As Machine Priests gradually climbed higher, they would keep replacing parts of their bodies with Iron Prostheses.
Most of these parts could be replaced at will. This was how Machine Priests treated their injuries-whatever broke was simply replaced with something new.
And one of these parts was an internal forge.
It was not particularly useful. Installed inside the body, it could not be very large, so it could only make little trinkets like rings. Its power output was also rather low, limited by heat dissipation.
Its sole use was to complete the Ascension task.
Yes, this was the solution the Order of the Indomitable Flame had come up with: fulfill it literally.
Weren't they supposed to turn their own bodies into a forge? Just stuff one into their stomachs.
"This actually worked?!"
Elliot's eyes went wide when he read this part of the records.
The Great Being had genuinely been in the Abode at the time. Weren't they afraid of divine punishment for playing word games with the deity like this?
They really weren't.
Sacrifice was compulsory and binding on both parties, whether the Great Being or the Believer.
And so Elliot discovered, to his astonishment, that even in a world where gods existed, their believers still found ways to fool them...
"If even gods can be fooled, the Difference Engine probably can too." Speechless, Elliot began looking through the Ascension requirements for the other Paths.
This section was absurdly brief, with records of only a handful of Paths.
For example, Allen's Path of Sharpness required one to "grow stronger with every battle" to advance to High Rank.
Elliot read it in utter bewilderment. Was it really that simple?
But a comparison with the Sterling Family's [Indomitability] made it clear that advancing to High Rank was probably a very difficult