Although the Solun Continent has temporarily stabilized, it is not as peaceful as it seems on the surface.
At this moment, the Pope of the Night Sanctuary is praying in a cathedral built underground. This old Pope has just awakened from a dream.
This cathedral was constructed during the period of persecution against the Church of the Morning Star and can be said to have gathered all the manpower of the Church at that time. Besides its daily function, it can even serve as an underground fortress capable of withstanding attacks from Supremacy Magic.
Indeed, while Supremacy Magic is terrifying, the people of Solun also possess their own wisdom, such as the simple and unadorned defensive measure of hiding underground.
Of course, this method is quite limited, so few people use it; only churches like the Church of the Morning Star, which are on the brink of destruction, consider it.
However, now that the shadow of the Church of the Morning Star has finally started to improve, the Night Sanctuary not only occupies half of Castile but is also trending towards expansion into other regions.
In the Pope’s view, the broad but shallow faith in the Mother of the Infinite cannot compete with the great Church of the Morning Star. After all, those superficial believers would not sacrifice themselves for the Mother of the Infinite, whereas there are many willing to devote themselves to the Morning Star.
Currently, the only opponent for the Night Sanctuary may be the faith that has come from the M Continent, as the power and technology of the Ror Empire in M Continent cannot be underestimated. But the old Pope is not in a hurry and plans to take things slowly, especially since the magic stone mines in the Albar Rock Area that the Empire swallowed have stopped.
The Pope of the Night Sanctuary is convinced that time is on his side. Recently, the technique of manipulating dreams by the Night Sanctuary has welcomed wave after wave of breakthroughs. Except for Lavian, other churches have also begun to rise, bringing many new technologies.
The Night Sanctuary is now full of vitality, with myriad things competing to flourish.
Although the missionaries from the Empire have also brought with them the so-called divine arts, in the eyes of this Pope, no matter how miraculous those divine arts may be, they are far inferior to the ability to manipulate dreams. After all, purification and healing are tasks that can also be accomplished through other forms of magic, while dream manipulation can be considered a unique ability.
If it weren’t for his advanced age, the Pope would even want to spread his legs and stretch his arms, loudly questioning, “Can other churches do this?”
If this were before, the old Pope may not have been that confident, but having experienced the brand-new Night Sanctuary built by the cardinals, he is now full of confidence.
After Lavian proposed a series of improved ritual ideas, the current Night Sanctuary has taken on the shadow of a great cathedral, and every brick and tile appears incredibly real, no longer like before with only a long table and messy patterns.
The Pope reminisces about previous dreams, noting that, aside from the increasingly real cathedral, the number of people participating in the Night Sanctuary is also growing. In the past, the long table of the Night Sanctuary could not accommodate everyone because once it was full, the dream would start to lag and become unstable, requiring more Morning Star Apostles.
But now, with improvements from Lavian and other cardinals, only a small number of Morning Star Apostles are needed to maintain the stability of the Night Sanctuary’s dream compared to before. Nowadays, some churches can even permanently reside in the dream of the Night Sanctuary to make modifications.
This seems to involve some mathematical theories, as well as symbol and magic power transformation. Lavian has once taught the old Pope some knowledge in this area, but honestly, the Pope feels that he is quite old, and even if Lavian explains clearly, he cannot understand.
There is no way around it; not knowing just means not knowing. Moreover, in the Pope’s view, there are many areas where more Morning Star Apostles could be invested for optimization instead of having to engage in all sorts of complicated calculations. After all, the least valuable thing on the Solun Continent is people.
For this reason, the old Pope even instructed Xiya to capture more people to become devoted Morning Star Apostles and handed them over to Lavian to further advance his research.
In the Pope’s opinion, Lavian should not waste time on those meaningless numbers; the only priority should be to build the cathedral within the dream of the Night Sanctuary as soon as possible, allowing himself to also worship the great Lord in his dreams.
Those Morning Star Apostles are merely consumables.
Aside from this point, the old Pope is very satisfied with Lavian, especially with the enthusiasm reflected in Lavian’s eyes each time they meet. The old Pope even considers having Lavian take over his position, becoming the next leader of the Night Sanctuary.
Of course, if one must say something, it is that the architectural style of churches led by Lavian is somewhat strange. It does not resemble the common church styles of the Solun Continent nor the churches of the Lord of the Morning Star. If one were to say, it is somewhat similar to the goddess churches propagated by the Empire.
However, the old Pope can understand this since, due to the suppression by the Dragon Church, the Lord of the Morning Star has essentially not had a complete church. Even the old Pope himself cannot depict what the church of the Lord of the Morning Star looked like, let alone Lavian.
Moreover, recently there has been a trend of imitating the Empire, and most countries that are a bit prosperous are imitating the Empire in building concrete roads, placing magic lamps on both sides of the roads, complemented by green vegetation. Even the old Pope has to admit that when night falls, the street lamps coupled with aromatic vegetation indeed appear warm and tranquil, with a unique charm.
However, such planning generally only occurs in the wealthy areas of kingdoms or within the royal city, serving as entertainment for the noble families.
There are many such examples, and many kingdoms even take pride in how similar they are to the Empire. The influence of the Empire has permeated all aspects of the Solun Continent, including the aesthetics of churches. There is no denying that the landing pad churches of the Dragon Church are not very attractive, while the Empire’s churches are indeed more aesthetically pleasing. Therefore, Lavian has been somewhat influenced by the Empire’s aesthetics, which the old Pope feels is understandable.
Recently, the number of people around Lavian has been increasing. From bishops to grassroots priests, they all interact with Lavian. The old Pope understands that this is Lavian supporting his own power, but it is precisely because of this that the old Pope can feel at ease in passing the burden to Lavian.
Yes, everything is normal; the Night Sanctuary is developing in the most beautiful direction, like a flawless dream.
In a daze, this Pope seems to see a dimly flickering lantern, but after rubbing his eyes, he realizes it is a torch lit inside the underground cathedral.
I really am getting old; I can’t even recognize such an obvious thing.
