Chapter 287: The Power of Faith

William had entirely changed his appearance, and he left the East Sea Metropolis alone.

He was on his way to the Temple of Light, which was thousands of kilometers away.

He was going to visit one of the top forces in this continent.

Oh!

Actually, he wasn't qualified enough to be their guest. He was just going to explore the place and get a feel of what their faith was like.

Ahem!

It was mainly because he knew that in a corner of the temple, a piece of powerful Legendary equipment lay hidden.

He could obtain it easily without much effort.

The prince was very tempted, and he immediately embarked on this journey.

After all, if he didn't find the Legendary equipment now, what if there was a butterfly effect, and someone else took it?

That would be a tragic loss.

It had to be emphasized.

The Temple of Light was unbelievably powerful.

Their headquarters were located in the center of the legendary continent, sandwiched between two human empires.

It had originally been just a temple.

However, with the development over the years, more believers wanted to be closer to the temple, so they gradually settled there with their families.

As the population increased, this small village from before turned into a town, then became a city, and finally, it transformed into a nation made up of believers.

The Kingdom of Light was formed!

This nation wasn't the typical nation. There were no 'soldiers', 'aristocrats', or 'governors'.

However, if injustice happened, no one would escape from or turn a blind eye to the problem.

All professionals who possessed combat power would stand up to the occasion. They would exercise the power that represented Light and Righteousness to solve the issue, all in the name of the Temple of Light!

The Kingdom of Light occupied thousands of square kilometers, and more than 20 million people resided there.

Ever since William reached the Kingdom of Light, every single person he saw was a believer and messenger of Righteousness.

There were almost no crimes here. It was rare to witness any evil here, and no one used violence. Despite the Darkness invasion, the so-called devils never dared to appear here.

This was just the periphery of the Kingdom of Light.

It was an incredible nation, indeed.

Faith was a scary thing.

It could make one's combat power and willpower reach an unbelievable height.

Many people once said that the Chinese had no faith.

However, if one thought about it, one would realize something. So many counter-Japanese heroes had been caught, but no matter how many days they had been imprisoned or tortured, they would not reveal any information even if they were tortured to death.

Why?

Because of their faith!

Faith was not something that everyone always talked about.

Even if one said that one believed in God, how could it be known that these words were the truth?

It was said that 'Faith is something that one keeps deep down in one's heart, not appearing easily'.

No matter what one's faith was, if one firmly believed that he could overcome anything with His Grace, one would be empowered and would become extremely strong.

For example, when a woman is being crushed by a car, her husband can suddenly lift the car with superhuman strength.

When a mother sees that her child is almost going to fall to his death, she can suddenly run faster than Olympic champion Liu Xiang to catch her child in time.

This was also a form of faith.

If one looked at the Temple of Light, the Magic Sanctuary, and the Palace of Darkness in a superficial way, one wouldn't be able to see any faith in their eyes. An example would be the messengers that William had interacted with before.

They seemed to be profit-driven.

They appeared more like employees of a company, executing their duties in the Temple of Light in order to make a living.

However, the faith of some people was very pure.

For example, Lancelot. He was a devout believer in Light and Righteousness.

For example, those Temple Knights and clerics who weren't afraid of death and bravely faced Darkness!

For example, warriors that fought for their King even if that meant losing their lives.

These were forms of faith too!

Why were devout believers like Lancelot so powerful? Stronger than those servants of Light who didn't truly believe in their faith?

Was it because of the difference in endowments, or rather the blessings that Gods gave them?

It was neither.

The Gods didn't even respond to prayers for miracles, let alone blessings.

Even curses were more common...

The answer was the power of faith.

Players called this the Power of the Mind.

This was something that players couldn't possess, even if they wanted to...

Only NPCs had it!

It was a fact that it had been too long since the God of Light, the God of Magic, and Lady Luck responded to prayers for miracles.

Since they couldn't sense their power, as a result, many professionals no longer believed in the existence of Gods

To many, sages were the incarnations of Gods.

The Temple of Light was also gradually changing, or rather, the believers were beginning to deviate from believing in the God of Light.

The sages that presided over the Temple of Light were gradually reforming the faith of the servants of Light.

It wasn't that they asked the servants of Light to abandon the God of Light and Righteousness.

The sages wanted them to place their faith in Light and Righteousness.

There seemed to be no difference, but in reality, it was a world of difference.

If Gods arrived in this world, it meant that they were going to regain control over this world.

However, was this what the creatures living in this world wanted to see?

Was this what the Temple of Light wanted to see?

No!

The Temple of Light liked how the God of Light acted all high and mighty. They liked how he didn't interfere in anything, and how he never appeared in front of them. They liked how they represented Light and Righteousness, how they casually gained power by using the name of the God of Light.

However, this didn't mean that they really wanted their God to appear in front of them and regain control. They didn't want their God to boss them around and wage wars against the Dark faction and other forces.

Hence, more than 1,300 years ago, the Temple of Light had undergone a revolution!

In that revolution, there had been a riot in the Temple of Light.

In the end, the God of Light became a mere facade.

The Temple of Light preached that the God of Light represented Light and Righteousness.

However, the servants of Light weren't believers of the God of Light anymore. Instead, they believed in Light and Righteousness.

After that internal strife, the God of Light was just a nominal emblem.

From then on, all servants of the temple believed in Light and Righteousness.

However, even though the Temple of Light underwent a revolution, the Magic Sanctuary didn't.

From the start until now, the mages had always believed in the Lord of Magic. They believed that the Lord of Magic was the absolute truth.

But, a thousand years ago, the Palace of Darkness had also experienced a revolution.

Since then, they no longer believed in the Lord of Darkness. They believed in pure darkness, which was why the Temple of Light and Palace of Darkness rarely engaged in conflict.

Despite the fact that they had different faiths, as one believed in Light and the other believed in Darkness!

They would become allies in the near future!

When the Gods would arrive in this world, the first people to oppose them would be the Temple of Light and the Palace of Darkness messengers.

It would be fine if they could live in harmony with the Gods after they arrived.

However, if the God of Light wanted to take full control over the Temple of Light, or act in a way that contradicted Light and Righteousness, then according to the teachings and rules of the Temple of Light, the strong sages would have the reason and power to wage war against their God!

The Temple Knights would be the first to brandish their swords to annihilate the God of Light.

Because according to the past thousand years of teachings, the God of Light was a perfect representation of Light and Righteousness.

He shouldn't make a mistake!

But, if he did!

If he acted recklessly!

If he didn't do the correct thing!

Then, he was not fit to be the embodiment of Light and Righteousness.

Then, he would be completely abandoned by the Temple of Light.

If the God of Light wanted to take control of the Temple of Light, he would have to go through the swords of the Temple Knights first...

It could not be helped.

Ever since the revolution, a thousand years' worth of teachings had been engraved into the messengers' minds.

The God of Light wouldn't be able to change their minds.

Of course, all these hadn't happened yet.

This was just what William predicted...

However, William had already witnessed this bunch of people waging wars against their Gods in his previous life, proving that even now, they had the same intention.

The sages in the Temple of Light chose to do so for their own benefit.

Nonetheless, William didn't mind fostering a good relationship with this bunch.

"First things first."

"I'm not a servant of Light, but that Legendary equipment is inside the Temple of Light. How am I going to get inside?" William had a headache.

Should he enter the Temple of Light as a visitor?

William wanted to do so as the Temple of Light probably knew of the City of Dawn's existence.

After all, as the only victor against the Darkness invasion in the entire continent, he was absolutely confident that several higher-ups in the Temple of Light had heard of him.

However, this was not an era where information was readily available.

There was a possibility that the Temple Knights who guarded the city gate hadn't heard of him...

Just when the prince was a little worried, his eyes met another pair of eyes!

"William?"

"Lancelot?"

"My dear brother! Why are you here?" Lancelot hurried over to William with several Temple Knights trailing behind. He gave William a bear hug.

William patted his back and pulled away from him. That bastard clearly had a space ring, yet he wore his armor all day long. Didn't he know that his armor was very hard and uncomfortable to hug?

"I came here for fun. I have wanted to visit the Temple of Light for a long time, so I came to take a look." William smiled.

He was secretly filled with delight.

With Lancelot leading the way, it would be extremely easy to enter the Temple of Light.

Initially, he had asked Lancelot to come with him.

However, he had been notified that Lancelot was on a mission.

Now, Lancelot practically dropped from the sky.

William could even save his travel expenses now...

"Really? Are you interested in becoming a servant of Light?" Lancelot sized up William. Although he didn't think that William was a good person, the courage that he showed during the Darkness invasion made him worthy of becoming a Temple Knight.

William's mouth twitched. "Probably not. I prefer freedom, and furthermore, I'm a Lord..."

After William said that, the people around him stared daggers at him.

"Some people can't even become Temple Knights even if they wanted to, yet this person seems to detest this idea. This person is merely a little Lord. Is he belittling the Temple of Light?" The people around him cursed in their hearts.

However, this reply was considered to be common.

No one would start a fight because of this.

Lancelot and the Temple Knights behind him didn't think much of it. This was very normal. Not everyone had to believe in Light and Righteousness.

It was pretty normal to choose freedom.

"I just reached too. I didn't expect you to come here." Lancelot patted William's shoulder while laughing.

"Let's drink till we drop today.

"I'm going to the Temple of Light tomorrow. I can bring you along.

"Anyway, since you won against the Darkness invasion, you definitely have the right to enter the Temple of Light."

"Fine, but it's my treat." William showed the victory sign with his hand.

Lancelot shrugged.

Temple Knights were allowed to consume alcohol as long as they were not in the middle of executing missions.

But they shouldn't get drunk...

However, once the other Temple Knights heard that William was going to treat them, their eyes lit up.

They were from the southeastern region too.

They know that the Lord of the City of Dawn was filthy rich.

It would definitely be their loss if they didn't extort him.