Chapter 529 — Holy Light and Holy Light
Blade of Dawn · Page 2 of 4
Arcane armor and arcanotech weapons needed maintenance; crystal grenades needed the magic net to charge them; alchemical potions needed factories to produce them; and factories likewise needed the magic net. Build the magic net and you had the foundation for importing mining machinery; with mining machinery you had abundant metal ores; with abundant ores you could build more machines...
Even if the nobles of the royal capital and the East did not know how to forge a complete arcanotech industrial chain, they could at least lay a foundation. The weapons and potions Gao Yang sold them were a snare wrapped in flowering vines—bright and beautiful, yet once touched, nearly impossible to escape. Under the pressure of war, to keep those weapons and potions flowing and to keep the machines that maintained and produced them running, they too would have to set the arcanotech industry in motion.
Amber fell silent again, and who knew what she was thinking about, until they were nearly at the city center, when she suddenly muttered: "The people you scheme against are really unlucky—they lose their very lives to you and still have to thank you for your great kindness..."
"You think they won't catch on?" Gao Yang shook his head. "Nobody's a fool."
...
Inside the church, Wright—now dressed in a priest's robe—stood on the wooden pulpit. Facing the congregation below, he spoke in a low, powerful voice, expounding all manner of knowledge about the Holy Light.
"...The Holy Light is stirred by the human heart. The more closely one's words and deeds align with the virtues of the Holy Light, the more strongly they evoke its phenomena...
"Comprehending the teachings of the Luminous One through actual practice is the most effective method. For us who follow the Holy Light according to the new doctrine, actual words and deeds are more effective than reciting scriptures or repeating rituals..."
Wright paused. Below the pulpit, a tall, powerfully built man who looked like a warrior raised his hand: "Great Pastor, you say the Holy Light resonates with noble words and deeds—but is there an unchanging standard for virtue? I've been studying history lately, and I see that the concepts of 'morality' and 'justice' are always changing..."
Speaking out in discussion during a pastor's sermon—something that would have been unthinkable in the old-style Church of the Dark Luminary—was in fact the style of preaching favored by the "Pure Holy Light School" [the New Church]. So long as one followed the rules of questioning, anyone could discuss and delve into the Holy Light as a kind of knowledge that could be studied, which made the New Church's halls feel more like a place of learning than a site for religious ritual—and that was exactly what Wright wished to see.
He nodded to the powerfully built man—he knew him: a White Knight still in his probationary period. Apart from honing his martial skills and battling fierce beasts, this valiant soldier's greatest hobby was reading and studying. Only a new-style pastor versed in both letters and arms could so sharply identify what in the doctrine required explanation: "Moral standards do change. In ancient times, the greatest virtues all had to do with food, whereas today's moral standards have added things like loyalty, honesty, trustworthiness, and courage. The words and deeds that embody these traits have also changed with the times. Therefore we should hold to a concept of 'public morality'—conforming to the most universally acknowledged morality, fighting for the collective—and only then can we accord with the true meaning of the Holy Light."
"...Then why is that?" There was confusion in the voice of the probationary White Knight, versed in both letters and arms. "Does the Holy Light think? Does it select people who meet its standards? And does it change along with the shifts in human moral standards?"