Mystery: The Ultimate Tarot

Chapter 423 The Capital of the Solomon Empire

The potion of the "Silent Disciple" is easier to digest than the potion of the "Devil," but it still takes some time to fully digest.

During his previous operations against the "Rose School" and the "Abyss Entrance" project, Raphael would take time to travel to various battlefields across the Southern Continent to digest the potions.

Therefore, to digest the "Silent Disciple" potion, one only needs to participate in two more wars and remain silent.

But that's precisely where the problem lies. A few days ago, he appeared in the center of the battlefield as usual, and the war intensified under his control.

Just as Raphael was about to begin digesting the potion, he realized that a saint had become involved in the war.

Clearly, the saint went to the battlefield after receiving a report from his subordinates.

Raphael had no intention of fighting his opponent, so he merely demonstrated his strength.

The saint, unsure of his own abilities, refrained from making a move and waited quietly for Raphael to leave on his own.

However, Raphael knew that he had been targeted by the official extraordinary beings. This time it might just be one saint observing, but next time it might be two or more saints.

Either prepare to fight the official extraordinary beings, or find a new way to digest the potion.

Raphael was still considering what to do.

Regardless of any obstacles encountered in digesting the "Silent Disciple" potion, it is an indisputable fact that it is about to be completely digested.

Therefore, preparations for the next promotion ceremony must begin. The ceremony for promotion sequence 2, "Ancient Evil Object," requires finding an ancient, evil object that can carry the power of angels.

Raphael didn't know what he needed the item for, but he guessed it was probably for sharing the damage and risks during his promotion.

Raphael has been searching for the corresponding item recently, but has not yet found any clues.

The ritual for advancing to Sequence 3 "Whisperer" involves finding a way to sign a time-limited or permanent "life and death" contract with a demigod who has a purification pathway, such as "Sun" or "Twilight Giant," or a demigod who represents a life pathway, such as "Mother," and then taking a magic potion during the contract's effective period.

This ritual is relatively simple for Raphael. For example, there is a demigod in the Tarot Club who uses the "Sun" pathway. However, if the ritual is completed through the "Little Sun," it will inevitably expose Raphael's secret of taking potions with two pathways.

Raphael was reluctant to reveal this secret before being promoted to angel.

So Raphael selected a Sequence 5 in Senr City, provided him with the potion of "Darkness-Free One," and helped him complete the ascension ceremony.

The extraordinary beings of Sen'er City primarily follow the "Mystic" pathway, which is adjacent to the "Sun" pathway and can be interchanged at Sequence 4.

Raphael has now trained a "Dark One," a devout follower of the "Lord of Evil Desires," and is just waiting to sign a contract with him when the time comes.

Of course, the other party will definitely face some risks during the promotion process.

Raphael did not hide the risks from the "Dark One," but because Raphael had led them out of the Forsaken Land and given him the opportunity to advance to Sainthood, the "Dark One" agreed without hesitation. He also promised to keep Raphael's secret.

Now, Raphael only needs to worry about the ascension ceremony for the "Ancient Evil Artifact" and the corresponding auxiliary materials.

There's no need to worry about the materials needed to advance to "Whisperer," because Raphael obtained the materials for the "Whisperer" potion from the "Whisperer" he killed earlier.

Just as Raphael was pondering where to begin in preparing for the promotion ceremony, Benjamin, the president of the Aurora Society, gave Raphael a clue.

This lead came from a letter from Benjamin, the first sentence of which told Raphael that they had confirmed that Freddy, the vice president of the Aurora Society, was dead.

So Benjamin ordered Raphael to continue Freddy's mission and bring back his characteristics.

If Raphael completes this task, he can become the president of the Aurora Society.

Raphael's first thought was, "This is a trap!"

The fact that the president of the Aurora Society is being offered as a reward suggests that this mission must be extremely dangerous.

Raphael is now considered the vice president of the Aurora Society, so it seems unnecessary for him to become the actual president.

However, Raphael was well aware that this was not just a position of chairman; the other party's reward was tantamount to giving the Aurora Society to the "Lord of Evil Desire"!

After all, both sides have now revealed their true intentions: Raphael is a follower of the Lord of Evil Desires and does not believe in the True Creator at all. It sounds a bit absurd to have a follower of the Lord of Evil Desires lead an organization loyal to the True Creator.

Therefore, this reward is equivalent to handing over a mid-level extraordinary organization to Raphael. The Aurora Society is already a relatively mature organization, and its manpower and resources are readily available, so there is no need to worry about development issues.

Raphael wasn't interested at all, because the mission was far too dangerous.

But when Raphael saw the details of the mission, he was tempted.

It turns out that Vice President Freddy's mission was to find a lost relic of the true Creator Church in Adero, the former capital of the Solomon Empire.

According to information provided by Benjamin, during the battle between the Roman Empire and the six gods in the Fourth Age, the entire city of Adro was sunk underground due to the holy war and its whereabouts became unknown.

Several years ago, Vice President Freddie rediscovered the city based on internal church records.

The location of that lost city is within the territory of the Fusak Empire, in the southwest of the Intersea Sea.

It was originally on the southern shore of Jianhai, but that divine war changed the area and location of Jianhai, so the original southern shore became the southwest.

If Raphael accepts this mission, Benjamin will provide specific instructions on how to enter the city of Adero, as well as Freddy's several exploration records.

Raphael thought that perhaps in that city, he could find a sinister object that could carry the power of angels.

The auxiliary materials for upgrading to "Ancient Evil Object" are: 1 commonly used item of "Ancient Evil Object", 9 ancient bones, 1 evil curse that has not been completely eliminated, and 1 architectural sculpture with binding meaning.

Except for the first one, the other three seem to be available there.

Raphael already had the first auxiliary material; he took the "Mystic Puppet" that the "Rose School" angel Balanca, who had been killed, from him, and used it as an auxiliary material.

After a moment's thought, Raphael decided to accept the task.

The main focus is on searching for promotion materials and preparing the items needed for promotion, with Aurora Society missions as a secondary activity.

If danger is encountered, retreat immediately.

Once you've gathered enough materials for the promotion, you can put this task aside for now.

After Raphael ascends to become an angel, he will no longer be afraid of the "True Creator," and this task will become optional.

Having made up his mind, Raphael wrote to Chairman Benjamin and accepted the task.

Perhaps because there was a passage between the Forsaken Land and the real world, Benjamin's messenger quickly brought a reply, along with the relevant information.

For the next two days, Raphael studied these materials.

Based on Freddy's previous explorations, the sunken city was like a bizarre and fantastical world. Nearly two thousand years had passed, and the powers of the gods were still fighting there, making it somewhat like a city-sized ruin of a divine war.

The situation was even more complicated than in the ruins of the God War; even the saints didn't have much room to maneuver there, and a moment's carelessness...

Anyway, Vice President Freddy is already dead there.

After studying the materials, Raphael felt it would be more appropriate to find an assistant.

The members of the Tarot Society in Backlund have all been promoted to demigods, but Benjamin repeatedly emphasized in his letter that Adri's location should be kept secret, and Raphael felt that it was not appropriate to ask the members of the Tarot Society to do this task.

After thinking about it for a moment, Raphael thought of Triss.

Now, this "Despair Witch" has fully adapted to her identity as a "Saint of the Aurora Society," and frequently travels to various parts of Rune to help the divine messengers solve some saint-level problems.

Before the start of the World War, there weren't many events at the Saint level, or rather, apart from Backlund, there weren't many extraordinary events.

However, during the World Wars, nations and churches utilized the extraordinary abilities they had accumulated over the past few centuries, resulting in a large number of extraordinary individuals. Secret organizations also took advantage of the chaos to recruit new members.

This caused the number of extraordinary beings to increase dramatically, and at the same time, the number of saints also began to increase at some point.

As a result, the official extraordinary individuals were busier than before, and the members of the secret organizations were also busier than before.

Raphael thought of Triss not only because she was a saint of the Aurora Society and taking her to Adrios would meet the confidentiality requirements, but also because Raphael had the main material that Triss needed.

The two main ingredients of the "Immortal Witch" potion are the "Heart of the Mirror God" and the "Eye of the Gorgon," which Raphael previously used...

In exchange for the "Heart of the Mirror God" stolen from the Aurora Society, Triss was invited to join the Aurora Society.

On the other hand, Raphael obtained a pair of "Gorgon eyes" from Benjamin, the president of the Aurora Society, by using the condition offered by "a desperate witch who intends to join the Aurora Society".

Raphael felt it was time to give this main material to Triss so she could advance to Sequence 3.

So Raphael wrote to Triss, explaining the mission issued by the guild master and the level of danger involved.

He then told Triss that he had obtained "the eyes of the Gorgon" and blood for use as an auxiliary material in potions from the guild master for her.

Upon hearing of such a reward, Triss immediately agreed and joined Raphael in completing this dangerous mission.

After agreeing on a departure time, the two separated to begin preparations.

Raphael summoned Wagner, who had been promoted to Sequence 5, and explained some matters that needed to be handled recently. He then summoned several other key members and publicly announced that Wagner would be temporarily in charge of the Aurora Society's affairs in Backlund.

Everyone immediately realized that the two saints would be leaving together for a while, because when Raphael left on his own, Saint Triss had been in charge of Backlund's affairs.

Raphael looked at the members who had followed him earlier; they were now all "middle-sequence" extraordinary individuals.

The losses suffered by the Aurora Society in Backlund have finally been recovered, and they are now even stronger than before.

The next morning, Raphael led Triss into the spirit world and arrived at the location marked in the information.

It was in the forests of the mountains, and there were only a few small villages far from here.

Standing atop the mountain, Raphael couldn't help but marvel at the extraordinary changes that had been "created" over the past. In the first half of the Quaternary period, this was the most prosperous region in the entire northern continent.

But now, there is only an endless forest here.

Raphael speculated that the war of the gods that took place in Solomon's capital must have turned a large area around it into a "no man's land".

After gazing into the distance for a while, Raphael got down to business and used his "Fallen" ability at the location marked by Vice President Freddy.

Everything around became viscous, as if a vast black swamp had appeared out of thin air.

Raphael and Triss immediately felt the force of their fall, as if the earth held the ultimate evil and depravity, and they were falling toward it.

Raphael had told Triss beforehand not to resist the force of the fall, and soon the two of them disappeared into the mud and entered a dark area.

In this dim light, it seemed as if shadows were constantly shifting.

This is a "world in shadows," but Raphael and Triss's fall continues.

After a few seconds, they suddenly felt a firm footing, and soon, the two of them fell into a building that had partially collapsed.

Raphael couldn't help but look up, where there was a constantly shifting mass of darkness—the very place they had come from.

Freddy mentioned in the document that there are many ways to get in here, but he only knows how to use the power of "corruption" to get in.

Saints from other churches have probably been here as well, but this place is just ruins. Although it has some extraordinary properties and sealed artifacts, it is too dangerous for saints. And the things here are not worth the attention of gods and angels. So if you are lucky, you can still find a lot of good things here.

The two emerged from the collapsed building, where bright sunlight streamed in, making it feel almost like being outside.

With the help of the sunlight, Raphael and Triss saw the entire legendary city. As far as the eye could see, the city was in ruins, dotted with green vegetation, but many buildings still looked very sturdy.

After determining their direction, Raphael led Triss along the safe route Freddy had explored, heading towards the city center.

As they passed a towering tree, their hair, eyebrows, and body hair grew rapidly, and soon they became "hairy people."

Raphael exclaimed, "My God, I could make a broom out of my armpit hair!"

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