Mystery: Starting with the Night Pope.

Chapter 123 "The Craftsman"

In this era of strife, many churches and clandestine organizations inevitably clashed after the initial division of interests.

There's no way around it; there are too few believers, and the gods need too many "anchors."

Meanwhile, conflicts between the true gods of adjacent paths began to accumulate, and the dispute between the goddess of night and the god of war had almost come to the fore.

"It's only been a few years, and it's already this chaotic?" This was Truman's exclamation when he came to the Church of the Night to check the files.

Under the immense pressure of the Creator, the world has been peaceful for over a thousand years, but these contradictions will not disappear. Now that the pressure has been lifted, it seems that the battles owed over those thousand years are truly about to be made up.

For the first few years of this new era, he hid in Gensokyo to analyze the Book of Dreams and familiarize himself with the authority of "truth." Now that he has come out, he finds signs of a divine war already taking place outside.

"Herabergen performed the ceremony and easily became the 'God of Knowledge and Wisdom'..."

The fact that this old man became a god so quickly is probably related to the death of the Creator, or perhaps even more sinister; this old man probably had it all planned out long ago.

"Your Holiness, this is the latest intelligence summary." An elderly man dressed in a dark gold robe and wearing a crown presented the intelligence report.

"Uh..." Truman blinked, his tone somewhat peculiar, "Now you are the Pope of the Night."

He had already been ousted from the position of Pope.

Around the first year of the new era, the Church of the Night experienced tremendous growth, and correspondingly, its affairs increased a hundredfold. In the absence of the Pope, many archbishops could only consult the hidden angels.

At first things were fine, but then the Hidden Angels appealed directly, causing the Goddess to remove the papal crown from Saint Truman's head and reappoint a new pope.

"..." The new Pope of the Night was speechless. He really didn't want to get involved in the power struggle between the Dream Angels and the Hidden Angels!

"Ahem, from now on I'll just be a dream angel." Truman coughed lightly and reiterated.

"Yes!" The second-generation Pope of the Night nodded in response and slowly withdrew.

Truman took all the files and browsed through the relevant information.

"I see..." Truman still hadn't found what he needed.

The Morse Order—that was Truman's goal.

However, he seemed to have arrived a bit too early; so far, neither the Church of the Eternal Sun nor the Church of the Goddess of Night had gathered any relevant information.

"Perhaps we have to wait a few more years?" Truman frowned. "That won't work either. The erosion of the source material is definitely stronger than it was on the original trajectory. Right now, the 'Knowledge Wilderness' may have already begun to erode the uniqueness of the 'Hermit'."

After acquiring the characteristics of the "Knowledge Emperor," Truman used the power of "causality" to investigate the uniqueness of the "Hermit."

However, due to his lack of sufficient understanding of this uniqueness, and the inherent characteristics of "hermits" in hiding and keeping secrets, he gained nothing.

"Stiano?" This was the person who founded the Morse Order in Truman's memory, but he had no recollection of him at all.

"If the 'Hermit' approach doesn't work, then it'll be the 'Perfect One'." Truman took out the Civilization Scroll; he knew a bit about this "craftsman."

"Convergence!" The "Craftsman" path leans towards the reality side, but it lacks the characteristics of secrecy and confidentiality. Therefore, Truman directly used the authority of "reality" to enhance the cohesive power of the Civilization Scroll and its inherent path characteristics.

"This way!" Truman wandered over directly, and upon entering the spirit world, he gained a clearer understanding of a certain connection, and teleported directly to a fixed point.

"Clang! Clang!"

Truman stepped out of the spatial passage and heard the sound of hammering. What came into view was a huge metal furnace, which was scorched by some kind of extremely hot black flame and shone brightly.

"This...is very much in line with stereotypes!"

"clang!"

The clanging of metal continued, and Truman, without revealing himself, walked toward the source of the sound.

The room was occupied by a metal furnace, with the other half filled with various kinds of metal. There was only one narrow passageway for one person to pass through.

Truman walked down the corridor to another room.

"Failed again..."

He heard a sigh and soon saw a thin figure swinging a metal hammer, striking ore.

"Why is guiding civilization so difficult?" the figure exclaimed, questioning the meaning of life.

"Are you preparing for the 'Civilization Initiator' ceremony?" Truman concluded from the metal.

If we disregard all supernatural abilities, modern human civilization is actually not much different from the Bronze Age civilization as perceived by Truman.

The various traces on these metals suggest that their owner was probably looking for a metal superior to bronze.

"Who!" The thin figure was startled awake by the sound, and suddenly metals with various properties were created and appeared around him.

These metals combined to form a huge humanoid structure, protecting the slightly slender figure from all sides.

The scattered metal pieces quickly reassembled into metal knights, tightly surrounding Truman.

Is this... a mystical version of Gundam? Truman looked up in awe.

"Huh?!" The imposing machine, whose height could crush a giant, suddenly stopped, and the person inside saw Truman's true face.

"Your Highness... no, I should address you as Your Majesty!" The tall giant awkwardly bowed to Truman.

"You seem a little afraid of me?" Truman looked at the "craftsman" with interest, sensing fear and similar emotions.

"This..." The "craftsman" was indeed somewhat frightened. "I saw you kill the Lord..."

Having already become an angel seeking advancement to the first rank, He was also qualified to witness that assassination.

Um... Truman was slightly speechless. Was the first impression really that bad?

"Are you still a believer in the Creator?" Truman tried to keep his tone as gentle as possible.

"It used to be." The "craftsman" knew that Truman held the power of "imagination" and dared not hide anything.

"So you're starting your own missionary work now, all ready to make a big splash?" Truman said jokingly.

"I..." The "craftsman" opened his mouth slightly, but could not speak. He wanted to become a first-order god.

But perhaps Truman's psychological trauma was too great, and coupled with Truman's sudden arrival, he was somewhat afraid and dared not disarm himself.

"There's no need to be afraid. I don't intend to kill you for your special abilities."

The enormous "craftsmen" were all frozen in place, speechless.

"Are you planning to find a metal to replace bronze and then spread it among humanity?"

Truman tapped the metal knights beside him. These metal knights were not weak; with the help of certain knowledge, they could probably reach the combat power of a demigod.

This is probably the ability of Sequence 4 "Alchemist" in the "Craftsman" pathway.

(End of this chapter)