Eternity and Transience

Richie stood on the steps of the Temple of Eternity.

He led his people in gazing up at this magnificent Wonder.

The years had left their mark on him.

Beneath the hemp robe flapping in the cold wind, his skin was already covered in wrinkles.

Illness had taken its toll.

The old chieftain had grown increasingly stooped.

But the sharp gaze beneath his graying brows remained unchanged.

"I named this temple the Temple of Eternity. Not only to signify the eternity of the gods, but also in the hope that you will forever remain in awe and gratitude for all that the gods have bestowed upon you. And may you never forget the path we have traveled, or all that we have learned from history."

Richie spoke slowly from above, his voice weathered by time.

The people knelt below, listening reverently.

They still held the old man in deep respect.

Although Richie had spent most of his time recuperating in a cave,

and Boer had taken over most of the tribe's affairs,

the people knew that this old man, who had nearly retired from public life, still held the reins.

Everything in this temple

could only be decided by him, the God-Chosen.

Richie stood in the temple and slowly explained everything about it.

At last, he said to the people:

"This great temple needs a priest to oversee it."

At these words, the people were taken aback.

They all knew how important the position of temple priest was.

Only then did they turn their attention away from the magnificent sight.

They began whispering among themselves.

"Could it be Boer, the young chieftain?"

"No. I remember Chieftain Richie saying that the same person can't serve as both priest and chieftain."

"Then could it be Young Master Ned?"

The tribespeople's eyes began wandering toward Ned.

Boer also instinctively glanced toward his older brother.

At the same time, he looked at his father expectantly.

He believed his father would never give up on his older brother.

But his father's gaze didn't turn their way.

Ned's face was calm, too.

He seemed to have long expected that none of this had anything to do with him.

Someone glanced toward Ned and lowered their voice as much as possible.

"I doubt it'll be Young Master Ned. Ever since that incident, the elders haven't taken much of a liking to him."

"Oh, right! Maybe it'll be the wise Lord Blair?"

"I remember Lord Blair saying he didn't want to get involved in these matters."

In the end,

amid the heated discussion,

the people brought up an elder named Liva.

This Liva was none other than

Boer's father-in-law.

Boer had even married two years before his older brother.

He had two wives.

One of them was Elder Liva's daughter.

That made Elder Liva practically part of the chieftain's family.

If Chieftain Richie were acting out of self-interest, he might choose Elder Liva.

But, to everyone's surprise,

Richie announced a different name.

"Huxter."

"From this day forward, you will be the priest of this temple."

A thin, middle-aged man fell to his knees and bowed when he heard this.

When he raised his head, the people saw fervent devotion on his face.

"Rest assured. Huxter will fulfill his duty as the temple priest."

Huxter became the first priest of the Temple of Eternity.

It was unexpected, yet it made sense.

After the gods bestowed the Rot Spirit Flower,

Huxter had used the miraculous Rot Spirit Insects to create all sorts of strange Insect Herbal Medicines.

He had cured many illnesses that the people had once thought impossible to treat.

Many tribespeople believed that Huxter had received a revelation from the gods, and that the flower was a gift to him, granting him his miraculous medical skills.

Huxter himself was firmly convinced of this, too.

Though the people saw this elder as cold and reclusive,

his contributions to the tribe over the years, as well as his devotion to the gods, were there for all to see.

His appointment as temple priest was not exactly what everyone had hoped for,

but it would cause little controversy and could be considered fair.

And so,

the first Wonder of civilization was truly reborn, witnessed by everyone in the tribe.

Mona had already sensed the fluctuations coming from the mountain.

He looked toward its summit,

at the Wonder named the Temple of Eternity.

[Your followers have built the first Wonder of civilization.]

[Though they used no extraordinary materials in its construction, the gathering of the Fire of Faith has given it a unique greatness.]

[This Wonder holds the most devout and pure faith of your followers.]

[It has gained a unique Wonder effect.]

After his followers built the Temple of Eternity,

Mona noticed a new [Wonder] category in his [Faith] section.

He touched [Faith].

The name [Temple of Eternity] appeared inside.

[Temple of Eternity]: A magnificent stone temple, it is a powerful Anchor Point that gathers the most devout faith of your followers, and a place toward which their faithful souls yearn. The souls of followers who die within a certain range will not immediately dissipate, but will instead drift toward this temple and linger there for a time.

Mona touched the temple on the mountaintop.

In that instant, he immediately sensed everything about this Wonder.

Just as he had expected, once completed, the Temple of Eternity had become his most powerful Anchor Point yet.

But that wasn't all.

As it accumulated in great quantities, the increased purity of [Faith] had brought a qualitative change to this Anchor Point.

It could not only absorb the Fire of Faith from his followers, but even draw in their souls.

When people died and the colors of their souls left their bodies, they would instinctively be drawn to this temple and make their way inside, where they could linger for a time.

It was like a miraculous resting place for souls.

"From now on, even if I miss the moment they die, I'll still be able to gather these followers' souls."

Mona withdrew his hand.

He gazed at the colors of souls dancing above the temple like the aurora, and a sense of wonder stirred in him.

Faith was wondrous at times.

Clearly,

this temple, which the people had spent countless years building, had originally been nothing more than an ordinary structure made of piled stones—at most, a more powerful Anchor Point.

But the people, devout in their faith in the gods, believed it was something great.

And so, it truly became imbued with a touch of the extraordinary.

The souls of dead followers could now have a chance to return to the embrace of the gods.

The gods were not made great by faith.

But the followers were made great by it.

If this was a tribute the people had offered to please the gods,

then they had indeed succeeded.

Only, to make this offering,

the people of the tribe had journeyed for more than twenty years.

"Time passes so quickly..."

Mona's gaze lingered on the temple for a long while. He saw the faces of those inside, many of them now unfamiliar to him.

From its construction to its completion, this Wonder had taken more than twenty years of the tribe's time.

Many of the followers who had worked hard to build it had closed their eyes forever before they could see its magnificent splendor.

But to a god, that was no more than the briefest of moments.