A dozen minutes after Odis left the elven ruins, the seawater above the ruins suddenly parted with a "whoosh," revealing a passage from the seabed to the surface.
A hurricane blew in from the sea and quickly reached the underwater ruins.
As the hurricane subsided, figures appeared, led by a tall, robust middle-aged man with strong, defined facial features and hair twice as thick as a normal person's, resembling tiny worms or tentacles.
This was none other than Cardinal Archbishop of the Church of Storms, Archbishop of the Sea of Rose, "Sea King" Yann Coltman.
He was followed by many "punishers" and military extraordinary members, who were both expectant and cautious in examining their surroundings.
Just then, they heard the archbishop snort coldly, and the hurricane swept up again, instantly bringing them to the entrance of the ruins hall.
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Soon the "punishers" discovered that everything of value was gone, and there were no traces of the extracted properties. All that remained were the enormous carcasses of sea serpents and the dried-up corpses of the clergy of the Church of the Sea God.
Even the blood and skin of the "deep-sea blue-eyed electric eel" in the ruins next to the hall were gone, clearly indicating that it had been systematically looted.
"Who is it?" Yann Courtman growled, suppressing his anger.
He had been fighting against Kavituwa for several days, and the time to reap the spoils had finally come, but he got nothing.
With a wave of his hand, the archbishop caused a surge of seawater to rush into the hall, quickly forming a thin layer of water on the ceiling, resembling the surface of a tranquil lake.
The lake reflected the scene that had happened here not long ago:
An indistinct figure floated in mid-air and pulled out a white short staff inlaid with sapphire blue.
The characteristics of the members of the Church of the Sea God on the ground suddenly disappeared, as if they had been swallowed up by the air.
The "substitutes" realized that this must be the work of an organization, because there were two people on the other side, and they had a clear division of labor, with one of them taking away Cavituwa's characteristics.
The other person's state was rather strange; it seemed as if they were invisible, and even someone of "Sea King's" level could not see them.
Arne Courtman took a deep breath and, with his back to the crowd, said, "Find them."
The "substitutes" immediately gave a wry smile. At least the person who pulled out the short cane still had a human form, but the other person couldn't even be seen without a hair. How were they supposed to find him?
However, at this moment, they certainly dared not say anything, lest Lord "Sea King's" anger completely erupt.
...
Bayam, 17 Hambor Road.
Suddenly, an illusory door appeared in the living room, and Odis walked out of it, removing the mask she had bought from Bayam.
He was not worried at all about the Church of Storms' search, because under the dual protection of "the blessing of the Goddess of Night" and "the Wilderness of Knowledge," they would not get any clues about him.
After resting for a while, Odis entered the "Wilderness of Knowledge" to take stock of her spoils.
For him, this operation was a huge success; he didn't take much risk but gained a lot of good stuff.
Firstly, there have been significant gains in the area of magic arrays. With further research, Odis is confident that he can build an underwater city.
Even if building an underwater city is meaningless, the "Spirit Realm Fusion Array" can still conceal targets on the ground.
Once the target is hidden, at least a demigod wouldn't be able to detect it, and even an angel would have a hard time if the distance is too great.
If you're willing to invest the resources, you could theoretically use the characteristics of a demigod to enhance your abilities and even fool the gods.
However, these magic arrays still need to be studied carefully before they can be put into application. At present, this research is not an important project. Odis still needs to solve the problem of "extracting knowledge" first.
After leaving the notes on the magic circle in the "Wilderness of Knowledge," Odis took the spoils from the electric eel.
After identification by the "Knowledge Wilderness", the characteristics extracted by the electric eel are "the neural network of the deep-sea blue-eyed electric eel", which is one of the main materials for advancing to the "Sailor" pathway sequence 5 "Ocean Singer".
This thing can easily sell for seven or eight thousand pounds in the "Raging Sea"!
However, they generally dare not sell it, because the Church of Storms will definitely investigate the source of this material thoroughly.
Unless there is the protection of a king such as a "mysterious queen" or "king of the five seas".
Odis also put it on the storage shelf over there. Unless he was really short of money, he would keep the main material of this level for later.
The blood and other materials collected from the "deep-sea blue-eyed electric eel" are also very high-grade spiritual materials. Whether they are sold later or used to draw magic arrays, they are very valuable.
As for the scales that were hastily collected from Kavituwa, they were entirely demigod-level spiritual materials.
Unfortunately, Kavituwa died in agony. His flesh and blood decomposed the instant he died, but his bones were still intact. However, there wasn't enough time to dig them out of his flesh and blood, so they ended up being used by those hot-tempered guys.
Odis then looked at the extraordinary characteristics. A total of four extraordinary characteristics were seized in this operation, one of which belonged to Payne, an important figure in the Church of the Sea God, and was the only normal characteristic.
The other three items became very abnormal because their former owners had gnawed on Cavituwa's corpse.
To be precise, it was like a combination of several characteristics.
These traits are useless to extraordinary beings below the level of angels, and even the current "Fools" cannot use them.
Because if these properties were used as a potion, the dosage would be too large.
Using them to advance is equivalent to taking multiple potions at once, with only a very small chance of successfully advancing.
Even if they succeed, their condition will definitely be very poor.
But for Odis, this was a good thing, because after he advanced to Sequence 6, the "Wilderness of Knowledge" had just gained the ability to shatter extraordinary traits.
For him, if the characteristics of plurality were combined together, it would be a pleasant surprise.
He couldn't wait to get to the "Central Simulator" and shattered the three extraordinary properties, which brought him a series of surprises.
These three properties are all properties of the "Sailor" pathway, one for each of the Sequence 6, Sequence 7, and Sequence 8 levels.
The 6th tier of traits comes from the old man who fought Klein. Destroying it will grant you 2 "Wind Favorite" traits, 4 "Navigator" traits, 3 "Wrathful People" traits, and 4 "Sailor" traits.
Odis exclaimed: This is a classic "buy one get two free" deal, complete with tons of free gifts!
Of course, because the old man had gnawed on Kavituwa's corpse, his own internal characteristics became extremely distorted and unquantifiable.
Therefore, each of these characteristics is slightly more abundant than the normal characteristics, unlike the standard method of using magic potions for advancement.
However, the characteristics after decomposition are already within a safe range. As long as the situation is still acceptable, there should be no problem using these characteristics for promotion.
Besides this Sequence 6 level characteristic, the other two characteristics were not as surprising as the Sequence 6 characteristics because their former owners died young, or were not at a higher level than the old man and could not withstand eating a few bites of sea snake meat.
However, the characteristics at sequence level 7 also yielded 1 "Navigator" characteristic, 3 "Wrathful People" characteristics, and 2 "Sailor" characteristics.
The 8th level of the sequence has the following characteristics. Breaking it will yield 1 "Wrathful People" characteristic and 2 "Sailor" characteristics.
Adding Payne's normal trait, Odis calculated that this operation yielded a total of 2 "Wind Favorite" traits, 6 "Navigator" traits, 8 "Wrathful People" traits, and 9 "Sailor" traits.
These characteristics are enough to form a whole squad of "punishers"!
Odis rubbed his hands together. He had only been in the Raging Sea for a short time and had already made such a gain. This was a good omen!
Finally, he looked at the five sealed items he had seized, but they were quite disappointing. First of all, they were not of high quality. Just like the characteristics of the items he had seized before, people who died painfully after eating a few bites of sea serpent meat were generally not of high quality.
Therefore, of these 5 sealed items, 4 are classified as "low sequence" and only 1 is classified as sequence 7.
Moreover, the negative effects are so great that they are unacceptable. For example, one of the sealed artifacts can unleash a "rage attack".
However, the downside is that after unleashing "Rage Strike," the holder will immediately lose their mind and then launch indiscriminate attacks, continuously launching fierce assaults.
If you cannot regain your senses in time, you will die from exhaustion due to continuous use of "Rage Strike".
The most appropriate use of this sealed artifact is probably to throw it at the enemy, causing them to lose their mind and die from exhaustion.
The negative effects are so great mainly because there are some lingering psychological effects of Kavituwa in it.
Before his death, Kavitova allowed the clergy of the Church of Neptune to tear at his flesh, hoping to transfer his spirit into their bodies and thus be resurrected.
Of course, such an idea is a bit too naive, because unless there is a demigod in the Church of the Sea God, no one can withstand the characteristics and spirit within him.
But if there were demigods, he would be more likely to take this opportunity to advance.
Considering that Cavituwa had lost all reason in the final moments of his life, it is not surprising that he could come up with such a foolish move.
Odis put these sealed items away for the time being, believing that they had no other use than to be shattered into extraordinary properties.
In fact, among the three characteristics retrieved from the great hall where Kavituwa died, there were also remnants of Kavituwa's spirit. However, these were only remnants of a demigod's spirit, and once they were shattered, they were basically no longer dangerous.
In addition, these sealed artifacts also contain characteristics from other pathways, because not all of the high-ranking members of the Church of the Sea God are extraordinary individuals from the "Sailor" pathway.
This gave the sealed artifacts many strange abilities, but at the same time made their composition extremely complex.
Odis doesn't need these properties now, so he plans to keep them for the time being, as they might be useful in the future.
After reviewing the spoils, Odis returned to the real world and decided to go back to the Emerald Palace immediately to report the information he had obtained to Bernadette.
Because the news of "Poseidon" Cavitu's death is time-sensitive, its value will be less after a couple of days.
So Odis went to the inner sanctum of the Emerald Palace at dawn and knocked on the door, asking Bertha to wake the "mysterious queen".
A few minutes later, Bertha invited Odis to the "Queen's" living room, where Bernadette, dressed in a loose nightgown, was already sitting on the sofa waiting: "Why did you wake me up so urgently? What's the matter?"
Odis said, "'Sea God' Cavituwa is dead!"
"What?" Bernadette was somewhat surprised, but she quickly calmed down and smiled, "His condition was already very poor. I even deduced that he went crazy during the promotion. It's already quite remarkable that he's managed to hold on until now."
Then she asked, "Why did Kavitova suddenly become unwell? And even die because of it?"
Odis sat on the sofa: "I received news that someone found a strange book in an elven ruin."
"It is said that they were a few scholars, and some even speculated that they were members of the 'Morse Ascetic' or the 'Elements Dawn'."
"My guess is that the discovery of the book's remains is somehow connected to Kavitowa's hiding place. After the book was taken away, it disrupted some kind of balance in Kavitowa's hiding place, making him more insane and ultimately leading to his death."
Bernadette stated frankly, "This is also the most important reason why I asked you to investigate this matter; those people are members of the 'Morse Penitentiary'."
Then she pondered for a moment and said, "A couple of days ago, I also had a similar guess. I felt that the people of the 'Morse Ascetic Order' must have found something in the ruins, which is why Kavituwa's condition became so bad."
"But I'm not sure, which is why I want to conduct some investigations."
To be honest, Odis's ability to collect and analyze intelligence surprised her somewhat, after all, this was an investigation at the level of a demigod.
Moreover, the order was only given the night before last, and yesterday morning, Odis was still teaching the scholars. He only went to Bayam at noon, and yet he found such important information in just half a day and one night.
If this matter is handed over to Bayam's intelligence officers, it's uncertain when there will be a result.
It's not that they were useless, but rather that Odis's abilities in this area were too outstanding.
Thinking of this, Bernadette's smile deepened: "How are you so sure that Kavitois is dead?"
Odis took out the jade dagger that had once been his: "I obtained this from an important member of the Church of the Sea God."
"Well, I have to thank Primo for the guide he sent. He helped me quickly find the key points and saved me the trouble of finding important members of the Church of the Sea God."
"At the time, my 'peeping eye' noticed that this dagger seemed to have some connection to Kavituwa."
"Later, I did some research and found that Payne received an oracle from Kavituwa with a dagger before his death. Because Kavituwa had lost his mind, all life within a certain range around Payne turned into mummies."
"And it seems that Kavituwa forgot to disconnect, which allows me to use it to observe Kavituwa's condition."
"It was originally made of jade, but the jade-like texture gradually disappeared. About half an hour ago, the dagger suddenly broke off. I believe this is a sign of Kavituwa's death."
"Furthermore, I discovered that the demigods of the Storm Church's struggle with Kavituwa over the weather has ended, which almost certainly means that Kavituwa is dead."
"Considering the intelligence we received previously, I believe this judgment is quite accurate."
Bernadette glanced at the dagger, which had lost all its luster, and said with a "hmm," "Your judgment is reasonable and well-founded, and very logical."
Upon hearing the clues Odis had received, she made a similar judgment.
Odis said seriously, "But what is very strange is that before I came to the Emerald Palace, I heard that important members of the Church of the Sea God and the Rebellion had received the oracle of the 'Sea God' again."
"According to them, the 'sea god' has become extremely wise and also very benevolent."
Bernadette was surprised again, and after thinking for a few seconds, she asked Odis, "What do you think about this?"
"The previous 'Sea God' is indeed dead." Odis said, feigning seriousness. "The people of the Storm Church are impersonating the 'Sea God.' Perhaps they want to gradually turn the Sea God Church and the rebels into forces that obey the Storm Church."
If he were to say at this point that someone stole "Poseidon's" special ability, that would be true, but it would sound very unbelievable.
After all, for a normal person, how could someone at sea steal the Storm Church's unique characteristics?
So here, Odis chose to lie.
Bernadette nodded at first, indicating her agreement with Odis's guess, but she quickly added, "Perhaps...perhaps it's not the Church of Storms."
Odis was taken aback: "Who could it be?"
His surprise wasn't feigned, because he hadn't expected Bernadette to react so quickly.
"'Substitute Punishers' are indeed very powerful," Bernadette analyzed, "but they are better at direct combat and rarely use such roundabout methods to solve problems."
"If they obtain the characteristics of Kavituwa and can use those characteristics to find the key members of the Church of the Sea God."
"The Great Purge of Bayam, or rather the entire Roside Islands, has begun."
Odis smiled: "Your description is really... really subtle."
The phrase "rarely using such a roundabout way to solve problems" is a particularly accurate description.
For a hot-tempered guy, there's no need to use his brain if a problem can be solved with his fists.
Of course, they are different from the madmen of the "Rose School." The "Rose School" had brains but didn't use them, while the "Substitute Punishers" felt there was no need to use their brains, but they would use them when they felt they needed to.
Not a single mistake, not a single poem, not a single post, not a single piece of content, not a single look!
Odis pretended to be thinking, then feigned being persuaded by Bernadette: "That's quite possible, hmm... But who could steal the Church of Storms' things from the high seas?"
Then he laughed and said, "If it was done by the Church of the Eternal Sun, that would be interesting."
Bernadette smiled slightly and said, "If it is as you guessed, then the Church of the Eternal Sun has planted a nail in the Roseside Isles that could prick the Church of the Storm at any time!"
But then, the smile on her face gradually disappeared, because the probability of that happening was not high.
As Odis said, on the high seas, no one can defeat the Church of the Storm.
The key is that it's a demigod-level characteristic. The Church of Storms will definitely arrive at the scene as soon as Kavituwa dies and his location is confirmed. Other forces basically have no chance, and it's difficult for them to be faster.
She considered for a moment before saying to Odis, "This will be your third task: to find out who stole the characteristics of Kavituwa, and who the Church of the Sea God and the Rebels will truly serve in the future."
"If you can get accurate information, not only will you get the potion formula back, but I can also promise to help you prepare the ritual."
Odis was slightly taken aback: What should I do? I really wanted to betray "The Fool".
But then he smiled wryly and said, "This task is too difficult. What if I still can't complete it even after digesting the potion?"
Odis still doesn't plan to discuss the Tarot Club for the time being, because "The Fool" will be a good check in the future.
Although he was trying to get closer to the Church of the Goddess of Night and the Church of the God of Knowledge and Wisdom, he did not really trust these two churches.
Admittedly, the Church of the True God does maintain the basic order of the extraordinary world, but they are not absolutely impartial administrators, and they cannot be trusted on many issues.
Especially in Odis's special circumstances, he could give the Knowledge Church some technology in exchange for a certain level of protection.
But he has no intention of giving up the truly core technologies.
Odis preferred to trust his fellow countrymen rather than the orthodox church.
Once Klein has established a certain position in the Extraordinary Realm, he can use "The Fool" to counterbalance the "God of Knowledge and Wisdom," preventing the old man from "killing the goose that lays the golden eggs" and trying to seize his core research.
"I will also assign you other tasks." Bernadette knew the difficulty of this task: "If you complete the other tasks, you can still repay the formula and obtain the opportunity for the ritual."
Odis nodded: "Okay."
Then he added, "I have a question I'd like to ask you."
Bernadette made a "you say" gesture.
"How do we seal the 'Eye of Secrets'?" Odis explained, "Today I saw something I shouldn't have seen for the first time. Although it gave me some important clues, it greatly affected my state."
Bernadette, however, said, "There is no need to seal it when it reaches Sequence 6."
"At this time, the 'Eye of Secrets' is still under the control of your spirituality and subconscious. It will not be activated casually when there is real danger around."
"Although it will cause you some harm, this is precisely when the 'Eye of Secrets' is most useful."
"Once you reach Sequence 5, you will be completely unable to control it. You can start thinking about sealing it at that point."
"But at Sequence 4, it becomes easier to glimpse some very dangerous things, and one may even be contaminated without knowing it."
She solemnly said, "Do whatever you want, but do not harm!"
"Often, it's even more important to avoid getting hurt."
"This path requires sufficient composure, a love for the mystery of the extraordinary world, and a healthy wariness of the mystery."
Odis pondered for a moment before saying, "Thank you."
This is clearly the "Mysterious Queen's" understanding of this path.
After a moment of silence in the living room, Odis said again, "By the way, I need a piece of 'star crystal,' about 70 grams, for teaching the scholars."
Bernadette immediately replied, "I'll have someone send it to you tomorrow."
The two chatted for a few more minutes about shipbuilding before Odis got up to take his leave.
On her way back to her room from Bernadette's palace, Odis suddenly thought: Come to think of it, it's not that she couldn't betray "The Fool." After all, with Cattleya joining the Tarot Society, it wasn't exactly a secret to Bernadette who had taken over Cavitu's traits.
Odis thought back for a moment, "The Star General" seems to be joining the Tarot Club at the next gathering, or the one after that.
However, Cattleya didn't dare to reveal information about the Tarot Club at first, so she still had some time.
Odis believed that this information should not be given to Bernadette too quickly, otherwise the "mysterious queen" would seriously overestimate his abilities.
We'll have to wait until at least next week or the week after.
When Odis returned to her room, she already had a plan: she could tell Bernadette that she got some clues from Gehrman Sparrow, and that she also had the "opportunity" to meet the adventurer. She could lie and say that she had met him for the first time in Bansi Harbor and then had some cooperation with him in Bayam.
Bernadette witnessed the meeting in Bansi Port and confirmed that there was sufficient evidence to support this claim.
Odis pondered for a while, then yawned and lay down on the bed to rest for a bit.
Having not slept all night, Odis didn't wake up until after 10 a.m. He used the "Travel Ring" to travel to Bayam and first went to a restaurant for a meal that he couldn't tell if it was breakfast or lunch.
Around noon, Odis arrived at the wizarding office on Kentland Street to make final preparations for the gathering.
The chairs he purchased arrived this afternoon, and Balzer came over to help set up the venue.
They all noticed that many people were peeking in, and many others seemed to be just passing by, but were actually carefully examining the place after they passed by.
This is likely other forces, organizations, or intelligence brokers coming to scout the area in order to ultimately decide whether to attend the gathering tomorrow.
That evening, Odis treated everyone to dinner at a fine restaurant in Bayam.
Many Loen people live in Bayam, although the upscale restaurants here cannot compare to the world-class Loen Kingdom Hotel in Backlund.
However, the Rorsted Hotel, located on Governor's Street, is also very high-end, and of course, the price is also very high, with the cheapest package costing £6.15 sous.
If we add a bottle of red wine, the cost for two people will be around £17.
Odis originally thought that he had something important to do tomorrow, so he should have a good meal today.
He was somewhat disappointed with the result; it would have been better to eat grilled fish. It wasn't that the taste was bad, but grilled fish was more cost-effective.
Barzel was also somewhat uncomfortable in this environment, but he made it seem like he was trying to adapt.
Odis took a sip of red wine and said, "Well, it was indeed a mistake in my choice. I spent too much money and didn't enjoy the meal at all."
Bazel paused for a moment before smiling, feeling much better: it turned out that Captain Gal wasn't used to this kind of environment either.
"We should be able to set sail in about ten days," Odis said. "But I don't have any candidates for second and third mates yet. Could you keep an eye out for them for me?"
If they really couldn't find any, Odis planned to go to sea with just the two of them and find suitable crew members once they got to the sea.
Bazel nodded: "Okay."
He then asked, "Does our sea...team have any guiding principles?"
"Yes," Odis said. "Fight pirates, find treasure, and strive to become the eighth pirate general at sea."
The guests at the next table glanced at Odis first, then scrutinized him carefully, clearly wanting to take a good look at this arrogant pirate.
After feeling the other person's gaze, Odis ate her cod and glanced at him. He was a man in his thirties, eating alone. His face was a bit long, as if he had an inherently unhappy expression.
The two men exchanged a glance, but neither of them got angry. After all, this was a hotel for gentlemen to dine, not a place for fighting.
Seeing that the two men couldn't fight, Bazel said, "Captain, there are only six pirate generals left."
Odis looked away: "Someone will be replacing 'Hurricane Admiral' soon."
Bazel looked at Odis, as if asking with his eyes: Really?
"Don't look at me like that." Odis smiled. "That person is not me. I know my own strength quite well. I'm not ready to be a pirate general yet."
Bazel was taken aback before realizing that the captain might have obtained the relevant information from somewhere.
The two continued their meal, but stopped talking about the voyage and instead began discussing the unusual behavior of the Church of the Sea God in recent days.
Odis only chatted casually about Bazel's topic, without discussing the real reason for the abnormality of the Church of the Sea God.
As the last dish was served, Odis politely thanked the waiter, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed an elderly man with silver hair wearing a black trench coat looking in their direction from a corner of the restaurant.
Although the old man was advanced in years, he was in good spirits and raised his glass to Odis with a smile.
Odis did not recognize the other person, but out of politeness, he smiled and raised his glass.
As Odis left the restaurant, she remarked that she had encountered two strange people during her meal.
The long-faced man at the next table was either a pirate or an adventurer, someone who made a living at sea.
As for the one in the corner, based on Odis's experience, he should be an extraordinary individual with considerable strength.
Odis remembered their faces. He had a premonition that today's meeting was fate's arrangement and that they would meet again in the future.
Back at her place at 17 Hamburg Road, Odis briefly considered the party the next day before trying to fall asleep as quickly as possible through meditation.
...
On Sunday morning, Bazel arrived early at the wizarding office on Kentland Street and opened the door with the key the captain had given him the day before.
First, they cleaned up the place, then placed the prepared masks and hooded capes on the table by the door, waiting for the people coming to the party.
The gathering was scheduled for 8 o'clock, but by 7:40, not a single person had arrived.
But Bazel wasn't worried, because he noticed that there were unusually many pedestrians on Kentland Street this morning, and some people had already walked back and forth several times.
Balzer realized that they were still observing.
As a bounty hunter at sea, he was well aware of the importance of intelligence, so he knew that many of them would come in to take a look.
A few minutes later, Bishop Dean of Anning Church entered and was slightly taken aback to find the place empty.
Bazel asked politely, "Sir Bishop, would you like a mask and a cloak?"
Bishop Dean said, "I am a follower of God, so I don't need to."
"This way, please." Bazel led the bishop to the front row, to a black seat prepared specifically for him, while the other seats were silver-gray.
After Bishop Dean took his seat, a number of people gradually stopped outside. Then, a person who was clearly disguised entered the room, took the mask and cloak distributed by Dean, and found a chair to sit down.
Once there's one, there will be a second, a third, and soon the room will be more than half full.
At exactly eight o'clock, the wall in front of everyone suddenly became illusory. Odis used a "teleportation array" to arrive at the venue and said to the stunned crowd, "Welcome to the first Information Exchange Conference."