Upon hearing Klein's question, Denon glanced out the window towards the corridor leading to the "Chanis Gate," retrieving his pipe. He carefully packed it with a mixture of tobacco and mint leaves, then placed it to his nose, inhaling deeply, his voice somewhat elusive as he remarked:
"Only at home can I indulge freely in the delightful aroma of tobacco mixed with mint leaves... Klein, are you familiar with the myth of creation?"
"Of course, I learned about it in the Sunday school of the church, using 'Revelation of the Night' to learn words. The chapters 'Book of Wisdom' and 'Epistles of the Saints' both mention the myth of creation," Klein replied, slowing his speech as he recalled the fragmented memories of the original host. "The Creator awoke from chaos, breaking the darkness, creating the first ray of light, merging completely into the universe, becoming all things. His body became the earth, became the stars. His eyes became the sun and the red moon. His blood flowed into the seas and rivers, nurturing life..."
At this point, Klein paused involuntarily, partly because of the blurred memories that followed, partly due to the similarity between this creation myth and the creation story of the gluttonous nations... Different peoples in different worlds share commonalities in their mythological imaginations!
Seeing Klein facing a "challenge," Denon smiled and supplemented:
"His lungs evolved into elves; his heart into giants; his liver into tree people; his head into dragons; his kidneys into feathered serpents; his hair into phoenixes; his ears into demon wolves; his mouth and teeth into anomalies; his remaining bodily fluids into sea monsters, with the essence being nagas; his stomach, intestines, and other parts of his body became demons, evil spirits, and various unknown evil entities. His spirit became the eternal sun, the lord of storms, the god of knowledge and wisdom..."
"His wisdom gave birth to humanity, this is the First Age, the age of chaos," Klein concluded the last sentence, feeling both amused and absurd.
As a keyboard folklorist, it was the first time he encountered such a detailed creation myth, detailed to the point where every identifiable race derived from the Creator was listed in specific detail.
It felt like arranging a seating order for a fruit feast...
Moreover, not only did the scriptures of the Goddess of Night mention this, but the churches of the Storm Lord and the God of Steam and Machinery also had similar descriptions, without elevating themselves individually or belittling other deities...
This either indicated that the creation myth was a true fact or vaguely hinted that the major churches, through long struggles and compromises before the Fifth Age, had finally reached a consensus...
Thinking of this, Klein suddenly had another question, furrowing his brow slightly:
"I find this a bit problematic. Why do the Eternal Sun, Lord of Storms, and God of Knowledge and Wisdom directly emerge from the Creator's spirit, but not the Goddess?"
In the prehistoric records of "Revelation of the Night," the Goddess of Night only awakened at the end of the Second Age, together with the Lord of Storms, Eternal Sun, and other deities, sheltering and assisting humanity through the Cataclysm, also known as the Third Age, the "Age of Catastrophe."
The Mother Goddess and the God of War also appeared during the same period. The original "God of Craftsmen," now known as the "God of Steam and Machinery," was not born until the Fourth Age.
As a result, the hierarchy among the gods seemed quite obvious.
Who was older and more orthodox was clear!
This also caused some trouble among the followers of the Goddess of Night.
Denon Smith, holding his pipe with one hand, asked in a guiding tone:
"Recite the complete name of the Goddess."
Klein suddenly felt like he was interrupting himself, racking his brains and trying hard to recall:
"She is the Black Night Goddess, more sublime than the starry sky, more ancient than eternity. She is also the Crimson Sovereign, the Hidden Mother, the Empress of Tribulations and Fears, the Lady of Sleep and Silence."
Fortunately, Klein's mother was a devout follower of the Goddess of Night. Even though her memories had become fragmented, they had not been completely lost.
"What does the Crimson Sovereign symbolize?" Denon asked with a prompting tone.
"The red moon," Klein replied, suddenly understanding.
"And from which part of the Creator does the red moon originate?" Denon asked with a smile.
"A single eye!" Klein and Denon exchanged smiles.
This was certainly not as impressive as the Lord of Storms and the other deities formed by the splitting of the Creator's spirit!
As for the churches of the Mother Goddess and the God of War, they should also have similar narratives. Only the "birth" of the God of Steam and Machinery was too late to find a reason—they had been in a weak position for over a thousand years until the invention of the steam engine allowed them to gain an advantage and truly stand alongside others.
Denon fiddled with his pipe:
"Humanity was born from the Creator's wisdom, possessing intelligent and extraordinary minds but lacking other miraculous abilities. However, from the creation myth, we can derive a simple and clear conclusion: all things originate from the same source."
"All things originate from the same source..." Klein repeated the last few words.
"According to this conclusion, under the protection of the gods, humans gradually discovered ways to obtain extraordinary powers. By using demons, dragons, monsters, magical trees, flowers, or crystals, corresponding to other materials, they concocted elixirs, then absorbed them to gain different abilities. This is common knowledge shared by all schools of mysticism."
Denon did not elaborate much, only briefly introducing, "In this process, our ancestors discovered, through painful lessons, that if they directly consumed high-grade, extraordinary elixirs, they would easily meet tragic ends, with only three possible outcomes."
"What are those three?" Klein asked curiously.
"Firstly, mental death, physical collapse, every piece of flesh turning into terrifying monsters; secondly, the power contained in the elixir instantly altering one's personality, becoming cold, sensitive, irritable, cruel, indifferent to everything; and thirdly..." Denon set down his pipe, picked up a porcelain cup nearby, took a sip, and said, "Fermor coffee from the Pas River Valley, very bitter but also fragrant, with a great aftertaste. Would you like a cup?"
"I prefer Fennepot's Highland Coffee. Of course, I've only had it a few times at the Welch's," Klein politely declined. "What's the third?"
"Mental instability, immediate madness, worse than demons. This is what we call losing control," Denon emphasized the word "losing control."
Without waiting for Klein to speak, he placed the coffee cup back and continued:
"After extensive experiments and exploration, coupled with the emergence of the 'Blasphemous Slate,' humanity finally perfected the elixir system, forming some sequential chains of progression, with lower sequence numbers indicating higher-grade elixirs. Today, each of the seven major churches holds at least one complete sequence, along with several 'Paths' collected over hundreds or thousands of years, although these are not as complete."
"The Blasphemous Slate?" Klein keenly caught onto this term.
It was also mentioned in the "Meeting"
! According to the "Hanged Man," the Blasphemous Slate was the most crucial factor in the formation and completion of the elixir system!
This contradicted Denon's previous words.
"It's something that some evil gods created. I'm not very clear about when it appeared, what it recorded, or what's special about it. If you find any clues, you must report them to me immediately; it has the highest response level," Denon vaguely explained. "I mentioned one type of losing control earlier; now, I'll talk about the remaining four."
"Alright," Klein shelved the issue of the Blasphemous Slate, focusing on listening.
"Although humans only possess intelligent minds and lack other extraordinary abilities, there are always some lucky—or unfortunate—individuals who are naturally gifted with higher levels of insight. They have a heightened sensitivity to spirits, able to hear voices others can't, see things others can't, and possess some extraordinary characteristics," Denon said, glancing around the empty surroundings, giving Klein a shiver. "In other words, they are half of a Sequence 9 extraordinary, with fixed attributes. Uh, Sequence 9 is the lowest grade in the 'Chain'... In short, they can only choose corresponding, fixed paths. If they take another elixir from a different 'Path,' they will experience mild mental abnormalities, severe loss of control, or even death."
"Understood," Klein nodded slowly.
"The third type of losing control is similar to the second. Once you've chosen a sequence chain, you can only proceed along this 'path,' unable to turn back. If you ingest an elixir from a different 'Path,' although it's likely to gain mixed, bizarre, twisted abilities, it's almost certain that you'll be in a semi-mad state, or become sensitive, irritable, cruel, or melancholic."
"And this opportunity only comes once. Afterward, whether you take the original elixir from the 'path' or the current sequence's elixir, there's only one result: loss of control, whether it's mental death, physical collapse into monsters, or transformation into evil spirits," Denon continued, taking a sip from the coffee cup.
Listening to Denon's words, which were tinged with fear, Klein fell silent for a few seconds before asking:
"What about the fourth type?"
"The fourth type, hehe, is one of the most common problems. When we consume elixirs and gain abilities originally belonging to extraordinary species, unnatural changes, more or less, will be affected by residual mental influences. Perhaps no symptoms are displayed, making it imperceptible to others, but there are certainly hidden dangers within. Until one has completely mastered the extraordinary power brought by the elixir and eliminated those subtle traces, rashly ingesting a higher-level elixir from another sequence will accumulate madness, accumulating loss of control..." Denon suddenly fell silent.
After a pause, he sighed, "According to the internal regulations of our Night Watcher system, even if a member has made significant contributions, they must consume the elixir of the previous sequence for three years and pass the corresponding inspection before they can be promoted. Yet, even so, there are still many people who lose control every year."
It's truly frightening... Klein took a deep breath and said:
"What about the last type?"
"The fifth type is also one of the common causes of loss of control. For extraordinary individuals, insight is somewhat heightened to varying degrees. The lower the sequence number, the greater the enhancement. As a result, they can hear voices others can't, see things others can't, and encounter things others won't. They are constantly tempted by mysteries and illusions. Once other stimuli appear, or if greedy desires arise, they will gradually lose control step by step," Denon said, turning to look directly at Klein, his gray eyes reflecting Klein's figure.
His tone became bleak:
"The founder of the modern Night Watcher system, Archbishop Chanis, once said:"
"We are guardians, but also a group of wretches constantly battling danger and madness."