The Shepherds Are Dense

Chapter 52: The Ouroboros Ritual

It was in a way the that caused Aiwass to need to keep Avalon whole at least another two years.That was a giant XP farm where, on the game, Aiwass was an established affiliate within half a year.

Even Haina, who had never had any contact with the supernatural and only started learning about it from scratch in the second semester of her first year, was able to hit level 25 or 26 by the time she entered senior year, all while still getting top grades in her schoolwork and learning all sorts of miscellaneous stuff.

Leveling was faster earlier, but that was still pretty good.

He hadn't been a transmigrator who automatically acquired language skills.

Instead, Aiwass had recalled snippets of his previous existence—he had transmigrated when Aiwass was young, maybe even before his birth.

If Aiwass did not know a thing, neither did he.

Everything about setting and plot that Aiwass knew was fragmented.

He didn't let himself fall into arrogance and complacency because of his advanced knowledge.

What he was aware of was only what an average player would know—such as class characteristics, skills, gameplay rules, and dungeon tactics.

And Aiwass deeply knew one thing:

That's why he required access to the knowledge bases of this world.

Such as the common knowledge common folk possessed regarding the Nine Pillar Gods and the churches.

Geographical information, recent history in the different regions.

And most importantly—language.

Particularly written language.

It was the most valuable skill in this world.

In university, Haina had to study three foreign languages: Iridelfleurian, Stannite, and Elvish.

As a priest, Aiwass needed to become expert in Elvish… because high-level Devotion Path texts were largely published in Elvish.

There was no "common tongue" for humans in this world.

Not only did various human nations have different languages, but there were also racial languages—Elvish, Dwarvish, Centaurian… and even Draconic.

And in this world, the most necessary and secure means of attaining supernatural power was .

If you didn't have a capable mentor to spoon-feed you knowledge, you had no other option but to study from books.

For instance, the book was compiled in Stannite.

Every nation possessed esoteric texts and grimoires translated into their native languages, and those were all available on the black market.

Practitioners of the Path of Wisdom were basically sanctified translators who made a living breaking original documents down into grimoires.

And as such, in each nation, local language grimoires wandered around the underground.

Due to Yulia's influence, Aiwass was able to read Stannite.

Although she was not a supernatural yet, Yulia possessed an Alchemy-tuned Equilibrium Path ability.

She was naturally gifted for alchemy, as Aiwass for ritualism.

He spoke Chinese too—a language you could hardly learn in Avalon.

Even in classical Chinese, he could read and comprehend.

One of Aiwass's strengths.

He spoke Elvish too, a bit.

But Iridelfleurian? Basic listening skills only.

Dwarvish? Utterly clueless.

He still had to learn Ancient Ansian as well, in order to read cursed skill books that came from the defeated Ansian Empire.

After all, as a Demonologist, ignorance of curses would be a significant shortcoming.

Other than linguistics, the , which was Avalon's best supernatural university, had an enormous library.

While much of the materials were forbidden to students, Aiwass was able to get partial access to professors' private libraries by befriending them.

By learning, Aiwass could advance at his path level very quickly.

Yes, killing and defeating higher-level supernaturals might also yield XP—but that was dangerous and wasteful.

And those levels gained in combat didn't include the associated .

That's correct—*knowledge*.

In the university's College of Theology, there were three elective courses very relevant to Aiwass:

and >*

While the curriculum dogmatically avoided any fundamental mystical knowledge outside of path limitations, even surface knowledge mattered.

Furthermore, when one wrote papers, one was allowed to borrow quality books.

Decoding that material and reverse-engineering it, Aiwass was able to advance his .

That was much more effective than purchasing sketchy, shoddy demonology grimoires.

The reason Aiwass was so eager to develop wasn't in order to foil the Stannite Kingdom's conspiracy.

Nor was it solely due to the effect of his path.

It was simply because he .

The actual world-ending danger wasn't the Stannite Kingdom.

It was the .

The present crises were mere prelude.

The first to fall would be the , a foe from the 3.0 expansion that showed up in the Stannite Kingdom.

The title "Fallen Seraph" did not simply refer to sin and corruption.

It also meant that in an era when seraphs could no longer come down upon the earth, this was the first one dragged down to the earth against its will.

Prior to the seraphs, the planet had largely been one of earthly struggles.

The exact date for the 3.0 expansion's release?

June—*a year and a half from now*.

The had managed to bring back the old ritual: Ouroboros.

This ritual involved sacrificing a supernatural entity that had achieved the path's level cap—that is, a max-level transcendental.

Their body would be used to create a vessel to call upon a seraph.

By doing so, the seraph would be conferred with a material body and human desires, enabling it to from the Dream Realm.

Not simply a projection, but a .

But the ritual wasn't so much an as a .

"Seraphs" were superior to Apostles—a sort of ghost god.

They didn't directly worship the Nine Pillar Gods but were aspiring pillar gods of their respective roads.

When pulled into the material plane through , they were bound by the rules of this world and drained to the top level possible for this plane…

Which is to say, they could be .

What was the point of pulling them down?

They protected nodes on the critical path and drained off segments of the path's power—i.e., the .

Mortals, ever greedy, yearned for more.

They yearned for powers to outrun the world itself.

And once a transcendent set foot on this path, stagnation was intolerable.

Although phantoms could not die, a seraph defeated and reborn would lose its status—descending into phantomhood and losing its grip on path power.

The energy of the path would then be , opening new developments to supernaturals.

The victor over the seraph would take the most —offering vast power in the Ouroboros ritual.

But the did not undervalue the seraph.

Even at lower power, a group of four level-50 Demon Avatars couldn't overcome the Fallen Seraph—they were all destroyed.

The falling seraph merged with the sacrificed host.

While the personality of the seraph took over, the soul of the host formed the base.

Demonologists who hadn't mastered the forbidden "Heavenly Blight" could only advance to fourth tier as Demon Avatars.

Transformed, they became unchangeably brutal and cruel—even to themselves.

And what of that host?

He was a , a victim of an internal conflict.

After fusion with the seraph, he slaughtered the entire Rosicrucian Society.

He slaughtered the entire Stannite royal household.

He took the throne by brute force and fought war all around the globe, driven by the seraph's anger at being confined to the mortal world.

A war for no reason—merely destruction for destruction's sake.

The finally succeeded in killing off the Fallen Seraph, shattering the level cap at last and opening up the .

And with that, was opened.

The world fell into an irreversible collapse into chaos.

That concluded the 3.0 storyline.

But Aiwass had not forgotten—there were no in this world.

If he did nothing, the Fallen Seraph would annihilate the world.

Which meant he would have to become a , reach level 50, and do his fifth transcendence ritual before then.

If he didn't make it to the sixth tier, even if he had the means to become a Grand Heresiarch, he .

That only left him with .

If the situation went like in the original tale, with Avalon being razed to the ground and Aiwass lost helplessly between countries—

By the time the Fallen Seraph came, he'd still be a level-30 noob Demonologist.

And on whom could he possibly depend?

Recall, when Aiwass escaped Avalon with the players, he was already well past level 20.

But when they saved him, he was at level 3.

From going to school with the players to Avalon's downfall, a mere eight months had gone by!

During which time, he levelled up .

And then in the following ten months, he levelled up only five times more, hardly moving forward once.

That was the difference made.

…But there was one little dilemma.

His adoptive father, , was a university lecturer.

And he was the professor… a compulsory course.

That left Aiwass feeling… torn.

He was certain that Moriarty would one day be a world-class boss, but he couldn't overlook the years of genuine emotion that life had accumulated.

No matter that his memories of the past had been revived, affection and attachment persisted.

But just half a day later, Aiwass received shocking news from Oswald, who had just returned from lunch:

"Father went to the Holy Nation?"

Although it only bought him time, it was still a relief nonetheless.

It meant that he didn't have to deal with that specific problem .

Aiwass could catch his breath now.

"Yes," the old butler answered.

"He will be away for quite some time now. Master Edward will be residing here beginning tonight. If you need something, you can approach him."

"Also, the Silver and Tin Hall invited us. There is a private banquet tonight. I would recommend not turning it down. But because of certain situations, I will not be joining you. Do you have a choice of guest for the evening?"

Aiwass was shocked for a moment.

He thought at first that perhaps the princess was intending to reveal his disguise right away.

But he soon realized—it was most likely about that newspaper piece from earlier.

That relieved him.

"Then… can I bring Big Brother?"

"Master Edward may be otherwise engaged."

Oswald answered, "He and Mr. Sherlock are going out together, and may not come back in time for the banquet. But if he does return, I'll invite him to take you out. Nights have been unsafe of late."

Aiwass said casually, “Then I’ll take Lily. It’s not like we need to worry about safety at the Silver and Tin Hall anyway.”

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