Leyton stretched out his right hand, which was wearing the mechanical glove, and made a pulling motion in the air.
Every component and every wisp of Steam that made up this Divine Kingdom began to churn, rapidly changing color and shape.
The constantly rising Steam quickly sank, losing its color, and various mechanical parts became even smaller, shrinking to a point where they were barely visible to the naked eye.
Then, neon-like colors began to appear, and the illusory kingdom transformed into a colorful city silhouette, as if instantly transitioning from the Steam Age to the Electric Age.
As the illusory Divine Kingdom stabilized, Leyton's body dematerialized, decomposing into torrents of information that merged into this Divine Kingdom, intending to completely cleanse all traces belonging to the God of Steam and Machinery.
With the help of the Divine Kingdom of Steam and the Uniqueness of a Paragon, Leyton had basically grasped this Pathway, and by relying on the Convergence effect between Beyonder characteristics, he could see illusory stars scattered across the world.
They were either large or small, bright or dim, and each represented a Beyonder of the Paragon Pathway, or a Mystical Item, or a Beyonder creature.
As Leyton's gaze fell upon them, these illusory stars began to flicker; some disappeared directly, some became brighter, and a chaotic, layered sound echoed, like prayers, but difficult to discern, while others remained unchanged, like dead objects.
Among all the illusory stars, the two with the strongest sense of Convergence seemed to be characteristics that had not yet been accommodated by anyone, and they showed no reaction to Leyton's gaze.
"This is Illuminator. Excluding the one Steam took, do these two stars represent Bornova and the lost characteristic?"
Muttering to himself, Leyton tried to establish a connection with this characteristic, to ascertain its location for later retrieval.
Before he could establish the connection, that illusory star suddenly vanished from his sight, as if being erased bit by bit with an eraser.
"Someone hid it?" Leyton whispered, then no longer paid attention to the matter.
As the only peak of this existing Pathway, he didn't even need to do anything; under the guidance of fate, that last characteristic would spontaneously appear around him through some coincidence or accident, he only needed to seize the opportunity at the crucial moment.
Collecting his thoughts, Leyton shifted his attention to the faith belonging to the God of Steam and Machinery. With the Uniqueness and the Divine Kingdom in hand, he easily intercepted the prayers directed at the God of Steam and Machinery and responded on his behalf.
The large number of prayers accumulated during this period all surged into Leyton's mind, causing ripples to spread through the torrent of information flowing silently in the Divine Kingdom, flashing with chaotic starlight, like a night sky filled with brilliant stars:
"Great God of Steam and Machinery,"
"You are the embodiment of essence, you are the Guardian of Artisans, you are the radiance of technology."
"Merciful Lord, my husband, my child, my relatives have all died in the War. What should I do? I can't find the meaning to live anymore?"
"Great God of Steam and Machinery, please let me see him again, even if it's in a dream. I truly miss him."
"Great God of Steam and Machinery, recently some people within the Steam Church have begun to re-believe in the former God of Craftsmen. I secretly inquired about some information and found that the source came from some bishops and deacons. Please tell me, should I continue to investigate?"
"O Great God of Steam, the Council has acceded to the unequal treaty proposed by the new regime of the Southern Continent, intending to cede regions such as the provinces of Reston, Olay, Suchite, Lim, Paz, and the Archipelago as bargaining chips for a truce."
"Great God of Steam and Machinery, after the War of the Gods ended, His Holiness the Pope has not appeared, and a month has passed now. What should we do?"
Calming himself, Leyton listened carefully for a while to the accumulated prayers and found that prayers from the middle and high-ranking members of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery were few. They seemed to have been praying in fear at first, but later, for some unknown reason, they gave up.
In the state of information torrent, he used a large amount of information to calculate all possibilities:
"Although he is not a God skilled in divination and prophecy, being Sequence 0, Steam would certainly have some premonition and make some arrangements in advance."
"Once he fails in the competition with me, he will abandon his current identity and revert to his former identity as the God of Craftsmen."
"This should be one of his preparations. He still has one Illuminator characteristic left, and I need to stabilize my own state and wait for the opening of the Western Continent. I won't deliberately try to retrieve the characteristic or suppress him, at least not for now. This is his time to recover and develop."
"After the war, some high-ranking personnel of the Steam Church went missing, and they also took away many Sealed Artifacts and a large amount of archival data, intending to restart the Steam Church as a Hidden organization?"
Collecting his thoughts, Leyton redirected his attention to the prayer light spots.
Ignoring the meaningless and unresponsive parts, Leyton used the Uniqueness in his hand to provide appropriate responses to all the remaining ones, allowing the miracles belonging to the God of Steam and Machinery to reappear among the believers.
Then, he used these prayer light spots and the connections established with the believers of the God of Steam and Machinery to connect their consciousness to the World Tree, allowing them to see a corner of the Land of Perfection and hear his voice.
At this moment, whether it was a praying believer, a priest or bishop performing mass, or a Machinery Hivemind member carrying out a mission, all stopped what they were doing, gazing around with either vigilance or stupor.
Layered, vivid color blocks distorted into lines extending upwards. Their spirits seemed to have fallen into a vast river, unable to control themselves, drifting with the current, constantly rising, as if to touch the illusory Cosmos above their heads, to touch that constantly rising Steam.
After a brief process, a magnificent kingdom, with various neon colors floating, appeared before them.
This was a kingdom constructed from densely packed mechanical creations. Every part, every corner here exuded the beauty of lines and machinery, as if transcending the current era, making people involuntarily fall into fascination and longing.
For ordinary believers, this was just a fleeting illusion, but for the clergy of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery and members of the Machinery Hivemind, they saw more and heard more.
Leyton's gaze swept over each of them, whether they had secretly left the church, or had wavering faith, or still firmly upheld their faith.
He watched everyone equally, then from the clear and profound light of civilization, a blurry figure emerged, revealing the essence and aura of civilization and knowledge.
As members of the church, all these consciousnesses he left behind felt a familiar aura, the aura belonging to the God of Steam and Machinery, the aura of civilization and knowledge, more magnificent and grander than before.
They instantly trembled, unable to control their bodies and minds, and could only lower their heads, constantly praying, to alleviate their inner tension.
Maintaining this sense of oppression, Leyton's calm, unwavering voice echoed within the Divine Kingdom:
"I have returned, bringing innovation and a higher civilization."
"I am knowledgeable in all things, not just the Guardian of Artisans and the radiance of technology, but also knowledge, civilization, mystery, and truth."
"Those who believe in me shall observe my precepts: faith comes from the heart, knowledge is supreme, adhere to civilization, adhere to rationality."
"From today onwards, your faith is free and heartfelt, not a binding constraint. Faith is a Pathway that all people walk; it can be more than one, it can overlap, it can intersect, as long as it does not deviate from the Pathway of knowledge, I will always walk with you."
"On the Pathway of knowledge, I am at the starting point, in the process, and at the end. I walk with every seeker of knowledge. If you encounter confusion, I will become a lighthouse; if you encounter thorns, knowledge is a sharp blade; if you encounter a chasm, civilization can build a bridge."
"The Pathway of knowledge leads to all things. When practicing it, remember: do not be arrogant; all things are equal."
"From today onwards, Bornova will become the new Pope, and the focus of the church will shift to Southern Intis. Stay or move forward, you are free to choose."
In Paz Province, Intis, along the Fog Sea coast, in the provisional central square of the capital Leyton, dense crowds surrounded the area, making it impenetrable.
Many of them were vibrant young people, coming from various provinces of Intis, and from nearby Lenburg, Segar, and other places.
Today was the first day of Intis's complete division, and also the first day of the establishment of the Southern Intis government and Roselle's re-ascension to the throne!
As a legendary figure well-known throughout Intis, whether out of curiosity or idol worship, many young people from relatively well-off families traveled by Steam train to Leyton to attend the establishment of the Southern Intis government and Roselle's coronation ceremony.
On the sea surface not far from the port, huge ships crossed the Fog Sea, arranged neatly and anchored steadily around, strangely unaffected by the wind and waves.
Leading them was a massive five-masted sailing ship, Bernadette's Dawn, with Cattleya's Future docked closely beside it.
On the deck of the Future, the black cat Paz looked at a small dried fish growing out of a mushroom with a lifeless expression, tried licking it several times with its tongue, but still couldn't bring itself to eat it.
After trying for a long time, it waved its paws, slapped the dried fish into the sea, then ran to Cattleya and asked:
"Captain, why are we still eating Frank's mushrooms even though the War is over?"
Cattleya did not answer Paz's question, her gaze remained on the Dawn nearby, looking at the tall figure on its deck.