The Dark Gold Crown

Although it was said to be a massacre, Kronos didn't actually kill anyone; he simply knocked everyone inside unconscious and that was it.

It wasn't that he was particularly kind; it was mainly that Kronos was afraid of being discovered for killing someone.

After all, this is Church of Steam and Machinery. If they have some means to detect the lives of these people, wouldn't we be exposed immediately?

For these reasons, Kronos ultimately did not kill anyone.

With the only Demigod remaining in the Cathedral of Machinery under Kronos's control, the rest were no longer a problem.

Kronos piled these people together, then took out an Beyonder Item from the Treasury that was a Death Pathway artifact and sealed them in place.

After completing all this, Kronos began to plunder the Cathedral of Machinery.

It was called looting, but in reality, there were still choices involved.

Kronos didn't take a single one of those Beyonder Item that bore clear markings and belonged to the Church of Steam and Machinery.

After this matter is resolved today, the identity of Horamick will certainly disappear from this world.

Therefore, Kronos did not want anything he used later to be suddenly linked to this identity.

Kronos collected all the raw materials in the entire Cathedral of Machinery, and selected the Beyonder Item that did not have any clear markings.

After looting the entire Treasury, Kronos went straight to the Library.

Knowledge is also a valuable asset.

After storing the vast collection of books in the Cathedral of Machinery into his Mask Space, Kronos had completed the first step. The real big things were yet to come.

Kronos approached Pope Ivan's chair, a symbol of power, and looked up at it.

There floated a Triangular Sacred Emblem symbolizing the God of Steam and Machinery.

Kronos had already known this beforehand; this was the path to the Perfect Land.

There are only two ways to go to the Divine Kingdom of the True God.

One is summoned by True God, which eliminates the need for a fixed location and allows for summoning anytime, anywhere.

The second method is through a fixed passage left by the True God.

Although Kronos had been to the Darkened Heaven many times, he did not know where the fixed passage to the Darkened Heaven was.

On the contrary, he had never been summoned into the Perfect Land, yet he knew the fixed passage to the Perfect Land.

It wasn't just him who knew; everyone in the Cathedral of Machinery knew that this passage was located here.

After standing there, Kronos did hesitate for a moment.

Once he enters the Perfect Land, he will be easily discovered by the God of Steam and Machinery, and then he will face something he cannot even imagine.

However, he had almost reached the end of his road. If he didn't plot to become the Knowledge Emperor, he would remain stuck here forever.

With this in mind, Kronos gave himself a pep talk and finally made up his mind.

Kronos gently channeled a portion of his Knowledge Mentor power into the Triangular Sacred Emblem.

The passage is indeed here, but not everyone can enter the Perfect Land through it.

After careful examination, the Triangular Sacred Emblem confirmed Kronos's identity Knowledge Mentor, thus opening this Gate.

As golden light flashed, a guiding light descended upon Kronos, leading him into the Perfect Land.

Thousands of miles away on the Sonia Sea, Bornova and the three Scholar of Yore who came to their aid were already badly wounded.

However, they managed to barely halt the advance of the Hidden Sage; now it remains to be seen how long they can hold out.

Further away, on the battlefield between Stiano and Leodero, Leodero was also enraged by Stiano's relentless attacks, striking Stiano one after another.

Fortunately, Stiano had been preparing for this battle for a long time, so everything he had prepared was able to counter the Lightning attack, which is why he remained in good condition.

However, during their next encounter, Stiano suddenly felt uneasy, as if he had been outmaneuvered.

Under normal circumstances, the things Kronos prepared in the Cathedral of Machinery, as well as the Concealment Scarf, would not have been able to help him enter the Perfect Land silently, because this was, after all, Stiano's Divine Kingdom.

But things are different now. Stiano doesn't have the energy to pay attention to so many things. Just being able to block Leodero's attack is already quite an achievement.

This gave Kronos the opportunity to exploit the loophole.

Just as Stiano was beginning to have some doubts, Leodero's next attack came crashing down, shattering his state of confusion.

Never mind, let's deal with the situation at hand first.

As for Kronos, he tightly gripped his Concealment Scarf and landed in the Perfect Land.

This is God's Divine Kingdom, so normally there should be some people serving there.

However, precisely because these people are all quite capable, they are currently carrying out their own missions abroad.

Therefore, the Perfect Land was practically deserted at this moment. A palace could be seen in front of it, the style of which was very similar to the Cathedral of Machinery, made of machinery and Gears.

Even so, Kronos remained completely unfazed, maintaining constant support from the Concealment Domain.

Walking on the land of Perfect Land, Kronos was still somewhat bewildered.

It wasn't for any other reason than that Kronos had never been here before, and there was no similar record in the books of the Cathedral of Machinery, so Kronos didn't know how to get there.

No matter which way you go, you should eventually enter the palace.

Upon entering, there was first a spacious hall, followed by a staircase leading to the upper levels.

After looking around carefully, Kronos finally concluded that there was nothing of Western Capital in the hall; it was just a decoration.

Since it's not on the first level, let's explore upwards.

Kronos carefully made his way up the stairs, each step deliberate and cautious, mainly out of fear of any traps or mechanisms.

Normally, it wouldn't be that bad. After all, it's the Divine Kingdom of the gods, and apart from someone like Kronos who has absolutely no sense of reverence, no one would dare to trespass.

After arriving at the second floor, there was a passageway leading directly to a staircase leading to the third floor. Next to the passageway were some doors. This was the entire second floor.

Kronos quietly approached the nearest door, gently pushed it, and the door opened easily.

Looking inside, it turned out to be a bedroom, probably where people in the Perfect Land live.

They had hoped to find something good here, but after searching thoroughly, Kronos found nothing.

This outcome is understandable, considering they're all facing tough battles. Naturally, they'd want to bring along anything useful; otherwise, it wouldn't be of any help.

Several rooms in a row were basically like this; even if there were Beyonder Item left behind, they were all below the Mid-Sequence, and Kronos wouldn't really care about them.

Since this is the case, Kronos decided not to waste any more time here.

He took a step and walked up to the third floor, which was another large hall, but smaller than the first one, because there was a room on each side.

Upon entering the main hall, Kronos confirmed that this was indeed Stiano's territory.

The throne placed right in the center, made of machinery and Gears, is the most obvious proof.

As soon as he stood still, he felt a faint attraction coming from the divine throne.

At first, Kronos didn't Consciousness what was going on; he only felt that the power of the Paragon was attracting the Knowledge Mentor.

However, this attraction seems a little weak. Could it be because I changed my Pathway?

Without thinking twice, Kronos pushed open the door on the right and entered the room on the right.

This is a clearly defined living area.

Let alone True God, even Demigod can go a long time without rest without any problems.

However, resting has often become a habit, so even Stiano still reserved such an area for himself.

There wasn't anything particularly valuable in the Living Room, except for the bookshelf full of books that caught Kronos's eye.

The book Stiano wrote here is not about Beyonder Ability or Steam machinery, but rather his own chronicle of this world and himself.

Actually, it has the same feeling as writing a diary as Emperor Roselle, only his feeling is more intense.

There wasn't enough time to examine it closely, so Kronos simply stored it all in the Mask Space, planning to look at it later when he had more time.

Actually, if we could reveal our identities, the other items here would be quite valuable. Just think about the chair the God of Steam and Machinery made – isn't that valuable?

However, Kronos dared not do so, so he naturally gave up on these things.

After leaving that room, Kronos headed to the room opposite.

I wonder what's on the other side, and whether it will hold what I desire most.

After pushing open the door to the room opposite, I immediately saw a shelf that covered an entire wall.

Kronos had seen shelves of the same style in the Treasury of the Cathedral of Machinery; these were shelves for storing Beyonder Item.

Unfortunately, there's nothing left on it; it's mostly empty.

This shows that Stiano really went all out for this plan.

In the end, he actually lost; what an unlucky guy.

Did his ascension to True God exhaust all his good fortune?

It's not impossible, after all, he had a very smooth life in the first half of his life.

With no more Beyonder Item on the shelves, he turned his attention to the boxes placed on either side.

After picking up a box, Kronos gently opened it, revealing an Beyonder Characteristic radiating immense power.

Kronos examined it carefully and then discovered that it was Beyonder Characteristic of a Demoness of Catastrophe.

Another box was opened, containing the Beyonder Characteristic of an Ancient Bane.

In fact, it's rare for the Church of Steam and Machinery to retain such powerful Beyonder Characteristic, since converting them into power is the most important thing, especially before a major battle.

However, the reason why they were able to keep both of them is quite simple.

The endpoints of these two Pathway are somewhat unclean, so the likelihood of them producing bizarre negative effects when used to create Beyonder Item is too high.

Therefore, these two Beyonder Characteristic were preserved.

Next, Kronos found a Charm in the box, a very precious one.

This is a portion of Stiano's power that he sealed away; unfortunately, it was meant to be used to forge Beyonder Item.

If it were a combat-oriented creature, it certainly wouldn't have been left here.

In the last box, Kronos found a Blasphemy Card, the one belonging to the Paragon One.

It is said that after the fall of Emperor Roselle, the Church of Steam and Machinery was the first to raid his home, and even Bernadette believed that there should be several Blasphemy Card in the Church of Steam and Machinery.

But the fact remains: there's only one Paragon card.

After picking up that card, Kronos clearly sensed the connection between the Blasphemy Card.

For ease of use, and because these Playing Cards don't take up much space, Kronos didn't place them in the Mask Space.

Therefore, Kronos sensed the resonance immediately.

But now is not the time to investigate this matter, because Kronos has not seen what he most wanted to see.

Kronos thoroughly searched the entire room, but ultimately found nothing.

Silently leaving the room, Kronos felt genuinely disappointed. Had he guessed wrong? Was the Beyonder Characteristic of the Knowledge Emperor not present? Did Stiano simply lack it? Or did he possess it with him?

Just as Kronos was feeling disappointed, the allure of the throne of the gods appeared once again.

He was holding the Paragon card in his hand, but the card wasn't attracted to him; instead, it was Kronos himself who was drawn to him. This made him suspicious, as it was unlikely that the power of the Paragon Pathway was what was attracting him.

Kronos cautiously stepped forward and then carefully examined the throne.

Fortunately, Kronos was a Knowledge Mentor and had a deep understanding of force, which allowed him to discover the clues.

Various mechanical parts intertwine to form this throne, but the armrests of this throne are hollow, containing a hidden compartment.

With Kronos's forceful guidance, the hidden compartment popped open on its own, revealing its contents.

It was a Dark Gold Crown, radiating a power that made Kronos feel very close to it.

Indeed, what attracted me was not the throne, but its Beyonder Characteristic — the Hermit Pathway Sequence One: The Knowledge Emperor!