Chapter 461: An Act of Defiance

The hypothesis of the “Mindsteel Seal” had been confirmed.

The appearance of the Holy Light Rune Matrix allowed researchers in Cecil’s territory to, for the first time, observe the effects of the Mindsteel Seal through direct experimentation.

But this was undoubtedly bad news.

Divine magic belonged to the gods. Mortals could only “pray” for divine favor through devout faith and strict adherence to doctrine, thereby borrowing the power of divine magic. This had long been accepted as an unquestionable truth. However, by analyzing the evolution of Druidic magic, combining intelligence provided by Kamail, and considering the living example of Light—the White Knight—Gawain, Pittman, and others had jointly proposed the Mindsteel Seal hypothesis. They believed that the key to enabling mortals to wield divine magic was to break this seal. Yet, after witnessing Amber’s test results, Gawain realized more deeply that breaking the seal would not be so easy.

Among everyone Gawain knew, probably no one despised the god of the Holy Light more than this “Elf’s Shame,” yet even she could not break the influence of the Mindsteel Seal. This indicated that the seal did not operate on the level of conscious thought, but rather as an uncontrollable, imperceptible instinctive reaction.

As for what Light had just mentioned—that Kamail was also unaffected by the Mindsteel Seal—Gawain was not surprised. Kamail had been a senior researcher in the “Defiance Project” a thousand years ago and had endured a full millennium of imprisonment. His mental fortitude was likely equal to or greater than Light’s. Moreover, his research had focused on stealing the power of the gods. His Mindsteel Seal had probably shattered the moment he laid eyes on the divine corpse of the Great Stag, Amon.

“In a way… this is an unexpected gain,” Gawain said, taking the rune matrix from Light’s hand with a sigh. “It has become our ‘observation device’ for verifying the Mindsteel Seal…”

He then placed his finger on the edge of the matrix’s purple-copper medium and slowly infused it with magic power.

The faint golden lines on the rune matrix brightened rapidly under the flow of magic. In an instant, a pure, radiant sphere of holy light condensed above the matrix.

“This…” Light was dumbfounded. “You… you actually broke the Mindsteel Seal too?!”

Amber stared at the holy light spell released through the rune matrix as if she had seen a ghost—her last expression like this was when she saw someone crawl out of a coffin. “How can you do it too?!”

Gawain quietly observed the glowing orb floating before him, feeling its stable and pure magical energy. He was not surprised.

As he had predicted—as an outsider with no ties to the native gods, he was naturally free from the Mindsteel Seal.

A swift little figure flew to Gawain’s side. Emily reached out her hand toward the holy light orb but hesitated halfway.

She looked up at Gawain, her big eyes full of hope. “Can I have some?”

Though the little girl’s mind was simple and her way of thinking somewhat different from ordinary people, she clearly understood that Gawain was the lord and couldn’t just give things away casually.

Gawain smiled faintly and hovered his hand above Emily’s head. “It’s yours.”

The girl happily hugged the holy light orb and ran off. Amber continued to scrutinize Gawain with a look of disbelief. “I really can’t tell… When did you break the Mindsteel Seal?”

“A legendary hero who fought the Demon Tide seven hundred years ago—such willpower is not surprising,” Light said beside her. But despite his explanation to Amber, he was still puzzled himself. The Mindsteel Seal was an imperceptible “lock” that could not be detected by one’s own will. Breaking it required not only strong willpower but also some mysterious “awakening” and “cognitive mutation.” The latter two factors had little to do with the strength of one’s will.

How could an ordinary person experience such a cognitive mutation under normal circumstances? Light himself had broken the seal through prolonged questioning and reflection on the Holy Light God, as well as the shock of the Emily incident. Kamail had done so because of the Defiance Project and the changes in his life form and thought patterns during his thousand-year imprisonment. So what about Gawain…

Had this legendary hero once defied the gods himself?

Gawain noticed the doubt in Light’s eyes but chose not to explain. Instead, he steered the conversation back on track. “The Mindsteel Seal prevents the user from powering the Holy Light matrix with their own magic, but if I’m not mistaken… this Holy Light matrix should still be usable, right?”

“As you said,” Light nodded. “The Mindsteel Seal only affects the user’s ability to channel their own magic. But the Holy Light matrix is a type of rune matrix, and rune matrices don’t have to be powered by human magic—they can be powered by energy from the Leyline Network. And the Leyline Network… has no consciousness.”

Since the Leyline Network had no consciousness, it was naturally unaffected by the Mindsteel Seal. Using the Leyline Network to power the Holy Light runes effectively bypassed the “human” factor. This method of casting spells through the Leyline Network and external devices was the foundation of Cecil’s magitechnology industry.

By a twist of fate, Cecil’s magitechnology had exploited a loophole in the Mindsteel Seal.

But Gawain knew it wasn’t that simple. “Powering the Holy Light rune array with the Leyline Network requires a crucial intermediary step.”

Light opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Kamail’s voice came from the direction of the cathedral doors.

“It’s the Inversion Array.”

Gawain turned to see Kamail, his entire body glowing with arcane radiance, floating toward them. The archmage said as he approached, “I was about to report to you on the Holy Light matrix, but I didn’t expect you to already be here. I overheard your discussion about powering the matrix outside.”

“Perfect timing,” Gawain nodded and continued, “The Inversion Array is a sensitive matter. I believe if you hadn’t hit a bottleneck here, you would have shown me the results already—after all, the physical matrix has been produced.”

“There was once a priest who tried to improve divine magic by directly powering the Holy Light array with magic, but he was incinerated by divine punishment,” Kamail said gravely. “From past failures, we must proceed cautiously. We don’t know the true nature of the gods, but the phenomenon of ‘divine punishment’ is real.”

He paused and looked at Light. “Fortunately, Light broke the seal and awakened the White Knight’s power. By analyzing the energy flow during his spellcasting and deducing the spell model he sensed, we reconstructed a new Holy Light array that completely removed the structure connecting to the Holy Light God, blocking the divine punishment trigger. Subsequent experiments proved this effective. But if we power the Holy Light matrix through the Inversion Array… it’s very likely to reestablish that dangerous connection.”

Though the pure magical energy flowing through the Leyline Network was a convenient and versatile power source, its very universality made it unsuitable for powering divine rune systems. Divine rune systems only accepted two types of energy: divine magic corresponding to the deity (such as the Holy Light energy stored in crystals) or magic tuned by human spiritual power (such as that of priests or other supernaturals). The pure magic from the Leyline Network, unprocessed by any “human” factor, was clearly incompatible.

Therefore, to charge divine runes with Leyline energy, the “Inversion Array” technology developed by Pittman was necessary. The Inversion Array could substitute for the “praying person,” processing pure magic energy.

The Inversion Array was a mature technology, widely used in alchemical factories, but it was also dangerous—it was essentially stealing divine authority.

When the Inversion Array first appeared, Gawain had ordered its use be limited to Druidic magic, since the Druid god, the Great Stag Amon, was confirmed dead, and his divine corpse was sealed in the Shadow Realm. Even if the Inversion Array stole natural divine power, it posed no risk of divine punishment. But using it to power other divine magics was another matter.

Other gods were still alive—some even answered their followers’ prayers.

Though Gawain knew all gods had died once, signs indicated those slaughtered by the Zenith Star in ancient times had been resurrected. At least, something sat on the Holy Light God’s throne now. Deep down, Gawain did not want to attract the attention of any deity at this stage.

Amber also sensed the danger of the Inversion Array and fretted alongside Gawain. After a long hesitation, she timidly said, “What if we just… steal a little? Maybe the Holy Light God won’t notice?”

Gawain glared at her. “You’ve got a professional problem, don’t you? What do you mean ‘steal a little’? This isn’t like picking pockets in a tavern.”

Amber shrank back. “I was just saying… just saying…”

“The Inversion Array contains many rune structures simulating divine magic, and these cannot be removed. It’s very likely to attract the gods’ attention. But on the other hand, throughout this process, the Leyline Network providing energy, the Inversion Array converting it, and the rune matrix releasing the divine magic—none involve any ‘consciousness.’ Humans only pull the rune trigger. So theoretically, this process can still bypass divine punishment,” Kamail explained. “What we can’t be sure of is…”

Before Kamail could finish, Gawain interrupted, “We can’t be sure whether divine punishment will still occur if the entire casting process is fully automatic and free of the Mindsteel Seal’s influence. Nor can we be sure if the simple act of ‘pulling the trigger’ introduces human consciousness into the process, indirectly causing divine punishment. Is that right?”

“Exactly as you say,” Kamail’s arcane glow flickered slightly. “Though humans only pull the rune trigger to connect the system, even such a simple action is driven by thought.”

Gawain frowned and muttered to himself, “Could this be related to the observer effect… the observer effect in the macroscopic world?”

Kamail didn’t catch that. “What did you say?”

“Nothing,” Gawain waved his hand. “I think ‘pulling the trigger’ shouldn’t be considered part of the casting process, because the casting loop formed by the Leyline Network and rune matrix is closed. The human operator’s spiritual power doesn’t resonate with any magic during this. Whether spiritual power participates is a key marker of the casting process. But this is just my personal view. We need to design an experiment to verify it.”

Kamail nodded. “Designing such an experiment isn’t difficult. The challenge is ensuring safety—we might attract the gods’ attention, and that cost is too high. We must eliminate that risk.”

Gawain looked into Kamail’s eyes—or rather, the two glowing orbs that should have been his eyes. “Do you have any ideas?”

After a moment’s silence, Kamail said slowly and resolutely, “I request to reopen part of the Defiance Fortress’s laboratories.”

Gawain didn’t answer immediately but asked, “Are any still usable?”

“The external fortress labs are all destroyed, and the defense systems offline, but the labs inside the Defiance Fortress… are still functional!”

(End of chapter)