Fanatics of the Magic Academy

Rose fell into deep thought, and one of his earlier questions was answered.

He never understood why the other fanatics' bodies underwent such intense mutations, such as wings, scales, and beast-like eyes.

As a follower of the ancient dragon, his physical mutation was limited to a pair of gilded vertical pupils; otherwise, he looked completely human.

Now he understands.

Because what Gu Long's followers believe in is never a god who is high above them, but a belief.

A belief that "human beings are supreme and other races should be slaughtered".

Under the influence of this ideology, the transformation of the body through faith was firmly constrained in one direction.

It won't turn you into something inhuman, it won't make you grow the organs of a wild beast, and it won't reduce you to a rare treasure for people to admire.

It will only keep you in human form, because the starting point of this path is that humanity should not bow down to any being superior to itself.

Its ultimate goal is for humanity to stand tall between heaven and earth by its own strength.

Therefore, the physical transformation of Gu Long's followers is limited to their eyes.

Those are the marks left by the blood of the ancient dragon, proof that power has been integrated into flesh and blood, not the result of faith being distorted by external forces after it was directed towards a certain god.

What's even more ingenious is that this ideology of "human supremacy and the slaughter of other races" fundamentally denies the birth of gods.

Because once you truly accept this belief, you will not kneel before any being superior to humanity.

Deities, on the other hand, require human worship, prayer, and blood sacrifice to emerge from the flow of thought.

This path, while empowering believers, also eradicates the soil of the gods.

Believers can acquire faith and develop its power by practicing their beliefs without creating a new god, without unknowingly creating one.

They believe that even if a "god of humanity" were to appear, he would not be able to escape the essential nature of being a god who is inherently superior to humanity.

The ideology of human supremacy denies any existence that is above humanity.

[Gu Long] looked at him, waiting for him to finish processing this information before continuing:

"Under the guidance of that young man, the followers of Gu Long embarked on a completely new path."

He paused slightly, as if considering how to explain what was to come more clearly.

Those gilded, vertical pupils, identical to Rose's, stared at him and said:

"Before we continue the story, I need to tell you what the disadvantages and advantages of this new path are compared to the traditional divine system."

Only then can you truly understand what kind of path we chose back then.

Rose nodded, her expression becoming focused.

He noticed the word "we".

Isn't He the deity worshipped by the ancient dragons? But how could a deity be born under this anthropocentric ideology?

Moreover, judging from the perspective and tone of the being before him, Rose felt that this being was more like a human being than a god.

Rose suppressed her doubts and continued to listen.

"First of all, there are drawbacks."

[Gu Long] raised one finger.

"As I have said, a god is a soul-like being that has only faith and no other numerical values."

Therefore, believers in traditional divine systems only need to offer faith and blood sacrifices to the gods, and the gods will return power to them.

In other words, the source of power for that path is not yourself, but the divine.

You don't need to develop your own faith; you just need to kneel devoutly enough and offer enough sacrifices, and the gods will naturally complete the transformation of power for you.

This means that the extraordinary power of a divine system almost never requires a process of 'development'.

"But our path is different."

The source of power for Gu Long believers is not any god, but yourself.

The faith you develop through belief must be guided and cultivated by yourself.

In that era when strange beasts roamed and humans lived in constant fear, this was almost a luxury.

You're having trouble even surviving today, so where would you find the time and a stable environment to study how to develop the power of faith?

This is the biggest drawback of our path; it requires accumulation, inheritance, and a relatively stable social environment to bear fruit.

"And the advantage also comes from this."

Gu Long continued:

"Because the core of this path is 'developing oneself' rather than 'praying to the gods,' it has an advantage that any divine system can never match: replicability."

"In a divine system, how much power a person can obtain from a god depends on their compatibility with the god."

This is something we are born with; it cannot be changed later in life.

You might be just the lowest of sacrifices in one god's system, but with another god, you become a holy child admired by all.

Your piety is useless, your efforts are useless, because what determines your fate is your compatibility with the divine.

Therefore, a divine system must have holy sons and holy daughters, and those who are most compatible with the gods must be selected as the initiators for blood sacrifice.

Those who lack the necessary compatibility are destined to be sacrifices from birth, not because they don't try hard enough, but simply because they are not favored by the gods from birth.

"But the replicability of our path far exceeds that of the divine system."

Because power comes from your own beliefs, from the development of your own faith.

Talent certainly plays a role, just as some people are born physically strong and others are born with quick minds. But at least on the path of Gu Long believers, everyone has the opportunity to become a strong person.

The path pioneered by our predecessors is right there; you just need to learn, practice, and master it, instead of waiting for some deity to favor you.

The threshold for this path is not "who you were born," but "who you choose to become."

"and,"

"There is an even more fundamental problem with the divine system. A society that operates around blood sacrifice is inherently bound to abandon a segment of the population."

Because the price of blood sacrifice is human life, and every time a god takes action, he needs blood sacrifice as fuel.

When strange beasts arrive, blood sacrifices are required; when there is drought, blood sacrifices are required; when there is war, blood sacrifices are required.

In order to maintain the operation of the entire society, this system must legally define a group of people as "people who can be sacrificed," that is, the so-called sacrifices.

During relatively stable periods, this proportion is approximately one-third;

In that era when strange beasts roamed freely, this number even approached two-thirds.

Rose's mind was filled with the shocking statistics recorded in "The History of the Repression of Believers".

He finally understood what was behind those numbers; they were the inevitable cost of the entire divine system's operation.

As long as you still rely on the gods, you must constantly add people to the altar, because the system itself uses human lives as fuel.

Gu Long continued:

"But our path doesn't need that."

"The source of power for Gu Long believers is their faith, their own development of their beliefs, not blood sacrifice."

Moreover, the more people practice our belief that "humanity is supreme and other races should be slaughtered," the more this belief will be confirmed and reinforced through collective practice.

You don't need to extract anything from others; on the contrary...

Everyone who walks with you, everyone who practices this belief, will strengthen your conviction and solidify your faith.

This is a path of mutual support and achievement, not a path of feeding the gods by devouring one's own kind.