Master the Abyss, starting from an apprentice priest.

Chapter 295 The Secret of Baberon (5k)

Colen then left the "Between Bishops" with the task assigned to him by Rossio.

After he left, Luo Xiu handled the affairs of the church and patiently waited for the visit of the man who claimed to be the "Lost Knight".

About ten minutes later, the door of the bishop's room was knocked again. Luo Xiu raised his head and put the pen back into the inkwell.

"Come in." He said softly, and the door was pushed open a crack with a creak.

A "knight" wearing a dark cloak and with half of his armor exposed walked in, then he turned around and gently closed the door.

"You are finally here, Ross." Luo Xiu said with a smile.

"..." Rockland shook his head gently, and the metal parts under the mask let out a long sigh, "I will come, there is no need to pinch my heart, you still don't trust me enough..."

Of course I don't trust you... Luo Xiu muttered inwardly. If he didn't know "Lockland" inside out and knew how many taboos the soul in the big iron shell had been tainted with, he would have been "moved" by the knight's sincere attitude.

"No, no, that's just a reminder." Luo Xiu spread his hands and said, "It's a reminder for you to come see me and confess to me everything you know."

"You should understand one thing, Ross. We have never been comrades or partners. If there was no special place in you, I would not even give you the opportunity to come here and communicate with me."

"So all you have to do is to demonstrate your value. And the 'trust' you just mentioned - that is something we will give you after we are sure that you are of greater value to us."

"..."

After Luo Xiu finished saying this, he remained silent, just looking at the other person with a calm expression and a half-smile.

Rockland was obviously stunned for a moment, as if he didn't expect that the former "priest" would actually say such a thing.

In Rocklan's mind, his memory of "Rosius Carlos" still remains in the city of Sina when he was just the deacon of "Triple Destiny".

Although after his soul "took over" Baberon's puppet, Rocklan did often hear Baberon mention that there was a high priest in Red Maple City named "Luo Xiu Carlos", and he also thought that they might be the same person, but he really didn't think that Luo Xiu had been promoted to the "Fifth Destiny"!
This forced Rocklan to completely wash away his inherent impression of Luo Xiu and instead face him as he would a normal saint.

On the other hand, Rockland was indeed curious about what had caused such a huge transformation in Luo Xiu.

"Of course, you are right, Your Excellency."

Under Rockland's visor, the sluggish metallic voice sounded again, consciously changing the address of "you" to "you":
"I said before that I would tell you the secret of the 'Hidden Elder' Baberon—"

Rockland said: "Some time ago, Baberon obtained two incomplete pieces of forbidden knowledge through some means - 'Black Devouring Rune' and 'Corrupted Bone Alchemy'. He is trying to crack them and complete them in order to truly form his own power."

I know this... Luo Xiu pondered inwardly.

The series of events triggered by "Side's Notes" all originated from him... When he first handed the notes to Rockland, Rockland must have understood this. Perhaps he was just testing them now.

Luo Xiu thought to himself, keeping a calm face. He couldn't speak out about the things related to "Side's Notes", but he could indeed pass it on to others through Rockland.

"Go on." Luo Xiu nodded, looking thoughtful.

Seeing that Luo Xiu didn't seem to have any feelings about the words "Black Devouring Rune" and "Rotten Bone Alchemy", Rockland continued:

"Baberon cooperated with the Executioner Koros and used the Fallen Prophet under Koros to conduct many divinations."

"Baberon's purpose of divination was to find the whereabouts of the remaining parts of the 'forbidden knowledge', but such divination always ended in failure. The fallen prophet who performed the divination was always seriously injured by inexplicable countermeasures."

"After that, Baberon no longer relied on the 'Fallen Prophet' and instead held his own ceremony to pray to the 'Truth', praying to Him - praying for Him to grant him the knowledge he lacked, or at least to guide him where he should go so that he could get the clues to the knowledge he was seeking."

"'Truth' responded to him, filling in a small part of the knowledge he lacked, and guided him to Red Maple City. This is the purpose of Baberon's coming here."

"..."

What Rockland said was that it was a ritual for believers of "Wisdom" to pray to "Truth" for knowledge after a certain period of time.

He is still testing me... Luo Xiu noticed this keenly, and the calmness on his face did not diminish at all.

However, Rockland's words did dispel the doubts in Luo Xiu's heart - that was the reason why Baberon came here.

Theoretically, Luo Xiu had indeed blocked all the divinations of the "Fallen Prophet" against him. But Baberon actually wasted precious opportunities to pray to the Pillar God "Truth" of [Wisdom] for only partial knowledge and a clue. Then he really couldn't guard against him...

However, "guidance" is different from direct "divination". Even if it is "truth", it will not directly tell Babel the complete answer.

He only tells Babel "how to think" or "where to go", which is the characteristic of [intellect]. They focus on knowledge itself, but pay more attention to the process of generating knowledge.

"Did Baberon do all this without telling Koros?" Luo Xiu asked.

"Yes, that's right." Rockland nodded. "Koros didn't know the purpose of Baberon coming to Red Maple City, but he should have guessed it a little bit."

"They are in a mutually beneficial relationship. Koros wants to use Baberon to help him attack the city, and Baberon wants to use Koros to protect him and help him solve some problems invisibly. But with Koros's failure in this decisive battle, heh, I think they need to have a good talk about the bargaining chips for 'using' each other..."

"..."

While Rockland was saying this, the door between the bishops was pushed open again with a creak, and Colen and Hubert walked in.

Colen came to Luo Xiu, bowed respectfully and said, "Lord Luo Xiu, I have brought Lord Huberte here."

"Very good." Luo Xiu nodded slightly and waved to Colen.

Colen bowed slightly and then left the bishop's room.

Hubert looked at Luo Xiu, then at the knight in the dark cloak opposite him, walked to the left side of the long table, pulled out a chair and sat down.

"I've seen you before. You are the Puppet Knight of Baberon." Hubert said in an unintelligible voice.

"I originally thought that your unusual behavior on the battlefield was due to a malfunction in the core... but now it seems that it is not what I thought."

Hubert turned to Luo Xiu and asked with a puzzled look on his face, "Luo Xiu, what's going on?"

"He is a special 'god puppet', Master Hubert."

Luo Xiu responded to Hubert, "He changed sides in the previous battlefield, not because there was a problem with the core, but because it was not a real puppet belonging to Baberon. It has a soul like a 'human' in its body. And it is also hostile to Baberon and the Dark Army, just like us."

Afterwards, Luo Xiu recounted the story of "Dragon Hunter Los" to Huberte, from the secret conversation in the Lightless Cage to the secret about Baberon that Rockland had mentioned before.

"How could such a thing happen? I understand." Huberte nodded and said with a puzzled look on his face:

"You said... this Los Knight has died once, and his soul is somehow able to reside in the puppet?"

"To be honest, I'm very curious, Knight Los." Hubert said, "I'm very curious about what kind of life state it is when the soul resides in a puppet..."

"Hmm, there are also 'Black Devouring Runes' and 'Rotten Bone Alchemy'? I have never heard of it. Intelligence has such skills..."

"And the remaining knowledge that Baberon sought is in Red Maple City? I have been here for quite a long time and have not noticed any relevant signs."

"..." "I will contact Bian Ting and Fangbeiyuan and ask them to investigate this matter." Luo Xiu echoed.

Huberte nodded and continued, "You can handle all matters related to this puppet knight, Luo Xiu. I am just a bystander. However, I suggest sending him to the 'Fangbei Courtyard' to let two knowledgeable people give him a comprehensive examination."

Then, he turned to look at Rockland and continued, "I roughly understand your position, Knight Los. Please understand that I cannot trust you so quickly. However, I will not regard you as a heretic who should be judged."

Hubert's statement was exactly what Luo Xiu had asked him to do. Luo Xiu nodded, looked at Rockland deeply, and said, "Go on, Los. Keep talking about what you know about Baberon."

"Okay." Rockland nodded, and the armor on his neck made a slight metal collision sound again.

During the previous conversation, Rockland had been observing Luo Xiu's reaction.

After all, Rockland knew that before him, "Side's Notes" was published, and Luo Xiu was the last contact. The "Hidden Elder" Baberon's search for incomplete knowledge was most likely related to Luo Xiu.

But Rockland would not tell this matter - it would not make Luo Xiu, who was already a "bishop", say anything, but would directly expose his true identity.

And Luo Xiu's reaction did not seem like he knew the contents. Even though Luo Xiu was now at the "fifth level of destiny", when he was still at the "second level of destiny", he had already used spiritual perception to investigate him and found that he had indeed never opened the notebook.

It seems that he really doesn't know the contents of the notebook... Speaking of which, in the ritual of Baberon praying for the 'truth', the clues he showed might just be that 'Roxiu Carlos' had come into contact with the notebook... And to complete the incomplete knowledge, he needs to find a contact with the source through Roxiu? Well, that's probably what the guidance of the venerable god means...

In this case, I will pick out the things about the "Black Devouring Rune" and "Rotten Bone Alchemy" and talk about them later... Locklan thought to himself, and then he said:
"Now, Baberon has retreated with Koros. If nothing unexpected happens, Baberon will return to the lair of the 'Hidden Omniscient One' and make new puppets in his secret factory to make up for the losses in this war."

"Secret factory?" Luo Xiu asked casually.

"Yes, a secret factory." Rockland nodded and said:
"It is a large puppet factory secretly built by the 'Hidden Omniscient' in the underground of a deserted area a hundred miles away from Songyuan City."

Is there such a thing? Luo Xiu's eyes lit up.

The secret factory outside Songyuan City, this kind of information was the first time that Luo Xiu had heard of it even though he was already in the second round.

In his previous life, after collaborating with the Empire to suppress the rebellion in Kuma Territory, the Lord of Songyuan Territory, "Marquis Vizia Bakar", became weak in overall strength. He only had the energy to deal with the continuous invasion of the Dark Army, and had no time to take care of the riots caused by extreme organizations such as "Hidden Omniscient" and "Pure Order" in the territory.

On the main battlefield, after the Empire won a decisive victory in a decisive battle with the Dark Principality, the "Hidden Omniscients" seemed to have gotten wind of the news in advance. In just one night, their members disappeared from Songyuan Territory without a trace, as if they had evaporated from the face of the earth.

Even Luo Xiu didn't know all the details about the "Hidden Omniscient One". So when Rockland mentioned that there was a "secret factory" in Baberon, Luo Xiu pricked up his ears consciously.

"That's the 'Black Crystal Factory'." Rockland said:

"Baberon is one of the main founders and managers of the Black Crystal Factory. Almost all the puppets of the members of the 'Hidden Omniscient' in Songyuan Territory were manufactured there."

"Its location is quite secret, and there are two 'hidden elders' guarding it for a long time. However, I happen to know where it is hidden."

"Do you know where the factory is?" Hubert asked.

Luo Xiu turned his head and looked in the direction of Hubert's voice. He was looking deeply at the "Knight of Los", with an expression on his face that was more serious and alert than ever before.

...After all, this is the outskirts of Songyuan City, near the headquarters of the General Church, so it is normal for Hubert to be on high alert... Luo Xiu thought.

But the "Black Crystal Factory" is still too far away from Hongfeng City. Although Luo Xiu does plan to go to Songyuan City to meet the Archbishop later, his schedule is tight and he does not intend to get too involved in this matter.

With the help of the "Eye of the Empire" - a remote communication device imitated by the Sage Tower after it incompletely cracked the "Golden Window" technology of the Golden Country Federation, as long as the Songyuan Territory Law Office, the General Church and the General Church Institute were informed of this matter, then the extraordinary people in the three major destiny bases would be dispatched together, and it would only take a few minutes to dismantle the "Black Crystal Factory"...

"Yes, I know the exact location of the 'Black Crystal Factory'."

Rockland said: "The first puppet my soul possessed encountered the alchemist of 'Hidden Omniscience' shortly after I possessed it. They destroyed its body but preserved its core."

"I was taken into the secret factory and witnessed everything inside. My soul wandered between different puppets until Baberon arrived. I placed my soul in this dragon hunting armor."

"This past should be enough to convince you. I need a map to mark the location. In addition, some special methods are required to open the door of the factory."

"..."

"We can talk about the map later. First, tell me what's inside that factory."

Hubert asked Rockland. He was only going to listen, but since it involved the safety of Songyuan City, he had to be serious.

Luo Xiu also wanted to know the answer to this question, so he didn't say much, but just continued to listen attentively.

"The first ones must be the two 'Hidden Elders' - one of them is a rune master, and the other is an alchemist, but they don't master the 'Black Devouring Rune' and 'Rotten Bone Alchemy'."

Rockland said: "In addition to them, there are dozens of 'Madness' puppets and eight 'Scourge' puppets stationed in the factory."

"There are more 'forbidden experimental subjects' in the factory - they are monsters or humanoid warriors that have been transformed by forbidden methods, and the rune seal of absolute loyalty has been implanted in their brains."

"The last is a group of dwarves. They are dwarves who were captured from somewhere by the Hidden Omniscients and who also believe in the truth of Knowledge. They are the cornerstone of the factory's operation and have also been implanted with the steel seal. They are like livestock, endlessly conducting research, participating in experiments, and making puppets, completely tireless."

"..."

Two 'hidden elders', dozens of 'madness' and 'natural disaster' puppets, forbidden experimental subjects... Listening to what Rocklan said, Hubert's brows furrowed more and more, but Luo Xiu's expression remained calm.

But when Rockland told the last piece of information, Luo Xiu's eyes flashed.

Dwarves who believe in [Wisdom]... This brought back some of Luo Xiu's forgotten memories.

"Those dwarves you mentioned, Ross. Do you know more about them?" asked Luo Xiu.

"More things?"

Rockland recalled and said:

"That's not very valuable information. Most of these dwarves are blacksmiths. But you know, all the dwarves who came here across the Sea of ​​Mist are blacksmiths."

"Before they were abducted and brought to the Black Crystal Factory, their highest level of [Intelligence] was the fourth level of destiny. That seemed to be their clan leader."

"..."

"Clan leader?"

Luo Xiu captured the key words and asked, "Which tribe are they from?"

"……I am not sure."

After thinking for a while, Rockland replied:
"But when they are overworked, they always murmur 'grit-grit'."

"The names of dwarves are always related to rocks or land. I think, 'Grit' - that might be the name of their tribe."

……

(End of this chapter)