Ming Dynasty and New Rome and Infinite Magic Machine

Chapter 1570 Negotiation
On the shores of Lake Nemi, the summer air is thick with moisture.

Shangluo didn't ask Karin to come, but she insisted. After all, Irodiasa was gone, so there was nothing left to fear.

“Let me say this first. After all, you’re not your sister.” He cautioned Karin, “Be careful, be careful, be very careful. This time, we’re probably dealing with a powerful spirit creature. I don’t need to worry, of course, because I have a hundred ways to destroy it. But you, be careful.”

“I know. It’s just that it’s right in front of my house, and my room faces this forest. If I have to be constantly worried about all of this in front of my house, I think it will be very uncomfortable.”

"Oh~~" Shang Luo turned to look at her, "So you're going to confront your fears head-on? Very good. When did you become like this?"

"Perhaps I've always been this way. After all, I am Irodiasa's daughter."

"The Son of God will eventually replace God. Is this your wish?"

Karin nodded.

"Very good. A grand ambition. Actually, this time..."

Shangluo hesitated, but Faetong spoke first: "We're not here just for that fox. We're here for you too. He actually went to see your sister once, but she didn't mention it once. I think he just didn't want to disturb you. But the situation is worse than we thought, so we might need your help."

"Is there anything I can help you with?"

“We need you to become the new elven noble. We need you to become Kalinyasa.”

"I understand. Even if it's necessary."

“No,” Phaethon interrupted her, “I don’t need your sacrifice. Remember the Council of Nicaea? It’s the same thing.”

"Are you talking about the one from 325 AD? I need to make sure you're not talking about things outside of human history."

"No, it's that one."

The Council of Nicaea was the most important council in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. At that time, Rome was facing the threat of the Great Crisis of the Third Century, with two-thirds of the empire's territory declaring independence, including the important province of Gaul and Egypt, the empire's breadbasket. This led to the complete collapse of the empire's welfare policies, leaving the empire with only Italy, Greece, Asia Minor, Iberia, and the deserts of North Africa.

Ultimately, Marcus Aurelius, one of the Five Good Emperors, brought this to an end. To mend the fragmented empire, he declared the Church of the Invincible Sun as the principal religion of the Roman Empire—the Mithraic Church. Thereafter, the Roman Empire recognized the significant role of monotheism in reconciling the empire, but the Church of the Invincible Sun lacked the qualities a universal religion should possess.

Therefore, in 325 AD, the Council of Nicaea was convened, and the emperor chose the "Orthodox Christianity" that Peter had spread to Rome as his tool.

The Grand Council issued several decrees:
First, it promulgated the Nicene Creed, establishing the Trinity—the "Orthodox Church of Nicene" formed around the Nicene Creed, which became the state religion of the Roman Empire 60 years later with the Edict of Thessalonica.

Secondly, he affirmed that the Orthodox Church was part of the universal Church of the Roman Empire, establishing that the Emperor was under God, but above all clergy and apostles—later, after the Edict of Thessalonians was issued, the Emperor formally recognized the Pope as "High Priest of the Roman Empire," a position that had always existed in Rome but was now granted to the Pope.

Third, it was determined that all bishops would be appointed and dismissed by the emperor, and dioceses would be divided throughout the empire according to the Roman emperor's requirements. After the Edict of Thessalonians was issued, the emperor officially announced the reform of the existing universal church in Rome in accordance with orthodox rites.

The last thing was to revise and standardize the church's festival calendar.

Throughout this 60-year process of nationalization, one element has remained constant:
The Romans believed that the faith of a nation needed to be governed, which led to the creation of the universal church. However, the universal church was the church of Rome, not the Orthodox church.

The Roman emperor, through administrative decree, decided to reorganize the universal Church according to Orthodox rites, rather than making Orthodox Christianity the state religion. The Roman Empire did not recognize the Orthodox organizations that existed before the Council of Nicaea, but only the "Orthodox Church of Nicaea," organized under the universal Church and approved by the Roman emperor. This sect subsequently split and reunited, continuing to this day.

In other words, in essence, the universal church was the "religious administration of the Roman Empire," a nature that has never changed. Regardless of whether the religion originally claimed to be an apostle of God, or a Heavenly Father, Heavenly Brother, or Heavenly King, the Roman emperor clearly stipulated that the emperor was below the gods in heaven, but above all apostles, demigods, prophets, and priests on earth.

“This is what I wanted to tell you,” Phaethon began. “The Roman Empire has decided to reorganize the Elven Court according to Roman rites and to rebuild the Pantheon, establishing the new Pantheon as the universal church. And you, Karinyasa of the Spring Court, will have a place in the new Pantheon.”

"Wow!!! This is so cool!!! So cool!"

"Uh," Shangluo scratched his head, "you seem more excited than I expected."

"Of course I'm excited! This is about becoming a god!"

“What I mean is, I thought you would have some psychological resistance.”

“Oh dear, how could that be? I can’t wait to put an end to everything in the past. I have to deal with everything my mother left behind myself.”

"Ah," Shang Luo rubbed her forehead, "I was overthinking it. I almost forgot, you're Asha's daughter."

Karin is perfectly able to accept this, which is all the better.

Her inner strength exceeded Shang Luo's expectations. He had initially thought Karin would need to do some mental preparation. But now it seemed she had been waiting for this day for a very long time.

"But Shangluo, where is my sister?"

“Both of you must go. The planned program requires a twin queen. You will need to command the new elves and serve the Roman Empire.”

The same was true of the former Orthodox Church. It was just another religion that spread from a remote area.

In Rome at that time, religions were as common as potato chips in a supermarket. Different religions would hold festivals and religious events in Rome to attract Roman citizens to buy their products.

In some ways, this is no different from choosing a game and investing time in it.

Of all the religions in this process, Mithras was the most successful, because its festivals were particularly grand, especially the bull-slaughtering rituals, which were both bloody and exciting, and included beef, perfectly catering to the Roman palate. Mithras also established a clear upgrade system, allowing everyone to continuously spend time, participate, and "recharge" within this system to level up. Of course, this era has long since passed—the era of the Pantheon had long since ended in Rome under the sun.

But in Rome under the cover of night, all this is about to begin.

The new Pantheon is about to be built, and this service-oriented experience will soon begin.

Shangluo drove, with Karin in the back. Although they could see Lake Nemi from here, there was still a short distance to go.

"Speaking of which, Karin, what are your plans for the future? How do you intend to manage your position within the Pantheon?"

"I plan to create a vast divine realm, and then have the Great Spirit of the Fountain play as a non-player character, fencing with everyone inside. Players only need to spend money to recharge and experience different scenarios, which can be completed with friends or played solo. By continuously spending money, new membership levels can be unlocked, unlocking new gameplay content. I've even thought of a name: Great Sword Divine Realm."

"Very good. Very good." Shangluo didn't know how to answer, but the answer was indeed correct; she had seen the essence of the problem.

Back when Roman religion was in its supermarket phase, all religions were essentially a form of interactive art. A group of developers continuously produced playable content, some paid, but mostly free. By attracting players to spend time and money with free content, they created a pool of wealthy patrons to sustain the servers—supporting the church through large donations.

This gameplay model ensures that Roman citizens can enjoy a full gaming experience without spending money. However, if they do spend money, they can gain more attention within the community and advance their membership level.

As for the Mithraic religion, it is internally divided into four levels open to users: Raven, Bride, Soldier, and Lion. Users can advance by continuously spending money. There are also three more levels reserved for experienced users, requiring special contributions to obtain those rare versions.

However, this model has a problem—it only works in cities and within established communities. If it's just about visiting rural areas with low literacy rates and people struggling with daily life, this Mithraic experience will fail.

In other words, it cannot run in poorly configured environments.

This is why the Orthodox Church was later able to replace the Mithraic Church and dominate the market. The Orthodox Church's reach and ease of use were far superior to the Mithraic Church's. Even without a high-spec computer, a mobile phone was sufficient to access the Orthodox Church's content during spare moments.

Karin devised a targeted strategy for the current situation: Cybernia is too urbanized. When all Romans become citizens of Cybernia, everything in Cybernia becomes everything in Rome. Once you explore this area, the lower-tier market will no longer exist. By focusing on users within the city, you can achieve full coverage of all Romans.

In this context, Mithra's approach—deeply exploring content and user experience—is clearly enough to give her a head start in the coming era.

"Speaking of which, Shangluo, are there any other people inside the Pantheon?"

"I don't know, perhaps our Mr. Fox will be one of them. I'm here to negotiate with him. If possible, I'd like to bring more people into this effort to provide as much service as possible to Cybertronia."

After all, it would be too monotonous if there were only one "God Realm" game on the market. While Karin's user experience is undoubtedly top-notch, the market also needs some niche markets. For example, some people might not need to interact with others and just want to buy it outright and play it at home. Such services should be provided in the market.

So, has Shangluo truly entered your area of ​​expertise?

“I think you called me here to handle things because you want me to do things based on my experience, right? Well, that’s all my experience is.”

But this is way too retro! For Rome, this is tantamount to reviving the Zhou Dynasty's rituals.

"The Zhou rites are right. Only by returning to that wonderful era can we move forward better—isn't it good to restore the Zhou rites? Even Confucius said it was good."

So, who else are you planning to bring in?

"I've contacted a few developers for now. As for users, we've already started preparing to import them. In addition, there's the Hero Tour, which is the foundation of everything and also needs to be added."

The King's Way Hero Pilgrimage—a role-playing adventure—is where it all begins. It will certainly hold an important place in the new world as well.

"And everything developed here is actually to serve our people. In that respect, we also need to incorporate some gameplay elements that are more suitable for the Ming Dynasty."

This is the significance of the virtual world, and it's what the world should become in the future. The Romans' infinite universe within a nutshell held great promise; it could have created a real world, immersing as many people as ever before, allowing them to begin their second lives.

[On another note, Shangluo, the competition between the virtual and real worlds for users might also be a problem.]

"I'm not too worried about that. After all, the virtual world can also create jobs. There's nothing wrong with living in the virtual world; it's a two-way choice."

When that time comes, I can go out too.

"Really? So, you, the most socially awkward person, are finally planning to come out, huh?"

"Oh, actually I'm just used to life without a body. Suddenly facing this world is still a bit of a challenge for me. It's all your fault, though; you provide too much security, so I don't need to worry about my existence being threatened. I just need to keep an eye on things every day."

"So, what can make you decide to step out of your house?"

"That Claymore you mentioned, Karin? I'm very interested. If there's anything fun to do later, I'll go out. Yeah, once everything's ready, I'll leave the house. And Shangluo, do you have any plans for here?"

"I?"

【That's right. Karin already has a divine realm, don't you plan to create your own?】

“Yes, there is. That’s why I came to see Mr. Fox. What he’s doing now aligns perfectly with my plans. As long as he cooperates, I think we can do something big on a mutually beneficial basis.”

(End of this chapter)