Pressure from a Third-Order Mage

"Priest Aila, that lord seems to have the aura of the Lord of Shadows."

"Then what should we do..."

"Kill him too...it might affect my original plan...but there's no other way, his soul has been defiled."

All we can do is cleanse his soul.

The Priest wasn't surprised by this answer. After all, this was how the followers of the Lord of Shadows should be treated in their eyes.

Even though this was not in line with the original plan, Aila, who obeyed the Deity command, would not simply allow this lord, who had already converted to the Lord of Shadows, to continue living.

While the Priest busied themselves cleaning up the scene, a pair of invisible eyes watched their every move, Sean did not intervene.

Because through the prophecy, he already knew that Darian was no longer important.

"What you are looking for is in these people."

This was the response he received after making prophecies about these people.

Sean continued making predictions, but this time he did not receive a satisfactory answer.

How can I find clues from them?

That was the only reply he received.

"They don't have any of the clues you need."

"How could this be?!" Sean almost exclaimed in shock.

He rubbed his fingers together, trying to find the problem, but such a situation was so rare that he couldn't figure it out for the time being.

He clearly predicted that these people possessed the clues he needed, but subsequent predictions yielded no results. Why is that?

He was certain he wasn't hallucinating; he remembered everything that had just happened clearly, and he could even recall the position of his fingers when he used the prophecy.

After much thought, there's only one possibility left.

"The connection between what I'm looking for and them is still somewhat superficial... Perhaps I haven't discovered the real connection between them and what I'm looking for."

After calming down, Sean thought about how to continue his prophecy in order to find the answer.

He estimated that there were no clues on these people's bodies, so the clues lay in their clothing or something only they knew about.

He conducted a cursory investigation but found nothing, which made him scratch his head vigorously, unsure of what to do.

While Sean was lingering there, the Priest had almost finished his work.

In reality, they don't have much work, since a large number of Priest haven't arrived yet, and they can't cross the many unclaimed territories to get here.

So after killing two important figures, all they could do was dispose of the two corpses.

They placed the two corpses before the Divine Statue of the Lord of Shadows was now half-destroyed.

They used the remaining half of the Divine Statue to weigh down a piece of paper.

"We have cleansed their souls; may the great Lord bless them and help them find their final resting place."

The three Priest present followed along, their eyes slightly narrowed, as if they were truly praying.

Sean, standing to the side, was struck dumb, as if he had found some crucial clue.

"Great Lord..."

Sean kept repeating the word to himself, without stopping for a long time.

Why doesn't this Sect reveal the name of its god?

He grasped the key point because this was truly abnormal.

Although the Lord of Shadows's Sect seemed insignificant to him, it was still a powerful Sect with a true god.

Although its sphere of influence is small, its methods of gaining power through faith are far superior to those of other Sect.

It's highly unusual that the Sect in front of us hasn't explicitly stated who its Deity is.

In the Material Realm, divine names also possess power; or rather, a mature Sect that can build power through faith will inevitably announce the name of its Deity.

This is really beneficial.

But why don't these Priest know the names of their Deity?

Sean confirmed the information left by these Priest several times, and also through prophecy, that these Priest truly did not know.

So why is that?!

Sean could sense that these Priest were indeed pure Priest, possessing the same abundant Mental Power and extra soul strength as mages.

Why would a Profession of typical Priest not know the name of their Deity?

Sean became curious about the person who did all this, and when he continued to make predictions in this regard, he received a reply that made him very happy.

"What they believe is closely related to your goals."

Sean licked his lips, which meant he was not far from finding the thing he would regret for the rest of his life.

However, Sean then encountered another problem: how to find out who the Deity the Priest worshipped were.

The barrier between the Material Realm and the Spirit Realm should not be underestimated. In the absence of faith, it would take a great deal of power for the name of Deity to spread.

It is now clear that someone is deliberately concealing the name of that Deity, and under such concealment, ordinary Priest could never possibly know the Deity's true name.

So if Sean really wants to find someone, he can only go to the person who started this whole thing.

"Those Priest seem to want to take over the whole of Antir. Perhaps I should go find their leader first."

In this situation, the person who directed these Priest to do this is very likely the very person Sean is looking for who is the mastermind behind it all.

This is not difficult; the leader and his subordinates have a very close relationship, and he only needs to make several predictions.

Two days after the incident in Moon Maple Territory, Sean arrived inside the Royal Capital, and his arrival went unnoticed by the guards outside.

But when he arrived in the city, he saw a scene that surprised him.

"Why is there a mage here, and standing with those Priest?"

His gaze fell upon Elan, who was standing among the First Order Priest, giving them orders.

"It wasn't him."

Sean used the prophecy on Elan, but did not get a definite conclusion. The prophecy indicated that the true leader was located near the Royal Palace.

Sean walked over, and then he was spotted.

He ultimately used Invisibility Spell spell scroll, and even with his own Mental Power enhancement, First Order Profession could hardly detect him.

However, due to the limitations of the level of life, he might not be able to hide from even a Second Order Mage; this is an inherent flaw of the Invisibility Spell.

Moreover, Fran is considered to have extremely strong Mental Power among Second Order Mage.

"Master who has traveled from afar, please dispel your invisibility."

Fran easily sensed Sean's unusual behavior, but she couldn't see Sean appearance.

This is normal. Her Mental Power perception is not omnipotent; she can only vaguely sense what's wrong, but cannot directly see objects that are essentially optically invisible.

Sean canceled his Invisibility Spell. Facing a mage who could see through his Invisibility Spell, he directly released his mental energy outwards.

Fran's expression changed, and she rubbed her fingers slightly.

Although she had a premonition that this enemy was very powerful, even at the second tier.

However, after Sean released his mental fluctuations, Fran truly realized that he was a Third Order Mage.

However, Fran remained calm. If it were any other Third Order Professional, she would have already started calling for backup.

However, standing in front of Fran was a Third Order Mage, meaning she was essentially standing on the Alliance territory.

Sean didn't think too much about it. He used the prophecy to verify it and got a conclusion that didn't surprise him.

"She is the leader of those Priest."

Although he didn't know what the mage in front of him was planning to do with those Priest, it didn't matter; he could just ask.

"I'm Sean Lorenzo, and you are?"

Fran spoke softly.

"Lai."

She didn't say much, waiting for the other party's next question.

"Why are you conducting such a large-scale operation in the Antir Region, which is adjacent to the Alliance..."

Fran could refute this point with great reason and evidence. She interrupted Sean's question directly and took out the paper stamped by the Alliance.

"This is the document for territorial expansion and occupation that I applied for through the Alliance. Is there a problem?"

Sean glanced at the document, his brow furrowed deeply.

"No."

Sean couldn't help but look at Fran with newfound respect. If she were a Third Order Mage, Sean wouldn't be surprised to receive this application; a few academic awards would have been enough for the Alliance to approve it.

However, the mage's mental fluctuations were at the second level. To be able to apply through the Alliance at this stage was definitely a genius in magic.

This is not good news for Sean, because it seems he can no longer force the other party to tell him what he wants to know.

Although the Alliance prohibits coercion and other such behaviors, the difference in Order is real and cannot be easily erased just because of the Alliance's rules.

Although Sean couldn't take any forceful actions, it was reasonable for him to use his Order to exert some pressure, especially since they weren't even in the Alliance's territory.

Of course, looking at it now, the latter statement is incorrect; they can now be considered to be in the territory of the Alliance.

Given the current situation, barring any unforeseen circumstances, Antir will soon become true territory of the Alliance.

Sean didn't care about that; what he wanted to know was the information about the Deity the Priest believed in.

"Which Deity are you making those Priest worship?"

Sean asked, just to give it a try.

Fran answered without hesitation.

"I'm sorry, this is a confidential experiment I'm conducting, and I can't tell you."

Fran also produced the letter of recommendation from Harbos.

"This is a mark my advisor gave me. If you can get my advisor's permission, then I can tell you."

"Okay, sorry to bother you."

Sean sighed, knowing that he couldn't force an answer to the question no matter what; he was powerless to force it.

With that territory claim application form, the matter is already somewhat uncertain, especially since the other party is a highly regarded genius.

Sean had no choice but to leave for the time being.