Chapter 123 Codename: Aleister
Although Aiwass didn't know much about Crescent Moon Ritual, he knew it was a PVP mode.
Everyone is each other's enemy, and only the winner can be promoted.
The cost of a New Moon Ritual is far greater than a Full Moon Ritual. Even though there's no penalty for failure, the cost of materials is still substantial. Only those with sufficient self-confidence will perform a New Moon Ritual as they advance. In other words, it's very difficult to cheat in this mode.
The difficulty of the promotion ceremony will increase with the strength of the participants.
Before embarking on the Second Path, these transcendents have already gained access to the upper echelons of society and, as powerful individuals, possess various secrets, intelligence, and resources. Attending the Full Moon Ceremony at this stage could easily lead a group of new, difficult-to-cooperate individuals directly into a ceremony many times more challenging.
Therefore, after reaching the pinnacle of the first path, transcendents often use the New Moon Ritual to advance to their second path. The New Moon Ritual is nothing more than mutual slaughter anyway, so increasing the difficulty of the ritual is not a big deal.
When being chased by a bear, you don't need to run faster than the bear, you just need to run faster than other people.
So, who is so confident?
——Apart from the young and ignorant reckless men, there are also senior extraordinary people who have been promoted to the second path.
These people are the latter, while Aiwass will play the former.
A newcomer who doesn't even know the meaning of a "code name" is possessed by a shadow demon because of good luck or bad luck, and joins the Noble Red Society - such an image.
The pseudonym "Aleister" actually has a special meaning, a meaning known only to Aiwass himself.
This name is a variation of the surname Alexander. If you read "Alexander" in Iris language, it becomes this pronunciation, and then transcribe it back to become Aleister. It just so happens that Aiwass's instinctive urge for transcendence was inherited from his grandfather, who was named Alexander, and his mother was an Iris noble.
This can also be considered as Aiwass's commemoration of his past... and his biological parents who he had never met and had already been separated from.
As for the Noble Red Society, it was Aiwass's advance move, laying the groundwork for his future plans.
——He didn’t recognize the others, but the old man codenamed “Thunder” was obviously Inspector Gordon!
His presence at the ceremony was a testament to the existence of "Aleister." Later, when Aiwass attacked Lloyd's headquarters, the origins of the shadow demon became clear, confirming that he came from the Noble Red Circle—at least, he was no longer just a "shadow demon summoner who appeared out of nowhere."
At this moment, another person immediately appeared on the chair next to Aiwass.
He was wearing a very loose grey hoodie, and it was impossible to tell whether he was a man or a woman, or his age.
"I guess you are an ascendant who has adapted to the path."
Mr. Lujiao was the first to speak: "It's still early, how about we get to know each other? I'm Lujiao, an ascendant of the Dusk Path."
But at this moment, the other party said nothing and did not move.
Lu Jiao continued to persuade him in a friendly manner, "I think you are a newcomer. But you should have some understanding of the advancement ceremony... Are you also on the second path? Except for Mr. Aleister, we are all veterans of the second path. We are all very experienced in advancement rituals... We can definitely cooperate.
"How should I address you? Mr. or Ms.?"
The grey-hooded figure tilted his head slightly but remained silent.
He didn't speak or look up, so it was impossible to discern his appearance or features, let alone his code name.
Then a sixth person appeared—this one Aiwass still recognized. This was none other than the "Knight" from the previous full moon ceremony!
Apparently, he failed in his last promotion, so he decided to get promoted again after only resting for half a month.
But the Cavaliers have clearly grown a lot since their last promotion.
Unlike the man in the gray hood, Mr. Knight quickly agreed to half of the proposal when faced with the antlers' enticement.
"We can cooperate for now and deal with the remaining three together."
The knight said sternly, "But since you'd say that to me, I assume you'd say the same to others. You'd probably be more inclined to cooperate with the powerful individuals who entered the ceremony first, rather than with me, who was recruited later."
"So until then, I will be working together with Mr. Aleister and this Mr. Gray Hood."
Although he didn't know the content of the ceremony, the knight spoke of his judgment and plan without reservation.
It can only be said that the Cavaliers have grown partially, but not completely.
"But I'm a demon, boy."
The Shadow Demon hissed back.
The knight simply said seriously, "Identities in the outside world have no bearing on the ritual. We are competitors, rivals, and potential allies. Therefore, we should address each other by code names. Mr. Aleister, are you really not going to come up with a code name?"
"Let's talk about it after the ceremony is over." Shadow Demon didn't care.
After that, Mr. Deerhorn directly told the "Knight" that his main path was the path of authority, and reported the other party's team and possible location, implying that he had a very high status in Avalon.
The knight, unbeknownst to him, had been taught, but he kept repeating, "Your identity outside the ritual has no bearing on your role." Though somewhat stubborn, he at least didn't reveal any further information, nor did he completely believe Mr. Shikaku's persuasion, so he wasn't particularly resentful.
The knight clearly didn't want to talk to them, and he even tried to dissuade Aleister from continuing the conversation with Lujiao and the others. However, since Aiwass had done it on purpose, he obviously couldn't persuade him.
After persuading the knight twice, he stopped trying, and Aiwass disguised himself as "Aleister" to chat with Deerhorn, Red, and Thunder. Through the three people's detailed and sinister questions and answers, as well as Shadow Fiend's improvisation, the image of "Aleister" gradually became clear.
The current "Aleister" is a young man possessed by a demon since childhood. He studied in the countryside and moved to Greyshire after finishing junior high. His parents were both believers, but he himself believed solely in the Serpent Father. After his father's death, he inherited a modest inheritance and traveled throughout Avalon, working part-time while climbing rocks and mountains, challenging himself and conquering nature. While traveling to Garden City, adjacent to Glass Island, he was accepted into the local Noble Red Society.
He had only just joined the Noble Red and was unclear about its purpose and philosophy. However, his "mentor" had provided him with a path to advancement and taught him how to perform the ritual. This was his first attempt at an advancement ritual—and he had decided to perform the New Moon Ritual on his first try because his mentor had praised his talent.
A very plausible and vivid character. Nothing wrong with it except that this person doesn't exist.
Aiwass has decided that after the ceremony, he will ask Lily to help him recall this character setting and copy it down and recite it in full.
They chatted for over an hour, the initially stagnant, silent atmosphere gradually relaxing. The knight gradually realized that the demon wasn't a villain, just a bit arrogant—he hadn't used human materials, but was instead covered in blood due to his clumsiness.
——Although the three people on Aiwass’ left didn’t believe it, he was sure that Mr. Knight must have believed it.
Because of this, the knight had a pleasant conversation with Mr. Aleister, who was of similar age, while the silent Gray Hood was gradually ignored by people.
While they were chatting, the remaining three people gradually appeared. They were obviously far away from Glass Island, which was why they were dragged here by the ritual when there were no suitable extraordinary people nearby.
The atmosphere was completely different from the full moon ceremony. Neither of the three people introduced themselves or even their own paths.
One of them was a man so gaunt he looked like rotten wood, his back slightly hunched, his black hair hanging below his shoulders like wet seaweed, tangled in small curls. He lowered his head and muttered something to himself.
The other was a monk, wearing a dark brown, coarse cloth robe as rough as a rag. He came in, clasped his hands together, and said nothing.
Aiwass now knew that Deerhorn represented the Path of Dusk, Red the Path of Love, Old Gordon the Path of Devotion, himself the Path of Transcendence, Lily in the gray hoodie the Path of Adaptation, and Mr. Knight the Path of Authority. In other words, the remaining three should be Balance, Beauty, and Wisdom, respectively.
Fortunately, there was a ninth person who directly eliminated a wrong option for everyone -
"Hello everyone, I'm the 'King' of the Path of Balance, a senior 'botanist'! Brothers and sisters, if you need alchemical incense or essential oils, you can buy them from me. I'll give you 20% off the market price! I can deliver to your door for free within 20 kilometers of Mainz. International customers only need to pay half the normal customs tax, and it will be delivered within half a month!"
As soon as the middle-aged man, who looked somewhat down and out, appeared, he immediately shouted loudly and repeatedly: "Hello everyone, can you hear me? I am the 'King' of the Path of Balance, a very professional botanist..."
“—I’m so annoyed!”
Aleister complained loudly and rudely.
Although the others didn't say anything, their slightly furrowed brows also showed their attitude.
But in fact, Aiwass couldn't help but exclaimed in his heart:
I was surprised, it was the advertising guy from last time!
He couldn't help but sigh at the miracles of the world, the fate of everyone, and your incredible courage - you were defeated instantly even when you were at the Full Moon Ceremony, what gave you the courage to come to the New Moon Ceremony?
Anyway, we'll be killed the moment we meet, so there's no difference, right?
And wasn't it 10% off last time? Why is it 20% off this time? Are you short of money recently?
Can you still enter the New Moon Ceremony if you have no money? Aren’t you going to the Full Moon Ceremony to get another one?
But what Aiwass didn't expect was that his goods were actually sold.
The ninth seat in the circle was right next to the first. Mr. Deerhorn, who was always friendly to everyone, came over with great interest and whispered to Mr. King about his source of goods.
From what Mr. Lujiao said, he might want to order a batch of alchemical incense - a large order of at least 500 white coins. Mr. King was so excited that he was shaking all over and almost jumped out of his seat to discuss it in detail with Mr. Lujiao.
Aiwass shook his head repeatedly.
...hard to understand.
Can this method of selling goods actually sell them?
Is this what God rewards for hard work?
At this moment, the stone knight statue regained its color. It radiated a brilliant silver-white light, and the golden holy sword in its hand shone brightly.
【Dear participants of the ceremony, please remain silent】
A serious voice sounded from under the knight's helmet:
[This ceremony will be presided over by me, Gawain, a knight under the Silver Crown Dragon.]
As Gawain finished speaking, the space around him took on shape and color, centered around him.
It was a gloomy, dark, enclosed building, yet everything around them loomed large. The flowing sea of blood beneath them had transformed into a boiling broth, and they were within it, white smoke rising from it.
The surrounding buildings were extremely huge, and the door handle was at least ten meters above the ground; and the handle was also extremely huge, roughly estimated to be about two meters long.
It was as if they had arrived in the land of giants, or as if they had been shrunk to a size shorter than a cat.
The apostle had no intention of chatting with them.
After arriving, he started explaining without stopping.
[During the first promotion ceremony, I must explain to you the special rules of the New Moon Ceremony.]
[This time, six advanced practitioners possess multiple paths, but please note: During the advancement ceremony, only advanced path abilities and self-made transcendental items corresponding to the path are allowed.]
What you are experiencing is not a true story, but a script written by the Nine Pillars of God, set on the stage of history.
[The dream you use each time you advance will only be used once. The content is all fictional and will differ from the development in reality.]
Therefore, you must solve puzzles, search for items, defeat enemies, or survive under the watchful eyes of the Nine Pillars to prove your ability.
[The ceremony is limited to one hour, and the scale is one to one with the real thing.]
You must survive until the end of the ceremony, or complete special victory conditions during early settlement.
Because this is a New Moon Ritual, kill bonus points will be calculated. At the end of the ritual, the winner will be selected based on the points held, from highest to lowest. If all other participants are killed, the ritual will be settled in advance. If there are no special victory conditions at this time, the player will be deemed to have lost.
[There are three winners in this ceremony, and there are special victory conditions.]
[Special victory conditions for this ceremony are: "Sacred Relic Competition" and "Crazy Killing"]
[Holy Relic Competition: This ritual involves a powerful holy relic. The person holding the holy relic will be instantly detected by other ritual participants. The one who survives to the end will win regardless of the victory conditions.]
[Crazy Killing: If the surviving ritual participant at the end of the ritual cannot achieve victory points, but their kill count is greater than the total kill count of the remaining survivors, they will win directly regardless of the victory conditions.]
[The difficulty of this ritual is "Challenge". Death during the ritual will cause weakness in real life for four to ten days.]
[Separate statement: The dreamscape for this ceremony was created by the Silver Crown Dragon, and the script and bonus rules were created by the Snake Father. This has nothing to do with the witness of the ceremony, myself.]
Gawain said this and raised the blood-stained holy sword in his hand.
He solemnly read the script for the ceremony:
In 1320, a giant couple in the giant kingdom of Alctorus captured nine humans as food reserves for the winter...
When the sword fell from its highest point, Aiwass felt a strong dizziness.
The world before his eyes twisted and dissipated, and the nine people sitting on the chairs disappeared without a trace.
A 4,000-word update, and today I updated 7,000 words~
Update completed!
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
