At the same time, in a place of silence and tranquillity, inside a strange building, quite a few people were slowly gathering.
This building was somehow extremely discomforting, when viewing it from a normal person's perspective, they would feel nausea, disorientation, or even trip and fall if they weren't careful.
However, for those who had gathered here today, it was only through feeling the aspect that created this sensation that they could feel at ease.
This was one of the Soundless Cult's gathering places.
As the Soundless Grand Priest watched over the Soundless cultists who gathered here, his expression turned increasingly sour, as their numbers had once again dwindled greatly since the last gathering.
Ever since the Hermit Order rose to power, the survival and thriving of their Soundless Cult had gotten worse.
Over three years ago, they took notice of the Hermit Order which had yet to display their strength, so they sent people to contact, wanting to induct them into their cult, only for none of them to return.
If that was all, there wouldn't be anything to complain about, it was what followed that caused the Grand Priest to almost collapse.
That group of mad men attacked the Sun Shadow church, triggering the Sun Shadow church's reformation, and the newly formed Saint Hunters began to pursue them like rabid dogs.
And yet, the Hermit Order had never gone after the Soundless cult even once; this was merely that man, that insane man's retaliation against them.
Thinking of this, the Grand Priest's body started trembling. Even now, whenever he heard the sound of the bell, he would hear his own heart jump, as if it was counting down towards his own life.
If he didn't have the great God of Silence in his heart, he might still have been living in nothing but fear.
"But now, there's already nothing to fear" the Grand Priest showed an expression of relief, as they had finally reached a crucial point in awakening their God.
Once their God descended, whether it was the Sun Shadow church or the Hermit Order, would both become the ashes of the era, becoming nutrients for the world of silence; while they would take over the Sun Shadow church's current position as the shepherd of men.
"Everyone, our God shall awaken from his slumber, banish the fake Gods, and return this chaotic world back to silence" the Grand Priest loudly declared.
As far as they knew, the sleeping elven god within the aspect of silence was the true God, while Eternal Heat and the other Righteous Gods were nothing but fake Gods who took over his reign.
The Soundless Cult originated from a certain deaf artist, who inadvertently observed another aspect of reality, after which he began researching it in-depth.
In the end, through some remnant elven books and murals of various ruins, he drew a seemingly real but what was actually a nonsensical conclusion: that this world's true God fell into slumber from some sort of accident countless years ago, after which the seven Righteous Gods came and claimed themselves Gods in his place.
In an era where a cult without even a proper base could somehow accrue a large number of believers, the Soundless Cult with their divine miracle and their supernatural abilities naturally attracted people of the same nature.
Quite a few of them were those who carried the blood of evil. They couldn't handle the fact that their entire lives would have to be spent in jeers and contempt, so after coming into contact with 'the truth', they believed the blood of evil to be noble, to be the blood of God, and that the seven fake Gods cursed this bloodline out of fear of its awakening.
Everything made perfect sense from a certain perspective. Naturally, after so many years, some of the Soundless Cult's upper brass eventually discovered the truth; but the truth hurt, and most would rather believe that they were born superhuman, rather than believing that they were merely remnants of losers.
In summary, at this point in time, even the Soundless Grand Priest had convinced himself of the fake Gods theory and wished for the descent of the God of Silence.
Fortunately for them, recently when the Soundless Cult was being pressured more and more by the church, they accidentally discovered the method to awaken the God of Silence.
"The underground city of silence is the Lord's domain, the key to his awakening lies right there, and we have now discovered the entrance to the city of silence" using a strange imitation of the elven tone, the Grand Priest recited the Soundless Cult's dogma: "The Sun shall ultimately fall, only silence reigns eternally"
"""The Sun shall ultimately fall, only silence reigns eternally!""" a large number of Soundless cultists recited that line at the same time, followed by complete silence.
Following the Grand Priest's plans, the entire Soundless Cult entered the aspect of Silence and headed into the underground ruins, while the Grand Priest and some of the cult's elites silently followed with the foundational artifacts of the Soundless Cult.
It could be said that the Soundless Cult had poured everything they could into this operation. For the past three years, they had devolved from the largest underground cult of Lohr to a bunch of three-legged kittens. If they couldn't overturn their situation this time around, they would really fall to becoming a small gathering to be destroyed or absorbed by other organizations.
"Noah, you've done well. If it weren't for you, we might not have been able to discover traces of the city of silence" the Grand Priest told a black-haired young man standing next to him: "Once the true God descends upon us, I will surely report your contributions to the Lord"
"Everything is for my devotion to the Lord" Noah calmly smiled, the devout expression on his face almost seemed like that of a Divine Son.
…
The clock face behind Negary turned, the constant rattling sound of the gears was easy to the ears.
Since the fools of the Soundless Cult had entered the fray, one of the most crucial pieces had been forced onto the board by Negary, the rest was left to be seen from the will of the Moon Tree and the Eternal Heat's respective preparations.
…
During this period of time, Chromie had stayed night and day with the piece of leaf, wanting to sense something from it, but couldn't. Other than the characteristic cooling sensation it gave off, this leaf hadn't transferred any knowledge into him at all.
Chromie was almost convinced that Pernod was just messing with him.
But whenever he thought about Olga whose survival was uncertain and the Farnate family that had no heir, Chromie could only renew his spirit and carefully try to sense whatever was inside the leaf.
For the past two days, Chromie had been eating food and drinking medicine that Pernod prepared, causing his elven bloodline to continuously awaken, which allowed him to form a faint but clear connection to the leaf.
At the same time, he could sense something inside his body that wasn't there before. According to Pernod's explanations, that was mana, the greatest asset of the elves, as well as their curse.
However, since Chromie was only a half-elf, he didn't have much mana within his body, and his mana addiction was next to zero.
...
On the other side, Darr was also silently observing the situation around the Mother Tree.
Around the outermost ring of the Mother Tree, there was a kind of small white flower that emanated a scent that could cause anyone to faint, so most of the Gluttonous Demon Ghosts did not try to approach.
At the same time, Darr was able to perceive that there was some sort of defensive mechanism within this area. When he infused a slab of Gluttonous Demon Ghost flesh with mana and threw it into the defensive ring, that slab of flesh vanished almost immediately, followed by his mana.
There was something hiding in the wild grass, something dangerous enough that made Darr feel like he could lose his life if he wasn't careful with it.
Before he found a way to deal with this, Darr couldn't act recklessly. At the same time, his mutation was still ongoing, and if he couldn't find a way through in two days, he would have no choice but to break through by force.
