Aiwass and Oswald returned very late.
Bishop Mathers did not take long to teach divine techniques.
For once all that needed to be told had been told, it was just a matter of constant practice.
Such work could not be hurried. After all, the mystical powers came from transcendents on their respective Paths. It was because they practiced the fundamental philosophy of their Paths that they vibrated with such power.
The reason why learning, practicing, and employing mystical techniques would raise a transcendent's class level was because, by doing so, they were effectively cultivating their Path.
And cultivation was never an overnight thing.
Unless you were like Aiwass—who had cheats turned on.
With the exception of "Prayer", Aiwass had already mastered the other three divine methods in secret. "Prayer" didn't necessarily need to be instructed, as it was already included in the seminary program.
Aiwass's new "Basic Prayer" ability indicated that he hadn't yet mastered the actual prayer incantations and rituals. That would take a long time and was a great bother… Besides, whether he had learned to pray right or not didn't affect his class progression.
Normal prayers only enabled one to tap the power of the Candlekeeper to feed the soul. Bishop Mathers had shown him once.
Scores of motes of light, resembling radiating larvae, collected from each source of light nearby and flew towards Bishop Mathers. While he prayed, his body slowly was enveloped by a fine coating of light, which increased in intensity over time.
And in the process, Bishop Mathers's Light mana recovered visibly at a slow but consistent rate.
Normally, an exhausted mana pool could only be replenished completely after a proper night's sleep.
But casters in each Path typically had backup replenishment means other than sleep.
For the Path of Devotion, that means was "Prayer".
Aside from sleep, individuals on the Path of Devotion could utilize Prayer twice daily during the day. Through ongoing guided prayer, the Light mana pool could be slowly replenished—half its maximum.
Light spells drained a tremendous amount of mana. Using Prayer to regain out of combat or not, the mana just wouldn't be available.
And the best thing about the magical method Prayer was that it didn't take any materials, required no preparation, and flatly couldn't go wrong.
So long as you prayed twice a day—at least three minutes at a time—you could gradually accumulate skill experience.
Skill levels could gradually build up over time.
Even the prayer times were up for negotiation. If you were in a rush, you could join both sessions before sundown. If really in a rush, you could even forgo them—though that just meant giving up some free, dependable experience.
Bishop Mathers later clarified something particularly key:
"The Nine Pillar Gods do not actually require faith.".
"Actually, from one perspective, we're the ones employing faith and prayer to restrain the Nine Pillars' actions. You can say, we're like stakes being hammered into the ground… and faith is the rope…"
He didn't say more about it.
That was something Aiwass wasn't supposed to know yet.
Briefly, even if Aiwass hadn't learned proper Prayer, the worst that would have happened was that he would be unable to use it to regain mana. When he learned more about the gods and proper prayer customs, [Basic Prayer] would develop into [Prayer] at the same level automatically.
Then Aiwass remained in the chapel and ate a plain lunch. For lunch, he ate the sacramental bread consecrated by Bishop Mathers in illustrating the [Blessing] technique. It gave a buff effect temporarily, stabilizing the mind and restoring stamina over time.
In a sense, Aiwass's lunch was his day's class material. One bit not wasted.
A.wass also observed that Bishop Mathers never mentioned his use of a wheelchair.
He didn't even hint at curing him. or "helping him walk again."
As a healer of his stature, he could see at one glance that Aiwass possessed robust vitality—he wasn't sick or handicapped.
Then why was Aiwass in a wheelchair?.
Bishop Mathers had to wonder. If it wasn't something Aiwass's foster dad James had said to him, then it implied his emotional intelligence was way beyond charts.
'You don't mention it, I won't ask.'
Less is more. Just act like you never saw it. Act like you don't know.
Subsequently, Bishop Mathers pulled Oswald along to observe what appeared to be a major football match.
The two clubs were the "Unicorn Club" and the "Sword in the Lake Club."
The first was from the Theocracy, whereas the second was Avalon's.
Aiwass couldn't fathom what two top transcendents saw in watching humans kick a ball around… but this must have been a big game, apparently. So Oswald didn't put Aiwass on the bus home. Half-bossed, half-smiling, he took him to the stadium.
With both of them present, there was no way anything would go wrong.
Aiwass wasn't interested, but both of them were considered elders. He approached it like taking grandpas out for a day.
So he wore a bright and cheerful face. By the outcomes, he succeeded.
The latter team massacred the former four to zero—even a bystander could see that it was a one-sided slaughter. Oswald appeared thrilled, and Bishop Mathers didn't even flinch, merely muttering, "I knew the Sword in the Lake's manager was no good." Overall, everybody was smiling.
But Aiwass did catch something odd from their discussion—
It was to be discovered that the aged butler Oswald, even though he had been serving the Moriarty clan since the time of the establishment of the Kingdom of Avalon, did not have great respect or affection for the Theocracy.
Nevertheless, upon Aiwass's hesitant inquiry, "Don't you want to go back and visit?", Oswald could only shake his head.
There was no turning back. The aged butler heaved a sigh and grumbled,
"All that of the Theocracy is well… except that it's not home. Might as well not go back."
This was the first time Oswald, who was normally a taciturn presence, had spoken of his past while in the presence of "young master" Aiwass.
Subsequently, Aiwass also became silent.
By the time Oswald wheeled his chair home slowly, it was already evening.
The sun setting low, the lake within the Moriarty estate sparkled as though it was cast gold. Before the wrought iron gates, a young man whose hair was black and eyes brown stood silently.
He passed over a dark-gold book in his palm with a nonchalant gesture.
The pages shone with an otherworldly blue-green glow, reminiscent of the surface of a lake that was crystal clear.
He openly read a prohibited book just outside the Moriarty mansion, utterly fearless. He knew the place well and had faith in its security.
Since he was seated low in a wheelchair, Aiwass clearly read the title of the book.
—*"The Secret Sutras of Emptiness."*
Aiwass knew that book.
It was an artifact of ancient mystical arts—during that time, the lineages between Paths were not so clearly demarcated. Most ancient methods belonged to several Paths. But not this book.
Its bias was strongly towards the Path of Wisdom. The "Empty Clarity Technique" it mentioned was the forerunner to the contemporary mystical method "Meditation" of the Wisdom Path.
In the game, the owner of this book should have been Sherlock Hermes. It was one of his starting collection items at the very beginning of the main storyline.
Sherlock was a strong transcendent with double adaptability for the Wisdom and Authority Paths. In v1.0, he had double classes as "Lawmage" and "Mage".
He was not among the main cast, but a strong ally who would sometimes assist with cracking difficult puzzles. On the fall of Avalon, he did not accompany the player to the Theocracy or Star Antimony Kingdom. Rather, he took up an official role in the Iris Kingdom.
As the name implies, this character was inspired by Sherlock Holmes.
But as opposed to the pipe-smoking, cane-wielding cliche, Sherlock—a half-time agent of the Glass Island Inspectorate and a top-flight transcendent—was considerably richer than Holmes and became famous much sooner. And he didn't even have a Watson.
When the main story opened, Sherlock was just 26. But even the Director of the White Queen District's Inspectorate addressed him with the utmost deference as their "chief consultant.".
As a money-wasting Lawmage on the Authority Path, he also spent lavishly.
He always purchased the best cigars money could buy rather than cheap pipe tobacco. He never cut corners on food and bought the player dinners at every meeting. He jetted abroad to attend higher-end concerts and made expensive presents.
For instance, most of the "from Sherlock" gifts players in the game received were premium gacha material of high value.
That was the hallmark of the Authority Path—always choose the best. Not for enjoyment itself, but to possess the best.
And after quickly burning through his cash, Sherlock would casually downgrade his lifestyle, unbothered, until the next event made him rich again.
His defining trait was that he never saved money. He refused to even consider the idea of “what if I’m broke someday.”
Because young Sherlock was so self-assured of his own talents. Provided he had his talents, he could always earn more—there was no need to earn because he wasn't interested.
To him, planning for the future was unconsciously accepting that his talent would eventually disappear. And worse than a reduction in living standards, what he couldn't accept was becoming stupid.
This type of genial, arrogant, but nice NPC was always a favorite among the players—there were plenty of fanart, cosplay, merchandise, and tribute animations.
Sherlock was active even in version 5.0's main story, with tons of brilliant moments.
Ultimately, he perished during the version 5.1 main plot.
His cause of death was strange—he was murdered when investigating a vital case on his own, silenced to hide the truth.
Although the story wasn't similar to The Final Problem, maybe in order to tease what was to come, that whole saga was subtitled The Final Case.
In hindsight, it was probably the person who murdered Sherlock who was Aiwass's adoptive father, James Moriarty. Because it was only after Sherlock died that James showed up again in the story.
Gamers back then even joked, "It's over. He just returned from the Reichenbach Falls."
Aiwass recalled this incident vividly.
When that foreboding main story title reveal happened, online communities went wild. And when the entire plot was dropped, people were shocked.
Instead of outrage or sorrow, most reactions were statements like "they really gave him a death flag huh", "no way he's really dead", "waiting for the Empty House return".
Nobody wanted to accept it. But they thought it was possible.
It was as if a schoolboy teasing a girl into tears, then suddenly realizing, "Wait, she's actually crying?"
Even Aiwass had inquired a screenwriter friend if Sherlock was actually dead.
The response was carefully ambiguous: "Probably."
But even by the time Aiwass transmigrated, Sherlock's "Empty House" storyline hadn't arrived. Meanwhile, James Moriarty had taken the spotlight, unveiling himself as the last boss of the version's mainline story.
As if feeling that deeply conflicted look, Sherlock abruptly glanced up at Aiwass.
Upon noticing Oswald propelling the wheelchair, he smiled and shut his book.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Oswald."
He wished the elderly butler a cheerful welcome, then inclined his head courteously toward Aiwass.
Oswald obviously recognized Sherlock and greeted him warmly: "Mr. Sherlock, why not come in for a visit? The Professor's been talking about you often lately."
Aiwass was familiar with the old butler's proud nature—an evasive elven haughtiness and high expectations.
If he didn't respect a person, he would never be this courteous.
"Better not. If I enter, the Professor will only begin nagging once more. I'm merely dropping something off—I still have things to take care of. Kindly deliver the Professor my regards."
The black-haired boy refused politely.
"If you're free today, how about tomorrow night? We're having a family meal—I'll get the chef to make something special."
Oswald inquired pleasantly, his voice completely different from how he'd addressed Haina before: "After all, the Professor has been thinking of you quite a lot—and it's almost a year since your last visit."
"I've got something tomorrow night as well… you know. I'll get a formal invitation out when I have time."
Sherlock responded evasively.
He traded a look with the aged butler, who looked on and said nothing further.
Aiwass understood what Sherlock was saying too.
If something significant was going down tomorrow evening, it was probably a class advancement.
His guarded tone indicated the advancement wasn't legal—he'd read forbidden texts in public, but still treated his words carefully on this.
Which meant he'd just gained a secondary Path and was soon to become a Tier 2 Mage along the Path of Wisdom!
…Just like Aiwass himself.
Aiwass's eyes widened in shock.
Good grief.
—Tell me we're going to encounter each other in the Dream Realm?
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