The tarot session then moved into the discussion phase.
"Justice" Audrey said first: "I have received definite information that the official extraordinary beings have taken notice of the village of the dragon worshippers because of what happened to that archaeological team."
She had previously revealed information she received from the "Psychological Alchemy Society".
A group of members of the "Psychological Alchemy Society" formed an archaeological team to study a village with dragon worship. However, they all went mad in the middle of the night and began attacking their companions. In the end, no one in the archaeological team survived.
Although the "Psychological Alchemy Society" tried to cover up the matter to some extent at the time, it has now been noticed by the official Extraordinary Ones, who have begun to take some action.
Alger the Hanged Man said, "Sooner or later, the official extraordinary beings will take notice."
Audrey asked, "I'm a little curious, is that mind dragon still in that area?"
"No." Alger blurted out almost immediately.
Audrey said "Oh," as she thought so too, but she still had a question: "If that dragon is just hiding in the ocean of the subconscious, it should be very difficult to be discovered."
"Why would it want to influence the residents of those villages, create a custom of worshipping dragons, and make it known to other extraordinary individuals or official extraordinary individuals who follow the same path?"
Sitting at the head of the bronze table, "The Fool" Klein recalled some information he had learned and manipulated "The World" to say: "The custom of dragon worship is of great help in stabilizing the state of that mental dragon."
"You can have someone keep an eye on this. If there are significant changes in the customs of the village, it means that the dragon of the mind will create similar traditions elsewhere."
Audrey asked, somewhat puzzled, "Is that kind of custom conducive to stabilizing the dragon's state?"
"Yes." "World" Gehrman Sparrow didn't explain, he just gave an affirmative answer.
At this moment, Klein, in his capacity as "The Fool," looked around and asked, "Why do you think the gods want to preach?"
Audrey immediately thought of the orthodox answer: Isn't it God who loves the world?
Immediately afterwards, she, along with Alger the Hanged Man, Cattleya the Priestess, and other members, thought of the second answer: a stable state!
Cattleya then recalled the scepter she had seen the Fool playing with when she first entered the giant's palace.
Later, she guessed that it must be the extraordinary characteristic of "Sea God" Kavituwa, which seemed to represent authority and believers. At this point, she further guessed: Did it mean that Mr. Fool needed a large number of believers to stabilize his state, so he managed to acquire the characteristics of Kavituwa and replace "Sea God" to gain a large number of believers?
Having seen the mural, Alger no longer felt the same trembling fear when he heard such things again. Instead, he began to seriously consider why faith could stabilize the state of a demigod-level being.
Only Odis the Hermit thought to himself: You've fooled me again.
Since Mr. Fool did not provide further explanation, the other members turned to Odis, with Audrey asking directly, "Mr. Hermit, do you know the underlying logic? What reward is required to obtain the corresponding answer?"
Klein, the "Fool" behind the gray fog, also glanced at the "Hermit" out of the corner of his eye, because he was also unclear about the underlying logic. However, from the diary of Russell that he had obtained today, he had a rough idea that it should be related to "spiritual remnants".
His explanation was meant to pique the interest of the other members, encouraging them to consult the "hermit" so he could find the answer to the question.
When Odis heard Audrey's question, he smiled somewhat helplessly. He knew that this would be the final outcome.
After a moment's thought, Odis said, "I can't give a precise answer to this question, but I can tell you my guess."
"Since we don't know if those guesses are accurate, we won't charge anyone for their services."
People were not disappointed because the "hermit's" speculations were logically sound and satisfied their curiosity.
Odis organized his thoughts before saying, "First, we need to understand one question: why is the state of the gods unstable?"
Everyone was taken aback, feeling that the "Hermit" was speculating about the gods right in front of Mr. "Fool". They glanced at Mr. "Fool" and breathed a sigh of relief when they saw that he was not angry.
Klein was in a bit of a dilemma. Logically, he should give the "Hermit" a warning, but that would prevent him from getting the answer he wanted.
After a moment's thought, Klein smiled with satisfaction and nodded encouragingly, as if to show that he was very magnanimous and that the "hermit" should not hold back and should speak his mind.
Seeing Mr. Fool's expression, the other members were finally relieved.
While admiring Klein's adaptability, Odis thought to himself: Young man, I see you have extraordinary talent; you're good material to become an evil god.
He then continued, "Actually, we've already discussed this issue. The problem with the normal state of deities is most likely due to 'spiritual residue,' or simply 'spiritual imprint.'"
"Such imprints come from two aspects. One aspect is that the higher the sequence, the closer it is to the 'original creator,' so the imprint left by the 'original' in the characteristics will appear."
"Secondly, there are the mental imprints left by other high-sequence extraordinary beings."
"For example, the 'Goddess of Night', in her divinity, theoretically includes the mark of the 'original' and the mark of the 'Destroyer Wolf'."
Odis paused briefly before continuing, "'The original' spiritual imprint should be biased towards the order in which this universe operates; it is very cold and inhuman."
"The spiritual imprint left by the gods who followed the same path is more like a distorted and maddening thing."
"If these spiritual imprints are too severe, they will make the gods indifferent, crazy and twisted. In fact, at this point, they are still considered relatively normal gods."
"Like the evil gods we know, their poor condition was caused by other problems."
"For example, the 'true creator' only gained humanity because he was betrayed, and was not complete."
"The 'Primal Witch' seems to be in poor condition due to some issues with Trier."
"'Demon Kings' have the characteristic of having adjacent pathways in their bodies. In short, the reason why they are in such a bad state is mostly due to some lingering problems."
"Of course, the problem of psychological imprinting also exists, but it is not the most serious one."
"The main problem with the seven gods is the issue of their spiritual imprints."
The other members listened intently, never expecting to gain so much high-level information during the exchange.
Odis continued, "My guess is this: believers recite the names of gods and pray to them. Even if they don't receive a response from the gods, they should still have established a certain mystical connection with them."
"This kind of connection is more like opening one's spirituality and mental body to the gods."
"I have this idea because I think that if you pray to an evil god, you will be spiritually polluted or severely affected. Therefore, when praying to a god, the believer's spiritual body should be open to the god."
Could it be that during this process, God had believers share the burden of the 'spiritual imprint' with Him?
"But because the number of believers in the True God Church is very large, the mental burden on each believer is very small and hardly noticeable."
The other members were taken aback at first, and all wanted to take a look at Mr. Fool and ask him if the Hermit's guess was true or false.
But none of them had the courage, so they had to give up in the end.
"The Fool" Klein remarked that the idea sounded very rigorous, and even if the actual situation differed from it, it should be pretty close.
The hall was quiet for a short while before the exchange continued.
After exchanging words for a while, "Justice" Audrey spoke again, asking "The Hermit": "Why didn't you wear your glasses to this gathering?"
In fact, she had noticed this earlier. She had thought that the "hermit" would share the reason, but he had not mentioned his experience in this regard. So when Audrey realized that the exchange was about to end, she took the initiative to ask her question.
The other members also noticed this, but didn't pay much attention to it.
Reminded by Miss "Justice," Cattleya asked with a hint of suspicion, "You...you don't mean you already possess the complete 'Eye of Secrets,' do you?"
At the beginning of the Tarot session, she also noticed that the "Hermit" did not manifest glasses that could block the "Eye of the Secrets" ability.
At the time, she also wondered if the "hermit" had already been promoted.
But then she realized it was unlikely, because if she remembered correctly, the "Hermit" had only been promoted to "Astrologer" for two or three months, it was impossible for him to have been promoted so quickly.
It should be noted that it took her two years to fully digest the "astrologer's" potion.
Therefore, at this moment, Gadriya's tone was full of uncertainty. She even wondered if the "Hermit" had found a better way to seal the "Eye of Secrets".
Odis replied to the "priestess" with "Yes".
Cattleya almost rushed over, grabbed the "Hermit" by the collar, and asked: How did you do that?
At this point, she had acquired the characteristics for advancing to Sequence 4, and the ceremony was ready. She had been adjusting her state in the past few days in preparation for the advancement.
But she never expected that the "Hermit" had already completed the advancement!
Audrey seemed to understand the question and answer between the "Hermit" and the "Priestess": "So, Mr. 'Hermit' has already ascended to the status of a demigod?"
The other members looked at the "Hermit" with disbelief, and Alger, the "Hanged Man," even felt a sense of absurdity: Did this guy cheat? How could he advance so quickly?
Odis gave a clear answer: "Yes."
The other members all took a deep breath: the first demigod among the Tarot Club members, besides Mr. Fool!
Then everyone reacted differently, and Alger suddenly felt that his joy at obtaining the demigod potion recipe had come to an abrupt end.
"The Magician" Fors simply exclaimed: Wow, that's fast!
"The Sun" Derrick encouraged himself: Half-human, half-god! I must also strive towards that goal!
Emlyn, nicknamed "The Moon," remarked: "He was promoted so quickly, how come he's still in such good shape?"
Audrey, on the other hand, felt as if the distance between herself and the "hermit" had widened further.
The topic ended in silence once again, and Odis asked Audrey, "Has anything noteworthy happened in Backlund recently?"
After the letter from the "Hidden Sage" was delivered to him, Odis planned to inquire with "Justice" to see if there was anything noteworthy.
Perhaps that was the arrangement of the "Hidden Sage" or the "God of Steam and Machinery".
Audrey thought for a moment before shaking her head and saying, "Aside from what I discussed before about the Mind Dragon, I haven't heard anything else of noteworthy importance."
Odis then looked at the "magician," and Fors thought for a moment before saying, "I haven't heard anything particularly noteworthy either."
Odis finally looked at "The Moon" Emlyn, who was clearly taken aback: "How did you know I was in Backlund?"
Klein almost covered his face: "Many of the things you said in our previous conversations have already revealed that you are in Backlund."
For a moment, some of the other members seemed to be suppressing laughter, while others tried to put on a serious expression.
Odis could only say, "You should know that I am very good at analyzing intelligence."
"You are indeed very skilled," Emlyn said with a smile. "You even saw through my disguise."
Alger immediately turned his head away, his shoulders seemingly trembling.
But the ladies opposite Emlyn were harder to avoid. Audrey took a deep breath and used some of the characteristics of the "audience" ability to hide her emotions well.
Both Cattleya and Fors stared intently at the bronze table, as if the mottled patterns on it were a fascinating novel or some profound knowledge.
Odis could only say, "Yes, it took me quite a bit of effort to figure it out."
The other members felt they had reached their limit.
Emlyn raised his chin, then considered for a moment and said, "The unexplained spiritual fluctuations discovered in the East District, does that count?"
Everyone then took a deep breath, leaning back in their chairs to listen to the conversation between the two.
Odis asked, "Could you be more specific?"
"That was something I overheard when I was reporting to the Marquis alone," Emlyn said. "It is said that the Marquis sensed a strange spiritual fluctuation in the direction of the Eastern District."
"But the Marquis himself is not entirely clear on the specifics of the problem."
Actually, he went to the Marquis to borrow money that day, and the Marquis happened to be discussing the matter with several viscounts, so he overheard a few words.
Odis nodded: "I understand, thank you."
It's also possible that it's a spiritual anomaly caused by some action being carried out by believers in the "Primordial Moon." Such general information makes it impossible to speculate.
Emlyn waved his hand, indicating that it was nothing.
Next, Odis and Derrick traded extraordinary materials and weapons as usual. During the previous transactions, "Little Sun" was so shocked by the information from this Tarot Meeting that he forgot about this routine transaction for a moment.
After exchanging ideas for a while, "The Fool" Klein announced the end of the tarot session.
...
Back in the real world, Odis stared blankly at the ceiling of the train carriage for a while, then got up and went to the small dining table to prepare for the ceremony.
First, he sacrificed the pre-bundled extraordinary weapon and a "Crimson Scholar" trait to Mr. Fool, asking him to deliver them to "Little Sun" in the "Forsaken Land" and to Emlyn in Backlund.
After a short wait, Odis received a large sum of cash, extraordinary materials, and two items with extraordinary properties at Sequence 5 level.
At this gathering, Odis received a total of 9,200 pounds for the deal involving information about the "Cataclysm," and Derrick, as usual, paid his share with extraordinary materials.
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Additionally, he received 7,500 pounds for the extraordinary properties he traded with Emlyn the Moon. He was also rewarded 600 pounds for helping Klein craft magical items.
However, at this tarot gathering, he also spent 8,000 pounds to purchase the "Chaos Mentor" perk.
He eventually received £9,300 in cash.
As for those two extraordinary traits, one was the trait that Odis bought, and the other was the "Ocean Singer" trait that the "World" wanted to use to create magical items.
Odis did not rush to the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to craft magical items. Instead, he roughly counted the gold pounds and the large amount of extraordinary materials he had obtained from trading extraordinary weapons, and put all of these things into the "Wilderness of Knowledge".
After settling matters after the Tarot meeting, Odis continued to consider the matter of the "Hidden Sage." He suddenly realized that he had never felt any urgency to advance before, but now he did.
After receiving the "warning letter" from the "Hidden Sage," Odis once again felt pressure from gods of the same path as well as gods of neighboring paths.
Only by advancing quickly and becoming an angel can one have the ability to protect oneself.
Of course, the so-called self-protection ability is only the ability to sense danger in time and escape when one of the two gods wants to deal with him.
In any case, becoming an angel greatly expands the scope of one's actions.
Next, Odis began to consider the issue of promotion. First, she started to try to purchase the two auxiliary materials. However, the probability of purchasing them through existing channels was not high. It would be better to ask Bernadette directly, as she did not have any extra materials.
If not, Odis planned to pray to the "goddess of knowledge and wisdom" or the "goddess of night" and trade the necessary materials from them.
For a deity, especially a "god of knowledge and wisdom," there should be a corresponding accumulation.
The most time-consuming supplementary material now is actually "observational records of at least three people's fates." Since it is an observation of "fate," it must be done for a period of time, and at least one turning point in fate must be observed.
Odis planned to ask Hugh to find several targets for him after arriving in Backlund, and then observe them simultaneously to save time.
As for the prophecy prepared for the ceremony, Odis thought that if the "prophecy" that a world war would begin in winter was used, it would likely have to wait until after the world war began before it could be used for the promotion.
That means we have to wait another four months!
Odis realized that this "prophecy" might very well hold him back.
In order to prepare for an imminent promotion, a "prophecy" that will "happen" in the near future is needed.
Odis began to ponder what major events might occur recently. First, he thought that Silver City seemed to have stopped the mutation of the former chief, which was equivalent to stopping the connection between the "artificial death god" in the real world and the former chief of Silver City.
If we were to make a "prediction" about this matter, it would involve a sufficient number of levels.
The requirement for becoming a "Master of Prophecy" is to make a prophecy about the future; the more accurate and clear the prophecy, the better its effect.
Odis's understanding of this ritual was that the emphasis was on the "world" scope, meaning it was either a global event like the start of a world war, or the prophecy had to involve at least the level of angels.
The "artificial Grim Reaper" can be considered a unique activation of the "Grim Reaper" pathway, and its level is sufficient.
Then Odis thought that it seemed Klein was about to take revenge soon. Although the battle of his revenge was only at the level of a demigod, it involved Adam and the "Goddess of Night," so it was safer.
The problem is that this "prophecy" should ideally avoid mentioning Adam. If the "prophecy" involves Adam, the other party will likely notice it immediately.
Of course, if the "prophecy" involves the "Goddess of Night," she will certainly be able to sense it, but since she is a potential ally, there is no need to worry that she will bring down divine punishment.
Odis pondered for a moment before taking a deep breath and saying, "The resurrected avenger tolls the death knell for the traitor, causing him to die in agony. The pen of nightmares will fall into the embrace of the Creator, and misfortune reveals its victorious smile."
This "prophecy" avoids mentioning Adam and the "Goddess of Night," as well as details such as "nightmare strokes" and "misfortune," and should therefore meet the requirements of the ritual.
He thought back again and realized that this event was likely to happen in the next month or two, and it would soon be confirmed.
In order to make full preparations, Odis then made a prophecy that "a world war will occur in late October of this year," and that Silver City would soon sever the connection between the "artificial death god" and the "forsaken land."
If the prophecies about the "artificial Grim Reaper" and Klein's revenge are ineffective, then we can only wait for the prophecy of world war to occur before we can advance.
After making a plan, Odis went out and told his staff that he wanted to stop briefly in the city ahead so that he could pray to the "god of knowledge and wisdom".
This request is reasonable, since if the train continues its journey, it will leave Remburg tonight and enter the territory of the Kingdom of Loen, where there will be no church of the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom".
Therefore, it is not unreasonable to ask someone to pray to God in a church before leaving the country.
After another half hour, the train stopped at the Glarus train station, an important city east of Remnburg. Odis, accompanied by two attendants and a squad of guards, took a horse-drawn carriage to the nearby church.
The church was about to close, so Odis had the guards wait outside, went inside, found a corner, and quietly prayed to the "Symbolic Symbol of Knowledge."
After reciting the name of the deity, he whispered several times about receiving the "warning letter." Seeing that the "god of knowledge" did not react, Odis was about to get up and leave.
Suddenly, he felt as if his spirit had been elevated.
Then, Odis seemed to be in the middle of a series of imaginary bookshelves, and suddenly a book flew towards him.
Before Odis could react, the book suddenly turned into a soft ball of light. The light quickly disappeared, but at the same time, Odis's mind was filled with a lot of knowledge about the higher sequences of the "Generalist" and "Secret Seeker" pathways.
The feeling of being elevated vanished instantly, and Odis opened her eyes to find herself still in the church.
He took a deep breath, sincerely thanked the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom," then left the church and took a carriage back to the train station.
On the carriage, Odis began to savor the knowledge that the "god of knowledge and wisdom" had given him. First, he knew that after an extraordinary being in the "Generalist" path became a Sequence 2 "Knowledge Mentor," they could use the corresponding authority of "knowledge" to influence extraordinary beings in adjacent paths.
This effect occurs primarily because this sequence happens to be closer to the authority of the higher sequences in the "peeping man" pathway.
Although the authority wielded by the "Knowledge Mentor" is not extensive, it is sufficient to influence extraordinary beings below the level of angels in adjacent pathways, although this influence is so subtle that it is generally difficult to detect.
But Odis knew very well that the influence of angels was relatively small, and that the influence at the level of true gods might still be minimal.
In other words, under normal circumstances, the "God of Steam and Machinery" can have a certain influence on extraordinary beings below the level of angels in adjacent pathways.
This is indeed a problem that Odis should pay attention to.
Another piece of advanced intelligence revealed by the "God of Knowledge" is that the "Enlightener" can use forged knowledge to overturn the opponent's established perceptions. The Sequence 0 "Perfector" can then use these altered perceptions to break down the target's rationality, turning them into a phantom of light composed of numbers, information, and knowledge.
At this point, the "perfectionist" can proceed with further actions.
This series of actions could be an attack completed instantly in battle, or it could be a seed of "enlightenment" planted in advance, which would suddenly explode when needed, catching the target off guard.
Odis felt that if the "God of Steam" wanted to deal with him, he would probably do so by secretly planting the "seeds of enlightenment" so that they would suddenly erupt at a crucial moment.
There are also two pieces of information regarding the "Secret Seekers" high sequence: the first is that the "Hidden Sages" are suspected of being influenced or corrupted by Outer Gods.
Odis was prepared for this. The fact that the followers of Outer Gods had appeared in the "Ascetic Order of Moses" and had not yet been purged showed that the organization had been severely influenced by Outer Gods.
The reminder from the "god of knowledge" essentially confirmed his guess.
The second piece of information is that the "Hidden Sage," who possesses the unique pathway to "Secret Seekers," is essentially someone who owns a part of the knowledge at the very bottom of this world.
He can use this authority to infiltrate the target without them realizing it, and make the target be influenced by Him.
In other words, anything related to "knowledge" can be used by the "Hidden Sage." Or, as long as Odis possesses a certain amount of knowledge, the "Hidden Sage" can use that knowledge to invade Odis's mind.
This reminded Odis of how Bernadette had almost been invaded by the "Hidden Sage" when she was being promoted.
However, with the help of the "Goddess of Night" and the protection of the "newbie period," Odis is temporarily unable to find him and find it difficult to invade his territory.
These are all the gains from this prayer.
Odis took a deep breath and began to consider how to deal with the problem. After thinking for a while, he felt that he could use Bernadette's "Sage's Forehead Ornament" to examine himself.
After becoming Sequence 4 and possessing a faint divine quality, Odis can briefly transform herself into an information stream when using the "Sage's Forehead Ornament".
If one has been "planted with the seeds of enlightenment," one should be able to detect it through such self-examination.
Another strategy is to pray in churches more often; in Loen, go to the church of the "Goddess of Night," and in Remnburg, go to the church of the "God of Knowledge."
As the saying goes, only gods can defeat gods.
After having some ideas, Odis was no longer as nervous as when he first saw the "warning letter".
After boarding the train again, Odis locked himself in his room, pondering how to investigate the arrangements of the "Hidden Sage" and the "God of Steam and Machinery".
Now Odis is certain that he does indeed have a "newbie protection period".
Because whether it's the "Hidden Sage" or the "God of Steam," with their authority, dealing with Odis would be very easy.
They must have had some concerns that prevented them from intervening when Odis was weak.
In particular, regarding the "God of Steam," Odis had a somewhat vague concept of gods when he was at Sequence 9, and always felt that the other party had not attacked him because of his concerns about the "wilderness of knowledge."
After receiving clear intelligence from the "God of Knowledge," he realized that the "God of Steam" had many ways to bypass the "Wilderness of Knowledge" and exert influence on him.
Based on this, Odis believed that since neither the "Hidden Sage" nor the "God of Steam" could directly deal with him, their arrangements must be somewhat roundabout. If one paid close attention, one should be able to find some clues in advance.
As night deepened, Odis found himself sleepless. He watched the scenery outside recede rapidly in the distance, took a deep breath, and suddenly smiled: "At the Tarot meeting, I just told 'Little Sun' that the Extraordinary Path is a brutal race, and now you're already lamenting the pressure from higher sequences."
Thinking of this, a surge of courage seemed to rise within him, growing stronger and stronger, gradually dispelling Odis's unease and confusion.
Soon, Odis fell into a deep sleep.
Over the next two days, the train left the mountainous region of the central plateau, passed through the flat Tarkwell Plain, and then crossed the Balchis Mountains, which are only a few dozen kilometers wide from east to west, before the "City of Hope," Backlund, came into view.