Outside the Patriarchal Cathedral, the sky was suddenly enveloped by starlight, with black and white interwoven in the faint blue starlight, like a giant chessboard, easily covering half of Trier, making all movements around it slow, as if the passage of time had been infinitely prolonged.
The "Chessboard of Time" used by the Hidden Sage even briefly affected a true god.
Inside the Patriarchal Cathedral, the information stream that had been rapidly surging and passing between the mottled fragments of civilization suddenly stopped, transforming into countless brilliant, twinkling stars that quickly moved and intertwined in mid-air, outlining symbols representing the domains of Change, Concealment, Time, and Fate.
The church instantly became eerie and dim, and the surrounding space-time distorted, completely isolating it from the outside world; even information could not be exchanged.
Leyton used the simulated "Realm of Mysteries" to temporarily cut off the church from the outside world. Without the support of his external body, most of the civilization fragments floating like light spots around him instantly vanished.
This state only lasted for an instant. This was the church of the God of Steam and Machinery, and he easily re-established contact with his main body, breaking the Concealment that enveloped the church.
Leyton, once again transformed into an information torrent, seized the opportunity and rushed out of the increasingly dangerous church.
The information stream, surging like a torrent, directly plunged into the Spirit World the moment it left the Patriarchal Cathedral, rapidly wandering towards the Spirit World Depths.
At the deepest and highest part of the Spirit World, seven different colored, clear lights, containing endless knowledge, slowly wriggled.
Their positions suddenly became extremely close, as if within reach, and the colorful light illuminated the surroundings.
Under their influence, parts of the Spirit World's information were hidden, while others became exceptionally active. Concepts such as the Spirit World's position and direction became chaotic, like a stack of building blocks that had been messed up and randomly reassembled.
With the help of the Seven Lights, Leyton quickly moved away from the Spirit World area corresponding to Trier.
Behind him, mottled light and shadow composed of countless civilization fragments floated rapidly, approaching the information torrent Leyton had transformed into, but they were quickly dispersed by the Spirit World's chaos.
Beams of light, neither brilliant nor clear, devoid of any color, emerged from nothingness, grinding away the giant chessboard illusion created by the Hidden Sage, destroying the barrier formed by colorful mountains, penetrating the hard-to-connect barrier that isolated it from the outside world, and furiously surging into the Spirit World.
In the Spirit World Depths, the Seven Lights, which had been disturbing the Spirit World's information and location, stopped their movements. They returned to the highest point of the Spirit World, flowing quietly as if eternally unchanging.
The Hidden Sage followed the God of Steam and Machinery into the Spirit World. In this Spirit World, which was already woven from countless pieces of information, an illusory "light" composed of one complex piece of information after another rapidly expanded, instantly enveloping the surrounding Spirit World area, transforming into an illusory ball of light that separated the surroundings from the Spirit World as a whole.
A misty glow, seemingly composed of a vast amount of illusory things, continuously collapsed inwards, converging and condensing into an illusory yet heavy book.
The illusory book kept flipping, reflecting the floating information around it and absorbing it.
In a short moment, the illusory light sphere, solidified from complex information, was covered in cracks, and the surroundings re-established contact with the Spirit World.
The illusory light sphere instantly decomposed, once again transforming into a terrifyingly complex information torrent, surging like a flood towards the distance, showing no intention of continuing to entangle.
Only countless mottled light and shadow floated in place, outlining a blurry figure. It glanced in the direction the Hidden Sage had retreated, then deeply looked at the seven clear lights located at the highest point of the Spirit World. Accompanied by a sigh of unknown meaning, this blurry figure disappeared into the Spirit World.
Intis, the easternmost Reed Port in Upper Hornacis Province. This was originally just a small fishing port, but with the development of shipbuilding and the advantages of its inland sea, it gradually developed into the most prosperous city along the Intis Midseashire coast, relying on trade between Intis, Feysac, and Loen.
Inside a warehouse near the port, a faint blue light floated from the void, rapidly contracting and condensing into an illusory Travelers Door covered in mysterious patterns.
Leonard walked out of the Door with somewhat unsteady steps. The marks of cracked and everted flesh on his body had disappeared, leaving only dried bloodstains that he hadn't had time to wipe off.
The Travelers Door behind him quickly disintegrated and vanished. Leonard looked around and complained in a low voice:
"Old man, why didn't you say that one of the side effects of this ring is getting lost? I almost walked into a Church of the God of Steam and Machinery just now."
"I didn't know that one of its effects was to make people lost until you got lost," Pallez responded simply. His voice sounded a bit weaker than before.
Leonard's eyebrow twitched, and he felt an impulse to immediately take off the ring and throw it away. He took a deep breath, suppressed the impulse in his heart, and continued to ask:
"One of the effects? What other negative effects does it have?"
"Long-term wear will make one lazy, not even wanting to think," Pallez briefly introduced the ring's second negative effect, and at the end, he didn't forget to mock Leonard:
"This won't affect you. You don't like to think anyway."
Leonard breathed a sigh of relief and didn't argue with Pallez about his dislike of thinking. He turned to the previous situation:
"Old man, do you think he succeeded?"
"Also, who made that terrifying sound that suddenly rang out just now? Him, or Her?"
"What language was that, and what did it mean? It didn't feel like a meaningless roar, but that kind of pronunciation seemed completely different from the several languages of the Northern and Southern continents, and not like Dragonese, Jotun, or elf language either."
Pallez chuckled, then said with a mocking tone:
"Look, you asked a bunch of questions, but you didn't even think about trying to get the answers by yourself."
After a slight pause, Pallez's tone softened, and he sighed softly:
"If he hadn't succeeded, even if you were far from Trier, you would still be able to feel the commotion of the War of the Gods now."
"Similarly, to be able to let out such a roar, even I was affected a bit. Would it be an ordinary existence?"
"Even you were affected?" Leonard exclaimed incredulously, then nodded thoughtfully, saying, "No wonder I fell directly out of the Spirit World at that time. I thought you did it on purpose."
Pallez scoffed, "Heh, I'm not that bored. Teasing you doesn't give me a sense of accomplishment."
Leonard ignored Pallez's latter words and asked with a hint of concern:
"Old man, were you injured just now?"
"Isn't that obvious?"
Pallez snorted softly, but then said quite cheerfully:
"Although I was a bit injured, my current state has recovered somewhat compared to before. I didn't expect that there would be a Sealed Artifact of the Marauder Pathway under the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery. This allowed me to get some replenishment."
He paused, then continued:
"I'm in good shape now. The Jacob Family treasure I found in Flora Jacob's memory can finally be explored. Remember to find a descendant of the Jacob Family at the next Hermit of Fate gathering."
While Leonard and Pallez were conversing, "light" composed of complex information surged out of the Spirit World, rapidly gathering and reassembling Leyton's body in the warehouse.
He wore a black hooded robe. Half of his body beneath the robe was wriggling flesh, and the other half was a statue formed by black liquid and brilliant starlight. There was no clear dividing line between them, like two immiscible liquids fixed within a humanoid container, any movement would cause them to slosh.
"You..." Leonard stared in astonishment at the figure that had suddenly appeared before him, the words he hadn't finished speaking swallowed back.
He was startled by Leyton's sudden appearance. If it weren't for the familiar feeling from the other party, he would have instantly activated the ring on his hand and teleported elsewhere.
Pallez's aged voice, tinged with a hint of mockery, directly echoed around them:
"You have a bit of indigestion."
"The characteristics contained in that Sealed Artifact include corruption from the Primordial Moon, and also characteristics of the Savant Pathway that were influenced by Steam. I cannot accommodate it very well for now."
Leyton's tone was calm but exceptionally cold as he nodded and explained the reason for his current state.
As he moved, his facial features on his body, a fusion of starlight and flesh, instantly distorted into a vortex, then distorted back under his deliberate control, returning to a normal human face with only half flesh.
Leonard subconsciously swallowed, slightly averting his gaze. The starlight floating in the black liquid gave him an extremely dangerous feeling; even merely observing it could lead to immersion and being influenced by some of the knowledge and information within.
"You finally know what not to look at," Pallez's voice echoed in Leonard's ears.
Leyton's gaze lingered on Leonard for a moment, then passed through him to see Pallez. The Worm of Time's state seemed to have recovered further.
Withdrawing his gaze, Leyton tried to infuse his voice with a hint of a smile and said:
"It seems your gains are quite good."
He paused, then his gaze fell on Leonard's right hand, where he wore the ring, and he continued:
"This ring will be your reward. You can use it to return directly to Backlund. I need to stay here for a while to resolve the issues within that characteristic and fully accommodate it."
"...No problem."
Leonard was slightly stunned for a moment before realizing that the latter sentence was addressed to him. He then nodded, used the ring on his hand to open a Travelers Door, and directly teleported out of the warehouse.