Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 679 Is this ironic?

"To know the truth of the past, we must first know the origin of the ritual of summoning the gods; and to know the origin of the ritual of summoning the gods, we must first understand the existence of the power of faith."

Under the gaze of the statue of the saint, the old man sat on a bench, speaking in a leisurely tone. A circle of people sat around him, all with curious or puzzled eyes, listening to the elder's stories of the past: "As the name suggests, the power of faith comes from the devout faith of living beings, but they are essentially a kind of energy directly linked to the soul, and the essence of the soul is the sum of emotions. The stronger the emotion, the greater the power of faith that can be generated. When these powers of faith come together, they can even distort reality and shape fantasy. So far, no one can explain its principle, but there is no doubt that all conceived gods are born from this power of distortion and shaping, and are the material form of countless strong emotions. "

"Wait!" Linger couldn't help but interrupt him when he heard this: "You mean, the imagined gods don't actually exist, and they were created by the power of human faith?"

"If not, why would they name it 'Conception'?"

Pancras saw the astonished, confused, and unbelievable looks in everyone's eyes, laughed hoarsely, and said in a low voice: "There are many things in this world that did not exist originally, but as more people believed in them, they gradually came into being. There is an example that can prove this point very well, that is, six centuries ago, the Steam Cult and the Alpha Knights brought war and suffering to this continent."

The Steam Cult? The Alpha Knights?
As a university student majoring in history, when Linger heard these two names, the first thought that came to his mind was: "Steam Holy War? Do you mean that the war is related to the ritual of summoning gods?"

"It's more than just a connection, young man. It's the beginning of everything, the source of the chaos, and the prelude to judgment." The old man's pale eyes revealed a hint of depth and silence: "The God of Steam Engines, Alexander, was the first god in the world to be conceived. It was from him that people realized that sometimes, overly fanatical beliefs can also become a kind of power."

"this--"

Ling was stunned for a moment, not knowing how to react. Although he had long understood the truth that the history of the real world and the history of the mysterious world were always closely related through examples such as the Hundred Years' War, the Battle of Suzheng, and the Treaty of Yongxia Palace, every time he heard the truth that overturned himself or the general historical view of normal people, he would still stand in the position of a history student, surprised and at a loss. This does not mean that his psychological quality is not good enough, but it is just the consistent reaction of human beings when facing things beyond their inherent cognition.

“Stop, stop, stop!” Alice, who had a headache, stopped him from continuing: “How can anyone understand you when you say so much!”

The young man glanced at her and nodded imperceptibly: "This is definitely not something you (with your IQ) can understand."

This question seemed to activate Linger's instinct. He answered the standard answer in the textbook without thinking: "The Steam Holy War is essentially a class war. It is a revolution against the existing political system launched by the emerging nobles, small capitalists, factory owners and even the citizens who rose in the steam era. Among them, the Steam Cult, which strives to promote steam technology to the fields of industry and people's livelihood, represents the interests of the former. After Saint Mida published the December Declaration, the Alpha Knights, who believed that the power of steam is sacred and noble and cannot be desecrated by mortals, became the representatives of the latter. The brutal war between the two sides caused the complete stagnation of scientific and technological production in the Western Continent, and social and economic development directly regressed by a hundred years. This trauma has not been completely healed to this day, and is considered by some scientists to be one of the roots of the slow development of steam technology today."

Perhaps he needs to wait until he is proficient enough before he can gradually adapt to this subtle change.

Pancras glanced at the young man and was not surprised by his reaction. He just asked, "Actually, I really want to know how this war is described in your human history books?"

"Hey! What do you mean?"

"It's meaningless." Lingge replied dryly, and then he looked back at the old man: "I'm done, Lord Pancras, please continue and don't care about this guy."

"Haha." The old man smiled kindly, gently stroking the twisted snake-shaped head of his cane, and said, "So in the eyes of you humans, that war has such complex attributes. But in fact, it doesn't have so many factors such as class, interests or revolution. It's just the harm caused by the steam engine god-Alexander."

"Danger?" Linger asked quickly, "What are the details?"

"Specifically, this involves the power of 'refining' that the Conceived God possesses." The old man unconsciously lowered his voice and his tone became more serious when he said this: "You already know that the essence of the Conceived God is the material form born after the power of faith distorts reality and shapes fantasy, and the essence of the power of faith is countless strong emotions. Therefore, the Conceived God can manipulate the power of faith to reversely influence the emotions of life and form a special resonance with itself, causing them to fall into a state of fanaticism while conscious, and even transform a non-believer into the most extreme martyr. The transformed person himself cannot perceive this abnormality. They will only believe from the bottom of their hearts that they are originally believers of this god and that they should respond to His call. No matter what the god needs them to do, whether it is life or death, whether it is to deprive others of their lives or sacrifice their own souls, they will not hesitate at all."

"Isn't this brainwashing?" Alice couldn't help but jump out to express her opinion when she heard this: "And it's brainwashing people into the most dangerous religious lunatics. Isn't this too scary?"

It's really scary.

Regardless of whether her understanding of refinement as brainwashing is accurate, the power of imagining gods described by old man Pancras is indeed chilling. No one would want to become a fanatic without knowing the truth, not to mention that what they follow is not a real god, but a symbol of collective subconsciousness. Isn't this equivalent to the believers creating a master for themselves? How ironic.

As a former clergyman, Ling Ge felt this most deeply, because he still remembered what his adoptive father Mr. Yang Ke said: To be comforted is to have faith. He also saw with his own eyes those homeless people and poor people who came to Tianxin Church on time every week to receive bread and milk. Even if they never believed in the goddess, they were willing to say one sentence when the church closed: May you and the innocent live in His carefree kingdom.

If faith is not a relieved look, a soothing sigh, or a relaxed look after being comforted, but a forced brainwashing, then its existence is meaningless.

Lingge was silent for a while, and then he put this thought behind his mind. He asked the old man in front of him: "So, the essence of the Steam Crusade is..."

"That's right." Old Man Pancras nodded slightly, confirming his guess: "It was essentially a war between the Steam Cult, which maintained its original beliefs, and the Alpha Knights, who were refined into fanatics of Alexander, the Steam God. In other words, it was a religious war, or perhaps it could be considered a war between humans and the gods they created."

Man created God, man was refined by God, man felt fear, and war broke out between man and his God... This sounds really ironic.

"But," Linger suddenly frowned, unable to figure out a question, "Since the Steam God Alexander is a man-made god, he should not have self-awareness. Why did he train so many believers, split the Alpha Knights from the Steam Cult, and even launched a Steam Holy War that swept the entire continent? What exactly does he want?"

Or, is there someone secretly manipulating his power in order to gain something from it?
For example, the most crucial figure in the entire Steam Crusade was the one who issued the December Declaration, intending to sanctify the power of steam as sacred - Mida, the former Saint of the Steam Cult.

To this, Pancras responded: “What He wants to do is very simple, that is to shape His own Kingdom of God.”

　Give me some meow
　　
　
(End of this chapter)