Tapris’ face grew even more pious as he began Anthony’s eulogy, “He was a learned scholar and a good samaritan, one who was willing to help others. As a follower of the god of knowledge, Anthony Blunton used his entire life to pass on the teachings of the gods. The gates to the divine realm shall open for him in death…”
‘It’s here!’ A trace of emotion flickered in Leylin’s eyes. Through his powerful senses, he saw huge, shining golden gates. The gates opened to a bright holy light, within which Anthony’s soul rose from his body on its own. After taking another peek at the world of the living, he threw himself inside…
‘The divine realm, situated in a plane above the prime material plane…’ Leylin sighed inside.
‘Normal followers’ souls must first enter the soil and, after being evaluated by the God of Death, advance into the divine realms of the various gods. However, Anthony’s soul bypassed that procedure. Is this a privilege from the bishop?’ Leylin wondered.
After the souls of followers reached the divine realms, they would in theory become petitioners, henceforth breaking away from mortality. As long as the god and their divine realm were not destroyed, they would basically exist together with the god.
To a certain extent, this was a sort immortality, but they could not be bothered by external forces.
‘It’s rumoured that high-ranked petitioners can undergo a transition in terms of their souls, becoming something like a holy spirit… Every such one is a precious asset of the god, but their numbers are…’ Based on Leylin’s thoughts, these holy spirits were souls that could not die nor be extinguished, very similar to materialised souls.
This meant that, in theory, every holy spirit was comparable to the truesoul of a Breaking Dawn Magus.
‘While the formation of holy spirits relies entirely on external forces, there is the benefit of living a stress-free immortal life while depending on the gods. Over time, the defences of the gods’ divine realms must have grown extremely terrifying…’
With a limitless number of believers, holy spirits, and the power of being the authority in that realm, gods were basically invincible in their own divine realms. Even the more powerful deities couldn’t easily dispose of the weaker ones if they were in their own realms, and they would have to pay a terrible price.
As for those Magi who had accidentally intruded into a divine realm… the result was obvious.
‘Evidently, master Anthony’s soul has a ways to go to meet the requirements to become a holy spirit. The mighty god of knowledge, Oghma, would obviously not make an exception for him… But with the bishop paving the path for him, he’d probably be in a better situation than many petitioners.’
After the divine lights retracted and the guiding force disappeared, Leylin’s tense body relaxed. Bishop Tapris approached him then as well, having completed the ceremony, “Leylin!”
“Lord Bishop!” Leylin bowed to him respectfully. After all, he was a follower of the god of knowledge even if in name.
“Anthony was a pious follower. He will definitely be treated well in His kingdom, there’s no need to worry…” Tapris consoled him, and seemed to have more to say.
Leylin and Tapris left the room, heading to a garden. Those people around had voluntarily left this area to them. “If I don’t remember wrong, you’ve already held your coming of age ceremony. You’re now a true man!” Bishop Tapris shifted the topic to Leylin.
“Yes, it was conducted last month…” Leylin answered modestly. Based on the customs of this world, boys would be considered adults once they hit 15, and could marry and have children.
“I was by your side when you were born… At that time, you were a little guy, still in your infancy. You’ve gotten so big in the blink of an eye…” Bishop Tapris laughed gently, as if reminiscing. As a rank 10 priest, the years did not leave marks on his face. In reality, he was much older than Anthony.
“But… I rarely see you attending celebrations at the church. Baron Jonas might be busy with work, but Lady Sarah is a very devout follower…” Tapris’ voice showed a hint of disapproval.
“My apologies, lord bishop! I often conduct experiments with master Ernest and I must lose track of time…” Leylin quickly apologised.
A look of helplessness appeared on Bishop Tapris’ face. Wizards in general had the least piety in them. Many of them were just general followers, and he’d long since expected this. In reality, while the entire Faulen family might be followers of the god of knowledge, they had never completely lost themselves in the teachings of the god.
In many areas on the continent, the worldly authority that nobles had were perpetually in conflict with gods’ authority. Even Baron Jonas had brought in a new god, Ilmater the Crying God, while the church of knowledge already existed. He planned to build a church of wealth, allowing other gods to spread faith in them amongst the followers.
This was the instinct of a noble, but Tapris obviously couldn’t accept it. His plan was to pull in the next generation head of the Faulen Family.
It was a pity that wizard Leylin was just like his father. While he never forgot to donate and make sacrifices to the church, he rarely took part in zealous religious ceremonies. On top of that, he was a wizard and had help from his mentor… Tapris’ expression grew darker.
“My apologies for my rude actions, Bishop Tapris! Please allow me to donate ten gold coins to the church to repent for my sins. On top of that, please inform me the next time there are celebrations and gatherings!” When it came to matters of faith, Leylin had long since planned to treat them with less importance. However, since Tapris had brought it up, he had no choice but to do this.
Anyway, he already had plans to go to the church’s celebrations every once in a while, pretending to be a follower.
“Good! There will be a holy baptism seven days later. It is a day in remembrance of the god of knowledge’s feat in reforming the demon, Angmar. The church will hold a grand celebration, so I hope to see you there…”
“It would be my honour to. I’ll definitely go!” Since this was a personal invite from Tapris, Leylin agreed straightforwardly.
“Good!” Tapris nodded, and was then asked away by someone who had been waiting for him beside them. Besides Anthony’s funeral, there were many matters he had to attend to.
After the Lord Bishop left, Leylin remained in the garden, watching the white rose behind the wooden railing while deep in thought. ‘He wants me to go there personally? What is that supposed to be? A warning?’
In reality, with his status as a noble the power of the church was not as immense as one would expect it to be. If Tapris dared overstep his boundaries, he would definitely be jointly resisted by the entirety of the nobility in the Dambrath Kingdom.
Chapter 799 – Sudden Change
Sudden Change
The battle for authority between gods and royalty had always been a problem. As the next leader of a low-grade noble family, Leylin was considered royalty. Tapris could not do anything to him, at least not out in the open, else the royalty would declare war on him. Even the pope of the god of knowledge would only choose to sacrifice Tapris and pacify the royals.
‘Besides… it’s not like Oghma is the only god on the continent. There are still many new churches that are crying out, trying to gain more followers. Of course, this is only what might happen in the worst-case scenario. Things probably won’t get that bad…’ Since he could now predict Tapris’ future actions and the worst consequences, Leylin felt at ease as he returned to the manor.
He first met with his master Ernest, and mentioned Tapris’ demand. He thought nothing of it and answered with a grunt, and then sent Leylin out. It seemed as if he was preparing to immerse himself in a very important experiment, and his mind was wandering while he was speaking to Leylin.
‘Perhaps I’m motiving master to work harder as well. A few days ago, he was saying he was about to reach the fifth level of the Weave or something like that…’ Leylin’s rapid progress must have been a huge motivation for Ernest, who had been stuck at rank 9 for a while now.
In reality, he was actually far from truly reaching the fifth level of the Weave. Leylin cleverly hid a portion of his own strength as well, else Ernest would probably want to commit suicide from the humiliation.
Half-reclining on the sofa in the room, Leylin waved his arms and got Claire to come over and massage his head while he communicated with the A.I. Chip.
‘A.I. Chip, what’s the recent progress on the analysis of the Weave?’ he commanded with his eyes shut.
[Beep! Progress on analysis on the Weave: Rank 0 Weave 100%. Rank 1 Weave 41.22%. Rank 2 Weave 2.3%.]
After seeing these numbers, Leylin sighed noiselessly.
Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 751-Chapter 900)
Wen Chao Gong's books
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 1-Chapter 150)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 151-Chapter 300)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 301-Chapter 450)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 451-Chapter 600)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 601-Chapter 750)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 901-Chapter 1050)
- Warlock of the Magus World (Chapter 1051-Chapter 1200)