Duolin appeared before Ed carrying the unconscious body, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. The collapse of his Elite Warrior made him begin to doubt whether there was a problem with his teaching methods.
Initial Directed Alienation always has only two outcomes: success or failure. So why does one faint after succeeding?
If Duolin hadn't been able to confirm that the body was still alive, he would have almost thought he had killed an Elite Warrior.
Ed, who was playing with a jigsaw puzzle deep inside the castle, rushed over upon hearing the news and immediately saw the root of the problem with the [ Howling Pothos ]'s body.
His experience bar exploded!
In other words, player [ Howling Pothos ] has accumulated enough experience from past actions.
Whether it's combat skills or the energy he's absorbed, these material and spiritual accumulations are enough to grant him a formal level.
However, he had been lacking an opportunity to break the current balance of his body, and his initial activation of Psionic Energy just happened to serve as the external force that broke the balance.
Ed checked the time; it was 7:30 PM in the World of Disorder.
As the first player on the entire server to reach the required level, if [ Howling Pothos ] lost anything, it would only be half an hour of game time...
Seeing Duolin's anxious expression, Ed gestured for him to relax:
"Just place the body in the corner of the hall; he'll return in about ten hours."
Duolin finally felt relieved and let out a long sigh of relief before asking:
"Your Excellency Bishop Adrian, what exactly happened to him? Do other Elite Warrior also have this weakness?"
Ed approached Duolin and explained in a tone reserved only for his own people:
"Rest assured, their essence is the souls of the first generation of believers in the Tree God who transformed into spirits after their deaths. What you see is merely their physical form in this world."
"Their near-eternal wandering has caused them to lose their memories and they are generally prone to extreme personalities and even talking nonsense, but their devotion to the Tree God remains unchanged."
"It was I who awakened them once more, to dedicate themselves again to the Second Holy See and to the Tree God; they were all great and devout believers."
Duolin shocked his jaw almost dropped to the floor; his eyes trembled as he looked at Ed—
It's no wonder he acted so out of sorts; according to Ed, these were the first group of devout believers who were extremely pious in life and whose souls returned to the Tree God after death.
For figures who exist only in Holy Scripture and legends, the Tree Worship Church has a special term to refer to them— Saint!
He was just giving a lecture to a Saint on how to Directed Alienation? And he even got paid for it?
This is simply... utterly arrogant.
Duolin also understood why the Elite Warrior didn't use Directed Alienation abilities.
Their existence dates back to an unknown period, and they have no experience living after the outbreak of the Demonic Tide, so naturally they do not possess any abilities related to Alienation.
"How did you... master such a secret technique?"
Ed's one eye looked at Duolin; his mouth didn't move, but the voice resounded directly in his mind:
"A divine gift from the Tree God."
"You are...?"
He disdains the Holy Scripture, possesses the power bestowed by the Tree God, and can bring the souls of Saint back from the afterlife and give them new life...
Duolin felt something was wrong with his vocal cords. He wanted to say something but couldn't make a sound at all. With all his might, he finally managed to utter the word that had flashed through his mind:
"... God... Son..."
"?"
Ed's previously serious expression quickly turned into a cat-like grin, and the sound of Little Green's laughter echoed in his mind.
This isn't funny, kids.
Ed sorted through his relationship with Little Green in his mind—
Little Green regained his sanity after he sacrificed one of his eyes, which is the source of Ed's confidence in calling him his cheap "father."
But now he suddenly realizes that if he continues to cosplay as the head of the Second Holy See, his identity will inevitably change from what he considers a "priest" to the recognized " Son of God," a complete downgrade, which is rather abstract.
Regardless of their somewhat comical "conjugate father-son" relationship, Ed originally thought the Second Holy See was playing the role of the Fengtian Rebellion, but he ended up becoming the Hong Tianwang himself.
Thinking of this, Ed suppressed the bitter smile he was trying to force, and secretly made a mental note that he should emphasize divine gift or divine favor in the future, and not use titles that imply seniority, such as " Son of God".
However, Duolin, who was usually good at observing details, could no longer care about such things. His piety towards the Tree God made him almost unable to look the one-eyed bishop in the eye.
He tried to perform the full Tree Worship Church ceremony, but Ed helped him up.
"We won't need these formalities anymore."
This was the first thing Ed said after Duolin confirmed Ed's new identity, and he immediately bowed his head and said reverently:
"I will always remember the words of the Son of God."
"Ahem, just call me Bishop or God's Favored..."
Ed really didn't want to be the Son of God, so he could only correct Duolin's bad habits little by little.
Duolin bowed again, indicating that he would pay close attention and dare not slacken in the slightest.
These are the words of the Son of God himself; if this were in the Holy City, they would be recorded, compiled into a book, and studied collectively.
Before the Son of God Holy Scripture, all religious scriptures and such are nothing but worthless pieces of paper.
What " Holy Scripture "? Bishop Adrian was referring to the " Holy Scripture "!
Ed helped Duolin more.
"We are currently outnumbered and outmatched, so I cannot let too many people know my true identity."
"As for how to persuade your teammates, that's up to you. If they are truly trustworthy, you can reveal a little bit of the truth."
"In the future, more and more Elite Warrior, or rather, Soul Returner, will come to you to learn related abilities. Just treat them the same way you always have..."
The day's game test quickly came to an end, and the ten new players realized that they had actually been playing the game for a full twelve hours.
At this moment, most of them were very grateful that the game was only open for half a day each day, otherwise they might have become completely addicted to it.
Especially after personally experiencing and realizing that their bodies were sleeping at a high quality like babies, they instantly became die-hard fans of " World of Disorder," feeling that it was incredibly generous of them to let them play this groundbreaking work for free.
Duolin watched as the Saint who called himself " Dawn Ah "—no, he should now be called the Soul Returner —collapsed in front of him, assuming that the other party had collapsed for the same reason as " Howling Pothos." But then he noticed that all the noisy sounds around him, near and far, had also disappeared.
After confirming with Ed, he learned that because the Saint ' souls were too powerful, their current bodies could only support use during the day, and at night they needed to be maintained using a secret method bestowed by the Tree God.
At this point, Duolin had no more reservations about Ed's behavior and felt that he was more devout than ever before.
Ed also felt that everything had gone very smoothly in the past two days, whether it was recruiting new subordinates or players unlocking levels.
However, he felt as if he had forgotten something...