Industrial Revolution of the Mage Lords

Chapter 114: Inquisition

Harvey sat in front of the central server of the "Magic Brain" forum, looking at the red dots flashing on the crystal screen. Each dot represented a new member who failed the questionnaire and was directly rejected by the intelligent review system he had just written.

"No... How can you all fail even if you just copy the answers directly? Isn't the core purpose of the forum always pinned to the top of the message exchange interface, in the most prominent place? Has anyone really read it?"

He stood up in annoyance and paced back and forth in the laboratory.

Okay, okay, you guys are a bunch of double-standard freaks in real life and on the internet, you say one thing in public and another behind the scenes, right?

"They promised freedom, inclusiveness, openness, anonymity... but when they actually relaxed membership permissions, most people don't even meet the forum's membership standards! What's the difference between allowing permissions and not allowing them?"

Wait! Harvey seemed to have thought of something. He quickly sat back in front of the "Magic Brain" device and clicked on one of the multiple-choice questions in the questionnaire.

Then he suddenly discovered that 90% of the new members had failed the multiple-choice question that Harvey had "smuggled in".

Church priests and necromancers are generally considered unqualified to join the Spellcaster Forum...

This is blatant occupational discrimination! Too much!
Humph! You look down on fellow spellcasters, Necromancers, right? Fine, fine, I'll find a way to get the contact information of high-level Necromancers, bring in a large number of Necromancers, and then we'll bully you, a bunch of hateful hypocrites!
……

The Papal States, the City of Grace - Goris.

Bishop Tossa Ismael, holding a holy book inlaid with gold and gems, walked along the circular stairs of the Cathedral of Grace, deep into the basement of the church.

The Cathedral of Divine Grace is the second most magnificent building in the City of Grace after the Cathedral of Glory. It is located in a low valley in the city of Goris. There is a huge naturally formed pit under the church.

This pit suddenly appeared after an unexpected natural disaster earthquake when the Papal States was first built. It is deep enough to accommodate at least four wizard towers and has a diameter of about thirty feet. The surrounding stone walls have been reinforced by believers over the years, turning it into a huge underground space.

There is no dim light here. There is a huge hole in the high dome as a skylight. At noon, light will shine directly into the ground, like a beam of holy light from the kingdom of God illuminating the entire space.

As a priest of the bishop level, Tosa Ismael could use the magic of flying to descend from above to the ground directly, but out of respect and fear for God, the entire City of Grace prohibits anyone from using magic to fly.

So he always walked from the church to the underground, slowly walking down step by step along the seemingly endless circular stone steps, although he never seriously counted how many steps he had walked.

If the most magnificent building in Goris is the Cathedral of Glory, a symbol of the church's piety and divinity, then the Saints' Recess, located beneath the Church of Grace, is the church's true confidential core.

The headquarters of the Inquisition, the most important armed force of the church to maintain the rule of believers, was established here.

After walking up the long spiral staircase and reaching the bottom of the Saint's Gap, you can see that almost every fifty steps, there are several Judgement Army soldiers with awakened bloodline talents standing guard. There are also many Judgement Army officers in the machine rooms on both sides of the stone corridor, who live here all the time and are on standby at any time.

Many of the Judgement Army who are responsible for guarding, once they enter the Saints' Gap and accept the duty of guarding, will spend their entire lives in the dark underground, and will never have the chance to return to the ground to bathe in the glory bestowed by God.

This was not the first time Ismael came here, so no one stopped him from moving forward. Instead, they all looked at him silently as he walked towards the deepest part of the Saint's Gap.

The bishop walked forward, passing by the living quarters of the Inquisition, the archives of the church, the prison area for heretics and the fallen... before he finally stopped and came to the secret area of the agency at the end.

Only bishops and above are eligible to enter this area. All research and analysis of the church's divine arts and holy artifacts come from here, and it is personally guarded by the Chief Inquisitor of the Inquisition.

He paused for a moment at the Privy Council's gate, then turned left and entered a narrow corridor. He soon arrived at the door of a prayer room. The gatekeeper, the Judge, immediately clenched his sword and knelt on one knee, saluting, "Bishop Ismael!"

Ismael nodded slightly. "Is His Holiness the Pope in the prayer room right now?"

The Judge stood up quickly and replied in a low voice, "Your Majesty has been waiting for you inside for a long time..."

Ismail was cheered up after hearing this. He raised his hand, opened the door of the prayer room, and walked in.

……

This secret prayer room, located deep in the secret area of the agency, is not very large. Ismail can immediately take in the entire scene inside by walking around a simple wooden screen at the door.

There were no unnecessary decorations or furniture. The floor was made of gray-black stone bricks. At the end, against the wall, there was a simple stone platform with a row of brass lamps on it. The slightly swaying flames from the lamps illuminated the room and also revealed the figure of a hunchbacked old man prostrating himself in prayer in front of the stone platform.

"Your Holiness, I am here..."

The hunchbacked old man seemed to be hard of hearing and was still lying on the ground without any response. Ismail did not call him again, but stood calmly behind him, waiting for his response.

After a long while, the old man's body suddenly trembled slightly, and he seemed to come to his senses and let out a long sigh. He slowly stood up and whispered, "What time is it now?"

"It is just past noon, Your Majesty."

Bishop Ismail took two steps forward, helped His Holiness up from the ground, and considerately brushed off the dust on his gray robe.

The Pope, dressed like an ordinary low-ranking priest, coughed lightly a few times, raised his hand, pointed at the burning brass lamp on the stone platform, and muttered to himself, "Seven days ago, while I was praying, I discovered that the Lamp of Divine Revelation was abnormal..."

"That's why I summoned you..."

He let go of Ismail's hand that was supporting him, and slowly walked to the lamp on the stone platform. His skinny palm slowly brushed over the flames of a row of lamps, causing the originally bean-sized candle flames to instantly burst into a strong golden light.

The light flashed and disappeared, and as the Pope gently lowered his hand, it gradually returned to normal.

Ismail hesitated for a moment before asking, "The Lamp of Divine Revelation has never shown any abnormalities in the past hundred years. Is that true..."

The Pope chuckled and interrupted the Bishop's question, "Are you trying to say that my eyesight is blurry and I must have seen it wrong?"

He turned his head and made eye contact with the bishop. On his old and wrinkled face, his slightly narrowed eyes suddenly released a sharp light.

"I'm not mistaken. These twelve lights each represent an absolutely evil, absolutely corrupt demon..."

"Since God has given me this revelation, it means that an ancient, superior demon, marked by my Lord, has been summoned to the world..."

(End of this chapter)