"The problem now is, are we really going to bring him back?" Dartnerly snapped out of his reverie about the future and began to consider the underlying issues and risks.
First, the Saint Child was most likely still in an immature state. If the Church hadn't already relocated him, wouldn't extracting him prematurely damage his potential?
Second, if they did bring him out early, how would they handle the Church's subsequent accountability and wrath?
The Dartnerly family still had a few favors they could call in, but those were no longer enough to cover sothing of this magnitude.
How could they maneuver through this situation to reap the maximum benefit?
"Perhaps this isn't as troubleso as we imagined," Dartnerly murmured, his train of thought suddenly shifting as he grasped a few critical points.
The crux of the matter was the Church's current attitude.
With the Church's financial power, it wouldn't be difficult for them to relocate the Saint Child supposedly hidden in Finback Mountain if they truly wanted to.
Over the years, the Church's power and influence had indeed shifted for various reasons.
However, the situation in Sky Spring City and Tail Fin Town was different. Sky Spring City still had a Golden Rank existence overseeing it.
At the sa ti, the ongoing struggle between the Enclosure Faction and the Governance Faction made things incredibly interesting.
Consequently, the official protocol for handling a special entity like the Saint Child would beco highly ambiguous.
This ideological clash provided outsiders with a unique window of opportunity.
For example, the matter of this very Saint Child.
Right now, the Church's inner circle was likely suffering from a massive headache over how to deal with him.
The Enclosure Faction most likely wanted to follow the old precedent: nurture him to maturity, then absorb him into the Church's ranks.
The Governance Faction, on the other hand, likely harbored entirely different ideas.
Therefore, what if the Dartnerly family could extract the child at this exact juncture and use their family's resources to complete his maturation?
After all, the Church genuinely wanted to produce a true Saint Child. However, conducting the experints themselves made them vulnerable to being caught and exploited by the opposing faction.
In this scenario, the Dartnerly family stepping up to act as their white glove would be absolutely perfect.
In other words, the Azure Sky Whale Church of Discipline currently had no feasible way to handle the Saint Child, forcing them to shelve the issue.
If Dartnerly stepped in to resolve it and successfully forged a Golden Rank existence, it would be a joyous outco for everyone involved.
Even if sothing went wrong, it would simply an Dartnerly taking the bla once again.
At this point, Dartnerly couldn't care less about shouldering a bit more bla.
The risks were snowballing, but as long as it didn't result in sudden death, none of it was a real problem.
To put it bluntly, even if absolutely nothing went wrong right now, the family would still face inevitable destruction if they failed to produce a Golden Rank!
"So, this might be Nels's true objective," Dartnerly concluded. Having figured this out, his expression smoothed into calm resolve.
Understanding this one point made everything else fall perfectly into place.
Dartnerly now began to truly ponder what kind of person Nemus actually was.
The old Nels—the foolish boy who had recklessly reported the truth without considering the consequences—had long been erased from his mind.
In his place stood the current Nemus.
Powerful, calm, and seemingly possessing the absolute confidence to control everything.
From start to finish, not a single event seed to have slipped past Nemus's grasp.
Setting all that aside and rely looking at his actions, one would realize that Nemus had been doing good deeds this entire ti.
Everything he did was perfectly in line with fulfilling the responsibilities of a Great Knight and a Cleric of the Church.
"Nels has a burning ambition and desire for power!"
"The reason he refuses to return to the family isn't out of hatred; he is definitely not soone with such a narrow mindset." "Rather, he believes that bearing the label of the Dartnerly family won't provide any benefits for his advancent within the Church."
Dartnerly's thoughts were exceptionally clear at this mont.
"Therefore, all of Nels's current actions are actually quite obvious. He wants to force our Dartnerly family into a corner... No, he wants to make us clearly see that we are already in a dead end."
"And then force us to make a choice."
"Going to Finback Mountain to bring back the Saint Child—this is his true transaction with us!" The very instant he uttered those words, Dartnerly felt an invisible, dense web of sothing spreading across the entirety of Tail Fin Town.
At that mont, he faintly understood exactly why he had lost.
anwhile, in the Cathedral, the Book of Ages in Nemus's grasp underwent a subtle transformation. As he closed it with one hand, he had already established preliminary control over the historical trajectory, bringing about a supportive aura of inevitability.
This was one of the thods to obtain a Historical Number and thus advance to the Legend Rank.
Observing history, predicting the future, and seeking out the historical trajectory.
Then, one had to step into that very trajectory, manipulating its course step by step through their own thods.
Once they reached a critical historical juncture, they could complete their historical mission, thereby harvesting the Historical Number.
Only this unique kind of Number could propel an individual into becoming a being of the Legend Rank!
Nemus briefly sensed the historical trajectory before beginning to plan his next moves.
The Construct Protocol's attack on the mbers of Das's Caravan had completely ignited the current powder keg.
With such a severe incident occurring, the Investigation Team could no longer be allowed to conduct their inquiries at a leisurely pace.
Instead, they had to use all available clues to completely eradicate anyone associated with the Construct Protocol.
Furthermore, from this point onward, any individual affiliated with the Construct Protocol or exhibiting its traits would be annihilated the mont they showed their face.
Once the Church truly got serious, very few would be able to withstand their wrath.
Because of this, it was practically guaranteed that while the Construct Protocol might not disappear completely in the near future, it would face prolonged, targeted suppression, making any significant developnt incredibly difficult.
However, this was exactly what Nemus had anticipated.
If an organization wanted to transition from its initial mixed bag of chaotic, barbaric growth into a formal, structured entity with proper regulations, it inherently had to undergo a baptism of fire.
Otherwise...
'With the exception of a few individuals, the entire Construct Protocol is mostly composed of Nominal Believers. There are very few True Believers and Devout Believers.'
'This cannot truly satisfy my needs.'
Nemus's Divinity needed to be completed, which required a massive amount of Faith. The Construct Protocol absolutely could not continue operating like this.
His identity within the Church was rely a channel to acquire divine information and a crucial cover for developing his own faction.
Once Nemus attained the strength of the Golden Rank or the ability to rapidly traverse between different whalebacks, that would be the ti to discard his Church identity, openly raise his banner, and formally clash against the Precept Church.
'For now, I still need to wait. Although my current power is formidable, I do not yet have the strength to stand against the Church.'
The power of this world was rooted in The Number, manifesting as an Attribute Value.
Because The Number was concentrated, power would naturally concentrate as well.
Weak individuals were pitifully frail, while the strong would beco unimaginably powerful.
Faced with all sorts of bizarre and unpredictable abilities, rely possessing a fragnt of Divinity was not enough for Nemus to guarantee victory. He couldn't afford to be careless; he absolutely had to acquire a critical breakthrough in power to rewrite everything.
And at this very mont, Nemus already had a vague understanding of what kind of crucial Evolution he needed to undergo.
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