Chapter 569 Please Choose Your Dream Mentor
Gray Eternal is teaching you "Higher Divine Arts (11/11)". Do you want to pay 644 public experience to master this mysterious skill?
——Confirm payment.
Aiwass thought to himself.
As these words fell, Aiwass's experience returned to a pitiful double digit.
It was a close call, luckily it was enough.
Aiwass was almost sweating.
If he hadn't just killed Cardinal Loki, his experience wouldn't have been enough—the White Saint's mastery of these eleven volumes of advanced divine arts was quite uneven. The least required just over a hundred experience points, while the most required a staggering twelve thousand.
Considering that the volume was called "Higher Divine Arts: Commentary on the Path of Love - Love, Friendship, Desire and Evil Desires", Aiwass thought this was understandable.
Considering Master Janice's problems, the White Saint likely didn't study this volume properly back then. Perhaps she simply couldn't concentrate and read it; or perhaps she was distracted or embarrassed to share such ambiguous knowledge with Aiwass. After all, conservatives still make up the majority of elves.
Of these eleven volumes of advanced divine arts, the first covers history and principles, the second covers methods and techniques. The remaining nine volumes deal entirely with methods for communicating with the pillar gods, celestial officials, apostles, and phantom demons of the nine great paths, as well as understanding each path and self-control. Therefore, strictly speaking, it's possible to master advanced divine arts by reading only three volumes.
High-level divine arts require digging into one's inner self, allowing oneself to serve as a vessel and withstand the advent of the great will. This requires suppressing one's own ego to "make room."
It's like when you're performing surgery, drawing, or some other delicate work, and you ask a passing expert to take over. At the very least, stand back and watch quietly. Don't make any movements that might interfere with the expert's work—angry him and having him drop his work and walk away is a minor issue, but fighting for control of the body can lead to problems.
Therefore, one must lock up one's body so that it can only do limited things when the will comes.
Just like in other games, it's best not to have self-destruct skills in your skill list during auto-combat, as the AI might see it and use it. To achieve this, one must be aware of the personal preferences and taboos of all great beings... This is one of the reasons why it's called a high-level divine art.
Because it is really similar to the underlying logic of divine magic.
If "Sacrificing Fire" and "Illuminating" are the prerequisite skills for "Torch Burner", then "Prayer" and "Blessing" are the prerequisites for advanced divine arts!
Divine arts involve praying and blessing to the Boss for help, much like submitting a request in a formatted form and waiting for the process to go through. Advanced divine arts, on the other hand, involve simply making a phone call to the Boss, who then automatically handles the task. If one has no personal connection to the Boss, maintaining a good relationship with them is essential.
The difference is that the divine art is to inquire about the boss's preferences when something happens, while the advanced divine art is equivalent to pre-storing "favors".
From this point of view, Aiwass finally understood why the Church is a society based on human relationships.
——Because the divine arts developed by the founder of the theocracy, the first Pope Zhu Tiansi, are essentially "humanistic divine arts"!
The knowledge in the nine subsequent books of Advanced Divine Arts alone is the "secret knowledge" that ordinary bishops cannot master and is passed down from generation to generation.
Even the prayer manuals taught to bishops by the church would never explain in detail the likes and dislikes of these powerful figures. It was like a small notebook filled with the contact information, addresses, weaknesses, handles, preferences, past, personal relationships of various powerful figures...
If these things were spread too widely, they might really anger the beings in the dream world.
On the other hand, if you read these books thoroughly, then even if you go back and do some ordinary prayers and blessings, it will be more effective - because they have obtained more important information.
In this world, knowledge is power, and this is especially true when it comes to information at the Pillar God level.
Therefore, even if Aiwass mastered the advanced divine arts through the system, he still had to read the remaining books upon his return. This was truly valuable knowledge, and it was no wonder the elves sealed it in such a tightly sealed box and insisted on reading the first two books before showing them to anyone else. They were afraid that the knowledge within would be lost.
As his experience gradually faded, Aiwass also felt the power surging in his body.
Under Pure White's gaze, Aiwas' pupils became dull again.
——It was at this moment that Aiwass’ pupils turned completely scarlet.
It is a sacred flame like the sun.
Immediately afterwards, golden lines emerged from the vermilion center—condensing into eerie, flame-like vertical pupils. Then, invisible energy, centered around Aiwass, spread out in all directions.
Aiwass felt warmth, then heat.
It felt like walking from a cold room into the sun wearing thick clothes. In an instant, he was sweating profusely.
Under the severe dizziness, the world in front of Aiwass gradually became blurred.
He felt that his liquid soul was being distorted by some force - just like blowing glass, bubbles gurgled and emerged from it.
"It's actually the Dissolving Soul..."
At this moment, Aiwass suddenly heard a voice behind him.
He suddenly turned around and found himself in a pure white space.
Suddenly, the pure white space began to take on color... just like the game hadn't refreshed the textures yet, and the world gradually took on an outline.
It was a spring day in the mountains, with a clear stream, emerald green leaves, bright sunshine, and the chirping of birds under the blue sky.
"...The Heavenly Master of Samsara?"
The doubtful voice sounded again.
Aiwass looked back again and found that a man had appeared beside him at some point.
He had an exceptionally handsome and gentle appearance, with long, light-blonde hair that fell to his waist, and no ornaments on his head or face. He wore a plain white robe... but only the upper half of his body was human.
From the waist down, his body was that of a majestic white deer, and on top of his head, he had a pair of huge white antlers similar to those of a candlestick.
The antlers were exceptionally clean, with a bone china hue and golden veins. They were so white they seemed to glow—at the end of each branch, a silvery-white flame burned. The glow of the flames shone on the other antlers, making the entire massive antler appear to be glowing.
The half-human, half-deer man was looking down at Aiwass seriously.
At this moment, Aiwass realized that he was not a human... not even the fox he was before, but a fawn without horns.
He stamped his hooves in a panic and awkwardly, not knowing what he looked like.
Seeing this, the man laughed heartily.
"It seems I was wrong."
He rubbed Aiwas's head and said gently, "If you can't find a god to contract with in the end, come to me.
"Remember my name, young priest, I am Zhu Tiansi... the first Pope.
"My real name is...Ann Yongheng."
The next moment, the illusion disappeared.
Aiwass then realized that he had fallen to the ground without realizing it. Pure White was holding him beside him. Her entire body was radiant, and she continuously cast illumination magic on Aiwass.
Aiwass's body was burning like a graphics card used for mining. His skin was red and covered in purple-red indentations resembling nooses, visible to the naked eye.
Under the healing power of illumination, those marks kept appearing and disappearing. Aiwass's body looked like a watermelon that had been haphazardly dug up, with pits overlapping one another.
Finally, it came to rest in the exact same spot as Cardinal Matilda's—right in the middle of Aiwass's chest.
The mark of the noose emerged and deepened, and it finally broke and bled.
The wound healed again, and a black mark emerged.
That is the ring formed by the snake biting its tail.
It looks like a black sun during a solar eclipse.
"...Congratulations. You are the first race other than elves to learn advanced divine arts in the past four hundred years. You are also the first short-lived race in the world to master advanced divine arts."
Witnessing the miracle he had long awaited, Chunbai said with mixed emotions, "Should I call you in advance... Cardinal Moriarty? Or do you think Cardinal Aiwass sounds better?"
"...Don't you need to fully master the advanced divine arts?"
Aiwass spoke softly.
When he opened his mouth, he even scared himself - he was just like Yulia with a high fever, hoarse and weak.
At that moment, he suddenly understood Yulia's feelings.
At this moment, his soul was completely open... Although there was nothing inside, it was a "home".
A "house of flesh and blood" that can accommodate a phantom demon!
"Have you decided who to sign the contract with?"
Pure White frowned slightly. "Won't you reconsider this? Let me emphasize again... Every time you perform a Divine Descent Ritual, it's like digging a hole in your soul. Continuously digging holes can damage your soul. It's best to undergo a Ascension Ritual in between to recast your soul and cool it down before proceeding with the second round of rituals."
"That is to say, you may only be able to sign with one being before your next promotion ceremony. Have you decided who it is?"
“…I’ve basically figured it out.”
Aiwass replied.
Because of the Shepherd Tantra, he must strike a balance between transcendence and devotion. Therefore, he cannot choose either path unless he can sign a contract with both.
Besides that, he had no close ties with Hengwo, Sha Shiji, Weizhe, or Amber. He wasn't sure if they would accept his resume right away... waiting for it to be returned and then submitting it again would be a waste of time. As for the Celestial Officials and Apostles besides the Pillar Gods, Aiwass didn't even consider them.
Therefore, Aiwass currently has not many targets selected as the first signing target.
That is, you have to choose one from the three: the Lord of the Crown, the Lord of the Twin Mirrors, and the Lord of Scales and Feathers.
so……
"—I will choose the Lord of Scales and Feathers."
Aiwass gave the name that first came to his mind without hesitation.
For some reason, he always felt that the other person was unusually kind.
Update completed!
My body can't handle it anymore, so I'm going to take a day off tomorrow. I won't send you a leave application...
(End of this chapter)
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