Raise Joan of Arc to be an empress, then discard her.

Claire wouldn't let him go. She grabbed his neck, her speed reaching supersonic speeds. Gravel flew through the air like snowflakes, carving a bloody path through the street. By the time he stopped, he had lost all ability to resist. He was thrown to the ground.

Facing one of the Seven Deadly Sins, it only took three seconds... no, only two seconds to end the battle. This actually includes the moment of capture. Claire dealt with her opponent in an instant. And the speed Claire just displayed made Aaron suspect that she hadn't even used her full strength. It was like trying to catch a sheep in a sheepfold. Once the prey was locked on, its fate was already sealed.

"Is this... a real angel...?" Aaron murmured unconsciously.

“Yes, this is a real angel,” Elliott said.

Aaron said this unintentionally, but it got a response from Elliot. Perhaps at the same time, they both had the same thought. He turned to look at Elliot and found that Elliot was also looking at the horizon, with a distant look in his eyes that Aaron could not understand, a look full of longing.

The girl who once spoke so eloquently in the church has grown up. She was once an eleven or twelve-year-old girl, but now she has completely transformed into an angel, the only one in the entire world.

St. Anne Church, Birmingham

When Aaron returned from Lodoron, he didn't go home but immediately went to the library of the Church of Judgment. Even Elliot and Theo were surprised by Aaron's diligence.

Because Aaron received important news: the name of Sequence 8 of Nature's Blessing is "Sprout".

This aligns with Aaron's intuition. Sequence 9 is named "Seed" and Sequence 8 is named "Sprout." The sequences blessed by nature mimic the growth process of a seed.

Omniscient blessing is the process of spiritual fire growing from "candlelight" to "mirror light," and when it grows to its fullest extent, it can resonate with the light of omniscience.

Nature's blessing seems to be a process of life energy constantly growing stronger. By analogy, Aaron felt that he had gained some understanding of the power of nature's blessing.

But Neve told him that if he wanted to advance, he had to establish a connection with the dragons. Aaron was puzzled. Did this mean he had to undergo some kind of ritual with the dragons? Was it the same for the other Blessed Ones of Nature?

Chapter 214 Strange Cause of Death

He had heard before that those who receive natural blessings need connections and networks to advance further on this path; otherwise, the path would be blocked from the start. Therefore, all those who receive blessings choose to join the Church of Nature.

When he chose to bestow the blessing, he only considered the intensity and potential, and did not take this aspect into account. Now he realizes that he was negligent.

However, he has now met three pure-blooded dragons, and they said they could introduce him to other dragons. With his network of connections already established, he shouldn't have to worry too much about promotion, as long as he can reach the "budding" stage.

The reason Aaron considered this matter as soon as he returned was because he was about to be promoted again.

He could clearly feel that his spiritual spark was slowly growing stronger, and the "candlelight" was developing in the direction of "mirror light".

At first, the spiritual spark within him was very weak, a faint flame that could be extinguished by a gust of wind, requiring him to rely on a physical body. But now, his flame has grown stronger and stronger, and when it completely detaches from the physical body, he will officially advance to Sequence 8, becoming more powerful and gaining new abilities.

He had already walked the same path in his previous life, and walking it again would only be a matter of time before he was promoted. He estimated that he would reach the next rank in at most another month.

If people knew that he had advanced to the next rank in just over a month, they would definitely think that his advancement speed was too exaggerated. In order not to attract too much attention, Aaron thought it was better not to let people know too early.

After the Omniscient Blessing comes the Natural Blessing.

He has come to understand that nature's blessings seem to be the process of life energy constantly growing stronger.

After unlocking the arm armor, Aaron did feel that his life energy had grown stronger, and his body and strength had also become stronger. He could feel that he was on the right path, and with the current training method, it should only be a matter of time before he broke through, if he did not encounter any bottlenecks.

Then came the question he had been avoiding.

He has three different forces within him. He is not sure if he can advance smoothly after breaking through the bottleneck. He has a feeling that he is walking on an unknown and dark road. His past experience cannot help him. This feeling of the unknown makes him confused.

Just then, Elliott told him that he couldn't go on missions with them for a month and could only do some simple work, so Aaron used all his spare time to train.

He decided to spend most of his time training at the Giant's Tower and also made a trip to the library in the Papal Quarter.

The library in the Papal Quarter is called the Tudor Library. It is the largest library in Birmingham and has a large collection of books. Claire would also come here occasionally.

Aaron could freely browse most of the books. Logically speaking, the library had a very rich collection that would be more than enough to meet the needs of most people. However, after leaving the library, Aaron looked somewhat bewildered.

Because he clearly felt the difference between the Tudor Library and another library he used to frequent.

"It really can't compare to the Lucerne Library."

The library Aaron frequented in his previous life was known as the Library of Omniscience. It housed all the world's most precious books and was the largest library in the world. The Mad King gathered all the books he had collected from around the world there, and Aaron was fortunate enough to browse through it.

Now he realizes how lucky he was to be able to browse the vast collection of books in a country known as "Omniscient".

Although this place is not as good as the All-Knowing Library, it is still sufficient for Aaron. Most importantly, he can get help from Roland. Aaron discovered that although Roland usually wears a cashmere shawl and always finds a quiet place to read, looking very lazy, he is very knowledgeable and can answer most of Aaron's questions.

Besides training, Aaron also observes other people in the church. He finds that Roland spends most of his time in the library and his own research room, occasionally coming out to treat people for free, but otherwise rarely goes on missions.

The main force for going out on missions consisted of Elliot and Theo. Besides missions, Elliot also had to work as a priest every Sunday. Regarding the priesthood, Elliot had always wanted Aaron to take over, but Aaron had cleverly refused, realizing that if he accepted, he would become the priest of St. Anne's Church...

Claire, on the other hand, was the busiest person in the church. While Elliot, Theo, and Aaron could occasionally run into her, Claire was only seen a few times a month. Aaron had no idea what Claire was busy with; it seemed that in her position, there was always something to do.

But recently, they've become overwhelmed, not because there are more missions, but because of a cult that spans Lodoren and Birmingham, and a name Aaron has heard countless times: "AA".

Who is AA?

When Aaron asked this question, Claire, Elliot, and Theo were all present. The three of them, without prior arrangement, told Aaron with serious expressions that she was an extremely dangerous being and that he should not try to find out her purpose. They told Aaron that if he encountered her, he should run away immediately and absolutely not get entangled with her.

"So dangerous?" Aaron was dumbfounded after hearing their description.

“I’ve been trying to capture her for about a year, but she always manages to escape. She’s very mysterious; many times even I can’t see through her power.”

"Can't you tell?"

"Yes, we've been fighting her for a year, and we still can't figure out what her blessing is. She seems to have mastered a mysterious power."

"And she seems to possess incredible power, always able to do incredible things." These words, spoken by Claire, shocked Aaron even more, and even Elliott found them unbelievable.

"In short, she is highly mysterious, her origins are unclear, and to this day, we still do not know what her purpose is. She worships a 'dark god' and her purpose in founding a cult seems to be for pleasure. She often makes her followers enjoy themselves and also has the ability to turn stones into gold and water into fine wine. If you encounter her, you must be careful, because even we cannot deal with her."

They were so powerful that even Aaron couldn't help but become curious, but his priority was training, so he didn't pay much attention to it.

A month later.

Aaron slowly opened his eyes.

He was shirtless, breathing rhythmically, his muscles bulging and stretching. Judging from his physique and what he was doing, he was training. But unlike ordinary people, his right hand maintained a violent dragon-like transformation while he trained. Now, the ferocious dragon-like transformation slowly disappeared until it became a normal human hand, with only a black scale remaining on his wrist.

On the black scales that resemble a mirror, a gigantic, dark vortex of maw opened wildly, as if it wanted to devour the entire world. Just staring at that maw gave one the feeling that one's whole body was about to be sucked in.

After training, Aaron put on his clothes, pulled down his sleeves, and covered the black scales on his wrists.

After a month, the patterns on the scales became increasingly unrestrained and excessive. As Aaron grew stronger, so did the giant maw.

Aaron has gained a lot in this month, becoming familiar with the power of his natural blessings.

The power of the Natural Blessing Sequence 9 "Seed" is already confirmed: it transforms his entire arm into a dragon, causing it to grow scales resembling arm armor. From a distance, it looks as if a ferocious and terrifying dragon has bitten his arm, which explains its savage appearance.

Neve wasn't lying to him; he could sense that the potential of his blessing on the black dragon was immense, no less than the power of his Omniscient Blessing.

However, despite the arm looking extremely ferocious and terrifying, after a month of testing, Aaron found that the arm armor did not significantly increase strength, but rather greatly enhanced defense. After several tests, he discovered that he could use the scales of the arm armor as a small shield.

This allowed Aaron's fighting style to become more flexible and versatile, no longer confined to walking a tightrope. Aaron was very satisfied with the improvement.

Once he mastered Nature's Blessing, he could use both Omniscience's Blessing and Nature's Blessing in battle. If he were to face the Bannered Nobles from the Tower of Giants era again, he could win more easily. However, he was still unsure of the actual effectiveness in combat and was eager to try it out.

The training in Natural Blessing was remarkably effective, and the progress in Omniscience Blessing was even more rapid. After a month, he felt that his progress in Omniscience Blessing had reached a bottleneck, and the spiritual spark was about to detach from the physical body. It only needed a trigger to transform into mirror light.

I'm just one step away from becoming a Sequence 8 superhuman.

This is what he achieved when he was fourteen years old.

But along with the gains come the crises.

He found himself losing control of the dangerous power within him.

On several nights, he felt his body begin to uncontrollably turn into a monster, and as time went on, this feeling of loss of control became stronger and stronger. He had better find a way to solve it.

In addition to this, he also faces another problem.

How do I upgrade myself?

If one's Omniscient Blessing reaches Sequence 8, will Nature's Blessing also break through at the same time?

For ordinary superhumans, leveling up is a natural process, but for Aaron, it has become a problem.

Perhaps if the Omniscient Blessing breaks through, the Natural Blessing will naturally upgrade as well?

In conclusion, there's little point in Aaron continuing to train; he should go out and find opportunities for real combat, which is the best way for him to break through.

"It's time to take on a mission," Aaron muttered to himself.

The month-long confinement period has ended, and I can't stay in the Giant Tower to train all the time.

Aaron walked out of the Giant's Tower and learned that Elliott was in the church.

Beneath the enormous domed atrium, amidst the sounds of water and the white light and shadow, Elliott was talking to a young blond man when Aaron casually approached, pretending to be a traveler visiting the church to pray.

The conversation ended quickly, and the blond man left looking extremely grateful to Elliott.

After the blond man left, Elliott called out to him, "Come here quickly, we have a new mission."

"What is the mission?" Aaron came to Elliott's side.

"There's been a murder in Birmingham. A wealthy man has died in his home. We'd better go and take a look."

"Did he die in the Papal Quarter?"

"No, the wealthy man's home is in the East Birmingham area, far from the Papal Courtyard."

"Shouldn't this matter fall under the jurisdiction of the police or the Church of Nature?" Aaron still remembered the principles of jurisdiction that Claire had explained to him.

“Generally speaking, the wealthy man himself is a devout follower of the Natural Church, but his son is a follower of the Judgment Church, the one who just mentioned him. After his father died, he donated a lot of money to St. Anne's Church. This month, he is the top donor. You know, it is also very important to maintain good relations with believers.”

"Turns out, they're a major client."

“But that’s not what really interests me. How should I put it… his father’s death was quite interesting. Let’s go, I’ve already called Theo along.”

Even Theo was called in, so it seems this is at least on the same level as the last time in Blackrock Street.

"How did his father die?"

You'll see when you get there.

*

The three of them arrived in Birmingham city by carriage, and before they even got off, they saw the rich man's blond son.

He was dressed very elegantly, and his clothes and jewelry showed that he was a person who valued quality of life. But now he looked very haggard, probably due to the impact of his father's death.

While in the carriage, Elliott told Aaron and the others that the father was known as Big Martin and the son as Little Martin.

“You’ve finally arrived.” Little Martin looked like he’d seen a savior and whispered in their ears, “I haven’t called the police or moved anything at the crime scene, just waiting for you to come.”

“No offense intended, but when did your father die?” Aaron asked.

"It happened last night, because the servants saw my father alive in the afternoon. God knows how I got through last night," said Martin, still shaken.

They followed Martin into the villa and saw that the servants inside looked just as shaken as Martin. They followed Martin to the third floor, and when they arrived at the door, Martin told them that this was Martin's bedroom, and that even he rarely came up here except for the maids. He also said that the scene inside might be shocking, and they should be prepared.

"What kind of situation haven't we seen before?" Theo urged, telling Martin to stop talking nonsense.