Logar: "There are some things I don't quite understand. Can you teach me?"
Worp shook his head: "I have nothing left to teach you."
The Primarchs were not unintelligent, but their personalities determined their respective strengths. For example, Logar was better at learning than Koz.
He could always infer a lot from a little when learning, which earned him Worp's favor.
Worp was skilled at telling parables to the Primarchs to help them form correct values, but he struggled when it came to specific governance.
Logar fell silent.
Worp felt he had nothing more to teach him, but Logar would never think that way. Worp's mere presence by his side would constantly remind him to stay true to himself.
Logar was not Koz; he could not predict the future like his brother.
But just like his brother, Worp would one day leave his side.
Logar could threaten him to stay by saying, 'If you leave, I won't be able to stay true to myself,' but he was a Primarch; he couldn't be so childish.
Otherwise, wouldn't it prove that Worp's education was a failure?
Even his brother didn't cry out when Worp left. If he performed worse than his brother, how would Worp see him?
But if he wasn't childish enough, how could he make Worp stay?
"Logar!"
Medeea suddenly called him.
...
"Do not worship the gods; we have our own savior."
Nairo preferred being a teacher to being a liberator.
So he returned to his old profession, explaining to children in the classroom why humans did not need to worship the gods.
Before Nairo became a slave, he had been a teacher for half his life. Back then, he instilled Covenant doctrines in children in the classroom, but now he was denying the worship of gods.
Logar had high hopes for him. Most adults in Colchis were terminally ill, making it difficult to completely remove the poison of faith.
But children were highly malleable, and just as Logar's brother formed the Midnight Specter with children, Logar would form his Ashen Circle with these children.
Nairo loved this job, and Logar's trust in him filled his heart with pride.
He picked up the thermos on the podium, took a sip of water, and then picked up the textbook again, ready to continue teaching his students.
But as his fingertip touched the gilded cover of the textbook, he suddenly froze.
Where did this book come from?
"Bang!"
Nairo's mind was filled with the ringing sound of impact, and his frail body heavily hit the ground.
Several Ashen Circle youths pressed him down, and his thin spine let out a brittle crack under the strain.
The sharp pain from his chest made Nairo realize that his ribs must be broken.
In Nairo's pupils, the burning light of promethium flames was reflected. The entire podium, along with the gilded book, burned fiercely before his eyes, and flickering tongues of fire devoured the hot-stamped text.
His eyes were filled with fear, but the believers felt heartache at the destruction of the book.
...
Esperia and Akhida were still the commander and deputy commander of the army, but they no longer led the resistance; instead, they led the Colchis Auxiliary.
Logar personally renamed the resistance, saying he wanted them to adapt to the pace of the Great Crusade in advance.
Medeea provided them with a military training manual titled "Militia Training Manual (Published 532. M24)," and the Colchis Auxiliary was reorganized and trained according to this manual.
At this moment, Akhida and Esperia were each leading a legion in a simulated combat exercise in the desert outside the city.
"The person who invented this book is truly a genius."
Esperia sincerely admired the author of this manual, but unfortunately, it was unsigned. Medeea only told them that it was a military training manual used by ancient ancestors to train militias.
As for regular army manuals, they couldn't use them because they simply didn't have military power comparable to the ancient Colchis army.
The history of human tactical development is inseparable from the level of weapon and equipment development.
The premise of line infantry tactics is having guns, the premise of trench warfare is heavy artillery, machine guns, and barbed wire, and the premise of blitzkrieg is tanks.
If the level of weapon and equipment development is too high, it can be backward compatible with outdated tactics.
But the reverse is not true; if the level of weapon and equipment development is too low, it cannot be forward compatible.
If someone were to tell Napoleon, who swept across Europe in the early 19th century, to abandon line infantry tactics and fight trench warfare, Napoleon would only think he was an idiot.
Even with the "Militia Training Manual," the current Colchis Auxiliary needed a long time to adapt, and they couldn't use more advanced tactics at all.
But even so, Esperia still loved this book and continued to study it even during exercises.
Kurta inserted a blue flag into the sand table, representing the enemy forces that had moved to their right flank.
Overall, the enemy had formed an arc-shaped encirclement around them.
"I'll make the following deployment adjustments," Esperia said, "The Third Legion and Fifth Legion will maneuver east to strengthen the right flank defense. The First, Second, and Fourth Legions will fully break through the Blue Army's central defense, and the Sixth Legion will serve as the general reserve. Since Akhida wants to encircle us, he definitely won't have time to construct a second line of defense. As long as we tear open a gap, we can counter-encircle the Blue Army!"
Akhida and Esperia both knew each other's personalities inside out. Akhida's tactics were always aggressive, with all deployments aimed at quickly defeating the enemy.
Esperia preferred to plan before acting, which often led her commanded army into a passive position in the early stages of a war, but she could always rely on her superior on-the-spot command ability to make extreme counterattacks.
Esperia no longer looked at the sand table. The war would not change in the short term, and it was better to learn more from the manual during this time.
As Esperia's fingertip touched the gilded cover of the ancient book, her pupils reflected bizarre, twisting characters. Those symbols seemed to come alive, rearranging themselves before her eyes: "Guide to Combined Operations of Iron Men and Stone Men (Published 999. M23)."
Some power beyond comprehension was establishing a connection with her through the pages, and an irresistible craving surged from her spine to her brain.
As long as she opened it, the tactics of all races in the galaxy would be at her disposal, her art of command would break through mortal limits, she would lead the Colchis Auxiliary to conquer countless worlds among the stars, seize supreme glory, and she would become Logar's chief War Priest, building a magnificent City of Perfection for him!
Yes, Logar was a god!
Gods should have their own sanctuaries, and believers should kneel before the idols of God and pray devoutly!
For Logar, she had to open this book, no matter the sacrifice.
"Yes, for Logar."
Esperia murmured, but a tearing pain suddenly shot through her abdomen as Kurta's military boot brutally kicked her ribs.
The book flew from her hand, and another Ashen Circle youth smashed an open bottle of promethium accelerant onto it, and raging flames instantly consumed it.
"What's wrong with me?"
The pain restored clarity to Esperia's eyes, and she watched the ancient book burn in the flames with terror.
Esperia's ears echoed with the ancient book's shrill screams. It seemed alive, twisting and struggling in the flames, its hot-stamped cover emitting a dazzling light under the licking tongues of fire, like the last cry for help from a dying person.
It begged her to save it from the flames, promising her endless knowledge and a bright future.
Kurta stood between her and the flames, blocking the commander's gaze, which was filled with both longing and fear.
Kurta warned her in a deep voice, "I have reported this to my Lord, Commander Esperia, you must stay true to yourself and remember your oath!"
The Ashen Circle had already burned too many scriptures, and Kurta had seen too many similar incidents.
Logar was extremely wary of the gods' power, so he arranged several members of the Ashen Circle around every important figure in the resistance, both for learning and for protection.
Chapter 68: The Pessimist.
"This is why we must remain vigilant at all times."
Akhida, Esperia, Nairo, and all the high-ranking officials of Colchis stood before Logar with ashamed expressions. All of them had fallen victim, and if it weren't for the Ashen Circle, they would have been completely annihilated, with catastrophic consequences.
Logar: "Erebus, what did you see in the book?"
"Temptation."
Erebus said.
Among so many people, he was the only one who resisted temptation by his own will.
The gods did not tempt Logar because they had tried once but failed.
That was why they resorted to indirect means, attempting to gradually infiltrate the poison of faith by corrupting the high-ranking officials of Colchis, slowly eroding Logar's foundation in a more concealed manner.
Logar: "What did you see in the gods' temptation?"
Erebus: "Fear."
Logar did not like Erebus, but only Erebus, who had received Worp's education alongside him, could understand him.
"Yes, fear."
Logar's gaze was piercing as he slowly swept over Esperia and the others, his voice low and powerful, "The gods fear us because we are severing the source of their power!"
"Four thousand years ago, the gods destroyed Colchis's glorious ancient civilization with a storm; today, four thousand years later, our civilization is far less powerful than that of our ancient ancestors. If they could casually unleash divine punishment upon us, destroying us with a storm just as they destroyed the ancient civilization, why would they infiltrate us with temptation and corruption like rats in a gutter?"
"Their fear precisely confirms the correctness of our path; the gods' influence on the mortal realm is no longer what it once was!"
Esperia and the others slowly raised their heads, and a resolute light rekindled in their eyes.
If even the gods feared them because of their resistance, then what did they have to fear?
It was the gods who should fear them!
...
Medeea: "You are deceiving them. The gods' influence on reality is indeed not what it once was, but it is still not something mortals can contend with."
Logar: "This is not a lie; I am giving them faith."
"You ask humanity to abandon their faith in the gods, and now you demand they have faith in you?"
"Why must the object of faith be me or the gods? Human faith is not as shallow as you think."
"Then what do you believe in?"
"I believe that humanity will eventually rid itself of the cancer of religious faith and stand at the pinnacle of the galaxy."
"That is your hope for the future."
"And also my faith."
"It is true that a portion of humanity is keen on ideological faith rather than religious, but they have all failed."
Worp: "Because the castles in the air of religious faith require no real-world foundation. The weakness of human nature leads many to escape reality, willingly allowing religious faith to numb them, indulging in carefully woven lies."
"Ideological faith requires the dedication of dozens of generations, one after another, to build a material foundation that can withstand the test of reality."
Medeea: "I admit that humanity did briefly create glory during the Golden Age, but the gods easily destroyed your millennia of civilizational accumulation with just one Warp storm."
Logar: "So you are still afraid. You don't believe we can rebuild human civilization."
Medeea: "I believe you can rebuild human civilization, but I see no hope of defeating the gods."
Medeea fell in love with Jason because of the gods' drama. At the end of her life, she had a sudden realization and killed her sons and her husband's new lover.
She seemed to defy her fate, but her life was destined to be a tragedy.
Because the drama woven by the gods had already ended when the Golden Fleece was obtained. The gods did not care about the subsequent development of the story; they always remained high above.
Medeea would help Logar and Worp rebuild the civilization of Colchis, but Medeea, born in the Golden Age, could not create a glory that surpassed the Golden Age. At most, she could only help them restore civilization to the technological level of the Golden Age.
And then what?
The disaster four thousand years ago had already proven that the Golden Age civilization was vulnerable before the gods.
Even if Logar and Worp could isolate the gods from humanity, what then?
The gods could not interfere with the mortal realm, but the Warp was still their domain.
They only needed to stir up Warp storms to prevent humanity from conducting Warp travel. The Imperium of Man, unified during the Great Crusade, would be scattered into isolated colonies, no different from the Age of Strife.
And once humanity was scattered, the seeds of division would already be sown.
Without a unified organizational structure, new Covenants would quickly emerge in the dark galaxy.
At that time, would there still be an Emperor and a Great Crusade?
Even if there were, it would only be a repeated cycle of failures.
Worp shook his head: "Medeea, you are too pessimistic."