Free Web NovelChapter 387: Chapter 384: Three Feet Above, There Is... Rorschach
Within the Domain, the believers had reached a state where they were oblivious to Rorschach’s presence. They chanted and sang, uncontrollably beginning to embrace one another and weep bitterly.
Perhaps it was because they had experienced too many grievances and hardships along the way.
But Rorschach had just thought of a rather unscrupulous experiment. He silently addressed the Lord of Order in his mind, ’I’m just curious. A great god like you wouldn’t mind the transgressions of a lesser man...’
Then, the believers suddenly noticed the sunlight had become exceptionally dazzling. A pillar of light, far brighter than the winter sun, pierced through the clouds and shone down upon them.
If that were all, it would have been one thing. But everyone bathed in the light also felt a pleasant warmth spread through their bodies, and their aches and pains vanished.
"A miracle! It’s a divine miracle!" someone cried out. The others joined in, shouting, praying, and weeping without end. "The Lord has acknowledged us! This is the Lord’s promise to us! Coming here was the right decision... The Lord guided our hearts..."
’Have you all forgotten I’m a Mage?’ Rorschach was completely out of sync with the emotional believers. He could only feel the Power of Faith they were giving off surging even more powerfully... within the confines of his Domain, it was practically... boiling!
They were gathered in an open area of the new city district. The warmth and healing effects were all provided by Rorschach, while the grand scene of a sun parting the heavens to shine upon the masses was an Illusion he had created.
He created clouds, then conjured ten focused orbs using the Light Technique, arranging them into a light matrix to simulate the parallel rays of the sun.
Outside the Domain, passing workers saw a group of people kneeling on the ground, crying and laughing, but making no sound. The sight spooked them so much they took a detour.
"My lord, you saw the divine miracle too!" The old man was in tears. "I implore you to allow us to build a Church on this land that has been graced by the Holy Light!"
"Of course. I can sponsor the land and building materials—"
The people who heard Rorschach’s promise immediately cheered, "Thank you, praise be to you, O Great Lord!"
’Fucking hell. I’m the one putting up the money and doing the work, and you thank God instead of me?’ This was why Rorschach disliked people like this. However, feeling the flow of the Power of Faith, he was still quite satisfied. ’In Istani, I acted as a distributor for the Lord of Order. Now I’m just acting as a contractor. He won’t mind, will He?’
...
For the people from the Holy Kingdom, a very simple church was successfully built. It consisted only of a chapel, a Confession Room, a library (currently empty), a small storage room, and a restroom. The chapel had no large musical instruments, just a discarded piano from a theater. The only other features were a pulpit, a baptismal font, and rows of long benches.
Inside, there were no stained-glass windows depicting religious stories, no grand-themed oil paintings or Holy Statues. Even the symbolic Holy Emblem was a simplified version. Among the refugees, there were no masters skilled in both theology and art to create such things, so it was better to keep everything simple.
’Excellent. Now the Power of Faith generated here won’t reach the Church or the Lord of Order at all!’
The people were all very simple, still destitute after their great ordeal. So even with Rorschach’s sponsorship, a building whose main frame was little better than a farm’s chicken coop was the best they could manage.
The small church also had no steeple or bell tower. In truth, these standard features of a church have a practical purpose—many of the Lord of Order’s major Divine Arts are triggered by the ringing of bells.
Telling time is, in itself, a form of "regulation" for an entire city. When a bell tolls, it transmits the order of time. All personal clocks must be calibrated to its standard. It is a ubiquitous and self-perpetuating part of the ruling structure, and one that is easily sanctified.
But these people understood none of this. The only bell tower in Kempson New City was the high tower at the center of the new Steel Factory.
The new church’s name was also different from those managed by the Church. It wasn’t named in reverence of a patron Saint. The small church was called "Sunlight Hall" to commemorate the "divine miracle."
The old man was elected as the "Church Guardian." He had no appointment from the Church, nor had he received any divine grace. He was simply responsible for opening the church doors, organizing the (simplified) worship services, and reciting scriptures for everyone.
On the rest day, which came once every ten days, the old man and other volunteers distributed small, unleavened wafers as part of the dedication ceremony.
Rorschach and Andre were also observing from the side. Andre couldn’t help but use the Communication Skill to secretly ask his audacious master, "Teacher, is it really alright for you to be collecting Power of Faith like this?"
As the financial backer for the church’s construction, Rorschach had a legitimate reason to get involved in its design. On the church ceiling, there was a subtle pattern formed by alternating cuts of different types of wood. At first glance, it looked like a mere geometric decoration, but upon closer inspection, one would find it contained Rorschach’s personal sigil.
Circuits constructed from Secret Silver Thread were also embedded within some of the wood, and the main beams of the entire building contained Magic Array circuits.
Andre, however, was from the Holy Kingdom. In his eyes, Rorschach’s blasphemous act was on the level of "stealing the gods’ sacrificial offerings."
"First, look at that simplified Holy Emblem. It has no circuits and wasn’t constructed with the proper materials. It’s incapable of directing anything to a Divine Spirit, nor can it allow the Church to collect and use the ’Power of Faith’ to empower Sacred Artifacts and the like."
"Second, this so-called ’Power of Faith’ is merely a magical phenomenon triggered by believers. It certainly has unique properties, but it’s not like it’s instantly fed back to a god. There’s no harm in us siphoning off a portion."
"I’m not directly using this ’Wish Power’ either. As I said before, the ’Power of Faith’ generated by believers is a product of the Transformation of Magic Power. By using the Demon Gathering Array within the building’s frame to collect it, these altered substances will change the field within the structure, giving it a tendency toward sanctification."
"This will allow me to establish a better connection and set up a lower-latency Tower Spirit port here."
Rorschach hadn’t yet revealed the existence of the "Spell Cloud," so he told Andre that the Magic Array set up in the church ceiling was a connection port for the Tower Spirit.
Looking at the Church, Rorschach added, "One last thing: we are Mages!"
Places like Magic Nodes and points rich in Power of Faith—for example, Mage Towers and Churches—are fields that slide and ascend from the Material Realm toward the Symbolic Realm. If you approximate the space between the two realms as a two-dimensional plane, then these fields are protrusions into the Symbolic Realm, causing the concept of "distance" from the Material Realm to fold within the Symbolic Realm.
The direct manifestation of this "distance folding" is that it can enhance the throughput of a Teleportation Array, allowing it to break its maximum range, and create a place like this, perfect for Rorschach to deploy a new "Spell Cloud" port. fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Moreover, due to the nature of religion, a field like this is better suited for the descent and diffusion of will than one constructed from a Magic Node, giving the current plan an advantage over the old method.
Rorschach wouldn’t have dared to try this in a proper church. But in Muhui Hall, even though the people generated Power of Faith, it wasn’t being fully specialized due to the lack of proper rituals, Sacred Artifacts, and Clergy to guide it.
To make a crude analogy: the Wish Power these people produce is like raw "gold." What’s missing is a Church organization to collect it and mint it into "Gold Coins" stamped with the Lord of Order’s mark. So, it’s no big deal for Rorschach to skim a little off the top.
Of course, he had once considered donating a statue of the suffering Holy Son to the church—a 1:1 scale Holy Son modeled after his own Earth avatar. This would allow him to plunder the Power of Faith even more ruthlessly, using it as a humanoid Antenna for his "Spell Cloud."
But Rorschach thought better of it and abandoned the reckless idea. It wouldn’t be much fun if the God of Order truly got pissed off and struck him down with divine punishment.
