The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 1265

Chapter 1263
As expected.
That was the voice of the Hourglass.
All extraordinary beings in the world received a new announcement in their hearts at the same time—
[The Ascension ritual for breaking through to the seventh energy level on the Path of Devotion will be conducted separately as an Eclipse Ritual.]
[The power of Devotion is completely boiling, and the Nine Rivers of the Path are becoming more turbulent—]
[From today onwards, all Paths will gain a universal Healing Ability, halving the mana required to heal any injury and doubling the healing effect.]
[The barrier between the Dream Realm and the Material Realm has weakened, significantly reducing the difficulty of praying, communing, summoning, and descending into the Dream Realm.]
[—The Law of Equilibrium has been updated, and a new equilibrium point has been established.]
In the past years, the Hourglass had only announced new laws twice. A decree that did not occur even once in thousands of years had now sounded three times in just a few months.
At this moment, even the most obtuse extraordinary beings should have clearly understood… that a new era had arrived.
“……That’s wonderful.”
Even Eivass breathed a sigh of relief.
He no longer cared what the Water Raven Guards of the Lord of Goodness had to tell him.
After briefly listening and learning that he had a meeting tomorrow morning, he hastily dismissed them—Eivass was eager to contact Grey and see how things were on her end.
Grey successfully convincing the Flame Heavenly Envoy to die was definitely a great contribution.
After all, the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s strength was considered one of the top among the Heavenly Envoys who were to be “retired” by the Ouroboros Ring in this round. Moreover, the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s abilities were not very suitable for combat.
According to the information in the letter sent by Grey, the Flame Heavenly Envoy possessed the power to transform “civilization.”
The thousands of years of stored technology and war preparations by the dwarves were all transformed into Fire Sprites by her.
Activated magic cannons, activated heavy mechs, activated mechanical fortresses, activated steel cities… Not only were all these things gathered together, but even the dwarves themselves were engulfed by the destructive scorching flames and became mechanical dwarves.
All organic matter turned into inorganic matter, and all inorganic matter gained life and reason.
This ability was quite similar to that of the Flame Demon. Eivass had witnessed the Flame Demon using a similar ability in his Ascension Ritual to demonize the Silver and Tin Hall.
However, at that time, those transformed into Flame Demon derivatives were just a group of court guards, butlers, and maids… They were either wielding cold weapons or fighting bare-handed. Some were even holding candlesticks and mops, things that didn’t look like normal weapons at all.
After all, their core was the flowing, vibrant flames. Even if these weapons were enchanted, they could not withstand the temperature of the flames and would disintegrate shortly after combat.
However, the Flame Heavenly Envoy was different. As a deity governing fire, steel, and forging, these “weapons” demonized by Her not only did not become more fragile after gaining life, but they became stronger; and the organic lives mechanized by Her would gain the advantages of inorganic matter.
In fact, Eivass believed that this was the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s core understanding of the Path of Devotion and the Origin River of Civilization: civilization did not necessarily require people.
This was perhaps not necessarily wrong.
If the Void completely permeated this World, this might be a way to continue “civilization.”
After all, the essence of the Void was “meaninglessness,” but for artificial intelligence, steel, and machinery, this was itself a false proposition—their very existence was meaningless. This was precisely the case for tool races born from the Void, who would not be destroyed by the Void… rather, they might even become tools of the Void and thus survive.
—Just like cattle and horses, cats and dogs were domesticated by humans and thus survived.
How could this not be considered a “civilization”? It was just the worst kind of civilization.
Just as the Star Crystal People inherited the Atlantean civilization of the scales from the past… If the living eventually reached their end, perhaps the machines hatched from their shells could become a new civilization based on the concepts of survival or evolution.
Both His Majesty the Pope and the Flame Heavenly Envoy herself felt somewhat vague about this concept, and their understanding of their own Path was not clear… In contrast, Eivass understood the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s thinking better.
It was just a pity that the current era was still somewhat backward.
If it were another hundred or two hundred years, when the era of automation and artificial intelligence arrived, the Flame Heavenly Envoy might have figured it out.
Now, the Flame Heavenly Envoy was caught in the paradox of “civilization no longer needs people if it continues to develop” and “is a civilization without people considered civilization?”, and felt lost.
Her ideas were advanced and extreme, but her cognition was ancient, and her morals were traditional—this was why the Flame Heavenly Envoy felt pain.
As the world’s foremost artisan, the Flame Heavenly Envoy would casually repair and optimize problems when assimilating these metals. Although Eivass was confident that he could easily defeat the Flame Heavenly Envoy’s own power… Facing the accumulations of the entire dwarven civilization’s militarization for thousands of years, Eivass was actually a little hesitant to confront it.
—It is known that the military technology of the dwarven civilization was benchmarked against the elves who were most warlike thousands of years ago. Now the elves have retired from military service and are forging swords into plowshares, and just one of their ancient cruisers already crushes modern technology… Confronting all the military technology accumulated by the dwarves would be equivalent to Eivass having to fight the entire civilization to the death?
Even the entire human civilization combined might—no, it definitely wouldn’t be as difficult as fighting the Flame Heavenly Envoy!
Not to mention, those mechanical dwarves were essentially of the dwarven race. If Eivass were to defeat them, it would be equivalent to personally exterminating a race and destroying an ancient civilization that had been passed down for thousands of years.
Even if Eivass could survive, this war would inevitably lead to great chaos in the World.
Putting aside how many innocents these things would affect… The series of reactions triggered by ambitious individuals discovering the forbidden technology hidden by the dwarves for thousands of years would be troublesome enough.
Fortunately, Grey was reliable enough.
She convinced the stubborn Flame Heavenly Envoy with her words.
—According to Grey’s previous letter, she should have made the Flame Heavenly Envoy release her power and become a Heavenly Envoy walking on the ground. Like the Crown Lords of the past, she is seeking new possibilities for her Path through such asceticism.
And just as Eivass was preparing the ritual and intending to contact Grey…
The Lords of Goodness hastily convened a small meeting.
Among them were Mahidifran and Isma’i, who had just left—naturally, Eivass was not included.
“Brothers and sisters,” a voice echoed leisurely, “our decision was correct.
“—The incomparably powerful Flame Heavenly Envoy was indeed defeated by this young Pope alone!
“The Great Abyss cannot compare to the Scorching Flame. If so… do you truly believe you are inferior to the Pope who has just taken office?”
(End of Chapter)