Chapter 694: Faith Carrier, Accelerated Sanctification

Seventon.

A light suddenly appeared in a conference room within Giles Tower, followed immediately by the sudden arrival of several projections indistinguishable from real people, and then the actual physical bodies arrived.

Before long, all the contemporary Tower Masters of the other six towers had arrived, except for Lander, who was far away in Cormanthor.

Today was not the time for a routine Seven Towers meeting, but an emergency that might concern the future fate of Netheril was enough to gather everyone.

"Your Highness, what exactly has happened? To summon all of us here!" Badijiaer of Gustav Tower asked first.

Xiya glanced at the other four, who were equally full of doubt, and said nothing; she simply pointed a finger, and a beam of light flew from her fingertip, instantly connecting everyone and bringing their Perception into a heavily sealed secret chamber.

This secret chamber had no doors, and the furnishings inside were extremely simple; apart from an Elf-style armchair placed at the edge, there was only the Altar standing in the center.

Countless mysterious symbols were carved around the Altar, with energy faintly flowing through the grooves, and upon the Altar stood a heroic and majestic female Statue.

"Your Highness, is this the Ascension Altar described in that data?" It was Badijiaer again.

This time, Xiya spoke, "Yes, this is the Ascension Altar built according to the data provided by the Elves!"

Although the others had all read that data, it was their first time seeing the real Altar with their own eyes, so someone asked:

"Your Highness, did you bring us here just to show us this Altar?"

"No!"

Xiya suddenly sighed, pointed at her own Statue on the Altar in front, and said, "Have you not noticed the abnormality of that Statue?"

Although the physical bodies of the group, and even their projections, had not entered this secret chamber, under Princess Xiya's Spell, their complete Perception had been brought over and a brand-new carrier had been shaped for it.

Perhaps because Princess Xiya was present before, the group had not deliberately paid attention to that distinct female Statue, but now, prompted by Princess Xiya, they began to observe it seriously.

Before long, Huo En suddenly let out a soft exclamation and said with some disbelief, "This Statue seems to be undergoing accelerated Sanctification?"

In the Ascension data provided by the Elves, Statue Sanctification was a metric of special significance in the process of Ascension to Godhood; once full Sanctification was completed, the Ascension to Godhood would have reached a critical step.

But the problem was, according to the Elves, the speed of Sanctification was very stable and could not be accelerated or decelerated, unless—

"Your Highness, what have you done? How could the Faith Carrier accelerate its Sanctification?"

The others also quickly discovered the anomaly and looked at Princess Xiya together.

Watched by everyone, seemingly even with suspicion, Xiya's expression did not change, and she only said, "I did nothing; it just suddenly became like this!"

"That's impossible!" Haruisi subconsciously spoke his mind.

Badijiaer snorted coldly, "What's impossible about it? Do you really think the Elves would give the method of Ascension to Godhood to humans? Who knows what kind of conspiracy is hidden in it!"

After saying this, he looked at Xiya again, "Your Highness, I suggest destroying the Altar now, clearing all Guidance, and eliminating the influence as soon as possible!"

"Badijiaer, you are too sensitive!"

Although Huo En also felt that the Elves might be up to something, seeing Badijiaer, he just wanted to refute him, "Perhaps it is Princess Xiya who overlooked something, which is why this situation occurred!"

Unexpectedly, Princess Xiya did not oppose this statement, and at the same time said, "The Elves did indeed conceal something regarding the Ascension Ritual; I have already felt it, but the general direction is still correct. The fact that the ritual has been able to proceed until now is proof of that."

Actually, what Xiya did not say was that she had even improved the Ascension Ritual based on her own understanding; perhaps the accelerated Sanctification of the Faith Statue was because of this?

However, she ultimately chose to conceal this behavior of not operating according to the agreement of the Seven Towers and making private adjustments; after all, she still had some selfish motives.

"Then what does Your Highness want us to do by summoning us?"

"Sanctification requires Faith Power, and accelerated Sanctification requires more Faith Power. I need your support!"

After Xiya finished speaking, the others fell silent. Collecting faith was not a small matter; the key was shaping faith, and shaping faith was, to a certain extent, distorting the human heart.

Previously, collecting faith was only passively collected in a subtle way; if collected actively, it might cause unpredictable consequences.

How could the Great Arcanists, as the rulers of Netheril, not consider the risks involved, especially when there were faith disasters that had occurred in history as a reference?

Even for the sake of conducting the so-called Ascension to Godhood experiment, there was no need to bet the entire Netheril. Compared to the Ascension Ritual provided by the Elves for free, they were actually more willing to believe in the methods they had researched themselves.

And they also firmly believed that they would be able to research it in the future.

Therefore, when the risks of this Ascension to Godhood experiment were too great, they hesitated.

However, Princess Xiya's face could not be easily rejected. Everyone looked at each other, and finally, they all looked at Badijiaer.

"I—"

Even though he had just suggested that Xiya destroy the Altar, Badijiaer's original intention was not this; he just wanted to remind Xiya to be vigilant against the Elves at all times.

The Ascension Ritual had proceeded to this point, and both Netheril and Cormanthor had paid a huge price, especially Cormanthor, which had made concessions countless times during dialogues between the two countries because of this Ascension Plan.

Even some core interests had occasionally been compromised.

If the Ascension Plan were suddenly abandoned, Badijiaer would not find it strange if Cormanthor attacked directly.

And on the Netheril side, did the Great Arcanists really not want to know what the final result of the Ascension Ritual would be?

Even Badijiaer, who had always been averse to the Elves, was looking forward to it, let alone the others.

But the risks had to be considered. Now that Princess Xiya proposed that she needed more Faith Power, Badijiaer did not know how to dissuade her.

"I think we can slow down first and observe for a period of time; perhaps the accelerated Sanctification of this Faith Statue will stop soon!"

"No! I have already observed it for a period of time. The Sanctification process is constantly accelerating. Once Faith Power is lacking, it will lead to the collapse of the Statue, and starting over will not be something that can be done in a short time. In addition, there is the issue of ritual order; once the Statue collapses, perhaps the ritual will fail entirely."

Xiya narrated calmly, and after finishing, she proposed again, "I need your support!"

The scene fell into silence again, and finally, Haruisi tentatively said, "How about we ask the Elves?"