Chapter 243: The True Mentor Tianming
Love begins with hormones, and friendship with the harmony of ideals, experiences, and personalities. The former can be fleeting or long-lasting, while the latter has a greater chance of becoming timeless. Roger sometimes felt helpless. The initial attraction between him and the Empress of Eternal Night was gradually evolving into a friendship and a tacit appreciation for each other. Building an empire and defeating powerful enemies like gods seemed like a task that occupied all his energy. Busy with these endeavors, several years had already passed in this world. Perhaps this was a manifestation of the saying, “With the Seven Gods not yet vanquished, how can one settle down?”
In the night air, without the usual effect of suppressing alcohol, he felt a peculiar lightness. It was a rare occasion when they weren’t discussing state affairs. Instead, they chatted about delicacies, fine wines, and novelties of the empire from an outsider’s perspective, which was quite interesting. He let his thoughts wander, feeling that this was at least not a bad state of affairs.
The Empress of Eternal Night didn’t say much, appearing lost in thought but actually eavesdropping on Roger’s inner monologue. In fact, she now often understood his intentions even without actively listening to his thoughts. However, this serendipitous ability that first made her notice the young man felt like a special bond, maintaining Roger’s unique position in her heart. Little Ao sometimes felt that it wouldn’t be a bad idea to be clear with him and remind him to practice his Mental Power control. Although many amusing and awkward situations had arisen, the final outcome brought about by this coincidence of hearing his innermost thoughts—the empire’s prosperity and their unique relationship—shouldn’t be considered terrible. But she ultimately hesitated. She told herself that the empire’s strategic offensive was currently at a critical juncture, and any conflict between them could destabilize this war chariot. Therefore, it was better to remain still than to act rashly; more patience was needed. Warfare was swift like the wind, built upon countless victories that fostered confidence, but in unexplored territories, she found herself hesitant to step out of her comfort zone. For now, maintaining a relationship as close friends, with a hidden warmth and a touch of ambiguity acknowledged between them, seemed quite good. Once things settled down, she would consider matters of life. After some internal struggle, she postponed her decision once again.
The tavern gradually became lively, but neither of them revealed their true identities. Their bearing and demeanor alone set them apart from ordinary people, creating an aura of their own and maintaining a bubble of tranquility around them as they slowly enjoyed their drinks. The commoners and nobles of the empire no longer faced an insurmountable chasm, but Big Shots still possessed power far exceeding that of ordinary people. While acts of bullying were less common and always discovered by the Dark Night Guard, no one wanted to court trouble. Youngsters who didn’t know their own strength always existed. A good life was hard-won, and ordinary people’s resilience was far lower than that of the powerful. The improved quality of life boosted everyone’s confidence, making them more rational and restrained, knowing to cherish the present rather than resorting to desperate measures. Consequently, the public order in the imperial capital was steadily improving because life was getting better. People now had shoes on their feet, and those willing to go all out were becoming fewer and fewer.
The Empress of Eternal Night suddenly asked, “Speaking of which, hasn’t Shana returned yet?”
“Her endeavors in that world are flourishing, and she won’t be back in the short term.”
“I tasked you with cultivating a usable talent, and what has happened? We’ve essentially offered a servant to another world?”
“In the short term, yes, but in the long run, this isn’t necessarily bad for the empire.”
“Quibbling!”
“It’s truly not,” Roger said earnestly. “Your Majesty, have you never considered what would happen if our efforts to create a beautiful nation were ultimately to fail and be sealed away by the Seven Gods?”
“I cannot possibly lose. Why would I think about such things?” She was slightly tipsy, her eyes bright and aggressive. When it came to matters of state, she was always keenly offensive.
“That’s precisely why I need to think more. What Shana is doing now is leaving behind a few embers and, at the same time, exploring a potential path for the empire.” Roger didn’t seem to mind being contradicted and seamlessly continued the conversation, “Your Majesty may look down on those unawakened people, but the moment people realize their own preciousness and gain the courage to resist the gods might be instantaneous. Since we haven’t invested much, let Shana explore the possibilities.”
The Empress of Eternal Night suddenly showed a flicker of interest. “If this path proves viable, you intend to promote it in the planes controlled by the gods?”
Roger nodded and elaborated on his idea. It was simple and understandable to all: establishing behind-enemy-lines strongholds in the Magical World. The experience gained from the recent operation against Tibeila showed the effectiveness of behind-enemy-lines sabotage. Compared to the intensity of the frontal battlefield, the Seven Gods’ defenses on the World were not all-encompassing. Planes that had already begun to be pastured by them generally wouldn’t receive extra investment, allowing their Church powers to manage them independently. The Imperial fleets, facing the traditional aristocratic armies of such Magical Worlds, were like modern armies facing wild boars. The invincible Eight Banners of the same era were a joke before the floating fortresses. This was truly a dimensional strike. While the gods, with their deeper accumulation, higher-tier powers, and peculiar methods, could suppress the favored Sons of the SYSTEM on the battlefield, it didn’t mean their Churches could do the same in a non-war state.
This was a matter of cost. The gods’ power was based on Faith Power, which was a consumable resource used for too many purposes: self-enhancement, maintaining their divine kingdoms, creating new Angels, and transferring troops to the main World. It could be said that the gods’ World was quite capitalist. Faith Power compelled them to labor and compete fiercely just to avoid falling. From a certain perspective, gods were addicts of Faith Power, and given their sheer numbers, they were filled with helplessness. However, there was no room for pity, as this was the path those gods chose for themselves; the pitiable gods were filled with hateful aspects.
It was precisely because of the distribution of divine power and the necessity of Faith Power that the empire’s “Tian Ji Sai Ma” (a strategy of using inferior pieces to defeat superior ones) tactical update had reached version 2.0. Among the Seven Gods’ faction, the strongest were, of course, the gods themselves. These selfish beings, craving eternity, concentrated ninety percent of the Faith Power harvested upon themselves. Next were the inhabitants of their divine kingdoms, the Holy Spirits, and the Angels, who acted as the Seven Gods’ enforcers and needed to be maintained at a certain strength. Finally, there were the planes that had already been conquered, contributing large amounts of Faith Power annually and receiving about a one percent return, bestowed by the gods upon the best-performing Church leaders. This structure was most beneficial for the gods’ own development but left their rear vulnerable, creating weaknesses everywhere.
The Imperial fleets striking behind enemy lines and targeting only Tibeila, taking advantage of her being preoccupied on the frontal battlefield and unable to react, exposed her most vulnerable Church unprepared for support, resulting in her cries of agony. Her attempts to counterattack were no match for the Imperial fleet’s mobility. Tibeila’s exasperation was palpable; as a god, when had she ever been so toyed with? Although the effectiveness of such tactics was undeniable and served the grander strategy of provoking Tibeila, replicating it against other gods would certainly not be possible. The Imperial fleets had their limits, and the soldiers too. The Seven Gods’ faction had too much of an early advantage. If they only conducted sabotage without occupation, the Faith Power generated by those worlds would still flow to other gods. Even Saint Warriors wouldn’t fall for the same trick twice. The reason all the other gods stood idly by while Tibeila suffered was that for many years, they hadn’t encountered an opponent of equal standing and didn’t truly believe the empire could inflict damage upon her. Tibeila herself felt the same, believing that the current situation meant at worst a loss of profit, but certainly not a true loss. If the empire’s strategy succeeded and Tibeila fell, attempting the same tactic against another god would be futile, as others would undoubtedly render mutual support. That was, after all, the gods’ rear. Currently, the seven powers checked and balanced each other, adopting a “watching a joke” mentality. Once this joke revealed its true intentions, the other gods would surely learn and would not allow the Imperial fleet to rampage so unchecked in occupied territories.
The empire’s cultivation of the favored Sons of the SYSTEM was also delayed, with all of them being placed on the empire’s frontal battlefield to slow down the fall of those planes and buy more time. As the empire’s technological capabilities improved, the assistance given to the Sons of the SYSTEM grew stronger and more substantial. However, as time went on, the combat forces invested by the Seven Gods also increased, leading to a decline in the effectiveness of the Sons of the SYSTEM’s resistance. When these old gods of the Seven Gods truly became serious, they were quite formidable. The empire’s development had been too short, encompassing only one World and tens of millions of people. It could possess one fleet, or ten fleets, but could not possess a hundred or a thousand fleets. Resources and population were finite, making it impossible for a single nation to resist the Seven Gods who occupied more than half of the universe’s planes. Therefore, the ultimate operation the empire needed to undertake was to escape—a strategic transfer, using the Wandering Plane Plan to gain more development time.
However, Roger now believed that while transferring themselves, they could incite the people in the occupied territories to act. Shana was currently attempting such a feat. She was disseminating transformative ideas similar to those of the Azurevine Empire to Hard, gathering a group of like-minded former believers of the War Goddess. They intended to rally the people’s own strength, spread these ideas, and find ways to break free from the control of the gods. Their advantage lay in the fact that the local War God Church had been defeated once. High-ranking officials like Pope Louis had colluded with demons, and their actions were made public, causing the believers to feel abandoned and fostering varying degrees of resistance and distrust from other churches. However, their disadvantage was equally clear: they were a small group with limited strength. The churches of other gods had already set their sights on this vacuum, using their powerful might to suppress these renegade ideas. Hard and his group were on an expedited wanted list, even more so than heretics, and were being pursued by the Inquisition, operating entirely underground.
The Azurevine Empire could expel the churches of the Seven Gods, but this was built upon its own national strength and the presence of an invincible Empress of Eternal Night, capable of suppressing the infiltration of the Seven Gods’ churches. Even in the early stages, it was extremely dangerous, almost leading to an internal crisis due to the combined efforts of the Seven Gods and the remnants of the seventeen nations. Hard’s propagation of heretical ideas behind enemy lines was like dancing on the tip of a knife. Although it had yielded some results, it could collapse at any moment from a unified crackdown by the churches. Therefore, Shana could not extricate herself; she was the strongest combatant, the biggest financier, and also the spiritual mentor for Hard’s side. Based on Roger’s mischievous suggestion, Shana’s inherited memories, and her very fitting name, the organization Hard and his followers formed to help the common people was called the Tianming Army. Shana, occupying Shady’s body, had also taken on the title of “Mentor Tianming.” Although she never intended to be called that, even Hard, after experiencing the despair of the Great Transfer, and only because Shana, having lived in the empire, believed that the nation she described could indeed be established, supported everyone with unyielding faith through the darkest night. She was truly a spiritual mentor, and people tending to seek her out for guidance when they felt lost or confused. Over time, the name “Mentor Tianming” was bestowed upon her, and there was no way to refuse it. Shana found this quite frustrating. She had come searching for a direction, only to end up becoming the one who provided hope and pointed the way. Where was the sense in that? However, in this process, she had also gained a great deal and found answers to many questions that had been troubling her. The longer she stayed away from the empire, the more she identified with that nation. The empire did not achieve absolute fairness, but it offered considerable fairness and ample opportunities. As long as an individual pursued a better life through their own effort and wisdom, they had a chance to achieve the future they desired. It had nothing to do with their lineage at birth or their humble reverence for the gods, but solely because they were themselves, and their actions determined their standing. Roger, incorporating his knowledge of political history and the Dark Night Guard’s initial work in sweeping away the nobility, had taught Shana numerous methods and ideas for getting closer to the common people and earning their trust. Moving them didn’t require a lot of money; simply offering hope and possibility was enough. Even the most humble beings instinctively yearned for a better life. If it were possible in this life, why rely on the next? Why endure suffering now?
The Empress of Eternal Night frowned. “Your idea is excellent, but it’s too difficult. Without absolute military force, they will never succeed.”
“Failures will surely occur, perhaps more than once, but only by rising from failure and forging an unyielding will can they hope to contend with those eternal powers and carve out a new world.” Roger looked up at the lights of Audou, more brilliant than the night sky outside the tavern window, and smiled. “Your Majesty has witnessed the power of the awakened people. Perhaps they do not need strategic fortresses; they can create their own era.”
You might not believe it, but there was once a group of people who, with simple rifles, wheelbarrows, and cobbled-together cannons, defeated elites equipped with American and German weaponry, and then went on to defeat the well-supplied army of the most powerful nation. If anything could bring light to suffering異位面 (yì wèi miàn – other planes/worlds), it would be this kind of power.
“Why don’t I sneak over and see the actual situation with Shana?” The Empress of Eternal Night, piqued by Roger’s words, became quite excited. She donned a disguise and said, “Today, I shall be your Adjutant.” The Empress of Eternal Night covered her face, put on a regular Dark Night Guard uniform, transforming into a tall, merely pretty female officer. Without further ado, she teleported Roger to the target Plane Beta. Roger’s heart sank. Given Shana’s temper, would she reveal anything without the Empress of Eternal Night’s identity in play? The Empress of Eternal Night heard his concern, severed the Soul-Mimicking Bracelet on Roger’s wrist, and said with a smile, “Be discreet, and don’t remind Shana of my identity~”
