In the Lands Between, turtles are symbols of wisdom, age, and experience.
In some sorcerer's towers, they are even revered as wise beasts.
And Miriel was even more extraordinary.
He studied both sorcery and incantations, achieving considerable success in both fields.
It could be said that he was confident he could teach Bai Shi any incantation he wished to learn.
Even for incantations he didn't know himself, he could use a prayerbook to help Bai Shi learn.
Prayerbooks often contained the doctrines of their respective faiths.
These doctrines were often obscure and difficult to understand, and a knowledgeable teacher like him was perfect for parsing them for a student.
However, when Miriel saw the Godskin Prayerbook that Bai Shi presented, he momentarily felt a bit troubled.
The prayerbook had a cover made of smooth human skin, giving it a somewhat unsettling appearance."I wish to learn the incantations from this prayerbook. Is that possible?"
"Hmm... yes."
It wasn't that he held any prejudice against the incantations within the book.
Knowledge itself had no hierarchy, and he did not believe in the concept of heresy.
It was simply the craftsmanship and material of the prayerbook before him that gave him some pause.
Miriel opened his mouth slightly, but ultimately agreed.
"Of course, you can. There is no such thing as heresy in this world. All things can be combined and fused."
Miriel raised his great head and looked at Bai Shi.
"Sir Bai Shi, you are certain you wish to study with me, correct?"
Bai Shi nodded. Miriel was the best choice for an incantation teacher.
He didn't need Miriel to teach him sorcery.
Ranni had previously given him some Carian sword sorceries, and he could learn academy sorceries from Sorceress Sellen.
Although he believed Miriel was skilled, he was certainly no match for Sellen when it came to sorcery.
But incantations were a different matter.
There weren't many incantation teachers to be found in the game. One was Corhyn at the Roundtable Hold, and the other was Miriel right here.
But Corhyn was the type to wander all over the place and wasn't very reliable. Besides, Bai Shi wasn't familiar with him.
Moreover, in the game, Corhyn would eventually have a crisis of faith and kill his teacher, Goldmask.
So far, Bai Shi had only exchanged greetings with him at the Roundtable Hold. He had no intention of seeking him out for tutelage, nor did he plan to get too involved.
Bai Shi wasn't confident he could persuade a Golden Order zealot to accept Goldmask's theories, but Goldmask couldn't be allowed to die.
Therefore, avoiding contact and not telling him Goldmask's location was Bai Shi's current strategy regarding Corhyn.
As for D, he also taught incantations, but only those of the Sacred Order, an extension of Golden Order Principia.
If presented with a prayerbook from another faith, he probably wouldn't be able to teach it.
Seeing that Bai Shi had made his decision, Miriel spoke.
"In that case, Sir Bai Shi, please place your prayerbook before me."
"Once I have studied all of its contents, I shall instruct you. This will not take long."
"So you can first go and deal with that item on your person that reeks of death."
Bai Shi placed the prayerbook in front of Miriel. He paused for a moment upon hearing the last sentence.
An item that reeks of death... was he talking about the Deathroot from yesterday?
Bai Shi took the Deathroot out of his small pouch, only to find that the cloth wrapped around it had already sprouted black thorns, their sharp points piercing through the fabric.
"You're right. I should probably deal with this first."
"Then I will leave the matter of the incantations to you, Master Miriel."
The Deathroot's current state suggested it was no longer safe to carry around.
Bai Shi bid a hasty farewell, preparing to head to the Roundtable Hold to see if D was there so he could hand over the Deathroot for safekeeping.
Watching Bai Shi depart, Miriel breathed a sigh of relief.
Miriel first cast a small, self-created sorcery, flipping open the human-skin-bound prayerbook and pretending to read a couple of pages.
After confirming that Bai Shi was truly gone, Miriel sighed.
"Oh, honestly. If I'd known he was going to pull out something like this, I wouldn't have agreed."
"But, an agreement is an agreement. I suppose I have to do it."
Miriel then swallowed the prayerbook from the ground in one gulp.
He didn't chew, but swallowed it whole, stuffing the entire prayerbook down into his belly.
Feeling the sickening sensation of the slick human skin sliding down his esophagus, Miriel nearly gagged.
A turtle's body, while long-lived, certainly had its inconveniences.
For instance, reading and writing were quite difficult for Miriel, a fact he had realized a long, long time ago.
So he invented some minor sorceries, such as writing with magic and turning pages with magic.
But that was too troublesome and inefficient, so Miriel researched another method of reading.
He would eat the books, and in his stomach, use magic to fully digest them, breaking down and learning the various sorceries and incantations.
Since then, he had avoided the difficulties of learning due to his massive body, allowing him to become well-read.
This method, once a shortcut, now proved convenient for him, as his limbs were now almost immobile.
As Miriel analyzed the prayerbook in his belly, its contents filled him with surprise.
This prayerbook recorded the Black Flame, once used by the Gloam-Eyed Queen and her subordinates, the Godskin Nobles and Apostles.
This was the powerful Black Flame that was once used to hunt gods.
It was just that after Destined Death was sealed away, the Black Flame was no longer complete.
Although the incantations in this book were not those used by the Godskin Nobles and Apostles themselves, but rather those of their believers and followers, they were still not to be underestimated. This was no common secret art.
Miriel had completely set aside his prejudice against the book's material and began to study it intently.
—
Bai Shi teleported from the Site of Grace at the entrance of the Church of Vows to the Roundtable Hold.
He first wandered around for a bit, looking for any sign of D.
However, before he had even completed a full circuit, D surprisingly approached him.
Seeing D, Bai Shi quickly waved him over.
"D, I was just looking for you."
D nodded and said,
"I sensed the aura of death, which is why I came looking."
"I was wondering who had brought a Deathroot to the Roundtable Hold. So it was you, sir."
Bai Shi took the Deathroot out of his small pouch.
The death thorns on it were growing more numerous, and it was now almost a ball of thorns.
D's eye twitched as he watched Bai Shi simply carry the Deathroot wrapped in a piece of cloth.
D quickly took the Deathroot from Bai Shi and began to perform a sealing ritual of the Sacred Order on it.
As he worked on the seal, D didn't forget to remind Bai Shi,
"Lord Bai Shi, I know you are exceptionally powerful, but when it comes to Deathroot, I must ask you to be more careful."
"The aura of death is terrifying for the living. Even you may not be entirely immune to its corruption."
"Next time, if such a situation arises, you need not carry it on your person. You can simply leave the Deathroot where you find it."
"It takes a long time for a Deathroot to spawn Those Who Live in Death again. We can deal with it later. But if it affects your body, that would be disastrous." Bai Shi quickly nodded.
Speaking of Deathroot, now that he had invested points in Faith, it might be a good idea to learn the Sacred Order incantations from D.
"By the way, D, I would like to learn the Sacred Order. That way, I'll be better equipped to deal with Those Who Live in Death in the future."
"I was wondering if you would be willing to teach me."
D had just finished sealing the Deathroot with the Sacred Order. Hearing Bai Shi's words, he immediately looked up at him.
Although his face was completely covered by his helmet, Bai Shi could sense his surprise.
D quickly composed himself and agreed.
"If you wish to learn, then of course you may."
"Spreading the Golden Order is, after all, one of my duties."
If a strong individual like Bai Shi was willing to contribute to the cause of eradicating Those Who Live in Death, it would undoubtedly be a good thing.
He had witnessed Bai Shi's strength with his own eyes.
That Tibia Mariner was an opponent that would have required a life-or-death struggle for him to defeat.
But Bai Shi had dealt with it casually, as if it were nothing more than a warm-up exercise, and had easily dispatched it.
And now, he had eliminated another Tibia Mariner.
D led Bai Shi to his room.
D often gathered information on the whereabouts of Those Who Live in Death within the Roundtable Hold, and also had a room there as his base of operations.
The two sat opposite each other in the room, and D immediately began to explain the Golden Order Principia to Bai Shi.
This was essential knowledge for learning the Sacred Order.
"The Sacred Order is a branch derived from the Golden Order Principia, specializing in the elimination of Those Who Live in Death."
"Golden Order Principia, as the name suggests, is the underlying logic of the Golden Order. Therefore, it requires not only faith, but also sufficient intelligence."
"And the core of the Golden Order Principia lies in two principles—the Law of Regression and the Law of Causality."
"These two principles are extremely troublesome and obscure to explain. Even I, who have been studying this path for a long time, have yet to fully master them."
D paused for a moment, then continued.
"Fortunately, as a hunter of Those Who Live in Death, one does not need to master such profound theoretical knowledge."
"One only needs to learn the derivative applications, which is to say, the Sacred Order."
"The existence of Those Who Live in Death defiles the Golden Order. The Sacred Order is the wrath of the Golden Order, and it is essential for hunting them."
"Because we are within the Roundtable Hold, I cannot demonstrate the incantation, Litany of Proper Death. However, I can teach you Order's Blade first."
"As long as you can cast this incantation, you can imbue your blade with the radiance of the Sacred Order, which is especially devastating against Those Who Live in Death."
Bai Shi grew expectant. Buffing a weapon not only helped in combat, but more importantly, it looked cool.
D picked up an ordinary sword that was in the room.
His own Inseparable Sword was a special weapon that could not be enchanted by other means, not even by the Sacred Order itself.
It was necessary to use magic to activate the power of the holy sword.
This was also a manifestation of the Golden Order Principia's Law of Regression, that is, all things converge toward the 'unchanging'.
D held his Sacred Seal in his left hand and raised the weapon with both hands.
As the Sacred Seal flashed with light, an emblem of three interlocking rings within an inverted triangle appeared on the blade.
Then, the blade began to glow with a golden radiance.
After the demonstration, D began to teach him step by step.
First, the fundamental doctrines had to be explained clearly.
If there was any misunderstanding of the doctrine, the consequence could be far worse than simply being unable to cast the incantation.
In fact, under such circumstances, merely failing to cast the incantation could even be considered a blessing.
The incantations of the Golden Order Principia not only required faith but also intelligence.
However, D had seen Bai Shi use sorcery by the Summonwater Village, and it did not look like low-level sorcery.
He was certain this requirement could be met. The only unknown was whether Bai Shi's faith in the Golden Order Principia was firm enough.
After all, faith was something that they, the Tarnished, could not enhance through Runes. They could only rely on constantly strengthening their own conviction.
It was a consensus among the Tarnished that Runes could only strengthen the body's various attributes and increase one's store of magic power.
—
After seeing Bai Shi out, D sat back on his bed, his mind unable to calm down for a long time.
Under his tutelage, Bai Shi had very smoothly cast Order's Blade.
This had left him utterly astonished.
Although such a basic incantation did not require a particularly sincere or fanatical faith—as long as one truly began to believe, it could be cast—the radiance of the Order's Blade that Bai Shi had produced was dazzling. It was simply not something a new believer should be able to cast.
Judging from the brightness of the light, Bai Shi's level of faith in the Principia was not low; he was already at the level of a true believer.
Was this really... his first time encountering the Golden Order Principia?
D shook his head. There was no mistake, Bai Shi was indeed a newcomer to the Principia.
If Bai Shi had already been a believer in the Golden Order, then that would explain it.
Because the Golden Order Principia was the foundation of the Golden Order, faith in the latter could mostly be synchronized with the former.
After all, the two were essentially the same, compatible in most aspects.
It was like the faith in the Golden Tree and the faith in the ancient Erdtree; believing in both at the same time presented no contradictions.
If one were to embrace two diametrically opposed faiths, that would be truly impossible.
Because their doctrines and powers would be in complete opposition, no one could possibly cast such an incantation.
Since Bai Shi was a believer in the Golden Order, D was relieved.
Having such a figure to help was truly a stroke of luck.
Once Bai Shi made contact with the Beast Clergyman Gurranq through his introduction, he would have time to deal with other matters.
Next, he planned to head to that village mentioned in his reports.
Based on the information he had obtained, he might be able to follow the trail from there and find the Centipede's Mark.
If he could find any clues from it, he might discover the reason for the birth of Those Who Live in Death.
In that way, there might be a chance to completely eradicate Those Who Live in Death from the Lands Between, so that the Golden Order would no longer be defiled...
"Knock, knock—"
A gentle knock on the door interrupted D's thoughts.
Thinking it was Bai Shi returning, D stood up without hesitation to open the door.
But when he opened the door, a figure D never expected appeared before his eyes.
The visitor wore a large, pointed sorcerer's hat, and an outfit with a noble style, adorned with delicate decorations.
A face with a composed smile was looking at D, and the two stared at each other.
The man at the door was D's once closest friend, Rogier.
Rogier waved, looking slightly awkward.
After all, reconnecting with a friend with whom he had parted ways was not as easy as he appeared to be.
Rogier hesitated before speaking, greeting D.
"Hey... D. Do you have a moment to talk?"