Chapter 898 Maybe no longer upward?
Cardinal Galatea's opinion had no practical significance, but at least it gave everyone a way out - they no longer had to gather around Aiwass to admire the miracles he had summoned, but could continue to move forward.
As Aiwass turned into a sin-beast, the illusion that Cardinal Galatea had previously cast on him was broken.
Now everyone has seen the true face of this "Mr. Pope" - although before this, everyone had actually guessed his identity one after another, and it was impossible for anyone else to understand his "Son of the Candlelighter"-like demeanor... but now is the time to really speak frankly.
Aiwass did not continue to waste mana to maintain the transformed state.
After completing his transformation, he put on his clothes again. After a thorough prayer to restore his mana, he once again cast the "Mass Protection Curse," "Mass Death Prevention Ward," and "Mass Order Shield" blessings on everyone before they continued on their journey.
This eighth floor was far from the top—it was impossible to tell how many floors the Tower of Babel had at its peak. But since it was cut in half, and this eighth floor was still uncovered, it meant there must be more space above, and it was entirely possible that there were even more powerful demonic clusters.
Therefore, it's prudent to make some defensive preparations in advance to prevent surprise attacks. Don't completely trust the Drifter's warnings—don't put all your eggs in one basket. After all, there's always the possibility of a powerful enemy appearing that can't be predicted or detected.
After Sine was resurrected, he had no clothes to wear, so Professor Budd kindly lent him his coat. They were of similar size, so they could interchange.
The old wizard, while sincerely grateful for Professor Bard's kindness and generosity, also frowned, feeling uncomfortable all over. As a chief wizard, he had never worn such poor clothing in his life. If he hadn't known that Professor Bard was from Avalon, he would have thought he was deliberately humiliating him.
Although he was extremely disgusted, he was too embarrassed to say it out loud. That would make him look very embarrassed. This made him frown, mutter, and sigh. It looked like he had encountered some kind of problem.
But in reality, he just felt the rough cloth, like a rag, scraping against his skin. He also felt a faint smell of sweat that made him vaguely nauseous.
This made Aiwass, who knew the inside story, almost laugh out loud.
This is a typical cultural difference.
Professor Budd was known for his frugality within Avalon's archaeological circles, and even within academia. He'd worn this coat for at least ten years, specifically for fieldwork. Because it was cheap and durable, he didn't mind getting it torn. Even though it had been clean when he left, it was undoubtedly stained with sweat from all the traveling.
Even if you use magic to clean it, you will still feel unclean psychologically.
This kind of "stingy" situation is impossible to happen in Xingti or Narcissus.
Avalon scholars are almost universally proud of their frugality. This can be considered a form of political correctness... mainly stemming from the academic community's disdain for Lloyd's.
As everyone knows, Lloyd's was founded by the wealthiest people in Avalon. They love to "sponsor" others - whether it's sponsoring scholars or knights, in order to buy influence with money.
Therefore, if a scholar was wealthy... unless his family was wealthy, people would probably assume he was receiving support from Lloyd's - some Avalonians would call it a "bribe," even if the scholar held no power at all.
On the other hand, if a scholar is poor enough, there are only two possibilities.
One possibility was that Lloyd's looked down on him, while the other was that he refused Lloyd's sponsorship. The former represented incompetence, while the latter was a noble character visible to all. Therefore, in Avalon, any scholar or knight who held a high position often lived in poverty.
For example, the Great Guardian's family didn't have many servants, nor did they purchase many villas and manors in other places. He didn't have any expensive jewelry or clothes at home, and he never took Little Barton out for a trip.
It wasn't that he didn't have money—at his level, money was just a number. No matter what he wanted, as long as he mentioned a price or made a request, either the old queen or Isabel would fulfill most of his wishes. For a figure of this caliber, his wealth was essentially tied to the treasury.
He lived so simply to avoid creating a negative political impact. Even if he hadn't taken a penny from Lloyd's, he'd always looked down on businessmen. But as long as he appeared wealthy, people would naturally worry about his corruption. This was also why Old Meg always enjoyed the company of the people, frequenting beer halls and fried chicken shops—even though she truly loved beer and fried chicken.
The same thing happened to Haena. When she was in school, she wanted to buy some fashionable cosmetics or clothes, or go shopping. But she didn't have the money. Now that she has money and a good salary, it's difficult for her to buy the things she wants.
Because of Lloyd's influence, an arbitrator who appears to be too rich...is never a good thing in people's minds.
But this wasn't the case with Xingti and Narcissus. As a noble scholar, one naturally deserved status and wealth... If one lived too simply, it would appear that no nobles were willing to sponsor them, or that no mage lords were optimistic about them. This would indicate that one hadn't passed the "test of the market" and lacked "real talent and knowledge."
Therefore, scholars, led by the mages, strive to live a prosperous and respectable life as much as possible. Many young mages even borrow money to puff up their finances, appearing at various social events to appear wealthy. In this way, they gain the trust of other sponsors.
After all, alchemists can easily make money, but mages can't quite do the same. Even though the top projects are all mages', they're notoriously reluctant to monetize them, which makes them looked down upon by other mages. But research costs money... so someone has to pay the price.
In order to get the enemies to "give them some", the mages will even use a large part of their future research funds to buy equipment, making themselves look quite mysterious like the legendary great wizard.
——In fact, in Aiwas's opinion, Professor Bud is somewhat malicious.
He might not have been unaware of the customs of the Narcissus people. He might have simply felt that Zhengsine was too arrogant and ignored the others, which made the children feel uncomfortable, so he maliciously bullied the old wizard.
The effect is also very good.
"Can I help you... Mr. Sine?"
The kitten looked at Zhengsine sighing and approached cautiously.
After all, repairing mechanisms and detecting traps are her duties in the team.
Zheng Xian just glanced at her and said calmly, "It's not a big problem. I can handle it... I'll call you if I need help."
This stubborn and proud tone made the kitten feel a little flattered.
On her first day meeting Zheng Xian, she'd accidentally grabbed his sleeve while approaching to chat, and Zheng Xian had snatched it back, slapping the cuff repeatedly and checking to see if she'd left a shadow mark or stolen anything. He'd even ignored her greeting, only glancing at her with disdain and caution before silently leaving, reserved and distant.
This hurt her a lot.
Although the Trap Master is an advanced class between the Assassin and the Thief, she is not a street thief who likes to "touch" and then steal things.
She was a member of the Hawkeye organization. She had indeed killed people, but those were the "Fallen" who were colluding with the Moon Child. However, she hadn't completed many missions before she was summoned back to headquarters for training due to her demonstrated talent for traps and assassinations.
She had just completed her apprenticeship and was planning to come to Narcissus Territory to hunt Moonchildren. However, before she could kill many, the Narcissus Principality declared independence; it even closed the customs with Iris and activated the Mage Tower to search for the Hawkeye assassin within the territory. Her movements within Narcissus were severely restricted, and she could only find ways to take on commissions to earn money—even so, she never stole anything.
...And now, after dying once, Mr. Sine looks much more normal.
Could it be that the Pope's resurrection also cured his personality? Or is this state of not being able to communicate with others also considered a disease?
"It's fixed."
Sine suddenly spoke.
Everyone gathered around him, and Zhengsine explained to Aiwass, "It's not structural damage, it's a procedural error... The outer tracks above the ninth floor are severely damaged. This means we can only go up to the ninth floor at best, and there's even a risk of derailment on the ninth floor itself. To ensure safety, the elevator has blocked access to the ninth floor."
"In other words, if we go to the ninth floor, the elevator might be damaged?"
Aiwass translated his words.
Everyone looked at each other, and then looked at Master Chongbo.
"Oh, it's not a big deal."
Suddenly, the wanderer said, "It's only nine floors... If the elevator breaks, the worst that can happen is just jumping off. I thought it was that high."
"This floor is about thirty or forty meters high, and there are ten floors above it. You can't just jump down if you want."
Sine warned, "This isn't like the residential buildings out there. Think carefully about whether we absolutely must go up there... There might be traps up there that can't be disarmed, or even more powerful enemies."
"That's less than three hundred meters," the wanderer asked. "Don't you have a spell that can help us solve this problem?"
"Oh, how is that possible!"
The old wizard's voice suddenly rose. "It's only three hundred meters. How can that be considered a difficult problem? Don't be ridiculous! Even a newly promoted young wizard at the second level can come up with at least seven or eight ideas. Who are you looking down on? Ha, Feather Fall, Storm Channel, Spring Space, Flexible Air Wall... If you want to hear it, I can tell you all about it until tomorrow!"
Hearing this, the corners of Rurouni's mouth rose slightly.
He laughed heartily, shrugged his shoulders, and looked at everyone: "Then the problem is solved, everyone. It seems that country folk like me don't understand the power of magic, hahahaha..."
Just now, Drifter realized through his keen intuition that although Sine had repaired the elevator, he actually didn't want to go up any further.
Perhaps it was because death was too painful, or perhaps it was because these clothes made him feel uncomfortable. Or perhaps it was because Zhengsine was distracted by the sapphire in the white-haired cardinal's hand... He seemed to want to go back and do something, so he always looked a little absent-minded, even without any airs - compared to his initial arrogance, this was now his true character in his natural state.
So the wanderer took the initiative to speak up and put Zhengsine on the spot, preventing him from saying "I want to leave".
Although the subsequent road may not require this mage, this end cannot be opened.
If Zhengsine can really leave, then everyone else can too. If Baike and Xiaomao want to leave, then "No Words, No Views" will have to follow suit... In the end, there won't be many people left in this team. It might as well just disband.
So he continued to fan the flames, using his clownish manner to force Sine to demonstrate his "necessity." After this, because the old wizard was too proud to backtrack, he wouldn't. This way, everyone else would be safe.
Although Drifter wasn't the captain here, he was the only one who carefully scrutinized everyone's expressions after Aiwass revealed his Candle Child form. A true adventurer in his forties or fifties, with a genuine sense of hard work, held a fundamental difference in experience from these occasional Transcendents who sprang up to take on a job.
While the Pope's presence meant they could be resurrected even if they died... Drifter clearly heard the Pope describe Zhengshen's body as "lightly dead." In other words, resurrection wasn't absolute, but rather a matter of difficulty. Even if something were to happen to the Pope himself, they would likely all die here.
Take Wikipedia for example—after realizing that Aiwass was the Eternal Pope, he'd been sweating profusely. If he had the chance to escape, he'd definitely run away immediately, fearing that if something happened to the Eternal Pope, the blame would fall on him.
Think about it... the world's most powerful leader comes over to give you a friendly handshake and goes out to play a board game before suddenly falling headfirst to the ground and dying. Anyone would be sweating profusely.
If he were outside, he would definitely want to stick to His Holiness the Pope, but this is a dangerous relic from the Amber Age. Less than half an hour after entering the door, he encountered a group of more than 600 fourth-level demons... Can't he just run as far as he can?
The wanderer could understand him.
But the problem is that the more people run, the more dangerous it becomes for the remaining people.
In this situation, no one can escape or try to slack off.
The wanderer's eyes, which seemed drunk but were actually extremely clear, always scanned everyone's expression like a hawk.
——The most unstable among them is the Great Wizard Sine, whose heart has become restless since he saw the gem.
"Then it depends on you."
Before Sine could lose his temper, Aiwass continued, "You are the only mage here. Protect yourself."
“…Yes, thank you.”
Zhengsine didn't dare get angry with Aiwass, so he immediately quieted down and became obedient. Even his voice, which was about to break, became steady. "Thank you very much for your concern, Your Holiness. I am proud to be able to help you, and I will do my best for you."
Aiwass smiled and nodded at the Drifter.
Then he turned around and looked at Zheng Xian, vaguely reminding him, "Our agreement can only be implemented after we all return. I can choose many people, but the specific partners have not yet been determined.
"...I think this person always has to finish this job before considering the next one, right? Otherwise, I wouldn't feel safe handing the work over to that person. What if my work gets put on hold too? Don't you agree, Master?"
"Yes, you are right."
Zheng Xian suddenly became stern and nodded seriously. It was as if he was not an old wizard, but a teenager who was being lectured by his teacher.
As we talked, the lift continued to rise.
The ninth floor, here we are.
(End of this chapter)
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