"Your Highness, be cautious, be cautious! You must not say such things recklessly!"

Kran's voice was a bit stammering, but you really couldn't blame him.

The words that came from Kael's mouth were too terrifying for anyone with a sharp mind to discern their underlying implications.

Among these, Kran thought of two possibilities first and foremost.

The first possibility overturns the entire understanding of priests in the Divine Continent; that is, priests have never been shepherds of the deities.

If the deities' favor towards Kael has not changed, then the priests, who should stand in the same sequence as the deities, have no reason to refute Kael.

As the actual ruler of the Holy Papal State of Briania and the contemporary Pope of the Church of the Lord of Dawn, Mephiel, and as the Pope of the Earth Mother Goddess Church, Agatha should both be the ones most willing to support the existence of Kael in the world.

But in fact, in this Holy Hall Assessment, only the Pope of the Church of Literature and Knowledge stood firmly on Kael's side.

If the grace had not dissipated, then as beings shepherding humanity for the gods, no priest should be able to make such a choice.

If they can, it can only mean one thing, which is—

Priests absolutely cannot be the shepherds of the deities.

That is to say, the notion that "priests' power comes from deities" is likely wrong.

Doing such a thing is as ridiculous as a loyal guard claiming to want to kill the monarch's son; where is the loyalty?

Even more frightening is that while they were doing such things, the monarch did not stop them.

If this is the first possibility, then without a doubt, what Kael said virtually refutes the correctness of the Church at its very foundation.

Meaning… since there is an issue with the source of the priests' power within the Church, and they are not shepherds of the deities, they should not have the power to act on behalf of the divine will, governing the believers across this vast world.

This kind of thing is unimaginable for Kran, who was born on the Divine Continent, and could even feel like a collapse of faith.

Do you think that's all?

Kran's voice trembled as he said, "Lord Kael, is it that there's a problem with the source of the priests' power, or is it that the true gods themselves have a problem?"

Seeing Kran's expression change unpredictably, with an appearance of trepidation, Kael's initial thought of teasing him a bit was suppressed.

Yawning, he replied, "You ask me, I don't know either, it might not be either of these reasons."

Upon hearing this, Kran was momentarily speechless.

The second possibility he spoke of was even more serious than the first.

The notion that the true gods themselves have problems refers to the idea that "the true gods themselves are their own doctrines, one of the concepts that uphold world order."

Simply put, once the deities have confirmed a certain path, they commit to it wholeheartedly, never regretting it even in death.

Thus, the concepts represented by the Lord of Dawn, such as Holy Light, justice, and covenant, are destined to make the Lord of Dawn a paragon of justice, laying the foundation for being recognized as a true god by mainstream races.

Faith in the Divine Continent is peculiar; fundamentally, the wise species of the Divine Continent do not have a so-called innate reverence for the deities.

After all, the mainstream races of the Divine Continent mostly come from outside the world.

You cannot expect a group of races from outside the world to have any natural yearning for the indigenous deities of the Divine Continent.

So fundamentally, the races of the Divine Continent should be free to have faith in deities and free not to have faith in deities, and should be free to believe in any deity.

Kael is willing to call this faith "Schrodinger's belief," which is essentially choosing a deity relatively more advantageous to oneself for mutual benefit.

And since the source of faith for the deities is constant, for them to align more closely with concepts themselves, the actions of the deities and their followers will inevitably lean more towards the concepts themselves…

At least that's what the deities and their followers say.

This premise is the reason why the deities can madly harvest faith across the continent.

Because, compared to people and things with varying styles, the inherent attributes of the deities are tightly bound to their doctrines.

Losanda, who represents justice, should naturally carry out justice until death, even if certain actions appear unjust in the short term, they must represent justice in the long term.

That's roughly the idea.

Faith is poisonous, and while deities draw power from faith and feedback it, they inevitably become shaped by faith itself.

This is why the Churches of the True Gods can operate unimpeded across the continent.

Because everyone has come to naturally interpret the underlying logic of the deities' actions as those iconic "labels."

Therefore, as long as the selected labels are positive, then the selected god is positive, and their associated churches will head in a positive direction, even potentially influencing the people in their own countries through these churches.

To advocate the Church of the Lord of Dawn is to advocate for justice, light, order, and covenant.

To advocate the Church of Literature and Knowledge God is to advocate for knowledge and culture.

To advocate the Church of the Natural God is to advocate for harmony between humanity and nature.

To advocate the Church of the God of Love and Change is to advocate for romance, great love, and unpredictability.