Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1052: Breeding the Monster in Your Heart?
The power of faith is the magic in the human soul. When did Tiantis know this? She thought, it was probably on the night when the steam engine god Alexander descended. Everyone was staring at the majestic and magnificent giant figure, but she was the only one who keenly smelled something strange. Those refined believers had lost something, and their souls became incomplete. If it were anyone else, it would be impossible to discover this phenomenon, but Tiantis's royal power was special. In the old world of Eden, she was entrusted by the goddess to manage and control all the magic, and was particularly sensitive to their breath and flow, so she was sure that it was magic.

However, the problem is that these believers who accidentally triggered the time and space gods are not magicians or wizards - this is reasonable. A person who has mastered powerful power cannot wholeheartedly believe in a fictional god, let alone be fanatical enough to trigger the gods. In this case, the essence of the matter becomes intriguing.

Out of necessity, Tiantis temporarily concealed this fact, and after the time-space descent event came to an end, he commissioned the philosopher Martha to establish the Doctrine Circle and began to study the power of faith. But in fact, she was not trying to figure out what the power of faith was. No one knew the nature of this power better than her. She just wanted to know - why did this happen?

Why is there magic dormant in the souls of mortals? What is the difference between this magic and the magic in the general sense? How does it work? She felt that if she could answer all the above questions, the direction of the world and destiny would be completely different, but not everyone could accept this change. Therefore, except for the seven sisters who were also the young queens, even her most trusted deputy Bai Long and her most relied friend Fei were kept in the dark and knew nothing about it.

Finally, the research results submitted by Martha, the report on the embodiment and homogenization of faith, detailed how the power of faith distorted human emotions and transformed fanatical faith into real gods. However, Tiandis captured the most critical information from it: the power of faith is the power of the soul, and the soul is the sum of emotions. In other words, this special magic power is actually no different from the magic power mastered by other races. It only needs to be stimulated by strong emotions to transform from a latent factor to an explicit factor.

So that's it. Tiantis finally understood the cause and effect and solved a huge mystery in her heart: after waking up on the Mirror Star, she was always puzzled by her mother's attitude towards humans. How could the goddess of creation, who was so fair and equal, leave out humans when granting magical power? But the truth is that humans were not omitted, but they themselves did not discover it.

As for why his mother did this, Tiantis himself thought of the most reasonable explanation - balance.

It seemed that after experiencing the destruction of the old world of Eden, Mother had finally learned and was willing to impose some appropriate restrictions on the various races she had created with her own hands in order to maintain the fragile balance necessary for them to reproduce and survive in this world.

In Eden, each race believed itself to be perfect and represented the highest masterpiece of the Goddess. Dragons are born with strong bodies and lofty spirits, and even their lifespans and fertility far exceed those of other races. This means that you can see these elegant and proud guys fighting against the wind and snow in any mountain range on the continent; the elves are the synonym of nobility. In addition to having a lifespan that is not inferior to that of dragons, they also have their own strengths: the feather elves are sharp-eyed and agile, and they can drive the wind as easily as driving their own arms, and can move freely between the height differences of 10,000 meters in the sky or 100 meters on a small hill; the mirror elves are gorgeous in appearance, full of patience, and have incredible memories. They can control the direction of waves and tides at will, making the ocean follow their pace; the dust elves are warriors on earth who are almost the same as giants. Their reactions are incredibly fast, and they can gain endless physical strength as long as their feet touch the soil... Not to mention the rest such as the blood clan, werewolves, and fairies. Even humans have always been proud of their outstanding minds and cohesion.

But fantasy and reality are a balance, order and chaos are a balance, then perfection and defects should also be a balance. Creatures that are too perfect are often arrogant, and creatures that are too defective cannot survive. Obviously, the various races in Eden are in the former state. Since each race believes that they are perfect (which seems to be the case), then who is the creation that the goddess is most satisfied with? Whose civilization is more valuable and meaningful? And then... who is more suitable to be the master and ruler of this world, making other races bow down to him?

Such a pretentious mentality will only lead to conflict and fighting in the end. Naturally, the demise of Eden is an extremely complex process, which is the result of many factors. This is just one of them. But Her Majesty the Goddess is unwilling to eradicate the most fundamental reason, that is, magic power or the desires of mortals. So He can only make up for it from other places, such as liberating His own magic power to meet the endless demands of mortals; such as creating more habitable planets to provide more resources for mortals; and limiting the innate advantages of mortals, so that each of their races has changed from perfect "gold" to flawed "bronze".

The dragons' ability to reproduce is restricted. Once a race that is naturally powerful reproduces too quickly, it will undoubtedly be a heavy oppression for other races. The feather elves' ability to move on the ground is restricted. From then on, they can only adapt to life in the high altitude. Once they come to the ground, they will show obvious weightlessness and dizziness. The mirror elves' ability to resonate with the sea is restricted. Depending on the location of the origin stone, this power also varies in strength. The dust elves no longer get support from the earth, the blood race shows obvious discomfort with sunlight and high-energy magic, werewolves find it difficult to exert their full strength on moonless nights, the development and growth process of giants is longer, and the fairies are even too lax to form an effective political system... These are all restrictions based on racial habits and innate strength, and have nothing to do with personality, emotions and self-cognition, because even if restrictions are to be imposed, Her Majesty the Goddess is unwilling to interfere with the self of living beings.

From a practical point of view, this limitation is necessary. When perfection is no longer perfect, defects constitute this colorful world.

The limitation on human beings is magic.

This is understandable, because the greatest advantage of the human race is its population base. Apart from this, all other talents they possess, such as a smart mind, a spirit of unity, or an indomitable willpower, must be based on this to work. This makes it natural for them to occupy the position of one of the most powerful races on the continent of Eden.

However, this is not the case on Mirror Star. Something must change. Because when other races are restricted, if humans still maintain such a large population base, and every human is born with the ability to use magic, their existence will become a nightmare and will not be beneficial to the long-term development of civilization. So after careful consideration, the goddess decided to temporarily seal the magic power of humans in their souls, like a small lock.

This lock can be opened, and the key is in the hands of every human being. In the goddess's estimation, humans will have a hard time at first because they cannot use magic, but soon, the wise men among humans will discover the existence of the lock and the key, and then analyze the principles, summarize the experience, and open up a magical path for humans. The invisible threshold with emotion as the key is destined that not all humans can open this lock, which is enough to maintain the balance between the strengths and weaknesses of various races. With the huge population base of humans, as long as the number of individuals who master magic reaches a certain proportion, the independence of the race and the continuation of civilization can be ensured. Humans also have their wisdom, talent, spirit of exploration, and the instinct of unity. The goddess believes that it is not difficult for them to reach this proportion.

This is the witchcraft tradition that has been passed down in human tribes since ancient times. Some elite humans who spontaneously unlocked this lock driven by strong emotions gained incredible power and were honored by their tribesmen as wizards or elders. They interpreted the wind, controlled fire and water, and could even occasionally foresee a vague future. However, none of them was systematic and specious. It would take a person with outstanding talent and great perseverance to systematically organize and summarize these witchcraft, rituals, and secret methods to stimulate the magic power of the soul in order to lay the foundation for the rise of mankind.

There was such a person in history.

However, he chose the opposite path.

... "That man, he came from a tribe of wizards. His tribe was powerful and famous among humans. He himself was the most gifted and talented young man in the tribe. He had lofty ideals and vigorous ambitions; he had fantastic ideas but also down-to-earth courage. He was undoubtedly the most anticipated and had the opportunity to become the savior of mankind, but he often indulged in some clear dreams and was convinced that he saw the future in his dreams. For this reason, he would rather abandon the witchcraft and rituals that had already begun to emerge and choose to seek from the distant starry sky. Therefore, when people got used to the power of the extraordinary, magic and wizardry, for thousands of years, no one tried to explore their own souls to obtain some incredible power - until Alexander came into the world, I discovered this truth."

Tiantis said: "Of course, we all know that he later became the savior of mankind, and the result seems to be no different. But it is an indisputable fact that human civilization has embarked on two paths because of this."

Tiantis was somewhat emotional, and perhaps felt sorry for the man. He had thought he saw the future in his dreams several times, and believed it without a doubt, but he didn't know that what he saw was actually the past, a warning from an old world that had been destroyed; the only time he had grasped the future of mankind in his hands, he gave it up with his own hands.

This actually shows that human beings - or any living creatures - should not arrogantly challenge fate and should not think that they are the masters of the future. Moreover, the future is not something you can change just by seeing it. Sometimes it is crueler than the whispers of the dead and more vigorous than the flames of war, and it can burn almost everything.

Bai Long fell silent. He knew who the man was but was unwilling to mention his name. In fact, over the years, even Fei, one of his thirteen former students, seldom mentioned her teacher's name. When necessary, she always referred to him as "he". She was so cautious as if someone was hiding in her shadow to eavesdrop or murder her, although in fact, it was not her who actually eavesdropped on the secrets and murdered her teacher.

"Even if what you said is true, but——"

He covered his cheek in pain, unable to accept or powerless to accept Tiandis's explanation: "Since you already know everything, why do you let us study the power of faith? What is the significance of the reality plan? I know you don't have those bad hobbies, like to watch one or a dozen puppets lose themselves under your control... But I really can't figure out, what exactly do you want to do, Tiandis?"

"No, you understand, Bailong." Tiandis said in a firm tone: "You are so smart, you will always figure it out. Just be careful not to let your brain lose its cool."

"..." Bai Long felt that he was very calm. Otherwise, he would not just sit here and talk to Tiandis in a weak tone that was not like his own. If it was anyone else, even Fei, he would stand up angrily, question loudly, and even overturn the table, letting the black and white chess pieces fly everywhere... But she is Tiandis, after all, she is Tiandis, the Tiandis who saved him in the great forest of Ergolan and asked him seriously whether he wanted to create a new world of justice and equality... At least at that time, the ideals of the Reality Witch were still real...

Suddenly, it was as if a flash of lightning broke through the darkness, Bai Long's hands stopped shaking, and a look of horror appeared in his eyes.

Because he suddenly remembered something very important.

As a project to study the power of faith, the Reality Project's research objects are basically various holy relics or religious relics handed down in the history of civilization. Due to myths, legends and folk tales, they are condensed with a huge power of faith. It can even be said that they are an unformed conceptual god, a creature that is always under the scope of refinement. In order to ensure the controllability and safety of the research and avoid the recurrence of serious incidents such as the time-space god's descent, special methods are usually used before the research is carried out to strip the power of faith from these holy relics or religious relics.

The so-called special method is actually the kingship of Tiantis. The stripped power of faith did not dissipate, but was sealed in Tiantis' body and suppressed by her. Bai Long once believed that this was the safest way. Although it caused Tiantis to pay attention to the seal of the power of faith at all times and could not participate in direct combat, once the witch association fell to the point where the leader needed to take action personally, I am afraid that the day of destruction is not far away.

However, based on his trust in the leader, he had never thought about the continuous searching and collection of holy relics or religious objects by the Night Watch and the Scales of Order over the long period of a thousand years, including the saint's stele, the prototype of the steam engine, the "Faro Secret Codex", the statue of the Night Mother's Mercy and even the original manuscript of "The Beginning of Spirituality", which were continuously sent to the Ladist. After Tiantis absorbed the power of faith in them, they were transferred to the Department of Dogmatic Research for research on practical plans... To this day, how huge, complex and vast the power of faith, or soul magic, is sealed in the body of this leader.

The power of faith of a steam cult is enough to create a monster like Alexander the Steam God.

The power of faith in Tiantis's body came from more than just the Steam Cult. They came from the Fertile Soil Sect, the Holy Spring Monks, the Alpha Knights, the Spacetime Enigma, the Blood Red Feast, and any religion that had been destroyed or not destroyed by the Witch Society, whether it was orthodox or pagan, false or evil.

There is even a special religion -

The Goddess of Creation.

The sacred, great, yet complex power of faith, the soul magic power that comes from the strongest emotion in every human being's heart... What kind of monster will be bred in the body of the real witch?
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