Thick dark clouds covered the sky, and the streets were already dark in the evening. Many passersby were in a hurry to return home. Regardless of the time or era, except for a few individuals, being drenched by the rain was not a pleasant experience, especially in places where medical treatment was not as advanced or widespread. Getting sick from being drenched often meant death.
These passersby were all wearing similar gray linen robes, without any extra colors or styles. Only the patrolling soldiers that passed by from time to time stood out. Their bronze breastplates and shin plates, and iron-black sharp longswords and spears made them look valiant and tough.
Lucien, who was wrapped in a linen robe, followed closely behind a middle-aged man whose footsteps were sometimes fast and sometimes slow. He sometimes turned into alleys and sometimes walked on the streets, looking no different from an ordinary passerby.
The sky was getting gloomier, and the wind began to howl, as if a storm would come at any time. The patrolling soldiers had no choice but to speed up their march back to the military camp in the city.
Stopping in front of a two-story stone building, the middle-aged man looked around vigilantly. After confirming that no one was paying attention to the situation here, he gently knocked on the walnut door. The rhythm of his technique was very unique. First, he knocked twice in the middle of the door, then three times on the left near the rotating position, and finally once on the door lock. Different positions made different sounds.
After ten seconds of silence, a hole suddenly opened on the door, and a light brown eye appeared behind it.
The middle-aged man took a step back so that the eye could clearly see the gray rose pattern at the corner of his clothes.
The pattern was so inconspicuous that no one would have noticed it if they had not known beforehand.
Lucien also turned sideways, making the gray rose at the corner of his clothes stand out.
The light brown eye blinked and disappeared at the door. Then, the walnut door slowly opened, and a hunchbacked, dwarf-like man said in a low voice, "Two respected initiators, 'Crown' is waiting for you."
The middle-aged man nodded slightly, and as he flashed into the house, he signaled Lucien to follow with his eyes.
Lucien was not as agile and vigilant as the middle-aged man. Instead, he pushed open the door with a smile and calmly entered, as if he was visiting an ordinary friend or family.
Seeing Lucien's performance, the middle-aged man nodded slightly.
After Lucien was forced into the Portal to Alternate Realm by the night watchers, due to the self-explosion of the gate, the teleportation became disordered. Lucien was thrown into this strange city of Politan. Also, because he left the protection of the Portal to Alternate Realm at the last stage, he was severely injured by the space shock. Not only was his body seriously injured, but his soul was also in a weakened state. He was only at the level of an ordinary knight or middle-rank sorcerer now. His equipment also cracked when he was resisting the space storm, and he needed to be repaired before he could use it again.
However, Lucien was quite lucky. He did not run into any senior-rank clergy or Grand Cardinals of the Church, nor did he run into any false gods or monsters. Instead, he was taken in by a kind-hearted old man named Norton. After two months of rest, his magic power and Knight's level were back to normal.
The only problem was that the Holm Crown ring and other magic items that Lucien was wearing at that time needed to be repaired with special materials. Of course, the legendary Sun's Corona and the level nine Sun's Scepter did not suffer any damage because of their power.
Frost, Pale Justice, and Transformation Mask were also intact. Even the old man named Norton had only seen Lucien's appearance after his transformation.
In the past two months, Lucien did not run into any sorcerer or clergy of the Saint Truth, nor did he get any information about them. It seemed that they were still far away from this city, so far that they did not even have any rumors or stories. If it were not for the strange feeling that suppressed his spiritual power, Lucien would have suspected that he had traveled to another dimension.
From the old man named Norton, Lucien learned about the situation of the city of Politan. It was located on the coast of Erdo, and was the capital and economic center of the entire Erdo Peninsula.
At first, the native Barril people ruled this place and established a complete Barril Kingdom. They worshipped the God of Fire and Destruction, Avando. However, more than a hundred years ago, the huge Angornorma Empire crossed the sea and conquered this place. The God of Fire and Destruction, Avando, was also defeated and exiled by the Lord of War, Antanas.
Regarding this, the Servants of God of the Angornorma Empire declared that Avando had been completely killed, thus destroying the foundation of the Barril people's faith.
Due to the Angornorma Empire's Erdo Viceroys, the Barril people were treated like slaves. Flames of war were constantly burning on the peninsula. From time to time, there were rebels who claimed to be favored by Avando and rebels who had changed their faith to other "gods". However, due to the strength of the Angornorma Empire and the fact that the Lord of War was an extremely terrifying "god", these rebellions were suppressed one by one.
This matter originally had nothing to do with Lucien. He was preparing to carefully collect information about the surrounding terrain and the kingdom without exposing himself in order to find traces of the Congress of Magic. After all, only with sufficient preparation could he ensure his safety. The strange feeling that suppressed his spiritual power also suppressed his electromagnetic messaging. Lucien estimated that the signal would be so bad that it would not be able to connect more than ten kilometers away.
Therefore, without specific information, Lucien did not dare to set off carelessly. Who knew if he would directly barge into the territory controlled by the Saint Truth or the Blood Breeds. The transformation mask could fool others, but it could not fool the Cardinals, not even the Pope and Prince Dracula.
However, the old man, Norton, who was in the final stage of his life, seemed to feel that Lucien's performance in the past two months had crushed the young men and children he had adopted. Furthermore, he could speak the Barril language fluently. Obviously, he was a loyal Barril. The Angornorma Empire had forcefully promoted the "Angornorma Language". Unless it was cultivated from a young age, and because they yearned for the independence of the Barril Kingdom, no young man could speak the Barril language so fluently. Therefore, before he died, he passed on a secret identity to Lucien.
This identity was a high-ranking member of the mysterious organization, the Secret Praying Order, the seventh apostle of the incarnation of the God of Fire and Destruction.
Although Lucien felt that this was all thanks to the "Language Proficiency" spell, he considered that he was alone here and that it would be more convenient to have an organization to provide him with information than to rely on himself. Therefore, he agreed. Due to the continuous rebellion, Politan City was under the double high-pressure surveillance of the "Governor of Eldo" and the "War Temple". Therefore, it was not feasible to use the transformation mask to change his identity and sneak into the high-ranking members of the Angornorma colony to seek information. If he dragged it on for more than a day, he would be easily exposed.
In fact, without the protection of Norton's identity on the surface, Lucien would have been interrogated many times. The "Governor of Eldo" was rumored to be a hybrid between a god and a human, and could use the "Power of God" like the high priest of the War Temple. It was equivalent to having two ordinary Cardinals or even a level nine Cardinals guarding this place.
There were no crazy sorcerers in this world, and naturally, there were no blood Knights. However, some of the false gods were often promiscuous and gave birth to many descendants, and they also had similar characteristics of a blood Knight.
Ordinary humans, on the other hand, could only be promoted by becoming divine servants or priests. The army could only be used to deal with ordinary people, and could not do anything to the divine-blooded "heroes". The only fortunate thing was that the divine-blooded heroes were few in number, and they were not unemployed yet. The suppression of the rebellion was not too big of a problem, so there was no need to bother the noble divine-blooded ones.
Following the fifth apostle, Anheuse, through the hall and to the back of the building, Lucien watched as Anheuse opened a secret door, revealing a flight of stairs leading upwards. Lucien felt as if he was watching an opera that had nothing to do with him. Indifferent and calm, Lucien kept wondering if he should find a chance to study the incarnation of the God of Fire and Destruction. This was the first time he encountered the incarnation of a fake god, and it was a great opportunity to get first-hand information. This was also one of the main reasons why he joined the Secret Praying Congress.
After the secret door, there was a flight of stairs that led upwards. It looked like it would lead to the ceiling and the mezzanine of the second floor. However, halfway up, Anheuse suddenly stopped and opened another secret door. This time, what appeared was a flight of stairs that led downwards.
In silence, the two of them descended for a while. Finally, a bronze door appeared in front of them. It was covered with strange flame patterns.
Pressing his hand on one of the flame patterns, Anheuse's body glowed red, and he pushed open the bronze door with force.
Behind the door was a hall with a row of burning braziers. It was empty except for stone pillars and a round table in the middle of the hall.
There were a total of 13 chairs around the round table. At the head of the table was a golden throne inlaid with rubies. It was still unoccupied. On both sides of the throne were six silver chairs with similar flame patterns on them.
At this time, five of the twelve silver chairs were already occupied. The leader was a white-haired old man with a bushy beard. He looked at Lucien and said, "According to Norton's recommendation before his death, the great God of Fire and Destruction has revealed that you, Leviathan, will become the seventh disciple."
"Leviathan" was an alias Lucien came up with based on the demon king's inspiration.
"However, you have yet to display your abilities and contribute to the God. In the coming year, we will observe you until you pass the test. Only then will you be granted the 'Seed of Spirituality' by the God and receive supernatural powers."
"Yes." Lucien was suddenly curious about the 'Seed of Spirituality'. Could it be the key to deciphering the secrets of the divine arts? Should he capture the other disciples or directly capture the God of Fire and Destruction for research?
The old man glanced at Lucien and said, "Sit down. We'll perform the Flame Baptism for you later. Right now, we have something more important to do."
"What is it?" Anheuse thought it was just the Flame Baptism for the seventh disciple.
"The discussion of the future, the way to completely awaken the God," the old man, who was also the first disciple, Jacob, said in a low voice.
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