When the plot-skips players into the game world

Even Aiwass himself did not foresee the cardinals would be so decisive.

When Aiwass showcased his Sin Beast form and demonstrated how he had cured the Amberficate condition of the Pure White Saintess, he realized that the cardinals, who had been divided and conflicted in their opinions, suddenly reached a rapid and unanimous consensus.

Aiwass suggested appointing Pure White as the Vicar Pope, and all cardinals agreed immediately; he proposed ending the Holy Nation's permanent neutrality, and all cardinals agreed immediately; he advocated for intervening in Star Antimony's current chaotic political situation, and all cardinals agreed immediately… Even when Aiwass suggested going out for a stroll, the cardinals agreed without hesitation.

Everything was agreed upon. There was not even a single dissenting opinion or additional suggestion.

For a brief moment, Aiwass wondered if they were doing the whole "let's feign agreement for now and revisit it later" thing.

But the cardinals' efficiency was downright miraculous: less than two hours after Aiwass convened the meeting, notifications had already been sent out to various nations.

By then, Pure White had already donned The Holy Crown and entered Sleep upon the papal throne. Meanwhile, the Candidate Eternal Saintess had been activated—Theresa, currently ranked as the top Candidate Saintess, had formally received the Eternal inheritance.

Neither of these events involved any rituals.

The orders were merely issued, and then carried out immediately, completely unlike the elves' usual style of procrastinating matters for decades.

By tradition, the Holy Name of the new Eternal Saintess should be conferred by the Pope—after all, for thousands of years, Saintesses ascended to become Popes, cycling one out when another ascended. However, now, Theresa's Holy Name was still to be bestowed by Aiwass.

The so-called Holy Name refers to the external designation used for a Saintess. Becoming an Eternal Saintess signifies cutting ties with worldly existence entirely and serving solely as the Pope's proxy, therefore discarding the name given by her parents and adopting the one granted by the Pope.

Holy Names are generally tied to a color, and they must differ from the colors used by the past two generations. Saintesses usually wear clothing in that color throughout the year.

This ensures that in any linguistic system, the reference remains clear. For instance, when people say "White Saintess," they immediately understand it refers to Grey. Thus, there's no need to worry about translation versus transliteration, nor do concerns over name duplication arise.

—From the outset, these names were designed for international communication, and even inter-racial interaction.

Aiwass didn't intend to disrupt such a perfectly functional tradition, but he had never been good at naming.

The colors used by the past three generations were Green, Blue, and White.

Aiwass pondered briefly but quickly realized that whenever he thought of "color naming," the first things that popped into his mind were names like "Gold Dust," "Quick Silver," "Smoke Gray," "Blazing Red," and "Mint Ice Cream."

This amused him greatly.

At least his memories of his past life hadn't all been snatched by that Serpent Celestial Marshal cur.

To avoid defaulting to mechanical keyboard associations every time he thought of colors, Aiwass ultimately chose the black color he had used when acting as a cardinal and simply named it Black.

—Though, one could argue Black switches from mechanical keyboards are pretty classic, in fairness.

Following Aiwass's instruction, the name of the Black Saintess, Theresa, would be officially announced on May 5 during the Hourglass Day of Sanctity. It was certain many people would be scrambling to find Pure White for the Pope's opinion… but failing to locate Pure White seemed a perfect opportunity to let them stew in frustration.

The Holy Nation had been neutral for far too long—so much so that many people had forgotten its true value. All they seemed to acknowledge was the fact that the Eternal Pope possessed the Sixth Power Level, while neglecting the equally formidable cardinals and Papal Guard.

Now that Aiwass served as the temporary Pope, some individuals leapt into action.

In their eyes, Aiwass couldn't possibly command the elves; nor could he himself achieve the Sixth Power Level... making them think the Holy Nation was now indistinguishable from paralysis.

They wouldn't dare confront the Holy Nation directly. But the things the Holy Nation previously prohibited? Surely they could engage in those covertly now, believing the Holy Nation wouldn't be able to stop them?

When a new Pope ascends, they could always kneel and apologize. After all, the benefits they've reaped by then would already be in hand, and even if they were forced to give back some, it wouldn't be too much of a loss...

Such gambles always stem from opportunism. Conversely, without any sense of opportunism, it's hard to seize the chances history presents.

Many of them had risen to prominence through such tactics, and how could they, having ascended to such heights, begin to exercise restraint thereafter? When crises and opportunities emerge again, they are bound to repeat the same patterns—that's what's called path dependency.

In a way, their predictions weren't wrong. One could say they had bet accurately.

Because the Holy Nation indeed observed their actions and documented everything, yet refrained from intervening. After all, Aiwass at that time was merely a human wielding Advanced Divine Arts, temporarily serving as Pope solely due to the stalemate between cardinals and the Saintess—or perhaps more accurately, because the Amberficate condition prevented the Pure White Saintess from obtaining unanimous support among the cardinals.

Aiwass's appointment as Pope was far from being universally welcomed. It was simply a compromise, chosen because neither side wished to select from among themselves, ultimately settling on the "middle ground."