Chapter 119 - Druids’ Change of Conviction (1/2)

After hearing Gawain’s words, Pittman raised his brows uncontrollably and said, “There are only a rare few individuals who understand the druids’ history so well.”

“I’m not that versed in it, but it’s no secret that druid spells are developed from nature theurgy. I can only say that the people of this era have very narrow-minded knowledge.” Gawain described indifferently, “Back in the Gondor Empire era, many druid factions put on their signboards as the empire’s holy hall of knowledge.”

“Hehe, I forgot again that I cannot judge you normally as you are an ancient figure from seven hundred years ago.” The little old man chuckled before gathering the tools meant for the concoction of medicine. “You’re right. Druid spells originated from ancient nature theurgy. In fact, the druids were from a kind of purist religion during the earlier stages. It was a religion that was similar to the current Church of Holy Light or the Sect of the God of War. But as time changed, many religions had declined or vanished. Those that could barely pass on… were either evil cults or had a change in form like the druid religion.”

“There are plenty of druid factions — Heart of the Forest, Spirit of Nature, Wild Nature Faction, Rock Cave Faction, Element Faction… These factions that I listed are the large-scale ones, and there are probably several dozen smaller-scaled factions.” Gawain spoke frankly, “It is said that the splitting of the druid factions originated over three thousand years ago during the ‘White Starfall’. A huge internal change happened to the original druid religion after that incident. In just a short period of time, several factions were split up. Originally, all of you believed in a ‘God of Nature’ who didn’t have a definite form. But after the White Starfall, this conviction had changed altogether…”

Pittman might not look like a reliable druid, but his spells proved that he had received a completed druid inheritance. As such, he didn’t feel any pressure from answering such questions regarding the general knowledge of his profession. “The God of Nature has been split into many forms. Each faction declared that their deciphered form is the most correct. Some believed in the Spirit of the Forest. Some believed in the Spirit of Nature. Some even believed in beast spirits and the Spirit of Elements that had turned into divine existences… This indeed isn’t a secret. But after splitting up into different factions, the druid factions might have differences in philosophy, but we have never actually fought. The factions were at peace. Even before the ‘Sacred Alliance’ was implemented, all of the druid factions were at peace.”

Gawain revealed an interested expression and said, “I don’t know the exact details. Can you tell me?”

“Every faction would have to follow a rule. Druids might have different paths, but we all originated from the same source. No matter what path we are on, druids will always be brothers and sisters.” Pittman stroked his bread and said, “This isn’t just a simple rule. It is the druid’s rule. Before accepting the inheritance, one would need to swear a harsh oath on one’s soul.”

Gawain rubbed his chin and silently recorded down this information before shifting the topic back to spells and theurgy. “The druid religion’s original nature theurgy has also transformed into the current druid spells during this process, right?”

Pittman nodded and said, “That’s right. It was slowly completed over a long period of time after the White Starfall and the splitting of factions.”

Gawain: “When you were concocting medicine earlier and blessing the medicine at the final step, is it actually the remaining vestige of the original druid theurgy?”

Pittman nodded with a pretentious smile but didn’t say anything.

This was the druid spell, this world’s most special ‘magic’. They were probably the only magic that could talk clearly about their origins. But their origins were pointing towards a god. Three thousand years ago, the druids were originally a unified religion, but because of a subversive incident that was already considered a legend, the religion of the druids had been split into various factions. Furthermore, the theurgy that they possessed had actually been unimaginably changed into spells.

Even now, these spells still contained the hints of the influence of the theurgy, like the words of blessing or the specific sacred symbols. But in fact, these ‘theurgy parts’ had already lost their practical functions. They were more like a cultural and a spiritual inheritance and entrustment. The proper druids would strictly follow the inheritance to reproduce the sacred steps that were already useless. But those improper druids — like Pittman — would choose to put in some random nonsense during the process of spellcasting to use up some time.

But how did theurgy turn into magic?

Those two powers were entirely different things. Theurgy originated from the gods and required reverent prayers to make one’s spirit connect with a god’s intent, allowing them to ‘borrow’ formidable power. On the other hand, magic originated from the spellcaster’s power and knowledge of the world. The difference started from the sources.

After going through many years of evolution, the druid spells already had their established and new magics. Just like the runes that Pittman prepared or the incantations he used, these were all ‘natural miracles’ that came from individual power. So, standard theurgy did have such processes.

Thus, there were people who raised overly bold conjectures. Some scholars even believed that 3,000 years ago, the druids had used a certain forbidden ritual to steal the god’s power. The ‘natural miracles’ that could only be done by theurgy had turned into spells that humans could utilize. The so-called White Starfall was not a meteor storm recorded in the history books but actually the God of Nature losing authority and falling from the divine realm…

The druids naturally wouldn’t admit such an explanation, but Gawain had to acknowledge that… the degree of credibility was rather high.

Of course, he wouldn’t mention such conjecture in front of Pittman and had casually said, “Why do you feel that only druids are able to turn theurgy into spells successfully? Why wouldn’t clergies from other religions be able to do the same thing?”

The little old man’s face twitched. “Who am I supposed to ask? Don’t you already know of my real ability? My life had nearly ended just to learn the druid spells. How can I have the spare energy to research other—?”

“Then why do you know cooking, fortune-telling, astrology, baby-sitting, and so many other things?”

“…Those are different…”

Gawain didn’t continue to pester Pittman on this question and made it as though he was mumbling to himself instead, “It is said that a believer of the God of Holy Light had attempted to transform theurgy. He researched on the abilities of mages and attempted to activate Holy Light using the spellcasting methods… As a result, he had been engulfed by the berserk Holy Light and was turned into a pile of ashes.”