The Era of Gods - Chapter 377
Chapter 377: Chapter 377: The Miracle of the Mass Resurrection Spell
This page is the most core part of The Book of Wisdom, depicting an Angel enveloped in Light, holding a sphere of light in both hands. Beneath the Angel’s feet lie scattered, broken corpses. Beams of light burst forth from the sphere, falling upon the dead who are opening their eyes.
Super Divine Technique of Resurrection!
Indeed, this page of The Book of Wisdom records one of the ultimate Divine Arts that mortals can use, and it is the Mass Resurrection Spell.
With a face full of compassion for the world, he looked at the corpses scattered on the ground and whispered with an outstretched finger:
“Life should not be silent, Death will eventually be reversed….”
At this moment, The Book of Wisdom in his hand began to emit a milky white glow, lighting up the entire tome as strands of white light converged upon the open pages.
“In the name of the God of Life and Wisdom, reverse life and death….”
His voice grew more and more imposing. He did not speak loudly, but as he began to cast the Resurrection Technique, it naturally resonated with the unearthly Rules, causing a transcendental qualitative change.
Infinite Life Force gathered, forming a gigantic Angel of Light in the Vault of Heaven. The Angel gently flapped its wings, and an intense concentration of Life Force merged into an immense column of light that shot into the sky. The infinite Life Force that shone down made the living feel as if a divine miracle was descending.
No, this was a miracle in itself; the Resurrection Technique was a miraculous Divine Art.
“Resurrect!”
A soul-shaking voice echoed. The Angel of Light in the Vault of Heaven shattered into streams of light that rained down, infusing the bodies strewn across the ground. The Light of Life surged forth, engulfing each corpse.
Without distinction between friend and foe, both the freshly slain enemies and the dead on the nearby battlefield were submerged.
At that moment, all four of his subordinates knelt, bowing their heads devoutly.
Influenced by this, two nearby Knights and their subordinates also knelt, their faces a mix of shock and anticipation, looking toward the corpses covered by the Light of Life.
In less than ten seconds, a corpse that should have been thoroughly dead twitched, causing everyone’s pupils to dilate with expressions of horror and disbelief.
“It’s really…alive!”
“My God, this is a miracle, a true miracle!”
Afonso looked up in shock at the still lingering shadow of the Angel of Light, and then at the enemies slowly being resurrected. His heart was indescribably shaken.
At that moment, an unprecedented thought arose in his heart. As he looked up at Lin Xiao, who held the Staff of Life in one hand and The Book of Wisdom in the other, he devoutly bowed his head, silently praying in the names of the God of Life and Wisdom.
At that moment, he quickly abandoned his prior lukewarm faith in the Holy God and converted to the God of Life and Wisdom, whom he had only recently witnessed.
And his level of faith surged at an unprecedented rate. His lifetime of belief in the Holy God had only reached the level of a nominal believer, but now, in less than an hour since hearing the names of the God of Life and Wisdom, his faith had already swiftly leaped past that of a True Believer, reaching the level of a Devout Believer.
As soon as the line of faith connected, Lin Xiao felt it, but he was not surprised; he considered it to be expected.
He had gone to great lengths to use this Mass Resurrection Spell, not really out of compassion or pity, but his primary target was this first heir of the Gibson Family; everyone else was secondary.
To swiftly change the situation, he needed the support of a Lord.
Not just the many people under the Lord’s command but also the Lord’s military strength, as well as his status to counter the suppression from the Holy Church.
In this world, where there was a unified religion and unprecedented religious power, the struggle between divine and secular authority was unceasing. Aristocrats worshipped the gods yet guarded against the Church; no monarch or noble would wish to see the Church overshadow their power.
Of course, this was a digression, but one thing was for sure: the world’s nobility and the Holy Church were not in such harmony.
This provided them with an opportunity.
Especially since the Holy Church had almost never demonstrated any miracles, and the Priests could not perform any serious Divine Arts.
Lin Xiao could foresee that even if it wasn’t himself, other Descenders could bring down the Holy Church by virtue of their abilities.
And among them, a church of the God of Life and Wisdom that could perform Divine Arts would undoubtedly reap the greatest benefits.
As for the future disputes between the new divine authority and secular power after the fall of the Holy Church, that would be a concern for later. For now, it was more important to get up and move forward.
While he was contemplating these thoughts, the Life Force enveloping each corpse was being integrated into their bodies. One by one, the dead awakened, their faces blank as they looked around in bewilderment.
Lin Xiao held the Scepter in one hand and The Book of Wisdom in the other. Still emanating the residual Life Force, to them, he seemed as holy and inviolable as a saint descending to earth, his voice infused with a power that shook their hearts:
“By the grace of the Lord of Life and Wisdom, you are granted a new life!”
He had just finished speaking when Alonso Gibson, the eldest son of Baron Gibson, lifted his head as if inspired and shouted loudly:
“You were meant to die, but the great God of Life and Wisdom took pity and performed a great miracle, resurrecting you all!”
Lin Xiao revealed a hint of approval; this assist was quite effective.
This statement seemed to remind these bewildered warriors of what had just happened, as their eyes quickly became clear, and nearly simultaneously, they knelt before him and worshiped:
“I remember now, it was the great God of Life and Wisdom who resurrected me, saving me from Death’s grip.”
“Great God of Life and Wisdom above, please accept my humble but devout faith.”
Dozens of the resurrected knelt at the same time, and at this moment, more than twenty threads of faith connected with Lin Xiao’s soul—every one of them a Devout Believer.
“Very good, the great price I paid was not in vain!”
He slowly put away The Book of Wisdom. Just performing the Mass Resurrection Spell had drained all the energy stored in the book, and now he was unable to perform even the simplest Divine Art.
But it was all worth it. Almost thirty able-bodied soldiers, all professional warriors, were added to their forces. Including the militiamen who had died in the previous battle, their combined forces now totaled nearly ninety, and together with the fourteen Church Knights he had trained earlier, he now commanded over a hundred soldiers.
Among them, there were sixteen with the strength of knights of this world, thirty-two full-time professional warriors, and the rest were over fifty militiamen.
This strength was already comparable to some of the weaker Baron’s Territories, and with a bit more preparation time, they could even stand against any Baron’s Territory.
However, Lin Xiao had no such plans. In fact, he didn’t intend to take all these people with him. Instead, he had the newly-converted Alonso lead his men away back to the castle, while he returned with the newly subjugated troops.
There was no need for him to search for the stone to carve the god’s statue; after learning of his purpose, Alonso enthusiastically assured him that he had it covered.
On the way back, Lin Xiao sought out the subordinates of Gurda to inquire about the man named Gurda himself. The leader of this group of warriors, a brawny man named Demon, upon hearing Lin Xiao’s inquiry, rapidly relayed everything he knew. After listening, Lin Xiao breathed a sigh of relief.
According to Demon’s account, they were originally wanderers—or rather, bandits—located near another Lord’s territory to the north of Baron Gibson’s lands. About a month and a half ago, they encountered Gurda, who killed their original leader and subdued them with his formidable personal strength, becoming their new Leader.
Once in power, Gurda initiated sweeping reforms, not only changing their previous plundering ways but also formally taking over a village as a base to settle down, beginning large-scale farming, and recruiting wanderers or bandits far and wide, rapidly expanding their strength.
The sets of armor they wore were prepared by Gurda for them. According to Demon, Gurda had only forty sets of such armor, and under his command were, indeed, these forty elite professional warriors.
This time, half were dispatched with the main purpose of seizing the Gibson Family’s mineral mines. Their goal was to continuously plunder minerals and weaken the Gibson Family’s strength, and when weakened sufficiently, they would dispatch troops to attack Gibson Castle and plunder the Gibson Family’s wealth.
After that, they planned to offer the mineral mine as a bargaining chip to the ruler of this land, Count Dyson, in hopes of obtaining an Aristocratic title.
With an Aristocratic title, one would be eligible to wage war against other lords and plunder their territories.
In this world, as long as one is a non-Aristocratic lord, no matter how powerful or how much land they seize, it is not recognized. Other Aristocratic lords are entitled to attack and plunder your land.
Once you have Aristocratic status, you have a legitimate and lawful right. As long as you’re capable and your actions are just, then everything you do is just and legal.
As for what constitutes this justice, isn’t that just a matter of interpretation? Once you’re qualified, are you afraid there’s no excuse?
If Lin Xiao hadn’t interfered, Gurda’s plan might indeed have succeeded. After all, forty elite soldiers with equipment that even knights of this world couldn’t breach, carefully plotted to eliminate an ordinary Baron, wouldn’t be a problem.
But now, well, excuse me.
Gurda’s painstakingly brought forty sets of elite weapons and armor to this realm were directly taken away by half by Lin Xiao, significantly weakening him and alerting Lin Xiao to his presence ahead of time.
Of course, Lin Xiao wouldn’t go all the way just to deal with Gurda now that he was aware of an opponent nearby. What really mattered was his own development.
As long as he was powerful, defeating the enemy would only be a matter of minutes.
Upon returning to Ful Village, the twenty-odd militiamen were temporarily housed outside the village, working together with the villagers to cultivate the fields.
This was only a small village, and with the productivity levels of this world, it couldn’t support so many full-time warriors.
Normally, a small village could at most support about ten full-time soldiers, and that was the upper limit—it was tough even to maintain ten.
The Gibson Family, with one small town, eight villages, and an iron mine, could only support about forty full-time soldiers and five knights.
Luckily, he had the Summon Food Divine Technique to support them, as well as the ability to transfer food through the Creation Magic Cube. Otherwise, the dozens of elite warriors he brought back would have to disarm and return to tilling the fields.
This was the limitation of this realm in this era–production capacity was too low. Even a proper lord wouldn’t have many soldiers on hand; fielding a massive army in this realm was simply not feasible.
