Chapter 152: A New Path (1)
"I need to go into seclusion for two months," Lynn said after a moment of thought.
"Alright." Selena paused for a moment, then nodded.
It was perfectly normal for a wizard to go into sudden seclusion whenever inspiration struck.
After Lynn returned to the Earldom of Mount Heidu and issued his instructions, rumors concerning the God of Tides and Sea Monsters began to spread among the common folk. Through these whispers, it became implicitly understood that the Count of Mount Heidu did not oppose the spread of this faith.
This was bolstered by a few occasional miracles. A bedridden old man had recovered from a severe illness overnight, moving so briskly he could even work the fields. The only catch was that the old man supposedly developed a craving for raw seafood after his recovery.
To the commoners, however, a taste for raw food was nothing. As long as they could regain their health, they wouldn't even mind being turned into raw food themselves.
In this way, the name of the God of Tides and Sea Monsters gradually spread.
Inside the wizard tower, a massive experimental table was covered in papers—seemingly messy, yet organized by a hidden logic.
Lynn stood at the table in a daze, having had no time to trim the ring of stubble growing around his lips.
He looked up at the ceiling, his eyes filled with confusion and doubt.
Since entering the laboratory, he had run through his derivations ten full times, attempting to fuse the powers of demons and deities into a single entity. Yet no matter how he calculated, every attempt ended in failure.
Was there a fundamental conflict between the two?
Lynn frowned, gripping his hair in frustration.
Divine power represented order; demonic power represented chaos.
They clashed, certainly, but they shouldn't be so absolutely irreconcilable. It was like combining water and fire—didn't that ultimately produce steam?
There had to be a neutral balance point between them. If he could just find that equilibrium, he would definitely be able to open this door.
"Wait—"
A flash of inspiration suddenly struck Lynn. He checked Bloodline Studies under his life professions.
This life profession had always remained unassuming.
His goal of fusing high-tier demonic bloodline essence was, at its core, an application of Bloodline Studies.
He looked at his remaining 46,000 Universal Experience Points.
After a brief thought, Lynn decisively dumped them all into Bloodline Studies, which currently sat at Level 3, 55%.
Every 1,000 Universal Experience Points increased his progress by 1%. As the experience points flowed in, Lynn fell into a trance and once again saw that door.
The door was still open only a crack.
A vast ocean of knowledge poured through the gap and into his mind. Lynn stared fixedly at the door, desperately pressing his will against it. He wanted to glimpse the world behind it and find the exact knowledge he needed.
Perhaps his thoughts truly dictated his spirit—the ethereal, intangible door actually began to draw closer!
Lynn locked his eyes onto the door.
Almost there! Almost there!
At the same time, the Bloodline Studies progress on his attribute panel reached 98%... 99%... 100%!
The leading number blurred and shifted from 3 to 4. In that instant, Lynn's mind took a massive leap, and the crack in the door before him genuinely widened!
Lynn edged his mental energy just slightly inside the doorway.
It was an incredibly profound and miraculous space, a place where boundless knowledge stretched out like an endless ocean.
Lynn felt as if he were swimming through this realm, his mental energy wrapped in the warmth of pure knowledge.
All sorts of concepts drilled straight into his head without him even needing to think. He couldn't help but tremble with excitement.
But suddenly, a terrifying sense of danger washed over him. He felt like an intruder who had just been caught by the master of the house.
A powerful entity locked its gaze onto him, and Lynn instantly sensed its furious, negative emotions.
He froze. Before he could even react...
A sharp, splitting pain struck his head. His mental energy was violently kicked out of the door, as if someone had viciously smashed a hammer into the back of his skull.
Lynn clutched his head.
However... right as he was thrown out, he still managed to seize the opportunity and grasp the answer he sought.
It had all happened in a flash. In reality, the world behind the door was incredibly profound; because thought moved so quickly, whatever he wanted to learn had simply materialized in his mind the moment he thought of it.
Lynn carefully weighed the knowledge he had just acquired.
As he continuously reviewed it, a look of understanding dawned in his eyes.
The problem he had been agonizing over finally had a solution.
The obstacle that had plagued him for months was resolved by a single glance at the world behind that door.
Lynn calmed down slightly, though this outcome also felt somewhat expected.
To him, that realm was filled with profound secrets.
It was as if there were no true secrets there at all—every scrap of knowledge in the world existed in that space.
The experience felt exactly like a search engine. He only had to broadcast his doubts and questions to search out the exact answers he needed.
Because a demonic bloodline was, in the end, just a bloodline. As a bloodline, it was strictly bound by its innate tier. Even if he fused the bloodlines of nine hundred and ninety-nine high-tier demons, he still wouldn't bridge the gap in tier between it and a deity.
The power of deities was essentially the borrowing of universal laws. They were somewhat like watered-down, low-budget versions of the Heavenly Saints from the myths of his past life. Of course, their abilities were nowhere near as omnipotent as a Heavenly Saint's; deities could only borrow the laws related to their specific divine portfolios.
And demonic bloodlines couldn't compare to deities in rank at all. The root cause was this gap at the level of universal laws. Yet, this wasn't an unsolvable problem. Within the Abyss, there was one thing that could match a deity!
And that was an Abyssal Authority!
The Abyss itself represented chaos, while the normal world represented order. Lynn's line of thought hadn't actually been wrong.
It was just that the ones who truly wielded Abyssal Authority were the Abyss Demon Gods.
Therefore, if Lynn wanted to walk this path to its absolute peak, he would inevitably end up scheming against an Abyss Demon God.
In the early stages, however, there was another way to borrow a fraction of that power without dealing with the Abyss Demon Gods.
He had to claim a territory within the Abyss, borrow authority from the Abyss itself, and then use ten wisps of divine power from different deities. By conducting a special ritual, he could then complete his first metamorphosis.
The power of a deity came from the world's laws, whereas the Abyss was a multifaceted existence. Therefore, he had to use the divine power of different deities to diversify the divine energy, thereby achieving a sort of equilibrium with the Abyss.
Thus, Lynn buried his head in his work to perfect the ritual.
Another month passed, and Lynn finally completed the ritual's design.
This was a path completely unique to him. Lynn was immensely excited, itching to give it a try.
Although the difficulty was a bit higher, it wasn't a major issue. He could obtain a hundred wisps of divine power from Maesys, which meant he could easily trade with other wizards for the divine power of different deities. Gathering ten wisps of divine power from different deities would be simple.