Aiwass knew that he would definitely be able to participate in the investigation without even waiting for authorization from the Inspectorate.
If nothing unexpected happens, he can also conduct an independent investigation - without being closely monitored by Inspector Haina, he can directly participate in the investigation as an "assistant of the Inspectorate."
On the one hand, it is the face of the adoptive father, and on the other hand, the Inspectorate, which is bound by the rules of its superiors, has always welcomed the help of outsiders. Starting from Mr. Sherlock, who now runs his own office, being hired and consulted by the Inspectorate has even become a profession.
If the investigation is unsuccessful, it is because the hired detectives are incompetent, and at least they can avoid strict internal accountability; if everything goes well, it is because the guidance ideas proposed by the Supervisory Bureau are correct, and at least it can be regarded as an achievement and a stable share of benefits.
Although Haina is a genuine inspector, Aiwas knows the Inspection Bureau better than her.
Aiwass had his reasons for being so actively involved in the investigation of this matter.
—That is revenge and silencing.
The two versions of the story that Aiwass told the inspector before were actually both false. In other words, neither was entirely true.
He was indeed a participant in the ritual, and he did know the two demonologists.
But he was also a ritual sacrifice.
Because those two demonologists were actually Aiwass's "pen pals".
Aiwass had been interested in taboo-related knowledge since he was a child. The more mysterious skills were banned by the Kingdom of Avalon, the more excited he was to study them.
For example, ritual magic from the Path of Transcendence, and preservation magic from the Path of Twilight.
The former is the basic ability of the Demonologist, and one of the professions extended from the latter is the Necromancer. From the name, it doesn't sound like a good thing.
This kind of taboo knowledge was only briefly outlined in his adoptive father's study. Possessing a forbidden book was a serious crime that could land you in jail, even in a knight family. But after reading the overview, the little Aiwass became even more itchy.
He enthusiastically bought some ritual materials, and without mastering any extraordinary knowledge or mysterious skills, he tried to perform the ritual based entirely on conjecture and imagination.
This will of course fail.
The core secret of this world is "knowledge".
The nine mystical skills corresponding to the nine great paths all require corresponding knowledge to master - conversely, as long as you master the corresponding knowledge, even if your personal strength is low, you can gain extraordinary power far beyond your real ability. Each piece of forbidden knowledge is almost the foundation of a school. In this case, it is impossible to buy a reliable "skill book" from the market.
On Aiwas' sixteenth birthday, a secret society of demonologists, "Noble Red", suddenly contacted him.
Aiwass was very cautious at first, but the other party sent him several handwritten copies of banned books along with the letter, which contained contents about demonic knowledge and demonic rituals.
Although they are all small rituals that are no different from magic tricks - such as making people grow boils, healing minor wounds, making people drowsy, or making people unlucky. They seem useless, but they are all real and extraordinary rituals!
After trying them one by one, Aiwass became very excited. So he became a pen pal with the other party and often exchanged some demonology knowledge. The other party also regarded himself as Aiwass's friend. On weekdays, he often talked with him about his emotional life and trivial matters in daily life.
At the beginning, Aiwass was still a little cautious.
However, two years passed quietly.
Aiwass thought that if the other party wanted to deceive him, they would have done so long ago. The value of the secret knowledge they gave him was already quite high - although Aiwass, who had never been to the black market, didn't know how much this knowledge could be sold for, but even if the quality was not good enough, the quantity was already a lot.
—How could a scammer operate for so long and invest so much just to defraud one person
This is neither reasonable nor rational. It is not in the best interest.
So Aiwass gradually relaxed his guard and really treated this pen pal as a friend whom he had never met but with whom he got along very well.
A few days ago, the other party claimed that they had something to do in the capital and wanted to meet with Aiwass.
Aiwass believed the other party without hesitation and without any precautions.
—This is the lie he told the inspector. Because “Aiwass” was not abducted, but came there on his own initiative.
They were a man and a woman, both wearing red clothes and shaved heads. The man looked to be in his 40s or 50s, and the woman was in her 20s. In addition to being a mentor and an apprentice, they were also lovers.
He enthusiastically invited his "two friends" to dinner, and then the middle-aged man said that he could let Aiwass see and even personally participate in the real devil summoning ceremony - Aiwass excitedly agreed.
But after he had been busy for more than an hour setting up the ceremony, he suddenly realized something while looking at the ceremony table.
Doesn't summoning a demon require some expensive materials
At this time, he suddenly realized that he had become a "voluntary sacrifice" by setting up the ceremony platform himself. At the same time, as a student of the Royal Law University Theological Seminary, Aiwas could become a priest before graduation.
Although he has not truly embarked on the path of a transcendent being, he has already taken the first step towards the path of dedication.
This is reflected in the data card, which means that he already has a level 1 priest profession. After the experience of the basic skill "Basic Prayer" is accumulated, Aiwass can upgrade the priest profession to level 2 and master the path characteristics of his first path of dedication.
Of course, he happily told his pen pals about this matter - although "priest" is not as interesting as "demonologist", it is still an extraordinary profession after all. Being able to embark on the extraordinary path and possess extraordinary abilities is worse than having nothing.
More importantly, priests are also a respected profession in Avalon.
The symbol of the path of "dedication" is light, protection, and candles. This is the path of dedicating oneself to others and ideals. Only by practicing this concept from the heart can one become stronger. Therefore, all professions extending from the path of dedication are extraordinary professions with bright prospects and recognized by people.
Thus, as a "voluntary 'dedicated' believer", Aiwass became a sacrifice of extremely high standards.
It was only then that Aiwass recalled his past life before the crisis of death. He recognized the species of the demon first and successfully signed a contract with it.
He controlled the shadow demon to sneak attack and killed the stunned middle-aged man, the demon scholar who was the "mentor". But the woman who was the apprentice was still alive.
If she had run a little slower, she would have been killed by Aiwass; but if she dared to turn around and look back, she could have killed Aiwass instead.
Just a little bit.
Aiwass sighed.
—He was almost sacrificed and silenced by the man; and he was almost killed by the woman.
Betrayed, deceived, murdered.
The real anger was reverberating in Aiwas's heart. He decided to take revenge without hesitation.
Not to mention, this woman is very likely to have seen Aiwass's letter.
This meant that if she were arrested, she would likely betray Aiwass - no, she would definitely betray herself.
The adoptive father's position is now unclear, but even if it is only for his own sake, he must kill her before the Supervisory Bureau catches her.
However, Aiwass also did not intend to reveal his identity as a demonologist in order to kill the other party.
He has a way.
After waking up yesterday, Aiwass's first reaction was to try a simple ritual that the original "Aiwass" didn't know about and appeared only in the later stages of the game. After using that ritual to replenish his life force that was drained as a sacrifice, Aiwass was basically sure that the secret knowledge he knew was also useful in this world.
Aiwass's profession in the game is not a demonologist who "transcends" the Tao... but an enlightener who "dedicates" the Tao.
It is a pure auxiliary profession that can greatly enhance the strength of teammates and has a small amount of healing and control capabilities.
But now, when he must take on world-destroying crises alone, such a weak profession is not feasible.
Because the Enlightener cannot benefit from his own enhancements. In other words, most professions on the path of "dedication" cannot benefit from their own enhancements, protection or healing skills.
However, it is possible to be a part-time illustrator. After all, Aiwass's public identity is a priest of the Path of Devotion. He can prepare in advance to change his job to an illustrator, and he is also very familiar with the necessary Path characteristics that need to be mastered to advance to this profession.
In order to resolve those crises, his main job must be to have strong enough individual combat capabilities.
Considering that he can work part-time as an Enlightener, the answer is simple.
That is the 5.0 version of "Aivaz", who advanced to the "Lord of the Beasts" after mastering the power of the phantom demon.
That is a later stage profession after advancing again from the Scholar of Great Sin.
After defeating the immortal phantom demons, they can extract their essence and transform it into their own summoned beasts, which are "big beasts" with six attributes.
Although only one "Big Beast" can be summoned at the same time, you can switch to the Big Beast that is most suitable for the current situation, and then use the support cards, equipment cards, and field cards made by drawing the power of other "Big Beasts" to strengthen the current one.
And the most important thing is that this summoned beast is considered a "teammate".
Not only does its output far exceed that of the main body, but it can also absorb all types of BUFFs given by teammates.
In game terms, this profession has the highest chance of being cheated.
Because the cards only enhance noble mechanical gains, such as triple speed, armor penetration, poison, burning, dodge, and spell penetration, but not damage increase gains. It just happens that it will not be diluted by the various damage increase buffs of the most mainstream auxiliary, the Enlightener.
Although after summoning the "big beast", the main body will not be able to benefit from the attack BUFF, so the output of the main body will be a bit weak.
However, during the burst cycle, the Lord of the Great Beast can briefly merge the summoned and strengthened "Great Beast" with himself, thereby bursting out extremely powerful strength.
With the cooperation of the Great Beast Master and the Enlightener, Aiwass can strengthen his summoned beast as a "teammate". He will not lose the social benefits brought by his cleric identity. At the same time, he can switch to a summoned beast that restrains the opponent when facing different enemies. The upper limit is still very high.
In the worst-case scenario, you are the only one able to fight against the BOSS - then this professional combination may not have the highest burst under ideal conditions, but it must have the strongest comprehensive performance and adaptability.
The ability to extract the power of higher-level phantoms and use tarot cards as materials to create phantom cards comes from the predecessor profession, the Scholar of the Great Sin.
After completely studying and analyzing a Phantom, a Sinner can obtain the corresponding ritual knowledge - what cards this Phantom can be used to print, what materials and rituals are needed. Once this knowledge is known, even a Demonologist can make it in advance.
The most important prerequisite for advancing to the Lord of Great Beasts is to use the ability of the Great Sin Scholar to create six blank cards with different attributes, and seal six phantom demons with corresponding attributes respectively.
Then, repeatedly defeat phantoms with the same attributes as experience materials to fill up the levels of these six phantoms.
According to Aiwas's memory, there was a high-level phantom demon with fire attribute in Yulia's body.
It was because of feeding that phantom demon that her body became so weak.
The phantom will kill Yulia after it grows up. If she wants to save her, she must face the juvenile phantom directly; and phantoms are immortal... This means that conventional means cannot save Yulia. At most, they can only delay the time for the phantom to wake up and lose control.
The "Lord of the Beast" is different.
If Aiwass can successfully create a "blank card" with a capacity large enough to accommodate the phantom demon in Yulia's body, he can directly extract the consciousness of the phantom demon in Yulia's body.
In this way, not only can Yulia survive, but the advanced materials for the Lord of the Great Beast can also be prepared in advance!
And Yulia can also obtain the remaining energy of the phantom demon - making this unstable and dangerous power stable and growable, thus embarking on the path of becoming a transcendent!
The basis of all this is that the card-making ritual in Aiwass's memory is reliable and feasible.
He had experimented with other rituals before, and the ritual knowledge in the game was indeed useful!
However, the production of the Phantom Card requires additional verification because the Great Sin Scholar is a profession that only appeared after the advent of the Fallen Angels.
Now that it's two versions ahead of schedule, Aiwass is not sure whether the ritual can be run yet.
So he needed to experiment.
As long as Aiwas can successfully create any phantom card as a demonologist, it can be confirmed that this system is still available at present!
This way, he would gain another power that had nothing to do with being a demonologist.
His own revenge and silencing actions will go smoothly.
Yulia is saved!
Even the destruction of Avalon is not irreversible—
—As long as he can successfully make his first card.
Aiwass is still too weak now. The only extraordinary being close to the upper-level phantom demon under his control is the shadow demon.
The only card that can be made by drawing Shadow Fiend is "Moon".
To make the "Moon Card", no matter how strong the power sealed in this card is, it requires a nail from the forehead of a criminal who was being torn apart by a chariot and three ancient ropes from the gallows as materials.
Aiwass sat solemnly at his desk and took out a slightly blackened tarot card from the jade box.
These tarot cards were one of a large number of mystical items that Aiwas bought when he was fanatically worshipping various rituals. But now they can be used to make the phantom cards of the Lord of the Great Beast.
The tarot card has a moon with two towers on both sides. Below the moon is a wolf and a dog, both barking madly at the moon. In the middle and at the bottom of the picture is a lobster crawling out of the river, looking up at the sky in confusion.
This is the Moon. In Tarot divination, the Moon card symbolizes confusion, distress and anxiety.
The creators of Tarot cards came from the prophets of the "Adaptive" path. The prophets looked down on astrologers who also belonged to the "Adaptive" path, comparing them to dogs barking at the moon - because all prophets agreed that the future could never be accurately predicted, and astrologers tried to create a "grand unified star map" that was complex and accurate enough to predict all futures.
This behavior was very ridiculous to the prophets. It was like a dog barking at the moon, trying to figure out what it meant. But it just exposed their ignorance and fearlessness.
Aiwass held his breath and became extremely cautious.
Because he had smeared mercury on the "Moon" of the tarot card. He used it as a medium and injected three points of his dark attribute magic power yesterday.
Currently, the maximum capacity of Aiwass's dark mana pool is only three points.
Even the most basic and weakest card requires at least five points. No matter how strong the card is, the other materials used are the same, the only difference is the amount of gem powder.
… Although it is a bit of a waste of materials to make such a weak card, it is more important to at least succeed once to verify whether it is feasible.
And at the very least, it is a reusable magic scroll. Once the card is made, it only takes one tenth of the mana to trigger it, and any less than one point is considered zero. The only restriction is that only one card made of the same tarot deck can be used in a day. In other words, if Aiwas uses this moon card, he cannot use other moon cards on the same day.
But it doesn't matter.
When they are no longer needed, they can be sold or given away - portable spell scrolls that can be induced without mana and automatically recharge every day will definitely sell for a good price. From this perspective, these ritual materials cannot be considered a waste.
Aiwass had already injected his three points of dark attribute mana into the card yesterday. Because of this, the card was slightly black. This was not an illusion, but it was indeed absorbing the surrounding light weakly. If it was placed under the sun and compared with the surrounding objects, it might be more obvious.
Now, Aiwas's mana pool is restored.
He gently touched the moon painted with mercury again, and slowly injected all three points of dark attribute mana in his body. A card made with six points of mana would be slightly stronger than one with five points.
"Pity… "
Aiwass sighed in a low voice: "Let's make one first. As for the materials for the remaining three, we should wait until we have more mana to make them."
After the card is injected to the bottom line of five points, the ritual is activated immediately. If it is not made immediately, it will be scrapped in an hour. Otherwise, Aiwass can even hoard mana day by day and can hoard it for ten days. Produce the "Site Card: Shadow Cellar" which requires thirty points of mana to make.
He could actually inject a little more today and start crafting with seven mana points tomorrow.
But with 5 to 10 mana points, the weakest "Enchantment Card: Shadow Blade" is produced. Stocking up a little more will not bring about any qualitative change... It's better to grab one more day.
Thinking of this, he used a hammer to hammer the rusty nail into the Tarot card.
There was a creaking sound, and the card made a strange sour sound, as if Aiwass had not nailed the card, but nailed it into someone's skull.
Then, he looped the three ropes into a loop and looped them toward the nail from three angles. He then used ordinary nails to nail the other three ends of the ropes onto the three "Sword" cards.
The next moment, the rope suddenly inflated and expanded. It was just a nail, but it was like someone's neck was tied around it. The three ropes suddenly turned into a ring instead of a "V".
Then, Aiwass evenly sprinkled the pre-ground black pearl powder on the tarot cards. The "Moon" card belongs to the realm of the "love" path. Black pearls are the guardian gems of the "love" path and can be used to attract the attention of the pillar god "Hengwo" of the love path.
Just looking at it, even for a moment, is enough to give the cards spirituality.
After finishing what he needed to do, Aiwass stayed there calmly without moving.
The shadows beneath him were like wisps of smoke, rising and blending into the card. The picture on the tarot card kept changing, as if another artist was making changes to it.
When the scene changed, the nail slowly melted and turned into a new "moon", while two of the three ropes merged into two new "black towers" and turned into two dog-headed men holding scepters. The remaining rope replaced the original lobster and turned into a black scarab.
The card automatically floated up and flew into Aiwas's hands.
The attributes of the card automatically appeared in his eyes:
Enchantment: Shadow Blade (Moon)
Necessary: Dark 0
Instant, contact, immediate effect
Effect: The target "weapon" temporarily gains the attributes of shadow, cutting, and erosion, and is considered a supernatural weapon. Lasts for one minute (+20%)
Done.
Aiwass thought.