Chapter 453: The fully automatic carton opening machine is operating stably

It feels like falling asleep in a bathtub, or like returning to the arms of my mother when I was a child.

With a faint sense of relief, Isabel felt her consciousness gradually sinking into the sea of ​​nothingness.

She could still vaguely feel the taste of the Drunken Dream Tincture lingering in her mouth, slowly seeping into her nasal cavity from the depths of her throat.

The rich aroma of the wine is mixed with the fragrance of sesame and basil leaves, and you can also vaguely taste a very clear earthy smell.

—Like chewing the dirt after a spring rain, or eating tender asparagus with wine after cooking it.

This thought suddenly popped up in Isabel's mind, and she instinctively felt happy that she had found this metaphor.

When she woke up again, she found herself sitting in the third seat.

Isabel turned her head and saw the familiar figure at the first position—

He was wearing a pale white priest robe, leaning back casually on the chair, his left arm resting on the armrest, his chin supported, and his right hand resting casually in front of him.

He hid the flame butterfly in the sleeve of his right hand - the tiny sparks of fire made his sleeve look like a bonfire spewing sparks.

Even though his face was blurry, Isabel easily recognized Aiwass's identity.

Isabel breathed a sigh of relief when she confirmed that Aiwass was also here.

She is no longer as timid and fearful as she was at the beginning... If she had not seen Aiwass when she entered the venue this time, she would probably have felt panic.

But even so, being matched with acquaintances is definitely a good thing.

That's better than working with strangers - those whose backgrounds you don't know and whose true natures you can't see through. After the ceremony, you'll basically never see them again in this life.

In this situation, if you trust them easily, you may be betrayed at the critical moment.

…But, isn’t Sherlock here this time?

Isabel thought about this and glanced around, only to find that her worries had come true.

——Little Sherlock didn’t come in.

Although Isabel is quite confident in herself, she still believes that Sherlock is definitely stronger than her.

If Sherlock could enter this promotion ceremony, she would probably be ranked behind Sherlock.

Even though the seating order in the promotion ceremony does not necessarily strictly represent the degree of strength, it is still an important reference.

Sandwiched between Isabel and Aiwass was a middle-aged man who sat upright and looked as calm and reliable as a rock.

He was a strong man, his arms even thicker than Isabel's thighs.

The man was very polite. When Isabel appeared, he didn't immediately look at her and try to gather information with a rude, searching gaze. Instead, he closed his eyes and rested.

——Of course, you don't need to close your eyes and rest in your dreams. This simply means that you "have no intention of prying into other people's secrets."

Shortly after Isabel appeared, a new person suddenly appeared on her right.

He was an old man - he was dressed in Parthian style, with a white robe covering his hands and feet, and a white turban and scarf on his head.

Even during the promotion ceremony, where his features were blurred, no specific features of his could be seen at all - the only visible features were the part above his nose and below his eyebrows.

Isabel looked at him intently, but frowned slightly.

...resting people?

Not quite right.

Currently, the promotion ceremony centered around Aiwass has not yet been expanded to other places, which means that most of the participants are in Avalon or even on Glass Island. There are not many people on Glass Island who have rested.

——Could it be Mr. Iben?

This thought came to Isabel's mind.

The Dormition Ritual Master who has been staying in the Temple of Silver and Tin since the time of Queen Sophia is now at the third level.

Anyway, we'll know when we hear it. Even if the promotion ceremony blurs the voices of the participants, some speaking habits won't change much - Isabel is confident that she can tell the other person's identity.

But if it was old Ibn, why did he specifically wear Parthian clothes?

And Iben showed up so late... In Isabel's opinion, his power should be stronger than hers.

"Hello, my name is Lulu. I'm an ascendant of the Path of Beauty. I'm good at assisting my teammates and providing buffs to them."

Thinking of this, Isabel took the initiative to ask the old man beside her: "Old sir...what should we call him?"

Hearing her question, the man sitting on Isabel's left suddenly opened his eyes and looked over with some confusion.

The hunched old man just laughed and didn't look directly at Isabel.

He lowered his head and replied, "My name is Olive, Miss Lulu. I am an ascendant who has transcended the Tao."

"——Beyond the Tao?"

It wasn't Isabel who asked that.

Instead, the man sitting between Aiwass and Isabel suddenly asked.

His eyes were as sharp as an eagle, and he asked without hesitation or politeness, "There aren't many legal Transcendents in Avalon. Which side are you from? Or are you one of the illegal ones?"

"Judging from your attire, are you a stowaway?"

As soon as the man said this, the other three people raised their heads and looked at him with silent and somewhat strange eyes.

But facing these gazes, the man did not waver at all.

He ignored the other two's gazes and instead gave a slight nod of greeting to Aiwass, who was wearing a clerical robe. He then said calmly, "You can call me 'Pirate'—I'm a Level 3 Overseer. I'm skilled with scimitars, swords, crossbows, and unarmed attacks, and am proficient in the 'Guard' and 'Challenge' fighting styles. If a fight arises, I'll be your shield."

Except for the first sentence, his subsequent words were all addressed to Aiwass.

The "pirates" are very clear about their purpose.

Whether it is the path of beauty or the path of transcendence, their identities are still unclear.

They didn't seem to know each other, so they must be two groups of people.

The "Pirate" couldn't immediately determine who the good guy was, so he went directly to the highest-ranking and best priest present, "Fox", and actively showed his goodwill to Aiwass.

In any case, the priests were definitely one of our own. The third-level priests were already the lowest-level bishops.

The fact that this young priest is ranked so high indicates that he has great hope of being promoted to the fourth level and becoming one of the most powerful archbishops in Avalon.

As a melee class, he's also very vulnerable to injury. The Full Moon Ceremony, from level three to level four, is likely to involve intense combat, unless you're randomly presented with a scenario involving the Path of Wisdom...

Then pleasing the priest with powerful healing ability becomes his core strategy.

Priests are usually not good at fighting, so they always need someone to protect them - this is a win-win situation.

And with the two key roles of defender and healer, it is easy to recruit other teammates. In this way, they can become the active party.

...quite smart.

Aiwass, who was sitting comfortably in the chief seat, raised his eyebrows with interest.

He sensed the other party's good intentions. Although he wasn't entirely sure, the "pirate" seemed to have a vague idea of ​​Aiwass's identity.

"...Mr. Pirate, are you from the Supervisory Bureau?"

Thinking of this, Aiwass asked gently, "Can I know which city you were born in?"

"I'm from Midsummer County."

The pirate replied, "I was born on the seashore."

It sounded true, Aiwass's instincts told him.

——But there is no doubt that this is a lie.

Aiwass immediately identified the opponent's biggest loophole from a logical point of view - because the "pirate" was sandwiched between Aiwass, Isabel and Iben, he could only be on the Glass Island and should be not far from the Temple of Silver and Tin.

Obviously, the pirates didn't know that Isabel and Ibn were on Glass Island.

He thought they were somewhere else in Avalon, so he subconsciously lied to hide his true location. This sentence directly exposed his perspective.

This is actually normal.

Whether it was Minister Aiwass, Queen Isabel, or Ibn, the court ritualist, their specific levels of cultivation were certainly not something that a mere inspector could know.

He was already quite clever to vaguely guess that the "fox" might be Aiwass from Aiwass's age and aura. He would never have directly guessed the identity of their young queen from a third-level Path of Beauty ascendant. In his opinion, the queen's ascension ceremony must have been accompanied by a large group of loyal royal elite guards.

Isabel had only been a Transcendent for a short time. She had seen reports of her becoming a Transcendent in the newspapers. Reaching the fourth energy level in less than six months was essentially impossible for outsiders.

From this point of view, it can be judged that the "pirates" are not in the core circle of Glass Island.

Isabel was also silently analyzing the identity of the "pirate" -

A third-level supervisor is generally considered the strongest supervisor. Judging from his age, he should be a supervisory director.

The way he sat suggested he had a military background. But he was an Overseer, not a Light Cavalryman, suggesting he was from the Army. The Overseer on Glass Island, a third-level male, middle-aged, a former soldier, nicknamed Pirate...

…Is that Chief Kent from White Queen?

A name came to Isabel's mind.

When this thought came to Isabel's mind, her intuition told her that she was probably right.

It wasn't that she guessed correctly, but rather that Isabel had only met a few inspectors in person.

And among the inspectors she knew, there happened to be one person who met all the keywords.

...So, now that Sherlock is gone, there's one less person in their group. Should I reveal my identity to Mr. Pirate?

Isabel thought so in her heart and looked at Aiwass. Seeing Aiwass shook his head slightly, she suddenly understood.

Aiwass didn't want the "Pirate" to know his identity... He was confident. But Aiwass was a man of stability, preferring to rally those he needed to unite—when he lacked strength, Aiwass was always adept at gaining it from others. But now, he had voluntarily passed up the opportunity to tie the "Pirate" to his side.

Is it because of the confidence given by Mr. "Olive"?

No, to be more precise...

Is it because Aiwass believes that "pirates" may be opposed to the path of "beauty" or "transcendence", so for the sake of Mr. Olive's position, he does not want the pirates to join his camp, nor does he want to rely on authority off the court to force the other party to give up the promotion directly?

Isabel keenly caught Aiwas's thoughts.

——So, Mr. Olive is indeed Mr. Iben!

With just one sentence, Isabel instantly analyzed the true identities of her two teammates.

This made Isabel lick her lips with unusual satisfaction.

What a shame Sherlock isn't here.

Isabel felt a little regretful.

Sherlock says her reasoning lacks logic - but in the end, it's pretty accurate!

When Isabel first met Sherlock at the promotion ceremony, Sherlock, who didn't know her true identity, mocked her several times for being stupid and illogical. He even said in front of Isabel that "the allies of the Path of Beauty are not reliable" - she secretly remembered all of this in her heart!

Isabel holds a grudge!

Since then, she has been quietly waiting for an opportunity to defeat Sherlock in the area where Sherlock is good at.

There was no need for Sherlock to admit defeat, as long as he was surprised or exclaimed in surprise.

If you miss this time, you don’t know when the next time will be.

Sherlock could still accompany Aiwass to the Theocracy, but she could only stay in Avalon...

If only I weren't the queen.

Or if Avalon was gone...

Such a desperate thought suddenly popped up in Isabel's mind.

But she shook her head suddenly, dispelling the terrible thought.

Avalon was gone... She couldn't imagine what that would be like.

She only knew that it would leave many people homeless and living a life worse than death.

...But why did I suddenly have such an idea?

Isabel was puzzled.

(End of this chapter)