Shepherd Tantra

Chapter 952: Promotion Night with the Highest Survival Rate
From the second half of the night, Aiwass kept tossing and turning until dawn.

This time, due to the encouraging atmosphere of transcendence, quite a lot of people decided to be promoted on the spur of the moment.

Many people were not prepared and hastily chose to be promoted. Many people were injured as a result, and Aiwass's healing ability also came into play at this time.

But because of this, a considerable number of these people were forced to step up!

Starting at two o'clock in the morning, the Inspectorate began to investigate how many new fourth-level and fifth-level people had completed their promotions in Avalon - Avalon provided high salaries to the fourth-level people in order to ensure that the future fifth-level people would only be born from them.

——Now, this forward-looking planning has finally come into play.

First of all, Lily and Yulia - they successfully completed the promotion as expected. The power they gained from the pastoral method was overwhelmingly powerful at their energy level... not to mention that many unprepared weaklings sneaked into the promotion ceremony. Even the Night Demon and the Flame-defying Butterfly, which only had half the power, were a dimensionality reduction attack to these fourth- and third-level extraordinary people.

As Aiwas expected, Yulia had already attracted the attention of Sand Clock because of her invention. Sand Clock was paying attention to her when she participated in the promotion ceremony. After completing the promotion, she also changed her job to become a pioneer.

——It was then that she learned from Sand Time that she had already met the requirements to become a pioneer when she had completed the Difference Engine.

And she also learned some sad news...

Babbage did not become an apostle of the sand clock.

In other words, Babbage's soul had been shattered.

Sand Clock did appreciate his talent, but he cared more about fairness. Although Babbage had outstanding talent, he lacked balanced knowledge, had not achieved any real results, and was not high enough as a transcendent. In other words, he had not yet been recognized by Yuanhe, or had not had time to be recognized by Yuanhe.

Babbage died young before he could fully realize his talent.

According to the rules of the Sand Clock for selecting apostles, a soul that only has talent but no achievements cannot become his apostle.

There are too many geniuses in this world, and even more talented people. If you only choose the talented, it is equivalent to choosing the wise - and the way of balance is not the way of wisdom, so the judgment of the sand clock is more inclined to "results".

After all, he is a pillar god who is half scholar and half businessman. With a businessman's side, Sha Shiji cares more about more realistic things.

According to what Sand Clock said to Julia, a genius with a score of 100 gave a guess, a genius with a score of 90 drew a blueprint and made a sample, a talented person with a score of 80 made it completely according to the blueprint, and an ordinary person with a score of 70 completed the promotion and commercialization... In His eyes, the third person's achievement is equal to that of the fourth person and greater than that of the second person, and the second person is far greater than the first person.

Sand Timepieces does not accept “genius naming style occupying the spot”.

Even if the fourth person does not actually understand academics...but perhaps the birth of this invention comes from his sponsorship and his management and coordination of the team; it can be promoted and recognized because the social connections and political status of this fourth person have cut through the thorns - then Sand Clock believes that this person is equally important to this invention.

Sand Time is a god who only looks at results. There is only reality here, no dreams.

It is impossible to fool the Sand Clock - this invention cannot give birth to four apostles. Therefore, although the Sand Clock pays more attention to the third and fourth, according to the chronological order, perhaps the first and second people will die first.

Whoever dies first will start the process here. If they die in order, the sand clock will eliminate the first person first, and then see if the second person is qualified to become an apostle. If the second person is not qualified, the third person will be the next one. As long as an apostle is born because of this invention, all subsequent optimizations and promotions will not give birth to new apostles.

As a pioneer, Yulia has become the earthly apostle of the Sand Clock.

She received encouragement from Sha Shiji - or one could say, strict supervision.

——Now that Julia has received Babbage's manuscript, she is responsible for implementing Mr. Babbage's conjectures, ideas, and drawings. Otherwise, it would be like watching this knowledge fall into the void. And if someone else completes the invention first, then the sand clock will mercilessly attribute the achievement to that person.

After all, everyone is facing similar situations.

Sometimes, someone's guess is only a few years or even a few months ahead of time.

Many inventions were actually ideas that many people had at the same time... like the bicycle, the camera, or the subway.

It’s just that some people stay at the conceptual stage, while others start slow research; some people tinker with “useless inventions”, while others immediately sell the original patents and start production - the sand timepiece does not look at “who invented it first” or “who got the patent”, but at who finally promotes it successfully.

But Selene failed in her promotion... She encountered Wei Zhe's ceremony as expected and unexpectedly.

Actually, Selene's brain wasn't that bad. After all, she was a part of Lily, and although her personality was a little chaotic, it wasn't that different.

Precisely because she brought Leviathan into the waiting room, and because it looked too powerful and too aggressive, Selene was targeted by everyone... and was eliminated directly.

As the price of the failed ritual, Selene's soul was damaged. Fortunately, Aiwass and Saint John were there, and they worked together to control the injury and left no permanent damage. But even so, she would be weak for a month - which meant that she could not participate in the promotion ceremony for a whole month.

Lily and Selene's progress became completely separate.

In addition, another person who failed to be promoted was Zhu Tang.

According to Zhu Tang, the promotion ceremony he participated in was the ceremony of the Lord of Scales and Feathers.

The Lord of Scales and Feathers gave them a battle royale map with a poisonous circle - everyone's power was compressed back to the first energy level, and they needed to hunt other promoted people or complete tasks to gradually restore their power. The deadly cursed black fog gradually compressed from the outside to the inside, and they needed to avoid the black fog while gathering power until only one person was left.

Yes, his promotion ceremony was not won by three people, but by one person.

Zhu Tang could have made it through. He had even killed two people left, and he would win if he could kill the last one.

But the enemy he finally met was a little girl who was only eight or nine years old.

——It’s not that he looks only eight or nine years old, but he really is only eight or nine years old.

...This description sounded familiar to Aiwass.

In the end, Zhu Tang softened his heart and still couldn't make up his mind to kill the other party. Because if he killed the other party, it would directly cause fatal injuries; but if he was eliminated by the environment, he would be seriously injured at most.

He was unwilling to take action, and the other party was unwilling to kill him. So the two of them simply sat quietly and waited for the poison circle to spread and gamble their lives - whoever was luckier would be promoted.

As a result, Zhu Tang failed to be promoted, and the girl was sent to the fifth level by him.

In addition, the Great Guardian's son David also failed to be promoted - he was seriously injured and had an arm broken. Because of his soul defect, this arm will probably remain missing forever. Even if he is promoted to an apostle, he will still have this injury.

The good news was that the damaged part of his body was his left arm - the other good news was that the Ziggurat was quite skilled in making prosthetic limbs.

After being treated by Aiwass, the injuries of these losers were basically under control. At three o'clock in the morning, Saint John learned that there were still a large number of promoted people on the west coast of Avalon, so he hurried to the west - with her there, the safety of those promoted people should be guaranteed.

However, in this war, the raid must be completed before May 5th to prevent the demon army from suddenly upgrading.

There are only five days left, which is not enough for these survivors to recover.

So this means that they are indeed leaving the front line - which also means that the legion's numbers will be reduced, and by at least one third.

Although not all soldiers participated in the promotion ceremony, almost half of them did. According to probability, they would lose about one-third of their troops - the good thing was that they had some higher-level extraordinary people, and the front line might become more stable.

It's just that some people came all the way here, but they have to go back without doing anything. This is probably a pity.

This promotion ceremony was a kind of world trend - because a large number of combatants entered Avalon and poured into the promotion ceremony; coupled with the refugees from Star Antimony, they could basically put together a stable table for the promotion ceremony.

The conversation in the waiting room was particularly important. Everyone basically knew that each other's purpose was to join the war, protect themselves, or seek revenge. The common enemy was the Fallen Angels who had descended into the material world.

Without any unified organization, people began to spontaneously make a gentleman's agreement: if defeated, they would not stab the opponent in the back and try to kill him, but would voluntarily surrender or give up points; if there was a chance to defeat the opponent without killing him, they would not kill him by force and would spare his life.

Although there are about one-fifth of them who are imbued with the power of transcendence and are determined to advance by any means necessary...but most people, when they defeat their opponent, will choose to give the opponent a chance to surrender or be killed by the environment.

Because of this, this promotion ceremony with the largest number of participants since the founding of Avalon... unexpectedly became the high-level promotion ceremony with the largest number of survivors.

——The vast majority of those eliminated did not die!

This touched Aiwass deeply.

As long as you want to, you can still do it!
Facts have proven that even the extremely dangerous Four to Five Promotion Ceremony does not mean that the loser will surely die - people often die because of each other's evil thoughts or murderous intent, rather than because of the requirements of the ceremony itself.

It's normal to think about it... The highest difficulty of the promotion ceremony is "real". The so-called "real" is the same as reality. In fact, it is no different from participating in the ceremony with the physical body.

The ritual was not meant to kill each other. On one hand, the ritual was to test "qualifications" and select "talents" - to find talents who would be suitable to become their apostles in the future, or to expand their paths in the material world. On the other hand... it was for experiments.

Today, Aiwas understands that sentence more and more - the existence of the promotion ceremony is for the Nine Pillars to find possibilities in history and the future, and those who are promoted are the "variables".

——This world does need variables.

It is extremely difficult and dangerous for mortals to come into contact with the power of the Tao. The Nine Pillar Gods filtered the wild and crazy power of the source river into the power of the Tao that mortals can easily accept and digest... As a reward for accepting the power, they must use their souls as "variables" and participate in the "calculation".

In the past, Aiwass did not understand why "the past can be changed" and did not know why "we should seek possibilities for the future."

And now, Aiwass understands it all.

The past can be changed - because of the existence of the power of reincarnation, this world will return to the "past of the past" before the end of the world. At that time, the Nine Pillars can move the world to another direction according to the "possibilities" they have collected.

And seeking possibilities for the future is to fight against the unknown doomsday!
The Nine Pillars of God don't want to kill anyone at all - they assign difficult and unachievable tasks and give unacceptably harsh penalties for failure, probably just to prevent people from colluding with each other, making off-site deals and guaranteeing someone a promotion, thus destroying the ceremony itself!

The horrific death rate was only because people had selfish thoughts and interests and hatreds because of their respective positions. The ritual itself had the possibility of "not killing"... For example, Mu had never killed anyone in the promotion ceremony. Even Aiwass admired him.

The astonishing survival rate of this ritual made Aiwass think of a "possibility" - the possibility that people would no longer kill each other.

If the future really reaches the "era of peace" that Aiwas saw in the promotion ceremony, it is possible for people to reduce the mortality rate of the promotion ceremony through various "rules", "rituals" and "contracts"!
At that time, extraordinary abilities can truly be integrated with this world!

It is not a “mysterious skill” or “hidden knowledge” that only a few people can master, but a popular ability - a future that is truly mysterious, vibrant, and full of possibilities!

...But we still have to solve the doomsday first.

As long as the promotion ceremony is no longer for "calculation", then we can naturally relax a little...

What worried Aiwas the most was Isabel, who did not wake up until five in the morning.

Because the "fetus" can also be considered a "creature" of the Path of Love - the principle is the same as Selene and Leviathan - Isabel brought the child in with her.

But she didn't let Aiwas worry about her.

Not only did she successfully pass the level, but also achieved a miraculous perfect ending due to her charm and leadership:

——Three people were promoted, nine survived, and no one died.

"……how did you do that?"

Aiwass was incredulous.

It was clearly a cruel Crescent Moon Ritual of "Except me, all eight will die", but Isabel forcibly opened up another way!

"That was a very, very long dream..."

Isabel sighed, leaned back on the bed, stroked her belly, and her tone became more calm: "That was a dream for five whole years... It was not about the future, but the past.

"That was the history of the Helasar Empire... the early days of the country. At that time, humans struggled to survive surrounded by alien races. I gave birth to Aleister alone... and raised her until she was four years old. It was really hard... It was also the first time I realized how much the identity of the 'royal family' helped me.

"Although I have always said that the surname Du Lac has only brought me curses and pressure like rain, and it is a heavy burden that I have never gotten rid of...but once I get rid of this identity, if there is no stable social environment, it turns out that even a fourth-level extraordinary person, without stealing, robbing, or doing anything wrong, it is so difficult to live an upright life."

Isabel's voice was even stronger, like a mother protecting her daughter alone - a mother is strong.

The script of the promotion ceremony brought her a "life" beyond her own.

It is almost impossible for people to experience the pain of others, because it is impossible for people to become someone else; the promotion ceremony breaks this "impossibility" and allows people to truly experience the lives of others.

“Do you need to record this?”

Aiwass said, handing over the paper and pen: "It can be considered a valuable lesson."

"……really."

Isabel wanted to refuse, but she accepted it anyway: "Just think of it as accumulating material for the novel...

“Nothing is more suitable as fuel for art than suffering. People cannot learn any lessons from suffering, but artists can chew it and turn it into burning fire. Let those who have never been hurt briefly experience the burning and pain, and thus respect the fire.”

"You're starting to look like a real artist, Issa."

Aiwass smiled and said, "Even this chant is the same."

Isabel just shook her head, a gentle smile appeared on her face, and she stretched out her hands: "I'm so tired. I want a hug, okay?"

"Of course, dear."

Aiwass, who saved many people that night, finally breathed a sigh of relief. He got on the bed sideways and gently hugged Isabel.

Feeling the warmth in the bed, Aiwass closed his eyes tiredly.

Isabel whispered her gains in Aiwass's ear.

This time, Isabel even obtained the Tao characteristics personally promoted by the Twin Mirrors and the Silver Crown Dragon.

Although Twin Mirror is the type of god of fun who frequently interferes, the path characteristics he gave to Isabel this time were very substantial!

[Twin Mirror Image (Gold): Your camouflage, mirror image, phantom, and transformation abilities gain +1 priority; illusion authenticity +50%]

——Combined with Isabel's original characteristic of [Strong Illusion], the reality of Isabel's illusion has now reached 70%!

This means that even if the other party sees through the illusion, they will still have to bear 70% of the effects!

According to Isabel's development path, I'm afraid she is beginning to turn the fake into the real...

In this case... the power of the fairies... and perhaps the Butterfly Goddess...

Aiwass was thinking about Isabel's future and fell asleep without knowing when.

Isabel patted Aiwass's back gently, and there was more sadness and pity in her eyes when she looked at Aiwass.

She finally understood what a sacred and difficult cause Aiwass was doing.

She was exhausted just trying to save so few people, just trying to save the people around her.

Isabel didn't even dare to imagine how much pressure Aiwass was under.

——She had long realized that the reason why Aiwas was so eager and worked so hard was to deal with a certain doomsday in the future. And from this promotion ceremony, Isabel vaguely touched a trace of reality.

"The Twilight Wall... The Doomsday Clock..."

Isabel murmured in a low voice: "But... I shouldn't let you bear this kind of pressure..."

She patted Aiwass's back gently, as if she was lulling a baby to sleep.

"——If you can rest a little longer, then rest a little longer."

(End of this chapter)