Chapter 760 — Promotion

Daniel had no idea when that cloud of starlight had appeared. In fact, he even suspected that the formless starlight had been floating at the center of this meeting hall from the very beginning—his senses had simply ignored its existence entirely!

The next second, Daniel lowered his head at once and bowed in reverence: "Your Holiness the Pope!"

"Raise your head," the starlight cloud swelled and contracted, squirming, and a voice sounded directly in Daniel's mind. "I will come straight to the point. Do you still revere the gods?"

Daniel's answer seemed rehearsed a thousand times: "I hold no reverence for the gods. Their existence inspires only terror."

This, and only this, was the standard answer of a true follower of the Mystic Dark Sect.

Countless people in this world who have never grasped the truth harbor nothing but fear and misunderstanding toward the three great dark cults. They always assume that those dark cultists are simply extreme devotees of the gods, souls who fell to the shadowed side of human nature out of an excessive, warped fanaticism for their faith—and even some lower-ranking congregants hold to this mistaken notion when they first join. But anyone who has truly come into contact with those twisted, corrupted divine arts, who has truly received a comparatively high-level "baptism" and touched those hidden knowledges, will know what their true "faith" is—any Ember Nether cultist, that is.

"Very good..." The cloud of starlight seemed exceedingly satisfied with Daniel's answer. "Then what I am about to tell you next is a truth that the vast majority of the world could scarcely imagine... The gods are not merely terrifying; they are a shackle clamped upon every mortal..."

Daniel blinked.

He knew this already. He also knew the name of that lock: the "Mind Stigma." His master had been studying it all along, and in the Origin Space there were hundreds of formally appointed researchers working on the problem of this Stigma.

He even suspected that in a few years' time, knowledge of the "Mind Stigma" would appear in Cecil's elementary textbooks.

But here, he still had to put on a fitting display of astonishment: "A shackle?!"

The Pontiff's voice sounded in his mind: "Yes, a shackle—and what the Order of the Long Dusk has been doing for seven hundred years is seeking a way to break free of it."

This time, Daniel was genuinely a little surprised.

And he believed that even his master, that wanderer from beyond the realm, would surely show a look of surprise and curiosity upon hearing such information.

"A way to break the shackle..." He could not help repeating it. "How can mortals possibly accomplish such a thing?"

"Let the mortal mind operate within a sandbox world where no god exists, until the mortal mind passes beyond the gods' sight, until the connection between the gods and this world is severed," the voice went on echoing in Daniel's mind. "This plan... has been named 'Project Zero.'"

Project Zero!

Daniel's breath caught for half a beat, and what surged up in his heart next was heartfelt joy.

He had finally come into contact with this project—finally been able to learn its true face!

This project, hidden behind layer upon layer of fog, directly controlled by the Order of the Profound Ultimate—was it actually connected to the Mind Stigma?

At once he connected it to the many anomalies that had recently been occurring in the mind, and linked a great many clues together.

This made his expression turn grave and his tone solemn: "Could it be... that something has gone wrong with this project?"

"We suspect..." It was Selina Gale who answered him—she who had lived seven hundred years and now, in the form of a spirit, symbiotically inhabited the Mind-Soul Nether Shrine. She shook her head as she spoke. "We suspect that within one of Project Zero's sandboxes, the power of a god has appeared."

...

In the quiet afternoon room, black-haired Mary sat with her head bowed, immersed in a sea of advanced mathematics exercises.

As the last few numbers and symbols settled onto the paper, the young mage—devoted heart and soul to her studies—finally raised her head and glanced at her mentor, peacefully asleep in the easy chair.

Her mentor seemed to be sleeping very deeply.

For many years past, her mentor had rarely known such sound sleep. The unbearable neurological headaches and the hallucinations of hearing and sight had tormented the old mage's spirit, making him ever more irascible and short-tempered while robbing him of the right to sleep peacefully—and this had gone on for over a decade.

It was the boon of that "master" that had given her mentor a chance to improve, and indirectly saved every apprentice around him who had suffered such torment.

That "master" was terrifying. Even now, every time Mary entered that "Origin Space," she could not help feeling a certain nervous dread—yet at the same time, she inevitably felt gratitude toward that "master" as well.

Her mentor suddenly stirred, startling Mary out of her brief reverie.

She rose quickly and went to the easy chair: "Mentor, you're awake?"

Daniel slowly opened his eyes, and saw the familiar room, and the familiar apprentice.

The old mage gave a soft sigh: "This time... something truly major has happened."