The Stars Pathway was a Beyonder pathway completely compatible with the Hall of Stars.
This should have been a good thing. Hastur himself had already been hesitating over whether he should switch to another neighboring Beyonder pathway when advancing from Sequence 5 to Sequence 4.
The timely appearance of the Stars Pathway indeed gave him another option.
But there was a serious problem here. After reaching the high Sequences, advancing by consuming potions basically required a corresponding Beyonder characteristic.
There should not be any other Beyonders of the Stars Pathway in the entire world of mysteries, so where was he supposed to obtain the Beyonder characteristics needed for advancement?
From the Hall of Stars itself? Hastur pondered this question while receiving information from the Hall of Stars.
After he finished receiving all that knowledge, Hastur opened his eyes, a slightly strange expression appearing deep within them.
Aside from switching to Sequence 4 Exile and Sequence 0 Restorer, which required the Hall of Stars as a medium, Sequence 3, Sequence 2, and Sequence 1 could use corresponding Beyonder characteristics from other pathways as substitutes!
However, there was a prerequisite.
The Beyonder characteristics from other pathways had to belong to pathways possessed by the Great Old Ones who had come to the Hall of Stars to participate in the gathering of the Stars.
This ability and requirement reminded Hastur of the Chain of Order, which could replicate, or perhaps forcibly borrow, abilities from other Beyonder pathways.
For example, besides his own Black Emperor pathway, he currently also possessed related abilities from the Justiciar, Fate, Darkness, and Sun pathways.
"Chain of Order... that name is no longer enough to describe the abilities it possesses. Chain of Stars would be more fitting."
Hastur first renamed the Chain of Order, then continued thinking about other matters concerning the Stars Pathway.
For example, the required Beyonder materials, advancement rituals, and so on.
The earlier ones were manageable, but the advancement rituals for Sequence 1 and Sequence 0 required him to make a trip into the cosmos.
With his identity as The Stars', if he really went into the cosmos, wouldn't that be no different from tossing a meat bun into a pack of starving dogs?
He would definitely be torn apart, skin and bones alike, swallowed whole, with not even a scrap left behind.
Perhaps there were other ways to exploit loopholes. Hastur carefully studied every requirement of the advancement rituals, determined to thoroughly analyze even every punctuation mark.
"Son of Chaos... should I send Him into the cosmos ahead of time?"
Hastur lightly tapped his fingers against the table and fell into deep thought.
...
The night would eventually disperse, and of all the light of the stars, only the sun remained shining in the sky.
It was clearly July, normally the hottest and most sweltering time of the year, yet this year's weather was much cooler than before.
For people who had suffered under the scorching sun in previous years, this was naturally a good thing.
Only some elderly and wise people had begun worrying about whether they could endure an even colder winter.
But before winter could arrive, the smoke of war came first.
Without warning, without an alliance, the Loen Kingdom and the Intis Republic both declared war on the Feysac Empire this morning from within their respective royal meeting chambers!
As soon as news of these declarations of war spread, not only were the people of the Feysac Empire shocked, even the citizens of the Loen Kingdom and the Intis Republic found it unbelievable and incomprehensible.
This was especially true for the Loen Kingdom. After all, the Feysac Empire's overall national strength had always remained firmly above Loen's.
Although wars between the two countries had ended in victories and defeats for both sides, that was only because the Feysac Empire also had to divide its attention to deal with the Intis Republic on the other front.
Moreover, the war in the Southern Continent had only just come to an end. At this point, shouldn't they be more worried about the Southern Continent launching a large-scale invasion northward?
If the Southern Continent took advantage of the Loen Kingdom attacking the Feysac Empire and struck while Loen was vulnerable, then what would they do?
Yet these voices and arguments could not influence the determination of the kingdom's upper ranks. The Churches collectively remained silent and fully cooperated with the kingdom's decision to declare war.
In particular, King George III of the Loen Kingdom was already preparing to hold a large-scale nationwide pre-war speech one month later.
Backlund was exceptionally lively today. Almost all of the Loen Kingdom's ministers and powerful nobles had been summoned to the palace to discuss the future direction of the kingdom.
At the Hall family residence, Audrey had naturally also learned that the Loen Kingdom was about to enter a full-scale war with the Feysac Empire.
She was somewhat stunned by the news.
Although she did not pay too much attention to the upper-level politics of the Loen Kingdom, she knew that the Southern Continent was gaining momentum and might attack Loen at any time.
Mr. Hastur had been deliberately dispatched to Southville precisely because of this, to guard the coastal defenses.
Yet at such a moment, the Loen Kingdom had actually unilaterally declared total war on the Feysac Empire.
She did not want to question the king's decision, but no matter how she thought about it, something felt wrong.
After thinking for a while, she called Susie over. Susie had been hiding in her room these past few days, concentrating on studying Master Hermes's works on psychology.
"Susie, stop reading for the next few days. Help me listen in on what Earl Hall discusses with others in the study."
"Alright, Audrey." Susie accepted the task, then added, "Audrey, you should change that little habit of unconsciously pacing back and forth whenever something is on your mind. It makes your current psychological state very easy to read."
"..."
After saying that, Susie turned around and left the room, heading toward the study to gather information, leaving Audrey alone and stunned in place.
...
Southern Continent, East Balam Empire.
After staying here for two days, Sharron was already preparing to take a ship back to Southville.
Because of Gregrace, the East Balam Empire's attitude toward her was obviously ingratiating. As soon as they heard that she wanted to gather the former members of the Temperance faction, they mobilized the entire country to help her accomplish it.
They had even planned to dispatch a large warship to escort her back to Southville when she left the Southern Continent.
Sharron directly rejected the proposal and boarded a ship alone with Gregrace, who was still accompanying her.
It was an ordinary passenger ship traveling from the Southern Continent to Southville, filled with merchants who had come to the Southern Continent for business and their relatives. There were also some official personnel from the Loen Kingdom, the Intis Republic, the Kingdom of Feynapotter, and other countries.
With the native forces of the Southern Continent winning the war, these ordinary officials had not suffered persecution. They were merely required to leave the Southern Continent within a specified period of time.
The passengers aboard the ship were a mixed group. Sharron stayed alone in a VIP cabin because the captain of this ship had also been specially assigned by the East Balam Empire's royal family.
Mr. Azik was also aboard the same ship as Sharron, and he likewise occupied a VIP cabin.
At this moment, he sat before a desk covered with books, holding a quill stained with ink as he wrote a letter.
It was a letter to his student, Klein.
"Using a feigned death to conceal yourself is a very good decision, but before you advance to Faceless, you still need a Beyonder item capable of concealing your aura."
"I have a Beyonder item here called the False Face. It can help conceal your true appearance and make it difficult for others to discover your identity. It only has two negative effects."
"The first negative effect is that for every three days you use the False Face, there will be one day when you have an especially strong urge to tell the truth. On that day, you must minimize communication with others, or avoid communicating altogether."
"The second negative effect is that the longer you wear the False Face, the more easily you will fall into a state where reality and falsehood become confused. Therefore, once every half month, you must remove the False Face for one full day to allow its effects to reset."
This Beyonder item had been specially taken by Azik from the treasury of the East Balam Empire, specifically prepared for Klein, who was currently adventuring at sea.
Azik paused for a moment before continuing to write.
"I have already recovered the memories of my past. Although there were many twists and turns along the way, I will always be your teacher, and I will calmly live out the rest of this life under that identity."
"This winter, I plan to travel to the northern part of the Feysac Empire for a vacation. If you have time, you can come with me to ski and hunt seals."
After finishing the letter, Azik summoned a spirit world messenger and sent the letter to Klein, who was still drifting somewhere out at sea.
Once that was done, Azik stood up and headed toward Sharron's room.
Although he could not determine the exact relationship between this young woman and Gregrace, they were presumably very close.
Perhaps by teaching Sharron, he could help Gregrace develop more humanity.
Only a Death God filled with humanity, one who had not fallen into complete madness, would avoid bringing too much death and war to the world.
When Azik arrived, Sharron ended her puppet-like state and began studying and discussing various pieces of Beyonder knowledge with him.
Gregrace, who stood by the window enjoying the breeze, merely glanced over indifferently before turning her gaze toward the sky.
She was wondering whether she should take advantage of this critical period, while the Evernight Goddess was absorbing the God of Combat pathway's Uniqueness, to launch a surprise attack.
But when she thought of the Evernight Goddess's authority over concealment, along with Her sinister and extraordinarily patient schemes, perhaps She had not even begun absorbing the God of Combat pathway's Uniqueness yet.
If Gregrace went to the Evernight Goddess's divine kingdom, she would probably never be able to leave again and would instead only benefit the Evernight Goddess.
Thinking of this, Gregrace became somewhat gloomy. She lowered her head slightly and tidied the feathers on her chest before flying onto Sharron's shoulder, quietly listening to Azik and Sharron's conversation.
When she grew bored, she dozed off, swaying slightly and nearly falling from Sharron's shoulder. Sharron could only reach out, pick her up, and place her properly on the table.
Although she already knew Gregrace was extraordinary, she still found it difficult to believe that this tiny creature was at least a Sequence 2 Angel.
Azik, however, was quite satisfied with this.
Gregrace behaving like this proved that she was showing more and more of her human side.
He could not help but sigh inwardly. Whether gods or ordinary people, everyone had their own shortcomings.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that this world itself was never perfect, which was why everyone always needed to make up for one another's deficiencies.