Chapter 5: The Enchanted Card: Blade of Shadow
Aivars did not even wait for the authorization from the Surveillance Bureau, knowing full well that he would inevitably be involved in the investigation.
If nothing goes awry, he could even conduct his investigation independently—without being closely monitored by Hayna, directly participating in the investigation as an “assistant to the Surveillance Bureau.”
On one hand, it was due to his adoptive father’s influence, and on the other hand, the Surveillance Bureau, already bound by the rules of its superiors, was very welcoming towards assistance from outsiders—starting with Mr. Sherlock, the practice of hiring and consulting “detectives” like himself from private agencies had even become a profession.
If the investigation failed, it would be due to the incompetence of the hired detective, at least sparing the bureau from severe internal accountability; if everything went smoothly, then it was because the guidance proposed by the Surveillance Bureau was correct, at least amounting to a contribution and securing a share of the benefits.
Although Hayna was a genuine inspector, Aivars understood the workings of the Surveillance Bureau even better than she did.
The reason Aivars was so eager to involve himself in this investigation was because he had his own motives.
—Revenge and silencing.
Both versions of the story Aivars told the Surveillance Bureau were false. Or more accurately, neither was entirely true.
He was indeed a participant in the ritual and indeed knew those two demonic scholars.
But he was also, in fact, the sacrifice of the ritual.
The truth was, those two demonic scholars were actually Aivars’ “pen pals”.
From a young age, Aivars had been deeply interested in forbidden knowledge. The more a mystical art was prohibited by the Avalon Kingdom, the more excited he became in researching it.
Such as the ritual magic from the Path of Transcendence and the preservation techniques from the Path of Twilight.
The former was a basic ability of demonic scholars, while the latter extended to professions such as necromancers. From the name alone, it wasn’t hard to tell it was up to no good.
This forbidden knowledge, with only a brief overview available in his adoptive father’s study. Even within a knight’s family, privately owning banned books was a serious crime punishable by imprisonment. However, after reading the overview, young Aivars became even more intrigued.
He fervently purchased various ritual materials, attempting to conduct rituals purely based on speculation and imagination, without grasping any supernatural knowledge or mystical techniques.
Naturally, these attempts failed.
The core secret of this world is “knowledge”.
The nine Paths corresponding to nine types of mystical arts all require specific knowledge to master—in other words, possessing the relevant knowledge, even if one’s personal strength is meager, one can still obtain supernatural power far beyond one’s true capability. Each piece of forbidden knowledge is almost foundational to a school of thought. Under these circumstances, it’s impossible to purchase reliable “skill books” from the market.
On his sixteenth birthday, a secret society of demonic scholars named “The Noble Red” suddenly contacted him.
Aivars was initially very cautious. But along with the letter, they sent him several manuscripts of banned books, all about demonic knowledge and rituals.
Though all were minor rituals hardly distinguishable from magic tricks, such as causing blisters, healing minor wounds, inducing drowsiness, or bringing a bit of bad luck. Seemingly useless, but they were genuine supernatural rituals!
After trying each one, Aivars was thrilled. Thus, he became pen pals with them, exchanging knowledge on demonic studies regularly, with the other party claiming to be a friend of Aivars. They frequently discussed emotions and daily trivialities.
Initially, Aivars remained somewhat wary.
But then, two years quietly passed.
By then, Aivars thought that if they had wanted to deceive him, they would have done so long ago. The value of the secret knowledge they had given him was already quite high—although Aivars, who had never been to the black market, wasn’t clear on how much this knowledge could be sold for, the quantity alone was substantial.
—What kind of scammer would operate for so long and invest so much just to deceive one person?
This neither made sense nor followed the principle of maximizing profit.
Thus, Aivars gradually lowered his guard, truly regarding this pen pal as a friend he had never met but felt a deep connection with.
A few days ago, they claimed to have business in the royal capital and wanted to meet with Aivars.
Aivars had no hesitation, without any guard up, he believed them.
—This was the lie he told the inspector. Because “Aivars” was not kidnapped; he willingly walked into the situation.
They were a couple dressed in red, both with shaved heads. The man appeared to be in his forties or fifties, while the woman was about twenty. Apart from being mentor and apprentice, they were also lovers.
He warmly treated his “two friends” to a meal, after which the middle-aged man proposed letting Aivars witness, even participate in, an authentic demonic summoning ritual—Aivars excitedly agreed.
But it was only after he had spent over an hour setting up the ritual that he suddenly realized something.
Doesn’t summoning a demon require some expensive materials? Only then did he belatedly realize that he, having personally set up the ritual altar, had just become the “willing sacrifice”. At the same time, as a student of the Royal Law University’s School of Theology, Aivars could become a priest before graduation.
Despite not yet embarking on the path of a supernormal being, he had already taken the first step towards the Path of Devotion.
Reflected on his profile card, it meant he now had a Level 1 Priest profession. Once the basic skill “Basic Prayer” accumulated enough experience, Aivars would be able to promote his Priest profession to Level 2 and master his first Path of Devotion characteristic.
He had, of course, happily told his pen friends about this—although being a “priest” wasn’t as interesting as a “demonic scholar”, it was still a supernormal profession after all. Embarking on the supernormal path and possessing supernormal abilities was better than nothing.
Moreover, the profession of priest was respected in Avalon.
The symbol of the Path of Devotion was light, protection, and candles. It was a Path dedicated to self-sacrifice for others and ideals, where only a genuine commitment to this philosophy could bring strength. Therefore, all professions derived from the Path of Devotion were promising and recognized supernormal professions.
Thus, as a “willing ‘Devotee’ sacrifice”, Aivars became an extremely high-quality offering.
It was not until that moment, facing the threat of death, that Aivars recalled his past life memories. He recognized the demon’s species in advance and successfully made a pact with it.
He controlled the shadow demon to stealthily kill the middle-aged man, the “mentor” among the demonic scholars. However, the apprentice woman was still alive.
If she had fled a little slower, Aivars would have killed her; but if she dared to turn back to look, she could have killed Aivars instead.
It was a close call.
Aivars sighed.
—Just a little more, and he would have been sacrificed and silenced by that man; yet a little more, and he would have been killed by that woman.
Betrayed, deceived, and nearly murdered.
Aivars’ heart was filled with genuine anger. He decided to retaliate without hesitation.
Not to mention, this woman might have seen Aivars’ letters.
This meant that once she was captured, she could possibly expose Aivars—no, she definitely would.
His adoptive father’s stance was currently unclear, but even just for his own sake, he must silence her before the Surveillance Bureau catches her.
However, Aivars also did not intend to reveal his identity as a demonic scholar just to kill her.
He had a plan.
Upon waking up yesterday, Aivars’ first instinct was to try a simple ritual previously unknown to “Aivars” and only available in the later stages of the game. After using that ritual to replenish the life force drained from being a sacrifice, Aivars was almost certain—the secret knowledge he knew was also applicable in this world.
Aivars’ profession in the game was not a demonic scholar of the Path of Transcendence… but an Illuminator from the Path of Devotion.
It was a purely supportive profession capable of significantly boosting the strength of allies and possessing minor healing and control abilities.
However, now that he must singlehandedly face those apocalyptic crises, such a weak profession would not suffice.
Because Illuminators cannot benefit from their own enhancements. Or to put it another way, most professions from the Path of Devotion cannot benefit from their own enhancements, protection, or healing skills.
However, being an Illuminator as a secondary profession was feasible. After all, Aivars’ public identity was that of a priest from the Path of Devotion. Advancing to an Illuminator could also be a preparation, and he was extremely familiar with the necessary Path characteristics to advance into this profession.
To tackle those crises, his main profession must possess sufficient solo combat strength.
Considering he could also assume the role of an Illuminator, the answer was simple.
It was the version 5.0 “Aivars”, who, after mastering the power of phantom demons, advanced into the “Master of Great Beasts”.
This was a senior profession obtained after advancing from a Great Sin Scholar.
It could extract the essence of indestructible phantom demons defeated in battle and turn them into summoned beasts, or the “Great Beasts” of six different attributes.
Although only one “Great Beast” could be summoned at a time, it could switch to the most suitable Great Beast for the current situation, and then use support cards, equipment cards, and field cards extracted from the power of other “Great Beasts” to strengthen the current one.
More importantly, this summoned beast was considered a “teammate”.
Not only was its output far greater than the caster’s own, but it could also benefit from all types of buffs given by teammates.
In gaming terms, this profession had the highest utility value.
Because the enhancements provided by the cards were noble mechanic-class buffs—such as triple speed, armor breaking, poison, burning, dodging, spell penetration—but notably did not include damage increase buffs. This just so happens to not dilute the various damage increase buffs provided by Illuminators, the most mainstream supports.
Although the caster’s output would become somewhat weak after summoning the “Great Beast”, during burst cycles, the Master of Great Beasts could temporarily merge with the summoned, already enhanced “Great Beast”, unleashing tremendous strength.
With an Illuminator working alongside the Master of Great Beasts, Aivars could treat his summoned beast as a “teammate” for enhancement. Not only does this not compromise the social benefits brought by his priest identity, but it also allows him to switch to a summon that counters different enemies, with a high potential for growth.
In the worst-case scenario, where he is the only one able to confront the boss, this professional combination might not be the highest in burst potential under optimal conditions, but it is definitely the most versatile and adaptable.
The ability to extract the power of superior phantom demons and create phantom demon cards using tarot cards as material comes from the prerequisite profession, the Great Sin Scholar.
Great Sin Scholars can obtain the corresponding ritual knowledge after thoroughly studying and analyzing a phantom demon—what cards this phantom demon can imprint, what materials and rituals are needed. Once this knowledge is known
