Foreign Land Reclamation By a Vegetable-growing Skeleton-Chapter 985 - 555: Do You Know You’ve Become a Goddess?

Negriss thought he was speaking softly, but the woman immediately turned in his direction, asking with confusion, "Who are you? You have the breath of life, yet also spiritual fluctuations, who are you?"

"Eh, you’re that perceptive? Uh, I am the God of Knowledge, you can call me Nage," Negriss responded with some surprise, quickly introducing himself.

The woman furrowed her brows, "How strange, I feel that what you’re saying is true, but why would you have soul fluctuations? Is the God of Knowledge an Undead creature?"

Everyone’s heart skipped a beat, and Anthony and Negriss exchanged a shocked look, "Eye of Truth?"

This ability to sense the truthfulness of what others said, wasn’t it the same nature as Cabrela’s Eye of Truth?

But Cabrela’s Eye of Truth, which claimed to see through all illusions, was more of an exaggeration. Anthony had grown accustomed to it, easily deceiving him and even causing him to form prejudiced impressions. Now, Anthony could claim he wasn’t the Pope, and he wouldn’t believe otherwise.

However, this woman’s perception of truth and falsehood seemed even sharper than the Eye of Truth.

"Of course not, this is just my avatar, my true form is a book," Negriss hurriedly ’honestly’ remarked.

"Oh, hello, God of Knowledge, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Gonia, a Believer of the Light." The woman’s face, perhaps sensing something, lost its look of doubt and instead revealed a joyous expression.

Negriss turned and asked softly, "What is a Believer of the Light?"

Anthony shook his head, "I don’t know."

If Anthony didn’t know, that meant the Church of Light from the Master Plane didn’t have this title. Others could claim the scriptures were lost, but not Anthony, because he had burned them; he should have read them beforehand.

However, their whispering was still heard by Gonia, her face showing a touch of disappointment, "Has it been so long? Has even my name not been passed down? Or have we been forgotten by the Light?"

Anthony quickly reassured her, "Not forgotten, not forgotten, aren’t we here now? It’s just that so much time has passed, many imprints have been erased by darkness, and we need you to relive them for us. Oh, I forgot to introduce myself, I am the earthly spokesperson for the God of Balance, Holy Pope Anthony, may the Holy Light comfort your spirit."

While he spoke, he invoked the Holy Light to caress the top of her head.

True to his professional charlatan skills, he smoothed the look of loss from Gonia’s face within a few words, even adding a sign of encouragement, "Your Holiness the Pope, have you come yourself to guide us back? Your Holy Light is so pure. Who was it that healed me before? His Holy Light was even purer."

Hearts pounding, Negriss and Anthony exchanged glances, and Anthony asked, "Heh, the Holy Light you’ve seen before wasn’t pure?"

Gonia shook her head, "Not pure, very complex, some even dirty. You are true saints."

Fundamentalism, that’s what this is.

With a quick thought, Anthony knew how to respond, "The one who healed you before was the One Master God beneath the Light, the God of Equality and Balance."

Gonia’s eyes widened in shock as she looked at Anthony, "The only one?"

"Yes, the only one," Anthony hesitated for a moment, she didn’t know?

Sure enough, Gonia asked, "What happened? Where are the other Master Gods? The Goddess of Redemption? The God of Arbitration? The God of Light and Darkness?"

Anthony pondered for a moment, then tentatively asked, "Do you know of the Sorcerer Alliance?"

"Of course, that Alchemist union. Before I was frozen, I heard that their Sixth Alchemy Academy had officially started recruiting students. Someone even asked me if studying alchemy was considered a betrayal of the Light. I said no, as long as the heart longs for it, even if one falls into the abyss, it’s not a betrayal of the Light," Gonia said.

Anthony quickly leaned into Ange’s side, whispering, "My Lord, could you ask silver coin when did the Sorcerer Alliance’s Sixth Alchemy Academy start recruiting?"

Ange promptly used Soul Call to inquire with silver coin and received a reply, "Three thousand years ago."

"Hiss—You’ve been frozen for over three thousand years, then do you know of the Starburst Array?" Anthony asked.

Gonia shook her head.

"Then do you know of the Undead Empire?" Anthony continued.

Gonia still shook her head.

Now they were in trouble. If it wasn’t the Sorcerer Alliance, who had destroyed their Plane?

Gonia continued shaking her head, "I don’t know what happened either. Suddenly, there was a great trembling, and the entire Plane shattered, vast amounts of sea water surged onto land. We, the people of the holy city, could only huddle together, keeping up with the protective barrier, but it wouldn’t last half a day. I had no choice but to use Life Shackles, making everyone pray, linking everyone’s lives together, and then entering hibernation."

"You didn’t suffer an attack? It was just a natural disaster?" Negriss asked. If it was a natural disaster, that was better, but if it was man-made, who could so easily destroy a Plane? Even the Sorcerer Alliance couldn’t do it.

With a confused expression, Gonia said, "I don’t know. If it wasn’t a natural disaster, it could only be divine punishment. We didn’t defile any Divine Spirit."

Anthony couldn’t help but laugh, "You don’t need to defile a Divine Spirit sometimes, just your existence can already be considered an affront. But even a god would find it difficult to easily destroy a Plane, it was probably just a natural disaster after all."

"Oh, that comment of yours seems blasphemous, yet I feel you are correct. It’s so strange," Gonia said, distressed.

A Pope who says gods can’t do something is surely blasphemous. Even if he knows that’s the case, the Pope should firmly insist, loudly proclaiming ’The Light is omnipotent’ instead.

Once again, Anthony paused for a moment, "Orthodoxy? Could you be exiles here?"

"Exile? No, it’s just that the Church needs us to spread the glory of the gods in the barbaric world, which brought us to the abyss of the Ice Sea," Gonia said, startled at first but quickly explained.

Anthony nodded, showing he understood, "Right, right, right, spreading the glory of the gods, not exile. My mistake."

It was indeed exile. Fundamentalists were actually about as disliked within the Church as heretics, perhaps even more so, for they couldn’t be dealt with in the same manner as heretics. These people clung to the most original tenets, were that small fraction with the purest of convictions.

Yet, they also represented stubbornness, conservatism, and a lack of progressiveness, utterly unable to adapt to the Church’s development, mainly hindering everyone’s opportunity to make money.

For such old-guard members, the Church typically exiled them to the barbaric lands, euphemistically called ’spreading the glory.’ For instance, those stubborn ones were dispatched to the Land of Fallen, or the Saint’s Edge Legion, or the Silver Knights.

After thousands of years of purging, the stubborn old-timers were all washed out, leaving behind the old slick ones.

It wasn’t that the old slick ones were bad; Anthony, on the contrary, preferred them because they would change their stance for the sake of profit, and he especially liked dealing with them.

Thinking oneself exiled but in actuality going to spread the divine glory, such naive children, so-called Believers, likely akin to Ascetic monks, innocent yet obstinate, those who wield their unwavering faith with conviction.

Reflecting on this, Anthony sighed, "It’s such a pity, you’ve been asleep for over three thousand years. During this time, many things have happened. The gods... they have fallen."

Gonia, having braced herself, simply nodded, "Can you tell me what happened?"

Anthony retold the events of the Star Burst, Faith Storm, Sorcerer Alliance, Undead Empire, among others, albeit with some reservations.

Gonia felt disoriented and expressed painfully, "I can feel that what you’re saying is true. Have the gods truly fallen? Are the Undead now dominating the Master Plane?"

"Yes, the Starburst Array released a powerful Faith Storm, not only annihilating the gods of the Master Plane but also drawing the attention of the Undead King from the Divine Realm. We are from the Church of Light in the Divine Realm, and now, whether here or there, we are the only Light, that is, the God of Equality and Balance," said Anthony.

Gonia clutched her arms in agony, burying her face in her elbow as if reluctant to face reality. After a long wait, she had awakened to such drastic changes; all her beliefs had vanished.

"Don’t be sad. At least those people you wanted to protect are still here. They were saved with much effort from Lord Libra. By the way, how many people are there?" Anthony said.

Not for nothing was he considered a charlatan, for he had a minute grasp over people’s hearts, handling the believers from three thousand years ago just as firmly.

Upon hearing this, Gonia sprung up excitedly, "Right, right, there’s everyone else, they’re all still alive, graced by divine favor. God of Equality and Balance, please aid these suffering faithful. There are about two hundred thousand people; I will give up everything I have in prayer for your mercy."

As she spoke, a pure and holy radiance ignited around Gonia.

This wasn’t a difficult task because the hardest part, thanks to Ange, was already done; now all that needed was to release those who were encased in ice.

It was a delicate job that would require others to be extremely careful, but Tom could handle it with ease. Ange simply needed to keep purifying, and Tom could effortlessly shatter all the ice, without harming the people within in the slightest.

One by one, the bodies were transferred out, placed with care, and then counted.

"About a hundred and twenty thousand," Anthony said.

"Weren’t there supposed to be two hundred thousand? How come so many are missing?" questioned Negriss.

Anthony analyzed, "The Plane exploded, shattered to pieces. Those remaining might have drifted elsewhere."

Gonia quickly said, "I will go look for them. I entrust these people to your holiness, the Holy Pope."

Anthony hurried to stop her, "Are you insane? This is the Void; it has been three thousand years, and we have no idea where they’ve drifted. You don’t want to end up lost in the Void yourself."

Gonia smiled faintly, "It’s alright. We’ve already saved a hundred and twenty thousand souls. Even if I get lost in the Void, it’s of no consequence. They trusted me so much back then; I cannot give up on them."

Anthony, unable to do anything, released her. Such individuals in the Church were called saints, fearless of death, willing to sacrifice everything for a noble cause.

It was neither good nor bad, but Anthony found such people quite bothersome. Given enough time, he would certainly have swayed her.

Gonia crossed her hands in front of her, bowing to Ange, "Lord Libra, please bless us with peace."

As the words ’Lord’ were spoken, an Imprint floated from her body and entered into Ange’s.

An invisible connection was established between her and Ange.

Ange looked askance curiously because he saw a faint light on Gonia.

"There’s light on her," said Ange.

"Light? What light?" Negriss asked in surprise.

"If the Lord can see it and we cannot, it must surely be a divine light, right? My Lord, what kind of light is it?" Anthony asked.

Ang scratching his head, trying his best to describe it, although whether a skeleton had any brain juices was debatable.

"A totem? No, no, more like a shaman, a conduit between gods and humans. Gonia, you’ve become a Goddess, do you know that?" asked Anthony.

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