Choose Your Dream Mentor

[Grey Eternal is teaching you "Advanced Divine Arts (11/11)". Do you wish to pay 644 Public Experience to master this mystical art?]

—Confirm payment.

Iver thought to himself.

As those words faded, Iver's experience points plummeted back to a pitiful two digits.

That was close, thankfully it was enough.

Iver was sweating profusely.

If he hadn't happened to kill Cardinal Loki, he really wouldn't have had enough experience— the Pure White Saintess's mastery of these eleven volumes of Advanced Divine Arts was quite uneven. The least experienced volume only required a little over one hundred experience points, while the most experienced volume required a whopping one thousand two hundred.

Considering that the volume was titled "Advanced Divine Arts: Annotations on the Path of Love - Love, Friendship, Desire, and Evil Thoughts," Iver felt that this was somewhat understandable.

—Considering Master Agnes's situation, the Pure White Saintess probably didn't study this volume properly back then. Perhaps she simply couldn't concentrate or read it; or perhaps she was distracted, or embarrassed to discuss such ambiguous knowledge with Iver. After all, conservatives still make up the majority of elves.

These eleven volumes of Advanced Divine Arts are divided into two parts: the first volume explains the history and principles, the second volume explains the methods and techniques, and the remaining nine volumes are all about communication with the Pillar God, celestial officials, apostles, and illusionary demons of the Nine Great Paths, as well as understanding each path and self-control. Therefore, strictly speaking, it is possible to learn Advanced Divine Arts by reading only three volumes.

Advanced Divine Arts require delving into one's inner self, allowing oneself to serve as a vessel to bear the descent of a great will. This necessitates suppressing one's true self to "make room."

It's like asking a skilled expert to take over when performing surgery, drawing, or other delicate work. At the very least, you should stand back and quietly observe. Don't touch or interfere with the expert's work—angering them and them leaving is a minor issue compared to the potential for problems arising from a struggle for control of the body.

Therefore, one must lock one's body, so that one's body can only do a limited number of things when the will descends.

Just like in other games, it's best not to have Self-Destruct skill in your skill bar during auto-battle, because the AI might see it and use it on a whim. To achieve this, you must know the personal preferences and taboos of all the great beings... which is one of the reasons it's called Advanced Divine Arts.

Because it's really similar to the Bottom Layer logic of divine magic.

If "fire offering" and "illumination" are prerequisite skills for "torchbearers," then "prayer" and "blessing" are prerequisites for Advanced Divine Arts!

Divine magic involves praying and blessing to invoke the power of a powerful figure, much like submitting a request according to a set format and waiting for the process to proceed. Advanced Divine Arts, on the other hand, is like making a direct phone call to the powerful figure, allowing them to handle everything automatically. Therefore, if one is not related to the powerful figure, it's essential to maintain a sufficiently good relationship with them from the outside.

The difference lies in the fact that divine magic involves inquiring about the preferences of powerful figures only after something happens, while Advanced Divine Arts is equivalent to pre-depositing "favors" in advance.

From this perspective, Iver finally understood why the Theocracy was a society based on personal relationships.

—Because the divine arts developed by the founder of the Theocracy, the First Generation Pope, Candle Heaven Holder, are essentially "divine arts of human relationships"! The knowledge in the nine subsequent books of Advanced Divine Arts alone is "Secret Knowledge" that ordinary bishops could not master and that has been passed down from generation to generation.

Even the prayer manuals taught to bishops by the Church would never delve into the likes and dislikes of these powerful figures. It's more like a small notebook filled with their contact information, addresses, weaknesses, vulnerabilities, preferences, past experiences, and personal relationships...

If these things spread too widely, they could really anger these beings in the Dream Realm.

Conversely, if one reads through these books, even simple prayers and blessings will be more effective – because they have obtained more crucial information.

In this world, knowledge is power. This is especially true when it comes to information involving Pillar God.

Therefore, even though Iver mastered Advanced Divine Arts through the system, he still had to read the remaining books after returning home. This was all truly valuable knowledge, which explains why the elves sealed it in such secure boxes and insisted on reading the first two books before showing them to others. They were afraid that the knowledge within would be lost.

As his experience gradually diminished, Iver also felt the power surging within him.

Under the pure white gaze, Iver's pupils once again became lifeless.

—It was at this moment that Iver's pupils turned completely Vermillion.

It was Holy Fire, like the sun.

Immediately afterwards, golden patterns appeared in the Vermillion center—condensing into a sinister, flame-like vertical pupil. Then, an invisible force spread outwards in all directions from Iver as the center.

Iver felt warmth, followed by scorching heat.

The feeling was like walking out of a cold room into the sun while wearing thick clothes. In an instant, he was drenched in sweat.

Under intense dizziness, the world before Iver's eyes gradually became blurred.

He felt his Liquid Soul being distorted by some force—like blowing glass, with bubbles rising and falling inside.

"It's actually the Dissolving Soul..."

Just then, Iver suddenly heard a voice behind him.

He suddenly turned around and found himself in a pure white space.

In a daze, the pure white space gradually took on color... just like a game where the textures hadn't been refreshed yet, and the world gradually took on an outline.

It was a spring day in the mountains. A clear stream, emerald green leaves, bright sunshine, and birdsong under the blue sky.

"... The Reincarnation Angel?"

The questioning voice rang out again.

Iver turned around again and found a man who had appeared beside him at some point.

He possessed an exceptionally handsome yet gentle appearance, with long, light golden hair that reached his waist, and no adornments on his head or face. He wore a monochrome white robe... but only his upper body was human.

From the waist down, he had the body of a magnificent White Deer. And on his head were a pair of huge white antlers, resembling those of a candle bearer.

The antlers were exceptionally clean, with a bone china-like luster and golden veins. They were so white they seemed to glow—each branch tipped with a silvery-white flame, the light of which illuminated the other antlers, making the entire enormous antler structure appear to glow.

The half-human, half-deer man was looking down intently at Iver.

At this moment, Iver realized that he was not human... not even the Fox he had been before, but a hornless fawn.

He trotted his hooves somewhat nervously and awkwardly, unaware of his own appearance.

Upon seeing this, the man chuckled heartily.

"It seems I made a mistake."

He gently patted Iver's head and said softly, "If you can't find a god to contract with in the end, come find me."

"Remember my name, young priest, I am Candle Heaven Holder... the First Generation Pope."

"My real name is... An Eternal."

The next moment, the illusion vanished.

Iver then realized that he had somehow fallen to the ground. Pure White was beside him, holding him. She was radiant, continuously casting Illumination Spell on Iver.

Iver's body was burning hot, just like a graphics card in a mining spree—you could even see his skin turning bright red, with rings of purplish-red, noose-like dents.

The marks appeared and disappeared repeatedly under the healing power of the Illumination Spell. Iver's body looked like a watermelon that had been haphazardly dug out, with one overlapping pit after another.

Ultimately, it came to rest in the exact same spot as Cardinal Matilda —right in the center of Iver's chest.

The marks of the noose appeared and deepened, until it finally broke and bled.

The wound healed again, revealing a black brand mark—

That's the ring formed by the snake biting its own tail.

It looks like Black Sun during a solar eclipse.

"... Congratulations. You are the first non-elf race to learn Advanced Divine Arts in the last four hundred years; you are also the first Short-lived Races in the world to master Advanced Divine Arts."

Having witnessed the miracle she had long awaited, Pure White said with unusually complicated feelings, "Should I call you... Cardinal Moriarty now? Or do you think Cardinal Aiwass sounds better?"

"... Don't we need to fully master Advanced Divine Arts?"

Iver spoke softly.

When he opened his mouth, he even startled himself—he sounded just like Yulia when she had a high fever, hoarse and weak.

In that instant, he suddenly understood Yulia's feelings.

At this moment, his soul was completely open... Although it was empty, it was a "dwelling".

A "flesh and blood dwelling" large enough to accommodate a phantom demon! "So, you've already decided who to sign a contract with?"

Pure White's brows furrowed slightly. "Won't you reconsider? Let me emphasize again... Each time you perform a divine descent ritual, it's like digging a hole in your own soul. If you dig holes continuously, it may damage your soul. It's best to go through an Promotion Ritual in between to reforge your soul before you can cool down and perform the second round of rituals."

"In other words, you may only be able to sign a contract with one being before your next Promotion Ritual —have you decided who it is?"

"... I've basically thought it through."

"Iver replied."

Because of the Shepherd's Secret Covenant, he must strike a balance between transcendence and dedication. Therefore, he cannot choose either path unless he can sign a contract with both simultaneously.

Besides, he had no connection with Constant Self, Hourglass, Weizhe, or Amber. He wasn't sure they would accept his resume immediately... and waiting for it to be returned and resubmitted would be a waste of time. As for the Celestials and Apostles outside of the Pillar God, Iver didn't even consider them.

Therefore, Iver doesn't actually have many initial signing targets.

That is, you can choose one of the three: the Crown Lord, the Twin Mirrors, or the Lord of Scales and Feathers.

so...

"I will choose the Lord of Scales and Feathers."

Without hesitation, Iver gave the name that immediately came to mind.

For some reason, he always felt that the other person was unusually kind.