Lord of the Mysteries: The New Black Emperor

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Hobert didn't quite understand Trunsoest's meaning. Logically, a normal god would have to go through the Sequence 2 level. At this point, He would have a Sequence 2 Beyonder characteristic in His body.

After advancing to Sequence 1, He would likely have another Sequence 2 characteristic in His body.

So, when He consumes all the Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics and becomes a god, theoretically, He should have at least four Sequence 2 Beyonder characteristics in His body.

According to Trunsoest, if a god of a pathway can expel Sequence 2 characteristics, shouldn't a church have eight angels?

Of course, this is on the premise that all Sequence 2 characteristics of that pathway have been collected.

But a new problem arises. According to Hobert's observation, the orthodox god churches don't seem to have that many angels?

Hobert said with some doubt: "Assuming there are nine Sequence 2 Beyonder characteristics, if all the Sequence 2 characteristics of the entire pathway are collected, the orthodox god churches should have five to eight angels."

"If there are only three angels, is it because the orthodox gods need at least six Sequence 2 characteristics to stabilize their state?"

"Firstly, even at the level of a true god, one cannot expel whichever characteristics one wants," Trunsoest said. "Generally speaking, a true god needs to have three Sequence 2 characteristics in their body."

"This should be influenced to some extent by the Law of Beyonder Characteristic Convergence."

"Only those exceeding three can be expelled. My situation with Tudor is special, but we can only expel one 'Duke of Entropy' characteristic under our own will."

"Fewer than three would affect the god's state. At most, the body can accommodate six Sequence 2 characteristics."

Trunsoest smiled and said, "You have such a naive idea because you've overlooked one problem."

"Beyonder characteristics not only aggregate but also tend to split."

"Although the tendency is not very obvious at the Sequence 2 level, there are always some Sequence 2 characteristics that are not under the control of the orthodox god churches."

"Just like I was once a 'Justiciar', I only grasped the whereabouts of seven 'Balancer' Beyonder characteristics. I don't know where the other characteristics are."

Hobert was slightly stunned. This was a problem of thinking patterns. Below the angel level, one can hardly feel the Law of Beyonder Characteristics Convergence. At the same time, this made him overlook the tendency of Beyonder characteristics to split.

"But theoretically speaking, as long as they operate for a period of time, the orthodox god churches can at least control seven or eight Sequence 2 characteristics," Trunsoest continued. "But after the Second Epoch, the gods will avoid having four angels of the same pathway appear at the same time!

"So the upper limit of the number of angels in the orthodox god churches is three."

When saying this, Trunsoest smiled meaningfully.

Although he didn't say it explicitly, Hobert understood what He meant: Theoretically, a god can allow up to five angels of their pathway to exist.

But in the Second Epoch, there were too many painful lessons of being betrayed by subsidiary gods.

Even with only two or three subsidiary gods of the same sequence, there was a very high probability of backstabbing the main god. If there were five angels, not only would the probability of betrayal increase, but it would also be easy for the angels to "start a group" to assassinate themselves.

Such painful lessons continued until the Fourth Epoch.

For example, the former angel of the "Black Emperor" pathway in front of Hobert betrayed Solomon with Tudor, just to advance to Sequence 1.

So here, Trunsoest didn't say it too clearly, just smiled meaningfully.

Three is just right. Relying solely on their own strength, they wouldn't pose too much of a threat to the main god and could still maximize their own strength.

Like Trunsoest and Tudor, without the support of the Six Gods, even if they were given three times the courage, they wouldn't dare to betray Solomon.

Trunsoest continued: "I gave the 'Duke of Entropy' Beyonder characteristic that I expelled to my family member Valentine."

"I heard that he was injured in an encirclement by the angels of the orthodox god churches. After escaping, he was ambushed by Tamara. This Beyonder characteristic should be in the hands of the Tamara family."

"Tudor gave the 'Duke of Entropy' Beyonder characteristic that he expelled to his daughter Beverly. This girl died in the 'War of the Four Emperors'. According to some information we obtained, this Beyonder characteristic was not extracted from Beverly's body."

Hobert hummed in agreement. He was quite clear about these two characteristics.

"After Tudor died, I obtained two 'Conqueror' Beyonder characteristics and a sealed artifact corresponding to the 'Duke of Entropy' sequence. This sealed artifact is the second 'Duke of Entropy' characteristic that Tudor didn't expel from his body. Currently, this sealed artifact is in the hands of the Balk family in the Southern Continent," Trunsoest finally said:

"After the Six Gods surrounded and killed me, a 'Duke of Entropy' Beyonder characteristic or sealed artifact should have appeared on my corpse. That was the second 'Duke of Entropy' characteristic that I didn't expel from my body."

"But it's hard to say which church obtained it."

Hobert rubbed his forehead. It was indeed difficult to guess which orthodox god church had that Beyonder characteristic, after all, there were six options.

So, to summarize, the whereabouts of the seven Sequence 2 characteristics of the "Black Emperor" pathway are clear at a glance:

Two are with the True Creator; one is on Longtail Island; one is with the Tamara family; one is with the messenger Beverly; one is in the form of a sealed artifact with the Balk family; and one is in the form of a sealed artifact with a certain orthodox god church.

Hobert asked again: "Then where are the seven 'Balancer' Beyonder characteristics you mentioned earlier?"

Trunsoest patiently replied: "Among the three Sequence 1 Beyonder characteristics I obtained, each contains one 'Balancer' Beyonder characteristic."

"In fact, one of the 'Hand of Order' Beyonder characteristics originally contained two 'Balancer' characteristics."

"This Sequence 1 characteristic came from Tamara. This kid was very sensible. When he learned that the Six Gods needed all the 'Hand of Order' Beyonder characteristics, he betrayed his father."

"His condition was to ask the Six Gods to shatter that 'Hand of Order' Beyonder characteristic. He hoped to obtain another 'Balancer' characteristic."

"The Six Gods agreed to his condition because Tamara also bore the infamy of killing his father, which well concealed the Six Gods' act of cleverly seizing by force."

Hobert suddenly said: "Tamara betraying his father should have been discussed between the father and son, right?"

"I think so too," Trunsoest spread his hands. "This is the Beyonder world. You must preserve your strength as much as possible."

He continued: "However, the Six Gods have also been guarding against Tamara. Just when Solomon was resurrected and the Six Gods' attention was attracted, the premeditated Tamara led his clansmen to defect."

"After joining Tudor, Tamara helped a female member of the family advance to 'Balancer', and then used this 'Balancer' to marry into the Abraham family, which is equivalent to giving Mr. Door an angel!

"From then on, Tamara gained a firm foothold in the Tudor family and became the fifth largest noble family in the Tudor Empire."

"But to everyone's surprise, in the early stages of the 'War of the Four Emperors', the Lord of Storms and the Evernight Goddess joined forces to seal Mr. Door."

"The Abraham family disintegrated at a speed that surprised everyone, and the 'Balancer' who married into the Abraham family also died in the subsequent battle, forming a sealed artifact."

"This sealed artifact was seized by the Trunsoest Empire and is currently also with the Balk family."

Hobert nodded. He remembered that Lawrence carried a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact with him. This was the whereabouts of the second characteristic.

Trunsoest leaned back in his chair: "As for the other four characteristics, two are with the Augustus family and two are with the Castiya family."

"Originally, these two families each had a 'Balancer' characteristic. After the Six Gods surrounded and killed me, in order to strengthen the power of the countries they supported, they shattered two 'Hand of Order' Beyonder characteristics."

"They gave William and Philip one 'Hand of Order' and one 'Balancer' Beyonder characteristic each, which allowed these two families to each have two angels."

"As for the third 'Hand of Order' characteristic that I analyzed, it also contains one 'Balancer' characteristic, which is currently also with a certain orthodox god church."

Hobert smiled slightly. After such sorting, the situation of the adjacent pathways was also very clear.

"Thank you for your answer. I wish you an early acquisition of the 'Duke of Entropy' Beyonder characteristic." He made a gesture of invitation. Trunsoest didn't struggle at all and was resealed in the pool at the foot of the mountain.

Hobert carefully checked Trunsoest's seal before returning to the real world.

He sat at his desk and pondered for a while, still deciding to try to find the Beyonder characteristics left by Megali first, according to the previous plan.

If that characteristic had irremovable corruption, or the acquisition was very dangerous, he would go to the Balk family and try to exchange for the sealed artifact in their hands.

But this would definitely be difficult. If he used the identity of the "Creator" to acquire or exchange for it, it would be a bit too ugly.

After all, this was a Grade 0 Sealed Artifact, and it was a family heirloom. Even if the Balk family had been incorporated, the "Creator" couldn't forcibly demand it.

And if he carried Trunsoest's family emblem and used the identity of a Trunsoest member to acquire it, there would definitely be considerable obstacles.

Regarding this point, Christian had said that the family's curse needed to be lifted to acquire that sealed artifact.

Then this regulation became a bit ridiculous. To lift the curse, one must advance to Sequence 2, but to obtain that sealed artifact, one must first lift the family's curse.

Hobert smiled and then thought of a bad idea: He could fool Lawrence into advancing to Sequence 2, allowing Trunsoest to resurrect in his body, which would lift the family's curse.

But soon, this method was rejected by Hobert himself. If Trunsoest resurrected in another person's body, it would be equivalent to Hobert creating a powerful enemy for himself.

The resurrected Trunsoest would also have the "legitimacy" to enter the "Nation of Disorder", which was very dangerous for Hobert.

After rejecting his own bad idea, Hobert opened the wooden box left by Rex in front of him and began to read the notes he had left behind.

The first notebook was about the relevant speculations about the family curse. The content of the notes ranged from the clues Rex found in the investigation to the conjectures based on these clues. The logic chain was very complete and very close to the truth.

At the same time, Hobert also knew why Rex could leave him so many sealed artifacts, because in the process of investigation, he had dug up many graves of Fourth Epoch nobles, from which he had obtained many mystical items for burial.

What Hobert thought was very wasteful was that Rex hadn't taken away the antiques in those graves.

The second half of this notebook was about conjectures on how to solve the family curse. Rex had thought of many ways, but after verification, most of them were not very feasible.

For example, asking the Earth Mother Church to help him refine a body. At the moment when he advanced to Sequence 2, and Trunsoest resurrected, he could transfer his spirit body and Beyonder characteristics to that new body, leaving his original body to Trunsoest.

But later, Rex had contacted the Earth Mother Church through April's pathway and found that this could not be done.

Refining a brand-new body was not difficult, but the process of extracting the spirit body and Beyonder characteristics was very complicated and could not be completed in an instant.

If he "backed up" the spirit body in advance and created another version of himself, it could be done after paying a certain price, but the Beyonder characteristics would definitely have to be given to Trunsoest, and the refined body would have certain limitations on advancement.

In the end, Rex concluded that sacrificing himself was the best way to lift the family curse.

But his strength at the time was limited. The sealed artifact of the Balk family with the Beyonder characteristic of the 'Duke of Entropy' sequence provided the family with the final protection and could not be moved.

Moreover, even if he forcibly took it, he would be hindered by the Balk family using two Grade 0 Sealed Artifacts, and there was no chance of winning.

And after many attempts, the Beyonder characteristics of Longtail Island could not be obtained.

Rex, who was already in a very bad state, had to design a false advancement ceremony to create the illusion that he briefly possessed the angel's position, tricking Trunsoest out.

The design process of this plan completely stunned Hobert. It was simply using the ability of the "Frenzied Mage" to the extreme.

But at the same time, it was a bit heartbreaking.

Hobert sighed and closed this notebook. Rex's ideas gave him a lot of inspiration.

For example, the method of asking the Earth Mother Church to help shape a new body, could he temporarily give his bloodline and curse to the new body, taking advantage of this opportunity to advance to Sequence 2, and then immediately solve Trunsoest's problem?

Rex couldn't do this method, but Hobert could ask the "Fool" to help "graft", temporarily 'fooling' fate and the curse.

He remembered that after Klein advanced to Sequence 3, his "main account" had certain "grafting" authority.

Hobert decided that after Klein advanced to Sequence 3, he would discuss with him to see if this idea was possible.

If it really didn't work, he would wait until Klein advanced to Sequence 2, at which time he could master more of the power of the Sefirah Castle and should be able to complete the corresponding "grafting".

Hobert withdrew his thoughts and went to see the second notebook. What he didn't expect was that the first half of the second notebook was a conjecture about his mother, April.

Rex noticed that April occasionally had strange habits and thoughts, such as her having referred to the "Eternal Blazing Sun" as the "Sun God" more than once, and it was strange why the "Eternal Blazing Sun's" honorific name did not describe the relevant authority of "exploiting loopholes and stealing"?

But soon, April herself would wonder why she had such thoughts?

In his notes, Rex seriously suspected that April was a test subject in some experiment by the Church of the Earth Mother, and that there might be a wisp of divinity from some hidden being within her?

Later, some of April's other behaviors seemed to confirm Rex's guess. Initially, he approached April with a purpose, but after the two truly fell in love, April's strange habits and thoughts gradually decreased until there were none left.

In Rex's view, it was as if humanity had triumphed over divinity.

Hobert leaned back in his chair, thinking: 'In Father's records, Mother clearly mistook "Eternal Blazing Sun" for "Ancient Sun God." Could it be that she had a portion of the Earth Mother's divinity within her? Could Mother be a test subject for creating a vessel for the Earth Mother's descent?'

He scratched his head, unsure if his thoughts were correct.

Continuing to read, Rex also guessed up to the "divine descent vessel" point, and then there was no more.

Hobert continued reading, looking at Rex's conjecture about another matter.

After reading the second notebook, Hobert went on to read the third. He discovered that these notes were Rex's research crystallization on mysticism and the extraordinary world.

And it was very profound. Even Hobert, who had "obtained the answer," benefited greatly.

For example, Rex raised a question: Why do the pathways related to Order seem incomplete?

He cited the core authorities of the adjacent pathways of Death, Darkness, and Twilight Giant as examples. These three pathways seem to be an interpretation of "tranquility."

The Twilight Giant represents the process of decay and loss, which is the first step towards "absolute tranquility," representing the passing of life!

Darkness represents slumber in the night, representing the stillness of life. The world is constantly moving, deviating from the trajectory of things due to stillness, thus having hidden manifestations.

Death represents returning to the realm of the dead, representing the end of life, entering "complete tranquility."

Loss, stillness, end point—this seems to be the process of a vibrant life, or rather, the dynamic world and all things, reaching the end.

This idea made Hobert's eyes light up, because he remembered that the "Hidden Space" was in a static state.

From Hobert's modern perspective, it was as if there was a space where the progress of time and the development of events were frozen, so this space was independent of reality.

Continuing to read, Rex began to describe the core authorities of "Juscitiars" and "Black Emperors."

"Justiciars" maintain order, and "Black Emperors" Exploit and distort order. One maintains, and the other slays order, but neither establishes order.

Although "Justiciars" will also establish their own order to achieve better rule, their core symbolism is "maintenance."

After all, they are "Justiciars," not "Legislators."

The "Black Emperor" is the same. No matter how much they destroy order, it is a process of establishing a new order.

For example, in order to destroy the normal architectural style, the forced advancement of asymmetrical architectural styles is actually also the process of establishing asymmetrical architectural styles.

But for the "Black Emperor," the so-called establishment of a new order is just a side effect. His core symbolism is "Order-Slaying."

These three concepts are very similar; even Hobert had not noticed this before.

In this way, the relevant authorities of Order are not complete, and the part of "establishing order" is still missing.

Seeing this, Hobert smiled: I am the "Creator," the one who "creates" order!

In his impression, before the Han Dynasty, ordinary people did not dare to call themselves "Emperor."

This represents creation and pioneering.

Hobert smiled and said to himself: My self-proclaimed "Creator" also has a bit of the meaning of "Beacon of Destiny."

But then he gradually put away his smile, because he seemed to have thought of a very important question, but for a moment, his thoughts seemed difficult to piece together.

Hobert immediately realized that this involved some of his sealed memories. He immediately entered the "Nation of Disorder." Sure enough, many memories began to flood into his mind.

He remembered Trunsoest's description of the "Uncertain Mist" ability, which had a bit of the meaning of "words becoming law." "Uncertain Mist" seemed to be the "Legislator"?

Sitting on the "Iron Throne," Hobert fell into deep thought: According to my previous guess, the "Nation of Disorder" is a relatively special origin, half in Earth and half in the "Uncertain Mist."

Originally, the "Nation of Disorder" was complete; it was the origin of the "Son of Chaos." Later, it was torn in half. Does that mean that the characteristics of the "Son of Chaos" back then had a complete pathway related to "Order"?

The "Original Creator" tore the core symbolisms of "Maintenance" and "Order-Slaying" to Earth, leaving only the core authority of "Creation" on the "Son of Chaos."

Hobert also thought of the state of the "Genie." This Sealed Artifact seemed to be fulfilling wishes in a distorted way.

First of all, the ability to "fulfill wishes" comes from the Beyonder characteristics of the "Miracle Invoker" who sealed Him. Then, distortion represents that the "Son of Chaos" has the ability to "Order-Slaying."

This is not difficult to understand. After all, the "Original Creator's" tearing did not have a "balance," and it was impossible to "tear" so precisely.

Perhaps 0.9 portions of the "Justiciar" authority and Beyonder characteristics were "torn," as well as 0.8 portions of the "Black Emperor" authority and Beyonder characteristics.

And as long as a certain threshold is reached, such as above 0.8, it can constitute the characteristics required for the level of a True God.

Along this line of thought, Hobert also thought that the "Justiciar" pathway also has the ability of mental attacks, and the "Black Emperor" pathway not only has the ability of mental attacks but also the ability of "charm."

These are clearly abilities outside the core authority. In the long years, all the Beyonder characteristics that the "Original" tore to Earth have undergone a certain balance and replenishment.

In the end, the Beyonder characteristics that were torn formed a total of 22 pathways.

It may not be only 22 pathways, but these Beyonder characteristics are enough to form the threshold for 22 gods!

Then, the mental attacks and charm in the "Justiciar" and "Black Emperor" pathways are supplements from other Beyonder characteristics.

Judging from the fact that the "supplement" of the "Black Emperor" pathway ability is more than the "supplement" of the "Justiciar," the original "Order-Slaying" Beyonder characteristics and authority of the "Son of Chaos" must still have some remaining.

And later, in the First Epoch, the "Celestial Venerable," or rather, the "Mysterious," may have mainly mixed the authority of "Creation" with the origin of the "Son of Chaos" and threw it into the cosmos, forming the "Uncertain Mist."

So, the sealed "Son of Chaos" can still perform high-end "distortion" operations.

Thinking of this, Hobert suddenly froze: If my guess is correct, then my pathway and the pathway on the "Uncertain Mist" are adjacent pathways?

Hobert understood many other questions: This can also explain why the Outer Gods are so interested in the True Gods and high-level Beyonder characteristics on Earth. For them, that is likely to be an adjacent pathway!

These conjectures surprised Hobert himself, because he did not have such relevant knowledge in his mind, but the known knowledge seemed to point to this.

Unfortunately, these conjectures cannot be proven for the time being.

Hobert finally sighed in his heart. Rex did not have the relevant concepts and knowledge of the Outer Deities. If he had this knowledge, perhaps his research and conjectures would reach a rather terrifying level.

Returning to the real world, Hobert continued to read the notes, forgetting to eat and sleep, until Audrey came to visit in the afternoon, and he put the notes away.

In the study, as soon as the two met, Audrey said, "I heard this morning that the Hvin Rambis family died in a gas explosion at their villa!"

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