Chapter 33: A New Path
Hearing Sylvia's words, Loruze stood frozen in place, his mouth opening slightly, but no sound came out.
Then, he slowly lowered his head, as if sinking into deep thought.
Seeing this, the puppet girl tapped her fingers against the tabletop with slightly increased force, making the sound clearer than before.
At the same time, her gaze fell upon Loruze’s face:
"You don’t need to struggle with it right now, and you don’t need to give me an answer immediately."
"I won’t tamper with your memory, so you’ll have a few days to consider."
"After all, it concerns something as important as your future. You can’t just make a careless, rash decision."
Leaning back slightly against the chair, Sylvia said with a hint of a smile, while Loruze bent at the waist and gave a deep bow:
"Thank you for your generosity."
"Alright."
As the puppet girl spoke, she tapped the Right Eye of the Gloomy Moon with her finger.
This time, however, the spreading purple illusory light was mixed with a faint shimmer of starlight.
Seeing this, Loruze bowed again, then turned and left.
Watching his departing back, Lakdevo tilted his head slightly:
"Master, are you planning to open up your own transcendent path?"
"But you’re an Outer God..."
It only said half of the sentence and did not finish, but Sylvia already understood what it meant.
The so-called act of opening up a new transcendent path was essentially rearranging and recombining the chaotic transcendent powers of the Spiritual Realm.
The current thirty-two transcendent paths had all been created this way.
But they had been proven to be the most stable and complete paths.
Newly created paths, on the other hand, were often filled with uncertainty.
A careless amalgamation of transcendent powers might turn you into a walking bomb, with chaotic and unstable power potentially exploding at any moment due to internal conflict.
However, evil gods were keen on such things, since their very existence was the result of forging new and unconventional paths—
Not a single named evil god belonged to one of the thirty-two established transcendent paths.
As for why they did this, Lakdevo didn’t know, but it suspected it had to do with their desire to be “legitimized.”
Outer Gods, however, were somewhat different.
They didn’t belong to this world to begin with, so the Spiritual Stars that symbolized them would naturally not appear under the Starry Sky of Spirituality.
Therefore, outsiders who couldn’t use the Spiritual Realm had no choice but to transmit power by directly consuming transcendent traits.
But the one standing before it now seemed a little different.
Her way of thinking was unlike the other Outer Gods—she had actually suspended part of her own divinity above the Sky of Spirituality!
It should be known that among the seven recorded Outer Gods to date, not a single one had ever done such a thing—not even their apostles.
That was precisely why Lakdevo had only spoken half its thought.
Then, with some hesitation, it said:
"You do indeed have the ability to try, but you must be careful to stay within limits."
"Once a power belonging to an Outer God appears in the Sky of Spirituality, your star will inevitably attract attention."
"You must understand—the full moon hanging in that sky is alive."
"Alive?"
Sylvia caught the keyword in its words and asked in confusion.
"Yes."
"That blue full moon is not merely a projection of the God of Spirituality. As far as I know, it possesses a degree of sentience."
Hearing this, Sylvia fell briefly silent, as she recalled her own experience lingering beneath the Sky of Spirituality.
"Perhaps."
She neither confirmed nor denied, simply replying vaguely.
Then, she shifted the topic back to the previous direction:
"I’ve already begun preparing to weave a transcendent path of my own..."
"Hmm... I don’t intend to mix in the essential powers and authorities belonging to an Outer God. I’ll just purely use the Seven Deadly Sins for creation."
"If possible, I’d like to have the Seven Deadly Sins ‘legitimized’ in this world—not just existing as powers that can only attach themselves to an Outer God."
That was her preliminary idea.
If one relied solely on harvesting faith to nourish their divinity, without changing the essence itself, then encountering the true owner of that authority could easily lead to unexpected outcomes.
Therefore, she wanted to pursue some change.
"Perhaps it’s feasible."
Lakdevo thought for a moment and gave its answer.
Then, with some hesitation, it asked:
"Master, are you planning to seize this world?"
"Hmm?"
Hearing its words, Sylvia clearly froze for a moment, then said with a hint of amusement:
"No, don’t jump to conclusions."
The typical business of Outer Gods had always been like that of bandits—plundering something from this world, then leaving without a trace.
But her actions didn’t quite resemble the kind of smash-and-grab of a bandit. Instead, they seemed more like the moves of someone intending to settle down for the long term, even harboring intentions of a full takeover.
"Alright, let’s leave this topic for later. We’re heading out now."
As she finished speaking, the sound of the chair scraping against the floor rang out. The puppet girl with long gray hair stood up and walked toward the door.
"For the next few days, this place will temporarily be returned to Loruze."
As she said this, Sylvia revealed a mischievous smile, while Lakdevo let out a matching call and then flew up onto her shoulder.
…
The midday sunlight spilled onto the ground, bringing a warm, gentle feeling.
Snow on the roadside had long been cleared away, with only a few shaded corners holding faint remnants.
On the road, public carriages rolled by in steady rhythm, carrying weary-faced passengers toward distant destinations. On either side of the road, shops had quietly shut their doors against the cold weather.
Walking on the stone-paved path, Sylvia paused, watching the scene before her, a little lost in thought.
For a brief moment, the image before her overlapped with the memory of that forest of steel from long ago.
Although the scenes were entirely different, some of the atmosphere, some of the details, still stirred her memories.
Home.
Just two simple words, yet they carried a heavy weight.
Could she go back?
She didn’t know.
If she could return, that would be best. If not, then this was the way it had to be.
Snapping back to awareness, Sylvia shook her head and walked toward the Eplington District just across the street.
At the same time, a black mist, like gauze, spread around her, making her figure unnoticeable to others.
At that moment, her gaze landed on a carriage passing by on the roadside—and the rose emblem engraved on its coach.
Lancaster.
Looking at the carriage, Sylvia moved her fingers slightly and said to the fat crow, Lakdevo:
"Looks like we might be able to catch a ride?"
…
A few minutes later, the gray-haired puppet girl sat by the carriage window, bored, and raised her hand to pluck out her right eyeball.
After tucking it carefully into an inner pocket of her cloak, she pulled out another eyeball—this one a deep purple—and with a soft "pop", inserted it into the empty eye socket.
The blond youth sitting on the opposite side of the carriage paid no mind to the scene, continuing to look out the window on his side.