The Magic Empire for 20,000 years

Chapter 92 The Most Unique Qualities of Humanity
After a slight pause, Priestess Guirasser Goldfleur continued:
"Magic is the same."

"The elven gods love art, especially magic, which is considered the pinnacle of art. Therefore, we elves also pursue it."

"It's not for the function of magic itself, but to follow God's path and please God."

"The mages of our elven kingdom also have a strong thirst for knowledge and pursue the truth of the universe."

"This is because the world was created by God, and studying, exploring, and pursuing the truth is the process by which we understand God."

Little Greta found this statement completely unacceptable.

Does that mean all success and failure, all love and hate in the mortal world are meaningless?
Is only the will of God meaningful?

“But aren’t you legendary spellcasters? Aren’t your spells supposed to be incredibly powerful and useful? If it were a one-on-one fight, I definitely couldn’t defeat any of you!”

“Human magic can never surpass that of the gods.” Guiras Goldfleur smiled.

This legendary elven priest gently placed his right hand, holding the holy emblem, on his left chest, his eyes slightly closed, his face devout, like a missionary preaching:

"It was the great Corellon who, with his own blood as the base, wove the sunlight into sun elves, the moonlight into moon elves, the forests into wood elves, the clouds into winged elves, the lakes into aquatic elves, and the night into dark elves..."

"Even before that, the gods created the forests, mountains, and seas."

"In the universe, the outer planes and the gods appeared first."

"The [Sidrian Gods] are a group of ancient gods who united at the beginning of creation because of a common ideal."

"Although mortals call them the 'Elven Pantheon,' they are not elves in essence, but gods. The creation of the elven race is only a tiny, insignificant part of their endless great undertaking."

"No matter what achievements mortals make or how powerful their magic becomes, they can never compare to the incredible power of the gods."

Little Gret felt particularly uncomfortable hearing this.

It's as if all my efforts over the past 10 years have been negated.

"Grete, don't listen to them!"

"Don't let these elves' thinking corrupt you!"

Gutt appeared out of nowhere and scolded him with displeasure.

He glared at the two elves in front of him:
"Once you've finished your work, leave quickly."

“You are a legendary priest, so you should know that we humans are different from you. We were not created by a god, but were born naturally in this world.”

“You have the protection of gods, but we don’t. We humans pursue magic so that we can do what only your gods can do.”

"Is it possible that no matter how hard mortals try, they have no chance of reaching the realm of the gods?"

Upon hearing Gutt's words, Gutt's Golden Petal showed no anger at the gods' perceived blasphemy; instead, he smiled.

A smile of pity.

"You humans are a race without gods, unlike any other race on this earth. Therefore, it is not your fault that you have not yet realized many truths of this universe."

“You do not know the miraculous power of the gods, nor have you witnessed the insurmountable distance between the gods and us ordinary legends.”

“You may have some naive ideas that the gods are just more powerful spellcasters. But that is not the case.”

"Gods are gods, and mortals are mortals."

This was the beginning of time, before the birth of the mortals who had ascended to godhood, such as the Raven Queen and Vicna.

All gods were born to be gods!
Guiras Goldfleck bowed silently and made another devout prayer gesture:

"Long before the earth and mountains of the material plane appeared, long before the birth of mortal races such as elves, orcs, and dragons in the universe, the gods had existed for countless millennia."

"Gods are indifferent to mortal matters. The various aspects of the material plane are merely a sandbox for the gods' games."

“We are not important to God, but God is important to us.”

The next moment, this devout, legendary elven priestess smiled gently and offered what she considered to be the most beautiful blessing to the human before her:
"Although you humans are a pitiful race without gods, one day you will surely realize that only the gods are worthy of reverence."

“One day, you humans will surely find a god to whom you can turn, a god who is willing to accept your worship and protect you.”

"I hope you reach that day soon."

A hopeless sprite!
Who needs your blessings!

Gutt clenched his fist, veins bulging on the back of his hand. A surge of rage rose in the eyes of this powerful mage.

"Never mind, Guter."

A gentle hand patted Gutt's shoulder.

Helen, the great magician of transformation.

The beautiful blonde woman shook her head at her lover.

"call."

Gutt took a deep breath to calm his agitation, snorted angrily, flicked his robe, and turned to leave.

Damn it, why did His Majesty Elion have to cooperate with these pointy-eared demons?!
"Hey, Cassandra, can you even understand what they're saying?"

The Archmage Kad, who was in the distance, listened to this ideological debate between humans and elves and felt completely bewildered.

“I don’t understand.” Archmage Cassandra pushed up her glasses, looking helpless.

The topic of gods is far too distant for them, who haven't even set foot in the legendary realm.

Watching Gutt hurry away, and with the faint smell of gunpowder in the air, El-Erian sighed helplessly and forcibly steered the conversation back on track:
"Your Highness, so you think that humans are a very multifaceted race that cannot be generalized? Is that so?"

"Yes."

Leah faced Elian, watching Gutt walk away, his steps still tinged with anger, and Helen following behind, comforting him:

"Among you humans, there are actually madmen like that mage from before, who crave to replace the gods!"

Then, the sun elf princess turned to Elion, recalling her two battles with the human king, and smiled with a touch of emotion:

"King of Mankind, you inflicted unbearable pain upon me with your evil necromancy during our battle. I had assumed you were a corrupt, cruel, and incurable necromancer."

"But tonight you are so kind, even willing to help us fake it so that we can report back to the Sun Elf race."

"I really don't understand you humans, why are you so fickle?"

El-Erian laughed, laughed heartily:

"Because both of these options were the most advantageous for me personally and for the entire human kingdom of Eldoron at that time."

"Humans are such a fickle race."

"As you say, we humans are a godless race."

"We do not live to fulfill the will of some god."

"Humans live only for themselves, for the happiness of this mortal world."

“We will not refuse any path that can enable the human race to grow and prosper—whether it is accused of blasphemy or revered as sacred, whether it is honored as wisdom or despised as treachery.”

At this point, Erian recalled the question Leah had asked at the beginning:
“Your Highness, weren’t you surprised before that all races have a discernible appearance—orcs are brutal, elves are arrogant, dwarves are rigid…”

"But we humans seem to lack a set standard?"

"Now, I can tell you why."

“I think the orcs are brutal because their chief god Gruush is brutal; the elves are arrogant because their chief god Kerrigan is arrogant; and the dwarves are rigid because their chief god Moradin is rigid.”

"We humans were not created by God, so we are free to choose any path and have infinite possibilities."

There are three versions of the setting for the Raven in D&D.

Initial concept (4th edition): She was forcibly married by the god of death Naraku, but led the souls enslaved by Naraku in a rebellion and usurped Naraku's godhood.

The 5th edition of the Wasteland Book: The first mortal to ascend to godhood replaced the nameless former Grim Reaper through a certain ritual. Vicna replicated her ritual and also ascended to godhood.

Version 5 of the Book of Demon Duncan: The Elven Queen who unexpectedly ascended to godhood due to a ritual malfunction. (Baldur's Gate 3 uses this version.)

…………

This book uses a combination of the first and second settings, plus my own modified worldview.



(End of this chapter)