Kamel’s statement made Gawain show a pensive expression. 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚

He had heard from Tiel some things about the sea demons’ racial culture and traditions, so he was not unfamiliar with the concept of "Eva."

Unlike most races on land, sea demons have had no concept of a "god" realm since ancient times. They do not worship any gods nor believe that any absolute transcendent individual is a creator/savior/guide. In their cultural system, the only thing similar to the "gods" of land races is "Eva." However, they never consider Eva as a god—Tiel once spent a long time explaining to Gawain what Eva really is, because it is a concept difficult for land races to understand, and after listening to Tiel’s introduction, Gawain summarized the most critical key point:

Eva is the collective of all sea demons. They view their entire race as a whole, just like numerous cells come together, and these cells give this vast and complex cellular conglomerate a name, calling it—human.

This peculiar worldview is probably related to their "deep-sea belonging" culture, where everything originates from the deep sea, everything returns to the deep sea, and everything in the deep sea gathers as one.

Therefore, sea demons have no concept of worshiping gods and will never have it—the most magnificent and transcendent presence in their minds is just a gigantic sea demon.

In Gawain’s view, the sea demons are probably a race that maintains individual will but perceives the world like a swarm.

He furrowed his brow slightly and looked at Kamel: "You’re saying, the Song of the Deep Sea and Deep Sea Runes can produce mental protection effects because they essentially mobilize Eva’s power, and Eva is helping us combat divine pollution?"

"It’s highly possible," Kamel nodded.

Gawain still frowned: "But what is the reason that the sea demons’ Eva can combat divine pollution?"

"Regarding this... I mentioned earlier, to our ’gods,’ Eva’s nature might be equivalent to an ’alien god,’" Kamel chose his words carefully, saying slowly, "You might recall Miss Tiel herself said that she and her people aren’t the original inhabitants of our planet. They come from a place vastly different in environment from this planet."

"I remember," Gawain nodded, "And I’ve heard her describe the tools the sea demons used to come to this world, which sound like some kind of ’ships’ capable of traversing the vast distances between stars—much like the ’starship’ imagined by the astrologers and scholars of Gondor’s time. But clearly, that thing is infinitely larger than the skycraft envisioned by the human scholars seven hundred years ago."

Kamel slowly nodded: "Yes, some kind of flying craft for crossing the cosmic sky. It sounds as if the sea demons came from another star, but lately, I’ve talked to Miss Tiel several times. I’ve heard her describe her home planet’s situation, describing the problems sea demons encountered surviving in this world... I have a more daring hypothesis."

Gawain raised an eyebrow: "A more daring hypothesis?"

"The sea demons have experienced a very lengthy ’adaptation period’ on our planet. They even temporarily lost their physical forms, regaining mobility only after countless years of ’reaggregation’ in the most primitive elemental state at the ocean’s bottom... This exceeds the concept of ’different natural environments between two planets,’ and considering that elemental creatures naturally resist the effects brought on by the chaotic wave, the problem they encountered likely isn’t some type of ’chaotic wave aftereffect.’ Therefore... I guess they might come from a place even more ’remote’ than we imagined, so remote that... the basic rules of the world differ."

Gawain’s face immediately turned serious: "Go on."

"If it really is due to different basic rules causing the sea demons to be ’incompatible’ with our world, then their ’Eva’ must be likewise. In their world, there may be no so-called ’divine pollution’ or ’Chains of Faith,’ nor any ’mental Steel Stamp,’ and under such conditions, ’Eva’ may exist as a ’god’ already freed from restraints... No, strictly speaking, it should be a ’god-like entity,’ because their ’Eva’ does not receive prayers, does not generate any faith feedback, and cannot establish any substantial contact with believers...

If the above hypothesis is correct, then the effects of the Song of the Deep Sea and Deep Sea Runes are explained: they channel pollution towards an ’anomaly in the rules.’ There was a saying during Gondor’s time, ’The flood of the real world cannot wash away the feathers of the underworld,’ because the two are not on the same dimension, and obviously our world’s pollution... also cannot affect an entity from another domain."

"Our world’s pollution cannot affect entities from another domain..." Gawain contemplated quickly, gradually developing skepticism, "But one thing, the Song of the Deep Sea and those runes can, in turn, affect people in our world—isn’t the mental exhilaration effect a real, existent influence?"

"We are still analyzing this point, but Miss Jenni has a guess," Kamel said, "She believes the joy and excitement we feel from the Song of the Deep Sea and Deep Sea Runes may not be due to ’Eva’s’ mental influence, rather it might be a ’side product’ of some ’established connection’..."

"A side product of an established connection?" Gawain curiously glanced at Jenni standing nearby, who seldom spoke up, "What connection?"

"The ’connection’ between sea demons," Jenni immediately answered, then explained her view while articulating, "Sea demons are elemental creatures, possibly originating as ’elemental creatures from another world,’ but they share characteristics similar to elemental creatures of our world, which include ’resonance,’ a phenomenon certain to occur between pure elements upon approaching each other closely. I’ve confirmed with Miss Tiel that sea demons can feel the emotions of their kin to some extent, and when using the Song of the Deep Sea or ’Tentacle Twisting Dance,’ this emotional resonance becomes more evident..."

Gawain wanted to maintain a solemn demeanor throughout, but couldn’t help but break character: "What’s Tentacle Twisting Dance..."

"...That’s Miss Tiel’s original phrase," Jenni’s expression turned a bit odd as well, "It’s transforming into a heap of tentacles and twisting around with kin..."

"Alright, no need to explain, just understanding the gist is enough," Gawain raised a hand to interrupt, "In short, there exists a somewhat fundamental ’telepathy’ among sea demons, allowing them to share emotions even if they cannot directly transmit information like a mental network—so those runes and songs..."

As he spoke, he looked at Jenni, who nodded: "Yes, those runes and songs brought us into the ’collective emotion’ of the sea demons—the excitement and joy felt by the users didn’t stem from Eva’s ’positive mental pollution,’ but simply... resonated with the good mood of the sea demons."

Gawain was taken aback and instinctively pressed his forehead: "So those deep-sea fish are always so happy..."

"We can now explain why prolonged exposure to Deep Sea Runes leads to aftereffects like ’Squid Frenzy,’" Kamel spread his hands and said, "This is also a result of emotional resonance."

Gawain nodded slowly, gradually coming to grips with Kamel and Jenni’s hypothesis. Then, he suddenly thought of something: "If the resistance to pollution from those runes and songs originates from the sea demons’ ’incompatibility’ with this world, does that mean if they fully adapt and integrate, this resistance would vanish? Now that Eva has taken the position of the God of Storms, the sea demons are evidently adapting to this world!"

"To be honest, we can’t rule out that possibility," Kamel said seriously. "The ’adaptation’ of the sea demons might lead them to lose this inherent ’advantage,’ which indeed is a somewhat contradictory and ironic possibility. But I believe it won’t be that simple, at least not in the short term.

"Firstly, there’s clear evidence: The sea demons as a ’race’ have claimed the position of the God of Storms, and their ’Eva’ has substantively become the God of Storms with many ’Naga’ as followers. Yet neither the ordinary sea demons nor ’Eva’ have shown any divine pollution, indicating that their ’adaptation’ and ’pollution’ aren’t simply interchangeable.

"Secondly, even if the sea demons adapt to our world’s rules, it doesn’t mean they will become entirely identical to this world’s original inhabitants. Biological adaptation follows environmental changes, and only those environmental factors that affect survival will trigger adaptive evolution. Whether ’Eva’ generates divine pollution clearly doesn’t affect the daily survival of the sea demons. Hence, the most likely scenario is the sea demons will adapt to our world’s environment, but their ’Eva’ won’t change at all—because natural laws can’t affect her."

Gawain listened and nodded slowly. He acknowledged Kamel’s theory, but finally, with a serious expression, he said, "Even so, we must be prepared."

"Yes, always prepare for the worst-case scenario," Kamel said in a deep voice. "The protection ’borrowed’ from the sea demons might fail, and even if it doesn’t, we can’t place all our hopes on them—although they are indeed reliable and friendly allies, as you’ve said, ’what belongs to others is still others.’ Moreover, we must have more than just one plan."

"Therefore, your progress on the Mind Protection System is crucial, bringing us more possibilities," Gawain nodded slightly and spoke slowly, "The more we understand the principles, the more likely we are to develop a mind protection technology that’s entirely our own, while also avoiding the impact of the black box... this last point is particularly important."

As he said this, he sighed gently, with a tone of worry: "Our mind protection technology is currently based on Deep Sea Runes, and in the long run, it points to an ’unknown entity.’ If we can’t explain it technically, it might trigger reverence for mysterious unknown forces and lead to a kind of ’worship thought.’ Although this possibility is small, we must avoid any such possibility."

Gawain’s reminder clearly gave Kamel, a former Defier, the greatest caution. The light flowing on his body paused for a moment, then the Arcane Master lowered his head with a hint of solemnity in his tone: "Yes, we will certainly keep that in mind."

Gawain nodded, then glanced at the floating holographic projections in the research lab and the busy technical staff.

"We need to sync this information with our sea demons Allies—though they may already be aware of their ’incompatibility’ with this world and are studying the issue of ’adaptation,’ we must show a sufficiently frank attitude."

Kamel and Jenni replied in unison: "Yes, Your Majesty."

Gawain exhaled and looked at Kamel: "Next, let’s talk about... matters related to gods. I’ve received quite a bit of information from Amon."

...

Aunt Heidi sat in her office, where the Magic Web Terminal set aside was silently operating, and a connected printer was spitting out words from afar.

The Empire’s Chief Druid Pittman sat on a chair not far from her.

"Mages have started reporting the ’loss of connection’ with the Goddess of Magic to the Department of Supernatural Affairs in various administrative offices," Aunt Heidi said, glancing at the report emerging from the printer and slightly shaking her head. "Most mages are only shallow or nominal followers of the Goddess of Magic, not devout believers, yet the ’loss of connection’ of a deity still unsettles many."

"If this state of unclear information continues for a while, they might feel even more uneasy," Pittman said casually. "Honestly, just feeling uneasy now is already the best-case scenario."

"We’ll soon release the news," Aunt Heidi said, setting down the report. "According to the ancestor’s wishes, we’ll convene a high-profile summit of top mages and then announce the ’fall of the Goddess of Magic due to unknown reasons’... then rely on public opinion guidance and a series of official events to gradually shift everyone’s focus, allowing the event to transition smoothly... but I’m still worried about major chaos arising."

"Some confusion and unrest is inevitable, don’t expect to avoid it—after all, the Goddess of Magic is truly gone, and we can’t, nor would we want to fabricate another one to calm the people," Pittman waved his hand. "Directly announcing the news might be the swiftest and most effective method. What we need now is speed; people need an answer. Even if this answer is terrible, as long as the subsequent official announcements and public opinion guidance follow up, everything can end smoothly after a chaotic but brief process."

With that, the old Druid smiled and added a few words: "Besides, don’t underestimate humans’ ability to adapt and accept... Three thousand years ago, the fall of White Starfall caused a greater impact than today, and the Druids back then weren’t shallow like mages, yet everything ended smoothly, didn’t it?

"Ultimately, for the vast majority who aren’t devout believers, gods are just too remote a concept. When the gods depart... life will go on."