The Beneficiaries

Neph didn't quite understand what she was saying at first. She was stunned for a moment before realizing that there was another possibility besides injury or being haunted by someone that could make an Angel disappear without a trace.

"Is he preparing for a promotion?" Neph asked.

"We're not sure," Ilya shook her head. "I've already reported the information to the Holy Cathedral; further handling is not within my jurisdiction."

The Holy Cathedral —again, the Holy Cathedral — Neph exhaled.

As more and more things came up pointing to the Church of Serenity, Neve's initial resistance gradually wavered, Neph began to seriously consider the feasibility of going to the Church of Serenity.

As the Holy Cathedral of the Church of Evernight, the Church of Serenity is located in the Amanda Mountains of Winter County, a strange land that feels both familiar and strange to Neph.

She was familiar with the name Winter County. When she saw the name of Sequence 0, she thought of Winter County. It was an amazing coincidence that Sequence 0 on a certain Pathway would overlap with a place name. Neph believed that she would set foot on that land sooner or later, even if it was just out of pure curiosity.

Winter Offering Day further forged an unbreakable bond between her and the Evernight Goddess. Neph knew very well that her "sister" could not remain wandering forever; as their connection deepened, she would eventually meet her "older sister" whom she had never met.

But at least until then, Neph still held the idea of postponing the meeting date as much as possible.

The reason why she felt Winter County was unfamiliar was much simpler: Neph had never set foot on the land of Winter County. Even in the original work, she didn't see much description of Winter County, whether directly or indirectly—she probably only knew that the place was very cold and that it was on the border between Loen and Feysac.

Speaking of Feysac —I remember Loen fought Feysac, and with the God of Combat —without the Uniqueness of "Death God," the Evernight Goddess didn't accommodate the Uniqueness of "Death God"—

How could He make the God of Combat mistakenly believe that He was weak?

Neph froze for a few seconds, a bad feeling suddenly rising in her heart.

Seeking confirmation from Ilya on this matter was futile, so Neph remained silent. She sat in Ilya's office until the investigators returned with their report, revealing the situation. "----We sealed off the scene. The investigation revealed an Evil Sacrificial Ritual had taken place inside the hotel. Someone believed they had received a divine revelation and sacrificed their own life, along with that of everyone else, to that god----"

"----The existence of the ' Moon Marionette ' was discovered at the scene; the mutation has been suppressed----"

Ilya listened to the whole thing with her eyes closed, and only opened them when the Marionette was brought out. Neph naturally saw the Marionette as well, and she recognized its Marionette almost immediately—a withered flower, crescent-shaped eyebrows and eyes, this was yet another "Moon Marionette"!

Ilya gazed at the Marionette for a moment with her starry eyes, then said, "Marionette, stay. You may leave now."

Once they were alone in the office, Ilya asked Neph, "You seem to have seen this Marionette before?"

Neph nodded and replied, "You must have seen something similar before, right? From what I just heard, it seems like we see similar things quite often around here?"

"It's not particularly frequent," Ilya shook her head, "But it's happened quite a few times, and we all remember it vividly because it was so troublesome to deal with."

That's for sure. As for how to deal with the Marionette, Neph only heard a few casual words, but the information revealed in her words seemed to indicate that a specific process had already been established, which shows that this was a situation worth mentioning.

But Neph was more concerned with the appearance of the Marionette itself, because the "Moon Marionette" accurately pointed out the mastermind behind it all, and she said, "----I think it's aimed at me."

Ilya looked at her in surprise, then asked thoughtfully, "Are the followers of the Primordial Moon ' looking for you?"

"I think so," Neph nodded.

Ilya stared at her for a few seconds before speaking, "I have no intention of restricting your freedom, but I think you are also aware that the forces of the Primordial Moon ' are rampant in the Southern Continent, and—"

She paused, then asked thoughtfully, "Have you ever met anyone like you who doesn't belong to the Twenty-Two Paths of the Divine?"

"----?" Neph's expression froze for a moment. She looked up at Ilya, Ilya brow was slightly furrowed and whose expression was solemn as she awaited her answer.

"You know my Pathway—?" she couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know the details," Ilya shook her head. "The oracle says that you are the Goddess's Twin sister, who should have been born, and you are in charge of a lost Pathway."

She paused, then continued, "But among the followers of the Primordial Moon, very occasionally we see some—well, some special cases."

The power they wield is somewhat similar to Pathway "Planter's " and "Apothecary's " Pathway, but not entirely the same; it is more sinister and more difficult to deal with.

"What's even stranger is that after killing them, some of them will develop Beyonder Characteristic of the Pathway' Planter 'Apothecary ' Pathway, while others will develop Beyonder Characteristic that have nothing to do with these two Pathway, or they won't develop Beyonder Characteristic at all."

"According to them, they received a gift from the God and gained power from that gift."

Neph gasped.

"Oldest One, only the followers of the Primordial Moon ' experienced this," Ilya continued, "but currently, it seems that a small number of members within the Indulgence Faction of the Rose School ' are also experiencing similar symptoms. I recall a file—"

Ilya found a file and handed it to Neph. Neph opened it and discovered that it was a report on cracking down on the illegal sex industry.

A thought struck her, and she flipped through the pages, discovering that the "source" of the goods actually came from the "Rose School."

"----?" Neph looked up.

Ilya carefully explained, "The Nighthawks stumbled upon this and thought it might be a stronghold of the Rose School, but after a detailed and careful investigation, we found that this was not the case. It seems to be at most an intelligence point."

"Under the guise of cracking down on the illegal sex industry, we destroyed that intelligence point, but in the process, we discovered something—"

Neph already knew what she was talking about. She turned to the page about the person in charge of that intelligence point; the relevant information showed that the person possessed...

She possesses the ability to arouse desire in others, is adept at judging character, and can concoct an aphrodisiac.

However, similarly, no Beyonder Characteristic were dropped after the opponent died.

"Among the members associated with the Rose School,' this is the Uniqueness case," Ilya continued. "In contrast, among the followers of the Primordial Moon,' we have already dealt with more than a dozen cases of those who did not acquire Beyonder Characteristic after death."

Neph put down the report in her hand, her brows furrowed.

While reading the novel, she wondered why the Beneficiary were nowhere to be found in the first book. After coming to this world, her doubts deepened. After all, in the novel, it could be explained that the author hadn't thought of it, but in the real world, there must be a reason.

Fortunately, Ilya's explanation, combined with Neph's previous observations, finally provided a somewhat satisfactory answer to her question:

With the barrier still strong, the existence of those Beneficiary is not rampant. There may be many believers in the Outer Deity, but only one in ten thousand have truly obtained the power of the gifts. At present, perhaps only the "Mother Goddess of Depravity" and the "Mother Tree of Desire" have succeeded.

These Beneficiary are confined to the Southern Continent, and their levels are currently concentrated in the Middle-Low Sequence. They are not particularly conspicuous. Among the Beyonder in the Middle-Low Sequence, although the Twenty-Two Paths of the Divine are widely known, very few people actually know what the twenty-two Pathway are. Even if they do know, they may not be able to name the abilities and Potion of each Pathway.

For High Sequence, the difficulty would be reduced considerably, but for Middle-Low Sequence Beyonder, it would be an almost impossible goal. Moreover, the Church has strict confidentiality regulations and will not leak information. Furthermore, the Mysticism knowledge of wild Beyonder is beyond description. It is likely that this information never made it out of the Southern Continent.

This realization made Neph shake her head. She suspected that Ilya herself only had a superficial understanding of the existence of the Beneficiary, recognizing only the phenomenon but not understanding the reasons behind it. There was evidence for this: as a high-ranking deacon in charge of the Southern Continent, Ilya's level was only Sequence 3, not yet reaching the Angel.

In other words, she is not yet qualified to know information about the Outer Deity.

Without understanding these things, it's impossible to comprehend the existence of Beneficiary in detail. Therefore, Neph simply nodded and said, "I've seen a Beneficiary who also carried such Marionette, but the Marionette's eyes were round."

"A full moon?" Ilya thought of that easily.

"I don't know," Neph shook her head. "More than that, there's something I want to confirm."

She looked at Ilya and, without waiting for the other to ask, went straight to the point. "If I want to go to Winter County, do I need to—uh, do I need to send a formal invitation beforehand?"

"You can go directly there," Ilya said without hesitation. "His Your Excellency Dabomachie has been waiting for you at the Church of Serenity."

"Saint- Dabomachie?" Neph tried to remember the name.

"This is the Pontiff name," Ilya replied.

Neph said "Oh," and then asked curiously, "Do you have a church called Dabomachie Church?"

"No," Ilya shook her head, "We will only build a church in the Pope 'Pope name after he steps down."

"Is there Saint Ilya Church?" Neph continued to ask.

"Yes," Ilya nodded, "But not in the Southern Continent."

She seemed unwilling to continue the topic, and spoke quickly, "If you are interested in how Church are named, I have a 'New Church Naming Guide: Third Revised Edition' and a list of Church available for your reference."

"No need," Neph refused.

After refusing this "kind offer," Neph had no reason to linger in the church. She stood up, considered it briefly, and then sat down again.

"Why don't you send a telegram or something?" she said sincerely. "I still think it sounds strange to Visit someone without sending an invitation."

"----As you wish." Ilya agreed.

"No, so suddenly?" Klein looked surprised after hearing Neph's words. "I thought you were going to wait for that Demigod from the Church of Knowledge?"

"I don't think it's really important whether I wait or not," Neph replied earnestly, "Because if I want that Pope's Skull, I'll definitely have to make a trip to Isar —there's no escaping it."

After a brief pause, she continued, "I believe that Wisdom will not act recklessly and will even protect my safety, but if I had to choose one to Visit first, I would prefer the Evernight Goddess."

"At least it doesn't fundamentally conflict with my My Lord's interests, while Wisdom —though it's called Wisdom, there's actually a very small chance it might suddenly have a brain fart and think it can tie me up to threaten my My Lord— "

"Your imagination is a bit too vivid," Klein said tactfully.

Neph shrugged and smiled, "I just wanted to say that, for me, the Evernight is more trustworthy than Wisdom."

"I understand," Klein breathed a sigh of relief, "But Neph, before you leave, there's something you might need to see."

"What?" Neph looked at him in confusion.

Klein waved to Neph, who blinked blankly. Klein chuckled, stood up, took four steps backward, and pulled Neph up from the "Sefirah Castle".

Before Neph could ask a question, he summoned a Puppet. Neph's pupils contracted sharply when she saw the Puppet's eyes and mouth, which resembled crescent moons. She looked up and asked, "Where did you find this thing?"

"On the train I was originally planning to take back," Klein shook his head, "You mean you ran into it too?"

"Not really," Neph shook her head. "Someone, under the command of these Puppet, sacrificed the inn where I was staying."

"----?" Klein paused, "They succeeded?"

Neph nodded.

Klein frowned, and Neph added, "I went to find Frank and was delayed there. When I came back, I found—well, not come back, but I found that the way back was gone. You know what I mean?"

Klein nodded and said, "I can roughly imagine."

"So how did you handle it?"

"Why do you think I suddenly wanted to go to Winter County?" Neph asked in return.

"It's been handed over to the Church— " Klein seemed to understand, and relieved, he continued, "I captured those who planned the sacrifice, interrogated them, and besides the oracle, they had also seen a Saint, the Shaman King ' Kalaman'— "

Staring, her brows furrowed slightly.

Klein said, "--He might have already discovered you."