Chapter 469 — All Are Moving Forward

The corpse of Ammon the Giant Stag still drifted quietly in the dim, boundless space of the Shadow Realm, its mountain-like divine bulk ringed by shattered boulders and metal fragments of ancient starships, silent and motionless, everything as it had always been.

Through the window and the protective barrier, Gao Yang fixed his gaze on that divine corpse glowing faintly in the dark—but the voice in his mind did not come again.

The voice just now might have been a hallucination, yet Gao Yang was absolutely certain he had truly heard it, and his intuition told him it had come from outside—from the direction of Ammon the Giant Stag.

Amber was the first to notice something off. She ran straight to Gao Yang, bouncing hard and waving her hand back and forth in front of his eyes: "Hey, hey! What's wrong with you? Why do you suddenly look so scary?"

Gao Yang grabbed Amber's flailing paw and stared gravely into her eyes: "Did you hear anything just now?"

Amber was startled by that grim, almost frightening expression and shrank her neck: "No... Are you hearing things again?"

Gao Yang often fell into fits of abstraction, or heard and saw through things like the Eternal Stone Tablet what ordinary people could not perceive; Amber was long past being surprised by it.

"I'm not sure... probably just a trick of the mind..."

Gao Yang gave a noncommittal answer, then set the bewildered Amber aside and went over to the wide floor-to-ceiling window on his own.

He watched the corpse of Ammon the Giant Stag, utterly focused, every nerve on guard, and tried to reach out with his mind: "Was that you speaking just now?"

The corpse of the God of Nature kept its silence, as it had for centuries past.

Gao Yang got no response. After waiting patiently for several minutes and trying more than once to communicate, he finally gave up. Though he still believed it had not been a hallucination, he could not help feeling that his present behavior was rather ridiculous and strange.

Camille had noticed Gao Yang's movements as well and at once ordered the lab's response mechanism: "Warning system, report on the divine corpse."

Two seconds later, a distorted mechanical voice sounded in the room: "Scanning... all normal, the divine corpse's energy fluctuations are stable."

Camille came up behind Gao Yang: "My lord, there is nothing abnormal."

Gao Yang nodded: "I know... Perhaps I've been here too long and I'm a little on edge."

As he spoke, he turned from the window, and after one last glance back at the corpse of Ammon the Giant Stag, he temporarily pressed down the tangled thoughts in his heart and refocused his attention on the experiment before him.

"We've got the conclusion we wanted—it's safe to charge the holy-light runes with the inverter array. Next we can consider the first phase of practical development," Gao Yang said, looking at Camille and Rebecca. "Drawing on our experience designing the magic-energy armor, find a way to put the holy-light runes to practical use as quickly as possible and produce a workable 'White Knight Armament.' This will be our key reliance in dealing with Frostgate City going forward."

After Rebecca and Camille nodded, he turned to Wright: "You will be in charge of selecting the members of the first White Knight corps—men and women alike, of any birth. There are only two requirements. First, they must have fully accepted the new doctrine, completed the transformation of their thinking, and be firm of will. Second, they must pass the examination of the Civil Affairs Hall. I suggest you draw members from the Cecil battle corps—I will arrange for Byron to get in touch with you on this."

Here Gao Yang paused briefly, looking into Wright's eyes with particular gravity: "In short—a White Knight must not only be a steadfast believer in the new Holy Light, but also a steadfast Cecil warrior. Do you understand what I mean by that?"

The research into making the Holy Light controllable had already achieved a critical breakthrough; the day when White Knight would become a mass-producible profession was close at hand. And to keep this mass-producible transcendent profession from slipping out of control, certain things had to be spelled out in advance.

Wright was an excellent priest, a steadfast White Knight, a man who agreed with the Cecil path and was willing to follow it—but how long his faith in the Holy Light could endure along that path would depend on his conscience.

Wright's expression turned solemn as well. He did not answer at once, but asked a question: "You once said that the old nobility and the Church of the Daysheen fell into corruption because of their fundamental systems, and that what you mean to build is a system wholly different from theirs—one that sets no limits on birth or social class, one that truly operates for the sake of justice. Do you still remember those words?"

"I remember, and I promise that at least for as long as I live, I will strive toward that goal."

Wright slowly drew a deep breath, then let it out just as slowly. His tone was firm and steady: "If you practice justice, then—by divine right, the sovereign is ordained!"

You could have heard a pin drop in the laboratory. After a moment of silence, Gao Yang showed a faint smile: "Divine right ordains the sovereign... That would send the northern Church into a fury... But I accept the phrase."

Perhaps one day, there would be no more divine right in this land, and no more sovereigns.

Perhaps one day, humanity would find, in the essence of the gods, a higher and truer spiritual faith.

Perhaps one day, the ever more corrupt Cecil dynasty would be overthrown by new progressive forces, and the White Knights too would become dust in history...

But all that was for the future. What Gao Yang cared about was this day, this hour, this place—where he had finally grasped the power of the divine.

...

Typhon, the southwestern frontier.

Mary, a black-haired apprentice mage, made her way through the crowded market of the small town.

The peddlers' calls rose and fell along the whole street, and the tempting aromas drifting from the various food stalls clung to the air, tugging at Mary's mind and taste buds every moment. Clutching a bundle to her chest, she walked slowly forward with her head down, and before she knew it she had stopped in front of a stall.

The vendor called out warmly for business: "Miss, have a pancake—nice and sweet!"

Mary tightened her hold on the bundle, her eyes lingering for a moment on the pancake stall, but in the end she checked the unwise impulse, turned, and hurried away from the stall, continuing on her way.

Her mentor had not given her extra money for such things.

She walked on along the street toward another shop her mentor had told her to buy from. Now and then she raised her head to look at the street, busier than usual, and the look in her eyes could not help but turn somewhat complicated.

If only I could stay here a while longer...

Chances to leave the mage tower or the little village at the foot of the mountain were few. The town was a good half day's walk from that mountain village, and unless there were necessities to buy, the old mage would not allow an apprentice to leave his watch for a whole day.

So a whole day away from the mage tower, wandering about the town as she was today, was truly precious.

Mary touched the cold rune-iron collar at her throat and shook her head hard, flinging those impractical thoughts from her mind.

Her mentor's temper had improved somewhat of late; fits of hysteria and inexplicable rages were much fewer than before. True, an apprentice was still occasionally whipped or dragged off to take part in strange experiments, but at least no one had been thrown by the old mage into a monster-infested cavern anymore. Mary was grateful enough for these "good days," and she neither wished nor dared to do anything that would provoke the old mage while everything was moving in a good direction.