Demon Bible

Chapter 199: Thought Currents

Nimes, the Saint Child, might just be a weed that brought harm to some of the populace, but his appearance proved that the artificial Saint Child Project had a chance of succeeding.

He served as a reference point, allowing more and more people to learn of the Saint Child's existence and then investigate how one was created.

The most crucial aspect of this was the shifting Thought Currents.

Currently, the most complete technology for manufacturing a Saint Child lay within the Church, controlled by the Enclosure Faction.

Twenty years ago, the creation of the Saint Child failed. The project was only abandoned due to a lack of resources and immense external pressure.

But now that it had succeeded, would the Enclosure Faction attempt to manufacture another Saint Child?

Factional differences primarily stemmed from two root causes: ideology and profit.

If the Enclosure Faction forcefully pushed forward with the Saint Child Project, the relatively peaceful internal friction would likely escalate into an all-out civil war.

This exact kind of internal division was something the Governance Faction could absolutely not tolerate.

The Governance Faction wanted to unify power within the Church first, then transform the entire world according to their governing ideals.Failing to unify was one thing, but fighting a civil war first?

This was a development the Governance Faction would never permit.

"No, I will not kill you. Instead, I will watch you. I will watch you fail." Gotthard looked at the Saint Child, then stood up. He had no intention of hiding his true objective.

"Only a failed Saint Child can truly be human," Gotthard elaborated on his philosophy. "And I am right. There is already a massive gap between who you are now and who you used to be."

"Mankind has no need to delve into the domain of gods. They need only live according to the ways bestowed upon them by the divine, and they will lead better lives."

"Therefore, your best ending is simply being an ordinary human."

Having said his piece, Gotthard turned and walked toward the exit.

The greatest ideological difference between the factions revealed itself at this very moment.

The Governance Faction merely sought to govern the world, utterly refusing to touch the divine domain.

The Enclosure Faction, on the other hand, was primarily composed of noble forces. Their ideology held that although gods were exalted, a profound and intimate connection existed between gods and mortals.

For instance, the Saints.

Therefore, humans possessed a certain degree of authority to interact with the divine.

Thus, the Enclosure Faction did not consider researching the Saint Child to be blasphemy.

The greatest nobles were the Saint families, whose origins traced back to divine spokespersons. Because of this, they naturally needed to shoulder a portion of the responsibilities passed down from the gods.

And this was the core conflict between the Enclosure Faction and the Governance Faction.

A fundamental divergence in the ideology concerning the relationship between mortals and gods.

If Gotthard killed the Saint Child right now, it would likely only make the Enclosure Faction even more defiant.

They might throw caution to the wind, desperately manufacturing another Saint Child and escalating the conflict further.

At this juncture, the best choice was to give things a subtle push.

Gotthard had met this Saint Child and verified his true quality.

It might not be too difficult for the boy to become a Golden Rank being, but becoming a Saint? That was impossible.

Someone who had never experienced the trials of the world, suddenly thrust into its overwhelming complexities, would only become thoroughly corrupted.

Attempting to restore the purity he held back on Finback Mountain was practically a lost cause.

To put it bluntly, with the sheer amount of resources squandered on the Saint Child, one could easily screen for talent and train them normally to produce numerous superior, far more stable Golden Rank beings.

Personal aptitude, ideological awareness, and so on might be difficult to find in a single specific individual, but searching for them among a population of millions upon millions was hardly a challenge.

In contrast, resources were the true scarcity, at least when it came to advancing to the Golden Rank.

The main reason noble families struggled so much to cultivate Golden Rank descendants was that even families renowned for their large populations only had a hundred or so official members. The base numbers were entirely different, making success naturally elusive.

Add in the various dark schemes, massive temptations, and insatiable greed among the nobility, and any wavering of willpower would lead to a person's potential being squandered early on. This was an all too common occurrence.

Gotthard himself hailed from a noble background, so he was intimately familiar with these convoluted inner workings.

Putting the matter of the Saint Child out of his mind, he gradually flew up into the sky, only to see his accompanying priestess nitpicking at Nemus.

For instance, she questioned why Nemus had so aggressively signed the investigation warrant during this operation.

And if he was going to be so aggressive, why hadn't he rallied the majority of the Church's combat forces from the very beginning? Why hadn't he notified Sky Spring City and requested reinforcements?

Nemus simply smiled, casually tossing out explanations.

Watching Nemus's nonchalant attitude, the book-holding priestess felt a burning anger rise in her chest.

Even his answers gave her the distinct impression that he was just humoring a child.

The more he acted like this, the angrier she became.

Just over half a year ago, Nemus was nothing more than a stationed Holy Knight in the countryside. Yet now, he had already become a regional Great Knight. By continuously earning merit, his actual status and position were rising like the tide.

To see someone unwilling to contribute to the Church's reforms climbing higher and higher within its ranks was an insult to someone like her, who genuinely devoted herself to the Church.

"That is enough, Amy," Gotthard interrupted the priestess's indignation before bidding Nemus farewell.

Golden Rank powerhouses were very busy people, after all.

In reality, they spent most of their time acting as firefighters.

The whaleback was simply too vast. Oftentimes, others lacked the qualifications to rush around putting out fires even if they wanted to.

For example, if a Lesser Demon appeared in a remote village and ended up killing the stationed Holy Knight and priest.

Could they really just ignore it and let the creature continue its slaughter in that tiny village?

Dispatching personnel through conventional means would take days. By the time they arrived, everyone in the village would likely be dead.

Furthermore, they might find themselves facing a Formal Demon by then.

Thus, even for something as trivial as a Lesser Demon, it was sometimes necessary for a Golden Rank powerhouse to fly over and resolve the situation.

So occasionally, a naive, newly-spawned Lesser Demon would finish its first murder only to unexpectedly bump into a rapidly approaching Golden Rank Holy Knight.

Before leaving, Gotthard glanced back at Nemus and said, "I advise you to only dabble lightly in the Historical Number."

"That thing does not bring only benefits."

Leaving those parting words, Gotthard took his people and flew away.

Nemus nodded, etching Gotthard's words into his mind.

Nemus did not find it strange that Gotthard had seen through his contact with the Historical Number.

Ascending to the Golden Rank was an unprecedented sublimation. One's perception of all things would completely transform.

Although Nemus had never advanced to the Golden Rank, he had once been turned into a Cherubim.

A Cherubim was an entity on the exact same level as the Golden Rank.

Under that state of perception, noticing such anomalies was perfectly normal.

Moreover, it was not some shameful secret that needed to be kept hidden.

Therefore, Gotthard's warning was very likely correct.

One could not afford too much exposure to the Historical Number. Achieving the Legend Rank was nowhere near as simple as it seemed.