When the plot-skips players into the game world

The palace where the Benevolent Lords of Heaven City reside has a style quite unlike that of the one in Rock Cellar City.

——In fact, it could be said to be completely opposite.

The Benevolent Lord of Rock Cellar City, the "Honest Avxin," should actually be considered an artist——although his art is somewhat bloody and cruel, Aiwass finds it quite impressive.

Parthia's most prominent... or rather most highly regarded and prestigious art system is called miniature painting. This is different from the realistic, harmonious, and light-and-shadow-focused artistic style popular in Iris Flower... it seeks fine brushwork and vivid colors, using color as the core rather than light, shadow, or lines.

Miniature painting includes both realistic and abstract types. But overall, it doesn't emphasize light and shadow, or even much of a sense of space and perspective. It primarily serves as a decorative plane, with themes that mainly feature easily recognizable figures, almost all in profile, resembling illustration inserts. Alternatively, it may depict various uniformly distributed runes, flora, fauna, clouds, and water, showing a style similar to meticulous painting.

And Avxin's works perfectly meet all the requirements of miniature painting and align with the Parthian aesthetic. No wonder he displays it proudly in the hall for everyone to admire.

For this purpose, his palace is entirely built to maximize the display of his artworks——in a sense, it's not really a palace but more like a gallery exhibiting paintings. Hence, it doesn't have many functional rooms. The ornate yet uncomplicated decorations are "seasonings" prepared to match these artworks.

The gold ornaments are essentially just frames for the paintings; and the water curtains are like drapes protecting treasures.

As for the Good Master Palace of Heaven City... rather than say it's a palace, it might be better described as a temple.

It reminds Aiwass of the style of ancient Giant temples on Avalon Island——

Rows of cylindrical pure white giant stones connected to form a flat temple like a cake base. Above it is a strange structure——it looks like a bell tower with a huge, complex mechanical design, and you can clearly hear subtle, watch-like spring sounds inside the temple.

But generally speaking, you should at least be able to see the clock on a bell tower.

Yet in the temple built by Adil, its dial faces the sky.

No one can see the time unless they fly directly above the palace.

It's almost like... he built a clock tower for the gods in heaven.

And the white robe he wears looks as simplistic as a Greek philosopher's. He appears more like a priest than a Benevolent Lord.

That's why Aiwass says they are completely opposite.

Because here, it is not the palace that serves the people, but the people who serve the palace.

Once you step into this palace, this feeling becomes even more pronounced——

The slaves serving the Benevolent Lord are also dressed in neat and simple white clothes. The Holy Temple is not laden with extravagant decorations, but abundant with lead and gold——the floor, walls, and ceiling of the temple are made of pure lead, engraved and embossed with gold, the walls covered in praises to the Serpent Celestial Marshal.

——Aiwass finds this somewhat distressing.

There is a rather awkward feeling...

The Benevolent Lord Adil of Heaven City invites Aiwass into the inner chamber.

Though Heaven City is much larger in scale than Rock Cellar City, the palace where the Benevolent Lord lives is only one-third the size. From what Aiwass knows, this isn't because Avxin is overly extravagant... quite the opposite, Avxin is already among the most frugal and pragmatic of the Benevolent Lords. Most of his wealth is spent on building underground waterways or buying various foreign goods.

And much of Avxin's money comes from the Benevolent Lord Adil of Heaven City.

Yet Adil's reception room isn't even as large as Aiwass's bedroom in the Hall of Silver and Tin. This room is roughly thirty square meters, which for someone of a status higher than a King, can be considered quite cramped.

The largest area in this reception room is occupied by a statue.

And upon seeing the statue, Aiwass's pupils suddenly contract.

——For it is the Holy Statue of the Serpent Celestial Marshal!

Its appearance is identical to what Aiwass saw of the Serpent Celestial Marshal during the ascension ritual——even the ring behind it is perfectly replicated. That divine and righteous face bears at least a seventy percent resemblance to Aiwass... This is likely why Adil was dumbfounded upon seeing Aiwass, and very politely addressed Aiwass as "Sir."

He was probably confirming whether I am an incarnation or an angel envoy of the Serpent Celestial Marshal.

Despite the facial resemblance, Aiwass and the Serpent Celestial Marshal have completely different temperaments.

However, in this world, such a degree of resemblance also carries power. The Gemini Mirror from the Path of Beauty lets similar things gain similar strength. Conversely, it is unlikely for unrelated entities to become so alike purely by coincidence.

With such a resemblance to the Serpent Celestial Marshal, also possessing the Nurturing Secret Sequel's legacy...

A rather reasonable thought springs to Aiwass's mind: He doesn't take me for a direct descendant of Huanhuan, does he?

He definitely should be courteous to Aiwass in that case.

It's like a branch manager suddenly finding the general manager's son from the head office coming for inspection. Naturally, they would be startled and then make good arrangements to host him.

The statue is built on a slightly elevated platform, which looks like a bed. But this bed doesn't have any pillows or quilts; instead, it has some mats.

Adil sits cross-legged on the mat, only about a meter behind him is the statue of the Serpent Celestial Marshal.

Originally, there were six mats of different colors in this room. To accommodate Aiwass and his "daughter" Leviathan, a table and two sofa chairs have been brought in, with a platform under one of the chairs, allowing Aiwass to be almost at eye level with Adil.

"Apologies for not entertaining you well."

Adil speaks in a gentle, even humble tone: "Things are different here from other city-states... I care more about how to make those who follow me happy. So I channel most of my resources into construction and good deeds."

"...You mean, like that free food and water?"

"That's part of it. When I eat meat, I also give them meat; when I drink pomegranate juice, I provide them pomegranate juice as well; if one day I want to drink wine, I distribute wine to them too. I have slaves serving me, so I also assign slaves to them. They eat and drink with me, dress and feed as I do, and consequently, we are of one mind.

"The slaves living underground, their sustenance, is actually not a small expenditure. Even using the cheapest food to support them, it's challenging to keep them alive. Even if some of them could be offered as sacrifices... but just in case, I still prioritize buying slaves from outer cities.

"I'll also upgrade my legions with better equipment, allowing them to survive longer and fight for me. This investment is worth it; an excellent Slave Knight's value is equal to fifty slaves, and when equipped with armor worth another fifty slaves, his value can easily surpass a hundred slaves.

"As for myself——I'm not fond of overly lavish comforts; it dulls my spirit, makes my Heart of Devotion numb. So I usually practice asceticism here, only eating two meals daily without sugar and salt, and only to the point of being half full. Therefore I truly have nothing great here, my apologies.

"However, I will have someone prepare some refreshments for you. Not long ago, someone gifted a batch of high-quality fish sauce, a special premium blood sauce made from tuna blood and innards, a specialty of Avalon. I quite like it. Would you like to try some?"

——Although someone living in a genuinely "luxurious" palace, served by about three hundred slaves, consuming food many times more expensive than gold here, claiming to be practicing asceticism sounds quite amusing.

But Aiwass knows... for a Benevolent Lord, this can indeed be considered asceticism.

This, in turn, is even more ironic.