When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 533: Chapter 417: The Sacred Number is 11 Chapter 533: Chapter 417: The Sacred Number is 11 He suddenly remembered the impulsive desire to promote his Shadow Demon into a Night Fiend from yesterday.

Had it not been for his sudden inspiration yesterday, following his impulsive heart to promote the Shadow Demon into a Night Fiend… Relying solely on the power of the Shadow Demon might not have been enough to drive Emma away.

Moreover, the Shadow Demon nearing advancement, overly tired and weary, could have fallen asleep right on the spot where Aiwass was being mind-controlled by Emma, and by the time Aiwass changed into Emma’s shape, it might have had no awareness of it, knowing nothing whatsoever.

——That development would have just been too miserable.

Aiwass shuddered at the thought alone.

Midway through promoting the Shadow Demon yesterday, Aiwass wondered if he had been too anxious, too hasty in his preparations.

If Aiwass had followed his usual caution, he should have prayed to the Candle Master days in advance, determining which Tarot Cards to use to seal the Shadow Demon.

Then prepare the cards and mana reserves in advance.

His lack of mana was an easily solvable issue… Aiwass only needed to invest his free experience into the Demon Scholar profession a day earlier to pull his level up a bit more.

It wouldn’t even need much of a pull.

He was only short six points of mana — and at that time, the Book of Law could provide five colorless mana, while preparing the Sin Card base early would save four points of mana.

Even if Aiwass didn’t raise a single level, as long as he prepared the Sin Card in advance, he would have had enough in the end.

As it turned out, he was just short, and only by a little.

——If it weren’t for suddenly remembering the Golden Path Trait that the Gemini Mirror bestowed upon him at that time, he might have ended up cutting off his own arm.

But had he not carried out the promotion yesterday, today he would have had no way to resist Emma’s mental control; and the Shadow Demon had just undergone its final Shepherd’s Nurturing yesterday morning, entering a state ready for evolution.

All of it was too coincidental.

And all by just a hair’s breadth.

Just a bit more and he would have been taken away by Emma, just a bit more and he could have smoothly helped the Shadow Demon complete its evolution, just a bit more and he might have lost an arm…@@novelbin@@

If the Golden Path Trait was decided by the Gemini Mirror,

then who was responsible for the rest?

And why was the Nurturing Skill Aiwass received so effective for both the fifth power level Shadow Demon and the Succubus?

Why did neither Meg nor Emma, the top powerhouses of Avalon and Star Antimony, know about the existence of the Nurturing Skill?

Why has the Shadow Demon with all the memories of the Serpent Father Beyard, and the widely traveled Elf Yanis, also never heard of the Art of Herding?

Aiwass had been able to influence the Shadow Demon with the Nurturing Skill since the first power level; in the Dream Realm advancement ceremony, he even made the Hook Demon evolve into an Aberrant Limb Demon through the Nurturing Skill, and embodied his own consciousness inside the Aberrant Limb Demon…

Now, at the third power level, he could even charm the Succubus, who was a master of charming minds — even though the Succubus had not yet hatched.

Aiwass still remembered the look she gave him.

The moment he left Emma, she looked startled and heartbroken, as though she had truly taken to heart.

Previously, Aiwass had deliberately or inadvertently overlooked the extraordinary aspects of the Art of Herding.

But now, in the tranquility brought by the “Rite of Fire”…

or rather, within the range of the Candle Master’s influence, Aiwass reflected calmly and finally realized something was amiss.

Suddenly, a phrase echoed in Aiwass’ heart:

[——My sacred number is 11, the number of our people]

That was what the “Holy Entity” summoned by Jacob had said in an illusion.

A sacred number of eleven?

This world has only nine Paths altogether, no matter how the Nine Pillar Gods change, the sacred number remains the same.

Because that is the name of the nine great rivers, the very origin of the numbers “1” through “9.” They are the reason why natural numbers have a holy significance.

Even if one includes the non-existent number “0,” there are only ten in total.

So where does eleven come from?

For this reason, Aiwass had only remembered those words at the time but did not interpret them later.

Because prophecies that seemed as vague as riddles made some sense no matter how one interpreted them, and trying to force a connection could lead one astray from the right direction of investigation.

But at this moment, Aiwass, preoccupied with the Art of Herding, suddenly realized something he’d subconsciously ignored, something simple:

3+8=11.

——The Candle Master’s sacred number is three, while the Serpent Father’s is eight!

The Art of Herding required a Balance of the Path of Dedication and the Path of Transcendence, not too much, not too little, the power levels must be the same.

The Shepherd originally nurtured demons of the Path of Transcendence, and he even pulled down the Fallen Celestial Marshal to the Material Realm in the end…

So, who else desired to pull the Fallen Celestial Marshal to the Material Realm?

——The Serpent Celestial Marshal!

And that Holy Entity was a fragment of the Serpent Celestial Marshal…

“The number of our people…”

Aiwass murmured softly, “‘Ours’ is plural, while ‘person’ is singular.

“That person… isn’t it the Shepherd?”

Although the powers in the Codex Book are lost techniques, power cannot arise out of nothing.

All transcendent powers in this world, tracing back to their roots, originate from the nine rivers of the Dream Realm…

Then…

——Was the “Nurturing Secret Sequel” written by the Serpent Celestial Marshal?

Even if there can only be one Codex Book in a language system, neither Yanis nor Emma should be completely unaware of it.

Unless the one I have is the sole copy…

Or rather, from the very beginning, only a “Holy Entity” could utilize the Art of Herding!

And if that is truly the case—

Then another realisation seemed to dawn on Aiwass as to why for so many years, there had only been one “Shepherd”.

If the original Shepherd were also a “Holy Entity”…

[—I am the serpent who bestows knowledge, joy, and glory, that intoxicating drink!

To worship me, you must consume wine and the secret potion revealed to my prophets until besotted]

If “knowledge”, “joy”, and “glory” are considered the enhanced powers of Phantom Demons, the sense of elation and the elevation and evolution of their very essence and hierarchy, then this seems to point directly to the Art of Herding.

But upon interpreting it this far, Aiwass fell into deep thought again.

If grape wine is a metaphor for the blood transformed by the Art of Herding, the prophet refers to his own grandfather Jacob, and intoxication means the entranced state of Phantom Demons after being nurtured…

…then what is the secret potion?

Although he had destroyed the book after reading it once, Aiwass remembered clearly—The “Nurturing Secret Sequel” made no mention of this part.

Therefore, it also dawned on Aiwass… why yesterday, he suddenly had a strong urge to advance to a Shadow Demon.

—Although Emma might not even be aware of it herself, she indeed has a connection with him!

Emma is the Demon Scholar tutor to the Giant Prince, the mastermind behind the Noble Red, which means she’s very likely the master of that Eye Demon Lord.

She is a member of the Rose Cross Society, and the Rose Cross Society is the superior organization to the Noble Red.

The Eye Demon was the one who informed the Giant Prince of the existence of the “Holy Entity”, and the Noble Red’s initial entry into Glass Island was for this very command.

Without a doubt, the one who gave the initial command, the one who sought a “Holy Entity” in Avalon, was Emma!

The “Holy Entity” should be a fragment of the Serpent Celestial Marshal, who is also the creator of the Ring of Ouroboros ritual.

Emma was the first participant and victim of the Ring of Ouroboros ritual, and the Eye Demon just happens to be a survivor and beneficiary from the first generation of the ritual; if the Fallen Celestial Marshal loses his status as Celestial Marshal, then the beneficiary would be the Serpent Celestial Marshal from the same Path of Transcendence.

He did indeed take over the Demon Scholar left by the Fallen Celestial Marshal, arranging for the Great Sin Scholar and the Master of Beasts to be advanced upon this career path…

Everything was coming together.

The impulse that rose in Aiwass’s heart yesterday might be the survival instinct of the “Holy Entity” not wanting to be caught by Emma, or it might be a self-preserving response to sensing hostility.

That could be why the advanced so hastily as a Shadow Demon… yet somehow so aptly.

Before all of this was clear to him, Aiwass had already harbored a strong killing intent towards Emma—he had not even thought of sealing the Succubus into a Great Sin Beast, but directly turned her into a Phantom Card.

That meant she had no chance of returning to the Dream Realm to be resurrected.

And now, Aiwass had cleared up all this in his mind.

Yet his thought had not changed.

Only, there was an additional one.

He wanted to find Emma and ask clearly what the Ring of Ouroboros ritual was about, how exactly the “Rose Cross Society” came upon this ritual, why they were summoning the Fallen Celestial Marshal to the Lower Realm, what was their ultimate aim…

And how did those with no relations in the higher realms come to know “the Holy Entity is on Glass Island”?

“Nurturing Secret Sequel…”

Aiwass murmured the name to himself.

The Codex Book that brought Aiwass his initial change, leading him down an entirely different path than the Aiwass of the original storyline.

“You shall celebrate my death, you shall sing of my holiness.

You shall initiate festivities, you shall raise the scepter…”

Aiwass murmured softly the secret words from the “Nurturing Secret Sequel”.

Whose death?

Whose holiness?

Is it Aiwass’s, the Shepherd’s… or that of the Ring of Ouroboros?

—Or perhaps, the Fallen Celestial Marshal’s?

From life unto death, from death unto life.

The Ring of Ouroboros, the God of Fallen Heaven.

To sustain the tangible with the intangible, and the intangible with the tangible…

thus achieving an eternal cycle.

A cycle…

“…Heh, I should have thought of it sooner.”

Aiwass’s lips curved into a slight smile.

He pulled his hand away from the candle that had already burnt out.

His wounds had all been healed, his eyes became bright and confident.

The crow shuffled restlessly, flying onto Aiwass’s shoulder.

He stretched out a finger to gently tap the crow’s head and hummed softly.

“Before, I’d wondered whether I should freely use this strength of the Art of Herding, which origins are unknown… Now, it seems there’s no need for hesitation.”

The relationship between him and the Serpent Celestial Marshal was a persistent threat that Aiwass could never eradicate.

With this threat present, it made no difference whether he used the Art of Herding or not.

It’s like combining like terms.

A shimmer of purple light flickered in the depths of Aiwass’s eyes as he murmured lowly, “Heaven’s gift not taken is but an affliction received…

“—The grace you’ve bestowed, I shall boldly take it.”