novelonline Chapter 4015 Weak Flesh and Blood
Chapter 4015 Weak Flesh and Blood
Chapter 4015 Weak Flesh and Blood
Viggo showed a clear resistance to having Adele come:
"Your Excellency the Speaker certainly has the ability to intervene in the affairs of the [Creation Church], but I feel that the Parliament has absolutely no need to get involved in the internal strife between the Churches of the True God. A few years ago, they even declared us an illegal organization, and this time it's their turn to make a mistake."
Shad understood her thoughts; she didn't want other witches to appear in the city and disturb her time with him.
"You can consider this."
He didn't try to persuade him further; the matter would soon come to an end, and he would personally show up if given the opportunity.
After lunch, Shad bid farewell to Vigo and headed to the Gear Workshop in the outer city. He didn't run into Mr. Bernhardt this time, but Mr. Finch was indeed there.
Mr. Finch wasn't entirely clear on the vampires' movements these past few days, but he had informed the local church about the monsters appearing in the sewers. The church was taking action, but they hadn't yet made much progress.
After Shad used his book to demonstrate the appearance corresponding to the leather object, the old man thought for a long time before nodding:
"I saw this person more than twenty years ago. But I think it was only two or three times, and I can't remember exactly when. Even if the memories of ring mages are excellent, it was a long time ago."
Mr. Finch's answer essentially confirmed that the skin had been used years ago. Mr. Finch also promised to help Shad by asking more local ring sorcerers, hoping someone might provide more detailed information.
"So, was there ever a [Leather Goods Guild Hall] in this area?"
Shad then asked again, to which Mr. Finch was quite wary:
"What's wrong? What did you discover? Every time you bring up a new topic, it means there's something new happening here. You've noticed clues about the relic appearing in this area, haven't you?"
Shad immediately shook his head:
"No, no, I just happened to see a skin and was curious to ask. That skin was probably used more than 20 years ago. However, there are some new developments. I discovered that core members of the [Truth Society] have appeared in this area. I'm afraid they have their own plans in the Arcadia region."
Mr. Finch was dumbfounded:
"【The Truth Society】?"
"Furthermore, I've discovered that the [Magic Eye Club] might be involved with the [Church of Creation]. Did you see the newspaper report about the auction robbery? Those two thieves were connected to the club, and the club's 'Thousand-Eyed Sorcerer' personally came forward to retrieve one of the items they stole."
Shade recounted the events of yesterday afternoon's auction, but made no mention of knowing Miss Paavo. The old man stared at Shade in astonishment, and after a long pause, spoke again:
"If you had told me this at this time last week, I would have thought you were out of your mind. What is the Truth Society doing here? And the Thousand-Eyed Sorcerer, I know him. He went to such lengths to pull this off, just to steal one of the Baron's collectibles?"
"I also discovered that the artifact may have been made by the ancient Church of Death as a container to hold the 'fire.' Of course, this is uncertain and is just my personal speculation."
Shad added that Mr. Finch had absorbed too much information in a short period of time, and he raised his hand to signal Shad not to speak yet, as he needed to think things through for a while.
Xia De then picked up his teacup and looked out the window. When he came, it was just cloudy outside, but now it was drizzling again. Rainfall in various parts of the Old World this spring was more than usual.
"The gathering of the [Truth Society], the [Holy Son Alliance], and the [Blood Spirit School], as well as the unusual behavior of the [Demon Eye Club], are they all related to the [Creation Church]'s violations?"
The old man asked one last question, trying to connect all the dots, and Shad nodded:
"Yes, it's highly likely that it's related to the tenth chosen one, the chosen one of creation. If nothing unexpected happens, after things settle down on that southern island, another great war in the material world may take place here."
He sighed, and Mr. Finch stared blankly for a while, looking out the window at the rain with Shad, before finally asking:
"Young man, who exactly are you?"
Xia De put down his teacup, without directly answering the question:
"Old John must have mentioned in the Secret Order that he knew a very powerful person."
Mr. Finch paused, then stood up abruptly:
"You are."
He didn't utter the name aloud. Seeing that Xia De didn't shake his head but continued looking out the window at the rain, the old man stood there panting heavily for a few moments before slumping back into his chair.
“Okay, at least one question has been answered—why John introduced you to me without charging you any money.”
Shad laughed; people who knew old John always had this "stereotype" about him:
"I originally came here for something that concerns ordinary people, but before I could even get anywhere with my own situation, I discovered so many problems hidden in this place."
"Mr. Finch, prepare yourself. It's almost certain that the tenth Chosen One will appear here soon. Perhaps one of those three out-of-town organizations is a candidate. The trouble here is only just beginning. I know the Secret Order doesn't usually get involved, but this time you'll likely be dragged into it."
The old man's expression was somewhat dazed:
"Creation and life, the tenth one—I never imagined such a thing could actually happen in my city, in such a vast material world. Is the behavior of the [Church of Creation] also due to this?"
"Probably, since even the church wants to have its own chosen ones. And the only chosen one right now is still that girl who originally belonged to the Church of the Sun."
Shad remembered what Priest Augustus had said in the potions workshop that morning:
Even the most devout believers have their own selfish desires; after all, we are only mortals.
"I think you are the last person in the entire material world who should have said that."
Mr. Finch said, then sighed, accepting the status quo:
"In any case, things have developed to this point, and I can only accept it. However, I didn't expect that you, Huan, are really so young. I can sense that you are not only young in appearance, but you are actually not that old."
He looked Xia De up and down again, trying to connect the young man's appearance with the person in the rumors:
"I've also obtained some top-secret information through my own channels these past two days. I'm not sure if you already know it, but I'll share it with you anyway."
Among the churches of the five true gods, the Church of Creation is relatively more academically focused. Although there are no explicit divisions within the church, different schools of thought do exist, each pursuing different areas of research. This investigation by the three major academies and other churches of the four gods has uncovered a faction within the Church of Creation called the 'Mechanical School'.
I was astonished when I heard about it; this faction actually believed that the flesh and blood body was weak, and therefore they pursued a higher degree of mechanization. In recent years, the [Church of Creation] has indeed created some special alchemical products that use mechanical structures to replace the human body, but these are mostly for providing restorative aids against incurable injuries.
"Flesh and blood are bitter and weak."
Shad said softly, and Mr. Finch sighed:
"This school of thought has clearly gone in the wrong direction. It started by studying mechanical organs and prosthetics, and gradually developed into a school of thought that wanted to replace all of their own structures with machines. It's just unknown how they intend to transfer their souls."
The research on 'fire' is most likely for this purpose: to endow mechanized bodies with the highest level of activity. Otherwise, if one simply gives a soul to an inanimate object, it would be equivalent to letting one's own soul manipulate a golem, which is no different from ancient technology.
What they wanted to achieve was to truly break free from the constraints of flesh and blood and become a truly 'mechanical race'.
The outsider wasn't particularly surprised to find himself in this situation; perhaps this idea would seem completely incomprehensible to people of this era, but the outsider had read many similar literary works in his hometown.
"I just don't know how far they've progressed in their research. I guess they haven't succeeded yet? I also have friends who are involved in the investigation, but they haven't found any so-called 'mechanical life'."
"The essence of the life spark is still the world's calamity. How can it be so simple to use this power? Although some in the church seek to break free from the shackles of flesh and blood, they are at least not crazy enough to turn themselves into calamity. That's why they study the spark and seek a more stable power."
Mr. Finch said, and Shad nodded:
"Yes, the spark of life is indeed unstable."
Then he thought of another possibility:
"While the 'spark' is unstable, the 'spark source' is relatively stable. If we embed the 'spark source' as an energy core into the energy chamber of a mechanical life form's body, and then use ritual methods to activate the metal through the spark source, would that be possible?"
"Stop talking!"
Mr. Finch immediately interrupted:
“I have no interest in ‘mechanical life,’ and I explicitly opposed this form of intelligence when we discussed artificial intelligence before. However, I admit that the technological path you proposed has the potential to succeed. Well, perhaps that part of the ‘Church of Creation’ is following this technological path.”
The old man's face showed even more melancholy:
"I simply cannot understand why anyone would be willing to abandon their human body. Flesh and blood are indeed weak, and the human race may be inferior to other races in many ways, but we are the only race that has survived from the mythical era to the present day and remains powerful. Time and fate have chosen us, and this is the best proof that humanity itself is powerful."
Xia De also offered his own perspective:
"Perhaps some believe that race is a limitation, and that they should transcend it. They don't pursue mechanization for everyone, but only hope to improve themselves. Don't many Ring Mages believe that they are already substantially different from ordinary people?"