Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 1342 1314. Target
"So you are fine now." Master William said slowly, curled up in the rocking easy chair. "You can even say it's just right! Just right!"

Lan En's [Clairvoyance] is just right.

His vision was high enough to see Master William's "true appearance", but he did not absorb too much of Yharnam's local truths from the depths of the world as "nutrition".

It has little to do with the land of Yharnam, or those ancient gods and superiors.

After a few words of negotiation, Lan En, with his hand on the back of the armchair, nodded silently, as if he had understood something.

"It seems you can indeed see far with these eyes, Master."

The witcher said calmly.

“Not much, not much.” The old man smiled shakily during the gentle shaking. “I only saw some fragments, but they were just fragments.”

"I even had to have you come to me before I could finally confirm that your vision was far-reaching enough."

Lan En then asked: "Then you must also be aware of my goal and my current predicament."

"Yes, yes, I know everything." Master William responded slowly.

But Lan En lowered his head and looked at the old man curled up in the recliner.

"I do not doubt your foresight and arrangement. After all, your vision is higher than mine now."

The witcher first spoke to Master William sincerely and humbly, but then changed the subject.

"But you haven't reached the level of an ancient god yet, right? Then why can't the ancient gods see what you can see?"

The novel inspiration and nourishment needed to improve Lan's [Clairvoyance] can still be accumulated from journeys through many worlds.

But Master William must have conducted research and discoveries in Yharnam to reach this level.

If his vision is comparable to that of the ancient gods, then according to his theory of [Clairvoyance], possessing the same vision as the ancient gods is equivalent to being equal to the ancient gods in life form.

He will become the new Ancient God.

But now for the joke: he's clearly not crazy about having a child of his own.

"Caution." Master William responded to Lan's questioning and said, "Caution is a virtue."

"If Lawrence and Miklash were not so impatient and were as cautious and prudent as you, then Yharnam might be in a much better situation now."

"Son, have you ever considered coming to Byron Weiss for further studies?"

Lan En tilted his head, looked at the huge full moon on the lake outside the terrace, and sighed: "Now is not the time to joke, Master William."

"Hehehe."

The old man's unclear throat uttered a laugh.

"But it's like you're treating my words as a joke. Ancient gods, don't they think we're just a bunch of 'jokes'?"

Lan En nodded calmly and rationally, with an expression on his face as if the words comparing him to a "joke" were just a breeze blowing on his face.

"You want to say that the ancient gods despise us and therefore do not pay attention to us. But this is still not enough."

The enemy's contempt is not worth getting angry about; on the contrary, it is a card that can be used to your advantage.

Lan En does not mind the enemy's contempt. In the end it will be a life-and-death battle anyway. What does the enemy's emotions have to do with him?

The enemy is dead, why should a dead person care about him?

If you die, then you don't have to worry about it.

So now, Lan En did not feel the slightest bit unhappy or resentful. He was just thinking about what Master William said.

I am not afraid of the enemy looking down on me, I am just afraid that this "contempt" itself is false.

"Of course this is not enough." Master William did not avoid the question, but agreed with Lan En, and then continued, "But this is not the whole reason."

"You ended the deepest and most terrifying nightmare in Yharnam. Tell me, what did you see?"

".The destruction of Old Yharnam." Lan En calmly described what he saw and heard in the nightmare.

"Because of the great sin of murdering the Son of God, the premature Son of God and the great god Kos brought down a blood curse. This curse will last forever, until all our descendants will pay the price."

As he spoke, Lan lowered his head and looked at the metal eye patch on the old man's face.

"In terms of time, you should be the one who is fully informed."

"Yes, I know all about it." Master William admitted directly. "I even know that my students went through the heads of the fishermen when they massacred the small fishing village in order to verify the theory of [clairvoyance] which had not yet been proven at that time."

"They thought that the fishermen who turned into half-fishmen were already followers of the great god Kos, so they should have the [Inner Eye] in their brains. I didn't expect that they would actually look for [Spiritual Vision] in a literal sense."

The Inner Eye is another description of this transcendental sense in Master William's theory of clairvoyance.

But obviously, those who have already embarked on the path of "enhancing and evolving their own blood" under the leadership of Lawrence cannot understand the true meaning of this theory.

Just literally look for the Inner Eye.

"But it was these hunters who successfully murdered the premature child of God, wasn't it?"

Master William uttered cold words, but at the same time he outlined a peaceful smile.

The sense of conflict here is particularly strong.

"You can say that the orphan was born prematurely and therefore lacks full strength, or that ancient gods are more fragile when they are young, and so on. But..."

Without waiting for the old man to continue speaking, Lan En narrowed his eyes slightly and took over the conversation.

"But according to your theory of [Spiritual Vision], the most important thing about the Ancient Gods is not their so-called bodies and physical strength. That is not their essence." "[Personality] and [Perspective] are the differences in the essence of life."

"Yes." Master William praised with satisfaction, "Look, kid. Even though you haven't received systematic training in Byronvis, you have begun to understand."

"If you are obsessed with pure physical evolution and physical strength, then Lawrence's path of evolving his own blood is obviously correct, isn't it? But what is the result?"

Just like a teacher who guides students step by step, Master William spoke in a tone of teaching students.

And Lan En is undoubtedly the kind of outstanding student that all teachers dream of.

"Ruthless evolution is the downfall of mankind." The witcher slowly and heavily quoted a motto left by Master William himself.

"So how do you think the orphan of Kos died?"

The scepter in the old man's arms swayed along with the recliner.

He repeated what he had said to the young man when he first sent Lan away from Byronvis.

At that time, he revealed the truth about Yharnam to the young man.

"Every ancient god longs for a child, but is also jealous and wary of other ancient gods other than themselves getting a child."

"From the moment Kos possessed the Son of God, He was actually no different from dead. Do you understand?"

It wasn't the hunter who actually killed Kos.

Lan En's lips trembled, but in the end he just nodded.

The biggest gap between ancient gods and humans lies in [personality] and [vision]. Although the orphan of Kos was born prematurely, was still young, and had lost the protection of his mother.

But He is still a high-level life form equivalent to the ancient gods.

Because the two most crucial points were innate in Him.

Rather than saying that the hunters murdered Him on that dirty beach, it would be more accurate to say that ever since the Healing Church discovered His existence, the ones who truly wanted to kill this Son of God have always been other ancient gods at the same level of life as Him.

And the curse of being murdered and dying
After Master William's confirmation, Lan En had some guesses.

At the end when he, Maria and Adeline left the nightmare, German said, "In this nightmare, he repeatedly gave the final blow to kill the Son of God to Ludwig," and the curse was indeed partially shared by Ludwig.

By analogy, it is hard to say whether the old hunters who were trapped in that nightmare and suffered repetitive torture were also pushed up by some ancient god who took action at that time to take the blame, and share the power of the curse brought down when the Son of God died.

"understood."

Lan En's hand gently left the back of the armchair and spoke in a deep voice.

"You mean the internal fighting among the ancient gods is becoming more and more intense."

"But it is precisely because of the intensity of the competition," Master William added with a smile, "that we, humble creatures with narrow vision, have a chance."

"It seems that you have already determined the situation." Lan En half-knelt down beside the rocking chair, and his armor made a 'click' sound as he moved.

"Tell me, who is your chosen target? Who should I deal with?"

Like a student eager to learn, the young witcher asked Master William sincere questions.

"."

Without any verbal response, the old man in the rocking chair just turned his head silently towards the huge full moon over the lake.

"Really?" Lan also raised his head and looked at the huge moon. "I haven't heard of it. I thought it would be someone like Orton, someone with a good reputation."

"It is precisely because of his reputation and long history that the means he used to obtain a child are not the most radical. It can even be said that it is precisely because of the leeway brought by his strength that his means are the most stable."

Master William said, shaking his head.

"Ancient gods, plural ancient gods. You shouldn't be so naive as to think you can clean them all up at once, right?"

"We can only prioritize the most critical and dangerous one. He may not be the most powerful one, but he must be the one who makes the situation the worst."

"At least, let the dream end first."

"I totally agree." He stood up on his knees, which meant that the negotiations between Lan En and Master William had come to an end.

They reached a basic level of mutual trust and confirmed the feasibility and specific goals of the action.

“Where can I find Him?”

"You know that place." Master William whispered in a dreamy voice, his body rocking slowly in the rocking chair. "You got a fine doll there. Remember, kid?"

The witcher nodded calmly, then walked towards the terrace and into Byronvis' building without looking back.

"One last question, Master William."

"Oh, please."

The old man in the rocking chair spoke in a gentle voice.

"What are your plans after the dream ends?" Lan En stood at the dividing line between the terrace and the building, and said in a low voice, "We are going to kill one. Can you bear it?"

"No, I'm not worried about that, kid." The old man still spoke slowly, as if even his reaction had aged.

But the old smile on his face never changed.

"My vision has grown so deep in Yharnam that it is already too deeply involved and ingrained. Moreover, this is the theory I created."

"It deserves a witness. A martyr."

(End of this chapter)