Chapter 330

"The Pope is gone?"

Inside the room, sensing the barrier being removed, Helen knocked on the door and entered, finding the relics now at peace.

"Helen, the plan has changed." Ryan sat in a chair and beckoned to Helen, who walked over and sat down on his lap.

With her arms wrapped around Ryan's neck and her chest pressed against Ryan cheeks, Helen looked down at him with a somewhat condescending gaze.

What changes have occurred?

"Sylvia has completely abandoned her faith in Janus; she's obsessed with becoming a god. We can take advantage of that." Ryan's vision was filled with a vast expanse of white, and a warm, faint fragrance wafted around his nose. A slight smile played on his lips. "Now is the perfect time for Kars to purge the Pope Faction. What will happen if Sylvia also begins to purge heretics within the church?"

Helen thought about it carefully and said, "Then the Cardinal Bishop faction and the Pope Faction will fight each other to the death. With the Pope's methods, he should be able to win in the end, but at a considerable cost."

"That's right, Sylvia's dominance is absolute, so we must use her to completely purge the cancer within the church... Hmm, I have a bold guess: if successful, the plan will take a giant leap forward."

The Pope Faction versus the Cardinal Bishop faction—one dead, one wounded—only in this way can Lin Qi securely sit on the papacy.

During his research, Ryan realized a very interesting problem: since Lin Qi had obtained Divine Authority and become the next Lord of Space-Time, the faith in Janus would naturally be transferred to her.

And Lin Qi is him.

Therefore, if his guess is correct, then the convergence of faith at the Gate of Janus will ultimately come to him.

This conjecture is based on Ryan's discovery that Lin Qi and his alternate Alts were not among the reflected stars in the Misty Space. This strongly suggests that the Alts are him also holds true in the Misty Space.

So, if faith can truly unite people, then Ryan's bold ideas will have direction.

He wants to gather all the Divine Authority that passes through him into his own body!

"Some people might think I'm crazy, but I think it's worth a try," Ryan said, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

Helen tilted her head slightly. She had no idea what frightening thing Ryan was thinking, but if it was a struggle within the Gate of Janus, she would naturally support Ryan unconditionally.

Three days later, Ryan received a message from the Gate of Janus headquarters that Sylvia had indeed started fighting with Kars.

The sudden all-out war between the two factions stunned everyone within the church, but considering Karls's secret actions against the Pope Faction during this period, it seemed not so difficult to understand.

Who told you, Karls, to make the first move? Wouldn't the Pope have humiliated you then?

However, this full-blown internal strife had a significant impact on the Gate of Janus. Although Kars was weak, he had cultivated his influence within the church for many years and was himself Eighth Tier Supernatural Being, making his appeal second only to Sylvia.

In the following period, news frequently circulated from within the Gate of Janus that bishops and archbishops had encountered trouble.

Fortunately, the Gate of Janus is large enough; otherwise, an ordinary power would have collapsed long ago.

The happiest people were undoubtedly the forces hostile to the Gate of Janus, especially the Four Great Outer Gods churches. They were having headaches over the Primal's barbaric expansion, but when they turned around and saw the Gate of Janus fighting amongst themselves, they were at least happy to see it, regardless of whether they could get a share of the spoils.

Those within the church who belonged to the Saintess Faction were equally delighted, with some even believing that the beginning of this upheaval symbolized the inevitable rise of the Saintess.

The Saintess is about to climb to the very top, step by step!

However, the battle between the two factions cannot be ended overnight, and Ryan is not in a hurry. What he wants to do most now is to determine whether the speculation on the synchronization of faiths is feasible.

The verification failed on Shally's side, but Shally's level of faith was insufficient, only at the level of Blood God Great Demon, which was far too far from the level of the Creator.

Therefore, the verification point must be with Lin Qi.

Unfortunately, Lin Qi's level was only raised to level 70, making her at most an inheritor of the Lord of Space-Time, and she had not yet truly awakened her faith.

Janus told Lin Qi not to rush to find her to obtain the remaining power. This meant that Lin Qi needed to fuse the remaining power to reach at least the Eighth Tier, and then use the power to break through the shackles of mortals and become the Lord of Space-Time.

In other words... you need to level up!

"I've been grinding from level 70 to level 80... damn it, my liver is starting to hurt."

Ryan considered many other methods, but without exception, they were all rejected. Either they were unworkable, or they were too dangerous. After much thought, he decided that a little liver pain was fine, and he would get used to it eventually.

However, to reach this level, ordinary evil spirits or demons are no longer useful; you must find a place where the monsters are high-level and very numerous.

Hmm, that's not difficult.

Ryan directly instructed Shally to open the Chaos Space for Lin Qi, allowing the latter to enter the core of the Blood God Legion and find another Great Demon — 'Blood Thirsty' Frye.

One of the Great Demon under the Blood God, his strength is no less than that of Barton; anyone below the Eighth Tier would basically die if they faced him.

However, Lin Qi's ability lies in space-time manipulation, and she is extremely skilled in assassination, so she basically won't die as long as she doesn't do anything reckless.

"There shouldn't be any major problems. If we can't win, we can just retreat."

Ryan stared at Lin Qi on the screen, who had summoned a demon spirit and was fighting with the Divine Artifact Janus. After reaching level 70, Lin Qi, who had been enhanced by Divine Authority, had seen his attributes soar. In terms of attributes alone, he was definitely no worse than Eighth Tier Supernatural Being.

Moreover, the Authority of Space-Time directly granted Lin Qi a power stronger than that of a domain, so Ryan estimated that Lin Qi's combat strength was actually no less than that of an ordinary Eighth Tier Supernatural Being. It was a pity that he wanted to test his own abilities back then, otherwise he could have used Karls as a practice subject for Lin Qi.

"Hmm, it's really not a big problem."

Watching Lin Qi wreak havoc in the Chaos Space, Ryan figured he probably didn't need to practice anymore.

The Chaos Demon here are all around level 60, and you can occasionally see level 70 ones. They provide a fair amount of experience, but not much. Ryan estimated that it would probably take two or three days to level up.

Ouch~ Oh no, my liver is really starting to hurt.

"Let's try it first, and then we'll see if we find another way."

Lin Qi is the safest option, and Ryan will try other methods as well. Anyway, there's no need to worry too much even if we can't find her.

More important than that, he needed to consider his actions if his guesses were verified. Janus had acquired Divine Authority, but the situation of the other gods was still unknown, and the roles that would be granted Divine Authority needed to be decided as soon as possible.

"Janus is in such a state, the other gods, even if their situation is better than hers, are not much better off. Divine Authority must be in my hands, otherwise what happened on the Rhea Continent may happen again in the future."

"If those gods hadn't died, and I had separated them from Divine Authority, I could have granted them other positions once my power was restored."

"Hmm... Avril will be in charge of the Avril Goddess, Lin Qi will handle Time and Space, and the remaining four—Sun, Earth, Order, and Death should count too, right? That makes four. If we also consider the Outer Gods' beliefs..."

Ryan checked the history of his Alts.

Currently, there aren't many people who are qualified to inherit Divine Authority.

Adele has good talent, but she has already converted to another faith. I wonder if she can inherit it? She herself was born from chaos, so she might as well become a god through chaos.

Vainay is Soul Singer of death; the conditions are somewhat difficult, but it's worth a try.

Aisha is desire.

Shally is the Blood God.

Then the remaining one of the Four Great Outer Gods is the Mysterious One.

In the realm of the true gods, there are the sun, the earth, and order; there are definitely not enough Alts left.

"It's time to start Create New Character."

Chapter 209 New Character: Son of the Sun, Divination

As Ryan's strength has steadily increased, his reliance on new characters has decreased.

After all, with so many roles available, he has more than enough resources to help him accomplish what he wants to do.

Ryan doesn't intend to treat characters like expendable items, creating a bunch and leaving them unattended. Each character has a life and a reason to exist, which is also a form of respect for himself.

The last time I created a character was before. Adele's witch talent was indeed very powerful and helped him a lot.

Right now, it's not very meaningful to use it solely for combat or for infiltrating spies, since combat power requires level support, which is a long grind, unless there are experience potions that double or triple experience.

Otherwise, Ryan really doesn't plan to rush into creating more Alts... Hmm, it's definitely not his kidneys that are failing him, but his liver that's giving him trouble.

Unfortunately, the current available roles don't meet his needs, so he has to consider other options.

Should I start the character creation quest? It doesn't seem necessary.

Ryan's gaze lingered on the character creation screen. After a moment's thought, he abandoned the prerequisite quest process.

While completing the prerequisite tasks can get you powerful characters, some tasks are too time-consuming. It's fine to just fight monsters and kill people, but the problem is that you have to find some hidden corners and corners that you've never even heard of.

For ordinary professions, the impact is not significant, because they are fully qualified to become Chosen of the Gods.

Anyway, if he wants to obtain Divine Authority, he has to meet those gods, so starting as Chosen of the Gods isn't a bad idea.

While pondering, Ryan clicked to create a character. The birth option for the Augustus Empire was no longer available, so he could only set his birth point to Wildea.

"Let's start with the Son of the Sun."

Even ordinary professions take time to acquire, but since the Burning Covenant offers a way to become Son of the Sun, Ryan directly chose the warrior profession, which is both offensive and defensive.

The character was created and named 'Shana'. She has red hair and golden eyes and is a young girl.

"While big is always right, too many truths can lead to aesthetic fatigue. Hmm, this is not bad."

Tall and slender, with just the right amount of breasts, she exudes a heroic and dashing aura.

Soon, Ryan, who was familiar with the character creation process, brought Shana's character to life.

Shana (female): Constitution 10, Spirit 9, Magic Power 8, Comprehension 9, Charm 12

"Not bad, meets expectations."

Ryan clicked to enter the game. As his view changed, he saw a burning campfire. Around the fire, which was glowing with starlight, there was food tied with branches. It looked like rabbits, roasting and sizzling with oil, and smelled delicious.

The group of people around him were dressed in various ways; some carried longswords, while others carried shields and longbows.

"Bounty Hunter, huh?"

Ryan glanced at the character's initial description and confirmed that Shana was a rookie who had only recently become Bounty Hunter.

For professions like Bounty Hunter, newcomers usually choose to join experienced teams to learn. Some of these teams are formed spontaneously and do not have a specific management model. They are similar to temporary teams, with no restrictions but a slightly longer duration.

A more formal option is Bounty Hunter Group, but the requirements for joining are quite strict and restrictive, and only a specific group of people choose to join.

Ryan glanced around to confirm the situation, then began scavenging relics from the other characters' backpacks.

"Holy crap, when did all this stuff appear?"

To be honest, Ryan hadn't been paying attention to his Alts' inventory for a while, basically letting them develop on their own. But what he found out was that each of his Alts had acquired quite a few valuable items during this period.

Especially Shally, she was either fighting or on her way to a fight, and the number of her belongings in her backpack exceeded fifty!

Although most of them are practically useless, they can still be a fortune if sold or traded on the market.

But now Ryan is a wealthy tycoon and too lazy to do such things. He'll just reward whoever performs well in the organization... Hmm, it seems like I could also use the relics as a gift to those who ask me for help? That's more in line with what a god should do; otherwise, just making empty promises won't last.

In fact, there are plenty of people within the Primal Church who pray to the Creator every day. Ryan could hear their prayers just by sensing the Misty Space, but unfortunately, there's nothing he can do about it now.

With this idea in mind, Ryan emptied the backpacks of Shally and the other characters, picked out some top-tier items for Shana to wear, and instantly boosted the latter's attributes from Alts one to a level comparable to Third Tier Transcendent.

"Let's level up first."

With the equipment fully armed, Ryan controlled Shana and led her out of the camp.

This small bounty hunting team only had six people. Including her, a newcomer, there were two others in the camp, and the remaining three were outside the camp fighting the Chaos Demon.

Since the power of the Chaos Space spread, more and more chaotic rifts have been discovered, and demons have begun to roam the world. Although they once posed a great threat to the order of various countries, they also indirectly supported more Bounty Hunter.

By hunting demons and clearing rift points, Bounty Hunter can collect generous rewards from the Hunter's Guild after completing their missions.

The Hunter's Guild also collaborates with the government, with a portion of the rewards paid by the local government in order to maintain overall public order and stability.

This was the policy adopted by the Augustus Empire.

Of course, considering the lords' authority over their territories, policies issued from above may not be faithfully implemented at the lower levels. After all, this expense is not insignificant. At least Ryan knows that many countries in the Northern Continent have large numbers of Chaos Demon running rampant in their territories.

However, the policy implementation coverage in Wildea is quite extensive. Shana's team received a mission to clear out the rift points. The Bounty Hunter in the team are generally of average strength, with only one having come into contact with the extraordinary but not yet officially entered it. He can deal with Chaos Demon below level 20 with his weapon.

When Shana left the camp, the trio was still entangled with several demons, employing various tactics such as maneuvering, blocking, pulling, and kiting, demonstrating their mastery of strategy.

Even so, the three of them fought the demon with extreme danger.

"They're all around level 10 or 20, tsk tsk~ Lin Qi and I went through the same thing back then."

Watching these powerful players fight monsters, Ryan couldn't help but feel a little nostalgic, and then immediately sent Shana to charge in and have a good time killing monsters.

With the attributes added, even without professional skills, she could still easily take down those demons. After dealing with the demons she was fighting with her teammates, Shana rushed back to the area around the Chaos Rift to begin her cleanup mission.

Ryan sipped his tea while waiting for the mission to complete, occasionally glancing at the three people who had followed him from a distance. Without even looking, he knew the extent of their shock; they were probably discussing why Shana had suddenly become like a war goddess.

After killing the ones outside, Ryan had Shana go back into the rift and kill them all. Since the rift wasn't very big, the highest level of the demons was only a little over thirty. After Shana leveled up, she killed her way through and by the time she finished, she had reached level fifteen.

Ryan glanced at Lin Qi next door, who was struggling to reach level 71, Ryan shook his head helplessly. Grinding monsters at high levels was just too painful.

He ordered Shana to return to town, and the latter, under the adoring gaze of the group of newbies, told the captain that he could go and collect the mission rewards before leaving in a haughty manner.

"It feels like a veteran player has returned to the starting village."

Ryan indulged in a little vanity, then called over the witch K and asked her to help 'transport' Shana to the Augustus Empire.

Taking the train is too much trouble; it takes at least ten days to get from Verdea to Augustus. If we go through the Chaos Channel, it won't even take a day. Even a fool would know which option to choose.

"Your lover?" After hearing Ryan's request, Witch K didn't refuse; instead, she asked with great interest, "Is she your lover?"