Chapter 224 You Fry Fish and I Fry Fish

After a brief silence, Aiwass spoke first, introducing himself in that gorgeous, youthful voice. "Let me begin, then. I'm 'Fox,' dedicated to the Way... I hope to collaborate with you all."

Hearing his voice, Isabel immediately lowered her head.

Otherwise she might have laughed out loud.

"I am pure white, the path of authority."

The girl dressed in all white said softly.

Then the tall elf youth said: "I am Topa, the Path of Love..."

After everyone introduced themselves to Sherlock and Isabel one by one...Isabel suddenly felt something was wrong.

Because there was originally a vacant position, and Merlin said that this was a ceremony of absence, she subconsciously assumed that the vacant position should be the extraordinary person on the path of adaptation who was hated by everyone this time.

But now, after introducing herself again, she suddenly felt something was wrong.

They were originally a team of three, with the addition of Pure White, Jacaranda, Toppa, and Huoyin.

——Aren’t there only seven people?

Why did Lord Merlin say everyone was already present? And...

Isabel quickly glanced around and couldn't help asking, "Why are there only eight seats here, Master Merlin?"

When Sherlock heard this, his heart moved slightly and he looked up at Merlin.

He actually realized something was wrong the moment he landed. For him, instantly identifying everyone's observation problems was as easy as eating or drinking water.

But he was very careful not to ask - because no one else asked either.

He was sure the fox must have noticed it too, but he didn't ask.

Those four people seemed to be together... and they probably guessed that he and Isabel were on the same side. Since the fox wasn't in the same place as them, perhaps he could hide...

But apart from Toppa, who seemed a bit reckless, the others all looked quite experienced. But none of them spoke - in this strange environment, Sherlock himself did not dare to ask.

He always felt that if he asked questions at this time, he would easily fall into a passive position or reveal some information.

If the other party actually knows what's going on, then asking at this time would be equivalent to revealing your true identity; but if they don't know the current situation, then even if you ask, it would only be sharing information. Not only would you reveal your true identity, but you would also allow the other party to gain an advantage.

So if they don't ask, Shylock won't ask.

——Luckily, Isabel is not very good at reading the atmosphere.

She completely ignored the seemingly dull and tense atmosphere and directly asked the question that everyone was curious about: "Even if the 'Adapters' are excluded, shouldn't there be a Transcendent? This eighth empty seat should belong to him, right?

"...Should we wait for him a little longer?"

“No need.”

A somewhat frivolous voice came.

The air trembled slightly like water waves, and a person suddenly appeared in the empty seat on Isabel's right and the fox's left.

He was a young man with messy black hair and wearing a monocle.

He wore a dark blue mage robe and sat on a chair with his legs crossed, smiling broadly. The staff in his right hand hovered in the void, a blue magic circle at the end supporting it, levitating it in mid-air.

He rested his left arm on the armrest and supported his face with his left hand.

"Didn't I arrive a long time ago?"

The young man smiled and said, "Actually, I was the first one to arrive. Miss Lulu, you're sitting in the eighth seat."

Isabel was startled when she saw the young man suddenly appear.

Sherlock frowned slightly, Jacaranda pursed her lips, and Topaz was on edge. Luckily, the faces and expressions in the waiting room were blurred, so not much information was revealed.

Pure White and Living Silver didn't react at all, and Aiwass sighed inwardly.

——I knew it.

As soon as Isabel came in, Merlin started to rush to open the door. He was probably trying to hide something... and now it seemed like that was the reason.

The promotion ceremony originally had nine seats. It was dark here, and with everyone introducing themselves one by one, it was easy to miss someone.

So most people counted the number of people in reverse, using the number of empty seats to determine the number of people. This made it easy to overlook this detail—even if one adaptor was missing, the number of people still wasn't all present. If Isabel hadn't asked, he would have gotten in that way.

"Of all those present here, only Pure White and Living Silver have undergone the Absence Ceremony."

The young man smiled and said, "So others may not understand one thing... once a ceremony is absent, a punishment mechanism needs to be introduced.

"If someone is absent, it means that everyone else has essentially teamed up with each other. This goes against the very essence of the Ascension Ceremony—it's essentially a play for the Nine Pillars, with each of you acting as an actor representing your own path. If the representative of one of the Pillars is excluded for the sake of victory, it defeats the purpose of the ceremony.

"I might as well say it directly—at this very moment, there is [at least] one Pillar God watching over you all."

Hearing this, even Aiwass couldn't help but gasp.

——The Ennead Gods are watching?

No wonder Merlin just ended the conversation with him halfway through and pulled the other person in. It turned out that while touching the fishmonger, the fishmonger suddenly touched the back.

Just press the boss button to call out the work page. Pretend you are working.

This is just an advancement ceremony from level two to level three. What’s so interesting about it?

It can’t be…

He felt a stir in his heart and looked to the right. He found that Chunbai was still sitting there quietly, with his head down and no reaction.

If I must say, this might not be my problem... but her problem.

Speaking of which, when the four people appeared, their first reaction was also surprise that Chunbai was not the first. Although it was only a moment, Aiwass caught their surprise.

That's why they were so enthusiastic about "Fox" and wanted to chat with him. But when the detective and Lulu showed up, they were very cold.

Because they don't know the fox's background - although it is not absolute, the order of entering the ceremony is related to personal strength and overall level.

...So, if the four of them are all Christians, then who is Chunbai?

Could it be the Saint of the Eternal Church?

But in Aiwass's memory, the Saint didn't seem to be a little girl... Was he mistaken? Or did the Saint have some disguise ability?

...Good guy.

You fry fish and I fry fish, and the silver level becomes the king level, right?

“That’s why…when there’s an absence of a ritual, a punishment mechanism should be introduced.”

The young man introduced himself with a smile, "Joining your ceremony as the master of ceremony—yes, I am Merlin."

Merlin said this, raised his staff, and gave a remote wizard salute to everyone.

Then, he immediately reassured her, "Of course, there's no need to be too afraid. This time, there's only one person missing from the ceremony. I won't take it too seriously... I just need to slightly mitigate the advantage of your teaming and the reduced pressure of advancement due to the absence of one person."

"Besides, the venue for this ceremony was built by Wei Zhe himself—"

Merlin said, raising his staff high.

A flash of light passed by, and the dark environment was suddenly filled with color.

But it was filled, but not completely filled - the surrounding environment was still quite dim.

In the frozen time, outside was a pitch-black night. Looking closely, one could see the stagnant raindrops outside the window, and the frozen image of raindrops shattering the window.

They sat around the hotel dining table with the lights off.

This seems to be the venue for a while.

Merlin, on the other hand, continued to rave about it: "Weizhe creatively used a minimal space and minimal simulated souls to create a layered structure. And Sand Time's fair and impartial scoring rules were the icing on the cake."

"This is undoubtedly good news for everyone—this promotion ceremony is presided over by Wei Zhe, who has always disliked violence. He likes intelligent people... Therefore, intelligence plays a large role in this ceremony. And the bonus points for the Sand Clock are even more fair and just—"

"This is the reason why the seven of you are so confident in coming against me."

(End of this chapter)