The woman was visibly stunned by this reason. Her immediate reaction was that Raniedal was mocking her, which infuriated her. She made no effort to conceal her anger, clenching both fists as her chest heaved with rage.
*Heh.* Karen shook his head in silence. Indeed, killing someone over such an absurd reason sounded utterly ridiculous, yet coming from Raniedal, it somehow seemed entirely natural.
For the goddess in his heart, this fellow truly was capable of anything. No matter how bizarre the logic, as long as it bore the label of Goddess Mills, it made perfect sense to him.
Back when Rielsa first awakened within the Gate of Samsara, she had even mistaken Karen for Raniedal because of his aura and brought up Goddess Mills.
This proved that after Raniedal attained godhood, his infatuation with Goddess Mills had been well known in the "divine realm"—or at the very least, no secret at all.
No wonder he had ended up as a dog. How was this a regression from being suppressed? It was practically achieving enlightenment in reverse!
"Raniedal, you will pay the price for what you have done today. The Sea God Church's retribution will surely fall upon you!"
"The day the Sea God abducted my moonlight, I swore an oath: one day, I will shatter the Sea God Church, and I will make the entire ocean... weep!"
The woman stared in utter shock. Compared to Raniedal ambushing her, she was far more shaken by his final words. Making the ocean weep—did that not mean he intended to blaspheme the great Sea God?
"In your arrogance, divine punishment will surely strike you down!"
This was a scene from memory. The woman back then likely never imagined that the Sea God and the Sea God Church truly would perish because of the man standing before her.
At that moment, Raniedal moved. His figure appeared right in front of the woman. Sea God's Armor materialized around her body, though hers differed from the one Karen used; it shimmered with shifting luster, appearing sacred and solemn.
*So, is this a higher form of the Sea God's Armor?*
For a considerable period in the past, Karen had relied primarily on two techniques: the Dark Moon Blade for offense, and the Sea God's Armor for defense.
Now, having acquired the Eyes of the Dark Moon and absorbed the Dark Moon Bone, his upper limit with the Dark Moon Blade had been raised tremendously.
As for the Sea God's Armor, however, relying solely on having absorbed a single Heart of the Sea God was clearly insufficient. Fortunately, the overall enhancement of his physical constitution had eased his anxiety over the lack of progress in bodily protection.
The ensuing scene became somewhat unsightly and jarring. Before a sacred woman clad in shimmering Sea God's Armor stood a completely naked man devoid of a single strand of hair;
his bald, gleaming head in particular looked strikingly like a massive braised egg.
Raniedal threw a punch, sealing off every angle of evasion as his fist descended.
*Boom!*
The strike unleashed a terrifying shockwave that rippled out rapidly in all directions.
The woman had already been injured and hunted, fleeing to this dragon for refuge. In her current state, she was no match for Raniedal whatsoever—and even the dragon she had counted on to save her had already been beaten senseless by him.
*Buzz!*
The Sea God's Armor upon her shattered into motes of starlight and dispersed. She coughed up a great mouthful of blood, beads of blood seeping through her skin.
With that single blow, she had been robbed of virtually all ability to resist.
Raniedal seized her neck with one hand while plunging the other directly into her chest, tearing out a vigorously beating blue heart by brute force.
"Whew... what a delicious treat."
Raniedal had always had a habit of devouring the Heart of the Sea God, a habit he retained even after turning into a dog.
The extract of the Heart of the Sea God that Karen had received previously had been retrieved by Kevin from the sea with no small effort.
*Crunch...*
Munching on his "snack," Raniedal turned his gaze toward the dragon.
Rustling sounds came from outside.
A look of slight impatience surfaced in Raniedal's eyes, yet he still called out, "Come in."
A swarm of bats flew inside and converged into the figure of a young man. The man had an otherworldly, bewitching face, exuding an almost innate allure.
Raniedal chuckled. "You bloodthirsty aberrant demons really do have the noses of dogs."
"I am merely fulfilling our transaction according to our agreement. I expect the blood of this dragon should be enough to nourish many whelps of my clan, and there is even a chance it might produce mutated bloodlines among them, offering me some unexpected pleasant surprises."
"Fair enough. I will take what I need, and the rest is yours. Remember to uphold our agreement."
"Of course. On that note, you can put your mind at ease. Neither of us trusts the other; the only thing maintaining our relationship is mutual interest. And that, after all, is the most stable bond in this world, is it not?"
"You talk too much."
"If you don't let me speak, I suffer so terribly I can hardly breathe. I'll choke myself to death with my own nails, suffocating right before your eyes, heh heh."
"Then the best punishment for you would be solitary confinement, leaving you without a single soul to speak to."
"Doesn't matter in the least. I can always chat with my blood descendants! Hahaha! I'll just whisper straight into their minds."
"They'll go mad."
"They inherited my bloodline—what could be more natural than keeping me company and banishing my boredom?"
"I recently took on a commission from the Church of Order. Help me prepare for it; I've used up everything I had on me this time."
"Sigh. Just because you have me to prep supplies for you doesn't mean you can burn through everything so thoroughly every time. Look at you—you don't even have a single hair left on your body."
"What would I need hair for? Keeping warm? Retaining moisture? Reducing friction? Heh, if I had a choice, I'd rather stay dry and bare like this forever."
"Then I wish for your dream to come true in reverse: may you grow fur so thick and lush that you easily catch lice."
"Shut up and help me pull the dragon's sinews."
"At your service."
What followed was their "processing" of the dragon.
Karen stood quietly nearby, watching. Perhaps because he had grown stronger, the memory scenes he witnessed were longer. The downside, however, was that excessive length meant far too many meaningless details.
For instance, Raniedal and this bloodthirsty aberrant demon were genuinely discussing how to best butcher the dragon's carcass. Karen learned quite a bit of dragon-slaying and butchering knowledge standing by.
Yet what was the point of learning this? Who was going to beat a dragon half to death and lay it on a cutting board for him to practice on?
Finally, time ran out. Karen felt a sense of fatigue, and a pulling force seemed to tug at him from above, causing him to float upward.
Raniedal, who had been squatting with his back to Karen while harvesting a dragon eye, suddenly paused.
Curious, he glanced back over his shoulder.
"What is it?" the aberrant demon beside him asked.
"Nothing. My back felt a bit itchy. Scratch it for me."
"I could give you a bite instead. That way, next time your back itches, you can just peel the skin off your entire back and toss it in the water for a good wash."
"I used to think bloodthirsty aberrant demons were revolting. Until I met you."
"Gained a new perspective?"
"Yes. You're even more revolting."
...
Karen returned to Raniedal's space of consciousness. All around, stars glimmered faintly, suffused with the scent of wisdom.
In his past impressions, Raniedal had indeed given Karen the distinct vibe of a "research scholar"; after all, the research projects he had conducted in antiquity were still major subjects of study within the Church of Order today.
Moreover, Raniedal was proficient in formations, avatars, soul manipulation, and more, serving time and again as a "white glove" for the main gods—truly a man of many talents.
The memory scene just now had revealed another side of Raniedal. He was not like Mr. Hoffen, who had spent his entire life as a servant obsessed solely with research; he was an all-rounder.
Perhaps this was why, after attaining godhood, he had not been a particularly domineering deity. His well-rounded development might have made him seem somewhat mediocre.
Still... describing a "god" as mediocre felt strange no matter how one looked at it.
Karen could now break the next layer of Raniedal's seal. Of course, he could also choose another memory mote to read, though he was already feeling rather fatigued.
After hesitating briefly, he felt opportunities like this were rare. He decided to view one more, opting for a smaller mote of memory.
After all, intuition told him—no, he didn't even need intuition; Purr had stated plainly several times that Kevin hid many unspoken secrets and had never truly been candid.
Otherwise, Alfred wouldn't keep one eye permanently fixed on him.
Karen raised his hand and tapped a memory mote drifting past him. The next moment, a curtain of light unfurled.
It was a picturesque scene—birds singing, flowers fragrant, the breeze gentle, and the sun bright.
Karen stood on a hillside, looking down at Raniedal lying before him with a stalk of grass dangling from his mouth.
The red scale armor on his body indicated the chronological order of these two memories.
Ahead lay a small river where a group of women were bathing, their carriages parked by the bank.
*A titillating memory?*
Karen frowned slightly, yet still joined Raniedal in turning his gaze toward the river.
After frolicking and playing, the women began to chant. Waves of spiritual energy rippled outward, and above them materialized the ethereal silhouette of a goddess.
These were devotees of Goddess Mills; they had not been merely splashing around, but performing their prayer ritual.
Once the projection of Goddess Mills appeared, Raniedal slowly sat up on the hillside, staring at her intently, his eyes never wavering.
Only when the ritual ended and the believers dressed, climbed into their carriages, and drove away did Raniedal heave a long sigh and lie back down.
Dusk was falling just then, and as the moon gradually emerged, a smile returned to his lips.
Karen suddenly felt rather fortunate. He had thought the previous memory mote was boring enough, but who could have known that it actually contained rare substance—at least featuring a story, setting, and fairly thrilling scenes.
God only knew how many memory motes in here consisted entirely of him staring at something and pining for her. More than likely, they accounted for over fifty percent, perhaps even higher.
Karen felt like a thief peeking into someone else's diary, only to find that most entries read: "The weather was fine today; I missed her," or "The weather was awful today; I missed her."
*Sigh...*
Returning to the starry realm, Karen hesitated no further. While he still had some mental energy left, he completed the unsealing of this layer.
...
In reality, Karen slowly opened his eyes.
Kevin also opened his canine eyes. His initial gaze carried a hint of grievance, a touch of "hurt," and quite a bit of embarrassment.
Evidently, the dog must have sensed what Karen had done in the interim. Yet he hadn't been able to stop him. If he could have, he might well have acted as a tour guide to explain everything to Karen.
"*Burp...* All done?" Purr asked, patting her belly, having eaten her fill.
"Woof!"
Kevin barked excitedly, but unlike Purr, who couldn't resist showing off whenever she regained a bit of strength, he eagerly rubbed his head against Karen's trouser leg with excessive devotion.
Karen rubbed his forehead. "I'm tired. I want to rest."
...
Karen then slept for a very long time—a full day and night.
Having rested for a while, engaging his body again had acted as a wake-up call. After this long, restorative sleep, Karen sensed a complete revival of both his soul and physical condition.
Getting out of bed, he no longer relied on the wheelchair, walking on his own two feet into the bathroom. Turning on the showerhead, he took a comfortable shower.
"Phew..."
Feeling thoroughly revitalized, the familiar rhythm of life had returned.
He pressed the bedside bell, and before long, Alfred walked in carrying a tray of food.
"Young Master, you have slept for a whole day."
"Mm, but I feel very well recovered."
Karen sat down and began to eat. After sleeping so long, he was genuinely hungry.
Alfred took a seat across from him and said, "Young Master, there are three matters I need to report to you."
"Go ahead."
"First, during our phone call with the funeral parlor, Pick and Dincom reported that a man wearing a raincoat came to the parlor entrance yesterday asking to have tea with you. Based on their description of him, it should be Mr. Dalis."
"He isn't dead yet."
"Yes, but I believe he is close. Even Pick and the others could sense the aura of death radiating from him."
Karen felt no regret over missing Dalis's visit.
"What is the second matter?"
"Yes. The Felsher family mansion has been burned down."
"Oh?"
"It was a message from the Section Chief."
"Have you finished inventorying the Felsher residence?"
"We have. I suspect it was Madame Tangli who set the fire."
"Grandmother Tangli?"
"Because the Section Chief mentioned that several small items he hadn't noticed were actually holy artifacts, and they had been set out in the courtyard, where he happened to find them upon arrival. I imagine there are very few people who would act so considerately."
There were many people who might burn down the Felsher villa, including former contacts of the family looking to cut ties, but very few would look out for their interests before setting the blaze.
Besides, Karen had long since instructed Richard to report the mourning news to Madame Tangli.
"When I visit Grandmother Tangli's house next time, I'll ask her. In truth, I'm more curious about my paternal grandmother—Madame Felsher mentioned 'her' several times."
"The third matter is that at an auction, the Section Chief spent thirty-five thousand Order coupons to win a weapon for you. It's called the [Memory Compass]."
"How much?"
"Thirty-five thousand Order coupons."
"Tsk... Has our money been transferred to him yet?"
"Since I am still here, the Section Chief presumably advanced the funds himself."
"Did you know about this?"
"I knew of it, but at the time the Section Chief didn't say for certain that he would buy it for you. Now, he has."
"Let's do this, then: once my secondhand Ponce has been modified and returned, we'll give him the money."
"Understood, Young Master. In addition, here is the latest issue of *Order Weekly* along with orthodox publications from several other churches. I have marked a few matters worthy of your attention.
"First, the Church of Samsara and the Moon God Church have each agreed to sign an armistice agreement mediated by the Church of Order, though the fighting is still ongoing.
"Second, a disturbance broke out at a sacred site belonging to the Church of Thunder. It is said that numerous magical beasts escaped, causing severe devastation to the country where the site is located. The Church of Thunder originally intended to conceal the incident, but local merchants exposed it. At present, the Church of Order has announced that it is closely monitoring the matter. I find this somewhat unusual."
"The reaction of the Church of Order?"
"Yes. It gives me a rather familiar feeling. Generally speaking, wherever the Church of Order focuses its attention, further trouble tends to erupt."
"Heh."
"Furthermore, there is another piece of news: the Holy Child of the Church of Pamires has been promoted to Speaker of the Council. External analyses suggest this marks the beginning of a handover of power. I imagine Bishop Bern must be quite thrilled lately."
"What is there to be thrilled about? It's merely transferring power from his father to his son. If anything, I suspect he would prefer the Church of Pamires to remain in his father's hands, because deep down, he still has reservations about his son."
Karen picked up the glass of milk, took a large gulp, and held out his hands to Alfred.
"Where is it? The compass bought for thirty-five thousand coupons? Hasn't it arrived?"
"It was delivered yesterday, but Kevin asked for it. Right now, he is working with Purr to modify and upgrade the weapon for you."
"Modify... and upgrade?"
"Yes. After all, having just had another layer of his seal broken, he felt compelled to do something to prove his worth. I imagine Kevin is quite torn right now—he needs to show results, yet cannot reveal too much."
"Let's go have a look, then."
...
A compass covered in scale plates lay roasting atop a forging furnace. The furnace had been disassembled overnight and transported from the Allen family workshop, along with an assortment of various ores and special materials. Drawing close, one could feel the waves of baking heat radiating outward.
However, as soon as Karen and Alfred walked in, they saw Purr beating Kevin.
Chapter 546