Chapter 899: Natural Doctrine, Mind Link Perception

At present, Xia Duo is in no rush to create a doctrine related to the New Natural Philosophy; he is merely disseminating it as a relatively unique school of thought or concept.

If Holy Power could truly be born from this, then it would not be too late to standardize a doctrine; of course, in Xia Duo's view, there is no need for the New Natural Philosophy to have a doctrine at all.

Just like the "Taoism" of his hometown, adding many doctrines out of thin air or even developing it into a "Taoist religion" is actually more like painting legs on a snake, far less profound than its original philosophy.

So-called doctrine, in Xia Duo's view, is merely a set of guidelines for behavior, and having grown up in the modern era, the behavioral guidelines he identifies with do not include those pretentious components.

A civil code or a set of civic moral standards is actually enough to construct a relatively comprehensive and perfect system of behavioral guidelines.

Or rather, the concept of "Nature" under the New Natural Philosophy is almost all-encompassing, and naturally, it contains an infinite variety of behavioral guidelines; Xia Duo does not need to deliberately create any doctrine.

The policies he designates and the orders he issues during the process of ruling and leading are the natural doctrine.

Because this so-called New Natural Philosophy originates from the "Dao" of Xia Duo's hometown, it is a philosophy and concept he relatively approves of. (Taoism tends more toward agnosticism; Xia Duo is not.)

And from the New Natural Philosophy's "Nature gives birth to all things, and all things are Nature," it is easy to extrapolate that the Magic Net is also Nature; thus, followers of the New Natural Philosophy can study Nature by studying the Magic Net.

By the same token, one can also extrapolate a Scientific Development View; of course, that is the term used on Earth, but here, calling it a Magic Development View might be more appropriate.

All of this depends on how Xia Duo manages it in the future.

……

Soon, Yatewude finished recounting the various details of how Nature responded to him, and after listening, Xia Duo continued to ponder for a moment, his right middle finger tapping rhythmically on the desk.

After a long while, he finally raised his head and saw Yatewude still waiting quietly; his heart stirred, his fingers tapped a few times in succession, then stopped abruptly, his tone already carrying a trace of imperceptible excitement:

"Elder Yatewude, I have an idea, I wonder if it is feasible?"

"Lord, please speak!"

"It is like this: I know a Spell that can link two people's minds together to share each other's Perception and thoughts. I happen to have mastered this Spell, and I would like to ask Elder Yatewude if you can share the response of Nature with me."

In fact, Xia Duo is taking a risk by doing this; linking minds with a former Druid who excels at Perception makes it very easy to leak some secrets he does not want others to know, but—

The so-called response of Nature is simply too important; he must experience it personally to make further judgments.

If it were a normal Priest of the Gods, Xia Duo would not dare to perform a Mind Link with them, fearing he might offend the gods, but since this is a quasi-priest of a natural concept derived from a philosophy, then there is no question of blasphemy.

In the New Natural Philosophy, all things are Nature, and Xia Duo is no exception; what could happen if he probes himself!

After speaking, Xia Duo looked straight into Yatewude's eyes, as if wanting to see from the other's gaze whether they were willing.

In fact, Yatewude did not refuse, but he also expressed a considerable degree of worry: "Lord, I have never heard of anyone sharing a priest's perception of Holy Power through this method. There is no precedent to refer to regarding whether there are any hidden dangers in this. Even so, does the Lord still wish to proceed with the Mind Link?"

"Yes, if you are willing."

"I am certainly willing, but Lord—"

"Do not worry about me; before mentioning this method, I had already weighed the options."

At the moment, Yatewude has not yet perceived Holy Power, having only received a response from Nature; even if there were any risks, at most it would be the impact brought by Subconscious Information.

And Xia Duo already has plenty of experience in dealing with Subconscious Information.

……

Xia Duo insisted repeatedly, and Yatewude found it difficult to say anything more. Soon, under the effect of Xia Duo's 【Mind Link】 Spell, the two projected a portion of their consciousness to an unknown place.

The moment their consciousness Projections overlapped, their minds were linked.

—Elder Yatewude, do you need any assistance to perceive Nature? If not, then let us begin here!

"Lord!"

Yatewude's eyes were full of shock; this form of a voice appearing from the bottom of his heart was extremely similar to the feeling he had when he truly perceived Holy Power before.

He hadn't felt much just listening to the Lord's description before, but after experiencing it personally, he felt it was so miraculous.

Yatewude came from the bottom of society; even though he later became a Secret Text Elder of the Golden Oak Branch Order, he was actually just holding a sinecure guarding doctrinal texts.

Let alone Magic, he hadn't even come into contact with many of the secrets within the Druids; how could the Elves possibly open up many secrets to a group of tools!

Otherwise, with his Holy Power dissipated, he wouldn't have been banished; he might have been executed directly, and he certainly wouldn't have appeared in Daxia Territory.

Seeing that the Lord was still waiting for his reply, Yatewude hurriedly reined in his wandering thoughts and said: "It is fine here; no extra assistance is needed. Please wait a moment, Lord."

As he spoke, he stepped down from his seat, knelt on one knee before Xia Duo, and bowed his head in silent prayer.

At this moment, the two were in a Mind Link, and Xia Duo already had an understanding of Yatewude's current psychological activities, which made him frown involuntarily.

Although Yatewude said he didn't need any assistance, he was actually still using some rituals and norms from when he prayed to the Elf Main God in the Golden Oak Branch Order.

Perhaps these rituals and norms had long been integrated into his daily behavior, but Xia Duo worried that this might get entangled with the Elf Main God.

However, it was too late to stop it now; fortunately, there was no Holy Power reaction to all of this, and Yatewude had long since abandoned the doctrine of the Elf Main God, which could be considered a clean break.

Otherwise, Xia Duo would have immediately severed the Mind Link.

Now it just depends on whether this so-called "Nature Response" is a "true Nature response" or just Yatewude's illusion.

……

Within the Mind Link, Xia Duo gradually sank his self into his Subconscious.

To a certain extent, at this moment, Xia Duo's Subconscious and Conscious Mind were completely integrated; only in this way could he perceive more comprehensively and deeply the various Perception information shared from Yatewude through the Mind Link.

Of course, this state could not last long; if it went on for too long, he would be unable to control the overflowing thoughts and the nearly endless Subconscious Information.

Fortunately, he did not need to persist for long; soon, he perceived in the Mind Link that Yatewude had entered a peculiar state, after which an unprecedentedly massive amount of information instantly surged into the Mind Link.

Could this be the so-called "Nature Response"?

Such a thought flashed through Xia Duo's consciousness.