While Ebner was still thinking, Bernadette had already finished interrogating Sharf and returned the mystical items he had privately withheld to Alger.
Seeing Ebner with his brows tightly furrowed, Bernadette could not help but ask, "The bloody moon he saw in his dreams… was there some other problem with it?"
Hearing this, Ebner came back to his senses. After a brief consideration, he sent Alger and Sharf away, then instead of answering, asked, "After advancing to Angelhood, you still haven't come into contact with knowledge related to the Old Ones, the Outer Deities, and the starry sky, have you?"
Upon hearing terms like Old Ones and Outer Deities, Bernadette—who had long possessed a certain understanding of the starry sky—suddenly felt her mind tighten. One after another, celestial bodies such as the red moon, brown star, crimson star, blue star, and golden star surfaced in her mind, giving her the feeling that they were all eyes, gazing down at her from on high.
Silently and imperceptibly, a subtle connection seemed about to be established, and a fatal erosion was about to descend.
As an Angel of the Mystery Prier pathway, Bernadette instinctively knew how to deal with this kind of contamination. Without even thinking, she was about to use the status and power of a complete mythical creature to resist it.
But at that very moment, an unknown force suddenly descended from within her spirit, causing the various projections in her mind to rapidly dissipate.
Seeing this, Bernadette immediately reached an understanding in her heart: when she had previously pried into Liu Bo's secrets through "Pale Death," she had already, in a hidden manner, established a connection with him… and this connection repelled contamination from other similar existences, which was why that force had descended just now.
After freezing for a second, Bernadette stared fixedly at Ebner and asked, "What was that inexplicable gaze just now?"
"That was precisely the knowledge I wanted to tell you. It can allow you to grasp the state of this world and the corresponding contamination with relative accuracy," Ebner said with a smile.
He had naturally noticed the changes within Bernadette's spirit. He also knew that this level of "contamination" still could not do anything to an Angel. The power that had descended upon her through the "Unknown Land" was merely to eliminate hidden dangers.
"What do I need to pay?" Bernadette's gaze flickered slightly as she asked cautiously, subconsciously stepping back.
"I want your Hermit card," Ebner seized the opportunity to state his demand.
"Alright!" Bernadette agreed without much hesitation.
"That knowledge is extremely dangerous. Let's change to a safe place before discussing it further," Ebner suggested as he casually pulled open a door leading to the Alvin Palace.
Bernadette activated the Eye of Mystery Prying and looked inside for a long time. After confirming there was no danger, she glanced toward the direction outside the house and said thoughtfully, "We need to deal with Sharf's problem first."
That was only right… after all, there were many mysteries surrounding him. Ebner nodded slightly and casually asked, "How do you plan to handle him?"
"Cattleya is nearby. I'll have Sharf stay on the Future for a while," Bernadette said calmly.
So it seemed Sharf still could not escape the "pleasant" experience of researching mushrooms together with Frank!
Ebner complained inwardly, while on the surface he cast a pitying glance at Sharf, who was being supervised by Alger outside the house, and then asked, "Do you need me to take you over there?"
"No need… the Future isn't far from here. There's no need for 'Teleportation'!" Before the words had even finished falling, the "Mystic Queen" and Sharf outside the house together turned into "bubbles" and vanished.
At Bernadette's original position, a card slowly drifted down, landing neatly in Ebner's palm.
She just handed me the Hermit card like that? She isn't afraid I'll go back on my word?
Is that trust in my character, or trust in her own strength?
Ebner muttered a few words, then let his gaze sweep across the front of the card, over the image of Roselle wearing a hooded mage's robe, holding a lantern in one hand and a staff in the other, before finally stopping at the upper-left corner, on the line of words formed from resplendent starlight:
"Sequence 0: Hermit!"
Based on experience, Ebner tapped lightly on those words. Immediately afterward, the card became three-dimensional, like a miniature book.
The book flipped open without any wind, revealing the complete potion formulas from Sequence 9 all the way to Sequence 0.
Without paying attention to the other pages for the time being, Ebner directly flipped to Sequence 0, to the description related to the True God ritual:
"Personally create a mysterious event whose scope and influence encompass at least an entire continent, yet do not allow any living being to perceive the origin and essence of the event.
"The larger the ritual's area of influence, and the fewer intelligent beings who understand its essence, the better the ritual's effect."
Create a continent-wide mysterious event and still expect others to not be able to investigate it? Wasn't this ritual a bit too difficult? Ebner could not help but feel astonished as he read.
But upon second thought, he felt that the reason this ritual was so difficult was actually because Earth's environment was simply too bad… If it were a planet without any True Gods—especially without a True God of an omniscient and omnipotent pathway—then this condition would not be hard to achieve.
With the methods of the "Knowledge Emperor," even on the planet of the "Goddess of Wealth," Helena, back then, success would not have been difficult…
But unfortunately, on present-day Earth, the number of True Gods, and even Kings of Angels, who could detect the methods of the "Knowledge Emperor" was probably more than one could count on one hand!
So, if the 'Hidden Sage' wants to complete the ritual and advance to a True God, He will inevitably need the support of the 'Concealment' authority!
Following this line of thought, the methods He can choose are reduced to just two…
In the upcoming god war, either He supports the Goddess against the God of Combat, in exchange for help from 'Concealment' and a smooth ascension to godhood.
Or He helps the God of Combat seize the Goddess's authority, then completes the ritual with the God of Combat's help…
But the problem is that no matter which side cooperates with the 'Hidden Sage,' it effectively pushes the 'God of Steam and Machinery' to the opposing side… completely not worth the loss!
Hah… the Goddess thinks that once I know the 'Hermit's' ritual, I'll be able to glimpse the full picture of her scheme. Isn't that overestimating me a bit?
I can't do that!
Ebner mocked himself a few times, then opened the Pure White Eye.
Since relying purely on himself did not work, then he could only cheat!
A short while later, Ebner closed the Pure White Eye, pinched his chin thoughtfully, and pondered inwardly:
From previous clues such as "demons existing in the Antalus Mountains," "the Sunia Island demon sacrifice," and "Duke of Graycastle colluding with Yaldabaoth," it isn't hard to see that the God of Combat most likely has a certain tacit understanding with the Abyss.
When the 'Hidden Sage' and Amon ambushed me a few days ago, the Abyss also intervened to block the 'God of Steam'… now that I think about it, that wasn't a coincidence either…
Perhaps I overlooked one thing… that is, the God of Combat may have already chosen to ally with the 'Hidden Sage' long ago, and had already taken the 'God of Steam' as an enemy!
And after losing Adam's support, Amon very likely also joined this circle…
Add to that Suah, who in the original story took advantage of the god war to attack the 'Deep-Dark Heavenly Kingdom.'
The God of Combat, the Eternal Blazing Sun, the Earth Mother, and the Abyss—four True Gods—plus the Hidden Sage, who is close to a True God, as well as the Kings of Angels Suah and Amon. On the surface, this lineup already suppresses the Goddess's side. Even if the 'God of Steam' chooses to oppose them, the God of Combat still appears to hold the upper hand.
So that's how it is… I understand now!
(End of this chapter)