Mysteries: Arcana Wars

Klein came to the square of St. Hillran Church holding a cat.

It has been nearly 1,400 years since Klein last came to Saint Hillran Church. Such a long period of time has caused great changes to this ancient church in the Fifth Age.

In Backlund, which has stood for more than 2,000 years, ancient buildings are not something to be marveled at. But you will definitely not find another ancient building as special as Saint Hillran Church.

On the front facade of the magnificent and exquisite church, two-thirds are simple and solemn stones and carvings, and the remaining one-third is crystal clear grid glass, making the originally heavy church light and ethereal.

Under the huge transparent shell, the huge and sophisticated machinery was working endlessly under the gaze of everyone. Gears kissed gears, springs embraced springs, and the surging pumps cheered enthusiastically upwards.

At the end of the Fifth Epoch, as the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery withdrew from Loen, the Saint Hillran Cathedral was closed for a long time. It was also for this reason that the Saint Hillran Cathedral, lacking maintenance and garrisons, suffered great damage in the "Doomsday Disaster" of the Fifth Epoch.

It was not until the beginning of the Sixth Epoch that the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery was finally able to return to Loen after difficult negotiations, due to the first "Sixth Epoch Technological Explosion" centered on steam technology and the gradual stabilization of the post-apocalyptic social order.

Of course, these are the understandings of the historians in the textbooks.

In the view of these historians, the return of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery has a lot to do with the great scientists Mr. and Mrs. Manstein who believed in the God of Steam and Machinery.

Klein also agreed with this. Now it seems that the Rama steam analyzer created and mass-produced by this Loen scientist couple is undoubtedly a great invention that can promote the progress of human civilization. Based on Klein's current understanding of the extraordinary path, these are very consistent with the temperament of the "generalist" path, or in other words, very consistent with Klein's impression of the Steam Church.

It seems that the Mansteins, who are both believers and promoters of civilization, must be of great value to the Steam Church, so they must overcome all difficulties to get close to the Mansteins, support and participate in their cause.

As for the Loen authorities, the poor city that had just experienced the "Doomsday Disaster" and the social turmoil after the disaster urgently needed some scapegoats to promote social reconstruction and civilization development. They were eager for someone to support the construction with both money and manpower. In addition, considering the unique status of the Manstein couple and the huge believer base of the Steam Church in Loen, the Church of Night and the Church of Storm would reluctantly make concessions and be willing to engage in dialogue and negotiation.

…No matter how you think about it, this must have been an extremely tragic negotiation…

But to be honest, the way the Steam Church tried to rush to the Mansteins seemed a little too skilled...

If he could meet Emperor Roselle now, Klein would definitely ask, "Does the way the Steam Church treats the Mansteins look familiar to you?"

However, in the current situation in Loen, the Church of Night and the Church of Steam are thriving, while the Church of Storm, which was originally stationed in Loen, is in a clear disadvantage.

If the contents of the blasphemous A4 paper provided by Phantom Melissa were correct, then Klein suspected that the God of Steam and Machinery and the Goddess of Night might have already become beings above the Sequence, and the Lord of Storms might have fallen from the throne of the True God, so he was still being restrained in his own territory.

...Old Pigeon, can you please help me? You are seeing your ruthless neighbor rising step by step, but you are still falling?

Complaints aside, Klein knew in his heart that if this conjecture was true, it would be a miracle for the Lord of Storms to have survived the fall from the altar and continue to run the church normally until now.

But what made Klein feel the most was that the Mansteins, who had made such a huge contribution, still ended up going insane and missing despite the care and concern of the Church of Steam. Due to the "Doomsday Disaster" of the Fifth Epoch and the insane state of the couple in the second half of their lives, they could not find an accurate portrait or photo of them. Natural disasters and man-made disasters destroyed most of their information in the turbulent times.

First it was Emperor Roselle, then it was the Mansteins. Shouldn’t you, the Steam Church, reflect on whether there is something wrong with the way you treat time travelers and talented scholars?

How come one by one, two by two, they are all out of control? Why are they all crazy and missing?

What a weird standard...

There are still some differences. People call what was left by Emperor Roselle notes, and what was left by the Mansteins prophecies.

The dazzling giant machine before our eyes is the best evidence of Manstein's prediction.

After the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery took over Saint Hillran Cathedral, they immediately started to repair and optimize the church. Instead of rebuilding the damaged parts, the Steam Church decided to give up repairing the leaks and instead put up steel and glass in the missing parts, completely exposing the levers and gears that the church was proud of inside through this huge gap, making it part of the new facade.

Moreover, the Steam Church also worked hard to optimize the original gear steam clock structure during the renovation process, so that its structure could achieve visual harmony with the ancient exterior wall of the church. And with the three "technological explosions" in the "Bright Moon Age" of the Sixth Epoch, the Steam Church followed the trend of the times and added new technologies to the gear steam clock every fifty years for optimization, so that the characteristics of the times will never stop moving in this set of structures.

As my thoughts were churning, the time came to twelve noon.

The hot steam pushed the heavy pump, the powerful engine pulled the thick lever, the arc flashed, the sparks flew, the colorful indicator lights lit up one by one, and the gears in all directions meshed together.

Finally, turbid white smoke spewed out from the top of the church, and the huge pendulum rang the ancient bell.

The pace of progress of the times is clearly visible here.

Klein once wondered whether the God of Steam and Machinery would keep up with the times and change to a fashionable new name, but this name is still used today.

From the perspective of the Fifth Epoch, the technology of the "Bright Moon Age" is advancing with each passing day; but from the perspective of Klein's Old Era, the technological development of human society is still difficult to advance. Almost four hundred years after the information revolution, steam is still one of the important working media in energy technology.

Based on Klein's current level of Sixth Age knowledge, humans do not seem to have developed other energy conversion and utilization methods that can completely replace "boiling water", but people have improved the efficiency of "boiling water" to a level that Klein cannot understand.

In Loen, those advanced energy units that completely eliminated water vapor and were beyond the knowledge level of Klein's old days were only used in technologically advanced and rapidly developing metropolises.

Is this the essence of human civilization, which is to boil water?

I didn't expect that the current Steam Church has also learned this kind of argument. It's really rare.

The last bell rang in the clouds, and the crowd in the square began to move again. Klein, holding the cat, walked towards the gate of St. Hillran's Church with the tourists.

In the divination before leaving, the pendulum told Klein that the troubles involved in [Heart of Rupert] might be dangerous. Therefore, Klein was going to take the new secret doll with him, but was stopped by Leonard, saying that the Steam Church was in a stage of mental allergy recently, and they had a way to find your secret doll as soon as you entered the door.

Finally, after much discussion, Klein picked up a secret cat puppet that had been there to make up the numbers for the past few days, and at the same time controlled a few stray cat puppets to wander around the church.

I finally got a new secret doll, but I can't use it...

Even though it doesn't have any extraordinary characteristics, it's still a decent big secret doll after all...

As he got closer to the church, Klein noticed many small cameras hanging high and low on the outer wall of St. Hillran's Church. Not only that, just now in the square, Klein also found cameras under many street lights. Now, there were several cameras at the entrance of the church, turning around and aiming at Klein as he walked in.

No, although you steam believers think that the monitor is the eye of God, this is too much...

Just like a flock of sparrows watching the fun in the church...

As soon as Klein crossed the threshold, a cold temperature gun was pressed against his forehead.

"36.5 degrees Celsius, normal body temperature."

The man holding the thermometer gun looked very talkative. He was wearing a simple and dignified robe with an emblem of the god of steam and machinery embroidered on it. He should be the priest here.

"Come here, sir, please look at me... OK, steam is on top, you look very healthy, you can go in after passing the security gate in front... Wait a moment, please show me your citizen identification card."

"Ding, the entry is successful."

"Uh... sir, I want to ask, do you need to undergo a health screening before entering St. Hillran's Church now..."

Klein felt somewhat confused by this familiar yet unfamiliar operation.

The pastor pushed his glasses and spoke calmly.

"Sir, you see, the Harvest Church in our area has suffered such a great blow, and the normal operation of the Earth Church Hospital inside must have been greatly affected. So if the believers in our area get sick, it will be very troublesome to see a doctor. If you get any disease because of coming to our church, everyone's life will be affected, and we will feel very guilty..."

...Okay, Master, stop chanting, stop chanting...

Your reason is really far-fetched...

Klein finished registering and was about to enter when he was stopped by the pastor who was taking his temperature again.

"Sir, please wait a moment, and your cat."

"...You guys don't even let the cat go?"

"Sir, what you said is true. The God of Steam and Machinery will bless every devout believer, and of course he will also hope that their cats are safe and healthy. Praise steam..."

The nagging priest slowly adjusted the temperature gun to cat mode and placed it against the cat's head with a slow but unyielding movement.

"14.8 degrees Celsius, hypothermia."

The two fell silent.

The eyes of all the church members at the gate immediately focused on Klein.