章 121: Chapter 121: Completely Unpolluted Pure Energy
Lake Blue City, Spark Church Headquarters.
Even in the densely packed provincial capital, the Spark Church's headquarters occupied a vast area in the city center.
The church building was constructed with opulence, with even the outer walls made from expensive marble, exuding luxury at every turn.
At this moment, a distinguished guest had arrived in the church's reception hall.
Brack and Yorris hurriedly entered, and as they stepped into the hall, they saw Marquis Lake Blue sitting on the sofa with a dark expression, the cup of red tea in front of him untouched.
The two exchanged glances, their eyes flickering.
"It's been a long time, Marquis. It's rare to see such an esteemed guest, truly an honor for our church," Yorris forced a smile, starting with a flattery.
However, Marquis Lake Blue was unimpressed, responding coldly, "I'm afraid if I don't come now, I might never get the chance again."
Brack chuckled, "Marquis, you jest."
Marquis Lake Blue cut him off unceremoniously, "I'm not joking!"
He tossed a battle report onto the coffee table.
"In just two months, one count, three viscounts, and thirteen barons under my command have been killed, all slain by Sunan who brazenly stormed into their manors and left unchallenged!"
"Now, all the nobles in my territory are in a state of panic, fearing that one day they might be visited by Sunan, the god of death. Even I, a marquis, feel utterly unsafe!"
"Before this, what did your Spark Church promise me?"
"You said you'd handle Sunan, but what happened?"
"Even you are being driven to distraction by Sunan!"
Brack and Yorris both wore grim expressions, unable to offer a word of rebuttal.
In fact, the Spark Church had also suffered significant losses during this time.
In every town where a lord was assassinated, the local Spark Church branch was inevitably destroyed, with nearly all followers killed.
The successive bad news left the two chief priests anxious and fearful.
Sunan's displayed power far exceeded the intelligence they had gathered.
Even Jensen, who carried sacred artifacts, was killed by Sunan.
They had been racking their brains on how to deal with Sunan and explain to Archbishop Oveich.
"Marquis, we indeed underestimated Sunan's strength this time, but rest assured, Archbishop Oveich will soon emerge from seclusion. With his intervention, Sunan will surely be killed!" Brack vowed solemnly.
"Let's hope you can deliver, instead of just boasting."
Marquis Lake Blue's face remained stern, but his tone softened slightly.
"There's one more thing. Previously, you mentioned that the cost of creating stone golems was high, and Sunan couldn't possibly mass-produce them. But what's happening now?"
"According to reports from Soman Province, Shimmer Territory has deployed no less than three golem armies on the front lines, each with two to three hundred stone golems, totaling eight to nine hundred. How do you explain this discrepancy?"
Brack and Yorris exchanged looks of surprise.
They weren't entirely sure, as the Spark Church's influence hadn't yet penetrated the army, and Marquis Lake Blue's access to battle reports was undoubtedly faster.
But eight to nine hundred stone golems—that number was astonishing.
During the battle with Marquis Goldrock, Shimmer Territory had fewer than two hundred stone golems.
Where did Sunan get the resources to create so many golems?
Yorris's expression shifted suddenly, and he blurted out, "The Forest Cabin!"
Brack quickly caught on, nodding in agreement, "Yes, it must be the Forest Cabin supporting Sunan."
"Otherwise, Shimmer Territory's income alone couldn't possibly sustain Sunan's golem production."
"The Forest Cabin?" Marquis Lake Blue looked skeptical, "I've heard a bit about this wizard organization, but isn't the Forest Cabin known for keeping a low profile and not interfering in national affairs?"
Yorris sneered, "That may have been true before, but now Sunan likely joined the Forest Cabin and somehow persuaded other wizards. They previously destroyed many of our church branches."
"So they were responsible." Marquis Lake Blue had a sudden realization.
He had heard of the Spark Church being attacked in various cities, wondering which force was responsible. It turned out to be the Forest Cabin.
Yet immediately, Marquis Lake Blue's expression grew grim.
Dealing with Sunan alone was already challenging. If the Forest Cabin was involved, could they handle it?
Suddenly, Marquis Lake Blue felt a pang of regret.
Had he declared his stance too early by siding with the royal family?
Perhaps he should have waited, assessed the situation, and decided later!
Seeing Marquis Lake Blue's changing demeanor, Yorris and Brack quickly guessed his concerns.
Brack was about to speak words of comfort when a slightly aged voice reached their ears.
"The Forest Cabin is not involved in this matter."
Yorris and Brack turned sharply, their faces lighting up with joy.
"Archbishop!"
"You've emerged!"
The figure that abruptly appeared in the hall was an elderly man with white hair.
Despite his silver locks, his skin was tight and his complexion rosy, making it hard to believe he was a centenarian. Only his pale blue eyes hinted at the wisdom of age.
Clad in a finely crafted but not overly ornate starry blue robe, he exuded calm and vitality.
Marquis Lake Blue immediately recognized the figure as Archbishop Oveich, the highest-ranking and most powerful figure in the Spark Church, aside from the often-absent Pope.
Rumor had it that the royal family's wizard had perished at the hands of this archbishop!
A figure stronger than a wizard!
Marquis Lake Blue stood up.
Facing such a formidable being, even he dared not rely solely on his marquis status to treat him lightly.
"Nice to meet you, Marquis Lake Blue."
"I apologize for being in seclusion and unable to personally welcome you earlier."
Oveich's demeanor and tone were unexpectedly gentle, betraying no hint of arrogance.
Marquis Lake Blue forced a smile, "Archbishop, you're too kind."
After a pause, he couldn't help but ask, "What did you mean by your earlier statement?"
Oveich smiled slightly, "I previously had a confrontation with a wizard from the Forest Cabin. They were after a particular sacred artifact from our church, not intentionally opposing us. The other wizards from the Forest Cabin won't intervene in this war."
"I see." Marquis Lake Blue breathed a sigh of relief, "And Sunan?"
"Rest assured, Marquis Lake Blue, I will personally deal with Sunan."
"Sunan is the backbone of Shimmer Territory. Once he's dead, Shimmer Territory will be nothing to fear."
Hearing Oveich's personal assurance, Marquis Lake Blue relaxed, his smile finally gaining some sincerity.
"Then I'll leave it to Archbishop Oveich!"
"I look forward to your good news!"
In a quiet room.
Sunan focused intently on the book in his hands.
This was the sacred artifact he had obtained from Jensen, later learning from other Spark Church followers that it was called the Star Book.
The other, a golden beetle, was also a sacred artifact of the Spark Church.
While continuously assassinating nobles in Lake Blue Province and destroying Spark Church branches, Sunan had also taken time to study these two sacred artifacts.
His efforts were not in vain, as he made some interesting discoveries.
Generally speaking, sacred artifacts contain divine grace.
The Star Book and the golden beetle were no exceptions.
Sunan extracted two strands of divine grace from them.
He opened his palm, and above it hovered two strands of golden light, as thin as hair, intertwining gracefully with faint glimmers of light around them, forming a beautiful scene.
One strand was noticeably thicker, extracted from the Star Book.
[Divine Grace, 1(2) Standard Units, pure energy containing faith imprints, with mental pollution effects. Absorbing it will alter thoughts and cognition, gradually leading to fervent faith in the source of divine energy.]
Divine grace, in essence, is a form of divine energy, purified by deities to a pure state.
Its purity rivals that of soul energy.
Of course, this divine energy shares a similar flaw with soul energy—it contains faith imprints.
Absorbing it recklessly would inevitably lead to one's soul being corrupted by faith, eventually turning them into a believer or even a fanatic of the deity.
Moreover, this form of pollution is more severe than soul absorption.
Absorbing different souls leads to conflicting consciousness, thoughts, memories, and emotions, resulting in mental confusion and loss of sanity. But fundamentally, one's consciousness remains dominant, retaining most of their self-will.
Faith corruption is different; the faith imprints within divine grace forcibly distort the absorber's will and cognition.
Even if one's memories remain the same, appearing normal, their consciousness, thoughts, and emotions undergo significant changes, becoming a puppet devoid of self-will, with everything revolving around the deity.
For wizards (or apprentices) who pursue self and truth, this is utterly intolerable.
When faced with the choice between madness and becoming a puppet, wizards (or apprentices) would rather choose the former.
What surprised Sunan was that the two strands of divine grace extracted from the Star Book and golden beetle, though containing faith imprints, seemed oddly mechanical.
It was as if they had lost their controller, operating on predetermined routines.
Similar to the golems in wizarding lore.
"If the deity behind this strand of divine grace had perished, the divine grace and faith imprints would have completely dissipated."
"Since the divine grace and faith imprints still exist, it means the deity still exists or hasn't entirely perished."
"Sealed? Asleep?"
Sunan shook his head.
As far as he knew, the Spark Church had been around for less than fifty years.
Before that, the so-called Star God had little following.
Such an extremely weak, near-nonexistent faith couldn't sustain most deities for over a millennia, except for a few exceptionally powerful ones.
Even in a sealed or dormant state, it wouldn't work.
Sunan pondered, unable to fathom it.
What exactly was the Star God behind the Spark Church?
After contemplating for a while, Sunan shook his head, choosing not to dwell on the matter, and turned his attention to another issue.
Although divine grace has many drawbacks, they all stem from the faith imprints.
In other words, if the faith imprints are removed, divine grace becomes truly unpolluted pure energy.
It can be absorbed to enhance mental strength.
This differs from soul pollution; the consciousness, memory, thoughts, and emotions of a soul are inseparable. Unless the entire soul is destroyed, they can't be removed.
However, faith imprints can be removed.
Because of this unique property of divine grace, many wizards pursued and captured deities, extracting divine energy to purify and enhance their mental strength.
Ordinary wizard apprentices certainly can't remove faith imprints, including Sunan himself.
But he had the cube!
The cube, when synthesizing and enhancing similar items, also weakens and eventually eliminates their side effects.
This was the case with the dragon blood and divine blood amber.
From this, it seemed the cube could also eliminate the side effects of divine grace?
"If the faith corruption of divine blood amber can be eliminated, there's no reason divine grace can't be."
Sunan opened the cube and placed the two strands of divine grace inside.
In an instant, the synthesis interface displayed new items and information.
[Divine Energy, 3 Standard Units, pure energy containing faint faith imprints, with slight mental pollution effects. Absorbing it will alter thoughts and cognition, gradually leading to fervent faith in the source of divine energy.]
"It works!"
Sunan's eyes lit up.
Compared to the unsynthesized divine grace, the synthesized divine energy's description now had a prefix "faint" before faith imprints and "slight" before mental pollution.
This indicated that the side effects of divine grace could indeed be weakened through synthesis!
This way, obtaining more sacred artifacts and extracting more divine grace could allow for synthesizing completely unpolluted divine energy, which could be absorbed to enhance mental strength!
Sunan smiled with delight.
Now he had another method to enhance mental strength!
It seemed he was truly going to clash with the Spark Church!
Opting not to synthesize, Sunan closed the cube and returned the divine grace to his spatial ring before retrieving the divine blood amber.
During this time, he had destroyed many Spark Church branches, acquiring over a dozen divine blood ambers, all synthesized into the high-grade divine blood amber, further improving his meditation efficiency.
Just two days ago, he successfully constructed the thirteenth star ring.
His mental strength had increased to 38.13.
"Five star rings to go!"
The level 14 Star Ring Meditation Method required an astonishing 1.5 million proficiency to upgrade.
"My current daily meditation increases proficiency by about 4,300 points, taking roughly twelve months to construct the fourteenth star ring."
"However, if I can use divine energy to enhance mental strength, it should significantly shorten the time."
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