Chapter 146: Return

The story about the Wizards that Eldar told was as followed:

Alchemists weren’t non-believers from the start. They were neglected because of their appearances and got cast out of their communities, and in order to overcome the dangers posed to them, they pursued knowledge with single-minded focus.

However, regardless of these facts, Wisdom, known as the Binding God, was strict; he persecuted the alchemists and the Wizards because he believed that they were a threat. But Wizards wouldn’t harm people with their power if those who believed in gods could understand them.

Unlike the stories told before, the priests seemed to have a harder time accepting this one. There were some like Shune, who simply nodded because Eldar said so, but the priest of the Binding God seemed unwilling to believe that their god had made a mistake. And so the priest wanted to ask a question, but wondered if they could dare do so in front of a god.

Eldar then pointed at that priest.

-Speak your mind.

The Troll priest said, “Oh, great Dancing Shadow God…even if they have inherent goodness in them, their knowledge stems from ancient evil. Could we risk that?”

***

A little while ago, in the pantheon’s meeting room, Wisdom had said regarding the direction they were going to take with magic, “You’re going to leave the Wizards be?”

Sung-Woon nodded.

“Yes. You guys were going to use the Wizards too. Is there a problem?”

Then Crampus stepped in and said, “The situation is different from then.”

“Explain in detail.”

“That was right before the war started, and we needed a powerful weapon.”

“What were you planning to do after the war?”

“It would be greedy of us to keep something that no one can control.”

Sung-Woon looked at Wisdom.

“Do you think the same way?”

Wisdom replied, “Not only me, but AR probably also thought the same.”

“Hm, strictly speaking, I’ve never used a Wizard as a weapon.”

“...Well, I suppose so. But you don’t think it’s okay just because you didn’t use them as a weapon, do you?”

Wisdom added, “I don’t consider the way you’ve been using the Wizards until now a problem itself. It was a good idea to use Wizards in areas a player can’t pay attention to. And it’s also amazing that you actually succeeded in carrying out that idea. But when you’ve gotten enough value out of something, you should know to throw it away.”

Sung-Woon asked, “Not because you have other intentions?”

“Other intentions?”

Sung-Woon enlarged his system window and showed a map to everyone.

Currently, New Danyum had already collapsed, and the Wizard, Yan, had taken over Danyum, while Golden Eye, as expected, was under the influence of the Wizard, Talay.

“Crampus needs to take his country back, and you, Wisdom, want to take over Golden Eye, the land AR used to rule over. Isn’t that why you’re saying that I need to get rid of the Wizards?”

Wisdom stayed silent, but Crampus didn’t look pleased.

Jang-Wan interjected, “No. I also think it’s a good idea to deal with the Wizards. And no one cares about Golden Eye. At this point, ruling over a larger area isn’t really important on the third continent, right?”

Crampus then said, “Wait, it’s not unimportant. You can say that because you have a solid force, but I don’t.”

Even though they were allies, it was inevitable for there to be a difference in how much say they had depending on the forces they possessed. That was how it was in the game version of The Lost World, and it was the same or even more so now.

Jang-Wan stayed silent, like she understood Crampus’s point. And Sung-Woon nodded, saying that he agreed.

“But in my opinion, we could be at a disadvantage later on without magic.”

.

“How come?” asked Jang-Wan.

Sung-Woon replied, “Because we started out on the third continent.”

In the Lost World, the locations of species or things like ancient ruins constantly changed. However, the terrain itself hardly ever changed, which meant that the amount of resources hidden underground was predetermined for each continent.

“The third continent has the least amount of resources among the three continents, and the most important one, petroleum, is scarce. In order to develop natural gas, we need to increase our scientific technology level.”

Wisdom said, “But we’re not at the stage of civilization yet where we need to worry about that. I do think we will need to soon though.”

“I’m not saying we need to worry about it now. I’m saying we need to get to a more advantageous position than the others.”

“Are you suggesting we go with a magical civilization?”

There was certainly such a build. It allowed unlimited magic to be used while minimizing a player's interference. And in this case, Wizards would gain power close to or even comparable to a nation’s king, which allowed them to have strong influence.

As Wizards became aristocratic, the class difference would increase. But aside from that, powerful magic could push a civilization further in war and diplomacy than what other civilizations could achieve through technology.

However, this build was only prevalent in the early days and soon fell out of favor after players like Wisdom began to adopt builds that would best it.

When Wizards started to believe that they didn't need any gods, they burned down temples and killed priests, and gods at relatively low Divinity levels couldn't resist their attack, or even if they won, they would ultimately be defeated in battles against other players.

Sung-Woon seemed to ponder for a moment and then said, “It might be something like that.”

“Something like that? Then I oppose it.”

“But it might also be completely different.”

Jang-Wan teasingly said, “Which is it?”

Sung-Woon replied, “Just hear me out. In my opinion, I think this method will work because I’ve used a similar build before, and it did well.”

The other players exchanged glances.

In the end, Sung-Woon was their leader, so the only way to change his opinion was through conversation. Although they were allies and it was Sung-Woon’s role to implement their conclusions, from the system’s standpoint, Sung-Woon was allowed to make any decision he wanted. But the fact that he didn’t do so and instead asked the others for their opinions made it a familiar democratic process for the others.

Wisdom then said, “Nebula, why don’t you explain in more detail?”

***

Eldar recalled Sung-Woon’s explanation, which had convinced everyone in the end.

-Don’t be surprised and listen, priests of the Binding God and all other priests. This is a secret even among the gods.

Eldar took a short but deep breath.

-Originally, Night Sky was a god that had existed in this land long ago, way before us new gods came, before you pitiful beings lost your civilization and wandered the land. It was when the ancient ruins that had become nothing but deep scars on the ground used to shine. And someday, when you will eventually reach the splendid intellectual century again, Night Sky will have been by your side.

At those words, the priest of the Binding God as well as all the other gods had to hide their surprise.

-Yes. Night Sky had left you, but came back.

All the priests looked at Eldar with various questions in their minds, but Eldar waved and quieted them.

-I will not reveal why Night Sky had left you and returned right now. You have already learned a great divine secret, so you will no longer be able to bear the burden of learning any more mysteries of the gods.

When the priests showed signs of disappointment, Eldar smiled slightly.

-But there is something more important. Now you know that Night Sky is a god who has returned. Does that make Night Sky one of the ancient evils?

Eldar voiced the unspoken questions the priests had in their minds.

-Yes, it could be seen that way. However, not all ancient evils were exactly as you think. Your mortal lives are fraught with misunderstandings and mistakes, so you will have to reflect on knowledge you have never seen or heard about until now over and over again. Instead of believing what others say, you need to make your own judgment based on what you have seen and heard.

Eldar was only repeating the dogmatic words that they had read somewhere in the past, but perhaps because they were saying it from a god’s perspective, it also made them reflect on themself.

To avoid getting too emotional, Eldar pointed at the priests in front of them and raised their voice a little.

-Priests, especially the priest of Night Sky, will know that Night Sky is not an evil god. Among those known as ancient evils, there were some who fought the real evil alongside Night Sky, and there is no magic in a Wizard’s repertoire that Night Sky did not create. This means that magic is not just knowledge…

Eldar pointed to the right because they felt that by this point, they needed someone to help with the performance. And as they did, a spark appeared in the air with a pzzt, and a stingray emerged from a photosphere. It was the spirit of demoing magic, Pzzt.

As the priests exclaimed, Eldar continued their speech.

-Here is a spirit of demonic magic that used to serve an ancient evil. Let it be the witness of my words. Answer according to the will of god. Is everything I have said true?

With half-lidded eyes, Pzzt looked at Lakrak. And Lakrak nodded as if telling it to hurry and answer.

Lying was easy for this spirit of demonic magic.

-Yes, it is true. The reason I share my powers with the priests of Night Sky is because Night Sky is my master from long ago.?

As Eldar nodded, Pzzt rolled in the air like it was bowing and then disappeared.

Then Eldar said to the priest of the Binding God in a reprimanding tone, “Do you understand now? Night Sky did not reveal this secret until now in case his priests got confused, but now, Night Sky has proclaimed that he will not tolerate the suffering of those who possess his knowledge and use that knowledge to fight. Therefore, you shall not look down on Wizards simply because of the existence of ancient evil.”

The other priests bowed again in agreement with Eldar.

This had been Sung-Woon’s idea. Sung-Woon had used a similar method after Lakrak influenced Pzzt in the past and successfully convinced the priests and followers of Night Sky to understand Electric Demonic Magic. This time, he was doing something similar.

If there was resistance against magic because it derived from the evil gods, it would be enough to state that it wasn’t true. Of course, there would need to be a suitable narrative and evidence to support it, but fortunately, they already had the right groundwork. And at this point, there was no one who would argue that it wasn’t true.

‘If the continent hadn’t been unified, then some might claim that I was lying, but that’s not the case now.’

Sung-Woon thought to himself.

‘Then what had been previously impossible in the game, something beyond sharing demonic magic with the priests, should become possible… Huh?’

Sung-Woon, who was sitting in the conference room, checked the window that popped up in front of him.

[You have acquired ‘Unique Domain: Magic’.]