Wei Gao sat in a completely enclosed, pitch-black chamber, holding a bottle of freshly brewed potion. The potion was dark in color, with swirling vortexes seemingly floating within it. It seemed to emanate eerie whispers that drew listeners in. Wei Gao closed his eyes and took a small gem from his robes, placing it on the ground as a symbolic "medium" for the ritual.
"A gaze from beyond the borders, a voiceless throat."
Suddenly, a fierce wind arose, abruptly appearing within the sealed chamber by the spiritual wall, creating a mystical connection between the mortal realm and the cosmos. A higher-dimensional observer cast its gaze, preparing to bestow a unique attribute upon its avatar. Ripples appeared on the spiritual wall, making it seem as if it were about to collapse.
"The creators of the hollow shell;"
"You are the final curtain of solitude."
A somewhat ethereal quality took shape where the gem had originally been, this extraordinary quality carrying a touch of the void unique to the starry sky. After reciting his own name, Wei Gao quickly stepped forward and swallowed the quality without hesitation. Before his body could even begin to digest the extraordinary quality, Wei Gao raised the Listener's Potion beside him and poured it down his throat.
A violent surge of energy emanated from the nearby Storm Cathedral. The High Dimension allowed the Listener's extraordinary properties to envelop the Outer God's properties, which were merging with the original Sequence Nine properties, and emanated an aura unique to believers of the True Creator. Bolts of lightning brewed in the clouds, accompanied by booming thunder in the sky.
High above the celestial realm, Leodorus stroked the scepter beside him, seemingly sensing something amiss within his territory. He pondered deeply, as if sensing a powerful, dreadful aura flicker near his church. Without hesitation, he issued a divine decree to the high command of his church:
"Seek His favored ones who possess the true divinity of the Creator."
The higher dimension sensed the gradual disappearance of that violent divinity, which allowed it to separate its own characteristics from the "Listener" and merge with its current body. Among the two pathways mastered by the higher-dimensional observer, one is the "dimensional" pathway, which possesses qualities such as space and ultimate reality; the other is the "overlooking" pathway, which carries the connotations of omniscience and creation.
In order to better live on Earth and uphold his dignity and instincts as an Outer God, the High Dimension, after careful consideration, chose the "Overlooking" path a path with weaker combat capabilities but stronger precognitive and observational abilities, and with a rather unpredictable overall nature. After all, adjacent to the dimensional path is the "Gate," a path corrupted by its good neighbor, the Fallen Mother Goddess, and within the Gate's adjacent paths lies the "Blasphemer," Amon, a veritable killer of low-level Extraordinary Beings.
Although the "lower rank" in the High Dimension's mind refers to all extraordinary beings below Sequence Three, He is not afraid of Amon parasitizing His avatar. However, if Amon encounters unexpected problems, Adam will inevitably discover them, followed by an attack from the gods. The High Dimension's High Dimension is well aware that, given His status, neither of the two true gods currently cooperating with Him will help Him.
The starting point of the "Overlooking" path is the "Scholar" of Sequence Nine. It is completely different from the "Generalist" or "Reader" who sound similar in ability. Under the influence of the Outer God, the High Dimension Overlooking, the real name of Sequence Nine of this sequence has become "Star Scholar" under the long-term influence of the Source Matter.
Because of the existence of higher-dimensional observers, almost all extraordinary individuals who choose this trait die instantly upon drinking the potion and beginning to learn the knowledge it contains. This is because the knowledge within the potion is rewritten when the individual transmigrates into a source substance in a higher dimension: it enhances the upper limit of a person's learning ability, but does not directly enhance their learning ability; it provides knowledge, but most of it is dangerous and difficult-to-use cosmic knowledge, such as the names of many Outer Gods or introductions to various source substances.
After careful observation, the higher-dimensional observer suddenly discovered that the "scholar's" Sequence Nine had been corrupted by Him into a path that would lead to certain death. He touched his head, guiltily changed direction, and continued observing Earth.
However, the "Scholar" of the Overlooking Path, after advancing to the Sequence 8, will have a name that is completely unrelated to the previous path, much like the transformation from a fortune teller to a clown: "Ranger".
The Ranger's extraordinary traits greatly enhance their physical attributes, especially speed. In terms of speed, a Ranger can even far surpass other Sequence 8 Extraordinary individuals, although the improvements in other aspects are not as pronounced. After consuming the Ranger Potion, the knowledge learned during their time as a "scholar" will become the Ranger's combat techniques.
This knowledge, through the Ranger's extraordinary traits, is directly inscribed into the subconscious of the extraordinary individual, granting them rudimentary combat abilities. Therefore, the degree to which a Sequence Nine "Scholar" digests this knowledge and the type of knowledge they acquire determine the combat strength of each Ranger.
The Ranger was enveloped by the Listener's extraordinary qualities, thus concealing his identity from any potential high-sequence individuals he might encounter. After all, here, you never know if you might run into an Amon or Adam on the street. The High Dimension walked out of the room with a relaxed expression. He listened carefully to the True Creator's now much more lucid murmurs, discerning that the True Creator seemed to be singing a nursery rhyme from his homeland in a dream no wonder the Aurora Society members outside were so peaceful… cough cough, quiet.
"Hey, my dear True Creator?" The High Dimensional Overlord poked the True Creator's upside-down head. The True Creator immediately turned its body around, expressionless, to look at the High Dimensional Overlord. The High Dimensional Overlord moved its avatar, attaching the gradually dulling eyes of the Hidden Sage from its hand to its avatar, and said to the True Creator:
"How about you change the song? I still have to attend the literary salon in Backlund, you know? Hmm... it's a bit strange for a 'painter' like me to go there, but it's part of the plan. How about you tell your followers to stay awake?"
"You...heard?" The True Creator stared at the smiling, high-dimensional observer, his expression gradually twisting, like a young man whose browsing history had been discovered. The high-dimensional observer thought for a moment about how long he had been listening, then nodded seriously: "Yes, I heard it after I became a Listener. Actually, I think you sang quite well; it's no wonder there's a'Singer' sequence in the Solar Pathway by the way, would you like to hear me sing for you? I haven't sung in a long time..."
"Sukabul".
Mr. A felt a sudden pain in his head, the original hymn became incoherent, and he saw double vision. The familiar, maddening babbling returned, making him deeply aware of the madness and suffering that the Lord bore, and making him marvel once again at the Lord's greatness.
When he saw Wei Gao walking out of the room with a smile on his face, he quickly said, "Your Excellency, have you completed your advancement?"
"Thank God, I'm very lucky." Wei Gao made the sign of the cross on his chest and smiled at Mr. A. He paused slightly, then continued, "Prepare a carriage for me; I'm going home for a bit Mr. A, I have a literary salon to attend in a few evenings; would you like to come with me?"
"...A literary salon?" Mr. A initially wanted to refuse outright, but after thinking it over, he felt that there must be a deeper meaning behind Mr. A's request, and cautiously inquired, "What are your plans?"
"Good, at least it's not like before where they'd start killing each other at the drop of a hat... It seems that Zhenzao cured himself and the Aurora Society's serious illness at the same time," Wei Gao thought to himself. But on the surface, he still explained to Mr. A: "This is for the future development of the Aurora Society. Right now, the Aurora Society's missionary work is focused on the lower classes, and even some middle-class people have a deep 'misunderstanding' about us this is not good for our development."
Wei Gao emphasized the word "misunderstanding," but Mr. A continued to listen to Wei Gao as if he hadn't heard him at all. It must be said that extraordinary individuals who have gone through the "listener" stage have a high level of listening skills, making the speaker feel that they are listening very attentively and subconsciously experiencing pleasure.
"If we only preach among the lower classes, a disaster or a small war can easily cause the Lord to lose a large number of believers. That's why we need to spread our doctrine among the upper classes, or at least the middle classes. You see, this literary salon is a very good entry point."
"I understand," Mr. A said with righteous indignation. "I will definitely complete the task the Lord has given me. I am very good at literature, and no one in the Aurora Society sings the hymns of the Lord better than me. I will make full use of my extraordinary abilities and transform everyone into the Lamb of the Lord in just one salon…"
...As expected, the true Creator's followers are still not cured of their serious illness.
Wei Gao took a deep breath and rubbed his forehead. He said to Mr. A in a low voice, "Go to Mr. Z and borrow 'How to Get Along with People' from him. If you don't pass tomorrow, don't come with me."
"!"
"Then, remember, at least until the first phase of our 'plan' is completed, whatever you do, never talk about your faith outside! If someone asks you, just say you believe in the Sun God! The Lord was previously called the Ancient Sun God by believers! People won't notice the problem with the name; at most, they'll think you're a believer in the Eternal Sun!"
"Also, you must endure humiliation for your Lord, do you understand? Never reveal your identity!"