When the plot-skips players into the game world

The first to appear beside Aiwass was a stranger he had never seen before.

Although her features were unclear, judging by her stature, she appeared to be a young lady of no great age.

She wore a white knee-length robe and stepped in white boots. In addition, she donned white silk gloves.

That all-white attire seemed to emanate a faint glow in the pitch-black space.

Aiwass estimated that she might be slightly taller than Yulia, but not as tall as Isabel - which means she was about one meter sixty in height.

Upon her arrival, she let out a soft "hm?" as if puzzled by her location.

"Hello, beautiful miss,"

With his right hand on his chest and his voice slightly raised, Aiwass spoke with an exaggerated posture, emoting a somewhat florid tone, "You may call me 'Mr. Fox.' I am a Priest from the Path of Devotion."

As Aiwass became more well-known, he had to differentiate the identity of "Mr. Fox" from Aiwass himself.

Those who needed to know "Mr. Fox is Aiwass" already knew. For everyone else, it was best to keep the box closed if possible.

It wasn't that he was worried about doing disreputable deeds during the advancement ceremony, making him vulnerable to being targeted offline - taking down Aiwass was not so easy anymore. Not only was Aiwass's own strength improving, but the people around him were also gradually growing stronger.

Furthermore, if anyone dared to confront Aiwass, it was most likely they would be assimilated as a partner. A person with such initiative was not someone Aiwass would let go of easily.

What does an average person need? Wealth? Status? Power? Respect? Friendship? Concern?

Aside from love, which Aiwass might not be able to offer, he could practically provide everything else. Whatever you desire, I can provide - even if you're a scoundrel, there's Miss Aleister, a bad woman who can attract you to our side.

What he truly worried about was damage to his image.

If too many people knew that "Mr. Fox" was Aiwass, his actions in the Dream Realm would be limited. He represented not only himself but also Avalon and Moriarty.

Just like public figures have to be careful with their speech and actions in the public eye.

Though some, like Meg, may not care about this, Aiwass was indeed concerned about his reputation. Thus, he attempted to separate Mr. Fox from his own image as much as possible... although it might not be effective, the attitude still needed to be there.

"...Ah, hello,"

In contrast to her delicate appearance, the other party responded with a voice gentle and mature, like that of a kind mother, "Mr. Fox. You may call me 'Pure White.' I am competing on behalf of the Path of Authority."

"Indeed, just as one would expect from the first impression you give."

Mr. Fox, imitating the tone of a refined young man, though with an overtone of slickness, remarked, "You are like a shining light in this pitch-black night."

"You don't recognize me?"

Pure White responded with some surprise.

"...?"

At this remark, Aiwass was taken aback. He could tell she was genuinely surprised.

He even took a moment to reflect, but indeed he had never heard the name "Pure White" before.

"...Um," he faltered, the affected tone he had been maintaining giving way to a much more serious one, "indeed, I don't. To be honest, I've just recently embarked on the Transcendent path. There may be some things I do not understand, please forgive me."

"Just recently embarked on the Transcendent path, and already ranked first..."

Even though her expression was unseen, Aiwass could feel the teasing behind Pure White's words.

And then, three more appeared in quick succession.

To Aiwass's surprise, none of these three were acquaintances - and all of them were quite tall. Unless he was mistaken, at least two of them must be Elves.

...What's going on, did I queue up incorrectly? That shouldn't be the case, since we were all queuing in the same area, we should've been placed together...

For a moment, Aiwass was perplexed.

Seeing Aiwass in the first spot, they too were surprised for a moment. But they quickly made their introductions... judging by their tone, they seemed to be the rare normal folk.

The youngest-looking and tallest of them went by the code name "Topaz." Aiwass knew that was the name of a gemstone, typically referring to an expensive variety of golden-yellow topaz.

He stood at least two meters three, with a muscular build and clad in exquisite Elf Silver Armor. He sat with a straight posture, emitting an aura of an upright, somewhat naive character. If "Knight" grew a bit more, perhaps he could become someone like this... yet what surprised Aiwass most was that this man purported to follow the Path of Love.

If he had said he was from the Path of Authority, that would have been quite normal...

There was also a lady in her forties, who went by the code name "Jacaranda."

She seemed not to be an Elf by her height, and her tone was gentle... like when visiting a classmate's home, the warm and friendly mother of your classmate offering you fruits. She was a Transcendent from the Path of Balance.

The third was an elderly Elf, with the code name "Living Silver." Aiwass recognized this as a term from Alchemy or Ritual Studies, referring to mercury. Clearly, his primary Path must be either Transcendence or Balance.

Elves are not constrained by professions, so they could have multiple differing Paths; however, they must participate in separate advancement ceremonies for each Path whenever they seek to raise their Energy Level.

Now that Living Silver was participating in the ceremony as a Transcendent of the Path of Dusk, Aiwass was not surprised.

It was only too natural for the elderly to embark on the Path of Dusk. As people age and encounter more health issues, they generally wish to avoid death.

There are few who can face the end of their lives with equanimity... not to mention Elves, who possess long lifespans.

The longer the lifespan, the longer the period of aging, meaning a more prolonged suffering from the decline. Perhaps they might have initially scorned the Path of Dusk, but after enduring it for a long time, they eventually compromise.

But when all introductions were made and the small talk session began, Aiwass nearly lost his composure.

—Because there was hardly any interaction or subtle jockeying for position among these four, or rather, all of them seemed curious and took turns conversing with "Mr. Fox."

Aiwass immediately realized something; this time, it's likely that team came up against team.

Aiwass, Isabel, and Sherlock had all queued for the same level two to level three dungeon at the same place. According to the rules of the advancement ceremony, participants were sorted by strength and relative distance, making it highly probable for them to be placed in the same event, and likely in a home game for them.

They were the first three to enter the scene, and once nearly everyone had arrived, the rest would fill in from other places.

Counting myself, five people entered consecutively, but neither Isabel nor Sherlock had come in... which could only mean that this wasn't their main stage.

It was because there was a team with stronger comprehensive strength that had taken over the main stage—Aiwass's group only had three members, whereas the other side had four, and among them were at least two elves.

Could it be that I've been assigned to the Holy Nation? Sherlock and Isabel... they better not be unable to come in.

Aiwass was somewhat worried.

If Sherlock was alone, so be it... but if Isabel was on her own, what would she do?

Thankfully, no one else entered on the side of the Holy Nation.

They chatted for more than an hour, and the topics discussed by the four of them were entirely different—and they had little to do with their respective Paths.

Pure White engaged Aiwass in a conversation about theology, while the old man subtly prodded about Aiwass's education and background. Jacaranda, on the other hand, was relatively silent, just smiling and watching them talk.

The only normal one was Topaz, the righteous young man with the aura of a Knight. He perfectly embodied his Path of Love identity, politely and sincerely asking Aiwass, who seemed to understand emotions well, for advice about love affairs.

Even though Aiwass had never been in a romantic relationship, he was more than happy to share his experiences.

In the end, it was basically Aiwass and Topaz chatting across the space—Topaz looked as if he wanted nothing more than to sit next to Aiwass. Pure White, sitting next to Aiwass, had already shrunk into the large chair, looking as if she were about to slide off.

It was just unfortunate that the Path of Love had been banned this time. Experience tales with empire

Otherwise, Aiwass would have gained a new teammate.

It was rare to encounter such a normal Transcendent from the Path of Love—perhaps it was precisely because the other had no job that he was not bound.

While Topaz was enthusiastically consulting Aiwass on "my friend's" relationship issues, a blue light flashed, and Sherlock arrived at the next seat.

He was dressed in his iconic detective outfit, making no attempt to hide it. However, he seemed a bit puzzled and disoriented about his arrival spot—he looked around the room before locating Aiwass.

Seeing Aiwass sitting in the first position, even Sherlock was taken aback for a moment.

But he cleverly refrained from asking Aiwass, not even casting a glance his way, and said in a calm and steady voice, "Good evening, everyone. I am the 'Detective.' It appears that this ritual pertains to the Path of Wisdom... I'll be sharing my wisdom with you all."

"Mr. Sherlock Hermes, right?" Jacaranda suddenly spoke up.

"That's me," Sherlock replied in a deep voice.

He seemed to have grown accustomed to stumbling at the start—after all, Sherlock had never hidden his identity as the "famed detective," which lent him greater persuasive power in speech.

After all, he was not one for scheming; he always acted openly and aboveboard with nothing to hide. He wasn't like some fox spirit that lied and deceived others, Sherlock thought to himself.

Immediately following that, Isabel appeared in the next spot.

She clearly hadn't anticipated this situation. Isabel first looked around in a bit of panic, locking eyes with the "Fox," who was only one empty seat away on her right, and felt somewhat relieved.

"I am... Lulu."

Her voice was a bit shaky at first but soon steadied, "I belong to the Path of Beauty..."

[—I hope I'm not late, children] A hoarse voice emanated from the central statue, interrupting Isabel's self-introduction.

You're late for what? Aiwass thought irritably to himself.

[I will preside over this ceremony; I am an Angel Envoy from the Great Sage, Merlin]

[Due to certain special reasons, this ceremony will be missing a position. In this full moon ceremony, everyone has rejected the Path of Adaptation, so there will be no Adapters participating in this full moon ceremony—in other words, everyone is already here]

"...Huh? Wait, I still..."

Surprised and somewhat distressed, Isabel murmured quietly.

Because she had only just announced her alias and had not heard others introduce themselves—in other words, she now didn't recognize anyone.

But her voice was soft—Merlin, in a sense, was also an ancestor of Avalon. Isabel was very polite, so she didn't dare to speak loudly and interrupt Merlin, allowing Merlin's resonant voice to easily drown out her own.

The next moment, the dark world abruptly became bright.

However, just then, "Mr. Fox" suddenly spoke up, "Wait a moment, Lord Merlin.

"Miss Isabel and Mr. Detective haven't heard the others' introductions yet—I think the ceremony would be unfair in this state, right?"

The bright world dimmed once again, as if it had been flashed momentarily.

"...Ah, I'm getting forgetful in my old age..."

Interrupted by "Mr. Fox," Merlin showed no signs of anger.

From the statue of the ancient wizard came that old and friendly voice: "Then, continue, let me listen as well... how does that sound?"

Aiwass slightly narrowed his eyes and clicked his tongue impolitely.

Was Merlin doing that on purpose? What was that old fox up to?