Mystery: Big Alarm Clock Ghroth Path

Chapter 369 The Demigod Creature Through the "Decay" Path (Thanks to Qianfan Yangguo for the Qidian Coins donation)
Roger and Bendit were both taken aback by what they saw.

The latter's reaction was not surprising, after all, it was his first time visiting Planet Butak. As for Roger, he was somewhat surprised that he always encountered a ritual every time he came to Planet Butak.

"Could this be some kind of mystical effect...?"

Roger thought about it more and more and felt that this was very likely.

Because time flows faster on Planet Butak than on Earth, and since settling in the New World, with the development of pioneering and the gradual increase in food, the population of the "Blue-skinned" has increased considerably, and it can now be considered a fairly large-scale agricultural civilization.

This society widely and uniformly believes in "Roger Abraham the Great Protector," who is a demigod with divinity but not a fully mythical being.

This is why Roger's subconscious is influenced by the powerful and focused "anchor," and his subconscious is also affected accordingly.

In this way, the Butak people's prayers could, to some extent, "determine" the consequences of the prayers, and Roger would unconsciously cater to these consequences—even if there were many coincidences in the process, the result would not change.

Roger understood that this was generally an influence that only a true god possessed. If he were to become a true god or a Sequence 1 archangel, he might be able to directly perceive the mechanisms and details behind such events and intervene, thereby influencing the development of the believers' civilization.

"Welcome, great protector!"

"Welcome, great protector!!!"

As the deafening roar echoed, Bandit looked up at Roger, bewildered.
"This... is Ancient Hermes?"

"Yes, it is."

Roger nodded slightly:

"This is a civilization that was protected and enlightened by an ancestor of the Abraham family, and they even have a 'apprentice' path of inheritance from low to medium sequence."

The tabby cat was stunned by this information. Although it could understand these things, it was still quite surprised by the Abraham family's background outside of Earth.

"This is not an isolated case."

Roger glanced at Bendit:

"You'll have a chance to learn about this later."

At this moment, the "Blue-Skinned" clan chief Augur Gul, who was personally presiding over the ceremony, stepped forward and bowed respectfully to Roger.

"Rise, Chief Ogul."

Roger spoke in Ancient Hermes, and Augur Gul thanked him, then looked curiously at Bandit, the tabby cat at Roger's feet.

Because there are no cats on the planet Butak, the chieftain was unsure what exactly a Bandit was.

"Great protector, may I ask who this person is?"

He spoke cautiously, afraid of saying something wrong that might anger the long-tailed creature covered in terrifying markings and with sharp claws.

Roger found it somewhat amusing and said:

"This is my companion, Bandit, a Sequence 5 'Traveler'."

"Because it is about to be promoted to a Sequence 4 'Arcanist', but there is still a small amount of potion left to digest, I brought it here in the hope that this journey will allow it to fully digest the potion."

"The follower... 'The Traveler'? Sequence 4?"

Upon hearing this, Augur Gul was filled with respect and immediately bowed deeply to Bandit.
"Welcome to the planet Butak, great Saint Bandit."

“I am Augur Gul, the chieftain of the ‘Blue-skinned’ race. Please do not hesitate to ask if there is anything I can do for you.”

Upon hearing this, the "blue-skinned" crowd responded and bowed down to Bandit again, chanting "Great Saint Bandit" and so on.

The tabby cat had never seen anything like this before. It had never considered itself particularly important, especially since most people on Earth would treat it like an ordinary kitten and wouldn't make a fuss about it. It had always enjoyed this "special treatment" of being able to observe quietly without getting involved in social interactions.

The fact that he was receiving such godlike treatment put Bandit under immense pressure.

At that moment, its "traveler" potion was completely digested.

Shocked, Bandit looked up and glanced at Roger with a suspicious look.

As Roger gave it a wink, Bandit realized what was happening and turned to Augur Gur and his people, saying:

"Get up."

For some reason, this sentence seemed to carry a small amount of "lawful" power, and the next moment everyone stood up unconsciously.

This scene greatly surprised the "blue-skinned ones," who lowered their heads even further, all trembling with awe at the great power of "Saint Bandit" whose words could become law.

If the followers of the "Great Protector" possess such power, then how powerful must the "Great Protector" be?
Hakimi...you bastard.

Roger once again felt the "blue-skinned" people's faith in him strengthened once more. He couldn't help but think that Bandit, this tabby cat, actually had the potential to be a cult leader. It seemed to know very well what to do at what time to bring its followers a little bit of the awe-inspiring power of the evil god.

However, as Roger was thinking this, Bandit also looked up in confusion, seemingly unaware of what was going on.

"...Could it be that Bandit wasn't actively using the 'Law' ability, but rather that it was triggered passively?"

"Hiss...isn't this a bit too terrifying?"

To be honest, Roger never became a true god, nor did he ever experience the effects of an entire civilization believing in him.

Although the population of "blue-skinned people" is far smaller than that of the northern continent nations on Earth, it is still quite large. However, considering the complex polytheistic beliefs on Earth and their divisive effect on the collective will, perhaps no true god has ever experienced a situation where an entire civilization believes in him or the potential impact of such a situation.

Of course, the sun god of the Third Age probably experienced it, but Roger knew very little about the specifics.

"It seems we still need to look into this matter..."

Roger thought for a moment, an idea popped into his head, and then he said to Augur Gul:
"My companions and I have come here this time to bring the musical legacy to the 'blue-skinned' people."

"music?"

Augur Gul was somewhat puzzled. In fact, although this aspect had never been valued, the "blue-skinned people" on Butak also had their own music and corresponding instruments. However, due to survival issues, their knowledge in this area was far less profound and rich than that on Earth.

"Yes, a special kind of music."

Roger nodded, then instructed Augur to gather the best musicians and music theorists among the "Blue-skinned" race, claiming that he was about to deliver an important revelation.

Upon hearing this, Augur became excited. He immediately relayed the order and then led Roger toward a magnificent temple with stone colonnades in the center of the city.

From a distance, Roger could see by the firelight that the walls and base of the colonnade were carved with many scenes depicting the evolution of the "blue-skinned" civilization.

Besides the account of Amra's battle with the "decaying" angel and its eventual fall, there are many more accounts of his successor Roger leading the "blue-skinned" to the New World and escaping the pollution of decay.

Overall, the record can be described as having a clear lineage, a very clear cause and effect, and is also exquisitely carved.

This made Roger realize that the "blue-skinned" people had indeed made great strides in agriculture, because only a stable food yield could support enough artisans and artists.

As the temple gates opened, Roger, led by Augur, entered.

The temple was brightly lit, with a huge sculpture of Roger at the top and a stone chair like a throne below.

Roger realized that this was the place where the "Blue-skinned Ones" usually preached, and since he had personally arrived, the seat naturally belonged to him.

However, as he walked, Roger was drawn to something.

He sniffed, then asked:

"What kind of fuel do you use for lighting?"

"Reporting to the great protector, this is a black grease we found while drilling. It is very easy to burn, and the 'Blue-skinned Ones' now use it as their primary fuel."

Although Augur Gur didn't know why the "Great Protector" would care about this, he still explained the origins of the fuel.

However, Roger's expression changed drastically upon hearing this, and his heart skipped a beat.

"Can I see the fuel?"

His voice was quite excited. Augur Gul, who was about to escort Roger to the throne in the temple, paused for a few seconds before nodding and saying:
"Of course, your will is our will."

"Please come with me."

Afterwards, Augur Gur led Roger around the Holy Throne to a staircase leading upwards, where they climbed the steps.

Once they reached a higher vantage point, Augur pointed to something peculiar, resembling a dragon's head:

“'The Great Protector,' that’s the fuel.”

At this moment, a black, viscous liquid was dripping continuously from the faucet. Although the flow rate of this liquid was slow, it was just enough to replenish the losses from the burning of the oil lamps around it.

After Roger used his "Secret Insight" to see the black, viscous liquid, he finally confirmed his guess.

"Holy crap, is it really oil?"

He was greatly shocked at this moment. You see, during his reign, Emperor Roselle tried every means to explore for oil on Earth, but to no avail. This directly limited the further development of Earth's civilization, preventing the invention of the internal combustion engine and the entry into the electrical age.

However, as the saying goes, "the flowers you plant with care may not bloom, but the willows you plant without intention may thrive." Roger originally only intended to shelter the "blue-skinned people" and obtain their "anchors," but he never expected to discover oil reserves here by chance, which was indeed an unexpected surprise.

According to Augur Gur, they seem to have discovered the oil in shallow layers of the surface during construction. This could be because there is a larger oil field below that has overflowed due to some geological changes. If that is the case, there may be an extremely large oil reserve beneath this continent!
This is understandable, because the natural conditions of Butak and its location within the sphere of influence of a star are very similar to those of Earth in the past. Under such circumstances, it is understandable that oil could be produced.

Roger suddenly felt as if his brain had gone blank. The saints and angels of the Abraham family had always had the habit of traveling through the stars, but he had never read any record of anything like oil in the family's records.

This could be because the planet Butak is special, or it could be because the ancestors of the Abraham family in the Quaternary period had seen oil but only regarded it as an ordinary fuel and did not think deeply about its potential industrial uses.

Perhaps the only exception is Mr. "Door" Bethel Abraham, who has traveled through almost an infinite number of worlds and is a half-step true god with a fairly deep understanding of the astronomy, geography and culture of at least three galaxies.

Therefore, it is possible that He had encountered civilizations that were adept at using oil, but due to various reasons and limitations, He ultimately did not choose to bring the oil back to Earth.

"We need to find an opportunity to investigate this matter thoroughly later..."

Roger thought for a moment, then nodded slightly without saying anything more, and simply turned and walked straight toward the Holy Throne.

Bandit clearly noticed that Roger was acting strangely, but it wisely kept quiet and simply followed behind him.

When they reached the Holy Throne, Roger naturally sat down, while Bandit squatted at his feet.

At this moment, people dressed in formal attire and carrying various musical instruments and recording tools began to enter the temple.

Once everyone had arrived, they all bowed down to Roger under Augur Gur's guidance.

"Wow, this feels like an emperor holding court."

Roger clicked his tongue in amazement. He gestured for all the musicians to stand up and then began to tell them about the existence of those magical music pieces and their various effects.

This description left the musicians collectively bewildered. After a moment's thought, Roger began to use the mystical effect of "anchors" to play the music he had inscribed with rules into the musicians' minds in turn, to help them remember and understand.

The musicians of the "Blue-Skinned Ones" had never witnessed anything like this before. They were initially stunned, but after a moment, some of the quicker-witted individuals began to record the music, sensing its extraordinary power and following the music theory rules of Planet Butak. Soon, everyone realized this was a miracle displayed by the "Great Protector," and they all began writing furiously, eagerly absorbing the relevant information.

"Am I... kind of like the 'Hidden Sage'?"

Roger couldn't help but criticize himself in his mind.

That being said, from any perspective, he far surpasses the "Hidden Sage" and can be considered a truly "superior deity".

After a long while, almost all the musicians had recorded the two pieces, "Spring in the Four Seasons" and "Liebestraum," which Roger had played on repeat several times. Then, with Roger's approval, some musicians began to try them out with great excitement.

Roger quietly closed his eyes, feeling the musical rules echoing in the temple. After a long while, he stood up, pressed his hands down, and addressed the musicians:

"Next, you must become thoroughly familiar with and spread this music. After that, I will randomly select outstanding musicians from among you and distribute new pieces. So while you are studying the music, you also need to pray to me regularly."

"In addition, this music has a special effect on combat, so you can explore it more often."

Upon hearing this, all the "blue-skinned" musicians readily accepted the order and then praised Roger in unison.

Roger did this not only to help the "blue-skinned" people of Butak, but also to see what would happen if he spread his musical rules to alien civilizations in interstellar space.

Seeing that the musicians had all begun studying music, he nodded slightly, got up, and walked outside.

Augur Gul followed behind, and after walking a few steps, Roger finally spoke up and asked:
"Elder Augur, are there any extremely powerful supernatural beings on the planet Butak who harbor a clear hostile intent towards your race?"

The reason for asking this question was that Roger wanted to help Bandit find a demigod-level supernatural being to seal away. For those "apprentices" in the Northern Continent, there was a little-known fact: the pioneers of the Abraham family had long ago discovered that in the "Arcanist" advancement ceremony, if the divine being sealed by the ascendant was a creature from interstellar space, it would be much easier for him to subsequently advance to become a "Wanderer".

This relates to the essence of the ascendancy consciousness of these two sequences—in the ascension ritual of the "Arcanist," the effect of the seal is projected into the mystical world created by the potion and forms a gate-shaped mark, providing an anchor point for the ascendant's consciousness. This mark, along with the divine erosion of the sealed creature, can isolate the starry sky from the attraction of the "Star Worm" within the body, preventing the extraordinary from getting lost and splitting during the ascension process.

The ascension ritual for "Wanderers" involves finding three types of astral information projected into the spirit world, entering the dangerous scenarios they generate, and meticulously recording everything without forgetting it.

The essence of this ritual is to give extraordinary individuals sufficient understanding of the information mapping relationship between the astral plane and the spirit world. Furthermore, the information from these three projection areas can serve as the origin coordinates for starting from the spirit world and delving into the starry sky. In this way, during the ascension process, the consciousness of extraordinary individuals will not get lost in the depths of the astral plane due to uncontrollable wandering, thus becoming a soulless shell and ultimately losing control.

Considering the nature of the "Arcanist" advancement ceremony, it is not impossible to use divine beings from interstellar space during the "Arcanist" advancement process, but this behavior is also relatively more dangerous because it will intensify the attraction of the starry sky to the "Star Bugs".

However, once this ascension ritual is successful, the gate-shaped mark it forms will automatically possess some characteristics of the astral plane. These characteristics will be internalized into the roots of the "Arcanist's" mind tree, which will bring a direct benefit: he will need to find one less astral projection when ascending to Sequence 3, and because of its own nature, this mark will be more stable than a normal projection, and may even play a role more than one mark at critical moments.

Therefore, in the history of the Abraham family, when they trained "Arcanists", they would have "Wanderers" or even "Planetary Planeswalkers" directly protect their juniors who needed to advance, taking them to planets with dangerous divine creatures, and then using high-level "Gates" to seal artifacts or their own power to "recreate" a safe Earth scene at the advancement site.

This way, even if a bug is exploited—those ascendants completed the sealing of the divine beings in interstellar space within the sphere of influence of the simulated Earth, which greatly reduces the probability of the "Star Bugs" being attracted, but also achieves the goal of sealing the interstellar beings.

On the other hand, since it only changes the location and does not directly interfere with the sealing process, the ascendant still needs to rely on their own strength and foundation to seal the corresponding divine creature. Therefore, this kind of bug-exploiting behavior will not affect the effectiveness of the ritual and is a kind of shortcut.

Roger is currently searching for such divine beings. Considering that this planet was previously contaminated by "decaying" angels, there is a high probability that some scattered divine beings still exist on that uninhabitable continent.

Sure enough, upon hearing Roger's question, Augur Gul lowered his head to think for a moment, then spoke:

"To be honest, such a creature does exist."

"Oh? Tell me carefully."

Roger immediately became interested and asked further questions.

"It is a creature born from the pollution of 'decay', covered in a pus-like substance, larger than a normal 'blue-skinned' being, and does not have a fixed shape."

"This creature can create clones, spread disease and decay over a considerable area, and emit a dark yellow light that will always hit unless special means are used."

"In addition, they also possess an ability that we call 'inevitable death,' which will inevitably kill any creature that is hit by it. It is a very terrifying ability."

"And they are significantly hostile to any intelligent life. After the 'decaying' angels fell, the reason we have continued to live underground is not only to avoid pollution, but also because we are trying to avoid these creatures."

"Because history has taught us that once it discovers us, it will inevitably lead to a massive reduction in the number of 'blue-skinned' people."

"Fortunately, these life forms do not seem to have complete autonomy, but rather rely more on their instinct to seek out and kill intelligent beings to roam the continent—that is the only advantage."

Augur Gul shook his head repeatedly when he mentioned the creature, and Roger could tell that the "Blue-skinned One" seemed to have a great deal of trouble with it.

"Judging from the description... it seems to be a Sequence 4 level creature, or slightly weaker?"

Roger's mind raced slightly. He was only 7% certain that this creature was suitable for Bandit's advancement, and the specifics would only be clear after he actually saw it.

On the other hand, judging from Augur Gur's description, this creature is extremely dangerous. If it weren't for its lack of rationality, Roger might even have considered having Bendit give up this opportunity.

"To be honest, I want to find out where this creature is and consider eliminating it, as this is very important for Bandit's promotion."

After hearing Roger's words, Augur Gul thought for a moment before speaking:

"There's a canyon to the east of where we used to live. That monster often roams around there. If you go there and take a look, you might find something."

"clear."

Roger nodded, feeling slightly relieved.

Although the monster can move, even if Roger can find some of its contamination or body tissue in its usual activity areas, he can still find it by following the clues.

"Elder Augur, you should go back and rest. Bandit and I have some things to discuss."

"By order of the Lord, great protector."

Upon hearing Roger's words, Augur Gul nodded and then very consciously left the scene quickly, making sure he didn't hear what Roger and Bandit were discussing.

Roger first explained the Abraham family's research findings to Bandit, and then asked:
"How's it going? Do you have any ideas?"

"I have an idea. I've been thinking about it for a while now. It shouldn't be a big problem."

Bandit nodded, thought for a moment, and then asked:
"But let me confirm something with you first: can those special spirit realm coordinates that I relied on when I advanced earlier be directly connected from here?"

"can."

Roger nodded, his expression somewhat strange:
"All you need to do is pronounce that person's name."

"Who?"

Bandit was somewhat suspicious.

"It's the one you said you'd beat up after becoming a demigod."

Roger looked at Bandit with amusement, and his tone was also teasing.

"..."

Upon hearing this, Bandit fell silent for a long time, then let out a soft sigh:
"I can wait until I'm promoted to Sequence 3 before I beat it up."

Roger couldn't help but laugh after hearing this:
"Are you really going to do this?"

"Let me make this clear to you, that one is different from the small one; it has no hostility towards you."

This statement is both the truth and a way to give Bandit a way out.

The tabby cat naturally understood this meaning. It wagged its tail, thought for a while, and finally chose to compromise.

"Your principles are quite lenient."

Roger smiled and patted Bandit on the head.

"Nonsense! I'm just taking it one step at a time. What was that saying of Emperor Roselle again?"

Bandit briefly considered:
"Can a man bend and stretch?"

"Yes, man."

Roger glanced at the little lychee in Bandit, then touched it again:
"Should we prepare first, or set off immediately?"

"We need to make some preparations."

Bandit shook his head:
“I need you to teach me a new demigod-level ability; it is very important to me.”

"Sure, what ability?"

Roger asked curiously.

“Fate has granted me… I don’t need to learn it in great depth; I just need to be able to temporarily alter my mystical identity.”

"sure, no problem."

Roger nodded, feeling somewhat relieved, because the fact that Bandit could say such a thing meant that it had thought it through carefully.

After all, normally "destiny bestowal" requires the support of a "living horoscope" with insight into astrology. Although Bandit is a Sequence 5 "astrologer", most of his astrological knowledge is based on Earth and is not applicable to Butak.

Comparatively speaking, the threshold for "identity alteration" is lower. Although even if Bandit learns it, he cannot succeed on the first try, considering that the monster's mind is not very clear, it is possible to try several times.

After that, Roger stood by the temple and began teaching Bandit. It must be said that Bandit, which had already advanced to Sequence 5, had improved its learning ability considerably. It mastered the corresponding ability in just a few sessions.

"...Roger, I feel like I can learn another ability?"

After learning about "identity manipulation," Bandit pondered it carefully before speaking.

"Sure, is there any skill you'd like to learn?"

Roger thought for a moment, then said:
"You can learn not only my own abilities, but also the abilities of the souls I have enslaved."

"I want to learn how to 'magnify'."

Bandit's eyes lit up, and he spoke.

"can."

Roger readily agreed, and the two of them resumed the lesson. It took about 15 minutes for Bandit to fully master the power.

After confirming that Bandit was alright, Roger took it directly to the area where he had first met the "Blue-skinned Ones" using the spirit world projection corresponding to the "Primal Core".

Because it was located on the other hemisphere of Butak, and it was daytime there, Roger had given Bandit a potion made by Baron Bohr to strengthen its physique and temporarily alter its fate in order to prevent Bandit from being infected by pathogens in the air. With that, there were basically no problems.

After that, with Roger's "gravity" ability, the man and the cat flew eastward. After flying for about ten minutes, Roger saw the canyon that Augur Gur had mentioned.

Roger chose to land on the ground instead of venturing deeper into the canyon, because he had noticed some strange yellow marks on the ground while flying through the air.

Upon closer inspection, Roger was able to confirm that the yellow marks were the dangerous creature that Augur Gul had described.

To his relief, the mark, though somewhat dried, was still very clear, seemingly because it hadn't rained.

It seemed to lead to a place below the canyon where the sound of flowing water could be heard. Roger judged that, barring any unforeseen circumstances, they should be able to find the monster there!

(End of this chapter)