Looking at the "illness general" before her, Audrey admired the woman's beauty while also finding the way she was being looked at somewhat strange.
Odis's reaction was even stranger; she looked as if her scheme had succeeded.
Odis, with his legs crossed, smiled and said, "Now we can talk. Where will the operation take place in a few days?"
"Go to...the Bayam North District..." "Lieutenant General of Disease" Tracy stammered for a moment before seeming to come to her senses: "Three days later, go to the Sea Lion Bar in the Bayam North District and tell the bartender that the mermaid introduced you."
"He will take you to the back of the bar, and you can just follow the people there."
Only after she finished speaking did she belatedly realize that what she had just said was confidential and should have been kept from this beautiful young lady. Yet, she seemed completely oblivious to this fact.
Seeing the other party's absent-minded appearance, Odis felt secretly pleased: "I understand. I will go to the Sea Lion Bar you mentioned around nine o'clock in the morning three days from now. Please be prepared."
Next, Odis began to chat with the other person.
Tracy went from being absent-minded at first to being restless and uneasy later on.
Because she initially hoped to strike up a conversation with Audrey, but Audrey's demeanor and appearance made her hate her current state. In the end, she felt that her appearance and manners were inferior to Audrey's, and thus felt ashamed.
Odis felt that he had more than accomplished his goal, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but turn up slightly as he continued to chat about some trivial things.
He knew very well that he had ruined a "witch" today.
What Tracy resented at this moment was becoming a woman and missing out on the beauty of Audrey. What frustrated her even more was that even if she hadn't become a woman, the beauty of Audrey wouldn't have belonged to her.
What shattered her confidence was that even though she was a "witch," she had no advantage over Audrey.
Odis brought Audrey here today to demonstrate against the "Witch Cult," to defeat their prized beauty, which they obtained through magic potions, with true beauty.
By the time Tracy realized what was happening, she quickly made up an excuse and ran away.
After Tracy left, Audrey looked at Odis and asked, "Did you just use me?"
"What did I take advantage of you?" Odis smiled. "Just now you were just sitting there quietly. I didn't ask you to speak or do anything."
"Or you can tell me yourself, what did I ask you to do?"
Audrey straightened her back: "Your body language and repetitive words just now show that you are guilty."
Odis took a sip of tea before saying, "I apologize, I must admit I was indeed distracted just now, because I was considering whether the next activity should be taking you to fight pirates or visiting the giant guards on the island?"
"Don't interrupt!" Audrey pouted rather unladylike, about to express her anger seriously, but after hearing Odis's suggestion, her pout immediately relaxed: "What giant?"
Odis sighed, "This noble lady hasn't had enough of a beating from society." He smiled and said, "Of course, a giant three or four meters tall with vertical pupils!"
Audrey opened her mouth: "Can we visit the giants first, and then fight the pirates?"
"Of course," Odis replied immediately.
The pirate-hunting project was something Odis had just added for Audrey because he felt she had done a good job with her mission.
He glanced at Audrey and said, "You're too beautiful. You need to disguise yourself, otherwise I'll be very busy with work when we get out."
Audrey was slightly taken aback: "Didn't you just say that I didn't need to pretend?"
Odis simply replied, "You misheard me."
Audrey replied, "Susie, you heard that too, didn't you?"
The golden retriever was stunned for a moment, not expecting that the two people's bickering would suddenly involve it. It could only open its mouth and bark: "Woof!"
"That was just now." Odis had forgotten about this witness, and then he said seriously, "You just met a 'pirate general.' How can that be the same as an ordinary pirate?"
"Hurry up, I'll help you."
To Odis's dismay, despite his efforts to help disguise the situation, the noble lady's condition did not improve much.
No matter how hard he tried, Audrey could always show her beauty from different angles.
This made Odis a little jealous: "Let it be."
Just as they were preparing to depart, the secretary came to report that Mr. Tim requested an audience.
Tim was an officer sent by the Navy to monitor "Dawnbreaker". Later, after the Navy changed admirals, Tim had no choice but to rely more on Odis in order to keep his current military position.
Because only Odis needs Tim, so can the Navy need Tim.
So the naval officer became more proactive and hoped to enter the inner circle of "Dawnbreaker".
But Odis didn't trust him much, so he could only keep assigning him less important tasks.
However, since the other party requested a meeting, Odis still agreed, because perhaps the navy had some new ideas.
He explained to Audrey, "This is a very special subordinate of mine. It may be something important, and I need to see him first."
Audrey said "Oh," and sat down on the sofa again, gesturing for Odis to go ahead with her work.
The secretary glanced at the beautiful young lady again; her fair face now had many more freckles and a birthmark than before.
But what would be bothersome on other people's faces became quite beautiful on this young lady's face, as if each freckle was in the right place.
Tim entered the office and smiled, "Captain."
Then, out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the sofa and saw an unusually beautiful young woman, wondering about her relationship with the captain.
Odis gestured for her to sit down: "I've heard from Salina that you do your job very diligently."
He had almost forgotten what exactly he had assigned Tim, which is why his praise was so vague.
Tim was somewhat flattered: "No, no, I wish I could do better, but unfortunately my abilities are limited."
He then said, "However, the task you assigned me has recently yielded important clues, and I urgently need your help now."
"Oh?" Odis remembered that the task he gave Tim was to find out where the extraordinary characteristics of the three indigenous tribes in the mountains came from.
As Odis further developed the island of Cruz, it created more and more jobs, and more and more natives left their villages to seek work opportunities elsewhere.
Odis assigned professional staff to provide free training to the natives, starting with learning the Rune language and then some common sense about modern society.
The availability of products like "smart helmets" made the training process much faster.
Some time ago, Odis's subordinates heard from the natives who went out to work that the leaders of the three tribes in the mountains were all extraordinary beings!
Of these three tribes, the Tailang and Gelang tribes have established good cooperative relations with the outside world, while the Pulang tribe on the west side of the island has only established simple contact with the town government of Odis and conducted small-scale transactions.
Odis guessed that since the tribal leaders were extraordinary beings, there must be more than one extraordinary being in these three tribes.
Another question is, where do their extraordinary characteristics come from?
Odis initially guessed that it had been taken from invaders from the northern continent, but after a little investigation, it seemed that no extraordinary invaders had ever visited the island.
At that moment, Tim had nothing to do, so he sent Tim to investigate.
This seemingly insignificant move has now yielded a result.
On the sofa nearby, Audrey overheard the words "mission" and "important clues" and secretly strained her ears to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two.
Tim continued, "I found out that in the westernmost Plang tribe, there is an evil god called the 'God of No Light'..."
Odis was taken aback: "The God of No Light?"
This name doesn't sound like a proper deity at all.
"Yes," Tim said. "After several unsuccessful attempts to communicate with the Pulang tribe, I used the 'Smart Helmet' to learn the local indigenous language and secretly infiltrated the western part of the island."
"I originally thought they worshipped darkness, but I found out that their practice was to sacrifice their sight to the 'god of no light' and try to live in a lightless environment."
"Many people in the Pulang ethnic group live with their eyes closed most of the time."
"The further west you go, the more fanatical people there are. They live with blindfolds on day and night, and some even gouge out their eyes and offer them as sacrifices to their gods."
Hearing this, Audrey, who was in the sofa area, was convinced that the so-called "God of No Light" must be an evil god.
Odis listened quietly. He had previously observed the indigenous tribes on the island and remembered that some of them did wear blindfolds during the day.
However, at the time he didn't think it was an eye mask, but rather some kind of strange local ornament, and didn't pay much attention to it.
He never imagined that this would be related to the belief in an evil god.
Then Odis recalled the strange rocks he had encountered on the island with Klein and the others. He seriously suspected that the natives of the Pulang tribe were worshipping something that had been corrupted by the Outer Gods.
"I realized something was wrong," Tim continued, "so I broke some rules and arrested a few fanatics for interrogation…"
Odis had clearly stipulated that the island's natives enjoyed the basic right to life, and that after leaving the village to work elsewhere, they would further enjoy the rights of Cruz Island citizens.
Therefore, those indigenous people should not be beaten or arrested at will. Tim said this, which was tantamount to reporting the matter to the captain. He estimated that the captain would not hold him responsible.
Odis didn't seem to care much about the matter and gestured for Tim to continue.
Tim continued, "...From the interrogation, we learned that the Pran tribe does have a few extraordinary individuals, but their ranks are not very high."
"The extraordinary properties they used were obtained from the sea. According to the prisoners I captured, miracles began to occur after they began to worship the 'God of No Light'."
"Sometimes, sea monsters will attack them for no reason. After killing the sea monsters under the guidance of the gods, they will gain some extraordinary characteristics."
"However, they did not have a specific concept of extraordinary characteristics, but rather said that it was a gift from the gods."
"Then the priests or clan leaders among them, without any auxiliary materials, devour those characteristics. According to a priest I captured, the probability of turning into a monster in this process is not high, but it is easy to become bloodthirsty, irritable, and completely insane."
Audrey was listening intently, and at this moment she guessed: So those characteristics must not be high sequence, hmm, maybe only low sequence. I heard that the sequence 9 characteristics, when taken without auxiliary materials, have a pretty high probability of successful advancement.
Tim continued, "But they don't have a clear concept of the specific years, and they can't say for sure how long they've been worshipping the 'God of No Light'."
"However, according to their description, it seems to have been a very, very long time ago."
He paused for a moment and then said, "In addition, I have also obtained important information. Recently, the 'God of No Light' seems to be somewhat restless, and it is said that something terrible is about to happen."
"So this year's 'Festival of No Light'... well, it's a festival of the Pulang people, where they offer sacrifices to their gods on this day every year."
"For this year's 'Festival of Darkness,' they plan to offer more sacrifices. If their offerings fail to satisfy the 'God of Darkness,' they even plan to capture some natives from other tribes to use as sacrifices."
"Because there was a possibility of bloodshed, I rushed here to report as soon as I received the news."
Odis asked, "When is the 'Festival of Darkness'?"
"It's today."
"Today?" Odis was taken aback.
He pondered for a moment, then said to the sofa, "The pirate-hunting project has changed; it's now about exploring a mysterious tribe deep within the island and uncovering their evil beliefs."
Audrey immediately stood up and said, "Okay!"
She was already eager to set off.
Tim was a little confused by the conversation between the two.
Then Odis took out the "Guth's Staff" and a leather bag containing scrolls from the "Wilderness of Knowledge." As he fastened his belt, he asked Tim, "I remember you are the 'Corrupted Baron,' right?"
Tim paused for a moment, but then seemed to realize something and said, unable to hide his joy, "Yes."
Odis then asked, "Have you obtained the Sequence 5 potion recipe?"
"Not yet," Tim replied immediately.
The military usually announces the promotion ceremony and then directly gives the potion.
"The merits you've accumulated from this investigation are enough for you to obtain the potion recipe for the 'Chaos Mentor'," Odis said. "Do you intend to take the recipe, or the gold pound reward?"
"I need the recipe!" Tim answered without hesitation.
If he is promoted to Sequence 5, he will no longer have to worry about his official rank and status in the military.
"Alright," Odis said. "I'll give you the recipe as soon as I get back."
"If you continue to perform well in the following operations, you will gain merits. When you have enough merits, you can obtain the extraordinary trait of 'Chaos Mentor' from me."
He currently possesses two extraordinary traits of "Chaos Mentor," one for the First Officer and one for Tim.
Tim beamed with delight: "Yes!"
If that's really the case, he wouldn't mind staying a pirate forever.
What excited him most was that these rewards from Odis were an affirmation of his abilities and a sign that he had been accepted as a full-fledged member of the "Sword of Dawn".
Then the tip of the "Gus Staff" in Odis's hand lit up, and he "reproduced" his "Earth Escape" ability, taking Tim, Audrey, and Susie with him and disappearing into the ground.
Two seconds later, Odis and the others appeared on the mountain peaks in the western part of Crus Island.
Only the southern and eastern coastal areas of Cruz Island are plains; the rest of the island is mountainous.
The island is actually quite large, and a significant population is hidden in the mountainous areas.
From the mountain peak where Odis and the others were, they could see several westernmost villages of the Pulang tribe. One of the villages was quite large and was probably the village where the chieftain lived.
Because the island is in the tropics, it is covered with lush vegetation at first glance. However, the houses in the villages, the farmland that is basically integrated with nature, and the people picking and working all remind Odis and his companions of the changes that humans have made to this island.
The latest novel is first published here!
Tim immediately understood upon seeing this location: the captain had previously come to observe the Pulang tribe.
Odis asked Tim, "Does the Pulang tribe have any sacred sites or altars?"
Generally speaking, these two places are found in areas where there is a belief in evil gods.
The former is usually where the evil god first appears, while the latter is where the evil god frequently appears.
"Yes." Tim immediately reported to the guide: "The Pulang tribe has a sacred place, in a cave over there, which is said to be guarded by hundreds of people. Moreover, they are all granted special permission to keep their eyes open."
"The altar was located on a cliff, and it was said that it was guarded. However, I was not familiar with the surrounding area at the time and was alone, so I did not explore it."
Odis grunted in agreement, then used "Invisibility" and "Silence" spells, and told them, "We are now invisible."
"Moreover, the voices we speak are only audible to a few of us. Unless we shout, it would be difficult for others to detect our presence."
Audrey smiled and said, "That's amazing."
She knew that Odis was now a demigod, so she wasn't surprised by such abilities.
Susie let out a soft "woof," indicating her agreement with Audrey's opinion.
Tim exclaimed, "That's amazing!"
His tone was tinged with surprise, as if this was beyond the capabilities of a Sequence 5.
But he couldn't quite believe that Odis had already been promoted to a demigod.
In the navy, anyone who is a demigod is at least a vice admiral, and can be promoted to admiral with a little merit.
Odis once again used his "earth-遁" ability to arrive at the cave that Tim had mentioned. There were indeed twenty or thirty natives guarding the cave entrance, and not far away there was a camp with what appeared to be dozens of people inside.
Moreover, the area in front of the cave was very clean, with only a few large trees.
This avoids revealing your tracks by walking through weeds.
Odis walked openly past the sentry guards and strode toward the cave. Audrey and Tim, who were clearly not used to being invisible, seemed a little guilty as they walked.
"'Admiral of Mysteries'," Odis heard Audrey call his name softly just as he was about to enter the cave.
He looked back and saw that Audrey and Tim had stopped, while Susie, the big dog who was at the back, stood rooted to the spot as if she had stepped on a landmine.
Because there was a local woman wearing only a coarse cloth skirt staring at Susie's location, as if she had spotted the golden retriever.
At this moment, Audrey whispered again, "That looks like a 'spectator'."
Odis smiled and said in a normal voice, "Have some faith in my 'witchcraft'; normal speech won't be heard."
Audrey quickly looked around and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the local tribesmen around her did not react.
In fact, the "psychological invisibility" at Sequence 6 level is enough to completely hide oneself.
However, Audrey hadn't used it much, so she wasn't used to the invisible state.
Odis glanced at the native, who seemed to have indeed noticed some changes in the road ahead, but from his perspective, there was nothing there, so he was just staring at it.
Odis pondered for a moment, then suddenly waved his hand, using a "witchcraft" that could create wind. A gust of wind blew out from mid-air, causing the natives to close their eyes, including the "spectator".
At the same time, Odis waved to Susie, and the dog immediately understood and ran to the cave entrance. The group entered the cave safely.
Even if these natives discovered Odis and his group, Odis had plenty of ways to prevent them from making any further moves, but that would destroy the atmosphere of adventure.
The environment inside the cave is relatively dry, and there are hardly any people inside, making it safer than outside.
Audrey whispered to Odis, "Why don't you use your ability to move quickly underground and just appear in the cave?"
"Because I'm not sure if this cave is safe," Odis said. "This is the safest way to come in."
Audrey paused for a moment, realizing that she lacked experience in adventure and hadn't even thought of such a simple principle.
After giving a brief explanation, Odis led the way, venturing deep into the cave.
After walking for a short while, murals appeared on the cave walls.
These murals are painted in a very simple style, yet they use only three colors—white, black, and red—and simple lines to create vivid images.
The first image features several red eyes clustered together. Because it is so lifelike, Odis and the others even felt that those eyes were staring intently at them, the intruders who had broken into the holy land.
In front of this pile of red eyes, there are several figures made of lines, worshipping the pile of eyes.
Odis immediately realized that these eyes belonged to the "God of No Light".
He continued looking at a few more murals and roughly understood that they were records of the island's indigenous belief in the "God of No Light".
While looking at the murals, Odis explained to Audrey, who was struggling to understand them, "The later paintings are saying that anyone who sees the 'God of No Light' is likely to fall ill with a strange disease."
"Of course, the so-called strange disease is likely due to contamination by the 'God of No Light.' The island's natives do not have the concept of being contaminated by anything extraordinary, so they use the term 'disease' to describe the phenomena they see."
Audrey opened her mouth, because the so-called "way of describing the 'illness'" consisted of a few simple figures, some clutching their heads, others coughing. Their minimalist features conveyed expressions of pain.
Without Odis's explanation, she would not have understood what it meant at all.
Tim listened quietly from the side, with an "I see" expression on his face.
Odis continued, "The mural that follows has a cross over the eyes. The cross has a similar function in different civilizations. Placed in a series of murals, it can be interpreted as the indigenous people of Cruz Island realizing that they could not look into the eyes of the 'God of No Light'."
"After that, the 'God of No Light' dived into the sea from this cave and would surface on a fixed day every year. The natives would take this opportunity to worship the 'God of No Light'."
"I don't know how long the ritual lasted, but they discovered that the 'God of No Light' really liked eyes... well, he didn't have eyelids, which means eyeballs."
"So they collected all kinds of eyeballs and offered them as sacrifices to the gods; some even gouged out their own eyes as sacrifices."
"The three indigenous tribes on Cruz Island have existed for a long time, and they once fought over the right to offer sacrifices to the 'God of No Light'."
"At this moment, a divine gift appeared, and a not very strong conch shell brought the first extraordinary characteristic."
"Later, some extraordinary individuals and other sea monsters brought extraordinary characteristics. After acquiring those characteristics, they gained extraordinary power."
"The battle between the three tribes became increasingly bloody, and in the end the Pulang tribe emerged victorious, gaining the permanent power of the priest 'God of No Light'."
"The other two tribes initially joined forces to deal with the Pulang tribe, but as time went on, they gradually stopped believing in the 'God of No Light'. However, their hostility towards the Pulang tribe remained, so their relationship was not very harmonious."
"The sacrifices of the Pulang tribe have never stopped, and the 'God of No Light' still appears regularly."
The mural ended here. After Odis finished speaking, he stroked his chin and fell into deep thought.
After a long pause, Tim suddenly said, "What has this 'God of No Light' brought to the natives? It hasn't made the Pulang tribe strong enough to completely conquer the other two tribes."
"The other two tribes did not suffer any divine punishment after they stopped believing in him."
"I estimate that the 'God of No Light' is in very poor condition," Odis said.
His condition is worse than that of "Poseidon" Cavittos, and his level doesn't seem to be as high as Cavittos' either.
Otherwise, once they reach Sequence 3, the indigenous people's prayers will be directed towards this evil god. Even if the other two tribes fail to win the right to worship the "God of No Light," their faith will not be interrupted within such a close range. They will each build their own altars and perform their own sacrifices.
Odis thought for a moment and then said, "I am more inclined to believe that the 'God of No Light' did not have a great impact on the local indigenous people, and the Pulang people's belief in it is more like a spiritual sustenance."
"Those fanatics may have been influenced by the 'God of No Light,' after all, this evil god is more like a monster and may spread some kind of spiritual pollution."
"Of course, they could also have been created by the priests to secure their own positions."
Tim and Audrey both looked puzzled. The former part of Audrey's words was easy to understand, but what did the latter mean?
Odis did not offer further explanation, after all, in a world of divine authority, most people would not question the legitimacy of divine authority, even if it was the authority of an evil god.
Odis then said to Tim, "This problem is not difficult to solve. Since today is the 'Festival of No Light,' the Pulang tribe will be holding a corresponding ceremony. Let's go and take a look."
"If possible, let's just kill this evil god."
If the "small account" can't take it down, the "large account" can step in.
In short, under Odis's rule, or rather, in the territory of the evil god "Lord of Mysteries," such an evil god of unknown origin was not allowed.
After roughly determining their location, Odis used "Earth Escape" again, and the group arrived at a mountain peak near the western coast.
On the cliff below the mountain, thousands of people had gathered, worshipping devoutly. Some of the priests were dancing dances with distinctive tribal characteristics, while others were slaughtering prey and gouging out fresh eyeballs to place on the altar on the cliff edge.
By this time, a small pile of eyeballs had been laid out, and the prey was almost all killed, but the "God of No Light" had not yet appeared.
Odis and the other two, along with their dog, noticed that those participating in the ceremony were all devout believers, or rather, fanatics. Most of them had empty eyes, suggesting that they had been sacrificed to the "God of No Light" in a previous ritual.
Odis, with his hands behind his back, said, "Let's wait a moment."
The priests seemed tireless, dancing incessantly, making the ritual appear quite devout.
About half an hour later, after the prey was killed, the priests suddenly started howling, their dance became more exaggerated, and the incantations they uttered became louder.
At this moment, a believer wearing an eye patch stepped forward, removed the eye patch, bowed devoutly to the sea, took out a curved knife, and without hesitation gouged out one of his own eyes.
Upon seeing all this, Audrey couldn't help but cover her mouth to prevent herself from screaming.
The intense pain made the believer take difficult steps and put his eyes into the altar.
Then he picked up the scimitar again, as if he had made a huge decision, and gouged out his other eye.
The pain caused him to faint, and blood splattered all over his face.
The two priests dragged him away and carelessly threw him under the altar.
Then, another devout believer stepped forward, removed his blindfold, and repeated the process of the previous believer.
"By the goddess above," Audrey said, "I had only heard about how bloody the sacrifices to evil gods were before, but today I truly understand the extent of their bloodshed."
Odis thought to himself: There's more to come.
Audrey then asked, "Why did they gouge out their own eyes?"
"If I understand correctly," Odis said, "they thought that sacrificing only the eyes of their prey was not devout enough, which is why the gods did not appear, so they began to sacrifice human eyes."
Audrey gasped. "So, this sacrifice will continue until that so-called 'God of No Light' appears?"
"Yes," Odis replied.
Then he looked towards the sea: "'The God of No Light' has arrived."
Audrey looked out at the distant sea, as if something enormous was rising from the seabed.