Ch.114Otherworld Exploration (6)

In this world, the resurrection of the ‘dead’ is not actually impossible.

Since the trinity of body-mind-soul has already been proven in various ways, purely from a theoretical standpoint, the principle of reviving a living being from death has already been fully established.

The process is simple: restore the damaged body with magic to its pre-death state, somehow inject the soul into the corpse, and recreate the mind through mysterious magical principles. Complete.

If one were to approach resurrection purely from a theoretical perspective, surprisingly, the theory is not complicated at all… not in the slightest.

However, just because the theory is perfect doesn’t mean it can be implemented in reality without any problems.

The magical power required for resurrection is so enormous that even intermediate magic users, let alone lower-level ones, wouldn’t dare attempt it. Furthermore, since one must be proficient in so many different areas, the beings capable of using resurrection magic are inherently limited.

To be specific, one would need to be at least a high-level mage who has reached mastery in three or more schools of magic—and not just any high-level, but an ultra-high-level mage, or at minimum, a pope or cardinal-level (high-level) priest of the Pantheon.

Even for these powerful mortals, resurrection can still be restricted depending on the soul’s owner or individual will.

However, for powerful spiritual beings like the gods of the high heavens, resurrection is neither particularly dangerous nor difficult.

High-ranking demons like Demon Legion Commanders or Demon Lords sometimes resurrect their capable followers, and Outer Gods occasionally “recycle” their toys when they’re reluctant to discard them.

Of course, resurrection is certainly not impossible for the gods of the Pantheon who belong to the Celestial Council. In fact, even now, people are occasionally resurrected through miracles of faith around the world.

“I humbly request this. Please, though it may be presumptuous, maintain silence…”

“Of course, Chief. I too understand well the gravity of what has happened to me.”

And knowing full well that resurrection is by no means a trivial matter, I sought his understanding to conceal the fact that he had been resurrected by the hands of “Jephtal of the Golden Hand.”

Resurrection. Sometimes called the act one should never perform at a funeral… the weight of this action was…

Honestly, it was so heavy that even I wasn’t confident I could bear it—it was beyond what could be expressed by simply calling it “heavy.”

In truth, if this were just an ordinary case of resurrection through a “miracle” of faith, there would be no need to worry or agonize to this extent.

After all, “miracles”—where the latent magical aptitude in humans accomplishes the impossible under the influence of overwhelming faith (belief)—are considered sacred, but their principles have already been established.

But the biggest problem with this situation is… that the being who resurrected that pure-blooded werewolf was none other than “Jephtal of the Golden Hand,” the chief deity of the Pantheon.

The leader of the unified faith system known as the Pantheon. Together with his wife, Debona, the goddess of life and healing, they most closely resemble the Abrahamic tradition… particularly the Christian faith system, if we were to use Earth as a comparison.

However, unlike Earth’s world where religious groups inevitably become corrupt and distorted as they grow larger and their history deepens, resulting in an almost inevitable divergence from their original purpose and intent…

In this medieval fantasy world, where gods directly bestow their power based on the personal character and nature of priests, religion was able to obtain intangible spiritual authority in exchange for separation from secular power.

To put it negatively, instead of dirtying themselves by entering secular politics where true good and evil are virtually impossible, they establish their position by maintaining distance from power and pretending to be noble and good…

In any case, considering that religious and spiritual intervention in secular matters rarely produces good results, this stance of the Pantheon has no alternative and is highly efficient, which is why it continues to this day.

Well, strictly speaking, the Pantheon serves as almost the only standard of “good” in this chaotic world, so it has now become almost integrated with human society.

Poverty relief, treatment of the injured, free meals, free healthcare, social stability, psychological counseling, disease control, job placement, family protection, and crucially, connecting gods and mortals spiritually.

In short, the religious order is an exemplary group with great social influence and genuine religious practice since gods actually exist, but the problem lies with the dependent fanatics who emerge when this social influence combines with humans lacking self-identity.

These fools, typically represented by Combat Pilgrims, are characterized by the human tendency to depend on absolute beings. Having failed to find their own identity, they rely on others for it and end up running wild in their own way.

They commit acts that the gods forbid by their own hands—regardless of what they might think, they’re already destined for hell after death.

If these detestable individuals were to discover a being resurrected by the hand of a god, the resulting chaos would be beyond description.

I, at least I, thought so.

Anyway, after deciding to hide the fact of the resurrection of Lucius Wolfblood, the father of the Wolfblood sisters and one of the few remaining pure-blooded werewolves…

“Miss Gretel. How is your father’s condition?”

“…N-not good.”

After somehow secretly moving Lucius Wolfblood to the basement of Gretel’s workshop as we entered the village, we were having a brief discussion about his condition.

“…Have you given him medicine?”

“No. When he… came back, his body was already completely healed. The wounds were recovered, and injuries were alleviated. But… his body itself seems weakened.”

“…His body itself?”

“Yes. My sister says his muscles have generally decreased and his internal organs have weakened. Oh, but there’s no danger to his health! It’s just something that rest will resolve…”

“Then, that’s truly fortunate.”

According to what Gretel briefly told me, as I was worried something might happen, Lucius Wolfblood’s condition is actually better than expected.

Compared to the various side effects that occur during artificial resurrection—partial memory loss, mental paralysis, self-distortion, physical dematerialization—a slight weakening is not a major problem…

“…Can it be resolved with medicine?”

“Yes! Actually, we’ve received many good ingredients… hehe.”

While the animals and indigenous creatures sacrificed during the process of applying and removing the texture in the northeastern forest is quite unfortunate, the large amount of monster by-products obtained in this process is beneficial in many ways.

Other benefits gained from this situation will be useful in various ways, but at this point, it’s appropriate to be thankful that we can easily obtain medicine to treat Lucius Wolfblood.

Well, from my perspective, it’s all good news anyway.

※ ※ ※

And, that night.

“…Phew.”

As I entered the dream world as usual, I now opened my eyes in that dream space, taking a deep breath as I recalled the one who might appear through the servants of “Gluttony.”

The fact that he can invade this space—the “Table”—when his subordinates die, despite normally being unable to intervene without exerting considerable effort, is enough to put me in quite a peculiar state.

But… what actually met my eyes was a completely different scene than expected.

“…Hmm?”

Contrary to my expectation that he would irritate me and aim for my loss of composure, I sensed neither any presence nor any malevolent aura.

Especially for a higher-dimensional being like “Gluttony,” who is connected to something that cannot be perceived through ordinary means, its presence cannot be hidden even if it wants to.

‘…Was it Lord Jephtal?’

Therefore, I suspected that the fundamental cause of this incident was likely Lord Jephtal, and while expressing gratitude to him, I now intended to remove the fruits here in earnest.

Since these fruits and factors almost certainly contain the toxicity of “Gluttony,” it would be better to dismantle them into scraps so small that its influence cannot even interfere.

In reality, compared to the enhancement from factors, absorption from scraps is literally at the level of scraps, but nevertheless, the scraps from dismantled factors are relatively potent and strong.

Thanks to the gradual accumulation of these scraps, the enhancement multiplier is now about 2x.

Considering that these scraps are not completely useless, I dismantled all the remaining factors and absorbed them into my body…

‘…?’

Around that time, as I was about to leave, thinking all the work was done, I suddenly… felt something off in the factor organization list that had been forgotten and neglected, and while looking for it, I discovered one difference.

[-Owner of the Domain (Provisional)(?)]

‘This was… “Owner of the Other World,” wasn’t it?’

The “Owner of the Other World” factor had changed its form, transforming into something completely different.