Greek Mythology: The Spiritual Dominator.

Chapter 599 A Corner of Truth

The problem of lifespan was finally solved, and the gods were captured successfully. It seemed that everyone was happy.

But the old man also knew very well how much trouble would be waiting for him after doing all this.

A goddess of youth, Hebe, is likely to attract the attention of the King of Gods; and the experiments of the God of Stars, the exploration of flesh, memory, and even the essence of the soul, compared to which, the connection with the lower world is nothing.

It's not that he didn't think about finding a backer for himself, but this idea was quickly dismissed.

Because he knew that after knowing what he had done, no force would believe in his loyalty.

Even in Hell, which believed in contracts the most, the old man only made a deal with some of them in exchange for a contract to 'sell his soul' in an alternative way.

If he fails today, he will decisively end his life and not give anyone the opportunity to judge him. Instead, he will let the devil fulfill the contract and take his soul away.

Although dealing with the devil is indeed very brain-consuming, and even if the devil's chaos is incompatible with wizards, he will have no choice at that time.

Fortunately, he succeeded in the end, and the contract became an opportunity for him to explore the abyss in the future, rather than a one-way ticket with no return.

As for going in now in person? Forget it.

The chaos of Tartarus might serve as a reference, but it would never pave a proper path for him to become a god, unless he intended to abandon wisdom and embark on the path of the Demon God of the Abyss.

On this basis, even if the old man wanted to hold a sacrificial ceremony pointing to hell or the abyss and put all the blame on them, it would be useless.

Because unless the Lord of Hell or the Will of the Abyss personally responds to him, ordinary devils and demons, even if they can block the archbishop of the church's divine power to spy on the past, will definitely not be able to stop the projection of the artifact summoned by the angel himself and the king of the gods of Mount Olympus.

So after going around in circles, if he wanted to erase the traces he left here and the method for later comers to track him, he only had one solution left.

Offering sacrifices to a powerful being, who would also appreciate the pitiful sacrifices he had prepared and be willing to take time out of his busy schedule to see him...

"Such an existence can be found, but the problem is that even if I find it, I don't want to meet it face to face..."

With a light sigh, the no longer old old man waved his hand, motioning his apprentice to come closer.

"Teacher? Did you succeed?"

With a hint of joy and desire on his face, Erwin took a step forward.

The old man once promised that after him, he would be the second wizard to have the opportunity to embark on this path.

After all, even among his fellow disciples, he was the only one who was loyal to his teacher and never disobeyed him.

Although this is partly due to his own lack of ability to be independent, it is always judged by actions rather than the heart, and no one is perfect in the world if you judge by the heart.

He did everything the teacher asked him to do very well, and that was enough.

And as if it was just as he thought, the old man nodded slowly.

"That's right, Erwin. I succeeded, and according to what I promised you, as long as you can do what I asked you to do, you will be the next me."

"——Thank you, teacher!"

He couldn't hide his excitement. As the actual host of the ceremony, no one understood the old man's current state better than Erwin.

A perfect demigod, whether physically or otherwise, as long as he can find his own true and feasible 'path', the purest divinity and the door to godhood will be open to him.

Strictly speaking, the reason why the old man at this time could not truly generate divinity was simply because he was a wizard.

After all, there are fundamental differences between spellcasters and warriors.

If a warrior wants to generate divinity on his own, he does not need to directly find the path to becoming a god.

If they want to make their divinity similar to that of the true God, with an indelible will and influence, there is naturally a shortcut, which is to directly merge it with their own will that has been condensed and sublimated to the extreme.

This fusion is not even limited by time or place. Fierce battles, deep hatred, or great ideals and visions can all become tools to stimulate the sublimation of will.

Because the path of warriors lies within themselves, no matter what their future path to godhood will be like, as the core that supports them to become demigods, they will inevitably have their own will and beliefs involved, which is an indispensable part of them.

In this case, no matter what path the future takes, the divinity sublimated from one's own will will not conflict with it... So at this step, the warriors have an unquestionable advantage.

But correspondingly, the caster is different.

The will and belief that are condensed and sublimated to the extreme can itself be regarded as the first step on the road to godhood for warriors, and is one of their indispensable prerequisites.

But for wizards who focus on seeking truth from the outside world, even spiritual witchcraft is based on the analysis of rules and order.

No wizard will suddenly become stronger just because his will is concentrated and his fighting spirit is burning. This is the most fundamental difference in the paths, and is three points similar to the debate between idealism and materialism in later generations.

Therefore, the spellcaster must find a practical path and walk out of a rough framework, using the feedback of the laws to prove that the direction of his path is correct. Only then can the crystallization of his own wisdom and inspiration be united with the divinity and complete the final transformation of sublimation.

One gets promoted which means he is on the right track, the other can skip classes first and make up for them later, these are spellcasters and warriors.

Perhaps in the future some spellcaster will find a way to circumvent this condition, but certainly not now.

The correct direction, one that is preliminarily recognized by the rules... This is what the old man currently lacks, but it is also something that Erwin has never thought about.

He only hoped that he could reach the level of a teacher, and then that would be enough.

Filled with joy, the middle-aged wizard felt that his previous efforts were indeed valuable... But at this moment, looking at his happy student, the old man beside him suddenly asked:
"Erwin."

"teacher?"

"You have always obeyed my orders and done what I say. That is why I am willing to make a promise to you. Do you remember?"

"Remember." The middle-aged wizard nodded.

"Yeah... just remember it."

"But after so many years... have you done everything I asked you to do?"

"of course."

Without hesitation, the powerful soul recalled his past, and the middle-aged man was sure that until today, he had never done anything to displease his teacher.

"Is this so..."

The old man nodded slightly without making any comment. He just suddenly talked about something completely unrelated.

"Erwin, you know, as a wizard, Medea is not the only one who likes to use the crystal ball to predict the future like a goddess."

"I also like to predict, but I rarely use any tools. Instead, I just observe the changes in the stars in the sky."

"There are countless secrets hidden in the stars in the sky. Their orbits reveal the rules of how the world works... Until that day, not long after the god who strayed into the mystery was discovered, a mortal named Hercules came to Silvermoon City."

"The church gave him the Star Shuttle that I refined in my early years, and that's how I noticed this gifted young man. But it was that meeting that suddenly made me feel uneasy."

The old man spoke slowly, his voice very calm.

"...But teacher, you once said that the omen of a spellcaster is not necessarily good, and it may also be the source of disaster."

After hesitating for a moment, not knowing why the teacher suddenly brought up this matter, the middle-aged man had to speak carefully.

"Some dangers may not have existed originally, but it is precisely because of inexplicable omens that people become unnecessarily vigilant, and ultimately bring disaster upon themselves. This is something we should learn from..."

"Yes, this is what I taught you, Erwin. This is the terrible thing about fate. I am certainly aware of it." "So after that day, I did nothing but watch the stars every night."

The voice was faint, and the old man recalled that night.

"I tried to find answers, and perhaps comfort, from the stars."

"But later, as you know, one night not long after, the sky became bright, the stars appeared in the daytime, and there was a strange sight of a red star piercing the sun in the sky."

"A large Mars that was originally wandering in the depths of the starry sky broke into pieces near the sun. Its remains turned from a red star into a brown star, accompanied by a stream of fire that fell to the human world... This is an ominous sign, a disaster of apocalypse. What's even more unfortunate is that the god we imprisoned happened to be the father of the stars, Astraeus."

"Teacher, I..."

"Listen to me!"

The voice suddenly rose and the old man interrupted bluntly.

Pacing in the air above the ruins of the city, his breathing rose and fell violently.

“I don’t know what this star sign means. Is it a sign of fate, foreshadowing my destruction, or is it a reminder from God that disaster is about to strike?”

"No one can explain this clearly. Even the goddess of the magic net herself said that fate will never explain to the viewer. It will only accidentally reveal a corner to you, and then laugh at and play with you when you can't help but pursue it!"

“So there was no way to answer it, so I had to solve it myself and search for it myself… Finally, I came to the beginning of everything, the underground palace where the gods were imprisoned.”

"After so many years... Erwin, tell me," the old man turned to look at the middle-aged man and asked word by word, "Why did I take such a big risk to imprison a god in the underground of Silvermoon City, under the eyes of the church and the gods? Is it because I like the feeling of dancing on the edge of a knife?"

"No... not really."

Not knowing what went wrong, the middle-aged wizard was a little flustered. He racked his brains to think: "When Typhon's disaster happened, you were not a demigod yet, and your spirit could not observe the complete structure of the twelve-layer magic net... Without the help of the mystery lock, the [artificial magic net] at that time could not trap a true god... And the sun god patrols the sky every day, we can't guarantee that we can hide it from his eyes every time..."

As if he had found a reason, the middle-aged wizard's mood finally calmed down a little.

"Later, although the technology of the [Artificial Magic Net] has also made breakthrough progress as you broke through to become a demigod, nothing has happened for so many years. It would be risky to move it rashly. In addition, the power of the puzzle lock can help us detect many uninvited outsiders, and the existence of the Centaur can make the church less wary of us, so -"

“So Erwin, tell me.” At some point, the old man’s voice turned cold: “Did you really do what I asked you to do?
"For every sacrifice brought to the God of Stars, have you used the power of the puzzle lock to carefully review it to ensure that it is correct?

"Now, Erwin, tell me—did you do that?"

"I--"

"--you have not!"

The words were sharp, but the old man's expression was calm.

Hesitating and not knowing what was going on, the middle-aged man looked up into the teacher's eyes. However, looking at the calm eyes, an ominous premonition arose in his heart.

I dare not look at this kind of look again. Erwin was startled, and then a silver light flashed across his body.

[Eighth Ring Witchcraft·Transfer without Vision]!
In just one breath, this magic can get him out of here.

Even if a demigod wizard took action personally, it would be impossible for him to destroy all the trigger-type witchcraft props that he had accumulated over hundreds of years in a single breath.

At the same time, the [Nine Rings Witchcraft: Wandering in the Spirit World] hidden under the spatial fluctuations had already begun preparations. If the old man chose to block the space immediately, his teleportation would certainly be blocked, but his soul could instantly jump to the pre-established spiritual anchor point in the second layer of the spirit world.

Although he had done so many great things, and entering the spirit world would probably be like leaving a wolf's den and entering a tiger's den, Erwin could not care less.

He knew his teacher and knew who he was.

In the past, no matter how serious the mistakes he made, as long as he still needed me, I would always be kind to him, and at most give him some criticism like a strict teacher. But now it is different.

Looking at the teacher's changed attitude, Erwin now just wants to save his life.

The old man just stood opposite him with a blank expression. Looking at the student's resistance, he silently triggered the secret technique that existed a long time ago in his heart.

"what--"

With a scream, piercing pain immediately spread out from the depths of the middle-aged wizard's soul.

The half-built witchcraft structure collapsed instantly, and the strong backlash intensified the mental shock.

Looking at this scene, the old man slowly moved forward. He ignored the student's painful struggle and began to remove the witchcraft protection on the other party.

He removed them very carefully, as if he didn't want to damage their structure.

"Erwin, my student, by now you should have remembered... You know, in this era, how many wizards can become legendary and how many are mediocre?"

"Average talent? You are the exception?
"Do not."

"There is no such thing as forcing one's progress on the path of a wizard. The reason you can get to this point is entirely because you have this talent."

"And the reason why you haven't made any progress since becoming the master of the Clock Tower...is not because of your talent, but because of me."

The struggling movement suddenly stopped, and Erwin's movements immediately became more intense.

However, the old man remained unmoved, because he knew that at this moment, if the other party could really remain calm and indifferent, then that might be the only possibility for him to turn things around.

But obviously, he wouldn't give him this opportunity.

"Erwin, listen carefully to the teacher... Do you still remember your senior brothers?"

"I suppose you do remember it—but not completely."

"You only remember their achievements, but you don't remember that you were once as talented and outstanding as they were. Only I am different..."

"When they became my disciples, they asked me for the secrets of witchcraft, and I, a young man, generously taught them everything I knew."

"It was not until later that they became legends one by one, and even gained power close to me, and eventually drifted away from me for their own ideas, that I gradually figured it out."

"Really good wizards are independent and will never be content to be inferior to others forever."

"So when you came before me, I seemed to remember them... so I taught you, let you unleash your potential, and then on the day you become a legend, I will make you my most loyal student forever."

Woohoo——

He didn't finish his words, but at this moment, even though he couldn't make a sound, Erwin seemed to have understood something.

So that's how it is. The study of the mind and the tampering of memory have made no progress in hundreds of years.

Over the past two thousand years, the White Pagoda has produced more than twelve legends. Even with the help of the teacher, if I were not so gifted, how could I succeed my elder brother as the Pagoda Master?

After all, senior brother is so outstanding, and his research on the movement of celestial bodies is unmatched... Wait - senior brother?
Yeah... Erwin was a little dazed.

He seemed to have several senior brothers, and two of them had even assisted the teacher in his research on the God of Stars before him... But for some reason, he seemed to have never met them, yet he knew them very well...

"Yes, it seems you have realized it."

Smiling and nodding, the old man slowly said:
"Your earliest brothers have already set up their own schools, but the later ones have all presided over my experiments on the stars."

"So in order to prevent any accidents... before they leave me, I can only let them have an accident first."

(End of this chapter)