Secrets: Priestess

Chapter 65 Pushing the door
"From this perspective, the Orthodox Church does have restrictive measures on the potion system and sequence pathways!" Claire thought with a frown.

The Nighthawks, the Mandated Punishers, the Mechanical Heart, and the rest of the Orthodox Church's execution apparatus...

The capture and recruitment of wild Beyonders, the secrecy surrounding the "Acting Method," and the confidentiality regulations adhered to by all churches were fundamentally combating the spread of the potion system...

But at the same time, the Church of the Seven Gods also intends to spread a certain main sequence, such as the "Sleepless" path of the Church of Night, the "Sailor" path of the Church of Storms, and the "Universal" path of the Church of Steam.

For example, in the Nighthawks team, although there are Extraordinary people from other paths, that is because each sequence path has different characteristics. In order to better respond to the dangers in the mission, some other sequence paths are added.

Why do they restrict the spread of the potion system while secretly developing specific pathway sequences?

Claire thought of the aggregation effect that the "Queen" mentioned at the last party.

High-sequence items will attract medium and low-sequence items... and have a tendency to aggregate.

Thinking about it again, the evil god "Original Witch" can affect the extraordinary people of the "Assassin" path, causing male psychological abnormalities and relatively weaker women to be persecuted and hunted; the evil god "Hidden Sage" can also affect the extraordinary people of the "Secret Peeping" path, and that crazy raving... She herself has suffered greatly from it.

Thinking about it this way...

Each path corresponds to a true god or an evil god.

Or it can be said that every true god or evil god has mastered a sequence path!

The "Sleepless One" corresponds to the Goddess of Night, the "Sailor" corresponds to the Lord of Storms, and the "Generalist" corresponds to the God of Steam and Machinery.

The end point of the path is the gods, and becoming a god can control the path to a great extent!

Could it be that all Beyonders of the same Sequence are food for the gods?!
The more and stronger Beyonders of the same sequence there are, the stronger the God will be?!

So what is the difference between righteous gods and evil gods? Why are righteous gods righteous gods, while evil gods can only be evil gods?

"It's... a different attitude towards the human race." Claire guessed.

Regardless of the purpose, the Orthodox Church is indeed protecting ordinary people, while the cultists are indeed persecuting ordinary people.

"No, think more deeply..."

"The righteous gods are protecting their believers, while the evil cultists are persecuting the righteous gods' believers?"

"At the same time, cultists are also spreading the faith in evil gods, such as the Aurora Society!"

Although the members of the Aurora Society will act secretly at the beginning of an incident, as soon as things are coming to an end, they will publicly announce their existence.

The most outrageous ones would even publish in the newspaper that "Aurora claims responsibility for such and such incident."

Aurora's high-profile actions are both shaking people's faith in the righteous gods and winning over believers.

"The gods need believers!"

Even if we don't consider the evil god.

In the Canon of the Seven Gods and legends from various places, contradictory records are more common than similar descriptions that can corroborate each other.

Even the Church of the Seven Gods has its missionary struggles.

Take the Kingdom of Loen as an example. Only the three orthodox churches of the Goddess of Night, the Lord of Storms, and the God of Steam and Machinery are allowed to preach here.

In neighboring Intis, people believe in the eternal sun and the god of steam and machinery.

In the north, the powerful country, the Feysac Empire, believed in the God of War and only allowed the Church of the God of War to preach, excluding other beliefs.

Furthermore, according to church records, the relationship between the Church of Evernight and the Church of the God of War was becoming increasingly tense, even reaching the point of mutual hostility. There were also constant frictions between the Kingdom of Loen and the Feysac Empire.

"What about me? Why wasn't I, the one favored by the Goddess of Night, given the 'Sleepless' potion? Instead, I was asked to choose between 'Hunter', 'Fortune Teller', and 'Educator'?"

At this time in the Tarot Club, the Fool, after reading the diary, allows the members to communicate with each other.

"Justice" wants to inquire about the knowledge related to the secret sect in exchange for a high reward of 1000 pounds and is willing to share it with others.

The Hanged Man is telling the story of the Morse Ascetic Order and the Hidden Sage:
"The Moss Ascetic Order is the earliest secret organization. Of course, many people believe that the earliest secret organizations should be the Church of the Goddess of Night, the Church of Mother Earth, and the Church of the God of War."

Zhengyi retorted sullenly, "These people must not be believers of these churches."

The Hanged Man smiled. "The truth of ancient history is difficult to know, but one thing is certain: no one has ever said that the Church of the Lord of Storms, the Church of the Eternal Sun, and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom were once hidden organizations."

These three appeared at the same time...

Claire raised an eyebrow secretly.

"Okay, let's get back to the point. The Moss Ascetic Order was originally formed by several humans who viewed the blasphemous slate. They believe in an impersonal deity called the Hidden Sage."

“It’s described here as a deity, but it’s closer to an idea, a natural law.”

In Claire's understanding, this is similar to the concept of God.

The Hanged Man continued, "At that time, the members of the Morse Ascetic Order used asceticism to fight against loss of control, neutralize the residual effects of the potion, and strictly maintain secrets, adhering to morality and precepts..."

"But they degenerated into an evil organization."

Claire couldn't help but blurt out: "Why?"

“Because He is alive!”

"'Hidden Sage', He has become a personified evil god!"

The Hanged Man's voice was terrifying, and Zhengyi couldn't help but ask, "Alive? How... could he be alive?"

Claire looked at the Fool. Not only her, but all the members looked at the Fool.

The Fool remained seated and silent.

At this time, the "Queen" spoke: "The legend, I only saw it in the legend, I don't know if it is reliable or not... The Hidden Sage may have been contaminated by other evil gods."

The gods are polluted?!

This understanding overturned everyone's understanding of God. Everyone's first reaction was: Impossible!

But Claire had a vague feeling that the gods might not be as unattainable as she had imagined.

Everyone glanced at the Fool again.

The Fool simply announced, "Today's gathering ends here."

Following the Fool's words, everyone gathered their thoughts, stood up, and saluted, saying, "Your will is followed."

Claire, who also bowed, felt a pulling sensation, but she was sure she could get rid of it.

But she didn't.

With a feeling of falling, Claire woke up on the rattan chair in the alchemy room.

Claire sat up and let out a long sigh.

At this Tarot meeting, the secret knowledge she gained from Emperor Roselle's diary, the Hanged Man, and the Queen changed many of her previous perceptions.

Especially the gods, including the goddess of night whom she believed in.

A trace of fear was buried in Claire's heart.

When will I be able to escape the fate of being a chess piece?

The desire to break free from the control of others made the seed of ambition grow quietly in Claire's heart.

In order to become stronger, both sequence advancement and the collection of secret knowledge are crucial.

The Fool's Tarot Club is both a danger and an opportunity for me.

The Goddess of Night and Mr. Fool, the Church of Night and the Tarot Club, and the Hidden Sage...

But before you have enough power and knowledge...

Claire lowered her head and drew a perfect crimson crescent shape on her chest, praying devoutly, "May the goddess protect me."

"Or maybe the goddess really doesn't mean any harm." Claire sighed in her heart.

Although she felt resentful of her fate as a pawn, Claire did not let this resentment cloud her mind and directly develop hostility towards the Goddess of Night.

Only by improving your own cognition and vision can you clearly know who your friends are.

Only by having your own power can you clearly identify who the enemy is.

Returning alive to the Earth where she once lived to see her family and friends... Amidst Claire's obsession, a new thought emerged.

She wanted to see what God could see. She had come here in a daze, and she didn't want to leave in a daze.

Claire walked out of the underground alchemy room and returned to the surface. Seeing her, Roshan waved and said, "Claire, the captain just asked you to go to his office after you come up from your lunch break."

"The captain called me?" Claire knocked on Dunn's office door in confusion.

Dunn's complexion hadn't fully recovered yet. He looked up at her and said, "Close the door first."

"Hmm?" Claire closed the door and stood opposite Dunn.

Dunn took out a slip from the drawer requesting permission to enter behind the Chanis Gate and handed it to Claire.

The note had already been signed by Dunn.

Dunn said, "Take Sharon with you through the Chanis Gate later. Behind the Chanis Gate lies the sealing power of a sacred object, which can cause cultists to experience symptoms like weakness, irritability, and fatigue. Observe Sharon's reaction carefully."

"Oh? There's such a good idea..." Claire sighed, seeing that the note said to go to Chanis Gate to collect the regular potion.

"Under normal circumstances, no wild Beyonders or pagans would dare follow us into Chanis Gate. But it's perfect for testing Sharon." Dunn shook his head and smiled. "Old Neil is there too. I've already explained the situation and my suspicions about Sharon to him. He'll cooperate with you."

"Mr. Neil..." Claire mentioned the note and said as she stood up, "I'll go see if Sharon is awake. She stayed up all night last night, so she might still be sleeping."

Dunn nodded in agreement: "Before sunset."

Claire took the note and walked towards the lounge.

Not long after, Claire arrived at the door of the women's lounge. Standing at the door, she thought for a moment and activated her Eye of Prying.

Through the door, she saw a blue figure sitting up in the corresponding position on the bed.

Blue represents calm thinking.

Sharon woke up?
Claire opened the door with her key as quietly as possible.

Push door.

Claire saw Sharon with her upper body exposed, wearing only a pair of underwear.

Sharon, with her seductive figure, had her brown hair cascading down, half covering her chest, but more of her fair and tender skin was still exposed to Claire's eyes.

Although these were parts Claire was very familiar with, the feeling of seeing others and seeing her own body were completely different...

Claire, who was completely unprepared, stood there in shock at the visual impact.

"Come in and close the door! You have a tail on your butt!" Sharon said in a soft voice when she saw Claire standing there. She stroked the red marks on her body from the corset and rolled her eyes at Claire.

Unable to think for a moment, Claire quickly closed the door.

After closing the door, Claire realized that she had locked herself in as well.

Wouldn’t it be even more embarrassing to open the door and go out at this time?

Claire steeled herself, turned around, and smiled at Sharon as naturally as possible.

(End of this chapter)