Chapter 175 20, God Should Be a Tool for Humans

The Grand Pope of the State Religion was taken to a magical realm by the flames. Everything here was so unforgettable to him. All the physical laws of the real universe seemed to be ineffective here.

But it didn't matter - what mattered was that he had gained unprecedented experience here. His body was no longer old and heavy, his strength was no longer weak, and he felt that everything around him was swinging with his will.

He was omnipotent!

Here, he could do whatever he wanted. In this dreamlike space, there were millions of great entities who could answer any of his questions at any time. The huge cold and ruthless sun was emitting endless golden light here.

"This must be the power of your majesty!"

Taking off his old and decayed body, the Grand Pope ran and jumped here like a child, and the spirits of all things danced with him. The potential of the mysterious ether was controlled by him at will.

Life magnetic field technology, mind cultivation technology, mind force field. All kinds of unheard-of great knowledge were like the rich fruits in the orchard, waiting for him to pick at any time.

Here the Grand Pope spent the most fulfilling and happiest day of his hundreds of years of life.

He had never felt so powerful and free like this before.

But with his next jump, the mist gathered under his feet did not take him up again. He fell into the mortal world, into the room where he came from.

"No, no! I don't want to come back here. I don't want to roll around in the mortal world anymore!"

When he felt the heaviness of his body, and felt the breath of old age and decay coming from his body.

He looked at everything around him. Those utensils and artworks that he once loved deeply now became hateful.

He shouted in panic, like a child who woke up from a beautiful dream but still refused to accept the reality.

"Your Majesty, take me away, take me back to your heaven again, and let me serve you forever!"

Turbid tears flowed from the old man's dim eyes. The sense of gap from heaven to earth made the great pope who had been in charge of the state religion for more than a hundred years sad and unable to control himself.

But no matter how he prayed, his decayed and heavy body remained motionless in this empty room.

The Pope gradually calmed down.

"Maybe sending me back is to let me complete a certain mission." He guessed in his heart.

He began to recall the knowledge he learned in heaven. Although everything that happened in the virtual world, when he recalled it now, was like a dream, giving him an extremely unreal touch.

But only this knowledge, as if it was imprinted in his mind, he had not forgotten it at all.

Soon, the fire of the mind rose, the life magnetic field began to push, the mind practice reached the first level, and the translucent mind force field enveloped his whole body. Although these single-unit enhancement technologies are still in the initial stage, they still brought him a huge improvement.

More importantly, with the enhancement of the mind practice technology, he re-established a connection with the virtual world.

The Pope could clearly feel that as long as he entered the meditative state, he could return to the virtual world at any time.

He almost had the urge to return to the virtual world at the first time.

After experiencing the beauty of heaven, every minute and every second in the mortal world was so unbearable for him.

But thinking of the mission that the Emperor of God might give him.

His will, which was at the peak of mortals, restrained this impulse.

"For the sake of the people to bathe in the glory of your majesty, let me stay in this purgatory for a while." He said to himself.

"Great Pope, you are back?" At this time, a waiter of the state religion stood at the door, looking at the old man who returned to the room, he exclaimed in disbelief,

"My lord, where have you been? We know nothing about your whereabouts, and everyone is looking for you!"

"I went." Hearing the waiter's question, the Great Pope's face once again showed a look of longing, but seeing the confusion on the waiter's face, he immediately lost interest in telling him,

"Call the believers." He instructed the waiter.

"Sir, now?"

"Yes, immediately, right now!" the Archpontiff said without question,

"I will start my mission immediately and spread the gospel to all people!"

After a brief exchange with the waiter, the Archpontiff hurriedly left the room.

He looked anxious, and it was obvious that every second he stayed in the mortal world since he returned from heaven was not what he wanted.

What neither the Archpontiff nor his waiter noticed was that.

In the corner of this room, a tall and majestic figure was standing there silently, silently observing everything they did.

Then this giant, who was not noticed by anyone, quietly left and reported everything that happened here to a greater existence,

"Father, all the reactions made by the Archpontiff after returning to the material world are recorded here."

A Doom Slayer walked into Duke's office and placed a palm-sized instrument on the original body's desk.

At this time, similar instruments on this desktop almost occupied the entire space.

Duke quickly watched all the images.

"As expected." He said in a deep voice,

"All individuals who returned from the virtual world showed disgust for the real universe. Only 2.2% of the individuals with strong wills barely restrained the instinct to return to the virtual world and chose to stay in the material universe temporarily."

In the deduction model before the start of the Virtual Realm project, Duker had already anticipated this result.

Compared to the omnipotence and freedom in the virtual realm. The dark galaxy in the material world is still a bit too difficult.

Isn’t the ultimate wish that mortals seek when praying to gods is that they hope that gods can redeem their souls and allow them to enjoy eternal peace in heaven?

Now, heaven is close at hand, and only a few can withstand this temptation.

"But...Father." The Doom Slayer at the desk hesitated to speak.

"With the implementation of the virtual realm project, will it directly lead to the complete disappearance of our clan in the galaxy?"

"Are you saying that all humans have entered the virtual realm and are unwilling to return?" Duker asked.

Seeing the Doom Slayer nodding silently.

He smiled and said, "I hope so. Perhaps this represents the collective sublimation of the human race. Unfortunately, there are always people who are unwilling to leave this dark galaxy for various reasons."

Duker's bright eyes seemed to penetrate the barrier between the real universe and the sea of ​​souls. He continued to speak,

"They believe that the Void Realm is the pure land given to them by the God Emperor. Unfortunately, what they don't know is that in this universe, even God's Kingdom will be ignited by war."

"The war in the future will be a decisive battle between humans, the best race, as the overlords who rule the galaxy, and the gods of chaos. The Void Realm will become the main body of the war, engaging in the most brutal collision with the subspace."

"When they discover that the virtual realm is not the pure land given to them by God, the boundary between the virtual realm and the material world will be blurred again."

After hearing the answer from the Gene Father, the Destroyer thought carefully and nodded.

Every Destroyer is linked to the Heart Network. After the virtual realm is constructed, the members of the Heart Network have more powerful entities in the virtual realm. They can even exert power similar to that of a demigod in the virtual realm. But Even so, the virtual realm is not too attractive to them.

Because they know very well that the virtual realm is not a pure land where one can do whatever they want, but is just the front line of another battlefield.

In this universe, there is only war.

They followed in the footsteps of the Primarch and fought across the galaxy. It was not that important where the war was ignited.

At the same time, Duker was looking through the experimental parameters of the virtual realm, comparing the data and found that it did not exceed his expectations.

He uploaded the technology related to the virtual realm into his heart network,

——[Imperial Beacon]

This is a technology similar to the 'Star Torch', but unlike the Star Torch, it does not guide the passage in the subspace, but the space transition in the virtual realm passage.

The world where the Imperial Beacon is established will manifest nodes in the Void. There is almost no danger in the Imperial fleet sailing in the Void. Therefore, the Imperial Beacon does not need to use the souls of psykers as fuel like the Star Torch.

Duker ordered the members of the Heart Network to start establishing imperial beacons in the solar system. With the increase of souls in the virtual realm, one day imperial beacons will be spread throughout the galaxy.

The shipping lanes within the galactic territory will be re-established, and those worlds isolated by subspace storms will return to the control of the Empire.

Even in the future, Imperial beacons will eventually be all over the Sea of ​​Souls, and by then the Imperial Navy will have unimpeded access, whether in the physical universe or subspace.

This is Dukel's ambition,

——He planned the second great expedition of mankind!

Dukel is ambitious.

"Add some souls to the virtual realm again." He thought in his heart, "With the last experience, I can attract a little more this time."

Along with his thinking, the infinite and vast virtual realm breathed again, causing unpredictable waves.

.

the other side.

The action of the Grand Pontiff of the State Church in spreading the gospel does not seem to be going smoothly.

Shortly after he left the palace, he was taken to a secret room by the Imperial Guards and the Dark Angels.

Waldo, the commander of the Imperial Guard who temporarily took over the duties of the Inquisition, and the Lion who temporarily took over the Ministry of Justice, personally conducted a secret interrogation of the great pope.

"Great Pope, tell us what happened during the time you were missing."

The Lion King and Waldo looked at the old man across from them with cold expressions. Although the Archpope's status in Terra was theoretically not lower than theirs, they would undoubtedly appear more powerful in this interrogation room.

"It's not that I don't want to answer." The Great Pope said somewhat mysteriously. As the most sacred missionary on Terra today, his words and demeanor are full of inscrutable meanings.

"It's just that what I've experienced is too bizarre. I'm afraid I'll frighten you if I tell you frankly."

"You want me to be scared?"

The eldest son of the empire and the commander of the imperial army looked at each other and said, "To tell the truth, there is nothing in the territory of the empire that can scare us and others."

"Not long ago," the Archbishop continued, "I accepted an invitation to enter the heavenly kingdom of the God-Emperor."

The face of this aging cleric was full of contentment at this moment - his faith had been responded to, which was something that would make any believer proud.

However, the Lion King and the Commander of the Forbidden Army did not appreciate his piety. Their eyes were heavy and dangerous.

"Are you sure that is the God Emperor's heaven?"

The Lion King and Waldo know the real Emperor better than the Archpope.

They all knew that the Emperor suffered greatly and was overwhelmed by his belief in the Ecclesiarchy.

If it was a real emperor, let alone inviting the Archpontiff to his heaven, it would be more likely that a psychic master would slap this old bone to death.

"What did you see in your majesty's heaven?" The Lion King asked in a deep voice,

"Is it a crystal fortress, a veil of desire, or a garden of joy?"

"None of them!" The Archpontiff retorted loudly, "That was a beautiful dream. In the kingdom of God, I shed my earthly body and bathed in the glory of the golden sun. There are millions of saints and sages there."

The Lion King and the commander of the imperial guards frowned.

As a being close to demigods, they were sure that the mortal in front of them was not lying.

In the Archpontiff's description, they caught some familiar descriptions, but they dared not confirm them.

These familiar information made it even more difficult for them to grasp the real context.

"Bang Bang——"

Suddenly, the narrow door of the interrogation room was knocked, and a dark angel walked in.

"My lord, the disappearance case happened again."

The voice of his heir came to the Lion King's ear.

"Has the state religion become abnormal again?" he asked.

"Not so, my lord." The dark angel replied, "In our investigation, their silence at this time is the biggest abnormality."

The lion keenly perceived the meaning of the words, "How many people are missing this time?"

The dark angel whispered a number in his ear.

"How many?!" the lion exclaimed in disbelief.

"It's just a rough estimate, sir." The dark angel replied again,

"More than 200 million state religion fanatics have disappeared this time."

The angel's face even showed a trace of uneasiness.

In Holy Terra, a bizarre case of 200 million people disappearing out of thin air has never happened before.

It is hard for him to imagine what kind of power the behind-the-scenes pusher who can cause such a result has.

Waldo, Lion King: "."

After their brains went blank for a short time, they turned their eyes to the Pope sitting opposite them again,

"Please explain in detail everything you saw in the realm of the Emperor."

"You finally believe me." The Pope's old face showed a smile that made people feel like spring breeze,

"This must be the power of your Majesty." He said.

At the same time,

Inside the throne hall of the palace area.

The speaker of the Golden Throne: "Wow--"

This speaker conveyed the positive emotions of the Emperor for the first time in a long time. Two hundred million fanatics were absorbed into the virtual realm, which may be only one trillionth of the total number of believers of the state religion.

But for the Emperor who has been tortured by high intensity for ten thousand years, this tiny reduction is a rare relaxation for him.

In the next few days.

The number of fanatics of the state religion disappeared at a rate of 200 million per day.

Most of them were unwilling to leave the virtual realm again. They lingered in this paradise, and only a very small number of people returned to the world.

Within the state religion, the good news about the Kingdom of the Emperor of God spread throughout the empire at a very fast speed.

All the fanatics hoped from the bottom of their hearts that one day the Emperor of God would lead them to the eternal kingdom.

Duker's virtual world project was going on very smoothly, and he thought it would continue to go smoothly.

But what he didn't expect was that after only a dozen days, the first situation beyond his expectations appeared.

At this moment, in the virtual world,

the golden sun hanging in the sky actually had a slight distortion.

This golden sun was a physical entity manifested in the virtual world by Duker using part of the blessing given by the Emperor.

It was only used as a signboard to stabilize the fanatics of the state religion.

But what he didn't expect was that this group of fanatics was really good at praying.

After they entered the virtual world, they faced the golden sun and prayed every day and every night.

More than two billion fanatics, in just a dozen days, gave this golden sun a little more divine golden makeup.

And along with the prayers of the believers, the energy of this virtual entity is also increasing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"I didn't expect that only part of the emperor's power also has the characteristics of the Dark King. If this continues, this group of energy will become a god in the virtual world." Dukel narrowed his eyes and looked at the virtual world, thinking in his heart.

"Just let him become a god and become the Dark King in the virtual world?"

Dukel thought, he didn't know what impact a god-like entity would have on the virtual world.

It may bring benefits to the virtual world, of course, there may also be risks.

But after just a moment of thinking, his eyes became firm,

"No, there should be no gods, there is no true god in the world, and no entity is worthy of being worshipped by humans."

Dukel's expression became more and more determined, and he decisively gave up the benefits that ascending to the godhood might bring to the virtual world,

"God should not be the belief of mankind, God should be a tool of mankind!"

The entire virtual world was shaking with his thinking, and endless spiritual power pressed towards the golden sun.

The Lord of the Spiritual Void Realm used his nearly infinite spiritual power to change the most basic cognition of the golden sun.

Under the distortion of Duker's will, the golden sun, which had just shown signs of becoming a god, was quickly reconstructed, like a total solar eclipse, and was knocked into a huge thorn ring made of golden flames.

This is also the symbol of the Emperor, but the essence inside is completely different.

He can still absorb faith, He will expand and become huge, maybe one day, He will have the power to rival the gods, but there will be no possibility of becoming a god.

He will eventually become one of the supreme weapons in the virtual world.

Duke named it - the truth of the round thorn

"Maybe I should test the power of this weapon." Looking at the divine creation in front of him, he thought in his heart. . .