At this moment, the Stranger Dany felt extremely awkward!
The divine offices of the Seven Gods are similar to the "divine talisman summons" found in xianxia stories. For example, once someone receives an officially bestowed Earth God talisman from the Heavenly Court, they can immediately rise from an ordinary mortal to become the god of a region.
At the same time, the talisman also grants all the knowledge that an Earth God ought to possess.
Even if the person had been an illiterate soldier in life, the instant they obtained the "Earth God talisman," they would master extraordinary knowledge such as nurturing land vitality and improving geomancy.
In a world of gods like Faerûn, where supernatural power is fully systematized, a god's divine office is almost equivalent to a Heavenly Court talisman.
However, this world lacks a complete supernatural power system.
To put it plainly, everything was still in its infancy. The gods had not even had time to "start their business" before the company entered bankruptcy liquidation. The world began to fall into decay. When survival itself was difficult, how could anyone talk about building something new?
Therefore, the divine offices of the Seven Gods were formed unconsciously through the power of believers' faith, with the tacit permission of the laws of the universe. They belong to a kind of "proto-talisman."
The knowledge within a talisman is either bestowed by heaven and earth, which makes it a natural talisman, or infused by powerful figures of the Heavenly Court with their own knowledge and skills, much like burning data onto a master disc. That kind is a Heavenly Court talisman.
Even large cultivation sects are qualified to create talismans.
The divine offices of the Seven Gods were neither granted corresponding knowledge by the universe nor infused with "experience points" by any great being. They rely entirely on the believers' gradual accumulation over generations.
Simply put, whatever knowledge believers throughout the ages have possessed, the Seven Gods possess as well.
Therefore, among the seven divine offices, the Warrior of the Seven Gods is the one with the richest body of knowledge.
Next comes the Smith, which includes forging, farming, hunting, and all labor-related skills, followed by the Mother, whose domain is healing and medicine.
Perhaps the Crone, who represents wisdom, might surpass the Smith, but for the Father of Justice, the Maiden of Purity, and the Stranger of Death, it is difficult for believers to infuse them with extraordinary knowledge.
Especially the Stranger.
After Dany bonded with the Stranger's great black dragon spirit, what she gained was only the Silent Sisters' knowledge of handling corpses. That…
The Dragon Queen was certainly unwilling to become a corpse collector.
Thus, unlike the Warrior's divine office, which helped Dany become the "God of Unhung Swords," the Stranger barely helped her at all in terms of increasing knowledge.
But that did not mean the Stranger's divine office was useless.
In sharp contrast to its lack of knowledge was the strangeness and power of the Stranger's divine might.
"Your Majesty?" Big Bear rubbed his eyes. When he opened them again, the Dragon Queen was right in front of him and had not disappeared.
Yet when he blinked once more and looked again, under the dim sky her body seemed to blend into the gray, pallid gloom.
Had she disappeared?
Or was a layer of shadow blocking his vision?
The others noticed it as well. Although the White Knight and the four shield-bearing Unsullied did not understand what was happening, they immediately stepped forward and placed the Dragon Queen at the center of their protection.
"Your Majesty?" Big Bear was filled with doubt and unease and could not help taking another step forward.
This time, he and Garth and the others were certain of it. There was no shadow around the Dragon Queen, yet her figure truly flickered in and out of sight, as if she were wearing a defective invisibility cloak. Not only was her body not fully concealed, even the cloak itself left visible traces.
"Your Majesty, what's wrong?" Big Bear asked in a low voice.
The Dragon Queen finally turned back and glanced at him.
"Ah!" When Big Bear met her gaze, he cried out in shock and involuntarily stepped back.
What a terrifying pair of eyes they were!
They were still violet, but within them seemed to be reflected a world of death. Countless wronged souls wailed with soul-stealing cries, stretching out withered, shriveled arms as if they were about to reach out from those purple eyes. They wanted to crawl out of the world of death, and even more, they wanted to drag the living people caught in the violet gaze into it.
Big Bear felt icy all over. The soul within his body poured out like water released from a breached reservoir, rushing into a gray, cold world.
"I was praying just now, praying to the Stranger," Dany said. She had already returned to her heroic, tall, knightly queenly appearance, her whole body radiating a gentle, trustworthy aura. Turning her head, she glanced at everyone who was looking over in confusion and smiled as she continued, "Many brothers of the Night's Watch died in battle today. Their faith in the Seven Gods was shallow, and they were not qualified to enter heaven.
"But as members of the Night's Watch, they gave their lives for the Seven Kingdoms and deserved to be rewarded.
"So I prayed to the Stranger to guide these heroic spirits to rest for a few years at the foot of the Mountain of Heaven.
"When the Long Night ends and summer arrives, they will be reborn into the beautiful new world that they struggled for all their lives and sacrificed their lives to build."
"Uh, Your Majesty, what you're saying is a bit complicated. I don't really understand," Ulmer said blankly.
Not only the old ranger failed to understand, but nearly everyone around them was equally puzzled.
"Tell me," Dany asked instead, "when a person dies, where does the soul go?"
"To the seven hells?" Ulmer replied hesitantly.
"Bad people go to hell. Good people definitely go to heaven," a Night's Watch knight shouted.
"We worship the Red God. After death, we'll go to a world full of sunshine, gardens, fine wine, and Chu maidens," pockmarked Richard said excitedly.
Dany gave him a strange look, then nodded and said, "Generally speaking, people with faith, after death, will receive a god's reward according to their devotion and the merits of their life. That is, they either go to heaven or are punished by the gods and descend into hell."
"Then what about people who are neither good nor bad?" she asked again.
"This…" everyone was left dumbfounded.
"It seems the Seven-Star Scripture says that the Stranger will take them into the cycle of rebirth and send them back to the mortal world," Garth said hesitantly.
In the original Seven-Star Scripture, there were only two outcomes: ascension to heaven or descent into the seven layers of hell. Only underage children fell outside these two choices and instead entered a new cycle of rebirth.
The centaurs followed a similar tradition. The bodies of adults were cremated and sent to the Night Kingdom of the Horse God. Children were buried underground and reentered the cycle of rebirth.
Later, Dany made limited revisions to the doctrines of the Faith of the Seven. What Garth mentioned was content from the new scripture.
However, only septons and those who had studied the New Seven-Star Scripture knew of these changes. The vast majority of the Night's Watch present could not even read, and in their entire lives they had gone to a sept to pray only a handful of times.
For example, Ulmer. He had lived for more than sixty years, believed in the Seven, yet had never once read through the Seven-Star Scripture in full.
"So what does that mean?" Ulmer pointed at the Night's Watch corpses lined up, waiting to be cremated by dragonfire, and asked in confusion, "Have they been taken away by the Stranger now? Are they going to be reborn? What kind of benefit is rebirth supposed to be?"
"Rebirth is not a benefit?" Dany asked, puzzled. "Once the Long Night passes and summer returns, would that not be wonderful?"
Just moments ago, she herself had assumed the form of the Stranger and entered the realm of death, drawing the souls of the newly fallen Night's Watch into her faith space.
Well, with the exception of followers of the old gods of the North and followers of the Drowned God. They were nowhere to be seen. Dany did not encounter them, nor did she deliberately search for them.
Instead, guided by faint threads of faith, all believers of the Seven, including Onis Ketblack, appeared around her at the very instant the Stranger descended into the realm of death.
At that very moment, even believers of the Seven who had died elsewhere were drawn to her, like matter pulled toward a black hole, gathering before Stranger Dany.
For instance, the Night's Watch brothers who had died beneath the collapsed Wall two days earlier.
Dany paid no attention to the others and collected only the souls of the Night's Watch.
The realm of death was attached to the real world, effectively its shadow. The scenery was identical to the real world, yet it was a gray, frigid domain.
Souls of the dead wandered within it. There was no god of death or underworld wardens to manage them.
There was no need for management. Every moment, those souls radiated spiritual essence into the realm of death. Once that essence was exhausted and their life imprint vanished, they dissipated entirely, truly returning to the world.
The realm of death resembled a spatial interstice. By operating the divine power of the Stranger, one could merge into it. Thus, Dany's figure appeared indistinct, like a gray silhouette blurred by mosaic.
"If I'm reborn and become another person, what does that have to do with me?" Ulmer muttered.
"Uh…" Dany froze for a moment.
That did not seem entirely wrong.
Unless there was a chance to awaken memories from a past life, after rebirth one truly became an unrelated person.
"At least it's better than going to the seven layers of hell."
Eastwatch-by-the-Sea was still thirty kilometers from the section of the Wall that had not yet collapsed. It was impossible for the Night's Watch to mobilize a large force to transport all the supplies in the castle wormway to Castle Black.
If they truly did that and the Others launched a return attack, even the Dragon Queen would not be able to save them.
Therefore, they built a simple three-story watchtower at the only exit of the wormway. Its primary purpose was to observe the movements of the Others.
The entire wormway was left with only a small team of thirty men.
If they encountered the Others, they were not to fight. They only needed to retreat immediately into the wormway, close the gates, and wait for rescue.
"This is the secret key to the magic web communications hub," Dany said as she handed a glass candle to the alchemist, instructing him, "Report to me daily on the wind strength, temperature, weather, and the movements of the Others at Eastwatch. If the Others surround the watchtower and attack, you can also send me a message."
With the suppression on the Dragonstone magic web hub lifted, its ultra-long-distance communication function was restored. The alchemists stationed at Eastwatch could contact the Dragon Queen at any time.
Not only Eastwatch. Originally, all seventeen castles along the Wall had alchemists assigned to them.
When Dany first built the Dragonstone magic web hub, her purpose was to gain instant communication capabilities during the Long Night.
Thus, she had dispatched a group of truly skilled alchemists to the Wall early on, from the Alchemists' Guild of King's Landing.
Before the Long Night arrived, the alchemists were responsible for preparing wildfire. Once the Long Night officially began, Dany would activate the magic web communications.
Unfortunately, when the Long Night came, the Wall collapsed outright. More than half of those alchemists perished in the tide of corpses, and those human resources were wasted in vain.
Returning to Castle Black, Dany moved back into the King's Tower.
While Dalla, Mance Rayder's wife, was tidying the room for her, the Dragon Queen took the opportunity to split off a strand of consciousness and enter the faith space.
"Who are you?"
Before Dany floated a black sun, bound tightly by white chains.
The black sun struggled a few times. The chains clattered loudly, yet there was no sign of them breaking free.
"I am the God-King of Darkness, the master of shadows, the shadow cast by the first spark of fire in heaven and earth," the black sun boomed like thunder, causing the entire faith space to tremble slightly.
"Are you R'hllor or not? Be straightforward and stop being so evasive," Dany said impatiently, cutting to the chase.
"I am not R'hllor. I am also Him," the black sun replied in a deep voice.
"Enough. You're the Shadow Demon R'hllor, right?" Dany waved her hand. "Why do you look like a bull with a serpent's body?"
"You should ask why bulls and serpents resemble me so closely."
"I thought you would be a mass of fire, or a mass of shadow," Dany said, puzzled.
"To exist in the material world, one must have a material form. My form is simply like this. Bulls and serpents that came into being later took my appearance as a reference."
(End of chapter)
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