secret dice.

Chapter 836 The Vatican's Commission

"Your Excellency, let's get straight to the point."

Upon hearing Luo Jun's words, the bishop looked troubled and hesitated for a few seconds before finally speaking.

"To be honest, there's something in Utopia that requires someone at the Ascension level to handle."

"Oh?" This piqued Luo Jun's curiosity: "What is it?"

"As I just mentioned, tomorrow is the anniversary of the founding of Utopia. You've been to Utopia, so you probably know that while it appears to be a sci-fi world with advanced steam technology, it actually hides many supernatural forces and phenomena. Various lost ancient civilizations are associated with legends of mysterious powers... Of course, most of them are not just legends."

"Utopia, as the most powerful empire of the new era, actually rose on the back of the destruction of many civilizations. Over the years, with the expansion and power of Utopia, a large number of ancient civilization relics have been excavated, and the artifacts therein have been protected in the Royal Museum of Utopia."

"Heh..." Luo Jun sneered, "Calling it protection is nothing but plunder, isn't it? The Aegrons of the main world have done just as much of this, haven't they?"

"Well... it's a matter of perspective..." The bishop wiped his sweat, chuckled dryly, and brushed it off: "In short, the Utopia Royal Museum in the capital preserves a large number of artifacts from various ancient civilizations in the Utopia world, many of which actually contain powerful supernatural forces."

"When these monsters and demons gather together, they're bound to cause trouble. In fact, many years ago, they caused chaos once, and it was the explorers sent by the Vatican to Utopia who resolved it. It was precisely because of that incident that the Vatican demonstrated its power to the Utopians, and our number of believers in Utopia increased significantly, laying the foundation for our current scale. This also gave us the opportunity to participate in the Utopia coup, assist Queen Victoria in ascending the throne, and achieve our current status as the state religion."

"So?" Luo Jun asked, "What does this history have to do with what you're trying to say?"

"Well...now we get to the important part," the bishop continued. "Over the years, the museum has actually experienced supernatural events more than once, but the Vatican has always stepped in to resolve them, which is one of the reasons why the Vatican has been able to maintain its position. In order to demonstrate Utopia's great power status, Queen Victoria has never stopped collecting artifacts. The museum has been expanded time and time again, and the collection has become increasingly rich. The supernatural forces contained within it have also become more and more numerous and stronger, to the point that we are almost unable to control them."

"Wait a minute..." Luo Jun waved his hand: "Since this thing is so dangerous, which empress is out of her mind and keeps bringing dirty things into her house?"

"Well... the key is that the Queen isn't aware of the danger involved," the bishop said with a somewhat embarrassed smile. "To maintain the Holy See's sacred and powerful image, we've always told the Queen and the people of Utopia that the Holy See can suppress all heretical evils, and that the relics from the lost civilization in the museum are nothing to fear. So the Queen has always been very confident in the museum..."

"Oh, so you guys were just bragging too much and couldn't keep up the hype?" Luo Jun's smile was tinged with schadenfreude.

“Um…we could have solved it.” The bishop replied somewhat awkwardly, “but the problem is, in recent years, with the advancement of steam technology in Utopia and the explosive excavation of various ancient civilization relics, the museum’s collection has quadrupled in just a few years, and many of them contain extremely powerful forces that even top-level experts cannot suppress…”

"What's even more frightening is that recently, these things have suddenly become strangely docile, remaining completely still for a long time. This unusual quietness made us uneasy, so we used a legendary-level divination artifact. Based on the information we obtained, we deduced that some of these supernatural forces seem to possess advanced intelligence. After discussing it, they decided to gather their strength and launch a coordinated attack on the anniversary of Utopia's founding..."

"Good heavens, this is really trying to sow discord among the Empress," Luo Jun laughed. "So, you think only Yu Hua can keep things under control?"

“That’s right.” The protagonist nodded: “Utopia is the most powerful country in Utopia. If something goes wrong on the day of the celebration, not only will the casualties be heavy, but the impact will be world-class. The prestige that our Church has built up in Utopia over the years will also be greatly diminished. Therefore, we must ensure that the celebration can proceed normally!”

"Doesn't your Holy See also have Ascension?" Luo Jun asked. "I've even seen it, that female paladin, the one who can transform into a super archangel... Didn't she go to Utopia before?"

“Angel Julia can certainly suppress the evil spirits in the museum. But the problem is that she is currently acting pope and is very busy, so she really can’t spare the time. And as you probably know, divination is always ambiguous and can be interpreted in multiple ways. The evil spirits causing trouble at the celebration is the worst-case scenario we have deduced, and it may not actually be like that... And the celebration will last for several days, so the acting pope can’t possibly stay at Utopia all day long.”

"Then there's still something I don't understand," Luo Jun continued, "Your Vatican has already achieved such success in Utopia, so why do you still need to rely on Utopia? That Queen Victoria was just an ordinary person at best. Why don't you find an opportunity to depose her and take over the empire directly? Or why not just find someone to impersonate her? Then, what happens to this museum would be up to your Vatican, wouldn't it?"

"This idea was proposed many years ago, but it won't work..." the bishop said, "because God won't allow it..."

"Huh?" Luo Jun's face showed surprise: "God forbids it? Which God?"

"Which other God could it be?" The bishop's face showed a pious expression: "Of course, it's our loving Heavenly Father!"

“Dias?” Luo Jun blurted out, but the bishop looked horrified and said, “Mr. Ye, you can’t call the Holy Father by his name directly… Although you are not a follower of the Fatherhood, your voice might be heard by the Father in the church!”

"Do you have a way to contact... the Heavenly Father?" Luo Jun asked curiously.

“The Heavenly Father is always watching over us, but he doesn’t interfere too much in worldly affairs. He only sends divine pronouncements when we are confused.” The bishop held the scripture to his chest, his face full of piety.

"How can we get the Heavenly Father to send down a divine decree?" Luo Jun continued to ask.

“This… I am not of a high enough rank to know,” the bishop said. “It was always the previous pope who conveyed the Father’s divine pronouncements. Since that incident… I don’t know if the acting pope knows how to request divine pronouncements…”

Was it always Saint Nicholas who delivered divine pronouncements before? Luo Jun stroked his chin. Was it a divine pronouncement or just his own opinion? There was no way to verify it...

"How long will the celebration last?" Luo Jun asked.

"It will take seven days in total, but the first three days are the most crucial," the bishop said. "If the first three days go smoothly, we can basically conclude that our interpretation of the divination was wrong. At that time, the top experts we have arranged should be able to handle it. As long as these artifacts do not cause trouble in a concentrated manner, we will not necessarily have to take action."

“Three days…” Luo Jun pursed his lips. “I’m in a bit of a rush.” “Don’t worry, we will definitely not let you work for nothing!” The archbishop rubbed his hands together and said, “Our Vatican has quite a few good treasures. You can rest here for one night. I will apply to the acting pope and I will definitely give you satisfactory compensation.”

"I'm not asking you for a reward." Luo Jun waved his hand. "I really don't have time..."

"Is that so..." Faced with a being at the Feather Transformation level, the protagonist dared not force the issue and could only sigh with a bitter face, "But many of the artifacts inside, even after thousands of years of weathering, still possess immense power. Even if a single one were to go out of control, it would be difficult for even a peak expert to subdue it. It is estimated that they are at least remnants of Feather Transformation level power. If one or two go out of control, it would be manageable, but if they all go berserk, it would be really difficult for us to deal with them alone..."

"Wait a minute..." Luo Jun raised an eyebrow: "What did you say? Feather Transformation level power?"

“Yes!” The bishop nodded. “Based on the previous cases of artifacts going out of control, although much of it has dissipated over the long period of time, the purity of that power is comparable to ascension!”

"I see..." Luo Jun recalled the essence of the Earth Immortal among the ingredients for refining medicine.

Normally, you would have to kill a Feathered Being to get this thing, but not to mention that Feathered Beings are difficult to deal with, where would you find so many Feathered Beings to kill? So far, the small bottle for collecting essence has only been filled with a little bit, and you still need to kill at least three or four more Feathered Beings.

But if these artifacts also contain power at the level of ascension, wouldn't that save a lot of effort in killing people?

"I can go and help," Luo Jun said with a smile, "but I'm just saying beforehand, is it okay if I damage the cultural relics?"

"Break it?" the bishop said. "Don't worry, those artifacts are imbued with magical power, they're not so easy to break, many can even restore themselves automatically."

"That's not what I mean." Luo Jun waved his hand. "What if the power attached to it gets damaged?"

"Huh?" The bishop blinked. "You mean the artifact is fine, but once its power is destroyed, it becomes an ordinary artifact?"

“That’s right!” Luo Jun nodded.

"Such a good thing?" The protagonist grabbed Luo Jun's hand: "It's a deal, double happiness!"

"Then let's not wait any longer, let's set off now. I'll go check out your Utobia Museum first."

The protagonist made immediate arrangements, and soon Luo Jun passed through the gate of [Utopia].

On the other side of the door, there was still a large cathedral. No, it should be said that this cathedral was built based on this door.

Luo Jun changed his clothes and walked out of the dressing room, where he saw several clergy members of the Vatican waiting outside.

Everyone had already been notified, and the bishop followed Luo Jun through the door to this side. He immediately introduced him to everyone: "This is Mr. Ye, a powerful cultivator at the Ascension level from Zhen Dan. He has received permission from His Holiness the Acting Pope to come to [Utopia] on official business, and he has also promised to help us solve the museum's problems!"

Upon hearing that he was there to help resolve the museum's problems, the eyes of several Vatican clergy members lit up.

Although Ye isn't that famous overseas, many people witnessed his fight against the invading alien beings during his live stream, though they didn't quite understand what he was doing. Regardless, his presence brought a lot of reassurance.

The church where the door is located is near a small town about 300 kilometers from the capital of Utopia.

As the state religion, the Church of God now has churches in major cities throughout Utopia. For believers in this world, the largest church, located in the capital, is the main headquarters of the Church. However, as the birthplace of the Church in this world, this seemingly less impressive and remote church is the true headquarters. This is actually for the best; this church won't attract many believers, thus reducing the chances of its entrance being discovered.

Under the arrangement of the Vatican officials, Luo Jun quickly boarded a well-organized train bound for the capital.

In the world of Utopia, steam power is exceptionally powerful, with operational efficiency even surpassing that of the internal combustion engines and electric motors of the main world. This has resulted in steam engines in this world being fully capable of supporting the operation of various high-energy-consuming and high-precision equipment, and even the emergence of steam-powered humanoid mechs.

As for the steam locomotive, its speed was naturally incomparable to the outdated relics of the main world. Accompanied by a long whistle and billowing white smoke, the steam car sped along the tracks, quickly accelerating to a speed of over 200 kilometers per hour, almost comparable to the high-speed rail of the main world. The journey of more than 300 kilometers could be completed in less than two hours.

The bishop accompanied Luo Jun all the way to the capital. During their conversation, Luo Jun learned that the bishop's name was Olissis and that he was a senior figure in the Vatican. However, due to his limited talent and average strength, he probably had no hope of breaking through to the peak in his lifetime. Therefore, he had been stuck at the Gate of Utopia for so many years without any chance of being promoted to cardinal.

Along the way, Olisis introduced Luo Jun to the customs and culture of this world. Although this wasn't Luo Jun's first time here, he had mainly been active in the ancient desert kingdoms of the south last time, and still had little concept of Utopia, this great empire that was truly located at the center of the world.

Looking at it now, the civilization of this world is indeed remarkable. Although it seems more backward than the main world in terms of style, this is actually due to the different technology trees. The villages and towns along the way are filled with billowing white smoke, and high-rise buildings are not uncommon. Various steam-powered machines shuttle back and forth, presenting a strange scene of advanced and backward coexisting to the people of the main world.

With this awkward feeling, Luo Jun's train finally entered the capital of Utopia.

(End of this chapter)