Can't I develop my own character?

But this has nothing to do with him. Compared to Ryan, he cares more about the purpose of the Pope looking for him. Such a big shot would definitely not do such a thing for no reason.

But then again, if he was trying to win him over, why didn't he just call him "Lin Qi"? Could it be that the other party knew about his close relationship with "Lin Qi"? That shouldn't be the case.

Considering that everything is possible in the extraordinary world, Ryan chose to keep a low profile. Whoever wants to be a loyal minister of the Pope can do it, but he won't do it anyway.

"Now that things have come to this... let's eat first."

......

the other side.

Josh left the castle and returned to a secret room in the Janus Church.

After making sure that he was not being followed or monitored by magic, he carefully took out a bottle from his storage bag and poured the silvery-white liquid inside into a crystal plate.

These silvery-white liquids are connected to each other, as if they are fused together as a whole, spread out evenly, without a single drop spilled outside.

Josh silently chanted a spell, and magic power emerged from his hands and merged into the liquid.

As a strong beam of light flashed by, Josh took a few steps back and knelt on the ground respectfully.

After a while, a shadow appeared on the crystal plate.

"Josh, is it done?" Pope Sylvia's ethereal voice sounded.

"I'm so sorry, Pope." Josh prostrated himself on the ground, not daring to look up. "I conveyed your wishes to Ryan, but..."

"He refused?"

"Yes, although he didn't say it explicitly, I could tell he didn't seem interested."

"How exactly did you say it?"

Josh quickly recounted his conversation with Ryan.

Sylvia was silent for a long time and said, "Since he refused, don't contact him for the time being. Just leave your contact information with him."

"Yes, Pope..." Josh responded respectfully. After a pause, he couldn't help but ask, "Pope, why are you so obsessed with Ryan? Although he has some power in Augustus, he doesn't help much with the development of the church, right?"

"Some things you will understand sooner or later."

Josh: “???”

Josh looked up, bewildered.

"what happened?"

"No, it's nothing."

Josh quickly lowered his head, thinking to himself, "I'll understand sooner or later... Your Holiness, what should I understand?" Ryan said the same thing.

"Okay, step back."

"Yes."

Qiao Xi lowered his head and waited until the light on the silver-white liquid completely dissipated and the secret room returned to its original state. Then he stood up, collected the used silver-white liquid, and poured it back into the bottle with some heartache.

This thing was given to him by the Pope for communication and can only be used three times in total.

In other words, he only has two more chances to meet with the Pope, and he doesn't know when the next mission will be.

...

In a world of nothingness.

Sylvia walked on the boundless land. At the end of her sight was a huge temple. Thousands of steps extended in front of the temple, and at the top was a magnificent palace.

The temple is a well-preserved temple.

Unlike those ancient abandoned ruins, it is very likely that there are secrets about God, or even power, hidden inside.

Unfortunately, although the temple seemed to be right in front of her, no matter how long or far she walked, she could never get close to it.

Just recently, she used the Great Prophecy Technique to tell fortunes for herself.

The conclusion is...there is no conclusion, the omnipotent prophecy has lost its effect.

She then tried many times, with no exceptions.

"It seems that the normal way to get there is impossible... Let's give up for now. Janus's oracle, three hundred years later... the voice of God, is too forced." Sylvia raised her hand, and there seemed to be broken stars shining in her silver eyes. A ball of milky white and soft light appeared in her hand. "It is directly for Lin Qi. Why did God let Lin Qi go to Ryan? Something really happened to the gods. Even if I interpreted the oracle without authorization, Janus still didn't respond. Is he asleep, or..."

The hazy mist obscured Sylvia's figure, and only her silver eyes seemed to be able to see through everything in the world.

"The Age of Gods is silent, and the Golden Dawn... is an age full of possibilities. Who says humans can't become gods?" Sylvia murmured softly, glanced at the temple, then turned and left. Her figure faded as she walked until it disappeared.

......

When Ryan heard Casradi talking about the dwarves, he almost couldn't help but hug the latter.

Dwarf! Dwarf!

So there are dwarves in this world?!

Oh Janus, Moon God, Earth Goddess, there are dragons and elves? Qi Kexiu, why did the times pass, why didn't I see it!

Ryan has a dream, to ride a dragon and sing songs, to hug an elf and do exercises, to experience the feeling of rushing down in the sky, and it must be an elf, not those mutated goblins!

Unfortunately, times have changed.

The dragons and elves have disappeared, but dwarves? I'm not interested.

However, when it comes to dwarven technology, their ability to inherit machinery and forge civilization is the strongest among all races. This is not learning but inheritance, the effect of extraordinary power, so there must be many technologically powerful "scientists" among the dwarves.

If he could find these dwarves, then the Roman Empire technology he had obtained might be realized in a short period of time.

"Prince Casradi, please be sure to deceive Cavanaugh... No, please come here!" Ryan said seriously.

"Ha..." Casradi smiled helplessly, "Lian, why are you so excited? I'm just talking to you. If possible, I'll go talk to His Majesty Venetian."

Oh yes, I'm just an earl, not an emperor.

Ryan coughed lightly: "What I mean is, the Queen will definitely agree to such a good thing."

"But I'm worried about two things. First, the dwarves' stronghold is in the East Continent. Even if I can find them, Your Majesty will have to send people to the East Continent to welcome them. There will be too much risk and complications along the way. Will Your Majesty agree? Second, I'm not sure I can convince Cavanaugh right now, and I'm not even sure if Cavanaugh can convince the dwarves to come."

"There will definitely be no problem with the Empress. There are risks but it's worth a try. Anyway, we will go to war with Arcadia sooner or later." Ryan waved his hand indifferently.

Casradi tilted his head. "Really? How do you know His Majesty will agree? This spans an entire continent, with the Northern Federation in the middle. Although they want to ally with Augustus, if it's dwarven technology, Emperor Mortis will definitely not remain indifferent."

Hai Nuo suddenly said, "Perhaps we can go by sea. I contacted my friend last time, and she's happy to try to build a new type of warship for Augustus. But even if it's an ordinary model, going by sea will be much smoother as long as we're careful."

"That's exactly what I mean." Ryan said with a smile, "There are a hundred reasons to convince the Queen, so this is not the key issue. The key point is how to convince those dwarves."

Speaking of this, Ryan thought of the mark in his hand, and wondered if he could pretend to be the Chosen One of the Earth.

Although Arcadia is the country that believes in the Earth, the dwarves don't seem to care much about them. In this case, I, the "orthodox" one, may have a chance. Who cares? It doesn't cost money anyway, so I might as well give it a try.

"Don't tell the Empress yet. Find a way to contact Kavanaugh. I'll go with you to convince the Empress later... Actually, this is a crucial opportunity for the Empire. As long as the Empress isn't incompetent, she'll definitely agree. After all, the threat from Arcadia is indeed formidable right now. If we don't seek a breakthrough, remaining complacent will only lead to our own slow demise. Falling behind will only lead to being beaten."

"Those who fall behind will be beaten..." Casladi savored this sentence carefully and felt that it was simple and plain, but contained the ultimate truth. This is what is meant by the simplicity of the great way.

This is Ryan. Calling him an imperial demon or a manipulator of civil strife are just slanders made by people who don’t understand him.

Ryan just pledged allegiance to the wrong person. Casradi felt that if Ryan had been loyal to 'Vene', he would have long been a well-known loyal minister of the empire.

But choosing to pledge allegiance and following to the end, doesn't this also demonstrate his loyalty? I just hope that Maganna can wake up in time and be loyal to the empire in the future, and stop thinking about seizing the throne.

The three of them enjoyed lunch and chatted a lot. Ryan and Heino learned about her friend. She was an Augustan, the daughter of a viscount, and her father's territory was in the southeastern border area of ​​Augustan. However, she had no interest in being a noble and only wanted to do research.

Having said that, the recent war in the southern border has more or less affected the development of the territory, so much so that she went to Hainuo to complain some time ago, otherwise Hainuo would not have thought of such a friend at the last minute.

There's no way, she does have a lot of friends.

"You probably don't know Ruili Resti. She's not a powerful transcendent, but she always has unique and eye-catching insights in mechanical research. She once solved a big problem for me in the creation of puppetry... or rather, her flash of inspiration helped me, so we became good friends."

Heino explained.

While Ryan was listening, he asked Ina to investigate the information of the Resti family. Soon, the relevant information about Ms. Ruili was placed on Ina's desk.

The other party was a transcendent who passed through the earth, but unfortunately, her profession was not a craftsman. She had studied at St. Marian College, but the opportunity was only for one year. After leaving the college, she stayed at home and focused on warship manufacturing. However, her father felt that her efforts were in vain because the Augustus Empire was not by the sea and had almost no idea of ​​developing in the maritime area.

Even so, Ruili's father unconditionally supported her in building the first warship in her life. After the warship was built, it was anchored at a port in the territory. It was the intersection of the Nile River, a river passing through the Augustus territory, and the Ruili family territory.

After reading the information, Ryan's evaluation was that this was a crazy scientific researcher.

After all, according to the customs of the Augustus Empire, girls of this age would have already become mothers or even grandmothers, unless they were people like Hainuo who had a special status and powerful strength. Even if they were not chosen by God, the lifespan of a seventh-level transcendent was much higher than that of ordinary people.

But as Hainuo just said, the war in the south had a great impact on the territory of the Ruili family. The Kingdom of Kainte joined forces with some southern countries to resist the invasion of Augustus, trying to force Augustus to stop its external expansion.

The war inevitably affects border cities. The most direct problem is that it causes a large number of population losses and damages the economy.

As a result, Ruili no longer has any extra "pocket money" to realize her great ambition. While the other party complains to Hainuo, another important purpose is to borrow money from Hainuo.

"I believe that the empire will pay attention to maritime rights one day!" Ruili said to Hainuo with great certainty.

Unfortunately, even though Hai Nuo was the Vice Dean, she wasn't wealthy herself, having spent most of her money on alchemy. Alchemy on the Rhea Continent was like playing with a SLR in one's past life: a life of poverty for three generations. It was only because Hai Nuo's circumstances allowed it, otherwise she'd be even poorer than Rui Li now.

Ryan immediately asked 'Ina' to issue an order to recruit Ruili directly to Barron to take up the position in order to give full play to her professional abilities.

“What a visionary.”

Although Augustus is not near the sea, the Nile River runs through the territory of Augustus, which provides conditions for developing the maritime domain. In addition, once the war in the south is over and a series of kingdoms such as Cainte are captured, the empire will have the conditions to directly access the sea.

At that time, not to mention the actions against the East Continent, even if we want to go to the West Continent and the South Continent, we will have to go by sea.

Ryan can't let this piece of gold be buried in the dust.

...

At three o'clock in the afternoon, the Northern Continent Conference convened again.

After Ryan, Casradi, and Heino finished their lunch, they opened the game to check on Lin Qi, who had followed his orders to investigate Archbishop Joshi's purpose in coming to Barron. Strangely, there was no news from the Janus Gate.

There is only one possibility in this situation - that is, the Pope gave the order directly, and it was most likely temporary without notifying anyone else.

However, before the meeting started, Qiao Xi came to find Lin Qi specifically to remind her not to get too close to Ryan.

This was not what Sylvia meant, but Josh could see the intention of the Pope in sending him. Saint Lin Qi had not been in office for long, but she had meddled in too many things.

Not to mention the Honorary Lord of the Augustus Empire, he also did a big thing in the Northern Federation some time ago, and made great contributions to the expansion of the power of the Janus Gate in the northern continent.

But too much merit is not necessarily a good thing, because the saint actually has no specific rights within the church. The saint herself is a symbol of status. As a "messenger" who interprets oracles, she does not need too much fame and merit.

Silvia's rise from saint to pope was an exception, and no one in the church would want to see a second exception, not the archbishops, and certainly not the Pope himself.

So Josh came. He will directly participate in the alliance meeting between Augustus and the Northern Federation and express his attitude on behalf of the Gate of Janus.

As for 'Lin Qi', all he has to do is raise his hand during the vote.

Don't get too close to Ryan, which actually means don't get too involved in the internal affairs of the empire. Holding a position as an honorary lord will bring long-term benefits to the church.

Josh doesn't want another "Saint Sect" to appear inside the Janus Gate.

In fact, there is a difference between being loyal to the Pope and being loyal to the saint. People inside the Gate of Janus are well aware of this, but everyone deliberately avoids this topic. At least on the surface, they divide power based on positions within the church and distinguish the degree of belief in Janus.

Although this guy didn't say it explicitly, Ryan still saw it. To put it bluntly, the Pope was chosen by man, and the saint was chosen by God. It just so happened that Sylvia was both chosen by man and God, and she rose from a saint to the Pope.

As for the saint chosen by God, she will not be given too much power within the church, because only the saint knows what God has said. This non-public and non-transparent approach will make people feel uneasy, and they cannot even be sure of the correctness of the interpretation of the oracle.

Therefore, the saint is noble, but she cannot have too much real power. She can just let others interpret the oracles.

As for Lin Qi, she was originally sent here by Sylvia as a form of "training." Who could have imagined she would accomplish so many great things? You say you're a saint, just being familiar and building a good reputation as a saint is enough. Why do you do all that unnecessary work?

Josh was trying to prevent a third voice from emerging within the church. Ryan wasn't sure if this was the Pope's intention, but he certainly wouldn't compromise so easily. He arranged for Lin Qi to enter the Janus Gate in order to seize power. Otherwise, why would he do that? My wife stayed in the church to interpret the oracles for you? A few oracles, what the hell is that to me?

Of course, on the surface, Lin Qi did as Qiao Xi said, since he was still young in terms of experience, you are the fourth in line for the position of archbishop, you are an old senior, so you should take the position if you are capable.

The afternoon meeting officially began.

"Hey, can you please just get this done quickly? I don't have that much time to play house with you guys."

At the beginning of the meeting, Maganna expressed her strong dissatisfaction.

In the past two days, the Western Barbarian Army has been completely integrated. A 100,000-strong Western Barbarian Army led by tribal heroes is confronting the Iron Blood Legion. At this critical juncture, she does not have the energy to attend meetings every day.

Wei Nei glanced at her, then looked at the others: "Do you have any good ideas?"

At the lower right side of the long table, Amabena whispered, "Why aren't they talking? Aren't they discussing countermeasures? If the Arcadia Empire invades the Northern Continent, everyone here will be worried, right?"

Elvian said calmly, "Everyone is anxious, but there is always someone who is the most anxious, so everyone is waiting for the most anxious person to speak."

Amabena was stunned: "Who is the most anxious?"

"Of course it's the Northern Federation." Elvian frowned. "You don't even know what this meeting is about, do you?"

"I don't know. If you hadn't told me before, I wouldn't have known what kind of meeting I had to attend. I haven't even finished reading the comics yet."

Elvian: "..."