Chapter 337: Self-Restraint

"She agreed to act as your mole?" Dai Niya was somewhat surprised; Victoria had capabilities in this area.

"Not just her, but her puppets as well."

"Puppets?"

"She can turn them into living beings; her power is very special. Those creations are more like fragments of her soul. A normal person would have died long ago playing with such things, but the parts she severed can actually regenerate."

Creating life out of thin air, or even creating a race single-handedly; just imagining it makes one feel how absurd this power is.

Perhaps she is not strong enough yet, but as long as those "clones" grow up, she alone will be an army, or even a race.

Li En felt a certain inexplicable satisfaction, as if he had pulled a random card while out and directly drawn an ultra-rare SSR.

"You can't say that; she has great potential. Perhaps she was the sole heir to the Hero's Soul from the very beginning."

The only limitation on Victoria's current ability to create clones is that those "newcomers" cannot stray too far from her, or they will gradually lose vitality and fall back into slumber.

Li En tested it; the infiltration plan might actually be executable. She could specify the direction of their transformation, similar to the fairy tale of turning a rag doll into a living person.

"Uh, can she turn living people into rag dolls... it actually seems possible." Li En remembered the jars in the shop, which contained shrunken thugs who had been locked up after coming to cause trouble.

After pondering for a moment, Li En shook his head and decided not to dwell on these things.

He vaguely realized that even if Victoria had not been chosen by the Hero's Soul, she was destined to rise. The ability to "digest" the inheritance of the Hero's Soul and turn it into nourishment for her own growth was already enough to prove her potential.

A personality that seems unambitious and even somewhat cowardly is a weakness for other professions, but for an Alchemist who needs to accumulate and endure time, it might be the greatest advantage. To put it bluntly, an Alchemist is a profession that grows stronger the longer one studies; her dislike for causing trouble makes it very likely she will survive until she becomes a top-tier figure in the world.

"She also agrees with my view. It seems that once the new church is established, simply AFK-ing is not realistic. I don't have the energy to manage the church's development, so it seems I still need to plant some nails inside it."

History has proven that the rate of corruption among religious personnel is extremely shocking. Once a church reaches a certain level, it is very likely that the corrupt will far outnumber the devout.

Even in the True God Church, some things are slightly better, but only to a limited extent. With near-infinite power, wealth, and strength in hand, even kings and emperors must maintain respect, or even look up to them. One wrong step could result in total corruption.

The "observation" of the Gods is limited, and often they do not actually care about the "purity" of the shepherds on earth. Since they are "tools" for spreading faith, they naturally care about their effectiveness and whether they can spread faith and doctrine better.

Therefore, the bizarre situation found in some literary creations actually exists. The scenario of lower ranks being cheaply devout while upper ranks are corrupt and embezzling can indeed happen; it's just that the lower ranks likely haven't had time to be corrupted yet.

"I don't expect them to remain pure forever, nor do I expect them to be essentially different from other churches. I only hope that during the era when I, Li En Sudar, am still alive, they will be controllable and useful tools."

Li En would not test human nature, nor would he test whether originally pure people would be corrupted by time and greed. The answer is, of course, they will be corrupted!

Human nature is not worth testing at all. Only a very few saints can withstand the tests of time and desire, and the fact that they can be called saints proves their extreme rarity.

Churches, nobility, and other privileged groups with almost no constraints; once they develop for a period of time, corruption becomes the norm, and holiness and integrity become the anomaly.

Li En intends to plant nails, at least to ensure twenty years—no, ten years—of positive development.

"This shouldn't be too hard, right? Those small entrepreneurial groups are at least quite pure in their initial stages."

Li En did not rely entirely on Victoria and her little group; he had another candidate.