Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 322 Will you create the country we want?
In November 1161 AD, a new religion called the Steam Cult came onto the stage of history and predicted that a new energy called "steam" would emerge, completely changing the existing industrial structure and social system. The one who brought all this was the great god who dominated the power of steam: the Steam Engine God - Alexander.

In the New Year of 1162, Watt, the president of the Royal Research Society of the Kingdom of Great Britta, suddenly announced his conversion to the faith of the God of Steam Engines. This was the beginning of a trend. Within just three months, more and more scientists announced their joining of the Steam Cult, including some great scientists who had long been famous on the continent. This event shocked the entire Western Continent and was called "steam baptism" in history. It also made the reputation of the Steam Cult widely spread. Almost overnight, everyone in the Western Continent knew about this new church.

In 1166 AD, Watt, the great scientist who first joined the Steam Cult, declared that under the guidance of the great god of steam engines, he had invented a new machine that could effectively solve the problem of insufficient productivity. Out of his piety to God, he decided to name the machine after the god to prove that it enjoyed great grace and glory from God, namely: the steam engine.

From this moment on, history entered a track of rapid development. Work that relied on manpower and manual work was gradually replaced by mechanized production. More and more factories and chimneys stood up, countless industrial products flowed into every household, and sophisticated guns and cannons fully armed the army. No era has ever been as vigorous, full of vitality and vigor as it was.

Later, the internal division of the Steam Cult led to the Steam Holy War that lasted for two hundred years. The increasingly fierce war caused a great stagnation in the development of the times. Until now, people have not been able to get out of the pain caused by it. The relics left by that war to human society, both positive and negative, are countless.

However, the above is only the history known to mortals. In the history of mysticism, this holy war has extraordinary significance, because it is the first time that the "conceived gods" appeared in the eyes of the world.

In December 1252, the former Saint of the Steam Cult, Mida, appeared in the "City of Steel" Rheatom in the northern border of the Kingdom of Great Brittany, and delivered a speech at the Cross Wreath Square, declaring that the Steam Cult's belief in God is no longer pure. Steam, as a force to guide the world into a new era, should be sacred and noble, and should not be controlled by everyone. Only those who have passed the test and proved their piety to God can be qualified to follow the sacred power.

The Steam Cult arbitrarily shared the glory of God with those ungodly mortals. Even pagans who did not believe in the steam engine god could use the power of steam at will, not to mention those who tried to blaspheme the sacredness with filthy money and power. This was undoubtedly a heresy. In order to change this situation, she would obey the decree of God and bring about a destined change, so that the sacred power would return to the sacred, and the faith of mortals would also return to faith.

This is the famous "December Declaration". Afterwards, facing the doubtful believers, Saint Mida prayed to the sky and summoned the first conceived god in history: the steam engine god Alexander.

Thus, amid the roar of the steam engine, a mechanical kingdom constructed of huge steel gears and exposed metal bearings descended from the sky. The giant shadow of God covered the heaven and earth, and the brass ring surrounded the entire city, like the orbit of a planet, bringing eternal stagnation of time and space. Everyone trembled and worshiped. This is the famous miracle in religious history, "Deus Ex Machina".

In the face of the might of Alexander the Steam God, the city of Rhaetom fell, but no one was killed or injured. Instead, they all became followers of Alexander the Steam God, including the bishops of the major dioceses who had been the most stubborn in resisting. These people left the Steam Cult and established the Alpha Knights with "Steam Supremacy" as their core doctrine. They should not have betrayed, but they became the first betrayers. This fact surprised many people. It was not until later that the mysterious and evil refined power was exposed to the world that they understood the truth.

As a member of the association, Wade Locke, the captain of the A-1152 Arbitration Team directly under the Balance of Order, knows more than these people because he is qualified to read various materials archived within the association. Although he is limited by the confidentiality level and is destined to not understand too deeply, he knows the inside story of the so-called "refined magic" and how much harm it can bring.

A group of researchers, led by the philosopher "Martha" of the association, once submitted a report to the leader titled "A Study on the Concrete and Homogenized Phenomenon of Faith". The report clearly stated that the power of faith is a kind of energy directly linked to the soul, and the essence of the soul is the sum of emotions. The stronger the emotions, the greater the energy. In other words, the conceptual gods born from these powers of faith are essentially the material form obtained after countless strong emotions have triggered reactions.

Therefore, it is imagined that gods can exert reverse influence on living beings through the power of faith, manipulate their emotional wavelengths, and form a special resonance with themselves. The affected living beings will fall into an abnormal state of fanaticism while being conscious, and can even transform ordinary people with not devout faith into the most extreme martyrs. Martha and the researchers named this process "refining".

They suspected that Saint Mida, who summoned the Steam God Alexander, and the people who defected from the Steam Cult to form the Alpha Knights, were probably refined by the Steam God Alexander, which led to such a drastic transformation.

Afterwards, Saint Mida, with the assistance of several refined Steam Cult researchers, invented the "Glorious Holy Stone" with a magic circuit as its core. By radiating magic power, the influence of the power of faith was expanded, so that the life forms within the radiation field of the holy stone spontaneously formed a subconscious field that resonated with the conceived god. In this way, the captured soldiers and most of the people were refined and transformed into fanatical followers of the machine god Alexander.

This refining ritual using the Shining Holy Stone as a medium was called "the ritual of divine bestowal" by her. Later, many sects that believed in the conceptualized gods, led by Time and Space Ingmar, called it holy stone magic, and the association directly named it according to its effect, which was refined magic. The scary thing about refined magic is that the person being refined often does not realize how abrupt his or her psychological transformation is, but will believe from the bottom of his heart that he or she should have been a believer of this god and should have such a devout faith in him.

Their spirits were not destroyed or damaged, so they could still maintain their sanity, which can be seen from the fact that those refined researchers can continue to conduct research. However, their common sense was distorted, and they became the most extreme religious terrorists, often doing things that others could not understand. Even, as long as it was for their own gods, fraud, betrayal, killing, or starting a war were just necessary sacrifices for them.

There is no doubt that fanatical but rational believers are definitely the most harmful people in the world.

The goddess who sealed herself in the corrupt crystal, the golden holy stone on her chest is the only medium for refining magic, the "Glorious Holy Stone" created by Saint Mida herself, it radiates and amplifies the power of the imagined god - Yuanrang Dazun, forming a subconscious field that can cover the entire city of Nimsher, and begins to release a refining storm, trying to refine all life forms within the range and transform them into believers of God.

It is important to note that the refinement of life forms by the gods is not instinctive, but a spontaneous action; it is not a goal, but a means to achieve a goal. In other words, they are strengthening their own power by refining their believers, so as to achieve a certain purpose of their own.

The gods are born out of strong desires, and naturally understand all human emotions. Countless strong human natures will drive them to respond to the prayers of believers and create an "idealized world" based on their own existence, which is the "Kingdom of God". However, they are worshipped as gods and will only complete their missions in the way of gods, appearing pure and cold, more like a machine without emotions. Therefore, what kind of "Kingdom of God" you want to create depends entirely on how the underlying logic that constitutes their existence interprets the meaning of their birth.

In the past, believers of the Steam Cult were overly fanatical about the steam engine and the "Industrial Age" it represented, believing that it was the most brilliant form of civilization created by mankind. At that time, no one had seen the disadvantages brought about by the overdevelopment of capital and industry, so people were still singing and praising it.

Alexander, the mechanical god who was born from this strong sense of pride and longing, tried to rely on the huge power of faith to create an absolute time and space cage, to stop the world's time here, in this era where only steam engines roar. He will be the only ruler of this mechanical kingdom, and will listen to the wishes of believers and guide them towards a future as cold and eternal as machines.

That is what the Steam God Alexander wants to create - a stagnant universe and an eternal mechanical kingdom.

And now, what kind of kingdom of God does the conceptual god Yuanrang, who was born from the fusion of the spirit god of springs, the great Tifu, and the spirit god of mother earth, the great Titan, want to create?

Wade Locke looked nervously at the huge figure in the blizzard, as if he was looking at an insurmountable mountain. Rochelle had transformed into the Earth Mother Spirit and merged with the Spring Spirit. At this point, they could do nothing but wait for the cult to unite with several bishop-level members in Nimsher to fight back, perhaps delaying the arrival of the Scarlet Night Gate.

The premise is that before this, the refining of the conceptual god, Great Yuanrang, will not cause too much chaos in the city of Nimsher. Otherwise, even with the support of the Feiyemente, the situation will be out of control.

"Captain!" Aegir's voice came to my ears: "The second wave of refining storm is coming!"

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)