At the TTG Guild, knights and cadets… and staff, if you prefer… have common classes.
We call it a class, not a drill, because it's really a time of learning.
It's a time to learn about the gods of the Pantheon, its history, and its code. The pastor, of course, is Leon.
While religious studies may be the last thing on a young person's mind these days, the religious education class at the Ten Thousand Gods Guild is something else entirely.
This class is what the cadets wanted most, to understand the real gods and borrow their power.
This is the moment that the cadets have been waiting for, to borrow power from the gods and implement the Holy Law.
"What is the difference between the Deities of the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods and the cults, answer me."
"".......""
Leon's question caused a collective gasp.
Up until this point, the Great Hall of Gods and its deities had been sacrosanct territory.
Leon was the pinnacle of that, the pope proclaiming its sanctity.
For him to compare the Great Hall to the cults out there?
If he hadn't said it, someone would have called it blasphemy.
The cadets were silent for a moment. Is it really okay to answer a question when the person who is the embodiment of the religion itself allows it?
It's like when the army asks, "Were you drafted into the army?" and who says they were drafted…?
"Is that the difference between real and unreal?"
At that moment, it was Beatrice who raised her hand, sitting some distance away from the cadets.
The cadets swallowed hard at the sound of a voice beyond the cotton wool, but Leon responded nonchalantly.
"Where's your proof that they don't exist?"
"Proof…you mean?"
The cadets cocked their heads in response. He was discussing cults and asking for proof that they don't exist.
"Not just cults, but the religions of this world. Yahweh, Buddha, Allah, the 330 million gods of India. Where is the proof that they don't exist?"
Han Soo-ho raised his hand cautiously.
"I… those gods don't work miracles, at least not that I know of."
The gods of the Temple of the Ten Thousand Gods do work miracles.
They cleanse the land of miasma contamination and enact holy laws that force conception.
All of the miracles Leon attests to are only possible because the gods are real, Soo-ho says.
"If they don't work miracles, they're not gods, are they?"
"What? Uh, um...."
Soo-ho doesn't know how to answer Leon's question.
All he knows is that all the religions he's ever known have performed miracles in the past, but none of them have performed miracles in the present.
Only the gods of the Great Hall are special enough to conclude that they are real.
"Well… aren't the gods of the Great Hall of the Ten Thousand Gods something we can see for ourselves? Why did the goddess Demera even possess a scarecrow last time....?"
This time it's Kim Jae-hyuk. The cadets had witnessed the goddess Demera appearing in front of farmers to bless the land.
That's not all. Recently, the Heilong People's Republic, which had been in the midst of a war also started to believe in the goddess Demera and she purified the land contaminated by miasma.
Leon asked again.
"There are many gods in the Great Hall of the Ten Thousand Gods, and there are many who do not appear. Does that mean they don't exist?"
"They are real…aren't They?"
"Why, you have not seen them yourself."
"Your Majesty has seen them."
"What guarantee do you have that this king is not telling you a lie?"
"...."
Jae-hyuk was speechless at his words.
"Because the gods of the Temple of Ten Thousand Gods are good."
At Chun So-yeon words, Leon's gaze turned to her.
"They give you benefits?"
"Yes. They answer prayers, perform miracles, and prove their existence, unlike other religions."
Chun So-yeon goal in staying with the guild was the Holy Law and many cadets were similar.
"Chun So-yeon, you obviously serve gods of war and flame & light and justice. Have you received an answer from them?"
"I haven't yet, because I lacked...."
"Lacking what?"
Leon asked, and Chun So-yeon didn't know what to say.
"Faith… I guess."
"You're not wrong but you are decisively mistaken."
Leon said, turning to the cadets.
"I'm not a god to work miracles, I'm a god to reward you for your faith."
Leon raised his hand. It was a light gesture.
-A clap!
The clouds rumbled, and rain fell. Lightning struck the dry sky and the rain poured down.
"...!"
The cadets were stunned by the downpour, but even more so by what happened next.
The rain was falling like a downpour, but it wasn't getting Leon or any of the cadets wet. It was as if there was an invisible wall between them, and not a single drop of rain fell.
"Is this proof of God, is this proof of reality? The criminals might think that the gods will grant what they wish and pray for."
Leon added.
"However, this king prayed for rain, but he did not ask that the rain not make him wet."
"What?"
The cadets gave him a questioning look. It was a miracle that rain fell in a dry sky, but wasn't it a miracle of prayer that it missed them?
"It's not because I prayed that I didn't get wet. It's because the gods bowed to me. I didn't want my ankles to get wet in the rain."
Leon clarified the distinction.
"Don't look for proof that God is real. Don't try to make a deal with God. God is not a wish box that gives you what you want."
In a way, it was the foundation of religion.
You pray because you want a miracle from God.
You believe in God because you want something.
Whether you want to go to heaven, be reincarnated into a higher caste in your next life, or be given 72 sex slaves with eternal virginity.
You have faith because you believe that no matter how filthy your wish, it will be granted.
"Whatever god you believe in is up to you. It doesn't have to be a god from the Pantheon. Yahweh, Buddha, Allah, none of them have been seen to be real, but their teachings are great."
Leon doesn't deny the existence of existing Earth gods. How can he be sure that they are real, even if they are invisible?
What he is talking about is the attitude toward them.
"There's nothing wrong with any kind of faith. But be careful."
Leon wants to make a clear distinction in the difference between a pantheon and a cult.
"Beware of false prophets who tell you the cost of believing in God."
That is true faith.
Just form your faith in good faith.
Leon's lesson was easy to understand but difficult to practice.
* * * *
After the faith education, Leon began the final lesson of the day.
"Today you will go through a process of connecting with the gods you believe in, as a first step to mastering the Holy Law."
The students cheered at Leon's words. Some of the cadets, he noticed, did a somewhat irreverent drip, referring to their faith as a power-up.
"Ordinarily, this would be done through monasticism or knight order, but the gods have granted you an exception. You will have the opportunity to cultivate the virtues and manifest the powers of the gods you believe in."
Most cadets chose the gods of light and justice & war and flame, for they were the easiest to serve as knights.
The gods Arianna and Petos taught the aspiring knights the code they must live by, a code of justice that the sea had already taught them time and time again.
[Greetings, my young knight candidates]
"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Goddess?!"
"Zee, I hear a real voice!"
[Hush, children, so that you may be horsemen of this war]
"Pe, Petos!"
"God of War!"
One by one, the cadets experienced their brief connection to the gods.
The gods' special favor and Leon's holy law prowess made up for the burden, which would have been impossible for anyone but a priest or kingdom knight.
'Three Holy Knights, including this king. Not quite there yet.'
At the very least, I hope to find the owner of Georgic's Hammer, or awaken a new Holy Knight or two.
The most likely scenario is that they are chosen by the two gods.....
'What happened to the other three?'
Han Soo-ho, Chun So-yeon, and Kim Jae-hyuk are the others that Leon has his eye on, and he sees someone connected to the gods among them.
"Soo-ho, I just spoke to the Goddess of Light and Justice!"
Han Soo-ho and Arianna, the Goddess of Light and Justice had similar personalities.
"Congratulations, Soo-ho."
Han Ha-ri had always been favored by the sea and war so this was nothing new and at the upcoming knighting ceremony she would be knighted.
There was another problem. While most of the cadets were happy to hear the voice of the gods, there were two who could not.
"...."
"...."
They're not shy, but they look around in embarrassment. This is because they could see their classmates, except for them, connecting with the gods and staring into thin air with curious eyes.
Leon had noticed that Kim Jae-hyuk and Chun So-yeon were not connected to any gods. To be precise──
"Dangerous."
Why, those two gods.
It was never a good thing when the most powerful and the most dangerous gods among the countless gods in the Hall of Ten Thousand Gods were interested.
* * * *
The end of the 20th century, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the outbreak of the Gulf War.
There were other big events, such as the British return to Hong Kong and the death of Kim Il Sung, but they were all overshadowed by the Cataclysm.
The Cataclysm brought many things to the modern world, but it also caused a major upheaval in the religious world.
Where is God?
Of course, the answer to this is written in all the holy books, the Buddhist scriptures, the Quran, the Vedas, etc.
This is also a test.
This is karma from previous lives.
This is a judgment for our sins.
This too shall pass, this too is a process of sifting.
For every absurdity in the world, there was a suitable excuse, and people followed their religions and believed the stories of their ministers.
In the end, the cataclysmic event came and went with the existing religions unscathed but even new religions were not spared.
"My lord."
"Speak."
"The final list of recruits for this draft."
Neatly trimmed, all-black hair and kindly gaze and a smiling face.
The middle-aged man, with his clean-cut suit and calm demeanor, held the subordinate's gaze as he read his report.
Then he asked a simple question.
"That's less than I thought."
"Is it...."
The draft was not a 100% guaranteed check to join the guild, but this quarter's draft acceptance rate was much lower than last year's.
"What's causing this?"
"Our...experts have analyzed it, and they believe it's due to the increased interest in the TTG Guild."
"I see."
Some might ask why the draft's low acceptance rate is to blame.
Certainly, it is true that the TTG Guild took an unprecedented number of cadets in this draft.
However, "acceptance rate" is not the same thing as the number of people who refused to join.
The reason for this was the overlap between the concepts of TTG Guild and Hanbit.
In many ways, Hanbit Palace, a Korean top 10 guild and emerging religious organization founded 20 years ago by S-class hunter Park Yong-shin, has followed a similar path to the TTG Guild.
The guild leader, Park Yong-shin, is the leader of the organization, preaching teachings and establishing religious doctrine.
They were an emerging religious organization where the guild leader is also the leader and preaches the word of God.
No wonder there were so many people who were torn between the two seemingly similar guilds and ended up in the TTG GUild.
"Did you say Leon Dragonia Lionheart?"
"Yes, the survivor of the Otherworld."
Aka the Lionheart King of the Fantasy World, the agent of the Ten Thousand Gods and the strongest knight king ever.
He beheaded an Archdemon with a strike and fought the Archduke of Demons one-on-one.
But apart from that, his impact on Korean society was incomparably greater.
He brought up the land contaminated with miasma, especially in the Naju Plain, and then cleaned it up and sold the blessed crops it produced.
The tax issue, which most of the top ten guilds are united in pushing for, is being pushed through by the president alone.
Even the President and the heads of the largest companies in the industry are overly lenient… or fearful… when it comes to the TTG Guild and Leon.
"Leon Dragonia Lionheart...."
Yong-shin repeated the name.
In only five months old they grew too much and too fast.
Now they were only lacking in the talent pool of A-grade Hunters, but they were still the size of dozens of guilds.
"By the way, one of our sect members is there, right?"
"Yes, he was the number one pick in this draft after Chun So-yeon."
"And he's over there."
"...Sorry."
The man, Park Yong-shin, didn't express much regret; he simply gave different instructions through his silence.
"I'll take care of it."
There was no need to give any instructions.
They were one of the top ten guilds and after two decades of expansion, the palace of a large religious organization with 1.6 million members nationwide would do whatever it took to resolve any discomfort even if that means crushing an up-and-coming rival.