North Shore of Conquest, Truva.
At night, in a suite of a high-end hotel, Dorothy sat on the sofa, resting with her eyes closed. At this moment, she was using Vanya from afar to absorb knowledge ravenously. Through Vanya's eyes, she freely browsed the many books treasured by the Natsuki ethnic group.
After learning about the Wave Bath method used by Natsuki to accumulate 'Cup' Spirituality, Dorothy continued to look at Natsuki's documents regarding Extraordinary powers. She knew that the Wave Path was an Extraordinary branch path that primarily used 'Cup' and secondarily used 'Light'. So, besides accumulating 'Cup' Spirituality, she quickly discovered another method of accumulating Spirituality, called the "Faith Gathering Method."
The Faith Gathering Method, as the name suggests, is a method of obtaining Spirituality by gathering faith. The customs on Xia Shu Island are relatively fierce and combative; they revere warriors. Every year there are many public competitions that attract countless spectators. In these competitions, Natsuki's warriors engage in various contests, including unarmed combat, swimming races, object lifting with bare hands...
Natsuki's warriors publicly display their strength in all aspects before all the people, winning the cheers of the audience with their wonderful performances. Those who perform well in the competitions are crowned as chosen by the gods, Sea God Warriors, or even avatars of the Wave Walker. Excellent performances, titles, and the affirmation of the Priest—all these things will give warriors who perform well in competitions a revered status, respected and worshipped by all the people of Natsuki. And from this reverence, 'Light' Spirituality is born.
...
'The 'Faith Gathering Method' is how Natsuki accumulates 'Light'. It's like Adele's Desire Dance Method and Eight-Pointed Nest's Fear of Punishment Method; they all belong to methods of obtaining Spirituality by becoming the object of a certain emotion. The Desire Dance Method is desire, the Fear of Punishment Method is fear, and the Faith Gathering Method is reverence or faith. This also corresponds to the spiritual expressions of the three families: 'Cup','Shadow', and 'Light', namely the desire for food and sex, fear, and reverence.
'If I remember correctly, on the New World side, Uta also required Kapak to always maintain his high status within the tribe, making the Shaman and Shaman disciples an unquestionable, god-like authority within the tribe. This must also be an application of the Faith Gathering Method. It seems that, for now, I haven't seen a more material accumulation method for 'Light'. Under normal circumstances, to obtain 'Light' Spirituality, one needs a certain mass base. Of course, my reading method is not included in this category.'
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy evaluated Natsuki's Spirituality accumulation methods. In her opinion, the Faith Gathering Method was a spiritual level Spirituality accumulation method, while the Wave Bath Method was more material.
'The Wave Bath Method can be said to be about finding 'feng shui treasures' in the sea for cultivation, absorbing the Spirituality that the sea itself possesses. It is definitely more materialized, more similar to the Spirit Carving Method and Blood Food Method. Of course, due to the dangers of the deep sea, the Wave Bath Method is indeed much more dangerous than some other Spirituality accumulation methods.'
Dorothy thought about this, then shifted her attention to other interesting parts of these documents.
In Natsuki's documents, they referred to themselves as the "Incomplete People" or "Defective People." In their mythology, they believed that their ethnic group was afflicted by a certain "defect" that spread throughout the entire group in ancient times due to natural disasters. It was the blessing of the Fertility Goddess that suppressed and concealed their ethnic group's defect. If they left the blessing of Fertility, the ethnic group would be troubled by the defect again, leading to a disastrous future. The giant trees growing on the island were considered the manifestation of the Fertility Goddess's blessing, the key to their ethnic group's stability and health.
Of course, this very vague statement had no concrete evidence and was just a rumor passed down through generations among the Natsuki people. Almost all Natsuki people firmly believed it, considering it an important reason why they could not abandon their faith in the Goddess. However, Dorothy did not really believe such a statement without recorded examples.
In this series of documents, Dorothy felt that her biggest gains, besides the two Spirituality accumulation methods and information about the Wave Path, were some intelligence about the Fertility Goddess.
Throughout, among the three goddesses with "maternal" characteristics that she knew about, the least information was known about the Fertility Goddess. This time, she really caught up on her knowledge.
'Cup Mother, Holy Mother, Fertility. There are three deities related to 'Cup' and possessing maternal characteristics. Isn't that a bit too many? But upon closer thought, although these three have overlapping elements, they are still different in their overall aspects.
'Fertility feels like a relatively traditional, primitive fertility god, a nurturing god. There seem to be elements of forests and nature within her as well. Her maternal component is relatively normal; followers worship her maternal aspect mainly to pray for good harvests and children. Cup Mother worship seems to emphasize flesh and sacrifice more. Her maternal component is not only bizarre and twisted but also the most intense; she is the mother of humans, gods, and even many monsters. Followers worship her maternal aspect almost as if treating the Cup Mother directly as their biological mother. While the Holy Mother possesses maternal characteristics, it is not emphasized at all. The Church's Holy Mother worship treats the Holy Mother as a god of salvation; she has the smallest maternal component among the three.'
Sitting on the sofa, Dorothy analyzed the differences between the three maternal deities in her mind. The conclusion she reached was that in terms of their maternal component, Cup Mother is greater than Fertility, which is greater than Holy Mother. This is indeed a pattern worth noting.
As Dorothy thought this, and as Vanya continued to browse for a long time, Dorothy finally finished reading almost all the documents collected by Anman. After reading so much, she began to extract Spirituality. This time, her harvest was very substantial.
The worship methods and various religious activities of the Fertility Goddess and the Wave Walker, detailed information about the Chalk and Black Earth stages of the Wave Path, the Wave Bath Method and the Faith Gathering Method... This series of documents with Spirit Sight brought Dorothy a Spirituality income of 30 points of 'Cup', 2 points of 'Light', 1 point of'Stone', and 20 points of "enlightenment". After deducting the 3 points of 'Cup' used previously to control Vanya and the three Living Puppets, Dorothy's current Spirituality status is as follows:
32 'Cup', 5'Stone', 20'Shadow', 4 'Light', 14'Silence', 34 "enlightenment". For 'Cup' Spirituality, this wave was a great harvest for Dorothy.
'More than thirty points of 'Cup'. Good heavens, I've never seen 'Cup' so abundant before. As expected of documents collected by a Priest! Reading all of them actually yielded so much Spirituality.'
Looking at her incredibly abundant 'Cup' Spirituality at the moment, Dorothy thought with a pleasant mood, feeling that helping Natsuki this time was not in vain; it directly helped her 'Cup' out of poverty and into wealth. As her frequently used Spirituality, 'Cup' Spirituality is naturally better the more she has.
Previously, Dorothy used 3 points out of 5 'Cup' to control the three Natsuki warriors as Living Puppets for reconnaissance and to control Vanya to dance. Besides her own life, she only had 2 points of 'Cup' left. She was waiting for this wave of recovery from the documents. Unexpectedly, she recovered a large amount in one go, directly pushing her 'Cup' past the 30-point mark.
Seeing her Spirituality increase so much all of a sudden, a bright smile appeared on Dorothy's face. After the initial joy subsided, she finally began to examine an interesting detail among the Spirituality she had obtained: she had actually accumulated 1 point of'Stone' Spirituality!
Dorothy's reading method is to accumulate Spirituality related to the content of the secret transmission after reading it. Dorothy obtained four types of Spirituality from these documents: 'Cup', 'Light', "enlightenment", and'Stone'. 'Cup' is natural; the Fertility Mother herself is a deity of 'Cup', and knowledge about her and the Wave Walker, as well as the Wave Bath Method, naturally carries 'Cup'. The 'Light' Spirituality comes from the Faith Gathering Method. And "enlightenment" is contained in any knowledge.
But... where did this'Stone' come from? Dorothy was certain that the documents she read should not have contained anything related to'Stone'. So how did this one point of'Stone' Spirituality appear?
Facing this strange situation, Dorothy thought carefully and then found the most likely source for this point of'Stone' Spirituality: within the titles of the Fertility Mother.
In a rather ancient document made of animal skin, Dorothy saw records by the ancient Natsuki people regarding the titles for the Fertility Mother. Besides titles like Fertility Goddess, Forest Goddess, Mother of All Things, and Field Goddess, the Natsuki people also recorded a title: Goddess of the Earth Mother.
The title Goddess of the Earth Mother seems to contain the meaning of the earth.
'This is quite strange. Among the titles of the Fertility Goddess, there is also a title like Goddess of the Earth Mother. But shouldn't the earth be the domain of'Stone'? Strictly speaking, the earth god should be the Stone Prince. This should be a domain opposite to 'Cup'.
'I feel that the title Earth Mother... should be a title added by the Natsuki people based on their simple religious feelings without Extraordinary common sense. But would doing so actually produce Spirit Sight? What is the mechanism by which Spirit Sight is produced? Hiss... all of this is truly perplexing.'
Clutching her hair, Dorothy thought with some frustration, and after thinking for a while without coming up with anything, she temporarily gave up on this problem and refocused her attention on the matter at hand.
"Alright~ I've read most of Natsuki's documents now, and the Spirituality has been extracted. Since the payment has been received, it's time to get to work~"
After stretching, Dorothy murmured, saying that she was able to see these documents because she had promised to help Natsuki devise a plan for faith disguise. Now that she had read most of the documents and the Spirituality payment had arrived in advance, it was time to start working. The client, Natsuki, was still waiting.
This kind of plan for feigning conversion involves many aspects. Although there are abundant reference books, it's not something an ordinary person can come up with overnight. Fortunately, Dorothy is not an ordinary person; she is a Chalk Extraordinary of """enlightenment""", a "Sequence ""Mystic Professor""". When fully focused and serious, her information processing ability is incomparable to that of an ordinary person.
'However, before helping them with the plan... there is still a problem that needs to be solved first.'
Dorothy continued thinking, then she closed her eyes again and began to contact Vanya in the distance.
...
On Xia Shu Island in the dark of night, inside the longhouse of the Fengshu Priest, Vanya was sitting on the floor, quite seriously browsing different types of Natsuki documents on a seemingly meaningless magic circle. At this moment, she had finished browsing the valuable documents. The ones she was currently flipping through were some production tool books of little value to Dorothy, teaching people how to fish and farm.
Just then, Vanya received a new message from Dorothy. After a slight pause, she stopped flipping through the pages and slowly stood up. Anman, who was beside her, couldn't help but ask.
"Miss Vanya, have you... finished transmitting everything?"
"It's almost all transmitted. Our Priest has received these documents, and he is working overnight to devise some preliminary plans for you. I will inform you after he has finished."
Vanya replied to Anman, and Anman answered with a sigh of relief after hearing her words.
"It's good that it's finished... I thank your Priest here. If Natsuki can truly overcome this crisis, your kindness to Natsuki will be immeasurable. If there is a need in the future, we will do our best to repay it."
Anman said this, and listening to his words, Vanya inwardly complained that all these documents were actually a huge reward for Miss Dorothea, but they themselves hadn't noticed.
'It feels like Miss Dorothea has made a lot of money. Not only the Spirituality from so many documents, but also making others owe a favor... I feel like the other party is a bit pitiful...'
Vanya thought this in her heart, then she became solemn again and continued to speak to Anman.
"Oh, right, there's one more thing I want to ask you, Priest. How exactly did you know the itinerary and route of the pilgrimage fleet I was on? Did you perhaps know in advance that the defenses on this fleet were weak?"
Listening to Vanya's words, Anman paused slightly. After thinking for a while, he continued to speak.
"We did know that a Church pilgrimage fleet with weak defenses was sailing through there, which is why we decided to launch a surprise attack, hoping to capture Light pilgrims to threaten Light not to easily attack us. This crucial information was provided by a merchant from our island who often travels abroad for business."
"His name is Obuye. He is the Captain of a large Natsuki merchant ship. Because he travels for business, we often inquire about various news from him. He will also attend tomorrow's gathering..."
Anman said this to Vanya, and after hearing Anman's words, Vanya couldn't help but murmur.
"Obuye..."
...
Soon, the moon set and the sun rose, and a new day arrived at the Xiatree Islands.
When the first ray of dawn appeared on the eastern sea, Anman, using his authority as the Fengshu Priest, urgently summoned several elders and important figures of Natsuki to gather for deliberation. While the elders were puzzled by Anman's urgent summons, Anman announced a shocking plan to them.
Anman declared that he had received an revelation from the ancestors last night. In this revelation, the ancestors of Natsuki expounded upon the goddess's will. The Fertility Goddess could not bear to see Natsuki suffer the slaughter of war due to its faithful belief. The goddess of life who brings abundance did not wish to see the tragedy of life withering happen on Natsuki. Therefore, the Natsuki goddess did not wish for Natsuki to clash head-on with Light. The ancestors demanded that Natsuki release the captured hostages and convert to Light to avoid the occurrence of tragedy.
As soon as Anman spoke, it immediately caused an uproar among the elders. Some of the elders who were already afraid of the Light military might and the coming disaster immediately rejoiced at the ancestors' wise choice and expressed their support for Anman. However, a larger group of people immediately began to object loudly. As devout and hardline individuals, they openly questioned Anman, believing his revelation was false and that the ancestors could not possibly ask them to abandon the millennium-long goddess faith. They expressed their belief that they would stand with the goddess faith until death.
After slightly calming everyone down and stabilizing the order of the meeting, Anman continued to say something astonishing. He claimed that the ancestors were not asking them to truly abandon the goddess, but rather to shift the goddess faith from the open to the hidden, outwardly believing in the Holy Mother of Light, while secretly worshipping the Holy Mother as the goddess.
Anman told everyone that with Light currently strong, they needed to first avoid its edge, preserve the spark of the goddess faith, and let it burn again when the time was ripe. The key to faith is people. Only if the people of Natsuki remain, can the goddess faith be truly preserved. If Natsuki is destroyed, the goddess faith will also disappear.
Hearing Anman's argument, the elders all showed astonished expressions for a moment. They had never heard of such a method of shifting from the open to the hidden, worshipping a foreign god as their goddess. For a moment, more people raised questions to Anman, questioning the feasibility of this outlandish method, but Anman was confident about it.
Anman declared that the ancestors had already revealed to him the specific methods to assist them in feigning conversion, and at the meeting, he directly explained and listed several specific plans. After seeing these plans, the elders were even more surprised.
All the plans presented by Anman were very detailed. These plans completely reformed Natsuki's own faith activities, from daily prayers to group activities, to festival sacrifices, to handicraft production... The faith activities that the Natsuki people were originally familiar with were changed in these plans. They seemed to become somewhat similar to the activities of the Shining Light Church, while also seemingly retaining the characteristics of the goddess faith. These characteristics were kept hidden, but they were the core.
After seeing these plans, the elders found that their familiar faith activities were perfectly integrated into daily life or the religious activities for the Holy Mother. For example, code words for praying to the goddess were mixed into daily greetings and conversations. For instance, when praying to the Holy Mother, the meaning of some pronunciations was blurred, making the prayer actually directed at the goddess. For example, the baptism ceremony of Light was disguised as the water offering ceremony of the wave walkers, and so on...
The plans given by Anman were detailed, comprehensive, systematic, and theoretical. It was clear at first glance that these were not conceived on the spur of the moment. They seemed more like something compiled over a long time by someone with many years of experience in feigning conversion, spending a great deal of time organizing their accumulated experience. After initially understanding the profound aspects of these plans, the elders couldn't help but praise them repeatedly, directly stating that this could be considered a field of study, a veritable study of faith disguise!
When such a complete plan was presented before the elders, they were almost speechless. At this moment, hardly anyone questioned the matter of Anman receiving an ancestral revelation, because other than being enlightened, it was impossible for Anman to create a field of study overnight!
After it was confirmed that he had indeed been enlightened by the ancestors, Anman's right to speak became even higher.
At this point, the Natsuki elders' meeting was finally nearing a conclusion. In the face of this series of plans, the previously contentious meeting slowly calmed down, and the elders who had held differing opinions gradually reached a consensus. The promotion of the study of faith disguise was already imperative in Natsuki.
And during the final stage of the meeting when the tone was set, one person's face was particularly gloomy. He was the Natsuki merchant, Obuye.