Under the Red Dragon.

Chapter 613 The King Grants Divine Power, The God's Concealment

In terms of scenery, the Golden Empire has many places with stunning views that adventurers will want to linger in.

When it comes to architecture, the capital city of the Golden Empire, Capito, is the foremost example.

If we're talking about the academic environment, then among the higher education institutions in the Golden Empire, the Dragon Academy is the best.

Among the hundreds of higher education institutions in the empire, there are a total of 13,000 scholars from all over the world of Ekania, and only the best among them can enter the Dragon Academy and become a Grand Master.

However, although the Dragon Academy is named after dragons, it does not mean that it is an academy that belongs only to dragons.

During the fifteen years of general education in the Golden Empire, those who perform well in secondary schools and achieve excellent results in the selection tests of various subjects, ranking among the top, may be admitted to the Dragon Academy in advance.

Such an outstanding student deserves the attention of all the professors in the university.

Morvanred, as an archmage of the empire, devoted most of his energy to certain secret research projects.

However, because of his extensive knowledge, he also holds the position of Grand Instructor at the Dragon Academy, and gives a routine public lecture once a month.

But after the open classes ended this month, Morvanred did not mysteriously disappear as usual, but instead found Ms. Chris, the then-grandmaster of magic at the Dragon Academy.

When Morvanred used the faculty ID of the university's instructors to locate this woman, who was also considered extremely mysterious by others, he found that the young woman was sitting quietly on a bench by the grassy path, flipping through the book in her hands, and occasionally looking up at the distance.

The clanging and banging sounds came from there, and the golden cathedral was gradually being erected. Under the direction of the elf and dwarf craftsmen, the construction was progressing rapidly. The pre-determined model was cast and transported here for assembly, which would only take a few days.

Morvanred knew that the Empire was planning to establish its own original sect, which was not unexpected.

Because in this world, there are countless churches of God.

If the world of Ekania had not been abandoned by the gods for hundreds or thousands of years, the Golden Empire would likely have encountered even more difficulties and obstacles in its rise.

In Morvanred's eyes, the kingdom created by this dragon was a nation where politics and faith were united from the very beginning.

However, when the documents establishing the religion were delivered to the responsible personnel in each province, town, and even university, Morvanred was somewhat surprised to discover the fundamental difference between the original sect of the Golden Empire and other divine churches.

The king bestows divine authority!

Although the gods in the world of Ekania have long since retreated for hundreds or thousands of years, people like Morvanred, who came from noble families, still have a deep impression of them.

Not to mention hundreds or thousands of years ago, in the southern noble kingdoms of the northern continent, the successors of the various noble families needed to obtain the support of the major local religious sects if they wanted to ascend to the throne.

Even the heirs of the two dominant empires in Middle-earth and the many kingdoms in the Southern Continent once needed the Church of God to verify their character as kings before they had the opportunity to wear the crown and wield the scepter of power and authority.

Even though the influence of the gods has diminished considerably in the world of Ekania, the various churches of the gods are still a force that cannot be ignored in the territories of the various noble kingdoms.

Because these churches of gods not only possess fame and righteousness, but also power and authority.

The Church Knights and the Church Armed Forces, as well as the Church's persuasion to levy taxes on believers, are facts that all noble kingdoms must acknowledge.

It remains unchanged to this day.

"Does Lady Chris also have doubts about certain tenets of the Empire's original church? The definition of God in the Empire's original church is different from the definition of the God worshipped by other churches of gods,"

Morvanred stopped two meters away from the mysterious woman and spoke softly.

This mysterious woman had a habit of keeping everyone within two meters of her, as it would displease her.

Even Morvanred couldn't understand that the woman's mystery stemmed from the gods' condescending view of mortal beings.

Even though Chris knew that the archmage had already walked up to her, she only slowly raised her head after he spoke first.

"Doubtful? Not at all,"

Chris's wide-brimmed hat trembled slightly as she calmly stated, "I've known Emperor Goggmora's character since I joined the Empire."

"Moreover, even Tiamat, the five-colored dragon goddess and creator of this dragon emperor, cannot supersede his authority. One can imagine the attitude of this kingdom towards gods from outside the realm,"

"The will of the ruler of a country represents the supreme will of that country."

"However, although such behavior does not infringe upon the authority of other gods in terms of actual interests, it is probably not welcomed by other gods."

“But Aikania doesn’t have a god, does she?” Morvanred chuckled softly.

Chris raised an eyebrow but did not refute. Instead, she asked, "Lord Morvanred must have come to see me for more than just these trivial matters!"

“Well, there is indeed something very important,” the archmage said, his expression turning serious.

"Recently, many inappropriate trends of thought have emerged in universities. Although the soil in which these trends of thought are born is still barren, we need to be vigilant about their roots."

Morvanred frowned again, recalling the questions raised by the students in the public lecture hall, and said in a deep voice, "The imperial system should not be questioned here."

"But today, a student actually asked me a question, saying that in the Empire, which appears to be diverse, equal, and free, people climb the ranks based on their own abilities,"

"But whether they are humans, elves, trolls, ogres, or any other race, they are no different from slaves of the dragon race,"

"Their path to advancement has limits, fixed barriers, and even the most outstanding race cannot ascend to the throne of the empire and become the ruling will that drives the empire forward."

"While I think the students who ask these questions are overly confident, I always have a gut feeling that normal citizens would hardly have such questions,"

"Even people whose brains are no different from those of the apes in the forest would not gather in this academy and form a sizable group."

Morvanred gazed into the woman's unwavering eyes and said decisively, "I strongly suspect that what the Imperial Dragon Kings were talking about has already exerted some influence in secret."

"While this is an extremely foolish idea and statement, if its influence is allowed to grow, it could introduce instability into the empire,"

Morvanred was well aware of the Empire's methods for dealing with such destabilizing factors, which would inevitably lead to one of two outcomes.

One option is that these reactionaries will be uprooted, brought before the Imperial Court for trial, and beheaded as a warning to the public.

The second method is to make use of waste by stuffing these guys into various laboratories as 'volunteers'!
A creature like that doesn't even qualify to be turned into a cow or a horse by magic.

Although Morvanred devoted most of his energy to his research and experiments, he did not want the Empire to lose many young talents.

Every student has the opportunity to grow into a pillar of the empire in the future, and the most outstanding among them may even become his assistant. As for the existence of the evil god, it's not necessarily better for more people to know about it.

However, neither Morvanred nor Kress are targets that should be kept in the dark.

"I understand,"

Chris nodded, her gaze then drifting to the golden cathedral that was gradually taking shape.

This empire encountering an enemy of this caliber was entirely within Chris's expectations.

But the enemy that Kress had envisioned was not these evil gods, but Tiamat, the creator of the five-colored dragons and an immortal dragon god.

Chris once thought that as the empire grew, it would inevitably encounter an uncontrollable enemy and rely on her strength, which would be her opportunity to occupy an important position in the country.

However, although the country's growth rate was not as fast as that of the red dragon, it still exceeded Chris's expectations.

Although he held the position of Supreme Magic Master at the Dragon Academy and wielded considerable influence, he never occupied a significant niche in the kingdom.

The reason she values ​​this country is because it has undergone numerous investigations and verifications, and the previous Dragon Madness Night demonstrated the country's well-organized advantages.

In other worlds and material planes, although there are many social and civilizational organizations of dragons, their social and civilizational organizational structures were predetermined from the very beginning in terms of their foundation and underlying nature.

A dragon civilization without a clear guiding ideology is nothing more than a violent, disorganized mess, and is not worthy of being the primary target of Kress, the dragon goddess.

Having a clear guiding ideology but lacking sufficient organization and cohesion is just an empty shell.

But whether it's the dragon race or any other race, as long as they possess a so-called inherent nature, even the most correct guiding ideology will always be difficult to sustain.

Only the Golden Empire, with its unifying philosophy and its unifying emperor, endowed this civilization with enduring vitality and life force.

After encountering the Golden Empire, Kress viewed dragon organizations in other worlds with the same disinterest that imperial subjects would have in other primitive tribes.

“I will be paying close attention to this matter, Lord Morvanred,”

Chris looked away and solemnly promised.

She's already planning to show some of her strengths and assets.

Even this dragon god did not expect that, faced with such a crisis and difficulty, the Gogmora dragons would not only abandon themselves, who were originally gods, but would instead choose to elevate another dragon to the divine ranks.

“Phyllis Tiamat, would you rather let this demigod, whose true origins are unknown, ascend to the throne than seek my help?”

"Is this because they fear my authority as the Dragon God, or because they don't want me to have too much influence in this kingdom!"

Watching Morvanred leave with satisfaction, Kress couldn't help but whisper the name of the female dragon.

This wasn't jealousy, but rather a lack of understanding.

When the Gogmora dragons faced the evil god, it was within her comprehension that they did not seek the help of the immortal dragon god Tiamat, nor did they seek the help of Bayohhart.

But she, Kress, was the dragon god who first made a pact with Gorgorla.

She is an angel investor in Caron Gogmora and the Golden Empire, and also the lead investor in Dragon.

She did not actively help this country, also because of its dragon god's arrogance.

Although Kress admitted that she was not as good as the two ancient dragon gods Tiamat and Bahamut, even the ancient dragon god Bahamut did not know her secrets.

There were once two dragon gods who held the divine office of magic, and Kress was one of them.

But in the world today, there is only one magical dragon god among the dragon race.

The dragon god who wielded the power of evil magic was killed and devoured by Kress thousands of years ago, becoming the other half of the magical divine authority within her.

The reason why it is difficult for the various dragon gods to form an organization like other pantheons is that the dragon gods do not possess the powerful chief gods and moral inclinations of other pantheons.

Every dragon god yearns to defeat and kill other dragon gods, devour their authority to perfect itself, until it reaches the level of the primordial dragon god Aio.

However, some dragon gods can control their desires, such as the platinum dragon god Bahamut.

Some dragon gods are even more blatant, such as Tiamat, who devoured several dragon gods through scheming throughout the long ages.

"If I hadn't absorbed the divine authority of evil magic, expanding my power and resources, I wouldn't be able to perceive that crisis originating from the very foundations of the universe as clearly as ancient beings like Bahamut,"

Chris looked up at a certain point in the sky, an infinitely distant place, above the star realm, where her magical dragon god's kingdom resided.

Mortals cannot see the astral plane in the material world; they can only see the vast universe in the sky.

Even a powerful dragon emperor, who possesses the might to defy gods in the mortal realm, could not see the kingdom of the gods in the world of Ekania.

However, even though Kress walks in the mortal realm in her avatar, the power she possesses is only equivalent to that of a Saint-level mage.

But her connection with the gods and the divine realm allowed her to clearly see her own divine realm.

The vast divine kingdom, constructed from divine power and mortal matter, is slowly rotating in the dark side of the astral plane, hidden in the light and shadow. Even powerful gods cannot easily see its existence.

This is precisely the manifestation of the magical concealment and power of the authority she gained after devouring the authority of the evil magic dragon god.

But in Kress's eyes, cracks were already beginning to appear on the outer barrier of the divine realm hidden in the dark side of the astral plane.

These subtle cracks are present in every rule that constitutes the divine kingdom, and only those with divine power of medium to high level can detect their existence if they are willing to investigate.

“Every hundred years, this crack expands,”

Chris stood up and exhaled.

"I wonder if the gods will descend to the mortal realm as saints, or if their entire divine kingdom will fall to earth..."

But both the unpredictable future and the appearance of Phyllis Tiamat have made Kress feel a sense of crisis.

(End of this chapter)