When the plot-skips players into the game world

According to Ibn, there is more than one type of game like this in Parthia.

The Benevolent Lords are eager to promote such games, and even in some city-states, the Benevolent Lords hold card tournaments—the winner not only receives rich rewards but in some places, the Benevolent Lords give them a "wish" opportunity, and in some places where slaves are allowed to participate, the prizes include the identity of a free person, a house, and the contract of a female slave.

Only by interacting with these games can one truly understand that "slavery" has already seeped into the cultural underpinnings of Parthia.

Every poem, every scroll, every game is a shackle of thought. Wanting to break free from such a culture, how easy is it?

"5*2*3—30, that's enough. I got three points."

One by one, Ibn played cards of carpet, book, slave, while casually saying, "Many Parthians believe they must offer blood sacrifices to this thirsty desert; otherwise, sandstorms will eventually engulf the hard-won oasis.

"This is also the reason why those cities destroyed by sandstorms attract sandstorms... They use this method to explain why every city's Benevolent Lord conducts sacrifices."

Being a true Parthian, Ibn knew too much about this aspect.

He sarcastically said, "Likewise... it equally means being swallowed by those man-eating sands is not uncommon on this cursed land. Otherwise, the Benevolent Lords wouldn't use this as an excuse. One of their reasons is that Holy Spring City, as the ancient Royal City, has never experienced even a single sandstorm in ten thousand years—without any intervention of extraordinary powers.

"It's precisely this inexplicable miraculous trait that proves the theory that 'the desert is conscious and alive.'

"Offering blood sacrifice... is it to appease the desert?"

Hayna threw the three gold coin cards in her hand back onto the table to reshuffle, sat down slowly, and asked with some puzzlement, "Isn't it because the Benevolent Lords are to trade with the Abyssal Celestial Envoy?"

"That's a secret, Hayna. Not everyone knows the name of the Abyssal Celestial Envoy. Most locals don't even know what the ocean is. You know... authority, to a large extent, comes from the protection of secrets."

Sitting opposite her, Aiwass said leisurely, "If the slaves knew that their water actually came from the Abyssal Celestial Envoy, and the Benevolent Lords were merely middlemen working for the Abyssal Celestial Envoy, how could they continue to hold god-like reverence for the Benevolent Lords?

"It's precisely because they believe this water comes from the Benevolent Lords' Holy Blood that they respect the Benevolent Lords so much. If they could all know this was just a kind of spell, then guess what the rebellious army captures by the Benevolent Lords would do?"

"...Torture to obtain spells?"

Hayna murmured, "Then... become the new Benevolent Lords themselves?"

"Exactly."

Aiwass answered, "This is the only answer."

The Parthians inherently do not want to abolish slavery... Even those rebellious forces merely wish to enslave others instead.

If they could know, and the contract mark of becoming a Benevolent Lord can also be voluntarily transferred, how could they possibly let go of those captured Benevolent Lords?

Essentially, these Benevolent Lords are like protagonists with systems, capable of creating miracles... Only this system is given by the Abyssal Celestial Envoy, and the system's rewards are converted into water.

For truly ambitious people, if they realize this bestowed "qualification" to become extraordinary can be stripped away, they would naturally attempt to do so.

And in this desert full of Transcenders, ambitious people are not rare.

However, at this moment, the morning sky bathed in sunrise suddenly underwent intense distortion—

Amidst the people's exclamations, the sky, originally tinted slightly red by the sunrise, instantaneously turned redder. It's as if a bucket of red paint was spilled over a white tiled floor, resembling a phone screen leak...

"—Has the sky been injured?"

The old Ritual Master Ibn stared at the sky in astonishment, murmuring, "Has the sky... begun to bleed?"

"No."

Aiwass quickly discerned the truth.

He immediately answered, "It's not—it's a new Celestial Marshal!"

Being a Fifth Power Level Priest Series profession, his extraordinary perception ability allowed him to realize... this was a phenomenon caused by major events occurring in the Dream Realm!

Aiwass suddenly turned his head and glanced at the clock hanging in the expanded carriage room.

While Hayna was one step ahead in reacting and immediately gave the time: "Seven o'clock and three minutes."

"July 3rd, seven o'clock and three minutes... it is the Holy Day and Holy Time!"

Aiwass vaguely sensed an aura of killing and heroism from the sky, deducing, "It's either the War Path or the Path of Devotion! From this feeling... it seems a bit like the War Path's Celestial Marshal."

Arthur had become a god recently, and he already found his Celestial Marshal?

Could it be Morgan?

But this feeling... Does Morgan have such masculinity?

Aiwass was moved within, used his hand to touch the emerald gemstone embedded on his chest.

"Yes, I am here. You don't need to call me."

The Lord of Scalefeather somehow appeared across from Aiwass's table and sat beside Zhu Tang. It was as though he had been observing Aiwass play chess from the beginning, without any sense of discord.

Before Aiwass could inquire, the Lord of Scalefeather directly looked at Aiwass with his faceless visage, letting out a hearty laugh, "It's your acquaintance!"

"...Acquaintance?"

"It's Lancelot."

Without holding back the suspense, the Lord of Scalefeather directly spoke, "He chose death after all."

—Aiwass knew that, as the first Monarch of Avalon, Lancelot I was different from his Princess Guinevere... In fact, Lancelot hadn't died.

He actually, like the type of classic online game literature—like those having a helmet to escape into the virtual worlds—projected his soul into the Shadow Nation within the Dream Realm.

And when his soul was projected into the Dream Realm, he was not truly dead... because, under Merlin's modifications, what his soul was bonded to was no longer the physical body, but the Holy Sword Arondight split into two "long daggers."

Since Lancelot was not dead, he wouldn't enter the River of the Dream Realm or become an Angel Envoy. His situation was more like "soul out of body"... only that his physical body has been destroyed, but actually, he would be fine as long as he doesn't return.

If the Ceremony of Avalon's Shadow operates normally, Lancelot would be reborn into the Material Realm when the Avalon Royal Family is about to face extinction. His descendants' flesh would be molded into a new body through the Power of Revenge, and his soul would be recalled back to flesh via the resonance of Arondight's Dagger.

Why must this ceremony be initiated during a brink of extinction—because only then can it fulfill the logic of "revenge" and send this "report" to Scáthach, the Shadowy Celestial Marshal, Queen of Shadow Nation.

Regions that could temporarily accommodate a living soul were scarce, and Shadow Nation was one. He had no other choices—the steps in this ceremony were intricately linked.

—And precisely because of this, if any step among them goes awry, it collapses entirely. Like complex murder techniques that collapses entirely due to a piece of evidence.

It was because of this reason that the Ceremony of Avalon's Shadow failed.

Having completely lost the possibility of resurrection, Lancelot was just like a wandering spirit. Now... the bewildered Lancelot finally decided to stop waiting for repairs on the Ceremony of Avalon's Shadow and directly cut ties with the Material Realm?

"Lancelot was summoned by Arthur, becoming the first Celestial Marshal of the War Path—the Knight Heavenly Department.

"—Knight's Celestial Marshal, Loyal Heavenly Envoy! Knight Heavenly Department, Riding God Sir Lancelot!"

The Lord of Scalefeather mockingly and exaggeratedly announced Lancelot's new title.

"...Then it should be seven, right?"

Aiwass furrowed his brows, "Why is there still half of the Holy Number of three?"

"Oh, that's the most interesting part."

The Lord of Scalefeather's laughter grew more apparent, "Because Lancelot's soul wandered too long in the Shadow Nation... his heart isn't pure enough, his strength isn't powerful enough. His purity was insufficient to immediately become a Celestial Marshal after death.

"And his wife, Queen Guinevere, as the Candle Saint, finally awaited Lancelot's death. She offered her soul, merging with Lancelot's soul.

"Thus, the true name of the Knight Heavenly Department should now be called Lancelot-Guinevere."