Code Name: Aleister

Although Iver didn't know much about the New Moon Ritual, he did know it was a PVP Mode.

Everyone is an enemy; only the winners can be promoted.

The cost of New Moon Ritual is far greater than that of Full Moon Ritual. Even if there's no penalty for failure, the materials required for the ceremony are still considerable. Only those with sufficient self-confidence will perform New Moon Ritual when advancing in rank. In other words, it's very difficult to find someone who slacks off in this mode.

The difficulty of the Promotion Ritual increases as the participants' strength increases.

Before embarking on the second path, these extraordinary individuals had already come into contact with the upper echelons of society and, as powerful figures, possessed various secrets, intelligence, and resources. At this point, attending the Full Moon Ritual would easily lead a group of difficult newcomers directly into a ceremony whose difficulty had been increased many times over.

Therefore, after reaching the pinnacle of the First Path, extraordinary individuals often use the New Moon Ritual to advance to their second path. Since the New Moon Ritual is nothing more than mutual slaughter, increasing the difficulty of the ritual is irrelevant.

When being chased by a bear, you don't need to run faster than the bear, you just need to run faster than everyone else.

So, who would be so confident? — Aside from young, ignorant fools, it would be seasoned superhumans who have advanced to the second path.

These people are all the latter, while Iver is to play the former.

A newcomer who doesn't even know the meaning of a "codename" is possessed by the Shadow Demon due to either extremely good or extremely bad luck, and joins the Noble Red Society —that's the character.

The pseudonym "Aleister" actually has a special meaning. Only Iver himself knows its significance.

This name is a variant of the surname Alexander. If you pronounce "Alexander" in the Iris Language, it becomes this pronunciation, and then transcribing it back, it becomes Aleister. Coincidentally, Iver's instinctive impulse to Path of Transcendence was inherited from his grandfather, who was named Alexander, and his mother was a noblewoman of the Iris family.

This can also be seen as Iver's tribute to his past... to his biological parents whom he had never met and had already separated from.

As for the Noble Red Society, it was Iver's advance maneuver, a prelude to his future plans.

He didn't recognize anyone else, but the old man codenamed "Thunder" was clearly Inspector Gordon! His presence at the ceremony was tantamount to confirming the existence of "Aleister." Later, when Iver attacked Lloyd's's headquarters, the origin of that Shadow Fiend became clear, confirming that he came from the Noble Red Society —at least he was no longer just a "Shadow Fiend summoner who appeared out of nowhere."

At that moment, another person immediately appeared in the chair next to Iver.

He was wearing a very loose gray hoodie, making it impossible to tell his gender or age.

"I guess you are an ascendant who Path of Adaptation."

Deer Antler was the first to speak, "It's still early, how about we get to know each other? I am Deer Antlers, an ascendant of the Path of Twilight."

But at this moment, the other party remained silent and motionless.

The antlers continued to persuade him gently, "I think you must be a newcomer. But you should have some understanding of the advancement ritual... Are you also on the Second Path? Apart from Mr. Aleister, everyone on our side is a veteran of the Second Path. We are all very experienced in advancement rituals... We can definitely cooperate."

"How should I address you? Sir, or Madam?"

The person wearing a gray hood tilted their head slightly, but remained silent.

He neither spoke nor looked up, making it impossible to discern his appearance or features. His code name was also unknown.

Then a sixth person appeared—a person Iver still recognized. It was none other than the "Knight" from the last Full Moon Ritual! Apparently, he had failed in his previous promotion and had decided to try again after only half a month of rest.

But the Cavaliers have clearly improved a lot since their last promotion.

Unlike the gray-hooded man, the Knight quickly agreed to half of the offer when antlers tried to win him over.

"We can cooperate for now and deal with the remaining three together."

The knight said seriously, "But since you're saying this to me, I assume you'll say it to others as well. You'd probably prefer to cooperate with the stronger individuals who entered the ritual earlier than with me, whom you tried to win over later."

"So at that time, I will be working with Mr. Aleister and this Gray Hood."

Although he did not yet know the content of the ceremony, the knight recounted his judgment and plan without reservation.

It can only be said that the Knights have grown to some extent, but not completely.

"But I am a demon, kid."

The Shadow Fiend replied in a hissing voice.

The knight replied earnestly, "Our identities outside the ceremony are irrelevant. We are competitors, rivals, and potential allies. Therefore, we should address each other by code names—Mr. Aleister, are you really not planning to choose a code name?"

"Let's talk about it after the ceremony," Shadow Fiend said dismissively.

After that, Deer Antler directly told the "Knight" that his main path was the Path of Authority, and reported the other party's battalion and possible location, thus implying that he had a high status in Avalon.

The knight, perhaps having been instructed, repeatedly chanted, "My external identity is irrelevant to the ritual." Although somewhat stubborn, he at least didn't reveal any more information about himself, nor did he completely believe Deer Antler ' persuasion, and he wasn't particularly resentful.

The knight clearly didn't want to talk to them, and he even subtly advised "Aleister" to stop talking to the stags and the others. However, given that Iver was doing it on purpose, he was clearly unmoved.

After persuading the knight twice, he stopped trying. Meanwhile, Iver, disguised as "Aleister," chatted with Antlers, Red, and Thunder. Through the three's subtle and insidious questions and answers, and Shadow Fiend's improvisation, the character of "Aleister" gradually became clearer.

The current "Aleister" is a young man who has been possessed by a demon since childhood. He used to study in the countryside and went to Grey County after finishing junior high school. His parents were both believers, but he himself only worshipped the Serpent Father. After his father died, he inherited a modest fortune and worked throughout Avalon while rock climbing and mountaineering, challenging himself and conquering nature. When he traveled to Garden City, which is adjacent to Glass Island, he was accepted by the local Noble Red Society.

He had only recently joined the Noble Red and was not yet clear about its purpose and philosophy. However, his "mentor" had provided him with a path to advancement and taught him how to conduct rituals. This was his first attempt at Promotion Ritual —and he intended to perform the New Moon Ritual on his first attempt because of his guide's boasting about his talents.

The character is very reasonable and exceptionally vivid. There are no problems except that this person doesn't actually exist.

Iver has decided that after the ceremony, he will have Lily help him recall the character setting and transcribe it into full memorization.

They talked for over an hour, and the initially sluggish and silent atmosphere gradually eased. The knight also gradually realized that this demon was not a villain, just somewhat arrogant—he hadn't used human materials, but was covered in blood because of his clumsiness.

—Regarding this, although the three men to Iver's left did not believe it, he was certain that the Knight believed it.

For this reason, the knight and Mr. Aleister, who was of similar age, got along very well, while the silent grey hooded man was gradually being ignored.

While they were chatting, the remaining three people gradually appeared. They were obviously far from Glass Island, which is why they were dragged here by the ritual when no suitable superhumans could be found nearby.

The atmosphere was completely different from that of the Full Moon Ritual. Neither of the three introduced themselves, nor did they even explain their spiritual paths.

One of them was a man so thin he resembled rotten wood. His back was slightly hunched, and his black hair, which hung down to his shoulders, was like damp seaweed, curling into small strands. He was muttering something to himself with his head down.

The other person was a monk. He was dressed in a rough and simple dark brown cloth robe, and after entering, he put his hands together and did not say a word.

Iver now knew that the antlers represented the Path of Twilight, red the Path of Love, old Gordon the Dedication Path, he himself the Path of Transcendence, Lily in the grey hoodie the Path of Adaptation, and the Knight the Path of Authority. In other words, the remaining three should represent balance, beauty, and wisdom, respectively.

Fortunately, there was a ninth person who eliminated a wrong option for everyone.

"Hello everyone, I am the ' King ' of the Equilibrium Path, a seasoned 'Botanist'! If you brothers and sisters need alchemical incense or essential oils, you can buy them from me. I'll give you a 20% discount off the market price! Free delivery within 20 kilometers of Mainz is available. For international customers, you only need to pay half of the normal customs duty, and it will be delivered within half a month!"

As soon as the somewhat down-on-his-luck-looking middle-aged man appeared, he immediately raised his voice repeatedly and loudly, "Hello everyone, can you hear me? I am the ' King ' of the Equilibrium Path, a very professional botanist..."

"—So annoying!"

"Aleister" complained loudly and rudely.

Although the others didn't speak, their slightly furrowed brows revealed their attitude.

But in reality, Iver couldn't help but exclaim in his heart: Wow, it's that guy from the last ad session! He couldn't help but marvel at the miracles of the world, everyone's fate, and your incredible audacity—you got instantly killed during a Full Moon Ritual, what gave you the courage to come to the New Moon Ritual? Anyway, you'll get instantly killed during the same ritual, so there's no difference, right?

And last time it was 10% off, why is it 20% off this time? Are you short on cash lately? If you're short on cash, how can you still get into the New Moon Ritual? Why don't you go to the Full Moon Ritual and get another set?

But to Iver's surprise, his goods actually sold.

The seats, which had gone around in a circle, were right next to the ninth and first seats. Deer Antler, who was always friendly with everyone, approached with interest and whispered to Mr. King about his source of goods.

Judging from what Deer Antler said, he might be ordering a large batch of alchemical incense—at least five hundred White Coin. The King was so excited that he was trembling and almost jumped off his seat to have a detailed talk with Deer Antler.

Iver shook his head repeatedly.

... Difficult to understand.

Is it really possible for this method of live-streaming sales to actually sell products? Is this a case of hard work paying off?

At that moment, the stone knight statue regained its color. It radiated a dazzling silver-white light, and the golden holy sword in its hand shone brightly.

All participants, please remain quiet.

A solemn voice rang out from beneath the knight's helmet. "I, Gawain, am presiding over this ceremony. I am a knight under the Silver Crowned Dragon."

As Gawain finished speaking, the surrounding space took on shape and color with him at its center.

This was a gloomy, dark, enclosed building, but everything around them was incredibly tall. The flowing Blood Sea of blood beneath them had transformed into a boiling broth, and they were inside the pot, surrounded by billowing white smoke.

The surrounding buildings were enormous, and the door handle was at least ten meters above the ground; the handle itself was also enormous, roughly estimated to be two meters long.

It was as if they had arrived in a land of giants, or as if they had been shrunk to the size of a cat.

The apostle had absolutely no intention of chatting with them.

Upon arrival, they immediately began their explanation without stopping.

During your first Promotion Ritual, I must explain the special rules of the New Moon Ritual.

[This time, six advanced practitioners possess multiple paths, but please note: only advanced path abilities and extraordinary items corresponding to their own path that they have personally crafted are allowed to be used during the advancement ceremony.]

What you are experiencing is not a real story, but a script written by the Nine Pillar Gods, set on a historical stage.

The dream you use each time you advance will only be used once, and its content is entirely fictional, differing from real-world developments.

Therefore, under the watchful eyes of the Nine Pillar Gods, you must solve puzzles, search for items, defeat enemies, or survive to prove your abilities.

This ceremony is limited to one hour and is a 1:1 scale replica of the real-life ceremony.

You must survive until the end of the ritual, or fulfill the special victory conditions during the early settlement.

Because this is New Moon Ritual, kill reward points will be calculated. At the end of the ritual and during the settlement, the winner will be selected based on the highest to lowest score. If all other ritual participants are killed, the ritual will be settled immediately. If no special victory condition is met at this time, the participant will be declared the loser.

There are three winners in this ceremony, and there are special victory conditions.

The special victory conditions for this ritual are: "Holy Object Contention" and "Mad Killing".

[Holy Object Contention: This ritual involves a powerful sacred relic. The location of the person holding the relic will be detected in real time by other participants. The person who holds the relic and survives to the end wins regardless of the victory conditions.]

[Mad Killing: If a surviving participant cannot gain points at the end of the ritual, but their kill count exceeds the sum of the kill counts of the other survivors, they win automatically regardless of the victory conditions.]

This ritual is rated as "Challenge" in difficulty; death during the ritual will result in physical weakness for four to ten days.

[Separate statement: The dreamscape for this ceremony was constructed by ' Silver Crowned Dragon ', and the script and bonus details were handled by ' Serpent Father '. It has absolutely nothing to do with the witness of the ceremony, i. e., myself.]

Gawain finished speaking, he 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 Arctos captured nine humans as their winter food supply...]"

As the blade fell from its highest point, Iver felt a strong wave of dizziness.

The world before his eyes distorted and vanished, and the nine people sitting in the chairs disappeared without a trace.

Four thousand words in the previous update, seven thousand words today~ Update complete!