novelraw #261 - Section 261
#261 - Section 261
So this time, Xia Na retrieved those memories that Nariel didn't grant when creating the avatar, especially the detailed past experiences. Nariel constantly grew, met the God of Knowledge, understood her mission, and went to see more experiences...
Those years were very ordinary and boring. She was just an angel who sang the praises of the God of Knowledge's perfection and greatness under the throne of the gods, striving to make him even better.
Apart from being more capable, doing more difficult tasks, and having more abundant final results, Nariel's growth trajectory was not much different from that of other angels.
It's just that from the moment she was born, she was the most perfect angel in the sky, receiving the most attention from the God of Knowledge.
Until she became the Time Shepherd, she gained the responsibility of managing the churches in many planes for the God of Knowledge.
Because Nariel completed her tasks very well, and the God of Knowledge also began exploring the Source Sea with the God-King, Nariel gained double the trust, and her jurisdiction over those worlds became larger and larger.
At that time, as a creation of God, Nariel's meaning of existence was illuminated by just a word of praise from the God of Knowledge.
But also in contact with those worlds, constantly interacting with the short lives of those mortals, watching their joys and sorrows, Nariel's consciousness called "self" awakened.
For an angel, this is the beginning of depravity. They have many self-cleaning programs that can eliminate information that affects their pure loyalty to the gods, and always maintain the most perfect factory settings.
But Nariel was too perfect and too powerful. Because of her outstanding past achievements, she received too many rewards. Those automated cleaning programs had very little effect on her.
It was probably a spell that required the will of a god-level to verify, and it worked on all angels, but Nariel crossed that line.
It was impossible to completely resist, but there was a shallow impression in her heart. With a little related memory stimulation, she would remember it again.
Rebellion is something that, once it sprouts, will grow wildly and cannot be stopped at all.
At this time, if the gods were a little more careful, they could find the difference in the angels, but at that time, the God of Knowledge was very busy and trusted Nariel very much.
In his heart, this was a creation he had obtained by chance, and he loved her very much, and often showed her off to other gods.
In this way, Nariel became stronger and stronger, and her inner complex thoughts became more and more numerous.
She began to think, what kind of existence are the gods to mortals?
In the teachings of the gods, mortals are the lambs of the gods and angels, and she only needs to graze them like livestock.
As long as the lambs grow rapidly and regularly contribute enough power of faith.
If they are not obedient enough, then directly kill a batch, which can directly obtain the power of faith, and can also deter other lambs, remember to pray honestly and ensure your output!
The gods' methods of managing mortals seem to be ever-changing, but in the end, they are actually playing tricks of mystery and terror. After great terror, giving a little bit of friendliness, mortals begin to be grateful to the gods.
To put it simply, it is to give a slap every day. When one day they are not beaten, mortals will work hard to complete the tasks of the gods for the feeling of not being beaten.
This universe has been like this between mortals and gods for many years, and it has never changed.
Nariel knew that this was to harvest the power of faith.
But what did mortals get from the power of faith obtained by the gods?
Oh, peace of mind? Strength and benefits?
Mortals may not know it themselves, but Nariel's account book is very clear, compared to the cost, their gains are too little.
Their lives are also too miserable. In addition to the gods blocking the power of faith, the managers cultivated by the gods, the organizations called churches, and the good friend of the church, the imperial power, are all oppressing those lambs.
They work hard from beginning to end throughout the year, cultivating non-stop, praying at night or doing other farm work, but they are always hungry, can't afford beautiful clothes, and are always at risk of starving to death.
God said, this is the fate of livestock.
But Nariel felt that even if the livestock were killed in the end, the growth process was greatly accelerated, at least they could eat their fill every day before death, live in a safe environment, and not worry about being eaten by wild animals.
Those bottom-level lambs make livestock-like contributions, but they can't eat enough or dress warmly, and they have to endure dozens of times the suffering...
As a manager, Nariel saw too many tragedies, and she began to feel that such tragedies were wrong.
She thought about changing the operating mode, and this experiment was Universe 25.
Of course, that was after she had lived a long time as a Time Shepherd, possessed enough powerful strength, and gained the most trust from the God of Knowledge, that she could make such an attempt.
But the result of the attempt was not ideal, which led to her first causing dissatisfaction among the gods, because a huge amount of faith power was invested, but the final harvest was not proportional.
Clearly, that was a perfect world, the land was fertile, natural disasters were controlled, there were no beasts threatening their safety, and there were the greatest monarchs in the world to manage them, so there was no need to worry about the possibility of war.
Everyone only needs to eat, mate, play, and pray to complete the duties of the lamb from birth to death without worry.
But no matter how Nariel adjusted, repeatedly modified the proportion of time, and worked hard with the Little Ao clone, Universe 25 did not become the fully automatic infinite faith harvesting machine that she hoped would operate perfectly and happily.
In the end, she could only attribute it to the fact that faith, from the moment it was born, carries original sin. It must first stipulate that those lambs are "born sinful" before it can obtain the greatest harvest.
They must struggle in the mud, suffer enough torture in this life, and promise happiness in the next life, before they will contribute the most faith.
This may be church pua, a very simple and evil method, but it has always been prevalent in the churches of the gods because it is too easy to use.
Just when Nariel was about to determine that Universe 25 had failed, she suddenly paid attention to the Green Vine Empire because of Xia Di's battle, and saw the changes there.
The Green Vine Empire did similar things to her, eliminating the aristocratic class, allowing the people of the empire to eat their fill and dress warmly, satisfying the most basic animal needs, and reducing oppression and exploitation as much as possible, giving them as much fairness and freedom as possible.
She was thinking, the Green Vine Empire is starting to become a weakened version of Universe 25, will it collapse sooner or later?
But contrary to Nariel's expectations, the Green Vine Empire did not collapse, but became stronger and stronger, and even became the secret enemy of the Seven Gods, hindering their actions to hold all the planes of the entire universe in their hands.
Nariel didn't understand very well, it was clearly similar things, why did the empire succeed?
The intelligence investigation she asked Taibeila to do, on the surface, was to conduct the next battle, but the real purpose was to know where the difference between the Green Vine Empire and her Universe 25 was.
Through comparison, she finally discovered that what caused this fundamental difference was teaching and hope.
The Green Vine Empire created an environment where everyone could eat their fill, but it did not unconditionally support the people of the empire. The people of the empire must constantly work with their own hands to create and support themselves, and live the happy life in the propaganda.
Compared to the past when many mountains were pressing on them, just this possibility can make everyone try their best to work hard, and praise the empress and praise the empire in the process.
At the same time, there is unreserved teaching, telling those people who were once treated as cattle and horses by the nobles that all men are created equal, and no one will be noble because of blood.
What truly distinguishes the people of the empire is knowledge, ability, and contribution to this society.
And to obtain knowledge, whether it is the Fearless Space, or the schools in reality, or the various institutions in the City of Mysteries, the empire provides very rich channels.
The education that the nobles used to protect their class is now open to the poorest people in the empire, as long as they have an upward heart, they can step into the door, and there will be the most excellent and patient AI teachers to give them tailor-made teaching.
In Nariel's view, the strength of the Green Vine Empire is certainly technological innovation, but the Arcane Empire, which pursues the limit of magic in this universe, has also appeared.
The real difference of the Green Vine is that it eliminated bloodline theory, eliminated the theory of only the strong, and for the first time focused its attention on the most ordinary lambs, and strived to make them keep up with the rhythm of life, manufacturing, and combat, and reflect greater and greater value.
This is the real liberation, in addition to the shackles on the body, more importantly, the shackles on the mind and thoughts are also completely untied.
Everyone is told that he has unlimited possibilities, so go ahead and develop your talents!
The Green Vine Empire also used a sound system and an enlightened atmosphere to tell all its people that we are not lying, as long as you are hard-working and excellent enough, you can get the corresponding rewards in this country.
Because of absolute clear politics, unreserved ideological liberation and knowledge teaching, the Green Vine Empire achieved completely different results from her Universe 25 with seemingly similar things.
But Nariel could not imitate such an operation.
If you tell the lambs that all men are created equal and you have unlimited possibilities, but you want them to wholeheartedly believe in the gods, isn't that a contradiction?
So she also heard the designer of the empire, a little guy named Roger, complain that the declaration of freedom written by a believer, written that all men are created equal, but in the depths, there is no credibility at all, it is just a false lighthouse.
Universe 25 can't even do a false lighthouse. What she wants is a theocracy, a theocracy where everyone is happy and absolutely devout, which is something that does not exist from the root.
In the end, she understood that faith and the greatness of mortal life, these two things, can only exist one.
Watching the open and secret struggles between the Green Vine Empire and the Seven Gods, Nariel finally chose mortal life.
She was an angel who had fought for the gods for ten thousand years, but she was tired of this life.
Only the empire can give this universe a different hope.
Not to make magic great, but to make mortals great.
So she did something that made the God of Knowledge extremely angry, and the depravity could no longer be hidden.
"This is the past me." Xia Na finished telling the information she had obtained, her eyes were clear, and she was burning with an unprecedentedly hot light, "Nariel can't get rid of the control of the God of Knowledge, but she helped me do it, I can replace her eyes to see this world..."
"You are not her." Roger said seriously, "Also, what operation did she do in the end?"
"It's been hidden..."
"So angry!"
The plot party whose curiosity was not satisfied, slammed the table in furious!
Chapter 238 Crushing Across the Ages
Although Xia Na ultimately did not satisfy Roger's curiosity, the story she told was absolutely good news for the empire, and also a great shock:
The things the empire is doing are not lonely, and they are very great, even the gods who have lived for a long time are shocked by the empire's pioneering feat.
Mortals cannot compare to the power of the gods, but their lives are not impossible without the gods. They can use their own hands to overcome countless difficulties in nature, protect themselves, and thus get rid of that parasite.
The Green Vine Empire taught Nariel a lesson with the happy life and spontaneous efforts of the people.
Clearly, she is a Time Shepherd, but because of her origin, experience, and the mission that must be completed, she can never put into practice the skills she learned in class.
After clarifying this point, she was delighted that the problem that had been bothering her finally had an answer, but she was also sad that the answer had nothing to do with her.
At the same time, compared to the entire universe, it is so small and weak, and may be extinguished by a sprint from the gods...
Nariel decided to contribute her own strength, but to protect this small and precious flame, which may eventually spread throughout the universe.
Even if she doesn't know what she did, but with her understanding of the Seven Gods, it will definitely make the God of Knowledge angry, right?
As long as it can make the enemy uncomfortable, then it is good news for the empire. Indeed, their strength is definitely far weaker than the Seven Gods.
The resistance of the Son of the System seems to be a grand event, and the Seven Gods' plan to lay out the entire multiverse has been constrained, but the root cause of all this is not the weakness of the gods -
But because they are greedy, they want to fight but don't want to pay the price, and because of the differences between each other, they have not shown their true strength.
In other words, the mortals at this stage have not been qualified to be taken seriously by the gods and treated with all their strength.
The new operation of the Seven Gods, back and forth, is still to let the mortals solve the troubles brought by the Son of the System internally first, and then they will pick up the fruits of victory, so that they can reduce their losses again.
Of course, the empire's response method is also very simple. Thanks to Xia Na for developing the divine energy conversion device, whether it is a new or old god, it is a valuable resource for the current empire.
If used properly, it can become the capital to further strengthen itself.
Xia Na finished telling what she knew, and quietly got out of Roger's arms. In her opinion, this was a rather shy gesture:
I won't rely on this guy, and the previous close contact doesn't mean anything, hey, just playing!
For the little angel, although she was no longer Nariel at the moment of her birth, she made up for a lot of past events, and it is indeed for the formation of many of her views and personalities, there is a reasonable explanation.
Too many shadows of Nariel remain on her body, even if she doesn't admit it, adding these memories, she has a sense of heaviness that matches her strength.
Roger could also sense the change in her and, thinking, asked:
"Now that you know where you came from, where do you plan to go next?"
"I haven't decided yet. I plan to use my eyes to see more of the world first, and then think about it slowly."
"It just so happens that the Empire has recently started a war abroad. You can visit along the way."
"That seems like a good idea?"
Shana was indeed interested.
Nali Nier didn't want her to become her, but the memories she gave were hundreds of times the length of Shana's own life. The massive amount of information would inevitably reshape many of her perceptions.
Under this strong impact, although she was no longer duckweed, it would take a long time and more experience to get rid of the influence of those memories.
Even if she became a second Nali Nier, being a time shepherd for the Empire might be a good development?
Nali Nier's past attempts did fail, but a failed path doesn't mean it's meaningless. At least it can eliminate a large number of wrong options, right?
Besides, having driven a broken-down car for tens of thousands of years, that's definitely a great driving skill. Giving this vast management experience to Shana, not to mention surpassing His Majesty, is more than enough to be a governor.
The Empire now has excellent research and development capabilities, and there are many magicians who can bring about continuous technological progress, but truly independent administrative officials are scarce talents!
The prosperity of magical civilization and the exploration of the road forward have too much attraction for the most outstanding talents.
The Empire has also raised the good things of magical discoveries and technological progress too high, absorbing a large number of talents.
And this country's reform has only been going on for five years. In the past, it was under the Empire's inefficient and low-level management. The current officials have greatly improved compared to before, bringing about obvious progress, but in Roger's eyes, their level is just so-so.
Technological dividends and demographic dividends, as long as you work honestly and private individuals are not so important, you can always get a satisfactory answer sheet.
To really say that those places have any original actions, exploring their own imperial model, sorry, that's really not there.
As time goes by, Roger has slowly become accustomed to the thinking angle of a manager: everything has two sides, and any changes that occur can be used to find opportunities that can be utilized...
Shana didn't notice Roger's selfishness. His proposal was indeed very attractive. The research project on divine power conversion that she could provide was just a direction. The real specific operations still had to be done by those real theoretical and research-oriented magicians.
In the final analysis, she is still a priest. Her role is to provide a perspective for thinking expansion, which is more likely to break out of the inherent thinking constraints of magicians, thereby bringing about faster progress.
In the past, she didn't know where to go and lived this life drifting with the tide.
Now that she has inherited Nali Nier's memory, she doesn't necessarily have to become her, but traveling thousands of miles is indeed a direction she is willing to try.