The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

All Tuesday, Siles had been trying to keep himself focused.

Focus on teaching in class, and focus on other business in spare time, such as writing novels, conceiving papers, organizing materials, and so on.He fills himself with all kinds of things.

However, there was always such an inadvertent moment that his thoughts deviated, and then he thought of the dream from last night.

The sea, the fog, the isolated island.Huge dolls and the dark night sky.

His feet tread the rotting, rust-red soil.In the dream, he completely forgot his identity and name. He walked slowly and silently on the isolated island, round after round, and gradually approached the center of the isolated island.

There is nothing on the isolated island, only the faint mist lingers all the time, and the red mud under the feet is a little wet and soft enough to sink the soles of the feet slightly.

He was walking on the island like a ghost.Occasionally, when he turned around to a suitable position, he could see a huge doll standing on the sea.Silk threads are wrapped around the doll's body.

There will be a flash of shock and awe in his heart.Such a puppet is like a unique mighty force in the world.But he didn't feel fear at any moment because of this person.

It was like a little girl.He inadvertently had such an idea.A lifelike girl with delicate features, but still young and immature.A beautiful little girl.

He was inexplicably happy because of such thoughts, as if in this lonely scene, he was not alone, but had a quiet traveling companion, who was also here, watching him silently.

He was still tirelessly advancing round and round the island.

His footsteps seemed to follow a mysterious path, slowly inward, but always along a rounded, smooth path, only slightly inward at a time.

...When he was one step away from the center of the isolated island, Sirius suddenly woke up.

He felt a little terrified, as if there was some terrible secret hidden in the center of the isolated island, so he was so frightened that he withdrew from the dream in an instant.

But this time, Siles didn't enter that... half-mad-not-mad state because of his dream.In other words, if the Old God contamination that Carroll was talking about was really what he experienced the morning before, then he wasn't contaminated this time.

He still clearly remembered the scene in the dream, what he saw and felt, his emotions and mental activities, but he also clearly knew that it was a dream, a dream derived from the history of the old gods.

... He had obviously gotten rid of the pollution of the old gods the morning before, and that was confirmed by the dice.Why is he having this dream again now?And continue from the previous day's breakpoint?

Siles was extremely troubled.He thought it was over, but it didn't look like it was.

But... From another perspective, he didn't feel the pollution of the old gods this time.

That is to say, Siles came to a conclusion with difficulty, except for the nightmare itself, this incident will not cause him any harm, if this state continues.

Siles, however, did not dare to gamble.

He originally wanted to go directly to the Church of the Past after class, but after hesitating, he decided to talk to Grenfell about this matter on the second day - on this matter, he trusted Teacher Glenn even more.

On Tuesday night, Siles stayed up all night.

He actually had an idea: if he took the potion before going to sleep, would this dream still appear?Will there be any changes?

When the first day's sunlight shone on the windowpane, Sirius suddenly woke up from his daze.He couldn't help but yawned, and then went to take a shower to wake himself up.

He took the potion and performed the ritual of [Silent Heart], feeling his mental state - literally - improved.The exhaustion of the night made him a little uncomfortable, but with the blessing of the power of the revelator, he felt much better.

He knew the new ritual would be learned in the afternoon's introductory class.In order not to reveal the result of having obtained the potion, he chose a six-hour ceremony, which ended just before two o'clock in the afternoon.

He took what he needed, went to the cafeteria for a meal, and then hurried to the Historical Society.He opened the door and walked into room 177 at eight o'clock in the morning.

Grenfell was already there, and greeted Sirius lazily, "Good morning... oh, Sirius, you don't look well."

"Good morning." Siles' voice was slightly hoarse, and he answered Grenfell's words in a low voice, "Indeed."

Grenfell sat up straight, and looked at Sirius with a bit of trouble: "Siles, I want to say... You showed me that manuscript when you came here last time, what happened to you this time? "

Siles took a deep breath. He took out the Leon manuscript from his bag, turned to the page he had read before, and handed it to Grenfell. He said, "Don't be careful. Look, teacher."

Grenfell glanced roughly, and then fell silent for a moment.Finally, he said incredulously: "Where did you get such a thing?"

Siles watched Grenfell close the manuscript and put it on the table.He replied: "At a fair in the Old Town. I thought it was just a normal... painter's manuscript."

Grenfell shook his head, and looked at his students with a bit of joking: "Come on, tell me, Sirius, what do you think?"

Siles explained from the beginning: "Do you know about Brewer?"

"That classmate of yours?" Grenfell said, "It's a big deal, and I've heard some news."

Siles said: "We all believe that he died because of some records in the family archives. It is a rumor about believers meeting the gods. There is also a picture next to it. The gods in the painting are drawn as high in the sky. chaotic lines.

"There seems to be something hidden in the dark clouds. These are Brewer's words."

Grenfell propped his chin, pondering, looking deeply at Sirius.

Siles continued: "Some time ago, I often saw a young painter near Atherton Square. He was standing on the edge of the square, and he painted on the paper a scene like dark clouds pressing down on the city. Similarly, the dark clouds There seems to be something hidden in it."

"So you became interested in the field of painting?"

Siles nodded and shook his head: "Actually, I just happened to come across this manuscript when I was shopping at a trade fair. You know, I'm a scholar."

"Yes, unrestrained curiosity." Grenfell laughed, and slightly teased Sirius, "Then, have you read this manuscript?"

Siles nodded, and said, "I had the same dream."

Grenfell suddenly suppressed those slight smiles, and looked at Sirius.

"Don't worry, I'm free of that weird old god taint," said Siles.

"get rid of?"

"I learned from Carol the manifestation of the contamination of the old gods. A kind of waking madness." Siles said, "I had this dream for the first time on Sunday night, and when I woke up on Monday, I clearly felt that there seemed to be something wrong with me, but I didn't think it was a problem.

"Afterwards, I got rid of this strange influence. The pollution of the old gods seemed to have imposed something on my brain that didn't quite fit with my original philosophy. Realizing this, I managed to get rid of that influence. "

Speaking of this, Siles stopped, because Grenfell's expression was very unpredictable.He paused, then asked, "What?"

"Siles, you are not the first person to get rid of the pollution of the old gods, but your way of getting rid of it is too easy." Grenfell said, "Everyone can know that it is not their own idea and idea, but……

"They said it was like a part of their own thoughts. How to cut it out, how to distinguish it, how to discard it?"

Siles was slightly taken aback.He wanted to say, since he knew it was something that did not belong to him, couldn't he just discard it logically?

But in the next second, he suddenly realized that he was able to do it because he was not an aborigine in this world.He has concepts from another world as his background.

To give an intuitive example, if everyone's soul has a color, and the color of the soul in this world is blue, the color of the pollution of the old gods is also blue; blue is mixed with blue, then of course this effect is very difficult remove.

Siles comes from another world, and his soul may be red, yellow, or blue anyway; then, when the blue old god pollution affects his reason, he can certainly realize it in an instant, that is Another color, that is something that does not belong to him.

From a certain point of view, Siles is very resistant to the pollution of the old gods.This can also be seen from his will attribute of 92.

Grenfell observed Siles' expression, and continued: "You may think that getting rid of the pollution of the old gods is 'natural' and 'easy', but for many people, they live in this shadow all day long. Down.

"Siles, I hope you can think about how you got rid of this pollution. Perhaps this can be the gospel of every revelator."

Siles whispered, "I will."

Grenfell waved his hand and said, "Okay, what's next? If you've successfully got rid of the old god's pollution, then there's no need to tell me about it, right?"

Siles said, "Because, sir, I'm still having that dream."

Grenfell narrowed his eyes, and he said, "As it is, or...?"

"That dream has changed." Siles said, "I dreamed that I stepped on the island and was slowly approaching the center of the island. When I was about to approach, I woke up with a start. After that, I didn't dare to continue sleep."

"You haven't slept all night."

Siles shook his head, and said, "No. I used the [quiet heart] ritual."

Grenfell said: "That's a little strange. Are you sure you are not affected by the old god's pollution?"

Siles was very sure when he asked him this question, but now he hesitated.

Grenfell shook his head: "Yes, you are just getting started, so you may not be able to perceive your own state well." He opened the drawer, rummaged through something, and explained, "The Historical Society has a special tool for detecting old Rituals of god pollution levels.

"However, this kind of ritual is not very commonly used. After all, the revelators will be more or less polluted by the old gods, which is inevitable. Usually, they will only be tested during routine tests.

"The principle is similar to the ritual fit scale you got before. It is estimated that only Antinam knows which period of past history the ritual corresponds to."

As he said, he took out a cuboid stone similar to a paperweight from the drawer, put it in front of Sirius, and asked him: "The name of the ceremony is [Shadow of the Old God]. Touch it with your hands."

"Okay," said Siles, placing his right hand on the stone.

However, the stone did not respond.

Grenfell gave him a strange look and asked, "Are you really in the ceremony time?"

Siles nodded.

Grenfell asked Siles to take his hand away, and put his hand on it himself. Afterwards, a slight blue light trembled on the stone, covering about one-tenth of the stone.

Grenfell said, "This is the slightest pollution, and I'm not immune." He glanced at Sirius, which meant, what's the matter with you?

Siles was speechless for a moment.

From his point of view, the blue light on his body flowed out from his fingers, and circled around the stone, but there was no response; while the blue light on Grenfell's body also flowed out, but suddenly The child lights up the stones.

Yes, in his eyes, it wasn't the stone that glowed blue, but one-tenth of the entire stone turned into a blue crystal, which was very conspicuous.

Siles said in a low voice, "I don't know too well."

Grenfell shook his head, probably not expecting Sirius to answer this question clearly.

Siles actually has some concepts in mind, based on what Carroll told him before, the sayings and concepts of spirituality and will corresponding to Thaddeus's cloak and crown.But he couldn't put those thoughts in order.

Grenfell said: "Generally, we think that only people who have not been exposed to the old gods will show signs of zero contamination in this ritual. But you have obviously been exposed. Weird."

Siles asked, "So, pollution can also be mitigated?"

"Of course you can." Grenfell said, "If you use the ritual of [Silent Heart] for a long time, and then measure the pollution level of the old gods, you will find that your pollution level has become lighter."

Siles was silent for a moment, and then said, "Fight fire with fire?"

Using the power of the gods against the power of the gods, so...does it really make sense?

His words drew Grenfell's eyes.Grenfell said: "It's not easy to have this...according to what you said, the opportunity to fight fire with fire. Do you really think we have a choice?"

Siles shook his head finally.

"That's right." Grenfell said, "What we can do is to preserve our sanity as much as possible while pursuing power, and don't become..."

He stopped here, and then said: "Forget it, this matter is not suitable for you now."

Siles looked at him troubled.

"Back to the topic." Grenfell said nonchalantly, "Since your old god pollution is 0, then I have two guesses about the phenomenon that you are still having that dream."

Siles stared at Grenfell, realizing that Grenfell really just skipped the question, so he could only withdraw his thoughts and listen carefully.

Grenfell said: "First, you are scaring yourself. To put it simply, that dream left a psychological shadow on you, so even if you have got rid of the pollution of the old gods, you still can't help being in the dream. Recreate that scene."

Siles was slightly taken aback, he really didn't expect Grenfell to start from this angle.However, from the perspective of earth psychology, Siles actually felt that Grenfell's words were quite reasonable.

Grenfell pointed to the stone and said, "The facts are proof."

Sirius nodded thoughtfully.

"The second guess is much more complicated. I still hope that you have this dream based on the first reason..." Grenfell muttered in a low voice, "First of all, who is this old god? , you should have your own guess, right?"

Siles said: "I guess, the god of stars and light, Luthmi."

"Hmm... Interesting," Grenfell said. "Why?"

Siles was silent for a moment, and then said simply: "Three places—the painting by the painter in Atherton Square, the description in the Brewer family archives, and the saying of the rotten star in Leon's dream—all remind me Here comes Ruthmi."

"You look at these three things together." Grenfell nodded, "It does make sense. However, you forgot one thing."

Siles was startled and listened attentively: "What?"

Grenfell said, "Dream."

Siles said hesitantly, "You mean...Akamala?"

The god of dreams and illusions, beautiful rainbow bubbles, Akamala.

This is a god who...was very active.Siles once saw a not-so-authoritative statistical report, saying that at least half of the time, humans in the Imperial Age would see beautiful rainbow bubbles in their dreams when they were dreaming.

That is exactly the incarnation and appearance of Akamala.

Akamala is rumored to be a god who hates all evil.He will let the good people have happy dreams in the dream world, and He will let the evil people have terrible nightmares in the dream world.

This kind of behavior has given Akamala's image a good reputation among non-believers.

But in the Era of Silence, Akamala went crazy once—would the gods also go crazy?However, I am afraid that only madness can describe Akamala's actions.

Three days before his fall, he caused the entire human race in Fisher's world to have nightmares for three nights.Even a newborn baby will wake up crying in the morning.

That probably happened in the middle and late period of Silence.

In historical records, the nightmare of all mankind this time is understatedly summarized as "the nightmare of the world".As for the specific content of the nightmare, we can only find some sporadic words in some unofficial and private historical materials.

In short, Akamala is a god with mixed reputation in modern history.

However, his followers seemed very... strange.A harmless and hilarious oddity.

It is said that his believers once established a small country during the Imperial Age, and the sole purpose of this country was to study how to make people sleep well, sleep anytime, anywhere, and sleep longer.

So the kingdom was clearly, in a short time, destroyed.

But this fashion is widespread among the followers of Akamala.Every follower of Akamala is a "sleepy slacker," as people describe it.

They expect to be bestowed with wonderful dreams by the gods they believe in in their dreams.

Also because of such unambitious pursuit, Akamala's followers gradually disappeared over a long period of time.

Siles only thought of Akamala after Grenfell's reminder—to be precise, he realized that no matter what the picture in the dream meant, it would be very useful for such a picture to spread through the dream. Possibly related to Akamala.

No wonder, he thought, the dice suggested that this old god's contamination was harmless.

Grenfell saw that Siles thought of Akamala, and said: "In the concept of the revelator, the pollution left by Akamala, or should I say, the power, is very...active. People often At some point, through dreaming, I can get in touch with his power."

"Active?" Grenfell's words made Siles think of something.

Grenfell expanded on the topic a little bit, saying: "You know about inactivation. You should also know that the process of inactivation is actually a time shift of human activity."

Siles nodded slowly.At this moment, he suddenly thought, does the "activity" here refer to the human spirit or will?

Grenfell continued: "I don't know if you have thought about it, that is, does the concept of the fall of the gods mean that the gods are really dead? Just like the death of human beings?"

Siles frowned.He felt that Grenfell was implying something.

Just the day before yesterday, he heard Carol say something about Thaddeus.After the death of human beings, the spirituality dissipates, and the fragile will cannot continue to drive the heavy body.This is what he paraphrased.

And the gods—do they also have bodies, spirits, and wills?

Wait, it's the same three...

Godhead, god position, god name?

Siles shook violently in his heart.He realized that he seemed to have stumbled upon some important knowledge, but those concepts were too weak and vulnerable to form a complete set of ideas.

He breathed a sigh of relief, wrote down the matter first, and then turned to think about Grenfell's words.

If the fall of the gods is not the same as the death of humans... then, what remains of the gods in this world?Unlike human beings, the three things disappear completely, and even the body will eventually rot?

...spirituality.active.Siles came to this conclusion almost intuitively.

Mental inactivation refers to the process by which human beings lose their spirituality.Spirituality is lost, but it does not dissipate completely like death; therefore, the symptoms of spiritual inactivation are like walking dead, muddled.

This is the process of human death—spiritual dissipation, will collapse, and body decay; and the fall of gods...

Siles wrestled with these concepts.

He had once heard Carroll say that out-of-control timelines would have a sense of activity.And the out-of-control time track is "the legacy of the gods" in the mouths of the followers of the old gods, so...

Grenfell said: "God...power. Let me describe it like this first, maybe not very precise and rigorous. The power of God, even after the fall of God, still retains a certain sense of activity."

Siles stared at him blankly, then said, "This means..."

"No, no, of course the gods have all fallen, and they no longer exist. It's just that their power is too...powerful, as if the power itself has acquired some kind of life activity." Glenn Phil said, "It was an existence beyond our imagination."

Siles nodded, and remained silent for a moment, temporarily hiding all the derivations in his mind, leaving only Grenfell's seemingly "reasonable" statement—the gods are so powerful and unreasonable, The same is true of their strength.

Therefore, even after the gods fall, their power still exists in this world.

This kind of idealistic statement, even if you don't go to the bottom line, Sirius can accept it.After all, the existence of gods is already incredible.

In the end, Siles just said, "So you mean, I accidentally ran into Akamala with living powers?"

"Attraction, to be precise." Grenfell said, "The essence of power is pure, and so is the power of the gods. So you will not be polluted by the old gods, and you will not feel that you have been 'changed'."

"It sounds weird," Siles said.

"That's true," Grenfell said.

They couldn't help being silent for a while.

"Is this a good thing or a bad thing?" Siles asked, "Why do I think your attitude is a little... happy to see it happen?"

Grenfell nodded, then shook his head again: "I don't want you to have a preconceived understanding, or to have any thoughts. In short, if such a dream dissipates in a short period of time, then you don't have to worry about it.

"If such a dream lasts for a long time, then I think you can try to explore such a dream. Rather, it is...the relic of a god. You can try to master this power...the power of a god.

"Maybe, you can become a god in the end."

Siles opened his mouth, and said with some surprise, "How...is there such a thing?"

Grenfell shrugged: "To be honest, it's also the first time I've seen it. I've never heard of anyone who has directly encountered the pure power of a god, rather than being polluted by its will... so to speak.

"Fortunately, you came to find me. If you go to the Church of the Past, they probably will lock you up for research."

Siles looked at Grenfell.

"...Okay, just kidding." Grenfell said bitterly, "You are so old-fashioned. In short - don't tell the third person about this. Contact the Old God when the pollution of the Old God is 0 It’s an incredible power.”

Siles guessed in his mind, to what extent is this incident related to his identity as the Keeper of Secrets?

Grenfell said: "Keep this a secret, Sirius. Even if there is any progress in the exploration of dreams in the future, don't tell me. Well... partly because, maybe I will also be jealous of your luck .”

He made a joke, but then said seriously: "The main reason is that although I am your teacher, you should walk on your own path and path of strength. Don't be interfered by my thoughts."

At this moment, Grenfell's gaze was extraordinarily deep, and his tone seemed to indicate something.

"Thank you, Glenn," Sirius said lowly.

In this regard, Siles has never met a more careful and thoughtful teacher than Grenfell.Grenfell never dictated Sires' choices and ideas just because he stepped on the path of the Revelator earlier than Sirius and learned more about the Revelator.

He cultivated Siles, answered Sires' questions, but avoided talking about many conceptual things, or just explained the status quo.He wasn't—he wasn't "making" Siles, in terms of character and outlook.

It can also be seen from the introductory course of the Revelator of the Historical Society written by Grenfell that Carroll is always explaining knowledge rather than instilling ideas.He told them what was going on, gave a sound suggestion, but left all the choices to these revelators.

...er, maybe except for Angela Clayton's choice?

But Carol can't do anything about it.

In short, from Grenfell's point of view, the Revelator is indeed a road and a way in their lives, but that's all.That's not all of their life.

When he recommended Ms. Cumming's novel to Siles, it was much more pleasant and pure than when he explained to Siles the knowledge of the Revelator and the divisions within the Historical Society.

Therefore, Siles always felt that even if he called Grenfell a teacher, he still considered their relationship as a teacher and a friend.

After talking about the dream, their atmosphere relaxed a lot.

Grenfell stretched his waist, and then said: "Okay, Sirius, let's get to the point. It seems that you are already proficient in using the [quiet heart] ritual?"

"I think so." Siles thought for a while, "You said in your notes that this ritual cannot be used continuously, but if you use this ritual in the morning, it will only last for ten hours. What should you do at night?"

"It's a bit cumbersome, but it is indeed a question that novices will ask." Grenfell commented, "I guess you are using a potion with a purity of 5%?"

"Yes."

Grenfell nodded: "This ceremony is actually divided into two parts, the first is wearing, and the second is praying. We generally recommend that you only use it once a day, whether it is wearing or praying.

"You may think, what should I do if I don't have enough time? Then, at night, wear and use a higher purity potion, wouldn't it be good?

"The higher purity of the potion can make up for the lack of the second part, which affects the effect of the ritual."

Siles suddenly realized, and said sincerely: "I understand."

如果说5%纯净度的魔药，只能带来佩戴【意志+1】和祷告【意志+1】这样各自提升一点的效果，那么10%纯净度的魔药，可能就可以带来佩戴【意志+2】和祷告【意志+2】了。

In this case, 10% plus the effect of wearing is enough to be equivalent to 5% plus the effect of wearing plus prayer.

After all, it is indeed a shortcoming of the ritual that prayers can only be said in the morning.But they can use other methods to solve this problem, at least to make up for the loss.

Grenfell asked, "So, any other questions?"

Siles thought for a while, and then asked: "Is the higher purity potion just for use at this time?"

"No, don't put the cart before the horse." Grenfell shook his head, "The higher purity of potions is essentially a pursuit of greater power, not to make up for the lack of power.

"Of course, the latter can also play a role in some occasions, such as the [Silent Heart] ceremony. Using higher purity potions can make up for the lack of prayers that can only be performed in the early morning."

Siles nodded clearly: "So, everything depends on the timing, ceremony and the occasion where it is used."

"Yes." Grenfell nodded, "In the future, you may be involved in some matters related to combat. The battle of the Revelator... is basically to see who has more rich, powerful, and more compatible rituals. High, and whose potion is more pure.

"There are exceptions, but not many."

"I see." Siles said, he hesitated for a moment, and finally said, "You write in your notebook, [Silent Heart]'s time track comes from a biological photo... What is this?"

Grenfell glanced at Siles with a smile, and said, "I knew you would be curious about this question."

Siles smiled a little too.He didn't hide his curiosity.

Grenfell said, "It starts with the definition of a timeline. What did Carroll tell you?"

"The time track is the track of time, and it is the locator that leverages the power of time." Siles repeated Carol's words in the first class.

"That's right, the locator." Grenfell said, "That's the point. Take the [Silent Heart] brooch as an example, the locator in the strict sense must be something on the believer's body: clothes , maps, and more.

"But in the actual practice process, is it really possible for us to find these things? Impossible. [The invisible shield] can help the knights of the church, but how can we ask a dead person for help?

"So, we have to rely on other methods to construct this time track. What do you think the meaning of positioning is?"

Grenfell turned to ask Siles a question.

Siles was silent for a moment, and finally said: "The exact direction?"

"That's right!" Grenfell snapped his fingers, "Directivity. For example, you, how can I locate you in the long river of time?"

"Professor of Literary History at Ramifa University, and, the Revelator of the Historical Society?"

"No no no, this is identity. We need a precise, practical sense of directionality. I already know you at this moment, in room 177 of the Historical Society." Grenfell said, "Rethink think."

Siles looked at himself, then at Grenfell: "At this moment... this table and this chair? I'm sitting here."

Grenfell said: "Almost. To some extent, it is like the activity of your soul, which left traces and shadows on this table and this chair. Therefore, this way of constructing time tracks is called Biophotographs."

Siles is still a little troubled: "But in the actual operation process, it is impossible for us to reproduce this table and this chair."

As he once said to his two apprentices, they described the pencil through words, but the pencil in the text space and "that" pencil in the real space are not equivalent in the actual sense.

The way of constructing the time track of biophotographing brought similar confusion to Cilles.

For example, in the [Silent Heart] ceremony, the Ou Baizhi and the route map on the brooch cannot really be the ones that the believer held back then, and even the form is completely different.

Although Grenfell was talking about "positioning", Siles still couldn't understand, how to "position"?

Grenfell said: "Take an example that you can understand. Imagine that you are in a huge library with an almost infinite collection of books, and you are looking for a specific book. Now, the librarian is standing In front of you. Are you going to tell him...?"

"...the name of that book."

"That's right!" Grenfell snapped his fingers, "You don't really want to show that book to the administrator, what you need is to provide titles, keywords, and search information. A 'concept' ’. That’s what positioning needs to do.”

Siles suddenly realized.

It's like searching for a specific web page in the vast expanse of the Internet.He already has a search engine - thanks to Antinam - all he needs to do now is to enter relevant information in that search box.

If he had already preserved that page—like that leaf, that fragment of a shield, something that was itself from the past—it would be best of course.

But now he has not been able to find that web page.Therefore, he can only rely on known information and clues to find and locate and try.

Siles understood, and then