Chapter 898: The Nature of Dao and the Differences in Derived Doctrines

However, on the surface Xia Duo looked forward to success, but deep in his heart, in his subconscious, Xia Duo hoped for failure even more.

Because once a Natural Druid appeared, it meant that the essence of this world was not as he had previously thought, but had undergone a change that was almost earth-shattering.

Of course, for the current stage, no matter what the essence of the world was, it had no impact on him; but as a Quasi-Immortal, Xia Duo certainly had to make long-term considerations.

For a moment, he did not even know how to respond to Yatewude; if he said he was happy, he should indeed be happy, as this meant he was very likely to gain a group of experts in agriculture—though of course, Nature encompassed everything, and it could also be in other fields.

At the same time, the appearance of a Natural Druid would also cause the Elves to lose their foothold in the infiltration of the faith in Netheril; those human Druids who obtained Holy Power from the Elven main god would eventually meet their end.

Yet behind the joy, that vague fear of breaking inherent cognition and the world sliding into the unknown shrouded him deeply, giving him a feeling of thorns on his back.

"Administrator Laidun, notify the others, the meeting is postponed! Elder Yatewude, come with me to the study!"

"Yes, my Lord!"

Second-floor study.

When Xia Duo was in the Territory, the study was the place he stayed the most; usually, Laidun sent people to organize it, while other parts of the villa were maintained by people sent by the Territory's Logistics Department.

Of course, there were not many books in this study; the vast majority were just Document files related to the Territory, and except for a portion kept by Laidun, he also kept a batch of copies here.

Returning to this study after a month, Xia Duo did not feel the slightest sense of strangeness; his excellent memory even allowed him to Huanyuan every feeling from the last time he was here.

After letting Yatewude sit down, Xia Duo pondered for a moment before he began to ask:

"Elder Yatewude, can you talk about your process of Perception of Nature?"

"My Lord, there is nothing that cannot be said. The New Natural Philosophy came from your hand, and I only took advantage of some conveniences from being a Druid before to obtain the response of Nature so quickly. However, the process of Perception of Nature is very complex; may I ask which aspect you would like to start from, my Lord?"

"Just talk about the response of Nature!"

Actually, this was also what Xia Duo wanted to know most; the so-called perception process was nothing more than artificially creating a certain atmosphere to actively perceive a certain existence.

This looked a bit mysterious and a bit complex, but in reality, as long as one followed certain rituals and persisted for a long time, it was easy to reach the state.

This was similar to a Mage's Focus Training, only that Focus Training required concentrating the mind, while a Priest's perception training required relaxing the mind.

These two were not completely contradictory, but at least after forming a habit, it was very difficult to enter the state when doing the other type of training.

This was also an important reason why so few Priests took up Mage as a secondary profession.

The conveniences Yatewude mentioned from his past as a Druid referred to the results similar to perception training, and if Xia Duo wanted to perceive Nature, he would inevitably need to go through such an experience.

Of course, people were all different; some people had extremely sensitive minds and were good at perception, so they did not need to work too hard to reach the state of perception. If they had a perception subject that matched their philosophy, becoming a Priest was almost effortless.

Similarly, Mages also had super talent; for example, some people could naturally cast Tricks like 【Light】 or 【Prestidigitation】 as soon as they reached adulthood.

They were naturally able to come into contact with the Magic Net, and with just a little training, they could become Mages, without needing to go through the relatively long-term Focus Training that ordinary Mages required to truly come into contact with the Magic Net and thus become a Mage (Apprentice).

Bloodline Sorcerers were similar, only they had more complex and powerful Bloodline Spells; perhaps those who could cast spells upon reaching adulthood were just some people with relatively recessive, weak special bloodlines.

Xia Duo was both a special Bloodline User and had already become an Arcanist, so he naturally did not want to spend any time perceiving Holy Power; only a fool would be willing to do such a thankless task.

Of course, if one could obtain Holy Power without any effort, and the source of the Holy Power was not the gods, then only a fool would refuse.

He still understood the principle that having many skills was never a burden.

Soon, Yatewude stated his process of perceiving Nature and the response of Nature; of course, the former was relatively brief under Xia Duo's signal, with the focus being on the response of Nature.

"My Lord, at that time I thought in my heart that Nature exists in all things and manifests as all things, so I let my spirit wander in the process of the evolution of all things."

"Because of my past experiences, I am most familiar with the forest. During this time in Daxia Territory, I saw the entire process of trees growing and dying alone, as well as the growth and death with human participation, which gave me a deeper understanding of Nature."

"Just some time ago, I perceived the will of Nature in a dream. After waking up, I perceived Nature again, and in a clear state, I once again obtained the response of Nature."

"That feeling is hard to describe in words; it is as if an incomparable, supreme existence is showing me the mysteries of Nature. Everything, from the birth of the Plane to the sun, moon, stars, and all things in the world, is the evolution of Nature!"

"Only at that moment did I truly realize the ignorance and shallowness of my past self, realize the profoundness and greatness of the Lord, and realize the magnificence of Nature. How could the narrow forest nature of the mere Elves represent true Nature!"

As he spoke, Yatewude actually displayed a look of extreme fanaticism, which made Xia Duo frown, though he quickly relaxed again.

The New Natural Philosophy was destined not to have overly fanatical believers, because this so-called New Natural Philosophy was something he had remodeled from the "Dao" of his hometown.

This mainly consisted of theory, and the Doctrine actually used to guide the behavior of believers almost did not exist; there might be in the future, but there certainly was not now.

And theory was naturally attributed as the root of everything and the form of manifestation of everything; in other words, this kind of theory simply did not have many conditions that could guide the behavior of believers.

Because, whatever you do can be considered Nature.

From the theory, one could completely derive completely different Doctrines; for example, since Nature gives birth to all things, it could be interpreted as respecting life, or it could be interpreted as all things being equal, not forbidding killing.

Doctrine and theory were completely different things.

For example, the Doctrine of the Lord of Radiance was something formulated by Priests based on the will of the Lord of Radiance they perceived, used to guide Faith.

Different Priests had different understandings, so the Doctrine naturally differed, and from this, different schools were divided.

The mainstream of the Lord of Radiance faith in Netheril was the Legalist School, the Order School, and the Holy Light School; besides these, there were also many non-mainstream schools, such as the Extreme Benevolence School, which was actually a benevolent doctrine derived from the sun and radiance.

It was just that the Doctrine of this school was too extreme, and there were not many people in Netheril; only a very small number of low-level Paladins belonged to this school, and they were very unwelcome.

And in fact, the Lord of Radiance did not have human concepts of good and evil, and His will was also filled with a sense of order and machinery.

This point alone destined that the Extreme Benevolence School could not obtain support from the source of Faith; in common terms, the Holy Power limit of the Priests and Paladins of this school was locked, and they simply could not upgrade.

So there was no talk of development and growth.