The scattered Wheel of Fortune cards around them disintegrated into specks of silver light, returning to Will Auceptin's body.
After sending Audrey to other dreams, he leisurely continued, "There's still at least a month until the two intertwined but unmerged fate tributaries, caused by my premature birth, can smoothly connect with the outer River of Fate."
"This is an opportunity for Ricciardo to complete his ritual and advance to Sequence 3 Chaoswalker. At that time, I'll need your help. Consider it your compensation."
Stopping the baby who was about to slip away, Aaron frowned, "For a while, I'll be trying to advance to Hand of Order. I don't like the feeling of losing control."
"So, for both our matters not to be affected, you must tell me exactly what needs to be done?"
Advance? The baby wrapped in silver silk suddenly turned around, rubbed his eyes with his chubby arm, and stared intently at Aaron. He opened and then closed his mouth, momentarily unable to respond.
After several seconds, Will Auceptin said with a slight pout, "It's truly unbelievable. We've only known each other for three years, and you've already reached this point."
"Indeed, the closer it gets to the apocalypse, the more unfathomable fate becomes."
After a moment of self-reflection, he composed himself and continued, "Although the Life School of Thought has suffered a great Calamity, its foundation remains. I will prepare Ricciardo's advancement ritual and potion for him."
"But I sense a warning from fate. That smelly snake Ouroboros should have already left the Forsaken Land of the Gods."
"It seems the pollution he suffered from the last encounter with that fellow in the Abyss has almost healed, even if not completely. My current state prevents me from sparing any effort to conceal the anomaly during Ricciardo's advancement."
Aaron nodded thoughtfully, a playful expression on his face as he followed up with a question, "So, you want me to help you block a King of Angels until Ricciardo successfully advances?"
Will Auceptin lightly coughed and corrected, "It won't be as difficult as you say. Believe me, with my help, the time Ricciardo needs for advancement will be very short. You only need to spare a little time."
"Moreover, the Fate Pathway truly touches upon the authority of fate starting from Chaoswalker. If Ricciardo advances successfully, the 'Die of Probability' can also be handed over to him for sealing afterward, and it won't be a burden to you."
Aaron pondered for a few seconds, then slowly nodded under Will Auceptin's joyful gaze, "For our friendship, if I can help, I certainly won't stand idly by. However, I still have some questions I'd like to ask."
Taking advantage of the ancient Angel, who had lived since the Second Epoch, being in a good mood, Aaron directly revealed the lost history that Hermes had told him in the Sea of Collective Subconscious.
Will Auceptin blinked, seemingly lost in distant memories, and after a long while, he mumbled, "I'm not familiar with that old fellow Hermes, but what he said should all be true. However, the most perfect lies are often incomplete truths. You'd best confirm it again with the parties involved."
"Heh, you might not know, but that 'Dragon of Insight' Ariehogg was killed by that 'Queen of Calamities' back then."
Aaron raised an eyebrow and nodded thoughtfully, not continuing the topic. Upon receiving the fate coordinates given by Will Auceptin, he immediately left this dream world and returned to the deepest part of the Church of the Evernight Goddess.
Her Eminence Dabomachie was no longer there. The telegram from the Southern Continent had just reached the Holy See, and as the Pope, she had to convene a Holy Council to respond.
After all, the Church was not just one person, but a strictly organized theocratic system.
The inside story of the Balam Empire was limited to the two Angels of the Church and Ilya, the "Goddess's Eye," who was responsible for the practical operations. For the rest of the archbishops, senior deacons, and the vast clergy and believers, the Holy See had to have a clear stance.
Without overstepping his bounds and interfering with the internal affairs of the Church, Aaron directly transmitted the fate coordinates to Bernadette via the Nation of Disorder, then quietly sat beside Audrey, silently waiting for her to fully digest the potion.
-----------------
Fog Sea, Emerald City.
The tall Bernadette stood by the railing, feeling the restlessness of "Pale Death" within the sealed space, and gazed towards the Southern Continent through the surging waves.
Although she had only stayed for a moment in the outer area of Calderon City, this Grade 0 Sealed Artifact still seemed to have been affected. The high-level power of the death domain always made it uncontrollably restless.
If she wasn't already an Angel, and if the most dangerous and difficult to seal "Magic Wishing Lamp" had not been offered to the great Lord of Order, she probably wouldn't have had any spare energy to deal with other matters.
Her eyes, as blue as the sea, suddenly turned dark gold. After a moment, Bernadette parted her lips and whispered to herself, "'Die of Probability'... Be careful of Ouroboros..."
At that moment, her eyes flickered, as if she saw something else, predicted something, and her solemn expression relaxed slightly.
Bernadette pondered for a moment. Pieces of pure white, illusory feathers emerged from behind her. A part of her body then virtualized and separated, transforming into complex streams of knowledge, condensing into a pure, information-flow state Bernadette.
The two Bernadettes looked at each other. The latter slightly raised her hand, and the winding, shimmering River of Fate appeared. As the waves churned, it engulfed her figure.
The silently flowing but insubstantial river passed by her side. Bernadette, whose essence was already an information creature, analyzed the fate coordinates granted by the Lord of Order, concealing her aura and moving against the River of Fate in a certain direction.
Time seemed to lose meaning in the River of Fate. Bernadette suddenly stopped. A certain fate tributary, reflected in her Eye of Concealment, gradually distorted, condensing into a scaleless, silver-white giant snake.
Its surface was composed of dense patterns and symbols forming mysterious wheels, connecting with the surrounding illusory rivers and converging into a blurred, unreal giant wheel.
Bernadette, who herself controlled the Wheel of Fortune, narrowed her eyes, secretly analyzing and absorbing the knowledge revealed by the mythological creature's form.
As if sensing Bernadette's arrival, on the slowly rotating Wheel of Fortune, symbolic representations of different futures lit up one by one.
An illusory light Door opened, and a milky-white six-sided die flew out. The illusory rivers, mixed with symbolic representations, solidified into translucent amber, firmly fixing it within, with a red 4 facing up.
Before Bernadette could speak, the Ouroboros, the silver-white giant snake, abruptly vanished. Even with her current Sage status, she couldn't find a trace of it.
Her eyes flickered. She gave up the idea of continuing to pursue it and immediately grabbed the die, transforming into a pure information torrent and disappearing without a trace.