive the message."

Gawain frowned.

This is a mass "announcement" - and it was sent to me?

Could it be that before I connected, I suddenly felt fluctuations in my spiritual world because I received this message?

What is item number zero?

Gao Wen felt that he should have come into contact with another big secret of the Eternal Sleepers, but he decided to act cautiously in the absence of information, and first figure out what the so-called "No. [-] Project" is.

After confirming that the voice in his head was just a group message, Gao Wen left his hiding corner, and then found the central area of ​​the dream city with ease.

Along the way, he is also paying attention to the current appearance of the city, and comparing it with what he saw when he came here last time.

As he expected, the city has changed.