Seven or eight hazy points of light appeared in the sky and suddenly drifted toward the tranquil church, quickly entering the meditation room where Ariana and the others were.
Suddenly, the "Black Night Emblem" glowed with an eerie light, and Bernadette and the others were immediately enveloped in darkness, as if they were suddenly placed under an endless starry sky.
The hazy points of light vanished immediately, and the endless darkness dissipated as well.
The two deities had no intention of directly confronting each other; they were merely projecting some of their power into the real world.
Bernadette kept a close eye on Elbera, Odis's messenger. Odis had instructed Bernadette that his main purpose today was to keep an eye on this messenger.
Elle Bella sighed and said, "He must have some other arrangements."
Bernadette didn't understand who "he" Ellebella was referring to, but Ariana immediately asked, "What arrangement?"
"I don't know either." Ellebella smiled. "After all, I've never been a 'perfect person,' so I don't know the qualitative change that comes with gaining uniqueness."
She glanced at the spot where Odis had just been: "Now we can only rely on Odis himself, but fortunately, the power he can display is quite limited."
Bernadette probably realized that today Odis not only had to be wary of the "Hidden Sage," but also had to deal with the "God of Steam and Machinery."
Ellebella raised her hand, and a ball of light appeared in her palm.
She said to the orb of light, "Don't go too far and make Odis hate you. This is your way out, and it may be your only way out."
After saying that, Ellebella threw the ball of light, which quickly flew into the sky and disappeared.
Bernadette hesitated for a moment before saying to Ariana, "Madam Dean, please send me into the 'Hidden World.' I wish to stay by his side."
Ariana thought for a moment before saying, "Perhaps you could indeed be of help inside."
As he spoke, he raised his hand, and Bernadette vanished from the spot as if erased by an eraser.
Almost at the same time, Bernadette's figure appeared in the "Hidden World." She saw Odis shrouded in a colorful mist, staring straight ahead, standing there motionless.
He was in good condition and had clearly passed through the "frenzy period" after drinking the potion with relative ease; his body had been remodeled.
But strangely, he had not yet regained consciousness.
Bernadette said, "I don't know why the 'God of Steam' and the 'Hidden Sage' are always fixated on you, but I'm sure that what attracts me to you is different from what attracts them to me."
She suddenly took a deep breath: "I knew you must have been prepared, right?"
...
At this moment, Odis, as if by the "River of Destiny," looked around but saw no one.
"Don't bother looking, you can't see me," the voice said.
Odis seemed completely unfazed: "In other words, your influence is extremely weak."
"It is indeed faint, but it is enough, because the moment you appeared on the 'River of Destiny,' you were without the protection of the 'Wilderness of Knowledge.'" The voice also seemed unhurried: "Let me see, where should we begin?"
"From here, change it to this: All the inspiration for the research on 'Garr Runes' came from the hints and help of the 'God of Steam and Machinery'..."
Odis felt as if his memories were a book being turned over.
He calmly replied, "Before I traveled through time, I read a novel about the battle between Earthlings and the Trisolarans."
"The thoughts of the Trisolarans are public and can be viewed by others."
The "God of Steam" spoke to Odis like an old friend, saying, "I've also read that novel, and it was very inspiring to me."
Odis asked, "Are you also a time traveler?"
"No," the other person replied, "I saw it through another channel."
Odis continued, "When I learned that you had the ability to alter my memories, I immediately thought of the 'Wallfacer' and Yun Tianming."
The other person laughed and said, "Do you think you can shut your mind in front of me?"
"I haven't finished speaking yet," Odis smiled. "I also realize that your influence on me may be very weak, but your level is very high, and I should have a hard time completing the defensive process."
"So I made some preparations in the 'Knowledge Wilderness,' well, I have to tell you about it. There are some puppets in there that obey my commands."
"The order I gave to one of the puppets was that if they discovered that my memories had been tampered with, they should hand over control of the 'Wilderland of Knowledge' to the 'Hidden Sage'."
After a few seconds of silence, the other party said, "Your plan will most likely fail. The 'Wilderness of Knowledge' is almost harmless to you, but you cannot master the 'Hidden Sage' for the time being."
"Moreover, as far as I know, the 'Wilderness of Knowledge' is very likely to reject the 'Hidden Sage,' which will give me enough time and space to compete for it."
"Furthermore, the 'Hidden Sage' is severely restricted and cannot become a true god, so he is no match for me."
Odis asked, "Why does the 'Wilderness of Knowledge' reject the 'Hidden Sage'? And why is the 'Hidden Sage' restricted?"
"I can't answer that question," the other person said, "because it's to help you."
Odis took a deep breath before saying, "My plan is not actually to let the 'Hidden Sage' seize the 'Wilderland of Knowledge,' but to use the 'Staff of Gus' to manipulate the 'Wilderland of Knowledge' and aggregate the uniqueness of the 'Hidden One's' path."
"I am certain that this can be accomplished, because according to the information I learned from 'The Fool', the properties of Sequence 1 can be forcibly aggregated using the source material, and there is no problem with the uniqueness of the aggregation."
"I didn't expect that the 'wilderness of knowledge' might reject the 'hidden sage,' but the 'wilderness of knowledge' will not reject the uniqueness of the 'hermit' path."
"Although this would allow the 'Hidden Sage' to take control of the 'Wilderland of Knowledge,' He needs time."
"And after aggregating the uniqueness of the 'Hermit' path, the puppet will immediately go on to aggregate the uniqueness of the 'Perfect' path."
Odis laughed and said, "Let me guess, if you intend to give up the uniqueness of the 'Perfect One' path, then you will no longer be a true god. If you are unwilling to give it up, then you can only compete with the 'Hidden Sage' for the 'Wilderness of Knowledge' in the form of uniqueness."
"What will the 'wilderness of knowledge' ultimately become? Perhaps you will become like Medici, a mixed mess."
"Perhaps you will continue to fight in the 'wilderness of knowledge'."
Odis paused for a moment and said, "At this point, you will all realize that Odis Garr, the former master of the 'Wilderness of Knowledge,' has become the key to the struggle."
"But as long as you let me come into contact with the 'Wilderness of Knowledge,' it will trigger another arrangement I have made in the 'Wilderness of Knowledge.' I will use the position in the 'Wilderness of Knowledge' to distinguish which memories have been tampered with by you."
In other words, don't expect me to help you.
"At that time, your battle will become a battle of the three of us."
"I also have some allies, such as the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' and the 'Goddess of Night,' and the 'Fool' is also rapidly recovering his strength. They are all willing to help me."
"And what kind of help will you receive?"
The "God of Steam" fell silent again, and after a long while he said, "'Dark Forest' deterrence."
"That's right." Odis smiled and said, "Since I can't beat you, I'll show you my determination to die with you."
"Well, to be precise, we won't perish together, because my future will only get better and better, while you might not even be able to maintain your status as a true god."
The other party remained silent for a long time, and then Odis felt that He was going through His own memories again, as if to confirm the truth of Odis's words.
Odis replied, "You cannot see my arrangements in the 'Wilderness of Knowledge'."
"However, you can take a look at my thought process for the whole plan."
Finally, Odis heard a long sigh: "Perhaps Elbera is right."
Odis felt as if he were being pushed back, and the "River of Destiny" was rapidly disappearing from his sight.
He finally breathed a sigh of relief; clearly, the "God of Steam" had let him go.
Soon, Odis felt a sensation of falling, and his consciousness finally returned to his body. The colorful mist around him immediately dissipated.
When Odis came to her senses, the first person she saw was Bernadette.
The other person's face was full of worry, but it was quickly replaced by relief.
Odis opened her arms, and the two embraced tightly. Neither of them spoke, and they simply held each other in silence.
Until the oppressive feeling from the "Dark Emblem" disappeared, Odis heard the poem again: "O boundless universe!"
"You are not just a pile of material possessions,"
"It is also a collection of information and knowledge, and a chaotic leap of spirituality."
"The chaotic babbling is the language of the Creator."
"It resounds throughout the universe and has never stopped."
"Endless knowledge is the knowledge of the Creator."
"It operates the universe, and it never stops."
"Come to Kanar! Listen…master…"
Odis paused for a moment, not hearing much more this time.
Then he realized that "Kanal" seemed to be a place name, but he didn't know where it was.
At the same time, Odis also felt the digestion of her own potion, and the digestion was much better than expected.
Bernadette said, "Let's go outside first. Dean Ariana and Ellebella are still waiting outside."
Odis hummed in agreement and released Bernadette, but suddenly they thought of something else: how to leave the "Hidden World".
Fortunately, Ariana soon ended her maintenance of the "Hidden World," allowing them to return to the real world.
"Congratulations on your promotion." Ellebella smiled and said, "Although I came, I wasn't able to help much."
Odis smiled and said, "Your ability to anticipate the 'God of Steam's' plan is the greatest help you can give me."
He then thanked Ariana and left the serene church.
Because Odis had just ascended to enlightenment and his spirituality was still unstable, they traveled away in Bernadette's "pumpkin carriage."
Upon returning to Backlund, Elbera took her leave. In the Remnburg ambassador's office, Oedis and Bernadette were silent for a second or two before Oedis smiled and said, "It's not that I want to hide it from you, but I don't want you to worry."
"I don't blame you for this," Bernadette said, sitting on the sofa. "Tell me what really happened."
"I have mastered something that is extremely important to both the 'Hermit' and 'Perfect' pathways," Odis explained. "So these two gods have been watching my every move closely, and will try to interfere with me whenever they have the chance."
"The 'God of Steam' planned to alter my memories when I was promoted to angel. It is said that the 'Hidden Sage' also had some schemes when I was promoted to angel."
"That's why I've been working with the Church of Knowledge and the Church of Night since very early on."
Bernadette frowned: "Why don't you ask the 'Lord of Mysteries' for help?"
"Because the 'Lord of Mysteries' is also very weak at this time." Odis struggled for a moment, but decided to keep this matter to himself: "Or rather, whether the 'Lord of Mysteries' can recover further depends on whether I can continue to advance."
Bernadette paused for a moment, realizing that the matter was more complicated than she had anticipated.
But since it involved the "Lord of Mysteries," she realized she couldn't ask any further questions.
So she asked, "How can I help you?"
"Just help me stay in shape," Odis smiled. "Your agreement to be my girlfriend and your willingness to make our relationship public, and our potential marriage in the future, would be the greatest help you could give me."
Bernadette smiled and said, "In this respect, we help each other."
She stood up from the sofa and said, "Let's stop here for today. You should quickly gather your spiritual energy and understand the new abilities you will gain after your advancement."
Odis nodded: "Okay."
After watching Bernadette leave, Odis had her secretary bring her a pot of tea and began to use her spirituality to sense her own condition.
First, Odis sensed that the "Master of Prophecy's" potion had been almost completely digested! Perhaps making five or six more prophecies would be enough to completely digest the potion.
This greatly surprised Odis, because the "Master of Prophecy" is completely different from the "Mystic Scholar." The Master of Prophecy needs to make a prophecy in order to digest the potion, but Odis had no possibility of digesting it in advance.
But the truth is, even without making many predictions, the "prophet's" potion was digested ahead of schedule!
Odis pondered for a moment and suddenly remembered what Adam had said to him in the Resurrection Square: the light of knowledge will return to the earth, and what he prophesied will eventually come to pass. Since ancient times, he has been a "master of prophecy"!
At the time, Odis thought that the other party was helping her solidify the ritual, but now she realized that it was actually helping her digest the potion in advance!
Odis sensed the digestion of the potion again, and his spiritual ability clearly felt the connection between himself and the spirit world as he digested the potion.
In other words, this is not an illusion; there really is a corresponding prophecy that allows the potion to be digested.
Unfortunately, Odis was unable to "inquire" about what those prophecies were.
He then made a connection, wondering if this meant Adam had strengthened his connection with the "wise men"? In other words, were the prophecies not made by Odysseus, but by the "wise men"?
Could this be a significant step in the revival of the "wise men"?
Thinking of this, Odis quickly sensed her own thoughts and her own state.
But he eventually discovered that his thinking was perfectly normal, and he did not feel invaded by any unknown force.
He also discovered that he still couldn't sense the divine part of his own spiritual body. Theoretically, after reaching Sequence 3, one should be able to clearly feel the cold, unmelting part of one's spirit, like solid ice.
Recalling her previous conversation with Ellebella made Odis increasingly uneasy.
He immediately thought: I must find Ellebella and ask her about this as soon as possible! If that doesn't work, I'll try to ask Adam!
But then, Odis felt somewhat helpless; if Elbera didn't tell the truth, there was nothing he could do.
As for Adam, although Odis has now advanced to Sequence 3 and is considered a figure in the current Extraordinary World, he is still as weak as an ant when facing Adam.
After a silent sigh, Odis felt that he should advance to Sequence 2 as soon as possible. Once he became an angel, his spirit and mental body would undergo a qualitative change.
Even if the "sage" has some kind of resurrection plan, he will still be able to put up a fight.
As for now, we can only take it one step at a time. Otherwise, we could wait until the "Fool" becomes "half of the Old One" before choosing to continue our promotion.
However, Odis realized that Adam, or rather the "Ancient Sun God," was likely deeply involved in the process of the "Sage's" resurrection. When the "Fool" became stronger, the union of Adam and the "True Creator" also began, and the two sides were probably still evenly matched.
Then it's better to be promoted according to the normal plan; what's meant to be will be.
Then, Odis began to use her spirituality to examine the new abilities she had acquired.
The most core ability gained after promotion is "prophecy". The underlying theory of this ability is that after becoming a "master of prophecy", the "eye of mystery" is further enhanced, and one can see the "flow" of the "river of destiny".
Using this as a clue, we can see some related scenes in the future.
At that time, it was only the part of the "River of Destiny" concerning the people and events that Odis wanted to "prophesy" that was visible, and the direction of the entire "River of Destiny" could not be seen.
Therefore, the predictions made by "prophet masters" may contain some errors, because no one can be sure that the part they see is the most crucial part of the whole event.
The most direct application of the "prophecy" ability is to give yourself a prophecy before doing something, to determine whether your actions will go smoothly.
In addition, making predictions about the future development of major events helps one make relatively correct choices and at least avoid some dangers.
Overall, this ability is quite practical, at least allowing Odis to avoid most dangers.
As for some unavoidable dangers, it must be due to interference from higher levels. Whether one can escape such danger depends on one's character.
Another function of the "prophetic" ability is that even without making a prophecy, Odis's own spirituality can make a mystical judgment about what is happening.
For example, you are fighting an enemy and things are going very smoothly, but suddenly you sense danger.
Odis can adjust his next tactic based on the level of danger he senses. For example, if his sense of danger is not very strong, then his opponent is very likely to use some trump cards or a tactic of mutual destruction, so he can prepare in advance.
If you sense a strong sense of danger, do not hesitate to flee immediately. It is very likely that enemy reinforcements are about to arrive, or you may have accidentally fallen into an enemy ambush during the battle.
However, it can be said that Odis's ability to save his life was significantly enhanced after he gained the ability to "prophesy".
It's not that their own vitality has become stronger, but rather that they've learned when to back down and when to retreat.
The second new ability Odis gained after his promotion was the ability granted to him by the Sequence 3 level, which allowed him to establish close mystical connections with others through honorific names.
In simpler terms, it means that when others recite the name of Odis, Odis can sense it as long as he is within a certain range, and after establishing a mystical connection, he can hear it and respond.
The current range is approximately 300 kilometers. Most Sequence 3 responses may only have a range of less than 200 kilometers, but the "Knowledge Wilderness" provides some enhancement.
Odis felt that this was the best means of communication in many situations.
However, there is also a problem: if others learn of your name, they may try to find out by following this esoteric connection.
300 kilometers is not a very long distance for an angel. If Odis responds to the other party's prayer, the other party may appear in front of him within a second or two.
Therefore, the fewer people who know his name, the better. If it is not needed, Odis does not even plan to design his own Sequence 3 name. He will do so after he reaches the level of angels.
The third ability gained after the promotion is "Information Analysis," which is the second additional ability Odis obtained when he used the blood of a mythical creature from this path to promote.
The first ability, "Divine Tide," has also been enhanced. After using this ability, Odis can use "Mystic Reappearance," which is close to the level of an angel, five times in a row.
Because Odis's divinity has only increased, but he has not yet gained the corresponding authority, his attacks may injure an angel, but they are unlikely to cause fatal damage to a target at the angel level.
However, this is already quite good. There should be very few enemies at Sequence 3 level who can withstand such a five-hit combo.
The newly acquired ability of "information analysis" mainly means that Odis can obtain more information about objects, people, or events.
For example, a stone that was just a stone in Odis's eyes before, but now if Odis uses this ability, information such as weight, mass, and hardness will appear on the stone.
It can be used not only on objects, but also on individuals to instantly see their health, occupation, habits, age, and other information. In the realm of mysticism, it can reveal the person's zodiac sequence.
This ability is somewhat similar to the observational ability of an "audience," but the underlying theory is different. An "audience" summarizes through their own observations.
In the extraordinary world, every individual has corresponding information in the spirit world. Odis's newly acquired ability is to use her spirituality to "see" information that already exists in the spirit world.
This is the core ability of the Sequence 2 Angel of the "Hypegger" pathway. In the eyes of this Sequence 2 Angel, everything in this world, including people, objects, and events, is composed of clusters of information.
The moment you see these information streams, you can understand the basic information about those people, things, and events.
What Odis currently possesses is a simplified version of this ability.
However, this ability has different levels. For extraordinary beings below the Saint level and sealed artifacts, Odis can obtain very accurate and comprehensive information. For extraordinary beings and sealed artifacts at the Saint level, Odis can only obtain partial information, and which part is obtained depends entirely on luck.
You might get very important information, or you might get less useful information like what the saint ate that morning.
As for the angelic level, they can only obtain very basic information.
However, for Odis, this ability was already quite good, because in battles with saints, the outcome was usually decided in a very short time, and the more information one had, the better the chance of winning.
The fourth new ability is to summon "invisible servants." These "invisible servants" are servants created by the "Master of Prophecy" using spirituality. They are composed entirely of spirituality and are somewhat like some spiritual beings with a relatively low level of intelligence.
Although it is not a clone, it can clearly understand the "Master of Prophecy's" intentions, help the "Master of Prophecy" complete many trivial matters, and even ward off some dangers.
The most common use is to have "invisible servants" perform surveillance tasks, because they are purely spiritual and therefore difficult to detect.
In addition to the three new abilities gained, the other abilities have been strengthened again. The core offensive ability remains "Mysterious Reappearance," but its power has doubled.
Moreover, things that couldn't be "reproduced" before can now be attempted to be "reproduced".
For example, he could "recreate" more mythological stories, and Odis's knowledge of some occult history could also be transformed into extraordinary abilities.
The "Eye of Secrets" has also been enhanced. In addition to seeing the "River of Destiny," seeing the corresponding future, and making prophecies, it can also be attached to an invisible servant, allowing it to help the "Master of Prophecy" make observations from a distance.
The ability to "astrology" has also been further enhanced. Without a crystal ball, one can complete "astrology" simply by looking at the sky, even during the day.
However, this ability overlaps with the ability of "prophecy," so it's actually somewhat useless.
The "fighting" ability, which is acquired at Sequence 8, undergoes a qualitative change, allowing the user to use "extraordinary fighting techniques." For example, if someone throws a punch at you, you can turn their fist into a pigeon and let it fly away.
The ability to turn your own punch into steel is an example of such a thing.
However, in Odis's view, this ability was somewhat like a simplified application of "mysterious reappearance," which "reappears" the target's attack as another object.
However, this ability is not very effective against "saints", so it is rarely used. At least, Odis rarely saw Bernadette use it.
However, this ability is quite useful for pretending to be a ghost or something, and for creating an air of mystery.
The above describes the new abilities gained through promotion, as well as the qualitative changes to existing abilities.
Overall, their strength has increased significantly.
Odis then sat down on the sofa, pretending to rest, but actually entered the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to check the new abilities he had gained there after his promotion.
Upon entering the "Wilderness of Knowledge," Odis first sees an "intelligent puppet" holding the "Staff of Gus" and the "Hermit" card, which is Odis's arrangement to deal with the "God of Steam."
Once it is in the process of advancement and is influenced by the "God of Steam", this "intelligent puppet" will possess the corresponding authority of Odis and begin to use the source matter to aggregate the uniqueness of the "Hermit" path.
The reason for prioritizing the uniqueness of the "Hidden Sage" approach is primarily because the "Hidden Sage" is currently at the level of the Angel King, making them relatively easy to gather.
Once the uniqueness of the "Hermit" path is aggregated, it becomes relatively simple to aggregate the uniqueness of the "Perfecter" path.
The first thing Odis did upon entering the "Wilderness of Knowledge" was to revoke the corresponding permissions of the "Intelligent Puppet," as well as the "Gus Staff" and the "Hermit" card.
Immediately afterwards, some memories appeared in Odis's mind.
Upon receiving these memories, his first reaction was one of relief.
It was somewhat fortunate that their desperate measures, which forced the "god of steam and machinery" to back down, were actually a last resort.
Because even Odis himself didn't know if he could succeed, there was a crucial step in his plan: forcibly aggregating uniqueness using source matter.
Although Odis claimed that he received the information from "The Fool", he actually remembered that Klein's corresponding action was to immediately use the Extraordinary Property Aggregation Law to instantly aggregate the Sequence 1 properties within Zarathustra's body after advancing to Sequence 1.
One prerequisite for this operation is that the person has just been promoted.
At this point, the aggregation of extraordinary traits is at its strongest. After that, extraordinary traits become part of the extraordinary individual, and the aggregation ability is no longer as strong as it was at the beginning.
Therefore, Odis was not certain whether the uniqueness of the "wilderness of knowledge" could be used to aggregate the "hermits".
However, in order to deceive the "God of Steam", he hypnotized himself in the "wilderness of knowledge", making himself believe that after Klein Sequence 1, he could use the "source matter" to aggregate the Sequence 1 characteristics and uniqueness of this path at any time.
Before deceiving the "God of Steam," deceive yourself first.
Although risky, this was a decision Odis made after a long period of deliberation.
Because the "God of Steam" has never mastered the source matter, He lacks accurate judgment of this type of information.
The "Perfect One" is also a way of dealing with "knowledge," and the "God of Steam," as a deity, should have a basic understanding of this type of information.
This requires Odis to demonstrate his determination and create "success stories" to distract the other side.
Furthermore, as long as the "God of Steam" senses that Odis truly intends to fight him to the death, then the "God of Steam," as a deity, will certainly not take risks due to some uncertain factors.
This is called "the barefoot are not afraid of those wearing shoes".
In fact, this was a psychological battle. Odis had actually read "The Three-Body Problem" and knew that being willing to go all out was the most crucial thing at this moment.
In addition, Odis also has the card "Wilderness of Knowledge" in his hand. He anticipates that when the "God of Steam" is about to affect him, he will be in a relatively weak state and will not be able to appear in front of Odis at all.
Therefore, Odis likely wouldn't have discovered his self-hypnosis in the "wilderness of knowledge."
Thus, the plan achieved its goal without any major incidents.
Just as Odis was about to check the new abilities he had gained in the "Wilderness of Knowledge," he suddenly noticed a figure sitting cross-legged in the "Central Processing Unit" in the center of the room.
The "Central Simulator" was already there when Odis first mastered the "Wilderness of Knowledge." It resembled a crystal ball and could be used to mobilize the power of the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to complete many complex operations.
At this moment, a figure appeared in the "central simulator" of the crystal ball, growing from small to large and from far to near.
The figure was dressed in clothing with an oriental charm, but it was more ancient in style, with long robes and wide sleeves, a long beard, and long black hair tied up with a jade hairpin.
It's very much like the ethereal and otherworldly immortals that Odis imagined.
What's really strange is that the other person looks very similar to Odis, except that he doesn't have Odis's Western facial features.
Odis instinctively took a step back, and the next second, the other party floated above the "Central Simulator" in a meditative posture.
With a gentle smile and a mild voice, he said, "It seems you have advanced to Sequence 3. We can finally meet."
Odis took a deep breath, quickly calming herself down: "You are the 'Sage'?"
He realized that he had not died at the hands of the "God of Steam," but that his consciousness might be replaced by the "Hermit" today.
The other person seemed to think for a moment before saying, "It's been a long time since anyone has called me that."
Odis then asked, "You did not perish?"
"Obviously," the other replied. "The 'Fallen Mother Goddess' meticulously planned and launched an attack on the 'Wilderness of Knowledge' in the Western Continent when I was at my weakest."
What she didn't know was that it was part of my plan.
"I created the illusion of my downfall, but in reality, it was the beginning of my plan to rebuild myself."
"Everyone was deceived by me, even the 'Fallen Mother Goddess' thought that I had fallen and that only a wisp of divinity remained in the 'Wilderness of Knowledge'."
"She also took advantage of this time to cooperate with the uniqueness of the 'Hermit' pathway, and thus the 'Hidden Sage' appeared."
Odis felt something was off when the other person referred to the "fallen mother goddess" as "she".
Considering that during the Second Age, this person in front of him most likely fought alongside the "Ancient Sun God" against the "Fallen Mother Goddess," this title is not surprising.
After letting his mind wander, he finally asked, "Are you planning to use me to reclaim my extraordinary traits, lay a solid foundation for yourself, and then replace me?"
"I'm here today to explain this to you," the other person said seriously. "I know exactly what you're thinking, and if I don't explain it clearly, it will definitely affect your state of mind."
Odis took a deep breath: "Go ahead and speak."
"I don't need to use you for anything," the other person said. "You are you, and no one can replace you, not even me."
Odis was taken aback again: "Then what exactly do you want to achieve by giving me the 'Wilderness of Knowledge' and allowing me to advance so smoothly?"
"My goal is what you are currently doing," the other person said in a gentle tone, "to popularize the benefits of mysticism, by whatever means necessary."
"You should have received information from my 'existence' in the 'wilderness of knowledge.' After thousands of years of contemplation, I finally realized that the best way to overcome divinity is to become divinity myself."
"It's not about merging with the other person, but about taking the initiative and becoming divine while retaining one's own emotions."
The other person paused for a moment and then said, "This might be a little hard to understand. What do you think divinity is?"
Odis seemed to understand what the other person meant, and he replied, "The laws of the universe are divine, and the power that can bring about qualitative changes in itself and the things around it is also divine."
"You could elaborate a bit more."
"Divinity may be a power possessed by the 'original creator,' transcending all natural laws and human imagination," Odis said, recounting some of his ideas.
"The reason why one can gain divinity after becoming a demigod is probably because the potion reshapes the body of the extraordinary, making the state of the extraordinary slightly similar to the 'original creator'."
"It is precisely because of this slight similarity that it gains the 'approval' of divinity, and thus can invoke a very weak degree of divinity."
The other person stroked his beard and said, "I have a similar understanding."
"Once the divinity within the body reaches a certain 'dosage,' one can clearly feel the 'original' consciousness."
"The operation of the universe and the laws of nature are all rules determined by the 'original' word, or rather, the entire universe is developing according to the 'original' conception."
"And 'the beginning' is currently asleep, and the consciousness of 'God' and 'the Celestial Venerable' is also relatively weak at present."
Odis listened intently, knowing that the other person had touched on the most crucial point.
The other party paused for a moment and then continued, "Then a way to break the deadlock has emerged: take advantage of their relatively weak awareness."
"Within the framework of the 'original' rules, one can make one's own unique expression, and theoretically, the part that one expresses can become a part of divinity."
"And in this process, one is not passively merged with the consciousness of the 'original', but can retain one's own emotions and feelings."
"Those who complete this process before the 'first' awakening will be a unique part of divinity, and after the 'first' awakening, they will also be able to occupy a part of the 'first' consciousness."
Odis opened his mouth and exclaimed, "This theory is really amazing!"
But then he asked, "Then why did you make me do these things?"
Odis believed that the other party's goal was still to reap the benefits without sowing.
The other party smiled and said, "To put your mind at ease, let me tell you another truth. I am no longer a 'sage'; people call me the Celestial Master."