Myth: The Spiritual Dominator

"What did you say? Cassim also received the oracle?"

Inside the palace, the red and white crown on the head of Pharaoh, who had just expelled Moses, swayed slightly.

Unlike before in front of Moses, his voice now was cold and icy.

In Hermeneu's world, the Egyptians have always been divided into Upper and Lower Egypt, just as many countries in later generations were divided into east and west, north and south.

In older times, the red crown was often worn by the kings of Lower Egypt, while the white crown belonged to the rulers of Upper Egypt.

But since Upper and Lower Egypt were unified under the will of God, the Egyptian pharaohs of the dynastic era began to wear this unique red and white crown. In front of this symbol of God-given authority, the guards could not help but swallow their saliva secretly.

"Yes, Your Majesty, this is what the urgent message from the Holy City says. God has given us an oracle, and everyone who is still in Heliopolis has witnessed the miracle of the radiance of the Great Sun... So the High Priest sent a message, hoping that you can go to the Holy City to meet him."

"..."

There seemed to be a silence in front of him, but the guard did not dare to look up.

Although most people of this era knew almost nothing about politics, it did not mean that he did not realize that the Pharaoh did not seem very happy at the moment.

But why is this happening? The gods have given us an oracle, so this should be a good thing... The guard didn't quite understand, but as a loyal guard of the Pharaoh, he still waited for the monarch's orders.

"Another oracle..."

Just as one was sent away, another one came, and this one is very likely to be true.

With a calm expression, Ramses II did not seem to have any further reaction to this, but he was weighing it over and over again in his heart.

At this point in time, and with this strange astronomical phenomenon...it's best if it has nothing to do with him.

"Did Cassim say anything else, such as the contents of the oracle?"

Ramses continued to ask without haste.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"The oracle has commanded that those who shed sinful blood are the minions of the evil gods and the disasters that come from chaos. Therefore, the Supreme God Ra ordered the gods to send down natural disasters to destroy these filth and admonish the mortals who have not destroyed them so far."

The guard actually intended to respond respectfully, but Pharaoh's attitude made him a little nervous, so he forgot about it.

"The high priest conveyed the will of God Ra and hoped that Your Majesty would execute the order as soon as possible... and go to Heliopolis to explain to God Ra for his dereliction of duty in the temple."

"……dereliction of duty?"

Although he felt relieved, Ramses' tone was very calm.

The slight uneasiness in his heart dissipated. Although God did not give him direct instructions as Pharaoh as usual, he soon found an explanation for it.

Maybe it was because he had not done well enough in the past few years, and those Hebrews were outside the city. Perhaps this was the reason why God Ra was unwilling to come here.

After all, evil god... he rarely heard such a name.

"Later, at this point, I will pray to God in my palace. As the pharaoh closest to God on earth, my prayers can be heard by God anywhere. As for the holy city... when God Ra descends to the world again, I will go there to meet Him."

Ramses said calmly, walking past the guards.

He would not go to the holy city to pray. That would be no different than admitting that the Pharaoh was not as connected to God as the high priest.

He didn't know whether the old guy, who was as old as him, made this suggestion unintentionally or did it intentionally, but he would not give the other party this opportunity.

As long as the contents of the oracle are completed, given the character of the Egyptian gods, they probably won't care about such a small matter.

"These old guys came quite quickly, much more diligently than before. I'm afraid they were all frightened by the celestial phenomena."

Walking outside the palace, dry and withered air whistled in the sky, and the moisture continued to disappear. There was no doubt that this was the power of Shu, one of the nine pillars of gods.

Ramses II had met this god more than once, and this messenger of Ra admired him very much, so the Pharaoh could roughly guess what effect the natural disasters caused by the other party would have.

Since the target is not me, everything will be easy.

Not far away, the ministers who had been summoned earlier were getting off the carriages and approaching the palace. They were here to report to him about the recent movements of the Hebrews, but compared to the speed in the past, today they were surprisingly fast.

"Guards, tell them not to come over."

Pharaoh waved his hand gently and ordered calmly: "Tell them that the high priest's prayer to God was answered. God was angry because of these sinful people, so God Ra ordered the gods to bring down natural disasters."

"However, Shu's power is so strong that he will certainly punish these sinners, but it will also affect the people of Egypt... Of course, as Pharaoh, I will definitely solve these problems that are beyond the ability of the high priest."

"Order the people of Memphis to go to the Nile to get water. The power of Shu will dry up the wells, but the Nile is the only mother river in Upper and Lower Egypt that will not dry up. As for the Hebrews who were punished by God... let them continue to work, but also send them water to show our mercy."

"But remember, you only need to give one third."

As a monarch praised by later generations, Ramses II was indeed much stronger than his descendants who had no other virtues except "hardness" according to the records in some later scriptures.

In almost an instant, he thought of how to use this divine punishment to successfully deal with those criminals without causing too much loss.

Although Egypt did not have a systematic military book, Ramses II still knew what "the army that is in misery will win" and "surround the enemy on three sides and leave one behind" meant based on his life experience.

When attacking the enemy, you cannot force them into a corner, otherwise the dying counterattack will cause them great trauma, and it is possible for them to find a way out in desperation. Only by giving them a glimmer of hope, then provoking internal relations, and finally using the handle of the knife can the problem be solved without bloodshed.

Sending out a large army to surround and kill them directly would be the most foolish thing to do. Not only would it cause huge losses, but it would also be easy for them to be discovered and flee into the wilderness. Hundreds of thousands of people were not so easy to besiege, not to mention the leader who could cast witchcraft, but now it was different.

The merciful Pharaoh did not forget to bring relief to these sinners during the natural disasters, and he provided "enough" resources. As for why there was only one-third... who knows, maybe it was taken away by your Hebrew leaders themselves, such as the one we just met, Moses.

Anyway, this has nothing to do with Pharaoh. You have to choose whether to face the swords of the army with your life, or to snatch the resources that sustain your life from your own people. I think most of the sinners will definitely make the right choice.

······

Pharaoh's order was smoothly conveyed, and the brief chaos in Memphis was easily contained under the natural disaster.

Egypt today has abundant grain reserves. Although the water level of the Nile has dropped, this mother river that runs through the world has not dried up.

So when Pharaoh came forward to appease the people and his ministers mobilized people to transport water, the riot was quickly quelled.

The disasters brought to the human world by Shu's divine power were terrible, but after all, he was shaking the world in a macro way far away from the human world. Although this kind of simple natural disaster was effective, it was far from destroying a dynasty in an instant.

However, the fact that the Egyptians were fine did not mean that the Hebrews outside the city were fine.

Moses had fled from the city and told Aaron to gather his people. He told them that Pharaoh had rejected his request and would probably resort to violence against them.

As a result, instead of using force, heavier labor and natural disasters came one after another.

As a result, resentment arose among the people, some of which was directed at Pharaoh, but more of it was directed at Moses.

As slaves before, most of them had been forced to get used to this kind of life. If someone could help them out of this predicament at this time, they would naturally be grateful.

But if those who come not only fail to provide immediate relief, but instead make their suffering worse, then most people would probably prefer to blame the good people who didn't do enough rather than the cruel perpetrators.

This resentment grew in the days that followed, as wells dried up one after another, and panic began to spread among the Hebrews.

At this time, Pharaoh unexpectedly extended a helping hand to them, but the people who had just breathed a sigh of relief soon discovered that they still did not have enough water.

Gradually, doubts began to spread among the people... One day, standing on a hillside outside the city, Moses looked at the Nile River in the distance and sighed in his heart.

"Aaron, what was the result of the negotiation?"

Without looking back, Moses knew who was coming behind him, and the only response he got was another sigh.

"The guards rejected my request. They believed that allowing the Hebrews to fetch water from the Nile River would not only be a blasphemy to the Egyptian gods, but would also delay the construction schedule and make it more likely that someone would take the opportunity to escape. They claimed that they had already delivered enough resources for us to survive."

"I tried to tell them it was not enough. I tried to explain to the public, but you have to understand that most people only see buckets of water being hauled into the camp, thousands of them, and their math skills can't tell whether this seemingly large number is enough for hundreds of thousands of people."

"...I understand, Aaron. It's not their fault. Even for me, it's impossible to calculate how many resources hundreds of thousands of people will need by myself."

With a heavy face, Moses was actually most worried about something else: "There is still a lot of water stored before, but Aaron, I heard that some people have recently made some bad remarks against the Lord."

"……Yes."

Aaron nodded and confirmed what Moses said.

"This is what needs to be stopped, Aaron, this is a disaster!"

Turning around, Moses looked his brother in the eye: "The revelation God gave me tells me that if the Hebrews want to escape eternal slavery, they must first endure suffering. Pious believers may also die, and the impious -"

"I know, Moses, but you have been here for too short a time. Neither God nor you have established enough prestige. There are even many people who think... that they were living better before you and your faith came."

"..."

Speechless for a moment, Moses knew that he could actually explain a lot.

For example, as a slave, how can you ignore your slave status just because your master throws you a bone? For example, the current suffering is only temporary, as long as devout believers unite together, they will surely be liberated in the future. For example, how can faith in God be measured by short-term benefits... But Moses said nothing in the end.

Because he knew that some words were meaningful to those who had learned knowledge and seen the world, but they were meaningless to the vast majority of ordinary people.

It is better to give them a mouthful of food and a bowl of water than to tell them these things.

"…So, Almighty God, this is not their intentional blasphemy. This is just ignorance and the inherent evil of human nature. They need to be taught to break away from their wildness and listen to God's teachings to be good. Only in this way can they wash away the sins brought about by ignorance. But I don't have that much time…"

“…So this is the future that God has seen. He doesn’t necessarily want us to suffer in order to be liberated. He just sees through the years and knows that everything will eventually end like this.”

Taking out the staff given by God, Moses felt the power within it.

Although it has become much stronger, it is still far from enough to give birth to a truly powerful being.

He could not use it to call down rain or to draw the Nile's tributaries. He could strike the stones and cause the water to rise from the ground, but at the moment the staff was not powerful enough to produce enough water for hundreds of thousands of people.

At this moment, Moses seemed to understand God's profound meaning again.

The power of the staff increases with suffering, and similarly, those who are not pious or have weak minds will die in suffering.

God gave Himself great power and did not restrict Him from using it, but in the end, He could only use it to save the most devout of His subjects.

"Let's think of a solution," he said. "We will find a solution. At least, we won't let so many people die at the beginning."

"I try my best."

Shaking his head slightly, Aaron didn't know what else the two of them could do.

The dry wind blew in the sky, and yellow sand began to rise in the distance. If this continued, I am afraid that one-third of the most fertile land on both sides of the Nile River would turn into loess.

In this situation, what can we do...

"Hmm? Mercer, what's going on?"

With a sound of surprise, Aaron suddenly pointed to a small tree not far away.

With the rampant natural disasters these days, the vegetation has long since turned yellow and lost its leaves, but for some reason, there is only one green tree there.

They had clearly never seen it when they climbed up the hill before - and there was a figure under the tree.

A figure so beautiful that it seems not to be from this human world.

"Hey, it looks like you finally noticed me?"

"Then come over. Under... well, under the inspiration of the Lord, I will guide you through this natural disaster."

As if sensing the gaze from afar, a smile appeared on the girl's face.

She spoke softly and extended an invitation to Moses and the other man.

She said that she was inspired, and it was not false. Because just a few days ago, when she saw with her own eyes the nine pillars rising in the sky and the huge chessboard covering the world, she was indeed "inspired".

As for the specific process... as a former god, she felt a gaze from outside the sky and the world, falling on the human world.