"Having money truly is great," Xia Ai'er chuckled, downing the Sun Holy Water from the bottle.
Bennett Maynard's maternal grandfather was a New Party bigwig, owning many properties even in the Intis Kingdom. Relying on this connection, Bennett also knew some low-Sequence Beyonders from the Eternal Blazing Sun Church who were active in Backlund.
As long as he was willing to pay more, even at night, he could get a Beyonder of the Sun Pathway to climb out of bed and provide him with the services he needed.
"Arrodes, which of the five major Pathways do you think is best for me?"
He tossed the empty bottle aside and asked, looking at the mirror in the bedroom.
The mirror's surface shimmered with silver light, blossoming into an eerie yet splendid rose.
"Befriend distant enemies, attack nearby ones."
"Then I'll go with the Secrets Supplicant," Xia Ai'er nodded, as he had also been thinking of taking the Hanged Man Pathway first.
Although the True Creator was mad, he was in the Forsaken Land of the Gods, which meant his influence on the outside world was actually smaller.
"Well then, good night, Arrodes."
He waved and smiled at the mirror.
In the mirror, the "black-haired Elf" also waved back at Xia Ai'er, and silver-white ripples transformed into a line of Elvish: "Good night, Xia Ai'er."
...
Two thousand five hundred years ago.
The Age of Conflict.
The Elf Saint, who had originally planned to continue slacking off, suddenly felt a tiny bit of ambition.
"Is this a bug?"
"Never mind, it's not important."
"Arrodes, help me find something. Its name should be Groselle's Travels. Once I find it, I'll be able to advance to angel."
Xia Ai'er revised his plan.
He gave up on waiting for the situation to become more chaotic and stable before seizing the opportunity to advance.
Since I exist in the future, do I still need to fear dying in the past?
"It's time I showed a bit of my fangs."
He put down his fishing rod and transformed into a bolt of lightning, arriving at the junction of two sea areas, where two mental forces were engaged in a tug-of-war.
"The other Saints of the Storm Church are on the North Continent, fighting with other Churches for faith. You've been confronting me here all this time, aren't you just trying to show your bravery to the Lord of Storms by conquering Elves, hoping to gain his favor and become a future angel, the future Pope of the Storm Church?"
"Come out! If you're a man, fight me one-on-one!"
Xia Ai'er stomped downwards, and a massive water pillar surged towards the sea ahead.
A howling tornado dispersed the sky-high water pillar, rain poured down, and large ominous clouds began to spread. A bearded middle-aged man looked down at Xia Ai'er and said, "Elf, surrender to my Lord. This is your supreme honor."
In the Saint's opinion, he had been continuously applying mental pressure, slowly encroaching on the sea areas controlled by the other party, wearing them down for so long, and this Elf hadn't dared to counterattack. Now, being pushed to a dead end, he was trying to forcefully salvage some dignity, then, after losing to him, conveniently switch allegiances.
"Are you here to fight, or to talk trash?"
Xia Ai'er couldn't be bothered to watch this guy put on a show. Who said Beyonders of the Storm pathway had no brains? Isn't this guy practically getting Leodero tattooed on himself?
"How dare you!"
The Storm Church's "Sea King" was enraged!
Was this a challenge to his authority?
He had originally planned to go easy on him later and recruit this Elf as his subordinate.
Very good, very good.
When he became the Storm Pope in the future, he would make sure all these disrespectful Elves disappeared!
Countless lightning bolts descended from the sky, engulfing several hundred meters around Xia Ai'er in a destructive radius, giving him no chance to dodge. This skilled opening move showed that he was also a combat-oriented Saint who couldn't tolerate any provocation.
You started it.
Xia Ai'er smiled, the sky full of silver-white lightning making his smile appear exceptionally dazzling.
The sea surged, as if also anticipating a death match.
Terrifying sonic booms and thunder lasted for a long time, and strong impacts spread from the seabed to the sky. Countless marine creatures that couldn't escape in time were torn to shreds. When the disaster finally ended, the weather in one of the sea areas became chaotic without warning, and a giant-like, unwilling roar spread far and wide.
Xia Ai'er wiped the blood from his face. His lightning spear was impaled with the corpse of a Monster with wide, staring eyes. This was a manifestation of irreversibly activating its Mythical Creature form and finally losing control and dying.
He swallowed the extracted Sea King Beyonder characteristic and then threw the corpse back into the distant sea.
A Saint who was simply a stack of Storm pathway Sequence 9 to Sequence 3 dared to seek a death match with him?
Idiot!
Xia Ai'er withdrew the mental plague he had spread. He stepped on the fierce winds and returned to his fishing spot, picking up the fishing rod he had discarded. His tattered robe was cleansed by the moist sea breeze, and the still-bleeding wounds were covered with a layer of illusory scales. His hair became thicker, and its originally pure black color was now mixed with some blue.
He had also activated his Mythical Creature form during the battle, but he could self-hypnotize beforehand. He could activate an incomplete Mythical Creature form and still deactivate it as long as it didn't exceed a certain duration. That pure Sea King wasn't so lucky.
Now that he had consumed another Sea King Beyonder characteristic, this common mutation, combining with Storm characteristics, also began to appear.
After killing that Sea King who frequently came to cause trouble, the Elves' morale also lifted somewhat.
Xia Ai'er stared blankly at the sea in front of him, and a melancholic song appeared.
He didn't struggle, letting the song draw him into a dream.
"You did well this time."
"That fool wanted to use us to curry favor with Leodero. He never considered why the other 'Sea Kings' only dared to spread faith on the North Continent?"
The Elf Queen, Gao Xinaim, appeared and praised him.
She wore an elaborate long dress, her eyes deep, her features delicate. Although she wasn't deliberately trying, the majesty of a superior was undeniable.
This was a characteristic of the Storm pathway; they were naturally more sensitive to those in higher positions.
"He's not actually stupid. He's also afraid of you, afraid of pushing the Elves too far, so he's been slowly testing our bottom line."
"He has the Lord of Storms behind him, and the Storm Church. He can slowly squeeze our living space, forcing us to retreat to increasingly remote sea areas. And if we get injured during the battle, that's even better; those would be his merits for future advancement within the Storm Church."
"He just didn't expect that I truly could kill him, that I truly dared to kill him."
Xia Ai'er slightly lowered his gaze, intentionally concealing the madness and brutality that had not yet dissipated from his eyes.
His mental state was only relatively good; otherwise, he wouldn't have needed to constantly fish to stabilize his mind.
The advantages and disadvantages of consuming many Beyonder characteristics were both very clear.