I Created Scientific Magic

In the autumn, at the Eternal Star, within the Magic Academy of the capital, Johnny, who had become an instructor, hugged her books and looked up at the azure sky.

Under the glow of the beautiful sunset, was a scene of incomparable splendor!

A huge silver chain traversed above the firmament, as if it were about to split the entire sky in two. Under the effect of the "far-sight technique," Johnny could clearly see the curtain filled with a mechanical beauty and the constantly flowing runes of magic on it.

This enormous celestial construct had been under construction for three years and was now essentially complete. As for its purpose, even the insiders of the council were at odds.

Some wizards thought these ring-shaped constructs were homes built by the Star of Magic for himself, palaces atop the heavens to showcase his uniqueness and greatness!

But obviously, this idea didn't hold water because, as the construct gradually took shape, it didn't look like a place meant for living, no matter from which angle you looked at it.

So, many alchemists began to speculate that the council was preparing to create a huge ring-world electromagnetic rail system, and soon there would be an endless supply of electricity flying down from the sky!

Johnny wasn't quite sure about the reasons, as she had long since left the core echelons of her faction.

Though she had reached the limit of a three-ring wizard in her twenties and could become a great wizard as soon as she was called upon to draw from the magic net, clearly, times had changed.

Great wizards, once rare and regarded as a kingdom's advanced combat forces, were now cropping up like carrots, and their numbers had surpassed a thousand.

These newly-promoted great wizards couldn't necessarily even earn a place among the council members and still had to go through numerous selections.

Johnny was very aware that, although her talent wasn't bad, it definitely wasn't top-notch when compared to a certain Star of Magic who had transcended the mundane to reach the realms of gods. She wasn't really worth mentioning and could hardly offer much help.

But in today's Magic Kingdom, as long as one was willing, everyone could shine and thrive. Therefore, Johnny chose the field of education, passing on that novel and interesting knowledge—it was what she enjoyed doing the most.

A slight smile appeared at the corner of Johnny's mouth. Suddenly, a hand gently patted her shoulder.

The witch immediately shivered and internally chided herself for letting down her guard. She turned her head sharply, only to find that it was her good friend Debra who had touched her.

"Johnny, you saw that movie the other day, right? That Dave is just too clever. He actually managed to sneak twenty apprentices right under the nose of a cardinal and even made the local City Lord start to doubt the faith in the false god..." Debra chattered excitedly about the plot of the movie, her face flushed with excitement, evidently not having completely snapped out of the tense and thrilling storyline.

Due to having been brought up in Wizard Land, Debra was unaware of the kingdom's past history, and she was rather indifferent to the disputes between wizards and the church. But after watching the movie, she was shocked to realize how bad some people could be.

Those priests not only enslaved the poor together with the nobility but even fabricated the so-called heaven. In reality, they were using the souls of the believers as nourishment to sustain their god!

So, while watching the movie, Debra was indignant, wishing she could join the fray and fight side by side with Dave by casting magic, only calming down a bit when Dave eventually avenged his fiancée at the end.

She grew even more excited about the upcoming sequel because she heard that it would feature a story about the Star of Magic!

But with several months to go until the sequel's release, Debra couldn't wait and so turned to Johnny, the only one who might know all about it, as her source of inquiries!

Johnny sighed with a hint of helplessness. Since last night, plenty of people had already asked her the same question, but in truth, she knew nothing, and had no choice but to repeat the story that she and Lynn had agreed upon initially.

She had told this fabricated story almost a thousand times, to the point where even she was starting to doubt if it was real. Now, hardly anyone would believe that the renowned Star of Magic, back when he was in the empire, was just a Wizard Apprentice who had learned magic for half a year.

She had taught him herself...

Johnny's thoughts drifted further and further away, recalling the days of their escape in the empire as well as remembering Kent, Buck, Bai Ge... and their teacher Kro.

After the council's counterattack on the empire, Johnny had tried to find news about her teacher but, unfortunately, heard that Kro had been burnt at the stake among a crowd of Believers after being taken to the Holy City...

A tinge of sorrow enveloped Johnny's heart, but it was quickly dissipated because the church's dark reign had thoroughly ended. No longer would people be sent to the stake for seeking knowledge...

As Johnny and Debra reminisced about the old days, "Dave's Chronicle II — The Secret of the Moon God" was spreading like wildfire throughout the kingdom, and the protagonist's actor suddenly became the hottest figure in the Magic Kingdom.

The plot of the movie stirred up a storm overnight.

Because while the plot is thrilling and the storyline stimulating, it also reveals the nature of faith, exposing the so-called heaven of the Moon God as an utter scam!

All the poor who worship the Moon God, after their death, their souls are stored away, serving as nourishment for the ascension of the false god...

With the first film laying the groundwork, drawing the empathy of the masses through Dave's experiences, the second film's effect in unveiling the truth was surprisingly good, as most commoners, limited in education, didn't understand such highbrow stuff as acting.

In their eyes, this was a true story happening right before them, perfectly displaying the insidious faces of the priests and bishops, topped with the terrifying ritual of soul sacrifice, no doubt causing widespread panic among the kingdom's poor!

Some serfs who still clung to the habit of praying secretly rushed home in horror to smash the statues of the Moon God they'd covertly venerated, even wailing and begging the Wizards to save their souls.

And the Wizards of the parliament had long since prepared the secret baptismal potion!

Of course, this potion didn't have such miraculous effects as to erase faith directly, and in truth, these shallow believers didn't even need psychological treatment.

The potion had only two effects; it was beneficial to one's health, making one feel spirited, but only after undergoing extreme pain first.

This was both a small benefit and a punishment, for pain was necessary to learn a lesson.

Anti-belief also became the mainstream in the kingdom now, with targeting the remnants of the church as one approach, and preventing scheming Wizards from replicating Aila's method of ascending to godhood through faith.

This wasn't an unfounded fantasy; over the years, the parliament had arrested quite a few Wizards attempting to turn back the clock of history, either because they lacked talent and wished to improve their power to breakthrough, or due to their wild ambitions to become gods themselves.

However, as the parliament's control over the kingdom grew stronger, and with the popularization of the magic net, the number of Wizards taking desperate risks had significantly decreased.

With the craze of "Dave's Story II" sweeping the kingdom, the parliament also issued the order to arrest the followers of the Moon God.

Thanks to prearranged plans, this was in fact a net-closing operation, cleaning up all those lurking within the kingdom who aspired to cause trouble, including remains of the church and nobles.

Tirar and others who were infuriated and fearful of the airing of "Dave's Story" were arrested before they could even meet to discuss their next plans, and the musket workshop they had just established with great effort was directly nationalized.

They were not the unluckiest of the lot. A member of a Moon Worship Sect organization inside the kingdom didn't realize until the arrest that out of thirty members in the organization, twenty were undercover agents, including the founder; the whole organization was a bait...

The comprehensive report on the believers was soon delivered to Lynn's hands.

"A total of 316,340 people, huh?" Lynn flicked through the booklet filled with names and identities, and all the information was displayed in his mind.

This number was more than he had imagined; after all, those recorded in the register were either unrepentant devout followers or traitorous schemers in the shadows.

It should be noted that in that battle with the church, Aila sacrificed all the devout believers, and now there were still so many.

After pondering for a moment, Lynn realized that their radical reform plans for the continent had offended too many people's interests. Unable to resist the parliament with their own power, the revival of the Moon God had become their only hope to reclaim their former rights, and naturally, their faith would grow stronger.

"Speaker, I wonder how these people should be handled specifically?" the reporting Wizard asked cautiously.

"Just keep them detained for now; I have some use for them," Lynn said with a wave of his hand, yet without any intention to disclose his plans.

He had kept this group of followers within the kingdom to make Aila's escape seem more natural, to attract the attention of the gods from the primary world to strike at the right moment, helping to fend off threats from the cosmos.

As for now, they had a new use; while in a foreign land, Lynn had managed to kill a god and take over their divine office, the name of which was Deceit, and he had only experimented with its disguising effect so far, which could mimic other gods' Divine Power using the rules!

If used well, this could be a powerful trump card, and Lynn intended to apply it to Aila's followers.

However, how to utilize the connection between faith and the gods to further strengthen his control over the situation was a question that needed to be pondered.

Luckily, there were enough test subjects to withstand some experimentation...