James and Jacob

Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly.

Because he knew the old man and was very familiar with him. They knew each other a long time ago.

——The man locked in the birdcage by Titania is James Moriarty, the adoptive father of Iver.

Although he was locked in a cage, the old man looked in good condition at the moment. He was dressed solemnly as if he were attending a banquet, and even his hair was neatly combed back and neatly styled.

In addition to the crossbars for the birds to stand on, the birdcage also has chairs for people to sit on. At this moment, James sat down peacefully, even crossed his legs, and looked at Merlin with a smile.

"... I heard that you have been missing for a long time, but I didn't expect you to be here."

Merlin said, "They all thought you had an accident at Theocracy."

"I did go to Theocracy. On the one hand, it was to get some things, and on the other hand, it was also to worship the giant tree."

James smiled and said, "I have great respect for the giant tree - it single-handedly carries a civilization and creates a race with its own flesh and blood. If the power of the giant tree were stronger, he would definitely choose to support the whole world."

"I will listen seriously."

Merlin said casually, "How is your recent research? You haven't called me for a long time, so everything must be going well?"

"So to speak."

James chuckled and said, "But in front of His Majesty, it's better not to talk about these boring things - what did you come to the Fairy Kingdom for?"

"Then you have to ask your children."

Merlin said unceremoniously, "When you are a guest here, they are not idle."

"Which child of mine?"

James asked, "Son or daughter?"

"Of course it's the little Fox from Alexander's family. Thanks to him, I found out that Vivian was doing something again - she changed my Shadow of Avalon Ritual. But she didn't have that ability, so I suspected it might be That guy Jacob helped her change it. As a 'Grand Wizard', he often uses rituals to borrow the power of other paths, and the apostle he met in Path of Love is Vivian, so they are connected.

"But if Jacob hadn't done it... then the situation would have been more complicated. It's even possible that Tiansi and Pillar God were involved. Although my skills are not very good, it is not something that ordinary people can change casually if they want."

Merlin pulled his big-brimmed hat and said seriously to James and Fairy Queen: "So I have to go to Beheading Valley to see if that guy Alexander has left anything else. But that place was engraved by Amber God, and since I no longer have a physical body, I can't go in through the normal way.

"So I have to borrow Fairy Hole. If he left any rituals, there must be clues in Fairy Hole."

"Shadow of Avalon..."

Fairy Queen Titania asked with great interest, "Is it the ritual that resurrected Lancelot? What did Vivian change it into? Is it fun?"

"I can't say."

Merlin cautiously shook his head. "But the one resurrected by it is definitely not Lancelot. I'm not sure if it will be fun, but it will definitely be troublesome. So I stopped the ceremony first."

He was actually not sure whether that ceremony would bring Shadow Angel down like Iver said.

In Merlin's knowledge, there is no ritual that can directly bring Tiansi to the Material Realm. If Tiansi could be pulled down so easily, wouldn't they have been pulled down long ago? Although Tiansi and the apostles can also be reincarnated, they are active actions. Usually it is to "cut off and practice again" in order to go further or to change the path.

Merlin has a little understanding of the ritual simply because he is half a demon and has some Path of Transcendence's intuitive ability. However, he is not a professional Ritual Mage after all... his main path is Path of Wisdom. He can only be regarded as a dabbler in rituals - of course, a dabbler at the apostle level.

He analyzed it logically and felt that the ritual did have such an effect... but Merlin was not sure that this would be the effect of its final operation.

Generally speaking, when Merlin encounters this kind of ritual with uncertain effects, he will let it run around for a while first. But this ritual felt a bit fatal, and he didn't dare to try it - it would be bad luck if he really pulled off some acquaintance.

What on earth are Vivian and Jacob doing? Is this something you can touch? "I might actually know a little bit about this."

James raised his eyebrows and said calmly, "Iver's parents brought a letter when they came to Glass Island. The letter mentioned his father's research... It was a letter sent by his brother."

"Whose brother?"

"Julio Alexander, the second son of Jacob, is the father of Iver. His brother, the eldest son of Jacob, sent a letter to Julio."

"... I'm not very impressed."

"Well, Julio is just a young priest. Not even a bishop. It's normal that you have no impression."

James nodded and continued to explain to his old acquaintance, "His eldest son is not very famous either. He later inherited Jacob's desire for the road and became a Demon Scholar. lurked inside Noble Red. But he was later killed by Noble Red's people. It was because of this that Noble Red learned about Jacob's research."

"I haven't heard of it either."

Merlin shrugged and smiled helplessly, "Just tell me, what did that letter say? What is Jacob's specific research? I only know that it seems to be related to artificial humans... or Erlini told me that he reached the supreme pursuit of alchemy through wrong means, so Jacob was later cursed by Hourglass."

"Jacob was anonymous back then because of his research. I was also at Lloyd's back then, and I had many confrontations with him when I was young."

James squinted his eyes and said softly, "He is indeed a genius. But genius can usually only be one step ahead, and two steps ahead is a madman.

"He was more than two steps ahead—his research was truly taboo. Even copying the soul is just a necessary component of his Lenovo technology. I think what he really wants to do is create gods.

"The letter mentioned that he was trying to integrate the fragments of the phantom into human souls to create people who were born with special characteristics."

"... Isn't that Phantom Demon Egg?"

Merlin frowned. "What's the point of this?"

"I don't know. His death is inexplicable. I actually suspect that he is not dead... or he has quietly become an apostle of a certain god. Although it is not clear what he wants to do, it is definitely right to destroy all his plans."

James calmly replied, "According to his original plan, Iver Alexander should be handed over to Bishop Mathers by Julio; and Yulia Heracros will eventually be adopted by Barton Couple.

"So I interfered to a certain extent... and raised both Yulia and Iver in front of my eyes. But I didn't expect that the two of them would actually get together."

"Is this why you suddenly faked your death? "Merlin asked rhetorically.

"Well, Iver suddenly became wary of me after coming into contact with Noble Red. And he also inexplicably mastered some Secret Knowledge that he shouldn't have, involving Tiansi and Pillar God. I suspect that he was influenced by Jacob and may have received some knowledge in his dream."

James narrowed his eyes. "So I plan to give them some space... and see what will happen to them if I am not here. So I came to see Your Majesty Titania and asked her to take me in for a while.

"Since you have been staring at Avalon, please tell me what they have done during this time."