Sword of Dawnbreaker

Chapter 461 - 460: Mental Imprint Phenomenon

Wright did indeed visit the printing factory and was deeply impressed by the amazing printing machines there—he mainly went to see if he could print a new batch of doctrines to aid in his missionary work—but he was still startled by the number Gawain proposed.

Evidently, his previous concept of "printing a batch of promotional materials" was fundamentally different from what Gawain envisioned.

Initially, Wright thought it would be sufficient to print a few hundred to a thousand copies of the doctrines to distribute within the church.

Although he was the first "White Knight" in human history and had set forth on reforming the Holy Light, and although he was at the forefront of the path of the holy light, his starting point was ultimately just a low-level missionary. His past experiences severely restrained his vision and imagination.

But Gawain believed that none of this was a problem—as time went on, anyone’s vision had the opportunity to expand. In the face of future chaotic waves and the industrial times of magical industries that would counter them, no one’s perspective would be sufficient.

"A hundred thousand copies is just a projected number. Even for industrial printing machines, it’s a sizable order, but it’s certainly attainable," Gawain stated his thoughts. "We need all sorts of promotional materials, from the simplest leaflets to new church brochures with comprehensive doctrines. What pleases me most about Lu’an City is that it’s a ’priest city,’ with a huge population of priests and their families. Even the civilians are relatively affluent, devout believers close to the church, and their literacy rate is very high—otherwise, our leaflets would be of no use."

Amber, who was initially startled by Gawain’s idea, began to express some doubts: "But speaking of which, do you think throwing the new doctrines into Lu’an City will topple those zealots? Won’t it instead provoke their nerves, making them resist Cecil Clan more fervently?"

"Of course, part of them will be provoked, becoming more firmly opposed to us. But there will definitely be some who recognize our doctrines, or at least question the previous practices of the Holy Light," Gawain replied, unperturbed by Amber’s query, explaining patiently. "The Holy Light Church is so vast; it’s impossible that only one Wright has emerged. Even a team of a dozen can have divisions due to differing beliefs. Do you think everyone in Lu’an City, with its tens of thousands of people, truly believes there’s nothing wrong with what the Holy Light Church has done over the past year?"

Amber rubbed her chin, pondering: "Emmmmm... you do have a point..."

"What the leader says is indeed factual," Wright remarked with a touch of emotion, "The Holy Light Church is indeed corrupt, but I believe there are still people with good conscience among the lower and middle-ranked missionaries. Furthermore, although my new doctrines might seem heretical to the fervent conservative believers, within the Holy Light Church, there has always been a debate about whether the power to read the classics should be tiered, and whether the Holy Light belongs solely to a few or to everyone. The debates are endless..."

Amber’s eyes widened in surprise: "You guys actually debate about that? I thought your church was full of those stubborn types—from top to bottom—of course, excluding you; you belong to the Berserker type."

"Berserker..." Wright was taken aback for a moment, then smiled wryly, "Of course there are debates. The Holy Light Church may be corrupt and decaying, but it’s not devoid of thinking capacity. Lower-level priests have always sought the power to study the classics and interpret doctrines, which is for personal interest. Debating whether the Holy Light belongs to the majority or minority stems from the fundamental doctrine that the God of Holy Light favors everyone. Besides, there are many, many internal conflicts within the Holy Light Church, and while I don’t like factional fights, it’s not like I’ve never seen them."

"Wow..." Amber exclaimed in exaggerated astonishment, "Seems like your church is way more complex than I imagined..."

Gawain crossed his arms, "A religion that’s continued for so many years and expanded to its current scale cannot be uncomplicated."

Then, thoughtfully stroking the beard on his chin, he slowly asked, "But speaking of which, to shake the Holy Light Church from its spiritual foundation, printed materials alone won’t suffice... Wright, how is your research on Holy Light spells progressing?"

"I was just about to report on this part," Wright replied, showing a complex expression and glancing slightly at Emily, who was dozing on his shoulder, "Emily—go fetch that metal plate from my room."

Emily let out an ethereal chuckle and then transformed into a streak of light, darting toward the door at the back of the main hall, quickly returning without much delay—and empty-handed.

Just as Gawain was beginning to wonder if the child hadn’t found what Wright wanted, he saw Emily reach into her belly—the translucent spiritual body’s stomach—and after rummaging around for a while, first retrieved a wooden gyroscope, then a handful of smooth, colorful stones, and finally pulled out a palm-sized rune trigger.

The little girl smiled happily, cradling the rune trigger in her hands and presenting it to Wright.

Amber stared in disbelief: "How does she hide things... in her stomach?!"

"I discovered this by accident," Wright explained while accepting the rune trigger, "In the church, there would always be some small items mysteriously getting moved or disappearing, and after observation, I found out why: Although Emily is a spiritual body, she can carry small and lightweight objects. Moreover, as a spiritual being, her body doesn’t have a definite ’boundary,’ so she just hides things in her stomach. Honestly, I don’t even know what else she has stored in there... last time, when the pulpit’s reading stand broke, she even spat out a handful of nails..."

Amber: "..."

Frankly, Gawain’s surprise was no less than Amber’s, but he did have a fair number of unique characters under his command, and during the years hanging in the sky, he had witnessed one bizarre life form after another, so he quickly composed himself, maintaining a serious and calm facade as he took the rune trigger and began to carefully examine it.

It was indeed a rune trigger, produced from the second-generation standard-type blank template from the Rune Forge Factory, but inscribed within its magic-conducting area were not the usual wind element runes, but runes used exclusively in theurgy of the Holy Light.

This is a "Holy Light Foundation Plate."

"With the help of Kamel and Director Jenny, I reconstructed the first completely rune-based Holy Light spell and entrusted the people at the Rune Forge Factory to create this plate," Wright recounted the birth process of the plate, "It discards all the rune words that connect to the God of Holy Light, ensuring that the entire casting process is ’unrelated to the gods’, completely based on mortals."

Gawain looked at the faint golden glowing lines on the rune plate, and couldn’t help but feel excited: "You guys... actually succeeded?!"

"Only partly successful..." Wright said cautiously, he took the rune plate back from Gawain and handed it to a bewildered Amber, "Miss Amber, try to activate it."

Amber dumbfoundedly took the plate, taking a moment to respond: "You’re asking a Chosen of the Night like me to cast Holy Light?! I can’t do that!"

Gawain couldn’t help but tap the head of this disgrace of the elves: "Let’s not talk about whether your self-claimed Chosen of the Night is real, did you forget the principle of the rune plate? Just inject magic power, who asked you to cast spells yourself."

"Oh right..." Amber finally came to her senses, scratched her head, and looked at Wright with some unease, "So, this thing won’t explode after activation, will it? I’m telling you, my defense is super low..."

"It’s just a Holy Light spell," Wright said with a chuckle, "I promise."

Amber pouted: "Alright, then I’ll give it a try."

This might be the most remarkable experience in the half-elf miss’s life, who always prided herself as a Chosen of the Night and was quite averse to the Holy Light, actually got a chance to release a Holy Light spell with her own power, which made her somewhat eager despite her unwilling expression. So, despite her reluctant appearance, she still held the rune plate firmly and began injecting magic power into the purple copper substrate along its edge.

The faint golden lines on the rune plate immediately brightened, as symbols lit up one after another—however, just as a touch of pure white radiance began condensing from those runes, it automatically dissipated.

"Hey, I didn’t break it—" Amber hurriedly tossed the plate back to Wright, "This thing seems to be faulty."

"In fact, it has no problems." Wright smiled wryly, casually re-injecting magic power into the plate, and almost instantly, a cluster of pure Holy Light condensed on the plate: a completely formed Holy Light spell.

Emily, who was floating nearby, happily let out a cheer, picked up the Holy Light and left, then flew not far away to start devouring it: it was her "cookie."

"Uh..." Amber was first dumbfounded while looking at Emily, then turned to Wright, "That cluster of Holy Light just now... Are you sure you didn’t just release it yourself and pretend the plate wasn’t broken?"

"The Holy Light was indeed released by the rune plate," Wright said very seriously, "I am not lying."

Amber was displeased to hear this: "Then why couldn’t I use it..."

"It’s because of the mental Steel Stamp," Wright explained, "You have a mental Steel Stamp regarding the God of Holy Light in your mind."

"... Don’t joke around, how could I have that thing!!" Amber was momentarily stunned, then shook her head vigorously in a mix of exasperation and amusement, "I don’t believe in the God of Holy Light at all, not one bit!"

"We have analyzed before, the mental Steel Stamp is born with every mortal, regardless of whether you believe in the corresponding deity or even know it exists, the stamp is innately branded deep in every mortal’s soul," Gawain looked at Amber, his expression extremely serious—as for the first time, he finally witnessed the phenomenon of the mental Steel Stamp manifesting, which stirred up a storm in his heart, but he calmly continued analyzing, "Now it seems the mental Steel Stamp isn’t like the so-called ’veneration’ or ’thought interference’; it’s more troublesome than we imagined."

"Yes, after the Holy Light plate was made, we observed the mental Steel Stamp phenomenon through it—whether it’s Madam Heidi, Miss Rebecca, or any Mage, Knight, or Runemaster in the territory, none of them can drive this rune plate because... the mental Steel Stamp lies deep in everyone’s soul. So far, there are only two exceptions, one is me, the other is Master Kamel."

"I... Seriously..." Amber opened her eyes wide, incredulous, "I... I was actually bound by such a thing from birth?! And I... I can’t feel it at all!"

"Its terror lies in the fact that it’s imperceptible, hiding deeper than the subconscious. It causes you to lose specific ’freedoms’ without your knowledge; you may not believe in the God of Holy Light or feel bound by it, but deep down in your thoughts, you instinctively regard ’Holy Light as belonging to the gods,’" Gawain said, taking a deep breath, "Everyone is a prisoner of it."