Shepherd’s Secret Continuation

Chapter 25: The Final Case

Views:

Aiwass and Oswald returned very late.

Bishop Mathers had not been teaching the sacred arts for long.

Because after everything that needs to be said has been said, all that remains is persistent practice.

This kind of thing should not be achieved in a hurry. After all, these mysterious powers are ultimately because the extraordinary people walk on their own paths and resonate with each other because they follow the philosophical essence of the paths.

The reason why learning, practicing and using mysterious skills can improve the level of extraordinary professions is that when extraordinary people practice these skills, they are actually practicing their own paths.

Since it is a practice, it cannot be achieved overnight.

Unless you open it like Aiwass.

In addition to "prayer", Aiwass has quietly mastered the remaining three sacred skills. Prayer does not need to be taught specifically because it is the content of the seminary's teaching.

Aiwas's original "basic prayer" was that he had not yet learned the correct prayer words and prayer rituals. This was too long and too troublesome to teach... and whether or not he mastered the correct prayer method would not affect his career advancement.

The correct prayer can only draw the power of the candle to heal the soul. Bishop Mathers also demonstrated it to Aiwass.

Countless tiny lights, like larvae, flew toward Mathers from light sources in all directions. As he prayed, a thin shell of light gradually covered his body, which became brighter as time passed.

During this process, Bishop Mathers' light attribute magic power was slowly recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Generally speaking, a depleted mana pool can only be replenished after adequate sleep.

However, spellcasters on their respective paths usually have other means of emergency supplies besides these.

The means of the path of devotion is prayer.

In addition to the universal sleep, the Path of Devotion has two opportunities to pray during the day. During the continuous prayer guidance, the light attribute mana pool will be slowly replenished, and can be restored to half of the maximum value at most. Illumination consumes too much mana. If you don't use prayer to restore mana when you are out of combat, the mana is not enough.

The greatest advantage of the mysterious art of prayer is that it requires no materials, no preparation, and will never fail.

As long as you pray twice a day, for at least three minutes each time, you can gain skill experience steadily.

Skill level can increase steadily over time.

Even the prayer time is flexible. If you are very busy, you can do two-in-one before the evening; if you are really busy, it is okay not to pray - that means you will not be able to enjoy this free and stable experience.

Afterwards, Bishop Mathers specifically explained the most important knowledge to Aiwass: "The Ennead Gods actually do not require faith.

"From a certain perspective, we are using faith and prayer to constrain the behavior of the Ennead. In other words, we are like stakes driven into the land, and faith is the rope..."

But he didn't say anything specific.

That was something Aiwass wasn't supposed to know yet.

In short, even if Aiwass didn't master the correct method of prayer, he just couldn't use this skill to restore mana. When he got more knowledge of gods and prayer rules, basic prayers would naturally become prayers of the same level.

After that, Aiwas stayed in the chapel for a simple lunch. The food he ate was the holy communion that was sanctified by the ceremony when Bishop Mathers demonstrated the blessing technique. After eating it, he would get a temporary BUFF that could stabilize his spirit and continuously restore his physical strength.

In a sense, the lunch that Aiwass eats is his teaching material for the day. He ensures that nothing is wasted.

Aiwass also noticed that Bishop Mathers had not mentioned at all that Aiwass was in a wheelchair.

He didn't even specifically offer to heal Aiwass and help him "get back on his feet."

A healer of this level could tell with just a touch that Aiwass had strong vitality and was not sick or disabled at all.

So why does Aiwass use a wheelchair

Bishop Mathers must have had this question in his mind. If it wasn't for James, the adoptive father of Aiwass, who specifically mentioned this to him, then his emotional intelligence was simply maxed out - although I don't know why, but if you don't mention it, I won't ask.

It is better to have less trouble than more. Just pretend you didn't see it and didn't know it.

After that, Bishop Mathers dragged Oswald to watch what looked like a large football game.

The two parties are the "Unicorn Club" and the "Sword in the Lake Club".

The former is the team of the Theocracy, while the latter is that of Avalon.

Although Aiwass didn't know what the meaning was for these two high-level transcendents to watch a group of mortals playing football... but this seemed to be a very important game. That's why Oswald didn't send Aiwas back, but half-heartedly agreed and took him to the stadium.

Anyway, with the two of them protecting us, nothing will go wrong.

Although Aiwass was not interested in this, these two were elders worthy of respect, so he just regarded it as accompanying the old man out for fun.

So Aiwass also acted cheerful and cheerful. Judging from the results, it was obviously a good companion.

The former beat the latter 4-0, a crushing victory that even an outsider who knows nothing about football could see. Oswald looked very happy, and Bishop Mathers did not have any special reaction, just complaining, "I knew there was something wrong with the club manager of Sword in the Lake." Overall, everyone was happy.

However, Aiwass did get some very strange information from their conversation -

That is Oswald, the old butler of the Moriarty family. Although he has been serving the Moriarty family since the founding of the Kingdom of Avalon, he has a deep sense of identity and affection for the Eternal Church.

But even so, when Aiwass tentatively asked him "Do you want to go back and take a look?", Oswald just shook his head.

There's no going back. The old housekeeper sighed and said casually.

"Everywhere in the Church is good, except that there is no home. It's better not to go back."

This was also the first time that Oswald, who was as taciturn as a shadow, mentioned his past in front of his "little masters" like Aiwass.

After that, Aiwass was also somewhat silent.

It was already evening when Oswald slowly pushed Aiwass home.

The setting sun hung in the sky, and the amber in Moriarty Manor shone like broken gold. In front of the iron gate at the entrance of the manor, a thin young man with black hair and brown eyes was quietly leaning against it.

He flipped through the dark golden book in his hand as if no one was around.

The page in his hand was emitting a mysterious blue-green glow, just like clear lake water.

He openly read the banned book in front of Moriarty Manor without any fear, which shows that he is very familiar with this place and feels at ease.

Because Aiwass was sitting in a wheelchair and had a low line of sight, he saw the name of the book in the young man's hand at a glance.

—"The Secret Tantra of Emptiness".

Aiwass knew the book.

This is a mysterious art from ancient times - in that era, the boundaries between the paths were not as clear as they are today. Therefore, many ancient arts may belong to multiple paths at the same time. But this book is an exception.

It has a strong attribute of the path of wisdom. The "empty and clear technique" it describes is the origin of the mysterious art of "meditation" in the path of wisdom.

In the game, the owner of this book should be Sherlock Hermes. He acquired it shortly after the main storyline began.

Sherlock is a powerful transcendent who has the ability to adapt to both the paths of wisdom and authority. In version 1.0, he had the dual professions of "Lawyer" and "Mage".

He is a powerful helper who is independent of the protagonist group.

Although he did not become the player's partner, he would occasionally come to help solve a few problems. After the fall of the Kingdom of Avalon, he did not follow the player to the Theocracy or the Star Antimony Kingdom. Instead, he accepted the offer from the Iris Kingdom and served in a government position for a period of time.

As the name suggests, the prototype of this character is Sherlock Holmes.

But it is slightly different from the stereotype of Sherlock Holmes as a "pipe and cane" - Sherlock is half of the Glass Island Supervisory Bureau and a high-level supernatural being. He is much richer than Holmes in the original book, and he became famous much earlier and does not have his own Watson.

At the beginning of the main storyline, Sherlock was only 26 years old. At this time, he was already the "chief consultant" to whom even the inspector general of the White Queen Division had to be polite.

As a lawyer who came from the authoritarian path, he was much more lavish in spending money on enjoyment.

He would buy the most expensive cigars he could afford, rather than cheap pipe tobacco. He would not skimp on food, treating players to restaurants whenever they met. He would travel abroad to attend the best concerts. The gifts he gave to his friends were also very valuable - for example, the gifts that the planners gave to players in his name were basically expensive krypton gold materials.

This is a typical characteristic of the authoritarian path, only the best. Not for the enjoyment itself, but to get the "best".

But after he quickly spends the money he gets, he will calmly downgrade his consumption and live a contented life without money until the next event makes him rich again.

Shylock's biggest characteristic is that he never saves money. He never considers the possibility of running out of money in the future.

Because young Sherlock is full of confidence in his ability. As long as he has his own ability, he can get a sum of money at any time - he doesn't make money just because he is not interested.

He believed that if he thought about what he would do in the future, he would be subconsciously suggesting that his talents would eventually deteriorate. Compared with the degradation of the quality of life, admitting that he would become stupid one day was more unacceptable to him.

This talented and extremely proud NPC, but at the same time friendly to players, has always been quite popular among players. There are also a large number of fan art, cosplay, peripherals and handwriting.

Until the main line of version 5.0, Sherlock was very active and had many highlights.

In the end, he died in the main storyline of 5.1.

The cause of death was very strange - when investigating a case at a critical moment, he was killed to silence him because he was investigating the case alone.

Although the plot is different from "The Final Case", perhaps to hint at the direction of the next story, the name of that big chapter is "The Final Case".

Looking back now, the person who killed Sherlock might have been James Moriarty, Aiwass's adoptive father, because it was after Sherlock's death that Aiwass's adoptive father reappeared in the plot.

At that time, a player said: "Oh no, the one who came back from the 'empty house' is Moriarty."

Aiwass was deeply impressed by this incident.

When the suggestive main plot name was revealed, the online discussion and popularity exploded. When the plot finally came out, the players' reactions were incredible.

Instead of anger and sadness, there were more comments like "How dare they send out a bento", "He's not really dead, is he?" and "Wait to return to an empty house".

I don't believe it's true, but I'm afraid it's true.

It's like the feeling of a primary school boy making a girl cry and then saying, "You're really crying."

Even Edwards specifically asked his screenwriter friend whether Sherlock was really dead.

The response he got was also vague, "probably."

But until Aiwass traveled through time, Sherlock's "empty house" plot still did not come. Instead, James Moriarty jumped out and showed his identity as the final boss of the main storyline of the version.

As if noticing the extremely complicated gaze, Sherlock suddenly raised his head and looked in the direction of Aiwass.

Seeing Oswald pushing the wheelchair over, he smiled and put away the book in his hand.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Oswald."

He greeted the old butler briskly and nodded to Aiwass with a smile.

Oswald obviously knew Sherlock and greeted him warmly: "Mr. Sherlock, why don't you come in and sit down? The professor has mentioned you a lot recently."

Aiwass knew that the old butler had a rather proud character, with an elf's stubborn temper and high-handedness.

If it wasn't someone he approved of, he would never have given such a good look to him.

"Forget it. If I go in, the professor will nag me again. I'll just deliver the things and leave. If there's anything else, just say hello to the professor for me."

The black-haired young man politely declined.

"If you have something to do today, why don't you come to the family dinner tomorrow? I'll ask the cook to prepare some good dishes in advance."

Oswald asked kindly, his attitude was completely different from the indifference when he saw Haena: "After all, the professor has been talking about you for a long time - and Mr. Sherlock, you haven't visited the professor for almost a year."

"I just have something to do tomorrow night... you know. When I'm free later, I'll send you a formal visit."

Sherlock was evasive.

He exchanged a glance with the old butler, and Oswald nodded in sudden realization, not mentioning the matter any further.

And Aiwass also realized what Sherlock meant.

If there is something big happening tomorrow night, it is most likely advancement.

His vague attitude meant that this advancement was most likely illegal—he even dared to openly read the mystical books on the path of wisdom, but was vague about such matters.

That must be the secondary path he had just obtained. The "Mage" profession in the path of wisdom is about to be advanced to the second level!

…same as me.

Aiwass was stunned for a moment.

Good job.

—Are we going to meet in the dream world