[You return once more to the Abyss sacrificial plaza. The great hall is completely empty. Upon the circular altar still lies the huge egg-shaped mass of flesh that nurtured your birth, but the flesh is now ashen gray, clearly having lost all vitality.]

[Beside the altar stands the stone stele. The newly appeared text upon it is still hazy and blurred…]

[You stride up to the stele. After the infusion of the Abyss’s will, you now vaguely understand how to interpret the new prophecy.]

[Your special attribute Knowledge stat is a power bestowed by Omniscient True Knowledge. Although it is still far from reaching the level of Authority, it does contain a trace of Analysis.]

[Under normal circumstances, you are completely unable to use this trace of Analysis. However, with the Abyss’s help, you might be able to use this power of Analysis to glimpse the prophecy’s true contents.]

[…]

“So that is it?”

Lin Xun waited for quite a while, yet saw no sign of the so-called help from the Abyss.

[Just when you are at a loss before the stele, a black light erupts from your body…]

[In that instant, most of the characters of the new prophecy on the stele become clear and legible…]

[You immediately fix your gaze upon the stele and read through its contents carefully…]

[…]

[The Abyss wandered the starry sky and devoured a lost evil god whose divine power was exhausted, allowing Itself to advance to a far more powerful state.]

[Having experienced defeat in the last god war, It knew very well that even so, It still could not overcome Omniscient True Knowledge.]

[Yet the Abyss still returned to the world bearing the Authority named Radiant Stars and once more launched the second god war against Omniscient True Knowledge.]

[The final outcome of the war was as expected. The Abyss once again became the loser. However, while It failed in that war, in terms of annihilating Omniscient True Knowledge and reclaiming the world It took the first step toward ultimate victory…]

[This is because Its Abyss Authority and the newly mastered Authority can deliver the most fatal blow to Omniscient True Knowledge.]

[The key to everything lies with the Abyss Child, because the one who will deliver the killing blow is not the Abyss, but the Abyss Child…]

[The Abyss Child will, in the unseen, command both the Abyss Authority and the Authority of the Stars, slay Omniscient True Knowledge, and become the new Abyss.]

[…]

[You quickly read up to this point and discover that half of the new prophecy is still blurred and unreadable.]

[This is most likely because your Knowledge stat is insufficient. Even with the Abyss’s power amplifying your Analysis, you are still unable to glimpse the prophecy’s final passage.]

[Perhaps only when your Knowledge stat surpasses a certain threshold, or when you truly master the Authority of Analysis, will you be able to interpret this last part of the prophecy.]

“Knowledge stat…”

There is something rather strange here. When facing a new title, or rather a new type of Scholar, Lin Xun can gain Knowledge stats through the First Encounter.

For story characters belonging to the Radiant Stars side or Starborn monsters, he can also gain Knowledge that way.

Yet when facing demons, whether in the fourth chapter or now in the seventh, he cannot gain any Knowledge at all.

In theory, demons and Starborn should both be lifeforms created by the Abyss. There is no reason for such a discrepancy.

The reasonable situation ought to be that either neither side grants Knowledge, or that seeing monsters from either side would grant Knowledge.

He pondered carefully.

The most obvious difference between demons and Starborn is that one side possesses a prefix before their names while the other does not.

The Abyss that demons worship is already dead and has not yet revived, so there is no relevant prefix.

As for the Starborn… in the fourth chapter, he learned from the Servant that the main deity of the Radiant Stars faction, Radiant Stars, had long since kicked the bucket. Only a bunch of skulking remnant gods of the Radiant Stars faction remain.

“That is odd. Since the Radiant Stars faction’s main deity is also dead, why do those monsters still have a prefix before their names?”

“Could it be that Radiant Stars, just like the Abyss, is actually not dead… No, Radiant Stars and the Abyss should be one and the same, only with a new name after It took control of a new Authority.”

“Even if Radiant Stars is also in a state of awaiting revival, the Starborn should be just like the demons, with no relevant faith-prefix.”

“Could this be a unique effect of the Authority of the Stars?”

The new prophecy clearly states that when the Abyss returned prior to the second god war, It came prepared. Even before the war began, the Abyss already knew It was bound to lose. It did not seek victory in that battle…

The trump card that the Abyss left behind is Abyss Authority and the Authority of the Stars, and the one who will command that Authority and deliver the final blow is him, the Abyss Child.

“That might as well not have been said. If you want me to do the work, then give me the Authority first…”

Lin Xun could not help complaining.

To be honest, his favorability toward the Omniscient True Knowledge faction is actually quite high. Whether it is that main god sleeping in slumber or Its Servant, both have treated him quite well.

Lin Xun has no reason to betray the Omniscient faction and defect to the abyssal faction.

He still adhered to his original idea. When faced with sugar-coated shells, eat the sugar coating and fire the shells back.

If the Abyss wants to tempt him with two Authorities, he will simply go along with it and swallow both Authorities. As for going to kill Omniscient True Knowledge, he would have to be out of his mind to pick a fight with a main god whose Authority is this absurd.

[Seeing that you are unable to interpret the final section of the stele’s prophecy, you are just about to take out the Summoning Horn and call the demon shaman over when you suddenly catch sight of something upon the altar.]

[What once lay on the altar as a withered gray mass of flesh in the shape of a huge egg is the Abyss Egg that nurtured your birth.]

[After ‘giving birth’ to you, the Abyss Egg exhausted its power and became a useless lump of flesh, but at some unknown time, the Abyss Egg has once again become full of vitality.]

[You remember that when you returned to the sacrificial plaza earlier, the Abyss Egg had not yet shown any such change…]

[It must have returned to this state only when you received the Abyss’s empowerment…]

[An understanding rises in your heart. Perhaps the Abyss’s reward for buying you off is hidden at this very moment in the Abyss Egg…]

[You immediately step onto the altar and move up to the Abyss Egg…]

[Upon the huge egg-shaped mass of flesh is a tightly closed crack, still writhing slightly. Its appearance is just like that indescribable existence.]

[Will you squeeze into the Abyss Egg and return to the place where you were born?]

Lin Xun twitched at the corner of his mouth, ignored this cursed game’s rotten description, and pressed ‘Yes.’

[You step forward and pull the crack open with effort, ignoring the fishy stench, and squeeze yourself inside…]