I Pioneered Scientific Magic - Chapter 485 (Patreon)

Chapter 485: The Old World Turns People into Ghosts, The New World Turns Ghosts into People!

Gustav's words filled Ivina with an incomparable rage, sending a chill through her heart.

What does it mean to become part of the Lord...

Lynn also pondered this question, even more amazed by Gustav's faithful tone. Joshua had said something similar before.

It seems that the Church has been ruling the continent for hundreds of years with a certain purpose in mind. The false god Aila must be preparing to do something related to faith, and it has reached a crucial moment!

Taking advantage of Gustav's most intense emotional moment, Lynn suddenly asked, "Tell me, what is on the other side of the space-time gate?"

This question had always been of great curiosity to Lynn. Why were there several space-time gates distributed on this planet, where did they lead to, and were they naturally formed or man-made?

Lynn could only think of something like the Einstein-Rosen bridge...

The Wizard Council had once sent a team to explore it, using many magical probes, but they disappeared without a trace, with no one returning!

In Ivina's memory, some of the elite members of the Divine Punishment Legion had entered one, but she did not know the outcome.

But as the leader of the Divine Punishment Legion, Gustav must know something!

Although it was unlikely that he would tell...

Lynn was prepared for Gustav to remain silent, but to his surprise, Gustav spoke up.

"It is the origin of all sins..."

Gustav's words were sharp, with a hint of tremble in his tone.

Lynn frowned slightly, his mind racing with countless possibilities, before he questioned again, "What does that mean?"

Gustav did not answer, as Ivina's appearance had calmed his emotions. He bowed his head again, remaining silent as if he were dead.

Lynn did not press further, believing that Victorio must have tried all possible methods, and there was no need for him to waste his efforts.

Now, it was up to Victorio to extract as much information as possible from Gustav's fluctuating thoughts...

"Let's go!"

Lynn gave Gustav one last look, then turned and left without hesitation.

Ivina, still somewhat dazed, finally came to her senses and followed Lynn out of the secret room.

The warm midday sunlight shone on the girl, making her feel comfortable, yet Ivina's heart remained cold.

Two years ago, after joining the Divine Punishment Legion, she thought she had found the meaning of her life, spending the rest of her days fighting against the evil god's followers who endangered the empire's citizens, spreading panic, plague, and death.

However, the truth told her that everything they did was meaningless.

Ivina took a deep breath, struggling to break free from her anger towards Gustav and her own confusion, and looked up at Lynn, who was a head taller than her, asking, "Can you tell me, after the Wizard Council defeats the empire, what will you do with us, with the Divine Punishment Legion?"

Ivina wanted to defend the Divine Punishment Legion but didn't know how to start.

After all, many members of the Legion were formerly witch hunters, and the enmity between them could only be described as deep-seated.

However, Ivina knew that the members of the Divine Punishment Legion were diverse, including many purely motivated individuals deceived by the Church, whether hunting witches or dealing with the followers of evil gods, all for the sake of maintaining peace.

"Do you know how we deal with Aila's followers within the kingdom?" Lynn asked in return.

Ivina pursed her lips and did not reply, knowing that dealing with enemies meant either killing them or possibly torturing them.

Lynn then enlightened her about the kingdom's laws. "First, we account for their crimes, executing those who have committed unforgivable acts."

"Then, those who are not sentenced to death but are stubborn are gathered to perform hard labor, such as mining and road construction, until they have redeemed their sins with labor."

"As for others, they undergo ideological transformation and basic popularization work, handled by specialists from the council."

Lynn talked about the various decisions made by the council.

"Just like that? You're not going to kill them?" Ivina asked in astonishment.

How to kill? Lynn glanced at the girl.

Under the Church's centuries-long rule, faith had taken root in everyone's heart, with the number of shallow believers possibly reaching nearly ten million, and ordinary believers numbering in the millions. The council could not and did not need to kill everyone.

Apart from the fanatical believers who needed to be dealt with directly, most people could be transformed to break free from the Church's rule.

At least within the kingdom, they had already achieved certain results, proving that this approach was viable...

The council's wizards responsible for this task even discovered a peculiar phenomenon: the impoverished believers who had their faith shattered suddenly displayed intense hatred towards the Church.

Initially, the council suspected this was an act of pretense, but after searching their memories, it seemed to be their genuine thoughts, leaving the psychically gifted wizards puzzled.

Only Lynn understood this as the zeal of betrayal; the deeper one's faith was, the more intense their hatred towards the Church and their admiration for magic studies would be once their beliefs were shaken or destroyed.

This formed the psychological basis of the transformation plan.

Furthermore, Lynn was curious about the impact on their god if those devout believers deeply connected with Aila were to turn against them.

"Also, I once heard a saying," Lynn suddenly spoke.

"What saying?" Ivina asked, puzzled.

"The old world turns people into ghosts, the new world turns ghosts into people!" Lynn said earnestly.

The brown-haired girl was stunned, softly murmuring these words.

Compared to the lives of the commoners in the City of Fire Oil, who had jobs, food, and hope, perhaps the citizens of the empire truly didn't count as people.

Lynn didn't explain further and called over a male wizard to take the girl back to her cell.

This was house arrest, as well as a few days for Ivina to reflect. Afterward, he needed her to do something.

"By the way, notify Harof, the speaker, to speed up the war against the empire. The sooner, the better!" Lynn remembered Gustav's devout words and felt a hint of unease, then turned to the male wizard, adding another instruction.

Ivina opened her mouth, wanting to ask about her brother Lott, but before she could speak, Lynn transformed into a streak of light and disappeared from her sight.

...

By the time Lynn returned to the manor, it was already one o'clock in the afternoon.

The council acted quickly. Although the war preparations were still underway, in a few months, they had already produced and distributed the urgent propaganda flyers.

One of the sample pieces was delivered to his manor.

Lynn picked it up and let out a light exclamation.

Because on the flyer, there were a few black and white photographs...

"Has the original optical photography been developed?" Lynn immediately thought of this, as it had been nearly a year since he calculated the speed of light and developed laser magic.

Initially, this sparked a wave of research into optical magic, but due to the war, the council had not held academic conferences, so each school conducted its research in private, unaware of how many new technologies had been developed.

Regardless, this was good news.

It seemed the effect of distributing flyers this time would be better than expected.

After all, a picture is worth a thousand words.

While contemplating, Lynn took off a ring from his hand and threw it out. His body split as if being divided, and streaks of azure light peeled off from within him.

About two minutes later, another Lynn appeared in the manor.

Clearly, this was a magical avatar carrying a portion of his power.

This magic was quite useful; the only downside was the avatar's strength was far less than the original's, and it divided his computational power. He couldn't create too many and needed something or someone as a medium.

Creating this avatar was because Lynn planned to see what the Holy City looked like now to formulate the next tactics.

As for himself, he needed to hasten his research on what exactly the Divine Realm was. Lynn had a premonition that it might be a crucial factor in defeating the false god Aila.

...

At four o'clock in the afternoon, in the newly built airport of the City of Fire Oil, thirty fighter jets were neatly parked on the spacious ground, their silver bodies shining under the sunlight.

"It seems the workshop's production speed is quite fast," Lynn said somewhat surprised.

He remembered that a few months ago, there were only about five fighter jets, but now the number had increased sixfold.

"Of course, Speaker Lynn, the workshops for producing fighter jets have been working day and night, in three shifts without a stop. It's just a pity that we still don't have enough manpower," Yulande sighed.

The craftsmanship of fighter jets is very complex, not something that can be learned by just hiring a few people for a bit of training. They could only recruit from among wizard apprentices and civilian academies.

Now Yulande understood why Lynn insisted on establishing civilian academies, as knowledgeable personnel were really scarce. Many workshops were competing for them, and even students who hadn't graduated yet were already booked by various workshops, studying during the day and working at night...

Even some workshops didn't spare children as young as eleven or twelve, snatching up anyone who had attended classes!

Listening to Yulande's account, Lynn was both amused and speechless, but he didn't interfere. In these times, being able to eat was already a luxury, let alone worrying about child labor issues.

Moreover, the tuition for entering the academy wasn't cheap. Now, students could not only earn back their tuition but also make some money to support their families.

As they talked, they reached the lined-up fighter jets, where thirty of the most skilled pilots were already waiting, their faces full of excitement and anticipation.

Except for a few like Lydia and five others, this was the first real flight mission for the rest of the pilots.

During these months, everyone had trained extremely hard, undergoing over a hundred hours of flight training. Now, it was their time to shine.

Seeing the eager and radiant faces of the pilots, Lynn nodded in satisfaction and solemnly said, "Gentlemen, I believe you have all received the council's orders. The mission assigned to you is very dangerous, requiring you to penetrate deep into the enemy territory, into the heart of the empire..."

"Are we going to bomb their cities?" Lydia suddenly raised her hand and asked.

Glenn and the other pilots also thought it was a possibility. After all, the night before, spies instigated by the Church had caused riots in the city, resulting in significant casualties. Now seemed like the time for retaliation.

"No, it's to drop these!" Lynn shook his head and took out a bundle wrapped in paper.

"What is this, Professor? A new weapon you've developed?" Lydia took it curiously, turning it over in her hands for a while, but she couldn't see anything remarkable about it.

"It's a new weapon, in a manner of speaking, but to be more direct, it's just flyers!" Lynn explained with a smile.

The paper bundle consisted of stacks of flyers, upon which a spell had been cast. Activated a few seconds later, the bundle would burst open, scattering hundreds of flyers. Just a dozen of these bundles could cover an entire city.

Thinking of this, Lynn looked around at the pilots present and said solemnly, "For hundreds of years, the Church has blinded everyone within the empire with deceitful lies, making them willing to be sheep under their shepherd..."

"Your mission is to liberate them from the ignorance of those lies, fundamentally undermining the foundation of the Church's existence! From now on, unless there's a sign of war, this mission needs to be carried out daily..."

Lynn understood that to sway people's hearts with propaganda, three things were necessary: quantity, persistence, and sensational content.

The principle of "three men make a tiger" suggests that with enough repetition, any statement can leave an impression on people, and the empire's merchants would also mobilize their resources to support their actions.

He had noticed the Church was intentionally deepening the faith of the empire's citizens. Although he didn't yet understand the purpose, whatever the enemy intended to do, they just needed to do the opposite.

Moreover, with early propaganda, when they took over the empire's cities in the future, much resistance would be reduced.

It was a strategy that killed two birds with one stone.

Pausing for a moment, Lynn continued, "This mission might not require combat, but it's still dangerous. If anyone is afraid or has doubts, you can opt out now. I assure you, there will be no punishment for those who choose to leave."

The speed of the fighter jets was indeed fast, and their high-altitude advantage should allow them to avoid most damage. However, the ammunition and fuel they carried were limited, and the archbishops stationed in each of the great cities might possess some unknown divine art capable of bringing down a fighter jet.

Yet, no one chose to opt out. They had been selected through rigorous trials for the chance to pilot these powerful alchemical devices.

Countless people outside were eager to take their place...

"Very well, since that's the case, take your courage and your flying skills and embark on your mission!" Lynn patted the nearest pilot on the shoulder. The pilot felt a surge of mission and purpose, put on his windproof helmet, and climbed into the fighter jet.

Lydia also got into her own jet. Her piloting skills were among the best, and her task was the most dangerous — heading to the Holy City.

Lynn's avatar would accompany her on this journey.

-----------------

Table of content - Next Chapter >>>

• You can access publicly available chapters of "I Pioneered Scientific Magic" right HERE.

• Your invaluable feedback and ratings mean the world to me. Please take a moment to rate this novel at Novelupdate.

• You can also check out the other Novels I'm currently translating by clicking HERE.

• If you come across any mistakes within this chapter, kindly notify me in the comments below, so that I can make the necessary corrections.