Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 338 The Unyielding Old Cunning Celestial Venerable (Thanks to Emperor Shitian, who is not afraid of geese, for the Qidian Coins reward)
"Very dirty? What do you mean?"

Roger felt he had figured something out, but he still asked a question, waiting for Amon to speak first.

"...I didn't want to tell you these things so soon, but you should already know some of them."

Amon placed the lantern he was holding on the nearby ruins, then looked at Roger and asked:
"When Adam came to you before, he should have talked about the 'Five Ways of Omniscience and Omnipotence' and the 'Three Ways of Mystery,' and he should have also talked about 'God' and 'Lord of Mystery,' right?"

"Correct."

Roger nodded. Amon was referring to the first time Adam met him on Amra Island and proposed an alliance.

"In fact, there are many Great Old Ones that branched off from the 'Primordial' on this planet, but do you know the difference between 'God' and 'Lord of Mysteries' and the others?"

Amon adjusted his monocle and asked.

"Appreciate further details."

Roger didn't say much, he just nodded.

"You are a demigod whose authority encompasses the realms of 'fate' and 'starry sky,' so you should know that the world can be broadly divided into three levels, right?"

Roger nodded after hearing Amon's words:
“I know, they are ‘Astral Realm’, ‘Spirit Realm’, and ‘Reality’ respectively.”

“I also know that ‘God’ is the Lord of the Stars, ‘Lord of Mysteries’ is the Lord of the Spirit World, and ‘Fallen Mother Goddess’—or ‘Primordial Moon’—is the ruler of ‘Reality’.”

"Yes, now that you know this, the rest of the conversation will be much easier."

Amon nodded slightly:

"In the universe... or rather, in this universe, the symbols of these three together form the complete world. In other words, the authority of the three is the cornerstone of the existence of the entire universe."

"Therefore, these three are also known as the 'Pillar' level Old Ones, whose power is significantly stronger than that of other Old One rulers, including the 'Superstar Overlord,' the 'Goddess of Fate,' and the 'Ring of Destiny.'"

"However, for many reasons, there has been a long-standing hostility and conflict between the 'Primordial God' and the 'Lord of Mysteries,' and almost the entire Chaos Era is a microcosm of the protracted conflict between these two."

In the end, they all "fell".

"This event left behind many legacies and indirectly promoted the prosperity of humans and other extraordinary races, but it also sowed the seeds of many hidden dangers."

When Amon said the word "fallen," he deliberately emphasized it and then pointed with his right index finger, implying that the word was ambiguous.

"Afterwards, both sides made many plans and tried to find ways to recover."

"This includes 'Source Castle'."

"One of the most crucial resurrection strategies of the 'Lord of Mysteries' is that He used His authority over time and space to store many people from the old era in the 'Source Castle' and attempted to cast them into this world to guide them onto the 'Three Mysterious Paths' and ultimately achieve resurrection in them."

"Your friend Klein Moretti is such an example. His original fate was to become the vessel for the resurgence of the Lord of Mysteries' will shortly after being 'cast,' but some changes occurred that led to his survival."

“This process is extremely dangerous. In fact, from my point of view, I do not want Klein Moretti to become the vessel for the resurgence of the ‘Lord of Mysteries’ will, because it would not benefit anyone.”

Roger nodded slightly. He knew all about what Amon had said. Originally, the "Celestial Venerable" had prepared a "curtain" containing all the extraordinary characteristics of Sequence 9 to Sequence 1, and tried to use it to control Klein. However, the "Goddess of the Night" discovered and stopped this plan in time. Otherwise, Klein would have lost his humanity as soon as he landed.

"What does this have to do with the city I just saw?"

He immediately frowned and pressed on with another question.

"As you can see, the Lord of Mysteries made many arrangements before his fall. These included not only matters related to resurrection, but also the sealing of various source substances in the western continent using mist, as well as matters related to restraining and influencing the 'God's' resurrection plans."

Amon curled his lip:

"Just as the 'Source Castle' is the source substance corresponding to the 'Lord of Mysteries,' the source substance corresponding to 'God' is called the 'Chaos Sea,' and the main body of the Chaos Sea is located deep underground in the 'Forsaken Land.'"

"When the sun god of the Third Age was still alive, he made many attempts and experiments to resist the resurgence of the will of 'God' in himself."

"One of them was to use the connection between himself and the 'Chaos Sea' and the symbol of the uniqueness of the 'Thief' path that had not yet differentiated at that time to try to differentiate the 'Chaos Sea' to a certain extent."

"Because of the characteristics of the 'Chaotic Sea' itself, this experiment cannot be considered a success, but it is not without progress either. At that time, a small part of the power of the 'Chaotic Sea' was separated and formed a state similar to a tributary. However, the person at that time did not succeed in completely severing the will of 'God' in the 'Chaotic Sea' through this method. In the end, he could only take a worse approach and exchange his own death for 'God' to fall into slumber again."

"After His fall, the branch of the 'Chaotic Sea' that had been separated remained independent there."

“Ouroboros tried to return these branches several times, but he was unsuccessful.”

Roger suddenly realized something and asked:
"You mean, there is a branch of the 'Chaotic Sea' underground or nearby in the city I saw today?"

"Then, one of the contingency plans left by the 'Lord of Mysteries' before his fall was to use the mists of the Western Continent to randomly transform a group of demigod-level creatures into mystical beings, and then guide them to search for the 'Chaos Sea'?"

"Yes, during the time of the Sun God in the Third Age, and even earlier, this arrangement did not meet the prerequisites for activation, but an opportunity arose after the fall of the Sun God in the Third Age."

Amon nodded:

"Among all the extraordinary beings, those most easily 'mystified' and corrupted are those associated with the three pathways of 'diviner,' 'apprentice,' and 'thief.' In addition, there are some other divine beings associated with other pathways. The 'Mirror God' you killed when you first entered the 'Forsaken Land' was one of them, but it was relatively less controlled compared to others."

"The goal of those corrupted supernatural beings is to find a branch of the 'Chaos Sea' and then tamper with it. They have more than one method, and I don't know the full details."

"The city you see is called 'Midnight City,' a city-state where angelic extraordinary beings once existed... In fact, this city-state has been subtly influenced by the 'Chaos Sea,' thus worshipping the 'Creator of All Things.'"

"Ultimately, they were also attacked and conquered because the tributary of the 'Chaotic Sea' buried deep underground attracted the covetousness of those divine creatures polluted by the 'Gray Fog'."

"More than four hundred years ago, on the eve of the fall of Midnight City, Urouge approached me. Together, we created a misaligned closed loop that shielded the survivors of Midnight City, along with the tributaries of the Chaos Sea below, leaving a path far from Midnight City that, under certain circumstances, only allowed qualified humans to enter and exit."

"My original idea was to kill all the survivors of 'Midnight City' and then completely seal off the tributary of 'Chaos Sea,' but this was strongly opposed by Urolius, so it was not carried out."

"This is the root cause of the current situation in 'Midnight City' that you see now. The supernatural beings that received the monotonous instructions have remained in place, gathering all the supernatural beings related to the 'Mysterious Three Paths'. The oppressive feeling created by the supernatural beings in the large-scale gathering also dissipates other creatures in the vicinity, which has led to a significant reduction in the number of creatures in the surrounding area."

After hearing Amon's words, Roger finally realized what was happening and asked:
"So the 'Mirror God' killed the humans from 'Midnight City' who came out from the other side of the valley because they met the conditions?"

"Correct."

Amon nodded.

Is there also a tributary of the Chaos Sea beneath the "Fog City"?

Roger bit his lip and suddenly asked this question out of the blue.

Upon hearing this, Amon visibly paused, then looked at Roger with interest:
"Why do you say that?"

"As you just said, the 'Mirror God' is not a supernatural being related to the 'Three Mysterious Paths,' and it can temporarily acquire a corresponding mystical identity by stitching humans together, which means that there will be some flaws in it."

"Compared to those creatures that carried out the orders of the 'Lord of Mysteries' and guarded the 'Midnight City' to the point of death, its departure from the 'Midnight City' for a period of time was probably not a simple choice of its own. It is more likely that the 'Mirror God' sensed another possibility of carrying out a 'mission'."

"This possibility may come from the memories of some monsters it stitched together, that is, besides 'Midnight City', there may be a tributary of the 'Chaos Sea' in other places."

"Later, I encountered the 'Mirror God' near 'Fog City' and killed it. I guess this might also be Adam's arrangement?"

Roger shared his guesses according to his own line of reasoning, and Amon remained silent after listening.

"It seems I guessed it right."

Roger tentatively asked again.

Amon glanced at him:
"Rather than saying you figured things out on your own, it's more accurate to say you understand Adam better."

Roger chuckled dryly, knowing that Amon was indirectly admitting to his suspicions.

From the moment he arrived in "Fog City," Amon had been searching underground and had opened up multiple passages. And beneath the surface of "God's Forsaken Land," the only thing Roger could think of that could arouse Amon's strong interest was the "Chaos Sea."

"and many more."

Roger suddenly realized something:
"Could the 'Crown of Creation' be related to the 'Mother Nest'?"

"..."

Amon glanced at Roger again, his gaze filled with a strange emotion. On one hand, this "Angel of Time" praised Roger's insight in his heart, but on the other hand, he was somewhat puzzled by this guy who spoke of the "Fallen Mother Goddess" and its corresponding "Source Matter" so naturally, as if he were eating and drinking.

"really……"

At this moment, Roger finally understood the intrinsic connection between the two different city-states, "Fog City" and "Midnight City".

The divine-level sealed artifact "Crown of Creation" that once protected "Fog City" is likely related to a portion of the "Mother Nest" power sealed in the Western Continent. The fact that this sealed artifact was able to appear in "Fog City" after the "Great Cataclysm" is likely due to the influence of the "Celestial Venerable" behind it.

Although Roger didn't know what He was thinking or the specific causes and consequences, one thing was certain: the problem hidden in the "Crown of Creation" hadn't even been discovered by Ulrich, which ultimately led to the failure of His experiment in the "Fog City".

Roger originally thought that "Angel of Fate" Urolius originally intended to exterminate the people of "Mist City" but was moved by compassion and allowed "Saint of Calamity" Vinera to release the followers of the "True Creator" and establish "New Mist City". Now it seems that He had a precedent in the matter of "Midnight City".

"Are my subordinates and my cat alright?"

Roger suddenly spoke up and asked.

He asked this question because he was afraid that Linssaya and Bandit might be contaminated.

"Based on my observations over the years, the monsters in 'Midnight City' will prioritize attacking divine creatures that are not 'mysticized' and are adjacent to them. Only after the divine creatures are destroyed will they consider attacking lower-level creatures."

“You are a demigod of the adjacent pathway of the ‘Mysterious Three Paths’, so you are naturally a priority target. As long as you are not killed, your cat is not a priority option.”

Roger finally relaxed after hearing what Amon said.

On the other hand, he also understood why Amon hadn't gone to kill the monsters in "Midnight City".

There are two main factors. The first is that there is no need for, nor is there any way to solve the problem once and for all.

The people of "Midnight City," along with the underground tributaries of the "Chaos Sea," have been sealed away by the two Angel Kings. Amon only needs to send one of his clones to observe the situation nearby. Unless there are special circumstances, Amon will not interfere.

After all, issues involving "source matter" are very sensitive, and Amon has no way to divert the tributary of the "chaotic sea" for the time being. Even if He could, this "angel of time" would not do so.

God knows what problems might exist in that tributary; you might end up getting yourself involved.

Another factor is danger.

In a sense, the "Mist Spy", the "King of Souls", and the "Mist Wolf" were all puppets directly created by the "Celestial Venerable". Amon did not know what methods they intended to use to influence the "Chaos Sea". Even though he was the King of Angels, it would be easy for him to cause big problems if he recklessly rushed in under such circumstances.

After all, the "Celestial Venerable" is a pillar symbolizing the "mysterious" realm, and even Amon cannot fully understand His methods.

"I'm thinking about a question."

Roger suddenly spoke up:

"If 'Fog City' and 'Midnight City' are so dangerous, why did Adam guide me to explore these two places?"

"If I'm not mistaken, your deal with Him should have made substantial progress, right?"

Amun refers to Adam's deal with Roger to obtain divinity through the "Hanged Man" and to suppress the will of "God" in the "Sea of ​​Chaos" through a mystical connection.

"should be."

Roger nodded. Although he wasn't 100% sure, judging from the current state of the "True Creator" and Adam's performance in the "Living Star Chart" ascension ceremony, the result He wanted should have been achieved.

Otherwise, if Klein hadn't immediately reversed the contamination of the "One Who Returns to Oneness" within the "Source Castle," the "Chaos Sea" might have taken on that role.

If that were the outcome, Adam certainly wouldn't be able to bear it, which is why He took the initiative to intervene and had Klein provide assistance.

"interesting."

Amon pondered for a moment, then adjusted his glasses and looked at Roger with a curious expression:
"So... you should have already unlocked the 'source matter' of your own path, right? What are its abilities?"

"Uh……"

Roger was momentarily speechless at Amon's question.

If it had been Klein who asked, Roger might have told him. But Amon was different. Roger was worried about Amon's character. Who knew what the consequences would be if Roger told Amon about the "Primal Core" ability?

Although Amon had already shown Roger special favor, it was not impossible that He might one day decide to play a trick on Roger.

Seeing Roger's reaction, Amon immediately rolled his eyes at him:

"Are you going to tell me or not?" "Yes."

Roger could only nod helplessly. He knew that Amon was already a little angry. If he didn't satisfy Him now, things might go wrong during his exploration of the "Forsaken Land".

On the other hand, Amon has always been wary of Roger's true nature, so if he were to be asked to do something, he would probably have to think it over carefully.

As expected, He spoke again:
"It's okay to say it with reservations, or to be a little vague."

Is it because they're afraid of being contaminated?

Roger relaxed slightly, realizing that Amon must have anticipated that he would subconsciously not want to reveal the details of the "Primal Core," so he deliberately teased him.

Now that he was really about to speak, Amon didn't forget the previous "safety clause" to prevent Roger from accidentally saying something he shouldn't have.

So Roger then summarized the key points and gave Amon a general explanation of the function of the "Primal Core".

The main content includes its connection with the spirit world and the starry sky, as well as its ability to respond to believers' prayers and store things, etc.

Of course, to be on the safe side, Roger also mentioned that there were two different types of contamination within the "Original Core," and that releasing them rashly would be extremely dangerous.

"The spirit world and the starry sky..."

Amon thought for a moment and then asked:
"Your current potion name is related to the starry sky? Or rather, you yourself can represent a part of the 'starry sky'?"

"Correct."

Roger nodded, understanding that Amon had deduced this from his actions of spreading astronomical calendars in the "Forsaken Land."

"If that's the case, Adam probably wants to give you a chance to grow."

After some thought, Amon came to this conclusion.

"Opportunities for growth? How do we grow?"

Roger was a little confused by what Amon said; he didn't quite understand what Amon meant.

"The conditions aren't right yet, but you'll find out later."

Amon chuckled softly:
"This is just my guess at the moment. Of course, the most likely scenario is that Adam wants you to help him solve the potential problems in the tributaries of the 'Chaos Sea' once and for all."

"Ok."

Roger knew that Amon must have guessed something, but he wanted to explore it himself, which was why he didn't reveal everything.

He then brought up another matter:

"Is there really no way to save the people of 'Midnight City' now?"

Did I stop you from saving him?

Amon laughed again:

"Don't overcomplicate things. It's not like you don't have an angel-level seal on you."

"Putting everything else aside, just take out that thing that Amra left behind, and see if those puppets will run away."

Roger's lips twitched upon hearing this:

"Won't doing this affect 'Source Castle'?"

"you guess?"

Amon laughed:

"If you're afraid, don't do anything, but that will most likely result in you not accomplishing anything."

"Ok."

Roger knew that Amon probably said that because he was confident, but Roger himself still needed to assess the feasibility of it.

"Boss, you still haven't found the tributary of the 'Chaos Sea'?"

“Ulorius hid it rather well back then, but I will find it.”

Ammon shrugged, then picked up the lantern again and made as if to go inside.

"Thanks, boss. By the way, wait a minute."

Roger suddenly had a brilliant idea and pulled out a small bag of nuts, a specialty of the planet Butak, from his pocket.

This is a recent tribute from the "Blue-skinned" people of Butak, containing several different kinds of nuts, all of which are special species from the New World.

Roger originally intended to give it to the "De La Hoya Giant Rat," but he hadn't had the chance yet; he had tasted it before and found it quite delicious.

"Here, this is for you. It's delicious, an alien product."

...Alien products?
Amon's eyes behind his monocle suddenly went blank; his head tilted slightly, as if he hadn't quite reacted yet.

An incarnation of an Outer God gave His King of Angels a bag of nuts.

What is this operation?
Most importantly, this thing is alien food, which left Amon unsure whether he should be curious or not.

However, Roger didn't care whether Amon accepted it or not; he simply placed the bag where it was and left the passageway under Amon's watchful gaze.

After leaving Fog City, Roger used the Traveler's ability again to teleport to the place where Linssaya and her tactical squad were encamped, and then used the Box of the Old Days to release the "witch" and the tabby cat.

"what!"

As soon as Bandit appeared, he began panting frantically on the ground while rapidly blinking and changing positions, seemingly to guard against some kind of attack.

It breathed a sigh of relief after it saw that Roger was alright.

"I thought you were dead! Before you died, you put me and Linssia into the 'Old Days Box' to protect us!"

Bandit clearly sensed the attack from the "King of Souls," but before he could figure out what was happening, Roger stuffed him into the box.

"fine."

Roger stroked Bandit's bristling fur and patted Lindsay's shoulder to calm them down.

"Captain, what do we do now?"

"I'm still a little shaken," Linssaya asked.

In her opinion, considering the situation in "Midnight City," it would be really difficult to kill those three demigod-level beings right now.

Leaving aside the three demigod-level beings, the sheer number of low- to mid-level monsters—at least tens of thousands—was beyond Linsaya's comprehension.

"It's not that there's no way, but it might be quite dangerous."

Roger pondered for a moment, then said:

“I need to discuss this with Ms. Bernadette and Elder Alexis. You two stay here and don’t move. Bandit, talk to Linseria for a bit. I’ll be right back.”

Although there were no monsters nearby, Roger left behind Bandit, a near-demigod-level fighter, just in case, considering the previous anomaly of the "Mirror God".

Having mastered two divine abilities, its combat power far surpasses that of ordinary mid-sequence extraordinary beings. Even if a true demigod were to appear, it could fight against it for a period of time in conjunction with Linsaya, who possessed a Sequence 4 level seal.

After settling in, Roger teleported back to New Fog City and found Bernadette and Alexis.

"...You mean you've found another human survivor city-state? But it's been overrun by a large number of supernatural beings?"

Alexis's three heads opened their mouths wide at the same time, and she asked in disbelief.

Throughout its history, Fog City has made dozens of attempts to explore survivor settlements, but apart from a few clues, it has made little progress. This makes them feel like isolated islands in a dark sea, all alone in the boundless night.

However, now that Roger has found "New Fog City" and then found another human survivor city-state in a short period of time, how could this not shock Alexis?
Roger, of course, wouldn't tell Alexis that it was the power of their revered "Angel of Fate," Ullolius, that always allowed them to avoid encountering other city-states; otherwise, Alexis would probably have seriously questioned her existence.

"Correct."

Roger nodded, summarizing the key points of what he knew while avoiding sensitive information.

"You mentioned that the angel-level sealed artifact in your possession is somewhat corrupted. What kind of corruption is it?"

Alexis asked again, quite curious about Roger's endless methods.

"That pollution and the pollution of the 'Crown of Creation' are from the same source, both originating from the 'primordial moon'."

Roger glanced at Alexis and explained the problem in a way she could understand.

"The pollution of the 'primordial moon'?"

Upon hearing Roger's words, Alexis's expression immediately darkened.

She was all too familiar with this kind of pollution. In fact, if the "original moon" pollution in her body hadn't been impossible to eliminate, Alexis probably wouldn't have remained in that miserable, inhuman state for nearly twenty years.

"If that's the case, you need to carefully weigh the consequences."

Alexis thought for a moment, then continued:
"You need to summarize the different ways your divine-level sealed artifact can solve problems. By understanding the internal logic of these methods, you can identify the spread path of the 'Primordial Moon' contamination."

"On the other hand, you also need to consider another issue, which is whether you intend to reclaim the characteristics carried by those extraordinary beings? If you do intend to reclaim them, you need to be even more careful about how you do it... However, in general, I am pessimistic about your ability to safely reclaim those characteristics."

"After all, they seem to carry at least one other type of contaminant, making it difficult to control the outcome."

On this point, Alexis's attitude was the same as Amon's.

Amon is very keen on collecting the various traits and sealed items of the "Thief" pathway, but he is unwilling to get involved with the "King of Souls" who lurks in "Midnight City," which shows how dangerous it is.

"In any case, Roger, if you don't mind, you can tell me about the characteristics of the angel-level sealed artifact you have."

Bernadette then spoke up, but she was very reserved in her words. This was because the sealed artifacts held by each extraordinary individual were their trump cards, and many people were very reluctant to reveal the details to others.

But Roger didn't care, because firstly, the authority of "Amra's Guidance" and "The Box of the Old Days" were essentially of the same origin.

Given that many people already know Roger possesses information about the "Box of the Old Days," it wouldn't matter if he revealed some information related to "Amra's Guidance."

On the other hand, he had a good relationship with both Bernadette and Alexis. Roger knew Bernadette well, and Alexis was also a follower of Roger. He believed that Alexis would not take the future of "New Fog City" lightly or speak carelessly.

Not to mention that even Roger himself was very wary of "Amra's Guidance". Under normal circumstances, this sealed artifact is not a means of combat, so even if the information was leaked to the outside world, the actual loss to Roger would be very small.

The reason he wanted to thoroughly research the solution beforehand was that he was afraid of accidentally using "Amra's Guidance" for more than five minutes, causing unpredictable changes in the land within a hundred kilometers of "Midnight City".

After a brief exchange, Bernadette spoke:

"I think the ability to 'reproduce' is good, but the problem is that to deal with so many extraordinary beings at once, including an angel-level creature, ordinary scene reproduction may not be enough."

"It must be large enough, safe enough, and not too risky of being contaminated."

Do you know of any such place?

"Um……"

Bernadette's words made Roger fall into deep thought. He quickly went through the places he had seen with containment potential, and even considered the starry sky.

However, after the final assessment, Roger concluded that these places were risky and unsafe, especially the starry sky.

The most important rule is that these creatures cannot approach the 'Fallen Mother Goddess,' not even in a symbolic sense, otherwise the 'Source Castle' may be subtly influenced.

Just when Roger was about to give up, he suddenly thought of a reliable direction.

"Hmm, how about 'The Abyss'?"

(End of this chapter)