Chapter 499 — The Rules of the Gods

Yet despite arriving at such a horrifying conjecture, Gao Yang was still full of puzzlement: "If the God of Holy Light really did briefly descend upon Luan... how could He have sat by and watched the great cathedral be breached? How could the power He sent down fail to withstand even a small squad of newly trained White Knights? Even if Wright and Amber were present... their strength couldn't possibly contend with a god, could it?"

Camille, who had studied divine power for over a thousand years, fell into thought. After a moment, he began to lay out his conjecture: "Based on our compilation and analysis of the laws of the gods back then, the gods seem... to be beings of extremely strong logic and regularity."

"What do you mean?"

"The gods' power far surpasses that of mortals, but they rarely act directly to help or harm any individual mortal. They only follow certain rules strictly, sending down power through prayer rituals, blessings, and revelations, or issuing very vague decrees for mortals to interpret. When an individual mortal directly violates specific ritual rules, they send down divine punishment—but on the other hand, followers of rival gods or unbelievers, even if they never live according to the doctrine, will not receive divine punishment... This may indicate that it is extraordinarily difficult for the gods to directly interfere with our world—even they, mighty as they are, must act according to certain strict rules..."

Listening to Camille's description, Gao Yang could not help but look thoughtful. "That sounds like some kind of automatic-response logic machine..."

"Honestly, during the Spark Era, quite a few scholars of theology arrived at that very guess," Camille's color gradually returned to a calm, wise pale blue as he recalled the past and responded to Gao Yang's conjecture. "Some radical scholars even held that the essence of the gods was a kind of automatic system of unknown origin—that they ran automatically like response mechanisms, managing vast reserves of divine energy and allocating it according to mortal needs... much like the artificial intelligence arrays around the Deep Blue Reactor Tower that distribute mana."

Gao Yang had not expected that in this world there would be scholars capable of proposing such radical hypotheses. Given the heights of the Gondor Empire's civilization, it was hardly unimaginable that scholars would conduct such extreme research—but he was still curious what became of such people, who dared to study the nature of the gods in a world where gods existed. After all, from Camille's tone, those people did not seem to have been members of the "Defiance" project. "These scholars' ideas are rather interesting—how far did their research get in the end?"

"Funding wasn't approved the next year, so they changed trades and went into selling seafood..." Camille sighed. "I'd originally thought they'd be selected for the Defiance project..."

Gao Yang: "???"

Fortunately, Camille did not linger too long in reminiscence; he soon returned to the point: "Such radical research is unimaginable in this era, but the Gondorians of the Spark Era were proud and fearless. Their overly advanced magical technology and abundant resources gave scholars the opportunity to do such unorthodox things—without that foundation, the Defiance project could never have been established. But it is precisely because I took part in the Defiance project that I can state with certainty: the gods are by no means as simple as so-called 'automatic response mechanisms.'"

A moment's thought was enough for Gao Yang to grasp Camille's meaning. "Because you saw Amorn the Great Stag with your own eyes?"

"Exactly—Amorn the Great Stag, a truly existing god of flesh and blood. Though He has fallen, analysis of His remains leads us to believe He was intelligent—capable of thought, capable of independent action. So we are more inclined to regard the gods as beings of high intelligence who nonetheless act in strict accordance with certain 'rules'... Perhaps acting strictly by the rules is simply their 'racial trait.'"

Gao Yang listened quietly to Camille's account. He drew a deep breath, his gaze falling on that "godspawn crystal" on the lab bench.

After a long while, he broke the silence: "So, according to the 'rules' the God of Holy Light strictly follows, even something like commoners storming the great cathedral doesn't count as true 'desecration'?"

"That is all we can conjecture."

It seemed no further progress would be made.

Though Gao Yang was eager to grasp what the gods truly were, to understand the patterns of Their actions and the limits imposed upon Them, the facts lay plainly before his eyes: he simply had no adequate means to fully fathom the secrets of this domain.

The only thing that could be certain now was this one point—that the God of Holy Light might, in some fleeting instant, have "touched" Faran Belland, have "touched" Frostgate Cathedral; yet in the end He had paid no heed to what transpired upon this land.

"Research in this area will have to be set aside for now," Gao Yang let out a breath. "I will have the people at Frostgate Cathedral carefully investigate the clues and keep watch on the 'divine will.'"