Starting with the defeated female knight

But the very fact that they were able to survive and become residents of Dawn City was indeed fortunate for them. Therefore, it is believed that Green possessed the power of fortune, providing shelter before their arrival and ultimately drawing them here...

That seems reasonable, doesn't it?

Once this understanding spread and it was confirmed that something had begun to slowly coalesce, Green naturally prepared to perform 'cognitive convergence'.

The first step in narrowing down their perceptions is naturally to guide them to believe that the concept of luck can be materialized and can be attached to something.

Once this is accomplished, the concept of luck is then guided towards gold coins, and the ritual is promoted, thus completing this cognitive system.

but......

After the first step of converging cognition, the idea gradually arose that 'luck may have a tangible symbol.'

Before Green could take any further action, the residents of Dawn City began to ponder the matter on their own.

Then, as they pondered this, they realized that it seemed every surviving group of refugees shared a common characteristic.

That means there's a little girl in the group.

But this actually has nothing to do with Green or supernatural powers; it's a purely sociological issue.

To put it simply, it means that when a refugee group can take even a little girl with them and not give up on her, or when they can provide shelter for the vulnerable instead of abandoning them.

Compared to those who abandon the weak, this group of refugees is bound to be more united and trusting of one another, and their chances of surviving the disaster are relatively much higher.

Moreover, if they could calm down and think about it carefully, they would realize that their group at the time included not only little girls, but also little boys, as well as adult men and women.

However, the stereotypes have already been formed. When the relevant concepts are mentioned, their incredible radar immediately starts to react, accurately finding the keyword "little girl" and immediately filtering out other information.

"No wonder we survived, no wonder the gods love little girls, no wonder everyone's been talking about good luck lately..."

Thoughts flowed instantly, and understanding was formed immediately.

With a speed that shocked even Green, that clear-minded faith quickly coalesced, achieving his work goals that he had anticipated for six months in just a few days.

Seriously, are you guys out of your minds?

[How could they lure a little girl like that? And at that speed?! How the hell do you guys believe this stuff?!]

Then, due to an unexpected event, the Coin Project was forced to stop.

After discussion, Edith, an expert in miracles and faith, stepped forward and, through further planning, concretized these insights into three miracles belonging to Grimm.

These are 'Gentle Touch Protection' which provides some protection, 'Childhood Grace' which temporarily increases luck, and 'Faint Dawn' which provides illumination.

The effect isn't strong, but the cost isn't high either. The biggest limitation is that, due to the source of the miracle, the caster must be female, and preferably a 'blessed daisy'.

Seeing this result, Green was completely stunned.

Okay, now he knows how the church came about, and he can even empathize with those ancient gods.

And we also learned why Vanessa, despite knowing about matters of faith, didn't act recklessly.

While this thing could potentially be incredibly useful if successfully made, even the slightest mishap could lead to utter ruin...

"what?"

After listening to Green share his research findings with her, and after he remarked that she had indeed thought things through and that faith and cognition are not things that can be easily manipulated.

Vanessa froze on the spot.

"Can you change your own authority?"

【......ah?】

Now it was the tentacles' turn to be stunned.

Later, through Vanessa's explanation, Green learned why He and the other intelligent ancient gods hadn't arbitrarily tested or changed beliefs.

That is, the authority of the ancient gods is inherently fixed and unique.

"Otherwise, why do you think I'd only be able to 'heal' after all the other beings have died?"

We're not talking about those man-made counterfeits that we can't even control.

Even if they are born ancient gods, at most they can only scrape some things off the power of others to enrich the decoration of their own power.

There have been attempts in history to reconcile two powers, but the moment of reconciliation, the conflict between the two forces caused the situation to spiral out of control.

Because Grimm never acknowledged his status as an ancient god, Vanessa didn't know what his authority was, but she was certain that his authority was not luck.

And now...

First of all, I am not an ancient god.

Therefore, it's normal that you don't have authority or those restrictions you impose on me.

"Then can you use the power of those 'faiths'?"

Yes, it's possible, but little girls can use it too, aren't they all pretty much the same?

Vanessa's smile cracked slightly as she looked at the tentacles swaying freely in front of her.

Those tentacle mouths are really hard; they're so hard she almost wanted to curse.

Regardless, Green's attempt can be considered a failed success.

Although he figured out some things and even created a miracle, the most important thing was that it served as a reminder to himself.

Don't play games with cognition and belief, or you might cause serious problems.

Although it seemed invincible at first, I only realized the risks involved after actually doing it.

However, although the concept of luck was ultimately tied to the children in the cathedral, through a series of subsequent operations, such as creating a batch of special 'lucky coins' and having the children cast 'innocent grace' on these special coins, Green eventually managed to get the lucky coins out.

After the promotion, those lucky stars also took effect in various parts of Dawn City, achieving the results he originally expected, or even better.

Of course, while he attaches great importance to the research and development of this 'lucky' technology, Green has not only studied this over such a long period of time.

While the research into the technology was underway, the cathedral was also slowly beginning to function.

Beneath the cathedral, the half-human, half-insect girl was suspended and restrained in mid-air by several clearly strong tentacles, with every joint of her body firmly bound.

And in her lower abdomen, which is also the core area, a sucker-like tentacle with a terrifying mouthpiece slowly rose up, covered her, and then slowly penetrated deeper.

Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle.

Fine, tooth-like tentacles pierced the skin, penetrating deep into the core, where they resonated with the tentacles attached to the core, and then intertwined.

"Yeah——"

The unconscious body instinctively made a sound, but it was blocked by tentacles the next second.

Then, as the tentacles slowly intertwined, the root system of the tentacles spread and expanded even more.

Until he saw the child again.

"Big...child..."

The small body was curled up on the ground. After realizing something, it slowly raised its head, its face full of weakness and pain.

"Did you... succeed?"

Yes, I did it!

The tall figure bent down, took the weak and pained child into his arms, and gently patted his back.

My name is Green, what's yours?

"I...don't remember..."

The child in her arms whispered softly, then seemed to realize something and gripped Green's collar tightly.

"No...it's not...over yet..."

"He...hasn't...been destroyed yet..."

【I know】

Green nodded, then looked at the chest of the child in his arms.

At the location of her heart, a tentacle was rooted there like a tree root, and the black roots spreading from it had spread all over her body, and were even clearly visible through her skin.

Previously, in order to quickly infiltrate the core, Green had to use this child as a medium.

Although in the end it turned out to be a completely correct decision, it not only quickly infiltrated the enemy's core, reduced their combat power, and minimized the losses on Dawn City's side, but also because it was so fast, the enemy didn't have time to react and therefore failed to destroy the internal data, allowing him to steal a big one.

Even the child himself strongly supported that choice.

But no matter how much support you get, an intrusion is still an intrusion, and pollution is still pollution.

Even though Green had tried his best to be careful and restrain himself, no matter how much he tried, it was still an extremely heavy burden for this overly fragile soul.

Therefore, after devouring the other party, Green did not immediately invade and control the core. Instead, he restrained the other party and, through the connection of the tentacles, tried to repair and nurture that tiny soul little by little at an extremely slow speed.

He knew that doing so would probably delay his research on the gray fog technology for a while, but who cares.

Otherwise, if he only wanted rapid development, why didn't he just turn everyone in Dawn City into his own tentacles?

Yes, Cecilia's third trial is not just a fantasy, but something that Green can actually do.

Perhaps Green hadn't realized this before, but he saw it when Cecilia tested him.

If he wants to pursue the most efficient development, he can turn others into subunits of his tentacles and make them continue to serve him.

They retain their original characteristics, don't need to consider loyalty, and there are far fewer troubles; they themselves would probably be quite happy about it...

Do you really think this is a good idea?

That wasn't just an inquiry to Cecilia, but also to himself.

However, unlike Cecilia, Green gave the opposite answer on the spot.

Of course not.

Of course, he wasn't saying that sacrifice is not allowed, nor was he trying to say something like, "We can sacrifice, but we cannot be sacrificed."

He simply felt it was unnecessary.

Sacrificing this person today, sacrificing that person tomorrow, before anything is even decided, before the enemy is even seen, and almost everyone is already dead. What's the point? Is he crazy?

If the situation were truly critical, and he had to choose between 'all of them dying' or 'half of them dying,' he certainly wouldn't hesitate.

But now, just like back in the mist, when Elise wanted to abandon some people, that was his answer.

Ignore all that nonsense.

Just keep charging forward, I'll figure out the solution.

That's his attitude.

He wants them all.

but......

Green initially thought his choice was to save lives by delaying technological research.

But after he had just helped the child recover a little and established a deeper connection with her, he discovered something small.

It seems that not only does the Gray Fog have its own technological line, but there also seems to be something special inside the core of the Ancient Gods...

Normally speaking, the thinking of the ancient gods is difficult for humans to understand, and even the ancient gods themselves cannot understand it.

The problem is that assimilation is always a two-way process. Over this long period of time, it wasn't just the ancient gods assimilated the child; the child was also assimil the ancient gods.

The God of a Thousand Feet and she had long since merged into one; it could be said that the God of a Thousand Feet was her, and she was also the God of a Thousand Feet incarnate.

Because the ancient gods were assimilated by human thinking, some things that were originally incomprehensible became 'technology' that Grimm could use after being processed by this child.

If Green chooses to directly control the Gray Fog Core for the sake of efficiency, and lets the kid break down and go crazy, these technologies will be lost.

Moreover, compared to the technologies within the gray fog core that still require analysis and interpretation, and whose research and application are still uncertain, this is a significant improvement.

The techniques that the child could relay to him were not only clearer and more precise, but also very basic and practical. With a little organization and study, they could immediately help him and Dawn City.

[The variations and manipulation techniques of insect limbs...]