Mystery: I Married the Queen of Mystery.

Chapter 474 The Source of Extraordinary Characteristics
The Republic of Intis, with its capital Trier.

In the presidential palace conference room, newly elected President Calvin Payne glanced at the generals and senior officials in the office.

He cleared his throat and said, "Now is definitely not a good time to launch a war against Remburg. Remburg must know this too, which is why they have blockaded Caesar Port."

No one else dared to say anything, because not long ago, Parliament and the courts had just completed their purge of the previous government.

Since the war was lost, someone has to take responsibility. No matter how great the results were in last year's war, none of that will prevent Congress from bringing the former president and his key advisors to court.

Therefore, neither generals nor high-ranking officials dare to say anything now, unless they are out of their minds to advocate for war at this time.

However, if they suggest that they should take the initiative to negotiate with Remenberg, they risk being labeled as "appeasement."

The president continued, "Now that we have developed the 'Extraordinary Puppet,' with the help of the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, we will be able to catch up with Remberg in a few years."

"The last few years have been a critical period, and we may only have this one chance."

“Lenberg is well aware of this, and he will certainly provoke us frequently like today in the coming years.”

The crowd remained silent, but they knew it would be inappropriate not to say anything soon.

After all, the president invited them to solve problems, not to remain silent.

The president took a drag of his cigarette, his face already grim: "I've thought about this for a long time. We can't bear this pressure ourselves. Otherwise, this year it will only be provocation, but next year Reykjavik might choose to go to war directly."

"Therefore, I intend to make the technology of the 'Extraordinary Puppet' public to countries other than Remenberg."

The generals and high-ranking officials were shocked. This technology had been initiated during the war and had taken more than a year to develop, requiring a great deal of manpower and resources.

At this point, a lieutenant general said, "This is indeed a very bold, but also an excellent strategy."

Another high-ranking official added, "This is tantamount to isolating Remenberg, which is a very good countermeasure, but..."

But how can we explain this to the parliament? How can we explain it to the public?
Those councilors may not be very good at much else, but they are quite good at finding fault and causing trouble.

“There’s no need for them to know,” the president said. “These executive orders don’t need to be submitted to Congress for review.”

According to Intis's Constitution, any plans involving national strategic objectives or bills to be implemented nationwide must be reviewed and debated by Parliament.

However, executive orders do not need to be submitted to parliament for review; they are internal government orders.

The plan proposed by the president's aides to publicly disclose the "extraordinary puppet" to other countries is actually a strategic plan and should be submitted to Congress for review.

However, the president clearly intends to exploit loopholes in the system to complete the specific operations of this plan within the authority of the Intis administration.

This is very risky, but it seems to be the best option now, as parliament is unlikely to approve such a plan.

The president stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray: "Alright, that's settled then. Meeting adjourned."

Everyone was taken aback. The admiral asked, "Mr. President, how should we resolve the situation at Caesars Harbor?"

“That was a diplomatic incident,” the president said, rising to his feet. “Let the Ministry of Foreign Affairs handle it.”

He thought to himself: Since none of you are willing to speak up, then don't blame me for pushing this matter back onto you.

The Foreign Minister was momentarily bewildered: "Your Excellency... this matter cannot be resolved by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs alone..."

But the president had already quickly left the conference room.

No one else could say anything, since they hadn't been able to help the president solve the problem and had let him talk for a long time.

Just as the foreign minister was about to give chase, he suddenly slapped his forehead. The president had already defined the matter: this was a diplomatic incident, not a military confrontation.

Since it is a diplomatic incident, negotiations and consultations are of course possible. This is not appeasement, but international law.

……

Azshara New Town.

Having successfully purchased a large apartment, Icarus treated his sister, Edwina, to dinner at the most expensive restaurant in the new town.

The two sat down by the window in the restaurant, where they could overlook the entire new city area and the under-construction New City Second District.

Edwina pointed to the under-construction Zone 2 and asked, "Didn't they say they were going to renovate the old city? Why are they building a new city now?"

"I heard that the renovation and demolition plans couldn't be agreed upon with the residents of the capital, so they simply decided to build a new city." Ikanos had heard some news: "The new city includes the presidential palace, the Ministry of Defense and other central institutions, as well as the residences of official extraordinary individuals, large commercial areas and residential areas, and so on."

Edwina nodded and glanced at the restaurant's dynamic advertisements. An extraordinary projector projected very three-dimensional images onto a wall, some showing chefs preparing food, and others showing professional food critics explaining the taste of several signature dishes in detail.

Edwina was still a little unaccustomed to such product introductions and advertisements.

Icarus took a sip of his aperitif and said, "I've heard that there's been another breakthrough in the technology of extraordinary projection equipment, and that this technology is expected to become more widely available to the public within the next two or three years?"

As for Edwina, she knew of a not-so-complex arcane technique that could record and play back events that had occurred in the real world, a technique she could use at Sequence 5.

So she wasn't surprised by the so-called "extraordinary projection" device, but the fact that it could be popularized among the general public was still somewhat beyond her expectations.

After all, in the real world, even if extraordinary individuals possess secret techniques or abilities similar to extraordinary projections, they cannot serve ordinary people, and their numbers are insufficient to display a particular image to all ordinary people.

In Edwina's view, this is a complete revolution, an extraordinary revolution that is entering every household.

Just as she was thinking this, the screen on the "Extraordinary Projector" suddenly changed, and a handsome man dressed in a Remnantburg-style suit appeared on the screen: "Hello everyone, I am your host Evans. I have an urgent news to share with you now."

Edwina paused for a moment, then noticed that several other people around her were just as surprised as she was. However, most of the diners seemed to have gotten used to it, putting down their knives and forks and looking at the host named Evans.

Icarus whispered to his sister, "When there's important news, all the screens in the new city will broadcast it immediately."

He shrugged: "Many newspapers are going to go out of business."

Edwina simply gave a soft "hmm" and then went to listen attentively to the news broadcast by the host.

Evans said, "According to the latest news from the Southern Continent, the main fleet of Midway arrived at Caesar Harbor in Intis at around 9:00 AM this morning, questioning the Caesar Harbor Navy about why they attacked the Lenburg merchant ships..."

At this point, the scene suddenly shifts to the open sea. This footage was likely recorded from an airplane, and you can vaguely see Caesar Harbor, where Remenberg's new warships are confronting Intis's sailing battleships.

The host continued, "This was the first time the main fleet deployed an aircraft carrier at Midway, giving the Intis Navy a tremendous shock..."

The scene changed again, now shooting upwards from the sea. The diners in the restaurant gasped in surprise as they saw a colossal object in mid-air.

That's an aircraft carrier!
Icarus laughed, "This is much bigger than an air command ship! I wonder what new weapons it has?"

He paused for a moment and then said, "It's not just enough to intimidate the Intis Navy, it's enough to give them a psychological trauma."

Edwina looked around at the diners and suddenly realized something: these scenes gave ordinary people in Remburg a very direct sense of Remburg's power.

Before this, the will of ordinary people was basically united by their faith in the gods. However, since the war began last year, people's confidence in Remberg has been increasing. Now, with these propaganda methods, the Remberg government has enough cohesion.

At this point, host Evans continued, "The Republic of Intis is now seeking to resolve the issue through diplomatic means. Let's look forward to a swift resolution."

"President Garr reminded everyone that the international situation has become uncertain again, and asked everyone to pay close attention to the developments of other countries in order to avoid danger to life or loss of property."

Then Evans's image disappeared, and the "Extraordinary Projector" started playing restaurant advertisements again.

However, the diners' conversation all turned to the international situation, with one person laughing and shouting, "What 'seeking diplomatic solutions'? It's just that the Republic of Intis is scared and dares not continue military confrontation!"

Many people laughed, but one Intis man said righteously, "The war has just ended, are we going to start a new one? Intis is doing this for the sake of world peace."

Icanos laughed and said, "If it's really for the sake of world peace, why not let Remburg run the western route? I think that way, Intis will definitely make a huge contribution to world peace."

Many diners praised it as a great idea.

There are three safe routes between the northern and southern continents that can cross the Raging Sea, of which the Republic of Intis has always controlled the western route.

If they could seize this air route from the other side, it would be tantamount to cutting off the economic lifeline of the Republic of Intis, and they would certainly not launch another war.

The Intis people argued for a few moments, but seeing that they were outnumbered and couldn't win the argument, and finding the food they usually enjoyed unpalatable, they got up and left the restaurant.

Icarus, as if he had won a battle, looked at his sister Edwina and found her lost in thought: "Edwina, what are you thinking about?"

“I’m thinking,” Edwina said, “a new era has begun.”

……

Backlund.

Count Hall, in his carriage, finished reading the front page of the newspaper in his hand, which reported on the standoff between Rembrandt and Intis at Port Caesar.

Intis's handling of the situation was both unexpected and reasonable.

For Intis, which already had some independent achievements in extraordinary technology, they certainly did not want a conflict to break out at this time.

However, to the surprise of all countries, Intis would seek a diplomatic solution so quickly!

At this moment, the carriage stopped, and as Earl Hall stepped off, he suddenly remembered the hovercar his daughter Audrey had bought, and the photos taken by the butler who had purchased the car in the new town of Azshara.

Incredibly, the roads in Azshara's new city are now entirely filled with hovercars.

Count Hall, who had just stepped off the carriage, suddenly stopped and looked back at the carriages coming and going on the road outside. He suddenly felt a sense of destiny... a sense that Rune was no longer the center of the world.

He sighed and entered the Prime Minister's residence, where, guided by a servant, he arrived at a small conference room.

Several familiar faces were already in the meeting room, including Defense Minister Emilius, Duchess Georgina Augustus, Foreign Minister Chryseth, and the Chairman of the Science and Technology Development Committee Granger, among others.

In recent days, they have been meeting frequently, sometimes even twice a day.

After exchanging a few words, Earl Hall took his seat.

A few minutes later, Prime Minister Agushid pushed open the door and entered. As soon as the door closed, he said, "Ladies and gentlemen, Intis's cooperation this time is very sincere; they have already given us some technology regarding 'Extraordinary Puppets.'" Emilius took a puff of his cigarette and said, "I'd rather know when Rune will be able to build an aircraft carrier!"

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen! If that giant enemy floating in mid-air appears in front of the Rune soldiers, please help me figure out how to maintain their morale!"

"Don't get agitated," Foreign Minister Cruces said. "You know we're far behind in terms of advanced technology."

"But once the relevant technologies of 'Extraordinary Technology' mature, given Rune's production capacity, aircraft carriers will be available, and there will be many of them."

"But the problem now is that Rembrandt won't be foolish enough to wait for us to build an aircraft carrier."

The meeting room was silent for a few seconds, and everyone agreed with the Foreign Minister's statement.

After everyone calmed down, Earl Hall said, "I think the main topic of this meeting is how to cooperate with Intis!"

Prime Minister Agushid said: "That's right, cooperation is inevitable, and we must concentrate all our resources to catch up with Rembrandt."

"But the question is, will Remenberg let us cooperate? Will they start a new war?"

"You should know that in the war that just ended at the end of last year, Remburg suffered very little loss and is fully capable of launching another war."

Everyone looked at the Minister of Defense. Emilius, regaining his usual serious demeanor, stubbed out his half-burnt cigarette in the ashtray: "The probability of Remburg initiating a war is not high, because their extraordinary strength is not enough to start a war with other countries at the same time."

Just as everyone was about to breathe a sigh of relief, Emilius added, "But if there is the support of the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, then it's hard to say."

Remburg has no shortage of high-end combat power at the angel level. It would have no problem taking on any country, and even with the help of the church of righteous gods in that country, they would still be no match for Remburg.

However, if they were to wage war against two countries at the same time, their extraordinary strength would not be enough, and they would need the help of the Church of Knowledge.

That's how wars are in this world; in the end, it all comes down to the number of angels and demigods.

Agusid wiped the sweat from his brow and continued, "In other words, the probability of Remenberg starting a war is very high..."

“Not necessarily,” said Duchess Georgina, who had been listening in. “If war breaks out, the Church of the Eternal Sun, the Church of the Storm, and the Church of the Steam will certainly do everything in their power to attack Lenburg.”

"The Church of the Goddess of Night is currently incorporating the former Church of the God of War. I heard that several small-scale battles have broken out in Fusak. It's hard to reason with those half-giants who love to fight. This incorporation operation may continue until next year, or even the year after."

"Now the Church of Mother Earth has become the key. If they help Lenburg, then Intis will have no hope of winning."

"If they help Intis, Lenborough will have no chance of winning."

Everyone listened attentively because this was a clash of extraordinary forces, a factor that could truly determine the course of the war.

Georgina continued, "The reason I said that a war might not necessarily break out is because if the war of the gods breaks out at the very beginning, the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom' and the 'Lord of Mysteries' will be fighting alone against the 'Eternal Sun,' the 'Lord of Storms,' and the 'God of Steam and Machinery.'"

"But considering that Odis once made a deal with the Church of the Earth Mother, it is possible that he can ask the Earth Mother for help."

"Considering Odis's past cooperation with the 'Goddess of Night,' this deity also has a certain probability of helping Lenburg. However, the royal family believes that the 'Mother Earth' is a deity that can be won over."

Finally, she concluded: "In terms of divine power, if the 'Earth Mother Goddess' clearly intends to help Remburg, Remburg will face immense pressure if it initiates a war."

There were some things she didn't say: we also need to consider evil gods like the "Hidden Sage" and the "Bound God." If this war of gods were to break out, it would be more thorough than the previous ones, and the fact that the evil gods choose sides would also be very important.

Moreover, these evil gods will most likely choose to support Intis and Rune. Of course, this cannot be said too explicitly, as rulers cannot cooperate with evil gods.

But her summary does indeed reflect the views of the Ruen royal family on this matter.

Of course, they were unaware that Odis had become the King of Angels.

After listening to the Duchess's analysis, Agushid sighed and said, "In other words, it's highly unlikely that Remnantburg will go to war until the 'Earth Mother Goddess' or the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess makes a statement..."

He shook his head at this point: "How can you make a final decision about something like this based on 'probability'?"

The Duchess said earnestly, "Haven't you all realized yet? This is the moment to fight for our nation's destiny. Everyone still has the courage to fight. If we win this battle, Backlund will once again become the center of the world."

"If we fail, no one will be able to stop Remenberg's development."

The meeting room fell silent again. Most of them had not realized before that the situation had become so urgent.

……

Aisara, the presidential palace.

Odis glanced at the report submitted by Medici and immediately felt that time was running out.

Even if it takes another year or two, Remburg's extraordinary power can be further developed, and its extraordinary weapons will have a certain advantage.

But now that the war is over, the advancement of extraordinary power has slowed down.

It's not that you don't have enough merit. Odis has implemented a "merit overdraft" system in all the extraordinary organizations in the country, which means you can get promoted first and make up for the merit later.

Furthermore, each extraordinary individual has a three-day "role-playing vacation" each month, allowing them to seriously summarize the rules of role-playing and engage in sufficient role-playing.

Even so, without the sense of urgency that war poses for personal safety, the advancement speed of the extraordinary individuals has slowed down.

Extraordinary weapons have been in full production, but this time it may involve fighting on two fronts, and both fronts will face a major power. This is slightly different from the battles fought in previous world wars, where Remnburg was outside the main battlefield. Even Medici is very cautious.

Besides facing two major powers, the key is also fighting against three churches.

Odis has been considering these past few days whether to continue the provocation.
Monday arrived in the blink of an eye, and Odis decided to attend a tarot meeting to hear about the other members' recent situations and see if she could get any inspiration.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Odis's vision was covered by gray fog, and in an instant he appeared in the ancient palace.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Fool," Audrey greeted first.

Everyone stood up and greeted the "Fool".

Meanwhile, "The Fool" Klein realized that Odis's power was greater than before. This was... this was becoming the King of Angels?

Klein was somewhat worried. What if Odis became a true god and came to the meeting again? Would he be able to tell at a glance that "The Fool" was only at Sequence 2?

Following this, Klein had new thoughts about the deities associated with the "Secret Seeker" pathway.

He had previously learned from Russell's diary that the "Hidden Sage" was the only activated deity through the "Hidden" path.

He originally thought that the "Lord of Mysteries" would most likely have two Sequence 1 traits. When Odis became a Sequence 1, Klein noticed a problem: why did Odis, as a follower of the "Lord of Mysteries", not hand over this Sequence 1 trait, but instead chose to advance on his own?
At the time, Klein had two conjectures. The first was that the "Lord of Mysteries" was actually the remnant soul of the "Sage," or a stronger spiritual remnant, belonging to an ancient deity who was dead but not yet dead.

After Odis obtained the Sequence 1 property, he broke with this ancient god.

However, now that Odis has become the King of the Double Sequence 1 Angels, Klein has a new speculation: the "Lord of Mysteries" is likely a god activated from the source matter.

This speculation arose because Klein had obtained information about Source Matter and roughly understood what Source Matter was.

Klein had considered this many times, but ultimately he didn't bring up his conjecture to Odis, after all, everyone has secrets.

If Odis seeks his help, he will do his best to assist, but it's best not to pry into anything too private.

After the greetings, and once the members were seated, Emlyn, "The Moon," spoke first: "Everyone, I'd like to know if the 'Cultivator' and 'Moon' pathways are any special compared to the other pathways?"

After raising the question, he added: "I recently learned that the internal system of the Church of the Earth Mother Goddess is different from other churches, and it is divided into two parts: those with divine grace and those favored by God."

“The gracious are extraordinary beings who have mastered the pathways of the ‘Mother’ and the ‘Moon’, while the favored are extraordinary beings who have received the favor of the ‘Earth Mother Goddess’ through pathways other than the ‘Mother’ and the ‘Moon’. Even a decree issued by the Pope must be countersigned by at least one of the favored, otherwise it can be considered invalid.”

After Emlyn the Moon finished his brief description, Alger the Hanged Man and the others had some ideas, but at the same time they felt that none of their ideas seemed to have touched the root of the problem.

At this point, Klein, who knew a little about this, posed a question with a smile, posing the role of "The Fool": "Where do you think the 22 extraordinary paths originated?"

Everyone was taken aback. This was one of the three core questions in mysticism, and there had never been a universally accepted answer.

While everyone was considering whether to give their own answer, the "Hermit" Odis said in a relatively affirmative tone: "The source that can be traced back to is the 'First Creator'."

"According to some information I've obtained, after its birth, 'The Original' created 'The Fallen Mother Goddess' and 'The Mother Tree of Desire.' Then, 'The Original' and 'The Fallen Mother Goddess' gave birth to other Outer Gods, such as 'The Decaying King' and 'The High-Dimensional Overlord,' etc..."

Klein was stunned. Was there really such a thing?

He was another member of the Tarot Club who knew what kind of beings the "Fallen Mother Goddess" and the "Mother Tree of Desire" were.

The other members were somewhat bewildered. At previous tarot gatherings, they had heard of the "Fallen Mother Goddess" and the "Mother Tree of Desire," who were considered "above the divine level," but they were relatively unfamiliar with deities at this level.

At this point, Odis reminded everyone, "In a little while, we'll have Miss 'Justice' hypnotize everyone so that you'll forget the names of these gods."

"Because these gods are very dangerous, people may be corrupted even if they only know some information about them."

Everyone was taken aback, realizing that each of the names the "Hermit" had just mentioned belonged to someone "above the level of a god".

Odis didn't give them time to continue their speculations, but instead went on to say, "Most of the 'above-the-gods' in this world were born at that time."

"There are two explanations for how it was born. One is that the 'original' body already possessed those characteristics and essences, but because the characteristics and essences were too dense, it triggered the tendency of extraordinary characteristics to split..."

"This tendency is a derivative of the law of aggregation of extraordinary characteristics. When the characteristics of a pathway reach a certain degree of density at a certain point, it will trigger a tendency to split within it."

"The manifestation of this is that no church can gather all the extraordinary characteristics of that path. There will always be some extraordinary characteristics, even characteristics at the angelic level, that are scattered outside."

Upon hearing this, the other members reacted differently. Some had heard of this law before, some had vaguely heard of it, and some had never heard of it at all.

Those who had vaguely heard of it suddenly realized something, while those who hadn't heard of it were surprised to find that the fundamental law of extraordinary characteristics actually had an "extension law".

Odis paused slightly and then said, "The manifestation of the 'split tendency' that occurred in the 'original' is that He created and gave birth to a group of 'gods above the gods,' most of these original gods of the universe possessed extraordinary characteristics through multiple pathways."

"The sum of the 'original' and them probably constitutes most of the extraordinary characteristics of this universe."

"Another explanation is that those characteristics were not in the 'original' body, but the original could control these characteristics after creating the world, which is why those 'above the gods' were created."

(End of this chapter)