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Under the blood moon, Danitz stood at the front of the deck, gazing somewhat melancholically at the surging blue sea ahead.
After Ferran Eddas urged him to repay the money again, he felt he couldn't delay any longer, otherwise, his reputation might be ruined by that guy at any moment.
Danitz bared his teeth for a while, then mustered his courage and went straight to the captain's cabin through the hatch, intending to ask the captain for an advance on his salary.
Upon reaching his destination, Danitz took three deep breaths before raising his right hand, ready to knock on the door.
Just then, the Vice Admiral Iceberg's voice came from inside:
"Come in."
...Danitz paused his right hand, forced a smile, opened the door, and entered.
Edwina sat behind her desk, flipping through a book on the table with a deep brown cover made of parchment.
When Danitz entered, Edwina's clear, spring-like light blue eyes moved slightly, and she said emotionlessly:
"Notify all Sailors to prepare; we will open the Traveler's Door in 10 minutes."
The words Danitz had been preparing all the way instantly got stuck in his throat; he mumbled, nodded, and fled the captain's cabin as if escaping, not forgetting to close the door thoughtfully.
Upon receiving the captain's order, the ordinary people on the ship and the Beyonders who were only Sequence 8 and Sequence 9 all covered their eyes.
Moments later, Edwina's figure appeared at the bow, and the Golden Dream immediately lit up with transparent, almost illusory, strange patterns all over its body.
The figure of the Golden Dream then blurred, becoming almost invisible, and a vortex appeared out of thin air in its original spot; the surrounding seawater gathered to fill it, and the sea surface returned to calm.
This was a strange but effective spell Edwina created based on the Polymath's analysis and imitation of the Traveler, relying on the Mysticism Magister.
Ferran stood on the deck as if seeing indescribable, even transparent, almost non-existent things, and seeing one clear, bright light after another of different colors, containing endless knowledge.
After a few breaths, all of this disappeared, and the Golden Dream also emerged from its transparent and illusory state, returning to reality and arriving at a coastline.
The coast north of Cookawa, West Balam, Southern Continent.
Checker Ward stood behind Bishop Montella, holding a dried leaf with golden patterns.
This was a token of connection given by General Mesanyes, the leader of the Northern State, when he was at the General's mansion.
Checker had just glanced at the blood moon and estimated the time when he suddenly turned his head to look at the sea not far away, his eyes widening involuntarily.
There, waves surged, and a sailboat dozens of meters long, lit up with transparent, faintly golden light, appeared out of thin air.
"Golden Dream, Vice Admiral Iceberg..."
These two names flashed through Checker's mind, and suddenly he felt something, looking at the Golden Dream's deck, and met eyes with Ferran Eddas, who had also turned his head.
-----------------
East Tucker Manor, Osel, Ancestral Tower underground hall.
Aaron roughly recounted to Varna how he had "coincidentally" found the Blood Emperor's ruins and how he had obtained this Red Priest card.
He emphasized that he had sacrificed a Sequence 4 Undying Beyonder characteristic to the Goddess in exchange for the help of Ms. Arianna, the abbess of the Evernight Cloister.
Finally, he had taken great risks to successfully bring back this Card of Blasphemy, which was of great significance to the family.
Varna's brown eyes glanced at Aaron, who was full of anticipation, and after a moment of silence, he spoke faintly:
"I remember, you also borrowed the power of my projection at that time."
Aaron immediately bowed and saluted, his tone sincere with gratitude:
"Thank you for the Ancestor's care; I will definitely continue to work hard and lead the family to the next level."
"I also obtained a Beyonder characteristic of the Earl of the Fallen in that ruin; I am willing to offer it to the family, but I still lack a powerful offensive item. I wonder if Ancestor here..."
As Aaron spoke, he looked at Varna on the high platform with expectant eyes, while muttering to himself:
"However, there's only a single Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristic; I'll keep the other Beyonder characteristics after they precipitate out to cultivate my subordinates."
Originally, Aaron intended to leave it for Soro Bint, but considering that he had only recently advanced to Sequence 5 Chaos Mentor and had not fully digested the potion.
Moreover, his current contributions were not enough to exchange for a demigod's potion and ritual. Out of consideration for the overall interests of the family, Aaron still decided to offer it to the family so that the family could gain another demigod as soon as possible.
Varna's expression softened upon hearing Aaron's words. After a moment of contemplation, on the wall behind the bronze chair, an ancient-looking sword hilt covered in bronze rust began to hum and tremble, as if awakened by some invisible force.
Accompanying the humming, the bronze rust on the longsword peeled off, detaching from the wall bit by bit, and the surrounding walls, covered in reddish-brown rust on their knives, spears, swords, and halberds, also trembled slightly. That invisible aura of iron and blood seemed to be gradually converging.
Aaron's vision blurred, and an ancient longsword covered in blood-red patterns, without a trace of rust, appeared before him.
Varna, on the high platform, flicked his finger, and a red light surged into Aaron's glabella, allowing him to learn the abilities of this longsword.
"Sword of Judgment"
Ability 1 - Harvest: Can discover the target's weaknesses from a mystical perspective, which are areas of weak defense, and provide corresponding precision, thereby causing terrifying damage beyond normal and fatal attacks.
No matter where it strikes the target, it is equivalent to a weak point attack, and if it truly hits a genuine weak point, then, for enemies whose defense is not too strong, it can achieve a one-hit kill. For targets skilled in defense, it can resolve them within three strikes.
Ability 2 - Domination: Can establish a hidden connection with followers and even armies, allowing the entire team's power to be concentrated on oneself and distributing damage, or sharing members' vision.
The power that can be borrowed and the damage that can be shared depend on the team's tacit understanding and whether they are Similar Sequences. Non-Similar Sequences require a higher degree of team cohesion.
Side effects: Harvest can be used a maximum of three times daily. The damage returned by each Harvest will progressively increase, and the third use of Harvest will return an equivalent amount of damage, but the received damage can be dispersed through Domination.
When in Domination state, the damage received by the dominated subjects will also be passively dispersed onto the dominator. If used for more than ten minutes, negative emotions such as irritability and impulsiveness will inevitably appear.
Aaron opened his eyes, looking with satisfaction at the "Sword of Judgment" before him. Besides the most basic manipulation of various flames and enhanced physique, its two abilities pleasantly surprised him.
Moreover, the negative effects were not severe. The only troublesome point was that to use the Domination ability, a team had to be established first, and it also required time to train and build rapport.
"It's better to be refined than numerous; control the number of people to within 4. It just so happens that on the way to the Southern Continent, there's plenty of time to train and build rapport."
Aaron thought to himself, reaching out to take the "Sword of Judgment" floating before him. A blood-red light appeared out of thin air, condensing into a scabbard, concealing the iron-blood aura emanating from the "Sword of Judgment."
Seeing Aaron put away the "Sword of Judgment," Varna looked at Aaron's still very bulging pocket and said faintly:
"What's that thing in your arms? I can feel that strong pollution even through the seal."
Aaron coughed dryly, took out a long, rectangular box from inside his jacket, broke the Wall of Spirituality on it, and the "Scepter of Disaster," covered in dark patterns and dark blue to almost black at the top, immediately appeared.
Varna frowned slightly, then heard Aaron say:
"This is a Sealed Artifact from the Rose School of Thought, but it has been corrupted. I would like to ask Ancestor to shatter this Sealed Artifact for me."
Aaron was also quite helpless. Above the dark gold mist, even after integrating the black emperor card, he could at most only invoke demigod-level power.
There were some peculiar residual contaminations within the "Scepter of Disaster," which the 'Unshadowed Spear' also failed to purify.
After careful examination, Varna pressed his right hand, causing the entire underground hall to tremble.
The "Scepter of Disaster," covered in dark patterns and dark blue to almost black at the top, shattered with a crack, splitting into tiny blue light points that seemed to carry electric arcs.
Among these light points, a small amount of dark red mist steamed, eventually condensing into a drop of vivid dark red blood.
Subsequently, the blue light points with electric arcs reassembled, continuously condensing, turning into a deep blue gem. Its transparent outer layer enveloped the azure seawater, with wind occasionally swirling inside and silver flashes appearing from time to time.
Varna manifested a phantom hand and picked up the seemingly vivid drop of blood, finding that it contained vigorous vitality.
"It hasn't reached the Angel level, but it's a bit strange... It seems to be something blessed by an evil god..."
While Varna was deep in thought, his gaze inadvertently swept towards Aaron, only to see him beaming with excitement, pulling out a bizarre black glove from his embrace, upon which countless ears seemed to be embedded.
Before he could inquire, Aaron spoke first:
"Please, Ancestor, fuse that drop of blood with this glove, and then place a layer of seal on it."
This glove was a Sealed Artifact he made in Backlund using the Beyonder characteristic of the Aurora Order's Sequence 8 Listener. It completely retained the Listener's abilities and negative effects, maximizing the corruption effect of this drop of blood.
It would yield miraculous results against certain heavily wounded demigods; if he had this item when dealing with Flora Jacob, it would have been much easier.
By rationally utilizing its negative effects, it could also be transformed into a powerful weapon, even playing a significant role in demigod battles.
The only thing to note is that it's useless against the Rose School of Thought; in fact, they might even exploit it.
Varna was silent for two seconds, then moved his finger, flicking the bizarre blood drop into the glove. At the same time, red and white intertwined patterns emerged, sealing all the ears on the glove, which had turned from black to dark red.
Aaron, with a smile, put away the glove and the Cataclysmic Interrer Beyonder characteristic, then lightly coughed and looked at Varna on the high platform.
"Ancestor, during that exploration of the Blood Emperor's ruins, I obtained an important piece of information."
"Bansy Harbor was formerly known as Bansy Town. The blood descendants of the Red Angel Medici are there, and hidden among them is a Weather Warlock in extremely poor condition."
"And the Church of the Lord of Storms is unaware of this information, or for some reason, chooses to ignore it, treating it merely as a somewhat special colonial island."
Varna's eyes flickered slightly, and he spoke in a low voice:
"That so-called Weather Museum?"
"The 'God of Weather' worshipped by those natives is that Weather Warlock among Medici's descendants?"
Aaron nodded, looking at the contemplative Varna, and urged:
"That's an Angel-level Beyonder characteristic, and I have a way to extract the Sequence 3 and Sequence 4 Beyonder characteristics from it. Once successful, the family's strength will undoubtedly rise to another level."
As he spoke, he took out the Night emblem Ms. Arianna had given him and the Wei Er - Ang Sai Ting paper crane covered in writing from his embrace, continuing:
"With this, I can summon Ms. Arianna's historical projection and also receive help from an Angel of the Fate Pathway."
Varna turned his head and sensed it, staring at Aaron with a strange look for a moment, then nodded:
"Good. Before you begin the operation, recite my honorific name."
This time, he didn't give Aaron a chance to reply, as if worried he might say something else, and slightly raised his palm.
Aaron only felt his vision blur, and he had already appeared outside the main Tower, the words caught in his throat again.
-----------------
East of Desi Bay, Damel Island.
The 'Moon Shadow' sailed out of Damel Harbor. Louise Sears sat by the window, listlessly looking at the Sun outside, while gazing at the distant sea.
The initial novelty of being at sea had long faded. After so many days at sea with no gains, coupled with her discomfort from the change in environment, Louise gradually grew irritable.
Count Mistral, with light silver hair and scarlet eyes, quietly appeared behind Louise, smiling as he spoke:
"Patience is a quality a hunter should possess. You are still very young; there are many things you still need to constantly comprehend."
Louise immediately turned her head, a hint of a smile appearing on her face. Then, remembering something, she asked:
"Grandfather, is the power behind the Admiral of Blood, Senior, really the Rose School of Thought?"
Count Mistral nodded, adding:
"He is a Sequence 5 Wraith of the Prisoner Pathway, and this Pathway is controlled by the Rose School of Thought. Moreover, his actions and conduct are identical to the Indulgence Faction of the Rose School of Thought."
Having received a definitive answer, Louise's eyes grew brighter, and she quickly said:
"Then can we use divination to pinpoint the Admiral of Blood's location, and then follow the clues to find the Rose School of Thought?"
Count Mistral paused for a moment, then smiled and shook his head, explaining to Louise's puzzled gaze:
"This method won't work."
"Wraith Beyonders of the Mutant Pathway can transform into spiritual bodies and directly contact the Spirit World to obtain information."
"Therefore, they naturally possess the ability for divination and anti-divination. So, whether it's the Admiral of Blood or other Wraiths, they can make the revelations we receive erroneous and deviated."
"They might even lead us into traps they've prepared beforehand."
Looking at Louise, who was somewhat enlightened yet also disappointed, Count Mistral smiled, showing no urgency.
"No need to be anxious. You just need to do what you should, and we have our own ways for other matters."
"You can also use this time to thoroughly digest your Potions Professor potion. This will be of great help to your subsequent competition."
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