Chapter 237: Making Mortals Great Again
Naliner’s memories given to Shana were not complete; many important things were hidden. This was likely because she had already exposed herself. If the memories involved too much about the gods, Shana could be implicated just by remembering them. The God of Knowledge and the other six gods were not on the same level; only he knew the whereabouts of the God King.
However, despite the severe deletions and alterations, these fragments were enough for Shana to understand what kind of angel Naliner was. Perhaps, it was also her past, her origin. Shana’s life seemed successful, and her days could be joyful, but deep down, she felt like a solitary ghost in the world. She wasn’t born like ordinary people, didn’t grow up under parental care, didn’t experience school education, and then have adolescent confusion, gradually forming her own worldview after receiving various societal information.
Shana was born inheriting Shady’s body, already a mature woman. Childhood confusion and adolescent troubles arose simultaneously, not to mention the conflict of allegiances. The growth of angels was also different from ordinary people. They were like tools, and Shana’s memories of this wasn’t even complete. She was free, yet a kite with its string cut. Seemingly possessing a flourishing career and experiencing all sorts of luxurious enjoyments, her inner self, if probed deeply, would reveal nothingness.
If Roger were in her shoes, he might accept such a situation. After all, in his eyes, Shana was capable, intelligent, and good-looking, a perfect start for a chosen one. Why would she be dissatisfied? Perhaps Naliner, at her core, had a literary inclination and would ponder such trivial things. This issue could perhaps be viewed this way: Lin Daiyu burying flowers only happened to young ladies of wealthy families like those in the Jia household, who had no worries about food or clothing. For ordinary people struggling to survive, food, clothing, housing, and transportation were like mountains weighing them down, one after another. The entire world wouldn’t leave them a moment’s peace, naturally leaving no time forSeasonal sorrows.
But someone like Shana possessed too much, and unlike the Empress of Eternal Night, she had no empire to protect… Thus, normal people would yearn for a happy life, but for Shana, the question would always be, what is happiness? She was almost accustomed to the feeling of being out of sync with everyone else. Upon suddenly learning she had a past, her emotions were naturally complex.
Humans are different from animals; they need not only sustenance but also rich emotional experiences, to gradually understand themselves, learn to interact with the world, and comprehend what they truly desire to feel happiness. Of course, this is usually something pondered after basic needs are met, by those with a more complete life. Thinking about such issues too early, after completing that stage of struggle, could lead to nihilism, turning one into hermits or eccentrics. Hermits’ hearts might be content or filled with indignation, but in ways ordinary people couldn’t understand, and it could easily lead to tragedy.
Therefore, this time, Shana retrieved the memories Naliner hadn’t endowed when creating her avatar, especially the detailed experiences of the past. Naliner’s continuous growth, her encounters with the God of Knowledge, her understanding of her mission, and her experiences exploring more… Those years were mundane and tedious; she was merely an angel under the gods, praising the perfection and greatness of the God of Knowledge, striving to make him even greater. Apart from having stronger abilities, undertaking more difficult tasks, and achieving greater results, Naliner’s growth trajectory was not significantly different from other angels. It was just that from the moment of her birth, she was the most perfect angel in the heavens, receiving the most attention from the God of Knowledge. This continued until she became the Time Shepherd, responsible for managing the many plane churches under the God of Knowledge.
Because Naliner performed exceptionally, and the God of Knowledge began exploring the Source Sea with the God King, Naliner received double trust, gaining increasing authority over those worlds. At that time, as a creation of the gods, Naliner’s very existence was validated by a single word of praise from the God of Knowledge. However, it was also through her interaction with those worlds, brief intersections with the lives of mortals, observing their joys and sorrows over time, that Naliner’s consciousness, named “self,” awakened. For an angel, this was the beginning of a fall. They had many self-purging protocols to eliminate information that could affect their pure loyalty to the gods, ensuring they operated in their most perfect, factory-default state.
But Naliner was too perfect, too powerful. Due to her excellent past achievements, she received too many rewards, making those automated purging protocols extremely ineffective on her. It was perhaps a spell that required a deity-level willpower check, effective on all angels, yet Naliner crossed that line. Complete resistance was impossible, but a faint impression was etched in her heart, easily recalled with the slightest related memory stimulus. Rebellion, once conceived, would grow wildly, an unstoppable force.
At such times, gods could easily notice the difference in their angels, but the God of Knowledge was extremely busy then and showed Naliner a great deal of trust. In his mind, she was a creation he had stumbled upon, immensely doted on, and often shown off to other deities. Thus, Naliner grew stronger, her inner thoughts becoming increasingly complex. She began to ponder: what were gods to mortals? In the teachings of the gods, mortals were the lambs of gods and angels, and she just needed to herd them like livestock. As long as the lambs grew swiftly and contributed enough Faith Power regularly. If they weren’t obedient enough, a portion would be slaughtered, yielding Faith Power directly and serving as a deterrent to other lambs, ensuring their consistent offerings!
The methods gods used to manage mortals seemed varied, but in the end, they all involved mystery and terror. After immense fear, even a little kindness made mortals overwhelmingly grateful to the gods. Simply put, it was a slap a day; when the beating stopped, mortals would strive to fulfill the gods’ tasks to experience that relief. For many years in this Universe, the relationship between mortals and gods had been like this, never changing.
Naliner knew this was for the sake of harvesting Faith Power. But what did mortals gain from the Faith Power the gods received? Oh, spiritual comfort? Power and benefits? Mortals might not know, but Naliner’s internal ledger was clear: their gains were far too little compared to their sacrifices. Their lives were too tragic. Besides the gods obstructing Faith Power, the organizations cultivated by the gods, known as churches, and their close friends, the monarchies, all oppressed those lambs. They toiled tirelessly from year-round work, farming non-stop, praying or doing other farm work at night, yet they were perpetually hungry, couldn’t afford beautiful clothes, and were constantly at risk of starvation. The gods said this was the fate of livestock.
But Naliner felt that even if livestock were eventually slaughtered, their growth process was greatly accelerated. Before death, they could at least eat their fill daily, live in a safe environment, and not worry about being preyed upon by wild beasts. Those lowest lambs contributed like livestock but couldn’t eat their fill or stay warm, and had to endure tens of times longer suffering… As a manager, Naliner witnessed too many tragedies and began to feel such tragedies were wrong. She thought about changing the operational model; this experiment was Universe 25. Of course, this was after she had lived for a long time as the Time Shepherd, possessed sufficient power, and earned the greatest trust of the God of Knowledge, allowing her to attempt such a thing.
But the outcome of the attempt was not ideal, leading to her first instance of displeasing the gods, as the immense Faith Power invested yielded disproportionately small returns. Clearly, it was a perfect world; the land was fertile, natural disasters were controlled, there were no beasts threatening their safety, and it was managed by the greatest monarchs in the mortal world, with no possibility of war. Everyone just needed to eat, mate, play, and pray to fulfill their duties as lambs from birth to death, carefree.
Yet, no matter how Naliner adjusted, repeatedly modified time ratios, and worked with Leo’s clone, Universe 25 did not become the perfect, happy, fully automated, infinite Faith harvesting machine she had envisioned. Finally, she had to attribute it to the fact that Faith, from its inception, was tainted with original sin. It had to first declare the lambs “born sinful” to achieve the greatest harvest. Having them struggle in the mud, suffering enough in this life, only then would they contribute the most Faith by being promised happiness in the next life.
This was likely a simple yet wicked method of church manipulation, but it had been universally present in the churches of the gods due to its effectiveness. Just as Naliner was about to declare Universe 25 a failure, she suddenly noticed the Azurevine Empire through Shady’s battle and observed the changes there. The Azurevine Empire had done something similar: it abolished the aristocracy, ensured its people had enough to eat and wear, satisfied the most basic animalistic needs, reduced oppression and exploitation, and granted them as much fairness and freedom as possible. She wondered if the Azurevine Empire was becoming a weakened version of Universe 25 and would eventually collapse.
But to Naliner’s surprise, the Azurevine Empire did not collapse; instead, it grew stronger, even becoming an adversary to the Seven Gods, hindering their efforts to control all the planes in the Universe. Naliner couldn’t understand: why did the empire succeed when it did something similar? The intelligence investigation she asked Taibella to conduct, while ostensibly for the next battle, had the true purpose of discovering the difference between the Azurevine Empire and her Universe 25.
Through comparison, she finally discovered that the fundamental difference was guidance and hope. The Azurevine Empire created an environment where everyone could eat, but it did not provide unlimited sustenance to its people. The people of the empire had to work ceaselessly with their own hands to create what they needed to live and achieve the promised prosperous life. Compared to the past with multiple mountains weighing them down, just this possibility alone could make everyone strive with all their might, and in this process, praise the Empress and the empire.
Concurrently, there was unreserved education, telling the people, who were once treated like cattle by the nobles, that all people are born equal, and no one is noble due to bloodline. What truly distinguished imperial citizens was knowledge, ability, and contributions to society. And for acquiring knowledge, whether in the fearless space, schools in reality, or various institutions in the City of Mysteries, the empire provided abundant avenues. The noble class’s exclusive education was now open to the empire’s formerly most impoverished citizens. As long as they had the will to improve, they could enter, and the most excellent and patient AI teachers would provide them with customized guidance.
In Naliner’s view, the strength of the Azurevine Empire was indeed technological innovation, but this Universe had seen Arcane Empires pursuing magical limits. The true difference of the Azurevine Empire was the elimination of the “blood superiority” theory and the “strongest is always right” doctrine. It focused its attention for the first time on the most ordinary lambs, striving to help them keep pace with life, creation, and combat, demonstrating increasing value. This was true liberation, not only unchaining the body but also, more importantly, unbinding the mind and soul. Everyone was told they possessed infinite possibilities and should strive and utilize their talents to the fullest! The Azurevine Empire, with its perfect system and enlightened atmosphere, assured all its citizens that they were not lying: as long as they worked hard enough and were outstanding enough, they would receive corresponding rewards in this country.
Due to absolute political clarity, unreserved ideological liberation, and knowledge dissemination, the Azurevine Empire achieved entirely different results from her Universe 25, despite appearing to do similar things. However, Naliner could not replicate such operations. If she told the lambs that all people are born equal and have infinite possibilities, and then demanded they wholeheartedly believe in gods, wouldn’t that be a contradiction? So, she also heard the empire’s designer, a young man named Roger, complain that a freedom declaration written by a religious follower, proclaiming equality, was fundamentally unbelievable and merely a false beacon.
Universe 25 couldn’t even achieve a false beacon. She desired a theocratic state, a happy and absolutely devout theocracy, which was fundamentally impossible. Ultimately, she understood that Faith and the greatness of mortal life were mutually exclusive. As she observed the covert struggle between the Azurevine Empire and the Seven Gods, Naliner ultimately chose mortal life. She was an angel who had strived for the gods for millennia, but she was weary of such a life. Only the empire could bring a different kind of hope to this Universe. Not to make magic great, but to make mortals great.
Thus, she did something that infuriated the God of Knowledge immensely; her fall could no longer be hidden. “This was my past,” Shana finished, her eyes clear, burning with an unprecedented fiery light. “Naliner couldn’t escape the God of Knowledge’s control, but she helped me do it. I can replace her eyes to see this world…”
“You are not her,” Roger stated seriously. “And what operation did she finally perform?”
“It was hidden away…”
“So annoying!” Plot enthusiasts, their curiosity unsatisfied, slammed their tables in a rage!
