"Bethel, I need to check your soul's condition,"
Hearing these words from Lynn, Bethel was initially stunned, a wave of confusion and deep doubt rising within him. But then, he seemed to recall something, his expression shifting slightly as he asked, "Is there something wrong, did I get corrupted?"
Bethel wasn't foolish and didn't think Lynn would check his soul without reason. He quickly surmised some of the reasons behind this.
"Don't worry, we'll only know if there's a problem after checking. And with me here, even if there is a problem, I can find a way to suppress or resolve it," Lynn said in a soothing tone. The usually unreliable person surprisingly seemed dependable for once.
Bethel's heart sank as he understood the underlying message in Lynn's words—his soul might indeed have a significant issue, and Lynn was here for final confirmation.
However, Bethel didn't panic excessively or show any extreme expressions. Taking a deep breath, he looked at Lynn and said in a serious tone, "I understand."
They went into the study, where Lynn found a random chair for Mr. Door to sit on. He closed his eyes, and when he reopened them, his emotions were extraordinarily calm.
To accurately confirm Bethel's condition, Lynn once again borrowed the power of his True Self, transforming to Him.
This time, he only borrowed the omniscient-like ability of his True Self, so the negative effects were not particularly severe and within what Lynn could bear.
Sitting in the chair, Bethel tensed slightly. He could sense the change in Lynn's aura, making him instinctively nervous as he saw Lynn's gaze fall on him.
What kind of feeling was that? It was as if he was thoroughly seen from the inside out, with all his secrets and past laid bare like an open book for someone to read.
To be honest, this feeling was uncomfortable, yet it didn't raise any thoughts of resistance. This wasn't because Bethel wasn't repulsed by being read like an open book, but rather because he had a clear realization: resistance was futile.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't resist the person before him.
No, perhaps he shouldn't even be called a person.
Bethel lowered his eyes, controlling his thoughts from running wild but couldn't help but have some doubts.
What exactly was Lynn?
Bethel had once thought Lynn was an Ancient God, but now he felt it might not be that simple. The other party might not be an ordinary Ancient God, but possibly similar to the special pillars like the Lord of Mysteries instead.
'But aren't there only three pillars…' Bethel glanced at Lynn cautiously from the corner of his eye and sighed internally.
No matter what, at least the other party showed no malice toward him and didn't seem like those Outer Gods who wanted to destroy the world, though his personality was somewhat like a troublesome child.
'Although ordinary troublesome children would never be as problematic as Lynn…' Bethel couldn't help but add this in his mind.
"Hm…" As Bethel's thoughts scattered, Lynn ended his borrowing of the True Self's power. He blinked, stepped back, and muttered while rubbing his temples, "Still can't get used to it…"
Although he had borrowed the True Self's power more than once, the assimilation effects still made Lynn somewhat anxious each time he used it—well, maybe not that anxious.
But the feeling of assimilation was indeed unpleasant.
"Are you okay?" Bethel instinctively asked, seeing that Lynn's state became less than ideal after using that power. Remembering how Lynn had fainted after beating the Mother Tree of Desire the first time they met, Bethel thought of his previous suspicion that Lynn was an ancient entity in poor condition.
Now it seemed that while the ancient identity might be in question, the poor condition was certainly true.
Lynn's distinctly different from ordinary sequence power, though immensely powerful, clearly had some negative effects every time Lynn used it, like being influenced by some entity or combating certain existences… Bethel pondered this, and a thought struck him. He immediately connected it to the common issue faced by angels and true gods: the revival of the God's will.
Visionary pathway faced the resurrection of the former God, i.e., the revival of the God Almighty's will, while the Mysteries Pathway faced the revival of the former Lord of Mysteries' will, and others faced the revival of the Original Creator's Will.
Bethel couldn't guess that Lynn was an anomaly to some extent, who jumped out of the Beyonder characteristic system. The power he borrowed had nothing to do with Beyonder characteristics, leading Mr. Door's speculation towards a more traditional direction—was Lynn, suspected to be an Ancient God or even a hidden pillar, also combating the Original Creator's Will?
Moreover… a thought suddenly sprang up in Bethel's mind, startling even this first under the true god, making him purse his lips tightly.
"I'm fine. I'll adjust later," Lynn said, looking at Bethel as his thoughts scattered further. He blinked again, seeing through some of Bethel's thoughts but didn't explain actively. Instead, he said seriously, "Bethel, your problem is quite severe."
Indeed, Bethel's problem was severe.
After using the omniscient power to "see" through Bethel, Lynn confirmed that Bethel had indeed been corrupted by the Mother Goddess of Depravity.
Moreover, this corruption, though deeply hidden, was deeply rooted, likely existing since Bethel was in Sequence 3, merely lying dormant until now. It had gradually eroded Bethel's soul through each promotion.
So now Lynn had two pieces of good news and two pieces of bad news.
Good news one: Probably because the Mother Goddess of Depravity wanted to catch a big fish without being detected by others on Earth, the deeply hidden corruption hadn't yet affected Bethel's personality.
Good news two: With the omniscient ability from his True Self, Lynn had parsed the components of the corruption, obtaining more information feedback.
Bad news one: The corruption hadn't affected Bethel because the Mother Goddess hadn't activated it. If activated, it might not immediately create a corrupted personality but could plunge Bethel into a temporary semi-mad state, similar to occasionally adding a frenzy buff.
A temporarily out-of-control Angel King is extremely dangerous.
Bad news two: Although he had information, Lynn couldn't immediately devise a solution based on it. He wasn't his True Self. If he were, he might simultaneously compute the solution upon receiving the information. But as a mere borrower of omniscience, Lynn couldn't do that.
Fortunately, with the complete information on corruption, Lynn could slowly research and eventually find a solution, though it would take time.
(End of Chapter)