Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1050 Are Gods Never Partial?
"Abort the Eden Project?"

Tiantis raised her thin eyebrows slightly, like an experienced swordsman drawing a sword from its sheath, confronting her opponent. She picked up the research report again and turned directly to the last page. Her expression was still calm, and there was no change. However, there was an inexplicable sense of oppression in her tone: "This is really an unexpected conclusion, and to be honest, it seems a bit too idealistic. You should know that the Eden Project has been implemented to this point, and it is no longer something we can stop just by saying so, Bailong."

If we say that at first, the Eden Project was indeed a great cause proposed by a group of idealists to transform the world, and its purity was that no one could benefit from it, then today, the situation is completely different. Although the association's policy of expanding into the secular world has helped it absorb more talents, it has also brought more complex political problems and interest groups. Just like a newly cast ship is always brand new and bright when it first goes to sea, but as long as it sails more than 20,000 nautical miles, it will be covered with barnacles and shells. Those stubborn parasites are not invisible, but they are usually hidden below the sea level.

Who is sticking to the original ideal? Who only sees the countless interests hidden under the huge power of the Witch Society? If the latter exceeds the former, then Bai Long's conclusion cannot be established, because it is so fragile in the face of reality - unless some tougher means are used to break the reality that people have become accustomed to.

"I'm very curious about how you came to this conclusion, but before that, I want to ask you another question, Bailong."

Tiantis put down the report, picked up a pure white queen chess piece on the chessboard, and played with it between his slender white fingers, saying in a playful tone: "There are always some people in this world who naively believe that ideals and beliefs can fight against absolute power. I just saw it this morning, and not just one, but several. I don't want to discuss whether their ideas are rational, but if you were in their shoes, what do you think you should do to completely defeat the Witch Society?"

"this--"

Bai Long was stunned for a moment. He didn't expect the topic to jump so much. However, Tiantis's way of thinking has always been like this. She can always connect two unrelated things together. Who are those naive rebels she is talking about? Bai Long guessed that they might be Solomon's Thirteen Hermits, or Assyria's Paradise. They have always been resisting the rule of the association and are unwilling to surrender. Just ideals and beliefs? Paradise is fine, but Solomon and his Thirteen Hermits don't seem to deserve such praise.

Bai Long knew that although Tiantis disdained those naive ideals and childish beliefs, she still held a positive attitude. The contradiction in thought did not mean a conflict in behavior. She just felt that ideals could be naive, beliefs could be childish, but the means had to be cruel.

"..."

It was unprecedented for Bai Long to suddenly think about a seemingly irrelevant question while discussing a serious research topic. However, he still thought about it seriously, then shook his head and said, "Sorry, I really can't think of any way to completely defeat the association. That sounds as incredible as an ant trying to bite an elephant to death."

"You mean, the association can't be defeated?"

"Given the current situation, it is indeed impossible." With the seriousness and rigor typical of scientific researchers, Bai Long carefully added a qualifying description, but doing so only made his words more modest and full of unspoken confidence.

This was his true thought, and it was probably also the thought of most of the association members, and even their enemies might think so. Because even if we exclude the top combat power of the Girl Kingship, exclude the strategic deterrent war machine such as the Constructed Mecha, exclude the knowledge, wealth and power accumulated by the association in its long history... they still have the most advanced technology in the world, the best researchers in the world, a huge source of soldiers that can dominate two continents and a colonial war, and even have the political support of most sovereign countries, including the three major powers in the Western Continent.

When an organization possesses all of the above advantages, it is already invincible in this arena. If the Witch Society had not been interested in competing for supremacy, the hegemony struggle that has continued since ancient times, and the title of Mirror Star Co-Lord that powerful races such as the Dragon Clan, Giants, and the three major elves have been eager for, should have had a clear owner long ago.

"An invincible society..."

Tiantis looked a little unconvinced. She put down the queen's chess piece, turned around and picked up a horse-head knight, and looked at it carefully, as if she could see something from the chess piece that was smoother than ivory. "It's not that there is no way, it's just that you are subconsciously unwilling to accept it, Bailong."

Bai Long was startled for a moment, then slowly shook his head: "I'm sorry, I really can't think of what you mean, Tiandis. Besides, this doesn't seem to be related to the topic we want to discuss."

He hinted that Tiantis should get back to the point.

"Well, the truth is always easy to be ignored." Tiantis laughed casually: "Then tell me your reasons, Bailong. How did you come to this conclusion? It doesn't sound so friendly."

"This is based on a truth that we all believed in the past, and a certain subversive cognition." Bai Long's face became serious: "We are all wrong, Tiantis, the Eden Project has gone in the wrong direction from the beginning. It is impossible for us to completely eliminate magic power - if we do so, it means destroying humanity itself!"

"why?"

"Because of the power of faith—"

Bai Long paused for a moment, and took a deep breath, as if he needed to be mentally prepared before he could say that sentence. It was just a dozen words at the end of the research report, but once it was translated into words, it seemed to have a weight of tens of thousands of pounds, and people's hearts trembled: "The so-called power of faith is actually a kind of magic!" Tiantis stopped playing with the chess pieces suddenly, she raised her eyelids slightly, and stared at the young man sitting opposite her quietly. But Bai Long was not afraid, and emphasized word by word: "We humans, our own magic!"

……

The so-called Reality Project is a research project with the highest level of confidentiality within the association. It aims to explore the nature of the power of faith, analyze the existence of imagined gods, and better deal with those extreme religious elements who attempt to use summoning rituals and refined magic to endanger civilization, including animists who worship the "Day of the Return of the Holy Spirit."

This plan has a long history. It was first established after the conception of the machine god Alexander caused the "Time and Space God Descent" in Platinum City of the Kingdom of Great Brittany. It was initially led by the philosopher Martha, who was the head of the Steam Cult at the time. At that time, secular religious forces were still huge, and the Steam Holy War was imminent. In order to avoid causing unnecessary disputes, Martha chose to start a new organization outside the association and established the secret association "Circle of Doctrine", which is actually the Doctrine Research Department of the Witch Association's Magical Scientific Research Institute. It has been secretly providing various research results on the power of faith to the headquarters.

The first person in charge, Martha, summarized the anchoring theory of the power of faith and the existence of the conceived gods. The second person in charge, Mendeleev, invented the infection meme isolation device and the refining factor filtering device that can resist the refining magic. The third person in charge, Messiah, compiled a complete set of procedures on how to deal with the ritual of summoning gods and refining magic based on the existing research results, which later became the bladeless weapon of the Inquisition against the pagan false gods. However, at this time, the disadvantages of the doctrine circle being independent of the association began to emerge. Since it could not get manpower support from the association, Messiah had to recruit researchers on his own, which gave some people an opportunity to take advantage of it. Under the cooperation between the Mist Mountain Hermitage and Solomon, some research materials were stolen, which led to the promulgation of the "Religious Decree".

Considering this drawback, and the fact that the true identity of the Doctrine Circle had been exposed after the theft incident, there was no need to cover it up. Therefore, after the death of the philosopher Messiah, the project returned to the Magic Research Institute, led by the general manager Fei and his assistant Bai Long. During this period, they put aside all appearances and focused on the most important question: What is the essence of the power of faith?
Is it a kind of energy? Or is it an extraordinary path that has never been systematized? But why can fanatical faith breed energy and even create imaginary gods with the power of descending gods? Creating reality from fiction seems to be the most unique nature of the power of faith. But Fei and Bailong do not believe that there is a power that creates something out of nothing in the world, so they decided to explore this question to the end. If they can get the answer, perhaps the day of the demise of pagan false gods will not be too far away.

After 41,975 long days and nights of painstaking research, they finally produced a major research result. However, this result overturned the cognition of many people, so much so that Fei, the person in charge, found it difficult to accept. He deeply felt that he seemed to be violating some taboo, like opening the legendary Pandora's Box on Earth, and some future would be changed because of it.

"The essence of the power of faith... is magic power?"

Tiandis had sat up straight without blinking, staring at the young man opposite him, and asked in a serious tone: "Are you sure this is not a joke, Bailong? There is no April Fool's Day on Mirror Star, or has it started from today?"

"If you could tell me in a positive tone that today is April Fool's Day, I think I would thank you."

Bai Long forced a smile, his face was very pale, perhaps because of his disordered work and rest schedule. As far as Tiandis knew, in terms of scientific research, this young man possessed all the stubbornness, stubbornness and inhumanity that a scientist should have. He was simply a collection of stereotypes. So naturally he would not joke about such an important matter.

"This is based on the research results of pioneers such as Martha, Mendeleev, and Messiah. Fei, I, and hundreds of the top magic researchers in the team have endured 112 years of boring experiments and reached this conclusion. It is indeed so shocking, but believe me, Tiantis, for us who have really spent countless efforts, it is much more difficult for us to accept this conclusion than for you."

However, they finally accepted it. Although their inherent cognition was overturned, their established impressions were destroyed, and even their worldview was facing challenges, the rigor and pursuit of truth of scientists did not allow them to turn a blind eye to the truth seen by their naked eyes. At most, they just avoided the stage of reporting the results and entrusted it to Bai Long, who was still able to maintain his rationality.

"I can list for you the meaning of every formula, table, and even number in this research report, and explain them in detail from principle to phenomenon, so that you can understand more deeply how absurd but true this conclusion is. However, I know that you are not a very patient person, Tiantis. I am afraid that even I don't have the patience to repeat these staged arguments now. So, let me give you a simple example to prove it. This example is actually right in front of us and can be seen at any time. It's just that we have been ignoring it intentionally or unintentionally all along."

Bai Long gathered his energy and said to Tiandis, who looked calm and didn't know what he was thinking, "According to Tumi's theory, humans can only be qualified to use magic power if they stimulate their spirituality. However, spirituality is only the dominant factor of magic power, and the power of faith is the recessive factor, hidden in the deeper depths of the soul. We may call it soul magic power. Mortals who cannot stimulate the dominant factor will stimulate the recessive factor in the body under the resonance of the collective subconscious, and then activate this part of soul magic power. The soul magic power of an individual is meager, and those who have not systematically studied the relevant theories will not realize that they can control this magic power, but if the soul magic power is gathered under the influence of a certain ritual with the same goal as the carrier, it will gradually gain material existence. Moreover, since the soul magic power originally comes from the human itself, by guiding the nature of the soul magic power, it is easy to influence the emotions of believers. This is the essence of refining - a special erosion phenomenon."

"That's why, after entering the 20th century, the progress of the Eden Project stagnated and could never break through the final critical point. The tidal effect of magic caused the magic of the East Continent to spontaneously flow to the West Continent. This was one of the factors. Another factor was that humans themselves were also part of the magic activity. According to the magic surge theory proposed by Copernicus and Bruno, the activities of all magical creatures would cause the transfer and flow of magic, keeping it always active."

"This also means that if we insist on implementing the Eden Project, unless we also include humans in the scope of elimination, otherwise, we will never be able to create a completely magic-free environment on Mirror Star. The idea of ​​replacing magic with physics is even more unrealistic."

When Bai Long said this, he closed his eyes painfully, not wanting the black-haired girl to see the exhausted look in his eyes. However, the invisible emotions were often reflected in his tone: "Stop, Tiandis... It's not too late now."

"Human, there is no need to persist."

"The goddess has never been partial. She has given humans magic power, but we have never discovered it."

Give me some meow